Getting on with the age lol

I know there are certain things I wanted to write about. I even had the thought, "I should write this tonight," but... I've forgotten what it is about, darn it. I recall as much that one of the things I want to write about has something to do with cars, or driving. Just what did I want to write about?

I've been so lazy lately, I haven't ran for 2 weeks now. It comes and goes with my mood, you see. I've done as much as bringing my gym bag to work so I'll see it and remember to get changed before going home, so that, I can go for a run, but then I think... nah... I do have one virtual run lined up for March, and the thing in Geongju, South Korea in April... oh I did register for the Shanghai Marathon but I didn't manage to get drawn in the lot.

So we finally had that birthday lunch. Coming to think of it, my cousin hasn't paid me yet. huh. I'll have to double check. My Aunt said she wanted to invite her friend (someone that I didn't know either) and that she's more than happy to pay for the guy. I wouldn't have minded any way but I didn't know if cousin wanted to bear the cost. In any case, Aunt hasn't paid back either.

So I know we're eligible for an annual bonus thingamajig and I've been in the lookout for a new travel backpack. I do have one currently, but I think it's too big; for my trip to Geongju, it's on a budgt airline. I paid for check in luggage, but did not pay for a hand-carry, but it did say one free personal item (handbag or something)... my current backpack is a little too big. Found this interesting looking one, but I still want to see the actual item before buying. It costs a bit of a pretty penny (for a backpack) so it will be a little gift for myself from the bonus.

A couple months back, when the visiting artist was in town doing supervision work at the workshop I go to, I saw her very pretty apron and asked her where she got it. She said it's from The Walking Apron. I looked it up and oooh, it costs a pretty penny too, but it gives very good coverage. After much ruminating, I got one for myself and am going to gift one to my bestie. I also used an iron patch and ironed a racoon peaking out from the pocket. That's because she has been buying clothes from a particular website that has cute racoons in the design. I also got one for myself and put a cat there (to denote "Kat").

We went hunting for good naan bread (I still can't forget the good naan I had in Japan)... still doesn't compare to the one I had in Japan. But, Justindia is pretty good. I think taste-wise it's better than Woodlands. I find Woodlands too herb-y and spice-y.

Still bringing Frankie out to Coloane once in a while. The most recent time, there were some wild dogs and again for unknown reasons, Frankie didn't bother with them. I wonder why.

Nostalgic gaming

Nerdy post upcoming, probably no one will get what I'm writing about... lol....

I've been mentioning about shopping on Taobao and the new "cheaper Taobao" that is called Pingduoduo. I guess... the nearest parallel I can draw is, my Taobao is your Alibaba, and my Pingduoduo is your Wish or Shein?? It's generally cheaper and poorer quality items.

But oh so randomly one day, Pingduoduo popped up a listing for a game device. I wasn't holding a lot of hope for it, but I figured it was not a big investment, MOP$120 or so (just under USD$15) and it came out to be a super, super, pleasant surprise.

The emulating software takes a little time to boot up, and the individual games take a bit to load up, I guess it involves booting up the corresponding emulator for the game system, but once a game is loaded, it's pretty seamless.

It claims that it's got 30,000 games in, but does admit some are duplicates of the same game but on different consoles (say, the same game may have been out on the Super Famicom and on the Sega whatever and GBA and PSP). Heck, I finally don't feel old now because there are some console systems that I've never heard of (Sega Sammi? Atari?) lol!!! There's also a good lot of Arcade games, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat kind of thing that never was my cup of tea, so those will be duly ignored.

I did an initial search and it's got a good 70% of the games that I used to play as a kid. There are 2 games that I wanted to play but isn't in the system (I think those were not too popular back in the day) but as I understand it, if I manage to find the soft file of the game, I should be able to load it onto the console once I put in a memory card with the soft file.

But, you know, it's not just the gameplay... the music was so soothing. There was a game I used to play, a JRPG, Chou Mahou Tairiki Wozz, and I really liked the battle music back then. I didn't realize how much I missed hearing that until I managed to remember the game name, find it, and load it up (lucky it was in the game list).

The 2 games that I was hoping to play but wasn't included in the library are Nage Libre (a silly SLG where attack/defence power meter is affected by the change of uniforms: Spring uniform is balanced, Summer uniform is high speed, Autumn is high attack, Winter is high defence) and one I don't quite remember the name of. It's a spin-off of the Puyo Puyo series by Capcom (not the Puyo Puyo of recent years). It's still the Puyo Puyo concept but with a JRPG + puzzle solving game mechanic. Nazo Puyo and something to do with Rulue in the name.

Though, the inclusion of Madou Monogatari (Capcom, with Arle and Carbuncle as main characters) baffles me. Was that more popular than the 2 games that wasn't included?