Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Yousef- Maybe I do have to think that way, but I do wish that my life would improve more. I feel like I have gone on a downward spiral for about five years now from things that happened that have been extremely damaging to how I act and feel, and I think lockdown from a few years ago also played a role in that. I think life is full of too many negative things that far overpower the positives, and I feel like my life and my attitude was better before this point, but maybe I am taking things for granted and just thinking everyone else is better than me when they could be suffering or having issues deep down. It’s probably social media that also makes me feel that way too. Almost everyone I follow on there always appears to be positive and happy, but there of course could be negative emotions or things they hide deep down to keep an appealing persona online. I rarely see people on there appear very down or actually sharing how they really feel.

But luckily, I am feeling better now, less sad and thinking about what happened earlier less. One of my favorite things to make me happy is going on this site and talking with others! I’m glad I chose to finally engage with this site after following it for a few years as a guest user.

@Pastellioli I’ve felt a similar “downward spiral” ever since I’ve turned 18 7 years ago. I’ve also felt like repeating the same struggle with each repeat feeling like it yielded worse results than the last and I come out being in a somewhat worse state than before. But I’ve learned to try to be more optimistic and resilient and appreciate the little stuff in life.

I’ve been feeling so much happier ever since I’ve stopped using social media about a year ago. I don’t think I have any of those apps installed. Most of my online interactions are in private messaging boards and with pen-pals.

@Yousef- I only downloaded Instagram to post drawings on there and was really excited at first, but I just post there inconsistently and it’s hard to feel encouraged when everyone on there is getting attention and posting pictures almost daily, which just really feeds into my low confidence and feelings. I’ve only been using Instagram since February of this year.

I did avoid downloading and using social media for years (mostly because I watched YouTube videos showing moments of users arguing and getting upset over some of the most trivial and dumbest things ever) and I only used web versions of them as a guest user, but I honestly wish I had it stay that way. I go on Instagram and see a few people arguing and always going “womp womp” to others that don’t really do anything at all. I think I maybe should have just stuck to Nintendo Life as my only form of “social media” or way of interacting with others, since it isn’t like social media at all, plus there is an artists thread here where I don’t have to worry about getting noticed or getting likes. The community here being more smaller and moderated helps as well, since it discourages arguing and division between others. At least I didn’t download Twitter/X…that place is an unfun and huge cesspool of negativity and no respect to anyone. Almost no one there respects opinions and they like to stir up trouble for artists and insult them. I remember a story on Twitter where someone used an artist’s artwork as a profile picture without credit and when the artist kindly asked for credit they got called a pretty vulgar and hateful word by the person that used the artwork.

@Pastellioli interestingly enough, private messaging boards and platforms like NL/PU/PS/TI don’t really count as “sociel media” due to multiple factors, including the non-spontaneous. The fact that you need to be emailed a ping goes a long way to into making this a much healthier environment for communication. The instantaneousness of Twitter, TikTok and what have you blends itself into really toxic online spaces.

@Yousef- yeah I do prefer this site and it’s sister sites for communicating and interaction, and everyone here seems to bring very positive and happy vibes, and they are all silly too I have so much fun talking about the games I finish on Pure Xbox with you and @Banjo- and I really like chatting with people on this thread for random stuff that goes on during my day, not to mention the staff that run the sites are very kind and have really interesting soapboxes and talking points. I do think that sites like these with smaller communities are the more better ones than sites and apps with millions and millions of users. I just prefer Nintendo Life as my main form of communication with people, and I think I should spend less time on social media and mindlessly scrolling and wasting time. I don’t regret my decision making an account on here! What I do sort of regret is making an Instagram account though…

@Pastellioli likewise, friend. I share the exact same sentiments.
Chatting on the Hookshot message boards has been quite healthy for me mentally. Making connections, finding friends, mutuals, acquaintances, etc, participating in group stuff, all dat jazz.

I am back from my vacation as of very early Friday morning in my native time zone. Didn't want to leave, but I had to return to reality sometime. I loved my time in British Columbia (mostly near and in Vancouver, but my friend and I went to a couple other areas too), but it also isn't a cheap place to be even after converting currency. There are many highlights from my trip; there are many wonderful natural areas in this part of Canada, it's very easy to get around on foot or by bike, and I found an area of Vancouver to help scratch my "Love of Japan" itch for a little while. Some firsts too, most of them pleasant, a couple not so much. The latter mostly relates to early travel woes and a...brief interesting situation with someone who clearly wasn't in their right mind, though this was more experienced by my friend. No harm though.

@Sunsy Ever since I read the Chronicles of Narnia series back in the day, I've always liked the "magical portal through mundane means" concept. Doors, closets, cupboards, wardrobes, etc. Sounds like it was an amazing experience and a faithful recreation of the Trolls world. With my background and interests, that's the sort of large setup where I'd love to know/learn about all the ends and outs that made it all come together. If this was an official Universal event, then it sounds like there was quite the budget involved! Plus, you know with a big name company that it's not too likely the event will be a quick cash-grab.

I didn't often have sleep issues until within the last few years. I think some of it is stress and mental health related, but sleep problems are also increasingly common as we age. I try to minimize external effects as much as possible unless I absolutely need to stay up. I have to be careful with large amounts of caffeine anyway; I don't physically get hyper, but too much sends my brain into overdrive. I drink herbal teas sometimes, normally just straight; I try not to drink my calories (outside of milk with breakfast sometimes), and not adding milk/cream/sugar/etc. is similar to just drinking flavored water. Sounds like a great meal indeed. I didn't make this stuff, but when I get a chance I'd like to share some photos of what I ate on my trip. My friend has an autoimmune disorder and doesn't tolerate lactose well, so we would often pick places that didn't trigger her insides. Thankfully, this doesn't eliminate most Asian food since little dairy is usually involved. We found a really cool Vietnamese/Korean place at one point, as well as an authentic Ramen restaurant that we ate at twice.

@MarioVillager92 First, don't sweat replying to me until you feel like it; I did see your "taking a break" message in the Goodbye/Vacation thread. I completely understand taking occasional breaks (Heck, I just took one while on vacation). I know these moments can be very difficult. Sometimes we don't have a choice but to ride through it all. But remember...You do matter. Because they think they're protecting us, our brains can lie to us. We are not our thoughts.

On DKC1: I first finished it on the Wii U VC lol, thanks to save states. Though I'd only use them between levels. I have fond memories of the Snow Barrel Blast level in Gorilla Glacier. Such beautiful music, plus I like how the level's background and foreground gradually transition to a snowstorm. I think Slipslide Ride (or the rope level) gave me a ton of trouble back in the day, so I rarely made it past that one. I have vague memories of passing that level a time or two, but I'd usually burned through most or all lives by then since the save point was far away. Their SNES was very popular. I had another babysitter when my aunt wasn't doing it for a little while or wasn't always available (can't recall why) who had a Sega Genesis. I recall playing Disney's The Lion King and Aladdin *on it (I was bad at both, but IIRC these are notoriously hard), a Jurassic Park game where a little like a platforming shooter where you could also play a velociraptor, *Paper Boy (Fun, but I was bad at this too), and a racing game that I think might have been OutRun, but I'm really not sure.

Great job as well for finishing TTYD! I did mess around with it a bit more before going on vacation, mostly mopping up the remaining troubles. I found all the Shines and star pieces during my actual playthrough, and I did attempt a new Switch version boss but noped out of that one pretty quickly. XD I didn't take the cartridge with me though. I mostly gamed during travel and downtime, and not every day either. I did find the final boss difficult, but manageable. Though I'll admit I consulted a couple of tips first. She still nearly beat me though.

Well thanks, now I know I'll look up Super Mario Galaxy's music when I go back to work! The OST is phenomenal. I think you and I would at least somewhat get along regarding music. I'm about overdue for a concert, but sadly there's nobody within reasonable driving distance for the next while that I'm interested in (MAAAAYBE Starset, but I wouldn't consider myself a superfan). I had an excellent vacation, though ironically the day you sent that was the only truly stressful day as I'm sure you saw in Discord. Nothing anyone could do as it was all weather related.

@Tyranexx welcome back! Hope you had fun with your vacation!

I wanna draw but it’s so late for me to do anything like that right now but I’m not sleepy at all. My back hurts bad though and so does my neck, as I always slept on my stomach for years and now the misaligned spine and slightly sore neck pain are coming to me now, so I expect to get somewhat bad sleep. Never sleep on your stomach unless you want to feel almost neverending pain and stiffness like me

Anyway, has anyone been having a good day or good night? I haven’t really done anything. Probably going to sleep in a few more minutes. Just wish I could draw more and was a bit more creative with it. Feels like I’ve never had time to be creative and do what I like, and it feels like my free time has been wasted doing insignificant things. Thinking about games and what I could be drawing right now…

@Pastellioli I wanna see I’m having a boring day but it’s been quite eventful actually, though not always for the better. I’m making some really great Mac n cheese so that part is good, but the bad part is that my day started out really sour when I game on steam had a permanent black screen due to a driver issue that I don’t quite get. Something to do with the video player I suppose and that it uses pre rendered cutscenes, something which tends to break far too many low budget pc ports sadly. I winded up refunding it which left me feeling defeated and with a sour taste in my mouth, but I have hope.

@Yousef- I love macaroni and cheese a lot! So tasty, me and my family have it a ton during Thanksgiving. My mom sometimes makes a keto version of it using cauliflower as a replacement for the noodles and makes the cheese extra gooey. I love how both versions taste, and keto Mac and cheese tastes best with pieces of ground beef.

Sorry about the game. I almost never have issues with a game that ultimately result in me needing to refund it or delete it. My consoles also don’t really have issues like that either. Are you going to get another game as a replacement for the one that you had to refund? I think that’s what I’d do if I had a game that didn’t work and needed to return.

@Pastellioli I’ve thankfully gotten it as a bundle of six games. So I’m not short on my backlog, it’s just they’re all from the same dev, so I’m not exactly putting my hopes up let’s say.

@Yousef- That is very good! Video game bundles and compilations are really a bang for your buck. In my case, Rare Replay was pretty much worth the money since it had a ton of games and content in there and it was pretty inexpensive too.

@Pastellioli RR was a lifesaver for me. That, and GTA IV.

@Yousef- I freaking love Rare Replay and it’s pretty much the only thing I play my Xbox for lol. I’ve made some progress in the games and I am close to finishing a stamp card but I’m trying to find some easy to get achievements to finish it. There are still a few games on there I haven’t finished or started, and I don’t think I’ll 100% it, but I know @Banjo- is going to try to, and I can’t wait to see that happen. The compilation was 30$ where I live but I got it during a spring sale last year and I got it for the low price of 7$. Pretty worth it! I’d say Rare Replay is one of the best and most well-made game compilations ever, mostly because of its presentation, extra content and small documentaries, and it even having an opening musical number as well. It makes me pretty sad that a lot of the IPs in there aren’t making a return though.

@Pastellioli that’s gonna be a big commitment. Wonder how you’ll feel about Rare’s lesser known games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

(On a sidebar, my bad if I’m not quite as chatty. I didn’t get much sleep so I’m really mellow energy wise today. XD)

@Yousef- I did actually play Grabbed by the Ghoulies back in May and finished it! I did think it was pretty good but my biggest issue was that it was extremely repetitive and hard near the end, so I think I gave it a 6, but it’s honestly more of a 7 now that I look at it. Found it super charming though.

I did also play Kameo last year in June and thought that was cool. A lot of Rare’s lesser known titles are often called bad or something, but I think they are more decent than bad, it’s only really brought down by issues like repetitiveness. I think I may have played most of the lesser known titles in there. I played a few of the NES and ZX Spectrum games in there and they were really not fun.

Went back to playing my rhythm game and now I finally was able to not only full combo a song, but got all perfects on the notes! The songs I was trying to play had tap registration issues and I did get annoyed, but I swapped to a more slower and less complicated song and the tapping worked so well there. Even though I did end up not having a good time at first, at least I was able to get one successful session in.

@Pastellioli a perfect score is the dream. That’s when you can finally put the controller down and reflect on the song you just perfected.

@Yousef- Yeah, and it was on a song I really liked. I was pretty close to getting all perfect on the song for a while, but I always fell short of one or two perfects. I think maybe I should play easier songs for now so I can get back into it, and maybe the game will actually register my taps lol. It felt so satisfying being able to full combo a song finally after I wasted so much time on another song a few days ago.