Snappish Productions

Something of a milestone this week. As of this weekend, not only have I been living in this house for five years, but because I bought the house in Durham in May 2013, this is now the second-longest time I’ve ever lived in a house full-stop. It will take some beating to overcome Avon Crescent’s 28 years, but hopefully we’re well on the way (as I type, Maeryn is making grunting noises from her rocker, so I think she’s on-board with this plan).

The family comes over the ocean this week, and I’m about to start my second week of paternity leave; I’m spreading it out to get maximum overlap with Tammy’s maternity leave and stretch out what we’ve been luckily to have in a country where there is no federally-mandated paid parental time off. And we have the oven working again!

Anyway, having some time off means you might finally get those promised comic notes. And maybe something else too…

Honestly, I really don’t think you understand the depths of the Lego problem that is building. At 1am this morning, I was looking at pictures of Piccadilly Gardens because I decided that the city really needs to have a central public space instead of just shops and eateries. This was after I had talked myself into having two stations earlier on Saturday. After all, if Bicester can have two stations, then this city certainly can! Besides, it’s more fun in a closed city if there’s multiple destinations where a train can stop¹.

And that led me down a short rabbit-hole, because in that case, especially with the central public space idea, a tram system seems a good idea. But the third-party tram I found didn’t seem all that appealing, and Lego only seemed to do one in a rather old set which is going for crazy money. So for now, everybody will travel by high-speed train.

And then there’s the housing problem (and let’s be clear, not a single brick of this city has actually been built yet). I have a few sets that come with a lot of minifigures. The hospital set comes with 12!! They all need to have homes…but most of the houses I have came with more people. But don’t worry, because I have a plan to solve this issue with the most on-brand idea possible. I just need to order a lot of bricks to make it happen.

Of course, some of you might be pointing out that Maeryn is barely a month old. And yes, that may be true, pedants. But planning! Planning is very important, dammit!

I have to say that running down to the basement to hit the breaker while your oven spews smoke does tend to cast a little bit of a pall over your birthday. Don’t worry though, everything is fine…well, the oven isn’t, as I believe the smoke came from the logic board and the whole thing is dead to the world (as well as turned off at the breaker). But still, that’s next week’s problem.

Anyway, a good birthday was had by all; pizza slices larger than Maeryn, off-brand Lego sets to help increase the diversity of our eventual Lego city, boardgames, and aside from the oven’s electrical fire, a nice gentle day.

I’ll be honest with myself and suggest you don’t even think about seeing those writer’s notes until May when I have my second round of paternity leave; all that you’ve got to look forward on here for the next two weeks is more pictures from early fatherhood and my ongoing crippling addiction to Lego (if Maeryn doesn’t like building with blocks, I am going to be in trouble)…

I think I may be nesting. In the past week, I’ve cleared out a space in one of the storage rooms to be a tornado storm shelter, bought a safe for important documents, and spent the weekend putting together shelving that has lain in pieces in the furnace room for almost four years (which seems really odd until I factor in Pandemic Time Dilation). I also dug through five years of paperwork to find the title paperwork for my old car, which will be going across the water to live with Myles shortly. So definitely a ‘dad’ weekend. I have also ordered more shelves. Because apparently now everything has to be in tubs.

(Tammy has also seen the extent of the Transformers Problem for the first time in a few years and…yes, I do need to do something there. And I haven’t even considered what to do about the Lego Problem that is waiting in the wings)

Next week! Baby’s First Buggy Trip! Melting GPUs!

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Welcome Maeryn!

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In fairness, I have started. But it has been a crazy week of visitors, a sizeable existential crisis, and birthing classes. At this point, the write-up comes when it comes…hopefully before April…

I will leave you with the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day Comic Relief sketch:

I know I said I’d have writer’s notes up this weekend, but a bunch of things happened this week and I’ll be honest, I completely forgot about them until last night. So maybe next week?

Otherwise, a quiet week of cleaning, getting things ready, watching an ’exciting’ bank run, and staring quietly into space.

Next week - more positivity! Maybe…

This week, I have been mostly obsessed with this documentary:

It’s basically Get Back but with games. Plus Double Fine is small enough, and importantly, weird enough, that it brings back all those good memories of computer companies in the late 90s. Effortlessly cool, funny, and Californian; people who look like they’ve stepped out of The Invisibles and performing wizardry. But, as it was made over the past six years, things are a touch different…plus it has the feeling of recent Grand Designs series — the January 2020 title card bringing severe dread on us, the viewers, shouting “you fools! Remain indoors!” as everybody on the screen goes blindly about their business.

(I don’t think we’re ever going to get over that)

Anyway, go watch! I am trying to cobble together writer’s notes for the comic - hopefully I’ll have something on here in the next fortnight. Otherwise, a fairly quiet week. Not that many of those left…

Just what is the mystery of Lewknor Turn? Find out in this collection of four unsettling stories, brought to life in script, art, and letters by Ian Pointer, Nicolás Nieto, and Marin.

The Next Stop is Lewknor Turn is now available to one and all for free!

Next week, I’ll add some notes here on how the comic came together, the bits that got cut out, and the darlings killed. But for now, free comic!