It’s hard to believe that this is the final week of August, and that September is just around the corner. I’m really enjoying writing these weeknotes, though! Given that time passes so quickly the older I get, it’ll be nice to have this record to return to once the weeks start blending into an indistinct mush.
Life, the Universe, and Everything
- We finally got our turn with the heatwave this week… I retract everything I said in my first weeknote – you’re welcome to have the heat and humidity back now, rest of the world. Feel free to hand it over again once we install a heat pump!
- Spent more time wandering around the backyard with the elder catto, and wrote a brief blog post about this new favourite pastime of ours (in case you missed it).
- Strengthened my resolve to #BuyCanadian again after the Bloviator in Chief did everything he could to distract us from his pointless war with Iran, his involvement with Epstein, his blatant manipulation of the stock market, his wasteful spending on the Reflecting Pool, and his continued failure to meet the bare minimum requirements of leading a democratic country.
- I started my boycott of U.S. products back when the Bloviator in Chief first threatened to annex my country as a “joke.” Slipped up a little during the intervening months (it’s hard not to, as our economies are so closely intertwined), but his latest anti-Canadian rhetoric served as a good reminder of why it’s important to buy local whenever possible.
Around the Small Web
- I almost missed this, but public voting for the Tiny Awards Site of the Year is still open. Check out the finalists, and don’t forget to cast your vote!
- My personal favourite would have to be Cursor Camp. I spent about an hour yesterday just batting a volleyball back and forth with some visitors from China. It was great fun. 🙂
Shows I Watched
- My husband and I blasted through the final season of Succession this week. It was excellent, as expected.
- As much as I will miss watching the show, I do think it ended at precisely the right time. Far too many television shows drag on long past their sell-by date.
- The entire cast was brilliant, but I have to give props to Kieran Culkin in particular for the final season; his performance during the penultimate episode was heartbreaking.
Books I Read
- Still making my way through Real Tigers by Mick Herron.
- Progress is slow, so far, but that is par for the course these days when it comes to me and reading. I tend to do most of my reading before I go to sleep, and since I’m usually exhausted by the time I go to bed, I only make it through a few pages before I’m nodding off.
- Reminder to self: you can read during the day as well, you know…
Games I Played
- Started playing (and almost finished) Alan Wake 2.
- Talk about a 180! Alan Wake 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of the first game in pretty much every regard.
- Gameplay is significantly better and feels really good on my PS5 Pro in both Performance mode and Balanced mode. I guess Alan didn’t skip any cardio days during his thirteen years in the Dark Place, because he doesn’t run out of steam after two seconds anymore…
- The storytelling is insane, and I love how it links up with Control (which is one of my all-time favourite games).
- Saga was a fantastic character, and I loved entering her “Mind Place” to work on the case.
- Holy shit, the “We Sing” musical chapter! So campy! So fun! Here’s a good write-up about the sequence.
- My only quibble is that the mechanics to trigger the path forward during Alan’s chapters are way too confusing. I needed a walkthrough for all of them.
- I couldn’t recommend the first game at all, but I can wholeheartedly recommend the second – even if you haven’t played the first.
- Talk about a 180! Alan Wake 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of the first game in pretty much every regard.
- Haven’t started it yet, but I did pick up S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 this week.
- My husband was talking recently about wanting to play something like Fallout again, but he didn’t know if he could stomach Fallout 3 or 4 after playing them both to death. I knew S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was on sale, so I figured it might sate his craving for a post-apocalyptic FPS.
- He’s really enjoying it so far on our XBOX Series X, and says it’s definitely scratching his Fallout itch! I’ll give it a go once he’s done with it.