Day in the Life 13618, Minecraft Woes, Bathroom Wasps, and The Scary Little Girl Thing

BLOT: (11 Sep 2014 - 08:01:49 AM)

Day in the Life 13618, Minecraft Woes, Bathroom Wasps, and The Scary Little Girl Thing

Since it hasn't been confirmed, I won't link to it or anything, but the news came out yesterday that Microsoft was in talks to buy Mojang for two billion dollars. Since it is not confirmed, there are no details about what the talks would entail, but since no one from Mojang, a general public and vocal company, has said anything, this means it seems likely that whatever they are doing requires at least an NDA.

I don't blog a lot about Minecraft, but it really is a life-changing game for me. I've put in hundreds of hours, probably nearing a good thousand hours, into playing it across a half-dozen worlds this past four or five years. Partially, that is from me playing podcasts and audiobooks and Big Finish audioplays and going for hours of building or digging or mining or terraforming and listening to content. Partially it is because it is a game that my wife and I play together and we'll get on and do four or five hours of mindless stuff and just hang out. While I do play other games, Minecraft is my go-to game, and the one that I look forward to playing years from now.

I'm not sure what will happen after this, but I should theoretically be able to do something like keep the current jar and files and just play it offline indefinitely. I'll keep my eye out for solutions to do this, if needed. Or this might be all for nothing. Even a buy out might leave the original Minecraft team mostly in place. C'est la vie and we'll see.

On to real life woes, Sarah's bathroom (technically the master bath and I use the hall bath which is also our guest bath) got infested with wasps as they got into the vents. Occasionally an angry wasp would fly down from the vent fixture and dive-bomb into the wall. We called it in, and I think we managed to get most of them out, but even still. It will probably be weeks before she feels comfortable showering without freaking out at every little buzz. It's the kind of thing that seems kind of funny until you spend any length of time thinking about it.

One of the modern horrors of civilization is coming to grips with the idea that right behind our facade of painted walls and picket fences are the same vermin that came before us, living in hives and warrens, getting ever better at staying out of sight. Right now, behind the dry wall of my study, how many clowns live, slithering up and down the cracks, with their horrid red noses and their oversized feet? The mind boggles.

As something of a cheer up for these two woes, we went out and got some bagels and then walked around a couple of costume stores shopping for masks. Most of the masks I like, the old school Venetian style, work alright on my face but those slightly modern variations like the solid-white-face masks are too small. I will probably have to make my own. The latex ones fit, but latex masks aren't my style. Early days yet, so we have time to keep shopping around. I want a plague doctor mask and I want a Venetian raven mask, and I think we've found me one of the latter. The former is what I may have to make for myself.

The highlight, though, was this scary little girl thing that when you activate her, she crouches down and goes, "Mommy...help me...Mommy..." and then after a random amount of time flies up and screeches and then slowly drifts back down. The first time I was looking at it, I was all, "I love her...that's amazing..." and then I realized what was about to happen because I saw the legs start to spring, but Sarah was talking and not paying as much attention and when it came up, she screamed and jumped back and flushed in the face. From that point on, she wouldn't get near any of the other displays, just in case. So...um, maybe we won't be taking her to an hardcore haunted house this Halloween.

And while I don't have footage of that first authentic jump, I do have some footage of the display because I kind of want one. Sarah is standing nearby, so you have a little teaser of what her more legit reaction was. The sound and video quality sucks, but you can get the gist from this video:

Oh, and completely unrelated to everything except it happened yesterday: I got to teach what I think is the first ever library instruction session in a philosophy class, yesterday. I think I did ok. Some of us philosophy sorts can be reticent to go through actual research, but I think it's good for us. Hopefully I helped a few.

Until next time!

Me in 2014