#Anyways- I've been playing NV more again.

[ruby-static]

Another update on my first NV playthrough:

HI YES MAN HIIIIIII

[eptodaytommorowforever]

Events In The History And Of The Life Of Elvis Presley Today On The 1st Of August In 1969.

Elvis Presley The 1969 Press Conference August 1st, 1969 Vegas NV.

Q: Elvis 'Why have you waited so long to perform Live again?' 'Did you return to Live Performing because of the Phenomenal successes of Wales Singer Tom Jones and British Crooner Engelbert Humperdinck?'

Elvis: (Elvis shook his head at the suggestion) 'I think they are great', 'But My decision to return was made in 1965, and it was hard to wait', ... 'I don't think I could have waited any longer' ... 'We had to finish up the movie commitments we had before I could start on this ... 'I missed the Live contact with an Audience'. 'It was getting harder and harder to sing to a camera all day'.

Q: 'Can you remember first coming to Vegas?'

Elvis: 'Sure, I was 19 years old'. (Elvis was actually 21) 'Nobody knew Me'.... 'Whe're you from...Boy?, They would ask'.

Q: 'How do you like being a father?'

Elvis: 'I like it!'

Q: 'Are you and Priscilla planning on adding to your Family?'

Elvis: 'You'll be the first to know'.

Q: 'What things do you do when you are at home at Graceland?'

Elvis: 'I ride horse back, swim and talk with the tourists hanging out at the gates'.

Q:'How does your wife feel about you being a Sex Symbol again?'

Elvis: 'I don't know... you would have to ask her'.

Q: 'Do your Wife and Daughter, Lisa Marie accompany you?'

Elvis: 'Priscilla is here,... but my Daughter is in L.A. with her Nanny'.... 'She could not make it'.

Q: 'How do you Manage to stay so Young?'.

Elvis: 'I don't know'. 'One of these days I'll probably fall apart'. 'I feel, I've just been lucky'.

Q: 'Are you tired of your present type of movie, have you grown tired of the movie plots?'

Elvis: 'Yes, I want to Change the type of Script I've been doing'.

Q: 'What kind of Scripts do you like?'

Elvis: 'Something with Meaning'.... 'I'm going after More Serious Material'. 'I couldn't dig always playing the Guy who'd get into a fight, Beat the Guy up,.., and in the Next Shot Sing to Him'.

Q: 'Do you think it was a mistake to do so many Movie Sound-Track Albums?'

Elvis: 'I think so'..... 'When you do Ten songs in a movie,they can't all be good songs'. 'Anyway',.. 'I got tired of Singing to Turtles'.

Q: 'When you met the Beatles', 'No press was allowed, why was that?'

Elvis: 'I think because we could relax more that way and we could talk Candidly'.

Q: 'Do you like to wear leather-jackets, like the one you wore in your TV-Special?'

Elvis: 'No'.... 'I hate wearing them, because they are too hot when your working'.

Q: 'Where did you get the design for your stage out-fits?'

Elvis: 'I got the idea by a Karate-gi,.. I once had'.

Q: 'What do you think of the Hollywood scene?'

Elvis: 'I just don't go for it....', 'I have nothing against it, but I just don't enjoy it'.

Q: 'How long did you rehearse for these shows?'

Elvis: 'I practised for nearly 3 months', 'Today I went through Three Complete Dress Rehersals'. 'This was the fourth time I did that show today', ... 'I'm really Beat'.

Q: 'How did you choose the songs for the show?'

Elvis: 'I just sang My Favorite Songs'.

Q: 'Do you want to do more Live Shows?'

Elvis: 'I want to ... I would like to play all over the World' ... 'I chose Las Vegas to Play First, Because it is a place People come to from All Over'.

Q: 'Are you trying to change your image with songs like 'In the Ghetto'?

Elvis: 'No, 'Ghetto' was such a great song, I just couldn't pass it up after I heard it'. 'There are a lot of New Records out now that have the same sound I started, ... But they're Better', ... 'I mean, you can't compare a song like 'Yesterday' with 'Hound Dog', ... Can You?'

Q: 'Why have you led such a secluded life all these years?'

Elvis: 'It's not secluded Honey' ... 'I'm just Sneaky'.

Q: 'Is it true you dye your hair?'

Elvis: 'Sure, I have always done it for the movies'.

Q: 'Did you enjoy performing Live again?'

Elvis: 'Yes ! ... 'This has been one of the Most Exciting Nights of my Life'.

Q: 'Did you feel nervous during the show?'

Elvis: 'For the First Three songs or so, I didn't feel relaxed until after Love me Tender before I loosened up' ... 'Then I Thought, What The Heck ... Get With It Man!, or you might be out of a Job Tomorrow'.

Q: 'Do you have a share in the International Hotel?'

Elvis: 'No, I have not'.

Q: 'Why did you choose a Negro backup group?:

Elvis: 'They help get a feeling and get to my soul'.

Q: 'Have you ever seen England's top singer, Cliff Richard?'

Elvis: 'Yes, I met him in Germany a long time ago'.

[Elvis was mistaken, he did not meet Cliff, but Cliff did try to meet Elvis, he visited one of Elvis' residences in Germany but unluckily for Cliff, Elvis was not home. Possibly Elvis was told the story and these years later miss-remembered the story. Memory does play tricks on people.]

Q: 'Mr. Presley',.. 'I've been sent here by 'Lord Sutch Enterprises' "To offer you One Million Pounds Sterling to make Two Apperances at the Wembley Empire Stadium in England',.... 'This Price will include a Documentary that will be Filmed during and after the Shows'. 'It will Only Take 24 Hours'.

Elvis: (Elvis points to Col.Parker) 'You'll have to ask him about that'.

Colonel Parker: 'Just put down the desposit'.

Elvis: 'Elvis, how much do you get paid for these performances?'

Colonel Parker: 'We are pleased with the deal. I am glad He is Here'.

Q: 'Is it true you get paid in International-stocks?'

Colonel Parker: (Parker Speaks up again) 'Certainly not'.... 'The only thing we get for Free are the Crickets in the Rooms'.

Q: 'Do you still own about 10 cars?'

Elvis: 'I have never owned that many'.... 'Only 4 or 5 at most'.

Q: 'Elvis is there any Other Individual You would Rather Be?'

Elvis: 'Are you Kidding?

Q: What’s it like to be the Grandfather of rock and roll?

(laughs). I didn’t know that I was.

Q: Are you doing shows because of the recent success of Tom Jones in cabaret?

No, that’s not the reason. Although I admire Tom Jones very much, and think he’s a great talent. I guess I felt it was time to do live shows because I missed doing them.

Q: I noticed in your repertoire you did some Beatles songs. What do you think of the Beatles and their material?

I admire the Beatles and think they are very good. The lyrics of pop songs are getting better all the time, they have more meaning.

Q: When you met the Beatles, why was there no press allowed?

I guess it was because we could relax and talk friendly to each other.

Q:  Did anyone influence you in your career?

Yes, people like him. (Elvis introduces Fats Domino). This is one of my influences from way back, Fats Domino. Just look at those rings and that diamond watch, aren't they fabulous?

All color candid photo's here taken at Elvis Presley's 1969 vegas press conference.

[lavender-sunhaven]

So how do we feel about that update

because I'm obsessed

Sheds are changing my life. This is exactly what I wanted. I'm so happy.

(this got really long so I'll put my thoughts under a read more! spoilers for, the update I guess!)

I am speedrunning sheds immediately. I have already found some places to set them up and figured out how I can fit my entire crafting operations into 2 sheds. Now I just need to move over all the stuff in the chests in my one barn so that I can replace it with the shed and put the barn elsewhere.

Then I can use shed 3 for storage as I've wanted so badly so I don't need nearly so many hecking chests everywhere. Shed 4.... I actually don't know what I'll use it for yet. I actually have options! Maybe I will dress it up like a cute little room, or keep some of my pet collection in it, or fill it with stuffed animals, or see if I can make a cute little flower shop like Lavender would want.... I'm excited. I have options again. And assuming I can find somewhere else to put my other barn, that opens up a lot for me.

Also the barn upgrades are great. They don't take up any more space than before, they look cool, sure they give me more junk that I have to remove to fit more animals in but that's always the truth so it's neat. Now I have... ladders I guess. But I can store them in my shed!

But also. Nel'Vari barns. I am. SO excited

the moment I saw. that they had added in a frog barn animal. I knew. I would need Nel'Vari barns immediately. I love him I need 10 of these things right now immediately

All the new animals are so cute! I'm excited to get stuff set up so that I can put them places and gain their resources.

To that end, though, I realized that Nel'Vari barns were going to require me to actually do Progression that I hadn't done yet (because so far I hadn't really found anything I wanted that required Nel'Vari mines stuff. I knew I wanted to get there sooner or later, but just... didn't need to yet). I have a fire under my butt again and I'm actually making progress which feels amazing. Trying to seriously manage multiple farms is going to be a problem but what I really need to find a spot to do a massive amount of wheat production which will help with all the barns. It'll be complicated, but I'll figure it out.

uhhhhh oh yeah more RNPCs happened. They're cool! I like Kai, I've met him and I like his stuff so far as I've seen it. I haven't met Vivi yet but I can't WAIT to forcefully befriend her. Wesley is... Wesley. I'm happy for him. I'll befriend him eventually, probably while I'm in the middle of running around Nel'Vari doing mine stuff.

The house customization I haven't been able to play a lot with yet but I will more when I have my sheds figured out and money to waste. Playing Mix and Match should be fun, and I'm glad they're planning to put out more in the future! Even more stuff to look forward to~

Also now sometimes ghosts come and water my crops and I love them. Me and the ghosts are buds.

But also... this list... ohhhh man this list. I love this list. I'm p excited for most things on it but ESPECIALLY Farm Structures and WG and NV fruit trees. I LOVE fruit trees. I have a whole orchard section on my farm. Passive income is my JAM. Black market? Birthday? MORE RNPCs? I'm looking forward to all of these so much. Race-based dialog I know is something a lot of players have been looking for for a long time so I am interested to see how that gets put in! More dialog is generally good and they seem to have the personalities of the characters pretty well in hand so hopefully they'll just be fun fluff things and Lavender will finally be able to relate to Kitty and Catherine and they'll be best Amari buds forever (And then with Vivi too!)

Anyways I just wanted to spew my thoughts everywhere for a bit because I've been having so much fun again. Tell me your thoughts! Anything you don't like? What do you want to see in the future?

Bonus: Claude continues to have a hard time fighting the vampire allegations.

[koyoba]

Looking Back At 2022

At the end of the year as we move into 2023, I just wanted to reflect a bit on the past 12 months in my life, where I've been and where I'd like to go.

So, what did I do this year? What did I do this year? A lot of nothing, it feels like.

That's not true, haha, I did quite a bit, but I had a couple pretty big setbacks that really threw me off. I'd wanted to do a month by month retrospective, but frankly a lot of things were a blur, so I'll just mention the big ones.

Winter to Mid-Spring

I worked mostly! I don't know what on. It all kind of runs together after a bit. There were some light novels and some manga, more light novels. Same old, same old.

Late Spring

Oohhhh, this was a bad one. I suffered some pretty severe anxiety for a number of reasons, a handful of mild panic attacks and a lot of lost sleep. I didn't work much. Not the best of times :(

Summer

Finally things started looking up again! I had made plans to attend Anime Expo for the first time. I never had much interest in going, since we have a lot of other cons here in the DC area and LA is pretty far, but I was excited to attend for once because I was able to snag an industry badge! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to secure lodging because my plans were a bit last minute, so I ended up dropping that.

Looking at how AX ended up though... kind of glad I did not go xD

It was okay though! I still went to LA, but to visit with good friends instead. I enjoyed July 4 on the beach and got to meet some other cool folks. After that, I went to Vegas for the first time to visit with another good pal. Had some good food, slept on a very comfy couch, and got to visit Omegamart! A very solid vacation.

...Mostly.

Summer to Fall

Oh boy. Oh boy. So, when I was in NV, I started getting some strange tooth pain one morning. I figured ok, I haven't been to the dentist in 5 years, this is probably a cavity or something.

It got worse. It got way worse. Even with two root canals it kept getting worse.

I'm going to go into it later because frankly I would like to make a proper post about it, but tl;dr it turns out I have a rare nerve disorder! One which I'm currently medicated for 3x daily. It took me a long, long while to claw my way out of that hole, but at least it's a climb I've been able to make.

Late Fall to Winter

And that brings us to now! As of this writing, I've been fully pain-free for almost 2 months. I don't know that it'll stay that way forever, but I'm enjoying my time while I can. I'm back to working normally and living as best I can, and I can only hope things keep getting better.

Through the Year

I've played lots of D&D this year! 3-4 diff campaigns, I can't get enough of it. I'll have to introduce everyone to my PCs later. I've picked up a new work project with some folks I've always wanted to work with, on a pretty fun series. There's been changes in the household, and wonderful news in the family. All I can say is that I'm grateful for what I have right now.

Year to Come

Obviously, I don't know what the future holds, but I can't wait to see. I plan to keep up more of the same, and work on improving my art and other crafts. And of course I'd like to keep posting here more! Gotta have some place that isn't birdsite, right? xD

Anyway, just having a ramble here while I'm waiting for dinner. Hope all of you have a wonderful new year <3

[kunosoura]

Who did you side with in Fallout: New Vegas? I went Independent, even if it is weird when you think about it. My good-natured Courier, a man who solved every problem in the Mojave and was told by numerous factions that he’d always have a home with them, turned the Securitron army into a police force (one of many things about the Independent route that is out of the player’s hands), yet the Mojave fell into anarchy anyway. It just feels like bargain bin Mr. House narratively and mechanically. But I’ll still take it over what Mr. House, the NCR and the Legion are offering. And the Independent variant of the Courier Duster is my favorite, even if it can be a pain to get.

I've done them all at least once, but usually I'll go for independent (I think it's the most interesting to replay even if parts of how it is written are disappointing, like how you turn the securitrons into cops no matter what and they aren’t even effective ones), or House (that route is really fun if you wanna play an amoral mercenary type, because the Legion route is just evil and the NCR route in fiction just rewards you with uhh a medal). My first playthroughs as a teenager were all one of those two because I found siding nu-america or the misogyny LARPers too cringe. Legion is hard because the game doesn't really represent the ways that the Courier might be enticed to that sort of fascist leadership.. like yeah there are people saying "the legion appeals to some because they're effective at establishing order in their territories" but you are given basically no opportunity to establish the courier having personal reasons to find it appealing so the only workable explanation in the roleplaying is "you are a fascist and you like the fascism".

I do like how intricate some of the interactions are in an NCR playthrough (making peace with the Brotherhood, the kings becoming allies of the NCR) but again, I just find them a bit too cringe to want to play them often. oh yay.. you annexed an independent territory!!

I've been giving some of their other recent RPGs a try and while Pillars is better than I first gave it credit for, Outer Worlds (their most direct attempt at following up NV) is still just sort of.. eh. Like it has a lot of the same intricate structure as NV (even if it's much more understated, like I don't think the vast majority of the playerbase realized just how much the ending can vary based off of 'invisible' choices like killing the former chairman), but it just doesn't have that same spark. Maybe the sequel will change my mind! but until such a time, I think my stance is that "Either NV was lightning in a bottle or Obsidian just doesn't have that in them anymore"

[thisnerdsadventures]

a summer to remember

hello friends, i definitely just abandoned this whole blog, now didn't i

well i am happy to report that i am still alive, and am thriving!

Here's a rundown of everything that has been going on:

[inserting a readmore because this is long af]

May

So in May, I was definitely just all over the place because I was 1) trying to finish a paper published in a conference!! it literally drove me insane. anyways, then i had to go and finish a 78 page thesis, which involved a really convoluted timeline because i had to finish it ~ a week before the actual deadline so my PI could read it over, but then i had to finish it a few days before THAT so my PhD supervisors could read it over, which meant that i had like one (1) week to write like. all of it.

Luckily I had most of the first half already written, during whatever shitshow April was (April was a lot of coding for the paper, and then not having time to write my thesis). But THEN i had to organize all the data from my own personal experiments, make figures, and draft the entire results section. AND i had like two final reports to do for my class, so my last weeks of academia looked like....

Of course, the day before my thesis was due, I pulled an all nighter, because, of course. What other way would I ever end my academic career. Submitted it though, and I graduated! [LINK TO MY THESIS]

Also! I got vaccinated and felt like death for a whole day, but then my friend came over and we ate fried chicken and watched this show called Miraculous, which is a kids show from France, but for some reason is actually hilarious and really entertaining. Then I felt better, so I proceeded to work on my thesis.

Also, I guess I should talk a little bit about the class I took this semester, which was an industrial organization economics class. We looked at things like how different markets are organized, why they are that way, what market concentration means, how mergers affect competition, and what kind of effect that may impose on consumers. For the final case study (which, I will say, I wrote like 2000 words in a single day, so . applause for me), I looked at the Nvidia-ARM merger and how that may or may not affect competition in the GPU market, the CPU market, and the mobile chip market. I think my analysis was a little bit more surface level, which was fine for me, since I'm by no means an economics expert or even remotely should have any expectations at all, but I read a lot and learned a lot and that's the goal!

So yes, my brief excursion into the field of economics was overall positive, I feel like I learned a lot and now I can read financial articles about the tech industry and not be completely lost, which, again, was the goal.

But yes, May was a lot of work, and once it wrapped up, I got to spend a lot of time with friends post-vaccination! After the 1 or 2 week mark after my second dose, I started going back to the gym, especially to play basketball with folks, which I had missed a lot. I spent a lot of time at my old dorm just hanging out, and got to have a cute salmon dinner over at my other friend's place. And we made cheesecake too.

June (MA->NY->MA->CA)

I finally went to visit my best friend in New York. I hadn't seen her in > 400 days, so it was really a very anticipated event, except we saw each other across the crosswalk, but then the light took like five minutes to turn green, so it was really anticlimactic. Anyways, we ended up bumming around New York and Long Island for a week, and it was nice to spend some time with her after such a long gap.

We spent a day at a vineyard and I fell asleep so

After getting back to Boston, my mom came back from Taiwan to help me move out of my apartment. It was a lot of finding people to sell things to, sweating because it was very hot that week, and praying everything would work out (it did). I also got to have a few final meals with various friends and my mom and I got to take one last lark down the Infinite, which I was really grateful for because it was the first time visitors got to go inside campus in over a year.

Also got into my school's MBA program! Yes i applied to a deferred program (which is like you get into a program, but you don't have to go for 2-5 years, as a way of getting in right after undergrad/grad school, but then accumulating some work experience first). It was hilarious, I was literally shopping in my campus store for a new sweatshirt and I got a phone call from the admissions office saying I got in. My mom had been pushing me to apply to grad programs, and I didn't tell her about it because I didn't know if I would actually follow through. But I got to surprise her with the news, and she was so happy she did the whole "calling all the relatives" thing again.

After flying home, I told myself I'd read more and exercise more, which I have been doing. I got a membership at Planet Fitness, which has been really good for me (going 3x a week), and I've made my way through at least 5 books this summer so far. My holds list at my local library is literally insane. (For recs, I recently read Normal People, which I absolutely devoured, and In the Dream House, which hit really hard for me.)

This summer was also really about reconnecting with high school friends. All three of us were unemployed, with plans to come in the fall, so we were all free to hang out all the time. We started out at the local library planning out a road trip, and we worked out a few times together, and a few coffee dates too. We took a fun day trip down to LA one day, and we visited Malibu, went to the Getty, hit up some local food places in the city. Driving down the PCH with Taylor Swift blaring and the windows down on a hot June day, just hits so different. There is nothing like it.

My friend's birthday was in June, so we put together a little video for her and bought some jewelry, and had a Zoom call to celebrate. Then I got BBQ with some friends and sat in the parking lot eating ice cream until 11 at night just trading stories from our pasts. It felt like the perfect summer life, just staying out until whenever, grabbing food wherever we wanted, with friends I had had for literally a whole decade.

It was already a really good summer, but then July. July was crazy.

July (CA -> MI -> CA -> NV -> CA -> WA -> OR -> CA)

So one Sunday morning, I woke up to a text

Actually, I'm going to do a separate post on the whole Michigan trip because that sh** was on another level of spontaneous, impulsive, crazy life stuff. But anyways, so July started off with a trip to Michigan to visit my friends, and then I came back for the 4th, had 36 hours of rest before my high school friends and I went on a road trip.

This road trip was a little ambitious. We hit spots all up California, from hiking in Sequoia Nat'l Park to Kings Canyon, driving up to Sacramento and visiting art museums, and then going up to Tahoe but staying in Nevada, going kayaking and hiking and sitting on the beach for hours. It was reallllllly hot, but luckily I don't think it ever broke 90 degrees. The views were beautiful, especially at Kings Canyon. The drive in, you're surrounded by huge rock walls, with a thin river rushing by next to you. The hike itself literally feels like you're in nature, like the trail is somewhat defined but not paved, there are no sounds of traffic, the path isn't heavily trafficked so we were the only ones there for the most part. We even saw a deer and washed our faces in the river. Throughout the whole thing, we climbed into so many waterfalls, trying not to slip on rocks.

I hadn't been to Sacramento in over a decade, but it was a cute day trip. There isn't a ton to do there, but it was a nice reprieve from the constant driving and nature. We visited the Leland Stanford Mansion, the Crocker Art Museum, and Old Town Sacramento. A good chance to get a nice coffee, a sit-down meal, and some air conditioning. At Tahoe, we went kayaking on Pope Beach, with the clearest water I have ever seen, followed up by a hike up to a beautiful view of the Lake.

On our way back, we stopped at a lot of interesting places, like small towns like Lee Vining, where we found an Upside Down House; Manzanar, the site of an old Japanese internment camp during the WWII era (which also hit hard); and Randsburg, a literal living ghost town. Overall, getting to travel with my friends finally was so fun, they were so much fun to be around for five days, and getting to explore so much of California was so fun - even though I'd been here for so long, I never knew these places existed.

So I came back and had around 48 hours to recover before my mom and I took a trip up to the Pacific Northwest!

I've always wanted to visit Seattle, and figured I'd hit Portland on the way too. We originally wanted to go to Hawaii but it got so expensive by the middle of the summer, so we decided to stay a little closer to home (probs the better decision bc I was already so tired by this point).

Seattle! Got to visit Pike Place Market many times, grab some coffee at the original Starbucks, see Mt. Rainier, and grab food with three friends! Also went to Bainbridge Island for a day which was SO cute - got to do an olive oil/balsamic vinegar tasting, which sounds so extra, but is actually really unexpectedly fun. At Starbs, I did a cold brew flight, which resulted in a rough night of tossing and turning for me, but I think it was worth it. Other things included the Pinball Museum, Space Needle, and Chihuly Glass Museum!

So I lowkey really wanted to visit Portland because I wanted to achieve a long-lasting dream of seeing an NWSL game in person. So I went to the Thorns Pride game!!

The Thorns fanbase is actually insane, I cannot express to you, like there's this whole fan section that actually did synchronized cheers and routines and was actually ROARING when they scored the entire game. I swear the audience was actually watching them at points instead of the match. Overall, the stadium was going crazy, like I thought I was at a tied Celtics-Bucks game with how loud it was in there. Also I swear, Ali Krieger made eye contact with me and waved.

In addition to that, Portland also has a huge rose garden, a nice Japanese tea garden, a lot of good donut stores and a huge bookstore, so all very up my alley. We also took a day trip to see Mt. Hood and more waterfalls!!

That's a summary of the SEA - PDX trip. Once I got home, my high school friends and I did not waste any time on reuniting to hang out - we went and played ball, grabbed lunch, and then coffee, and then did the same exact thing like two days later and watched a bunch of TikToks, and then spent a whole day at the beach to send my good friend off to medical school in Arizona. They somehow convinced me to go in the water and I got body checked by a wave.

Saw this sculpture on the beach and teared up a little

So proud of my friends for making it to med school, I am so excited to see them at their white coat ceremonies and beyond, I swear I will cry at every step of the way I'm so happy for them. Now that July is pretty much over, most of my fun summer plans are too, and I finally get a chance to catch my breath from that busy busy month. Spending a lot of time watching the Olympics and trying to muster up the motivation to start a fulltime job in < 1 month!!

Overall, I feel like I've been having a really solid summer given the year that was the covid year. I had a Lot of fun, literally probably two summers worth of fun consolidated into one. I think in the beginning of the year, I really wanted this summer to be good, and I didn't have a lot of set plans for the summer, even by the end of May. But somehow, things came together, like Really together, and I had the best summer of my life in this summer 2021. On top of that, I'm reading more than I have since probably middle school, I feel the most in shape that I ever have, I can DRIVE NOW. Only thing that would've made it better was if I got to go back to Taiwan to visit the fam, but unfortunately I can't go back because of strict travel restrictions there and they had a COVID outbreak too :/ I still got around 3.5 weeks of summer to go, so we'll see how the rest goes :)