Panflute

Yes, I am. I mostly play PVP these days. The game is very fun but server performance around prime time leaves something to be desired.

Pre-ordered Mass Effect Legendary Edition!

Whelp, we had elections again in the Netherlands and somehow our prime minister's party got even more votes than during the previous elections, numerous scandals notwithstanding.

We went into our first full lockdown today. Merry Christmas.

It expired

As I have said earlier, all this virus does is revert countries to their basic essence. Holland has reverted to finding compromises for everything (polder model) The US has reverted to its usual dose of crazy paired with societal division France has reverted to its leader getting to roleplay as a firm Napoleonic statesman over the backs of his countrymen Italy and Spain have reverted to criticizing us for 'mishandling' the crisis and then asking us for free hand-outs as the bodies pile up and their entire economies inevitably collapse at the slightest setback It's depressing.

It's pretty fucked now. We have had rising infection rates, but people have pretty much gone into panic mode, where like 3 days after new measures, everyone starts calling for more measures even though it's impossible to notice the effect of the original measures within that timespan. If we were to go into full lockdown, it would be the first time this happens in the country, as the previous 'lockdown' and the current one have both been partial lockdowns, where much of the measures were based on advice rather than strict legislation. Still, I don't think it will ever be in countries like France and Italy where you basically have martial law. However, as it looks now, it seems as if the full lockdown is not being considered by our government, which, to its credit, doesn't often cave to the pressure of taking extra measures just because people are panicking. The issue with a full lockdown now is that it would just postpone the problem a few months at best, and wreck tons of businesses in the process. The past months have shown that our testing has not proven adequate enough to be able to handle subsequent infections locally, so this would mean having to lock the country down periodically until there is a vaccine, which is obviously bonkers. I dunno about this shit anymore. When I see people out there walking by themselves in parks while wearing mouth masks, I get the idea that a lot of this is just about giving ourselves the illusion that we're able to control the virus.

We might go into full lockdown as well seeing as journos have been pushing for it in the past weeks by aSkiNg QuEsTiOnS. Critics say such a measure will only be effective if it is kept up for months, possibly until the spring. Fun times ahead in any case.

I believe we will see it, but I also think future instalments of Fallout and Elder Scrolls will have vastly different business models that focus heavily on microtransactions (thinly veiled or not).

Our minister of justice saw fit to call everyone who didn't comply with corona rules lowlifes and then had a wedding with like a hundred guests where he hugged and shook hands with everyone. There is tons of photographic evidence of this. Take a wild guess as to whether he got fined and/or was relieved of his responsibilities.

Finished Life is Strange 2, which I'd gotten a few months ago on Steam. (MINOR SPOILERS) Honestly disappointing. The writing ranged from decent to very poor. Especially the political commentary seemed shoehorned. You can really tell that the main writers are Europeans with a limited understanding of American culture (sovereign citizens working together with cops?!). The entire premise of the game does not make much sense either. Without giving away too much, for the entire game I kept thinking "Wait, why are we running? This is just going to make things worse." It was interesting to see the road trip formula play out. It's a big contrast with the smalltown/high school setting of the original arc, but it also made it obvious why the latter worked better. Due to the surroundings constantly changing, there's very little going on in terms of character bonding and emotional development. That a chapter that sorts of mimicks the 'staying in one place' concept is by far the most enjoyable episode of the game is very telling. In the end there was enough good stuff in the game to enjoy a single playthrough, but honestly it doesn't hold a candle to the original game (which had its own share of issues), let alone the prequel to the original.

They're nice for a day. Haarlem has some nice spots but it might get boring if you spend a whole weekend there. Utrecht is basically a smaller and slightly quieter version of Amsterdam. Rotterdam can be interesting if you're way into modern art and architecture but I personally hate it. The Hague is decent. Personally I prefer the eastern part of the country, particularly the Gelderland and Drenthe provinces, but it's more rural there so not exactly city trip material.

God, the worst thing (well, after the death, disease and damage to people's livelihoods) must be the myriad of celebrities trying to cash in on a vague sense of brotherhood, recording horrible, soppy songs and other crap to 'help keep people motivated'. I guess it's a fair trade-off, though, as at least Eurovision was cancelled.

I haven't been there since Tuesday 10, before people started taking it seriously. If you go around my hometown you wouldn't really notice anything was wrong, except it's a bit more packed in the supermarkets and a bit quieter in the streets. I can imagine Amsterdam being a lot less busy as all the musea, restaurants and bars are closed.

I've heard countless stories of people here who are at home with severe symptoms who cannot get tested. At this point I just assume the number of infected is many times higher than the official government numbers.

Things are starting to go down in Holland, with restrictions on events of more than 100 people, urging people to work from home when they can, and to avoid contact with the elderly and other vulnerable groups. Curiously, unlike France and Belgium they haven't yet closed the schools as they fear it would put too much pressure on parents who cannot work from home, against too little benefit as children seem largely unaffected by it. The latter seems a bit odd to me as children themselves may not be affected much, but from what I understand they can still easily spread the disease to more vulnerable groups. In any case, I expect them to carry it over the weekend and close the schools by Monday. On another note, I have a friend who lives in Beijing and he says things are relatively good there now. The virus seems to be on the retreat again, and he said he made it through the lockdown just fine. He also said all the reports in Western media about 'China imprisoning its own population' made him laugh, as you can easily still move about the city. There are guards around, but they mainly just sleep by open gates and you only wake them up when you need his help because you lost your keys.

Well, our country is slowly going into lockdown. People are being urged to work from home, and events are being cancelled all over the country. Luckily I have a shitload of food, medicine and booze, so I can lock myself inside for quite a while and also work from home.

I can't exactly isolate myself from my mother if she relies on me for groceries and a bunch of other tasks, though.

At this point the thing that makes me anxious more than the disease itself is the panic-mongering surrounding it. Not that measures shouldn't be taken, but when there's reports on the news every day of people hogging toilet paper in other countries, it was only a matter of time before it started happening here. I suppose there's less logical combinations than cans of beans and tp but it's like journos are trying to bait people into panicking so they can crank up the coverage of this shit even more. Apart from that I'm mainly worried about the older members of my family. I'd probably be fine if I got it but having a mother with a history of respiratory issues does not make me sleep well at night.

Is it weird that my first thought was "I wonder if I've heard of his band..."?

Economy's good so he will get re-elected. The approval rating will come into play when the Democrats field an exceptionally strong opponent, but they won't.

As it looks now that missile attack is probably the best thing that could've happened. Iran saves face in front of its own people by making some rockets hitting an airbase without any casualties, which allows America to not react and let hem off with some bombastic tweets by the president.

Honestly can't make out if he talks so camp because he's gay or just because he's German.

What do you mean 'secretly'?

Rey kills Dumbledore