Random Update 10-18-15: Game of a different sort

On 10/18/2015 at 12:44 PM by Ranger1

Happy Sunday, Pixlbit! Hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend. I've been busy this past week having fun.

Playing: Animal Crossing and Fantasy Life, still.

Also took part in a scavenger hunt last week. I live in an area with a huge "Shop Local" emphasis, and many businesses in Portland (that's Maine, not Oregon, by the way) belong to the Portland Shop Local organization. They put out a yearly directory and a broad assortment of businesses belong to it. Anyway, my favorite indy bookstore is hosting a scavenger hunt during the month of October. Jason and I picked up our clue sheets the first day it was announced. They didn't proof-read them before they got printed, and they ended up having to redo them, so it took us another week before we could pick up the new one. Anyway, 18 businesses are taking part, and you have to solve the puzzles on the clue sheet to find out which businesses they are. Then, you have to visit at least 15 of them, get a clue, find the answer inside the business, and get your answer sheet stamped (or signed). Then you return to Letterpress Books and get your sheet verified and collect a prize. Several of the participating businesses donated prizes, and they're to be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, but everyone taking part gets something, even after the big stuff is gone.

Anyway, Jason and I solved the puzzles, and we spent Wednesday and Thursday afternoons running around solving the clues and getting our stamps. We got all 15 with ten minutes to spare before Letterpress closed for the day. And guess what? We were the first finishers! Because we're two separate households, we each got a prize. I picked this awesome gift basket full of various honey products and Jason got a $25 gift certificate to a bowling alley. And we got our pic taken and posted on Letterpress' Facebook page holding our prizes. I've blogged about the whole adventure (and we did have some adventures along the way), but I'm not going to post it until after the game is over on the 31st. No spoilers for anyone.

Reading: The Grey Horse by R.A. MacAvoy. She was one of my favorite fantasy authors in the mid-to-late-80s, and I recently found my stash of her books in one of the boxes rescued from grandma's garage. It's been fun re-reading them.

Watching: Almost all caught up with Hawaii Five-O and I've started the most recent seasons of Haven and Supernatural on Netflix. Started a series called Legends starring Sean Bean on Netflix, too. And I rented Avengers: Age of Ultron and Jason and I watched it Friday night. I liked it, but the first one was a lot better. I think it needed more Coulson. With the movie watched, I can now go back and resume Agents of SHIELD.

Listening: Some Jed Marum, some Tom Hall, some of my "stuck in the 80s" collection. Went to my monthly sea music session yesterday, so listened to my fellow folkies, as well as joined their singing. Had several people come up to us over the course of the evening and tell us how much they enjoyed listening to us. We kept telling them it was an open session and they were welcome to join us at any time.

Well Pixlbit Nation, it's time for me to take the dog for a walk and then get ready for another shift at Bow Street Market. Have a grand upcoming week!

leeradical42

10/18/2015 at 02:05 PM

I'm glad somebody has some singing talent God gave me the ability to play the drums which I do well but singing is definitely not my forte.

Ranger1

10/18/2015 at 09:10 PM

You mistake my love of singing for actual talent, Rodney!

Super Step Contributing Writer

10/18/2015 at 05:34 PM

Didn't realize Age of Ultron was out for rent. I'll probably rent it tomorrow.

10/18/2015 at 09:11 PM

I need to return it. We have a Redbox at the market, but I forgot it until I hwas half-way there.

KnightDriver

10/19/2015 at 12:04 AM

Hum? I must've missed MacAvoy back in the day. I just added Tea with the Black Dragon to my list.

10/19/2015 at 08:31 AM

That one is probably my favorite. The sequel, A Twist in the Rope, wasn't nearly as good.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

10/19/2015 at 11:30 AM

I can't sing very well either, but I do it because I don't care. And it's fun!

Yeah I saw about that scavenger hunt on facebook. Those are fun! I did one way back in elementary school.

I got Age of Ultron in the mail but I haven't watched it yet. HArd to focus on movies. I did like it though, it had some emotional stuff I really liked between the characters. Need to watch that soon.

10/19/2015 at 03:07 PM

You have a good voice, Matt. And I agree, I sing because it's fun.

10/19/2015 at 03:17 PM

thanks. :) Need more practice.

goaztecs

10/19/2015 at 01:49 PM

The scavenger hunt sounds like it was a lot of fun and congrats to you two on winning some awesome prizes. Its nice to see the community getting together to do something like that and promote local businesses.

You need to catch up with SHIELD. This season has started off strong and it looks like its going to be a good season.

10/19/2015 at 03:06 PM

There's a big "shop local" move in Maine. Everything from farmers' markets to mom and pop businesses. That's one of the things I really like about the market I work at: they have made it a point to sell as much local food and other products as possible, and they have the vendors in on the weekends to give out samples and talk about their products.

Oh, that scavenger hunt was so much fun! There were a lot of prizes to choose from, but I had my heart set on that basket of honey products from the start. Jason took longer to pick out his prize.

Yeah, I figure I have a couple of weeks to get caught up before Hulu's five episodes at a time thing kicks in and I start missing any of them.

SanAndreas

10/19/2015 at 03:11 PM

In Okahoma, they have a sort of scavenger hunt for people into quilting which is called the Shop Hop. My mother usually participates in it. This scavenger hunt, however, takes place across the entire state and lasts for several days.

My mother is also into geocaching. I've gone on some of these geocache hunts, one of which included the childhood home of Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, who was born and raised in Watonga, OK, and whose house is a landmark in that town.

PixlBit