Not sure anyone noticed, but I had quit Twitter for a week, well, more like five days. It was a rage-quit, I read something or something was going on in my timeline that made me go, stop the lap dance, I want to go home!

I don't even remember what that was. The thing about Twitter is, okay, we have all done this dance. We love/enjoy twitter, then we get overwhelmed, sad, and or mad. We take breaks, we hate on it, and we write about it. Others, successfully, have quit it, entirely, not ever looking back. Well, personally, there is a lot that I like about Twitter, I do follow some cool people and accounts, or so I think. Then there is the rest of the stuff that I don't like, and it's the echo chamber part of it. This is when some things become too overwhelming, and irritating. Hates spreads faster, as they say, and Twitter in some way is a big part of it.

So yes, I quit, deleted the account. Five days later, I reactivated it. Perhaps all I needed was just a small break. One thing I did though, was to go on an unfollow rampage. I have unfollowed any account that I felt might contribute to my twitter anxiety. Accounts that retweet or post things I rather not see or partake. In other words, I was reshaping my bubble. I have gone from over 3oo accounts followed, down to 164, or something like that, and I think I could probably go even lower than that.

I guess like many other social venues, they are what you make of them, except for Facebook. And even from the best ones, it is probably wise to take breaks.

Today we will have rain all day, and carrot knows it.

It is a nice, quiet and relaxing Sunday in the Santiago-Ortiz household. There’s not much to do except for perhaps folding some of the girls' clothes.

The girls are dressed as the princess they are, and playing games.

The plan is to just do nothing, and make some taco soup thing later this afternoon for supper.

The beer of choice, Voodoo Ranger Future Hop IPA by New Belgium Brewing Company. In my not humble opinion, rainy days call for a stout or a ‘good’ porter, but the beer selection at my local Albertsons' it’s somewhat crappy. So, a delicious IPA it is.

If only tomorrow wasn’t Monday.

Rurouni Kensin

Probably one of my first Anime experiences ever as a kid. At the time, I knew it a Samurai X. Also remember Technoman, or Tekkaman Blade in Japan. But Samurai equis was the one we would talk at school and nerd over back in the 80s.

Now, fast-forward to 2012, the first live-action movie was released. But it wasn’t until now, that I came to finally watch all of them. Last night I watched the last one of the 5 movies. The films in the series were released as follows:

1. Rurouni Kenshin Origins (2012)
2. Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
3. Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)
4. Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)
5. Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)

The chronological viewing should be:

1. Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021)
2. Rurouni Kenshin Origins (2012)
3. Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
4. Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (2014)
5. Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)

Unfortunately, to watch them all, it is not as easy as hopping into Netflix and bing-watch them all. Only the two most recent ones, The Beginning, and The Final, are available for stream on Netflix. Origins, Kyoto, and Legends, you will either have to buy them separately or, as I did, stream them on the Funimation app. There aren’t available anywhere else as far as I am aware.

I found these movies to be outstanding and well done. I enjoyed each one of them. The characters never felt like they were cosplaying, or at least not to my eyes. Like any adaptation, it won’t be a 100% true to the anime show or perhaps even the manga, but it was pretty darn close, 98% close. I am fine with adaptations as long as they keep the essence, which I believe they did. The fights are fast and amazingly done. I also believe that the best to watch them, is back-to-back, like you would do with any good trilogy or series of movies.

You do get invested in the characters, and many of them I found fascinating and somewhat relatable. I’m sure others would have a different opinion, but personally, I cannot say that one movie might be the weakest of the series, they are all awesome to watch. But if I had to pick a favorite, I would pick The Beginning just for the story alone. The Final, as the name might suggest, it gives closure, in some way, to the events of The Beginning. The 3 movies in between are basically the anime’s Legend of Kyoto arc. I did enjoy those very much, as a fan. In fact, that is the only arc/season of the series that I actually own in a collector’s box-set.

You can see it as Origins, Kyoto Inferno, and The Legend Ends, are the main series and The Beginning and The Final, are OVAs.

To me, these movies are Masterpieces.

Even if you are not a big anime fan, but a fan of well written, action movies, give it a watch. You could probably even just watch the two ones available on Netflix and enjoy them for what they are and not feel too lost in the overall story.

Every morning, the goal is to leave the house no later than 6:30am. The ideal would be 6:20am, but that rarely happens. This morning I noticed, I left the house by 6:25. I was like great!

As like every morning, I take the girls to grandma’s and head out to work. Then, I had realized, I never prepared my coffee, fuck, I got no coffee! Sad-sad. That’s why I left so unusually early today!

Well, no matter, I’ll stop at the Starbucks on my way to work since I have ’extra time’. Well, for whatever reason — there was a note, but I didn’t bother — the Starbucks was closed. Wa-wa-waaaaa! Luckily — or unluckily — there is a McDonald’s right next to the Starbucks. I have heard before, their coffee is decent-to-good, and I am desperate. It has got to be better than work’s coffee, at least.

And so, we had McCoffee, not too bad.

Ride the Spiral by Silver City Brewery

Style: IPA - Imperial/ Double New England

ABV: 8.0

Rating: A+

Aggressive, yet approachable, Ride the Spiral Double IPA packs a tropical punch of fruit flavor, with the addition of natural pineapple and orange essences within an intensely hopped, hazy IPA. Spiral out.

HOPS: Citra, Amarillo

MALTS: Pilsner Malt, Flaked Wheat