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Board games
For the last two or three months we have been playing board games regularly on the weekends. Game Fanatic started us playing an easier version of Gloomhaven. Some time ago we had tried the regular version, and it was okay, but we didn’t play for a long time and when we tried this version I had forgotten how to play. The good news is we played often enough to remember how to play for now. It’s been just The Scientist, Game Fanatic and me, but once we finish all the campaigns, the plan is for Lego Lover to join us for the regular version. The good thing about this game is you keep the same character and build it up over time. I guess for some this isn’t a good thing but for me it’s good to stick to what I know and keep playing it. Normally I choose a character that uses magic for these games but this time I chose a close-up fighting character and it’s been okay for me.
That said, we haven’t played in the last month due to other games and distractions. We finally tried out Takenoko for the first time and we all liked it well enough to play it again and again. Good things about this game are it is short, easy to learn and has some strategy involved. I’ve had the board game for a year or two, along with an expansion. We have yet to include the expansion but will likely try it soon. I also have the iOS version and have started practicing it so I can get get better at it.
The most recent game we played was a new version of Sentinels of the Multiverse. We played the older version years ago but hadn’t played it for years now. Game Fanatic bought the new edition recently and we learned it all over again. This is another game where you play a character type although it’s not like Gloomhaven where you build it up over several games. I found one that I really like and have stuck to it, but I will have to try others or get stuck in a rut. We played this before Game Fanatic’s birthday and on his birthday recently and it was enjoyed by all of us.
I like our new version of game playing where we are sticking to the same games over a period of time instead of trying something new each time. I found it anxiety-provoking to be challenged with something new almost every time and now I can relax and enjoy it more.
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Stuff
I am still keeping up with exercise to some degree. That isn’t translating to any weight loss as yet and it also isn’t translating to increased muscle mass. I am a bit stuck on that part because I know I have built up muscle but to stay the same that would mean I’d have to lose muscle somewhere else and I don’t think that’s happening. That said, I am not sure how much stock to take in the scales that do all these fancy computations on the body. I am finding it’s been a struggle to get through exercise sessions lately. Usually, I will start feeling better after going for a while and the rest comes more easily. Not the case recently though.
I don’t think I mentioned here yet that my dad went home just before Thanksgiving and is doing okay. It seems he is suffering a bit of confusion since the second stroke but other issues don’t seem to have changed a lot. I did speak with him a few days ago and had a slightly longer conversation. Still quite brief but he was able to get more out on that occasion.
Game Fanatic has been trying to get hold of a Playstation 5 for some time and the pickings have been limited since its release whenever it was. Then EB Games said they had some available for pre-order last month and I rushed there to get an order in to find out they had sold out. I was put on a waitlist in case more units arrived than predicted. These units were supposed to come fairly soon after the orders were taken but I didn’t hear anything further. So I stopped in one day last week to check on the status. It turns out they were still working on calling people about orders and I was able to collect mine after all. So Game Fanatic now has the monster-sized machine which blocks our tv and was able to add a couple of items to his limited Christmas list.
The Scientist hasn’t had any real holiday from work in ages. I don’t count the time taken off when he had surgery earlier this year. As of tomorrow, he’s off until early January. Here’s hoping the time off allows him to recharge a bit for next year. Also, the Scientist had a birthday last week and he’s now started his last year of his 50s. I took him out for lunch at a Thai/fusion restaurant where they had robots to deliver meals to tables and it was a good meal. Then we went to Holey Moley to do mini mini-golf and a game of bowling, both of which were lots of fun for us.
We still don’t have any definite dates on our borders opening here in WA but it feels like it’s getting close to reality now. I have been playing around with dates for travel for next year and it seems like it might be okay in the second quarter barring any delays from newer variants.
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Down to one teenager
A little over a week ago, we lost one of our teenagers to the 20s. :DÂ Game Fanatic finished his second decade and bid goodbye to his teen years. Actually he paid no attention whatsoever, but we parents did have a few sentimental moments about it. This was a particularly good birthday for him or at least he seemed pretty content with his day, right up to the end. We invited some friends over, along with the usual family to share the day. It went pretty well overall and everyone seemed to get along pretty well. Everyone came early enough that there was time for him to play games in the evening and to have a take out meal from our local curry place and still have a bit of time at the end of the day.
I attribute some of the improvement to the medication that he’s taking right now. We’ve been going through lots of different tablets to get to this point and still have a way to go. But at least there are a couple medications that seem to make a bit of positive difference. To me, it is a big difference for him to be more relaxed with visitors so that he can enjoy himself on special days.
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The not so super Supanova
It’s been a year full of pop culture conventions for Game Fanatic so far. He attended WaiCon in early March with me and it was pretty interesting but well-organised. This was a local production done by the WA anime fan group. Not long after that I saw mention of OzComicon, something Game Fanatic was totally unaware of…This happened to be at the end of March. It was a bit soon after the first one, but was a more general pop culture thing done by the Australian branch of Comicon in the US. This was its first time in Perth, though, so perhaps the scheduling next year will be more suitable. In June the past several years, we’ve had the Supanova Pop Culture show. In past years this was put on at the Claremont Showgrounds exhibition hall, a pretty old venue that has considerable limitations for an event this size. Game Fanatic and the Scientist went last year and it was pretty rough going with the crush of people. The venue was too small and they both said it was poorly organised.
This weekend was the annual event and it was my turn to take Game Fanatic. We’d made plans to meet up with a friend and her daughter while there….it was a first time for both of them. Anyway, the venue was changed to the Perth Convention Centre, the same place the other two cons have been held. It’s a much larger space and we saw how well the other cons handled space. Well, it obviously wasn’t meant to be enjoyable unless you liked being crushed between people and moving at a snail’s pace. The line just to get in was quite long, although apparently this is pretty normal for the larger shows. I don’t have so much complaint about this but they could have organised the line a bit instead of leaving it to snake around the outside area and all the way across the bridge over a main street in Perth. Fortunately the line did move pretty quickly and soon we were able to line up to buy tickets. In all, I’d guess we spent half an hour just getting in. The place was already pretty packed and was likely be be worse as the day went on thanks to the predicted severe storms coming through. In the end the storms weren’t that much of an issue although there were periods of some heavy rain.
The main problems were the bottlenecks in the crowds everywhere but worst around the entrance/exit. It was hard to get around and took so long we lost track of time. We had wanted to see a couple of the panels but missed out on them and then they were closed off as being too full. I was mostly interested in seeing John Barrowman from Doctor Who and Torchwood…alas it wasn’t meant to happen, I guess. In the end, none of us enjoyed it that much. It wasn’t easy to get a good look at costumes and there were plenty of them around. I think we saw much more from outside the main hall. I think they could have spread out events a bit more than they did and made good use of the theatre for the panels instead of being curtained off inside the main hall.
Game Fanatic was far more disappointed than I was…this was the second one in a row to be so packed full and he’s not keen to go back next year unless there are better changes to the organisation. Perhaps they crowds were far more than they expected, though, so their larger venue seemed like it would be okay. I’m really glad it will be several months before the next big event.
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Challenging the anxiety
Game Fanatic has been fairly desperate to find ways to make some new friends for a while now. He has had some issues in the past that I think he’s finally willing to overcome, or at least compromise on. But the finding of the friends has been a difficult part since he’s not engaged regularly in work or schooling right now. In fact, he’s been mostly isolated in the past few years and only recently has been engaged in any sort of social interaction via old friends from the homeschooling community, mine and his. This hasn’t been particularly regular but it’s been something and he’s found he has improved on subsequent visits. His recent attendance at the Supernova convention was meant to help find avenues for friendship but it was simply too crowded to accomplish much of anything aside from going around to the different stalls and looking at the cosplay creativity of other convention goers.
What he did do was pick up a flyer for a local Japanese anime fan group that interested him. Even though he’s had the flyer a few weeks, he didn’t gather up courage to go until this weekend. The group has screenings of anime series and movies on all but the first Saturday night of the month. On the last Saturday it seems they have a social gathering in the afternoon before the screenings. The viewing sessions do come at a cost but the social group is free. Game Fanatic asked to go early in the afternoon so we headed out about the time they were due to start and arrived half an hour later. We found a mostly empty space with a couple people hanging around. It seems this weekend wasn’t a good one for joining in the first time due to another event nearby and the fact it’s winter here. I talked to a couple of the guys there and it was suggested that we come back a little later and see if there is more of a crowd.
We went away and came back an hour later. We were optimistic to find the parking lot nearly full but it seems those were people attending other events in the center as only a couple others had joined the group we were there to see. This included an older woman with a sewing machine, which seemed rather odd to me. I will point out that GF was in quite a panic from the start and was silent through the brief chats I had with most of the others that we came across there. I finally got him to sit down with me at one of the tables set up for the afternoon and he was shaking from nerves. Fortunately he calmed down after we’d been there for a little while. I chatted a bit with the sewing machine woman, who was having some trouble with the machine. She went away after a while to take that machine home and retrieve another one, I think. The few others came and went but mostly left us alone. They weren’t unfriendly but they weren’t terribly inviting either. I suspect this crowd, being rather geeky, doesn’t have a notion of helping other join in. So we were just sitting there most of the time. I had a couple of things in my purse to occupy myself but GF just sat there the entire time. I talked to him a bit and kept asking him if he wanted to stay or go. It was still quite a while until the evening activities would be set up and I was bored and I suspect he was too (aside from nerves). Â Eventually I made the decision that we would leave so I said our goodbyes and said we would come back some other time. Then we came home.
I will credit Game Fanatic highly for being so determined to stick it out. If I’d felt there would be any positive outcome I’d have stayed much longer but it seemed to me a fruitless venture on this particular day. I made sure he understands that we won’t give up and we will keep trying until it works. Not only do we have to have the right environment but GF also needs to be able to engage in the situation to some degree. I suspect that will take a few attempts just on its own so I hope his determination continues.
We found another possible social avenue when I discovered a new games shop has opened somewhat locally. It’s not close to home but it’s in the area so we take what we can get. At least it’s not in the city proper like the one other games shop here. Anyway, this new place has regularly scheduled events most days of the week. Thursday night is devoted to board games and they have several available to play but the option to bring your own too. We drove down on Thursday afternoon to have a look at the place and it seems nice enough as a venue for games. Their selection of games for sale isn’t very big right now but they have only been open a few months. There were only a few people in the stores, mostly older guys playing some card game…perhaps Magic the Gathering or something of that ilk. Since today’s adventure didn’t come out very well I am encouraging Game Fanatic to try out the games night. We may well have to go two or three times before he is comfortable there but it doesn’t hurt to keep trying and this is the sort of activity where he’s most likely to find like-minded people.
We ended up buying a couple of games while at his shop even though they cost more than we’d pay at our online supplier. If the service and community work out to be good here, it will be worth the investment, I think.
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Proud
Game Fanatic made his parents pretty proud this weekend when he attended the Supernova Pop culture show. Over the past few years, he’s been fairly isolated and had limited friendships due to his various anxiety, ocd and asd sort of issues. I added in the asd even though his diagnosis of autism is not official just yet. It’s just that it’s now his traits are so much more obvious than in the past so it seems worthy of inclusion. Going out in public to crowded places has always been a struggle for GF so when he announced his interest in attending Supernova months ago, we didn’t really think it would end up happening. Closer to time, there were questions about going along with other people we know but that didn’t work out for various reasons. He still wanted to go so the Scientist accompanied him to the show last Sunday. Apparently it was really crowded with many rude show-goers pushing their way around the venue. The Scientist told me later that GF started following him around until he said that GF need to take the lead and the Scientist would follow him. This wouldn’t necessarily work every time but it did on this occasion. Game Fanatic did go around to the things that interested him, including a panel by Mad Men, a company that distributes most of the anime titles here in Australia. He took charge of what he wanted to do and just got on with it. I have long known that when Game Fanatic sets his mind to something, he can overcome many of the obstacles and this is a prime example. The main objective in going to this show was so that GF could socialise but that didn’t really happen as it was just too crowded there. But GF did pick up information on a local anime group that meets so perhaps this will be a means develop more of a social circle for him. I hope he takes the same determination into the next social challenge he meets. Well done, Game Fanatic!
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Random stuff
I’m due to donate blood again tomorrow with a full blood donation. It actually seems a long time now since my plasma donation in February, which seems to be a good thing, I think. Maybe I will increase my plasma donations since I am feeling okay about it. I did manage to get through gym workouts yesterday (just) and today (comfortably) so I will be taking tomorrow off while I give blood. I’ve also decided to do cardio workouts only for a few days to give my body a bit more time to recover from all the new workouts I’ve been trying.
My tai chi class finished for this term this evening and I will be on to level six next term. As I was telling the Scientist, it feels really great to feel up to speed on the moves at the end of term for a change. Usually it takes until well into the following term before I start to get a real handle on new moves. Next term will be mostly moves I know but will be done on the opposite side. I imagine this will be a big challenge for me, particularly because there are a lot more moves to work on each week this time. But there are a few new moves to look forward to and at the end of next term I’ll be done with level six…which means I will know all the moves in the tai chi set (108 ). I went to re-enroll for next term online and my usual location says it’s sold out of spaces. I find this rather difficult to believe as there aren’t that many people attending regularly right now so surely there is still space. I also wanted to do a workshop focusing on level four and that wasn’t available at all in my choices. I sent an email to the owner and she has already replied saying she was going to rectify the problems and to try again tomorrow.
There are appointments to take Game Fanatic to this week on two afternoons. We see his clinical psychologist on Wednesday and it’s on to the psychiatrist he saw last month to continue the assessment for autism. I was a bit perplexed last time we saw the clinical psych as he seemed concerned about fitting GF into the current criteria for autism due to the fact he had no language delays. The language criteria in place currently does not require a delay but does require one or two other criteria to be met. Lego Lover was diagnosed without a language delay so I don’t see the issue. Apparently the new criteria, which goes into effect with the new DSM V next month, isn’t a problem for diagnosis…Since it’s likely to take that long to reach the conclusion of this process, I suppose it doesn’t matter in the long run.
We seem to be in a bit of an autumn heatwave right now. Today the temperature unexpectedly reached 37.6 locally which is somewhere close to the 100F. Apparently the heat will continue through the week. Just when we thought the new air conditioner will start being run less regularly, we are getting a full test of it’s ability to cool the house in summer conditions. Not to mention higher electricity bills…
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History repeats
It’s hard for me to believe it but it’s now been eight or nine years since Lego Lover was officially diagnosed with high-functioning autism. I suppose it is not so incredible when I consider he was only five at the time…But it doesn’t always seem so long ago. And yet it was the better part of his lifetime ago. I remember it was a reader of this blog who drew my attention to a condition called Asperger’s syndrome by forwarding a link to a news article. I’d never heard of it before although I was slightly aware of  (classic) autism. After reading the article I was half convinced Lego Lover had Asperger’s and half convinced that he didn’t. Recently I was reminded of something else that came to mind while reading the article. I remember thinking that half the traits seemed to fit Lego Lover and the other half seemed to fit Game Fanatic. If you put those two halves together you’d have a perfect Aspie. I didn’t give that too much more thought at the time, aside from it motivating me to eventually seek assessment for Lego Lover due to the difficulties that arose from some of his issues.
Strangely I hadn’t recalled that thought for many years but it came to mind recently while discussing Game Fanatic with the clinical psychologist who has worked with us for several years. Game Fanatic has long had a variety of issues like anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder causing considerable impact on his life. Every so often red flags would go up that put me in mind of Asperger’s syndrome but then I would think about the overall picture and it just didn’t fit. It’s been an occasional topic of discussion with the psychologist over the past few years but it never went much further than that. That’s all changed recently as we revisited this topic and it seems that perhaps Game Fanatic may very well have Asperger’s. We spent our last two sessions discussing this more in-depth and there’s enough evidence from our talks to now to support the possibility. We are currently looking for a psychiatrist who has experience with autism and Asperger’s syndrome in older teens and adults to seek further advice and assessment.
It’s strange to be on this path again after so many years. It is familiar and yet it will be different because we are looking at this issue for an adult rather than a child. It’s also strange to think this hasn’t been obvious for all these years when I’d had such a thought so long ago. I think the reason for this is that Lego Lover has always been quite expressive of thoughts and feelings so we always knew a lot about how his mind works. On the other hand Game Fanatic has always kept most of his thoughts and feelings to himself. It’s only been in the last few years that he has shared enough of himself to allow us to understand him better. With this “new” information it’s easier to see how he might well fit into the Asperger’s category. Assuming that a diagnosis does happen, I wonder if I will feel the same relief and finding an explanation as I did all those years ago with Lego Lover.
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No time wasted…
Game Fanatic was eighteen years old as of Friday. Today he received his first mail from the local member of parliament. I can’t help thinking it must have been posted on Friday. To clarify, Game Fanatic was sent voter registration materials a couple of times in the past year or two and he sent that in a few months ago so is now eligible and required to vote. I just didn’t think he’d be so “fortunate” as to receive this sort of mail so soon.
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Childhood to adulthood
It seems appropriate to again recall the events of this day and night from eighteen years ago.
I reached the last week of my official forty weeks of pregnancy and I found myself being shifted from the relaxed atmosphere of the family birth center we’d been attending into the regular maternity clinic in the main hospital. What a difference it was to go into the big, noisy clinic and have to sit for an hour on uncomfortable seats when I was quite swollen and had elevated blood pressure. I don’t really recall much about the actual appointment. It was all a blur. The upshot was that I was to be induced the next day and was expected there by late morning.
On the morning of the 18th, we piled into the car and I recall stopping for a bit of breakfast at the drive through at McDonald’s of all places. Before I knew it was I checked into the hospital and put in a room. At some point some treatment to start the induction was given and even that I don’t really recall. I do recall sitting around there all afternoon with the Scientist, waiting for something to happen. At some point I was given further treatment and then we waited and waited. I remember drinking Milo (a powder chocolate drink) at some point. Nothing happened and then it was night and I think there must have been a third treatment. And then the Scientist went home as it was quite late and who knew how much longer it would be.
At some point in the next hour, around 11pm, I got up to go to the toilet and it was there my waters broke unexpectedly. To that point, nothing obvious had happened to me but now it was all happening at once. Contractions started and just didn’t stop, one after another. The Scientist was dragged from bed almost immediately after he’d reached it and returned to my side within a short time although it seemed like ages to me. I Â was offered an epidural and refused as I thought I would surely be able to handle a few hours of labor. After a few hours of constant contractions, I suddenly was desperate for the epidural but I was too far along so they offered pethidine instead. I don’t believe that made any dent into the pain but I did get some relief from the nitrous oxide for short bursts of time. Later on I did get the epidural after all as I’d tired so much from non-stop contractions for so many hours. I honestly don’t recall how long it took for the birth to happen once I started pushing but it eventually required some assistance. Possibly I wasn’t feeling enough sensation to push effectively. At 11am my future game fanatic finally made it into the world and was soon making a big noise.
The next couple of days are a blur in my memories now. They consisted of sleeping whenever I could and feeding and feeding and a crying baby. Game Fanatic and two other little boys were all born that day and all kept the midwives busy with cuddling crying babies in an effort to let us moms get a bit of sleep once in a while. And then it was time to go home and we dressed him up in his little green suit and the Scientist drove us back home. Â The next few months are a blur of sleepless days and nights, feeding and changing nappies (diapers). Feedings became quite painful and I was miserable enough that the Scientist suggested formula to give me a break. But I persisted through the pain and we eventually seem to work things out.
Before I knew it, I had a crawling baby who soon was standing and then he was walking. And while achieving these marvelous feats, he also started talking and shared his insights with us regularly. Then it was a first birthday and he had chicken pox! Over the next year he would speak in complete sentences and eat his first chili (by mistake) and develop a love for the hot and spicy foods he eats today. When he was three he started kindy and the next year pre-primary and before we knew it he was school age. Fast forward a few more years and he’d grown quite tall and his voice changed and he suddenly was a teenager. And here we are on the verge of eighteen. He’s a fascinating young adult now and I can’t wait to see what happens next for our baby.
Every year for his birthday, Game Fanatic makes a birthday list to give us so that he always gets what he wants for his birthday instead of something disappointing. This year his list consisted only of games, some which he will be receiving. But I have a special surprise for him. Well maybe not that much of a surprise as I jokingly mentioned it a while back to him. With the Scientist, I’ve chosen a handful of favorite books from his childhood and bought copies for him to keep as mementos.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar -He had a board book as a baby and toddler and he loved to hear this book read again and again. The copy I ended up with via mail order is a tiny version of the book so I’m not sure how he will like it. I suspect he will prefer to have a slightly bigger copy as this one fits a bit too neatly into his hand.
- Hairy MacLary from Donaldson’s Dairy– This book is the first in a series of books containing the lovable dog, Hairy MacLary. In truth the book we’d read first was about another character, Scattercat, or maybe it was Slinki Malinki. They are all gentle, rhythmic books and Game Fanatic loved all that we read. We never owned our own copy so I thought it was time he had his own to keep forever.
- There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake– Another preschool favorite that is the first in a series of books about a little girl and her favorite imaginary friend, a hippopotamus, who gets up to some great silliness and fun.
- Greek Myths by Marcia Williams- I think this may have been the first book Game Fanatic read about Greek myths. It’s done in a sort of comic style with lots of illustration and he adored this book so much that he regularly checked it out of the library. I think this will be more of a surprise than some of the other books as he was so much older when he read it.
- The Three Billy Goats Gruff– This one was a bit hard as there are so many versions available and we’d have likely read more than one to Game Fanatic when we were not relating the story from memory. Eventually the Scientist spotted one that seemed familiar so we chose that one. We are still waiting for this one to arrive and hopefully will have it next week. Â Of all the stories from his childhood, this was Game Fanatic’s favorite and he asked for it to be told again and again whether we had a copy of the book or not. We would go to the park for little ones and he would insist on us acting it out using the bridge that connected the two pieces of equipment. The park still has that same equipment and I am often reminded of the repeated performances passing by there with the dogs. I think this one will also be a bit of a surprise but hopefully will keep that special memory alive for him.
It’s nearly midnight and I need to make some brownies before I go to bed. I’d had aspirations of making a lemon tart but never got the recipe started so it will have to wait a bit longer, I guess. Here’s to a very special day tomorrow  and many special days in the future for my baby, who is now an adult.