I rose later after waking a few times at night. I started with coffee from the previous day and just reheated that. I had that with a banana and started my usual process. Yes, it is boring and mechanical, but it keeps me safe (including even my retirement cash) and well-informed. Sadly, the news is filled with more Trump-I-Must-Have-The-Headlines statements (“Yes, taxpayers, we want a billion bucks for the ballroom and security updates for the White House”). Updated my transactions and noted that US Bank still does not show my IRA’s daily balance on its website (only the evaluation of the moment balance). I found the month-end balances on another screen and used them to update Quicken.
I started the blog, but then showered and dressed to make my 9:30 ISS Vanguard board game at Richard’s. Air VW the Gray got me there only a few minutes late. The school year is wrapping up, and traffic is already becoming less. I give the trip about 45 minutes, and in the winter it is often an hour, but today the timing was back to 45. James, the owner of this fully maxed-out Gamefound (much the same as Kickstarter) board game (over $500 in 2022), was excited to finally play it. I had done an hour of videos on how to play.
We ran through the ISS Vanguard tutorial scenario, which, with its rules ignored to make it easier to understand, almost broke our first play. We managed to understand that we had a spare crew after all (we had to find an exception for the tutorial with a Google search that was in some obscure place), and after the planet-side adventure (no spoilers), we transferred the ship. We are off, now, to our next adventure. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon assembling, playing, and then ‘saving’ the game for next Tuesday. More confusion: We stopped midway, which is not usual for the ‘save’ process, as we did not have time for another planet-side adventure, which the game starts without much ado.
Unlike Tainted Grail and other horror-based games, there is no elaborate combat system or health/sanity rules. There are no traitor rules (so far). It is a process and flow, with characters as your connection on how you interact with the story, represented by process and flow. Dice are rolled for attempts (using strangely marked dice you find in most games now), and, like another cooperative game, Unsettled, other players can help on your turn (if their character is with you). ISS Vanguard uses four characters (in non-solo mode), and this time Richard was playing the spare one (we will likely rotate that). We leveled up our characters (there are three levels, but you can only have one third level in each of the four areas) from the tutorial and, rule-breaking, can use them without having them rest or recover, in the next planet-side mission.
Aside: Rules cannot be protected from reuse (copyrights do not apply), but art and shapes can be protected. Games now use special dice symbols, rules on cards (with art), and on boards (with lots of art). This prevents copying. You need to license the whole game or make one from scratch that will not resemble the original (and what would be the point then); I see this more in wargames, as basic rules are often the same across publishers (but often with tables and maps combined, which is protected).
The game was ready for the next play by 2ish, and I found street parking near Broadway Grill, where I wrote the rest of the blog while having a steak salad (mostly salad) with a Mr. Toad’s Wild Red beer (just one). I got the blog out, then returned to my Sunday School work and wrote for another twenty minutes or more (I lost track) while drinking water and finding the text and structure for my next class.
With that done, I returned to the house via the EV without issue. I read and go slow as it has been many early mornings in a row. I watch more DS9 and read. I avoid a nap by making some instant coffee and dinner. I use my mandoline slicer (no fingertips were lost) to reduce a potato to a greater surface area, and then bake it with some salt and oil (avocado oil for high-temperature use). I sliced up and deboned the ham (tossing the bone, as I had not prepared to make bean soup). I froze most of it and put small bits in a glass dish that has held the ham for these weeks. Later, I would add slices of cheese and milk, then bake them all together. I got close, but it looks like I need to make a cream cheese sauce next time. Dinner was 3/4 of one potato with some ham and cheese. I would eat a raw carrot for dessert. I put the small remains for lunch on Wednesday.
I returned to Sunday School work, wrote more for the class, and sent an update for the next class as I added to it. I have completed the first draft of the 3rd class’s plan; that class is in a week and a half. I will review it again on Wednesday, find any mistakes or updates, and then send it out. I have a draft in my mind for the fourth class and will start that soon.
Time went by fast, and I put away the Greek and class work after 11 and read for a while. I am unwinding with a finance history book, Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises, Fourth Edition. The author, Charles P. Kindleberger, has a basic premise: despite various denials that the markets are not irrational but perfect, these things keep happening, and, from his point of view, in the same ways. It is then important to know this history to avoid repeating it. Also, the rise of the “Funder of Last Resort” in our modern systems does not seem to improve the situation. I am over 30-pages in and enjoying it, though it was a difficult start (boring).
And maybe, dear reader, if you read and studied John’s Apocalypse and then read about financial history for failures, you might have trouble sleeping; I slept late. The truth gives me comfort.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 