(Mark Begins) It's been hard to get people together for playtesting with the semester wrapping up, so tonight it was just Brett and myself playing and designing some games. We met in a CS room, quick and easy to get a reservation, and started off thinking about ideas for the bgdf.com design challenge on the "Little People." The game seems to have some promise, so we'll submit it an see how things go. Next up we played Schism, found a number of problems and gave me some food for thought on future revisions. It's neat to see a design change from its initial play to one that actually works; Schism would be nowhere without this playtesting experience. Finally, I'd brought Clocktowers, since one of Brett's favorite games is Capitol, and this is its little brother. I like this two-player game, the decisions are tough but the game only goes about 20 minutes, so there's always a good resolution. We made some tentative plans to attend Protospiel 2005, and I headed home, with game ideas swimming in my head.

(Laura's turn) There are usually three in my weekly horseriding lessons, but this week it was just Rose and myself. Rose had e-mailed Andi (our instructor) earlier this week asking about how to lounge a horse. Today Andi showed us first hand how this is done. With the beautiful weather, we headed out to the outdoor arena. For the lesson, Rose and I switched riding Shadow while Andi lounged him. This let us work on our balance (and to canter for the first time). Cantering is my favorite of the leads! This quick rocking horse rhythm is exciting and relaxing. Although, as we go faster, I miss the western saddle's saddle horn :)