Posts made by Testament

Spending a good hour at Bath and Body Works smelling candles and then taking home my two choices.

It's a dumb little thing. But I love candles. I'm annoyed that wallflowers don't really make an impact in my apartment, whereas the three-wick candles do. Maybe it's the fact I have ten foot ceilings? Not sure on that, but I suppose for 800 square feet for my apartment, two isn't enough. But yet, one candle can do that job just fine?

Still, while I'm not really a fan of overly flora scents and prefer more woodsy type fragrances and Bath and Body Works selection isn't all that great(for me, at least)until fall/winter I've found some I really like.

....now I just have to clean.

No, goddamnit. I demand more information.

The mystery cannot stand.

@deathbird That is literally the weirdest thing I've ever heard being an insta-ban. No warning, not even a stern talking to. Just ban. Absolutely bewildering.

So, Book 8 of The Expanse, Tiamat's Wrath was released yesterday and I've been devouring it. I've been waiting for this book since December and I can finally figure how this whole story is going to end in Book 9.

Goddamn, it's so fucking good.

The following is a conversation that I mostly overheard at work with only my partial interjection into because I felt like being snarky. It's one of the few times where my sense of humor was able to bring someone to a dead stop, though I credit that mostly with the follow-up my buddy next to me chimed in with.

So, there was a number of us nerdy types all located around one particular section of lab, going through kits. Two people were in a really heated conversation about Harry Potter related material. Most of this conversation was about whether they agreed with Rowlings sudden changes to characters to what they perceived had been cannon for years now.

Eventually another of our group eventually pipes up, having only just pulled his headphones off to chime in.

"Wait, so who's gay now in Harry Potter?"

I saw my chance and I took it.

"The sorting hat apparently eats ass now."

My friend next to me immediately jumps in on that.

"Tastes like...SLYTHERIN."

Very little work got done for the next ten minutes. I almost forgot I was at work for a moment.

@Auspice Welp, Bethesda.net isn't working because Bethesda. I mean, I lost my copy of Morrowind, so it'd be nice to have a replacement, but whelp.

@Jaded said in General Video Game Thread:

Anyone keeping an eye on Cyberpunk 2077, CDPR has stated that it will not be an exclusive for any launcher - Steam or Epic - and that they are projecting to release late 2019 or early 2020.

They have also confirmed that there's going to be a boatload of small free DLC content and at least 3 DLCs on the size and scale like those produced for The Witcher 3.

There's also been very heavy speculation that Cyberpunk isn't the only big game that CDPR is working on. Nobody knows what, but there's a suspicion that it may be Witcher-related. Not saying Witcher 4(which I doubt will ever actually happen), but my guess is something prequel to the trilogy, kind of like how the Crownbreaker War for the Gwent game worked. Although, some people really want that game based around playing Ciri as your main character, so I dunno.

I'd say expect Cyberpunk to drop in fall of 2020 and then another game to fall somewhere in 2021.

When I woke up this morning, I was still half asleep. I brush my teeth, as per usual. Then, I use hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash because...it works and it's cheap(don't judge). I keep it next to the rubbing alcohol. I wasn't looking at which bottle I grabbed.

That was an unfortunate experience. I don't recommend it.

@Arkandel That's more or less on the money. We're moving to a Cloud based gaming. Physical medium is going away. Now we're just going to be in a landscape where you have large HDs and you download your games. That's going to be Google's angle with their game system they just unveiled. And Microsoft already had their new discless XBoxS leaked to be coming out on May 4th.

The Outer Worlds is going to be exclusively on the Epic store for a year.

They are just scooping a bunch of PC exclusives lately. That 88% revenue share seems to be really enticing to devs.

Mostly play straight male characters. Occasionally(very occasionally, infact I can only think of one)will I play a bi female.

Nowadays, I play asexual, mildly sociopathic male characters. Because I just can't give two shits about romance RP or TS anymore. There's very little interesting in it for me anymore. There used to be a time when I loved all the romance stuff.

And now? Zero interest.

@Sparks Also, very scientifically accurate. I can appreciate that part. Whoever made that one, did their homework on how physics and movement work in space.

Suits was my favorite so far. In so much that I really really really want a mech shooter and farm simulator to be blended together to make that into a game. With fully customizable mech suits with having to balance between wiping down hordes of infesting bug creatures and spending time to make sure you have a good planting season.

I would play the shit out of that.

Edit to add: The Witness is the weakest by far. It looked pretty, but the whole synopsis of the story you can guess in the first minutes of how it's going to end. The reality is, the only thing it had going for it was that it was pretty. It was unoriginal otherwise.

Zima Blue also wasn't the strongest either. It had some message it wanted to sell, but I can't say I was buying.

Beyond the Aquila Rift is good if you dig some blend between Mass Effect and Aliens.

@Auspice Goddamnit, fuck you for mentioning it here first before I could.

Also, it's good.

@Ganymede I dunno, mush politics can be just as bad. At least with games, I can play by myself and everyone else can go kick rocks.

Or maybe mushing is just not as interesting to me as it used to be.

Tidbits in various game industry related news.

Ubisoft and Red Storm is giving the limpest answer on whether or not The Division 2 is making a political statement with its narrative(it is).

Media outlets are usuing Pewdiepie as a punching bag again(unjustly nor not) because the mosque shooter in New Zealand name dropped him.

Ninja took in a cool 1 mill from EA to play and sponsor Apex Legends for what is potentially only a 12 day run.

Steam(and by proxy, Valve)are getting kind of salty at Epic because currently there's this bit that the Epic Games launcher program will go and try to potentially look at your DLL and root certificates, peeking at information. Epic has even said they're look at your Steam Local Config files(but don't worry, only doing it to look at your friends/what games you play). If that wasn't already questionable, the fact that Chinese company Tencent owns 10% of Epic, which has a number of people claiming that Epic is acting as spyware on Tencent's behalf.

India is arresting, not banning, arresting ten kids for playing PUBG. Because video games=violence.

Respawn is cracking the fucking down on cheaters playing Apex Legends, but not only IP banning cheaters, but hardware banning people, but getting the hardware ID inside your PC. Which is the kind of ban that is exceedingly hard to get around(beyond buying an entirely new MB or GPU). I'll just go through a short list of things that people have tried to evade these bans that, surprise surprise, don't work; changing HWID, chaning vol ID, changing MAC address, formating PC, factory reset, changing dynamic IP, partitioning HDs, uninstalling and reinstalling older version of their GPU. None of it's worked, and I personally think that's hilarious.

This has been your cliffnotes version of the previous week in game industry news.

So, an update on my cat.

Took him to the vet, explained what had been happening, resulting in the vet and I both agreeing that blood work would be the best. My cat did not enjoy this at all. For a cat that has been so chill his entire life, getting his back legs messed with and blood drawn he was a pain in the ass about. It took the vet and two nurses to hold him down, and we had to draw blood twice just to get enough for the testing.

The vet noted he had a full bladder when we got there, which I found odd since I hadn't really seen him drinking water the night before. But getting blood drawn made him,well, he peed all over the exam table. This will be a benefit later on. But more disturbingly, one of his nostrils started to bleed, which worried all of us there.

While discussing possible theories to what was going on, we waited for the lab work to come back. And this is where things get a little stranger, leaving us scratching our heads. His chemistry panel was more or less normal. Healthy, even, given a cat his age where thyroid, liver, and kidney problem tend to be an issue with older cats. It didn't explain the throwing up, though the vet suspected it was more discomfort, and the blood had been from the throat rather than the stomach caused by acid reflux(maybe). But we could at least cross out thyroid, liver, and kidney problems which was a relief to me.

He does have, however, an infection in his bladder, as shown by bacteria present in his urine, and the elevated WBC count on his blood work. The vet considered the fact that while we knew bladder infection was a reason for the elevated white count, there could be something else to cause it too, so we decided that antibiotics would suffice for the time being to take care of one, potentially two issues(even if we don't exactly know what the other is).

This doesn't explain the bloody nose. Could've been a conbination of having an infection, coupled with the stress, and the fact that my apartment is on the dry side considering it's winter. It could also be an issue with his bad teeth, which he's always had, because cat's nose, mouth, and ears are so closely tied together, there could be something going on there, but that would require more in depth examination. Which we want to hold off on(for now), especially if the current treatment happens to have a more positive effect.

So we're back home now, and I've given him his first dose of antibiotics, which thankfully he's always been good at taking. I'm to inform the vet in a week for improvement(or not), and if he's not eating by Monday to bring him back in. But the full bladder does indicate that he is drinking water, even if I never saw him doing so yesterday, but the bladder infection could also play into things in that respect.

So some questions answered, but others have cropped up. I hope the meds will help, but I won't know if he's eating until this weekend. I'd rather not work today if only so I can keep an eye on him, but I've taken two days off work for my own illness, and I feel good enough to go back in(four and half hours of sleep or not).

Some good and some bad, but I hope he gets better. That's all I can hope for. And hope he doesn't drain my bank account. Already paid $200 today in bills alone. I mean, I know it can get so much pricier, so I should be thankful.

So I'm not really sure where to put this, so I'll put it here. Along with being sick, I've noticed my cat isn't feeling well either. He's had cold symptoms for awhile now, and I never took him to a vet for it simply because every single person I asked and web site I looked basically said the same thing; it's cold, nothing a vet can do. But he's had a cold since January. It's worried me, though this passed weekend it finally looked like he was getting over it.

Now we come to today. He's not eating, he's not drinking water, and he's been throwing up a lot of white foam. Normally, I know this is usually revolving around the fact that he has a hairball he's trying to get rid of and that can upset his stomach to the point where he doesn't feel like eating. But then, I noticed he's been doing it a lot, because I've been cleaning up after him. And the last time earlier tonight, it wasn't white, it was pink, with what I'm pretty sure is a very small amount of blood(like a coagulated thin small strand of blood).

What bothers me is his not drinking water. He will sit by the water dish, but not drink water. And much like looking at WebMD too much, after looking into why cats do that, it honestly terrified me, because it's an indicator of kidney problems. I have a vet appointment for him tomorrow morning. But it's so out of his personality. This cat loves food, to a very annoying degree, it's really the only thing he does that grates at me. Now, I miss it. My girlfriend suggested baby food, and thankfully he did eat that, but not a lot, and only when I fed to him on a spoon for him to lick off. Maybe a third of the container? But considering he usually wolfs down half a can of cat food per day, it's not what I'm used to.

The odd thing is this all happened overnight. Last night, he was begging for food and going to town on the water fountain like he always has been. Today, it's the exact opposite. I had to force his mouth open and pour spoonfulls of water down his throat just so I knew he wasn't going to dehydrate. Never had to do that, save for the times he had medication.

I admit, as a bearded, burly 36 year old man, I'm utterly terrified of losing my cat who has been my constant companion for near on 15 years. I know, I know, the rational part of my brain tells me I should be lucky I've had this much time with him, but irrational part of me says that why can't I have 18 years with him.

I know my old man is in his twilight years, but the thought of him not being at the door to scream at me for food when I get home from work is a thought of emptiness I'm not sure I can handle right now.

I wish it was morning so I could take him to the vet. I just want him to be okay. I want the vet to throw some meds at me that I have to give him everyday. I want his final years to be happy and functional and I don't want to keep him alive for my sake alone. If it's his time, then it's his time, but, goddamnit, I know a part of me is going to be destroyed by it. He's the best pet I've ever had. So very much uncat like. Never gets on counters, never aggressive. Always just wants affection. And food. All the food ever.

Apart of me feels guilty, that I took so much of that for granted. That he would want on my lap, and I'd set him next to me on the couch because my laptop was already occupying my attention. You always think, "There's more time for that later." There is, but you take it for granted. You take so much of it for granted.

I don't know what to do. I just needed to rant into the void that why can't our pets live as long as us.

Go. Hug your pet. Your cat. Your dog. Your rat. Even your pet alligator for the weirdos out there. Maybe I'm being dramatic, and maybe I took for granted how relatively healthy my cat has been for so long. I hope he's okay. That's is something treatable like gastritis(That's my other, less terrifying guess to his issues right now, so I'm more hopeful for that than some liver or kidney issue).

Fair enough.

Also, my work has this nasty habit of its employees coming in sick and then the illness spreading like a wildfire acting like the plague carriers that they are, and productivity goes through the floor which then results in management harping on us to stay at home. I get it though, a lot of us worry about losing jobs if we call in. It's an irrational fear(sometimes), but more than a few people will just come in and get everyone sick because they're worried about not coming in themselves. It's a vicious cycle.

So. I'm staying at home.