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My therapist suggested I might be burning myself out working too doggedly on a game lately, I was dubious but whenever I feel stuck I've instituted a policy of taking a break not just until I feel up to working again, but until I have felt up to working on a different creative project for a while first. And the positive effects on my mental health and creativity, both generally and even regarding my game, have been significant!

And also it SUCKS. I have this straightforward option for immediate You Did A Thing dopamine right there and have to IGNORE it and find some other more vague, complex source. Excruciating! Especially since all creativity for me has to work around long stretches of Being Too Ill To Do Anything.

So yeah, after much thought about what creative thing I could be doing this time...I am writing this post haha.

Anyway. Life is not too bad! Had a bunch of annoying health stuff, nothing serious just tiring, but despite that I am successfully if intermittently working on a game! It's a remastered version of a game I released 7 years ago, because I'd run out of energy rather than being entirely satisfied with it. So I am happy to see something much closer to my original vision coming together. But making games is so sloooow it is taking forevver, even with the vast majority of it already done.

Also we got a benchtop dishwasher and it's been really good. We have to hand fill it with water because there was no way to get the plumbing to work, and it's too small to handle everything, but it still makes washing the dishes overall way less exhausting.

I'm currently playing the otome (romance) game Nor9 for the switch and it's pretty good, and am still having fun in Jack Jeanne fandom. A friend dragged me into Twisted Wonderland aka "what if there was a magic school full of hot boys inspired by the villains from various Disney properties" which is more fun than it has any right to be, I am not playing the game (gacha + phone game = no) but the plotty videos are on youtube and the ongoing anime is pretty good.

HMMM I feel there was something else but this will do!

Rice cooker with soup/porridge/congee setting a game changer for rice pudding.

It keeps it simmering juust at boiling point so it cooks covered and unwatched without making a big bubbly mess.

I got a Panasonic 8 cup Rice and Multicooker because it was the cheapest smallest one I could find with that kind of setting. It cooked 1 cup of rice + 2 cups oat milk as pudding without trouble, but I'll have to see if it copes with a single cup of regular rice.

Cam and then I managed to develop cold symptoms JUST as we got the new Covid vaccine, so we spent a while going wow this vaccine is heavy duty before realising it was in fact a cold. Cam is already starting to feel better so I hope I do soon too, being sick suuuucks. And while Christmas isn't a HUGE deal to me I'd rather not spend it THIS sick.

Nothing super exciting, just little things.
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Re the Stardew Valley update: I fell asleep at about midnight, then woke up bolt upright at 3am.

Read the discord:

It's out in 45 minutes!
[link to tweet from ConcernedApe about making coffee]
OK THINGS ARE GETTING TOO MUCH SHUTTING DOWN CHANNELS FOR A BIT
IT'S OUT!!!! REMINDER TO POST ALL SPOILERS IN THE NEW 1.6 CHANNEL

and muted the discord for the indefinite future. I played a bit until my brain would let me sleep again, then I woke up again at 8am and am now feeling kinda jetlagged. The only difference so far is the new farm type but that's fun!

I've never been a very nature focussed person, but have generally still been a lot more into it than Cam, who is a Very Indoors Person. I used to enjoy the odd bushwalk, which Cam Does Not. I have always been the one in charge of the garden, and wasn't good at it but was more enthused and competent than Cam, who only took over if I was away at a maths conferences etc and did not have a good time doing it. But now that I am sicker and we don't have to worry about rent inspections I haven't been going out much and our small garden has straight up died. So I have been very disconnected from nature.

Last year Cam asked what I wanted for my birthday and I said a car drive somewhere I could sit in nature without many other people around. On the day itself we were in the middle of a heatwave, so Cam gave me a "Token For One Drive" and a little succulent pot plant in a cute cat shaped pot.

CW: Brief mention of car accident, it's all fine.
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I am a sleepy puddle who will be staying in bed. Hope everyone else has fun! Maybe next year. (I mean I MIGHT feel up to it tomorrow but I doubt it and also tomorrow is forecast for rain, so)

Our power went down, currently there’s enough juice in my laptop battery to top up our phones, which have internet, but since we have no sure time we’ll be getting power again we don’t want to over use them. According to a passing priest who came up to explain to a gathering of concerned neighbours, he saw a bright flash of blue light from the power board for our set of units in the early hours of the morning during a recent storm, and investigation revealed crumbling infeastructure marked by fire. Which really adds to the surreal localised apocalypse feel. Fixing the power board is taking time, there’s talk of a generator but it will come too late for cams dear departed bottles of coffee.

God I hate reading and typing on this phone I am not going to proofread this sorry. Be glad of autocorrect.

Anyway I am at the point of boredom where I watched cam get the (minor, it’s fine) wound on his foot dressed just for something to do, I told the nurse I felt like a medieval peasant watching a hanging. Have also been playing real life solitaire which is at least easier to cheat at, drawing the cats, and staring at our overflowing bookshelves failing to find anything to read. If you don’t hear from me again tell streaming video…that I miss them…

Edit: generator eta 3pm! That’s only a few hours away phew.

EDIT2: POWWERRRRR :D :D :D

And we're very happy with it! I didn't have a strong sense of what they're like to own before buying it, so will go into some detail under the cut.
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So some of you may remember that two years ago I played a bunch of the online multiplayer RPG Final Fantasy 14, before sadly deciding that while I enjoy most of the game, the compulsory dungeons involving other players were too much for my anxiety.

BUT THEN. TODAY. They introduced Duty Support, a way to do main quest dungeons with NPCs instead of real people!! So I signed back up and did the dungeon I got stalled on two years ago and it was GREAT. So now I can keep playing the game!

I haven't tried any other dungeons yet but as far as I can tell this should make it simple to play from the start through to the end of the first section and the first two expansions with no compulsory gameplay with other people whatsoever, and the later expansions will be added in time.

If you're now interested in playing, there's a free trial, it's pretty generous and you'll know by the end if the game feels worth your while.

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