Today 27Sept2023

I am running late after playing board games a little later than usual 8ish end-time. Andrew, Z, and I got through 3/4 of a board game of Brass: Lancashire. This is a great game and ranks in the top twenty of all games on Board Game Geek’s site. Z and I had just finished the epoch when Andrew could join us. I had to do a teach for him, but being a fast learner and willing to just try those out–we soon were playing fast and having a good time. We ran out of time by about thirty minutes to finish. With three players, you start missing things and using each other’s resources. It is known as a mean game, meaning that every action reduces the options of the next player. We played competitively and enjoyed the game. Recommended. I like this version better than the better-loved Brass: Birmingham (with beer!).

I had dinner before heading to First United Methodist Church to meet Dondrea and Z to play games while the choir and band practiced at the Shake Shack and had a bacon-avocado-enhanced cheeseburger with excellent fries and a large Diet Coke. It was wonderful, if you don’t mind, a plain fried burger and a tiny bun.

I managed to do some writing while eating. I started revising my Dungeons and Dragons adventure we are playing on Friday. I included an additional encounter to the text in my revisions. I might publish this one–we will see if we can add art and maps to it. I wrote some of the framework for the encounter and began to design the monster that is the main challenge for the encounter. It has felt great to once again be writing from pure imagination but still inside a scaffolding of rules. I love writing adventures for D&D and for The Call of Cthulhu Role Play Game.

Work today, which I will only barely mention, was filled with the usual and the obvious today. I did four hours of Zoom meetings starting at 8AM. It was a work from the office, and I did get to sit in front of the large windows watching the rain while some folks talked about various issues I was not involved with. Today was wet, with the Oregon mist changing to rain a few times. It was cold, 55F (13C) being the temperature at 4PM.

Lunch was a salad at Chipotle’s with carnitas. I reread the rules for Brass: Lancashire while eating. I had lunch after leaving Susie after a short visit at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. This is called the hummingbird house.

I left work after 11, and Air Volvo negotiated the wet roads without issue. The puddles are still small (I believe the lack of rain for weeks has us still working through the deficit–no big pools yet). Susie was in her recliner when I arrived. Jennifer, the weekday nursing aide, moved Susie to her wheelchair, and we then visited the Social Activity room to avoid bothering others. We were not going to the windy porch with the sideways rain!

Susie was a bit confused as this is not our usual program, but soon, we had Leta on the iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. We talked briefly about Leta’s bird feeder (full of birds) and some disquieting signs of pests in Leta’s house–she will likely call pest control folks. Susie was happy to chat and seemed more awake today, and her speech was clear. After ringing off, we called Zerida, now in Texas, and did another FaceTime call. Zerida was happy to see Susie; we had a friendly, short chat with her.

I was working today, so it was a short visit with Susie, and I could see the look “That’s all?” on her face. Today, she kept a brave face, and I only saw a moment when she was distressed. I kissed her goodbye and headed back into the cold wet.

SEC is the name of the big project I am on. You can see the nice large windows.

I was up at 6AM with my alarm. I made breakfast, cottage cheese, and canned peaches again. I put salt and paprika on the cottage cheese. I then read emails, Slack messages, and the news to prepare for my day. My trip in Air Volvo, while finding a school bus again to slow me, was uneventful, and I was there at 8AM to start the first two hours of Zoom meetings.