For me, Hollow Knight started out a bit rough, got fun and interesting, but ultimately, I lost interest in trying to finish. There were parts which were a lot of fun, but eventually it became nothing more than a chore. And I’ve got too many other REAL chores to let a game like this stress me out. So I set it aside without finishing it.

Despite that, I’m looking forward to this sequel. I likely won’t be a day one buyer (but who knows???), but I’m still pretty sure I will eventually play it. I’m hoping there are some nice game play and story improvements, but even more of the same could be nice.

I recently lost my job due to the federal government cancelling contracts with my employer. I won’t claim that I’m going through Hell, but it’s far from unicorns and rainbows.

It’s definitely a lot to deal with emotionally all at once. I worry that I may not find a job that I genuinely enjoy as much as the one I lost. Even though I know it’s not strictly because of anything I did wrong, I struggle with the idea that I was considered unimportant and expendable. It also makes me feel like I’m not a reliable “breadwinner” for my family. Then there’s the little things, like the fact that I’m having to cut back on purchases that aren’t necessities, forgo expenditures that I was hoping to make, and things like that. On top of all that, I have a lot of guilt about feeling bad for myself knowing that a number of my former coworkers who were also let go are in a lot worse situations than me.

I’m able to be a bit optimistic about some things. For instance, I’m glad that the ACA (health insurance not tied to employment) is an option. The COBRA healthcare coverage option is ridiculously expensive, but most of the ACA options are notably less expensive and, at least on paper, seem to be better options (ex: lower copays, deductibles, max out of pocket) and there are tax credits you can take based on income that make it even less expensive. Another benefit is that being unemployed gives me more time with my family, more time with friends, and more time to catch up on all the little chores that need my attention.

But, at the end of the day, I will say that I’m strongly considering getting some psychiatric help and/or therapy. The only thing holding me back at this point is concerns over whether I can truly afford it. Sure I can spend $100USD per session for a therapist now, but in a few months, will the cost of those sessions make a difference between whether I have food on the table or not? It’s a gamble that I’m just not quite willing to risk right now.

Probably just a temporary hitch, but I tried to use the app today to look for some Little Britain content. I’m certain that a decade+ ago, HBO carried Little Britain episodes. I was under the impression that Max was basically rebranded HBO and Cinemax in crappified app format.

Tried to open the app, got a loading screen for well over a minute. Closed it and tried to open it again. Waited another minute and it finally showed the profile selection screen. I clicked on my profile and got a completely useless error message, so I clicked on my partner’s profile and it worked. Clicked the up button a few times to get to the search screen, nothing happened. Clicked again, and it finally registered the first few click PLUS the newest click, so it overshot the search icon. Finally got it back to search and then clicked the microphone button so I could speak rather than type. It completely did not understand “Little Britain” and instead searched “Britain britain” with no relevant results. Tried again, and it failed harder. Ended up having to type in Little Britain manually. So 10 minutes later after having the thought that I’d like to watch Little Britain, I finally get the results. Turns out the show isn’t available to watch anymore (or else the search failed, hard to know for sure). Terrible experience.

This should be an embarrassment. I would be embarrassed if I had developed some bullshit like this.

If (isConservative(fuckwad) === true) then “totally okay” else “not okay at all, impeach, repeal, reject”;

There’s not just one single answer to this, each type of plant that “can’t live in rich soil” has its own story so to speak.

One common theme is that these plants tend to be more efficient at collecting specific, necessary nutrients that are otherwise limited/lacking in their environment, and because they’d never naturally be exposed to large amounts of those nutrients, they’ve lost some or all of their ability to regulate uptake and/or to expel excesses from their tissues in comparison to other types of plants not adapted to those specific conditions.

So, when introduced to artificially high levels of these nutrients, they basically absorb the nutrient(s) until it reaches toxic/deadly levels, and then the plants lack the ability to get rid of the excess since there was never a need for such a mechanism when they evolved in their nutrient poor niche. It can lead to issues where the plants can’t maintain osmotic balance or nutrient / mineral antagonism leads to the plant being unable to absorb or make use of other vital nutrients because one of them is so out of balance.

I’m sorry, if you’re growing cherries, fucking expensive ass cherries, and can’t stay afloat without almost a half million dollars of welfare, then what the fuck are you even doing? I don’t fully agree with it, but I at least understand the importance of giving welfare to people growing crops we actually need, but frivolous shit like cherries? What a waste. If we’re paying almost a half million dollars in taxes to give you cherry welfare, those cherries better be free or close to it.

My father’s side of the family is super, duper, ultra hardcore “conservative” Trump-loving “Christian”.

They love, love, love to bring up politics at every conceivable opportunity. It’s one of those situations where I have loathed going for visits for decades and sometimes even making the obligate check-in calls plays heck on my “nerves”.

But in the past few years when the conversation turns political, I’ve started hearing big shifts in tone when it comes to opinions on the ultra wealthy in the USA. The last time I was at a family gathering around the holidays, they were berating the Luigi situation and talking about how disgusting it was that anybody would do that, let alone condone it.

That conversation literally did a 180 once I pointed out how it was interesting that the school shooting that happened that same day (or maybe it was a day or two before/after) had received a fraction of the coverage. And it was interesting how murders of people who aren’t rich don’t get that kind of coverage. Basically, when people like you and me get killed for whatever reason, you don’t hear about it. But a rich person is shot and suddenly it’s national news and top billed news for weeks. Wonder why that is?

And those conservative “I hate liberals and liberals should be shot” relatives of mine were in complete agreement.

So, whether you think it sucks or not, you need to know that if you actually want change and actually want things to improve, you’re going to have to forgive and you’re going to have to find common ground with people that you otherwise disagree with on a fundamental level. Fuck you if you say otherwise, you are wrong. And I don’t say that lightly.

…yet.

It’s my retirement plan. Buy the games now when they’re on sale with the intention that one day, perhaps when I retire at 80, I’ll have a plethora of time on my hands to finally play all the games in my backlog except I’m certain that I’ll be so senile by then that I’ll probably end up playing the same one over and over for what seems like the very first time each time I fire it up.

I once saw a stomp of bigfeet grazing next to a glacial lake out on my grandparent’s property. Looked like a mommy bigfoot, a daddy bigfoot, and two little baby bigfeet. Named the littlest one Pinky like a pinky toe cause it was little and that’s what it reminded me of. The other baby had obvious signs of being mauled by a large carnivore so we named it Timothy after that man who got ate up by bears in Alaska that one time. Sometimes the mommy bigfoot would remind me of a Sheila but sometimes she would be just like a Jessica, so I never could decide on what exactly to name her. The daddy was named Big Balls for obvious reasons.

If it’s got platformer elements, then it’s a platformer, right? Yes? Then Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is it for me.

I won’t say it’s my favorite, but I didn’t see it mentioned, yet, and it definitely deserves at least one mention: Earthworm Jim

Thanks, Obama.

I don’t know what all goes into consumer confidence, but I can tell you that my consumer confidence has been very low and very pessimistic since November 2024 and that pessimism went into overdrive by January 2025.

I’ve dropped all discretionary spending on big ticket items, even the things I have been planning for and saving for since long before the election. I’ve also cut way back on spending for essentials, skipping out on preferred and “luxury” brands at the grocery store and instead going for generic and brands that I like less but which are cheaper, or just going without. I’ve also cut way back on services. If I don’t know how secure my income is or how long my savings might last, then I’m not going to speed up my ruin by spending now.

Ironically enough, the only people I know who seem to be happy with the economy are the ones who were cheering for the “I did that” stickers and asking “why is eggs so expensive” under Biden but noticeably silent on those topics once Trump became president. Unfortunately for the economy, they are almost entirely low income folks (i.e. social security, food stamps, minimum wage part-time jobs) who aren’t typically drivers of the economy to begin with and who are probably going to be hurt the worst if and when things get really bad.

I love cheese. From my head down to my knees.

Perhaps a couple of Lipitor? In my house we’ve started saving money by substituting Wegovy for eggs in our recipes.

A number of years ago, I was walking past a cow pasture when I heard a ruckus. The cows were mooing up a storm and there was a flock of geese in the pasture honking back in agitation. By the time I got to the top of the hill and could clearly see what was going on, I witnessed a good ole fashioned standoff.

Perhaps triggered by my sudden appearance in the distance, the geese spooked first. The honking intensified and they started retreating in a hurry as they prepared to take flight, cows charging towards them at full bovine speed.

As the last goose just lifted off the ground, one of the cows managed to catch up and stomp it out of the air mid-flight. Poor bird came crashing down underneath a barrage of hooves flailing on top of it. It tried to lift its head off the ground a time or two, but within moments of its body being crumpled, it was dead.

Everybody acts like Canada geese are bad-asses, not to be trifled with. A goose will leave you broken, but alive. Cows, on the other hand, are blood-thirsty, cold-blooded killers. Watch your back.

In the south we have an idiom “Birds of a feather flock together”, which means people tend to associate with others of similar morals, ethics, beliefs. So, needless to say, I’m hardly surprised. Trump associate and pastor? There was almost no chance this filth was anything BUT a pedophile.

I know how that goes. We sometimes have watermelon for a snack (and no I don’t live on the Africa).

Honestly, it’s almost a relief to hear someone say “sorry about your job” without adding the caveat “but DoD/DoE/NIH/USAID is fraud/waste/bad/scam” to the statement. And yes, it was a pretty darned good dinner as long as healthy wasn’t one of the criteria.

I’m guessing not since I don’t use google chrome and haven’t for a while.

Possibly, but this happened long ago enough that AI probably wasn’t a factor. Just good ole fashioned human stupidity and/or ignorance.