Yesterday, Christmas came early. See the following for more details.
The highlight of my day, of course, was purchasing a new laptop. I’m sitting in the Board & Brew right now, typing this entry on it with a slice of carrot cake and a large cold brew to my left. I had a busy night Saturday into Sunday, so it was surprising that I was able to make it to the Best Buy near the Lehigh Valley Mall more or less on schedule. Given that the Supercuts in Philly is always booked to capacity, I stopped at my mom’s current residence to get a much-needed haircut first- the benefits of having a trained hairdresser in the family, I suppose. My Aunt Becky and Uncle Danny were shocked by how much weight I’ve lost. I weighed myself this morning, and I clocked in at just over 230, which I’m pleased with. I can do better, though, and I will.
Aside from schoolwork, the main reason I need a laptop is for gaming. My old gaming rig is almost as old as the MacBook and is currently hooked into a Mitch McConnell-worth of life support. So it made sense to kill two birds with one stone and invest in a machine that can handle both needs. My friends strongly cautioned me against HP, and ASUS in particular was recommended for its modularity. After all, Todd’s dropping TES VI tomorrow, so I need to make sure it’s able to be upgraded to whatever ridiculous minimum specs it requires. They sure don’t make games like they used to, I tell ya hwhat.
The problem is that you can, in fact, put a price on quality, and it’s exorbitant. My dad, ever the generous man when it comes to my brother and me, was willing to finance it. However, it’s coming out of the budget for Christmas/my birthday. Given my current needs, this is an acceptable bargain, and I really appreciate it. We got a decent enough deal on my specific laptop anyway, which was the last one of its kind in stock.
Afterwards, my dad and I went to lunch and Boscov’s. At Dunderbak’s, my dad got some soup, and I got Jagerschnitzel. Sparkling water, for a change. It was tasty, if a very greyish-brown lunch, and afterwards we made our way to Boscov’s because my dad was of the opinion that I needed clothes that fit better with all the weight I’ve lost. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I went along with it. I ended up getting a white cardigan (of an unbelievably comfortable blend), dark teal quarter-zip, pale blue jeans, and new leather loafers. Clothes I can wear at most times of year and most occasions. I’m back to being an XL, or XLT, rather. The cardigan’s 2XLT, but that’s because a cardigan’s supposed to fit differently than a shirt. I’m especially pleased to announce that my pant size is now 43×33, so 42×34 because they don’t make off-the-shelf clothes in odd numbers, as far as I’m aware.
Late yesterday night into yesterday evening was chill; I mostly spent it configuring my new laptop and watching TV with my friends. Mostly cop slop: Law & Order, Steven Seagal: Lawman, etc. To Catch A Predator too, but TCAP was, is, and always will be peak television. We also discussed some completely deranged hypotheticals, which I will not get into on this blog.
The girl sitting next to me in The Board & Brew said, “All my guy friends are chuds,” with a tone of complete bewilderment and dejection, and she was so real for that. Truly the CompSci major experience of all time. I should probably put my headphones on and listen to music, or play some more Oblivion. The remaster works, and it works well, so I’m very pleased with that. I’m going with a more or less pure mage build this time instead of the spellswords and crusaders I usually go with, although I dropped Illusion and picked Blunt as a class skill (fact-checked by REAL old-school D&D clerics: ✅ TRVE ✅), so I’m not entirely without options when my Magicka runs dry. Still a Breton, though. I randomly generated his face, and he has a fairly mer cast to his features; he kinda looks like a young Willem Dafoe playing David Bowie (in character as the Thin White Duke). Right now I’m rummaging through abandoned barrels and crates in the Imperial City market like a Skooma addict hustling for enough drakes to get his next fix. My current plan is to do a few quests in the area, build up some capital, make my way to Jauffre, then book it to Bruma to start the Mages Guild questline.
As I write this, it’s just after 5:30 now. I’ve been screwing around with City Isle stuff, and I’ve finally figured out how the lockpicking minigame works. Mind you, I’ve had Oblivion since high school, and it finally clicked. Good sign! As I write this, it is now just before 10. I went through Vilverin and managed to collect enough glowy rocks to finance my adventures for the rest of the game. I also now have a steel shield to match my steel mace, although I’m otherwise wearing robes. I’ve begun making my way to the Priory on foot, and killed a bandit when I figured that was a good place to stop.
Sierpinski Tetrahedron 