8r4d #running this evening felt very #autumn and once again we were back to needing headlamps and jackets—tho I managed to forget my jacket. Brr!

gamerdad I’ve stumbled into this sim again.

No, I haven’t previously written about my forays into virtual farming with the Farming Simulator series, but occasionally I do find some quiet time to pick away at a contract and harvest some wheat or bale some hay and sit quietly doing something that seems deeply productive while being absolutely video-game-style pointless.

Don’t judge.

No, but seriously, the truth of it is that in the vast world of simulator-style games, Farming Simulator has found an interesting enough niche that piggybacks off a long history of mobile and freemium games like Farmville, and steps one step closer to realism than a lifestyle sim like Stardew Valley, for example.

I have dabbled in three or four generations of this franchise now, and I do find a bit of a flow state now that I’ve figured out how to just work away at the fun bits and not fret the deeper end of the business sim stuff.

I did some writing earlier this evening and so kicked back with the Playstation opting to dive into something that didn’t require much brain power.

gamerdad Don’t ask me why I never bought this book when I saw it on the discount rack at Chapters, but I didn’t and so ultimately (after it stuck in my craw for long enough) I bought the audiobook version and have been diving into the strange parallel reality of this little science fiction meets dramatic character story.

I honestly don’t have a great sense of where this story is going yet. While it is technically a science fiction novel, the sci fi aspect is light in favour of the deep dive character drama that tells the story of this odd fellow named Belt who is either deeply troubled by mental illness or has some unique talent that is unappreciated enough by the world that he comes across so. The construct of the world is that there are these little fuzzy hamster-like robots that are as ubiquitous as an iPhone might be in our world, and people carry them around and perform all manner or complex ritual that is alike a metaphor for social media and technology addiction.

I will read on and try to decipher the puzzle, though, before I proclaim to understand more.

8r4d Sights from this mornings #autumn #trails #running

8r4d In mid October the temperatures are starting to fall as fast as the leaves from the trees, but the trails are just clear enough to tease out one last pre-winter run. #running #runcrew #autumn

8r4d Our regular Thursday #runcrew #running adventure was diverted from our usual Mill Creek routine and instead we did a chilly six through Blackmud Creek as the #autumn #sunset hit some groovy vibes.

gamerdad I finished book five about a week ago and I’m already onto another read, but I figured I should at least give Bob and his clones a proper send off.

These are decent books and I do like them, but I will say that book five was a bit more scattered than the previous four. There was a solid plot, yeah, and the story progressed in a long arc sort of way, but the whole thing seemed a bit more like there were a half dozen short stories shuffled together like a deck of cards into a single novel-sized package. The series had already been about a guy who (spoiler alert) digitally clones himself and propagates across the galaxy, so there are increasingly more stories to tell as the bob-iverse expands and branches and subdivides infinitely onwards.

So I guess if the author really is aiming for a teen book series as he claims in his blog, he’d better figure out how to focus the story—at least in my opinion.

8r4d Just a quiet video of some autumn colours. They fade so quickly each year, don’t they? Just take a few minutes to enjoy them.

pixelazy Another few splashes of #autumn colour for you.

adventuredog Posing pretty in the #autumn colours. She was not as excited to be out here as normal. Maybe it was the odd construction noise in the distance, or maybe she’s more of a summer dog?

8r4d It kinda seems like there is some #construction shenanigans afoot at the dog park this week. I can’t tell if they’re doing some seriously hard core trail maintenance or if they are putting down a foundation to actually pave the whole four kilometre loop after twenty years. These guys were just hauling gravel crush from one place to the work site, but there were about a dozen workers hanging about. #dogpark

8r4d The autumn colours were in full force this week, and it’s only a matter of days before the snow falls. Enjoy this rare view of a sunny orange run thru the Edmonton suburbs