Day 140: Saturday Slow

It often happens that sleep is hard to come by on Friday night for me. And this Friday was no exception, and I was late getting going this morning. As usual, I awoke before my alarm at 6AM and then woke up enough to know that it was Saturday and re-awoke at 9ish.

I got up and started my day. A text from work at 5:30AM from India was replied to, but no response as it is Saturday night India time when I answered.

I got dressed and headed out to Portland with my wallet, hat, sunglasses, book, pen, pencils, and laptop. This time I was prepared!

Driving was better today and soon, I was walking into Mox Boarding House in Portland. The manager and others were painting 28mm scale (Dungeons and Dragon and Warhammer scale) terrain parts. There were not that many customers. Mox has tables to play at, but phase 1 is still in place, so no gaming. Actually, Oregon’s Governer Browne is sending some counties back to phase 1 lockdown as the rate of virus infection is nearly explosive out in the high desert towns. So instead of demos and fresh gameplay, they get to talk to us customers about how great such and such game is.

We talked about Scythe, Twilight Imperium, Dune, Vindication, and Wingspan as games we will play at the store once we get this virus over.

I headed into the restaurant part of Mox. I was the only customer eating and drinking. Sydney and Tatayana, who waited on me last week, were excited to see me. I had the Humus and soup of the day. I took a picture of it and posted it, and Apple spelling correction had its way with me. My note got many comments (I edited in the SB later).

Screen Shot 2020-08-01 at 9.38.57 PM

The lunch was excellent. The soup was some sort of Asian Bone Broth soup. Nobody had a name for it: A rib, poached egg, veggies, and sesame oil in bone broth! The hummus was fine with fresh vegetables. A stout beer went well with everything. The alcohol percentage of the beer was high enough to make it seem like a beer and a shot.

I had their pudding and coffee for dessert. It was fantastic and rich with flavors of chocolate, ginger, and chili and three hot, slightly torched marshmallows on top. Skip lunch and go to dessert with a hot coffee drink is a good plan too!

I returned home after finding the new Wingspan scoring board add-on and purchasing it.

I returned to laundry, dishes, dinner (pasta with Sock-it-to-me sauce from a jar and locally made Italian sausage), and the regular home tasks.

I returned to editing my “Howard’s Lockdown” story and was laughing as I wrote. I was really enjoying the funky path I went with. The story is just so fun to write; I literally laugh out loud when writing. A short extract:

“What about Dream Portland,” says Howard between bites—his face red from the heat of both the food and the spices?

“Not to worry, Richelieu, likes the job,” says Alistair as he scans a credit card and delivers a plate without violating any health or social distancing rules. Howard watches Crowley deliver food with dexterity, and it dawns on Howard that running a taco truck and the precision to summon unspeakable powers is an overlapping skill. Mr. Crowley keeps talking while working. “The Cardinal is a natural at plots and sub-plots. I expect we will see him any day here,” explains the newly minted taco maker.

More tacos are purchased. “And Portland needs a taco cart by me. This town is just so me,” says Mr. Alistair Crowley laughing a made-up evil laugh, slightly muffled through the mask, and letting his British accent highlight the fake evil. He sells more food.

“Maybe he is already here,” says Crowley looking up from the food with a wicked smile just hinted by the covering mask and one eyebrow cocked. “That might explain how Mr. Biden got so far this time in the election. I understand in the last American Presidential election his candidacy just wilted. Just imagine an American democrat candidate with Richelieu as his campaign adviser. Yes, maybe the Cardinal is here,” says Crowley looking thoughtful. Howard just keeps eating, trying to ignore the possibility.

(My apologies to anyone who is offended by the idea that Mr. Biden would need supernatural powers to do so well this time–it is just for fun. And for you who think I have some arcane insider knowledge, no, really it is just a story)

I have also looked into an idea I had before, and that is to teach Calculus online to help people. I have a great textbook, and I read through some of it at Mox. Tatyana nearly screamed in fear when I showed her what I was reading. Math is like wolfbane to some bartenders! I will think about it and see if there is a way I can help people. I will try not to scare any more people by showing them a Calculus textbook!