Saturday, I spent most of the day playing board games. The games require me to forget everything and focus on the mechanics, positions, and status that make board games work. It is not the rules or the need to win in what is a created contest, but the execution of fascinating procedures and the immersive nature of the difficult games. While I neither own nor know most board games that I play at other folks’ homes, there are some I know well enough (and own a copy) to plan play two or more turns ahead, and thus I enjoy them more. Now monster-complex and crazy art and graphic games, for example, Weather Machine, is a struggle as the game’s flow is hard to understand, but I still enjoy the strange mechanics. It is a thrill to find that I can play them and not totally fail against my expert gaming opponents (who eat these things up and have a dozen more plays than I have). I scored much better last game by asking for help, following the process rigorously (others were rushing), and reading the more obscure iconography (the game is so complex each player gets a little handbook!). Richard and I talked, and we are not sure we need another Vital Lacerda (designer for Weather Machine and Lisboa) in our collections. Richard calls these brain burners, and he says they take dozen of plays with various numbers of players to learn all the subtle design elements.
Aside: Wargames (some now looking more like board games) simulate a military (historical, fictional, or SciFi) or political situation. Often wargames are just two-player and are immersive and try to get the players to relive the critical decisions of battle and try to recreate or do better than the actual events. I enjoy getting out my tiny battleships and refighting the Battle of the Denmark Straits (Hood vs. Bismark). We are moving away from the inaccurate but playable model of the 1960-80 and now have more exciting games. Solo wargames allow for the recreation of historical events without asking one player to have a disadvantage or strait-jacket rules to force historical alignment. There is good stuff out there!
Starting the narrative, I started the morning at 7ish as I had a status meeting at 8:30 which lasted only a few minutes. Rajani strongly urged me to skip the rest for the weekend, and I aligned with that. While waiting for the meeting, I made breakfast (a banana and a cup of yogurt with fruit) and liberal coffee, Equal Exchange, and ate it while listening for anything for any issues assigned to our team or myself (nope).
While I was in the office, a healthy-looking squirrel calming walked into my best tulips, reached up, bit the flower off the stem, and then daintily picked off the petals from the blossom and consumed them. Then, seeing another flower, the squirrel dropped its current repast and pulled down another one. I banged at the window; I might be willing to feed a squirrel a tulip, but I would not have a gourmet squirrel try each one!
Aside: Today was Naked Gardening Day, and apparently, here it is celebrated (I did not participate), and I knew it best to now stop at a nursery today for squirrel repellent (made from an editable oil, rotten eggs, and cayenne pepper).
After considering squirrel-directed corrective action, I dressed and did some coding on my radio project. I might be able to read the transmission of the song and other information sent by the radio station inside of the music. I also mixed some extra acrylic and poured the tiny amount into the mold that had flowed onto the table instead of staying in the mold. I would say that I have learned much about clay molding and acrylic casting. A small level is needed, and you must mold it into how you plan to pour the new item. The clay hardens in less than ten minutes and is completely done in an hour. That means you need to get the clay into a tiny bit fast and apply it fast. My mold (which I destroyed getting the cast out) has issues, and the Dremel will have to be used in a few places, but still, it looks good (after the other acrylic dried and filled in the missed bits. I have used other materials (liquid rubber and then a heated dry material) for making model parts, which is easier if you want to replace a lost gun on a ship model, but to make clear cool-looking stuff, the acrylic is the way to go. But, if you are going to light it, the glitter will just look like black bits in the acrylic when the lights are on, which surprised me.
Returning to our story, I then packed up and headed to see Susie at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. It was dry today but grey and overcast, 64F (18C). I cut some flowers for her from the house, including some apparently delicious tulips, so Susie and the folks at hummingbird house could enjoy them. In addition, I included apple blossoms; the historical apple tree (from the original farmstead) is still going (it fell when the soil was so wet the tree roots could not hold up a massive load of apples that year, but we were able to trim it back into a good tree).
Susie was delighted to have more flowers and a visitor, but she was disappointed that I would stay for only a short time. We could not afford me to catch her cold. Mask on the whole time, and no close contact. Like Covid-19 all over again!
We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and had a friendly chat. I then found the Kentucky Derby on TV for Susie. Sadly, I headed out as I needed to curtail my exposure to Susie’s cold. She was still coughing.
I headed to Rogue Brewery in Portland. The only event was me looking at a sign “Long Load” and missing that the lane was ending and the semi needed my place. I quickly accelerated and got out of the way. I am sure the trucker thought Air Volvo was flown by an idiot. I was fascinated by the three loads connected; oops. The area was busy, but I found parking off SE 9th Street. I was expecting nudity, but instead, folks were dressed in flashy formal wear for a Kentucky Derby party.
Evan arrived a bit later, I had my first beer just after noon, and the place was busy but not packed. I found our usual inside table (I wiped raindrops from the box of my copy of the board game Concordia) and ate a recommended special grilled cheese (it was ok) while Evan started setting up Concordia. We spill into two tables to play, which does not bother folks there.
Soon we were heads-down on Concordia, the staff at Rogue were happy to welcome regulars playing games, with me wanting to not repeat the crushing I had from Evan’s last play. The setup for cities and, to some degree, cards are random, so this invites some strange initial conditions. However, this board looked like the usual random setup (nothing extreme), and we were playing the usual board–no special rules other than including Forum.
The game went its usual seesawing of buying cards and building trade posts in cities, with Evan heading in one direction and myself headed in another. I acquired the metal and food cards, with Evan getting the others. I used the cards to build up and get my colonists out, making it easier to expand (in the last game, I failed at both tasks). This sent me into a fast build mode and the ability to acquire cards as needed, thus giving me the game by more than ten points (I built all my trading posts and ended the game). Better!
We played the short game (for two players who know the game), Wingspan with the European and Asia add-on that I would recommend, twice, with me winning both games. It was the usual victory; I just got the bird cards I needed. I have also learned that balance is good, and I build the first row (food) first to two birds as soon as I can and then build the last row (bird cards). I try to find birds that gain food or tucked cards in the first row as you often play that row. I played to match the round goals to at least score and tie or better. Again, more straightforward in a two-person game. Fun.
After that, I paid the bill and headed to Richard’s. Shawn and I played Weather Machine, Ricard was surprised by my request, and I got a lot of help to remember all the mechanics. We found repeatedly we had to redo something because we did not adhere to the game process (all printed on the board in iconography that takes me a while to follow), but we enjoyed the game. Richard won with me, surprisingly ahead of Shawn. I also took the Noble Prize (the first scientist to run the corrective weather machine three times) in the game, a first for me.
We then tried Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (cooperative version). It was late, and we rushed through it. I like this rework of the well-loved original Terraforming Mars board game, and the cooperative version was fascinating. Again, it was late, and I arrived home after 1AM. I crawled into bed after taking my meds and slept in.
In the backyard, we have a new bird, a Western Tanager. The jays are gone, likely forced into higher altitudes by the heat, and I was missing them. When I moved here in 1996, the Scrub Jays were everywhere, but we also had days of 12F, which were long in the past.
Thank you for reading. Sorry, it is so long. I took the whole morning writing.
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