Reid Main

Somehow I stumbled upon this great YouTube channel by Kevin Fang that breaks down tech outages in an incredibly informative yet hilarious manner.

Do not buy a home

Easily one of the worst decisions I have made in the past five years is purchasing a home. Even if the stock market was relatively flat over that timespan I would much rather have invested the down payment and just rented because dealing with everything that can (and will) go wrong is going to drive me insane.

Finished publishing #Japan2025 articles

It "only" took three months but I finally finished all of the #Japan2025 articles.

Hades 2

Hades 2 is a prime example of a sequel that adds too many new mechanics because they think that is the only way the game can get "better". I've played a little over a dozen hours and still haven't defeated the final boss yet and it is not because I haven't gotten good enough at the game. It's because I haven't grinded out enough of the resources to get the powerups needed to make it possible, at least for me.

I played a little over 30 hours of the original Hades and beat the game over a dozen times to see the "true" ending. I don't remember grinding for resources to make myself feel more powerful. I remember perfecting the moveset of a weapon and understanding exactly what boons made it powerful. In Hades 2 it almost feels like what I choose doesn't matter because the bosses have so much health and do so much damage that I've just gotta keep grinding for resources.

Currently I'm not certain if I put 18 more hours into Hades 2 I'll get to see the end of the game and that makes me want to put it down and play something else from the deluge of games that are being released.

Couldn't run 110K

Last month I wrote about how happy I was that I could run 100K in a month and then I immediately injured my ankle by running too hard. Irony, you are a merciless bitch.

I suspect the issue was that I simply did not stretch enough beforehand so a fair warning to all of my fellow elder breathern, make sure you do a lot of dynamic movements before you exercise!

The International 2025

I wanted to write something about this year's The International but I am finding myself at a completely loss. Looking back there were no real storylines or upsets that stood out. That is not to say they didn't happen but as a casual fan I've basically already forgotten. It's saddening to write that because The International used to be the event I looked forward to every year and now I'm more interested in Counter-Strike majors.

Oh one of the things I did remember thinking at the time was that Saudi Arabia's Team Falcons finally managed to buy a championship. It will be interesting to see if they can keep this up over the next year and if Dota 2 can become one of the first big esports where you can buy championships.

October baseball in Toronto!

The Toronto Blue Jays won the AL East division for the first time in 10 years and we're gonna see October baseball at the SkyDome!

Future of monthly retrospectives

I think this may be the last monthly retrospective I write for a while because I really have lost the drive to do them. They are a chore that I stretch out until the final day of the month and end up quickly throwing up something like you see here. But somehow managing to do it 104 months in a row ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Review September Goals

• 🙅🏻‍♂️ Read a book.
• 🙅🏻‍♂️ Set my 3D printer back up and finally print something!
• 🙅🏻‍♂️ Paint a Space Marine miniature.
• ✅ Furnish the guest room.
• 🙅🏻‍♂️ Run over 110+ kilometres.
• 🙅🏻‍♂️ Disassemble and clean Macintosh Quadra 700.

October Goals

• Read a book.
• Use my Hobonichi Techo journal to set daily goals every morning.
• Run 13 times.