Brown Christmas

Title for this post is kind of forced. In 2019 the title was "Blue Christmas" because a bunch of sad stuff had just happened, and in 2020 it was "Grey Christmas" because Ontario was using a colour-based system for its COVID measures, and we were just entering Grey, which meant lockdown. So this one is just for the weather. We almost had a white Christmas, but had a flash thaw overnight that left everything brown on Christmas morning.

Realistically it would be another Grey Christmas. You probably know already, but there's a new COVID variant called Omicron which is thought likely be much more transmissible than any of the others, although it's looking like it likely is a little less deadly. Italics used to emphasize we don't know things concretely yet.

Apparently there are now 12 variants. I literally haven't heard of any of them since Delta. I guess if a strain doesn't prove to break a record of transmissibility, it doesn't get the press it used to. I remember hearing about Omicron and thinking that sounded like it didn't come right after Delta in the Greek Alphabet. I looked it up, and yeah, it's the 15th. More than halfway through, I wonder what our naming scheme will be once we use up all the letters.

Although they skipped a few because it was bad branding, like "Nu", since it would have people calling it the "new variant" which is confusing, and "Xi" since it would sound like it was named after President Xi of China. It would be funny to adopt this naming scheme to replace using country names, especially since it started off with people calling it the "China Virus" or "Wuhan Flu" only to use the new system to call a strain after the president of China.

It certainly feels more ominous than last year, since in 2020 we knew a lockdown was on the horizon, but the government buckled to societal pressure and postponed it to Boxing Day. This year they called it before Christmas, which feels like they really had no option.

Technically, it's not an official lockdown. We don't have phases, colours, or steps which were the systems put in place to tell us where we stood. But safety measures are increasing and society is reacting. My job's gone remote again.

I was surprised, to be honest. Not long ago I said that if another pandemic happened right now, or a much more deadly variant, that I didn't think society would be as proactive as it was during the first wave. The hope would be that we would know how to handle it because of all the knowledge and experience we've acquired over the past couple of years, but in reality, I thought that everyone had become so burnt out and mistrustful of the government, that an attempt to lock us down again would be met with record breaking noncompliance. 

I guess that's why they haven't installed a system or officially called it a lockdown, but instead just rapidly integrated new safety measures. Society isn't happy about it, but we're not broken either.

We were going to have a Christmas gathering at our place. My mother, brother, aunt and cousin were going to visit, which would have been within the current limit of 10 people allowed per indoor gathering, but my family is more on the cautious side and everybody cancelled.

I won't lie, I received an invitation to join Lee-Anne's family and I accepted. I felt bad because everyone in my immediate family chose to not take that risk, but if I stayed home I would be the only one spending Christmas alone, so either way I'd be isolated in my circumstance.

MESH Self-Assessment 2021

Back in 2019 I made a post about an Emotional Intelligence assessment I did for work, called MESHdiversity. I was given a series of scenarios with examples of four potential reactions to each. I then ranked each reaction from how I would most likely react to least likely for every situation. The data I gave was then analyzed and my emotional intelligence was ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 in 36 different categories.

They then got me to find a minimum of three people and have them do the survey based on how they thought I would react. Their data was compiled and combined, and I was given the 36 rankings based on how other people perceive me. This way, you can see if your self-perception matches the perceptions of others.

So we did it again this year. I answered the questions for myself and for four other people, and got four people to rank me as well. Two of them were the same people that did my surveys in 2019, and two of them were different.

I don't have my 2021 assessment from others yet, but I do have my self-assessment. What's cool about this is that, since I've still got my results from 2019, I can compare how my self-perception has changed over the past two years. I'll include the results where changes occurred.

So my overall self-esteem has increased 4%, with my combined results over the 36 categories having gone up by this much.

My Emotional Awareness went from a 10 to a 9. Decreased one point. This is the ability to understand the origins of our emotions, which helps us to mediate our feelings and in turn, manage our behaviour. Was one of my best qualities, which has changed but it's still an area of strength.

My Growth Focus went from a 6 to a 5. Decreased one point. This is the ability to seek help or support from others. Apparently I used to be bad for this and now I'm even worse. I should maybe note here that MESH doesn't let you rank lower than a 5, so I could actually be even worse.

My Receptivity went from a 9 to a 6. Decreased 3 points. This is the ability to take constructive feedback and implement it for positive change. This went all the way from a strength to a weakness.

My Motivation Style went from an 8 to a 10. Increased two points. This is the ambition to do well without the motivator of extrinsic reward, like praise from others, bonuses or benefits. I'm more genuine and self-motivated now, taking more pride in my work based on its quality and how it makes me feel.

My Ambition went from an 8 to a 9. Increased one point. This is the desire to improve oneself based on internal development, such as keeping track of personal progress (kind of like what I'm doing here) and external markers, such as increases in job status.

My Composure went from 10 to 8. Decreased two points. This is the ability to be calm and composed in high-pressure situations that may be stressful and dangerous. This is still a strength of mine, but less so.

My Agency went from 7 to 9. Increased two points. This is the ability to learn from mistakes, to turn failures into opportunities for growth, to deal with and master challenging demands. This went from something I was average at, to an area of strength.

My Determination went from 8 to 9. Increased on point.  This is the ability to come up with goals and to overcome obstacles to achieve them. This was an area of strength that has become stronger.

My Versatility went from 10 to 9. Decreased one point. This is openness to change, the ability to flex and adapt under shifting circumstances. This is still an area of strength, but less so now.

My Optimism went from 5 to 7. Increased two points. This is the ability to manage uncertainty and find positivity in the face of challenging circumstances. This went from one of my weakest areas to something I'm average at.

My Intuition went from 8 to 9. Increased one point. This is the ability to combine our thoughts and emotions, tapping into our unconscious resources to come to conclusions. This was an area of strength that has increased a bit.

My Empathic Accuracy went from 8 to 5. Decreased three points. This is the ability to pick up on how other people are feeling based on facial expressions, verbal and non-verbal signals. Interesting to see that it went from a strength to one of my weakest areas.

My Compassion went from 7 to 8. Increased one point. This is the ability to show kindness to others, both in professional and personal life, to be invested in others. I was average in this area and increased it a bit to become and area of strength.

My Validation went from 10 to 9. Decreased one point. This is the ability to accept others and consider their needs without assuming a similarity to myself. This was one of my strongest qualities. It's still strong, but a little less so.

My Curiosity went from 9 to 10. Increased one point. This is the desire to learn and show genuine interest in others. It was an area of strength for me in the past and has become one of my best qualities since then.

My Collaboration went from 7 to 10. Increased three points. This is the ability to keep a positive frame of mind when confronted with conflict, to avoid polarization and to avoid win/lose thinking in favour of win/win. This went from something I was average at to one of my best qualities.

My Follow Through went from 8 to 9. Increased one point. This is the ability to "walk your talk", to balance your "can-do" and your "will-do" attitudes. The ability to do what you say you will, which earns the trust of others.  I was strong in this area and got a bit better.

My Civility went from 9 to 8. Decreased one point. This is the ability to disagree without being disagreeable. To speak in a way that encourages dialogue. This is still a strength of mine, but a little less so now.

My Openness went from 8 to 10. Increased two points. This is the ability to be respectful, accepting, and appreciative of peoples difference, to not allow implicit biases to control my perspectives of others. I was strong in this area and it has since become one of my best qualities.

My Appreciation went from 9 to 6. Decreased three points. This is the ability to recognize the good work of others. This has gone from an area of strength to a weakness.

The other 16 categories had the same rank as 2019's assessment.

This year I ranked myself highest in: Motivation Style, Curiosity, Collaboration, Openness, and Influence, all of which got a 10, the highest possible ranking.

Influence, which is the only area I got a perfect 10 in each year, is the ability to get people to shift their perspective to match mine.

I ranked myself lowest in: Growth Focus and Empathic Accuracy, both of which got a 5, the lowest possible ranking.

The biggest fluctuation between assessments was by three points, which happened for four categories. My Receptivity, Empathic Accuracy, and Appreciation all went down three points, while my collaboration went up three. So most of the large fluctuations were toward the negative, but the number of categories where I improved were more numerous, to the point that I made an overall improvement.

UAPs

One of the weirdest developments over the past few years has been the normalization of talk on UFOs. In 2019, videos were leaked of US Navy personnel observing the flight patterns of unidentified flying objects. They moved at impossible speeds against strong wind with no discernible source of propulsion, and in one case submerged into water. In 2020, a statement was released that neither confirmed or denied the legitimacy of the leaked footage but acknowledged their "veracity". In 2021 they confirmed that these videos were taken by the Navy.

In 2020 the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF) was established, and in 2021 a report was released on information collected on these and similar sightings. In addition to the odd qualities seen in the videos I've mentioned, these objects have been known to occasionally emit radio signals, hover in place, demonstrate maneuverability that can't be replicated, break the sound barrier without creating a sonic boom, and stalk US aircraft. The final verdict was that it cannot be confirmed whether or not the origins of any of these objects are extraterrestrial.

I'll be honest. I'm a believer. I believe in big-headed stocky grey-bodied people in flying saucers who have not only visited Earth, but visit regularly. I don't require that you believe what I do, it makes no difference to me. But it's funny how different people can interpret stuff like this report. When I was visiting Guelph one time I brought it up, and Mom (who is not a believer) said "Oh, I saw that. I almost wanted to call and tell you, but I didn't want to sound like I was bragging" I was like "What do you mean?", she said "They can't confirm it's aliens" and I was like "They also can't confirm it's not!"

Of course most UFO sightings are the product of hoaxes, misperceptions, mental instability, tall tales and lucid dreaming. Believers often point to the infinite possibilities that the universe provides, which skeptics sometimes concede to, while maintaining their position that even if there are aliens out there, they likely haven't visited us, and they're probably in the form of algae or moss or something.

To the credit of skeptics, this idea that because the universe is potentially infinite, it provides infinite possibilities leading to inevitable contact, is kind of flawed. Even if there are millions of planets with intelligent life forms, there is no guarantee that any planet has enough resources to make it far enough to meet its closest neighbours. After all, it's easy to forget that even something as unnatural-seeming as a computer chip or a Kraft single fundamentally come from resources found on our planet Earth. If we don't have the specific resources, or have it in the quantity we need, this assumption of unending advancement is kind of weird.

And the vastness of space is such an incredible hurdle. It's impossible to comprehend exactly how much space is in space. You can fit every planet in our solar system between the Earth and the moon! And they're comparably right next to each other!

But because of historical and cross-cultural consistency, as well as some of these new developments, I believe it is more likely than not that some entity has tapped into a situation in which they are able to, and do visit us.

The UAPTF is not the first instance of government funded research on this topic. The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program ran in secret between 2007 and 2012, and similar operations have run under the names Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book.

Until recently, governments have preferred to keep their research into such matters private, so the public development of the UAPTF and 2021 report are notable. The slow rollout of information since 2019 with sparing commentary and the rebranding from Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), to the less stigmatized Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), feels like an attempt to normalize these sightings. Why are we being encouraged to talk about it now, especially when it's been discouraged for so long?

Former Israeli Space Security Chief Haim Eshed has said straight-up that extraterrestrials exist, that there's a Galactic Federation, and that there is a base on Mars with both human and alien representatives. This came out in 2020 (weird year). He said that deals have been made between extraterrestrials and the US Government, and that information has been limited so as to avoid mass hysteria. He said that they're waiting for us to be ready to be aware of them, and that he's become more outspoken recently because people have become more open. That's a bit much even for me... Honestly, the only reason that this got traction is because of the guy's resume. 

I'll share the one story I have of some people I know who claim to have had an encounter. They were out at a cottage, on a lake. One guy was trying out a flashlight, and as he shone it back and forth, he impulsively decided to point it up. Above them was a flying saucer. Hovering, making no sound, showing no lights. They all saw it. And then, noiselessly, it just moved up, up, up, and out of their field of vision. No idea if this story is true, but the way he emphasized "You'd think there'd be lights, everyone talks about lights" seemed like one of those weird little details that stick with you when you get surprised by something.

Honestly, the alien thing isn't really that intimidating to me. If they're here, it seems like they've been around for awhile and have left us relatively undisturbed. Egyptian hieroglyphs depict advanced aircraft that they wouldn't have had access to, and the Nazca Lines in Peru seemed to be made for viewing from the sky. Both of those sources depict some weird looking humanoids, too.

The idea of the US having developed technology to this level in secret, so that lower government branches aren't even aware, is its own brand of terrifying. I heard an official state he was concerned that the US might have been "leapfrogged" in technology by another country, although its' been stated that the technology observed in these sightings is beyond what is known to exist on this planet. I don't necessarily trust humans to be more responsible with that technology than the hypothetical aliens.

If the government is just straight-up lying... That's also terrifying.

If it's natural phenomenon, it runs contrary to what we understand about physics. All the non-alien theories are still fascinating. 

I guess the most mundane theories surround camera glitches and incidental optical illusions. Still, we're talking technology and analysts from some of the best this planet has to offer, it's hard to write it all off to tech problems and human error.

If I had to guess, I'd say that we're kind of like a nature preserve. We're being monitored by an advanced species, likely simply for the purpose of study. Maybe we're considered an evolving or developing species and they're not supposed to interact with us because it could result in us being domesticated. Something went wrong in Egypt and they learned from it, maybe. Or perhaps it's for a larger ecological reason to do with solar systems that we can't understand yet. Stories of people being abducted, probed, and replanted back on Earth sound kind of like when we tag an animal and release it back into the wild for observation. 

Of course, there's always the possibility that their purposes are simply beyond our comprehension, being more evolved. After all, us humans are unable to convey information even to animals that are exceptionally compatible with us, such as cats and dogs, or even to some of the cleverest, such as chimps, parrots, and dolphins (honourable mention to octopi and elephants). Why do we assume that we are equipped to process information from any potential species, even if we learn to interact with them?

Maybe they come from the Lost City of Atlantis, or maybe they're a kind of mer-people. After all, these crafts have demonstrated an ability to maneuver through water as well as air. Maybe they are aliens, and they have a base beneath the ocean. After all, we've only discovered like, 5% of it. Good place to hide out. Saves a trip to Mars.

Maybe these are time travelers, and the big-headed stocky grey guys are just evolved humans. The unathletic bodies could be from a continued sedentary lifestyle through advances in technology, and the big heads could be from brain growth through evolution.

Maybe the squat grey bodies are robotic. After all, we can do so much remotely with our own technology, would an advanced species feel the need to send traditional explorers? Maybe they're organic but artificial. Maybe they're made to look like humans so that they'll seem approachable to us, but they missed the mark like when we try to create convincing robotic animals but they can't quite convince the species they're built to mimic. That would mean the original creators of the bodies would likely look much different from us. Maybe it's all the product of an autonomous AI.

At any rate, I can't explain it but it's all very weird, and I feel like it's going to get weirder sooner rather than later.

Mom & Duncan Visits

Three weeks ago, my mom came over to visit our place for the first time since I moved a year ago. Her and Duncan were going to come over the week after Thanksgiving, but me and Lee-Anne both got sick with that thing that wasn't COVID. After that, we were going to do a Halloween visit, but scheduling didn't line up and so we wound up having a visit at this nondescript time.

She'd been over to my last place, so she'd already met Kieran, but she got to meet Finnegan. Kieran quickly ran up to her and started meowing so it seemed like he remembered her, but he's a very social cat so it's hard to tell.

Lee-Anne wanted to make sure we had stuff to do while she visited, but I knew that just having cats was probably enough. Even if they just napped all weekend, Mom would be happy to be around them. My mother really likes cats.

Finn was very affectionate and spent a lot of time sitting on Mom's lap and purring. Before Finn, I thought that lap cats were just a myth, crafted by the cliché of a villain petting a fluffy white cat on his lap. In reality, they might sit with you or lay against you, but they're unlikely to sit directly on your lap, and if they do, they won't stay for long. But Finn will sit on your lap for hours if you let him.

We went for a walk on the Iron Horse Trail, which we live right next to. Mom is even more into Pokemon Go than I am, and the section of the Iron Horse that I usually walk has 10 Pokemon Gyms neatly lined in a row. It feels like being on a real-world Pokemon Route. Mom likened the experience to being on Victory Road, which is an area you have to cross before challenging the Elite 4 and the Champion near the end of the games.

We got donuts from the Munch Box, which is a bakery in Belmont Village, a strip of small businesses near where we live. The brother of a close friend owns this bakery. There are like three others including a Lady Glaze, which is one of the two most recognized donut shops in Kitchener, but honestly, since they've opened up branches in several other cities including Guelph, they feel a little mainstream lately. Rather go for the place owned by someone I know, which is only available in Belmont Village.

We went to Central Fresh Market, which is an independently owned grocery and the one closest to us. We got some spinach and feta twisters in filo pastry. Central makes a lot of stuff fresh daily, and the spinach twisters might be the best thing they make. Mom also found some ramen there. Like, the stuff you get in the international section that's a little more advanced than cup ramen. It was lobster, which she's apparently not seen before, so she got a couple bowls.

While we were out there, I was able to show her the building where I work.

Lee-Anne made homemade Mac & Cheese for dinner

Except she used cavatappi instead of macaroni noodles, so it's technically Cav & Cheese.

Mom brought home some donuts, a spinach twister, and the lobster ramen bowls for Duncan.

He came the following week. We had to stagger the visits because of scheduling. I showed him the Iron Horse too, even though he doesn't play Pokemon Go anymore (a reminder that you don't have to play Pokemon to go for a walk) and we got Thai food from a place in Belmont Village.

The cats were similarly welcoming to Duncan, and he described them as "angels"

The weather was miserable for both their visits. Lots of rain halfway formed to snow, but we persevered.

My Most Expensive Purchase

A long time ago, I brought back to Canada a bunch of Malian merchandise. I made a blog post about it. Among my stuff, there were five Malian shirts. I put them on wire hangers and hung them on a wall in my room when I went to college. They came with me from student housing, to my holdover spot after graduating, and then to my bachelor pad where I would stay for five years. Coming to my current place, Lee-Anne thought I should have them framed, as the wire hangers were apparently tacky. So they sat in the closet for about a year, and we finally got around to visiting a framing store recently.

There's a framing place right next to where we live. We got to talk about the type of frames we want, the dimensions, the glass. I guess I'm not going to give exact numbers, but when I went to pay, Lee-Anne asked me if my card limit would cover it. I was like "My what?"

It didn't.

I've never had to think about that before, so it must have been the largest expense I've ever paid in one shot.

That can't be true. I've paid first and last rent before.  We bought a bunch of furniture last year. That must have added up to more. I guess it's different when writing a cheque, and no single item of furniture cost as much, even if it totaled more.

It was weird though, because the sinking sensation I felt didn't match the severity of when I'd made large purchases in the past. I think because even if it was my largest single purchase, it didn't effect my bank account on a percentage basis as much as, say, buying college text books did in the past. Because I have more money now.

One of the drawbacks of being financially secure is that payday is not as exciting anymore, for the same reason. It doesn't effect the percentage in my bank account as much as it used to. When you're poor, the lows are way lower, but the highs are less high. Payday doesn't change what I can immediately do anymore. My lifestyle stays the same, the numbers in my account just change a bit.

Anyway, we had to juggle payment methods but we made it work.

When it was time to pick them up, the framing lady was ecstatic about her handiwork and really talked them up. When someone else who worked there came in, she was like "Are you the guy with the shirts?!" I mean, of course they're going to build them up, it's their livelihood. But it was still nice to hear the Malian prints being praised that way, since it was such a unique and purposeful time of my life.

She made sure to stack them a certain way, and when she realized I didn't have a vehicle, she insisted she drive them to my place to ensure they were delivered safely. Even though I live just two streets over.

So I'll show you the end result of my most expensive single purchase:

You can be the judge on whether or not they live up to the hype. I'm assured that this way the material will never fade, and these will last me a lifetime.

While I'm at it, I'll share another print.

I found this one face down in the middle of a sidewalk in the rain. I flipped it over out of curiosity, saw that it was undamaged so far as I could tell and took it home. It dried off fine and yeah, appears totally unscathed. I'm the type of person that thinks life leaves little clues for you, and that getting something weird like this in an unusual context must have a "purpose". Why did it come to me? That line of logic. I kind of get that random stuff just happens a lot of the time, but that's very difficult for me to accept.

Lee-Anne thinks it looks like an apocalypse though, so I'm going to have to get rid of it. I told her I wanted to at least make a blog post about it first. So I'm documenting it hear in case it does have some kind of meaning or purpose going forward.

Halloween 2021

This was my first Halloween spent at the new place. It's also the last landmark date to experience for a first time here, since tomorrow marks a full year since we moved in. There was an overlap month and we moved in slowly, but November 1st was the day we got our keys.

So since we missed Halloween last year by a day, we had no idea how many trick-or-treaters to expect. We live in a basement apartment, so it wasn't likely that people would come in and knock n our door, but I went outside with a bowl full of tootsie rolls, tootsie pops, and airheads that I bought last minute from a local drug store, and waited.

Our upstairs neighbours have young children, so they went trick-or-treating. They left me with their candy dish, so I got to give out candy for both our units. We ended up getting 19 kids, which I'm going to call a success. The last place I lived had a lot of children that lived in the neighbourhood, but they would typically go elsewhere to trick-or-treat. I'd have to catch them as they were leaving or coming back, and I would actually visit families I knew to try and dump candy on them. Pretty much reverse trick-or-treating.

Lee-Anne's not in love with Halloween, largely because her birthday is only a few days before it. We celebrated that by going out for sushi. We went to a place near where I sublet for five months after just having graduated, and my personal favourite spot for sushi in the KW area. I got to use my vaccine passport for the first time. You still have the option of showing your receipt and a piece of ID, but now you can pretty easily get a QR code version, which is what I did. They just looked at it, though. I don't know where they would have the equipment to scan it.

I was happy to feel well enough at that time to go out for sushi. A couple weeks ago, Lee-Anne got sick. Fever, chills, aches. She had to get a COVID test and take several days off work. We had to quarantine, and we realized that we've grown lax in terms of supply shopping. She tested negative, which was a relief. Then I got sick and was down for about three days. First time I've been sick since COVID started. But it had been several days without symptoms before going for sushi.

Finn has been getting along well here:

New Cat: Finnegan

 We got a new cat!

We named him Finnegan! Finn for short.

Lee-Anne has a sister in law who breeds cats. A few months ago, they had a litter and yesterday, on Canadian Thanksgiving, we took one. We chose this guy because he was the favourite of one of Lee-Anne's nephews, who named him Lucky Charm. For this reason, we were going to name him Lucky until I pointed out that it sounded Irish, which fit with Kieran's name. So we looked up Irish names, and found out that Kieran means black, and Finnegan means white.

So by naming him Finnegan, we now have the Irish black-and-white duo, retroactively validating Kieran's name. Neither of them are fully black or white, but I think Kieran is more dark overall, and Finn is more light, so it kind of works. 

The name "Kieran" is really human. The person at the cat sanctuary who named him originally told me that I could rename him, but because I'm so bad at naming cats I took my time to think about it, and in the meantime kept calling him Kieran until it stuck. I don't regret it, because it's his name now, but I admit I do feel the need to preface his name with "my cat" to make sure there's no confusion if I'm mentioning him to a stranger.

Since I got Kieran on my terms, I'm happy that we got Finn through Lee-Anne's direction. I got Kieran at a cat sanctuary and Lee-Anne, as I mentioned, got Finn through a family connection. I've had Kieran only a few weeks before me and Lee-Anne started dating. In truth, while I was planning on getting a cat for a long time, part of the reason that I got one when I did was to impress Lee-Anne before I asked her out. So she did have an influence in Kieran's adoption.

Since Lee-Anne's been working in-person five days a week, and me for three, Kieran's been really whiny. Most of the time I've had him has been in the pandemic and he's gotten used to having someone around. We thought that getting a new cat would be good to keep him company. Throughout my life, it's been the general policy to have two cats at a time for this reason. Usually we try to have them at different age categories, because we've found that it brings out the youth in the older cat. Some people say that this makes the older cat irritable, and I don't know what to tell you, except that this hasn't been our experience.

Anyway, I'd always intended to get a second cat, but I wanted to hold out until Kieran was older. Now he's about three, so still a young cat, and we've got a kitten only a few months old. Meant to hold out longer, but I wasn't able to.

Introducing them went well. In my life I've only seen a few cat introductions. I was too young to remember Penny and Booshy being introduced, who were my childhood cats. After Booshy passed and we got Blackavar, I remember Penny attacking Blackavar and needing to separate them. They sniffed at each other under the door for awhile and after a slow introduction they actually became quite close. When we got Luna and Thor and introduced them to Blackavar, all three seemed apprehensive but not fully aggressive, just kept space, gave each other the stink eye, and slowly got used to each other. Introducing Cassidy to Blackavar and Thor, and Cassidy just found a small place to hide in, slowly warmed up and eventually integrated with the others.

So I was ready for anything between general apprehension and direct aggression. We brought Finn in the cat carrier. Kieran seemed surprised, and the two sniffed at each other and petted the bars of the carrier. We decided to try holding them outside of the carrier so they could smell each other and neither tried to tear their way out of our hands. We decided to put them down and see how they'd react and they were soon chasing each other around the house. Neither seemed scared, both were engaging the other. We felt Kieran might be playing a little too rough, so we're not letting them stay together without supervision quite yet. But still, I've never seen two cats be so amiable right off the bat.

They both have very similar personalities. Affectionate, goofy, high energy, and playful. I think it might be a good match.

Orange Shirt Day

September 30th was the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, or Orange Shirt Day. This is a new federal holiday that is still not provincially recognized in Ontario, which is dedicated to reflecting on and acknowledging our history with our Indigenous population. Everyone is encouraged to wear an orange shirt, in honour of a story about a young Indigenous girl who was given an orange shirt from her grandmother to wear on her first day at a residential school. The shirt was taken away and she was forced to wear the clothes the residential school gave her. The rest of the story follows her experiences within the system. It's not the most brutal story, but it's used to teach children as kind of a way of showing how it might feel to have something your family gave you taken away from you.

I just so happened to be running a group at the park where a ceremony was held in honour of the day, and my group decided to attend. One of the main speakers was the person who ran what was at the time known as the Aboriginal Services Office at Conestoga College. I used to go there every Wednesday when they'd have a community meal.

Awhile back, my work team did a conflict style training. I'd already done this training four times because it's part of the Summer Program training. Basically, there are five conflict styles: competing, collaborating, compromising, accomodating, and avoiding. Every time I've done it, I've gotten compromising, but Lee-Anne thinks I'm accomodating or avoiding. The problem with these tests are, once you know the definitions, it's hard to answer without knowing what you're going to get. But I tried to answer as best I could without thinking about the results, and I still got compromising!

Since we finished the big sack of rice that I bought while supply shopping during the first wave, we got to buy a new one.

Our last bag was called something like, Y&Y Mili, Ultra Premium Jasmine. All the other brands had been panic bought so it was my only option. This time we had the luxury of choice, and we decided to go with this, 12 Star Basmati Ponia Rice. It just so happens that basmati is both of our preference. We got a 10 pound bad. Looking at Google images of my old brand of rice, looks like I got 8 kg last time, which is like 17 and a half pounds. Well, we're not in lockdown anymore.

Last Christmas I got a cast iron wok, which helped with rice consumption. I had to season it and everything. If you don't know, that's a protective process for cast iron kitchenware where you rub it down with oil and bake at a very high temperature. Never heard of this before I got my wok. You're supposed to do it twice a year, so it's been seasoned twice now.

We live near a trail that bridges Waterloo and Kitchener. If you walk from Kitchener into Waterloo, there's a sign that says "Welcome to Waterloo". If you walk from Waterloo to Kitchener, there's a sign as well, and it would make sense for it to say "Welcome to Kitchener" right? But instead it says "Thank you for visiting Waterloo".

We live on the Kitchener side. The reputation of the two cities is that Waterloo is white collar and Kitchener is blue collar, so it makes sense that Waterloo would be the one to highlight. But even if we don't have signs welcoming people in and out of our city, it's funny because the entirety of the trail is lit with lamp posts right until you hit the "Welcome to Waterloo" sign, and then it's total darkness. Also, there's a much clearer dividing line painted on the Kitchener side. I guess funding is handled differently by the two cities.

Near where we live, there's an apartment building with a very prominent sign displaying its name as "Cripple Creek". Every time I've past it, I've found it startling. That seems like a word that you're not supposed to use. But when I've looked it up online, I can't find much information on it other than rent information. I would have thought that there would be some sign of controversy over the name, some evidence of some kind of motion to get the sign taken down or the building renamed, but nope. Lee-Anne also thought it was really weird, but nobody else that I've talked to has seemed particularly phased about it.

I wonder why apartment buildings and townhouse complexes so often put up signs with names that have nothing to do with their address or any legal relevancy. Brookside Park, Mayfield Meadows, Asgard Green, The Pinedales are examples that come to mind.

Family Gathering

Before the pandemic, Lee-Anne was doing her rounds, meeting different members of my family. We'd gotten pretty far with it. She'd met my mother, brother, a cousin, and two aunts. Then COVID hit and this project got shut down. Things briefly opened in the summer of 2020 and she got to meet a set of grandparents in Toronto. This past weekend, she finally got to meet my grandparents from Northern Ontario.

The convening point was my mother and brother's place in Guelph. Since one of my aunts would be staying overnight there, me and Lee-Anne rented a hotel room. The place we chose was recommended by my brother, who'd stayed there despite living just up the hill from it (long story). It was a hotel/restaurant, and to get in, you had to ask the bartender for a fob and passcode.

Oddly, the restaurant didn't serve breakfast. You'd think that a restaurant attached to a hotel would serve breakfast food, since that's the meal you're most likely to eat after staying overnight, but it was more of a steak place. It seemed like both places were marketed for completely different purposes, despite being connected.

We were lucky to get the place we did though. We booked our room a week in advance, but my grandparents, who have never had difficulty finding a room in Guelph, found that both their usual spots were fully occupied. They wound up finding a smaller place. Weird they had to do that, though, since I would have assumed that the pandemic had cut down on travel requirements. Plus, why are people crowding a place like Guelph?

Turns out, this past weekend was homecoming for the University of Guelph's team, the Gryphons (yes, they have the same name as me). The University had officially canceled it, but it was still carried on informally. This is why everywhere in Guelph was booked.

Here's a little metal plane I found under the VCR box or whatever it's called nowadays.

It's propeller and wheels moved if you spun them. I wondered if each room had this feature. I wondered if it wasn't on the inventory, if I would be actually charged for damages if it went missing.

This was a painting in the room. I thought it was just an abstract piece at first, but on closer look it's an airplane. So I asked me brother if when he stayed, it was airplane-themed. He said no, and I figured I must be in the airplane room, and I dare not remove a piece of symbolism.

We didn't get a couch, unlike my brother, and we didn't get a phone. Both me and Lee-Anne have cell phones, but I still usually assume that hotel rooms will have landlines. Slightly weird not to have it.

We took advantage of being downtown when we woke up, and we made time to visit the Guelph farmer's market. We got zucchinis, ham, turkey, pears, and sausage rolls.

My grandmother gave me a paint kit that belonged to her grandmother. So my great, great, great grandmother.

My Birthday and the Federal Election

 It was my birthday a couple days ago. Lee-Anne made a dinner at my request

Pork tenderloin with a sour cream/mustard sauce, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts

And she made dessert

That's a peanut butter pie. I first asked for a peanut butter cake, because at WALES we traditionally make a cake for people on their birthdays, and that's the type I request. A traditional WALES recipe. But she thought maybe the peanut butter would ruin the texture of the cake, so she asked if she could do a pie instead. I like pies better than cakes anyway, so that was cool.

But speaking of WALES and my birthday, I predicted a long time ago that COVID would be over on September 21st, 2021. I said it would be a birthday present for me. So that didn't wind up being true.

Voting day was the day before my birthday. We wound up with a Liberal minority, just like we had before. I'm not exactly complaining, but it made the whole forced early election seem pointless.

The one kind of cool thing that happened was that my riding went Green! Smaller party, focused on climate, having a bit of an identity crisis this year since everyone else is focused on climate this year too, but still really cool to have them.

Today's the second day that vaccine passports are required for entry into non-essential places, like restaurants and movie theatres. I haven't been anywhere like that, but I know a few people who have. You can just pull up your vaccine receipt on your phone and show a piece of photo ID. Apparently next month we'll be getting something with a QR code that can be scanned for entry.

In other news, we finished that giant sack of rice I bought during the initial panic buying stage of the pandemic. Now we get to get a new sack, and this time, we're not limited to the one remaining brand that wasn't picked over by hoarders.

Early this year we tried to grow a patch of sunflowers in the front yard. It's the only thing we tried because the green space more belongs to the upper unit, and we didn't want to ask too much while we were still new. We used seeds from Lee-Anne's grandmother's giant flowers, and things started off really promising, with seedlings that looked just like little sunflowers. As they grew, they started to develop branches, which was weird but maybe just the nature of this type. Eventually, we found out that somehow, we grew something totally unrelated. Probably a patch of weeds. Oh well, maybe next year.

Also, here are those team photos from EAFy Day last Friday, with our homemade uniforms:

EAFy Day 2021

Last Friday was EAFy Day. If you don't remember what that is, it's a team-building event across the Extend-a-Family organization. This is the fourth one I've been to, and the second one I've helped plan. Each year has a theme and is set at a different location. Last year's was "QuarantEAFy Day" and this year's was "Reconnecting" and we held it at Bingeman's which is like a catch-all entertainment spot. I was the MC for the event, greeting everyone, going over the schedule, and introducing everyone new to the organization.

The first event was a volleyball tournament, with teams decided by organization branch. I didn't really think we at WALES had much of a chance since we were one of the less confident branches facing off in the first round against one of the most competitive. And I was right to feel the way that I did, since we wound up losing, but it was way closer than I thought it would be, with us winning by a strong margin for a while. Some branches chose team names, and it was only when we seemed to have a shot at winning that I realized we should have named ourselves the Killer WALES.

Some teams had uniforms, and one of our teammates made us all shirts and hats with the WALES logo. I thought we looked the most professional of all the branches. There's a team photo floating around but I don't have it at the moment. If I find it, I'll post it here.

Somehow, I wound up being the judge for the volleyball tournament (except the round I played in), which is weird because I only kind of understand volleyball. I feel like I might have not enamored myself with the team that beat us, because under my judgement they made it all the way to the final round, took a heavy advantage and were only one point from winning the finals, and then the other team got like seven points in a row and won. Also, in the final round I approved a not-by-the-books method of serving (it's complicated) and they wound up losing because of it.

Bingeman's is attached to a Boston Pizza and that's what we wound up having for lunch. I got the 7 cheese ravioli. It was just ok. Back in college, I had a friend who would host get-togethers at Boston Pizza fairly regularly and I went a handful of times. To be honest, it's never been my favourite place.

In the afternoon, people had the choice to do bowling, an escape room, or kayaking. I did an escape room. There were through groups that did this, and we wound up taking the highest difficulty one. I won't share the secrets of the escape room, as I believe that is the etiquette, but the theme was that we were stuck in an abandoned mine shaft and had to find our way out.

We got through 95% of it and ran out of time. There was only one trick left to figure out. I would almost rather have gotten like, 85%. The guy even let us know the solution to the final trick, and it's upsetting because we actually said out loud the solution, but we didn't know how to implement it. Also, we wasted a lot of time working a piece of equipment even though we figured out the answer. Very, very close.

I made another painting:

Gryphon's Gallery: Radiating Moonlight (gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com)

9/11 20th Anniversary and My First Week of Uni

I feel like I should mention that yesterday was the 20th anniversary of 9/11. It seems like I'm talking more and more about world events on this blog, which I didn't used to do. To be fair, a lot of relevant world event stuff has been happening lately.

Anyway, other than being the 20 year mark, this is a significant anniversary because the US finally pulled out of Afghanistan. It was messy and the Taliban took control of the nation very quickly, undoing most of the work that had been done over the past two decades.

Major mixed feelings about all this. The US presence in Afghanistan was initially understandable, because such a significant attack on their nation couldn't be ignored. But then 20 years of war with no real takeaway. Doesn't seem like continued war was going to suddenly yield a positive result. Two Presidential administrations with a popular consensus that the war had outlived any utility, but I guess neither wanted to deal with the inevitably ugly fallout that would come with withdrawal. Then, the troops finally get pulled, the government collapses, people are getting punished by the Taliban for their involvement with the US-instilled society.

I see a lot of people criticizing how evacuations weren't prioritized before the military withdrew. I had similar thoughts, but I'm not a military strategist. It would have been ugly no matter what, though.

The thing that has made me feel oldest has to do with 9/11. For what feels like the longest time, you could ask anyone "Where were you" and the rest of the sentence could be assumed "when you heard about 9/11"

For the record, I was in middle school, it was lunch break, and a kid who goes home for lunch came riding in on his bike and told me and a friend of mine what had happened. I didn't know what the World Trade Center was. But for some reason, everyone seemed to have the memory of when they learned ironed in.

Anyway, I was working in the Summer Program, in 2018, at 28 years old. My coworkers were talking about when they learned about 9/11 and the times they were referring to weren't when it happened, but when a teacher or parent taught them the event as a part of history. My adult coworkers!

Anyway, this is all I'm going to talk on this subject.

I'm a week into my online course. It's an English class that I should have been exempt from through transfer credits, but U of W requires all students to take it even if they have the credit from another program. I hear that this is because so many of the students have English as an additional language, and they can't make exceptions for native English speakers because that could be seen as discriminatory. Don't know how true this is, it's not an official position by the school, but it's what everybody says.

I had taken the course in my first semester last time I did Uni, but I didn't understand how to use their online class system. When I got on, I saw that I had missed the mandatory assignment "Introduce yourself" due on the first day. I panicked and dropped it.

Next semester, I got a fiery email through my student address saying that I needed to sign up for an English course within three days or I would be expelled. At that time, there were only courses designed specifically for people with English as an additional language. I sent them an email explaining the situation and offering to take one of the remaining courses even if it wasn't targeted to me, and they were like "Nah, just take an English course whenever you feel like". Real mood whiplash.

One time I got officially expelled from my social work program because they tried to notify me of a clerical error through snail mail and by the time their letter arrived, the response period they gave me within the letter had expired. When I contacted them, they were similarly chill and just reinstated me in the program. Post-secondary schools really need to relax with expulsion.

Anyway, so this time around, I'm starting with the English course. I took the same exact one in college, but that's fine. It's a good way to brush up on my academic writing after a lengthy break. This time around I know how to use the online system. I managed the "Introduce yourself" assignment. This time they gave a week instead of a day, and it wasn't mandatory. I did a test that was more like a contract. It was a description of expectations with the questions being between "I agree" and "I disagree". I won't be providing the answers here, but you can probably imagine that it wasn't very difficult.

Oh, and there's a federal election coming up. On the 20th, a day before my birthday. It's an unusual time for one, since the current Prime Minister had about another two years in office, but he called for one. In Canada, we have four year terms, but it doesn't cap at 8 years like the States. If you can keep pulling votes, you can remain in power indefinitely. Elections can get called early however, like this one.

It's a curious move on behalf of Trudeau, though. Like, he's already got power, so why would he risk losing it two years early? The only reasons I can think of are, he either a) thinks he's more likely to win now than he will be later, or b) he wants to transition from a minority government to a majority.

In Canada we can either have minority of majority governments, with majority being the one all candidates would prefer. Trudeau's got a minority right now, and apparently the Liberal government is especially popular right now, so he's striking while the iron is hot.

I don't see why the Liberals would be more popular now than other times. I've heard that it's because Canada is in crisis, and in times of crisis popularity spikes for the governing leader. People want to believe that whoever is in charge will be able to save them, right? But Canada isn't in crisis, not really. We still have COVID and we're probably moving into another wave, but we've been through this three times before. We have to worry about our economic recovery, but that's not a fresh anxiety at this point. So I don't get it. 

We had a debate specifically surrounding disabilities, which was cool. All five major parties had representatives. The exchange of ideas was not very inspiring, but it was still cool that they had it since it's an often-overlooked topic.

Fires 2021

Remember how Australia and the Southern US got some pretty mean wildfires last year? Well, it's Canada's turn. We got fires in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Northwest Ontario. Apparently we're at a "Level 5" on preparedness, which is the highest level and indicates that we don't have the resources to appropriately manage the situation. This is the worst season for wildfires that Canada has seen in 70 years, and we can't ask for support from the US because they're having a tough wildfire season too, and each nation needs all its resources.

That being said, this hasn't effected my life much, unless this relentless heat wave that has been going on for weeks has something to do with it. We did notice that the moon was looking red before the usual season when that happens, and apparently that's a result of the fires.

I'll be honest, I kind of thought that Canada was pretty safe from natural disaster, at least for awhile. We're a colder region, so even if things get warmer, it should get worse faster for places closer to the equator. Here in Ontario, we're inland, so we don't get earthquakes or tsunamis. If a hurricane lands on our coast, it's dulled down to maybe a slightly heavier than usual storm and its origin is considered a fun fact. We get the occasional tornado. My hometown Guelph had a weird string of draughts that never got an explanation, but they've returned to normal.

I can't think of a place on the planet that I'd feel more safe. In fact, Canada got ranked as the best country in the world this year, so far as quality of life.

U.S. News Releases 2021 Best Countries Rankings | Best Countries | US News

I heard this right around the time the Indigenous children were found under the residential schools. Very weird sensation to be alerted to these two perspectives at the same time.

I wouldn't take those statistics as an objective truth anyway. All I'm saying is that climate-wise, I feel pretty safe. But its hard not to link the current wildfires with the ones that have been going on around the globe these past couple of years. I feel like it's creeping up on us.

Speaking of fires, I forgot to mention an experience I had in last years' post on the subject. In that update, I talked about the increase in home fires post-COVID and the three Wal Marts getting burned down. I hope regular flame-based updates don't need to become a tradition.

Anyway, I was at Lee-Anne's parents place, and I was telling Lee-Anne's mom that I refused to learn how to deep fry food. Best case scenario, it's bad for my diet, worst case scenario, I burn down my home. I told her that everyone I know whose started a fire in their house did it while they were deep frying something (which is true).

As we're talking, we hear sirens. We go outside and there's a fire next door, due to a deep frying incident.

So I'd suddenly decided to talk about deep fry fires, right as one was starting up next door. I'm psychic, yo.

If you tried to read my Civilization V runthrough but found you couldn't because the sentences were running over the borders, I've fixed the formatting: The Gryphon's Perch: Let's Play: Civilization V (lairofthegryphon.blogspot.com)

Do you remember when Doug Ford made a cheesecake recipe video during the early stages of the pandemic? I tried making it. Recipe and review on my food blog: The Premier's Cheesecake (gryphood.blogspot.com)

I made a painting of a beluga whale on my gallery blog: Gryphon's Gallery: Beluga (gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com)

Granddad Wellness Update

In 2020 my granddad suffered an episode that put him into a delirium that caused him to be hospitalized. I made a post about it last year. It was particularly distressing because it happened during a hospital lockdown because of COVID, so we weren't able to support him in the ways that we would have liked, although we were able to talk to him over the hospital phone. When I spoke to him, he preferred not to speak on his health or current circumstances, and asked me to speak about my own life.

Despite the episode having the characteristics of a stroke, tests showed no indication that this was what it was, and physically he was considered to be in immaculate health. There were some signs of dementia in its early stages but not enough to explain his state at that time.

He was eventually able to leave the hospital and continue living with my Oma. His mental health improved considerably for a time, but his condition would continue to worsen.

Me and Lee-Anne were able to visit them once the lockdown lifted. We went to a club that him and my Oma frequent and had lunch. I asked him about his and my great uncles' move to Canada and the story behind his name, and he was able to tell me.

One time when I was in Guelph, my mom was talking to them on a video chat and when she mentioned that I was there, he was excited and shouted for me to join the call.

Yesterday me and Lee-Anne visited, again for lunch, and things were a little different.

My mother had visited them for a few days a few weeks prior and had told me that he hadn't recognized her at first, although he did after a couple of days. Oma warned me that he wouldn't recognize me, and I responded that I understood he "might" not recognize me. Trying to portray myself as realistic while leaving a lot of room for optimism.

When we arrived, the first thing he said to me was, "You look familiar". He didn't object or seem surprised when I told him I was his grandson though. My aunt, his other daughter, who lives in Toronto and who has been seeing him weekly, had made a family tree with pictures for him. I was able to take that and show what relation I was to him. For the rest of the visit, when I'd be referred to as Gryphon or his grandson, he seemed to know who was being referred to, although I don't know if he would have been able to offer the information unprompted. I tried not to challenge or test his memory too much, it didn't seem like my place to do that.

Despite my mother saying he hadn't recognized her, there were several times when me and Oma were speaking about her, and Granddad interjected with "You mean my daughter Tammy?" and "Tammy Landstreet?"

He asked me what I did for a living, but later on when the name of my agency was brought up, he mentioned that he knew about it.

We went to the same place we did last time. Before we left their apartment, he didn't remember the name of the club, but when we got there, he welcomed us to it, told us where the bathrooms were, and said that he comes often.

He looked at me a lot and was smiling. We went for a walk together and I was worried that he would forget who I was and become anxious. But we chatted and had a good conversation. He said the walk was pleasant and special and he regretted that we'd eventually have to leave.

It seemed like he knew various things about me, but the facts weren't syncing up. He knew I looked familiar, and that he had grandsons, and that he knew someone named "Gryphon" but these facts didn't weave together to make the full person in front of him. But he seemed familiar and comfortable with me. I think he kind of knew me.

I was given his watch and the military dogtags of my great grandfather, who shares a name that's somewhere in both Granddad and my name (it's not Gryphon). 

This whole thing is tough to watch, not going to lie. He's been a consistent influence on my life for as long as I can remember. The amicability of our relationship has fluctuated over the years, but he's always been there. It gives an existential feeling, and it's hard knowing that his condition will only get worse.

Let's Play: Civilization V

 Alright, we're doing a Let's Play. We're playing Civilization V. I'll be writing out my experience as I work through this game.

Even if you don't like video games, you might like reading through this. Before I ever actually played it, I remember reading people reference their games and getting a kick out of it. The combination of real-world significance with the variability of players tactics and randomized circumstance creates for some bizarre storylines.

In this game, you get to play as a civilization (Civ) and historical figure. You start in the stone age and move through different eras as you develop technology. You play alongside other Civs and compete to conquer the world. This can be done through five different win conditions:

1. Technology Victory: You put a man on the moon
2. Diplomacy Victory: You become the leader of the World Congress
3. Cultural Victory: Your tourism becomes greater than every other Civs culture
4. Conquerer's Victory: You conquer ever other Civ's capital

The first person to achieve one of those is the winner.

I've won via technology and culture in the past. My favorite Civ to play is Pedro II of Brazil, and I've also played as Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon and Ahmad Al-Mansur of Morocco.

You can manipulate your game's conditions by choosing what the geography will look like, what era you want to start in, what win conditions are viable etc. I'm going to be playing with mostly default settings. So the geography will be continental, there will be 8 Civs including myself, and all win conditions are viable.

I'm going to be playing at the third level of difficulty (Warlord). Any true gamers out there might think this is unimpressive, but I think it's the level I'm at. I have managed to lose games at this difficulty.

I wanted to do this earlier in the pandemic, because people seemed to become more aware of their national status on a global scale, so it seemed topical. Because of this, I will only be selecting Civs that exist in our current era.

That proved difficult to do. What defines a nation? Some of these Civs have different names than they used to, but are culturally very similar. Is it the culture? Some have the same name, but are culturally very different from their past. Is it the people? Some people continue to exist and retain their culture, but their nations are not recognized internationally.

Do I include Korea if it is now divided into the North and South? Do I include the  Iroquois and Shoshone people, whose nations are not recognized internationally, but whose people and culture live one? Do I include Siam even if it's name has changed to Thailand?

And yet, the distinction of existing the past vs present seems to have some validity, as some civilizations only really exist in the past. It would be hard to justify the inclusion of Babylon or the Ottoman Empire.

So I'm not going to go into the metric I used to determine current relevancy, because there's no perfect way to do it and I don't want to open that debate.

I did manage to cut Civ V's 40 playable options to 21.

From here I'm going to use a random number generator to choose the 8 Civs that will play in the game.

I got:

1. Egypt
2. England
3. Ethiopia
4. Germany
5. Greece
6. Morocco
7. Polynesia
8. Sweden

Now I'll use the random number generator to choose which of these 8 I will play as.

So that means I am...

Ramses II of Egypt!

Every Civ has some special characteristics that can give them an advantage over their opponents. For Egypt, they can construct special buildings (Wonders) 20% faster. They can build the Burial Tomb instead of the Temple, and they have the War Chariot instead of the Chariot Archer, which are both improvements.

That 20% edge on Wonder construction is a really nice feature. If I lose this game, it's not because I got unlucky with my Civ.

Alright, here I go.

I’m starting in a patch of land next to a river. I have bush on one side, planes on the other. There are sheep and wheat nearby. I found the city Thebes next to the river and I'm sending my warrior out to explore. I'm building a scout to help explore the continent. Working on Pottery to get my Burial Tomb and to learn how to cultivate the nearby wheat.

Got my scout, now I’m building a worker.

I’ve discovered the City State of Hanoi. I should mention here that in addition to the major Civs there are also City States. These smaller civilizations are autonomous and will develop units and technology, but they don't attempt to complete win conditions or found additional cities. You interact with them by allying with them, building trade routes, or going to war with them

.
I finished researching pottery, now I’m researching archery to get my signature unit, the War Chariot, and establish a strong early game military

First Civ I meet is Kamehameha of Polynesia. He found me not the other way around. Not too surprising. If I do recall, Polynesia is big on exploration.

I’m building a shrine now, because there’s only room for five religions on this map, and while I don’t want to be a fully religion based Civ, I still want to have it, you know?

Discovered Koala Lumpur, another City State. I should mention here that Civ V is not geographically accurate. It wants to simulate the experience of discovering the world, which you wouldn't get if you already know where everything is. So it randomizes things.

I can now choose a social policy. I chose Liberty to further enhance my already strong production. I was tempted by Piety to lock in a religion though.

Starting my first Wonder, the Temple of Artemis.

Killed my first barbarians who were foolish enough to attack Thebes. Barbarians are people who set up encampments and attack or abduct units from Civs indiscriminately.

I’ve explored my continent. It appears I’m alone aside from the city states Hanoi and Koala Lampur. My warrior who evolved to spearman on his journey returns home.

Got a Pantheon, first step to founding religion. I took Religious Settlements to increase my border growth. I might wind up regretting this since there isn’t much competition on this continent. Might be able to afford to take my time with that and focus on other things.

 
I founded my second city, Memphis. Did it by the coast because that was the only recommended spot on this continent. Don’t know if this means I’ll have to run a two city empire, but at least I’ve always enjoyed having a city on the coast. Already thinking of invading the two nearby city states. I know Alexander the Great of Greece is here somewhere on this map, and he doesn’t like it when people bully city states, so it might be best to do that while he's not around to see it. It'll be an ancient part of our history by the time we meet.

In a previous game, Greece destroyed me in the early game. Alexander was furious that I had the audacity to have a strong military and exist near a City State that he had allied with. He set up camp within that City State, ambushed me out of nowhere, and demolished me. I'm still traumatised. So maybe if there aren't any City States on this continent by the time we meet, he won't get paranoid about my army's proximity to them.

Oof, an unmet player has exited the Stone Age and entered the Classical Era. I might be a step behind.

Kamehameha wants to do a trade. He wants to trade money (gold), for the luxury item (gold). Seems weird and pointless, but it’s probably a good idea to build rapport with the only other person in my network. Agreed!

Built the pyramids. Very fitting for Egypt. Finally made it to the Classical Era. Apparently like, three other Civs beat me to it.

I've founded the city Heliopolis. For some reason the settler was able to find more recommended locations now. I should probably slow my roll with founding cities, especially if I’m going to invade Hanoi and Koala Lampur later on.

Somebody founded Eastern Orthodoxy. Four more religious slots available. I feel like I’ve really got to be promoting religion.

I just killed some barbarians and Koala Lampur is under the impression that I defended them. Not going to discourage the perspective. We’re friends now.

I'm building a Trireme in Memphis to do my first exploration by sea. I really don’t think I’ll be the first to discover all other civilizations. That will probably be Kamehameha, since his whole jam is travel by sea, highly relevant to early game exploration. He’ll probably head the first world counsel, but that’s okay. He’s not as strong in the late game, so I don’t think he’s a relevant rival.

Researching Writing so that I can develop Philosophy, which will give me the Egypt-exclusive production Burial Tomb, which grants faith, hopefully securing me a religion

Polynesia wants to set up an embassy in Thebes. He’s offering the bare minimum amount of money and not offering me an embassy in his territory. I always take this as an insult. Reject.

I’m at a net negative regarding finances. I’ve built up enough in savings that I’m not in danger now, but this will need to be addressed.

Got my Tririme, so it's time to explore the oceans. Using it, I’ve met the City States of Sidon, Riga, and Almaty. Sidon's met Polynesia, but I was the first Great Civ to meet Riga and Almaty, so Kamehameha hasn't done his rounds yet.

I tried to build The Great Library, but an unmet Civ beat me to it. The game forced me to abandon the project. Doesn’t feel good.

Ooh! I just got my first Great Prophet. I can found a religion now.

I kind of wanted the religion to be named COVID-19 or something to be topical, but now I’m worried about being disrespectful. I’m pretty sure I could adopt the symbol of Zoroastrianism and not cause too much outrage, since the religion has fallen out of practice so long ago, but even so, it feels disrespectful. Egypt’s default religion is Islam, so I guess I’ll just go with that.

I’m choosing Religious Art and Church Property for my religious benefits. I’ll gain culture and tourism for the Hermitage, and I’ll gain money for cities following my religion

Created Stonehenge. Founded the city Elephantine. I really gotta stop founding cities, but I got a free settler from one of my enhancements, and I couldn’t waste it, could I?

Now Kamehameha wants to establish an embassy with me in return for me establishing an embassy with him. Seems kind of suspicious the way he’s doubling down, but this is much more respectful than his last offer, so I’ll accept.

The embassies are set up and it turns out Polynesia is actually my neghbour, and not just some super savvy ocean exploration specialist. Now Kamehameha wants to make a declaration of friendship with him. Yes!

Kind of weird to make a Declaration of Friendship to the world when we're the only two Civs to witness it. I guess Hanoi, Koala Lampur, Sidon, Riga, and Almaty get to know.

My people are at a net neutral for Happiness. Looks like I’ll have to take a break from expansion and focus on the wealth and happiness of my people. If Happiness moves into the negatives, your citizens convert to barbarians and start burning your property. Don't want that. Happiness drops when people are starving, the economy is bad, population density gets too high etc. You increase it by providing resources and developing special buildings, often surrounding entertainment.

Just developed my ability to build siege weapons. Those are for you, Hanoi and Koala Lampur.

Gonna research horseback riding so that I can finally cash in on the Opera House, which can lead to the Hermitage. I got a religious bonus that boosts my culture and tourism from the Hermitage, if you recall.

Just adopted my second Social Policy. Going with Aesthetics. Guess I’m going for a Cultural Victory.

 
Brazil, which is the Civ I play most, specializes in this kind of victory. I think Egypt is good with Culture or Tech, which is good for me, because those are the only two win conditions I've ever pulled off.

I finally brought in trade routes, and I’m pulling a financial profit. Just developed fishing boats. I have a single trireme to defend my ocean-based business. I should really expand my navy.

I made it to the Medieval era. Last time three Civs advanced to an era beyond before I upgraded. This time only two Civs beat me to it. Improvement.

I just asked Kamehameha if he wanted to open his borders to me if I did the same and he said yes! Now I can move through his territory to discover the world.

...The world isn’t showing much more though. The two of us are really isolated. I’ll need to get Astronomy to be able to go far enough out to sea to find more Civs.

I just got my first Great Writer: Jane Austin. This will allow me to create a Great Work, which will generate my first Tourism points. Seems weird when you only know one other Civilization though. I guess I'm bringing in those Polynesian tourists.

There you go, Jane Austin of Egypt wrote Pride and Prejudice.

Now I’m invading Hanoi. Out of boredom more than anything. It might put strain on my friendship with Polynesia, but they're not allied with them so it shouldn’t bother them too much.

When you go to war with another Civ or City State (barbarians don't count), you receive something called a "warlord penalty", meaning other Civs are less likely to trust you or want to deal with you. The warlord penalty is worse for the allies of the Civ or City State being attacked, and it's worse if you attack your own ally. People don't like the unpredictability of a Civ that would attack its own friends, so it's important to communicate aggression in advance of invading them, as weird as that sounds.

I just defeated Hanoi. It was easy.

I get the option to either raze the conquered City State to the ground and receive a large but one-off bonus, or I can annex it, bringing it into my empire in its entirety, or I can turn it into a Puppet State, meaning that they keep their autonomy and my population doesn't take as large a hit to their Happiness, but I can move through their territory and their resources are shared with mine. I'm turning it into a Puppet State. In my first game as Morocco, I loved annexing cities. I was a bit of a control freak.

Just got a report that my people are the least happy in the world. They didn't take the Battle for Hanoi well, I guess.

Sergey Vasilyevich Ivanov was born into my land, but I don’t have a building available to display his art. How humiliating.

I made it to the Renaissance Era! I was fourth to the Classical Era, the third to the Medieval Era, and now first to the Renaissance! I developed Acoustics to get here, so that I can build Opera Houses, so I can get my advanced Hermitages. Next goal is to develop the Compass, and then Astronomy, which should allow me to explore the rest of the world. I severely neglected developing the material development side of technology to get here this fast. I don’t even have Bronze. I’ll have to develop them if I want to eventually get Railroads. I really like Railroads.

I can now use spies and diplomats. Spies can steal technology from other Civs, while diplomats can apply social pressure. I’m sending a diplomat to Honolulu.

I completed the Aesthetics social policy line. I got Horace Vernet from it, and now I’ve got two Great Artists with no place to post their work.

A new report says that I’m the most progressive Civilization in the world! Polynesia’s number five! Can't see what position everyone else is in, because they don't report that unless you've met them, and I've still only met Polynesia.

I’ve achieved Astronomy! This means I can build ships capable of exploring deep into the oceans. Now I don’t really know what tech to develop. Part of me wants to develop some metallurgy, but I don’t want to lose the momentum I’ve gained on my more developed side of the tech tree. I’ll do Bronze Working, Engineering, Iron Working and Metal Casting, and then I’ll go back to more culture-based techs.

Oof, I immediately discovered iron and got my first Great Engineer. Took me long enough.

I also don't know where to send my ocean-cruising Caravells. At this rate, it looks like I’ll run into Greece before I invade Koala Lampur, but there’s still a lot of unknowns and they’re both projects early in development.

With my head start, I might have a chance to be the first person to discover the world. I really thought it would be either Polynesia or Greece, but we’ll see!

Finally! I built the Sistine Chapel, and now Ivanov and Vernet can display their art.

Sent two Caravells out to explore the world and now I only have one Caravell to protect my coast. Feeling pretty vulnerable.

Aw geez, I’m able to choose another Social Policy before unlocking Ideologies. Going with Rationalism. Was tempted by Piety because my faith is pretty strong due to having no competing religions near me and it would allow me to do some pretty creative stuff, but some of the bonuses are less attractive at this stage in the game, and someone already built the Great Mosque of Djenne, which is the World Wonder it would have unlocked. Rationalism is still untapped and its benefits are better suited to this era, developing science.

After what felt like a long time exploring the oceans, almost simultaneously I've entountered Ahmad Al-Mansur of Morocco, Haille Selassi of Ethiopia, Bismarck of Germany, Gustav Adolphus of Sweden, Alexander the Great of Greece, and Queen Elizabeth of England.

If you're keeping track, that means I've now met every Civ in the game. Hopefully I'm the first person to meet everyone. I guess I'm relying on Polynesia not managing it, since it seems like these guys all know each other. Seems like they've had to share two continents between 6 Civs, whereas me and Polynesia got an entire continent for each of our respective Civs. I got lucky by getting a good Civ, and fortune shined on me geographically as well. I'm going to be humiliated if I don't win.

Everybody's trying to get me to open my borders and allow embassies. Guys, do you even have the tech to reach my borders?

Just noticed that even if I'm the first to meet everyone, I'm two techs short to found the World Congress, and it's on the side of the tech tree that I've neglected. Crap. New goal.

Hm… Damaged Polynesian ships showing up on Egyptian shores. Likely hiding out because they’re the only ones I’ve opened my borders to, and whoever is pursuing them can’t enter my space without declaring war. I’m cool with giving the Polynesians refuge, but who are they hiding from?

Alright, I’m declaring war on Koala Lumpur. If I get it, it’ll be my last land grab. I would have preferred that Greece didn’t see this, but he’s not protecting them, so whatever.

I founded the World Congress! Now I get to propose a resolution. Looks like we’ve got some artsy Civs. 4 Civs would be grateful if I proposed Arts funding, and 4 would be mad if I proposed sciences funding.

I went for Cultural Heritage Sites, which benefits those who’ve built World Wonders, and Egypt’s talent is building World Wonders fast. Queen Elizabeth of England proposed Arts Funding. Both are an advantage to me, and both got approved.

I get to propose something but nothing looks appealing. I’ll go with Natural Heritage Sites, meaning that natural Wonders receive more Culture. I’ve got some of those.

Just made it to the Industrial Era by discovering Archaeology. Think I’m the first one to make it here. I think my next goal will be to discover railroads in the Modern Era.

Ahmad Al-Mansur of Morocco just expressed his displeasure that me and Germany are friends.

Now Kamehameha of Polynesia is asking for gold in return for nothing. He’s appealing to our friendship. I suppose I can help him out.

My people are suddenly negative 6 happiness and I don’t know why. I’ll retire my scouts so they’ll stop draining resources and since they no long have a purpose after discovering the world.

City States have been approved to vote on the World Congress. Alexander has the most voting power and Kamehameha comes second. I can’t compete. I think I’ll put my votes toward supporting Kamehameha, just because he’s less intimidating

I get the choice to choose a social tenant. I’ve usually found success with “Freedom”, but because of Egypt's playstyle, I’m choosing “Order”

Polynesia settled a city on the Southern coast of the continent I'm on. I’m furious. I wanted this whole continent to myself. I really don't want to go to war with my oldest ally, but it’s exactly where I’d put a city if I were to add another to my empire.

Now they built another on a nearby island. I'm beginning to feel surrounded. Maybe I should have been more proactive about warning them not to settle near me.

I can now see oil and coal and I don't have any of either. This is going to make it difficult for my military to keep up. I traded Greece some silver for coal.

Germany is the only Civ where my cultural influence isn’t increasing.

Ethiopia has declared war on England. So I’m not the first to declare war on another major Civ. Proud of myself choking back the urge to invade Polynesia for settling land all around me.

I made allies with four nearby city states: Sidon, Riga, Almaty, and Kyzyl. This should get me a bit more voting power in the World Congress. You get in the good graces of City States by giving them money. If you give them a certain amount, they'll let you move through their territory. If you give them more than any other Civ, they become your ally, vote for you at World Congress and side with you in times of war. This is a big reason why "Diplomatic Victories" are really "Financial Victories".

I lost a few allies the turn before the World Congress. Frustrating.

Greece wants to make Buddhism the World Religion. Polynesia wants to ban salt. Greece has stronger voting power than anyone in the world, but not strong enough to dominate if enough people vote against them. I put all my delegates to vote against establishing a world religion.

Buddhism was rejected for world religion and Alexander has let me know that he blames me.

I just realized that I haven’t been using my Faith Points to make Religious Purchases. Time to bank in on a ton of Great Artists.

Bismarck went all the way from being guarded against me to wanting to make a Declaration of Friendship. Now I’m friends with Germany, Polynesia and Morocco. Instead of assaulting Polynesia, maybe it’s best to set up an alliance against Greece.

I invented the Eiffel Tower and Broadway. Very cool because only one Civ in the world can have these.

I’m building hotels and broadcast towers in all of my cities. Good buildings for tourism.

Greece has the most delegates again, with Polynesia running up. I have third most. I’ll put my delegates toward keeping Polynesia in power.

We succeeded.

Gustav Adolphus concedes that Egypt has culturally dominated Sweden. He says that they're all listening to our pop music and wearing our blue jeans. It's just what people say when they've been culturally dominated. If I can do this to the other 6 Civs, I win.

Polynesia has just settled another city on another island off my coast. They have me surrounded at four points. I don't like this.

I’m going to denounce Greece. They’re the most resistant to my cultural influence (Germany's come around) and I don’t think I can keep them from becoming head of the World Congress for another session. If I build a bad relationship now, I’ll not startle the other Civs if I have to go to war with them later down the road. This would prevent me from sending musicians to their land, but since they’re already guarded, I don’t think this will impact things later down the road

After my denouncement, Germany, Polynesia, Morocco, and England decided to join me in denouncing Greece. I feel supported.

Polynesia wants to make Freedom the new World Ideolology. As I have “Order”, I have to vote against it. I hope this doesn’t drive a wedge between us.

Freedom failed to be passed, but sugar got banned.

I have culturally dominated Polynesia.

Since my denouncement of Greece went so well I'm going to look for support from the other Civs in going to war with them.

Ethiopia has agreed to go to war and Polynesia and Germany have agreed to do it in 10 turns. England, Morocco, and Sweden all say no. Ethiopia wants to make a Declaration of Friendship with us. Prospects of war against Greece must have endeared them to us.

I've made it to the Atomic Era.

In the World Congress, Ban Salt passed and Embargo Greece failed.

I have culturally dominated Ethiopia.

I’m aiming for the Internet as my next tech goal, which will double my tourism output.

Now that I'm at war with Greece, all their allied City States have turned against me. The plus side to this is that I don't receive as much of a warlord penalty for conquering them. Because of this, I have just invaded Cape Town and turned it into a Puppet State.

I also took Knossos, a Greek city built on an island near Cape Town, just North of Hanoi and Koala Lampur.

Ethiopia is attacking Greece. First Civ other than me to take initiative in the war.

Greece’s culture is still really strong. If the Internet doesn’t do it, I might have to consider annexing my puppet states to build more cultural buildings.

I’m in the negatives for oil.

Germany wants me to go to war with England but I don’t want to.

Most of my navy is out by Knossos and Cape Town since they’re island nations and I have an airforce to protect the coast of my mainland.

Got a diplomat in London. So now I’ve got diplomats there as well as Honolulu, Marrakech, and Berlin.

In the top ten ranking for cities with the most tourism, my cities cover the top three. Also got the fifth. London is awkwardly inbetweern Heliopolis and Memphis.

Ethiopia and Polynesia appealed to end their war with Greece. I’m not done with them yet.

Polynesia wants me to support them in going to war with England. It seems like the world would rather turn against England than Greece. Not me. Greece is building steadily toward a Diplomatic Victory whereas I can't see a way that England could pull off a win, unless they've secretly been producing nukes and are going for a Conquerer's Victory. I don't think they are, though.

Alexander wants to end the war. He’s not offering anything though. Forget it. I can take two more of his City States before I’ll consider it. Riga and Almaty are within my reach and are allied with him.If I can take them while at war with him, I can reduce his voting power, increase my own, and not suffer as much of a warlord penalty.

Polynesia’s positioning its’ military in an intimidating way. Kamehameha says that my military’s positioning is worrisome and advises I pull out for the sake of future peace. Fair enough. I’ve had all my siege units sitting at the border of Aotearoa in case we ever beef it out. Our Civs’ relationship and open borders agreement is imperative to my navy, so I will comply.

England just denounced me for some reason. We’ve got trade agreements and I’ve refused to go to war with her despite global pressure. I guess she just doesn’t like that I’m friends with so many of her enemies.

Actually, England just succumbed to my cultural influence. Maybe that was the reason for the denouncement. Just need Germany and Greece to succumb now.

I’ve built all the buildings I can in Thebes and don’t need any units. I guess I’ll commit it to science research.

I made it to the Information Era, the final era of the game.

I just took Riga and turned it into a puppet state.

The World Congress has become the United Nations, making a Diplomatic Victory possible, which is what Greece is going for. My going into the Information Era is what made this happen, but it’s unfortunate timing because we’re having a meeting next turn and this works in Greece’s favour. I’m glad I took Riga last turn, it’ll take away some of Greece’s influence.

but it’s unfortunate timing because we’re having a meeting next turn and this works in Greece’s favour. I’m glad I took Riga last turn, it’ll take away some of Greece’s influence.

Greece has 24 delegates, followed by Polynesia with 8, then me with 6. Stark contrast here. As per tradition, I funnel all my support into Polynesia.

Predictably, Greece became host of the UN.

I got enough oil from invading Riga that I got to upgrade my entire airforce.

My economy’s gone down the toilet. Probably from invading Riga. They do have uranium though. The first uranium I’ve encountered. I have to build a mine for it though.

It just became 2022. I’m a year in the future now.

Crap. Greece wants to embargo me, which is bad. Polynesia wants to make Islam the World Religion, which would be good for me. I can either put my voting power toward resisting the embargo, or I could put it toward supporting Islam. I split the difference and put 3 votes against the embargo, and 3 toward Islam.

Embargo Egypt passed. World Religion Islam didn’t. Worst possible result for me. Despite 4 Civs voting in my favour and 2 against, I still got the embargo.

The International Games have been completed. I was the only Civ not to participate. Didn’t seem worth it. Polynesia won.

I just took Almaty as a Puppet State. That means my territory includes 10 cities. I think that’s the most of any Civ, with Polynesia coming in second with 9. I think this is as much as I can do, without getting too close to enemy territory, unless Greece allies with Sidon (the final remaining autonomous City State in mine and Polynesia’s territory, now under protection of Polynesia).

In my kingdom, I have four cities, one captured city from another Civ (Knossos, formerly of Greece) and five former City States. Right now, Almaty is bordered by the German city, Cologne, which is fine as they are an ally of mine.

I’m retiring some military units that were invented before the use of gunpowder. I think I’ll slowly replace them with more modern soldiers.

This is as much as I can beat up Greece, so I’m going to negotiate peace and try to demand a bunch of stuff from them while I’m at it.

I told him to give me money and coal and he did it! I didn’t offer anything on my end except for a mutual peace between us and our allied City States for 10 turns.

Huh. Polynesia told me off for being an “uncivilized brute”. Right after making peace with Greece. Weird. Must have been conquering Almaty.

I’m proud of myself. I’ve gone to war with Greece and conquered 6 cities, and 5 of the other 7 Civs are still friendly with me.

Greece is denouncing me. What’s the point? Can’t go to war when we’ve signed a peace treaty.

I discovered the Internet!

Well, it appears I didn’t win the game. I guess I’ll start annexing puppet states and building more cultural buildings.

I’ve culturally dominated Germany. Only Greece left.

We just had the World Congress and no World Leader was chosen. You need 37 delegates and Greece only has 24. If Greece can get 13 more delegates before I culturally dominate him, he wins.

Just annexed Koala Lumpur. Thought I’d start there because it’s been in my empire for so long and it’s by the coast so I can build naval units.

I just completed every social tenant, plus 4 social policies: Liberty, Piety, Rationalism, Aesthetics. Took on the Exploration Social Policy. Not too relevant now.

A Great Musician was born. If I can convince Alexander to open his borders, I could perform a concert tour. Too bad our relationship is shot

Just annexed Hannoi. Let’s do it, full control over the mainland!

Buddhism became the World Religion. That's Greece's religion. Not good for me.

Started the Apollo Program. First step toward a Science Victory. Don’t really think I have time for it, but maybe it’s worth having a backup plan.

Alexander won’t open his borders no matter how much I offer to him. Smart of him.

No World Leader chosen again. I probably have 20 turns to win this.

England lost its capital! Greece took London. England has been conquered and has fallen out of the competition.

Greece took Sidon as an ally. Now if I go to war with Greece, Sidon will become my enemy and I can conquer them without suffering a warlord penalty. Also, I’d be able to send my musician onto Greek territory and perform a concert tour.

Alright, I’ve declared war by having my musician walk across their border.

I just took Sidon and turned it into a Puppet State.

Now that I’ve done my concert tour and took his allied City State, I tried to demand a bunch of his stuff for peace but he flatly declined.

Weirdly, he wants to negotiate peace shortly after I offered and he declined.

He just sold me Sparta for peace. I didn’t even ask for it. It’s on the opposite side of the map, I don’t think I can defend it. If someone tries to take it, I’ll just sell it to Morocco or Ethiopia.

I found an Antiquity Site that still needs to be excavated. I’m sending some people over, but Kamehameha is getting nervous and warned me not to move so many military units by his territory.

Researching Nuclear Fission. I’ve never nuked anyone in a game, but I’m getting really tempted to drop one on Greece’s capital. It would make the whole world turn against me though.

Even though England lost their capital, they still have functioning cities and they chose to found a city on the southern side of my mainland where there was still some land I hadn’t settled. I’d just made a Settler to found one right around there. Might as well take it from here. She built it right where I put all my siege weapons after Kamehameha complained. I’ll have my Settler found a city nearby where there’s some unmined oil.

Just founded Alexandria. Between that and Hastings, the new English city which I’m gonna conquer, I’ll own what’s left of this continent.

I’m denouncing England in preparation for war so that I can take Hastings. England’s unpopular anyway.

Ethiopia and Polynesia are happy that I denounced her.

Got a musician! Between this and the antiquity site, maybe I can still win this.

Just took Hastings.

Kamehameha has denounced us! That’s pretty disturbing. My closest neighbour and ally!

Oh… doesn’t matter though, because…

I WON!

I culturally dominated Greece! I didn’t need the musician or antiquity site after all.