Colorado Or Bust

I have post-conference deflation. After a couple days filled with fascinating presentations and impromptu discussions on the nature of play and creativity, on using games to solve problems and change the world, it was deflating to be back at the restaurant. The food’s nice and my coworkers are nice, but there’s also a Sisyphean frustration in answering the same questions over and over, whether it’s a customer asking if this comes with bread (Pro tip: Read the menu.) or a prep cook asking if this comes with bread (Pro tip: When you asked last time, I said yes. When you asked the time before that, I said yes. And the time before the time before. Also, read the menu.)

But it doesn’t matter, because tomorrow we’re leaving for Denver! To see our much-missed friends, Hugo and Diana! We used to live across the parking lot from each other in Amherst, but the last time we saw them was when they came out to visit us in Beijing:

Diana and I recreate the heroic battle of Heracles and Apollo. (Oh, classicist humor!)

I’m not entirely sure what Hugo and Stick were doing here, but I think it involves dragons.

And here’s a celebratory dance in a Dunkin’ Donuts on our trip to the Met:

You can't see me doing the dance here because I'm taking the picture. But rest assured that I was also dancing.