Let's see how far we've come...

I spend a lot of time on my other blog talking about my hobbies but I figured I should point out a couple of great games that are accessible to anyone:

Last Night on Earth - this is a zombie board game along the lines of Night of the Living Dead.  It's a ton of fun to play, especially if you've seen a zombie movie sometime in your life.

Ticket to Ride - Easy to learn but lots of strategy once you get the hang of the game. Even Niklas can play this with a few modifications to the rules (if you decide to play this with younger kids, let me know and I'll tell you how we modified the rules so he could compete against adults).

Nowadays I do a lot of my "reading" via audio books since I listen to them in the car when commuting (Niklas & I listen to kids' books on the way to and from school each day), as well as in the evening while I'm up to other activities. However, I also have gotten through a few novels along with a number of graphic novels in 2008.

Here are my favorites of the year:

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner- this is non-fiction which is even more disturbing. It's a very interesting read.

Duma Key  by Stephen King - I really enjoyed this book; King's writing has gotten more mature over the last couple decades, part of which is that he can finally write a satisfying, though depressing, ending.

Fables by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham - these are collections of a long-running adult comic book.  All I can say is "Wow."  I love the story; it's very original and yet based on very familiar characters and themes.  I've finished up through vol. 6 and already have 7-9 on order from Amazon.

The Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Ok, so this came out 22 years ago and I've been living under a rock. However, it's freaking awesome in a very twisted way. Time Magazine named it one of the best 100 English books a while back and it's won quite a few awards including the Hugo Award. This is another adult comic, and while about costumed heroes, it's not your typical super-hero story. The movie will probably suck so read the comic first.

Foundling by D.M. Cornish - Niklas and I listen to the audio book and really enjoyed it. It's fantasy but not in the traditional sense. 

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi - Niklas loves these and I have really enjoyed them as well.

So, rather try and write some huge post about everything that went on this year I figured I'd break up my reflection on 2008 in to short bite sized pieces. Let's start with music.

I don't buy a huge amount of music anymore - I don't listen to a lot of radio and so exposure to what's new, what's cool, or even what's been released by a favorite band is hard to keep up with.  I probably bought about a dozen albums in 2008 but my top three choices are:

Album #1
Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World:  I've been a big fan of Jimmy for the last 7 years or so and this is by far their best album.  I also got to see them live back in the spring of 2008 and they put on a great show.



Album #2
One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy - I mentioned about seeing them back in November. This is a really good band; the lead singer has a great voice and the music is soothing without being boring. She reminds me kind of Tori Amos without quite the weirdness factor.



Album #3
Turbo Ocho by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers - This is an album that came out of a marathon eight-day recording session in Mexico. I love almost everything that Clyne puts out and this is no exception. The DVD, which details the making of the album, is also very entertaining.

Niklas, Joline (my niece), and I trimmed the tree yesterday morning. I really like decorating the Christmas tree although I dread the thought of taking everything off and packing it all away in a couple of weeks.

Buy a space shuttle.

So last night I'm standing at the NMA show, watching some slightly odd (hmmmm, bombastic would probably be a better term) Swedish rock band that was the 2nd opening act, when inspiration struck for a one-shot, GM-less roleplaying game in which the players tell the story of a rock band in the style of the Behind the Music show from VH-1. Each player is a member of the band, but also serves as a narrator for the show, because the whole "story" is told in retrospect using flashbacks to various important events in the band's history. I'm not sure if the idea is appealing to a lot of people or not (though with the popularity of console games like Rock Band maybe it has potential), but the idea seems really cool to me. I'm going to see if I can crank out the game sometime in 2009 since I don't think it's going to be all that complex or rules heavy.

My brother-in-law Ben is a big fan of New Model Army and took me to see them a few years ago. While I'm not a huge fan myself, they're good and they certainly put on a very high energy show. I think the "Christmas concert in Colgne" is a bit of a yearly tradition for the band.

We officially started Winter Break at noon today and are off until the 4th of January. Once I get my midterm exams graded I'll be able to relax.

Yes, that might sound weird but I just realized today that the sensation has finally returned to the thumb on my right hand. I hadn't felt it properly (it tingled and was numb constantly) in about 5 years and it was still numb after my CTS surgery, but today I realized that sometime in the past few weeks the sensation had returned to normal.

Wow, he loves just about everything.  Spinach? Check.  Pumpkin soup? Check. Smoke salmon? You bet. It's amazing....

Today we're having a combined birthday party since my birthday, my nephew Philip's, and Timothy's birthday all fall within a one week period. Since the whole family was going to be in one place I figured it was a good opportunity to make a Thanksgiving-style dinner.  I brined the turkey overnight in beer and apple cider vinegar (it smells awesome at this point) and just popped it into the oven.  We're also having mushroom stuffing, cranberry sauce (Mama Stanberg's recipe which I'm going to post up here since it rocks!), mashed potatoes, and carrots. Hmmm, I love roasted turkey.

It's hard to believe it's been a year already.

So, yesterday turned out to be a lot of fun, so much so that I think I might do something similar every year. The chili turned out great and was a big hit. We also managed to finish a complete game of Arkham Horror and actually won on top of that. In the evening we tried out Gregor Hutton's 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars RPG and had a blast.

I turn 37 today. Wow, 37.

Sigrid made a cherry cheesecake!  Uber-cool.  Later I have about a half dozen friends coming over for chili and some board games - we're going to play Arkham Horror for most of the day which means I might actually finish a game of it for once.

One of the things I miss most about living in the US is Thanksgiving day. As a kid it was always one of the biggest days of the year because the entire family would gather at our house for a feast. Best yet was the predictability of who was bringing what and what was being served:  My grandma Dot always brought the pies (Pumpkin, Mincemeat, and Coconut Cream), the sweet potatoes, and the biscuits, while my grandma Jessie always brought celery with cream cheese and the relish plate (black olives, green olives, & pickles).  My grandfather (i.e., Michael though everyone called him Carl) always did the carving.  My aunt Sally always made the carrots, while my Aunt Wanda always brought macaroni salad.   My mom baked the turkey (always stuffed!), and made the mashed potatoes.

Years later, after I moved to Oklahoma, I made dinner for all the orphaned students with much of the same menu:  Although it was a bit of a potluck, with everyone bringing something, I never let anyone bring any of the "core" meal since it had to meet my nostalgic criteria.

Nowadays, living in Germany, it's hard to pull off the Thanksgiving dinner: Turkeys aren't all that common, there's no day off from work, and most of the other critical ingredients (e.g., pumpkin pie filling) are very difficult to get a hold of.... sigh..... The one benefit from all this is that I really appreciate what I experienced as a child.

My friend Thomas and I went to see A Fine Frenzy  last night at the Gloria Theater in Cologne. I thought the show as excellent (the opening band was Jamie Scott & the Town which was also good).

In case you've never heard of A Fine Frenzy, I had not either until I heard a couple songs that were played at a colleague's memorial service (she passed away very suddenly last May). She was a huge fan and her friends who organized the service decided to use a couple of AFF's songs as background music.

Here's a clip from Youtube in case you're curious.

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I was very happy to wake up this morning to discover that America had elected its first African American president. I'm also thankfully relieved that Sarah Palin isn't one step away from the presidency: I had no real complaints about John McCain (though I was an Obama supporter), but Palin horrified me.  Thank you America.....

Spiel 2008 is this weekend and a few friends and I are going on Sunday.  What is Spiel? It's one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world and the biggest in terms of board games. It's a really great place to see and try out new stuff, see old friends, and buy stuff I probably don't really need but want. The only down side are the crowds tend to make it a challenge to move around and the food costs a small fortune.

I clicked on a link to this accidentally within Gmail. It really shouldn't surprise me but honestly I never imagined that there could be such a thing as a Goth dating site.