It’s time once again for my “every two months” recap and there’s a lot that happened since my previous one. Let’s get to it.
Planner Evenings at The Lounge
For the past few months, Shane and I have been spending our Sunday evenings at a nearby coffee shop / restaurant called The Lounge. They’ve been on soft opening for a while and finally had their grand opening, with a fully packed menu.
We tried their Pesto pasta and the Hungarian Varsity meal. Their pasta sauce lacked the basil kick I was looking for, but their noodles were cooked to my preference. The Varsity meal was a hefty serving, true to its name. The Hungarian sausage was savory with a bit of spice, but it was their fried rice that caught our attention. There were some spices mixed into it and the flavor was enough to make it a meal on its own. Definitely something I’ll order again.
On a different visit, I tried their Aglio e olio and requested a mild spice level. Apparently, they make their pasta on the spot so I had to wait 15 minutes, which was fine as I was planning to stay there for hours, anyway. This was my new favorite offering. Shane also liked it as it wasn’t as oily as other similar dishes she’s had. The flavor was good and the generous amount of Parmesan cheese elevated the simple pasta dish into an enjoyable meal.
We’ve tried their iced drinks a lot and they tend to lean more on the sweeter side. During their soft opening, they only served drinks and desserts so a lot of our calories every Sunday were from this place. I’m glad they have savory meals on the menu now. I’m ready to try everything they offer because what I’ve tasted has impressed me so far.
I’ve always lamented the lack of third spaces near me, but at the very least, The Lounge serves that purpose, although a bit more expensive and calorie dense for my usual tastes. True to its name, the place is a great spot to relax and ruminate.
Learned a Lot from Assassination Classroom
I finished watching the anime of Assassination Classroom because I learned that the complete collection is just up on YouTube. No spoilers for now because I encourage everyone to watch or read it, but this is a great series from start to finish.
I’ve finished reading the manga before, so re-living the ups and downs of the story was very enjoyable. I had forgotten some key parts of the story, so I was pleasantly surprised at the twists as they happened.
The mangaka did great in creating memorable characters that have their own story and motivations. From such a basic premise of trying to kill their teacher before the school year ends, shit hits the fan and the students are put in situations where their lessons become integral for their survival. The closer they get to the truth, the more difficult their mission becomes.
Aside from the comedy and action, there are some life lessons to be picked up here. The end completely broke me (for the second time) and I can’t help but to wish I had a mentor like Koro-sensei to help me through life.
Assassination Classroom is one of the best complete stories in manga I’ve read. It’s up there with Fullmetal Alchemist (The GOAT), Dorohedoro, and Dungeon Meshi. Koro-sensei will forever be one of the coolest anime characters I know.
Achieved a Flow State with RPG Maker MV
I’m on my Nth attempt with my video game creation hobby and I feel like this is the furthest I’ve ever progressed. I decided to use RPG Maker MV and built a game with a very simple premise.
I’m enjoying trying to implement the concepts in my head into the game engine. It’s a long process but I love all the different aspects of game-making, from creating the character sprites, coding cutscenes, to designing enemies.
I doubt that I’ll ever complete this project, but every minute sunk into this project has been enjoyable. Well, not really. Sometimes plugins don’t work. The code Gemini spits out doesn’t work. The game just freezes. But troubleshooting and finding workarounds are part of the process.
I see myself tinkering with this for years to come, just slowly building on this project piece by piece. I’ve also bothered my friends with making some sprites for the game so it’s been fun showing them tiny glimpses of what I’m building.
The Charlie Competition
My friend introduced me to the app Walking Charlie and since then, it has changed my life. This simple app gamifies the daily steps you take. I’ve been tracking this metric for a while, but the app took this simple activity into another level.
What makes the app special is the social aspect. You can add your friends and make a “house” with them. You can dress up your personal avatar (called “Charlie”) and see your friends’ Charlies as well. If you reach 10,000 steps per day, your Charlie gets slimmer and healthier, from the default obese phase.
It’s a simple concept, but because of the social component and gacha-like customization system, my friends and I are hooked and we’ve been comparing our daily steps for weeks now. It also has daily missions and it has led me to getting off my ass and walking around when I have nothing better to do.
For those already tracking their steps with their phone or smartwatch, Charlie is a fun addition to keep you motivated. I can’t wait to see the steps my Charlie will accumulate once I return to consistently jogging.
Use my referral code 8291804 when you set up the Charlie app so we can both get 20 donuts (the in-game currency). See you there!
Dental Nemesis + Hypertension
Now for some bad news, I have irreversible pulpitis in my lower right molar. And because of this toothache, I’ve also come to discover that I have High Blood Pressure.What a combo.
My situation was exposed when I went to the dentist to have the offending tooth extracted. Apparently, they can’t extract a tooth if a person’s BP is high. So now I’m stuck with a problematic tooth that can’t be removed until I get my BP under control. So now, I’m consulting with cardiologists and orthodontists at the same time. It’s been a stressful experience (which isn’t helping to lower my BP) but hopefully it gets fixed soon.
It was hard to accept because I’ve never felt any High BP-related symptoms and I’ve been trying to live a healthy lifestyle. Thus, I don’t know how it got this way, especially when I’ve gone to multiple clinics where my BP was normal.
But when it’s dentist time, it spikes up to 140/100 from my usual 120/80. The body does some crazy shit once it reaches above 30 years old. The difficulty level of my life just turned up a notch after 3 decades of living.
But this too shall pass. I’ll either overcome this or I’ll pop a stroke and die. Either way, it’s none of my concern after that.
Thanks for getting caught up, let’s see what the next months have in store for us.
Be safe and remember to floss!
-jgzn
