Wednesday was a day when exhaustion surfaced, and jet lag made me drag through my day. I found it a slow start, and I stayed that way. This was a mundane day, and I am afraid it is not a very interesting story, but still, for me and my writing discipline, every day needs to be remembered and recorded. Let’s begin!
I rose again at 7, having slept through the whole night, and dropped to 228 pounds after my NYC trip. Both a surprise. I had risen with the sunrise and rolled over. I made coffee with OP Beans and took my pills. As I went to bed on Tuesday, I took all my pills because I had forgotten the morning pills. I remembered my meds this morning, and the usual rule: no coffee until pills are taken.
I no longer ignored my luggage stuffed with clothing that needed to be laundered; I sorted it and started the process. The new laundry is marvelous and often finishes faster than I expect, and the clothing is never soaked when I remove it from the washer and place it in my electric dryer.
While the clothing spun, I wrote the blog post about my crazy-busy Tuesday. I was back around 11 the night before flying in from NYC, and I had Richard’s at 9:30 the next morning and ran a game at Rune & Board from 6 to 9. It was part of my plan, and I am back in time for a colonoscopy on Monday, the 24th. Yikes!
Wednesday seemed to be running slow, and I was able to finish most of the writing at 10:30; then I realized I had nothing to eat. I checked what was easy and not colonoscopy-banned (no nuts). I settled on defrosting and frying up some ham and green beans. I cut up some chunks of cheddar and beat three eggs. A scramble worked. I finished the blog while I ate.
My insides were troubled; travel usually impacts me, and I had some incidents of rushing to the restroom, which I thought was unfair with my “colonoscopy party” coming up on Sunday. It passed (so many jokes there), and I was able to shower, dress, and finish the laundry, though it is still on hangers and needs folding. I reheated my coffee in the LG Inverter (a microwave to me), and nothing changed. Corwin had told me it had stopped working. Humm.
I took out some of my purchases from my bags from The Strand Bookstore in NYC to send them on to Michigan, one for Linda (who was thrilled to get another coffee for her birthday from Oregon), and something for Deborah too. I placed them in envelopes from my mailing supplies, printed mailing addresses on paper, and used clear shipping tape to affix the addresses and reinforce the envelopes. Off to the post office.
It was the usual chaos of folks not knowing how to mail things; some instructions were spoken two or three times, but I finally got my turn. Before I could change it, one was sent with the usual pre-paid sticker, but Deborah got real stamps, and some high-value ones. Better. And even hand-canceled, perfect.
At some point during the day, Brazil again rejected my visa application. This time I did it the way I thought it should be done. I cropped the high-resolution photo to just my shoulders and head, like in a typical visa photo, and replaced it with the full photo I tried to use before. This also removed the words from my T-shirt in the photo. I then, again, for the third time, sent it in. I learned on Thursday morning that it was accepted. Finally! My visa application is now back at the Brazilian consulate and not with the Dubai pre-check company. The status check did not work from that email, as before. I am hopeful this time.
Next, another return to Rune & Board. There, I picked up my reserved copy of Stonemaier Games’ Duel of Meloch, copy 26,367 of 35,000. This is a crazy add-on and standalone game. It comes as a retail copy, and the components are paper and wood, not the swanky stuff I have in my copy of Scythe or my metal items in Expeditions. The Scythe matching components include mechs and a new character that will need to be painted to match my copy. I will have to make some decals to cover parts to make them look less plain. The color for the new faction is gray, which is close to white, but I think the shades will work. If it does not work, I will color it silver.
I open the game at the store, and Aaron, one of the staff at the game store, and I look at it. There seems to be a steampunk Constantinople character, but the box cover shows a woman who doesn’t match anything in the box. Aaron points out the bear on the cover near her, and the character seems to be one from the original Scythe, but with a few items that would fit Turkey better and no longer in fatigues. Hmmm. I will have to get out my paints and finish up this new addition.
The Scythe-style airship model is missing, and there are no metal options. Both, I later learn, are available only for pick-up at the GenCon gaming convention. Hmmm. Later, I order replacement coins and life-like resources that match my existing Scythe game. I also order spare Scythe-board markers in the wrong colors. I can paint them to match, and extras are sold for a buck a piece.
It is a small-footprint game that uses a rolled-up neoprene map, eliminating the need for space for a board in the box. It plays with only 1-2 players, with Stonemaier’s usual solo mode. The rules use the same textured paper and style as Scythe and Expedition. There is also a replacement deck of combat cards with wild options added–not sure it can be used in the Scythe gameplay. You can also use various cards from Scythe if you like to play, with a warning that some may not work (and should be ignored, and a new card drawn). My memory of the board game Expedition, based on the same art and world as Scythe, is limited, as I played it only when it was new, but it, too, can be mixed and matched in this add-on. My copy of Expedition is languishing in my pile of seldom-played games.
Next, after agreeing to pick up Emma, head to Portland, and meet Mariah at Hopworks for happy hour, I went to Costco to look for a microwave. None. Deborah checked for me on a cheap, good microwave, but the returning-to-college purchases depleted the Costco stock, and I ended up getting a cheap one at Fred Meyer’s.
Deborah and I chatted here and there. We are getting used to being in different time zones again, and Deborah’s workload is picking up as fall starts soon. We are counting down the 57 days until we are together again.
Running late now, I drop off the new appliance, reboard the Air VW the Gray, pick up Emma, and we take 38 minutes using the back roads to reach Portland and Hopworks on Powell (it is not that far). We have drinks, dinner, and spend hours chatting. Hopworks has pizza with meatballs as a seasonal special; my favorite kind of pizza is with meatballs, and I got them to add roasted red peppers (they did not have green bell peppers). I had no lunch and ate the whole small pizza.
I took Emma back after we shared a dessert with Mariah. I gave Mariah her next magnet, from The Strand Bookstore, and said our goodbyes. The trip back was uneventful, and I dropped her off at her apartment. The ukulele player, who had spent hours in front of the apartments, had left by then. Yes, it is Oregon, and ukulele people do seem to appear at odd places once in a while.
I returned home, unpacked the new microwave, washed it, and ran it. It has a child-safety lock that requires you to press an unlock button BEFORE pulling the door. Annoying, but I guess it makes sense, as kids will see Mom & Dad opening it and grabbing things. Better to make it less likely to be opened by a child. I will recycle the other one soon.
With that done, I head to bed. I review the next adventure I am playing on Tuesday and look at all the props. With mythos, props, and gaming planning running in my head, I fall asleep. I do not wake until 4 local time or 7 in NYC (yup, jet lag).
Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 