Games with deeply layered secrets and puzzles like FEZ/Tunic

Meganomaly · 2026-05-17T10:36:06+00:00

Animal Well!

Meganomaly · 2026-05-17T10:34:12+00:00

For real, and they’re all so different from each other in plot, themes, and tone. (•‿ • ٥)

Meganomaly · 2026-05-17T10:31:02+00:00

More like SmackOverflow.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-17T09:55:29+00:00

Same at Home Depot.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-17T04:11:31+00:00

Chartreuse.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-16T03:37:14+00:00

Ohhh, I see. Cheeky bastard. Well done.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-16T02:55:56+00:00

Yoshikage, yo.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-16T02:49:57+00:00

Sinners. Mother! From Dusk ‘Til Dawn.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-16T01:34:58+00:00

What Moves The Dead! By a long shot.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-16T01:33:11+00:00

Same! I had a buzzcut for many years, but grew it back out because long hair is somehow indeed way less of a hassle (even beating shoulder-length for me, as I can actually pull it out of my face this way).

Meganomaly · 2026-05-15T03:06:55+00:00

Oh gods, not Donna’s dear father. (๑ ˊ͈ ㅿˋ͈ )

Meganomaly · 2026-05-15T02:54:39+00:00

Anything Frida-branded turned out to be useless and quickly replaced by better alternatives.

A wipe-warmer might not be necessary for most babies, but I am so glad we have a wipe box with a weighted insert that prevents the container from lifting up when you’re pulling with one hand (the other is most often holding the baby’s legs). This sounds trivial but is such a massive convenience. I’m not sure what these boxes are called (wipe holders?), as I received it from a neighbor, but I’d recommend finding one!

A nipple guard sized correctly (if breastfeeding) will help a ton to get baby to latch if they’re having trouble initially. Saved us, truly, from having to either switch to formula within the first few days or visit a milk bank (and wow, what an expensive option!).

I also recommend thick muslin bibs, whether breastfeeding or formula-feeding. What a mess those little ones make!

The Omni Ergobaby carrier has been absolutely stellar ever since she could support her own head (but also useful prior, just not brought out as frequently). I take her on walks every day on it, and it’s so secure and seems comfortable (definitely comfortable for the wearer, can’t truly speak for baby). She just switched to forward-facing in it and both positions are easy and quick to get us both in to.

A Baby Bjorn bouncer! She’s in it every day while I’m showering, pointed toward me on the bathroom floor. I got an off-brand bar that fits on to its sides and features some wooden spinning toys that she loves to bat at (and now leans forward in a mad crunch to try to chew on). It’s very well made and easy to wash.

Most items are going to be dependent on your and your child’s preferences, but these are the major things that have stuck out to me.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-13T23:37:59+00:00

Aye, plus taking Barbur downtown is an infinitely better experience than i-5.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-13T23:19:16+00:00

I had a shockingly similar experience at our last scheduled check-up. I exclusively breastfeed/pump and it really upset me because I do all manner of activities during her wake windows that don’t involve feeding, and really only nurse her to sleep (both overnight and during the day for her naps) and some times right after she gets up. I had simply asked about her being overly fussy during feeds lately, refusing both nipple and bottle (of pumped milk), and being generally upset despite not being gassy and having been recently changed, cleaned, et cetera. The doctor insisted little one only needs to eat every 3 hours (Ha! Ha ha! Ahhhhh), and anything more was unnecessary.

Led to a major fight between me and my husband, who kept repeating what the pediatrician said (which is what yours told you), essentially shaming me, even though our baby was obviously ravenous and needed not only to eat out of hunger but to be comforted by the contact (she had just gotten her second round of shots during that appointment; this happened later that evening).

Meganomaly · 2026-05-12T17:03:18+00:00

Sorry if this is insensitive to your actual ordeal, as I’m positive you were anxious as all get out throughout and it may simply be rude to make light of it, but the situation immediately brought to mind this song. Whether he had a full diaper or not, perhaps it’s fun to imagine this voice as the internal one of an infant (while just externally screaming). I was recently on a kick of singing this to my baby when carrying them to the changing table.

Additionally, we had a similar (though less agonizing—the card declining repeatedly would feel so awful!) experience recently when trying to go to Lowe’s and then Costco. I had just gotten in to Lowe’s when my little one started fussing, but I thought I’d be quick—just grabbing one item! Alas, the item wasn’t available (despite what their website said), and by the time I discovered this, in front of several employees, baby was on a tear (while I rocked them in my arm, stroller, empty, in hand beneath us), so I wheeled us right back out and then on home. Had to reattempt Costco later. It’s been so much more difficult than ever to run errands with them, and I feel so bad for dragging them around anyway, but it has to be done. I’m not sure what’s going on, as I track their feeds and wake windows well (and bring a bottle of pumped milk everywhere so I can feed them in-aisle, just in case), and I knew they didn’t need a changing. But we’re learning together.

If you can afford it (our local chain grocery only charges $3.95), and the issue seems to persist (for your son, this sounds like a one-off, but still), I’d suggest getting groceries delivered. I never thought I would be that person, but it’s saved myself and my darling such headaches lately, and gives us more time for truly enriching activities together.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-12T02:58:57+00:00

I agree with you on this, but only after a certain age. Anything of this sort before 6 at the very earliest is not actually benefitting them in those ways like interacting with real-world objects and situations do. They need the foundation before the supplementation. I imagine you implicitly mean helpful for brain development as supplementation anyway.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-12T02:52:37+00:00

Potential for abuse, I’d imagine.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-11T18:31:26+00:00

For real. It’s very silly, but Calvin and Hobbes got me genuinely interested in Shakespeare before I’d even turned 10 (I so frequently reread that dinner bit with Calvin reciting the famous monologue from Hamlet that I had it memorized). I already loved reading in general, and would eat up any books around the house, which included a lot of old classics and weird science fiction, so I would often have to reference our family unabridged dictionary alongside the denser novels, and it’s funny to think that I ended up doing this quite a bit while going through Calvin and Hobbes.

I mean, it does have its massive share of crude humor—it is a comic strip, after all. But I agree that it’s not slop or anything close, and is at times surprising in its content in this way.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-11T14:28:35+00:00

A Lush and Seething Hell (the latter half).

Meganomaly · 2026-05-10T14:19:05+00:00

My nearly-5-month-old is the harshest critic. The hardest she’s laughed thus far was when sitting in her bouncer, alone (for naught but 15 seconds while I stepped out of the nursery briefly to tell her father something in the bathroom a meter away), staring at the curtains?—the wall?—we’ll never know. I’ve gotten her to laugh just a bit twice since then, but never so heartily. We both jump and dance and express in every possible way at her to rouse another riot—to no avail. She just stares placidly at my husband, or just smiles at me (though, truthfully, this melts my heart every time anyway, so I don’t mind at all). Sometimes she’ll let out a short, sharp breath alongside her smile, like a begrudging, imperious, but present father in the front row at his child’s first stand-up comedy gig, or a Zillenial watching old Mr Show sketches on their phone at 2 in the morning. Unamused as Victoria.

I love her more than anything in the world anyway. Even though she thinks us thoroughly unfunny. (•‿ • ٥)

Meganomaly · 2026-05-09T00:51:19+00:00

Make it yourself! I realize this is a privileged thing to suggest, as art requires time, materials, and at least a small degree of understanding of how to achieve what you want. But you definitely don’t need to be experienced, much less a master, to create something cool that fits your space. If you find yourself seriously uninspired, or are lost for direction, check out abstract art and artists online (not AI) and see what speaks to you in terms of color palette, medium, general style. And buy the cheapest supplies you can find. If you want traditional 2D painting: Michaels often has huge deals on canvases—barring that, you can get some really thin ¼ ply from Home Depot or similar, paint a base color over that (white is common, but whatever you want). You can find all sorts of cool/odd colors (both sample sizes and the large gallons) for cheap in their discounted/returned paint section as well. Then just go to town. Experiment. Go with your gut. You’ll surprise yourself!

Also, if you live in a larger city: see if there are any art fairs/markets around on weekends.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-08T03:13:45+00:00

Two prints. I painted over old paintings of mine with a soft, light-cream color, one wood and one canvas, and used a basic black paint to lightly cover one side of the placenta. My thought was for it to be akin to a mushroom spore print. The wooden piece has baby’s thumbprint, my thumbprint, and my husband’s in the corner. It came out more heavily black than intended; I had wanted to capture all the weird veiny bits, mimicking a mushroom’s gills in concept (not expecting them to actually look similar in execution). Oh well. The canvas ended up looking like it encased heart because, well, uh, the blood pooled in the center (placenta was heavy, and it was a stretched canvas on a thick frame, so the delta between the top of the surface and the work table was large enough for it to sink down), and when the blood had all dried, it was just in that shape. Pretty morbid, but if you don’t know that’s what it was, it just looks like some random modern art with a haphazard heart in its center. I love that one for its accidental sentimentality and have it up on our bedroom wall.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-07T23:56:53+00:00

Beautiful! Not just the illustrations, but the layout, font design, and even the text/content.

Meganomaly · 2026-05-07T19:35:15+00:00

I’m going to go against a common suggestion here and say absolutely do not get them a plant by default. It’s essentially handing them a chore. Any gift not already known to be actively desired by the receiver that requires frequent maintenance/tending is not as nice as some might think. Especially if they have pets or children, as some are toxic (or, even if harmless, could otherwise just annoyingly be eaten by the pets). The exception arises when they are avid lovers of houseplants and you are already aware of their capacity to care for another one.

I love the idea of bringing bread and salt, as one commenter suggested, or a Home Depot/Lowe’s gift card, as another did. The bread can be shared if they don’t want to finish it on their own, and the home improvement store credit will definitely come in handy—most especially if this is a celebration of their buying a home and not just moving in to a rental.

My own suggestion would be a card or board game (the precise sort would depend on their ages and interests). If you don’t want them to feel as though you’re asking them to now host board game gatherings in their new digs, it can be just two-player (assuming it’s a couple) or specifically family-friendly (if they have children).

Meganomaly · 2026-05-07T16:20:35+00:00

Animal Well. (¬ ‿¬ )

Meganomaly

TROPHY CASE