First Day Sukkot Gaming

Went to Beit Shemesh for first night of Sukkot.

My father is very sick. After having the rest of his colon removed, they found cancer in the removed portion. They gave him a few weeks to recuperate and then they started chemo. That means, on top of the loss of weight and terrible weakness of the surgery, he had to start this chemical killing process. Chemo kills all of your cells, only it's supposed to kill the cancerous ones first. That means that the process needs to be a delicate balance and closely monitored.

Well, he is retching under chemo. His skin is blotting, he can't stay awake, he can't sleep. They took him off chemo for a week and they are going to see how he's doing. I know what it means for people who need chemo, but can't take it. It's a hard process.

Twentieth century medicine is still so primitive. Scissors, string, crayons, chemical and radiation carpet bombing. Sheesh.

Anyhoo...

Lots of plays with my game prototype #1 (I'm sure you're bored of hearing about that) including introducing new people to the game. Mixed reactions from good to great. Only one wanted to play again immediately. Can't win 'em all.

My daughter also played Gin rummy and 500 rummy, with me, Saarya, and with my mother.

I went to a neighbor's house where the kids always congregate. The parents are in Dallas for sabbatical - I'll be staying with them for BGG.con - and their kids aged 20 and 19 (give or take) are running free. The truth is, there was not much difference between what usually happened there on shabbat afternoons and now. The house was actually in pretty good shape. A bit more cursing going on was about all.

I got in two games of snooker. I am usually competent at billiard games but not expert - a pattern I follow with many games. I lost both games on the last ball. Other people around me were playing poker (with chips) and Go. One of the kids insisted that "Go" was really the five in a row game, while "Gobang" was the name of the classic we know as "Go". Obviously someone had trouble reading the Japanese instruction manual. He also obviously had trouble playing a game with anything remotely like what I know as basic Go strategy. They started the game in the center and kept trying to surround each other with every piece.

Yehuda