![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Warm And Wet Monday
Dec. 29th, 2025 11:52 pmLike it was near 50 degrees F today, but it was also absolutely MISERABLE, with lots of fairly heavy rain. I was very grateful for my Monterey Bay windbreaker when Mom and I ventured outside on our shopping trip, let me tell you! But despite the lousy weather and a slight case of the tireds, I did manage to get a fair bit done today:
Tumblr: It being a Monday, I didn’t even visit Valice Multiverse – instead, I just focused on getting the following done on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) I made a minor update to the draft of the next volume of Valicer In The Dark Not-Incorrect quotes, adding a link to the post that inspired the “the gang learns to their shock that Sooty is capable of imitating Smiler’s voice” quote (about how ravens are in fact better mimics of human voices than parrots) in Elder Gutknecht’s dialogue at the end of said quote – gotta give credit where credit is due!
B) I wrote up two rough drafts for new posts to work on later:
( This section got surprisingly long, so... )
C) And, this afternoon, I went ahead and reblogged from Newt (aka dont-offend-the-bees) the “AO3 Wrapped” ask game, with thirty questions for people to ask me about my writing this year, if they are so inclined. *shrug* We’ll see if I get anything!
Post Lunch Shopping Trip: Mom and I ventured out into the rain this afternoon to visit one of the local shopping centers and get me a few more items off my Christmas list – namely, some new work shoes, some slippers (since the ones Mom & Dad originally got me were too narrow), and some new tops if we found anything that I liked. And, after a browse around Kohl’s, we were able to find two out of the three – category-wise, anyway; we ended up purchasing three items. XD Namely:
A) A new chunky beige button up sweater that is nice and warm and soft, and should look good over one of the new shirts I got for my birthday
B) A new lighter green sweater that is also nice and soft, and should be good for spring (I wasn’t sure about the weird “seam” detail going down the front, but Mom assured me it looked nice on me)
C) And a new pair of MukLuk slippers – which are basically little slipper boots, complete with study rubber soles, memory foam insoles, fun knitted patterns, and big fuffy light purple cuffs! :) They’re very comfy, I’m pleased to say
*nods* Not a bad haul – and we were able to knock $25 off the price with that gift card my coworker gave me, so that was all right too. The one thing we weren’t able to find were new work shoes – we looked both in Kohl’s and Famous Footwear, but we couldn’t find anything in my preferred brand, Clark’s – especially nothing in a wide, which is the kind I need. Regular shoes are unfortunately too pinchy for my big feet! We’re planning another trip another day to a DSW to see what they have – hopefully there I should be able to find something that fits!
Fallout: New Vegas: I didn’t actually start playing (or even install) this game yet, but I did spend some time looking up how I should set up the game online today – and it appears that my best bet, as a newbie who wants the easiest modding experience possible, will be to use a program called Wabbajack to automatically install a modlist named “Viva New Vegas,” which contains a variety of mods to improve performance, help prevent crashes, and – in the extended section – add new gameplay and better textures and whatnot. However, this involves a bit of set-up, including downloading and installing some new programs, so rather than jump on that this afternoon, I spent some time instead making some back-ups of all the most important stuff on my computer. You know, just in case anything goes drastically wrong. *nods* (Plus, I really just needed to make a back-up anyway.) We’ll see if I’m feeling brave enough to start the process tomorrow!
Writing: Despite some issues with The Tired striking tonight, I did start the final editing pass on Chapter 2 of “The Van Dort Vacancy” this evening, getting through the trio arriving in the fancy part of Nightmarket to the trio discovering all the carriages around the Van Dort estate and making their way to the house to figure out what the hell was going on. I don’t know exactly when this chapter will be ready to post, but it SHOULD be sometime this week – we’ll see how long it takes me to do the rest of the final edits!
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight and – as I previously said I would – returned to YouTube to start this week’s workout video: “Blades in the Dark RETURNS! 🎁 | Oxventure Holiday Special - The Effugium Contract” by Oxventure! Because like fuck was I not watching that after discovering it existed. However, upon starting the video, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be – namely, it’s NOT an adventure starring the Hobbyhorses of Volisport from the previous two seasons of Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark! Or, well, not all of them anyway… Instead, this holiday special moves the action to the neighboring city of Elessia, and the timeline to roughly a year and a half after the grand finale of the second season, when the Hobbyhorses shut down the Barrier, allowing the spirits of the dead to pass on properly again and bringing magic back into the world. What was the result of that, you might ask?
( More length, more cuts! )
FreeTube: Managed to sneak in the latest list video from OXtra at the end of the day: “Oops! 7 Great Games We Forgot to Cover in 2025!” Ellen and Mike quickly covering some excellent games that Outside Xtra simply didn’t have time to discuss in detail during the course of the year, ranging from blockbusters like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (which, to Mike’s bafflement, seems to make trudging across dangerous landscapes engaging and fun) and Hollow Knight: Silksong (the long-awaited hard-as-nails metroidvania that, as per a previous list video, caused every other indie game releasing at the same time to announce “uh, yeah, we’re gonna hold off for a bit”) to lesser-known titles like South Of Midnight (a game set in the rural American Deep South, and starring Hazel, an African-American woman who must battle folkloric monsters and clear “Haints,” monstrous creatures born from long-held traumas, after her hometown is ravaged by a hurricane – Ellen described it as having some Alice: Madness Returns vibes, which is cool) and Peak (a cooperative game (though you can play it alone, as Moose can attest to) where your player characters are stranded on an island post a plane crash and must climb the mountain on it, presumably to get help/find things to help you survive – Ellen REALLY wants to play with with the OXBoxers, but they’ve never had the time to coordinate a session). Just a fun little look at some games that deserved a little more love from the channel than they got! Good way to end out the year, I feel.
Not too shabby! Though I wish I could have made a bit more progress on installing Fallout: New Vegas, but still -- best to have the back-ups done first! And now I should really head to bed -- tomorrow, I will continue working on potential posts in the drafts section of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler); continue doing the final edits on Chapter 2 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" continue watching "The Effugium Contract" with my workout; and either continue working on F:NV installation funtimes or play some more Baldur's Gate III -- either/or. Hopefully these are all achievable goals -- night all!
Tumblr: It being a Monday, I didn’t even visit Valice Multiverse – instead, I just focused on getting the following done on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) –
A) I made a minor update to the draft of the next volume of Valicer In The Dark Not-Incorrect quotes, adding a link to the post that inspired the “the gang learns to their shock that Sooty is capable of imitating Smiler’s voice” quote (about how ravens are in fact better mimics of human voices than parrots) in Elder Gutknecht’s dialogue at the end of said quote – gotta give credit where credit is due!
B) I wrote up two rough drafts for new posts to work on later:
( This section got surprisingly long, so... )
C) And, this afternoon, I went ahead and reblogged from Newt (aka dont-offend-the-bees) the “AO3 Wrapped” ask game, with thirty questions for people to ask me about my writing this year, if they are so inclined. *shrug* We’ll see if I get anything!
Post Lunch Shopping Trip: Mom and I ventured out into the rain this afternoon to visit one of the local shopping centers and get me a few more items off my Christmas list – namely, some new work shoes, some slippers (since the ones Mom & Dad originally got me were too narrow), and some new tops if we found anything that I liked. And, after a browse around Kohl’s, we were able to find two out of the three – category-wise, anyway; we ended up purchasing three items. XD Namely:
A) A new chunky beige button up sweater that is nice and warm and soft, and should look good over one of the new shirts I got for my birthday
B) A new lighter green sweater that is also nice and soft, and should be good for spring (I wasn’t sure about the weird “seam” detail going down the front, but Mom assured me it looked nice on me)
C) And a new pair of MukLuk slippers – which are basically little slipper boots, complete with study rubber soles, memory foam insoles, fun knitted patterns, and big fuffy light purple cuffs! :) They’re very comfy, I’m pleased to say
*nods* Not a bad haul – and we were able to knock $25 off the price with that gift card my coworker gave me, so that was all right too. The one thing we weren’t able to find were new work shoes – we looked both in Kohl’s and Famous Footwear, but we couldn’t find anything in my preferred brand, Clark’s – especially nothing in a wide, which is the kind I need. Regular shoes are unfortunately too pinchy for my big feet! We’re planning another trip another day to a DSW to see what they have – hopefully there I should be able to find something that fits!
Fallout: New Vegas: I didn’t actually start playing (or even install) this game yet, but I did spend some time looking up how I should set up the game online today – and it appears that my best bet, as a newbie who wants the easiest modding experience possible, will be to use a program called Wabbajack to automatically install a modlist named “Viva New Vegas,” which contains a variety of mods to improve performance, help prevent crashes, and – in the extended section – add new gameplay and better textures and whatnot. However, this involves a bit of set-up, including downloading and installing some new programs, so rather than jump on that this afternoon, I spent some time instead making some back-ups of all the most important stuff on my computer. You know, just in case anything goes drastically wrong. *nods* (Plus, I really just needed to make a back-up anyway.) We’ll see if I’m feeling brave enough to start the process tomorrow!
Writing: Despite some issues with The Tired striking tonight, I did start the final editing pass on Chapter 2 of “The Van Dort Vacancy” this evening, getting through the trio arriving in the fancy part of Nightmarket to the trio discovering all the carriages around the Van Dort estate and making their way to the house to figure out what the hell was going on. I don’t know exactly when this chapter will be ready to post, but it SHOULD be sometime this week – we’ll see how long it takes me to do the rest of the final edits!
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight and – as I previously said I would – returned to YouTube to start this week’s workout video: “Blades in the Dark RETURNS! 🎁 | Oxventure Holiday Special - The Effugium Contract” by Oxventure! Because like fuck was I not watching that after discovering it existed. However, upon starting the video, I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be – namely, it’s NOT an adventure starring the Hobbyhorses of Volisport from the previous two seasons of Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark! Or, well, not all of them anyway… Instead, this holiday special moves the action to the neighboring city of Elessia, and the timeline to roughly a year and a half after the grand finale of the second season, when the Hobbyhorses shut down the Barrier, allowing the spirits of the dead to pass on properly again and bringing magic back into the world. What was the result of that, you might ask?
( More length, more cuts! )
FreeTube: Managed to sneak in the latest list video from OXtra at the end of the day: “Oops! 7 Great Games We Forgot to Cover in 2025!” Ellen and Mike quickly covering some excellent games that Outside Xtra simply didn’t have time to discuss in detail during the course of the year, ranging from blockbusters like Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (which, to Mike’s bafflement, seems to make trudging across dangerous landscapes engaging and fun) and Hollow Knight: Silksong (the long-awaited hard-as-nails metroidvania that, as per a previous list video, caused every other indie game releasing at the same time to announce “uh, yeah, we’re gonna hold off for a bit”) to lesser-known titles like South Of Midnight (a game set in the rural American Deep South, and starring Hazel, an African-American woman who must battle folkloric monsters and clear “Haints,” monstrous creatures born from long-held traumas, after her hometown is ravaged by a hurricane – Ellen described it as having some Alice: Madness Returns vibes, which is cool) and Peak (a cooperative game (though you can play it alone, as Moose can attest to) where your player characters are stranded on an island post a plane crash and must climb the mountain on it, presumably to get help/find things to help you survive – Ellen REALLY wants to play with with the OXBoxers, but they’ve never had the time to coordinate a session). Just a fun little look at some games that deserved a little more love from the channel than they got! Good way to end out the year, I feel.
Not too shabby! Though I wish I could have made a bit more progress on installing Fallout: New Vegas, but still -- best to have the back-ups done first! And now I should really head to bed -- tomorrow, I will continue working on potential posts in the drafts section of Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler); continue doing the final edits on Chapter 2 of "The Van Dort Vacancy;" continue watching "The Effugium Contract" with my workout; and either continue working on F:NV installation funtimes or play some more Baldur's Gate III -- either/or. Hopefully these are all achievable goals -- night all!
