I got NMS on sale for $20 last year sometime, just after that first of the big updates began to turn it into something decent.

First planet I came across I named "Iwi Katea" after my hometown, it also had a "barren" moon that I named "My Hopes and Dreams" before finding a radioactive planet I called "Ze Goggles, zey do Nothing". But now? Everything I encounter just has it's in-game name cause man it's tiring coming up with shit nobody will ever read.

My brother and I account share so we take turns buying new games, Borderlands 3 has now dropped and we'll be getting acquainted tonight I think; sometimes you just need to shoot shit and zone out.

That was a hell of a read.

I don't know if I should thank you for posting it.

Man..

I received the same advice! So I don't skimp on tyres, my bed which cost me a pretty penny and any shoes I buy outside of ones specifically for gym training.

Hah, the launching is too real. Trying to hop in peacefully and wind up slapping the other occupant against the wall.

Our family used them - I had one in the mid 90s!

But yeah they leaked something awful and when one was caught leaking, we did away with them all. Lesson learned I guess?

In relation to my previous Pubski post my friends proposal went successfully and they are now engaged.

That drink looks really nice. Whatever it is.

I listen to music in the shower and practice little dance moves first thing in the morning.

Some for lifting/gym training. Very specific things that don't do anything outside of mark mental cues for when it's 'go-time'.

The butt wiggle before a deadlift, the hands clasped before bench, the head nod (3x, no more, no less) before unracking a bar for a squat.

Actually, training itself is a sort of ritual. It signals the end of my day - I walk from work to my gym, then go about my training for the next couple of hours. Once I'm done there I'll hop on the bus or get in my car if I drove, and that's my day done. The ride home I'll listen to some soft music and unwind, before cooking dinner (which I find relaxing) and hanging out with my partner and flatmates.

An important one though, whenever I get home and my partner is already home, the first thing I do is seek her out and kiss her as a greeting. She's on to this now, so she'll hide and I have to earn that kiss. If I beat her home I'll hide and she has to find me for said smooch. I also leave for work before she gets up, so our morning ritual ends with me giving her a kiss on the cheek, and she'll sleepily turn her head to get another kiss on the lips, then I'm out the door.

I asked her once if this annoyed her as she's clearly still sleeping, but she said whatever her sleepiness conveys, she'd be distraught if I changed it up now.

After visiting some University friends I realized how lucky I've been with flatmates the past few years. I've lived with my best mate since about 2014, we would change houses when we can and slowly upgrade from student freezers to actual homes.

Since around 2016 we've culled the flatmates down to our respective partners and there's never been an argument, no cleaning roster needed, no drama at all.

Shit the conversations around using another person's stuff amounts to just Always Sunny references:

"Hey I'm out of eggs can I snag two of yours?"

"I am untethered and my rage knows no bounds"

Gonna miss him next year, but I certainly don't miss the previous setup with 5 randoms in a house.

I've got the various hellos/good mornings/good evenings down along with some basic food items, and of course 'thank you'. I can introduce myself with a little bit of pondering!

Have heard from a few people that the everyday Japanese person will find a genuine attempt at the language far more welcome compared to just not bothering. So am hoping to be able to greet people comfortably at least!

Will be sure to take heaps of average phone photos.

Helping my best mate propose to his girlfriend this weekend.

When he mentioned he wanted to propose at some point, earlier this year, I set to work making a scavenger hunt because his girlfriend is quirky as anything and my friend is far more pragmatic than creative. This has served us very well in our friendship so I don't begrudge him that at all.

So this Saturday we'll pretend to go to the gym for our usual training, and instead mission about town handing out clues to specified areas and explaining the situation to the staff at each place. The locations were picked A) for nostalgic purposes during their courting/budding relationship and B) to have her cross the entire city more than once to eat up time because the second I give her the first clue she will piece everything together in an instant - and I'll struggle to keep a straight face as she bursts into happy tears. So I need her to be busy for a good 90 minutes to 2 hours while my friend sets up the place he has booked for the night. Once she stops crying she will set about being incredibly determined and will want to finish in record time, so the longer she has to travel the better.

All going according to plan, she'll bounce around locations for 90 minutes then eventually the last clue will have her contact me at a certain place and I'll give her some address details + suggest she pack an overnight bag before heading there. Once she arrives, he'll drop the knee.

In other news, my partner and I are taking an extra step, not just living together with flatmates, but moving into our own wee spot of our own. A family friend owns this nice brick, three bedroom house I actually lived in when I was a student. It's been renovated nicely and they're looking for tenants once more. So we'll take over the lease, have the extra bedroom as a studio of sorts and enjoy setting up our lives entirely on our own terms.

Plus we're allowed a cat. Once we move in, first order of business is to head to the nearby SPCA and adopt a cat. Preferably one that has been there a while, we want to give a home to an animal that has been denied one for too long.

Our Japan trip is coming up! I've mastered saying "I'm sorry/excuse me" and have started sampling some vaguely Japanese food so I'm not entirely flabbergasted when we arrive. My partner speaks Japanese thankfully so I'll rely on her a lot while using my adorable foreigner charm to hopefully step on as few toes as possible.

Hope you're all well.

I'm really finding that to be the case. I have a blast learning about it all and applying it, but being able to watch someone, tweak things and watch them go about it is a whole 'nother level.

I have a large band that I use before my gym training to keep my shoulders warmed up - I do these dislocations methodically and the older powerlifting guys tried it once, only able to get their arms above their heads, couldn't go any further.

Next week they all had a band of their own to work on their shoulder flexibility, it was adorable but also scary that they simply never noticed it until they tried that specific movement.