Cav's Place

Went to the Library after waking up today, to return that movie which I had picked up for dad, walking there and back, and been trying to persuade myself to write this since I got back. Have no clue what the week’s second post will be, but I guess I’ll need to throw something on here tomorrow, when at least I won’t volunteer at the Botanical Garden again, deciding not to go on the first day this time around. But Sunday evening I guess I’ll go to drop off a few things at another “free shop”. In fact, there was another one these days too, Wednesday and yesterday, and a post stated that it was to continue today as well due to the number of things people left there, but since they’re supported by that place where Sunday’s event takes place, maybe I’ll be able to sign for Demos to take part in the elections when I’ll be there too. Not that there seems to be any chance for them to gather the required signatures, but I should at least do my little part… Even if I today I just restated my opposition to some of their values and there may well be a very cold welcome if I’m recognized there. I mean, got some bad looks even last time, from someone I had argued with over just this matter.
But to return to today, when I went to return that DVD, the woman who was there again left me alone, even leaving me alone in the room when I started looking through what else was available, going back to talk to the others who were in the other room, and just telling them to give her a moment to help me out when I went to the desk, with Underworld: Blood Wars in hand, doing what she had to do without another word except to tell me when it was due at the end. But when I passed by another location on the way back and decided to have a look in there as well, keeping my headphones on at first, I immediately had the woman who worked there come next to me and ask what I’m looking for, knocking on the bookcase to get my attention even though I had already taken one of the headphones off. Then she asked if I had a pass and asked for it to register it at that branch as well, when I said that I may not even take anything from there replying that she didn’t recognize me, I hadn’t been there before, and they wanted to know who comes to their library, and were surprised that I hadn’t even greeted them. I apologized for that last part without meaning to, surprised, then just had a quick look, already sweating quite badly and starting to feel that I had to get out of there. Still, since the movies were right in front of the entrance, I looked through those and ended up grabbing Gravity too, though I now see it was available at that other location too. At least she didn’t point that out, but did ask for my phone number, stating that it sometimes changes when I said it should be on file, and did point out that I had something from another branch too, then realizing I had just taken it minutes earlier and saying that as well.

To get the other thing unrelated to this post’s main purpose out of the way too, Tuesday I went to buy some things. First to Auchan, going out some eight minutes early and seeing that the free bus was eight minutes late. So I waited for long enough that walking probably wouldn’t have been slower, but it was very windy and I also had the plastic bottles which I had brought right back last time and the few others which had gathered since then. Unfortunately, the recycling machine still didn’t work, and an older man was waiting there as well, telling me that it wasn’t working as soon as I turned towards it. When I said I’ll leave them there anyway he said he’d wait a while longer, perhaps somebody’ll come and fix it, but I told him I doubted that and just started putting them on it, and after a while he came to help me… Which really made me feel rushed, as if he wanted me away from there so he could put the bottles in the machine as his own in case it will be fixed, not that there seemed to be any chance of that happening. There were 20 to 22 of them, couldn’t count too well anymore once he came to help, so worth between 1 and 1.1 RON, but that can matter to someone. Would have mattered to me too…
Either way, bought what I could, after a note left by my mother the night before, and including a large bag of laundry detergent, but not including one kind of cat food, which got more expensive there. Then again, most things did, in some cases by a lot, and that’s just counting the prices they increased a whole lot more than others, not the things that got a lot more expensive everywhere, referring not just to the butter which at some point made the news for pretty much doubling in price, but I also recently threw away the receipts that were more than a year old and saw that for example a year ago I was buying cabbage or onions for less than 1 RON / kg, even saw 0.79 RON / kg in January of 2018, and now you’re lucky to find any for less than 3 RON / kg, and can be significantly more if not on sale. Either way, got some slippers for myself too, the ones I had having been bought more than five years ago and being quite torn, and the other cheap ones bought at some point clearly being unusable. Since I recall those old ones costing 5 RON, I was waiting for a similar price for a similar model, but I only saw it for those unusable ones, these other ones being no less than 10 RON last year, and 15 RON ($3.58 or €3.16) now, so I should have bought them then… And there’s also the fact that the old ones had the size listed as 42-43, but these ones had only 41-42 or 43-44, so got the smaller one and I’m worried they may be small and tear sooner because of that, but the larger size seemed too large.
After getting back I noticed that one of the little bags of spices I had bought had gotten a little torn, or at least I hope that happened when I arranged them in my bag and it wasn’t like that when I bought it, but nothing to do about it then, so dropped everything off and went out again, grabbing the plastic to drop off as well on the way. Then worked out how to fit what I still had to get in the money I had, checked the prices at Carrefour, moved on to Kaufland, got a few things, and noticed that the spices were cheaper there but it was too late by then. It felt a bit odd when the old woman who was behind me in line rushed to help me bag my purchases, but I just thanked her and got back to Carrefour, putting my things in one of the cabinets and rushing in to get what was left. However, when I got back out I noticed that the key wasn’t turning all the way when I unlocked that cabinet, and then that the coin you need to use didn’t fall out, so after trying several times, hitting and poking the mechanism, I went to one of the guards and told him what was going on. He couldn’t help though, at first telling me to just keep trying, gently, because it should work, then coming to try himself, ending up hitting the mechanism as well, then saying that there’s nothing he can do and that the mechanisms are of very poor quality. So I gave it a few more tries, and hits, and then just walked away, meaning that I didn’t just not gain a little from Auchan for those plastic bottles, but even lost 0.50 RON at Carrefour due to them insisting on requiring coins to use those cabinets.

And I wrote a whole lot about irrelevant things and I’m just now getting to the important part, which is that yesterday I covered a half marathon distance through the park again, and managed to do so in less than 1:45! More exactly, the time was 1:44:04, with sector times of 4:20, 5:08, 5:55, 4:29, 5:09, 5:56, 4:30, 5:08, 6:04, 4:32, 5:07, 5:54, 4:34, 5:10, 5:59, 4:38, 5:15, 6:13, 1:51, 6:16 and 1:56, making for lap times of 15:23, 15:34, 15:42, 15:33, 15:43 and 16:06, plus 10:03 for that final portion. Of course, being so close, I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get under 1:44 as well, but that smashed my previous record, improving it by 4:16. Of course, if I aim to get an official time under 1:45 in May, it’s clearly not enough, since there’s the start time as well, there will be more people slowing me down, and there will be minutes lost at refreshment points over the course of the race. But it’s definitely something I can work with, especially when this is just the second time I cover more than ten kilometers since October, after the 16 kilometers covered two weeks ago.
Going back a bit, I ate the usual stuff and went out at 3:35 PM, wearing the t-shirt from my first half marathon, without even an undershirt, since I saw a reported temperature of around 20°C, though in another place it said 16-17°C and that seemed closer to the truth, and it was somewhat cloudy as well, plus that there was a bit of wind, which was a bit of an issue in some areas. Of course, it was nothing compared to how it had been over the previous days and I quite clearly wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near a new record without the conditions improving as they did yesterday. As it was, it was a pretty minor issue, though probably more of one than the fact that I felt just a little bit of pain, this time in my right knee, later during the run, and there also seemed to be a spot in my left thigh where the muscle was complaining a bit, in fact continuing to do so today, possibly having started after the two series of 100 squats I did Wednesday evening, so I won’t have any to do after yesterday’s run. At the start of lap five I started to feel like I needed to take a crap again, and the feeling got quite noticeable on sector two, making me think I should have taken some garlic with me, but then it just went away, so that wasn’t much of a problem either. So the main issue had to do with the other people, since there were a fair number of them in the park and some didn’t make it easy when I was trying to make my way around them.
On that topic, on top of going wide or squeezing through, even had to go on the grass a few times. Some won’t step out of the way at all even if they’re just walking towards you, so obviously see you and that you’re running and wanting to either stay on the inside or perhaps on a path that allows you to go through gaps in other groups, some going the same way and less likely to be aware of you; others just don’t seem to look where they’re going; but the most annoying such moment had to do with a woman who did look. There was quite a wall of people ahead of me, she meant to go around them as well, actually turned to look behind as I approached, then just stepped into the one spot through which one could go around that group right in front of me, forcing me to go around her, and a garbage bin, on the grass. Turned my head to frown at her after that, and made a few gestures trying to indicate that I wanted to get through when approaching others who were coming towards me and blocking the way, but the one time I said something was when a small child riding what I think was a tricycle seemed to lose control and just turn right towards me, almost running right into my legs and forcing me to quickly get out of the way, my shout prompting the man I guess was his father, who hadn’t reacted until then, to tell him to be careful. And there was another moment, with a mother walking in front of her daughter, who was on a scooter, and me just managing to squeeze between them when the girl’s scooter got stuck or something. It’s possible that she was startled by me squeezing past as well, but the path is paved with setts in that area, so it could have been caused by that. Either way, she called for her mother, who stopped and turned around just as I was squeezing past her as well, so I had to avoid running right into her.
Back to the time, I was sort of thinking to aim for 1:45 when I started, had some times worked out, but at first I was comparing to that run from two weeks ago and the second lap was slower. The third was faster, but it still left me four seconds behind. During lap four I was thinking that I’ll manage to stay under 16 minutes well enough on that one and, though there was a trace of concern, I should still manage it on the next as well, so it’ll all depend on whether I’ll also manage it on the sixth, to avoid needing an unlikely time on that final portion. But I ended up being faster than I thought on the fourth lap, that actually ending up being the second fastest and getting me 13 seconds ahead of the time from two weeks ago, the difference staying the same after five laps. That also meant that lap five was a bit faster than I thought it’d be, yet I unfortunately couldn’t keep that up for the sixth, going over 16 minutes. It was still the fastest lap six, by 27 seconds, and it was followed by the fastest final portion on such a run, albeit by just seven seconds, so it still meant that staying under 1:45 wasn’t really a concern anymore, but those seconds meant I wasn’t under 1:44.
On the way back I had a quick look through this nearby supermarket and noticed some bags of discounted apples which didn’t look quite that bad, so considered grabbing the little money I had left and getting one, but the 50% discount only made them a little cheaper than those I had purchased from Auchan Tuesday and the discount was due to the fact that they were starting to go bad, even if not that much quite yet, so I gave up on the thought after getting to my room… By which time I had given up on the thought of going to grab some pastry from somewhere too. Had first considered taking that small amount of money with me and going to the Carrefour from that area right after the run, but was already thinking to save that amount for something I won’t just eat right away when I woke up, so left it for later and then just gave up on the idea completely, instead eating a bag of small pretzels I still had, though it had expired in December, with regular food. And a while later I showered, only then noticing some blood on a toe again, possibly again due to the corner of the nail jabbing the toe next to it, but I’m not entirely certain and it wasn’t much, didn’t even go through my sock, and I definitely didn’t feel anything.

Seems like I ended up getting back to Lords of Xulima after all, Sunday. What a sudden stop that was, with the last save being made at 4:21 AM on September 26, the difference in playing time from the previous one showing that I had played for quite a few hours that day, and then didn’t get back to it in just about five months. Do have the explanation for it though, having no Internet access for days due to the cable being cut again and deciding to take the opportunity to get back to Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, since that fully used one CPU core and therefore made SETI@home work units take longer to finish at a time when I couldn’t get new ones anyway.

So, yes, this means I again really don’t feel like writing, but since I need to post something anyway, I should at least mention this week’s run… And the fact that next week will be quite a problem, since I should cover a half marathon distance again and the forecast lists a lot of wind. Even considered going yesterday, though I was tired and it’d have required just going to the toilet, grabbing the usual stuff to eat as fast as possible and rushing out, but then I looked outside and saw that it was windy then too, even if likely less so than it’ll be next week. So I may decide to push this to the following week, but it’ll mess up my schedule, and if I’m to have a poor time I guess it’d be better to have an excuse for it too…
Either way, this week’s run was Wednesday. The reported temperature of around 8°C, coupled with the fact that it was mostly cloudy and there was some wind as well, made it a bit uncomfortable, being at the low end of just wearing a t-shirt but clearly too much for anything else, but I wore my jacket on the way and ran in just my t-shirt and it worked out. That wind felt on the way wasn’t much of a problem while running, and the path around the lake was finally reasonably free of people too, so I guess the main issue was that some muscles, admittedly mainly my arms, were still hurting after carrying heavy stuff again Monday evening. For that reason, I just aimed for a regular time and that was what I managed, 48:12, with sector times of 4:15, 5:06, 5:53, 4:30, 5:05, 5:56, 4:34, 5:08, 5:55 and 1:50, making for lap times of 15:14, 15:31 and 15:37. Do have an exact time for that first sector too, 4:15.49.
Went out at 3:45 PM and got back just before 5 PM, thinking I had to rush to catch ski jumping after having forgotten about the previous day’s event, but finding that it actually started at 5:15 PM. Micky again proved to be a problem when I got to my room though, and I don’t even know how she slipped past me. I was right at the door, went in just to leave something, got back out, didn’t spot her anywhere, but when I turned back around I saw her inside, obviously getting behind the computer again. But since I didn’t move, she got out of there, again fortunately without messing anything up, and obviously wanted to jump up to the window, so I waited until she did and then picked her up from there.

Since I mentioned Monday, first went to Auchan, taking the plastic bottles which had gathered again too… And then coming back with them. Went out almost ten minutes early and the free bus was five minutes late, so I waited for a while, and when I got there I saw that the recycling machine was malfunctioning again. It didn’t display an error at first, but it couldn’t take the bottles, the flap at the back seemed stuck closed and it kept rejecting them until it finally did give an error, so I just left them on it and went inside without even telling a guard about it. Got what I meant to, more bread as well, since it was still cheaper, and then found that cat food Rocky supposedly likes too and stocked up on that as well, and I went out with enough time to spare, on purpose, to check the recycling machine again, finding that it still displayed the error and my bottles were still there. So I just put them back in the bag I had brought them in, and as I was closing it an older woman came to ask whether the machine worked and we exchanged a few words about that before she walked away.
After getting back, I went back out, taking the other recyclables to drop off on the way and then going to Carrefour and Kaufland as well, taking what other money I could find too, since that cat food meant I had already spent more that I could afford and there were other things to get for my parents. So I got what I meant to, plus more cooking oil, and stocked up on cereals for myself too… And was then faced with the problem of carrying it all back. Actually weighed it all, or more exactly weighed myself and then weighed myself again while holding all of that, and saw that it all weighed just about 18 kg, and there was the problem of bulk as well, mainly because of the toilet paper, and the fact that I just had four bags, two of them small, and it was hard to get everything to fit, more or less balance the weight, and also be careful to hold the bags in such a way as to avoid any of them tearing, since the handles of two seemed about to when I held them in certain ways. So it’s no wonder that I struggled until after the area around the National Arena, then a bit later stopped to try to hold the bag with the toilet paper and one other thing under my arm, quickly gave up on that idea since it kept slipping, then stopped again and rearranged the things in the bags and tried to hold just one pack of toilet paper under my arm, then gave up on that as well when that also kept slipping, tried to arrange things differently in the bags yet again, ended up holding the larger bag with both hands, in front of me, walking awkwardly, then stopped again in order to manage to hold two bags in each hand again, and had to keep stopping after that, on this last part, putting the bags on benches to regain my breath a little bit. Barely made it, taking me just about one hour to cover the two kilometers.

As for Thursday, there was a protest to go to, at the Ministry of Economy, about a proposal which would be even worse than some of the things we protested against back in 2013, clearing the way for some harmful mining projects, among other things. Since it was starting at 11 AM, so we’ll be there during business hours and one representative will be able to go inside and attempt to have a discussion, I set my alarm at 9 AM but ended up waking up at 8:55 AM. Wanting to be sure I’ll be there on time, I left at 10:05 AM, but got out of the metro station at 10:30 AM and would have been there less than ten minutes later, so I wandered around for a bit, looking for a place that was supposed to be in that area. That only took a few minutes though, I’d have reached the location at 10:47 AM, so I stopped when I saw the two organizers and a few gendarmes there and wandered around a bit more, realizing that I should have taken my Library pass when I passed by one location, and then also by the main one after it was all over and I got back on foot, since there was actually something I considered picking up.
It was 10:55 AM when I actually got to the location, after circling around like that, and I was still the first one other than the two organizers and a few reporters. And this time it was nice that Roxana immediately asked me to hold the cutout she had been holding until then, so she’ll be able to talk to the reporters, because that meant I could completely hide behind it and stay there until, around 11:20 AM, we moved to the entrance and she went inside. The gendarmes soon asked the rest of us to go back to the first location though, so we moved there again, some potted plants were used to hold the cutouts, doing the job surprisingly well despite the wind, and the roughly 20 protesters, plus a few of the reporters, spread out in a few small groups and started chatting, waiting for Roxana to get back. It was funny that right before she came out, at noon, a gust of wind did knock down those cutouts, prompting immediate amused shouts of “the government fell”. Then she told us that she had just been kept waiting only to eventually be told to leave because nobody was available, everything was quickly gathered and, at 12:05 PM, as the stuff was carried away, I left as well. Since I walked back, I was here at 1:25 PM, but I had used one of those found metro cards, dad’s monthly pass having issues again, so I just wanted to use one trip… And I realized I hadn’t walked that route in a while anyway.

Can’t say that today’s announcement, stating that GOG.com will end its “Fair Price Package” program, through which they gave back, as store credit, the amount paid above the United States price by people from regions that had higher regional prices for games, was in any way unexpected. In fact it was very much expected, just one more step down that slippery slope they’ve been on for several years now, leaving absolutely no shred of any value except DRM free for single-player, and who knows what may come even from that point of view, thinking of Galaxy and looking at some games already having things tied to registration on third party sites.
Of course, in my case the program was irrelevant. Still there strictly for their original values and the fact that they cornered this supposedly “ethical” part of this rotten market and then ran away with it when they changed direction, so nobody else can pick up the banner they dropped and the only hope, false as it may be, is that they’ll go back to what they used to be. So a game not respecting said values, which obviously includes having prices above the base price, was firmly on the “don’t purchase” list regardless of level of interest and will remain so. But there were plenty saying that there was actually no such game on GOG because of the Fair Price Package, so I wonder what they’ll say now… Or don’t, actually, since I already see them in the comments, being understanding and thanking GOG for the honesty and making good wishes as if this would be a good thing, or even directly saying that it is a good thing. Because they don’t care about those original values or changing the market. Same as GOG hasn’t in so long now.
Will need to hope that MaGOG, for games released before the “Legacy Mode” cutoff, which at the moment is the start of 2018, and the price tracking topic, for the newer ones, will remain valid and constantly updated after this though, to accurately point out the pricing matrix of each game now that the wallet funds will no longer be the obvious indicator making it clear when a game has a price above the base price.

And yes, we should all “thank” Epic for this race to the bottom, trashing any services game stores may offer even more than they already were. Though, of course, that comes after “thanking” CD Projekt for demanding GOG’s growth and draining their profits to cover their development costs, and more recently taking over their infrastructure and employees as well in order to create and maintain the whole on-line infrastructure for Gwent… Which shouldn’t have been on GOG in the first place anyway.

Recalling how enthusiastic I was about GOG.com before the “Good News” of 2014, how that struck me and then seeing everything that happened since then, how every new change was another step in this rotten direction, how they played us for fools, all of us who believed in and supported and promoted them during those first several years, for their values and stated mission… That’s businesses for you. If there’s money in it, it’s by definition rotten, can never be anything good. The hope, my hope during those years, was that they were more like a group, an NGO, fighting to change this rotten industry, that also happened to make use of a store in order to raise some of the funds for that endeavor. But it is in fact the other way around, just a business that made use of some fake values and mission statement to grow by attracting those who rejected the market otherwise, until they became big enough to no longer need us and show their true colors.

It’s getting quite windy outside and it’s supposed to stay that way until tomorrow afternoon, so thinking I’d better write something now, just in case something will happen with a cable because of it. It’ll have to be a quick post, since I really don’t have much to put in it, and this is also why I’m moving this next bit which I had initially added to the previous post to it. It’s better this way anyway, since it obviously happened after I posted that previous post, even if that same evening.

Wednesday evening, I got to level 16, improved my equipment, got the spells and killed that dirachnid again, but found that to be about it; place the Crux and that’s the end, can’t go back and get more experience then. So, since at that point I could learn Dehex as well, decided to just grind the goblins appearing if I touch that statue for a long time, to get the just about 7500 experience points needed for level 17, to still use those eggs for 18. Would have been much nicer to be able to place the Crux, getting the 5000 for that, and then still go back to use the eggs, but that way it just took a while longer. At 165 for the three that show up when I touch it once, that meant 46 times, but after a more cautious start I realized, when I got back to it yesterday, that I could touch that statue several times and still have no problem, so it didn’t take nearly as long as I initially thought.
What was interesting was that some of those goblins were dropping some expensive stuff, so I actually enchanted and equipped one piece of gear that was dropped and made a few trips to sell the rest, since my inventory was filling otherwise. But I had anchored a portal right next to the one leading to the Citadel and all the stuff purchased there at the end gave the shopkeepers plenty of money, so it didn’t take long to sell and get back, and otherwise it was just a matter of touching the statue several times, killing everything, grabbing what was dropped, going out, resting, and going back to repeat. So it wasn’t long after I woke up yesterday that I was at level 17, then used the eggs to get to 18, and then finished the game for good, on purpose, not accidentally, while trying to see what was left, as I had done the previous evening.
I started Eschalon on March 6, 2017, but after that, according to the dates of the saves, I apparently played until April 16, then made an attempt to get back to it on May 10 but only made a few steps, then on May 19 I advanced in the main quest but immediately stopped again, and then I only got back to it on January 30 this year. So I won’t be writing a review for it, since it’d be too hard to write a proper one after that break of more than a year and a half, and getting back to it close to the end, my current impressions therefore only being about the end. Plus, it already has three on MobyGames and, while I did find it nice enough, quite enjoyable much of the time, it’s not a game I particularly want to write more about. Do find the issue with the trainers and skill books very annoying though, needing to check a guide to know which skills have trainers and/or books and hold off using skill points or reading the book until you use the trainer to get a skill that has one to five, saving seven skill points in the process, or hold off using skill points to get a skill that has no trainer but has a book until you find and read the book, even if this admittedly just saves one skill point.

Otherwise, yesterday I managed to do the 100 squats in 2:47. But to stick to the topic of gaming, I also had another look into Might and Magic II, checking various sources, and confirmed that you can indeed still only save at inns, even if there seem to be more of them in cities, so I came to a final decision to not give it a chance at all. This was what made me abandon the first one without advancing much and there was no point to try the second if that issue remained, even if it seems much better otherwise. So I guess my trip back through that age of gaming will leave the ’80s behind and skip to the third game, which I may even try this year. Didn’t mean to at first, intending to either try the second or, as I eventually did, decide against even doing that much, and not think about the third at all this year, but now I do find myself thinking of it… Worry I’ll be too frustrated and disappointed though, because otherwise I’d have probably installed it already.

The thing is that I find myself wanting to play something else now, and probably not getting back to Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker or Lords of Xulima, so I’m wondering what else to install. Do have King of Dragon Pass, Quest for Infamy and Serpent in the Staglands installed as well, but Quest for Infamy is definitely out of the question, since I’m still waiting for version 2.0, if it’ll ever get released, don’t feel like starting Serpent in the Staglands, and restarting King of Dragon Pass yet again, only to almost certainly fail badly yet again, seems completely out of the question. So I ended up playing a couple more games in Epic Pinball last evening, this being the other game that’s installed, just to pass a bit more time in some sort of game. But, yes, I’m mainly wondering what else to install and start. Would perhaps be a good idea to use this mood to try to push through Kingmaker, to at least finish that main campaign from that bundle, but the risk of quickly giving up again and then not wanting to play games for months again seems too high.

This week’s run was Monday, and it marked the first time I ran more than ten kilometers since the marathon, back in October, so it’s been just over four months. But with less than three left until this year’s half marathon, I have to slowly start preparing, so I went for 16 kilometers and did well enough, the time of 1:18:08 being the third fastest so far over this distance. Sector times were 4:18, 5:12, 5:56, 4:30, 5:01, 5:51, 4:36, 5:10, 6:01, 4:39, 5:09, 6:02, 4:36, 5:13 and 5:54, making for lap times of 15:26, 15:22, 15:47, 15:50 and 15:43. Two fast laps and then three slower ones, but all five under 16 minutes, though I did need to push during the last two, since my body wasn’t used to this distance anymore, which is also why I didn’t aim for such a time. Actually just meant to stay under 1:20, or perhaps 1:19:30, but after the first sector I started thinking of trying to cover the first three laps in a time which would be normal for ten kilometers, which I just barely managed, since I’d have needed a 1:54 final sector to stay under 48:30, and then at first meant to allow myself to go up to 16:30 on the last two laps, yet then started pushing again and decided to aim to stay under 16 per lap and under 1:18:30 overall, which I managed by quite some margin.
It was sunny, but a bit windy and with a reported temperature of 12-13°C, so it was rather hard to decide whether to take my jacket too or not, but eventually decided to go in just my t-shirt. There were actually a few areas where the wind was a bit of an issue, but there were also a fair number of people to go around, so I should have quite clearly been able to get under 1:18 on a clear track. There were two moments that were more notable from this point of view on sector two of lap three, made even more obvious by the fact that they were seconds apart. At first I saw a guy coming from the opposite direction who was walking with somebody else but seemed to pay attention to me as I approached, yet even though I held the inside line, so it wasn’t an issue of doing the awkward dance, and it didn’t seem like he wanted to block me on purpose, he suddenly stepped that way as well just as I was about to pass him, blocking my way for a moment before moving the other way to let me through. And then, just a little bit later, a worker was pulling something from the back of a maintenance truck and everyone suddenly cleared that area and formed a bit of a wall in front of me, since I was just about to pass that truck.
My knees started hurting a bit once again, that left side of the left one and the front part of the right, from the third sector of lap four, but it was more like a faint warning, more like something I had to pay attention to in order to notice, not in order to manage. On the other hand, had felt just before starting to run that a toenail was jabbing the toe next to it, but there was nothing to do about it at that point, so I just ran like that and then saw the blood on my sock when I took my shoes off after getting back. I’m sure there’s some in the shoe too, but all the way at the tip, so can’t see it if I try to look inside and it didn’t seep through.

After the run, I pretty much just changed and went to Carrefour and Kaufland for a few things, not even taking the recyclables to drop off on the way. At first meant to be really fast and maybe even be back by 7 PM, but had set the TV tuner’s software to record for one hour, giving myself time until 8 PM… And finding that it wasn’t enough even so. Would have been, barely, if I wouldn’t have forgotten something I meant to get for dad from Kaufland, but since I did, I dashed back inside and lost a few more minutes, which meant that even though I pushed as hard as I could on the way back, despite carrying over 12 kg, I still was a few minutes late. But it worked out in the end, and I caught up yesterday.
What was more annoying was Micky getting in my room again later, after I showered. Sat on the bed to cut my toenails, positioning myself so that the clippings fell on my running pants, so I then went out with the clippings in one hand and the pants in the other, to shake off any tiny pieces that may be left on them, and then didn’t put the pants back and close the door first, so the door was left ajar for the very few seconds it took me to go to the kitchen and throw away those clippings. Well, even though I didn’t see her around when I got out of my room, those seconds were enough for Micky to come from wherever she was and dash in, since when I got back she was, of course, right behind the computer again, picking her way through the cables, and squeezing herself right back there if I moved towards her at all. She had a look the other way as well, behind the UPS, but decided against it, staying behind the computer and making me spend a few minutes at first slowly approaching, then getting under the desk and trying to carefully drive her out on the other side and block her way back, until she decided to lie down next to the desk and I could just manage to reach around and grab her. Was quite angry at her after that, and didn’t let her stay with me in the kitchen either when I ate that night because of it.

Otherwise, should have finished Eschalon by now, but I’m yet to do so. The first reason is that Wednesday evening dad suddenly sent me a script to translate, 130 pages, saying he needed it done by Friday evening, since he’ll have to study it Saturday… There was no way I was going to manage that, as I had just done 14 pages in some three hours by the time I went to bed then, but I did get a bit faster Thursday, getting to 50 pages before going to bed, and then the thought of checking the Library for the DVD with the movie in question struck me as I was sitting on the toilet after waking up the next day. Since I found it and have a Library pass, I asked if he wanted it that way, since the subtitles would definitely offer the official translation of anything spoken, which may not necessarily be the case for something found on-line, and when he said yes I went to grab it, which allowed me to just translate descriptions from then on. When he watched the movie, he noticed that it doesn’t completely follow the script, so putting the two together didn’t quite give him the entire translation, but it was good enough for what he needed and doing it that way allowed me to get close to page 100 before going to bed that day and finish Saturday evening, so he could go through the whole thing then.

Since I mentioned getting that DVD, I actually didn’t have to say a word to do so. Just went to the closest location listed as having it, which is also the one that specializes in such content, did mumble a greeting to the two people working there when I went in, but was otherwise allowed to search on the shelves without either of them asking whether I needed help. Yet at least one kept her eyes on me, and came to stand behind me, still silent, when I picked that one up and looked inside the case, so I just handed it to her, she went to the computer, scanned it and my pass, told me when it was due and I walked out.
After that, considered going to the Carrefour from that area, to look for a kind of cat food which is on sale there now and which I hadn’t found at the location I usually go to before, but dad had asked when I woke up that day whether I’ll go somewhere to get some other kind, which we were out of, and I said I wasn’t going to Auchan, where that kind’s cheaper, so I didn’t want to have to explain why I took the time to look for the kind we didn’t actually need just then and not that other one… And then also realized I could just have the time to get to Auchan after all, since I had the metro card, so I did that, got what was needed for the cats, also found that the bread I want to get was discounted and could also be picked up directly, without needing to ask, so I bought several, and then also some cheap apples and a couple of other things. And I could still safely catch the free bus that got me back here right on time for what should have been the start of ski jumping. The start of the round was delayed for a bit though, so I was even safer than I thought I’d be.

And to return to Eschalon, I could finally get back to it Sunday night, or I guess closer to Monday morning, and I actually killed that wizard and the dirachnid he turns into, but I didn’t mean to do that and got back to the save made before. Actually ran out both before and after fighting the wizard himself, taking out the summoned giant arachnids first, meaning to get the stuff I’ll need for later, deciding to go back and see what fighting him means, then deciding to see how the dirachnid will kill me, and finding that it didn’t even though I didn’t try too hard. However, I got back to the save made after killing just the giant arachnids because I just need a little more experience to get to level 16 and can use that statue to get a few more enemies to kill, at the cost of a curse I’ll need to pay to remove, and I mean to use the points I’ll get then to allow myself to learn any spell I can find and improve my gear as much as possible, just to see how good the character can become, and then use those eggs to level up again. Or in fact I mean to see whether there’s any more experience left to get and whether I may get myself to 17 without the eggs, and then use those for 18, if possible. Not that any of it is needed, of course, but just because I always want to have the best possible character. So last night I went around that place to get the treasure, then quickly killed the wizard again, then ran out again, leaving the dirachnid behind, and now I’ll be checking shops and putting some of the money gathered over the course of the game to use.

As for the computer, Wednesday I installed the Windows updates, including that fix from January for an issue which shouldn’t affect me anyway, and of course I couldn’t log on again, so needed to start in safe mode again and disable Emsisoft Anti-Malware, though just changing that setting to make it not start on startup also seemed to work that one time. Either way, when I tested it after rebooting, I saw that the file guard didn’t seem to work, and admittedly I hadn’t tested it on this version, so no idea whether that problem already existed or not, but at first I assumed it was caused by starting with it disabled and then allowing it to run again, so I restored from that December 22 backup one more time, to allow me to install the Windows updates again and then reboot normally before updating it as well. And since I assumed the issue had been caused by stopping it from running, I didn’t test again right after that reboot to see whether the updates caused it to fail in some way, so I was just left without that active protection and no idea why, because the support guy says it was tested and should work. There is something odd with the driver version though, but he said he’s not sure whether that’s right or not.
What’s odd is that I rebooted again the next day and just changing that setting didn’t work anymore, there was no way to log on unless I disabled the service, so no idea how come it was enough the first time. And, of course, still no file guard, so I really need to look for something else if this doesn’t get fixed, and at the moment there seems to be no chance of a fix and things are only getting worse. And in addition to that, after installing the Windows updates I have an instance of WmiPrvSE.exe that keeps running, as a network service, which frequently uses 1-2% of the CPU and definitely wasn’t there before. Wonder if it’s because of that fix, which I wonder why I installed, since I didn’t need it, and now since I overwrote that December 22 backup image with the one made after installing the Windows updates and before updating Emsisoft Anti-Malware, I can’t go back either. Should uninstall that fix and the February security-only update and see if that gets rid of that process, and if it does then reinstall just the February update and see if it comes back, but not going to reboot again too soon. Something’s definitely messed up, and it just keeps getting worse.