photo saturday: washed out

This week was weird. By the current definition of normal anyway.

I made pretty good beef and vegetable soup this week. Helped mostly by the spicy kransky and spicy salami I added. I often think that that is the secret of good soup, adding something spicy.

Anyway...

This week's DnD was Monday, Wednesday and Friday... not bad overall to be honest. Monday was a game of doing the dumb things and living to tell about it. Until we walked into the room with the baby dragon right at the end. We'll see how that goes next week.

Wednesday was good. I've settled into the groove of a new character, he has already acquired a personality trait he didn't have when I put him together, and he's about to get a lot more interesting.

Friday we didn't play for super long, and we ended up doing a bunch of roleplay, which I love, and proceeded onto the next part of the story, which I've kind of been hanging out for for a while. We'll see how long that lasts. Depends on what happens next I guess.

I also heard from one of my previous Monday players, and he did enquire about whether I was playing online... so I ended up inviting him to next week's Wednesday game (after I checked with the rest of the group). Which will be an adventure.

The tradie turned up to look at my oven on Thursday morning. And, obviously, he was able to shut the oven door immediately. Grrrr. He did confirm that one of the hinges is completely screwed, and I pointed out that the seal has split at the bottom of the door, so now we just need to wait for confirmation and parts and landlord approval and whatnot.

Also, one of my Friday night DnD crew dropped by to drop something off to me, which was very nice. We stood the required 1.5 metres apart at all times, but it was still very pleasant.

Then Friday I was off to the chiro. My first trip into town since my last chiro appointment. Which was also my last trip since the previous chiro appointment.

So I went into town, went to the chiro appointment, walked most of the way down the Mall, then got back on the bus and came home.

Exciting.

Today was mostly the same as all the previous Saturdays... we did the supermarket thing, which almost feels like we're back to normal, except for the arrows pointing people in the same direction, and the fact I'm still wearing latex gloves, because it's just easier.

I'm planning on making chilli this week, which should be fun. Or at least something different.

Then we came back here, started doing the YubTubs thing, then got distracted and we ended up doing a Google Maps tour of the town in England where Ma grew up. Which was interesting, although a little bit of "if she'd stayed, what would my life be", albeit that I wouldn't be ME, because choices.

Anyway...

After that we took our first trip into the city since... I think the end of February... yeah, so there's that.

It was mostly just to pick up some socks and a phone cover to replace the phone cover I fucked up putting on earlier in the day (grrrr, don't ask).

We thought about wandering the Mall, but honestly there were kind of too many people and then there appeared to be some protest or rally or collection of people with signs and shouting, so we gave up and headed back here.

Current mood:

photo saturday: weird and random

I'm getting to that point in the photos folder where it's kind of hard to make a coherent set of four that I actually like. Which is a problem. Not a big problem, obviously, but still.

So this week you get these four which are nominally colour themed... but there's also a case to be made for textures.

Also weird random shit.

This week's chicken chowder was... decent. Perhaps not quite thick enough, but it did make eight servings (nine technically, but I don't count the portion I have on Sunday).

Otherwise we return to the three DnD games this week. The Monday game continues, and I remain somewhat ambivalent to it. I mean it's fine, I just don't much care.

Wednesday's game was good. I started a new character I quite like (teenage human barbarian, because of course), who I'm actively playing as someone who stands back and doesn't take the lead in social situations. Which is a change for my DnD characters for the most part. It also kind of fits in with the way I'm feeling about playing the Wednesday game. And sometimes you just want to be able to run in and smash things.

I also dug into the role of male children in Ancient Sparta for his backstory, which was highly informative. And honestly, sounds like something that somebody made up, since it's so over the top. But it's actual history, which is always more out there than stuff people just made up.

Friday night's game was likewise good. Not super exciting, but good. We travelled with a "friendly" Mezzoloth for most of the game, and my character may or may not have flirted with him to keep him friendly and on side. I mean he was awesome because our DM made him so, but sometimes that's all it takes for a memorable NPC.

And next session we actually get out onto the plains of Hell. Or Avernus as it's also known. And I'm kind of excited. I'm sure it will all go tits up in a matter of seconds, but it'll be fun while it lasts.

Plus I'm going to transform into a Giant Eagle in the next game, so that'll be fun.

In other news, there is no news.

Today was still a rinse and repeat of the last... forever.

I was originally going to make some sort of chicken soup... I mean I know I made chicken soup last Sunday, but a different kind of chicken. And somewhere along the way it just turned into beefy tomatoey soup. Or it will when I make it.

Otherwise we shopped, we came back here, we watched a bunch of stuff on the YubTubs, we went and got some lunch and then Ma toddled off home.

So yeah.

Current mood:

photo saturday: kite colours

Late Autumnal sunshine... if I was a housecat I would lie on my back in it and dissolve into the catpuddle state. Otherwise, I'm just grateful that this apartment is orientated where Summer sunshine doesn't actually hit the front windows of my apartment, whereas Autumn and Winter comes right in the door.

I feel like that was massively incoherent, but I've been staring at a blank screen for a while, so that's what you get. Which may be a metaphor for this week. Or not... I may have forgotten what a metaphor is also.

So...

I made beef and vegetable soup this week. I bought the "wrong" kind of beef to be honest. As in one that didn't fall apart after cooking, like a gravy beef... I mean it wasn't bad, just not what it could have been. I also cooked the onion with some balsamic vinegar which was interesting, flavour wise.

On a totally unrelated note, I discovered a couple of amazing movies this week. In a genre that I didn't even necessarily know was a thing... Korean zombie movies. The movies in question are Rampant and Train to Busan.

Rampant is doubly unique in that it is also a period movie... and I don't think there are many period zombie movies (that are actually good). It's not quite a "wire-fu" movie, and I will say that one of the things that entranced me was the costume design (because who doesn't love a fabulous hat). Train to Busan is just AMAZING though. An interesting zombie mechanic, a great location (the aforementioned train) and a hell of an ending.

Both movies have a similar narrative structure in a number of ways, which I actually didn't mind, because there's always going to be some level of formula to this type of movie, and it worked well in both cases.

So if you like the zombie genre, take that as a recommendation.

This week's DnD games counted to a total of one. In the first case caused by non epidemic sickness of small child and in the second case, because I just wasn't feeling the Wednesday game. Honestly I don't even know if there was a Wednesday game. I haven't checked.

 Friday night's game was decent... the first one we've actually done in... I dunno... a month maybe... three weeks certainly. And we did very well for the first half, and then during the second half it was combat after combat after combat. Not sure there was anything we could have done about some of them, but some of it got confusing.

And the explanation for the confusion will have to wait until next week. So there's that.

Otherwise the week was a whole lot of nothing.

And I'm still waiting for news about when someone is coming to fix my oven door. Which I will definitely follow up next week.

Today was 100% rinse and repeat. Supermarket with latex gloves and social distancing. The ingredients for a chowder based soup. YubTubs. And then we took the trip to Haighs we attempted last week. And succeeded.

And that was that.

Current mood:

photo saturday: outlined adventures

Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Dungeons and Dragons, have been releasing free content for a number of weeks now, so that people can either play at home or play from home using online tools. Which is great, and I love. Amongst the adventures they've also been releasing colouring pages "to download and complete by artists of all ages". And I've been downloading all of them.

And while I never really got into the whole "adult colouring" craze, with actual physical colouring with pencils, I do love digitally colouring things. So I did some colouring. Imperfect colouring in a number of cases, but enjoyable colouring.

All four of these are from the Dungeons and Dragons Adventures Outlined Coloring Book by Todd James. Clockwise, from the top left we have the all consuming gelatinous cube, the creepy grell, a bunch of sweet, harmless flumphs and a very hungry mimic.

In other events...

I made potato, leek and bacon soup this week... all blended up and what have you. Pretty decent too.

This week's DnD total count came to two. With an additional round of board gaming.

Monday's night's game with the Friday night crew was good. I may need to make some adjustments to the character design... not the stats or anything, just the personality traits, since the way I'm playing doesn't gel with the way I designed the personality... and the way I play very much depends on the personality of your DM also... or at least it does for me.

We finished the long, drawn out game on Wednesday night. And it's a module I love. But like I think I said last week, this might have been the wrong module for the wrong group at the wrong time. Like, I might have been able to play this with a different group online... or I might have been able to play it with this group if we were doing face-to-face games. Or a different adventure. I dunno.

Or maybe I'm in a mood in general, or that group specifically. Or who the hell knows what's going on right now.

Friday's game-to-be was deferred due to sickness of small child. So we played some board games instead and did a little bit of chatting, but not a huge amount. It was required... therapy?

In other news, the door to my oven will no longer close. It's been temperamental for a little while now, but on Friday, after I finished making roasted mushrooms for lunch, I opened the door to put the big oven tray back in and the door wouldn't shut.

Fuck, fuck, fuckkity fuck.

Hopefully my land agent/landlord actually gets off their proverbials and gets somebody out to take a look at it/fix it... because it's almost time that I can make bread again, and I want to make bread (and then share it with other people) goddamn it.

It also meant that everything that caught my eye at the supermarket today was oven based.

Because as soon as you tell me I can't have something, it makes me want it all the more. I'm peculiar like that.

As far as today is concerned, copy paste from the last several weeks honestly. The supermarket seemed less crowded honestly. And the shelves definitely had more things in them... things of the previously missing variety anyway.

We did the shopping thing, we came back here, we did the YubTubs thing... Ma made the very silly mistake of suggesting we head over to Haighs on the Saturday before Mother's Day during a pandemic. I mean we took a drive anyway. And then saw the line down the side of the building and didn't even really slow down before we legged it. Or wheeled it, because car.

Current mood:

photo saturday: ferries

Lady Herron, the "double ender" ferry in the top left was quietly retired this week along with her sister ferry Lady Northcott. Which is super sad. I mean understandable if the maintenance costs were five times the newer boats... but still.

These photos have all appeared in the blog previously, but it seemed appropriate to bring them all together for today.

In other news... it's been 84 years. Like, just generally, it's been 84 years... 84 years since my last post. Or since the last time I left the house. Or something. I dunno, this isn't my best material.

Mostly because it's been 84 years.

Anyway.

Two and a half games of DnD this week. Well. Two games. The half a game was either a game nor DnD. Have I mentioned it's been 84 years?

On Monday the Friday group did a different thing. Which was fine, but honestly, I'd kind of rather just been playing more of the Friday game. Especially since we didn't actually play the Friday game on Friday.

Wednesday's game was... functional. I mean every body did well, and there were a few interesting moments, but given that the Wednesday game is voice only, it definitely didn't work as well as it has done in the past. Also, it's possible the group isn't the right group for this particular adventure, I dunno. I'm not sure if I want to run again... not because of this, but just generally, I don't know if running online works for me honestly. I dunno.

I dunno a lot of things at the moment honestly.

Friday was supposed to be DnD, but we had a last minute drop out... or I got told about it last minute... or whatever. So instead we just hung out, played some video games online and ended with a tour of my DM's Animal Crossing island. Because everything is about Animal Crossing right now. Except me. Because I don't have a Switch. And if I did have both a Switch and Animal Crossing I may very well forget to feed, bathe and dress myself.

But if someone wants to send me a Switch and AXNH, I'll take that risk.

Otherwise, literally nothing this week. I made chicken noodle soup, with ramen noodles. And it was decent.

This week I'm just going with flat out potato soup. All blended up and stuff.

Oh, they announced a new Assassin's Creed game this week. By way of the most ridiculous 8 hour livestream photo manipulation of a teaser image that a) was obviously vikings when I tuned in a couple of hours in, b) incredibly tedious to watch and c) either specifically done to be long and drawn out given that the artist seemed to be changing the same things over and over and over again, only to then totally cover those details with later details. Yeah, let's not do that again.

The trailer looks... very pretty. But I went back through some of the trailers for the last few AC games, and they all have very much a focus on being an assassin. Sneaking, freerunning, what have you. The most over the top version of that being Unity, where a wave of free running hooded dudes flood through the streets of Paris. And in the Origins trailer you don't even see the main character until like the last ten seconds of the thing.

And I still maintain that Odyssey isn't actually an Assassin's Creed game because a) it takes place 400 years because the canonical beginning of the assassin's brotherhood, as featured in Origins (also the game is fucking called Origins) and b) no hidden blade.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla doesn't look especially assassin-y either. The trailer is just one big battle. And yes the hidden blade is back... but yeah, the series seems to have gone in a different direction now and I don't think that direction is for me. Which is fine. Especially if they're going to put more of those dumb sailing/boat missions in (which they totally are going to do because longboats), because I'm so fucking over those... since Black Flag basically.

I also understand that there's a whole base/settlement building mechanic... which is... fine? But it that means the settlement will get attacked continually and you need to defend it, I don't know I'm that bothered.

Stupidly, the one thing that is a draw for me is that in this one the bird companion that has been with you in the last two game returns... as a raven. Which it originally was supposed to be I believe. And makes sense given the setting. But... raven!

Anyway.

Compared with last week, today's supermarket trip, today was super chill. Granted we were there a little earlier than we have been of late. But yeah, it was much better. And the shelves are starting to refill slowly.

After shopping we headed to Haighs to see if they had any of the broken eggs left. Sadly no. But we'll live.

Then we came back here, did the YubTubs thing, then Ma went home around 1pm.

Current mood: