I rose before 8 and found the coffee. The house elves are slipping as the dishes remain in the sink for over a day. I ignore the dishes and the increasing laundry demands and spend most of the day screwing off. But before I made a point of getting nothing done, I wrote and published the blog. This took most of the morning, and I was not dressed until the afternoon. I was not focused, but I enjoyed writing about a busy Sunday.
I feel sad today, and I do have some real issues with the depression that overtook me a few times, but I managed to refocus on gaming stuff. I was surprised by this, and it was overwhelming until I broke through it. I get into this spiral and do not want this new life without Susie. I think I would never pick this life and my retirement. I do not want to go on. This only happens when I am alone and not exercising. The solution is to move, find people, and do something interesting. Thus, the drive into Portland can be poisoned with depression, but once I get out of Air Volvo and do something, I am better. It seldom happens at the house as I have things to do and I can walk.
Dear readers, I include this not as a request for help (no thank you) but as a recording part of my experiences in grief, illness, and life. It is part of the truth.
Returning to the narrative, I continue to ignore the Engine Check light on Air Volvo and head to Portland early; I have a game at Richard’s at 7 and a chance to retrieve my wool hat I left there. I am off to Guardian Games in Portland (I drove by the local one in Aloha). It was 3ish, and the traffic was building, even for a Monday. I managed to cross Beaverton before the post-school lock-up had not settled in.
Highways 217 and 26, while busy, are not locked into a crawl, and I arrive in Portland SE to wait more than ten minutes for a train. I read the names on the cargo and saw Swire and their logo. I once owned their stock and its rival in Hong Kong; it inspired the Nobel House, a favorite novel of mine during the Cold War. I did make some money on the stock, but I sold it as there were other uses needed for the money. But seeing ‘Swire’ going by had me daydreaming of the lost fictional Hong Kong of the 1970s.
Swire (SWRAY) is available as an ADR via OTC in the USA with a 3.4% dividend. I am tempted to get some, but often, ADRs have surprises that make them a poor and risky investment. Also, this stock would be connected to exchange rates, is nominally owned by the Chinese government, and comes with insanely high event risk. Step lightly into this investment with eyes wide open!
I found nothing to buy at Guardian, with its vast walls of board games, Warhammer sets, and role-playing games. However, I was tempted by one award-winning one-book role-playing game. I looked at a castle-like structure for Warhammer and the Sanctum from Doctor Strange movies, both priced too high to add to things for me to do (I have too many now). Safe from guilt, I headed to get a beer and an early dinner across SE Portland in Air Volvo. It is Monday and not the weekend, which are my usual days to haunt gaming and food locations. Lucky Labrador is not open yet. I drove up Hawthorn and spotted Lardo, which I had not tried before. I found a legal parking spot large enough for an Air Volvo, crossed the street, and, with my laptop, entered this new place.
It is diner-like, and the menu, like many hipster-supporting places, is written on a board and requires decoding. I am overwhelmed with the choices broken down into each sandwich’s content, with some sold out (?!). I ask the guy at the cash register (if a white screen and a screen for him could be described as a ‘cash register’) what he likes. He points at a quarter-sized 3-D pig model on the counter, painted with blackboard paint and covered with writing. The alternative menu describes another option, the Cookwich, which he recommends, and I selected it with a pilsner, German-style, which involved reading yet another board, decoding, and selecting.
The metal music is screaming, and I don’t care; I only hear it as background noise, a gift from my revised hearing. I can more easily ignore noise now. I enjoy a fantastic I-don’t-care-if-it-is-hipster-food pork and veggie sandwich with spicy slaw and a good use for kale chopped into tiny bits (kale is a decoration, not food to me). I read more code while drinking my beer and making my Cookwich disappear as it was too good not to consume immediately. Coding: I try to merge data between the Time Series and the master data, and that goes poorly, so I will have to rethink that.
The music and the coding failure put me off, and I decided the music was enough. I do notice I breathe better outside without all the loud metal music. This area had a fire some years ago, and there is a broken cement pad where the edgy stores once helped keep Portland weird. I read that the land is still unsold and is languishing in a higher interest rate world (I will not comment on what I think about raising interest rates to ‘help’ people–at best, a very blunt tool). But the Louge Lizard Vintage furniture place has returned only a few blocks away. Dropping off the laptop in Air Volvo’s cargo hold, I walk the few blocks and tour the 1970s revised lamps and aging furniture.
I miss Dad and Wild’s Furniture and Appliances, Inc., “We Beat City Prices.” I make three loops. The shades are not from the 1970s but fit the Atomic Age (50s to early 60s). The furniture is newer than the look, retro stuff (because the real things from the 70s were a lot uglier than this), but I see some ‘Spanish’ wall covering and 1970s lamps (with too decorative shades). I love it here. I might have to buy one of these lamps.
I start a conversation with the gray-haired owner, who is about my age, and we talk about the dreaded owl lamp. He says, “Oooh, those are hard to find.” His body language suggests I might not be able to afford one if he can get one. I feel like I asked him for cocaine, and he is testing to see if I really want it and am not a cop. I thank him, and we are both happy; he knows I will be back for a lamp, some in my price range, not an owl one.
I drive a mile, spot the McMenamins Barley Mill Pub, and realize I have never been there. I park without difficulty and soon am at the bar with a refreshing Ruby beer and music in the background that is vintage but familiar. I bring my passport for McMenamins and get a stamp. I have forgotten about my passport and will start revisiting McMenamins. You get rewards for getting groups of stamps and are invited to special events if you complete the passport. A new thing to do! I still have Susie’s and Corwin’s passports. I will retire Susie’s.
Refreshed and taking some photos, I head to Richard’s place. I meet Chris there as Richard pulls in. He was working today (he is only partially retired, as a few hours a week pay his bills). We set up the board game Unconcious Mind, a newly delivered Kickstarter game. Richard has all the upgrades (Chris also has a copy—I will enjoy playing Richard’s), and it is a lovely game, but I think a few parts are too small, and the text is tiny. But the iconography is easy to understand, and soon, I will be playing well enough for a first-time player. This is a unique resource and engine-building game with the theme of working with Freud to heal patients. For a new game, the game showed an unusual amount of polish and well-thought-out rules and play. I liked it and would consider owning a copy, but for the moment, I will play Richard’s copy.
I lost big, eighty points below Chris and Richard, but I enjoyed the game. Richard lost to Chris by one point! The play was interesting, and I did feel like I was chasing them for some of the game. I still had to find the rhythm of the play, and the game requires you to build up your own board, treat patients, and publish. I did not publish, and that cost me. I did not build my board with cool supers powers like Chris and Richard. They are on their third or so play, and we are all still learning. Again, I liked Unconcious Mind, and while the upgrades are excellent, the base game will sell for about $70 and will be available around February with an add-on (we did not play it) also available. I found the resale of the whole Kickstarter version for over $300 (with shipping), and I will unlikely follow that path (also, the price comes down in a few months as FOMO wears off).
With the joy of learning a new, excellent game in my mind and mistakes and options for next time running through my mind, Air Volvo reached the Volvo Cave without incident and with little memory of the trip. It was nearing midnight, and I was soon showered, in PJs, and trying to sleep. But the coffee Richard made sleep elusive for thirty minutes, but then I just faded into sleep without realizing it and did not wake until after 6 on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 