Jacob and I both tend to run hot, so cold treats are literally, ahem, a treat to cool us down. My love of ice cream is well-known, but I also really enjoy popsicles and freezies. I frequently order multiple boxes early in the summer and we go through them over the course of late spring, summer and early fall. I’ll eat them in the winter too, but they are frequently VERY hard to find in any grocery store, with most treating it as a seasonal item. Last week and before, I wasn’t able to order them online for pickup, and they confirmed last week when I picked up that it is “gone for the season”. Sigh.
I went so far as to look online, and you know who had some? Canadian Tire. I didn’t ask. But it was like one box in Barrhaven, one in Orleans, etc. Not exactly a stash waiting to be looted.
I could order from Amazon, but their prices are frequently nuts. Pass.
I’ve tried in the past to get plastic molds to make popsicles, but it gets messy, you have to wash the handles, they have to be stored upright in the freezer as they’re gelling, etc. Meh.
And then when I was looking for freezies, I saw that they sell supplies to make your own freezies. Whaaaaaaat?
There are some resuable ones that are supposedly silicon bags, and most of the reviews are that the manufacturers lie, the freezies taste like plastic when they come out, and it’s even hard to get them out. Pass.
Oh, wait. They sell plastic freeze tubes? Basically, the plastic that the freezies come in, but with a ziploc sealable end. They’re not reusable, just disposable, but I can control what we put in them? Most of the real freezies are higher on sugar and salt than I would like, so why not?
Tonight, Jacob and I filled up the first six bags with grape Koolaid and cherry Koolaid. Not quite “lite”, but lighter versions than we were eating. The sealer held, and we’re giving it a go.
And as a bonus? Jacob and I got to make them together. He did it willingly even.
Even if they don’t work out, we gave it a try. Fingers crossed, but trying something new with Jacob? That’s #MoreJoy right there.
For those of you who might have enjoyed The Big Bang Theory series, you’ll likely remember the episodes where Sheldon filmed videocasts of a series called Fun With Flags. When I started to write this post tonight, I kept thinking of that episode, as I write about apps that I like. Let’s get to it…
For my iPhone, I have the standard utility apps for messages, social media, files, phone, etc. Nothing too exciting there, obviously. Music could be more exciting, sure, but I generally use Apple Music as my default, and I’ve been too lazy to really get the others going for a bunch of free accounts that come with other services.
But after the standard utilities, I have Feedly. It is an RSS reader, which is a bit anachronistic in the world of the internet. Almost everyone posts to social media now, including me, so why bother? Because it is a simple way to grab regular posts from websites and read them in one place rather than playing “lucky feed” to see it in your list of status updates from everyone else or having the system notify you for each one. I use Feedly for a few comics (XKCD, for instance), a few writing blogs of friends, and then generally a bunch around 3D printing (a future hobby), astronomy (a current hobby), photography (somewhere between current and future), books, education (for work and future writing), tech (interest) and writing (current hobby). Do I read all of them? No, of course not. But I do browse looking for interesting articles rather than relying on the latest news, particularly given the tone of the last 18m of news. I like the feed, easy to scan, find a few good articles, and move on.
After that comes the real fun…the games.
I have to give the first spot to a game called Traffic Puzzle by Piccadilla. It is relatively simple, a pseudo-match 3 game with a small twist. Not the “rush hour”-style traffic puzzle where you slide cars to exit the parking lot, but rather that when the cars have nothing in front of them, they drive ahead until they hit other cars, obstacles, or walls, or they drive right off the board. Way back when I started, it took me forever to get through a few hundred levels. I refuse, generally, to pay for powerups, and in this game I never have. You can earn them through other side-games within the game, so if you get REALLY stuck, you can do some others for a few days to give yourself a small fallback reprieve, and there’s a daily “free spin” lottery that gives you a free resource of time or power. I figured I’d play until level 300 or so, and then it was like, “Why not go to 500?”. New levels intrigued me, extra logic and problem-solving for the right steps, way different than simple Candy Crush in my view, and so I kept playing. I’d stop for a week or so, and then start again. Then I finished the game. Yep, I went to the very last level (about 2100 or so), and I thought, “Great, I’m done!”. Except I’m not. The gamemakers keep adding new levels, and so I’ll get an update notice, and another 20 puzzles appear. Or maybe 40. It’s up to about 2400 levels now. I stay “current” which means I play about once a week, but it sure helped me distract myself over the last two years. Sometimes while waiting at doctor’s offices, or in cars. Or just chilling but not wanting to be productive. I have NEVER done that with a game before, I usually get bored with them waaaaay before that point. Feels weird to “finish”.
The next two apps were advertised in other games, and I’ll be honest, the games are nothing like the ads, a fact that I found interesting when I found out why. Games participate in expanded affiliate marketing, which normally people think of simply someone selling a product on their website, and if someone clicks through, they pick up a few cents or more. This is a step beyond that. Expanded affilitate marketing for games can include a freelance marketing company designing their OWN advertising for a game (not theirs, nor even a client), and running the ads through affiliate game marketing sites.
So an app like Traffic Puzzle has ads in it, and through their marketing, it ran ads for a game (#1), say, but the ads weren’t designed by Game 1 or even approved by Game 1. Instead, they were totally created by a fly-by-night animation company say in Eastern Europe that advertises Game 1. If anyone clicks through, they get their affiliate / referral fee. Since the games are initially free, I assume there is either a period of time by which they get a percentage of future spends or a flat few pennies for every download. Either way, it’s why so many ads you see out on the internet are totally misleading for the actual game when you get to it…usually it isn’t COMPLETELY false advertising, the storyline is similar, but the mechanics are usually VERY different. Because the company that makes the game IS NOT the one contracting, designing or running the ads. I admit that I don’t understand the model to work since having 100K people download the game and then trash it in the reviews doesn’t seem like a good strategy, but maybe it’s like a drug dealer giving free samples. But I digress. That is NOT where the joy comes in!
Tactile Games has two games that I play, and I started with Game 2 simply as I saw it in one of the other games first. In the ad, you see basically someone kidnapping an elderly woman, locking her in a room, and you have to do some escape-room type stuff to get her out, including fixing up the house (a bit Farmville-y, I admit). Anyway, there was a bit of a story to the ads, which you don’t normally see, so I gave it a go. Not surprisingly, the ads didn’t match the game play.
Instead, it was a rather typical Match-3 game like Candy Crush and others where you match things in a grid, get power-ups, blah blah blah, clear the board. I’ve played dozens of these games in the past, including CC, and well, they usually last about 10-20 levels at most, and I’m hitting delete.
This one was different, and I don’t mean the game mechanics. There is a story built-in to the game, which is called Penny and Flo: Finding Home. After each mini-level, you read dialogue between the various characters, and it feels very much like a soap opera. Penny and Flo meet because Flo is a wedding planner, helping Penny and Butch plan their wedding in a few days. You help them set up the venue a bit, Butch leaves, and then Penny and Flo decide to go on a Thelma and Louise-style joyride in a convertible, crashing at an old woman’s estate. Daphne, the estate-owner, is a retired movie star and her daughter, Violet, is trying to get a power of attorney over her to put her in a home and sell everything off. There are about 10 more characters running around the game.
It sounds stupid, right? It’s not just me? I ask because despite it appearing and sounding stupid, the damn thing is awesome. It is the most barebones of storylines, no backstory other than a line or two in dialogue, but so far we have two men who have undergone character growth to find themselves, a sub-plot with a sleazy paparazzi / tabloid reporter helping Violet, plans to renovate the house in time for a big upcoming party, and marriage counselling for Penny and Butch as well as Flo and her husband, Ted, along with their geeky son. As a game-player? Meh. As a writer? It is fascinating to see such content broken into such simple elements. It feels a bit like a choose-your-own adventure story, as there are a couple of places where you choose which way the story goes, but generally, it is tidying up rooms or gardens, choosing decorations, etc.
I liked the story so much, I had to try their other game, called Lily’s Garden. Get your mind out of the gutter, it’s not that kind of metaphor. In the game, Lily’s aunt has died and left her an estate that is in decay. In a Brewster’s Millions-style twist, Lily has 30d to bring the estate back to its former glory with an ex-lover of the Aunt entrusted to “inspect” her progress, while also occasionally helping her with some of the projects despite his advanced age. But the story doesn’t stop there. Lily has an ex-fiancé, Blaine, who is famous and self-absorbed that she dumped to come to the new house and start over, who shows up occasionally to offer to take her back. There’s the inspector’s niece, Regina, aka handywoman extraordinaire who is helping with the projects. Next door, a hunky neighbour named Luke offers the potential for romance, including moonlit dancing in the garden that suffers from cellphone interruptis from his complicated life with an ex he’s negotiating with for joint custody of their 12yo daughter. Did I miss anything? Oh, yeah, a fake cousin who tries to steal half the property, a squirrel who declares war on Lily’s efforts, and a huge series of secrets and clues about the Aunt’s life and background.
I’m loving it. Again, the game is basic, but the storyline that goes with it? I get it, you might be asking how good could it really be? I’m not talking Tolstoy here, and that’s a good thing. Lily likes Luke, and his daughter, and when she meets the ex-wife, Rachel, she likes her too. They become friends, all good. Until Regina asks…soooo, if you become friends with Rachel, can you still date her ex? Who would think to put that level of thought into a substory of a Match-3 game? Well, Tactile Games, apparently. Based in Denmark, if that helps frame the zeitgeist.
Again, like with Traffic Puzzle, I am not a “spend money to play” kind of player. If the game is your typical, “Hook them and then make it impossible to advance without paying”, I just move on. Both of these games, I have made it all the way to the middle so far without having to pay anything. I chose to pay something for Lily’s Garden at one point, which actually bothered me in a different way. Just as with Traffic Puzzle, I am really enjoying the game, and yet I have paid nothing for it. There’s no “tip the developer” button, or “donate what you can” option on the website. The only way they make money from me playing is if I actually buy something. So I found a small bundle that would help me, and I threw them a few bucks to say “thanks for the game”.
I have never seen this dialogue approach to a game before, and I swear, it feels like real characters from a book. I’m still playing because I want to know what happens to Lily at the end of the month, and if truth be told for Penny and Flo, I noticed that in the back of the house, there is a large broken down observatory that I want to fix up. 🙂
Beyond those, on the iPhone, I play a few specific games. I’ve worked my way through The Room and The Room Two, both puzzle games, but it’s a bit small on the phone. Andrea did them on the iPad, which seems to have gone well (they’re like escape-room mysteries to solve, very elaborate pieces though, with some magic, so you couldn’t really do it in real life). I also play Ultimate Cribbage, Euchre Gold, Super Yatzy, and Farkle regularly for quick games by myself, or Kryss with Andrea (a crossword game).
If I go back to my Android Tablet, I would be remiss if I didn’t do a shout-out for Puzzle Page. It is available on iOS, but the problem is I would lose all my progress from the Android Tablet to shift over, and to be honest, it is WAY easier to play on a large screen than a phone. There are DOZENS of games in it, and I’ve earned so many credits and powerups over the years that there is no reason to pay for anything other than the subscription fee to play more games than the first few each day. If I could transfer my status from Android to iOS, I would continue my subscription easily, and make the jump. But I’m leaning towards killing the subscription. I just don’t go out and about to use my Android Tablet that much. If I go back to work in the office, I probably would again. I used to play on it every day at lunch, if I wasn’t reading.
Sure, I have other games. Card games, solitaire games, dice games, word games, etc. But these are the ones that give me joy. I really enjoy them, and (almost) none of them cost me any money to play. I see a few ads from time to time, but mostly, the balance is good.
Growing up in Peterborough in the 70s and 80s was not a hotspot of unusual cuisine, neither with my mom and dad’s palate nor with restaurants. Very much a meat and potatoes world, which I am not knocking by the way. Just that I didn’t really have much exposure to anything “different”.
During university, I had Chinese food and LOVED it. I can remember going to Spadina in Toronto and picking almost any restaurant for great food at cheap prices. Later in Ottawa, I was willing to try just about anything. I suspect the most exotic thing I’ve eaten is likely fish eyeball soup while in the Philippines (at a Chinese restaurant doing the whole Peking Duck option).
But somewhere around 1994, a friend introduced me to Lone Star on Baseline. I wasn’t expecting anything special, and the description and appearance of their fajitas was pretty straightforward. Flour tortillas i.e., a bun, some strips of steak aka beef, and some grilled onions and bell peppers or toppings. It seemed like the same ingredients from a burger, honestly.
Until I had one. The flavour and texture is one of my favorite meals. My mother made awesome roasts of pork. Amazing pork tenderloin. My favorite pie (pumpkin) and cookies, sure. But nothing that was like the simple fajitas. I remember thinking it was supposedly Mexican food when I first tried it (no, I didn’t know any better, it was advertised as Tex-Mex hybrid), but it is so not, obviously.
It is not particularly ethnic, or different, or well, anything special. But the fajitas at Lone Star are the best I’ve ever had. We don’t over-indulge too often, keeping it as a bit of a treat, but a friend once pointed out that I seemed to always suggest Lone Star for outings or birthday dinners, if only to garner a ride somewhere I couldn’t get to easily on my own without a car.
But apples don’t always fall far from their trees, nor has Jacob. On Saturday night, we gave him the option for a “special” symbolic dinner to mark the occasion of his first month of being back at school being complete. With a ton of changes for him. New school. New grade. Newly back in person. New city bus to take. New to wearing masks all day. Newly not wearing his AFOs (not all positive). New to being in a portable. It is a LOT of change. And he’s done pretty dang well, all things considered.
I want him to take pride in that adjustment. It was big and he handled it well. I, myself, fear the same level of adjustment if/when we have to return to work. But this wasn’t about me, this was about him.
And when I gave him the choice of “where” for dinner? He wanted fajitas from Lone Star. I love the fact that he likes it too, not that he wants to go there with us, or willing to go, but that he likes it enough to choose it all on his own.
Heck, we’ve even cracked the ordering code with them to get our order “right” for us. We don’t like the queso, don’t eat the rice or beans, and so I ask them for extra shells and chips & salsa. Which they willingly provide. More of what we love, less of what we don’t.
It seems odd to think of as a haircut as a source of joy. I’m not talking wanting a different look, or someone getting their hair done for a wedding, or anything fancy.
Our story for haircuts during the pandemic looks a lot like many people’s story. Early on, we ordered a home clipper set, Andrea found some videos, and we decided to cut Jacob’s hair. She did a good try for both Jacob and I, not bad for the first time, if a little stressful with her constantly saying, “Oh crap” or “Ugh” as she worked away on my head.
The next round, I did Jacob’s while Andrea supervised. Then Andrea did mine, with less swearing by her.
Another round came, and I did my own for the most part and then Andrea fixed it up, and I did Jacob’s. Similarly for the last round. I think there have been four rounds in total, might have been five, hard to remember.
Overall? They turned out fine. Jacob’s were eminently viable, as were mine, and nobody pointed at us in public when we went outside, so we’ll take that as being as good as an endorsement.
But some time ago, I started thinking about a “pandemic” dashboard indicating how I’m doing at re-opening my life, our lives within our bubble of 3. When I asked Jacob what he wanted, a couple of things popped up. He wanted to eat in a restaurant again, which we’ve done. He wanted to go play mini-golf, although I’m not sure they were really closed that much, but he felt that was something that represented being “open” again.
And he wanted to get a real haircut. Back in June, we were just about to pull the trigger on it, and we chickened out. Partly for timing, partly for safety, we just did another round at home.
But this time? He wanted a real haircut. Truth be told, I don’t really care about it for myself. I’d be perfectly fine just continuing to do the same thing for me. Both of us have really simple cuts, so nothing terrible can happen.
Yet the difference is obvious. His crown is right, no extra hairs left on the back of his neck that I have to touch up later. The bangs that hang over the front of his head look “right”. Way better than anything Andrea or I ever accomplished.
We had made an appointment for first thing this morning, went in at 9:00 a.m., did his and mine, and made our escape. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, done in about 45 minutes.
And it did give me joy to see him “back to normal” so to speak. Sure, there’s no place to sit and wait. Sure, we had to have appointments. Sure, we had to wear masks. But it was all good.
So I’ll add it to the #MoreJoy column for the month.
So Thursday was the last day of my blogging about a month of “nudging” myself to make more organized decisions that improve my life. A good portion of them were about workouts or my website, or making my life a bit easier for something simple (like paying someone to assemble the BowFlex). I will still do a summary of them at some point.
But I liked the premise of focusing on one thing for a month. Something that might nudge me in other areas. Except instead of three things in a day, I only want to do one. Something significant or insignificant, doesn’t matter, it just had to improve my life. And I’m embarrassed to say, my source of inspiration is cheesy.
I watch the TV show New Amsterdam about the caring medical director whose motto with his staff is, “How can I help?”. It is not great art, it is not amazing writing, sometimes it’s not even great acting. But it’s message is usually positive if simplistic, and I watch it. The first EP of the new year is about Max, the main character, trying to find ways to improve his life and his temporary new motto is “more joy”. He wants more joy in his life. And because it is TV, that translates to finding a new love, blah blah blah.
But I’ve been struggling to find a term for something I wanted to write about. It’s not gratitude for something in my life. It’s not counting my blessings. It’s not about a decision that improves my life. It is, in fact, just wanting a bit more joy in my life. Some of them are going to seem really really silly as something that gives me joy. Maybe a simple app, for instance. But I didn’t know what to call the series until I watched the EP. More joy. I like the idea.
I, too, want to find more joy in my life. To take pleasure in simple things without judging myself for enjoying them.
Tonight, Andrea and I watched a pre-recorded “livestream” from September of the NAC Orchestra performing. We used to go in person for the Pops series, and that’s pretty much still shot, but they had sent out a promo newsletter and they showed an upcoming show. As it turned out, Andrea was out of town for the nigth of the show or we would have watched it live, but the ticket allowed us unlimited rewind watching too. Which allowed us to timeshift it to tonight while Jacob was doing an epic quest in Minecraft with his friends. There were five pieces played by the Orchestra, and it seemed like a double bonus event.
But before I talk about the pieces, let me say that everything that should have conspired against enjoyment was present. First, it’s a recording, basically, not the live show. Secondly, we are watching it at home, not a big sound stage. Third, we’re watching it on an internet feed. And fourth, we were doing it through a simple laptop. Should have been poor sound, right? Wrong. It was crystal clear. Like if a pin had dropped on the stage, we could have told you which side it came from. The recording was incredible, the sound amazing.
So, first on the playbill for the night was Beethoven’s Fifth (in C minor, Op. 67, for those who know about these things). Probably the most accessible classical symphony, and one of the most well-known for its beginning movement. The second and third movements are not as well-known, but there are segments that are sublime. I saw it way back in the 90s for the first time, and a number of years ago live in concert with the NAC, and tonight was the third time. Each time, I am reminded of the reviews at the time it first debuted by Beethoven. Some contemporaries were so affected by the piece they thought it was almost dangerous and such music so moving that it should never be performed. Each time I hear it, I hear a different part and get lost. It truly is one of the things that I think everyone should experience once in their life, even if just the first movement.
After that, the night moved to a violin focus which is the “double bonus” since Andrea and I also like violins. The NAC’s artist-in-residence, James Ehnes, was performing and started with the second piece of the night, Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28”. There was an interview with Ehnes beforehand, and he kept referring to the “virtuosity” of the piece. While normally I would think of that as “great skill”, he was referring more to the range of the piece. If there is a note on the violin, the piece required it. It was astounding. I don’t think I’ve heard such range ever before.
After that, James moved on to Lili Boulanger’s “Nocturne for Violin and Orchestra, arranged by Sarah Slean”. An interview beforehand also described how it was a challenge to arrange since the original was meant for violin and piano, not the instruments of an orchestra. It was interesting to hear her approach to arrangement, but while the piece was interesting and technically impressive, I didn’t feel as much for that one. At one point, it DID feel like I was strolling along an Italian river listening to someone play.
The fourth piece of the night was Jessie Montgomery’s “Strum”, which combines a range of elements of the violin and strings, with some parts of the orchestra strumming while others are using their bow, for an interesting sound. But I expected a bit more from it. Good, certainly, but it didn’t blow me away.
Finally, they ended with Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) for Violin and Orchestra, Op 20”. While it didn’t have the “virtuosity” of the first piece, it definitely brought the air of the nomadic life of the Roma, or at least as the music is often portrayed in movies or TV.
Like I said, “More joy”. It was highly enjoyable, and as Andrea said, we didn’t even have to worry about parking. And you know what? It was only $15 too. Normally our tickets and parking set me back close to $150-$200 for a night.
If I can spend $15 for that much joy, sign me up anytime.
(While not the NAC show, I’m including some links below if you want to hear/see versions of the above.)
Note this is definitely not the version we saw, as this is for piano, and we saw a new arrangement for full orchestra.
