Wednesday Facing another Four Years

I rose at 3ish to talk to folks on the East Coast and help them accept that we have four more years of the same (but likely more chaotic), which is hard to accept. I wrote the blog at 4ish and returned, even with coffee, to sleep, and got a few more hours of sleep.

Before writing the blog or going back to sleep, I made breakfast. I took out the mashed potatoes left in the frig. I re-mashed them with some milk (I keep a carton of milk in the frig. I use boxes of shelf-stable whole milk now as I use it primarily for cooking). I chopped fine some onion and remixed it. I formed them into little pancakes and fried them in hot oil on the stove. They were still a bit oily for my taste, but having potato pancakes with my poached eggs was still good.

Reusing potatoes and making more of them seemed the liberal thing to do. Add spice to an older item, fry it carefully and thoughtfully until crunchy, until it is something new and better, and serve with ketchup—sounds liberal to me. I suspect that soon, we liberals will have lots of chances to spice, fry, and make new things from old things as failed ideas and methods are tried once again.

My coffee was liberal too and reminded me that even a cup of coffee, this cup, was not some cheap rip-off of supposed market forces forcing farmers to take too little for their hard-fought-for crop but fairly exchanged coffee. Every cup brings the dreams of success to the farmer and the drinker, a blessing. Little things matter, even coffee.

I rose again mid-morning and found more coffee. I was at loose ends and had many things I could do, but I selected none and just sat in my house and tried not to imagine the chaos (and tear gas) of the dystopian-like coming 2025. I did find the focus to move my doctor’s appointment that overlapped my trip to Michigan and arrange some cheaper hotels in Lansing that do not charge for parking (my favorite, The Graduate, charges for parking).

I reheated the leftover Chinese-style Trader Joe’s chicken with jasmine rice I made the day before. I read and posted a bit on Facebook. While reading, I miss my friend Eric “Elric” Anderson, as I do not see posts (usually quite funny) or likes on FaceBook. I notice how often I write or post something, thinking he would like it or comment about it. I miss you “Elric.”  If the measure of a good man is in tears from his passing (not a feather in Egyptian myths), then “Elric” has passed the test. I hear his laughter, too.

It is a surprisingly sunny and cold (for us) day in Oregon. The sun takes away some of Tuesday’s darkness. My lawn service struggles with the massive leaves my trees produced this year (I pay an extra fee to remove them), and they still leave a pile after loading their truck to the max with leaves and refilling my yard waste recycling container. I wave, and they look unhappy; it happens every year, and I pay them for this, but I get it. It is like elections; some think it just can’t be that bad if we do this again, just like last time. Until it is. Maybe they will bring bags next time and go with something newer and liberal instead of the same old reactive actions. But perhaps I digress.

I head to Cedar Mills Crossing McMenamins to have a beer with fries (just because fried is appealing to me) and arrange a room for the Next Theology Pub on Thursday, the 14th of this month. I will miss it, but I might be available online. Violet is my bartender, who I barely recognize with her nose taped together; a swimming accident, she explains. All is soon arranged, and the beer, Terminator Stout, is to remember “Elric” and drank for Tyler, who does not drink now.

Air Volvo gets me home. Corwin stops over while I continue to avoid much of anything, spending much of the afternoon talking to folks on the phone. He drops off my dish, and I offer him ham, which he makes into a sandwich (I keep the sliced bread in the freezer now and toast it when I need a slice), and I slice some green pepper (left over from making Jambalaya), which add to the sandwich. He also uses Trader Joe’s cheddar and horseradish dip for a spread on the bread (an excellent idea I will have to try). Corwin and I discussed the new Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master Guide 2024 (DMG) that I purchased yesterday. D&D is moving to version 2024 now (instead of using 5.5, they went with the year). To our delight, some older rules and material have been revised and returned to this version, but as usual, we have a list of complaints, too. The base setting of the game also returns to Greyhawk, which is a surprise to me. Greyhawk and related items are original material from the original creator, Gary Gygax. I am happy to see its return, and the DMG cover, always a villain, is now Venger from the cartoon series. I have an unpainted metal figure of him I will have to paint now! Retro and new at the same time.

Next, I head out to First United Methodist Church in a dark drive after the time change and as we slowly approach the winter solstice. The traffic was unusually deadlocked even in Aloha before I hit the mess of Beaverton on a school night. I crawl to the church, seldom finding a chance of risking a speeding ticket. Some rail crossings are still down, and I don’t see a train. Hmmm.

I reached the church, and Ashley and Andrew (AA) were there. Soon, Dondrea and Z arrive (DZ). Everyone, liberal or at least anti-Trump, is still stunned, and there is some shared mourning, but soon, we find our focus again. Andrew, Z, and I assembled a three-person version of a favorite board game: Istanbul with Mocha and Baksheesh. This is an efficiency-styled game with multiple paths to achieve victory. The game simulates you running your cart over an early 1900s Istanbul market to gather resources to trade for money, options, and, eventually, rubies. The game ends when a player gets the last ruby on their cart but allows the others one more turn to steal the victory away. And that is what happened in the first game. I managed to get the last gem, but I had only one coin left. Z smiled. Andrew was smiling, too. They both bought gems, causing a three-way tie. Ties are resolved by cash. Z had seven, Andrew six, and me one. Surprise, last place for me!

Andrew helped reset and then went off to sing with the choir for practice now that the band practice was over. Z then plays a fast two-person game with me. Z is lucky and effective and beats me by a gem, this time in a quick and somewhat brutal game (the way we like it). We are all getting the game down, and I am slightly sad that I lost every game, but there is always a next time! It also shows that I have taught them well (f**k!). Or we might have to change to the board game Scythe or Lisboa to get my revenge! Again, while disappointed to lose, it is exciting to see Andrew and Z beat me.

I head home, and traffic is still crazy. Air Volvo dodges Beaveton-style driving, corresponding to no known legal or logical text, including going slow in the left (fast or passing) lane and switching lanes (with limited warning) to go fast in the right (slow) lane. I arrive safe and intact at the Volvo Cave. Early, I opened the gas fill. I pushed the tab back and forth and wiped away some wetness. The engine check light is gone. F**k.

I watched the next episode of Silo on Apple+ TV. It is improving in episode three, and the plot is getting darker. The head of IT, not surprisingly, has been identified as one of the potential bad guys. I managed one episode, but I am not ready for more darkness and fiendish plots (if I want, I can turn on the news) and stop.

I don’t usually read the DMG of a new version, 2024, in this case, as it is generally suitable only for tables and lists. The 4E was so poorly edited that I had to tape corrections into the original version, so my expectations were low. Previously, most of the book, besides the tables and lists, was suggestions and occasionally used rules and exceptions. In DMG 2024, I have noticed a significant style change that attempts to make the book more valuable. I am reading it and like some of the suggestions and rule updates (most style items for play).

I showered, and soon, I was dressed in my PJs and reading more DMG in bed. I start to nod off with rules and dice rolls in my mind. I turned on the Amazon Echo music to sleep and soon went to sleep through the night.

Thanks for reading.