I've got a story!

This morning, like every other morning in the mother, I woke up, got ready, left the house to drop the girls off at grandma's, and head to work. Then, I realized, I was low on gas, like dangerously low, I knew I was not going to make it to work, well perhaps, but it'd be a bad idea. Normally, I'd be like "YOLO, let's do it", living the dangerous life. But no, I am all talk these days.

Then panic kicked, I do not remember grabbing my Mag Safe Wallet. Is it in my backpack? As I was driving (don't do this kids) I reached out to where my wallet would normally be trying blindly looking for it. No luck. Yesterday we went out to eat, I know I paid, but in the middle of leaving, I don't remember if I grabbed it with me or Annie took it and put it in the diaper bag? Or I did grab it and threw it on the kitchen table, and I just did not take it this morning?

Well, I was down to two options, sort of. Go back to the house, get it and gas up, go to work. Or, go home, text my boss that I am working from home. Then I remembered I had my second wallet in the backpack. In this wallet, I have everything else that is either not important or just won't fit in my day-to-day wallet. Like, the health insurance card, or my company's card, stuff like that. Also in this wallet, I've got my Paypal Cash debit card, which I always forget I have. Then I remembered that even if there's no balance in my Paypal account, it is still attached to my bank account, therefore I can, or should be able to, use it still. If this did not work, then I would have to definitely go back to the house.

I drive by the gas station, park, insert the card... Authorizing... voilà! 

phew!

Now, I am here at work, with very little to do...

I should have driven home, it was a sign, and I ignored it.

I have posted about my photography workflow in the past. When it comes to editing photos, it changes from time to time.  One thing is mostly constant, I process on either my iPhone or iPad. Using either VSCO or Darkroom as my picture editors of choice. I always bounce between the two. I lock myself using one or the other for months, and then I switch back again. Today, I had a realization.  Although I very much enjoy using VSCO's Fujifilm filters, for color, I much prefer Darkroom's color options. When it comes to black and white though, I much prefer VSCO's options over Darkroom's. 

Why is that? 

I do not know. It just is.

When it comes to the style of writing and having a simple personal blog, Brent Simmons has always been an inspiration, in some way. I have been following his work and blog for a long time. Perhaps not as long as many of you, but still.

I have read his latest post, In Case I Don’t Write Here Again, a few times, not sure why, perhaps I just like his writing. One thing stuck, though.

I expect and hope that eventually I will no longer be a public person — no blog, no Twitter, no public online presence at all.

That, somehow, to me, seems like the goal. No public online presence.

Although that sounds wonderful, and somewhat romantic, in many ways, for me, would be virtually impossible.

Why?

I fucking ❤️ blogging!

So instead, the goal for me would be that the only online presence, would be this, my digital diary/second brain/main squeeze that I call a blog.

Rid of the twitters, the instagrams, the toots, and miscellaneous.

Just my blog…

It is my duty and responsibility to every single morning, take the girls to grandma's house before work.  Some mornings are easier than others, or smoother I should probably say. Some others, not so much. Today was a relatively smooth one. Now, this is how the ride went.

Luna, every five minutes. 

Lu: Papa!

Me: Yes, Luna?

Lu: I love you!

Me: I love you too, Luna.

And repeat...

Once at grandma's house, Marley walks out of the car, I grab Luna, grandpa comes out and grabs Marley's backpack and lunch bag (and whatever else may have been sent from home by mom).

I take Luna inside and I say Goodbye.

Then both girls come run to the door,

Luna: Papa, hug!

Hug

Marley: Papa, Hug!

Hug

Marley: Sorry Papa, I don't give you a kiss because I have lipstick!

😅😅

Metroid™ Dread for Nintendo Switch

I am going to be honest, I wasn’t going to buy this game, at least not at launch. I was going to wait, until I had finished other games in my backlog. I caved, though. I couldn’t resist the hype, my own hype.

I haven’t played a Metroid game in years. It was probably Metroid Prime, the last one I remember playing. I recently started playing Super Metroid, but didn’t stick with it. I was still very into ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights, which, well, that’s another post.

So, I purchased Metroid Dread Friday night but, it wasn’t until Saturday, while the girls were watching cartoons, that play a bit. A _bit_turned into two hours. Even though I am not a well seasoned Metroid player, and certainly, I may have more difficulty compared to a diehard Metroid fan, I’m still having a lot of fun. It lived up to myhype. It is a great classic Metroid 2D game with amazing modern graphics.

The game does a good job giving you a backstory of the events larding up to this game. This game is a sequel to Metroid Fusion, if I understand correctly. I never played Fusion but, again, you get a good recap and I don’t feel lost. Plus, I have recently got into the YouTube rabbit hole of everything related to Metroid.

You also get a bit of a tutorial to get you going, but the games throws you into the action right away! As you would expect from a Metroid game, there’s lots of exploration, trial and error, and hidden places. The graphics are wonderful, the cutscenes are nicely done, definitely an AAA game from Nintendo.

Now, my new cause of anxiety are called E.M.M.I’s, also known as Extraplanetary Multiform Mobile Identifier.

These things will be your main nightmare, or at least for me, they are. These things are relentless and hard to kill, if not impossible. You’ll have to play the game to find out. And it is not like they are all over the map, but in specific areas. Scary areas.

Needless to say, I am having a fun figuring out, exploring, and playing this game. Let us see how long will it take me to beat it? I am currently playing it on my Nintendo Switch lite, no issues there.

So far, I haven’t had to resource to the internets for guidance, and will try to keep it that way for as long as I can. That being said, I don’t discard the possibility of. Right now, I am kind of stuck in an area (surprise, surprise), but we shall see.