A bed of roses

I got to the final boss of Trek to Yomi but didn't finish the game. I could have won, given enough time and patience but decided to watch the ending on YT instead. There are actually 4 endings! The only choice that has an impact is the one in Chapter 6 and gives you the relevant ending. There's also a secret one. It's a really great little game - took me 7 hours or so? Graphics are gorgeous and the animation is really smooth. The story isn't anything amazing but there's nothing wrong with a simple story told well, and it is told well. Definitely one I recommend, especially if you like action games - there are lots of combat techniques, but I'm terrible at using them :D

And now I'm ready to play The Plucky Squire next weekend.

Telly-wise, I'm having a bit of a binge on Hartnell's Doctor Who. It's fairly terrible >D Hartnell forgets half his lines and fluffs the rest. I've noticed that the other characters fill in the information he was supposed to deliver - whether it's ad libbing or actually scripted, I'm not sure. The monster costumes and sets are very '60's, is all I'll say. My favourite colleague often asks how on earth DW survived and I remind them that it was like nothing else on television at the time. We're used to green screens and CGI, which makes the really old stuff a hard watch - but without that vision, we wouldn't be watching The Doctor 60 years later.

I'm also making progress with my miniature tea-shop.

I'm really looking forward to my bed tonight.

And that's about all for today.

I finished Tunic with the Plat trophy and the true ending, which was super cute.

Got in three episodes of Psych - it was going to be two but Episode 11 looked interesting, so I stretched to another one :D

And now I'm watching an Easter egg episode by Whoculture about the final episode of the last series of Doctor Who. I spotted a tiny handful of them - but there are (at least) 81 :O The Memory Tardis is also used in the extended episodes featuring former Doctor Who's and companions.

I 'watched' the England game with the boys. The England fans booed the Slovakian national anthem. This is why I'm Scouse not English because THAT is how English people behave >( Anyway, somehow England managed to win.

Today's been fairly quiet :)

Liked the finale of Doctor Who. More tears from Ncuti... but definitely justified this time! Hopefully the next series gives him some more joy. But... death in itself isn't evil... you know...? I think one of the theories about Mrs Flood is correct - calling the Doctor a 'clever boy' *nudge-nudge-wink-wink*

Managed a couple more sessions with Tunic. Using the walkthrough makes everything so much quicker.

Got through the cleaning. Watched some Psych. And I have so many other things to watch that I'm not watching... Including all the old Doctor Who episodes :D

Another long day with not much happening.

It's one of those days where it seems like a VERY long time since I got up but the day hasn't dragged at all.

Started with a bath. When I got downstairs husband was having a nap, so I cleaned the bathroom. When that was done he was awake, so we had breakfast - filter coffee and crumpets with butter. <3

Quick clean of the living room in preparation for daughter and grandson #2. He takes sooo much energy, even when he's sitting still :D He's also learned to climb the stairs, so that's going to be fun going forward.

We still don't have a name for granddaughter. The two new ones daughter mentioned today were... well, I wouldn't have chosen them. One of them was my maternal grandmother's name, FCOL! Who was born in 1905! And she hadn't chosen it BECAUSE it was my grandmother's name because she thought that was something similar but different. Anyway, at this rate she'll only have her middle name, which is my name :D

And daughter has less idea of what to get grandson #1 for his 18th than we do >D

I played an hour of Tunic and hit a very nasty boss. Again, I'm playing on the easier setting. Again, the game's definition of 'easier' is different to mine. Again, I will give it another go, but really...

Then I watched Doctor Who on iPlayer. OMG!!! The best episode so far by a country MILE. And written by two women. Just sayin'... Sharp dialogue, LOL comedy, tears, ol' skool monster of the week, another glimpse of Susan Twist... Just wonderful. Won-der-ful!!! My only down (channelling Whoculture!), was The Kiss. Not because I'm homophobic (obvs) but because, for me, The Doctor and romance don't work. Whilst I liked that Rose got her 'own Doctor', if Rose and The Doctor had been 'a thing', I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Plus, he already has the TARDIS AND River. There's being polyamorous and there's being... whatever The Doctor is being :D

The thing with the psychic paper is bringing back memories, too. Was it something with River...? Don't know...

So, after DW, I went down and made tea for me and husband - ham with cauliflower cheese. Which was tasty and perfectly edible but the husband is one of those people who eat with their eyes and I hadn't drained the cauliflower enough and it put him off, so he didn't eat it. Then he made himself a sandwich so he could have his tablets and insulin and it was one of those occasions when I hit a nerve with the needle. I decided discretion was the better part of valour and made myself scarce to do the washing up and clean the kitchen.

And after THAT, I watched Mrs Harris goes to Paris, which was just delightful.

Husband came up to bed half-way through and we had a nice goodnight kiss and cuddle. His days of holding grudges and sulking for days on end are very much behind us - one of the positive results of the memory loss.

So, an event-filled day!

Next week, I will swap out my editing sessions for writing a talk on mustard seeds for St M's on 16 June. There's the version that says the kingdom of heaven starts small and grows to be enormous. And there's the version that says the mustard bush is a weed and the birds nesting in it are pests - and the kingdom is FOR the pests (the outcast, the lost and unwanted, the people on the edge). And is there a person in the world who has NEVER felt like that? Hmm... Something to run with there, I think...

Tonight's Doctor Who was SCARY. It started with a scene in a pub that made me think of 'An American Werewolf in London' :D But throughout the episode I was actually holding my breath, wondering what was going to happen next. Not sure what it all means... What about all the timey wimey stuff...? But The Doctor was saved, so that's the main thing, right?

I am amused by the different takes on the series so far amongst my fellow Whovians. 'The Devil's Chord' - Very Far Left fb friend HATED it, IT Colleague agreed with me that it had some interesting bits but could have done without the song 'n' dance number, Favourite Colleague (who I thought would hate it) thought it was fun! 'Boom!' - VFLFF and IC both agreed with me that it was the strongest episode of the first three, FC was pretty cold to it. We all agree that 'Space Babies' was bloody awful, though :D :D

Progress made in Zau. Typical Rosa moment - I have a new skill! Yay! Now, how do I get to that ledge? *tries 57 different combinations of button mashing* Damn! I'm going to have to look this up. Oh, but... I have that new skill... Could that...? Oh, yeah. That was it *facepalm* I have stopped at a point that requires me to use the new skill whilst jumping. Or jumping and dashing. Or... well, I haven't worked it out yet but my brain was tired and shutting down. So, that's for tomorrow.

Otherwise, a very quiet, chilled day. I did a speg bol for tea and tomorrow I'm doing a roast. I'm such a domestic goddess :D *note to self - do NOT forget the Yorkshires*

Daughter posted on fb that new baby is kicking the hell out of her insides. I say it's karma - she spent the last month apparently trying to dig her way out with her elbow. And remember, we have a dragon giving birth to a dragon; there's bound to be SOME fireworks, right? Grandson #1 is a dog and #2 is a rabbit. Son and sil are both horses, mother and I are both pigs, husband is a goat and stepfather is a tiger (which grandson #2 would have been if he'd arrived on time). So, we're mostly farm animals, except for the carnivores...

Interesting point about mother and me. The pig is a water animal. I was born in a metal year - metal can be formed into a container to carry the water, so I'm pretty much at peace with myself. Mother was born in a fire year and... well, isn't, imho. I have no idea about the elements for the others. I may look it up sometime.

And that's all for today, folks!

I wrote a Nano novel about an ice cream seller. Just sayin'...

I managed to get all the cleaning done over the course of the morning AND four loads of washing on the line. I'll make someone a wonderful wife, one day >D

After dinner, daughter and grandson #2 arrived. Now he's walking, we took him out into the garden. He was wearing sandals and I think the grass poked through and tickled his feet. But he toddled about on the path for a bit. Husband got an ice cream lolly ice from the freezer, which grandson wasn't too keen on at first, but once it had melted a bit he ate most of it. He's not a fan of cold things.

He comes to me for books and naming all the animal ornaments on the shelves, and to husband for food and treats. Our roles in his life are now fixed forever :D :D

I'm so looking forward to granddaughter's arrival, but I'm filled with terror at the idea of having to manage both of them out in public. Of course, I managed to NOT lose either of my kids but... I'm just not going to take them out on my own until granddaughter is at least 10!

I made some progress with Zau. First there was the maze that I noped out of last week because I was tired and it hurt my brain just thinking about doing it. Then there was a boss fight with enemies, platforming, AND hunt the next bit of the big bad to attack. Just those two things took an hour. I made progress with Act 3 after tea, though. I've played 11 hours and am 50% through the main game. I'm sure the whole thing is supposed to take 8-10 hours :D I wish there were checkpoints in the mazes and boss fights. But it's a beautiful game and worth playing for the animation alone. I've just had a thought about what Act 4 might be...

This week's Doctor Who episode was much stronger - Steven Moffat on form. The futility of war and how AI could actually be used for good. Still not really a fan of how much The Doctor looks into the camera. 

And I've sent out the latest bundle of my short stories. A mix of the whimsical and experiential :D

The service led by my two colleagues went really well but the tech let us down so we had to resort to paper :D Our discussion was around 'what does prayer mean to you?'. I decided to sit back and listen for a change but I think everyone in my group was saying something similar to what I would have said. Prayer is conversation with God, and we can access it at any time. There's no need for special words or positions - we just get to 'take it to the Lord in prayer'. But having 'special' times for prayer can be helpful because they take us out of ourselves, focus our attention on the divine, rather than random thoughts rattling around in our heads.

When I got home, the kettle, which was playing up yesterday, failed completely. I boiled a very small pan of water on the stove and it took 10 minutes! There was no way I was putting up with that until Tuesday, when I'm next in the office, so I headed into town for a kettle, toaster, and some other random bits I was going to pick up in the week. The most annoying thing was having to get dressed again after getting comfy in my PJs. I hate town at the best of times and Sunday shopping is perhaps the worst. Sundays for me are about rest and quiet - not quite a full-on Sabbath, but something close. These days, Sundays are at least as busy as Saturdays, perhaps even worse. Anyway, I got almost everything I wanted and left the rest for later, and got back home hot and sweaty but successful.

I'd left the washing machine on when I went out and it was ready to hang out when I got back. I considered putting it on the line but I knew we were due a thunderstorm, so decided to hang it out indoors. In the end, it probably would have had time to dry but better safe than sorry! We had a two minute downpour with perhaps one peal of thunder, but later on we had some real rain and LOTS of thunder. In between, we had the Man U v Arsenal match on and the storm arrived in Manchester, with live lightning and thunder! I've never seen that before.

After yesterday, I knew I was in no state to play Zau, so I watched the two episodes of Doctor Who that I completely forgot about yesterday *horrified gasp*

Thoughts on the new Doctor Who

I'd read some comments on fb, so I was a bit wary going in to it. But here are my thoughts.

Space Babies - if the babies were 'born' 6 years ago, why are they still babies and not 6yo? (possible RL reasons - perhaps 6yos command higher fees than babies? or it would have been harder to corral that many 6yos?) And how do they know - but don't know - how to operate everything? And wtf set up all the pulleys and levers? Actually - Nan-E is probably the answer to those two questions... I did like the prams. And saving the 'monster' (which looked VERY like a Propagator :D). One of my fb friends talked about 'virtue signalling', which I'm guessing referred to the stuff about a) insisting on babies being born but not looking after them after that and b) refugees are only refugees when they arrive on your shores. I actually thought that stuff was handled with SLIGHTLY more subtlety than similar issues have been handled in the past. Oh, and I did like the 'story so far' bit at the start - helpful even to those of us who've been Whovians for a while!

The Devil's Chord - an interesting idea. What would the world be like with no music? But it wasn't explored in enough depth because we had to have a song and dance routine at the end. WTF?!?! I liked Lennon and McCartney teaming up to play the final chord - although McCartney being played by Leafyard Man REALLY threw me. Anyway, amongst the 'there has to be a twist at the end' nonsense, 'Henry Arbinger' made a brief appearance, so presumably he'll be back later in the series. The Maestro was sinister in a way I found deeply uncomfortable rather than delightful. More Weeping Angel than Missie :D

I will, of course, continue to watch the series but it's going to take me a while to really get into Gatwa's Doctor, I think. In particular, I'm not getting any real chemistry between The Doctor and Ruby. Maybe the actors are too close in age? Or maybe The Doctor just hasn't been alien enough, yet. Time will tell.

After tea,

I came back up to continue with Zau.

I played for about 45 minutes, of which 30 were spent escaping the Black Cloud of Doom whilst trying to negotiate obstacles. I learned a new skill and had a few goes at using it when... hey, presto! The BCD was back!!! And not only do I have to run away from it, I have to use my new skill, too!!!

I noped out of THAT (there's football on tomorrow, so I'll have a go then, I think), and watched an episode of Psych. I think there's an issue with the continuity because the Chief had her baby but I'm sure she wasn't pregnant in the previous episode... Anyway, this episode was about a Comic Con, which reminded me that we had one in Liverpool last weekend. Sometimes it's hard to know what's a cosplay outfit and what's someone's preferred way of dressing :D

Oh, and we have video evidence of grandson #2 walking <3

And that was my Sunday. Back to work, tomorrow *sigh*

The new telly turned up on time. It's 50" and 4K and clear as crystal. Whereas with HD I could never really tell the difference, I really can with the 4K. The part of me that WANTS keeps whispering to me that my PS5 games would look even more amazing on a 4K tv. I am ignoring these whispers for four very good reasons. Firstly, it's also a 'smart tv' but I doubt we'll ever use that functionality, so I'd be spending money on something I don't need. Secondly, the new telly is too big for our tv stand, so that's another new purchase and I'd have the same problem up here. Thirdly, the living room telly is a family purchase because we'll all watch it; up here, it would be up to me to fork out for it. Finally, the one I'm using still works and my games look absolutely fine.

Frugal Rosa is frugal!

I made some progress with Sea of Stars. Now I'm at the end, I'm finding all the sidequests! And even a secret boss. I've solved some of them but I'm probably going to head into the final dungeon next time I play. I know I'm not going for the Platinum - one of the trophies is for bouncing the 'Moonerang' (one of Valere's skills) 25 times and I'm never going to do that - but I caught sight of a YouTube video that suggests multiple endings, one of which MIGHT have something to do with the Solstice Shrines of which I've found 4 but Zale is still talking about finding all of them. I might have a final-final scoot around the world to see if I can find another one. Or I might just watch it on YouTube when I finish the game :D

A bit more Doctor Who tonight - we're in 11th Century England and the Vikings are coming! I'm reminded of my colleague's words about the historical stories being played as panto. And the whole point of the show in the first place was to introduce children to history. Not sure what they'd learn from this. Although a story from the Tom Baker era did reveal that the Doctor was responsible for starting the Great Fire of London :D

As a family, we've been watching The Traitors. I wasn't too sure of it at first, but I've really got into it! And what's most surprising is that I'm rooting for the traitors :O It's really interesting to watch all the scheming and plotting - some of which comes off and some of which completely backfires. I'm a hopeless actress, so if I was a traitor I'd be found out right away - or I'd be a really nervous faithful and look so suspicious that I'd be banished by mistake.

I have a cleaning method I call 'tidy a corner'. I'm gradually working my way around the house piling up all the stuff that's no use to us any more in the spare bedroom. At some point, I'll go through that room and sort out what's junk and what can be sold or donated. Today, I tidied a couple of shelves in my room containing books and video games. A couple of the books and all my PS3 games can go. We still have the PS3 but I doubt I'll ever play those games again. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch has been remastered and I didn't enjoy Dragon Age Origins or Dragon Age II enough to go back to them.

The other shelf contained several Nintendo DS games. Some have gone straight to the sell/donate pile but some I want to give another go. The Professor Layton games are all interesting, and it's a LONG time since I played them, so they might be worth another look. FFXII: Revenant Wings I remember starting but I couldn't get my head around the rock-paper-scissors thing; I definitely want to try again with that. I also have a Chocobo game and FF: Rings of Fate, which I've tried a couple of times but then leave a huge gap between playing sessions and forget the controls.

Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands was one I didn't remember playing at all but there was a save saying '6%'. I got along OK but then fell foul of some rising sand and fiddly controls, so I stopped playing. When I checked, the new save also said '6%'! I'm guessing I have played it before and just forgotten it. The graphics are quite nice and the gameplay wasn't difficult - but he did NOT want to jump to the safety of that ledge. So, it's in the sell/donate box, now.

Not sure if I'm going to make it to church tomorrow. I feel the need for a 'just let me chill' day.

Mother and Son are both getting me books for Christmas. Books are always welcome.

It's been a mostly at-home week, which means I'm supposed to make next week a mostly at-office one. I'll play ball.

Husband's insulin dose has come right down and he's not had a hypo for a few days, now. I still wonder if he even needs the insulin at all but we're following medical advice, so he stays on for now.

The second part of the 60th Anniversary Special for Doctor Who was much, MUCH better than the first, although I did like the first. Proper DW - my inner 8yo was truly terrified, there was lots of running up and down looong corridors, puzzles for the Doctor and Donna to solve, and some absolutely brilliant banter between them - Tennant and Tate are a dream partnership.

I'm also watching the old, old (1964) series and I'm actually impressed by how much input the female characters have. They don't just sit around waiting to be rescued, they actively work to rescue themselves. I think classic Who has an undeserved reputation.

And now to the Collapsing Bridge of Doom...

Husband's numbers have continued to drop at around midday, so we've continued to drop the insulin. Thursday it got so low it didn't even register a number - the opposite to a year ago when it was so high it was off the scale! Son was home and panicked and rang me at work. I hurried home by which time husband had had something to eat and was picking up. But I stayed at home.

Otherwise, a pretty good week.

I decided to watch something on Netflix to justify the subscription and landed on Blue Eye Samurai. It's animated but definitely an adult show! It also has a mythic/legend/fairy tale feel to it, which meant I forgave some of the more extreme bits - MC fighting 100 enemies, getting caught in traps, then fighting 100 more, that sort of thing. The ending definitely did not go the way I expected, which makes me even more eager for the second series.

Now I'm watching The Light We Cannot See - mostly because Hugh Laurie is in it. He's come a LONG way since he played the idiot Prince Regent :D

But most of all, I'm looking forward to watching Doctor Who tonight <3