So I was supposed to help with a belt test for tae kwon do this Saturday--by which, I mean. Not in four days, but three days ago.

I completely and totally forgot.

And the real stupid thing is.
I knew I would forget.
And there were any number of things I could have done to stop me from forgetting.
Telling my family.
Telling my girlfriend.
Blogging about it here.
Writing a note.
Anything.

But nope.
I didn't.
And so.
I forgot.

And wasted my time on Saturday.
I'm pretty sure the thing I did on Saturday was work on my civ 3 mod, nothing else constructive.
Something I could have done on literally any day.

So I am a complete utter idiot.

And I'm going to pay for it from my self-imposed punishment: 50 jacknives (apparently what I know as jacknives may not universally be known, but they are basically kinda sorta a combination same-time crunch plus reverse-crunch, where both the upper body and legs move upward at the same time), 25 knuckle pushups, and I later added in 30 (which I pushed up to 50 later) crunches.

Now admittedly, I did these in sets of 10/5, later adding the 10 crunches.
And of those knuckle pushups, pretty sure the first 15-20 didn't have proper technique.
And near the end of the jacknives, I could tell I was failing to do them with proper technique. (I made up for it by doing some in-air cycling, after I discovered neither a crunch nor a reverse crunch were faring any better than the jacknife.)

But this is still brutal. Especially since whenever I felt like I was recovered, I did more. I felt like vomiting was a possibility before I had even done any of the workout for the class proper. And I wanted to push things so that doing things in the class would be as difficult as was possible, while not being impossible. (I don't think I succeeded, but I got fairly close.)

It hurt, but it didn't hurt enough. It will hurt big time tomorrow (aint enough stretches in the worlds to keep the soreness from debilitating me tomorrow, aint enough protein in the world to properly fuel my regrowth), but it still wasn't quite enough of a punishment for my sin.

That's okay, overall, however, because my instructor more than made up for it. Not in her chastising of me (there was a small amount--not nearly as much as I deserved, but a little justified chat on the subject), but rather, the words which were meant to be an encouragement.

The words meant to be encouraging to me were a stab through the heart harsher than any of the words of criticism, in spite of being only a single sentence: "I appreciate your help." Meant to be genuinely reassuring; was actually a dagger twisting in the wound deeper, because she appreciates my help...and without warning, I wasn't there to give it to her.

For no good reason.

Because I forgot.
With no excuses.
I thought of making some.
I had some which I could create.
But I couldn't use them--in spite of having created them, I just couldn't use them. It just...was something I deserved to take in full.

I still think I got off lightly--lighter than I should.

I don't know what else I can really do to punish myself more than I did, but I basically got what amounts to a slap on the wrist. Jacknives are a white belt punishment. (Admittedly, more like 5-10 of them at that rank, and a punishment used with decreased frequency, butstill.) Knuckle pushups, can be as early as a gold belt punishment. Both are test requirements from green belt and above, doing 10 + 5/rank. (So at my rank, it's somewhere in the 20-30 range anyway.)

I'm out of shape, so I can do less than I should be able to do for my rank, butstill--these are things that ceased being punishments and started being part of my training literally years ago, kept as a punishment more as a relic to have something as a punishment.

​So I still feel bad, and feel like I should feel even worse in every way possible.

Today, I finished an idea that I've been working on for a little while now--not sure precisely how long, could be a week, could be a month, but it's in that range. An idea built piece by little piece, slowly coming together, until fully fleshed out as fleshed out can be.

The point where I either blog about it or never blog about it in spite of intending to.

Thiiiiiis...is probably the latter.

I have the essentials written out. It's a fairly cool idea, I think, and I do want to share it...

...But my notes for it are currently buried under a pie and whipped cream.
...One which was forced upon me, and which I'm really not sure I can eat when I'm this sick.

...It makes sense in context--kinda sorta? Just have to take my word for it, this is an actual thing which keeps me from working on it, and is indeed a problem. One I'll have fixed before bed, but by that time I'll be too tired to blog. As-is, in fact, I'm blogging at the only time I have the clear time to do so coherently.

Earlier, family would distract me; later, tiredness would claim me. (Also, at any time, girlfriend could call on me--and girlfriend > blog entry. Which would kill my momentum if I was midway through writing an entry.)

I'll try to remember it tomorrow, but I don't want to leave you with nothing, so I'll leave you with the other difficulty I'm facing.

Mustering up how to keep my momentum going and get the map right on my civ 3 mod.
It's actually going great! (I think I told you all yesterday that I needed to manually make the map, yes? Don't actually remember.) I've built the terrain for all of Africa--sans rivers, forests, and resources, but the TERRAIN is there.
​The entirety of the east of the map from Africa's built as well, to the body of water in the bottom right corner of the map.

I've also built the Mesopotamian version of Greece and the terrain that's the areas of cities like Ancyra and Iconium. Plus the Mesopotamian version of the coastline for the Mediterranean in that area, and the Mesopotamian version of the coastline for the body of water above it. (To think there was a time where Geography was a subject I aced. Haha present me, past me laughs at how badly you suck.)

If I could actually complete the darn further inland portions extending it all the way east to the edge of the map and touching on the vaguely-northeast body of water...then I'd have, 1: fully completed the Mesopotamian map's terrain, and 2: fully completed the whole bottom left quadrant (literally almost perfectly 1/4th of the entirety of the map) of the map.

Of course there's caveats.
This is the Mesopotamian part.
I need to tweak it for the Rise of Rome map--which will then be tweaked on any subtle differences between it and the Fall of Rome map (they're 99% similar, but aren't literally identical), then the Middle Ages map, then Napoleonic Era, then Age of Discovery (which mind you may come in hand for a small detail about Africa), etc.

I need to actually add those things.

Plus the cities.

Then there's generating the other 3/4ths of the map. (Well more like a little over 2/4ths since Africa is most of the bottom left side.)

But it's mostly done, is what I'm getting at--and by my estimation, it's loose, but I think the 200 x 200, and my scaling, is on target to include all the details, more or less. Some details are getting expanded further than they should, some details are regrettably lost due to a crunch, because generating a map 100% manually leads to glitches in the overlay like that and I'm mostly just eyeballing things with educated guesses at what "feels" right.

But holy moly, I might actually manage to create a coherent map. It won't perfectly match the terrain of any map. It won't perfectly recreate geography. If it were put on a globe, some areas would be woefully out of proportion with their actual size, some too small, many too large. It won't be perfect...

...But with a lot of luck, it'll work, is what I'm getting at, I hope.

I'm just...

...Having a bit of creator's block in trying to hash out those inner details for the Mesopotamian map. It should be easy. Should. But it's not. Something's just...in the way of my creative muse for landscaping right now. I did use that time to do some game calculations, though.

By my count, I've got at least 59 wonders, 24 small wonders, 109 buildings, 265+ units, and 155+ technologies, to cram into four ages.

A reasonably crowded tech tree, the vanilla industrial ages, had 24 technologies to research.
I need almost double that.

I did, however, knock out an item on my to-do list; I compiled similar technologies. I did so sloppily; some techs were left off altogether, some techs are classified a little awkwardly, but I got them more or less sorted, and loosely separated by age, no less!

Well, by original age.
There's a good 70+ that'd fit into the "Age of Rome" age, usually--maybe slightly more (depends on what technologies I need, because I need techs to match unit advancements and to cover buildings and to cover abilities unlocked by techs and to cover new governments), maybe slightly less (depends on what technologies I can cut, or can be moved to an era later).

Those aren't gonna fit no matter what, so it'll be divided differently. I have a loose idea of a partial map, but it's not complete.

For the record, the original second age has ~55+, also rather on the high side.

In contrast--and to reiterate, this would be why I'm going to end up starting from the end result and working backwards--the fourth age has 12. I can easily double that, safely, and not be crowded.
The third age has ~21+ useful ones. A little more crowded, but not undoable. I believe the record for a tech tree is 32ish (give or take) in Rise of Rome.

If I can push it up to be 40/page, then that'd be 160 techs--about what I'm thinking I'll need.
​
I also made note of what governments are in which scenarios, as another side-project.

Soyeah, that's my game progress.

​​I think that the route I took, of doing the documentation I've done?

...Was absolutely the right route to take.

Just typing this all out, I haven't fixed the main problem of creator's block for the map, but I am brainstorming ideas for the tech tree layout, given the move of what the fourth age will be. (Mind you, I still need to do the calculations for what the tech tree positions can be.)

I have exactly the number of sea techs I need for the sea tech tree, by my calculations. (12 units in the galley line--mind you, the galley line stops at Galleon, with Transport being an upgrade of Troop Transport; Galleons represent the ultimate combo-ship, being capable of some bombardment and good attack and good defense--not as good as dedicated warships in any of these regards--while transporting troops, but not as many as a troop transport.)

I think I have exactly the number of techs I need for the air units, by my calculations. (The most upgraded air unit is the fighter, which I found seven unique versions of in a chain.)

I have exactly the number of techs I need for siege units, by my calculations. (11 units, 11 upgrades.)

Little hard to tell on archers; I have 7.5 for them (the eighth joins a different unit upgrade chain--but diverging from vanilla where it's the swordsman upgrade line, the upgrade chain I went for is the spearman upgrade line), but I don't know where they fit; I think there's enough.

One area I'm coming up a bit short on, but which I may be able to fix with the use of integrating some of these into the military upgrade line (which is honestly where most horse units are gotten anyway), is horse upgrades. Since horses go to become tanks by my tech tree line, I have 14 in that line, and I've only got about 11 or so dedicated.
I may have missed one or two, though, which when used can maybe get me up to where I need to be.
It still looks like I'm likely going to need to invent one fake tech, maybe two.
(The way I have it lined up now, Animal Domestication unlocks the chariot, the wheel unlocks the war chariot--generic unit--chariotry unlocks the three-man-chariot, still generic, pack animals unlock the mounted fighter, horseback riding unlocks the mounted warrior, horsemanship unlocks the horseman, and...heavy cavalry unlocks ancient cavalry, with the step above that being ancient heavy cavalry; I think I want to add a tech between horsemanship and heavy cavalry for ancient cavalry. Also, down the line, I have three tank units for only two techs, motorized transportation and armored tactics; I need a third.)

I have 12 in the "swordsman" line, with one being the Foot Fighter (replacing Warriors as the starting unit, with Warriors being an upgrade), meaning I need 11 techs there. By my estimation, I have ~19 techs I could use; more than enough.

That is however, the amount I need for the "spearman" line, which features 20 units. One as a starter.

Some spearman upgrades don't need to be on the military line, though. 

​All in all, it's coming together quite nicely.

It's been getting worse rather than better over the last few days.
It doesn't help that I'm having trouble staying asleep.
It's not that I go to sleep, then wake up, like, half an hour later--but I quite often will wake up every few hours or so, in spite of knowing that I need more sleep.

Worsening the barrier: after I've gotten six hours of sleep, I hit a wall when trying to get more sleep. I'll wake up, do the mental math, realize, "...Six hours?!? That's enough normally, but I'm sick! I need more sleep!", try...try...keep trying...but...
...NOPE!
...I'm awake, awake for good.

When I say that I only need six hours of sleep, this is why I know it to be true--because even when I try to get more, I can't. It's not tied to a circadian rhythm, either--that'd imply that the time I wake up is automatic. Except it doesn't matter. I go to bed at 2, I wake up at 8-9. I go to bed at 4, I wake up at 10-11. I go to bed at 5, I wake up at like noon.

If I'm lucky, I can get an extra hour or two of sleep in, to maybe push it up to eight--after having woken up, and instead of failing, succeeding...for a while.

Mind you, this is also one of the reasons why I don't go to sleep before midnight, quite often--yes it's true that I can't really get to sleep before midnight, but even if I did, that'd cause me to wake up way too early, because...say I need to wake up at 10 and went to bed at midnight; I'd wake up at 8, and that'd be torturous for me. (I'm a night owl, not a morning bird; I don't know how to handle spare time in the morning, whereas I know how to occupy myself when having spare time at night.)

Soyeah.
I need more sleep.
My body's refusing to give me more sleep. 

On the bright side, since I'm feeling too sick to attend to obligations for the most part (also not helping there, physical sickness + mental sickness = self-feeding loop, and when I'm sick with something, it therefore mixes with my bipolar disorder, draining away at my mental health, sapping my spare batteries), that's left me spare time to work on pet projects of mine.

Which, yes, means Across the Ages - Mediterranean is something I've worked on.
I finished the Rise of Rome map overlay, and briefly took a look at the maps I'd need later--I even got the art program downloaded.

Except no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the dimensions to fit.
Even if I got Pelusium and Byzantium to both match up, and even if they were at the right angles, the rest of the map's scaling was entirely off, and there was no fix.

I tried partial copy-pastes, to limited success. What it ended up looking like was more or less, me pasting usable pieces of Mesopotamia into the Rise of Rome map, replacing/expanding/augmenting what was there, with me removing parts from Mesopotamia not needed and me copying pieces of Rise I wanted to keep over Mesopotamia in the spots where Mesopotamia otherwise overrode Rise.

Which, mind you, could work--except it rather self-evidently wasn't going to be what I was after.

So I decided to give up on that.

Normally, that level of giving up would condemn the project to death--I can't figure out a way to smoothly recreate a map that uses Mesopotamia's scale, but includes Rise of Rome's rest of the Mediterranean which is expanded in the Middle Ages and through Napoleon with features of Age of Discovery.
My entire goal.

I wanted to do that--and I can't.

Like I said, that's the kind of thing which is usually a deathblow, spelling an end to the idea altogether.

But there's one tried and true method I've yet to employ.

A little thing called "trial and error".
More error than trial, but I am going to, bit by bit, manually, try to recreate the map, as I envision it. I went for 200 x 200 as a starting point, so we'll have to see if this ends up being the right scale. Mind you, I will need to, constantly, be revising these. Not a little, a lot. Every new map, I'll need to make adjustments to terrain--and so much as a single tile's difference could force me to radically alter the entire rest of the map.

Painstakingly, excruciatingly, slow, meticulous, methodical work.

But it is the only way, and I think I can do it.
With difficulty, but it's doable.

Just...not easily.

Initial estimates, by the way: either 200 x 200 isn't big enough, or I am making my Mesopotamia-scaled map too big and misjudged the scaling. Probably both.

This'll take me a while to fine-tune.

They revolve around the fact that I am sick today.
I should have obligations to attend to today--thaaaaat's not happening; I'm REALLY not up for any of them today.
Which I know will cost me big time in the long-run, but when I say I'm not up for them.
I'm just.
Not up for them.

Anything I'd do out of a sense of obligation, even if said obligation was purely to my own selfishness, I'm not up for today; the only things I'm up for today are things that I'd WANT to do.

So sure, if an obligation becomes something I want to do, I'll do it, but chances are that won't happen and instead I'll be doing other things. Like spend time with my girlfriend, or work on my civ 3 mod. (More on that in a sec.)

I did want to mention that I revisited an old idea for a game I had; a tower defense game taking a few mechanics from my favorite tower defense games (notably, Defender's Quest and Gemcraft)...but giving my own very specific spin on things that make my game innately unique and original--while it is a tower defense game, what it is also is a Time Management game (and resource management); the whole idea behind the game is that it is literally impossible to win a level unless you are using your time to min-max your defenses.

I developed a whole bunch of really neat, mostly-original mechanics, albeit ones which rather a number have obvious inspirations, and some of them are brand new to today while others have been with the idea for as long as I've had it. (And this idea is like...five, eight, years old. Somewhere in that range; it is not at all a new one. Quite often, I'll come back and revisit/revise/revitalize old ideas I've not thought about in years, and this was one such occasion.)

The main thing I did today, however, was create the plot for the game. I had an idea for the first level of the game before--and that was it. Originally, I think I had the idea that after the first level, things would continue a specific way. I decided that there'd be a better route to take, one which is entirely all the more genius with the levels and intricacy of what I build.

The mechanics mesh beautifully with the lore I established, and the plot is coherent featuring quite the cast of characters. I love the game idea, it's probably my second-favorite tower defense game I've ever designed (the favorite being a game which was blatantly self-plagiarizing from Disease, one of my pet novels...which I liked so much that Disease stole a central mechanic idea from the game, plagiarizing from the plagiarizing to be reintegrated with the original source material, but I digress).

Would be fully doable, too, if I could program in, oh, say, Flash, and could create the art assets I'd need and whatnot. Since I can't, it'll remain a fantasy in my head, though. I could technically share details on it...but this is an idea so good, I don't want to.

Yes I know, that means that I'll probably forget the genius ideas I came up with, both today and originally. (Heck I'm pretty sure I only remember about 80% of the originally planned game mechanics.) But this is one idea where I can play it out in my mind and I quite like doing so. The only incentive I'd have to bring it outside of my head is if I could actually make it reality--without a programmer volunteering and without a pixel artist volunteering (they'd also need to make faces for portraits that aren't pixels even though the art aside from portraits is pixels), it's not happening.

And since nobody reads my blog pretty much, and the few who do are so busy/swamped with real life they'd never have the commitment/free time to help me make it even if they had the appropriate skills...there's no way it's going to happen.

Alas.

What might happen, however, is my Across the Ages scenario.

I have documented (I rediscovered my actual workaround--a pray to whatever relevant gods are involved, where I copy everything, close ALL word files, keep the clipboard, reopen word, and paste it) every building and unit that, as of this moment, I can think of that'd be included. (At least, I think. I'll at some point need to double-check, but I think I'm good.)

Not the details for them.
Heck I don't have all the possible details that need to be documented for them listed at the top of them.
But I've more or less indexed them alphabetically.

What I need to do still is more or less, then, the following:
-I need to see which scenarios feature what governments. Some I know are Vanilla-only; some I know are one-scenario-only (e.g. Protestant Monarchy); the others, I need to form comparisons and see if I can potentially find compromises.

(I want each and every government to provide a distinct advantage, and for there to be no clear superior government. However, I do want slight favoritism to Imperialism as a cross-ages government, with its main rival in ancient times as the Tribal Council, Feudalism providing some viable alternative, Democracy providing a second alternative, and Fascism plus Communism being lategame rivals to it.)

-I need to group technologies together by type. What technologies make sense as working together in a progression.
-I need to also calculate how many techs I can fit in the science tree.

-I need to do the thing I just mentioned I haven't done--get all the possible details that needed to be documented, at the top of them.
-Eventually, but not right now because that'd take insanely long, I need to get said details from each and every scenario, including a vanilla civ 3 conquests game.

-I need to finish my terrain-tile-by-terrain-tile documentation of Mesopotamia, then do it for Rise, Middle Ages, Napoleon, and some of Discovery. (Top northeast corner of map.)

-I need to find the map of the world and document where the modern resources are on it, in the relevant areas.
-Not an immediate task since I need to do some of the other things below first, but: I need to document where there's resource shortages, beit luxury or strategic, and when they're present, see if I can fix it.

-I need to create a map overlay of Rise of Rome, The Middle Ages, Napoleon, and the northeast section of Age of Discovery. (This is something incredibly useful, but it is also quite challenging and rather meticulous to make. Mesopotamia was a 5800 x 2800 pixel file. Which, yes, was as huge as you'd expect, at 21 MB.)
-I need to download an art program with layers.
-I need to use said art program to manipulate the overlays such that key points common on them overlap, hitting as many key points as is possible.

I'll only be able to use two overlays at a time--but that's all I'll need, in order to get the job done. Because what these overlays are meant to accomplish is to establish exact parameters for my map (which for now I'm having as 200 x 200, hoping that's about right--but I'll be making said overlays before I'll be trying to make the map for real).

-I'll also need to document the location of cities in Age of Discovery, Napoleonic Era, The Middle Ages, Fall of Rome, and Rise of Rome, to try and get as many non-mutually-exclusive ones set up.

-Then comes the other stuff I mentioned last time.
Figuring out how to get created scenarios to track scores.
Wonder interaction fixes.
Resource display in cities.
Music from all scenarios, separated into appropriate ages.
Civ contacts being what I want.
Also stuff on the map that I know how to do more or less (cities, fog of war), just need to do them.

I'm making progress, though--quite a bit, in fact!

I just need to put the work in, bit by slow bit.

​It's coming together quite nicely, if I do say so myself.

Working title is "Hey there You". It goes like this: 
Hey there you, I can see your look;
Hey there you, I know you're shook.
I might not read you like I would a book,
But I'll help you through, until you're good.

Hey there you, it's okay to be bad;
Hey there you, I can tell you're sad.
It may surprise you, but I've got your back;
I know too, what it's like to lack.


I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.

I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.


Hey there you, your pain is real;
Hey there you, it's something I feel.
I may not be you, but I'll help you heal;
If I choose, it's to help you deal.

Hey there you, harsh life can be.
Hey there you, you can stand by me.
If I help you, it is not a cheat;
I'm here to do, whatever you need.


I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.

I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.

I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.

I'm not that good, I'm no angel.
But I'll act like one, to save you from hell.
I'm not skilled, I don't know what to say.
But I'll try, hope I can make your day.

I'm not that strong, I can't carry much.
But when you're down, I'll lift you up.
I'm always here, to help you smile.
Might not be what you need, but you're worthwhile.



...I was a little inspired by some disco song I heard on the way home when writing this, if it helps you place it.
​I'd sing it, but...I'm sick. Again.

Like today.
I wrote a song, and I really want to sing it, but my already-abysmal voice would be all the worse due to the sickness.

Still, I'll post the lyrics today.

I called the song...
You Know That One Song By That One Band.

And it goes like this.

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
I swear it's more addictive than any crack

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
It's the best song ever and that's a fact.


There's a tune stuck in my head
From when I wake until I'm in bed
Try humming something, get it instead
It got there and I don't know when

I don't know what makes it stick
There's just something addictive to it
A song you didn't ask for but is your wish
Hits all the right notes and good lyrics


You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
I swear it's more addictive than any crack

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
It's the best song ever and that's a fact.

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
I swear it's more addictive than any crack

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
It's the best song ever and that's a fact.


Most songs will wear thin on me
A music hipster sick of beats
It'll hold my interest then I'll leave
Once overdone it's bad indeed

But this one won't go away
Looks like it's here to stay
Listening to it makes my day
It's a song on constant play


You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
I swear it's more addictive than any crack

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
It's the best song ever and that's a fact.

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
I swear it's more addictive than any crack

You know That One Song by That One Band?
The one that's sung by That One Man?
It's from That One Album, That One Track;
It's the best song ever and that's a fact.

I meant to, but I suppose in the panic/pain I must've forgotten about it. I burnt my finger fairly badly yesterday. I was worried about damage control more than I was the pain, even though it hurt like a royal bitch, at least by my standards. By which, I mean, it'd probably be debilitating excruciating pain for someone else that didn't have my innate naturally high pain tolerance.

Even for me, though, it stung, badly; the throbbing, stinging pain was annoying, and I kept wanting to rub the wound even though rationally I knew that was just about the worst thing I could have done. The treatment was annoying as well; our faucet has two settings, scalding hot or ice cold and the tap water you're meant to use is cool not cold and I could understand why as only a couple minutes into the meant-to-be-20 I had my finger feeling numb.

Improvised by using a bowl to dip my finger in, but because of the wound location, it was difficult to keep it fully submerged the entire time, and once the finger left the bowl, didn't take long for the pain to resume. The initial band aid that I tried applying didn't work because it was too small and the wound was located in an awkward spot. I tried some indirect-contact ice (heavy layers of cloth between the ice and skin), which seemed to help, until the ice pack had melted pretty much.

With a new band aid and the benefit of an overnight rest, though, the pain's gone. I was planning on taking a shower today, but I don't want to re-dress the wound with a new bandaid just yet and adhesive bandages are notoriously not waterproof. (At least, not the one I'm wearing. The initial one which was too small might've been, but it was too small; this one is big enough, but almost certainly isn't.)

Of course, since I work today (at a pool, mind you), may need to anyway, but I usually don't get my right hand wet and if asked to, can point to the band-aid, say I burned myself, and would prefer not to get my right hand wet, working within my limits with my left hand (the hand I usually get wet anyway).

​Can't hurt to be a little careful.

I may have a filling needing to be replaced soon, but surprisingly, miraculously, no new cavities. Yet.

​I do need to kick myself into high gear in order to stop them, though.

Half my day was playing Civ 3 on my laptop (because I can), the other half reading more Worms, so once more, not really a productive day. OH WELL.

Tomorrow's my dentist appointment.

Since I stopped brushing the moment I got sick--which, you may recall, was for three months...not long after my last dentist appointment--this is going to be bad.

Really bad.

I had multiple spots at risk of developing cavities if my brushing habits didn't improve last visit--they got worse.

Time for a wakeup call.

​Doesn't suck any less knowing it's coming. If anything, makes it worse.

How much? Six and a half inches, snow. Enough where we have maybe one car capable of getting out? Most of us were certainly staying home today, including me. Fortunately, I didn't need to tell my boss that I couldn't come due to inclement weather, because my boss told me that our facility was closed for today. (Did need to cancel my counseling appointment tho.)

It is cold and it is not gonna melt and even if it did melt it's gonna refreeze which is even worse than before the melt. (Funny thing, ice is ten times more dangerous than snow. Snow's not much worse than water; ice is...well, ice. And melted snow refrozen makes solid sheets of it.) Meaning I probably won't be going to tae kwon do tomorrow, either. (Which kinda sucks, as I said I would and it's the first day of a new session for the lil' kids class. But, safety first.)

Being trapped at home on a day I didn't intend to be left me realizing...it is immensely, tremendously, overwhelmingly, boring because I am still in that recovering position of not really knowing what to do because I still don't feel like :efforting:. Mostly, I messed around for a few hours in Majesty (someone figured out a quest turning Majesty into a tower defense game of sorts, and then released a mod based on that quest for guardhouses which upgrades them further than the mods existing, allowing for lots of fun).

I also have made significant progress on the story of Worms. I'm ending the night having just finished Interlude 14--by my understanding, not even remotely close to finished with the story and it certainly doesn't feel that way. There are events which I know happen (TVTropes spoilers, the very thing that got me into reading Worms in the first place). One or two, I can kinda sorta see as maybe being close, but the others are events that in order to transpire (which I know they do), require significant setup (which hasn't happened yet), setup that doesn't just magically appear out of thin air.

So, slow and steady progress to go. Reading a comment at circa 12 posted in like 2018, I seem to recall them stating, "not even a third of the way through", and that wouldn't surprise me in the least. It is a thoroughly entertaining read, and I'm actually a little miffed at one little thing; Shatterbird's control over glass (which extends to Silicone) is pretty much exactly the power one of my heroes (canonical to the Rubyverse) has; he even goes by the codename of Silicone.

Ah well. The OP nature of that power (in a bad future, said character is one of less than ten superheroes/supervillains left alive in the dieing Earth and could continue to exist even after literally every single other person died; through time travel where he basically inserts himself into the pass, said future is averted and thus his present-self is significantly weaker than that and rather deliberately keeps himself rather weak since he hates his future self's guts and both share the sentiment of him not wanting to walk that path a second time, but I digress) is bound to be something others would be aware of.

Anyway, at least I'm not sick like I thought, and didn't have stress of work to make it worse. Also, we haven't lost power. Obviously, saying that is tempting fate, but realistically speaking, if we were going to lose power, we probably would have already. The snow stopped falling; the melting and refreezing could knock out power, but is incredibly unlikely to, and even if it did. It remains true that so far, it hasn't, which remains a blessing in my books.

I think that's all I can think of to say, so probably gonna go to bed now.