PixlBit

Good morning, Pixlbit Nation! Forgive the excessive mid-week cheeriness, it's my weekend.

First off, some of you former 1uppers may remember my nephew Bean. On Friday morning, my sister and I flew down to Nashville and were picked up by her ex and drove to Kentucky for my nephew's high school graduation that evening. It's hard to believe my little gaming buddy is all grown up now. He topped off at a very lanky 6'1". Anyway, proud of him, and excited to see where he goes from here. We flew back the next day. I don't recommend this kind of travel, it's exhausting! I picked up a ton of street passes in the various airports and McDonald's and played a bunch of Bravely Default. I wish I'd had Animal Crossing for the trip, though. Oh, well. I finally made it home about 4 AM on Sunday. I had to work on Sunday, so I didn't fully recover until yesterday.

Listening: Jean Ritchie died a week ago Monday, so I've been listening to her songs on YouTube and to Dear Jean, the two CD tribute album my friend Dan produced last year. She was called "The Mother of American Folk Music" and had an interesting life and influenced a lot of people. Other than that, The Clash, Midnight Oil, and Social Distortion have been in the CD player in the car for the last week or so.

Watching: Rented The Two Jakes. Yes, it was good, but I liked Chinatown better. Finished watching the two seasons of Death in Paradise currently running on Netflix and watched some more of the original Hawaii Five-O. Also watched: Four Brothers, which was really just a modern day remake of an old western called The Sons of Katie Elder. I liked it, but I recognized for what it was. Unbreakable (kind of slow, but I liked it), an old silent movie called Le voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon). It was about 12 minutes long, and trippy as hell. Reminded me a bit of Cirque du soleil. Transit, about a gang who robs an armored car and hides it in a family's car and then hunts them down and tries to kill them to get it back. I only watched it because it had the oh-so-pretty Jim Caviezel in it. Yesterday's movie choice was The Great Escape. Almost three hours long, but worth it. Lots of great actors including Steve McQueen, James Garner, James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, David McCallum (Ducky on NCIS), Gordon Jackson, Charles Bronson, and Donald Pleasence. David McCallum's character gets killed, and my first response was "They killed Ducky!"

Reading: Finally finished Cordelia Underwood by Van Reid. An amusing romp through Victorian-era Maine with a delightfully wacky cast of characters. I'll read the rest of the series at some point. It helps that I know the author, I can hear Van's voice doing the narration in my head. He worked at the bookstore I used to haunt in my teens and did community theater. I'll always remember him as Elwood P. Dowd in "Harvey".

Playing: Bravely Default, got a couple of hours in. Enjoying it a lot. Also went back to my backlog and pulled out Assassin's Creed with the intention of finishing it this time around. I'm already at the point I was when I quit the first time. The missions are just as repetitive this time around, I'm just expecting and don't feel the keen sense of disappointment I did the first time when the game first came out. And I think I'm better about being stealthy and going in for the quick, quiet kills. Anyway, more enjoyment this time.

Ranger stuff: the caterpillars are still everywhere at work, so when I do things like mow, I have to wear a pair of tyvek coveralls. I look like I'm mowing in my PJs. Luckily, it's been on the cool and damp side. The Lady's slippers are all in bloom and people come from all over to see them. I was going to take a picture of a particularly nice patch of them, but some ignorant person whacked the heads off every flower in the clump with a stick. Wish I could have caught them... FInding lots of dead horseshoe crabs on the shore. This is the time of year when they come in to spawn, and some of them get eaten by various other wild creatures. A little later, we'll find the shed exoskeletons after they've spawned. I love horseshoe crabs, they're fascinating creatures -  not even remotely related to crabs, their closest living distant relative is the spider. They've remained relatively unchanged since before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Well, Pixlbit Nation, it's a beautiful day outside and I think I might go out and play in it. Have a good Wednesday!