Monday Tired and Unwell

I woke at 4ish, and wow, was I not enjoying life. My only good ear, my right, was plugged and icky. I was dizzy and could not sleep. I rose and found it hard to do anything. I found the coffee was cold, so I remade it. I wrote the blog and tried to find my way. It was hard going as I could not hear and felt off. Ugh!

I started the laundry and finished the dishes. I had only sipped some coffee and soon crawled back into bed after using some ear drops I had from the last issue with my ears. I managed to get a few hours of sleep.

I finished the blog late. I was slowly feeling better. I stopped by and got some Ibuprofen, and that helped too. By the afternoon, I was feeling more like myself. Corwin stopped by and did the local Sushi track place. It was nice to get some food, hot soup, and tea. Corwin had an appointment, and we managed to make it work.

I boarded Air VW the Gray with figures, notes, dice, and the rules for version 1 of Pathfinder, a variation of D&D 3.5 that many still play. I also had Mariah’s birthday and Christmas gift. I forgot the Presidential magnets (they do look nice on my fridge). I then took the EV, using navigation, and avoided part of Highway 26 by staying on Canyon Road, then found moderate traffic in Portland (I was between lunch and the evening rush), and was early at Hopworks off of Powell’s in Portland.

Unlike reports from the President, the city looked lovely in its Christmas lights. It is the second night of Hanukkah, and Menorahs were out too. Happy Holidays, indeed. No Hellscape here.

I was early, read my emails, and did some looking at Adafruit’s website. I received my LED letters (WILD) and was looking at how to light them. Three volts, hmmm. More to follow.

Mariah arrived, and we talked about houses, careers, and travel. She listened to my trip stories. I ate again, nachos, small with pulled pork, this time. The beer, a German-style pilsner, was wonderful.

Next, we said our goodbyes for this year, 2025, and got in our cars. Hers was a growling gas-based Ford Mustang, and mine was a silent EV. She won the contest for coolest!

I traveled five minutes and then drifted around the neighborhood, looking for a parking place in the mass of leaf-mush that is parking in Portland in the fall. It is dark and damp, and the walk with a box of 28mm gaming material was not without hazard, but I found the place, Bill’s house, a change, and Bill was new to me.

I walked in with the pizza person who figured out the gate, and we set up to play role-playing. My copy of the old rules for Pathfinder was borrowed, and I had to try to make it work with Sean’s help (our DM). We soon had Bill playing, and soon we were back to the massive graveyard we had investigated (using a polite word for grave robbing–did I mention I am playing a Lawful Evil wizard). We managed to anger some undead with our liberation tactics, and it took some effort to remove them. Somehow, even as 1st-level characters (pathetic in the older systems–I used to start at 3rd when I DM’d, as it was just too dull to DM/play the first levels), we took down the undead. Our elf, who the player failed to make the game session, found a trap with their last hit point, and we managed to stabilize them (meaning not-dead-yet).

Feeling that luck was on our side, we continued to explore and found, with just good rolls, more traps, avoided a falcrum trap that we worked out on our own (right out of an old D&D book on traps and Tomb of Horrors adventure), and managed to re-dead two more undead without loss. Really lucky for the 1st level.

Sean was getting his legs under him as DM; the story was moving, and we got to do four to five encounters. I got to be evil: “Heal or Animate, one will work,” I suggested. My fellow players are thinking I do not have their best interests in mind. It was fun.

With that done, I returned to Beaverton without issue. I took more pills and crawled into my bed. I was tired and happy.

Thanks for reading!