jeff

You say true, I say thank ya

"The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla" by Stephen King was great. There was only one flashback section I was kinda droning through. I like how King keeps the world so mystical even though it's parallel and familiar to ours. I also enjoyed the build up to the climax more than the climax itself.

The Dark Tower series is my favorite isekai

I finished the audiobook by Jenny Han. It's carried by Lola Tung's narration. Her voice is so good at conveying that nostalgic romanticism, despite the book being meh otherwise.

The show improved on basically everything, like this was Han's original vision.

Okay I am OBSESSED with "The Summer I Turned Pretty." I love an earnest romance show. It's nostalgic and fantastical like a good romance anime, but with the most impressive naturalist acting. The foreshadowing and payoffs from season 1 to 3 are impeccable.

Ultima from FFXVI: Such foul attaint may not be sublimed through gainstanding.

Holy shit, what an awful game. The villain keeps yapping in full monotone about the most insane drivel.

The only reason I ended up finishing it is because I got covid, so my in-laws were taking care of Robin for the week.

I'm about to drop this awful game. I can't handle any more walking from cutscene to cutscene.

Ultima goatse-ing a portal into Clive's dimension or something, from Final Fantasy 16

Final Fantasy XVI is so bad. It's like a low-budget GoT fanfic except worse because all the sex and violence is implied/off-screen. Cid just died, and I literally don't care. Ultima did pull a goatse, though, so at least there's that.

There's someone at work who'll walk their dog, and rather than enjoy that time in nature or having fun with the dog, they'll dictate to ChatGPT to spitball ideas and then pitch those in meetings. Psycho behavior tbqh.

I haven't gamed on my desktop in 8 months. Guess I'm a gaming laptop guy for reals now. The only thing I don't like are the loud fans.

The next generation of AMD's mobile X3D chips and node process improvements for GPUs has me excited for 2026.

My rogue at paragon level 292, which is 72% of the way to paragon 300. This will add to paragon 300 when combined with my characters on the eternal realm.

Why the hell did I subject myself to this grind lol... 292 is 72% of the way to 300 in terms of culumative XP. Luckily, when season 10 starts, my character will roll over and combine XP to reach 300 in the eternal realm.

I understand why Diablo 4 has the dad game reputation now. I literally don't have time to participate in dungeons/fractals or meta-events that take uninterrupted time anymore, whereas I can usually grind the Pit for paragon levels while the baby naps and stop at any time.

I'm trying to get back into Guild Wars 2, but it always feels like MMOs need to much setup to get to the fun parts, whereas ARPGs I can get to the combat right away. Dunno how much longer I'll give it.

Brian on a clouded sunset background with the text "the crushing weight of two extremely manageable tasks at once"

Update: I've had "Golden" on repeat for the past week.

season 9 journey completed on 7/11/2025

50 hours played to complete season 9 journey

Death Trap Rogue is still fun af. Even though I've had no luck with mythic uniques, I still kill all bosses in seconds with the "mid-game" build. Yeah, I can optimize more, but it doesn't feel obligatory, unless I want to pit push. Overall, progression and pacing is perfect for solo self-found.

pit 55 completed, unlocking torment 4

29 hours played to unlock torment 4

Fun fact: as soon as your child is delivered, the hospital requires all fathers to install Diablo 4.

Season 9 was a massive course correction from 8's complete garbage. Nightmare dungeons + escalations being more rewarding means I have plentiful mats for upgrading.

Also I can't believe they got the dude from the K-drama Iris as Gwi-Ma.

KPop Demon Hunters was cool and had a lot of great songs.

I know it's not that kind of movie, but I still had so many questions about the (lack of) world building.

Rumi's mom or dad was a demon, which isn't explained, and then they just delete every demon?

Visiting the suburbs is wild. You're telling me I have to drive my 2-ton metal box over 3 miles for good coffee? And people do this regularly and willingly?

In the cafe line, a coworker randomly asked me where my parents were from. When I said Cambodia, he asked if that means they really came from China, and I'm like... Sure, in the same way all humans came from Africa?

Why does @bsky.app keep signing me out and then not autofill my password? Hello???

I've resorted to using the PWA at this point

Yeah literally makes no sense

Goose squinting and chasing person

How are they able to confidently spot problematic underage anime character art I wonder 🤔

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is so funny bc they introduce a multiverse, but literally nothing changed. I do like how unhinged Cloud is at the end. Everyone is sad af, and he's f-ing smiling and talking to himself like a crazy person.

Anyway, it's a bad, bloated game with 40 hrs of pointless filler.

I arrived at Cosmo Canyon in Rebirth, and I didn't realize/remember that Red XIII is called that because he's actually 13 years old lmao

Every RPG should come with a literacy test because how tf did I make it to chapter 7 of FF7 Rebirth before realizing inactive party members still gain materia AP?

Ending was good/fitting, but I had to 1.5x the second half

Watching season 5 of "You," and it's crazy how every scene is 2-3 people with zero extras. It feels so fake.

the hold pattern doesn't really bother me because you aren't doing *that* often in e33. the real annoyance i have with their interface is trying to find out wtf i'm actually highlighting. the readability outside of battle is pretty garbage.