Today was one of those days....
I was added back onto the roster of my old 6's team, I got my bee allergy shot, I helped plan a siege defense, I got to play Rainbow Siege Six for the first time with my son and his friend, I had a last minute dental appointment with my periodontist that was nearly foiled by my GPS, and I might have a mild eye infection as well. But I got Dairy Queen and good gaming.
I think I'm a little tired.
The team thing started last night, and went into the early hours of the morning, and it was the result of the team losing their first match this season. It was really closely fought, from what I understand, but they were so down on themselves, especially the toxic guy, that they were talking about disbanding. And one of them called me into the team channel because they didn't know what to do and really wanted to just keep playing with everyone else.
They are the second place team in the division. It's so odd to me that they're so down on themselves, but I think they just needed to be listened to and some of it was the expectation that they'd just take first automatically somehow. Self-pressure and odd expectations and I just sat and talked with them for a while, and I think they calmed down, or at least they agreed to keep playing on through the last three weeks of the season and hopefully into the playoffs.
The interesting thing was that they asked me, pretty directly, to get back onto the roster, as one of them was blaming themselves for chasing me off and that they were a terrible human being for having made me feel unwanted. So I'm a sub again, but with the understanding that I was probably not going to do anything other than be the second stand-by medic on Wednesday nights.
I'm still playing the game. I'm actually having a blast with TF2 with my friends. I should put some of those videos up, as they've been really fun and funny. I'm bad at 6's, now, but that's okay, as I'm just having a blast with the game itself and learning other aspects of it, like b-ball and rocket jumping as a soldier.
B-ball is where there's a basketball court, and two soldiers are up against two other soldiers and are trying to jump a case they can pick up or drop into the other team's basket. It's a really fun way to learn how to rocket jump while being under fire. And I found a guy who has nearly 9000 hours in the game who really loves the game so much that he's really patient about teaching it to me and laughs with me when I mess up as well as when I really do well. That's been really fun for both of us, as he's been playing for so long he's startled by the things that I don't know that he can teach me. That's been cool.
He said, the other day, while teaching me on an easy jump map, "It's like learning how to jump all over again."
There's a wonder to getting the mechanics right, as when it's done perfectly, the results are breathtakingly spectacular. The mobility and the speed that coordinating a rocket blast, the jump, directional keys, and the crouch can get a player is just amazing when it's perfectly timed. And the company was perfect, as he was patient, had a great sense of humor, and it wasn't about winning or losing, it was just about playing and having fun.
The other big thing that has happened since the trip was that Jet and I decided that he should build his own rig, so that mine would be free again whenever he wanted to play Rainbow Six Siege with his friends. Another by-product would be that I could play with them as well, which I was actually looking forward to, as that game fascinates me, as it's all about a specific implementation of small team battle tactics in a setting that emulates special forces situations.
We ordered everything nearly as soon as we got home, Jet doing all the research himself on what he wanted to get; and then we just ordered it all from the easiest sources possible. And he got to learn how Amazon shipping really works and how pessimistic the estimates can be and how wrong. *laughs* He got it all built on Tuesday, got the OS updated (with a great deal of effort) and all the drivers installed yesterday. And he got to play last night, and tried to get me in while I was dealing with all the team stuff.
I also had a really good situation going with the Steam community that I'm supporting, where we were trying out some new maps on our TF2 server, and having a really fun time with people that were off for the summer already and a few people taking breaks from exams. And playing a little BBall. *laughs* It was really cool having everyone show up and just have fun killing each other on new maps and experimental maps that were just beautiful and fun to play on.
We're going to try and serve some of the more unusual maps and just get people on to play. But that was in the midst of Jet and his friend wanting to play and then the team crisis happened, and I just told them I'd have to wait until this morning. And he accepted that gracefully. But the best thing was that his machine was doing everything he wanted it to do.
But I was up until 2 with the Situation. I got up again around 9, because I knew today was the last day I could get my allergy shot, and found Jet and his friend already playing and wanting me to help them in a Terrorist Hunt scenario. So I got some cereal and did.
It was a *blast*. *laughs* And we won situations handily with a three-group that the two of them were having real problems winning, and I could help both of them out when they called for help. I was able to get more barricades up between waves so that they were really well protected and we all talked well about what to do next. That was really great fun, especially since I had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done because I'd been watching them and Matimi0 on Twitch and YouTube for so long. I understood a lot of the tactics, but still didn't have the mechanics down.
Luckily, Rainbow Six has a set of "Situations" that are really great training for how the game actually works, and I'm slowly working my way through them. They also reward, really well, doing them all well, in renown, which is what people buy Operators with. So there's a lot of incentive to get good at the game before joining public Matchmaking with other people.
I didn't get to them, though, as after just a couple of rounds with them, I had to run to the allergy clinic, and at the last minute, get my bee shot. Yes, it's two stings' worth of bee venom, and I get them once every four to six weeks, and we were building up because they'd run out of bee venom in January and hadn't called me back in to get the shots until I called them in April to ask because I was getting the new colony...
So we were starting back up the ladder of making me immune to the stuff, and they didn't have epiflush anymore, so no more epinephrine to coat the needle to help make it less reactive to me when the stuff goes in, so my arm's kind of itchy now.
From there I rushed home to help plan a defense of a Kobold village with my party in a Pathfinder game that I'm playing in on roll 20 every Tuesday with a bunch of high school students in the Central Time Zone. Blaze is running it, and he's someone I know from competitive TF2 and the old Team Play First community. It was fun asking him some questions about how playoffs work in the UGC, and while I was checking on some of his answers I discovered something very cool.
I am now listed as "Former Leader" for my old team!! Somehow I either missed it or they'd fixed it, and the history is now recorded on the team roster history of my old team. It even shows that I got the team leadership on my birthday... a detail I'd forgotten.
We finished the defensive tactical meeting pretty quickly, so I was able to get some lunch and a game of TF2 in before I had to leave for my cleaning at my periodontist's office. John had set up the GPS for me last night, and it said that it would take about half an hour, and I left with forty-five minutes to spare. The GPS kept falling off the window of Einstein while I was driving, and I had to stop to try and get it back on, and it took me through all the side streets in the universe instead of the freeway, and I ended up nearly fifteen minutes late along the way.
The office called me when I was just five minutes away, and threatened to have to reschedule it, but I nearly cried on the phone, and she said that if I was there before 3:15 that it would work out. The GPS said I would be there at 3:12, and I told her that, and she and the hygienist said that it could work if I were actually there at 3:15.
I got there right at 3:13. So they did my cleaning, but it was really stressful getting there. It made the cleaning more relaxing, though, as I started with a lot of apologies and while the receptionist was a bit stiff about it all, the hygienist was amazingly laid back about it all, and we got on great.
It was a very thorough cleaning, and afterward, I went to the kebab place we'd gone to last time, and I bought some of the baklava to take home with me. It had been so good the last time we were there. They also had a sour cherry and mint drink that I bought as well, to make the credit card transaction worth their time, and it kept me hydrated on the drive home. It's been in the 90's and the heat has made the bee girls just really happy, but it gets hot in the car on long drives.
I made it home with no problems, and Jet was running around getting ready for a night in a cabin with his friends. He was building a shield out of duct tape, old notebooks, and cardboard as they were going to do something like paintball out at the cabin and he wanted to make a shield for himself. But he also took the time to sit down with me while I went through the Rainbow Six situations to go over the weapons that my Operators had and some of the controls so that I could do more of the things that were possible with my people. We also messed with my mouse sensitivity as it was way too high for good accuracy with my aim.
I also managed to get the press release done for the Longmont Studio Tour, and got it off to all the people doing the second pass editing and fact checking so that it could go out sooner rather than later. It was a fun piece of writing to do, and it was a good exercise in doing things concisely and still echo all the themes the tour wanted emphasized. It was a fun little exercise while Jet was occupied. I could pay a lower entry fee for the Tour if I gave volunteer hours, and I love writing... *laughs*
Jet got picked up at 7 by some guys that seemed way too young to drive, but then Jet can drive too, now. *laughs* So John and I had an evening to ourselves, and we spent it on very wonderful, simple things: we walked, went to Dairy Queen to reward my Everything Day, and then watched the last episode of Sherlock, which was utterly fantastic.
So a very good night after a very full day.
I was added back onto the roster of my old 6's team, I got my bee allergy shot, I helped plan a siege defense, I got to play Rainbow Siege Six for the first time with my son and his friend, I had a last minute dental appointment with my periodontist that was nearly foiled by my GPS, and I might have a mild eye infection as well. But I got Dairy Queen and good gaming.
I think I'm a little tired.
The team thing started last night, and went into the early hours of the morning, and it was the result of the team losing their first match this season. It was really closely fought, from what I understand, but they were so down on themselves, especially the toxic guy, that they were talking about disbanding. And one of them called me into the team channel because they didn't know what to do and really wanted to just keep playing with everyone else.
They are the second place team in the division. It's so odd to me that they're so down on themselves, but I think they just needed to be listened to and some of it was the expectation that they'd just take first automatically somehow. Self-pressure and odd expectations and I just sat and talked with them for a while, and I think they calmed down, or at least they agreed to keep playing on through the last three weeks of the season and hopefully into the playoffs.
The interesting thing was that they asked me, pretty directly, to get back onto the roster, as one of them was blaming themselves for chasing me off and that they were a terrible human being for having made me feel unwanted. So I'm a sub again, but with the understanding that I was probably not going to do anything other than be the second stand-by medic on Wednesday nights.
I'm still playing the game. I'm actually having a blast with TF2 with my friends. I should put some of those videos up, as they've been really fun and funny. I'm bad at 6's, now, but that's okay, as I'm just having a blast with the game itself and learning other aspects of it, like b-ball and rocket jumping as a soldier.
B-ball is where there's a basketball court, and two soldiers are up against two other soldiers and are trying to jump a case they can pick up or drop into the other team's basket. It's a really fun way to learn how to rocket jump while being under fire. And I found a guy who has nearly 9000 hours in the game who really loves the game so much that he's really patient about teaching it to me and laughs with me when I mess up as well as when I really do well. That's been really fun for both of us, as he's been playing for so long he's startled by the things that I don't know that he can teach me. That's been cool.
He said, the other day, while teaching me on an easy jump map, "It's like learning how to jump all over again."
There's a wonder to getting the mechanics right, as when it's done perfectly, the results are breathtakingly spectacular. The mobility and the speed that coordinating a rocket blast, the jump, directional keys, and the crouch can get a player is just amazing when it's perfectly timed. And the company was perfect, as he was patient, had a great sense of humor, and it wasn't about winning or losing, it was just about playing and having fun.
The other big thing that has happened since the trip was that Jet and I decided that he should build his own rig, so that mine would be free again whenever he wanted to play Rainbow Six Siege with his friends. Another by-product would be that I could play with them as well, which I was actually looking forward to, as that game fascinates me, as it's all about a specific implementation of small team battle tactics in a setting that emulates special forces situations.
We ordered everything nearly as soon as we got home, Jet doing all the research himself on what he wanted to get; and then we just ordered it all from the easiest sources possible. And he got to learn how Amazon shipping really works and how pessimistic the estimates can be and how wrong. *laughs* He got it all built on Tuesday, got the OS updated (with a great deal of effort) and all the drivers installed yesterday. And he got to play last night, and tried to get me in while I was dealing with all the team stuff.
I also had a really good situation going with the Steam community that I'm supporting, where we were trying out some new maps on our TF2 server, and having a really fun time with people that were off for the summer already and a few people taking breaks from exams. And playing a little BBall. *laughs* It was really cool having everyone show up and just have fun killing each other on new maps and experimental maps that were just beautiful and fun to play on.
We're going to try and serve some of the more unusual maps and just get people on to play. But that was in the midst of Jet and his friend wanting to play and then the team crisis happened, and I just told them I'd have to wait until this morning. And he accepted that gracefully. But the best thing was that his machine was doing everything he wanted it to do.
But I was up until 2 with the Situation. I got up again around 9, because I knew today was the last day I could get my allergy shot, and found Jet and his friend already playing and wanting me to help them in a Terrorist Hunt scenario. So I got some cereal and did.
It was a *blast*. *laughs* And we won situations handily with a three-group that the two of them were having real problems winning, and I could help both of them out when they called for help. I was able to get more barricades up between waves so that they were really well protected and we all talked well about what to do next. That was really great fun, especially since I had a pretty good idea of what needed to be done because I'd been watching them and Matimi0 on Twitch and YouTube for so long. I understood a lot of the tactics, but still didn't have the mechanics down.
Luckily, Rainbow Six has a set of "Situations" that are really great training for how the game actually works, and I'm slowly working my way through them. They also reward, really well, doing them all well, in renown, which is what people buy Operators with. So there's a lot of incentive to get good at the game before joining public Matchmaking with other people.
I didn't get to them, though, as after just a couple of rounds with them, I had to run to the allergy clinic, and at the last minute, get my bee shot. Yes, it's two stings' worth of bee venom, and I get them once every four to six weeks, and we were building up because they'd run out of bee venom in January and hadn't called me back in to get the shots until I called them in April to ask because I was getting the new colony...
So we were starting back up the ladder of making me immune to the stuff, and they didn't have epiflush anymore, so no more epinephrine to coat the needle to help make it less reactive to me when the stuff goes in, so my arm's kind of itchy now.
From there I rushed home to help plan a defense of a Kobold village with my party in a Pathfinder game that I'm playing in on roll 20 every Tuesday with a bunch of high school students in the Central Time Zone. Blaze is running it, and he's someone I know from competitive TF2 and the old Team Play First community. It was fun asking him some questions about how playoffs work in the UGC, and while I was checking on some of his answers I discovered something very cool.
I am now listed as "Former Leader" for my old team!! Somehow I either missed it or they'd fixed it, and the history is now recorded on the team roster history of my old team. It even shows that I got the team leadership on my birthday... a detail I'd forgotten.
We finished the defensive tactical meeting pretty quickly, so I was able to get some lunch and a game of TF2 in before I had to leave for my cleaning at my periodontist's office. John had set up the GPS for me last night, and it said that it would take about half an hour, and I left with forty-five minutes to spare. The GPS kept falling off the window of Einstein while I was driving, and I had to stop to try and get it back on, and it took me through all the side streets in the universe instead of the freeway, and I ended up nearly fifteen minutes late along the way.
The office called me when I was just five minutes away, and threatened to have to reschedule it, but I nearly cried on the phone, and she said that if I was there before 3:15 that it would work out. The GPS said I would be there at 3:12, and I told her that, and she and the hygienist said that it could work if I were actually there at 3:15.
I got there right at 3:13. So they did my cleaning, but it was really stressful getting there. It made the cleaning more relaxing, though, as I started with a lot of apologies and while the receptionist was a bit stiff about it all, the hygienist was amazingly laid back about it all, and we got on great.
It was a very thorough cleaning, and afterward, I went to the kebab place we'd gone to last time, and I bought some of the baklava to take home with me. It had been so good the last time we were there. They also had a sour cherry and mint drink that I bought as well, to make the credit card transaction worth their time, and it kept me hydrated on the drive home. It's been in the 90's and the heat has made the bee girls just really happy, but it gets hot in the car on long drives.
I made it home with no problems, and Jet was running around getting ready for a night in a cabin with his friends. He was building a shield out of duct tape, old notebooks, and cardboard as they were going to do something like paintball out at the cabin and he wanted to make a shield for himself. But he also took the time to sit down with me while I went through the Rainbow Six situations to go over the weapons that my Operators had and some of the controls so that I could do more of the things that were possible with my people. We also messed with my mouse sensitivity as it was way too high for good accuracy with my aim.
I also managed to get the press release done for the Longmont Studio Tour, and got it off to all the people doing the second pass editing and fact checking so that it could go out sooner rather than later. It was a fun piece of writing to do, and it was a good exercise in doing things concisely and still echo all the themes the tour wanted emphasized. It was a fun little exercise while Jet was occupied. I could pay a lower entry fee for the Tour if I gave volunteer hours, and I love writing... *laughs*
Jet got picked up at 7 by some guys that seemed way too young to drive, but then Jet can drive too, now. *laughs* So John and I had an evening to ourselves, and we spent it on very wonderful, simple things: we walked, went to Dairy Queen to reward my Everything Day, and then watched the last episode of Sherlock, which was utterly fantastic.
So a very good night after a very full day.
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