Ocean's Eight

Started my morning by playing a bit of Smash Bros. Since lockdown started I've been craving more and more multiplayer games people can just enjoy on the sofa and while I didn't have anyone to play with, just tinkering around reminded me of the good times that'll come round again. That said, I've been playing a lot more games with Mark and Dan over the past few nights online. This new mining game we picked up has really brought us back into the fold, at least until I our pirate game goes on sale so I can pick it up for cheap.

It was Rebecca's choice of film tonight and she chose Ocean's 8 seeing as neither of us had seen it. Now that I've seen it, I remembered why I detest smug heist movies. It's just a self-satisfying plot about a robbery that our handsome heroines conjure up and we, the audience, watch it unfold without a single speed bump get in their way. This is an issue I've had with all the Ocean films but since the series has been on ice for a while I was actually looking forward to this one possibly bring in some tension or enjoyable characters. But no, it's just another heist film where the heist goes well and everyone pats themselves on the back for being clever.  

My First Dollar

For the first time in my life I got paid for my writing. After a little back and forth between my editor I at long last got an article of mine published on Sick Critic and already it's become one of the most viewed posts of the month. The boss man sent me a private message congratulating me and to ask for my Paypal details. We previously agreed I would get paid for this piece so the payment was no real surprise, but he even added a little extra on top which was nice.

I'm bigging this up an awful lot when in reality, I made only a few pennies over £10. Obviously I won't be quitting my day job but it's a nice feeling to know that my work has value, in both a metaphorical and financial sense.

Here's the article if you're interested. It's my list of five things I'd like to see the Mass Effect games change if they end up making a remaster. The list is meant to be a little irreverent, guess that's my way of weaseling a bit of humour into this gig.

Pitter Patter

Battled the spotty weather just so we could so a bit of gardening. Rebecca and I donned our coats and our gloves and got to work while periodically ducking into the kitchen for shelter from the rain.

But we made a lot of progress! I stripped out and culled back the 'silver dust' that was running rampant around the back of the garden, it was just sprawling out everywhere and since I have no love for it, I pulled up a fair amount of it. Our main objective was to remove the cat poo and to clear the main square so it's ready for turf and we did that proudly. It's looking real good at the moment, every time we look out the window we pat ourselves on the back and admire our handiwork.

Hard work calls for treats though, so I hopped into the kitchen to bake some brownies. I'm a firm believer that the first 3-5 times you bake something you always screw something up and learn a lesson. This will be likely the final lesson I figure out while baking brownies since I discovered the wrong way to let something cool. We don't own a cooling rack, instead I just rested the loaf of brownies on my chopping board. 20 minutes later, it all stuck to the wood. Luckily it was salvageable, but it gave me one of those moment of despair that can only be experienced while baking. To numb the pain I ate a brownie and all was right in the world again.   

Lil' Lemon Tree

Took a whirl to the local garden center to prep for phase 1 of our back-garden remodel. Bought some weed killer and plenty of soil so we can create a good foundation for the turf we'll be getting next week. While we were there though it felt criminal not to pick up a few cute plants. I grabbed a chili pepper plant which is already beginning to yield some baby peppers. More importantly though, I am now finally the owner of a little lemon tree. I passed up my chance to grab on a few years ago but now we have the space and the sunlight to grow one I snatched it up. Read plenty about how to care for it too, this thing is going to be my new baby.

Fortnite at the Movies

Did a half day at my desk since I basically ran out of little projects to work on. I finished up my gaming article about spiders yet I've still to hear from the editorial team if my pitch even got green-lit. I cracked on with a few more lines for Louis' vegetables too, I'd like to sink a bit more time into that next week if I get the chance. Regardless, I just enjoyed the thought of the weekend arriving early so I fast-tracked it. I even logged into Fortnite for the first time in two years so I could sample their take at a 'movie night'. For some bonkers reason, you could watch Chris Nolan's The Prestige within the game of Fortnite during a limited time frame. It was like watching a film at a drive in cinema, complete with hooligans doing dance moves in my peripheral vision. At the risk of sounding out of touch with the youth, I don't think this trend will catch on... I mean I gave up after 15 minutes, can't imagine watching the whole two hours like that.

Deep Rock Galactic

Lord its hot. Every year I'm always caught off guard by how warm it gets and now in my new house I'm learning which rooms are cool, and which are roast potatoes. Luckily, the dining room, where I do my work, is the most cavernous nook of the house, whereas the spare bedroom is the scorcher. Unfortunate too since the Steam Summer Sale has officially begun so I'll be spending a lot of time in the hot room on my PC playing some games with friends. Mark, Dan, Louis and I have all been waiting on a sale for Deep Rock Galactic, a game where you play as dwarves mining in space. I snapped it up in a heartbeat on sale and we've been having a blast ever since.

Saving Picnic

Wrestled with my hay fever for most of the morning, it just wouldn't leave me be! I was in a rare mood where I really wanted to get some work done but I felt so naff I just couldn't stay focused. I powered through though, resulting in an unsatisfying work day where I sweated myself silly in the heat of the day. But we embraced the warmth later on this evening as Rebecca and I headed out to have a distanced picnic on The Downs with a friend. We dined on ASDA's own quiche and sausage rolls and chatted until the sun went down. I daresay that picnic saved the day from being a total bust.

The Innsmouth Case

Woke up early to edit my review mere hours before the deadline expecting my editor to have some stern notes. Instead he just gave me a pat on the back with only punctuation changes, we posted it with time to spare. Seeing as that was meant to be my big job for the day I kinda didn't know what to do with myself after getting all pumped up for that. So, I did some gardening. Had to treat all the cat poo like a mini roundabout, but I cleared out some of the chunkier weeds and tiled the soil until my rake broke. Snapped the tip off the wood so I sanded it back down to shape. I've done some research into laying turf lawn now so I'm eager to finally get our garden looking ship shape.

Anyone interested in reading my published review can do so here. It's just for a little indie game called The Innsmouth Case which didn't set my world on fire.

Let There be TV

Seeing as how I got a tight deadline and all, I got straight to work on my next game review for Sick Critic. I laid out the groundwork for it over the weekend so thankfully it wasn't too tough to put it all together, though I think the burning pressure of a deadline certainly stoked my fire. It's currently being scrutinized by my editor, hopefully my edits are merciful.

In the middle of everything today some contractors came in to sort out our TV aerial. Well, in actuality they popped in for a free consultation, but after giving our house the once over they gave us a quote, we shook hands and they sorted it there and then. Ignoring the fact we don't have a TV license presently, we can (theoretically) watch TV now! That's been a niggle about the house we've had for some time now and it feels great to finally get that sorted.

Not so Achey Eyes

Two days ago I felt like I was getting old because I couldnt muster an extended video game  session. Well today I proved that I still got it with an mighty 11 hour playing session throughout the day, all so I could finish The Last of Us Part II. And I did! Now I just need someone to talk about it with...

Review Deadlines

Snookered myself into a gaming corner. I'm still blazing through The Last of Us Part II all so I can keep up with online discussions, but this morning Sick Critic gave me a review code for a game I showed an interest in. Catch is I have to play that game and write a review on it by end of play Monday. Now I'm gaming and writing at double speed just so I can enjoy my weekend!

I did make some headway on the work though, got half the review written by lunchtime but it could mean some early mornings for me if I want to play everything.

The Last of Us Part II

I had a new game arriving in the post today so I thought I could be hilarious and live-stream my letterbox while I waited for my package to arrive. I expected to wait hours for the game, but it showed up just before 10am. Sheepishly, I cancelled the live-stream, but dove right into The Last of Us Part II. I remember playing the first one way back during the reading week of my first year of Uni in early 2014, back then I virtually played the game all in one sitting. But today my age caught up with me and I couldn't go for more than 3 hours without feeling a bit queasy. I think it's something to do with an in-game 'motion blur' effect which is giving me an exhausting kind of sea sickness. After a long play session I had to sit on the bed for 20 minutes while feeling sorry for myself. I'm really enjoying the game too, hopefully it won't make me feel so ropey tomorrow.

My Phobia is About to Pay Off

Dedicated my morning to writing up a few more lines of dialogue for Louis' vegetables. Since it was raining non stop today I took some time just to watch the rain and jot down my thoughts on it, wherever my brain took me I just rolled with it. From there, I shaped my fluffy thoughts into ideas and opinions each of the vegetable types could have about the grey weather. Worked a treat too, just hit 210 lines now and I'm pretty pleased with what I wrote down for them.

After lunch my attention shifted back to chatting about games. A topic flashed up in the news today which got my brain going about a personal idea for another feature article. Basically, a new game is coming out that's all about battling insects, in particular spiders. Typically my arachnophobia would flare up while playing, but this game has actually factored in gamers with a fear of spiders and includes accessibility options to make the in-game spiders look less scary. I tried the game's demo today and... it works! I wasn't scared of the spiders after playing around with the game's options. Immediately I knew I could write up a decent article about this, especially since I can approach the topic with my phobia of spiders. Already got 800 words in too, this piece is coming together real nice.

Evening time was spent taking a stroll on The Downs with a few of Rebecca's chums. It was nice to walk around somewhere that isn't the park at the end of my road. Weather admittedly could've been nicer but one of Rebecca's friends is heading away this weekend so today was the best time to meet. We trod out own path across the grass though, walked a lot more than we planned to as well so Rebecca and I are both beat. 

Editing Limbo

Spent the morning re-working an article I wrote for Sick Critic. I got the impression that my editor didn't really 'get' the piece's sense of humour so I tinkered with it to make the tone a little more apparent. Though I wrote it over a week ago, it's still pending which is a lil' annoying, especially since there's a gaming event tomorrow afternoon that could have a big impact on the amount of traffic it gets. With any luck my edits will square everything off for them soon enough.

Think I at long last weaned Rebecca onto The Wire tonight. We made an agreement back in 2018 that for every season of Downton Abbey I watched she'd match me with seasons for The Wire. Two years later, and the entirty of Downton under my belt, Rebecca still hadn't watched 6 episodes of my favorite show. Something happened tonight though, after a long time of dragging her heels and moaning about how boring she thought the show was, tonight after we finished one episode, she immediately asked if we could watch another. Now we on a roll.

Garden Furniture

At 9:57am this morning I found myself behind a sea of people as I queued to get into IKEA. It wasn't my proudest moment I'll admit but Rebecca was keen to get an outdoor set of table and chairs during her last day off. After I walked out of IKEA and build the set, I realised that I now find myself as the owner of a piece of garden furniture. In my mind I always perceived that as a real symbol of maturity. It's certainly a stage in my life I never thought I'd actually hit but I crossed that milestone without even realising it. The swiftness of life hit me in that moment as I recalled every garden table I'd sat on as a kid, enjoying long Summer evenings and corn on the cob. Now I can make new memories, yet the table and chairs belong to me, and that's a crazy notion to me.

It's made sitting outside for dinner a real treat though, we even christened it today with some of Rebecca's mushroom and blue cheese burgers. The table couldn't ask for a better invitation to our home.

Where Colston Fell

Rebecca took this Monday and Tuesday off, by extension, that means I've got the day off 'work' too! Instead off sitting at my desk, I did the weekly shop and accompanied Rebecca to yet another B&Q to pick up some more house-ware bits. Boris Johnson wants us all to go out and be good little capitalists, as much as I want to spite him, we did need some paintbrushes for some upcoming DIY work...

Rounded off the day with a sweet walk around Bristol town center, making a pilgrimage to the spot where the statue of Edward Colston fell. We even traced the steps where the protestors dragged him and spotted the warped barrier where they chucked him in the river - felt like I was in an Andrew Marr documentary reconstruction. Returning home I felt invigorated by civil movements and took advantage of an indie video game charity offer, I made a donation in exchange for 1,704 video games. You read that right. I was delighted to learn only afterwards that one of those games was Louis' Kingdom Ka! Felt good donating to a worthy cause and getting to play a bunch of game sin the process.

Team Cube

The other day I was saying how jazzed I was about going on a long car ride again, well after today I think I've had my fill. What started out as a jolly little excursion to B&Q turned into a long a long, multi-store, cross-country hunt for a new shelving unit. To keep morale high, Rebecca and I dubbed ourselves 'Team Cube' (name of the unit we were after) while we drove around we kept shouting it together in an act of solidarity when even the slightest thing when wrong. At last, we finally got our hands on the last unit in stock and nothing could dampen our spirits, not even having to stand downwind of another customer with a trolley full of bagged-up horse manure. Team Cube arrived home happy and grew happier still once the unit was fully built. At the risk of evoking The Big Lebowski, it really ties the room together.

London Pollen

Traded some instant coffee for some cookies with Louis and Rachel before heading out to London. I thought Bristol pollen was bad, but this Southeasten stuff has set off my hay fever like nothing else. I spent most of the Rebecca family meet up clutching tissues and burying my face in my elbow to sneeze. Despite being a snotty mess, it was lovely to get out of town even for a little bit - almost feels like being in a foreign country being out here.

Quarantine Bubble

Pushed on through to finish another goofy article for Sick Critic today. I haven't heard any feedback yet on the last one I shot out (which I should also be getting paid for once it goes live). Just hope they think it's actually amusing and entertaining instead of weird and stupid.

After work I packed up my bags in preparation to head to London. Rebecca' Dad had a Birthday this week so we are heading over there to enjoy a socially distanced BBQ. Feels a bit weird packing a bag again and thinking about sitting in a car for two hours after all this time. I've barely been North of the Bristol river in 3 months, let alone leave the county. I'm looking forward to it, seeing the world again will make me remember there's so much more of the world outside my quarantine bubble.

PlayStation 5 You Say?

Rebecca got up early to take her car in for an MOT so I rolled out of bed with her and enjoyed and extra hour in my day. I ended up getting more work than I expected done today, especially after Sony had a media blowout showing off the PlayStation 5. The presentation ended at my bedtime and then Sick Critic called out for writers to cover stories so I gingerly volunteered myself for a quick news article. Nice to think I used that extra hour wisely.

Cities of Last Things

Just another day in lockdown. I wanted to take some of the mundanity away by inviting Mark and Dan for a little gaming session, we hadn't done one in a long time so it felt right. Good to hear they were both doing well too, it was Dan's Birthday on Monday and he's taken the whole week off to chill. Looking forward to ramping up the gaming time in the next few weeks with them, a big sale is likely to happen soon and we've all got a game on our radar.

I got a message from my old Uni housemate Lincoln the other day, he suggested I checked out a film on Netflix called Cities of Last Things. I dove into it blind, typically his recommendations are on point but this one was hard to love. In three mini chapters, it tells the story of a man's life in reverse order, starting with middle age and ending in his formative years (imagine Moonlight backwards). It's overly ambitious though because each of the three episodes is told through a different genre, even at the best of times I struggle to think of many films that can successfully juggle multiple genres and this one doesn't nail any of them. It's also bland, so very bland, and when it was all over I didn't really know what the point of it all was, which is so often the hallmark of an underwhelming movie. Maybe Lincoln saw something in it that I missed? Looking forward to our discussion about it tomorrow.

Second Stream

Just about finished up my latest article for Sick Critic. I found I spiral into overthinking what I write sometimes, Rebecca is usually the first to point this out. I think I may have devised a way to break that cycle: by mind mapping what it is I'm trying to say and just getting my thoughts down on paper. Breaking that stationary stage is something I reckon I need to get better at...

I did my Resident Evil 2 stream last night and it ended up going a lot better than I expected. I beat the game with a great final time (under two hours) and even got endorsed by Sick Critic for streaming. I'm still buzzing off the good vibes of tonight!

You Say Tomato (Plant)...

Despite leaping out of bed with high-flying attitudes, I really struggled to get into a working groove today. Not to say I didn't try though, I actually spent more time at my desk today than usual, but the article I'm writing just wasn't happening in my brain - try again tomorrow I suppose. 

Louis very kindly gifted me a few tomato plants, I was a bit flustered though as his instructions were effectively 'Run, run, run! Plant them now!' So I dashed home, slapped on some gardening gloves and headed to my overgrown gardening box. There were loads of plants in there, and since I have no real gardening know-how I didn't know which were wild flowers and which were keepers. In my haste I started plucking any old gubbins. One plant I uprooted smelt very strongly of mint... I quickly realised the mint was a keeper and gingerly replanted it with a small prayer. Sure hope I haven't killed it. But the tomatoes are now firmly planted in a little corner all to themselves, with any luck I'll see some fruit in the future, at least then I'll know if I planted them right.

Finally, I wanted to share a few more details about my gaming stream tomorrow. At 7:30pm I'll be doing a full play-through of Resident Evil 2, trying to get my time under 2 hours 30 minutes. If you want to watch live, tune in here from 7:30 til around 10/10:30. Drop me a little message too if you fancy. I was so stoked for the stream, I even made myself a naff lil' Offline Card. Very fitting too considering Rebecca and I just finished watching Life on Mars.  

Pandemic Picnic

For the first time in almost 3 months, I saw my parents. Mum and Dad drove up to Bristol to see Louis and I while enjoying a social distancing picnic. It was a little awkward at first, there was an unspoken force preventing us from getting too close to one-another but as the day went on those reservations melted away and it felt just like normal. We shared lashings of homemade elder flower cordial, a pork pie and quiche Mum baked from scratch. All of which were graciously gobbled up while we basked in the temperamental sunlight of our local park. I was truly great to see them again after all this time. The one thing this pandemic has taught me is there is a bunch of stuff we take for granted, the freedom to socialise with your family is something I didn't appreciate until it was restricted.

In some other news, I'll be doing another Twitch Stream on Tuesday evening. I've set myself a goal to try and beat Resident Evil 2 in under 2 hours 30 minutes on the highest difficulty, doing so earns me the coveted 'S-Rank'. I've put in a bit of practice, but I've yet to pull it off, with any luck I'll do it with an audience! I'll pop the details and link here tomorrow.

  

Spooky Saturday

Continued exactly where I left off yesterday and despite my fears, I powered through and finished Resident Evil 7. There was a time in my life when I thought I was too chicken to even touch that game, but no I can proudly say that I had the gumption to see it all the way through. Naturally, it called for celebration so Rebecca and I got a takeaway pizza just before hopping onto a video chat pub quiz, prepped by Rebecca no less. We all got her feminism questions wrong which called us to reexamine our gender-based knowledge. Came 2nd this time though!

Scaredy Cat No More!

Sick Critic greenlit my article concept so I spent the day writing it all up. Seeing as I'm getting paid for this one too I want to try and pull out all the stops. Since it's slightly humorous piece I've even concocted a handful of Photoshop pictures to really seal the deal.

I also decided to face my fears today and dive headfirst into a game so scary I need Mark to play it for me while I cowered behind a pillow. Today, I booted up Resident Evil 7 like a man and played further than Mark and I ever reached. Even the spider section didn't freak me out too much, but that's probably because Rebecca was holding my hand. I basically discovered I have a fear of jumpscares more than anything else, luckily I consulted a few guides that highlight when the jumpy moments are. So the game is still terrifying, but I'm not paralyzed with fear every time I open a new door.

Streets of Rage 4

Rebecca made a little guest appearance in my working space today. Since neither of us were super busy we did a cosy working session together for most of the day. In other news, Sick Critic is back online! They have about a month of content trickling out, including my review for Streets of Rage 4 which you can read right here if you're interested. I had some small but nifty ideas for feature articles too, which I've written a pitch for. Fingers crossed they'll green light it, might actually earn a few pennies for it too. 

Night on Earth

Saw two movies today. Night on Earth, a film predominantly shot inside taxis and Star Wars Episode 9 - guess which one I though was more boring? I know it popular to hate on Stat Wars these days, but the latest film really was just a lot of running around and unremarkable set pieces. Night in Earth on the other hand had me in hysterics one moment and ponderous reflection the next - a real delight.

It was about this time last year I was on a canal boat, drifting along the water by Stratford on Avon. My hay fever hit critical mass then too and today it was in full force. I had a video call with my Coffee 1 team and all I did during the chat was blow my nose. With any luck it'll start subsiding soon, just hate feeling like this.

Cat Scratches

Chuffed to say I think I've finished writing up the first draft of my little on-going project. I'll put it under Rebecca's nose to get a bit of feedback, but I'm at the point now where I need to step back, put it in a drawer for a week or so and re-evaluate it with fresh eyes. I'm super comfortable with the idea of tearing it to pieces and starting over if I think it'll benefit from it, but right now, I'll put it out of my mind and crack on with some other gubbins.

Rebecca was delighted to see her favourite neighbourhood cat paid us a visit again this evening. I got some alone time with it while I was prepping dinner. I stroked the cat a fair bit on the back and all of a sudden it reached out and scratched me! Just under on of my fingernails too so it hurt a fair bit. Man, I just got up and shut the door on the cat. If it's capable of feeling guilt, I hope it feels it hard! While my physical wounds will heal, I feel emotionally wary of showing cats affection now, moreso than before.

Who Wants some Free Money?

Monday means work. Glued myself to my writing chair and typed up the vast majority of my writing project up, editing it gently as I went. Fairly happy with what I got so far too, but like my hair at the moment, it needs trimming.

Rebecca also poked me to change my tax code since we discovered I was very much using a bad one. Begrudgingly, I called up HMRC, waiting on hold for 36 minutes and got it all sorted with the promise of some free money arriving in the mail soon. I hate to admit it, but more often than not, Rebecca is right when she pesters me to do boring stuff.

Last night I also attended a staff meeting for Sick Critic. Their site has been down for basically a month now but they are on the verge of not only sorting it, but rebirthing the whole platform. Aside from looking nicer, they also mentioned there could be chances to get a few quid in for articles. Not much mind, but some extra pocket money wouldn't hurt. 

Headachey Vibes

Banging headaches while I'm trying to cook pancakes, what's that about? Try to do something jolly on my Sunday morning and I just felt like a mashed banana rotting underneath a bin bag. Powered through the bad feels to dish out some pancakes (which were on point), in theory they should've perked me up but they made me feel worse. After an hour of milling around in a dark room I emerged feeling 2% better. It wasn't until chatting with the fam I started to perk up a bit, so I channeled those new-found good vibes into making a proper good dinner.

Homemade burgers with sweet potato fries, plus yesterday's mocha semifreddos for pud. They tasted as good as they look:

Boy howdy, I'll be making them again.