Commute to the gym & a gifted album - W28

And well, here is another weeknote for y’all to update you on what I’m up to. I’m still following the World Cup, I have done a return to the gym and even went on a Saturday.

• ⚽ Norway lost against England, so now the stakes are clear. No Latinos want Argentina to win again for some reason, and same goes for me, if England took Mexico out, they better get to the finals and snatch that cup. You got this Bellingham.

• 🎨 Continued making a few more themes for the Nintendo 3DS, I made a theme for Terranigma—another SNES game I love—and another one based on TechDweeb’s iconic themes for retro handhelds!

• 🛡️Purchased some stuff from AliExpress which arrived today, including a case for my 3DS styled after Monster Hunter, a glass panel replacement for the upper screen, a screen protector and an analog stick cap replacement, in case the rubber of mine dies like it often happens.

• 🚲 Went to the gym on Saturday, and I did so riding my bike! Which means is the first time I left it locked without direct line of sight. I also had the bright idea of doing leg day. Riding back home was alright, but my legs and lower back have been achy for a while, send help.

• 📱 Wrote a blogpost already, but yeah, I lost my phone for a whole day, and it was quite the stressful time. It’s all in the past by now, almost as if nothing had ever happened, time sure is weird.

• 🛍️ Because of Summer vacation time, all of my family is now together yet again—so all the siblings are back here to annoy me!—that basically means we went window shopping to the mall again (and also buying some things too). My wallet is very light.

• 💿 Acquired a new album for my Bandcamp collection! Time Once Lost (Remastered) by Rozen. This was actually a gift from Bojidar because of my birthday—it took a while because Bandcamp screwed up—and it’s actually kind of crazy. It’s a bunch of remixes based on The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask and IT RULES. Listening to it as I type this post.

• 🎧 Besides that album I returned to a Welcome to Night Vale and some really interesting episodes of 99% Invisible

Gaming

This was a varied week when it comes to the devices I played. Playtime on my Nintendo 3DS, PSP, Nintendo Switch and my phone too!

Started

• Black Rock Shooter is a PSP exclusive I saw mentioned for the first time on the TWG Discord, since its graphical artstyle is one of the best in the system. We play as a cute/edgy black-haired anime girl with amnesia who is Humanity’s last hope in an apocalyptic future where machines are taking over. The game is a sort of rail shooter RPG where I move across stages and get close to the enemies to enter combat, which consists of shooting at them with a huge gun that the protagonist effortlessly carries somehow. It seems to follow the rule of cool pretty well, I’m interested in the story too, as the stakes are rather high! only completed like 5 missions so far.

Ongoing

• Fire Emblem Awakening has become much more complicated now that I realized how pairing up characters together to make them get married affects the events in the game! The story has become very interesting now with some revelations I kind of saw coming but with implications far bigger than I thought. For now, I’m having fun! But definitely needed a little break, which is why I started BRS.

Finished

• Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores was another DLC of the original Monument Valley and I really love how different the theme of each level was. The artistic style of this title is unmatched and timeless. Beautiful isometric themes with super creative levels that really broke my brain even more than the original levels and Ida’s Dream. That final eight level was truly something else, I had to find help for a part of it, but other than that, basically a sequel in an on itself—I’ll definitely play the other two games too!

• Transistor is over, and it was very, very good. This game came before Hades and you can tell how it inspired it. The gameplay was very good in my opinion, a weird mix of action and turn based combat that kind of felt like Into the Breach

Reading

• Kingdom - Up to chapter 873. After finishing Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie I was missing something more focused on action stuff and decided to return here. As always, it does not dissapoint, the Hi Shin Unit is going on the offensive now, as well as some other armies, but the great general and enemy of Qin, Riboku, seems to have a plan to make everyone understand his true might as a strategist.

• Blue Lock - Up to chapter 353. Blue Lock’s next opponent is England, and they continue to discuss how to face off against them. There’s a bit of an unexpected visit that shakes the team a bit, but fun stuff is happening!

• Spy x Family - Up to chapter 137. After Loid manages to escape the hilarious scenario of the previous arc, he’s way too exhausted and ends up in the hospital, where her fellow spy coworker—who has a huge crush on him—ends up trying to fulfill some super dangerous mission to earn his attention, but Anya doesn’t want any of it, other than candy.

Watching

I wanted to watch the sheep detectives movie but my siblings watched it without me first and I haven’t had a chance to see it on my own. However, I saw another masterpiece.

• Megamind - I already watched this film this year, but this is one of those films that you just can’t help but love. What a fantastic film this is, both hilarious and actually epic. The best animated superhero film after The Incredibles. Way better than Despicable Me.

Around the Web

Blog posts

• i went to the world cup and all i got was my umbrella taken away - a thoughtful slice of life from tiramisu reflecting on the world cup, football and the experience of it all!
• Holiday reading, mostly from Standard eBooks - Neil shares some rather curious reads he chose from the public domain, I just like seeing people mention Standard Ebooks in the wild.
• Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze? - An piece from Brennan that shares some wisdom I hadn’t seen worded in such a way, it definitely got me thinking and I think you should check it out as well.
• I Know Everything About You - Lou shares some life experiences related to his skill—one I’m jealous of—to actually remember details about people and their life.
• My Nintendo 3DS XL - Syl wrote a wonderful piece inspired by my own post on the 3DS. I loved the pictures and especially the pendants she shared, lots of personality in a single photo. I should get some charms for my handhelds too…

YouTube

• I Made My LEGO Gameboy Actually Playable! - I am aware of Natalie’s design using real Game Boy parts, but this alternative isn’t bad either! Good stuff.
• Designing My Dream Retro Handheld - Ross has made this epic video where he shares a wishlist of features for the ultimate 4:3 handheld. I agree with pretty much every single point. It will probably never happen.
• Ammo Counters - Oh man, this challenge is always a joy, and this retrospective on videogame ammo counters was incredible. The whole evolution of the mechanic until the modern day.
• Nintendo Was Right - After Sony announcing that physical media will die, it seems like, as bad as Nintendo is, they are the least bad of them all, which I guess deserves some respect nowadays.

This is day 96 of #100DaysToOffload