I did one of my long errand-running bike rides this week, and though I didn’t find most of what I was looking for, as usual I gained some serendipities I wasn’t expecting–mostly, a tour of the lovely 19th-century West Berlin neighborhood of Schöneberg (and a bit of Friedenau). Schöneberg immediately struck me as quite differentContinue reading “Berlin is Awesome, Exhibit E: Schöneberg and Friedenau”
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Scrambling: A Normandy Bike Tour, Part 1
Well, truth be told, this was a Brittany–Channel Islands–Normandy tour, the planning of which ended up being just as epic as it sounds. The biggest reason for this was the tour involved ferries, and one of those ferries (I’m looking at you here, Manche-Îles) abruptly changed their stated policy on transporting bikes *after* I hadContinue reading “Scrambling: A Normandy Bike Tour, Part 1”
Mask Lift
I’m going to kind of miss wearing a mask when we finally can stop doing it: it covers at least 60% of the evidence of my actual age!
Aikido and Rhetoric: Polishing
The only cure for materialism is the cleansing of the six senses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind). If the senses are clogged, one’s perception is stifled. The more it is stifled, the more contaminated the senses become. This creates disorder in the world, and that is the greatest evil of all. Polish theContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: Polishing”
Unauthorized Uses: Wine Corks
After I hosted 11 people for Thanksgiving, several of them serious wine enthusiasts, I ended up with a lot of corks. I rubbed my hands together in glee. There’s nothing I like better than a wine cork for multi-purpose Rigging of Things. I already mentioned corks in a previous post, but wine corks’ size makesContinue reading “Unauthorized Uses: Wine Corks”
Hoshigaki Update
They’re done! Notice the sugars on the outside, and when you squeeze them, they’re uniformly soft inside (except seeds).
Friday Favorites: K-dramas
I’ll just stick to series here. I tend to like more of the action/adventure/mystery genre, though there are a couple of romance and “healing” genre entries on this list. I also have access only to the series on Netflix, so let me know in the comments if there are some great ones I’ve missed elsewhere!
Letter of Recommendation: Pandemic (the board game)
Before you jump to the wrong conclusion: I did not start playing this board game during the COVID-19 pandemic. I actually started playing the game series in 2017. There are 4 games so far in the series: Pandemic, Pandemic: Legacy (Season One), Pandemic: Legacy (Season Two), and Pandemic: Legacy (Season Zero), in order of release.Continue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Pandemic (the board game)”
Friday Favorites: Non-kung-fu martial arts movies
Well, I’m not promising that *no* kung fu happens here: Seven Samurai. This is actually my favorite movie of any kind and all time. I would say you learn a lot more about bushido (the code of samurai behavior) in the Warring States period and how it impacted the surrounding community than you do aboutContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Non-kung-fu martial arts movies”
SOFI
Yummy bakery on the beautiful Sophienstraße.
The Rookery 