LadyCrimson

Me, repeatedly the past week or two: "I need to remember to get baking powder." Hubby on the weekend: "Going to get coffee filters, need anything." Me: "A few things, thanks. I'll write a short list." Hubby: "Did you actually want baking soda? I thought you keep mumbling about baking powder." Me: "I want baking powder. What did I write?" Hubby: "Baking soda." Me: >.> Sigh.

Enshrouded 1.0 - ok I figured out the wand timing thing is dependent on how long one holds the mouse click. If I rapidly (and I mean rapidly) spam the mouse click, it does the fast single wand shot like before. If I use a longer click, it starts the longer animation. I guess it's a charge-up mechanic. But it's really easy to mouse-click for a micro second too long. Anyway, went into the new cinder biome. I suppose it's ok, but it's dark and dreary because it's, y'know, volcanic like. Jumps over lava. Black/grey stone/dirt. Darkish lighting. Common mobs no biggie for a lvl45+ chr, my frost wand and staff frost spells seem op'd in early areas/encounters, at least. Gameloop repeat of all the other biomes - new dirt type, new stone/ore types, new gem types, new spark levels, to craft new/stronger blocks/gear/foods and whatever else. And max clvl is up by 5, so now max gear lvl is 55 instead of 50. So far not as fun to explore, to me, because of design (more elevators, more leaping/gliding/jumping) - reminds me of some of the lava-shroud areas already in existence. New enemies so far are robotic looking. Feels like when an ARPG gives one a new Act/area and the game loop continues. So if one really likes the cinder biome, it's great. If one finds it dull and dreary to wander endlessly among many poorly lit twisting paths, looking for chests and loot and quest markers, not as much. Yeah, I think I just OD'd on it last time. New blocks and craft items not motivating at this point. Again, not bad or anything. Just more of the same. It's not different enough to feel worth bothering with as someone returning to it.

Enshrouded 1.0 -- the "can't change difficulty settings" is fixed. I now remember mostly how to play, but since it's been at least a few "big updates" since I last played, there's a lot of small stuff that's changed/isn't what I remember. I don't like how the basic magic wand attack, on the 3rd or 4th attack/cast/fire, it does this different fancier animation for the next attack that's longer - it throws off my sense of timing and drives me batty re: mouse-clicking. I'm guessing it does a little extra damage? I don't recall wand base attacks doing that before, certainly not to this extent. Other very minor UI stuff like changed recipes and a plethora of auto-UI messages popping up (you can disable a lot of them but there's lots and I'm finding it difficult to figure out what controls what). Or if this or that in the list is even what I'm bothered by. Not saying it's bad per se - more like a lot of minor irritations, vs. what I knew before plus just in general (not UI things I would ever like). Sometimes it feels like more clicks then before, which to me isn't an improvement. Some might like all of these things more than me, ofc - who knows. Anyway - all of this is making me grumpy re: the game. It does look nice and the general sandbox/exploration is still nice, but I feel like I'm constantly fighting UI/usability issues. Maybe it's time to try Space Haven and make my "backlog" be zero, again.

RJ Mitte - 34 - apparently suicide (no details given) Was Walt's son in Breaking Bad. Shame, so young, seemed like a nice young man and advocate for disabled actors.

^ all games feel like work these days, with all their multi-systems/skill-perk trees and 30 attack combos and 9999 items/resources, and/or too many decisions of any kind etc - at least outside of really simple clicker or "boomer" games. ;p =================== Enshrouded 1.0 - updated (backed up old/saves, ofc). Seems fine. Reset my perk points and had to re-do those (slightly changed perk pathing than before). Performance on my old faithful PC is about the same. Maybe slightly better. Visually it looks better, LoD and object detail, yet also looks kinda ... dimmer. Hard to explain, must be a lighting thing. There's a few bad bugs (can't alter difficulty settings atm) but I'm sure that'll be fixed quick. My main base appears unaffected by any changes, which is cool. But I've practically forgotten how to play. The max flame altar (base claim-build-area thingies) has increased by four or five apparently. Which is great. Still not enough, but any increase is a good increase. ================ Scritchy Scratchy - forgot I bought this cheap incremental type lottery ticket game. Gave it a shot. I first thought it was going to end up as a simple "scratch various levels of tickets and then just endlessly make money" idle type thing, but apparently what you do is progress until a death ticket, which ends a session, gives you perk points to use on a perk tree - then you restart with those perks and some new tickets/levels/tools gained at points, to speed things up. Repeat several times until you get this one tool that lets you ultimately defeat/win the death ticket, which gives you an ending. And then if you want, you can start all over all maxed out (or completely start over). It's silly and not really replayable, but for an incremental progression/idle it hits an obsessive note for 2-3 days (depends how obsessive/fast/slow one is) until win. I guess I got my 5-7 bucks worth or whatever I paid.

Yup, saw that a year ago or so. But early-access. I mean I'm more willing to try ea these days "just cause" or if it's a well-established ea title, or super cheap enough, but I still try to wait. The walkin' house is a nice idea but it also doesn't equal freedom of building. Seems more atmosphere/adventure/cozy oriented. The near constant low contrast greyish fog smear lighting/backgrounds isn't my thing, either. Picky, I know. Heh.

That's good news, Sarex. :D ================= Today: Cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Heard scuffle/objects moving noises outside, like it was far away. Thought nothing of it. Heard squeaks outside. Thought nothing of it (too busy cooking, could be wind, birds, angry squirrels). Finished cooking. Went outside to take out some garbage. Small dead mouse/baby rat on the bottom step. Oh, nice. Kitty left a gift. My main cat at parents used to leave birds on the doorstep once in a while, much to my mother's dismay. Since I've had only indoor cats since then, hasn't been a thing. But cat gonna cat. If she could hunt the larger rats that occasionally scuttle around the fences here, I'd give her many more treats. Just don't mess with the skunks. :P

Netflix's Below - my conclusion: not worth the time even as a short series. First 2 episodes were the best thing about it. By the end, it's not really a horror/suspense anymore, it's some kind of weird family trauma drama + social-political commentary re: global warming or humanity's influence or some such, where chrs. do a positional flip. I mean, it's still kinda watchable and could be someone's bag, but it's not mine. Shame. I also tried renting/watching the Coyote vs Acme film via Prime. I was expecting something OTP funny/whodunnit, ala Who Framed Roger Rabbit, even if it didn't match that old classic. For 45ish minutes, I smiled a few times but I generally found no funny. Most of that first half seemed to be about Coyote's inspirational bonding with the sad sack lawyer chr. None of it was very charming and it felt like there was no plot movement for far too long. John Cena looked like he was having fun, tho. Anyway, hubby and I both grew bored and turned it off. I might try finishing it on my own (since the rental was $19, dangit) - maybe it becomes bees knees in the last 30 minutes - but I might not.

Talisman is a trilogy, now? I think I read that novel near original release period as a mid-teen. I liked it ok at the time - or more accurately I ended up liking that one wolf-y chr more than the book itself, which about all I remember - but sequels? Meh. I remember trying to read Straub's other works after that. Never got into him.

Grew kinda bored with 7 Days again. Looked at my Wishlist. Looked at "new survival/sandbox+ other indie games" videos and store pages. Watched some TV for a while. Then went back to 7 Days 3.0, again. One of those periods where I fairly seriously feel Ike uninstalling everything left on my PC (well, except maybe 7 Days as my singular sandbox) and "quitting" gaming. Nothing feels icompelling/interesting anymore to my puny brain. I'd rather sip tea and watch the trees in my backyard. Maybe in another 3-5 years.

Watched a couple episodes (out of 6) of that Netflix Below miniseries. They were ok. A bit --- campier? not haha, just horror-film or old network mini-series quality, a bit? -- then I was expecting. Although, I'm not sure what I was expecting. They're obviously trying for somewhat "serious" dread (with bits of gore here and there) but didn't quite work for me. Some pacing/story aspects remind be a bit of Jaws (different sea monster) but moreso a cheaper/lesser Stephen King media quality. Not as good as something like From, say. At least from those two episodes. Josh and other actors are fine. Passable watch so far, nothing more. =========== Also finally tried watching Ssn2 of One Punch Man via Netflix. The first few episodes were ok, but I slowly lost interest because One Punch Man felt hardly involved for many episodes. eg, the "your hero is obviously too powerful/would solve everything in 5 minutes", problem. Which the 1st season had too but it was handled better. Also, the animation quality devolved, to a point even I noticed/found it a little distracting. Still has moments (I liked the silver-bat hero), but serious downgrade. I won't be trying Ssn3.

Postscript: that was probably way more answer than you wanted, haha. But it did make me think - maybe I could a get a job at some flea-b-gone service co as the "did it work" tester. Just walk into a treated home with long white socks on and sit in the living rooms for 10 minutes each. If they don't appear on me, you're clear! :D Seriously, I've been a guest in several ppl's houses (dogs/cats) where they'd talk about how they were sure they had no fleas this time, but they'd be all over my socks.

I have no real method, outside of my official kitties are always indoor only (except Mr. Black the last 2 years of his life or so). When with parents they were indoor/outdoor, until the discovery that I'm one of the especially delicious types. I could stick a hand/foot four inches above a carpet and within seconds a dozen would jump on, while they completely ignored my mother (hubby too, grr). I remember mom trying weird things like layers of eucalyptus leaves under my bed and other such but didn't do jack. At that point mom fogged the house and the cats became outdoor-only. >.> anyway I digress. Since I sometimes brought strays home, I've had a few house-flea times. Back then there was this Raid flea+egg spray (purple can) where I'd stick cats in one aired room and spray carpets, let dry, vacuum, air out, and all gone and stayed gone (until I brought another stray home). Miraculous stuff. Probably not healthy at all, tho, haha. So yeah, these days it would be initial mega-combing sessions, then maybe a single flea bath, then if that didn't work enough after a month or so, I'd probably fog the house, chemicals be damned. I simply am too much of a biting insect magnet to be able tolerate anything less than "totally eradicated in the house." Stray kitty is outdoor and not 24/7, so I'm only concerned about her general comfort (constant biting/scratching), not mine. :) She acts like she'd like to come inside but I am all "NooOOOooOOooO, you fleabag." EdITEDIT: I've used a topical like Frontline once (now twice, on this yard cat). But I don't think i'd want to use it constantly (every month). or those oral pills. Haven't researched them enough to decide if using such is better/worse than once in a blue moon house-fogging - and another reason I probably will never try a dog (indoor/outdoor/walks etc).

^ I don't know about race day, but it's supposed to cool off some point next week, 80's instead of 90+. Spent some time giving the stray kitty a good groom with a flea comb. She's been obviously flea-bothered recently. Got a lot of fleas off. Sure, being outdoors, she'll just get more, but maybe it'll make her feel better if I do it once a week or so. Then winter it'll calm down for a while. May get her a topical neckdrops flea thing, see if that helps for a while, too. Anyway, she really loved the comb/was very patient. Flea combs are great. She's still not MY cat tho. I'll keep telling myself that.

Oh, does that happen in John's era? I know of Parallax but not much re: story/plotlines. Probably googled once after that bad GL movie and promptly forgot. I do vaguely recall in the Return of Superman compilation book (years and years ago), destruction of Coast City and Green Lantern showing up all mad. But since it was a Superman collection, GL wasn't in there for long. But yeah - overall I liked Lanterns. We'll see! :)