Today I enjoyed my last halfway tasty meals before I go on the pre-scope diet until Tuesday. I also worked way too many hours yesterday and ended up asleep on the sofa in the afternoon. But I did play some FFVII rebirth this evening so that was nice!

In slightly cheerier thoughts! I'd forgotten that the Mycroft arc irked me in Elementary, but I do remember it ended so I'm pushing through. Pursuit of Jade is so good. And I've just hit Nibelheim in FFVII Rebirth and I'm both excited and very much not ready for how it could unfold this time.

I genuinely love Ellen's continued love for this game. I need to put it higher on my backlog to play.

Day seven of steroids and I feel awful in new ways while also awful in colitis ways, but some of those symptoms are easing. But it's also clear that there is still inflammation and I'm choosing to believe this is because it takes a while to heal, not that the steroids aren't working. I'm so tired

I just unblocked him for a second to check, and several people I know would not want to be following him are listed as following him, so definitely check just in case, if you followed him before everything came out.

I had a lovely weekend with @bishbosh.bsky.social visiting. I'm not up to big events - I was flattened yesterday by having a couple of shortish walks on Saturday - but it's nice sometimes to do quiet little things with someone else instead of alone.

The problem with following several content creators (here and on bluesky) who are big JRPG fans is that my backlog grows faster than I can play things. Is this really a problem though? This thought brought by enthusiastic and honest reviews for Starbites, now wishlisted.

I decided against it at first but I've now accepted my boss's offer to reduce my hours while I'm ill. We're going to trial an early finish so that I can introduce a daily nap into my life and see how that goes. I feel weird about citing fatigue as my big issue right now, but I'm so tired. So tired

Have traipsed up to the hospital pharmacy to pick up my massive bag of stuff. So many boxes of prednisone. So many. And also anti-ulcer drugs and high dose calcium and vitamin D. Have also purchased an extra pill sorter to make the pred taper easier to manage and track 😅

Endoscopy have sent me a booking confirmation for a different patient on a different day at a different hospital. So I'm playing phone tag to chase that. Sometimes managing the practicalities of a chronic illness is more work than my actual job.

The consultant saw my test results today and things are kicking off, the brakes have been released. He's ordered steroids for me to start ASAP (yes, without a scope) and I've got a sigmoidoscopy booked on the 26th. He's ordered it without prep to reduce strain on my bowel. Guess I really am sick?

I'm occasionally looking at the news headlines and feeling very "not this again" about it all. Then I quickly close the headlines and try to think about less depressing things, like trying to plan appetising meal despite an ulcerative colitis flare.

I'm sure nobody is actually all that interested but my colitis is still flaring and I'm still waiting on a date for a colonoscopy so they can decide what treatment to give me. I'm getting into the rhythm of managing the symptoms so that's helpful, but I'd much rather be managing some treatment.

I wasn't actually in chapter 10, only chapter 9, but I'm now in 10 and I think it might be my favourite so far? I adore Red XIII and really enjoyed his story and the entire Cosmo Canyon arc in the original. The version in FFVII rebirth is somehow even better. Just peak gaming here.

I am five episodes into Pursuit of Jade and this has clearly been made for me. It even has Zhang Ling He as the male lead. Tian Xi Wei is new to me but casting her as the incredibly beautiful and incredibly strong female lead? Excellent choice there.

Preorder listings now have the correct date! So I have preordered and I can now plan my play of first chapter to hopefully finish just before I get second chapter. If the cliffhanger is as intense as I've been told, I do not want to have to wait 😅

ALSO. The announcement of an upgraded PS5 release of the crossbell arc of the Trails games? It's like Falcom wants me to spend the last part of 2026 playing Trails games. Ok 😅 One of the things I'm loving with FFVII rebirth is squeeing at returning characters. Trails series is built for that.

I'm into chapter 10 of FFVII Rebirth (I've had a lot of gaming time) and I'm still really enjoying it although I'm also developing a twitch every time another mini game appears and is required for story progress. But all the stuff that's not mini games is so good it makes up for the mini games.

I booked today off for a longer bank holiday weekend so this morning I lazed around in my PJs until colitis symptoms eased off and then went out to run errands (pick up colonoscopy prep, buy my nephew's birthday card). This afternoon there was gaming and elementary. It's been a nice day.

The external hard drive was so easy, just plugged it in and formatted and we're going. PS4 games will automatically install there now (they can play directly from the drive) and it'll be fairly easy to store PS5 games there and move them over when I want to replay. Moving 600GB of games now 😅

Thanks to @maja-li.bsky.social I'm on an elementary watch binge. Three eps today. That show is so good.

In slightly more cheerful news, I have ordered an external hard drive for my PS5 because I'm struggling for space and the "don't want to uninstall because I'm probably going to replay" games are all massive. Also, I downloaded mass effect to play after FFVII rebirth and that's a lot.

Still waiting on a colonoscopy date but the first test results are back and I'm no longer worried that I might be exaggerating my flare 😬 Lovely boss has suggested I cut back my hours while I'm ill and I'm going to take him up on that. Feels weird to be desperately hoping for a colonoscopy ASAP.

Went into London to rub some training at my office (which was canceled because big wigs needed the room, grrr) and it was not good, commuting is not a good thing for my and my colitis flare. Lovely boss has agreed I can't do it and he wants me to prioritise my health over my work. So that's good.

I have finally had to admit that my current colitis flare isn't resolving on its own and needs professional attention. The IBD nurse team have already contacted me (left a message mid last week) and are getting appointments set up for various tests before they can start treatment. So that's fun.

Aah, yay, so glad expedition 33 is still selling. Really looking forward to seeing what this team does next in this world.

I'm into chapter six of FFVII Rebirth and I can now see why there was a lot discussion about the mini games. So many mini games. Thankfully none of them have blocked my progress with the story (unlike OG FFVII). And the story is so good. It's also got a lot of surprises, which I'm loving!

The company meeting ended ahead of schedule (someone clearly read them the riot act) so I was able to get home more smoothly than anticipated. It was all looking a bit grim when I got to my station. But train was not too full. Suspect most people didn't bother today, judging by my train in.

On my way into London for a mandatory company meeting. On a day when the tube will be going on strike. Sigh. The meeting has been moved to 9am instead of late afternoon so I'm hoping I can get on my way home before everything gets really terrible.

I'm into chapter three of FFVII rebirth and the mythril mines are gorgeous. They looked good in the original game but I did wonder what they'd look like if graphics could live up to vision and not I know. Also, I got way too happy to see Rude and Tseung again 😅

Turned out to be a really simple fix and now I know how to reset an RCD and what that looks like when I'm examining the board for stuff that has tripped. The electrician did say some words about the confusing way my house is wired, which caused such an apparently random set of things to not work.

Engineer is coming earlier than expected so everyone cross your fingers that this is fixable. I'm uncaffeinated and exhausted so I cannot cope with bad news.

Things I did not need on a Sunday evening: multiple circuits in the house suddenly not working. Upstairs lights are all out, sockets in kitchen and spare bedroom also not working. Breaker board looks fine and resetting things hasn't helped. Engineer is (hopefully) coming tomorrow.

Revived for a few hours this afternoon (and then felt worse) and progressed the story in Rebirth enough to unlock so many side activities. So many. Gonna be staying in this region for a while to do them all. But I did get to return to Kalm. And meet my old friend Chadley. And unlock fast travel!

The global release date for Trails into the Sky Second Chapter is out (17th Sept! So soon!) so now I have a date to work towards in timing my play of First Chapter so I can go straight into Second Chapter. Yes, this does mean I've bought/preordered both now. I'm so excited 😁

I got my spring booster Covid jab yesterday, which is great. Love a vaccination. Except today I feel like crap and walking to the end of the road exhausted me, so plans for today are canceled. The sofa, the Pitt S1, and maybe some gaming later if I revive a bit are now today's plan.

I do because I see no reason why I should potentially invite a bad day on my birthday and not working gives me control over what I'm doing that day

Into chapter two of FFVII Rebirth and Kalm is so gorgeous, I spent as long as I could there just soaking up how pretty it is. Also, I'm a little obsessed with Queen's Blood. I'm out of Kalm now and in full exploration mode.

I booked a day off today so that I could recover from being in the office twice this week and it was such a good decision.

Coming out of Crisis Core Reunion, the opening to FFVII Rebirth hits HARD. And gives me so many questions! Zack, my adorable puppy! I'm going through Chapter 1 now and with the context of OG FFVII and CCR, so much of this hits differently than it would have without that context. Tifa's reactions 😭

Finished FFVII Crisis Core and it was so good. So very good. That ending was just...it was perfect. Particularly the way it blends so well with the start of FFVII, but also just brilliant. It also left me with so many questions, despite having played OG FFVII, so I can't wait to get into Rebirth.

The boss fights at the end of chapter 8 of crisis core hits hard. First story boss fights that I've needed multiple attempts at. Makes sense given who that boss is. Two chapters left and then I can dig into Rebirth. Crisis core is so good though. So good.

Thing I have learned from going into the office twice in one week: I am not built for this. The fatigue is...bad. I was asleep pretty much as soon as I got home yesterday. Getting up this morning was awful and I've felt exhausted all day even after the grogginess wore off.

A good time was had by all, that's a fun movie for kids as well as adults. Although the funniest moment of all was watching my brother in law emptying popcorn out of his shoe as we left. There was a popcorn box malfunction. My nephew is so filled with popcorn right now.

Also now that I have a legal means of accessing it, I watched the first two episodes of The Pitt and damn that's some good TV.

Off to London to see the faraway tree movie with nephew and sister. Nephew specifically requested that I come, which is lovely. Good thing I wanted to see this anyway 😅

Aerith! I have reached the start of chapter four of crisis core and Aerith is here! I knew she'd been in a relationship with Zack, but I didn't realize we'd get to see their first meeting. I love her so much.

The chapters in crisis core are pretty short so I suspect this game will be fairly quick, but despite being short they layer in a fair chunk of narrative. Finished chapter two. Interesting to have Tseng on my side. I can't disagree with people feeling concerned about Shinra's actions 😅

Did I progress the story of crisis core at all tonight? No. Did I do every side mission I could get and level Zack and the materia up ridiculously? Yes, of course. That was so much fun. Tomorrow I go back to the story. Probably over levelled but that's just my play style 😅

I didn't stay up for the launch but it's so nice catching up on #ArtemisII and seeing all the joy and awe on my timeline. Space is great, right?