Tuesday Games and Packing

I rose at 6:30 to start the blog and to travel to Portland to play the Tuesday morning game with James and Richard. I started the blog and reheated the coffee (I had accidentally made it when I set up the coffee for the morning; wrong button pushed). I managed to complete about one-third of the blog and speak with Deborah before I had to shower, dress, and board Air VW the Gray by 8:45 to make the 9:30 game through Portland’s rush hour traffic.

Traffic was slow even for Portland, and I arrived just at 9:30 for what should have been a less than thirty-minute trip. I did see some Teslas changing lanes in unexpected patterns, but with little risk at the slow speeds we were moving. I reached 25 mph a few times.

Richard and James had just started setting up the board game, Tainted Grail 2.0 (there are significant rule improvements in this version, I learned). This is a cooperative role-playing style board game with a dark theme that combines elements of SciFi, Arthurian Legend, and a B-level Swords and Sorcery movie. I have started to like it, but I find board games slow compared to pencil-and-paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons or Call of Cthulhu. It uses an app to control the game and to run the story.

We are playing Chapter 2 of the story, and we played until we found a breakpoint at about 1:30. Richard has built up his character for combat. Mine is more about exploring the story. James’ character is more Diplomatic. I managed to explore more of the storyline, but had to exit two fights and only assisted with one. Still, the game was interesting, and the story is compelling.

James gave me a board game to play at the church on Wednesday. He says he has too many games and was happy to send one to found a new church game collection. I will try to play it when I am back from North Carolina.

With the game saved. This means writing stuff down, putting them in bags, and stacking them in order so we can pick up again next week at the same place. It is not a digital process.

I took Air VW the Gray back to the house in light traffic. Corwin was going to have lunch with me, already delayed until 2ish. I waited and started packing and organizing the house. I had already sent out a mail hold and sent a card to Mom Wild. Corwin was delayed.

At 4, Corwin arrives. We go to BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner or lunch, and I have chicken parmesan with a beer. I’m not sure what happened, but I didn’t feel well after dinner. I think I just crashed too hard and should have eaten a snack. I rest and by 7 I am back to packing and say goodnight to Deborah. We try to start or end our days together when we are apart.

Corwin fixes his truck. The idle was adjusted, and suddenly it started working well. He will take it to DEQ and hope it passes on Wednesday! Yay! It looks like the new muffler and other fixes, combined with setting the idle more effectively, have worked.

I took Corwin to Salt and Straw in Beaverton for ice cream to celebrate. I had gelato and Corwin, two scoops. After that, I returned home, loaded my packed bag in the cargo hold of the EV, finished collecting stuff for the strip, and then went to bed. I was rising at 2:15 and managed to sleep for a few minutes. It is hard to sleep on a travel night. I set the alarm on my phone and on Alexa and asked Alexa to turn on the lights at 2:15.

I managed to sleep finally about 1AM, and then was blasted out of my bed at 2:15!

Thanks for reading!