I've written a short text adventure game you can play in your web browser. It's called "The Silver Ingot: A Las Vegas Adventure" and it's based on actual events.
To play, just click this link: Play Now
It has been decades since I last wrote a "choose your own adventure" game, and I used this opportunity to learn a more modern authoring and coding approach. (It's written using Twine2.) I hope you like it. If you've ever played ZORK or Colossal Cave, you'll feel right at home.
If you're a Mac OS X (macOS) power user, you should certainly have a copy of Keyboard Maestro. (If you don't stop reading now and go there. You're welcome.) This tiny little trick requires that you have it...
My HP LaserJet printer is not on the same floor as my home office. Therefore, whenever I print something, I like to keep tabs on the print job so I know when it's finished or has encountered problems. Normally, to do this, you have to click the printer's icon in the Dock.
I hate clicking things when I don't have to.
So I wrote what might be the world's simplest macro. It's triggered by the print job starting, then it clicks the monitor apps which causes the status window to open. Brilliant? Not really, but it is very handy. Here's what it looks like:
It was almost as if this book was following us around the bookstores of London, almost like a lost puppy. There it was, near the cash register at every store we visited (which was, frankly, too many to count), waiting for us to finally adopt buy it. (Who could resist that cute cover?) At The London Review Bookshop, I finally gave in.
Boy am I’m glad that I did! What an utterly charming, earnest, and convincing book. The author, Katherine Rundell, makes a compelling argument that adults should allow themselves to enjoy children’s fiction. We can rediscover our childhood selves (with the benefit of wisdom earned) and enjoy reading for pleasure, not obligation. As I read her arguments, memories of the joy that the Scholastic Book Catalog would bring to the school year came rushing back.
So pick up a copy of Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise, then the next time you’re in a bookstore, stop and linger (but not creepily, of course) in the young fiction category. I dare you to allow yourself to pick out a title. You have my, and Rundell’s, permission to do so.
Begraafplaats (cemetery) Huis de Vraag (House of Inquiry) in Amsterdam isn’t near the tourist center of the city. To get there from our apartment in Plantage we took the subway to Centraal Station, then a tram, then walked for about a mile. Totally worth it.
The 1800s-era cemetery is a controlled wilderness surrounded by urban development, and if it weren’t home to at least 12,000 graves, it would have been lost years ago. It’s open to visitors during limited hours, but is no longer accepting new residents.
After circumnavigating the cemetery’s boundaries (because we couldn’t find the entrance), the first thing we noticed was an old pixie ring in the yard of the caretaker’s house.
Just beyond the gates proper, we were immediately met by a black cat who seemed to have been waiting for our arrival.
Seriously, and without exaggeration, after greeting us the cat begin walking down the pathway and kept turning back and mewing to make sure we were following.
Whenever we stopped to look at a grave, she would wait, then continue on — guiding us into corners and nooks we might not have discovered ourselves. It was a strange and delightful experience.
After several minutes of following the cat, when it was 3 or 4 meters ahead of us, it turned a blind corner. When we made the turn we were surprised to find a quiet lady tending to one of the graves. The cat had vanished — we never saw it again.
Nor did we see any other humans. Although prior visitors were in evidence as many of the graves were decorated with carefully laid nuts, which were plentiful from the low-hanging trees.
After our visit we stopped at the nearby Pipes and Beans cafe where we were the only Americans, and probably the only tourists, present. We loved the coffee and cake, and the proprietor asked with a wink if we were in town for the Amsterdam Dance Event (a citywide rave festival).
Addendum: Our visit was in October 2019. Several months after returning home I found this fun story about another couple who had almost the same experience as we did.
Inspired by reading Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by Albert Jack.
