Weekend Warble 324

In Which I Blather About My Weekend

This weekend has mostly been filled with writing, but I've got some video game, food, and other thoughts to share lol.

I'm watching some shows to help with research on the wrestling book, but I'm also watching other shows to help with another project. If you've been hanging around me, you probably know that I don't believe in ghosts (or, at least, not in the idea of a physical spirit which is released from the corpus upon death). I believe fully that there is such a thing as a haunting. I believe that people have seen and experienced some stuff. I don't believe in angels, demons, ghosts, or spirits. Hauntings are your brain trying to cope with an overload of information. We only have limited experience, limited instinct, and limited understanding, so when, say, a house we know people have probably died in makes weird noises or has strange shadows or drafts, our brains fill in the details with something like ourselves. We're social animals. We look for other humans, and when there aren't any, our brains try to make people so we don't die of loneliness. That's why we personify everything from bloodstained volleyballs to pets to toast with unusual burn patterns. We want other people (yes, even introverts).

We also don't like things we don't recognize.

So we add our innate desire to see other people, our dislike of the unknown, and our innate understanding that literally anything can kill us at any time including our own bodies, and you get a bizarre set of reactions and overreactions to external stimuli, simulating what we call "haunting".

I'm sorry. It's probably not really your grandma you're seeing. It's probably your memories replaying and trying to form new connections, craving what is familiar. It's probably your mind and heart trying to heal from loss.

That's all to say I've been watching a crapload of Ghost Adventures and Ghost Brothers. Mechanically, GA is a far better-constructed show, but if you're going for entertainment, you cannot beat GB.

And the only reason I'm watching them is so that when I write about the ghost hunting group I've got on the back burner, they're believable.

So far, it's looking like I can pretty much do whatever I want. I've learned that with few exceptions, the leader is usually pretty sanctimonious and deeply paranoid, there's one guy everyone craps on who follows along for whatever reasons, and there's someone who should probably be on meds because no one sane drinks in that much woo.

It's always dangerous to write about people you find annoying, though, so here are some of the things I like about these shows:

• These shows tend to increase tourism whenever they go somewhere, so they can be a great economic stabilizer for these "haunted" towns
• I've never seen them litter
• There's at least a surface-level attempt at learning and disseminating real history from locations, without pretending that lynchings aren't murders or saying that a supposed Native American haunting targeting white people (usually middle-aged or older, I've noticed) aren't warrented.
• While there's an overuse of outdated terms (like Indian :|), there are attempts being made to not be dicks about other people.
• Actors are getting paid to do reenactments, and that's always good.

Now, I'm also watching a lot of wrestling to work on my wrestling novel, and someone on YouTube has just added a bunch of vids of behind-the-scenes stuff and satellite feeds from WCW! This is great, because now I have a better grasp on what goes on before the cameras are beaming out to the public. It's also really fun to watch Mean Gene get annoyed with unprofessional crew behavior.

That's my tv habits from this week.

For gaming, I have a few things to talk about!

First of all, I suck at the Trials of the Sword quest in Breath of the Wild. I've gotten to the next to last floor, but... it was all for naught. Dead. Every time, dead. I gave up and now I'm going through Hebra. I'll get Revali's Gale and then blast off to the desert to grab that sweet, sweet lightning (and to finish leveling up my armors...), maximizing my hearts along the way, and then I'll try again. If I can get the upgrades to the Master Sword, then I'll try to go for the Champion's Ballad DLC. I'm pretty sure it won't end well for me lol.

I've also been playing more idle games on Kongregate, including a fun little game called Loot Loop Loot. You play as a character going through a map until you die, gaining skills and loot as you go. It's fairly straightforward, but if you get good at it quickly... it can be pretty short. It took me a week to beat, and that's with me barely paying attention to it.

Since I play a lot of Breath of the Wild, you can probably guess that I've also been greedily consuming all those multitudinous Zelda Theory videos you can find on YouTube. You'd be right. I'm ravenous for them. Here are a few things I've been noticing, myself:

• Yes, if you play the teaser for BOTW2 backwards, the singsong voice is singing "poor Hyrule, for Link has found the body/Poor Hyrule, for Link is gone". And it's freaking me out
• Have you noticed that part of the Castle theme towards the end of BOTW is kind of a variation on the theme for Link's Awakening? Because I swear, it is. The low brass that comes in sounds like a dark version of the theme. Which makes sense, since you're "awakening" both Calamity Ganon and Zelda...
• Do you think that the Stables are modeled after Malanya, or is Malanya modeling himself after the stables? Also, if Malanya is a god, does that mean the Great Fairies are also gods? And is the Horned Statue one of these Old Gods who was naughty and got locked away? Is it going to be a part of BOTW2? How will the fairies and Malanya fare in a World of Malice (which is what BOTW2 is rumored to involve).
• Speaking of the World of Malice theory, what if, instead of being just the same Hyrule, blanketed in evil jam, you're literally transported to a straight up Malice Hyrule - kinda like Lorule or the Dark World or something, where you have to cleanse that realm before returning to save Hyrule? I mean, Ganon would get a kick out of chucking both Hero and Princess out of Hyrule as has been done to him before...
• Since there's a new Zonai theory out right now, here's a thought in addendum to it: what if there were multiple "barbarian" tribes? The Zonai were clearly warlike, but their worship at the Spring Of Courage tells me they were likely closer to Courage than Power. The Lomei were clearly Wisdom-based (their labyrinths!) and likely comrades of the Ancient Sheikah (or perhaps they had housed their own shrines or something in each labyrinth), but who were the last Tribe? The Tribe of Power? Were... were they the ones who became the Bokoblins?
• Uh... Zonai armor is made from Lynel bone. The Zonai were badass enough to slaughter Lynel for armor like we would slaughter cows for hide armor... What were they protecting themselves from??

That's my Gaming Thoughts for this week.

And for food...

Guys, I like food.

I really, really like food.

But I only really like to cook if no one else is home here, and that's not really feasible during Lockdown, even with regulations lifting.

That being said, I'm working my way slowly through a bunch of snacks my partner gifted me, and boy, do I have one thing to tell you:

I do not like fishy fish.

Give me tuna any time, but if I ever so much as smell a sea bass snack again, I'll hurl. Not my thing. Not even the cat's thing - she picked it up, spit it out, and kicked it across the kitchen.

That being said, I really, really liked the mentai-flavored corn snack I had (mentai is cod roe). It kinda tasted like sweet Doritos.

So aside from gorging on tasty Japanese snacks and drinking way too much coffee, I haven't done much food-wise. I've baked some bread twice for my partner, and if you know how to make a quickbread, that's what I did. If you don't, then just look on the internet - it's almost as easy as a box mix, I promise.

I have been watching a lot of YouTube vids on Thai food, so the urge to cook Thai food is strong. Perhaps one day soon... Regardless, I have seen a lot that I want to try making, so here's the easiest recipe I found on Facebook this week:

WENDY'S FROSTY TASTE-ALIKE:

• 1/2 gallon chocolate milk
• 14oz can of Eagle Brand milk
• 8oz tub of Cool Whip

Blend together until smooth, then place in freezer. This mixture should not solidify fully, but remain constantly at Frosty consistency!

That'll do it from me, guys!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC