Today started as usual for Mondays at 6ish, with me wondering how it could already be six! Another rushed morning as I had a 7AM meeting. I managed to read emails and find my way and be ready for the first Zoom meeting, all cleaned-up and shinny.
I remember it was Monday and got Susie going in time to have coffee and a corn muffin before her taxi picked her up at 9ish to see Zeriada for hair, nails, toes, and so on. This is an every Monday morning item.
I had a break in the morning, but I was cold this morning and could not get warm. I put on a sweater and shoes and decided not to walk today. I could use the exercise, but I was just cold.
I had a few crises of the moment and then ordered lunch. I debated about making lunch with myself, it is much cheaper or having some leftovers. I decided to order for Thai to be delivered. My last massaman curry (beef) from Ma-Now Thai Cuisine was fabulous, so I ordered another today. I felt much better after that.
I had a few more meetings and words of encouragement for some issues found in the cutover for Nike’s new system we are installing. It was a very light day on content and heavy on procedures.
The physical therapy folks called. Clare is now scheduled for later in the week: Two days. Susie has Mohs surgery to remove some cancerous and precancerous skin. This is done out-patient. We have done it before. Clare agreed to work around that.
I have some great steaks to cook, but Corwin left, and Susie was tired, so I put them off for a day. I made chicken Cordon Blu from frozen with some “fire-roasted” veggies that I bake from frozen for a side dish. I also had a can of pears to go with it. The “fire-roasted” include potatoes, so it was more starch than a veggie. Susie had her dinner after she was up after 8ish.
We played online Dungeons and Dragons today with five players on the Roll20 website, one player in Minnesota. We continued our adventure that I run, as DM, in the Mad Mage’s Dungeon–this is material you can purchase and run using their software. We are down on the tenth level of this massive complex. We had finished last Monday late with a tough fight. The adventurers, played by our players, need a break and rest.
We agreed to advance the players to the next level of power, the 11th level, at the finish of the last game. But, the evil elves, Drow, are fighting back–this is my plan to make the game interesting. I wanted to give the players a scare; I set up a powerful assault on the players’ characters before they could rest. To do this before the game started, I went to the map in Roll20, copied the bad guys’ tokens, and organized a military-like line-up. When the game restarted today, the players had only a few minutes to rest. I then moved in the attack. Some of the bad guys were also invisible and could cast lightning bolts.
I managed to scare but not crush the players. They managed to stop the attack, kill most of the attackers, and drive off the remaining Drow mages that were blasting them with lightning bolts! The players then had their characters hid and rest for a day of game time to fully recover and get their new spells ready (they get new 6th level spells, game-changing powerful spells).
I had a few problems with the interface, but I managed to keep the game going. My Apple computer is only dual-core and can be slowed down by Internet applications. The other remote players had no serious issues and no disconnects. A replacement Apple is about the price of a short trip to Amsterdam for two!
Returning to the game, having learned some harsh lessons about poison and Drow, the players used magic to be immune to poison and to get extra hit points! They found the main spider goddess temple with the Drow priestess, her consort, her demonic allies, and some ridiculously weak giant spiders and troops. They took one look at it and charged in. They wanted some payback!
This time the attack went better, and their wizard actually disintegrated the consort with one of those new spells. More than 1/2 of the damage was ignored from the Drow and their allies: Poison. The fight was over quickly, with the Drow slain (or disintegrated) and the demonic allies of the Drow running back to their sulfurous planes of existence.
We stopped there as we had reached our end time, two hours. We continue next Monday. Everyone I think had a good time.
After that, I made Susie dinner and put on the move that is a remake of The Saint. It is a fav.
Today it was reported that more than one-thousand six-hundred twenty people died from the virus. It is one of the worst Monday this year.
The vaccine is being distributed today in the USA. Some of the first shots were given in NYC.
I have done this before, but it fits: Morning Has Broken. This is Methodist Hymnal #145.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 