Pokémon Shining Pearl

 Shining Pearl just became very intense.  The Grand Underground adds several (if not hundreds) more hours to the game!  I’m already ~ 20 hrs in the game and only obtained 6/8 badges needed for the just the storyline!  I’m progressing nicely, having not one, but 2 legendary starter Pokémon available to me having not only pre-purchasing the game, but having previous Pokémon games on my system as well.  In this Grand Underground, not only are you able to capture Pokémon not found in the original game (Platinum, only), you have ginormous caverns to unlock and discover.  Shiny drops to gather to obtain rare and shiny statues for your very own personal area.  Not only do they allow for you to create your own aesthetic personal space, but the statues give bonuses to both attack power and increased chance of discovering that Pokémon in the wild.

I’ve played Pokémon shield ~ 60 hrs, not officially capturing every Pokémon, however having defeated all the gyms, finishing the story and capturing my very own legendary Pokémon!  As my first, official, Pokémon game that I can say really got me into ‘gotta collect ‘em all’, I really liked the story it had.  Shining Pearl also has just as good of a story.  I’m definitely considering Arceus and adding that to the list.  Not only is it rumored to have a BoTW feel to it, which I love, it will continue with great story features that I have come to love.

New job, old job?

 So back in April I started a new job.  After being unemployed from the pandemic and then working briefly with Spectrum (big mistake) I landed a job where I’m currently at.  (Redacted for privacy reasons- not that I’ll bitch about work… just the opposite.  Just know I work with personal information and security of that.)

I was in a class in the end of June, first of July to learn ‘the rest of my job’, which of course came with a load of nerves because of the amount of new responsibilities I’m now required to do.  Bottom line, I’ve ‘done’ this level of customer service before, it’s just now knowing and understanding what this company is requiring me to do on a daily basis.  So the job itself isn’t hard, but… what do I have to do to keep you happy?  I learned that.  Then I got covid.  I am a covid survivor.  2 weeks in the hospital with acute respiratory tory failure, then an additional 4 weeks out of work for recovery.  BELIVE it or not, this place is AMAZING!  Not only did I get a covid pay.  I was given short term disability.  I was given a work schedule accommodation (working only 4 hrs when I came back to work.) AND, because my significant other had a much more difficult survival with covid and it’s after affects, I’m STILL getting some accommodations as long as I’m upfront and honest!  Talk about what a company!  And that’s not the reason why I’m writing this post! NO… the hours I work, because we’re a 24/7 company, I work a split shift of 4am-1pm.  The AM hrs before my lunch are slow.  Meaning, I get paid for 4 hours of doing nothing.  Mostly I just draw, color, game or read.  But I get paid for it.  The last 4 hours tend to be busy, but it really only means I only ‘work’ for 4 hrs, but I get paid for 8.  Easiest job EVA!  I thought ACS was nice.  Nope, this tends to beat that!!  (Even ACS had it slow in the mornings til about 8 or 9 am.  I still had to work until 2:30.  Hahahaha, by 8 or 9 here, I’ve already worked a half day!  It’s amazing!  And I don’t want to do anything to change that!

Cozy Grove

 

I’ve been playing Cozy Grove now for awhile, love it, on the Switch.  (Preordered, actually - ) and when I recently (finally) purchased my very own iPad, apple arcade had Cozy Gove available!  Link any ps4/5 or Xbox controller and you have a very handy game system.  (That can also be a laptop or a drawing pad - both of which I utilize!)

Because of life’s recent events, I’ve not gamed much on my gaming pc since before the first of July.  My family is Covid recovered, my husband - who recovered from an extended 13 week stay in the hospital from ICU to ICU.  He’s slowly recovering from those weeks of bedbound life.  Not a particular, enjoyable, time in my life.  I’m thankful that he has survived and I now have a new outlook on life.  Any rate, due to that, anything that I gamed on I didn’t have any desire to play.  Mostly because 90% of what I played, I played with him.  I did find a game that got me through some dark times, but for the most part it was doing mindless hand-held stuff.  When I purchased the iPad, my world became a little more available.  Now, my gaming pc seems ‘laggy’ and ‘something wrong’ with it.  (It really needs to be just wiped and refreshed.)

But anyway, Cozy Grove.  An Animal Crossing-esque type game.  Casual game play.  Where your character is a Spirit Guide, sent to this island to help the local spirits.  You get daily quests to earn spirit logs that you feed to your campfire to grow.  I’m now learning that the game joins in with the holidays and has festives throughout the year.  Missed Halloween.  But you can earn decorations for your campsite, craft items, food, and companions.  Fish your hearts content.  Skip stones and more!  In my pre-order on my Switch, I was able to get special spirit costumes from the order.  A lot of games offer Switch only, or iOS only perks for playing those games on said device.  (More to come)  It would have been nice to see some perk given to iOS, but I enjoy that it’s free w/ Apple Arcade.  With both of my games, I’ve only totaled  about 30 days logged.  I’ll need to improve on that.