Halloween 2024

I hope everyone's been enjoying spooky season this year. I know I have!

We haven't thrown a party since 2019 (due to Covid, a trip to New Orleans, and then we had to cancel last year for other reasons), but we finally did this year. And for once, I wasn't terribly behind in prepping the house for the party, so I actually got to enjoy putting out my decorations.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take more pictures of some of my newer deco. Oops. I was having too much fun running a haunted house tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) that I wrote for us. Heh.

I did grab a couple pictures, at least. Enjoy the spookiness!

Honkai: Star Rail - Science Fiction Fantasy Gacha Game

So I promised my next post would be about Honkai: Star Rail, and here we are!

Star Rail is another Hoyoverse gacha game. Honestly, though, I find the story line more entertaining than Genshin Impact. It's that nice mix of science fiction and fantasy. And the humor is great, kind of off the wall at times (which is totally up my alley as you'd know if you've ever read any of my Fractured Fairies stories).

I've also already found two references to Persona 5, which totally made me fangirl - lol. It's awesome that the writers don't take themselves too seriously, making the story a lot of fun, even though there are plenty of serious moments. I mean, trashcans are a huge running joke. You have to play the game to understand... Trust me.

The art style is also fantastic. But you can judge for yourself because it's time for screenshots!

First up is my newest character's splash art - Feixiao.

Here's a nice shot of the Astral Express crew.

Now a few shots from the story line (unfortunately, I'm often too slow to get some pretty neat screenshots, or I'd have more - heh).

And finally, here's one of those humorous moments. The Trailblazer with a bunch of creations from a Genius Society member!

I know it's a gacha game, but as long as you can resist spending tons of money on pixels, it's definitely a game any science fiction and fantasy lover would enjoy!

1001 Reasons Not To Clean - #71 through #75

Welcome to 1001 Reasons Not to Clean! The main goal of this series is to see if I can actually reach 1001 reasons, 5 reasons at a time (the final post, if I get there, will be 6 reasons). I'm sure I can. It's not just my crazy brain being unrealistic, right? Links to previous posts are below. And feel free to share your excuses, and they might get added to my list (with credit, of course)!

#1 through #5 ~ #6 through #10 ~ #11 through #15 ~ #16 through #20 ~ #21 through #25 ~ #26 through #30 ~ #31 through #35 ~ #36 through #40 ~ #41 through #45 ~ #46 through #50 ~ #51 through #55 ~ #56 through #60 ~ #61 through #65 ~ #66 through #70

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71. Your desktop computer is wigging out on you occasionally. What would you rather do - clean the inside thoroughly or just build a new one? Hm. It's been 8 years since you last built this one... So you spend an insane amount of hours (maybe days), researching computer components and finding the best prices. Totally more fun than actually cleaning the old one.

72. All the computer parts have arrived. Remember, though, it's been 8 years since you've built one, and your memory sucks. So it takes several days to actually figure out how to assemble everything properly again. And in the process, you of course make a big mess with boxes, packing materials, and manuals. Oops. Worth it - so shiny!

73. Once the computer is finally built (and the old one is sitting in a corner waiting to be dealt with... maybe next year), you feel the need to play with all the RGB colors for your fans and keyboard, until you find calming and pleasing tones. And then the next day you decide it's still not right and fiddle with it even more. Pretty, shiny, colors are so much more entertaining than cleaning up all the computer component detritus.

74. Sick of your black thumb, and exhausted from cleaning up the sad remnants of your plants after the cat chews them up (she's the Devourer of Plants and Souls), you decide your time is better spent opening blind boxes. Botanical Unicornos, actually. Yes, the gamble of what's in the boxes offers a much better thrill than cleaning up dead plants. And the cat won't chew on these (or will she?)!

75. Should I do another game? I love games. So many games! OK, we'll go with my current favorite gatcha game. Must play Honkai: Star Rail! (A blog post with screenshots coming soon...)