I still like Xonar cards, like the Xonar DG (though it isn’t compatible with my new PC). I always liked their interface more than the competitors, and it puts out excellent volume on my Logitech headset that is otherwise way too quiet for me. Never been a big fan of the simulated 3D environments on any of these cards, though. The only game it ever sounded decent in was No Man’s Sky, but even that still had a distant tinny sound to it.

I think most people just use external amplifiers these days, but I’m still using a third-party sound card.

Bruh…

At least wait until the year is over the make the judgment that the year has been unusually cool so far? Or are you talking about the other guys?

We’re having an unusually cool year so far in Alberta. It’s been quite chilly even. This has been the first hot weekend, peaking later today, and you wouldn’t believe the number of idiots on social media who think this one cold year has single-handedly disproved climate change. Meanwhile they’ve conveniently forgotten the absolute fucking nightmare the last five summers have been, with smoke-choked skies and perpetual respiratory pain. Though many of them also think the Liberals in Ottawa sent agents out last year to start the wildfires by arson in order to perpetuate the myth of climate change. There is really no winning with these stupid fucks.

Well, that does sound better than the horseshit I’ve been served in the past.

Hard disagree. Gourmet mac just tastes like noodles and bland cheese gravy.

THE CRAWLING CHAOS NYARLATHOTEP IS UPON US!

JENKINS WAS MY PA!!!

You should probably replace your detector.

There is nothing more pleasurable than swinging hard at a wasp and slapping that piece of shit. I also enjoy it when it doesn’t die immediately and has to think about it’s life and it’s choices.

I’ve tried to get into ESO multiple times, always hyping myself up to just ignore the combat/difficulty and pacing and do it for the story alone, but it wears me down quite quickly every time. The vibe is just entirely off in every way. It’s like playing with a cheap McDonald’s toy with stiff legs and a weird button that makes it move it’s arms vs. a licensed action figure.

Save for my issues with the lack of real risk or challenge anywhere outside of running end-game group content solo, I always get irritable with the weird class themes the developers went with. I think if they had three guardian base classes (Thief, Warrior, Mage) and allowed players to spend their limited pool of points into other Elder Scrolls trees (Destruction, Alteration, Restoration, Conjuration, Blunt, Blade, etc.) it could have been balanced well enough and felt true to what we’ve come to expect from that universe. But instead it feels like they made the game as an entirely different MMO, then at the last minute agreed to put an Elder Scrolls skin on it.

I’d like to be a Warrior with minor specialization in Restoration and Alteration, but if I want to play that sort or archetype I basically have to be a Templar who uses sun spells and does all of his fighting with aetherial javelins, maybe joining the Mage’s Guild or something to simulate some sort of Alteration type buffs. Or I roll a Dragonknight who is themed entirely around fire and lava spells. Or I run around labeled a Sorcerer and use daedric spells/buffs to simulate Alteration, and ignore the rest of that classes abilities to branch out into melee and armor abilities. It’s all just so convoluted and unusual.

Beautiful soundtrack, though… Moth, Butterfly and Torchbug really does things to my heart, and leaves me hopeful that even without Jeremy Soule, TES6 may still have the type of score it deserves.

I want to be positive and I’m trying to remain optimistic, but somehow I just know it in my bones that they’re going to further Fallout 4 the franchise and strip away even more skills and attributes. Hell, maybe they’ll get rid of dialogue entirely.

The worst for us is stonefruit season. Every last person believes they have to squeeze all of the peaches and nectarines for ripeness, and within a few hours the entire display is full of deep bruises and fingerprints. They’ll do it even if they’re buying a massive bag, as if none of it can be expected to ripen over the coming days. We wind up throwing so much out due to excessive squeezing that it’s kind of disgusting.

I’m pleased that they found one with acceptable give, but they’ve destroyed three others in the process.

Wash your produce to the best of your ability. Old ladies (and occasional men) believe it’s their inherent right to lick their fingers every time they go to open a bag, and then pick through all the produce for the one they like most. Also, Cosmic Crisp is the best apple available.

I’m just going to start referring to myself as a socialite. Yeah, I’m pretty much a shut-in who only hangs out with his wife and kid, and yeah, I manage a produce section at a grocery store for a living and only pull about 49k gross, but it sure sounds distinguished, eh?

Rockstar (2.25), 4pk of Snickers (4.40), Burger King Double Cheeseburger (3.50)… Shit, I went over. I don’t know how I could make any compromises here.

Bro grabbed that one Alduin skin off the Nexus.

Oh, botha… Wew… As dey say… When in da Hundwed Acre Woods… 🤷🥂

WHAT’RE’YA BOYYIN?!

While I don’t have it anymore, for years I had a recurring nightmare about the house I grew up in. There had always been unusual occurrences within, mostly auditory but sometimes visual. Looking back, I was never that spooked about it while living there. I honestly loved that property and have fond memories of growing up among all those old apple trees. But for years after moving out I would dream that I had returned to it, and it was very, very different.

In the dreams the house was dark and full of shadows. Completely devoid of furniture and decor. It was gray, empty, and wholly abandoned. While inside I could feel an overwhelming and foreboding precense. It was this feeling of fear and panic. Pure dread. There was something disturbing there with me as I traveled from room to room, nervously anticipating every new corner as the sun sank low and the shadows grew deeper inside. As the years progressed, I would find the house to be filled with spectral cats that accompanied me throughout, or darted around the rooms inexplicably, sometimes out of the corner of my eye and other times as clear as day. Though I couldn’t quite focus on them, I had the feeling these were all the cats I had owned growing up. Some of them cats I had owned and lost since originally living there. It was as though they were trapped in the purgatory of that haunting, empty dream house, and even though the cats seemed to be full of spunk, there was an immense sadness about them being there.

The dreams occurred with greater frequency into my late 20s-early 30s, until one night I simply stepped inside and realized there was nothing left to fear. Suddenly the house no longer bothered me. It stood still and silent. Cleansed somehow. There were no more shadows, ghostly cats or smothering prescences within. It was as though the both me and the house had been freed.

I haven’t dreamt about that house since, other than a snippet from another unrelated dream, where I found myself briefly gathered with a co-workers family on the back deck, but I didn’t realize where I had been until waking.