This just spotted on the sweatshirt of a boxer at the gym:
BE KIND EVERYONE IS STILL HEALING FROM THINGS THEY DON'T SPEAK ABOUT
An unexpected combination of wisdom and humor.
All posts by Andrew
Thanksgiving 2023
Pam and Jeff joined us for the feast. We grilled the turkey on the green egg. It came out well, but I may have been over-enthusiastic with the apple wood chips—the smoke flavor was intense.
Besides the turkey, the menu included mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and Dick’s Buried Treasure. (The latter is a delicious Stocco tradition consisting of yams, canned pineapple, and dollops of cranberry sauce.) Dessert was Sarah’s pumpkin pie and Andrew’s cheesecake.
While we were prepping the meal, the kids asked what everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving food was and what we were thankful for this year. Then they created custom place cards for each of us.💖
Grilling notes for next time:
- 300-325° on the grill is perfect
- Use fresh lump charcoal (the smaller chunks at the bottom of the bag interfere with airflow)
- Cooking time is faster than in an oven at the same temperature. The Green Egg estimates seemed spot-on. (We started our 17 lb. bird at 11:15 and it was done just after 2:30.)
- Skip the smoking chips next time. I think the basic grill flavor will be enough.
- The drippings were very dark and smoky too, which made the gravy a bit too powerful. Might be better without the wood chips. Clean the grate beforehand so none of the old char falls into the drip pan.
Griffin’s RPG campaign
Griffin just sent this message out to his friends and their families (parents are still involved for rides). It warms my heart.
Good day, everyone!
I am excited to announce that next Sunday (26th), from 2 pm – 8 pm, I will be hosting another RPG session at my house (finally)! We will have dinner provided, as well as the game, characters, dice, and a trampoline. We will not have a lot of snacks, so if you want to bring some, please do (Ava, if you decide to come, some extra Wii and Switch remotes would be delightful!) My father, a very experienced DM, will be running the session, and we will have about equal parts gaming and other stuff. Please respond to this email so I know if you will make it!
My address is ■■■■■, St Paul, MN ■■■■■, and you can contact either me or my parents for questions at:
[email addresses removed]
Quick note: We have a new member! Everyone, please welcome Ellie to the campaign! Ellie, if you need help with a character or something, just contact me.
I hope to see everyone here next Sunday!
-Griffin Roy (Dragonborn Wizard)
For the gamers in the audience, we’re playing the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Powered by GURPS), which has been my go-to game for the past few years. They created a wild array of characters:
Half-Elf Bard
Cat-Folk Thief
Squid-Folk Martial Artist
Human Cleric
Half-Ogre Barbarian
Opossum-Folk Phantom-Thief
Human Druid
Dragon-Blooded Wizard
Note that the pictures of Maryx, Mozell Bolick, and Red were created with Midjourney, a generative artificial intelligence program that creates art based on written prompts. I’ve been experimenting with the service for RPG art like this. If you look carefully at Red, you can see some of the details that AI art programs struggle with. Her eyes are a bit wonky and her left hand appears to have three somewhat misshapen fingers.
Classroom Life
This evening, hours after I got home from school, I received this email from a student about a project that’s due tomorrow morning:
Hi mr Roy I was wondering if you could put this picture on the smart board to make sure you can read the lettering. if you cant read it then I will change the picture. thanks bye
I guess it’s true that students believe that their teachers live in the classroom 24-7!
(Yes, it is also riddled with mechanical errors, but that’s pretty common with emails from middle-schoolers. He probably felt like he was being super-formal by putting in periods and saying hi.)
Halloween at School
Our cafeteria crew went over the top today with a horror-themed lunch.
And, of course the eighth-grade team had a group costume for the assembly.
Birthday Gathering
Saint Louis Wedding
We drove down to Saint Louis to attend Clay and Meghan’s lovely wedding. Everyone found new fancy outfits for the occasion. Oliver’s was the talk of the town.
Brandi Carlisle
Sarah, Maggie, Griffin, and I went back to the fair on Tuesday evening for the Brandi Carlisle concert in the grandstand. It was Griffin and Maggie’s first big concert, and Brandi set the bar pretty high. It was a phenomenal show.
State Fair, 2023
We love going to the fair. Even with the lines and crowds. I didn’t take many pictures, but I found this cute selfie of Sarah, Maggie, and me packed into one of the cable cars over the fairgrounds.
First Day of SPA, 2023
Well, it was Griffin’s first day, even if I had already been at school for a week of meetings and classroom prep. It’s hard to believe that Griffin is done with middle school!
