Category: Parenting

Hosting a party at a convention is labor intensive and oh, so fun! Each party has a theme, from Books & Beer (the beer is free, buy a book or two) to Barfleet to the Minneapolis 2073 WorldCon bid (it’s been around for a few years now), and our own Box Fort party.  Capricon’s theme this year was the Tropics of Capricon, so our party theme was Stranded on Box Fort Island.  In addition to our basic box fort building, a couple team members cut out leaves and birds, and even painted some of them to give the room a tropical feel.

In keeping with the theme, we showed Gilligan’s Island episodes throughout the party – I didn’t realize the first season was in black and white!

We tried to name our drinks appropriately for the tropics… we came up with Banana Booty (Rumchata banana pudding shots), Fireball Island (Fireball whiskey & cream soda), Liquid Sunshine (our non-alcoholic option – mango juice, ginger beer, and lime juice), and Floradora the Explorer (gin, lime juice, crème de framboise, and ginger ale).  That last drink was unnamed, so I Googled what the combination of ingredients was usually called, which turned out to be “Floradora”.  Adding “the Explorer” seemed like a fun name for a drink on a tropical adventure.

Like last year, we learned from our adventure… we didn’t really need to restock on most of our beverages, and I’ll eventually finish the ginger beer and mango nectar I brought home.

We had another amazing Dorkstock experience last weekend, with games galore and a combination of new and old faces.  I saw John Kovalic being shot multiple times at Cash ‘N Guns, ran Cartoon Frag Gold as a tournament, and spent time with friends.  The elements of a successful Dorkstock are fun, games, and hopefully Igor bars and a John Kovalic sighting.  Lest you think I’m joking, I know we had one year without Igor bars, and at least one year (Dorkstock 5.5) where we knew in advance that John wouldn’t be able to attend.

We hosted 60 games at this year’s Dorkstock, including some life-sized games in the atrium and some amazing 3D sets.  We remembered to stagger our schedules so people could eat (especially before the sugar rush of the Igor bars) and sleep, and made sure that the person closing the room at night was not opening it.  We restricted the number of hours our gamemasters could run, to make sure everybody had time to enjoy the convention.  We not only had multiple John Kovalic sightings, he ran several scheduled games, including two full tables of Cash ‘N Guns simultaneously.  And he made Igor bars!

Like last year, we walked away with notes about things we’d like to do differently and some (hopefully brilliant) ideas that we’d like to try, such as next year’s Munchkin Party, and running the costume contest on Saturday, when more people are at the convention, since it’s not scheduled to overlap with Halloween next year.  Planning begins… well, a couple days ago.

It should be noted that Dorkstock is a mini-convention, run within a larger convention.  We are amazingly grateful that Gamehole Con is willing to give us space, and constantly amazed at the variety of events available outside the Dorkstock room.  I had the opportunity to play True Dungeon again – only my second time, and the first time was over a decade ago at GenCon.  There was a huge games library and space for open gaming, as well as a lovely dealers’ hall, a paint-and-take area, and tons of other games happening.  Plus the food… in addition to several stalls inside the building (not the least of which is a local pizza place), Gamehole Con attracts several food trucks that park just outside the door, so you only have to stand out in the cold for a few minutes to get great food.

As I mentioned when we visited the Brick Safari at Brookfield Zoo, the nearby Morton Arboretum happens to have a Lego exhibit this summer as well.  Whereas the Lego animals at the zoo were all life-sized, most of the ones at the Arboretum are far larger than their living counterparts.  Our first Lego encounter was with a bee composed of 16,383 Lego bricks, which took 200 hours to build; our last was the Monarch butterfly, with almost 40,000 bricks and 425 build hours.  Imagine spending all the time assembling Lego.  And getting paid to do it! 

The Arboretum’s Lego exhibit includes fifteen displays, all within walking distance of the Visitor Center; if that’s all you see, you’ll walk about a mile.  We walked a bit more than that, exploring the Children’s Garden as well.  We visited on a rainy Sunday morning, so there weren’t a lot of people out and about; I think we only saw two other families in the Children’s Garden. 

The sun emerged as we meandered through the Hedge Maze, vaguely looking for the promised nooks and crannies that harbored information on specific plants.  As we finished off our Lego hunt, walking around a nearby lake, we emerged by the parking lot and a rock-bearing troll from the Arboretum’s Troll Hunt.  We’ve seen the troll that’s visible from westbound I-88, but hadn’t managed to visit to see the other five trolls crafted from reclaimed wood that have been visiting for over a year now.  We’ll have to go back to find the other four at some point. 

On our recent visit to Guatemala, I was tasked with sorting through Dad’s room. I made a dent, but barely touched the books; as a retired librarian, he had an extensive personal library. I did find a couple interesting reads, and started one of them before the return trip – Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India, by Gita Mehta.  The extent of my knowledge of Indian history is limited to having read The Far Pavilions a couple times; anything beyond that is random bits and pieces that I’ve heard throughout the years.

Snakes and Ladders was published in 1997, so modern in the title does not necessarily reflect current.  The book covers significant events and Indian culture from Indian independence in 1947 to what was current day, including the advent of the internet.  There were many things that stood out in this book, not the least of which was “…seventy percent of the Indian electorate avails itself of such consolation [of voting the ] at every general election.”

Seventy percent.

The last presidential election in the United States had a 55.5 percent turnout. India, with four times our population, 900 million of them eligible to vote, still manages to engage their voters – according to Wikipedia, their 2019 election had over 67 percent voter turnout. The last time the United States had that high a turnout was the early 1900s.

According to the author, for the 1989 election, there was one booth for every thousand voters, “from the inaccessible mountains of Ladakh on the very borders of Tibet to the farthest desert areas of Rajasthan on the borders of Pakistan to the southern coasts of Karala on the edge of the Indian Ocean.” Reports of voter suppression and disenfranchised voters have filled the news in the last couple U.S. elections. India as a democracy is almost 200 years younger than the United States, with more than triple the number of eligible… perhaps we need to do better?

How?  What a fabulous question.  While I agree with the concept of a national holiday for election day, there are viable options now that make that a moot point.

• Automatic voter registration.  Voting is not just a right of citizenship, it’s an obligation. The government collects enough information about each of us already, between taxes, driver’s license, and other official records, that they should be able to handle this without us having to opt in.
• Early voting.  Illinois has amazing early voting options, which I have availed myself of the last few elections. The option to vote at select locations a month ahead of election day (including some weekend hours) provides flexibility for my work schedule.
• Vote by mail.  In Illinois, this is primarily used for absentee ballots and people who for health reasons can’t get to the polls, but Oregon, Washington, and Colorado have switched to voting by mail being the standard.  To be honest, this is a more economical solution than early voting, with the added bonus of supporting the post office.
• Accessibility.  There is no good excuse for our government to fumble elections so badly that people wait in line for hours to vote. Voting places should be placed appropriately for all voters, so that they’re accessible and efficient.

Let’s be more like India, making it reasonably easy to avail ourselves of the option to vote in each election.  Let us “… enjoy that supreme consolation of freedom – kicking the bums out.”  (While keeping the good ones, of course.)

I’ve seen a few distinctive movies recently and thought I’d talk about a couple of them.  I’ll go light on spoilers, since one of them is still in theaters.

Dragon Blade – This historical fiction piece about a Roman army invading China’s Silk Road pairs up Jackie Chan and John Cusack against a corrupt Roman leader.  Obviously, a movie with Jackie Chan has some great fight scenes, including some duels and larger battles.  The dialogue was about what you’d expect from an action movie… not memorable, but not too corny, and while the outcome was predictable, plot points within the movie came as a surprise.

Tag – This movie about adults playing a 30-year game of tag is rated R for a reason… there are significant portions of dialogue you do not want to explain to a child.  Once you get past that, it’s a fun romp about a group of adults that set aside one month a year to sneak up on their friends – in other cities – for an extended game of tag, and the one friend they’ve never managed to tag.

Shazam! – Just out in theaters, this is a fun DC movie, now that they’ve realized they can sell something other than mopey Superman and Batman flicks.  Shazam! goes beyond the goofy moments in Aquaman to entertain viewers while relaying a solid message similar to Lilo & Stitch or Mrs. Doubtfire about family being what we make of it.  There are some great moments as Billy explores his powers and discovers the importance of using them wisely.  My biggest question about the movie, however, was why “Shazam,” composed of a mix of Jewish, Greek, and Roman strengths, is responsible for containing the seven deadly sins from Christianity.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women – This is a fabulous not for kids movie exploring the origins behind Wonder Woman.  Professor Marston, addressing criticism of Wonder Woman, explains the psychology that the comic book is supposed to be teaching, exploring the DISC assessment with the censors who were interrogating him.  The movie delves into the polyamorous relationship between Professor Marston, his wife Elizabeth, and their student and girlfriend, Olive, and the difficulties of raising a non-traditional family in the pre-World War 2 era.

Near the beginning of the year, I set several goals that were spread out across the year.  This has been a rollercoaster of a year, with some goals postponed, some discarded, and some new ones added.  The ones I had shared earlier in the year were:

1. Test for my Tang Soo Do black belt – tested in April, received my belt in June, and my embroidered belt (with my name and Dan number) in December.
2. Renew my Project Management Professional (PMP) certfication – I completed this in January and am working on my credits for the next cycle.
3. Add a new garden bed – I added a Garden Tower this year, and am prepping an existing area for next year’s new garden.  Like renewing my PMP certification, this is a perpetual goal.
4. Garage door projects – this was actually two projects in one: replacing the door from the kitchen to the garage , which I had professionals do, and adding a garage door seal.
5. Duolingo had added Korean as a language option.  Since we learn snippets of Korean at karate, I thought I’d try picking up a bit more.  Oops.  This fell off the list fairly quickly in January; learning a new alphabet takes a bit more time than just learning a new language, and I found I didn’t have that time to spare.

In addition to these goals, I set some new goals during the year. I had three major house projects that need to be addressed by professionals: old windows, a driveway that has settled with some significant cracks, and a shed that’s falling apart. My budget only goes so far, so I opted to replace the windows, which turned out to be a great decision as my boiler is having problems at the start of winter. I wrote a song, which was nowhere on my list of things to do. And, of course, I had the unexpected goal of finding a new job. Overall, I’m happy with the goals I set and the number of them I was able to complete.