Ashley

We've all been there

It was last year (a year two weeks ago in fact). But time is a flat circle lately. Not tried that one. Had the Peroni here and there but I was never a big beer person anyway. In fact I normally drink wine but not actually tried alcohol free wine. Only tried cocktails, beer and fruity cider.

Fixed it for you

I'm proud of you @Josh64, that's amazing! I can't recall if I mentioned at the time but my stepfather passed away last year ultimately because of his trouble with alcohol. Technically hospital-caught pneumonia, but he was there because of it and his body was too weak to fight it off. He didn't have it easy because most of his family suffered from alcohol dependency too (don't recall the exact numbers but at least one of his parents died from it and several of his siblings did too) but it really went downhill in February 2020. His job laid him off (and he put a lot of stock in his work and obviously it also provides a distraction) and then a few days later hired him again and then I think either let him go, or Covid did. Either way, it really shot his weak confidence and it went downhill from there. I lived with them for a month after coming back from my trip because of Covid and he did get progressively worse. He was never a perfect person, but the drink was getting the best of him and he was doing some of the things you mentioned such as trying to hide alcohol. My mom ultimately kicked him out for both their sakes and paid for him to go to rehab sometime early 2022 if I recall correctly, but two days after coming out he drank again. And I just realised that may sound like I'm trying to scare you or something, but simply instead I understand where you're coming from (or at least as much as I can having not been through it myself) but the fact you seem to be in the right mental headspace in terms of dealing with it (identifying the problem, the causes/triggers and actively wanting to change) is a great sign. One thing I have learnt in my brief time as a PT is if someone wants to lose weight it has to be intrinsic. It can't be someone else telling them to, or them feeling like they "have" to without wanting to, it has to come from within. Obviously dependencies are different, but I am sure there's a truth to it there too so it is good to see you wanting to change. Wanting to be a better version of yourself. I think it's sensible not to try the "well I'm sure I'd be fine with one..." approach. Maybe in time, but I would say it first of all needs more time and ideally you'd speak to someone who is more qualified to talk about whether that is sensible of feasible. Hopefully your current "moving the goalposts" will continue and you won't want to anyway. Thankfully more places are offering alcohol-free drinks now so that is an option, but again I would understand avoiding those for the time being because it may stimulate the mouthfeel (a horrible word and phrase!) of alcohol, but perhaps in time you will be able to go out with others and enjoy an alcohol-free drink knowing your willpower and strength is such that it won't knock you back. Which brings me to a pessimistic point but one I think is worth flagging up; something will happen in the future (hopefully not the near future) that will test and challenge you. It will knock you back and make you want to drink again, even if its a momentary "this is a difficult time, I can handle one drink!" mentality. All I would advise, as a friend rather than any kind of professional, is to a) have people you know and trust that you can turn to if that happens who will support you and b) look into how other people have learnt to handle those situations. In the moment you obviously won't be thinking logically, but hopefully if you have the friends I mentioned in point a they can help you through point b. And as to your point of not being able to celebrate it I don't live that far away remember! Plus I'm also not drinking at the moment. But you know you can always reach out to me if you want to. Congrats on not only the sobriety but also the strength and courage to post about it. It is no small or easy thing and I am really proud that you have done this.

Was watching something by Good Vibes Gaming and they point out 2D Mario games sell phenomenally well (no surprise there), even years after release, and Nintendo wouldn't just release one on a console that's about to die so it lends credence to the idea that the next console will be backwards compatible

I know this kind of thing has been discussed before and debated relentlessly primarily in the Switch topic but why not have a place to talk about what we expect the Switch successor to be like as I think its fair to say we are probably closer to it than the Switch launch. This quote from Ubisoft about Marrio + Rabbids SOH has me thinking it might end up being another backwards compatible console, particularly if you look at all the stuff in the recent Direct. I can't really see us getting to the end of 2025 (at a stretch) without a new console and I can't see Nintendo choosing to put so much effort this late in a console's life if there wasn't. I think either Thanksgiving time next year or maybe early 2025. I also know it won't happen but I want them to call it The Switchatwo. Scientific Wild-Ass Guesses for those that don't know

I would assume so. Google has phased out the Android name in all but the OS itself.

The colour of that liquid raises questions

I guess they're just being pragmatic. I'll leave.

Good god I'm old

It's still dead:

Did I buy you that when I was in Japan in 2009 or was that for someone else?

Yeah that's kind of what I was getting at here Just seen this which makes a nice point: I can't see this coming to any Mario Maker though. The variety of things in place seems like it would be out of scope as it's specific to this game, so wouldn't work on other art styles. Which I know they did a bit for the NSMB style but seems more extreme here? The art style alone would be nice, but then would feel a bit like a half-fulfilled promise.

Oh yeah but they could have new special abilities.

Three good boys!

But the elephant, stretchy and rock ball thing don't have icons. Maybe the other characters do have special abilities that we've just not seen.

His face is in the character list in the top left, unlike other power ups. Could be an actual character but maybe other players can jump on and let the Yoshi player control them?

I say bring back the double mechanic just for Poochy, teamed up with Oatchi. Two good boys together.

It's no wonder. It's only been what, 8 or so years since Europe got an actual release of it? I played it for a while but never finished it. Might pick it up.

New track and new characters in the next wave:

The new art style and animation does look great. Not interested in another 2D Mario game personally but some interesting stuff in there. And nice not to see two Toads! The internet is going to have things to say (and make) about this:

"Wonder Seed" 😩

And another Wario Ware!