Busy But Actually Rather Pleasant Thursday
Jun. 12th, 2025 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I mean, there were a few stressful moments (I was in a grumpy mood this morning because I was worried about getting to stuff on time, and of course the minute any of watch any portion of the news, that's kind of it for a good mod), but overall I'd say it was a pretty good day! Let me take you through it:
Haircut: Despite some trouble actually getting to the hair salon (starting straight from Mom having trouble backing out of the garage because she gets confused by the way my car beeps when you’re too close to something – didn’t help that Dad’s truck was a little closer than normal on the driveway – to us taking a really roundabout way to the salon that led to us getting stuck in traffic a few times), we made it to my appointment on time, and didn’t have to wait too long until the stylist, Jenn, came out of the back and took me in. The place was nice and quiet (I had been worried about it being really crowded and setting off my anxiety), and Jenn was very nice and very professional – snipping off a full foot of ponytail before the main cut so we could send it off to Locks Of Love; giving me a full shampoo and condition; then taking her time to cut my hair in the layered bob style I wanted (just about chin length – little shorter in the back, little longer in the front) and sympathizing with me about how it’s been hard to want to leave the house over the past few years. *nods* Anyway, the whole thing took about an hour, and I’m quite happy with the results. :) It’s so nice and light and fluffy now! Gonna be a lot easier to wash it, that’s for sure – and a lot cooler for sleeping! The one issue is going to be making sure the longer bits in the front don’t get in my face, but a) that’s an issue that I had even with the ponytail (all the bits that were just too short to GO in said ponytail), and b) I have some headbands that I hope will do well in keeping the longer bits behind my ears. *nods* Overall, glad I bit the bullet and got it cut!
Dentist: Visit here went pretty well, I’m happy to say – though traffic meant that I got there JUST in time for my appointment. *grimace* Gotta remember to leave a little earlier next time! But that did mean I was immediately called back, at least, and didn’t have to wait around for ages in the waiting room. *nods* Anyway, the hygienist did the yearly X-Rays and cleaned my teeth, and one of the wandering dentists popped in to do a quick examination and do a cancer screening. I had a slight issue with my gag reflex during the X-Rays (sometimes when I need to bite down on the thing, my body just goes “NO”), but other than that, they were no problems, and I was sent away with a wave and a smile and a “keep doing what you’re doing!” :D So that’s all set for another six months, yay~
Mini-Golf: We headed up to our usual haunt, West End Creamery, after I got back from the dentist (and had used the bathroom and gotten my Adventure Hat and whatnot). Happily, today was MUCH quieter, and we were easily able to get in eighteen holes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my best game – I got a lot of threes and fours, and one on an early uphill hole that I think was the real killer. Mom did a little better – including getting the only hole-in-one of the day – while Dad managed to get a lot of twos and thus claim the champion spot. :) Pretty sure the final scores were me 67; Dad 53; and Mom 63, but don’t hold me to that. At any rate, we then headed over to the ice cream shack and got our treats for the day – Mom her usual fat-free sugar-free coffee in a cake cone; Dad a hot fudge sundae with cherry vanilla ice cream; and me a homemade brownie sundae with Snickers ice cream. :) And let me tell you, that was a really nice sundae – there was a LOT of very nice brownie in it. :) All in all, a very nice trip out! Even managed to avoid getting sunburned, yay~
Tumblr: Despite not having a lot of time on the computer today, I did actually get some stuff done on both my tumblr blogs –
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Accomplished two things of note over here:
A) First, I managed to put alt-text on all the pictures in my big “hey, the Polyheart OT3 House is fully done” post in my drafts! I had to do it in two bursts – I got most of them done in the half-hour or so before my dentist appointment, then did the final three right before my workout – but I DID get ‘em all sorted! Even found some time to work on the main text a little. I’d love to get this post up before Pride is over, so I’m hoping I can buckle down and get it done this weekend!
B) And second – well. While I was working on my queue for Valice Multiverse (below), I got it into my head that I should reblog the big list I made of the gender and sexual identities of all the characters in the big “Running Headlong Into The Bullshit” mega-polycule (Victor, Alice, Smiler, Victoria, Emily, Christopher White, Richard Hatter, Preston Garvey, and Piper Wright) plus Lizzie and Bonejangles, a couple years abck – but when I went to do so, I noticed that my tags from the initial VM reblog mentioned that I would have added Doc and Marty to the group if I’d felt less periody. And then I was like “well, if I’m gonna do that, I should do it on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) first.” So I stuck a reblog of the post in the drafts with a quick sketch of some of my ideas for Doc, Marty, Clara, and Jennifer (so far, I feel like Doc is some variant of demi/gray-ace as he found women confusing until he met Clara; Marty might be hetero or a little bi (questioning, maybe?); Clara might be similar to Doc; and Jennifer’s so far just plain old straight). Maybe I can get something done on THAT this weekend too and post it the same week as the Polyheart OT3 house. :)
Valice Multiverse – And over here, I did put one thing in the queue – another “rpmemelibrary” ask meme, this one all about LGBTQ headcanons for your Muses! You know, if they’re LGBTQ, how did they realize it if they are, what were the reactions to them coming out if they’ve done that, etc. Given most of my muses are queer in some capacity, it felt appropriate. XD (And inspired me to find that list of gender and sexual identities, which led to item B) above. Would have been nice to put the list in the queue with the ask meme, but I’ll wait until I get the BTTF stuff done on VLA(NS) first!)
Writing: I went back to editing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” tonight, with Alice escaping the weird pair of mirror-image rooms Grout set up (leaving 6768 and 6789 to hang out on the couch in the first room, and the other two ladies to play tic-tac-toe on the wall with their knives in the second); declaring her intent to murder Grout and damn the consequences if she finds any children in this hellhole; managing to take out another clawed ghoul who tried to attack her by slamming his head into a wall and then running for it; getting confused when her path took her back into the library (specifically, onto its upper level) because she could have sworn she went off in a different direction; and exploring the library’s upper level, finding the hatch over the ladder up and down, some furniture, some fake windows (which Alice found confusing mostly because they were on an interior wall), another candle puzzle, and another one of Grout’s horrible tape recorders. I left it off with Alice bracing herself to listen to Grout’s latest round of utter nonsense – tomorrow, she reacts to his ramblings and solves herself another puzzle! It’s fine, she’s used to it from Wonderland. :p
YouTube: Got in a couple of good videos in today despite all the running around –
A) First up, something that I forgot was coming out today until I came home from mini-golf and saw James Turner’s reaction video to it in my Recommendeds – “The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature | Official Reveal Trailer!” Yup, the trailer for the upcoming pack dropped today, featuring a young woman who loves nature and fairies heading out on her own to live the life of a foraging vagabond (with her parents’ blessing)! Or, rather, a Nature Nomad, as that seems to a new aspiration coming with the pack. Anyway, she demonstrated how Sims with this pack can now forage for food in random places, bathe in ponds and lakes (at least in the new world), sleep where they will, and make their own cures for various odd ailments (such as Simoleon Fever – which makes your Sim sneeze money, so perhaps that one shouldn’t be cured too fast). And then, at the very end, she stumbled across some fairies having a party in a fairy house and got transformed, just like she’d always dreamed. :) Cute little trailer, though I dunno if it’s fully sold me on the pack – seems like there’s a lot of fun Build/Buy stuff in it, and the “being able to sleep anywhere, forage for food, and bathe in any body of water” will be great for rags-to-riches challenges and the like, but as someone who never played Sims 3 and thus doesn’t miss fairies, and kind of already did the “living off the land” thing with Cottage Living and Eco Lifestyle in her last save file...yeah, so far it’s a *shrug* from me. (And Paralives finally getting an Early Access release date doesn’t help either – why spend the money on a new pack if I may be spending it on a whole new simulation game by the end of the year…)
B) And second up – well, you might have been expecting me to watch that “James Turner’s reaction to the Enchanted By Nature trailer” video, but I was really craving some more CaFae Latte, so instead I went with “CaFae Latte Season 61 - TikTok Compilation” by C. M. Alongi! This season featured:
I. A customer coming in to get the iPhone they left behind (which Drek found while clearing tables and turned into the front counter)...and then promptly accusing Cyrus of having tried to steal it, to his complete befuddlement; the guy was completely unconvinced by all of Cyrus’s arguments (including “I CAN’T LIE”), but left without causing too much of a scene, and Cyrus bitched to JC about how he WISHED he could blame the brainrot on technology, but people have always been that stupid :P
II. Oscar thanking JC, Rethu, and Cyrus for helping him get all the necessities for his apartment (with JC admitting that the place where they found Oscar’s bedframe and mattress MAY have been a mob front) and attempting to reward them with pizza...only to get into an argument with JC about whether or not they would all chip in (JC) or it would be his treat (Oscar) – Rethu told Cyrus they’d agree to Oscar treating him and then slip some money in his coat pocket XD
III. Drek giving the Sphinx Of The Stream a laser pointer workout while voicing his worries about how he doesn’t really want to do a “tried and true” campaign (like Curse of Strahd) as his first campaign for the D&D group, since it won’t exactly wow all the much-older people he plays with, and the Sphinx letting him know that they’re probably not EXPECTING him to wow them and are perfectly fine with him using “training wheels,” so to speak; then Drek asking why she’s having him come by more often and her revealing that, after the serial killer incident, she wants to get stronger so she can protect the whole forest. And then sharing a bunch of riddles with him so he could use them in upcoming campaigns. :D
IV. Yarn Granny and Vet Grampa showing up at the shop, meeting Oscar, and having a bitch about Starbucks (where all of Vet Grampa’s fellow firefighters/EMT went until Yarn Granny gave them coupons to CaFae Latte) – only to be interrupted by another customer accusing JC of having fallen for the Devil’s latest scheme by being nonbinary; Yarn Granny promptly turned the customer’s bigotry around on her by saying she’d pray to God for him to open her heart to compassion and stop being a bigot, and said bigot left in a huff XD
V. Yarn Granny and Vet Grampa talking about their faith after Oscar confirmed he’d seen them at the Unitarian church he goes to sometimes (he bounces between a lot of different places of faith) and JC admitted they thought the pair would have been Baptist – turns out they are, but they left their Baptist church after their old preacher retired and the new one turned out to be a homophobic “traditional values” asshole. They needed a church that would be open and welcoming to their entire family, including their recently-came-out-as-a-lesbian granddaughter. Which prompted Yarn Granny to start going on about how the girl’s closet had absolutely NO door, given she was always into girl celebrities and the like growing up –
And for both Vet Grampa and Oscar to go “well, who hasn’t had a few gay thoughts in their life?” Prompting Yarn Granny and JC to both be like “…” XD Oh dear, that will be fun for them to unpack eventually…
VI. JC telling Husniya about Vet Grampa and Oscar’s little revelation, and how they might be able to, say, sprinkle a few breadcrumbs to help them figure out the whole “you might be bi” thing – followed immediately by Husniya dealing with a bafflingly racist customer who accused Husniya of thinking they were stupid for asking them if they needed help...when they automatically assumed SHE didn’t speak English and was apparently thrown by the fact she could. Bob was like “wtf” when she was summoned so the customer could make a complaint, and told him to get out before she cursed him so he couldn’t speak English himself
VII. And Oscar dealing with a Karen who took offense to him daring to sit down during his shift when he could do his job just fine that way (and this poor man does a LOT of overtime, so he needed a rest!), only for Bob to intervene, silence her, and curse her to be unable to speak to blue collar workers until she learned a bit of respect (she didn’t do “you can’t sit down for eight to twelve hours at a stretch” because that is technically a form of torture). Oscar then delightedly informed Bob about how the new apartment was coming, and Bob told him to let her know if he needed any further help with it
Good stuff, as always – I really liked Drek and the Sphinx’s chat, it’s sweet to see them growing a proper friendship. :) And of course the stuff with Yarn Granny, Vet Grampa, and Oscar was absolutely delightful. Best part is, thanks to a certain thumbnail for one of the more recent seasons, Chris saying she’d consider more polyamory rep in the “Hot Takes” video, and some spoilers on the TV Tropes page for the series, I already know Vet Grampa and Oscar WILL figure out the “bi” thing eventually… :P
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight to watch more of alien teens Radian Inu (Andy), Kae’l Crex (Jane), and Galaxa Spacemountain (Liv) have fantastic space adventures (overseen by GM Jasper) after hijacking Galaxa’s dad’s new flagship starship in “Now This is Space Racing! | Teens in Space TTRPG | Episode 2!” Today’s chunklet saw the teens head out to explore the hot blue sands and underground cities of planet Rez T-75 – Kae’l in the ship’s one suit of power armor, Radian and Galaxa in customized EVO suits (Radian made his rotate through all the colors like a fancy RGB computer; V.I.N.N.I.E. the ship’s AI was rather jealous given he had to remain cloaked) and encounter the following:
A) A smuggler sitting at the “gates” of the city in the cave so to speak, who – after some back-and-forth about whether the teens were actually teens or “mature students” – demanded their suits or he’d shoot them with his blaster. Radian tried to intimidate him by smoking his stubbed-out cigar (which resulted in him seeing double) and then, when that didn’t work, tried shooting him and failed miserably. The smuggler then promptly tried to shoot them back, but Radian got a good roll and easily rolled out of the way –
And the smugger got a bad one, shot a reflective wall, and took the laser shot right between the eyes. Cue the poor kids panicking while V.I.N.N.I.E. (observing this through their “smart watch” communicators) commented it was pretty awesome. XD Galaxa ended up stealing everything off the corpse (including his gun, plasma grenades, and his fancy vest, which she draped over Radian like a blanket – also a fidget spinner, which she promptly used to calm herself down), while Kae’l hid the body under a mound of sand (fairly poorly) and Radian tried to come to grips with what had just happened, while V.I.N.N.I.E. tried to talk him through it, without much success (mostly because he kept saying things like “it was your actions that led to that guy’s demise” XD). Excellent start to their space adventures!
B) A small big-eyed alien that introduced himself as Meeples, who asked if they were there for “the party” – after some back and forth (with the kids claiming to be awesome space explorers who have visited every planet, impressing Meeples), it transpired that the party he was talking about was going to be a Big Deal, but that you needed a ticket to get in. Fortunately, there was a way to earn tickets – win them during a big old space-racing event! And wouldn’t you know it, there were four tickets up for grabs. The kids promptly suggested to Meeples they team up, promising him that they’d give him their spare ticket if they won if he promised to do the same if he won. Meeples was for it, and – after the gang managed to direct his attention away from the dead body mound by pretending it was a religious thing – leapt onto Radian’s head so he didn’t have to keep up with these much taller offworlders on foot. Galaxa promptly scrambled onto Kae’l’s shoulders so she didn’t miss out on the fun. XD
C) The city marketplace, to see about getting some snacks and necessary items before heading to the racing venue – the kids proceeded to:
I. Buy some cola themed around the missing advanced race that invented teleporter tech before buggering off when everyone started fighting over it (Kae’l and Radian found it merely delicious, while Galaxa found it so good that she immediately got addicted, and hissed at Meeples when he tried to take it away)
II. Take the business card of some lawyers advertising nearby, just in case they needed legal representation thanks to the whole “stole Galaxa’s dad’s spaceship” thing (Galaxa gave the guy at the front 100 credits, twice the retainer fee he was asking for, in an attempt to buy his loyalty; the guy promptly went in and closed the shop because hell yeah he has 100 credits and that’s some serious moolah here XD)
III. And buy some weapons from Storacle, a shop run by a fish woman who specializes in various bladed weaponry, since Meeples suggested it would be a good idea before heading to compete in the race (Kae’l got an awesome huge black laser katana for half price by promising to promote Storacle should they win the race – the fish lady was like “that’s fine, but if you don’t win or don’t do the promo, my boys will come after you” (cue two shark people showing up and looking menacing) – and Galaxa got a pair of little hot pink laser knives and utterly failed at haggling for them because she wouldn’t listen to what the lady was saying – Raidan eventually just handed over the amount she said she’d take, and the fish woman went off for a much-needed smoke, despite being in an EVO suit of her own)
IV. The racetrack itself, which was a long course that wound around some rocks on the very edge of the city, with a whole wall of eager spectators waving banners and whatnot! I left off with Meeples asking how they wanted to split up, as each cart needed a pilot and a “gunner” to get through the race – tomorrow, we’ll see how they pair off, and how the race itself goes!
Other: And in other accomplishments –
A) I spent roughly an hour after mini-golf and before beanbags getting all of Moose’s messages answered! So now that’s all sorted and hopefully we can get back on track regarding our schedule. :)
B) And, as indicated above, we did play beanbags around 5 PM – and unfortunately, my bean bag game was even worse than my mini-golf game. I just could not get it together! :( Though I suppose as a small plus, Mom managed to win one game, preventing another Dad Sweep. Final scores were me 3-3-3; Dad W-W-2; Mom 2-2-W. *sigh* Maybe tomorrow will be better...
So yeah -- busy day, but in a good way. And I'm very glad I was able to snatch some time here and there to do stuff like answer all of Moose's messages and get all those pictures alt-texted on the Polyheart OT3 house post draft -- makes me feel like I was properly productive online as well as off. :) And now it's time to wrap things up and hit the sack -- got one more day of work tomorrow before the weekend arrives! Ah, Thursdays off, you are so weird... Night all!
Haircut: Despite some trouble actually getting to the hair salon (starting straight from Mom having trouble backing out of the garage because she gets confused by the way my car beeps when you’re too close to something – didn’t help that Dad’s truck was a little closer than normal on the driveway – to us taking a really roundabout way to the salon that led to us getting stuck in traffic a few times), we made it to my appointment on time, and didn’t have to wait too long until the stylist, Jenn, came out of the back and took me in. The place was nice and quiet (I had been worried about it being really crowded and setting off my anxiety), and Jenn was very nice and very professional – snipping off a full foot of ponytail before the main cut so we could send it off to Locks Of Love; giving me a full shampoo and condition; then taking her time to cut my hair in the layered bob style I wanted (just about chin length – little shorter in the back, little longer in the front) and sympathizing with me about how it’s been hard to want to leave the house over the past few years. *nods* Anyway, the whole thing took about an hour, and I’m quite happy with the results. :) It’s so nice and light and fluffy now! Gonna be a lot easier to wash it, that’s for sure – and a lot cooler for sleeping! The one issue is going to be making sure the longer bits in the front don’t get in my face, but a) that’s an issue that I had even with the ponytail (all the bits that were just too short to GO in said ponytail), and b) I have some headbands that I hope will do well in keeping the longer bits behind my ears. *nods* Overall, glad I bit the bullet and got it cut!
Dentist: Visit here went pretty well, I’m happy to say – though traffic meant that I got there JUST in time for my appointment. *grimace* Gotta remember to leave a little earlier next time! But that did mean I was immediately called back, at least, and didn’t have to wait around for ages in the waiting room. *nods* Anyway, the hygienist did the yearly X-Rays and cleaned my teeth, and one of the wandering dentists popped in to do a quick examination and do a cancer screening. I had a slight issue with my gag reflex during the X-Rays (sometimes when I need to bite down on the thing, my body just goes “NO”), but other than that, they were no problems, and I was sent away with a wave and a smile and a “keep doing what you’re doing!” :D So that’s all set for another six months, yay~
Mini-Golf: We headed up to our usual haunt, West End Creamery, after I got back from the dentist (and had used the bathroom and gotten my Adventure Hat and whatnot). Happily, today was MUCH quieter, and we were easily able to get in eighteen holes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my best game – I got a lot of threes and fours, and one on an early uphill hole that I think was the real killer. Mom did a little better – including getting the only hole-in-one of the day – while Dad managed to get a lot of twos and thus claim the champion spot. :) Pretty sure the final scores were me 67; Dad 53; and Mom 63, but don’t hold me to that. At any rate, we then headed over to the ice cream shack and got our treats for the day – Mom her usual fat-free sugar-free coffee in a cake cone; Dad a hot fudge sundae with cherry vanilla ice cream; and me a homemade brownie sundae with Snickers ice cream. :) And let me tell you, that was a really nice sundae – there was a LOT of very nice brownie in it. :) All in all, a very nice trip out! Even managed to avoid getting sunburned, yay~
Tumblr: Despite not having a lot of time on the computer today, I did actually get some stuff done on both my tumblr blogs –
Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – Accomplished two things of note over here:
A) First, I managed to put alt-text on all the pictures in my big “hey, the Polyheart OT3 House is fully done” post in my drafts! I had to do it in two bursts – I got most of them done in the half-hour or so before my dentist appointment, then did the final three right before my workout – but I DID get ‘em all sorted! Even found some time to work on the main text a little. I’d love to get this post up before Pride is over, so I’m hoping I can buckle down and get it done this weekend!
B) And second – well. While I was working on my queue for Valice Multiverse (below), I got it into my head that I should reblog the big list I made of the gender and sexual identities of all the characters in the big “Running Headlong Into The Bullshit” mega-polycule (Victor, Alice, Smiler, Victoria, Emily, Christopher White, Richard Hatter, Preston Garvey, and Piper Wright) plus Lizzie and Bonejangles, a couple years abck – but when I went to do so, I noticed that my tags from the initial VM reblog mentioned that I would have added Doc and Marty to the group if I’d felt less periody. And then I was like “well, if I’m gonna do that, I should do it on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) first.” So I stuck a reblog of the post in the drafts with a quick sketch of some of my ideas for Doc, Marty, Clara, and Jennifer (so far, I feel like Doc is some variant of demi/gray-ace as he found women confusing until he met Clara; Marty might be hetero or a little bi (questioning, maybe?); Clara might be similar to Doc; and Jennifer’s so far just plain old straight). Maybe I can get something done on THAT this weekend too and post it the same week as the Polyheart OT3 house. :)
Valice Multiverse – And over here, I did put one thing in the queue – another “rpmemelibrary” ask meme, this one all about LGBTQ headcanons for your Muses! You know, if they’re LGBTQ, how did they realize it if they are, what were the reactions to them coming out if they’ve done that, etc. Given most of my muses are queer in some capacity, it felt appropriate. XD (And inspired me to find that list of gender and sexual identities, which led to item B) above. Would have been nice to put the list in the queue with the ask meme, but I’ll wait until I get the BTTF stuff done on VLA(NS) first!)
Writing: I went back to editing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” tonight, with Alice escaping the weird pair of mirror-image rooms Grout set up (leaving 6768 and 6789 to hang out on the couch in the first room, and the other two ladies to play tic-tac-toe on the wall with their knives in the second); declaring her intent to murder Grout and damn the consequences if she finds any children in this hellhole; managing to take out another clawed ghoul who tried to attack her by slamming his head into a wall and then running for it; getting confused when her path took her back into the library (specifically, onto its upper level) because she could have sworn she went off in a different direction; and exploring the library’s upper level, finding the hatch over the ladder up and down, some furniture, some fake windows (which Alice found confusing mostly because they were on an interior wall), another candle puzzle, and another one of Grout’s horrible tape recorders. I left it off with Alice bracing herself to listen to Grout’s latest round of utter nonsense – tomorrow, she reacts to his ramblings and solves herself another puzzle! It’s fine, she’s used to it from Wonderland. :p
YouTube: Got in a couple of good videos in today despite all the running around –
A) First up, something that I forgot was coming out today until I came home from mini-golf and saw James Turner’s reaction video to it in my Recommendeds – “The Sims 4 Enchanted by Nature | Official Reveal Trailer!” Yup, the trailer for the upcoming pack dropped today, featuring a young woman who loves nature and fairies heading out on her own to live the life of a foraging vagabond (with her parents’ blessing)! Or, rather, a Nature Nomad, as that seems to a new aspiration coming with the pack. Anyway, she demonstrated how Sims with this pack can now forage for food in random places, bathe in ponds and lakes (at least in the new world), sleep where they will, and make their own cures for various odd ailments (such as Simoleon Fever – which makes your Sim sneeze money, so perhaps that one shouldn’t be cured too fast). And then, at the very end, she stumbled across some fairies having a party in a fairy house and got transformed, just like she’d always dreamed. :) Cute little trailer, though I dunno if it’s fully sold me on the pack – seems like there’s a lot of fun Build/Buy stuff in it, and the “being able to sleep anywhere, forage for food, and bathe in any body of water” will be great for rags-to-riches challenges and the like, but as someone who never played Sims 3 and thus doesn’t miss fairies, and kind of already did the “living off the land” thing with Cottage Living and Eco Lifestyle in her last save file...yeah, so far it’s a *shrug* from me. (And Paralives finally getting an Early Access release date doesn’t help either – why spend the money on a new pack if I may be spending it on a whole new simulation game by the end of the year…)
B) And second up – well, you might have been expecting me to watch that “James Turner’s reaction to the Enchanted By Nature trailer” video, but I was really craving some more CaFae Latte, so instead I went with “CaFae Latte Season 61 - TikTok Compilation” by C. M. Alongi! This season featured:
I. A customer coming in to get the iPhone they left behind (which Drek found while clearing tables and turned into the front counter)...and then promptly accusing Cyrus of having tried to steal it, to his complete befuddlement; the guy was completely unconvinced by all of Cyrus’s arguments (including “I CAN’T LIE”), but left without causing too much of a scene, and Cyrus bitched to JC about how he WISHED he could blame the brainrot on technology, but people have always been that stupid :P
II. Oscar thanking JC, Rethu, and Cyrus for helping him get all the necessities for his apartment (with JC admitting that the place where they found Oscar’s bedframe and mattress MAY have been a mob front) and attempting to reward them with pizza...only to get into an argument with JC about whether or not they would all chip in (JC) or it would be his treat (Oscar) – Rethu told Cyrus they’d agree to Oscar treating him and then slip some money in his coat pocket XD
III. Drek giving the Sphinx Of The Stream a laser pointer workout while voicing his worries about how he doesn’t really want to do a “tried and true” campaign (like Curse of Strahd) as his first campaign for the D&D group, since it won’t exactly wow all the much-older people he plays with, and the Sphinx letting him know that they’re probably not EXPECTING him to wow them and are perfectly fine with him using “training wheels,” so to speak; then Drek asking why she’s having him come by more often and her revealing that, after the serial killer incident, she wants to get stronger so she can protect the whole forest. And then sharing a bunch of riddles with him so he could use them in upcoming campaigns. :D
IV. Yarn Granny and Vet Grampa showing up at the shop, meeting Oscar, and having a bitch about Starbucks (where all of Vet Grampa’s fellow firefighters/EMT went until Yarn Granny gave them coupons to CaFae Latte) – only to be interrupted by another customer accusing JC of having fallen for the Devil’s latest scheme by being nonbinary; Yarn Granny promptly turned the customer’s bigotry around on her by saying she’d pray to God for him to open her heart to compassion and stop being a bigot, and said bigot left in a huff XD
V. Yarn Granny and Vet Grampa talking about their faith after Oscar confirmed he’d seen them at the Unitarian church he goes to sometimes (he bounces between a lot of different places of faith) and JC admitted they thought the pair would have been Baptist – turns out they are, but they left their Baptist church after their old preacher retired and the new one turned out to be a homophobic “traditional values” asshole. They needed a church that would be open and welcoming to their entire family, including their recently-came-out-as-a-lesbian granddaughter. Which prompted Yarn Granny to start going on about how the girl’s closet had absolutely NO door, given she was always into girl celebrities and the like growing up –
And for both Vet Grampa and Oscar to go “well, who hasn’t had a few gay thoughts in their life?” Prompting Yarn Granny and JC to both be like “…” XD Oh dear, that will be fun for them to unpack eventually…
VI. JC telling Husniya about Vet Grampa and Oscar’s little revelation, and how they might be able to, say, sprinkle a few breadcrumbs to help them figure out the whole “you might be bi” thing – followed immediately by Husniya dealing with a bafflingly racist customer who accused Husniya of thinking they were stupid for asking them if they needed help...when they automatically assumed SHE didn’t speak English and was apparently thrown by the fact she could. Bob was like “wtf” when she was summoned so the customer could make a complaint, and told him to get out before she cursed him so he couldn’t speak English himself
VII. And Oscar dealing with a Karen who took offense to him daring to sit down during his shift when he could do his job just fine that way (and this poor man does a LOT of overtime, so he needed a rest!), only for Bob to intervene, silence her, and curse her to be unable to speak to blue collar workers until she learned a bit of respect (she didn’t do “you can’t sit down for eight to twelve hours at a stretch” because that is technically a form of torture). Oscar then delightedly informed Bob about how the new apartment was coming, and Bob told him to let her know if he needed any further help with it
Good stuff, as always – I really liked Drek and the Sphinx’s chat, it’s sweet to see them growing a proper friendship. :) And of course the stuff with Yarn Granny, Vet Grampa, and Oscar was absolutely delightful. Best part is, thanks to a certain thumbnail for one of the more recent seasons, Chris saying she’d consider more polyamory rep in the “Hot Takes” video, and some spoilers on the TV Tropes page for the series, I already know Vet Grampa and Oscar WILL figure out the “bi” thing eventually… :P
Workout: Got back on the bike tonight to watch more of alien teens Radian Inu (Andy), Kae’l Crex (Jane), and Galaxa Spacemountain (Liv) have fantastic space adventures (overseen by GM Jasper) after hijacking Galaxa’s dad’s new flagship starship in “Now This is Space Racing! | Teens in Space TTRPG | Episode 2!” Today’s chunklet saw the teens head out to explore the hot blue sands and underground cities of planet Rez T-75 – Kae’l in the ship’s one suit of power armor, Radian and Galaxa in customized EVO suits (Radian made his rotate through all the colors like a fancy RGB computer; V.I.N.N.I.E. the ship’s AI was rather jealous given he had to remain cloaked) and encounter the following:
A) A smuggler sitting at the “gates” of the city in the cave so to speak, who – after some back-and-forth about whether the teens were actually teens or “mature students” – demanded their suits or he’d shoot them with his blaster. Radian tried to intimidate him by smoking his stubbed-out cigar (which resulted in him seeing double) and then, when that didn’t work, tried shooting him and failed miserably. The smuggler then promptly tried to shoot them back, but Radian got a good roll and easily rolled out of the way –
And the smugger got a bad one, shot a reflective wall, and took the laser shot right between the eyes. Cue the poor kids panicking while V.I.N.N.I.E. (observing this through their “smart watch” communicators) commented it was pretty awesome. XD Galaxa ended up stealing everything off the corpse (including his gun, plasma grenades, and his fancy vest, which she draped over Radian like a blanket – also a fidget spinner, which she promptly used to calm herself down), while Kae’l hid the body under a mound of sand (fairly poorly) and Radian tried to come to grips with what had just happened, while V.I.N.N.I.E. tried to talk him through it, without much success (mostly because he kept saying things like “it was your actions that led to that guy’s demise” XD). Excellent start to their space adventures!
B) A small big-eyed alien that introduced himself as Meeples, who asked if they were there for “the party” – after some back and forth (with the kids claiming to be awesome space explorers who have visited every planet, impressing Meeples), it transpired that the party he was talking about was going to be a Big Deal, but that you needed a ticket to get in. Fortunately, there was a way to earn tickets – win them during a big old space-racing event! And wouldn’t you know it, there were four tickets up for grabs. The kids promptly suggested to Meeples they team up, promising him that they’d give him their spare ticket if they won if he promised to do the same if he won. Meeples was for it, and – after the gang managed to direct his attention away from the dead body mound by pretending it was a religious thing – leapt onto Radian’s head so he didn’t have to keep up with these much taller offworlders on foot. Galaxa promptly scrambled onto Kae’l’s shoulders so she didn’t miss out on the fun. XD
C) The city marketplace, to see about getting some snacks and necessary items before heading to the racing venue – the kids proceeded to:
I. Buy some cola themed around the missing advanced race that invented teleporter tech before buggering off when everyone started fighting over it (Kae’l and Radian found it merely delicious, while Galaxa found it so good that she immediately got addicted, and hissed at Meeples when he tried to take it away)
II. Take the business card of some lawyers advertising nearby, just in case they needed legal representation thanks to the whole “stole Galaxa’s dad’s spaceship” thing (Galaxa gave the guy at the front 100 credits, twice the retainer fee he was asking for, in an attempt to buy his loyalty; the guy promptly went in and closed the shop because hell yeah he has 100 credits and that’s some serious moolah here XD)
III. And buy some weapons from Storacle, a shop run by a fish woman who specializes in various bladed weaponry, since Meeples suggested it would be a good idea before heading to compete in the race (Kae’l got an awesome huge black laser katana for half price by promising to promote Storacle should they win the race – the fish lady was like “that’s fine, but if you don’t win or don’t do the promo, my boys will come after you” (cue two shark people showing up and looking menacing) – and Galaxa got a pair of little hot pink laser knives and utterly failed at haggling for them because she wouldn’t listen to what the lady was saying – Raidan eventually just handed over the amount she said she’d take, and the fish woman went off for a much-needed smoke, despite being in an EVO suit of her own)
IV. The racetrack itself, which was a long course that wound around some rocks on the very edge of the city, with a whole wall of eager spectators waving banners and whatnot! I left off with Meeples asking how they wanted to split up, as each cart needed a pilot and a “gunner” to get through the race – tomorrow, we’ll see how they pair off, and how the race itself goes!
Other: And in other accomplishments –
A) I spent roughly an hour after mini-golf and before beanbags getting all of Moose’s messages answered! So now that’s all sorted and hopefully we can get back on track regarding our schedule. :)
B) And, as indicated above, we did play beanbags around 5 PM – and unfortunately, my bean bag game was even worse than my mini-golf game. I just could not get it together! :( Though I suppose as a small plus, Mom managed to win one game, preventing another Dad Sweep. Final scores were me 3-3-3; Dad W-W-2; Mom 2-2-W. *sigh* Maybe tomorrow will be better...
So yeah -- busy day, but in a good way. And I'm very glad I was able to snatch some time here and there to do stuff like answer all of Moose's messages and get all those pictures alt-texted on the Polyheart OT3 house post draft -- makes me feel like I was properly productive online as well as off. :) And now it's time to wrap things up and hit the sack -- got one more day of work tomorrow before the weekend arrives! Ah, Thursdays off, you are so weird... Night all!