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General life update and today

Today I hung out with my friends for a few hours playing Minecraft.
We found the stronghold and beat the Ender Dragon, so finally I have access to shulker boxes.

I'm trying to do some work after on my personal build. But on less than two hours sleep and hours of socializing, I don't have the brain for more than simple tasks, so instead of doing any of the redstone machines I need to make, or continuing the decorative artsy parts of my build, I'm gathering materials, taming some horses, and adjusting a potato garden.
I should sleep, but I don't want to and don't feel like it.

I also have some bread rising, so maybe once that's done and cooked it'll put me to sleep with warm bread in my belly.
That would be nice...

Lately I've gotten into Satisfactory and Vintage Story as well.
I love all these games but they're all dangerous time eaters.
It's hard not to spend the entire day playing them and watching Youtube.
Hard to even dredge up the willpower to externalize my thoughts on the Youtube videos.
I'm in the middle of farming cobble for my roads I need to start the next video to listen to while I dig.

This post itself is part of my efforts to externalize more and reach out into the world.

...I still haven't posted about the last two rounds of our Minecraft build and seek.
I'll try to make some posts about that and my current MC builds later.

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mr son: let's play: minecraft

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Multi story inn for the center of town. Probably will have a larger inn outside the walls. Can't have just anyone staying inside the castle protections after all.

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mr son: let's play: minecraft

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Finished the section of the castle wall that the river flows through. I tweaked the details on the other end while I was at it, and they look nice and match now.

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mr son: let's play: minecraft

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Another shot of my castle's progress.

A bridge over the river that passes through the outer wall.

There's a big gap in the wall behind it where the river passes through that I still need to fill out properly...

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mr son: let's play: minecraft

(no subject)

Trying to drag myself away from my solo world(s) to work on shared servers again to be social/build things I can actually show off.

This is on my friend's server. I've been working on a "layered" castle and this is the outermost wall.

I'm starting to arrange a path and town square for the workers of the castle to have their homes at, then I'm make some crop fields.

Outside the outermost wall will be the extensive main crop fields, the massive cattle and sheep ranches, and the shipping dock.

I still have to scout a place to put the decorative quarry and mine, which will contain a hidden auto iron farm inside them.

We're doing some RPish stuff with having different kingdoms with "shipping routes" between them, and I've decided mine specializes in meats and mining, so I need to arrange the builds to match.

My friend whose server this is, is going to specialize in dyes, and I expect them to expand to fabrics (dyed wool, banners, carpets).

Of course, what our kingdom specializes in won't automatically be what we're REALLY doing the most of. RP /= gameplay, here. We're not Skyblock Kingdoms.

But it's nice to have a goal for my build so I don't get distracted and listless, wandering aimlessly around the server doing lots of gathering and little building.

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state of the dreadlord

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Burned myself making breakfast today.

I was draining my broccoli and pasta before putting the cheese in, and boiling hot pasta and broccoli smacked into my arm. It stung, but I thought it was just a minor scald until I absently touched my arm a couple hours later and felt that it was hard and swollen.

Since then, it's ballooned up into a HECK of a blister.

It doesn't really hurt, though, any more.
I can feel a slight prickle if it's touched, but it's nothing major.

It is annoying to have a raised balloon glued to the side of my arm, though.

I'm pretty sure it's going to be just fine.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: ithaca, ny

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wherein Liz acquires a job, an apartment, a 403(b), another job, and a leisure activity

I realized I forgot to mention that I have a new job! I am working in accounts receivable at a pediatric dentistry nonprofit, whose mission is to get dental care to all children in Minnesota. I started mid-October and spent my first two weeks mostly doing call center and scheduling work because A) cross-training is a good idea and B) there was a temporary staff shortage. But last week I finally got started on my real job and so far I am enjoying it. Lots of things to put in order!

Once I got the job, I began seriously looking for an apartment, and last Thursday I signed a lease with a November 15 start date for a 2-bedroom in a northwest suburb of Minneapolis. I am still waiting to hear if I can use the building's parking lot for my U-Haul U-Boxes, or if I'll have to finagle street parking, but that is a relatively minor detail.

My next step is to find a doctor, and also to decide if I want to get health insurance through this job for 2026, whether to buy another plan through the MNsure website, or whether to buy insurance directly from my current insurer.

Also my new job comes with a 403(b) plan, which I think I have set up to do Roth contributions. There are many valid reasons to go with a traditional tax-deferred retirement plan, but I have always preferred Roth accounts for myself, ever since I opened an IRA back in high school.

Also also, I am sure I forgot to mention that I was hired back by Not the IRS. The re-hiring was never really in question -- the issue was which office I'd be working in. That played a role in my apartment search, along with my main job, my parents' location, and Vicky's location. I have completed my required continuing education and renewed my PTIN, so things are going fine on that front.

And lastly, unrelated to any practical concerns, I signed up for a one-afternoon online seminar about medieval high German literature through Medievalists.net, which will run from 11am-2pm CST this coming Saturday. I just received the course documents today, and I am looking forward to it a lot!