An August August 2024 Journal + Kaffre talks Candy #86:

Welcome loyal journal-readers and welcome to my illustrious, but somewhat belated, August journal!

Let's see, where to begin...

I finished Higurashi Season 1 and while I actually enjoyed that series a fair bit, it's not quite what I was expecting - plus my family social circle now contains someone who hates horror so I'll probably be watching the series alone anyway so switching over to subs for S2, if I decide to watch it, isn't a problem as I actually prefer them. I've also watched Centaur no Nayami which is a pretty run-of-the-mill SoL, but the thought put into the clothing and accommodations for the various non-human characters was interesting and some of the jokes were fun. I also got around to Hazbin Hotel which was both fun and features some lovely musical numbers.

My nephew's 9th birthday was... less successful. Scheduling conflicts made it impossible for everyone to see him at once so he wound up with, a couple of different lacklustre birthdays - he made him a cake, gave him his presents, and played a few games. He seemed to enjoy it anyway, but it felt very rushed and disappointing to me, but I take solace we did the best we could with what his parents were able to arrange under the circumstances.

In other news, the crowdfunding for the Ars Magica: Definitive Edition has apparently been pushed back from September 10 to October 15 so if you were planning to pledge, there're a few more weeks to prepare for the launch! As exciting as that is, there's also going to be some kind of open license which, depending upon how it's implemented could be exciting. Ars Magica isn't a huge name in the RPG scene, but it is highly influential, was instrumental in the creation of both WoD and D&D 3e and I believe the mechanics could be adapted to other settings and genres (license permitting).

Finally, I never understand why it works out this way, but the coming weeks are chock-a-block with interesting events in my area. There's garlic festival, ribs festival, fall fair, poutine feast, AND Gemstorm. Plus, I have a birthday and dentist appointment! I probably won't able (or even want) to attend them all, but I might be attending any of them which is exciting (especial effort will expended for poutine feast and gemstorm).

Well, I guess that's it for now. Thanks for taking the time to read my journal! *omni-hugs*

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Kaffre talks Candy #86

Name: Doritos Late Night, Sizzlin' Cheese Burger
Manufacturer: Frito-Lay
Size: 150 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Consists of tortilla chips with a slight orange colour from the type of flavourings used.
Opinion: A limited time offering, these chips have a savoury sort of flavour that's difficult to describe - cheese and onions definitely shine through as does pickle. There's something else too, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Despite initially finding them a bit... busy for my liking, these actually grew on me rather quickly. Overall, I enjoyed these chips, but I'm not sure they're something I'd buy again.

Name: Lay's Cheddar Cheetos Chips
Manufacturer: Frito-Lay
Size: 220 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama.
Description: Consists of fairly normal looking potato chips with a bright, but rather uneven orange colour due to the flavourings used.
Opinion: This limited time offering again integrates another Lay's property, Cheetos. The flavour is, to my recollection, very faithful to cheetos, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Honestly, I'm not even sure it's an 'uncanny valley' effect, Cheetos sort of have a 'fuzzy' flavour, salty, vaguely cheese-like flavour that is kind of tasty and kind of gross on an extruded cornmeal snack, but on a potato chip it's only gross. Overall, I thought these chips were OK, but I don't think I'd buy them again the flavour just doesn't fit with the medium for me...

Name: Lay's Cool Ranch Chips
Manufacturer: Frito-Lay
Size: 220 gram bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama.
Description: Consists of fairly normal looking potato chips with some dark flecks on it.
Opinion: This limited time offering involves another Lay's property - in this case: Cool Ranch Doritos. The chips themselves are, unsurprisingly very similar to the doritos product their based on and, somewhat unusually for this kind of product I didn't really notice any 'uncanny valley' effect and took to these right away. They have pleasant tangy and herby 'ranch' flavour, but in contrast to the 'cool' part of their name, they do have a bit of a peppery kick, but that may be in comparison to other doritos flavours. Overall, I enjoyed these chips and would, buy them again, but I don't actually think I like them better than the doritos version.

Name: Oreos, Star Wars
Manufacturer: Christie
Size: 303 gram package (3 rows of 7 cookies each)
Where Purchased: Giant Tiger
Description: Consists of normal 'oreo' sandwhich cookies except that the filling is blue or red depending on whether the individual pack you bought was 'light-side' or 'dark-side' and the cookies themselves are decorated with appropriate characters - my box was 'light' and featured: Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke, Chewbacca, Han, C3P0, R2D2, Leia, Mace, and Rey (I needed help identifying the last two due to my lack of familiarity with that franchise)
Opinion: A special edition item I picked up on a whim despite only having watched the original trilogy. To my minor disappointment, these cookies taste pretty much identical to your standard oreo which is to say quite good, but I don't really think I'd buy them again except perhaps to find out who was included in the 'dark-side' (Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, Kylo Ren, Bobba Fett, Storn Trooper, Jabba, General Grievous, Count Dooku, and Scout Trooper - I don't recognize most of those...)

Name: Ruffles Double Crunch Zinger Chips
Manufacturer: Frito-Lay
Size: 180g bag
Where Purchased: Dollarama
Description: Consists of ruffle-cut potato chips (with a rather extreme iteration) with an orange colour. Flavoured to resemble a KFC sandwich of the same name.
Opinion: A limited time item I decided to grab on a whim. While I am unfortunately unable to vouch for the authenticity of the flavouring, but the promised 'hot & spicy' is just about right for my palate and they do have a definite savoury zinginess to them that I thought added a nice element to set them apart from other 'hot' flavours. Unfortunately, the double-crunch was hit or miss - the chips were certainly crunchy, but also rather brittle with much of the bag being reduced to small shards. Overall, I liked this product and would consider buying it again.