2025 Week 2 Sunday Study
Wednesday, January 1st, 2025 (cont.)
This was a very refreshing day, appropriately.
S.T. and I caught a few episodes of The Twilight Zone, we caught up on Monday Night Raw from Monday, and that evening I sat down to play the entirety of The Duck Detective, which might be one of the cutest and most enjoyable little 2 hour game experiences that I have ever played.
The art was so silly with the way that everyone looked like a sticker and moved like they were being wiggled around by hand. The voice acting was perfect for the absurd tone and they took themselves just seriously enough. And there was a dedicated quack button. 10/10 no notes. I immediately wish-listed the new one that is under development.
I made sure to get to bed at a decent time in order to get plenty enough sleep before work the next day.
Thursday, January 2nd, 2025.
Not everyone goes back to work right on January 2nd, so the train was relatively sparse this morning. I spent nearly the entire ride playing Balatro on my phone and listening to The Greatest Generation cover the DS9 episodes that we had watched recently. Much the same way that journaling helps me relive and get something new out of the things that happen in my own life, I find that listening to TGG after watching an episode of Star Trek basically helps me re-watch it through a different lens. It is something that I really appreciate.
In Balatro I am becoming a full convert to the Checkered Deck. It is just so easy to make flushes when you only have Hearts and Spades, so you can get on some incredible runs with the right jokers.
That morning at work I found the door locked, but I was let in by Delany, my coop advisor counterpart, who was arriving at the same time. She waved her card in front of the reader while I was looking for my physical key that would fit the lock.
A very funny thing happened to me as I got settled in. My coworker Tess, another academic advisor, stood in the doorway of my office and talked to me about just about every single thing going on in her life for about 25 minutes straight. I learned about the various names that her grandparents had, and about her child's diagnosis of managed constipation. About how she grew up with both Jewish and Christian traditions, so her kids get both Christmas an Hannukah gifts. She told me about her favorite Apple Watch strap. I felt like Jim, listening to Kelly on an episode of The Office.
Don't get me wrong. I was not annoyed in the slightest. In fact, it makes me feel incredibly normal and welcome when people want to talk to me. I hope that I am the type of person that invites it.
It was a very busy morning with several unique problems that I did not immediately know how to solve. It mellowed out as we got into the afternoon, and I was able to watch the entirety of Giant Bomb's final day of Game of the Year deliberations. That was extremely cozy and nice.
Towards the end of the day, we all needed to take shifts at the front desk as none of our student workers had come to work. I did the shift from 3:20-4PM, and I met with quite a few walk-ins. It took me back to the days at Harvard. It is humbling to just be open to the public. I like it that way.
I was able to catch the 4:01PM train home as it was running late. I did a lot that evening. I did a big grocery shopping and went for a nice run on the treadmill. I covered our extremely leaky sump pump hose in the basement with duct tape. That night I had a roaring good time with Buddy, Shawn and Neil in Helldivers 2, though I was plagued by connection and hitching issues.
Afterward I stayed up to watch the DS9 season 2 episode, Profit and Loss, before going to bed.
Friday, January 3rd, 2025.
A work-from-home day with nothing on the schedule.
I am a bit anxious about several things coming up at the start of the semester on Monday. No one seemed to be working. I was not getting nay response from any of the program managers or faculty leads that I needed.
It is going to have to be what it is going to be, I suppose. I tried not to worry too much about Monday.
S.T. messaged me that morning to tell me that she really misses Waffles. I miss him too. I feel a little twinge in my chest whenever I see a picture of him, of which there are many in the house. I feel bad about almost forgetting that he is gone. I feel guilty for adjusting to life without his dumb little face in the house. I was glad that we talked about it. We should talk about it.
Most importantly, I had gotten so intrigued by Jeff Gerstman's talk of Warframe over the last few days that I decided that I would install it for myself and just see what happened. I wanted to see for myself how possible it was to start from scratch in a game that has been going for so long. Would I be able to make heads or tails of it?
Honestly, I found the new player experience to be pretty friendly. It reminds me of Destiny 2, Mass Effect, and DC Universe Online all at the same time. I think I could be in danger of spending a lot of time in this game.
I ended up staying up far too late that night, between Warframe and VR Chat I was up until about 2AM.
Saturday, January 4th, 2025.
Having finished my weekly miles the day before, I took this day off from running and slept in until 10:30AM or so. I was not up and at it until noon or so.
I think I probably spent 5 hours on Warframe that day. There is always something to grind for.
I ended up doing a random mission with one other guy, and in chat I let slip that I was a new player that knew nothing about the game. He told me to message him after I had done my Mastery 2 challenge, and I did.
That led to a very strange experience. He got me invited into his clan, and his clan leader ended up talking to me over Discord for about an hour, teaching me the ropes of the game and giving me several mods that would serve me very well. It was very kind, and I was very appreciative.
Unfortunately, he and another guy in the voice chat then made some kind of awful 'joke' about George Floyd. It wasn't even remotely funny, even in an edgy way. It was really disappointing. People on the internet suck, man. I thanked them for the lessons and left. I do not plan on entering the discord again, but I will gladly still take advantage of the clan benefits.
S.T. brought me down to watch the finale of the season of Hell's Kitchen that she had been watching, and afterwards we watched Smile 2, which I found to be a movie worth celebrating. A lot of these Blumhouse horror movies feel like they are pulling their punches, but the Smile movies have teeth. They're not afraid to be a bit gory, and it is genuinely creepy and artfully crafted. I seriously enjoyed it.
That night I ended up meeting with Sebai, Jessie, Purp, and Fyreside in VR Chat. It was a genuine furry hang in VR. Jessie and I ended up talking on a rooftop until about 2AM in the morning.
We explored a lot about my past and why I am not a hugs and cuddles kind of furry. It feels weird opening up to these guys, but dammit if it is not awesome to feel like hanging with a crew.
That night at 2AM I stood over the sink eating graham crackers with jam before going to bed.
Sunday, January 5th, 2025.
It still does not feel natural to write "2025" as a date. Isn't that funny? We do that every year, and every year we say it does not feel right. A year is just enough time to get used to something.
I slept until 11:30AM, which is extremely late for me. It has been a long time since I had that feeling of accidentally sleeping in. I think it is a good sign. My brain felt like it was safe enough to sleep that long. I had wacky dreams.
I think I genuinely played about 6 hours of Warframe today. I finally have a 2nd Warframe in the fabricator, and I will be able to play as Volt the next time I am on. That feels great. Being excited about a game feels amazing.
I was able to get in my 5.5 miles on the treadmill and we cooked up an 8 dollar steak for dinner.
S.T. and I watched Smackdown from this past Friday, and I stayed up a little later than I should have to make sure that I finished this journal entry and got everything on the record before another day went by.
Tomorrow is the start of the Winter quarter. There is going to be a lot going on. I have a student coming in person tomorrow, and another virtual appointment right after that. I have to run an orientation for new students on Tuesday. It should all feel a bit overwhelming, but I am trying to take it one day at a time.