Today is my first day without a smarty-pants watch. I kinda feel, in some way, like I have left my phone at home. I am not getting the buzz on my wrist. I noticed that I rarely pay attention to my phone while at my desk, and whenever I interacted with it, it was because of the buzzing on my wrist. I believe I can set the watch so I get some notifications but I haven’t done that yet, or maybe I never will.

I also must confess, that I do have my Apple Watch with me, just not on me. It is currently in my backpack. I am trying to decide if I want to wear it at the gym today, just to record my workout.

Like I have said before, I have been using an Apple Watch since the very first model, so I am in that mentality that if I don’t record my workout on the watch, I did not work out at all, didn’t happen, doesn’t exists. I am used to having that quantitative data.

I should be able to set this up though, according to the website;

This G-SHOCK MOVE watch delivers all you need for the ultimate workout. Access your smartphone GPS for precision accelerometer measurement when tracking running distance, speed, pace, and calories burned.

I may spend some time today setting it all up and report back, again, these are my 1st-day impressions so far.

Stay tuned…

UPDATE!

Set up the watch with the iPhone app!

Got Twitter and Hey notifications! 🤣

♥ Nostalgia, Graveyards & an NYC Apartment

I think, well, the whole video, for whatever reason just got to me, great story-telling. But the thing that really stood out to me was when he reads a note, that he scribbled; (I will be doing my best to quote here):

Missing New York means, missing my friends, and missing my friends means missing the times we spent together, and missing those times, is nostalgia and it’s hitting me hard…

Definitely not New York for me, but let us replace NY with Puerto Rico (in my case), let us replace NY with any part of the world or place or activity in which we had great very memorable moments with friends, loved ones, or even by ourselves.

I often feel nostalgic, I miss friends and family of course, but mostly for those moments in which I was the best and normal version of myself. When the only worry was, in which direction to turn next at the next crossroad.

I relive those moments, in my head, often, and I smile every time. And maybe, hopefully, one day I’ll get to share and relive some of those moments with my girls.

Cheers!

I have always had my suspicions, but today was confirmed. Apparently, according to my psychiatrist, I have ADHD.

That confirmed some of my suspicions. Moreover, whatever medication I have been taking for the past few years for my depression, aren’t really doing anything to truly help. If I understood correctly, they just blunt my emotions, good or bad, preventing me from feeling my normal self.

Let us see how this goes, one thing at a time.

The factory mass producing fear, bottled

Capped, distributed near and far

Sold for a reasonable price

The people, they love it, they feed it

Brush with it, bathe with it, breathe it

Inject it direct to the blood

It seems to be replacing love

— Eat the Meek (Dub Mix) by NOFX

Everyone is losing their minds over having the battery percentage back on the latest beta. Are you all bonkers? Who really wants to see that? Doesn’t it give you anxiety, to see that number going down through the course of the day like a Doomsday clock?

Me, personally, and in my not humble opinion, I don’t need that kind of negativity and anxiety in my life.

I’ve spoken!

Love will fuck you up, love will eat you alive, love will turn your nights into terror and your days into a pile of ashes. And the more people you love, the more ways there are to suffer.

Love is a beast, love is a monster, love is a howling storm.

Hold on, hold on tight. It’s the only good reason to be here.

Hold on. Hold on.

–– Love is a motherf****r - annie mueller

Marvel Latin News:

Si ven WANDA en tendencia sepan que se refiere a la exgobernadora de Puerto Rico que fue arrestada por el FBI y no a Wanda Maximoff

Translation

If you see WANDA trending, know that it refers to the former governor of Puerto Rico who was arrested by the FBI and not to Wanda Maximoff

🎶 Puerto Rico está bien cabrón 🎶

This is golden, even Marvel had to stepped in and clarify. 😅

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for the Nintendo Switch

Live to fight. Fight to live.

Join Noah and Mio, members of the two opposing nations of Keves and Agnus, on a heartfelt journey through a warring world with a dark secret. Traverse massive, fantastical landscapes and master seamless real-time RPG combat as you expose the true enemy pulling the strings.

I am calling anything with the Xeno on front of it, as part of the overall series, I am not sure (or remember) how accurate that is, but these have been around since the PlayStation One days. Starting with Xenogears in the late nineties, I still have my copy somewhere in the house. don’t remember much about it other than it was a great game.

In the early two thousand on PlayStation 2, Xenosaga (I, II, and III), I also have my copies in some box somewhere. Those were fun to play, and I remember the story being slightly complicated and open for discussion and interpretation.

Now here is where I got lost in the whole thing. I think then we had Xenoblade Chronicles X, on the Wii U, which I probably purchased but never really played it. I was never a Wii U player, to be honest. Then comes Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition, and this one I think was originally released on the Wii U then the Nintendo 3DS and eventually we got this remastered version for the Nintendo Switch, which I do own and played only about an hour or two before dropping it. Next is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Nintendo Switch and that one I did get excited about, and once again, played for like 4 hours before dropping it. Tried once or twice to get back into it but for whatever reason, I could not get into it or had the patience.

This brings us to Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and when this game was announced I didn’t even bother to watch its announcement, trailers, or looked into it in any way. Actually, I was a little fed up with it because Nintendo was pushing this game very heavily on social media and that made me despise the game a bit. Until, release day, guess there was a little bit of FOMO.

So how is it going? Well, I am close to ten hours into it and I am not yet feeling bored or overwhelmed. In fact, I can’t seem to be able to put it down. In lieu of that, I felt like I needed a Xenoblade Universe crash course. Although I was always under the impression that these games aren’t directly connected, there seems to me some lore. Even though each game has its own set of characters and overall story, things do connect in some way. So I have spent quite the amount of time watching youtube videos to kind of get into the Xeno-lore.

I like how the game slowly but steadily introduces you to all the mechanics, the ins and outs of the battle system, crafting items, abilities trees, etc. It doesn’t just throw all the information in one single tutorial battle at you and then you figure it out. In fact, I’d say, the first ten hours, are the tutorial, or so it did feel like. I mean I just had my first “big” battle and hopefully, there is nothing else to introduce me to as far as something else to explain game-wise.

The battle system does get some used to, or at least to me, auto-battle it’s weird to me and I believe Chronicles 1 and 2 have a very similar battle system. So you have your regular auto attacks but your greatest damage, or heavy attacks, come from arts and these have a cool-down system. Each character has its own class and arts but these can be learned and shared among all the characters and leveled up, that’s a kind of nice system.

Graphics are great, and so is the voice acting. The world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 seems huge and lots to explore without feeling like it’s a chore, so far. There is so much about this game and I already feel like I am rambling too much about it.

I am really having fun with this one. I read it is about eighty hours to finish the game. So far I feel as if I was reading (or listening) to one of those fantasy/sci-fi books. I am very intrigued by the story and the main characters so far. I am very curious about where this is going. What this game does that the other did not? I don’t know. Maybe the fact that I got into its lore and “backstory” that now I am intrigued?

Hm…

Final thoughts,

It’s a great game, you shall play it!

• Gabz

╰(˙ᗜ˙)੭━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

I have always been a fan of taking an original thing and making it your own, creating your own take, perhaps as an homage or as fan service but keeping the essence and respecting the original work.

For example, I like song covers, very much, or at least I know I will listen to it if I know it's a cover. Doesn't necessarily mean I will love it, but it excites me to listen to them, at least. 

On the other hand, I know people that hate song covers and I don't blame them.

This morning I listened to a good one,  Guiltiness by  Chronixx a cover from Bob Marley & The Wailers Guiltiness. 

On top of my mind, I have a few others;

Lovesong by Adele, a cover from The Cure's Love Song, I think is a cover well done.

Disturbed's cover of  The Sound of Silence from  Simon & Garfunkel, is another favorite.

Bernard Fowler, Chuck D's version of  Can't You Hear Me Knocking from The Rolling Stones.

Tems's cover of Bob Marley & The Wailers No Woman No Cry, it's beautiful!

And what about Lorde's cover of  Everybody Wants To Rule the World of  Tears for Fears?

Then there are some albums where there are all cover songs by the same artists.

Weezer's Teal Album, love it!

My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers & Me by  AWOLNATION, is my current favorite.

What are some of your favorites, or the ones you don't like?

Let me know in the comments below, like, subscribe and click that bell. 😋

It has come to my attention that  Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, for the PlayStation 5 in my case,  it is up for pre-order. I remember watching the trailer or teaser for it and man did it look good.  I am looking into it and as I am reading the description, I read the following;

• The Masocore Dream Team - A joint creation by Team NINJA producers Fumihiko Yasuda (Nioh) and Masaaki Yamagiwa (Bloodborne).

With Team Ninja alone, I know this game will be, most likely, extremely difficult. Unless they take pity on us and make it more accessible. I mean, they did it for the Ninja Gaiden Collection. They added an easy mode of sorts that made the game more approachable and accessible.

At this point in my life, I am not up for challenges when it comes to video games. I want an enjoyable experience and a good story. I want to have fun, not episodes of rage.

Warning, sausy Gabz content. 

Reader discretion is advised...

We all have done it (or keep doing it), where we find this YouTube video (or Podcast radio show), "MY SUPER AWESOME PRODUCTIVE DISTRACTION FREE SETUP", and we watch it (them). Then we are like,

"OMG, this guy is a genius, I am a monster of a mess, and I must emulate this!"

STOP IT!

You know exactly what I am talking about. The super minimalistic, no distraction, almost nonexistent home screen setups where everything is hidden.  And then here I am spending about half an hour moving things around my home screen because according to this video (or PodShow).

But, apparently,  "This is the Way"

Making sacrifices and compromises, hiding away apps that I might have a legit use for, hiding widgets that I probably will forget about. Creating more friction for me to use my stuff than fixing a problem now I think I have.

But, 

"This is the way, Gabz."

Is it though?

No, it isn't! It is all majestic bullshit!

Maybe for some of these people yes, it is a thing and in their minds, it helps, but for me it is just majestic bullpoop. 

"But Gabz, the notifications, pings, and all the buzzes, all the distractions". 

Then, my friend, that sounds more like a personal problem. I know, I have struggled with the same problem and more and more I am convinced that is a personal problem. It is an addiction and we blame it on pings and buzzes. Just put down your phone, do some work, type a letter, grill something, or have sex. That is what I tell myself every day, at least.

I would say though if you want a clean setup because this "helps" with "distractions" go for it, by all means. I have seen many setups out there that are clean, and functional and not this romanticized fantasy I keep getting across with these days,

I would also say if you want to vomit every single app and plaster them all over your home screen (or home screens), go for it! Why not? Your phone, your decision!

Now, to be fair, it is not their fault, we are all suckers for setups and all they are doing is feeding the masses, me included. I guess I am just done with all of it and constantly making changes based on someone else's use case. This, is also, a personal problem 😜.

Now that I am done with my rant...

I think I will take this opportunity to think and re-evaluate my personal relationship and habits with my devices and what I want out of them and go from there. And if anything, I find more useful, videos or talks about the tools some other people use, than setups, since those can help me discover something I didn't know about and add some real value, and there are many people that do that, and they do it very well.

Just my unprofessional, not humble opinion.

Between 6am and noon is arguably my most precious / important / valuable time of the day for getting things done.
That’s why I keep all of my devices in Do Not Disturb until noon.
This way I am free from any and all notifications, pings, buzzes, until the morning is over and it’s time for a lunch break.

DND until Lunch – Shawn Blanc

Sounds romantic...

Today I had the privilege (or misfortune 😜) to present in front of the managers. It was a very random request. They asked some of us to do a short presentation about what is that we do within the company and whatnot. It was very informal, I talked and presented from my sit (phew!). That was this morning. It is almost time to go home and I still find myself opening the presentation, finding little things here and there, and editing...

Some wrong dates, differences, or inconsistencies in the usage of fonts, spaces, etc.

Thank the gods that I had sent it to two people for review and that it was informal.

HARDCORE MECHA on the Nintendo Switch

Mercenary Tarethur O’Connell, an ACE pilot of Hardcore Defense Corp, was drawn into a conspiracy rebellion during a mission. Facing continuous battles and overwhelming conflicts, Tarethur starts to re-think about what he is fighting for..  

This game was released on October 15, 2020, and I remember showing up, and immediately I was drawn to it. I mean, the word MECHA is in the title. And as you can see by the art, it looks very Anime-ish. I downloaded the Free Demo, and played a bit but, like many other titles, it fizzled away, and I never looked at it again, until recently. I have played at least six missions, and these are not very long. It usually requires you to eliminate all enemies in one area to move to the next and then there's a boss fight. Simple and sweet, not too complicated, easy play.

Hardcore Mecha is a mecha-themed action sidescroller you play as a mech pilot named, Tarethur (that's a catchy name) who works for this mercenary group, and you're hired to find a captive officer referred to as "A", who has gone missing on Mars.

Controls are simple, you have a main gun, a chest-mounted gun (rapid fire low damage), and melee attacks. The melee attacks use cooldowns so is not like can melee-away. You can dash, jump, and hold the jump button to move around in midair until your boost gauge runs out. 

The visuals are pretty sweet, it's got this chibi art style, which is kind of cool, and I very much enjoy it.  The mechs, enemies, and animations are highly detailed and they look good. A lot of the conversations are carried out in a visual novel style.

Overall this is a very simple and enjoyable game, one that you can pick up at any point and just play through it. I am playing on easy mode, I am not here for a challenge, I am here to have fun and enjoy.

Video Games

It is Friday! Yay!

It es 8:50 am MST about 72℉ with a nice cool breeze going on. My office's in a trailer so we have opened the doors to let the semi-cool air refresh it. We've got pastries and coffee. So far the day looks to be a chill one.  Litsdening to DJ Nelson's new album,  De Camino A Palomino, Vol. 1. In fact, probably listening to this album it's what got me in a good positive mood. 

I don't know what's in store for the rest of the day, so I am making a note that at least so far, life seems to be good.

I was in a forest when the fire came

Now I know I will never be the same

I’m trying to find time

To make a deal with a devil

But the devil don’t care about me

I’ve been going out of mind

Out of my mind

I’ve been going out of my mind

Runaway train

Crawl under my skin

You know, the wrong kind of medicine

Will make a man sick

And I hope I find my way

backup from the bottom of the well

from the bottom of the well

no rest, no sleep, no gods, no dreams

…

Out of My Mind (Resident Evil) by Reuben And The Dark 

Source: Anti-Blog Feelings - Hypertext Monster

I knew I had a similar feeling, I just did have a word for it, and now I do. 

Thank you,  Cheri!

A vulnerability hangover is what happens when you regret sharing too much of yourself online. 

Yup, in fact, it happened yesterday.

I suppose that’s the essence of my issue. I don’t want strangers reading my diary. Yet despite my best intentions, my blogging becomes diary-adjacent.

I can connect to this sentiment on a spiritual level, as they say. I treat my blog as an online journal and post things that normally I wouldn't necessarily mind other people reading. That being said, there have been many times when I would compose something and sit on it for hours before I decide to hit publish. and very few others, in which I just delete the whole thing.

I have said it (written) many times before, 99% of the time I am an impulsive writer, in fact, I think I am impulsive in a lot of things. Something gets in my mind and I just need to purge it out, type it away and publish it right after. And then I ask myself, was that really necessary to put out there? Was it too much information? What have I done?

I know I can always come back and delete the post, and in fact, I have before but it's rare. Usually, when something has been published and discussed upon, there's no turning back and there is no deleting it at that point.

This is the word, label, term that has been running through my head since this morning. Things haven’t been great, I mean, I thought they were, or so I was telling myself. I have struggled or been battling with my mental and emotional health for about 4 years now, well medicated, struggling, probably more. But for the past few months, or who knows if even more, things have gotten a little off, or out of wack.

But how could things be bad, I have been taking medication and bleh, bleh-bleh?

Clearly, something ain’t working!

Either way, all aspects of my life, are being affected by whatever shenanigans are currently happening in my head. Of course, there are a thousand things I could blame them on, all you have to do is open your favorite social media or a news app to see everything is fucked-up. We have more than enough reasons to be sad and angry, and depressed. My mind it’s scattered, I can’t focus, I can’t sleep, and hard to find joy in things I used to do for fun, and I drink far too much these days.

Yesterday, I had a talk with the dude, also known as “a professional”, and he called it. I am still, damaged. Well, he said depressed. But the moment he called it, the moment he alluded to it, everything started to make sense. It became clearer that, yes, I am unhappy most of the time, and it is affecting every aspect of my life. It really hit me hard, more than I thought it would. Now, I am back where I was 4 years ago, and I don’t like it, feeling like I am broken, asking myself why or how did I let it get to this point.

Am I the problem?

Am I weak?

Defeated?

I have gone through all of this once already, and it sucks. I also know that with help, which I am getting, it will — or should — get better. Not only that, but I just wished I had seen the signs sooner, as this can affect (and is affecting) others around me, and not just me.

  Instagram’s transformation into QVC is now complete and absolute. Instagram is dead — or at least the Instagram I knew and loved is dead. It is no longer part of my photographic journey.   

Instagram is dead - Om Malik  

I came to this realization ever since I closed my previous Instagram account which should be a little over a year now. My current account (probably my 5th account by now), it's more like a place where I post stories for shits and giggles, watch Steve Harvey's Family Feud Reels, find kettlebell workouts, and keep in touch with friends and family. And that is what Instagram is for me these days. I may post a few pictures here and there, but again, they are for my mom, dad, and friends.

That being said, I still wrestle with my feelings regarding Instagram. At least once every other week, I close it, just to re-open it the next morning. I dislike how much time I waste on this app most of the time, and I dislike what the app has become.

When it comes to my photography, I host all my pictures in two places, my blog, and Glass.

I have got a new toy! Well, it is more like we got new toys.

Annie wanted to upgrade her iPhone 12 Mini to the 13 Mini, so while doing the upgrade, I set myself up for a Purple iPad Air 256 GB, cellular. And she got a green 128 GB iPhone 13 mini.

Why did I get an iPad Air?

I currently own a 2018 11” iPad Pro, nothing wrong with it, in fact, it will still be rocking around the house, most likely by the girls. My only complaint about it was the storage, I think it is 64 GB. I would find myself constantly deleting things or just restoring the iPad completely whenever I ran out of storage, mostly pictures.

The iPad, is my main “computing” device. A lot of my writing is done on the iPad, and 90 percent of my photo managing and editing is also done on the iPad. This and storage are the main reasons I wanted to get a new device. I really did not care for another Pro device, I just wanted an iPad with lots of storage.

So far, I am liking the Air, its design is very similar to the 11” iPad Pro, so I can’t really tell any noticeable differences. I am sure there are numerous technical differences between the two, but I really don’t care.

Touch ID, it’s both cool and weird at the same time, but it doesn’t bother me either. The old Smart-keyboard from the iPad Pro works on the Air, so I am set. I believe the Apple Pencil works as well, but I rarely ever use it, so it doesn’t matter to me much.

Recently I watched a Youtube video by Van Neistat called My To-Do List Philosophy. 

And my favorite quote;

To-do lists are for pussies  

That made me both chuckle and think.

To-do lists and To-do apps, give me anxiety, I have tried different apps and different systems over the years only to be dropped and forgotten about. That being said, I am the kind of individual that would greatly benefit from having a robust system. 

Why?

I am forgetful. I procrastinate. I am, sometimes lazy and unorganized. Having a system, in theory, should keep me sane, and help me keep my job in the process.

Here is where I'm at right now. I have been trying to build up a system based on functionality rather than what is the hot app of the moment. I believe this has always been my biggest mistake, trying to fit my necessities in a system or app simply because a YouTuber or Podcaster said it was the best (to them, in their defense). So I have been trying to use what causes less friction and anxiety.

For work, I have been using TickTick and in fact, 99% of its use is using the quick entry window by clicking Ctrl + Shift + A. I enter the task, assign time and date (many times not even a time), and done. I don't even open the app, whatever I need to get done will appear on a floating widget on my desktop. Although I have it installed on my phone, it is not even on my main screen, it's in a folder somewhere in case I may need to reference something. I have tried to use it for personal stuff but there's when things get a little angsty.

For Personal stuff, I have been trying to rely more on Reminders, simply because I can talk to my watch or Machintosh cellular device or even my HomePod (when it works) and add things that way. I still dabble with Things 3, it's nice looking but I find it a little cumbersome at times trying to add things or remember how to do things properly, but that's more on me I guess.

For now, this is my system, it is not perfect or super-organized but somewhat works. The most hectic part of my life is work and that's where I need a system the most, and for now,  TickTick is doing the thing.

That'd be all.

Cheers!

Recently, I have gotten an itch for buying indie games, that I already own digitally on the Nintendo Switch, physically. And these are the games that I really liked and enjoyed. Moreover, I kind of don’t trust Nintendo very much when it comes to safeguarding my purchase library, I don’t know, maybe I’m just paranoid.

I have purchased 4 games so far, one still on its way, and I’m sure there will be more to come. The thing I was not expecting, though, was the extras. Not only I got the physical copies of the games dearest to me, but they came with goodies that made the purchase even more valuable, to me.

First, I got Blasphemous

And this one came with stickers and a poster!

As well, with a code for the DLC, which I already owned anyway.

Then I got Death’s Gambit: Afterlife.

This one also came with a poster and stickers!

How cool is that, right?

Today, I received Huntdown.

If you haven’t played this game, do yourself a favor and play it. It is so much fun, the graphics, the music, it is so 80s.

This did not come with stickers, but pins or buttons.

On its way, I got ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights. This one a did blogged about a while ago, and I loved it so much I had to order the physical copy as well.

I have a few in mind I want to get, hopefully these three didn’t spoil me much that now I’ll be expecting cool stuff every time.

I am pretty sure, I am incredibly late to this party but better late than never (as they say). Yesterday, for the first time since its release back in 2014, 8 years later, I watched,

The Lego Movie (2014)

An ordinary LEGO construction worker, thought to be the prophesied as "special", is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the LEGO universe into eternal stasis.

We often have dinner just sitting in the living room and 9 out 10 times, the girls (mL) would pick a movie. Last night I picked. I have had this movie in my catalog for years, or whenever the Movies Everywhere service came about and I got this and Doom (2005) for free. I have watched Doom countless times but I have been neglecting the Lego movie all these years. 

How was it? Well, I did enjoy it very much! I thought it was going to be the dumbest movie I'd ever watched, and yes it is still "dumb", but fun-dumb. I believe the girls liked it too, especially Marley, not sure about Luna.

I hear there is a second one, and I may check it out, but for now, I want to watch The Lego Batman Movie (2017) which I haven't watched either.

That'd be all.