First off I just want to say that Ladder Slasher is the greatest game ever made! I truly enjoy it and it has given me everything I had ever wanted in terms of both personal goals and also something worthwhile to aim for on D2jsp. I reached 164,164 kills all solo slashing. 61 guild points too I believe. #1 ranked Warhammer proficiency when people told me that particular weapon and playstyle would never work. I do think it's definitely a tough and lonely grind playing it the way that I do. But when I need to take some time off I can just play some Diablo III and Heroes of the Storm on my new MAC. Or I can play Diablo 2: Resurrected on my Nintendo Switch.

I'm leaning towards buying a cheap XBOX One or PlayStation 4 to play Diablo IV on this June. Or should I just pay the $600 dollars or whatever for the new XBOX Series X plus the game? Right now I don't know what I'm going to do moving forward with my gaming. When Diablo 4 comes out I have no idea if I'm even going to play it, because I don't know if I'll even be able to keep up with all the young kids that'll make it seem too easy in no time. Everything is up in the air for me because I'm too old to grind 24-7 like a pro streamer and I'm too young to completely give up on gaming altogether. I have to do what makes me happy and find which game gives me the most joy at this point in my life.

Right now I'm just going to play Season 28 of Diablo 3 on my new MAC. No stresses at all. I play at my own pace without taking it too seriously. I started all 7 character classes and I'm very bad at the game. LOL, it's a little comical that D3 is supposed to be an easy power creep game and I'm struggling to level on my new characters. Soloing because nobody is really that low of a level this late into the season. I can't even take advantage of all those power abilities from the altar of rites or whatever it's called. The Season 28 theme. Sigh, I'm just feeling very bored and trying to cling onto some games that make me happy. Take care and hopefully I can try to get back into blogging again. I used to have fun with it but now it all seems so redundant because people think I'm a boring imbecile anyway.

Also one last thing. I'm trying to find a cheap Enigma for 55 Forum Gold on Diablo 2: Resurrected for the Nintendo Switch. Softcore non-ladder of course. That's probably the last item that has always eluded me. If you have one for cheap let me know. If not then it's no big deal. I understand that people want 100 or 200 Forum Gold for their low-end Enigmas. Fair enough. Thank you and good luck having fun with whatever games can give you some happiness in this God forsaken world.

A good Sunday morning to everybody! Hopefully you have a great day. I had a really fun weekend and watched some NBA basketball and enjoyed a large pepperoni pizza last night. I had simply fallen asleep and just couldn't stay awake past midnight because it seemed like I hardly slept at all for the past week. I'm excited about the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27. A couple more Thursdays away now. The Houston Texans will have picks 2 and 12 in the first round unless they decide to trade up or down. I've seen every Texans game since their expansion season in 2002 and the NFL is still my favorite sport. I probably love it more these days as I've gotten older even though my team hasn't been very good.

So anyway even though I was unable to score any random Enigma for my D2R Summon Druid on the Nintendo Switch, he currently uses a Chains of Honor which is fine (I was not willing to go past 55 forum gold for an Enigma and 100 was the general asking price), I instead decided to purchase a 7th media slot for 500 forum gold. Since they last forever and it's a stronger investment on my part. At the end of the day another video will make me happy compared to an Enigma. The only reason I had enough forum gold was because I was participating in some Bar & Pub Games. Interesting sub-forum because they don't play much poker anymore. It's a lot different than what I last remembered two years ago (2021) when I was last using D2jsp more regularly.

I used to bet on sports on D2jsp (2009 to 2021) but I only want to do that in real life moving forward. I'm patiently waiting for my state of Texas to legalize all sports betting and possibly even open up some casinos. I thought it may happen by the end of 2023 (this year) but if it doesn't it'll likely be in 2025. I've thought about creating a sports betting account on Bovada (based in Costa Rica, offshore betting) which people in Texas can do without getting into any legal trouble, but I'll wait on that just a little while longer because maybe Texas can legalize sports betting this year and I can instead join a more safer betting environment. I don't necessarily trust my money in the hands of another country if you know what I mean. Maybe it's not a big deal but I'm just a little nervous is all. I'd rather partake in something that the state of Texas is sponsoring and the professional sports teams in this state are legally hosting when it comes to my money and sports betting.

So yeah guys that's pretty much it. I'm happy and feeling good for the first time in a very long time. I may not have much but the little I do have I feel very thankful for. I finished another solo climb on Ladder Slasher. 62 guild points total for myself. I'll probably only play Ladder Slasher for an hour or two a day this upcoming week unless a really good event goes live. I want to spend more time playing Diablo III actually. I started all new characters for this current Season 28: Altar of Rites theme. I'm incredibly late in trying to understand Season 28 and I'm a major newbie just trying to reach level 70 on at least one character. My best chance may be with a Wizard. If I can just get her Haedrig's gift maybe I'll get somewhere. If not and I decide to scrap Diablo III once and for all at least I had given it one last attempt. If I do decide to give up Diablo III then Heroes of the Storm will be the only game I play on my MAC. I still haven't decided what platform I'm going to play Diablo IV on. If I play Diablo IV at all.

TL:DR version: I'm feeling good. I don't know what the future holds but I'm just trying to enjoy each day as it comes. Take care of yourself. See you soon. God bless!

Diablo III is still slightly fun for me believe it or not. I didn't think I'd enjoy it starting Season 28 so late. I played a little overnight and was having some fun. Sacrificing random things and learning how to use the Altar of Rites. I reached Level 70 on my Barbarian. Already working up some paragon points. I completed the first three chapters, have four caches of Haedrig's gift (four set pieces) that I can use on any character class, but I put them in my stash. I'm going to wait until I obtain the full set once I complete chapter four. Since my female Barbarian named Xena can likely find her own set bonuses from any full set. I already found four pieces to the Immortal King set. So it's smarter if I have a full six-piece set from Haedrig's gift to start leveling up a new character class. Likely a Demon Hunter since I'm very good with that class.

Today's Monday morning and I hope everybody has a great week. This is going to be a very small blog entry today. I don't have much planned except maybe grinding out some more Diablo III later today. I'd like to keep progressing since Season 28: The Altar of Rites looks like more fun than I had anticipated going into it. I wish I hadn't gotten such a late start but what can you do? I couldn't even play D3 outside of my Nintendo Switch previously. I still want to play some more Diablo II: Resurrected on the Switch but I may take a break from that for a few weeks if not a couple months. Not landing an Enigma really hurt my feelings. The process of not wanting to overpay and people in the trading sub-forum demanding a fortune like I was just going to comply to their asking price (a guy PM'd calling me a cheap bleeping bastard), sort of rubbed me the wrong way to the point that I don't even want to play that game right now.

I may Ladder Slash a little bit today. Depending on what the new event is. I'll know in 90 minutes. Thank you and I'm out for now. Have fun doing what you enjoy!

So I started watching this wacky and funny series on Netflix called 'Beef' and I highly recommend it because it's not too long of a series and you can easily binge watch it over a weekend. The last two series I had watched from start to finish on Netflix were 'The Walking Dead' and 'Riverdale' which I also think you guys should watch if you haven't seen them yet. Those two series take a lot of time and dedication to watch the entire thing. Probably took me four or five months to finish both and I'm still watching the new Season 7 of Riverdale on The CW every Wednesday night. I currently pay for Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video. I had just purchased Amazon Prime a couple of weeks ago. It's been incredible for ordering things online and making my life a lot easier. I don't know why I didn't just pay for it a lot sooner. My last two purchases were a black leather office chair and a Mario Bros. (Fire Mario shooting a fire ball - really cool design) controller for my Nintendo Switch. In case I decide to play my Switch more often on the TV instead of handheld mode which I prefer.

Gaming wise I'm already experiencing my maximum enjoyment out of Diablo III for one last time. I don't think I'm going to play it all that much moving forward unless I truly fall in love with every character class. I'm pretty good with the Barbarian and Demon Hunter, as I've always been, but I never truly learned the other five classes. They just never intrigued me or excited me enough. Unlike in Heroes of the Storm where I actually enjoy all the Diablo heroes. Like the Crusader is super awesome on there! But I just never got a feel for that class in Diablo 3. Even though the builds and skills are practically the same. LOL, but yeah it is what it is. I don't know if I'm really all that excited about Diablo IV either if I'm being perfectly honest with you. I became obsessed and addicted when I first played Diablo II (summer of 2000) and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction since the summer of 2001. It's going to be hard for me to completely stop playing D2R now even though I play it on the Nintendo Switch and not the PC. I'll take Diablo II: Resurrected over Diablo IV any day of the week and I'll die on that hill feeling that way!

Ladder Slasher, solo slashing in particular, has also given me a lot of joy and I'll continue to play at my own pace. My current goal is to reach a Level 13 Warhammer proficiency and at the moment I'm 94.67% (roughly 95%) of the way there. It's definitely a long process because that's a lot of solo slashing for me to reach those marks. I'm remarkably still the #1 ranked Warhammer player based on proficiency level. And I was gone for practically two years after my mother had passed away back in 2021. It happened just two months after my oldest cat of 20 years had passed away so losing both of them was deflating for me. Worst year of my life to say the least. But I feel like I'm finally in a good place mentally and ready to enjoy D2jsp for the long haul again. But only time will tell how much I can really enjoy or even get out of this. It's given me so much already in terms of staying connected with you guys. Whether it's gaming, sports, music, movies, TV series or just general chat in general. I've enjoyed my time on D2jsp very much since I first joined back in October of 2009. A lot of ups and downs, mostly downs, but I never gave up and tried to find something to believe in. I was always looking for the right guild that would accept me. I guess I needed that acceptance or friendship from others. That's all I really wanted. Acceptance and friendship.

TL:DR version: Happiness is elusive for me. Days, weeks, months, years, decades go by and I'm still trying to capture some laughs and a smile. God bless you all and good gaming!

I'm super excited about Season 4 of Diablo II: Resurrected starting on May 4. A week from this Thursday which I'll be busy enjoying the 2023 NFL Draft on ESPN in only two more days. The Houston Texans have picks 2 and 12 and I'm very anxious to see what they do with those two selections. I've never missed a Texans game since their expansion season way back in 2002. Usually every ladder season I'd alway make a summon Druid even before they were really good with all your pets summoned at once and the ravens dishing out some significant damage. But for Season 4 I'll be starting up with a Nova/Energy Shield Sorceress on the Nintendo Switch. Maybe I can find some decent runes, collect hundreds of perfect gems and key sets, possibly make some tokens, for the Nintendo Switch ladder sub-forum trading community. It just depends how badly I really want it. Maybe I'll only play casually just for fun instead. But a lot of times once I start playing I like to give it my best effort even if I'm just soloing.

For Ladder Slasher I finally reached my personal goal of reaching a #1 ranked Level 13 Warhammer proficiency. The second place person has Level 10 Warhammer proficiency which I greatly applaud their efforts. I also decided to climb the Barbarian leaderboard (also #1 ranked) and reached Level 95. The two Barbarians behind me are Level 85. I wasn't planning to reach a full 10 levels ahead, but now I'm itching to possibly reach Level 100 just to say I did it, but it's quite the challenge (degree of difficulty is too much for me) being a solo slasher using Warhammer. I may try to reach Level 96 and count my blessings and move on to the next. I'll let the two Level 85 Barbarians have the top two spots. They're in the same guild called Storm so they possibly play together which is cool. The Barbarian Leaderboard is not important to me anymore. I also would like not to die but I'm really going wild right now testing my own limits. Who am I competing against? Myself. I should just get my one guild point and move on to the next solo climb. Also by doing what I'm doing I'm definitely costing myself some forum gold. I'd already be at 250 by now if I had started a new climb quite a few days ago. And forum gold, I'm not going to lie, is kind of important to me just to get back on my feet. Because I want to do some things with my future gaming endeavors. I can't even afford to buy an Enigma on non-ladder. Maybe now I can if I spend 100 instead of offering 55. LOL, where's that guy PM'ing me calling me a cheap B-word? It's just your Enigma that I don't want kind sir.

Part of the reason I came back to D2jsp was to just have fun. Not take anything seriously anymore. I'm too old to be having this mentality of always wanting to be the best no matter what I do. Always wanting to be a perfectionist. Striving for the absolute best no matter what game I was playing. I used to deal with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) but I feel like as I've gotten older it's become much more manageable. It used to ruin my life and also my experiences on D2jsp when I first started using this amazing website back in October of 2009. But now I really have a more calm demeanor. I'll interact with all of you a lot better than I used to. My life changed when my mother passed away two years ago. I just feel like nothing is all that serious anymore after I had lost the person that I loved the most in my life. And it all happened just two months after my cat of 20 years had passed. I lost everything in 2021. So it's 2023 and I'm trying my best to pick up whatever broken pieces my life has become.

I'm still thinking about buying an XBOX to play Diablo IV on. Maybe I'll just buy it from Amazon Prime. I haven't decided quite yet because it depends how much I can enjoy Season 4 of Diablo II: Resurrected on the Nintendo Switch. If I truly enjoy it and play it for countless hours, maybe make a little forum gold off D2R, then I'll probably just continue to play D2R on my Nintendo Switch even after Diablo IV is released in June. Because quite frankly I'm just looking to have fun and enjoy myself. Whether I'm playing D2R, Ladder Slasher or even Diablo 3 which to be honest I didn't go very far on this comeback attempt to revive my passion for D3. It's just a power creep arcade action game to me which is perfectly fine. But it just doesn't have the same genuine action RPG feel that has captivated my heart with Diablo 2 ever since classic first came out in the summer of 2000.

TL:DR version - I'm trying to hang in there and have some fun. I feel lonely and lost sometimes. I still give it an honest effort. Thank you for your time and until next time...

A good Monday to everybody out there. I'm truly sorry for not posting a blog entry lately. I've just had too many things going on at once, juggling around some errands and other responsibilities, and most of the time when I'm on D2jsp I like to just focus and solo slash my way through another solo climb on ladder slasher. My new goal is to reach 200,000 kills with 0 deaths. Every one of my kills is purely solo play so it's not like I'm in a group just racking up billions and millions of easy kills. I'm earning every one. At the moment I had just passed 176,500 kills. So needless to say I've still got quite a ways to go. And also I had started all over again on Friday May 5, 2023 with 0.00 forum gold. No more gambling on sports or the Bar & Pub Games sub-forum for me. LOL, I know I've said that many times before but this time I'm finally at peace with forum gold. I'm very happy with the little forum gold I can get. And I made it back to 50 with my last completed solo climb. I was fortunate to find a few decent items to sell in the Marketplace. I'm hoping for the big ticket items scoring me at least 40 to 90 forum gold (level 50 or 55 plain white items) but they rarely pop up for me so I've got to get what I can during every solo climb. It's all a challenge and some days I'm fine competing hard but other days I'll simply give up and throw my white towel out of pure exhaustion. A lot of times it just depends if my health is up for the task at hand and if I have any free time. Usually I'm game because I love to compete and prove to myself that I can be the best. Even if I fall flat on my face and greatly fail like the big goofy nerd that I feel like I am sometimes it's never going to be because I didn't give an amazing effort with every inch of energy that I had left.

I also started a new hardcore ladder character just for fun on D2R for my Nintendo Switch. Level 18 maul and shock wave Werebear in Act 2 normal at the moment. I've been soloing so far and I'm barely playing and it's only for fun on the side mostly. If I get far enough maybe I can save up some perfect gems and many tokens. I notice there's a very small trade market on D2jsp for hardcore ladder on D2R for the Switch. I'll deem it a success if I end up making even 1 or 2 forum gold from it. I doubt I'll get very far anyway. I'm so planning for big bad Duriel to one or two-shot kill me when I try to finish Act 2. But the thing is I'm trying to max Lycanthropy first for that massive life bonus. Followed by oak sage and I'm using a prayer merc. Totally different strategic play so perhaps I can manage to go a lot farther than I'm anticipating but that's only if I find any useful gear. My gear is complete trash right now so I'll probably die fighting Duriel at some point soon.

While doing my daily rounds on Twitter today I noticed that PFF (Pro Football Focus) had sent out a tweet showing that 12 NFL teams had never won the Super Bowl before. The Vikings, Titans, Bills, Chargers, Bengals, Browns, Falcons, Lions, Panthers, Jaguars, Cardinals and last but not least, my beloved Houston Texans. They wanted to know which one of those teams will win a Super Bowl first. Obviously the Bengals came so close a few years ago and have a huge advantage given their elite quarterback play from Joe Burrow. But it got me thinking what if CJ Stroud is as great as I believe he's going to be in the pros? All of a sudden the Houston Texans will have a chance to be very good for the long haul. I believe in new head coach DeMeco Ryans. So perhaps in a couple years the Texans will be a top contender in the AFC. I don't expect it to happen so soon in 2023 (this upcoming season) but they did have a very strong free agency and draft class. I gave the Texans an A+ grade for both their free agent signing period and incredible draft class. Signing some good free agents like Sheldon Rankins, Dalton Schultz, Devin Singletary and Jimmie Ward just to name a few. Acquiring a two-time Super Bowl champion and a reliable right guard in Shaq Mason via trade was huge for solidifying their offensive line. And then drafting CJ Stroud, Will Anderson Jr., Juice Scruggs, Tank Dell, Dylan Horton and Xavier Hutchinson, also to name a few (I'd be here all day listing every new player they added this off-season), have me feeling very excited about the future of the franchise! But until the regular-season games are actually played come September I don't want to feel overly optimistic. I'd rather pretend the Houston Texans are still bad (4 wins, 4 wins, 3 wins for a combined 11 wins the past three years), and that way I can feel completely surprised and grateful when they become a playoff team again. As in win 11 games in one season! Not three combined! LOL

TL:DR version - Life is good even when it doesn't seem like it. Have fun doing whatever it is that you enjoy. Good luck and thank you for your time. Take care.

I had hit absolute rock bottom again and was broke three Fridays ago. 0.00 Forum Gold. Everything I have is from grinding hard on Ladder Slasher. But some solo climbs net more profits than others. I can go multiple hard grinds in a row without feeling like I got much out of it. But all it takes is one good climb to feel like I had gotten a lot from it. The amount of valuable time that I put in should be worth more I feel like. But I'm the #1 ranked Warhammer player on the ladder rankings (Rank 14 is within my reach) so that's rewarding in itself to me. No complaints from me at all even if I don't find anything. A day's smile adds up.

But yeah guys, I thought about gambling for sure. I'm not going to lie that it's completely out of my system but I'm proud of myself for staying away from it for now. The thought has crossed my mind of trying to double up on poker (hit over 1,000 again) or bet on the NBA Playoffs. Somehow I managed to stay away. For the first time in 14 years using D2jsp I may have finally figured out how to avoid my gambling addiction and urges! It's the same way that I feel like I've overcome my OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Just by remaining calm, daily prayers and making sure I stay busy doing different things. Only time will tell though. I need to play more Hardcore Ladder on D2R. I currently have a level 22 Werebear that is stuck in Act 3 on the Nintendo Switch. I could've made some forum gold from D2R this ladder season if I had stuck with it and played hard like I'm very capable of doing once I set my desires on something that I want. Getting to Hell difficulty without dying on Hardcore Ladder and saving up tokens, perfect gems, sunder grand charms or whatever I could've been good at doing. But I chose Ladder Slasher instead. I have no regrets because I enjoy playing Ladder Slasher.

But basically for me I truly feel like Ladder Slasher is my saving grace at the end of the day. Solo slashing and setting new goals for myself gives me a sense of purpose on D2jsp. I just need to pace myself more often to make time for other games but I'm good overall. Nothing in life is perfect but you try to smile and have fun when possible. In the end everything will work out. You just need to feel blessed and happy with what you have. Sometimes less is more and the more you have the more stress that comes with it. Also next Sunday on May 28 I've got a birthday party to attend for my little niece. So I may not be very active on D2jsp late in the week and next weekend. We shall see.

I encourage everybody to start a blog on D2jsp to express how you feel because it feels so exhilarating and prosperous. There's a sense of mental discipline, undeniable freedom and self-awareness that comes with it. I believe all of you can accomplish everything you set out to do. You just need to leave the past behind and start fresh. Today is a new day! Tomorrow will be even better than today. In fact I'm crying a little bit right now because I feel so calm and honest. My raw emotions are so pure and passionate. There's a sense of fulfillment inside of me that makes me feel truly happy for the first time in my life. I'm thankful and blessed. That's all I can really say. Thank you!