Been a little
Wow, it's been over a month.
Well, the first thing of note is that out of nowhere, Will, my old college roommate, sent me an email and we met up. Basically, I haven't talked to him for several years (~10-12), but we didn't have any sort of falling out or anything. We just had our own lives and are bad at communication. So on Sunday, in the middle of making an early dinner, I checked my email and saw he is living in NJ again and is planning to be in Edison later that day. He and his wife invited Angie and I to dinner, which was unfortunate since we just made dinner.
Anyway, I decided to meet up with them (it was too short of notice for Angie) and it was pretty good to talk to him/meet his wife. I wouldn't say there was anything amazing or interesting, although apparently he wrote a couple of technical books (one on statistics, which I may pick up). But it was nice to catch up and apparently they come to Edison every now and then (buy groceries and eat food). So hopefully we'll be able to meet up more and I can try this "having friends" thing that people talk about =P
In other news, I'm almost done Ringworld by Larry Niven. I would say it's good, ambitious, somewhat mysterious, but for some reason, I think it's only good to okay. I think the world is interesting (both the Ringworld and the universe), there's some pretty interesting concepts, the characters aren't bad, and it's not necessarily slow, but for some reason, I'm not excited or motivated to read it. But I can definitely see why it was so popular and got acclaims. I'm not sure what I'll read next, I'm thinking of either retrying Dune or reading The Once and Future King. Who knows, maybe it'll be neither.
Additionally, I'm almost done with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. So I'm not sure if it's just a Metroidvania thing, but I kind of think certain "puzzle" aspects are kind of dumb. Like in the way where if I didn't use the internet after being confused for a bit, I'd be pretty frustrated by the game. I also feel the last stage that I was in (the "giant" world through the portal) was fairly uninteresting (hard to explore and enemies didn't really make good gameplay sense). But I think I only have a section or two left. I'd say it was overall, okay to good (but less than Ringworld in a different sort of way). The exploration was overall good, but I felt the RPG elements (items, crafting) could have been a bit better. But it was good to play. Upon completion, I'm thinking of either replaying/completing Knights of the Old Republic II or playing Assassin's Creed: Rogue.
A few weeks ago, we brought Alfie to dine outdoors with us (positive of the pandemic is outdoor seating). Alfie is generally pretty mean to strangers, but when there's the possibility of food, he becomes so hopeful that he'll get some (either from us or strangers).
pets
Alfie hopeful that he'll get some chicken fingers, which was a child portion that Angie got for Alfie.
(https://photos.app.goo.gl/qAXRPwmx1HSZSrLM8)
Alife hoping to get food from the next table. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/1J8a9SCq18xKdW8d9)
Unrelated photo of Morgan cleaning Jabba. Morgan is normally very mean and picks on Jabba so this is a rarity. Plus Jabba is gain weight nicely. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/NBek6xNkBZ1DnFsD9)
Well, the first thing of note is that out of nowhere, Will, my old college roommate, sent me an email and we met up. Basically, I haven't talked to him for several years (~10-12), but we didn't have any sort of falling out or anything. We just had our own lives and are bad at communication. So on Sunday, in the middle of making an early dinner, I checked my email and saw he is living in NJ again and is planning to be in Edison later that day. He and his wife invited Angie and I to dinner, which was unfortunate since we just made dinner.
Anyway, I decided to meet up with them (it was too short of notice for Angie) and it was pretty good to talk to him/meet his wife. I wouldn't say there was anything amazing or interesting, although apparently he wrote a couple of technical books (one on statistics, which I may pick up). But it was nice to catch up and apparently they come to Edison every now and then (buy groceries and eat food). So hopefully we'll be able to meet up more and I can try this "having friends" thing that people talk about =P
In other news, I'm almost done Ringworld by Larry Niven. I would say it's good, ambitious, somewhat mysterious, but for some reason, I think it's only good to okay. I think the world is interesting (both the Ringworld and the universe), there's some pretty interesting concepts, the characters aren't bad, and it's not necessarily slow, but for some reason, I'm not excited or motivated to read it. But I can definitely see why it was so popular and got acclaims. I'm not sure what I'll read next, I'm thinking of either retrying Dune or reading The Once and Future King. Who knows, maybe it'll be neither.
Additionally, I'm almost done with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. So I'm not sure if it's just a Metroidvania thing, but I kind of think certain "puzzle" aspects are kind of dumb. Like in the way where if I didn't use the internet after being confused for a bit, I'd be pretty frustrated by the game. I also feel the last stage that I was in (the "giant" world through the portal) was fairly uninteresting (hard to explore and enemies didn't really make good gameplay sense). But I think I only have a section or two left. I'd say it was overall, okay to good (but less than Ringworld in a different sort of way). The exploration was overall good, but I felt the RPG elements (items, crafting) could have been a bit better. But it was good to play. Upon completion, I'm thinking of either replaying/completing Knights of the Old Republic II or playing Assassin's Creed: Rogue.
A few weeks ago, we brought Alfie to dine outdoors with us (positive of the pandemic is outdoor seating). Alfie is generally pretty mean to strangers, but when there's the possibility of food, he becomes so hopeful that he'll get some (either from us or strangers).
pets
Alfie hopeful that he'll get some chicken fingers, which was a child portion that Angie got for Alfie.
(https://photos.app.goo.gl/qAXRPwmx1HSZSrLM8)
Alife hoping to get food from the next table. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/1J8a9SCq18xKdW8d9)
Unrelated photo of Morgan cleaning Jabba. Morgan is normally very mean and picks on Jabba so this is a rarity. Plus Jabba is gain weight nicely. (https://photos.app.goo.gl/NBek6xNkBZ1DnFsD9)