Author: alohawild

My usual Saturday night gaming was out because Richard was traveling.

At The 649, Corwin and I tried out my new game from Orange Nebula, Vestige. While it lifts its structure from their older game, Vindication, it shows growth in game design and thinking since Vindication’s successful Kickstarter, as I felt I had more choices, there was no wasted space in the components, and there were few exception rules. It fits in a small box that would be more what I would expect to be an add-on and not a whole game. The small roll-up maps that fit in the box really cut the required space. The cards are small but, again, enough to make the game work and fit in a slot in the box organizer. I have the “wretched” version, which uses wooden tokens (quite nice for wood) and no “swanky” organizer or card separator (add-ons). It fits in the box well, and there is a bit of room for some add-ons.

I checked their website, and the add-ons and improvements are all sold out for the moment (I see as I write this that they are now available). I would enjoy the Chop Bot small mat (used in every play) and maybe a few more locations, but my experience in Vindication was that I left most of those things in the box. There is an optional Nemesis in the game, and I have two packs that come with the game and two from the Kickstarter; I have not learned the rules for the Nemesis addition. There is a treachery pack for the game too, like Vindication, which I always played with, as it is fun that not all random items are just good for you. It changes the emotion of a random draw! More to come as I decide whether to invest in some updates.

Corwin and I agreed it was an excellent game, with your decisions based on what you start with, the layout of the map, and options you acquire as you play. The game does end suddenly, using the same random end game conditions, but this time two conditions are required to end the game. I ended the last game (having been crushed as I misplayed while teaching the game and watching) and won by one point.

The cook at The 649, whose name I did not get, and our Lesley bartender were interested in the game, and I explained what I knew about the style of play and showed them the components. As it is from Washington State and across the river in Vancouver, everyone is happy to see the local game company’s stuff.

Before this, Corwin appeared while I was still writing the blog and not dressed. He grabbed some coffee and some cornbread while I dressed. I also talked to Deborah, who had some events I cannot share here. She is doing OK now. Dressed, we headed to Costco in Corwin’s car, Air Viking!, and there Corwin got a Costco card from my account, as he uses my address for his mailings and IDs. We then collected groceries; I got a few items, and we split a few (I grabbed a set of rolls of toilet paper from his mountain) later. I bought the full basket for just under $300, and then we got gas at Costco, showing Corwin the process. He was happy to see the lower price, but was aware this is a credit card place (and no AMEX). Air Viking! was ready for the next raid.

Corwin took his stuff home after sharing a few items and dropping me at the house. Later we would take Air VW the Gray to the 649 and see Crystal and Matt, whom I shared my plans with. It was good to see everyone.

After all this, even with two beers and two games, I turned to OCR scanning the First United Methodist History text. I have a copy of some scrapbook history. It has a few updates to 1999 but covers to 1985. Deborah was clear I did this the hard way. I was especially frustrated when my Canon TR4720 printer/fax/scanner forgot how to scan, and nothing I could find would restore this ability. I finally managed to photograph the pages wtih my phone, send the image into Adobe Acrobat on my Apple computer, and use the AI to OCR the text, though it was slightly scrambled. I captured this without corrections to a Word document (using special pasting each time to only extract the text).

Aside: Deborah was clear in the morning that she was unimpressed with my skill set and suggested that Notes and my phone would do this faster and better. I will explore that when I do the next pages and articles. Deborah is a former Apple employee and knows all the tricks!

Still with my mangled OCR’d text, I sent that off (I will fix it later), and went to bed and read about the American Civil War and found Bruce Catton’s The Civil War, willing to call the Southern generals brilliant, but their cause doomed and their efforts in vain. I am in 1862, and soon the Confederates will reach, according to the book, their high-water mark. Already, U.S. Grant in the West (the Ohio Valley was west then) has ended the expansion of the Confederacy and forced them at the Battle of Shiloh (and, according to many, taught Grant what warfare would be now).

Aside: After my visit to the South last year, I believe if you remove the pageantry and mysticism of the Confederate generals and army to a lesser degree, it is more of a desperate grasp of men trying to justify the loss of men and treasury for a cause that was impossible. I would point out that while his army froze and starved and was then thrown against reinforced positions to die, Confederate General Hood in 1864 was eating well with his staff, who, according to their own account, were amazingly comfortable. Look at these actions more as a better-organized insurgency on the Confederate side, and it would remind you of headlines from today. And the officers and elites living well while the people of the Confederacy and its army suffered. Not the story I learned in school.

I got too tired to finish the wonderful chapter on navy stuff. I soon slept and seemed to sleep without dreams.

Starting at 7ish, I made coffee from the Hidden House coffee, the last. I had a banana and cornbread I made a few nights before with that. I wrote the blog and also sent some Howard, my SciFi/horror character, to Emma. I then read part of one, spotted some typos from years ago, but liked the story. I added some lines and even a start of a Howard story to the blog. It was fun to write that morning. Nice to find my voice again.

And I think I can stop there. Thanks for reading!

I picked up Emma with the Air VW the Gray suggesting that it was 97ºF out on TV Highway in Beaverton, and I missed my turn and spent almost ten minutes in the chaos that is Friday afternoon traffic. Emma hopped into the car after I turned it around, and we were off. With the AC fighting to overcome the bright sun, the smoke was still visible at a distance but was below 50, and the light was bright and not yellow. There are three paths to the N Mississippi across the bridge in Portland, and, due to the usual parking-lot transformation of Highway 26 on Friday afternoon (I used to drive it every week to play games), the options were presented as only a few minutes difference. Emma and I agree on the over-the-hill Cornell Road, which would be shady and full of green. The road even has a wiki page (here).

We do the local until we connect to 405 to cross the Willamette River, and Emma is amazed as we then do this weird, both unpredictable and unimaginable, spiral of industrial streets that take us to N Mississippi. I point out the Cyclopean-like off ramps of the 405 that shoot out in various directions above us. “We were on that one, I think,” I tell her. Feeling like I am in one of my Howard stories (my hero in SciFi/horror), we locate our objective, Von Ebert Brewing, and I manage to parallel park the EV into a slot.

While not perfect — I turned too soon —I have enough space to rock the VW into the spot by going forward to a close, turning more, and slowly gliding in. No “cement” gray was lost. Again, Howard would describe that “While parking, I try to imagine the space in four dimensions, and usually then it the EV seems to ‘beam’ into the parking spot.” The rear camera and the forward sensors make this easier.

It is just a moment later that we are in the taphouse (no food sold and thus the name, “taphouse,” and outside food is welcome) and we are enjoying Potions and Substances. We are early, and I take a photo to send to Mariah, who had called this meeting. She finds a less complex parking spot, joins us, and, unlike us, picked their $3 special in a large mug. Still, my unusual IPA is good, and Emma approves of her potion.

We chat, and Mariah tells many stories, with us adding here and there. I give her the President and Betty Ford magnet for her collection. We did not pay the bill (open tabs will be charged a 20% tip if not closed by the end of the day, meaning forgetting to pay is OK), and we went on a quest for food in the nearby streets as the bartender said there was great food a block away. Trucks, pizza places of the edginess needed to make good pizza, and other places that require a pronunciation guide. Yes, Portland. Pizza is agreed on: Mississippi Pizza. We wait outside (with the pizza oven and fans; it was hotter inside, but the AC was streaming in from a lounge (Atlantis?) next door, and a band was setting up for a grayer crowd that I would easily fit in (when did I become part of the old folks group?!), likely Queen songs will be screamed out soon. I stay with Mariah and Emma (Odysseus-like, I survive the siren call). Mariah points out that we can eat this pizza at Von Ebert, and we carry beyond other food establishments, now with lines, that whisper to us, “next time, it will be great, come back soon.”

But the pizza is good, if not amazing, and is hands-ready; more beer, and Mariah and Emma have a beer slushy with various berry flavors. All goes well with the Spicy Boi slices (from their menu: “little pepperoni, sausage, fresh jalapeño, Mama Lil’s Peppers,” plus the sauce is excellent and the cheese isn’t too much for me). We check if there is something at OMSI, but the show is sold out, and we say goodbye to Mariah. We agree that we must access the Von Ebert across town (two traffic jams away) in Glendover that still serves the smoked chicken wings that are so good, it is reported that the chicken volunteers.

I drop Emma off and return to the house. I get a late, for her Eastern Time Zone, good night from Deborah. We like to start and finish our days together. I binge-watch the last three episodes of Season 2 of Ted Lasso. My mind is still bouncing around, and I often find myself not paying attention to Ted Lasso, not like me. I manage to focus on the season end and see my predictions match on Ned. The story seems to be that people are complex, with deep waters of feelings they are not sure they understand, but that people lean (mostly) to the best when we give ourselves permission to dream (but Ned shows that the dream can be poisoned with darkness that we need to avoid).

I read more Civil War and reach 1862, and the North realizes this is total war and not a dispute. The South believes it is safe and that the world will bring the war to an end for King Cotton, that Europe needs their cotton. It is a selfish dream that never materializes. Europe still remembered the Crimean War (1854–1856) and refused to be drawn into another distant, strange war. Plus, Europe recently agreed that slavery was banned and politically could not reverse this position.

Aside: I highly (extreme?!) recommend the story of the end of the slave trade as told by the book Bury the Chains. Adam Hochschild’s book changed my thinking about history and how to make change in this world.

McClellan appears in the story and is always one of the stranger stories of the American Civil War. Overcautious? Traitor refusing to finish Lee when given the chance? Right to conserve an army that will die (as did Hood’s in 1864) if attacking a reinforced position? A complex character in history. He runs against Lincoln later and loses as his own army votes to finish the war (now under “Unconditional Surrender” Grant) and not negotiate.

With thoughts of the coming two years, stories of slow erosion of the Confederacy, I put away the book, The Civil War (again without footnotes or references) and sleep. I do wake to return some of the liquid and manage to not rise with the sunrise.

Before this, it was a mundane day of me drinking reheated coffee until I could feel it in my veins. The morning was spent writing the blog and looking at some travel items. Linda, my sister, had decided to overlap my time in New Orleans. I had not finished my trip for that, and she needed some dates. I agree that I will be in NOLA on the weekend of September 19th.

I finish the blog and revive some frozen ham with hot water and then lightly fry slices to get the water and frozen flavor out of it. I fry two eggs and have some cornbread. Earlier, I had a banana with my coffee. It is unwise for me, I have learned while working for a living, to tank up on coffee without something in my stomach. I also chat with Deborah, and it is always excellent to chat; we miss each other. It fills in something missing in my day.

I then sit down and figure out my September trip. Yikes, weekend car rentals aren’t working, as I want a car for the weekend and to return it in Birmingham, Alabama. I also want to arrive in New Orleans on Saturday, which means traveling to Alabama on Friday. Grayhound has the answer, and I find it strange to use a bus in the American South, and more so when I find that while the buses are segregated by race now, the front seats are sold for a premium now. I buy one just behind them, and also, as a suggestion, I buy the seat next to me. It is a four-hour trip starting at 9ish and finishing at noonish. I skip the extra bag fee and believe I can manage. I am happy to try this out.

Next, Amtrak’s Crescent stops at Birmingham at 1ish, and for $36 I get an uncomplex seat in coach. First class comes with rooms, and for $200+ it seems too much for a bed for an 8-hour trip. I will ensure I have my own snacks! My experience is that these large trains have no WiFi and feel like a return to the 1950s. Still, it will be a chance to read and reflect. Or, more likely, a long nap to prepare me for the nights in NOLA!

Sadly, Le Richelieu Hotel in New Orleans has sold out of rooms with balconies, but at least I am not, again, paying a premium for a room with hard-to-lock windows a block away from the reported home of vampires (Old Ursuline Convent). It is built over the old barracks area from the American Civil War and thus is not haunted like other hotels I have stayed at that are built over execution sites. A new check for hotels for me.

With that done, I am close to having my trip done in September. I have to decide on a hotel in Nashville and Birmingham and book a few nights. I also discovered that Hope 2026 is ending late Sunday, and I moved my flight and added a day to my stay in NYC ($60 for the flight change and lost my Comfort chair, and then $240 for another night in Midtown Manhattan at the New Yorker Hotel).

And with that covered, I have covered Friday’s story. Thank you for reading, dear reader, and I hope the new structure works for you. Change is necessary, and learning is good.

I am looking forward to maybe a retired Howard headed to the American South and then to New Orleans. Besides the usual fear of salad and veggie parasites, flies that cause flesh-eating larvae in humans and bovines alike, H1N1 in the birds, and COVID-19 evolving a new version, BA.3.2, and nicknamed “Cicada,” Louisiana is reporting flesh-eating bacillus cases. Sounds like we need Howard to investigate this!

Howard, now older and sort-of retired, as much as a sorcerer, writing, and eldric detective can be retired, slides into his flight from Detroit, direct to New Orleans, his comfort seat. First class was tempting, but not for such a short flight, he agrees with himself. “Yes, perfect,” he says, and the might-be-sleeping person beside him ignores the comment, if they heard it over whatever is playing on their AirPods. He stopped in Detroit from Portland, his current home in retirement, in 2026.

A nice but generic hotel for a couple of nights over the weekend. Eastern Market is a pleasure to walk, and he met his source for some very hard-to-find ingredients from plants that were once extinct. Figuring out how to cultivate them is an unusual specialty that is available, at a price, from some growers. Howard is happy to support the local growers!

And it is a pleasure to have lunch there. Later, a cooking classes for Cuban-style food bring back memories and smells from a time drinking with Papa Hemingway and having a tropical suit made there. Howard still enjoys good clothing, and he smiles. Yes, Detroit is turning into an excellent break, and to visit in winter weather, often sunny and frozen, instead of the gray of Portland and rain. Snow and cold seem fun to Howard now, he thinks as he recalls the crunch under his feet.

But now it is New Orleans and work. Without much thought, he suggests in a language that was dead before humans learned to make cave paintings that “New Orleans needs to be polished by minions of Chtulhu.” The plane wobbles as he says that. “Oops,” he calls out and stops. The momentary “rough air” stops. Howard chastises himself for using spell languages while in a tin can in the air, being hurled at hundreds of miles per hour. “Don’t do that, Howard,” he says to himself.

 

Louise from the conference did our United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) training. This was just short of three hours of a Zoom meeting packed with facts and to-dos (many we will have to find the time and energy to do). It was like drinking from a firehose as we realized that we are on a mission trip and not a tourist trip or one led by others like our TELOS trip last year.

After hours of what felt more like an interview for a job I was not sure I wanted, we finished. At the same time, I noticed that my visa for the same trip was kicked back for more documents, but no email or other message seems to have been sent to tell me what to do (yes, I keep checking my junk emails). It may be that it takes a few days for the translated message to reach me.

At 2ish was the SPRC meeting for the church, sort of the Methodist HR committee, and we met for just over an hour. It was the usual stuff, and none of it can be covered here. It went well, and I had only two to-dos added to my list.

While I was enjoying all of this, I also assembled my usual goulash from a German recipe for a 1/2 sized pot of this favorite of mine. I also cooked it with potatoes (sliced) and carrots (rough cut) instead of making noodles or Spätzle (In German, nouns are capitalized). I defrosted a pound of chuck beef that I should have browned longer and maybe in a non-stick pan. I did have to scrape the bottom of the Dutch oven a few times and avoided burning it. This cooks on the stove (it was too hot to bake). I admit I rushed it, and the flavors did not settle as well, but it was still good enough, and I had two bowls while in the Zoom meeting.

It was a pleasure, even rushed, to cook dinner again. These weeks seem to be too busy. As I was having a mission meeting, I skipped the wine that usually goes into me and the food.

W.C. Fields: “I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.”

Picture from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/W._C._Fields_1938.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original.

Deborah and I talked a few times and watched another episode of Matlock together. We miss each other, and we were together often in the first part of 2026; it is hard to be separated and in different time zones, but we are making it work. While cooking, my watch did not alert me that Deborah had called, as she had a call and I was waiting for her to call me back. Not sure what went wrong, as my watch usually signals every call, text, and email, and it did when Deborah called again.

The smoke is less, and the colors outside are not yellow. There was still a “misty” graying when looking farther out, but it faded as the winds changed and we could smell less smoke. Unfortunately, what was left in the smoke made me cough and sneeze. While the risk count reduces, if the fire burned a field of poison ivy or other bad-news plants, it can still cause a reaction. Deborah reminded me to wear a mask after I was impacted by getting the mail and putting out the trash and yard waste (which I had forgotten to do the night before, but they were running late).

I paid $575 for the Supreme service on my furnace and AC. This includes the usual maintenance, 10% off fixes, and a degreasing process (?!). Classic, my previous level, does not have the degreasing process and only a 5% reduction. I like to keep both systems running well!

I reviewed more potential Call of Chthul role-playing (CoC) material, and some will only work in a campaign, but that is good for another play if I get a CoC campaign going at home. I have some for the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society on Friday set in Astoria, Oregon. And an excellent fit, I hope, for another gaming day. I also found my copy of the adventure I used in 2019, before the world went sideways with the pandemic, set in 1926 Istanbul. Sadly, the original text is missing on my laptop, and I only have an unfinished soft copy. Still, it would need some reworking, and I think I can get it back together for another adventure.

I rose at 7ish, made coffee, and spent the morning on the blog and the usual stuff.

Thanks for reading.

The smoke and the heat drove me to stay inside and read. And while I was not experiencing any distress from the bad air, I had headaches, I coughed often, and I was sluggish all day. Church stuff on Wednesday night was wisely canceled (there is no AC at the church). I left the house only a few times, read a lot, and seemed unfocused the whole day. The air quality was unhealthy at 150ish for most of the time.

I did not make any more travel arrangements on Wednesday but started to realize I was less than a week from my next trip. I have not looked at the agenda for Hope 2026 but have my NYC plans set. I will likely take public transit to my hotel on Tuesday if the air quality is reasonable. I do need to start planning my conference lectures. I might take a hands-on class again; we will see.

I rose, and there was coffee from yesterday, and I reheated it. I was soon downing three cups. Again, I felt sluggish. I wrote most of the morning, looked at some travel plans, and finally got a blog out just as it was time for lunch. I had to stay home today, first because of the air quality, and I was waiting for four bottles of Michigan wine to be delivered. I reheated the chicken breast with red sauce from a jar with morels from Mighigan I had brought home some time ago. It was too much food, and I should have reheated only half of it. I made couscous to go wtih it. My usual version with sliced almonds, Indian-style spice, and raisins. I used just a touch of butter (I tried the spray, but it was not enough) to cook the spices and raisins and then toast the couscous. I then added boiling water from the kettle to the very hot mix, off the burner, in a 2-to-1 ratio. I laid the couscous in a bowl, poured on the sauce, sliced the chicken, and poured more sauce on after adding the chicken. It was lovely. I think better than pasta.

With too much lunch in me, I watched more YouTube and Eric Kline’s video on ancient history. He has a few updates since his books, and it is interesting to see his view move over time. Eric is clear that as more information becomes available, our view of ancient history changes and sharpens, and that some texts are published just this year. And while others might find this less interesting, it was good to update my understanding of the ancient crisis that led the area into the Iron Age (and the time of the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel).

My wine showed up, and then I showered and all that. Skipping shaving as I was not going out (much). The creams have the flakes and itch are mostly controlled, but I am at my two weeks of use. I will order more on my return.

I read more of the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game material I have on hand to find something to do on the 18th. I am leaning towards a South American 1920s adventure as I think it can fit in a three-hour period. I was on the Kickstarter for the book and bought all the handouts premade. I just need to create some new pre-made characters appropriate for an archaeological dig that has gone wrong. I also read a second adventure in the same book; it is a fascinating mix of betrayal and god-vs-god, and the handouts and even some props are excellent, but it would be two sessions. I have one I wrote, but the next is incomplete (I seem to have lost the original text and only have an early version), and I might get that out, update it, and give it a spin. That would take us to fanciful Istanbul of the 1920s. More to come.

Deborah and I watched more of Matlock as I am finally getting the chaos under control in my life. It was about AI and grief, and I thought it was an interesting way to describe Large Language Models (LLMs) being translated into an animated person. Do away with the command prompt and just ask a simulated person. With voice sampling to complete the experience. Of course, on this TV show, this was done with actors trying to look like AI trying to look like a person, an ironic role if there ever was one.

I had to digest that, and my mind was spinning. Much of what they were doing in the show matched what I wanted to do years ago with books and music. To find the special magic left in the music and writings of, say, Mozart’s manuscripts and Nelson’s letters. I have copies of both and have looked through and read them. Wondering what is there. This fictional story was heading into the area I was thinking about. I also think that AI may have shortcut-circuited the Traveling Salesman problem, solving the mathematically hard problem but making the answer irrelevant, which might be the solution. I had a lot of staring into space after that as my mind spun the problem.

I might have to focus next on LLMs. I do not like the proprietary and corporate nature. They are opaque. But maybe there is something I can do there. More to follow.

I stepped out and enjoyed the heat and smoke; there was plenty of both. I traveled to the 185th Veggie stand and parked nearby. It was a short walk with a mask on. I am carrying them now in the Air VW the Gray. I get various veggies to complete a salad. Not iceberg lettuce; romaine works. I also grab a few other items, like some potatoes and an onion. It is only $27.

I returned home and made a salad. I roasted the romaine to avoid parasites. I managed only to wilt it instead of grilling. Parasites can be avoided by heating lettuce products to 158ºF, according to Alton Brown (here). I peeled a cucumber, recently acquired at 185th Veggie, and added that and a tomato (same source) to my salad. The Olive Pit has lovely almond-filled olives (more for drinks, I imagine, than salads), which were a great add. The Olive Garden salad dressing and some sprinkled cheese made it come alive. Some sliced bread croutons (purchased) added the missing crunch of the wilted romaine.

I said good night to Deborah after that and then later finished another Ted Lasso episode; approaching the end, I hope, of season 2. I was not feeling ready to start on anything and switched to the previous season of Slow Horses; I love spy shows, as the new season is released mid-September.

With me strangely tired, my inhaler helped, and I nodded off into strange dreams with friends and again touring dream lands. I retired to my bed, woke over and over to return, I suspect, all the water I drank as the smoke drove me to more and more water. I dreamed all night, all forgotten, and they mixed with waking moments. I often dreamed of looking for a toilet, woke, found one, and then returned to other travels until I needed a men’s room again. Hmmm.

Thanks for reading.

Sticking to my new way of writing, I will focus on the interesting items.

I picked up Emma after grabbing a quick, overpriced chicken meal at Popeye’s, going for spicy. My repast consisted of two pieces with two sides and a too-large drink for just under $16. F**k! I waited ten minutes before going to the desk. It seems nobody now orders for in-house eating. They ignored my order while they filled an endless supply of drive-through orders and online pick-ups. They smiled, said they would fill it now, and soon I had a giant chicken breast and huge thigh from chickens so large I would not want to meet them in a dark alley! I was late and rushed, but the red beans and rice and the potatoes with Cajun gravy were spicy and delicious instead of being the usual placeholder and calorie bombs. I did not finish them, as I did not need the calories, though the price made me regret that. I watched a march of huge orders getting picked up while I rushed my dinner.

Emma was ready, wearing a comfortable black T-shirt, perfect; I was in a tie, dress shirt, black vest, pocket watch and chain, swirling tie (clip-on I found recently), black dress shoes, and a black homburg hat. I want to look the part for a 1924 adventure. We soon arrived at Bone & Board, and Nick pointed us to one of the gaming rooms while Emma carried the wooden crate, American Embalming Fluid on the side. I found it years ago at an antique mall in Hillsboro, and use it to hold the Call of Cthulhu (CoC) stuff. Black tablecloths (plastic), candles (digital), and various theme-appropriate items, including “packs” of candy cigarettes, were assembled.

M@ shows up, and Nick, the owner of Bone & Board, joins. We got no other players. Still, three is a good group, as everyone gets the spotlight and no one lurks. I selected the adventure “Swamp Song” (here) for our first game, but I found the plot a bit hard to run, as I needed notes, not in the text, on how to connect things; but, as is my style for Call of Cthulhu role-playing, I just let it run and saw where it went. I could have used some canned text and maybe a flow written out ahead of time next time I play it—the PDF copy would allow me to copy out some words and rework them into extra documents and text to read. Next time.

I discovered that one of the handouts is not in the back-of-the-book section to print out (oops). I also backed off on the ghouls in the story, as they don’t do much for the flow of the story. This also matched the constant extreme success rolls that the player kept rolling, letting the players miss out on some unfortunate events. Wow! Combat was avoided until the end, and even then the players wisely stayed back.

Aside: I have game-mastered the two extremes when the players roll well or can never make a roll. It allows for a lot of fun. Today the players got a cake walk, but they did find their way and unlocked the mysteries.

We played from about 6:10 to just past 8 and had plenty of time to pack up. The storyline went well, and the players, Emma, M@, and Nick, seemed to enjoy unraveling the mystery and then confronting the horror at the end. The details cannot be covered here as it is published material; it was interesting and fun.

Turning off the lights and letting the digital candles create a mood was fun. Also drawing a tarot card for each player was fun, and letting them interpret them. We left the cards out for the game and collected all the handouts in the center of the two tables pushed together and covered in black. It created a pile of events and knowledge that worked.

After we packed up with M@ help, I thanked Nick (who had to leave just at the climax) and covered the ending with him. It does not happen often that CoC is a win. Emma and I then had a drink and snack at The 649 with another Matt as our bartender. It was nice to ramp down. The place was not too busy on a Tuesday night.

I took Emma home and was home soon after. After buying tickets to the Frick for my trip next week, I read some more CoC adventures for the 18th game on my return from NYC; I went to sleep. Just before I went to sleep, I did look up flights to Amsterdam in December on my phone ($1,200 for cheap seats). I am short some miles on Delta to make gold, and I love Amsterdam in the winter. Tired from running my first CoC in years, I slept well, though I dreamed of wandering the dream world. Maybe you, dear reader, passed me in the world. Wave next time.

Starting the day, I rose late, almost 8. After making coffee, I spent much of the morning writing the blog. Lunch was heating up a Trader Joe’s Indian-style frozen dinner. I found it defrosted in the fridge and think Corwin was going for that, and when I offered lunch out on Sunday, he put it back in the fridge. It was still good.

I watched some Ted Lasso, reaching the mid-point of Season 2. I really enjoy the show now that I have understood the characters (and I think the actors have adapted to their characters and their interactions are smoother). It was 90°F and smoky (air quality now 155), and I tried to install my key lock box but forgot to predrill the screw holes, and it went poorly. The rush did not help (I was in my dress clothing). Deborah, hearing about my misadventures when she called, thought it was madness to go out in the heat and smoke in a dress shirt, vest, tie, and dress shoes (and how could I forget to predrill the holes?).

With that over, time flew by fast, and soon I was headed out in Air VW the Gray.

That takes me full circle. We forgot to take a photo of our first game. Thanks for reading!