Cav's Place

Before anything else, I must stress the fact that this is a game made, with the exception of the music and most portraits, by two people. Granted, I have previously praised a game made, again with the exception of the music, by a single person, and that one is far more complex and quite simply much better in terms of combat and enemies, and probably also character development, but Driftmoon is more of a typical RPG, also involving exploration and much more interaction, which is a notable achievement for such a small team. There are limitations and simplifications that I’ll get to later, but it is nevertheless one of the examples proving that the age of games being made by “two guys in a garage” doesn’t need to be a thing of the past. Just that now they’re not necessarily guys anymore and they may work in something a bit more comfortable than a garage.

If I were to describe Driftmoon in one word, it would be “charming”. That’s the overall impression I got from it, whether we’re talking of the atmosphere, humor, characters, enemies, graphics, locations, music, or the many references. Despite the typical plot of saving the world from a great evil and the inclusion of themes such as torture, it does cater to a younger audience and doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet manages to avoid actually becoming childish or just a parody. Take any single element out of those I just listed aside and it most probably won’t charm on its own, some possibly even bothering adult gamers seeking something other than just amusement from their games, but see them as part of the whole and, from the first moments all the way to the end, this one word describes the game almost too well. At least as long as you manage to ignore one particular infuriating theme, or of course if, unlike me, you happen to be among those at least not bothered by it, Driftmoon is simply charming.
On top of that, there’s something to be said about it managing to avoid the typical elements that make a game frustrating, at least for me. I could hoard pretty much anything I thought could be useful at some later point without running into inventory problems and this hoarding is at times even rewarded, some items proving useful in less expected ways. I never felt that if I made a choice at one point, whether in terms of story or of character development, I was going to mess up more things later without even being made aware of it before it was too late, and I also want to make note of the fact that companions who leave drop all equipment you gave them, so you’ll never lose anything that way. Also, with one late-game exception that you’re very clearly warned about when you mean to leave, areas I had moved on from remained open until the, again very clearly specified, point of no return at the entrance of the final one, so I could always go back and make sure I had really found everything, and the number of quests completed and available in each area is listed on the world map, so you’ll very easily know if you somehow “managed” to miss one. And no fight or other challenge felt unfair or cheap, and it was nice how you could move freely while using ranged weapons and you found a quiver that used mana to provide endless arrows even early on. Admittedly, the game was rather too easy on what should be normal difficulty, but keep that younger target audience in mind and, either way, there are higher settings available for those who want them.
And I really must mention all the references as well. Yes, there’s a lot of humor in the game and it usually works well enough, at least for me, but it’s how many other things, whether also humorous in themselves or not, the developers managed to squeeze in that stands out far more. The entire Black Knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail is reproduced with a skeleton in the crypt. A secret room in the library acts as a tribute to quite a number of classic games, Discworld, Muse and Don Rosa’s Disney comics. You can pretend to play a bit of hockey in a frozen area and, also there, a character whose resistance to cold helped him end up just frozen instead of petrified recovers after you get him in a sauna, which is an obvious reference when the developers are Finnish. And many, many, many other things, in dialogues, little quips, writings, book titles, item descriptions, places… Identifying all of them may well be a game in itself, and now I’m even wondering whether the way in which the outcome for each character whose life you influenced is presented at the end isn’t at least in some part a nod to Arcanum.

Unfortunately, one of the things the developers insisted on including is Christian proselytism. As a simple reference like all the others, even to the extent of hiding the entire New Testament in a couple of places and adding a paragraph at the end of the ending credits thanking “Our Loving, Forgiving and Almighty God”, it would have been quite fine. This game is a work of passion and it’s made by two people who really put a lot of themselves in it, including all these references to what’s important to them, what they enjoy or what they personally see as otherwise sufficiently relevant. That’s fine, I get it, and if it’d have been treated like all the others, and possibly just focused on more in the monastery, including by having crosses or even pictures of Jesus instead of the duck images, it wouldn’t have been a problem. But these are not just references, but instead something pressed and hammered in, the game sliding into proselytism plenty of times, even if mainly advocating blind faith and devotion and not also the conservative “values” usually associated with organized religion. Considering that younger target audience, I’m tempted to see it as even more troubling, even more so considering the reaction religious or conservative people tend to have when progressive, liberal or secular values are taught or even simply presented to children.

Otherwise, there’s the matter of the game being rather too simple. I was mentioning the complexity and diversity of combat and enemies in The Spirit Engine II, which was developed by a single person, at the beginning of this review, so the fact that it’s lacking here isn’t because it can’t be done by a very small team. Yet, while the number itself may perhaps be passable, the reuse and to a fair extent similarity leaves the impression that there are only a few actual enemy types, and they pretty much just go all out to attack you with whatever means they have. And your companions behave the same way when aiding you in battle; you can’t even give them any orders such as to attack without you or a different enemy or when to switch to ranged or melee during combat if they have both types of weapons. If they use a melee weapon and you switch to ranged and put some distance between you and the enemy, you may even find that they disengage and just follow you around.
Still on the matter of being too simple, there are rather too few items available. The number of melee weapons is perhaps passable for a game this size, but the rest is quite restrictive, barely a few items of each type being available. Potions also don’t have different strengths and the crafting system, which might have been interesting if used properly, can only produce basic consumables, plus maybe the tickers if you care to use any, so felt like quite a waste to me. And not that there even are more actually useful rings to wear, but being limited to equipping a single magical ring is rather odd. On that note, have to wonder why isn’t there even an equipment panel and you just select what you equip by clicking on the items in inventory, which makes the background turn green. It just seems rather lazy, even if the reduced number of items does indeed help when it comes to not getting frustrated with inventory management.
And I may also mention the length here, but in truth, once again considering the team size and also that likely younger target audience, the bigger issue is elsewhere. According to the save timer, it took me 17 and a half hours to finish the game, but I likely spent less than half of that actually playing, much of it consisting instead of double and triple checking every little bit of every map and moving absolutely everything that could be moved to find all the silver feathers and the few other hidden items. And while it’s nice that you can move so many things around, it gets a bit annoying that you have to, considering the effect and eventual importance of the feathers, especially when we’re not talking just of candles or flowers that you can just throw around, but also of large heavy items that barely budge, plus the cases when some need to be cleared away before you can get to others, so you’ll be spending plenty of time slowly moving absolutely everything you can, just in case there’s something under or behind it. And what makes that even worse is that there are some items that sometimes move and sometimes don’t and there’s no way to immediately tell, so you’ll click and drag and find your character moving instead, then likely try every direction, just in case the item is blocked in some directions and you can’t see why, then conclude that the item in question can’t be moved, but maybe later find one that can be, and then you’ll go back to see if you didn’t miss any others. I was saying above that the game avoided the typical elements that make games frustrating for me and that fights didn’t feel cheap, but this one thing is cheap and frustrating.

Overall, Driftmoon is, in one word, charming. Maybe intended for a younger audience and not taking itself too seriously in terms of the story or characters, but not going too far when it comes to that and being, in my view, enhanced by most of the many references and personal touches included by the two developers. It is rather too simple in some ways and the search for the feathers can get frustrating and feel a bit cheap, but in spite of that it’s quite an enjoyable experience that manages to be close enough to a typical, albeit not exactly serious, RPG while doing away with many of the elements that make many of those almost as frustrating as they are enjoyable, or in some cases even more so.
Or it can be all of that if you can ignore all the Christian proselytism or just aren’t generally bothered by it. I for one tried and largely managed to enjoy it in spite of this, but while the developers, especially when it’s such a small team and they obviously put so much of themselves in it, are free to make a Christian game, I am also free to hold it against them. The other flaws may well be forgivable, but this is not, because it’s not something immediately obvious before you purchase or start playing and even more so because of that likely younger target audience. Quite simply, Driftmoon would have been quite an achievement for a team this size if not for this one very obvious and annoying issue.

Note that this review refers strictly to the game itself. Driftmoon includes an editor and supports mods, some of which are included and just need to be selected, but I played it without any of them installed and didn’t check any other content created by users using the editor. It’s always a good thing when such tools are included, however… And I didn’t check, but wonder if somebody made a mod to get rid of that particular main problem I kept stressing in this review, even if it’d require a fair amount of rewriting.

Half a year after the previous one, it’s definitely time for another protest report. Not that there haven’t been events worth mentioning during this time as well, there have been a few notable ones even earlier this month, including the fact that the Ministry of Culture submitted the documents to nominate Rosia Montana for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List on January 4, on the last day before handing over power to the new Government and a day after the petition asking the Prime Minister to change his mind and sign those documents was formally submitted. Not sure whether that petition had any effect, since in the end this happened because “the Minister of Culture, Corina Suteu, assumed responsibility for the submission, after informing and consulting with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, and with support from the Ministry of External Affairs” and not because the Prime Minister changed his mind about leaving the decision for his successor, and I also don’t know whether the lack of the Prime Minister’s signature will have a negative impact during the review, but after all these years, it finally happened.

However, this post is about the protests taking place over the past week, and more specifically about those on January 18 and 22, since that’s when the major ones were in Bucharest. The reason is that, so soon after taking office, this new Government means to adopt emergency measures, so without passing them through the Parliament, in order to pardon inmates sentenced to up to five years in prison if not guilty of a long list of offenses considered too serious and if they cover the losses caused within a year of release, halve the sentences of those over 60, pregnant women and those with children under five with no exceptions or conditions, so regardless of the crime they’re convicted for and without requiring them to cover the losses caused, make abuse of power no longer a criminal offense unless the losses caused exceed 200000 RON (about €44500 or $47750) and also restrict the definition of the term, limit the protections for informers who took part in a crime to six months after it was committed, and make some changes to the definition of conflict of interests as well.
While the reasoning is supposedly prison overcrowding and harmonizing legislation, quite a number of politicians will benefit from these changes, a list I saw today containing no less than 65, plus various businessmen and other known figures. Notably, it will benefit PSD president Liviu Dragnea, who is currently not allowed to be Prime Minister or hold other important positions due to serving a suspended sentence, the text actually being specifically tailored to apply to him as well by having the article he was convicted under listed under exceptions but the specific paragraph that applies to him excluded, and also having this decision supposedly aimed at reducing prison overcrowding apply to those serving suspended sentences as well, which is his situation. And it will also benefit media magnate and former president of PC Dan Voiculescu, who due to his age will be among those released without having to pay for the huge losses caused.

These decisions were supposed to be adopted by the Government on January 18, without this having been announced. However, sources leaked the fact to the media the day before, prompting immediate but vague calls for protests, a specific event for Bucharest, calling people to gather at the University Square fountain from 6 PM on January 18, starting being shared late in the evening but not even then on the main pages or groups or by many of the known activists. That meant that, when I checked that morning before going to the dentist, I knew the President, alerted of this, had unexpectedly showed up to preside the Government meeting, inviting the media back inside when they were otherwise being kicked out, making these decisions public, including the fact that they had been dated for that day, so they were definitely supposed to be approved then despite the fact that the Prime Minister was trying to say otherwise, and managing to delay them for a week. However, I didn’t know anything about any specific plans for a protest, and since I was out all day I only learned what actually took place after getting back, late in the evening.
As such, I didn’t attend and only have a few posts and articles to go on, but the fact that such a quick reaction gathered thousands and led to a march was definitely a sign of things to come. Events on such short notice tend to only gather a handful of people, yet in this case, if I’m to take the estimates of some activists who participated, there were some 3000 in the end, when reaching the Government, and some 2000 shortly before 7:30 PM, when they took to the street. A part of the media that opposes PSD estimated even up to 7000 and even international media mentions several thousand, but of course those who support PSD, who sadly also have by far the highest ratings, provided estimates as low as a few hundred, and of course said they were all paid, opposition party members and so on. Either way, the gendarmes didn’t make much of an attempt to prevent people from taking to the street and then caused no problems later either, allowing the march to reach its destination and then waiting for people to clear out on their own, which I see eventually happened after 9:30 PM.

What followed were of course various statements and calls for action, calls to submit comments against the proposals now that the Government has put them up for public comments for a week, calls for the resignation of the Minister of Justice, calls for the President and the opposition to use any means they have to block these measures, announcements from USR that they will file a simple motion against the Minister of Justice and from PNL that they will attempt to call for a vote of no confidence against the Government. There were also discussions over the fact that some USR members attended the protests, whether in Bucharest or in other cities, and announced they will do so again, stating that they are there as simple citizens and will not give interviews to the press, and many known activists keep demanding complete separation between politicians and activists and therefore request that even those who regularly took part in such events before becoming politicians stay away.

And then came Sunday, January 22, when people were called to gather at the University Square fountain from 5 PM, the event being widely promoted. After a poll posted earlier on the event page had resulted in the Government leading the list of destinations for the march by a large margin, the message posted initially stated the protesters should start marching in that direction at 6:30 PM, though that time was changed to 6 PM in another message, posted shortly before the protest was to start. No other destinations were initially listed, but it was said that they will be decided on the spot, if sufficiently large numbers will want to continue protesting somewhere else after a sufficient amount of time spent in Victory Square.
Unusually for me, I arrived quite late this time, at close to 5:30 PM, and found quite a large number of people around the fountain already. And the numbers continued to grow quickly, soon enough the area being completely filled, people spilling over wherever they could still find any room and also crowding on the other side of the road, in front of the Theater. Even though Wednesday’s numbers, considering the short notice, should have been a clear enough indication, the scale of the protest, already seeming to be similar to if not even above the biggest few from 2013, was initially surprising, and not just for me.
One problem was that, on top of members of USR, leading PNL members had also announced that they’ll participate, which was certain to be used by the media supporting PSD to paint the entire event as one organized by the opposition in order to reject the result of the elections and take over power and nothing else. But among so many thousands, I’d say they simply got lost, and I definitely didn’t spot anyone I recognized from any party other than USR, and only a couple from there as well. Then again, I only saw a few people I recognized in general, and none of the best known activists among them, though they pretty much all attended. According to some posts, however, including their own, at least a few of the most notable of them covered their faces and tried to keep as out of sight as possible, bothered by the presence of politicians and the fact that the other protesters weren’t attacking both sides equally and not wanting to be visibly associated with what was certain to be presented by the media as a purely political event.
What definitely ensured that was the fact that the President suddenly showed up around the time people started marching, a few minutes after taking to the street, which happened around 6:15 PM. He didn’t stay long and some agreed with his presence there, but I’m among those angered by it, alongside pretty much all known activists. Still, though I was far from the head of the column, and probably closer to the back of it, he appeared some distance behind me and I just heard a couple of people mention it as word was passed around, but while I later learned that a group formed around him and cheered, likely led by some brought there just for that reason, I didn’t see anyone turn back when the news carried over and I did not personally hear as much as a single slogan or chant supporting him, PNL or even USR.
Now that may not mean much if I’d have stayed more or less in one area of the crowd, considering the numbers, but I’m saying it after making my way to the head of the column, waiting for a good 25 minutes as they walked past me before I could see the end, then making my way back through as far as I could before reaching Victory Square, which was close to 7:30 PM for me but I see around 7:20 PM for the first ones, wandering around while there, finding my way to the head of the column yet again after most left for PSD’s headquarters around 8:15 PM, stopping again to wait as part of them walked past me on the way, going back forward as fast as I could so I got to that destination not long after the first ones did, around 8:30 PM, then going from one side of the road to the other and from one end of the occupied area to the other while there. So I think I know what was shouted pretty well.
What I don’t know is what happened in front of the headquarters of PSD’s allies ALDE, since I only later learned that a part of the crowd had left to go there around 9 PM, reaching it some ten minutes later before returning to PSD’s headquarters around 9:30 PM and then scattering. I guess that’s because I was around the back of the crowd when those calls were made around the front of it, trying to get a few last pictures as the numbers were dropping and I could spot a few interesting signs I had missed until then, before walking away around 9:15 PM. And there is also the fact that a number of people probably stayed in Victory Square for a while after the rest left for PSD’s headquarters and then probably scattered directly.
One more thing I can definitely say, however, is that there was no “command center” trying to lead the chants. And that doesn’t only mean that nobody managed it, which would have been quite normal considering both the numbers and the fact that best known activists were specifically trying not to stand out, but that I didn’t even really see notable attempts, except perhaps one in front of the Government by someone who tends to try to do this either when the best known activists don’t or, at times, going against them. Besides that, I just saw a few more loudspeakers and they weren’t really used in that manner, so it really was a matter of a large crowd of people reacting to something they perceived as wrong and anybody with an idea and some courage shouting something and the slogan either dying along with their voice or carrying as far as enough others thought it was good enough, until they got tired of it or they heard something they liked more at that particular moment.
And yes, the post’s title is perhaps the most memorable such slogan, referencing the fact that many politicians, businessmen and other important figures who ended up behind bars had their sentences significantly reduced after supposedly publishing books or scientific papers despite them usually having no real purpose or scientific value and the numbers and speed at which they were supposedly written making it clear they couldn’t have possibly written them themselves. “From the White House to the White Gate” was another good one though, referencing the fact that Liviu Dragnea had attended Trump’s inauguration and White Gate is the the prison most such important individuals end up in if convicted, the conditions there supposedly being better than in others.
And I guess I should finally end this now, though I’m pretty sure I missed even things I meant to include at some point, plus those I’m not even aware of yet. It was a huge protest, and I found two pictures which should give a good enough idea. Once again have to say it was similar to if not bigger than the biggest few from 2013, most estimates seeming to have settled around 30000 participants, though of course the media that supports PSD stopped counting around 10000 while also again repeating time and time again that supposedly all were paid, this time even those who brought dogs having supposedly received money for each dog, and echoing Liviu Dragnea’s statements that this is an attempted coup orchestrated by parts of secret services, obviously George Soros, who according to them organizes and finances pretty much everything against them and their interests, and others who mean to overturn the will of the people expressed through last month’s elections and hand Romania over to occult interest groups. Did see low estimates even in international media though, such as 15000, but I can definitely say there were well over 20000 people there, past which level I couldn’t estimate more accurately back in 2013 and I can’t now either, so I tend to agree with the 30000 mentioned by most others now.

As for yesterday and today, there were various discussions and positions taken by activists, some more reasonable, a few even welcoming the involvement of politicians in the protests, most rejecting it, some vehemently and harshly accusing both the politicians who show up instead of sticking strictly to the tools offered by their positions if they wish to help, extending this even to those who were activists before and who in their view should completely break away from that past, and all other protesters for not kicking politicians out of protests and not attacking both those in power and the opposition. On the other hand, Demos also finally released a formal statement on the matter, doubled by a rather uncharacteristically harsh and blunt attack against PSD posted by Claudiu, who’s the founder of this project, which currently isn’t yet formally registered as a party but eventually aims to be and which includes a pretty long list of known activists who had until recently rejected the idea of getting directly involved in politics but finally, after being disappointed by the direction taken by USR as well, realized that if they won’t create a progressive and leftist alternative here, nobody will.
Also, while some voices called for daily protests, the person who created the events for January 18 and 22 correctly stated that this would just waste the energy and reduce participation, so the next event was created again for Sunday, though if the Government will approve these measures tomorrow, as it may well do, everybody should obviously be ready to react immediately. However, somebody created another event for this evening, calling people to the University Square fountain from 5 PM and, while most ignored it, I saw a couple of reports estimating about 150 people there. Obviously not enough for any march or anything else, and likely harming the cause due to such low numbers so soon after such a massive event.

The most notable development these days, however, is the fact that the President announced yesterday that he will call for a referendum on these matters, and today he supposedly initiated the procedure in order to do so, though the President of the Senate stated that the documents were not received because today was a national holiday and nobody was there. USR quickly released a statement supporting the initiative and there are various other voices who think it’s a good idea, but I’m again in agreement with the vast majority of known activists who see it as a terrible move and a huge threat that pretty much throws away anything this movement may have obtained and may well clear the way for PSD to do pretty much whatever they want for the next few years.
Without such an initiative, either PSD will back off due to public pressure and they’ll realize they can’t quite get away with everything they thought they could or they won’t and, while it’s true that the measures they wish to implement will have immediate effects impossible to reverse, they’ll face an immense backlash because of it and that’s likely to solidify a movement which may well prevent much worse from being done by them in the near future. With it, regardless of the outcome, a matter of fairness, justice, the rule of law and right and wrong high-level decisions is turned into pure populism, and considering the recent election results and PSD’s voting and manipulation apparatus the outcome is actually quite likely to be that most people will approve of their plans, which will make not only this challenge but also any future opposition easy to dismiss. In addition, this already gave them the opportunity to once again bring up the referendum to change the Constitution to clearly specify that marriage can only be between one man and one woman, and the delay and the impression that somebody else, in this case the President, is handling this matter while in fact the outcome will depend strictly on how well regular people will mobilize is likely to dissipate energy and significantly reduce just that mobilization that’s so necessary.

Seems that I stayed in the mood to see what games I have that I can actually finish even after finishing Torchlight, because Sunday I installed Driftmoon and I think I’m close to the end by now, and in fact I was there since Thursday night, since yesterday and so far today I didn’t play at all. And I’m guessing I’ll actually be trying to write a review for this one after I’ll finish it, so let’s see if I’ll manage that next week. Can say right now that it’ll include the words “they have the right to make a Christian game and I have the right to hold it against them”, but otherwise it is indeed charming and the other references make it interesting from another point of view as well.

Moving on, the permanent crown was put on my tooth Wednesday, and they actually made one fully coated in ceramic, and without charging more than for the partial one. As I was saying then, it was strange when I heard the dentist tell the assistant to request a partial one when she hadn’t even offered it as an option, but when I went there now I had this one put in and she said she felt sorry for me to be so young and have metal visible in my mouth already, and I was so easy to work with too, so she decided to make me a gift this way. Now if I think of the discounts I thought I should have gotten for the work done before this point and which weren’t applied, the difference comes to pretty much the same as the difference between what was paid and the discounted price for this crown, as she had listed it in the plan she sketched for me and dad at first, but it was a really nice thing to do nevertheless, and prevented me from feeling awfully rotten about it, as I was getting ready to.
But that somewhat positive feeling didn’t last long at all, as when I ate that night I felt pain in the lower right side, where the first dentist said she had seen something. Since this one didn’t mention it anymore, I assumed it had perhaps been some stain or something which had fooled the first one, but now that doesn’t seem likely. What’s much worse, however, is that the next night I also felt pain in the upper left side, so right where this tooth that had all the work done on it is. And it was a different sort of pain, sharper and deeper, rather like something’s touching something it shouldn’t touch, but still only triggered by cold, as eating something that’s not cold, even chewing toast or crackers, doesn’t hurt at all.
Considering that pierced root and the fact that they stressed they make no guarantees it won’t get infected and need either an operation that sounds awful or, if not caught quickly enough, removing the tooth and wasting all the work and money just spent on it, I just don’t even want to think of the possibility and keep looking for other explanations. And some are available, because at first that pain seemed to me to come from the tooth before that one, which isn’t that surprising in fact, since the work done in the area may have caused the filling in it to come loose or otherwise once again touch something in the way that made it hurt for months after the last time work was done on it, plus that the permanent crown leaves a bit more space between those teeth and therefore that filling may now move if that is the case. And it often still seems like that one is the cause, but I don’t know how much of that is wishful thinking and either way have been largely avoiding cold stuff since then, the one notable exception being when I took really cold water in my mouth after waking up yesterday and, strangely, felt no pain there at all, but instead on both lower right and lower left. And in the lower left I noticed something that seems to be a chipped tooth which may be caused by the crown, being harder and pressing onto it. But that sharper and deeper pain when eating something cold is definitely different and from the upper side… So at this point I’m rather waiting and hoping it’ll somehow sort itself out, because I don’t even want to think about it going so wrong right away.

Either way, getting back to Wednesday, after the tooth work was done, I went out to look for shoes and pants. The one pair of shoes I have other than the running shoes and the boots I’m wearing these days are just about falling apart and have been for years, and glue could only go so far, then one of the two pairs of regular pants I have are pretty much in a similar condition, so worn that in certain areas there are holes that would be difficult to fix, and perhaps impossible to do so properly, and the other pair of pants, purchased two years ago to at least have some sort of alternative to those other ones, is way too large, so I had to start wearing a belt to keep them on me and they sure look weird. So, as much as I dread new clothes and changing what I have, I eventually had to give in and had a look now that the discount period supposedly started. Not that it was the first time I looked, hardly, but now I was quite set on actually buying something and eventually I did, after checking several places and, after picking up a few other things as well, only getting back late in the evening and therefore also not knowing until then that there had been a quite significant protest that evening, though I was made aware that something may be happening when a guy asked me in another metro station whether it was true that there was a protest at Unirii.
But, back to the purchases, I’m of course feeling thoroughly rotten about it, highly uncertain about the shoes and worried both that my feet will smell in them and, more importantly, that they won’t last, even more so after my mother pointed out one area where they will very likely get quickly and visibly damaged when I showed them to her, and also wondering how I’ll feel in these pants, since they’re not the kind I’ve been wearing when going out for so many years, because I couldn’t find any quite like that and decided to go with something a fair bit different in other ways instead of something with just one notable difference I particularly wanted to avoid. Plus, the color sure seems to come out, and after being soaked for a while now there are some areas where it came out more, so they look unpleasant.
But I guess it is what it is now, and if I won’t actually be using the shoes for a while, the pants will replace those destroyed ones soon enough, when I’ll next have these large ones I’m wearing now washed. While I’m pretty sure the shoes were bought in late 2007, or at least no earlier than that, I’m even more certain I had these pants since before meeting Andra, possibly years before, and for most of that time they were actually the only ones I went out in, so I guess the poor things deserve a “retirement” by now… Even if I still hate it. Really, really hate it.

And yes, people have still been coming over, for the same reason. Twice again this week, Tuesday and yesterday, and dad didn’t even let me know in time about Tuesday, only leaving a note on the kitchen table that I found after I woke up that afternoon saying they’ll come in a few hours. So I stayed here then, hoping I won’t need to go to the bathroom before they’ll leave so I won’t risk bumping into anyone, but yesterday I went out again. Not for a walk, even if it is winter and it’s rather nice, but just took out the recyclables and then went to a nearby mall, spent time in two bookstores, then in two IT and electronics stores, then wandered around the hypermarket that’s also there, eventually picking up a few more things with what little money I had left on me.
Since he said they should leave at 8:30 PM, I said I’ll be out of there at that time in order to get back around 9 PM, hoping that will be safe, but he also sent me a message at 8:45 PM to let me know they left, so at least it worked out this time in that way. But the very fact that people keep coming over is awfully draining and I sure hope it’ll stop happening, and I did tell him how I feel because of it and he said something about having already started looking for other options for their rehearsals so they’ll only come here when they’ll really have to. No idea when those other places will start being used though, and them coming here at all is definitely not what I signed up for, if I may use the term. Even if I’ll feel even more rotten for wasting money in such a manner, when it next happens I may ask him for some to go get myself a pizza or watch a movie or both, see what happens then.

For those who had so far somehow managed to delude themselves that maybe it won’t really happen after all and those naive enough to still hold some hope that maybe it won’t be that bad, today must have marked quite a “well, shit, they weren’t kidding” moment. I mean, I’d think that even for the worst of them, the speech should have been more than enough to chase away any remaining traces of those fantasies, right?
Wouldn’t know what to link to at the moment and, to be honest, didn’t even read much in terms of opinions and analyses today, since nothing actually changed for those who weren’t deluding themselves so far. Still, did get one long, in-depth piece on my feed and I guess I’m going to share it here too, since it adds plenty of details and specifics and deals with the European Union, even if it’s heavily and, considering the source, understandably focused on Germany. One issue I have with that article is that it stresses the threat Trump is to the current economic model not necessarily because what he pushes for is worse, but because it’d be a good thing to preserve the current model in itself, which is most definitely not the case. The problem there is that, if some current European leaders strive to preserve the bad and Trump and others emboldened by him push for worse, those striving to change things for the better will have uphill battles to fight on even more fronts and against opponents with different strengths and weaknesses.
But that’s the case in pretty much every aspect. Trump’s victory may be the most notable, but it’s far, far from the only terrible sign of things to come, far from the only major defeat suffered by… Not sure what term to use actually. Progressives? Those on the right side of history? Either way, at a time when radical changes are immediately and desperately needed, quite a number of major battles have been thoroughly lost recently, not even leaving us with those clearly lesser evils which some had at least accumulated some experience in dealing with, which sadly tended to be the realistic alternatives. As for any victories, they were anything but decisive and in no way sufficient in terms of the advances required to reach any worthwhile goals.
So we need to get ready for difficult years ahead, but we definitely can’t give up. Quite the contrary; we need all hands on deck. We need to gear up, toughen up and fight even harder. And yes, we need to truly fight. We need to recognize that this is a war and we just lost some major battles without really winning any, not in the sense of managing to implement anything anywhere near the radical changes that are absolutely necessary, so in order to avoid a complete defeat we now need to use whatever means necessary to thoroughly destroy the other side. Or more exactly the other sides, as we’re talking of the establishment, this sort of anti-establishment that’s even worse and various other groups and ideologies that would steer the world in perhaps different but definitely still wrong directions.

I’ll start with last night, when one side of the temporary crown put back on my tooth Thursday broke off. I believe a tiny corner of it had broken off the night before as well, but I wasn’t sure then. Not that it’s unexpected, since I believe it first broke when the dentist put it back on Thursday, as I heard a crack and she had a little annoyed reaction and pulled it back out to work on it a little before putting it back in again, after which that side felt different than it had before. So I guess she tried to glue it back together, or simply make the parts stick to the tooth even if they’re no longer a single piece. But I’m guessing it’s not much of a problem right now, even if there was nobody there to ask now that it’s the weekend.

Still yesterday, but in the afternoon, I actually ran again. Was the one day when it was possible, sunny, basically no wind and reported highs only a couple of degrees below freezing among all the other days with even quite a lot of wind and much lower highs. Of course, there was still the matter of the snow, but the path around the lake was cleared quite well, with just a thin layer left, which was actually a good thing, as removing it all would have made a thin layer of ice likely to quickly form and be exposed, leading to a slippery path. As it was, it was fine, though the traction definitely was different, perhaps slightly more so because I used my old shoes, which have been pretty much falling apart for quite some time, as I didn’t want to possibly damage my running shoes. Had to learn how to step as I went along, slipping just a little, sticking just a little, making it harder, but I only really slipped once, when avoiding some other people, and managed not to fall even then. Plenty of people though, and a lot of children, plenty sliding down to the path, so there were places where you had to be careful to avoid them colliding with you.
The time was 38:25, with sector times of 5:04, 5:49, 6:41, 5:02, 5:45, 6:38 and 3:26, making for lap times of 17:34 and 17:25. Yes, that’s the slowest time yet on this route with the exception of the first roughly timed one and my ideal target was 10% slower than the record, so 37:10, but 38:30 is 10% slower than my regular target of 35:00, so I managed to stay within that time and can be quite pleased with it. I mean, while I was wondering whether to even attempt it, I was setting myself a conservative, worst-case target of 25% above the record, so 42:15, and as I started I was thinking I’ll do my best to at least stay under 40 minutes. But the weather was so nice, even feeling warmer than the previous few runs when the reported temperature was 5°C to 7°C, as then there were also some clouds and a bit of wind, so there were no problems from that point of view, I didn’t need to have my jacket on, forgot my gloves yet my hands didn’t freeze, and while climbing up that slope at the end with children sliding down it and then also going around the pavilion, where the snow hadn’t been cleared and I only had the footprints of others to help me make my way through, I managed. Only problem was something I noticed when I got back and saw that the corner of a toenail had dug into the toe next to it and there was plenty of blood, and that toe has actually been bothering me a fair bit since then.

And yes, that means we’ve finally been getting real winter around here, in the sense of plenty of snow and temperatures well below freezing, so weather that should be normal for probably two of the three months of calendar winter, and which used to be normal when I was little, but which has since become unusual, some past “winters” even completely lacking such periods. Of course, this leads to many people complaining about many things and many of them doing little else, as opposed to, say, getting to work to clear sidewalks and side roads and help those who have serious problems due to health reasons, but I definitely like it and consider the problems caused by it as entirely normal and something to accept and allow for during this time of year, the real problem being when winter isn’t really winter. Plus, it’s so pretty…

One problem I can’t quite deal with, on the other hand, is the fact that dad seems to now be using this place for his theater troupe’s rehearsals. Which is not to say that I have a problem with him getting involved in that, in fact quite the contrary, this being a very rare case of me actually appreciating something he does, since theater is something he’s been wanting to do pretty much all his life but, as far as I know, hadn’t since he was in college or doing military service or something like that. He did a little acting several years ago, a few advertisements and small episodic parts in, if I remember right, two television series, but theater was what he always wanted and it’s nice that he finally managed to get into this project and even end up leading one of the groups, especially since it really is something done out of passion and for its own sake, not for other benefits, of which, from what I know, there are none. It’s why people should be doing whatever it is they’re doing, and strikes me as even more interesting and beneficial when it’s someone usually reporting on and discussing economic and financial matters and with views shaped by that.
However, as I said, he recently started bringing the others here to rehearse in the living room. It happened when I went to pick up the new keyboard, LED fixture and light, and it was the reason why I went to all those different places on the same day, wanting to not be here while they were. Then it happened again last week, when I didn’t leave again, and then twice this week, Tuesday and Thursday. Should have been three times, but the plan for Wednesday got canceled as some said they couldn’t get here due to the weather. And now they didn’t even stick to the schedule, as Tuesday he said they should be leaving at 7:30 PM, I went out before they got here and did what I could to pretty much waste time while supposedly shopping, only getting a few things and otherwise wandering around a hypermarket and the surrounding stores to stay out as long as I could, got back at 8 PM and they were still here, and it was some time until they left.
Yes, they’re supposed to stay in the living room and the door is closed, but I’m very uncomfortable with people around either way it is, and there are plenty of them, he was saying up to about ten, and that makes for quite a number of trips to the bathroom, as I noticed when I was here, both last week and Thursday. And there are other things related to this that I may complain about as well, but this is the main one, that people, lots of people, now seem to keep coming over and I feel trapped and drained and panic because of it and need to make any schedule around that and apparently can’t even do that because they don’t even stick to the one he gives me, and even that maybe with barely even a day’s notice. And now, when I actually sort of like going out due to this weather, it may be marginally more manageable, but if it keeps happening it’ll only get worse and I just can’t deal with it, all right?