New year, new me?

No, no new me, same old me, just in new situations, new times and with evolving but persistent perspectives. With the time seemingly going even faster, nearly the end of January already. Sneeze and it'll be Paddy's day... Needless to say despite it all, gaming is gaming and I've been 'having me some'; Old games more than new, as my list of newer 'to do' games is long and only getting longer. Otherwise real life is real life with it's ups and downs, some more serious than others. 

 

 

This last week has seen me stay over at my mothers house as she's getting insulation upgraded so I've essentially been mammy sitting her. Just in case her mood for such works takes a turn to the stubborn side and she decides she doesn't want it done/completed (as only an elderly woman can do, Swedish death cleaning isn't just a Swedish thing). It's only taken 5 years to get the ball rolling after all; Now that it's in full swing.... Time will tell. 

So I've been not so nostalgic for the old days of laptop and limited internet. Reduced to a trickle of internet powah even with unlimited data on a phone as a hotspot...... So like life, it has it's ups and downs. Expletives and dropped connections..... 

 

So with a lot of time on my hands and a laptop to waffle to the internet on, prepare for all kinds of whatever this post turns out to be..... Gaming, life, world news..... Waffle!!! 

 

My laptop(Alienware m18x) is now very much officially 'old'. It was old iin 2018 never mind now but it's hangning in there.... It's seen better days for sure but it's really at the end of it's 'time' I think(no matter how I reseat / repaste /redo it's parts).... Being away from home is only proving that in spades. Having a Steam-deck seemed like a good idea as a replacement but I guess even in desktop mode with an external monitor and other accessories it's 'just not the same'. The deck has real issues with a hotspot connection.  That all said the only recent/modern game the laptop has real issues running is Eve Online. Eve Online barely runs in potato mode; And that's when the graphics decide to actually load. Still it lets me do the bare essentials of the games dailies so there's that! Yet the character editor does so much better.....

 

Ship, what ship!!

 

 

Station, what station!! 

 

 

 Embracing the spud mode!!

 

Yea the character edits are showing 'normal' enough graphics....

 

The end of last year, just in time for the festive season, the ground floor of my house flooded which was 'fun'. I've never bailed out a house before. Cat watching the water rise with the 'this isn't normal' look in his eyes, as his fluffy bed floats past.... An epic ending to three months of pain getting a kitchen/dinning room 'renovated'.... Interesting how even a little water for a short time can damage things; And while I'd classify the ground floor getting an inch and a half of water as flooded it's nowhere near anything that anyone that's actually faced 'real' flooding has endured. My great flood of 2024 was caused by a plumber finishing off a job in my brand new kitchen; which was a planned 2 week job which with 'one thing and another' spiraled into over 3 months; So at the time of the 'incident', works were at the 90% done phase. Both my wife and I were upstairs, me gaming as she watched tv. A few hours passed and as she went down to check on the washing machine(the first washing we'd been able to do at home in weeks), well, splash wtf splash..... I'd only just started to play my Steam version of Maneater; I've not been back to it since. Talk about water trauma. Thankfully accidents happen and the 'one stop shop' doing most of the work were on the ball and insured. As for the actual kitchen units, luck and some slight weaving of words with the "kitchen" place added up to some fixed 'corrections' and replacements. Too many stories to tell but all adding up to a refixed kitchen but a stressed out wife. This incident at the end was that final straw for my wife.....  I've seen her in uniform in stressful situations, military and civi medic and not seen her crack, but this kitchen job really broke her. Talking since she's said she'd rather move house than face another project like it. The one stop shop, were and are still a high recommend from us, despite the 'incident' they really put us at ease with recovery and righting the ship. The kitchen suppliers/fitters not so much....

 

An end of year roller-coaster to an already high emotional year medically for me. Doing this blog post as I'm sitting in my mothers kitchen, laptop on the dinning room table, as her house is surrounded by workers on scaffolding; Free from the government just like the new hi-tech drug I'm on. It's a pity the nuance of the social in Socialized medicine is a hill of a word too many Americans are literally dying on(best of luck to them. Mericans in Merica). Home of the free land of the almighty dolla, So with the removal of merica's d.e.a.i. it's safe to 1st amendment say how stupid 'some' voters are to their face. Right? Then again.... What is with 'Dems' not being aggressive towards Republican clusterfks....

 

I've commented a few times before that when looking up the medications I take monthly and get for free for the rest of my life compared to U.S. prices(including discounts, I done done the research etc), all came to the same amount as my monthly house mortgage. Add on the new hi-tech drug I now also take monthly, well it blows half my yearly mortgage out of the water, a month! And I get it for free!!!! Blows my mind that I live with a health-care system in my country that is built around me as a patient, cared for. When 'the greatest country in the world' can't do that for it's citizens. Like I said before, my father in his life had 2 kidney transplants, never paid a penny for them, never mind years of dialysis before and between. My diagnosis this year included many devices, tests and scans etc... I never paid a penny for them. The system isn't perfect but how can I complain about it! It's been there when I needed it as everyone in my family has had. Just like everyone in the country. It's a safety net. So when a 'yank' cries about choice and freedom I just have to roll my eye's. In choosing the new drug for me I was given information on 4 choices and for me it all boiled down to me wanting the once a month injection instead of taking multiple tablets multiple times a day. Nothing about cost. If that's not choice I don't know what is. Send me info on U.S. nuance in health pls.... I want to know more.

 

 

Whats the phrase... "freedom isn't free".... Faaaaaaaaaacts, Then again facts don't matter to a lot of ppl, cookie?

 

 

 

I'm a political centrist at heart, yes a filthy dirty centrist, leanings left and right but always centered with facts. But to even share Pod save America would brand me with some. I'm a facts over faith person(faith fueled arguments do little to further anything for anyone), so double whammy. As it's said, anyone can get along with anyone else as long as there's no mention of religion, sex or politics. But with current U.S. shenanigans, it's hard to not have views from the outside. Still the more you know etc....  

 

Lines on Maps Extra

"Meh" I'm waffling....

So the laptop is still doable on other games with as much visuals as ever, older games are good in that respect; And as many updates as Star Trek Online gets it's visuals are more a 'style' that don't need super computers to generate each frame. Eve by comparison seems to try too hard, leaning in the "look how technical we are" department if the game actually needs it or not. STO is STO, it works. Walking in stations, on planets and ships since launch..... Eve online, well if you know, you know.

Loading times can be slow and longer, the fans may kick into overdrive just by looking at it the wrong way, but it's still saving my gaming sanity. Just not as much as I'd wish it was. Add the internet issues and it's compounded....... But persisting....

Like STO a lot of games are still well playable.

Turtles Shredder's Revenge

Stardew Valley

The Planet Crafter

Peggle

Euro Truck Simulator 2 (just not top graphics but still good)

Minecraft (draw distance is an issue)

Mini Motorways

Mini Metro

Darkest Dungeon

Close Combat 2, 3 & 4

Tetris Connected

With all going on works wise the gaming is ongoing, interrupted and unfocused for most of the day, but gaming none the less.. Blogging to fill the gaps. I'll gorge on a home gigabit tsunami as soon as I get in the door at the weekend. I'm sure the cat will ignore my presence, as ever, I am a mere secondary human after all.Then see what week two of mammy sitting entails.....

Have a good Friday and weekend. You are who you are; And what will be will be. You will either have already preempted what you can to mitigate whats heading your way or will have to react to whatever is to come as it happens. Life is life....

 

Not sure if this is a blog I should have this kind of waffle and post but it's happening; Not sure how the next post is going to go or when...... As the mood and gaming goes I guess.....