The Squirrels Stopped By

Jen and Dagda catch up over coffee and cover a wide range of topics. Dagda shares his new obsession with Vampire Survivors and gives an update on their long-running D&D campaign. Jen talks about getting emotionally invested in audiobooks and literally talking back to the characters. The conversation also touches on recent celebrity deaths, the death of cursive writing, work frustrations, wages, retirement dreams, and Jen’s search for a more comfortable vehicle due to hip pain. Dagda also shares his disappointing experience trying to run Space Marine 2 on his aging computer.

#podcast #PNW #tabletopgaming #audiobooks #VampireSurvivor #spacemarine2

Artwork:Tanrica

Transcript

Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to everyday live. Thank you for joining us podcasts. My name is Adult Podcast. Adult Lord. Adult situation. And adult language from time to time.

SPEAKER_06 0:22

I'm an angel. I never fucking test.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Okay. Anyway, you ready to go?

SPEAKER_06 0:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

All right, let's go.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

It just looks so joyous and happy today. Is it because you can't claw your fingers? You know when you do that? Every time I've seen that, like you do that. You used to do it because you don't do it so much anymore. But I would think of uh, I don't remember what's it from The Wizard of Oz. I don't get you, my pricky. And your little dog too. And your little dog too. Remember that song? No. That was sang, and it was like a rock song. It was like uh what was it? A rock song. I think it was called like Dorothy or something, but it's like, and I'll get you, and your little dog too.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

It's really good.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

I always liked it. I do not remember I think it might be alt metal, maybe. I don't know. It was just on the remember the old funky monkey radio station, which was the best radio station ever. Dirty bastards going out of business.

SPEAKER_05 1:25

I like the end.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Oh yeah, the end was good. But what's funny is um I was listening to Is 1025 KZ okay?

SPEAKER_08 1:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

I was listening a little bit of that, and it was just like, and now it doesn't say, you know how they used to have their tagline like crass classic rock from the 60s, 70s.

SPEAKER_08 1:44

Yeah, now they have 90s music on their team.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

No, no, no. What what I heard when I was driving home from work the other day was from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and today. And I was just like, What? Yeah. I was like, what? I was like, okay, I I don't know. I don't, I don't, I, I I still don't see 90s music as classic music, but I guess it is.

SPEAKER_06 2:06

It is technically now, because it's 30 years old. That's all that is required to be a classic music. So anything more than 30 years old is done. No, it's just classic.

SPEAKER_04 2:18

That looks so painful.

SPEAKER_06 2:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

It was like it was like the Hulk was gonna dab, but he was also defending himself at the same time.

SPEAKER_06 2:25

The Hulk doesn't defend.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

The Hulk dabs. You haven't seen enough of the Avengers to know that Hulk dabs. In endgame, Hulk's sitting there, smaller Hulk is sitting there, he's all dressed, he's having like a giant thing of pancakes, kids come over, want to take pictures with him, and he's like, Yeah, he's like, Okay, dab.

SPEAKER_06 2:42

Okay, but I've seen that movie.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

And you don't remember him sitting at breakfast with the Black Widow and Ant-Man and Ant Man getting pissed because the kids didn't know who he was? I don't remember that bit. Oh. Well, for somebody with such a good memory. Yeah. Anyways, what have you been up to lately?

SPEAKER_06 2:59

Anything good? Um, I I played a whole bunch of vampire survivors. Is it a new game or like you're talking about a specific genre? It's a video game.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Um on your phone, on the steam, on on Steam. Uh-huh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:13

Um I can't remember the term for it for the style of game, but basically it's one where you're

New Game: Vampre Survivor

SPEAKER_06 3:20

running around surviving waves of enemies.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:23

So it's like a top-down.

SPEAKER_03 3:24

It's like a tower defense game.

SPEAKER_06 3:26

No, no. You're you're running around as your person.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 3:30

Just running running around. There are no towers. You're just running around on the screen.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

So it's just a defense game. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:39

No, they're some of them are referred to as bullet hell, but this one isn't.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Okay. But you're liking it if you're playing a lot of it.

SPEAKER_06 3:47

I played a little bit of it not too long after it came out. It's been out for a while.

SPEAKER_08 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 3:54

Uh, but on Saturday, um we all went over to Jeremy's and we all played it all four of us, because there were so many four of us there. Uh and that's the maximum number of players you can have. Uh nice. Four players. So we were.

SPEAKER_03 4:07

Because you can play it on your laptop from anywhere.

SPEAKER_06 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:10

If it's on Steam.

SPEAKER_06 4:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

Or you can sign into your Steam account on somebody else's computer, whatever.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

Yeah. We didn't do that. We just used Marlon's computer on Jeremy's living room TV and then played it that way.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

That's kind of crazy. You guys have a campaign that's been going on for 11 years that you need to finish.

SPEAKER_06 4:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 4:30

Did you make mention of that?

SPEAKER_06 4:32

No. Well, I think so nobody said anything as far as what we were gonna be doing.

SPEAKER_08 4:40

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 4:41

And so um Friday, Jeremy was like, okay, we'll be uh at my house. And so that's what happened.

SPEAKER_04 4:52

I it sounds like everybody's lost the desire to complete the but you.

SPEAKER_06 4:58

Uh I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

I'm I'm a completionist, like I would not be able to handle it for especially the same campaign for 11 years, or seven years, or however many decades.

SPEAKER_06 5:11

It hasn't been 11 years. It hasn't even been close to that. Uh in fact, this game hasn't existed that long.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Um I can go back and listen to episodes because I think you said we've been playing it. I think 11's in my head because it matches with the word seven. But I think you have said that this is like the seventh year it's been going on.

SPEAKER_06 5:29

Uh because you don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

Because you have worked on a couple of different campaigns, but like one specific game, you're on the last we're on the last module game.

SPEAKER_08 5:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 5:42

Um, because there's three modules. We just relatively recently as far as playing time. We started on the third and final module.

SPEAKER_04 5:52

Yeah, it was like last August. It's like a year ago. Or maybe more, because I remember we were talking about it, but we literally talked about it. I think um maybe it was Warhammered and Drifts. We were talking about how you just started the final module finally on this one.

SPEAKER_08 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

And and it's crazy because you know, uh, I like if if I have a game that's got a beginning, middle, and end, and I've already done the beginning in the middle, I definitely want to get to the end. Uh you know, and it's just like you some I kind of want to go kick somebody's door in for you and be like, what's done, duckasses.

SPEAKER_08 6:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Like, just finish the game, finish the curve, and then be dilly dolly and all the time who cares.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Yeah, I think myself, uh, I think Zach and I both want to complete it. Um, and I think Marlon does too, but he's also running the game, right? Right. And so he has the most work to do out of all of us as far as doing the game is concerned. The rest of us pretty much just have to show up.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Well, maybe maybe once the weather once we you know finish up summertime and get into fall, maybe you guys will get it finished up because didn't Marlon just finish all of his renovations on his house or what he was gonna get done finally?

SPEAKER_06 7:07

Yeah, which is why not last weekend but the weekend before last, he was ready to play again.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:13

Um, but then I had to work late. Yeah, I told him that. He was like, okay, well, I guess we uh so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Um And then of course you're probably not you might not be playing this weekend coming week because you got family stuff due and Yeah, I might not be able to make it this coming weekend, and then um he's going to Dragonflight, Marlin.

SPEAKER_06 7:39

Um which I don't know if he's physically going there this time or if he's doing it online.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Okay, for a second, I thought you were gonna say, or if he's just emotionally going there. What? No. Yeah, that's why my brain was so confused. Yeah, no, no, it's uh it it this game that you just need to get through it, you just need to complete it, yeah, and then you can move on to something new, even if it's the vampire survivors, is that what you called it?

SPEAKER_06 8:07

Yeah, I mean, that's a video game. Only four of us can play it at a time. Um and also it's very it's very repetitive.

SPEAKER_08 8:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:17

So it's not something that we'd probably be doing all the time.

SPEAKER_08 8:22

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:23

And I played a bunch of it um yesterday and today.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Like by yourself, it's a solo game as well.

The Campaign Update

SPEAKER_06 8:30

Yeah, yeah, it's a solo game that you can co-opt. Um, and it's one of those games where eventually you die and you have to start all over, uh, but you carry over advancements. Um, and so your character, even though you're starting over from the beginning again, um, becomes more powerful, and so you make it farther and farther. And then at a certain point, at least in this particular game, I don't know, I think most of this style of games are like this too. Uh, eventually um the particular map that you're doing is over. They have time limits, um, and then death shows up and kills you, regardless of how strong you are.

SPEAKER_04 9:20

See, that'd make me mad because I'd be like, oh no, Elder Scrolls infecting other games. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_06 9:26

No, those games were like this before Elder Scrolls.

SPEAKER_04 9:30

I like like I like that style of game where it's a survival game, but I like it where it doesn't like where if it has a cap, it's like if you hit a hundred, you've completed this level and now you get a different bonus and you can do it all over again.

SPEAKER_06 9:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:44

When death shows up and kills you, the you but is that like a hundred levels, is it fifty levels, or is it is it strictly based on time?

SPEAKER_06 9:52

It's strictly based on time. Oh, okay. So however many levels you reach in that it doesn't really change anything. Right. Other than you've gained X amount of XP. Um which then also means you're more likely to have gained more money. Money is what you carry over. Right. So when you in between maps or whatever, you can spend your money on certain things. Like there's a bunch of different characters.

SPEAKER_08 10:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:20

You have to buy most of them with in-game currency.

SPEAKER_08 10:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:25

Um, you also have to unlock them. So you have to find special items, like there's a bunch of maps that have uh coffins on them. If you find the coffin and you open it, because you also have to open it. Right.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

Um while not getting eaten by vampires.

SPEAKER_06 10:43

Yeah, that's to be expected. While not dying, you have to find the coffin and open it. Yeah. Because if you die the game's over. Uh then once you open the coffin, then it will release one of the characters, and then you can fucking spend the end game money to fucking purchase that character. And then from then on you can just play that character.

SPEAKER_04 11:05

Sometimes I feel like I'm Dagg to Junior because I'll play a video game while listening to an audio.

SPEAKER_08 11:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

And then, like, but what I have found, like with the book I'm listening to right now, what I have found is that so I'm playing my Seven Days to Die, because everybody knows, everybody, hi guys, knows that I'm addicted, right? And like all my friends do too. They're like, Oh, you're still playing Seven Days to Die.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

On the rare occasion, they might catch me playing trains or something else, and they're just like, Oh, you want to play? Or they're sending me random invites, and I'm just like, I can't take it because hello, I own every part of this game, and you only own the base. I can't play in your world, anyways. But I heard myself talking back to the audible, back to the audiobook. Uh, like the point I'm at in the book, I was I was telling you, he just got into this big battle. He just had the big battle of Ebenezer, and I'm literally getting lippy at the audio, the audio, going, that's what you get for being a presumptive, and blah, blah, blah, blah. I found myself yesterday morning doing the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

It was uh, he was bitching about Marcone, and I was just like, should have knocked him out. And then he was talking, he was talking about Laura Wraith and how pretty she looks. And I'm like, well, for fuck's sake, just dump her bones for God's sakes.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

But then I'm like, oh wait, but Karen's there, don't do that, you know. I find myself talking to the books.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 12:37

And I'm like, so what's funny about it is I'm playing Seven Days to Die when I started and I realized I was actually talking back to the books, talking audibly to the books, and I'm in Seven Days to Die. Totally missed my mark of where I was going and found something else. And I'm like, well, I don't want this. I'm not prepared for this kind of bio fear. Because you know, you have different different biomes. Okay, you've got like

Audio Books : A New Obsession

SPEAKER_04 13:00

five of them, and I hate I hate having to change between biomes. It's very annoying because you have to change different clothes because you need different protections. And yeah, I'm like, ugh. So, and of course, because I'm the only one playing in this particular world, it's not that I'm bored, it's that I'm always curious what would the next one be. So then I created another world, and I'm just like, I don't know if I like it. Anyways, yeah. I I I don't know, but and I'm just laughing. I was just laughing at myself uh this morning because I forgot to I keep a little handy dandy sticky note what the title is and what chapter I bought or what file part I'm on or whatever, and I forgot to update it yesterday because when I'd stopped listening, I I was really tired. I wanted to take a nap because I'd been up since four o'clock in the morning and I wanted to take a nap, and so I forgot to write it down. So it took me a hot minute to figure out where the hell I was in the story, and that's and literally I was only uh one chapter before the chapter with the Ebenezer fighting where um the Titan comes in. Okay, yeah, or the Titan's daughter or whatever. Yeah, anyway, anyways, I don't know. I just I I I find myself it really enjoying these audiobooks and talking back to them quite a lot.

SPEAKER_06 14:15

I've never talked back to them. I have gotten emotional, like angry and fucking sad and stuff.

SPEAKER_04 14:22

Oh my gosh, yeah, like uh so obviously at the beginning of this book, he's staying in Maul's apartment and everything, and he's talking about uh Bonea, and he's talking about uh Maggie. Okay, and I'm just like James Marston does such a good job with the emotional range. I really like the voice he just did for um is it cord, the the king of the the four mirror? Okay, and just just he's like so anytime I see four mirror, I I think frog because of his description, but hearing him give the actual description, I'm like, yes, big slimy warty toad, yes. So I don't know. Uh would it be the same? I'm gonna try other obvious auto books because I'm like, oh, if I really like this, then maybe I'll listen to the Odd Thomas, you know, but I don't we'll see.

SPEAKER_06 15:18

Yeah. I thought about trying lit RPG, but I did listen to the first Aut Thomas book.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 15:26

I can't remember if I watched the movie first or if I listened to the book first. I think I watched the movie first.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 15:33

Um and so now I have fucking Willem Dafoe stuck in my head.

SPEAKER_04 15:40

Who does he read the audiobook?

SPEAKER_06 15:42

No. That's crazy. That's what I'm saying. Is that I have Willem Dafoe as the his friend and the detective or whatever. Um and then I don't remember the actor's name who died. That played.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

And Tom Yelchin.

SPEAKER_06 15:55

Yeah, I have him in my head as odd. And so um it makes it kind of weird listening to somebody perform those those roles.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I'm able to separate it really well. Um, you know, but I don't know. It's it's funny because there's nothing good in the news going on, right? Lately. Bunch of sad shit, right? So I try not to fight focus on that. I mean, we're in another conflict with Iran. Surprise, surprise, the straight of Horowitz. Whoa my god, right?

SPEAKER_06 16:33

Did you say the straight of Horowitz?

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Yeah. Howitz, whatever. Core news. I personally don't care because it makes me cry. So I will say things that kind of sound funny so that I don't cry about it when I read about it. Okay. Sorry, sorry, Adam Horowitz from the Beastie Boys, you make me laugh. My bad. You don't know that died. Shut the fuck up. I don't know, probably.

SPEAKER_06 17:03

I don't know. What I know one of them died a few years back.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

I thought it was uh D-Rock or whatever. Uh, anyways, there's nothing good in the news, it's all sad shit. You know, it's like Sam Neal died, which is a good actor, great actor. And it's just like, God, all these people that were like, you know, we were just like enamored with when we were kids in these different movies and these different strong roles, they're just knocking off like flies. Good lord. You've got him that died, you got another actor who was just stabbed to death by his future daughter-in-law a couple weeks before, a few weeks before, or I guess a couple months, whatever, James something or another. And it's just like, good lord, like all these people just dying. It's like happens every day. It it does. But it's you know, it's really interesting when it comes to like celebrity or entertainerness, because there is a part of you that feels you almost kind of knew him on a level.

SPEAKER_08 18:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

When somebody was just like, uh, like, say somebody said, Um, so they said the new Hannibal when they announced there was a new TV series, Hannibal. Okay, you know, like, and I'm just like, Anthony Hopkins, now Sir Hopkins, who by the way, they just now he's he's actually now working in his 80s, he's working on becoming a certified conductor or some shit like that. So he's conducting symphonies and all that stuff, anyways. So when they announce it, I'm going, Anthony Hopkins, he's kind of like, how are they gonna CGI him to make him you know, younger Hannibal and everything? Because that's the whole idea of the Hannibal TV show, is when him and uh the guy are together the first time they meet, okay, right? So, anyways, and then they said Mad's Mad's Mitch Mitchkin, I think that's how you say it, Swedish actor was gonna be in it. And I was like, I am all in. Okay, so right, so he's Hannibal,

We Say Goodbye Dear Sir

SPEAKER_04 19:01

and it's so funny. So then we get to Doctor Strange comes in, like 2017, 2018, after the Hannibal TV show, we've got Doctor Strange comes in. Madge Mitzkin's in that too, and I'm just like, no, Madge, don't. You already know what happens when you're evil. So there becomes this degree where we almost feel like we've learned them, we kind of know them on a level because we know their characters.

SPEAKER_07 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

And so it's like it's celebrity deaths are really weird for me because some of them make me really sad. Like, um, who's the gal who just died recently? Catherine O'Hare, the mom from Home Alone, the mom from Beetlejuice, the mom from Shits Creek, and you and you cry. And it's like, why? She's not in my life. I mean, it's like sad to lose an entertainer, but yeah. I never watch Beetlejuice. I'm not really I've only seen portion of Shits Creek because it's not my kind of funny.

SPEAKER_06 19:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

Uh, but I do like Catherine Hare and Dan Levy or Levy, whatever. Uh, but I really like Catherine Hare. And it was like, um, so then reading the thing about Sam Neil. So Sam Neal had this farm in New Zealand, and he named all of his animals after all of his celebrity friends. And he did an interview, yeah, right? He did an interview in 2023 talking about how Meryl's sleep just died, had gotten eaten by somebody, and there was just feathers left, and it was sad, but oh well it happened.

SPEAKER_07 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

So it's it's kind of interesting how we we do these things where we associate people.

SPEAKER_06 20:38

Yeah. So, anyways. Parasocial, what is it, parasocial uh relationships? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

It's it's weird because like I have met people who are like Uber fans, and I mean like Uber fans of certain country groups that I'm not gonna say because if she ever found out I talked about her on the air in this way, she'd be super embarrassed. And I don't want to do that to her. But when I say Uber fans, I mean Uber fans, like she can name all their songs with two notes.

SPEAKER_06 21:07

Okay, right?

SPEAKER_04 21:08

And it's just like one of them got sick and got in the hospital, and I swear to Jesus, she was like three days, she was like, I just I just don't know what I'm gonna do if he doesn't live. I'm like the last time they put out an album. At this point, I think it's been 20 years. Yeah, so it's like and I was just like, I remember looking at her and going, it was a car accident with a broken collarbone that's not life-threatening in and of itself, but you definitely want to be in the hospital for a couple of days. Well, they cash you up and your bone starts to set.

SPEAKER_06 21:39

You're not gonna be wiping your butt with that hand anytime soon.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

You better hope that it was the left side that broke. Yeah. Have you ever done that? Have you ever tried to wipe with your non-dominant hand? Oh it's the worst ever. Just forget the toe waiver and just scoop away. I don't just wash your hands and say you're done again. It's so awkward.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

I tried for years. I used to work on training myself to sign my name with my non-dominant hand. And about all all the about the only thing I did was change how I wrote my J. That's about the only thing I did with my dominant hand.

SPEAKER_06 22:21

Yeah, I don't think, yeah, I don't think I my my handwriting is already crap. Oh, it's atrocious. But um, yeah, I don't think I would be able to sign my name with my left hand.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

You know what? Because your handwriting is so atrocious, you might actually have better handwriting if you used your non-dominant hand.

SPEAKER_06 22:42

I doubt that.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

I mean print. I can do print decently with my non-dominant hand, but yeah, it's anyways.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

I actually used to have pretty good handwriting until my grandmother made me use cursive for everything. Um she made me basically write cursive.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

She wanted you to have the secret language of adults.

SPEAKER_06 23:03

Uh for like a year, she made me just do cursive. Uh-huh. Um, and then when I s when she's like, okay, you stop doing that now. When I tried to go back to printing, at first I didn't it wouldn't register. Uh-huh. Like, you just don't connect the letters. Well, my brain was like, I don't know how to fucking do this anymore. And then my handwriting got much worse.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

The older you've gotten, the worse your handwriting's gotten too.

SPEAKER_06 23:32

I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Uh, it's pretty bad, like, oh, I'm tired of writing.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

It's like you you only write a little tiny bit.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:41

So, but it's funny because when I was talking with somebody at work, and I was just like, Well, you know, everybody likes you, but you know our secret language, right? You know, Gen X are secret language, because we're the ones that at some point are going to take over the world. Maybe. I mean, we're just kind of assholes like that. And he goes, What's the secret ring language? And I said, cursive, and I'm not even kidding. He deadpan looks at me, he goes, I can't read cursive. What? They stopped teaching cursive when he was two or three years old. Not even like as an elective, and I know that not even an English class, not even nothing, like he never understood his teacher's notes, nothing.

SPEAKER_06 24:23

I think they well, it obviously depends upon the school and the school district, but I think there are places that still do

GenX Secret Code

SPEAKER_06 24:30

like calligraphy um as like an elective, uh-huh. Which is essentially cursive, although slightly fancier.

SPEAKER_04 24:37

Yeah, I mean it's really weird, but I don't remember if they took when I was a freshman, freshman and sophomore, calligraphy was still an elective you could take. Yeah. Junior and senior, nope, it was gone because not enough people signed up for it. Uh and I think clever like uh one of my stepmoms is a really good calligrapher, beautiful calligrapher. And so it's like a dying art, you know. It's it's really, it's really weird. It's like, yeah, I don't know. So I think it's just great that I mean I first of all I was surprised that he admitted he couldn't read cursive, and then he looked at me, he goes, To be honest with you, I can barely read. And I'm like, no, you're smarter than that. And he's like, No, I'm that lazy. I just I didn't care for it in school, I don't care for it now, it annoys me. And I'm like, you know, it's really important that you understand what you're reading, and he says, Oh, I know. He goes, but I very easily confused, and I'm just like, I mean, and at his age, yeah, he should know cursive. At his age, he should know cursive. Okay, and it's just like I I I don't get it, and I'm just like, but that's fine. I'm like, that's fine. Like I can pass secret notes to my friends and stuff, and anybody finds it, they won't understand the diamonds are hidden down at diamond in black diamond. Go look in black diamond, go to Tiger Summit. Well, they'll never know. Anyways, uh Audibles and games. So I'm glad I started listening to the books because um it it kind of helps me calm down a little bit in the morning because you know I don't I my brain doesn't shut off like this morning, 2:30 in the morning, I have to get and go pee. Because I passed the F out like hard. And I get up to go to the bathroom, and as soon as I started peeing, my brain is going, Hey, did you catch that? Tomorrow's podcast day. Tomorrow is we gotta do this, and then you need to read your this and you need to do that. And I'm just like, shut the fuck up. I wanna go back to bed. I find I finally gave up the ghost and did get out of bed at uh five o'clock this morning. I finally got up at five, but slacker. I know, but you know, my job also requires me to stay up until at least 9 30 at night. So it's like I try to have this routine on the nights I work, but this last week was really this last week for me was really weird because I worked a midshift and I do I like it because they can't force me to do certain things, but I don't like it because it's like I don't have time after my partner leaves to have my breakfast. Because I can't do it at the same time as him. I love him to death, but I just I can't do it at the same time as him. Okay, he he's not a morning person, yeah. And I don't want to have to get up at 4 a.m. to be able to do breakfast at a pace that I want to do. Because it usually takes me when I'm here by myself, once he leaves for work, then I'll start figuring out what I'm gonna make to eat. While when you're working a midshift, you don't have that opportunity. What I did have an opportunity of working a midshift this week is to see the nasty attitudes people have, like, good fucking lord. I'm like, yeah, but anyways, I digress. So your new kick is Vampire Survivor. Yeah, Vampire Survivors. Is that the only one you've been working on lately?

SPEAKER_06 27:58

Um, I did because I had bought this game a while back. Uh-huh. Um, I did load up uh Space Marine 2. What are you thinking of that so far? Uh so the game's great. My computer's not.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Oh no, you need an upgrade, huh?

SPEAKER_06 28:14

Yeah, and at this point, in order to I either have to just buy a brand new computer, pre-made computer, which probably be the cheaper option. Or I will have to get a new motherboard in order to upgrade. So if you get a new motherboard, that means you also have to get a new fucking CPU. And then of course you also then have to get a new copy of Windows or whatever. Um so yeah, that's gonna be kind of expensive.

SPEAKER_04 28:45

So are you looking at it what you upgrade to? Are you looking at doing another laptop or are you looking at a desktop? Oh, for a desktop. Yeah, I need to get that Amazon credit card.

SPEAKER_06 28:57

Well, they have better rates than most places. I don't think I can get an Amazon because way back in the day I had a WaMu card. Uh-huh. Um, and that company got bought by Chase. And Chase is who Amazon's credit is through.

SPEAKER_08 29:15

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 29:16

And that was the one and only credit card that I ever default on. Oh wow. So I know uh it's been probably like eight or ten years since the last time I was like, fuck it when ordering something on Amazon. It's like, get her a credit card, save money. I'm like, okay, let's see what happens. Nope, denied.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Yeah, you didn't pay us that $376 20 years ago, damn it.

unknown 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:46

Well, you know, um here's here's the thing, we're not all perfect in life. Yeah, some of us have gone through like me, I've gone through a bankruptcy. And the only, you know, the only thing I have to say about that is I hate that I had to do it. But on the other hand, I was

Ugh...Work.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

one of the victims of that big housing scandal 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_06 30:04

Thank you, Obama.

SPEAKER_04 30:05

Oh, wait, that was fucking uh Oh no, it was during his tenure, and so I applied to the the fallout of it was during his tenure.

SPEAKER_06 30:14

How the feeds that made it were Clinton.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Yeah, thanks, Clinton. Although Bush gets blamed for it. Right. But it it it it doesn't matter, it's trickle-down economics, it's all stupid. Uh so like the only credit cards I actually the only credit card I actually defaulted on was one of theirs, where I had my home loan through because they had, you know, when all was said and done, it all got taken care of, and I think I ended up getting a refund check. Like years years later, I got $300 in the settlement. Wow. Yeah, that's what everybody did because there were millions of people who were affected by this. I just happened to be part of the 1.3 million people or whatever who lost their home. Yeah. And you know, and it is what it is. I'm not bitter about it. I mean, I it's embarrassing, or it used to be embarrassing. Now it's just like, yeah, that's uh the history of youth right there. Something that happened. It's something that happened. I did my best to control it. Uh my mom was, hi, mom. My mom was pretty angry about it because of other parental issues, and she was just so angry. But I'm like, it happens, you know. These that's part of being young, is you make choices, like some of the choices I made during that time for my life were absolutely excellent for me. Absolutely fantastic for me. Uh, probably saved my life in more ways than one. But the other time, it's also slapped myself on the back of the head, what were you thinking, stupid?

SPEAKER_08 31:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:45

That's that's the beauty of youth, is if you're not going to be smart enough to listen to some of the stories from the people before you and learn from their mistakes, yeah, you get to make your own so somebody else can learn from you.

SPEAKER_06 31:58

Yeah. That is one of the kind of tragedies of being a young adult, is that you're expected to make a bunch of decisions, some of which can have long-lasting repercussions.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

And you don't know which ones they are until you make them and they can hit you back in the ass.

SPEAKER_06 32:18

Although there are a plethora of examples of doing it wrong and doing it right.

SPEAKER_04 32:25

But I didn't think she could get pregnant one time without a condom. Wrong.

SPEAKER_06 32:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

I know people who are one-time babies. I do. I know. Well, yeah, I mean, that's the thing is that the funny conundrum with humans, the funniest conundrum to me, is that we all think we know everything.

SPEAKER_08 32:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

No matter how long we've lived or not lived. Oh, well, back in my day, in the good old 2007, I've heard 20-year-olds tell me, well, you know, back in my day, yeah, back back in your day, I could still legally buy cigarettes and alcohol and blah blah blah. Back in your day, I was driving across country to go see my friends.

SPEAKER_08 33:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

But that's the conundrum of humans. We all think we are, we know everything. Nobody can know any better. You can't teach us any better because that was your mistake, not mine.

SPEAKER_06 33:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:21

That's uh, it's why history keeps repeating itself.

SPEAKER_06 33:24

At the same time, you want to blame everybody for fucking uh what their parents did.

SPEAKER_04 33:30

Oh my god. Like you can tell good Gen X parents from bad Gen X parents. Good Gen X parents, their kids are like, if you say, if you say to a good Gen X parent's child, if you say, just give me a minute and listen to me, because I'm telling you, I've had experience with this, they actually listen. The bad ones will be like, you can't tell me nothing. My mom said, Don't listen to nobody. Oh, whoopee, buddy. Um, yeah, but we we inherently think we know everything.

SPEAKER_08 33:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

And what I find hilarious is when millennials, and I'm not picking on them too much, but millennials when they think they're actually Gen Xers. I think that's fantastic. I'm I'm ba I love it. I'm basically a Gen Xer without the title. Nope, no, and no, you're not even married to a Gen Xer. You're you're married to a Gen Zer or whatever. Alpha Z? One of the two. When they're married to somebody younger, it it it it literally goes the silent generation boomer, Gen X, Zennials, Millennials, Gen Z?

SPEAKER_06 34:34

Yes, millennials or Gen Y.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Why did they have to?

SPEAKER_06 34:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Anyways, okay, so spin screen chill, sorry.

SPEAKER_06 34:47

So yeah, I started playing it and it was awesome, but there are a lot of shit happening on screen a lot of the time because it's fucking tyrannid hordes, is what you're fighting.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 34:59

So the Zerg, although the Zerg are based on the Tyranids, not the other way around. Um or like uh Starship Trooper type scenario.

SPEAKER_04 35:09

Like you say the Zerg and I automatically think Star Trek board.

SPEAKER_06 35:13

Um there is a species like the fucking uh tyranids sort of. Star Trek, but it's super niche.

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:27

Um it's the one that the boards are afraid of because they can't uh assimilate them. Um and they come from another, like an alternate dimension or something where the entire fucking universe is living organisms. Uh but anyway, the um it's like the fucking Starship troopers where there's all the fucking bugs running rushing at them. Okay. It's fucking just swarms and swarms of these giant bugs. Okay. Um some of which have guns. Uh and so there's hundreds, if not thousands, of these things on screen at once. Oh jeez. And so it's it's very graphic card intensive, it's very fucking CPU intensive. So my fucking computer would bogged down. Okay. So yeah. I scared you're gonna say it started smoking. No. But yeah, especially in the bigger scenes, because there's some where you can see the massive horde charging at you, and you in fact are fighting that massive horde. Um, but there's other scenes where you're basically running through a series of brown tubes. And you can't play it on your desk are on your laptop. I have not tried it on my laptop because I had a similar issue with Dune Awakening, although it wasn't as bad, but it still made it unplayable uh um on my desktop, but I could play it on my my one laptop that I have that is a gaming laptop, although it's also older, but still I could turn the graphics down a little bit and then it was fine.

SPEAKER_04 37:04

Yeah, I think that's what my partner had to do for uh I think it's called the last last survivor, no last caretaker. I think he had to turn his graphics card down a little bit because he had it, he has his like an ultra or whatever, yeah, and he was playing, and then apparently there was a driver update in the middle of it. I thought he was gonna lose his shit. Because he was just like, What just happened? I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, but he had to, but it had to reset everything, so I think he took it down to the next level or something. I don't know. And he was just like, no, I mean he's just walking around the house, no, no, that that graphic card is perfectly good. It's not even that old because he just upgraded like a year and a half ago, and he's just like, and it's really comparable to what's still out there now.

SPEAKER_06 37:47

Yeah, yeah. And I'm just like, um the card that I have is from at least seven years ago. Oh wow. It's considerably and the the um the motherboard and CPU is from like 12 years ago or something.

SPEAKER_08 38:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:04

Because the last time, yeah, because the last time well, I have to think about when um when Witcher 3 came out, because that's the last time I actually really upgraded my computer. The the video game, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

Okay, because I was just like gonna say I was gonna say, wasn't season three last year? Didn't they just start season four?

SPEAKER_06 38:26

Um, so no, when the because when we when that video game was coming out, it was when I bought the new um motherboard and CPU and graphics card.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

You know, but you are luckier than a lot of people because me, I couldn't build a computer unless I had a literally ABC 123 step by design. I couldn't do it. First of all, I don't have the patience for electronics. Like, I don't have the patience like that.

SPEAKER_08 38:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:53

You know, uh I don't I I hear how sensitive parts are, and I know just no, I'd drop it and I'd break the $900, you know, graphics card. I don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_06 39:04

Um I mean it's that stuff's a lot more robust than what you might think. Um I mean you can break it by dropping it, but it's unlikely.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

Um you know, all the I'm telling you, you're lucky that you can do it.

SPEAKER_06 39:19

Maybe that you have the patience. When you're trying to plug stuff in if you're doing it wrong, and then you really try to monkey fist it instead of being like, okay, there's something not right here.

SPEAKER_04 39:29

Um like I thought you were gonna desleeve the de-sleeve the uh the microphone cord when you were trying to figure out what's going on with it. But it it I don't know. I'm I'm more nervous because it's just like uh when when you work as hard as we do for the little money we make, and we do make your position, like nationwide, you make about 50 cents less an hour than you should. My position, I actually make four dollars and twenty-five cents less an hour than I actually should. And one of my co-managers is pissed about it because she uh she was looking up what it was supposed to be and then what it got changed to, and it was she was she's angry. And she's she's been an angry little thing ever since. And so it's difficult once you start looking at that going, wait a minute, you're you can't say we're supposed to be paid this way and then not do it.

SPEAKER_06 40:20

I mean, if I were doing the same job at the same company in in Texas, I would be making seven dollars an hour.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Well, uh I I I guess actually, you might be making no money an hour, but that's the the thing about it is is that we the industry has done the research and you should be making 50 cents more an hour than you are. And there's people who work in your department who should be making a dollar an hour more because they've been there a long time. Yeah, but there's absolutely no raises, yeah, not gonna happen. Um, but what's frustrating for the like because we work for the same

Space Marine Part Deux

SPEAKER_04 41:00

company, right? Everybody knows that by now. Um, but you don't know where. And if you do, shut your fucking mouth. Uh so they just did a re you know, it's it's called a transparency report. And it was like when you look at this transparency transparency report, it's it's they're not going to pay us what the report says we should be paid. And that's the frustrating thing. And and I feel bad for people who've been there for decades and decades. There are people who work for the company that's been there, you know, 18, 20, almost 30 years. There's a person who works at my building that's been working for the company for 32 years, and she only had a two-year break from the company in all that time. And she went from full-time to part-time, but she still works four days a week, I think. Three days a week now. It was four, now it's three. And like, and she is counting down until she can retire. She's like, I've got one credit card left that I gotta pay off. It's when I first started there, it was two thousand dollars. Now she's down to like the last 800 bucks. And she's like, as soon as it's done, I'm retiring. I don't blame her. Yeah, because even once she retires, she can work two days a week and because you can bring home a certain amount of money. Yeah, she can work two days a week, but she just is ready to be done with it. Yeah, I mean, I I don't blame her. I'm just like, I'm ready to fucking retire. I'm ready to retire and go homestead because you can't only you can't really do it if you're much older. Yeah, you know, that's that's the whole thing. I mean, yes, my partner's younger than me, but it's like you start looking at these things you want, and I'm like, okay. And you start looking at the things you need, you're like, okay, you know, it's like my I was talking to my partner about getting a different vehicle. I need a different one. And I'm like, even if I lost lost lost a ton of weight, it doesn't change the fact that I have damage in my hip and it hurts my hip to be at that extreme angle when I get down in my car and up because my car is so low.

unknown 43:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:02

And so it's really interesting because in the last couple of weeks at work, I've actually talked to a few different ladies that have come in driving the exact vehicles that I want. And there, and one lady actually had double hip surgery, and she's like, I love it. She's like, it's more comfortable. She goes, Mine is more comfortable than sitting in my recliner at home. I'm like, girl, you ain't gotta sell me on it. Now I just gotta watch the prices.

SPEAKER_08 43:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

And you know, and it's uh, because the prices should come down a little bit more.

SPEAKER_08 43:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:30

I mean, it just makes no sense to me that here in this state, the identical car, it's uh, let's just say it's X with model Y, and then the price in our state with all the same setups, 34,000 miles on the vehicle, $29,000. Portland, Oregon, $21,000.

SPEAKER_06 43:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

For 32,000 miles. Everything else is identical though. AC, color, make model, everything. Everything. So it makes no sense.

SPEAKER_06 44:02

And that's before the sales tax.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

Oh, yeah. And Oregon doesn't have sales tax.

SPEAKER_06 44:07

Although you still have to pay for Washington.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

That's okay. Because let me tell you what, 10.4% tax on $21,000 is a whole lot less than $29,000. Yeah. I don't know. So so are you going to start looking at trying to get a whole new setup? Or are you going to just start shopping around comparison prices? Or are you going to start by turning a graphics card down on a different machine so that you can play uh I just deleted the game until I fucking I mean I own the game, so it doesn't really matter at this point.

SPEAKER_06 44:41

But I thought you like maybe it was an angry rage quit or something. No. I was like, okay, well, this game isn't really gonna work. I have several other games that I was blind people when I decided to fucking load this on there. So I'll just delete this one until further notice. Right. Maybe I'll download it onto my laptop. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

I mean, it might be worth a try if I mean everything is so expensive now.

SPEAKER_08 45:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

It was literally, you you were with me. I ran and grabbed a few groceries because I don't ask my partner to buy certain things that I know he absolutely won't touch. Um, and I wanted to get because I'm gonna put a marinade together tonight because I'm going to grill food tomorrow. Um so I don't ask him to do certain things, and it was it was for that little bit was $70.

SPEAKER_08 45:29

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

And the chicken was on sale. I mean, come on. Things are very expensive.

SPEAKER_08 45:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

It's it's it's uh, you know, it's it's one of those things where it's like as we're looking at the prices of stuff, you know, my partner's just like, I actually beat him home on Friday because of this weird, I just don't like that midshift. I don't like it. Like, if it was an hour getting off an hour earlier or an hour later, I would like it better. But um, he was just like, what he's figured out, he's just like, what I figured out, he goes, is that I cannot stand the commute anymore. I'm like, really? And he's just like, yeah. And I said, now do you see why I say when we're looking at once we are able to move and we're able to get that all in order, which is you know just how it is. I was just like, this is why I keep picking the city I I want, because it's still close enough to my family for emergencies, but it also literally would give him a 10-minute commute to work.

SPEAKER_08 46:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

If that, if it depends, it really depends. Like honestly, you buy get on the freeway, you go up two X's can get off the freeway. That's all he would have to do. And if they're lucky, if if I'm lucky enough, there's an area right by his work that usually gets rentals uh available every other year. Last last fall was an off-year or was an on-year. This year it seems to be an off-year

Until Next Time!

SPEAKER_04 47:00

because I haven't seen anything around it. So maybe you never know. Next year. Who knows? Yeah. Or you know, whatever. Anyways, uh, well, I'm sorry you had to delete your game. I'm sorry you felt it necessary to delete your game. I mean, you can always slay vampires.

SPEAKER_06 47:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

You know, spike wannabe.

SPEAKER_06 47:15

Although the funny thing is, pretty much not fighting any vampires. You're just fighting Well, there's zombies and momies and all kinds of other stuff.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

So why did they call it Zam Z uh Vampire Sire? Are you the vampire?

SPEAKER_06 47:30

I don't think so. It looks so it looks like this game. Well, first of all, it's an independent game company. Okay. Um and it looks like the game is like a love letter to the Castlevania.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Okay. Um I've never played Castlevania. So I I've heard of the game, I've never played it. Shocking!

SPEAKER_05 47:52

Yeah, it was super popular back in the 80s and 90s.

SPEAKER_04 47:57

Um well I was back in the 80s and the 90s. Yep. I was playing Pac-Man and Mario Brothers and Kubert and Kirby. I love Qbert. Yeah, and Kirby and uh, you know, uh Miss Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, yeah, and um Shinobi and Batman Asylum, you know, like all that kind of stuff. I you know, there's there's a there's a Batman game that was on the Sega Genesis, and I can't I just know it was a Batman game, and I can't remember the name of it. Okay, but like my favorite game of all times, of course, is the Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance 2, and that was on the PS2 favorite game. So I was playing all that, and then when my nieces and my nephews start coming along, started coming along, that's when I started playing more uh like um Disney's Haunted Mansion and Animal Crossing, and which my entire family still plays to this day. I just haven't upgraded my Switch because it's just like I played my Switch for a solid like four months, and I haven't played it in over a year. I didn't renew my Nintendo stuff or anything this year. I'm just like, I don't have enough time in my life as it is. I mean, I'm working four or five days a week, and then of course, luckily we get together one day a week still, yeah. Which is it's really it honestly, it's very depressing sometimes. It's very depressing when I when I go into work and I'm like, and it's a rough day, and it's like because we've got the one little person there, the little midget there, who just you know, God bless her, I'll leave it at that, and God bless her heart. Uh, you know, and and then I'll be there and I'll be thinking, I'll be thinking to myself, like, yeah, I'd rather be at home recording sessions.

SPEAKER_07 49:50

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 49:51

And then I'll think like, I should tell Dagda that I saw this in the news or I watched that or whatever, because we spent it's it's it's really a big switch for for me and not you, because you don't attach to humans too much. You keep yourself at a nice guarded distance because that's just how it is in your life, but it's really weird for me because over the last I've spent so much of my time with you, and so it's weird the last few months of just it's weird, and then I get really angry when I'm then I get really angry, and sometimes I want to pop off at this little midget girl and be like, oh yeah? Well, my friend's better than you, so there.

SPEAKER_06 50:37

Of course I am.

SPEAKER_04 50:37

Well, shut the fuck up, anyways. Yeah, I'm sorry about Space Marines too. But hey, on the bright side, you didn't get spawn camped.

SPEAKER_08 50:47

Yeah. Or did I? No.

SPEAKER_04 50:51

No, you didn't. Or that'd have been like, oh, I I got spawn camped again. I said, fuck this game. I already know you would have told me about that. So much ridiculous. That day you came into work telling that story about how it's a new game. Oh, let me tell you. Oh, this is gonna be good. When telling the story, you just it's it was just think of me like when we've talked about Elder Schools. That's how you were about space three. They're getting spawned camped. I remember it vividly because Scott came in wanting some animal movies, and he is just like, Oh, what are you two talking about? I was like, he got screwed in his game. I mean, he thought we were talking pol politics or something because you were so you've grown up since then. You've calmed down a bit, kids. Oh, anyways, refreshing. Well, let's take a break and then we'll talk to them again later. Let's take a break because we kind of need to do health updates. We need to do health updates. So okay, but you know, so video games for them to think about in the Space Marine 2. You said it was good.

SPEAKER_06 51:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:58

And then uh vampire vampire survivors. Vampire survivors, and for people who want to multitask, start looking at the free audibles you can get from uh the library, yeah, from your friends, um, because it's a trip and a half. It's I'm telling you, it's a it's a trip and a half. And of course, long live Jim Butchers and James Marsters. Hail to the kings. Hail to the kings. You guys have a great day. Later. Bye. Okay, everybody. That's all the time we have for today. So I want to thank you for stopping by to enjoy the conversation. Uh, we're glad you're here, and please share and share again and share some more. And if you haven't already, subscribe. We'll be having another chat and another custom. So talk to you then. Look forward to seeing you.