Sledgstone

I'm stepping up my manscaping. lol. I bought a "MANGROOMER Ultimate Pro Back Shaver" off amazon. I've only used it once and I already highly recommend it. My back is like a wookie.  And this thing shredded through all that hair and didn't pull a single one. No pain and no red marks or irritation on my back. Link for reference:

https://www.amazon.com/MANGROOMER-Ultimate-Shaver-Absorber-Extreme/dp/B00FULYKG4

Its got a rechargeable battery. I was really impressed with it. I'd post before and after pics of my back, but I don't want to traumatize people with my back hair bathroom mirror pics.

I've never been so happy to get a haircut in my life. Barber shops were allowed to open up today. I guess knowing there would be an overflow of people, there are no walk ins, only same day appointments. I was able to call and get one in. When I got there they had to disconnect the phone because it would not stop ringing and they just couldn't cut hair and keep taking new appointments nonstop at the same time.

I finally finished iZombie after starting and dropping it a couple times over the years. Its all on Netflix and it was an enjoyable show. It came out during the height of the zombie craze thanks to TWD, but its nothing like a traditional zombie show whatsoever. Its basically a lighthearted police show reminiscent of Psych or Castle, but instead of a psychic or book author helping the police detective solve crimes, its the police morticians, mostly Liv, who ends up becoming a zombie in the first episode. But as long as she eats brains, she stays a mostly normal functioning human. As she eats brains she sees memories of the deceased and she basically poses as a psychic for the first season or so.. and then it gets very good as the zombie virus starts spreading as the series progresses.

Its an enjoyable show and only 5 seasons long so its an easy watch. The writing and acting is good and although alot of episodes are standalone, it does have an ongoing plot line for each season leading up to major developments thoroughout the entire series.

Since I'm on my weekend atm from the new job (after 6 days of hell, fuck this essential business shit people be crazy) I decided to watch the new Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 that was put up on Netflix last Thursday. Note that this is only half of what we're supposed to get so my opinions are only reflective of that and they may change come the release of the final 12 episodes. With that in mind lets begin.

As most of you know I'm a huge fan of the GitS franchise ever since I saw the first movie over 15 years ago and have since seen and read everything released since then with the exception of side stories never released in the US (and own all of that as well) so my opinions on this are coming from a long-time obsessive fan so please keep that in mind. Also I will refrain from divulging any spoilers as you'll probably watch this anyway when you get a chance (please note its in Japanese only with English subtitles due to the "rona").

Quite honestly I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this as a whole. On one end it's not bad I might go as far as saying it's pretty good for a cyberpunk show but this is not GitS and this is not SAC for me. Hell I never thought I'd say it but Arise is a lot better then this and I have way to many gripes about that show to even begin. At least Arise felt like a GitS show and story even if it was blandly done with some pretty bad writing (the Arise movie was grade A GitS though, I definitely suggest watching that).

My major gripe is they explain nothing of what happened in the 11 year time span between Solid State Society and this, nothing. They go over world developments and why things are the way they are but they in no way explain major plot elements behind why the Major and her crew are in the US (2045 starts out in the US, not a real big spoiler), they vaguely explain the main premise driving the plot forward from that point (a point that does not seem very GitS like to me), why certain characters are no longer seen or heard from (until later in the 12 eps), and just all around weirdness that is this post Solid State Society world. It's aggravating because the way things were left at the end of SSS you would of thought we'd be getting another procedural GitS season driven forward by strong character driven episodes and interesting plot lines, instead we're left with boring long winded arcs that get nowhere (and maybe 2 enjoyable episodes not part of the overall plot) and in the end we're left with a major cliff hanger at the end. It's aggravating honestly and it seems more like this season was made to pander more to western audiences with short attention spans instead of the original core fanbase (sorry, venting a little. I felt very betrayed by this). Like I said though if this was non-GitS related I'd say it was a good show if not a little pandering.

Music wise (yes I'm a huge fan of the SAC soundtrack, there's a reason I own all 4 soundtracks) I was utterly disappointed. Yoko Kanno is nowhere to be found here and it's extremely noticeable but it's to be expected as she's mostly retired from the industry. This left a sour taste in my mouth since, as I noted above, I'm a huge fan of the SAC soundtrack and it was one of the major reasons I enjoyed the first two seasons so much. Don't even get me started on the OP, not my cup of tea and certainly not something I'd associate with GitS (though I do like the ED).

Animation wise I can't stand the full CGI or the character redesigns. This felt way to much like I was watching cutscenes from a game 10 years ago. Not to say the CG isn't crisp or anything it's very well done and the fight scenes are a joy to watch. Sadly this isn't Pixar level CGI and it shows. Maybe I'm bitter because they went full CGI instead of the traditional/CG blend they did with SAC and 2nd Gig but I found this to be way more off putting than I thought it would be. Plus the Major's redesign makes her look like a 14 year old teenager and that's just not my jam (where's my hot, sophisticated badass woman?).

Thankfully the characters are the same and that was a joy to behold. Watching them interact with each other was extremely enjoyable and I'm happy to see they weren't changed one bit (this goes for the Tachikoma's as well so if you found them annoying they're still going to be annoying (I, personally, love the adorable little trouble makers)). The new characters are just as enjoyable and I just love Purin, she's beyond adorable with her little crush on Batou.

All in all like I said above I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the show. Part of me wants to destroy all the masters and make everyone forget this and the other part of me just thinks it's a below average GitS that just so happens to be somewhat enjoyable. Granted we're only 12 episodes in and my opinion might change once we get the last 12 episodes (did they ever announce when that'd be?) but those are my current thoughts on the show. If I had to give it a rating out of 10 it'd mostly likely be a 6 (which pains me to do considering how generous I was with Arise). Do I suggest watching it? Honestly that's for you to decide. I gave my honest thoughts so take them how you will though but if you are a major fan of the GitS franchise don't get your hopes up to much (then again maybe this is to your liking).

I finally finished iZombie after starting and dropping it a couple times over the years. Its all on Netflix and it was an enjoyable show. It came out during the height of the zombie craze thanks to TWD, but its nothing like a traditional zombie show whatsoever. Its basically a lighthearted police show reminiscent of Psych or Castle, but instead of a psychic or book author helping the police detective solve crimes, its the police morticians, mostly Liv, who ends up becoming a zombie in the first episode. But as long as she eats brains, she stays a mostly normal functioning human. As she eats brains she sees memories of the deceased and she basically poses as a psychic for the first season or so.. and then it gets very good as the zombie virus starts spreading as the series progresses.

Its an enjoyable show and only 5 seasons long so its an easy watch. The writing and acting is good and although alot of episodes are standalone, it does have an ongoing plot line for each season leading up to major developments thoroughout the entire series.

Since I'm on my weekend atm from the new job (after 6 days of hell, fuck this essential business shit people be crazy) I decided to watch the new Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 that was put up on Netflix last Thursday. Note that this is only half of what we're supposed to get so my opinions are only reflective of that and they may change come the release of the final 12 episodes. With that in mind lets begin.

As most of you know I'm a huge fan of the GitS franchise ever since I saw the first movie over 15 years ago and have since seen and read everything released since then with the exception of side stories never released in the US (and own all of that as well) so my opinions on this are coming from a long-time obsessive fan so please keep that in mind. Also I will refrain from divulging any spoilers as you'll probably watch this anyway when you get a chance (please note its in Japanese only with English subtitles due to the "rona").

Quite honestly I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this as a whole. On one end it's not bad I might go as far as saying it's pretty good for a cyberpunk show but this is not GitS and this is not SAC for me. Hell I never thought I'd say it but Arise is a lot better then this and I have way to many gripes about that show to even begin. At least Arise felt like a GitS show and story even if it was blandly done with some pretty bad writing (the Arise movie was grade A GitS though, I definitely suggest watching that).

My major gripe is they explain nothing of what happened in the 11 year time span between Solid State Society and this, nothing. They go over world developments and why things are the way they are but they in no way explain major plot elements behind why the Major and her crew are in the US (2045 starts out in the US, not a real big spoiler), they vaguely explain the main premise driving the plot forward from that point (a point that does not seem very GitS like to me), why certain characters are no longer seen or heard from (until later in the 12 eps), and just all around weirdness that is this post Solid State Society world. It's aggravating because the way things were left at the end of SSS you would of thought we'd be getting another procedural GitS season driven forward by strong character driven episodes and interesting plot lines, instead we're left with boring long winded arcs that get nowhere (and maybe 2 enjoyable episodes not part of the overall plot) and in the end we're left with a major cliff hanger at the end. It's aggravating honestly and it seems more like this season was made to pander more to western audiences with short attention spans instead of the original core fanbase (sorry, venting a little. I felt very betrayed by this). Like I said though if this was non-GitS related I'd say it was a good show if not a little pandering.

Music wise (yes I'm a huge fan of the SAC soundtrack, there's a reason I own all 4 soundtracks) I was utterly disappointed. Yoko Kanno is nowhere to be found here and it's extremely noticeable but it's to be expected as she's mostly retired from the industry. This left a sour taste in my mouth since, as I noted above, I'm a huge fan of the SAC soundtrack and it was one of the major reasons I enjoyed the first two seasons so much. Don't even get me started on the OP, not my cup of tea and certainly not something I'd associate with GitS (though I do like the ED).

Animation wise I can't stand the full CGI or the character redesigns. This felt way to much like I was watching cutscenes from a game 10 years ago. Not to say the CG isn't crisp or anything it's very well done and the fight scenes are a joy to watch. Sadly this isn't Pixar level CGI and it shows. Maybe I'm bitter because they went full CGI instead of the traditional/CG blend they did with SAC and 2nd Gig but I found this to be way more off putting than I thought it would be. Plus the Major's redesign makes her look like a 14 year old teenager and that's just not my jam (where's my hot, sophisticated badass woman?).

Thankfully the characters are the same and that was a joy to behold. Watching them interact with each other was extremely enjoyable and I'm happy to see they weren't changed one bit (this goes for the Tachikoma's as well so if you found them annoying they're still going to be annoying (I, personally, love the adorable little trouble makers)). The new characters are just as enjoyable and I just love Purin, she's beyond adorable with her little crush on Batou.

All in all like I said above I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the show. Part of me wants to destroy all the masters and make everyone forget this and the other part of me just thinks it's a below average GitS that just so happens to be somewhat enjoyable. Granted we're only 12 episodes in and my opinion might change once we get the last 12 episodes (did they ever announce when that'd be?) but those are my current thoughts on the show. If I had to give it a rating out of 10 it'd mostly likely be a 6 (which pains me to do considering how generous I was with Arise). Do I suggest watching it? Honestly that's for you to decide. I gave my honest thoughts so take them how you will though but if you are a major fan of the GitS franchise don't get your hopes up to much (then again maybe this is to your liking).

I made a deal with a roofing company.. my roof repair is going to set me back a solid $1500.00 There goes my stimulus check plus some. I think I could have gotten a cheaper deal with a different company, but this guy does legit quality work. I figure you get what you pay for in most circumstances and this repair job will require replacing a small chunk of the roof, plywood and shingles at least 6x4, and blending new shingles in with existing ones and it'll come with a full warranty and guaranteed not to leak.

I made a deal with a roofing company.. my roof repair is going to set me back a solid $1500.00 There goes my stimulus check plus some. I think I could have gotten a cheaper deal with a different company, but this guy does legit quality work. I figure you get what you pay for in most circumstances and this repair job will require replacing a small chunk of the roof, plywood and shingles at least 6x4, and blending new shingles in with existing ones and it'll come with a full warranty and guaranteed not to leak.

I borrowed a friend's air fryer last week. I let it sit for a week and then cleaned it good, just in case of conoravirus. I was pleasantly surprised with how it cooked shake and bake chicken tenders. They had a nice crispyness. I reheated some pork chops in it yesterday and it turned out good. But the home cut potato fries didn't turn out crispy, but super fluffy inside. I think I used too much oil. I'm still experimenting with this air fryer but so far I'm liking it. I think I might have to buy one.

I borrowed a friend's air fryer last week. I let it sit for a week and then cleaned it good, just in case of conoravirus. I was pleasantly surprised with how it cooked shake and bake chicken tenders. They had a nice crispyness. I reheated some pork chops in it yesterday and it turned out good. But the home cut potato fries didn't turn out crispy, but super fluffy inside. I think I used too much oil. I'm still experimenting with this air fryer but so far I'm liking it. I think I might have to buy one.

I borrowed a friend's air fryer last week. I let it sit for a week and then cleaned it good, just in case of conoravirus. I was pleasantly surprised with how it cooked shake and bake chicken tenders. They had a nice crispyness. I reheated some pork chops in it yesterday and it turned out good. But the home cut potato fries didn't turn out crispy, but super fluffy inside. I think I used too much oil. I'm still experimenting with this air fryer but so far I'm liking it. I think I might have to buy one.

I guess since I basically sleep my off days away and I'm stuck at work 10-12 hours a day I didn't notice too many April Fools pranks this year. I guess with the current times maybe people didn't feel is was appropriate. GW2's patch notes were pretty lame this go around, but the cats were funny. Azur Lane giving elite Universal Bulin a skin was probably my favorite.   The cruelest was a Star Wars fan page posting about Original Cut Trilogy coming to Disney+. 😢 I actually fell for that one because all my days run together. I didn't even realize the Bulin skin event was a joke until I unlocked the skin and realized what day it was. X_X

Welp second round of layoffs today at work (oh we weren't going to have anymore my ass) and I got myself a permanent vacation from work again. At least this time it's not an outright firing and I did get paid for the whole day plus I'm getting paid for the entirety of next week as well. Also get to retain my health insurance to the end of the month (which means my ass needs to get down to the pharmacy and get my HBP meds refilled before I lose it).

Fucking sucks after putting all that time into that fucking company and learning shit I never wanted to learn in hopes it'd help keep my job. Fat lot of good that did. They also had the audacity to say I'm able to be re-hired once market conditions favor them hiring more people. When will that be? Fuck knows but I have no intention of going back unless they're willing to hire me back at more or equal to what I was getting paid (though, in all honesty, not fucking worth it).

Now I get to experience the joy of finding a new job again in a market overflowing with job seekers and nobody's really hiring in my area right now due to this epidemic. Not only that I need to find a job that pays roughly what I was getting which is going to be hard around here as well. Looking like I'll have to go back to retail which will be a massive hit in pay for me.

I also get to experience filing for unemployment for the first time in my life. So looking forward to that.

Sigh, on the bright side I have plenty of time to watch anime and play games until I find a new job. Guess that's a silver lining.

Welp second round of layoffs today at work (oh we weren't going to have anymore my ass) and I got myself a permanent vacation from work again. At least this time it's not an outright firing and I did get paid for the whole day plus I'm getting paid for the entirety of next week as well. Also get to retain my health insurance to the end of the month (which means my ass needs to get down to the pharmacy and get my HBP meds refilled before I lose it).

Fucking sucks after putting all that time into that fucking company and learning shit I never wanted to learn in hopes it'd help keep my job. Fat lot of good that did. They also had the audacity to say I'm able to be re-hired once market conditions favor them hiring more people. When will that be? Fuck knows but I have no intention of going back unless they're willing to hire me back at more or equal to what I was getting paid (though, in all honesty, not fucking worth it).

Now I get to experience the joy of finding a new job again in a market overflowing with job seekers and nobody's really hiring in my area right now due to this epidemic. Not only that I need to find a job that pays roughly what I was getting which is going to be hard around here as well. Looking like I'll have to go back to retail which will be a massive hit in pay for me.

I also get to experience filing for unemployment for the first time in my life. So looking forward to that.

Sigh, on the bright side I have plenty of time to watch anime and play games until I find a new job. Guess that's a silver lining.

Hasbro put up 15 episodes of GI Joe on their YT channel for the quarantine. I was a bit hesitant to watch it again after 3 decades or so. After all I remember trying to watch HE-MAN on Netflix and it was fucking horrible. But, Surprisingly its held up pretty well over all these years. Yeah its still super cheese, but I was surprised to see how many eps were linked together in a larger story arc. Pretty ahead of its time for American animation. The best thing I've seen so far is Snake Eyes getting trapped in a radioactive cave, wonder around in the freezing arctic with his body glowing radiation, and get rescued by some blind nomad which magically cured his radioactive poisoning with no explanation.

Hasbro put up 15 episodes of GI Joe on their YT channel for the quarantine. I was a bit hesitant to watch it again after 3 decades or so. After all I remember trying to watch HE-MAN on Netflix and it was fucking horrible. But, Surprisingly its held up pretty well over all these years. Yeah its still super cheese, but I was surprised to see how many eps were linked together in a larger story arc. Pretty ahead of its time for American animation. The best thing I've seen so far is Snake Eyes getting trapped in a radioactive cave, wonder around in the freezing arctic with his body glowing radiation, and get rescued by some blind nomad which magically cured his radioactive poisoning with no explanation.

They done went and did it like I was predicting,

Finally. I've been wanting to play this since I beat Automata and now we'll get to play a remaster. Was kinda hoping they'd remaster both games but I'm quite happy with one of them (as the story beats are only slightly different between Gestalt and Replicant). Now if only they'd give us a release date (better not be in September, that's Cyberpunk time x.x).

Not entirely sure what this will be about but we're also getting a smartphone game. Still haven't announced if it's getting a release over here or not but still cool to see we're getting more Nier titles to continue the fantastic lore of this universe.

The internet is about to get lit son. I highly suggest downloading and redownloading games and other media you can use if there is no internet. Probably just a precaution and overraction since I was having a lot of constant loading and network errors on Azur Lane this morning. I suspect people will be hitting their mobile gaming more. I know Netflix decreased the streaming quality in Europe already anticipating this. I almost had a cow earlier when I won a PvP and it started loading a long time before registering my victory.

Went grocery shopping today so we can skip this weekend. It was crazy. Like black Friday busy but for groceries. At walmart, the aisle with toilet paper was blocked off with an employee at both ends allowing only 2 customers at a time in it because yesterday there was a fight over toilet paper. Wtf. The smaller grocery store in the same shopping plaza was busy as hell to but didn't have aisles blocked off. Flipping crazy.

Went grocery shopping today so we can skip this weekend. It was crazy. Like black Friday busy but for groceries. At walmart, the aisle with toilet paper was blocked off with an employee at both ends allowing only 2 customers at a time in it because yesterday there was a fight over toilet paper. Wtf. The smaller grocery store in the same shopping plaza was busy as hell to but didn't have aisles blocked off. Flipping crazy.

Went grocery shopping today so we can skip this weekend. It was crazy. Like black Friday busy but for groceries. At walmart, the aisle with toilet paper was blocked off with an employee at both ends allowing only 2 customers at a time in it because yesterday there was a fight over toilet paper. Wtf. The smaller grocery store in the same shopping plaza was busy as hell to but didn't have aisles blocked off. Flipping crazy.

Went grocery shopping today so we can skip this weekend. It was crazy. Like black Friday busy but for groceries. At walmart, the aisle with toilet paper was blocked off with an employee at both ends allowing only 2 customers at a time in it because yesterday there was a fight over toilet paper. Wtf. The smaller grocery store in the same shopping plaza was busy as hell to but didn't have aisles blocked off. Flipping crazy.

Went grocery shopping today so we can skip this weekend. It was crazy. Like black Friday busy but for groceries. At walmart, the aisle with toilet paper was blocked off with an employee at both ends allowing only 2 customers at a time in it because yesterday there was a fight over toilet paper. Wtf. The smaller grocery store in the same shopping plaza was busy as hell to but didn't have aisles blocked off. Flipping crazy.

Its no secret I have an extremely poor diet consisting of mostly red meat and dairy products. But I have definitely cut back on sugar intake over the past couple of years. I'll still eat candy and sweets now and then, but I drink soda maybe a few times a year when something interesting comes out. (Like Dr. Pepper Cream Soda 🤤). I'll drink a glass or two of sweet tea when I go out to eat, and on holidays. But outside of that its coffee and water daily. I haven't put sugar in my coffee in probably 15 years. A few months ago I got into sparkling water because I miss soda, but at the same time I don't... I really don't enjoy it as much as I use too, but water gets awful boring sometimes. La Croix is fucking nasty, I already knew that well before this. But with the sudden explosion of new rivals I took a tour of whats available. Pepsi's Bubly is ok, The apple is probably my favorite out of all of them. Coke had Desani sparking water which was actually pretty good. The lime almost tasted like sprite... but they discontinued all of it for this new AHA shit with weird ass flavors. I tried Blueberry Pomegranate because it was the most normal one, and it seriously went flat before it even got room temp. I sat it down for a few minutes and when I took another sip all the carbonation was gone, wtf? San Pellegrino makes decent ones as well. But the best IMO is Perrier. I'd say Strawberry is the best, followed by Watermelon and Peach. It has a caveat though. There is something magical about the can. You have to drink it out of the can ice cold, and the flavor is good along with the different style carbonation (apparently it's natural). Once you pour it into a glass or get one of those plastic bottle versions, its not the same. It tastes flat and flavorless. Its very odd.

But anyways. I don't enjoy sweet drinks anymore at all outside of tea. Maybe its a mental thing because it bothers my acid reflux, but it all started with the alcohol I drank, I moved away from rum or anything mixed as I stopped liking sweet liquor. Then it just kinda carried over to my daily beverages. I treat the rare soda as a dessert now. I can't stomach more than 1 in a day. I have no idea how I use to throw back 3-4 a day when I was a teenager.

Its no secret I have an extremely poor diet consisting of mostly red meat and dairy products. But I have definitely cut back on sugar intake over the past couple of years. I'll still eat candy and sweets now and then, but I drink soda maybe a few times a year when something interesting comes out. (Like Dr. Pepper Cream Soda 🤤). I'll drink a glass or two of sweet tea when I go out to eat, and on holidays. But outside of that its coffee and water daily. I haven't put sugar in my coffee in probably 15 years. A few months ago I got into sparkling water because I miss soda, but at the same time I don't... I really don't enjoy it as much as I use too, but water gets awful boring sometimes. La Croix is fucking nasty, I already knew that well before this. But with the sudden explosion of new rivals I took a tour of whats available. Pepsi's Bubly is ok, The apple is probably my favorite out of all of them. Coke had Desani sparking water which was actually pretty good. The lime almost tasted like sprite... but they discontinued all of it for this new AHA shit with weird ass flavors. I tried Blueberry Pomegranate because it was the most normal one, and it seriously went flat before it even got room temp. I sat it down for a few minutes and when I took another sip all the carbonation was gone, wtf? San Pellegrino makes decent ones as well. But the best IMO is Perrier. I'd say Strawberry is the best, followed by Watermelon and Peach. It has a caveat though. There is something magical about the can. You have to drink it out of the can ice cold, and the flavor is good along with the different style carbonation (apparently it's natural). Once you pour it into a glass or get one of those plastic bottle versions, its not the same. It tastes flat and flavorless. Its very odd.

But anyways. I don't enjoy sweet drinks anymore at all outside of tea. Maybe its a mental thing because it bothers my acid reflux, but it all started with the alcohol I drank, I moved away from rum or anything mixed as I stopped liking sweet liquor. Then it just kinda carried over to my daily beverages. I treat the rare soda as a dessert now. I can't stomach more than 1 in a day. I have no idea how I use to throw back 3-4 a day when I was a teenager.