Good morning, Readers!

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to Word on the Street in Toronto the weekend just past.

Word on the Street is a fantastic one day book festival.  It's been going on for a bit, but this was my first ever time attending.  I was there as part of the crew for Renaissance Press.

I'm sorry I didn't make a bigger announcement about it.  I was genuinely excited to go, but then, well, shingles.  I wasn't exactly sure I'd be able to go, and it all ended being horribly last minute.  I'm impressed I made it, to be honest.

Sunday in Toronto was hot as balls.

32 degrees Celsius, and the humidity was through the roof.  For someone like myself, who seems to be built for life at the glacial edge, it was hellish.  The minute I stepped out from my room-stay. I was assaulted by the heat.

The location of Word on the Street was gorgeous.  On the water at the Harbourfront Centre, there was a sea of white tents filled with books and bookish things.  This would have been my idea of heaven, but it was too hot to be that.

I was so, so, so impressed with the number of people who came out to look at books despite the awful heat.  It was really cool to see.  And there were friends who dropped by for a visit (Hi, Kris!), and friends I had only ever met online that I finally met in person (Hi, Rob!).  That was awesome.

I'm sorry I wasn't at my best.  It was too hot for me to function, and I was still in a bit of pain, and on medication, so, yeah, I was a little out of it.  It was awesome to see everyone, and chat with so many interesting people.

There's little else to note.  I didn't attend any of the panels.  I'll do it next time, I think.  I do want to go back.  Perhaps one day I'll get to go as a special guest.

A girl can dream.

Okay, I'm off to do more stuff today.  Fatigue is still very real, but I am getting better.

Good morning, Readers!

So, once again I vanished.  I'm sorry.  I have a legit reason.  And a doctor's note.

I had shingles.

That means nothing to anyone except those who have had it, I suspect.

It.

Was.

Awful.

It started Monday afternoon.  I had a small headache which grew and grew into an unbearable migraine by 3:00pm.  At the same time, my usual problems with my back were in full flare, with my lower back in such agony I could not find a position to sit, stand or lie down in.  That night, I found the first blister of a rash on my right side.

Still, hoping it wasn't the worst, I went to work on Tuesday.  I tried so hard to keep it together, but I was in so much pain, and no painkiller I took could touch it.  After Googling the symptoms, I realised that I probably had shingles.  I thought that it was, like chicken pox, just something you had to put up with until it passed.

Turns out, shingles can do lasting damage to your nerves, which it attacks, and, with the urging of the people I know (including my mum, who is a nurse), I called my doctor's office, and they saw me immediately after work.  Yep.  I had shingles.  I was prescribed an anti-viral, and told to spent as much time as possible in bed.  They even gave me a doctor's note.  On the bus ride home, I very nearly screamed for the pain.  Every bump or rattle of the bus sent shooting pains straight up my spine, with loci of sharp pain at my lower back, between my shoulder blades and up into my head.  It was awful.  I was shaking when I arrived home, and in too much pain to even cry.

The next three days are a haze of sleeplessness and pain.  I couldn't feel the rash pain for the nerve pain in my head and back.  I couldn't eat, choking down one meal a day, as I force-fed myself.  There was a lot of rocking, pacing, and muttering to myself.

Nothing helped.  The pain meds and sleep aid helped me sleep in half hour bursts, over a three hour period.  Pain would wake me every half hour, and at the end of the three hours after I took the medication, I was shit out of luck for about two hours, at which point I could dose myself again.

Sounds horribly dramatic recounting it now.  I promise, it really was this awful.

When Friday morning rolled around, I was certain I wouldn't be able to go to Toronto for Word on the Street to rep. my publisher.

Then things took a dramatic swing.  The nerve pain began to fade, and by Friday afternoon, I was much more myself.  I could eat without having to force myself, though I still couldn't eat much, and I could look out the window without wanting to stab my eyes out (apparently, photo-sensitivity is a symptom).  So I made a snap decision to honour my commitment to Renaissance, and head to Toronto Saturday evening.

I had planned to stay with my brother and his flatmate to save money (I would never be able to go if I had to pay for a hotel), but neither he nor his flatmate have ever had chicken pox.  I really didn't want to make either ill, and so resigned myself to not being able to go after all... until my brother very kindly offered to make up for not being able to accommodate me with paying for a hotel.

That's another saga.  With so much going on in Toronto, including the Invictus Games, it was impossible to find a room at a reasonable price.  Until I found a room-stay for less than two hundred for the entire stay (two nights), which was about an hour walk from the Harbourfront Centre.  Since I regularly walk an hour to work every morning, I figured that was a pretty reasonable distance.

So, I got to go to Toronto and Word on the Street after all.  More on that tomorrow.

By yesterday, the nerve pain had pretty much vanished.  It's a little of a double-edged sword, as now I can feel the pain of the rash.  Still, I would take that pain over the nerve pain any day.

Interesting (for me), and possibly TMI, the parts of the rash that are on my back are less rash and more short bars of blisters.  It looks like the blisters you get from a severe burn; as if someone took a hot poker and branded me in two spots.  The rest of it looks much more like a rash.  Also interesting (for me), the blisters on my back are pain-free.  Not so much on the side and front.

So... yeah... That's why I've been absent.  Sorry!

I want to thank my friends who offered their support and their time.  And most of all, dropped by with care baskets; food and other things to help with the pain.  I honestly have the best people on my side, and I'm so, so, so fortunate for having you in my life.  You genuinely made me feel loved when I was really struggling.  It means the world to me.  Thanks so much.

Now, I'm off to try and get back to my schedule.  I'm still fatigued, but I'm definitely getting better now.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

My god-daughter is now a level one human!

Why the dragon image?  No, it's not just my obsession with Skyrim.  Our level one human is also a dragon.  No, that's not her astrological sign.  Just trust me on this.

In any case, baby dragon/person is now a whole year old today.

She is the brightest, funniest, sweetest little bub I know.  Even when she's being difficult, she's cute.  I'm so impressed with what a darling she is, and the fantastic job her parents are doing.

There isn't much else to add, but to wish my lovely god-daughter a wonderful day.  If I were a fairy, I supposed I'd also confer a blessing.  It strikes me, though, that she's unlikely to need that.

Right, I have to go and do things today.

​Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

Last night, Dad and I went out to the flicks and watched The Hitman's Bodyguard.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

Let us review!

I genuinely loved it.  It was funny, silly, and thrilling - precisely what I want from an action comedy.  Additionally, and thankfully, the fight and chase scenes were exceptional.  The first meeting between the hitman and his bodyguard was fantastic.  That fight was one of the highlights of the film, honestly.

In short, this is a great movie to watch if you want to relax and just have some fun.

The acting in this film was exceptional.  Ryan Reynolds (Agent Bryce) and Samuel L. Jackson (Kincaid) are fantastic in their roles as bodyguard and hitman respectively.  They contrasted brilliantly.  Bryce is all about rules, about getting the job done with as few hiccoughs as possible, everything in its proper place.  Kincaid, in contrast, is the very definition of gleeful chaos.  He just "does his thing."  Adaptable and quick-thinking, rules simply don't exist to him.  Naturally, this provides some personality conflict over and above the major character conflict (Kincaid was responsible for a lot of trouble for Bryce prior to their actual meeting).  It makes for some really great comedy.

Predictably, of course, their relationship blossoms into one of friendship by the end, with Kincaid helping Bryce with his love life.

I have to say, however, that Selma Hayek stole the show with her portrayal as Kincaid's wife.  With comparatively little screen time, her scenes were some of the funniest in the film.  There is just something about the way she cussed in Spanish that was genuinely fantastic.  Her scenes still make me smile.

Admittedly, the story is predictable.  It would be utterly boring if the action and acting were not so damned fantastic.  There are great chase scenes, many explosions, and the fight scenes are brilliant.

There is very little profundity in the film, as one might expect, but that does make the small moments in which it appears all that more profound.  One such moment is during the ferry ride across the channel.  There is a frank discussion about the ideology behind the choices of the other, both men believing themselves to be the good guys.  Any reasonable person can see both sides, and it does actually make you stop and think.

Leading on from that, the appearance of Kincaid in court also has a moment of poignancy, though it's delivered so casually I don't doubt that it'd be easy to miss if you're not paying attention.

These heavier moments provide a nice change of pace from the usual hilarity and action.  I liked their inclusion.  I liked it even more so because it didn't bring the movie down at all.  The film remained light, dumb fun.

A game review from the unique perspective of a total newbie gamer whose only just started to indulge a life long love of video games, who also happens to be an adult(ish) woman.

Last night during my live stream, I finished the first Assassin's Creed game I've ever played.  I really enjoyed it, though there are some things that I enjoyed a little less.  I'll get to that.  Shall we begin?

Warning: Spoilers. Duh.

Ubisoft did a great job here.  Arno looked like a real person, moved like a real person, and, wonderfully, his movements felt grounded in actual physics.  Watching him leap across buildings and scale walls was entertaining and, importantly, it looked like there was weight to him and effort required to haul that weight across the rooftops of Paris.

You first meet Arno the Assassin as a child, and then, after the brief prologue, again as a young man wildly in love with his care-taker's daughter.  At this stage, Arno is a careless brat and, to be perfectly honest, I didn't much sympathise with him.  I'm expected that such was the intent of the writers.

As the game progresses, however, Arno matures.  While he doesn't lose his brashness, his motives and actions make him much more of an appealing protagonist.  I didn't get so deep into the game that I grew attached the way I did with The Last of Us.  Part of that was that I'm not really a huge fan of love stories.  The other aspect was I feel like Ubisoft didn't go deep enough into Arno's character and how the horrifically violent and uncertain world in which he lives affects him.  A lot of shit goes down, but none of it really seem to affect Arno much in any way.  I'll discuss that later.

As for physical design, Arno is great.

Also, can I just say, there is something about the Assassin's hood that makes a character infinitely more attractive.  I've noticed it for all the images of the various Assassins I've seen, but it was especially pronounced for Arno.

*Not actually my fetish.

Arno's love interest is similarly well designed.

I also appreciate that she looks like a real person.  She's beautiful, of course, but her figure is realistic.  Her legs aren't stick thin and her waist looks like it could actually support her torso.  You'd be surprise how many female characters in video games don't have that particular feature.

The design of secondary characters is similarly realistic.  Not all of them are stunningly gorgeous (I suppose, it wouldn't do to have prettier people in game than Arno and Elise).  The use of historical characters is fantastic, and I feel that a great deal of attention was paid to the dress and the people living in revolutionary France.

Assassin's Creed Unity is, at its heart, a tragic love story in the vein of Romeo and Juliette.  Star crossed lovers,—a Templar and an Assassin.  Of course it had to be.  It was set in the city of love, after all.  I found it difficult to fall into this story, as I've mentioned.  And it's not just because it's a love story.  Part of the problem was how lightly the writers tread around the events in Arno's life.

Nothing seemed to phase him.  Sure, Monsieur de la Serre's death put Arno on the path of the Brotherhood, but that's pretty much as far as Arno's psychological development goes.

I know I'm asking a lot from a video game, but if I'm watching (or playing) a tragedy unfold, I want it to punch me in the gut.  I want to feel something.  I didn't really, with this game.  Superficially, sure.  But I didn't feel it in my bones.

And it is possible.  The Last of Us left me in tears several times.

I need to feel that hit of emotion.  If it's a tragedy, make it tragic!

The game hit the mark during the prologue, when young Arno arrives to see his father dead on the ground.  But it failed to hit hard in every instance after.  There was plenty of opportunity for it.  The depth of Monsieur's de la Serre's murder was lost on Arno.  In game, it seemed he was more cut up about Elise than the fact that the man who raised him, whom he loved (?) was murdered.  The murder of a second father in Arno's life should've hurt more than it appeared to.

This is also true when Arno kills the man who guided him through his training in the Brotherhood.  It should have hurt Arno more to have to kill him, even after the fact, than it appeared to.  That's three father figures gone, one at his own hands, and it didn't seem to affect him one iota.  I would have loved to have seen more fallout from everything that happened.  It would have made the love Arno felt for Elise, and his desire to make things right, and the understanding that he'd do anything to avoid losing her too, and thus her loss so much stronger.

I did love, however, how well Arno and Elise contrasted.  They were after the same goal, but for very different reasons.  Elise wanted revenge, and in the end, it killed her.  Arno wanted to make things right.  He felt a personal responsibility for the things that happened, and he wanted to fix it.  There was no cost too great for Elise.  There was for Arno.  Ironically, it's a price he ended up paying all the same.

I loved that.  That's good storytelling.

It seems that I'm in the minority in this regard.  I have visited forums that were furious at Ubisoft for killing Elise.  She is, after all, the only Templar they really like. I personally think they make the right call there.  It's something I'd probably do.

Ahem.

I also really loved how they made things morally grey.  Elise and her father are Templars.  But they're not evil people.  They're actually quite exceptional.  Monsieur de la Serre is active in the revolution, fighting for the rights of the third estate.  He's genuinely good, as is his daughter, despite her thirst for revenge.

Not all the Assassin's are paragons.  Some take to killing their own for misguided reasons.  The council is ridiculous, as well.

With great relief, I'm pleased to report that Elise de la Serre is not the only badass in Assassin's Creed Unity.  Drawing from real history, you meet Theroigne de Mericourt, and actual historical badass.  She's smart, tough, and a leader.  While it's true that she's one of the few women in the game with any real part to play, never once did I feel that the women in game were mere props.  Even the prostitutes that populated France in game were not mere props (and one of them had my favourite line in the whole damned game.  When recruited for the women's army, she says "Just a different kind of grunt work."  It made me laugh.  I appreciated it).

They were also diverse in appearance and attitudes.  Elise was hell bent on revenge.  Theroigne was hell bent on improving the lives of women, trying to use the revolution to benefit her gender as well.  There were Templar women who organised and executed the starvation of the people of France.  There were female assassin's, not that you got to play as one (grumble), and women in the groups that roamed the streets keeping people safe from the gangs.

The range of women and how they behaved made me feel that women were characters not caricatures in this game.  And that was nice to experience.

It was great, for the most part.

It was really satisfying to run over the roofs of Paris and have it feel like the character wasn't superhuman for doing so.

The missions were challenging, as my death count will surely attest, but not impossible.  It was fun to try and sneak around for things.  It was far more fun to successfully assassinate people in the course of a mission.  I will likely play this game again and challenge myself to not be spotted even once during my missions.

​The small crowd events were fantastic.  It probably doesn't speak well of me as a person, but there is something insanely fun about slitting some arsehole's throat as you sprint past on your way to something more important.

I did have a lot of issues with the controls, though.  Much of that can be chalked up to the fact that I'm terrible at games, but there was a lot there that wasn't just me; instances in which Arno would not jump, jumped the wrong way, or the camera did something crazy while I was in the middle of a sword fight and I could no longer see.  Sometimes enemies would freeze and be untouchable for several swings of my sword, and then they'd spring to life and hurt me.  It was sometimes really frustrating.

Glitches abound, too.  Some of them were funny.  Some of them drove me mad.

It is a credit to the game play, however, in that it never got so frustrating that I didn't want to finish the game.  There was too much fun to be had, and what irritated me wasn't enough to ruin the game.

Also, I really loved the amount of research that clearly went into it.  You could visit places that exist or existed, and there would even be wonderful little write ups about people, places and events from history that you could read up on in game.  My nerdy little heart was so happy with that.

And the CoOp was awesome!  I don't play coop with people I don't know, so my friend PY lent his time to play it with me, and it was great.  One, he's great fun to game with, two, the coop missions were fun to play.  I hope there are more coop opportunities in later Assassin's Creed games!

I genuinely really liked this game.  While I wish the story could have been more impactful - there was so much potential for it - it was an incredibly fun run through the chaos and mayhem that was the French revolution.

I will definitely be replaying this one in my spare time.

Good morning, Readers!

I would like to apologise for my absence.  I was on holidays for the past week and a bit, and completely neglected to schedule posts for while I was away.  I just didn't think about it.  I'm sorry.

And, if I'm honest, I was a little busy adventuring to worry about it.  I took a portal to another world, became a wood elf, and discovered that I had dragon blood.  Now I must use what talents this blood gives me to save the world.  And this world is a mess, let me tell you.

There's a bloody civil conflict happening between those who wish to live independently, and the empire, which struggling to keep the whole thing from collapsing on itself.  Behind all the conflict, I suspect, is the Aldmeri Dominion; a bunch of high elves who deserve a good thrashing, if you ask me.  And then, if that wasn't bad enough, dragons are returning, killing people indiscriminately.  These bastards are scary AF.

Not as scary as trolls, though, I have discovered.  Those suckers are tough and very aggressive.  And they have about as many eyes as some spiders, so there's that.

For those of you who haven't guessed, I was busy playing Skyrim.  I am poor (boo-hoo, right?) and couldn't actually afford to go anywhere for my holidays.  I could afford, however, Skyrim on the PS4.  It was on sale, and since streaming on the PS4 is so much easier than via the system I have set up for my Xbox 360, I decided I would get it.

And so, I holidayed in the stunning virtual world that is Skyrim.  I've done well for myself there, I should note.  I am a thane in two holds, I have two homes (one of which I built myself), and adopted a lovely little girl called Lucia.  I can "adventurer" better than I can adult, apparently.

Anyway, I've been loving it.  I streamed almost every day I was on holidays, and it was great.  It's my first day back at the usual grind, and I already miss Skyrim.  Now, instead of playing every day, I'll only be able to play on the Saturday afternoons my schedule allows.

I am undecided about whether or not I should transfer these streams to YouTube.  Twitch only has each stream up for a fortnight, so they'll be lost if I don't.  Also, I'm not sure if I should start a Patreon or some kind of tipping service for my streams and use continued access to the streams as a perk or something.  I don't expect to make any money, but the potential is there.  Just some things I'm tossing around in my skull right now.

But I should stop here.  I've been away for a while now, and there is a lot of administrative catching up to do, as well as getting back to Welsh lessons.  So, I'll leave you here, and continue to pine for Skyrim as I get back to real life.

​Ciao!