Settlers, anyone?
Has anyone played that game 'The Settlers of Catan' ever? A German game, and it's like like Monopoly meets Risk. The idea is that you are inhabiting an island (Catan) and you try to build settlements, roads and cities with different resource. Lots of strategy and trade. It's also *highly addictive.* (Even more so than Tetris!) Almost everyone I've played it with has ended up coming back to play again or gone out and bought the game, but I have certain friends who go way beyond that.

Firstly, there's my friend Micaiah, and her mom--especially her mom. Sleepovers at her house normally turn into 6 hour Catan marathons. Normally I plan to spend the night there if we're going to play.

And then there are the Miksovskys. Have I never introduced them? Well here's their picture. Isn't it great?Don't worry, they don't *always* look like that--just most of the time. Our two families get along well, both because they have a whole lot of kids (7, we've still got them beat) and because we're at about the same insanity level. I think we met though Biblequizzing, but our lives have since become intertwined in many ways. Anyways, we introduced them to Settlers, and have been playing at their house about 3 times a week ever since. I spent the night there last weekend, and their mom, Cory, who's really, really, really cool, was like, 'What gets me is that you guys will sit there for 4 hours straight and play that game.' It's so true. That's why I ended up staying over there. By the time our second or third game was done, it was not much before midnight.

But it was way fun. The only problem was having to wear clothes that I had worn to a quizmeet--oh, btw: we had the meet of the season! Our team bombed, but I did ok. I had like an 96 average, which was great considering that I memorized practically nothing in the weeks before, and my kid brother, whom I remain eternally proud of, got first place in verses! Don't worry, I'll beat him soon enough--biked to their house, and slept in to their church. Other than that, it was a great weekend.