This week began with finally getting to see the specialist. I had been waiting since January. No real answers yet, but hopefully the copious amount of testing will bring some answers. He doesn’t think I have rheumatoid arthritis, which is good. He also gave me a shot of cortisone to help bust up the nodule in my one palm. That shot hurt more than most needles I’ve had, but the next day my finger already felt a bit stronger. I was surprised by the pain considering tattoos, but it may partly be due to the location. Since I had the day off, I got the x-rays booked and got into the queue for blood. That took so much time, I was worried I would be late to my massage appointment, but I made it. And I really needed that appointment after the fall I had last month. She made me feel soooo much better.

I got some groceries and then I needed a bit of a nap. I wasn’t allowed to do much anyway with my left hand due to the cortisone. After dinner, I did my nails while watching some episodes of Bones. I located the power adapter for my electronic keyboard, but I wasn’t allowed to use my hand for at least 24 hours, so I just put it with my keyboard. At least I found it! It was on my dresser for some reason. A place I never thought it would be.

Tuesday’s agenda included a trip to Montreal for the Planetarium and the 2026 Evanescence World Tour concert. I had time to kill in the morning though. I got the last non-event companion that I needed in Disney Dreamlight Valley and levelled the cheeky little monkey up. Then I needed to get some allergy medicine as I had run out and it would be bad to be allergic at the concert.

I learned a ton about meteorites at the Planetarium. Fun fact, much of the iron in the world comes from space. And when meteors crash to Earth, they hit with such immense force that they often send rocks into space. Some never return. The ones that do make it back are highly polished from the atmosphere. There was a slice of Sericho found somewhere in Canada.

We also ended up at the Biodome because there was time to kill before the doors opened. There were many adorable animals. In the penguin area, the walls are made of ice, which I discovered by touching them accidentally, so I was momentarily startled. The penguins were all small varieties. Some animals, like the otters were sleeping behind an odd type of glass, so I couldn’t get pictures of them. Others, I didn’t see at all like the two-toed sloth, the tamarins, and the lynx. Here are some capybaras chilling:

Due to traffic, we were a tad late getting inside Centre Bell for the concert. It was a bit of a rush to get food and find our seats. Nova Twins had begun by then. I really enjoyed what I did get to hear of them. Spiritbox was up next. They are a bit more screamo than I personally like, but they gave a good show.

Evanescence was phenomenal. They began with Sanctuary and I was totally convinced I had caught it all on video, but I wasn’t recording! It was such an epic performance and I didn’t record it!!! Luckily, I got several others at least. I truly hope there is a DVD or Blu-ray release of the concert in the future. I have several from the old days. They have done the reverse of most metal bands and gotten heavier as they have aged and I’m so here for it. The only thing that would have made it better was if they had more screens for those of us sitting further away.

After a very full day, the ride home had me struggling to stay awake. That was also partly because the roads between Montreal and Ottawa don’t have much interesting scenery. And I haven’t been sleeping well of late. I’ve been waking up around 5AM nearly every day. This is a time that previously did not exist for me. I can’t sleep in anymore. I guess that makes me officially old.

I’ve been getting a lot of ideas for key changes to Sparker. Yes, I’m still working on it when I’m not reorganizing, decluttering, or renovating my condo. I’ve been making a list of edits to do.

Wednesday’s Canada Day activities were hampered or suspended completely in the capital. Multiple storm systems collided and our west end was flooded. Some people took their canoes out rather than try to drive in those areas. There were power outages and tree damage. I’m fortunate to live in the east end and the neighborhood has mostly buried power lines. But I did have some water to block from the rain in my window tracks. I only discovered that because I thought I should keep an eye on the storm and opened my blinds. My living room one was almost full!

Thursday was a busy day after three days off. Outside of work, I finally got my desk back into its proper home. This wasn’t without some struggle, but it was worth it. It feels so much better to have it back where it should be. I also had a tough, but necessary, task. Changes are coming for me and I needed to let someone know.

In the evening, I tried Soulframe out. I’m honestly not sold on it. It’s too easy for people to get locked into a painful starting questline. And until one completes it, they can’t hangout with friends in game. You can pick up all kinds of other quests, but not party with friends. In my opinion, it should be far easier to accomplish the wielding of runes in battle, but there’s no gauge to tell me if I’ve charged it up enough and there isn’t a clear instruction on how to actually make the rune work. Also, if I’m basically cut off from other people, then I shouldn’t be able to pick up a bunch of tasks that are more advanced. Just do a regular tutorial segment like other games and stop trying to be novel for novelty’s sake. It’s not fun. And if I’m not having fun in the early game, I doubt I’ll want to stick around for later game. There are hundreds of other games out there I could be playing instead. It made me miss World of Warcraft more than anything. Other problems with the game? Well, right at the beginning with character creation. I could not tell whether I was the woman or the baby. So now I’m forever a black woman in game. I thought all my skin was going to be this cool blue pattern. And the baby was Caucasian, with a blue arm, so there was absolutely no reason for me to think that I was going to be a black woman. Not that there is anything wrong with being a black woman, but being Caucasian in reality and now running around as a marginalized group of people doesn’t feel right to me. They need to make it far more clear who the playable character is during the character creation screen!

Quite honestly, I’m also tired of games with endless mob respawns. I want to clear an area and move on with life. I can’t even tell what the numbers mean over a foe’s head, so I’m killing one that has a 17 over theirs, but one with a 4 takes me out? It doesn’t make sense. The map doesn’t uncover properly for me. And the guide always tries to take me through a hoard of bad guys. It’s early access and I feel like there is a lot to fix before I would ever want to spend money on it. Perhaps I would rather have spells that are easy to cast rather than unnecessary complexity. And given how stressed I’ve been this year, I’d rather play something cozy that calms my nervous system on most days. Warframe is a far better experience than Soulframe currently is.

Friday was pretty calm with no meetings. This was great for me because I haven’t been sleeping well for awhile now. I slept a bit longer on Saturday and then there was a fire alarm. Probably someone burning breakfast. People seem to have difficulties cooking in my building. Later, I met up with some friends for a paint night. The wine was not hitting right for me. It just gave me acid reflux, unfortunately. All the sleep debt began to catch up and I was nodding off for quite some time. I slept until almost 10AM the next day, but I had a terribly sore throat, cough, and fever. Ugh. I suppose it was better that I get sick on the weekend before the one with my birthday.

I also learned that the stage manager from the local theatre in my home town passed away. He was only 56. He was such a kind human. I worked Kenny Rogers with him many years ago. I wasn’t cut out for stage tech work, so I didn’t last, but I gave Kenny a guitar on stage. I think it was drop D tuned or something. After tear down, we all gathered on stage to have a drink. RIP Mike.

This was a very full week.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae