Week 19 of 2026: Elfia

On Saturday I went to Elfia, dressed as an elf. Or, as I liked to joke, a suspiciously tall hobbit. My outfit was one of the lesser executed ones – I saw so many great ones – but luckily I also did enough to blend in.

I wore elven ears, earth colors, many trinkets I had since I was fifteen years old and no shoes. That last part of the “outfit” was really what made it for me, and also what made me feel incredibly free.

Apart from that one gravel path, it went very well. Thanks to my one-and-a-half year of walking on barefoot shoes I also had no problems with my feet at all. I would certainly go again to Elfia and my next outfit will involve barefoot again.

Read

• started in Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
• continued in Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté

The tone of Heated Rivalry is a bit different than Game Changer so far. Where Game Changer is about a guy who is totally in touch with his sexuality, and only the circumstances seem to be the problem, Heated Rivalry starts out with a guy who really does not accept what is going on in his mind and body. That is not the same therapeutic read I was hoping for, but hey, maybe things improve?

Played

After last week’s five RPGs I took it easier this week.

On Tuesday I ran my usual game of Brindewood Bay. We’re getting closer to the end and I notice that in my players too: they went fully for the Void Clue I gave them in the beginning. The murder of this week got overshadowed by the darker stuff, but that’s okay. One more to go and then we have the grand finale.

On Wednesday I went to Utrecht to run another By Endurance We Conquer, but I have already published a longer post about it.

Ran

• Monday: 6.3km easy, in between the office day and the two minutes of silence
• Thursday: 4.1 + 3.1km easy to and from the volleyball hall

Still taking it kinda easy, just trying to maintain at least some level of stamina.