Had to stay behind due to work issues while my wife, and kids went north to the cottage. Just myself and the dog here right now. The house is very different when the children aren’t in it. It feels a little colder, and a hell of a lot quieter that’s for sure. I’m no stranger to being home alone between 8:30am, and 3:00pm, but after that it’s a different story. A work day without kids is one thing, but the whole day is something else. Not that I like the constant fighting, but the conversation is better with the kids around, I can say that much. I very much miss my evening tv cuddle time with my wife when we can actually catch up on life without the kids eavesdropping on us. Plus – that’s when we watch Reacher, or Jack Ryan, or it’s always sunny, or some such.
I did take the liberty of watching First Man, and Apollo 13 again. If I can do so, then today I will rewatch Ad Astra too. It’s a quiet and contemplative look at inner system space travel, and dealing with the crushing weight of being entirely alone in the universe. A slow burn with some odd pacing at times, but I still like it. It felt very on point with Covid and the lock downs hot on its heels just a few years/months after it’s release. The isolation, and loneliness is palpable.
I took the liberty of downloading some free online Nintendo games onto the switch, namely the gameboy library, and the NES library. Both free with the Nintendo family subscription for the year. I also bought them Super Smash Bros because they were both asking for it by name, and I didn’t buy it along with the system like I was going to. I didn’t know if it was going to be a digital only type console or if it would take cartridges, or both or what. Once I got the memory card sorted out, and we found out it will use the tiny cartridges too I jumped on it. BAM! Surprise.
I tried my hand at it, but I can’t seem to make any sense of the game mechanics. So much jumping around, but the attacks don’t seem to do damage. I wish it was more of a Marvel vs Capcom type thing, or Street Fighter, or Mortal Kombat, Tekken or whatever. Those I understand a bit better. Perhaps I’m showing my age with this stuff now. I knew it would happen eventually. But if the kids dig it, then that’s what matters the most.
I did play another grand prix in MarioKart 8 deluxe, which is still an awesome game. I am slowly working my way through the cup challenges. I’m only in the 100cc races. I did a handful at 50cc to get used to it, but I know there are still a fair few things to it that I haven’t sorted out yet. I haven’t found the brakes yet, for one. And secondly I still don’t know how to dodge or avoid incoming attacks from the racers behind me. Like the squid ink, or lightening shrink ray, or the red/blue spiked shells. I cannot for the life of me manage to avoid them. No amount of sliding, skidding, jumping, or rotating barrier of weapons can seem to impede their attack.
A fair few of these tracks are all new to me, so I need to get to know them better. Right now I don’t know any of the short cuts, or secrets to shaving off precious seconds of my time. There has to be some! If not for every course then at least a good chunk of them should have some type of gimmick for getting a head start on others. But I digress. Games can too easily become all consuming. Ask me if I dream about them. Go on- ask. Yes. Yes I do. I dreamt last night about racing as Yoshi. It’s a very odd, yet very real compulsion. Lucky me it’s not gambling, drugs, or travel. Could get expensive otherwise.
An empty house means that I need to do every dog walk these last three days (today included). So I need to dress warmly, and go tire out this pooch! Have a lovely Saturday if you observe. Ciao Bella.
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