The day and Age

Ah the foibles of life. These days, with all thats going on here and across the globe, its hard not to get all caught up and wigged out about what yesterday, was no big deal, today is all about a big deal. seems like just when you get one thing figured out, everything changes and you find yourself having to scramble to catch up on it all again. and in one aspect, I feel its just too much and why am i trying so hard.. and in another, I feel I should be trying harder, or my expectations are gunna rear up of a sudden and I'm gunna be drowned in them again. (thereby, making no real sence at all, even to me.) I detest running into my own expectations. so, let me start again with something I'm a bit more comfy with.. even as things around me keep getting in the way.

An update with Minecraft.. and whats comin up. 1.17 thus far is a few really nice changes.. new blocks, new mechanics. and the usual lack of direction from yours truely... meaning myself. with the second part, being 1.18 showing sneak peaks along the way toward the end of the year.

I stepped into a new portal... for the second time... and somehow got to meet some pretty cool friends. I have been much like the times.. a bit chaotic. time of month, alergy sneezes and stuffed thoughts, full of muzzy cotton. ..paranoia and fear... and not watching out for my own facts of reality. I have been showing my lows, and been more than a little frightened of things that i am looking forward to, will ring hollow... and thus far.. theyre still there, these friends. (arn't they?)
I started in the nearest town.. straightening out roads, and farming areas... not realizing someone else had already laid claim. I saw the town fizzle and villagers disapearing.. and then roaring back of a sudden via replenishment of a creative admin. i learned about.. and am still learning about just what it means to have a lack of mob griefing. I have tried to move across the swamps and dark oak.. using my idea of a nether hub for ease of transport. and got a slightly better connection I am none too sure i should be trusting.I settled into a small village of cedar and spruce.. trying to keep things small scale hoping it will keep the lag monster from chewing on my ankles. I then created a bridge, spanning the very ocean to reach another village i had 'adopted'. the bridge is still not completed. but the new village became more of a town sitting on the edge of the new updated plains.. and a geode was found there, along with several new blocks I am hoping will soon become a bit more versitile, stairs, walls, and slabs.

my spruce home has become a place of all new underwater activity, with the axeys and the glow squid... and the drowned. I became interrested in the ruins in the water and have spent considerable time enjoying the benefits of a conduit I placed down there...temporarilly, I told myself, and up until a day or so ago, was still saying. I descovered the properties of copper and its value as lightning rods, shocking as it was. (pats down frizzled hair) somehow i got them up just in time. and am now thinking there must be a way to make a few new houses, in between what already exists... and yet there is space uphill I have done not a whole lot with. I did put up a wall, at last, on the land side anyway... since the woods are full of zombies and skelis. still considering tree houses.. even as I dont wish to copy anothers idea.

ahead of us, there is both aprehention and joy for the new dynamics of the coming update. caves and cliffs part 2. With monsters only being able to spawn in complete darkness.. and my adversion to said darkness...and ample use of torches and fences... should be welcome, with the expansion of the world.. bigger caves, getting in the way of my mining style. *grumble* and shivers for the new wardon I hope I will somehow be able to mentally surmount like i have the enderman.

I am learning more about how to fly.. with the rockets..(so halfhazzardly) and swim..with the dolphins.. and that lovely conduit. I got to meet someone who is much like me in creative building.. and seems a bit more sympathic to my foibles. I feel I have learned a lot.. to the point I feel i need to write it down, lest I forget it all. I am slow, I have realized, with building and projects. Very slow... and weeks with just being content not to do much of anything.

That reminds me, i have yet to see 'the hubby's' lightnouse build on that lonely island. I wonder but wont ask the question in mind.. these days, its just better not to risk getting into it. Wish I could remember that bit of sage advice when I feel the impulse to howl at the wall. Either back it up or shut it up... problem is how to 'back it up' when the news and truth, mixed with nontruth and lies, is all over the place?

Its the day and age of rage.

edit: boy, has it ever. Someone who's friendship I valued, turned out to be toxic and quite hateful toward me... came out of the past to once more smack me soundly about the head and shoulders.. (I'll Just call this person Bob) to me it felt quite sudden and i was stunned... but as I felt the emotions ebb over me.. I realized it was nothing new.. I just didnt expect it to be such a big deal... I had forgotten the intence feeling of pure hatred washing over me via Bob. and the insane "reason of opposites".. I had tried to be of support to someone I viewed as a good and true friend... Bob had gone through a difficult time. Aparently, at least in Bob's book, i suck at good advice and should have realized it sooner... like as in before I thought that my support was actually something that was wanted. I had forgotten. I had forgotten all about the ill-feelings toward me, voting instead, to remember what a good solid friend this person was. Some things have changed.. some things, aparently, have not. I truely, am sorry, that after all this time, its still a fresh wound to Bob. Beyond that, I wont even try to give advice for moving on.. to anyone but me. I choose not to encounter this toxicity in my life anymore. I chose to take my own 'good advice', and move on. Short of the jitters and a few tears, I got over it. I recall now, some of those feelings of hatred in my life... from other sources. they are like a sad echo.. stuck behind me in the past.

I suppose that would be the beauty of losing one's memory. you forget the angry pain as well as the mountain of regret. edit/update... learned something I was -really- slow to realize today... I seem to have the avengers 'banner' for a trivia partner... he has a secret i was slow to figure out. some people in this world really are... always angry. truely, that can't be good for thier health. its really a sad to realize as well. Is it possible to have high blood preasure and be anemic at the same time? Does a person have to be born with autism, or can it be aquired over time? .. can a person get autism though one's parents if they dont have it? I watched a video the other day who spoke of such things.. having a hidden autism... and the signs to reveal it. i did fit that idea. well.. for certain I'm an overthinker.... at least it sounds a bit less of a clinical thing.

A Secret Scare

Starting to think I might need to get tested for dementia, maybe random havana syndrome, or somesuch. I still don't believe the great mugwup had ended with the problem they said he did. I know I have said as much, but.. maybe it was just about splitting hairs on my part.
I doubt myself for making no sence...just thinking I do. someone gave me three words... and I thought to remember them for the next time I needed to recall.. and not 2 minutes later I could only recall the first one. The other day I sang a song out loud.. and was embarrissed to think i might have sung it off-key. !! I was mortified. the other evening, I told someone something I thought was terribly interresting... thought I might have embellished the story a bit.. and i only got a Hmm.. in responce. Again, I was confused and a bit embarrissed. I didnt hear a word i expected, so thought to provide it.. and got an eyeroll. "of course, I knew that all along!" my tendency to repeat things.. as if saying them once wasnt clear enough... especially old stories... which should be quite well known by now. was I lying?..embellishing? when asked what I thought might be a "prove it" suggestion, I got irate and said I no longer cared about any of that. Have i forgotten some of those things I said? are things I think still relevant, not any longer? is it just to me? I doubt myself. how many times of late has the English language, "not been with me"? and how many times ..of late... have i gotten up, not sleepy in the slightest, only to find myself nodding off a moment later? a faulty gene? I'm rather frightened in public.. or when talking, afraid I'm making no real sence... that I'm losing something... something important... that imbellishments i might have said.. or forgotten might be exposed. I have stopped my language learning because I feel I cannot retain any of it. i look at a word, and can no more identify it now, then i could some 7 years ago. I have, of late, often felt panic rising within me, at having forgotten something... or that, as if i had intentionally lied as my sister often asserted, sometime in the distant past, will get discovered. so I hush.. hoping not to be "called upon." Things I might have said, or ugly things that have happened in hazy history, I have spept (swept)aside, intentionally, saying I'll think on it another time.. and never to do it again. its just.. whatever it was.. gone.. like a wisp of steam, in my mind.
...... am I fogetting something? .......

talk aabout having an 'off' day. sheesh... and whats with all the typos?!

edit/update... yepyep mental health is a thing... looking back with realization..how many times already? and looking forward with a shiver of anxiety...and.. I dont want to worry... i dont want to think so much into things, i mean. what if its just me? and yet... they say dont ignore early signs... look at it this way... a person to who loves do certain thing, no longer does them... things that could prove embarrissing, slipping from one thought to another in the middle of a chat, that makes people (everyone but you) do a mental "wait, what?" and well into it, later, do you catch it... i was talking about "how long one boiles eggs, not potatoes." is it just a woopsy? what if it happens over and over again? is it still just amusing? do excuses still work? "I stopped simply because i felt i was going nowhere with it." does it feel like it's.. if there's something more to it? or are things, for you starting to add up to fear of something bigger and its all just... nothing, and yer just jumping over molehills again? if it just me, being exadurent and fearful? (I'm pretty sure you get the meaning in that 'word' regardless of its made-upness.) I blame it all of something else.. just dont care to know anymore... just can't see my way through it, im just tired.. a lot. or maybe.. I simply didn't get the answer I expected.. i didnt understand the answer i got...
feelings checklist.. fear, anxiety, difficulties, not up to the task, loss, a desire to let someone else take over. giving in. giving up? uncomfy, leaning away, sad, tearful, angry, frustrated, flussered, rolling eyes, where do i go from here? do i? trying to shut up more... and more often. I'm so sorry. :(

-sigh- here i go again..

Its funny how people will "Hear" me.. but not really "listen" to what I'm saying... the words I am choosing. trying to carefully knit phrases together to give a bigger meaning to what I'm saying. And it gets misinterpreted.. the person gets angry, thinking I am trying to somehow harm them with hurtful things or calling them petty names(?)...which is most certainly not my intention at all. And Incredulously, I get told I need to be more careful with my words. *looks a bit confused* Well maybe I'm not the worlds best communicator.. I'm no wordsmith, thats for sure. Especially across the net. well... -sigh- i guess thats how it goes.

At the time of writing this, I am heeding the whole "stay-at-home request. I do hope that for those of you in the same boat right now, that you keep your hands clean and avoid getting to close to others.. and keep cabin fever away by playing the hermit just a bit longer. "this too, shall pass."

I have been spending time, as usual, playing with the (role-gaming) portals that pop up,, staying mostly with the realm of Minecraft of late.. and listening to the news i find on youtube..with the occasional musical interlude of artists I enjoy.

Tune Vids Baby! oh yeahh

Steam-Powered Giraffe - I'll Rust with you




The Newfangled Four - Hello My Baby... Through the Years




Conchita Wurst - You Are Unstoppable

Dimash Kudaibergen - S.O.S D'un Terrien Detresse

at the Tokyo Jazz Festival 2020

The Cog is Dead - Another Cog in the Machine




The Petersens & Ger O'Donnell -The Fox

Sand Fleas and Bedbugs on you and pets

Life experiences... yeah.. I have had my share of bug battles.. this is my quick and cheap way to mow down their numbers before they totally get out of hand. from actual life experiences.

A. head lice.  If you got them, you will likely know it fairly quickly. they itch! and you can just about see and feel the little beggers walkin around . If you want to get rid of them, find yourself a ready lice comb,  a jar of mayonnaise, and a plastic grocery bag.... you heard right.. mayo. It seems they cant handle the oil of mayo.. not olive oil.. although its good for your skin, it wont stay on your head long enough to suffocate the lice on your head. take the mayo and spread it everywhere in your hair and scalp.. put the plastic bag over your hair/mayo mix like a shower cap.. simply to keep the mayo in place on your head. give it some time, until the mayo starts to 'melt and drip a bit (about 30 mins?) then go take a shower and wash your hair. give it a day or three, then reapply to catch all the new hatches you missed the first time. the mayo will have caused the glue on several of the eggs to come free.. but not all the eggs will fall out of your hair that first time. A lice comb is handy so make sure to keep it on hand in a med kit or some such for future bug infestations you might encounter... especially if you own cats.

B. Fleas. What a Pain these bugs are. best way to cut down their numbers is a constant vigilance.. that lice comb (see above), some dish soap (like dawn) and a glass. comb out the cat, being careful around furry elbows, nipples, and whiskers, then quickly grab the comb tines and pull the red/black of fleas, flea dirt, and cat fur off into the glass of extra soapy water (I would also have a long chopstick or other such to stir the fleas etc down into the water.) repeat as needed.
Now for a quick hazard warning to watch for, when putting down a soapy water dish near a light, for fleas to jump into... it works, yes, fleas are attracted to the light and will jump into the water and drown.. but.. there will also be fleas that missed the jump in your carpet all around the area.. and the infestation will eventually get pretty thick in that area.

C. Bed Bugs. there is no easy way to really be free of these pests..but... knowing a bit about them can help... they are active mostly at night and in the very early dawn.. they can and will often climb the walls and fall off, hoping, I guess, to find a tasty snack by landing on you in your bed. they will also cluster in gathers and folds of your mattress, sometimes staining it with little spots of black. when they bite, its often multiple times in one area and often you wont even feel them until well after the deed is done and the bug has moved on. I have tried most bedbug sprays and bombs to no avail... best bet is to buy a sturdy bedcover and encase your bed in it to deal with most of them, be prepared to have that case on for like a good year tho. and get out a spray bottle for rubbing alcohol (at as near to 100% as possible) to catch the ones you didn't encase.. like on the walls, on the case itself, on the floor or in other 'tight' places they can cram themselves into. the rubbing alcohol dries them up pretty quickly. keep after them.

D. the Sand Flea. yes, the little 'hopping' creeps you find at the seashore, in hillocks and tufts of long grass and along the tide line. No they are not actual fleas. and No, they don't have issues with salt. their bites hurt and then itch and often leaves little trace of its happening.. but for a tiny itchy spot on your foot. and no, they aren't just for the seashore. they can be transferred via sand taken from the shore to places far inland where it might be used for cat-boxes or/and children's sandboxes. they are a light brown, nearly transparent color, until they have fed, then they become dark and look much like a flea.. but do not often leave 'flea dirt' behind like a regular flea would. their numbers will increase very quickly and make like a moving carpet on your pet to avoid being seen. if your pet is small, it could very quickly become disastrous as they will put your cat into anemia which can become a kitty medical emergency. trust me on this one, not a good situation to have happen. flea/lice combs wont catch them, flea sprays, and powders are a no-go.. even the dawn dish soap bath has no real effect.  the expensive flea pill you can get at the veterinarian's <b>will work</b>.. temporarily. but not nearly long enough to avoid re-infestation.
but, I think, there is one thing that might just work to cut them down on you and your pet. Try this. Get a cloth or paper towel you can sop up with a whole lot of hydrogen peroxide and apply it directly to the fur and skin of your pet. it starts working near immediately to relieve the itch of the sand flea bites as you dab it on everywhere around the affected area, it quickly seems to drown the sand fleas and their bodies can be easily combed out afterward.
(and no, I had 'no idea' sand fleas were even a thing before I encountered them.. I only discovered this possible remedy some time after the death of my best four-footed friend and family member, when I found myself the recipient of their veracious visits.)

I do hope this short remedy list helps you out. let me know with a comment below, I'd appreciate it.

and then there are them there games...again.

luv the game but hate some of things in it? yeahh.. me too. here I give a voice to those things in the games I have tried of late. granted most of them are games still in coding works.. but thats the thing really? they need the feedback most during times such as this. so, here we go.

My Time in Portia

What a Beeeutiful game!! sweet color, gorgeous graphics, and such freedom, running around all over town and country, picking up wood, and stone, and checking out crops and animals and finding chests with goodies in them.
Its a shame the quests keep getting in the way! XD no, seriously, I like the quest idea, i love learning about the lives of the townsfolk with whom the higher your rep with each one,.. the more you learn about them. I like the idea of building things to help solve those quests, with each one fitting totally in with the character and situation they show up in.

Here is the problem(s) i encountered tho.
The quests... from the start.. was always a bit over my head. example, townie wanted a sword to practice with. didn't say what kind of sword, but for "to practice with". I had seen practice swords available to be made via my little workbench... so I thought, ok, the guy wants a practice sword. right? and accepted the quest, thinking it would take me all of a moment to run back to the workbench and get a practice sword. I had wood. easy-peasy. nope. got there only to discover, he wanted a 'bronze' sword. bronze? isn't that like, a mix between copper and tin or something?  ok, so it'd take a bit longer to make this sword... i needed metal. but where to get that? i wandered around a little, finding nothing but stone lying about. then i remembered something about a 'ruins' which might include mining... after a bit i found an entry in town that let me in and i found copper... then tin. yay! back to the house and..how much did i need again? hrm.. nothing to show a bronze sword on the workbench.. assembly? oh wait.. maybe i need to smelt the two together in the furnace first and then itd show up... so i created a furnace and smelted the bronze into bars. still nothing. hrm.. maybe i need to build up to it... i made a practice sword.. then another.. and another... well i can make an enhanced practice sword.. i need an upgrade for that. whaa? after looking about for a bit, i found an upgrade weapons box being sold (supersuper expensive!) in the town's tool shop... took about all of the trade coins i had but couldn't seem to do anything with it.. eventually, i returned home and put the thing in a storage box and let the day go by... then with another look, i found i could upgrade the practice sword. yay! i learned it used the upgrade box thingie, still in the storage box, later on. but still no bronze sword. eventually, i managed to gain enough boxes to upgrade my axe and pick plus one and still no bronze sword. ... and the quest ended... never to return.
ok, that was crappy, but wasn't to end there. eventually i learned that no failed quest returns... at least not in my version... not even the main story quests. add to that, all quests were timed, but over your ability to solve them by at least 2 levels. AND..  even when you jump through the research hoops correctly... you still sometimes lack in exactly how quests are to be solved. example... build a boombox.. they supposedly sent schematics but I see nothing changed in assembly instructions.. nor anything different listed in the workbench or furnace. the questor npcs have nothing to add either. So... uhh... what to do before the timer is done and i lose the quest forever? do I need to dash to the wiki again, hoping someone else has instructions ..again?
frustrating. Someone let me know when the quests get straightened out and I'll try to return for this otherwise wonderful game, please!

Minecraft
Now for those of us who have played this game several times, we don't see much of the issues that new players might see..because to us, they are oldhat. I recently got to watch someone play this game that had never played before. and I remembered some of the things i wish i had known when first starting out. there's kind of an order thats useful for beginners.. and oldhats as well.
a) huge rule of minecraft. "Do not dig straight down." you don't know just what you might find yourself suddenly dropping into the middle of. trust me in this, it's good advice to remember. (this should also be the rule for jumping or falling into really deep holes in the ground as well. you-gunna-die.)

when starting a new world, theres a little button you could push that'l really help. a starting chest, which will appear somewhere close to where you spawn in. In it, you will often find either a wooden or stone pickaxe, an axe of the wood chopping sort, some food, and a couple of logs/wood. take those, take the chest, and the torches, if any, that are around it.

first order of business, you need 3 sheep.. . if you kill three sheep and punch/use an axe on a tree or three youl have a bed to sleep through the night unmolested by the nighttime bad guys (a couple logs/wood blocks = makes wood planks, which will make a crafting block. 3 planks and three wool = a bed)
if sheep cannot be found nearby... find the nearest hillside to tunnel into or gather enough dirt blocks, wood blocks, or cobblestone to make a quick shelter to while the evening away... or you can just take your chances with all of the zombies, skelies, spiders, creepers etc, that are going to come by and say hi to you. why risk it on the first day?
there is also the off-hand chance you might see a village right nearby you can then get to and steal a bedspace for the night. (you'l make the villager whose bed it is, sad, if you actually steal it... just sayin. consider the villager.) now, remember, this is 1.14.. not 1.10. so there are a couple of hazards you need to be aware of.

1) if you stay awake 3 or more nights in a row the undead fliers (called phantoms) will come swooping out of the night sky to get a piece of you... make sure you either gain a bed to sleep in, or a solid roof over your head with walls to keep things out.
2) the drowned. zombies will turn into drowned if in water long enough, and they can walk the land at night... as if that wasn't enough, there is also a chance they will spawn with a trident... which will mean a quick death if you arn't ready and well armored. (also bear in mind if trying to explore underwater... they can swim through a one block wide hole. so be careful.)
3) pillagers happen... and they have crossbows. (and you thought getting skewered by a skeli with a bow was deadly.)
4) zombie raids do happen around town. and theres a lot of them.. all at the same time.
5) those little green creepers explode in line of sight. big ouchies. (they dont seem to really mind the daylight either.)
6) dont look at the tall black endermen with the eyes and purple sparkles. (keep your cursor off of them or) they will find you, even if you are waaaaaay over there. if you do look at one, get under cover quickly! crouching to get under a leaf block or under a 2 or 2 1/2 block high overhang. hopefully they wont reach you with their long arms because they can hit really hard. bear in mind though, they may try tearing your shelter apart to get at you. (I once had one tear half my porch ceiling apart before i managed to kill it with my sword)
rule 7) there is no rule 7
8) cave spiders. found in abandoned mines. poison. quick as a wink, moves through one block spaces, and just all around baaad news. worst of the monsters imho.
9) sleeping in a bed in the nether or end is a mega explosive no-no! (especially if you are perched on a ledge above a lava lake.)

and a few good things..
1) spiders are generally non-aggressive in the daytime.
2) creepers and the phantoms are afraid of cats.
3) skeletons are afraid of wolves.
4) endermen are afraid of water/rain.
5) ring the town bell and the nearby villagers will typically panic and get behind a closed door.
6) fences (and stone 'walls') cannot be generally jumped over. (but for spiders)
7) there is still no rule 7.
8) blocks just above the waterline by a block space cannot be jumped up on from the water.
9) the torch is your friend. monsters will not spawn within its bright glow.
10) a pail of water is also your friend when in a pinch. washing monsters a few feet away for needed breathing room, for putting out fires (and lava).. and for scaring the bleep out of endermen. (see no,4 of this particular list)

useful things to know.
a) punching trees works. punching stone/cobblestone doesn't really. (i mean to say, you -can- but you wont get anything but for maybe bruised knuckles and wasted time from it)
b) a wood pickaxe gathers cobble and coal (I think)
c) a stone pickaxe will gather cobble, coal, and iron
d) an iron pickaxe will gather everything but obsideon.
e) a diamond pickaxe will gather any rock/gem
f) axes chop trees.. each type doing a better job of it, while lasting a long time.
g) this is pretty much the case for shovels and armor as well.
h) sand and gravel suffer from gravity effects.
i) generally, water flows... it will move into the block you just removed, down a hole you just created or around a waterlogged fence and down a hillside.
j) bubbles are often created by either a lava block or soulsand. the former drags you down, the latter pushes you up. they -can- destroy your boat...but at least you can breathe while in them.
k) crouching while on a lava block = no damage taken. walking on soulsand.. slower than slow.
L) kelp can be used as food or as fuel.
m) crouching, being still with the mouse, and having a raw cod in hand might just make a friend out of a stray town cat.
n) giving bones to a wolf might just make a good 4-footed friend as well.
o) fishing poles are a terrific tool to have on hand... using one not only catches fishies but enchantment books, leather, string, tags, and enchanted bows as well.

I can see for pages n pages

Considering a webpage "return", for simple lil comics and suchness. I'd like to add it here, just to keep things in one place.. but a blog isn't really of the format I'm looking for.. i dunno.. rusty brain on the subject makes for weak motivation or inspiration. ..still in loose-leaf thought process. to be continued..maybe.

a tidbit on my daily life...

I bought a vacuum. Hope it's a sturdy thing considering what I'm about to put it through...a whole bunch of years worth of carpet dirt/dust/bugs and cat hair.
and I got a new-to-me computer!! Ty Aztaro! Rana has a new home and I love her very much! <3
thankyou! look at all the space! and the graphics!..so much better! and and... she's just wonderful!

gamesgamesgames, the epicness continues

Yeah.. Minecraft is still in the portal picture for me. on the upside, I am enjoying peaceful mode, and keeping it shallow in order to learn a bit more about the pillagers... from outside the villages. I really rather like the new villagers.. and their trading updates, thank you, Mojang. on the downside, I still dont like the pillagers showing up on my front lawn and tormenting my sweety kitty, or in my sheep pen out back, although the wandering merchant has been fun. I really don't mind the llamas either... and I'm glad for the milk to wash down the bitter taste of those darn illagers.
I did figure the issue with my being unable to get into 1.14 btw. turns out, it -was- my graphics driver (yeas, the integrated one). it was saying the drivers were up-to-date, but really they had not updated since 2004 or something. I had to uninstall those old drivers, and force the computer to actually update to the new ones. so now, I can get into single-player snapshots and updates for longer than 5 seconds. I'm still having issues with the portal into realms though... boo. Feels like a familiar issue though... very familiar.

update: the portal to realms fixed itself. yay! also, they made the pillager patrols follow the same rules as the other mobs in minecraft. put down enough light, and they wont spawn there. double yay! now.. to figure out just why there was only one villager left in my first town. I know they were not terribly pleased with me, when i was there last. but did they all move away? I didn't see them arrive in the second village i had been roosting in... where did they all go?


Here's a small shout-out to a few other good portals (games) that i have gotten a quick chance to check out. These ones seem to work fine for low-end PC's, like mine, and I find them worthy of the time spent looking at them.
What do I consider low-end? well, anything below the GB I suppose. something that could be dl'd easily.. and played on my aged(read: a tinkerers dream for some.. and a nightmare to everyone else) win 7 nyvid pc. ie.. nothing special in power, space, or graphics.


Rimworld
yeah, ok, i know, it seems like such a graphic fail... but really, its a fine bit of enjoyment if your looking for a top-down time management style game. your three little people's crashland on a random planet, and they not only the need to survive... with all the crazy-arse animals biting at their heels, radiation, fire, or blighted wheat to make everyone jump to the emergency.. but they also need to thrive, with warring bands of tribes tromping through, tradesfolk, and mechmachine madness.. while learning new applications of workstations, keep the place healthy, happy, and clean, a bit of learned energy saving, some rocket science, and other such improvements in the effort to once more try to get off the planet. keywords: components, components, components. your going to need a whole lot of them... and that's just to be able to get to the point where you have a chance to be able to make them.

Stardew Valley.
You, like me, love the harvest moon games, right? well, here's one at least as good and in a lot of ways better. you don't -have- to be a farmer, but it sure helps. You don't -need- to mine, and a deep mine it is, but it sure is an enriched adventure. You don't have to marry either... but it connects you to the little town like not much else can. and all that is just scratching the surface. If you can, Give the creator some appreciative applause, its inspired and much deserved.

Graveyard keeper.
Get ready to laugh.. or at least a little muhahaha under your breath, at this one. there is this.. really confused... new graveyard keeper in the village... and a lot is expected of him, judging by the numerous quests he is ladled with from the start. another time-management sort... its worth the time spent just trying to 'catch-up' to the goings-on right there in the immediate area. corpses, talking skulls, a crazy donkey, and a guy who lives in a barrel as well. the need for improving the area, chopping trees, mining stone, defending against slimes and bats.. making chopping blocks and anvils to create better headstones and borders for the graveyard improvements.. making enough coin for a visit to the farmer for seeds, or for another whetstone, nevermind whats needed for better knowledge in which to make these things.. and this beast-o-burden of a 4-footed Godfather is demanding a bushel of carrots just for going this way and that on the road!

The colonists.
little self-aware robots are seeking a new home in their grand desire to live like humans, land on a random world, with likely prospects and take to building a home for themselves. Yet, another time management sort... this one is quirky but quite a bit of fun. especially with the little roadblock disagreements before the repavers are set in motion. The biggest worry, I have found thus far is.. limited surface resources. fortunately, you can move where you want the collections to be made. so if your woodcutter is clear to the left of the screen.. you -can- just ask them to cut into the forest on the right side of the screen... just might take a bit to get them to collect enough to do anything with. and I just love the names they give the various buildings. "shanta's workshop"

The Bard's Tale Trilogy "Remastered".
An old classic game once more brought to the front of the class and showing off the nicest improvements. you start with several characters in a snow-bound city with a quest to stop the bad-guy triggering all the snow! Wander the city, taking on random barbarians, mad dogs and the occasional skeleton mob while leveling up your group, enabling them to take on more dangerous creatures and the dark of the underground. and that's just the first of three games piled nicely into one.

Planetbase.
This game is a little like Rimworld.. and a whole lot like a game I recall... was called Space Colony. but instead of mostly improving the colony from the perspective of the characters, it's mostly from the perspective of the various 'upgrades'. adding more machines which would help improve the expansion of the colony from the local weather, meteors, and expected wear n tear. ...and yet, somehow, make room for traveling tourists.

other.. possible... lower-end time-management style games, if you are concerned about graphic limits.. (I haven't tried these games as of this posting.. as yet, anyway.. but i hope to sometime here.. well, but for Roller Coaster tycoon 2, which is the best of the series imo.)
Embark (like rimworld), Project Hospital, Prison Architect, Townsman, Rescue HQ, and Terraria.

There's also the higher-end games that really look interesting in general.. if your really -not- concerned about graphics limits and space. (again, haven't been there.. yet.. but maybe someday)

Staxel, Ark Survival Evolved, Dawn of Man, Far Cry Primal, Astroneer, Satisfactory, My Time in Portia, Simcity series, Subnautica, the Tropico series, Anno, The Sims 4 and its different installments, the elder scrolls: Skyrim, Fable, Dungeon Keeper, Alchemist's Awakening, Ghost of a Tale, Startopia, Bannished, Owlboy, Foundation,2-point Hospital, and Craft the World.


meanwhile... life goes on in the fantasy land of mabinogi. Kita is once more trying to update her mining skill.. ugh! Windmill is still fairly useless, even at rank 3, not much can be hit with it, and even when it does, it leaves the low level imps ready to kick her butt. the chain weapon is still the best of melee weapons... ok ok, nothing much compares to her twin glads.. plus a boost of speed from final strike.(except maybe the lag monster, whose daunting freeze spells that are a serious killer... and the changes they made to places like fido dungeon to 'make combat more even'.. they meant to say "deadly" to Kita.) They merged servers recently, so am now trying to wait patiently for them to give us a chance to get our names back from the doppelgangers from other servers. what a mess it is.

Remembered Bellyaching & Pesimism thats part of my nature..

you think you got it bad....

I just lllurrve getting ill before a fun time. (sarcasm included for free)
That has happened for like three years in a row now, and its still counting.
and i dont mean one of those annoying got-the-sniffles colds.. i mean the-sky-is-falling-over, kick-em-while-thier-down kind of illnesses... just before a major holiday.

last year,.. no, the year before that, someone close to me got angry with me, cuz she thought i was making it up. i felt death-at-the-door ill, the day before christmas. turned out to be a knock-me-over sicksick, complete with a tooth abscess all rolled into one.
three teeth abscessed that time.. got all three teeth pulled.(getting three teeth pulled in one area, at the same time, is something major to me, i dont have that many teeth to start with.)

(in my family, teeth are most certainly not a strength)

both momma and dad had falsies.
additionally, mom had hearing issues (thanks mom) and the great mugwumpus had hip issues (thanks dad) plus.. a cancerball was rolling about(ty gpa n gma) and major heart issues were/are a big thing. (ty gpapa)

this last year, i got sick.. horrible cold, i think, and my beloved meow died. great time to be alive.. or not. so far, my special seasonal time 'off' has been batting 104%

wooowy, what a life!

A game in Particular..

Minecraft... aquatic (1.13) has been a great version thus far. I'm loving the new books/enchantments and the underwater decor. But for the longest time, I have been frustrated by being unable to check out the new 1.14 snapshots being hailed as villages and pillages. my loony computer kept telling me the graphics drivers were up to date.. yet they were, as it turned out, about 4 years out of date. I finally updated my ninny intel graphics drivers and the game finally let me into the latest snapshot.. and before I knew it, most of my poor villagers had died.

The hills were alive and squirming with the sound of raiders.. and i'd only been in town .. nay, in the game, for about 4 days. Now, I hear, mojang artists gleefully going on about how the pillagers have learned how to open doors. heck, my poor villagers have yet to learn to run indoors when they are attacked! the golem died first thing, and after all that effort i took, trying to get him to come home from his hillside jaunt. even though, i had fences up, they still mananaged to t-port inside and I must have racked up quite a bad omen score because I had like 3 groups knocking things and villagers over and I had not even had the time to check out the villager trade system changes or find a spider to beat on for the string to make a bow with.

After all that...horror, I have come to the conclusion, we need an option to turn off pillagers... either that or I will be spending quite a bit more time hanging out in peacefull mode. sheesh

The only way for it, seems to be peaceful mode. even on easy I quickly get overrun with pillagers. even with walls up, the determened nasties pop up inside of the villages to wreck thier havoc on all but the peaceful mode. so setting traps outside the town only catches the traveling merchants and drives village prices into the omg mode. its either that or ignore all villages and do my best to secure against the patrols on my own. Which is really sad because I consider villagers the single best combat vs the game's general lonelyness. (if that makes any sense)

Well, here's hoping they either outlaw pillagers showing up inside villages or create a means of turning the pillagers off before the update officially launches. it's either that or i now have another reason to feel stuck in an old minecraft version.

Rainy days and... Saturdays.. Always gets me down

OK,  so rainy days,  and Saturdays,  don't usually get me down.  Usually,  rain is soothing to me..  But i have been suffering eye and sleep issues of late,  and it seems i have a constant companion in headaches. Still,  i muddle through somehow.
I have been trying to get back into ol mabi of late.. Feels a little lackluster though.. Prolly just my general attitude.  Today i am feeling a bit shuffled and marginalized...  Its been a trying week.
Theres always housework.. -.-
There is also youtube..  And minecraft.

I hear the next update is going to be a good one..  Not to say,  this last one wasn't... It's nice to see a little color and usefulness come to the ocean. The next one will deal with villagers. I'm hoping it means they too will become more colorful and useful. Unlike some of the builders i have seen on YouTube,  i find it difficult to build up a whole area without something like the villagers to enjoy it. Sure hope they give some defens-a-bility to the villager ai.. Like adding a guard or militia to the villages so they don't all become ghost towns before i can get to them.
I'm not so fond of the pillagers idea of the planned update.. It looked like they might do more than trample vegie patches and shoot at villagers (shooting at them is hard enough to defend against as it is) i sure hope they won't destroy fences and buildings.
Andandand!!!   They will also be updating stairs and slabs at long last!  Yay!! (Now,  to get them to update the window panes!) Hopefully this will be something we see before early next years planned update.

Update: well.. mojang is giving no love to the low-end computers.. they are removing the option of turning off vbo's (which is the only way i have been able to keep the game from crashing on me.. if not crashing my computer right along with it.) in efforts to "improve performance". thus far I have seen anything but. the latest snapshot wont run for me at all and i have to back up to the last release and turn off vbo's once more just to be able to play the game once again. sigh

well.. in some odd chance, they get it all worked out for the betterment of all, by its official release sometime in January, I have wandered around in my world fortifying the town fences. :D


Since I finally have the moment, I determined to see my way clear toward learning to make a nether hub... even though I suc at math, and its been a really confusing time of 2 days rl.. but think i finally got it... so here's how... in my own words for better understanding... by me.

A: make a portal. B. F3 to take down x - z coordinates to the portal. take the coords and divide by 8 for each one. if there's a negative - just transfer it to the new number (ie.. -428 x coord. 428 / 8 = 53 so -53 x coord in the nether) make sure you have enough obsideon for another portal, and flint n steel. C. enter the nether. D. crash your nether portal in and go looking for the nether equiv. of those coords you came up with. E. once at your coord (go straight up for a safe(r) hub area), make another portal. F. go through. you should appear where your original portal in the over-world is. you are linked. if you screw it up.. youl likely appear wherever in the over-world... try not to screw it up. if you are up -far enough- in the nether, you shouldn't have to make steps or anything... nor will you have to make blocks under your feet to walk on. (the number for Y is totally ignored btw. just go about your merry way as if it didn't exist.)

Ugh! & b-day wishes

Supposed to be a special day and i think i caught a summer cold. (Sniff) stuffy,  runny nose,  sneezing,  headache, weepy tired eyes,  feeling rather bleh.  It figures,  don't it? I'm fine all the rest of the past several weeks, but today,  when i really need to feel fine and i got the achoos. (Sniff) geez... Need to lie down again.... Where's the tissue box?  Grumble,  kofkof.

Out for the moment but still in for the battle

Surviving the dog-dayz of summer once again. Flippin cactus flat heat waves are too much for a lowly kitty o' the mountains to handle.. Whew!! I miss the higher altitudes!!

Been a few changes in living of late,  and the heat even makes the tolleratable adulting rl stuff a serious strain... And other than the occational hissing of my complaints,  the place is filled with the constant sawing of zz's.... Its still better than it was in the not so distant past.. And its cooler as well.

I watched a fun movie.. brace of movies? That have given me a new favorite.  Reminiscent of a big ol giant king of monsters with a horrid case of atomic halitosis.. Enough to make me squeal with fan-girl excitement,  is Pacific rim. (1&2) The kaiju are on the rampage and it's up to the intrepid humans with their giant yeagers to stem the tide. Check it.  Great movie.  :)

Been playing minecraft modded 1.12 of late. Yeah,  i know 1.13 is (finally) out now.. But i wanted a chance to see some of the newer(well,  new to me anyway) mods for 1.12.. especially as I'm not sure when/if some of these mods are gunna update for 1.13... Considering ala changes. Hoping they do.  Not that i have anything against the straight 'vanilla' update..  The additions of the drowned and the phantom are fairly exciting..
But since i have been woefully slow on learning the the different aspects.. (Very slow).  Just getting started on enchanting and slowly getting brave enough to step tippytoe into the nether.) I figure i'll just take my time getting into the new update. Yeah... That's it... Just take my time.. Yeah.  Loving the building aspect though.  My only frown would be.. No changes to the window panes?? You like all those pixely gray streaks? I mean OK.. The 'preview' had a cruddy change to the cobble texture..  (And really,..  Still no stairs for the dorite?? Really?? Aww comeon, Mojang!! You put the purty white stuff in the game with the dorky-lookin patterned cobble... and andisite and..the pink granite! (That plainly goes with n a d a!). The least you could do is give it/them stairs, walls/fences and slabs like the cobble has! ) ... The changes suggested in the preview was a good one for the window glass. You could actually see through it! And here we are in1.13 and it's that grey pixelated glass texture again.  Ok,  fine..  So make that 'preview' resource pack work for the update then..  Ill live with the patterned cobble for a chance to actually see through the windows!
I reciently learned of the value for the mending and looting enchantments.. However did i live without them?!!  What a wonderful addition to my fishing rod and sword!! Now.. Will mending work on my sword?.. Will looting.. Or is it fortune.. work on my axes? So exciting!!

How goes my japanese self-study,  do i hear you ask?  Well...  Interresting you should ask... Kinda.   A little discouraged,  i think.  Feeling once again that I'm not -really- getting anywhere. Can't seem to remember stuff i feel i should have, by now. So backing away a bit... Again.  I have gone through this before,  and managed to recover my motivation,  so long as i don't go totally hands-off. (I got halted into reflection by a double negative sentence, which goes against the grain of -a lot of- growing up grammar learning.)

That is about it for now.. Think i need a cat nap... It's so ooo quiet here...

Once again now, .. one and a two..

I'm trying to see change,  by changing my attitude.. Thoughts.  Still difficult to see,  at times,  but i am seeing it.. Little bit by little bit. Very subtle.. But yes.. Things are changing.. Maybe just my perception.. But that's OK... It's still change to me.

Trying to define the English lang still flusters me at times.. Today I'm caught on... In 2 weeks vs the week after next. (Or even the week after the next one) to me they are pretty much all the same thing. Just saying the week after the next one is a fancy long-winded way to say in 2 weeks. To me, a week is simply a block of time ... 7 days. It doesn't indicate a certain day or the start of the week,  .. It's just a 7 day block of time.  2 weeks is simply that. 2 of those 7 day blocks of time.  So when i hear someone say that something is happening the week after next.. I think,  ah,  it's in 2 weeks.
And i follow that thought with,  it's not rocket science after all. So,  it kind of boggles my mind when someone says they are not the same thing. How can that be true? Unless they think it means in 3 weeks.. Not this week, not next week,  but the week following that next week... -.- but that's just annoyingly splitting hairs.

its funny... ok, not really

you struggle and struggle to drag yourself out of the ratrace pit, you try so hard for months.. years even. scratching and clawing, then just when it seems you are at the bitter edge... something gives and you fall... straight back into the same exact dark place you just crawled out of. why does it always happen? is there really such a thing as cursed? am I really? why cannot I not see something different, some actual progress? why must I always fall straight back into the same exact space?

what must I do to avoid falling into the same spot? how do i change the outcome? what am I doing wrong?

I'm getting tired of seeing the same-o everytime. I need a change badly. I have given up sooo much already. I even tire of the sad state of me at times like this. it isn't much wonder I've grown rather bitter and cynacle. its the same thing again, only without my buddy... my poor sweet meow is gone.

and Where's my Silver Platter?!!!

Minecraftin' it

not feeling much joy in living of late... I keep trying.. and well.. maybe all the fizz has left my pop since sir coo died. not much i can really do with and in my current rl position.... just lots of hoping things will straighten out. sure have been quite tired a lot and so cold! burrr!

Been playing a lot of minecraft.. pretty much as its all i can really play. (and now that ive said that.. my laptop is complaining. I also found some rather nice mods to help peaceful gaming stay interesting.


I discovered the concept of modpacks and peaceful setting.so... since I can't trust just what my computer will and will not do, and the packs are often huge, I went looking for the individual mods that suited me.. I wanted mods that would reflect my peaceful play intents. I wanted some interesting changes to the villages because the game is pretty lonely without the villages.. and the vanilla villagers (squidwards) don't seem to help an iota.I also wanted a larger inventory (its the packcat in me) and storage.
------
Forge and Optifine are essential if you want a modded game. forge helps with adding mods into the game and optifine adds.. dynamic lighting!..as well as a bit less lag on the system. I tried to get several villager type mods to work (helpful villgers sadly woulnt loadand millenaire isn't even close to being updated for 1.12.2..) (Update: They did though, just before 1.13. That knocked forge for a loop-de-loopand threw the mods metaphoric 'tables' across the pasture through 1.13 and into 1.14)(forge, as i understand. finally updated to 1.13.. just in time for 1.14 update... and thats still before many of the good mods out there managed any sort of update... I guess Mojang is on a roll now!)
------
but the only one that seems to function was MCA which at least gave those villagers a nice make-over and added guards to their communities.. which made an attempt to defend the villages at night. Can't really get them to do normal tasks though, without having to pay thm in gold.
------
then i added Toroquest which had even better guards. but the lord questor had a whole lot to be desired...and I wasn't down with having to fight 36 skeletons, 30 spiders or somesuch... and if i didnt accept that one quest, that was it. no more quests outa him. Also liked and didn't like the town-to-town infleuence. Yu could gain rep in one town then go to another and the good rep was still with you.
I didn't care a whole lot for the town zones though... how am i supposed to grow you 64 potatoes if i have to lose rep for taking from your fields?.. even when i'm not in your town by a fair ways, having created my own plot to grow those required potatoes? -.-
------
so i added Baileys Dailies.. which was better for a quest system... a bit glitchy.. but better. it added several peaceful quest choices everyday. it never would count my fish as i caught them... but she'd still accept them in person as a quest commpletion.
------
pam's harvestcraft, rustic, and peaceful hunger. pam's harvestcraft was great!.. maybe a bit too much though... My goodness! there was a companion mod called something like cooking for dunderheads.. or something to that tune.. that offered a stove/fridge/storage for all that food! which was rather handy. they all worked together too! need bigger storage options tho.. pam's is a huge mod, with lots n lots n lots of food.
------
Rustic was a bit like a mini version of pam's offering apple, olive and ironwood trees and a rather nice bee/honey set-up that went with the juice/oil making.
------
peaceful hunger.. a nice tweek so being on peaceful didn't mean you were immune from getting hungry.
------
I found a nifty, not often talked of 'backpack' mod created by someone called Brad16840. it seems pretty much just what i need... although i think the crafting recipe could use to be a little less... complicated.
-------
I tried to find a mod that would peacefully give me access to a few mob drops .. attained drops.. but the people who updated it made it so you have to hunt the mobs for the items to grow them. -.- not worthy at all. I can only hope to find something like that mod, only, made for peaceful playing in particular.
-------
Vein-miner was a rather handy mod...seemed somehow better on the trees then on the rock but.. who's complaining? it knocks out the ores and wood in the blink of an eye.
added along with this, would be fastleafdecay for amazingly quick deforestation .. then all youve got left to do is clean up the random ufo bits n bobs in the sky.. if any, and replant.
-------
finally found a version of minecolonies that will work past the set-down of the town hall glitch. Had to go to curse for it though, any other mod site seems to be content with the older non-working versons. then I encountered another game crashing bug.. i tried it twice, it ditched me both times...
the delivery person steals whet from the baker before they can bake it into bread. and will take whatever the baker did make, along with whatever is found in the citizen homes, and deliver all items to the warehouse... there to stay, while people starve and happiness tanks through the ground.
then, the moment the happiness score has been at 1 for a bit, the game crashes and I cannot get back in.

My advice to any one of the coders working on that mod, either give us an opportunity to adjust just what is taken by the delivery person, or, perhaps a way to turn off their pick-up visits to certain buildings would work. (there is no reason to be picking up the wheat at the bakers either) as it stands, considering the mess i have to go through to restart everything all over again, i'd rather feed the villagers and deliver stuff without the delivery person.

also, sad for me but i have yet to get the colony level above third.. nor have i quite figured out just what would make my villagers happy? (bot happiness to a 1.5 for adding barracks and 3 towers.. sigh) before something goes wrong and the game is corrupted. This last time, I was beset with an amazingly horrible lag and when I finally returned to the game... all the colony boxes were gone. Still have no real idea what caused it to happen...but i could say the lag was gone.. with the boxes and colonists.
------
Animania and Better Agriculture.. very cool concept. I loved the different kinds of creatures.. the 3d forms are beautiful. only difficulties? keep yer rams in their own enclosure or things will very quickly and wildly get out of hand! and.. no way to dye sheep? awww! was sure a nice way to get the colors you needed then was having to color the White wool(only) individually.
------
weather mods.. another wonderful idea considering the lackluster attempt by minecraft vanilla to make rain storms. and the dust storms.. wow!! But there was no love from me for the tornadoes n hurricanes throwing everything everywhere. Still I enjoyed it right up until my computer's complaints were finally heard and I took it down.
-------
Pam's get all the seeds. sweet idea... giving a random chance to gain potato, carrot, and melon seeds when clearing the brush.
-------
bird's nest, another very nice mod.. it's tiny, like the get-all-the-seeds one is. Gives a random chance to gain a few random things when chopping down trees. (I did try the tumbleweeds one, but the bouncing things were forever destroying gardens and planted fields!)
-------
unfortunately, birds nest isn't such a grand idea when paired up with minecolonies... the lumberjack has a love for picking them up, and clogging his inventory. So I thought to give another mod called loot bags a try.. well, its a good idea, i suppose.. if you can get the blasted things opened. thus far, every site i have so far visited but one, says nothing about this problem. one complained, same as my feelings, but the only answer anyone had was, right click to use the bag. which i have tried and tried to no avail.so, until i run across a working answer to the issue i'm faced with, this isn't a mod for me.

Dynamic Surroundings. interesting. ohh i like the water bubbles and the lava jets! very nice. the sound affects on switching tools, I liked not so much. (shiver) creepy and too loud. now if only you could cut the creep and get together with Ambient Sounds for background!
-------




Guess I'll give minecolonies one more chance... off to search for enough flat land to start once again! and No delivery person this time! Maybe I can manage to keep the folks happy for a bit longer.

I would love to play a questpack like peace of mind, .. but can find nothing small enough to work effectively on my computer... which is sad sad for me. there are small paks, but thus far, all but the one (which is huge!), nothing will work for peaceful.

edit: ... after several weeks of trying to get somewhere with minecolonies, 4 huge crashes that would forever glitch my game and having to start all over again...I have come to the conclusion that i cannot play minecraft of any size o ram... I suspect it has something to do with java se platform.. since its usually what crashes me.. my laptop already being sensitive on the whole boot-up idea as it is.. is not of much assurance.

so I am rather bummed. there just doesnt appear to be much of worth to stick with of late. too disapointed in my situation.. and the sorry state of an already sorry laptop...

I even tried watching another drama, got most of the way through, it was a good subject...even if it was a typical time-traveling doctor type. then i left it for a moments break/boredom... and never.. well.. haven't yet wanted.. to go back to it.

I watched a good movie.. wasn't too impressed with friends and family's 'eeehh' response though. lackluster doesn't become any of them. so.. guess its another of those subjects I am on my own with.

So don't let the nay-say-ers lead you astray.. I thought it a good movie... even if it did have a body count. it's name is "Bright". It stars Will Smith as a cop in a rough city where fantasy meets the gritty streets... much like alien nation the tv series did for the aliens... only with fairies, orcs, elves... and a magic-using, class of infernals looking to usher in the return of the evil dark lord.. and with them, comes the smell of the elusive long coveted wish-granting Wands that nearly everyone desires.. to the point of mass killing for even the hint of gaining one. And with this cop is a somewhat fumbling Orc partner and an elf, needing protection from all comers.. including other elves hellbent on retrieving the wand she holds dear.

(and just in case, you don't recall or didn't know of,Alien nation... here's a wiki on it. Link


Edit:

Found an old Mod being updated and I'm so happy about that!! It's a good mod, another really good idea.

Millénaire
now, the issues, are plenty, but it has some amazing potential. its a bit, like minecolonies, in the form of being a growing village, assisted by your gathering skills. that's.. pretty much where the resemblance ends tho. this french original is more a take on history.. with 4 different cultures, Mayan, Indian, Japanese, and byzantine. with each one pretty much speaking its own language. Rather than building anything yourself, you are more of a visiting trader, selling items each village needs to allow them to expand (such as wood, and iron). the more you help the village out, the better your reputation becomes, which will not only give you coin of the realm, but give you influence and access to some of their special items. (such as a village building wand)

Now all of this is great, and i'm loving how with each thing you sell to each village, the more buildings and villagers there are, and many of them have little quests to go here and there around the village, deliver food to a hungry soldier from his forgetful wife, solving mysteries, and seeing what you can do to improve their lives by a bit of land flattening or bridge-building or more resource -gathering.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many coders to keep things moving along...which means your horrible, possibly game-breaking bug might not get got to for some time.

and too, I hesitate in reporting some of it, having gotten the back-side of banning before.
an example might be....

its something been reported before... back a few pages... but I can't help but think it might be related to the circumstances in which the bug happened. my first town, I got as many resources as I could and tried selling them... they didn't want everything i had, go figure... but eventually I think i got them up to max, or near max buildings(to go with their available space), but the baron still gave me a blank stare when I tried to speak with him. then I wandered on for a bit, eventually finding another village.. which turned into a cluster of little villages all in the same area... so I saved t-port at each one, intending to help them all... but, it seems they didn't entirely like each other and I started getting updates about this town disliking that one. so I got a bit more savoy on what else rep can do.. and tried to sooth ruffled feathers... only it backfired. no sooner then I praised my home to the villagers before leaving to gather more material, then they were gleefully at each others throats. I received a scrolling update saying the little village I just left raided my first village, now quite prosperous. in a near panic, i teleported back to the village and was told by the chief, that he had just raided my hometown! Trying to make the situation better, I went to the village board, intending to sell my wares.. and no one would meet me, curious as to why, I walked through the little village to find all the chatting townsfolk, 'stuck' in their homes. yees, all of them, even the chief, as I later found out.

now, I know my rep might have suffered a hit when I was unable to complete a quest because the little tyke wouldn't speak with me, to be able to give him the cake I had for him, I still had the cake in inventory and was hoping to give it a third.. or 4th try when I had returned. (that little boy was the first to get stuck really)

right after this incident, I was at the nearby village (literally over the pasture-field) and I saw several villagers from the 'stuck' village 'moving in'. huh, I thought. ok, maybe its the other merchant I have seen... so I didn't give it much thought, until arriving back at the stuck village, where everyone was still stuck in their homes.. including the villagers I just saw moving into the nearby village. so.. there's 2 of each of them now?

all of this and yet no mention of the horrendous lag i have been experiencing of late. everything slows to a jerking stop and go. including the pigs in the field... but not me... unless you count the instant reforming of blocks I just tried to break with a pick. (is this involving the newly updated forge perhaps? I might have to do a clean reinstall of minecraft for this one.)

gosh!

The end of an epic tale...

This evening I lost my beloved kitty, sir coo de-skamp-alot. He hung on for several long days really. as if he wanted to wait for christmas day. it was a long process really and several mishaps.. he had been in poorly shape for several months. he is finally at rest now. I will miss him quite a lot. My bestest kitty friend and tolerant family member from birth. for apox. 14 people years. I can't stop the tears from springing to my eyes,knowing he will no longer be there for snuggling or playing with, my constant companion.

Foibles in language learning

Of late, i have been enjoying a new Japanese learning program on mobile. Strangely it looks and acts a whole lot like another site's program.. And i wonder if the idea for it was.. Shared?
This new site is pretty nice, all told.. And other then little issues that are bound to come from a mobile-only app.. I havent had anything to complain about.... Until now.
The same issue i had on a group/answer site has shown up on this one, it seems. Suddenly finding yourself banned or blocked from posting for no apparent reason.
Nothing i can recall saying or doing thats against the tos...and no way to speak with the person who did the blocking to find out.
How flustering!!
So.. Here i sit wondering what happened and feeling quite the fool/patsy... Spinning over and over what i might have done or said in my mind... And knowing of no way to get it rectified.

So.. Of all the things that might have done it was.. One time there was a sentence.. Something like was your baby born.. Or such... I replied i would never say it like that.. To indicate the translation begged people to give sarcastic replies.. And this was proven by several others posting.. It wasnt born, it was hatched...or i decided not to have it after all.. Or... Well.. You get the point. Now, my email gets regularly spammed due to.. Any discussion you look at.. You automaticly follow.. But at one point i did see someones reply to it.. They got huffy.. Saying something about my not liking how japanese works.. Or somesuch.. I wanted to go back and apologize saying.. I wasnt being critical of that in the slightest.. But rather why i would not use the translations words.. Didnt want to lead new english learners astray.. Only to get hit with all the sarcastic or cheeky replies and not understand why.
Unfortunatly.. I couldnt find the spot where that descussion was going on... So couldnt reply.. (Couldnt edit/delete/or reply to the post via my mailbox and couldnt find the spot via the web because it isnt on the web. Mobile only.) I even tried going back over the area i thought it had been posted in. (Worked one time before).
So.. Whoever it was that got so horribly offended.. Didnt get the feather soothing i was hoping for at all.. And i didnt get to clarify. So...
What now? Am i forever blocked from posting alltogether now? Was that what got me blocked? Is there a way i can get myself heard from at all? Either to apologize or clairify ? Or to at least figure out if that was what it was?

Why are people so quick to jump into offence?

And Is this all just me? Anyone else have this issue?

To the moderators or.. To those that create forums with blocking ability..
Can you give a little warning?
Can you give benefit of doubt in those grey areas?
We arnt talking about swearing or stalking or threatening here.. Just a bit of miscommunication.
Can you at least consider the blockee a moment? A way for them to redeem themselves? Does it always have to be so black and white?

The other time i had issues with being blocked in a forum.. I got no warning.. No way to ask or explain. It was a solid unyeilding wall. A ban. And even when they eventually said there was a way to get the ban reviewed.. The moment they found out i had been. I was completely ignored. To this very day i have -no- idea as to what they thought i did wrong.. If they thought it at all.

This is a bit like being beat. And then when asked why.. They reply. "You know what you did!" .. But you dont.

photo storage and posting..

Reciently, as in just a moment ago, I noticed that photobucket messed up my picture hosting for free accounts by disallowing 3rd party hosting.. Such as blogger.. Since i have yyyeearrrs worth of picture hosting through them.. Its going to take a little while to adjust. Its not so imperative here as it is with the drama blog so.. Bear with the dust until i can either move things around or until i can make things a little less relient on the photobucket pics. ..thankyou.

Writing gots and not gots

Once upon a time...  What a way to start... There was a writer called peaches.. She was great with intros and short story starts.. But her attention wavered into the boredom zone fairly quickly and she never quite completed anything significant.. She came close though..once. With a simple illustrated book.

Her proudest moment came with the invention of notebook wars between her and good friends.. During which many a page was filled during a most satisfying year or so.

Then disaster struck her life and she found herself living too far away from the friends she valued.. (More than she realized at the time, i assure you.) And feeling alieniated due to an intrusion of several judging eyes into her -in the moment- most private thoughts.. That really none could hope to truely understand (not even her... 10 mins after she thought it)... And she was horribly scarred by the incident for years. Still.. And perhaps none-the-less... She loved to write. At first, she thought to be a whole lot more careful.. Mindful even, of her deep smarting scars and how others can so easilly misunderstand.

She first tried starting a writing group but it was laid low by a lack of interrest. Still.. With it in mind.. She started a "semi-guided" writing group online.. Thinking if she just.. Started off with background and a set-in-wool idea.. It could be fun.. There was some interrest and a senario was started.. Establishing the parameters a bit more firmly, she thought.
It was to be a survival theme.. With the cats musical as a base background ... The characters would be people portaled in by an unknown force.. And transformed into humaniod cats. The setting was a forest.. Much like a real life enviroment. Only.. No tech.. And no people in the area. The cats first story start was a hungry encounter with a huge boar... then they successfully had food.. .. And then something went wonky with the sudden arival of high fantasy and the whole group quickly disintegrated. Thinking it was likely due to her own poor explainations..perhaps not being clear enough.. She wandered the net for a time.. Looking for another group she could perhaps fit into.  Around in that same time frame.. She found first.. A group of writers basing thier world off a game. It was great fun for quite some time.. Before the writers headed off for fairer skies.. She tried nearly in vain to keep in touch with several of them... And she found another group in unlikely waters.. Basing thier world off of an anime ninja theme.. With a scattering of cannon characters. That too was great fun but seemed a dying breed really. When it desolved, peaches was once again on her own. And speaking of dying breeds, She was also at one distant past moment.. in a text world.. Lending her talents of description to its configuration... Perhapes the most fun shed ever had.. Making room descriptions so beautifully detailed.. It took a slloow walk through to really get the story woven into it..room by room... Although you didnt have to read everything.. You could just rush on through. As many would. There were, however, many hidden objects you were sure to miss if you didnt. And then.. The fun was spoiled by internal politics and an ex- friend who went on a power glut.
Just as well though.. As the text worlds were a truely dying thing and now.. Its more nostalja then it is a living fantasy world anymore.

A closed chapter later and presto! Here i am with my own blog.. For the same "no reason," reasons to exist as it was when it was started so many years ago. Just lil ol me chanting dustbunny rhythms into the general void of the net as usual.

And looking out the window from my little niche in this void.. I can see what seems to be the world around the anchor in chaos. Peoples seems to have gone a little more insane this year then ever was before.

There is a rather colourful character that has somehow managed to not only ticc everyone off at least once but also has managed to squeeze into a top dawg status. Guess if so many sought changes from what was before.. They did get thier wish.. For good or ill. I wonder whatll happen next.... Hmm..

Reciently, theres a dark side and a light side.. Who came to blows on the street.. The top dawg said both sides were at fault.. And i agree.. It takes at least two sides with opposing views to make for an argument. one side then stretched into the realm of intolerance and suddenly the whole area is scrambling in efforts to not be associated.

One can hear the cracking of glass from where I stand... Sounding like thunder as the words scrawl themselves across the wall and formed peices of beautiful art in stone is being toppled and trampled upon.

Be aware.. And Beware of complaining about the splinter you see in others eyes.. When theres a log in your own. I should know. Ive kept warm through many a winter from the descovery of those flippin logs! Aint no wonder i have bad sight!

Anyway.. For all the past mistakes of another lifetime.. If i complained and railed against the losses i saw coming, I apologize. All i can really do. .. So I go from here.. Learning as i go along. Even as yet into another chapter.. To go through yet another portal.. And hopfully.. Descover more fun times to be had in the future.