Saturday Packing, Planning, Gaming

I rose after seven to coffee that I had assembled before. This time, the clock was right on the coffee maker. I pushed the button, and ‘poof’, coffee in the morning. Later, I learned that the Charge Conference is at 4 on Sunday, which means I cannot make it. I am traveling on Sunday, and with church, meetings, and Dungeons & Dragons at Matt’s place, I was not going to be able to pack or prepare on Sunday for the late flight.

The morning is spent writing the blog, remembering Friday. I also strip the bed and start laundry in The Machine. I run the dishwasher and will run a short load on Sunday. I have been back for only five days before traveling on Sunday. The house is not messy (well, it still looks like a gaming and a bookstore exploded, but it is clean-ish). I find the croissant from La Provence and have one with my coffee.

I finish the blog before ten and post it. I do the usual tasks in Quicken to get a near-real-time view of my finances. I book the 80K loss (unrealized) in my IRA, more than reversing my gains for the last six months. I will not comment on the chaos that is the current administration and the insane, made-up promises of AI that is causing massive, mostly inexplicable growth (and then reverses).

I will need to build an AI robot that just rolls its eyes all the time. I just can’t keep up with the stupidity. An AI BS detector sounds like a good idea. Except, of late, I am not sure I could find a counterexample in the news; that is, there is no BS-free news. How can one train an AI without good data? I may have to synthesize data from the 1970s CBS News with Walter Cronkite. Hmmm.

Returning to the story of Saturday. I reheat the tacos I had for dinner a few nights before. Not great but still OK. I talk to Deborah, and we text back and forth. We haven’t seen each other since October. I will return to the Greater Detroit Area on Christmas. We miss each other.

I write more adventure, assemble that document into 26 pages, and drop some good ideas from the 2014 4E version to create a 5E one-sitting adventure. It will finally be finished late Saturday night with 26 pages and just under 13,000 words. I like to write everything out and all the ‘fluff’ text; when I DM games, I want to focus on the players rather than on the adventure. Nothing off-the-cuff for me; the players can find plenty of that without me. I also let players defeat my challenges and only blink when something is easily overcome. I applaud, but usually, there is something in there that will be hard for them. I mix my monsters, environmental hazards, and traps so I don’t repeat. Usually, a few will startle the players.

I finish the laundry and put it away later. I make the bed. I find figures and ship models for playing in New Hampshire, including WW1 and WW2 ship models (tiny) and rules to recreate some battles. Maybe we can do Dogger’s Bank (WW1) and then switch the ships to what the Imperial Germans should have retained. We will see.

I manage to get more clothing in and, as everything fits, remember to bring T-shirts to go under the dress shirts. Now that looks full!

I make a salami and Swiss sandwich and finish the leftover curry chicken from last night. I cut the sandwich into quarters and little squares. Susie’s style. I like mini sandwiches too. I eat that as I continue to get the adventure together and watch some YouTube videos for a break: ShipHappens, Battleship New Jersey, Battleship Texas, and Drachinifel.

Off in Air VW, the Gray charged to 100%. And yes, I remember to unplug it before trying to put it in reverse, but I appreciate the engineering that makes it impossible to drive when plugged in. The collision alarm and the unplug-before-reverse are features I am sorry to report I use too often.

It is dark, very dark, and it takes all 40 minutes to reach Richard’s place. Kathleen is out, and we are playing lighter-efficiency race games instead, Formaggio. In this one, we are cheese handlers, and we must use cheese to gain various point-gaining options. Most are then blocked from the other players. This is the second in the cheese series and is freely mixable, Richard told me, with the first, Fromage. I like it and it is easy to learn, but choices are difficult. I landed in the middle of the scores and saw Richard avoid giving me any points. We play again, and I miss my previous score by 10 points, which sends me to my usual bottom score. Still, it was fun and plays in under 40 minutes. An excellent game and one I could play at the church.

Hot Streak is a party game with figures running a race from cards that are shared, and then bets are taken. The players add more cards (helping or hurting the racers), bets are made, and the race is done again. I won by luck (I also bet first). Sometimes I slide by Richard, and he was surprised.

We chatted for a bit, and then I headed home early. The Oregon mist made the lights glow, and the bridge was less scary in the dark, foggy air. Portland is lovely in the damp mist at night.

I love the rain, mist, and the Pacific Northwest. Especially at night in my silent EV, looking at the lights, and playing alternative rock music. The trip seems brief tonight.

It was hard to concentrate while playing the games because I had packing, writing, and church-stuff on my mind. I had resigned and then been told my resignation was rejected and that they needed me to retain my position in the church, and I am still not sure I should relent. Math, computers, AI, and writing are calling me. My soul seeks solace in the worlds of equations, concrete mathematics, programming AI (and code-breaking, hacking), gaming, and writing stories. But we will see.

I finish the adventure, get half the packing done, and snack on peanut butter toast. I read The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes, not canon but still good, and it makes me want to write more Sherlock Holmes stories; in my version, Holmes and Watson are versions of Chatbots. Hmmm.

I sleep as I start to nod off. What happens is that I blink, but my eyes stay shut, and I still read a story. My mind is now drifting off into its own sleeping version, thinking it is reading. I wake and put the book away. I am soon sleeping. I woke around 6:30, finally (with one day until I travel), reached Pacific Coast time. Ugh.

Thanks for reading!