schneefink

I had a busy week and then I got so distracted by MCCI fishing that I didn't even post about FIAB yet (nor read or commented as much as I wanted, or do Christmas shopping...)

I got two great gifts:
somewhere a clock is ticking by Odaigahara, Life Series SMP
10.9k, gen, Grian & Cleo & Etho, space AU
Summary:
Scar had sounded friendly, over the comm. Delighted to hear Grian’s voice, the longing of a terraformer who’d been stuck away from living planets for ages creeping into his tone. Wait, Grian, are you coming in person? Can’t you stretch your delivery window a little? We could always say there were asteroid beasts trying to eat us. Etho would back me up, and it’s not like they could extend our contracts–
If there’s asteroid beasts, I’m staying right in my pilot’s seat where I can flee them in style, Grian had retorted.
No, no, only good things here, Scar had protested, the reports of beasts have been greatly exaggerated, and you know, we have algae, we all like algae, we’re all about eating your greens–
Scar had aimed for Grian’s center of mass. His stunner had been set one level below lethal. If it had hit where he was aiming, Grian would’ve had worse heart palpitations than this, bordering on deadly. Trouble breathing.
Certainly trouble escaping.
Why I love it: The worldbuilding is very smart and cool, the action and tension work so well, the character voices are excellent, the mix of serious and banter is great, the writing is so good and so is the pacing, many feelings. (Do mind the "ambiguous ending" tag!)

How to tell if Etho likes you? Asking for a friend by alice_not_alice, Hermitcraft SMP
1.2k, Etho & Scar & ensemble, Hermitcraft season 10
Summary: “I have a question. Don’t ask me why I need to know, that knowledge lies beyond the realm of any mortal mind. My question…is this: how do you tell whether or not Etho likes you?”
Why I love it: This is very sweet and touching, so many of the answers and interactions were absolutely perfect, and the ending is great.

So it has been a very good FIAB for me. I got a very nice comment from my recip on one of my stories; not yet on the other work but I did get some comments from other people which helped me rein in my anxious impatience.


Plus, some recs for FIAB works not for me: ( 2x Hermitcraft, DSMP, 2x Star Wars, Naruto )


I don't really understand why I got so into MCCI fishing (but at least it happened to many people.) ( MCCI fishing )

I had an eight hour online course on cost accounting today, my brain is mush but I still need to pack for the short family trip this weekend. If not for that I would play some more Minecraft this evening but instead I thought I could finally post some more notes.

( schneefink plays Minecraft in Aurantia, ft. frogs, bees, deaths in the End, and early 1.21 with tuff bricks )

I also checked my time played stat for this world: over 14 days, i.e. 336 hours. I expected it to be more tbh, that's less time than I spent playing Hades (375 according to Steam.) I didn't spend nearly as much time in other worlds, so Minecraft might not actually be the game I've played the most – yet, most likely ^^


( SMPOfOurOwn )

I'm glad this week is almost over, I found it really hard to focus at work the past few days and I hope it'll be better next week somehow.

( schneefink plays Minecraft in Aurantia, ft. the End, turtle beach, and many illagers )

I'm definitely the explorer type of Minecraft player.

( schneefink explores Aurantia, ft. better maps, cherry blossoms, a Woodland Mansion, and trail ruins )


( Exploring SMPOfOurOwn )

No brain, only sometimes game.

Even though I got a Steam gift card for my birthday a while ago I haven't actually bought any games in months, both because I've been playing Minecraft almost exclusively and because I already have a huge backlog of unplayed games. But Afterimage, a game I backed on Kickstarter many months ago, finally released two weeks ago and so I checked out.

( Spoilers for the first 20 hours, so about a quarter/third of the game by my rough estimate )

To sum up, I'm enjoying it a lot so far; it's so large that the size is a bit intimidating and the pacing suffers a bit but it's pretty and movement and combat feel good, I look forward to getting back to it.


Before I started playing Afterimage and also sometimes in-between I have also been playing Minecraft.

( schneefink plays Minecraft in Aurantia )

I also played the April Fool's Voting update, that was such a cool concept. I got unlucky with the first votes: I turned many biomes different colors that I couldn't see, and other not very spectacular effects. Unfortunately I didn't have much time on that day and so I didn't try it out further, and I never even made it to the moon (made out of cheese! With cows! And moon bases!), I only admired it in other people's videos.

DD also persuaded me that I should get my own Minecraft skin instead of using the Alex default, but choices are hard and I have very little idea of what I even want. One day.

DD has been much more adventurous than me in general: she tried out One Block Skyblock for a bit and then started another new world. And recently she subbed in for someone else in the first session of a Last Life SMP: it was stressful and then she was also assigned boogeyman on top of that, but she started out with 5 lives and ended up with 4 lives, some alliances, several iron tools and armor pieces, and a secret base with sugarcane and two cows, so she did great.

New Minecraft snapshot: armor trims are coming in 1.20! Very cool. In so many patterns and colors! I've never tried creative mode yet but I think I will use it to try out different combinations before applying them since the patterns are rare finds – in practice it's going to be a matter of which ones I can find anyway. Duplicating the patterns is expensive, but I think it's fine because it's meant to be for late game and by this point you very likely have many diamonds anyway, and nothing to use them for because you can get any diamond tool or armor from villagers. I'll most likely try to upgrade my armor and tools to netherite before the 1.20 update, but I'm also thinking of postponing raiding the treasure bastion until I can get the new loot. (Unless I lose patience in the next few months, since I heard the most likely time for 1.20 to come out is sometime in June/July. But that's just for the treasure bastion, which I was keeping for later anyway; I'm definitely not waiting to explore an Ancient City if/once I finally find one.)


My own adventures: ( schneefink plays Minecraft )


I got a little distracted from my own world because DD came back home and this weekend we finally started to play on a server together! We called it SMPOfOurOwn :D
DD set it up on Minehut because apparently that's the best server for when you don't have a lot of requirements and/or many people, and for now there's just the two of us. (No plans to add other people rn but not ruling it out for the future.)

( SMPOfOurOwn )

45 hours of work in a 4-day-week *flops over* Tomorrow I'm leaving for three days to spend New Year's with some family members I haven't seen in over a year, I hope it'll be fun. The weather forecast is mixed and I don't know who exactly will be coming, but I'm sure at least the food will be good. Maybe I'll even have time to read the book I got for Christmas, we'll see. Hopefully I can catch up on sleep a little on the train.

Last Minecraft update of the year: ( I got wings. )

As a reward for passing my last exam I have the next, even bigger one in less than two weeks. I'm anxious as usual. Fortunately my bosses agreed to let me take a week of vacation to study for it, unfortunately that means this week is even more stressful than usual at the office. At least "I need to do some practice questions before I'm allowed to play more Minecraft" is currently a surprisingly effective motivator to study in the evenings.

( I have been playing quite a bit of Minecraft )