[MezzothePatient]

1 hour ago, TimovieMan said:

 

In other news: I've started playing Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - Remastered again.
I'd already attempted this in the past, but I *loathe* the combat system in it - it's clunky, often reliant on reflexes, and there's just too much of it. In typical JRPG fashion, it requires grinding, grinding and more grinding. With sucky combat.

But it's Studio Ghibli, meaning that the story is intriguing, and it all looks so beautiful that I often want to lick the screen. So I'm giving it another try...

...with a trainer that gives me infinite health, infinite mana, infinite stamina for my familiars, stealth so I don't have to go into combat every other second, and one-hit-kills so every combat situation is solved immediately. I'm basically playing the story and skipping the game. ?

It's working: I'm already twice as far into it as I got last time, and I haven't felt like tossing it aside yet with a "Fuck this game!" exclamation... ?

 

 

 

Now I"m tempted to pick it up again... I got it on mega sale for Switch a couple years ago.  MrMezzo and I played it together back when it came out on Playstation 3(?) and I LOVED it. Its a beautiful game.

But then you mentioned the grind and I remembered we never actually beat the game. ? and thats with the two of us taking turns playing. By myself IDK...  If I remember right, the trick is you have to pick your monsters and commit. Yes there are new cooler ones along the way but the game will go forever if you "gotta catch 'em all."

 

 

Also thanks for sharing you tunes! Its a good mix of new and familiar and I enjoy jamming while catching up on your thread.  

[Harriet]

On 9/24/2024 at 1:18 PM, TimovieMan said:

In other news: I've started playing Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - Remastered again.
I'd already attempted this in the past, but I *loathe* the combat system in it - it's clunky, often reliant on reflexes, and there's just too much of it. In typical JRPG fashion, it requires grinding, grinding and more grinding. With sucky combat.

But it's Studio Ghibli, meaning that the story is intriguing, and it all looks so beautiful that I often want to lick the screen. So I'm giving it another try...

...with a trainer that gives me infinite health, infinite mana, infinite stamina for my familiars, stealth so I don't have to go into combat every other second, and one-hit-kills so every combat situation is solved immediately. I'm basically playing the story and skipping the game. ?

It's working: I'm already twice as far into it as I got last time, and I haven't felt like tossing it aside yet with a "Fuck this game!" exclamation... ?

 

 

Story mode is fine if you don't like the gameplay. I wonder if I would like it, though. I don't mind reflex based combat. It's exciting. But I do remember running into too many low quality "encounters" in early final fantasy games, if that's what it's like?

 

On 9/24/2024 at 1:18 PM, TimovieMan said:

Here's my favourite song from Evanescence's excellent debut album Fallen. And no, it's not "Bring Me to Life" or "My Immortal".

I'm assuming that Ben Moody (who left during their tour for the album Fallen) was the better song writer, because I never liked their later works as much as this album, despite Amy Lee obviously being an incredible singer...

 

Evanescence - Tourniquet

 

I listened to this album when I was an angsty youngster. It's delightfully angsty, including this song. 

[TimovieMan]

On 9/24/2024 at 2:46 PM, MezzothePatient said:

If I remember right, the trick is you have to pick your monsters and commit. Yes there are new cooler ones along the way but the game will go forever if you "gotta catch 'em all."

Every new monster starts at level 1. No, I'm *not* going to bother leveling them all up... ?

 

15 hours ago, Harriet said:

Story mode is fine if you don't like the gameplay. I wonder if I would like it, though. I don't mind reflex based combat. It's exciting. But I do remember running into too many low quality "encounters" in early final fantasy games, if that's what it's like?

That's exactly what it is - the need to go through hundreds of low-level encounters, just to get strong enough to handle the bigger ones. It's the type of grinding that I loathe in games.

 

Well, reflex-based combat isn't really what it is, but it becomes that simply because the combat system is just that clunky. I got tired of it quickly, and now just skip it. That's the benefit of being a PC gamer as opposed to a console gamer - plenty of mods / cheats / trainers to improve your quality of life during a game. ?

[TimovieMan]

Frustrating day at work, all because of very minor stuff, but it's pressing all of my OCD buttons and making me feel like I'm surrounded by idiots. Illiterate idiots.

 

- Department management spent a LOT of time working out a schedule for all the extra "projects" the team takes on (on top of "business as usual"). This has been put on display on paper, using different coloured post-it notes and a massive page with the legend of how to use the system. We got a stand-up meeting about it and everything. Only for me to go "that's a kanban board, can't you just create a new project in our actual project management system, create tickets for the issues, and display them on an online kanban board, with proper referencing and email traces?", and it's like I was talking in Swahili to them. We've only been using that system day in, day out for SIX friggin' years. This is basic stuff, people! It's particularly egregious because management here loves kanban boards, so how did these particular managers not know this???

- Department management included something on their board that requires pragmatic workaround solutions. They've dubbed them "duct tape" issues. Except they wrote "duck tape".

- I found an article description for a monitor in our system. The description read "M0NIT0R", as in m-zero-n-i-t-zero-r. I'm only assuming this was something that came out of an OCR and was uploaded in bulk without proofing. Otherwise I question some people's life choices.

- Got a request to pull some dimensions out of the system. They asked for "weight", "lenght", "widht" and "height".

- One of our database fields containing country ISO codes and their descriptions is called "country code discription". I regularly point a query to the wrong field because *I* know how to spell in English. But if I request they correct it, I get the reply that IT won't change it because far too many queries are referring to the 'discription' field already, and if they change it, it would break a lot of reports.

 

And this is just today. Don't get me started on stuff from earlier in the week.

I've been facepalming a lot lately.

 

I don't want to go "Grammar Nazi" on some of my colleagues, but it's often quite tempting to use a red marker and sigil spam this:

 

You'd think that an international company that wants to use English as its main language, would have more non-natives that actually have a solid grasp on the English language...

[TimovieMan]

Mrs. Movieman planted some bell peppers in our garden a few months ago. She finally had some that were ripe last week.

One look at them made me go "yeah, I don't think those are bell peppers".

I tried one. It was spicy. And not jalapeño spicy. I'm thinking more along the lines of habanero spicy. As in: the Scoville Heat Units are not in the 3-digit range, but possibly even in the 5-digit range.

 

TimovieSon wanted to try a tiny sliver. And then didn't believe me when I asked him to immediately wash his hands after handling it. In fact, he went the opposite route and practically deliberately rubbed his eyes... and then spent fifteen minutes under a running faucet.

The family still hasn't learned that when *I* call something spicy, then you'd better believe it's going to be spicy! ?

[Snarkyfishguts]

2 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

TimovieSon wanted to try a tiny sliver. And then didn't believe me when I asked him to immediately wash his hands after handling it. In fact, he went the opposite route and practically deliberately rubbed his eyes... and then spent fifteen minutes under a running faucet.

The family still hasn't learned that when *I* call something spicy, then you'd better believe it's going to be spicy!

My nephew Ernie would absolutely do this. Why does pushing against boundaries always include self-destruction? 

[TimovieMan]

14 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

My nephew Ernie would absolutely do this. Why does pushing against boundaries always include self-destruction? 

Some people heed warnings, while others... ?

 

To quote Terry Pratchett: "If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry."

[Everstorm]

4 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

They asked for "weight", "lenght", "widht" and "height".

 

Cringe.  All of this is so cringe-worthy.

 

[TimovieMan]

12 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Cringe.  All of this is so cringe-worthy.

 

That gif is very appropriate, because I do have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like that... ?

[Harriet]

17 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

- One of our database fields containing country ISO codes and their descriptions is called "country code discription". I regularly point a query to the wrong field because *I* know how to spell in English. But if I request they correct it, I get the reply that IT won't change it because far too many queries are referring to the 'discription' field already, and if they change it, it would break a lot of reports.

 

I don't have OCD and this hurts me. 

[Qnobi]

18 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

And this is just today. Don't get me started on stuff from earlier in the week.

I've been facepalming a lot lately.

 

 

Their is only one explanation: you have an enemy, and there torchering you. 

[TimovieMan]

2 hours ago, Qnobi said:

Their is only one explanation: you have an enemy, and there torchering you. 

 

3 hours ago, Harriet said:

I don't have OCD and this hurts me. 

Large company: they have time and money, which breeds laziness without governance.

 

But then again, that's also why I enjoy working at the desk island I'm at. Both my colleagues to my left and in front of me are from the same "quality before quantity" mold, which means we can regularly commiserate about others'  idiocies.

Blatant spelling or grammar mistakes tend to get lampshaded by me with a *very* theatrical "AAH! MY EYES!!!", which usually prompts both of them to come look at my screen so they can get in on the joke. ?

 

Overall, colleagues that tend to always do a good job are easily spotted, and will spot you as well. Makes for good bonding... ?

 

 

 

 

Whatever's been ailing the missus last week - and me this week - is still not over, but it seems to be getting better. Less headache-y and thus also less irritable. Which will get poor grammar-users a bit more leeway. Or at least a bit less ire. ?

With the exception of Wednesday (where I got to bed really early for my doing), I've been keeping up well with the mini-workouts. Wrist exercises were a bit more minimalistic on Wednesday and yesterday, but that's because I had physio on Wednesday morning and my wrist could use a bit of additional rest after that.

 

Log for this week so far:

	Week 3
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Coffee consumption
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	7h04
Steps
Avg. steps	14.9K
Distance	28.60 km
Wrist exercises
Workouts	3
Days with (mini-)workouts	1.5

 

 

 

And in other news, I may have angered TimovieDaughter a little. She's a massive fan of Melanie Martinez, and Mrs. Movieman is taking her to a Melanie Martinez concert on Sunday.

Since almost nobody here has ever heard of Melanie Martinez, I have described her to relatives as "A singer who finished 4th in one of the earlier The Voice seasons in the US. She looks like a cross between Barbie and Cruella de Vil."

That last part didn't sit well with TimovieDaughter.

Even if - according to her Wiki page - Melanie Martinez did in fact start dyeing her hair two-tone because she liked the look of (Glenn Close's) Cruella de Vil... ?

 

On the bright side: I can use the concert time to watch The Return of the King with TimovieSon... ?

 

 

 

 

Here's a Belgian band that were at Alcatraz last year, as a last-minute replacement for Overkill who withdrew.

Classic 80s metal, but performed by younger musicians.

 

Evil Invaders - In Deepest Black

[Qnobi]

40 minutes ago, TimovieMan said:

Thank goodness, because it was painful to type that!

[TimovieMan]

Before I forget:

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 92.5 kg (+0.15)

Body fat: 22.2 % (+0.9)

 

 

 

And I think I'm going to introduce the kids to the female-fronted metal band Exit Eden. Mainly to see their heads explode when they recognise the song and try to process that info... ?

 

Exit Eden - Impossible (Shontelle cover)

[TimovieMan]

Yikes, I've been completely neglecting my thread. And my logging, for that matter. This week has been... a week... ?

 

 

Last Friday, brother-in-law came over and we played board games while the kids were watching The Masked Singer on TV.

We mainly played 'Ticket to Ride: Europe' and then a couple of shorter card games ('The Mind' and 'L.L.A.M.A.').

 

On Saturday, TimovieSon started complaining about his knee. Still went to his football match - team won 4-2 - but he was limping afterwards. Had to go to the doctor's. He's got an inflamed patella tendon in his left knee, so he has to take it easy for a week. We've got some crutches at home, so he's been walking around with those all week now. And spending more time on the couch than usual. ?

 

Mrs. Movieman took TimovieDaughter to see a Melanie Martinez concert in Brussels. TimovieSon and me used that time to watch The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

TimovieSon thinks it's the greatest movie of all time. ?

 

Last week looked like this:

	Week 3
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Coffee consumption
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	7h20
Steps
Avg. steps	10.8K
Distance	31.45 km
Wrist exercises
Workouts	5
Days with (mini-)workouts	2.2

 

 

 

Had physio for my wrist on Monday and Wednesday. It has improved enough for physio to be just once a week for the next couple of weeks. Provided I keep doing my wrist exercises, of course. But since they're mainly for wrist stability, I can go for "overlap" with my mini-workouts by doing knuckle push-ups, for instance.

Plus, it's providing me with extra incentive to break out the dip station or the pull-up bar, since the grip work is helpful too.

 

Had a phlebotomy on Monday as well. Iron levels still on the high side, so will have to postpone Red Cross donations for a while longer, why getting monthly phlebotomies at my doctor's.

Blood pressure was on the higher side again too. Might warrant some follow-up.

 

 

Haven't really been logging this week, and I don't want to do too much of that retroactively, so I've decided to skip this week entirely.

The week's been okay so far food-wise. Exercising was minimal - mainly wrist stuff. Slacking on the DailyDare a little.

Sleep could be better - had one night where I broke the curfew and a couple where I got close. Which has also increased my coffee consumption at work a little. But it's not going overboard, so I'm not going to fret about it.

 

 

I've abandoned 'Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch'. The constant JRPG battles and grinding - even with cheats to make them faster / less annoying - was getting so tedious. I *love* the game's Ghibli aesthetics, and I really like the story - especially whenever you're jumping back-and-forth between worlds to help people. It's just grating that the "good bits" have so much tedium inbetween. It's what made me abandon the game the first time, and while I got a whole lot further this time around, I didn't feel like continuing any more. An extreme case of "enjoy the story, skip the game" for me. Except "skip the game" has proven impossible, which puts it into "abandon" territory...

 

The next game I booted up is far more effective. In fact, it's the reason why I've had difficulty respecting my sleep curfew this week, because it's pushing all my "just one more quest" buttons: 'Cyberpunk 2077' (with Phantom Liberty DLC, of course).

^ Somehow that's NOT Justin Timberlake ?

I'm glad I waited until it was basically in a "GOTY Edition" state. Everything that was "broken" at launch has been fixed in the meantime (kudos to CDPR for that!), so it was finally time. Not caring about "day one" releases has its advantages. ?

Anyway, the game so far is doing everything right. The setting, the graphics, the gameplay, etc. are all top-notch. And it's such a good fit for my playstyle. As in: the main story is what I ignore until all the side stuff is done. And the side stuff is basically grinding, but it never feels like grinding because it's immersive and filled with actual story (hah, take that, Ni No Kuni!). And I can min-max it to the extent of becoming an in-game physical god.

I'm going "stealth netrunner". Didn't take very long before random encounters with groups of 3-4 mooks were reduced to me looking in their general direction and they all dropping to the floor. Larger groups still need some hit-and-run tactics, or some more stealth planning and taking out one or two at a time before I can mindrape the rest, but it feels like I *will* reach a point where I can park my car next to a base, look at the security cam at the front gate, and have everybody in the entire base fall unconcious without any alarms being raised, before I even get out of my car. ?

The game may take up 100% of my gaming time these coming months... ?

 

 

In other news: today is TimovieDaughter's 11th birthday. We'll have two of her classmates in the house for a sleepover. This evening we'll have fries, tomorrow we'll make our own pizzas, and I'm taking the girls swimming tomorrow morning. TimovieSon has opted out of swimming because of his knee. So he'll probably be playing 'Fortnite' or 'Brawl Stars' instead. ?

We've got a bunch of family members coming over for cake and coffee on Sunday. It's safe to say that I won't be counting calories this weekend. Another reason not to log this week. ?

 

 

 

Here's a song by Belgian band 'Vaya Con Dios'. Because I think singer Dani Klein is probably the best female vocalist we have in our country. That woman can sing.

And also because I thought she was in one of the costumes in 'The Masked Singer' during the previous season - it wasn't her - and, well, I think she's in one this season. It's not likely, because whoever *is* behind that mask is moving far too spryly for 70-year-old Dani Klein to be a possibility, but it caused my mere mention of Dani Klein to be a running gag in the house now... ?

 

Vaya Con Dios - Heading for a Fall

[Salinger]

Do you like the new song by The Cure???

 

It's fucking sensational I think xx

[Harriet]

On 10/4/2024 at 3:00 PM, TimovieMan said:

And it's such a good fit for my playstyle. As in: the main story is what I ignore until all the side stuff is done. And the side stuff is basically grinding, but it never feels like grinding because it's immersive and filled with actual story (hah, take that, Ni No Kuni!). And I can min-max it to the extent of becoming an in-game physical god.

 

Leaving the main story until last is great in games where you just like being there. I have been playing assassin's creed unity and syndicate recently, and I don't much like the side content. Mostly the item collection and tiny pointless chores. But I watched some (Leo K [rogue]) YouTube videos on play styles and realised I can skip the side content and even the optional 100% completion requirements for missions--there's no obligation. So I only did the side content that got me the extra outfit colours--because that's what I care about. Stealth, murder, and dress up. 

Do you know of any gaming channels that are fun and informative to watch? I'm trying to shift my media content away from health and diet shit. 

[Snarkyfishguts]

On 10/4/2024 at 9:00 AM, TimovieMan said:

I've abandoned 'Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch'. The constant JRPG battles and grinding - even with cheats to make them faster / less annoying - was getting so tedious. I *love* the game's Ghibli aesthetics, and I really like the story - especially whenever you're jumping back-and-forth between worlds to help people. It's just grating that the "good bits" have so much tedium inbetween.

I remember my dad playing it and just saying that it was uneven in its gameplay and the difficulty level jumped too fast for him to really enjoy it and that he was stuck in grinding mode too long.  He was losing his vision at the time so he didn't want to waste time on that.

[TimovieMan]

On 10/5/2024 at 9:18 PM, Salinger said:

Do you like the new song by The Cure???

 

It's fucking sensational I think xx

I wasn't aware they had a new song before you mentioned it.

 

Holy hell, THANK YOU!

It's utterly brilliant. Hauntingly devastating. Amazing buildup, and when Robert Smith finally starts singing, it hits like a sledgehammer.

I've listened to it a few dozen times already. Probably their best song since A Forest, and that's saying something. ?

 

On 10/7/2024 at 9:01 AM, Harriet said:

Leaving the main story until last is great in games where you just like being there.

Leaving the main story until last so you can do all the side content is how it should be, imo. I don't even mind item collection as long as they don't go overboard with it and the game remains fun. Basically, the side content shouldn't be obvious padding and pointless filler. If it is, then I'll happily skip it. But it might even annoy me to the point of game abandonment, especially if it requires a lot of backtracking because you lack necessary exploration skills that are only acquired much later in the game - or the collectables only pop up halfway through the game (after having cleared half the map already). I'm all for exploration, but I hate doing it more than once.

 

Cyberpunk 2077 is handling it pretty well: once Act 2 starts and you get the entire map, then all the "minor" side stuff is unlocked immediately, so you really only have to visit most places once. If you need to come back later, then it's for a more fleshed-out gig, which won't feel like a fetch quest or chore.

 

On 10/7/2024 at 9:01 AM, Harriet said:

I have been playing assassin's creed unity and syndicate recently, and I don't much like the side content. Mostly the item collection and tiny pointless chores.

Yep, that's side content done badly. Skip with impunity. ?

 

On 10/7/2024 at 9:01 AM, Harriet said:

But I watched some (Leo K [rogue]) YouTube videos on play styles and realised I can skip the side content and even the optional 100% completion requirements for missions--there's no obligation. So I only did the side content that got me the extra outfit colours--because that's what I care about. Stealth, murder, and dress up. 

Do you know of any gaming channels that are fun and informative to watch? I'm trying to shift my media content away from health and diet shit. 

I don't really watch any gaming channels, so can't help there... ?

 

17 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I remember my dad playing it and just saying that it was uneven in its gameplay and the difficulty level jumped too fast for him to really enjoy it and that he was stuck in grinding mode too long.  He was losing his vision at the time so he didn't want to waste time on that.

I hate wasting time on that too. Probably why JRPGs generally don't "click" with me. Never liked Zelda either for this reason.

Doesn't help that I *really* dislike respawning monsters. Once I've cleared an area, it should remain cleared...

Ni No Kuni was terrible at this: as soon as you've turned your back, the creatures you just defeated have already respawned. No. Just... no!

[TimovieMan]

TimovieDaughter had her 11th birthday last Friday. Two of her friends came around for a sleepover.

Last year, we'd held a party at an indoor playground, but that proved a bad idea: as soon as a couple of friends were talking to each other and not to her, she thought they didn't like her, and her negative spiral of thought caused her to melt down.

So we limited it to just two friends this year, figuring this would solve the worst issue.

We were wrong.

She brings herself down from the second that her friends say *anything* to each other and not directly to her, or when they don't immediately want to play whatever it is that TimovieDaughter wants to play. We've had to console her no less than four times on Friday evening, and five times on Saturday.

 

I went swimming with the girls on Saturday. There was a moment where TimovieDaughter decided she wanted to go on the big slide, left her friends without saying she was going on the slide, and not hearing / responding when they called out to her. By the time her friends were out of the water too, they'd lost track of TimovieDaughter, and came to me so we could look for her together. They suspected she'd gone on the big slide, but weren't sure.

At that point, TimovieDaughter came out of the big slide and started crying. In those two minutes, she had convinced herself that her friends didn't want to play with her, even though I had witnessed myself that that wasn't the case *at all*. She then became very dismissive towards her friends, so I told them to leave her alone for five minutes while I tried to calm her down. Then TimovieDaughter was mad at me for "sending them away" because she did want to play with them. Didn't take five minutes before her friends returned to console her, but it didn't take. She kept repeating they didn't want to play with her, and preferred playing together with just the two of them instead. Despite them spending ten minutes awkwardly looking on as I was trying to calm TimovieDaughter down. No amount of "if they wanted to play without you, they wouldn't stay here waiting for you" could convince her.

And then a passing floatie snapped her out of it and she immediately calmed down and played with her friends again, to my complete bafflement.

I love her to bits, but she is *exhausting*.

 

When we got out of the pool and went to shower, *something* happened as well while I was getting the girls' towels out of our locker. I assume her friends had said something to each other and not to TimovieDaughter, but I don't know.

TimovieDaughter left the shower without saying a word, refused to share a clothing cabinet with her friends (even though they asked her), left her clothing cabinet without saying a word or even looking at her friends, and walked the entire way towards the car at least 15 feet behind them. She refused to share the back seat with her friends (even though they asked her) and got in next to me.

Everyone remained completely silent in the car for over five minutes, at which point her friends finally started talking to each other... and that's when TimovieDaughter started crying.

 

According to her psychiatrist, we are to acknowledge her feelings and not get mad at her, but it's infuriating if you just witnessed her cause the entire situation herself. When her friends talk to each other and not to her, she feels left out, even when she isn't. She always feels excluded, but it's glaringly obvious that the only person excluding TimovieDaughter, is TimovieDaughter herself.

 

After her friends had gone home again, she spent the rest of the weekend sulking. On Saturday evening because the whole swimming pool debacle had made her feel like the sleepover was a disaster - despite her friends never being anything but supportive, and despite Mrs. Movieman and me doing our utmost to salvage the thing for her friends. And on Sunday, because by then she'd realised that she had been the problem during the sleepover, and not her friends...

 

The thing is: if she can't even handle being in a group of three, then she's going to be a sitting duck when she switches schools next year.

 

We've felt like we've hit the limits of what her psychologist can do for her, so we've been looking at another psychologist. One that specialises in social anxiety disorders, which will hopefully be a better / more helpful fit for her.

Waiting lists usually take months, but we can get her in in a few weeks already, on Thursday afternoons - which is during school hours, so we've had to make arrangements with the school as well to allow her to leave for an hour or two.

Fingers crossed that she can help, because we're getting at our wits' end.

[Salinger]

6 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

I wasn't aware they had a new song before you mentioned it.

 

Holy hell, THANK YOU!

It's utterly brilliant. Hauntingly devastating. Amazing buildup, and when Robert Smith finally starts singing, it hits like a sledgehammer.

I've listened to it a few dozen times already. Probably their best song since A Forest, and that's saying something. ?

 

 

YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY

 

Totally agree. haunting, devastating. And i have also listened dozens of times. 

 

Hypnotic ❤️

 

x

[Snarkyfishguts]

Yup, that is a LOT for an 11 year old. She seems to be super sensitive to perceived rejection and abandonment. No wonder you’re tired. I’m sorry, friend

[TimovieMan]

This is from last Friday - forgot to post it in this thread:

 

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 92.45 kg (-0.05)

Body fat: 22.2 % (-)

 

 

Status quo, but the previous weekend had contained heavy eating, and the Thursday before the weigh-in had a lot of treats at the office. My neighbouring colleague had even got me my own pack of crisps, because it's a brand I didn't know and he suspected - correctly - that I'd like them:

 

Considering we had fries on Friday evening, made our own mini-pizzas on Saturday, and had a lot of cake on Sunday, I actually did *really* well this weekend.

Didn't bother counting calories, but I suspect I even avoided "red" days. So I'm hoping the scale will tick a bit downwards this week.

 

 

Actually, I hadn't logged anything last week, and I haven't been in the mood for logging this week either.

Curfew's been a bit more hit-and-miss (because a couple of missions in Cyberpunk 2077 proved FAR longer than I thought they'd be), but nothing detrimental.

And frankly, as long as I keep paying attention to my calorie intake, and I'm doing my wrist exercises and the likes, I may forego the logging for a while, see how that works out.

Most of it was just my Fitbit numbers anyway...

 

That said, here's another thing I hadn't updated in a few weeks:

 

 

Walk to Mordor

 

Distance walked/swam last three weeks: 86.77 km (53.92 miles)
Road to Mordor: total 1411.7 miles - Rauros to Mount Doom - Mar 1 - Day 6 since Rauros

Quote

Climb down to the bottom of another ravine. Cliff still too steep and high. Look out toward Mordor. Can smell the Dead Marshes. Go further back. Camp in a stony hollow surrounded by “great jagged pinnacles of weathered rock.” Cold.
Cliff has now turned almost due north.
Go close to the cliff, in hopes of seeing a way down.
Must swing far back, then east again. Stop to listen for signs of Gollum.
Return to cliff-top, but rough “scored and weathered rock” forces them away.
Cliff face is now lower, but they do not notice as they are not by the edge. Scramble into a deep cleft and out again.
Stop briefly. Eat.
Another cleft.
Still scrambling along back from the ridge.
Reach the deepest ravine thus far – a rock fault. Far wall is “many fathoms high.” Frodo climbs down. Finds a few gnarled trees, mainly firs, but only for about 50 yards. Stumps continue to cliff edge. As cliff is lower, Frodo decides they should descend: the rock has “slipped and cracked.” Storm arrives just as Frodo starts down. He slithers down to a rock ledge below. Sam remembers his rope and pulls Frodo up. After the storm they use the rope to descend. Dusk falls.
Head east from base of cliff, picking their way through wet boulders.
Reach a great fissure with a stream inside. It curves north: bars way.
Head back toward cliff, angling south. Too difficult to go far. No spot to hide. Stop next to a boulder. See Gollum crawling down cliff. Capture Gollum (ca. 8 p.m.). STOP, but have no rest while they watch Gollum. Late night, Frodo extracts pledge, then releases Gollum.
Start again ca. 2 a.m. Gollum leads them back north.
Reach the rift they had seen before, but farther north where sides are lower. Climb down into it (15 feet deep). Follow it south beside a “shallow stony stream.” Gollum recites ‘Fish’ riddle.
Gully turns east, broadens and grows more shallow.
Dawn. Camp in gully (day of Feb. 30) on a wide flat shelf of stone. Gully now only 6 feet deep. Frodo and Sam plan to watch, but both sleep.
Set out when dark.
Gully more shallow and less sloping.
Gully bottom less rocky.
Creek enters from north. Eat.
Floor still more muddy. Sides dwindle to mere banks.
Stream begins to wind. Sky grows cloudy.
Banks reduced to mossy mounds.
Stream gurgles over a stone shelf into the bog. Dry reeds all around. Mists rise above the Dead Marshes just ahead and on both sides. See Mountains of Mordor far ahead: wreathed in fog, lit by dawn. Rest briefly.

 

tl;dr version:

The list over at Éowyn Challenge contains a February 30th.

Frodo and Sam have captured Gollum, and he's now guiding them out of the cliffs towards the Dead Marshes.

 

 

And since I hadn't posted a song yesterday, but did talk about one, here's that one:

On 10/8/2024 at 11:13 AM, TimovieMan said:

I wasn't aware [The Cure] had a new song before you mentioned it.

 

Holy hell, THANK YOU!

It's utterly brilliant. Hauntingly devastating. Amazing buildup, and when Robert Smith finally starts singing, it hits like a sledgehammer.

I've listened to it a few dozen times already. Probably their best song since A Forest, and that's saying something. ?

 

The Cure - Alone

 

I'm amazed at how Robert Smith's voice doesn't appear to have aged. He's 65 and still sounds exactly like he did in the 80s!

[TimovieMan]

Monday was Mrs. Movieman's birthday.

And also the day where the ticket sales for Bruce Springsteen's new European Tour opened - at least for his gig in Lille, France.

Mrs. Movieman is a *massive* Springsteen fan and was bummed last year when his concert in Brussels was sold out within 15 minutes and she was late to get tickets. So now, I made sure to be at my computer 10 minutes before the sale opened.

I managed to nab two tickets!!! ?

 

I took a risk by not getting her another birthday present - as failing to secure tickets was a real possibility -  but I didn't want to over-exert our budget spending for the month either by getting her something else on top of those tickets...

Especially since TimovieSon's "present" for his mom was having me make reservations at the local Japanese restaurant. Sure, it's Mrs. Movieman's favourite cuisine, and was a welcome gift too, but I'm pretty sure TimovieSon's real motivation was that he wanted to go to the Japanese restaurant himself. And that's also not cheap.

 

The pre-sale for Michael Kiwanuka's concert in Brussels starts today.

I'll have some negotiating to do to secure a budget... ?

Especially since there's a folk metal mini-festival in January as well that I'd like to attend.

 

Tickets for the Alcatraz festival next year can wait until we get our tax returns, but the other two concerts? The sooner I have tickets, the better... ?

 

 

In random news: TimovieSon apparently doesn't like rugby enough to continue with it. And the football practice has improved enough for him to continue that, at least until the end of the season.

He does want to try judo or basketball too, but we're not sure if we can get him to try out a few training sessions without having to cancel football practice for it... ?

 

 

In other random news: I'm having a blast with Cyberpunk 2077!

One minute I'm bawling my eyes out at an ofrenda for your in-game best friend (not a spoiler: his death was in the trailer so you knew he was doomed in advance), and the next I'm squeeing while riding a rollercoaster with John Wick Keanu Reeves next to me!

And now I started the Phantom Liberty DLC, and holy shit: it starts like Escape from New York (president's plane went down in a closed-off and hostile part of the city, and you're brought in to help), plus it features Idris Elba!!! ?

 

 

 

Here's a Bruce Springsteen song. Since I got the tickets for Mrs. Movieman's birthday, it's her favourite "Boss" song. Mine's probably 'The River' (from the same album).

 

Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night

[Laghail]

1 hour ago, TimovieMan said:

Monday was Mrs. Movieman's birthday.

And also the day where the ticket sales for Bruce Springsteen's new European Tour opened - at least for his gig in Lille, France.

Mrs. Movieman is a *massive* Springsteen fan and was bummed last year when his concert in Brussels was sold out within 15 minutes and she was late to get tickets. So now, I made sure to be at my computer 10 minutes before the sale opened.

I managed to nab two tickets!!! ?

 

I took a risk by not getting her another birthday present - as failing to secure tickets was a real possibility -  but I didn't want to over-exert our budget spending for the month either by getting her something else on top of those tickets...

Especially since TimovieSon's "present" for his mom was having me make reservations at the local Japanese restaurant. Sure, it's Mrs. Movieman's favourite cuisine, and was a welcome gift too, but I'm pretty sure TimovieSon's real motivation was that he wanted to go to the Japanese restaurant himself. And that's also not cheap.

 

Dang, you're a marital harmony ninja! Also, where did TimmoveSon learn that pro level manipulation technique? Lol

 

1 hour ago, TimovieMan said:

In other random news: I'm having a blast with Cyberpunk 2077!

One minute I'm bawling my eyes out at an ofrenda for your in-game best friend (not a spoiler: his death was in the trailer so you knew he was doomed in advance), and the next I'm squeeing while riding a rollercoaster with John Wick Keanu Reeves next to me!

 

Sounds ideal tho. Do you miss the magic piece of shadowrun when you play 2077?  (I know I know, shadowrun is the cyber punk anomaly, the genre usually doesn't have magic).