Group Camping Trip =16=

Alright, get this... I'm going on a group camping trip; yeah, I know, that's insane. There's something weird that I think you all should know about me... I like being outside and enjoying the peace and quiet of nature.

Now I know what you're all thinking... "What kind of nerd are you to like going outside?" I know something must be wrong with me, but I'm not quite sure what. I mean, how can a person like me who enjoys sitting in a dark hole writing on a blog and making videos enjoy being OUTSIDE? This has unfortunately come up before due to our trips to Lake Diefenbaker where during our most recent trip up there we camped on the beach for a night.

Now not only Carley, but also some great friends of ours are dragging me out for a camping weekend with the children. I'm a little excited to get outside and chill for a few days without having to worry about keeping the house cleaning and feeding everybody food and everything else that comes with trying to get things done around the house. At the same time I'm a little scared to be spending so much time outside and away from the house. I know I can easily keep myself busy and find things to do away from home, but I do worry about people thinking that I'm no fun or weird in the out-of-doors.

The best part about it is that I know Carley will have an awesome time. She's been wanting to go camping pretty much ever since I met her and we just haven't had the chance to go out anywhere on our own due to me usually being busy (and totally not knowing anything about camping whatsoever). There has also been a bit of an issue

I expect Isabelle will also have a great time being outside and with other people; she seems to enjoy getting out of the house and being a social baby so she may just end up being a total gem the whole time we're out there.

Wish me luck everyone! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Content Production Challenge Revision =15=

For anybody who may be following my one-year content production challenge, you may have noticed that I'm about a week behind where I should be in my challenge. My explanation? I didn't consider that I may get a little sick or that it would be so difficult to continue taking care of a growing baby and a healing fiancee after her surgery.

So I have a slight change of plan to account for this: Instead of aiming for one piece of content posted every single day, I'll be working towards having one year's worth of content as of June 5th of 2019. That means by that date, I should have 365 pieces of content posted, but not necessarily posted one per day.

So from here on out I'll continue to try to get things out there on a regular basis, but just note that it isn't the end of the world if I'm either ahead or behind on content.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Food Review - Aurora Sushi - Asian Cuisine - 8/10 ===

Just the other day we had a lovely dinner and a movie for a date day where we decided to go to Aurora Sushi in Moose Jaw. I'm a huge fan of Asian food and definitely don't mind doing the buffet thing, especially when I haven't had much to eat earlier in the day. If you've ever been to an I Like Sushi, this place is pretty much exactly that... without the cool iPads... and I think it costs a little more.

I'm not a fan of sushi, so that part of the place doesn't really appeal to me, but the buffet here is very good. The selection of things to choose from isn't as big as I Like Sushi, but the quality of the food is good and there are enough options that you should be able to find something to keep you happy. If you are a person who likes sushi, they do offer a selection of sushi you can order with your mean which doesn't cost anything extra unless you order extra things and don't eat it.

For the cost of about $25 per person for an endless buffet, bottomless drinks (which they refill OFTEN by the way), and a selection of sushi, I do think this is a pretty good place to eat. You aren't getting to take home any leftovers unfortunately due to it being a buffet, so you do have to go when you're hungry to make it feel like you've made good use of your money.

I'm scoring this place as a 8/10 because the food is very good and they're super diligent about refilling your fountain drinks compared to other restaurants where they tend to forget about you. If you're not going for sushi then there are other options for an Asian buffet which cost a little bit less than Aurora Sushi though the cost may be made up just by the refilling of the drinks. I would definitely highly recommend this place for a dining experience, especially for anybody who likes eating sushi.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Movie Review - Insidious: The Last Key (2018) - Supernatural Horror - 6/10 ===

Today we take a look at Insidious: The Last Key. Carley and I are very much into watching horror movies on a regular basis. We're always looking for those great horror movies that actually get you a little terrified whether it's from something really creepy or from a good jump scare or two. This movie is a good continuation of the series; if there is anything which really gets to me it's definitely ghosts and things, but unfortunately I didn't find this one too scary.

This movie is the forth in the franchise (oddly enough I still haven't watch the first movie). In this movie we learn about Elise's past where her father didn't want her doing anything to do with spirits and supernatural things so he would try to abuse it out of her. With her mother being supportive of her, Elise would continue to refuse to listen to her father and eventually ended up locked in the basement where the demon of this movie was released.

Years later Elise is working with her assistants and receives a call which leads her back to her childhood home where this all happened. At first she refuses to help the man calling, but then she reconsiders and decides that it is her responsibility to fix what she started years ago.

The story is revealed in a great way where you learn about twists and turns in the story that you didn't expect. There were times in Elise's childhood where she thought she was seeing a ghost, but she was really seeing someone who was alive but had escaped from the basement of the house. Crazy, right?

Some of what I didn't enjoy so much in this movie was the girls who were supposed to be her estranged nieces. While I think it's great to meet them and get to know them a little bit and even have them join Elise in assisting her with the ghostly problem of the house... they just don't have very much character other than being good-looking on the screen and a source of "jokes" for the two assistants to make fools of themselves. I really would have preferred the movie keep more of a serious tone and build more character rather than make jokes.

This movie presents some serious topics such as the aforementioned child abuse and even touches a little bit on a sort of rape-ish theme in the way the demon treats his female victims. Considering the only-female victims and the way the girls are treated throughout the movie, there's an air of sexism which is a little uncomfortable to think about after the fact.

All things considered, this is a fun movie series to follow. I think the horror part was a bit lost in this one, and I think it could have done without the frantic jokes about the guys falling over themselves for the girls. I'm going to score this one at 6/10 for being pretty average, but not bad. I still recommend watching this one especially if you are an avid fan of the series.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Livestream Night! =12=

Hey everybody, I'll be going live tonight with an attempt to win my first regular run of Runers followed by some State of Decay 2. Come join me and chat, hangout, or lurk. ^_^

www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1

I'm always open to suggestions if you have any ideas which might improve my stream.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Backyard Light Project =11=

I've been keeping myself busy these days with a few projects around the house and a short time ago my time turned into a backyard light project. It actually all started with wanting to clean off the deck, but in my doing so I found a bag of string lights which I figured I could put to good use.

I was able to find a space where I could get the string of lights out of the inside deck area and wind them under the steps and around the pole to the side. These aren't super bright lights, but they make it much easier to see the dogs in the dark and to see enough of the backyard during that time without bothering the neighbors. It's amazing what you're able to do when you get creative enough while doing completely unrelated things.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Livestream Night! =10=

Hey everybody! I'm going live for a night of livestreaming. If everything goes to plan, then we should be starting off with a couple runs of Runers probably leading into some State of Decay 2. Join me at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Movie Review - Truth or Dare (2018) - Horror - 7/10 =9=

Truth or Dare? Oh, you don't want to play? That's too bad, you've been asked, so now you're in the game and if you don't take your turn and complete the dare, you'll be killed.

This fantastic movie is a Blumhouse production about a group of college students who go on a trip to Mexico where they party and drink. The main character Olivia gets bothered by another character named Ronnie whom nobody likes until a guy who called himself Carter steps in and convinces Olivia and her friends to go with him to the ruins of a nearby mansion where they start playing a game of Truth or Dare.

Carter reveals to Olivia that this isn't just a normal game of Truth or Dare, but it will follow them and they will have to follow the rules or they will die. Olivia returns to school and starts seeing Truth or Dare written around everywhere and hearing the words whispered, but thinks it's all a joke until she accidentally reveals her best friend's secret to a room full of people.

The movie continues with skeptical friends dying and the others trying to survive and find a way to end the game without themselves dying. Things are revealed about each of the characters which makes them more likable or not and in the end we didn't really care about them all too much because there just wasn't any time to get to know them and fall in love with them in the short time of the movie.

I really don't think this movie was quite as bad as the rest of the reviews that I've seen, but then again, I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to movies. I didn't think this was a super cheap movie and I enjoyed the story. Except for a jump-scare or two, this movie wasn't scary at all. I enjoyed it and would recommend watching it for a bit of fun, but not if you're looking for something to really scare the pants off of you.

Unfortunately there isn't too much for me to say about Truth or Dare. I didn't think the acting was too cheesy, the music and sound was good, and the story was reasonable. My personal score for this movie will be 7/10 and a recommended movie to watch for me as long as you aren't looking for anything super original as a new concept.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Jaw Surgery Adventure - The Aftermath =8=

We entered an empty hospital bright and early in the morning and mentally prepared ourselves for the upcoming surgery. Carley did pretty well coming up to the surgery and didn't seem all to agitated even while we were in the waiting room right beforehand outside the surgery area. We were given a patient number so that I could wait in the waiting room and see what point she was at in her surgery. I didn't pay too much attention to it as I figured everything would go well and didn't have anywhere to go anyways. As it turns out, the chairs in the waiting room are wonderfully comfy... so much so that I was able to fall asleep and have a good nap while I was waiting for the procedure to be completed.

The doctor / surgeon woke me up once the operation was complete and I promptly made my way to the post-surgery observation unit. Carley was wheeled in and given a place and set up for her stay for the night. My first impression of seeing Carley was one of "Oh my goodness, what have they done to her?" She had a couple ice packs tied around her head so there was one on each side of her jaw and there were elastics keeping her jaw shut so she couldn't move her mouth.

At this point, the nurses then came in and started going through everything she would need to know including how to feed herself with her syringe, how to use the mouthwash every morning and night, and how to press the button to get some morphine into her system if she were ever in pain at all. The recovery in the observation ward wasn't too interesting other than a lot of sleeping and water drinking and whatnot. There was a point where the morphine ran out and was replaced with another container of morphine... but Carley thought it was replaced with Tylenol, so she proceeded to use quite a bit of it. This led to the nurses and doctor being unsure whether or not she should be leaving the following day as they weren't sure if she would be able to handle the pain after the large amount of morphine she took throughout the night.

We did manage to get ourselves home the following day after surgery. The following days included a lot of switching ice packs around the freezer and managing all of Carley's medication for pain and antibiotics. The only real bump in the road we hit was that the hospital seemed to get Naproxen and Dilauded mixed up and told us everything was available in Moose Jaw except Dilauded. So we got to Moose Jaw and found that they didn't have Naproxen which was a bit of an issue because Carley's face and neck at this point was slowly expanding into a balloon and she was having issues breathing because of this. We got through the first night using Children's Advil and got some Naproxen from a different drug store the next morning.

What has been the hardest part about this process so far? I would say... the pain has been manageable for her, so that wouldn't be the hardest. Probably the really most difficult thing has been the food... or lack of. As it turns out, Carley isn't terribly interested in only having liquids every day and it really is pretty hard to make liquids interesting to eat. As a result, Carley has lost quite a bit of weight in the past two weeks... around 20 lbs I believe.

Well, tomorrow is now the big day when the elastics SHOULD be removed and she can start eating soft foods once again. Wish us luck and find out soon what's on the menu and how the recovery is going. ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Mobile Game Review - Fallout Shelter - City Builder / Base Management - 9/10 =7=

I can't believe I've held off on reviewing this game for so long. I've played Fallout Shelter before, uninstalled it out of frustration, and now here I am playing it once again. It constantly draws me back in no matter how much I try to resist.

Welcome to Fallout Shelter. You are the new overseer of vault *insert number here*. It is now your task to build a shelter and keep an community of people alive and well with everything out there in the wasteland trying to get inside and kill you in some way; or perhaps everything will go down in flames.

Fallout Shelter is a game where you begin with a few dwellers and you are tasked with putting them to work to gain resources and grow your population. To start, you must balance three resources which are power, food, and water. Power is the most important resource because all of your rooms require power to run and they will shut down if you don't have enough. Food is the next resource which is needed to keep your dwellers healthy and to naturally heal their wounds. Then you have water which is needed to keep your people from being irradiated which lowers their maximum health.

Once you have these under control, you can start thinking about expanding your population. For this you need money which is most easily gotten by completing quests and rushing rooms. The downside to rushing rooms is that there is a chance to fail which causes some sort of hazard such as fire or enemies to attack the room. Every time rushing a room succeeds, the chance to fail gets higher... but the rewards increase as well.

Now that you have money and a growing population, you'll need to think about keeping your people healthy and treating the radiation from the enemies that enter the shelter and the wasteland itself. Stim packs are used for healing injured people and are used to fight off radiation poisoning. These are very important as the enemies get stronger and radiation is more common as you explore further into the wasteland.

There's such a balance of resources and actions which must be managed to succeed at this game. And at any point it's so easy to completely forget about that high-level dweller you sent out into the wasteland hours ago and is now dead. You'll lose your most important things by sending out high-value items with a high-level character who'll die because you forgot to bring them back home before you went to sleep for the night. You'll run out of resources and lose your base from expanding too quickly or building your base in such a way that one catastrophe spreads throughout your whole base and kills all your people. This game will frustrate you so much, but for some reason you'll keep coming back to it because you just thought of a different way to do something which might work better than last time.

This game is absolutely addicting. I'm giving it 9/10 for how amazing it is. Sound design is good, art style is fantastic, and gameplay is top-notch. The only thing I'm taking a point away for is the controls. In a crisis situation, it can be VERY difficult to select the correct character and send them to the right spot... so you'll lose characters because you tapped the wrong person or didn't manage to select the right guy in time before he lost his last bit of health. Despite the occasionally frustrating controls, I absolutely recommend this game to everybody. I'm still playing it... again.

~ Kyle Welykholowa 

Livestream Night! =6=

Hey everybody, I'm going live now with some State of Decay 2! Come join me if you're interested in watching, hanging out, chatting, or if you just want something to listen to. You can find me over on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/DaemonVirus1

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Jaw Surgery Adventure - The Day Before =5=

With nerves at an all time high, off we went to Saskatoon one day before surgery day. I enjoy the drive of a road trip, but Carley decided she was in the mood to drive us there; I have no complaints about her wanting to drive places so that I don't have to drive all the time.

Carley driving gave me the perfect opportunity to search for a place where we could stay for the night. Honestly I just looked for something less expensive that wasn't a bed and breakfast or some kind of weird shared kitchen and washroom sort of thing. As it turns out, I picked the perfect place right across the street from the Cheesetoast Restaurant. Carley wasn't allowed to have anything fatty to eat the day before her surgery so we figured why not have some cheese toast along with whatever else we decided to order? She didn't even eat the cheese toast that came with her meal... But it was very tasty for me.

After food we found there was a Ruckers only a couple blocks down the street from the motel we stayed at. We definitely spent a couple hours there and probably could have spent a few hours more if we had more money to burn; some of those games are pretty fun and addicting. Let me just tell you, there's a Crossy Road game at the Ruckers there which is basically a slightly dumbed down version of the Crossy Road mobile game which is SUPER fun and I would have gladly spent the entire time there playing that if I had my own tokens... but I let Carley have most of the tokens to play the games she wanted to play. I now have Crossy Road on my phone to play in my spare time thanks to that experience.

I think we successfully distracted Carley from the coming Surgery and kept her spirits quite high that day before heading to the hospital. We finished the night off with some cake we took home from the Cheesetoast Restaurant and watch The Shawshak Redemption from start to finish because it was conveniently starting right as we got back to the motel and I had never seen it before. Then it was off to dreamy sleepy land for the rest of the night.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

Age of Wonders Livestream - June 8, 2018 =4=

Today I decided to do a little bit of livestreaming and the game of choice was Age of Wonders, always one of my favourites. At some point I'll figure what sort of strategies I want to go with when starting new scenarios to hopefully get a much better start than I have in the past.

I've been playing some Play By Email games with some people over on the Good Old Games forums recently which has been quite a blast remembering just how easy it can be to mess up a game or take a bad engagement.

So here's some of my practice time in trying to learn some better strategy.

Age of Wonders -- Keepers Scenario 5 - Part 4

I really didn't think it would be so easy and quick to finish this scenario, but here I am flabbergasted that it was the case. Watch it all right here!

Previous

Next

This campaign and more can be found on my Age of Wonders page.

Check out more of my stuff!
- On YouTube
- On Twitch
- On Twitter

~ DaemonVirus

Jaw Surgery Adventure - The Beginning =2=

     We have been through quite a crazy jaw surgery adventure in the past few weeks. I don't know yet whether it has been all worth it to go through, but I think once all the healing is compete that Carley will be much happier with the events than she currently is right now.

     The couple weeks leading up to the surgery turned into stress-city around here. I had no idea Carley would get so worked up about something she had been looking forward to for such a long time. She had previously told me about how huge of an effect this would have on her and how she would have a much better self-image. I'm all for supporting her through something that would make her feel better about herself; she fought for this and wrote countless letters to get this whole process started years ago before she even met me. The worst part about the experience for me has been how stressed she started to get leading up to the surgery.

     We reached a point where pretty much everything set Carley off and either started a fight, or she would yelling at me because tasks weren't being done right away or not going her way immediately without questions. I absolutely understood her being in such a stressed position; she was about to go through a very intense process including pain and weight-loss. I think anybody would be stressed knowing they would have to be going through that in such a short time.

     As much as I wanted to explode sometimes, I did my best to keep clam and be as supportive as I could be. We got through the bad feelings by indulging on things that she wouldn't be able to have for a while after the surgery, like pizza, steak, and other fast foods. There are people out there who think stress is nothing and can be pushed aside no problem. Unfortunately that's not the way it is for everybody and that does include my dear sweet Carley. It's really hard sometimes to handle the levels of stress that pour out of this beautiful lady, but I just remember what she is willing to do for me and I put myself next to her to support her and lift her up. We can get through anything together.

~ Kyle Welykholowa

One-Year Content Production Challenge =1=

     Finally the anticipation can be put to rest and you are about to find out what it is that's going to be happening in the coming months. I've been wanting to make something good out of the content I create on my blog, YouTube, and Twitch for some time now, but something always distracts me or gets in the way. So, in the spirit of my content hero whom I watch all the time who goes by LethalFrag online, I have decided I am going to do a one-year content production challenge.

     I would love to commit to this being specifically a live-streaming challenge, but unfortunately I'm just not so sure at this point whether or not that would be possible; so instead I'm committing to content production. I will do my best to live-stream as often as possible throughout, but when I'm unable to do so, I'll at least make a blog post every day. If you're ever interested in checking everything that's been done, I'll keep a daily list with links on a page called One-Year Content Production Challenge.

     Will this be difficult to find the time to do something every day even if it's just a simple post saying "Hi" for the day? Yes, absolutely... but I need something personal to keep myself busy and really show that this hobby of mine is something important that I put a lot of effort into. I know it can be great if only I put in the real effort to do so. Have I talked to Carley about this? No... she'll be finding out about this as she reads it just like everybody else. (Sorry babe)

     Perhaps this entire idea will be a huge flop, but hey... we're in a time when finding a new job is quite difficult and I do have the time to keep up with this even if I sometimes don't think I really do. I appreciate each and every one of you who support me through this and I welcome all of your criticism on how I can make everything better in the future. Keep an eye out for daily updates on news, gaming, personal projects, reviews of movies, food, and much more.

As usual, you're all fantastic, and I hope you all have the best days ever! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa