Author: alohawild

I rose on Sunday, aware that the day would be much less interesting. I had just church and then was taking the prep for a colonoscopy on Monday. The blog will not be that interesting, I am afraid. I made coffee, a clear liquid, and had only warmed chicken broth or ginger ale for the rest of the day and into Monday. I was a bit lightheaded by Sunday afternoon and spent most of the day at home after drinking the prep, returning the prep and water, along with anything else that went with it. Ugh!

I rose around 7, having woken with the sunrise, and rolled over. I made fresh coffee by grinding OP Beans and started on the blog in my office. We are back to desert-like temperature swings, with 50-60 in the morning and 70-80-90 in the afternoon. The rains may return in ten days, in September, as usual.

I was able to assemble a story for Saturday from my memories. Grammarly and I fought over a few words, and Deborah spotted one word that was still mangled in the text. I got that published and then showered and dressed. I selected, as usual, a dress shirt, sweater vest, and pride tie for today. I got a text from Dondrea that she was there early for the filming. She and her work partner, Brian, are cutting a video for the church at a reduced fee, and today they are getting the ‘B’ roll to be edited in. Later, she told me she was flying a drone to get that cool overhead shot.

I took Air VW the Gray to Beaverton First United Methodist Church near the park, just out of Old Town. Parking was difficult, and I had to turn around and park after someone pulled out. I was early, and the previous service was still winding up with coffee and donut holes, and there was a city-sponsored picnic at the park. The library parking lot was full of food trucks and other vendors for the event, reducing the available parking.

I remembered to bring the copies of the Missionary Leader books and was soon doing my job as usher. Ken’s sermon was long, and I thought he started over once. Ken explored, in a rather dark sermon, the idea of religious people carrying a Bible in one hand and a stone in the other. While Jesus said that the first one without sin should throw the first stone, Ken suggests that instead Christians have been throwing stones with some enthusiasm. Ken insists we need to stop that attacking and anger and “drop the stone.”

Brian R picked some excellent organ pieces to play and to sing too. He got applause for the opening. We ran over, and Dondrea and Brian were busy filming.

I headed out as I was already getting dizzy and tired. I reached home without issue and sat down for a while. I did not manage to get much started or done before it was 3, and it was time to enjoy the potions for my cleaning. Ugh! The reaction was nearly immediate. I never had to run to the toilet, but I did not wait long after the first rumblings.

I wrote an email to the Dungeons & Dragons group who were playing today, saying that my character, named Carter, was collecting material to make stories about devil lords in our adventure; the adventurers are on a mission in the D&D version of Hell. I try to have a story for when I can’t play; thus, my character adds to the story even when I can’t play.

Carter collects lots of supplies for bookmaking: tools, inks, gold leaf, pens, powered gems, small, cheap but good-looking gems to attach to binding, brass strips to make corners, brass locks, good leather (from local cows), and a few reference books on Hell (mostly cheap tourist pamphlets and published interviews with various infernal leaders). Carter has discovered a set of wonderful stories about Asmodeus in disguise and performing all sorts of amazing, impossible thefts and love affairs throughout Hell and the planes. A Don Juan and the Saint at the same time. These stories, while likely false, Carter believes they should be true. He is sure these stories will be well received by Asmodeus, especially with publishing rights across Hell, and thus a source of income and an improvement to his standing in the local community. This will make a wonderful gift and opportunity to serve without a contract or doing anything more to the local traditions (seven deadly yet recommended sins, punishing victims, and so on).

M@ suggested some story titles:

“From Stygia with Love”
“The Devil Wears Prada… and Nothing Else”
“The 7 Deadly Sins Ranked Worst to Best”

Corwin stopped by, and I put on the first season of Slow Horses for him, which he did not know about. He liked it. I was nodding off as I continued to travel and drink Ginger Ale to stop myself from starting from both ends. Ugh!

What was going to pass was done by 9ish, and I read and watched Ted Lasso until after 10. I then went to sleep, only rising once; I woke at 4:30 to my alarm. More prep, ugh!

Sorry for the rather uninteresting story. Thanks for reading.

 

 

I rose early-ish and was going by 7:30. The sky was gray, and blue broke through as the maritime clouds burned off. My roses are ignoring the lack of rain for weeks and are full of blooms. The flowers are smaller on some plants, but my climbers are full of the usual David Austin English roses; Wedgwood is the variety.

The hummingbirds are slurping up any bugs that have survived the weeks of no rain. I also saw a huge bright red dragonfly that was at least four inches long zip in, freeze, and zip out of the yard. I had not seen it before. Wow! The grasshoppers, another of my favorites, seem to have moved on. I saw them flying up and down a few weeks ago. Their life cycle may have been completed, and/or they were found delicious by various birds and other hunters. The apple tree is weighted down with apples, and some of the fruit are not completely wormy. I leave them for the animals and watch the animals. I imagine the apples fermenting, and my backyard is the local hard cider house for the furry and feathered locals as winter comes.

It is always hard to imagine now that my brown, desert-like backyard was green, mossy, and flooded to the rose bush during the rains. Six to eight inches of water in the corner! The rains start soon in September as the heat low in Death Valley cools (it is already down to the eighties) and stops pushing storms out. In October, the storms flow back into our valley from the coast. There is no reason to expect less rain than last year.

I invested the morning in coffee, reheating it in the microwave, and writing the blog. I was able, with some effort, to make a good story out of Friday. It was hard to recall the day, and Grammarly and I fought over the words as it made some strange edits. I did not notice everything it had done (I often want spelling, plural, and comma updates but not word changes). I revised them back and ignored some hints and suggestions. But generally, I let it fix the small things I would catch on a reread. To be able to write this blog every day (it is not far from stream-of-consciousness writing), I use Grammarly to fix the small stuff so I don’t have to rework it into a second draft. I often find that Grammarly wants to rewrite my sentences because I have missed a word. When I add the word, it is appeased and leaves me alone.

With the blog done and chatting with Deborah for part of the morning, Saturday moves to the afternoon. I reheat a chicken thigh with mushrooms (over-salted) and try out the new microwave with a plate, and it works as expected. I was going to stick to soup, but some protein seemed a better idea. I did not have it with anything, trying to reduce my intake to hopefully make the output less of a messy story with the colonoscopy prep party on Sunday evening and early Monday. I am an IT professional, and I know a lot about input and output.

I shower and dress. The scale is still showing 228 pounds. I go with casual for today.

Next, I enjoy more Ted Lasso season 3 episodes, and Corwin stops by. He tries his steam cleaner on the carpet stains. The dark bits on my brown carpet have been there for years, but new carpet or professional carpet cleaning has not been on my list (the amount of stuff that would have to be moved is nothing I want to experience again). It works, and the carpet is better. Excellent. Corwin heads out as I watch more Ted Lasso and then start on figures.

Next, I washed the new Scythe figures from the game Duel of Moloch, as well as two extra Call of Cthulhu figures from Etsy, to paint. Dish soap and water, taking care not to damage the 3D-printed figures, which are more fragile than hard plastic figures. I let them dry, then set them in the sun to dry further. I then, and this is always startling when you do it, paint them flat black using Chaos Black from Warhammer as the spray-on primer. One coat nearly works. A few additional sprays are needed, and I have to hold one figure and get black on my hand. I use a mask for most of the work.

When dry, I hand-paint the bases with my usual go-to Army Painter paints. I let that dry for about 40 minutes. The figures start to look 3D with just those changes.

I watch a bit more Ted Lasso and read some church paperwork. I then get out the special dry-brushing-style brushes, which are like larger brushes but with the tips cut off. I then take a tiny bit of white paint, brush it out on a paper towel until it is less, and then use the brush to color the surfaces to create a contrast between deep features and surface one. It looks like an X-ray.

I will touch up the base coat after I am done. I then get out my paints and a dilution solution that prevents foaming, and mix my Army Painter colors to be more of a flow paint than a coverage paint. This allows the white to be painted, or more like colored, with the dilution, while the dark pushes through the color, creating a weathered, shaded look.

I manage to spill paint, and with that, I stop painting for a while. My rule is two mistakes (I had dropped a figure without casualty earlier), and it is time for a long break (it also lets the paint dry, and the colors stabilize, as some paints do not dry to the color you thought). I cleaned up the mess; light brown paint on light brown carpet was not a loss, and I managed to get it out of my pants by treating the spill with Dawn dish soap and washing them immediately. Acrylics are a lot more forgiving than enamels and other oil-based paints.

I grabbed my copy of the board game Vestige and my new Quantum Computing book from No Starch Press (recommended at Hope 2026) and took Air VW the Gray to Cedar Hills’s Panera Bread for soup for lunch. I arrived without issue; traffic was light. I soon had a very hot bowl of Chicken Noodle soup and read the Nemesis rules for Vestige and reviewed extra cards from my Kickstarter awards. I added them to the game and decided that the Nemesis rules add a crushing level of complexity and would be best for cooperative play. Yikes!

I was still hungry. I had a chocolate chip cookie (no nuts) for my meal and read about coding quantum computers. I did not finish the introduction, as these technical books — this one is more than an inch thick — cover how to use and read the book before you even start chapter one. It was time to head to Richards; I wanted to arrive a bit early to set up the game.

I was 15 minutes early and started on the game. I did the teaching, but it was always hard going, as Richard and Kathleen kept poking holes in the rules, and we had to find answers. Richard discovered I had missed something: that jobs have to be picked up and dropped off at different locations. We also learned that chop bots are immune to certain effects, as they are not contacts. This slowed us, and the turns went slowly at first.

Kathleen and I suffered bad rolls on completing jobs and lost many contacts. Richard went for the land grab following a Vindication strategy—this game is a reworking of Vindication —and it landed him in second place. Laura took the game by about 10 points ahead of Richard, managed to play all the roles, and was deep into the process (how I think the game should be played). Kathleen, with her losses from bad rolls, was ten points behind Richard, and I was last by another ten points. I missed play, as did Kathleen, and the bad luck on rolls was crushing. It was an intense game, and the random End-of-Game conditions did not fire until after hours of play. Unusual in my limited experience with this game.

The verdict was that another play is needed, but generally it was enjoyed. The $49 price tag for the “Wretched” version makes it a cheap game, and the small box makes it less trouble. The Swanky version is much the same. The “all in” for $180 adds lots of moving parts. I think the “Wretched” already has enough rules and parts. Richard, I could tell, was tempted to pick one up: the “Swanky” version. Laura thought she could buy it.

I returned home, and even though it was late, I sat down, switched to my 3x protective glasses, and resumed painting. Again, I diluted my paints and then worked on the character and the mechs for the Scythe. I wanted to see how they looked with some paint, let the new work dry overnight, and see how they would color.

I read for a while and remembered my pills. I soon fell asleep, waking once to check my hydration level — it was fine —and woke at 6, thinking it was still early. I dreamed I needed to dress and was soaked in water and paint. There was a power failure, which made it difficult. I woke.

Thanks for reading.

It is Saturday morning, and I am having trouble recalling Friday; it was a simple and slow day. I had trouble sleeping, slept until 8, and woke up tired and still disturbed by things I had not finished yet. I did get one hotel reservation done for my trip in September; I still have to pick a hotel in Nashville.  I spent the morning writing until 10. I found a flagpole and another Pride flag (a Progress flag, technically); I buy them in packs. The flag on Beaverton First United Methodist Church disappeared a few weeks ago. My memory is that this was the third loss this year. I do not have a count of the number of flags I have replaced. Bill B started this, and we started taking turns replacing the flag and flag holder as needed. I buy plastic-based flags as they are impossible to burn without an accelerant.

Folks have suggested cameras, tracking devices, and reinforcing the flag to make it harder to take. I argue that we are not in the prosecution business (“Nobody expected the Methodist clerical police!”) and are more turn-the-cheek people. Flags are cheap and easily replaced.  And there are words like “meek inheriting the earth,” and “blessed are the peace makers,” and of course “don’t steal” in even older texts. Best to just keep replacing them.

I make coffee and take my pills. And I write the blog and finish by 10, to my surprise. Again, I have only coffee, and soon dress and head out with my laptop and the Call of Cthulhu adventure I am running on Tuesday. First, I stop at the church and discover my flag, a cheaper one, needs hooks, and my pole is designed for a more expensive flag slides on the flag pole. Oops. I also meet Brian and Dondrea there, who are on a scouting mission for a church video. Z is there with Brian’s kids and enjoying running around in the quiet church.

I head to lunch and to find another flagpole and clips. I do Pastini’s for lunch and have cream-based pasta with garlic bread and a small Caesar salad. I have iced tea with it. I read the rest of the adventure, which is creepy but not scary. Interestingly, the author comments that there is no usual solution to the adventure; it is up to the players to decide what to do.

I stopped next at Ace Hardware and found a wooden pole and an extra clip ring to make it work. After spending $20, I had a pole and a ring, and I returned to the church. I could hear Brian practicing a majestic organ piece in the church while I assembled the new pole and flag. The flag holder has a pin that locks into the pole to keep the wind from carrying the flag away in a storm, but it is frozen; I will have to replace it next time. I believe I have a spare with the spare flags and pole. In the past, a storm sucked the flag away and threw it on the roof, and later it fell off in another storm and was recovered. We were all amazed.

Deborah and I talked here and there. We try to keep connected on these long breaks from seeing each other. Deborah was having tire issues that were resolved with a free repair at Bell’s Tires in the Midwest. We talked here and there, and I said good night to her later in her time.

I managed to get one piece of paperwork done, but I could not find the other, so I called Kathy to have it resent to me. I will try to resolve that later.

I stopped at Walgreens and got supplies for the colonoscopy party. Broth, little cans of soup, some gas meds (required on the list), and ginger ale in expensive little cans. I would have one of the soups reheated in my cheap microwave, and I felt better then.

I have some figures for the Call of Cthulhu tabletop role-playing game that I ordered from Etsy, and the new Duel of Moloch board game that need painting. I had put away my paints, brushes, glue, and so on. I found the glues; most of the CA was hardened and unusable. I found the remaining brush version of CA, and after retrieving my CA accelerator, I was able to assemble the new figures. I will find paint, inks, and brushes on Saturday.

I was feeling well and maybe a bit sad, and instead laughed through Ted Lasso episodes and loved the one in Amsterdam, a favorite place of mine. I like the museums, food, and odd culture. I priced a trip back, as well as trips to Egypt, since the Cairo Museum is opening (finally), while I made soup. I felt better after some food, got some figures started, and enjoyed season 3 of the show.

I did go to bed early and felt sleep just overwhelm me, like a warm rush of blankets and a summer breeze. I did quickly overheat, wake, uncover, sleep, wake cold, and recover. This process went on for a few hours. I am retired and no longer worry about waking and ruining my day. Instead, I embrace the night and enjoy the waking. Sometimes I think about getting up and writing or something, but then nod off before I can get moving.

Dreams are all forgotten, but the emotion was pleasant tonight. Thanks for reading.

I could feel it on Thursday, and my body was saying WTF to me. I am not as young as I think I am, and those endless steps in NYC, various foods, airplane air, and time changes finally slowed me down. Thursday was less of a rush, and I felt it; soon I was tired and sad. I think the post-trip depression and the weight of all the church paperwork I need to do are weighing on me. But Brazil came back by finally accepting my photo, and reading Eternity at Sea by Sean Branney of The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society for Tuesday’s Call of Cthulhu game brightened my day (the version I have includes premade props and even 3D paper structures that fit 28mm figures for play). Things are moving forward.

I had a church meeting on a Stewardship program (for non-Methodists, about getting pledges for the church budget for 2027), and that was mostly a chat about what had been done and some themes. I managed to finish the blog just as the Zoom started; I lost track of time and mostly listened after Pastor Ken reminded me about the meeting, and I connected. It was on my calendar, but sometimes I get quite intense in my work and miss things.

The morning was reheated coffee in my new, slightly larger countertop microwave, a cheaply made Emerson model. I put a note on it and reminded Corwin that you must push the open button to unlock the door. This is to protect children from being burned by hot items, I read.

I showered, dressed, and all that, then headed to McMenamins Cedar Hills and arrived at 11:45, with Scott W arriving a few minutes later. We ordered Hammerhead beers, then another while we had burgers (I was ravenous after no breakfast and too much coffee). We chatted about travel, family, and pet updates. We are staying healthy, but pets are aging. I talked about my new interests in Rust (a programming language) and quantum computing after the conference, and my surprise at the amount of tracking the Hope Network Operations Center (The Noc) could do. Every movement, even with rotating MAC Addresses, could be tracked on the hardened, fast network. Attacks were easily turned away, too — tens of thousands. More to follow up on Rust and quantum computing.

I connected with Emma, and I picked her up after returning home and dropping off my laptop (it is a hot day for a laptop to be in Air VW the Gray). I also added the new game Vestige (here) to the collection already in the EV. Emma and I headed out after I picked her up at her apartment (classes have not started yet) and, using navigation to avoid less efficient routes, we soon arrived at Rune & Board. We grabbed a table and started to play. I did the “teach,” and Nic, the owner, was interested in the game and how I thought it compared to Vindication, also from the same game company.  I think it is a better game, as you make more choices instead of facing random cards and removing the real estate grab, but I would still play Vindication anytime and always enjoy it. I have not learned the nemesis rules for Vestiage yet. I forgot the Special Ops cards in the setup, but we were able to correct that without loss. Emma missed a rule, but soon I was running hard to keep up (never underestimate Emma or Z in a game). Emma tripped the second End-of-Game condition (they are random, as in Vindication), which ended the game. I managed to win by just over 5 points. I had claimed lots of areas, like in Vindication, and that ensured a win.

With that done, we packed up and got Emma back to her apartment for her Thursday night online game with Greg. I headed home and used water to defrost some chicken thighs. Fried some mushrooms I sliced, then replaced them with the chicken, browned it with just salt and pepper, and finished it in the oven. I made a pan gravy with butter and flour, and added the mushrooms again with Masala cooking wine. Sadly, this wine has salt, and it tipped the salt content over the edge for me. I heated a frozen garlic naan and had two chicken thighs with mushrooms and naan for dinner. I then watched two more episodes of Ted Lasso season three. Deborah was right about the show; I cannot recommend it enough.

I did not find the focus, and I was too tired to pick up any more church items. I soon started reading and fell into an unruly sleep, with things to do in my dreams and unable to get to them for various reasons. I woke at 4 and could not sleep (jet lag), and I will focus on more church things (I have already sent out an update on the visa process for Brazil).

Thanks for reading!

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.