#spersonal

[saanphoenix2]

So, I ordered a Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance from GameStop, and I used the store locator for shipping reasons.

Why.

Is one coming from Arizona and one from Texas. I am in Tennessee.

*squint*

[celoewe]

yvonnestrahovski: Dear Galvan London. Thank you for this incredible number ❤️ Happy Emmys & thank you again Emmys / Television Academy

[saanphoenix2]

Look. I know times are tough and old folks on fixed income need all the monetary breaks they can get. But. Trying to tell me that two packages of black grapes have been sitting in the same location for at least two weeks now and can I mark them down is not going to work on me, the person with 10+ years of experience, who works 40 hours a week, and knows damn well those grapes have been rotated and also that they would be shriveled, moldy messes if they had been here that long. Because they're coming from Chile. We are in the States.

Throw your hands up at me all you want, old man.

[saanphoenix2]

There is an outside cat with her tail degloved, after being missing for 2 days, and she fucking disappeared before I could get a big enough carrier to throw her in and now I'm like, "Come back. I need to take you 40+ minutes away to an ER to have your tail snip-snipped. Please, for the love god, come back. I am going to be stressing all day thinking about your fleshless tail. *flaps hands in Disgust and Anxiety*"

[saanphoenix2]

So, I'm pretty far into Legends Z-A, and I know all the way up to the end of the base game story.

And, while I will admit that it outshines, like, every game since, like. Sun and Moon in terms of getting the hardware to do what they have in their vision... And I *am* enjoying playing it.

I miss the difficulty. Still.

The gameplay is designed with game mechanics in mind. It does this very well. They balanced it accordingly to their vision. But like.

Because battles are real-time and moves are on countdown timers instead of using PP and you can run your Pokémon out of danger at any time...

*Old woman voice* Back in my day, you had to use Fire Blast sparingly because it only had 5 uses, unless you gave an item to your Pokémon to increase the PP available for said move, which only increased it by one.

I have an Alpha Gardevoir that knows Icy Wind, Magical Leaf, Moonblast, and Psychic. It is the Dragon Killer. It is also the Ghost and Dark Killer. Because its speed stat makes most mons try to use Shadow Ball and my Gardevoir just goes, "Pokémon Asplode," and the enemy drops dead before it can get the move off.

And you would think that shouldn't be something to complain about. But it makes battles last a handful of seconds. And the experience gained, which goes to every Pokémon, means, if you are battling trainers every night, you are grossly overleveled if you stick with the same team all the time.

And I am an old fart who picks their favorite 6 and calls it a day, until the end of the game, where it then becomes Pokédex time.

Spend half the damn game intentionally using weaker Pokémon that aren't my main team just to make it interesting because, otherwise, it's like, "I see you have a creature weak to Grass. Go, Meganium! Giga Drain. And it's dead. Oh, you have a Ghost? Well. Go, Lopunny! Brutal Swing. See ya!"

I just. I'm gonna finish this game so fast, when I used to spend over a hundred hours in the older games..training Pokémon. And the modern games make them feel like they training themselves.

[saanphoenix2]

"I'm gonna give Pokopia a rest while I go do laundry. I'll bring Bootleg Red with me instead."

Catches a Magikarp. Grinds a level on Alphinaud, my Nidorino. Starts grinding Calyx, my Raticate. Tries to save.

Bootleg Red: "I ain't got it in me, Boss. Too many mons for my bitch ass SRAM saving technique."

Me, holding a gun at the cartridge: "You give me my Mew back, you sonuvabitch."

Bootleg Red: "Oh, Azem is still there. ...I just can't save anymore."

Me: "....Hey, Ebay, how much for an authentic Red and link cables?"

[saanphoenix2]

Like, the amount of pain and discomfort I am in are minimal, comparatively.

But when you have a hyperfixating brain with health anxiety, guess. What happens. To your stress levels. And thus nervous system "dysfunction" side effects. When you won't stop stressing. About your stress.

Like my neck don't even wanna turn left as far as I KNOW IT CAN. Because the traps and SCM are like, "I am become inflamed and stiff as a board."

It's affecting my sinuses because my ears can't fucking drain properly because they're getting squished.

*shakes something*

This is defective hardware design and I want a refund!

[saanphoenix2]

I slept fuck all last night cuz memorial day weekend has stressed me out so much, combined with physical stressors like heavy lifting and poor sleep.

Trying to fall asleep had me feeling "waves of anxiety", as I call it, which is when my nervous system sends out wonky signals all the way down my spine and into my extremities. Had a similar feeling when having my MRI last year.

And I know my neck and shoulders are tight, compressing things, so I used a firmer pillow to prop my head up better, to try and even out nerves and vessels.

And at some point woke up to my whole ass right arm from shoulder socket down tingling.

....