I realized one or two days ago that I was depressed...not sure if I still am, but the realization was pretty clear to me.  After a while you kinda learn some signs to look out for.  Symptoms, really.

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I'm shelving Cyberstorm after getting to the 3rd system -- this is when the game really starts to get repetitive and lackluster, the third star system has planets that really aren't very enjoyable at all and the number of enemy cybrids makes battles kinda take a while.  To make matters worse, the new weapons and systems that you get have lesser and lesser marginal "coolness", to say nothing of utility.  Really I think Cyberstorm is most exciting in the beginning 20-40% of the game, when you only have a few hercs, and are upgrading your way from the lowly remoras eventually to ogres and then finally to demons.

A couple of things are pretty lackluster in the game in general -- particularly the weapon balancing, which often means the new toys you get aren't actually useful in any capacity and you just stick with good ol lasers and missiles.  There is still something pretty fun about it, but it kinda gets old pretty fast.

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My SP Star Magic Girl switches came in and I realized (too late) that they actually don't have SMD cutouts for my LEDs, oops.  After some experimentation, I realized that even other switches that do have a cutout probably aren't good enough, I really need full clear transparent top housings (or better yet, diffusers/condensers) to really let the light fully shine through my pom jelly keycaps.  It's too bad because the star magic girl switches are really not too bad.  They've got a softer bottom-out, which is something I'm missing a bit from my U4Txs, but they are a bit inconsistent in their sound; probably would benefit from some lubing.

For now I'm back to the U4Txs and actually enjoying them, I'm also back to using doubled-up orings to dampen (mushy out) the bottom out, which I'm sure mech keyboard enthusiasts would turn their noses up at, but eh, whatever.  There are a couple more things that I purchased to try, just because I felt like treating myself to more new toys.  One thing I'm worried about is that I've already had a few of the bottom housings break in some way, whether it be the leaf, or the (really brittle) pins; if any more of them break I'm going to have to order some replacements, ugh.

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I made chicken wings today!  Been a while since I did oven-baked wings.  They turned out yummy, I made a couple of different sauces for them, and was also smart and put veggies underneath them so that instead of the drippings just smoking up the oven they'd get absorbed into flavoring the roasted veggies, which worked well.

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Sota F - Start a New Day is my new "chart to pass" in DDR -- I'm going to try and work up to it.  You know, for a very long time, I really didn't see the appeal of more "modern" DDR charts (anything after DDR Extreme).  It seemed like there were a lot of random pop songs, more 16th notes but less fun charting somehow.  The lower bpms meant the songs were a little less energetic and somehow I felt like many of them just didn't flow as well.

But I've seen some charts that I've really liked.  Some of the official vocaloid charts, actually, and then here and there some random charts that stand out as good ones.  Start a New Day on heavy/expert is one of those, I can really understand the appeal of the 16ths and they feel really good to be able to execute, though I can't really do it all at full speed yet.  Well, I can do a good portion of it with no problem, but the "candle" stepped 16ths and stuff, it's just a little too fast for me at this point, I've gotta work on pretty much everything to get better at it -- foot speed, stamina, even chart reading speed.  But it's a really fun chart!

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I'm supposed to write some letters, but what am I supposed to write about?  Who am I supposed to put my faith in?  There is one person, maybe.  I don't know, if I can really believe in anybody else.  It's feels like it would be too tiring to try.

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Part of the depression symptoms that I was noticing (also probably just due to lack of good sleep) was general crankiness.  I can feel it as just a reduced sense of patience for negative things, like when people fail to get back to me, or carry through on their jobs.  Why is it that I have to pull teeth all the time?  That crankiness in me also manifested in a tendency to just imagine negative scenarios, and remember bad situations that I have been in in the past.  Thankfully, I'm feeling better today.  With any luck, it'll last...