Tuesday was a busy day, and as I write this blog on Wednesday morning, I realize that I need to start packing and cleaning the house. I like to come home to a clean and ready house, as I am often tired when I return. Doing laundry and going slowly is my usual routine on the first day back (this time, I will have a game that evening and only ten days before my next trip). It looks like I have only Friday clear to clean and finish packing.
I rose at 7:30 and did not write the blog at all as I was in the shower at 8:15 and out the door at 8:45 to board Air VW. The morning was spent updating Quicken (I had to pay all my bills and monitor that), transferring dividend payments (Ford and JP Morgan Chase preferred shares had been paid out) to my checking account, and attending to various other tedious but necessary tasks related to my modern finances.
The drive was a chance to enjoy a California-style morning, with the sun bright and hot. It was more enjoyable than I planned, as it took just under an hour to reach Richard’s place, with all the usual slowing as I crossed Beaverton and was inbound to Portland. I don’t like traffic jams on bridges, as the bridges bounce a bit, but you really feel it when you’re stalled and not moving.
I arrived only a few minutes late. James and Richard were setting up Tainted Grail, a dark cooperative role-playing game with a dark fantasy theme and a hint of King Arthur legends. An app, like in Mansion of Madness 2nd Edition, runs the game. It is fiddly and complex, and I didn’t enjoy it much the last time, but it’s worth trying. James bought a secondary market version with painted figures and is sharing it with Richard and me to enjoy. We played the intro version and tried to learn the game. I had trouble last time with the iconography and all the complex interactions for combat, and we realized that combat alone is challenging.
We reset and played the intro game again. It went better as we had the rules down better, we had watched a recommended video, and I watched with care. I found myself playing the role of a rules lawyer, to my surprise, as James and Richard, as usual, rushed through things, and I insisted we follow the process. Also, despite being cooperative, Richard was driving to get resources for himself and upgrading his character’s abilities. But that meant I could move the stories forward, and since I was playing a druid, it just seemed right.
James and Richard started moving together and fighting many monster encounters. I mainly traveled alone. I did have to run away once, but I kept resting and exploring more, and soon was healed and well resourced. The redo, and this time following the gameplay, and I thought it was OK. To me, it is still slow and fiddly when compared to a role-playing game with a Dungeon Master (DM), such as Dungeons & Dragons or Call of Cthulhu.
We stopped about 2 when we had completed another quest. We will pick this up and play the following story when I return from my travels in June. After we put most of the game away (it has a save process that allows it to be picked back up at the point where we stopped), I headed out. I parked Air VW the Gray near the Broadway Grill in SE Portland. There, I had two excellent local beers named for the Disneyland ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I had the East Coast Meatball Calzone, which at first seemed like chicken instead, but it turned out to be actually sliced meatballs. No red sauce is included in the calzone (meatballs, green peppers, onions, and cheese), but it is served with hot red sauce in a soup cup, and I dipped my bready calzone in it. Excellent, but a caloric disaster.
I returned to the EV and, with the blog posted and my headache better (food, beer, and water helped), I headed home. I got to enjoy the bridge for twenty minutes and watched a navy ship moved down the river by tugs under all the bridges. I managed to take a picture of the bridges all up, but traffic started to move, and a pic of the navy ship was not possible. The bridge bouncing a few times when large trucks moved convinced me to keep moving!
I arrived home with Beaverton delivering heavy traffic, too. It was a ninety-minute trip back! But with bridges, ships, and sun, it is still enjoyable. Best traffic jam yet!
Home was chores and more headaches. I rewatched the Doctor Who episode; it may be the last. I made a salad with some roast pork added for protein for dinner. I read the “Sleeping Sorceress” by Michael Moorcock, one of the better Elric stories, and I would recommend it.
I received additional stamp mounts from another vendor in the US mail. I was finally able to update my US Revenue collection with new stamps, which had been kept in a mostly complete album I purchased at an auction years ago, already containing some stamps (it was a lucky auction and the price was very low); I continue to add to it. I also replaced some mounts that were reversed to fit stamps when I and the previous owner did not have the correct size. I replaced some of the mounts where the stamps were getting loose. Better. Some stamps I bid on are often 1/10 of the catalog value. I also buy some sets for the less valuable stamps. I have many spare battleship revenue stamps and frequently put them in a frame to give away, as they are fantastic-looking and from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.
And with that, I went to bed after doing the dishes. The headache had faded out, and soon I got on the dream bus and visited many pleasant places, but all are forgotten now. I did wake at 4ish to prove hydration. I slept until 6, as it was overcast on Wednesday morning, and the Oregon Mist washed the pollen away, and the headache did not return to wake me.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 