Saturday Unexpected All Day

Today was full of unexpected happenings.

I woke, and it was dark, but still it was 5. I tried to roll over, but then I had to prove hydration. I returned to bed, and sleep would not come. I was about to give up, and then it was after 7. I must have slept, but it felt more like the clock had advanced. I climbed out of bed, put on my slippers and robe (with slight numbness in my feet from the combination of diabetes and chemotherapy, I always wear protection on my feet). My weight is 225 +/- three pounds (mostly plus). More exercise, less good food (quantity, not quality), and a focus on veggies and protein would be better (but potatoes, in any form, are soooo gooood). Deborah is suggesting less beer and fewer naps, and she is right. I will try to do the iced tea thing. Also, beer is less interesting (I have been mostly an Old Fashioned guy now).

Instead of starting the blog, I turned to Pastor Ken’s write-up on the possible Thanksgiving-timed trip to Brazil for the church. I hate the timing, but our friends in Brazil, Teca and Gordon Greathouse, tell us this is a good time to visit from a weather perspective. I made an effort to revise Ken’s text, but instead wrote a supporting letter after being inspired by my notes from the 2025 Southern Trip.

With a draft done, I returned to the blog and invested the morning in recalling Friday’s events and trying to record them in some order. Later, Deborah asked me about the blog; it was not broken by weird Grammarly stuff. Well, Grammarly has been calmer, and also I am not pressing the ‘Accept’ button very much. Yikes! I have returned to my process of viewing what is being suggested and next revising the sentence to better fit, and then Grammarly goes away (usually). I go with that if the AI is wrong, I am missing a word or need a different order, not that I should let it make my text different.

(That looks like ChatGPT has taken over fortune cookies; that is not a fortune; there was an ad and a scan QR code on the back)

I headed out for lunch and picked Happy Panada and their lunch special of “Fresh Mushroom Chicken (white meat)” for lunch. There, I read the Cahokia Mound Tour Guide I downloaded (for $1) and printed. I did not know that the large pyramid is over 100 feet tall, and from the top, there is a lovely view of St. Louis. I added a leg to St. Louis to my upcoming trip to see the Cahokia Mounds. I am staying at the 1C Museum Hotel (here), a new chain for me to try. Sadly, parking and breakfast are NOT included. I may decide on seafood paella for one night at the hotel. Hmmm.

I received a request from Dondrea to revise my supporting letter (revised while Happy Panada), and later Ken suggested putting the letter in the bulletins on Sunday (removing the more detailed write-up and giving that to those who ask for it); this was quite unexpected.

Next, I headed to Barnes & Noble Bookstore and looked for my usual magazines. I found that Strategy & Tactics had a new quarterly out (I let my subscription run out) on Dark Age Armies, a subject I am not that strong on, but these armies often serve as the model for Fantasy Armies. I put away my books and Kindle to enjoy the usual insane level of detail. And it also covers the First Crusade, yay!

I passed, for the moment, on a newish biography of General Robert E. Lee, by a favorite author, Allen C. Guelzo, who, I think, is an excellent chronicler of the American Civil War (ACW). I read the first chapter while getting a cookie. I will be back for it someday.

Note: Guelzo’s Gettysburg book is the best I have ever read (having read four or five plus it being included in overview histories of the ACW), and I am always shocked when I read other versions (e.g., the wonderful storytelling of Shelby Foote in Stars in Their Courses) that miss the start of the battle and the Union’s early losses. The first Union general at the battle does not survive the first day, but manages to salvage the forces to Cemetery Hill. 

I returned home with just the magazine and another cookie (buy one, get the second for 1/2; “Why yes, I will take another cookie”). The rains had halted, which allowed me to fix a downspout that my lawn folks had knocked apart (who did not notice) and to review the roses and other plants. The pomgranted tree, planted late summer, has tiny buds and is not a $60 dead stick. Yay!

The apple tree is now in full bloom, and I am happy to be here to see it. Some of my neighbors’ trees are so heavy in bloom that they are leaning. Many trees are nearly in leaf. I have noticed that the birds and squirrels are now in pairs. The squirrels are still extracting from their vault, my backyard, their treasures, as Spring still had not provided enough.

I headed to Portland in the moment of no rain, and I was surprised by the low traffic and the decent speeds traffic was going, but just as I got to the tunnel, brakes slammed, Air VW the Gray exploded in red lights and alarms, and I braked and steered for the shoulder. The car behind me managed to stop in time not to hit the car in front of me. Yes, I had pulled completely out of the lane, nearly parking, and then pulled back in. Not bothered in the least, I headed back and was happy it was near the tunnel, since there is no shoulder there!

BTW: There was no cause for the braking. No road hazard or accident. More like muscle memory. Hmmm.

I arrived, parked at the Lucky Labrador, and had a Czech-style pilsner and a bowl of peanuts. There, I continued to read about St. Louis. Somewhere in the day, I had finished my first re-reading of The Book of Revelation (no plural, please). I am still trying to arrange a class of four 45-minute sessions to cover the book and its impact on Hollywood, social media, and modern Christianity. I often stop, sip my beer, eat a peanut, and try to assemble my thoughts for the class.

I ordered the BLT after asking what was good, and it is wonderful and simple. I eat only 2/3 of the potato chips (see the previous statement on potatoes). The bread was fresh, toasted, and flavored with some mayo; the tomatoes were fresh; the lettuce had large leaves; and the bacon was crunchy but not burned. Perfect.

With my bill paid, and folks ready to take my parking spot, the gamers are arriving in mass at Lucky’s. I saw a group of six playing a block game, Alliance by Columbia Games (a local gaming company). I would love to learn and play that, but I have not tried to connect with another gaming group because I am busy and traveling (I am already committed to games three times a week and to Dungeons & Dragons every other week or so). Still….

I arrived at Richard’s a few minutes early, and my left knee started to not work well, and the pain was considerable. I continue to ignore it. I managed down the steps and removed my shoes, as is de rigueur at Richard’s (the carpet is white), and soon learned the Lovecraft Mythos game Cthulhu: Dark Providence. It is not an expensive game (and a re-working and reskinning of another game, I was told), but new. We had four players, Laura and James (this is New Orleans James, not the retired doctor James I play on Tuesday). 

This is not a cooperative game and uses parts of various game systems, but only partially. You build your deck, but you cannot thin it. You can attack other players’ characters or their minions (attempting to kill a player character may end the game). There are hidden alliances. It is a crazy, possibly insane mix of systems (even a pull bag for sanity checks, allowing for press-your-luck), but it seems to flow well, and I liked it. I was surprised to win the first play by one point as a cultist. I was shocked to win the second game (we reset and played again) when Richard made his usual last-minute points under obscure rules, but then he lost. The rules say that the lowest-scoring player also eliminates the score of anyone in the same alliance (James, who made it four players, scored just one point under Laura and was also a cultist like Richard). Richard’s win was erased by James’s last place, and I, the only Investigator for that play, won.

I said good night after that and soon was home without any events. I read more about Dark Ages armies and soon fell asleep. I had more of the cookie, but was shocked by the amount of crumbs I saw in the morning; I washed the sheets.

Thanks for reading.