I rose late and started around 8. I had a few plans, but time is running out, and I am headed to California, Mount Shasta, on Sunday. Today, I planned to shop and clean for the trip. I started on the blog and started to pack; laundry was in The Machine, and dishes were stacked in the dishwasher. I like to return to a clean and ordered house.

Without finishing the blog, I headed out in Air VW the Gray and soon picked up my Rick Steves’ Iceland travel book at Barnes and Noble. I also received a new tote bag and a discount as a club member. I had checked Powell’s website, and only the local Barnes and Noble had the book in the area. Next, I stopped at Trader Joe’s and got snacks, water, and other items (I needed TP and toothpaste for the house). I added instant coffee to my collection. Next, the EV wandered to Whole Foods, and I picked up a few more items, including some bread, smoked meats, and cheese. These items will be in my small cooler with ice on the trip. I am unsure if I want to stop for lunch anywhere on the trip. Instead, I may be at a charger, reading and eating my snacks. The newest Analog Magazine is in the driver’s door of the VW.

I ordered a sandwich made at Whole Foods. I have just one bag of items. The gal behind me was buying four dozen eggs. I guess the prices are better now. I had everything in Air VW, the Gray stacked on the board games still in the cargo hold. I got this and my sandwich with a terrible cherry carbonated drink in the house. I spilled my drink on the stove, but I did not think it was a great loss and cleaned the mess.

I got out the ingredients for a pumpkin pie and assembled the pie. It is March 14th, Pi Day, and one has to celebrate.

Pi Python for you coding nerds:

#!/usr/bin/env python

“””

    Copyright 2017 by Michael Wild (alohawild)

    

    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”);

    you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.

    You may obtain a copy of the License at

        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

        

    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software

    distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS,

    WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.

    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and

    limitations under the License.

============================================================================================================

This is a pi calculation process using Monte Carlo or simple random process.

Imagine a circle in a box. The edges just touch the box. Lets make it a circle of radius 1.

Thus any point on or within the cirlce are 1 unit or less from the center.

It should be possible to randomly select points in the box and determine if the point is in the circle or not.

The ratio of points in the box over the number of randomly selected should be 1/4*Pi

“””

__author__ = ‘michaelwild’

import os

import sys

#import numpy as np

import math

import random

from time import process_time

def howFar(x,y):

    

    distance = (x ** 2) + (y ** 2)

    return (distance)**(1/2.0)

def runtime(start):

    return process_time() – start

piGuess = 0.0

piLoop = 10000000

inCircle = 0

begin_time = process_time()

for i in range(1, piLoop):

    #x = (np.random.uniform()* 2) -1

    #y = (np.random.uniform() * 2) -1

    x = (random.random()* 2) -1

    y = (random.random() * 2) -1

    if (howFar(x,y)<1.0) :

        inCircle = inCircle + 1

piGuess = 4.0* inCircle / piLoop

piError = math.pi – piGuess

print((piGuess))

finish = runtime(begin_time)

print(“Run time:”, finish)

I spotted a tiny spider in my empty sugar bowl. I carefully carried the carnival glass, an early 190os antique, outside so the spider could find its way elsewhere. Corwin, who stopped by to get his mail and was surprised I was still here (I leave on Sunday, not Friday), commented that the spider was in uranium glass and I missed out on my chance to be bitten by a radiation-exposed spider. Like in the Big Bang Theory, “He is one lab accident from a super villain” has also been used to describe me. Corwin enjoyed some pie for Pi Day.

With no spider updates for me, Deborah and I work together, moving to Zoom, to book a trip to Iceland in July. It took two tries on Delta’s website to lock in a trip to Iceland from Detroit (the first time failed with unknown errors). We have flights with seats, hotel, and three-day trips set now. We have a few days open for a week in Iceland (six nights). We wanted to lock it in as we saw hotels selling out. The sun barely sets in Iceland in July!

Thu 10-Jul-25
Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF) – 8:00 am – Golden Circle & Sky Lagoon
Fri 11-Jul-25
Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF) – 1:00 pm – Whale Watching Tour
Sun 13-Jul-25
Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF) – 8:00 am – S Coast & Glacier Lagoon
Sun 13-Jul-25

Deborah and I chatted on Zoom for a while. It was soon late in Michigan, and we ended our Zoom travel planning meeting. We will see each other in California on Tuesday.

Dinner so far has been pie, but I finished the pasta and sausage, washed the dishes, and stacked some to run in the dishwasher. I finished the laundry I could do. I cleaned the toilets. I vacuumed the carpet (I did not move the furniture). I moved more items into my travel bag and into the luggage in the guest bedroom where I am packing.

This was a free evening; if I wanted to see the Marvel movie in theaters, I needed to go today. I called Jack, but he was tired, so I left him alone at the last minute. I got popcorn and a drink and watched the movie. It was excellent: CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (2025). I enjoyed the mix of jokes and seriousness. I laughed often and enjoyed even the couple of speeches. Recommended.

I returned home late, nearing midnight, and soon fell asleep, but it was still tough dreams. It was now forgotten; it woke me at 1ish. Sleep is still elusive. I proved hydration and managed to find sleep again and dream forgotten dreams.

Thanks for reading!

Sleep is still hard to come by, and when my alarm went off at 7, I turned it off and rolled over. When I rose, it was about 8. I found the kitchen; it had not moved, but putting on my slippers and locating the kitchen was non-trivial this time. “Yes, it is down here somewhere!” I do not have stairs. Hmmm.

Once I found the kitchen, I poured the locally roasted coffee beans into the grinder, with a few that had to be rallied when they fell to the stove and not the grinder. That and hot water in my French press made coffee. I am over grinding to dust, but it feels good after reading the headlines, a liberal doom scroll, and grinding something to dust: “DOGE this!”

I returned to my Apple laptop, a maxed-out 15″ M2 Airbook 2023 ($2,500 in 2023, now about $1,800 for about the same with more cores), and started writing the blog. I was surprised when Jeff appeared at 9 to finish the work, and I was still in my PJs. He painted the door, redid the broken tile grout, fixed the toilet, and blocked the bird access into the attics (the garage and house). We’ll do the deck sealing and cut down some scrub trees that are now large enough to lean against the fence in the summer. We settled the bill, and Jeff was off until the summer.

While this was ongoing, I realized late that I had lunch with Scott, quickly showered and dressed, skipping a shave, and headed to Cedar Hills McMenamins after boarding Air VW with the Gray fully charged. Scott later pointed out that I had left the charging flap open, which I have done a few times. I will try to be more conscious of closing it! I was fifteen minutes late.

Scott and I had a nice lunch, and I went for a burger. We talked about money, dealing with parents, and their issues. We talked about some of our friends at Nike with whom Scott had lunch. It was all good. We both agreed that Wall Street was crazy, and we could not do anything but surf the chaos. Scott and I are in more conservative positions and will follow a less risky direction.

I returned home, completed the blog, said goodbye to Jeff, and put out the trash containers to be emptied on Friday morning. I was happy that I remembered it was Thursday; this week has been rushing by. I sent a note to the mail carrier to hold the mail for two weeks starting Monday; I just write a memo instead of using the yellow card as this seems to work better. I reassembled the vacuum, and now it is clean and dry. But instead of cleaning and grocery buying, I spent the afternoon with Deborah on travel planning.

We both are comfortable planning trips, which became a contest between Iceland Air and Delta for the cheapest flight. Deborah found it was more affordable, by a lot, to fly me to Detroit on a direct flight than to fly from Portland to Iceland. How strange. We also ran Iceland Air and Delta vacation offerings and found that Delta was $500+ cheaper and is, sadly, better rated than Iceland Air (I had hoped it was something worth doing, nope). Deborah had to listen to me mispronouncing Reykjavík. We plan on a visit to Reykjavík and day trips there. We will pass on driving our own car. Dear reader, expect us in Iceland in July around 8-17. I will likely be in Michigan on the 9th and return to Oregon on the 20th.

Deborah rang off, and I headed back to Cedar Mills McMenamins. I was early for our room for ten and the Theology Pub monthly meeting at 7. We had fifteen, including one remote person in Utah. I had a pizza I shared, shared some of Dondrea’s humus plate, and a Sazerac to drink, remembering New Orleans (NOLA) and ignoring Lent. I was thinking of those NOLA vampires now on the other side of the tourist season until summer.

Lent was the topic, and we talked about how even folks are returning to the practice of denial and self-reflection as a means to find peace. This is not a Christian practice but a universal human practice. There is something good about stopping, looking at the sky, nature, or even a light, and losing oneself for a while. We agreed that one needs self-reflection and denial to become more centered, but the quiet time was inherently good. Others called out, as a Christian practice, to remember God and Jesus and their place in your life as you reflect. We also said God’s grace was found in Lent, denial, and self-reflection.

Most of us are liberal, and we felt we needed a break from the current noise. We pray that the world will be granted some of God’s grace.

After this, the three wise guys (including myself) helped Z with her algebra, doing an ugly problem that resembled 25¹°¯²ª = 5³¯ª; find a. Ugh! It took us a while to remember the rules of this math (order operation and process for exponent algebra), and then we did the problem twice, got a better result on the second try, and got it right. It was an extra forty minutes after Pub, but we got it. Z was happy and understood what we did to solve it (hint: 25 is 5²). I was sorry, but I got it mixed up the first time, and Michael R got that fixed on the second try. Dondrea said Z was happy with the results. Watching us struggle to remember made her day; it is not just her.

With the math problem solved (correctly) and Z understanding the magic used (same base for exponents) to solve it, we said goodbye with some hugs, as I am away for a few weeks. I was reading when Dondrea texted me that the lunar eclipse had started. The clouds had parted, and we could see it begin.

I went outside with a coat and binoculars for star events and whale watching. With these, I could see the rings of Saturn and the planets around Jupiter. My neighbors came out, and we shared the binoculars. Just as the moon reached totality, it disappeared in the clouds. Later, I returned and saw the blood moon.

Sleep was hard to come by, and nightmares, now forgotten, woke me, and morning came too soon, again.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday morning was more about me trying to start in the morning with the time change and darkness. It was hard to sleep and to rise. Ugh. I slept to 8! I got up and remembered I had to meet Samuel at US Bank to deposit the IRA rollover check. I took a quick shower, shaved, and wore a Star Wars T-shirt. No coffee or food. I hop into Air VW the Gray, make it at 9, and see Samuel leaving his car. Tracy, the branch manager, lets us in as she opens the US Bank branch a few minutes after 9. Tracy, Samuel, and another person I don’t know are all smartly dressed. Samuel introduced me to Tracy (I shook her hand) as one of his clients.

Tracy is supportive of Samuel and even offers to get me coffee. This is much different than my last confused stop there. Samuel created a receipt for me and the money, and all the 401K value appeared at US Bank that afternoon. Yay!

We talked about the market and the chaos and what he thinks. Like more investment folks I have spoken to, he advises caution, that corrections are usual, and that the change offers better buying opportunities. Since I have been all in cash since Thursday, he believes I missed much of the correction and sees me in a good position to buy at cheaper prices. We agree that Trump’s policies and chaos are not yet showing any signs of damage to the economy (as a liberal, that grinds on me, but the truth is better), inflation is still headed down, and the latest job reports were good. As a liberal, I would count that as the result of good policies from Biden. Samuel shook hands, and I headed out feeling a level head was in charge of my investments. I return home.

The blog for Tuesday has already been published, meaning I am at loose ends. I read the news (I am still doom-scrolling) and updated my Quicken entries. Jeff was there at 10 and started more power washing. I get out the broom and sweep the floors. I am talking to Deborah, who is free in the late morning my time. I head out to the local sushi place in the EV, Sushi Zen, and soon sit down at a track and pick a few favorites. They know me, and I have miso soup, hot tea, and a few plates. I am on my Apple at the same time, looking at travel options. None of these will work, I discover later, but it is fun to imagine going. I stay longer, eat more slowly, and only have four plates, which is a very light lunch. I talk to the waiter/cashier about travel, and the waiter’s eyes light up, and the waiter likes the idea of traveling to Europe.

Jeff re-cut the deck he had built years ago to increase the hole the mountain ash passes through. The tree is now intruding on the framing. In the future, he will need to reframe that part of the deck and create a large opening for the tree. The hole will be at its limit in a few years. There is no reason to fix it now. In the dry times (after the start of July and sometimes even mid-June in the past years), he will seal the wood, cut down some trees pressing on the fence, and fix anything else that breaks. He will return on Thursday to finish the bathroom and paint the back of the front door, which is still the primer color.

I mop the floors using Swiffer sheets and burn through a lot, as the dirt takes some time to lift. I skip the bathrooms as Jeff has some work. I do clean the shower and douse myself in cold water when cleaning—cold! I cleaned the vacuum, including the washed filter. I cannot vacuum until it dries–that ends up being a Thursday item, as it takes all day and night to dry.

I return to writing and add more to my story in Scrivener. I am focusing on the main character and adding features and thoughts about Brass, my main character. I worked on his appearance and described his personality. The software has sections to do this. So far, I have written nothing for the story as I form my ideas. I also describe a fantasy world and a new magic system with strong connections to Dungeons and Dragons’s Forgotten Realms material.

The dishes are done, and I’m watching some more Apple+ Severence shows. I can watch about one episode a day. The main character has a lot of grief, which hits me hard. The characters are interesting and seem believable.

I also read more of Elric’s stories and looked at the 2024 Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook. I like the changes, as they appear to clarify the stacking of effects. Some of the changes in 5E from 3.5 have been rolled back. I downloaded the new character sheet and sent it to my gaming friends.

I still have trouble sleeping, and the broken toilet runs twice. I discovered the chain inside was blocking the seal, and I managed to fiddle it back to quiet. I had to prove hydration twice. Sleep is still hard to find, but just as I turn to read, sleep decides to take me. I dream forgotten dreams about fixing the house and traveling. Maybe I had to fix a toilet in the hotel. My alarm wakes me too early. I ignore it and wake ninety minutes later!

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Clarification

Sorry, but Tuesday was chaotic, and I could not find the time and place to write. Today, I will combine Monday and Tuesday.

Starting with Monday

The morning began with me waking with maybe six hours of sleep. Mom Wild had called me at 2, and it was hard to get back to sleep. Time change Monday sucks! After fueling with some locally roasted beans that I ground in my small electric grinder (and brushed with my little coffee brush to loosen the dusty bits), I started on the blog. I wrote until about 10ish and showered while Jeff began another work day at the house. It was not terribly cold or raining, and thus Jeff selected the powerwashing for today. I showered, shaved, dressed, and continued on the blog. Jeff found the deck resisting, and it took him most of Monday to strip it and get it back to wood. In the future, Jeff will seal the wood with a protective coating. Jeff then cleaned up some of the walkways and the house, which showed some moss or other streaking. He will return later in the week to finish a few other items.

Lunch for me was reheated pasta and Italian-style sausage in a red sauce from a jar. I ate it while I watched more YouTube videos. I tried the Epic History video on The Battle of Trafalgar 1805. There was also a commercial for their videos commenting that they do not use AI to create false histories. They showed ‘Napoleon at D-Day’ and other examples of ‘AI’ generated videos. “Are you tired of AI-generated history?” This had me laughing.

Jeff was still cleaning, so I decided to head to Wildwood Taphouse and write there. I talked to Deborah for a while and sent her some of the text for my story. I met JR at the taphouse, and we caught up. I am headed to California on Sunday, and he is headed south to watch some racing. I had a heavy and dark beer, “As dark as my soul.” This was followed by more beer samples, which kept coming. I wrote a few more items, and the tamale woman was there. I got dinner and dessert from her, paid her, and put that in Air VW the Gray.

I paid my bill and headed home. I reheated the tamale (they were just warm now) and talked to Deborah, ending her day as she rang off to sleep. I read more, but I was tired and tried to sleep after going to bed early. I could not fall asleep. Time change! I tried a few things and started. After a while, I read more Elric, and Benadryl finally got me to sleep.

Tuesday

Tuesday started with me finding my phone to tell me it was 8, and I knew I was forgetting something. Mom Wild called at 2AM but must have hung up as I would have woken if the phone rang for a while. There was only one call. I found the coffee, locally roasted beans, that I ground in my small electric grinder and poured into my French press using my coffee brush to loosen the finely ground coffee. I have English Muffins, and I toasted one and added jelly. The jelly expired in 2023; I should replace it, but it tastes fine. I had a banana with that.

Then I remembered I had a 9:30 game at Richard’s at 9:30. I jumped into the shower, skipped the shave, and soon dressed. I boarded the EV with a plate of my breakfast. The traffic in Beaverton was slow and seldom was near the speed limits. It was safe to consume my breakfast while driving, such as grabbing something from the plate or a swig of coffee at red traffic lights. Breakfast was over before I reached Highway 217.

I drove to Portland and found myself having to change lanes in the tunnel (extra legal) to get to 405 and was twenty minutes late. Today, James had us playing The Plum Island Horror, a newish zombie-attacks, worker-placement, and resource-management board game. I have played a dudes-on-a-board types of zombie board games, but this was a cooperative attempt to save folks and hold off the zombie plague. We each played five characters, represented by standees, and used our faction to save people and slow the march of the zombies (represented by a stack of counters).

James is hosting the game at Gamestorm, meaning this is a how-to session. We have never played it, but James has read the rules and watched the instructional videos. We spend time on James covering the rulebook to his memory and then start working our way through it by playing. At first, the game seemed clunky and starved for resources. But as we learn to play the game and keep shooting and blasting zombies and other infected creatures, it becomes more and more fun. Playing multiple characters is a favorite of mine (Frostgrave, for example). I had the mayor and other leaders of Plum Island and started to rescue folk. Richard had the National Guard and was enjoying blasting things and rescuing folks. James had the mad scientists and blasted and got crunched by the zombies (the scientists have to get close to try out their inventions).

I had to leave early, but before I left, I saw we had just about rescued the minimum number of people to win. After that, it was just a survival mission. I would like to play it again.

I boarded Air VW the Gray, retraced my trip earlier, and soon was home. I found that the IRA rollover check was at the house. I need to get this to US Bank Wealth Management; it is a lot of pre-tax funds. I drove immediately to US Bank at 185 and Farmington Road. I got there, and they had no idea what to do (“No, do not deposit it in my checking, that is illegal”). They asked me to take back the check and call Wealth Management. I thought it was US Bank, but no. After a frustrating time on the US Bank phone tree, Wealth Manangement called me, and Samuel and I agreed to meet on Wednesday morning to handle this. Done.

I am late for Celik from Morocco, Casablanca, at the house. The carpet folks drive carpets in a truck all over the USA to sell them. They shipped them in a container, imported them, and then brought them to former customers in the USA. I told them I am retired and not buying nice carpets, but Celik still wanted to stop by. I met him at the house, only a few minutes late, and we had glasses of water (he already had coffee and turned down my offer of mint tea), and he saw the house and my carpets. He was sure I needed at least one carpet for the living room. Something less colored from goat, camel, and sheep wool. I climb into the truck to see it, but demurred. Celik could not hide his disappointment, but I did give him my business card. He drove off to the next place.

With Celik gone, I had twenty minutes before Corwin visited for his math lesson. I made morocco mint tea (a black tea with mint, not an herbal mix). I was sleepy.

Corwin was on time, and we spent an hour on math. Corwin got many right in the workbook. He was having trouble with the order of operations and was careless when copying from the book, reading the problem, and then dropping a sign or other important item in his steps. I redid some of the problems for him and showed him my slow approach of simplifying by unwrapping the static values. Thus, 3² is 9, and 10-3² is 1, not 19 (to get 19, you would need 10+(-3)²). Corwin will rework the problems he had operational order issues with to ensure he gets his mind locked into the correct order before we head to another topic. Corwin’s graphing and geometric problems were good. There were some copying errors, but nothing required reworking.

Corwin enjoyed all but one tamale and finished the flan. I sent him away with a bag of frozen beef stew and some frozen ham. I made tortilla soup from a King Arthur Flour Company package while talking to Deborah. It did not come with tortilla strips (?!). I shredded two chicken thighs after defrosting and boiling them. I added the water from the boiling and half a box of chicken broth to the mix. The chicken went in with 1/2 of a container of medium salsa. I let this cook in a boil and simmer for a while. I had purchased strips to add to the soup. I forgot the avocado; next time.

It was excellent, and I finished a few bowls and had some while Deborah and I chatted. Soon, Deborah, on Eastern Time, was sleepy and rang off. I then sat down at my Apple and wrote this blog.

It is now a quarter to 10, and I am tired. I am posting this now. Thanks for reading.

 

I rose with my alarm to a darker morning as it was a time-change Sunday (only time-change Monday is worse). I had about six hours of sleep and soon found the coffee and was drinking that quickly while writing the blog. I have stopped using CNN.com for news because they have too many pay articles. The New York Times works for me, and I am visiting BBC or Jerusalem Post website for another perspective.

I noticed that the State of Oregon had deposited my tax refund. I am waiting for the IRS to deposit my payment to bring 2024 to a close. The deposit takes another day to download to Quicken for US Bank. I am usually two days behind on US Bank, but I make it work by putting any checks I write into Quicken to be matched later.

I log into my Federal Reserve Account to ensure it still works. I have $10,000 in old-fashioned savings bonds booked on account in the Fed; these are inflation-adjusted. You can buy a maximum of $10,000 a year. So far, I have not bought more savings bonds as the bonds have a minimum holding period of five years without penalty. The site requires a user (supplied by the Fed), password, and one-time-password (OTP) they send you. All was good, and I was tempted to buy some treasuries, but I resisted. This costs nothing as it is with the Fed and does not use a brokerage, but you must hold them. You would have to sell them on a secondary market (somehow) if you wanted your cash back early. These are all complexities that keep me from using the site.

I wrote the blog for most of the early morning. I was rushed because I had church at 11, and the time difference was dragging on me. I managed to finish around 10, and soon, after a shower, I was dressed in a pride tie, blue sweater vest, gray button-down colored biz shirt, and gray slacks. My weight loss, still at 234 pounds, means my pants are very loose, and my belt is pulled tight. I unplug Air VW the Gray, and head to First United Methodist Church and arrive in surprisingly heavy traffic for a Sunday morning in Beaverton without issue.

There are no ushers, and I take on that responsibility and stand mainly at the back. I walk one person to their car as they are dizzy. The person drives home, and I hear they made it safely. I also did the offering routine by passing the offering plate and was happy my pants did not fall off at the altar when I presented it. While this was not likely to happen, it crossed my mind that it would be the worst possible thing. All was good, and no unplanned exposures.

A long-term member, Pam, gave the traditional sermon on Revelations 2, the letter to the Ephesus church. She reminded us that we must live our beliefs and not leave them at the church service. Like the letter demands of Ephesus, she called us to repent and remember the love we had. Pam’s delivery was excellent and clear and included a few fun stories. Pam is always a pleasure to listen to.

I did not stay late; next, I boarded Air VW the Gray and returned home. There, I made lunch from reheated pasta and Italian-style sausage I had made yesterday. It was excellent. I watched an excellent video on the Battle of the Nile. Deborah called, and we talked for a while.

Aside: I still write ‘Volvo’ here and there and miss the old XC60, which unexpectedly left me with flooding damage. Life’s familiarities are comforting. I then replace the word with ‘VW the Gray’ and am grateful such a suitable replacement was available and inexpensive. I still miss one Air Volvo and spot a Volvo before finding the VW in the parking lot. I did love traveling in Air Volvo. It is missed (the broken car was donated to OPB).

Next, I started Scrivener, created a novel-style project, and began to write the framework for a story I have been thinking about. I wanted to write a fantasy story of a Dungeons and Dragons-like wizard story, using my own thought-up fantasy world and magic system. This would require more organization than my usual Howard story or SciFi writings. I also wanted it to be longer, which meant I would need new tooling or notes.

I did not start with the story, taking my usual approach of starting with some stream-of-consciousness writing and then editing it over and over until I pounded it, blacksmith-like, into a good story with good grammar and not run-of-the-mill descriptive words. Instead, I let Scrivener guide me. I started with character and locations.

Moss and some high-up missing mortar suggest the tower is not new, but most of the cut blocks are in place, and the door, while strongly built, is new and in good repair with new ironwork. The windows are shuttered, with some open, all looking solid, painted green, and well-maintained. A chimney pipe is suspended out a window, and a wisp of smoke suggests it is occupied. Not far away, a privy and a well suggest this is a home, not a defense construction. A garden of vegetables and three fruit-bearing trees support this conclusion. A brook is nearby on a path with a small stone bridge covering the brook, which is overbuilt for the current stream, suggesting spring brings floods.

I am not sure it will help to have this kind of tool, but I am willing to try it. I have been tired this week, and finding the focus and energy for a new project is challenging. Getting tools and starting with the supporting material always worked on figures and model building. I think this will work for me.

I located my 5E Player Handbook on a shelf, got some dice—the ones I bought in New Hampshire for the D&D game I ran in January—and put that in Air VW the Gray. There are new 2024-2025 books. We will likely change to the new rules for the next campaign.

The new rules change some basics, mainly in the D&D 5E style. There is no falling back to 3.5 (super powered min-max’d) or 4 play (paper and pencil video game play). Most of the changes are to prevent combinations from creating min-max’d characters and monsters again (more 5E and less 3.5). There are a few eye-rolling moments from some changes from us long-term players, but it’s not terrible.

I head to M@’s place, and after talking to Deborah, who is headed to bed then, I spend some time catching up with M@. The game board was set up and covered with spiders the size, in scale, of SUVs. Ick! We, being our usual brave selves and down one person (a player was ill), climbed the tower or flew or were dragged up there (my character does not fly or climb in plate armor) and went to fight the main bad guy without stopping for the others. I deleted the details as others will play this…sorry…it was fun!

We rested and then headed to the next challenge. As this is published material, I will not cover much of it. We found the bad guy but still have more to do before facing the would-be ruler of everything, Venca. Venca is a bad guy who appears in the initial release of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons in the 1970s. So, yes, we want to defeat him. Something to brag about over beers at a gaming convention.

We face a lower-level challenge that nearly finishes us. It is something that, as a DM and player, I learned: Most adventurer groups have strengths and weaknesses. Some should-be-easy encounters can crush a group while a heavy-hitting bad guy falls in a few rounds. It is hard to predict, and often the DM has to keep a blank look as the players are crushed by something minor. More chances for the DM to tell stories over beer later.

I had switched out a spell that undoes some of this and instead had to rely on other, more expensive spells to fix a few things. I am the cleric, and I undo things and heal things. I am less about blasting and more about making things better for us to win a battle. It was close, and I used up most of my interesting spells. I called to my god as a cleric to return us to full fighting power, made the 18% roll, and zap! We were back.

It was a fun evening, and I felt we had done well, except for the one “easy” encounter. I returned home and upgraded my cleric to his final play form, 20th level (we will play a new campaign soon). We will face the super-charged bad guys in the next game (April 6th).

I also looked at the latest 2024-5 rules for a new character to play. I am torn between returning to warlock with the other pact (Lovecraftian stuff) or a wizard with a healing focus. Both I have played before. The stealing and trap-finding kind of rogue hobbit also interests me, as I have not done that before. We might also play Call of Cthulhu, but M@ has some new material D&D to play (here).

With thoughts of writing a fantasy story and new stories for characters for D&D, I finally turned off the light (how could it be so late? Oh, time change), and I quickly fell asleep. At 2 PDT, I got a call from Mom Wild, who was having a tough night. I tried to talk her down, and I think she calmed down enough to sleep. I had trouble falling back to sleep, and 7:30 rang on my phone too early. It is still dark!