I rose on Sunday morning around 7 and was writing the blog soon. I was not cold, as the heat was on. I woke around 6:30 instead of my usual 4ish, meaning I was still confused by the time difference between here and Chicago (I woke at 4ish Monday morning). I rolled over and slept until 7ish. Coffee was found and used to execute liberalness in my coffee. There is nothing like the friendly lets-tax-the-rich flavor and increase-child-tax-credit sweetness of liberal coffee. The bitter reminds us how far we have yet to go. A banana, primarily to increase my potassium levels (still low), and yogurt as it is simple and includes fruit to finish my feast of the start.
I am time-boxed, but Saturday was a continuation of resting. It was not that busy. I finished the blog, published it by 9, and soon cleaned up and dressed for church. I am presenting the second unit of the Safe Sanctuary and wanted to be early to ensure that the three slides I had to do were ready. Air Volvo crossed Beaverton without issue or entanglements with Beaverton’s Finest. I arrived with the new church, Emmus, tearing down and our folks setting up. We are renting our building to a non-denominational church who are thrilled to get to use a church building on Sundays.
I wore a green sweater vest over a greyish dress shirt with a pride tie, my usual cotton blue pants, and black leather shoes. I sport a pronoun pin now: He/Him. A suit seemed too much for today, and I included my brown soft wool hat (very Indiana Jones). I had three pages of notes to read in 16 Arial font, which I found easiest to read while speaking. I had printed copies of the questions from the UM Oregon/Idaho Conference website (12-13 copies into my notes) and pictures of the slides, just in case I had to read them.
I was more nervous than usual. Later, I remembered that I had not spoken in a microphone for any presentation in more than five years! Susie’s, my, and the pandemic ended my speaking enhancements. Also, this is not my usual material (preaching or computer stuff), which made it more nerve-racking.
The choir was significantly reduced by illness, and attendance was light this Sunday. September still hosts many events in the Greater Portland Area, such as Octoberfest. The hymns were effortless, and the choir sang from the hymnal, but it was well done. Michael (not me) gave the sermon today on Leviticus 25. Those parts of the Law cover God’s instructions for expanding the Sabbath to the Jubilee years. Michael argued that this idea to reset land ownership and debts and recall families together every 49th year was God celebrating creation with humankind, and the temple was its manifestation. God wanted us to understand that life was not about producing food, goods, and capital but about living (and celebrating) together with God–the world becomes the temple. God even promised that the production of the years before Jubilee years would be enough to carry everyone to the following years of production. The reset and the freedom meant that even the poor would be well cared for during these celebratory years. And with the life expectancy of the times, only one, if that many, of the 49th Jubilee year would be witnessed. It would be new every time. Michael’s point was that God is about celebrating and enjoying the creation, not production.
My presentation followed, and it was short. Michael also read the same Bible verse I selected in his sermon, but I still read it because it matched the subject, Luke 4. I was nervous but smiled and got a few laughs as I worked through the material. I shared that I thought it was my 28th anniversary in Oregon and attending First United Methodist in Beaverton. The service was soon over, and I was drinking more coffee and slowly calmed down. Yes, out of practice doing this.
I left before the usual crowd broke up, and Air Volvo soon had me home without encountering real traffic on a Sunday morning. I removed the tie and leather shoes but kept the sweater, which is a little large for me (somehow, I seem to be getting smaller, but I still weigh 234 every time!). I take the taco meat from two nights ago and make a taco salad (forgetting to add chopped carrots and celery) for lunch. I have no taco chips, but I use old croutons. It is a good lunch, and I catch up on some YouTube channels. ShipHappens finally finished the bow deck replacement. The Discriminating Gamer reviews his top 10 WW2 board games, with Warroom getting the top spot (my copy is gaining dust as it is hard to find six people to play a 6-10 hours simulation of WW2).
I rest most of the day and feel guilty because I don’t walk or do much. I am tired and feeling lazy after a week of 12,000+ step days and so many new experiences and people. It’s time for a book,
We return to our places before. We are in a premade material about the evil Venca once again trying to take control of the multi-verse and twist it to his dark, undead will. We are here to prevent that. Returning to the game, we fight a giant undead at the start of the play, and Matt does not disappoint with his vast supply of figures, color maps, and 3-D terrain. D&D has its own version of horror known as the dread realms, and we are stuck in what is, effect, a black-and-white Dracula movie. We endure various set pieces and traps with entertaining solutions (entertaining our vampire host). I am holding back the same spell I used last time. Our host, played by Matt, getting to rework a famous 007 villain line, when asked if we could do a service for you instead of fighting, says, in an accent and with a fancy shirt on, “I expect you to die, as my service.” The vampire finally gets into a battle with us and starts, as a single target, to be injured and uses up his superpowers, and then I use the spell, which is based on current hit points that make him, even in bat form, easy to take. We defeat our host (we did not destroy him as that requires a quest) and escape the dread realms.
We find the next part of our quest. Our quest is to recover seven related artifacts hidden and lost throughout time and space (rather Doctor Who) and then use them to derail Venca’s terrible plot (please be warned that we don’t always succeed, having failed twice to stop an evil plot). We find a dying giant tree and start negotiating with the locals. We will begin there on two Sundays.
Scott and I chatted outside about politics and some gaming stuff after the game. Air Volvo got me to the Volvo Cave without issue or loss of paint. I soon read, fell asleep mid-word after showering, and dressed for bed into my PJs. I woke at 4ish with the house still at 71F and me in covers sweating. Hmmm. I adjusted the temperatures and hope to get back to cold for the orchids, but I, like the orchids, prefer a cold night.
And then I slept. Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 