What has it got in its pocketses?

Hello, my preciouses

This past weekend was jam packed with fun and auspicious tidings. To start, today is my birthday and so this past weekend was the nearest "go out and drink" time to my birthday. My friends all threw me a wonderful party on Friday, which included a smattering of gifts-none asked for but all appreciated. One gift, in particular brought back a flood of memories that plumbed the depths of my primal gamer self.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of David Macaulay's book, City. While I never had this particular book, I had a slew of Macaulay's other works as a child, and they definitely piqued my early interest in history, architecture and mapping-all fascinations, which are currently fed through my gaming.

Macaulay's detailed illustrations provide a vivid an enticing look into the construction techniques and design methodologies used by ancient peoples and they are always accompanied by a concrete narrative about the construction process.

Anyway, the gift churned up a whole heap of dormant inspiration and drove me to the children's architecture section of Powell's Books (yes the store is big enough to warrant such a section!) where I picked up Built to Last, a 2010 compilation that includes two of Macaulay's other books that used to grace my bookshelf, along with a third that I have not yet read.

Now, for the big news.

While in Portland, picking up childrens' books for my adult self, I asked the GF to become Mrs. Sporkchop, and she responded with a resounding, "yes". Well... first, there was lots of happy crying and repeated exclamations of "You're SO sneaky!" but now, after almost four years of courtship and lots of strange dances, we will finally be making things all legal and binding and stuff.