Here is a test. I am putting some words. They always say,

Do not test on your main blog

Eh!

I do what I want.

Some photos.

And that’s it!

At first, I was complaining that everybody was playing Elden Ring but me. Not long ago, I purchased the game. I created a character, and played for about 30 mins, with 15 of those dying. Haven't touched the game ever since. I always find another game to play, neglecting or avoiding the elephant in the room. 

What have I been playing instead? Well, I played a lot of Need for Speed Heat, even after finishing the main storyline. Then I drifted to Trek to Yomi on the PlayStation 5. It is a great game, by the way, black and white art, very noir. With a compelled and grim story, super-fun! I am yet to finish it yet. On the Nintendo Switch, lots of Kirby, both my daughter and I are hooked and I might have started Shin Megami Tensei V while I was at the Oregon coast.

That being said, I got to get into Elden Ring, I gotta grow a pair, as they say. 

I am scared of the game...

For the past few months, it has been a real struggle to get a good-night sleep. Way too many things roaming and hunting my thoughts. I get at best, 5 to 6 hours of sleep, according to my super-secret sleeping tracking application. With the exception of the few nights that we spent at the Oregon Coast, that was a good distraction. Plus, I would spent most of those afternoons sipping on delicious beer so that always help, el-oh-el. 

I am hoping that, once the day of my upcoming test – which is the bulk of my stress – passes, I will be able to mentally relax a little bit, hopefully.

On September 11th, 2019 we had a field trip to the local urgent care with Marley, the one closest to our house. It was a stressful experience, especially for mom, and a terrifying one for Marley. Still to this day, every time she gets, an ouchie, her first question is, is it bleeding?

Yesterday, unfortunately, it was Luna's turn. As much as we tell them to not run around the house, and to pay attention to their surroundings and where they are going, well you know where this is heading.

Both are running, Marley turns around, Lunas is running behind her, Marley doesn't notice Luna, rams her, Luna hits the Kitchen Playset, and both start crying.

Luna is holding her side of the head, I check, and she's got a scratch right above her left eyebrow and it is swollen. We assess, did not look too bad but enough for concern. Once the bleeding was contained, we decided it was best to take it, just in case she needed 'a special band-aid'. This time though, rather than the 'regular' Urgent Care, Annie, in all her wisdom, suggested the pediatric one. It was much further but a much safer bet.

At this point, Luna was, surprisingly calm. She even liked the idea of going to see the doctor. We get to the Urgent Care, checked in, and patiently waited. A few minutes later a nurse lady comes out, takes Luna's temperature, weighs her, and checks her pulse, finally we proceeded to the examination room. On the way to the room, she gets offered a toy. What? Cool! The Nurse explains what is that they are about to do, and gets offered a popsicle.

All this time, Luna has been super-complaisant and not even a single sign of fear. The nurse applies some anesthetic to her wound and put on a clean band-aid. Whilst we wait for the anesthetic to do its thing, she gets offered to watch cartoons, on an iPad.

And here we are, Luna is chilling on her medical bed, watching cartoons whilst sucking on a popsicle. Then a second nurse comes in, "Hello, my name is Allison, we are just going to put some special glue on your ouchie and be done". Luna didn't even emote, her eyes fixed on the iPad (whilst still sucking on the popsicle). Allison turns around and looks at me. "Do I know you, did you use to work at Simplot, with my brother Wes?" And then it clicked! Allison, my friend and co-worker's sister which I haven't seen either of them in a few years now. That was a nice surprise indeed, wasn't expecting that for sure.

Short story long, Luna got all patched up, no traumatic experience, and guess what? She got more candy, and the nurse comes in with a handful of lollipops. Luna starts debating which one to pick when the nurse goes, "grab them all, they're all for you". What? 

Man, we adults get treated like animals.

After what it felt like an eternity driving, we finally made back to the 208s. We had a great time at the Oregon coast celebrating Annie’s and her mom’s birthday. I feel like I’ve drunk Oregon dried of beer (😅). There was so much goodness to try!

Furthermore, our thanks to Jason and Valerie for receiving us at their house. A quick but very enjoyable stop for some bagels 🥯 and mimosas 🍹 before continuing our travels through the wild roads of the pacific northwest until our final destination, the Idahos.

More about the whole adventure later, too tired to post a proper post about the entire trip in detail. But good memories have been made.

Until then, stay classy, you all.