Cav's Place

Monday I got up at 12:29 PM and went out at 2:22 PM, which is a time that looks interesting enough to list so exactly. The first idea was to finally get that detergent from Penny, this being the first time I’d buy anything from there, and after also having a look in a Mega Image on the way and seeing a good price for some nice grapes, making a mental note to buy some later, I was back in about one hour, the 10 kg bag being pretty easy to carry when I had a sturdy bag and didn’t get anything else, so I could easily switch hands when needed. A somewhat strange thing was that the cashier was asking everyone whether they had the store’s card, which apparently doubled the points received for discounts for some plushies that can be turned into pillows, but in my case she didn’t ask, looked on the receipt, paused for a moment to multiply the number listed there by two and handed me that doubled amount of stickers, as if I had a card, which I obviously didn’t. Not like I’m going to use those points, so it doesn’t matter anyway, but I was wondering why and could only think of the fact that I had made sure that the bag of detergent had the bar code on top when I placed it on the belt, so she didn’t have to handle it in order to scan it, and also gave her 101 RON, to get 30 RON back as change.
Either way, left again about half an hour after getting back, first checking that place for a carrot cake again, being told they still didn’t have any, and then also going to that confectionery, asking about that cake when I still didn’t see any and being told they will make it again, but not until after next week, when they’ll be on vacation. So I continued on my way, first going to the bar where you could sign for Demos to take part in the local elections, that being the last day, getting there right at 5 PM and first going to the bathroom, to wash my hands and also give myself a bit of time, the bathroom being in another body of that building. Then I walked in and tried to look for the list of signatures while pretending to look around the place and check the menus. However, a waiter, or at least somebody working there, approached me almost immediately, asking whether he could help me and insisting when I first ignored him and then mumbled a weak “no” as I walked past him and inside, still looking for those lists. Had to get back out right away though, since he said I don’t have access to the bar, so I got back to the menus and pretended to actually read them more carefully while he just stood there and stared right at me, then had another look around and finally spotted the lists, which were just in front of the door and had been behind him when I walked inside, so I asked whether that was where one could sign for Demos and he confirmed. So I did it, mumbling something along the lines of “might as well, if I got here anyway”, though that was obviously the only reason I had gone there in the first place. Not that it helped them in any way, as they again gathered far fewer than necessary, but at least I did my part.
Since that bar was close to it, went to the Carrefour from Unirii after that, but wandered around a little at first, since Penny’s site lists a location in that area as well and I was thinking of getting some more onions. It also lists a location I should have passed by on the way to that pastry place, but Google Maps disagrees and it seems it’s correct, as I found neither, so I just went to that Carrefour, mainly to get bread… And ended up finding that kind of cat food I looked for Friday, at Carrefour’s price, this actually being the only kind from that brand that was available in the large bags there. So I grabbed two of those bags as well, since that time I had, unusually, taken a fair bit more money with me than I thought I’ll need, then left everything in one of their cabinets, since they finally changed those from there to use codes as well and I saw no reason to carry the stuff around in that case. The first one I tried didn’t work, and after I tried a couple of times the guard came to have a look as well and then told me to try another one, but the one he pointed me to was dirty, so I tried yet another, finding that it didn’t work either, and then one more, which finally did. Judging from the time on the receipt and how long I guess that took me, I’d say I was finally leaving at about 6 PM, heading towards the next planned destination, which was that pastry place from the Romana Square area that I had finally bought something from back in November, twice.
Going through the Old City and taking a look around but not making another detour to also actually search for that other supposed Penny location, I was at that pastry place at 6:35 PM, checking what was available, which didn’t include one thing I’d have specifically wanted, and the prices, which seem to have increased a little. There was another nearby place I had noticed that last time though, so before actually buying anything I went to have a look there as well, and also checked out the Mega Image in between, though they didn’t have those grapes there so I didn’t get anything. Neither of those selling in either of those two places were wearing masks, which bothered me, but I nevertheless returned to that pastry place and got three things, somehow messing up when adding the prices and giving the guy 1 RON more, which he promptly handed back. Then I also returned to that other place, just in time to see the employee arrange what little was left on one shelf. A piece of the carrot and orange pie I had settled on after that first look was among those few remaining products, so I got that, but she was out of pretzels. That left me with some money I still wanted to spend on such things and I didn’t care to just get pretzels from elsewhere, so I had a quick look at the prices of the other things she still had and asked for the one that matched what I had left, but after she put a piece in a bag she placed it on the scales and asked if I was aware that it’s priced by weight. Since it weighed some 220 grams, making it some 2.2 times that listed price, I said I wasn’t and no longer wanted it in that case, and she said that’s what usually happens, most people failing to notice that it’s priced differently from the rest. Either way, still wanting to spend that amount, I returned to that pastry place and asked for one more thing, which matched that amount, finding myself saying I did when the guy asked whether I wanted it heated, though it was obviously pointless.
After finally leaving that area at 7 PM, when I returned to Unirii I first went to the Mega Image from there, finding a small quantity of those grapes left and getting the better ones, along with some potatoes, garlic and four small yogurts, since I happened to notice that they were also on sale, four for the price of three, and decided to make do with this regular yogurt and leave my plan to go to Auchan again for a certain other kind for next week. Considering how they apply and list discounts, I took some time after leaving to check and make sure everything was fine, then returned to that Carrefour, I’d say a little before 8 PM, first adding my new purchases to what I already had in that cabinet and going back inside to also get cabbage and, after having another look at what was available in that area, also some expiring eggs. That cashier promptly handed back 1 RON as well, this time because I failed to notice that two such bills were stuck together, despite actually taking a few seconds to, I assumed, pry them all apart. Then I finally retrieved everything from that cabinet and, once outside, took quite a few minutes to arrange everything properly in the bags and backpack, actually starting on my way back at 8:25 PM.
Didn’t weigh what I carried, but I’d say it added up to about 11 kg, maybe a little more, and I hardly felt it anyway, everything being nicely separated and balanced. The one thing I did feel was that my shoes had rubbed my right heel, and I have no idea whether the cause are the regular ones or the running ones. It’s just a little issue at the moment, but if it becomes an actual problem I’ll need to see what I can do about it, especially if it’s caused by the running shoes. Either way, not including the distance covered in stores, it seems I walked some 18.5 km that day, including that first part of the trip, to get the detergent, and was finally back at 9:20 PM, eventually having that carrot and orange pie, which was excellent and made me decide to get more from there someday, and then the spinach pie bought from that pastry place with a bowl of beans late in the evening, finishing close to midnight. After that, only started eating dinner at 3:25 AM, and again only got to bed at 5:20 AM.

Tuesday night, I confirmed that my mouse is double clicking on the left button. Shit! I thought I noticed a double click around midnight, the button also feeling and sounding different that time, and there definitely seemed to be a few more double clicks right after that one, but only on text, hundreds of test clicks on other things seeming all right. However, just before going to bed, which I actually only did at 5:20 AM again, I tried again and got two obvious double clicks in ten test clicks. And Wednesday the double clicking was awfully frequent, like something just broke in it, so I even connected the spare mouse, to use when I can’t afford double clicks, also finally getting around to uninstalling the XTD‘s software, which I had just left there until then. Also sent e-mails to two places, asking whether they can replace microswitches in this model and whether the price would be worth it, one replying to say they don’t work with this brand anymore and the other saying that they’ll need to diagnose it first and then they’ll tell me the price, and if I don’t agree to pay it I’ll need to pay 70 RON for the fact that they diagnosed it. That seems like quite a risk, but since I don’t dare to try to open this one as well and getting another one of the exact same model isn’t an option anymore, I nevertheless need to consider it, at least until I’ll find the “Remastered” version at a low enough price. One store seems to allow purchasing extended warranty for that version though, which would be nice, since it’d quite certainly be needed.

As for yesterday, I had the alarm set to 2:30 PM, but dad left a bit after noon, then Liza started meowing, and after she stopped I went to pee, seeing 12:22 PM. Slept poorly after that, only managing very brief naps, waking up quickly time and time again even if it really was quiet, but at least I did get some more sleep until dad got back, at 2:20 PM, when I decided to also get up. Then I had the usual stuff plus almonds, with the yogurt being that “Greek” one picked up Friday from Kaufland, which had expired by then, and the sweet thing being the last sweet pastry out of those bought Monday, with added honey, and drank most of the tea. Had the full running gear on and didn’t stuff anything in the tights anymore, giving up on the idea of going anywhere else after the run, since I’d have gotten there at rush hour. Left at 4:30 PM, when it was quite windy, some threatening clouds were gathering and the reported temperature was 28°C, expected to drop by 1-2°C by the time I finished running.
The time was finally a good one again, quite extraordinary in fact, especially considering this series of poor and downright bad times managed over the past few months. Being able to run at what for me is a normal hour again, and after getting some more sleep, definitely made a great difference, and the fact that it was cloudy likely mattered as well, but even so, it’s amazing to see 46:49.18, with sector times of 4:09.40, 4:55.19, 5:39 (5:38.88), 4:16.06, 4:55.43, 5:45 (5:44.29), 4:24.67, 5:02 (5:01.98), 5:51 (5:50.35) and 1:53 (1:52.93), making for lap times of 14:43.47, 14:56 (14:55.78) and 15:17.00.
I pushed hard from the start, aiming for a pace I’d clearly be unable to maintain in order to see just what that meant, and after seeing that time on the first sector I decided to keep it up and try to finally get a lap under 15 minutes again, leaving the concerns about what I’ll have left for later. Did mean to settle into something more sustainable from lap two, only aiming to get back under 48 minutes at the end, but the time on sector one of lap two surprised me and I again decided to keep pushing after that, being really surprised when I saw under 15 minutes on lap two as well, which I didn’t think was possible at any point. My first reaction then was to think that I could approach 16 minutes on lap three and still stay even under 47:30, but then I started asking myself whether I might just manage 15:25, to give myself a decent chance to stay under 47 minutes, realizing after sector two that I had a really good chance and in the end managing it by quite some margin. Pushed like crazy on that last lap for it, getting to the point of not really being aware of much of anything around me or even seeing properly anymore, but it worked out.
In terms of problems, the wind remained one throughout the run, only lessening on sector two of lap one, though that was also the only sector when the clouds parted a little and it was sunny. On pretty much all other sectors, there were gusts that made me feel I was barely moving, though at the same time I did what I could to take advantage of the moments when I had the wind behind me, at least when I was aware of it. Otherwise, the park wasn’t crowded and there were even some areas that were almost empty, where I could just push, though in other places I had to do the usual weaving and going the long way around, even taking to the grass a couple of times. More notably, had to slow for a moment on the very first sector, to pick my way through three little girls on bicycles, one of them deciding to cut across the path just as I was approaching them and blocking the way I meant to use, and the end of sector two, under the bridge, was rather tricky on each lap, the worst moment being on lap two, when I actually had to briefly stop, people coming from opposite directions creating quite a roadblock and two girls stepping in front of me, one just clearing the way in time but the other blocking me for a moment. As for those threatening clouds, there were some occasional drops from sector three of lap two, evolving into a drizzle from sector three of lap three, but I managed to finish before it really became a light rain, which happened as I was on my way back from the park.

I’ll also add here that Micky again dashed into my room last night. I didn’t even notice her when I stepped outside, but I guess she was either waiting right in front of the door or right next to it and ran in the instant I opened it, between or squeezing around my legs, and I just saw her getting under the desk a few seconds later, obviously moving behind the computer, among the cables, when I approached. I quickly blocked her way through there though, and this time around she came out from under the desk when I did that, trying to squeeze herself around it on the other side and finding that there was no room, which meant I could then block her way back under the desk as well and she quickly left after that, having no other place to quickly hide in. And I didn’t notice any issues with the cables as a result, so I guess all’s well that ends well.
The particularly unpleasant thing about yesterday, however, was that we had no hot water. It had been out since Wednesday and was supposed to return at midnight, but when they list it like that it usually means it’ll return to the normal pressure at night, and obviously be paid as hot water if you use it, but be only a few degrees warmer than the cold water until morning, and that was the case last night as well. I did mean to have a quick shower before going to bed even so, but when I tried it, the last time being after 5:15 AM, it was too brown to seem usable, and even if the difference was of only a few degrees, I didn’t dare to go as far as to use the cold water, so I ended up going to bed, at 5:25 AM, without showering, despite the run. And there’s also the fact that I used that “hot” water to wash things at night, including some of the vegetables used for the salad, not noticing the color in the kitchen…

As for today, I meant to start reading something, which I keep meaning to do since last week, since I’m really falling behind, having so far only read five books this year. However, after sleeping without having showered after a run, and considering the current situation as well, I decided to first clean my room a little and change the sheets… And actually only did that in the evening, after first writing most of this post, only the first two paragraphs and the parts about the mouse and the run having been written yesterday, and even those getting some additions now. But I hope I’ll at least start reading something before the end of the week… Though at the moment I’m not even sure what I mean to start.

Struggling to write a personal post Sunday evening in order to have a second one this week is something I’m certainly trying to avoid, but here I am. It also means I won’t be napping this evening, and with dad starting to cook at 1 PM, if not a bit earlier, today, I woke up earlier than I hoped I would then as well, so I’d say I still have some catching up to do after Friday… Yet tomorrow I have another long walk planned, possibly after carrying another rather heavy load. I’m hoping the forecast will still say that I should be able to leave next week’s run for later though, because if it’ll go back to what it said a couple of days ago, making tomorrow look like the only day when I should just be able to run in the afternoon, no longer needing to do it in the morning, on next to no sleep, I will do so and get to the walking and the carrying later in the evening. I hope it won’t get to that, because it’d be terribly exhausting and unwise to even try when I’m yet to recover after Friday, but I guess I’ll see exactly what I’ll do when the time comes… Which will also be the case for that small giveaway I mentioned in the previous post, though before going to bed this morning I ended up buying a second game for it, using a heavy discount code someone posted and which was about to expire this afternoon.

To actually get to what this post is about, I’ll start with the fact that, considering the plans for Friday, I tried to get some more sleep Thursday evening, spending at least two and a half hours in bed, but only actually sleeping for one hour at best, being unable to get back to sleep after waking up that first time, and getting caught in a series of thoughts that made me approach a panic attack by the time I eventually cut my losses and got up. But at least I also made the tea while eating at night, finished eating at 3:05 AM and then also took a shit before getting back to bed, at 4:30 AM. Had this idea that, when the plan is to get up again very early and run, if I feel a certain need before going to bed but it’s not exactly pressing, I shouldn’t go then, because it’s better to go shortly before leaving and that’s even less likely to work in that case. But when I quite clearly can’t do it in the morning either way, at least this gets rid of most of that added weight and reduces the risk of said pressing need appearing while running.
However, while that matter was sorted out to some extent, the cats made sure I didn’t even get the little sleep I could have gotten otherwise. First, Liza had a little “concert” just as I was falling asleep, making me fear I won’t be able to do so at all. Then, after I nevertheless managed to, some time after she stopped, Micky had her turn as well. And I’m quite sure I was woken up one more time, either in between or after Micky did it, by something that sounded like rain but was probably water raining down from above on something that made a loud noise. Then again, it’s also possible that I dreamed that, the dream being what woke me up. There’s also a chance that I dreamed that I woke up and in fact didn’t, but I doubt that.

After all of that, I was awake again at 6:20 AM, too exhausted and confused to even know why anymore, and when I saw the time I just turned off the alarm, which was supposed to ring in ten minutes, and got up. Even squeezed out a tiny bit more in the toilet, though definitely not enough to not be worried, and otherwise had the usual stuff plus almonds, with two doughnuts with honey and jam as something sweet, drank most of the tea and left at 8:30 AM, wearing the full running gear and again having a number of things stuffed in my tights, though not as many bags as last time. The reported temperature at 8 AM was 20°C, but what it was while I ran is harder to say, because I didn’t think to rush to the computer as soon as I got back and still catch the one reported for 10 AM, and both the forecasts for those hours and the reported temperatures for 11 AM differ by 3-4°C between Bucharest’s three weather stations and the sites I check. Let’s say it was about 22°C when I started and about 25°C when I finished, but that’s just my estimate, and it was sunny anyway, so it felt hotter.
The plan was to go for 16 kilometers and aim to stay under 1:18 again, and I was feeling good enough when I started to even think that I might just get under 1:17. However, the time was an awful 1:20:50, with sector times of 4:28, 5:12, 6:05, 4:35, 5:12, 6:06, 4:40, 5:17, 6:15, 4:48, 5:28, 6:24, 4:46, 5:27 and 6:07, making for lap times of 15:45, 15:53, 16:12, 16:40 and 16:20. So I realized after the very first sector just how much of a lie that feeling was, and by the end of the first lap I knew I had next to no chance to even stay under 1:20. Still thought about it, hoping to somehow stay under 16 minutes on lap three as well and maybe just give myself a shred of a chance of managing that, but knew I was realistically looking at 1:21 at best, and that was perfectly clear after missing that lap three target by quite a margin. In fact, I had to push on lap four to still have a chance to stay even under 1:21, and then I really gave it everything on lap five, feeling like I was getting runner’s high from the first sector and starting to drop out of it later, but just continuing to push, especially on the last sector, and at least managing that. Not that it’s worth much of anything, times over 1:20 for 16 kilometers being just awful unless I’m still recovering from a flu or there’s snow and ice to deal with.
In terms of problems, there was a roadblock on sector two of lap one, requiring me to briefly stop, but that was pretty much it in terms of people, other than the usual weaving and going the long way around occasionally. Otherwise, there were a few gusts on sectors one and three of lap four and sector one of lap five, but they were brief and there was hardly any wind the rest of the time. Did somehow “manage” to catch another spiderweb though, I think on sector one of lap four, and probably lost a couple of seconds trying to get rid of that strand. But it mainly was just a matter of being unable to push harder, though my body gave some other warnings as well, starting with my right knee, as early as sector one of lap two. That seemed to get better after a while, but then got worse from sector two of lap three, getting past the level of a warning and becoming a problem I had to keep managing all the way to the end. My left foot had also started threatening to cramp by then, I believe from sector one of lap three, and then the right one did as well, on sector two of lap four, when my left ankle gave me a few warnings as well. And I also started feeling like I needed to take a shit, I believe on sector two of lap three, and while the feeling went away after a while at first, it returned from sector one of lap five. It wasn’t terribly pressing, but did become another thing I had to manage on that last lap.

Had considered going to more places after the run, but with fewer bags stuffed in my tights, it wouldn’t have been enough for the entire planned route and it’d have been pointless to just get some of the things and then have to go again anyway. In addition, I had checked that pharmacy’s site before leaving and it said that they just had one box of one of the things my mother wanted at that location, and even at that hour there was likely to be a line, so I didn’t want to wait in it only to find that it had sold in the two hours that passed since I looked. So I just stopped at that other one, which only required making a small detour on the way back, and got the other thing my mother asked for and a nose spray for myself. The cashier asked whether I had 0.30 RON, to make it easier with the change, and I had only taken the 0.10 RON I still had with me and found another 0.10 RON coin right there on the floor, but when she asked I spotted another such coin on her desk and just blurted out that I’ll have that if I take that one, and she took it without another word, along with what I had.

I checked that pharmacy’s site again after getting back, seeing that it was a good thing I didn’t risk going there, since that last box had indeed been sold by then. So I changed, ate quite a lot of watermelon, drank the rest of the tea, took more bags and the backpack and left again at 11:50 AM. Since I saw that they still had dozens of boxes of that product there, I made the pretty long walk to what I guess is that pharmacy’s main location, getting there at 1:10 PM. Unfortunately, it seems that my phone, even after being replaced, still reports the battery as being half full just before it’s almost empty, since it showed up as being half full when I left and I took the headphones to listen to music on the way, but was I think not much more than halfway there when I got the low battery warning and had to turn it off in order to still be able to turn it back on occasionally and check the time, use the calculator when I wanted to be really sure, or see whether I had anything from dad. At least this is no reason to send it to be fixed yet again, especially since it’s now quite clear that the problem affects the model in general, but it can be annoying at times.
Back to the trip, there was, of course, a line at that pharmacy, starting outside, since they allow a limited number of people inside, but I made the purchase 25 minutes after getting there, which I’d say is a pretty good time, considering the lines that tend to form there. And then I also went to the Kaufland from that area, to improve my chances of finding everything I was looking for, even if I was going to go to the Vitan one anyway, since at the time I thought I’ll find the cat food that was needed at that pet shop. Can’t be absolutely certain, since I didn’t look for some of the things when I got to the Vitan one, but I doubt there was anything I wouldn’t have been able to find there as well, so buying most of the things from there instead meant I had to carry them all that way, but at least there was a somewhat interesting moment when I was looking at the expiring products from there. Three others were doing the same at the time and, while the rest of us were dismissing most things because the quantities were too large to be consumed quickly, the guy who struck me as having a bit of a modern hippie look was pretty much filling his cart while sort of mocking us for being worried about eating expired things and saying they can last for months past the listed dates if stored properly. Seeing as I rather frequently buy such products and, in fact, both the cheese and sour cream mix finished the night before and the yogurt finished that morning had been expired for a week, I’m quite aware that things can last past the listed dates under the right conditions, but definitely not for months longer when it comes to such products, and buckets of yogurt and sour cream made up much of what was there at the time. But I didn’t say anything, just smiling a little as I left, somewhat pleased that I had met someone who can apparently be relied on to prevent food waste.
Was out of that Kaufland at 2:40 PM, carrying what was probably around 8.5 kg. Not that I even weighed the stuff when I got back, so I’m just estimating based on the weights of the weighed products and my idea of how much the few other things, the packaging and the bags themselves weigh, but with the 4 kg of sugar in my backpack and the rest split between two sturdy bags, with a couple of others inside them to separate the more fragile things and make sure I didn’t have to worry about how I held anything, I could even easily run after a girl who opened her wallet while waiting at a red light and then sprinted away the instant it turned green, because one of her cards flew out at that moment and she didn’t notice. I called after her at first, but she didn’t seem to hear, so I picked up the card and chased after her, until she stopped at the nearby public transportation ticket booth and started searching through her wallet again, at which point I just handed her the card, finding myself blurting out “maybe you need this”. She stared in confusion for a moment, then thanked me, I said “you’re welcome” and then turned around and went back on my way.
As I was walking back from there, kept asking myself whether I should first come back here and drop off those purchases or go straight to that other Kaufland, and what decided it was being unable to find a slice of carrot cake at this little place I passed on the way. I had at some point decided that a slice of carrot cake from there would be the next thing I’ll try when I’ll want to reward myself for something and also support another little place like that, and if the run times only make me want to punish myself, making that long walk for something my mother wanted and ending up saving probably about twice the price of that slice of cake just on that thing, at least compared to the price I saw on the site of the pharmacy dad would have otherwise been likely to buy it from, seemed like a good enough reason to take that amount out of what dad had given me for those purchases. And I actually had a look when I first passed by that place, but they don’t allow customers inside at all anymore and when I was told to stay at the door and that they’ll serve me there I didn’t ask whether they had any that day, just having a quick look from there, seeing the label and walking away… Only to stop there again on the way back, ask for that slice and be told that they don’t actually have any, and I didn’t care for what they said they still had, since those were common cakes I can find anywhere.
Without anything I really didn’t want to carry around in the heat for hours, I just kept going, getting to that other Kaufland at 4:20 PM, stuffing everything in a cabinet and going inside, mainly to also get cucumbers, that being the only thing on my list which I hadn’t bought from that other location. However, I also found surprisingly cheap, nice and large bundles of green onions, so I got three, and some nice yogurts among the expiring products that were also 50% off, not just 30-40% off, as they tend to be at Kaufland, so I got one small one. The problem appeared after that though, when I went to that pet shop and couldn’t find large bags of that kind of cat food, and the medium ones were at the same price they were at Kaufland or Carrefour. Asked an employee whether there was any chance they did have some after all, but he said they didn’t, and when I pointed out that it was listed as available on the site he said they could order it in that case, but it’ll be at least two working days before I’ll be able to pick it up, so I was left wondering what to do, since I needed to get some that evening, dad needing to take some to my mother the next day.
Was leaving at 5:05 PM, carrying an estimated 12 kg and making my way to that Carrefour from the park, but deciding to also look for that cat food at any Mega Image I’ll see on the way. I didn’t even find medium bags in the first one, however, so I went right out, but after having stuffed my things in two cabinets, locking one and leaving the other unlocked, since it didn’t have a key, I forgot to recover the coin needed to lock a cabinet when I left. Realized it after a hundred meters or so and rushed back, just leaving my bags outside as I thought I’ll just grab the coin out of the mechanism and leave again, but I couldn’t find it anymore, and when I looked around after a few seconds I saw the guard holding it towards me and saying that’s what I’m looking for, so I took it, thanked him and left. And then, since I knew there was another Mega Image there, I went to that farmers’ market. Considered having a look through the market, thinking to see whether I’ll at least find some cheap corn to boil, but in the end I just went around it and straight into that store, actually finding the medium bags of that kind of cat food for just a tiny bit less. Still no large bags, however, so I retrieved my things from the two cabinets I had again stuffed them in and continued on my way to Carrefour, where I arrived at 5:50 PM, after a somewhat worrying moment at the entrance of that mall. A guy rushed to enter in the same section of the revolving door, coming alongside me by the time we were inside, so I assumed he’ll go ahead, but instead he stepped back and stayed immediately behind me as we walked through that gate that checks and displays everyone’s temperature, the reason for that becoming clear when it displayed 36.4°C for me and then beeped, so I’d say he knew he had a high temperature and tried to trick the gate in that manner. Still, while she stopped him at first, when I turned to look again I saw that the guard had allowed him inside after all.
When I stuffed everything in a cabinet again, I just emptied the smaller bag and took it with me, forgetting for a moment that I also wanted lemons from there and therefore needed one of those flimsy ones as well, so I ended up just weighing the lemons themselves and then putting them in that bag that I had the other things in and placing the label on it. At Kaufland, where I’m using the self-checkout, which weighs the products again, I can just place the label on one and drop them all on the scales when it comes to such things, and I had done so even earlier that day, with the beets, but I didn’t think that a cashier from Carrefour would accept that… Not that placing them in an open bag, along with the other purchases, only removing those other things and placing them separately on the belt when I got to the checkout, was any different, and he looked a bit oddly at it, but he nevertheless accepted it like that, and also knew just what to do with the 10 RON code I had, not needing to call someone else to help, as it sometimes happens when I have such codes. And yes, I did also get cat food from there, but just two of those medium bags, since they also only had one other kind from that brand in the 1.5 kg bags, that being the same kind that pet shop also had in such bags. Then I left that mall at 6:25 PM, carrying what I’d estimate to have been around 16 kg, possibly up to 16.5 kg, and was back here at 6:43 PM.

Still meant to get detergent from another place though, so I was definitely going to go back out, in which case I also wanted to check out another Mega Image for that cat food, since it’s the largest one from the area, maybe even the largest one I know of. I had passed by it on my way to the second Kaufland I went to, but had no reason to go in then, and then decided against making a detour to have a look when it crossed my mind as I was walking to Carrefour. Also seriously considered not getting that cat food from Carrefour either, knowing that I could at least find those medium bags for a tiny bit less at some Mega Image anyway, but that thought made my mind go through the whole argument I was going to have with dad in that case, with him getting angry because I didn’t get what was “urgent” right away regardless of price. With no real risk of being left without that food or actually needing to spend even more for the medium bags, I should have decided to put up with that argument and do it that way, but when I found myself starting to whimper on the street at the mere thought of it, I ended up doing what I did…
Well, that proved to have been a bad choice, because I left my phone to charge for a few minutes while I put some things away, so I at least had music again when I went back out, at 7:20 PM, rushed to that Mega Image… And found those large bags. The price was a fair bit higher than what Carrefour or even that pet store sold that other kind for, but it still worked out to a little less for the same quantity compared to the medium bags, so I got two of those as well. That left me without enough money for the detergent I meant to get from that other store, so I left that part for Monday, but it also meant it was 7:48 PM when I started walking away from there and I knew that the confectionery I meant to go to next, hoping to at least find a certain kind of cake there if I couldn’t find that one at that other place, closed at 8 PM. Still, I rushed as much as I could without actually running and got there just at 8:00 PM. However, while they hadn’t closed yet, another customer also being inside at the time, they didn’t have much left either, and definitely none of those cakes, if they even make them at all anymore. In fact, I’m not sure what they’d still have available for customers who just walk in anyway, because I checked their site and there’s a message stating that, under the current circumstances, it’s strongly recommended to call first to reserve and schedule picking up products. So I was back at 8:22 PM, with more cat food and nothing else.

Putting it all together, starting with the walk to the park and ending with this last part, Google Maps says I walked over 24 km, not including the distances covered inside stores. Carried things for a good part of that distance, and of course ran 16 km in the morning, but other than some marks left by those ropes this backpack has in place of straps and what looked like a bad sunburn on the back of my neck, I wouldn’t really say I felt it. And it was almost 3:15 AM when I started eating dinner, finishing just about 35 minutes later, though I did also eat something in the evening, also making and drinking another tea then, and also finding the time to look through the file with what ended up being the previous post, in order to post it that night. And I was just in my briefs as I did all of that, since I put the sweaty clothes on the laundry basket and didn’t want to get anything else on before showering, which I only did at night. Unfortunately, speaking of being sweaty, one thing I hadn’t thought of until dad noticed that they were wet was that having the sugar in my backpack all the way meant getting sweat on the bags, and those are paper bags, so I’m not sure what will be done about that. But he took them to my mother, so I can just hope that he told her about it and she’ll think of something, maybe only using them for cooking, because anything else seems quite nauseating to me.

Last Friday, after again sleeping badly in the morning, I actually bought a first game I’m going to give away on the GOG.com forums, probably on my birthday, unless I’ll perhaps end up with a reputation of 3000 before then and decide to make use of that moment instead, so let’s see what I’ll add by then. After that, I went out at 2:40 PM, taking the recyclables, but once outside I realized I didn’t have a cap on, so I dropped the recyclables off in the bin and rushed back for it. Then I finally walked first to the Carrefour from the park, to have a look at prices, just in case, then passed through that other farmers’ market on the way to that Auchan I used to go to, actually getting the route just right in order to come out at the main road next to that recycling center from that area, to check what its rewards are.
At Auchan, I saw that, though it’s not listed on the site anymore, they do still have that kind of bread I used to get from there, being the only location they made it at. The weights were odd, usually around 350 grams, with the smallest having 318 or 320 grams, not sure anymore, and the two biggest ones 360 and 364 grams, and I calculate it at up to 150 grams per day, definitely not more than that, while less than 120 grams per day would be too little, so I looked at all of them, since at least they were packaged and you didn’t need to ask for them anymore, no bread being available like that anymore, and got those two biggest ones, counting them as enough for six days. Looked at yogurt too, but decided against getting some at the time, leaving just with the bread and again finding the right path to that farmers’ market on the way back, using a different route. And the reason why I wanted to get back there was that I had checked out the bakery from that location as I passed through the first time and was wondering about trying some of the bread from there as well, so I ended up getting one to add to the two bought from Auchan. Then I ended up making a detour of almost one kilometer on the way back, exploring an area nearby, and was only getting to the building at 5:45 PM.

Also shaved my head that evening, and after hanging the laundry to dry and putting the water for mamaliga on the stove, I took apart the living room door handle, which had been coming off for quite a long time and which dad wasn’t fixing. Thought I’ll just have a look at it, but after figuring out pretty quickly what was wrong, I thought I’ll be able to fix it just as quickly… And ended up spending over one hour there, because it was really hard to make the last component fit and the whole thing just didn’t seem to work the way I thought it should anyway, making me think that dad had faced the same problem when he replaced the broken old one with it and tried to force what he could force and leave the rest as it was, resulting in it coming off in that manner. So I eventually gave up that night, leaving it off, but managed to fix it the next day, actually only needing some 20 more minutes to do it, and actually do it right, realizing I hadn’t quite figured everything out the first time, and also that there was a better way to push that last component in its place.

Dad had been away since Friday morning, returning Sunday afternoon, so I spent Sunday evening finally finishing the review for Lionheart, submitting it on MobyGames as well. Really should add it and Ascension to the Throne to my Games Played list, along with three more games played in the past which aren’t there yet, since I tend to make such additions in groups of five, but I keep putting it off. And it’s not that I wouldn’t have such games to add right away, as I have at least 16 that I’m certain to have correctly identified and haven’t yet added and even more that I could probably also add, in fact being certain that I correctly identified about half of those as well, the problem with them being that I either gave up quickly or think I only played the shareware portion, or in a few cases just a demo, so I’m not sure they should count. But I struggle to rate games played so long ago, and writing that little comment about them is a struggle as well. In fact, that’s a real struggle even for games played and reviewed recently, but in that case the problem is squeezing the conclusion of the review into the limit I set for myself when writing those comments, while for games played back when I was little I’m worried I’m forgetting something important or incorrectly remembering even what I think I do remember.

Moving on, Tuesday I meant to get up to leave as soon as I’ll first happen to wake up, but that first time actually came while it was still dark, probably mere minutes after I fell asleep, and when I checked the time after waking up again I saw it wasn’t even 6:50 AM, so I only got up after waking up for the third time, the sounds coming from the computer seconds later telling me that the backup script was running, so it was 8 AM. Either way, went out at 9:20 AM, forgetting those things I drop off at Kaufland, though at least that meant I didn’t have to stuff them in a cabinet, since I first passed through that mall to check the prices and expiring things at Carrefour. Then I went to Kaufland and got what I meant to get from there, including one thing I thought was going to be on sale next Monday and Tuesday, realizing while I was there that I hadn’t paid attention to the dates.
That meant I had very little money left when I returned to Carrefour, but it was nevertheless enough for the watermelon I meant to buy. However, a few interesting yogurts had appeared among the expiring products by then and I got two of them. Adding the price I thought I saw, after scanning them twice, to that of the watermelon meant I was a mere 0.01 RON short, so I spent some time searching for a coin, then meant to try it like that when I didn’t find any, hoping the cashier will accept it. However, I scanned those yogurts again before doing so, to be absolutely sure, and saw a price that was 0.20 RON higher than what I was sure I had seen those first two times. It seems highly unlikely that the price changed then, but so does somehow seeing the wrong price twice, and I did try again at that same scanner as well, just in case there was something wrong with one of the scanners, and it was still this higher price. So, after considering looking for a smaller watermelon that also seemed good and realizing that it was going to prove particularly difficult, I just weighed that one again, cheating the scales a little. Felt bad about it, since I had no reason to want to get back at them for anything then, but that was what I could pay… And then, after grabbing my stuff from the cabinet, I saw that there was a crack in that watermelon, so I didn’t feel that bad about it anymore. Still, I hadn’t noticed it before, so maybe it didn’t have it at first and it appeared as I handled it, but it’s also possible that the cashier caused it, since I hadn’t noticed it at all before getting to the checkout and yet did right after that. Either way, spent quite a while trying to make it fit in the backpack, but eventually had to give up and put cabbage there, leaving that mall at noon. The bags and backpack weighed 14.2 kg, but it was easy to carry everything like that and I was back here at 12:20 PM.

I’ll add here that there were no visits recorded that day, and I couldn’t even stay awake to stay on-line until dad got back that afternoon, so I napped for about one hour after showering. Then, as he was cooking and I was cleaning some mushrooms he had brought before that trip and which were starting to go bad, meaning to use them to also cook something after he’ll be done, he dropped an onion into the cats’ water bowl and pointed it out to me, with a look I couldn’t understand until he said that it obviously means the onion must be thrown away, because the cats can transmit things through their saliva and he won’t make such experiments on himself. This, of course, coming from a guy who usually cares next to nothing about food safety and tends to say that you need to gain immunity by not being so careful and exposing yourself to some things, and keeps reminding me that when he was little he drank milk straight from the cow’s udder and nothing bad happened. I meant to use it myself, for what I was going to cook, but when he harshly told me to not even think of putting it back with the others, I threw it away after all.
Felt awful about it though, and also baffled by something like this coming from him, so I reminded him that it’d be washed and cooked, and asked whether he thought it doesn’t come into contact with any animals or insects, or anything else potentially dangerous, on the fields, in storage, during transportation or in the store, but he was saying that he knows the cats have their tongue in that bowl while he doesn’t know anything else and doesn’t have to think of everything, and asking whether I’d eat something out of the cats’ litter box, pretty much ignoring me when I said you can’t compare the situations. I then pointed out that it means it’s a matter of belief, not of knowing there’s a risk, and he said that disease is largely a matter of belief as well, and when I said that’s proven false he said that the placebo effect is proven to be real, and its reverse is also real. So I gave him a while, so he’ll snap out of that state, and then suddenly asked whether he isn’t bothered by placing food straight on the table and then eating it when he knows the cats also get on the table, stepping on it with feet they do have in the litter box, or even leaving his food on the table and at least Liza being likely to at least smell it, if not even try to get a taste, and he went straight back to that usual reply about drinking milk straight from the cow’s udder. So I made the connection for him, reminding him of the earlier discussion, and he paused for an instant, then just said again that he believes it to be different, doesn’t think about those other risks and doesn’t have to, while he does think about that one and won’t experiment in that manner.
Either way, with me doing most of my cooking after he was done, it was just after 3 AM when I even started eating dinner, though I did have something earlier as well, while he was cooking. But I’m actually adding this part to mention that the first taste I had of the tomato, onion and Bianca pepper salad I had made in a hurry that night really brought me back, because that’s a combination I rarely make myself but which was common back when I was little, especially while living with my grandparents. Admittedly, the salad that was usually made then also included at least cucumber as well, which I hadn’t bothered to add that night, and often also radishes, but that didn’t change things, and the fact that the very first bite included a little of each of those three ingredients pretty much made me freeze and feel thrown back by more than 20 years for just a moment.

Meant to include Friday, and the little bit about Thursday, here as well, but I’m quite exhausted and have no idea what else to write as the week’s second post, and since I have enough of a buffer to afford two personal ones, I’ll leave this as it is and put the rest, since there’s quite a lot of it, in the next. Just hope I’ll manage to write it, even if it’ll now need to be a Sunday update, because it may well end up being longer than this one, even if it just covers one day, plus a couple of sentences about the one before it. Did find some time to look over this post in the evening and meant to ask dad whether he could disconnect for a couple of minutes in order for me to post this before midnight and give myself at least the chance of avoiding a Sunday update, even if it’ll be next to impossible to actually make use of it, but as soon as I got up from the computer, the idea completely slipped my mind, running and then spending the day wandering around the city, in the heat and carrying things, on next to no sleep probably having something to do with that. So I’m just posting it now, before going to bed, at the expense of even checking much of anything on-line tonight, since it was a bit after 3:45 AM when I even managed to finish dinner and still had some things to do after that, before even getting back to my room.

I had this ordered very differently in my mind, but since I’m submitting it on MobyGames as well, I’ll again try to stick to that review format and start with the fact that I did rather enjoy the setting and the alternate history idea, including the use of known characters and events. Sure, it could have been much better, but it was nevertheless done well enough, and the presence of daevas and spirits and the little specific information about them was also just enough to make that aspect interesting as well, albeit mainly early on. While some might consider it an oddity, an annoyance or even a bug, I also found the fact that English soldiers have no spirits, no souls, to be a nice touch, making a certain sense if you think about it.
It is true that most of that atmosphere, most of the enjoyable and perhaps in some cases even memorable elements of that setting, are found in the Barcelona area. Since I mentioned that nice touch, even those few dying soldiers that can provide a little added context if you realize you can click on them are in Barcelona. However, by far the most important areas in terms of gameplay for an ARPG are the dungeons, and from this point of view it was the Montaillou Crypt that stood out for me, seeming more complex and created with more care than the others.

When it comes to good design choices, I must make a special note of the fact that you receive full experience for all kills made in your presence. It’s so terribly frustrating when, in other games, it depends on who lands the killing blow, or having companions reduces the amount of experience received, or it even matters how many times a character hits the enemy or how much damage they deal, and kills made by allies that aren’t party members or indirectly, for example by using the environment, may well grant no experience at all. However, none of that matters in Lionheart. If there’s a kill and you’re around, you will receive the experience.
Since I’m on the topic of experience, summoned creatures also grant experience when killed, so keeping enemy summoners around for a while can be desirable. Very importantly, there’s no level cap and until the point of no return you can use the ethereal areas to grind if you so desire, turning those times when the teleport crystals malfunction into something potentially positive while also largely putting the player in control of this aspect. There are a few enemies that respawn in the regular areas as well, but that’s also kept in check, not becoming a problem or creating that feeling that you’re not really doing anything because areas don’t remain cleared, and the crystals also malfunction relatively rarely and will in fact gradually become completely safe as you gain levels, so you’ll be able to return to earlier areas without risking to waste time while still being able to specifically seek out such fights by using those that may still malfunction.

Otherwise, while there’s no container UI, dropped items don’t vanish, so if you so desire you can gather everything from an area, dropping items in a pile when you end up carrying too much, and then make multiple trips to sell everything off once you’re done or just want a break from the fighting. In addition, inventory management only means caring for the weight, since there’s no limit in terms of size, and the fact that stackable items have the same weight regardless of their number, while perhaps strange, helps as well.

Targeting and attack frequency would also be interesting mechanics, but those using fighter characters would be able to say more about that, as in my case it just meant that sometimes I’d select torso and calculated and hope to at least get the odd hit, while selecting hectic helped me cast faster when every little bit helped, which was rare. So I’d file that under positive odds and ends, albeit as something much more notable than the fact that the descriptions for the secret treasures you find struck me as a nice touch. Considering the character development system, I’d also add here the lack of a separate disarm skill, meaning that you can disarm any trap you spot. And, while I’m at both traps and design choices that mitigate problems caused by others, the fact that companions don’t trigger traps and don’t get affected by them is quite a relief.

Also a relief is that I can now finally get to what I meant to start this review with, which is that what I most often read about Lionheart was that it has a pretty good first part, but after a certain point it all falls apart and all that’s left is a tedious battle that may feel endless and is an exercise in frustration for anything except pure fighter characters, while for those it’s too easy and boring. And there is truth in that, which I’ll get to later, yet at the same time it wasn’t quite as bad as those comments made me expect, and my Smite / Fortitude mage, Wielder, with 1 strength, 3 endurance and not a single skill point used on any fighting skills over the course of the entire game did quite fine.

I didn’t need to get far in the game to bump into the first thing that really bothered me, however. In fact, that came before actually starting, during character generation, when I saw the SPECIAL system, which I’m not fond of at all. That may be in some part because I associate it with Fallout 2, which I couldn’t get myself to enjoy at all and eventually abandoned, but I’m definitely bothered by needing to know exactly what skills you want to use from the beginning in order to tag them, stick to them almost exclusively, and being so very limited when it comes to raising attributes. The fact that there are diminishing returns for improving skills to high levels but the costs increase sharply makes it even more frustrating, feeling like a waste and a loss whether you choose to stick to a specialist character or spread the points around a little.
There are also some ways to lose experience and things that the perks that increase experience gain don’t seem to apply to. Yes, you can grind until the point of no return, so you can make up for it, but the fact that you may need to remains unpleasant, and this method only works up to that point. Was definitely not keen on the very different rewards for faction quests and the different number of such quests either, and receiving up to 75% of the experience for killing an enemy for sneaking around them seemed like an odd choice, both because that’s not exactly what you do in an ARPG and because it still meant you got penalized if you did try that route, since what you receive for sneaking is deducted from what should be granted for the kill, if and when you do kill the enemy. But what bothered me the most from this point of view was that there are pieces of equipment that increase the number of skill points per level, so those skill points are lost until you find and afford such items. Again, the game does allow you to make up for it, lacking a level cap, but it means spending a lot of time making up for what’s essentially random chance.
One more thing I’ll mention when it comes to character development is the way in which magic skills develop. While somewhat interesting, it means you can’t focus on the more powerful spells, or get access to them earlier by sacrificing something else. And, on this topic, I kept wondering why Greater Resistance didn’t also protect from cold, making it so there’s no way to protect companions from cold. Can’t protect them from disease either, but then again, there’s also no way whatsoever to cure them of poison or disease, needing to just wait it out all the time and heal the damage as needed.

Speaking of companions, the entire concept seems tacked on and a complete mess. There’s no information given about any of them in terms of attributes, you can’t give them any commands other than to follow or not, they tend to wander all around a spot you’d expect them to stay in if they’re around you, get stuck in tighter places, get in your or each other’s way, stop where they are if they fall behind, attack whatever enemy they please, whenever they please, have no skills they can be instructed to use, also have no inventory and are stuck with whatever equipment they have by default, which you again get no actual information about, and if they die that’s the end of it, there’s no way to resurrect or otherwise get them back. Couple that with the fact that they never improve and you’ll be making a lot of effort to just keep them alive, often being more focused on that than on the enemies if you want to keep them around for as long as possible. And the thing is that they’re not some random, generic companions, but individuals with stories that you’ll learn at least some bits of when they join you, which may make you, or at least made me, care about them to some extent and want to keep them around and alive, but once they join they do become completely generic, just a sum of some attributes you can’t even know, not having a single line of dialogue or any use other than to mindlessly hit things.

Combat is also a mess, even without companions, though it of course becomes an even worse one with them. The option to reduce the speed may offer some relief for those who manage to make some good use of it, but the system is not at all suited for real time and it’s not real time with pause, since you can’t give commands while paused, so you’ll often be struggling to click the right enemy, or even an enemy, as they run around at lightning speed, or to move somewhere and maybe avoid picking up an item that will make you encumbered or, more often, a spirit before you need it, leading to excess mana or health that will quickly drop back down to the normal maximum on its own and therefore waste what you could use later. With companions around, you’ll also need to do that while hoping to avoid clicking on them, as that will start a dialogue even in the middle of combat, the only options of course being to tell them to keep following or stay behind. And you do need all that clicking, because the character won’t even attack automatically, instead just standing there even when attacked in melee, and not doing anything else after casting or after the current enemy is killed. And there are also moments when casting just won’t work without moving the mouse to some other spot on the screen that the game for some reason likes better, even if the spell doesn’t require a target.
Complicating things further, there are way too few quickslots and for some reason buffs can’t be reapplied before they expire. What makes it even worse for mages, however, is that mana regeneration is awfully slow, health regenerating faster even when attributes completely favor magic and early on, and health regeneration improves with levels and there are also feats improving it further, which is not the case for mana. The Magery equipment attribute would greatly help, but it seems among the rarest, so I for one had to make do with Spirit Regeneration, ending up with two items with it and still spending much of the 120 hours the in-game timer said I needed to finish waiting for mana to recover. Admittedly, there are plenty of mana spirits much of the time, but you tend to need to kill something first, and it’s still far too easy to run out of mana over the course of a battle, which also encourages leaving mana spirits around in case you’ll really need them at a later point and wait for regeneration even when there would otherwise be enough spirits available to allow you to just keep going for the moment.

Mentioned accidentally picking things up above, and that may well happen even outside combat, though at least you can avoid picking up spirits along with items or when you interact with other things if you move far enough for the spirits to no longer be visible. That range can be annoyingly short when you’re actually looking for spirits though, as you need to be really close to see them. On the other hand, I have had a few items end up in unreachable places, which can be frustrating, and so is the fact that a small number of otherwise common scenery items can be interacted with, usually to obtain some items, but there’s no way to know which those are except to hover the cursor over everything and notice when it starts spinning, which is hardly the most noticeable indicator that an interaction is possible in the first place.

Movement itself, simply going from one place to another, can be rather frustrating as well. The lack of a minimap doesn’t help either, and neither does the fact that there are no map markers, not even for exits, or any way to add notes yourself, but what most often annoyed me from this point of view was the short maximum distance between the character and the destination. Click more than a screen or so away, or in a spot you can’t actually move to, and the character won’t try to get as close as possible or even just continue to the previous destination if already moving, but simply stop, which will also happen if you do anything while moving.

To finally get to those later parts that so many complain about, the game does indeed get worse after the point of no return, which you aren’t even warned about, only suddenly finding that everything changed once you get back. Maybe also because of the low expectations created by what I had read, it didn’t strike me as being as bad as I had been led to believe, but the design of the locations becomes, for lack of a better term, lazy, even most of the Barcelona area is no longer accessible when you return to it, you pretty much just keep fighting enemy after enemy and the English not leaving spirits does cause problems for magic users, even if that is compensated to a fair extent by more spirits being available from the beginning, and even some other ways to recharge mana.
That’s not an issue in the desert, the scorpions leaving powerful spirits, but that desert is by far the best, or in fact worst, example of that lazy design. Yes, it is a desert, but it’s a desert in a game and also comes between two so and so dungeons, so it should have been somewhat refreshing, yet instead it’s just a large and mostly empty place, filled with swarms of giant scorpions. And the fortress that follows it was underwhelming as well, especially as a final dungeon. Maybe I’m no longer used to how such games were back when Lionheart was released, but while this can be understood and excused as standard practice in the rest of the game, entering that place and having all those assassins just wait calmly, usually in pairs, for you to pick them off at your leisure just seemed wrong.

Even those portals used to travel between locations once you get to the point of no return struck me as lazy design, but I was making a note of that ever since leaving the Barcelona area, the crystals becoming the only way to travel between areas. Admittedly, the large distances involved made simply walking no longer possible, but some other methods could have been used, DaVinci’s inventions likely offering possible solutions. After all, he does make use of one himself… Even if that makes him end up being in two places at once from that point forward, which becomes three places since at least for a long time he’s not removed from the vicinity of the machine but can be found in the tavern as well.
But these are little things, though probably the smallest one I made a note of was the fact that the icon indicating that you’re encumbered vanishes after a while. Also found myself wanting some more detailed information when it came to the effective damage dealt by spells, separated per type, or wondering how come vendors quite frequently had better items in the regular stock than the special one. Something more notable would be that I didn’t like the fact that vendor stock scaled with the character’s level, and having enchantments make certain equipment types heavier was unpleasant as well. And something that kept being frustrating was the search mode being turned off when attacking or talking and needing to be turned back on manually each time even if there’s no penalty for searching and therefore no reason to ever want it off, but forgetting to turn it back on each time meant ending up either running into traps or realizing I had to go back to look for any possible hidden treasures.
On the other hand, making so little use of the character’s spirit was a wasted opportunity. It seems like it’d be an important aspect at first, but it pretty much just says a few things early on and warns you before meeting daevas. What bothered me more, however, was this implication that, despite the obvious questions about their methods, the Inquisition was on the good side, while the Druids, and possibly extending to Pagans, were clearly evil. The fact that the Inquisitors would have clearly been the best choice of faction for my character, considering the rewards offered, made it even worse, but I wasn’t going to get on that path under any circumstances.

Overall, Lionheart is indeed a game of two parts, with a rather interesting setting and atmosphere that devolves into a chain of battles in areas plagued by lazy design after a point of no return that the player isn’t even warned about triggering before it’s done. It seems to promise more than it ends up delivering, but it can, for the most part, remain enjoyable if you know what to expect and can put up with some frustrating elements, even that second part not being as bad as some would make you believe, while at the same time the first part being equally plagued by the combat system that’s unsuited for real time, the downright bad implementation of companions, the fact that magic users are at a disadvantage and various other design issues and quirks, plus that I personally rather dislike the character development system used. Nevertheless, there are some good design choices as well, some of them mitigating some of the flaws to some extent and a few, perhaps most notably the one ensuring that you won’t lose experience in combat, even standing out in a good way.

Since this time around Micky just woke me up, for no reason that I can tell, and I have this already written, having finished it last evening, I’ll just post it now, before trying to get back to sleep. At least the monitor still seems fine, after its issues seemed to be worsening Monday evening, that area towards the bottom of the screen that sometimes has lighter streaks being much larger then, though it was fine again when I turned it back on after eating that night and so far it didn’t look like that again. Then again, it is 13.5 years old, and at the same time replacing it with a used similar one shouldn’t be a problem if and when it’ll be necessary. On the other hand, I don’t need to say what it means if my mouse will start having serious problems now that replacing it with an identical one seems out of the question, and Tuesday I actually thought I noticed a couple of double clicks, as in the left button doing that, though so far it didn’t happen again when I tested carefully.

Since I started with the most recent issues and only actually started writing this Tuesday, the post not being another one that was written piece by piece, I’ll continue with Monday. Actually, should probably first mention that Sunday I again tried to sleep in the evening, but only got about an hour in the first part, being unable to fall asleep again after waking up that first time, so after that I just wasted a lot of time in bed, admittedly resting. Was back in bed at 4:35 AM and might have just gotten about an hour and a half of sleep before the alarm rang, at 6:30 AM. With the forecast listing similar or higher temperatures and much worse wind the rest of the week, that morning was my best chance to run, so I had the usual stuff plus almonds, and those wheat things with jam as something sweet, drank most of the tea, which I had made before going to bed, and eventually went out at 8:40 AM. Unfortunately, only lost time on the toilet twice, and also struggled for quite a while to fit the bags in my tights, since I was going to go buy things after that. For that reason, also considered taking the regular shoes, but eventually decided to stick to the full running gear. It was sunny and the reported temperature at 8 AM was 18-19°C, the forecast for 9-10 AM listing 22-25°C.
Meant to really push from the beginning, hoping for a first lap in less than 15 minutes since getting back to the park, even if I was going to pay the price for it over the next two laps. However, when I thought I should have around 4:15, possibly even less, at the end of the first sector and instead saw 4:24, that was quite clearly a lost cause, and I was completely off the pace even for staying under 48 minutes all the way. It didn’t even look like I was going to stay under 48:30, and I was considering going for 16 km in that case, but it was going to get rather windy after 10 AM, and in fact there were a few gusts even while I ran, and I had to go buy some things too, so I pushed like crazy over sector three of lap three and the final sector and at least managed 48:19.45, with sector times of 4:24.55, 5:06.01, 5:54.06, 4:33 (4:32.97), 5:06.31, 5:53 (5:52.41), 4:34.47, 5:10 (5:09.76), 5:53 (5:52.64) and 1:46.27, making for lap times of 15:24.62, 15:32 (15:31.69) and 15:37 (15.36.87).
My right knee and left calf gave me some serious warnings from the beginning, but after the first sector that pretty much went away, though the knee bothered me again when I pushed in that manner, over the last two sectors, when I also suddenly felt a certain rather pressing need, though it wasn’t that hard to hold it in. As for people, there was just one moment, on sector two of lap three, when someone suddenly changed direction just as I was about to go around him, probably to avoid walking right past the toilets, in case somebody’d open the door just then, and the fact that somebody else was coming from the opposite direction just then as well meant I had to slow for a moment and just squeeze between them. On the other hand, another runner showed up in front of me just before the end of sector two of lap two and she was slightly faster, so I made it my goal to at least not let her get out of sight before the end of the lap. She stopped right after the bridge, on what for me was sector one of lap three, but by then she had passed a guy in a red t-shirt, who was also faster than me but only by very little, so he became the one I kept my eyes on, at least until I just gave it everything, becoming pretty much unaware of anything else. Rather doubt I’d have managed to stay under 48:30 without them.

Spent some seven minutes on a bench after that, writing down the exact times and the quick notes about the problems, then meant to head back to those I had seen gathering signatures for USR-PLUS, to lash out at them for basically ensuring that Sector 3 will remain in the grip of the current mayor, but it didn’t seem likely that I was going to actually be able to say what I meant to, so I eventually just got back to that drinking fountain to wash my hands a bit, put my mask on and went to that Carrefour, getting eggs, since I found cheap ones again, and leaving them in a cabinet.
Walked to that Kaufland after that, to take advantage of the day’s 40% discount for cabbage and cucumbers. Had just meant to get a small quantity, but the previous evening dad mentioned wanting to start a cabbage, cucumber, potato and beans diet, so I ended up buying a lot, plus two watermelons instead of the one I had initially meant to get, since I knew I won’t be able to carry everything in one trip anyway, especially considering the bags I had taken with me, having been unable to stuff more sturdy ones in the tights. The weight might have even ended up being a problem at the self-checkout, since I only knew that they say those should be used for a maximum of 15 items but the employee said that there’s a 20 kg limit as well and what I had exceeded that. Had called him twice by then, once because I had also taken some expiring bread, thinking it’d be for dad but now it remains to be seen, since he said he wants to eliminate bread as well and was going to take it to my mother, yet didn’t do that either. Either way, accidentally scanned one at full price, the discount sticker not having been placed over the actual bar code, so the employee had to override that, and then the fact that there are scales there as well somehow slipped my mind and I called him again because the label had fallen off the red cabbage I had bought for myself and I couldn’t even find it in the basket. All he did then was point me to those scales, but he also had a better look at all I had and mentioned that weight limit, though he also said that the machine might just allow me to get away with it, which it did.
Things got quite tricky after I finished scanning, however, since I meant to put everything back in the basket, then leave a part in a cabinet and carry the rest back to Carrefour and then here, returning later for what I had left. But I couldn’t do that because the guard stopped me from leaving the self-checkout area with the basket and I couldn’t even get myself to ask whether I could just take it to the cabinets and then return it. He advised me to leave the basket there and grab a cart from outside, but that’d have been entirely pointless, so I stopped there and tried to stuff everything in the bags I had, the problem being that I could only take one sturdy one and the other two were tearing as soon as I tried lifting them. The guard tried to offer me something at one point, probably some plastic wrap, saying it should be slightly sturdier, but I refused that as well and tried to walk out with everything as it was, at which point he opened the gate for me, so I won’t have to scan the receipt as well.
After leaving the cabbage, except the red one, and the bread in a cabinet, I struggled to walk back to Carrefour with the rest, the problem being that I had to hold the flimsier bag in an uncomfortable way to prevent the handles from tearing off, so I kept stopping until I tied the handles in a knot and gave myself a better way to hold it. Then I stuffed everything in a bigger cabinet at Carrefour, moving the eggs there as well, and had another look inside, grabbing a couple of expiring things which had appeared in that area by then. Unfortunately, cracked one of the eggs as I was trying to arrange everything in the bags after getting it all back out of the cabinet, but it’s a small crack and it seems like that was the only damage, though I stopped a few more times over the first part of the walk back, worrying that the eggs will be struck or pressed by something else until I found a way to carry them that seemed safe enough. Add a couple more stops to rest and it took me about half an hour to get back, getting here around 1:45 PM or so, having carried 16 kg just in my hands and with bags that made it harder.
Was out again a bit before 2:15 PM, having at least changed my shoes, if nothing else. Since I had seen discounted potatoes at Carrefour that were also large enough for dad to want, I kept meaning to go back there, turning this way and that a few times, but I just felt too embarrassed at the thought of going in there a third time, so I eventually just got back to Kaufland and retrieved the cabbage and bread. Since I had taken the backpack and the cloth bag I use for bread, I could have that bag with the bread around my neck, the largest cabbage in the backpack and one of the others in each hand, so that walk wasn’t a problem anymore… Even if I didn’t end up where I thought I would at one point.
Since I wasn’t struggling anymore, I thought to pass through the farmers’ market as well, but I guess I was pretty much on autopilot and ended up at the Dristor metro station instead. Still, that meant I could get to that pharmacy without really making any detour, so I did so, finding some things I wanted but somehow forgetting to get another nose spray as well while I was there. Then, since I had left my stuff in two cabinets from that Mega Image, I decided to have a look in there as well, ending up getting a couple of discounted pastries and a bagel, having calculated it so what I had saved dad on cabbage, cucumbers and bread ended up going into the ice cream I got from Kaufland and those. The cashier told me that the bagel was a more expensive kind than the one I thought, but that more expensive kind was also discounted then, so the difference was marginal and I shrugged it off, and when I looked again I realized that she was right and I had taken a different kind than what I meant to take.
Finally got back here at 4 PM, after having barely felt the 10 kg I had carried, with everything split in this manner. Still, after having been a bit more relieved when I weighed myself before the run and saw 47 kg, even if that included what I had been unable to get rid of in the toilet, the 45.5 kg I saw then got me worried yet again… And heating one of the pastries in the microwave and then trying to eat it quickly resulted in burning my tongue and throat a fair bit. And, since I have nowhere else to put this, I’ll also mention here that there were no visits recorded in either view that day.

Before getting to last week’s run, I’ll mention here that Saturday I grabbed BorderZone, being free on Indiegala and another game I had happened to glance at a few times on Zoom Platform. Seems terribly badly programmed, so I had put it out of my mind, but now that it was there I decided to go for it. The fact that the Indiegala version includes a readme.txt from Desert Law made it even more suspicious, and being unable to find the version listed anywhere made me wary of starting it, seeing as patches were released long after the game’s initial release, possibly by a developer working on his own time, the latest one I found being from 2015, so ten years later. Still, after posting a comment to ask about the version and receiving no reply, I went for it that same day, at first starting the Indiegala version, then applying that patch and restarting it. The patch includes additional texture and music files, a borderzone.pdb file that doesn’t exist in the Indiegala release and versions of audiere.dll, this file seeming to be the main reason why the game wouldn’t initially work at all on Windows 7 and newer, borderzone.exe and config.exe that are larger in size, running config.exe also presenting me with a list of resolutions that’s limited to what my monitor actually supports and includes its native one, which wasn’t the case with the Indiegala version. So, while I still have no way to compare the actual versions, it does seem that the Indiegala version is unpatched… This version still seems buggy to the point of being unplayable though, but I’ll see what happens, and some things that now seem to be bugs may just be oddities and quirks.

Still before actually getting to last week’s run, I’ll add that on July 25 I cleaned my room a little and changed the sheets, also finally putting away the blanket. Then, the next day, I tried to get a little more sleep in the evening, spending close to 3.5 hours in bed, but if I actually slept for one hour I’d be surprised. The attempt to at least give myself more time to digest what I ate at night also failed, as I only finished at 3:15 AM. At least I made the tea then as well, and got back in bed at 4:35 AM, managing to sleep rather well until dad got back and I woke up when I heard the key in the door, though that was in fact mere seconds before the alarm rang, at 6:30 AM. Then I had the usual stuff plus almonds, an old protein bar as something sweet, and drank all the tea. Also weighed myself, feeling much better when I saw 48 kg, and went out at 8:20 AM. Between the reported temperature and forecasts, I’d go with 23°C when I started running and 26°C when I finished. It was sunny though.
Yes, I did go for another half marathon distance, and the time was 1:46:41, with sector times of 4:21, 5:10, 6:04, 4:35, 5:08, 6:02, 4:34, 5:12, 6:11, 4:40, 5:18, 6:11, 4:48, 5:19, 6:16, 4:46, 5:27, 6:27, 1:54, 6:18 and 2:00, making for lap times of 15:35, 15:45, 15:57, 16:09, 16:23 and 16:40, plus 10:12 for the final portion. So I still didn’t even get back under 1:45, there were no good sector times except perhaps the very first one, all sector three times were poor and so was the last sector, but overall it certainly was much less embarrassing than the last time. Interestingly, this time was exactly the same as last year’s official time at the Bucharest Half Marathon, though of course that included the 1:05 start time.
Did sort of think of target times for 1:45 at first, but on lap two my mind was already on the targets for 1:50, admittedly aiming to have a very safe margin towards the end. And since after lap two it was perfectly clear that 1:45 was a lost cause, I just focused on that from then on. However, since I was slowing less than I feared, 1:49 looked very achievable after lap four, and after lap five I was quite clearly looking at 1:48. Still thought I risked hitting the wall, in which case that 1:48 would have required a mighty push, but if I was mentally prepared for that anyway, I just went for it on lap six, despite needing to manage the pain caused by that bone spur getting in a bad position again, and after sector two I started thinking of 1:47, becoming almost certain of it after finishing the lap. Even spared half a thought for 1:46:30 after the final portion’s first sector, and while it didn’t seem possible, I thought of it again after passing two other runners on the following sector. Realized there was no way for that to happen after calculating exactly what it’d require though, so I just stuck to what I could still do.
Since I mentioned those two runners, they were alongside each other when I noticed them in front of me, but when I approached the older man was left behind, the younger but overweight guy looking at me and trying to stay ahead for a little while, then struggling to keep up after I passed him. He was panting heavily and gave up after just a couple hundred meters, but that spurred me on enough to do those calculations, and it was probably why that sector was faster than sector three of lap six. That was the only notable moment involving other runners, though there were in fact plenty of them again, while probably the only more obvious issue I had with other people in general was on sector three of lap four, when I had to stay on the outside of a wider turn because of a cyclist that was on the inside and just barely faster, not moving ahead until some time later. Sure, there was some weaving and going the long way around at times, but it was quite fine, the park not being crowded. Otherwise, my right leg was already giving me some warnings on lap two and it got rather windy on sector three of lap four and much of lap five. That knee and everything above it only got better from lap five or so, but that was when that foot started threatening to cramp, and then, at the start of lap six, that bone spur got in a bad position and I couldn’t snap it back no matter how much I tried, so from then on it was a matter of managing pain, and posture so it won’t worsen.

Only got back in bed, really full after having just eaten, at 3 PM, but noise, first from outside and then made by dad, meant I hardly got any sleep, barely managing to fall asleep before waking up again, until dad left a few minutes before 4 PM, actually calling me at the time even though he should have known that I was trying to sleep. Peed and went back to bed after that, actually falling asleep after a bit and sleeping until 5:45 PM or so, when Liza woke me up. Went to pee again after a few minutes, just in case, and got back in bed at first, but at 6 PM dad got back and I got up for good… And I didn’t make up for the lost sleep in the morning either, being woken up by noise from outside a couple of minutes before 9 AM and getting up, wanting to go out and buy some things, and check out the day’s discount at Kaufland as well. However, decided to first eat quite a lot, so only left a bit after 11:20 AM.
First went to the farmers’ market, and since I was there I actually went to that Supeco before checking out the market, finding cheap bananas and carrots and buying some of each, since dad had asked for bananas and I had a plan for the carrots. Then I got plums and apples from the market, finally finding cheap apples again, plus some corn and tomatoes. Had 1.1 kg of tomatoes in the bag when I placed it on the scales to check the weight, and when I saw that I told the woman who was selling them that she could take one out, but she told me to leave it as it happened to be, because “we’re not a pharmacy”, and only charged me for 1 kg. On the other hand, a guy working in one of those little stores surrounding the open part of the market had apparently been fined for not wearing a mask, or not wearing it correctly, and was shouting angrily, plenty of others who were selling there joining in, also seeming angry over the measures and the possibility of being fined if they don’t respect them, asking each other whether those checking were still around, discussing how to get something from their doctors to be exempt from the requirements… That guy was also specifically outraged by the fact that he had been told to wear it correctly, as in over the nose as well, saying that “they” demand that so people will lack oxygen to their brains and become unable to think properly, though it seemed to me that he was already in that situation, without having worn a mask until then.
Either way, went to that Carrefour after that, leaving the purchases in a cabinet and looking around, checking prices and getting bread and a few onions. Since I had my card with me just for this purpose, Carrefour only allows paying by card at their self-checkouts, this bank’s machines won’t allow you to withdraw bills smaller than 10 RON and I had 24.65 RON left in the account after withdrawing the amount I purchased state bonds with, I carefully calculated the weight of those onions, ending up with a total of 4.64 RON for them and the bread and using the self-checkout there as well for once. Had no idea which way to insert the card in the machine though, and after two wrong tries it locked me out and the employee came to unlock it, and I fortunately managed to do it right after that. Then I tried to remember where that bank’s branch is in that mall, but couldn’t, so I picked one of the escalators and went up, then checked the map on one of the touchscreens and realized I had to go back down, since it’s right next to Carrefour, on the other side, right next to the escalator I didn’t pick. So I went there and withdrew 20 RON, just leaving 0.01 RON “lost” in the account.
Picked the wrong exit when I left that mall as well, so I had to go around it, then walked to Kaufland, at first just to check prices. Went to the toilet before leaving, and seconds after walking in the stall and closing the door I heard what sounded like somebody repeatedly bumping into the door. It didn’t sound like knocking, and either way I had just walked in and it should have been obvious that it was occupied, so I ignored it and did my business, but when I got out a cleaner was there and she said “you can knock until tomorrow and he won’t hear once he has headphones on” out loud, then pretty much stood there and stared daggers at my back as I washed my hands. I probably gave a surprised look, but otherwise ignored her and pushed and squeezed my way out, her cart being placed so it held the door open but at the same time blocked the way out.
Went to that Auchan after that, buying what I meant to buy and then taking a slightly different route on my way back to Kaufland and ending up rather lost. Lost some time as a result, but got back there in the end and got most of the things I meant to get from there, with the exception of salt. The kind dad wanted seemed to have the lowest price there according to what was listed on the shelf, yet it scanned at a price that was 28% higher, and 20% higher than it was at Auchan and Carrefour, and I was going back to Carrefour anyway. Didn’t look for an employee to complain, but warned a woman who was looking at salt, albeit having a different kind in her hand at the moment, when I put it back. In addition, the self-checkout machine didn’t like the black pepper I had bought, saying that the wrong item was placed on the scales, the employee trying to scan and place it himself as well and getting the same result, so he had to override the error.
As I already mentioned, got back to Carrefour after that, moving my things to a bigger cabinet and getting back in to buy what was left to buy, then spending quite some time trying to arrange everything in bags. Checked after I got back, at 6:45 PM, and saw that I had ended up carrying 16.5 kg, but had the backpack with me as well and that helped, even more so after I stopped and rearranged things again before leaving that mall, putting more of the heavier things in it. Then, even though I was after two days with much effort and little sleep, I only got in bed at 5:20 AM again.