In less than one month I'll be having my 38th birthday. And as is usually the case around these times I'll be posting yet another birthday wish list.
As I grow older and look back on past wish lists I can see the changes happening in my way of thinking and my priorities. Doing a quick search on my blog and I can see I really wasn't that much into fantastic things to wish for.
Things have changed greatly this year, though. Stuff happened that I did not want to happen. There were things in my life, as well as my wife and daughter's lives, that we were hoping would happen to us that were changed because of certain things we cannot control.
Anyway, without further ado, here is my 2018 birthday wish list.
- Money. Greed is good. Specially with what's happening now. I'd rather not talk about it. I just wish I could just one day receive a huge amount of money. I could take care of our problems, buy a decent sized condo near Makati, fix or replace the Rav4, and invest for our future.
That's it. That's all I want. A huge amount of money. Money solves all problems. It's also the root of most problems, but having a huge amount of money will help solve it. It probably won't buy me happiness, but I do know it will make help me sleep better at night. Just knowing I have the funds to take care of stuff that's beyond my control.
This 38th birthday of mine will be interesting. I was about to type "the worst birthday in a while" but to be honest, it won't. I'm having a lot of problems now and I'm doing my best to persevere and push through. Negativity will be there, but I'm fighting. I'm doing it right now, fighing my "woe is me" attitude.
Out.
I found out last Friday evening local time that Anthony Bourdain had passed away. That would be June 8, 2018.
I was devastated upon hearing the news. I had read his book "Kitchen Confidential" and also watched his old shows, "A Cook's Tour" and "No Reservations." I enjoyed watching his shows because he gave a breath of fresh air to the typical food shows I watched. He was showing me a different perspective.
He made me want to cook more. Watching his shows and reading his book showed me what it was really like to be a chef. It shattered whatever illusions I had about being a chef. But at the same time, it made me love food and cooking even more.
It just pains me that he decided to end his life. I hope that he finds peace from whatever problems that he had. And I do hope that people do not forget the impact that he gave us on our lives.
Rest in peace, Anthony Bourdain. Thank you for everything.
Out.
I've recently encountered a lot of changes in my life. Things that have led me to more questions than answers. Things that have, on occasion, pushed me to giving up.
I'll still keep fighting, and I'll still keep looking for answers. That's all I want to post right now.
Out.
I recently started playing Battletech by Harebrained Schemes. I've been a fan of Battletech since I was in grade school. Though I never formally played it, I've always been reading novels and playing video games of it.
It was a relative no-brainer for me to pre-order the game. In fact, I got the deluxe digital content edition as a sign of support for the developers.
Overall I'm happy with the game. My biggest issue is with the random number generator, or RNG.
It's pretty funny that most of the games I like depend so heavily on RNGs. Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 featured this heavily. So did Assassin's Creed: Rebellion on mobile. Battletech also relies on this system to determine successes, failures, and critical hits.
Anyway, what's my issue? The random number generator is too random. And oftentimes favors the AI. It has been a common theme for me to save my game after almost every turn so that in the event that the enemy "crits" me, meaning he does devastating damage to my team's mechs, I have a fallback save to load. This happens. A lot.
Don't get me wrong, there are times when the tables are turned and I do the devastating damage. It just so happens that it occurs more often for opposing AI than my team and I.
It would have been nice if they came up with difficulty sliders. Make the easiest difficulty a guarantee that the user will have a higher factor of scoring critical successes than the AI. This would be great for people who just want to play the game to know the story. Then you can ramp up the difficulty with both sides having equal chances of getting crits. Then for those who really want a challenge, make the AI have more chances to crit.
Then again, I wouldn't call that difficulty. I would call it frustration levels.
There's no strategy involved in Battletech. I tried doing the higher ground maneuver and I still missed my attacks. The AI calmly blasted my head next turn. The only strategy I honestly can find in this game is knowing when to move during your turn or reserve your moves so you can attack the AI in a more favorable setting.
Aside from the RNG issue I'm happy with the game. The animations are nice, the VFX works, and the sounds are great. Mechs are cool. I don't mind if some of the mechs I knew growing up are "unseen" and not available in the game.
Would I recommend this game? Yes. I'm pretty sure other people are more patient than me.
Out.
This year I haven't been blogging as much. Let's just say I've been going through a lot of good and bad things that I am processing and acting on. Things I would rather not blog about.
Just know that everything is still fine and I am still trying to make the most of this journey I call life.
Out.
