dr. b

I heard on the radio a few days ago that a hospital in London, ON. (about 90 minutes drive west of where I live) is now temporarily storing bodies in a refrigerated truck outside because the morgue is at full capacity. Apparently the capacity is not very high in that morgue, so maybe it sounds a bit more shocking than perhaps it truly is... but still, that ain't something they normally have to do. Quite a few people have died from COVID-19 recently

It certainly is pervasive.

Today: Ontario reports record 4,249 new COVID-19 cases ICU admissions hit new record high Premier Doug Ford is promising further restrictions coming for Ontario, as the province reported a record 4,249 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. "We're in a desperate situation, and when you see the modelling, you'll fall out of your chair," Ford said. "There will be further measures, because this is getting out of control." Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, agreed with that assessment. "I think we do need to consider more serious measures, perhaps similar to what happened in the spring," she said. "Today's numbers, to be frank, are scary." ... I could keep going, but that's enough for now. I'm glad I have booze waiting for me at home tonight

Yeah, I think all the COVID doom and gloom + incessant coverage of goings-on in U S and A [ + my god damn Raptors are killing me with their terrible play ] would drive a lot of people to drink / self-medicate I am not using these things as an excuse though. Please win a game already, Raps

I've been doing pretty OK on that front as well, I think.

Dang. Mets are getting Lindor and Carrasco from Cleveland Your Mets are really having a great time since Cohen bought them, gralic. It's killing me to see the Padres and Mets really going for it like this when I hoped that I would be seeing the Jays making these kinds of moves this winter. Toronto totally has the flexibility to do it, and I think they've been trying - and of course the winter ain't over yet - but so far they haven't added much. I'm 100% on board the Padres bandwagon this year, but I will pull for the Mets too. I want to see more teams trying to win like this and not just dumping salary. Also Cleveland is a damn joke. They're absolutely gutting that team. edit: Also also about the Padres recent acquisitions: Why were there not more teams in on acquiring these guys? It's pretty nuts to me that SD could make these big acquisitions at a relatively low cost to their farm system. Normally the price tag would be higher. Good on them for making the deals and improving the team. I just don't get why more teams are not trying harder to win.

Akudama Drive was an anime original, not inspired by a manga or other source material, so the anime is all you get (unless it was popular enough for the creators to make a spin-off of some sort)

Pretty damn exciting first episode back for Neverland

Forgot to mention: I also really liked Hoodlum and Brawler's part of the story. It was pretty predictable how things were going to go with Hoodlum at the end there, but it was satisfying all the same.

I finished Akudama Drive last night. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Guess I'll spoiler my thoughts on it just in case:

I actually don't mind reading manga on my phone too much, so I'd consider that option. When I last had some serious interest in getting into One Piece, my only option was reading manga on a laptop which isn't super comfortable. I still like the idea of borrowing physical volumes from the library best, but availability will be hit and miss because they only have a couple copies of each one. The Jump app sounds like the smart way to go.

I thought about trying to read through the manga once, that was about... 6 years ago now probably. Seemed like too tall of a task at the time, and a lot of manga to read on a computer screen. I noticed recently though that my local library has nearly all the volumes available (up to 94 IIRC) so I could start putting them on hold a few vols at a time and eventually read through them all, even if it takes months (years? ).

I restarted my Funi subscription so I decided to check out Akudama Drive. I missed out on it during the fall season. Zipped through 5 episodes because I couldn't sleep last night. I'm enjoying it so far!

I forgot that part. Nearly died of laughter the first time I watched that episode, still hilarious seeing it again

I hope you're all having the best holiday you can in this crazy world we live in right now Let's hear about the gifts you gave / received, food and drink you indulged in, what you're doing this year compared to normal traditions, etc.

Only about a week or so left until most of these shows I'm interested in start airing. It looks like Crunchyroll will have me covered for Dr. Stone (and of course SnK and Juju), but I'm not sure yet if they'll also have Neverland. CR hasn't unveiled their full winter lineup yet, but right now it's looking like I'll need to restart my Funi subscription if I want to check out Back Arrow, SK?, and Horimiya. Also noticed another anime original on Funi called Wonder Egg Priority that could be worth a look. edit: also I didn't notice before but apparently the final season of SnK will be 16 episodes..? Only 12 left And it look like no new episode until next weekend

Sorry for being a downer, but I think the first 3-6 months of 2021 are probably gonna just be "more of 2020" given the situation we're in right now. But I hope the vaccines work and the roll out of them is relatively smooth and quick. Maybe by spring/summer things will be looking up.

Another record setting day in Ontario...

I played Memories of Celceta on the Vita a few years ago. Great game I've been wanting to pick up VIII for Switch, it's been on sale on the eShop a few times, but I'd probably never have time to actually play it edit: In fact Ys VIII is on sale right now as part of NISA's New Year 2021 sale... Lots of interesting stuff on sale right now

I'm putting it off to January 2022 it's called dry January after all. Wouldn't be right to do it in February.

I polished off Cat's Eye this week. Now that the NBA is back in full swing, I'll probably give the oldies a break because I'm gonna have basketball on the TV most evenings (unless COVID derails the season )

IIRC she's just as obnoxious in the manga at this point in the story, the anime doesn't really make her worse I don't think. She'll continue to be hard-to-like for a while yet... but she does experience some real character growth eventually! Who knows, you might still hate her in the end anyhow, but I think most people's opinions will come around at least a little bit on her later on.

It's gonna get worse before it gets better. Time to hunker down and stop going out for a while except for groceries and booze. I toyed with the idea of a "Dry January" this year, but to hell with that

Headline today: Ontario reports record-high 2,923 new COVID-19 cases as ICU admissions reach pandemic high Great, we're going for 3000 cases a day The government keeps telling people to stay home, etc., etc., and a lockdown came into effect on Dec. 26th (which seems rather late given the way things were trending) but I don't think these measures will actually solve much. The best part is that apparently Ontario's Finance Minister has been away on holiday in St. Barts since the legislature took their break mid-December. Whoops! That ain't a good look for him or the government. Finance Minister is usually on of the top dogs in government. Dude might have just committed career suicide. When you've got the Premier, Health Minister, etc. reminding people everyday to only travel for essential purposes and then a key member of the government takes off on a Caribbean vacation, people are gonna get mad.