Bit Late Tuesday

I try to have better time management, but things keep falling by the wayside. . .but I did get everything sorted on the standard weekday to-do list, at least:

Work – Busy, but for the most part not overwhelmingly so? There was less posted over the break than I initially thought, so most of my day was catching up with people who’d left messages about credit card stuff and looking into things like missing payments because our credit card company is shit. *sigh* The worst bits were that I ended up having a much later than normal lunch because of one person who wanted to do a specific “in memory of” gift, and then I ended up leaving a bit late because two people I’d called in the morning ended up calling me back at the absolute ass end of the day. *grumbles* But I’ve had MUCH worse days coming back from a long break, so I’ll just take this as it is.

Beanbags – As it was actually nice out by the time I got home (went from a very hot and sticky morning to a reasonably cool and dry evening), yeah, we went out for a few rounds! And we each won once, which was nice – final scores were me 2-2-W; Dad 3-W-3; Mom W-3-2! Poor Dad was still kinda off today, though definitely not as much as yesterday. Ah well!

To-Do List –

1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with the Oxventure Stream “Watch Out!” We picked up with the gang figuring out the best way to get into Simes’s shop to figure out what was going on and see if he had the watch. After determining that there was no chimney to slide down, Dob-like, Corazon decided their options were to try and get in through the chained upstairs window, or get in through the front door and make their way upstairs from there. Hengist suggested getting in the front door and then just collapsing the ceiling so they could dig through the rubble for their quarry (getting into a brief argument with Prudence about whether or not they’d stabilize survivors afterwards) – Corazon was like “cool, but kinda noisy, we’re trying to do stealth here” (indeed, Merilwen had already cast Unseen Passage on them to make them even more stealthy), and Merilwen said they could keep it as one of their many back-up plans for when things almost inevitably went pear-shaped. It was eventually decided to go in through the front door, though Hengist pointed out a “booby trap” – namely, the bell above the door. Corazon, thanks to some good rolls and Luke deciding to let him use the Dex bonus you get from Unseen Passage for a couple of less-than-stealthy things (because it wasn’t until AFTER he rolled that Ellen pointed out the +10 only applied to stealth checks), got to do a cool standing backflip that ended with him having removed the clapper from the bell – everyone was dutifully impressed. XD With THAT taken care of, he and Prudence scanned the door for any ACTUAL traps – Corazon could find nothing mundane, and Prudence didn’t see anything magical about the door – though she DID pick up something HUGELY magical upstairs, in the vicinity of the attic safe. . .definitely worth checking out!

But first, of course, they had to get to the safe! Corazon managed to stop Hengist from battering down the door with his hammer-hammer, picking the perfectly ordinary lock instead (Luke didn’t even make him roll). The gang got in without fuss, and made it up the stairs with the help of Unseen Passage muffling any potential creaks. They ignored the room where Simes and his cat were snoring (the latter sounding like someone opening a can of some sort of drink XD) and found their way into the storage space, where they found all the sundries Prudence had seen before, along with the safe, a desk –

And a suit of armor. And a bunch of pointy-toed footprints in the middle of the floor. Prudence, immediately suspecting shenanigans from the suit of armor and wanting to let it know she wasn’t afraid of it, sidled up to it with her stealth and popped open the visor to glare at it –

Yup, animated suit of armor who was NOT happy about being touched! Prudence just managed to get out of the way of it swinging its sword at her, and the gang entered into combat! Corazon went first, having rolled very well, and promptly cast Grease on the floor beneath the armor to make it slip and fall, which it did – very dramatically too. XD Unfortunately, it was still able to use its sword after falling, and while Prudence was able to hop the first swing of its sword, the second caught her in the ankle, causing some bludgeoning damage and making HER stack it into the grease. Pissed off, Prudence crawled over to it, slapped her hands over the open visor, and Agonizing Blasted the HELL out of it – Luke, saying this was basically metal as hell, even let her make that blast at Advantage! The armor was very thoroughly Agonized, bits of it crumpling in unpleasant ways, but it was still twitching, so Merilwen – thinking that what Prudence did was very cool – slid in and copied what she did, only with Create Flame to burn it. This killed whatever was animating the armor very thoroughly. . .

But it ALSO set the damn grease they were all standing in on fire. Merilwen and Prudence promptly took a bunch of damage from being in, you know, flaming grease (though Prudence took less because she has some innate fire resistance thanks to being baked in the fires of hell and whatnot – which I think is an error on Jane’s part, because I’d swear Prudence was full on fireproof in earlier adventures). Merilwen, in a panic, said she cast Create Water to put the fire out –

And it was then that Hengist pointed out this was a grease fire, and – yeah. There are reasons you don’t pour water on those! Merilwen and Prudence ended up even MORE on fire (Merilwen changing into a bear to try and stop herself being on fire – however, as she was still in the grease, all that happened is that her bear form caught fire too), forcing Corazon to grab a big tapestry off the wall to smother the flames on them and the floor. And so the fire was put out. . .

Just in time for Simes to arrive and ask what the fuck they were doing in his attic, moving to protect the safe. Corazon attempted to claim that he was here to file a complaint, as Simes had basically just started ignoring him mid-conversation earlier to talk to Merilwen, but Simes didn’t buy it, and said he’d die before he let them have the item in the safe. I left it with this crudgy old man threatening the Reboot Oxventurers with a letter opener – to which I would say “that’s gonna go well” sarcastically, but then again, this is the group that just put water on a grease fire. XD We’ll see!

2. Continue writing “As Long As You Love Me”: Check – I’ve finished the rewrite of the original bit where Alice tells Victor her life story while driving him to a diner so they can both get a bite to eat, explaining how she came to realize her “purpose” was to be a holistic assassin, going after those who would otherwise get away with their crimes, finishing Chapter 2. Now it’s time to do the other half of that in Chapter 3, with Victor telling Alice his life story while they have some breakfast. Should be fun!

3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – two in, two out today –

A) Started with the latest from James Turner – “Can I build a house with only Kits?” (Well, Kits and a tiny bit of base game for stuff like roof patterns, wall friezes, and landscape paints.) The answer is “ALMOST” – he was able to build a very eclectic vaguely-Victorian-style house with very maximalist interior patterns (he admitted that getting the flooring to look good with the mix of colors and patterns he had was his hardest challenge), a working kitchen (thanks Country Kitchen Kit!), three bedrooms upstairs, and a little back garden with some kid-themed camping stuff (thanks Little Campers Kit!), but – not one of the Build/Buy Kits has any bathroom facilities, so the “bathroom” has one sink and a vacuum from Bust The Dust. The house itself didn’t actually look that bad – the Moroccan courtyard kit had a nice red exterior wall paint for him to use, and inside the clashing styles of Industrial and Country and Maximal ended up working together in the end – but it’s just shy of a functional build. And James’s just pure disdain for Kits was fully in evidence – he thinks they’re too expensive for what you get and largely just ignores them when he’s playing. It’s not QUITE to the same level of his hatred for the infamous My First Pet Stuff, but it’s definitely present. *raises a glass* Hard same, James – there’s a reason I’m holding to my line of “never buying these things.”

B) And then we had GrayStillPlays and “I found the 100 worst ways to die in GTA 5!” Because Gray told his viewers in the last GTA V video to suggest ways for him to die in parkour boards, and Danny (back after he injured himself on his new BMX bike) and Alex collaborated to stuff as many of them into a nightmare course for Gray to complete. Danny started with a focus on windmills and other turny things – making Gray run and jump through a bunch of windmills (including many merged versions, vertical and horizontal), forcing him through a thumbnail hole in a canister full of crushing gears (Gray actually ended up glitching through in the end); having him do a motorcycle run through platforms covered with waterspouts (which are apparently invisible wet windmills), including a TIGHTROPE section (Gray ended flying a LOT in this particular section); then making him go through a more leisurely loop-de-loop course where he had to dodge Up-&-Atomizers and falling meteors; before finally ending with another jumping course where Gray had to get SUPERPOWERS to get above the kissing windmills.

And then Alex came in and kept it simple by either trying to crush or run him over. XD First obstacle to beat on HIS half was a giant bottle of beer trying to smush Gray (alcoholism!); then Gray had to bike through Floridian traffic (a variety of cars and construction equipment being flung at him, with his own hope being they followed predictable patterns – oh, and there was a tightrope section in the middle of THIS too); then he had to run the gauntlet of supersonic Meaty Bits (not actively trying to gore him, but not particularly caring if he fell to this death); THEN the gauntlet of the Fists Of God (these WERE actively trying to punt him off the platform); before finally riding the final water slide to victory! Which he had to do twice because he missed it the first time. XD The evolution of Danny and Alex’s boards in this game has been a treat to watch, and I sincerely hope they stay with us and GTA V for a looong time. XD

4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – took a moment after writing and before YouTube to quickly change the queue speed on Victor Luvs Alice to four posts a day for the Chill Save update coming tomorrow. Then, after YouTube, went on Valice Multiverse and made sure the three ask replies of the day were in the queue. Bing-bang-bada-boom, as one might say. :p

Not too shabby -- and I got to listen to The Smiler's various themes and whatnot this evening in honor of its 9-year birthday, so that's nice. And hey, if you're curious as to what my own Smiler looks like, here's the pic I posted of them for the occasion today! XD Ah, I do love them. . .

But I also must love sleep, so to bed I go. Three more work days and a dentist appointment to get through! *sigh* Night all!