#catfishchat

I cut a patch out of an old pair of jeggings - I never looked up what the difference between the fabrics was, but the jeggings are stretchy so they'll probably be fine? anyway they're a close enough color and it's what I had. So I trimmed, ironed and initially pinned the patch.

then before going back to the video I was using for reference, I decided to loosely stitch the rip together just to hold it in place. Found out later that the person I was watching fully stitched it together, but only after fixing the outsides of the rip to the patch...but then they said it ended up not quite closed properly, so I'm glad I did mine ahead!

Didn't feel like the pins were secure, so I basted it in place - this also really helped show me where the edges of the patch were. and below is the final mend! (before I pulled out the basting. I'm wearing these right now and I don't feel like getting another photo). The thread I had was obviously darker than the jeans and the damage is still obvious, but I've been told that while wearing them you basically can't see the damaged area, so the patch is more for durability than modesty.

And here's the inside. Despite measuring multiple times ahead, the patch didn't quite cover the end of the rip, which you can kinda see where I stitched around the rip and went off the patch. But since most of it is over the patch and I further sewed the rip itself shut, I'm hoping it'll be okay. Worst comes to worst I add another patch. Also, you can kinda see some whip stitching on a small portion of the edge of the patch - the video I watched advised me to do it around the whole edge to secure loose part, but I'm wearing the jeans right now and I can't feel patch at all, including any loose edges. I stitched pretty close to the edge. HOWEREVER, when I was pulling the basting out I broke one of the stitches, so I just tried to secure the broken ends in place with a new thread. Fingers crossed.

(Behold my masterwork: every stitch is a different size.) I didn't plan to try this by hand, but I lost access to a sewing machine. This's the first time I've fixed something that wasn't socks, and these fit me really well, so I'm excited to see how it goes! And speaking of socks:

again not saying it’s perfect or for everyone, but boy was it objectively good and I was the target audience

so yeah if my reblogs didn't make it clear I liked it

The main reason I don't watch many movies is that even early on in my life I noticed that I'd be emotionally drained and slightly depressed after watching even a lighthearted movie. idk it must be some sort of chemical imbalance that I could try to manage, but mostly I've managed it by watching fewer and fewer films. but conversely a movie seems to be a perfect length of time for me to absorb a horror story, because I felt energized afterwards.

I saw that some haters had called it slow or boring and like. it kinda goes at a consistent pace throughout and, appropriately, washes over you. it was very vibey and I really enjoyed it. I feel like your mileage my vary depending on how claustrophobic you are, among other things, and I found the fact that it's a bottle movie very very effective

I've never seen any of markiplier's videos before but I thought his acting worked well; definitely wouldn't've wanted anything hammier, it'd've taken away from the atmosphere. I do want to watch his playthrough of the game now

it did very accurately capture the feeling of watching a game being played, which I'm sure was not the intention; knowing it was a game adaptation I couldn't help imagining the directives being given out before each action the protagonist takes. but I like watching games so this was a good thing for me

(more spoilery-ness)

I thought it was a great use of tension that he early on finds a "skeleton" and very soon after that it's revealed that the camera takes x-rays, so you're immediately like "THAT WASN'T A SKELETON AAAAAA" and then everyone in the movie keeps calling it a skeleton, and, y'know, looking for it. normally that kind of thing bothers me but it actually made me wonder if the characters were all intentionally deluding themselves because of how scary the alternative was. and of course the monster was lovely, A+

so I think I picked up subnautica in 2019, and I still haven't beaten it; I got to a point where I had a nice base in the lost river in the skeleton cavern, but I think my biggest problem was that I had somehow not solved the energy problem? like I had had a really poor understanding of the different energy generators and was just relying on a bioreactor and power cell chargers. I think at one point I had a bunch of chargers in the cyclops bcs. idk that seems so obviously dumb and I did realize it but. that sort of thing was holding me back. otherwise I don't know why I wasn't attempting to head into endgame territory, but it seems like I didn't feel I had enough resources, and the trek out of the lost river to anywhere relevant was long.

So that's why I stopped playing the first time. But I LOVED Subnautica, it was always on my list of top favorite games, and I'd periodically dip back in just to sort of vibe even though I wasn't progressing. also at one point I lost that save file. so. back at square 1

I eventually tried Below Zero, and got pretty far in that too. But I initially didn't like it as much as the original; I really didn't like the land exploration, and I think I remember feeling like I spending a lot of time poking around and finding nothing new, esp after the new plot beacons slowed down. I also still had the problem of being debilitatingly terrified of anything that roared at me; one the one hand, fair, and that's sort of the entire point, but it isn't supposed to stop you from, y'know, playing the game. I was afraid of the freaking cryptosuchus for so long, and they're just big babies! like I don't want to encounter one outside of my seatruck, but I only recently learned you can fully sail past them and they won't do anything. I think maybe they snap at you but I've never been damaged by one. Then I accidentally ran face-first into a chelicerate of times...and learned you can totally survive those attacks. wow it's almost like they want you play the game and not punish you for exploring. so yeah the big scary monsters were initially too scary for me, and that was a roadblock.

ANYWAY, I lost my initial sbz file on the same system as the subnautica one, so I only recently decided to start over. What brought me back was actually seeing spoilers, and people drawing fanart of robin and al-an just hanging out...and I was like wait. wait. this was an alien romance this whole time??? like it didn't feel like the game was really going to go there.

but it DID. I mean. enough. she abandons humanity to journey with him, he says he can face anything if it's with her...ugh. it was great. and I really didn't know anything about the ending. I didn't know the whole thing about his past damage and outcast status...it was really cool that not everything had been spoiled for me by the time I got there.

Also I lied, I didn't see the ending, at least on my game file. I was playing on switch and it just fully bugged out. first it crashed when I tried to go through the portal, then the portal didn't work, I just kept walking through it to the other side instead of teleporting. tried standing it at various angles, nothing. read that there were definitely problems on switch, and I figured I was basically at the end and there were no more decisions to make, so I just watched the end online. a bit of a letdown, but a minor one.

so anyway. it really is a gorgeous game; I think the original also looks amazing, but bz really improves on everything. the environments are so lush. and the creatures are so gorgeous. I've seen so many high-definition monsters and aliens in games that looked great and clearly had a lot of thought put into them, but I couldn't put my finger on why they didn't feel real to me. All the animals in sbz feel real. They feel real to the point of really blending with the environment, and also...like you forget that these aren't depictions of real animals. not like you think the things on the screen are real, but you start to feel like they do exist out the world. or another world.