Valheim game review (Valheim revisited)

 Valheim Revisited

After adjusting the NVIDIA settings (I looked it up and will post what I changed at the bottom of this quick review) Valheim completely changed.  Gone was the stutter.

Then, I immediately sunk 50 hours into this game and it's still feeling pretty new to me.

The polygon count is not high, the buildings are fairly simple and - at least now in the early access version - pretty limited in what they can do.  But - it is fun.  And if there are bugs, I've not yet encountered them.  

Let me just state that again:  In this early fucking access just released game I haven't encountered any bugs.

Also, I keep finding little 'huh!' moments.  Example - rain can put out campfires.  Wow.  Not many games have thought of that.  You need a chimney or your house will fill with smoke.  Some creatures are afraid of fire.  Etc.

As anyone who has been reading up on this game knows, they have passed three million purchases.  For a '$20 early access no advertising I've seen anywhere' game.  Pretty good.

I'd say more about the game but honestly, I need to go play some more.

Games: Valheim, Citadel FIF

Valheim - 

It runs poorly on my system, hence I requested a refund.  Since I have 4.3 hours of play time on it, not sure if I will get it or not.  Since it was only $20, I'm not too butthurt if I don't.

It's an "OK but nothing special, not sure why Odin was 'pleased' game."  Might be worth re-visiting in a year. 

Note that nobody else had problems running it but for me it would often stutter if I swung the camera around too fast - even though my specs exceed recommended, drivers totally updated and all graphics turned off or to minimum.  

I don't recommend it at this time.

Citadel Forged In Fire -

Not to be confused with 'Citadel' (which I may have done) here are some thoughts as I went through the game.  These are thoughts after about an hour and a half of playing it.  More will come as I am making notes as I go rather than trying for a shorter, more cohesive review.

The game is currently (at the time of writing) on sale for 16 USD.  Neat.  I'm guessing it might even be cheaper from other places than Steam but I've decided to only buy from steam, set an alarm for an hour and a half and if it rings and the game sucks, stop playing and request a refund immediately.  

The download and installation are fast and smooth.

When I first spawned, it was in some sort of weird caldron thing.  When I suddenly moved my POV it got 'stuttery'.   After setting all the graphics down to minimum and making some adjustments on the NVIDIA control panel, it got rid of that.  The graphics on this I'd rate as 'pretty cartoony' so if you're wanting GTA5 on up type graphics, this is not the game for you.

At first, I just ran out of the spawning area and started to pick shit (rocks, branches, everything) up.  Later I discovered that I'd passed an area where a quest giver was.  I've no idea if I missed him before, he spawned later or if he wasn't drawn in.  I also did a very small amount of exploring and found some other guy who wanted me to kill boars on something labeled 'side quest'.  Cool.  

The crafting system is fairly messy as you have to scroll down through menus looking for shit.  No 'search' function.  It is pretty simple - click the button and it does stuff.  Perhaps even in the background while you run around gathering more shit unless it's something that requires a work station.  It's OK but feels a tad bit clunky.  I'll probably eventually get use to it.

Lots of stuff to gather.  The combat (at the 'I use a hatchet I made to beat them up' level) is simplistic and fairly crappy.  Don't know if it gets better in the future but even naked aside from a hat I was wearing, the boars didn't do much damage to me.

Map is fairly simplistic and you can set one waypoint and get rid of it without trouble.

Map isn't very good as you can't scroll in more.

The quest giver is annoying as they like the 1980's 'slow scroll' of text.

Resources seem to respawn.

You CAN swim underwater (games that can't are shitty programming and lack of imagination in my opinion) though if you are holding a weapon the animation for swimming isn't good as you hold it still in front of you.

Death - you keep equipped stuff, drop everything in inventory though getting it back is not a problem.  I have no idea if there is any other penalty.

There is an XP slider.  I nudged mine up to x2 and levels seem to come frequently.  The main purpose seems to be unlocking stuff you can spend points on to learn to build - floors, walls, cooking, etc.  I may nudge it up again (it can go much, much higher) - not sure.

There is no 'pause' button in the game.  Hitting ESC only brings up a menu - you can still be attacked, even if you're the only one playing.

They don't have any mods for it on steam, which I found rather depressing.  If you're going to make a game, always give people the ability to mod it!

After talking to some other people in the group, I was a bit surprised how many people already owned this.  They'd bought it when it first came out and played it for 50+ hours.  Good sign there.

And yes - unlike many AAA gaming studios, they not only have fully remappable keys but have remembered to include 'autorun'.  Which should be standard EVERYWHERE.

Verdict:  Buy it - especially if it's on sale.

Games During Lockdown

 My buddy Derek asked me for some game reviews.  Since I've not been doing them as I went, I decided to just go down my steam account library and put in a few thoughts on each of the games along with 'how many hours' I've put into each.  The format will be:  Game Name (hours played) and thoughts.

Here are the games I've played in the last four months:

7 Days To Die (198)  If you only like pretty graphics and such, this is not the game for you.  Other than that, there is a lot to this game.  We tore down part of a skyscraper because we felt like it.  My buddy Matt is infamous for digging a huge hole in it.  I like fully destructible terrain in games and feel it is way too rare.  Pretty nifty game though after a couple hundred hours I'd had my fill.

Conan Exiles (267)  This game was a huge surprise.  I'd heard it sucked awhile ago but the rest of the group was getting into it so I said "Sure, I'll try."  It was pretty good.  Decent crafting system, lots of different stations required to craft stuff and so on.  I couldn't imagine playing it solo - even with a group a lot of the fights and such were super hard.  The horrible limiting factor of it is that (at time of writing) they have two maps.  The one that originally came with the game and a new map that most people say sucks ass.  Sure, they have some weird stuff and need to make some changes to help out but overall it kept me entertained a lot longer than I thought it would.

Craftopia (148)  This game is a LONG way from done.  I don't know if they'll get the funding and such to keep going with it but it is a long way from done.  The game play gets pretty repetitive quickly and I am not a fan of the cartoony graphics.  It does have some good points such as some automated things (mining units, conveyor belts, etc) but I think there are only a few different actual zones and then they copy/pasted the rest so that you keep visiting the same places over and over.

Cyberpunk 2077 (99)  Ignoring for a moment the MASSES of bugs, I didn't think the story was all that great.  Sloppy story telling.  After choosing one of three beginnings (which don't matter at all later on) there are some cut scenes of partying and boom - the character skips several months.  That is some shit story telling right there.  That could have been used to introduce the character to the world and such.  Also, once you piss off a gang (possibly by blowing up a lot of their shit) during a mission - not to worry - you will never see them again.  Super lame crafting system.  You always dress like a freak if you want the best plusses.  This game should have been so much more.  After eight long years in development, it should have been.  

Drake Hollow (33)  Played this game which I don't remember too much of because my buddy wanted to.  Fortunately, it did have an actual ending and once we hit that, we were done with it.  Cheesy cartoonish graphics.

Empyrion (373)  Legos in space!  Pretty decent as a group, OK solo - if you know what you're doing.  I'd originally bought this game then gotten a refund when I got stuck in a hole I'd made myself.  There IS a learning curve.  The biggest problem this game has is that there is nothing beyond a super simplistic faction and highly ignorable quests.  The bad guys are static.  Also, if you get too many giant ships together the game will go down to 5 FPS.  But, as you can tell by the amount of hours I've put into it, there is some fun to be had.

Enderal (39)  This is a free mod for the Elder Scrolls game.  It was OK but honestly, I didn't think they did a great job changing the system (the new one isn't significantly better than the Skyrim one which was also not great) and eventually I just lost interest in it.  It's still on my computer but that is more of a 'desperation game' because not a lot is coming out right now that looks great.

Grand Theft Auto V (196)  Honestly, if the new Cyberpunk game had just copied this with a cyberpunk skin on it, they'd have done better.  A very good game though I've just not gotten back into it lately.  Did try but it just didn't click in.

Medieval Dynasty (95)  You can build stuff, hunt game and harvest crops.  They did make some very "WTF is wrong with you" design decisions including (but not limited to):  Your character will eventually die of old age - when they are about 80.  That's about 240 days as each day (or is it 3?) is a season.  You are expected to get married and produce a kid who you can then go on playing.  Also, it's single player only when this game screams for multiplayer.  Lastly (off the top of my head) the small map doesn't have anyone who is working on encroaching on the land, giving you any problems, warring kingdoms, nothing.  It's dead.  You have to constantly repair your buildings, get crops in and so on.  Not sure if a couple of years of updates (they do update frequently) will help because their design decisions were (IMO) so poor - but there are many who like it.

Outward (4)  Just imagine all of the game advances made in the last couple decades.  Since Morrowind came out.  Now, imagine the kind of developer who would say "Fuck using any of that."  Clunky piece of shit in a dead world.

Scum (12)  This is not a fun game to play.  On my thumbs down steam review, I put "clunky interface, super unfriendly death system, world felt like too much cut and paste.  Just didn't enjoy myself."

The Forest (116)  Best played with a group.  Lots of building, survival and zombies.  Some actual 'shit your pants' moments in this game.  Also, it has an ending - a goal.  Very nice game.

The Outer Worlds (7)  There was a lot of hype around this one and boy does it suck.  Not a great shooter and like the lamentable Cyberpunk 2077 the rails you are on are way too visible.  Uninstall!

Hope that helps someone out there to keep busy!

Extremely Niche (Podagorcia)

 Wondering which restaurants to go to?  Here is Logan's very quick opinion of them as of January 2021.  This is a simple copy/paste of my list.  If you're not going there within the next year or two this will be completely without value.

Yes, for apps that you can order from loads of different restaurants, this is how I keep track during the 10-12 weeks I am in country of where to eat or avoid.  Otherwise, I'd forget where all I've eaten as I eat out every day for all meals.  Period.  Whenever I go to see other people and they ask 'what would be a special or different' food for me, I always respond 'homemade'. 

Argento - City Quarter - no selection

Bajka - no

Cattleya - ok

City Wok - meh

Dubai House - so so

Elite Restaurant - yuck

Fairy Tale - not great

Feta Code - meh

Forest Lounge - very expensive

Funky Factory - limited selection

Gandalf Food - no selection

Goodfellas Pizzeria - slow as fuck

Hard Rock - good (ribs are nothing special)

Harmony - meh selection

Home of Gyros by Naky's - no selection meh

Hugo Bar and Kitchen - Centar - limited selection

Idyll - no selection

La Vie - ok

Loft Bistro - OK

Marienplatz - ok but may cancel order unexpectedly x2; they have goulash with noodles 

Marquez - meh

Mercator - not a restaurant but an office supply store

Milky - no

Munich - yuck

Muchen Zentrum - decent veal goulash; avoid ribs

Pizza bar - so so

Restoran Spaghetti - nope

Restaurant strudel - center - expensive

Restoran Zheng He - City Kvart - Meh looking menu

Rio Verde - so so

Roma - no selection

Sandwich Bar Mamicka - no selection

Scottish pub mccloud - no selection

selfie - no selection

Shanghai fast food - nope!

Sicilia - ok

tavern lanterna - good

Tavern Odzaklija - avoid their chicken ceasar salad.

Tavern Table - NO

Ten - avoid beef salad

The Meating Point - ok

COVID testing in the time of...well, COVID

 Written 5/1/2021.  For the Americans, that is January 5th.  America does dates weird.

Anyway -

With any treatment there are generally two different options.  Public hospital or private clinic.  Despite countries pushing foreigners to go with the private clinic route, I often check with the public hospitals first as the treatment there is often as good as private and either free or at a greatly reduced price.  

With the COVID test, I knew I'd be paying.  Knew it.  The foreigner always pays.  I get that.  I just didn't know why I'd be paying.

Long time readers will long remember that one of my mottos is to 'never travel near or on the local holidays' - for lots of reasons.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize (didn't research it) that the Orthodox christians celebrate their xmas in the beginning of January.  Don't know why, didn't care enough to look it up nor to find out why they sell maple (?) branches to each other.  Probably a local superstition or custom.  Doesn't matter.   The important thing is that I'd be stuck traveling during the holiday - which sucks.

Then I remembered I had to get a COVID test which would mean that I would need to get tested - you guessed it - on orthodox xmas.   The next day to get the test results back, fly out the day after.

Fuck me.

My first stop was to the public hospital.   I don't think that I can get away with getting a free COVID test (though it is free for locals) but I wanted to stop there first as they do not close for xmas.

Eventually found a young man who wrote down an e-mail address for me to ask the nebulous hospital administrators (who could not be seen, only e-mailed) if I could get a test there on that day.  The third time of attempting to write the e-mail address he instead took my phone and just took a picture of it.  I asked him if he was a doctor.  He said he was not.  I assured him that with handwriting like that, he was halfway there.  The joke was not gotten.  Note that I attempted to send the e-mail right there after getting it (every time) because walking back and forth and back and forth sucks.  

Having exhausted the public hospital angle, sending an e-mail prayer to the powers that be, I made my way over to the private sector.  

Of course they're closed on xmas.

Fortunately, their test can get the results back on the same day.  I just have to get up stupidly early in the morning to take the test.  Can do!

Of course, we may still experience 'fuckery'.  You can never tell...                

Preparing for the next jump from Skopje during CV.

Planning for the next destination to hide out for 10 weeks from here and - as usual - things are not looking like I'd hoped they'd be looking.

My original plan was to go to Montenegro.  Never been there before, small place thought I'd check it out.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  Looks like the plane tickets to get there are a few hundred dollars and no direct flights.  That might explain why I've not been there before.   Note that getting there via 8 hour train might be possible (if the trains are even running) but being stuck in a big box with a bunch of other people for an extended period of time during an epidemic - not ideal.

I found a rather nifty page showing the direct flights from Skopje (where I am now)  https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-skopje-skp and that narrows down the options.

The EU is out.  They are closed to non-residents and especially to Americans who have 'fucked it all up'.  So it is likely I'm stuck in the Balkans for now.  

I've been to Serbia before.  Though I wasn't there long I distinctly remember not being terribly pleased about being there.  Looking at info on the place currently shows they are having a lot of extra robberies.  Probably good to avoid it right now.

Turkey is right out.  If I never travel to Turkey again, I'll be OK with that.  It was OK while I was there but it's just not my cup of tea.  Plus, they are having war stuff and political crap going on that makes it a bit less stable especially in these unstable times.  

Hungary is able to be entered 'under special circumstances' - that's a big ole red flag as I have no special circumstances.  So that's probably out.  Like the rest of the EU.  Pity.

Checking out the rest of the map it is looking like I may end up going back to Croatia.  A very unappealing dull option.  Maybe (if transport between cities is going) I might end up in a different town but probably not.  So another dull time in Zagreb.  However, getting even allowed into countries now seems to be a rare thing so I'm grateful for that.

Ukraine is not great right now as they are wanting additional insurance to be purchased (roughly would cost about $100) which isn't bad but it's more BS to wade through.  Plus staying away a bit longer (since I had to overstay my visa by a couple months last time due to CV) might be wise.  Getting there from Skopje is pretty expensive - much more reasonable from Croatia.  So if I have to go back there, doing it from Croatia might be better.  

The fact that I'm needing to retrace my steps is annoying as hell.  It is better than being stuck in a tube for a long, expensive transatlantic flight to a country I cannot afford where the clown in chief seems intent on killing as many people as possible - so I am not complaining.  

CV Stories; Odessa to Zagreb

Having a huge pandemic happen when one is in their own country, home, neighborhood is scary.  I got to go through it while I was in Ukraine.  Here's what happened with me.



19 MAR 20

Was wandering around today. Though most people didn't have masks, some did.

Of those that did, about a third were wearing them, a third were carrying them and a third thought they were some sort of neck fashion accessory.

They are a drag to wear, I get that.

I'm not using a mask but am working on staying away from people even though a certain percentage of the population seems to want to blunder into me. So I try to avoid them.

The only time I leave the apartment is an hour or two per day for walking exercise. The rest of the time is pretty much inside the apartment.

23 MAR 20

Logan's current situation in Ukraine (with a bit of a story):

So I went down to the bureaucratic building. There was a breathtakingly mean/rude lady whose job was to tell people to fuck off - they weren't working. Despite there being people there and yes, working.

After figuring out her job, I just stood inside and said 'hello can you help me' to anyone who looked like they might work there. Found a very nice guy who took quite awhile out of his day on google translate with me.

Turns out that after a bunch of crap he showed me upstairs to 'the good looking people'. You can generally tell how high up in a bureaucratic organization (in most of the world) someone is by how well dressed or pretty they are. Well dressed guy with a pretty assistant? Probably someone of some import. And everyone up there was speaking English. Basically, got to try to convince the guy via text messages for 20-30 minutes I was serious before getting escorted upstairs to have a quick chat to the people who speak English.

This was not unexpected.

They brought in a lady to tell me again that no fines or trouble would be brought down on people who over stayed their visas due to the plague. No, they wouldn't write me a note saying I'd tried to extend my visa or any of that stuff. I was instead invited to jump through their bureaucratic hoops for maybe they would get me something. No, they couldn't take 15 seconds out of their day to hand write something - it is not their process.

Again, not totally unexpected but I'd hoped to get lucky.

My buddy Sergey urged me to contact the US Embassy. Can't go there - it is a few hours north and no buses and such are running. So I gave them a call. After playing with their automated menus (it is business hours but there is nobody to help you) I said fuck it and tried their emergency number. No, I don't want to be put on a list. I'm from the USA and learned to distrust government decades ago.

They reassured me that (in their opinion because nobody truly knows Ukraine) there would be no fines or trouble for crossing the border after the border opens from an overstayed visa - but it would be something they would mention to their superiors in a meeting.

Wait - am I the first one that called about this? WTF - seriously.

So I am pretty much reassured - as much as can be. I rented (at a very reasonable rate - welcome to the plague!) the same flat for an additional month which is great because I don't have to mess with new shit and can stay 'self isolated'.

Every day, I go out for an hour or a bit more to get exercise and walk around, get some supplies then the rest of the time is spent indoors and with food brought by delivery people from a restaurant.

That's where things stand now.

26 MAR 2020

Logan's survive the current apocalypse strategy:

Accumulate water.

I've noticed that the store I normally pick up 6L jugs from was running low on those. Other people have recently started to think about this. I've got a couple days head start there. Note - I currently only have 72L. Sounds like a lot but it can go fast.

Accumulate alcohol.

If things get really hard, I know I'm going under like a beetle against a windshield. Best to enjoy the last wild ride a bit.

Accumulate canned food.

This is the next step. Unfortunately, unlike in the USA where getting canned food (pasta whatever) is bloody easy - most of the world is like 'Wha-?' when it comes to this sort of stuff. They eat fresh food and don't force in as much salt as possible. Which is a good thing. But it does make it more tricky to pick up canned food which will stay viable if the government/military says 'stay the fuck home or we arrest you, infect you, shoot you, bury you'. Which is always possible. Doing the 'let's eat fresh' thing is not going to go well if stores close.

I figure to get stocked up with a couple months of canned food here - maybe $100? If I am wrong and misread the graph with the line at a nearly verticle angle then I blow $100. If I am correct, worse comes to worse I am trapped in my apartment with food, water and booze. So long as electricity and internet keep coming I'm good. If those fail - I'm screwed.


28 MAR 2020

Out on my daily wander around Odessa, I noticed a LOT less people on the streets and the ones that were there actually seemed to be getting the 'social distancing' thing. About half the people who were 'wearing' masks seemed to think it was for their neck.

I'm not wearing a mask - not because I'm macho but because I want the people stuck coming into contact with lots of people to have them. Plus, they're expensive and don't actually last long. Wonder if a tied bandanna around the face, cowboy style would do it?

07 APR 2020

Since I'm not suppose to go out onto the streets, I am now getting my exercise shuffling around the courtyard of the apartment building.

Oh, the "WTF looks" that I am getting.

Honestly, they baffle me. It's like the people have never seen someone walking around.

True, I walked (shuffled) around something the size of a movie prison yard for an hour and a half (timed it - I know I need more but my legs start hurting about then) and people just stared at me. When I waved at them, zero response.

True, I was wearing a bandanna for my mandatory mask. Maybe they thought I was a train robber.

Something else fun that happened was the guy from the vape store brought me a new tank and some coils. It was like I was doing some sort of weird drug deal just outside the prison before going back in and got some of the same looks.

The vape store guy still hasn't gotten we are in an epidemic. No mask, wants to shake hands, doesn't get keeping a distance. Nice guy but he might be taking this too lightly. I was glad to get more vape stuff though.

08 APR 2020

A couple of days after being told about the draconian measures thing and shown a news article, I decided to risk a quick trip out to a very close bakery and to attempt to recharge my phone.

More people than before the measure were out wandering around.

Half did not have masks.

I was like "WTF?"




19 MAY 2020

Quick notes for those following this page (instead of my normal facebook page for whatever reason):

Like everyone else on the planet, I'm stuck where I am currently waiting for transportation to start back up.

I'm sitting in a very nice apartment in Odessa Ukraine. Not fucking Odessa Texas. Ukraine.

Honestly, not a lot has been going on here. Like the rest of the globe, after a couple months of lock down, people seemed to get bored with that and - despite the mounting cases and deaths said "Fuck it. I'm sure the curve has been flattened."

Despite little details like not knowing much about the disease, having no cure, bodies in mass graves, etc.

Got to get that fucking haircut.

Unlike those who are protesting to go out and gather in large groups to spread their disease (and collective stupidity) I've been keeping my distance from others, doing a lot online and pretty much staying indoors most of the time.

Not a huge change from my normal lifestyle but with a lot less 'interacting with the locals' of whatever place I'm at. I do miss it but you know - plague.

26 MAY 2020

When going for my walk today, I found that I was one of the few who was still sporting a mask.  Ukraine has not thus far had that many deaths - only a few hundred.  A depressing number but still very small compared to a lot of the countries.  At this time, I am expecting that by the middle of next month I should (hopefully) be able to leave this country.  Because I am expecting a 'second wave' to hit, I'd like to go somewhere like Germany.  It's a bit expensive for me but I'm hoping that 'ruthless German efficiency' extends into the medical field.  Love hanging out in Germany.  We'll see.



29 MAY 2020

I heard an airplane today.



8 JUN 2020

First day Logan ventured out without a mask.  For the last few days many people in buses, bus drivers etc haven't been wearing a mask.  Note that soon we will have a new wave of this but for now everyone 'is totally over it' even though people are still dying from it.




EVERQUEST...AGAIN

The nostalgia bug bit me bad and I needed a break from constant prepping and to put myself into the tedium of grinding XP for awhile in a computer game.

And Steam has free Everquest.

So I said "Fuck it" and went for it.

Some things I've noticed are different:

A couple of the zones (some in frost world, whatever it's called), Freeport and Oasis are different. Very different. I regard this as a huge fail because for the people that haven't stopped playing in the last two decades they're not there any more and for the returning players - they're after nostalgia. Wiping out that nostalgia is just dumb. Given how dated EQ is, I don't think you're going to get new players.

They have a tutorial and there is some learning curve. Not nearly as "WTF brutal" as with that space game (what's the name?) but still there are all kinds of new features.

Some other things - leveling is a lot faster and there is a lot less down time. I'm playing an enchanter (heard they were good at soloing and since it would be stupid to play a party class when there are no people playing at low levels) I decided to try that out. Working well. After a short time, I'm already level 44. Much faster leveling. According to Steam, I've been playing for 72 hours. I remember having a hundred played hours in at one time and my character was only level 20.

They now have mercenaries that can tank, heal or DPS. Neat. I got a tank one and he's a better tank than many players I've grouped with. Cool.

They have a lot of new gear which is keeping me 'kind of geared up' which is fortunate because again - no low level shit is being made for low level characters and sold in the auction house. There is apparently even an option of starting your character at high level. I didn't because that would eliminate the whole nostalgia thing - as well as having something to finger twitch to while listening to my audio books.

So far, it's been OK. Not exceptional but fine.

(19 JUL 2020:  451 hours into it and still going OMG what's happening?)




17 JULY 2020

Logan's heroic tale of arriving in - er - where the fuck am I? Oh - right - Croatia. Zagreb or something.

Anyway, here's what happened.

My buddy Sergey suggested leaving Ukraine before everything opened up - to make sure that the Ukraine government didn't hit me with some huge fine for overstaying my visa by a few months. Which I did. Because of the epidemic.

And Sergey found out that Croatia (probably out of desperation for those tourist dollars) is even accepting in those dirty bastards from the USA. Which I now fit into despite not having lived there for a fucking decade. Cool.

"You're going to want to get tested for CV". After checking out the people all grouped in a clump (attempting to social distance means someone else takes your spot, bitch) I was like "I'm going to go with plan B".

Plan B: Find something written in Cyrillic that looks official and doesn't have an obvious date on it. If they have someone who can read it and they say "This isn't that" I say "Well, shit - I can't read it either. Sorry I gave you the wrong paper." Sorted.

Went to the airport and got dropped off. Fucking ghost town. Cool.

First ass clench moment: Lady at check in "Oh you need a round trip ticket to go to Croatia". No you fucking don't. She called someone as I writhed a bit and was told you don't.

Then she checked my 'it should be 7KG" carry on. It was like 12KG or more. "That's pretty heavy." She says.

I'm thinking "Gosh, I did try to be nice. Wonder why she's angry?"

"Does it have your computer in it?"

"Yes" I gushed. "They just keep making them heavier and heavier!"

She gave me an odd look and tagged it.

I went to the bag scanning. The guy had to scan my webcam twice. Apparently he'd never seen one before. I'm thinking "WTF".

Second ass clenching moment. Ukraine visa stamp out. After looking to see how long I'd been there, I get asked for my residency papers. Told them that I don't have any, tried to leave but the evil virus kept me from doing so. She takes my passport and goes away.

I chat to her friend as everyone else has literally already checked in and probably had a game or two of bowling.

I keep talking to the lady wondering "WTF is going on". Eventually she comes back with other forms and a photocopy of my passport. And they let me through. Well, that's two ass clenchings so far. Let us go for three.

Third ass clenching comes when I get to the gate boarding. I can't fucking believe it. "Can I see your visa for Croatia?"

"I'm from the USA - I don't need a visa for Croatia."

She thinks I do - even though I'd gotten through her very own colleagues at the front desk but apparently they're idiots or something to her so she goes and consults someone else.

That was the third ass clenching. Was my sphincter tired? Yes. Done? No.

Now on the airplane you have to fill out a form for LOT (Polish airlines) because they believe that 'paperwork can fight a plague'. Which is kind of dumb. Personally, I think that when these countries get nervous, they go back to USSR style paperwork. Looking back on it, I'm not even sure who gets this stuff. If anyone. You could do the 123 Sesemie Street address. Yeah mother fucker - go ask for directions. "How do I get to - well, shit."

No problem. I've filled out lots of paperwork. Fill that out. Then, get at last to customs in Croatia.

They aren't wearing masks though they want the people on the planes to wear them covering both mouth and nose (not everyone does because they are either lazy, stupid or in one case just old.

I get a minor amount of hassle at the border. They want my phone number (I give them my soon to be lost forever Ukrainian phone number because never trust a government) address (I read it to them - if they have the right place I'll be impressed but looking back I should have looked up an address elsewhere and given them that). They tell me I should self isolate for a week then go get a test.

Looking around, these guys are doing exactly the same thing as in Ukraine. If you go into a shop, etc - put on your mask. Walking around outside? No. They think air kills the germs or something. Nobody (in either country) wears a mask.

At the airport they had a really super tourist lady. I asked her "How do they know I am social distancing and self isolating and all that?" She admitted that they don't.

Cool.

Now obviously, I am going to work on being safe and stuff but all the stories I heard (from their government) are obviously 'wildly exaggerated'.



WHERE AM I AGAIN?
Zagreb - Croatia. Though honestly, I seem to keep forgetting.

My initial thoughts: My place is small, a bit expensive and close to the center. In year 2020, paying $800 for a tiny - but quiet - apartment. Very comfortable bed. I like it.

The town itself is clean, most people wear masks either indoors or on public transport (most) and seem friendly. If you are new here, assume everyone speaks English or at least some English.

Public transport seems good and regular.

Sunday, almost everything is closed. Fuck you, stay home or go to some of the restaurants. That's about it.

Food delivery still works though unlike Ukraine, cash payment doesn't seem to be an option with Wolt (delivery service) but there are also several different delivery services here. And Uber. Overall, 'modern'.


27 JUL 2020

Holed up in Zagreb for what will be (probably) two months. I did some research on Slovakia (another country I've not yet been to and one not many of my countrymen could find on a map) and right now they are talking about a two week quarantine for those not from their 'clean countries' list. So I'm waiting and watching. Even though Germany will be more expensive even than here, it strikes me as a good country to get stuck in when this resurfaces in Europe during the winter. Though I'd rather be in the south of France. Or Portugal. Whatever.

One of the things I find myself constantly working on is not getting stuck doing things just one way. Stay flexible. I discovered my phone card which I thought would take me through a month was demanding a month's worth of money per week. Spent time looking for the store. Nice guy at a bank (banks are good to go to as are computer stores and such to find people to speak English) looked up the store, wrote down an address.

Spent some time doing the 'talk to twenty people because half will give you the wrong place entirely' game to get a consensus on where the store was. Discovered myself getting directions at another cell phone store. "You sell sim cards here? How much? Hum. Quarter of the price of what I was looking to pay - fuck those other people, I'll take one please'."

Gotta 'stay loose' as they use to say five decades ago.


MEANWHILE

I'm still working on scratching that ole EQ itch that over 500 hours sunk into game play hasn't yet hit. (Everquest, very old assed MMORPG).