455) Fighting off a bit of a virus thing; hope I will be all better by the Big Party we're throwing on Saturday night.

It's another game night -- this time a one-shot, live-action game run by our friend R. We agreed to hold it at our house because we have the space for 20 people to mill around and try to talk politics and double-deal with each other.

Since R. is hosting, the burden of catering isn't wholly on me -- but since it's at our house, I do want to make sure that everyone is well-fed and having a good time.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a quotation about "ripeness." Ripeness is a concept I studied both in English class back in high school, and then in Classics in college. It's a concept about what it means to live a good and complete life.

"Intensity is the hallmark of ripeness, the culmination of growth and
experience.  But ripeness is not simply a reward for waiting nor is it
necessarily guaranteed.  The precondition of ripeness is maturity,
which in turn can only come about through the right kind of
development along the way.  Ripeness, then, is one of the naturally
fortunate outcomes of life.  Tomatoes, cheese, and the new vintage
ripen, but so do the moon, careers, and stock markets.  Judgment, if
it is any good, is ripe: We choose the ripe moment to act; we grow to
a ripe old age.  In many large and small ways life swells and recedes.
Ripeness embodies all something has ever been, and the most it ever
will be.  Yet in its brief and glowing completeness, the moment of
ripeness seems timeless." -- Paul Bertolli, from "Cooking by Hand"