Blaugust

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274 entries. 178,647 words.

August, 2014

  • Congrats Blauggers!. 2014-08-15 3:00 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    I just wanted to drop in and say congratulations to everyone participating in Blaugust: Belghast’s challenge to post every day during August. Clearly, I’m not participating, because I’m being a lazy bum this summer. Would that Blaugust had occurred in Blarch or Blay or Blune. Even if I hadn’t taken a vacation, my daily schedule has been turned upside-down so much that I’m struggling to find the right way to write anymore. The carefully constructed, complicated routine I used to use is out the window now. Now when I want to write something, I just sit down, open up WordPress in whatever computer happens to be nearby, and write. But it feels extremely weird to write that way. 251 words.

July, 2015

  • Gearing Up For Blaugust. 2015-07-28 3:00 PM.
    • Writing

    This past weekend I spent some time gearing up for Blaugust next month. It’s a little daunting because July has been a very light gaming month for me and there’s no reason to think next month won’t be the same. I’ve been pre-occupied with a lot of work stuff. So what the heck am I going to write about? One thing that I think will help me is giving myself permission to write shorter posts. I generally don’t feel like I’ve written enough unless I get to 500 words, but most of the time I don’t have that much to say about a topic. Thankfully this new Yoast SEO plugin that I’m using tells me my posts only need to be 300 words or more. And the Blaugust guidelines say I have to write ten sentences, which at the recommended average of 15-20 words per sentence comes out to 150-200 words, which is pretty short, but when you have nothing to say, it might as well be 10,000 words. (This post, as of this sentence, is still a bit shy of 200 words.) 211 words.

August, 2015

  • Dark Souls – Capra Demon Defeated. 2015-08-01 3:00 PM.
    • RPG
    • Single-Player

    Blaugust Day 1 Twelve days after defeating the Bell Gargoyles, I finally defeated the next boss in Dark Souls-the Capra Demon. Bosses in games aren’t usually worthy of a blog post all to themselves, but when you spend so much time crafting and practicing a strategy for defeating one, it’s a really big deal. Such is the case with the Capra Demon, the fourth boss I’ve encountered in my Dark Souls saga. It seemed like a fitting tale to start off Blaugust. 1,261 words.
  • Progression Report – July 2015. 2015-08-02 3:00 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Progression Report
    • Status

    Blaugust Day 2 July was a quiet gaming month for me. Work continues to be hectic, and I’ve also gotten it into my head that I might try to take a Microsoft exam so I spent a lot of time reading and studying. It was around the end of July last year that I lost my job-not from anything I did, but from a contract changing hands to a different company. Fortunately nothing like that is going to happen this year. I’ve since resumed working on that project, but everything is different and more chaotic now as the ripple effects from the contract change continue to permeate everything and everybody. 362 words.
  • A Dream About Enemy Base Infiltration. 2015-08-03 3:00 PM.
    • Musings
    • Stories
    • Writing

    Blaugust Day 3 It’s Sunday morning as I write this. I had the strangest dream last night. That’s not unusual because, honestly, a lot of my dreams are strange. I think the scientific explanation of dreaming* involves your subconscious re-processing things you’ve experienced, but that doesn’t explain a lot of my dreams. Quite often I see things in my dreams that I have no memory of ever seeing, hearing, or experiencing before. Sometimes I’ve heard complete songs with melodies and lyrics. Sometimes I’ve seen stories with plots and dialog. Of course the next morning they are completely gone, which makes me wonder if those songs really had melodies and lyrics, or if I just thought they had melodies and lyrics. 600 words.
  • YouTube Gaming Or Something Like It. 2015-08-04 3:00 PM.
    • Pre-Release
    • Reviews
    • Streaming

    I don’t stream a lot but I like YouTube Gaming so far. Twitch is okay, and Hitbox is okay, but I almost always see a lot of stuttering, lag, and painful dropouts, both when I stream and when I watch other streams. With YouTube Gaming I’m just going to go out on a limb here and guess that they’re going to have the best possible video streaming technology working behind the scenes. I had no difficulty uploading at 60fps, 1080p, 9000kbps. I could never get Twitch to work higher than 720p and around 3500kbps. 444 words.
  • Dark Souls – Gaping Dragon Defeated. 2015-08-05 3:00 PM.
    • RPG
    • Single-Player
    • Status

    In an unprecedented spurt of Dark Souls excellence, I defeated the Gaping Dragon in a single evening after just thirteen attempts! (I kept count this time.) The sewers of The Depths. There is a vendor through those bars at the end of the room, because this is obviously where you'd expect to find a merchant. It took some time to find the beast. My Knight wandered around the maze-like sewers of The Depths for days, falling through cleverly-hidden holes in the floor, stabbing rats of all sizes, dodging the cursed basilisks’ breath. Not always successfully. I had never been cursed before, and I hope I’m never cursed again, because halving one’s health is not pleasant. I spent a whole evening tracking down a Purging Stone to get myself back to normal. (Of course, being frugal, I had to run all the way back to the top of the church to buy the cheaper one-and of course because this is Dark Souls, you have to kill everything in your path no matter where you go.) 615 words.
  • The Wild Internet Frontier. 2015-08-06 3:00 PM.
    • Musings
    • Politics

    The hubbub surrounding John Smedley stepping down from Daybreak has gotten me thinking once again about The Internet and its place in society. I’m sort of a Libertarian at heart so the very idea of The Internet has always appealed to me. A place where everyone is free to make their own way, without any pesky government regulations. A place that breaks down political and social borders and treats everyone like an equal human being. 461 words.
  • The Elite: Dangerous Expansion And Value. 2015-08-09 3:00 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings
    • Responses

    Elite: Dangerous has an expansion coming out and you’ll never guess what happened after the announcement: People on Reddit got mad. In a related story, the sun rose and set today. I admit I’m just an average guy who doesn’t grasp all this new-fangled math the kids use, but I have never understood the “it’s not fair that if someone buys it today they’ll get a better price than someone who bought it before” logic when it comes to games. Of course now that I’m writing it out, I can’t think of the right words to explain why that doesn’t make sense to me. But here goes. 560 words.
  • Game Developers Aren’t Slaves. 2015-08-11 3:00 PM.
    • Gaming
    • Opinion
    • Responses

    A while back I saw this pro-GamerGate post and had a flashback to my days in the political blogosphere. I’ll save you the time of reading it: It’s a long, very well-worded piece of propaganda disguised as anti-propaganda. (You know you’re reading propaganda when you come across the word “indoctrination.”) The part that really made my jaw drop was this: Never forget that you [developers] are here to please the gamers, they are not here to please you, validate your beliefs or prop up your ego. 465 words.
  • Dark Souls – Catching Up. 2015-08-20 3:00 PM.
    • RPG
    • Single-Player

    Don’t really having time to write up every boss fight in Dark Souls right now, but here is a quick summary of the bosses and mini-bosses Sir Thomas the Knight has gotten through. Havel The Rock A mini-boss waiting at the bottom of the Watchtower right before the Taurus Demon. He hits really hard and takes a ton of damage, but is otherwise fairly straightforward. He drops Havel’s Ring, which boosts your carrying capacity (and typically increases your movement speed). 528 words.

September, 2015

  • The Great Blaugust Flame-Out. 2015-09-01 3:00 AM.
    • Community
    • Responses
    • Status

    I flamed out of Blaugust, so I guess I can now break my own self-imposed Blaugust rule, which was not to write about Blaugust. There was this one day that I hadn’t scheduled a post, and it was a long, terrible day at work, and when I got home I had to decide whether to try to find enough energy to write a post real quick or play a game instead, and of course that was a no-brainer so I didn’t get a post out that day. I suppose I could have written a make-up post but then there was another day where I had to make the same decision and then another and another and now it’s a different month and oh well. 240 words.

July, 2018

  • Blaugust Reborn Is Happening. 2018-07-10 2:30 PM.
    • Community

    Belghast is rebooting Blaugust, so head on over there for all the details (and here for more details). All the cool kids are doing it. I probably won’t be able to participate formally, but I’m sure I’ll post something during the month and I’ll cheer everyone on from the sidelines. This is a screenshot of a cryptic book from Secret World Legends, which is supposed to sort of vaguely remind one of the topic of blogging when one doesn’t have any better images around. 243 words.
  • Flipping The Tables For Blaugust. 2018-07-29 1:39 PM.
    • Blog
    • Writing

    I’ve belatedly decided to officially participate in the Blaugust extravaganza. I wasn’t going to because frankly I didn’t think I’d be able to write 31 posts in August. (I still don’t think I will.) But late this past week I stumbled upon some information that I completely missed the first time: You don’t actually have to write 31 posts to participate. I figure that even in my crippled state I should be able to manage five or ten posts. 272 words.
  • Primary Care Doctors. 2018-07-30 12:42 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    This afternoon I have an appointment with a new primary care doctor, one I’ve never seen before. I had no choice but to select a new one because I had to buy new insurance this year, and my old doctor wasn’t “in the network.” It took three months to get this appointment. I don’t like doctors even on a good day. Especially “primary care” doctors. As far as I can tell, the main goal of this type of doctor is to shove you out the office door as fast as possible with the most generic of healthcare solutions that they can think of: “Here, take this generic prescription and come back in a couple weeks if your problem’s not better.” That appears to be the main thing they teach you in primary care doctor school. 347 words.

August, 2018

  • Blaugust Introduction – Blaugust 1. 2018-08-01 7:22 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    This is my back yard and the raucous neighbors who frequently visit. Today is the first day of Blaugust. I thought I would start by introducing myself, something I probably should have done a long time ago. Hi! I’m a middle-aged guy who lives alone in a somewhat rural-ish house with a dog and a cat. I’m “in my 40s,” though in truth I’m now a lot closer to 50 than I would care to admit. I was married for a time, but now I’m divorced. I don’t have any kids. I’m an INTP and/or an INFP depending on my mood when I take that test. 659 words.
  • Gaming Goals Aren’t Fun For Me – Blaugust 2. 2018-08-02 2:59 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings

    I’ve noticed over the years that a lot of bloggers post their gaming goals at the start of every month. I’ve always found this both fascinating and puzzling. I myself can’t think of a time when I’ve ever made long-term planning goals for any games I’m playing. My goal-all the time, every month, every day, every time I log into any game-is to experience something fun or interesting or entertaining or challenging or surprising. 342 words.
  • Blog Post Topic Ideas. 2018-08-02 7:00 PM.
    • Blog
    • Discussion

    I know bloggers are always in search of topics to write about, so I thought I would throw out some ideas here at the start of Blaugust. Then I noticed some others doing that. Then I noticed topic brainstorming is actually on the schedule for the first week. Reading comprehension, yay! Anyway a__lmost all of these are based on posts that are sitting in my Drafts folder unfinished right now. What do you use Twitter for? Is it a conversation platform? Is it a notification platform? Is it safe? How do you use retweets and favorites? 726 words.
  • The Cataract Report – Blaugust 3. 2018-08-03 8:30 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    Not from today, but from 2010, the last time I saw an eye doctor before 2018. This morning I finally saw the cataract specialist. It’s been about five months since the optometrist told me I had a cataract. It looks like I never wrote a full post about that. No Blaugust back then. :) The delay was mostly because of having to meet insurance requirements: To make a long story short, I have new insurance this year, and that insurance requires a referral from my primary care doctor, but I had to find a new primary care doctor because my old one was not in the new insurance network, all of which adds up to a lot of waiting for appointments. (There was also a little bit of me delaying making the appointments because I hate doing that.) 774 words.
  • Those WoW Cinematics – Blaugust 4. 2018-08-04 2:16 PM.
    • MMORPG

    From Legion, Helheim Normally each Saturday I post a summary of interesting gaming news and events from my week. But this week, I haven’t seen any gaming stories of interest, and I’ve already posted a number of things about myself for Blaugust. Instead, this morning I thought I would write about these wacky World of Warcraft cinematics all the kids are talking about. Specifically, Warbringer Jaina, Warbringer Sylvanas, and Old Soldier. 335 words.
  • New Writing Process Didn’t Work – Blaugust 5. 2018-08-05 11:44 AM.
    • Blog
    • Musings
    • Writing

    This photo of boats is completely relevant to this post! I think I’ve collected enough observational data now to abandon my new writing process. At first it was new and invigorating, but after a week it’s kind of irritating and not any better or faster. For posterity, here’s what I did: I turned on the webcam and recorded myself talking for about 7 or 8 minutes. I played back the video with VLC and set the playback speed slightly slower, and transcribed what I said into a Scrivener document. Then I copied the transcription into another Scrivener document and edited it into a blog post. I read the final post out loud several times to complete the editing process. Then I copied it into WordPress, added a picture, and published it almost immediately. 507 words.
  • I Wish EQ2 Would Explain More – Blaugust 6. 2018-08-06 2:30 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings

    EverQuest II would probably rank second on my list of MMORPGs that I wish was easier for me to get into and play more (below Lord of the Rings Online). But they sure don’t make much of effort to accommodate new or returning players. The longest I’ve ever played EverQuest II is leveling a Warden up into the 40s five years ago. Whenever I return to that character, it’s almost impossible to figure out how to play the game again, because EQ2 follows the “more-is-more” philosophy of giving out hotbar abilities every character level. If you don’t play regularly, it’s pretty hard to comprehend the sheer magnitude of hotbar skills given to you, when to use them, or whether to use them at all. 1,027 words.
  • Back Yard Bird-Watching – Blaugust 7. 2018-08-07 11:22 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    The classic and ubiquitous American Robin from many years ago at a different house. My dad was an avid backyard bird-watcher. He would setup bird feeders and watch all the wildlife that showed up through binoculars from the living room. In the early days of video cameras, this was back in the 80s, I remember he’d setup one of those monstrous suitcase-sized VHS camcorders on a tripod to record birds at the feeders. 690 words.
  • The Hand Report – Blaugust 8. 2018-08-08 8:24 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    This morning I went to another doctor’s appointment, the fourth one in the last nine days. This time I went to see a hand specialist, as I had been referred from my primary care doctor. I was amazed to be able to get an appointment to see him two days after calling. It’s interesting to see the kind of people you find in waiting rooms. Based on my meager experience the last couple of weeks, doctor’s offices seems to be the social hotspot for people over 60. Today an entourage of four older folks were in the waiting room to help one of their number with an appointment for an injured arm. I listened to them talk amongst themselves about how to fill out the medical history forms. “She has trouble with depression doesn’t she? She doesn’t want them to know about that though. How much does she weigh?” This and many other very private subjects were broadcast throughout the waiting room for anyone to hear. It was quite funny. Waiting rooms: Great places to hang out if you want to steal identities. 805 words.
  • Nineties News Nostalgia on Netflix – Blaugust 9. 2018-08-09 7:48 PM.
    • Blog
    • Media
    • Musings

     I just finished watching the American Crime Story: The People Versus O.J. Simpson series on Netflix. It’s pretty good. I’m not sure it deserved to win any Emmys, but I enjoyed it anyway, especially the second half of the series. I didn’t remember a lot of the twists and turns. I didn’t see much of anything about the whole OJ Trial when it happened. I remember the basic framework of it: The Bronco, the trial, the gloves, the acquittal. Oops, spoiler alert! Anyway I didn’t pay any attention to the details at the time. For example, I never knew that OJ’s friend is the same Kardashian that spawned all the Kardashians we know and love today. 297 words.
  • More Netflix Documentaries – Blaugust 10. 2018-08-10 6:13 PM.
    • Blog
    • Media

    You might have noticed I don’t post a lot about games here, and that’s mostly because I haven’t played much of anything in the last month. So the “here’s what I played last night” style of post is completely off the table for me so far in Blaugust. It makes it kind of hard to think of something to say. :) I could tell you what I watched last night, which was a Netflix documentary called Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. I had never heard of the so-called “pizza bomber” before, and the 4-part series fascinated me, in the same way that one is fascinated watching a train wreck. I don’t often watch documentaries about recent events (though I suppose one could argue that 2003 isn’t exactly “recent” anymore), and I was struck by how strange and unsettling it was to see a lot of HD footage. Documentary footage is supposed to be grainy restored film or old photographs moving around with Ken Burns’ panning and zooming effects. 550 words.
  • My Oldest Computer Files – Blaugust 11. 2018-08-11 2:30 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    My dog likes to be involved with everything. They say everything’s been written before and there’s nothing new to write on a gaming blog. Well, okay, I say that, because I’m lazy and not very motivated. I keep looking at all the mountains of writing prompts floating around Blaugust, including the ones I wrote, and thinking, “Meh, I’m just not interested in writing about that today.” 880 words.
  • Diablo III for the First Time – Blaugust 12. 2018-08-12 4:44 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Single-Player

    The quest for non-WASD games to play using only the right hand on the mouse inevitably leads to either strategy games or isometric action RPGs. I’ve been through a number of strategy games already and I just can’t get into them right now. In the past, I’ve turned to Path of Exile in this kind of situation (because it’s free), but this time I decided to try out the trial version of Diablo III for the very first time. 847 words.
  • Developer Appreciation Overthinking – Blaugust 18. 2018-08-18 2:30 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings

    The Blaugust theme of the week is Developer Appreciation, but I’ll be honest, I have no idea how to write on this topic. It’s one of those situations where I have to decide whether to write what I think everyone expects, or write what I actually think. I’m sure the intention here is to simply state, “I think games are great and I don’t think developers should get death threats on Twitter!” But that sounds a lot like “Sky Is Blue Week” or “Water Is Wet Week” to me. Of course I appreciate the developers of the games I play. I wouldn’t be buying or writing about their games if I didn’t! Of course I don’t think developers should be getting death threats, because I’m a normal human being who understands cause and effect, and the consequences of my actions. 830 words.
  • Sunday Browns and Disenchanted Disappointment – Blaugust 19. 2018-08-19 3:36 PM.
    • Media
    • MMORPG

    Drustvar, the brown zone … for a few steps, until the lighting changes. Today is not just an “I can’t think of anything to write” day, it’s an “I actively don’t want to write because I hate the way I write” day. I was working on a post about comments last night but it’s not finished and I don’t want to post it until it is. 581 words.
  • Drustvar Screenshots – Blaugust 20. 2018-08-20 6:07 PM.
    • MMORPG

    Screenshots! Because it’s that kind of a day. A friendly, inviting architectural feature for the entrance to a building. Here we see the bow of a boat built in a house, and the incredibly rare Swift Stormsaber mount that I usually ride in WoW. 108 words.
  • Drustvar Complete, Mastodon – Blaugust 21. 2018-08-21 1:24 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings

    So we meet again, blank page. Stop yelling at me, now-a-total-of-150-draft-posts-I-can’t-use, you know what you did. Ever wonder why I embed the image in the post and also set it as the "featured image" in WordPress, so it shows up twice on the web site? For the RSS feed. I design my posts almost exclusively for RSS feed readers. 627 words.
  • That Amazon New World Preview – Blaugust 22. 2018-08-22 12:41 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings

    From the [new New World game site][1]. Cool for a game, but loads of historicity to pick apart there. :) We got our first “hands on” look at Amazon’s New World from Tech Advisor UK, and it doesn’t look pretty. (I mean, it looks pretty, sure, but I am referring to the gameplay.) 680 words.
  • Where Exactly Is This Battle? – Blaugust 24. 2018-08-24 6:26 PM.
    • MMORPG

    Stormsong Valley This is going to get me into trouble, but I’m already bored with Battle for Azeroth. I didn’t even play yesterday. It’s basically a continuation of Legion, and … well, I already played Legion. The story that got me interested in the first place is nowhere to be seen. There is no “battle for Azeroth” taking place in the Battle for Azeroth expansion, as far as I can tell, at least through level 115. I knew this was going to happen, and I fell for the hype anyway. 657 words.
  • A Logical Dead End – Blaugust 26. 2018-08-26 3:19 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Musings

    Island Expedition tutorial I just went ahead and cancelled my World of Warcraft subscription today. It was largely a formality. I can’t imagine a world (of Warcraft! Har!) where this expansion would have been so great that I’d have played for more than a month. Incidentally, no other MMO makes it so easy to cancel its subscription, I’ve noticed. You just click the “Cancel” link and that’s it. No questions, no guilt trips, no nothing. 834 words.
  • Battle for Azeroth 119 Update – Blaugust 30. 2018-08-30 1:45 PM.
    • MMORPG

    This will be my last “spontaneous” Blaugust post this year. I started tomorrow’s “performance review” post a week ago, and then there will be my “what I played this month” post after that, which I started yesterday. I started today’s post … well, today. So since it’s my last one, I better make it good! Um. Okay. Here we go. Any second now, something interesting will come to me. 1,008 words.
  • Blaugust Performance Self-Review – Blaugust 31. 2018-08-31 2:00 PM.
    • Blog
    • Musings
    • Writing

    Back in July I filled a directory with 70 photographs for potential use in Blaugust posts. Last chance to use them! This is Chingoteague. I’m not sure if this is sunrise or sunset but let’s just say it’s sunset to fit the theme of the post. 2,723 words.

July, 2019

  • Blaugust Is Next Month. 2019-07-16 12:48 PM.
    • Musings
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I’ve just been reliably informed that next month is August. In fact, it will be August in just over two weeks from the time of this writing. (Which was yesterday, as of the time of this posting.) That means Blaugust is back. Head over there to Tales from the Aggronaut for all the details. Thanks to Belghast for making these awesome images available! I have to be honest. The idea of writing a blog post every day for a month elicits a heavy sigh from me. It’s like signing up for a marathon. Literally, for me, since I doubt I could even walk a mile right now, let alone run 26 of them. It’s like signing up for something that I know is going to be a slog for me, in other words, and it’s hard to find a lot of motivation for that. 1,719 words.
  • Blaugust Game Schedule. 2019-07-18 2:56 PM.
    • Musings
    • Steam
    • Streaming

    Here is the official list of games I will play for Blaugust, randomized with random.org using atmospheric noise or some such nonsense: TimeShift The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Antichamber Majesty Gold HD Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Dead Space 2 World in Conflict Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit NEO Scavenger Vortex: The Gateway KHOLAT Crysis Warhead Game of Thrones Apotheon Penumbra: Requiem The Vanishing of Ethan Carter Alan Wake’s American Nightmare A Story About My Uncle Darksiders II The Bureau: XCOM Declassified Crysis Wars The Age of Decadence Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods Enhanced Edition Crysis 2 Maximum Edition Max Payne 3 Tree of Savior (English Ver.) Titan Souls Enclave Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) Darksiders Warmastered Edition Mount & Blade: Warband Total War: EMPIRE - Definitive Edition Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (beta) S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat Brütal Legend CivCity: Rome Hitman: Absolution Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved Remember Me BioShock 2 Remastered Now you may have noticed there are 42 games there but only 31 days in August. I don’t exactly know how that’s going to work. I’m building in some wiggle room in case I have to throw some games out because of technical problems or just not feeling like playing them on any given day. 382 words.
  • Blaugust 2019 OPML File. 2019-07-24 8:07 PM.
    • Development

    Theoretically you can click the following link to download the latest version of an OPML file of Blaugustians: Blaugust 2019 OPML File I tend to model my software development life around the Perl mantra: “The three principal virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris.” Thus did I find myself hemming and hawing over the prospect of manually adding a whole bunch of blogs to my RSS feed reader for this Blaugust. 485 words.
  • ESO – Two Good Quests in Rivenspire. 2019-07-28 2:38 PM.
    • MMORPG

    I grouse about Elder Scrolls Online a lot, so I thought it would be fair to point out that I actually had an enjoyable play session yesterday for a couple of hours. My “main” from the game’s launch in 2014 is a Nord Templar who is now somewhere around level 48 I think. This is the character I keep trying to play, and keep running into frustrations because the game consistently refuses to let me play the way I want to play this character. I wanted to make this guy a heavy armor, two-handed grunt who smashes everything over the head with a huge heavy swing of the two-handed sword. That is apparently “wrong” for a Templar, and the game punishes me all the time for it. It’s very aggravating. I don’t play him very much anymore. 1,240 words.
  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – TimeShift. 2019-07-29 1:08 PM.
    • Shooters
    • Snap Judgment
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    It doesn’t seem like a game from 2007 would be that “old,” but it sure is. I tried out a shooter called TimeShift from my Steam backlog. I bought it in 2016 for $1.80. Installing TimeShift was painless. In fact, since it’s so old, it took almost no time at all to install. The size of the game was measured in Megabytes-3000 of them, roughly. The mechanics of the game are pretty standard for a shooter: You point at things and shoot them, with various weapons, which generally fall into the standard categories: Pistol, Assault Rifle, Shotgun, and variations thereof. 660 words.
  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – Lord of the Rings: War in the North. 2019-07-30 12:22 PM.
    • Reviews
    • RPG
    • Steam
    • Streaming

    Is Lord of the Rings still Lord of the Rings even when it’s not Lord of the Rings? That is the question I set out to answer when looking at Lord of the Rings: War in the North, from 2011. Actually, it was just the next game on my Steam backlog list. I paid $5 for it in a Steam sale some time back, and yesterday I looked at it for the first time. 823 words.
  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – Antichamber. 2019-07-31 2:15 PM.
    • Snap Judgment
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday I tried a game called Antichamber from my Steam backlog. I played for an hour and a half, an almost unprecedented marathon for me in a first look at a game. It’s an indie game that I (apparently, because of course I have no memory of this) got for $5 in 2013, and it took me six years to actually play it. It's really, really hard to find a representative screenshot for this game. 494 words.

August, 2019

  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – Majesty Gold HD [Blaugust 1]. 2019-08-01 2:20 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    It’s possible that I’ve played Majesty before, according to Steam, but I don’t remember it at all. From the description it sounded like it would be in the same vein as Dwarf Fortress or RimWorld, both games I’ve enjoyed, but it was a little bit different. Yesterday was this game’s (possibly second?) chance to impress me, according to the schedule. The map where you select the "quest" to embark upon. 773 words.
  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 [Blaugust 2]. 2019-08-02 1:31 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I was looking forward to seeing this real-time strategy game from 2008 for the first time, and now that I have, I’m not even sure what to say about it. This might be the exact point in time when the games industry stopped and said, “Wait, I think we might have gone a little too far here.” Or should have said that, at least. First, let’s talk about the game part of the game. It’s a real-time strategy game. There was a time when I enjoyed these kinds of games, but now I find that all the clicking and scrolling and micromanagement of units just gets on my nerves. This game has all of that. 655 words.
  • Steam Backlog Bonanza – Dead Space 2 [Blaugust 3]. 2019-08-03 1:00 PM.
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I bought both Dead Space 1 and 2 in a Steam winter sale in 2011 for $5 each (that was back in the halcyon days when Steam sales were always 85%-off sales, not the trolly 10%-off sales they are today). I played seven hours of Dead Space 1 according to Steam. I didn’t hate it, but I obviously never finished it. Yesterday on the Backlog Bonanza, it was finally time to take a look at the sequel, Dead Space 2. 937 words.
  • Hitman: Absolution – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 4]. 2019-08-04 1:15 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Inside-Baseball Note Of Possible Worth To New Bloggers during Blaugust: I forgot you’re supposed to put the more important and unique search keywords at the beginning of a blog post’s title, and thus have I changed the format for my titles and introduced an inconsistency into my Blaugust posts. (At least, that was the last SEO advice I remember reading. It changes at least once a year.) Yesterday, Hitman: Absolution came up on the Big Board for the last day of the first week of my Blaugust Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it as part of a “Hitman Collection” in a Steam sale for $11 in 2013, and it is the first Hitman game I have ever played. 887 words.
  • Brütal Legend – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 5]. 2019-08-05 1:30 PM.
    • Music
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    For undoubtedly many of the same reasons as the rest of the United States, I wasn’t in a very good mood yesterday, so I called an audible and substituted Brütal Legend instead of the game I *planned* to play. I remember enjoying a demo of Brütal Legend on the PS3 years ago, so when I saw a PC version in a Steam sale for $5 in 2013 I had to get it. 399 words.
  • Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 6]. 2019-08-06 2:29 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I bought 2010’s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for $8 in a Winter sale in 2014, and yesterday I installed and played it for the first time. I believe this was the ninth game in the Backlog Bonanza so far, with a depressingly huge list of games left to get through. Every frame of every race looks exactly like this. I’ve always liked racing games. They’re simpler games from a simpler time. I remember playing a Need For Speed game somewhere around the late 90s or early 2000s. I even bought a steering wheel and pedals for it (now long gone). 848 words.
  • NEO Scavenger – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 7]. 2019-08-07 2:20 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Survival
    • Videos

    Yesterday I played NEO Scavenger for the 10th day of the Steam Backlog Death March I mean Bonanza. It was released in 2014, and I bought it in 2016 for $5. (Coincidentally it’s actually on sale today for less than that.) Waking up from cryosleep. I goofed with this one. I have, in fact, played it before. But for some reason, Steam didn’t think I had. I know I played it because I found a video I recorded of it in 2016. Of course I didn’t remember a single second of it, but the game looked vaguely familiar when I played it, and that explains why. 750 words.
  • Blog Post Formatting. 2019-08-07 7:16 PM.
    • Musings
    • Writing

    Lurking over in the Blaugust Discord today, I noticed a conversation about the details of precise formatting in blog posts. Someone was having some trouble trying to get the WordPress editor to format their post exactly the way they wanted it to be seen. It inspired me to throw out a bit of unsolicited blogging advice related to this topic. First of all, I think we can all agree that the newest WordPress editor is terrible. Okay, well I don’t like it. I routinely have difficulties with it, that basically boil down to “it’s just weird and you just have to learn how it’s weird and work around it.” My biggest problem is that it routinely deletes an entire paragraph whenever I try to delete the last sentence in a paragraph. 811 words.
  • Vortex: The Gateway – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 8]. 2019-08-08 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday on the Steam Backlog Bonanza, I tried out a survival game from 2016 called Vortex: The Gateway which I got for $9 in a sale. (I think it’s probably a universal constant that all of the games in everyone’s backlog are games from a sale.) Surviving on an alien planet that looks like a nice camping trip. I only played for about 40 minutes because of a looming thunderstorm, but I tried the two different game modes. The first one is called the “story mode” where it plops you down on an alien planet and asks you to survive. It’s got all the standard survival mechanics; eating, drinking, chopping, gathering, building, and wandering monsters. The building mechanics are styled after The Forest, where you plop down a blueprint and then feed the materials into the blueprint one at a time to make a finished product. (That is my favorite method of building in survival games so far.) 709 words.
  • Kholat – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 9]. 2019-08-09 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday I played a game called Kholat for the 12th day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza, which I got in 2016 for about $9. For some reason, most of the literature puts it in all caps so it’s KHOLAT! Not just Kholat. KHOLAT!!! One of the main attractions is Sean Bean voicing some of the narration. It’s a really interesting game, in a certain kind of way. It’s basically a walking simulator at its heart, but it’s a very intense walking simulator. The game does a very good job of simulating a winter landscape with howling wind in your ears and blinding snow storms. It’s a game that doesn’t really do much, but what it does is very well-made. 839 words.
  • Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 10]. 2019-08-10 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Back in 2013 I bought Shadow Warrior for $10, and it came with a free “mini-game” called Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior. That’s what came up on the schedule for yesterday’s stream, so I finally tried it out. I had heard about Viscera Cleanup Detail before but I don’t own it. It’s a physics game where you take on the role of a janitor who “cleans up” after the heroic gamer has gone through and slaughtered all the bad guys, exploding them into gibs or whatever. 554 words.
  • Quest For The One Blog, Part 1. 2019-08-11 12:58 AM.
    • Development

    Blaugust has inspired me to write a lot more, and to think about my blog, so I thought I would start writing an open-ended series of posts about a very long-term, often-neglected project of mine: Migrating to a new blogging platform. The generic "this is a post about blogging" image. Over the years, I’ve made a bunch of web sites. I’ve been with a bunch of different web hosts. I currently have four different web sites that I “maintain” (with varying degrees of updates, from none to frequent): A real-name site, a writing site, a music site, and a gaming site. They all have different domain names. Only one of those actually gets any traffic, and that’s the gaming site (ie. this one). My real-name site used to get some traffic when I wrote about politics and stuff, but I haven’t written anything there in years. I’m quite sure my family thinks I’m dead. 1,491 words.
  • Game Of Thrones – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 11]. 2019-08-11 1:29 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Game Of Thrones, the game from 2012, not to be confused with all of the other Game Of Thrones games, was next on my Steam Backlog Bonanza. I bought it in 2013 in a $10 bundle with … I don’t even know what else. I played it for the first time yesterday. This is not a Nazgul, but in fact the character that you play at the beginning. It’s actually surprising that this game has been sitting here for almost six years. 2013 seems like a lifetime ago. Never occurred to me to try playing this game until I forced myself to. 458 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 2. 2019-08-11 3:45 PM.
    • Development

    Previously, I mentioned that I planned to investigate the Pico and Grav blogging platforms first, since they are both PHP-based, database-less platforms that operate on Markdown flat files, which sounds like the perfect place to start for my mission goals. Incidentally this is exactly the kind of post I wouldn't normally put on this blog. First I’d like to mention that it’s really hard to find alternate blogging platforms. Any sort of Googling will get you information on: WordPress, Blogger, possibly SquareSpace, and maybe a mention about Medium. Anything other than those platforms requires a great deal of digging. If you tailor your search to .NET solutions, you’ll invariably end up at DotNetNuke (gag), BlogEngine.NET, or Orchard (Microsoft’s thing). 1,569 words.
  • Apotheon – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 12]. 2019-08-12 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday for the 15th day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza I played a game called Apotheon, which I got in 2016 for $3.74. Hard to believe I’m into a third week of this. Anyway, I had been looking forward to this one because I knew it was a visually unusual game. I don’t normally like side-scrollers. The last one I remember enjoying was Pitfall on an Atari 2600. Actually I can’t think of any other side-scrollers I’ve played on any platform since then. Wait, wasn’t Wolfenstein on the Apple IIe a side-scroller? And I think I remember an Oddworld game sometime in the 90s? Oh and I played a little bit of Terraria, but I didn’t like it. 388 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 3. 2019-08-12 5:31 PM.
    • Development

    Last time, I setup Pico and Grav on a Linux server. Now that I have a working installation of both Pico and Grav, it occurs to me: Now what? I haven’t tested their capabilities extensively, but of the two platforms, I would say that Grav probably has more features and more support. It’s closer to what a WordPress user might expect to see in a blog. It has plugins and themes and an administration panel. It would probably be safer to go with that one. On the other hand, it looks bigger. 847 words.
  • Penumba: Requiem – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 13]. 2019-08-13 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    The Steam Backlog Bonanza marches on with a look at Penumbra: Requiem (and Black Plague). Penumbra came out in 2009 but I couldn’t find any records of when I bought it, so it must have been a long time ago. I had played Black Plague for about a half hour before, but yesterday was the first time I looked at Requiem. An obelisk puzzle in Penumbra: Requiem. Penumbra: Requiem is actually an “expansion” for Black Plague. It was billed as a puzzle game. 480 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 4. 2019-08-13 4:51 PM.
    • Development

    Last time, I brainstormed about content archives without accomplishing much. This time, however, I am diving straight into the deep end and trying to create content in Pico and Grav. Okay, that’s overselling it a little bit. But I have now tinkered a little bit with Pico and Grav to see what it can do straight out of the box. I imagine my writing workflow is going to look something like this (as it has, more-or-less, for the past month): Write a blog post in a plain text editor on some other computer, possibly my iPad with an Apple wireless keyboard, which is my favorite keyboard to write on. Going forward, let’s say the plain text files will end up on DropBox. Then I would copy the plain text file containing the blog post into the CMS directory structure either through PuTTY or some other upload method. 1,896 words.
  • Geometry Wars 3 – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 14]. 2019-08-14 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday’s new game for the Steam Backlog Bonanza was Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions Evolved. I think it’s an extended edition of the “Dimensions” release. It’s a pure arcade action game, of the kind you might find in an old-fashioned upright arcade cabinet. It's very difficult to get any sense of what the game is like from a still image. I don’t know why I bought this game, but it was only $1.35 in the 2016 Winter Sale. I feel like that was the last time I “went crazy” and just bought a lot of stuff because it was cheap. I also bought a huge list of old, 2D RPGs for about $1 each in that sale that I have yet to play. 545 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 5. 2019-08-14 7:35 PM.
    • Development

    Last time I looked at Pico and Grav. I was going to look at Kirby CMS this time, but I encountered two things that stopped me before I even downloaded it. Kirby No-Go First, upon perusing the cookbooks, you have to setup the same kind of one-directory-per-blog-post structure in Kirby that I didn’t like in Grav. Just for the record, contrary to Kirby’s tagline, that is not “adapting to your content,” it is, in fact, “forcing a strict ruleset upon your content.” 1,368 words.
  • Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 15]. 2019-08-15 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    For the halfway point of Blaugust, more-or-less, I played Alan Wake’s American Nightmare from my Steam backlog. I got it, along with Alan Wake, for $4 right before it was removed from Steam. Is it live or is it Memorex? The first game, Alan Wake, did not qualify for my Steam Backlog Bonanza because, according to Steam, I’ve played it for precisely one minute. I do not remember that minute. I’ve read numerous reports that Alan Wake was a great game, a must-buy game, particularly when it was about to be removed, but I haven’t played it, and apparently something about it made me recoil away from it. 822 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 6. 2019-08-15 5:26 PM.
    • Development

    This is a list of Blogging/CMS solutions I’ve looked into so far, which I gleaned from this site. These are just some of the different ways that people (by which I mean programmers) have desperately tried to break free of the WordPress Industrial Complex. Automad. I didn’t care for the documentation, or lack thereof. Baun. Installed, see below. Very promising directory structure of content similar to what I had envisioned. Baun is apparently a newer iteration of Pico. (As if this all wasn’t confusing enough.) 967 words.
  • A Story About My Uncle – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 16]. 2019-08-16 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    The big wheel of life turned and landed on a game from my Steam backlog called A Story About My Uncle*. I got it in a 2016 sale for $2 and tried it for the first time yesterday. (It turns out that 2016 was the final year that I indiscriminately bought games on Steam.) It’s getting really hard to think of a different opening sentence and paragraph for each one of these things. I had high hopes for this game, because I had vague memories of hearing that it was one of those really fantastic story games along the lines of Gone Home. It turned out that my memory must be flawed, because it wasn’t anything like that. 933 words.
  • WoW Classic Fever Heating Up. 2019-08-16 10:16 PM.
    • MMORPG

    Most of the blogging and Twittering MMO world is talking about World of Warcraft Classic, with all the recent hubbub about name reservations. My advanced Googling skills tell me that it launches on August 27th. Not WoW Classic, but probably a quest that will be in WoW Classic. I personally have never been interested in WoW Classic, have never yearned for the “good old days” of World of Warcraft, and have no idea why anyone would want such a thing. The Vanilla game engine was clearly inferior to the modern engine, which leaves nostalgia as the only reason to play. But I never played in a WoW guild, never did any raiding or dungeons, never formed any lifelong Internet friendships or married anyone in-game. WoW came along well *after* my “nostalgia days” of Internet gaming. I’ve been ignoring the whole thing. 979 words.
  • Darksiders II – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 17]. 2019-08-17 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Death knocked at the door yesterday, and I answered with a game called Darksiders II. Get it? Because Death is the protagonist in Darksiders II? Anyway, it was the 20th day in a row of the Steam Backlog Bonanza, and one of the most expensive games in the list so far. I got Darksiders II for $10 in 2013, and it’s taken six years to install and play the game. 614 words.
  • On Deciding Not To Post. 2019-08-17 9:30 PM.
    • Musings

    I’m writing this on the morning of August 9th, so it’s the ninth day of Blaugust. I’ve streamed and posted a first impressions piece about a game from my Steam backlog every day for 12 days in a row now. It’s been grueling work, but I’ve whittled it down to a fairly streamlined process, so it “only” takes about 2 cumulative hours out of every day, or merely half the time of a part-time job. 1,080 words.
  • The Bureau: XCOM Declassified – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 18]. 2019-08-18 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I was minding my own business when aliens descended from the sky, firing lasers from their circular flying saucers. Everything around me exploded. Otherworldly creatures crept out of the smoke and fire, approaching me like simians on all fours. Anyway the next game on the Steam Backlog Bonanza is The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. I bought it in a 2013 Steam sale for $4. Just an average green glowing energy field in a federal building. 596 words.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 19]. 2019-08-19 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I found myself wandering a wasteland of wrecked tanker ships when a radiation storm blocked out the sun. In other words, I played S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat yesterday for the 22nd day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza. It’s one of those Eastern European shooters from 2010. I couldn’t find any record of when or how much I paid for it, which suggests I probably bought it soon after 2010 and it’s been sitting in my Steam backlog unplayed for nearly nine years. 660 words.
  • The Age of Decadence – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 20]. 2019-08-20 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    For the 23rd day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza, I played an indie game called The Age of Decadence, which I got in the 2016 Winter sale for $7.50. I think I mentioned this before, but the Winter sale of 2016 was the last time that I splurged on Steam games just because they were on sale. The outdoor isometric view, which is actually not seen very much. I don’t remember why I bought this game. But it’s interesting to me now because the game’s Steam store page spends a lot of time and effort trying to warn players not to buy and play the game. It’s filled with gems like this: 628 words.
  • Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods (Enhanced Edition) – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 21]. 2019-08-21 2:36 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    I was in a funk yesterday so it would have been a great day to discover a fun new game. Unfortunately, Gothic 3: Forsaken Gods (Enhanced Edition) was up next on the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it as part of a “Gothic Complete Pack” for $7.50. Now I didn’t realize this until afterward, but Forsaken Gods is actually an expansion or addon to the base game of Gothic 3. Steam tells me I’ve played the base game of Gothic 3 for 12 minutes, so technically I can’t say that I haven’t played it. But, you know, I don’t remember it. 441 words.
  • Crysis 2 Maximum Edition – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 22]. 2019-08-22 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing up my sleeve, there are no wires or electronic devices of any kind. That’s because I played Crysis 2 Maximum Edition yesterday for the 25th day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza. And I’ve been watching episodes of Penn & Teller’s Fool Us as well. The mean streets of New York, sometime in the near-future. I bought Crysis 2 for $10 back in 2013. I already had Crysis 1, but I only played it for about 4 hours. I don’t remember much of anything about it except that I think it took place in a jungle and I didn’t care for it very much. I felt like it was just too dern complicated for a shooter. Too many fiddly bits to manage on your “Cryosuit” or whatever, which gives you magical superpowers like jumping and cloaking and shields. 475 words.
  • On ArcheAge Unchained. 2019-08-22 5:34 PM.
    • MMORPG

    I used to play ArcheAge. There was a time when I got a ridiculous amount of blog traffic on my ArcheAge posts, which to this day, I still can’t explain. (This post on PvE content after level 30 was a top performer for some reason.) I remember being very excited about ArcheAge. It was actually a great game. Then I stopped playing. I was never particularly angry about it, I just didn’t agree with their decision to force people to subscribe to maintain a house and property. And once you lose your house and property, there is no compelling reason to play ArcheAge. 1,176 words.
  • Max Payne 3 – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 23]. 2019-08-23 1:53 AM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    It was a dark and stormy night, and noir was in the air when I played Max Payne 3 for the 26th day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it in 2013, just a year after it’s release, for $4. In those days, the sales were sales. Now you’re lucky to get $4 off in a sale. Anyway, I was looking forward to playing this particular game. I don’t precisely remember why I bought it-probably because it was a AAA title for $4, which was reason enough in 2013. I may have heard good things about Max Payne 3 at some point in my life. I don’t know. I just know I expected good things from this game. 1,250 words.
  • Tree of Savior – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 24]. 2019-08-24 1:30 PM.
    • MMORPG
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday for the Steam Backlog Bonanza I tried out an MMORPG called Tree of Savior. It launched in 2016, but I’m not entirely sure how it got onto my list. It’s free-to-play on Steam, so I never actually “bought” it, so it’s technically not in my backlog. I might have placed it in there manually because I wanted to try it, but I don’t remember. I made the game list weeks ago. Who can remember that far back? 821 words.
  • Is Remnant: From The Ashes a Souls-Like?. 2019-08-24 5:45 PM.
    • Musings

    I started hearing some buzz about this new game called Remnant: From The Ashes. Most of what I’m hearing is that it’s “too hard” and that it’s a “Souls-like.” This of course triggers the usual “games have to make everyone feel like a winner” backlash, which is mostly what drew my attention. I’m sure the PR folks behind Remnant will be ecstatic to hear that, because I probably never would have heard of this game otherwise. 677 words.
  • Titan Souls – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 25]. 2019-08-25 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Speaking of Souls-like games, yesterday on the Steam Backlog Bonanza, I played a game that is frequently described as Souls-like: Titan Souls, from 2015. I got it in that infamous Winter 2016 sale, what turned out to be the last hurrah of Steam sales, for a whopping $3.74. I don’t remember why, except that I probably had a vague memory of seeing it described as a game that fans of Dark Souls would like. And it was super cheap. 1,044 words.
  • Enclave – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 26]. 2019-08-26 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday an odd game called Enclave appeared on the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I had never heard of it before. It’s an action-ish RPG which I bought in 2016 for $1.24. This screenshot looks much better than the game does. According to Steam, it was released in 2013. I quickly discovered, through simple observations, that the game did not look particularly advanced for a 2013 game. I’ve since learned that it was actually released in 2002, and re-released on Steam in 2013. That explains the unexpectedly primitive graphics. 618 words.
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 27]. 2019-08-27 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday I played the second Tolkien property game in my Steam Backlog Bonanza: Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor. It came out in 2014, I bought it in 2016 for $7.50, one of the more expensive titles on this list. First the good news: The story of this game starts out fantastic, one of the best I’ve seen. It began with yet another “this is the epic story of the entire history of Middle-earth” prologue and I started to roll my eyes. But before I could even complete my ocular gymnastics, the prologue stopped and we saw the main guy. 627 words.
  • WoW Classic Obligatory Post. 2019-08-27 2:26 PM.
    • MMORPG

    Okay I’m going to try to be brief here because nobody likes a buzzkill. World of Warcraft Classic launched Monday night here in the U.S. It was extremely smooth and free of major technical issues, as far as I’m concerned, which is an amazing accomplishment. Blizzard has gotten really good at launches. The “narrative” will be that it was a catastrophe, because that’s the only narrative that can be spun to draw a crowd, but it wasn’t. Queues were inevitable. 693 words.
  • Quest for The One Blog, Part 7. 2019-08-27 11:19 PM.
    • Development

    I stopped writing about my Quest for The One Blog for a very good reason: I gave up on it. What I want to do is essentially impossible unless I develop the blogging platform from scratch myself (or fork one of the open source projects). It’s within my skillset to do that, but I just don’t have the time or motivation or funds for it. (But hey, if anyone is interested in Kickstarting it, let me know!) 834 words.
  • Never Alone – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 28]. 2019-08-28 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Yesterday for the Steam Backlog Bonanza, I played a game called Never Alone. It was released in 2014, but I couldn’t find any record of when I bought it or for how much. This is the most interesting game in the list so far. I had been looking forward to this one, and dreading it at the same time. I knew it was a game that involved a story with an animal companion (a fox, in this case). I usually can’t watch stories with animal companions, because I get way too emotional about them. I played that game with the mama lynx and her babies [Shelter 2, a lovely game] exactly one time and didn’t dare to play it again. I was afraid I was going to blubber all over my live stream with this one. 753 words.
  • WoW Classic and Random Group Invites. 2019-08-28 10:25 PM.
    • MMORPG

    I took a screenshot last night in World of Warcraft Classic that really captures my nostalgic feelings for the old days. I never ran down this particular road in Vanilla, but many like it. I’m by myself, running down a long, empty road. That’s pretty much how I played World of Warcraft back in the day, and how I usually play MMORPGs today. I play on my own schedule, I never play the same time two days in a row, I start and stop on a whim, I log out suddenly when I get bored or think of something else I want to do in real life, often right in the middle of a field of mobs. In 2019, I’m very rarely in-game more than an hour at a time, and usually closer to a half hour. 2,144 words.
  • Remember Me – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 29]. 2019-08-29 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Two great games in a row! Yesterday I played a cyberpunk action game called Remember Me for the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it in the 2015 Winter sale for $6. I really enjoyed it. I liked it so much I lost track of time, and played for nearly two hours. It’s an “action movie” kind of a game, by which I mean it has a whole lot of cut scenes and voice acting and storytelling in between the gameplay. A good half of the game is watching story cut scenes. The music is big and sweeping, the characters are larger than life. 908 words.
  • Mount & Blade: Warband – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 30]. 2019-08-30 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    The game of the day was Mount & Blade: Warband for the Steam Backlog Bonanza. I got it in 2010 Winter sale, but I can’t find any record of how much I paid for it. I probably got it in a bundle with both Mount & Blade and Warband. Fighting bandits from horseback. Warband is an “old” game. You can always tell an “old” game because they are stretched out horizontally. They were made in the days of square monitors, before 16:9 aspect ratio became the standard. The graphics are definitely primitive by today’s standards. Honestly they looked primitive by 2010’s standards, too. 480 words.
  • BioShock 2 Remastered – Steam Backlog Bonanza [Blaugust 31]. 2019-08-31 1:30 PM.
    • Reviews
    • Steam
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    Since my production pipeline is offset by a day, this should be my 31st and last “official” Blaugust post. However I’m still going to play at least one last game today on the 31st as well, which will get a blog post tomorrow. Yesterday for the 34th day of the Steam Backlog Bonanza, I returned to Rapture with BioShock 2 Remastered. This is a game I’ve owned since 2010, but never played until now. The Remastered edition came out in 2016 I believe, which I got for free since I owned the original. 526 words.

September, 2019

  • Blaugust 2019 Wrapup, Part 1. 2019-09-02 2:45 PM.
    • Musings

    Congratulations everyone on the completion of another Blaugust! Belghast put together another fantastic event, and I do not envy him now having to compile the results. :) This is the first of my posts where I evaluate my Blaugust performance as part of the Lessons Learned week. I don’t remember exactly what I wrote last year but I recall I wrote a lot, so this year I’m going to try to avoid that. 966 words.
  • Blaugust 2019 Wrapup, Part 2 – Streaming. 2019-09-03 1:30 PM.
    • Musings

    Writing a blog post every day is not new for me, although the exact process I used this year was new. But livestreaming every day for a month is definitely new to me. I have livestreamed before, but most of my experiments were back in 2015 before Twitch Culture became, ahem, that thing it is now. I also never made any attempt to impose any discipline on myself. I was curious how I would find the process of streaming every day. Honestly it was my main experimental focus of the month. The blogging thing was just a side effect. Here’s what I learned. 855 words.
  • Blaugust 2019 Wrapup, Part 3 – Statistics. 2019-09-04 1:30 PM.
    • Musings
    • Streaming
    • Videos

    The Blog Here I present the reason you should never pay attention to statistics when blogging. My views actually went down during Blaugust 2018, and went down even more during Blaugust 2019. Views and Visitors I also offer this chart as evidence that the “you have to blog every day to build an audience” advice is completely obsolete. Blogging every day is strictly for fun and/or personal growth. Building an audience is accomplished by networking, and is largely unrelated to the content you produce. As always in life, it’s never what you know, it’s who you know. 641 words.

March, 2020

  • Blapril and Mental Headspace. 2020-03-30 3:20 PM.
    • Musings
    • Writing

    First, just a quick note to say I feel like I’m “recovered” from whatever it was I had. I still have a minor cough now and then, but that’s something I’ve had for years anyway. Secondly, I’ve been so distracted lately that I’m only just now realizing that Blapril is not just coming soon, but already here and started. So go do that if you haven’t signed up yet. It’s a great event. 588 words.

August, 2020

  • August and Promptapalooza Arrives. 2020-08-01 1:50 PM.
    • Gaming
    • Musings

    The Blaugust Promptapalooza is starting, and I’m in it! I’ll be perfectly honest: I’ve been so completely out of it lately that I’m still not completely sure I understand the exact details of what I’m supposed to do. I think I’m going to be writing a post about a super secret topic on August 28th. As of this writing, I have no idea what to say about the super secret topic, so that should be fun. I’ll be spending the next 28 days paralyzed with indecision about whether to write honestly or pretend everything’s fine. 611 words.
  • Despondence Over Divisions In Writing. 2020-08-02 2:38 PM.
    • Musings
    • Writing

    Yesterday’s Promptapalooza topic, spearheaded by Dragonray, asked which popular media we didn’t like. The first thing that sprang to my mind was a very touchy subject. I know it’s hard to imagine now, but in the not-too-distant past, there was a time when Harry Potter was universally loved. I, however, never particularly liked it. The movies were okay, but I didn’t even make it more than a chapter or two into the first book. (Less controversially, and more currently, I’d have to go with any Marvel or superhero-related property.) 338 words.
  • Worldview-Shaping Media. 2020-08-03 3:19 PM.
    • Media
    • Musings

    Or: “I could actually use a bionic eye about now.” I didn’t intend to write about every Promptapalooza topic this month, but I don’t have any games to play at the moment, and I’m trying out a new blogging idea called “writing and publishing posts.” The prompt for August 2nd, which was actually the third prompt, [started with Mailvaltar][2], and asks What are some key sources of media (games/movies/etc) that have shaped your worldview? 487 words.
  • Isaias and Old Books. 2020-08-04 1:15 PM.
    • Musings
    • Writing

    As I’m typing this morning, the remnants of the eye of tropical storm Isaias, which I neither know how to spell nor say, is passing about a hundred miles to the east. Yesterday and last night in particular, it dumped a massive amount of rain on my house, and this morning I woke up early to the sound of some of that rain dripping inside my house. I live in a house built in the 1950s, so it’s old and quirky. It needs new shingles, and there are a couple of spots on the roof that need repairs, but that’s an expensive proposition and I can’t afford it right now. I thought I had plugged all the leaks I was aware of, but apparently there’s a new one. Nothing is damaged beyond repair, but it’s annoying and a constant source of stress in my life. 399 words.
  • Routines Or Nah. 2020-08-05 1:04 PM.
    • Musings

    Yesterday’s Promptapalooza prompt kicked off with Everwake, who wrote: The wheel of Promptapalooza has turned it's terrible gaze to me. The eyes of Belghast's Blaugustosphere empire rest upon my humble blog. Will I seize the provided prompt? Will I provide a response that leaves the masses weeping with joy in the streets? Or will I scribe a dithering dump, to the eternal ridicule of my blog peers? - Everwake Apologies for quoting so much, but it’s fantastic. Go read the post please. I added a second link to it so you don’t even have to scroll up to find it. 449 words.
  • Hanlon’s Razor. 2020-08-06 1:39 PM.
    • Musings

    Technically I’m starting this post on the night of the 5th, while a thunderstorm passes overhead and rain pours down again. This time, there’s a lot of lightning as well, so I’ve turned off most everything in the house. I haven’t had a working uninterruptible power supply in quite some years, and the only drawback I’ve experienced is that I don’t like leaving my most expensive electrical equipment plugged in while lightning strikes within a few miles. 446 words.
  • Catching Up On Prompts. 2020-08-09 7:27 PM.
    • Musings
    • Writing

    I’ve been having a lot of back pain over the last several days, so sitting down to write in the mornings, when I feel the most like writing blog posts, has been a massive chore. I’m trying to push through it to get this post done on Sunday so I don’t fall another day behind. I don’t think of myself as a chronic pain sufferer but over the last several years it’s becoming clear that my freedom of will is increasingly limited by the day-to-day status of my back, and I haven’t quite adjusted to it yet. 767 words.
  • Abbreviated Creative Space. 2020-08-12 2:40 PM.
    • Musings

    Yesterday’s Promptapalooza prompt started with Krikket, and exhorted: Tell us about your physical creative space, and how it influences your content creation. Except it wasn’t yesterday’s prompt, it was the day-before-yesterday’s prompt now, because I completely forgot to post this yesterday. My first reaction to this prompt was pretty similar to Krikket’s: “Oh God I don’t want any part of that.” I have major problems organizing my “physical space.” My creative (and living) space is almost entirely inside my head or on a screen of some kind. Consequently in situations where there’s nobody else in the house to see, as is currently the case, I make little or no effort to organize, clean, or otherwise decorate my physical environment, because it’s invisible to me. 366 words.
  • A Desert Sun Yellow Guitar Lost Along The Way. 2020-08-13 3:25 PM.
    • Music
    • Musings

    Now there’s a title that’s sure to wreck some page layouts. Thanks to forgetting about blogging for a day, I’m a day behind now, so I’ll be combining two prompts into one post. This works out well, because I don’t want to respond to one of them anyway. The first prompt from two days ago started with SDWeasel over at Unidentified Signal Source: What is something you have lost along the way that you would love to have back? Can be serious or frivolous. 646 words.
  • More Prompts and a Remnant Update. 2020-08-18 3:08 PM.
    • Musings
    • RPG

    I got distracted with Remnant: From The Ashes, so here are the Promptapalooza prompts I missed: Tell us about a person/s or thing/s that has greatly influenced you. Most of the people on that list would be family or people I’ve known personally, but the first “famous” name that came to mind is Brian May, guitarist for Queen. I don’t play much like him, but his intellectual approach to musicianship has inspired me greatly. 440 words.
  • Finishing Games, Or Trying To. 2020-08-23 1:25 PM.
    • Musings
    • RPG

    I meant to post this two days ago four days ago but I kept putting it off because I hated what I wrote and kept thinking that maybe if I just add a little more it will magically fix itself. So here we are. Not magically fixed at all. Then I put it off again because I didn’t feel like finding a picture. The Promptapalooza prompt from what is now two days past was: Do you “finish” games/hobbies/projects and move on or do you come back to the same things again and again? I typically do finish projects, then forget about them and move on to the next one. I’m a very project-oriented sort of person, as opposed to a routine-oriented person, if that makes any sense. My biggest difficulty is starting projects. 756 words.
  • Remnant: From The Ashes Completed. 2020-08-25 9:36 PM.
    • Musings
    • RPG

    First, catching up on Promptapalooza prompts: Tell us about some of your hobbies outside of the realm of your specific niche. Ugh. I feel like all my hobbies have fallen by the wayside. But music, writing, stuff like that. Tell us about some of your favourite antagonists and explain why. Recently, Abby from The Last Of Us Part 2, though I would say it’s arguable whether she’s an antagonist or a protagonist. 742 words.
  • The Next Year. 2020-08-28 2:39 PM.
    • Musings

    It’s my Promptapalooza time! Yesterday, Sandrian at Aeternus Gaming talked about content creation. Today, let us consider this topic: What are you looking forward to the most over the course of the next year? Hoo boy. That’s a doozy. I’ve been dreading this day since I first saw this prompt. Before you run screaming away from what is about to happen, let me direct you to tomorrow’s Promptapalooza writing prompt, which according to my notes will be hosted by Kanter at MMO One Night a Week. Go check it out! It’s sure to be less depressing than this one. 2,272 words.
  • Yet More Prompts. 2020-08-30 3:42 PM.
    • Musings

    I thought about writing a little on New World and/or Crowfall but I’m having a lot of difficulty finding good things to say about those games and I don’t particularly want to ruin everyone’s hopes and dreams for the future of MMOs. So instead I’ll catch up on all the Promptapalooza prompts I missed. With the pandemic, we are going through an unprecedented time. In what ways has this shared global event impacted your content creation? Sometimes I write depressing blog posts but mostly I try to avoid the subject. It’s a toss-up whether people will respond better to honest discussions of real-world issues, thoughts, and feelings, or to entertaining diversions from real-world issues, thoughts, and feelings. In my experience, most people tend to prefer the latter. 502 words.

July, 2021

  • Blogging Pep Talk. 2021-07-21 9:09 AM.
    • Writing

    Blaugust 2021 is coming soon! It’s fun! Do it! If you want. I’m not your mom. 779 words.
  • Old Post Prompts. 2021-07-22 1:01 PM.
    • Writing

    Here’s a list of some old posts that I’m going to mine for topic ideas this Blaugust, which may or may not turn into a fruitful strategy. 223 words.

August, 2021

  • The First Day of Blaugust. 2021-08-01 8:57 AM.
    • Blog

    It’s the first day of Blaugust, and it’s a dreary one. 654 words.
  • FFXV - Leviathan. 2021-08-02 8:44 AM.
    • Gaming

    Final Fantasy XV is on my mind this morning. 463 words.
  • On Music Posts. 2021-08-03 8:47 AM.
    • Blog

    I have what I have to assume is an abnormal reaction to music posts. 416 words.
  • Final Fantasy XIII. 2021-08-04 8:31 AM.
    • Gaming

    I’m going to play Final Fantasy XIII next. That’s a 13. Those roman numerals are confusing. 529 words.
  • Final Fantasy XIII Screenshots. 2021-08-05 8:43 AM.
    • Gaming

    I have roughly 15 minutes to think of, write, edit, illustrate, and publish a blog post this morning. 509 words.
  • A Two-Fawn Morning. 2021-08-06 8:01 AM.
    • Blog

    We interrupt this blog post creation for an unscheduled visit from some deer. 265 words.
  • Todo List - Quest for the One Blog, Part 12. 2021-08-07 8:47 AM.
    • Development

    Mainly so that I can remember this, here’s a list of the outstanding problems with the blog that need to be resolved someday. 1,372 words.
  • Status - Quest for the One Blog, Part 13. 2021-08-08 9:44 AM.
    • Development

    A quick summary of the current status of the Quest for The One Blog. 1,164 words.
  • Final Fantasy Status Update. 2021-08-09 9:21 AM.
    • Gaming

    It’s time for a brief Final Fantasy update. 515 words.
  • Like Pulling Teeth. 2021-08-10 8:48 AM.
    • Blog

    I would say that getting me to talk or write about myself is like pulling teeth, but I’ve had five or six teeth pulled in my lifetime (or more, I honestly don’t remember), and a ton of root canals, and a ton of dental work in general, so pulling teeth is no big deal to me. 235 words.
  • Writing For Clarity. 2021-08-11 8:53 AM.
    • Writing

    Magi mentioned a topic in the Blaugust discord: “How do you personally get your opinions or thoughts across in a post?” 567 words.
  • Bless Unleashed. 2021-08-12 8:56 AM.
    • Gaming

    Bless Unleashed: I mean, it’s free. 599 words.
  • What's Up With That?. 2021-08-13 11:00 AM.
    • Blog

    I have the day off today, and I have to talk for a moment about the What Up With That SNL sketches. 191 words.
  • FFXIV's Gandalf Moment. 2021-08-14 9:38 AM.
    • Gaming

    The Stupid Face Boss in Final Fantasy XIII and The Gandalf Moment in Final Fantasy XIV. 1,013 words.
  • Pantheon Of Best Shadowbringers Moments So Far. 2021-08-15 9:33 AM.
    • Gaming

    Yesterday I flippantly remarked, “Not exactly a deep meditation on the human condition,” about the Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers story so far. But there was a conversation that my mind keeps returning to: A conversation between the Crystal Exarch and Lord Vauthry. 968 words.
  • FFXIV - How To Abandon A Main Scenario Quest, Kind Of. 2021-08-16 9:27 AM.
    • Gaming

    I ran into a problem with Final Fantasy XIV and I thought I’d share the solution I came up with, because you certainly won’t find it anywhere on Reddit. 1,162 words.
  • Level Curves And Story Pacing. 2021-08-17 9:39 AM.
    • Gaming

    I wish the arbitrary geometric leveling curve didn’t mess up story pacing. 832 words.
  • MMORPG Character Switcharoos. 2021-08-18 8:20 AM.
    • Gaming

    Sometimes MMORPGs make you play a different character for narrative purposes and I don’t like it very much. 701 words.
  • FFXIV - Oracle of Light. 2021-08-19 11:17 AM.
    • Gaming

    I spent last night in Final Fantasy XIV standing at the Neverending Storybook (not the actual name) refreshing my memory on story events from the very end of A Realm Reborn and the post-Heavensward stuff with The Word Of The Mother and the Warriors of Darkness. 972 words.
  • Friday Screenshots - FFXIV. 2021-08-20 6:45 PM.
    • Gaming

    I was going to pull out one of seemingly hundreds of half-written posts to finish them, but then I realized I hate all of them! And now it’s evening. So here’s some screenshots. It’s from that game I’ve been playing. You know the one I mean. 92 words.
  • Saturday Screenshots - FFXIV. 2021-08-21 4:21 PM.
    • Gaming

    Hey, writing blog posts every day isn’t that fun sometimes. Here’s some screenshots. From that same game again. Because they’re the only screenshots I took yesterday. 151 words.
  • Sunday Screenshots - FFXIV. 2021-08-22 6:10 PM.
    • Gaming

    I didn’t even rename the screenshot files this time. 95 words.
  • Blogging Motivation: What's That?. 2021-08-23 11:48 AM.
    • Writing

    I think we’re supposed to be writing about how we bloggers stay motivated when blogging, but I think a much more relatable topic for the masses is how we definitely, positively don’t stay motivated. 670 words.
  • FFXIV Needs A Limit Break. 2021-08-24 8:44 AM.
    • Gaming

    I’m waking up to this news that Final Fantasy XIV has closed off all the North American Aether servers to new players indefinitely because they can’t handle the strain anymore. 340 words.
  • Best MMO Technology. 2021-08-25 8:40 AM.
    • Gaming

    Yesterday I mentioned how much I worried that Final Fantasy XIV was staggering into their new expansion on duct tape and bailing wire, so I thought today I’d mention the MMORPGs that appear to have a much more solid technology base that I don’t have to worry about. 417 words.
  • Shadowbringers Done, Part 1. 2021-08-26 8:45 AM.
    • Gaming

    I finished the first ending of Shadowbringers. The one before the long series of post-expansion patches. 469 words.
  • YouTube Data API. 2021-08-27 8:33 AM.
    • Development

    YouTube’s API is a pain. 498 words.
  • Nuts To The Post-Shadowbringers Blues. 2021-08-28 10:52 AM.
    • Gaming

    I started into the post-Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quest last night and got a whole two quests in before the game slammed a massive brick wall down in front of me. 1,048 words.
  • The Endgame Grind Decision Point. 2021-08-29 11:53 AM.
    • Gaming

    Should I dive headlong into the vortex of Final Fantasy XIV endgame possibilities or should I detox and play something else? 534 words.
  • FFXIV - New Game Plus. 2021-08-30 8:16 AM.
    • Gaming

    I recently learned about New Game+ in Final Fantasy XIV, some time earlier in Blaugust, in the Blaugust Discord. I didn’t think it would work very well, but it actually does. 942 words.
  • Blaugust 2021 Lessons Learned. 2021-08-31 10:05 AM.
    • Writing

    Well kids, what did we learn this month? 509 words.

July, 2022

  • Blaugust 2022. 2022-07-18 6:20 PM.
    • Blog
    • Writing

    Blaugust is back for another year. I don’t really need to explain it, just go do the thing. 276 words.
  • Blaugust Plan 2022. 2022-07-31 9:58 AM.
    • Writing

    My Blaugust is going to be an experiment. 623 words.

August, 2022

  • Forgiveness - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 1. 2022-08-01 6:00 PM.
    • Writing

    “168. Why is it hard for you to forgive yourself?” 267 words.
  • Wild Animals - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 2. 2022-08-02 6:00 PM.
    • Writing

    “241. What do you think about keeping ‘wild’ animals as pets? If so, when?” 251 words.
  • Dogs and Cats - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 3. 2022-08-03 6:30 PM.
    • Writing

    256. Do cats or dogs make better pets? Why? 258 words.
  • Creative Love - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 4. 2022-08-04 7:00 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream I saw a woman floating in the sea. I asked her, “What would love look like if it had a creative dimension?” 239 words.
  • Art - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 5. 2022-08-05 6:45 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream, I encountered a fellow standing by the road with a tadpole for a head. I asked him, “How do we know what is art and what isn’t?” 307 words.
  • Netflix - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Day 6. 2022-08-06 7:00 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream I wandered into a vaccination facility. I stopped the first person I saw and whispered, “When is okay to give up on a bit?” 352 words.
  • Recent Blog Changes On AWS. 2022-08-07 4:23 PM.
    • Development

    I’m already sick of my Blaugust project, so I’m writing something else. This is about Amazon Web Services and Nginx config files, mainstream topics everyone can enjoy. 823 words.
  • Fate - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 7. 2022-08-08 6:30 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream I saw a cicada scuttling across the parking lot. It looked wise, so I asked it, “Is there such a thing as fate?” 233 words.
  • Code Vein. 2022-08-09 9:04 PM.
    • Gaming

    A stylish but ultimately very frustrating experience. 396 words.
  • FFXV - Story Summary. 2022-08-10 8:37 PM.
    • Gaming

    Herein I will attempt to summarize the main story of Final Fantasy XV, so that I remember how insane it was, years from now. 1,039 words.
  • Unexpected Coyotes. 2022-08-11 6:05 PM.
    • Blog

    Here’s something I didn’t expect to be writing about today. 309 words.
  • Dwarf Fortress Again. 2022-08-12 6:34 PM.
    • Gaming

    Okay, yes, fine, I downloaded Dwarf Fortress again. 639 words.
  • Common Tasks in Movie Studio Platinum and DaVinci Resolve. 2022-08-13 8:00 PM.
    • Blog

    A reference for myself of common tasks I do in video editors. 822 words.
  • Sustaining Creativity Day After Day. 2022-08-14 4:28 PM.
    • Writing

    When I started Blaugust with a creative writing idea, I failed to account for how draining spontaneous creativity is day in and day out. 275 words.
  • Those New MMOs. 2022-08-15 7:07 PM.
    • Gaming
    • MMORPG

    I heard talk about a couple of new MMOs, Tower of Fantasy, and one other one which disappeared so fast I can’t even remember the name of it. 255 words.
  • More Real - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 8. 2022-08-16 9:30 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream I saw a vengeful angel looking down upon me. I asked her, “What is more real, mind or matter?” 198 words.
  • Dwarf Fortress - Limulitred. 2022-08-17 8:02 PM.
    • Gaming

    A brief recounting of the dwarf fortress of Limulitred, “Goldbuff,” in the world of The Eternal Everseeing Dimensions. Updated with illustrations by DALL-E. 453 words.
  • Kruggsmash Dwarf Fortress Videos. 2022-08-18 6:22 PM.
    • Gaming

    It’s creator appreciation week here in Blaugust, and by coincidence, I just happen to have one to mention. 291 words.
  • Shingles Vaccine Completed. 2022-08-19 8:17 PM.
    • Blog

    It’s 8 PM and I’m exhausted, so it’s far too late for me to write a post tonight, except this one. 233 words.
  • Gaming Pet Peeves. 2022-08-20 10:53 PM.
    • Gaming

    Just some random gaming pet peeves I wrote down once. 310 words.
  • Intentions - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 9. 2022-08-21 8:00 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream, I came upon a statue of a one-armed woman holding a child. I asked her, “How come we judge ourselves by the actions we take but not by our intentions?” 356 words.
  • Who's At Fault For Unfinished Games?. 2022-08-22 7:08 PM.
    • Gaming

    I happened to see a few lines in a recent post from Naithin that inspired this soapbox sermon. 380 words.
  • Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. 2022-08-23 7:07 PM.
    • Gaming

    I mentioned Kruggsmash a while back. In one of his videos, he plays a game called Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. 372 words.
  • Attractiveness - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 10. 2022-08-24 7:00 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream I saw a black cat glaring at me from a distance. I cautiously asked it, “When it comes to people, what is it that makes them attractive to you?” 311 words.
  • Sick Beats and Computer Glasses. 2022-08-25 6:30 PM.
    • Blog

    Yuck. It’s one of those posts where I just write down stuff that happened today. 584 words.
  • Blog Changes This Month. 2022-08-26 6:00 PM.
    • Development

    Blaugust inspired me to make some much-needed technical changes to the blog this month, which I will now try to recall for posterity. 417 words.
  • Dwarf Fortress - Otinsthinthäd. 2022-08-27 6:33 PM.
    • Gaming

    The tale of Otinstinthäd. 770 words.
  • Fair - Blaugust Deep Dream Journal Part 11. 2022-08-28 8:20 PM.
    • Writing

    In the dream, I asked the woman, “Would there be some way we can make sure people are compensated fairly?” 197 words.
  • Blaugust Lessons Learned 2022. 2022-08-29 7:46 PM.
    • Writing

    It seems a bit early to write a lessons-learned post before Blaugust is even finished. 482 words.
  • Lost Ark and Chimeraland. 2022-08-30 8:01 PM.
    • Gaming

    Brief comments on a couple of MMOs I played for a little while. 398 words.
  • Blaugust Tallies. 2022-08-31 5:52 PM.
    • Blog

    It’s the last day of Blaugust, so I’ll now present my summary findings to the jury. 343 words.

July, 2023

  • The Coming Blaugust - July 2023. 2023-07-15 10:00 AM.
    • Blog

    Blaugust 2023, a little Pathfinder, setting up an ActivityPub server, what I’ve been watching, and a little more. 1,522 words.
  • The Imminent Blaugust - July 2023. 2023-07-31 8:00 AM.
    • Blog

    Blaugust 2023, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, blog site updates and microblogging, a nutritional reset, and more, in the summer heat. 2,606 words.

August, 2023

  • Monday Bits. 2023-08-01 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Blog development notes, my first writing on the Internet in the Wayback Machine, and a first look at Remnant 2. Six microblogging bits from Monday. #gaming #remnant2 #blog 556 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-08-02 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Blogger archetypes, and a burrito bowl update. Four microblogging bits from Tuesday. #nutrition #blogging #blog 331 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-08-03 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Introducing myself, and a git blunder at work. Four microblogging bits from Wednesday. #activitypub #development 356 words.
  • State of the Site. 2023-08-03 8:15 AM.
    • Development

    How my static blog works, summer 2023 edition, with nifty diagrams. 1,550 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-08-04 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    New meals, and ChatGPT is the first computer thing I can’t explain. Seven microblogging bits from Thursday. #ai #blog #development #nutrition #pathfinderkingmaker #videos 435 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-08-05 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Starting Baldur’s Gate 3. Three microblogging bits from Friday. #baldursgate3 246 words.
  • Saturday Bits: Baldur's Gate 3 Edition. 2023-08-06 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    First full day with Baldur’s Gate 3. Illusion of choice, and a Revivify tip. Four microblogging bits from Saturday. 439 words.
  • Sunday Bits: More Baldur's Gate 3. 2023-08-07 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    My whole weekend was consumed by Baldur’s Gate 3. Six microblogging bits from Sunday. #videos #baldursgate3 #homeowner 560 words.
  • Baldur's Gate 3 Impressions (No Spoilers). 2023-08-07 10:00 AM.
    • Gaming

    Early impressions of the buggy masterpiece Baldur’s Gate 3. 958 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-08-08 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Video descriptions, fickle gamers, and a BG3 update. Three microblogging bits from Monday. #baldursgate3 #videos #gaming 249 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-08-09 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Tales of Baldur’s Gate 3, Java versus Golang, phone news. Seven microblogging bits from Tuesday. #blog #development #baldursgate3 #pathfinderkingmaker 658 words.
  • Wednesday Bit. 2023-08-10 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    A Baldur’s Gate 3 progress page. One microblogging bit from Wednesday. #blog #baldursgate3 137 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-08-11 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Baldur’s Gate 3, sleep loss, and Palia semantics. Four microblogging bits from Thursday. #baldursgate3 #videos 326 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-08-12 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Installing Palia and video script debugging. Two microblogging bits from Friday. #palia #videos 195 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-08-13 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Stray Gods and Baldur’s Gate 3. Four microblogging bits from Saturday. #nutrition #baldursgate3 #straygods 374 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-08-14 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Just Baldur’s Gate 3. One microblogging bit from Sunday. #baldursgate3 155 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-08-15 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Surprising no one, it’s more about Baldur’s Gate 3. Three microblogging bits from Monday. #baldursgate3 #palia 242 words.
  • Nothing But Baldur's Gate 3 - August 2023. 2023-08-15 8:45 AM.
    • Blog

    There’s nothing else in the world for me right now except Baldur’s Gate 3. (No spoilers, though.) 1,346 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-08-16 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Hey why not discuss Baldur’s Gate 3 again. Three microblogging bits from Tuesday. #blog #baldursgate3 274 words.
  • Creator Appreciation 2023. 2023-08-16 8:45 AM.
    • Blog

    Some hastily-written thoughts about Creator Appreciation week for Blaugust. 964 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-08-17 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Shockingly, it’s not Baldur’s Gate 3! Sorry, no, I’m being told it is. It always is. Three microblogging bits from Wednesday. #homeowner #baldursgate3 126 words.
  • The True Story of Dror Ragzlin (Baldur's Gate 3 Spoilers). 2023-08-17 1:00 PM.
    • Gaming

    What really happened in the Shattered Sanctum. 1,782 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-08-18 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Lost a found scrolls in Baldur’s Gate 3. Five microblogging bits from Thursday. #baldursgate3 #development 488 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-08-19 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    BG3, X, AI voices, headaches. A potpourri of topics. Five microblogging bits from Friday. #health #baldursgate3 #development #newsconsumer 373 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-08-20 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    A full day of Baldur’s Gate 3 instead of real life. Five microblogging bits from Saturday. #baldursgate3 404 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-08-21 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    In a surprising twist, it’s Baldur’s Gate 3. Five microblogging bits from Sunday. #baldursgate3 411 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-08-22 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Baldur’s Gate 3 and writing down blog ideas. Five microblogging bits from Monday. #baldursgate3 #blogideas 454 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-08-23 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Neck pain and the Underdark. Three microblogging bits from Tuesday. #health #baldursgate3 #blogideas 254 words.
  • Unspoken Community Standards. 2023-08-23 6:45 PM.
    • Blog

    Some thoughts and observations about the perilous minefield of unspoken community standards, and editing your own words. 1,275 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-08-24 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Neck pain update and Baldur’s Gate 3. Four microblogging bits from Wednesday. #baldursgate3 #health 196 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-08-25 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Forgetting appointments and random strangers. Four microblogging bits from Thursday. 421 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-08-26 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Last day of work before a week vacation. Two microblogging bits from Friday. 178 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-08-27 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Finally entering Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3. Five microblogging bits from Saturday." 291 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-08-28 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Grocery store angst and Baldur’s Gate 3. Five microblogging bits from Sunday. 362 words.
  • Death Shepherds at Trielta Crags (Baldur's Gate 3 Spoilers). 2023-08-28 9:25 PM.
    • Gaming

    An adrenaline-fueled thrill ride as exciting as any Dark Souls boss fight, in a turn-based RPG. (Revised and expanded.) 6,899 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-08-29 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Writing a long post about Baldur’s Gate 3 on a vacation day. Five microblogging bits from Monday. 407 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-08-30 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Pre-ordering Starfield and more Baldur’s Gate 3. Four microblogging bits from Tuesday. 312 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-08-31 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Twitch is too confusing and what to do with my vacation days. Four microblogging bits from Wednesday. 163 words.
  • Vacation - August 2023. 2023-08-31 11:25 AM.
    • Blog

    Blaugust retrospective, Baldur’s Gate 3, videos, vacation, and more. A fairly bland and uninspired effort. 1,368 words.

September, 2023

  • Thursday Bits. 2023-09-01 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Baldur’s Gate 3, and Starfield unlocks. Five microblogging bits from Thursday. 266 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-09-02 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Starfield first impression and lots of Baldur’s Gate 3. Five microblogging bits from Friday. 422 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-09-03 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Giving up on Tactician difficulty. Four microblogging bits from Saturday. 330 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-09-05 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Monday. 279 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-09-06 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Tuesday. 140 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-09-07 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Wednesday. #baldursgate3 140 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-09-08 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Thursday. #baldursgate3 217 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-09-09 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    One microblogging bit from Friday. 62 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-09-10 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Saturday. #baldursgate3 133 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-09-11 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Sunday. #baldursgate3 214 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-09-12 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    One microblogging bit from Monday. #baldursgate3 187 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-09-13 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Tuesday. #baldursgate3 #weather 173 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-09-14 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Wednesday. #baldursgate3 110 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-09-15 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Four microblogging bits from Thursday. #baldursgate3 #movies 212 words.
  • Autumn Approaches - September 2023. 2023-09-15 10:45 AM.
    • Blog

    A hastily-written scrawl about the last couple weeks. 1,057 words.
  • Friday Bits. 2023-09-16 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Friday. #baldursgate3 #videos 85 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-09-17 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    One microblogging bit from Saturday. #wheeloftime 65 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-09-18 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Sunday. #baldursgate3 #wheeloftime 151 words.
  • Monday Bits. 2023-09-19 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Monday. #videos #health 69 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-09-20 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Tuesday. #gaming #videos 108 words.
  • Wednesday Bits. 2023-09-21 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    One microblogging bit from Wednesday. #baldursgate3 #taskmaster 42 words.
  • Thursday Bits. 2023-09-22 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Two microblogging bits from Thursday. #wheeloftime #baldursgate3 142 words.
  • Saturday Bits. 2023-09-24 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Six microblogging bits from Saturday. #weather #cats 370 words.
  • Sunday Bits. 2023-09-25 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Sunday. #baldursgate3 #videos #wheeloftime 173 words.
  • Tuesday Bits. 2023-09-27 4:00 AM.
    • Microblog

    Three microblogging bits from Tuesday. #baldursgate3 192 words.
  • Stupid Title - September 2023. 2023-09-30 6:00 PM.
    • Blog

    Tiring of Baldur’s Gate 3, Wheel of Time, and more. 1,866 words.

July, 2024

  • Elden Ring DLC - July 2024 Part 1. 2024-07-15 9:00 AM.
    • Blog

    Finding a groove in the Elden Ring DLC. Fool Us, July 4 movies, Stainless Steel Rat audiobooks. 1,642 words.
  • July 2024 Part 2. 2024-07-31 4:30 PM.
    • Blog

    Blaugust, Elden Ring DLC, REAPER templates, television, movies, and audiobooks, the value of code coverage, and poison ivy. 2,276 words.

August, 2024

July, 2026

  • Feeling Human Again. 2026-07-07 8:18 AM.
    • Blog

    An experiment in daily morning writing to prep for Blaugust. Reflecting on my chemo recovery cycle, returning to work, Under An Iron Sky, re-watching Band of Brothers. 536 words.
  • Starting to Update the Blog Theme. 2026-07-07 6:45 PM.
    • Blog

    I’m using Gemini and Antigravity to modernize my Hugo blog theme. 175 words.
  • AI in Blaugust. 2026-07-08 6:17 AM.
    • Blog

    Reflecting on the distinctions between AI assistance and AI-generated content before Blaugust. 1,269 words.
  • The Recluse Report - July 2026 Part 1. 2026-07-15 9:10 AM.
    • Blog

    A slew of overdue blog maintenance, owning what you buy is still a concern?, some movies, a new recliner. 1,422 words.