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I rose before 8, and it was mixed clouds. A good day to plant flowers, and being Mother’s Day, that was likely what would happen all over the US, not just the Greater Portland Area. This was another Sunday School morning for me, and church at 11. I started on the blog after making coffee, finding some yogurt still in the fridge (it had been pushed to the back), and toasting a bagel and then adding cream cheese.

I assembled a memory of Saturday and realized I had missed part of Friday’s blog, but couldn’t really fit it into Saturday’s story. This happens. I miss something, it comes to me the next day, and I let it go again (I sent some requests to my bankers at US Bank). I continue to invest the morning in getting the blog done.

I finish the blog, the Quicken uploads, and read more email and news. Today’s news (and many emails) is a study in doing the wrong things and getting lost in the mundane. Mostly, I ignore the news and get the blog done and my day in order. It is a tie and red sweater vest for today.

I head to the church in Air VW the Gray and arrive around 10:25, with Emmaus winding down. I find my class notes in the service’s bulletins. I take my place as an usher, as usual, and we have a new likely homeless guy, Ray, who says he is there as  ‘higher power’ sent him to us. He has a lot of mismatched bags, suggesting he is a street person, but I point out the coffee and donut holes (leftovers actually from Emmaus), and he settles in. I believe he is waiting, as many who show up do, for the Beaverton Library to open at 1. Ray is mostly invisible and is welcome to the sandwiches I provide for Sunday School.

Dondrea gives the sermon and covers how we often wait for something in our lives. In the text, Jeremiah tells the captives that they will not be released for 70 years (three generations — everyone who was carried off will be gone, as will anyone who met them and heard them tell the stories). We need to temper our expectations to be focused on community and social justice in our area now. Do not try to recall some previous time or look for some distant promised land. We need to live now. The community now is what we need to build. Go ahead and plant an oak tree for some distant time, but remember, you will be the one watering it now, and you will need a community to live in.

The service closed, coffee and sandwiches were served, and soon I was teaching Sunday School. Attendance was lower on Mother’s Day due to other issues. I covered the ending of The Book of Revelation and then some of the controversies in the Catholic Church (a group seeking to return to Latin and to undo the reforms of Vatican II). We also drilled into some of the language and translation issues in the text and how some words have been substituted, creating different meanings, many of which we see to exclude people when quoted by churches. Again, my lesson is that the Greek has issues that are hidden by the translators, and it is important not to hang one’s belief on specific words or statements; it is important to take the Apocalypse of John at a higher level.

With that done, I headed home, and Corwin came over, and we heated up the pre-made Irish Strew from Costco. Deborah reminded me that since Corwin’s address is still the house, we can get him a matching Costco card to get cheap gas and so on. We will try to get this done this week (thanks, Deborah)! I did not have any Irish-style bread on hand, but I did find my frozen bread machine bread and toasted it. The homemade bread went well with the stew.

Corwin left, and I was back to preparing for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E (or 5E 2024). I managed to get there ten minutes early with some roses cut from my garden for the women we play with (I also cut one from Pink Moss, since it looks like a torture device, with all the moss/thorns, for M@). The game is a mix of role-playing genres, with a crashed spaceship in a High Fantasy setting: S3: Expedition to Barrier Peaks from the early days of D&D. It is now redone as a 5E adventure (giving M@ some challenges as he has to balance between the two versions). And being the usual wandering sorcerer, Carter the Great (named after an American Magician, the first to perform on TV, here), I managed to get irradiated twice (rolled a 1 on the save, and then a 2) and played with damage and exhaustion for the night. The battle, which took much of the evening, was chaotic, and until Carter went with an invisibility spell, he was beaten down to almost death. After that, Scott could protect the other characters, and soon we started to reduce the bad guys and nasty displacer-like beasts.

With the conclusion of the battle (and survival, in my character’s case), we finished for the night. Flowers were sent on, and Scott and I talked about gaming for a while outside. I then headed home, read some more, and then went to sleep. The dreams have faded, but I suspect I, as Carter, was wandering the spaceship and somehow seeing the creatures of John’s story in his book. “Look at the!” I imagine Carter said in my dream.

Thanks for reading!

 

I rose around 7:30, much after sunrise, and the skies were filled with broken clouds that soon burned off. A marine cloud bank. I reheated yesterday’s coffee; there were about three cups left (meaning I had drunk a lot of coffee the day before). I took the last banana and sliced some more raisin loaf, toasted it, and buttered it. Thus supplied, I spent most of the morning writing the blog.

I also did the usual things of updating Quicken with my new transactions and balances. On US Bank, my IRA is nearly back to the balance before I withdrew my first money to live on. This makes it less of a worry; it is all I have, plus Social Security (starting next month).

I am in a bit of a hurry as I want to get to Train Day at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center. There, they don’t play with toy trains, but full-sized ones. I talk to Deborah a few times, as it is Saturday and she is not working. Later, we would finalize our hotel and the last flights for the June trip to California. We are splitting our time between Long Beach and Orange County (Deborah’s conference for the second week). I finally posted the blog, shower, dress, and all of that. I board Air VW the Gray to Portland on Saturday morning. I arrive in time to get one of the last free parking spots in their lot and get a ticket to ride the steam train at noon. Perfect.

It is an adult-kid paradise with trains, full-sized and models, and ‘N’ scale sets all running or in pieces. A huge steam engine is live and blowing its horn. Another huge steam engine is out too, though not running. There is one in pieces being slowly rebuilt by volunteers (I think I have ridden in that one before). Food carts and excellent spare bathrooms are available. The round house is spinning a train. Again, a train lover’s happy place. There are people everywhere with stands and digital cameras, and many in train outfits. The staff, mostly in reflective vests, are everywhere keeping everyone informed and safe.

The train ride is 45 minutes and goes down a track out of an industrial area in Portland, following the river to Oak Park. A paved path follows the tracks and is full of runners, bike riders, and other folks. The steam whistle is loud, and my watch warns me repeatedly that it is too loud. I enjoy the open car for tourists just behind the oil-fired, smaller steam engine (I am told by a train person that the larger trains are now too heavy for the aging tracks to Oak Point).

I forgot my hat and retrieved it after heading to the baggage car to get a Diet Coke and a small bag of chips. I stay there as the steam whistle’s sound is starting to hurt. The guy is a bartender and a designer, and we talk about steampunk, all the interesting industrial ruins along the river (now bright in graffiti and looking ready as the set for a dystopian movie), and the rivets on the old car (it is not welded). It was $30 for the ride and free entry (usually $5) to the museum/train repair center. I decide to try a food cart, and I have a lovely pulled pork sandwich with excellent BBQ sauce running all over my hands. It is not often this far north and west to get a juicy pork with that hint of smoke. Excellent.

Fed and my hearing returning, I managed to not get anything in the gift store (books!), find the EV where I left it, and head to Lucky Labadore for the rest of the afternoon. The irony is not lost on me when a freight train blocks the area; I wait and chat with Deborah, finally U-turn, and head out of the industrial area (there is a path around the train tracks), take the bridge road above the train tracks, and park at Lucky’s.

There, after talking to Pastor Ken, I spent an hour sending out church stuff. There is a meeting on Tuesday, and all the information is not out there, and a Zoom meeting. Next, I set up The Plague of Dracula solo board game. I have forgotten how to play, and I am looking through the rules to find my way. This is the nature of solo games: lots of rules and processes. I managed to play four turns before I ran out of time. I met Pete and shared about how the game works. He was playing a GMT card game, The Kaiser’s Pirates, that had interested me with two others, and Pete offered to include me next time if they have a seat, though their usual day is Sunday. Excellent!

I pack up, finish my why-would-you-use-jalapeños-peppers clam chowder soup. It had one taste. Paid the bill and arrived at Richard’s. We agreed on Euphoria for the game, which is an older game, but quite different. It is a race to contribute by adding stars. I have played it before and liked it. Today I came in last (there is only one winner, Richard, but I had four stars left, the most) as I misplayed, but I managed to annoy Kathleen, which suggests I was playing OK. Next time! We all agree that Euphoria should hit the table more often.

Katheen left after the first game, but Richard, Laura, and I tried The Fellowship Of The Ring: Trick-Taking Game. We played three games until we won. It is cooperative: everyone plays a character with a special winning condition, and the chapter is completed (hand won) if everyone completes their objective together. Not a bad game.

After that, I headed home in the VW and soon was back, found a few lights on left by Corwin that surprised me, and I took apart the rest of Alexa (no more Amazon products, thank you, and they have stopped working well). I went to bed reading and soon fell asleep. All dreams are forgotten, but I bet they involved another train ride!

Thanks for reading.

One of the ideas I had for May, besides staying local for the whole month and teaching Sunday School every Sunday (there are five), was to play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) at local gaming stores. Rune & Board had opened a new store location in Beaverton. I asked about games there, and the owner is interested in my starting a ShadowDark game, but I thought it best to start by playing there in an existing game. I signed up for D&D on Friday night on their website ($10 fee for Adventurers League, room, and DM). I will try the place out and become more familiar with the players and the staff.

Let’s return the narrative to the start of the day. I woke, as usual, with the sunrise and rolled over. It was Friday, and I usually hop out of bed, strip the bed, and get the laundry started. This was a less energetic start. The house was still on AC, and it was 65°F/18°C, and I made coffee. I returned to the office and started on my daily tasks.

I updated my transactions in Quicken and am amazed by the run-up in the markets, and that 2/3 of my withdrawal has already recovered by earnings. Wow! War is, no surprise here, good for business. Though most of my earnings come from large corporations, indexes, and bonds. For me, the USA mid-cap is still running a large loss. Again, no surprise that multinational corporations, oil companies, billionaire-run companies, and banks are making money while mid-sized companies are suffering from war, tariffs, instability, and price hikes (don’t me start on insurance increases and the profits of the same).

I write the blog and practice the mental yoga of remembering by trying to find those threads in my mind, not near the surface, but not lost. Suddenly, there are pictures appearing in my mind. I am relieved as everything seems so obvious now, and I write fast as the memories pour into my conscience, and I work to assemble a story from the flashes.

Continuing this topic, as my days have little framework now, I find it hard to remember what I planned in the day, and it takes me three or four times of stopping and trying to remember what I am doing today, until it finally seems to lock into my surface thoughts. Remembering feels like diving into my mind (be it trying to recall yesterday’s lunch or my gaming plans for the next evening) and seems like holding one’s breath as I kick down in the pool of thoughts, trying to find the threads to connect, and grabbing them, dragging the memories, and resurfacing. It can be a brain workout. Sometimes they thread sink down again as I do other things. I then stop and do it again.

Returning to the narrative, I finish the blog, reheat the Chicken Vinaloo from a jar for lunch, and then shower and dress. I plan to head to Portland for Saturday (it is Train Day at the train center). I hear the doorbell and a box from a Kickstarter I have waited for arrives. It is two historical American Civil War (ACW) wargames with huge rubber-backed maps as an add-on. I cannot open the games, as they look so good (and expensive) in their unpunched, still-retail version. I am elated to have them arrive. Though I have not opposite to play them, just to look at them, read the rules, and possibly play them solo (playing both sides) is enough. Wow!

Next, I head to Costco to get a few things. I manage to survive Costco; everyone looks stressed out, and the cart drive is the only true aggressive driving I see in the local area; I never enjoy visiting Costco. I escaped with just $150 worth of items and waited in the usual checkout line to get my extra items (some food items and one garden item) set in a box (no bags there). I also finally remembered to drop off the US mail container at the local post office. I get there ring the bell, wait five minutes, and do it again, on the third, they finally appear. I know they have for-hire signs everywhere, and Trump’s appointed folks are not making it better. I am polite and just hand the container back to them and leave with a “thank you.”

I return to the house, and there is a Costco chicken for dinner too (too cheap not to get one). I unload and then head back out. I stop by the US Bank ATM and get some cash (for the D&D fee, and it is good to have some cash). There is a market there, and I see if they have lettuce, no fresh items, but I do find some tea and spices that come highly recommended for rice (cous cous, I am told, will likely be good too).

I return home, start dinner, and nearly set the seasoning on fire (the kitchen was blessed with the scent of spiced smoke). I was just toasting while doing some Excel work (I get too focused sometimes). I put out the smoking ruins, clean the pan, and stay in the kitchen while doing that. I manage to stay focused on an early dinner, which, since the chicken is already hot and cooked, should not be this dangerous. I manage to salvage enough lettuce from my fading supply to make a salad. The couscous with seasoning, a little oil, and raisins is good (this batch did not catch fire). I managed to finish dinner and organize my D&D character sheets and dice.

Corwin calls me; I invite him to raid my dinner, as there is spare cous cous, most of a chicken left, and I split my salad to make two before I planned to start it as a sort of dessert (I eat it first or last and seldom during other foods), and had not taken a bite yet. Corwin is hungry and has been working extra hours at his new job, and has not had a home-cooked meal all week (Not sure this qualifies, more assembled or summoned), he tells me. I have to leave, and he will do the dishes.

I take Air VW the Gray to 167 East, the building where Rune & Board moved to. I check with the staff and the DM. I need to check in closer to 6. I am twenty minutes early to ensure I get a spot, and to check that, as a former DM of Forge of Fury, I can play. The DM says yes, and I get a seat. These are bring-your-own-character Adventure League rules, and I am surprised it is D&D 2024 (or now 5.5), until I realize this is an official game and thus uses the newest (and expensive) rulebooks. The adventure is 5E and sort of compatible.

The group had played together, and this was a continuation of play with drop-ins like me allowed. This was an official Tier 1 event for levels 1-5 characters. I brought Carter in his level 2 version. Others, I learned later, were 4th, which explained some of the damage they did. I stayed in the background, but continued to forge licenses, insurance applications, and member cards as we went to many smiles.

The group was young (except for the DM and one player who were in my age group) and loud, and they were enjoying doing the murder-hobbo gaming. I went with it. Some only kept their attention when it was their turn and were surprised when they were attacked. The DM used the traditional initiative system, which I find distracting and which prevents the players from working together more effectively. But still it was fun for two hours, and I signed up later for the next two games (already booked to six).

I returned home, finally opened Gettysburg (retail $120), and got the rules, and marveled at the excellent components (version 1.5 of their base rules, shared with most of their new ACW board games; this one is four of five ACW games). I read the surprisingly simple rules (I have another Gettysburg game that is considered the most complex, and I have pages and pages of how-tos and have never even tried to play it solo).

I also created Carter Level 3 with the gold and magic item we got as part of the League play. He is ready to play next time and is certainly more dangerous now. I will try to find his slightly broken original figure (I 3D-printed a replacement figure on my stolen printer and painted it, but that one is at M@’s for that game).

I continued the laundry overnight and slept soon after reading all the rules and scenarios; easy rules. Hmmmm. The whole battle for two players is measured at 6-12 hours of playtime, which is long for this subject, with other scenarios ranging from a few hours (starting) to 4 hours (most representing a day or major events in the historical battle). It would be interesting to play the second day without Pickett’s Charge, but it would be so hard to resist with the Union’s position all about holding one ridge.

I slept with dreams of rules and ACW. I woke with a rules-reading/allergies throbbing headache and rolled over.

Thanks for reading!

 

I felt better on Thursday and finished the day by driving over to Salt & Straw in Beaverton and had a scoop in a nice sugar cone. I ate my cone with all the folks who were there for late ice cream. One little person was less interested in the ice cream (seeing how far she can throw a mostly finished cone, at one point — quite far). The little person ran around saying hello to folks, all excited, with her father running after her a few times. Observing the hijinks added flavor to the ice cream. It was a multi-ethnic late ice cream party of strangers! Nice to see this in times of ICE and the sweet with complex flavors (some I cannot spell or pronounce), Jasmine Milk Tea Almond Stracciatella, reminds me that there can be Peace on Earth, and it is food that brings us together. Or as Bilbo said, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

I returned home in Air VW the Gray, did the dishes (the kitchen looked like it exploded), and soon was in my bed, enjoying more stores of financial crises. I finished a chapter and continued to enjoy the basic premise that loose credit, low interest rates, and something to buy, usually two, create the mania and result in the panic and crash after some event triggers the fall. Does this remind you of anything, dear reader? BYW: US Government debt broke $39 trillion and, for the first time since WW2, surpassed the US total economy’s annual output; the last trillion of debt was this year! And for those who do not know, the largest holder of this debt is the Social Security Pension Fund. Yup, that is how we pay our retirees (including me) with interest payments on the national debt. Hmmm.

Thursday morning started with me not getting up for the sunrise, or even near it. Instead, I rolled over and rose before 8. I felt better and reheated yesterday’s coffee. I am able to run a microwave, though it takes a moment without coffee inside me. I slice a bit of raisen bread, a gift from Karen W, and toast and butter it. I add a banana to the mix and consume it while writing the blog and doing my usual tasks. My US Bank online daily balances for my IRA have been missing since April 22. Hmmm. Still.

A scrub jay has moved into my pine tree, and I suspect there are two, as I think they have a nest. Male and female scrub jays are identical in color and size, an unusual trait among birds. More on them here. I thought the local murder of crows, who are quite aggressive, had driven away the larger birds, and I am happy to have them here.

I wrote the blog, got a text from Brad J that he could meet for lunch — Scott is still in the islands — and I agreed to join him at the usual place: McMenamin’s Cedar Hills. I spoke to Deborah here and there in the morning and while driving. She was on a drive back to Detroit from Kalamazoo and got to enjoy an hour in standstill traffic while an accident was cleared. The EV soon arrived, and I rang off.

Brad J appeared a little after I did, and we chatted and had an excellent lunch. I was going to go for an iced tea, but my usual was offered, a Hammerhead, and I went with that. Brad J had an excellent alcohol free IPA. Brad J told me they are quite nice, and I might try these 0% beers. Brad J and I talked about travel, houses, investments (Intel is 3x in a short period), and retirement plans. Our discussion also covered quantum mechanics and other esoteric topics. It was fun to talk for about 90 minutes.

I returned in time to make the SPRC church Zoom meeting at 2 (the SPRC committee, for those who do not speak Methodist, is the HR committee). We were short as we covered mostly easy paperwork items. We put off other items. The contents of the meeting are private and cannot be covered here.

I rested for a while and talked to Deborah for a while. I was disconcerted by the meeting. I am also noticing that I am too busy with church things to get back to my other items. There is electronic hardware that I would love to explore (including algorithmic improvements, AI model compression, and vastly reduced processing requirements) in AI-controlled robotics. A hummingbird tracking system? Watch the hiding of nuts in the lawn and record what treasures are there. And what walks in the yard at night? Can I track the bats at night? Soooo muccch.

I have made no progress on my writing for months. I am contemplating running away with Deborah to an island (with good power and WIFI with free drinks) and just writing and being with Deborah, but for the moment, I will slog through my commitments to my church. If not an island, there is a bar in Portland or Detroit or LA or NOLA or …

It is sunny and warm, and I walk to the little creek about 1/2 a half mile on the local streets. I am amazed that I am not tired or in pain to make the walk and back. Not even breathing heavy. So much better than last year’s spring, when it took me two days to work up to the same walk. The travel, Deborah’s outdoor exploring, and moving more have made a difference. I also think that having the chemotherapy now in the rear-view mirror by years helps. Also, a long walk is now a choice, not an exercise or a strain, better!

BTW: an Old Fashioned has fewer calories and sugar than beer…and is too expensive to have more than two. I drink those more often now.

Returning to my narration (my mind was lost in the previous fantasy), I read for a while and tried some more Star Trek: DS9, but thought it was not very well-written and overly predictable. I defrosted some raw chicken and chopped up some veggies. I used a simmer sauce from a jar, Maya Kaimal: Spicy Vindaloo, once the chicken was browning, and the veggies were softening. I cheated on the fresh carrots and microwaved them first.

I made rice to go with it and talked to Deborah while I did my usual chaos that some people may call cooking (Deborah once commented when there was some crashing, just getting a lid). More like a summoning ritual to me, as I was using a jar. Follow the procedure, take care to prepare everything according to this hard-to-read print, and then combine it into a hopefully non-explosive or burning ending. The rice, this time, was perfect; I made it at the same time. The food, while spicy, was excellent and full of veggies.

With dinner inside me and the rest for leftovers, and my scale showing 228 pounds (yay!), I was not gaining weight; I headed out to get ice cream as I described, which means I have covered the full circle of Thursday.

With images of the Apocalypse of John and crashes and panics, I sleep well. This is nothing compared to just watching the news online! Hmmm.

Aside: Deborah sent me beeswax bread bags with an e-book that describes how to use them to prevent stale and moldy bread. I will have to make a loaf and see how it goes. Excellent! Thanks, Deborah.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

I slept late as I had no real plans for Wednesday. I hoped to join an ad hoc Dungeons & Dragons at The 649 in Aloha in the evening. When Emma C and I stopped by The 649, Kylie and Crystal, the bartenders, told me there was a D&D game on Wednesday (I learned that Z was busy again with Track); I hoped to join.

I found the kitchen, it is still in the same place and looks great with the new flooring, and made a pot of liberal coffee. I use Fair Trade and Equal Exchange brand coffee, meaning that my cup of coffee is fully paid for, and those growing the coffee are fairly paid. My coffee is not causing more pain. When I taste its bitterness, I am again reminded that God does not measure a nation by how great its buildings, conquests, or wealth are, but by how it treats the orphan, widow, and the stranger (once you or your forebearers were a stranger in a new land).

I found my focus, and with many cups of coffee (too many), I wrote the blog, ordered flowers for Mom Wild (for too much money), and sent chocolates to Leta for Mother’s Day (though the chocolates will be late). I ordered the book Spirit Wheel for pick-up at the local Powell’s. I have heard it quoted often at church meetings and wanted a copy. I may then give it away, as it is not likely to be my style. The words I have heard are beautiful.

I reheated the potato, cheese, and ham, plus the baked beans from a couple of days ago. This did not sit well with me, and I had to coast for the afternoon. I might also still be tired from the weekend. I find that since I broke 58, I tire more. A short nap, then trying to rise again, was difficult, and a headache added to my woes. Pain killers and water, and watching DS9 balanced the scale better.

Deborah is at a conference in Kalazoo, Michigan, and she calls me between classes and events. The long distance seems longer this time, and we miss each other. Deborah (and Jeanne) will be in California in June. I will drive Air VW the Gray to LA to meet them. I am excited to drive there again (though it will blow through my mileage on my lease).

I put my Book of Revelation work, laptop, and D&D Player Handbook (both 5E and 2024 versions) in the cargo hold of the EV and headed to The 649. The bartender (sorry, name forgotten) was unknown to me, and he was unaware of a game at the place, but told me Crystal would be in soon. I ordered a beer, found a seat against the window, and instead worked on Sunday School class stuff and then hotels for my trip down (taking two days and arriving on the third).

I learned that David Kearns was running for Beaverton City Council, he wrote the adventure we were playing, and his campaign manager was also playing, and that this was a fundraiser for David. Later, after checking David’s campaign page, I did make a donation. There was space for me, and I soon, after finishing a beer, ordered another and ate my sandwich (brisket with avocado in a pressed sandwich). I sat at the table and soon was playing a cleric with seven other people, including the DM, Josh.

There were two newbies, and this was a one-shot intro game with 3rd-level characters and a broad mix of species. 2024 and 5E were mixed in, but the adventure was 5E style. Josh rolls for everything in his games and uses the standard initiative-based combat order. The adventure was a theater-of-the-mind, meaning no figures, and the DM created the adventure from some loose notes as we played. We played for a few hours, and we rescued Beavertopia’s (a fantasy city that reminded us of Beaverton, and the adventure started in a coffee house) magic protection gem from some criminal-gang dragon-born crew. I lost count of the number of natural ’20’s that were rolled by the adventurers (including me). The big bad was pounded and did not even get more than one swing in. The DM was smiling (and I smiled with him) as his should-be-dangerous bad guy fell quickly with almost no damage to the adventurers (I have been DM for like surprises).

It was strange for me to roll for damage, but folks enjoyed rolling. The new players began to figure out what was going on, and they had good plans and kept the spotlight on them. I gave some advice here and there, healed the monk, and managed to roll average (almost minimal once and max a second time, my usual).

Yes, raising money for a campaign by playing D&D sounds like a politician I can support. David had to make up a lie, and it was so terrible that we all agreed he couldn’t lie well. Perfect for Beaverton City Council!

It was fun. After the game, I had a coffee with a shot of Amaretto on the side. I chatted with Crystal until closing time about traveling and New Orleans. I then headed home. I soon was in bed again, reading. I slept until the sun rose, but then rolled over.

Thanks for reading!