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The Foodie Tour – Bratislava, Slovakia

What should you do if you find yourself in a town with great food, and nothing planned for the day? Well, we made a little game out of it. We decided that we would visit as many different restaurants as we could while enjoying a bite to eat and a beverage at each place. It turned into a great way to experience the food that was offered while having a fun day in the process.

The first stop was a coffee shop called Enjoy Bistro. This way we could get caffeinated, and have a quick bite for breakfast. It is located just down the road for St. Michael’s Gate, and offers great seats in the sun in which to watch people as they take their pictures in front of the gate. The coffee and carrot cake were both good, but I am obligated to say that my wife makes a better carrot cake.

After the first stop, we were ready to get into the more serious business of finding local cuisine and enjoy a drink. We traveled a little further down the walking street to Fach (I don’t really know how to say it, but pick the one you are most comfortable with). Once again, there was plenty of outside seating and in the early afternoon is probably when you could start to find a little shade if it is getting too hot out. They do not have a lot of selection with their drinks, but there was good wine and I was excited to see Scotland’s own Brew Dog represented. The food at this place rotates day to day with always having selections that are vegan friendly. We enjoyed a salmon bao that was a perfect amount to share on an adventure like we had set up for ourselves. The wait staff was also really friendly, and when things died down a little bit from the lunch rush, our waiter was able to supply us with some more insight about the town we were staying in.

The gelato shops were just starting to open up for the summer season, and since we had not had gelato all winter long, we had to stop off for a quick cone. There are many excellent choices on the walking streets of Bratislava, but we went to the most convenient one, across the street from Fach, called Squisto. They had a good selection with your typical flavors represented. It was good, but if you want more variety I would recommend walking a little further to the tree lines streets and the bigger gelato shops found there.

The beer gardens closer to St. Michael’s Gate are a different story. There are a few courtyards that can be found off the street, all of them offering cozy places where you can grab a seat and taste locally brewed beer. Sladovna was just a couple of doors down from the gelato shop and the ivy strewn walls offered a great respite. Of course, we jumped right on the beer sampler, so we could have a taste of all the beers the place had to offer. Our stomachs were a little full with all of the food and drink we had had so far, so we only shared a pretzel, but it was warm, soft, and a great pairing with the beer.

The sampler took a little longer for us to get through and it allowed us to digest our food some. By the time we left, we were ready for another bite to eat. This took us to Orbis Street Food. We skipped having a drink at this place because the selection was not that great, but they did have frites, or Belgian fries. They were not as good as they would have been if we had them in Brussels, but they were the perfect food to give us enough energy to make it to our next stop.

That spot was 17’s Bar on the tree-lined pedestrian street at the far end of the old part of town. This was dressed up to look like any biker bar found in the United States, but the pizza, and great beer choices made it feel more like any place you would find in the touristy areas of Europe. The crowds had already gathered, and it was only four in the afternoon on a Friday. I am pretty sure that this place gets really crowded during the high season, so if you are going to make it here, be early. It has a nice shady spot where you can people watch on one of the busiest parts of the old town, so it is well worth the visit. Though we did not try the pizza, it looked really good, and there were times I wish we had.

Despite our full stomachs, we wanted to continue on our voyage, so we looked for a place where we could relax and was off the beaten path. I had discovered Storm Bar online. This was a board game pub, and I had always wanted to visit one of these places. It wasn’t took far from where we were, so we decided to check it out. It was a fun place to go to, and it did not have the crowds that the places in the old town did. The drinks were still really good, and about half the price. I also loved to decor of the place, and if this was a town I lived in, I would have my Dungeons and Dragons group meet there at least once a month to play. They did have a series of games there that you could play for free, but it was not the best selection, and very few of the games had rules in English. Still, we were able to sneak in a game of Ticket to Ride before leaving for our last spot for the evening.

This was the Flagship Restaurant which is situated in an old theatre in Bratislava. This is not in the old town area, but it is a big draw with the tourists. It is the place where you go if you wish to get some traditional Slovakian food. The wait staff is very friendly, the food is really good, and the atmosphere is something you will never forget. It was the perfect place to end our tour of food and drink for the evening, and it made me realize that I should do this more often to places where I visit. It is a great way to get to know a place, and experience all of the food that it has to offer.

So until next time, I hope the next place you visit, you can do the same as me, go on a foodie tour, and tell the tale after it is all done.

Before the Rush – Bratislava, Slovakia

It is early April in Europe. The weather is starting to warm up, but there are still hints of the bitter cold of Winter still in the air. Restaurants, cafes, and bars are struggling whether they should pull out their tables to invade the walking streets of the cities with their welcoming airs, or if they should hold off for a couple more days as they wait for the weather to pass. It would be an activity in futility though because the crowds are not yet here to take those spots and enjoy the comfort of the hospitality that the countries have to offer. They will be here in a month or so, but in the meantime, it is just practice by going through these motions.

It is early April in Europe, and it might be my favorite time to be out here. It feels like the streets in the old parts of town were created just for my delight. The locals wish to avoid the tourists, and the tourists are busy with their lives across the vast oceans. There are no crowds of people blocking my way from looking at the architecture, and I do not have to weave my way through the streets to make it to my destination, a location where I do not even know.

It is early April in Europe, and I can go into a restaurant without a reservation. Though the halls are huge and will seat many people, during the busy season, it is hard to find a place to sit down. The guidebooks all talk about how this is the best place to get local fare in an atmosphere that will make you feel like you are back in medieval times. They have wiped away the dust and are just waiting for those crowds to return, giving me the time to relax and enjoy my meal at my own leisure.

It is early April in Europe, and they have cleared away all of the snow. The lawns are starting to shirk off their brown to display the green that is hidden underneath. Trees are starting to bud, and flowers are beginning to bloom. They give life to the stark brown brick buildings surrounding them and invite people to stroll through them. The gardens will have to wait a little longer because those people have not yet shown up.

It is early April in Europe, and I am lucky to be able to travel here at this time. It feels as if the city has just woken up from a long slumber to greet me. It is still shaking the sleep from its eyes as it prepares for the mad rush that will surely come, but in the meantime, it is here for me to enjoy. I love the feeling of strolling through the town without the crowds and confusion that the summer months often offer in Europe. It is the best time to be here, and I am happy to have been able to come.

A Late Night Arrival in Bratislava

After a day of travel, I was able to wake up this morning to a new country that I have never been to, Slovakia. It is going to be a quick trip, but it is nice to wake up this morning to look out the window of the place I am staying and see a completely different view. It also fills me with joy knowing that I can put aside work for a little while, and lose myself in a new town, Bratislava. I have nothing important on my plate except exploration, and I hope you join me these next few days as I look around to see what this town has to offer.

Arkham Horror, The Card Game – A Review

The ancient gods have laid dormant for thousands of years, and have almost fallen away to mythology. This has not stopped cultists, and depraved individuals from finding ways to bring them back. Because of this blind ambition, strange things have been happening around the small New England town of Arkham, and it is your job as an investigator to get to the bottom of the mystery. During your journey, you will be subjected to terrors long regulated to the darkest nightmares while battling ghouls, ghosts, and acolytes. It is a story that can only be told by the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, and Fantasy Flight’s living card game, Arkham Horror, The Card Game.

Fantasy Flight has made a few living card games, but this has been one of the more popular ones since its release in 2016. You will need to core set to play the game, and it does come with a campaign of three scenarios, but there are plenty of other scenarios available to play with the most recent one scheduled to drop in May of 2024. Does this marketing tool allow for the game to never get old? Does the Lovecraftian theme shine through? Is it a great game to play with a group of people? Does it tell a great story?

These questions are the same ones that I asked myself before I took the dive into this game, and I am here to tell you what I found out when I took that plunge.

THEME

This game drips with atmosphere. When you play, you feel completely immersed into the world of H.P. Lovecraft. It tells an amazing story full of twists and turns that will have you guessing the whole time, and overcoming the strangest encounter that only the genius of horror could have concocted. It will leave you on the edge of the mythos, not giving you all of the details, but just enough to make you wonder more about what is going on. The stories are pretty linear, especially in the core set, that only allow you one path through. Still, like all great stories, they are ones that you want to revisit to see if you can be more successful the second or third time around. Also, if you find it a little too easy, there are ways to make the experience more difficult, thereby making the story just a little darker. When I play I like to turn the lights down low and add a couple of candles to add a little extra punch to the experience. It absolutely the strength of the game, and it is the reason I keep coming back to it.

Rating – 10

GAMEPLAY

I should have been worried when I opened up the box, and saw two rule books and a campaign book. Based on other Fantasy Flight games that I have played, I should have known that there would be an intricate dance to be played with the rules of this game. Considering it is a card game, I thought that the rules would be intuitive and I would be able to easily pick them up by reading what was on the cards. This was not the case. The first game I played was spent a lot of the time combing through both of the game books to figure out what I was supposed to do. It took away from the experience of the story that I was playing through, and made the game a little frustrating to play.

With that in mind, I am glad I stuck with it. Though the rules can be a little fiddly, once I was able to figure them out, it added even more to the experience of playing this game. There is a little bit of a deck building aspect to the game, and each character that you can chose to go through the story has different attributes to help you either go through it. Some of the cards are really powerful, and each player has weaknesses that add the problems that are encountered throughout the story. Dice are also not used, but there is a bag with a variety of chips in it that can change the difficulty of the game, depending on how much of a horror experience you would like to have. I also love the make-shift game board that is created by cards, and the little book that is created by the story cards. It makes for the perfect Lovecraft experience.

However, like a good Lovecraft story, do not expect things to go well for your characters. This game is hard to win any of the scenarios that come in the core box. There is an easy challenge to the game if you need to win, but even on the regular setting, it is a challenge. This just adds to the atmosphere of the game, and there are rules presented by the game that takes into account that you characters will either die or go insane. Still, it is set up to make for a great gameplay when you eventually get into the flow of the game.

Rating – 8

ARTWORK

Like all Fantasy Flight games, great care has been taken to create atmosphere through the artwork. There is an overall consistency that comes with the artwork that is presented on the cards. It allows you to immerse yourself into the 1920s and the fictional town of Arkham. Granted, none of these pieces that you find on the various cards and books would be something that I would like to frame and hang on a wall, but I can still see that time and thought went into each painting. It comes from a place of love not just for the game, but for the source material as well.Though I do not appreciate that the beasts, and monsters that are encountered during a session of the game are drawn out, not leaving much to the imagination, it still adds a lot to the game. This would not have been the way that H.P. Lovecraft would have presented these creatures of ancient lore. Instead, he would have hinted at their presence and would have let you come up with the idea that would terrify you the most. As soon as you see the creature, it is no longer frightening. I know that does not work the same for a game as it does for literature, still the creators of this game left just enough mystery in the story to allow the feeling of reading one of his stories to seep through the experience that you get to have with the game.

Rating – 9

INTERACTIVITY

Most of the time, I like to play games because it is a way to connect with people and create a shared experience. That is not why I bought this game. I knew that there was going to be a time when I would be by myself at my home, and I was looking for something that would scratch that board game itch while also still allowing me to play myself. After doing a lot of research, I found out that this was always mentioned as one of the best solo board games out there. I thought that this would be the perfect one to pick up for myself. After playing it a few times by myself, I was starting to understand why people thought this way. It is like nestling up with a good horror story and watching it unfold in front of you while still having some choice in the overall ending of the story.

Still, the game is marketed as a game of one to four players. I was able to pull it out a couple of times to see how it plays with these higher player counts, and the problems with the rules start to surface even though I tried to explain all of the rules before we got started. There is a lot of different rules in this game, and the struggle I had during my first couple of plays was also there when I played with friends. We spent more time combing through the rule book rather than enjoying the story that was playing out in front of us. Still, after we got a hang of the game, the fun I was having while playing solo was able to be achieved with a group. It add a little bit more mystery to the game because I did not know what the other players were going to do when it was their turn, and the surprise of seeing cards being played that I had never seen before. The small decks that each player makes for the perfect environment for cooperative play. We were really able to talk through things to come up with the best course of action, and nobody ever ended up quarterbacking the game.

Still, like most cooperative games, I do think this game plays better solo even though this is one of the better cooperative games that I have come across.

Rating – 8

EXPANSIONS

As of the writing of this article, there are nine campaigns out there to expand this game as well as many stand alone scenarios. Each campaign opens up a new story with dark twists and turns, and new game mechanics designed for each terrifying tale. Some of the campaigns come with new investigators that you can add to the mix with older campaigns to add some twists to stories you might already be familiar with. They can cost just as much as the base set, and it is required to have the base set in order to play these other campaigns. At first, you had to be each scenario separately, but Fantasy Flight has since gathered up the stories that work together and put them in a single box, making it easier to collect a complete campaign.

Even with the ease that Fantasy Flight has made to experience another story in the realm of H.P. Lovecraft, there are two complaints that I believe I need to address at this time. The first being the cost. Each expansion is like going out and repurchasing the game. Though some of the expansions have great re-playability, it is sometimes hard to justify buying another expansion just so I can play the game again.

The other problem I have with the expansions is the packaging. I do believe that Fantasy Flight is in the process of fixing this problem by putting the expansions in smaller boxes, but there are some boxes out there that only a third of the space is used for the expansion. This seems like a little bit of overkill.

Despite these two flaws, the expansions are still a lot of fun to play. They always breathe new life into the game, and make it worth playing again.

Rating – 9

OVERALL

Arkham Horror, the Card Game is a great atmospheric game especially for those who enjoy the stories created by H.P. Lovecraft. It places you right in the middle of his universe, and you get to feel all of the horror and confusion that his tales created. The artwork helps to add to the atmosphere, and each scenario is fun to return to. I prefer playing by myself, but it is still fun with a group of people. Despite the rules being hard to understand the first time around, once you are able to figure them out, it makes for an enjoyable game experience. This is easily one of my favorite games, and I hope they continue to add content to it so I can find new ways to enjoy it.

Rating – 4.4 Stars out of 5

There and Back Again

First of all, I would like to thank Bilbo Baggins for the title of this post. I had not been thinking much about his story over the last weekend, but these words rang in my head many times during this voyage. Most of the time, I would not recommend making such a quick trip where you fly half way across the world, spend a couple of days in your destination, and then hop back on a flight to make it back home. Add on top of this some inclement weather and it makes for one crazy trip.

But why would I even attempt to make such a trip. There could be no reason why I would mess up my mind by subjecting myself to the trials of jet lag while risking lost luggage, uncomfortable sleeping conditions, and the headache of spending just a short amount of time at a location. Yes, it had to be something worth the voyage to put all of this on the line. But it came down to the next generation of my family starting the marriage tradition which I am sure will continue on for the next decade or so. It was a moment to witness a great event while reconnecting with my family during a joyous celebration. I waffled a few times if I should go or not, but in the end, I am glad that I had made that choice.

There were many times along the way where I felt exhausted. I did lose my luggage along the way, and got rerouted through Las Vegas, adding another leg to an already long day of travel. There were many times where I needed to change plans and buy clothes so I did not look like a slob at the reception, but it just added to the adventure of this weekend. I probably spent more time on planes, and in cars than I did on the ground, hanging out with people. But the time that I did get to spend with those people was worth it.

After all of it is said and done, I am glad to make it back to the place that I call home. I was not gone long enough to really miss the people that I love, but I am still glad to be able to see them again. It was the time that I spent with the rest of my family that allowed that other hole to be filled. The quickness of the trip and the amount of stories that I accumulated along the way made me feel like I was on an epic adventure like Bilbo. So I guess that it was that connections that made me always have the title of his book in his mind as I took this trip. It was really a great experience, and I would do it all over again because even though the payout was just a small part of the adventure, it was one of the greatest I have experienced in recent years.

A Tour of the World’s Airports

International travel is a challenge to begin with, but if you add a blizzard to the final destination that causes all airports to be delayed over the world, it adds another layer to the experience. My recent trip to Denver was one of these experiences. It just meant an added leg to the journey, and the joys of trying to hunt down a lost bag.

I know that it may not look like it at times during the journey, but I am glad that I was able to eventually make it to my final destination, and only four hours behind the original time. For that, I am impressed by the airlines’ ability to work together, and come up with quick solutions to make this happen for so many people. In the end, it is still a slog, and when I finally made it to my hotel last night, I was a barely functioning human being who needed a shower and soft bed.

There were many times on this voyage where I did not think it was going to happen, and I kept thinking of alternative solutions of how to get where I was going within the time that I needed to make it happen. Navigating airports to find the people that you need is not always easy. My first understanding that things were not going the way I was hoping they would came when I landed in Frankfurt. A text appeared on my phone saying that I had been rebooked on a different flight, and I needed to talk to people at the Lufthansa counter to get my new tickets. For those who have been in the Frankfurt airport, you will know that this sprawling building is hard to navigate to begin with, but to find a certain small counter tucked away in one of its corners is even more difficult. I found a couple that were not being manned at the time I arrived, but eventually I found the one I needed.

They were able to get me on a couple new flights that diverted my more direct route, and get me to snowy Colorado. It was not what I wanted to do, but I was glad that I was able to make it. I had to keep telling myself during the whole journey that this was an adventure and I just needed to go along for the ride. If I let things get to me then it would have been a miserable experience, but because of my attitude, it turned out to be a mild inconvenience. In reality, I have been lucky with all of the travels that I have had, and it has only been this trip that has had problems with it. This was bound to happen at some time, and I should not be surprised that it happened during a blizzard. So I will not let this discourage me from traveling again.

So until next time, adventure is out there, and will come in some of the most unexpected places, so get out there and enjoy it.

Prague on Three Legs

It was not the first time that I had been to Prague, and I hope it will not be the last. The city is a great place to visit, and both of the times I have made it out here, they have been very enjoyable. There was a big difference between the first and second trip though. On the first trip, we were able to get around town rather easily because we were younger and in better shape. This time, one of us had just had surgery and we were forced to make adjustments to go around town.

One of our four legs was in a boot, and we had to either use crutches or a wheelchair to get around. In a city that was made long before handicap accessible was a thing, and streets are still made of cobblestone, we knew that it was going to be a challenge, but should that have been a deterrent from going out and enjoying the city anyways?

There is a lot that can be seen in Prague, and it does not always involve going to museums and cathedrals. A joy can be experienced just by wandering around the streets and seeing what there is to see. We had decided that this would be our goal this time around, and we borrowed a wheelchair to make this an easier endeavor.

It did help to move from one place to another, but the cobblestones were not always easy to navigate, and if the crowds that Prague experiences during the summer were around, it would have added another level of difficulty. Despite this fact, it did change the way I would have looked at this city. Instead of running around to see all of the important sights, I had to pick and choose what I would do, and make sure that they were accessible for the situation that we had found ourselves in.

Because I slowed down, I started to notice little things about the city that I might not have noticed before. The buildings were no longer just about the architecture, but was now also about the art that I could find on those buildings. I could pay attention to the people and the way they moved through their natural day instead of being shuffled around with the crowd of other tourists who managed to come to this place at the same time. In a way, I got to experience more of the real Prague better than if we did not have this small little problem to deal with.

The places that I did go to visit had a different quality to them than the regular sights that pack in the people. One of my favorites was a quiet English bookstore near the center of town called The Globe. It was a little harder to get to because I had to push the wheelchair down skinny lanes of cobblestones, but when we got there, its quiet atmosphere, great adjoining cafe, and collection of books was inviting. I especially loved the collection of English translated books by important Czech writers, something that is hard to find in my travels. I loved the fact that I was able to be introduced to a new writer that I might have never heard about.

If reading is not your thing, there was also the option of many of the beer halls that can be found throughout Prague, the oldest being U Fleku. They all brew their own beer, and in the traditional ones, you are offered two options, light or dark. The beer was also relatively cheap, compared to many other places in the world, and to enjoy it in an atmosphere that recalls up medieval times just adds to the experience. Some of the places will even allow for you to arrange a tour of the facilities to demonstrate to you how they have been brewing beer over countless centuries.

Despite all of the delicious beer that has been enjoyed by countless people over many generations, Prague has also joined the craft beer revolution. There are a few brew pubs where you can whet your whistle with an IPA, stout, or hefeweizen. They are not as plentiful as the traditional beer halls, but with a little effort, we were able to find a couple of them. Most of the time, this took us out of the older parts of the city, but it was nice to see what Prague looked like to the common citizen who lived there, plus, we got to enjoy a couple of good beers in the process.

Prague is a European city that is filled with many different hidden gems. It is part of the reason that it is included on many people’s wishlist when they make their way out to this continent. Even if you don’t have enough time to seek these special places out, there are so many other places to go that the crowds usually go to.

It is a great city, and I am glad that we did not let a little thing like a bum leg stop us from enjoying it. The trip helped me realize that I need to take advantage of any opportunity that might come my way. I might not have had the typical experience that most people had when visiting Prague, but I still had a great time. I’ll just have to come back again when I won’t have to push a wheelchair around.

Until next time, get out there and experience the world any time you can.

Hello, this is car fifty-five; we’re in a truck

One of my all time favorite movies is Blues Brothers. Growing up, I watched this movie over a hundred times, and still, to this day, whenever play the movie again, I can instantly quote many of the lines from it. It was for this reason, that when I told the people that I was traveling with that I was in ” a truck”, I was instantly reminded of one of my favorite moments from that movie. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation we found ourselves in. I was making my way to our airplane for a recent trip to Prague and I found myself in “a truck”. I even texted this fact to my friends I was traveling with, and was instantly reminded of this line.

To be clear, my wife recently had surgery on her ankle which means that she has to walk around on crutches for awhile. She is doing great, but she is just getting to the point of being weight bearing on it, and that means that she tires out pretty easily. This does not work well when traveling to Europe where everywhere you go, it is best to just walk there or take public transportation. We decided to bring a wheelchair with us to get around town with more ease, but getting that on to a plane is not always the easiest, especially when the company you are flying with is RyanAir.

To be fair, RyanAir was very respectful and accommodating. I usually do not have many nice things to say about the company, but in this case, I do. We had to gate check the wheelchair which we thought meant giving the wheelchair to the people at the gate, and then getting it back when we got off the plane, but this was not the case. Instead, we were pulled from the line, taken to one of those trucks that they use to load food on to a plane, and got to ride on that in order to get on the plane.

We got to skip a lot of the headache that we usually experienced with flying RyanAir and moved through many of the security measure quickly at the airport. Still, it was a little excessive. We just needed to wheelchair put on the plane, so we could get it back when we got to our destination. We did not need a whole group of people dedicated to getting us on and off the plane. Still, there are other people out there that do need this kind of service, and it is nice to know that it is out there. It just shows that traveling does not have to be just for those who can easily get around. Everybody can get out there and see the world, so take that chance while you still can.

Until next time, keep exploring and experiencing life’s little pleasures.

The View over Prague

The city of Prague is one of the top destinations in Europe. It boasts a lot of history, great food, amazing beer, and some of the most interesting sights that can be found in any big city. People flock to this city to check out the Prague Castle, stroll across the Charles Bridge, and set their watches to the Astronomical Clock, but one that is often overlooked is the amazing viewpoint that can be found on top of the Petrin Tower on the top of Petrin Hill.

Petrin Hill stands looking over the old town square on the other side of the Vltava River. It is a little bit of a hike to make it to the top of the hill, but still you can make it to the top in a matter of twenty minutes going at a reasonable pace. For those who do not like to do hikes uphill, there is a funicular that will also take you to the top. It is not too expensive, and it runs every fifteen minutes. Space is limited, so I would recommend getting there earlier in the day when there is less of a crowd.

Once up top, there are many things to see that do not include the Petrin Tower. There is a medieval wall that adds to the atmosphere on top of the hill. A couple of restaurants offer food, and coffees, as well as a beautiful garden that you can stroll through. I was out here in the middle of winter, so the garden was in its dormant state, but I could still tell that it would be a spectacular place to wander through when it is in full bloom.

It is a little cooler on top of Petrin Hill because there is nothing to stop the wind that is blowing. I would recommend dressing in layers if you plan to come up during the winter months, and it would be the perfect place to escape the heat of summer though I do suspect it will be more crowded during those months than what I found when I was up there.

Hiking to the top of the tower is not too stressful either. It was designed rather well with an up stairs case and another one for those descending, so you are never stuck in a place where you have to wait while others pass going the opposite direction. There is even an elevator that will take you to the top, but it does cost a little more to be able to get up that way. The views from up top offer the perfect perch to see all of Prague. It is fun pointing all of the places that you have been and would like to go, and it has one of the best viewpoints of any European city I have been to. It is a little expensive, and during the summer months, I would suspect that it would be pretty crowded. Still, it is a nice little getaway for someone looking to do something a little different on a trip out to Prague.

COVID Hangover

I’m locked behind the security door
With easy access to my belongings.
I do not see people much anymore,
But at least, I am protecting my things.
There are my board games, which are fun to share,
But do not allow me to play solo.
I have a set of eight-person dinner ware
Whenever I want to put on a show.
As of right now, I only use one plate
For a meal that was kept in the freezer.
I don’t know if I’ll ever use its mate
For there is not a reason to please her.
I will live my life under this one light
To avoid an outside world full of fright.