Apr. 16

4/16/2026 10:39 Correspondence 210

The end of the semester is always a strange time. The routines I've carefully crafted for the past three months start to crumble into a hodgepodge of panic. It's a good time. 

Remember back last Thursday, I went to that laser tag event through a program called Thursdays After Dark here at UofSC.   Well, it's another Thursday, and they put on an event that was supposed to be a big board game night. And I went. 

And it was the saddest thing I've ever been to. 

It was held in the Russell House Ballroom, a massive meeting space. They had tables set up everywhere with so many board games all around. It would have been great if I hadn't made up 1 out of a total of 7 people in this room. It was so empty and strange. I ended up walking up to two people who had walked in right before me and asked if I could join them for a board game.  They said yes, and so we attempted to find a board game we all wanted to play. They at first settled on a trivial pursuit. They had never played before, and I explained the rules. Just when I was starting to get into it, they said they were not vibing with it and wanted to change. I said, sure, and they grabbed another game. A game called rowboat, a game no one knew how to play. When I attempted to learn, they said that we should just start and look at the rules along the way. We got a confusing 30 minutes in the game, and then they said they were confused and wanted to stop. Then we left. 

A sad, strange event. 

Maybe another Tuesday will be better. 

And now a short short story:

 “I’m 19 now.” Said the clock to the owl. The owl scoffed, but when he looked at Mr. Clock, his face really did say 19. It was horrifying in a way. Owl's old friend has never changed from his regular look, his features etched with a dozen numbers. But how, his face has stretched into a horrifying mask, one that allowed 7 new numbers to grow. “What do you think it means?” said the Clock. “Does it hurt?” asked the owl. “Not in the ways you’d think.” 

Goodnight friends, 

Calvin Landreth.