laramie

It's raining. I slept late. I was reading recent LiveJournal entries from my Friends' list and realized that I missed yesterday's Mnstf meeting.

I was out for the count yesterday. I'd hardly eaten some breakfast when my tummy reacted and after a while breakfast came back. I still managed to get a few necessary chores (laundry, plant-watering and some weed control) done, but then collapsed and spent most of the rest of the day zoned out; sleeping or sitting in front of the computer (first time I played with my Sims in weeks) with the television tuned to something or other. By evening I was able to eat something without any adverse reactions. It worries me, though, to have two bouts like this within one week.

Friday was better. I'd hardly gotten home from work and was greeting the cats when there came a knocking at the front door. It sent Twinkle-toes skittering off for cover. It was Carolyn! Her classes are finally over for the summer, and she showed up to make sure I went to the gaming party this time. (I missed it, and her, last week.) She kept me company while I fed the cats and I served us both up some leftover casserole and toast for supper. We caught up with one anothers' current events and plans over the meal. She's got another week or so before going off on a camping trip with Tom, but should be back in town in time for her twenty-first birthday (shared with her twin, Aliera.)

After supper we went over to Dreampark for the gaming party. Thorin had developed a set of special powers for Monopoly players. (They include 'The Slum Lord' who gets double the usual rent for monopolies on the cheap side of the board, and 'The Hobo' who can stay there for free and even pick up a few bucks for doing odd jobs.) We didn't have enough players to start off with, so we began by playing a territory-capture game involving strings of different-colored camels and desert oases. Carolyn ended up with the highest score; I tied with Richard for second place.

The Monopoly game started off normally, but after a while Carolyn and I pooled our resources (together we had monopolies on the Railroads, Utilities and several of the color-coded properties) then we invited everyone else to join our partnership and that created such overwhelming power that Thorin, the last hold out, joined too; nobody would be charging anyone rent any more; there was no more competition and the game ended.

This was our excuse for getting out of the game; Carolyn was restless and wanted to leave the party. She still wanted to visit with Thorin, though, so we all went over to my house - stopping at Cub so I could pick up some groceries. We got a pizza and cookies to share; Carolyn and Thorin helped me carry the groceries in and put them away. In the car we were talking about current movies. I wanted to see 'Shanghai Knights.' Thorin hadn't yet seen 'Shanghai Noon.' I have that video, so we all watched the movie, and ate pizza and cookies while Carolyn took the chance to play with my Sims, and I introduced Thorin to my favorite computer word-game, 'Text-Twist.' It was midnight by the time everyone went home and I got off to sleep.