Author: alohawild

I managed to skip the alcohol drinks on Tuesday, but I did have a large plate of chili con carne yesterday. My PJs seem to be tighter on Wednesday when I write this, I am sure it is my imagination…

Tuesdays include traveling to Portland in post-rush-hour traffic to Richard’s place to play cooperative games with Richard and James. The 6:30 alarm was unwelcome, but I managed to rise with it. I did not, as is my usual, wake minutes before it, but instead it blasted me out of my dreams. Coffee was assembled but not yet brewing as it is set to 7. I started it.

I, with focus, wrote the blog and quickly processed my transactions in Quicken, peeked at the news (depressing), and rushed through my email, unsubscribing from retail and political money-collecting emails. I am trying to help both by reducing their costs and setting appropriate expectations. I am retired with very limited income opportunities. Most of my inbound cash is generated from interest and dividends on the money I have invested in interest-bearing accounts and some limited short-term instruments.

I completed the blog but running into my time-box, rushed my shower, and found myself in light but still slow-moving traffic in Air VW the Gray. It was the lightest traffic I have experienced on this trip this year, but it was still a 45-minute trip to Richard’s place. Even the signs were saying 50 mph while we were going 10, a sort of cheerleading from ODoT. I was ten minutes late. James, coming the other way from Washington State, was also late.

We returned to Tainted Grail and learned, to some frustration, that the Holy Grail we had finally recovered was a copy. Our characters are starting to work more effectively together and gain improved abilities as we collect resources and move around more frequently. We are working more like a team. I also think this chapter, 3A, is better assembled and gives me hope for the remaining ten chapters. We play, trying to move the story forward, until 1:45, most of the time was invested in playing and less in game mechanics and accounting. These role-playing game-style board games with an app often are, to me, filled with a mind-numbing process and upkeep. I prefer paper-and-pencil versions or online tools that fit that model, like Roll20, but it has been interesting to play these games. I like the combat system and the diplomacy.

We take a risk and undertake a challenging diplomatic task that I was initially against trying. Too many times have I seen that you suddenly have no resources and cannot play without spending hours restocking. Totally boring to me. However, we all managed to push it through with some luck and a lot of cards played.

(I loved this sign at the Broadway Grill)

I had mixed feelings about the game, as I felt we were spending too much time on the process. I also detected the colors running out of the world and sadness rising in me. So, I ignore my doubts about the game and instead stop at the Broadway Grill for a late lunch. Iced tea and a falafel pita sandwich were my calorie-appropriate lunch. I also wrote a card for Mom Wild.

I carried my Apple laptop with me. I began researching flights to Boston for the Thanksgiving holiday. I found reasonable holiday flights (under $600) once I spread out my travel dates. I will chat with Clint later to set dates.

I started my work on preparing for the class on Sunday. This one is about our church, and mostly me to compose and execute. I will invest more time on Wednesday and Thursday, and then stop. Four times the length of the class is more than enough time to invest in preparing.

Feeling the depression rising, I walk in Portland searching for a mailbox for my card. I see many places that interest me, and I take pictures of the area. I find the colors returning, and the sadness fades into a memory. It will haunt me a few times for the rest of the day.

I find that the Postal Annex has a box, and I drop my card there. I skip the excellent bakery and cross the street. In Portland, the cars stop for you at marked crossings. I was trying to get my phone out for a photo when I heard the tap of a horn, raised my arm in acknowledgment of the mistake, and walked the rest of the way red-faced.

I reached the Broadway Bookstore and found cards and political postcards with messages for our elected officials, and I picked up a few of those. One is headed soon to the FCC Chairman. You can see the postcards at Stronge Feeling Press’s website (here).

I had parked the EV on Broadway, which is now reduced to two lanes and has angled parking. This means folks will back into traffic. The staff, while appreciating the changes (I could now find a parking spot), noted that there have been many accidents and that traffic is slower through the area now. Richard had mentioned that he resides in Portland a few times and dislikes it.

I returned home via tall bridges and then drove back into Portland NW to connect to an alternative way when I saw the huge traffic mess just off the bridge. My Nav was repeatedly telling me it was messy and had a twenty-minute wait. Instead, I got to enjoy seeing areas in NW I had not seen in a few years, and then crossed the hills on backroads.

I returned to the house without further adventures. I blew through one red light that I didn’t see until it was too late. I also made some messy lane changes as I corrected. I also drove the EV fast in the curves until I discovered the usual slower traffic. Again, despite the extra-legal mistakes and speeding, it was a nice drive.

Home, I got the mail, rested for a bit, and managed not to eat anything. I was tired and started the Foundation on Apple+ to relax. I am ending season 1. I have been told that season 3 is the best.

Off to Beaverton and meeting Dondrea and Z for a birthday dinner for Dondrea. We talked about travel, school, sports, and some items from my class. Dondrea and I love the chili Colorado, and Z got Mexican-style tacos. We shared a flan that was thick and more caramel-flavored than most I have had (almost a thick pudding). Excellent.

With us saying goodbye, I returned home. The colors suddenly ran out again (notice the sun is down), and I am sad, I am sure I do not want to go on, and unbidden thoughts run through my mind. I am reacting to the dark! Richard’s basement has no sunlight (but some lightning). I need to turn on the lights and not sit in the dark, like when I am driving. Wow! Never been here before.

Susie had the issue, and I changed the lights, but I have not kept that up. I will update the lights and ensure I have lights. I noticed that I slept better a few times with the light on. Hmmm. I am also always scared in the dark. My imagination runs riot.

With a light on, I watch Foundation and feel better. I am tired, get in my PJs, read in bed with a light, and feel better. I do turn off the light and sleep as I am nodding off in my book, Bismarck.

Light and exercise! Thanks for reading.

 

 

I have started to watch all the late-night host monologues as my news feed. I still read the news in the morning in The New York Times, which I do not read for its liberal editorial (which isn’t that liberal, but at least not the voice of some zombie self-focused multinational corporation or worse, some twisted billionaire), but for its focus on language and storytelling. Even their cooking articles are brilliantly composed. Their writing is meant to catch your eye at the start, and as the writing flows naturally, it keeps your attention and adds more and more interesting items. I forgive their use of the Oxford Comma, and look carefully at how they use punctuation, especially how they break for paragraphs. I am reading less and less during the day.

Monday is my day to relax and go wherever I please. I seldom have plans on this first day of the working week; many of my friends are busy changing their mental gears from living the weekend and now grinding in the week. I glide into Monday. It is a laundry day, and often things leak into it. I have a church meeting in the afternoon and a CT scan following Monday at a new location at OHSU in Portland (no tram rides this time, as I will be on the river).

Grammarly gave me my “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” 350-week continuing writing award (over six years). They seem to be inventing new awards just for me; I suspect I am one of the few, possibly the only one, who has used their tool every week for this many years. And I am happy that it has been years since I last had to talk to their helpdesk folks. I am, though always fighting with it, glad to have it watching and helping. And it never likes to start a sentence with a connecting word, such as ‘and,’ for example. Although it is legal, I often use this technique to break up the writing and engage the reader, but the AI tool highlights it every time, suggesting that it is incorrect or unwise. But, I digress.

Returning to our story, I struggled to find my focus on a day when I didn’t need it. I managed to publish the blog in the morning and start the first load of laundry after stripping the bed, gathering towels, and having breakfast of a banana and some cheese (finishing the blue from Market of Choice). I shower. Deborah, back to work, and I text as the day goes on. We enjoy starting and ending our days together. She was an excellent distraction from finding my focus!

I am not as sore as I was yesterday, and I try to ignore the cold house at 64°F (18°C). There is no dampness to it, making it easier to tolerate, and I am happy to spend no resources again today on heating or cooling (though the fan is running constantly to keep the air moving through the filters).

I cook, some sticking to the bottom of the pan but not burning, some grits for lunch. I add the last of the French-style beef, heated in the microwave. I had no cheese to make the grits extra special, but honestly, I don’t need those extra calories. I cooked 1/4 cup of dried grits, just enough for the meal.

Off to church by way of the post office to mail a card to Mom Wild. I arrive, and folks for the refresh meeting are there. We even have a little person join us. We talk about the details of the refresh and the bids. I check my understanding of all the work. Wendy from the church office joins us for a while, and we decide on a bid, agreeing to move forward. I sign the letter to transfer the last of the money as a donation in front of them, adding a bit of ceremonial flair. We pray, and it begins.

I take the EV home, putter around the house, do some more paperwork, and start more laundry. My plan for a walk never materializes; I will have to be more careful with that. I want to close that ring every day. I make dinner at home (saving money, my waistline, and using up all the food I bought). I defrost more Costco chicken in running water, find the curry sauce in a jar, and cook some rice. Again, I chose to make 1/2 a cup of dried rice to prevent over-consumption. The skinless and boneless chicken thighs are cut into 1″ pieces and browned in a pan, and then the sauce is added. I did eat all the chicken, but I was hungry from the merger lunch and avoided snacking. It was delicious.

I watched more of Apple+ Foundation and enjoyed where the show is going, a surprise to me. I like the action, acting, and the expansion of what I thought were secondary characters. It reminds me of The Explanse and their reworking of the books. Recommended.

I talk to Clint (Married to Susie’s cousin, and an outlaw like me), I will join them around Thanksgiving, I think, and we will play some games, and also collect his large group of role-players and do D&D again. Details have yet to be finalized.

I read more role-playing game (RPG) rules, Shadow Dark, and even an adventure. This is a GM-focused game with rules light and a strong focus on combat and flow; that is more my style (Game master, or dungeon master, runs the game and decides on rules, for those who do not speak RPG). It makes spell casting a risk, and I would reduce or eliminate other mechanics to make it more enjoyable for the players. I am tempted to get a group together to try it. It comes with adventures, though the details are light, they would be a reason to play.

My usual complaint is that there is no playable material, but these rules and the one expansion come with adventures. It also comes with premade characters ready to play (all obviously ignoring the character creation rules, which I would immediately discard). I am player-focused, not GM.

I turn to my 1980s biography of Bismarck and read more of the “great man.” I get a few more pages, and then sleep comes. I put the book away and surrender to the darkness. The new sheets on the bed feel wonderful in the cold evening. Dreams come, but they are not remembered. Pain comes too. My legs ache. Painkillers do not work. Taking some electrolights does. I sleep the rest of the night, sliding deep into my blankets.

Thanks for reading.

I am writing this on Monday morning, and already it is 10, I am trying to find my focus this morning — so far it is not happening. Let me try again…

I rose in a rush and grabbed liberal coffee, roasted locally and made in a machine on the timer at 7. I had slept better, sticking to water at Richard’s while we played games late. I was not asleep before 1 and 7, and sunrise seemed to come sooner than bidden. My body felt like I had been attacked by the bed, and I will be more careful with my neck and pillows in the future! Morning pills and painkillers!

I did the usual check of email, read a few depressing news headlines, and updated Quicken with transactions. I then composed a detailed account of what happened on Saturday, drawing on my memories. Already in a swirl and starting to fade. One of the reasons I write these is to keep the day forever. I hate to lose even a single day now.

I wrote and cut some cheese to go with my banana, trying to avoid carbohydrates for breakfast. I wrote and finally posted the blog with time to get ready. Again, the usual routine, though I was well-rested after a liberal dose of coffee, shower, shave, and dress. Soon, I was in a sweater vest and a tie, brown with butterflies from Deborah, and with dress shoes for church. I forgot my phone and headed back to get it when I boarded Air VW the Gray.

I soon arrived, in moderate traffic, which was surprising for a Sunday morning, with thirty minutes to spare. I get out of the car and look in First Class. Yes, I had not loaded the sandwiches from Costco there. Back in the EV, a quick trip back and forth, and returned with sandwiches. It was just a few minutes into the service when I carried in my sandwiches and papers for my class on Methodists today for the New Members Class after the service.

I ushered. Michael R gave the sermon about Methodist history and how it sheds light on today, and how the church service, Methodist in its design, represents traditions going back to the apostles. It was fitting like a puzzle piece into my class. Michael R also covered “the awkward moment of the offertory and that seemed to lighten the moment of passing the plate; one of my duties when I usher.

The music was moving today and included, I know some will not believe this, I could actually sing and knew most of the words too (and sang in time). There was clapping, and we in the back waved our hands and did some steps to the music. I also heckled Dondrea gently, as she coordinated the worship as usual, and this seemed to raise the warmth of the atmosphere. There were smiles. Also, our new organist seemed to find his way and fit with the music, and the congregation sang louder and with the organ.

With a break at the end of the service and sandwiches, I started on the class and warned, at first, I am not that good at theology and “being saved,” but hoped to make it work. I read John Wesley’s instruction for singing from the Methodist Hymnal as an introduction to Methodism and the John and Charles Wesley.

I requested a more interactive session and received it. There were questions and answers supplied by some of the folks. I managed to keep to my plan and finished on time, just past 1. Folks seemed happy with my covering of grace, the means of decision-making, and some history.

I returned home. Pulled off the tie and focused on Dungeons & Dragons accounting as we played at 5:30. I could not find my notes from the last session. I upgraded my Sorcerer to 6th Level in the 2024 version of D&D. I also looked at the Bastion rules for 2024 D&D.

I arrived at M@ early and we chatted. We did a bit of bastion work and then returned to the adventure once everyone arrived. Karyn got a birthday bar (we have various dietary complexities in the group) and had a brutal battle that left our characters near defeat. We managed, though the encounter used various immunities and undead, which we are not very suited against. We are charm, sneak, and run away-and-come-back style. This time it was a slug-vest. We found, after that, a more playful and colorful encounter that better fit our group. We are still puzzling that out when we reach the time. I will miss the Oct 19th game and Karyn, another. Karyn’s son will be my replacement. Excellent.

It was a fun night of mixing genres in D&D. I headed home after chatting with Scott for a while. There, I did the dishes, assembled the coffee for Monday morning, and climbed into bed with new role-playing rules, Shadow Dark. Another attempt to produce a light version of D&D 5E. The “quickstart” rules cover 1-10 levels and basic rules. I purchased that and an adventure to see if they are building on the original success of D&D, rules to create characters for excellent adventures. I see so many rules, but seldom with good playable content.

With rules bouncing around in my head and our last play, and stopping the coffee before 7, I was able to drift away into sleep. I did wake a few times, but I managed to sleep again.

Thanks for reading!

 

Starting from the end of Saturday, I played the board game Luthier with Richard, Laura, and Kathleen. The game allows for four players, and it was my first time playing it with four. It was my third play and I made only one mistake. I scored 70, which is my high, but behind Kathleen by ten or more, and more than fifty points behind Laura and the winner Richard. Richard and Laura finished more instruments and patrons, and, as I suspected, there are “magic” patrons and cards that push your score way up. Still, I enjoyed the game and found the four-player setup easier than the three-player setup, where some resources are cut due to the lower player count.

It is an efficiency race with worker placement and working management. Engine building is less. The turns are complex and often played together with complex sequencing.

(Laura plotting her next turn)

The game can be mean, and you can do things in a sequence that will disrupt the play of others. I struck Laura once, not knowing I was going for a sequence that would be detrimental to her. I also made the reverse mistake, misplaying a sequence and having to settle for fewer points, and taking two rounds to complete something that could have been completed in one. It is a challenging game, and while I enjoy it, it is too expensive for me (Starting at $129 for a deluxe version with many add-ons not available now) to buy and too deep for any but the most dedicated gamer.

We talked about politics, religion, and gaming for a while after the game. It was midnight when I left Richard’s house in Portland. I called Deborah, who has an early flight to New Jersey for a family event, and reached her on the second call. She was happy to hear from me; her alarm had failed, and we got to start her day together as my day was winding down. I reached her as I was driving across a bridge in Portland, crossing the Willamette River. I rang off; she had to get ready and head to the airport, and there was a mess on Highway 26 outside of the tunnel. People were out of their wrecked cars, waving cars to safer lanes. There were car parts all over the road. I counted seven wrecked cars spilled into at least two of the four lanes, and some spun around. I blew my horn, braked, put on the hazard lights, and got to the shoulder and crawled around the accident.

Having escaped adding Air VW the Gray to the pile of cars, looking like a pile of Matchbox cars dumped on a toy track, I traveled fast to Beaverton, and soon crossed it to my abode. I put the few dishes stacked in the sink in the dishwasher, had a few bits of pretzel, took my night pills, and assembled the coffee, using locally roasted, liberal coffee beans that were now ground and loaded into the coffee maker.

I climbed into bed in my PJs and soon was asleep, listening to the rain and the gurgles in the gutters as the Pacific Northwest changes season to wet. I woke at 4 a.m., happy to get a text that Deborah was on her plane (an unexpected upgrade to First Class took the sting out of getting up so early for her and her family member). I went right back to sleep and woke, not from texts but from muscle cramps. Water and a painkiller let me sleep.

Aside: I believe we really have only three seasons: “wet,” “not wet,” and “both” with “both” being a short transition and happening twice; I have also heard of the month Oct-Nov-Dec-Jan-Feb-March-April as another name for wet, with the only difference being the temperature of the rain in these individual months.

Before this, around noon, I met Joan S for lunch. We try to meet and keep in contact. We have a shared background in IT and SAP systems and know many of the same people. We met at BJ’s Brewhouse, located off of Cornell Road. We had just appetizers, sharing two favorites, and talking about politics, computers, AI, and some of the computer challenges. Mo, often my waiter, was working, but not our waiter, and she said hello. She was wearing a custom Seattle jersey. I worked on the software that allowed for custom jerseys — I love seeing them. The big screen had the Civil War game on (O vs. O State). It was a nice light-ish lunch.

We said goodbye, and I headed to Costco. There, I got some packs of nuts to give to Richard as gaming snacks, and sandwiches for my class on Sunday (I suspect that is the best part of my Sunday School Class). I return to the house in the EV, still well charged (it gets over 300 miles on a full charge), and putter around the house, speaking to Deborah a few times as her day, three hours ahead of me, starts to move towards sunset and the evening.

I popped a potato into the microwave and collected some of the French-style beef I cooked a few days ago. I kept the portion size down, dressed the potato with the meat and some butter, pepper, and just a bit of sea salt. It was good. I watched some political videos recommended by Deborah, one for the Dutch (here, highly recommended for liberals), while I consumed my meal. I caught some of the American late-night stuff and Daily Show; all wonderful (well, maybe not for my MAGA readers, sorry). I was feeling a bit down after reading the news yesterday, but now I am feeling better. I am not alone with my constant WTF-ing.

With dinner done, I took the EV to Richard’s, thankful once again that you cannot put the charging vehicle in reverse when it is still plugged in. I did remember to get out and unplug it after I started it this time, but you would only have to screw that up once if there was no safeguard. Traffic to Richard’s was slow on Highway 26, but cleared and ran fast on 405 in Portland. I arrived fifteen minutes early, having given myself an hour and a quarter to get there.

Moving to the start of my day, I rose, sent Deborah a ‘good morning’, and talked to her as I wrote the blog, starting my day with her. Breakfast consisted of yogurt, which was somehow still in the fridge; I hadn’t bought any for months, a banana, and coffee I had made. I had forgotten to assemble the coffee the night before. I rose around 8, thinking the coffee would be cooling, but there was none until I ground it and made it.

That covers Saturday, thanks for reading!

 

 

I am sorry, I did not take any pictures on Friday.

I rose, feeling better, around 7:30, and the coffee was already made; I had assembled it on Thursday night. It is locally roasted liberal coffee. I had a Voodoo donut with my coffee, Portland Cream, and soon was suffering from a terrible sugar high and crash. Can’t do that again! Just plain cake donuts! And all the coffee did not make this better.

Despite the jitters, I managed to finish the blog while it was still morning. I also got my one load of laundry into The Machine and got it all on hangers or added it to the yet-to-be-sorted-and-folded stuff left over from Monday. I did not get a card out to Mom Wild. I will take that to the post office later.

Scott and I usually meet on Thursday, rescheduled to Friday, for lunch and a beer (I decided I can have one a week with Scott), and I was ready early, so I puttered around the house and collected the mail. I received an email with all inbound mail to the house from the US Postal Service, a service you can order, but it is often incorrect. Most of the mail I received today was not included in the email. Hmmm. The inbound package information has been correct.

I had only partially charged Air VW the Gray as I forgot to charge it the night before. I plugged it in for part of the morning. I had more than a 50% charge when I headed out, which was enough to get me more than 100 miles. I try to be a good neighbor by charging the EV only at night, when power usage is lower on the grid. Dear reader, the charging is about the same as running an electric dryer.

Aside: I belong to a group of customers of Portland General Electric (PGE) that agree to curtail our usage on days when the grid is maxed out (usually hot summer days). I get an email to cut my usage for certain hours the next day. PGE pays me a small bonus for the difference in my usage from the average usage that is credited to my bill. I am not always able to reduce my usage, but I often turn off the AC and play board games elsewhere. It is just a few bucks. As I understand it, power on the market is expensive when demand is high, and starting up bonus power plants is costly for a short few hours. By reducing usage, PGE can avoid the extra costs, lower the cost of power for everyone, and avoid purchasing power that may come from coal and other carbon-intensive sources.

The traffic is heavier for a morning trip after rush hour. McMenamins’s Cedar Hills was not busy, and Scott soon appeared. We spent lunch, composed of half sandwiches, soup, and a small salad, catching up. Scott has recently visited Hawaii and Paris. We discuss money (my plans for giving away more money but then using that to avoid some taxes on withdrawals from my IRA), investments (we are buckled up for more Trump-caused chaos), and our concerns about Putin’s adventurism and Trump likely TACO when facing a real challenge.

I shared with Scott that I am deeply concerned that Putin will break NATO by getting one of the countries to issue an Article 5 after some terrible event (i.e., an errant missile hit in Warsaw, for example). Trump will then ignore it and abrogate US treaty obligations. Xi will repeat the process for Taiwan.

(deleted political comment goes here; yes, I am very concerned)

Scott and I returned to more pleasant topics of travel and parks in Hawaii. Scott is headed to the Keys later this year for more diving and to help his kids get certified for deeper diving (Scott reminded me that most accessible shipwrecks are located in moderately deep water). It sounds marvelous. I do not dive; I am an armchair explorer of shipwrecks, using sonar scans, publications, and RV views. We also discussed my plans to visit Michigan for ten days in October and the American South in November.

Scott and I said our goodbyes and plan, now that we both are back for a few weeks, will meet again next week on Thursday. Next, I wrote Mom Wild’s card in the EV and then drove to the post office to post it. Done!

Clint, the other outlaw in Susie’s family in New Hampshire, texted me about some Dungeons & Dragons items and to get an update on my plans. Thanksgiving or Christmas? I have yet to decide. More to come. Holiday gaming with the Weiss Family!

I headed early into Portland and soon arrived without issue at Rogue in SE Portland. The traffic was not slow, but it was chaotic, requiring me to be extra careful when changing lanes and taking exits. Back to school, stressing out some drivers, I suspect.

I found a table and got an iced tea (not a beer). I sat and wrote and revised the new chapter of my fantasy novel. I have never written an action scene, and the transitions and imagery were incomplete. I often need to add words and even paragraphs; I get the bones down and then flesh them, and well, fix the mistakes. Others I know write and cut, but I follow my usual IT-like thinking. What is the vision? Expand the vision into steps and processes. Revise and adjust. I write like I code.

Kathleen showed up after 3, we spent most of the day talking, some writing, and even reading.  Kathleen listened to my thoughts on the refresh. She is a professional and licensed architect, and her views on my thoughts were interesting. We also talked about writing and read some of it to each other. I like Kathleen’s story, which includes fantastical quant beasts and a bit of snark. Kathleen thought my voice in my story was good and hints at a large fantasy setting or space opera. My action scene, she thought, was good. My updates, rewrites, and transitions had hammered the text into something better.

Various tourists appear and leave. Rogue is on various pub-crawl routes. We have dinner, with me going for the fish tacos (thinking them reasonable for someone wishing to lose weight). Kathleen went, and I was jealous, though my dinner was fantastic, fish and chips. He talked and often wrote until 8. It was dark, a sign that fall was soon to arrive, and we said goodnight and headed to our respective homes.

The return was messy. I decided to drive through Portland, ignoring the EV’s Nav, and soon discovered closed roads. I had to do some loops and dodge many cars that seemed to be lost. One car tried to turn into the one-way street I was on, threatening a low-speed head-on collision. They corrected, and I escaped Portland intact.

This weekend, as we move into the fall, there are many galas and events. I discovered myself driving around double-parked cars and folks with canes, formal dresses, and suits getting out of vehicles. It appears that the evening crowds, while later, were returning to Portland events.

I arrived home, and I felt tired, changed into my PJs, and decided to nap for a moment; it was midnight when I woke. I took my meds and headed back to bed. I did not set up the coffee, but I did sleep most of the night.

Thanks for reading!