Xbox Game Pass $1+ Taxes for 3 months ^^

I was looking for my old original Xbox One or Xbone as they are known, a large VCR style- purpose-built gaming computer console that I purchased from BestBuy back in 2014, to play Forza Horizon 2, a sandbox racing simulator...

Microsoft Game Pass to play Forza Horizon 4

My 2020 ASUS FX706LI via a software update to Windows 10 came with an XBOX application. It started autoloading this app on windows bootup recently, but I always closed out of it. Today, I signed up with the $1 for 3 months, promotional discount in order to play Forza Horizon 4 a racing simulation sandbox game launched 2nd Oct. 2018. Nearly 80GB download, once the files are unpacked it expands to ~98 GB of diskspace on your local machine hard drive. The enormous download of Forza H4 happening in the background right now as I write this update. 

STEAM Gaming

Back in 2012 I purchased Euro Truck Simulator 2 by SCS software in Prague vis STEAM an online gaming platform that I sporadically utilize to play CS:GO, a first-person shooter game that I have been playing since high school in different flavors online, offline on the original Xbox & in a previous version called half-life. 

Spontaneous Day Off Work

Yesterday I got a spontaneous unexpected day off of work, after waking up at 5am & driving to work only to find out the School District closed School for COVID19 Omnicon testing & because of "bad winter weather" even though the cold winter snow system now largely melted off after being freezing cold with snow & ice for about the last 10 days, & it was just above freezing & raining on & off. I came home & wanted to play Forza Horizon on my Xbox, but it's been offline, in a box, for more than year. After discussing its location with Meg, we determined the Xbox One console was in storage. 

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Discouraged, I really wanted to play a driving sim, so I logged into STEAM & downloaded Euro Truck Simulator 2 (ETS2) a sim game that I had purchased years ago & only played for a couple of hours &it is still thankfully being actively developed & has an overwhelming popular review from a large group of people worldwide that still play ETS2. ETS2 allows you to start a trucking company & get paid for jobs & then save money, take out a bank loan, buy a truck & trailer, hire other drivers for your company & start a trucking company, all while driving on a condensed map of western Europe with accelerated time such that a 3 hr. 55 min. delivery takes more like 20 minutes to drive in reality. I use the radio function inside the application to stream internet radio stations & count the number of songs played in order to estimate the actual time elapsed when driving. Average songs are typically between 2 & 5 minutes long, centering somewhere on 3.5-4 minutes in many cases- as a generalized mental reference for burst time estimate based on how many songs have played. 

Real World Bus Driving

I have to leave for work soon to actually go drive a real Bluebird American Made School Bus for the City of Issaquah, Issaquah School District 401 :) I really like being a bus driver because its a real world example of driving a large truck & required knowledge & skill development to achieve access to this job with studying, learning & passing many different tests; going a to a school to learn all about being a bus driver & even getting paid during the training program. I then worked cover routes with driver trainers who taught me their routes & then let me drive their routes at a team & then solo. After a month of this, I was awarded a temporary route out of the Sammamish Satellite Hub & drive that right up until 3 days before winter break, when I found out that I was awarded a permanent route for the rest of the school year out of the downtown Issaquah transportation hub that is fortunately closer to my home, making a shorter drive & I use Metro Mile pay by the mile car insurance, so that saves me money :)  

Late Start Today + Snow Route Delay

I showed up a little bit late & found out that today going to be 2 hours late start, & since I did not get the email or text notification, so I checked in with Mrs. Love in dispatch to double check that she had the correct cell phone number to so that her software could text me updates when the schedule changes at the last minute just before my normal route start times. I also spoke with Gina the transportation director about the snow route & she gave me some useful advice since this will be my first time driving a snow route & with a late start mod to boot! 

I got back into my 2005 Prius & came home & launched Horizon 4 via the Xbox application & got a flashy start into the sandbox racing event simulator that's fun to play. I completed my first race last place, 12th & second race in 1st place much faster. It took me a few minutes to get a good hang on the user interface control. During the early setup, it shows you all 4 seasons of weather & lighting in the game & lets you try driving different vehicles in each set of conditions to warm you up & help you learn the controls. While my X-box controller can probably pair with my gaming laptop as the controller, I am just using the same keyboard via the WSAD input buttons where W gas, S brake, A left turn, D right turn. 

Forza Horizon 4 Very Polished Beautiful Game

Horizon 4 installed perfectly & ran a benchmark to optimize my system for the game. I got through the setup of my avatar driver & made a custom plate for the 2018 Audi TTs that I picked from a Dodge Challenger SS & Ford Focus RS at the start of the game. This a AAA title compared with Euro Truck Simulator 2 another game I was just playing yesterday. A lot more flash & flare & design panache from Turn 10 studios, Microsoft Studios & Playground Games, who all collaborated on this tittle vs a small team of people in central Europe at an independently owned & operated SCS game development company responsible for Euro Truck Simulator 2.  

Automobiles are Technological Art

I am a vehicle nerd & love anything with a motor or engine that moves, vehicles of all kinds, appliances, power tools, powersports, you name it, electric, hybrid, gas, I think of them as force multipliers that enable people to move & do with extended abilities & capabilities because of the energy in the device. Action, active, interactive, moving, movement is life! Energy is flux & life on Earth a flash in the pan so to speak as we are all running out of time alive & everyone ends up dying like it or not. So, try to stuff more life into your time alive & live more fully & more dynamically. You do not need more money, be frugal & save that money like lil'dicky says in his music video, & have fun with yourself & your friends & play more & have some work life balance, a hobby, a job, something to do, stay active & keep your mind & brain engaged & keep learning more new information, skills & abilities & build up your resume, your real life skill tree & level up your existence as a human to live more in more ways more fully & with a deeper richer experience by being a good as you can to other people & making a positive difference anywhere, at any time, anyway you can imagine! 

Your Mind Always Active Even When Your Sleeping

Think Energetic, Information, Brain, Mind interacting with the world with dynamism & deeper engagement & influence & more powerful experiences that help you to change faster like ionizing radiation does to your DNA but without the negative health side effects. Think safe & sane but also fun & play more! Get outside, go for a walk or a hike, I do it rain, snow, sun or cold or hot. Your perspective & ideologies make all the difference, so upgrade your thinking with healing, healthy, positive, uplifting, encouraging & interesting thoughts & become the best, brightest, highest function version of yourself the way that God intends to you be, beautifully & wonderfully created in his Holy Likeness! Life is a miracle, precious & special & worth defending. Thats why pollution bad, why we need to phase out burning carbon, embrace renewables & energy storage & collaborate internationally with more positivity & honesty & fairness & fair trade & with cheaper more abundant cleaner electricity to energize tomorrow with cleaner air & water & a brighter horizon for everyone to look forward too! You can become a real-world superhero by helping other people more anyway you can imagine. Try reading the book "The Go Giver" to see what I mean! I am out of time & now must return to work again.

Cheers friends & thanks for reading my blog postings!

Midday break from bus driving :) 

Back from my morning snow route, which was different. All went well except one part when turning around in a parking lot still covered with compact snow & ice when the bus got stuck. I let it roll back down the small slope in neutral & slid to a stop, then gently accelerated back up the small slope on a section that had better bare wet pavement traction which worked & let us get back onto the main road & thus I90 to head back to Issaquah High School!

The middle school & high school kids are at school now. I returned the bus to the depot & did my morning paperwork & got a packet of documents to review for my healthcare plan options that I have to fill out & turn back in within the next week or so. I got into the 05 Prius & came home & booted up the gaming laptop into Xbox mode & showed Meg Forza Horizon 4 since she finds artistic inspiration from works like that, which contain beautiful skies & landscapes & impressions & reproductions of nature in spring, summer & autumn that are colorful & stunning to look at, let alone drive fast through with the racing / event completion sim nature of the driving game :) A little of that via an Xbox controller micro-USB cable attached to the laptop to make it more like a proper gaming setup! Now a little soma online music streaming & food & enjoyment peace & art making time :)