Weekend Preparations

Rachel is away, and I only have Tal for Shabbat, so I'm going to see my father and my friends in Beit Shemesh. My friends, David and Sharon, are going to Dallas for a year, so this is the last time I'll see them, unless I magically go to BGG.con, in which case I'll crash with them.

David is a Scrabble champ, and I have introduced both of them to various games with some success. Sharon loves Cities and Knights, David loves Settlers, their son loves Tigris and Euphrates. David and his daughter play bridge. They will be leaving their son (age 19) here, so I don't think we will have much time to play (they'll be spending time together), but I have to bring something, eh?

I packed game prototype #1, of course. I'm also taking For Sale which should be easy enough to teach and play. I'll also bring Dvonn for David - his type of game, I'm guessing.

Unfortunately, my mother is not an adventurous gamer. She taught us all bridge, and knows some old card games, but is not interested in much else. My father used to play bridge, but got tired of playing because he would yell at us too much. Now, even in good health, he doesn't like to play. Following his ileostomy two weeks ago, he will probably be in pain and sleeping much of the time.

Rachel arrived safely in Canada. She spent a night in Vienna on the way. I tried to set her up in Vienna with a gamer from BGG, but, while I got some nice responses, no real definites, so she ended up crashing with a fellow torah/history scholar she taught at Limmud two years ago, and at which she has been invited to teach again. I'm so jealous - a late night pizza gathering with intellectuals at a downtown kosher pizza parlor in Vienna. Then off to the cool summer nights of Toronto and Georgian Bay to relax (she is teaching two classes in Toronto at the beginning of August, but that is what she loves to do best, anyway, and she'll be making enough money with those two classes to cover a month of grocery bills here).

Now I'm waiting for a slew of games for which I have traded, bribed, and cajoled to make their way back with her and/or my brother.

Yehuda