B R A I N L O G

[ 12 April 2022 ]:
2022 sure is off to a hectic start. My Tiny Tank PT Cruiser's transmission started acting up
pretty badly near the end of Feb & despite how much I loved it, that tier of repair is about
as expensive as it gets. On top of that, I can't work if I don't have a car so I had to say
goodbye. Even though it wouldn't shift past 3rd gear, it did it's best for a solid month while
my family & I pooled together all we could to put a down payment on a newer, more reliable car.
I'm shocked the dealership gave us $1000USD for the Tiny Tank, but I don't think they got it past
35mph when they took it around the block, which I'm thankful for! Plus the paint was flaking off
all over the hood due to Chrysler/GM being just plain awful & consistendly using cheap paint & finish
on their cars & there was a nice rust spot over the windshield... Also a nice Chrysler feature, in
particular 2001 PT Cruisers & a couple GM trucks, is the horribly brittle plastic used for the
dashboards. Mine completely cracked into 3 gigantic pieces & was held together with Gorilla Tape.
Again, I have no idea how we pulled of $1000USD. Even Kelly Blue Book said it was worth $750USD
IN GOOD CONDITION. Very fortunate.

So yeah, in mid-March I traded the Tiny Tank in & now I've got a 2012 Subaru Forester 2.5x Premium!
I've never had a car newer than 2001, so this is a lot to get used to. Not only the creature comfort
integrations like hands-free calling, lumbar support, self-dimming mirrors, etc but also stuff like
all-wheel drive, brake assist & whatnot. I didn't realize all-wheel drive would actually change
how a car drives as much as it does! Anyway, I'm having fun with it for sure. Always gonna have
a special place in my heart for the PT Cruiser, but I had to pretty much choose between a
project car money pit or having a job. I salute you, Tiny Tank- you were one fun puddle jumper o7

But yeah, too much car ramble. On top of all that unexpected stuff... also moving! Best friend & I are
downsizing to a 2 bedroom & our other roomie is moving back to his folks' place so he can cut back
on work hours & save money. Our rent here is going up more & none of us can afford that. It was already
stretched thin with the last rent increase, not really because of rent itself but because in summer & winter it costs anywhere from $300 to $500USD to cool & heat this place. Built in the 1930s with 13ft ceilings, plaster walls & huge old windows. Love old houses, but this is ridiculous. We're downsizing to a 2br built in the 1990s, so that alone will make a huge difference with power bills (I hope!). Plus the landlord is doing a lot of updates before we move in next month. Exciting changes, but tons of them all at once. Best friend & I are both nervously optimistic!

2022 is off to a hectic start, indeed. So instead of packing more boxes, I'm gonna play some Kirby & The
Forgotten Land. It's great! Check it out if you've got a Switch.

[ 13 April 2022 ]:
I'm honestly not sure where to go with this site. My brainwaves haven't been on a visually creative wavelength in awhile & music stuff is at a standstill at least until we're moved into the new house. I don't wanna let the site lay dormant, though, because that guarantees I'll forget it for at least a year. ADHD, y'know? Since I've been working a ton, I've amassed hundreds of photos of clients pets. People like pet photos, right? Maybe I'll add a section for some of my favourite Puptown clients. Just a thought. Maybe a section to ramble a bit about games I am playing & share screenshots? Both seem like okay ideas. Typing into a void isn't too good for feedback, though, so maybe I will or maybe I won't. Either way, I'm gonna go play more Kirby... I should just share some of my favourite moments from it & see where it goes. Curating stuff is a lot more daunting than just shoveling whatever onto Twitter, etc. Okay, yeah. Here's the goal: curate my favourite screenshots & some blurbs to go with them. Not a walkthrough or anything, there's plenty of those already, just a highlight reel of sorts. Will I follow through? Tune in next time...

[ 11 May 2022 ]:
The move to our new house is in full swing. It's weird because "full swing" has been impressively slow, especially compared to the shitty circumstances surrounding almost every other move we've made since 2008. We're both impatient at this point, though, & scheduling any substantial amount of time to move big stuff is near impossible. Our roomie has had his Dad's big ol' 90s Chevy for weeks to haul furniture, but honestly he's been really unpleasant about the whole thing despite specifically saying he'd like to get this part done as quickly as possible. Plus both best friend & I have had tons of pet care clients on weekends, so it's a disjointed mess haha. I just want our beds & best friends' kitty Toffee moved to the new place so we don't keep using excess utilities at the old house. It's confusing & I'm rambling.

I finished the main plot of Kirby & The Forgotten Land a few weeks ago! Still have post-game stuff to play, but I absolutely LOVED it! This is the first game I've completed in years! On the topic of video games, setting up a more cohesive layout for all our retro systems & CRT's is pretty fun. Lots of options, but we've got a general plan for the majority of the consoles. "The Behemoth" Philips 27in (68.58cm) is a bitch to move every time, so once it's in the new house, that's where it's set up xD. We'll have the modern Roku TV & Android TV box centered on a low, wide entertainment centre with The Behemoth Philips on a low, 3 drawer dresser to the right & the ~10in (25.4cm) 1991 Samsung CRT to the left on a tall backless bookcase style shelf. Unfortunately the Samsung only has RF input, so it's got very limited options. I think just the Genesis, SNES & NES. It'd be a visual downgrade for the SNES & NES though, since they have composite. This part of retro gaming is an overwhelming amount of information to understand & I'd love to find a simple solution, but it's kinda hard to when you don't even completely grasp what it does. My PVM also has all BNC connectors, but come hell or high water I'll have that thing set up when I get it back from my friend who repaired it.

In addition to the retro game stuff, I'm taking this opportunity to sift through the big stack of laptops I've been given. When I started school for IT my family & extended family decided all their attic computers needed a new home... with me. Don't get me wrong! There's some super cool machines I'm elated to have, it's just the sheer quantity that's daunting. 16 laptops in one big bin, varying in age from mid-90s to windows 7 era. It's worth noting that my daily driver (which is responsible for this entire website) is one of the Win7 lappys she gave me. Linux is a godsend & has saved my butt from the slog of crap Windows does to less-than-current machines. For the hoard I've got, though, I'll be mostly keeping them as-is with their operating systems. The exceptions I know of are the 3 Thinkpads because they're notoriously fantastic Linux machines!

Sorry this turned into a huge tech ramble. We'll see what I actually follow through with & what stays on the back burner for another 5 years.

[ 1 December 2022 ]:
It's only been 6+ monts since I last updated anything here, no big deal. We're moved in to our new house but definitely not unpacked. Downsizing from a big 3 bedroom to a modest-sized 2 bedroom is very overwhelming since we've got so much stuff. It's overwhelming & I've been working a TON so when I've got a day off it's either running errands or resting.
I've got a few things to add to the site, but nothing major. Been toying with the idea of short gaming summaries, like a "micro-review" since obviously I'm not qualified to follow through with any major goal haha. We'll see. Unless I drop dead or some other cataclysmic event goes down, it would be another 6+ months until my next updates. If you're here reading this, I hope you're doing well! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ
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