23
Jul
2020

Stumbling into maintenance mode, eh?

categories: MMORPGs; word count: 163 words

I know that I mentioned this about Ragnarok Online 2, but I just wanted to clarify it.

https://massivelyop.com/2019/01/21/ragnarok-online-2-stumbles-into-maintenance-mode-as-gravity-officially-ends-development/

“Unfortunately, it is with deep regret that we must announce that Ragnarok Online 2 will not be receiving any further support,” the staff wrote on the game’s official forums. “Ragnarok Online 2 has struggled as of late, but in the last few years it was thankfully given new life thanks to outside funding. However, despite all the hard work, Ragnarok Online 2 did not meet expectations. This has regretfully resulted in the removal of the development team assigned to Ragnarok Online 2.”

I wanted to clarify that in case anyone reading this went, oh, well, you can still patch the game if you download it from Steam or something! (No, all of those are old patches if you are brand new to the game.)

The game will still be available for play. Nothing new will be added to it now or in the future though.

22
Jul
2020

Say it ain’t so. Or say it isn’t so? Or something?

categories: books; word count: 333 words

In my spare time, I’ve been reading some of LaVey’s books since he is considered the modern “father of Satanism”, having founded the first registered Satanic religion. Even though I am a proud member of The Satanic Temple and do not see myself ever wanting to “switch affiliations”, perfectly content with where I am at, I thought that I would give “the other side” a read, have finished The Devil’s Notebook over the course of several evenings — I also read it while my computer was taking awhile to update on several instances — and am reading Satan Speaks! as well, which for some reason I like a bit more. I’m not sure why. I’m speculating that The Devil’s Notebook might have been compiled earlier in his life. I try to be the Satanist that doesn’t mock “the other side”, having a few friends who are registered members of the Church of Satan, although if asked and in this blog I will be open about why I decided to affiliate with The Satanic Temple.

I’ve also gotten into the habit of marking books as read in Goodreads before I finish reading some of them, that way I don’t forget to mark them as read, which is something that… sometimes happens. It also inspires me to actually finish the book, let alone faster. I’ve also come to enjoy compilations of essays more than I thought I would, too. At some point I also intend to read some compilations about why some people converted to Catholicism, just to say that I did. I’d like to see a book compiled by Satanists about why they became Satanists for no more of a reason than to say than we successfully “broke the market”, and to begin to normalize Satanism. We haven’t quite gotten to that point yet. I’d like to see us do so while I’m still here.

In the interim, I need to continue to come up with better subject lines. Short, to the point, but… better ones.

21
Jul
2020

Nope, we are not breaking quarantine for this.

categories: augmented reality, personal; word count: 394 words

Apparently you can “safely exercise” (our governor is a dunce who can’t even comprehend basic science) around here as long as you wear a mask and maintain proper social distance, but no, we are going to continue to quarantine as long as there is a pandemic going on and… not leave the house unless we are embarking on necessary travel. Bub and I could, if there weren’t a pandemic going on, by this logic play Pokemon Go and go to the nearby PokeGym and Stop because it is a cemetery and it is doubtful that we would interact with anyone that isn’t in our household, but… again, there is a global pandemic going on, I am at high risk if I do manage to catch this, I do not want my child catching this, and this is an unnecessary risk to even consider taking, so no. We are going to continue to quarantine for as long as there is a global pandemic going on and I do not care what “advice” our foolish, ludicrous governor, his “strike force team”, or anyone equally as asinine has. None of these folks displays a clear and thorough understanding of science.

I do miss the walk to the nearby cemetery, though. My lungs start off strong after I’ve medicated them with albuterol prior to the walk, then as we turn off of our road and begin walking down the old farm road and I’ve taken the outside position nearest the farm road for safety reasons and my lungs realize what we are doing (again). Then when we get to the gazebo in the cemetery that allows us to access the Gym and the Stop, begin accessing those things, wait for my lungs to stop having the opinions that they are assuredly having, use my inhaler as needed. And when we were done at the cemetery doing everything that we needed to do and I had completely rested, make the walk back down the farm road, then turn and walk back down our road, at which point my lungs would resume having opinions at the distance that we had walked, then go home and I would rest again from the distance that we had walked. My lungs don’t like exercising…

When this pandemic is over, we’ll resume playing Pokemon Go no matter how much albuterol I have to use.

20
Jul
2020

All for the misdeeds of a comparative few.

categories: MMORPGs, personal; word count: 450 words

I’m still getting used to the idea of having amber sunglasses (80% sunglass, amber-tinted) that I can put on, and have been figuring out when the best times are to wear them, especially when I’m indoors. Figuring out when to wear them when I’m outside has been a lot simpler, especially when it’s not dark outside. And as much as I know that they’re not going to be some kind of miracle “catch-all” for my migraines, having something useful like this in the tool box isn’t going to hurt, especially when I have a neurologist hell bent on not adhering to my last neurologist’s plan of care for me when, at the very least, I was prescribed one thing that actually helped, especially at more than one dose (Fioricet). When I see my neurologist for my second visit with her, I’m going to ask if I can be put on an anti-depressant as a maintenance medication since those have some efficacy in reducing migraine frequency and mitigating migraine severity, and the olanzapine that she has me continuing to single-dose for severe migraines does seem to be helping a bit. If she’ll replace the lisinopril that she currently has me trialing with that, I would be happier than I am now, because that medication has had me gain some weight as a result of moving up to the dose that she wants me to take, and I’ve been told that having that come about as a result… isn’t exactly the best (it’s worth changing meds).

I’m also still bothered that you can’t have your Homunculus auto-attack for you in Ragnarok Online now, even if you’re obviously not away from the computer letting it have a free-for-all, which has been against Gravity rules since the start of time when they were even introduced. This incapacitates the alchemist(/geneticist/creator) class beyond making them a glorified swordsman without the specialized skills or just someone who can make and throw potions and Vend. As I’ve mentioned, this punishes everyone who played and enjoyed playing the class for the misdeeds of a comparative few who were eventually going to get banned anyway, because no one who ever afkmists ever really does so long enough not to get caught.

I also found out that Ragnarok Online 2 was essentially cancelled for not being popular (or maybe lucrative?) enough, although it’s still available as a game… I guess it’s just not going to be updated beyond a certain point. I did download it off of Steam for nostalgia’s sake, although forced-WASD has never been and will never be my type of gameplay, and I do intend on giving it a brief whirl when the kids are in bed sleeping…

19
Jul
2020

Well, I waved at them, and they waved back at me!

categories: personal, RPGs; word count: 206 words

I waved at The Satanic Temple (the closest chapter to me) on Twitter, and they waved back.

They also know that I put in an application for that chapter, so hopefully I hear something back soon!

All of this has made me extremely thankful not to be raised religiously, though… and it’s reinforced my desire not to raise my kids religiously, and to step in when someone attempts to raise my kids religiously. Let them make those decisions from themselves. As a matter of fact, let them make those decisions for themselves when I don’t have to consent to anything, and I’ll be the happiest. That ameliorates a lot of the “drama” from it (since the most drama comes from the fact that I refuse to consent to Bub’s baptism). As it already is, I’ve come to feel increasingly more uncomfortable making a decision like that for my kids, especially when they can’t “walk back” that decision of their own will by formally leaving the religion, as I’ve already mentioned.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here wishing that Final Fantasy XIII had a New Game+ like so many other games do. For such an impressive game, the amount that you can’t do post-game is actually comparatively really sad.

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