It's been "one of those days" today, and I'm pretty glad it's over.

I came downstairs this morning to get ready to do my usual weekend stuff for MoeGamer and YouTube, and was confronted by a message I hadn't seen for a few months at this point, helpfully informing me that my computer couldn't find a boot device.

The last time I saw this message, I bought an SSD and installed Windows on it, and this solved the problem. Apparently not quite well enough, however, because it appears that my old hard drive, which was still in the computer just in case I needed anything off it, was the one that had the Windows Boot Manager on it. And when this apparently gave up the ghost completely sometime last night or this morning, it took the ability to boot with it.

Fury. Nothing makes me frustrated and angry more than a computer that doesn't work for no apparent reason. Particularly when things just keep going wrong after an initial disaster. And today, shortly after we determined that yes, there was indeed a serious problem here, I pressed the Power button on the case, something went "snap" and the button didn't come out again, meaning it was now impossible to turn the computer on or off using that button.

Great.

Fortunately, through a team effort between me and Andie, we managed to diagnose the problems and jury-rig a solution. Andie managed to pull the actual switch part of the button out of the case and "mount" it outside the case so it's usable again now, while I did some digging online about how to set up a Windows Boot Manager on a drive that doesn't have one.

If you ever find yourself in the same situation, the "Method 2" on this page worked perfectly up until the final step, after which "BillyBigun"'s second answer on this page finished the job nicely without having to reinstall Windows or reformat my SSD. Relief.

Pour one out for that old 1TB hard drive, though, we've been through some shit together, and now it's finally time for it to rest.

Just a brief one today as I've been out most of the day and I'm pretty tired.

However, I'm delighted to introduce you to the newest member of our household, Patti!

I think it's fair to say that she's settled in quite nicely so far. Meg isn't quite sure what to make of the situation yet, so we haven't let them come directly face to face so far. I think she'll be okay though.

Slimming World is going pretty well so far. Another 2.5lb off last night, which puts me very nearly at a stone and a half in total lost since I started back in December.

I'm not anticipating seeing a huge loss this week (or even a loss at all) as Andie and I had a celebratory "treat" pizza for Valentine's last night, and I'm seeing friends this weekend and there will probably be takeaway involved. I can be "good" for the rest of the week, though, and I've even had weeks like this in which I've still lost weight, so I'm not too worried.

In fact, I'm not too worried in general, really, because something like slimming is all about the big picture over the long term. As long as there is a downward trend over that long term, all is good; a maintain or even a gain in a single week doesn't matter in that context, so long as you then do something about it and get "back on track".

If you're looking to lose weight and you haven't explored Slimming World as yet, I can highly recommend it. I've had considerable success with it in the past, and it's good in that it's a diet that doesn't "limit" you too much. Okay, you still have to take care with how much in the way of sugar, fat and suchlike you have, but the way this is calculated — through "Syns" and "Healthy Extras" — is simple and easy to work out, rather than having to constantly count calories and suchlike.

If you want to see how much of a positive impact my last time around on Slimming World had on me, check out my open letter to the consultant of my group at the time from 2015. This letter actually got pretty widely shared, and I'm doing my best to recapture that feeling this time around. My life is in a better place now, so hopefully things will continue to go in the right direction! Here's hoping.

Busy evening yesterday, so this kind of slipped my mind, apologies! As usual, two today to make up for it 🙂

It was Valentine's Day yesterday. Technically this is a one of several "anniversaries" for Andie and I but we tend not to do anything particularly "special" these days. I bought her a little present, she bought me a pizza. Fair exchange, I say!

Valentine's used to be a super-big deal to me, and also quite embarrassing at times. I wasn't the sort of person who tended to receive any Valentine's cards as a younger lad, and the few times I did send secret Valentines, people tended to know it was me immediately. On one particular occasion, I sent a Valentine to someone I didn't even particularly like; I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it was to avoid having to admit who the person I actually did like at the time was. Bizarre logic when you think about it, but oh well. Young love and all that.

Probably the most embarrassing Valentine I sent was back in university, when I actually tried my hand at writing some poetry. I actually don't think I did too bad with the compositions, but I also didn't keep any copies of them because after sending them I was exceedingly embarrassed by them. Also it didn't work. But oh well. I tried.

Ultimately I came to realise that there's no real point putting all the pressure on one single day a year if you're hoping to develop a meaningful relationship with someone. When it happens, it happens naturally and often when you least expect it. And when that happens, explore it, appreciate it, treasure it — even if it takes your life down an unexpected path!

I meant to watch the Nintendo Direct while it was on earlier. But then I forgot, because Dynasty Warriors 8. I will now watch the archive and react to it "live" for you.

First up, we have Mario Maker for Switch! This is great news. Mario Maker was fantastic on Wii U, and it deserves a second chance on a platform people actually bought. This is a full-on "sequel" too, not just a port. I'll be interested to see how it controls without the stylus of the Wii U GamePad, as just being able to "draw" stuff on that was great. It looks like we have a few new tilesets along the way, including Super Mario 3D World graphics, albeit only playing in 2D. June 2019. Bring it on!

Next up, some "Nintendo Switch headlines".

First, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 on Switch. Ten to fifteen years ago I would have cared, since I played this kind of game (Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance was a favourite) quite a lot with friends locally. Now? It's a pain to get people together, and these games just aren't fun if you play with randoms online. Not to me, anyway. Still, it's good to see a classic franchise back again.

Next up, Box Boy + Box Girl. Apparently this is a critically acclaimed puzzle game series, but I've never heard of it. It looks moderately interesting, but it looks a bit "generic indie game" so I probably won't be exploring this one when it comes out unless it is something really exceptional.

Super Smash Bros. 3.0 update coming soon. Joker will apparently be released by April, which isn't that far away now. Would be nice to know what the other DLC characters are going to be… or just a hint, anyway.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is getting a free update with two-player co-op, and paid downloadable content with 18 new levels. This was a cool game on Wii U, but I haven't bought it on Switch because I'd already had my fill. Good to see it getting some more support though — it's a great game!

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night shown off, and it's looking beautiful. Can't wait for this one. Looks like some really interesting stuff being done with the 3D visuals — reminds me of Nier: Automata in places. And there's character customisation! Looking forward to playing with that — I was a Kickstarter backer. Coming this Summer.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 next. I haven't played the first one yet, but Andie played it all the way through and enjoyed it. Having now gained a bit of experience with Dragon Quest, I might bite on this one. Oh, and the 2D retro-style map looks absolutely lovely! They know what they're doing. July 12th.

Dragon Quest XI on Switch. We knew this was coming, but not when. I'm looking forward to playing this, but will probably save it until after I play the earlier ones. I must finish V at some point! Oh, huh, you can play the game in 16-bit style 2D, and the Switch version has the orchestrated soundtrack and Japanese voices as an option. That's cool. Looks like this really will be the Definitive Edition, like they're calling it. Puff-puff. Coming this Autumn.

Disney Tsum Tsum Festival. Could be a fun party game, but again, I don't get the opportunity to play with local friends often enough to make this worthwhile. That said, the puzzle game in there looks like a ton of fun. Coming later this year.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas. Star Wolf is coming to this game in a new update this Spring. Interesting they're still pushing this, I thought it hadn't done very well. I think I'd rather see a new Star Fox game.

A "heartfelt fantasy adventure" with lovely 2D art and cute 2D graphics. Rune Factory 4 Special, a remaster for Switch! I'm up for this. I've never played a Rune Factory game as yet, but I am very much into this. Coming later this year. Rune Factory 5 is also in development, but no specifics shown yet.

Oninaki, a new action RPG from the developers of I am Setsuna, published by Square Enix. This is very pretty, with a nice high-contrast toon-shaded style and a contrast between "light" and "dark" worlds. Looks like a combination of action RPG hack and slash and monster-collecting funtimes. Coming Summer 2019.

Yoshi's Crafted World. We already know a fair bit about this game, but it's nice to see new footage. The aesthetic is really lovely; it's like Little Big Planet running at more than 25fps. And hopefully with better jumping. Demo version available right now as you read this! Releasing March 29th.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses. This was supposedly the main point of this presentation for a lot of people. I don't know Fire Emblem at all so I have no real investiment in this, but I'm curious to see it, as people seem to be excited about it. The visuals are really nice, with some cool anime cutscenes and some really nice character models. Apparently you start as a mercenary and move on to becoming a "teacher" of tactics at the Officer's Academy. The "three houses" of the title refer to the three houses of the academy, each associated with one of the three kingdoms that make up the game's setting.

I like the art style of this one a lot more than previous Fire Emblem games I've seen in that the characters don't all stand as if they've shat themselves, and they have feet. Gameplay-wise, it looks like Fire Emblem with gorgeous graphics, which is something I'm pretty up for, to be perfectly honest. This might be the game to get me into the series, particularly as it combines strategy RPG gameplay with some "raising" mechanics, which looks like a cool combination — as well as a replayable one. I just hope it isn't a DLC-fest. Coming July 26.

New Tetris game! 99 players. 1 winner. It's Tetris 99. Or, as other people on the Internet are calling it, Tetris Battle Royale. It's a free download for Nintendo Switch Online members, and should be out right now. Definitely going to give this a look.

Dead by Daylight. Don't care. I know some people like this on PC though. Performance looks at bit dodgy on Switch from the current footage, but it's not coming out until Autumn.

Deltarune for Switch. Still haven't played Undertale, so this doesn't mean a lot to me, but people are really excited about it. The version coming to Switch is the "Chapter 1" release that came out a while back for PC. Coming Feb 28 for free, though subsequent chapters will not be free!

Next up, Daemon x Machina, which looks super cool. It's getting some limited-time missions on eShop called Prototype Misions that will allow you to try out some of the mechanics and loadouts. There will be four in total to begin with, and the team are seeking feedback from players via an email survey, so if you give it a shot, be sure to let them know what you think. The full game is coming this Summer.

GRID Autosport coming to Switch. I like the GRID series despite generally not being a big "realistic racer" fan; GRID has always struck quite a nice balance between arcade and realism. Hopefully the Switch version will perform a little better than the trailer when it releases in Summer 2019.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Not a game I know a lot about, but I believe it was quite well received. Doesn't look super-appealing to me, but if the price is right I might check it out.

Mortal Kombat 11. Not really interested, but I know fighting game aficionados who are into it.

Unravel two. Indie puzzle platformer. March 22. Not for me.

Assassin's Creed III Remastered. A remaster of the Assassin's Creed game that no-one liked. Includes all DLC and Assassin's Creed Liberation.

Final Fantasy VII coming on March 26. Sweet.

Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon coming March 20. Awesome! I love the Wii version.

Final Fantasy IX available now. VIII remains doomed to forever be in limbo.

After that flurry of announcements, we have a cool-looking anime-style cyberpolice game with mechs and other cool stuff. And a great soundtrack. It looks very much like a Platinum game, and seems to have an interesting emphasis on cooperative gameplay, presumably with either an AI companion or maybe another player? Visual style is absolutely gorgeous, with super-cool character design and a gorgeous "dystopian future" setting with mechs and monsters.

Yep, it's a Platinum game, Kamiya is working on it. Astral Chain, coming 30th August. Probably. YES. I am all about that. Give it to me.

On the subject of PlatinumGames, Bayonetta 3 is still happening. No footage or further details though.

Finally, we have a frigging gorgeous-looking reimaginging of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, featuring art that is strongly reminiscent of that in the old Game Boy and Super NES manuals for the intro cutscene, and a Pikmin-esque in-game aesthetic with tons of tilt-shift and a rather "toy-like" feel. No specific date for this yet, just "2019". But we get to hear Marin sing, which brings my heart joy. Also that game is 26 years old. Fuck me.

And that's my fragmented thoughts on the Direct as it happened. Well, all right, not exactly as it happened, but I was typing this as I was watching it, so as near as dammit.

On the whole, I enjoyed that! Lots of things to be excited about, some things I didn't think I'd be excited about that I actually am (Fire Emblem!) and some cool surprises. I rate it good out of 10. But I'm not going on Twitter again this evening, because someone will be whingeing about it.

And on that note, good night!

Over the last year and a bit, I've come to appreciate "YouTubers" more than I have done in the past.

Hell, I'm at a point where I'd almost count myself in that category — at least I would if I did videos with more than double-digit view figures. But I'm cool with that; I have a nice group of people in the comments and I feel that aspect is more likely to go away the "bigger" you get.

Despite "getting" the medium a bit more than I have done in the past, I don't follow a lot of what I would describe as "big" YouTubers. Yes, I follow some of the more popular and successful — or at least well-regarded — gaming YouTubers, including LGR, The Game Chasers, Game Sack, Game Dave and ProJared, but I tend not to foray into super-popular territory like PewDiePie and the like. I have nothing in particular against PewDiePie, having never watched one of his videos, but what I know of his work also doesn't really appeal, either; I like the channels I've listed above for their "mature" take on gaming and their focus on more retro titles.

However, one exception to my "popular YouTubers" trend was a channel I came across entirely by chance, and indeed had no idea was even popular the first time I encountered it. That channel is Rhett and Link's Good Mythical Morning, a show that has kind of evolved through a variety of different formats over the years, but which has always provided an extremely "welcoming" and inclusive feel, regardless of whether you're watching a video for the first time or if you're a longtime devoted fan.

For the unfamiliar, Good Mythical Morning is — in its current form, at least — a daily show of about 15-20 minutes in length in which Rhett and Link, the two hosts, discuss something enjoyable mundane and meaningless, usually with some form of entertaining (and completely unscientific) "experiment" or game to complement what they are talking about. This might be seeing what happens if you leave various items in bleach for a month, or attempting to determine what a chocolate-covered household object is while blindfolded and using only your mouth.

The thing I like about Good Mythical Morning is that it provides a much-needed escape from the world — and one you can just sit back and enjoy rather than having to engage directly with it. They're never topical, they're never offensive, they're never political — but far from feeling like this is an oversanitised corporate affair, Rhett and Link always put across a very genuine feeling of friendship with one another, with their crew and with the viewer. You're being invited in to enjoy something dumb and silly with them, with no commitments or obligations; the only thing they want from you is for you to enjoy yourself.

The main Good Mythical Morning show is complemented by Good Mythical More, which is a more freeform, unstructured show that typically builds on what is in the main episode of the day, Saturday show Let's Talk About That, in which Rhett and Link are effectively "interviewed" by their producer Stevie about the things they have got up to that week, and Ear Biscuits, the duo's long-form podcast in which they talk about more weighty, adult issues — but still without setting foot into controversial, politically charged or even topical territory.

Andie and I both enjoy all these shows, which is great; it's always nice to find something that we both like. Good Mythical Morning typically accompanies our dinner in the evening, and we often fall asleep to an Ear Biscuits episode. Since we both started watching Rhett and Link's work, it's hard not to think of them as people we "know" at this point; it's a much more close, intimate relationship than you typically have with an entertainer, and it's a very pleasant feeling.

I'm sure not everyone will get along with their particular style of humour — especially when they get into more "gross-out" territory, but even there it's pretty tame and not offensively gross; it's just "oh, wow, I can't believe they did that" territory.

If all that sounds like fun, be sure to check out their channels I linked above; you might just find yourself falling in love like we did!

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is, it seems, coming back for a second season! I am delighted at this news.

Dragon Maid hails from the last season of anime I was actually organised enough to watch things as they were being broadcast (or at least to follow them week by week) and it was a great season all round. Between Dragon Maid, Interviews with Monster Girls and Gabriel Dropout, I had a lot of fun — and at least two of those shows have proven to be consistently popular with the fan communities of the Internet ever since. (Interviews with Monster Girls never seems to get quite so much love, but I thought it was probably the most interesting of the three in a number of regards.)

But anyway! Dragon Maid. If you've never watched it before, most of the information you need to know is in the title. Miss Kobayashi is a sad thirtysomething whose life is going nowhere in particular and is just sort of trudging along day by day, much as many of you reading this doubtless are. (I know I am!) However, one day she is surprised to discover a dragon at her door who is insisting on coming to live with her and be her maid. It seems that one night, she got extremely drunk and ended up saving the life of this dragon, who had been injured, and thus said dragon (named Tohru, or Tooru, depending on whose Romanisation you go by) decided that she really needed to repay this life debt.

The remainder of the series concerns Tohru's attempts to work as Kobayashi's maid, though of course, being a dragon (and a rather energetic one at that) she's not quite sure how to do the whole "human" thing properly. As the series progresses, we're introduced to a number of other dragons, all of whom are based on mythological figures, and they all have their own distinct (and rather unexpected) personalities.

In the first season, a couple of characters went a little underused, particularly Elma, who is a favourite of several people I know. Here's hoping that this second season allows her a little more time in the spotlight. And, of course, plenty more yuri goodtimes.

I'm really looking forward to this new season. There's no real details yet other than the fact it's coming, but hopefully we can look forward to it later this year. And who says none of the good anime ever get renewed for a second run?

Well, it's been a productive weekend, all told.

Obviously the most significant news is that we've secured a new cat, which means that next weekend we'll have a new addition to our "family" as well as — hopefully, anyway — a new friend for Meg, who has been quite lonely for quite a while now. I hope they get along; we took a blanket from the shelter with the new cat's scent on, and Meg has had a good sniff several times now without getting upset or anything, so that's a positive first step.

Aside from that, I've been doing some experimenting with video, as I mentioned previously. I've been fiddling around with the best ways to introduce videos "to camera", as it were, and then setting up a "Game Face" cam for while I'm playing. I never really know if I'm "supposed" to be doing anything particularly interesting while I'm playing, but I have found that knowing the camera is there helps me imagine that I'm talking to the audience a bit better. I can do things like make sidelong glances, react to things visually as well as audibly, and just generally have a good time.

And I've been quite surprised what a good time I actually have had with it! I was concerned that it might feel painfully awkward — and indeed, I feel like if I was doing this with someone else in the room, it would feel painfully awkward, since I don't even like having phone conversations with anyone else present, let alone recording videos or podcasts — but, much like I've come to enjoy recording myself speaking on these videos, I can already understand the appeal of appearing on camera as well as doing voiceovers.

Well, I guess it remains to be seen how my readers and viewers will respond to the videos as they start coming out. Today's Split/Second video was an experiment and had a few issues that I've already corrected for some subsequent vids, so watch out for those later in the week. And I'm sure I'll refine the format over time.

Will the new cat (or indeed Meg) appear in the videos, however? I'm sure that will happen at some point or another… but we'll have to wait and see!

Last weekend, we attempted to find a new companion for Meg, our surviving cat who has seemed to be very lonely since her friend (and possibly daughter) Ruby passed away last November. We were not successful.

This weekend, we tried again… and I think, I think we've done it!

We went out with the intention of looking at a very majestic-looking ginger tom called Roman, who was listed as being suitable for housing with other cats. Unfortunately, we got there and discovered that he hadn't finished being assessed for this aspect of his personality at the time he'd been listed, and sadly he would not be able to live in a house with another cat. A real pity, as he looked like a good boi. Still, I'm sure he'll get snapped up before long.

We happened to look at the other animal shelter in the area, and there was a cat listed who was suitable for living with other cats. Her listing noted that she "has occasional accidents" (i.e. shits in places she shouldn't) but was otherwise healthy and well, so we thought we'd go on down and have a look at her.

She's adorable. She was very shy — she's only just moved into the main cattery at the shelter, so she's still in that "adjustment" period — but she was very excited about getting some attention and fuss when we had a chance to meet her properly. She seemed extremely friendly, breaking into a loud purr and rolling over as soon as Andie and I started giving her a bit of petting, and I think we both fell in love pretty much immediately.

We had to have a bit of a discussion with the shelter about whether the "catio" we've built out the back of the house to prevent the cats from roaming (and hopefully preventing accidents like that which took Ruby from us happening again) would be suitable for Patti, the potential new arrival, but it seemed like things would be OK. Patti had apparently been abandoned, so there weren't many details available about her, but the shelter's initial assessments of her suggested she was probably more of a house cat anyway, so that should be absolutely fine.

So now all we have to do is wait — she's just recently had "the chop" and as such is still on some pain medication, so they need to keep an eye on her for a couple of days yet. But all being well, by next weekend we should once again be a two-cat household… and keeping our fingers crossed that Meg gets along with the new arrival!

Expect pictures.

Did I not write something yesterday? I was sure I did somehow. Absolutely convinced. But apparently I did not. My apologies. Oh well, let's catch up, then!

I've been enjoying making videos way more than I thought I ever would, so at the urging of my wife, I've taken a "next step" and invested in a couple of bits and pieces to allow me to do a bit more. Specifically, I've bought a lavalier mic, which allows me to record pieces to camera without having to block out my face with my large podcast mic and boom arm, and a mount for the tripod we have that allows me to put my phone into it. My phone records pretty good quality video footage aside from the sound quality, so combining it with the lavalier mic means I can appear "on camera" a bit more. Which will be nice. Hopefully.

To be honest, the reason I haven't looked into this a bit sooner is because I'm kind of nervous about it! I'm not a big fan of the way I look and as soon as you put yourself "out there" on a video, you invite anyone to come along and say mean things to you.

But then I thought about it: I used to feel that way about my voice, but in a couple of years of making videos now (and several years of making podcasts prior to that) I've actually come to quite like my voice, and I've even had a few compliments from people about it. That has helped give me a bit of confidence — so much so that I now make a whole bunch of videos each week without even thinking about the sound of my voice being "embarrassing". Perhaps appearing on camera will be the same way after a while.

Only one way to find out then: to do it! You'll be seeing the first of these tomorrow on this week's episode of Sunday Driving, and I'll be tweaking and fiddling around with the format and layout a bit over the course of a few other videos very soon. It's not a huge amount more faff to get the room set up to record me as well as the game, so I may as well experiment a bit and see how things go. If it doesn't work or if my visage shatters too many phone screens, I can always just slink back into the darkness again.

Anyway. That's that. That's what I've spent at least part of today doing. For what else I spent today doing… well, you'll have to wait for the next post, coming very soon!