VigoTheCarpathian

The first, because the other guy has already failed any competence/lucidity test the office would require, and somehow is still considered an option by a large chunk of our populace.

Mediterranean lamb bowls with turmeric rice (one of our oldest daughter’s favorites): https://cooked.wiki/new?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxandbriar.com%2Fmediterranean-lamb-bowls%2F

Been swapping between a lot of books without finishing them in the last month - but finally got some out of the way to start in with the new. There, There by Tommy Orange is a great set of vignettes across the Native American community in the Bay Area, very heartbreaking and funny and poetic - the characters and the voices are great. The Elric Saga, Part 1, by Michael Moorcock - collection of the first three Elric novels - when I was in middle school, I tried to get into this (and Lord Foul’s Bane by Donaldson). Really enjoyed it as a tragic fairytale without a lot of back story - the characterizations are about the depth of a Conan novel.

You also need mental health and addiction resources available and accessible to be able to get people out of what comes with drug use. Both of these conditions don’t really exist in the US. Our approach, with states going their own way and rolling things out individually seems to give us the worst of both worlds - it takes a decade for each individual state to close the loopholes and hopefully get to a sustainable place. We are still waiting for cannabis-funded mental health and addiction resources in Oregon 10 years after legalization, whilst dealing with a large influx of homeless who need those services, and massive illegal grow operations that are supplying weed to the black market that still exists in dry states.

For all of the accusations I heard in church against Clinton and Obama, I’d say Trump is the closest thing to the biblical Antichrist. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. — 2 Thessalonians 2:1–4 NRSV (1989)

Last year, got embarrassed trying to summit Mt St Helens early in the season after healing from an ankle injury - the weather was warm and sticky snow, but mainly failed because my cardio was pretty shabby. Climbing buddy and I both signed up for an Olympic triathlon (our first) in mid July and have been doing a solid training plan since February, 1-2 progressively longer swim/bike/run workouts a week, with one combo workout day, two days of weights and a day of yin yoga for recovery. The plan is to also do a 5000ft gain hike in April and climb Mt Hood in May/June, in prep for Rainier in august/september. But just had another friend tell me they got a permit two weeks after my triathlon to climb Mt Whitney. Too many fitness goals!

Homemade bean and cheese pupusas: by the way, learned that if you put “cooked.wiki/“ before any recipe site, it scrubs out all of the blog/scroll/ad content and puts the recipe in a viewing friendly format. https://cooked.wiki/new?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthebigmansworld.com%2Fpupusas%2F

Corned beef and colcannon, with an herbed chicken breast option for my youngest. Cider and Guinness for the wife, Guinness NA for me.

In a word - yes. Much less discursive and still keeping with the humor and epic stuff that the MBotF series did at its peak. I thought it was a good blend of what I liked about the OG and the Esselmont books, and I’m excited about the next one. Will go on record to say that I like Brandon Sanderson’s books fine, but I have never been excited about one.

Let me know your Portland dates - even if I am not around to tour guide and swap tales of youthful crime sprees, I have recommendations on food/sights/strip clubs.

As has been said, saying “I’m gonna endanger your kid, and here’s more examples of how I might do that” isn’t a relationship builder for most people…. Unless you’re from Florida.

I’ve been holding off reading Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore until the weather gets really rainy/moody - I think his writing is very easy to read, but atmospheric - and kind of a simple/deep prose with surreality, like Delillo. Last year, when looking for books by him at the library, the only one available was “What I Talk about When I Talk About Running”, which I oddly found very inspiring, both about fitness and getting older, and his parallels with writing and creativity. Highly recommend.

The internet demands Saurombadil.