Checking In (Wednesday 27 December 2023)

It's been a long minute hasn't it? I hope you've been keeping well. Would you believe me if I told you that I got back online two Mondays ago? Yup, but I've been away between then and now because there was an electrical fault which we were experiencing from that week up until this past Saturday when a crew from the power company FINALLY stopped by to fix it. I say FINALLY because the report about the fault was made on the Thursday of the week when I came back, I kid you not. Day in and day out, we kept going to the power company to report and nothing would happen, despite some assurances. None of the appliances could be turned on, none of the devices could be charged, it was a lousy time. I was starting to think we would have to wait until the holiday weekend was over before we could get any help, but we got really lucky at long last :) phew. I really hope you haven't had to deal with anything like that during this December.

So the last time I was online was in October when I had that 15gig data bundle. At the time I knew that it wasn't going to cover me for very long but I tried to make the most of it before the bundle was exhausted. Then I went offline again and my plans for that month and November went out the window too. I didn't have enough money saved up to purchase another bundle, that's why you haven't seen any online activity until now. For those of you who are new or haven't been following me since I started in 2019, let me take this time to explain what my internet setup is like: 

I use mobile phone internet, which I share with my family. The data bundles which we purchase are offered by NetOne, one of the 3 mobile networks that operate here in Zim. This wasn't the case back in 2019, because at the time we were still signed up to one of the regular internet service providers and were using an unlimited internet package. But as time went on, prices just kept creeping up and that company's service got poorer and poorer. We couldn't upgrade to a better modem (because whenever I called them to ask about this they were always out of stock) and a better service (because their best packages were under their Fibre Op service and of course it was ridiculously expensive), so we switched to another ISP for a while until their prices inevitably got too high. In the end, around 2021, we downgraded to mobile phone internet since that was the cheapest (and still is, relatively speaking). Here is a list of NetOne's monthly data bundles and their current prices, which are in US dollars: 

$7 - 5Gig 

$12 – 10Gig

$15 – 15Gig

$30 – 30Gig

$50 – 50Gig

Feel free to chime in with the data package prices offered by the mobile networks in your country in the comments below so that you can compare and if you think the prices here are crazy, I would agree with you :) none of the mobile networks here would dare to offer what you might find in other countries - packages which have unlimited data + limited Call Minutes and limited SMSes. Everything has to be in tiny data bundles at ridiculous prices. You can see now why I am not online often enough and why content doesn't come out as frequently as I would want it to, because my internet access is so limited. I would prefer being able to purchase the 50Gig data bundle, that can cover an entire month even if I am sharing the data and the major bonus about these bundles is that any data that is remaining can be carried over to the next month and added onto the next bundle that is bought.

It would be possible to purchase that data bundle if I had more regular supporters helping out, but the truth is I had just one regular supporter for a while. I got back online and found out that a new supporter had signed up in November, so that's two regular supporters now and I made sure to thank this new supporter because I was really surprised when I found the email notification about it. My hope is that more people will step forward in the new year.

There was a comment left behind for one of the previous Checking In posts, it was from an anonymous commentor but the kind words meant a lot and were some much needed motivation. I don't know who the person is and chances are I might never meet them in person to thank them, but thank you :) I will continue to do my best and provide you with content that you can enjoy.

After not having electricity for just over a week, I haven't had a chance to get anything in order as you can imagine. So I will use this coming week to do that and then when January 2024 gets started, we can begin properly. I am sure many of you are on holiday right now or at least busy spending time with family, friends, side projects and co-conspirators :) no problem, have fun and close out this crappy year for good. Let's just go over the inventory and see where we are so that you know what to look forward to in the new year:

Walkthrough for Pokemon Wish

While I was offline I did get time to continue and finish updating the walkthrough for Pokemon Azure Horizons and then got started on something new at last. I found out about Wish a couple of years ago when I saw the thread on Pokemon Community, this was just announcing that the game was in development. I've been communicating with the creator Prof. Leon and was glad to see the game get released a few months ago, although for the time being it is as a demo that covers the first 2 Gyms. I'm not sure when Leon will resume work on the game but judging from the documentation there is still enough content in the demo to keep players occupied for a little bit and enjoy. I had just started playing the game before the electrical fault issue happened (haven't even received a Starter yet!) but so far so good, it's one of those games which give you a feeling in the beginning that you lets know that you are playing something very interesting. 

The MultiMangaverse

We have done 13 episodes now, with the latest one taking a look at One Piece Volume 6. Next time we'll be switching back to Hunter x Hunter and covering Volume 7. I'll also talk about the recent appearance Togashi made on a Japanese variety show where he shared what could count as the ending for Hunter x Hunter if anything were to happen to him.

I've got a little idea that I think you might be interested in, have a look.

One Piece live action series review

I have notes for episodes 1 to 6, what's left is 7 and 8 plus I wanted to review the soundtrack as well but I didn't have enough information about it until I got back online. 

The Comic Book Chronicles

We'll be checking out Asterix the Gladiator (book 4 in the series) and then Tintin book 4 Cigars of the Pharaoh.

House of Sounds

Once the remaining Redone episodes have been uploaded then you can look forward to the next regular episode, Episode 34. I am planning to make Episode 35 another special set which is focused on one artist or more, but I haven't decided yet on who that will be. Stay tuned.

Counting Electric Sheep

The final set in the Sessions series, set #29 a.k.a Sessions 10, is what's coming up. I've already chosen which anime soundtrack will be the focus for this one as well as some of the anime themes that will fit the subject for the set. Afterwards it will be time to start the next series and as I've mentioned before, that series will be request-based. The post about this is linked here for those of you who want to get involved while there's still plenty of time. The more requests that people chip in with, the better for the series :)

Tuning for Toons

Episode 3 of the second season is the next one, so you can catch up in the meantime if you have't checked out season one.

A Room Full of Ticking Clocks

We are moving on to album number four Viva la Vida, starting with covers then mashups and ending with remixes. This should have been out months ago but I just didn't have the time (or enough data) to begin preparing the first set. The idea was while the other content came out, I would be working on Room behind the scenes until it was ready for release but sadly things didn't go smoothly. Fingers crossed for next year.

Vault of Sounds

It has been a long time since I opened the old vault and brought out something from there. I hope to feature this again in the new year.

Too Real for My TV

Back in December of 2020 I put together a trilogy of sets called Too Real for My TV, which contained memorable theme songs of television shows from the 1960's to the early 2000's. I've been thinking of a sequel which will be about show themes from the 2000's and maybe for this one, people might be interested in taking part. It will be another trilogy of sets: set #1 is for action show themes, set #2 is for drama show themes, set #3 is for comedy show themes and the bonus set #4 could be for reality show themes and gameshow themes. There will be a post specifically for this at some point if people are interested, so please let me know in the comments below.

Whatsapp Channel

I hadn't known about this until a friend sent me a link to his on the app and I thought maybe I could make use of this. The channel will be where I will post updates and teasers for new releases, with links to the full releases included. It will come in handy during times when I am offline, so that I can at least keep you aware of what's going on until I am back online. Once the channel has been set up I'll share the invite link.

Well, that's all for now :) let's meet again in January with bright eyes, holiday hangovers, empty wallets and purses, and hopes for a much better year than 2023 ever was. Thank you for checking out the content and for the support this year. Enjoy December's final week and as always, take care.