I come home today to a big box from everybody's favorite Cali vegan, Bianca!

She sent us Kraft Mac, Cheez-Its, Oreos, Wheat Thins, Ghirardelli, cake mix, cards, and a long letter. Oh, and a funny magnet detailing my affair with the high-carb diet I so adore.

But even better than that, she sent pictures of all my Whitworth family, and some of my biological one. AND she sent magnetic photo sleeves and one long hangy one that would easily attach to the wall sans nail.

She loves us, that girl.

Click here to find out!

DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK unless you are okay with gross photos (Becky, Bianca, no clicky!)

UPDATE: I figured out that the link I had up was the wrong link. The same subject, but the wrong link.

Well actually, we don't. But Emma and Rob, our upstairs neighbors, gave birth to a gorgeous (even for me, the baby-hater) boy this morning! His name is Micaiah and he was a whopping 8 lbs, 15 oz an 20 inches long! Matt and I watched their kids most of last night and today, while they had the baby and then rested a bit. I'll post some pictures later tomorrow.

Yay, a baby!

Update: Spelling revised. Here's a pic:



Here's one of Rob and Emma with Micaiah:

So I meant to post about this a week and a half ago when it actually happened, but I didn't. So there.

The stairs outside of our apartment are rough. When we first moved here, we assumed the yelling, catcalls, puddles of puke and confrontations we saw from our living room window were the result of drunken Festival revelers, of which there were plenty. However, the Festival has come and gone, but the other things remain. Frequently, we have extremely drunk people (read: cannot lift the bottle to their mouth, alcohol poisoning imminent) sitting on the steps, yelling incoherently or propositioning the women who pass. even more frequently, we have groups of youngish people drinking on the steps while looking to pick fights with anyone who passes.

Last Wednesday, I was invited to a friend's surprise birthday party. As I walked up the steps to start my journey there, one of the young women on the steps drunkenly grapped my arm.

I froze. I really, REALLY don't like strangers touching me. I then twisted my arm to force her to release her grip. She muttered something, and I gave her (what I thought was) a withering glare. I then turned to leave.

She, apparently deciding that she had been wronged, used this opportunity to punch me as hard as she could right on my left kidney.

I wheeled around. After surveying the situation (at least 7 other people who she knew, nobody that I did) I decided that retaliation was not my best option. I simply said in what I hope was simultaneously stern and loving (ahem), "Seriously! Do NOT touch me!" Then I walked briskly up the stairs and to the party. Jeni, queen of witty comebacks and appropriate responses.

The next morning, a drunk man asked me to marry him.

Weird, huh? Even in L.A. that kind of thing just didn't happen.

Matt and I have made a video for y'all! You can find it over in the Pics and Videos section. Enjoy!

Even though we both still feel like foreigners, Jeni and I are starting to settle in Edinburgh. Now that each day is composed of more than just a frantic effort to survive to the next, we have found ourselves bored and in need of entertainment. Or perhaps I should say we've found ourselves board...

Anyway, how to entertain ourselves. Television is out. There are a few things on that would be cool to watch, but for the most part TV simply takes up your time and doesn't give anything back. When you add to that the fact that you need to pay a TV tax over here (in addition to the cost of buying a TV in pounds), TV's place in the not-an-option pile is secure.

If TV's out, than video games are also out. I know Jeni and I make fun of Drew probably more than is good for him, but we both kind of agree that the Nintendo Wii looks pretty nifty. It looks to me like it would encourage social interaction and even be (gasp) fun. I've spent enough time hunched over my computer screen, completely isolated from human interaction with nary a smile to be found on my face, to long for a time when video games where actually fun. (As an aside, the last time I found myself so involved was freshman year of college when I ended up dropping my English class because of Diablo 2. Since then I have nearly completely checked out of the video game scene and done little more but play the occasional game of Tetris on my computer or Burnout /Lego Start Wars when I'm back in L.A.) Ultimately because of the TV thing and the money required to buy a system and games, video games are out, too.

So what else do people do? Jeni and I are usually both working on at least one book, but reading for days and days straight can become tedious. We can't do anything cool, because we don't have the money and because around here 'cool' ends up leading to a pile of vomit on our steps, on the walls of uni buildings, in the doorways of shops, etc. How about something uncool? How about something decidedly nerdy?

How about board games?

Ok, so Jeni and I aren't total addicts yet, but it looks like we may both become gamers, in the board, cards, and dice sense, before too long. So far we have our old standbys Scrabble and Fluxx. We rediscovered a cool dice game which we were taught on a trip to Montana years ago. And of course, we have the Settlers of Catan. Settlers has become the big winner around here. Our neighbors love the game, to the point of unconsciously giving us the puppy dog eyes when we imply we might want to do something else for the night. We just picked up the 5-6 player expansion, so we can have Settlers ready for every situation.

Earlier this week we went out looking for a new game as a birthday gift for me. The guy at our local game shop recommended Carcassonne saying that it is the only game in his shop that he gives a money back guarantee on. Unfortunately, we will be taking him up on his offer. The game is pretty simple and at first looks like it will be nearly as mindless as Fluxx, which is good because we were looking for something to offset the intenseness of Settlers. It turns out that because of some strange scoring rules, Carcassonne gets weird and confusing. Once you play it 4 or 5 times you get the hang of it, but it is not a game that we feel we could just pull out to play with people casually. That's a plus of Settlers. Even though Settlers is an intense game, it is pretty easy to explain how the game works to a new player. The other downside to Carcassonne is that at the end of the game you need to score all the 'farms' which is a real mind numbing experience. After you've tallied up all the point you look at the scoreboard and say, "Oh, it looks like I won." Yeah, it's kind of anti-climactic.

I don't just want to bash this game, because I know there are a lot of people out there who love it. Unfortunately, Jeni and I played 4 mediocre games followed by one actually unpleasant one, and I'm afraid that has probably ruined the game for us. It'll go back to the store and get exchanged for something else pretty soon.

I think the experience has taught us about what it is that we like and dislike in a game.

Like:

• Definitive win conditions. We like to know immediately when someone has won. Ambiguous scoring methods take away from the excitement and suspense of the game.
• Constant involvement. We like games that keep you involved even when it's not your turn.
• Chance. Chance is great.
• Surprises. Much like chance, surprises are great.
• The chance to take chances and set up surprises for other players. It's cool when you can pull something completely out of left field to win but do it in such a way that your opponents appreciate how awesome it was rather than just feel bad for being beaten.
• Strategy. Even if it's just a little like in Fluxx, the strategic element of a game goes a long way towards entertaining your brain.
• Being forced to make decisions or choose the lesser of two evils. I like the feeling of being caught between a rock and a hard place. It forces you to be creative and make do with what you have.

Dislikes:

• Negate everything on the above list.
• Getting pounded mercilessly with no hope, not even a sliver, of salvation. That's a bad feeling. A good game should let you think there's a chance you could win almost no matter how far behind you are. Big turnarounds and underdog victories make for good gaming experiences.

That's kind of what's up with us in the non-serious part of our lives. Any other game ideas? We want games! Big ones, small ones, it doesn't matter. If you can think of any games we might like, let us know!

Okay, rising from the dead to say that I changed the front picture thingy so that it won't (shouldn't) show "gross" gross pictures. (Get it? Huh?) However, to appease those who enjoy the carnage, I have a new picture set posted in the pictures section with all the gory bliss.

Tomorrow, penguin parade footage, lab stories, board game goodies, random drunken assault, and other fun tidbits. Tonight, I need to sleep off the Flexeril.

I love you all!