LadyCrimson

Head of cabbage, stewed tomatoes, tomato puree, extra water, garlic, onion, a small amount of jalapeno (including the jar juice), a little meat (the falls into texture bits type not the chunky pieces type), bit o' salt. Then when you put it in your bowl, you stir in a tablespoon or two of the thick 5% Fage greek yogurt I like. Hubby said it was the "best tomato soup he's had." ...looks like a big bowl of kim chi soup because of the color and cabbage, haha, but tastes more akin to a soup version of stuffed cabbage/tomato sauce dishes maybe. Anyway, apparently it was successful.

I'm sure they could come up with some reason re: Thor if they really were keen to. It's all magic anyway. I just wonder if they will. I do like that actor as Thor and would miss him in that role - he fits my notion of the chr. quite well. He's the 2nd reason those Thor films were tolerable/I might want to at least check out the new one. It's kinda like not being able to see anyone but Hugh as Wolverine now, or something. As for Brent Spiner ... yeah, he's one of those actors that really shone in a single role and really isn't all that (or isn't offered any good roles later) in anything else and then just keeps reprising that one role or something similar forever. I like the man (he's rather funny/snarky and can sing fairly well) but such is the acting life.

My D3 seasonal chr. can now do Torment4 Nephalim Rifts, so it was time to start farming lower level Greater Rifts for the usual Gems and now Petrified Screams (needed to open the seasonal new Echoing Nightmare thingie). It's just been one morning, but so far, not a single one has dropped. Rare and random and need a lot of luck I guess, just to be able to check it out once. I suppose the drop odds get higher at GR 70+, but, yeah. >.>

In 10-15 years or so Thor will be "too old". I wonder who will replace him in the reboot. I remember Brent Spiner wanting/happy to kill off Data because he knew he was getting too old and didn't want to be sagging and wrinkled in gold paint.

You know that saying re: potato (or other, I guess) chips, that you can't eat just one? These are worse. Even hubby, who doesn't snack much, will snag a couple squares every time he walks by. That 2 pound bag doesn't last long. We go to Costco maybe once a month or so and every time I say "I won't buy those" and then I do. They are sooo goooood. Addition: I'm low carb, not zero carb. There are so many options now for "cheating" a bit. That bag of almond clusters is sorta similar to the Kirkland ones (more loose vs. firmly squared) but at least it isn't 2lb. I should stick to that. Those sunflower chocolate crisps are decent too. AdditionAddition: I had a head of cabbage and cans of stewed tomatoes so I'm making a cabbage soup for lunch (and hour or two cooking). Kinda winging it. Add a little chicken or carnitas-style pork in the last 15 minutes. We'll see how it turns out.

"Wrinkle Resistant Shirt" (in the US at least) = lots of embedded formaldehyde that you cannot actually wash out entirely. Even if it's not plastic-fibers. Although I think you could maybe get to a point where 50% of it is gone. Maybe. That chemical is in freaking everything now, from cosmetics, clothes, bedding, rugs, memory foam/plastic fibers, EVERYTHING. I seem to not be bothered too much by small amounts of gas-off air exposure but direct skin contact wreaks havoc. So after a while new carpets won't bother me a lot nose wise but I cannot lie down on them for more than 60 seconds. I remember lying face down on carpets as a kid. Didn't bother me then for whatever reasons (did they use less chemicals in carpets back then or I just hadn't become sensitive yet?). Now I'd have a big red itchy patch on my face. Anyway ... just a reminder that that seeming acne and/or eczema or skin swelling flare up might come from one of those millions of products around your home that you may suddenly have become sensitive too. It's not always your diet or anything "exotic".

On PS4 I can unplug the 'net cable from the console and still play D3 and the few other games I have on there. It's the only reason I bought it on there, years later, when I technically already had it for PC. The portability of the console means hey sometimes I won't have reliable 'net, I'd like to be able to still play games then y'know. You might get a box saying certain online features aren't available (like leaderboards or whatever) but it doesn't alter the game itself. Also, I only buy PS4 games that don't require the Playstation Live account, which I do not/refuse to have. I think the PS5 might enforce PS Live more often now just to play, but I'm not sure. I think that's what console-Diablo4 was planning on doing (assuming they don't change their minds). The fact those new map/challenges were season only was the main reason I thought I'd do it just to check them out. If they don't appeal I'll just quit/go back to non-seasonal only. The only other time I might do D3 seasonal is for a pet. I just didn't know about the mini-Diablo one until season was almost over so no point. I'm not someone who would get to GR70+ in 1-4 weeks. >.>

PS4 does have a console version of the redo of D2, with, importantly, offline singleplay, but I played that game for four years and thousands and thousands of hours and don't think I could do it again. The reskins/QoL features seem nice but ... no, I don't think I could. When the articles said Diablo4, even on Playstation/console, will require an "online service/account" to even play single-player (like the PC versions do), I knew I wasn't even going to try D4 even just to laugh/complain at it.

New Diablo3 season started recently. Normally don't care but eh, why not. Once 70 (doesn't take too long) and a bit of gear/crafting mats. the Greater Rift grinding starts. Still playing it because it's easy to do a bit a day and the PS4 is simpler to turn on/off at a whim. But now that I'm mostly set-up, maybe it's time for that Death Stranding dlc now.

Edit: what happens with a certain Gem equipped while killing repeating waves. The center gets filled too but my "gold pickup radius" snags it. Also

Tried to watch the 1st episode of the 2nd season of Netflix's Bridgerton. But with the focus on the brother and his hunt for a wife (and one of the sisters as well), it's just not as interesting. I've read this follows the books (the series is about the whole family, not just one couple) but that first season was such ridiculous fun I guess it colors my ability to watch the 2nd season (so far). I may give it another shot a little later The filming, costumes and sets are as gorgeous as ever, tho.

Sorry I keep posting these, I think I have a bit of a girl crush on the wife. She's so adorable and she has that rock music video dance down pat. And riced cauliflower is indeed not rice. Stir fried with stuff and some marinade or soy based sauces it's pretty good but yeah...no one's gonna truly mistake it for rice. Has a bit of a sour flavor you have to offset, too.

...there will be another homemade table (vs. boxes..) on the left side, so I'll finally have my "U". Meaning when done, from the doorway hubby might still get to see the top of my forehead. Long day. Time for bed.

Oh, also ... beware of crazed/aggressive ol' Asian lady in a red wagon trying to stick close to her hubby's van/prevent anyone else (especially taller car else's) from changing lanes in front of her since she still doesn't have the route memorized and doesn't want to lose sight of that van.... I swear, you leave more than 10 feet between cars and people still try to force in (at 75mph+).

Me: "Only one wall outlet on this side. I may need another super long corded powerstrip. I may need to daisy chain one. Maybe if I move this over here and that over there..." Hubby: "...you have too much stuff." Me: "I don't know what you're talking about." 2 PC's, 1 PS4, 3 sets of pc speaker (all need a plug), 2 monitors, 1 TV, phone/tablet charger, 2 DSLR camera battery chargers, 3 air filters, ps4 controller charger, 1 external internal-type HDD reader, 3 external HDD storage (don't have to be plugged in all the time but needs plugs near the PC's), 1 old laptop (always has to be plugged in, doesn't hold a charge long), an oversized electric heating pad (winter), 1 tiny lamp, misc. few other things. Perfectly normal these days, right?

Watched some nature parks of the world documentary with Obama narrating, on Netflix. It was pleasant enough, and Obama's voice was apparently smooth enough sounding or whatever that I fell asleep in my little recliner after an episode and a half, waking up at 5am. ...maybe that recliner will go in my room too. Hubby may never see me again etc. Although, to quote him: "You are NOT allowed a mini-fridge in there!"

Levolt room (700ish sq ft supposedly, if it was perfectly square and empty I guess) air filter unit: $161 Replacement filters, 2pk: $80 How often you'll have to replace the filter, even if you blow the loose dust off once or twice to extend them, depending on fan speed used/other factors: 2-4 months in my old fart brain, such shouldn't be more than $15 for one considering how often needs replacement. But the one I bought a couple years ago seems to help allergies a lot - dust, particles in the air etc. So I grudgingly ordered another one. Found a somewhat cheaper 2pk of replacement filters ($50), maybe they'll be the same/work just fine. They are both going in my room in Sac. so I can have at least one allergy-free space. If I wanted to fill the whole house with them the annual cost would be stupid. I should have gone into the air filter replacement business.

I can't even remember the last time I had an actual cold or flu, at least one that was worse than my normal allergies to make me notice. A benefit of an isolationist/asocial lifestyle. I suppose.

Spending this week pushing to pack "everything" - get it done. Won't take it all up now, but don't have to think about it anymore. ---old Xmas cards: realized one of my cousins looks a lot like (the older) Geena Davis. ---it's amazing how much the digital/net age has altered my perception of "what needs to be kept." ---houses feel a lot bigger when there is little in them ---box of my old journals from age 11-early20's. Y'know in the movie Seven, the villain's notebooks full of small cramped writings? Yeah, that's what they look like. Thankfully I didn't turn out to be a serial killer. So seems like, unless hubby's remote work stuff doesn't work out/he doesn't like that situation (or we win the Lottery) we've finally committed to which house to be in, at least for a few years. Goodbye postage-stamp house. We didn't especially love you, but you worked well for many years/served us well.

We actually seem to get a smallish tax refund these days from both Fed and state, which I was surprised by. I guess it's that employee tax form choice where they will take out more taxes so hopefully you won't owe anything vs. choosing a bit more initial take-home and likely owing in April. Or something. Even so, I would have expected to owe a similar amount vs. refund. Hubby went to being an official employee a while back (vs. independent contractor), mostly because the health insurance package was so nice vs. our aging selves, but still gets hourly wage + overtime rate vs. "annual salary" and it's been nice to not have to keep track of the ginormous amounts/rules/forms for taxes/soc. security (literally half of the fed tax aspect, really) that isn't automatically already taken out when self-employed. Writing those tax checks really makes you "appreciate" what the total of those taxes really are. >.>

The main reason I played Death Stranding twice on the PS4 was because of Offline and Online runs and I wanted to do a run with more "perfection" re: some stuff with foreknowledge and the "Online" help, like a perfect zipline network, roads, the top level of orders etc, because I'm like that. When I tried a 3rd time on the PC I didn't get past the first starter area because it felt like I'd done everything already and it's not all that repeatable. That said, I still want to check out the Director's Cut soon as I'm more settled re: moving houses. Maybe since it's been ages since I played it I could sorta get into it again for that 3rd/final time. The game uses a system where each new main hub area you enter into, will not show "online user" structures until you finish the first main story quest of that area (IIRC, connecting a location to the 'network'). Anyway, it'll look empty until then, and then suddenly you'll see a bunch of stuff pop in. So no, you won't miss anything by waiting. You can also just turn the "Online" mode off entirely (much more challenging re: tasks/resource and "network bandwidth cost" management), or tell it not to show vehicles and couple other options I think. I hated the "signs" everywhere, they were an eyesore and I turned those off. Once such items are placed into your game, they will remain forever and you have no control over what/where exactly gets placed, outside of manually deleting them if you find them non-useful ... which the game will then just randomly replace it with something else in/near the same spot. I took advantage of this to try to force it to place a lot more ziplines vs. anything else, although that was time consuming/very random. Online mode is great for an easier time with resources management and travel and for some, a sense of "this world has other people besides my MC in it" immersion I suppose, but it is very intrusive in a way and you may get annoyed with bridges/vehicles popping up in weird places and whatnot.

When you have 11 billion gold in Diablo3 with nothing to spend it on. I switched to my Wizard as a change of pace from Necro, and he still has this original piece of equipment that allows him to channel one skill, and constantly proc, every second, any other damaging spell you have hotkeyed (alternates between whatever they are). At some point they patched it so that item only works with a single other skill now (Twister) so it's nowhere near as good but with the original item I have, it's so OP. I just hold one button and sweep Disintegrate in a circle around me while Blizzard's and Orbs are also cast/fill the screen. Everything dies, even some stuff I can't see on the screen edges yet. It's so OP/mindless it's boring even for Diablo/ARPG standards, but makes for a great Rift Keystone or early Gem-leveling speed-farming chr.

Got my OLED TV/main PC up here now. They're sorta set up but waiting for a couple more tables for a whole setup. Still planning on staying for a year or two at least, but it all feels so weirdly temporary. We're both just feeling displaced I suppose. Sigh, whatever. Hubby has also decided he doesn't like wood foundations ... for me. I think this is because he's watching me side-crab gimp up and down the kinda steep/high 3-step stairs at every door and becoming concerned. I can walk flat ground/hills for miles just fine but me and stairs don't get along anymore unless they're perfect for my short legs/height but they never are. Just build some short ramps or something maybe.

Me right now. Sacramento is so much worse for my allergies.

My issue with Army of Darkness was it became a little too self-aware re the OTP slapstick. It was still funny but each bit went on too long. ED2 was just right of a mix for me. Darkman also had the mix of dark and weird humor to awful situations to it that I guess I like. Laughed like a loon in many spots, loved Liams perofrmance. "Take the ******* elephant!" And the cigar cutter guy. Felt like a comic book film back then. His spidey films were fun. Didnt like andrew garfields, and havent seen the newer ones. Couldnt get into Raising Arizona, found it weirdly boring.