Random randomness

[Daehawk]

Im pretty sure Im a bit shorter than when I was young due to the back stuff rotting away.

[Anonymous Bosch]

You've gotta keep moving to keep your fitness level up, because once that slips away, you ain't getting it back.

Amen. In my mid 40s, I was put on Humira. It sucked the life out of me for four plus years before I managed to have my doctor take me off as a trial run (exhausting many other options, including seeing a shrink and running through courses of head meds). I've been struggling and losing to build up my energy ever since. I need to do a better job and I'm not sure how. Bouncing back from 4 plus years of debilitating fatigue when you are pushing 50 and have to work and keep your life together, well, I've yet to manage it. Heck, it's been a year that I've been off Humira and I still don't even have my house in anything resembling order yet. On the bright side, I don't feel myself rapidly slipping further into chasm anymore. I'm just not clawing my way back up. (This is not good when your PCP says your body thinks it's 80)

God, same. A year or two of kidney failure followed by a transplant has just wiped out the old me. I'm fat and tired and I can't figure out how to not be fat and tired. How can you motivate yourself to take care of yourself when you're spiraling into a depression because of how incapable of taking care of yourself you are? I have never gone more than a couple of months without doing at least some hit and miss exercise and now it's been 2+ years since I did anything more strenuous than an occasional walk. I'm every cliche about wanting to be healthy but saying it into my milkshake.

A prudent first step might be to eschew consumption of (coffee-flavoured) milkshakes. Better to say your piece into a glass of water than an overpriced milkshake.

[Daehawk]

Anyone see Dentyne Gum in stores any more? My wife used to love and buy the cinnamon flavor one and share with me. Ive looked off and on all last year when in stores. I can remember her asking about it years before when we were in stores. I never see it. I can see online its not discontinued. In fact its sold online even at Walmart. But those are multipacks. I just want it in one pack you'd find at the checkout. I think Ive looked in the candy aisle and not seen multi packs in stores. Whats up with that brand?

[hepcat]

Discovered today that even hearing just a few bars of the new Justin Bieber song makes me want to punch someone.

[LawBeefaroni]

Discovered today that even hearing just a few bars of the new Justin Bieber song makes me want to punch someone.

He really reaches right into the soul, doesn't he?

[hepcat]

Sorry, I should have been clear. Punch someone in a bad way. Not like “damn, this snicker’s bar is so good I’m gonna punch this puppy!”. More like “damn this snicker’s bar is so bad I’m gonna punch this puppy!”.

[dbt1949]

Not Snicker's bars?!

[Daehawk]

The rock and roll hall of fame is a fucking joke. That is all. Pat got robbed .

[Jaymann]

The rock and roll hall of fame is a fucking joke. That is all. Pat got robbed .

Pat Boone?
Pat Sajak?
Pat Morita?

[Daehawk]

Pat! Pat damnit...Pat Pat Pat. Just Pat.




No wait it was Pat Benatar.

[Daehawk]

I bought a cheap frozen chimichanga the other day at the store. Right there on the wrapping it says in big letters "MADE WITH REAL CHEESE". So what else would you make it with, fake cheese? And would you print that on your label? "Now made with fake cheese. It looks like real cheese but is in fact made from the hair and toenail clippings of a young 3 armed child in India whom locals worship as a Deity."

[Blackhawk]

Yellow colored vegetable oils and waxes that never saw the inside of a cow are pretty common.

[Daehawk]

Not sure why after all these years of webpages and internet but companies are starting to SUCK at making them. Food City redid their site completely and now the searches never work. Also it wont show prices. If you put in your zip to find your store it shows you stores in different states. I cant use the site any longer.

Burger King wont show me the menu. When I try it takes me to a place to pick a location. I do but it still wont show anything.

These sites both worked a few weeks ago.

[Blackhawk]

Is it possible you have security software (like addons) that are interfering? Every once in a while Privacy Badger or Ublock Origin will get an update and break a page until I set an exception.

[Daehawk]

Same old MS Security Essentials.

[Kasey Chang]

Try a different browser like Firefox if you're doing Chrome, or vice versa?

[Kasey Chang]

Completely unrelated ****... I may have lost two packages. According to Amazon tracking, my new wallet has been delivered, along with my shoes. The THIRD item did show up, even though all three were supposed to appear together. ARGH!!!!! I thought it may have went to our landlord, but she has something ELSE that I hadn't found from last week. *sigh*

Landlord suddenly turned up with the lost package of the shoes. Unfortunately, it's STILL the wrong size, 4E, instead of 6E as I ordered. And this was the evening where I actually got a refund from Amazon in the morning.

So I chat with Amazon and request a return slip to return these shoes I just found. I can't wear 4E anyway, and I have another item I want to return.

It turned out to be a nightmare to get from A to B in downtown San Francisco due to Women's March today. I really should have walked. Any way, went to Amazon Go store. Dropped the shoe, no problem. Tried to drop the other item... "Cannot be returned to Amazon Go". WTF?! I actually have to MAIL this? Fine. Eventually made it to USPS. Postage... $4.75. The item was only $15!!!!!!! And I didn't use any packaging! (I recycled one of Amazon's padding envelopes and just added some shipping tape).

Which shows how impressive Amazon's logistics network is. The item originally got to me in less than 48 hours, at a cost of probably only a dollar or two shipping. When i send it back, I paid more than double that. And it'd probably take 3-4 days just to get to Arizona or Nevada.

[Daehawk]

Try a different browser like Firefox if you're doing Chrome, or vice versa?

Tried the only other one I have installed and thats IE. Food City wont allow me to even type in my zip code. Nothing appears. Burger King when I click the link for their homepage goes to a text only and missing graphic page that say nothing in my cart. Its some part of their delivery crap.

[Daehawk]

Also woke up to a VERY painful right upper arm. Its not my bicep its on the outside area there. It feels like a badly pulled muscle . It was fine when I went to bed. Now I can barely use it its so painful.

[stessier]

Try a different browser like Firefox if you're doing Chrome, or vice versa?

Tried the only other one I have installed and thats IE. Food City wont allow me to even type in my zip code. Nothing appears. Burger King when I click the link for their homepage goes to a text only and missing graphic page that say nothing in my cart. Its some part of their delivery crap.

This seems to be a problem on your end. Both sites work fine for me. I am running completely vanilla Chrome - zero extensions - in fully updated Windows 10.

[Smoove_B]

in fully updated Windows 10.

Wait for it...

[Kraken]

in fully updated Windows 10.

Wait for it...

All normal in Firefox, too.

[Anonymous Bosch]

in fully updated Windows 10.

Wait for it...

Yeah, if memory serves, Daehawk's sticking with Windows 7. Internet browsing with a discontinued OS that no longer receives security updates seems a dubious prospect at best, so it's hardly surprising Daehawk has so much difficulty doing so.

[Isgrimnur]

Pulled a muscle in my back yesterday, so I’m sitting in my beanbag, drinking beer, and watching football

[Daehawk]

Beanbag doesn't seem very posture good for it.

[hitbyambulance]

in fully updated Windows 10.

Wait for it...

All normal in Firefox, too.

if, hypothetically, one does not wish to move from Windows 7 to Windows 10, one should designate a 'web access' machine and install Linux on it, where they can keep their desired OS GUI forever and ever whilst still receiving essential OS kernel _and web browser_ updates. one should then use this machine only to access said web and Win7 box becomes the 'Steam machine' only.

so now one is continually up to date with security patches and bonus: Microsoft doesn't get any telemetrics from you anymore.

[Isgrimnur]

Beanbag doesn't seem very posture good for it.

I can mush it into a supporting shape, and staying still helps.

And now I have a pug puppy lap warmer.

[Holman]

This loooong thread of someone watching THE PRINCESS BRIDE completely cold for the first time is so good!

[Isgrimnur]

And the cocker spaniel:

[Daehawk]

Id post a pic of the chihuahua in my lap but Id have to get up to get the phone or camera.

[Blackhawk]

This loooong thread of someone watching THE PRINCESS BRIDE completely cold for the first time is so good!

"Hello, my name is Iago Montana."

I've got to use that somewhere.

[$iljanus]

This loooong thread of someone watching THE PRINCESS BRIDE completely cold for the first time is so good!

"Hello, my name is Iago Montana."

I've got to use that somewhere.

What is this movie of a princess coming down on a meteor?

[Daehawk]

I have a wool beanie with a emblem on the front. Sometimes like just now I like to wear it backwards because that emblem can make my forehead itch. My thought upon doing it was I know I put it on backwards on purpose but everyone else is going to think Im a silly old man . Im glad I dont care what others think.

[Smoove_B]

What is this movie of a princess coming down on a meteor?

Stardust?

[$iljanus]

What is this movie of a princess coming down on a meteor?

Stardust?

Hmmm, maybe. I liked that movie!

[Skinypupy]

What is this movie of a princess coming down on a meteor?

Stardust?

Stardust was such a fantastic movie. I absolutely loved it.

[gbasden]

so now one is continually up to date with security patches

It doesn't much matter - he decided to stop patching a few years ago anyway.

[Paingod]

Landlord suddenly turned up with the lost package of the shoes. Unfortunately, it's STILL the wrong size, 4E, instead of 6E as I ordered. And this was the evening where I actually got a refund from Amazon in the morning.

Have you ever considered Hitchcock Shoes? It's where I've ordered my shoes from for years and have loved them.

[Blackhawk]

I couldn't choose between Video Game Randomness or Tabletop Randomness, as this applies to both. So here I am with another of the patented Blackhawk Stream of Consciousness rambles in which I figure things out by codifying them. This kicks off with a discussion about D&D, but isn't about D&D.

I was just listening to Matt Colville, a writer, game designer, and tabletop GM who put out a great series of GMing videos, and I had a bit of a revelation about myself. The discussion was about why people hated 4th Edition D&D so much when it was released. Bear with me here. He touched on all the standard complaints about 4e, but then touched on what WotC feels the real problem was: Gamism.

Every version of D&D prior and since has described things in natural language. 4e tried to simplify that by boiling things down to pure mechanics. People would read a 3.5 D&D (or 2nd ed, or 1st) and be presented with a description of what the spell did in the world. 4e would give a purely mechanical breakdown instead. For example, even if the mechanics and math were identical, in other editions of D&D, and archer would pull out his long bow and fire at a fleeing goblin 120 feet away. In 4e, a Striker would play an Encounter Power that hit a target 24 squares away. See the difference? Sure enough, when I thought about it, this was what bugged me about D&D 4e. It's the fantasy (I'm an archer with a bow shooting at something feet away) vs the mechanics (I'm a Striker with a Power hitting something squares away.) When you read the rules for a different edition, you feel like you're reading a description of how a fantasy world works. When you read 4e, you feel like you're reading a technical manual for a machine.

I realized, then, that this a near-perfect breakdown of my preferences in tabletop games, video games, and board games. Any active form of entertainment, really. I want the mechanics of the activity to take back seat to the fantasy (whether that fantasy involves wizards, cybernetics, or spec-ops.) I like when the feel of the activity is that you're experiencing the fantasy, with the mechanics there only to allow you to answer the unknowns ("Did I hit?")

It's why I get turned off of the end-game of MMOs, where following a storyline turns into grinding to best take advantage of mechanics. It's why I dislike games like Dark Souls, that are more about solving the mechanical puzzle than experiencing the fantasy. It's why I cringe when tabletop RPG character discussions come down to pure optimization over interesting concepts. It's why I get bored with so many modern video game RPGs when it comes to keeping track of elaborate and complex character builds when I really want to be focusing on exploring, not numerical bonuses (like The Witcher 3 - I love the game, but I dread leveling up and having to stop exploring while I figure out what's supposed to do what.) It's why I so deeply love thematic tabletop games (Sword & Sorcery, the Monolith Conan/Batman games, Core Space when I get the damned dice) over more abstract ones.

The funny thing is, I don't mind complex mechanics when they're completely divorced from entertainment. Understanding complex systems for say, a job, is actually a fun challenge. But for entertainment? I want the experience of being there, with the mechanics staying out of the way unless they're needed.

This is probably dull nonsense, and nobody has likely continued this far (and if you have, are you really that bored?), but this bit of insight into myself is going to save me a lot of hassle flailing away at things I don't enjoy without understanding why. For instance, when I go back to Witcher 3, I'll either find a pre-designed build or just go with what seems fun rather than what's going to synergize with another skill in another tree ten levels from now. And when I'm preparing tabletop RPGs (I always am), I'll spend less time stressing when a rule seems to 'feel bad', as I know why and can adjust accordingly.

[ImLawBoy]

(and if you have, are you really that bored?)

Yes.

(Plus you write goodly, so I'll often read your walls of text even if it's not about something near and dear to me.)