Day 72: Saturday–An Alternative Path

I rose after 7AM with no reason to hurry–the blog was done late last night. My night seemed dreamless as I did not regret waking. It was likely I dreamed but could not remember them, and so I welcomed Saturday morning. The forecast was wrong, and we had a lovely sunny day, but with a clear sky, it was cold, and I needed a coat to be comfortable. I was lazy and watched some videos and made liberal coffee. We were out of bananas, so I made two poached eggs on toast for a quick breakfast. Soon, the morning was leaving, and I had to be in Vancouver at 10AM. I cleaned up and dressed.

I boarded Air Volvo and headed north to Washington state. I had to cross Portland to get there, and the traffic was light and pleasant; I love flying in Air Volvo. I reached Vancouver without issue and soon was wandering around in circles. There are one-way streets, and the plan is hard to guess; I am early and remember parking was crazy. I head to a large parking lot, and you scan a code and pay a donation to the Farmer’s Market, which I was happy to do. The market was setting up, so I planned to return and shop.

I walked to the streets and finally spotted the tiny sign after walking around it a few times. I recognized the items on the walls and the games I had, and the folks were happy when I identified myself. They had my stuff ready. I told one, Jeff, how cool it must be to work in a gaming company. He did not react, as I suspect he gets that often. They took a picture of me with my stuff, and I left. I walked to the park and took a selfie with the loot.

I put the game parts in the cargo hold and walked to the now-running market. I walked the whole length and looked at all the goodies, farm fresh old by the farmers, and homemade items. I then bought veggies, frozen sausage, and multi-colored eggs instead of the white bleached-like eggs. I carried two loads to the cargo hold.

I then re-crossed Portland and returned to Beaverton. I picked up my suits from the dry cleaners–removing the absinthe spills from New Orleans. The family that runs the dry cleaners was outside enjoying the day. They were full of smiles, got my suits, and wished me a good day and to enjoy the sun. A little sun is like a happy drug for Oregonians, especially imports like me. I think we are drunk on vitamin D.

I next returned to the Volvo Cave and unloaded. My colon decided to play games, too. I did the cork and champagne (it sounds so much better than the experience) thing. Now emptied (ugh!), I headed out to get some gas and maybe get Air Volvo washed. The crows have returned to the Pollock-style painting on Air Volvo.

I was able to get gas, but the line of cars for the car wash was backed up into the street. Nope. I returned, picked up the rest of the board game Unsettled (the game I picked up the extensions for in Vancouver), and then wrapped Z’s birthday presents–she is 13, a teenager now. I had many amuse-bouche candy items and crafting items. I was going to assemble something for a game she has, but I thought it best to let Z do it. I printed a large letter Z. I used spray-on glue, one of my tricks, to mount the letter.

Next, I headed out to The 649. Stephen was the bartender today. Evan was there, and we started a tab; I got a beer and played two games of Unsettled with Evan. The time flew by as the game is immersive. In the last turn of the first game, I managed to keep my character conscious and dragged Evan’s character, unconscious, onto our spaceship, which took off in our repaired and powered engines. I find the game very intense and fun.

Unsettled, designed here in the Pacific Northwest, is a cooperative SciFi board game with the simple goal of completing the tasks needed to escape the risk without all of the characters going unconscious–dying. Or, as the designers say, “Space is dangerous; try not to die.” The game is an innovation as it is a framework in which a planet is inserted. There are many planets (I have them all but have not counted them lately), and the planets contain the detailed story and script of the game to plug into this framework. Three or more scripts are inside each planet to allow you to play the setting multiple times with a fresh story. Evan and I played two planets and survived both. We played the more challenging B story on the accessible starter planet and the easier A story on a more difficult planet. Evan thought the A story was too easy (I picked up a revision to that story that did make it easier), but I think we had too much good luck, and next time, it might be more challenging. We enjoyed the two games, about ninety minutes each, with the time hardly noticeable.

Evan got tacos, and I got the charcuterie board and shared it. We explained the game to quite a few onlookers. It is colorful. We said good night, and Evan is going to Canada next weekend, so no game next week. Air Volvo took me to Dondrea’s house.

I brought my gift and had cake after helping to sing Happy Birthday to Z. Z liked the mix of items I gave her–an unusually creative gift. Dondrea’s cake and cookies were insanely nice. After an hour or so, I headed home; I planned to travel to the coast in the morning to see the whales and later to have lunch with a friend, but I could not stay up late.

Air Volvo crossed Beaverton, and soon I was home. I started to finish my writing before it got late.

Thanks for reading!