Day 30: Friday

It is thirty days since my diagnosis of a benign brain tumor.

It is also a work-from-home day at Nike WHQ, and I rose at 7:30 as there were no early meetings. I am suffering from an unlimited supply of gas, not constipation now. I hope it will, hmm, pass soon.

The weather was the most exciting today, as we got our first winter storm. Originally predicted for Friday, and we all were watching for the snow. I saw a few flakes but nothing more than a threat of snow. The temperatures crashed from our usual winter 40s to 20s (-7C) in a few hours, and we had clear skies promising a cold Saturday. I worked from home and did a few Zoom meetings. One meeting left me wondering why I even try–sad.

I took a shower and got dressed between Zoom meetings. I skipped shaving and other steps as I had to rush. The hot shower warmed me and the house. I left the shower door open. I was not leaving the house today, so shaving was optional.

My solution to the sad meeting for work was to make lunch. I sliced up the remains of my sausages and fried the cubes (slicing lengthwise to make cube-like cuts and not coin-like slices) with a green pepper I also cut up. I added a few gloves of garlic and fried that in a large pan I use for soups and stews. I then added a can of Mexican-style diced tomatoes and hot peppers. I use the acid and wet juices to deglaze the pan. Once that is hot, I add hot water from the electric kettle and pour in my favorite brand of jambalaya spices and rice. No seafood, but still good. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover for twenty-five minutes. Presto!

I also made a dozen corn muffins from a box. A simple task of putting paper cups in a pan, mixing the stuff together, and putting them in paper cups (sprayed to not stick). Bake at 400F something, according to the directions. Puff, you have lovely cornbread. Excellent.

I ran the dishes and started the laundry. Despite the temperature drop outside, the kitchen was warm, friendly, and delicious. I am feeling better.

More online status and process meetings. I provide snow reports to the master data engineering team. I detach the hoses and have to find a wrench to release one. I found, surprising me, the faucet covers in the garage and installed them. A bit late, but I asked other folks at Nike, and we all were outside installing them today. It barely froze last year, and I did not put them on the house in 2023. The forecast for Saturday is 12F (-11C).

I forgot to make or eat dinner–stuffed with jambalaya. Gaming was canceled for Saturday. I do get solicited by Richard for a Portland 9AM game, but I am not prepared mentally to get up in the morning and drive to Portland in a storm. Instead, I return to painting figures, my undead Egpytian warriors, and the undead priest of the Egpytian god Set. I have returned to using the long table in the family room, and with safety glasses with 3x bifocals and strong light, I use my special brushes to paint tiny things. I have only an OOO brush (from Reapers Miniatures) and not an OOOOO for tiny work, but it works well (it takes more paint, so I can paint longer before reloading the brush). I spend most of the evening remembering my skills on these relatively easy figures, with just the pharaoh-like headdress requiring some skill. For you painters reading, I decided to use dark tone from Army Painter instead of dipping or oils for shading. I use strong tone to shade the base painted desert yellow, also from Army Painter. Dark tone is shades of black, while strong tone is shades of brown. I take some green, the same in the headdress, add water to make a wash, and dull the bronze blades, already darkened by strong tone, to show green corrosion. I put a dot of red in the eye holes in the skulls as most descriptions of undead skeletons in Dungeons and Dragons mention the burning red dots for eyes.

I black-topped the base to get that pretty black look for figures on bases. I can’t finish them with a dull coat as 20F is not an excellent temperature to spray paint. I will do that later so they are still shiny from the wash in the photo.

If I wanted impressive painting, I could dry-brush on some bone to make the bones stand out. These are for tabletop gaming; I think they are good enough now.

After completing the first batch of figures, I worked on some Scythe Mechs I started a few years ago that have languished. I will try to finish the first factions soon and then the two added factions next. I want them finished so I can pick the next thing to do. I want to finish what I have started.

I head to bed and read. I have trouble sleeping as I made a pot of tea, and it is keeping me up. I try aspirin and Benadryl, which finally works, just a 1/2 of a Benadryl. It helps me breathe (allergies) and sleep.

I sleep through most of the start of the storm and wake to a dusting of snow and winds.

Thanks for reading.