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.

Tonight, I was listening to a podcast show where they touched on suicide. It made me think. At first, I thought, this isn’t something close to me… Well, that is not true, I have a childhood friend who committed suicide, it did affect me.

But it made me think of Gina. Gina was both my neighbor and girlfriend, at the time. I have very fond memories with her, and we truly had a very young relationship. It was one of those kind of old school relationships were we would talk on the phone (not cellular but landline 📞) for hours. “Okay bye, you hang up, no you hang up, no you…” It was innocent and fun, and in many ways, experimental, if you know what I mean.

And for a time, it was good, as most relationships. Then, as most relationships, it ended. But the friendship kept on, we would still talk from time to time.

We also grew apart, different ages and different interests. Then I remember, she kept seeking me, trying to talk to me, calling, asking me to come over and just talk. But at the time I was, well, being young and stupid and me as the center of everything. Then, I found out, she had taken her life…

It shocked me, it hit close to my heart. It is something that still to this day I think about. “What if I had answered her calls, came over and talked to her?, would that had changed the outcome?, Is it, somewhat, my fault?”

These are questions and thoughts that I still think about to this day, twenty plus years after the fact.

Warchild by Georgetown Brewing Company

style: IPA - American

abv: 7.5

rating: A

Warchild IPA does not back off, seriously. Aggressive hop flavor and bitterness with dank notes of tropical fruit, pine, concord grape, straw and green pepper are the key markers for this ripped bodied brew.

Rainbows & Unicorns by Breakside Brewery

style: IPA Session / Indian Session Ale

ABV: 5.2

Rating: B+

Notes: A session IPA originally made for the Oregon Brewers Fest; brewed with flaked rice to create as light bodied a beer as possible with juicy, tropical, and fruity hop flavors, alongside notes of peach, honeydew, apricot and pineapple. Tropical summery goodness. You are all in for a magical ride!

Good people drink good beer

― Hunter S. Thompson

The President signed an additional proclamation acknowledging the painful history of Columbus Day, which Indigenous communities have led in replacing with Indigenous Peoples Day to instead recognize the genocide of Native peoples and celebrate their diverse histories and cultures.

Source: National Indigenous Peoples Day declared by President Biden | Tacoma News Tribune

This might be, perhaps, too much information, but it’s too funny not to tell.

Me: Luna, can you bring me your wipes, please?

Luna: why?

Me: because they are softer

Luna: Okay, I’ll bring you wipes

She comes over with two wipes.

Me: thank you, Luna

Luna: no, no, me wipe your bumbum papá, I do it.

🙈😂🙈

I’ll remind her when I’m _way_old and can’t do it myself. 😜