I was relieved at 10:45PM last night by the India-based folks–so I am not as tired as last Sunday morning. I am trying to remember what happened on Saturday. That is the problem with waiting until the following day to write the blog. Yesterday is already fading as if Somnus claimed the memories.
Let me try to remember…
The morning started with me waking at 7 from my alarm on my iPhone, surprising me to have actually slept the night. I did not have to prove hydration that night. I rose and made liberal coffee in my French Press and marveled at another bright morning with clear skies (i.e., no smoke or clouds). I located yogurt, blueberry marked Organic, and an NYC bagel (frozen to keep them over time). I used the microwave, toaster, and whipped cream cheese to produce an excellent Saturday morning repast. I took this to the office.
I wrote Friday’s story and consumed my consumables. Friday being a work day, the blog was short. I exclude the details of work as that would be, first, boring, and second, the non-boring parts would require clearance that is not likely coming. I focus on my emotions, if any, for the workday. I would say that the number of face-palm emoji per hour would be a good measure of how work is going (as poo-based icons are considered unhelpfully critical, and we resist them, especially the flaming poo ones; the face-palm cover a lot of emotional territory). Friday was a three-plus face-palm day.
I finished 10ish with the blog and breakfast and soon was cleaned and dressed. I almost forgot my prescriptions (Metformin for low-level diabetes, a daily inhaler for asthma, and blood pressure meds). I took them just a few hours late and then watered the roses, tiny new redwood, and other flowering plants. I managed to not get soaked or muddy in the process. I also knocked on the window when a local cat, doing its cat patrol through my backyard, found a mouse or shrew in my backyard, and I scared the cat–I like my shrews–the bite of a shrew is toxic too. After rodent rescue, watering, and pill-taking, I boarded Air Volvo.
But, I forgot, going backward, that I also spent ninety minutes on Saturday creating my new cleric for Dungeons and Dragons 5E. We were warned by the DM, Matt, that the finish of the adventure would require sacrifice. My current character on the Sunday game is a paladin named Rath, a good guy and a follower of Death, the Egyptian concept, not some evil scary death. My character is not afraid of death; he knows where he is going (living forever on the true Nile in the lands of the dead with his late family members) and is thrilled to be going out in some huge D&D moment. Thus, I had to spend time creating his brother, War, a lawful evil follower not of death but of war. War believes that the means justify the ends, unlike his good brother, if applied brutally and quickly. It took me a while to remake Rath into his brother War. This took a lot of the morning. I am ready for Sunday now–huzzah!
Next, I stopped at McDonald’s and tried their 1/4 pound burger with cheese again. Not that good this time. I am rushing with all the weekend work and am not eating right–I will stop that, I hope. I eat when I am stressed–a family trait. I have no snack foods or cookies in the house to help me resist this bad habit.
The traffic was light on Saturday, which is not always true, and soon Air Volvo reached Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was asleep in her recliner in the shared living room. Anassa was making breakfast and was quite busy–Anassa is the weekend nursing aide. Soon, Susie was awake, and we agreed to head to the park; Anassa found a break and popped Susie in her wheelchair.
The park was busy with dogs walking their human, and the dress was for a hot summer day. While nobody was naked, some folks, it being the Pacific Northwest, were nearly undressed and sporting various body art. We, mostly covered by clothing and ignoring local customs, were not burnt from the sun (Susie is allergic to the sun, and I take meds that make sun exposure unwise), but we did forget the sun blocker lotion for Susie’s hands–We limited our time in the sun.
Sitting in the sun, we called Barb and Leta, Susie’s sister and mother, respectively. We soon reached them in a 3-way call on my iPhone using FaceTime. We had a short chat, with Susie nodding off in the hot sun. Susie enjoyed the warmth and needed a hammock to finish the summer experience. We soon rang off, and I took Susie to the end of the paved path in the park and then reversed back. We passed dogs with humans, little humans crying in their trams, and kids playing in the park. One dad and mom found a new way to swing. There, a little girl was pushed by mom, and dad would lightly throw a soccer ball at the little swinger, who would then kick the ball. There were lots of giggles.
We then sat on the porch at hummingbird house to enjoy the warm day. I was not ready to sit in Susie’s room yet. Evan showed up while we were on the porch. Susie was sleepy, and I was getting there. I rallied, and Susie was set up in her bed by Anassa, and we watched the new Elron John-based movie Rocketman in Susie’s room.
The movie was longer than the time I had, and Evan left early, and I had to say goodbye before the film was finished. Susie was surprised I had to go so soon but understood that my shift started at 4PM. I left with a kiss and left the movie running for her, and Louis, the weekend evening nursing aide and cook, promised to visit Susie and see what she wanted to do once the film finished.
I headed home in surprisingly heavy Saturday late afternoon traffic. I arrived before my shift started and found my new board game had come, Expeditions. This is from the same game company that created the board games Scythe and Wingspan (both amazingly good games) and was available as a pre-order, and I was thrilled to get my copy with metal mechs (Richard already had his copy and told me he lost his first game). During breaks on my shift, I punched the game (meaning I punched out all the cardboard, unwrapped the decks of cards, and organized the content to be ready to play).
Focusing on work, my shift got one face-plam emoji from me as there were a few crises and late running processes. I am forward-movement driven after working for the shoe company in information technology for over twenty-five years. I am just hard-wired for Just Do It. While it was a weekend, it seemed the processes were running strangely slow, and I often asked for status and wondered what was happening. I was happy at 10:45PM when India-based colleagues offered to relieve me.
Next, I read the rules for the new game. I watched the how-to video last week to understand the rulebook. While the game looks fun and plays in less than two hours, the publisher’s first printings often have some balancing issues (Scythe rules ban certain starting conditions now, and Wingspan early editions had some corrections too). I expect the game will have some issues when we learn it. My copy of the game is number 6158/7500 of the First Printing of the IronClad Edition.
I read to 11ish, moving to my new book on my Kindle after reading the rules, looking at most of the cards, and playing tiles in Expeditions. There is a solo mode that I might try on Monday night. I did mix up some epoxy to reattach the bottom to a mech; it looked like the base was just not glued on. Fixed.
I read, next,
After that, I managed to sleep and stayed sleeping until the morning.
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