Day 204: Monday with game

Today I started at 6AM. Susie had late night issues, so I had to take care of them, and then she had some trouble sleeping. Thusly, 6AM came unbidden and unwelcomed.

I started on all the issues and emails and getting my timesheet done. All that needed to be cleared was done by 10ish. Susie headed to hair, nails, face, etc. as usual on Monday. Zoom meetings were ongoing every hour or so.

I did manage to slip out and get some prescriptions and have the car washed.

I did a few more meetings and then slipped into making dinner. I sliced up three onions, tears were shed, and a roast into pieces to make goulash from a recipe I was given by Germans I know. It is always great and cooks on the stovetop.

I had some asthma problems today. I took my emergency inhalant and had to lay down and wait for my breathing to get better. I am short of sleep, the bad air last month likely did not improve my lungs, and there is plenty of pollen in the air–fall is hard on me. I am allergic to Oregon in the fall! Some rest and taking the inhalant usually fixes the problem.

A few more meetings that have spawned into more meetings for Tuesday. I was finally free about 5ish.

I did get a text and an email at 6:15 or so that I was needed again. I put them off until 9ish and just took care of the software install issues and sent the green-light in to continue the work.

Tonight is Monday, and that means Roll20 playing Dungeons and Dragons. We had to skip last week, so everyone was ready to play. We continued on with the Mad Mage’s Dungeon, and the players are in the “lost level,” which appears to be mostly intact or at least only recently pillaged lost Dwarven religious and funeral complex, sort of a mix of Conan and Lord of the Rings and maybe a dash of Monty Python. The adventurers have already found some of the looters, they put them to the sword and some of the creatures that have broken into the level. We had a hard stop time, one of our players needed to stop at 8:30, so we stopped mid-combat. The two hours just blew by.

Evan reminded me that I forgot to mention the Chocolate Bread Pudding with Spicy Chili Ice Cream at Mox Boarding House in Portland we had yesterday. This dessert combines a bread pudding made from a chocolate cake, made and baked to order, with an ice cream that, instead of being flavored with vanilla, is a surprise and buzzes in your mouth with hot chilies. The cake is warm and friendly chocolate with just a hint of custard holding it together. The ice cream is like a cold burn. The chili, the cream, and the cake all mix and complement each other. Recommended, but yea have been warned about the ice cream!

Today more than four-hundred twenty people died from the virus in the USA.

This is not a hymn, but for me, it is the song I think of when I am tired, for all the obvious reasons, and so we will take it for today: Breathe (2AM). It is my hymn for getting through another tough day.

But we need a hymn so I went with this: Marching to Zion. Methodist Hymnal 733.