The Things You Can't Avoid

Ever since I started working from home, I knew that a reckoning would soon come knocking on my door and it was called tax day. With a standard deduction, I would owe in excess of $4000. I was shocked but also prepared to pay the piper until my brother came for a visit on the same day and told me about his tax guy.

Flash forward to yesterday and I went from owing over $4000 to around $1300. Yes, please, thank you, sir, I will be taking my leave now before anyone notices. With an extra $3000 in my pocket, that means I'm going on vacation because why the hell not? That was money I was more than willing to part with and now that I don't have to it's time to go crazy!

No, not really. I'm very conservative but I will take this moment to enjoy the finer things in life. It pays not to have an itchy trigger finger. Before you jump off that cliff -- and you're gonna have to because there's a stampede behind you -- check to see if you can get lower first. Because a couple feet could spell the difference between a hard fall and broken ankles.

It'll hurt, but at least one of those options you can walk off.

Goodbye, Dear Friend

As we grow older, we must contend with the prospect of loss. It's a natural part of life. People come and go and we lose touch with dear friends. It's sad, but it's also an important part of learning how to move forward.

The worst thing we can do is lament over the past. We can't stay stagnant forever wishing for days gone. Sooner or later, we must get back on our feet and face an uncertain future without them. People never truly disappear anyways. As long as you remember, you'll always carry a piece of them with you.

Still, it's always a regrettable thing when someone you once knew disappears. And that's precisely what happened to one of my good friends. It's one thing to get a girlfriend but once you throw Pokemon Go into the mix, that's game over, man. There's no coming back from that. We haven't exchanged words in weeks.

Every time I think of reaching out, I hesitate because I know that I would never receive anything in reply. To encounter this crushing disappoint would only be an exercise in self-torture. Therefore, it's best for both parties to pretend that the other no longer exists.

He is but a passing existence who only makes cameos in my dreams. I'll wake up and wonder whatever happened and forget about him until his next appearance whenever that may be.

Should I receive some sort of communication from him, I'll treat it a residual echo from the afterlife much like a grieving widow who once in a while catches a glimpse of her beloved. Tis nothing more than a delusion for the reality is that he is dead and buried forever.

Goodbye, dear friend. It was nice knowing you.

Rest Hard

I've worked for 17 days straight. There was at least thirty minutes committed to the menial task of work each day. This past weekend was a long overdue break. I've finally got 48 hours of uninterrupted peace. I think I've earned it.

I didn't know how much I needed it until I finally got it. I guess this makes up for taking two weeks off for vacation several months ago. If you work hard, you also gotta rest hard. All things in equal measure.

Breezy Walks

Today was a reprieve from the heat. I daresay it was great weather. The sun was blazing red from behind a cloudy haze. I'm not sure if it was natural cloud cover or smog. The first part of the trail was peaceful with wildlife out in full force. It was like walking in a Disney forest with critters and birds cheering me on.

Where was everybody? And as soon as I thought that, people showed up. I love me a long lonely desolate stretch of no people. I usually take it easier on Saturday by walking instead of running. This lets me appreciate my speed. I don't realize how fast I run until I'm walking. It takes forever to get anywhere this way.

The weather truly was a far cry from the last time I ran. Before, the tiniest sliver of sunlight barely peeking over the horizon was enough to get me sweating. Today's haze did a remarkable job of dulling the heat, even if it was slightly humid. It was so breezy, I decided the run the last half of the route. That felt nice!

Hyperdimension Neptunia Part 2

Re;birth has a feature where you can add stronger enemies to existing dungeons. They're not really stronger enemies though. They're more like an extra boss. Even though I'm ten levels higher than I was when I cleared the dungeon, they can regenerate everything I throw at them. I need to be 20+ levels to beat these stupid things.

And this is after I got to level 25 and unlocked my first EXE move, which I thought was amazing since I could one shot normal bosses. Just when I thought I've reached the next level, there's always something more powerful around the corner. The game just does not want me to become beast. Ever since Persona 3, I don't feel like a JRPG truly starts until after 20 hours in, so there's still more to come. I'll destroy everything in due time. Just you wait.

Hyperdimension Neptunia

After 3 months of sitting on the 64gb card I bought from Japan, I finally filled it up with all the PS Vita games I've been collecting digitally over the years. I recently started up Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth and after clearing the first dungeon, I thought this game was going to be a piece of cake.

Then they started throwing one shot kill enemies at me. I've died more in one hour than I have in all of Tales of Xillia 2, and I've already logged in over 10 hours in that one. Here I thought I was in for a nice and relaxing romp through a parody of the console wars. Joke's on me. At least grinding is easy.

This is really the first proper JRPG I've played on the Vita and I can see why the genre is such a great fit for the system. Just jump in, grind out a few levels, and continue. I could certainly use this kind of simplicity given the constraints of my current day schedule. Hopefully it won't take me forever to beat the game.

Now back to grinding...

Pokemon a Go Go, Baby

Pokemon Go is a bona fide phenomenon. It always seemed obvious that the instant Pokemon goes mobile, it'd explode. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves from here but they sure got their work cut out for them, even if they're raking in millions by the minute.

My interest isn't piqued since I don't have the hardware for it (no data and old phone) and since the mainline entries can barely retain my attention, I don't think a stripped down mobile friendly version will be any more engaging. That said, I can see its immense impact by just walking outside.

There's a trail that I've been running ever since I got back from Japan and I've never seen it as packed as it was today. The ratio of people walking with their eyes glued to their phones shot up exponentially and there is no other reason than Pokemon Go. I think this is a good thing. The more reasons to be active the better.

I just hope its not some temporary trend that peters out in a couple months. Nintendo are pretty good at this kind of thing, and considering the return on investment they're getting, I'm sure they have their best minds on it. Maybe once I upgrade my hardware I'll get in on the craze. It's never too late to try to catch 'em all.