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.

Genshin Impact

 I’m only a little late coming to the party.  But I just picked up a new IPad Air and indirectly became introduced to such a game.  

What a gorgeous game!  I just finished the introduction and made it to the city.  I’ve also connected my Xbox controller to the IPad for easier controls.

The controller makes it so much easier to  control.  I’ll report more once I learn and become familiar!

Points to ponder

 I would think that when you go into a profession you do so because you enjoy it and you're really good at it.  Not because you're drawn to what it is and how it can be beneficial to you. 

There's an age-old quote; "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
  

I would say I work in customer service.  I LOVE helping people.  I'm fortunate enough to work from home, amidst the world trying to get back to the norm.  These are some of the things I enjoy about my job.  (No commute, no extra energy spent on 'readying' myself, no thought in what to wear, or do I have enough wardrobe for the week?)  I get to be at home, do my job, help people, and have no worry about the extras of life that are dealt with daily.    What I didn't do is go into this job thinking about how it can help me.  There are no true perks to this job.  I get a service for free but I have to cancel my account, which I currently have then have them reactivate it getting it for free.  I'm not so sure I'm wanting to put that much energy into it.  

I'm curious by doing a profession that is designed to help but doing so to solely help you, I question just how good you are at your job.  I question the validity of your abilities.  You openly share you cannot do the very thing it is you ask others to do.  I don't know whether to call you a fraud or just the typical hypocrite.  Not so surprising, since everything I know of your very being has been nothing but hypocrisy.  

hy·poc·ri·sy

/həˈpäkrəsē/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

Nothing makes me cringe more than that of being a hypocrite.  If you can't be a decent human being to just be transparent about life then your own troubles are of your own doing.

There's something I have to get off my chest

 Sometimes my "family member" can really get under my skin.  Mostly because I think they do so on purpose, and yet don't give a damn how other people are treated.  I try very hard not to let this person know they've gotten the best of me.  As I have stated previously, I went drastic by moving across the country, so they aren't really in my life anymore.  Yet, because they're "family," it's hard not to hear about them.

I can't stand fake people.  You know the ones.  The ones that always seem to have an answer for everything just so they can justify their existence.  The thing is, they don't give a damn about who they hurt, or what they do - as long as they look good to the public eye.  It's like the worst of narcissism meets vain.  They're the ones you pray and pray that one day... JUST ONE day they realize what an inhuman being they've been.  But they never will live to see that day.  Nope.  They live in a world where you never mean anything to them, especially if you can't bring them any sort of gain.

This "family member," has oops-ed to the point of actually 'showing' the rest of the family that the issue we keep complaining about isn't about us.  You see, this "family member," has the rest of the family believing any issues we have are 'our problem.'  Well, they oops-ed.  They can't do the very thing it is they spend the last 10 years going to school for.  So the problem isn't us... It's them.  (Them used in a derogatory sense placing no gender towards the individual for privacy concerns.)  My spouse and I have had our own issues over the years.  As a unit under God, I would like to think we have become more self-aware of our actions and not afraid to change who we were to be better God-loving people.  This includes admitting our mistakes and forgiving those that hurt us.  (Ironic to the reason for this post, but let me continue.)  You see, this "family member" has admitted they cannot move on and so it's better to just ignore/delete/live without than to forgive and live life.  So they don't.  They don't partake in anything that may have 'us' in it.  And the rest of the family is now realizing this.

What gets me is how this person can just delete someone from their life and not give a damn in the world.  I mean, how does someone do that?   TO YOUR OWN FAMILY?!  I may be Christian.  I may need to take my problems and give them to God.  I may also need to forgive those that hurt me.  But I AM allowed to question any and all things and right now... sooo many questions!  I just can't fathom doing that to someone and being ok with myself.  (They're not OK, which is why they have the problems that they do.  But no one can tell them they are wrong now can they?)

Does anyone else have anyone like that in their lives?  I'm sure it's easier to just forget about them... but it's very difficult when it's close-knit like this.  For now I'll just keep it cryptic and hope that one day I can briefly understand.

Ark Genesis pt 2!!

 

I have been waiting for this part of the game!  I absolutely, without a doubt, LOVE this game.  I loved everything about it playing it last summer while unemployed.  I eventually bought all the dlc's plus the season pass, which gives me this!  Honestly, Genesis pt 2 is really what the game was meant to be about.

My first tame was a Parasaur (

Parasaurolophus

).  It helps with inventory management as well as enemy detection.  From there I nabbed one of the new dinos to the game, a Maewing.  This is the love child of a platypus and a flying squirrel.  You glide along very quickly across the map on this thing!  A must for fast traveling!  Not to mention, it also acts as a wet nurse and nanny to young hatchlings!  Finally!  I should preface, I do not mod the game.  I play on the epic version that I got free last year.  I do have a copy of the Steam version, I could mod.  I however run my own dedicated servers and most of my players are from Epic, which for the moment isn't available to mod.  So to have a wetnurse in-game that's part of the game is ... fantastic!

Last but not least is this tek suit!  You can fly and hover around in-game and it costs you nothing!  No grinding of element or any tek engrams.  All given to you as you enter the map and is still with you after death!