OCT 27

2024

Sunday: got a decent night of sleep, as reported by my new app. My work shift was a little more productive than yesterday, but I still spent more time dealing with a follow-up from the past week than new trade sanctions emails. On breaks, I checked in on some vods of Mario Party Jamboree, had more salad for lunch, and took a power nap in the office. Julie and I agreed that we were both too tired for a trip to the gym, so she finished making dinner while I bundled myself in a blanket in the living room, with John camped out under my legs, and Mim sitting on top of me. She'd made baked yams with pot roast, and we each had a slice of Denise's bread. We watched some more Buffy, and these were the episodes in which Faith gets a secret apartment. I've enjoyed these a little more than the earlier episodes in the season. Once I started getting a little sleepy, I got up and treated the cats, after Julie and I watched the video introducing Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete, which will supplant the original game next month. Then, I posted this update and checked into WoW for a bit for the anniversary event.

2023

Friday, 3:16 AM: the Boston crew and daphny's van both arrived in rapid succession, as did the second (larger) round of pizza. Julie and Gary and I caught up on how things have been going. Wourme and Infernarl wanted to get a game going, but Ark Nova seemed like too much of a time commitment this late at night, so I joined them and Booji on the deck for a couple lopsided games of Magic. It started to get cold out, so I came back inside just as Julie was going to bed. I caught up with Mothra for a while, talking about tabletop role-playing and our new life in the big city. As opportunities permitted, I enjoyed my first 3DS StreetPasses in years thanks to Lain and Infernarl, and Ymer said he'll bring his 3DS out later in the weekend. (Plus, I have a bunch of StreetPass plaza games from the eShop closure earlier this year, so I had a lot of tutorializing to get through.) Rudie got up when he was feeling better and is masking conscientiously; he pointed out a rare and expensive Virtual Boy game was just sitting out on the coffee table for anyone to try. The dragon warriors are still going strong, but a lot of other folks are starting to turn in, so I guess I'll do the same thing, myself.

3:33: just want to say that today's Pocket Camp update brought back the lag which had stopped affecting me when I replaced my phone last year, and I don't like it.

11:26: awoke amid dreams of working retail and of "haunted house" web design; there was something in there about splitting your soul into thirds to experience three deaths to try to get the most horrifying combination possible. Restful sleep, though I wasn't ready to wake up when Julie roused me a few minutes ago. Sounds like I may have missed breakfast, so I'm going to snack on more trail mix and shower.

1:36 PM: some folks went on another shopping run. I'm still not sure what our actual headcount is going to come out as this year. After I showered and caught up on StreetPasses, I joined Julie on a walk out to the covered deck by the pond.

10:13: after returning inside, I played a bit of Mischief Makers; the controls and level design are not intuitive to me. Still had fun. Chris from Philly wanted to play Magic, so I brought decks and joined them on the deck outside, but Infernarl's deck still kind of ran away with the games. Lunch was served while we were on the deck, and I got a second-round sandwich, which was alright. Infernarl had been trying to start a game of Ark Nova since last night, and he finally recruited me, Tulpa, and Wourme to participate. While it was fun, it was three and a half hours, and I wish I'd had Julie play in my place since I think she would have enjoyed it. Felix's contingent arrived mid-game and dinner was served as well; we took a break to get some curry and check in on the interior activity. Afterwards Gary and Tulpa tried to sell me on reading Cordwainer Smith's Norstrilia. They started learning the rules to Dune Imperium afterwards, but once the music started downstairs, we all came down to check it out, and I wrote this update.

11:39: I went upstairs and hung out with Julie long enough to load up Animal Crossing New Leaf for a bit and do more StreetPass plaza games. Kind of blew through my play coin stockpile too quickly, and I'm not making a lot of progress with just one and two visitors showing up at a time. (This will improve over the weekend as people show up additional times and consequently gain levels, improving their effectiveness.) Julie planned to go to bed, so I came back to the basement for more of the music show. Most of the group is down here other than the board game folks on the deck, the people smoking on the front porch, and a few stragglers wandering the dining area or napping on the couch. A lot of people down here are wearing red noses and/or animal attire—antlers, a penguin costume; there's a goblin and a clown. The usual. I had a banana and wrote this update before catching up on my websites and doing a little more Pocket Camp.

3:15 AM: played Hearthstone, then FFXIV until I couldn't handle the lag from our Wi-Fi, then Hearthstone again. I came up to the room, and while Julie's asleep, Mothra's still awake on his phone on the upper bunk. I'm just finishing this update before I turn in, myself.