LadyCrimson

All I'll say is that people thinking I'm nice is largely just because I'm an introvert with no desire to waste my time embroiled in conflict, even over the internet. But I think the only danger I represent is boring something to death. ...I've only met 'net folks a few times (individuals vs. gatherings). It's never what you expect, but it's always interesting.

@Keyrock So are you liking Valheim? I'm not at all into the Viking scenario but the building mechanics seem serviceable enough. But how much is combat the focus? eg, do you have to defeat bosses before you can get all abilities/skills/recipes or something like that? Is it moddable at all? It's being so hyped - does it feel like it might be more than just a streamer flavor of the month? ...my initial impression is I should wait and see what happens to it after a year or two. I'm not really seeing much that would make me think I'd like it more than 7 Days, at least - outside of boats - and I'm STILL waiting for that one to be "finished." 😑

Maybe we should all move to TX and once a year we can have a Forumite Picnic somewhere, bringing all our fave tasty dishes.

As I've mentioned before, this whole covid thing has most of hubby's employer's employees not only working from home, but moving ... one of them to FL. While still working for the employer. So we've thought about it - his employer has even half-pushed/suggested it to him - but hubby's particular duties, he'd be less valuable/effective if he couldn't just hop over to work in 5 minutes (or 25, if one of the other offices south or north) when there's an actual physical problem, and he's done the hour+ each way commute thing before and never wants to return to anything like it. It's horrible. Some people may think it's worth it/can handle it, but ... yeah. You better really like the car alone time because after a year or so you'll start thinking about all the wasted time. Not to mention the extra cost of car gas and care. Edit: TX as a place to retire to definitely has a tempting appeal, altho I'd still prefer rainy vs. over-heat and t-storms.

I didn't like the guy (altho I didn't "hate" him either, he just didn't interest me/wasn't on my radar). Thus I do not "care" that he's gone ... which of course means nothing to the world or the grand scheme of things, whether I do or do not, anymore than when I feel sad because someone who *was* on my radar passes instead. Celebrity culture is a such an odd human thing that we all fall into, either direction. And that's pretty much my reaction.

This time, I'm going to make and finish a multi-building, multi-level hilltop castle if it kills me, darnit! I might even dig some ... trenches! Maybe make a waterfall or two. Then move in.

@ majestic - yeah, no inheritance tax here either. Which is definitely a nice thing. I have too many ... issues ... for persistent employment that's worth much of anything, and after hubby's income grew higher and higher I just stopped trying. So I haven't officially worked in a long time. I made up for it in the long run tho, I guess, by having parents with a surprising (to us kids) amount of money to pass down, in the end.

Yeah that's about the size of the house we rented near Morgan Hill. It was a nice size for us. I miss that house, rental or not. Sigh.

I live a bit north of Hurlshot and our 3bd/1 bath/1 car garage, 980 square foot house would sell for around 1.3 million right now. The house was built in the 1950's as cheap worker housing, looks cheap, and is not "updated" to the nines. I call it a "postage stamp house." At least the area is pretty decent (eg, "safe" and pretty 1st time buyer/family attractive), that's about the best thing. Hurlshot's area he might get something newer/bigger but it won't be a mansion for $800k. For us personally, 980 sq. feet, combined with a cramped layout (not a lot of "communal" living space) feels like a glorified apartment. Hubby and I don't have kids but we're space hogs, what with our two dedicated PC/offices. It works and we're used to it by now but it's amazing how much difference even another two or three hundred sq. feet can make in terms of function and feel. Smallest I've lived in was a 675ish sq. ft. 2 bd apartment, which was ok when I was 19 but would drive me nuts now. On the flip side, if it was much bigger than 1600-1800 sq. foot my response would be "Ok, but I'm not cleaning it." 😛 I understand where Hurlshot is coming from - we struggled with that same issue/thought we'd never buy, living here - and we thought that way even back in the late 1980's. For most, income won't increase faster than housing inflation. I assume it's like this mostly everywhere, only in some areas, like popular or business centralized urban/suburbian, the rate of increase is so magnified it eventually drives people out of the area if their jobs/lives allow it. House size wise - the average size of American homes has been increasing since the 70's or so, I think. Nationally it might've been around 1500-1600 sq. feet once, it's probably closer to 2500sq ft. now. But like everywhere, it vastly depends on the richness of the area and/or the age/region of the area, even down to what block. As far as hiding - well, in some areas, more modern/newer houses 2500+ sq ft might have more bathrooms than bedrooms, so, y'know, they can all hide in those? And yeah, inventory vs. demand/population is always problematic, as well. If it wasn't, the prices wouldn't get quite as crazy.

Santa Cruz doesn't have as much rain, tho. ...maybe I'm weird, but weather is one of the main reasons I'd move somewhere. I've always wanted a house with a giant plate glass living room wall so I can watch storms. So parts of OR would be great for that. Hmm...that makes me think I'll spend the afternoon looking at homes for sale up there, again.

The critic reviews have been pretty positive overall ... hopefully they'll at least finish the first season. That's all I ask. tbh, I'm not sure Resident Alien would hold up for more than two or three seasons anyway - it's great initially but I could see it getting "old" before too long if they don't up the ante and tighten things re: plot/device content. A little more mystery/murder/mayhem and a little less sitcom, over time, for example. SyFy once had some decent shows on their space for a while, like Battlestar, Eureka, and Stargate, but yeah ... maybe this could be the start of a new period for SyFy. Edit: I still can't stand typing out "SyFy."

SyFy put the first two episodes of that new sci-fi/comedy Resident Alien series on their YouTube channel. I don't know if they'll put up any more, but I watched those. And it's great. I mean, it's totally silly, but great. To quote one of the top comments under the 1st episode: "Alan Tudyk is an intergalactic treasure that must be preserved". Such an adorkable hottie. Also, he's killing it in terms of the fish out of water alien in human disguise mannerisms. The whole cast is pretty good, humor is right up my alley. I hope they don't cancel it mid-season or something. At least finish a full season first. 😄

In the US, even the better tap water still has a ton of stuff in it that the cities add for disinfection etc. Usually nothing to be concerned about but they can produce unappealing smells even if it's perfectly "safe" for drinking... Our current city uses so much chloramine (not the same as volatile chlorine) that sometimes it smells like pool water. Some days it's pretty mild/almost not noticeable, what I'd call normal for the whole Bay Area, and some days it's very strong. There's nothing wrong with it for drinking per se - and I suppose a pool-smell is slightly better than a swampy smell (like some well waters) - but after a while (some years later - it's gotten worse over time) we bought this large gravity filter.

I have a truck/jeep thingie. That's new (to me). Has lots of storage space and not the worst to drive, but it can come to dead stop on very steep hills, so no Everest driving. Plus it's a gas hog, haha. Still, I might actually use the thing to go from one town to another, vs. using the previous putt-putt mini-scooter, never.

...for some reason that makes me feel old. 😛 On the bright side, since I never had any kids, no one is ever going to call me grandma! ...another topic, I've had the same game on (and nothing else inbetween) for 6+ hrs per day for three days in a row on the OLED tv. Not even a hint of image ghosting. Can't speak to if one did that for weeks on end, but with other stuff (like tv logos) I'm less fearful re: burn in at this point. I'm sure it could happen but the way I use it anyway, doesn't seem much of a risk. Still too small tho. Maybe I should go projection screen for adjustable size.

Tablets are great devices. I probably use mine more than the desktop these days.

Netflix kept recommending a sci-fi movie called The Titan. I ignored it for ages. Finally said what the heck and tried watching it. I have no idea what I saw. It was both terrible and boring, something about mutating humans to survive on another planet. But it did have a few moments that vaguely reminded of The Fly (80's movie) in a sideways manner. I should watch that again, I don't think I've seen the full thing since the theater back when.

Ready to game now! ... 😑 Joke aside I usually just use the thumb brace but I sleep with all the metal fingertips on both hands so they don't curl/lock up while sleeping. It's so annoying. Pfft. @Azdeus Pet loss ... never gets any easier. Sorry to hear.

Hmm, night vision goggles actually work now. Still prefer the headlight mining helmet instead but it's pretty cool. Reached the end of the world, I guess....since I can't craft an ocean liner. Or even a wood raft. Not that type of survival game. You can swim underwater and find loot, tho.

Became temp. bored of streaming TV and YouTube so I fired up 7 Days to Die current build again. I left zombies off per usual. As a time waster I simply like generating new world maps every few days and farting around in the environment. Anyway I wanted it to rain more often so I modded the files to increase the chance. Still didn't rain that often, but when it did, it was a huge dark storm that seemed to go on forever. Which was cool. What was not cool was that at one point I noticed the "you are wet" percentage kept increasing (leading to temp. survival issues). Oh sure, you're out in the rain, doesn't matter how good your raincoat is, of course you'll get wet, I hear you say. ...I was 20 meters underground, carving rooms out of solid rock, nowhere near any windows/doors/holes etc. I don't recall that in previous versions. In 15-20 minutes I was 100% wet and dying from hypothermia. Game cheatz! So I turned off weather survival, too.

I suddenly want some orange taffy. ...looks pretty cool - pun intended. I'd be way too scared (and unskilled...) to do something like that myself. It's strange how I'm not typically into light-shows or colors or "windows" etc. on my PC's, but sometimes those water cooled towers are really neat-o looking. So space-age-y or something.

The Sinner season3 is on Netflix now! Matt Bomer is in this one. 1st episode seems as good as ever. *binge hat on* Oh, I also kept watching Cobra Kai, giving it a longer chance. I started to kinda like it more for a bit but then my interest flagged again - I quit after episode 9. Even with nostalgia elements - just not for me.

Apparently there is no such thing as a decent waterproof thumb stabilizer/splint. At least not one that is: one, easy to take on and off with one hand, two, actually keeps the first thumb joint from bending, and three, allows you to actually still minimally use the thumb to at least grip things with (the metal clamp-like single-finger splints are great but you can't do anything with them on). Thus, washing dishes or any kind of similar work is still a problem. Darnit.

...but Sean Connery is still alive somewhere, right? Right? Sigh. RIP's all around.

This is why I prefer seeing sci-fi movies with someone who knows nothing about tech/physics/space etc. And don't take geologists to volcano/earthquake etc. disaster movies. I also remember taking my mathematician brother to a couple movies where the chr. was one of those super smart math type people. Bro snorted a lot.