Tag Archives: Video Games

Week 4 Summary: Old Friends ๐Ÿฅฐ

This was, for sure, a much better week! Itโ€™s been a bit of a battle, but slowly Iโ€™ve been clawing my way back to more successful days, with more goals accomplished. This week we got to have dinner and hang out a little with our beloved friends Kitty (whom you might know as Blankit) and her husband Dan. That was a huge treat, as we hadnโ€™t seen them in forever. Let me tell you about that, and about the rest of my week, below!

๐ŸŒˆ Monday ๐ŸŒˆ

The week started off a little rough. Work has been deeply stressful for poor Christopher and it was having the worst effect on his mental health at the end of the weekend and start of this week (you might recall me mentioning last week that he wasnโ€™t doing so well). So that was on my mind a lot on Monday.

I did a lot of laundry and worked a lot on my fantasy novel on this day, to catch up on what I couldn’t do the previous day. I wrote a total of 1,540 words which was really satisfying. Other than that, I donโ€™t have much else to share about this day beyond this photo I took at bedtime:

I was feeling so cozy in my little corner playing Pokรฉmon that I decided to take a photo to remember that pleasant feeling. ๐Ÿฅฐ

๐ŸŒˆ Tuesday ๐ŸŒˆ

Another day on which I missed writing, but since I caught up so much on Tuesday, I was still good for my weekly goal. I also exercised and gamed a decent amount.

Tuesday I made the decision to set up a cohost account, finally. It wasnโ€™t as hard as I thought, and I was very pleased with the result:

I think it looks pretty nice! I also got cohost Plus! to help support the site. Staff activated me for posting the same day, and I have been enjoying interacting with people over there since.

๐ŸŒˆ Wednesday ๐ŸŒˆ

This was a special day –and a very busy one! As usual, it started with breakfast on the couch, reading a book, having mate and enjoying Elliot’s company:

Afterwards, I spent a few hours doing chores and straightening up the house. This included cleaning the snail tank:

At noon, I had the usual Zoom call with my mom. I worked on commissions and did more chores before hopping in the shower. Soon after I got out, Kitty and Dan arrived! We showed off the house to them and then left to go to Nine Five PhแปŸ together for a nice little dinner.

Kitty and I talked a lot about all sorts of things, including many recent fandom debacles. It was really nice to discuss these things in person with someone. We also caught up on each other’s lives, and got a couple of photos together…

Afterwards we went back to our house, where we had snacks and played the Fronks game on the Wii U. Then we switched to the latest Mario Party. I performed horribly as per usual, but Dan really gave Christopher a run for his money the entire game. It was close at times, but eventually Dan won!

After the game, it was time to say goodbye. We hadn’t seen one another since Megaplex 2019… I didn’t realize it had been so long. Truly, COVID warped my sense of time. I haven’t been to any conventions since. I was starting to think I never would again, honestly, but seeing Kitty and Dan put an ache back in my heart for memories of those days. Then again, can those days be recaptured? I’m not sure… but I feel maybe I should return to the con scene, and to old friends.

๐ŸŒˆ Thursday ๐ŸŒˆ

I worked hard all day to have all my chores done and still have time to watch TV. I wanted to finish binging through The Book of Boba Fett, and finish an overdue commission for Kiba. But first, here’s a photo of Elliot and Tomoyo doing their usual morning window watching, while touching butts:

I feel regret about sleeping on Boba Fett all this time. I hadn’t realized it was pretty much a continuation of The Mandalorian. I enjoyed it immensely, the ending was so awesome and adorable, honestly to a fanservicey degree, lol. I just loved it.

I finished Kiba’s commission and then left to do the grocery shopping so that the timing would be just right for Christopher to pick me up on his way home from work. Once home, I put the groceries away and he started cooking. He made this really weird chicken chili soupy thing with tortillas that was extremely comforting to eat and I can’t wait to have again.

Then it was LEGO time! It was date night, after all. I got some nice progress in on my Sesame Street set:

The guys worked some more on their lighthouse. Then we cuddled and watched anime together.

๐ŸŒˆ Friday ๐ŸŒˆ

This day I felt very accomplished. Not only did I get over 700 words written on my novel, but also exercised for over an hour and burned over 600 calories. It felt like a very successful day! I also got more gaming done, and reading too:

I really thought I’d have to read a few other books alongside Stephen King’s “It”, because it is over a thousand pages long and seemed so overwhelming, but it’s been so utterly engrossing, I just can’t put it down to read anything else! I’m making good progress on it, too.

On another topic, you know those fuzzy caterpillars everyone here calls woolly bears? In Argentina, people called those “gatas peludas” meaning “furry cats” (specifically, female cats, for some reason). When I was looking at the misshapen lump that was Rosie on the cat tree, it made me remember that… she might as well be a giant fuzzy caterpillar for all you’d know:

After getting all my chores done, I made dinner (salmon croquettes) for me and the guys. We watched Chucky again (the TV show –we’re on season 2). It was a very wacky episode. Just like with the movies, I both love and hate the show. It truly is exactly like the movies in feel. If you dare take it seriously/get attached to anything or anyone, or expect it to make sense, it’ll slap you on the face, give you the finger, and laugh.

I was unable to have Project Day on Tuesday as is normally scheduled. Didn’t plan my day out properly and also just wasn’t feeling it. So, I did it on this night instead, right after dinner. Since all of my scrapbooking stuff was now organized, I figured I’d give it a go and finish a new page for my Squelf-Book:

And, to add another tick to my “enjoy my toys” resolution, I brought Clicky down for company. I really love my little clicking dino, but I’ve not played with or enjoyed him at all, so it was about time. Clicky helped me pick scraps and cut-outs to decorate the page with!

He even helped stick some of them in place:

When it was all done, we were both pleased with the results!

By this time next week, I’ll be on to my next video game. I truly loved Pokรฉmon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, it’s a game that will remain in my heart forever, so I wanted to do this page to commemorate my playthrough.

After this, it was time for anime and cuddling. We are watching the original Trigun. We were going to watch the recent remake, but not only were Christopher and I slightly put off by it –we also found out that our partner has never seen the original Trigun, and this situation must clearly be remedied.

๐ŸŒˆ Saturday ๐ŸŒˆ

This was a very busy day! I did lots of chores, and exercised + gamed a ton. I finished Pokรฉmon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX! It was such a lovely game that I’ll always remember fondly. Tomorrow, I’d pick up Legends: Arceus where I left off.

I also did lots of outlining for my novel, and worked lots of commissions, catching up on the changing table badges:

I got a little video to show you that I took on Saturday. This is how snails groom their shells so the edge doesn’t hurt them:

Not unlike a cat grooming, snails do this daily. Usually, they do it after they wake up and before starting their daily roam for food, water and, er, companionship. ๐Ÿ˜

At bedtime, Rosie was waiting for me:

I took my Switch to bed and after about an hour, I’d beat the game:

I took one last picture of Rosie cuddling next to me and purring up a storm before we both fell asleep…

๐ŸŒˆ Sunday ๐ŸŒˆ

Sunday was utterly exhausting. It was time to make a proper dent on commissions, so I practically did nothing else and finished eight by the end of the day. No exercise, no writing, no chores… just art until my eyes bled. In spite of the progress, I ended the day a bit unhappy because being able to exercise and write are the two things that make me feel the most accomplished.

And yet –in spite of this, I beat the writing goal this week, with 3,611 words. When you consider all the outlining done as well, it’s a huge success. And I beat a video game and finished a scrapbook page!

A nice thing that happened on this day is that our partner finished adding a different band to the Bluey watch he got me for Christmas. The band that came with this watch is total garbage, the watch would come right off a kid or adult’s wrist. It was unusable. But the watch is very cute. It took a lot of work to make the 20mm rainbow band I bought for it fit, but he did it, and it looks great!

Sometimes, if they are sleepy enough, these two get along…

Lately Rosie has been super cuddly, every night… she’s always purring, stretching her little paws to touch me, getting up and then letting herself fall heavily against me. She is so sweet, I adore this little cat.

I played a little of Arceus at bedtime. Still can’t quite get into this game, and I find it a bit difficult, but we’ll see how the coming week goes with it.

Week 2 Summary: A Happier Life ๐ŸŽˆ

Another week down! This one went really fast. I’ve continued to write, read, and play video games, as well as make commission progress. Slowly, the small things that make my life worth living are taking more and more of my time.

Podcasts and music instead of YouTube. More gaming and reading instead of mindless doom-scrolling. Getting acquainted with my characters again. My stress levels decrease, and certain parts of my brain, like rusty machinery that’s been freshly oiled, shed more and more gunk and move more smoothly and fast with every passing day.

Every day I do fail in one of my resolutions in some small way. Most often, weight goals and hydration goals. But the failures don’t discourage me at all, because every day I still do what makes me really happy. I wish I hadn’t put simple pleasures off for so long… anyway, I’m trying to make up for it now.

๐ŸŒˆ Monday ๐ŸŒˆ

On this day I received the curtain rod I’d ordered, and was able to hang the Grogu curtains I got for Christmas! I love how they complete my studio’s look:

My studio looks a bit like a “hidden picture” puzzle image. ๐Ÿ˜… There is a lot going on. But I love it.

Today was a bit of a lazy day, but I did all my chores and worked on art. I took time to game and relax with Kalamata in the afternoon.

๐ŸŒˆ Tuesday ๐ŸŒˆ

Tuesday means Project Night! But before that, I had to go to the gynecologist to get my pap. This time, it didn’t hurt at all. I really like this doctor, I was so relieved when it was over, though.

Normally, I would walk back, and get myself a nice treat (stickers, a small toy and maybe a snack) after an appointment I had been dreading so much. But I was determined to stay good to my resolution, so I called an Uber to go home.

My driver was friendly and funny, and gave lots of colorful conversation during the ride. He told me about his dog, and said he’d show her to me. I assumed he had a photo or something, and he’d pull it out when we got to my house –but instead, he picked up the doggy (named Chica) right from the front seat!

She was so quiet, curled up in her little bed, I never even knew she was there! It really surprised me. She was very cute, but seemed rather suspicious of me.

After I got home, I cleaned the snail tank. Here are two of my snabies, soaking happily…

For his project night, Christopher worked on his Asuka puzzle that my mom got him many Christmases ago. It’s a REALLY hard 1,000 piece puzzle!

My project night consisted of a continuation of last week’s coloring. This was my setup! I listened to 90’s Disney music while coloring.

It’s worth noting that this is not an activity I did as a child. Any creative endeavor, and even a lot of my play, had to involve some sort of way of gaining inspiration towards my “serious” projects like my book, which I was working on as early as age 12. Coloring cartoon characters with crayons is something kid me would have seen as a frivolous waste of valuable time. So, allowing myself to enjoy an activity such as this today, is important to me.

This time, I had Scout as a companion! And I had a chocolate soy milk for my snack.

I finished my Christmas coloring of Sister Bear! Here it is underway…

…and finished + laminated! Still needs the last stage of decorating with stickers. But that’s the first page of the year down –one out of twelve to complete my resolution!

…and I’m already working on the next one!

At bedtime, I took a picture of my sleeping pal, Grover, with the book I am currently reading. But for some reason, Grover seems to have a creepy, bedroom-eyes demeanor in the picture… ๐Ÿ˜…

On that note, this book (Corazรณn) is way more depressing and guilt-trippy than I remembered. Patriotic to a gagging degree (such as a father telling his son “if you wouldn’t die for our country I couldn’t love you) and, I don’t know, every time the child narrator slightly screws up he has his father/mother/sister leave letters in his diary in which, though they profess their love for him, they basically scold him to the ground. The book feels a big wagging, scolding finger at times.

If you know me, you know I am less liable to put today’s morals upon a long-ago creation. But even so, I was a bit put off by the descriptions of native people (some of my original country of birth in the “From The Apennines To The Andes” short story) and most of all by the high degree of ableism by today’s standards.

But I try to remember that, in fact, this book went a long way to try to bring attention to the suffering of disabled people, to the point that it takes many pages and scenes throughout the book, and points out many kinds of disabilities in detail –something unusual for a children’s book written in the 1800’s. Unfortunately, this is done by encouraging an extreme degree of pity towards differently-abled folk, and to value them based on how they can be still incorporated into society to “contribute in the same way as others” so to speak. ๐Ÿ™„

So yeah, that felt a bit icky to read, but context and time period is of great importance. It is very obvious the writer’s heart was in a good place and he felt a painful degree of sympathy and compassion for disabled people he saw all around him –above all, children. It’s interesting how something written with the best of intentions then, would surely get this man “canceled” now.

This is still a work of literature worth remaining in print and allowing children to read, with proper guidance. But I imagine as our society “progresses”, works like this will be further banned or modified to fit current societal standards. This is part of why I collect antique and vintage children’s books.

๐ŸŒˆ Wednesday ๐ŸŒˆ

This was a pretty normal Wednesday! Though, I could already feel PMS doing its usual number on me. Hopefully it won’t be too bad this month.

I cleaned the snail tank early in the day. They got a special treat today:

One more photo –enjoying some cuttlebone:

Partner and I went to Tree Tops Park on this day, and I’ve got pics and video to share! But first, sleepy snail conga line:

The weather was cool and mild, a rare treat in Florida. We got to see a few critters on this outing. First there was this big raccoon VERY high up a large tree, digging fiercely in a clump of one of those parasitic air plants. Every once in a while, it would stare at us intently, but it was clearly very focused on whatever it was doing.

We also saw tortoises. People feed them (something you shouldn’t do) so they readily come when they hear someone.

Seeing the little heads pop out of the water and stare at us, I’m overcome with emotion. It reminded me of the bear staring into my eyes at the zoo, which had me actually crying. There is something about the connection when an animal notices you, stares deep into you –the reason (even as simple as “do you have food or are you food?”) doesn’t matter– that is so primordial, holy even, if I still believed in such things. I can’t explain it very well, but it gives me a rush of intense joy tinged with sadness, and it can easily bring me to tears. I love animals so very much.

Another little burst of joy was coming across a burrowing owl.

It gave me a squint.

I’d snuck Bangers into my backpack, and our partner, who usually doesn’t have patience for this sort of nonsense, waited while I took some pics. Bangers stood out really nicely among the greenery, and even found some berries!

๐ŸŒˆ Thursday ๐ŸŒˆ

I was really excited for today, both to resume working on my current LEGO set, and to have ice cream and pizza for dinner. But date night was sort of canceled. Christopher had been unwell for days (his usual back pain) and working on his puzzle for a few days exacerbated it. So, today, he couldn’t play LEGO, but his puzzle looks amazing. I wish I’d taken a photo, because it’s over halfway done now.

I spent a lot of the day working on art and binging The Book Of Boba Fett, and after the promised pizza and ice cream, our partner went back to some important due work and I hung out with Christopher while leveling my Pokรฉmon Violet team. I reached pretty close to end-game!

๐ŸŒˆ Friday ๐ŸŒˆ

Christopher stayed home today. He still didn’t feel great. Our partner worked late, into the early hours of the morning. I spent all day doing housework and packing to leave for my mom-in-law’s in the evening.

Earlier in the day, I had Christopher download an anime from the 70s for me, by the same studio that did Heidi. It is called “3000 Leagues In Search Of Mother”, and is an extended adaptation of the short story “From The Apennines To The Andes” that appears in the old children’s novel I’m currently reading (Corazรณn: Diario de un Niรฑo). In the original book, this story is one of the monthly stories that Enrique reads in school. It is, however, the longest short story in the book. I’m looking forward to watching the anime as soon as I finish The Book Of Boba Fett.

In the early evening we were off to Sebastian! When we got there, we had nachos for dinner. Then Grandma brought out some chocolate cupcakes she made.

They had Tom Kitten picks! Good ol’ Grandma. She knows what I like.

I slept in an inflatable mattress which is never very comfortable for me. I’d rather sleep with Christopher if he didn’t snore, especially because it was so cold, and it would have been nice to cuddle. The cool thing is that the mattress was put in the same room as our partner’s and it’s just so nice that it is such a non-issue for us to sleep together in the same room, since it was the most convenient. Even with Grandma there, no one bats an eye and is so accepting of the three of us and “our thing”.

Anyway! I still made it colorful and cozy:

I’d brought Beta with me, and “It” to read. Scary books aren’t scary when you’re sleeping with a raptor for comfort!

I even had my Jurassic World jammies so it was very much a mood.

๐ŸŒˆ Saturday ๐ŸŒˆ

On Saturday we went on a long car ride, to Okeechobee. My mom-in-law showed me some old haunts where she used to live with my sis-in-law (but, I think, not Christopher). It was very interesting and reminded me of some areas in Belรฉn de Escobar, the area of Argentina I last lived in before coming to the US.

For breakfast, we had really crispy bacon (my favorite) eggs, and spicy sausage gravy on biscuits.

At one point I couldn’t find my phone, then I realized our partner had hidden it from me. He took some funny pictures as I pounced on him to give it back…

Then we were off to Okeechobee!

๐ŸŒณ๐Ÿฎ Okeechobee ๐Ÿฎ๐ŸŒณ

On the way to Okeechobee, we saw all kinds of animals. Cows, horses, wild hogs, even ostriches in an ostrich farm! We went to a flea market, but there wasn’t much to see. It was also freezing cold!

Finally, we made it to my mom-in-law’s old “homestead” house. They put so much effort into this house and raised dozens of animals. My mom-in-law showed us the very long fence she put up by hand, all by herself, still standing. They dug the pond themselves.

But the house now lays in ruin, abandoned after it was sold. It was honestly a heartbreaking sight.

It looked so spooky, and I really wanted to go into the house to explore. But you never know what you’ll find. I was scared that we even drove past the gate, because in this country, and in particular in this state, you just never know who’s gonna shoot you for trespassing into their property. ๐Ÿ™ƒ

We later went to another house where they’d lived, and my sis-in-law’s name, which she’s written into the country when she was just a little girl, was still there, which was very poignant.

Then, after a Wawa and Dunkin’ Donuts stop, we went back to my mom-in-law’s house in Sebastian. I complained a lot because my legs really hurt and it was such a long ride. But eventually we were in Sebastian again. Overall, I had a lot of fun.

๐Ÿงฉ๐Ÿ˜ด A Relaxing Evening ๐Ÿ˜ด๐Ÿงฉ

After we got back, we were exhausted. Christopher and I lay down (me to play Pokรฉmon, him to nap with his bunny, Ribbon) while my mom-in-law cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner.

The meal after Saturday’s activity (if it’s home cooked –usually something on the grill) is often the highlight of a visit for me. Not gonna lie, Christopher and I are pretty lazy, so we are often resting while family cooks dinner around us. It is such a comforting, happy feeling, hearing the kitchen noises and smells, our feet usually intermingled under a blanket, him gently snoring while I draw, read or game. It feels like a moment to treasure, of hard-to-come-by complete peace.

After dinner, we played a game called Spoons, which was really fun and a little hectic. Then, I played Pokรฉmon some more while the rest of the family played Crowns and eventually moved to help Christopher finish his very hard 1,000 Asuka puzzle. And finish it they did, at like 1:00am!

I was in bed before that, with a happy achievement of my own:

I’m still going to do a bit of end-game content, but I was really happy to get the first finished game of 2023 under my belt!

๐ŸŒˆ Sunday ๐ŸŒˆ

On Sunday, after breakfast, we went to a pottery studio, then to lunch at Casa Amigos, a Mexican restaurant that served MASSIVE portions. After that, we walked around the dead mall that the restaurant is attached to. But let me tell you about the pottery studio first, which was called “The Painted Frog”. This place is where my mom-in-law painted the cute little snail she gave me for Christmas.

๐ŸŽจ๐Ÿธ The Painted Frog ๐Ÿธ๐ŸŽจ

The first step was to pick our pieces. Christopher picked a turtle, our partner, a shot glass, and I picked a gator, because I love them so much and because our partner and I have had a few gator-related (mis?)adventures.

All the colors you see become much more intense and sometimes much darker than you see here. Even though it looks pastel, the colors I picked should turn out very bright. I used different shades of green for the base, including mottling and spattering here and there, with a sponge and with a toothbrush. To make it more “me”, I dotted it all over with red, blue and yellow dots:

I was afraid to mess up when doing his eyes, but I think it looks okay!

Christopher’s turned out really cute, too:

Our partner seemed a real expert at this in spite of never doing it before:

Here are Christopher’s and mine together:

They had a section of unclaimed, already fired and glazed pieces. You could buy any of them for just one dollar, and I couldn’t resist this little guy:

Here you can see them together –a piece before being glazed and fired, with one that has been. I believe my gator’s color is the same as the one in the finished piece, if not very close. So, as you can see, the end result is very different.

Ours should be ready in about a week. I hope they survive the process… they don’t always. Overall, I really loved this experience, and there’s a few similar places in our area, so I’d like to go to others too.

๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿฌ Visiting A Dying Mall ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿƒ

This used to be a lively mall. My sis-in-law’s first job was at its movie theater. Now half of it is taken up by a “chain” church and its many related storefronts/offices, from a coffee shop, to a fitness center, including a Sunday school, a store of religious stuff such as books, clothing and knick-knacks, and even a TV station.

Most areas of the mall though, were eerily empty… very liminal.

The H.A.L.O. No-Kill Rescue is still there. There was a cat at the front desk!

And many, many cute kittens…

Here you can see some video of them playing:

I was fascinated by the many old abandoned rides. Most were in working condition, but you never really see kids riding these anymore. Here’s a little carousel…

And a shiny steam locomotive!

This carousel, though out of service, was the most interesting. It was Jungle Book themed, and featured Bagheera, Kaa, an elephant (Hathi? doubt it… lol).

…and, err… Simba?? Who knows.

It also had Mowgli, but I really didn’t like how he looked so I didn’t take a photo.

They had Jay Jay The Jetplane, too. Boy, this brings back memories!

A cute little bear was riding this truck:

We passed by an eclectic little game store, where Christopher treated me to this Ewoks VHS tape. This reminds me, I need to add a VHS-watching resolution goal to my 2023 list.

After we were home, and all unpacked, I was able to look at Natasha, who arrived over the weekend from Latvia, the country of my grandparents. Her box looked a lot like other Spanish doll boxes:

She is truly lovely! Not too big and not too small. Part of me wishes she was a little bigger, but this way she’s easier to take places with me.

Her face is as sweet as the pictures!

I also loved that her cloth body is skin-toned, rather than white cloth.

Later, in bed, I went through our Ring front door camera. We get many animal visitors so I like to look through all the recorded motion before I fall asleep. I caught a very funny moment when one of the local squirrel decided to engage in some wild acrobatics, much of the annoyance of the birds!

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to share for this week. I think my proudest accomplishment this week is getting almost 4,000 words down on my book. I hope you all had a wonderful one! I’ll see you here again next Sunday with another weekly summary. ๐Ÿฅฐ

More Pokรฉmon Violet Thoughts ๐Ÿ’œ๐ŸŒˆ

WARNING: SPOILERS!

As I might have mentioned here or elsewhere, I decided to continue playing Pokรฉmon Violet partly because my friend Shelly got Scarlet upon my urging, partly because there are some aspects of the game I do enjoy, and partly because I want to be able to say “yes, I played the whole game” to people that are discarding the negative opinion of the game overall from players like myself that are so put off by the performance issues and poorly rendered graphics (which, I should note, is me comparing with prior Pokรฉmon games: this franchise was never great in terms of visuals, but I felt prior entries were better, particularly Sword and Shield).

Another reason is that Iโ€™ve heard great things about the story, even from players who, like me, had a lot of issues with the game overall. I want to experience that story, and whatever else is good here, in spite of the bad. ๐Ÿ˜Š At my core I am a hardcore Pokรฉmon fan since I was 15 years old (now almost 40). I’ll almost always enjoy a Pokรฉmon game that is at least playable, even if plagued with issues like Scarlet/Violet are. It’s just that I don’t want to let my fan rosy-colored glasses make me unable to give the series criticism, especially when it is deserved.

My criticisms don’t mean “if the bugs didn’t bother you as much as they did me, you’re too easily satisfied”. They don’t mean “my experience is more valid than yours”. It is simply my experience, and I’ve never had such a buggy one playing Pokรฉmon, ever, so I cannot simply ignore that, even if I am having fun otherwise.

๐ŸŒˆ Mystery Gift Pikachu ๐ŸŒˆ

I downloaded my flying tera Pikachu so as not to miss out on it, but it was promptly boxed. I don’t care for this tera stuff. I really liked Gigantamaxing my Pokรฉmon though… it was so silly. I’ll miss that.

๐ŸŒˆ Psyduck Pal ๐ŸŒˆ

One of my favorite things in this game so far have been the Psyduck waddling all over the place. I am very fond of Psyduck, they were my first best friend’s favorite Pokรฉmon. I couldn’t resist adding one to my permanent team for this gen. Just look how cute!

HIM SILLY

I name all my Pokรฉmon. I named him “Ouchie”.

Following me around…

๐ŸŒˆ Exploring The World ๐ŸŒˆ

The open world has a lot of shortcomings, all of which are better documented elsewhere. I was able to, at times, to completely lose myself in the moment, however. I don’t feel that the areas are too sparsely populated. There do seem to be too many items lying around though.

Here are some screenshots from when I was just enjoying getting lost, or enjoying the scenery.

๐ŸŒˆ School Life ๐ŸŒˆ

I don’t have much to say about the whole school thing, except HOLY FRAME RATE, BATMAN. Ouch. Otherwise, I mean, it’s ok. I took a class or two. I have some screenshots.

I didn’t mention it until now but I should add I finally got my trainer looking “right”. I don’t have freckles IRL but I liked how they looked here, I like her colors. I wish for a skirt, but it is what it is, I’m much happier with this outfit than I was at the beginning of the game.

I admit, when Nemona took my to my room I had a moment of “oh man, I can’t wait to see how I can customize this room!” before I remembered what game I am playing. ๐Ÿ˜ž Lol.

๐ŸŒˆ Miraidon ๐ŸŒˆ

Miraidon continues to be adorable. I was so put off by the “robotic” aspect of him at the start, but he’s so cute.

I do wonder how he processes organic food, however.

Finally got to ride him!

A little video…

๐ŸŒˆ First Gym Battle ๐ŸŒˆ

My eyes are up here, pal.

The olive roll thing was silly, but easy enough. I do think battling some trainers before getting to the gym leader should be something you are forced to do. In general, though it’s annoying, the whole “we locked eyes –we must battle!” aspect of Pokรฉmon is something that always felt important to me.

Not much to say about Katy. Her hat design was cute.

My trainer’s eyebrows make all selfies look like she’s being forced to take the photo under duress, I find it hilarious.

๐ŸŒˆ Picnics ๐ŸŒˆ

I’m trying to concentrate on the good here… I’m trying… but I find picnics one of the worst aspects of this game, so inferior compared to camping, WHAT HAPPENED?? And the graphical issues jump out even more than at other times. Anyway have a cropped screenshot of me interacting with my new Goomy, Booger. I struggled a lot to catch one.

Miraidon napped during picnics. Again, being adorable.

๐ŸŒˆ Pokรฉmon In The Open World ๐ŸŒˆ

Along with getting hopelessly lost, a wonderful bonus of this game are the Pokรฉmon roaming the open world, interacting with it, and with you, the trainer, in different and interesting ways.

Some are curious, some are shy, and some are aggressive. I enjoyed that.

๐ŸŒˆ Fuecoco ๐ŸŒˆ

My Fuecoco, Scorchy, continues to grow strong and cute. Here he is taking a nap after running around.

I also got to terastallize him for the first time.

๐ŸŒˆ Bugs ๐ŸŒˆ

Though usually minor, the bugs I’ve encountered definitely have taken me out of the moment. For me personally, the low frame rates are the worst. It is very, very annoying every time I notice it.

I’ve also had Pokรฉmon clip through the floor pretty regularly:

Or float –sometimes a little, like in the example below, but sometimes a lot.

The worst bug is one I wasn’t able to capture. When the camera got too close to my face in one specific spot, my trainer’s face broke in a true body horror manner, floating teeth, the works, it was horrid, but every time I tried to screenshot it, all I got was an empty background, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ It was really something though since the face filled the entire screen. Lol.

I’ll have another post of my playthrough soon! I’m also still playing Pokรฉmon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, and other games to a lesser extent. They are not abandoned, I just hop from game to game.

Exhausting Tuesday! ๐Ÿ˜ซ

Today was a long, rough day. For starters I had a very early appointment to finally get my passport. Christopher dropped me off, and I walked home after it was done.

I did get to see the really big Christmas tree at the City Center though, so that was nice:

At 12:30pm I had my optometrist appointment. It turns out I need progressive glasses. A few people I know have them, and while I am on the slightly younger end for needing them, my eyesight has always been awful so it isn’t too surprising. I hope it’s not too hard to get used to them.

On a different note, I apparently have enlarged optic nerves (one eye worse than the other) which I could have had all my life but could also be an early sign of glaucoma (scary) so I have to go get that looked into. I should have my new glasses in about a week.

This appointment took a long, long time, and by the time I walked the twenty minutes to my next appointment with the gynecologist, it was 3:45pm. There I waited another 45 minutes to be seen.

My period came at an unfortunate time, so I had to skip my wellness check –it was rescheduled for next month. However, my main reason to go was my incredibly sore boobies. I was reassured in that regard. So that’s all I have to say about doctor appointments for now.

๐ŸŒˆ Meet Sour Cream ๐ŸŒˆ

When the guys came home from the panhandle, Christopher gave me the Furby he found for me. I’ve decided to name him Sour Cream! He will soon have a bath and brand new speaker.

๐ŸŒˆ Analogue Pocket Is Finally Here! ๐ŸŒˆ

We waited so many months. Now our Analogue Pockets are in our hands! They are so beautiful. Mine is white and Christopher’s is black. I’m not playing with mine until the custom Bluey skin I’m having made is delivered, though.

Here’s one more random little thing I found. I saw this at Michaels, I like it so much. It’s an Elf On The Shelf puzzle!

That’s all I’ve got to share for this post!

Home Alone ๐ŸŽ„โœจ

Happy Monday, everyone! I didn’t mention this anywhere because I didn’t want to broadcast to the world that I would be alone in this massive house for three nights and days, but that is what happened. My husband and our partner went to visit Christopher’s sister (my sis-in-law) along with Christopher’s mom way up in the Florida panhandle.

I decided to stay behind for a number of reasons. One of them was that I had a massive mountain of presents to wrap, a lot of accumulated chores, and I didn’t want to stress out the animals by leaving them alone for so long right before the Thanksgiving holidays.

I was also looking forward to it. I can be a little bit naughty and eat tons of junk food, order takeout, watch cartoons, play video games, blast any music I like throughout the house… it’s a dream!

On the other hand, at night it is very lonely and scary. This house is very big, so I sleep with one eye open. But I had a good time. Now my guys are back! And I can tell you all about my weekend home alone.

๐ŸŽ„ Friday Night ๐ŸŽ„

As soon as everyone was gone I sat down to relax with a little reading:

Kotoko kept me company nearbyโ€ฆ

I really adore stories about toys, from the toys’ POV, so I am loving this book. I even have my own Raggedy Ann and Andy:

After some stories and a Christmas cake, I began to work on a vast backlog of housework, some of it delayed by weeks. I wasnโ€™t done until 8:00pm. I made the house all merry to enjoy the evening…

Then I placed my order with Wahbi Sabi and jumped in the shower. I saved my brand new Pikachu Christmas pajamas to wear this weekend!

I finally got to get cozy in them while I waited for my food to get there…

…then had my coveted Spam sushi and corn cheese on a Christmas bowl and cup. Of course, I had my Coke on my Bluey Christmas cup, while watching some Bluey Christmas shorts, as well as Verandah Santa and Christmas Swim on the CRT!

You can’t tell in these photos, but my cutlery was Bluey themed too. Also, the placemat!

The food was delicious, a cheap but huge treat from my favorite Korean restaurant:

For dessert I had a Christmas cake and some almond milk!

Then with the dishwasher going, it was gift-wrapping time! I watched the original How The Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon since I’d never seen it before, and then watched the movie, which I’ve seen a thousand times and utterly love.

I wrapped presents until I felt just tired enough to go to bed with the cats and with Pokemon Violet on my Switch. My bed looked so cozy all lit up!

And Rosie was already waiting for me…

I didn’t play too long, I was so tired. I set up my character and then cuddled up with Rosie and was out like a log.

๐ŸŽ„ Saturday ๐ŸŽ„

This was a very long day, and one on which an incredibly rare occurrence happened: I stayed in my pajamas all day. I normally hate this, even if I’m sick. But they are cute and comfy and I was so busy. To give you an idea of the job I had in my hands, even after hours and hours of gift wrapping last night, I wrapped pretty much non-stop from 9:30am to 8:00pm tonight. I stopped only to eat lunch. That is a lot of presents. I didn’t count them but there must have been over 50, maybe 60. Here’s some of the mess…

I’ve been buying presents for my family since August. They are all presents from me and also from Christopher, to all our family and friends, and then there are our partner’s presents to Christopher, and Christopher’s family, and I wrapped that, as well. It was a lot of work but I can’t wait to see happy faces when the surprises are revealed.

Here’s the results. The stockings are full too. There are a lot of small presents hidden everywhere so it’s really a lot more than you’d think at first glance.

Alas, a ribbon has already dropped. I reattached it.

For the entirety of the weekend (but most of all on this day), I had vintage and not-so-vintage Christmas and/or Thanksgiving cartoons playing, and it was lovely. Here is a collage of GIFs from some cartoons I watched throughout the weekend.

In the middle of my gift wrapping, Christopher surprised me with these photos…

I SCREAMED!! How to choose just one? But I had to. It was hard because I always wanted a Furby Buddy and this one is an obvious match to this Furby, surely they have always been together. But I wasn’t about to leave this little voiceless guy abandoned in a thrift shop! Christopher got him for me. I can’t wait to have his voicebox fixed.

After that, I had yummy snacks and drank wine while playing Pokรฉmon Violet. I made a separate post about my early experiences with the game, which you can read HERE.

๐ŸŽ„ Sunday๐ŸŽ„

With all the gift-wrapping fully out of the way, today was a more normal day. I did my chores, including taking care of the snailies, sent some Trellos, worked on holiday cards, and wrote my letters to Santa as well as to thank and welcome Buddy and Sarah:

I ordered takeout again, and had it while playing more Pokรฉmon Violet. It was really good!

The cats haven’t spent much time with me, but Tomoyo eventually did come to see me… here she is sitting on my lap: