(no subject)

[the_rck]

I survived today’s interview. I didn’t expect not to, though, and I still don’t know what will come of it, I’m still freaking out a bit. At least this guy understands table top rpgs as not easily monetized. He did, however, ask me repeatedly whether or not a doctor had told me I couldn’t drive. None have, but that’s mostly because I already didn’t. I don’t see any way that I would pass a driving test or course, given my physical issues.

This is just a fight I don’t want to need to have. My anxiety is where it was two decades ago, and I’m losing my hands in two different ways. I don’t see very well, and my hearing is a bit iffy. I have particular trouble following words if there’s a vibratory sound— a fan, a dishwasher, a lawnmower, traffic — in the background. That’s a big reason I want captions. Of course, then I’m left with the glasses issue. I can’t read tv captions with my computer glasses or my screen with my distance glasses. The bifocals only work for my screen if I use one hand to move them so that I can look through the right bit. I can’t do that and type. This is a big reason why I’m muddling along without using my glasses much. Swapping glasses is challenging because I have to find the right pair, get them out, put the other pair away, and then do it all again when I need to manage a different distance. I can fit one pair of glasses in my purse; two or more means an additional bag. My hands hate the glasses cases I have, and I have issues with zippers, snaps and buttons now.

While I was inside the library having the interview, someone on my side in Ingress went through downtown and cleared out a lot of portals without capturing them. That means I captured about 60 portals today. I need about 340 more for the badge. It will be slow going though because I’m low on gear. I’d normally need a lot of bursters for clearing and capturing that many portals. I considered trying the Harry Potter game, but it has time and accuracy components that I really can’t manage. I never tried Pokémon Go for similar reasons, and there are bits of Ingress (glyph hacking) that I avoid. I don’t want to deal with the hand tremor combined with trying to perform under pressure. The rewards aren’t sufficient to justify the anxiety.

We have three tarot decks posted on eBay. One even has a bid. The current plan is for Scott to walk Cordelia through these and then have her manage the other things. Most of what we have is tarot decks, so packing them for shipping shouldn’t be too bad.

Scott’s parents visited yesterday for more yard work. Scott’s father considers it very important that we get rid of the old screen door that’s in the garage. Maybe I can have Cordelia make the call to see if Habitat for Humanity wants it enough to pick it up.

Comments

[rahirah]

Ingress sounds fascinating.

[the_rck]

I like the game a lot, but it's only playable in some places. Portals are things like churches, libraries, murals, statues, historical plaques, park entrance signs, etc., and a lot of play depends on having the ability to reach multiple portals often.

Downtown Ann Arbor and the various University of Michigan campuses in Ann Arbor are portal dense. If I walk a block, I will likely pass through the right range for at least two and more likely three. In certain areas, there are 8-10. Smaller towns have fewer portals, and those are likely to be farther apart. People who can't travel easily to other towns are at a serious disadvantage.

The 'new and better!' app, Ingress Prime was kind of terrible when I tried it last year. I haven't heard one way or the other if they've improved it because everyone I know who plays was established in the game and able to shift to using Scanner [REDACTED] which is the old app renamed. Ingress Prime is prettier and makes it easier to manage inventory, but it will drain a fully charged phone in about 20 minutes of active play (it uses much less battery if you have WiFi access from a library or doctor's office or such, but most play is in places without that). It's also about half as fast as original flavor Ingress which doesn't matter much if a person is on foot but makes things like playing while riding a bus much less feasible.

Ingress is very focused on visiting different locations over a wide area. Part of that is badges for visiting new portals, and part of that is linking and fielding. Linking and fielding are important for the team aspect of the game. Sometimes, when a person hacks a portal, they get a 'key.' That allows the holder to recharge the portal from a distance (greater distances make the recharge less efficient, and some distances aren't possible). It also allows them to create a link from a different portal back to the one they have the key for. If the player links two portals that are already linked to the same third portal, that creates a field. The global point totals are based on the numbers and sizes of links and fields currently being sustained by each team (which is incentive to take them down).

Links can't cross each other. Links from inside a field aren't possible to create. Sometimes, links from the anchoring portals in a field to a portal inside the field can be made. Fields can be layered over the tops of each other as long as it's a bigger field covering the entirety of one or more smaller fields.

But you can only link to places you have keys for and from places where you currently are.

My understanding is that Pokemon Go is more playable within a restricted radius of mobility, but I've not tried playing it.

[senmut]

best wishes

[evalerie]

I'm glad that interview is over -- it sounds awful.

For glasses: For some things, I can put my reading glasses down low on my nose, and then I look over the glasses, granny-style, to see distant things, and I look down through the glasses to see close-up things that I need to read. It is awkward and doesn't always work, but it's the best solution that I've found so far for certain tasks that need both close-up vision and also distance vision. I have no idea if that would work for you, and probably it wouldn't help, but I figured I would mention it, just in case. Even after about ten years, I still feel that I'm working on figuring out how to make glasses work well for me. :-S

[the_rck]

The problem I'm trying to solve is wanting to be able to both read my laptop screen and to read captions on the TV, going back and forth every few seconds. I can only read some captions without glasses, and my laptop screen is getting blurrier. Pretty soon, I won't be able to manage either one without glasses.

I can't use the glasses for one of these two things for the other one because the glasses make my vision noticeably worse at distances they're not meant for. That is, if I'm wearing my computer glasses, I can't read at TV distance, and, if I'm wearing my distance glasses, I can't read at computer screen distance.