Cav's Place

Since it was pretty much a complete joke, the AI opponent not daring to attack that dragon and letting me freely transform the map, actually finished that final “Divine Empire” scenario Sunday, so I can finally count Disciples as finished, after taking just one month to finish the campaigns and then a full year, on and off, to make my way through these scenarios. That means I really should be writing a review for it, since I was saying I’ll always review a game I finish if it has less than three reviews on MobyGames, and also if it has exactly three and I liked it or think I have something in particular to say not covered by the others, and the Gold Edition has none, while the base game has two. But since I’m still putting that off, I’ll just write this personal post now, to have a first one this week.

Monday I did something which may well prove to have been a very bad idea, but I had the money for this set aside all year, was rather necessary considering what I mean to do, and saw what seemed like a good sale in a store I could just get to, being in this nearby mall that also has a Carrefour, with a Kaufland also being nearby. So I first took the electronics I had forgotten last time, plus the plastics gathered since then and some of the paper, dropping it all off in the appropriate places, and also checking some prices at Kaufland since I had to go there to drop off the electronics anyway, but only buying cat food when I got back there, after getting everything else. Then went to Carrefour, seeing that the price for that better kind of pumpkin was indeed, and still, that surprisingly low one, this time the price label being placed correctly, so I bought one of those, plus another watermelon.
Then went to Hervis, for what I had in mind. I’m talking about a pair of new running shoes, actually looking for some specific ones I had decided on while looking through what they had on sale on the site. The site stated that this particular store had them in size 41.5, 42 and 42.5, among others, and I wanted to try all those sizes, since the old ones are 42 but may be just a little bit large, yet at the same time running shoes should be a bit large. However, they were high on the wall and I could only reach a 43.5, smaller sizes being so high I couldn’t even see whether they even existed. Did try though, not trying to climb but stretching as much as I could, and also looking through the boxes at the bottom, finding them all empty. That must have somehow made another customer think I was working there, though those who do wear black t-shirts with the store logo and I had a plain white one with a little green, since he asked whether I had some other model available in a certain size, seeming a bit bothered when he had to ask twice and then surprised when I asked how would I know. I was actually checking out and trying on those shoes in the larger size then, just to see how they feel.
One problem was the listed price though, the site listing 199.99 RON (€43.02 or $49.09) but the label listing 299.99 RON (€64.54 or $73.64). Not sure whether it was while I was still trying to work up the courage or after I had done so and the employee was getting new labels, but I saw another guy checking out a pair of these shoes, then looking at the price and immediately calling someone, saying there was a problem, at which point I muttered that I was looking at that too, though I doubt he heard. Either way, when I did go to an employee to point out the pricing issue, he pulled out his phone, checked, confirmed it and said the correct price was indeed the one on the site, apologizing for the wrong one on the label. Then he got the ladder and got a 42 down for me, which seems to have been the only pair in that size that they had, before going to get new labels to replace the wrong ones. Only asked for a 41.5 as well when he got back, and never did ask for a 42.5, as it was getting increasingly difficult to keep saying something. Since I was trying on the 41.5 when he finished placing the new labels on the others, he grabbed the 42 as well, but at least placed it within reach when he put it back, letting me know.
In the end, I got the 42 after all… Even if when I got to the checkout and asked about the warranty I was told it’s just 30 days, as it tends to be for clothing items bought from stores, even though I saw just these shoes, sold by the same store but through the “marketplace” of the largest on-line store from here, as having a two-year warranty, but I didn’t want to order shoes on-line and those charged shipping as well. Two years is what Decathlon offers for everything too, and what I had, and made use of, for the old ones, but couldn’t see anything there in this price range that looked interesting enough. So I really hope I won’t need that warranty, because it’ll be one huge waste of money if they won’t last, this being the most I ever spent on any item of clothing or shoes by a huge margin.

Actually put the new shoes back on before exiting the mall and walked back wearing them then, only then noticing the lack of that little thing holding the shoelaces at the front that the old ones have, and which pulls up that part of the shoe when the shoelaces are tightened, while without it that harder bit ends up pressing on the bottom of your toes if the shoelaces are tightened. But, after noticing that, I tightened the shoelaces differently on the left shoe and it hardly seemed a problem, yet of course just walking in them for a bit wasn’t any sort of useful test and I wanted to run in them as soon as possible, which I did Tuesday. Again wanted to go relatively early, though not as early as last week, so didn’t set any alarm, but got up after happening to wake up around 8:20 AM. Only went out the door at 10:15 AM though.
Did get a bit worried on the way to the park, the left shoe not feeling quite right, seeming just a bit tight at the back and even more at the little toe, but it was all right while running, everything except it being tight at that toe seeming almost solved by the time I was done, and that toe not looking too bad after I was done either. And they do help while running, as at first I had to get a feel of, well, stepping again, as they absorb the shocks way better and also push the foot back up a bit, so I knew I was going too quickly and had to hold myself back a few times over the first sector, getting a good time even so, 4:17.52 to be exact. And the overall time was good too, 47:55. Sector times were 4:17, 5:03, 5:51, 4:26, 5:01, 5:54, maybe around 4:28, maybe around 5:05, 5:57 and 1:53, making for lap times of 15:11, 15:21 and 15:30. On lap three I again forgot to check the time after sector one, as I was calculating what times I needed to stay under 48 minutes and I just got lost in that at just the wrong time, so I know the first two sectors were covered in 9:33, that when I did look it was 4:41 after the start of the lap, and that it was likely less than 15 seconds after what I consider to be the end of sector one, but otherwise I can only estimate.
That little toe did sting a bit after I was done, but like I already said, it didn’t look too bad, and it seems to be in a somewhat odd shape anyway. The thing is that if I look, the little toe on my right foot seems to press harder against the shoe, yet I feel absolutely nothing wrong there. I probably should have tried the 42.5 as well, especially since the listed length of the 42, 26.5 cm, is smaller than that of the old shoes, which are also size 42 but list 27 cm. But those are just a bit loose at the back, especially the right one, which is probably also why the cloth ended up tearing a bit there and I needed to protect that heel with something for quite some time now, so I think this is still the best size I could have chosen. Now it remains to be seen how I’ll feel in them in the longer term… And how well they’ll last, also since I may have spotted a little area, in the middle, where that bottom layer of rubber may not be glued on quite right on the left one. Not really sure though, and don’t want to start pulling on it.

Moving on, went back out after that, since there was a note on the kitchen table to get some sugar that was on sale at Carrefour, and also got some plums and carrots while I was there, and some cat food of another kind from Kaufland, since I had forgotten about that the previous day and the money left along with the note could cover that as well. Also noticed that it was a good thing I got that pumpkin and watermelon the day before, since even though normally Carrefour changes prices Thursday, the watermelon had gotten 50% more expensive, while that type of pumpkin got to a price that’s more normal for this time of year, some four and a half times more than what I got it for. I’m yet to cut and bake that pumpkin though, so if there’s any particular reason why it was so cheap I’m yet to see it.

Also saw yesterday that The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, which I had ordered earlier this month, when that store I prefer to buy from announced 20% off everything for one day, had arrived, but I only got the e-mail letting me know I could come pick them up at 3:15 PM and by then dad had left, using the metro card, and I didn’t know when he was going to be back or whether he’ll leave again after that, so I caught up on some sleep and left picking them up for today. So I at least bought something from them this year as well, after having done so once per year since 2012. The time of year changed though, since the orders were made in April in 2012, March in 2014 and 2015, and February in all other years, including the one I ended up canceling earlier this year.
It was rather odd when I got there though, as they didn’t even have that little sticker there anymore, so if you don’t know where you have to go there’s nothing letting you know they’re in that house. There is one of those stickers on the door, but it’d be hard to notice through the fence. At least that told me I was at the right door, yet it remained stubbornly closed when I got there, after they had unlocked the gate for me. Not sure whether I had to push harder or they had to unlock that as well and didn’t, but I tried opening it a few times, then went around and looked at the other door, seeing that there was no sticker there, then went back and tried again, eventually hearing someone inside tell someone else that someone was at the door, so she came and opened it.
Things went well after that, but somewhat less well on the way back, since for the first time in quite a while I took the metro the wrong way… And didn’t even realize it at first, to get off at the first stop, only doing so at the second, which is a pretty complicated station that I haven’t used in many years, so even if I’d have remembered anything it wouldn’t have been useful. But since I had dad’s monthly pass I could just go through the exit gates and then back in through the entrance ones right in front of them, changing lines without having to try to figure out whether I could have done that without reaching the gates. It did mean I ended up on that second train after 5 PM, after I had gotten on the first one just before that time, and it clearly showed, the second one being far more crowded.

So now I still have a review to write, which I won’t be doing tomorrow but really should do before the end of the week. Also still have a protest report to write, but not that sure I want to, though either way I should write about what I did during the August 11 and 12 protests, since I left that out of the previous post. And then, or possibly even before any posts about protests, I really should start reading something, likely starting with just these books I picked up today. They’re really big ones, so they’ll take me a while, but I really should get back to reading, since I haven’t read anything since May and this year I’m falling behind even that crappy goal of averaging one book per month. If I’ll at least manage to finish these two by the end of September, I’ll have four more to read in the remaining three months to at least manage that.