Running Late Despite Best Efforts
Dec. 20th, 2021 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickDarn it -- well, here, have the update form:
Work – Okay day – chatty coworker is back, but I only have to put up with her for three days, so that’s not too bad. I spent most of the morning working on the GL, then took some credit card calls in the afternoon and made good progress on my “duplicates” project. :) So that’s nice.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check! Another night on the bike, and I actually watched two things while pedaling today:
I. The end of the Oxventure “Heist Society!” Amelia calling the guards on Dob and Corazon ended up bringing the gang back together – “Team Party,” Merilwen and Prudence, heard the commotion and saw others going to investigate and decided to check it out themselves, while “Team Egbert” pondered his riddle for a while, then came up with a solution and rushed out to find his friends, just following the source of the closest noise. Dob and Corazon were at the mercy of six guards for a bit (three apiece), but Corazon noisily casting Grease to slip everyone up led to Dob leaping onto the chandelier and using his legs to knock out all the guards via the power of his orcish thighs (Johnny didn’t roll well for any of them, and time was running out to wrap this thing up). With the guards taken care of, Egbert proudly announced that he knew where the “missing” Emerald Tear was – behind Hawthorne’s face! Though obviously not in his SKULL, so they had to find another face – and Corazon immediately realized “THE PAINTING IN HIS OFFICE!” They rushed over there, Corazon defaced the painting, SOMEONE melted the front off the safe (I’m PRETTY sure it was Egbert but I didn’t quite catch who was so keen on melting things), and lo and behold, there was the gem. Hawthorne charged in, all a-fluster, but Dob and Merilwen immediately went to “bear down” procedure – Merilwen turned into a cat, Dob flung her at Hawthorne, and Merilwen then switched shapes to a BEAR to basically flatten him. Hawthorne pointed out that the Captain of the Guard was in his employ, so what of it – but of course, Amelia, having heard all the noise, now at least saw he was a liar. And didn’t even make that much of a fuss when Corazon claimed the Emerald Tear had “mysteriously” disappeared. XD Merilwen gave her a ride back to the stocks while the others made a grand exit (entertaining the HELL out of the rich snobs around, meaning that probably just based on this being awesome gossip Horatio’s gonna be fine), and Merilwen used her mighty claws to break the lock and free Horatio! And the valet that Dob accused of stealing, who was also locked in there. XD Amelia and Horatio had a lovely reunion hug. . .and the valet promptly stole their nice carriage and horses to make a quick getaway, ending the episode. XD I love Oxventure.
II. With that done, I ended up watching a Plumbella video I’d stored away in the Watch Later – “We may be getting a revolutionary new way to create Sims,” a video on some patents EA has made public about using pictures and video people upload to recreate people and pets within as virtual people, complete with the correct facial structures, clothes, and “behavior,” which Plumbella was puzzled by. Personally I’m not – actually that fussed (I don’t want photorealistic people in my games, I like the cartoony styles of The Sims 2 and The Sims 4), but I do admit it would be pretty fascinating technology if it became a real thing in the next-generation Sims game!
2. Continue working on final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – Alice has overheard the sisters’ argument, met with Therese, and gotten her assignment – find something Therese can use to clear the ghosts out of the Ocean House Hotel! I’ve left it off with her having arrived at the place, and survived her first couple of jumpscares – the exploding light at the front door, and the forklift coming to life and banging into the office. Just under twenty pages to go, as per LibreWriter!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions and the OXmas Challenges: Check! Helped by me taking better care of my time management, at least a bit. . .
A) Started early today by watching Call Me Kevin before my workout (Andy pulled a long OXBox Xmas Challenge (see below) and I wanted to make sure I had enough time for Subs and Oxmas) – playing GeoGuessr! But on hard mode – aka, in his own home country of Ireland! Why is it hard mode?
You know how many damn fields and dirt roads there are in Ireland? XD To be fair, Kevin actually did pretty well, searching out any form of sign or landmark he could use to figure out just where the hell the Google Maps car put him. XD And he even took us on a bit of a tour, out of the fields and into some of the towns and cities (including his own home of Cork, Dublin, and Limerick)! It was kind of cute. And he even got a chance to rant about this one trash pick-up company that apparently deliberately ignored his trash and was rude to his mother. XD Good times!
B) Then, after supper and writing, it was Oxmas Challenge time:
I. Day Eight of the OXBox challenges, and Andy pulled the “Hitman Santa Infiltration” Challenge! He had to go into Hitman 3’s Dartmoor level, leave a gift in every bedroom and Alexa’s secret room, then escape the level – all dressed as Santa. Mike was nice enough to set things up, completing the two main objectives, getting 47 all dressed up, and even putting a few gifts in his inventory – a nice (explosive) pen, and a fun (explosive) robot – before handing over the controller to Andy and letting him go at!
I’ll tell you this much – while Andy was playing and trying his best to be his usual stealthy self. . .it did go all a bit Mike. XD I blame them playing on his account. Andy DID manage to sneak around pretty well at the beginning – getting up to the second floor of the mansion and into Emma and Gregory’s room without issue, leaving them an explosive pen and taking their dog-headed cane. He then used the secret passages to make it to Zachary’s room, where he left the cane as a present for, you know, the corpse. XD Getting into Rebecca’s room was rather trickier, as getting past the IMMENSE number of noticers was – not easy (Andy had to choke out a maid – and then when that didn’t go well, sneak out the window and creep along the side of the building until he reached the adjoining hallway, where he had to break her locked door with a crowbar), but he did make it, and he successfully left her Lil Flashy the robot/flashbomb. But then he had to get to Alexa Carlisle’s secret room. . .
And that’s where it all started going wrong, because Mike hadn’t unlocked the secret entrance Andy had hoped to use (a secret ladder up to the roof). Andy was forced to retrace his steps into another hallway full of looky-loos – and that is when the “Frustrated Andy Murder” started. XD Offing guards and staff left and right to sneak his way around and into Alexa’s office, then into the secret room, where he dropped the bust –
And watched it SMASH INTO PIECES. Andy rallied by grabbing a Faberge egg from the office outside and CAREFULLY setting it down, then fled up to the roof to unlock the ladder, then across the grounds, dodging, weaving, and ducking into heavy shrubbery to avoid being spotted (and killing a few more gardeners along the way), before finally getting to the motorbike and the coolest ending to the level. Another Christmas point for Andy, though it was a close one! Time to see how Jane does tomorrow. . .
II. Day Three of the OXtra Xmas Challenges, and Santa assigned the “Metroid Dread E.M.M.I. Hide And Seek” challenge to Luke and Ellen (after complimenting their jumpers and complaining about the new remake/sort-of-sequel to Home Alone that came out this year – I’m with you, Santa!). The pair had to see who could survive the longest in an E.M.M.I. zone in the new Metroid Dread game – E.M.M.I.s being a new kind of robot monster that are actually pretty much immune to all of Samus’s regular weapons, so they’re nothing to sneeze at! At the point of the game they started at, Samus has an invisibility “stealth” upgrade that will help her avoid detection, but no morph ball or super-weapon to otherwise fight off the E.M.M.I., so it was a very tense challenge!
. . .and a very short one. Ellen relied on stealth and careful creeping to avoid the E.M.M.I. – she only got caught when she ran into a dead-end by accident (basically the only exit was out of the E.M.M.I. area, and that wasn’t allowed), and made it two minutes and 34 seconds. Luke, meanwhile, seemed to forget immediately about going invisible and basically spent most of his time just running like the dickens from the killer robot – and into the same dead end, getting killed after only one minute and 53 seconds. So Ellen took the Christmas point, and the video ended up hilariously padded at the end to try and disguise the winner better. XD Oh dear. . .these challenges just keep getting more chaotic. . .
C) And then finally it was back over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and some more GTA V – a parkour board where Gray must save the world by parkouring through the FREAKING SUN! Here played by a giant orange orb of doom. XD The plot was the sun is descending upon the Earth, so Gray must anger it and then harvest its energy so we can all escape. This was accomplished by rocking up in a jet plane (and then missing the platform entirely when he landed); going inside the core to shoot ten targets (placed in various FPS-draining places) and then figure out which teleporter platform would take him through the solar tube and out of the sun (a process that took longer than anticipated); finding he’d accidentally gone DEEPER into the core and had to wingsuit through a bunch of wind turbines to get out (second try, can’t complain!); and then finally gathering the sun’s energy by doing the world’s cruelest wall ride with the world’s worst vehicle for wall rides (basically a scrapped-together junk car that just BARELY clung to the wall – and Gray had to get this monstrosity through a bunch of various obstacles – some obstructed by “solar flares” – over some tiny linkages (including one shaped like an X, and another where there were mystery stop sticks hidden on the wrong path), across a few jumps, and through the wind turbines from hell). He was SUFFERING during this one, let me tell you. Completed it, but suffered. I guess Masochism Gray isn’t ready to fully give up his crown. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Eh – half-check. I did end up going a bit late on my YouTube time thanks to wanting a cup of hot cocoa tonight for dessert (in my defense, it was pretty damn cold today), and then between trying to keep up with tumblr friend conversations and catching up on webcomics. . .yeah, I only got the text for one of the two-part update done tonight. Gonna have to squeeze the rest in tomorrow!
Yeaaah -- it WAS good cocoa, at least? :p Well, we'll see how everything goes tomorrow. And only two more days where I'm going to work, so that's nice. . .night all!
Work – Okay day – chatty coworker is back, but I only have to put up with her for three days, so that’s not too bad. I spent most of the morning working on the GL, then took some credit card calls in the afternoon and made good progress on my “duplicates” project. :) So that’s nice.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check! Another night on the bike, and I actually watched two things while pedaling today:
I. The end of the Oxventure “Heist Society!” Amelia calling the guards on Dob and Corazon ended up bringing the gang back together – “Team Party,” Merilwen and Prudence, heard the commotion and saw others going to investigate and decided to check it out themselves, while “Team Egbert” pondered his riddle for a while, then came up with a solution and rushed out to find his friends, just following the source of the closest noise. Dob and Corazon were at the mercy of six guards for a bit (three apiece), but Corazon noisily casting Grease to slip everyone up led to Dob leaping onto the chandelier and using his legs to knock out all the guards via the power of his orcish thighs (Johnny didn’t roll well for any of them, and time was running out to wrap this thing up). With the guards taken care of, Egbert proudly announced that he knew where the “missing” Emerald Tear was – behind Hawthorne’s face! Though obviously not in his SKULL, so they had to find another face – and Corazon immediately realized “THE PAINTING IN HIS OFFICE!” They rushed over there, Corazon defaced the painting, SOMEONE melted the front off the safe (I’m PRETTY sure it was Egbert but I didn’t quite catch who was so keen on melting things), and lo and behold, there was the gem. Hawthorne charged in, all a-fluster, but Dob and Merilwen immediately went to “bear down” procedure – Merilwen turned into a cat, Dob flung her at Hawthorne, and Merilwen then switched shapes to a BEAR to basically flatten him. Hawthorne pointed out that the Captain of the Guard was in his employ, so what of it – but of course, Amelia, having heard all the noise, now at least saw he was a liar. And didn’t even make that much of a fuss when Corazon claimed the Emerald Tear had “mysteriously” disappeared. XD Merilwen gave her a ride back to the stocks while the others made a grand exit (entertaining the HELL out of the rich snobs around, meaning that probably just based on this being awesome gossip Horatio’s gonna be fine), and Merilwen used her mighty claws to break the lock and free Horatio! And the valet that Dob accused of stealing, who was also locked in there. XD Amelia and Horatio had a lovely reunion hug. . .and the valet promptly stole their nice carriage and horses to make a quick getaway, ending the episode. XD I love Oxventure.
II. With that done, I ended up watching a Plumbella video I’d stored away in the Watch Later – “We may be getting a revolutionary new way to create Sims,” a video on some patents EA has made public about using pictures and video people upload to recreate people and pets within as virtual people, complete with the correct facial structures, clothes, and “behavior,” which Plumbella was puzzled by. Personally I’m not – actually that fussed (I don’t want photorealistic people in my games, I like the cartoony styles of The Sims 2 and The Sims 4), but I do admit it would be pretty fascinating technology if it became a real thing in the next-generation Sims game!
2. Continue working on final edits on Chapter 3 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale Of Tears”: Check – Alice has overheard the sisters’ argument, met with Therese, and gotten her assignment – find something Therese can use to clear the ghosts out of the Ocean House Hotel! I’ve left it off with her having arrived at the place, and survived her first couple of jumpscares – the exploding light at the front door, and the forklift coming to life and banging into the office. Just under twenty pages to go, as per LibreWriter!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subscriptions and the OXmas Challenges: Check! Helped by me taking better care of my time management, at least a bit. . .
A) Started early today by watching Call Me Kevin before my workout (Andy pulled a long OXBox Xmas Challenge (see below) and I wanted to make sure I had enough time for Subs and Oxmas) – playing GeoGuessr! But on hard mode – aka, in his own home country of Ireland! Why is it hard mode?
You know how many damn fields and dirt roads there are in Ireland? XD To be fair, Kevin actually did pretty well, searching out any form of sign or landmark he could use to figure out just where the hell the Google Maps car put him. XD And he even took us on a bit of a tour, out of the fields and into some of the towns and cities (including his own home of Cork, Dublin, and Limerick)! It was kind of cute. And he even got a chance to rant about this one trash pick-up company that apparently deliberately ignored his trash and was rude to his mother. XD Good times!
B) Then, after supper and writing, it was Oxmas Challenge time:
I. Day Eight of the OXBox challenges, and Andy pulled the “Hitman Santa Infiltration” Challenge! He had to go into Hitman 3’s Dartmoor level, leave a gift in every bedroom and Alexa’s secret room, then escape the level – all dressed as Santa. Mike was nice enough to set things up, completing the two main objectives, getting 47 all dressed up, and even putting a few gifts in his inventory – a nice (explosive) pen, and a fun (explosive) robot – before handing over the controller to Andy and letting him go at!
I’ll tell you this much – while Andy was playing and trying his best to be his usual stealthy self. . .it did go all a bit Mike. XD I blame them playing on his account. Andy DID manage to sneak around pretty well at the beginning – getting up to the second floor of the mansion and into Emma and Gregory’s room without issue, leaving them an explosive pen and taking their dog-headed cane. He then used the secret passages to make it to Zachary’s room, where he left the cane as a present for, you know, the corpse. XD Getting into Rebecca’s room was rather trickier, as getting past the IMMENSE number of noticers was – not easy (Andy had to choke out a maid – and then when that didn’t go well, sneak out the window and creep along the side of the building until he reached the adjoining hallway, where he had to break her locked door with a crowbar), but he did make it, and he successfully left her Lil Flashy the robot/flashbomb. But then he had to get to Alexa Carlisle’s secret room. . .
And that’s where it all started going wrong, because Mike hadn’t unlocked the secret entrance Andy had hoped to use (a secret ladder up to the roof). Andy was forced to retrace his steps into another hallway full of looky-loos – and that is when the “Frustrated Andy Murder” started. XD Offing guards and staff left and right to sneak his way around and into Alexa’s office, then into the secret room, where he dropped the bust –
And watched it SMASH INTO PIECES. Andy rallied by grabbing a Faberge egg from the office outside and CAREFULLY setting it down, then fled up to the roof to unlock the ladder, then across the grounds, dodging, weaving, and ducking into heavy shrubbery to avoid being spotted (and killing a few more gardeners along the way), before finally getting to the motorbike and the coolest ending to the level. Another Christmas point for Andy, though it was a close one! Time to see how Jane does tomorrow. . .
II. Day Three of the OXtra Xmas Challenges, and Santa assigned the “Metroid Dread E.M.M.I. Hide And Seek” challenge to Luke and Ellen (after complimenting their jumpers and complaining about the new remake/sort-of-sequel to Home Alone that came out this year – I’m with you, Santa!). The pair had to see who could survive the longest in an E.M.M.I. zone in the new Metroid Dread game – E.M.M.I.s being a new kind of robot monster that are actually pretty much immune to all of Samus’s regular weapons, so they’re nothing to sneeze at! At the point of the game they started at, Samus has an invisibility “stealth” upgrade that will help her avoid detection, but no morph ball or super-weapon to otherwise fight off the E.M.M.I., so it was a very tense challenge!
. . .and a very short one. Ellen relied on stealth and careful creeping to avoid the E.M.M.I. – she only got caught when she ran into a dead-end by accident (basically the only exit was out of the E.M.M.I. area, and that wasn’t allowed), and made it two minutes and 34 seconds. Luke, meanwhile, seemed to forget immediately about going invisible and basically spent most of his time just running like the dickens from the killer robot – and into the same dead end, getting killed after only one minute and 53 seconds. So Ellen took the Christmas point, and the video ended up hilariously padded at the end to try and disguise the winner better. XD Oh dear. . .these challenges just keep getting more chaotic. . .
C) And then finally it was back over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and some more GTA V – a parkour board where Gray must save the world by parkouring through the FREAKING SUN! Here played by a giant orange orb of doom. XD The plot was the sun is descending upon the Earth, so Gray must anger it and then harvest its energy so we can all escape. This was accomplished by rocking up in a jet plane (and then missing the platform entirely when he landed); going inside the core to shoot ten targets (placed in various FPS-draining places) and then figure out which teleporter platform would take him through the solar tube and out of the sun (a process that took longer than anticipated); finding he’d accidentally gone DEEPER into the core and had to wingsuit through a bunch of wind turbines to get out (second try, can’t complain!); and then finally gathering the sun’s energy by doing the world’s cruelest wall ride with the world’s worst vehicle for wall rides (basically a scrapped-together junk car that just BARELY clung to the wall – and Gray had to get this monstrosity through a bunch of various obstacles – some obstructed by “solar flares” – over some tiny linkages (including one shaped like an X, and another where there were mystery stop sticks hidden on the wrong path), across a few jumps, and through the wind turbines from hell). He was SUFFERING during this one, let me tell you. Completed it, but suffered. I guess Masochism Gray isn’t ready to fully give up his crown. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Eh – half-check. I did end up going a bit late on my YouTube time thanks to wanting a cup of hot cocoa tonight for dessert (in my defense, it was pretty damn cold today), and then between trying to keep up with tumblr friend conversations and catching up on webcomics. . .yeah, I only got the text for one of the two-part update done tonight. Gonna have to squeeze the rest in tomorrow!
Yeaaah -- it WAS good cocoa, at least? :p Well, we'll see how everything goes tomorrow. And only two more days where I'm going to work, so that's nice. . .night all!
