Mangledroog

It's been five and a half years since Amsterdam and I still do not know the meaning of mangledroog, why it was a setting on a tiny washer/dryer unit, why we decided to use that setting, and why it steamed our clothes and stripped the colour out of my pants.

Part of me wants to know, and part of me enjoys the mystery.

Hi

It's been a long time since I've written anything here. I haven't posted anything on YouTube for a good chunk of time either. I'm kind of in the middle of an unofficial break. I need to step back for awhile because my focus for projects and priorities have shifted some. I'm not quitting because I plan to finish LPs that are not yet complete and I am actually working on recording some other projects, but I have no set schedule or idea when I'll release that. I have videos in reserve, but I may wait until I can actually commit to a regular schedule again.

I also may release something for the holidays/New Year, but I make no promises.

Basically came back to say I'm not completely dead. Only mostly dead. When I do return, I'll have the rest of Diablo 3, Sonic 2006, and RE7. Currently also recording a couple new things, but I won't reveal those until I know a little more about what's going on.

On a semi-related note, I'm a little sad I didn't record/stream Assassin's Creed 4. Been playing it off and on in tiny bursts. It is so amazingly buggy/broken and the pacing is all over the place. I honestly haven't laughed so hard playing a game in ages.

Soon

Working on starting up posting videos again. I needed a break. Start looking for uploads starting again early September.

Cadence

OH HI THERE. I'M ALIVE I SWEAR.

I've been back for a couple weeks now, but I need to set up a video schedule again. I've just had zero motivation to do...well a lot of things. Vacation was all right, but the lake is even worse this year than it was last year health-wise. The zebra mussels have spread and there's just millions upon millions of razor-sharp shells all over the beaches and in the water attached to the rocks. These things have apparently been in the Great Lakes for a number of years, but they've finally reached Lake Winnipeg and started multiplying like crazy. They've been clogging up pipes and ruining swimming areas. They suck all the nutrients and healthy algae out of the water, killing everything but the dangerous blue-green algae which is caused by extra phosphorus in the water from farmland run off. Two people cut their feet on these while I was out there. I had a close call but I have a lot of experience in those waters with the rocks, so I've learned to step lightly.

It's just hard seeing the lake and place I love slowly change for the worse. The lake is dying and currently there's not much the people who live and vacation around the lake can do about it other than scream into the void or try to take matters into their own hands and cause more damage as evidenced with the destruction of a shoreline due to an illegal, improper sea wall.

Other than my father nearly lighting the cottage on fire by leaving the stove element on and placing a wooden cutting board on top of it, the week went well. The weather was mostly good other than one unbearably hot night. No power outages while I was out there for once and I got through the majority of Sacred Stones in one week (playing it for like...the third time or something).

Oh and I think my Great Aunt was the catalyst for the construction of a $55,000 staircase down to the water due to her being stubborn. I...don't have all the details on that one yet.

Now I'm back home and it's back to the grind. One of the locks on our house broke due to metal fatigue so we were getting that fixed over the past week. My dog's skin is finally healing (he had some sort of allergic reaction likely due to him rolling in a disgusting mud puddle) and he's found new items to steal when he's bored including books now. My neighbour didn't call bylaw services on anyone while I was gone so...I suppose that's a bonus.

Now I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do with video and recording. I want to continue things, but part of it is finding time and part of it is just...wanting to do it. I've been more antisocial and feeling...off the past few weeks. Months if I'm honest. Then it gets worse and I feel guilty for not being around more. One bright side is I've picked up my writing again, and made the mistake of reading a bunch of it instead of just finishing it, and now I want to "fix" everything. Honestly I just need to commit myself to trying to finish projects/checking if people want to continue games on the same nights each week. That way even if people are busy some days, at least there's a higher chance of actually getting things done again.

It'll probably help with the mental block in the long run.

Hiatus to the Boonies

I'll be heading out on my yearly trip to visit family out in the boonies. I'll only be gone a week this time, so if there's a lapse in video, it should be a short one. I've finished uploading Commander Keen 4 and am continuing to upload Diablo 3 and Sonic 2006 as I complete them. Trying to determine how I want to prioritize video in the future as recording has become a lot more difficult with less time and an increase in background noise. I may have a way around this if I cheat and record audio separately. I'll have to run some tests and see if it's realistic.

Meanwhile, exposure to sick children gave me a head cold, so I've been sitting on a recliner for the majority of the past week. Had to make a hasty exit near the end of our D&D session this past weekend because I was nearly choking to death. It was great. I got back to see we had found something nasty to fight. Right after I accidentally navigated myself into navigation.

Other than that, my life has been pretty dull. I need a new park with street racers or something to entertain me. All I have here are people who call the police when my dog barks and passive aggressively tell my brother that one of our cars is parked wrong on the street and it would be a shame if someone called bylaw on it.

You know. Petty stuff vs semi-terrifying action.

Oh and crows. There are a lot of crows here.

AFK

Pretty much describes me most of the time these days. At least D&D is typically scheduled a few days in advance so I can ensure I'm available for those times. This past month has been a little chaotic as work has changed, I'm still not feeling 100% and a lot of random family crap has come up. Long story short, my household has new people in it and that has been an adjustment. The good news is I have a semi-regular video release schedule going and I'm currently working on Sonic 2006 when I can.

If I can, I'm going to try and sit down and just finish the Diablo 3 run with Mesk and HKS cause that really needs to get done. We also haven't played Divinity either since last year. Heh.

More recording with Shauna coming up soon hopefully. I may have mentioned it before, but she's going to be producing the LP we're currently working on (Lucius) as I have like video projects to keep me busy for the next million years.

Or until we all die in a nuclear holocaust in the near future. Either one.

(I definitely mentioned Lucius before because I have a tag for it...too lazy to look it up now)

Missing Out

Due to health related issues and other things happening this weekend, I unfortunately won't be attending Comic Con this year in Calgary. I'm a little sad to be giving up my ticket, but I think it would have been tiring for me overall. I also just, don't have the money this year. There's a couple of the media guests I wouldn't have minded seeing and I'll miss my browsing and costume spotting, but I'll just have to leave that fun for someone else this year...

Dishonored 2 is almost fully released as well as Pillars of Eternity. I'll probably start releasing Diablo 3 and Commander Keen 4 after this (both of which aren't actually done and I really need to make the push to do that). If I have the time and motivation as well, I would like to marathon the rest of RE7 editing and just finish that series. I know I've been really slow on it, and I apologize on that front.

As for what I've been doing the past couple weeks, see above health issues comment. I may not need to leave after all early May as plans are changing in light of recent events. Either way, I'll do my best to keep up with recording, D&D and editing. I have some background things I'm working on as well, but I'll keep these a secret for now as I have enough long over due already.

I have videos prepped on YT up until May 3. Until then I might not do much as I'm a little bummed out by a few things. There may be a break after May 3 depending on how I'm doing at the time, but new series will be starting likely mid-May.