Story 14Sept2022

Today I am exhausted and had to rest a few times. I am feeling a bit better now.

The day started with me rushing to make a 7:30AM meeting in the office. This was made harder as I could not sleep well last night. I finished my article for the Naval Institute Fiction contest and submitted it. Again, it was hard to sleep as I was excited to get it done and turned in. I am not sure that it will be something they want, but I did write a story of just under 3,000 words, edited, and hopefully with only minor typos. So 5:45 appeared unwelcome by me. I was showered and had a banana and 1/2 a bear claw pastries in the car–no time for coffee.

As often happens, the meeting failed and will be rescheduled. Ugh! I found coffee and then had hours of meetings in the morning. I had a few crises of the moment, but mostly I was just keeping up with status meetings and various emails and Slack messages.

Leadership had breakfast, and later, lunch was delivered not far from our working area. We could smell food the whole time. But, oddly, it appears that the food was not eaten by anyone, as the meeting it was for seems to have been canceled. How strange.

One of my colleagues had a birthday today, so we went to a Thai place for lunch, and the guy with the birthday bought everyone lunch (?!). Also, we were happy to see another colleague who had just had a child. So it was a lovely time; I ordered the special, which was not that good.

I left from there to see Susie. I had a little trouble getting turned around, but soon I was in the slow traffic of 217. It took me twice as long as usual to reach the hummingbird house today. Susie was happy to see me.

We called her mother, Leta, on the iPhone for a while, and then I made a quick visit with Susie to Metzger Park. Some health issues, lack of sleep, and walking a lot seemed to have exhausted me. I had not felt this worn since chemotherapy; I needed to slow down.

So after a short visit, I left with a kiss, got home again in heavy traffic (for Beaverton), and reached home. I then crawled under a blanket and slept for 90 minutes. I closed my eyes, and despite the neck pain, foot pain, knee pain, and other discomforts, I was asleep in seconds.

I managed to awaken at 5:20ish and was ready to head to the First United Methodist Church. I got there at 6ish, and Zophia, as usual on Wednesday nights, played board games while the band and choir practiced. I brought a harder one, The Grand Hotel Austria, which has lots of rules and a strange game flow that takes a while to get used to. Zophia was game, and we soon played without too many mistakes or redos.

The Grand Hotel Austria is not a game I would recommend unless you try it with someone who knows it. However, it is a wicked collection of rules and options that can make your head spin. My version is a blinged version with little 3D coffee cups, tiny cake slices on plates, strudel, and bottles of wine. I backed the recent Kickstarter that upgraded and reprinted the game (I got the upgrade) but have yet to add the ballroom dancing (yes, waltzing rules now) to my play. Zophia liked it but agreed it was a challenging game to play and learn.

We next played the quick board game Azul, and Zophia crushed me again.

After that, I headed home and had a dinner of crackers and pickled herring in cream sauce, a guilty pleasure.

I am tired and staggered. I will get some rest tonight.

Thanks for reading!