Gauntlet Ran

This week, it was rough. Appraisal season is upon us, and so there were many sessions of discussing with my subordinates on what to put into their self-appraisal form just to ensure that when it was my turn at filling in comments that we were all singing the same tune and presenting the strongest and most honest appraisal we can put together.

That means lots of talking with folks.

There was also a big [external] meeting nearer the beginning of the week that we needed to handle. That went well.

To cap the week off, TGCO had its first in-person public performance since the COVID-19 lockdown at the National Day Celebration Dinner. Granted, it was just a small segment (about 2 pieces), but the fact that we, as a performing arts group, finally performed was a damn big deal. The group suffered some serious attrition when most of our 二胡 players effectively went on their own lives after the COVID-19 lockdown---those that got married did so, and got pregnant along the way, while those that were in school drifted back towards the orbit of solving their own academic challenges from 2 lost years of lockdown, while the retired decided to remain retired and not return. For this performance (and hopefully future ones too), we were joined by the 二胡 class students that Justinn were teaching as part of the TGCC CCG activities. The stage is no stranger to me, but to see a whole batch of newbie players getting all excited at their first on-stage performance (most of them adults trying out a new instrument) was a refreshing change of pace.

I think I scared them a little with the fact that I had been playing the 笛子 for thirty-something years, not to mention the little fact that one puny 梆笛 was sufficient to rise above the cacophony that 12+ 二胡 players could conjure up.

The performance was successful. We did play a piece that I composed back in 2016 when life was much more peaceful and my future was a little different, which was cool. It was definitely not the ``world premiere'' since we first played it back in 2019, an aeon ago. The other piece we played was an arrangement of 《茉莉花》 that was put together to allow the newbie 二胡 players to play with us.

I rested up for most of Sunday, staying away from church and other people---I've had my fill of people for quite a while. In fact, I have deliberately applied for leave for tomorrow just to ensure that I could stay isolated for a day more before I went off for three days of ``new manager course'' with strangers.

Oh, and then there's a Presidential Election after that come Friday, an election that is fast turning farcical the closer it is to the day itself. A three-corner fight among men who had been linked to the establishment in one way or another over the past decades, each trying to dissociate themselves sufficiently to convince the voting block that they were definitely not partisan, and at least one partaking in antics that seemed to suggest that this Presidential Election was being fought as a General Election, where the role of the President had more executive powers akin to Head of Government, as opposed to the constitutionally defined [ceremonial] Head of State (compare the chapter on the President against that of the Executive).

I suppose it is slightly less farcical from the last Presidential Election, which was at least somewhat more serious than the four-corner fight of the four Tans.

And I'll stop right there, since there is nothing inherently worthy about writing on this right now---there's always the danger that my opinions get taken as fact, and more insidiously, since it is technically ``published'' the moment I hit the post button on this blog entry, I am actually liable for getting censure, whether or not it is warranted.

And so, no thank you.

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Halls of Torment---I finally completed all the 201 available achievements in the game. The last few were rough as they relied too heavily on what the RNG allows one to proc. After sinking 40+ hours into the game, I will admit that it is pretty fun. The content isn't stupid large varied, but I'll argue that it is a strong point instead of a weak one as at this moment---each of the characters plays fairly differently from each other, and I do find the damage/XP race thrilling in some ways.

But then, there's HoloCure, which is effectively Halls of Torment, but less grittier, and filled with well-known Hololive Production members as seen by both the holomems and through the eyes of a loving fandom. I can see this easily eating 100+ hours if I'm not careful.

But who said I wanted to be careful on this？

In other news, I've started on Control. It's basically a game loosely around the idea of The SCP Foundation. I'm not too deep into it yet, but early signs seem promising.

And with that, I'm done with this entry. I'm tired---will make good use of my day off to really rest up more.

Till the next time then.