Sunday Back in Beaverton

I woke with the sun and finally rose after 7. The coffee was ready. I had not been shopping, so I just had coffee this morning. I wrote the blog about my travels to get home. The memory was still fresh, and 1,300+ words were for Saturday’s story. The church service was at 11, and I was done. I dressed in a dress shirt, a Pride tie, a cold, sparkly vest, a pocket watch, and a top hat to celebrate Pride Day in Beaverton. I got out a Pride Flag, brought a Pride Celebration flag if we needed it, and boarded Air VW the Gray. It felt so much better to drive an EV than a gasoline car (sorry for you gearheads, it is sooooo smoooooth), and soon I was parking five blocks away. The police allowed the church folks to have seven parking spaces inside the park area and parking that was closed off for the party. I did not want to take one as I could walk.

I carried the flags and fit right in with the crowd. One of my suspender clips was gone, and a kind person pointed that out. I fixed it. I arrived at the church without any more wardrobe failures. I spoke to the police and identified myself as the usher for the service, and thanked the police for their help. I wanted them to know me in case something went wrong; the USA is no longer as safe as it once was at events like this. I was watchful through the service and had more coffee. The hours of travel were taking a toll on me.

Dondrea, worship leader, Pastor Ken, and our usual AV crew were in place (Michael R. and Seth, but missing Shawn). Dondrea was tired too, having been traveling for work for a week. The service was lightly attended as access to the church was limited. I wish we had better connected with the Pride crowd, but I opened the doors and talked to the vendors nearby, and that seemed to help a bit. We were still not connected to the activities, but next year we can see if we can improve this.

Pastor Ken talked about the disciples of Jesus and how they did not get what they wanted, sometimes being a jarring discovery like hitting a speedbump with too much acceleration, but instead got what was actually needed. Thomas, the Doubter, is said to have ended his life in India, where he founded the still-existing Christian movement. John, instead of being a great leader, spends his life with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and is not martyred like the rest. Paul was a prosecutor of the new Christian movement until he was forced down a different path. We often try to set the direction of our lives, but God (or the universe) takes us down a different path, like Thomas and John. We have to be ready to serve, but not on our terms.

With that done, and no issues as an usher, I left and then took twenty minutes to find the EV. I took it home, changed clothing, and ate my three-piece Popeye’s chicken with two sides. Despite my Amazon account being blocked, my cable works. I watched Poker Face’s second season and thought it quite good.

I then spent an hour upgrading my Dungeons and Dragons 2024 Sorcerer to 3rd level. This took more time than I expected. These magical characters have many moving parts, and they all start to work on the 3rd level. With ten pages of notes, I finished updating my character. I rested after that.

I picked up veggies and some bread on the way back to church. This included some watermelon radishes. I sliced them and brought them to D&D. It matched my sorcerer, who is aberrant. These looked weird when sliced long.

I arrived at Matt’s place. He and his lovely wife, Nicky, were just back from a trip to Iceland and Europe. I saw the photos on Facebook. I brought Matt coffee from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Jack, Karyn’s son, was playing in place of Scott, and he brought a paladin to play. We have a holy fighter tank. We changed tactics with the first bunch of zombies being surprisingly difficult to put down (“brains!”). With some resting, we continued on and used a combination of our rogue/assassin sneaking ahead of the loud and bright paladin in the undead-infested tomb. Yes, we used him as bait (fishing for undead), but it let the rogue/assassin act.

I would like to tell more of our adventures, but this is published material, and others are also playing Matt’s version. We managed to overcome, with a paladin, the undead and received a boon. As a trained writer (forger), I did provide documents that supported our actions and inspired our paladin to even greater glory. It was a fun night, and Jack was excited.

With the game over, I headed home and soon was resting. It will be a hot morning, and I have to use a laundry mat and call for the repairs of The Machine. I was hoping, like last time, they would call.

I slept all night again. Mostly, my dreams are forgotten, but I know we fought more undead in the tomb with Jack’s bright paladin in my dreams. Thanks for reading!