It wasn’t the best way to end last week.  Work’s insanity level has been steadily rising lately, and sort of blew it’s top.  Work-life balance isn’t working out as much as I’d like.  I got a message at 9pm on Thursday for an emergency meeting the next morning, fully across town.  For a problem that’s in no way my own to solve, it’s just that I have a reputation for fixing things.  Sunday night was more of the same, and my anxiety wasn’t being very cooperative.

The good news is that stress relief now comes in multiple forms.  Gaming, obviously.  Though Fallout 4 lately has been hitting the feels more than I had expected.  Hockey is another and I’ve been well enough to keep that going steady.  Painting works well.  Last night I was able to put the first coat of white on my E-web engineers.

The last item, and the one I seem to have more and more fun doing, is baking.  It’s one of those things where you need to take your time, be somewhat precise and it can take a long time to finish off. Oh, I like cooking too, but a 4 hour prep for a 45 minute meal isn’t the same.  I can make a pie that’ll last the week, muffins that can be frozen for longer.  And who’s ever said no to dessert?

Since there was a birthday part for my wife’s grandmother on Saturday, we got slotted for desserts.  My wife made some cupcakes with the kids, sprinkles and all.  I made my life harder.

Lemon Meringue tarts and a Maple Syrup pie.  Turned out great and didn’t bring a single one of them home.

Dang good tarts!

The Story is Important

I did get some Fallout 4 in over the last few days.  I’ve finished up the Minutemen and BoS quests, at least enough to get to the infinite-random-quest parts.  I’ve unlocked all the companions, received Mcready’s perk and started work on Deacon.  I’m about half way through the Railroad starter quests and got a nice Gauss weapon.  That thing is un-modded and deals over 200 damage, making me wonder if I should replace my Overseer’s 2x sniper gun… We’ll see.

I also decided to keep up with the main quest line. I headed out to the Glowing Sea (very appropriate name) and ended up finding the Synth courser through another quest.  I’m finding that story line very bland compared to all the sidequests though.  Virgil… when I met him I thought it would be an interesting chat.  Nope.  Just another fetch quest.  Which brought me to the USS Constitution, an actual boat stuck in a building, controlled by robots.  They had me fix their ship (various INT checks and one piece found in another building) and I eventually had to make a moral decision.  There are some scrappers around, and the ship looks like a gold mine to them.  And who’s to argue that robots are more important than food on the table?  I am, that’s who.  There was a neat couple battles on the side of the ship, shooting the canons no less.  The entire quest line had humor and gravitas, with a decent sprinkling of combat.  Aside from the Fort Hagg portion, the main quest line just seems to pale in comparison.  There’s certainly some neat sections – like exploring memories and whatnot – but for a “find your lost son” it sure had issues with pacing.

I think I’ll finish off the Railroad quests before getting back on the main quest trail.  I’m only a few steps shy of the Deacon perk anyhow.