PixlBit

Good morning, Pixlbit Nation! How is everyone this lovely Thursday? I am fantastic, after being so poor I couldn't afford coffee for the last two weeks, my first unemployment check came in yesterday and I went food shopping. My larder is no longer bare, and I am once again caffeinated. Life is good.

Soooo...I've been without internet since Dec. 15th. Money's tight and something had to go. My friend (and landlady's son) Michael ran a line over to the cottage, so now I have internet access at home once more. I just have to be careful not to stream too much stuff because of the usage cap.

I think I'm making up for all that lost time over the summer...

After finishing Sleeping Dogs and South Park: The Stick of Truth, I was a bit up in the air as to what to play next. Mount Backlog is very high, like Mt Everest proportions, so too much choice was the issue. But, inspiration came from Goztecs (Thanks, Chris!) and I settled on LEGO Batman in a shorter timespan than normal after finishing off a game. I'm always perpetually late to the party, this game's been out since 2008 and I started it once, a long time ago, and never got past the beginning part of the second level. I can now say I have not only finished it, but completed it 100% and I'm only lacking the Sidekick achievement to 100% the achievements, too. I could cheat and do it myself with a second controller, but I think I'll invite my friend Michael over for some co-op gaming and get it then.

Last night I downloaded the current Games With Gold game. The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is a point-and-click murder mystery in three chapters, of which only the first part was free. I played for a bit last night, and honestly, if I'd paid for it, I would have been pissed. Loading times are long, dialogue is cheesey, the characters are not terribly engaging, and it controls terribly. I'm not even sure if I'm going to finish it, to be honest. It's obvious why it was free. The other two chapters are $9.99 apiece, and I sure as heck won't be spending that amount for what isn't a very good game. Color me disappointed in the extreme, as I usually like point-and-clicks. Well, the next game on the 16th is SSX, so hopefully I'll enjoy that one more.

Thanksgiving was good, we went to Jason's aunt's house. There were about 17 of us for dinner. I hate turkey, so Jason baked me a ham. Everyone loved the ham, so no leftovers. Sad face. We had five dessert options, but alas, I only had room for two - the German chocolate mousse cake and a slice of Jason's step-mom's homemade apple pie. Talked gaming with Jason's little brother Ben, was entertained by the nieces, aged 10 and 12 (will have to tell the coffee story sometime, but not right now), and just plain had a great time. Jason and I had to leave early, he dogsat for his landlords' dogs, and I needed to get home and let Bandit out myself.

Happy Thanksgiving, Pixlbit Nation! I'm currently thankful for all the utility workers and plow truck drivers who got my electricity back on and have cleared the roads so I can go have Thanksgiving dinner with Jason's family. According to the National Weather Service, Portland got a bit over seven inches of snow yesterday, but I think we may have gotten a bit more in Freeport. It was heavy and wet, and we were having 45 mile per hour winds to go with it, so lots of power outages. I was watching Netflix when it started flickering here, and jumped up and shut off all the electronics and then unplugged the power strips. It went out completely at 10:30, so I lit a couple of candles and dug out the flashlights and read for a while by the light of my trusty flashlight before going to bed. I also dug out my 0 degree (that's 0 Fahrenheit, for all you metric people. It's -18 C) sleeping bag just in case, because no electricity means no heat in my humble abode. Didn't need to use it, but it was down to 55 degrees in the cottage when the power came back on a little after 2 AM. I know both what time it was and the temp, because I forgot to turn off all the lights. I also had to reset the thermostat on the heater, because every time the power blips, it resets to 50 degrees. The power must have gone off again between 2 and 6:15, because the thermostat was back to 50 again, and it was 58 degrees when I woke up.

Instead of sitting here typing this, I should be looking for gainful employment for the winter, but I'm having a hard time getting going on that. The places I wouldn't mind working aren't hiring and the others all fall under the category of "I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than work there". I'm going to have to suck it up here shortly, though. In the meantime, I'm doing yard work for my landlady. Not bringing in any money, but making her happy. And the yard looks nicer.

Finished it last night sooner than I meant to. I accidentally started the last story mission before I was ready to, and didn't have a back up save from before the start of the mission. Oops.

I spent Thursday through Saturday of last week at my grandmother's, going through things that had been stored without my consent in the basement and the garage by my ex-brother-in-law. About 90% of it went to the dump, ruined by water, mold, and rodents. Boxes and boxes of books and cherished childhood possessions, stuff my dad had given to me from his days in the National Guard, most of it ruined. Much of it I didn't even really go through, opened the box, looked in, and realized nothing was worth saving. Throwing away boxes full of books almost broke my heart, especially some first edition kid's books that had been my grandmother's when she was a little girl.