Not My Best Wednesday
Apr. 8th, 2026 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickIt was kind of chilly, weather-wise (though it did get warmer than they said it was going to, which was good -- probably helped it was full-on sunny today); I found some more annoying stuff at work (which I will elaborate on in the write-up below); and when I got home, I discovered that my mother had not picked up milk like she said she would, meaning I had to go out and get it myself. Which was incredibly annoying, because I did not particularly WANT to go out again after getting home, and cut rather severely into my free time this afternoon, but...needs must. *sigh* Anyway, here's the write-up:
Work – It was a pretty “meh” Wednesday at work, it must be said:
A) I spent the morning e-mailing people about credit card stuff (one guy who needed a card update – fortunately he’d managed to do it himself by the time I contacted him – and four people who had two types of gifts running at once) and looking through the returned credit card pledge cards in the exceptions to see who still needed to be contacted (most of them – I just keep getting distracted by other problems)
B) Then I spent the afternoon looking through a handful of batches put on by our processors in March to identify more gifts that were meant for the newspaper office after getting a call from ANOTHER donor whose newspaper office donation ended up as part of our Appeal gifts. Found another seventeen or so people whose gifts will have to be taken off and the money given to the people at the newspaper. All because one church did a collection for them, and then sent the envelopes to OUR PO Box. *sigh* It’s annoying, it really is…
So yeah – not exactly a great day. We’ll see how Thursday goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “HITMANNIVERSARY! Hitman 10th Anniversary Stream | The BEST Maps and Our NEVER-BEFORE-TRIED Missions” by OXBox! Today’s chunklet featured more of the gang playing “The Envy Contention” from the “Seven Deadly Sins” missions, and contained –
A) Jane finally managing to finish off Level 2 of the mission – well, after dying in a hail of gunfire in one of the lavender planters because everyone saw 47 punch Emma Carlisle unconscious and then snap her neck when Jane was unable to shove her over the railing because she turned around at exactly the wrong moment. XD But she was able to use the whole mess as a learning experience, and completed the level by:
I. Heading over to the kitchen by the buffet, knocking out the staff inside when they caught her trespassing (she managed to avoid the urge to snap their necks this time, instead sticking them in a nearby cupboard at Andy’s urging), and getting a waiter’s costume and the emetic rat poison vital to her plan
II. Going out and lurking by the canapes that Emma samples and managing to poison them at JUST the right moment this time – that is, after the old guy eats a few, but before Emma could – making sure Emma was the one who ended up with the dicky stomach
III. Following Emma around to the deserted railing where she chose to go and puke, with the intent of pushing her over – only to press the wrong button and end up subduing her instead. Prompting Mike and Andy to start going on about that being her “signature move.” XD She did at least manage to snap the woman’s neck and make her escape WITHOUT immediately being shot at this time!
IV. Taking advantage of the fact that she was able to go downstairs into the super-fancy technological heart of the winery in her waiter’s costume to get close to her second target, a scientist with a stupid haircut, and wang the special curvy cat-knife she’d been given as a reward at the beginning of the level (for Andy’s good work in beating the first mission) into his head – this did not go as smoothly as she might have hoped, as she had to get closer than she’d originally thought to actually hit him in the head with the knife (instead of just tossing it somewhere near him), meaning she got caught and had to flee in a hail of gunfire – fortunately, she easily managed to outrun her pursuers and get back to the kitchen, where she donned her original outfit and rejoined the party to avoid being murdered (again)
V. Making an attempt to get at the third target after realizing that 47’s weird mirror double “rival” in the high-fashion hoodie hadn’t gotten to her yet (in the hopes of crushing her in a wine press, as per the optional objective) – unfortunately, despite managing to knock out the guard on the doors she needed to pass through with a nice bottle of wine she found in while wandering the party, she was unable to get past him (mostly because another guard noticed the knocking-out and woke the guy up), and the high-fashion rival got the lady instead. Everyone was very annoyed he was allowed to kill her however and not use a wine press, and by his very uncouth celebration in the picture-in-picture
VI. Completing the mission by returning to the starting chair, and receiving her score – “Black Cat, 0 Stars.” Given how much bad luck she experienced during her attempts, that does feel appropriate. :p
B) And Mike completing most of Level 3 of the mission! After twice dying in a hail of gunfire himself because, well, he’s Mike. XD So far his attempt has consisted of:
I. Picking up the sniper rifle Jane won him as a reward for successfully beating the High Fashion Rival in Level 2 (getting two targets out of the three), hiding it in a briefcase, then entering the party and trying to find the perfect sniping position to get the target that needed to be sniped
II. Accidentally stumbling upon an excellent sniping position behind a big curved planter on the other side of the party from where the sniper rifle target was wandering around, and – after waiting for the guy to come around a wall, a failed shot, and Mike stowing his giant sniper rifle away in a panic after said failed shot – managing to take the guy out with a well-placed snipe, earning both the narrator’s and Andy’s admiration
III. Being startled by the High Fashion Rival managing to take out one of the other targets – then getting annoyed (along with Jane and Andy) when the jerk’s celebration cam revealed that he’d found himself a MOUNTED sniper rifle up on a high ledge near the far edge of the level, just proving that the Rival got unfair advantages in this game
IV. Deciding to follow the advice of one of the commenters in chat and go back to the start of the level and up the hill near the car park to get himself a guard outfit...which turned into a game of “Whack A Guard” after it turned out there were a LOT more guards in that little guard station near the start of the level than they’d initially assumed. At least Mike did manage to score one of their outfits for poor 47!
V. Getting a “kill cam” of the Rival taking out the final target of the level (meaning Mike had officially lost) and deciding to find out where the guy was even set up so they could maybe find a way to mess with him on the next go-round...cue Mike discovering the car park, the security tunnel, and the silos on the edge of the level for the first time; spotting the Rival coming down from a high balcony atop one of the silos and figuring his sniping nest must be up there; knocking him out with the briefcase and dumping him over the side of the balcony into the rocks below because it didn’t matter anymore; and promptly getting murdered by the other guards who were watching all this go down. XD Oh, and briefly losing his connection to the IO servers right as he died, because that is the kind of stream this was. XD
VI. Starting his second attempt – only to be distracted by Producer Jon handing Andy a new prototype “noticer” headband (basically a big white paper ball on a stick attached to some headphones) that he made up; the OXBoxers were very happy with it, as was chat, who said they’d buy as many copies as could be made XD
VII. Trying again and this time grabbing the bodyguard disguise from the one going up the hill to the security checkpoint – only to discover that it didn’t actually allow him access to the security tunnel and silo beyond; cue Mike knocking out a guard in front of all of his buddies to try and get his disguise, then failing to choke out one of the investigating guards thanks to the guy turning around at just the wrong time (Jane noting that this is what screwed her over before too), leading eventually to him dying in a hail of gunfire while trying to beat everyone up
VIII. Trying a THIRD time and – on Jane and Andy’s advice – not bothering with a disguise, but instead just vaulting over the barrier outside the car park behind some of the cars to keep out of sight and keep pace with his Rival. Which led to him investigating a “staff only” door in the security tunnel and snagging himself a coin and a banana from the check-in room beyond; managing to get ahead of the Rival and head up to the sniper’s nest up on the silo; knocking out a guard who noticed him trespassing with his banana and stealing his outfit – accidentally creating a distraction for the Rival in the process (who couldn’t help but stop and stare at this naked man); and successfully finding the mounted sniper rifle and taking it off the mounting, thus preventing the Rival (still confused by the body) from using it! Yay!
IX. Going ahead and trying to snipe his three targets from up on the balcony at Andy’s insistence – and, despite some close calls (like missing a shot at the first target because he was standing behind a rock and getting the attention of another guard – who fortunately was easily fooled into thinking everything was fine by Mike just putting down the sniper rifle; killing a random maid BEHIND one of the targets wandering around the house at the other side of the level – of course sparking comparisons to Jane murdering loads of women during her go; and missing so many shots at the second target in the house), he managed to get two of out of the three! Neither one of them being the one he was supposed to snipe, granted, but still. A win’s a win! XD
And that is where I left it – tomorrow, we’ll finish up with Mike hopefully sniping the final target and completing the escalation, and after that the gang will probably move onto the final Sins mission, the Wrath-themed one! I imagine that’ll be fun. :)
2. Continue final edits on Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – managed to do about seven pages today, covering:
A) Alice leaving Skyeline Apartments, talking with Wonderland about how bubbly Victor’s blood made her and how she’s grateful to have him in her corner, especially with most of the vampires of L.A. treating her like their servant
B) Alice looking to get a taxi and complaining both about the one cabbie that seems to be stalking her (even though that shouldn’t be logically possible) and – in her head – about her inability to say anything about the potential Blood Hunt on Nines out loud even to herself, and about how she would like somebody other than herself to show some sympathy for Grout’s lost ghouls (because what happened to them was horrific and shouldn’t go uncommented on)
C) Rabbit running off while telling Alice she shouldn’t get distracted and leading her to the abandoned hospital, where she was promptly nearly run over by a panicked man emerging from it; he told her that he was the host of Haunted LA, and that something had attacked his camera crew, and that it was coming for him, before running off in terror
D) Alice heading into the hospital in the hopes of trying to help the crew, and being forced to take the long way around all the various junk walls and such in her way, spotting camera feeds showing the unfortunate demises of two crew members along the way and getting to personally witness the third after getting down to the basement (which did not please her in the slightest)
E) And Alice spotting the monster apparently behind all the murders in the hospital morgue, and getting ready to knife them – only for Cheshire to advise her NOT to put her blade to work just yet, but to instead see what the “mantis” had to say, and thus instead approaching the woman for a chat
Not too shabby, I suppose – I would have liked to have made it to page 16 tonight, but I had a lot more edits to make in this section, so it just wasn’t happening. Tomorrow, we continue, starting with Alice’s conversation with Pisha! Hopefully I can get at least another seven pages done...we will see!
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – which is getting quite annoying, as Josh actually uploaded another Fun With Shorts recently. I’m gonna have to carve out some time to watch that damn thing sometime this week!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: No check – I was hoping to figure out what I wanted to do for Song Saturday over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) tonight, but it just didn’t work out.
Yeah, I was hoping to get more done today, but...well, apparently time forbade. At least I got the most important stuff done (aka, the LB:DQ editing). We'll see if Thursday goes a little better -- night all!
Work – It was a pretty “meh” Wednesday at work, it must be said:
A) I spent the morning e-mailing people about credit card stuff (one guy who needed a card update – fortunately he’d managed to do it himself by the time I contacted him – and four people who had two types of gifts running at once) and looking through the returned credit card pledge cards in the exceptions to see who still needed to be contacted (most of them – I just keep getting distracted by other problems)
B) Then I spent the afternoon looking through a handful of batches put on by our processors in March to identify more gifts that were meant for the newspaper office after getting a call from ANOTHER donor whose newspaper office donation ended up as part of our Appeal gifts. Found another seventeen or so people whose gifts will have to be taken off and the money given to the people at the newspaper. All because one church did a collection for them, and then sent the envelopes to OUR PO Box. *sigh* It’s annoying, it really is…
So yeah – not exactly a great day. We’ll see how Thursday goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, another night with “HITMANNIVERSARY! Hitman 10th Anniversary Stream | The BEST Maps and Our NEVER-BEFORE-TRIED Missions” by OXBox! Today’s chunklet featured more of the gang playing “The Envy Contention” from the “Seven Deadly Sins” missions, and contained –
A) Jane finally managing to finish off Level 2 of the mission – well, after dying in a hail of gunfire in one of the lavender planters because everyone saw 47 punch Emma Carlisle unconscious and then snap her neck when Jane was unable to shove her over the railing because she turned around at exactly the wrong moment. XD But she was able to use the whole mess as a learning experience, and completed the level by:
I. Heading over to the kitchen by the buffet, knocking out the staff inside when they caught her trespassing (she managed to avoid the urge to snap their necks this time, instead sticking them in a nearby cupboard at Andy’s urging), and getting a waiter’s costume and the emetic rat poison vital to her plan
II. Going out and lurking by the canapes that Emma samples and managing to poison them at JUST the right moment this time – that is, after the old guy eats a few, but before Emma could – making sure Emma was the one who ended up with the dicky stomach
III. Following Emma around to the deserted railing where she chose to go and puke, with the intent of pushing her over – only to press the wrong button and end up subduing her instead. Prompting Mike and Andy to start going on about that being her “signature move.” XD She did at least manage to snap the woman’s neck and make her escape WITHOUT immediately being shot at this time!
IV. Taking advantage of the fact that she was able to go downstairs into the super-fancy technological heart of the winery in her waiter’s costume to get close to her second target, a scientist with a stupid haircut, and wang the special curvy cat-knife she’d been given as a reward at the beginning of the level (for Andy’s good work in beating the first mission) into his head – this did not go as smoothly as she might have hoped, as she had to get closer than she’d originally thought to actually hit him in the head with the knife (instead of just tossing it somewhere near him), meaning she got caught and had to flee in a hail of gunfire – fortunately, she easily managed to outrun her pursuers and get back to the kitchen, where she donned her original outfit and rejoined the party to avoid being murdered (again)
V. Making an attempt to get at the third target after realizing that 47’s weird mirror double “rival” in the high-fashion hoodie hadn’t gotten to her yet (in the hopes of crushing her in a wine press, as per the optional objective) – unfortunately, despite managing to knock out the guard on the doors she needed to pass through with a nice bottle of wine she found in while wandering the party, she was unable to get past him (mostly because another guard noticed the knocking-out and woke the guy up), and the high-fashion rival got the lady instead. Everyone was very annoyed he was allowed to kill her however and not use a wine press, and by his very uncouth celebration in the picture-in-picture
VI. Completing the mission by returning to the starting chair, and receiving her score – “Black Cat, 0 Stars.” Given how much bad luck she experienced during her attempts, that does feel appropriate. :p
B) And Mike completing most of Level 3 of the mission! After twice dying in a hail of gunfire himself because, well, he’s Mike. XD So far his attempt has consisted of:
I. Picking up the sniper rifle Jane won him as a reward for successfully beating the High Fashion Rival in Level 2 (getting two targets out of the three), hiding it in a briefcase, then entering the party and trying to find the perfect sniping position to get the target that needed to be sniped
II. Accidentally stumbling upon an excellent sniping position behind a big curved planter on the other side of the party from where the sniper rifle target was wandering around, and – after waiting for the guy to come around a wall, a failed shot, and Mike stowing his giant sniper rifle away in a panic after said failed shot – managing to take the guy out with a well-placed snipe, earning both the narrator’s and Andy’s admiration
III. Being startled by the High Fashion Rival managing to take out one of the other targets – then getting annoyed (along with Jane and Andy) when the jerk’s celebration cam revealed that he’d found himself a MOUNTED sniper rifle up on a high ledge near the far edge of the level, just proving that the Rival got unfair advantages in this game
IV. Deciding to follow the advice of one of the commenters in chat and go back to the start of the level and up the hill near the car park to get himself a guard outfit...which turned into a game of “Whack A Guard” after it turned out there were a LOT more guards in that little guard station near the start of the level than they’d initially assumed. At least Mike did manage to score one of their outfits for poor 47!
V. Getting a “kill cam” of the Rival taking out the final target of the level (meaning Mike had officially lost) and deciding to find out where the guy was even set up so they could maybe find a way to mess with him on the next go-round...cue Mike discovering the car park, the security tunnel, and the silos on the edge of the level for the first time; spotting the Rival coming down from a high balcony atop one of the silos and figuring his sniping nest must be up there; knocking him out with the briefcase and dumping him over the side of the balcony into the rocks below because it didn’t matter anymore; and promptly getting murdered by the other guards who were watching all this go down. XD Oh, and briefly losing his connection to the IO servers right as he died, because that is the kind of stream this was. XD
VI. Starting his second attempt – only to be distracted by Producer Jon handing Andy a new prototype “noticer” headband (basically a big white paper ball on a stick attached to some headphones) that he made up; the OXBoxers were very happy with it, as was chat, who said they’d buy as many copies as could be made XD
VII. Trying again and this time grabbing the bodyguard disguise from the one going up the hill to the security checkpoint – only to discover that it didn’t actually allow him access to the security tunnel and silo beyond; cue Mike knocking out a guard in front of all of his buddies to try and get his disguise, then failing to choke out one of the investigating guards thanks to the guy turning around at just the wrong time (Jane noting that this is what screwed her over before too), leading eventually to him dying in a hail of gunfire while trying to beat everyone up
VIII. Trying a THIRD time and – on Jane and Andy’s advice – not bothering with a disguise, but instead just vaulting over the barrier outside the car park behind some of the cars to keep out of sight and keep pace with his Rival. Which led to him investigating a “staff only” door in the security tunnel and snagging himself a coin and a banana from the check-in room beyond; managing to get ahead of the Rival and head up to the sniper’s nest up on the silo; knocking out a guard who noticed him trespassing with his banana and stealing his outfit – accidentally creating a distraction for the Rival in the process (who couldn’t help but stop and stare at this naked man); and successfully finding the mounted sniper rifle and taking it off the mounting, thus preventing the Rival (still confused by the body) from using it! Yay!
IX. Going ahead and trying to snipe his three targets from up on the balcony at Andy’s insistence – and, despite some close calls (like missing a shot at the first target because he was standing behind a rock and getting the attention of another guard – who fortunately was easily fooled into thinking everything was fine by Mike just putting down the sniper rifle; killing a random maid BEHIND one of the targets wandering around the house at the other side of the level – of course sparking comparisons to Jane murdering loads of women during her go; and missing so many shots at the second target in the house), he managed to get two of out of the three! Neither one of them being the one he was supposed to snipe, granted, but still. A win’s a win! XD
And that is where I left it – tomorrow, we’ll finish up with Mike hopefully sniping the final target and completing the escalation, and after that the gang will probably move onto the final Sins mission, the Wrath-themed one! I imagine that’ll be fun. :)
2. Continue final edits on Chapter 6 of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – managed to do about seven pages today, covering:
A) Alice leaving Skyeline Apartments, talking with Wonderland about how bubbly Victor’s blood made her and how she’s grateful to have him in her corner, especially with most of the vampires of L.A. treating her like their servant
B) Alice looking to get a taxi and complaining both about the one cabbie that seems to be stalking her (even though that shouldn’t be logically possible) and – in her head – about her inability to say anything about the potential Blood Hunt on Nines out loud even to herself, and about how she would like somebody other than herself to show some sympathy for Grout’s lost ghouls (because what happened to them was horrific and shouldn’t go uncommented on)
C) Rabbit running off while telling Alice she shouldn’t get distracted and leading her to the abandoned hospital, where she was promptly nearly run over by a panicked man emerging from it; he told her that he was the host of Haunted LA, and that something had attacked his camera crew, and that it was coming for him, before running off in terror
D) Alice heading into the hospital in the hopes of trying to help the crew, and being forced to take the long way around all the various junk walls and such in her way, spotting camera feeds showing the unfortunate demises of two crew members along the way and getting to personally witness the third after getting down to the basement (which did not please her in the slightest)
E) And Alice spotting the monster apparently behind all the murders in the hospital morgue, and getting ready to knife them – only for Cheshire to advise her NOT to put her blade to work just yet, but to instead see what the “mantis” had to say, and thus instead approaching the woman for a chat
Not too shabby, I suppose – I would have liked to have made it to page 16 tonight, but I had a lot more edits to make in this section, so it just wasn’t happening. Tomorrow, we continue, starting with Alice’s conversation with Pisha! Hopefully I can get at least another seven pages done...we will see!
3. Watch something on YouTube: No check – which is getting quite annoying, as Josh actually uploaded another Fun With Shorts recently. I’m gonna have to carve out some time to watch that damn thing sometime this week!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: No check – I was hoping to figure out what I wanted to do for Song Saturday over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) tonight, but it just didn’t work out.
Yeah, I was hoping to get more done today, but...well, apparently time forbade. At least I got the most important stuff done (aka, the LB:DQ editing). We'll see if Thursday goes a little better -- night all!
