I can't believe I'm practically doxxing myself, but it's worth it if I get to complain about being (more-or-less) CAUGHT IN A TORNADO!
As you might be able to gather, as of the writing of this paragraph – which WAS the next day, mind – I'm still not over it.
Anyway, does it even count as "practically doxxing" if everybody who reads this almost certainly knows me (and thus where I live) in the first place?
The answer, by the way, is "almost certainly not".
Oddly enough, even though this month was the month of my birthday, not much actually happened.
Except for being caught in a tornado, of course, but I'll get to that in chronological order.
On Monday the 2nd, I saw a nice dress where I volunteer – pink with a floral pattern – so I bought it for Mum and took it home.
It fits her, so it's something nice for her to wear out!
On Thursday the 5th, my mum's aunt Esther unfortunately passed away. Her funeral was on Monday the 9th, and Mum went back to Ireland for it, while those of us here in England watched it online.
She's sorely missed, but at least she isn't in pain any more – and her memory will live on through all the people who knew her.
On the 10th, my diary (which I've written on the computer since the start of the year) seemingly broke, and I even though for a few terrible moments that I'd lost my entire 2024 diary (with the exception of what happened in Ireland, because I wrote that in Google Docs before copy-pasting it into my main diary document when we got back.)
But I hadn't lost anything – it was just that a certain amount of space was glitched, so I just made a massive amount of white-space between one entry and the next, thus bypassing the glitchy area.
So far, I haven't had any more problems with my diary.
Thursday the 12th was Dad's birthday, so we gave him chocolate (lots of chocolate) and had takeout for dinner to celebrate!
The next day was my birthday – I'm now 23, otherwise known as the age Mum always told me she was when I was younger… until I realised the truth around the time of her 40th* birthday – and I got plenty of presents, and I also ate out for each meal!
Actually, I think I'm going to stop that from now on and only have dinner out. Like a normal person.
*I'm sure revealing that will go down like a lead balloon, but it's all in the good name of banter, so it's fine!
On Sunday the 15th, I decided to buy 2,000 turnips on Animal Crossing!
In the game, turnips are traded on the "stalk market" – essentially, it's a kid-friendly (as in, not too complicated) version of the stock market. Each week, the prices (which change twice a day, with one for the morning and one for the afternoon) can change based on one of four patterns:
The decreasing pattern leaves you unable to make a profit; prices start out below the Sunday-morning buying price and continue to fall all week long.
The small spike pattern has prices start out low and falling, but they'll increase to around 120% of the Sunday price at some point during the week.
The fluctuating pattern has prices change at random all week long.
And, last but most certainly not least, the large spike pattern sees prices start out low and falling, but at some point in the week they increase to anywhere from 200% to 600% (or up to 900% in the 2004 game!) of the Sunday price.
On Friday the 20th, I had decided to go into town to treat myself to some lunch, and because I also needed some had cream (because my hands crack very painfully every winter, so I wanted to get a head start on stopping that.)
As I left for town, there was a tiny bit of rain – and, later, some thunder and lightning – but it was nothing I couldn't handle.
When I got about halfway through, the rain that I'd seen in clouds far away very suddenly caught up with me, but I had my umbrella – I carry one with me almost every time I go outside, and have done ever since I was caught in a cloud burst nearly two years ago – and was able to make it to the bank, where I cashed in a cheque I'd got for my birthday, without too much trouble.
But when I continued through town, the rain and wind just kept getting worse and worse, to the point where by the time I'd got near my destination, the streets had so much water flowing down them that it went over my ankles, and the wind would have inverted my umbrella (and possibly even blown it away!) if not for the fact that I was keeping a tight grip on it!
I still had my lunch, because there was no way I wouldn't after what I'd gone through to get it, but I felt horrible with my clothes soaked through and my "breathable" trainers also full of water.
In the end, I didn't do my volunteering that day, and it took my trainers about two full days on the radiator to dry out.
Later, as Dad found out and posted the story to our family group chat, it turned out I'd actually been caught in (or, rather, nearby) a tornado!* I was furious (at the universe, for putting me in that) but thankful to Dad for the link. It certainly made the part where the torrent of water went over my ankles make more sense.
*There it is… the mythologised "practically doxxing".
In the end, meanwhile, that week's turnip price pattern on Animal Crossing was decreasing after all – but, since the likelihood of each price pattern is based on the last week's price pattern, that made a large spike pattern as likely as possible to appear the next week, so on Sunday the 22nd, I bought 24,000 turnips – almost the maximum I could even afford! – in a bid to make it big with a large spike pattern.
And now, in The Legend of Zelda, we find ourselves faced with – dare I say it – Tears* in the Kingdom?
Well, I've finally done it. I've given into the temptation to make a pun based off of the premise of this Zelda game and the title of the last Zelda game.
That's it, this blog is now cancelled.
Also, that's "tears" – /tɛə(ɹ)z/, [tʰɛːz̥] – as in "ripping", not "tears" – /tɪə(ɹ)z/, [tʰɪːz̥] – as in "crying".
The symbols in /slashes/ are phonemic transcription – a measurement of the sounds that are distinguished from one another – and the symbols in [square brackets] are phonetic transcription – a measurement more accurate to what those sounds actually sound like, with those symbols more closely aligning with how I personally pronounce the words.
Anyway, I might as well show off some screenshots from the first hour of the game, so here they are:
You start the game playing as Link, the series' usual protagonist – but soon, he's kidnapped, and it's up to Princess Zelda – usually the damsel in distress – to save the kingdom this time!
Along the way, she gets condemned to death by an evil duplicate of her father, and meets the fairy-like creature Tri, who tags along and allows her to borrow their powers in order to fight monsters (as Zelda herself doesn't really do direct combat like Link does.)
So far, I'm on my way to the second dungeon, though I don't actually know what it's called yet. To be fair, I spent an entire day (Saturday, specifically) just uncovering the map instead of actually progressing the story.
Anyway, that whole thing about "this blog is now cancelled"?
Well… yes, actually – this blog is cancelled. Kind of. And not because I made a pun.
The thing is, to be perfectly honest, I don't actually enjoy running this blog all that much – which probably has more than a little to do with the fact that I forget about it for the whole month and then have to do the typing equivalent of running around like a headless chicken.
Still, now that I have my diary on my computer, I don't see much reason to continue with this blog when I don't enjoy it that much – so I've decided that I'll stop it at the end of this year.
Like that implies, I'll still post monthly blog updates for the next three months, so it isn't over just yet!
Even still…
I'm sorry. Really, I am.
But I'm putting a lot of effort into this for only a few people to read this each month (because, funnily enough, my life isn't actually that interesting, and I'm pretty sure all of my "regular" - so to speak - readers know me in person anyway) when I don't enjoy it myself, so I'm afraid that the end of the year is the end of the blog.
It would've been nice to make it to this blog's ten-year anniversary, but it is what it is.
Thank you to everybody who's read this blog so far – and we aren't finished just yet, so I'll be back on Halloween!
See you then!