Christmas/Holiday Season 2023

[Maniakkid25]

So, thanks to a quick lie, my parents didn't get pissy with me about the double gift thing. Small favors. Instead, they got pissy with me for a completely unrelated reason.

So one of the gifts I got was a new gamer chair, as my current one is tearing itself to pieces. But, the chair only has Bluetooth connectivity, and my current TV doesn't have bluetooth. I was going to buy one on loan, but when I told them the interest rate, they got pissy with me because I'd rather eat the interest and pay it over time. So, fuck it; if they don't wanna get paid their rent in a timely manner, so be it.

Also, it's basically impossible for me to find a TV that's Full HD (i.e. 1080p) AND has Bluetooth AND has RCA input. For some reason, those just aren't a thing.

[Moonface]

...turns out all of them didn't make it over to the States which makes me so happy because it means I'll never have to hear them against my will on a radio station in this country.
For anyone curious about the songs, it's these three:

1. Stop the Cavalry - Jona Lewie
   
2. Walking in the Air - Aled Jones
   
3. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie and Bing Crosby 
   

That first one in the list is like nails on a chalkboard to me...

Not sure if I remembered to mention this in my most recent post in How Was Your Day/Week? thread but when I went out to meet friends for Secret Santa over the weekend, the Korean bakery we were meeting in were playing a mix of various Christmas songs from YouTube and of all the things that came up, the very first song on this list played. I felt like Scrooge being visited by those three ghosts.

Because it's two gifts, not one, and I only bought other people one gift. If that doesn't set them off, I'll be surprised.

Bleh, I hate the idea that gifts have to be equal in quantity. For all they know the two gifts you get one person equal the same monetary amount as the singular gifts of everyone else.

 I just hope my laptop can run it after posting about my concerns in the discussion thread for the game earlier.

This is one of the reasons why I wanted to get it for you. Now you can test how it runs on your laptop risk free! Hopefully it does end up running well enough to be playable though.

I did boot the game but hoped for a single player tutorial part to test the actual gameplay in which the game lacks. I couldn't be bothered at the time to see if it would let me load a LAN match by myself.

Is Lethal Company a very demanding game? I think I've heard of it before, but I forget what it looks like exactly?

Not really? I just fail to meet one of the requirements by a small margin: https://universalgaming.net/showthread.p...9#pid30679

I actually wrapped up my gifts to my parents just today. With my dad being in a rehab hospital, he won't be home until the new year. My father in law passed away in September so we've been dealing with the rest of his estate.

I did buy myself some steam games for Christmas Eve. I got Bravely Default 2, Final Fantasy X/X2 HD, & Sea of Stars. I did get gifted Marble Up recently. So far, so good all in all.

Dang, did he have a big estate? I don't know how long it takes to deal with any average sized estate anyway to be fair but I just get the feeling your FIL's is taking longer than an estate usually would.
Also I hope you have a good time with all those new games.

So one of the gifts I got was a new gamer chair, as my current one is tearing itself to pieces. But, the chair only has Bluetooth connectivity, and my current TV doesn't have bluetooth. I was going to buy one on loan, but when I told them the interest rate, they got pissy with me because I'd rather eat the interest and pay it over time. So, fuck it; if they don't wanna get paid their rent in a timely manner, so be it.

Also, it's basically impossible for me to find a TV that's Full HD (i.e. 1080p) AND has Bluetooth AND has RCA input. For some reason, those just aren't a thing.

Couldn't you just get a Bluetooth dongle to attach to the TV so it works with the new chair, or would that not work the way my mind thinks it would?

[Maniakkid25]

Couldn't you just get a Bluetooth dongle to attach to the TV so it works with the new chair, or would that not work the way my mind thinks it would?

It probably would work that way, but where would I fit it? My TV hits both edges of my current TV stand, and moving the TV up top just isn't an option without significant reorganization.

This is something that my parents don't understand: I am working with VERY TIGHT restrictions as to where I can fit all my shit, and they keep giving me MORE STUFF, THINKING IT WILL SOMEHOW FIX THE PROBLEM! They don't get that my room is not big enough; they don't get that I have a lot of stuff that I've collected over the years. In order to get the space I actually need, I'd need to break down the wall between my room and the guest room, but that's not gonna happen. I don't understand what is so hard about this to understand about this for them!

[Mr EliteL]

@Moonface : Oh no, you had listen to that after managing to avoid it all this time.

I never knew what a Bluetooth chair even does, I'd probably just use it only as a chair and not the feature. Darn I'm so out of the loop of recent technology or what has been "hip". Hope that chair still works out for you Maniak, even if you don't get the TV Bluetooth'd up straight away.

My Christmas was fine, hung out with my immediate family, plus family friend who chose to join us as his brother caught Covid. Ate dinner, opened presents, played Scrabble and classic Monopoly, although that Monopoly game went on too long, we didn't finish until just before midnight and that was also before anyone went bankrupt, although one of us was about to, but didn't know how long that was going to take. Kept getting slightly messed up because the Ultimate Banking Edition we played more of recently changes some rules slightly. Still was OK.

Then yesterday my brother and his wife came over to exchange gifts, had some nibbles, started my game of Wonder as my sister-in-law wanted to watch, then played Apprentice version of Logo Billionaire.

What I received:

• Super Mario Bros Wonder
  
• Scandroid - Monochrome
  
• Scandroid (self-titled album)
  
• Porcupine Tree - Closure/Continuation
  
• Loungewear top (green)
  
• Dragonball print mug (with Goku & Vegeta on it)
  
• Coin book
  
• Xmas related Food
  

Good presents apart from the Coin book, didn't ask for it and only because I had been collecting different faced 50p's and £2 coins but only from change and not seriously. I don't care for historic coins really. The DB mug also was unexpected, as it was one where you choose the image, would be infinitely better if it was an anime series I actually have watched, I should have told them about series I'd like since they got me a bunch of mainstream anime merch that I don't follow before. Ah well, still a cool mug though and I at least know of DB.

[Moonface]

Couldn't you just get a Bluetooth dongle to attach to the TV so it works with the new chair, or would that not work the way my mind thinks it would?

It probably would work that way, but where would I fit it? My TV hits both edges of my current TV stand, and moving the TV up top just isn't an option without significant reorganization.

This is something that my parents don't understand: I am working with VERY TIGHT restrictions as to where I can fit all my shit, and they keep giving me MORE STUFF, THINKING IT WILL SOMEHOW FIX THE PROBLEM! They don't get that my room is not big enough; they don't get that I have a lot of stuff that I've collected over the years. In order to get the space I actually need, I'd need to break down the wall between my room and the guest room, but that's not gonna happen. I don't understand what is so hard about this to understand about this for them!

My armchair therapist guess would be they probably just assume it can work, and that the only reason it doesn't is because you're not trying enough to make it work rather than them realizing that the situation is the equivalent of shoving a square peg through a triangular hole.

@Moonface : Oh no, you had listen to that after managing to avoid it all this time.

Yeah, at least involuntarily anyway as I had played the song for @ShiraNoMai just so she could know the horror of it. Besides her, everyone else in our friend group present at the time were all very confused as to why I was in a state of such disbelief until I explained myself to them.

I never knew what a Bluetooth chair even does, I'd probably just use it only as a chair and not the feature. Darn I'm so out of the loop of recent technology or what has been "hip". Hope that chair still works out for you Maniak, even if you don't get the TV Bluetooth'd up straight away.

In fairness I've never been aware of Bluetooth integration in a chair either and I can't even think of what it would need it for.

• Xmas related Food
  

Now I'm curious what food this was.
Also did you start SMBWonder yet or have any time frame in mind for when you will?


Christmas for me wasn't as planned since I got sick the week leading up to Christmas Eve, so had to miss out on a family gathering happening that night but I did also call off work that day too (because fuck 'em) so I at least got to relax at home for the day. Shira and I went over to her mother's on Christmas Day since she was fine with me coming over sick; she just didn't want me over there with other family members who wouldn't be as comfortable about it. I don't remember everything I got from Shira's mum but I can at least list what Shira got for me:

• Google Watch - I was unsure about this at first (as I am whenever I get new technology to replace an existing piece I own that doesn't feel old/dated enough to replace) but it's grown on me since I started learning more of the features it has. The nicest thing about it is being able to fully manage my phone notifications on it so I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket every time I hear a notification sound, which I really appreciate if I'm getting a lot of notifications about stuff I don't care about like random emails or whatever.
  
• Lego Horizon Forbidden West Tallneck set - Been wanting this for a while and this would be my first new Lego set in like 15 years or something. I haven't had a chance to sit down and start it at all yet though.
  
• Dying Light 2 (PS5)
  

[Mr EliteL]

Nyeh, the Xmas food was a bunch of Gingerbread Men and Gingerbread Santa heads., Chocolate Selections, Lebkuchen gingerbread things, Lemon Drizzle biscuits.

I have played a little of Wonder, only played like 8 levels or something like that so far though. Haven't done a proper sit down for a substantial amount of time with the game as I'd have like to have done yet, so I don't know when I will get really stuck in.