At first, I was complaining that everybody was playing Elden Ring but me. Not long ago, I purchased the game. I created a character, and played for about 30 mins, with 15 of those dying. Haven't touched the game ever since. I always find another game to play, neglecting or avoiding the elephant in the room. 

What have I been playing instead? Well, I played a lot of Need for Speed Heat, even after finishing the main storyline. Then I drifted to Trek to Yomi on the PlayStation 5. It is a great game, by the way, black and white art, very noir. With a compelled and grim story, super-fun! I am yet to finish it yet. On the Nintendo Switch, lots of Kirby, both my daughter and I are hooked and I might have started Shin Megami Tensei V while I was at the Oregon coast.

That being said, I got to get into Elden Ring, I gotta grow a pair, as they say. 

I am scared of the game...

For the past few months, it has been a real struggle to get a good-night sleep. Way too many things roaming and hunting my thoughts. I get at best, 5 to 6 hours of sleep, according to my super-secret sleeping tracking application. With the exception of the few nights that we spent at the Oregon Coast, that was a good distraction. Plus, I would spent most of those afternoons sipping on delicious beer so that always help, el-oh-el. 

I am hoping that, once the day of my upcoming test – which is the bulk of my stress – passes, I will be able to mentally relax a little bit, hopefully.

On September 11th, 2019 we had a field trip to the local urgent care with Marley, the one closest to our house. It was a stressful experience, especially for mom, and a terrifying one for Marley. Still to this day, every time she gets, an ouchie, her first question is, is it bleeding?

Yesterday, unfortunately, it was Luna's turn. As much as we tell them to not run around the house, and to pay attention to their surroundings and where they are going, well you know where this is heading.

Both are running, Marley turns around, Lunas is running behind her, Marley doesn't notice Luna, rams her, Luna hits the Kitchen Playset, and both start crying.

Luna is holding her side of the head, I check, and she's got a scratch right above her left eyebrow and it is swollen. We assess, did not look too bad but enough for concern. Once the bleeding was contained, we decided it was best to take it, just in case she needed 'a special band-aid'. This time though, rather than the 'regular' Urgent Care, Annie, in all her wisdom, suggested the pediatric one. It was much further but a much safer bet.

At this point, Luna was, surprisingly calm. She even liked the idea of going to see the doctor. We get to the Urgent Care, checked in, and patiently waited. A few minutes later a nurse lady comes out, takes Luna's temperature, weighs her, and checks her pulse, finally we proceeded to the examination room. On the way to the room, she gets offered a toy. What? Cool! The Nurse explains what is that they are about to do, and gets offered a popsicle.

All this time, Luna has been super-complaisant and not even a single sign of fear. The nurse applies some anesthetic to her wound and put on a clean band-aid. Whilst we wait for the anesthetic to do its thing, she gets offered to watch cartoons, on an iPad.

And here we are, Luna is chilling on her medical bed, watching cartoons whilst sucking on a popsicle. Then a second nurse comes in, "Hello, my name is Allison, we are just going to put some special glue on your ouchie and be done". Luna didn't even emote, her eyes fixed on the iPad (whilst still sucking on the popsicle). Allison turns around and looks at me. "Do I know you, did you use to work at Simplot, with my brother Wes?" And then it clicked! Allison, my friend and co-worker's sister which I haven't seen either of them in a few years now. That was a nice surprise indeed, wasn't expecting that for sure.

Short story long, Luna got all patched up, no traumatic experience, and guess what? She got more candy, and the nurse comes in with a handful of lollipops. Luna starts debating which one to pick when the nurse goes, "grab them all, they're all for you". What? 

Man, we adults get treated like animals.

After what it felt like an eternity driving, we finally made back to the 208s. We had a great time at the Oregon coast celebrating Annie’s and her mom’s birthday. I feel like I’ve drunk Oregon dried of beer (😅). There was so much goodness to try!

Furthermore, our thanks to Jason and Valerie for receiving us at their house. A quick but very enjoyable stop for some bagels 🥯 and mimosas 🍹 before continuing our travels through the wild roads of the pacific northwest until our final destination, the Idahos.

More about the whole adventure later, too tired to post a proper post about the entire trip in detail. But good memories have been made.

Until then, stay classy, you all.

Me: Marley! Rice, potatoes, or pasta?

Marley: Pasta!

Me: Okay! What piece of chicken?

Mar: How about cow?

Me: Well, I don’t like to defrost cow in the microwave, so let’s put it out for tomorrow.

Mar: What type of chicken do we have?

Me: We’ve got tenders and thighs.

Mar: Chicken thighs. I’ve never had tights before.

Me: Of course you have. I make them all the time on the grill.

Mar: On the grill? I love it, you make the best grilled everything.

There you have it, peoples. 😂🥷😎

Okay, it is supposed to be spring. You know, flowers and trees blooming, birds chirping, some may say even love is in the air, etc. Although the weather has shown me that this is totally bullshit, however, every once in a while, we do have some nice days, ish. I guess at this point I'll take what I can get. Like Saturday morning, it wasn't particularly nice, not too warm but sunny, enough to finally, do some yard work.

I get my mowing attire (sunglasses included), get the mower out (still gas like an animal, apologies) and my super-not-fancy electric weedwhacker. I always like to start with the weedwhacker, trim the edges, around the curvings and all. Once that part was done, I go to my mower and check the gas level, I also check the engine oil, and all looks fine, time to mow.

Except, for the fact that the pull line snapped! 

Well, that's relatively easy, all I need to do is buy a new line and replace it. Right? A quick stop to my local Low's, and about 5.00 USD later I have a new line. Go home, and installed the line, and it is not retracting. Why, why is not retracting? Well, after further investigation and some frustration, it turned out that the little peace that would hold the coil in place for the rotor to retract also snapped.

So, bout 35.00 USD later and the magic of internet search, I am getting the whole new top assembly. And now I will have a spare pull line.

Also, I gotta add, even if I were successful in replacing the line with no other issues, by the time I got back from Low's and installed the new pull line, the sun was gone and we had a storm. And the rest of this week doesn't look very promising either so who knows when I'll get my yard done for sure, laugh-out-loud.

I love traveling for work, well, not like love, love but I don't mind it. What I do mind though, is travel expenses reports. For weeks I had these two receipts, in my car, apparently and to my best knowledge, safe and secured. "I must not lose these". Well, guess what, them two receipts, I have secured them out of existence! So secured that I cannot find them.

I guess is fair to assume that most of us either woke up to very awful-bull-shitty news or went to bed last night angry, sad, and feeling powerless. Of course, I am talking about this.

As someone that has been battling depression and anxiety, and the father of two daughters, things like these really affect me. I feel so overwhelmed by all the feelings and thoughts that come pouring into my head every time I doom scroll through my Twitter feed or some news outlet. All I want to do is leave social media altogether. I don't want to read anymore, I don't want to watch any more videos, I want to be completely desensitized. But that would be like burying my head in the sand, it seems selfish and makes me feel guilty. It is almost as if it's my obligation to keep on social media, to keep doom-scrolling and reading and get angrier and sadder, otherwise, I am ignoring the issues, and, again, it makes me feel guilty. Like I am dismissing what is happening and not giving it the importance that deserves.

And yes, we have to be enraged by this, it is awful and it is wrong. But, how much can we take? How far can we allow ourselves to go down this rabbit hole before we go mentally ill of everything that is happening? Is it OK, to have a moment or just don't think or step away without feeling guilty? Especially when it is one thing after the other. 

Perhaps today would be a good day to not be around on social media...

Or perhaps just like with video games, rage quit everything.

My problems with task managing apps, are not the apps themselves. Well, maybe a little. I always say things like, "I would commit a hundred percent to X app if only had a Windows app". Even when they do, I fail at them. Again, is not the app, it is a hundred percent me. I am awful at managing tasks, I forget to write down or add things to my task manager or notebook. If I do happen to add things, I forget to check and forget I have things in said system. 

It is not the app failing, I think. It is me, the problem. 

Wish I had more discipline in this regard.

Elden Ring on the PlayStation 5

Whelp, I've done it, Elden Ring for PS5 has been somehow, acquired.  Believe me, when I say, I am very nervous and scared about this game. This game, or this style of the game rather, is not necessarily my cup of tea if you will. I mean, It is a fantasy game, with monsters, and opened world, yes, I am all about that. But, I am more of a hack-and-slash, guns-blazing type of gamer. Games in which I need to be patient, strategize and think of every aspect of my charter's build, it's something I avoid at all costs.

That being said, there was something about Elden Ring that I felt compelled to want to play it. Not sure if it was the graphics, the hype around it, or what. The same happened with ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights on the Nintendo Switch, a dark fantasy 2D RPG, souls-like game. I learned to have patience, to learn my opponent's movements, and not attack hastily. The same will have to happen with Elden Ring, I suppose.

I have barely played the game, perhaps about an hour or so. My first impressions are, that this game looks beautiful, the graphics are outstanding, and the few monsters I have encountered are scary looking. Well, let's face it, anything in this game will scare me, most likely. The little I have seen of the world looks huge, and again, I have barely scratched the surface. The voice acting sounds very crisp, I also play with headphones so that adds some I guess. The story, so far it's a little vague but intriguing. Oh, and I have died a lot, like, a lot.

This game was not cheap, I better put on my pants and grind through it, I don't want to abandon it. I will take my time, one gaming session at a time until I figure it out. I have even been watching youtube videos like The Beginner's Guide to Elden Ring. I did abandon ENDER LILIES, back when I was playing it, I guess it was not so much of the difficulty but its Metroidvania aspect, which I got tired of it. Let us see how I fair against Elden Ring.

I know this has been going on for a while now, I mean, the last couple of weeks, everyone is talking about it. Talking about Musk and Twitter. Is he buying Twitter, is he not, bleh, bleh-bleh. Though I am not a fan of the guy, at all, the little trolly-jerk in me, way on the back of my head, wants the guy to own Twitter. Why? Just to see what happens. You know, what if? For purely entertainment purposes. I use Twitter, still. Do I love it? No. Does my existence as a human being depend on it? Heck no! 

So, go ahead, have at it! DOET!!

Previously on, Games I have been playing, our hero (yours truly) finished Horizon Forbidden West on the PlayStation 5 and was playing a lot of Streets of Rage 4 on the Nintendo Switch. Also played Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This past week (or a few days) I got to pick from my very extensive and never-ending gaming backlog and purchased a new game, duh!

On the  Switch, Nobody Saves The World has finally come out. An action RPG, with some roguelike elements. This game has been a lot of fun so far. Your character can discover and transform between a variety of forms like a rat, a robot, or a knight. The more you use different forms and evolve them, you'd discover more forms to swap between them. Like any RPG you have many quests to complete. You've got dungeons and a fun story.

On the PlayStation, I am playing Need For Speed Heat. I know, everyone in the neighborhood is playing GT7 or Forza or whatever recent car racing games are out there, this game is from 2019. I have always been a huge fan of the Need for Speed series. This game, I picked it up back in 2021, on Black Friday sale, a few days after getting my PlayStation 5. Over the weekend I launched the game and, I have been racing my way through Palm City. I think the last NFS I played was Payback, In that one, you had three different protagonists and each had their different skills for different types of cars and race events. On Heat you are back at a single character but you'd tune different cars for different race challenges. Also, you have your daylight and nightly races. In one, you make your bank $, on the other you build your street-cred. And like every other NFS game, the cop pursuits are the most fun and stressing part of the game, at least for me.

I will eventually get around to playing GT7 and got my eyes on Elder Ring as well, but for now, this will be it. On the Switch, most likely my next game would be Chrono Cross, which I had in the queue before Nobody Saves the World but, oh well.

I can barely remember the last time I didn’t feel sick. It has been a constant struggle. If it is not a stuffy nose, it is the constant coughing, at least for me. When things start to get better, one of the girls gets sick. If one of them gets sick, eventually, everyone will get sick, in some way. Then there’s the constant paranoia about COVID-19. Getting tested and the smallest indication. So far, though, no one has been positive (knock of fake wood). But it’s a constant at this point, can’t catch a break, as they say. I don’t know if it’s the constant change in this crazy weather we are having, one day is nice and warm, the next day we get strong chill winds, next thing you know you’re getting snow and hot again. Or just is. And it is not just our household, grandparents are sick, uncles are sick (even the ones out of state), and the people in town.

Although this week we decided to change things up a bit, Marley had pinkeye (under control now) but had a cough all night, and Luna decided to have a fever last night, coughing and congested. And guess what? We think she's got pinkeye too!

As far as I can tell, I have my regular allergies symptoms and exhaustion, Annie as well, as neither of us could sleep. Marley only has her sore throat from coughing all night. 

Can’t wait for the day of no sicky kids and sleepless nights.

I have slightly updated my About page. 

This time I wanted to make sure I listed every RSS feed option available for my site, or at least the main ones. The everything feed, short, long, and photography posts. The Macro Feed, only for long posts, and the Photography Feed, which is basically my glass RSS Feed. I have also integrated the Glass feed to the Micro.blog's cross-posting.

I am aware that there are readers the might not fancy every little post. Fortunately, there are options :)

I am not entirely sure where I picked this idea from, to be honest. Something I have been doing for the past few weeks is asking Siri, to play hits from a specific year in the 90s. Born in the early 80s, and although I do remember some of the music back then, I am mostly a 90s kid when it comes to music. Sorry, not sorry.

So, yes, I go and ask for Siri for hits of that year and play it for, well, until I have had enough and then move to the next. For whatever reason, I started with 1995. I should have started with hits from 1990, rather, oh well.

 I am listening to 1998's today, and the first song that played was My heart will go on by Céline Dion 🤢. 

This will be the least interesting thing you may or may not read today, with little child Musk trying to buy the Twitters, but, that's another post, or not.

It has been about three days, three days since I deleted Instagram from my device. I have had my struggles using this platform for years now. I have posted about it at least a dozen times, I think. But I always end up back at it. I do not because I like the platform as a photo-sharing one, if anything, these days is everything but. A shopping app! But I always find the arguments to keep it. 

"I gotta have it, so I can keep in touch with people"

"I gotta follow so and so for my kettlebell workouts"

At the end of the day, to me, it's like an addiction. I scroll and like, then, there's the infinite scrolling, the reels, the ads, the in-your-face stuff. There's the involuntary thing about comparing your joy and life with what you see, even if you try and know that you shan't. Is something that Instagram and Facebook have thought us to do in a way. 

Enough ranting!

This week, I signed up for Mailbrew. I want to say this would be my second time trying the service, although this time is a little more intentional.  I mainly to this idea from skoobz on Micro.blog, and created  Mailbrew Instagram newsletter. I added the Instagram accounts I think are worth following but I don't have to depend on the Instagram app. This way, I can avoid everything I hate about the platform.

It has only been three days and so far so good. I do still find myself looking for the app on my phone whenever I have one of those five minutes of nothingness and my brain is trained to open Instagram. I am yet to replace that bad habit with something else. Again, it's a work in progress.

I am not considering closing the account yet, but I won't be actively using it through the app or web. Unless I remember other accounts that I feel like adding to the newsletter.

We shall see how this goes

Well, today I got my cardio in. Yesterday, I promised marley I would work from home, so I could then walk to the school and pick her up and bring her scooter 🛴. Luna stayed with me today, so it was a joint adventure. Luna was in her bicycle/stroller combo thingy.

I figured it was going to be an easy walk. Well, I forgot, that I would be pushing an almost 40 pounds (18.14 kg) child all the way there, and all the way back.

Oh, and a pit stop to the park

1.82 miles (2.93 km) later, we’ve made home, and tonight I’ll have salmon poke (from Albertsons) and beer.

Today was my turn to drop off  Marley at school

Make sure she had "breakfast", check

Make sure she goes potty and brushed her teeth, check

Make sure she had her medicine, check

Make sure she had snacks, check

Make sure she has her water bottle, check

Make sure she's got her iPad, check

Make sure Gaby has a snack, check

Make sure to grab Gaby's lunch, ......... 404 🥴

I am no expert, nor have I done any research on the matter. But, I have always been told, when you buy new shoes, like, running, basketball, etc, you've got to break them in before you'd seriously use them. Like you wear them for work or daily commute before you go out on a long run or something like that.

Well, on Thursday, I got new running shoes for my birthday. And instead of "breaking them in", I just went for a 3-mile hike...

I am not sure that would have been the "proper" way to go about it. My feet were hurting a lot, after the hike. However, I am not sure if it was due to the new shoes or just the fact that I haven't done hiking or long-distance running in a long long time, or a combination of both.

And it’s a wrap.

For the past few years, yes I look forward to my birthday, I like gifts and spending time with my family, but they have been, in a way, uneventful.

On March 31st, 2022, I have turned 39-years-old. This is the last of my 30’s. Next year, I’ll be 40 (dun-dun-duuuuun!).

Next year you all better call Don Gabz!

Back to the 39’s. On this time around, a really good friend of ours, and our wedding’s maid of honor came to visit, with her 11yo girl. Her birthday was on the 29th, so it was a way to see each other —after 4 to 5 years — and celebrate our birthdays.

It was a great few days, also, in a way — besides fun — exhausting. Again, we had fun, and of course, a lot of indulgences, way too many in some ways lol.

We enjoyed our time together, and so did the girls. Now, they are gone and it’s time for us to recalibrate and return to normalcy.

Until next time, cheers!

It is my birthday week, this usually comes with a lot of indulging. Moreover, our best friend, Melva, is coming to town and staying for a few days. And here’s the thing, her birthday was today, March 29th, mine, is this coming Thursday, March 31st. It’s a double birthday celebration of sorts.

That being said, previously, well, for a while, I have been banging the old drum of me being unhealthy, not moving or working out, etc.

Well, guess what, yesterday, I exercised, went for a run/walk, and again today, and now, I’m motivated. Yes, I have probably picked up the worst time to start, but some may say that any time to start is as good as any.

Definitely there will be unwanted — or very wanted — indulgences in the coming days, but maldita sea (as Rey Gonzales used to say) I will do my damn best, to close all those rings this week.

Cheers, 🍻

Also, I think my blog got hacked 😎