MOOP!

So, because it's the start of the season, the Boston Harbor Island Ferry had ~free tickets!~ today, for anyone who was willing to drag themself out to the ticket booth at like eight AM. Austin discovered this, then asked if any bellringers would be interested in joining, and not only were there some of us, but friendJulia was willing to go get the tickets instead (being as she lives quite close, and would not have to leave Somerville at like seven in the morning).

So after ringing (which went quite well! We raised the back six in peal with Todd on the seven and me on the eight and somehow it sounded amazing? We ALL got stickers for that one!) five of us wandered over to the Harbor and got in line for the ferry. It was me, Austin, Julia, Phoebe, and Danielle, all of us with sunscreen and hats and general merriment.

We had chosen to go to Spectacle Island (because it had the best timing) which basically none of us had ever been to before. There was no plan, which was sorta the point --ride a boat (hell yes), wander around on the island (hell yes), skip rocks on the ocean, wander through gazebos, take photos of bumblebees, and lie in the grass. We managed to hit both summits, in our extremely meandery and slow way. I found a bunch of sea glass and stuck it in my purse for later. One bumblebee obediently sat in the grass next to my leg for a while and I got several spectacular close-ups.

The weather forecast was "hot but foggy" for most of the day, and _boy_ was the fog thorough and impressive. The city of Boston quickly disappeared behind us as we set out, and it was fascinating and gorgeous to watch the fog banks roll across the ocean and devour other islands and our home city. It made for a slightly eerie adventure, though the island itself was quite warm and breezy and nice.

Altogether we walked about four miles, and much admired the island. I look forward to finding more post-bells adventures with this crowd of people throughout the summer.

~Sor
MOOP!

SO LET'S TALK ABOUT BODA BORG!

Boda Borg is a team puzzle solving challenge dungeon. There are seventeen quests, each consisting of 2+ rooms. Every room has a success mode and at least one failure mode. Sometimes a lot of failure modes. They warn you right off the bat, and repeatedly, that you are going to fail, a lot. Especially because not one of the rooms comes with instructions...

Insert evil laughter and a whole lot of YES here. This is the sort of thing my parents were talking about when they wistfully sigh about how they wanted a big ol' warehouse on the nice side of town. They wanted to make their friends do this bullshit, and how!

Some of the quests are purely mental. Some of them are purely physical. Lots are in between! And I just spent EIGHT HOURS kicking ass, taking names, and having an absolutely great time.

mindways organized a group of 21 of us --eight veterans and thirteen newbies-- to come check it out. We got together at 2:00, and I wound up in a group with three strangers. The four of us kicked ass and had a lovely time --and yes, we failed a lot-- until about 5:30 when two of them had to leave.

Cue dinner and a group switch. I was itching to try some of the hardcore physical challenges --which I had been warned ranged from "kinda tough" to "American Ninja Warrior". And yes, there are at least two challenges that I am physically incapable of doing right now, which is genuinely and actually awesome. So I ran about with two different strangers, and Mindways, with me and Alex making lots of jokes about how Mindways and Ted had it SO MUCH EASIER being that they're both in the 6'+ range and Alex and I were...not.

Around 8:30, Mindways had to head home. Ted and I found his (??), Rebecca, who was the last of the other group, and the three of us decided to be the last stragglers. We finished another few rooms together, and finally at 9:30, our bodies decided to call it quits.

I had an absolute blast. I love the way that sticking with one group is good, in terms of solving puzzles, and I was very pleased with how well my later groups did with letting me take point on rooms I hadn't seen, to figure out how to solve them (and they would just do whatever physical things I requested). I got one nice compliment from Mindways, when I finished a room in about three and a half seconds and he sorta looked at me and said "so most people find that part to be really challenging, because [thing x]" and I just sortof goggled and replied that I hadn't even noticed.

I would one thousand percent go back, and am lightly planning to with Mindways and his sister in June once my school year ends (they both have often-free-during-the-day schedules). If you would like to go, hit me up! I will not spoil the quests for you! I will be obedient and maybe give hints if I am nice and be competent on the things that require competence.

( Final verdict (no spoilers but I do say which rooms I found difficult or not )

I am all for puzzles and I am all for physicality and I am all for situations in which you are expected and encourage to fail better. It was a really great time, I enjoyed hanging out with all my teammates, and I encourage all of you to try it too.

And now I sleep for fifty years and see if my shoulders stop aching. :D!

~Sor
MOOP!

So, it's free comic books day! To celebrate, I hit up three different comic shops, and wound up walking out with a total of eighteen free comics, the first issue of Ellis's Ignition City, and this:



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SO HAPPY I HAVE BEEN RENDERED INCOHERENT!

Dear Million Year Picnic. You have all my love forever.

~Sor
MOOP!

Original Tags: photos, shops, tagged, middleman, comics, loot