Monday, June 9, 2025

This is the fifty-third installment of West Wind (for real), your daily drop of thoughts, ideas, and info for this Season.

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We’re going to start off each day this month with the accordion music, so you can listen to it while you read, if you want.

I have a lot to say about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (whew) for a game I’ve never played, but as usual I have made the soundtrack be a part of my life. I was actually really excited to find it on Bandcamp at all, since most AAA games don’t end up there. But it did. And the accordions, oh my goodness the accordions. Keeping with the French Belle Époque setting, there are plenty to be had. If you’re interested in the game, I’ve heard that awesome streamer and game show host Ptony has been playing it recently, so you can check it out and support a fellow creator.

I could talk about accordions all day, and I might at some point, but there is an actual post here. Recently I got my very own Pope Leo XIV trading card! It was only for sale for a few days, and I stumbled upon it through an Aleteia article, so that was pretty “lucky.” Am I going to turn around and flip it for ten times what I paid for it? Heck no, it’s awesome. Plus, it took so long to get here I couldn’t bear to sell it. First I had to wait because it wasn’t printed until the sale window ended, then it was mailed from the Topps facility in Florida, all the way to Indianapolis, then to Texas, then back to Indianapolis again, then finally to Louisville and our local post office.

How do I know all of that? Because of tracking history, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s nice to know when things are going to arrive to be able to plan around them; if gifts are going to get there on time or if temperature-sensitive items need to be retrieved immediately or gotten later. On the other hand, it also takes away the wonder and mystery of simple deliveries.

When I was young, I remember the anticipation of checking the mailbox every day. What could it be? A letter from family? A catalog? An invitation to a quest? Something else entirely? That’s largely gone now, not only because of the USPS app that texts me exactly when a package arrives at the mailbox, but also sends me an email every morning with images of every letter that’s arriving that day. This has proved helpful at our current house, since its a 10-minute walk to the mailbox, but it takes away that anticipation of finding something exciting.

That’s all for now, enjoy the day!