I was away earlier this week and hardly had time to pen my thoughts. And when I finally had a moment, I found myself driving back from hubby’s hometown; as such, being at the wheel, how to pen my thoughts?
I kept the iPad in the boot, and for five hours, I did not play any games. Hahaha. The drive back was tiring because there was heavy traffic at several stretches on the Plus highway. But the build-up was of no reason – no accident or even roadworks. Sheesh, slow down for nothing.
Although it was tedious, sipping my green tea and listening to my music helped to collect my thoughts for the next entry. You could call it a good me-time.
I am still playing the new game, Brick Out, that I downloaded. It’s addictive and frustrating at the same time. I don’t know why I subject myself to such emotions.
There were a couple of occasions I wanted to delete the game because I had super hard levels that were impossible to pass. But when I prevailed, the deleting idea was squashed. Hahaha.
This week I am out of town, and my iPad is with me. And certain games are playable offline, which I do in the car. However, a handful of them needs a connection to work better, so I manage. Not every game needs my attention constantly, and I have to learn to accept this.
Lately, I find myself playing a lot more games again on my iPad Mini. It’s not good because it’s very unhealthy, especially for my eyes and time management. Being obsessed with my games, reading the news, and watching YouTube or Netflix derails me on more important matters, like house chores or crafting my miniatures.
So at times, I have to put the iPad aside to focus on those things because I tend to forget the time amid a game challenge. I am distracted by the latest game downloaded recently. These things happen when free ads promoting new games appear amidst my regular ones.
Piqued, I would check them out, and the next thing I know, the game is downloaded. And before I know it, I am playing a new game. Sometimes, the interest would wane, but the appeal is quite lasting for this latest download, Brick Out.
I find myself playing it until the wee hours of the night. Even Gudetama, the Netflix series I am watching now, cannot hold my interest as much! I should detach myself from my games and be more disciplined in putting down my iPad Mini when it’s time to sleep.
I had a follow-up appointment at the hospital last Friday, and all are fine with me now. Phew. I only have to continue my meds, and the road to recovery is clear.
Technically, I’m not supposed to drive or go for long car journeys nor exert myself yet, i.e., no golf for a while. So I’m staying put, not going anywhere to usher in the Lunar New Year of the Water Rabbit.
And to keep myself busy, I have decided to finish up the DIY miniature that has been sitting on my table for months, a wise decision to minimize my dependency on my iPad Mini constantly.
There’s progress, and I should be able to display this with the rest of the completed sets. Yay. However, I’m wondering whether I should immediately jump into the next one – DIY project #26. Hmm. We shall see.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup just concluded with the final match last night. I am not a football fan and did not follow nor watch any of the games the past month.
With Argentina prevailing to be the champion this year, it brought back memories of me being a fan decades ago. It was when Argentina won that year in 1986. And the rave then was, of course, the maestro Diego Maradona. I think I was using the World Cup fever as an excuse not to study for my exams! Hahaha.
I remember I had kept newspaper clippings of the great Maradona, but after the 1986 World Cup ended, so did my interest in the game. And Argentina has not won any further World Cup trophies until this year.
So I watched the highlights of the Final match this morning on my iPad Mini, and it was indeed thrilling. Will it revive my interest in the game? Am I a Lionel Messi fan? Hmm, good question.
Nonetheless, a toast to Argentina for their victory! France can also hold their heads high for giving the world such a high adrenalin-packed World Cup Finals.
I started DIY project number 25 two days ago. Woohoo! I forced myself to stay away from my games on my iPad Mini to work on it. It was a good decision as there was less time on the iPad, and I could focus better on crafting.
DIY project #25 has kicked off!
DIY project number 25 is another small set. After working on those few minuscule sets, I find them more therapeutic for my mind and patience. And since I recently purchased three new mini kits in the series of six, I decided to work on the Sweet Jam Shop first. And it looks like all the larger sets that I have will have to take a backseat for a while.
Over the weekend, I deleted the Cat Condo II app from my iPhone XR. After playing it for so long, I finally managed to collect all 32 species of cats available. In the process, I amassed a fortune, just like the original Cat Condo game.
All the cats in Cat Condo IIEvery species on the board plus some extras and space are still available!
I was contemplating deleting the app from my phone a few weeks ago. After all, it’s a mundane time-wasting game, and I did delete the original Cat Condo game when I managed to collect all the species available.
So with the game gone, I don’t have anything mundane to turn to because of late, I’ve been playing Homescapes on the phone, and this game is just too time-consuming. I have given up playing Homescapes on the iPad Mini because the device cannot support the app anymore. Sigh. I need to find a new mundane game soon.
Last week, I had an unfortunate mishap that resulted in unnecessary injuries. It wasn’t even clumsiness and totally my fault. I was looking at my iPad Mini and not the stairs when I was walking down, and I missed the last step. The iPad went flying, I took a tumble and both landed with a thud. Ouch!
Quickly, I hobbled to the sofa and iced the right ankle because it was throbbing the most. Icing was a good precaution to reduce the swelling. But somehow, a good bump still developed. Strangely, the left ankle had a donut effect which I’m sure was not there before. Hmm… Thankfully all other body parts were intact and no bruises. Phew.
A week ago: a lovely donut and a bump!
While I should rest, I played golf the next two days because firstly, I didn’t feel too uncomfortable after the mishap, and secondly, they were games that I couldn’t cancel.
The Tuesday game was out of sorts because I was very conscious not to put weight on the right leg even though I wrapped the ankle, and hobbled pretty much throughout the game. The next game on Wednesday was slightly better as I was more relaxed and didn’t focus too much on the ankle which was wrapped again. I hobbled less and played so much better.
To be safe though, I stopped playing golf for a week after that. The donut on the left leg is less pronounced now but the bump on the right leg is still there albeit smaller.
I find that at certain angles when I walk down the stairs too fast, I can feel a pinch in the nerves because the movement compresses the ankle area. So I have to remember to descend slowly or sometimes move like a crab, sideways.
Ankles aside, I discovered to my dismay two days later, some discomfort on my left wrist! Yikes… I just hope nothing too serious.
It’s been a week already since the mishap. I try to ice the right ankle whenever possible, massage the left ankle and left wrist daily, and hope for a speedy recovery. I play my regular game tomorrow and we shall see how I hold up.
My iPad Mini has been acting up again. These days I use it mostly for the game Homescapes and it has not been stable. Sometimes when I try to play a level after launching the app, it’d just quit the game.
So much so, I have to resort to doing a hard reset, which is just about several times at each attempt to play. And every time after I do this, it does not help the situation.
The worse part of my Homescapes woes is that the game is not synced with the iPhone XR! The levels on the phone are not updated to the more advanced levels on the iPad Mini, I don’t know why… sigh.
Just when I thought my iPad Mini is nearing its end and usage, it found a new lease in life. Two and a half months ago, I started playing Homescapes on my iPhone XR and have been at it constantly.
One day, to my horror, I discovered this activity drained one per cent off the phone’s battery health. Eeeks! Can’t allow this to happen. So brilliantly, I thought of using the iPad Mini instead for Homescapes and give my phone a breather from constant usage.
The iPad Mini is now experiencing a revival especially with this game despite some occasional instability but generally, the game can be played online and offline as well. It’s okay if I don’t use it to read the news on Safari or even crush candies because after all, the Daily Bonus streak snapped already on Candy Crush Soda.
The end is not nearer for my faithful iPad Mini and my iPhone XR’s battery health is intact. But during this MCO period, there’s a surge in using the phone to keep up with news and social media while the iPad Mini is purely for Homescapes. I am at Level 1783 now and expect to move up to pass another day in quarantine.
Angieneering 
Remarks