Today we played Roll20, online Dungeons and Dragons 5E, as usual. One of our players, Matt, is leaving us as he is also our in-person DM. He will be focusing on his three re-starting in-person game. I am a player, currently a gnome wizard who sees dead people and specializing in charming.
I will be playing on Saturday night at a board game in Portland, and then Cory is hosting some board games on Sunday at his house. I am excited to be unlocking a bit and playing in person.
Oregon is about 50-60% vaccinated rate, and the infection rates are falling. We are also Oregonians, so we are mostly polite and follow the rules. Even when protesting, we have seen crowds socially distancing (!?).
Starting from the beginning this morning, I had only a few hours of sleep. Susie was up and down all night. I also had some caregiving to do, and that, combined with getting Susie out for her appointment with Zerida, meant I was not even dressed until almost eleven. No, the camera was not on for the Zoom meetings–me in my robe and my hair looking so, Einstein.
Work was made more chaotic with a schedule change that put an upgrade no longer next month, but now. I began all the steps to prepare for a major process. It will take me a few days to get ready and prepare the system. Then, it will blow out as we discover issues. This is the practice upgrade and is full of learnings and surprises. Often I have to work India and USA hours then. It can be hard on me.
Lunch, as I was ill over the weekend from a Popeye’s Spicy Chicken sandwich, was lamb kabobs (protein!) from Gyro House. So good! Not cheap, but perfect when you are running slow.
I did not do my walk or organizing the house as I needed to get dressed. It is silly when you have to plan when to fit in brushing your teeth!
I was managing a few crises of the moment and trying to prep for the upgrade.
I managed to slip out at about 4ish, after one more Zoom meeting, to buy groceries. We are were out of milk, and I picked up a few favs for breakfast for Susie.
I baked some breakfast sausages and made scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese for dinner. I even buttered the toast to go with it. Susie loved it. She had a rough night too, and so I wanted her to have a nice dinner, even if it is breakfast for dinner.
I took a few minutes to finish my book and started the next in the series, Blood Curse. I strongly recommend the Commissario Ricciardi series crime novels. Set in 1930s Italy and a mix of crime and ghosts and fate. Makes me want to write more Howard stories; I love good stories and writing!
You may wonder how I keep going when I am so tired, and things are so chaotic. I read good stories when taking a short break and listening to Opera (Carmen’s Toast to the bullfighters and Rigoletto song about love is a butterfly and more). I sing along in very poor Italian.
Turning to more pleasant thoughts, one of my other roses is in full bloom, and the next one is starting.
We are playing the Candlekeep Mysteries for Dungeon & Dragons in Roll20 this evening, as I covered before. This is prepared material from books published by the makers of D&D. It comes with color pictures and nice maps. The text is well organized to allow the players and DM to move quickly through the material. Tonight was mostly combat despite the book theme of the adventures. This was a bit of a surprise for the players. They were expecting mysteries and book stories. So far, the high-level items in this set of been working for us.
I hope you forgive me for stopping here. I usually count deaths. Not tonight.
Instead of a hymn, my song that keeps me going: Toréador, en grade. Computer Architect work sometimes seems to fit this song.
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