Ghostbusting, BioShocking and GoldenEye''ing?

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was mostly a chill day, spoke to my Cousin Raymond for a bit which was cool, learned a few things that I was not aware of, but glad to know he's doing well. Also hoping the best for his daughter who I met at mom's funeral... she too is battling cancer. Also spoke to another family member who we call Lisa Chiquita (mostly to differentiate between her and mom, who used Lisa as a nickname), the conversation was interesting, and makes me grateful that my younger brother is much wiser than I am.

The stream itself opened with Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleash, and we had a few issues getting into actual matches... but we did have a several good matches, winning as a Ghost and as a Ghostbuster. The new map is certainly interesting to get around in, has quite a few narrow areas where a skilled ghost player can ambush Ghostbusters easily depending on if they are focused on Rifts and Civilians. I do love the fact that the hair styles from the Real Ghostbusters cartoon are now in the game, makes me wonder of the Extreme Ghostbusters hair styles will be eventually added.

Next was Bioshock Infinite on the PS3 for the first time, and it certainly has style to it, but my dislike for the controls in having to remember the bumpers are for using powers and weapons while the triggers are for swapping said powers and weapons would certainly get me in trouble if I was playing on normal difficulty. Did managed to reach Monument Island, but I think I would want to restart the play through from the beginning.You know what's funny? I thought I had the BioShock collection on Xbox... but turns out I don't... I do have it on Steam.

Of course the reasons we used the PS3 was because for some reason the PS2 was not sending a signal and I don't know why, as I thought I had that figured out months ago. Oh well...

Lastly, we tried out GoldenEye 007, and I never played the N64 version... and boy was trying to understand the controls a bit of an issue at first. Managed to at least get through the first level... and nearly finished the 2nd level before making some bad mistakes. I can see why people loved this game back in the 90s... but how did they play it with just one analog stick on the N64 controller?!  

Also was super cool to see my cousin Frances really getting included in my Twitch community, it really is awesome to have her and also my Aunt Grace watching either live or catching the replays.

For the raid we sent folks over to Tokushoutsu during a marathon of Gekisou Sentai Carranger over at twitch.tv/Tokushoutsu. Carranger is the Sentai series that became Power Rangers Turbo here in the United States.  

BioShock Infinite (PS3) Trophies

• Welcome to Monument Island: Reached Monument Island.
• Written in the Clouds: In the Main Campaign, completed Lighthouse.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Achievements

• Escape Artist: Break free from a 4 Buster tether

GoldenEye 007 Achievements

• RUN!: You completed Dam on any difficulty.

Finally finished the WWE Commission request based on results at the Royal Rumble, nearly forgot what the client wanted for the finish. I do have a commission request to get back to writing the Mass Effect series focused on BroShep, so I'll have to convert the first two 'seasons' into PDFs for the Subscribstar page

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive COmbo #1, Uppercut Combo #2 and Front-Bakc Step Combo

"I asked my dog what's two minus two. He said nothing."

Song of the Day: Broccoli by DRAM feat. Lil Yachty.

For tonight's stream, we're of course playing Overwatch 2, and I believe I'll mostly focus on just the main battle pass going forward, because of time constants,

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII Remake after first night

Good morning everyone.

Well yesterday started with a mixed news... well in the afternoon it did, as PSE&G came out to check the water heater... and the tank is leaking from the top due to corrosion, but I was told since we caught it early, the sooner we can get it replaced the better. So I'm going to need to coordinate with my brother to see if he knows anyone who could handle that at a fair cost. Otherwise... it's having to go through PSE&G. But good news is since I'm constantly in the basement anyway for work (when there is work) and other stuff, I can keep an eye on it.

Last night's stream saw me... FINALLY... start playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it's clear as day it's not the same story as the original story. Sure a lot of things are the same, like the opening to take out the Mako Reactor for example, but there is a clear expansion on world building to actually make me feel like I should give a damn about the characters, which was nothing I felt when I played original FF7 a couple of years ago. 

Visually the game is pretty damn good looking, no real differences between cut scenes and game play, the music and sound effects are pleasing to the ears... the voice acting... is kind of all over the place, but I can look over that for the most part. Game play wise, I do feel it's similar enough to Final Fantasy XV for me to have fun hacking and slashing my way through enemies.

How far did we get into the game you may be wondering? Well we got to where Jessie, Cloud, Biggs and Wedge raid the Shinra depot and saw the parachute scene... but we started dropping frames, as apparently my Internet Service Provider (Comcast Xfinity) starting having issues. A speed test after the stream showed my upload speeds were 80% lower than they should be and my download speeds were at 50%. I'm going to chalk it up to the blistering cold weather and the winds, since for a brief moment in the afternoon I did lose power.

For the raid we dropped in on TracyDoll while they were playing Friday the 13th: The Game over at twitch.tv/tracydoll

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4) Trophies

• Warming Up: Win a battle.
• Staggering Start: Stagger an enemy.
• Bonds of Friendship: Free a bound ally.
• Weakened Resolve: Exploit an enemy's weakness.
• Onetime Gig: Complete Chapter 1.
• Escape Artist: Complete Chapter 2.
• Music Collector: Collect 3 music discs.
• Gotta Start Somewhere: Complete a quest.
• Materia for Beginners: Level up an orb of materia.
• Mercenary Endeavors: Complete Chapter 3.
• My First Summon: Invoke a summon.

Because I was waiting on PSE&G I didn't get any writing done, but I plan on working on the WWE short story commission today. I did post 10 classic stories from the Dice and Kristi era to my Subscribstar page

I did record a new Making A Tier List video for my YouTube channel focused on 1990s Action Movies. That will go live on Monday.

Part of me wonders if I ever want the heartache I have of mom being gone to fade... I mean I can't really bring myself to be in the living room of the house for anything more than opening the blinds, checking the mail or just passing through it. Did replace a couple of lightbulbs up there so it's going to be brighter at least. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Defensive COmbo #2, Intermediate COmbo 31 and Triple Combo #2 for 24 minutes.

"Where do fruits go on vacation?" "Pear-is!"

Song of the Day: Downtown By Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, Kool Moe Dee

For tonight's stream, we're going to lead off with Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed to check out the new content and then we'll probably play something else too.

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Good times with friends

Good morning everyone,

Last night's stream of Final Fantasy XIV was a lot of fun, we did the Valentine's Day event to start, plus a trip through an Alliance Raid, normal raid, a trial and a few side quests before being joined by PandaSweet and BangBangBang to do 'treasure maps'. Panda trying to explain how to these was certainly a comedy of errors, so I just made her leader of the party and things rolled from there. Most of the maps were in Elpis, and were quite fun. If doing maps becomes a regular thing I do on FF14 nights... I think I'll have Panda be in charge while I tag along (lol) 

Oh an specifically regarding the Valentine's event, the little story was pretty cool regarding the comfort the emissaries had in how they preferred to dress, any cameo by Puddingway is always a good thing... and the little 'queued' instances involving navigating a maze without breaking a connection plus a little match game

For the raid we dropped in on SweetLindir while they were doing some DnD style board games over at twitch.tv/sweetlindir at least i think it was DnD style, I was totally confused 

I tried reaching out to my Uncle Mark yesterday to check on my Aunt Rona since she caught Covid during their recent trip to Florida. Their voice mail was full, so I sent a text.  

Did speak with my Uncle Freddy this morning who had some very kind words to say about the speech I gave at mom's funeral

The Addams Family short story I wrote as a SubscribStar exclusive for January has been posted in the usual spots for those who know where I frequently post such works. Finished The Dragon Ball exclusive story, and started on the WWE Commission based on the results from the Royal Rumble, which is about maybe 40% done at this point.

Today's Ftiness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Block Combo, Difficult Challenge Combo 31 and Biceps Shape Focus Combo for 24 minutes.

"A skeleton walks into a bar and says, 'Hey, bartender. I'll have one beer and a mop.'"

Song of the Day: Bang The Drum All Day by Todd Rundgren

For tonight's stream we will be starting Final Fantasy VII Remake, which was slated for last Friday, but with the passing of mom... it... and many things got delayed.I made sure to install it this time, so it's ready to go for tonight

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Thank You

Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday was mom's funeral, and I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who came, from family and friends, many of whom I've met for the first time, it was a shining example of just how much my mom was loved. To everyone, I wholeheartedly thank you. 

Again I want to express my thanks to Mr. Theo Stanley, Jr and his staff at Stanley's Memorial Chapel in Camden. I could not imagine anyone doing as good as a job as they did in preparing mom, and making sure everything was conducted with the kindness and compassion they have shown. 

I want to thank the good folks of La Cocina Latin Cuisine in Pennsauken for catering the event as well. I really hope the next time we need their services it would be for a much more happy occasion. 

Next I want to thank you to Rev. Stephen Robbins and everyone at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Camden for a beautiful service and in welcoming my mom when she started going to mass on Sunday mornings.

Also I want to thank my Twitch community: FelKimChi, PandaSweet, Kalenal, FnDanteSavage, Iceman7667, BangBangBang, LvlStrkr and so many others for your kindness and support over the past couple of months. Though we have yet to meet in person, ya'll are the best friends a guy like me could have.

I would go more in the detail of how everything went, but I went through the details on stream, and trying to do a step by step recap is tough. For me, personally I feel getting to connect with a lot of family again was important... knowing that they have my back because... really for the first time I'm alone, is a huge comfort.

Last night's stream itself was saw my cousin Frances make their debut as Mod for the channel, and again, huge thank you to my communities of long time friends for welcoming her into the fold. She already saw what a great bunch ya'll were, and it really made me happy to see how well she just slipped right in like she's been there for years.

We played a lot of Fall Guys last night, teaming up with Felkimchi, and we made it to the final round twice, coming up short in roll off. Also played some Fallout 76, being joined by Iceman as we helped him progress his in-game story.

For the raid we dropped in on GGVexy as they were playing Potion Permit over at twitch.tv/ggvexy

I did not do any writing at all yesterday, I hope to get back into the swing of things shortly. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Difficulty Challenge Combo #2, Sway Back Combo, Straight Combo #2 and Difficulty Challenge Combo #3 for 32 minutes.

"What did the zero say to the eight?" "That belt looks good on you."

Song of the Day: Sultans Of Swing by Dire Straits.

For tonight's stream the plan is to play Final Fantasy XIV, we'll mix in side quests with raids.

So on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Today is mom's funeral...

 Good morning everyone,

This afternoon we're heading to mom's favorite church for her funeral... and to be honest with you all, part of me doesn't want to say goodbye. I know that sounds selfish, but can anyone blame me? I have been mulling over what I want to say... and a good portion of my thoughts result in song lyrics. But I'll do what I've done over the past several weeks and just speak from the heart. Either way, it's going to be a very tough afternoon.

On a funny note, I have lost a bit of weight around my waist line over the years and needed to find a belt, and my mom had one hanging on a coat stand in the living room. Once again, mom came through for me.

I do want to give special thanks to Mr. Theo Stanley Jr and the staff at Stanley's Memorial Chapel (stanleysmemorialchapel.com) for their kindness, compassion and professionalism in preparing mom's body for today on such notice. They've gone above and beyond what I would have anticipated, preparing gorgeous cards and even a beautiful sign in book.

A big plus from yesterday was that I heard from Elissa, and I haven't seen her since her wedding I want to say nearly 10 years ago. It's been a long while. It's great to touch base with family even under these circumstances.

Last night's stream of Saints Row mostly focused on side ventures, as completing all the areas within the in-game city is a big part of the fun when it comes to any Saints Row game. The big problem with the side ventures is that for each expansion, only certain types of missions are added, such as towing objects to a repo impound lot, racing against the clock to get vehicles to certain destinations or testing in-game gadgets to get access to them for normal use. That said, the casual approach I'm taking does work, as I can kind of space out the main story missions a lot more to avoid running out of things to do in-game in order to get the most content out of the game

For the raid we dropped in on TokuShoutSu while it was airing a marathon of Ultraman Ace over at twitch.tv/tokushoutsu

Saints Row Achievements

• Neighborly: Completed 5 districts in Santo Ileso.
• Optimized: Customized a weapon.
• Smooth Moves: Bought 2 Emotes.
• Power Players: Unlocked Criminal Empire Tier 3.

Did some writing on an exclusive story for my Subcribstar page yesterday based around Dragon Ball. Once that's finished, I'll be starting work on the next WWE commission request. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout was done before I went to bed last night, because I feared I wouldn't have time this morning. The exercises were Uppercut COmbo #1, Advanced Combo #1 and Hip Shape Focus Combo for 21 minutes.

"What did one wall say to the other?" "I'll meet you at the corner."

Song of the Day: Joy To The World by Three Dog Night

For tonight's stream... and I will be streaming, we're going to open with Fall Guys and also play Fallout 76... because after this afternoon, I'm going to need some silly things happening. We might even toss in some Ghostbusters Spirits Unleashed since that had a big update yesterday as well... or save that for Saturday's stream.

On that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

The Casual Approach To Saints Row is what works best

Good morning everyone,

Yesterday was an okay day overall my brother came over to get some things for mom's funeral, going through pictures I found with her in it. Today's going to be a little rough as I have to sign off of somethings pertaining to the funeral.

My cousin Frances pointed out that Lisa Loring who played Wednesday Addams in the 1960s Addams Family series passed away. Instantly remember the 1977 TV Pilot for a sequel series called The New Addams Family, which most people tend to forget about... despite that some of its plot was used for the first of the two Raul Julia films in the 90s!

Last night's stream of Saints Row saw me completing all the of Side Hustles, and having those off the board is huge, because it's one less thing to distract me. We found over 80 of the packets, and I think we have a good chunk of all the discoverable things covered, but there are still a lot to find. We also progressed the story to where we add additional ventures and to open up some smaller side-stories to grow the Saints empire. Also managed to unlock 100 different costume items, but I'm still struggling to find things to give The Boss a defined look as I did with Saints Row The Third and Saints Row IV

On tonight's stream I think I'll start with going after discoverable items that are on the map already and places a few ventures to start the overall cleanup of the game before doing the next story chapters. It's a plan right? Kind of... sorta...

Big thank you to Kalenal for the raid following their stream of Pokemon Scarlet over at twitch.tv/kalenal! I believe they said they were up to 354 on their PokeDex!

For our own raid, we dropped everyone off at PowerThumbZ while they were doing the Mooncrash DLC for Prey over at twitch.tv/powerthumbz! 

Saints Row Achievements

• Untouchable: Completed 10 Crimes of Opportunity.
• Always Be Hustling: Completed all Side Hustles.
• Took It to The Limit: Reach the maximum level.
• Closet Space: Own 100 different pieces of clothing.
• A Young Empire: Unlocked Criminal Empire Tier 2.

At this point I have 4250 Xbox Achieements for a Gamer Score of 98,687

Finally finished that one WWE / NHL short story commission request that I got before mom passed, and got a request for another WWE one based on the Royal Rumble this passed weekend which I did not watch. Also started writing a short story to be exclusives to my SubcribeStar page based on Dragon Ball. 

I did speak brief with my dad to get some clarification on some stories... and leads me to ask my Unlce Abraham about his mighty spoon, or probably not, if I forget about asking.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Waist Shape Focus Combo, Intermediate Combo #2 and Beginner Combo #2 for 21 minutes. You know... ever since last Friday I haven't really been motivated to workout.

"How does the moon cut his hair?" "Eclipse it."

Song of the Day: Everywhere – 2017 Remaster by Fleetwood Mac.

As detailed earlier, the plan for tonight's stream is more Saints Row! So we'll see you all over at twitch.tv/fredcasden this evening!

A Fun Sunday

Good afternoon everyone,

Yesterday started with me starting my vow of trying to speak one family member per day, and first up was my Aunt Maria up in Reading, and I was curious about a building I have a very vague memory of that I swear had RCA on it. Obviously this would've been from like 35 years ago, probably a little longer, but if it was anywhere it was probably in downtown reading.

Last night's stream was a lot of fun, as it was the usual with Overwatch 2... but then again... not so usual, as we were joined by the amazing BestiBunni for the first time ever! Now I've seen then play Overwatch 2 and they are super good in the Team Deathmatch Arcade mode, so when PandaSweet and BangBangBang joined, we ended up with a team of four, and we won the a lot more than we lost as a quartet. Later on in the night LvlStkr joined for a few matches in Quick Play, which was a blast.

As far as my own exploits go, I picked up three Plays of the Game, two as Junker Queen and one as Orisa, and used characters like Junkrat, Ana and Moira throughout the night... and as I type that sentence I realized I had a fourth play of the game as Moira that I didn't mark to save so that I could download it! DARN IT!

For the raid, we dropped in on PowerThumbZ just as they were finishing Prey, it took him 14 different broadcasts to accomplish that. He's a cool dude, check him out over on twitch.tv/powerthumbz!

Anyway, I got most of that commissioned NHL/WWE story done yesterday, just have a few details to add in to wrap it up.

The Eagles beat the Giants yesterday, and I didn't put the game on until my Uncle Abraham DM'ed me through Facebook... and once I saw the score, I instantly thought of mom and how she would stomp her foot up in the living room when the eagles would score... or screw up somehow. So I know she would've been elated! 

Did try to call my Aunt Rosa this morning to see how they were doing, got their voice mail. I'll see 'em Wednesday for sure.

I did get some clothes sorted for mom's funeral on Wednesday... going to wear a long sleeved black shirt she got me for my first a couple of years ago I never had an opportunity to wear.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 daily workout featured Double Combo #2, Triple Combo #1, Weaving Combo #2 and Hook Combo #1 for 26 minutes

"I only know 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know y."

Song of the Day: Trumpets by Jason Derulo.

For tonight's stream, we are continuing Saints Row, with my usual casual approach by doing side quests and exploration to try and find things before advancing too much of the story. It's the best way to get the most out of some games.

On that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!