Today, instead of the monthly picnic, we had a Zoom meeting of the same folks... or some of the same folks. Some didn't come, but we had a nice meeting of six or seven at the maximum, counting the leader and me. It was a nice meeting which lasted about two hours. When my Zoom is mostly counselling, which can't be longer than an hour on my insurance's system, not even a little, that feels long, but it was really nice. {Smile}
The housekeeper finally came, and I sang her "the song about the apples" to thank her for not exposing us while she had Covid. She loved it, and didn't really remember it until I sang it, though I sang it to her a previous time in a similar situation, where she stayed home to avoid giving us what she'd caught. {Smile}
I got a call from our former nurse in the afternoon. That was nice. I like talking with him, and we did have a nice chat. {Smile}
I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I started by reading scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued by reading three birthday cards, one from a friend, one from church, and the third from me. Next, I showed her the first several pages in _Memories 1960s_. After that, I read a short story and a couple of poems from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I thought I'd read more poems, but she seemed tired, so I cut to _Autumn Leaves_, the September 19th story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A boy asked his father why the swallows were gathering on the wires. His father said they were getting ready to go to north Africa, where they spend the winter. The boy wanted to go to, but the father said that he, himself, had to work, and the boy had to go to school He promised they'd be back in the spring. {Smile}
I did my arm resistance exercises while waiting for the first story arc of the evening. Then I did my walking exercises and my leg exercises waiting for the second story arc of the evening. I did my head exercises while waiting for Phonso's for trial, which the second story arc got replaced with when the leader agreed to it. Then I did my arm swinging exercises while waiting for Phonso's second trial. Then at the usual time I did my salsa dancing, fir the warmup set, then the less structured set for over 20 minutes of salsa dancing in total. a little later, I did my standing arm weight resistance exercises. {Smile}
I read comics after lunch and hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I did some paperwork, and looked around, but didn't see anyone. I did chat with Kitten and Nox on the chat server, but no one was in the game who I particularly like to team up with. When the housekeeper left, I took a break to clean myself up. Then I read some comics. I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming particularly late in the afternoon for me. I didn't see anyone I particularly like to team with. It was really too close to time to read to Mom to join much, so I just hunted for the rewards I like so much when I finished with paperwork. {Smile}
After dinner, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I chatted with Kitten on the chat server, but found no one there, and very little going on. I did spot a story arc; I think it was led by the same fellow as last night. I joined it, and we ran it. The leader said he'd do the next in a bit, so I just waited for it. Eventually, I noticed he'd advertised and asked to join. No one else had, despite the advertisement being old. We went to the contact, and started to wait for more to join when Phonso invited us to a task force. I asked the leader if he'd like to, and kind of talked him into it. It wasn't too hard; he was slightly reluctant, but open. We joined and ran it when Phonso got enough for his satisfaction. The story arc leader left after the first. I messaged him, and he said his character was too low. I asked if he had someone higher. He did and ran the next two on that one. I also talked to Nox a bit on the chat server before they went to bed. I chatted with the leader of the story arcs some more after the trials, and we established communications. He likes stories too. I'm hoping he'll like the way I share the stories when teams don't object and I'm leading. I read comics, did paperwork, and wrote this up around my salsa dancing and exercises until Perogies came on. {Smile}
Perogies and I chatted, and I admired how he was playing with some enemies in the game. Then I found out he was playing with some low-level enemies in the game, teleporting them into places they can't get to on their own. First, he'd stun them Then he teleported them into the plaza, and up onto a globe one of the statues holds. There, they got up, and staggered around, stunned, until they fell off. We think one of the stores below took them out. Perogies started testing this and found out that a store that looks like a regular businesswoman can take out a gun because she did and shot them. He recreated this feat so I could see it. Then he tried taking them over to the trainer, a heroic young woman who used a combination of energy powers and martial arts to take them out. I missed teh first time, so he recreated it for me, and it was truly a treat to watch. Then Kitten came in and joined us, so we had to show them that trainer's prowess. Then I mentioned a time when a friend drew an enemy to the other trainer - a tough guy in as bad a neighborhood as that zone has - and he just started going from enemy to enemy, clearing 3/4ers of the area around him. Of course, Perogies wanted to see that, and so did Kitten, I think, so we went over to him. It was really something to watch. One enemy would get him stared, but they'd get scared and run, and he'd take out 3-6 groups before settling. though once he settled, he'd ignore them for a short cooldown period, catching his breath, I guess. I particularly liked it when he ran up a fire escape to chase someone down. you cannot complain he lacks enthusiasm. {GRIN}
