Apart from a few notable events, this last month was mostly quiet and restful. That was really necessary after the stress of family and travelling over the holidays. We spent New Year's Eve with David's grandmother Rose, seeing family and her neighbours, and although it was lovely I needed to come home earlier than we'd planned because I was too exhausted to be social. A few days later I came down with one of the bugs that are going around at the moment; it's a nasty one that leaves you tired out for days afterwards. I spent a few days in bed and sitting around the house, more-or-less able to concentrate on reading.
In the interlude of health that followed, David and I played our first game of actual DnD, 5th edition. (We've played plenty of other systems, and a lot of Labyrinth Lord, but somehow never got around to that). Our friend Raphi led a party of five adventurers through an exciting story about cursed elves and rock elementals. At one point, my character made perhaps the best pun of my life, which I won't reproduce here to preserve the magic. The enjoyment of the game and dinner in Raphi and Jasmin's cosy flat was only increased by having to fight our way through a snowstorm to get there.
The second Ludicious games festival took place and David was busy both attending and organising the unconference on the last day. I went to the SGDA Swiss Game Awards dinner with him, which was a fun evening and an opportunity to catch up with game dev friends, and much more relaxed than the last one, when Airships was up for an award. I was pleased that both Feist and Cloud Chasers did well. David wrote a summary and postmortem of the unconf that cover it well, I think. As quasi-organiser/helping hand, the biggest thing I wish I'd done differently is taking a firmer position with the professor mentioned in the postmortem, or grabbing David sooner to get his backup. It was still a very stimulating afternoon, though, and next time will be better!
Content note for next paragraph only: medical and gynaecological stuff.
Finally, near the end of the month I went to the hospital to get my fibroid removed. The operation was done under general anaesthetic and required an overnight stay, but the whole experience was actually very easy and uncomplicated. I surprised myself by managing to speak only German the whole time! Well, as far as I can remember, anyway. I have a vague memory from the first time the nurses woke me up after surgery, of composing a monstrously long, grammatically complicated sentence and attempting to recite it at them, but I have no idea what I actually said or whether recognisable words, in any language, came out. I had very little pain and, satisfyingly, got to keep a set of colour photos of the process.
Unfortunately, the day before the op, David fell prey to the virus I'd had at the start of the month, not helped by wearing his voice out at Ludicious. The house has been shaking to the sound of his coughing ever since, and vibrating rather more gently to the sound of Kelsey and me saying, "That doesn't sound good at all!" I really hope he's feeling better soon.