Easter Break started on Thursday.  It’s not Spring Break this time because Passover isn’t until the end of April.  So, the holidays got split and we received two breaks.  Definitely needed the mini one.  A lot happened at work and in the home life . . . None of which I can talk about on the blog.  Sorry.

I can say that I’m really tired.  Partially from the craziness of Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  I didn’t get to begin recovering from those days until Friday.  By then, I was beyond exhausted.  I was barely able to do any editing on Darwin & the Halfling Hunt too.  Chapter 4 was done on Wednesday night, but it took me all of Friday to get through chapter 5.  I’m being fairly meticulous with the repairs and making sure everything flows, so I’m going slow.  It’s the first run through, so I should have expected this.  I still hope to get 6-7 done today and 8-9 done tomorrow.  I’ll have to tackle other chapters on Wednesday and Thursday nights to get to where I want to be.  If I even have the time with everything going on.

The only thing I really have to talk about is Thursday.  It was the first day of break, which I would normally spend resting.  Instead, my friend invited me into NYC to do an hour long archery lesson.  I hadn’t been in the city for a while, so I was eager to go.  Didn’t realize how much the price of a Long Island Railroad ticket costs, but I made it in.  Penn Station was not what I remembered.  Sort of.  As I told my friend, the main area looked nicer and shinier, but the offshoots were the same.  The smell and sounds were the same too.  Not to mention having to stay on the move while waiting for my friend to arrive in order to avoid the more colorful locals.

We met up with a high school friend of his, who I also talk with on Facebook, and his friend’s wife.  The archery place was in Chinatown and they showed up with a list of dumpling places.  All of these places sold dumplings for $5-$6.  The amounts ranged from 8 dumplings to 15.  So, my friend and I split dishes in order to make it through all of the locations.  They were all given nicknames too, which I remember instead of the locations:

• Crack Dumplings– This is one we’ve been going to since 2000.  Used to be 5 dumplings for $1.  Now, it’s 13 for $5.  It got the name because they were SO GOOD that you kept going back for more.  The joke was that they put crack in it, but it was really just damn good cooking.
• Chonky Dumplings–  These were 15 dumplings for $5 and they were meaty. Thick, dense dough and meaty filling.  We devoured these as if we hadn’t eaten a ten minutes earlier.
• Dungeon Dumplings–  Named because it was on the lowest floor of an underground mall.  This was 8 dumplings for $5, but they had the best sauce.  The dumplings tasted a little like they were made with eggroll wrappers too.
• Bridal Dumplings–  My friend and I actually got 6 pork buns for $5 while the others got the dumplings.  Forgot to ask how many for $5.  Everything was good.  The name comes from a bride and groom showing up with their photographer to have pictures taken while they eat.
• Taquito Dumplings–  The last place was 13 dumplings for $6.  The sauces were good and the dumplings were open at both ends, hence the name.  Being at the end of the tour, I barely made it through this portion.  It was definitely the finale for me, but a great one.

Between dungeon and bridal dumplings, we did an hour of archery.  I’ve never done it before outside of playing around with a set when I was a teenager.  This was an official lesson and I didn’t do half bad.  My shoulders definitely ached, but not as much as my feet from walking so much.  This was my target:

Funny thing is that the one outside of the last circle on the left was from my second round, which also had three entire misses.  I was a mess that time for some reason.  First round was black, blue, and a red.  On the plus side, I tended to do good groupings even when I was missing stuff.  Need to find a place out here that I can take my friend to next time he’s out here.

Next week is back to work and school on Tuesday.  I’ll be helping out with a basketball team that our special education kids are a part of.  So, I’m going to be busy after school for the next two months.  Beyond that, I’m going to have the usual week with helping my son with his work and aiming to get as much done before the weekend as possible.  The NYC outing was a very early birthday outing, but it reminds me that it’s coming in about 1.5 weeks.  Not that I have anything planned since it isn’t a milestone birthday and this year has me feeling rather battered.  Just another day to me at this rate.  Maybe people will set up something fun and change my mind, but they have to compete with archery and a dumpling tour.

Goals of the week:

1. Edit more Darwin & the Halfling Hunt.
2. Clean bathroom.
3. Pokemon Go with son.
4. Make lunches for the week.
5. Rest when I can.
6. Watch ‘Great Teacher Onizuka’ when it hits Netflix on April 1st.
7. Cry if Netflix is pulling a prank on me.
8. Sleep in tomorrow.
9. Bike once I can feel my feet again.
10. Maybe order the ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ 50th anniversary Lego set.  Might wait until after my birthday in case people pick up my hints of wanting Lego giftcards.