I woke after 8 and felt like I could have stayed in the blankets all morning. Instead, I rose and soon started the blog. I wrote until late morning. I planned to work on house items this weekend. I spent most of the months of 2024 traveling, and the house is in some disarray. Some of the messiness predates Susie’s illness, when my focus became post-COVID-19 working at the shoe company for endless hours, caregiving, and facing cancer myself. Now, not traveling in January, it seems the period to bring some order to the chaos.

I wrote until about 10:30, with a few excellent interruptions from Deborah. She will be here in the Pacific Northwest in about a month, another reason to bring order to chaos at the house. For lunch, I had the cold pizza I baked the day before.

I cleaned up, shaved, dressed, and started my day in a heavy sweater. I entered the garage and began emptying the shelves over my tool chest filled with not tools but a supply of electronics, including various versions of Raspberry Pie computers, Arduino microcontrollers, sets of components (resistors, capacitors, diodes, ICs, coils, high-voltage versions of the same, and so on). I started emptying boxes and clearing shelves on which I had just piled items for the past few years.

For years, I would buy things thinking I would do such a project, and then caregiving, health surprises, and work items would return to my focus, and I would forget the items or just put them aside for the next thing. I now know that this was a defensive mechanism and a way to handle the stress and spend night after night and weekend at home. The idea of travel, seeing Deborah, writing, and mathematics excite me. Model building, electronics, and lighting projects are less interesting now that other choices have arisen.

I spend a few hours in the cold garage, fill the trash bin by 1/4, and add many small boxes to the recycle bin. I have made no real cubic improvement of clear space, the actual goal, but I am approaching the work desk I need to remove (it was Susie’s college desk for years, making it now over thirty years old) to get access to where the wall space will be for the charger.

I am cold now and sneezing from dust. I decided to head to Macy’s to get some sheets and rewash Air VW the Gray; despite being parked on the street, the local birds have colored it. I need a break from the cold and dust. I board the ID.4 and find a long line of cars packed into the car wash, including some huge and spotless trucks (obviously, this is how they are kept perfect). Despite this, the cement-colored vehicle gets two laps, the maximum allowed, to try to restore the color to the original. Two spots of ick stay on the windshield (I manually remove them later). Wet and clean, Air VW the Gray heads to Macy’s. I park at the Transborne Mall with all the shop entrances outside (an interesting choice for rainy Oregon) and walk down the steps to Macy’s.

I was disappointed to see the ‘Store Closing’ signs that proclaimed it was just this store and that everything was on discount. I found the sheets on the second level, and the store still looked fresh (even with the signage) but now sad. To me, it seemed that the store was passing away before its time, and every inch still looks perfectly maintained. Disturbed by the dying vibe of something special, I quickly find three sets of ‘Full’ sheets and a pair of pillows. I checked out and got 25% off the regular price (in other words, the usual price at Macy’s and not a real ‘store closing’ discount). I get two bags for the sheets, and the cashier whips out an adhesive-based handle and attaches it to the pillows, giving them a handle; wow! For a moment, it seemed like Macy’s again with the smile from the cashier, waving her hands like a magician, but the retail magic faded when she said, ‘No returns.’ I see the lovely gals still at the perfume and makeup bars as I walk out, ‘I loved the store,’ I tell them as I leave. They thank me, and again, for a moment, it was Macy’s. I rush out before the magic fades.

I parked my purchases in the cargo hold, decided I needed a break, and headed to Buffalo Wildwings, remembering all the trips there with Susie, Corwin, and Mariah. I sat at the bar and ordered a regular Coors (remembering that I used to help sell it in the Baltimore-Washington-Richmond corridor). I have ten wings and poor-quality potato wedges, splitting ten traditional wings (with bones) with cajun and Asian Zing sauces. I ignore the fact that my wings are nearly cold when they arrive (the bartender forgot to get my order instead of the manager delivering the bar food to ensure the food is hot); I have had enough disappointments to pretend they are hot.

I watch football and eat the wings. The veggies are good but reduced in number. Hmmm.

Still, I feel happy even when I pay too much for the stupidly high salt, sugar, and high-caloric dinner. I walk back to my transportation. No fob. I walk back, looking for it. I find it on the bar floor! The VW fob is smooth and thus easily falls out of a pocket. I will have to think about attaching keys or something else to it. How strange.

I traveled to Richards. One player is a no-show; it happens. We changed to a better three-person setting and a cooperative newish game, Cthulhu Death May Die. I have not played it before, but it flows better than Mansions of Madness, Second Edition, a game with a like theme, and it seems to grant more agency to the players. But, my options are mostly to attack and fight, not matching the theme at all (Lovecraftian stories and games are about discovering a horror, running, and solving a problem), and it appears to be a reworking of a SciFi game.

I pick an older Asian-looking monk to play. We play the first time, and it is an unplayed scenario. The game board explodes with bad guys, and soon, we start struggling. We managed to hold on but could not find the last piece of the puzzle in time. We lose. We play again; the struggle is different (Richard and Lauren change characters), and we are all damaged. Richard’s character is overwhelmed, and we lose again. Lauren and Richard told me they had never lost twice in a row before. I enjoyed the play.

I had coffee from Richard for the second play. I take Air VW the Gray across Portland with almost no traffic. It is a moonlighted night, and the drive is pleasant. I wonder why so little traffic on a Saturday Night, as I am often bookended by fast-moving. The EV was now around 70% charged.

I watched some Classic Doctor Who to wind down for sleep. I have some painkillers and Benadryl to help me sleep. I get tired and make it to bed around midnight after a shower. I soon sleep and do not wake until my alarm at 7:30.

Thanks for reading.