Today’s deck is the Kinner Tarot.
The decks in the past few days have gotten me like “I could’ve sworn I used this one”, but what I think happened is that because I moved where I stored them the ones at the bottom went to the top, so I’m using decks I’ve had for forever without testing.
This one is great. I’m a sucker for legibility, but I’m an even bigger sucker for this sort of longer card size. Not only does it give decks a more Cardcaptor Sakura tarot-y feel, but they’re just… more comfortable to use, really.
Today’s reading continues the pattern of “chill the fuck down, bitch” of the last few… days? weeks?
I tend to skip the more detailed specifics, but it’s usually not just “relax” but “relax about this very specific factor”. In this case today’s reading in more detail would be something like “there’s responsabilities out of your control and ambitions you cannot accomplish just now, but rest assured they’re being nurutured and will happen in due time.”
So yeah, “chill the fuck down, bitch”.
I woke up predictably sore.
Thankfully even when my life is at its slowest I remain active enough that the soreness is gone shortly after waking up.
Man, I remember the first time I went to a gym in high school, I was SO SORE I could barely move for like 3 days.
The day started thankfully uneventful otherwise.
I got a message from Prestia (the SMBC branch I tried out yesterday) asking me to clarify my name in the application. It was just that I just put one of my two last names, but in my defense I’m used to those forms throwing a shit fit if you add a space.
The speed with which they got back on that IS heartening, not gonna lie.
Buena Vista got added to Uma Musume and aside from melting into a gurgling puddle, I wrote a quick post for the Uma Musume blog.
It’s another one of those things that makes me resent the fact I’ve not been able to dedicate more time to it because of everything. I just feel so refreshed after writing those, like the mental equivalent of of a good exercise.
A bunch of dissociation later I go for a walk and notice my landlady calling me.
She wanted to confirm the desk and such left inside (they were there when I moved in so they weren’t exactly my things), wanted to confirm about the stuff I left outside for pickup (I explained I paid for it only and that’s why they don’t have oversized trash seals), and she told me I forgot to pick up the stuff inside the gas box (which I did legit forget).
She also told me the pipes weren’t in the best state because of a lack of use which… oops. I did go to the office just to turn on the faucets and flush the toilet for a while but even that went away as a habit.
A telemarketer from Osaka Gas called me offering wifi services. They didn’t even have the decency to get my name right, they called me Fernando (Middle name) Da.
Like, literally thought my name was somehow ending in Da because whatever form they had cut off there.
Ma’am if I was a Gurongi from hit show Kamen Rider Kuuga I’d be manning the line in the plot of the week to kill people instead of being the one being called.
They also gave me the “you can also pay via credit card, credit card is so convenient! why don’t you pay with credit card?” shpiel and as regulars of the blog know, that’s been another fight on my side and I was *this* close to being like “ma’am if you can convince my credit card provider to give me more than 30.000 yen of credit per month I will buy your bullshit here and now with all accesories included”.
It’s kinda like how I pass by the Docomo people trying to sell me a cellphone service and I just think about telling them “if your company can take my money despite only having a one year visa I’ll sign your contract here and now today”.
I went to get Yakisoba and while I was walking and such I was listening on my phone to someone completing… Amanda the Adventurer I think it was called?
Here’s a tangent I’ve been wondering about: The quality of a story based purely on the method of delivery.
Here’s what I mean: Whenever I hear secondhand the story of things like Obscured Lore games or ARGs, the stories always sound so… meh to me. By which I mean that putting the story on paper doesn’t sound like anything special, which is why the best videos breaking down those sorts of things actually engage in the process with which it was delivered instead of just stating what happened.
And that IS one element I do find always interesting as a narrative designer, when a story beat that’s run of the mill gets enhanced by the gameplay.
One of my favorite moments in games happens in Soul Sacrifice. You have a duel with your partner in the initial chapter, an inevitability that at first couldn’t come soon enough but then you dreaded as you grew closer together.
When things run out of HP in Soul Sacrifice you can Save them or Sacrifice them, this has a bunch of implications in gameplay but the core idea is that in one you heal and in the other you kill. So you fight against Sortiara, audibly lamenting that this is happening, she’s at your mercy… if you save her the fight resumes and she berates you for prolonging the suffering. So you defeat her again and hold the Sacrifice button.
Before anyone points out Metal Gear Solid 3, that implies I can stomach any Metal Gear not called Rising for more than 30 minutes. But yes it’s the same idea of you diagetically pulling the trigger on someone.
And while I will go to bat for Soul Sacrifice’s story in general, you get the idea: A plot beat that would be normal at best can be severely enhanced by the interactivity.
…which is why I can’t help but wonder how much of the investment/engagement with some of those “viral horror” type games comes from the fact that you find the bit of text in a more obscure manner.
You get what I mean, right? It’s not “the method of delivery is intrinsically a bad crutch”, more “you gotta wonder how much of the perceived quality comes from the specific delivery method”.
Pondering aside, I make it back and I go clear the stuff in the gas box of the old office. The “gas box” by the way is the closet right outside the apartment that has the gas meter (not the power meter, curiously) which is a welcome spot for cleaning supplies and such. I didn’t have anything important there aside from an old clothes iron, though.
By the way, fun fact: If you write Iron the appliance in Japanese it’s アイロン (Airon), BUT if you wanna write Iron the metal in katakana it is アイアン (Aian) instead.
In the end the day flew by fast… whether that’s good or not I haven’t decided yet.