Nobody has ever adequately explained to me how one can eat cake without having the cake.

Judith watches over me.

We're most of the way through publishing Mozog Station is Falling down. I don't know how many games we'll have published then, but it will be one more than before.

Last play test of Mozog Station is Falling Down last night. It was a really good time, even if it kept most of us up past our bedtimes. On to publication!

Mozog Station is Falling Down played at Make A Scene in Minneapolis recently. I don't know how it went, but someone made a cool poster that players signed, so I guess pretty well? Next, Espionage Party will be at Be-Con next weekend.

After hearing it only through parodies, I finally grew curious enough to listen to "Pink Pony Club." I honestly thought it was going to be about a group of young girls really into ponies.

Looking at that scowl, you wouldn't know she loves belly rubs.

Had a good time at Gen Con this weekend. No Planet for Old Pirates had a mass murder ending and kind of broke down, but most still seemed to enjoy it. Mozog Station is Falling Down had a great run, with a few people wishing it had run for even longer. Next is Be-Con in Chicago.

Getting ready for GenCon tomorrow, including a run of our brand new scenario on Saturday. Exciting stuff but also kind of nerve-wracking

Carrot fetched a toy I threw for him, but I didn't get video of it, and now he won't do it again. He just keeps demanding brushing and drugs.

Captain Carrot is feeling very long this evening.

I saw my adult cats briefly meow at each other earlier. I don't think that is supposed to happen.

By reports on Elvira Chaudior, "she is intelligent and has a quick brain but is probably rather lazy about using it...favors the companionship of women who may not be careful of their virginity...attractive to both sexes." Her cover as a ditzy socialite made her easy for powerful men to confide in.

Tried to take Carrot for a walk since the temperature cooled, but between the air being soupy and some stray fireworks, we did not get all that far.

One of the great heroes of WW2 was a bisexual Peruvian bat guano heiress named Elvira who was a terrible gambler and agreed to lie to Nazis mostly out of boredom. The truth about real spies is often more batshit than anything in fiction, which is why I'm reading Double Cross by Ben Macintyre. 1/2

Cursed Court is a Judith approved board game. It is the perfect size for napping on.

I'm thinking about making our game description: "Espionage Party is what happens when queer leftists like spies and messy drama." I feel like this perfectly captures what we do.

My greatest moment as a game writer was watching a game of Dr. Jingo that ended with one person signing a piece of paper and then 8 people being shot in under 15 seconds in a big death domino.

Had a fire alarm and forgot to connect the leash to Carrot's harness before putting him down outside. He ran because there was noise and strangers. I eventually found him hiding in a bush because he would meow in response to my calls. That was quite enough adventure for both of us today.

You guys, my cat just tapped at keys on my keyboard, not walking on it, and looked to me for a reaction. He is gaining awareness of its function. I do not know what to do with this information.

My meds must be working because I saw a banking problem when I checked my account and immediately dealt with it without getting anxious.

I would just like to remind the world of the movie "Little Spies," in which Mickey Rooney trains a group of neighborhood children to conduct a covert mission to rescue a dog being tortured by a corrupt dogcatcher.

Sure, the fascists are shooting at journalists and raiding children's birthday parties, but the intolerant left would let those children pick their own pronouns! We can't have that kind of civil unrest.

Took Captain Carrot for a walk in a park tonight, empty except for us. He was so excited, he outpaced me at times. Then he wanted to just lie beside a brook for a while and eat grass. Do not try to tell me walking a cat on a leash is ridiculous.

Good: Captain Carrot is no longer actively offended by my attempts to play the recorder. Bad: He is now comfortable enough to headbutt the recorder into my teeth.

It took me weeks with forgetting about it some days and practicing for a good while on others, but I can finally play Do-Re-Mi on the recorder all in one go. This does not sound like a big accomplishment when I describe it, but I'm going to be happy about it anyway.

I see people talking about Elon Musk's drug use like it is some kind of scandal. But it may actually be the least offensive thing about him.

Espionage Party has mostly run out of things to do on Mozog Station Is Falling Down before its next play test. Does this mean we get to/have to start thinking of a new game scenario? I don't know if we can handle that kind of power (as evidenced by our previous games).

My current work setup presents me with two cats within petting distance, without much distraction. Clearly I have stumbled into the best possible work station design.

I get why abundance liberalism is not a silver bullet that can fix everything, but if it gets me things like bike infrastructure and trains, I'm all for it as a localized ethos.

Landed a huge work project recently and now fighting imposter syndrome by remembering I cannot be less qualified than the people running the country right now. Then I feel more confident but also kind of depressed.

WinterIsComing makes the case: Apple TV is the perfect home to #SaveWoT. Apple supports shows long-term & needs a fantasy hit. #TheWheelofTime offers a critically acclaimed series in its prime & millions of loyal fans. It's a perfect match! #WoTSkies winteriscoming.net/7-reasons-ap...

I just remembered a cartoon from my childhood called Ben and Me, in which a mouse lives in Ben Franklin's hat and writes his speeches and also part of the Declaration of Independence, but they have a falling out over plagiarism. It's like Ratatouille but with statesmanship.

Despite being a derpy orange, Carrot seems to have an unusually strong theory of mind for a cat. When I shook the treat jar to get their attention, Carrot looked back at the door to see if Judith was coming, appearing to think about my reason for or the possible effects of the shake. 1/x

I have recently started learning to the play the recorder. It's known as a child's instrument, and I'm not all that good at it. But I'm deep into learning Do-Re-Mi, and I'm having a great time.

Is it even possible to be a patriotic capitalist? Maybe if only foreigners are exploited?

I dislike the sound of my own voice in recording, but I differ from most people in that my main annoyance with it is hearing Captain Carrot spam communication buttons when he's trying to get my attention. Brush, brush, brush!

Cat-sitting this weekend, and it is really making me appreciate just how focused my cats are. Judith can be very single-minded, and Carrot will keep trying until he figures out how to get available food. I wonder if that comes somewhat from training or if it's what makes them good at training.

Here is Captain Carrot on the night I met him, living in my building's parking lot. It took about 20 seconds of letting him sniff my hand and a couple scritches for him to decide I was his best friend.

Whatever happened to FBI warnings on movies? Did the FBI stop caring about piracy, or did it just realize this was not a substantial deterrent? I mean, these days they're busy with a fascist takeover, but the warnings went away before that.

I've been low on work the last six weeks or so, but now I seem to have hit the feast part of the feast/famine cycle. Better get gobbling.

Serious question: do people really hate mimes? If so, why?

Bigoted tropes aside, I wish people were generally cooler with being compared to animals instead of getting mad at things like comparing how dogs and toddlers learn. "How dare you equate my child with an animal!" But animals are great. You think I behave like a cat? Fuck yes, I love cats.

It is a good day for a nap.

I used to really value individualism (and still do to an extent), but goddamn has everything in the last 10 years been a cautionary tale of how that can go wrong.

Tonight I'm teaching my cat about object permanence.

I regularly think about wonk/wonky and crank/cranky as word pairings that sound like they should mean similar things and don't.

Sometimes it's unclear how well the cats understand training words. But when Judith refused to move during a walk, I told her, "Food Later!" and she immediately walked again. Arriving home, I said, "Food Ready!" and she followed me into the kitchen instead of going off to hide somewhere like usual.

Judith's hunting instinct is so weak, she just watched a squirrel pass within a couple feet of her without even tensing up.