Day 65: Busy Saturday

I tried to rise at 7ish to write the blog and to start my day, but I must confess it was more like 8ish. I had too many things to do: lollygag in bed and hide under the covers. Blurry-eyed and unready to face the world, I rose, found breakfast (coffee, cottage cheese, and canned low-sugar peaches), sat in the home office, and began writing.

How do I find the discipline to write 500 words to an occasional gust of 2,000 words? I learned from two Michelles at the shoe company, Michelle V and Michelle S, that tasks are just something you do, and the longer you do it, the easier it gets. I admire and respect these gals and can never pay back all I learned from them. I must add that the tools make this much more manageable. WordPress and Grammarly and looking up words online mean that the mistakes and typos are less extreme. The structure and boilerplates (like describing how I got up) also make a less onerous task. It is now a habit, and you, my dear reader, and I enjoy it.

I wrote the blog until about 10, returned to Susie’s concert plan, and completed a version I could share. I include Jack in the Oregon service, who asked to be included and to sing Goin’ Home. This took until the afternoon, but I got it sent out, and I already have some feedback from Barb (Susie’s sister and Rev. Anne). Somewhere in the morning, I got cleaned up and dressed during these times. I reheated the jambalaya from a few days ago for lunch. I watched a few Battleship New Jersey videos, including their announcement that the last commissioned US battleship, New Jersey, was headed to drydock for more preservation work. US Battleship Texas, the last dreadnought in existence, is also in drydock being partially reconstructed. It is an exciting time for museum ships (HMS Victory is also being reconstructed).

Evan and I met at The 649 in the early afternoon. I had gassed up Air Volvo and ran it through the car wash. We were on the coast yesterday, and I wanted the salt removed from Air Volvo. Also, the local artists, a murder of crows, had started to decorate it again. Air Volvo sparkles again, but I arrived late after 1:30PM.

Natalia was our bartender, looking stunning as usual, and I got a smile that this time I remembered her name (it is a game I have with all the bartenders at The 649–trying to remember their names). I brought in board games, and we played Scythe and The Lost Ruins of Arnak, both favorites. I shared the painted characters and mech with Natalia, who loves to see our board games’ details. Natalia was off early today as she was meeting with vendors for The 649 and was working the whole weekend. She told me she felt guilty that she would not be hanging out with her 16-year-old son. These hourly jobs are hard on families.

While we had Natalia (she would be leaving early and replaced by Stephen), we ordered drinks, a red ale for me, and played Scythe. This is a two-person game on opposite sides of the board, and I raced to end the game with my just higher score. Z has faced this juggernaut style of play, mixing combat at the cost of popularity with rushing to each star. Evan was playing to a sudden hit with many milestones, with him likely winning two stores a turn. I was two turns ahead of this when I stopped the game. I scored only eight coins higher than him, scoring fifty. I played white and used the power of two encounters to maximize my rush. Evan was playing blue and was spreading out (I call it the blue plague when playing against it). The last time I looked online. Blue historically wins the most.

A headache, a side effect of losing weight and eating less, had me let Evan do the setup. We got nachos to share, and that helped. I also started to drink lots of water, and that helped more. Evan picked the advanced research board from the Lost Expedition add-on. We played with the new leaders as it is recommended that you play with them when using a new add-on, with Evan taking The Captain and me the Baroness (primarily for fun as she is a blast to play). I was now role-playing, working for a rich woman who wanted things to take home and put in her mansion. So I explored more than usual, and the cards, monsters, and treasures all fell into place for me. This leader, The Baroness, plays the basic rules but with some extra powers. The other leaders, including The Captain, require specific leader-centric actions to unlock them. Evan was struggling to use all these capabilities and unlock them. I just kept using the extra money this leader gave me and The Baroness‘s special card to let me use a tool I had just bought to explore and research. I defeated a stack of monsters and matched Evan in research. We did not score and just gave me the victory.

I had a bowl of soup for dinner, chicken curry with rice, and then paid the bill. Evan and I headed our separate ways. The traffic into Portland was heavy but moving, and I was only a few minutes late for Richard’s game. We were playing the board game Great Western Trails: New Zealand. This is a favorite, too, but with Richard, Kathline, and James playing, I knew I was not winning this engine-building game–they are the masters.

Great Western Trails: New Zealand is the newest version of these games and, according to many, including James and Richard, the best version. It is a Euro game, quite heavy, wrapped in a friendly sheep-herding theme. Even you meeple has a cowboy hat matching your color! While heavy in process and Euro mechanics, the map is a friendly annual cowboy sheep process. We all love this one.

I was utterly crushed with a score in the eighties in the end. My friends were all over 100, with Richard winning. I had not bought the high-value sheep, which is the difference. I did not see the ability to increase my hand size on my board, and this handicapped me. While I was last, again, I enjoyed the game. Next time!

After that, Air Volvo took Kathleen home. She is headed to the coast next weekend for a break from studying (she is doing her architect licensure exams soon). Corwin will need more driving experience and might have his license then–fingers crossed–so we might visit her.

Yes, Portland is keeping up that weird thing.

The roads were wet, and the tires seemed to hit harder tonight on the bridge joints, but I managed to return to the Volvo Cave with no new stories. On the way in, I did see one pickup change lanes across all the traffic with a few feet to spare and exit. There were accidents in a few places that caused the slowing.

Corwin was home when I arrived after midnight. We chatted briefly, but I needed to get to bed. So I said good night. I showered and then went to bed. I managed to read a few pages before I fell asleep while reading. My dreams continued the story from the book until I woke enough to put down the book, roll over, and sleep. I woke at 6ish this Sunday morning from pain in my right knee. I had to take some painkillers to get back to sleep.

Thanks for reading!