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Slightly Earlier Wednesday
Nov. 9th, 2022 11:44 pmLook at that, not updating at the absolute last minute! How does THAT work? :p Anyway, here's the round-up of my day:
Work – Eh – a QC file for an upcoming billing and poking my nose into more credit card bullshit, all while listening to my coworkers complain about the election yesterday. Not exactly great, but I’ve had days worse. Still, very glad that tomorrow is the last day of this week!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “Dicebreaker and Outside Xbox in 'Quest on Praxus Prime' - Lasers and Feelings actual live play!” As it turns out, Chi’s idea for getting out of being trapped in front of Zorgon’s big old monitor surrounded by armed guards involved less punching and more John Wick-style gun shenanigans. XD A good Lasers roll (as GM Wheels allowed this was a precision move even if it was based in Chi’s feelings) mean that Chi actually did manage to take out five of them before Zorgon was able to reestablish connectivity and see what the hell was going on. And even then, he wasn’t fussed about the henchmen – he was just demanding Chi and Jet’s help, surprisingly enough. As it turned out, he was building a “quantum tunnel” – the equivalent to “beam me up, Scotty” in this off-brand Star Trek universe, only specially designed for helping large items and groups fast-travel across space – and since the technology was rather new to his quadrant of space (as a later Laser Feelings question revealed), he needed some Consortium (aka the Federation the gang belongs to) folks to help make it all work. Either that or them out of the way while he stole their ship to figure it out himself. Jet and Chi decided it was best to play along and then find a way to double-cross him – though they did allow themselves the pleasure of kicking/punching a guard in the butt (dividing it up so they each got a cheek apiece) before they were overpowered and dragged to the central laboratory area. XD Welp, you tried!
As all this was going on, Lexi finally got herself a stable connection with reality again (AKA Jane finally got her internet to work) and – having overheard everything with Simm the android (not “Sims” as I thought) thanks to Zorgon’s screen being VERY large and VERY loud – decided they needed to somehow hack their way in there and figure out a way to help their friends. Examining one of the nearby doors revealed a retinal scanner, which Simm suggested she could fool with her android eyes or otherwise hack – Lexi took this to mean “plug me in” and jammed an aux cable into Simm’s armpit. XD Simm WAS able to hack the system (after some confusing back and forth between Alex and Wheels when she thought he was asking her to MAKE UP the options she saw, while he was offering to READ them to her) by adding herself and Lexi to the “permissions” in the code –
But when they tried to unplug her, the cable proved to be stuck. Lexi tried to go fiddle with the console on the other side, but only found a lot of strange buttons she couldn’t work out. So Simm decided to imitate Jet and just shoot the damn thing in an attempt to free herself. XD This did not work – the door began randomly slamming open and closed instead, AND the damage to the system meant that she accidentally called tech support. Lexi thought that getting them to send a technician would probably net them a disguise and hid herself in the snow – unfortunately, they never got that far, with Simm having the most awkward conversation with a tech support agent over the video phone panel on the door (refusing to answer any of his questions except with the most simple and direct answers, and claiming to not understand his accent when he started probing as to what the outside interference he was seeing was, while also confusing the guy by asking him to unplug “her” when he thought she was human) and just ending the call when a supervisor got involved. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. XD Lexi ended up resorting to modifying her phaser to shoot a continuous laser that would work as a cutting blade (souping up its power in the process), and was finally able to just cut Simm free, who then went to the continually opening-and-closing door and managed just barely to hold it open with her strong android hands.
Just in time to be greeted by the rifles of the four guards on the other side. XD Fortunately, Lexi was able to come to the rescue and claim to be a delivery person delivering an android to Zorgon (learning the interesting information that Zorgon is in fact on the planet’s moon, Praxis Unplugged – and that’s why he’s having such connectivity problems, like frozen cameras. The accidental screenshare showing his medical cream was all him though XD). The goons were just dumb enough to buy this, and ended up escorting her and Simm inside to get a signature, straight to the central laboratory, where they met up again with Jet and Chi. Lexi is now up to speed on the quantum tunnel, and figures that Zorgon is up to some conquering once he gets it working, so it’s up to them to stop him! How? Well, perhaps we’ll get to see tomorrow. . .
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – I have started Chapter Two, and we’re back to Victor as he wakes up in The Sanctuary! In a very white room, with his clothes having been changed out while he was drugged (meaning he no longer has access to his phone). And under armed guard, no less. He’s currently trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why the universe has allowed this nonsense while “the doctor” is fetched – don’t worry, Victor, it’ll all start becoming clear on Friday!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Easier than expected check – while Gray ended up uploading late, Kevin just never uploaded at all despite being Mon-Wed-Fri this week. O.o Maybe he’s feeling ill again. . .anyway, took advantage of the opportunity to get another video whittled out of the Watch Later –
A) Started with an OXtra list this time – “7 Great Games With Truly Horrible Box Art!” A look at amazing games with box art that – just didn’t make the grade. Generally Japanese games screwed over by their Western localization teams – the infamous “paunchy yellow-and-blue human Mega Man holding a pistol” box art for the original Mega Man made an appearance as an example (with the explanation being that whole image was done in a single day). But other games featured too – like the Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year box art that was more glowing reviews for the game than actual box, and the Amnesia: The Dark Descent box art that not only spoiled the monsters you’d be fleeing, but also made them look kind of hilarious. Basically, if you have an excellent game, try to make sure it also has excellent box art! Your customers will thank you.
B) And then it was over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and “Everything I shoot SHAPESHIFTS in GTA 5” – AKA, time for a Big IQ board or four from good old Alex! For once, the title was entirely accurate – Alex provided Gray with a gun that allowed him to shapeshift things. He had to shapeshift various animals to find the correct vehicle for each board, then choose the right object to shapeshift other objects on the board into to have a chance of completing it. Board one was basically playing Snake with Gray having to follow a constantly-moving line of pink over blocks that otherwise didn’t actually exist, lest he fall through the world, and he had to transform the giant beer bottles blocking his way into something else – Gray ended up choosing an albino ape, as that was basically the smallest thing on the board (after unwisely choosing the dump truck and getting crushed a few times). Board two had Gray in a sea of fake red blocks, having to find a way to leap across the multicolored squares festooned with giant soccer balls around him – after some trial and error with a clown car and punchy trucks, he realized the right combination was a motorcycle (made from good old Chop the dog – a chopper from Chop, get it?) and turning the soccer balls into ramp cars so he could ramp off them and make the jumps (culminating in him having to STACK two ramp cars on each other to get the height and speed he needed to get to the final block.) Board three required Gray to follow the arrows and land on the blocks that actually existed before the rest of the board disappeared temporarily – only the arrows were all above ramps to send him flying. The trick there was to turn our beloved Meaty Bits into a jet-boosted car, and the ramps into a van for Gray to crash into so he could boost his way over to each real block and then smack into the van before he went over the edge. And board four was in two parts – in the first half, he had to hop from green block to green block as they appeared, transforming the soda cans in his way (the bunny car naturally proved to be the way to go, and Gray ended up picking the zombie to transform all the rest of the objects into, because fun – he terrorized the beach with them when he fell down there once); in the second half, he had to slowly climb a series of taller and taller blocks – BUT he was still allowed to transform the scenery, and thus was able to uncover hidden secrets (like a nice extra boost) and get rid of stuff in his way (like stop sticks stopping him from getting a good long jump toward the finish) by turning them into zombies. XD Gray’s “cheating” working for him in an Alex board for once! XD It was very cerebral and Gray hated it. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A on the actual queue, since I’m set through Saturday on Victor Luvs Alice, but I did catch up on the two Moose fics on tumblr that I needed to reblog, and I removed a post I’d actually already reblogged (and semi-recently too) from my drafts. So that counts for something!
*nods head* Yeah, I'll take that. And now it's time to hit the hay. As stated, just one more day of work to get through this week! Night all!
Work – Eh – a QC file for an upcoming billing and poking my nose into more credit card bullshit, all while listening to my coworkers complain about the election yesterday. Not exactly great, but I’ve had days worse. Still, very glad that tomorrow is the last day of this week!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “Dicebreaker and Outside Xbox in 'Quest on Praxus Prime' - Lasers and Feelings actual live play!” As it turns out, Chi’s idea for getting out of being trapped in front of Zorgon’s big old monitor surrounded by armed guards involved less punching and more John Wick-style gun shenanigans. XD A good Lasers roll (as GM Wheels allowed this was a precision move even if it was based in Chi’s feelings) mean that Chi actually did manage to take out five of them before Zorgon was able to reestablish connectivity and see what the hell was going on. And even then, he wasn’t fussed about the henchmen – he was just demanding Chi and Jet’s help, surprisingly enough. As it turned out, he was building a “quantum tunnel” – the equivalent to “beam me up, Scotty” in this off-brand Star Trek universe, only specially designed for helping large items and groups fast-travel across space – and since the technology was rather new to his quadrant of space (as a later Laser Feelings question revealed), he needed some Consortium (aka the Federation the gang belongs to) folks to help make it all work. Either that or them out of the way while he stole their ship to figure it out himself. Jet and Chi decided it was best to play along and then find a way to double-cross him – though they did allow themselves the pleasure of kicking/punching a guard in the butt (dividing it up so they each got a cheek apiece) before they were overpowered and dragged to the central laboratory area. XD Welp, you tried!
As all this was going on, Lexi finally got herself a stable connection with reality again (AKA Jane finally got her internet to work) and – having overheard everything with Simm the android (not “Sims” as I thought) thanks to Zorgon’s screen being VERY large and VERY loud – decided they needed to somehow hack their way in there and figure out a way to help their friends. Examining one of the nearby doors revealed a retinal scanner, which Simm suggested she could fool with her android eyes or otherwise hack – Lexi took this to mean “plug me in” and jammed an aux cable into Simm’s armpit. XD Simm WAS able to hack the system (after some confusing back and forth between Alex and Wheels when she thought he was asking her to MAKE UP the options she saw, while he was offering to READ them to her) by adding herself and Lexi to the “permissions” in the code –
But when they tried to unplug her, the cable proved to be stuck. Lexi tried to go fiddle with the console on the other side, but only found a lot of strange buttons she couldn’t work out. So Simm decided to imitate Jet and just shoot the damn thing in an attempt to free herself. XD This did not work – the door began randomly slamming open and closed instead, AND the damage to the system meant that she accidentally called tech support. Lexi thought that getting them to send a technician would probably net them a disguise and hid herself in the snow – unfortunately, they never got that far, with Simm having the most awkward conversation with a tech support agent over the video phone panel on the door (refusing to answer any of his questions except with the most simple and direct answers, and claiming to not understand his accent when he started probing as to what the outside interference he was seeing was, while also confusing the guy by asking him to unplug “her” when he thought she was human) and just ending the call when a supervisor got involved. Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all. XD Lexi ended up resorting to modifying her phaser to shoot a continuous laser that would work as a cutting blade (souping up its power in the process), and was finally able to just cut Simm free, who then went to the continually opening-and-closing door and managed just barely to hold it open with her strong android hands.
Just in time to be greeted by the rifles of the four guards on the other side. XD Fortunately, Lexi was able to come to the rescue and claim to be a delivery person delivering an android to Zorgon (learning the interesting information that Zorgon is in fact on the planet’s moon, Praxis Unplugged – and that’s why he’s having such connectivity problems, like frozen cameras. The accidental screenshare showing his medical cream was all him though XD). The goons were just dumb enough to buy this, and ended up escorting her and Simm inside to get a signature, straight to the central laboratory, where they met up again with Jet and Chi. Lexi is now up to speed on the quantum tunnel, and figures that Zorgon is up to some conquering once he gets it working, so it’s up to them to stop him! How? Well, perhaps we’ll get to see tomorrow. . .
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – I have started Chapter Two, and we’re back to Victor as he wakes up in The Sanctuary! In a very white room, with his clothes having been changed out while he was drugged (meaning he no longer has access to his phone). And under armed guard, no less. He’s currently trying to figure out what the hell is going on and why the universe has allowed this nonsense while “the doctor” is fetched – don’t worry, Victor, it’ll all start becoming clear on Friday!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Easier than expected check – while Gray ended up uploading late, Kevin just never uploaded at all despite being Mon-Wed-Fri this week. O.o Maybe he’s feeling ill again. . .anyway, took advantage of the opportunity to get another video whittled out of the Watch Later –
A) Started with an OXtra list this time – “7 Great Games With Truly Horrible Box Art!” A look at amazing games with box art that – just didn’t make the grade. Generally Japanese games screwed over by their Western localization teams – the infamous “paunchy yellow-and-blue human Mega Man holding a pistol” box art for the original Mega Man made an appearance as an example (with the explanation being that whole image was done in a single day). But other games featured too – like the Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year box art that was more glowing reviews for the game than actual box, and the Amnesia: The Dark Descent box art that not only spoiled the monsters you’d be fleeing, but also made them look kind of hilarious. Basically, if you have an excellent game, try to make sure it also has excellent box art! Your customers will thank you.
B) And then it was over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and “Everything I shoot SHAPESHIFTS in GTA 5” – AKA, time for a Big IQ board or four from good old Alex! For once, the title was entirely accurate – Alex provided Gray with a gun that allowed him to shapeshift things. He had to shapeshift various animals to find the correct vehicle for each board, then choose the right object to shapeshift other objects on the board into to have a chance of completing it. Board one was basically playing Snake with Gray having to follow a constantly-moving line of pink over blocks that otherwise didn’t actually exist, lest he fall through the world, and he had to transform the giant beer bottles blocking his way into something else – Gray ended up choosing an albino ape, as that was basically the smallest thing on the board (after unwisely choosing the dump truck and getting crushed a few times). Board two had Gray in a sea of fake red blocks, having to find a way to leap across the multicolored squares festooned with giant soccer balls around him – after some trial and error with a clown car and punchy trucks, he realized the right combination was a motorcycle (made from good old Chop the dog – a chopper from Chop, get it?) and turning the soccer balls into ramp cars so he could ramp off them and make the jumps (culminating in him having to STACK two ramp cars on each other to get the height and speed he needed to get to the final block.) Board three required Gray to follow the arrows and land on the blocks that actually existed before the rest of the board disappeared temporarily – only the arrows were all above ramps to send him flying. The trick there was to turn our beloved Meaty Bits into a jet-boosted car, and the ramps into a van for Gray to crash into so he could boost his way over to each real block and then smack into the van before he went over the edge. And board four was in two parts – in the first half, he had to hop from green block to green block as they appeared, transforming the soda cans in his way (the bunny car naturally proved to be the way to go, and Gray ended up picking the zombie to transform all the rest of the objects into, because fun – he terrorized the beach with them when he fell down there once); in the second half, he had to slowly climb a series of taller and taller blocks – BUT he was still allowed to transform the scenery, and thus was able to uncover hidden secrets (like a nice extra boost) and get rid of stuff in his way (like stop sticks stopping him from getting a good long jump toward the finish) by turning them into zombies. XD Gray’s “cheating” working for him in an Alex board for once! XD It was very cerebral and Gray hated it. XD
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: N/A on the actual queue, since I’m set through Saturday on Victor Luvs Alice, but I did catch up on the two Moose fics on tumblr that I needed to reblog, and I removed a post I’d actually already reblogged (and semi-recently too) from my drafts. So that counts for something!
*nods head* Yeah, I'll take that. And now it's time to hit the hay. As stated, just one more day of work to get through this week! Night all!
