Vampires in a New World Lagoon
My life has been pretty crazy lately, but I’ve managed to throw together a bunch of stuff to ramble about today. I’ve got plenty of ideas for the past week and actually wrote up a bunch of things but had difficulty publishing…I’m gonna go back and get those out soon, but for now, I am gonna get things rolling today.
The Rundown
- Dune Chapter 38
- Desperate Houston Gets a Win
- Character Creation in New World
- LoL at AFKs
- Midnight Mass episode 5
- Something is Killing the Children issue 2
- Running to San Elijo Lagoon
The Goods
The Paranoid Baron
With chapter 38, we head to Gedi Prime and the Baron Harkonnen, and just as we would expect, he’s having people executed, he’s foiling attempts on his own life, and he’s clamping down on his nephew’s ambitions. The Baron is still working his plans within plans within plans, but now he’s plotting to stay alive even while he works to set up Feyd-Rautha as his heir. I’m thinking Feyd better watch out because the Baron is a much better game player than he is, and he’s been at this a lot longer too.
A Needed Win
With their backs against the wall, Houston was able to pull out a win in the last game at Truist Park in 2021. While Atlanta got a Grand Slam in the first to put them in a dominant position in game 5, they could not hold on. 2 in the 2nd, 2 in the 3rd, 3 in the 5th, and the Astros were in the lead. They scored a total of 9 to beat the Braves 9-5 in game 5, and they needed it to stay alive. Houston still faces another win or go home game on Tuesday, but at least the cheaters get another day to play in the 2021 season.
Picking Hair Style and a Server
So yesterday, I decided to get started in New World (I really can’t think that without putting the ‘Order’ at the end of it, why did Amazon come up with THAT name?), and things are pretty straightforward, but I hate the interface already.
There are somewhere along the lines of 1,000,000 different servers to choose from in the U.S. East region, and somehow they are broken into different clusters but…how do I find the particular server I want to join? I tried the logical step of clicking on the table title to reorder the names, but somehow Amazon was unable to code a simple alphabetical order correctly. Servers with names like Themiscyra are followed by Maca, and Pluto. I click on it again and see Cibola followed by Lesnik, Rosetau, and Aztlan. How are they calling that any kind of order – or is it the order in which the servers were created? That would really help…NOT! I have no idea, but I was able to find Pyrallis, so I jumped on board finally.
Aeternum of the server Pyrallis prepare to meet…Capybarra!
Character creation was easy, and as expected, the correct spelling was taken. Fortunately, I am clever and added an R to the name I wanted, and Capybarra was born and was promptly washed ashore in the middle of a bunch of shipwrecks.
The standard tutorial went quickly as Amazon figured more people knew what WASD is all about or at least didn’t need a lot of hand-holding to figure it out. Right-click block, Left-Click attack, Left-Shift dodge…they’re all fairly commonplace among current games or at least understandable for anyone who can place an order online to buy the game.
I suppose the most amount of time I spent during my first session was in picking my hair color and style. But now, I am ready to get started.
AFKs are just Missing
So toxicity is lower, there are fewer dominating solo players, and…I have yet to see an AFK in my 15 games of Flex.
This is really turning out to be my preferred mode of gameplay for League. I have been fighting with myself to give up my enjoyment of the game for a few months at least, and now I feel much better at playing. No…Flex is not perfect, just like League is not perfect but, it is a much more enjoyable way of playing League. I hope it continues.
Gotta Love that Ending
Midnight Mass has had some good moments and some horrible makeup, but for the most part, it has been entertaining. I suffer the terrible makeup and blatant assault on Christianity for some reason, and I can only say it must be for the decent story.
I’m actually interested in seeing where this thing goes. It’s not a Salem’s Lot or an Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire, but I do like bloodsuckers during this time of year, and in this episode, I think we get some payoff.
Father Paul explains the whole situation to Riley in episode 5 (now that he’s one of the team), and in turn, he recounts everything to Erin…all before a dramatic ending that seemed appropriate for Riley’s character.
Monsters and Children
We still don’t see much of the monsters…we still don’t know the name of our main character…and we still are trying to figure out the details of what’s going on. Still, I am really enjoying Something is Killing the Children by James Tyrion IV and Werther Dell’edera. The second issue continues the world-building and the development of the mystery, and I think this was an excellent choice to get into around Halloween. Supernatural, monsters, murder, and hand puppets…gotta love it!
Keep on Running
From the Del Mar Fairgrounds, it is only a short trek to run over to San Elijo Lagoon. This 979-acre nature reserve provides a shallow-water estuary where the Escondido and La Orilla Creek flow to the ocean. There are many hiking trails and pathways, and with the mixture of fresh and saltwater, there are an interesting diversity of plants that have adapted to survive in this hybrid environment.
It’s a Wrap
So there we go…some reading, some comics, some TV, some running, and other stuff. As usual, I’ve got tons of things that are going on, and I figure that I’m just rambling, so why not mention the stuff I’ve been trying to do. Anyway, my interests are diverse, and I think things are going pretty well and I hope you all had an interesting and enjoyable day as well.
Ramble 42 Badger 64| Vampires in a New World Lagoon