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Not sure what my plans are. Tomorrow is supposed to be my boardgame meetup, but I had a vitreous detachment, and the vision in my right eye is still fished up, so I'm not sure if I really want to go. I guess I will see how I feel in the morning.

If I don't go to the meetup, I'll probably take it easy at the house. Maybe watch some movies and play some video games. Sunday, I get my COVID vaccine. My wife got hers a couple weeks ago, and she suffered no ill effects, so hopefully it will go smoothly. In the past, I was usually pretty wiped out for about 24 hours.

I have always wanted to try out the Silent Hill series, but I never had a good opportunity. Unfortunately, SH2 remake is not playable on the Steam Deck, so I doubt I will play it anytime soon. Maybe I will get inspired to go the emulation route when I get my queue thinned out.

I got through the second Palace of Persona 5 Royal. The boss fights seem to have more of a puzzle element to them than SMTV, which was typically just figure out the boss' weakness to attack, avoid having weaknesses to its attacks, and use a lot of buffs and debuffs. The Persona bosses have gimmicks like "destroy the item so the boss can't perform its big attack" or "if all the parts aren't killed at the same time, they can be resurrected."

In between I have still been making my way through the end game of Monster Hunter World, trying to beat a few monsters that my wife and I never got around to the first time. I'm still kind of relearning the game and getting back my muscle memory, so I am not quite ready for them yet.

Edit: Oh. This isn't the video game post. It's the weekend plans post. I don't really have much on the docket. Last weekend was pretty busy, so it will be nice to take it easy. I think my wife and I will try to start playing Shadows of Brimstone again. I got a few movies I want to watch, so I will probably try to get to one or two of those.

I have it on Steam and I have a Steam Deck, so it's convenient. I started playing it there after reading your post about it a year or so back. I just got sidetracked with other games. I'm neck-deep in Persona 5 right now, but maybe I'll put Gloomhaven at the front of the queue for when I am ready to play something else.

I also need to get back to Gloomhaven, either electronically or physically. My wife and I used to game more together, but she seemed to lose interest. It turns out that a lot of that seemed to be tied to anxiety and depression. She is being treated, and she seems to enjoy the games more than she did even before. We had played through a couple maps of GH, but then we got away from it. We are about to start playing Shadows of Brimstone: Forbidden Fortress again. Maybe we'll try GH again when we are ready for a break from that.

Replacing the sink was one of the first things we did when we moved into our house. I don't remember the design of the old one, but we hated it. I'm not young, but I am on the skinny side. It was still a huge pain to get it done, and there was no way to be in a comfortable position while doing it. I don't envy plumbers.

Board games tomorrow. Bad Blood PPV tomorrow night. I am looking forward to CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre. Everything else is take it or leave it. Cody/Roman vs. New Bloodline is just for plot development, so the match doesn't really matter.

Nothing exciting on Sunday. Monday (I don't work, so it's part of my weekend) is busy. Kitten goes to the vet. My wife and I both have an appointment with a new PCP. I do not recall when I had my last checkup, but it has been more than ten years.

My wife and I celebrated our 9-year wedding anniversary last Wednesday, so we are going to do something tomorrow. We don't know what.

I have a job interview on Monday. A recruiter from a company reached out about a position at a location in my city. The interview is by Teams, so I need to get a laptop setup, since my desktop doesn't have a good camera. I haven't been actively looking, but I'm not really happy where I am at, so hopefully this will lead to something. I'm a darn good match, based on the job description.

A couple weeks ago, our dishwasher died. We ordered a replacement and got it installed. When it was installed, they left off the kickplate at the bottom. Tomorrow somebody is supposed to come do an install inspection, I guess to verify that the part is missing. Today, I should learn the four-hour window when they may or may not show up.

Tomorrow is my board game meetup, but I may not be able to make it, depending on when the service tech arrives. Also, my wife's back was bothering her last night. If it's still bothering her tomorrow, I will stay home with her.

I guess I have Schrödinger's plans.

I think I will get a strange look if I tell my wife I want to get a medical card to buy weed for the cats, though I am pretty sure one of the guys from the board game meetup can hook me up.

We do have the Feliway pheromone diffusers. We used them for all of the cat introductions. I have no idea if they actually work.

Peanut Butter, the new kitten we found nearly two weeks ago, has adjusted well. Her first vet appointment showed her to be in good health. After a day or two of shyness, she became a typical bold kitten, though she would still hiss when first approached. Now, she doesn't even bother with the hissing.

Last night, we moved her from medical quarantine across the house to social quarantine in the master bathroom. The cats can smell one another through the door but cannot really interact much more than that. Our oldest cat does not seem to care. The next oldest cat is disturbed by this new development. The third oldest seems very curious about the kitten.

Tonight, we will let the kitten out into a larger area to play and get familiar with, and tomorrow we might try to introduce her to cat #3 in that area, since she seems interested but not threatened.

Aside from that, tomorrow is a board game meetup. I also need to mow and take care of some other stuff around the house. Beyond that, hopefully some relaxation.

There's a pretty good age gap between our first cat, who is nearly 9, and our second cat who is closer to 2. The oldest cat is also the one I am the most attached to, because she is the one that is the most attached to me. For whatever cat reason, she picked me over my wife early on. It will be rough when her final days come.

My wife (who is awesome) is ahead of you. We already had them for our adult cats, and she immediately got some for the kitten. The best part about an underweight cat is we can give her treats without guilt, since she needs to cram in the calories.

We are at four cats now. I had planned to stop at three, but my sense of responsibility would not let me take this one to a shelter. As soon as I confirmed it was a kitten in the car, I told my wife "I guess we have four now." She was thrilled.

Last Sunday we got a new kitten. This was not planned. That morning, after feeding the cats in the bedroom, I heard a cat crying. I tracked it down the garage, and eventually the hood of my wife's car. She popped the hood, and I saw the little tortoiseshell cat on top of the engine, but by the time I had the hood propped, she was headed out of sight, and I couldn't grab her in time. We tried a few things, but eventually I decided to put the hood down, but not latched all the way. When I went out to check later, she was curled up asleep near the battery. She did not stir when I lifted the hood, and I was able to grab her and transfer her to a kitten carrier.

I think the kitten came from work. We have a few ferals around the plant. Often, when I leave, there is a cat that hides from the sun under my car. On Thursday, this cat was accompanied by kittens. I saw two of them. I think the new one is a third cat that I did not see, because she was in my car. It's possible that we heard her, but assumed it was one of our cats, and didn't realize she was in the garage. At some point, she moved into my wife's car.

I called the vet to see if they could see her, and their answering service reminded me that it was Sunday. We put her in the bathroom that has been our usual "cat quarantine" and left her with some food, but mostly left her alone. We occasionally checked on her, but she didn't eat. After some google searching, we rubbed some simple syrup on her gums, and eventually she ate the food. We were careful about feeding her, because of concerns with refeeding syndrome. I figured she would be better off going one more day with "not enough food" than to take the chance of causing problems by giving her too much. We fed her a little more that evening, and we got a little more hopeful about her survival chances when she ate all that, but there was still some worry that she might be sick or have some other issue that might jeopardize her survival. She is also a little ninja. Every time we would go check on her, she would be hiding in a new spot, and it would take a minute to find her.

Monday I had to work, and I spend most of the day waiting for my wife to give me the vet report. Turned out she was very healthy. Also, despite being feral and about 8-weeks old, she has taken very well to people. She will still hide and his when first approached, but she will let us pet her or pick her up without any attempt to bite or scratch. If you put her in your lap and start to pet her, she quickly relaxes and starts purring. Yesterday, she finally started playing with a string toy (though she had been playing with stuff in the bathroom when we were not around) and grooming herself. She's still timid. She still gives me an initial hiss when I bring her food. After that, she is as sweet as can be.

My wife has been home with her all week. I have only been able to spend limited time with her in the evenings. I suspect a good portion of my weekend will be spent locked in the bathroom with Peanut Butter. She is still in medical quarantine, but by next weekend, she will probably be moved to "social quarantine," which is the toilet area of the master bedroom. There, she will have access to the other cats under the door, and we can begin the introduction process.

"The rules worked and, get this, the story was pretty darn good."

I was not a huge fan of the story. I don't even remember if I finished the game or not. I just remember each chapter felt like a repeat of the same thing: Go to a hub. Visit 3 locations connected to the hub and get 3 McGuffins. End chapter boss fight. Go to the next hub and repeat.

The expansions were cool, and I did have fun with a lot of the other modules. I also spent a lot of time on Narfell, an RP multiplayer server.

I'm still playing Diablo IV. I think my character is around level 68, which is the highest I have reached. I might actually unlock the final difficulty tier this time. I will probably play for another week or two, then I will dive back into Elden Ring.

There are new versions of the first 2 Monkey Island games. I think they are faithful to the originals, but with better UI and updated graphics. If you do want to check them out, that might be the best way to do it.

I finished Shin Megami Tensei V yesterday. I got the Order ending, which is the side of God and the angels, but it's not necessarily a "good" ending. I guess it depends on how you feel about free will. I have an unfinished game of SMT III sitting on my 2DS. I will probably try to get that one finished before too long.

With SMT V done, I am checking out the current Season of Diablo IV for a bit before I get back to Elden Ring. I wanted to play something mindless for a bit, and I heard positive things about the season.

Maturity is learning that it doesn't matter when your partner does it the wrong way, because nobody else ever does it right.

I played StS. I had fun with StS. I have never beaten it though.

Did you know there is a board game version? I have not played it, but it seems to be pretty well-received from what I have seen on boardgamegeek.

I couple weeks ago, I decided to take a break from Elden Ring to try to finish Shin Megami Tensai V. I am near the end. I have a little bit left to do to get to the final dungeon, and after the final dungeon is the end game. Maybe by the end of next weekend, I will be finished (and back to Elden Ring). There are multiple endings, but I don't know if I will ever go back to get more than one. I enjoy the game, but it's long, so I don't know if it would be worth it versus playing something else.

Even if you don't expect Biden to drop out, he could have a stroke or break a hip or be forced out in any number of ways. The VP is an obvious choice for successor.

I don't have much to say about the Last Supper/Not Last Supper brouhaha, but Gojira played, and that was fishing awesome!

I got a copy of FoD 2nd edition when it was still in print. It's a fun game, but I haven't gotten it to the table since I still lived in Lakeland. Too many games, too little time. It would probably be a hit with my current group if I were to take the time to relearn it.

Because a president who is a felon, rapist, authoritarian, grifter and too old for the job (among other things) is okay, as long as it might benefit them in some fashion.

I've tried to play Assassin's Creed IV a couple times, but for some reason, it has never held my attention for long. I am not sure what it is. It seems like a game I should like, but I don't think I have ever played more than a few hours.

I am still playing Elden Ring. Last night, I got to the Festival at Redman Castle, but it was nearly time for bed, so I stopped. If I tried the Radahn fight, I probably would have stayed up too late trying to beat him. I decided to be responsible and get to sleep at a reasonable time, but I know what I will be doing tonight.

I also played some more Riven over the weekend. I have managed to reach some areas that I have not gotten to in previous playthroughs, and I have been through all of the islands (unless there is a secret island of some sort). I am still not sure exactly what I am trying to accomplish. I have stayed away from any hints so far.

I need to get back to Return to Monkey Island. I got to the point where the world opens up, visited a few islands, then got sidetracked. Hopefully I can figure out what I am doing whenever I return.

I have been playing a lot of Elden Ring. I am glad I gave it another shot. I have beaten the Grafted guy and the Library Witch with the weird singing kids. Now I'm at the place with the weird ten-fingered hands. I have done a lot more exploring this time. It is the most rewarding open world in that regard. In a lot of open world games, you just find a bunch of collectibles. If you get enough, you might get a reward. In Elden Ring, the exploration itself is usually pretty satisfying, but you also get more tangible rewards, more often than not. I guess I prefer finding actual items to finding collectible 34/500 or whatever.

I also got Riven Remastered, which is playable in VR. I finally sat down with it yesterday. One of the issues I had when I played it before was navigation. On the original version, I had trouble figuring out how things connected, since it was just moving from a static screen to another static screen. Since the new version has seamless movement, things are much more cohesive for me. Even if I don't actually finish the game, just experiencing the world in VR is worth the price for me.

Dang. I totally missed that existing. It's also on sale really cheap. I might have to go for it.

I played a little bit of Wizardy. I missed it in my younger days, but I tried it on emulators. I always kind of bounced off of the clunky bits related to playing and old game on an emulated Apple IIe (or whatever it was), though I enjoyed the core game. I was excited when I heard about the remake, though I wanted to hold off on reviews. It's sitting on my wishlist, but I am actively working on clearing out some of my unfinished games before buying something like this.

I would love for The Bard's Tale to get the same treatment.

Mostly Elden Ring for now. There are still some unexplored areas before Stormveil Castle, but I decided I was ready to see how I fared against Margit. I did a couple attempts without any sort of summon helped to see if I could actually figure out what he was doing. Way back when I did it the first time, I just couldn't even keep up with what his attacks were. This time, I took a few attempts to practice dodging. After that, I decided to try for real. I used the Sorcerer guy you can summon and the Spirit Jellyfish. It took me a few tries. On one attempt, I had his health bar down to a couple pixels, got too reckless trying to get that one last bit, and got comboed to death. After another attempt or two, I was victorious, and I actually felt like I beat him and didn't just get lucky by flailing wildly.

After that, I went to the castle itself. That is where I stopped in my first game. I made it a lot further this time, though I may go back and visit the Weeping Peninsula and power up some more. I am only in my mid-twenties at the moment, and I am not sure if I even have any weapons at +2 yet. The Banished Knights kick my butt more often than not.