Zoo Two

I've been really into this game called Star Command on the iPad. It's kind of like an unofficial Sim Star Trek, right down to science in blue uniforms, engineering in yellow, and security in red. It's a little too combat focused but it's a fun little game. It has difficulty levels, but honestly, I've never been one to redo a game just so I can play on a higher difficulty, feeling that done is done, move on. The only time I redo on a higher difficulty is if there is a different ending you can get by doing it (Final Fantasy games are notorious for giving out special Easter eggs if you do the super hard stuff). However, Star Command uses a classic Star Trek trope to launch you back into playing the game on hard mode and I was surprised that I got sucked into it again.

Unaceptable!

That said, I'm still not a fan of doing things over on Hard Mode. Unfortunately, being a male primary caretaker means having to redo activities that were more simple with Cleo's mom around.

Last Tuesday was beautiful and sunny, so my friend Mike and I decided to take kids and meet up at the zoo. I've already written about the Zoo once, but this was different. This was without the milk makers. True, as Cleo gets older the playing field has leveled a bit. Breasts are no longer a cheat code that unlocks invincible mode, but they are still like one of the cheat codes that gives you 1000 hp, 1000 xp, and 1000 gold.

One thing that became clear early on is that these kids are definitely developing personalities. For example, Mike's youngest is such a chill little guy! He was content to be rolled around in the stroller, taking long naps, and was all smiles when brought out for feeding. (Maybe we caught him on an exceptionally good day, but I think that the kid is quite the laid back little dude.)

Compare this to Little C. About 15 minutes into being at the zoo, she was done with the stroller. The fact that there were things happening around her that she couldn't see from her stroller was unacceptable and she needed to be carried, dammit!  If I'm being honest, I suppose that I brought her there to see all of the cool stuff, I just... really didn't think that she would be determined to see ALL of the cool stuff. So for the next 2 hours I carried her around, her wide eyes taking in the sights and the animals, showing no signs of wanting to take a nap. Even after her feeding at lunchtime, the stroller was anathema, and she spent the rest of the day in the Moby wrap where she had a good view.

The best thing about this trip? I HAVE LEVELED UP! The stuff I used to think was really hard has gradually gotten easier. I suppose that does mean that I should be doing stuff on hard mode. I still don't like the concept, though.