Lev Lafayette's journal

I have finally returned to work after two weeks of being almost completely bedridden from bronchitis, requiring two courses of antibiotics (amoxicillin and then doxycycline). It was a strange illness, with the preceding cold resulting in quite well on Friday, absolutely terrible on Saturday, fine on Sunday, and average on Monday, before completely succumbing to illness. It was probably the most ill I have ever felt, at least for an extended period. Dengue fever in Timor, for example, was more intense, but with a much shorter duration. It was somewhat ironic to be back on doxycycline after twenty years too which, of course, I took every day to prevent malaria whilst in Timor. During this time, I am especially thankful for "the kindness of women" who visited me, provided company, provided care packages, and delivered groceries; I have an enormous special love and thanks to Ruby M., Liana F., Erica H., and Mel S. who made all of this time a lot more tolerable.

Prior to my complete convalescence, there was a brief visit from Suzette SC, Liana F., and their respective human children, but also with the delivery of two cats (Coco and Yogi) as temporary co-residents in my home. They're older felines, of very good disposition, and a gentler tread, and their company has been very welcome at The Rookery. I must also mention the one larger social event I attended, with Carla BL travelling to their homeland of the United States for several weeks, and hosting quite a wonderful gathering on midwinter just prior to their departure which came with some particularly good conversations. The following day, feeling really quite poorly, I nevertheless completed my presentation to the Sea of Faith in Australia on "Do We Have Enough Time? A Eudaimonic Answer". My talk was thirty minutes long; the discussion that followed went for over two hours! I have a copy of the video for those interested in the longer review.

I've also had a couple of opportunities to do some online gaming with friends, particularly with the cooperative storytelling game, "Wanderhome" in which characters play anthropomorphised creatures in a world where there is no interspecies conflict and a system that works heavily on dramatical rather than martial conflict, to the extent that the latter is almost entirely excluded. I've decided to take up the character of Liaem from Mouse Guard who has the bitter-sweet experience of having fought for the safety of mousedom, now lacks a raison d'etre and suffers PTSD from their war experiences. As experienced gamers of this sort, the group has worked very well in building the setting and character dynamics. Plus, I've had the opportunity to delve back into the heroics of the Mouse Guard universe. Whilst I prefer fact to fiction, if you're going to do fiction make it magical and mythic.