LadyCrimson

Just my unnecessarily large and largely empty home complex. ...I've played enough to notice a few bugs/glitches in the demo. Hopefully those are fixed in full release. Still a chill, relaxing game perfect for my brain right now. ...it's still not May 25th.

Just thought I'd mention that after switching power outlet strips, my PC (and the PS4 console) hasn't randomly rebooted itself overnight etc. Can't say for certain it'll never, but so far so good. Sometimes it really is as weirdly simple as that. Could've saved some hours of troubleshooting if it had occurred to me earlier. >.>

Above Snakes: Prologue - My current run/save has a bug where one stack of twigs never disappears when I try to sell it, so I can sell it endlessly for infinite bucks. Not that I need endless bucks in the demo. I keep making stacks of ink (needed to delete placed world tiles) and reconfiguring my map, because I'm weird and find that fun. Not sure if I'll port a demo save into the full game or just start from scratch. I can't wait to have more biomes and quest/dungeon squares and stuff. Is it the 25th of May yet.

Like in the first game ... there are workbenches around. Repair didn't look that expensive. Upgrading a fave weapon to be of your chr. level is the expensive thing now, seemed like. You can create/craft and mods. Btw, I don't think it looks like a bad game - certainly looks better than the first one - it just felt like nothing special. There's apparently no difficulty settings, your character is an overly talkative, b-movie one-liner tossing avatar (so if you don't like the humor...). Seriously, what I saw your chr. never shuts up. But you get to wreck zombies with great visuals.

Dead Island 1 semi-entertained me for the initial first hour or two, but it wasn't long before it devolved into a dull/predictable slog, yup. Dead Island 2 ... visually it's quite amazing, from environment visuals to zombie death detail graphics (if that's your thing) but from the playthru I saw, seems like it does the same thing where it's not too bad initially and sorta has you wanting to continue, but becomes rather monotonous before long. Still might be fun if you like zombie mashing. I'd probably wait till it was 30% off tho.

I spent the last two days playing the crafting/survival/sandbox/questing Above Snakes: Prologue demo on Steam. It's only the early part of the game so most features/upgrades etc aren't available but it gives a good idea/taste of game loop/mechanics. I think some of the Prologue progress will carry over to full game, too, if you want it to. ...TLDR: the demo was enough fun that I wanted to immediately purchase the full version ... and that's when I realized it's not releasing until May 25. Wah. One of its main appeals is how you research new biome squares and slowly get to place them on the map, essentially creating your own map on the fly. You can remove placed map tiles if you want to redo areas as you research/get more biome types or special Quest tiles etc. Kinda neat. You can have a big home area or tons of tiny ones scattered all over. Combat threat is low key and often avoidable/deal with it at your own pace, so I find it relaxing. I could see the games loop becoming a bit repetitive/mindless, but I don't mind. It works well with a controller, and I liked it enough to binge play it and start over three times, trying to figure out how best to place and efficiently use biome tiles. I wonder what the max numerical limit is for total map tiles. I can't wait.

Being one of those whose gateway kdrama was stuff like Boys Over Flowers, I grew to expect larger than life, anime-like comedy expressions/physicality, working class vs. rich elite, birth secrets, amnesia, fatal disease crisis, generally very little skinship, and noble idiocy. Especially if it's heavily romance-relationship focused, but also in general. They toned it way down since maybe 2018 as they aim for more worldwide appeal - which is fine/welcome - but yeah, down to earth isn't something they often seem to want for TV dramas (movies are a little different). Could change as generations change ofc. I mean, US TV once was dominated by squeaky clean/wholesome and often quite dramatic stage-like acting styles etc, but now it's almost fully in the other direction. Takes time, times change. And yes, at this point I'm familiar enough with kdrama patterns (crime/thriller to period to general drama to rom-com) to get bored quicker. I still often like it more than most US TV series tho. Also:

Cable? What's cable. That's always sad. According to Viki I only watched 4.5 episodes of Moment of Eighteen. Don't remember if I didn't like it or just forgot about it. Half the time now I completely forget I even started watching something, if I didn't binge-complete it in 36 hours.

Tempted to try Dredge because it sounds wacky and kewl, but it all hinges on whether I like the way the fishing mechanic works. I hated the one in Stardew Valley for example. My Time At Sandrock is also on my radar. I never bought Portia and it sounds like this new one is much improved/more "fun" vs. that. Looks cute, like a 3d Stardew or something. Still in early access tho (one year in).

First it was HBO. Then it was HBOMax. Now it's gonna be...MAX. Because they want to make it a singular "everything" streaming network and think "HBO" scares off newer customers who think HBO sounds too uppity? So does that mean HBO (as a brand name) is gone? Bizarre. At any rate, I guess they're also planning on tons of original series/programming, ala Disney/Amazon or whatever. DC series, Harry Potter series, Conjuring universe series, animated Gremlins series, more GoT spinoffs etc. I wonder if the quality of MAX series will maintain the rep. of HBO series. Maybe it's time to cancel.

Nah, all the water heaters we've ever had (including my parents house) were gas. I don't know the percentage commonalities here but it just varies by area, age of house, what previous owners did, etc. Most clothes dryers I've encountered were electric, but some had both electric gas hookups, or were gas only. Just depends. The people double-checking the Bay Area house for rent issues are the ones who said we should replace it. I asked if there was a mechanical or legal issue, they said no, it's just "old", so I said no. I might want to convert/get a tankless for the place at some point, but not right this minute. Anyway, I was a little surprised at this "it's old" thing - no one says "replace your oven after 10+ years" but apparently water heaters get that sorta advice treatment.

Would you guys replace a 13yr old tank water heater just "because it is old" if it has no leaks, makes no loud noises, no rust, has never needed any prior repair, still heats water to scalding (if you were to want it that hot ha) just fine, no other issues? I am of the "replace when obvious problems/broken" sort plus it is simply my nature to be suspicious of overselling but I am no handyman. Is it going to explode just because it's old, or what? Edit: it's in the garage, not in an interior home closet.

Feels like every couple weeks I break down all these little boxes to toss in the recycle bin. And every week more little boxes from Amazon show up on the doorstep, where said boxes get tossed on the floor somewhere to sit forever. It is not me, it's hubby and his little hobby parts. I keep tossing stuff away/de-cluttering as I age, he keeps buying ever more physical stuff. It's mostly little stuff, but it still drives me nuts. Stop buying stuff! Not that he's entirely alone re: stuff. One issue I still have is wanting to reuse food containers. Can't toss those plastic yogurt/butter/pickle whatever containers, that would be wasteful and they're like free tupperware, or seedling planters, or junkdrawer organizers! Next thing I know I have 20 containers in a cupboard. I toss some. Then I can't stand to toss out more containers. Repeat. It's my one physical hoarding 'thing.' Got that from my can't-toss-anything grew up on a poor farm, mom. Thanks mom.

When you keep hearing an occasional phone-like notification sound (two-note), kinda loud, in your room but can't figure out what it's from. It's not the phone (checked numerous times). It's not the tablet. Doesn't seem to be the computer or PS4. It's not the old laptop you have plugged in under a desk just to keep it charged/never used (can't imagine why it would make that sound anyway). It almost sounds like it's coming from my purse in one room corner, but there's nothing in that purse. So you do the only thing you can do...ignore it and hope it perm. stops eventually. ...tech ghosts?

Finished "The Glory." The 2nd half had a faster, slightly more rushed feeling pacing. The revenge was all a little bit too easily achieved/perfectly falling into place, but that's OTP soap tropes for you. Overall I still rather enjoyed it, although they included a (very) minor/understated romance aspect that was unnecessary and boring. That male lead's role could've been written out of the series, with his tasks or motivations given to other chrs, and you'd never notice. The ... third? fourth? male lead chr was much more compelling (in an ethical/moral foil to main chr. sort of way) and I would have been more keen on more screen/plot/arc time using him, instead. At any rate...for melodrama, maybe a 7.5/10 overall, with the minor romance stuff 4/10. Minor nod to a truck o' doom appearance, 10/10.

I actually never watched the entire Squid Game. I absolutely loved the first couple episodes, but at some point the actual conspiracy stuff became too absurd and I started skipping a lot - the best thing about it was the drama during the actual puzzles/games. I haven't finished The Glory yet but the revenge isn't about bloody/fighting mayhem. So anyone wanting that type of revenge, it's not that. Just saying. The lead adult chr is not the stage or over acting sort of role - she's purposefully very flat, which I like. Well, at least so far/what I've seen. It's mostly the "bullies" in full-on makjang acting mode.

Half way through "The Glory" (kdrama, via Netflix). Bullied girl grows up and starts a long-game vengeance plan. Heard/saw parts of reviews, I guess it was fairly popular for a Netflix show. The bullying scenes are extreme. The bullies are cartoonishly evil (even as adults) in that k-drama way. The plan is elaborate but entertaining, atmosphere grey and grim. I suppose it's pretty good for what it is and I'm enjoying the main acting performances. For the dark/semi-horror/thriller kdrama I probably prefer something like Squid Game.

Pork rind "chips": Pre-diabetes - "It's like styrofoam, gross, where's the chocolate." Post-diabetes - "It's like styrofoam fried in lard, but at least it has no carbs - I'll eat the whole bag." ...nothing much going on here, the weather is really nice tho.

Speaking of William Fichtner - I'll rent this for him alone. Maybe it'll be a decent thriller/mind-bender, too, who knows.

I think I stopped a few/several episodes into ssn10 (demon-Dean). I have watched the lone episode occasionally (ScoobyDoo, very Final episode) but that's about it. I thought season 3-5 were best, but season 6-9 had moments. It became like TWD tho, where you'd watch hoping for those several good episodes per season. You ended up watching largely for the chemistry/humor moments between the Winchesters and other regular cast and just rolled eyes at everything else. Edit: oh, and re: Jared not being in The Winchesters - I think he has his own (unrelated) show, no clue if it still exist now. Jensen isn't really in The Winchesters - he narrates a bit occasionally but that's about it.

Amazon Prime decided to remove the "Edit: Continue Watching" ability from even the web browser, thus you only have two options if you want to get rid of the long conga line of "Continue Watching" from the Home screen: Make it Hidden (don't want that as it no longer will appear unless you Search for it specifically) or clear out your Watch History either wholesale or one by one. The latter is also not ideal but better than nothing. Guess they want to make sure it's overly annoying to remove too much collectable habits/tastes data! EDIT: oh, I tried watching two episodes of The Winchesters. It's terrible, from actors to camera direction to dialogue to the action to ... well, it's just bad. Is it the worst ever - no. But it's bad.

---with the sizes of drives these days if I wanted to separate so much stuff I'd just stick in 6 interal drives + use externals or something like that. But yeah, I don't do much re: file organization anymore. I mean I have "folders" and sub and sub-sub folders up the yang but most are old and rarely added to, they just sit there unlooked at. I used to like digital files because no physical space, right, but now I don't even like that because it's become so unmanageable. When there is no physical space one has to take into consideration, like boxes in a room, the digital file hoarding becomes out of control. I've decided just like physical things, I truly don't need 99% of it. So these days things get deleted, either almost immediately or in one fell swoop of periodic cleaning. --all I remember about old gpu's was the Voodoo (offhand I can't recall now if it was 2 or 3) that I had. I know there was a period where it felt like I was buying a cheapish new gpu every year or so, but I couldn't tell you what they were. I paid little attention to gpu tech news then. I'd just go to Fry's and pick some cheap one off the shelf that was newer than the old one. --the biggest CRT monitor I picked up and moved room to room was the 19" one. Later there was the 27" CRT TV too, but for some reason monitors always felt heavier than the TV's, vs. size. For me it was all sorta heavy but workable short distance. These days I'd probably wrap such in cardboard, tie a rope around it and try to drag it across the floor. Pffft.

Played Diablo1 for 20 minutes. Played Dungeon Keeper Gold for 30 minutes. Turned on a couple newer games, then turned them off. Stared at a wall. ....guess I'll sort/organize more of the piled up boxes of household stuff, at least it keeps me busy.

Reached a point where I seem to either: try a bunch of kdrama's, which I like/watch half of then get bored of, or rewatch old favorite things. Like Drive Angry. Which was funny, since I mostly love that movie for Fitchner's small The Accountant role (I watch only his clips occasionally), and had forgotten most of the other stuff. Fitcher is a 10, the rest maybe a 5. I did notice on HBOMax that they somehow have gotten season 1 of The Winchesters (a CW Supernatural spinoff). I'm guessing it's likely terrible but maybe I'll stare at an episode or two just to see....it's set in the past and seems to retcon the original series parent's past...I smell alternate timeline shenanigans.

Spring and it was time to get things done. Way too much driving back and forth, back and forth, fixing, cleaning, organizing, sleeping on the floor, the past week. But the other house is now ready to rent and the house we're existing in looks a bit less like a multi-room storage closet. Man we are beat. Gettin' too old for this as the saying goes. Maybe I can game/relax a bit today.