It’s been a while. I usually leapfrog upgrade, but I did it all last time: i5-10600k, 3060Ti, an m.2 SSD. Was amazed at the size of the SSD.

I overclocked the CPU and it’s held up way better than I had expected, but as raytracing stops being optional more and more, I don’t know how much time my GPU has left.

Farscape.

I had a roommate that loved the show and some of the later season stuff seemed really interesting when I caught it by chance, but I just couldn’t get into it every time I tried to sit through the first season. I think it’s a lost cause now with how much sci-fi TV has evolved.

The funny thing is Claudia Black’s character was my favorite part of Stargate SG-1, and I also liked Ben Browder on it too. At least I saw enough of Farscape to catch the little wink-and-nod there.

This was the show that taught me cringe-inducing humor is not at all for me.

Still the best synthesis of story and gameplay I’ve seen. The game’s phenomenal at attaching you to characters through gameplay (and it tells you early what exactly it’s gonna do with that, too).

The sequel does it too, but in a very different (and very bold) way.

Freezing diced veggies was a game-changer for me. Sometimes I just want to get it all done at once so I don’t have to pull out the board and wash everything every time.

It’s like I’m a sous chef for future me.

A lot of cards have other fringe perks like insurance on rental cars, for example. Absolutely worth flipping through your benefits package sometime.

I can hear it in my head.

The Expanse is one I never skipped once on watch or rewatch (I was even annoyed that it wasn’t regular until season 2).

Skyward Sword was a weird one for me. The motion controls drove me nuts almost all the time, except when they didn’t and I was having a blast. Unfortunately, that wasn’t super often, and when I finally did get into a groove, it was the very end of the game. The final boss felt really good. But then it was over.

The third dungeon is also one of my favorites in the series and the story has one of my favorite Zeldas (the character) in the series, too. At the same time, there were also large stretches I hated. So many ups and downs for me.

I started a HG/SS Nuzlocke recently–first time I’ve done one–and ran into the same trouble I always do on hardcore/high-risk runs: as soon as it starts to get easy or too predictable, I completely lose interest.

Miss that era of Pokémon something fierce, though.

Toups said calling it gumbo is a north/south Louisiana thing, but hell if I know.

He also said to use good sausage, and if you don’t live somewhere where you can get good sausage, move. Solid life advice.

Gumbo. I’d never tried it since I’m not a fan of seafood dishes, but I stumbled upon Isaac Toups’ chicken and sausage gumbo recipe and it’s borderline life-changing.

One of the best things to ever come out of my kitchen.

Also a calorie bomb, unfortunately. It goes in my Thai green curry and I wish I could have it more often 😩

Coconut milk is also one of those things where brand name makes a huge difference.

This is the best suggestion I’ve heard for this season’s Ellie problem. I don’t know how people who haven’t played the game feel about this season, but Ellie’s drive for being in Seattle in the first place has felt wildly inconsistent. It’s like she’s flipping a switch on and off, whereas game Ellie is constantly, noticeably pensive, processing, simmering with growing rage. And it’s so important to the rest of the story that I honestly wonder if they’ll be able to save it at this point.

Maybe more Joel was exactly what they needed to keep things on track, keep Ellie’s focus. Because I sure wasn’t feeling it.

Both the forest and the late added character were there to give opportunities to shake things up/lighten the mood. This was a grim, grim season and you’ve gotta have some of that in an 11-hour runtime.

I agree on Saw’s part; felt like something they had to get through to complete the series’ connection to Rogue One. I did love the season other than that, though. “Who Are You” is one of the best episodes of TV I’ve ever seen.

I think this series can be really good for people that don’t know Star Wars, too. Anyone that enjoys spy thrillers and political intrigue should really get on well with it.

Thing is, this book isn’t even going to have the ending yet, and at this point he doesn’t exactly have a high bar to clear to make improvements on how GoT approached the ending. There’s also nothing wrong with outright making changes to the ending if he wants.

He’s clearly been in his own head about the series ever since after the fourth book. He still likes writing about the world, so my best guess is whatever progress he makes on Winds is occasional efforts to try to shed that emotional weight and free up some headspace for the side stories he likes more.

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a steal at $3. And it definitely made me feel old seeing it on this list 😭

This one feels like a case of patient gaming backfiring on me. It took me a couple of years to finish Ys IX, but now that I’ve waited on this, I just want to hold out until Proud Nordics comes out.

Price isn’t the only consideration with patient gaming, there are also features and bugs to think about. It’s a good game, but there are lingering issues–softlocks (brutal in a game without manual saves), crashes, and especially sound problems–that I think would warrant patience for some players, especially on PC.