I am up too early as I spaced that it was Fall-Back day, and I was having trouble sleeping today. I remember taking Air Volvo down Burnside last night in Portland and seeing all the beautiful people out in the clubs, which were packed–they got an extra hour of dancing last night–and it should have reminded me. My mind instead was focusing on the massive traffic snarl last night, I-84 was closed by a crash (all lanes), and Air Volvo was rerouted through Portland, making my usual thirty minutes or less into a slow tour of Portland for over an hour. I was flustered and tired when I was home.
Saturday night, I had two cups of coffee while playing the massive board game VoidFall at Richard’s, and I usually can sleep still, but not tonight. I was asleep after 2:30 and had trouble with my asthma. I woke up and could not fall back to sleep. My clock was not set correctly, and soon I was up and discovered that I was up an hour earlier than I thought. Ugh!
Going back to the previous night. As I said above, I-84 was closed, and Air Volvo hit that mess on my way back from dropping off Kathleen. She, Richard, Chris, and I spent the evening playing one long and complex board game, VoidFall. This board game is a strange economic game set in a SciFi story with a peculiar colonial direction. You have to conquer to win the game, as the other players are making colonial conquests and expanding their economies. I tried to resist this colonial bent but soon scored at the bottom. The two most aggressive players, Richard and Kathleen, had the highest scores–Richard reaching twice my score! Chris was ahead of me the whole game, too. I still like VoidFall as it is fun and a premium game experience–using metal instead of wooden pieces. The game is massive and expensive. I will play Richard’s copy.
Before Richard’s games, I was at the Lucky Labrador off Hawthorn in Portland with Evan. I like the place; they have peanuts and an excellent BLT sandwich. Their beer selection is good, and they have many tables that fit games well. It is also about 50% cheaper.
I crossed Beaverton and Portland in easy traffic to reach Lucky. There, Evan and I played two games, Ruins of Arnak with the add-ons and an original base version game of Furnace; we eschewed the new cards and rules. It seems to me that the new rules for Furance make the game less attractive, as you have to focus on too many things. What makes this game great is the simplicity of the base game.
We use the new leaders’ add-on in Arnak, and I selected one of the new replacement tracks for research. With the new superpowers of the leaders and the crushing brutality of the new research track, it was pretty fun to play. Evan and I played different approaches, and Evan was sure he crushed me but was surprised to discover it to be a tie game with Evan, having reached the temple first, winning by tie-breaker. I did not know that was a tie-breaker, and next time, I will rush faster. I played by buying more cards and running my book piece to the top space (worth 13 more points!).
I managed a sixty-point score in a basic Furnace game with two players and the third non-player (from the base rules) and won that. I liked playing the base game as it went faster, and there was no strange sequencing from the new rules. I had a BLT for dinner. I made chicken noodle soup from a can for lunch at the Volvo Cave.
Moving to the start of the day, I was up late, 8ish, and felt off. Maybe a cold was trying to start, but my breathing and coughing receded once I used my rescue inhaler. I think the illness is stress from Susie’s passing and that my usual, very ordered days are gone (I had to visit Susie every day and write the blog, which created two events that pinned my whole day). Depression is also slinking in and making not want to do anything. I did dishes, did some work on Quicken, and putted around the house, and soon, the whole day seemed to vanish. I headed out to Portland at 1ish.
My mom called and wished me a happy birthday. It is not my birthday. Mom was shocked that she no longer knew my birthday (she was there). It was hard on Mom Wild to learn she got that wrong.
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