July 19, 2016

We were playing a Civilization-esque board game and since it was my first time, when it came to my turn I asked, “Do I move first?” I hesitantly hovered my hand over my player-piece. “Well you tell me” my father responded. I looked at the player card for guidance and it seemed to be the case that I do move first. The card also mentioned the “Dollar of Shame” for someone who settled on the island in the middle of the big lake in the center of the map. “Central Japan” was a rather unbalanced starting location that no one took if they wanted to be respected by the other players.

I settled for an estuary near the lower right side of the map. “You got a nice spot for yourself” someone commented. “I thought there wouldn’t be enough resources there.” “Well, I’ve played Europa before” I replied, adding that I knew where to look for strategic values.

–

I never checked the departure time for my connecting flight after I had landed but I knew that I was already late. I had somehow fallen asleep on the sofa near the escalator and it was already around 8PM by the time I woke up. When I got up to the check-in counter, I found out that my flight had left at around 16:30. I requested a seat for the very next flight which was flying in less than 10 minutes. It was at this time that I just remembered I had left my laptop upstairs.