Daily Update, January 6, 2024

    After breakfast, I read a few articles until Sapien and I started talking on the chat server. He spent two or three hours helping me start to set up a character for an Advanced 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game we want to play. Yes, that took us through lunch. {Smile}

   City of Heroes: Homecoming was busy again Saturday, possibly busier than Friday. It was hard to tell, but they're encouraging folks to use the less-used servers with prized rewards for doing so. {Smile}

   I ate breakfast and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. She was awake, responded a couple of times and liked looking at the pictures. I began with scripture and thoughts about it. After that, I started her niece's long family Christmas letter from just last year - 2023. Next, I started _Classic Christmas Vintage Fine Art Picture Book Volume 1_. Next, I read a story from _Disney 3-Minute Bedtime Stories_. I finished with the 6th of January's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime_, "Princess Cecilia." For Princess Cecilia's 20th birthday, her parents, who felt it was time she got married, invited all the young princes and nobles they knew to Cecilia's birthday party. However, she couldn't decide which one to marry. Then she had an idea. She had the royal pastry chef cook a particularly big cake for the next day and dropped her gold ring into the batter. Next day, they ate the cake after she cut it into pieces. The lucky one to find the ring slipped it on her finger. The pair was married. Each year afterwards, a cake was baked on their anniversary with a ring inside it.  {Smile}

   I walked around the driveway 10 times after lunch. I think I timed it at 18 minutes, which says I'm slowing down. Today was wet, though, and I did not want to slip, so maybe that's why. Then I did my head exercises and one of my sitting arm weight training exercises in lulls during teaming. After that, I did 8 1/2 minutes of salsa dancing - a full warmup, but with a late start. My arm resistance exercises followed after a short break. Then I got caught up in writing this and ran out of time to do more. {rueful smile}

   After working with Sapien, I wrote up the day before's daily update. Then, after cleaning myself up, I jumped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I started to solo on a character who had a story arc that's less fun to team on than most. I saw Sapien on, and talked to him, but he was busy, so I kept soloing. Then Pierogies said hi, but mentioned he was busy costuming. So, we chatted while I continued to solo. This took me up to time to read to Mom, and also just before the last mission of the story arc. {Smile}

   After dinner, I got back into City of Heroes: Homecoming at a good time to join the LNSLGE. Yet when I got in, it was over, even though it was several minutes before their nominal starting time. They will start early if the group fills, and with more people on, things fill faster. Then I got out the character I'd been working on before dinner. I contacted Kitten on the chat server and in the game, and they joined me to finish the story arc. After that, Kitten pointed out Austin was on, and we got together with him. I switched characters to do one mission with him, then switched back when he got the contact the character that I'd been on was doing. The three of us did that contact up to the last mission. Then Austin started advertising for folks to join us in the last mission. I started to invite Dr. Faustus. Turned out he was already planning to join, since he'd spotted the ad. I did manage to invite Michiel just in time to snag the last spot. We ran it with difficulty, since Austin had set it extra hard, but we got through it. Then the team broke up, with half of them leaving, including Austin and Michiel. Kitten, Dr. Faustus, one fellow I don't really know, and I were left. I proceeded to do the next two arcs. Nox and I chatted on the chat server, too. Kitten went quiet and faded out a few missions before the end of the last story arc. The fellow I didn't know stayed with us for one more mission, which was a long one. We cleared a bit more after it said we were done, too. Then the new fellow needed to head to bed, so Dr. Faustus and I wished him goodnight, then finished the story arc. We chatted a little, then I settled my character down, did what exercise I did, and wrote this up, making notes for the next day, since it was late. {Smile}