happy for autumn.
sunday, october 13th, 2024.
It's been a busy couple of weeks. Incredibly fulfilling, though! We attended the Georgia Bike-Walk-Live Summit last weekend in Decatur. I brought my laptop and took plenty of notes at all the sessions I attended, got to meet all sorts of transportation nerds, and we got to explore the city on our bikes, including the Atlanta Beltline. Decatur, in particular, is incredibly walkable and bikeable— they called it a mini Amsterdam in Georgia. The picture above is us waiting on a delicious Mexican meal on the sidewalk patio of Casa Balam.
When the summit wrapped up, we meandered over to the Georgia World Conference Center and poked into DreamHack, seen above. I've never been to a gaming convention before and this one is huge. They had a big Counter-Strike tournament running, complete with commentators, an elaborate camera and stage setup, and a roaring crowd. Next to that, they had (at least) four other stages with their own events: live-action D&D and a fighting game tournament. They had Warhammer 40K, Magic: The Gathering, and Flesh & Blood events as well, plus arcade machines, VR setups, and more vendor booths than you could shake a stick at.
My wife and I dropped by a "learn to play Flesh & Blood" table and did just that, plus got some promo starter decks and cards to boot! Suffice it to say: we're now both very much into the game. It's so nice to be able to play together in the evenings after the little one goes to bed. We're both hyped for the Monday night Flesh & Blood at the local game store tomorrow.
The little one's birthday is coming up and we celebrated it yesterday. Her dad got her a really nice bicycle and we took her for a little toy shopping trip after spending the afternoon at a local indoor playground & arcade. One of the things she got was a Tamagotchi. I never had one when I was growing up, so we've been exploring how it works together— partly with the instruction manual above and partly with this care guide. I love that there's a rabbit hole for just about everything. Our kiddo seems to really be enjoying her new Tamagotchi, whom she's called "lil Fella," a lot!
The weather is finally in the 70°F range— is this the autumn we've waited so long for? Our bike rides together have been so much more enjoyable now that we're not riding in the sweltering Georgia heat. We've got a couple of big group rides coming up, including Bike Walk Macon's Big Bike Ride, which will hopefully have hundreds of cyclists taking over the streets of Macon.
So yeah— autumn has been pretty rad so far. I enjoyed summer, but the changing seasons are always something to look forward to. Crisp morning bike rides, cozy evenings in sweaters, pumpkin spice coffee & chai lattes, fall festivals, Halloween, and all that other fun stuff. Life is pretty good. 🥰
Until next time, be well! :)