2019

New Gaming Laptop

Last week a friend promoted a tweet that linked to a reasonably priced high powered gaming laptop – and I’ve been wanting one for a number of years now, so I jumped at the chance and bought it. It was priced in USD ($1299) but in CAD it was still respectable, even with the $95 I had to pay in duties to get it across the boarder. Specifics include:

Intel 9th gen i7 + RTX Graphics = real-time ray tracingKey Features

  • 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-9750H Six-Core
  • 16GB DDR4 RAM | 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD
  • 15.6″ 1920 x 1080 144 Hz IPS Display
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU (6GB)

The SSD was a key factor in my decision. Comparable computers had a 2070 or 2080 but only 512gb SSD – downgrading to the 2060 and adding a 1tb SSD put the price point $400 more expensive than the one I purchased, not including any taxes or duties.

It arrived yesterday – the box was pretty mangled and I got worried but I think the customs folks must have just gone a bit over the top with it. Inside everything was as it should and the gaming laptop runs like a dream. It gets a bit warm and loud when you really push it, but I’m not interested in gaming for 10+ hours a day with high intensity games, so it more than covers what I want it for. It’s quiet as a mouse for regular use, and sure the battery isn’t exactly the longest lasting thing out there but 99% of the time I’m using it next to a socket some place (even my balcony has an outlet). Overall, I’m incredibly impressed and I have zero negatives to say – the fact that the power cords go out the BACK of the machine is another HUGE bonus. Every single laptop I’ve ever owned has had them come out the side, which is annoying when I place my laptop on my desk or on a table.

I started installing games right away, Sims 4, the blizzard launcher, my steam launcher, and games from each. The 144 monitor is also a thing of beauty, my PC monitors are older, and I can definitely notice the difference.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Darkmoon Faire Fun

The Darkmoon Faire is in town for the week, so of course I rushed right over to pick up my faction buff and then do battle with two of their pet trainers. I didn’t get anything particularly note worthy from their satchels (they can have pets) but I had fun and at least it was completed. I’m waiting for re-set today so I can go back to the celestial tournament, I have two more pets (6 weeks) of completing this before I own all of the pets from there, too.

My lack of game time has meant that I spend a lot of what time I DO have trying to frantically get a few dailies done or a pet quest here and there. I’m waiting for squirt day, which happens to fall on the 7th of this month (tomorrow) to level up a few more pets. I’ve stocked up on bandages and treats and my safari hat is dusted off and ready to go. I rank 95th on the realm, which broke my goal of 100 – now I want to try to reach 50th (or higher). We’ll see how long that takes.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Getting Around

There are no coordinates or maps in Minecraft bedrock edition, so figuring out where you are and where you want to go requires some actual crafting. When my husband and I started out we decided to leave the little beginner island and head west until we found an area we wanted to settle in. Above is the very slow map I’ve started to develop of the area. My castle in the broken square at the top in the center, my husband’s log cabin is the structure along the river a bit south of that. I’m hoping to continue making the map (I need more frames) until I’ve mapped out all of the surrounding area. Maybe I’ll spot something interesting.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Addicted to Organization

As soon as I had children, there suddenly became this whole section of my life where I had very little control. Simple things, like sleep, became something that was dependent on my babies instead. The lack of control over my own life was daunting – so I started organizing the few things I had control over. I would organize by putting things into lists, charts, graphs, and regain control over the aspects of my life that were still mine to control. Doing this helped me control my anxiety which was probably at its peak during those beginning months right after a new baby.

I use the same tactics for blogging. I don’t pre-determine what I’m going to write about but I do jot down ideas, rough schedules, save up screenshots for future posts, and all of that good stuff. It helps me feel in control, gives me some semblance of organization in a world where I have very little of it. Charts and graphs and lists actually help calm me down, which is why I’m pretty devoted to my bulletjournal, or importing excel sheets like the one above of my world of warcraft battle pets.

For a long time I felt ashamed of these lists. I felt like a ‘normal’ person wouldn’t need to write down the tiny parts of their day into a list to get them completed. Over the years I’ve decided to simply be who I am, and if that means I function better with these little bits of organization, so be it.

My google sheets folder is filled with things like the list above. Which characters I have on which servers in which games doing which crafts. Market details for games like Wurm Unlimited. Little bits and bobs that make almost no sense to anyone else, but for me, are tiny little life preservers urging me along.

If you use any of these sort of tactics to get through your day, you should not be made to feel ashamed of them. We’re all just doing what we can and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Games that Surprise You

When was the last time a game took you by surprise? A game that wasn’t even on your radar and you had barely acknowledged as being out there – suddenly you’re playing it (or reading about it) and you stop and think ‘wow, this is really something special’. I find that we tend to research these purchases far more than we research anything else we spend money on, and that tends to leave us reluctant to splurge on something we’re not 100% sure about.

I don’t look into many of my games before buying them. I sign up for humblebundle monthly just so that I get a surprise selection of games I’ve never heard of each month, and in those bundles there’s usually one or two REALLY neat ones that catch my attention.

Yoku’s Island Express is one such game. It came from the latest humblebundle and I had never heard of it before. It released May 2018, so it has been out a while.

The reason I love it is because I’m a sucker for pinball games. That’s right folks, I LOVE pinball. Rollers of the Realm? I was all over that one. Yoku’s Island Express uses pinball mechanics and it’s just an absolutely beautiful game. One I typically wouldn’t have even given the time of day, because lets face it it’s niche and none of my friends have played it.

So what are your surprise games? Ones that you had never heard of that just caught you off guard. Let me know in comments, and as always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.