Wednesday Between Things

Wednesday was not an exciting day full of new adventures, and there are no photos (I found one).

I woke up with leg pains (which also troubled me on Thursday morning), which is a new development. I did not have this in Orange County or before I left on what turned out to be a five-state odyssey over the last four weeks, with three hotels, one of which was unplanned and free. I woke at sunrise, 5ish, had a drink of water, took some painkillers, and the pain faded. I got a few more hours of sleep.

Rising at 7ish, I found the coffee already made (I had set it up the night before) and soon started on my usual morning routine. Back to WordPress, Grammarly, and composing the events and story of the previous day. Trying to remember the events and sequences. It is always a surprise when the day vanishes from my mind, and I then have to think for more than a minute to find the thread that restores my memory. I often remember something important towards the end of writing and add that back in. The thread appears as I assemble another memory into a story. I believe that folks with memory issues cannot lay down a thread and later trace it back. I am always thrilled that the memory is there. It is just jumbled, and then it pops into my mind. Someday it might not work.

I try to look forward and find the fun in even mundane tasks. I revel in those stupid things that happen; they are sticky. I know that to make that thread of memory connect, it must have emotion. We remember when we react. For example, I know I made the bed last week, but I cannot tell you much about it, as it has no emotional significance. However, I did add a blanket yesterday, and I recall making the bed with the extra blanket — I prefer not to be cold. Also, nearly cutting my hand by holding the knife wrong while chopping a green pepper yesterday, now that I can remember. I make a point of enjoying my day and try to recall it (How was the traffic? Did any crazy drivers do something? What can I remember from today’s drive?) even as it unfolds.

Back to the memory-story, a brief one of Wednesday (actually not). The blog, although not short, was completed by 9:00 and was ready to publish. I started to re-read it as I saw some Grammarly edits. F**k, I had not noticed that Grammarly not only fixed my commas and plurals, but it had also changed everything into present tense. I rewrote the text in the past tense and corrected various simplifications introduced by the AI tool that did not accurately fit the context or purpose. Grammarly often goes sentence by sentence and makes a disjointed paragraph. Ugh! Another thirty minutes of rework and soon I had it published.

I dressed and all that and boarded Air VW the Gray and headed to Great Clips to get a haircut. There was no significant wait, and the person who cut my hair said they had been busy. By the time I had my usual biz off the ears cut, there was a line.

I met Scott W at the Peppermill Pub, where we moved the meeting to Wednesday (my repair for The Machine was rescheduled to the last available slot on Thursday) and to Aloha, as Scott W was giving tours at Jenson Estate that day. I was hungry and ordered the fish and chips (which were only average), and Scott had a sandwich. We discussed our investments and how Trump had made the markets, for us, chaotic and difficult to follow. We both had moved to a more defensive approach in our investments. Our returns were excellent.

We talked about our surprise, both of us lean liberal, that the policies of Trump and their deficit spending could be a positive. There is a school of thought that if you dump cash into the wealthy, they will spend it and build something that generates even more money (a version of Reagan’s trickle-down theory, but with a fire hose this time). This aligns with Amazon, Google, PayPal, and, to a lesser extent (due to physical manufacturing), Tesla. These were built with massive debt and negative returns for years. Could the expansion of the economy and the tariffs cover this and swing the markets into overdrive? The markets are up. Hmmm. Thus, is the Trump and MAGA plan a version of Amazon but used by a sovereign? I will think about this and watch.

For my readers, I am not discounting the terrible cost of cutting off food to children, trashing education, the CDC being destroyed, and all the other horrible things Trump and his bill are and will do. For Scott W and me, we are trying to understand why our investments are performing well and why the markets are rising so rapidly.

After lunch, I headed to the church in Beaverton. The police have signs out that they are enforcing sidewalk crossing, and I managed to pass that without Beaverton’s Finest offering me a chance to fund the traffic court. I talk to Pastor Ken. We discuss the refresh of the church’s entranceway and fireside room, as well as the church’s civil rights trip to the Southern USA in November. I am directing (self-appointed) a pre- and post-trip to enjoy New Orleans, Georgia’s Civil War sites, and the Carter Library. All is starting to come together.

I head home and watch more Murderbot on Apple+, enjoying this retelling of a favorite book series. I skipped dinner because I am still full. I head back to the church by Best Buy. There I find a 70W plug for my Apple laptop with a replaceable plug to allow it to use the international plugs (which I found at the house on Thursday). I also got a cover for my iPad, but it does not fit, and I will have to return it and try again. I was thinking of using the iPad to watch movies on the plane, but it would mean more things to manage. I will likely just stick to the iPhone and laptop.

At the church, Z and J were playing. We learned the board game Welcome to Your Perfect Home. A gift from James to play at the church. Unplayed. J won the first game as Z and I were still getting the rules clear in our heads. Z won the next game. We managed to play two games and a teach in about an hour. Fun and fast game.

This is a paper-and-pencil game where each player gets the same resource choices and writes them on their version of the house development. The houses are built, but they must be numbered in order, and each build offers extras. The mix of house placement, extra use, and alignment to city plans that give points for that alignment are your choices. But it is the same for everyone, creating a variation of push-your-luck and resource placement that is quite fun and all up to you, as the other players are all playing their own game. Scoring is done when all the plans are filled, houses are packed on one player’s sheet, or a player fails to fill a house four times. It is all up to you to create the perfect housing development!

This is the Kickstarter version with marker boards, but with 100 sheets, it is unlikely we will run out. Z and J enjoyed it. I headed home after saying goodbyes to Z and Dondrea, whom I will see again after I get back.

At the house, I made a ham, green peppers (no bleeding), onions (no crying), and potato hash with scrambled eggs and cheese on the side for a late dinner. I finished Murderbot (that is, I am caught up and am waiting for the next episode). I then watched The Sandman and watched a bonus episode based on the previous season. The new season starts on Thursday and will be the last one. I am sorry the show only gets one more season, as I liked it, the acting, and the fantasy setting. I watched the first episode of season 1.

Bed follows, and the pain returns, and pain killers work until 4AM, and sleep is difficult, as I said. Thanks for reading!