Author: Steen

Steen is a nerdy biologist who spends a lot of time trying to cultivate Chloroflexi, who also likes to draw comics, play video games, and climb.

My Return to Bermuda

Going back to Bermuda was great, and I was glad that I got to see the areas where I grew up and how they’ve changed.

We biked a lot in Bermuda. The idea was that we would bike all around, and mostly use the Railway Trail (a trail for pedestrians and pedal bikes only). This worked, but apparently there had been a bunch of moped thefts a couple of years ago, and the thieves used the Railway Trail to get the mopeds far away really quickly. To combat this, the trail got a bunch of really obnoxious fences installed, so we had to constantly get off our bikes and haul them over the intentional obstacles. So, that was annoying.

You can see one of those stupid trail gates in this photo.

Nonetheless, we managed to do: a 16-mile-trip, a 10-mile trip, and a 25-mile-trip on our bikes.

I also got to see my favourite spider again, the Spiny Orb-Weaver.

Spiny Orb-Weaver Selfie

The southern shores certainly had all be best snorkeling, beaches, and wildlife (Southampton’s and Warwick’s southern shores especially).

Oh, and while we were biking around St David’s, Doc and I found a dirt bike course that appeared to have been abandoned, so of course we rode around on it.

Doc on the dirt bike course

We also managed to eat fish chowder at a billion different places, and have become obsessed with putting black rum and sherry peppers in soup. Doc’s favourite fish chowder was at Henry VIII’s, because it tasted the least like fish; my favourite fish chowder was at Black Horse Tavern, because it tasted the most like fish. Interpret that however you want.

Oh and we saw a huge (~6 feet wide) spotted eagle ray in Harrington Sound from Flatt’s Bridge.
SPINY ORB-WEAVER!!!!!

Update from Bermuda

Doc at Cross Bay

This week, Doc and I are visiting Bermuda. I grew up here, but I haven’t been back in over 15 years (mostly due to the cost). But now I am here, and I am reliving the major parts of my childhood!

Today, Doc and I spent a solid 6 hours snorkeling all around the reefs, and now have the mega sunburns to prove it. Worth it, I say! For today was the first time that I have ever seen cuttlefish in the wild.

Out of the gloom, they seemed to appear right in front of my face. When they noticed me, they turned deep brick red, and then started flashing white on and off; their tiny Cthulhu faces staring at me as I stared at them. I made myself as still as possible, and stared at them in wonder for maybe 30 seconds. Sadly, as soon as I moved, they darted off into hiding.

I also had a little sergeant-major fish become obsessed with me (presumably it was obsessed with my bright yellow swimsuit), and it followed me around for about an hour.

My interpretation of
This was the offending swimsuit.

Doc said that he was having fun watching the fish follow me everywhere, but then the sergeant-major got aggressive towards him. The fish bit Doc on his torso, and then hovered in front of his face and stared into his eyes, unflinching. Doc tried to shoo it away, but it would not move.

The bad sergeant major
You can see the stripey yellow monster following me in this photo Doc took. I imagine its thought process when it bit Doc went something like: “I know you want the big yellow thing. We ALL want the big yellow thing. Get in line!”

Apart from those notable events, we also saw all sorts of wildlife: queen parrotfish, blue parrotfish, rainbow parrotfish, all manner of surgeonfish, wrasse, snapper, gobies, urchins, crabs, brain coral, fan coral, et cetera.

These are the fish I remember seeing in my childhood, so it warms my heart to be reunited with this wildlife.

Doc on the Railway Trail
Oh yea, and we have also been biking around a lot in Bermuda.

Cosmic Encounter

Sometime during our wanderings this weekend, Doc and I stumbled upon the most amazing garage sale ever. Amongst the many awesome things we found there, we got…

Check the awesome art

this awesome board game, Cosmic Encounter!

Cited as the progenitor of Magic: The Gathering (and many other games where the game-play changes every time you play it), it seemed too amazing to pass up. It also came with a bucket of expansion packs, but we thought it best to play the original game first before trying to comprehend the expansion packs.

I have enjoyed it thus far, but I have only played it with 2 and with 3 players. I imagine that it really starts getting good with 4 players, due to the ability to forge alliances with players, and team up against others.

You randomly draw one of a kabillion different wacky alien races (the original game only had 15 races, but the box we got has about 75 races), and that determines your alien power for the game.

Some aliens, like Void, have powers that seem frustratingly powerful; but if you have an alien like the Healer in play, then the Void really doesn’t seem so scary anymore. So I guess this really adds to the whole “a different game every time you play!” tagline.

So far, I like Guts of Glory better, but mostly because Guts seems more complex. Therefore, I will probably enjoy Cosmic Encounter more and more as we add more of the optional rules and expansion packs to it. I really love the old science fiction art by Dean Morrissey and the wacky vibe. I should also point out that Cosmic has more opportunities to be totally different each play than Guts has, due to all the different strategies that come with the different races.

To give you an idea of the sorts of issues that can arise during a play-through of Cosmic Encounter, I present to you this discussion on Void vs Zombie.