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Three Good Things for Sunday, March 17th

1. The Leprechaun Brothers.

St Patrick's Day doesn't have the same resonance for me that it did in college, when it was a great excuse to drink all day. Being sober definitely takes the gloss off the major drinking holidays, and I've also always felt resentful about holidays that come with a dress code and enforcement mechanism. Excuse me, you want to pinch me on what basis?!? That said, I do love the yearly excuse to revisit three of my favorite Muppets:

https://youtu.be/OCbuRA_D3KU?feature=shared


2. Stringsfest.


Yesterday the two older kids participated in the annual Stringsfest, in which the students in the strings programs of every elementary school and middle school that feed into the high schools in town perform a concert in the high school gym. This means close to a thousand kids and probably thrice that many family members and teachers filing an entire giant-ass gym to capacity. 

When I played in this as a kid, my dad described the sound of it (unbeknownst to me) as "being trapped in the world's largest kazoo". But this sounded pretty good! The kids were pretty well in tune, and kept in time with one another for the most part. And closing with Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is such a smart move - I don't know of another piece of music that is such a good-will generator.


3. Lord of the Rings - Journeys In Middle Earth.



Today was cold and grey and windy, and just generally a crap day to try to do much of anything but the bare minimum of housework. A perfect day, therefore, to break out our running game of Journeys In Middle Earth. This was our family Christmas present to ourselves this year, and so far it has been well worth it. It's a cooperative tabletop board game/RPG, letting you play through an adventurous story set in between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It's a ton of fun, and while the mechanics are a little fiddly I just love being able to spend more time in this world.

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