Gaming Update

Good news everyone! I think I’m over the relapse! On Wednesday I went out (into Gateshead for Burger King and shopping in Tesco because it was evening and there wasn’t much else open) and it was fun. I’ve also been able to go on my computer a bit more, which is making me very happy (not least because Smartflix is awesome and has tons of shows that I can’t stream on Netflix using my Chromecast without lots of config I’m not well enough to sort). I’m not that much better than I was, but the small amount I am is the difference between lying in a darkened room and being able to go on my computer and go out. Tiny things like being able to tolerate a bit more light, noise, movement and touch, and not needing to be completely flat. I’m so happy to be able to do stuff, as that relapse lasted a bit longer than mine usually do so I was scared it was becoming my new normal. The only issue now is I seem to be mostly nocturnal, which makes communicating with people and doing things hard πŸ˜›

One thing I have been doing is playing games. The rest of this post will be about them so it’s likely to be of no interest to anyone but me πŸ™‚ I’ve introduced Sammie to World of Warcraft (I’m sure it won’t be long until she’s better than I am) and recruit a friend makes levelling fast. I’ve not played as much with her as I’d have liked but hopefully we’ll get more time now I’m doing better. When I’ve been on when Sammie’s not I’ve been doing a bit of work on the legendary ring quest chain. I got my third elemental tablet thing so my ring is now item level 715. The next step is to get Blackhand’s arm which is kinda disgusting but at least it’s not going through poop. I’m hoping to work on getting Pepe soon and pet battles.

On my tablet I’ve been trying new games, and playing old ones. In DragonVale I currently have 248 of 269 total dragons, and of those currently available I need about 6. There’s a few more than I can get with help through the co-op breeding cave but the earliest I can complete the collection is during Bring it Back in December. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made though πŸ™‚

I’ve been playing a lot of Neko Atsume and recently got every single memento in the game. I already had every goodie so now I’m slowly working towards getting every theme and hoping they release new content. The cats are so adorable though so I’m really happy to play it.

In High School Story I’ve managed to complete all the current story lines, which I wasn’t expecting to do yet. I’ve got 15 classmate rares still to get (I’ve got the common gender of each type already), but I’m in no rush. I’m current working on getting a female hacker. I was frustrated that some of the goals seemed nearly impossible but they have been a bit easier recently so I’m happy there.

Hollywood U has been a bit more frustrating on the goal front, not least because they often don’t show up when they’re meant to so I end up getting less time (I missed nearly a day for this week’s). I’ve completed all the quests so I’m just working on the goals and getting both Critics, as they’re the new type and I’ve not managed to get either yet. It’s only been a few days though.

I’m still playing Kim Kardashian Hollywood, though I’ve come close to quitting a few times. The issues I was having seem to have been fixed, and though it’s still buggy it’s playable now. I’m level 39, number 1 on the A+++ list, and have mostly completed the quests, other than the most recently released ones. I try not to worry about the weekend events, so unless there’s something I really want as a prize I just do them as and when. During the week I also work on levelling the VIPs through Hangouts and jobs, though I’ve only ever got the special reward once. At least it doesn’t require much concentration.

A new game I’ve been playing recently after being invited by a friend is Happy Street. I’m still not entirely sure what I’m doing, but it’s cute (if a bit obsessed with poop) and I seem to always have something to do so I’m keeping it for now.

I’m also trying Britney Spear’s American Idol at the moment. It’s not officially available outside of New Zealand, which explains why none of my friends are playing it. The game is pretty fun but very laggy so there needs to be some work before it’s released more generally. It’s a pop version of the Kim Kardashian Hollywood game, but more purple. My character is called AdΓ©lie Gentoo and all my songs are about penguins πŸ™‚

One game I tried and then gave up on with Kendall and Kylie. That game is so slow I can read a chapter of a book in the time it takes to load (anything from 3 1/2 to 7 minutes). For a mobile game it’s terrible. Not only that, but since update 1.1.0 the game doesn’t seem to save correctly, so any progress is lost. More recent updates don’t seem to have fixed it. Luckily I’d already reached level 8 for the crossover stuff in Kim Kardashian Hollywood, but until they do some major work I won’t be playing any more of it. It’s a shame as I quite enjoyed the storyline.

Other games I’ve got installed on my tablet right now are AdVenture Capitalist, 80 Days, The Room 3 and a couple of different Sudoku games. I’m currently waiting for AdVenture Capitalist to be completable sometime this millennia (no joke), 80 Days I got annoyed with as I missed a couple of connections due to brain fog so I’m taking a short break before trying it again, and the Room 3 I’m playing in bits as it requires quite a bit of cognitive energy. The sudoku games are fun for me and a way of judging how I’m doing mentally- the logic required is normally very easy for me, so if I’m struggling to complete an expert puzzle or easy killer sudoku I know I’m not doing great. If I can’t solve one of the easier ones then I know I need to rest.

The last game I have is Hearthstone. For a while it was unplayable on my tablet, but I reset it while installing a newer version of my rom and it’s running better now. I’m mostly playing the Tavern Brawls when I get the chance, as I don’t know the current meta game well enough to work on ranked. Hopefully now I’m getting on my computer a bit more I’ll be able to play some Heroes of the Storm and other games, but with having to do adult stuff like paying bills, sorting money and food shopping when I’m on here as well I’ll have to wait and see if I can manage it more frequently.

Black Friday

Today I took advantage of some of the sales to do most of the Christmas and birthday present shopping for Sammie. Have just one main item left to get and as it’s tech am waiting for Monday (though I’ll keep an eye out before then). Being able to do shopping from bed made it so much easier- I wouldn’t want to be shopping outside today. Tomorrow the bulk of them get delivered and hopefully we’ll be able to get them wrapped in the next couple of weeks. Need to buy wrapping paper first though πŸ™‚

When Sammie got home from school we spent time talking, playing a game of Hearthstone and watching YouTube videos. It was nice πŸ˜€ Talking to her cheers me up loads, even when I’m already happy πŸ˜€ Johan joined us and it was funny seeing how they interact as they have a similar sense of humour. Talking to two of my favourite people in the world at the same time is awesome so I had a brilliant day.

Didn’t manage going out as though I was well enough, the weather was absolutely appalling and it would have been pretty late. We’re rearranging it for a day when we don’t have a weather warning and we have more time.

After Sammie went I spent time watching more Hell’s Kitchen with Johan. Personally I wouldn’t trust any of the chefs to run a kitchen, but I know very little about cooking. Still, raw meat and poultry is not good. We’ve only got a few episodes left of this season so we’ll probably finish them tomorrow.

Penguins are awesome. Friends sent me pictures of penguins and that was amazing. I am so so lucky to have such great family and friends. I don’t know why but I’m so grateful. *Flaps*

The Feels

Watched Doctor Who with Esther. Too many feels. Argh that episode. *Sniff*

Anxiety is still bad but I managed to let the carers help me a bit today. I know what my brain is telling me is completely irrational but it’s hard to argue with your own brain. I went on my computer and managed to organise some tickets to see the Enchanted Park next month, even sending emails to sort out a carer ticket and why mine was broken. Also played some World of Warcraft where the guild boosted me through heroic Archimonde so I’ll be able to get a moose mount. Thank you Trivial πŸ™‚

Also tried the Tavern Brawl in Hearthstone with Sammie. She was winning then I got a great set of cards which changed it so I won. Hopefully we’ll get another game in before it finishes.

Got out of bed while evening carer was here so my bedding could be changed. It was nice πŸ™‚ Johan gave me hugs from behind. Stayed in my chair for about an hour.

Digestive system is now being very mean to me so I’m gonna curl up in a ball and ask for penguins to be heated. That seems like a good idea. If anyone knows how to make a brain stop telling me I’m evil, please let me know.

Fishtail Bracelets

I’ve currently got a problem where I can’t sleep at night. Since that’s when other people sleep and most things happen during the day, that’s an issue. I’m hoping that I’ll soon get over the anxiety and paranoia that’s stopping me sleeping then.

Carer arrived this morning 50 minutes late, as the carer who was meant to be coming phoned in sick, and I was about to get stuff done when her perfume hit me. Since she was still standing in my doorway it must have been extremely strong as I was struggling to breathe without her coming close. I asked her to leave (no strong perfumes is on my care plan and door) and it took over half an hour for the smell to dissipate. Not what I was wanting. I was hoping to wake up for the evening carer, but they came in so quietly that Johan didn’t even realise they’d been until he heard her putting the keys back into the keysafe. I had set an alarm but it didn’t go off for some reason, so I’ll try again tomorrow. The one time I wanted to be woken up it didn’t happen πŸ˜› (I don’t blame the carer for that.)

Spoke to Sammie this evening and she beat me in the Tavern Brawl in Hearthstone. She’s definitely getting better at the game- making better decisions and understanding what to do more. I took a break to watch Doctor Who then we talked after while she was playing Minecraft and I was working on a loom band bracelet. Speaking to her cheers me up loads πŸ˜€

My setup for making a loom band bracelet. Trabasack with loom, hook and bands sorted (plus spares as I didn't know if I'd need any more).
My setup for making a loom band bracelet. Trabasack with loom, hook and bands sorted (plus spares as I didn’t know if I’d need any more).

 

I’ve managed to make two loom band bracelets in the last couple of days, both reversible and based off fishtail patterns. The first is called a reversible slipfish, and I made it with glitter jelly bands from my massive box of loom bands (it has 15,000 bands in that should keep me going for a bit). I first tried it a couple of days ago but made a mistake that was really noticeable and too far down to really repair, and I wasn’t happy with the way the colours had gone so while I couldn’t sleep last night I decided to start again. The design makes my hands sore and crampy quite quickly so I have to take a break every couple of minutes, but I managed to finish it tonight while talking to Sammie. I really like the design and I want to experiment with different ways of creating it to see what happens when I’m more confident. The only problem I really had was the glitter from the bands getting everywhere, so my bed Trabasack and top are now covered in glitter πŸ™‚ The YouTube video tutorial is atΒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTFCGpmHvEs.

The second is called the 5 pin funky fish, and I decided to use multicoloured bands for that one. As I made it using a monster loom it was a lot easier on my hands so I could go longer before needing breaks, and I managed to complete it in a couple of hours. I like how there’s two fishtails on one side and three on the other. The tutorial video is atΒ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBEjpMut7Yw. I’m getting better at making them though I still have an issue with bands twisting and sometimes making mistakes, though that’s also giving me lots of practice in how to go back and fix them. I think I might be able to consider loom knitting as not needing to hold everything up and being able to put it down whenever is what’s making this possible for me, along with only needing to concentrate on what one hand is doing (and I alternate them to try and cope with cramping).

One side of the reversible bracelets. The SlipFish is on the left, the 5 Pin Funky Fish is on the right.
One side of the reversible bracelets. The SlipFish is on the left, the 5 Pin Funky Fish is on the right.
The other side of the reversible bracelets.
The other side of the reversible bracelets.

I’m hoping tomorrow to maybe be able to go out, or at least get into my chair. I’m also going to try really hard to be awake for the evening carer as I need my hair washing desperately. The next time I get into Gateshead or Newcastle when places are open I’m hoping to go to a barbers to get all my hair shaved off, but until then I’ll just need to figure out what to do with it.

I’m also looking for dystopian young adult fiction where romance isn’t one of the central themes. This is harder than it should be. Why does it always have to involve love interests, and often a love triangle? There’s more important things to be doing! Silly books. I noticed as a kid that most pop songs were about love or romance in some way, and didn’t like it. Even now I get irritated by many songs are like that. Come up with other topics please?

Before I come off puter tonight I’m hoping to catch up on some more of the Blizzcon panels I missed, and work out what bracelet to make next. This is addicting πŸ™‚