The Grouch's Trash Pile [Baldur's Gate 3]

o7

Sounds great to me!

 

GOOD NEWS: I mentioned going to see Massless to J and while he made the most hilarious D8 face when I told him the admission price, he's really enthusiastic about going to see it, so we're going to do that probably the week after Christmas. (We'd go sooner, but the 26th is probably going to be a madhouse, and he has an endoscopy on the 27th and will probably be out of commission for a few days. Hopefully it won't be too busy after New Year's - they limit the number of visitors in the museum for security reasons, and when I went the queue was all the way down the very long block!

 

The way people continually go after tumblr user glumshoe for the stupidest, most petty shit horrifies me in general, like this person getting weird about them using 'juxtaposition'. What is this bizarre fucking allergy to words more than two syllables long?? OH NO. YOU HAD TO READ A LONG WORD. HOW HORRIBLE.

(j/k I know it's a 'who do you think you are acting intellectual?' social pressure move)

 

I think I look cute today.

 

COOKIE APOCALYPSE

Altho maybe less so than usual - I'm baking a big batch of chocolate chunk cookies, I might make some butter pecan or soft gingerbread, idk. I usually do a couple of kinds and candied almonds, but... oof. It's exhausting to do multiple kinds, and I'm not really feeling it this year.

Not being able to safely eat wheat has been a huge bummer - I can't get a yeast bread that doesn't turn out substandard, and it's frustrating and makes me really sad because I love bread - but fortunately I can still make really excellent quickbreads, cakes, and cookies! I've found that a 50/50 blend of buckwheat and rice flour works super well, and a bit of xanthan gum helps it get about the right texture. It also stays appropriately moist, even though makes for thirstier dough than wheat flour does. Quickbreads and cakes generally work out as expected; with cookies they're sometimes maybe a little bit grainy, but not so much as to be offputting. I've noticed some storebought wheat free cookies (the ones that don't have soy flour, anyway, since I can't eat that either) often have a weird sandy texture and are unpleasantly dry. Sucks a lot when I just want some damn cookies and don't have the energy to make them, but at least I can make good ones. I'd be really depressed if I could only have substandard cookies from now on.

I usually wish my apartment was bigger, but the nice thing about it is that I can do any mass crafting I want to do in FFXIV while working on stuff in the kitchen - press macro button, do a short thing, come back and press another button, go back to kitchen... I'm making a zillion super-ether potions for one of my FC friends (free company, for those unfamiliar - same basic concept as a guild) because she raids, and I'm guessing the people selling right now are charging exorbitant prices for them again. I'm happy to sell to friends for more reasonable prices - they don't have to pay ridiculous prices when they go up stupid high, I get an immediate sale without having to deal with the capricious and often cutthroat Cactuar market board - and she always tips really generously, so it's a good deal from both ends.

 

MIL picked up J and I a few hours ago and we went to leave a candle at FIL’s grave. She asked if leaving a candle at a loved one’s grave on Christmas Eve was a thing in the States and... I have no idea??? None whatsoever. I keep running up against this situation where I’ll be asked if people do some thing in the US and I’ll be totally clueless because it’s not really come up in my life, but the US is B I G and has a lot of regional variations so I can’t conclusively say that no, it’s not really a thing.

Anyway. It was lovely there - last week it finally snowed so the evergreen bushes and trees were all frosted, and lots of people had already been there and left candles - many graves even had pretty candle lanterns - so the place had a lovely gentle glow in the deep dusk.

 

In other news, I ended up making iced molasses cookies as well as chocolate chunk. I didn’t really have enough molasses and should have used more brown sugar to make up for it than I did, but they’re pretty darn good. The flavor after resting overnight is subtle but tasty, and they’re appropriately chewy. Reminds me of the store bought kind I used to love when I lived in the US.

 

“No presents this year!”

Arrives, glances under tree, sees... presents for everyone

 

It’s not a huge pile - the lion’s share already went to the nephew, who is the sole grandkid/nibling so he gets doted on - but I’m still kind of. Hmmm.

 

It was a nice time, despite there being a definite hole in the feel of things where my FIL used to be, and the WTFery with the presents. It was an extremely low-key thing but it was still something of a thing so now I feel really stupid for being upset over it. But I'd been led to expect it wouldn't be a thing at all and J still didn't want to exchange gifts between even us initially so...????????????

I'm certain nobody's messing with anyone on this. I think if anything the rest of the family is trying to spare J and I any additional financial hardship, but in a really roundabout and awkward way and J managed to be completely undiplomatic toward me about any of it and

Less than a month of birthday dread to go and then I'm freeeeeee. Until next December, at least. (I like other people's birthdays just fine. I don't have mountains of baggage around those.) Anyway, I'll try to keep the crying about that to a minimum, I'm supposed to be enjoying myself in here. :v

 

TIME FOR FRIENDSIM

 

jfc I can tell Hussie was a big fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books

 

I LOVE SKYLLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Five episodes later and I need a break but dang these are really fun! Hussie's writing (or style of writing? idk if other people ended up working on the story side of this) really shines when it's kept on a short leash and not allowed to grow plot tumors.

 

"plot tumor" is a phrase i didnt know i needed. It really is an apt description of that phenomenon.

 

CRIES ABOUT KARAKO AND WANSHI

SWEET PRECIOUS BABIES

;_;

 

... holy SHIT Marvus's routes

O_O

Fourth wall? What fourth wall?????

 

Spoiler: SHOTS FUCKIN' FIRED (Lanque's route spoilers)

Hoo. This whole branch has been a bag of saccharine barbs but that one is poisoned.

 

JFC THAT EPILOGUE

I'M HOWLING!!!!!!!!!!

 

Ehehe seeing your liveblog made me go nab it 8)