Month: August 2019

Ramblings: Best Bus Ride Ever

Ramblings: Best Bus Ride Ever

by Heather ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

First, let me just get my inner excited girl out… “EEEEEEeeeeeEEEEEeeeEEEEE!!!!!”

Alright, sorry, I just had to get that out of my system. I had basically one of the best bus rides ever today.

Normally, I sit there, on the front most seat behind the driver (yes, that is my ‘spot’), and write in my notebook or stare into space while listening to my music. I take note of the other riders – since I take the bus at the same time every day, I see a lot of repeat riders, which is pretty cool. I chat with a lady and her three-year old most mornings as they go to daycare, and some evenings on the way home to!

There is this one girl that I’ve seen often in the mornings. She stands out to me, as she always wears beautiful clothing with bold colors or patterns, her make-up is exceptional and her hair is basically perfect. With all this beauty, I never had the guts to say hello even though she always has a ready smile on her lips.

Today she broke the ice. We locked eyes and smiled when she got on the bus, and then she took out her music to say hello and ask how I was. Not to be rude, I followed suit and we exchanged compliments. By that I mean, I gushed that her outfits are always amazing, she told me she always eyes up my hair, and I followed up with how awesome her curls were.

With both of us suitably complimented and embarrassed, she inquired if I went to school at the university, a valid question since the bus went through there every morning and she got off to transfer on the first stop in. No, I told her, I’m writing a story.

Her face bloody well lit up and that smile I keep admiring came out in force. She asked about it, getting a little tongue tied, before getting out the question of what was it called. I told her the series name, and how that name came to be – the shattering, the anchor shards, where we get out stories of fantastical creatures from. She asked if she could read it, but I hemmed and hawed – I don’t know her well enough!

We are going to exchange contact information next time, and she wants to introduce me to another friend of hers who has published a book or three. She seems like a very gregarious, extroverted person, which is pretty cool.

Anyway, after she got off on her stop, another lady on the bus was like “I couldn’t help but overhear” (I’m loud, yo!) and then WE started talking about writing and books and my story and honestly it was the best ever.

Both of them thought the premise of my book was really interesting and want to read it, and both wished me copious amounts of luck in getting to that dream! Well, luck was wished, I simply assumed it was copious.

Well, that is about all I really wanted to gush about today.

Take care,

An overly excited Arcia

Storytime – Perfection in Heels

Storytime – Perfection in Heels

by Heather ♥ 2 Comments

I couldn’t stop staring, along with all the men and half the other women in the room. She was beautiful. Gorgeous. Stunning. Perfection in heels. Conversations ceased when she strutted into the room and the devilish little smile that graced her cherry red lips said she knew she was the cause.

Her dress, the same color as her painted lips, touched just below her knees and seemed to float around her, the fabric was so light and breezy. Every movement she made showed off a tantalizing flash of her thigh and suggested at more. The dress was cinched at her waist with a broad black belt that served to show off her hourglass figure. Backless, with a bejeweled halter neckline – real diamonds, I was willing to bet. She wasn’t a Swarovski kind of lady.

As she danced, alone, all eyes were on her. But none dared approach.

I drained my glass; liquid courage at its best. Squaring my shoulders, I smoothed my dusky pink skirt and met her on the dance floor.

Her smile would have warmed my heart, were it not firmly stuck in my throat. I managed a smile back; a weak grin before her brilliance. Extending my hand, I managed to croak “Would you do me the honor?”

She placed her perfectly manicured hand in my own, seemingly not noticing the chips in my polish, and brought me into her world.

We danced, heels flashing, skirts twirling, my eyes never leaving hers. Hers never leaving mine. I could feel the rest of the room watching, I sensed their seething jealousy. All I could do was grin, my lips stretching with a joy I could not contain.

They hadn’t been brave enough to enter her sphere, but I had. And I would never leave.

 

[Author note: I had actually originally written a paragraph with the woman in red having the perfect male dance partner. But I just couldn’t get past that paragraph until I deleted it completely and let the dance take over]

Ramblings: Internet Safety

Ramblings: Internet Safety

by Heather ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

It amazes me the number of people who will click suspicious links or open attachments they are not expecting. When I first started going online, way back when it was a whole new world and you used a modem that screeched and yelled at you, there was one thing that I learned quickly and have endeavoured to never forget: Do not click links you weren’t expecting. Do not open attachments you weren’t expecting. Doesn’t matter if you know the person they came from – double check! A quick message can save you so much headache.

The world is far more online now than it was when I first started my forays into forums and chat rooms, so it boggles my mind that people are not more aware of the big “no-nos” when it comes to keeping yourself safe online. The consequences nowadays are so much more than they once were.

I will admit, I’m not perfect. I’m certain I’ve clicked on a suspicious link or two in my past, and paid the price for doing so. And sometimes, despite your best efforts, you get bombed with an ad that has some sort of spyware in it and your computer gets fried. I get it, it happens.

But when you just go through your life, blindly clicking on every link that gets sent your way? Well, I’m sorry to say it, but you probably deserved whatever you got from that.

Don’t. Click. Suspicious. Links.

A good friend send you a link unexpectedly, with accompanying text saying something similar to “check this out”? Chances are you shouldn’t trust the link. But Arcia! you say, feeling a little hurt, that came from my best friend! Well, don’t click it until you’ve confirmed your friend intended to send you that link. Or attachment. Or whatever. It isn’t hard. And I would recommend you ask them on a different platform, just in case someone has gotten into their account rather than just made it send stuff out.

And you know what, while I’m talking about doing stupid things that cause you grief, I’m just gonna throw this out there. Companies will NEVER, not EVER, request that you pay them back by purchasing and providing the codes for Google Play cards, or PSN cards, or any other form of gift or product card. Will not happen. I don’t care how legitimate it seems, it isn’t. If you are really 100% certain that this is not a scam (seriously, though?) then take the time to call the number on verified correspondence from said company. Is it your phone company? Call the number on your account statement. Bank? Same deal. If you get online statements, then go to their official website. Don’t follow the link from an email or text message, but actually go and google their official website, if you don’t know the actual website address.

Links can be spoofed.

Protect yourself!

A concerned Arcia.

Gaming: Stardew Valley

Gaming: Stardew Valley

by Heather ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

You know what I want to write about? One of my favourite games, something that I go back to quite often. Yup, that’s right. Stardew Valley.

A farming sim game, with adorable characters and what can sometimes be a very tragic storyline.

Now, I’ve played Harvest Moon games since the first iteration on the SNES. I still remember my older brother telling me I wouldn’t like it – I sure showed him! Farming sim games are among my absolute favourite, so when we (husband and myself) first heard about Stardew Valley we were sold. Then we heard about Stardew Valley multiplayer, and we were extra sold.

We picked up the game on a Humble Monthly subscription, a subscription purchased solely because Stardew Valley was the featured game for it. I don’t even remember what the other games were, they do not matter. Farming was all.

I’ve sunk more than 200 hours into the game since we got it. My Steam account says about 220, but we got a separate extension to use a couple mods and I’m not certain if Steam recorded those first hours played.

Stardew Valley is, first and foremost, a game about running your farm. Your farm that is filled with weeds, trees and stones after years of neglect. So you start small, planting a few turnips, picking a few wild plants, and schmoozing with the town folk. When you save up enough from crop sales, you can start looking into raising some animals at your farm, such as chickens or cows.

Not long into the game, you get to make a very big decision. Are you going to be the kind of villager that wants to give back to the community and help make it a better place for all, or are you going to be consumed with profit, profit, profit. Rebuild the Community Hall, or pay for a JoJo membership and watch the space be turned into a storage facility.

I, personally, have not bought into JoJo’s pitch, and have played my games assisting the community and rebuilding the lovely Community Hall. I do plan on doing a JoJo playthrough, of course, but first I have to finish getting a few more achievements with my current playthrough. Most notably, I only have one bebe and need a second one for the achievement. I haven’t decided yet if I will start my JoJo playthrough after that, or if I’ll try to get a few of the more difficult (for me) achievements, such as catching all the fish.

One thing that I find very captivating about this game is the depth and realness that the developer put into the other villagers. They all have their own stories, which are slowly revealed to you as you become friends, or more, with them.  One of my personal favourite story lines is that of Shane, a depressed, alcoholic love interest.  He starts out quite rude to you, will barely give you the time of day and he quite clearly does not appreciate your efforts to become friends. You learn, though, that this hardened exterior is a cover for a very vulnerable person who has experienced a lot of pain in his life. I almost cried at a couple points, the details of his story were just so poignant.

With adorable sprite-like characters, the ability to not only customize your character from the outset but to also change up the appearance down the road, together with a charming small-community feel, makes this game a must-have if you enjoy any sort of sim type game.

Of course, given how long it has now been out, I doubt I’ve reached anyone new with this post, but I just wanted to talk a bit about a game that I love so much.

Happy farming,

-Arcia