Monthly Archives: November 2020

Kaze no NOTAM – NOTAM of Wind PlayStation categorySimulation categorySports category

Title screen from Kaze no NOTAM

There’s no way to steer a hot air balloon. I don’t think that occurred to me until playing Kaze no NOTAM.

In real life, you can move a hot air balloon up or down, but once you’re in the air, it’ll go wherever the wind is blowing. A skilled balloonist can determine the direction of the wind at different altitudes and try to maneuver into a more favorable wind pattern, but that’s about as far as they can control it. It’s the same way in the game. On the right-hand side of the screen, there’s a meter that shows the wind direction at different heights. You can look for an air current that points you in the general direction you want to go, but beyond that, it’s out of your control. » Read more about Kaze no NOTAM – NOTAM of Wind

All-Day Tea Party Spooktacular wrap-up Blog category

Nightbringer from 2K5

Nightbringer from 2K5

Wow! Thanks to your generous donations, the All-Day Tea Party Spooktacular for Trans Rights 2020 raised an incredible $4420.69 for Trans Lifeline! According to a spokesperson for Trans Lifeline who dropped by the chat, that’s enough money to fund their hotline for two days and provide a microgrant for a trans person who needs to update their ID!

The response to the marathon this year was amazing. I set our donation goal lower than last year’s total with the understanding that money is a bit tighter for everyone right now, but y’all were out of control. We sailed passed the original goal in the first few hours of the event, and by the end, we reached 354% of our goal!

This also meant that I had to subject myself to some truly terrible punishments as a reward for the audience. I drank four gross sodas: ranch dressing was the worst by far, but mustard and dirt soda were bad too. Grass soda was surprisingly drinkable. It was just grass-y! The others tasted strongly of concentrated seasoning, but the grass flavor wasn’t too different from a fancy juice.

But the absolute worst, as viewers will know, was the One Chip Challenge. The One Chip Challenge is a seasonal promo product by the tortilla chip brand Paqui which consists of a single apocalyptically hot tortilla chip that comes individually sealed in a coffin-shaped box. Urged on by an unbelievable $500 donation from Pete and Kate, I ate the chip and suffered for nearly an hour on camera for everybody before finally feeling comfortable enough to end the stream. The remainder of my evening is best left undescribed.

Things went off the rails after the One Chip Challenge (nothing on the schedule from 11pm onwards happened as planned), but this was such a fun stream! Big thanks for Misty De Meo for stopping by to play Moon, and thank you to everyone who tuned in to watch. Your donations will make a tangible difference for trans lives.

If you want to watch any part of the stream, you can catch the video here.

This was a lot of work to prepare, so I’ll be taking it easy for a bit. I have a few more articles and projects in mind as we head into the end of the year, so stay tuned for more later! But one thing you should never expect more of is ranch soda. Never again.


The barrage of sodas this year left me so full of foul-tasting liquid that I didn’t drink as much tea this time around – I didn’t even get to my Halloween teas! – but the hot beverages from the stream this year were: