Well. Hmm. So. I didn't realize that I'd put off blogging here so long, that all of my more recent attempts to write something here were still saved drafts — a digital monument to my usual difficulties matching execution to ambition. Consistently matching, let's say. Be a bit more charitable.

This summer has been strange. It hasn't been great, but then I wouldn't say that it's been all bad by any means — I just don't feel like I've been able to get much of a handle on it. For a while I thought that might be OK, but I think I don't have the detachment or the demeanor to just roll with whatever summer gives me, if it's going to be all mercurial.

I need to make sense of things. Funny how easy it is to forget how you work.

One thing that's really saved me this summer is my Scavenger Hunt, a daydream that I surprised myself by following through on. It's still amazing to me that I can make a list of stuff I think is cool and/or hard to find, and people will send me pictures of it. Even two weeks from the end I still get excited when I see a really good photo.

After it's done I'll give a breakdown of what it was like and what I've learned — because I had to do a lot of this from scratch and I'd definitely do some stuff differently — but I like the idea of doing something like this every other year or so.

OK I need to go to sleep, but I am NOT making another draft. Some other summer highlights:

-Playing LA Noire with my two Fringe buddies in the off-season. I think it's probably best played as a couch co-op game, actually.

-Since the last post I've seen Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Monsters, and Justified season 1, all of which were great.

-Lawrence Reunion. It was cool to see everyone again and it led to us getting together at Jonas and Sarah's for games recently. Hoping to do the same thing when the Lawrentians in the Scavenger Hunt come over in September.

-Bastion. An Xbox Arcade game that I played over the course of a weekend, really good (videogame) story.

-Biking. Sometimes it's been too hot or I've been too lazy or sick or tired but I've biked a lot this summer, enough that I won't feel guilty in the winter.

-I successfully brewed a beer with creeping charlie instead of hops and submitted it to the state fair. I call it Yardwork. Even getting that far was worth all the effort. I've done a lot of weird wine and herb beers too in 1 gallon batches.

-Boardgames. I just got Hex Hex XL and Bang! from Amazon today and this summer I've gotten to try a lot of other good games: 7 Wonders, Carcassonne with the Princess and the Dragon expansion, Shadows over Camelot, and Lord of the Fries all stand out. I sold my copy of Tobago (meh) for a paltry sum yesterday and plan to buy Race for the Galaxy sometime this week.