Yesterday I was having a conversation about subscriptions, in a super-secret iMessage chat, that made me reconsider and look at every subscription I currently have. Mostly the ones through the Appstore with most of them being annual subs.

My current active subs are;

Apple One (monthly) 29.95

CARROT Weather, Family (Tier 4) (yearly) 29.99

Audible (monthly) 15.99

Cascable (quarterly) 4.99

Drafts (yearly) 19.99

Glass (monthly) 4.99

Overcast (yearly) 9.99

Parcel (yearly) 4.99

Ulysses (yearly) now, 39.99

Up Ahead (yearly) 9.99

These are what have got left after canceling many others last night. Of the few remaining, I feel like I can weed some out even further.

Apple One, well, that's gonna stay, most likely. 

CARROT, I am considering dropping it, Apple's stock weather app has gotten slightly better, or just good enough for my particular needs.

Audible, I feel like I can definitely get by without it, as there are other ways perhaps to listen to Audiobooks. I need to look more into that.

Cascable, both Annie and I use it, to wirelessly transfer RAW files from our cameras to our devices. I believe there is a lifetime option so that might be worth it. I did the same with Darkroom, I just went for the lifetime option.

Overcast, I have had that one for so long that I can't tell what I would be losing if I went for the free tier.

Parcel, it's a fine app, it works and it's only 5 USD a year

Up Ahead, I really like the app, it clocked with me right away so at this point is more to support and try to keep it around.

Ulysses and Drafts, are two apps that in many ways, can or do the same. Yes, Ulysses has revision mode and can handle images better than Drafts could. But one is half the cost of the other one. This one is a thought one for me, for sure.

We shall see what happens.

Don't know if you noticed but there are no Twitter apps listed 🤪

Moonscars on the Nintendo Switch

Ugh! Another one.

Last night, like almost every night, I am browsing the newest releases section of the Nintendo eShop, it's almost like an addiction at this point and immediately saw the image above. And I went, "uh, what's that?", and that's all it took. I went in and looked at the images, and I was already hooked, then it dawned on me, "uh-oh, this is probably a souls-like". I watched the trailers and yup, definitely a souls-like.

"But it's so prettyyyyyyy!" (in a morbid way)

I am such a sucker for indie-souls-like games! Blasphemous, Eldest Souls, Morbid: The Seven Acolytes, ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights (which I actually played quite extensively) are a  few examples. Where three of them I barely played due to their difficulty, I may revisit in the future, who knows.

Why these games? Is it the darkness? Are their stories as vague as they may be? Perhaps, and most likely. There is also the pixel art style, the sprites, and the music. I am very attracted to these games, but I suck at them. Even for "AAA" games of the same genre, like Elden Ring, which I have purchased and I am so scared to play!

Again, I am a sucker and I will probably end up getting this game, and eventually, its physical copy if ever available.

Also, I understand that the game is currently somewhat broken, I believe is towards the end of the game, but the developers have identified the issues and there is a patch coming. That is good to know going in for sure.

Cult of the Lamb on the Nintendo Switch

Start your own cult in a land of false prophets, venturing out into diverse and mysterious regions to build a loyal community of woodland worshippers and spread your Word to become the one true cult.

I don’t remember exactly when I became aware of this game, I want to say that it was in some Nintendo event where they announced a couple of indie games. What I do remember was being drawn to the game’s visuals, the art style, and obviously the gameplay. It looked both somewhat-creepy and adorable. I mean, you are a lamb, an innocent cute little lamb, and you lead an evil cult. So, I put its release date on my calendar and even pre-ordered a physical copy of it, that is supposed to arrive sometime in Q2 of 2023.

Now that is finally here, the gameplay is one part sim and one part action-roguelike, imagine if Hades and Stardew Valley had a baby. The premise of this game is you are being sacrificed by some cult by the Old Ones because a prophecy said that a lamb will be the vessel by which The One Who Waits will return. Obviously, you do get sacrificed and then return to life by The One Who Waits, for you to raise a cult in his name and to destroy the 4 Old Ones in order to break free, just like the prophecy says.

Again, the gameplay is divided between you taking care of your duties, tending to your followers and your efforts to fight your way through the forests of heretics, the rouge like part, and hunt down them Old Ones. Here is like your typical rouge like game, where you enter a dungeon, you pick a weapon, and you fight your way through different rooms. In some rooms, you will encounter some cult member that you can convert and at the end of the run, there will be a boss. These dungeons aren’t super-long, they might take about 10-15 mins to complete. Then you return to your commune with the spoils of your adventure!

In your Cult’s Commune is where you do your sim part of the game. Part of tending to your followers is to listen to them and resolve their issues, you farm, you harvest, you build things. You give sermons and teach doctrines, you can assign jobs and responsibilities to each of your cult members. You also need to do anything and everything to keep their faith from dropping, or they will turn on you. At this point, you can teach them again, throwing them into prison or my favorite, sacrifice them.

You do a zillion things, I won’t list because there’ll be too much, or I probably haven’t even got to do them.

This is definitely a completely unique rougelike kind of game, and I will say, half of it, to me, can be stressful. The action, rougelike part of the game isn’t that hard, granted, I’m playing on easy, and it is where I get a lot of fun out of. The sim aspect of it, well, that is the stressful part, for me. I always worried that I will not attend to every request, that my followers aren’t happy, that I am not building the necessary things, etc.

If you very much enjoy games like Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing, you will love this aspect of the game. I do own both Stardew and Animal Crossing, and I had never been able to get into them, I lose interest quickly.

This is a beautiful, cute-looking game, and it is a lot of fun, except for the sim part, for me, but it is definitely with checking out.

To me, this is a personal, not humble opinion, Spotify is the equivalent of Facebook, in the streaming services universe in some ways.

I don’t like it, I despise it, I hate the way the app looks, and I would rather not use it. However, recently I have been using it and paying for it. Yes, I feel gross, a little. The reason I have been using it, I blame nostalgia. Regrettably, on Spotify, there is a large library of old Reggaeton music that I loved listening to it back in the day. Most of this content is not available on Apple Music, which is my streaming service of choice. Some of it eventually make it to Apple Music, but it is rare and hard to find and Apple doesn’t do a good job at “finding” and suggesting these like Spotify does.

And I get it, I heard them [Artists and Producers] talking on different podcast shows about the fact that Spotify pays more for streaming than Apple Music does, or so they say. Thus, it makes more sense for them to have their music streaming on Spotify over Apple Music. That and most of the hardcore fans, from Puerto Rico, already use Spotify over Apple music, so…

I don’t like it but, I want my old-school reggaeton beats, again, for nostalgia.

How much do you edit yourself and why?

I mean, I guess if you write for a living or something related, editing might be paramount. But what about, personal blogs? Is that important? Is it required? 

I feel like I edit myself a lot. In fact, I think some parts of the "editing" used to hold me from writing and publishing things on the internet, where other people can read them. Same reason as always, English not being my first language. 

Well,  why you didn't write in Español then? (Español means Spanish)

 Well, to be honest, I guess I never considered, writing and publishing in my first language. Perhaps it is the fact that I had already been living here in the US for long enough and most of the people and blogs I used to read were in English and thought I would do the same, I think. I gotta think more about that.

Back on topic!

The only reason I dared start to publish things was, first, the use of word editing AI software like Grammarly.  And still, have a friend read through it and make changes. Changes, that oftentimes, made my post not sound like me, if that makes any sense.

With time I have become comfortable enough to not have anyone else read-check my writing but still use some kind of software to check my grammar and such. Like I am doing right now. And I have become so accustomed to that, to the point, if whatever text editor I am using, doesn't have a revision mode or a type of check, I won't use it. that is probably the main reason I use Ulysses all the time, or a web browser because it has Grammarly.

Many times, I don't want to care much, just enough to make sure I am conveying what it's in my mind and not worry so much about the editing part. But then I start thinking about punctuation, grammar, and all that!

It sometimes causes friction. Sometimes I just want to type away and be done and stress less about formalities.

I have found a new favorite Pod radio show:

The Friends With Beer Podcast

Two friends, two beers, one podcast, many topics.

It is light and fun, makes me want to crack up a beer too, so I feel like I’m in the same room. That being, said, I should not listen to this show at work. Apparently, drinking on the job is frowned upon.

Today, Marley, was riding her scooter, as she does. I come into the house to grab my car keys and wallet because I was going out to the car wash. I heard Marley crying, and see Annie rushing to Marley’s. She had fallen and hit her knee, nothing super-serious, a superficial scratch, but it will definitely bruise.

Marley being marley, it is a huge deal, and very dramatic. We sat her on the couch, she’s freaking out, we spayed her scratch with antiseptic, and put on some ice. Marley is still being dramatic, crying, “it hurts, it hurts!”

Once the situation has been somewhat handled, I say, “well, I’m leaving”.

Marley: Wait, where are you going?

Me: to wash the car

Marley: to the car wash?

Me: Yes…

Marley: I WANT TO GO!

Me, Can you walk?

Marley: I can try…

Next thing you know, a miracle! She’s walking and jumping! Clearly , it wasn’t that bad

I am pretty sure I am not alone on this one, but every once in a while, I do get the itch to try other blogging platforms. Even though I am always, and irrevocably, end up back at the same place. The one platform that always calls my attention is Ghost. I have self-hosted it, hated it, I have done their Pro plan, and loved it. But again, always back and our beloved it Micro.Blog. 

This week, I got the Ghost-itch. "Let us just do the trial", I said, thinking that would scratch the itch. Well, this time around, in the few attempts on setting it up, my card has been declined, which is a little odd, is the same one I have always used before. The only things I can think of are, either my bank, which is actually a credit union, it's been a little stingy since  Ghost it's a "foreign"  company or I have been blacklisted by Ghost 😂. 

Either way, I am taking this as a sign and slowly walking away. 

It has been a strange week this one. Mostly because I haven’t been sleeping well. I mean, previously I hadn’t been sleeping but it was more because my mind was always racing, or too much stress. This week, however, it’s been because; I honestly don’t know. I feel exhausted. Last night’s workout was mediocre at best. Not because of lack of motivation but lack of energy. Also, I showed up without a clear plan of what I wanted to do, so I was just aimlessly winging it, al-garete as we would say back home.

Two things, one, I need to rest and get some sleep. And two, I gotta be better at planning my workout routines. The latter should be easy, I have the resources. In fact, I pay for a Patreon membership, 5.00 USD/month to a guy that posts kettlebell workouts, I have just been too lazy to sit down and watch his workout routines and put something together for myself, based on that. And honestly, 5.00 USD a month for basically a workout program is a steal.

Perhaps I gotta start planning my weeks better from now on, no more al-garete

Me: Hey Siri! When is the next full moon?

HomePod Siri: I’ve found some web results. I can show if you want from your iPhone.

Me: Alexa! When is the next full moon?

Alexa: Last full moon was last Saturday September 10th at 3:59pm the next will be in October 9th at 2:55pm.

But no, Siri has gotten better.

This morning on our commute to grandma’s house, we had a nice spectacle. In our route, we are basically coming downhill a bit, and it is a long stretch, a few miles before we have to turn left and lose sight of what was happening, having a clear view of the sky.

It was a lightning show, somewhere north of us, there was a thunderstorm and although it wasn’t raining in our area, we could clearly see the lightning. Marley and I, were excited about it, and every time a bolt of lightning would show up in the stormy sky, we would go “Did you see that one!!?” Luna, on the other hand, was not impressed, whatsoever.

Having been living in Puerto Rico, I am very sad we don’t get that many thunderstorms here, they are rare, so I’ll take what I can get and be wowed by it.

Hope they don’t cause any Wildfires, though. 🤞🏼

I have read somewhere that dreams are usually your brain putting together and “reliving” events from the previous day, or something like that. That, to me, checks out, or at least more so recently.

I know I dreamed about a sweet dog that was following me and we were playing. That piece of the dream, I can explain. I had been listening to a book on tape by Stephen King before bed and yeah, there is a dog in this story.

What I cannot figure out is, why for most of my dream I was being chased by a Predator, and everyone was getting killed left and right. I remember waking up a few times trying to shake off the dream but I was always back at running away from this alien hunter creature.

Even Arnold was in it, “GET TOTHE CHOPPA!!!!”

just testing, this is a previous post

I’m in a “strange” mood today…

Allow me to explain.

Normally, especially on Sundays, my motivation to do anything is next to nothing. Whatever needs to get done around the house or yard, I’d do the bare minimum. Everything is a drag.

Today, so far, it’s a little different. I felt, feel, motivated. I prepared breakfast for Luna and I, coffee, and head outside for some yard work. Today I went above and beyond of what would normally be. I put on more effort into it and tackled things that had been bothering me around the front yard. I took the time to fertilize the threes and grass, which does need some work. These high temperatures have been rough on the yard.

Normally, I dread laundry, folding clothes and putting them away. Today, I didn’t mind it at all, I just, did it.

I’m excited for dinner tonight, I am preparing a flank steak. I was actually creative and intentional about seasoning and letting it marinate for the next few hours, rather than just preparing it last minute and throwing it in the air fryer or something.

I’m not sure if it’s just a spur of the moment or something else, perhaps my new meds are stating to kick in?

So, what I call strange, is probably my normal self that I haven’t felt or seen in a while…

I have this urging feeling of changing things around, shaking things up, as they say. It always starts with my blogging settings. No, I am not opening another Ghost account, but will most likely play around with a theme, change menus, and other things. Perhaps other systems and tools I use may change. definitely, there are personal things that need revisiting... I am a messy work in progress.

Also, and super-unrelated.

Do you read every item in your RSS feed? Or, just like me, do you triage and keep what you might truly read later, or just read it and move on?

I found myself scanning and just skipping until I find something I know I would like to read. Then I read it right there and then rather than "saving it for later".

I don't know, just a thought.

Although I have had many thoughts recently and I am having a hard time sorting them out. Something is not entirely right up in here (points to the head). At least I know is not a lack of serotonin, according to my crazy-doc...

😝😝

Being unbiased toward "things", is so hard, to me at least, I think. It goes for a lot of things, politics, points of view, etc. I have my ways, principles, values, truths, whatever and it is super-hard to sometimes understand the other side, other's point of view. Especially when they are against what you think (or I think rather) my own point of view, my own biases. I always remember someone saying that there are different truths. There are "absolute truths" like one day you will die, that's an absolute truth, for now. There are half-truths (forgot the example of one), and your own and it is hard to distinguish between the three sometimes.

This is something I have been trying very hard to work on. To be able to read, and hear the other point of view, someone else's truth without immediately getting rattled or defensive. I don't engage in touchy discussions much to avoid this very same issue. However, I do seek, like many other people, some kind of validation of my own biases, my non-absolute truths. Perhaps not intentionally but subconsciously. Does that make sense?

This is going to sound silly, but what brought this up to me was... In the Puerto Rican urban music scene, there are always what we call "tiraeras". One rapper or reggaeton artist calls out the other in a song, the other responds, they bully each other, and so on. And of course, I have my favorite of the two, so immediately I am biased. No matter how "good" the other might have been, I am already thinking my favorite one will respond and win. And here I am looking at my Twitter feed to see what people say and only regard as important or "correct" the tweets in which people are "Agreeing" with my point of view or bias.

I guess I have, or many of us, the tendency to create our own bubbles to protect our biases and truths. I know people who don't have a bubble, and they are able to have healthy conversations despite them having different points of view. These people inspire me, but again, it is hard.

Thoughts?

Welcome to another "episode" of what Gabz has been playing...!!

Well, I am still knees deep into Xenoblade  Chronicles 3, about 34 ish hours in, and I can't get enough of it. Although I just reached one particular "mission" where it's like;

• I need that boat
• Yes, you may have it but we need batteries, go talk to Person #1.
• I go talk to Person #1: Yes, I would help you but I need you to talk to Person #3 for X"
• Now I got to Person #3...

You know where this is going, right? 

Still having lots of fun and am super-intrigued by the story.

Anyway, the game I want to talk about is Rollerdrome on the PlayStation 5

Rollerdrome is a single-player third-person action-shooter that seamlessly blends high-octane combat with fluid motion to create an action experience like no other. Dominate with style in cinematic, visceral combat where kills net you health and pulling off tricks and grinds provide you with ammunition.

I have to say, I've only played about an hour or 30 minutes of it. As part of the PlayStation Plus Premium membership, you do get a 1-hour full game trial. When I first saw this game it made me think of movies like The Running Man (1987) for some reason, you know futuristic, dystopian badass sports. And of course, the art style grabbed my attention right away.

The game is a blast, no doubt! It's simple, you skate through an arena in the Rollerdrome tournament, battling others with guns, dodging attacks, and the way you replenish your ammo is with tricks and such. The best part is skating at full speed without fear of crashing. From what I played, the game isn't that difficult, again, I've only played basically the tutorial and maybe two battles. I did find myself near death a couple of times, but you replenish your health by killing enemies. I am definitely intrigued by this game, seems like it can be a lot of fun without a super-complicated setting.

That's it, until next time! ✌🏼

Back in June, I had my RGT Test, which, unfortunately, I did not pass. Both my ego and pride (if they aren't the same thing) took a hit, not going to lie. 

And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

  – Alfred Pennyworth  

On December, December 5th to be exact, in Chicago, I will have another chance to take the test. This means my anxiety ("Hello darkness my old friend...") is back again. Perhaps a wee bit less than before since now know what I am getting myself into. Still, the fear of failing – again – and falling is creeping into the back of my head.

Better get cracking!

There is a little discovery, which I am sure I am late to the party for and that is Omnivore,

Omnivore is an open source read-it-later solution. Use our browser extensions, PWA, or iOS app to save any article. Subscribe to newsletters, add highlights, read distraction free.  

I believe I saw a retweet by Andrew on the Twitters and had to check it out, obviously. It is simple, easy to add things to it (alt + O on Windows) and the best part, it's free as far as I am aware. Usually, free services make me a little nervous but I feel okay with this one. I have the extension in my browser and have the iOS app on my phone and the syncing is rock-solid!

So, My thanks to Mister Canion.

I’m in a “strange” mood today…

Allow me to explain.

Normally, especially on Sundays, my motivation to do anything is next to nothing. Whatever needs to get done around the house or yard, I’d do the bare minimum. Everything is a drag.

Today, so far, it’s a little different. I felt, feel, motivated. I prepared breakfast for Luna and I, coffee, and headed outside for some yard work. Today I went above and beyond of what would normally be. I put on more effort into it and tackled things that had been bothering me around the front yard. I took the time to fertilize the trees and grass, which does need some work. These high temperatures have been rough on the yard.

Normally, I dread laundry, folding clothes, and putting them away. Today, I didn’t mind it at all, I just, did it.

I’m excited about dinner tonight, I am preparing a flank steak. I was actually creative and intentional about seasoning and letting it marinate for the next few hours, rather than just preparing it last minute and throwing it in the air fryer or something.

I’m not sure if it’s just a spur of the moment or something else, perhaps my new meds are starting to kick in?

So, what I call strange, is probably the normal self that I haven’t felt or seen in a while…

Today marks a week since I got my new CASIO G-SHOCK. I am not gonna lie, it has been a little bit of an adjustment.

As for the piece itself, I love it. I love its design, love the color, love the watch face, always been a fan of digital and big numbers. It is super comfortable and, again, it looks nice. This one is one of those G-SHOCK MOVE models, it pairs with your device using a dedicated app. It can push notifications, messages, texts, calls, etc. It does track calories burned, steps and runs. I think I can track workouts but I am yet to figure out if it can at all the same way the Apple Watch does.

What about Apple Watch Withdraws?

I have to be honest here, there have been a few times, in which I have found myself really missing the Apple Watch.

Daily use

As far as an EDC, I don’t find myself missing the Apple Watch as much, again, fashion-wise, the G-SHOCK kills it. I don’t mind not getting notifications or any of that. Is nice not having that distraction.

Where I do find myself missing it though is for example when out grilling, I use timers a lot and I always use my watch for that. Yes, I have my phone and can summon the all-mighty Siri for that but, it’s so much easier to quickly reach for your wrist.

Workouts

If there’s anything that the Apple Watch excels at, is tracking movement and workouts. Having that data easily accessible, timers, and data, is super-nice and convenient. The G-SCHOCK does have a stopwatch and timers, but they are not easy to access as they are on the Apple Watch. And of course, there are the rings, The Rings of Shame as I call them.

Conclusion

I am very satisfied with my purchase and I think there is a way in which both watches can coexist within my lifestyle. Just like shirts, they can be changed, depending on the day, mood, necessity, or occasion. For sure will be using the Apple Watch for workouts over the G-SHOCK, but daily use, either or, but mostly the G, for now, until I am tired of it, if ever (or if I get a new one?).

What goes through my mind at 11:00 PM at night?

I talk a lot in my head (I think I am talking), and I sort of guess what the next day will be like. I create conversations, and what I might be saying at tomorrow’s meeting (which got postponed until tomorrow, so I am sure we'll get back to it tonight). I imagine and plan the rest of my day, or rather, I think I am just mentally preparing for it.

I think about every issue, and problem, I have. I tell myself an idiot for worrying too much and that I suck. Impostor syndrome creeps in and doubts every decision made. What my workout will be for tomorrow? Gotta lose weight, I am still fat. I try to remind myself that there’s nothing I can do right this second about any of it and that I should focus on sleeping and getting some rest.

But no, I can’t.

I grab my phone, I doom scroll Instagram, Twitter is dead, nothing to see there this late at night, but I open Tweetbot and scroll anyways. I open any app that might show me something I hadn’t previously seen or read, or something I may miss. There’s nothing in my RSS. A podcast? Nah! Not interested. A book? Too tired to pay attention and remember any of it the next day. What about read it later? Nah!

Ugh!  

Shall I change my Micro.blog theme? Hm...

Nah, not on the macintosh phone...

Plays music...

Midnight comes around...

On the bright side, I got 4 hours of sleep rather than 3 like the night before. I call that progress.

I have completed my first workout using the new G-Shock Watch, honestly I am uncertain whether the Watch was tracking my workout. It was running some kind of times, but… I don’t know, I got to figure it out. It’s definitely been tracking over all activity, steps kcal’s and some.

Unless there’s a setup or function I haven’t figured out yet, I might use the Apple Watch for workouts only. I like having a record and easy access to my timers.

Then again, these are the little things the Apple Watch spoiled me on.

Not a thing I like to see anymore.