Daily Update, July 23, 2023

    Today was Sunday. I got started a little late again; I got in and sat next to Auntie Barbara at the end of the opening hymn, which means i missed the announcements entirely. However, I was there for the main part of the service, and thought it was nice. It was this substitute priest's last time - he goes back to his regular job, as chaplain to a school on Maui. They're starting up again soon, since summer ends earlier than it did when I was a kid. {Smile}

   I sat with Auntie Barbara for lunch after the service. It's all long tables, so we were able to chat with a few others, including the substitute priest. Auntie Barbara isn't sure what they'll do for services next Sunday, with him back to Maui, but I'm sure they'll do something. There's always morning prayer if they can't get a supply priest. {Smile}

   Auntie Barbara took me home afterwards. We had a nice talk on the way. She also came in to pet Val and visit with Mom. Mom was tired enough to be slow starting to sing, but she did after a couple tries by Auntie Barbara, and when she got going, she sang all the usual songs. Then Auntie Barbara left. {Smile}

   I found a text from Perogies; he is having access trouble. I might be beginning to have trouble with my modem, myself. I need to look into it before it gets bad. {smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I read scripture and thoughts about it first. I started her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019 next. Then I read her the next few pages of _Music Stars 1940-1960: Memory Lane_, I only read about folks and country singers, because I was concerned that she was tired. Then I read "The Princess and the Pea," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_. I completed the read with the July 23rd story "The Silly Hen," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It told about a hen who decided to hide her eggs from the farmer's wife so they could hatch. However, she found a weasel eating her eggs three days later, and went back, because at least the farmer's wife feeds her. {Smile}

   I did my walking, arm resistance, arm swinging, and standing arm weight training after dinner. I got my head exercises and one or two of my sitting arm weight training exercises done after Owl Girl and I finished teaming, while we were touring Chili Bear's latest base. I got the rest of my sitting arm weight training exercises done after we broke up, before I started salsa dancing. Yes, I did salsa dancing, too: over 25 minutes of it, including both warmup and less structured dancing. Then it was a little late to continue, and I was panting too hard, anyway, but I got 25 minutes done, and with the panting it definitely felt like a good workout. {Smile}

   After Auntie Barbara left, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I did some quick paperwork checking and looked around. the only folks I usually team with looked busy, so I looked at what was going on publicly. A high-level trial aiming for all badges was almost ready to go. I remembered my best badge collector had everything, so I checked my second-best badge collector. She has half, so I got her in at the last moment. They got all but one badge, well, and the badge for getting the rest, which meant she got one more. They ran it again, and she completed the set that time. Kitten came on during the second run, so we got together after it. We worked on the badge we hadn't finished yesterday, and I found another badge we could work on in the same missions. We finished the first badge and made significant progress on the second by the time I left to read to Mom. I tried to say goodnight in case we didn't meet again, which we didn't. {Smile}

   After dinner and the exercises, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I checked paperwork quickly, then looked around. Everyone I regularly team with either missing - like Kitten and Perogies - or looked busy. I looked over it some more and realized that Owl Girl was on a not-full team. They often are happy to let friends join, so I started talking to them. Turned out they were bored in a farm, trying to gain levels, I think. I invited them to do a story arc with me. I picked a character I really want to work through some story arcs, and we finished an arc, taking our time to role-play along the way. That was so much fun! I want to do things like this more, whether with Owl Girl, Ulty (my new roleplaying partner), Gwaun (my long-time role-playing partner), or other people. Near the end, Chili Bear said hi, and invited me to see the base he was working on. I said I wanted to finish my mission and asked if my friend (Owl Girl) could come too. He said yes, and I talked Owl Girl into coming. That base is really good. I am impressed! {SMILE}