The Queue: Multitasking!

So I’m currently watching a Twitch stream, waiting for the dryer to finish so I can make the bed, doing back to school shopping online, and playing a round of Hearthstone Battlegrounds while my son tells me all about his favorite train in his favorite game on Roblox, so yeah, I’m definitely not going to type the wrong thing here.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we Burlington Northern.

I usually have two specific things I do for stuff like this. One is to add an event-based cue. Unless it’s an appointment or something I really can’t miss so I just set an alarm, time-based cues aren’t great for me, because I tend to do one of two things. I either get very in my own head and stare at the clock and can’t do anything because I have something coming up, or else I blow past that time by a whole minute or two, and then whoops, shan’t be partaking today, thank you. Yes, only a minute, passed the window, none for me.

So times that work for me are things like “before lunch” or “at bedtime.” I’ve been keeping up really well with Duolingo because I usually do it right after breakfast, and over the summer I have a half hour to kill while the kids are at their half hour swim class.

My brain also loves the tiny crumb of dopamine it gets when I make a to-do list and check things off, so I do that, which only reinforces it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a paper list or a digital one, though I’m much better about staying on top of the paper ones. I’ve been using the app Habitica for a while, too. It basically gamifies my to-do list, and because it’s cross-platform if I’m head down in either my phone or my computer I’ll still remember to look at it.

This almost seems like a confession, but aside from the completely bananas, gourmand-style flavors, peach might be my favorite ice cream flavor. Especially with fruit pies — peach ice cream with a slice of cherry pie just tastes like summer.

The best one I’ve read is probably (maybe?) Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson — not exactly hopeful, but definitely not fully post-apocalyptic depressing. Of course, I don’t think I’ve read it in maybe 15+ years so it honestly could be another book, but I definitely remember enjoying it. In general, I don’t tend to seek out sci-fi or cyberpunk.

I’d also suggest Key to Reality by our own F. Ted Atchley. It’s far more complicated than what you’re asking for, but I’m suggesting it anyway. It’s Ted! He wrote a whole book! I’m not sure whether it’s condescending of me, but I’m just so proud of him.

It’s a trap.

My summer is (blessedly) almost over, believe it or not. Kids go back to school in 2 weeks. We’ve been to the beach, the train museum, Six Flags, a few different parks, the farmers’ market, a couple one-off pottery classes, local festivals and celebrations, the library, day camps for each kid, and swimming lessons nearly every day. It’s been busy, but really fun.

Ironically, the one thing that I’m still looking forward to is the very first danged homegrown tomato. I have three black cherry and four spoon tomato plants which have both had green tomatoes on them since mid-June, and still not a fully ripe tomato in sight. Not even a blush of red. I’m also still waiting on my first pepper, but that’s in part because I gave them the same fertilizer as the tomatoes earlier on so they got very bushy but didn’t flower until I’d flushed all the magnesium out.

My favorite comp has always been high rolly APM Elementals. They suck now, but I love them. My favorite hero is Galakrond because of his incredibly stupid Murloc skin. I pick him every time he’s offered and lose, and I don’t care. Favorite minion is Magmaloc because of his on-play line, “what’s all this fuss about,” though I think it’s been patched out.

I will always and forever choose ineffective but charming over min-maxing. Actually, wow, that’s kind of an insight to my psyche as a whole, isn’t it.

The use and re-use of the Arthas lietmotif is one of my favorite all-time cinematic-style compositions. Usually, these are used like they use, say, the Leia theme in Star Wars: “hey look, it’s Leia.” It’s also very obvious when you see it in Hamilton, where most of the time people use the same few notes and rhythm to say “Alexander” (except, markedly, Eliza and Angelica, which plays almost like an affectionate nickname) but the feeling of that series of notes changes as the action continues, but the sinister twist to Arthas’s theme is so, so chilling.

I’m not sure if it was one of y’all who linked this, maybe last week (it almost certainly was), but this video does a decent job of contrasting this lietmotif in Arthas, My Son as opposed to Invincible.

Also, shout out to whichever maniac decided to put the main Warcraft theme in a 7/4 time signature. It gives the composition a very strident feel, like running, but man is that an off the wall decision.

I have a Razer Hex Naga, and it’s ok. It’s still a little big for my tiny lady hands, but I really adore the placement and size of the thumb keys. I’ve heard that Razer products seem to be binary, where either you get a lemon that conks out in 6 months, or it lasts for decades, and I apparently drew the long straw — I’ve been waiting for it to give out for like, 5+ years now. I have my eye on the SteelSeries Aerox 9 to replace it, though it’s still kinda too big. They just don’t seem to make mice for small lady hands which also have additional thumb keys for gaming.

I’m torn, because I kinda want to give Sorc a spin just for the heck of it, but man do I enjoy the bow Rogue. I don’t think I play enough that I’m really champing at the bit to change it up like a lot of other players, so I may just stick with my Rogue (or one that looks suspiciously like her, really).