Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine
type: channel
description: get inside my brain
date: 2025-10-18T14:45:32Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: The Rest of the Trip?
items: Hua Hin, Thailand
items: The Wretched: Actual Play
items: Bangkok, Part 2
items: Did You Miss a Post?

The Rest of the Trip?
type: item
creator: Mortaine
date: 2025-10-18T14:45:27Z
subject: Personal
subject: Travelogue
subject: asia
subject: philippines
subject: travel
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />The rest of Steph's trip, focusing on the Philippines! The post The Rest of the Trip? appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> We have been home from Asia now for over a month, and I’ve been extremely remiss in updating the blog about our travels. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-768x1024.jpg" alt="From left to right: Suzanne, John, and Stephanie, three middle-aged white people, standing on a red bridge surrounded by greenery." class="wp-image-100841" style="width:368px;height:auto" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-08-12-12.41.01-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /> Here’s a short rundown of how the trip went: From Hua Hin, we returned to Bangkok for a few days and then headed to Cebu, in the Philippines. Cebu was also hot and humid. But we did have one of the most beautiful days island-hopping and snorkeling. We booked with a SCUBA outfit for a snorkel trip, and because they don’t do a lot of snorkel trips, we ended up with the entire boat to ourselves. Definitely a great day. On almost the last day in Cebu, I slipped on wet asphalt (and mud– I hope it was mud) and banged up my…

Hua Hin, Thailand
type: item
creator: Mortaine
date: 2025-08-07T06:45:33Z
subject: An art
subject: Personal
subject: Travelogue
subject: art
subject: bangkok
subject: huahin
subject: travel
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="John and Stephanie, a white middle-aged couple, absolutely melting on the grounds of the Grand Palace, in front of a statue" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Travel notes from Hua Hin and the wrapup from Bangkok, Thailand. The post Hua Hin, Thailand appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="John and Stephanie, a white middle-aged couple, absolutely melting on the grounds of the Grand Palace, in front of a statue" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-08-02-09.23.52-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> We went to Hua Hin, a coastal city in Thailand and stayed near the beach. Hua Hin’s beaches are better for surfers, so we didn’t really spend much time in the ocean water (surf beaches aren’t great for swimmers and snorkelers– water is too choppy). But we did spend part of almost every day in the pool. And that’s because it was hot. Hua Hin, like Bangkok, was hot hot hot and humid! We still went out and did things, but we are more or less always a bit stymied by our timing. If we wait for things to open up (9 or 10 am), it’s too late in the day and things are getting very hot. If we wait until night to do everything, I still wake up at 4 or 5 AM and rattle around for 4 hours, and then end up not getting enough rest because insomnia sucks. OK, that all aside, we did have a nice time in Hua Hin. We visited the local temple to the Buddha’s footprint, the beach, an artists’ collective, and the nearby Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand animal sanctuary where abused and exploited wildlife go to life out their days in peace. This was by far my favorite part of the trip so far, and I did a bunch of little “study” sketches of some of the animals we saw. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2025-07-28-12.37.51-1024x768.jpg" alt="A small sketchbook with about a dozen small ink sketches of various animals" class…

The Wretched: Actual Play
type: item
creator: Mortaine
date: 2025-07-23T07:28:20Z
subject: Gaming
subject: storytelling
description: This fictional work is an “actual play” from the solo journaling game called “The Wretched” by Chris Bissette. Content warnings: strong language, horror, hopelessness, alien attack, stranded in space, fecal matter, dead bodies, pet death. Played on July 23, 2025. The premise of the game is that the player is the sole survivor of an […] The post The Wretched: Actual Play appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.
encoded: This fictional work is an “actual play” from the solo journaling game called “The Wretched” by Chris Bissette. Content warnings: strong language, horror, hopelessness, alien attack, stranded in space, fecal matter, dead bodies, pet death. Played on July 23, 2025. The premise of the game is that the player is the sole survivor of an alien attack that killed their entire crew, and the alien is now on the outside of the hull, surviving in the vacuum of space, and hunting the survivor…. Note: This solo journaling game is intended to be recorded as an audio recording. While the transcript is provided below, you’re encouraged instead to listen to the recording for the full immersive effect. Music by DELOSound on pixabay. Day 1 Salvage ship The Wretched Flight Engineer Sadie Dancer reporting. The other members of the crew are dead and the engines remain non-operational, though ship integrity is good and life support systems are still active. I successfully jettisoned the intruder from the airlock, but it remains alive and continues to try to access the ship. With a little luck, I can repair the distress beacon and somebody will pick me up. This is Flight Engineer Dancer, the last survivor of The Wretched, signing off. Day 2 Flight Engineer Dancer of The Wretched. I checked medbay today, to double-check the supply inventory. There’s plenty of medical supplies for any non-emergency I might encounter out here. And anything critical… well, my odds aren’t great to begin with. There are deep gouges in the corridor to medbay. At first, my worst nightmare occurred to me– that the creature had gotten in, that these were new scratches from its enormous mandibles. Then, I saw the trail of blood and remembered Nurse Hodgkins. He’d barricaded himself into medbay when the alarms went off, but I guess his lockdown didn’t hold. Poor bastard. Day 3 What a hell of a day. This is Engineer Dancer of The Wretched. A sewage leak started my day, thanks to a shitty maintenance schedule, no pun in…

Bangkok, Part 2
type: item
creator: Mortaine
date: 2025-07-18T14:35:12Z
subject: Personal
subject: Travelogue
subject: thailand
subject: travel
description: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="John and Stephanie, a middle-aged male-female white couple, leaning their heads together in a selfie on a ship as it passes the famous Wat Arun, a beautiful temple that is completely lit up with yellow-gold lights at night." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />We’ve now been in Bangkok for about 2 1/2 weeks. We have not done everything we wanted to do. I’ve had a few commitments during the day that kept us from exploring as much. We also had a couple of minor medical moments, which gave us the opportunity to appreciate a not-completely-broken healthcare system. Hey, […] The post Bangkok, Part 2 appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.
encoded: <img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="John and Stephanie, a middle-aged male-female white couple, leaning their heads together in a selfie on a ship as it passes the famous Wat Arun, a beautiful temple that is completely lit up with yellow-gold lights at night." decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-10-21.20.29-50x50.jpg 50w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> We’ve now been in Bangkok for about 2 1/2 weeks. We have not done everything we wanted to do. I’ve had a few commitments during the day that kept us from exploring as much. We also had a couple of minor medical moments, which gave us the opportunity to appreciate a not-completely-broken healthcare system. Hey, it was nice being treated with dignity for a medical concern! <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="768" src="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-18-14.37.16-1024x768.jpg" alt="Stephanie and John, a white middle-aged couple wearing glasses. Stephanie has blue hair and is wearing a white linen shirt. John is bald with a beard and is wearing a blue shirt. They are in a lounging bed in a movie theater." class="wp-image-100696" style="width:368px;height:auto" srcset="https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-18-14.37.16-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://www.mortaine.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-18-14.37.16-300x225.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> In the comfy bed “seats” at the movies! Fortunately, we will be returning at the end of the month for a few days, so we have a second chance to visit the landmarks we’ve missed, and it’s really nice to have something to look forward to vis…

Did You Miss a Post?
type: item
creator: mortaine
date: 2025-07-10T10:01:22Z
subject: Meta
description: Notification that emails should be working now! The post Did You Miss a Post? appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.
encoded: (Note: If you subscribed using Jetpack’s newsletter functionality, this does not apply to you.) TLDR: If you missed my first post from Bangkok to other day, please check it out here! Future posts should come through just fine– though if you get duplicates, ping me on one of my various other platforms (or comment here) and let me know so I can go back to the WordPress mines and figure it out! Before we went on our trip, I told folks “hey, if you want to keep up with me by email, subscribe to my blog!” And then I completely failed to make sure that was actually working! Thankfully, my friend Brandi let me know that she hadn’t received any blog posts after over a week of being here, so I dug in and figured out the problem. Completely user error on my part, but after much troubleshooting today, I think I have it working! I don’t currently have a way to filter the emails to only send you a particular category or tag. For those, you might want to use an RSS reader or an RSS subscription service like RSS.app. If you follow me on Mastodon, you already see all the blog posts because they get cross-posted there. The post Did You Miss a Post? appeared first on Games, Crafts, and Thoughts from Mortaine.