#i was playing botw for a really long time and then got lunch

[party-pixie]

If you could relive any memory of your past, what would it be?

well aside from the easy answer of reliving playing some of my favorite games for the first time (mainly botw/totk and smt apocalypse) there's two that i can think of

in the fall semester of 12th grade i took a marine ecology class and we took a field trip towards the end of the year to an aquarium that i also used to go to as a kid sometimes. it was just fun cus my bf was in that class with me and i had a lot of friends there so it wasn't awkward cus i got left alone when we split into groups or something. i also hadn't been to that aquarium since like.....elementary school so it was nice to see it again after so long. i think it was mostly the same as back then, except they were doing construction to add a tropical exhibit that wouldn't be open until the next year so we didn't get to see it during that trip

then in the spring i took an evolutionary biology class and we took a field trip to this fossil site. it was a really small class and my friends from marine eco were in it, so i took the class cus they needed one more person for the school to make it an actual class, otherwise it would've just gotten cancelled. but the fossil site was really fun too, mostly cus i was in a group with people i actually knew and liked. my bf wasn't there cus he moved away 🥲 but my friends made it less hard. we had a self guided tour and also a guided tour where they showed us the back rooms where they did most of the work. when we were doing the self guided tour, most of the interactive stuff didn't actually work (like.... one of the screens was just on an error screen and another one was literally on like the windows desktop lmao most of the buttons for things didn't work either) and we were SO unserious ab it. the rest of the place was actually pretty nice! it was just the interactive stuff in the self guided tour that was super jank. after the fossil site, i remember we went to this really good pizza place for lunch but i forgot what it was called

the teacher was really cool too, it was the same guy for both classes and he kinda just let us loose both times and didn't care as long as we stuck with at least one other person and didn't break anything or get into big trouble

they're just really fun memories that i'd like to relive cus i don't get to see those friends much anymore since they've all moved away. highschool kinda sucked but those two trips were pretty big highlights 🥰

[mudaxolotl]

39 Questions Tag

tagged by trash lord @lxuiio

1. are you named after someone? yeah! my grandma and grandpa, kay and lee respectively 

2. when was the last time you cried? a few hours ago ngl

3. do you like your handwriting? bro i can barely read it i feel terrible for my teachers

4. what is your favorite lunch meat?

i really like hamburgers. i think that’s what this means by lunch meat???

5. do you have kids? no and i don’t ever plan to. if i do, i’m adopting

6. if you were another person, would you be friends with you? yeah i think so

7. do you use sarcasm? it's one of my identifying personality traits

8. do you still have your tonsils? ye

9. would you bungee jump? hell no. i’m not into heights

10. what is your favorite kind of cereal? i just had cinnamon toast crunch like an hour ago so that answers my fav

11. do you untie your shoes when you take them off? nah

12. Do you think you’re a strong person? emotionally? yeah i think? maybe???? physically? i used to be really strong but I’m not anymore bc of reasons

13. what is your favorite ice cream? chocolate chip cookie dough is my shit man

14. what is the first thing you notice about people? voice probably

15. what is the least favorite physical thing you like about yourself? mmmm thighs. and butt.

16. what color pants and shoes are you wearing now? blue sweatpants w/ a white stripe down the outside of legs and no shoes but i’m wearing bulbasaur socks!!!!

17. What are you listening to right now? the ‘low health’ beep in breath of the wild is currently playing on my tv as i type this. also rain

18. if you were a crayon, what color would you be? uuhHHHH idk blue is my favorite color so i guess blue????

19. favorite smell? mmmMMMM the smell after it rains is really nice... lavender is really nice too

20. who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? my dad

21. favorite sport to watch? i don’t really like sports :/ 

22. hair color? brown 

23. eye color? green

24. do you wear contacts? no but i have been meaning to get some for like 2 years now

25. favorite food to eat? this is such a go-to answer but pizza. i’m gonna be more specific to separate myself from other Pizza Lovers™ so pizza w/ parmesan crust and beef chunks on it is REALLY good 

26. scary movies or comedy? comedies

27. last movie you watched? pokemon: the rise of darkrai

28. what color of shirt are you wearing? brown

29. summer or winter? this is a hard one. summers are stupidly hot here and winters freezing. probably winter

30. hugs or kisses? hugs are the best thing in the world

31. what book are you currently reading? oh boy this is sad. I haven't read anything in a while tbh. i'm really picky about my books so i’m open to recommendations!!!!

32. who do you miss right now? my dog who i had to put down last friday :(

33. what is on your mouse pad? i don't have one

34. what is the last tv program you watched? i streamed boku no hero academia w/ maia at like 6am this morning 

35. what is the best sound? rain. it’s raining rn and life is beautiful

36. rolling stones or the beatles? rolling stones

37. what is the furthest you have ever traveled? washington dc for a school trip

38. do you have a special talent? I’m really good at BSing essays does that count?

39. where were you born? texas. I’m not gonna get any more specific than that

it didn’t say how many people to tag so I’m gonna do whatever

i tag: @empoleonpaladin @kukui @lesbiangiratina  @marcthetimesweeper @nerieners @pokemongoexcitement

[rockethorse]

I was tagged to do this meme by @roguebotanist ! Sorry it took me so long!

1. If you could travel one place in the world where would you travel?

Probably be to the USA to visit all my friends there, and my partner's extended family! I'm planning to go to Japan again soon with my partner, too, but because Australia is closer to Japan, that's a lot more attainable than visiting the states. So if I had magic-genie-travel-vouchers, I'd definitely pick the US. Just... maybe not for a few years, lol. It's a dream of mine to be able to take the two of us on a kind of foodie driving tour down through different American states, visiting a bunch of people we know, and tasting all the stuff we see on Instagram, LOL.

2. What do you do in your free time away from Sims?

I draw, cook, dabble in writing (I'm not very good but I really enjoy it), translate/subtitle videos from Japanese and close caption videos/podcasts in English, and work on eventual-someday comic ideas. I also keep meaning to get into gardening and sewing - I have all the equipment, but the attention... not so much.

3. What other games do you play besides The Sims?

Animal Crossing, Pokemon (even though I still haven't finished SWSH), Stardew Valley, a little bit of Slime Rancher (highly recommend, I think a lot of y'all would really like it), and the Ace Attorney series though I haven't played much beyond the original trilogy even though I really like it. Since we got our Switch I started playing Zelda BoTW too, which is my first real "gamer" game and I really, really liked it, so I'm sort of dabbling in more games of those kinds of genres that I used to be intimidated by.

4. How tall are you?

5'11"/180cm, last time I measured.

5. One random interest of yours?

I collect/love to pore over retro cook books with really terrible photography. I have a small collection of them. Some of them are genuinely good and others are hilariously bizarre. I daydream about starting a YouTube channel some day and I think about making a week's worth of breakfast/lunch/dinners from these old books and recording the process. My current favourite is all about what you're supposed to like to eat based on your star sign, from the 1990s. There's a lot of the word "moist".

6. Current favourite bands/artists?

“Current” is hard to say because if I actually manage to get attached enough to an artist/group to specifically like them, they become my favourite for a loooooonnnnggg time. So I would have to say my "current" favourites are exist†trace, Go-Bang’s, BARBEE BOYS, and Yes.

7. Something you’re looking forward to?

I'm looking forward to getting my life back together now that I've finally been able to finish a really stressful irl project, lmao. I'm looking forward to having enough money saved up to hopefully travel to Japan as early as next year and surprise my friends there. I'm looking forward to breakfast tomorrow and painting my nails :9

8. Current favourite films?

I have the same problem with this as I do music, LMAO. I really liked Birds of Prey! The most recent new-to-me film I saw that left an impression on me which I can remember was the Ghibli film "Only Yesterday". If you're a little older and a bit stressed about the pressures of adult life then this movie is a real treat. Also saw Big Eden for the first time semi-recently with my partner and was really sweet and pretty funny. Now that I think about it, it had a lot in common with my cook books.

9. What food could you not live without?

I was thinking of all the foods I love and would hate to go without, like tofu (for real), but I'm actually watching my diet right now and as it turns out I can apparently live without a lot of stuff, LOL. But I'm trying to eat "healthier" not just change weight and the only thing that's really tripped me up is the idea of forgoing sugar-free drinks. I knoowwww Pepsi Max probably isn't """good""" for me or """a substance human beings should consume""" but I grew up on it, I drink a sugar-free energy drink every second day (used to be every day but my heart said don't do that), and I like black coffee but even that has its limit. So I guess the answer here is "terrible, bad, laboratory-constructed soda", lmao. Can’t live without it, questionable if I can live with it.

10. Favourite series (book or movie)?

If I'm allowed to pick a TV series then this is where I slide in and say the 2003-4 Sailor Moon live action series (shoutout to Lady Bane for making excellently niche Sims 2 content for it, too). If not, I'm stuck again with not really knowing and not wanting to say Harry Potter since I haven't really engaged with it for a million years. Hey! Maybe you guys should recommend a new book or movie series to me! Especially if the book is available as an audiobook, because I have more patience/attention for them than reading these days.

I don’t know who to tag because I don’t know who’s already done it - let’s start with @afro-sims-for-you, @didilysims and uhhhhh @katatty-main​ ? Plus anyone else who follows me and wants to do it! Tag me back so I can read ‘em :0

[tfloosh]

Discovery

Week 4 is here!!! I’m starting the week off with some post-game BotW Zelink. Enjoy!!!

Zelda was exceptionally giddy when she woke that morning. Today was the day Link promised to take her exploring across Hyrule. Sure it was disguised as a trip to reestablish diplomatic relations with the four faces across Hyrule, but Zelda knew Link saw it for what she really wanted: a chance to rediscover Hyrule. So much had changed over the past one hundred years. Even little Hateno Village had grown from a few sparse rice patties and homes to a thriving town. She had enjoyed staying at Link’s house there and talking with Purah about the changes in technology while she had been fighting Ganon, but she needed to get out and see what was left of her country.

“The Princess can only thrive in the wild,” Link had said teasingly the night before.

Link had their horses saddled and ready for their journey just as the sun was breaking into the sky. They had enough food for the first leg of their journey, which would take them to the Zora’s Domain.

“Are your old friends still there?” Zelda asked once they set out on the path to the Dueling Peaks. “The ones you would play with when you were younger. What did you call yourselves? Bazz’s Bad Bunch?”

“The Big Bad Bazz Brigade,” Link corrected, his cheeks turning slightly pink. “And yes, they are all guards for the Domain now. One of them, Rivan, even has a daughter.”

“That’s so strange to think about,” Zelda mused. “So much of Hyrule seems untouched through those hundred years, but then you meet the people. The grandparents who were children during the Great Calamity, the people who grew up with the legend of Hyrule at its height.”

“The Rito assumed I was a descendent of the Hylian Champion,” Link explained. “I didn’t know how to correct them. How do you say you’re not a descendent of yourself?”

Zelda laughed.

***

“I want to show you something,” Link grinned as they repacked their horses. They had stopped for a quick lunch in Kakariko Village and were about to head out again, but apparently Link had other plans.

He grabbed her hand and led her back toward the east gate. Zelda wanted to ask where they were going, but the grin still on Link’s face told her he wouldn’t say. They raced up the side of the mountain and past the shrine that was there. Link picked a beautiful blue flower and handed it to her.

“Nightshade,” he said. “It will help reduce noise from movement if cooked properly, and it glows in the dark.”

“Link, did you study the properties of herbs and plants while you adventured across Hyrule?” Zelda’s eyes lit up.

“Inadvertently,” he grinned. “But that’s not what I really wanted to show you.”

He led her further into the forested area until they caught sight of what appeared to be a giant flower.

“It’s a Great Fairy’s spring,” Link explained. “I thought you would want to see it.”

“Why didn’t you show it to me any of the other times we were here?” Zelda gasped as she walked forward to inspect the spring further.

“Because we were busy then,” he shrugged. “And this trip is all about discovering new things.”

Zelda rolled her eyes and gave Link a small shove. They spent the next twenty minutes looking at all the different plants around the spring. Zelda smiled at seeing a small cluster of Silent Princesses, and Link informed her of the augmentation properties of all the samples she had collected.

“I’ll have to start a research journal for this trip,” Zelda said as they rode down the slope to the ruins of Goponga Village.

“We can get a book in the Domain,” Link said.

***

“I will forever be amazed by the beauty of the Zora’s Domain,” Zelda sighed as they stood before the statue of Mipha. “It is fitting that the greatest craftsmen in all of Hyrule would memorialize her in stone. I pray the ending of Calamity Ganon has given the Zora here even more closure over the loss of their Princess.”

“It truly has, Your Highness,” Prince Sidon smiled down at them. “The elders have even welcomed Ruta shutting down. I would even go so far as to say Father doesn’t mind it either.”

“Oh, I don’t mind Vah Ruta shutting down,” Zelda said. “I would just like to know why. Even after all these years, we still know so little about how the Divine Beasts work. I’m afraid those who would know best are our lost Champions.”

“But that can wait ‘til tomorrow,” Link said.

Zelda whipped her head around, “What?”

“We’re going exploring tonight,” Link smiled. “Sidon agreed to show us the Veiled Falls.”

“I remember that waterfall,” Zelda grinned as the two led the way to their destination. “I believe that’s where I first met you, Sidon, though you might have been too young to remember. Mipha was teaching you how to swim up waterfalls.”

“I do remember her teaching me,” Sidon frowned. “But I did not know you were present.”

“Yes, Mipha agreed to pilot Ruta then,” Zelda saw Sidon’s frown deepen, so she changed the subject. “You were so small then, I almost didn’t believe Link when he introduced you.”

Sidon laughed, “At least swimming up waterfalls is easier now.”

***

“These fireproof elixirs are disgusting,” Zelda made a face as she took another swallow.

“You seemed to enjoy making them well enough,” Link smirked.

“Because that was science,” she complained. “I wish your flamebreaker armor fit me.”

“You still feel the heat in that,” he pointed out. “So trust me when I say drinking the elixir is much better, despite the taste.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve been to Goron City,” Zelda skipped along the path to examine a smotherwing butterfly. “Has it changed any?”

“There’s a new rock sculpture of Daruk,” Link answered quietly so he wouldn’t scare off the butterfly. “At least I think it’s new. You’ll remember better than me.”

“Is your memory really still that spotty?” she turned away from the butterfly to examine him more closely.

“I remember memories of us best,” he blushed. “But details from them are hard to make out sometimes. And it’s hard to piece together memories from when I was younger.”

“Do you remember your family at all?” Zelda’s brow furrowed.

“I know more about them from what other people have told me,” Link started walking again to have something to do. “My memories are best triggered by locations or sensations, and we lived in Castletown.”

“Which is in unrecognizable ruins,” she nodded understandingly. “Then we will have to rebuild.”

“What?” Link froze where he stood.

“You deserve to remember your family and other childhood memories,” Zelda said without stopping. “I remember mine far too clearly, and I don’t want to be the only one that suffers with embarrassing childhood memories.”

“Hey wait a second,” Link jogged to catch up with the now laughing Zelda.

***

“So how much of our time together do you remember?” Zelda asked as they cut across Hyrule Field toward the Gerudo Desert.

“More than you think,” Link said, a small smiled crossing his face. “Those pictures you left on the Sheikah Slate really helped, and I could fill in most of the rest on my own.”

“And the, uh, feelings that came with those memories?” she blushed, letting her hair fall in front of her face so Link wouldn’t see.

“Those are a little disconnected,” he admitted. “I didn’t find the places in your pictures in order, so I got a little mixed up with the feelings I had while experiencing the events and the feelings I felt remembering the events. I felt anger toward you when you went to that shrine in Tabantha without me, but when I remembered it, I had already remembered your struggles and anxieties, so I knew why you were taking your anger out on me. So I remembered I felt anger, but now I also remember compassion and wanting to help you, and I really want to slap the old king sometimes, Hylia bless his soul.”

Zelda couldn’t help but laugh, “I understand. I’m surprised you can keep it all straight.”

“I tend to focus on my feelings from the second go round, which makes things somewhat easier,” he shrugged. “And probably better for you anyway.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” she cried indigently, but Link was already sprinting away on his horse, laughter flying with the wind.

***

Link found Zelda sitting on the edge of the platform next to the Akh Va’quot Shrine. She was talking with Kass. Link could imagine Kass telling her all about his teacher, the Sheikah poet who worked in the old Royal Court. Zelda was aware of the bard’s feelings for her; the Sheikah’s songs were not subtle, but she never had the heart to spurn his feelings. Link thought the whole thing was quite ridiculous, but he had enjoyed Kass’ stories of his teacher after the Great Calamity struck nonetheless.

“Ah, hello Link,” Kass said cheerily when Link finally joined them on the ledge. “Here to enjoy the beautiful night as well?”

“There is no better place to see the stars,” Link smiled and let his legs dangle next to Zelda’s off the ledge.

“Kass, would you mind if I talked with Link alone?” she asked in that sweet way no one could ever say no to.

They sat for a time in silence after Kass left, and Link was never one to start a conversation, so he waited for Zelda.

“I’ve been debating whether or not to talk to you about this,” she started. “But after talking with Kass, it would seem that you already know.”

She looked at him, her green eyes shining in the blue light from the shrine.

“Link, I have romantic feelings for you, and I didn’t want to make you feel pressured to return them, which is why I held them in since we were reunited,” she smiled. “But I have loved you for one hundred years.”

Link smiled back and moved his hand so it rested on hers, “I don’t remember much of the past, but I do know I loved you until my dying breath, and I remembered I loved you before I remembered your name. I would be happy to always walk by your side, if you would have me.”

“Only if you consent to walk beside me,” Zelda laughed. “No more of that three paces behind business. I could always feel you staring at me.”

“It was a part of the job,” he laughed back. He squeezed her hand. “I’ll always protect you.”

“I know,” she said before leaning in to kiss his cheek.

Link reached over to cup her cheek in his hand and gave her a proper kiss.

“I’ve been waiting one hundred years to do that,” he smiled.

“Well you don’t have to stop now,” she grumbled.

Link pulled her closer, “Yes, Princess.”

[quarantineculture]

quarantine day 2

Quarantine day 2

Thursday, March 19, 2020

DAY TWO BABY!! I thought about my schedule and tried to stick to it. My phone’s sleep function let me set an alarm for 9:30 and the alarm for this function is birds chirping, gradually getting louder and louder, and I was confused at first because it kinda blended in with the natural birds chirping outside my window. And then I was happy because it’s spring! And the birds are singing again! It’s very exciting. Even my sister noticed and was happy about it.

I’m going to start off this blog post with my lists of things I’m grateful for and Quarantine by the Numbers now, instead of ending it with the lists. This way I can kinda organize my thoughts in the beginning by listing highlights of the day. We’ll see how it goes.

THINGS I’M GRATEFUL FOR:

A few turtles still out at the park! Birds chirping. The random old man singing karaoke into his phone on the bench. A really cute corgi that I definitely did not consider following. Very pretty flowers blooming! Birds chirping! Spring is coming! The mozzarella stick that my sisters made for me by dipping a cheese stick in egg, flour, and panko bread crumbs. It was really good! Trying matzo with peanut butter. Also tastes pretty good. My phone that lets me stay in touch with family and friends who are far away. Wifi. I really love wifi in case you can’t tell. The Legend of Zelda. That my sisters let me have the Switch

QUARANTINE BY THE NUMBERS:

Time outside basement: approx. 1.5 hours

Legend of Zelda: approx. 3 hours

Toggl-logged productivity time (thesis and reviewing lectures): 2 hours 1 minute

Pokemon Shield: approx. 1.5 hours

Watching Bowen Yang SNL videos: approx. 1 hour? Unsure really honestly. He’s HILARIOUS. Highly recommend any video with him as Chen Biao, Chinese trade minister or coronavirus official.

BACK TO YOUR REGULAR SCHEDULED “BLOGGING” aka June rambles for a long time:

Honestly, I was pretty happy with how my schedule was working out today. I did a bunch of work in the morning and afternoon. Had some nice lunch and leftovers. It all started going downhill after I came back from the park though, at least in terms of doing “what I’m supposed to be doing.” (Which, might I say, is kinda BS at this point. What am I supposed to be doing? I’m on spring break. I’m supposed to be coming back from Puerto Rico today, and hanging out with my friends in the city, probably getting tipsy and taking photos with my Polaroid and buying mediocre NYC food and then getting McDonald’s after because we’re still hungry and Mickey D’s is more satisfying sometimes anyways. And then I’m supposed to go back to school and work and finish my semester and graduate. But none of that is gonna happen.)

Sorry. What I meant was that I started getting really off-track from my idealized schedule after dinner. I played a ton of Breath of the Wild and live-streamed it for my sisters (like a Twitch streamer!) I have the books set up on a table and plug in my phone and prop it up so they can see the TV. Probably like 2 hours. I kinda can’t remember what else I did but I know I also played Pokemon Shield for a while too, because I figured that I’d played too much BoTW.

OK. Can we talk about Pokemon Shield for a second? Like, what the hell? Maybe I’m getting too old, but I was getting SO frustrated while I was playing with it. That kid, your neighbor, whose bro is the champion? He NEVER FUCKING SHUTS UP. OH MY GOSH. HE’S SO. FUCKING. ANNOYING. And he just says the SAME shit OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Wah wah wah! I’m going to be the next champion! Wah wah wah! My brother is the champion! And I’m gonna be so strong! Watch me! And then he keeps losing. And there are just too many cut scenes. I feel like I’m watching a TV show, but the most boring and repetitive TV show ever. Maybe it’s because I’ve played a lot of Pokemon games and they mostly have the same plotline, but I was just Really Bored during it.

My sister did tell me that a lot of people noticed that Sword and Shield were clearly marketed for a younger audience (like elementary school age, 5-9 maybe) and I’m kinda several times older than most elementary school kids. So I guess it makes sense. But either way I still ended up playing till like 2:45 in the morning because I got to the Wild Area and that was actually kinda fun even though I made terrible curry and my Pokemon probably wanted to vomit it up.

Saw a little wounded squirrel friend. See how he’s missing an eye and his tail is kinda chopped a little short? I don’t know how that happened, but he seems like he’s thriving though! Running around, chasing nuts, the usual. A fighter! He was inspirational.

The park was wet but so many nice flowers today! Here.

[nprplays]

Nintendo Switch and Legend of Zelda Road Trip Impressions: Part 2

By Stephan Bisaha

Wooddale, Tennessee 10:45 a.m. – I’d be lying if I said the thought of playing some more Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild wasn’t a big motivation for getting out of bed this morning.

Well, the plan was to stay in bed for a bit and turn the console on from there with the controller and get straight to playing. Unfortunately, while the light on the Switch’s dock indicated it was in TV mode, my room’s TV was not picking up any signal (initially I simply hadn’t turned the TV on, but after doing so there was still no signal). Instead, I tragically rose from my bed, went to the TV and found everything was still connected. I turned the TV off, undocked and docked the Switch and everything worked fine.

I tried turning the Switch on again with the controller, this time with the TV on first and everything worked correctly. My gut is telling me this was simply an issue with the TV, not the system, but it’s worth noting.

I played for a bit with the Joy-Cons separated from their grip – they were both independent from each other in my two hands. While it was serviceable, my instincts immediately told me to go back to the grip.

Breath of the Wild lets you aim a bow with the right analog stick, yet it has gyroscopic controls that work in conjunction, which actually work really well. The analog stick is sensitive and gets me close to my target while nudging the controllers allows for that extra bit of precision. It even replicates the need for a steady hand when I finally did line up that perfect shot.

With the Joy-Cons separated, I found the exact opposite with the gyroscopic controls. I had an awful sense of how to tilt the two controllers properly when detached from each other. There’s the ability to turn the gyroscopic aiming off, but I much prefer using the Joy-Cons with a grip or even attached to the system in portable mode. 

In BOTW, I’ve just left the game’s starting area. I’ve already been told where the final boss is and I can storm the castle right now if I so desire. The game strongly “suggests” I do other things first and I have a lot of trouble believing I’d survive past the front gate, but just knowing that’s an option – even if it’s a highly discouraged option – just feels right.

I started moving toward the new objective the game marked out for me and I had every intention of making a beeline straight to ii, but I found myself quickly distracted by a forest with monsters at least twice the size of my previous foes and new ruins to explore.

I have less than four hours of driving to go to get to Birmingham. I told the owner of the Airbnb I’m staying at I’ll be arriving around 5 p.m. That should let me take my time and get plenty of more Zelda playing in at any rest areas along the way.

Cleveland, Tennessee 12:51 p.m. – I started driving south along I-75 South when I noticed a troubling site. Despite twenty minutes of driving, Google Maps did not reduce my travel time. Worse, the travel time started to tick up. It brought me back to the ‘90s, when the progress bar on my computer would keep revising upward its estimated time of completion.

Apparently, an accident about 60 miles in front of me was causing significant delays. So instead of reliving that old frustration, I grabbed some lunch and pulled into the nearest rest area to wait much of the traffic out. 

Unlike Virginia, this section of Tennessee was warm enough for me to sit at a park bench for about 30 minutes with the Switch. I still relied on headphones to keep my ears warm, but it still beat sitting in the car.

This time I tried playing in “tabletop” mode using the system’s kickstand to hold up the screen. And immediately the kickstand broke off. 

I was able to snap it back into place, but this seems to be the weakest element of the Switch’s design. I did eventually hold up the system, but at an angle near perpendicular with the table and my confidence in its ability to keep my $300 toy from falling backwards was greatly diminished by how easily it broke off. 

So far that’s been my biggest issue with the system and while it’s disappointing, everything else the Switch does right makes it easy to forget. 

I played with the Joy-Cons independently from the rest of the system and I had less trouble them with this time. While I would like to blame at least one in-game death on the control setup, my running into a fight unprepared held at least some of that responsibility.

And that’s another of the new Zelda’s strengths. This particular group of bad guys was no stronger than the gang I died to at the very start of the game. I assumed a couple of hours in that I could rush in without a car like in past titles, but even the beginner enemies haven’t let me my brain drift off into autopilot made while fighting them.

A nice design choice is the game doesn’t punish players for this, other than the humiliation of a game over screen. The game seems to save before every fight so I was able to tackle the same obstacle without having lost any of the equipment I used up during my previous failure.

Moving (really trying to not use the word switch) between playing on the TV to playing portably is smooth. Of course I missed the big screen and the Joy-Cons sitting in their grip, but that quickly melted away as I got lost in the game.

Traffic seems to have lightened up so it’s back to the road. Next up: Alabama.

I-59 Alabama Welcome Center, 4:09 p.m. ET/ 3:09 p.m. CT – My route recalculated because of traffic so I cut through Georgia for a bit. But now I’m just across the border into Alabama with about 120 miles left for my destination. After picking up some maps and pamphlets, I sat down on a rocking chair to get back to Zelda.

This time I went back to playing with the Joy-Cons attached to the system. After a while, some of the pain I felt in my thumb came back but nothing too serious. For the first time, I played using just the system’s speaker. It’s certainly serviceable and was loud enough against the rumble of the nearby interstate. The audio quality was adequate, though I’ll be sticking to my Sony MDR headphones whenever I have the option.

As for Breath of the Wild, no matter how genuine my intentions are to stick to the main path the game lays in front of my, I always find some new temptation that leads me further and further away from it. But time never feels wasted. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying that, for the player, BOTW both demands and grants respect. So far that’s been true when it comes to the game’s challenge, but the game has also respected my time. Every direction I go, I quickly find something new to discover and I’m curious just how long the game’s open world can keep this up.

All right. No more stops. With less than two hours to go, I’m on the final leg to Birmingham.

Birmingham, Alabama, 8:30 p.m.: Final Thoughts – Handhelds have always been about compromise. My first one was a Gameboy Pocket. It was also the first system I bought with my own savings (if you count getting granted a few bucks over what felt like months for doing chores). Because of that I’ve always felt a connection with handheld systems, though I never did kid myself. They feel well short compared to their console counterparts.

Graphics are compromised. Controls are compromised. Sound, game length, multiplayer – all are compromises that are necessary to make a game system portable.

The Nintendo Switch has to make nearly all of the same compromises (excluding game length and perhaps multiplayer). But the Switch succeeds in making these compromises nearly intangible.  

Yes, the graphics are inferior to the PS4 and Xbox One, but with the trend Nintendo started back with the Wii when it comes to graphics, was anyone really expecting something different with a Nintendo console? Yes, a regular controller is more comfortable and offers better control, but the Joy-Cons still feel great. Yes, the built-in speakers aren’t as nice as a home theater setup, but the sound design still shines when pumped through quality headphones.

Even better, these compromises seem to disappear when the Switch is docked with a TV. I failed to notice the frame rate problems others have reported with BOTW as I got lost in its gorgeous art style on the bigger screen. The sound design of a game like Zelda is so extraordinary, I can’t tell whether the sound of chirping birds and the buzz of bugs are coming from my system or outside my window. 

The main reason to stay away from the Switch at this point comes down to the lack of games. This may not change until the end of the year, maybe even longer. But if one game is enough to convince you to buy a console, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is that game.

Now excuse me. I have some packing to ignore while I see what’s at the top of this mountain. Assuming I don’t go exploring this firefly lit forest first. There’s also a campfire surrounded by monsters on the horizon ...

[sewgeekmama]

This year, due to COVID-19 quarantine, we made no big plans for Mother’s Day. We didn’t go anywhere for brunch, I didn’t get all dressed up for a fancy dinner, I pretty much didn’t even need to get out of my pajamas and I LOVED IT.

Let the Mother’s Day Festivities Begin!

First I got to sleep in a bit, which is always a lovely gift. Then I went downstairs to find two vases of flowers (which I prefer to roses), a nice card, two new pairs of flip flops and the mixings for pear mimosas. My husband couldn’t decide on which pair of flops to get me, so he got both. We go through them pretty fast here at the beach, and I had just about worn out my current pair, so it was just what I wanted.

Next up was my favorite breakfast: pancakes with strawberries and bacon on the side.

And then the best Mother’s Day gift of all: Me Time

My husband poured me a mimosa, took our son, and left for a bike ride. I had the house all to myself, so I sat and drank my mimosa while playing Legend of Zelda BoTW. I found four new shrines, stocked up on arrows, upgraded my armor and did it all without anyone bugging me. I even had time to pour another round and contemplate whether I should play more, or actually get something done. I went with playing just a bit more.

By the time they returned, I was just getting hungry so my husband made up a plate of prosciutto skewers and even drizzled it with balsamic vinegar glaze. I had seen them on a Mother’s Day menu and really wanted to try them, so he looked up how to make them. They were delicious!

Food and Drink, then More Food and Drink

After we polished off the skewers and champagne, I was ready for a nap before we started the next round of eating and drinking. My son stopped napping by the time he was two, so I consider naps quite a luxury. I got in a good 45 minute snooze and woke up refreshed.

I had a nice quiet afternoon, which rolled into an amazing Mother’s Day feast prepared by Hawker’s in Neptune Beach. There was so much food that we ate it for three days! So I didn’t have to worry about what we were having for lunch or dinner for days afterward. For dinner we went with siu yoke, sichuan green beans and basil fried rice.

We wrapped up Mother’s Day with an evening walk on the beach and were treated to a beautiful rainbow over the ocean. It was a day long treat of food and drinks and plenty of quiet time. And while my husband kept apologizing for not being able to bring me anywhere, I didn’t feel I missed out on anything. In fact, I thought it was a pretty perfect day, and I think I may ask for the same thing next year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day, however you chose to spend it. I truly enjoyed not making a big deal of going out and celebrating. I have everything I need right here at home. 🙂

I Had the Best Mother’s Day Ever This year, due to COVID-19 quarantine, we made no big plans for Mother's Day. We didn't go anywhere for brunch, I didn't get all dressed up for a fancy dinner, I pretty much didn't even need to get out of my pajamas and I LOVED IT.

[remembermemorablememories]

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

post #386

main points:

- banana for breakfast

- colorectal surgeon appointment hemorrhoids

- buy hoagie for lunch

- figure out stuff with second broker, decide to work exclusively with them

- japan trip planning

- dentist appointment cleaning

- dinner with the fam

- asia trip planning with dimitri

- fortnite with josh and his friends (we got 3 victory royales o-o)

- smash online with sheena

- solo smash online

writing this on wednesday january 30

today i:

- woke up at 9am to my alarm. i snoozed in bed until maybe 9:30am then went downstairs and grabbed a banana for a small breakfast then went to the colorectal surgeon

- i got there around 10:15am for 10:30am appointment and checked in, made a co-pay. then i was brought in pretty quickly for height/weight, then blood pressure. i had to go to the bathroom for a bowel movement and figured it was probably good to get that done and over with before anything happens with the doctor

after i finished in the bathroom (which was watery small stool), i went back to the room. the nurse told the doctor i was ready and then the doctor came in shortly after. she asked me about my bowel movements, when i first noticed the hemorrhoids, some other basic things. then she said she will examine my bottom

so she called the nurse over to the room to help. they told me to bend over, my knees were on the foot rest of a chair that was able to elevate itself. then they put a towel around my waist and told me to take off my pants. then the doctor first applied some lubricant, then checked manually with her finger. it felt like a kind of pressure but no pain. she then said she was going to use a scope to take a look, which is a bit bigger. so she put some more lubricant and then inserted the scope slowly. it kind of hurt when she twisted it around to take a look, but for the most part it just felt like a lot of pressure and i needed to have another bowel movement. i was tense the first time she put it in to take a look so she told me i need to relax a bit so she could get a better look. then i relaxed taking a bunch of deep breaths and she inserted it a second time to get a better look and then we were done

whew glad that was over with. i put my pants back on and the nurse left the room. the doctor said that the hemorrhoids look really small, and shouldn’t be too much of a problem. i just need to add some fiber to my diet so that my stools are more soft, and to avoid straining on the toilet. she said give it 4-6 weeks with some fiber and see if it goes away. then if not, they’ll do a band ligation procedure. she gave me a small packet with info and then i headed out

i asked her briefly if she would know anything about my potential chest pain, where it hurt to breathe in yesterday, she said that’s probably better asked for my physician

so i headed next door to ask the available appointments, and was directed to call the phone service to schedule an appointment. the first one today was 2:30pm but i had a dentist appointment at 4pm. so i asked when the next one was and they said 8:30am on thursday. i was like eh okay why not (i later canceled it)

drove home and stopped by the pizzeria to get a hoagie + french fry lunch special for my lunch

- i ate half of a cinnamon bun (dad bought some from ikea yesterday) and half of the hoagie with fries + watched S2E16 of scrubs

- watched jtails lucina competitive video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3vWea0npF0

- had a call at 12:30pm with the second broker after i tried to reschedule my showings with her. she told me on the phone that she also has all of the listings that the first broker may offer and would also like to go first cause otherwise there might be holes in our tour. i feel like both of the brokers were telling me that i basically only need one broker. so i decided to go with her since she’s been so responsive and communicative (even though the other broker firm has such a good reputation). i emailed the first broker to let him know that i’ll be working with her instead

- spent some time planning out my japan itinerary. i first figured out which dates i’d be spending where. i’m gonna spend 5 days in tokyo, 2 days in kyoto and 3 days in osaka. but potentially 3 days in kyoto cause i also realized i might actually have 11 days not 10. also talked to sho/asked him for some  suggestions. i just came up with a timeline and started looking into things to actually do there. and pulling up some videos on youtube to see people’s vlogs traveling around there. i still need to book housing, figure out itinerary, and when to fly to taiwan (decide whether to spend 3 or 4 days there)

sheena also came home early, around 3pm. cause all after school activities got cancelled since it started snowing

- around 3:20pm i left the house to drive to the dentist for cleaning. apparently i hadn’t been there in a year and a half. which makes sense cause i did some cleaning in boston the past year. the woman who helped me was new and said she joined in november. she was really nice, i think from her accent she might be from japan? she also reminded/showed me how to floss and brush my teeth cause of my gum inflammation. i wrapped up around 4:45pm and then drove home

the drive home was kind of scary. it was raining earlier on the way to the dentist, and on the way back still raining. but midway through it started to snow. and then started snowing hard... rain + snow is not a good combination. and the front windshield started to fog :O so i had to keep wiping it with my hand to see. and there was also traffic / rush hour so i decided to listen to some planet money podcasts

i listened to #889 pay what you want about panera’s experiment

https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=686660129

and #690 All in about a professional poker tournament

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/03/18/470866146/episode-690-all-in

interesting stuff! haven’t listened to a podcast in a long long while

- came home and played smash doubles online with sheena for a bit. then went downstairs to eat dinner with the fam around 6:30pm. mom got back from work just as i came out of the bathroom. sheena started chem so we talked a bit about chem at dinner and other stuff, a wholesome time :D 

- went back upstairs around 7:30pm to hop on a call with dimitri. we figured out HK and beijing housing and then we were done. we just need to plan some itineraries for the locations and we’re good. dimitri also added me to a group chat with cae simon and sam cause they’re planning to go to greece in august!! dimitri and i just kind of hung out on the call afterwards. i started patching smash cause pirahna plant was just released with v2.0. but then tried to play online and it said the servers were under maintenance until 10:30pm :( we hung up around 9pm. i wasn’t sure what to do so i decided to play some botw. i haven’t touched it since 11/22/18 according to my last save file

i played for maybe 15 minutes and then sheena came in asking if we could play online and i told her about the servers being down :’( she was like darn. cause she’s free for once cause it’s the start of the new marking period. we decided to mess around with pirahna plant locally against each other

josh messaged me on disc saying they have room for one more in fortnite squads if i wanna join. i was like ooh yeah. i told sheena i’m gonna play fortnite until 10:30pm so then we can play online

so i played fortnite with them around 9:30pm. it was a solid squad, it was josh with two of his friends. the second game we already won a victory royale LOL. i only got 1 kill though and was basically carried. but the very next game we started at tilted, and i got 4 kills and we won victory royale again. then a few games later, we won a third time :D and they called it a night and we stopped

also while this was happening, around 10:30pm i told sheena our squad was on a roll so i said she could play online solo if she wanted. so she played in my room while i was playing fortnite with them. sheena was having fun/also a bit of gamer rage :p also i asked jwoos to switch my online back to my old account. cause 1.) i thought i needed my old account cause i paid for pirahna plant on there (this turned out to be untrue). 2.) i was done experimenting to see if i was good enough to get into elite smash cause i thought win-loss ratio matters (but it doesn’t). so now i’m back on my old account with all my frens on switch :’) 

i signed off fortnite around 11:30pm, then played some doubles with sheena until 12:30am. then sheena went to sleep

i should’ve just gone to sleep buuut i wanted to play snake on the old account to get him to elite smash and got him there around 2:15am. took a shower and then went to sleep

the end

whew what a long day

[dandelliongirl]

Everything

is hard.

And nothing goes my way.

So I spent last Saturday cleaning up the entire apartment. I took the rest of my guy’s stuff up to the attic and washed some of the remaining clothes he had in the laundry basket. It felt good to get things done and have a clean and cute fall decorated house. I put in new fresh sheets and slept with my plushies.

On Sunday I tried to start MEA but couldn’t even get to the first cutscene without the damn nvidia/directx error. So what I’ve been doing all week is taking naps and chromecasting Sims 4 builds while I lay on the sofa. Sitting up in front of the computer is too much of a struggle. I had to teach my three classes on Sunday evening and that was the most exhausting 3 hours. I came back to drink some tea and lay on the sofa some more while watching mishcacrossing stream ACNL. One of the few things that keep me going.

Monday was overwhelming. I was overwhelmed with the amount of work stuff that I had to deal with, and after all that random stuff I tried to get back to work on my thesis and it just felt so incredibly hard. It felt like the workload was too big and there was no possible way to overcome it. Also, the bunny was being a dick and I had to keep tossing him into his cage for misbehaving. In the end I spent a while on the sofa crying hysterically, after which I got my butt back on my computer chair and worked on my thesis while crying. But hey I did it? In the end I was completely done for and had to nap. Mum picked me up for a run since it was a nice day outside. She also brought in willow branches for the bunny to chew on.

Getting out of bed on Tuesday was hell. I forced myself to do thesis stuff, and then I went to the office to do work stuff. I had ballet in the evening but that was a pile of shit. I couldn’t focus at all and just basically stood around spacing out for 1½ hours. I also didn’t want anything to do with any of the people in the room. At the same time I want to be left alone because everything is exhausting, but yet want to have company over and things to do so time passes by quicker. I also know that I have to force myself into hobbies and out of the house because it would be so easy to go full on depression mode right now. So I guess I’m glad I went, even though I felt miserable afterwards?

On Wednesday I worked on thesis and JLPT stuff, and also managed to finally cook a meal for myself. I made a huge pail of soup because that’s easy to make and lasts for a long time. I also figured out a way to use videostream to chromecast stuff from my PC to the TV so I got Tamako Love Story and Tamako Market up and running. I watched the movie and the first episode of the anime and basically cried. In the evening I started making an apple pie and my friend came over to start Persona 5 and have tea and pie with me.

On Thursday my other friend was supposed to come over so I got up early to work on thesis and JLPT and do other stuff. I say got up early but I really haven’t had the alarm on a whole lot. I just don’t seem to care, and I’d quite like to sleep until next July preferrably so if that’s what ends up happening then good. Time passes by faster and less painfully when asleep. Anyway turns out my friend overslept so she couldn’t come over anyway. I had some lunch and went to a meeting where once again I probably came off as the meanest person in the world but whatever. Mum took me for a run in the evening, and we had some dinner togehter. Then we went to walk around town to look at the city lights for an event. It was beautiful but also exhausting.

On Friday I actually had my alarm on to go take mum to work. I took the car because she was supposed to go to an office out of town. I went over to my friend’s place to do JLPT stuff and then my other friend came over for some venting and ACNL island tours. Turns out mum didn’t get to go on the work trip after all but she let me go to ballet by car anyway. We did some barre work and some pointe stuff, and in the end we begun work on our Christmas number. We’re probably doing an armenian dance. Seems like fun so far, or as much fun as anything is for me right now. Once again, 2 hours of spacing out and feeling like shit in ballet class. After ballet I came back to my apt and mum came over to have dinner with me and go see some more lights. We went to see floaty lanterns and the reveal of a public art piece. It was freezing cold but beautiful.

Today I had to wake up early again to go buy groceries with mum. I also went home with her to go take some apples. Our neighborhood has a bunch of apple baskets at the side of the road again so that people can take apples, and it’s free food for both me and the bunny so I’m all up in those baskets. I came back and cleaned up the house a bit. I was supposed to go look at evening gowns with my friend but she said she got a fever and couldn’t come. I watched some more Tamako Market, and somehow managed to get two hours of MEA in. I ran the game in windowed mode and in compatibility mode for windows 8 with my GPU underclocked to a potato. It was a lot of fun, I loved the game so far. To bad I had to quit and leave for dance rehearsals for a music video. After I came back and restarted my computer I couldn’t play for more than 2-5 minutes before the crash. It’s exhausting getting my hopes up like this only to have them crushed again. I’ll probably try to continue the game tomorrow but we’ll have to see how it goes. I just want to play the game gosh darn it. Everything is hard and exhausting.

I’ve had dreams of my guy. I also keep waking up at night thinking he’s next to me and that I’ve taken up all the space in the bed only to realize he’s not even on the same continent. I also have these fleeting moments of thinking that he’s going to be home when I come back or that he could come pick me up before I remember that I won’t see him for a year. Sucks so bad. In the first dream I had he was sleeping next to me but I knew it was a dream. I distinctly remember thinking that at least I still had my dreams where I could have him next to me. How sad. In the next dream I was talking to him (which I haven’t been able to do for a week since he still doesn’t have an internet connection) and he kept telling me about basically all the things he had already screwed up like getting the date wrong for his accomodation and having to sleep in a van on the university parking lot for a couple of nights and such stuff. It felt totally real because he is absolutely the kind of person who would get his dates mixed up like that. 

My stomach has been aching all week. I normally get this after I’ve had a show or an exam or something like that, and the stress releases in the evening by manifesting in a horrible stomach ache that makes me double over in pain. So that’s what it’s been for a week now - crying and stomach pain. And anger. So much anger. I feel like I want to kill my guy for making me go through all this. I resent him so much. Super creepy and abusive, I know. But I can’t help it. I’m also incredbly irritable and have no patience for anything. The sofa is my best friend. Mischacrossing is streaming BOTW so I’m just going to plop down on the sofa and struggle.

I quit allergy meds and I’m feeling the bunny’s hay big time. I decided I would keep him if my allergies don’t get too bad since I have to learn to be more patient - especially if I ever want to be a mum. But obviously if I keep sneezing like this I can’t keep him.

So probably sleeping in late and trying out MEA again tomorrow. Going to work in the evening but luckily only teaching two classes. Then coming back for a mischastream again. YouTube and chromecast are what keep me going. I was so happy to see Collette return to YT last night, it feels like getting a mum back. At least I have her videos to look forward to.

Going to watch the BOTW stream now. Suffering big time.

[remembermemorablememories]

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

post #303

condensed post:

i got gifted mario kart from deepak!!?!??!?!

- woke up around 11am, made some oatmeal pb + banana and got right into taking care of some logistics for our hackathon

i set up slack so that only people who should be able to post in certain channels can, etc. spent a bunch of time following up with emails and messages to all workshop runners to make sure that they are aware that they are confirmed and up to date with all relevant information

i worked on this for 2 hours until 1pm. then i switched gears to set up sqlite for my OOP project since that’s something we wanted to get working

- went to OOP class 2:30-4pm. met with eric and nik but we decided to just go upstairs and work since it was an open class anyway. we continued brainstorming the layout of the object design and then started talking about database schema and that’s where it got kind of complicated... cause it might not necessarily work the way we need to/might get messy. we also clarified some points about how our UI would look. we decided to pocket the database stuff for later and focus on everything else for now

- walked back home and snacked on some tofurky and cheez-its since i didn’t really have lunch. i purposely didn’t eat anything cause i was gonna meet with denis for dinner. set up my nintendo switch and connected it to the internet. there was some extra config needed for the school wifi

- went to get dinner with denis from 7pm-8pm at nud pob. it was really good. i got the indonesian fried rice. i haven’t had that in a long long time. yummmmm :) 

- denis and i went to bulletproof from 8:30-10pm. it was a really fun session. there were a lot of people there, and the music was also fire. i also saw genesis there and he saw i was trying to learn how to windmill. he told me i should try to punch through and land on my shoulder to try to get momentum. i tried on some gym mats and it actually sort of worked. this was like the next step that i was missing and had no idea how to do. and that’s all i needed to actually start spinning cause all i had was like the turtle freeze. and then sort of a backspin which is tangentially related. thanks genesis!!! he was really helpful and pointing out what i was doing wrong/should do

- walked back home, took a shower and then started my laundry cycle. i ate some leftover nud pob (i intentionally didn’t want to stuff myself at dinner before the dance session). i chilled a bit and sent out some emails

- then i logged onto my switch to play botw and i saw an extra thing on my screen. it was mario kart??? i was like WHAT. deepak jokingly suggested he’d gift it to me earlier today and i was like no it’s okay. but then i logged on and saw it there and was like ?????. it was a really fun and nice surprise. i called him and then tyrone came in (i later learned he was in on it too)

we played mario kart from 11:30-1am. we played some classic racing stuff, some shine thief, and renegade roundup. and then (since i had to set up nintendo online to play with deepak), there was an NES simulator that comes with it. so we messed around with some games from the 1980′s for a bit until like 2:30am. it was pretty fun and cool to see those old style games

now i have mario kart and botw and NES. and i learned that deepak asked tyrone to hop on my switch to enter the gift code for mario kart while i was at dinner/dance. so that’s how he was able to get the actual game on my switch. i thought he gifted it to me and it just sends/arrives to my console. thanks deepak :’) 

went to sleep around 3am

the end

[dandelliongirl]

Summer adventures

and money troubles.

It’s been almost two weeks. I completely lost track of time, and our summer course students have taken up a few of my evenings.☼

So on Sunday the 2nd of July me and my guy went to visit my cousins. We had a fun day shopping and eating fast food, and playing video games in the evening. We played a bit of ARMS, BoTW and Mario Kart on the Switch, and I got to play Rise of the Tomb Raider. I managed to get a game braking bug in the Baba Yaga DLC where the final boss fight never triggered, and we spent an hour or so trying to figure out how to go forward before reloading and triggering the fight. Lol. We also played Mario Galaxy on the Wii. In the evening we went to the sauna, grilled some sausages and watched Megamind on Netflix. We went to bed at around 2am.

I woke up around 10am and played a bit of ACNL while waiting for the rest of the people to wake up. We had breakfast, continued playing some video games and had lunch before driving back home. My guy dropped me off at the uni library and I very quickly skimmed through a book for my thesis before the libaray closed. I also borrowed a bunch of books with games to play with my dance students so that I’m going to be prepared come September.

On Tuesday I went to the office to work on some stuff for next autumn. Then I came back to the apartment to feed the bunny and dad picked me up for the welcoming evening of our summer course students. It went pretty well, they all got to cook some dinner and bake a little together. I was out of there at around 8, and had a nice evening with my guy. On Wednesday I went to study Japanese with my friend, then did some further JLPT rehearsal and went to ballet class. We had a Skype meeting in the evening, but our internet connection was so bad we couldn’t hear anything. I made a decision to leave our little convention group for good since it only caused me anxiety, and I’m already feeling a lot less stressed. My standards are way too high for such a casual group of friends goofing around and it’s just not worth it to come to hate everyone because they don’t want to do stuff that I feel like should be done to keep us relevant and our content good quality. So I quit our FB group and page on Thursday. The entire day was basically spent fighting with my guy and my friend. In the evening our intensive course had a sauna evening, during which some squirrels chewed through our juice boxes, we locked ourselves out and had to drive to get a spare key and lost one student who went to the wrong location with the same name. A lot happened and it was a long long evening (6,5 hours of work) but it went pretty well nevertheless.

On Friday my guy’s sister visited to clip her bunny’s nails, bring him some more food and sawdust for the cage and say goodbye before she left for Belgium. Me, my dad and my friend visited an international food market in the harbor since it was a nice and hot summer day, and then I went to try and organize my new internet connection. Turns out that after going to the store and being directed to a customer service desk further away, from which I was directed back to the store again, I eventually needed to order the damn thing online anyway, and I still didn’t get to cancel my previous subscription. I’ll have to pop in to the store for another visit next Monday once I make sure that the new internet connection works.

Me and my friend spent Friday afternoon putting our dance teaching timetable in place for next year and recruiting teachers. We got the timetable done, and my friend bought us pizza. One of my new favourites might be pizza with aubergine, onion rings and sundried tomatoes. Me and my friend spent the entire evening marathoning ME3, and continued it basically all through Saturday.

On Sunday I took our summer course students to a viewing tower, and for a museum trip. It was quite stressful but turns out that I got compliments from my guiding abilities and that people made specific mentions about how they liked me pointing out stuff to them. I always feel so bad after stuff like that because I feel like I wasn’t good enough and I should’ve been more social and should’ve talked to people more and pointed more stuff out to them but that’s just me being insecure.

On Monday I made my new internet service subscription online, worked on my MA thesis and did some JLPT drills. Then I went to the office to send an email (which I had to send on Tuesday because our website was down anyway). We had a bit of a crisis because I was supposed to take the summer course students to play baseball, but our teachers bailed on us so we kept frantically calling up everyone we could think of. Eventually we got a pro to come in and help us so luckily I didn’t have to learn baseball rules in an hour. Again it was a nice and sunny evening, and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. I blamed myself again afterwards but I hope the students had fun and learned new skills. I walked back to the center with a few people, and in the evening my friend came over for a bit of ME3. She’s almost at endgame!

On Tuesday I continued thesis work. I’m saving pamphlets from ECCO and I have 161 pages of search results to filter through so I’m trying to get as much of it done as possible this week. My friend came over to play ACNL and went for a haircut, during which I ate, finished thesis work, did a bit of Pilates and some JLPT drills. Then she came back over for an hour or so. Mum picked me up and dropped her off. We went to buy food since granny gave me 20€ so I could finally go buy some more oatmeal, baby food and frozen pizzas. I haven’t bought anything apart from a baguette in a month in order to save money and survive until my next paycheck and student grants. I just paid my phone bill and water bill, and it looks like I won’t be getting my housing grant soon enough for next month’s housing bills so I’m really scraping by. I turned in my housing grant application today but it’ll probably take them at least a month to go through it, and it might be that I don’t get any money anyway so I’ll just have to see. My guy’s exchange year screws everything up because he won’t be paying rent to my mum anymore and I have to cover both of our expenses. I’ll just have to eat at my parents’ a lot and buy oatmeal. Anyway after my minimal 12€ grocery shopping me and mum went home to eat something, and we took a walk in the pouring rain with our umbrellas. It was such a nice and warm summer rain, and the streets were emptied of all people. A magical walk around my neighborhood.

This morning I went to study Japanese again. The rainy and stifling almost-thunderstorm-but-not-quite -weather continues, and we had a hard time finishing our grammar revision. I came back to fill in my housing grant application and eat some lunch. Then I left for ballet class. I also picked up my new modem from the post office. After ballet I took a quick shower, ate something and now I’m blogging. I also hung out with the bunny for a while. I was thinking I might clean the toilet today so that I’d only have dusting and vacuuming left for Friday. Going bouldering with the summer course students tomorrow, and working on my thesis & JLPT before that.

We have a convention next weekend. My cousins were supposed to come with us but since the other twin isn’t interested the other doesn’t want to go either. It’s likely that neither of them are coming, which would be nice because I could spend the weekend with my guy. I don’t mind my cousin(s) tagging along either so both options are nice. Right now it seems more likely that my cousins aren’t coming.

I wish for relief to my money worries and to be able to stop stressing about my next meal. I also hope that my MA thesis turns out allright. Right now I feel like I won’t be staying at the university after graduating. I just want to get a job and rid myself of living off of social security and grants. I want to make my own living and be free of this stress. We’ll see how that changes though, but right now I feel like getting a job simply because I don’t want to worry about money and I want to eat actual food.

[dandelliongirl]

It’s been

three weeks.

Wow I’ve been both busy and lazy.

So Eurovision, right? That’s where I left off. I had an amazing evening with two homemade pizzas all to myself and a bottle of disgusting non-alcoholic wine. I loved Portugal’s song and it was one of my favourites. Actually all of top 3 were according to my list so it was definitely a good result. Now I also have many new songs that I actively listen to.

I spent Mother’s day with mum and dad. We went to the cottage and I got to work on my landscape and macro photography. Mum and dad assembled the little pier/dock for the summer and I went around taking photos. We came back as it started getting cloudier. I started working on a post-BoTW fic. I have a lot of issues with the writing and story of that game, some of which obviously come from the genre and can’t really be fixed because the story is completely optional but I kind of want to put my spin on the story a little bit and take the headcanons from my head onto paper. I still haven’t finished my post-TP or SS fics either so we’ll see what happens with this one but it’s not like I publish my fics anymore so...

On Monday I worked on school stuff and ACNL. I also cleaned the house a bit. In the evening my guy took me to see Kimi no Na Wa. It wasn’t my favourite, mostly because I couldn’t relate to either of the protagonists on any level. I was impatient and couldn’t wait for the movie to end. It just wasn’t for me even though most people seem to love it and usually I’m all up for time travel stuff. Anyway after the movie my guy’s sister came over. We stayed up until 2am talking and watching stupid YouTube videos. I can’t believe she’s graduating high school in a week!

On Tuesday I walked my guy’s sister to uni entrance exams and went to do my office hours while she was taking the test. Then we walked back and spent a few hours hanging out at the apartment. Then she went to visit some family friends for a night. I went to a housing cooperative meeting and rushed off to ballet. The dance mat was completely ruined and wrinkly so we couldn’t do anything with our pointe shoes on so we scheduled some extra rehearsal time on stage for Wednesday morning.

We had to be on stage at 8:15am. Our dress rehearsal started at 8:30 and the show at 10. It was over in a flash but it was pretty tiring to do two pointe choreos almost back to back. We did our Coppélia variation and then me and my friend performed Pearls in the same outfits. After the show I came bcak to the apartment and worked on school stuff again. I revised for my methods exam and my guy played DAI. His sister came back over to spend the night with us.

My guy’s sister went to another exam on Thursday morning. I went to study Japanese with my friend and then we had lunch together. I had a sort of an exam and self-evaluation/peer evaluation class for Methods. I hated every second of it but at least it’s over now. We had to write an essay and then evaluate and grade ourselves. Then we graded ourselves for the rest of the course and then we took a break before evaluating course assignments in groups. Then we discussed the course and how to improve it in the future. It was a really tiring experience spending four hours in methods class.. After class me, my guy and his friend played some BoTW before I had to go to my last ballet class. We had our last rehearsal with lights and clothes and the camera crew checking angles and edits.

On Friday I had my last master’s thesis seminar. We went through the last seminar paper and then gave feedback on the course. Our teacher also told us about finishing the thesis itself and we discussed employment and future plans together. It was stressful and I think it has really hit home that in a year from now I have to have a plan of sorts. Right now I have three options: either to stay at the uni and get a PhD in history, study to become a dance teacher or get a degree in education management. If none of these work out for me or if I don’t feel like studying any more after finishing my MA thesis I need to start job hunting after Christmas. Super scary.. I have some serious soul searching to do over these next few months.. Anyway the rest of Friday was spent relaxing and mentally celebrating the end of the academic year. I also picked up a new internet modem from the post office and prepared everything for the weekend’s dance shows.

Saturday was a full day. I went to dress rehearsals at 11 and got out around 2pm. I had some lunch, took a shower and put on my hair and makeup for another dress rehearsal at 5:30pm and a show at 7:30pm. We did Pearls for the last time, and it went pretty well.♥ After the show I listened to a concert that was happening out on our street right opposite from my livingroom window. It was a warm and summer-y day and we had a city festival with lots of events and lots of people outside. I also Facetimed my parents.

On Sunday I had two shows; at 3pm and at 6pm. At 12 I went downtown to pick up a flower for our teacher on behalf of the whole group and I had to be on stage at 2:15pm for a last minute check. Mum and dad watched the 3pm show from their AirBnB apartment and I hear granny watched the show as well. ♥ Makes me happy. Both shows went pretty well, although there was some drama between them. My guy was out getting his car back up and running and him and I were supposed to go look for a new phone for me inbetween my shows. Well he was an hour late and I was super pissed off since I had hurried off stage, handed my responsibilities to my friend and skipped the end of the show where all dancers come on stage to receive applause. I ended up sitting outside for an hour and giving up. I was seething with rage and it really screwed with my performance. My friend ended up covering for me in the second show as well. My guy did drive me and my friend over to her place and we dropped her off at the bus station though.

So this Monday my guy and I went to get me a new phone. The Huawei Honor 8 lite was on sale for 199€ and since it was under the 200€ budget I had set for myself I had to get it. The entire day was spent on configuring everything and learning how to use it. So far it has been a very good phone but honestly my old one was so bad that you don’t need much for the new one to be an improvement. It’s dark blue though so I’m desperate for my case to arrive because I can’t find it. My old phone was bright pink with a bright blue case so it was easy to spot and this one is dark and flat and sneaky. I had a dance feedback discussion with my teacher at 5:15pm and I went off to another housing cooperative meeting that started at 6pm. This was a long and tedious one, and there was this one asshole who saw fit to nitpick over every single detail of the printed materials. I was out of there after 8pm-ish and went to pick up my friend from the park. She came over to test hairdos for a wedding she’s attending this weekend. We played ME2 while I did her hair.

On Tuesday morning we went shopping. It was a sunny day so I decided to screw thesis-writing since there’ll be lots of rainy days to waste on that stuff. It did give me anxiety to throw away my plans like that but at the same time it felt kind of nice to spend a sunny day with a friend. We spent a good hour or so at the park eating take-away salads and soaking in the sun and warmth.☼ We came back to the apartment, I dyed my friend’s hair and curled it for the official hairdo test. We ended up going for two simple waterfall braids combined in the back with corkscrew curls. In the evening my friend went for the movies and I got a really big anxiety attack from skipping my responsibilities and throwing away my plans on two consecutive weekdays. I did check my emails on Tuesday morning but I hadn’t even looked at my calendar and I realized how much stuff I had left to do. I had to do something to feel productive so I scrubbed our bathroom basically from floor to ceiling for no other reason than - well yes it was dirty but I felt like I needed to do some form of actual work.

On Wednesday I was really productive. I went to study Japanese with my friend at 9 and to a meeting at 11. Then I went to the office to delegate a bunch of my work to our intern. She is a real angel since I was just realizing how badly I was drowning in work. I’m spending two full workdays next week at an event so I won’t be at the office at all and she is a huge help in doing office stuff for me. ♥ It took me until 6pm before I was back at the apartment.

Mum and dad came back from Hungary late Tuesday/early Wednesday. Their flight was postponed because of a broken weather radar on the plane and a huge storm. The electricity was cut at the airport security and water flooded in through the ceiling. Apparently subways in the city were not operational either because of all the water. Anyway after Wednesday’s office day I biked over to spend the evening with mum. We went for a bit of a run in the warm sunny summer weather, did some Pilates workouts and went to the sauna. I’ve really taken to heart spending the few sunny and warm days outdoors and saving thesis writing for the inevitable rain and gloom. I wasn’t back at the apartment until 10pm -ish. Mum got me a super cute almost tie-dye -ish lace dress and I love it!

Today I caught up on my thesis writing for this week - finally. What a relief. It was also rainy and colder today so it was fitting. Around 1pm my friend came over and we played ACNL until around 6pm. She gave me three of my dream villagers as a late birthday gift. I got Chevre, Carmen and Annalisa. She also got us Felicity to share and a bunch of cards of her own that she can scan in using my NFC reader. Even my guy played ACNL with us and we went on a bunch of island tours together. ♥ ♥ ♥ I worked on Sonetia’s layout/landscaping and I’ve decided where I want to put Carmen’s house. I’m replacing Henry with Carmen, Lolly with Chevre and probably Pekoe or Melba with Annalisa. Then all I need is Merengue but she’s expensive and hard to find. Also Marshal but I already have a piece of land set out for Merengue, which is currently empty. I did some reconfiguring with my paths to get a little plantation going. I finished my illuminated tree project and next I’m either building the scarecrow or taking down the fence to get Carmen to move in. I’m also doing lots of gardening to get some more hybrid flowers to decorate town with.

My guy made some dinner and me and my friend baked chocolate brownies with mocha frosting. They didn’t turn out that great but at least the taste was on point. We played BoTW for a while and then she left. I’ve been typing this catchup blog post for at least an hour now.. I really hope I have more free evenings now so that I can blog more often. This is such a special time in my life and I don’t want to forget a single day... I find it super sad that even a week or two is enough for me to forget lots of details and events. I want to come back to this day, the 25th of May, Ascension day, in the future and remember that I had the best time playing ACNL with my friend.

So yup, spending tomorrow doing JLPT stuff and playing ACNL. Doing my friend’s hair for the wedding on Saturday morning but other than that it’s a free weekend. Finally! I need time off after the past few weeks.