But not so much toil, and not so much trouble.

It’s been a good week for double things. My column from last week about the decline of the newspaper industry got bumped to this week, so along with today’s column about dinosaurs, it was a two-column week.

Speaking of columns*, this week I finished reading The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, and thus freed myself to finally open and play my Pillars of the Earth board game. I had been avoiding it because I was worried about spoilers. Yes, from a board game. I hate spoilers. Unless it’s the Red Sox in a World Series. Anyway, double Pillars: a capital idea.

This week was also a delicious week, because we made a double-batch of Moussaka, thus guaranteeing a lunch of delicious leftovers for days. This pleases me greatly. If you have not had Moussaka, then you are missing out. I think I’d even recommend Moussaka over Rattattouie, if you are looking for a dish that is not made from rodents but is spelled like it might be.**

And finally, if you are not familiar with the work of fantasy author Margaret Ronald, you have the double good fortune of being able to read her newest short story, and being able to purchase her just-released novel, which I recommend.

*How ionic.

**See also: Vermicelli.

Last week my improv troupe had two performances in South County. During the Saturday performance at Barrington Stage, there was a game of Quotes* where I was playing a mad scientist**. For this reason, with no other prompting, I decided to threaten my enemy with a giant gorilla robot. Sadly, my invention was not perfected, and the robot stalled out and did not attack. A minute later in the scene, my partner picks up a quote and reads “Get your stinkin’ paws off me, you damned dirty ape.” Needless to say, I was overjoyed to have proof that my evil gorilla robot was functioning after all.

Note to self: Never try to describe improv to people who weren’t there.

In other news, my column is about board games, my freestyle rapping is about the news, my friend’s new fantasy short story is about Odin’s ravens, my rhyming version of the Torah is about due for a shot at publication, and my bedtime is about now.

*Quotes is a game where we get our audience to write random lines of dialog on scraps of paper before the show. These papers are folded and not looked at. During the scene, actors will pull out random quotes from the audience, read them, and work them into the scene.

**Yes, I know, typecasting.

Hello, new year! I greet you with open arms*! I enjoyed last year quite a bit, so I’d like to sign up for more of the same. That’s why we’ll start off the new year right with a column about infinite food, millions of wasted dollars, and clean plates.

I know, you’re thinking, “Surely you won’t manage a whole post without talking about board games?” Well, you’re right.**  Some of you know that I recently got yet another shipment of board games. Among them was Android: an epic adventure game with a much bigger rulebook than any other game I own. This is also the first boardgame for which I’ve seen a truly compelling trailer, which is linked in my review, which you should go read.

Man, that’s enough whiches to start a coven.

*To hug you. Also with open mouth, to eat your tasty food.

**And quit calling me Shirley.