I saw that article on Wednesday. It confused me that they talked almost nonstop about Artisanal, but didn't mention Picholine at all, since they share both a cheese cave and Maître Fromager.

did you really play rounders?

It's a fairly standard part of the English educational influence (hand in hand with cricket, netball, etc.)

What is it like, as a game?

I'd always figured it was like softball, but I've never played softball. Loosely baseballesque with underarm pitching. You can score full or half rounders, and also be penalised rounders.

I loved having the ball and running hard right through the potential tacklers.

I was always pretty good at reversing direction on a dime and making myself small - people would go right past you before they could process what was happening. On the other side of the ball, I was also really good at going down low and taking people's legs out from under them. This also proved useful when dealing with persistantly inappropriate moshers. My biggest problem when I had the ball was that while I could manouver, I didn't have the endurance to keep it up for long, so inevitably my reversal ability kept slowing down.

Just today?

Well, I'm not exactly in a bad mood, but I'm in pain, so I'll be polite and civil as long as you leave me alone and don't make things difficult. As Frank Pembleton says, "Please don't be an idiot. Thank you."

Smear the queer is the worst name, ever. I don't think I've ever heard that before today. I'm still cringing every time I read it.

We played a similar game, but it was called Kill the Man with the Ball.

It confused me that they talked almost nonstop about Artisanal, but didn't mention Picholine at all,

I think it got referred to once, in passing, in an "oh, by the way" sense.

since they share both a cheese cave and Maître Fromager.

I love that Cheese Master is a real job!

I am the Cheese Master....are you the Gatekeeper?

Hey, my Ex-DH is a college professor now. [link]

Yesterday would have been our 23rd anniversary, so it got me in a googling mood. Glad he's doing well. Even more glad we're not together anymore.

I think it got referred to once, in passing, in an "oh, by the way" sense.

They interviewed the owner (of both), but it got left off of the "Places to Eat Cheese" sidebar completely.

But they did list 'inoteca, which makes me happy, because it's one of my favorite restaurants anywhere, and deserves the press. (But not too much, because I like being able to walk in and get a table.)

Smear the queer is the worst name, ever.

When I was a kid, I had no idea how offensive this should be. Sometimes your adult self really cringes at your kid self's ignorance.

I was neither popular nor athletic, but I never found dodgeball especially sadistic. But I don't think I paid as much attention to the politics of it as JZ did -- I just enjoyed that it was a sport that didn't actually involve significant athletic skills, since (at least in my experience) avoiding the ball was mostly about luck.

Even now, I'd take dodgeball, where I had half a chance of not embarrassing myself, over basketball or tennis, which were nothing but humiliation for me, any day.