As suspected, I didn't do any of the things I had been inspired to do the last two nights. Well, Tuesday night I had forgotten that my favorite podcast (Video Game Outsiders) was broadcasting, so I tuned into that instead and by the time is was over, I was pretty sleepy, so that day was a wash. Last night, we went to the grocery store and then by the time we got home and unpacked the groceries and put the kids to bed, it was already later than normal. I ended up (no surprise) watching youtube videos and playing both Minecraft and Portal, which I've been getting back into (I already did beat Portal 1 and Portal 2 ages ago but they are fun puzzle games that are satisfying to go back in and play.)
Tonight I really, really, really need to get a couple things done... for one, my credit card expires tomorrow so I have to activate my new one and go through all the websites and such and change my cc info for each one... ugh. Also need to do my taxes, Monday was the day they started processing them, and hell my parents already got their money back, so I'm slacking there and right now the extra money will help, so I better get to it! Also need to cut my hair and there's a couple other things I really SHOULD be doing, but if I can maintain my focus and at least do those three things, I might still be able to fit in some VR time. Still kinda fiending to do some VRChat or Altspace at least... something. I also keep hearing more and more positive reviews for the Walking Dead VR game, which I'm anxious to try out!
I guess we'll have to see what the evening brings!
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Afterdinner Mints
The conclusion is this... all day long I work, and although I do my work well enough when I'm at work, my mind constantly races to what I'll do that evening when I get home... I always feel immensely inspired to either make music, or play certain games or watch certain things, or clean, or do laundry, or start packing up... but at the end of the day (literally) I get home, do all my Daddy duties, get my free-time and what do I do... nothing.
Seriously it's usually just go to my computer, put some Youtube videos on and play minecraft. That's my standard go-to...which is very fun in it's own right, but it comes to 11pm and I look around... I didn't make any music, I didn't play any VR, I didn't work on cleaning, or laundry, or packing, and my night of free-time is done.
Well, today I would love to change that, I would love to say I will finally do...something, but alas I probably won't... but if I don't do nothing, I am currently in the mood for some social VR.
VRChat is always fun, interesting, and you don't know what you'll find. AltSpace Vr is awesome as well, more organized and structured, albeit more rudimentary, there's usually some events going on that are fun to participate in. Sansar is one I'm still trying to get into, I tried it a little the other night, but didn't know what I was doing so I quit. RecRoom? Nah, although novel in concept and if with a fun group this sounds intriguing, but it seems too juvenile at the same time.
There are a couple other Social VR apps/games that may also fit the bill, including The Under (semi-social), Star Trek (awesome, I'm just nervous that I'm not that well trained yet), Pokerstars VR (poker), and Wave (there are others too) but reading a reddit post about Wave is what got me thinking about jumping into Social VR again.
If things go as usual and I don't end up jumping into VR tonight, I still have the other stuff that I probably won't do, but acknowledging a problem is the first step, I'm told! Let's get it on!
Seriously it's usually just go to my computer, put some Youtube videos on and play minecraft. That's my standard go-to...which is very fun in it's own right, but it comes to 11pm and I look around... I didn't make any music, I didn't play any VR, I didn't work on cleaning, or laundry, or packing, and my night of free-time is done.
Well, today I would love to change that, I would love to say I will finally do...something, but alas I probably won't... but if I don't do nothing, I am currently in the mood for some social VR.
VRChat is always fun, interesting, and you don't know what you'll find. AltSpace Vr is awesome as well, more organized and structured, albeit more rudimentary, there's usually some events going on that are fun to participate in. Sansar is one I'm still trying to get into, I tried it a little the other night, but didn't know what I was doing so I quit. RecRoom? Nah, although novel in concept and if with a fun group this sounds intriguing, but it seems too juvenile at the same time.
There are a couple other Social VR apps/games that may also fit the bill, including The Under (semi-social), Star Trek (awesome, I'm just nervous that I'm not that well trained yet), Pokerstars VR (poker), and Wave (there are others too) but reading a reddit post about Wave is what got me thinking about jumping into Social VR again.
If things go as usual and I don't end up jumping into VR tonight, I still have the other stuff that I probably won't do, but acknowledging a problem is the first step, I'm told! Let's get it on!
Friday, January 24, 2020
FRIDADAY
Ok so a week in and I'm on episode 3 season 1 of Star Trek: TNG. I don't have much time during the week mind you, so will probably knock a couple more episodes out tonight since it's Friday! Thank God it's Friday, foreal!
I have also still been consistently listening to VGO, and am currently on episode 78, only about 500 more to go before I'm up to date! Almost there! lol.
Also, kinda pissed off at Akai... they quietly released the MPC One, which is just a slightly dumbed down version of the MPC Live... but not dumbed down a lot at all, and it's $300 cheaper... am considering selling my Live and grabbing this one instead... will have to weigh the pros and cons... although actually I'll probably just stick with the Live since I already have it and it does more and has the battery option and some other nice features. Oh well.
Hearing about the new MPC slightly has me wanting to do some music tonight, but I am still obsessed and really looking forward to jumping into some VR. I want to play a bunch more Boneworks, Star Trek and a couple other titles. I will more than likely get home, won't do music or VR at all, and probably play Minecraft while watching Youtube videos... that's always a decent option as well and the one I usually resort to.
Nothing much else to speak of, started taking vitamins... being a little more cautious on my dietary intake, but not as far gone as Jen is, plus trying to work out a bit... usually it's a VR workout.
Ok, that's all.
I have also still been consistently listening to VGO, and am currently on episode 78, only about 500 more to go before I'm up to date! Almost there! lol.
Also, kinda pissed off at Akai... they quietly released the MPC One, which is just a slightly dumbed down version of the MPC Live... but not dumbed down a lot at all, and it's $300 cheaper... am considering selling my Live and grabbing this one instead... will have to weigh the pros and cons... although actually I'll probably just stick with the Live since I already have it and it does more and has the battery option and some other nice features. Oh well.
Hearing about the new MPC slightly has me wanting to do some music tonight, but I am still obsessed and really looking forward to jumping into some VR. I want to play a bunch more Boneworks, Star Trek and a couple other titles. I will more than likely get home, won't do music or VR at all, and probably play Minecraft while watching Youtube videos... that's always a decent option as well and the one I usually resort to.
Nothing much else to speak of, started taking vitamins... being a little more cautious on my dietary intake, but not as far gone as Jen is, plus trying to work out a bit... usually it's a VR workout.
Ok, that's all.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Udpate
Started watching Star Trek:TNG from the beginning last night - got maybe half-way through the first episode before I fell asleep, but definitely starting to feel the Trekkie vibes taking over. This show was so good. Will continue tonight and at least watch the second half of the first episode... may try my hand at some Bridge Crew as well.
Also, wifey is on a diet, so I'm a diet as well. I am not being forced into it or anything, but I wanted to start cutting down on some weight anyway, so the timing works. Last night was grilled chicken and saute'd spinach...was pretty good actually.
Also, we are pretty much all set for the move, haven't heard anything recently from Greg (our real-estate guy) but as far as I know, things are all in place, just waiting for the owners to fix a couple of things that were in need of repair and then wait until settlement date, which is just a tad over a month away. HURRY UP!!!
Also, still listening through old VGO episodes, I'm up to episode 72, which was from March 2007. Man so much has changed since then, that seems a whole lifetime ago.
Also, can't figure out what I want to do, I would say my current obsessions are still VR/Video Games and Star Trek, but also interested and want to read some books (got to get back to Ready Player One,) and write something as well. I dunno, want to get back into making some new music too. Ugh, too much to do, too little time.
Also, it's cold af lately... I can't stand winter. Yesterday I believe, was the coldest day so far this winter, and today is only a tad warmer. C'mon summer, let's hurry it up!
Also, umm... also... also also alsoalsoaslo... that's all.
Also, wifey is on a diet, so I'm a diet as well. I am not being forced into it or anything, but I wanted to start cutting down on some weight anyway, so the timing works. Last night was grilled chicken and saute'd spinach...was pretty good actually.
Also, we are pretty much all set for the move, haven't heard anything recently from Greg (our real-estate guy) but as far as I know, things are all in place, just waiting for the owners to fix a couple of things that were in need of repair and then wait until settlement date, which is just a tad over a month away. HURRY UP!!!
Also, still listening through old VGO episodes, I'm up to episode 72, which was from March 2007. Man so much has changed since then, that seems a whole lifetime ago.
Also, can't figure out what I want to do, I would say my current obsessions are still VR/Video Games and Star Trek, but also interested and want to read some books (got to get back to Ready Player One,) and write something as well. I dunno, want to get back into making some new music too. Ugh, too much to do, too little time.
Also, it's cold af lately... I can't stand winter. Yesterday I believe, was the coldest day so far this winter, and today is only a tad warmer. C'mon summer, let's hurry it up!
Also, umm... also... also also alsoalsoaslo... that's all.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Space... The Final Frontier... These are the Voyages of... ME!!
For whatever reason, I've been watching some youtube vids of a fellow named Scotchbox (well, Alex is his name actually,) and the majority of his videos are of him playing Star Trek: Bridge Crew in VR. They are hilarious, and have got me very interested in going back in and playing some Bridge Crew myself. Now, I am quite the socially awkward butterfly, so I haven't (as of yet) played an actual on-line game yet, but have been going through "Starfleet Academy" to learn the ins & outs before I proceed, but I truly do intend to get online, hopefully find a decent group of chaps and... engage!
This game is 2 years old at this point, and apparently it's not as active online as one would hope (although it was just recently released on the Quest, so hopefully that surges the fanbase a bit) but since it's still a great game, and missions are supposedly procedurally rendered, it has a lot of life in it, and Star Trek fans are dedicated, I expect some good times going forward... as soon as I am comfortable with each station, that is.
This is somewhat rekindling my Star Trek love all around... as a kid I watched TNG all the time, new episodes...reruns... all of it. I've also watched all the original episodes over and over. The movies? of course! I've watched a couple of the spin-off series as well, but none of them ever captured my attention like TNG. Really liked Enterprise, saw some of DS9 and Voyager throughout, but eh, and judging by how much fans panned it, I don't think I'll even bother with Discovery.
Anyway, I think I am going to go back and start watching Trek again all around, maybe catch up on some DS9 and Voyager, maybe watch through all the movies again... Might even have to see if I can get a new Engineering Uniform and a new pin... this game brought me back to being a Trekker, or Trekkie or whatever it is! Yay! I'm a nerd again! lol.
This game is 2 years old at this point, and apparently it's not as active online as one would hope (although it was just recently released on the Quest, so hopefully that surges the fanbase a bit) but since it's still a great game, and missions are supposedly procedurally rendered, it has a lot of life in it, and Star Trek fans are dedicated, I expect some good times going forward... as soon as I am comfortable with each station, that is.
This is somewhat rekindling my Star Trek love all around... as a kid I watched TNG all the time, new episodes...reruns... all of it. I've also watched all the original episodes over and over. The movies? of course! I've watched a couple of the spin-off series as well, but none of them ever captured my attention like TNG. Really liked Enterprise, saw some of DS9 and Voyager throughout, but eh, and judging by how much fans panned it, I don't think I'll even bother with Discovery.
Anyway, I think I am going to go back and start watching Trek again all around, maybe catch up on some DS9 and Voyager, maybe watch through all the movies again... Might even have to see if I can get a new Engineering Uniform and a new pin... this game brought me back to being a Trekker, or Trekkie or whatever it is! Yay! I'm a nerd again! lol.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
In House Hunting News:
We actually got the Home Inspection done today on the place that we got our offer accepted, and they did find a few small things that needed attention, doesn't seem like anything major (we will get the full report in 3 days or less,) so it seems we'll be moving to the next step. Depending on the repairs, we may either require they get fixed up or else we might be able to negotiate on the rate a bit. Either way, we're on our way to move-in day!
I think I said it before, but if things go smooth, settlement/move-in day will be on Tuesday, February 25th. We are super excited, including Sydney, who went with Jen today for the home inspection, and she thinks the house is "the coolest house she's ever seen"... lol. God I love her!
We got some measurements, and some thoughts on decorating, and are probably going to be obsessively pondering and getting things ready for the next two months until it's finally time to haul around box after box after box after box... I don't look forward to the hauling, but the unpacking and decorating will be worth it!
I already started getting some lists together for things I need to get to help in the move, and I'm sure I'll come up with a lot more lists, a lot more items, and a lot more thoughts on everything, how to set it up, where to do what and all that! yep.
I'm becoming nonsensical, so I better get going, but we're all getting super-excited the closer and closer we get to finalizing the deal and moving in! Cheers!
I think I said it before, but if things go smooth, settlement/move-in day will be on Tuesday, February 25th. We are super excited, including Sydney, who went with Jen today for the home inspection, and she thinks the house is "the coolest house she's ever seen"... lol. God I love her!
We got some measurements, and some thoughts on decorating, and are probably going to be obsessively pondering and getting things ready for the next two months until it's finally time to haul around box after box after box after box... I don't look forward to the hauling, but the unpacking and decorating will be worth it!
I already started getting some lists together for things I need to get to help in the move, and I'm sure I'll come up with a lot more lists, a lot more items, and a lot more thoughts on everything, how to set it up, where to do what and all that! yep.
I'm becoming nonsensical, so I better get going, but we're all getting super-excited the closer and closer we get to finalizing the deal and moving in! Cheers!
More VR Babbling
Finally got the Half-Life VR Mod working and I gotta say, all the new games are absolutely amazing, but there is something extremely special playing an older game like this in VR and entering into the game world... something magical almost about looking around and looking at the characters, walking the hallways, shooting face-grabbers....even if the graphics are far from photorealistic. It's a blast, and I feel more engaged in the game than I ever have before.
I would be ecstatic if they could figure some way to put old adventure games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, or the classic Sierra games into VR somehow (may be hard though since they were 2D though) or Day of the Tentacle, hell I am getting nostalgic thinking of the possibilities! Would still really love them to figure out GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas and be able to transport inside of those games as well... soooo many good options, I think I either need to pray that developers start working these angles or else I need to figure out how to program... something I probably should've done ages ago.
Really loving all that VR is doing lately, with the Quest it is starting to change the desire for VR all around, and just as I predicted, popularity is growing and growing... I believe that device was definitely the catalyst for VR to break-through... once Half Life: Alyx releases it will jump another plateau and I imagine next year they will probably release a new Quest with enhanced visuals...wait wait wait...
PREDICTION TIME:
Figured I should separate 'predictions' a bit so I can look back at these in the future and see if I was right... or not, so here we go.
I predict Half Life: Alyx will uptick the fascination, popularity and adoption of VR for many people and keep the momentum going strong.
I predict that next year, 2021, Oculus will release a new Quest which will feature enhanced visuals, a bigger FOV, Faster processing, better battery and be a bit more lightweight (maybe) but that will start pushing VR through the roof.
Other companies are definitely going to be following suit, the wireless nature of the Quest is the way of the future... sure there will always be the PCVR headsets because you can't argue that the best experiences & most demanding graphic games that push the VR boundaries will still be on PC's... but the fact the Quest is an all-in-one, wireless and still very powerful device that works well makes it a game-changer.
I constantly choose my Quest over my Rift-S just because of the wireless factor alone. The fact I can easily just throw on the headset, jump into a game and can move and spin around without worrying about getting wrapped in the cord, is huge, even if I can't get every game I want or have to deal with slightly 'lesser' graphics. It doesn't matter.
Oh, anyway (almost forgot about predictions)... so as VR gains more and more fans, I predict more and more studios will start leaning toward VR game development, and we're talking the BIG studios. It won't be long before we actually are getting GTA 6 or Call of Duty, or Madden in VR versions.
OK done with predictions... but also forgot to mention that the next iteration of Pixel Ripped was released today: Pixel Ripped 1995. This game once again has the player battling for screen-time avoiding parents and teachers, but instead of just playing a gameboy-like system, we are jumping to the 16 and 32 bit eras. The first game was amazing, although too short, but the concept of it is brillaint and I can't wait to give it a go... might have to get it tonight!
**UPDATE 1/8/2020**
I was lied to! I read some article that Pixel Ripped 1995 was supposed to be out, but when I went to check it says 'releases Spring 2020' so I guess I'll have to wait for this one a bit longer... shame! shame! shame!
I would be ecstatic if they could figure some way to put old adventure games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, or the classic Sierra games into VR somehow (may be hard though since they were 2D though) or Day of the Tentacle, hell I am getting nostalgic thinking of the possibilities! Would still really love them to figure out GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas and be able to transport inside of those games as well... soooo many good options, I think I either need to pray that developers start working these angles or else I need to figure out how to program... something I probably should've done ages ago.
Really loving all that VR is doing lately, with the Quest it is starting to change the desire for VR all around, and just as I predicted, popularity is growing and growing... I believe that device was definitely the catalyst for VR to break-through... once Half Life: Alyx releases it will jump another plateau and I imagine next year they will probably release a new Quest with enhanced visuals...wait wait wait...
PREDICTION TIME:
Figured I should separate 'predictions' a bit so I can look back at these in the future and see if I was right... or not, so here we go.
I predict Half Life: Alyx will uptick the fascination, popularity and adoption of VR for many people and keep the momentum going strong.
I predict that next year, 2021, Oculus will release a new Quest which will feature enhanced visuals, a bigger FOV, Faster processing, better battery and be a bit more lightweight (maybe) but that will start pushing VR through the roof.
Other companies are definitely going to be following suit, the wireless nature of the Quest is the way of the future... sure there will always be the PCVR headsets because you can't argue that the best experiences & most demanding graphic games that push the VR boundaries will still be on PC's... but the fact the Quest is an all-in-one, wireless and still very powerful device that works well makes it a game-changer.
I constantly choose my Quest over my Rift-S just because of the wireless factor alone. The fact I can easily just throw on the headset, jump into a game and can move and spin around without worrying about getting wrapped in the cord, is huge, even if I can't get every game I want or have to deal with slightly 'lesser' graphics. It doesn't matter.
Oh, anyway (almost forgot about predictions)... so as VR gains more and more fans, I predict more and more studios will start leaning toward VR game development, and we're talking the BIG studios. It won't be long before we actually are getting GTA 6 or Call of Duty, or Madden in VR versions.
OK done with predictions... but also forgot to mention that the next iteration of Pixel Ripped was released today: Pixel Ripped 1995. This game once again has the player battling for screen-time avoiding parents and teachers, but instead of just playing a gameboy-like system, we are jumping to the 16 and 32 bit eras. The first game was amazing, although too short, but the concept of it is brillaint and I can't wait to give it a go... might have to get it tonight!
**UPDATE 1/8/2020**
I was lied to! I read some article that Pixel Ripped 1995 was supposed to be out, but when I went to check it says 'releases Spring 2020' so I guess I'll have to wait for this one a bit longer... shame! shame! shame!
Monday, January 6, 2020
Moving?
Get this shit!... remember a couple posts back I was talking about how we are house hunting, and remember I said about liking a house but it was a bit out of our range for the down payment and stuff, and remember I said something else after that? Well, we decided to put in an offer regardless and they accepted! So folks, as of now, we are under contract for the house we loved!
Still a couple hoops to jump through, like the Home Inspection and such, but pending that, it's a done deal, and we'll be moving in around February 25th... it's still about 2 months away, but that's better than 2 years away, so We'll take it!
Moving out of my parent's house is going to be a blessing... not to say that it wasn't a blessing with them letting us stay there, but you know, you get to a point and you just need your privacy and own set of rules and freedoms ect, ect... So I'm super excited and just pray that the home-inspection goes swimmingly with no issues. Seems promising at least thus far.
This also brings to mind a couple other things, like, having to actually, you know... move again... ugh, it is something I hate so much. But... I do like starting fresh and getting things started and set-up and decorating my area and things of this nature... but "moving" in and of itself is a pain I wish I could avoid... we also plan on taking EVERYTHING out of the storage unit and taking to my parent's and our stuff, obviously to our house... so that sounds to me like 2 times the work... Fuck!
Nonetheless, the suffering of 'moving' will be worth it, we will have everything set up and can finally settle again, get our routines and rules in place and raise our little sweethearts the way we want to raise them with limited outside interference! yay!
Also to note, although this is another townhouse, which I wasn't super excited about, it is an end unit (one of my conditions) it has a fenced in backyard and it is still in West Hanover, which is a fantastic location, minutes away from Sydney's (and eventually Kenzie's) Elementary School, as well as everything else that is just a hop skip and a jump away (it's literally 2 or 3 minutes from my parent's house, so everything we had near us is still near us.)
Still a couple hoops to jump through, like the Home Inspection and such, but pending that, it's a done deal, and we'll be moving in around February 25th... it's still about 2 months away, but that's better than 2 years away, so We'll take it!
Moving out of my parent's house is going to be a blessing... not to say that it wasn't a blessing with them letting us stay there, but you know, you get to a point and you just need your privacy and own set of rules and freedoms ect, ect... So I'm super excited and just pray that the home-inspection goes swimmingly with no issues. Seems promising at least thus far.
This also brings to mind a couple other things, like, having to actually, you know... move again... ugh, it is something I hate so much. But... I do like starting fresh and getting things started and set-up and decorating my area and things of this nature... but "moving" in and of itself is a pain I wish I could avoid... we also plan on taking EVERYTHING out of the storage unit and taking to my parent's and our stuff, obviously to our house... so that sounds to me like 2 times the work... Fuck!
Nonetheless, the suffering of 'moving' will be worth it, we will have everything set up and can finally settle again, get our routines and rules in place and raise our little sweethearts the way we want to raise them with limited outside interference! yay!
Also to note, although this is another townhouse, which I wasn't super excited about, it is an end unit (one of my conditions) it has a fenced in backyard and it is still in West Hanover, which is a fantastic location, minutes away from Sydney's (and eventually Kenzie's) Elementary School, as well as everything else that is just a hop skip and a jump away (it's literally 2 or 3 minutes from my parent's house, so everything we had near us is still near us.)
Thursday, January 2, 2020
2020 continues
The New Year has arrived, we are two days deep at this point, and here I am, back at work. Wednesday is the worse for Holidays, so instead of relaxing I have to be at work today and tomorrow and THEN it is the weekend, so I guess that's cool, but still....
Speaking of, this year is pretty sweet as far as Holidays go, since it's a leap year! That jumps Holidays like Christmas and New Years to Friday... sweet! 4th of July is on a Saturday... sweet! Groundhogs Day is on a Sunday... eh (don't care about that one really.) Valentine's Day is on a Friday! My Birthday is on a Friday! Halloween is on a Saturday PLUS it's apparently a full moon PLUS it's the night we change the clocks... SPOOPY! Our Wedding Anniversary is also on a Friday the 13th this year too! Noice!
In other, other news... VR!! haha, I had to do it. Nothing too new, I just last night downloaded "The Under Presents..." which was made by the people who made 'Virtual Virtual Reality' which was an amazing concept of a game and bended the rules of VR nicely, this one is supposed to be really cool and has unique puzzles as well as live performances of some sort. I dunno, but sounds interesting, and people have been raving about it. Sounds like it's worth a shot.
Well that's about all I got for today. 2020!
Speaking of, this year is pretty sweet as far as Holidays go, since it's a leap year! That jumps Holidays like Christmas and New Years to Friday... sweet! 4th of July is on a Saturday... sweet! Groundhogs Day is on a Sunday... eh (don't care about that one really.) Valentine's Day is on a Friday! My Birthday is on a Friday! Halloween is on a Saturday PLUS it's apparently a full moon PLUS it's the night we change the clocks... SPOOPY! Our Wedding Anniversary is also on a Friday the 13th this year too! Noice!
In other, other news... VR!! haha, I had to do it. Nothing too new, I just last night downloaded "The Under Presents..." which was made by the people who made 'Virtual Virtual Reality' which was an amazing concept of a game and bended the rules of VR nicely, this one is supposed to be really cool and has unique puzzles as well as live performances of some sort. I dunno, but sounds interesting, and people have been raving about it. Sounds like it's worth a shot.
Well that's about all I got for today. 2020!
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