Nexus

My Slay the Spire Board Game Kickstarter arrived today. It's gorgeous and I can't wait to play it.

Oh I have something to contribute to this thread now! Our new neighbours moved in about two months ago, and within three days had knocked up a temporary/flat pack studio out the back, a bit like an old portacabin classroom. Turns out it's a nail studio, and so the woman has been advertising on Facebook that her new studio is ** ***** *** (our road). This is very annoying for two main reasons: a) There's two lights, one on the outside (like a PIR but always on) which shines ridiculously brightly late at night, if they forget to turn it off, and a second an LED light inside the studio which is just annoying to look at. b) There are people coming and going all day, pinging off the ring doorbell, and more irritatingly parking in my!!! (non-assigned) space. Parking's pretty bad at the best of times, but it's rather annoying when on-road parking in front of my house is taken up by random cars. I don't want to go full "erm actually do you have permission to be running a nail studio out of your back yard", but it's just annoying that there was no real heads up about "btw we're going to be building this and so this is going to cause x y and z to happen" - just out of politeness if nothing else. What's funny is that one night one of their mates who was helping them inside the house did come round to tell us at 8pm he was drilling to fit a TV, which was a 30 second job, whereas the other, heavier work has had no warning. Still, it could be worse. They could have a flag outside.

Forest's management/whoever runs the twitter page are an embarrassment. The refereeing was shite but what is that statement going to achieve other than make them a further laughing stock.

Yeah, and I think that made it even more harrowing, knowing that the guy had gone through everything (or at least most) of what was happening.

Baby Reindeer is really tough to watch but it's incredibly well written and harrowing.

Yeah I finally learnt how to parry and it made life so much easier.

I've been playing it recently because I'd finished Spider-Man 2 and Elden Ring and couldn't settle on something else to play - I've taken to sticking a podcast on and doing side missions - not really paying much attention to what's going on, just enjoying bright colours and shooting people. I'll probably finish it but won't bother with the expansion, unless the Elden Ring DLC comes out before I finish it to distract me. I also finally beat two bosses on Bloodborne so that's motivating me a little bit more. It's much more indecipherable than Elden Ring was, but I like the aesthetic.

steamdeck build is quality

Fantastic fun, and it goes for quite a long time. However, I did then drop it when I finished the questline.

This came across on my Twitter today and I think it's a good summary of why anyone who says the word "woke" in a derogatory manner is a dickhead:

I'm also not being funny but when trans people have said "I would prefer it if you don't play this game," and the people saying "ah but she's not that involved" probably aren't trans people, I know which side I'm going to listen to. Doing the bare minimum isn't enough, but it is at least something. Staying in the centre and saying "ah well it'll be fine" is absolute bullshit, and I think you know it in your heart as well. Actively supporting JKR by buying a Harry Potter branded product is not staying in the centre - it's saying to trans people "yeah your lives matter to me but also wizard game goes pew pew and that's more fun"

Fuck JK Rowling and fuck Harry Potter tbh.

My wife has got us tickets to see that; looking forward to it.

Spin off from the strike thread, but do you have companies you boycott? Why? Any you've forgiven? I boycott three main things: Wetherspoons - don't care how cheap it is, don't care how filling it is, Tim Martin is a Brexit supporting cunt and from the day the vote came in, I vowed to never step foot in again. Brewdog - the sexual inappropriateness, toxic culture and now living wage nonsense is enough for me. Plenty of other decent IPA manufacturers who are yet to be cunts. Byron Burger - The immigration raid fake meeting - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/28/it-was-a-fake-meeting-byron-hamburgers-staff-on-immigration-raid. Go fuck yourselves, shitheads. I also tried (and failed) to boycott Blizzard due to Bobby Kotick and the general poor behaviour towards women, but I always get pulled back into the addiction of their video games - Diablo IV being the latest one.