An unknown number of local teenagers likes to hide out in our yard and smoke dope. The smoke drifts in our windows, and eventually one of our daughters says, “What’s that smell?” Then I have to go out and stalk around sniffing the air and listening for giggling from the bushes. When I do this, I look EXACTLY like Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace, right down to the weird mustache.

I spent a chunk of the day reading about sword making and sago processing, for use in the Srivijaya section of the Derby Ram story. I now know the difference between cast iron and wrought iron, I can tell you how to produce several types of crucible steel, and I know how to make pempek. Mmm, pempek.