Lots of Photos and Endless Fame

The Kirkland Urban development thing near our apartment was having a Santa do some free photos and Lydia and Zoe took Big Wernie over for an appearance. We did our paid photo shoot at the mall a few weeks ago and... you definitely get what you pay for.

In observance of the Christmas spirit I won't criticize too much. It's a nice thing to offer for free especially to needy folks out there.

I think Zoe played around with the background later on to spruce it up a bit.

Ernie seems interested anyway.

My buddy British Mike was working on a cool and asked me to be a play tester. It was pretty cool, kind of a choose your own adventure book where when you meet a bad guy you then go into a Magic the Gathering card game mode and fight it out. It was a fun experience. As a thank you they mailed me the finished product once they had finished.

It's up on Amazon now and it's fun to see the breathless marketing they conjured for it:

"Explore new lands, battle monsters, and uncover secrets in this imaginative reinvention of the choose-your-own-path adventure game - complete with an interactive gamebook and 52 combat cards.

You've never seen anything like the City - a vast metal mechanism, hovering above the plains of the Continent, crackling with magical energy. Its ancient mechanisms once regulated the ebb and flow of arcane power; but now its clockwork is failing, wrecked by a saboteur who moves in the shadows. Can you survive a journey across a land racked by chaos to reach the City, and find a way to restore order? Draw action cards, annotate interactive maps-and carve out your own, unique path in a land of endless destinies!

• EMBARK ON A NEW TYPE OF QUEST: This innovative narrative experience brings together the thrilling story arc o­f a choose-your-own-path adventure and the exciting play style of a modern deck-builder card game.

• EXPLORE AN ORIGINAL FANTASY WORLD: The gamebook is artfully written by poet and author Corinna Keefe; and beautifully realized with full-color book and card illustrations by Paula Zorite.

• CREATE A UNIQUE PROTAGONIST: Use the bespoke character sheet to design a champion like no other. Equip powerful items and take advantage of a unique "leveling-up" system to choose new cards for your deck, developing incredible abilities.

• EXPLORE INTERACTIVE MAPS: The skillfully illustrated maps in the gamebook allow you explore new areas freely. As you discover new rumors or make significant changes to places you visit, you will annotate and rework each map.

• CALL THE SHOTS: Every time you make a decision, your journey will branch down a different path. Are you noble or morally ambiguous? Choose the quest that calls to you, for good or for ill ...

• NO DICE NEEDED: Don't place your destiny in the roll of a dice. Instead use combat cards to choose your battle.

• HOW-TO-PLAY VIDEO AND DOWLOADABLES INCLUDED: Don't like reading instructions? Follow the QR code instead to access an easy-to-follow gameplay video and handy downloadable content.

FORGE YOUR FATE WITH ENDLESS DESTINIES!"

I got a mention in the credits in the front of the book! IMMORTALITY IS MINE

We made up for that questionable Santa thing with some home photos in matching jammies.

I thought they came out pretty spiffy.

My ex boss Roger from Microsoft is cool enough that we still hang out even though we're no longer coworkers. He invited me over to his house for a holiday party and it was a whole lot of fun. These might be the rowdiest people I know in the state of Washington. They even had a make your own ramen bar which was baller.

I already had my jam jams on so I just wore them out for maximum jolliness.

A Buttery Atari Christmas Party

Today we were excited to have our friends over for our annual Christmas party.

I saw this Christmas tree butter sculpture and knew that we needed it for our party as a reflection of our midwestern culture. Our people have long used butter as a medium to create three-dimensional works of art.

We started getting a ton of baby clothes from our lovely family and friends, some new and some hand-me-down.

At our party we did our beloved white elephant gift exchange, where we were the proud winners of a Korean toilet seat that says "fresh fish" on the lid. 

Jason opening up one of our gifts: some laundry detergent.

We played some Frogger and other Atari games.

It's a shame but even the most beautiful butter sculpture is destined to be smooshed onto some bread.

A Very Hammy Christmas Eve

Today Aunt Rita came over to my mom's house and had a bunch of photos for me to look through.

One of the coolest kid bars in Springfield was Catch 22, and they made you buy two beers at a time. They'd give you one of the beers and a wooden nickel you could use to redeem your second beer later. It was a pretty genius and I think illegal way to get people to come back.

Tom's Mizzou student id. I like the mugshot photo.

A Christmas Eve party was planned at Joyce and Dennis/ house but I think that someone tested positive for something or had some covid symptoms, anyway we ended up still having a gathering but doing it in their garage.

Hammy the leg made his final appearance. He was very popular with Tom in particular.

We took a little walk in downtown Springfield to burn off some of our Christmas feasting.

St. Louis Christmas

Today was our big Christmas party at the Airbnb above Southwest Diner.

We didn't have the time or patience to cook any large animals, and we've been craving Raising Cane's as they don't seem to have it in Seattle. So they catered.

Hammy the leg was in attendance and got a lot of attention.

Everyone took the instant covid tests before they showed up at our party. I don't want to wipe out everyone I know in one swoop, even if there are chicken fingers invovled.

We did some gift exchanging.

Lydia's Nana Pam is a really good gift giver. A passport Christmas ornament is awesome and something I may have even bought for myself.

I had some beers and played games with Seago at his place later that evening.