One: I have spent much of the day indulging the desire to Quietly Hyperfocus On Game and it has been a very relaxing autism to have.
Two: I have finished the questionable Ryvita we... somehow... came into possession of (I apparently object to things that are not salt & vinegar extruded potato twirls containing potassium chloride) and can now merrily go back to overpriced high protein crackers until such time as I get around to buying vital wheat gluten with which to make my own.
Three: two loaves of bread (because I strained a Lot of whey off the most recent batch of yoghurt), which are a slightly silly set of shapes but also extremely aesthetic. I am very much looking forward to extravagant breakfast featuring avocado and also scrambled egg. (New oven needs less time to do them than old one; new oven also would ideally get them rotated halfway through baking if I want them done evenly. I am trying to work out what the best way to freeze the second loaf is...)
Four: Adam brought me home British strawberries from the supermarket, all with their petals still attached.
Five: new Murderbot purchased. (When I will get around to reading it is another question, but the possibility exists!)
My mom, who is now 86, has vascular dementia, as noted previously.
She's more "there" in the mornings, and is sometimes able to connect up and have actual conversations, though I admit, this is not often. Then once she starts getting tireder, she is just not rooted in reality, meanders verbally, and has some kind of rich inner life to which I am not privy, and which, when she's asked about, she is unable to explain. (Which is more curious to me because she was just in 2026 in the morning, you know? But it is what it is.) This does often lead to problems because she meanders off, physically, to obey the mysterious dictates of her soul, and can't/won't explain what she wants to do, and does *not* take well to re-direction. (Or, in the words of the medical establishment, is combative.)
She's also miserable and seems to have developed actual aphasia at this point -- that is, she has something specific she wants to say but says the wrong words. Which, sometimes is commentary on 2026, but is also sometimes commentary from her inner life, so even if we could understand it, it wouldn't make sense, but the frustration is the same either way, so sympathy is at least called for.
She does recognize me pretty consistently, which is good both for her sake and mine (because the first time I actually knew she didn't know it was me was Not Entertaining), but she also firmly has the idea her parents are still alive and she wants to visit them (in Lancaster, PA), which is... not so good. My dad is very bad at dealing with the latter, and keeps going, in essence, "No, they're dead," which is. Nowhere near the response you want, there.
Also, she has no sense of time, so she's like, "Let's go!" three minutes after we start a thing. Which is one thing if it's at home, but it's more of a problem if she's at, say, her 5 year old niece's birthday party. My brother and I did decode that it's also her telling us she's done with our visits and we should go away, though, so that was good.
And, she is still doing the "taking a walk and then getting lost and getting the police called on her," thing, which frankly by this point is infuriating because why the fuck won't my dad get inside locks for the house, or at least notice that she's leaving. ?!?!??? <-- my internal state.
Anyway, the reason I'm making this post is that she's getting a lot more unstable on her feet, and has fallen a few times lately, though has not, thankfully, broken anything, but she can't get back up again when she does fall. My dad has now, despite their previously having promised each other they would Never Leave Their House, made the decision that he's open to looking into assisted living/memory care facilities, hosanna. (They've had in-house helpers for a bit, but my mom keeps taking against them because they tell her what to do and she hates that, see above re: combative.)
He called me up (I having had warning from my brother) and was like, "Can we get her into an ambulance and have her taken somewhere this afternoon?" and I barely managed not to laugh at him. No, is the answer, no we can't. I said something about it not being feasible. (I mean, if she broke something it would be, but that is To Be Avoided because it would lead to the downslope, and while she is not exactly happy in her life, the "broken bone to pneumonia" pipeline is not the most efficient way of dying, pardon my distancing humor.)
But! I have now scheduled two tours, one for my brother (on Friday) and one for me on Monday, at two different local-to-my-parents places, and we'll go from there.
The Marvels Project: Giving myself credit for rereading this for the 616 Discord Book Club, this is the Brubaker/Epting miniseries that is a retelling of origin stories of Golden Age heroes. It's worth it if you like keeping a list of Project Rebirth retellings in your back pocket, I guess.
(Off the top of my head, my list is this, Captain America Mythos, and The Adventures of Captain America. There's a lot of other WW2 Steve stuff that's worth reading -- Man Out of Time, Cap White, the original-flavor Invaders, Avengers/Invaders -- but not specifically Rebirth-focused.)
Still gonna read that Cat Sebastian baseball book, I swear. I just need to stop being exhausted. For some reason, my body has decided I need three naps a day for the past week.
This week I'm reading: I'm currently not reading anything, but am seriously thinking of borrowing the audiobook for the Murderbot novel I'm currently on. I own the ebooks and tried reading them, and normally do not have an issue with ebooks, but Kevin R. Free (Murderbot's narrator) is SO GOOD that I felt something was missing when I was reading the ebook. So yes. I think I'm on the third book? Not sure.
My favorite book of all time is: I don't have just one, but I can point to some from my childhood that made an impact on me: "Scruffy", the "Wrinkle in Time" series, "Where the Red Fern Grows"
My current favorite book (read or re-read in the last 3 months) is: I recently reread To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, which was a delight. It's got some mystery to it and even knowing the solution to the "mystery", it was fun to reread to see how they got to the conclusion.
The last book I bought was: Physical? The Final Fantasy XVI tie-in book Logos. Digital? A Gentleman's Gentleman by TJ Alexander. I haven't read the first yet, but I quite enjoyed the romance novel! Hadn't read the author before, but the book was on a list of Best Romances of the Century So Far, and it sounded like a fun romp. Glad I gave it a try!
The first book I bought with my own money was: I have no idea. I do have memories of buying the "Mr." books, like "Mr. Happy", when I was young (I had a large collection of them) but was that the first? Who knows! We had book fairs at school from an early age and I would have ordered some through there, but that might not have been with my own money.
The first book I received as a gift was: Oh, probably long before this, but I got "A Wrinkle in Time" trilogy for my First Communion and it was very formative for me. I doubt this was the first book I got, but it's the first I REMEMBER getting.
The last book I received as a gift was: Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future. I need to read it...
The last book I borrowed from the library was: A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole. I didn't get very far into it, but that was NOT the fault of the book but rather me. The last four books I had read were all historical-based fiction, and it was a shock to the system to be reading a contemporary.
This or that: Physical book, e-book, or audio: Yes? Preference for ebook these days, but I'll do any format Used, new, or fell off the back of the internet: Prefer new Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction Read at a coffee shop or at the park:Coffee Shop Paperback or hardcover: It's been a while since I read a physical book, so I dunno. Romance or Crime: ROMANCE!
Yes or no: Literary fiction? NO Sci-fi/fantasy? YES!!! Poetry? Eh, not really Memoirs? Sure Philosophy? No Thrillers? Yes Chronicles? ??? Travel logs? Yup Dialogue heavy? Yes
Okay, so my first attempt at mixing the mixed edible flower petals into decaf black tea verdict: good, but needs more flowers in the mix. Doesn't taste very floral yet.
T-minus 24 hours til we leave for vacation! *vibrates silently in place*.
I was mistaken. What it took to feel real was to get a call from the concierge on the Koningsdam checking to see when we are planning to get to port. She was very lovely and sweet, and they were having a drill while we were speaking, and I heard the captain's voice in the background and it was very surreal. We discussed our arrival, and she assured me that all we need to do was find a Holland America employee and say the magic words of "Pinnacle Suite," and they'd take care of us from there. We told them 11am, so the person who will escort us onto the ship will be waiting for us. I totally had a "technology is so awesome," moment when I realized that she was calling from a ship in the inside passage of the pacific ocean. But yeah, I hung up and it felt suddenly real and imminent.
Earlier, I had emailed our cruise consultant to check if the escort was something they were still doing, because I know that skips some of the walking, which might be good for my sister. He quickly replied, and assured me that they did, and then took it a step further and added a note to our cruise portfolio, so they will minimize our standing and walking. Which was awesome, but still felt like something that would happen in a while, not three days away.
I was productive yesterday. I made Yoda's food, and worked, and on lunch break, I picked up my prescriptions and got gas. Then afterwards, we had some cuddle time, and loved on the puppy, storing up for the long stay at sleepaway camp. I'm going to miss that stupid little dog. Hopefully, he has fun and will be very excited when we pick him up.
Today, I shall work, and at lunch I will go to the bank to request some small bills for drink tips. Hopefully, I can accomplish that in 40 minutes. I'm not going to stress on it too much, though. If I'm 5 minutes late, they'll deal. I don't think either bank I'd go to will be a problem. After work, I shall pack my headset, and silently vibrate with excitement until it's time to go to bed. I'll pack my final thing tomorrow, which is the sound machine. In the meantime, all my other stuff has been packed. I'm going to have a lot to drag into the airport, considering my big bag, my carryon suitcase and my bento bag personal item. Once you add a laptop, that bento bag gets heavy. It's definitely going to be riding on my suitcase as much as possible. Jess is also packed, save for the Tylenol ad Ibuprofen bottles.
My big bag comes in at a whopping 43lbs. My sister outdid me at 47lbs. Jess is pulling up the rear with 32lbs. I know which suitcase all the souvenirs are going in. lol.
Of course, I'll be able to loose a good chunk of the paperwork that I have in the bento bag, so that'll open up some space.
Right now, my brain is on logistics for the morning. I'm getting up at 2am, having possibly gotten 6 hours sleep. (Maybe. I doubt it.) I'll do my journal entry which is sure to be very coherent. Alternately, I could wait and write it on the plane. Either or could work. I'll see how I feel first thing. Then, I will take the chain and deadbolt off the door for BIL to arrive at 3am.
Then, we shall all stare at each other until the car comes at 3:45am.
It's so close, and I am so unmotivated today. I just want to get through work and get my suitcase to the car. Once Jess is up, I may open the big bag and take out a pair of shoes. I don't really need two pairs of dress shoes. One is fine. I expect to wear then a few times, but the flats are fine, I don't need the half broken in Mary Janes. I do however need the very heavy slides. I swear, they're a good pound and a half on their own.
Maybe I'll give my clothes another quick look. I really feel like I overpacked a lot, so I might winnow some of it down, but I'll see. I still need to pack the rain ponchos somewhere, so that might be in Jess' suitcase, too. Fortunately, they don't weigh much. Or I might be able to fit them in my carry on suitcase.
I will have a little more room in both cases going home, because a good chunk of my stuff is disposable. Do I plan to bring the tiny fan home? Nope. Cheap binoculars? Probably not.
That's two boxes that'll be out of the luggage at the end, to be replaced by something fun.
I realized that I'm looking forward to all the options I have for swimming/soaking. First, there will be the hotel's glorious salt water pool. Then on the boat, we have a jacuzzi on the balcony and a big jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. Then, in the ship, there's two pools, though one is outside, so we'll probably stick to the indoor. And then, we have the thermal spa with it's jacuzzi with waterfall feature. (It has other things like a steam room and sauna, all of which I plan to use. I am 100% a water baby, and I need to immerse myself.
And the food. So much glorious food, starting tomorrow at Pike Place Market. I have a semi plan of attack for that. I'd like to start with Piroshki, Piroshki, work my way through Beecher's mac and cheese, and Pike Place Chowder, and maybe get some ginger beer. If I can manage it, I also want to go to Mee Sum and the Crumpet Shop, but that will be dependent on stomach capacity. Then, we shall be off to the Space Needle, so we have some time for that to digest before we get in the car for the long drive to Vancouver.
Then, more good food of the Canadian beef variety at Hy's steakhouse. I'm torn on what to get there. On one hand, I love a good dry aged ribeye, but on the other, the Steak Diane sounds amazing, too. I definitely want to do the tableside Ceasar salad. And maybe the tableside banannas foster for dessert.
The next day, Granville Market shall provide lunch, and then the Tap & Barrel shall provide dinner. Saturday, we shall be on the ship and all bets are off. SO much food. I cannot wait to try it all.
Lunch may be a Pizza or Hamburger from one of the smaller venues, since the lido buffet is bound to be bugfuck. You can preorder both, and then pick up when ready, so I plan to do that. Or, we could see if they could deliver room service. That's included, so might as well.
Dinner shall be in the special dining room for suite guests. We shall eat together the first night, and after that, aside from a few booked meals, they're on their own. If we do eat together, awesome, if we don't, that's cool, too. I have a feeling that we'll be eating together most of the time, though, but we'll see.
So all in all, yes, it's starting to feel like something that is happening, not just a nebulous thing that might happen in the future. I'm so excited! Still a little bit anxious, but that's just my natural state.
I'm still not looking forward to the 6 hour flight. It's long and boring and I probably won't be able to sleep, even with anti anxiety meds. But it's a means to an end, and it'll be worth it when we get there. Hopefully, Alaska Air is good to us. I've never flown on them before. The inflight breakfast sounds good. Parmesan eggs with home fries and bacon sound delicious. I don't care if they're rubber, I'm going to eat them, mind you. It'll be something that breaks up the monotony of the flight. I have SO many new books to read, and maybe a journal entry to write. That would certainly eat up about an hour of the flight, so I might go with that. I'm hoping for the BIL's sake that the turbulence is light. He's a bit of a nervous flyer, and his Valuim only lasted a couple of hours when he did a test run.
Seattle and Vancouver are supposed to be overcast/mostly cloudy tomorrow, but Vancouver will be sunny on Friday and Saturday, so we'll have a good sail away. The ports are still showing rain, but that'll be fine. We can get wet and still have fun.
I just want to fast forward to tomorrow. I'm going to be utterly useless at work. I have no idea what we're having for dinner. We cleaned the fridge entirely out. and I am not cooking, so it's either going to be delivery or carry out. Wherever we order, it needs to be less large portions, so we're not throwing out a ton of food. Jess is planning to take our suitcases down today and put them in the car so that we don't have to clatter them down the stairs at 3:30am. They're very considerate. I feel like I'm missing something, but I don't think I am. I have planned for this trip like Hannibal crossing the Alps.
I put the passports into the carryon bag, so that won't be forgotten. Everything else, I think it set. That will be the last thing I check for my sister and BIL. "Do you have your passport and meds?" Everything else, we can buy new if need be.
Okay, I should stop babbling now. I'm rehashing the plan again, and that's not going to help speed the day up. But wow, I have a concierge, y'all! Everyone have an amazing Wednesday!
I keep wanting to do art of, or at least inspired by, the greenbelt by my place -- basically a long green area with paved bicycle/pedestrian paths and lots of grassy areas and trees of different types -- but I keep dithering on specifics.
Small scale, like focusing on a single tree, or more broad? Realistic or stylized? How much detail? Which season? Habitated (a few dog walkers, a bicyclist or two, maybe a family walking together) or not? More people-built stuff (lampposts, benches, etc) or less?
...obviously I'm not limited to just one, but even with multiple projects there's stuff to decide. Same scene in different seasons? (in which case do I make it into an animation?) Same scene but different styles? Related images, like close up of a tree with more detail and also a bigger picture incorporating that tree but with less detail and broader context? Different images altogether? Multiple images worked to a point and then pick my favorite to finalize? Sketch out a few quick drafts and have my inner critic decide they're all irredeemably stupid?)
The other highlight of the day was my ongoing experiments on myself with respect to movement, which I had intended to witter about, but (1) it got late and (2) when I came to actually look up "neuromuscular/movement patterning" as terms for That Thing about The Process Of Learning Physical Skills I could... only find a bunch of people selling movement coaching services. Working out what the academic terminology for this is: now on my infinite todo list.
(tl;dr I made a back muscle very unhappy a few years ago now; ever since it has been prone to Twinges but not actual dysfunction, which I've been interpreting as Nerves Primed To Go AAAAH; managed to push it past twinge into persistent unhappiness on Saturday, and have spent the past few days playing around with how it responds to various kinds of movement in terms of better/worse/about the same...)
Pepperell has an open Town Meeting, which is to say, Pepperell has the New England tradition of Town Meeting, in which The Populace decides what the town is going to spend and do over the course of the next year. This often amounts to rubberstamping the votes of the Select Board and the School Committee on the budgets, but they do also result in actual questions and actual decisions on some topics, like zoning stuff, so it does involve actual democracy, too.
In some towns, it involves elected representatives being Town Meeting Members (my mom was a Town Meeting Member for literal decades), which is called Representative Town Meeting. Pepperell, as noted, has Open Town Meeting, in which all residents (or in some cases, all registered voters in the town) can deliberate, so I went, rather gleefully, and I was in full Anthropology mode. (I am, yes, registered already. Because.)
I covered Town Meetings for my newspaper, of course, so I went to Every One, and Could Not Vote, had to pay attention to Everything and Be Neutral and Make Sure I Stayed Til The End, so the best thing about last night was I got to leave early.
Aherm.
But I also got to vote! So that was fun. And I identified the people who ask good questions and people sigh in relief when they stand up, and the ones who ask incessant ones forever, about whom other people sigh and mutter about to their neighbors, and I enjoyed the Town Moderator, who isn't as good, Roberts-Rules-wise, as Dedham's long-time one who just retired, but is funny, which is a boon.
They do have Info Sessions the week beforehand (what we called Mini Town Meeting in Dedham), which I did not manage to find out about this time, so I Now Know for future use.
I ran into my neighbor, who works in the Town Clerk's office -- she's one of the people who checks people in, so we nodded to each other in the hallway and I got swept off to the main auditorium. (As is tradition, it was in a school auditorium.) They asked, at the beginning, if anyone was new, and a youngish guy and I waved, and people nodded at us, and the couple next to me said they'd lived in Pepperell 40 years and always came, and I said I was used to Town Meetings because of the newspaper, and it turned out the wife had been in newspapers, too, so that was nice. (Not that I remember their names, but, you know, I can nod to them in future.)
There were a lot of presentations and the thing I was trying to stick around for didn't happen by 9:45, so. I went home. (They have to deal with PFAS contamination in their municipal water supply, and had gotten money for it, but things have changed slightly so they need more money, and I figured it'd be controversial. I don't have to care about the contamination because I have a well, but I do want to Make Sure They Spend Their Money Right.) Alas, I have an early client on Tuesdays, so, as I said, I got to Leave! Yay!
Tminus 2 days! My stomach was a bit pissy yesterday. No vomiting, just constant trips to the bathroom and stomach cramps. It's hard to say if it was the bug, or if it's just my body playing stupid GLP-1 tricks. Could be either, honestly. It seems a bit better today, so hopefully by tomorrow, it'll be gone.
Today, I'm going to take it easy and run over to either the pharmacy or the bank at lunch, but that's about it aside from work. My sister got prescriptions, but she missed a few of mine, so I'm going to go get them. Plus, I need to get some tip money in smaller bills. I've picked up the majority of the money I needed, but the ATM does not offer $1's, $5's & $10's, so I will stop for those.
Then tomorrow, we'll take the dog to the sleepaway camp, and I'll do whatever I didn't do today. I think we're taking our bags out tomorrow during the day an storing them in the cars, so that we're not making a clatter on Thursday at 3:30am. That way, I just need to get my carryon and personal item down the stairs.
I absolutely cannot believe that in 2 days, it's time. I'm hoping my stomach settles throught he day today, and by tomorrow I'll be ready to go.
All the forecasts are still calling for rain in our ports, so I'm glad I got some ponchos. I've got SO much wet weather gear--jackets, hats, waterproof shoes and now a poncho! We're going to stay dry no matter what.
I cannot wait to get on the ship. There's so many things I want to see and do on there. The last week, we've been watching select videos about the cruise, from people who went on it, just as a top off. Most cover everything from embarcation on to the last sea day.
I know it's going to be a mostly full cruise, but hopefully, we're able to get everything done that we want to despite it. Mostly, I just want to relax, but there's a few things I want to see in the World Stage, presentations about the ports and about the ship. The first night, we'll do the normal dining room for dinner, I think. Save the Lido Market buffet for breakfast in the morning.
Internet willing, we're going to try to play Marchen on Sunday, so it'll be a very early trip to the buffet to get breakfast and game snacks, since with the time change, we'll be playing at 8:30am. We've got the highest internet package, so I'm hoping it works out. It's literally called the "Stream" package, so hopefully it can handle discord and Roll20. Especially as the morning goes on and more people get up, it could be a lot of people on there. If we can't, we'll deal, but I'd like to try. I really am enjoying Marchen and I'd like to play it again without waiting til June. Though it looks like the end of May isn't too bad, either, so that's possible.
Jess' overnight bag came yesterday, so we've got them mostly packed. I think they just need to pack their meds, and we'll be good, so that's a relief. I've finalized my big suitcase. I just need to get my pills so I can stuff them in my bag, as well as some chargers and my passport.
I know I've mentioned how much I like the Nomad Lane Bento Bag, but it struck me again as I was packing Jess' suitcase how well designed it is. It just fits everything pefectly. clothes in one section, incidentals in the other. I still need to pack my headset, and our sound machine, but I think both will fit just fine.
I may have underestimated myself. It's starting to feel real now, before I we leave. I'm looking at boarding passes and tomorrow I can check in online for the flights. It's really almost here.
I'm starting to look at the Seattle tour and wondering if I've gotten the timing right. We're suppose to spend 3-4 hours touring the city, splitting our time between the Space Needle and Pike place. I need to be on the road by 2, which will give us about 2-3 hours to see both locations.
It seems like we could spend longer than 2 hours in Pike Place, so we may have to limit our time there, or speed run it. We'll also have the day we come back in to spend in Seattle. They'll have us to our hotel by about noon, so we'll have plenty of time to go back and see more of the city/the rest of the market.
Then, it'll be the drive to Vancouver, which will hopefully not be too congested and will have a quick border crossing into Canada.
Hoping to get to the hotel around 5, which would give us a couple of hours to decompress before our 7:15pm reservation at Hy's Steakhouse. Assuming we're up to going and don't just want to grab dinner at the hotel.
Friday is going to be an interesting day. I want to see Vancouver, so we're going to jump on the hop on/hop off bus early. Looks like they start at 8:45, so I'll try to make that. The loop they go on is about 2 hours, so I've gotta leave time for that. That'll probably get us to Granville Island by 10:30ish, so we'll putter around there and have lunch, then hop back on, and head back to the hotel and hit the Flyover Canada ride. It's like Soarin at Disney, which was super fun. I'm hoping after that, we can hit the pool. It's going to be about 70 degrees, but the pool is heated. Honestly, if we get to the hotel by 4:30, I may go relax in the hot tub on Thursday night, too. They're open til 10pm, so that might be a good way to wind down after a long day of travel.
Thursday, we have dinner with a group of guys I met via the facebook page for our sailing. Hopefully we make friends, and will get to spend time with them during the cruise. We did invite two of them to go on the whale watching trip with us, so hopefully they're cool and we like them. They seem pretty cool so far. Hopefully, BIL is cool with making friends with three gay guys. I think he will be, but there's always a little worry.
After dinner, we are going to bolt to the Scotiabank Theater for a screening of Mortal Kombat. Which looks like such a fun movie. I really think I'm going to enjoy it, but I have crappy taste in movies.
But for now, it's just doing all the little things to be ready for the trip. I've got so many meds to pack, though now I don't have to pack the Mounjaro, just a little bottle of Rybelsus, which takes up way less space.
I'm not looking forward to missing the dog. I know he'll be happy and well cared for, but it still is tough. He went for his day of grooming yesterday and did well. She said that his skin is looking much better, which made me preen a bit, since it's to do with all the good shit he's eating.
I do need to make the last batch of food today. I believe it shall be chicken liver, and some more goat and whatever else is in the freezer. Might be lamb. We'll see what's in there. Tonight I'd also like to get gas when I'm out getting my prescriptions if I have time. I have a quarter of a tank, but I'd like to have a full tank when I get back so we can just go up and get the Yoda without pausing. I'm going to miss that little fucker.
I think it's going to be pills today, cash tomorrow. I only have 40 minutes for lunch, or I'd do both today just to get them over with.
I'd like Wednesday to be an easy day, where 90% of shit is done, and I'll I have to worry about is the little details.
I've made all my plots and plans, but in two days, we'll be living it. That's wild. I'm going to be where all the videos I've watched were. It's just so utterly surreal. I felt that way about the Disney trip 3 years ago, too. It was just so cool to see all the places that I'd watched videos about. I'm assuming Alaska is going to be the same way.
Now I just need everything to go smoothly.
Aaaah!
Sorry, just had to get that out.
Okay, time for me to get myself together for what is sure to be another long, boring day at work. I am 100% unmotivated, and honestly, I just want to relax and watch ore videos and daydream. Everyone have a stellar Tuesday!
Saturday: Gathered projects to take along to an outing, and thought about knitted tee Sunday: Did more swatching on the knitted tee, and washed the swatch Monday: Measured gauge on washed swatch, and considered new yarn/new gauge tools but did not order any.
2. one thing I'm proud of today
Saturday: I streamed that evening after I got home from seeing goody_scrivener Sunday: I made a to-do list and did most things on the list, including cleaning my room some! (If you know me, you know this is a big accomplishment) Monday: Did more work after I got home from therapy, even though I wanted to just play on the internet. Also, played some FFT!
3. video game progress
Saturday: leveling progress on an FFXI alt, streamed new alliance raid in FFXIV Sunday: more leveling progress in FFXI, and EFC's birthday party in FFXIV Monday: Played some FFT! didn't get much done because of liveblogging, but folks! Activation energy is HARD for me, so I am very proud that I turned the thing on and played some at ALL.
Songs Last song I listened to: Band: Hic Svnt Leones by The Primals (from the "Forge Ahead" arrangement album of FFXIV songs) Favorite song ever: The one that comes to mind right now is "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill, because yeah, that refrain? I WANT THAT. Current song on repeat: By choice? Don't have one. But Apple Music really likes to play FFXIV's "Oblivion" for me, both the original version and the "Let It Go" version. Good thing I like the song! Funny thing is that I didn't like Oblivion for months at first, but then it grew on me and now I love it. Song that reminds me of my childhood (positive, I actually enjoy getting reminded of this): Elvira! Song that reminds me of my first crush (romantic or platonic): ....I got nothin' Song that reminds me of a person important to me now: ....again, I got nothin' I love this song I will add it to playlists for no reason: "Breezy" from Final Fantasy VIII. It's so calming to me! I love this song and I wish I could listen to it again for the first time: hmm, first that comes to mind is the piano version of "Heroes" from FFXIV: Heavensward A playlist about me would start with this song: "Dynamis", from FFXIV:Endwalker. I find the song breathtakingly beautiful and hopeful. I like to think that I am a beautiful and hopeful person. Maybe?
Artists My top 5 artists of all time are: Nobuo Uematsu, Masayoshi Soken (one of these days I'll remember how to spell Masayoshi without having to look it up), Naoshi Mizuta, Yoko Shimomura, Noriyasu Agematsu My current top 5 is (current rotation for the last month or so): Wait, top five artists? Because Apple Music has mostly been about Soken-san's music lately... which I do love a LOT but I'm starting to wish for other FF music to play. When I want to feel at home I listen to: Um, this is still the artist section, so... Naoshi Mizuta? Thinking specifically of "The Republic of Bastok", because Bastok is my HOME in a way that Gridania and Ul'dah aren't. When I want to feel somewhere else I listen to: Uematsu-san, specifically "Silence and Motion" from Final Fantasy VIII Last artist I discovered: Terry:D who does piano arrangements of Final Fantasy music. I quite liked them!
Albums Last album I listened to: Forge Ahead (arrangements from FFXIV: Endwalker and other songs) Favorite album of all time: FFXI: Rise of the Zilart tied with Distant Worlds (the first) Comfort album that I listen to to feel better: Not an album, but a playlist of calming songs. Heavy on the FFVIII because that was my favorite soundtrack at the time I made the playlist, but also features the exquisitely beautiful "Brothers" from the original Fullmetal Alchemist soundtrack Album I'd pay to listen to again for the first time: hmm, probably Shadowbringers? Album that reminds me of my teenage years: CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE new kids on the block Album I would love to listen to live from start to finish: Shadowbringers Last album I bought: "Endwalker", digitally on iTunes. I own the BluRay but the only Bluray player I have is my PS4 and that's a pain to deal with, so now I can listen to it whenever I want. Last album I received as a gift: ???? it's been YEARS. probably not since my twenties? Last album I recommended: Dawntrail, probably? For "Smile". I like that song.
Okay, so I let a lot of time go between the first session and this one. That's because it was UNCOMFY playing at my sister's house. I had to sit on the bed and crane my neck to see the TV, and it was hard on my thighs to keep me perched on the bed, plus when I was writing my thoughts down, I twisted my whole body to use the laptop. NOT FUN.
So I decided to wait until I was home. Well, I got home last week but didn't bother to hook my Switch back up until tonight, oops. But it's hooked up now, and I am determined to play for a bit.
Got the Switch displayed on my main monitor, and Dreamwidth on my second monitor. I'm all set. LET'S GO!
Happy Star Wars Day! I had high hopes this year of finally getting around to playing Knights of the Old Republic (2003) which is considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made. But sometime in mid-April I had to concede that I did not have time to do that, so instead I decided to replay Rebel Assault, a rail shooter from 1993 that I played a lot as a kid. It is, uh... not considered one of the best Star Wars games ever made. You might be in the wrong galaxy, then In Star Wars: Rebel Assault, you play as a humble moisture farmer from Tattooine who becomes a pilot fighting for the Rebellion and eventually blows up the Death Star. But you're not Luke Skywalker because of... reasons. I guess it's like a self-insert AU where YOU get to vanquish the Empire instead of Luke? But there's no character customization except that you can choose whether your character, "Rookie One", is male or female. I always picked female because even at age eleven I found the male voice acting unbearably hammy.
A great deal of what I have just said is based on my childhood memories of the game and not on my recent attempt to revisit it, which was largely stymied by not really being able to get it to work. I mean, it runs! But on modern hardware the controls are somehow both barely responsive and wildly oversensitive—you try to steer and it's like nothing, nothing, nothing, BAM into the wall—and none of my troubleshooting efforts made much of a difference. I see from reviews I am not the only one who has this problem. The game probably needs a patch, and quite possibly nobody who has the skills cares enough to put in the effort. Oh well.
I got the game in a bundle with the sequel, 1995's verbosely named Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire, so I figured I might as well try that one even though I never played it at the time. Surprise—this one actually works well enough to play it!! Gameplay achieved! ( More on Star Wars: Rebel Assault II - The Hidden Empire )
Both Rebel Assault games are available in a bundle on Steam and on GOG, currently on sale for $2.49 USD. And even at that price, be aware that unless you are some kind of retro software wizard, you're really only buying the sequel, because the first game is not in a playable state.
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kaberett
