Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jun 26, 2020 12:58:46 GMT -5
Yeah it's been really hard for me to keep the motivation up as well. I've been visiting my parent's cabin almost every weekend for a while now, and the change in scenery makes things a lot better. Also had fun with Xenoblade Chronicles, which was a great way to keep myself occupied for two weeks. And yeah, I know exactly what you mean by wanting people around you even if you aren't talking with them. I used to go to university to study just to have some people around me, because sitting in my apartment all the time would've driven me crazy. The coworking space sounds like a neat idea.
Where/how are you learning to drive? I'm trying to imagine what it would feel like to drive in NYC, and I'm pretty sure I would hate it. I dislike driving in Oulu, which is a small city compared to what US has. A lot of cars, weird intersections, blind corners...
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jun 26, 2020 22:23:00 GMT -5
I was going back to my parents and driving (illegally, under their supervision) around town. They live in the next state over. I am very much not interested in learning to drive in NYC, or driving in NYC at all. That would suck. It's its own level of hectic.
Normally, you can go to the DMV in other counties within the state, but due to COVID, many counties state outright they're limiting services to just county residents. I spent the past hour hatefully clicking on basically every single county DMV, checking to see if they deny out-of-county residents outright, and if not, booking an appointment anyway. I have several appointments across the state now. I'll call all of their offices Monday to see if they just neglected to put it on their website (each county has their own, individually maintained webpage, because government).
I am so frustrated. Aghh.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jun 29, 2020 21:15:16 GMT -5
Woohoo! Got my permit today. Found a place about an hour-and-a-half away that would take out-of-county residents. In classic DMV style, they had you book appointments, but the line for appointments was "first come, first serve" regardless of your appointment time. Also, there was a competing line for people who had no appointment. Government, ya? I checked online, and I could technically do my driver's test as soon as July 15. So I think I will do that. Gonna buy a car in the meanwhile. Cars are expensive, sob. Texas, Florida and Arizona might be enveloped in Hell, but things are finally looking not sh*tty here! Speaking of the rest of the US getting COVID left and right, I am really baffled at how f**king stupid people are. Why is wearing a mask a political thing? I would GLADLY wear a mask to return to my normal life... Whatever, Trump is basically smashing the self-destruct button with this whole COVID thing. Anyone playing any games lately? I stopped playing video games altogether. Life had its bright spots today, but overall I've lost interest in all of my hobbies/am listless =( So video games hold zero appeal. I started reading, though. Finished "Song of Achilles" (it was OK, had some quibbles, but it wasn't bad), read Helen Keller's autobiography, started Anne Frank's, bought the Bible, a book on the American West called "Dreams of El Dorado", and Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" (formerly known as 10 Little Indians).
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jun 30, 2020 10:02:11 GMT -5
I would send you my car (which passed the inspection today!), except it's a piece of s**t and definitely not worth the price of sending a car to the opposite side of the world. I've been thinking of getting rid of it for a while now so might put it up for sale soon. If someone even wants to pay for that thing...
Why did you have to renew your drivers license in the first place? At least here, you get your license and it's valid for 30 years or something, unless you do something really stupid.
On gaming: aside from the Xenoblade which basically took all my free time for a couple of weeks, I've only touched some random games which I bought from steam sale. Also started playing Persona 4 Golden now that it's on PC, it's been fun. Seeing the game in 60fps and sharp resolution is weird though.
On the reading side, I've been trying to get into non-fiction that my dad has been recommending for a while now, and after a few books I've finally found one that seems to respect my time and where the content isn't 80% unrelated tangents. Most of the books are physics related, but if you are interested how modern physics see concept of time (or at least one way to look at it) I can recommend "The Order of Time". You don't need a lot of knowledge about physics to understand it since it tries to find an intuitive way to explain everything, and there's no math involved.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jun 30, 2020 22:34:46 GMT -5
Hah. Yeah... lemons are the worst.
Licenses expire within 6 years in the state I got it in, and I got mine 10 years ago. Normally, it's no problem to transfer an existing license across states, or to renew an expired license within the same state... but I established residency here 5 or 6 years ago, so... neither of those things apply. Welp.
I didn't even know Persona 4 was out on PC. That's kind of cool. I don't ever see myself playing a Persona game again, but it's nice to know they're out on PC nonetheless. I hopped off the console train back in college and haven't really looked back. I don't know why, but consoles just were never my thing, even as a kid. I've always liked handhelds.
"The Order of Time" sounds kind of cool. I might check that out at some point.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jul 2, 2020 21:29:55 GMT -5
In Arizona once you get your license, it's valid until you're 65.
-edit- You know what I really want to see in a JRPG? A mute protagonist. Not a silent protagonist where we're all aware that they're supposedly using actual words, but an honest-to-god mute. I would particularly enjoy it in a scenario more like Persona 3 in-so-far as it involves the protagonist becoming a part of a larger plot in progress, rather than most JRPGs where the protagonists are the instigators of the plot. I just think it would be an interesting twist that could provide some great character moments, assuming the animators really took the time to convey the complex emotions.
Obviously there'd need to be a good story around it: the entire pitch can't be "mute protagonist".
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jul 3, 2020 10:40:26 GMT -5
I'm beginning to suspect the Northeast has some draconian measures around driver's licenses, since my Pennsylvanian peers have indicated it's a joke getting your license there...
Well, it could be worse! Connecticut requires a 30-hour driver's ed course if you're under the age of 18. It was BRUTAL. I remember absolutely nothing from it except the "no zones" rap.
That would be kind of an interesting premise. I think Pokemon is the only game I've played where the protagonist was mute? The copycat girl in Saffron City even alludes to the fact that you don't speak (and Red doesn't speak either when you challenge him in G/S/C). But I don't consider Pokemon an actual RPG in the sense that you're referring to...
I don't consider most JRPGs to have good stories. I have a similar problem with fiction, actually. I want to read fiction, because the books I have enjoyed the most have been fiction... but there is SO MUCH bad fiction out there. I'm always really wary buying fiction as a result. Just going by bestsellers isn't necessarily a slam dunk, either. I'm still scarred from Jane Smiley's "A Thousand Acres" and Barbara Kingsolver books, among others.
Also, don't even get me started on most crime books. I love true crime. So, like the disgustingly morally feeble soul I am, I've bought more than a few crime fiction books in my weaker moments while trapped at airports. They're awful! Invariably, the main character is some hot-shot detective who has a dark, troubled past, and it rears its head again when she is thrust onto a case she must solve!!! Cue vomit. Why can't normal detectives with no troubled pasts who are mediocre at their job be a thing? Oh, and there's usually a love interest thrown in there. I firmly believe dedicating novel time to the development of one-dimensional love interests should be banished to the realm of romance books, which are their own hideous category.
I think perhaps the thing I struggle with the most with JRPGs and fiction novels is suspension of disbelief. I'm a skeptic. If you have one-dimensional characters who are good at everything or otherwise have no flaws, introduce improbable events, or otherwise write in a manner that would indicate you've never done research on the topic at all (see for reference the book "Room"), chances are I'm going to struggle to get invested in your story. Things need to be believable, unless they're set in a context like fantasy (fantasy can suffer from its own problems, like relying too heavily on Tolkien tropes).
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jul 3, 2020 13:09:07 GMT -5
At least for now I've given up on "good" stories in JRPGs. For me a lot of JRPGs (and also the one crime fiction series I still actively follow) are less about the plots themselves and more about the fun interactions between the characters. For example, I'm playing through Persona 4 with my dad, and one of the characters suggested a cook-off. I assured my Dad that such an event would happen much later, and he replied "I'm already looking forward to it". It's just a funny event that produces one of my favourite lines in the game ("It's pretty impressive that you put so many ingredients into a dish and it came out tasting like nothing").
I guess by "good story" I meant more that it can't just be "mute protagonist", and that's that. It can't be the singular defining feature of the character. Too many games rely on the unique point to define the entire character (frequently seen with "such and such character is gay, which turns out to be their entire character).
But yeah, for good plots you're screwed in games. You're also right in that there's a metric shit-load of fiction out there, so it's extremely hard to find something that suits your taste (ironically). There's really no good tool for finding them either: more often than not bestsellers are terrible (although I only picked up The Nix for that reason, and it turned into a favourite, so there's always bloody exceptions), most online recommendations are based on fanboyism, and most store recommendations are based on god-awful algorithms. There truly is no good method other than trying out whatever grabs your interest.
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jul 3, 2020 16:55:34 GMT -5
Didn't even think about the fact that different states could have different laws for driving... I wonder if my license would be valid anywhere in the US.
I think another example of "mute" protagonist is Crosscode, where the main character cannot talk except for few short phrases. I thought it was done pretty well, but I didn't get very far into the game. She seemed to have other things going for her besides being mute. But it's not really a JRPG either.
For books, 90% of the things I've liked in the past few years have come from recommendations by people I know. The only exception I can think of is Neuromancer, which I picked up mainly out of curiosity, and even that I have a mixed opinion on. The rest of the attempts at finding stuff have been disappointments. I've tried looking at "similar to this book you liked" lists or popular/well-received books, but people can like a book for very different things so it's not easy to find stuff you like from stranger's opinion.
I finished "The Order of Time". It was a short, well-written book about stuff that was hard to understand at times. Now what next...
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jul 3, 2020 23:23:40 GMT -5
The fourth of July is a great time with four dogs.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jul 4, 2020 13:06:00 GMT -5
So! I highly recommend NOT moving to NYC if your dogs are afraid of fireworks. (There are many reasons not to move to NYC right now). For about the past month or so, there have been constant fireworks every night from 10PM to 2 AM in most parts of the city. I'm a little surprised people are still firing fireworks, since after a month, you'd think it'd get kind of old?? I'm fortunate in the sense that I live in the borough that everyone GTFO of (really, about 40% of Manhattan's population ditched), so there is no one around to launch fireworks. It's apparently really bad in the other boroughs where the population did not see the same drop (Brooklyn and Bronx, mainly). Apparently, people got so pissed off by the rampant fireworks that the other week, hundreds of them swarmed in front of the mayor's house and honked their cars for hours outside, demanding that if they couldn't sleep, neither should he. The next morning, he issued a statement on the fireworks for the first time. I'm really glad I don't have to contend with fireworks, since my cat is scared sh*tless by them. I don't even know what she would do if she heard them all night, every night... Your license would be valid in the US. They'll take other countries' valid licenses, no problem. It's just that if you established residency here, you would be expected to get an American license, and that would be subject to the same expiration rules. I have to say, the Fourth of July is basically the most pointless holiday in the world right now. I mean, at least from my POV. I've never been a patriot, not because I dislike the US, but because I just don't get the appeal of being "proud" of events in the past I had no control over, nor being part of a society of 330 million people, 99.99998% of whom I don't even know. Call me up to celebrate over events that had a personal impact on me or groups of people I actually meaningfully associate with, and that I can get behind. The only point in the holiday I can see is getting together with people, but that's verboten right now. So I'm just going to stay inside and treat it like any other boring day.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jul 4, 2020 23:38:02 GMT -5
If I move, I won't be taking the dogs with me, since only one is mine and I wouldn't separate him from the rest of the family on my account. I agree that patriotism is not for me. I do understand it though: people have to believe in something. I'd just rather believe in myself than a concept of "national identity". Also, for Derman's benefit, I maxed out the last night-time confidant in Persona 5: Royal on 11/13. Not only does this leave nights free for the rest of the game (including January), but Haru is the only day-time confidant left, and she's already at rank 5. Kasumi will open up 5 more ranks come January, but otherwise it's free-time from here on out.
-edit- Tomorrow (typing this before bed) will mark 5 consecutive nights without sleeping pills. Haven't been sleeping great: definitely interrupted and messy. But, it's enough for now, and I'd rather do it without pills, even if the pill means a full night of sleep.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jul 5, 2020 7:14:46 GMT -5
Would you miss your dogs?
If I get rid of my apartment (this has proven difficult in a climate where rents have dropped 20% and nobody wants to move here, let alone stay here), then I'd like to get a room with roommates somewhere. But my cat is a package deal.
I'd really miss having a cat, but in the event she passed away, I could feasibly live somewhere without a cat in exchange for the company of roommates. I couldn't imagine not having her as long as she's around, though.
Good luck on sleeping--hope it went well. I've heard sleeping pills create a nasty dependency, which is why I've never tried, despite suffering from my own sleep woes. Antianxiety medication goes a long way towards insomnia for me anyway.
I think I've finally settled into the "I no longer care" phase of the pandemic. At first I was fine; then I crashed and became deeply depressed and lonely; now I just don't care. Am I happy? No. Am I sad? No. More like listless. It's become readily apparent that nothing will change for months, and those months will be spent alone, doing the same meaningless things day after after day. Why muster the energy to care when there is jack all you can do about it? I think I preferred being depressed.
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Post by Friendly Person :) on Jul 5, 2020 18:15:34 GMT -5
Kinda? I've lived with noisy dogs for so much of my life that it'll take a while before I miss it. Besides, when it comes down to it I'm more of a cat person than a dog person. Not that it matters, since pets cost a lot of time and money that I'm not willing to part with at this point. Maybe after a few years alone the want for some animal companionship will settle in, but until then I'll be perfectly content to walk naked around the house singing whatever I want at max volume.
I should specify and say that the pills were prescribed by the doctor, and rather than a true sleeping med is actually an anti-histamine that happens to make you incredibly drowsy (and alleviate anxiety). Normal sleeping pills don't do jack for me anyway, so I've never had much of a choice in the matter of whether or not I use them.
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Post by Youngster Joey on Jul 5, 2020 20:56:35 GMT -5
I mean, I'm pretty sure a cat won't care if you walk around the house naked singing whatever you want at max volume. Cats kind of don't give a f**k about what you do in general. It's pretty great.
My cat has been all about cardboard boxes lately. No f**ks given as long as she can sit inside of a box. She's sitting inside one now as I write this.
I like dogs well enough, I guess, but they are a lot of work and actually do kind of care if you leave them at home all day. Plus, the prospect of housetraining a dog sounds terrible? I've read it can take months for them to catch on. Meh. I'll stick with scooping cat poop.
I've never tried regular sleeping pills. I've taken antihistimines a few times and always get too drowsy, in a bad way, so... haven't touched them in years. Feeling like crap and being awake is better than feeling so tired, you can't physically stay up for actual life responsibilities.
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