Current mood:	happy
Current music:	http://www.myspace.com/borealnetwork

Five happies make up a post?
Here are some happy things!

1: I just spent a couple days with my good friend Matt, who was in town between terms in his quest to become a high school psychologist.  (He goes to grad school in Wisconsin.)  While he was here, we went to the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, made spaghetti and cheese bread, and tested out games I got for Christmas and my birthday, as well as graph paper Battleship.  He perused my novel in progress (and tested the challenge system), played a bunch of Crayon Physics Deluxe, and hooked up his Game Cube and relaxed with John Madden football.  His wife Emily was in town on Saturday and stopped in for a while, too, and we exchanged presents.  Matt is always a lot of fun.  He also got to visit other friends while in town.

2. Moreover, Emily hinted that her poetry collective, Line 45, will be doing another reading soon, at a time and place I can attend.  And therefore, I intend to!  The group is twice as relevant for me now because, as it happens, I know another of the members from work, and she's nifty too.

3. I've been informed that a librarian at Northeast Library is creating a youth center or program there and is interested in using Simon's Revenge, the game I invented and ran for several months in the Franklin Teen Center.  Whee!!  There's a special magic for a game designer when people actually play your games without you having to be there urging them to do so.  I know because I felt it one evening in college when I saw two housemates start playing a card game I'd invented and taught them without my having anything to do with it.  (That was the only time, sadly.)  So, I've written her an e-mail about Simon's Revenge and hope to hear from her soon.

4. One thing that always gnaws at my heart is the Battle for Wesnoth campaign I left unfinished years ago.  (The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based fantasy combat game developed by the open source community.)  I recently recieved an e-mail from someone who remembered the old campaign and was in the process of updating the files.  He even said he was thinking about finishing the campaign!  I'm really excited at the idea.  Even if the ending isn't as cool or personally satisfying as it would have been had I designed it myself, it'll be a huge weight lifted if A Gryphon's Tale can finally be completed.  And the developer seems genuinely interested in where I was taking it, so, maybe, in the best case scenario, I'll still get to write the campaign's ending while he does the programming nitty-gritty.  Not that I would expect that of him, but it surely would be awesome.

5. I've entered a 24-hour short story contest run by WritersWeekly.com.  At noon this Saturday, I'll be sent a topic, and will have until noon Sunday to write a story about it up to 5000 words long.  For the $5 entry fee, I have a chance at $200-$300.  Aside from the fact that it's a bit of a longshot, I have a good feeling about the upcoming experience.