Little Ninis

So I finally got a Switch and Zelda BotW! <3

Long time since last post but still very much in love with ARK! We have since moved on from The Island, to The Center and now we are playing on Ragnarok map. It’s an absolutely excellent map! Beautiful and exciting to explore with some new wildlife as well. Misse is building amazing structures while I am breeding birds hehe. The big and beautiful Argentavis! It’s so much fun trying to get good stats and hoping for cool color mutations. It’s a game within the game! My biggest issue is getting enough meat to keep the birds happy. We play on our own server and turned off friendly fire so I can’t breed creatures for meat. Otherwise I would have a meat farm for my birds as well!

Current obsession is playing ARK: Survival Evolved together with Misse. It is my childhood dream come true. It combines so many fantastic things that Ninis love! I actually got the game from Misse back in 2015 but my old computer couldn’t quite run it and it was riddled with bugs so we put it on hold. Decided to give it a try again now and we’re having so much fun! Runs like a charm on my new(er) computer. First of all, Ninis loved dinosaurs when she was young and still has a soft spot for them. Second, games where you can take care of, breed and train creatures is a genre that is absolutely fantastic! Those two combined with survival and crafting, and I feel like this is a game I can play for a very long time! It’s actually pretty hard as well which is great! But also heartbreaking and last week I was absolutely depressed because of my struggles in Ark. Playing, you should know that everything that you love will die.

And like the internet somehow knew it was the right moment, today I read a post with amazing relationship advice from people married 10+ years. A booster starter pack for us to read! Spoiler: communication is key!

Monday afternoon when Ninis came home from work the internet was down. The “restart everything-protocol” was initiated of course but after 15 minutes of investigating, it turned out the problem was not on my end, but with my internet provider. They were aware of the problem and working on a solution. No solution came though until Tuesday morning. The wait was long.. Sooo long D:

May it be full of great events for everyone! Ninis and Misse welcomed the new year together with friends by eating tacos and playing board games. Ended last year with breaking the left CTRL-keycap on my keyboard… I’d like to think that it’s because I’m very sneaky in 7 Days to die... but I think it’s been under stress for a long time. I press it with a curled pinky and probably always a bit to the side of the key, so the stress on it is never centered. Moved the right one over so it’s fine but it bothers me that one cap is missing. I thought i’d buy some new fun colored keycaps but it seems the keycaps are not standard sizes on my keyboard and especially not the CTRL-keys. They are wider than the ALT-keys but smaller than CAPS-LOCK… Having a nordic layout keyboard is probably not making it easier either.

7 Days to die is a surprisingly addicting game. I think about it before I go to sleep, dream about being chased by the bears, and when I wake up my head is full of ideas for base building. It’s probably not healthy. I need a light in my living room so it doesn’t get so dark in there. Might be zombies hiding in the corners D: Or the wolves! No not the wolves!!!

Misse took me on a week-long vacation to the beautiful and sunny island of Gran Canaria! We stayed at a huge but very calm hotel with a beautiful garden filled with cacti! I love cacti XD We spent the days enjoying the food, sun and of course the pool and there was always a show in the evening that was free for the guests staying at the hotel. There was a Queen cover band playing one evening and they were SO GOOD! Ninis did not want to go home again...

As long as phones are charged, Misse and Ninis keep in contact during the whole day. I’m notoriously paranoid about keeping battery charge high. If it drops below 25% it is time to find a charger fast! Misse on the other hand wait much longer and loves to text: “ 2% battery left” just to make me fret.

Autumn is a great season for borrowing Misse’s hoodies. Best ones are the ones he’s been wearing for a while already so they are infused with his smell hehe. He doesn’t seem to mind: “There’s a hoodie hanging in the bedroom! *hint hint vink vink* ”

Me and Misse have been playing Northgard this week. It’s still in early access but, WOW, it is amazingly fun and look so polished already! So far we have been trying out 2vs2 against AI, and tomorrow we will probably crank up the difficulty level of the AI to hard and see how it goes. I think Ninis is going to die. With the clans being animal-themed, one can always hope for Clan of the Rabbit. Right? SEGER!

Summer vacation is over and It’s back to work. It was a confusing last week when Ninis had to try and remember what the morning routine use to be. I almost forgot to bring my lunch to work several times. Weather has not been great this summer so no lake swimming unfortunately and not as many sunny walks with Misse as i had hoped. Other than that it has been great! Last day of vacation was at least super sunny and warm so we played some mini golf and ate ice cream. The view from my window at the office has never been especially interesting. It’s actually pretty ugly. But now at least there will be some entertainment outside for quite some time! The building opposite my window is being taken down so it’s interesting to see day by day how it is being stripped down and taken apart. Everything sorted so the materials can be recycled correctly of course which is good, but how fun it would be to sneak there during the night with a wrecking ball and “help” them take it down a little faster. A new building is planned to be built in it’s place which will be fun to watch as well, but I imagine the construction will be noisy -_-

Me and Misse took a little day trip on the ferry last Sunday. Misse have been on the ferry many times but it was the first time for Ninis. They have a big buffet which is super popular so you have to reserve tables in advance. All food was clearly marked with allergy information so I did not have to worry or ask about the dishes. Among the desserts was a super yummy almond and chocolate cake that really filled up the last space in my stomach. We did some tax free shopping as well where we bought perfume and loads of candy. White chocolate Toblerone, you belong to me now! A bag of M&M’s and some licorice also found their way into my shopping bag. Normally I eat candy quite slowly so this stash will hopefully last for a while but with the occasional chocolate craving it could be gone in  no time at all.

Scents  are fascinating to Ninis. I enjoy thinking about scents that I like and I fantasize about smelling them. Last year on my way to work, there was a short stretch of road where the air had the scent of ripe plumes during the later part of summer. I never saw any plum trees nearby though. I’m curious if the scent will be back this year. I hope so. When getting a sniff of something that smells familiar, finding the right memory or association for that scent is a great play for the mind. I love the scent of Misse’s apartment. It’s quite strong and very unique but in a very good way. Every time I step through his door, I’m reminded of the first time I was invited into his home. Besides being near-faint-nervous, my first thoughts about his apartment was actually about the smell. Back then, I thought he had done something special to make the place smell like that, just for the occasion of having me over. By now I know it is just the way his home smells. I wish I could borrow someone else's nose and enter my own apartment to find out what my place smells like. Would I like it?

Ninis was sitting in front of the computer this Friday when the doorbell suddenly rang. I froze in my chair, trying to be quiet so the visitor would think that I wasn’t home. But the doorbell just kept on ringing so I was forced to open. Surprise! Misse with flowers! Misse had fooled me all day into thinking he was at work and then later at home, doing normal stuff, when he was actually on his way to me! He also bought movie tickets to the new Spider-man: Homecoming movie for Saturday! I’m really losing track of all the different spider-man movies now, but quite enjoyed this one. It had a lot of humor. I like that. This morning we ate breakfast on the balcony in the sun. Toast topped with orange marmalade for me and sliced boiled eggs for Misse. Since it has been a weekend of surprises, I took the opportunity to give him an engraved pendant during breakfast. Now we’re beginning the countdown for the last few days before summer vacation!

From gloriously happy -> content -> confused -> sad and lastly, to burning furious. In an hour. Ninis is waiting for her mood to settle back to sad, as it always does, and then I can figure out what to do instead of sleep. At least i had rage fuel enough to draw a demon bunny. Always wanted to draw that.

Only two weeks left now until summer vacation! Last year during this time, work was so very very busy with deadlines that needed to get done before everyone left for vacation, but this year… Ninis is almost bored. I like bigger projects with a lot of close collaboration with my colleges but right now, it’s mostly smaller tasks and projects to finish up on my own. Last summer vacation was fantastic! Weather was mostly warm and sunny. Misse and I would take walks in the sun during the days and watch movies and eat popcorn during the nights. Small day trips here and there, and just enjoying each others company. My before-summer-is-over-bucket-list this year would be:  lots of sunny walks with Misse (close together under an umbrella is fine too!), visit my family, swim in lake during family visit (but water must be warm!), barbecue dinner and buy comfy sandals. And with whatever points Misse has on his to-do-list for the summer, I’m sure we will keep busy when we’re not relaxing^^ I can barely wait!