My Little Pony C: Friendship Carries On

[Rogar Demonblud]

Modelo stopped producing Corona beer when they shuttered the plant for the duration.

[BlasTech]

So.

Nanny's getting worse, she's deteriorated rapidly in the last few days and it looks strongly like she'll have to go into hospital.

Which means that she almost certainly won't come out again, and worse, with the lock-down it means my sisters (and my uncle down in Birmingham) won't get to see her again. Hell, we probably can't even have a funeral properly.

This is EXACTLY what I was concerned about with the lock-down.

I hate it when I'm right.

Sorry to hear that. Not very good with articulating the sentiments, but hoping things go okay for you and fam.

[t209]

The lastest at the moment is that she appears to have a temperature (it is not THE virus, we're sure); after some assessment from the district nurse, Nanny is going to spend the weekend in bed (good job we made that effort to get that put in the dining room the other week), partly because she's adamant she she doesn't want to go back in hospital. But in the bed, at least, a single carer can change her and stuff (apparently is was very traumatic for Dad to get her into bed with help and he can't keep doing it himself, and of coruse Mum is basically on her last limit because of the whole collective mess anyway).

So. Just a case of wait and see now; there are no good answers.



I had a bit of a laugh the other day, reading (for maybe only the second or thrid time) Asterix and the Chariot Race one of the new generation of Asterix books (released a year or two ago, I wait for the softcovers). As the Roman charioteer's name?

Coronavirus.


Yes.

Really.



Yeah,that made from some unintentiaonal black humour when you had all these people cheering for "Coronavirus...!"

I am not sure who he was based on and what the pun was supposed to be though.
I mean he was a parody of Alain Prost and probably entire race in story being a reference to a race event in Italy.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Given that "Corona" is crown and "Vir-" is the root of many masculine words (virile, etc), plus -us is a general masculine ending in Latinate names, the meaning would be something like 'crowned man', which fits a champion racer.

[Aotrs Commander]

So. We just got back from Nanny's. (It's ten past two), she had SOMEHOW managed to fall out of bed; she was half underneath it, so all I can think is she must have slid otu feet first, There was no way me and Dads could get her back in (not without doing far more damage), so we had to call the ambulance. They actually came within ten/fifteen minutes, which was luckly, since they didn't have one available when Dad rang. It must have taken them the better part of an hour to get her back into bed.

Occupational therapists is supposed to doing another assessment tomorrow anyway (Nanny was borderline on Friday), so we'll see; but at the very least, we need to get a guard on the bed ASAP to stop her falling out of bed.



(Oh, and in case I didn't say before (things being as they are, I appriciate the previously-expressed sentiments of goodwill.)

[Forum Explorer]

So. We just got back from Nanny's. (It's ten past two), she had SOMEHOW managed to fall out of bed; she was half underneath it, so all I can think is she must have slid otu feet first, There was no way me and Dads could get her back in (not without doing far more damage), so we had to call the ambulance. They actually came within ten/fifteen minutes, which was luckly, since they didn't have one available when Dad rang. It must have taken them the better part of an hour to get her back into bed.

Occupational therapists is supposed to doing another assessment tomorrow anyway (Nanny was borderline on Friday), so we'll see; but at the very least, we need to get a guard on the bed ASAP to stop her falling out of bed.



(Oh, and in case I didn't say before (things being as they are, I appriciate the previously-expressed sentiments of goodwill.)

Would it be possible to put the bed down on the floor?

[t209]

Given that "Corona" is crown and "Vir-" is the root of many masculine words (virile, etc), plus -us is a general masculine ending in Latinate names, the meaning would be something like 'crowned man', which fits a champion racer.

Maybe, just that I am not into racing...even NASCAR and Formula One.

[Aotrs Commander]

Would it be possible to put the bed down on the floor?

No, they don't work that way; and it needs to be in the position (height) it is, so that the carers can at least make an attempt to get her to stand, or failing that, change her.

That would have only made things worse, actually; there was simply no chance of being able to lift her like you would you or I; she's too frail and too heavy. They had to use, basically, the rotunder (which is a sort of frame turn-table zimmer-frame thingy) and an inflatable series of cushions (and just rolling her to get UNDER her took them several tries, beczause moving her ranges from uncomfortable to painful) which pumped her up to just about standing on the rotunder, at which point, she could be turned 90º and be sat down on the bed.



Edit: Must I?

Yes.

*sigh*

Bleakbane, what does the scouter say about 3.Aotrs page's count level?

It's over NINE HUUUUUUUNDRED!!!!

Not including spell lists.



Edit edit: And, more seriously, (as I sort of expected last night, and even more so when I got up this morning when Mum and Dad had gone out already), Nanny is now being taken into a care home. It may only be temporary (one way or the other, unfortunately, and it seems quite likely to the other, to be brutally honest). But that bad news it, of course, no-one can visit her there. (The tiny consolation to that is that it means Mum can't make herself more ill going to visit her every day.) You know that feeling that it's coming? Yeah. So I deliberately said "goodbye," to Nanny last night, not "see you." Because, y'know.

[Form]

Edit edit: And, more seriously, (as I sort of expected last night, and even more so when I got up this morning when Mum and Dad had gone out already), Nanny is now being taken into a care home. It may only be temporary (one way or the other, unfortunately, and it seems quite likely to the other, to be brutally honest). But that bad news it, of course, no-one can visit her there. (The tiny consolation to that is that it means Mum can't make herself more ill going to visit her every day.) You know that feeling that it's coming? Yeah. So I deliberately said "goodbye," to Nanny last night, not "see you." Because, y'know.

Bugger, that's rough. I imagine something like videocalling isn't an option to alleviate some of the loneliness? How does your grandma feel about all of this? At any rate, you have my sympathies.

[Rogar Demonblud]

The retirement homes out here handle the technical end of those video calls for video residents, so you just need to let them know when you're scheduling the call (due to limited amount of equipment). Given that we aren't the most with-it folks out here, you probably also have that option available to you, Commander.

[DigoDragon]

Indeed! Or, to phrase it as per ye olde internete traditione: 'pics or it didn't happen!'.

Okay I took a few screen shots and uploaded the best three to my DA stash.

One is a shot of my OC, Doc Wagon, a second to compare the size of the standard pony model with a cow (these ponies are little!) and the third in his beat up iron armor (with new diamond boots, because zombies ate his previous iron boots). I tried to take pics of the mobs (zombies, skellies and drowned are all ponified) but they wouldn't cooperate for a good pic.

Maybe, just that I am not into racing...even NASCAR and Formula One.

I used to watch NASCAR back in high school, cause it was the contact sport of racing and that was fun. Not so much these days, but recently I saw the movie Ford vs. Ferrari and it was really good. Beautiful classic racing cars in that.

So. We just got back from Nanny's. (It's ten past two), she had SOMEHOW managed to fall out of bed;

Oof. Definitely get the guard to keep her safe. Hopefully she doesn't make a habit of it.

[BlasTech]

Edit edit: And, more seriously, (as I sort of expected last night, and even more so when I got up this morning when Mum and Dad had gone out already), Nanny is now being taken into a care home. It may only be temporary (one way or the other, unfortunately, and it seems quite likely to the other, to be brutally honest). But that bad news it, of course, no-one can visit her there. (The tiny consolation to that is that it means Mum can't make herself more ill going to visit her every day.) You know that feeling that it's coming? Yeah. So I deliberately said "goodbye," to Nanny last night, not "see you." Because, y'know.

*Hugs*

*gets CON-drain'd*

*Collapses, twitching*

[otakuryoga]

ok, not pony related but we could all use some feel good right now

https://twitter.com/i/status/1253016359455383552

[Aotrs Commander]

ok, not pony related but we could all use some feel good right now

https://twitter.com/i/status/1253016359455383552

Pfftahahahahahahahaha!

Okay, yeah, that was pretty cool. I am especially impressed by the gentleman with the toddler. Nice.

[Form]

Watching through the series again I'm noticing little things that I previously didn't pick up on:

Spoiler

Show

The first scene of the very first episode is actually used again in a later episode. The show starts with the moment were Twilight ditches Moondancer's party and her Canterlot friends.

And the Equestria games episode showcases Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's character development, though it is focused on Spike. Fluttershy is performing in the games in front of thousand of spectators and she seems to be comfortable with that. That's a big difference from the Fluttershy we're introduced to at the start of the show. And Rainbow Dash is perfectly content with coming in second place, instead of being obsessed with winning.

I thought those were some nice touches.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Watching through the series again I'm noticing little things that I previously didn't pick up on:

Spoiler

Show

The first scene of the very first episode is actually used again in a later episode. The show starts with the moment were Twilight ditches Moondancer's party and her Canterlot friends.

And the Equestria games episode showcases Fluttershy's and Rainbow Dash's character development, though it is focused on Spike. Fluttershy is performing in the games in front of thousand of spectators and she seems to be comfortable with that. That's a big difference from the Fluttershy we're introduced to at the start of the show. And Rainbow Dash is perfectly content with coming in second place, instead of being obsessed with winning.

I thought those were some nice touches.

While I don't care much for Rainbow (She is my second least favourite of the Manes, with only Pinkie scoring lower), I think she has been one of the best in character development, to the extent that the episodes that show this are amongst the episodes I rank highest.

[Aotrs Commander]

Started a second game of X-Com 2 (you all remember the last one, right...) Added a load more mods. (No, not Long War, I did look at it but a) it's supposed to be harder, and frack that and b) there's not been a completed WotC version yet.) Added a metric boat-load more customisation options; added an improved Sprak mod, and somethign to let you eventually have a bigger squad, but not much else (as I couldn't be arsed to worry about compatibility and stuff). I was disappointed in the lack of the first game's Second Wave options, the only one really worth turning on (since making the game Take Longer is one of those ideas I have to make myself not do, because in general, it only sounds like a good idea to me and usually I start to get bored before I finish, Civ 4...) was Not Created Equal, but with a point-based mod, so it mans no-one is just crap. (Though even if it existed, would NOT use the random advancement points, that just led to more reloading on on the last play through of the first game (about this time last year, actually...)

That skeleton mod I couldn't get to work last time? Worked this time fine this time, for whatever reason. No idea why it didn't last time. So, as per usual, spent several hours first polishing up all the crowd from last time in the character pool (including replacing the skeletrons with proper skellington heads). The only probolem with the skeleton set is that the author did not appear to be a "chance of this being used by random generation," like the other mods did, so I did find quite a few nasty, ugly character models with bits of skeleton or invisible heads before I fixed them in the armoury.So how long I'll keep it on before reverting is a good question. Also found a SCALING mod, so I could slightly tweak the size of everyone - so spike and the CMC can be short, Hopereaver (and most of the fresh batch of characters - UCDRs girls from Illyphase's (she of Bleakbane Farms fame) Magical Paladin School (including Illy, of course) who are mostly all tall lasses. (Why more games don't have a simply sliding height scale I don't know.) (Again I do NOT appeciate the game not letting me customise characters before the first mission; yes, I could have told it to use the character pool instead of trickling them in from recruitment, but I want to make new characters too!)

I actually only played, like three missions and this is why i'm not really bothered about Chimera. I'm honestly not that into X-Com Lore sufficiently that if I can't customise my team, I'm just not very interested. Page me about a year after X-Com 3 comes out (i.e. after it's expansion) and there WILL be a Bleakbane Plays Aotrs-Com 3...!

[Form]

While I don't care much for Rainbow (She is my second least favourite of the Manes, with only Pinkie scoring lower), I think she has been one of the best in character development, to the extent that the episodes that show this are amongst the episodes I rank highest.

Rainbow Dash is a good pony at heart, but she can be somewhat abrasive at times. At her best she's the first to jump into the fray in defense of her friends and her enthusiasm can be infectious. At her worst she's dismissive of other's interests and a little arrogant.

Also, princess Luna is a total nerd. I love it.

Spoiler

Show

In the episode where she goes on vacation together with Celestia she has them visit the post office and completely nerds out over 'the process!'. And she's absolutely right! I understand what she's excited about and she's right to be! :p

[Rogar Demonblud]

You have to remember Luna's still catching up on a millennium of changes.

[Form]

You have to remember Luna's still catching up on a millennium of changes.

That does makes sense, yeah. Still, I choose to believe Luna's letting her inner nerd show as well in that scene, just because I like the thought. Her excitement is simply adorable.

[Rogar Demonblud]

No argument.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I learned something new tonight.

I was rewatching parts of seasons 8 and 9 with the youngest, and suddenly realized it was NOT Jim Parsons voicing Mudbriar. The Sheldon Cooper impression is so spot on, I never questioned who the VA was.

[BlasTech]

Here is an interesting music piece I came across - liked the potential of the story setup.

I've been playing a bit more of the Equestria at War mod of HOI4 - they've continued to add more bits and bobs to it over time and sometime in the last few updates they majorly changed up the mechanics of what happens in certain scenarios. Particularly with respect to if the player (as the Changelings) succeeds in conquering Equestria. I didn't bother making the conquered territories into protectorates due to a combination of not wanting to cede control of the territories and a vague curiosity given the tooltip warned about a two month timeframe before "significant consequences" hit.

Man, that was the best decision I made in that game. First time I've been so surprised at the way the modders managed to blend the game mechanics and their own narrative plotline together.

Spoiler: For those who want to know what happened.

Show

Basically, Starlight and Trixie lead the east coast in rebellion against Chrysalis. Given where the front lines of the war were at that time, this meant that 80% of the Changeling army was immediately cut off from supply by dozens and dozens of militia armies popping up between them home. The game gives you a choice of whether to stick as Chrysalis or switch to the new Equestrian Rebellion. I took the latter.

This led to a mass destruction of their primary combat forces, about a year of confused, frenzied combat across most of the country and a vengeful horde of ponies pushing out from Manehattan to reclaim their country. And that was just the normal game mechanics/focuses at work.

Those mad geniuses in the modding community included an entire plotline of having to seize particular cities to find clues about POWs from the conquest, rumours about tests run on "Subject A", and capping it off with a timed, madcap rush to the original Changeling borders to capture a train before it could escape with its live prisoner cargo.

Your reward for succeeding with that? The rescue of Twilight, opening up a new set of narrative focuses covering her reunion with each the mane 6. And the eventual march into Changeling territories to tear the whole hive down once and for all.

Man, that was a fun game.

Hope you guys are all chugging along well!

[Aotrs Commander]

Second playthrough of X-Com 2 seems to be going rather worse than the first one. Avatar Project hit ten (literally just knobbled the first facility to knock it back to 9 - guarded by the berserker queen who even got away this time).

Clearly this is what happens when you let Johnny Not-Bleakbane run the show. Honestly.

[Powerdork]

OC: Area wizard Firebreak (they/them pronouns) has shattered the barriers between realities, and seeks to chill while watching folks play video games. (Image with smallest dimension 3024px.)

But is also open to be the video games. (In digging this screenshot up, I found the image above first.)

[DigoDragon]

Hope you guys are all chugging along well!

I am, yeah. Did a bunch of facial expression practice with my OCs. I miss working from home though. The office is chaotic and distracting. :/

I watched a friend play the Equestria mod in HoI4. It's a really interesting mod! I liked the way your game went. :3

[Form]

Hope you guys are all chugging along well!

Quite well, yes. Nice music piece and a nice series of narrative events in the mod! I'm amazed and surprised to see they have gone extra mile like that. I would not have expected that kind of depth from a mod.

I've been consuming a lot of my little pony material made my fans. Fan-fiction, fan-animation and parodies, etc. The my little pony remembrance series on youtube is one I found particularly enjoyable. It's a collaborative project by amateurs, so don't expect professional level quality, but overall it's quite good and truly starts to shine from episode 6 onwards. The latest episode came out fairly recently, so it looks like they're actually going to finish the series. If folks aren't familiar with it yet, I can definitely recommend it. It's a very emotional series and that is exactly what I love about it.

[BlasTech]

I am, yeah. Did a bunch of facial expression practice with my OCs. I miss working from home though. The office is chaotic and distracting. :/

I watched a friend play the Equestria mod in HoI4. It's a really interesting mod! I liked the way your game went. :3

Next up - going to play as Stalliongrad and take over befriend the world with Communism!

Quite well, yes. Nice music piece and a nice series of narrative events in the mod! I'm amazed and surprised to see they have gone extra mile like that. I would not have expected that kind of depth from a mod.

I've been consuming a lot of my little pony material made my fans. Fan-fiction, fan-animation and parodies, etc. The my little pony remembrance series on youtube is one I found particularly enjoyable. It's a collaborative project by amateurs, so don't expect professional level quality, but overall it's quite good and truly starts to shine from episode 6 onwards. The latest episode came out fairly recently, so it looks like they're actually going to finish the series. If folks aren't familiar with it yet, I can definitely recommend it. It's a very emotional series and that is exactly what I love about it.

It's got an immense amount of depth - each country in the game (of which there are at least 40) has its own narrative, and they have some really really varied playstyles available.

Case in point - one nation is a bunch of necromancers. They can't get very far up the tech tree, and if they get contained early they are usually wiped out. But once they conquer one country, they never really need to worry about manpower requirements ever again and can snowball the world by just fighting until everyone else's manpower is exhausted. Conquer, raise, repeat.

Also, started watching Remembrance - I found the art shifts a little distracting for episode one - but the audio is consistently good.

Second playthrough of X-Com 2 seems to be going rather worse than the first one. Avatar Project hit ten (literally just knobbled the first facility to knock it back to 9 - guarded by the berserker queen who even got away this time).

Clearly this is what happens when you let Johnny Not-Bleakbane run the show. Honestly.

Should've left Derpy in charge.

[Aotrs Commander]

Should've left Derpy in charge.

Leaving her and Hopereaver in charge for fifteen minutes while I went down the shops was what caused Aotrs-Com 2 in the first place...



(She actually showed back up as a soldier guarding a VIP we had to rescue, and Trixie is currently one of the scientists.)

[Form]

Also, started watching Remembrance - I found the art shifts a little distracting for episode one - but the audio is consistently good.

If you decide to watch some/most/all of it, don't hesitate to give us your impression. I'd love to hear what other people think of it and the characters and their tribulations.