Saturday

Saturday, I rose at 6:30 and watched the gray become lighter. That is the sunrise in rainy Oregon. The day is less dark. I wrote the blog and made coffee. I had to grind the locally roasted coffee beans and put them in my French press. I had an English muffin with jam (yes, I know how old the jam is; it expired in 2024!). I added a banana while I wrote the blog.

I stripped the bed and ran it in The Machine. I emptied the dishes and hand-washed any new dishes generated from today’s. I also washed any clothing and towels left. I packed and filled my suitcase, remembering to include T-shirts and a few other items I remembered at the last minute.

I cleaned the sinks and the kitchen. I want the house to be clean when I get back. I have already cleaned for the past few days.

Lunch was at BJ’s Brewhouse. Taylor was the bartender today, and she brought me a red ale and soba noodles with chicken, spices, veggies, and almonds. Excellent. I remember Taylor as she was doing all the work last time, and the other bartenders just talked and made a few drinks. She was working non-stop cleaning and getting the bar ready for the evening. Nice to see a clean bar!

The beer went to my head, and I ordered a coffee. It was that or a taxi! Soon, I was fine and headed back home in Air VW, the Gray.

I finished packing and put all my stuff in the car. The night before, I had unloaded most of the board games in the cargo area of the EV. Mail was already held for Monday, and nothing important came today. I have two orders coming that Corwin will put in the house. I have replacement Guy Buffet plates (I use them more often now than I microwave leftovers) on their way from eBay. Interesting used plates can still be found here and on eBay. I thought it would be nice to have a complete set again (I have two chipped plates left). More jars of couscous sauce, North Africa-style, are also coming.

I read more of my collection of Elric stories, including the murder of his love and the sack of the Dreaming City. I am now reading the last story in the book. These stories drive me to write my own story in my created Fantasy setting. I am enjoying just writing short descriptions so far.

After the cleaning, the laundry was put away, and the suitcase and snacks were loaded. I put ice cubes in bags to put in a cooler. Ready. I left early and stopped by Burger King for a Jr with cheese, fries, and a diet drink. Their fries are never good. I keep hoping they will get better.

Ready to start!

I am off to Richard’s in Portland. I eat that while I drive through slow traffic in Beaverton, but Portland moves, and I am soon thirty minutes early. Lauren is feeling off, but she joins us. Kathleen’s bus trip is a few minutes late, but soon Richard is explaining Xia: Legends of a Drift System, an efficiency and worker placement game with elements of 4x and a sci-fi theme.

The rules are a mess—sort of a blending of 4x, train games, and an efficiency game like Concordia. It is hard to know what to do. Richard won the game by ten points. I am not sure what I did wrong or what Richard did right. Kathleen and Lauren were a few points behind me.

It was an interesting game, and replaying it would provide many ways to win or at least get a different outcome. It looks like Richard just ran cargos with extra engines, realizing that you get a victory point when you sell all your cargo. So he bounced all over.

While not a favorite, Xia was an interesting challenge wth options to be the bad guy we did not try out. I would like to play it again.

Next, I got Kathleen home. The wet roads were nasty, and some closed lanes slowed my return. I was finally home before 11 and quickly went to bed. In the morning, I was driving to the Mount Shasta area in California.

Thanks for reading.