A bed of roses

It was nearly Rosa the Lost!

Even with a strategy guide, the Leviathan boss battle was tough. The third stage required split-second timing to ensure I got three Spitfires off in the time allowed. I didn't so much feel satisfaction when I won as relief. I must have had about 10 goes at it before I cracked it. There's a trophy for completing the battle on FF mode ;D.

The one that did give a certain amount of satisfaction was defeating the Tonberry King. All Tonberries give me the creeps. But... They're just trying to live their lives, like everyone else... Except that they feed off the pain and anguish of others. Who am I kidding? Slapping down a Tonberry King is ALWAYS good!

I wished I'd left Shula's second side quest to the end. The final conversation was definitely a leave-taking. At the moment, I'm thinking I'm unlikely to replay TRT, though, so that's now my experience.

I should have made the connection with Famiel sooner. I wonder if the dialogue changes if you play TRT before EotF?

The situation with Jamile and Havre got resolved - but I don't know how. I feel like I missed a conversation, somewhere. I think it's worth popping back to Haven before heading for Origin, next time I play. I loved that Havre referred to Jamile as his 'little canary' :) Cross-game references are always fun to spot.

I found 3 aquamarines but there must be at least 8 to find, plus some ageless oil - the other ageless items were quest rewards, I'm sure, but I definitely did all the quests. It's only for crafting accessories that I'm unlikely to use, though, so I'm happy to leave them unfound. But at least searching for them gives you a reason to explore Mysidia.

The music in Haven DEFINITELY sounds like the music from Besaid.

Jill - He's adorable!
Me - He is now!!!
Clive - He is now.
Me - >D

I wasn't expecting a 'gift' from Ultima, although I did know there was another ability set in the offing, now I think about it. I shall explore that next time I play.

A looong day spent entirely indoors - apart from hanging some washing out in the garden.

I don't think I achieved very much, other than completing TRT.

Liverpool beat Fulham to go joint top with Arsenal - Arsenal lead on goal difference. City have a game in hand; if they could lose that...

An early night - yay!

I woke up at about 7.30am and had my usual Saturday morning ritual of a bath followed by proper coffee and crumpets. I got downstairs at about 9am and it's now 10.30pm but it feels like this morning was yesterday! Days like this are good in one sense - I know I've had a properly restful day - but bad in another because time screws with my head and I'm not 100% sure I'm in the same day >D

Daughter, sil and grandson #2 arrived at about 12.30pm, closely followed by my parents. We were a bit disappointed that grandson #1 didn't come, too - he had a shift starting at 3pm but sil would have driven him to work. But teenage boys will choose bed over anything else, I suppose!

Anyway, we had fun giving the baby too much chocolate and cheering him on with his 'very-nearly-walking' efforts. He's such a sunny baby - no doubt his little sister will be a right little misery guts :D But still totally adorable, of course!

Daughter and sil have more or less given up trying to buy a bigger house. With two lots of nursery fees, their outgoings will be too high for a lender to take them on, at the moment. So they're thinking of extending the house they're in.

Grandson #2's nursery send daughter a photo of him 'reading' a book, with the comment that he was turning the pages himself, which she was rather non-plussed by. Of course he was turning the pages - that's what you do with a book! Then a few days later she saw something on the news about kids trying to swipe books because they don't know how they 'work' and the penny dropped. I'm a technophile myself, but I will never lose the love of a book in my hand - and I pray grandson won't, either.

After they'd gone, I played a bit of FFXVI, then went downstairs to watch 'Austenland' and have a take-away tea with husband. Then back up here for some more FFXVI. And somehow 15 hours have passed - but it's been a very restful day.

In FFXVI, I am now at Level 50 (started at 47) and have all the Eikons. I find the Odin battle much more satisfying than the Titan one. I know Hugo wanted to rule the world but he was also grieving, whereas Barnabas is a smug, self-deluded arsehole. I also cleared out some Class A hunts whilst I have Joshua with me - I'm saving up the Class S ones for the end game. 

'Austenland' was a bit slow to get started but I think it worked. I'm not usually one for romances but I can't turn down anything connected to Austen :D

And I've been thinking a bit more about 'Barbie', and the expectations of Western society. The fact that I actively resist, or even seek to upend, societal norms means I'm just as influenced by them as if I was trying to live up to them. This is a Troubling Thought.

Today seems to have whizzed past, somehow.

I went to get my hair cut and he's done the front a bit shorter than I really wanted, again. The back's right, this time, though! I'm tempted to invest in some product to try to keep the front in place because there's a position where it does look good - and 50 where it's not quite right. When I went to pay, I'd reached my contactless limit and, of course, had no cash on me, so I had to find a cash machine. This isn't the first time it's happened, either. Note to self: use chip and pin on the purchase BEFORE going to the hair dresser!

This afternoon, I watched Dave from Playstation Access play the finale of Disc I of FFVII OG. After dusting, I turned my attention to paying my Barclaycard. For some reason, it wouldn't let me log in - when I clicked the link, it said the page couldn't be found, or something. I came to the conclusion it wanted me to download the app, so I did. Now, I appreciate online security has to be secure but this thing drove me nuts! At one point, it asked me to enter the PIN. I had no clue what the PIN was because I never use it to pay for stuff - I only use the Barclaycard to pay off other debt. Then I had a brainwave, and went back to the website to see if I could get the PIN - and it let me sign in! I got the PIN but abandoned the app and paid it via the website as per usual. In the meantime, Dave was watching THAT moment in FFVII OG but I missed most of his reaction because I was fighting with the stoopid app!

Since it's pay day, the husband and I thought we'd like to go to the Indian restaurant we went to last year that was on my bucket list. They do a few English dishes, including steak, so we asked the son to come but he said he needed to get to bed early. By this time, it was pouring with rain, so we ordered from them on Just Eat, instead :D Their food is just delicious.

I also made progress in FFXVI. I feel like I'm doing a lot more side stuff than main story, which I didn't feel on my first playthrough. I think there are a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm very OP, so the battles in the main story are over much more quickly. Secondly, some of the side stuff feels like main story to me because it rounds out the stories of the important NPCs.

One of the REAL main story points I did today was an important scene between Jill and Clive. My thoughts about this are the same as when I first played - Clive is far too eager to get his hands on Jill's gift. I know it's her suggestion, and she makes it clear it's what she wants to do, but he could giver her more than 5 seconds to think about it! However, I paid a bit more attention to the dialogue between them this time - I think I was ranting about consent last time :D

I also bought the pass for the DLC and downloaded the first one, so it's all ready to go when I get to the right point in the story. I am very much looking forward to spending more time in Valisthea.

I've also noticed Astra the Hopeless Romantic changes her clothes! On my first playthrough, I spoke to her a few times and realised she was crushing on different people, but didn't notice the changed outfits. This time, I didn't bother speaking to her but did notice the clothes. I've looked it up, and the outfits reflect the crush-of-the-moment. And there's a kid near Blackthorne's forge who has a pet - but apparently he had different ones at different points in the game. If/when I play again, I'll pay a bit more attention to those two, and see what happens if I ignore ALL the optional sidequests :D

In my current readthrough of 'Northanger Abbey', I'm noticing all of the clues that John Thorpe is crushing on our heroine despite her protests. NA was written before any of the other full-length novels but was published posthumously. I'm seeing some forerunners of other characters and plot points. Catherine's refusal to accept Thorpe's attentions makes me think of Fanny's belief that Crawford cannot be serious in his attentions in 'Mansfield Park', whilst Thorpe's wilful ignorance regarding her real feelings makes me think not only of Mr Collins' persistence with Elizabeth in 'Pride & Prejudice', but also Emma's blindness to EVERYONE's feelings (including her own)! I love Austen so much. Which reminds me - I want to watch 'Austenland' at some point...

Finally(!), I want to capture a couple of weird dreams I had last night. Firstly, I thought our son shouted me from downstairs - he was angry with me over something, and in the dream I knew what it was; I woke up and it was only 3.30am and he was fast asleep in his room. I went back to sleep and had the second dream; we had a cat that caught mice and brought them to us as gifts - and also a bear, except the bear was the same size as the mice but that was perfectly natural in the dream! I don't normally remember my dreams, so I wanted to capture them.

And that will do for tonight.

Started the day with a bath because I'm on leave and some days should start with a bath.Tomorrow, I plan to do a bit of shopping and clean the bathroom tiles. And help Quinten. And hopefully Gav!

This morning, my 'phone started being a real pain and wouldn't turn on properly, then fizzled out completely. I'd only charged it up last night, so I didn't think it was out of battery. Anyway, I popped in to the O2 shop and - yes, it was out of battery. Still no idea how it went from nearly full to 0. I've charged it up again this evening. I unplugged it at 90%+ and now it's down to 84% - and I haven't used it for anything. That's annoying.

Being without a working 'phone meant I missed a call from the daughter to say grandson #2 had been to the doctor's today. The nursery rang to say he was running a temperature and was getting close to the point where they would have taken him to A&E. Daughter went to collect him, although she's not well herself - a combination of 'flu/whooping cough jab and baby germs by the sound of it - and sil joined them at the nursery. They went straight to the doctor who saw them as soon as they got there. Baby's temperature was coming down - no rashes, tonsils fine but a bit of a red ear drum, so prescribed antibiotics just in case. He's been OK in himself, just a bit quieter than usual, and was eating, so hopefully just 'one of those baby things' <3

It may mean we don't see them on Sunday but it's more important that they all get properly better.

'Phone's dropped another 1% of its charge. I mean, it's 4+ years old - it really doesn't owe me anything. I don't want to get another one, though, so I suppose I'll just have to take my charger everywhere with me. *sigh*

Played a bit more FFXVI, and relearning the controls. I've got all the gear and abilities now, thanks to NG+ - and I've taken off the ring that does the auto-attack. I remember it being annoying, sometimes, when I wanted to do a particular action and the AI did something else. I've left the one on for Torgal, though. I looked up the conditions for the first DLC and you have to do some of the sidequests - I'm just going to do them all again, I think.

The DLC for HFW is on sale but, as with FFXVI, I'd have to replay the game to remember how to do the combat! I enjoyed the DLC for HZD but I got them together. I don't think I'll be ready for another epic after FFXVI...

Work have bought all staff a subscription to a service called Leafyard - 'a web application that combines science and study to motivate people to take control of their own mental health' - which is based in Liverpool, so the uni is supporting local business as well as its staff's mental health. I decided to give it a go and there's really nothing I haven't come across before, at least so far. I am finding the chap doing the videos rather annoying, though. We'll see how I get on - or don't.