The Queue

The days of the week inevitably sneak up on me, and Friday — complete with this super-sneaky Queue deadline — always seems to come out of nowhere. Wasn’t it Wednesday just yesterday, when I didn’t have to think about writing the Queue? Or maybe it was Tuesday. Monday?

Well, I checked the calendar and it insists it’s Friday, so I guess I’m writing a Queue for you all.

I had another in the whole line of “haha you thought it was a Mitch queue, but it’s actually a Cory Queue! Fooled you again” posts all planned out when Mitch asked me to take over his Queue today, but then I ran some Mythic+ runs and got the most down to the wire run that I’ll ever probably get — and it’s all I can think about.

We were in a Halls of Atonement and bopping along. It was our last run of the evening so we were playing a little more carefree than usual, just having a good time and making a few easy mistakes, missing interruptions, standing next to the Spiteful fiends — things like that. Nothing too terrible, we were still pretty sure that we were going to make the timer, but it was going to be more of a long shot with each tiny mistake. After the third boss though there were less than four minutes left on the timer. It would’ve been really easy to give up and say that there was no possibility of timing it, but we still kept pushing and wound up finishing the run on time!

Now when I say on time normally I mean “oh yeah, we finished that on time, we had like three minutes left over.” This time it was more “we finished on time, couldn’t have finished it more on time.” Our final time for the run was 31:59.902/32:00!!

The clock in-game had already switched to the red angry 00:00 remaining! I still can’t believe that we came that close. It literally must’ve come down to one person getting a lucky critical in the last tenth of a second. So next time you’re running something: keep at it — you might just get the photo finish to end all photo finishes.

While I take a few deep breaths, it’s time for — The Queue.

Acrocanthosaurus atokensis or ‘the high spined lizard from Atoka County’ named for where it was found and its most distinctive trait, was the largest carnivore in North America when it lived, and remains the fifth largest theropod discovered in North America to date. At a length of about 11.5 meters — a little more than 38 feet — and a weight approaching six metric tons, it was a member of the Carcharodontosauridae although it lacked some of the defining characteristics of more derived Carcharodontosaurs like Carcharodontosaurus or Giganotosaurus. As mentioned, it had a series of extremely tall spines growing out of its back, with muscle attachments that suggest a ridge of muscle possibly anchoring a fatty hump.

Acrocanthosaurus lived between 125 and 100 million years ago, which means no, it could never have met or fought Tyrannosaurus. In fact, the most contemporary Tyrannosaurid we know of from that time period is Dilong paradoxus, which lived about 126 million years ago, or the closely related Eotyrannus lengi, which lived during the Aptian which is the same geological era as Acrocanthosaurus, and which wouldn’t even have come up to the animal’s hip. Basically, at the time this dinosaur lived, it would have eaten any extant Tyrannosaurids in one or two bites. Acrocanthosaurus teeth have been found near the remains of the massive Macronarian Sauroposeidon, suggesting it may have hunted or scavenged from these behemoth relatives of Giraffatitan.

This is the Queue. Here’s hoping y’all talked about dinosaurs this week because I’m super in the mood.

I think I need more coffee.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we’ll stop wallowing in ennui long enough to answer.

I think I’ve found my new favorite power combination in Torghast. Mages can increase the number of Mirror Images that they have, and there’s an Anima power that makes all of those Mirror Images smarter. Suddenly, I’ve got ten versions of me winding up and just absolutely cranking Greater Pyroblasts into bosses and elites. It was glorious!

Plus, look how great we all look. While they may not be infinitely uncountable, they are definitely some of the greatest guys I’ve ever met.

While I try to find a challenge worthy of all these foxes, it’s time for — The Queue.

It’s a quiet day with a quiet Queue where nothing very important happens.

It’s fitting that yesterday’s Queue was called “Kitty” because I’ve been cat-sitting this week and I’m writing this early in the morning as a result of a kitty waking me up every hour since 4 a.m. He’s a very good cat so I don’t hold it against him, but oof. I’m tired. And I have so much to do today.

Let’s delay responsibility for a bit with a Queue, shall we?

So The Siege of Paris DLC came out for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla so I’m back on my Viking BS, wandering around Francia petting every cat I see and occasionally murdering someone horribly. Mostly the cat petting, though.

I unabashedly love how much Eivor likes cats. It’s refreshing. She even got into an argument with a dude about how loyal and steadfast cats are.

One hobby that I’ve been kind of falling back on lately is playing the ukulele. As such, I’m always on the hunt for new songs to learn that fit my general demeanor, my vocal range, and my beginner-level strumming skill set. One of the songs I’ve really been eager to learn is “Good Riddance” from Hades, for a number of reasons. Vocally, it’s really satisfying because of the intertwined harmony, the chords aren’t too much of a stretch, and it gives me a chance to work on finger picking.

However, because of this, YouTube has been recommending tons of Hadestown videos to me as a result, and I’m just not prepared for that amount of emotional devastation, especially since Annapurna Interactive has a new title coming out later this week. I’ve gotta save my spoons, man.

This is The Queue, where you ask us questions and we promise to stop being insufferable theater kids long enough to answer, as long as you wait for me, I’m comin’ too.

Wait. Frick.

I finally have another character at max in Shadowlands! My Mage has spent the last week or so helping out the Kyrian get Bastion under control, and it’s been nice to see another of the Covenant storylines. Especially with the additional 9.1 story content that we’ve gotten giving some closure to BlUther and the Forsworn. It has been pretty funny to see just how small Vulpera are compared to the rest of the Kyrian though. Even my Steward is taller than me!

While I go find some platform shoes, I take you now to — The Queue.