A bed of roses

My desire to just chill extended into today, so I didn't make it to church. But I'm leading the service next week, so will HAVE to get my arse into gear!

Following from yesterday's launch of yet another FFVIII adventure (I have no clue how many times I've played this game), I spent an hour or so fighting fish on the beach to harvest their AP and, once Quezacotl had learned 'Card' turning them into cards. I also drew lots and lots of magic and refined it into the next level. Thank goodness for x3 speed! Then I defeated Ifrit but I forgot to give Quistis the GF ability so, although she had Shiva junctioned, Ifrit couldn't comment on it - doh!

With my Ifrit card and a Trauma card I got from carding a Caterchipillar, I then entered Garden ready to do battle and quickly gained the Mini Mog and Quistis cards. I also ran into Balamb itself and played a few hands with the singer near the entrance to the town. Ma Dincht isn't ready to play cards, yet, because I haven't officially met Zell. Did you know there's a chap near the harbour who can nix 'Open'?! Well, I didn't - thank goodness I saved just outside Balamb! I'm looking to collect Blue Dragon and Elnoyle cards.

So, three hours in, I'm ready to head off on the Dollet mission :D

I also got Chapter 3 finished - 10 days and 15k words. Still slightly behind - and I have Things To Do the next two evenings :( There's an outside chance I can get to 25k on 15 Nov, though...

And that really is the sum total of my day!

Husband and I went into town and made a start on Christmas shopping. We got something for everyone, so that was good.

After dinner, I tried again with the bit in Stray Blade I was stuck on - still couldn't jump the gap. I began to wonder if I was doing the right thing, so I found a YT video that covered this part and then remembered that there's a sprint function... Sprint at the gap, jump across, easy as pie... Frustrated Rosa is frustrated.

Last night when I finished watching S3 of The Lincoln Lawyer, I realised that I hadn't watched S2. I didn't even remember that I'd watched all of S1 - the only reason I knew I did was an old DW entry saying I'd finished it! Which, when I realised there was a S3, I assumed included S2. Anyway... now I'm watching S2. Winston is the best doggy <3

I also managed to get another chapter done. It took a while - not because the words wouldn't come, but because I was trying to work out the logic and logistics while I was writing. But I got there, eventually.

And that was today.

Just watched a bit more of Rex playing FFVIII and he finally got round to reading Selphie's diary - but because he's at the point where Garden becomes mobile, there was quite a lot to read :D He described it as a boss fight, which I don't think is fair - but then I'd have read as I went along. Oh, and he got the bad date because he mismatched the music. Irvine tapdancing is still the funniest thing in a video game ever.

I managed another 2k today, so keeping at it. There are a lot of moving parts to this one and 'Chapter 1' (aka, the first 5k words) reflects that fact. Hopefully, readers will be intrigued by the switching between characters and won't feel like I've given them whiplash!

I made progress in Stray Blade and we are now in The Desert Section. We've done The Mines and The Icy Place already. There is some poisonous gas to navigate, which led to me dying. Oh, well, we'll have another go tomorrow.

I've found a new series to binge on - Anatomy of a Scandal. Very much 'she said, he said' at the moment. I am debating whether to watch the end of it... it is Saturday after all... Arguments against - it'll give me something to watch tomorrow, and just because I CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean I should. AND I still have my evening prayers to do, and I can read more of S&S. And there's just exercising a little discipline over myself. There - it can wait for tomorrow.

Liverpool are back at the top of the table after what sounds like a rather fortunate win for them, and losses for City and Arsenal. In fact, Arsenal are now fourth, with Forest(!) sneaking up into third. So, what was all that about a two-horse race between City and Arsenal?

And that was today. See you tomorrow, DW.

I've quit Skyrim. I'm just not feeling it. I've only played a few hours but when you know, you know, right? When a game lands, you find you've played 3 hours and it feels like half-an-hour - I'm struggling to do an hour in Skyrim without it feeling like work. So, that's that.

My new compost bin arrived - without a door <_< I got a text from the delivery driver saying, 'I'm outside - are you in the white house?'. Our house is a brick terraced... There isn't even a white house in view of ours. I'm guessing they mixed up my number and the person ahead of me...? Anyway, they arrived with the bin and the lid. 'Where's the door?' I asked. 'There isn't one,' they said. 'Well, there's one on the picture on the label!' I pointed out. 'Oh - I'll ring them and tell them they need to send you one out.' So, hopefully the vendor will be in touch soon.

Anyway, the plan is to get my bulbs planted tomorrow.

I've done two boss fights in Stray Blade. The first one was probably too easy, thanks to the difficulty being turned right down - but the second one would have driven me nuts otherwise. So, yeah - keeping the settings waaay down. I've also got my first proper ability. Zipping around like a good 'un, now. It's a metrovania-type game, so I expect to revisit every area about 50 times.

I'm now watching Rex's LP for FFVIII. He got upset with the chat for not knowing the difference between helping and spoiling :D And he's just met Irvine - still the coolest entrance for a video game character EVER!

OK, that's all for today.

Got to church for about 9.40am and everything was locked up :0 I sent a message on Whatsapp and got a response back that help was on its way. I think people forget I don't have keys any more, and I don't want them! Anyway, someone with keys arrived and let me and the couple of congregation members who'd arrived in. Everything was already set up, though, so that was something. And there was even a copy of the liturgy and a hymn book on the lectern, which isn't a given :D The service and talk went well.

I played a bit of Stray Blade. Really not sure what it's about, yet, but I turned all the settings down, so the battles are a breeze.

And I watched the rest of S&S. Looking forward to reading the rest of it, now!

Hoping for a good night's sleep.

I feel like I'm getting a cold *sulks* Hopefully it's just a (very!) delayed reaction to the 'flu jab on Tuesday...? I'll take tomorrow slowly and dose myself with Beecham's. Having written this damned talk for Sunday, I want to be able to deliver it!

Looks like younger grandson is getting over whatever he had - and he's saying his baby sister's name! So cute.

I finished watching Rex Sterling's first stream of FFVIII. I do love watching people play something I love for the first time - it's the closest I'll get to playing it for the first time again. So, I'll carry on watching the recordings of his stream, now and then.

This morning, I watched a YT video about great games that were going really cheaply. The only one that piqued my interest was something called Inscryption, which is on PS+ so REALLY cheap! I had a go with it this evening. It's a card game... with some story... and puzzles...? It's definitely kind of out there! Very much not my usual thing but I might prioritise that over Stray Blade.

Turns out I've accidentally wandered into some DLC for Skyrim when I thought I was following the main quest! I think it's a symptom of how late to the party I am with this one :D

Work-wise, I had a 1:1 with my LM and we found a way to tweak the PMF - after saying it was going to be static for 6 months >D But it's more around the documentation than the process and will pre-empt a conversation with the PMs on Monday. I also have more MSForms to write for people to use to get stuff into P4W. And I want to look at the way Lessons Learned are displayed sometime next week. But I made progress with the governance doc today - it's still a WiP, though.

Well, time to turn in, I think. A good night's sleep will help with this lurgy!

Today I wrote four - count 'em, 1, 2, 3, 4!!! - sets of minutes. Two sets were really short, though - really not much to report with those projects. That used to be one project but got separated but we report to a single project board... Yeah, I don't get it either.

Another set were challenging because the person presenting created a slide deck that didn't really keep to the agenda we'd agreed last week. I mean, it covered the same points but in a different order and the official, centrally produced minutes template demands that things are done in a particular order, so the meeting got really hacked about but the minutes are a neat, orderly, logical representation of said meeting. Minute writing really is an art. The minutes are the official record of the meeting NOT a blow-by-blow account.

One of the meetings I had earlier in the week I ended up presenting the papers from my screen, which meant I couldn't take notes on my laptop. I did record the meeting and referred back to the transcript to write it up. Trying to work out the MEANING of the words people actually say from a transcript is nigh on impossible. When I'm writing notes, I'm filtering out a lot of the noise and capturing the sense of it, which I then turn into official minute-speak.

Anyway, the fourth set was from a meeting we had late on yesterday but there was a follow-up this morning because colleagues from another team threw a massive spanner in the works just before project board. This project has already overrun for various reasons, but we were due to put some functionality live this coming Monday. The other team chose yesterday, an hour before the go/no-go decision, to drop this bombshell. They've had MONTHS to raise this. Now, a lot of their points are valid concerns and there's one technical issue that does need to be addressed before go-live - but the way they've presented them is really not helpful to say the least. If they'd been raised even a week ago, some of them could have been resolved. I'm not going to speculate on their reasons for leaving it so late in the day, but I don't believe they only came up with them yesterday. So, I wrote up the minutes and added an addendum referring to the meeting today and the outcome.

My LM STILL hasn't sent a doc through that I asked for over a month ago. It's nothing vital - it's a summary of a project that's closed - but I want to put it up on the delivery team website. We have six previous projects there at any given time and I like to refresh them now and then. It's just the fact that I have to keep asking for it.

Coming on top of events earlier in the week, it's all left me slightly out of sorts.

In more cheerful news, this week's Friday Feature is on mistakes all gamers make. Rob was on excellent form :D And I watched another episode of Far: Lone Sails. It's such a beautiful little game. The muted colours add to the atmosphere and the PC's scuttling walk is perfectly animated. The puzzles are all very doable - I don't remember running into any real roadblocks. The second game - Far: Changing Tides - was a bit more of a mind-twister. I'm looking forward to the final game. There has to be a final game!

I played a bit more of Night in the Woods - I'm now up to 80%. There's a point in the story where you get to investigate in three areas; after I'd done two, I was automatically taken to the third - but I chose the order I did them in. I'm wondering a) what friendship-building events I've missed with the third companion and b) how they handle the other choices. But not enough to play it again - and a LP would be difficult to watch, I think. It's all text based and there are so many choices - dialogue options, who to speak to outside the main story; it would be a real mindfuck trying to keep track of all the paths. But I'm feeling so bad for Mae, now - hang in there kitten...

I'm glad I chose that and not Skyrim - or even my other option, which was to start a new playthrough of FFVIII. The more relaxed, narrative-driven game was just what I needed.

No grandbaby-cuddles today, but probably just as well given my workload! And now to sleep...

I'm 46% through Night in the Woods. It's definitely growing on me, but I have to keep reminding myself that the PC is supposed to be an adult. She runs around in t-shirt and jeans all the time - and sleeps in them, and goes to parties in them. Do you really not have any other clothes, Mae?! And every other adult in the game goes on about money all the time. I mean, yeah, a good chunk of adulting is money related but not EVERYTHING. But one of her friends said something about wanting to hang out with her because it took them back to being younger. I like running and jumping. Mae's arms flop up and down in a very comic manner. Her nightmares are actually quite scary, though. The little pillars you have to light up remind me of hattifatteners from the Moomins. I very much approve of the local pastor.

I watched Quasimofo finish Ender Lilies. The final boss took him by surprise :D I've just looked at his channel and he's also playing Far: Lone Sails and Plucky Squire! I shall have to check those out. But first I need to finish watching Fuzz' LP of Rebirth...

Took husband to get his 'flu jab this morning but we didn't stay out long because it was quite chilly - and Liverpool were the early kick off. I've just booked one for myself, too.

And that was about it for today.

The son's company ran a one-day football tournament and his shop's team won! He was a really useful player when he was little. Like people would stop and watch him when we were out-and-about, and when he was in infants (under 7yo) the older juniors (11yo) let him play with them before school started. I honestly thought he could make a career of it but had no idea how to get him started - and he wasn't pushing for it, so it didn't happen. Now, I'm hoping he'll find a way to take it up again because, frankly, he needs the exercise.

I finished Plucky Squire, thanks in no small part to the ability to skip the mini games. I am very comfortable with this. I also think it's a game I want to introduce the grandbabies to in a few years - and hope that being young will give them the necessary reflexes to get through the mini games :D A few thoughts:

• I loved the art style - I know I've said it many, many times, but give me cartoony/stylised over realistic any time
• I loved the story-book feel to the whole thing, and the dire warnings of how dull life is without good stories (younger grandson is already protecting himself :D)
• I loved the story itself - not exactly unique but (as with Trek to Yomi) telling a familiar story in a new way, and doing it well, is a skill in itself
• I loved that all the companions had their part to play, even if I skipped over their individual battles
• And I loved all the characters with their little quirks and different skills
• I loved the LOTR reference at the end (I'm sure there were others but I've either forgotten them or didn't spot them), and the self-deprecating humour of the game as a whole
• I loved that 'story mode' really did mean 'focus on the story without having to struggle with annoying mini games'
• I loved that I could make Story Mode even easier by making myself invincible
• I enjoyed using light bulbs as currency
• I was less than enthusiastic about some of the mechanics - particularly throwing, or rather the lack of explanation about throwing
• I didn't like finding stuff out by accident - but whether that's about my brain or the game design, I'm not sure
• I don't think there's much replay value, unless you want the plat (there are separate trophies for completing the game in Story Mode and Adventure Mode) - or want to speed run it, or set up contests between family members or something
• Overall, I give it 8/10 - a solid little game that isn't too taxing but does have some puzzles that require real thought

My miniature tea shop is nearing completion! and the roof doesn't fit together properly... I'm not going to buy a kit like this again. But when it's sitting on a shelf, I can admire it from a distance and not see all the imperfections :D

I watched a couple of episodes of New Amsterdam. I've decided this is my go-to 'brain dead' programme, so a good way to round off the weekend.

It was good to be in the office, today. I caught up with a former colleague (still at the uni but not in our department), talking small children, gaming and a bit of work first thing. Then I had a hand-over meeting with a current colleague, and had another gaming chat.

I made some good progress with Patel's character chart today. She's becoming much more real to me. I've discovered that her favourite saying is it-tikraar yi3allim il-Humaar. Repetition teaches (even) a donkey. (Practice makes perfect.) :D

Really not much else to say...