Story 31Dec to 1Jan: Resting

Again, I am just resting, so it is hard to find a story to share.

Today, working backward, was the annual (or so) special for Doctor Who. Jodie Whittaker is leaving the role, the first woman to play the Doctor, and there is still no information on the next Doctor. This is her full last episode, and thus I could not miss it.

I was expecting something great. I had some trouble loving today’s episode as I have seen much better work for the year-end with Matt Smith’s Doctor doing the best one, I think Christmas Carol. But, Peter Capaldi’s Last Christmas is creepy, and I remember on its release being scared and happy at the same time–this is considered the best one by more official sources. The one today was not even close in quality to these shows. Not sure what will be the future of Doctor Who. Corwin commented that their budget must have been cut when watching the episode. Not great.

Today, I read a bit of the rules to play a solo role-playing game, Thousand Year Old Vampire. I have had a physical copy of the game for some time. I was hoping to try it one of these days while I am just sitting around.

Before this, I taught Corwin how to play The Lost Ruins of Arnak, a fav board game of mine. Corwin scored well for his first game, but, as usual with this game, a play gets you to understand the process but not a win. However, Corwin did like the game, and it played fast and took less than 90 minutes to play.

The game is themed on a 1920s Hollywood version of archeology. The mechanics are a well-balanced mix of deck building, resource discovery and management, and a racing board to score most points (representing your research and capturing vital knowledge to discover the lost city’s secrets before your competition beats you to publish). Also, The theme is not too abstract, so you can imagine putting on a hat and whip and digging to find the secrets of Arnak!

I bought some replacement parts this holiday for the game while recovering, and they were delivered before Christmas. So my new coins and tiny compasses got their first use today. I was happy to finally replace the paper coins (I like the feel of metal coins when I play a board game), and I liked the look of the tiny compasses stacked in your resources (representing maps and location information). Cool!

This is the first game I have played since the surgery, and I was happy to not become fatigued while setting up or playing the game.

Dinner was grilled cheese (cheddar) on white bread. Something simple. Of course, I used the pan Rev. Wolff sent me and fried the sandwiches in butter. I cover the pan with a lid and add a bit of water to let the hot steam (remember steam is over 212F) heat the sandwich through and melt the cheese. Cut into quarters; it makes a nice bite.

Before dinner, I called the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center to see how Susie was doing. They told me she was doing fine, and I asked them to say to her a Happy New Year from me. They were a bit stressed; they are short-staffed (like everywhere), but they usually lean on the weekends and holidays.

I am afraid before this, I bored Corwin with the first Pirate of the Caribbean movie. I wanted to see if it was still good. I still liked it.

I also edited a Howard story today. I was feeling up to some mental work, so I corrected a few typos in the first story; it is always a surprise to find more typos as I wrote it on a plane back in 2017. My last edit for this story, not surprising, was early 2021. Apparently, I had some spare time last New Year’s weekend.

The first and last Howard stories are done, I think. There are four other stories I will have to fix up. I started a new story based on my time in New York City and hope to find the energy to finish it.

I got dressed in the afternoon, not wanting another day where I did not get dressed.

Before that, I had leftover lasagna from Rajesh, an excellent late lunch. Of course, Italian-styled food is always better the next day. Rajesh had suggested it needed more salt, but, as Corwin and Mariah can attest, I never cook with salt, and my food always needs salt. So for me, it was perfect.

I had slept until about 9:30, missing my usual wake-up at 4ish to take more painkillers.

Moving to the previous day, still going backward, I managed to sleep on New Year’s Eve after midnight, about 2ish. The locals like to set off loud illegal fireworks for the Year-End. The house was not quite shaking with explosions, but one or two did startle me–it was a lot of pyrotechnics.

I went to bed before the year changed and read more about Mexican Vampires. I love the book by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Certain Dark Things (English). I showered just before bed and changed into sleeping clothing. I had to be careful as I staggered a bit. I kept my hand on the new hand bars in the new shower!

I managed to not dress the whole day, and Rajesh from Nike brought me lasagna for dinner, plus a dessert from B.J. Brewhouse (a giant cookie with ice cream). Before that,  I felt the exhaustion from my surgery and just sat in my chair and took it very slowly.

Lunch was leftover spaghetti and meat sauce from the previous order from GrubHub, and it too was better the second reheat.

I was up late after 10AM, with the 4AM wake-up for pain killers needed.