Speedrun #3, Oct 12, 2025

 I've just started up with a new world after my triumph beating the enderdragon yesterday.  In less than 24 hours playing time, I might add.  And only 82 deaths.

So far I've harvested sweet berries and a bunch of meat, started them baking at a broken nether portal (326,63,1) and I'm about to go raid an outpost and look through the ocean for light areas (portals, lava pools aboveground) and shipwrecks.  I'll do the rowing in the dark first.  and I will make a bed to respawn at before doing the outpost.  There's thinking.

Success in the outpost.  no death.  Found two separate treasure maps and chest within 200 blocks or so, and the good half of a shipwreck.  And I got diamonds, so I fixed the broken portal and am in the nether already, with extra gold armor and food stashed at my island base!

Portal in nether location is 35,73,7, in netherrack, in sight of a Crimson Forest.

AND a fortress right nearby at 96,70,32!

Ok doing good with 5 blaze rods already.  I'm needing more food so I need an escape route but there's blazes everywhere.  haven't died in here yet!

I got out nicely with 8 blaze rods.  Realized I had no pearls yet so I'm hunting in the blue forest.  out of food, so at -95,93,-42 is a chest with ender pearls.  have to go find food before I lose this batch.

Now my eye is telling me to head for 70.7, from the Pillager/portal base.  

now, after the swamp, it's 34.1 degrees.  Must be close ish.

Stronghold starter staircase appears to be at -1435,,612.  I'm digging down and hit a cave.  I decided to wait until tomorrow lest I rush in and scatter my valuables to the monsters denizens.

next day:  I think i'll unload all my stuff and go down and check it out.  I think I'll run a bit, look for a low spot, dig in, and then tunnel for the coordinates I wrote above.

THat worked.  I'm in.  I found the portal room.  I threw away two eyes of ender when i didn't aim straight at the portal frame!  but i brought enough to make two more.  phew.

I'm about  to go in....

Sept 30 notes

 I'm in a spruce forest.  There's no villages or oceans.  I see a lava pool though.  location:  53,,-84

I found a shipwreck and treasure map.  Now i'm set for hitting the nether and looking for a bastion.  heading to the lava pool now.

nether portal location in soul sand valley: 16,98,-8

Bridge bastion 1: -214,70,136

got killed by a brute after getting the chalice.  some stuff i heard burn in lava.  :(

killed again

killed again

again

again

killed again, this time i found most of my inventory.  did a bit of trading with the one dude I could corner.  No fire res yet.

the plan now is to collect nuggets and keep trading safely.  until I get fire res.  then I go look for the nearest fortress.  

so far I'm 4 hours in.  Last round I speedran the game in 21 hours.  We'll see if I beat that.

I parked a chest behind the bastion at -193,,183.  I'll go look for gold for a while and try to get back in one piece.

I ended off today across some lava in a warped forest.  Got a couple of eyes there.  Right now there's an enderman screaming at me but can't reach me for some reason.  I blocked in to help him forget.  Next, go unload my nuggets in the chest and find some more.  There is another nether waste on the far side of this warped forest - maybe i should just go there next before unloading.

I should have gone there to unload.  I decided to go collect more nuggets first.  killing a bunch of endermen along the way.  one of them killed me!  and I lost (sigh) all my gold again.  Couldn't quite get back in time.  

For next time - continue rebuilding gold, collecting mushroom to eat, killing endermen carefully, and go back to the bastion.  I suspect there will be a fortress across the lava sea I'm near.  

I'm at 8 deaths and 5 hours.

Well, make that 10 deaths.  I collected a bunch of gold and, true to form, died with it.  And got there too late to collect it again.

Now i'm goign to keep collecting gold and barter it every time i see a piglin.  I don't think there's any advantage other than time in getting a bunch of them in a hole and throwing a lot of gold at them.

I also lost my 4 eyes of ender.  duh.

I'm now up to 4 ender eyes through trading as I search for nuggets.  I hope i don't get lost.

I got 11 eyes!  and one fire res.  I found my way back to the stash behind the bastion and left them there BEFORE MY SUDDEN DEATH!  So now that i've died, I'm not starting from scratch.  I couldn't find my inventory somewhere at the edge of a basalt delta that I found.  I left the game standing by the enderman candle area.

I decided to go around the other way to look for nuggets and found a fortress just  a stone's throw from my portal!  died from distant blaze fire.

I went into my mine to prepare this time.  got some iron and gold.  and a few diamonds.  I think I'll go get my arrows, shoot the blazes from a safe distance, then use fire res to go collect the rods.

I got one more fire res from my piglin friend in the bastion.  I'm near the fortress but i'm scared of the blazes spawning out in the open and sniping me.  

Wow.  I'm at the fortress.  I'm walled in because there are blazes from all sides, and ghasts, and wither skeletons.  and no walls or ceiling to make blockers on.  I think i need to find the spawner, make a barrier to keep it just to me and THEM, drink the orange drink, and hope for the best.  Maybe I'll make a chest in my shelter first to leave my good stuff.

good idea. 

I died after going out from my shelter, around to the left, then down the narrow stairs, and running away from wither skeletons.  In a little dead end, no pun intended.  Not sure if I want to go back there right now!  But my two fire res potions are in there!

lost it all.

beginning of the fortress is at 75,, 146.  Why can't I see it from my portal?

I think I'll take time to mine out some gold in the over, trade with piglins again!  and try a different approach to the fortress.  I think I'll bridge out over it, and snipe the blazes and wither skellies.  Actually, I should speedrun torches over that whole top level.  That might give me a chance to isolate one platform of blazes without being tormented from every side.

I've been speed-dying/speedrunning torches.  Left stacks of unused torches in all the deep places too.  But it helps, so i'm going to get more coal and spread those things all around, not just in stacks.  The blazes are still spawning, and sniping me everywhere I go, and I have not seen a single blaze spawner yet!

12 hours in game, 34 deaths.   so far.

I spent this evening mining coal, kelp and trying to light up the fortress plateau.  a good many deaths, and lost torches again, but making progress.  Hardly any wither dudes left.  But so many blazes, everywhere, all the time!   It's actually just stupid, I should find a different fortress.  But, I like a stupid challenge, so I think I'll strategize a next step.

next day:  I think I'll explore the hallways below surface.  See if any lead to spawners and keep track of my turns.

yes, I explored the hallways and did not find spawners.  But I did find isolated blazes and have managed to eke out 5 blaze rods so far!  I think next time i'll hunt down enough to get 8 in total, then head for the END!

As of right now: 52 deaths, and 15 hours.  I think I'm on track to beat my record!

Next day.

Yes, i have definitely set some kind of record.  I am at 72 deaths now.  and only one more blaze rod!  6 might be enough, right????  Sheesh.  I need a nap.

Next morning:
i had an idea.  I tunnel my way across the plain of death and through to the target area in the fortress.  I figured I could do that before breakfast.  So I walked the dog and logged in.  Got stone tools, dug a tunnel, perfectly lined up.  Cut through to the path of pain safely.  In a moment, two blazes showed up at the mouth of the tunnel.  I backed out of the way and let them fire.  Ran at them, killed them both, in the comfort of my tunnel, and POOF!  Two more blaze rods!  I now have eight (in various chests in this fortress) altogether and will be heading for the end next!

That was this morning.  This evening I showed off my vanquished fortress to T, then gathered all my blaze rods and ender pearls from the various stashes I used to store them.  Then harvested bone meal to boost my wheat production into survival range.  Now I've gathered everything useful and headed for the stronghold.  Used one pearl to get the heading 23.3 degrees.  

Just got distracted by a pillager outpost on my way.  I think I'll visit them first, for fun.  They don't usually have amazing loot or anything but maybe i'll pick up a crossbow. and some arrows?

Time for bed.

Ok I was cocky at the outpost.  I set up a bed and set a spawn point, raided the outpost, jumped off and lost half my health, ran through the pillager crowd to get my bed, broke it and then got killed.  Oof.  Had to race all the way from original spawn, hoping to find my loot which included all those hard-won blaze rods and eyes of ender.  

Found the stuff.  phew.

Found a village.  Got bales for food.  Traded for lots of arrows.  now, because I think i'm so smart, I'm digging down below the village well at 5,4 because I heard that the staircase is sometimes directly below.  Well, I've hit deepslate already and no hint of a stronghold.

Wrong place.  Followed the eyes to

-971, 63, 2069

I'll have to run and get some water before going down.

DONE!

I went down to the correct location.  Tristan helped me find the portal.  I was way better at shooting the end crystals but not too good at shooting the dragon.  I built stairs up around 3 of the pillars with little disruption by HER.  I also built a little shelter in the  fountain to hide under whilst hitting her adam's apple.  Eventually she perished and I recorded a non-record time of .98 days and 82 deaths.

HUZZAH!

 Minecraft notes

Sept 19/25

i dug straight up from my portal to get meat.  11/80/1021

plan to dig down with water after getting food.  maybe bring gold down if possible.  I want to trade more with the piglins in the bastion nearby before going to find a fortress (my nemesis).

Got enough blaze rods.  used all three fire res.  

now i'm short minimum four ender pearls.  I'll wander looking for a desert and hunt for them i guess. safer than going back to the nether.  although if i find the warped forest, they're pretty common.  I didn't see any in the area where i was before.

nether portal location is 0, 32, 136

2nd nether portal location is -11,71, 123  slightly handier location.  (overworld -117,111,914)

Unfortunately i got killed in lava with my gold hoard.  I was about to go trade 28 gold bars with my entrapped piglin buddies in the bastion.  Hoping to get ender pearls.  Now i have to find another strategy.

i collected enough nuggets in teh nether to get another 30 bars to trade!  Then I died to an enderman because i forgot to put the lid on my fighting shelter. Why was I in the over?  dunno.

Now i think I'll find an overworld cave, dig gold and maybe diamonds, and go trade with my faithful entrapped piglin buddies.  Safer way to get pearls (maybe).

caving is much safer.  I've gotten down to the deep cave level, and found a mine area with some loot and diamonds.  I'll dig up as much gold as I can find.  and not die.

  ok.  got 38 ingots.  went to trade them in.  Not a single ender pearl.  I will have to go find tall dudes now.  oh, I even collected 20 ingots worth of nuggets in the netherrack and still no pearls.  So I guess the debate is, go find a warped forest?  or go overworld toward the stronghold and hope to see some more endermen along the way?  I probably should get at least 6 more.

fortress -593,67,-143 (far end)

digging for the stronghold at 100, 2372 (side of a mountain)

found it

went to nearby village to trade for the 5 remaining pearls.  got them!

will try to trade for slow falling shoes from the leathersmith.  and buy some more arrows. nope nope

I made it to the end.  killed the dragon the same day this time!  Enjoyed the challenge again.  After the dragon was gone, I practiced pearling.  I wanted to pearl to the top of a tower but that was too hard for me.  i did manage to pearl to the side of a tower and place a block under my feet though!  I stood at the edge of a block, threw the pearl, then looked down and aimed for the block below me, then spammed the right mouse button.  

BTW i used about two stacks of arrows.  I mostly collected all my stuff after each death (including the first one where i forgot to set respawn point and had to run from 0/0.  arg.

Looks like i was in that world for about 10 irl days, and 21 hours in game play.  That's quite a speedrun.

Blessings last summer

Sunset on Falcon Lake

Don't forget summer, folks.

God Loves Me. This is How I Know.

I have an amazing story of God's love for me personally this morning.  Some of this might seem like coincidence, but how much coincidence does it take to not be coincidence?

Highlights: couldn't sleep, headache at 4:30 am.  Tried Advil and listening to music.  No sleep.  Felt a quiet and gentle nudge inside me to go for a walk.  Decided to go.  This was the right thing because God had set up a show for me, a multimedia expression of love and communication.  Starting from the moment I stepped outside, in the 90 minutes I was out walking:
1. Stars were bright, Orion was out.
2. Moon was mostly covered, just a tiny bright edge remained.  Eclipse!
3. I glanced up at moon, saw three distinct small clouds that looked like I (heart) U.  Not kidding.
4. Saw a small smooth flat cloud underline Orion (Orion always reminds me of God).
5.  Heard but could not see a wild goose flying overhead.  Wild geese are considered a symbol of the Holy Spirit in some cultures.
6.  Saw a falling star beside the moon
7.  Saw a second falling star on the other side
8.  Wondered if I should just enjoy this or try to remember everything and share it
9.  Turned on my Ipod to listen to a podcast of some bible reading.  I had not listening to this ipod for a few months.  It turned out to be from the gospel of Matthew, and within 30 seconds, the verse came up where Jesus says "What you hear in the dark, proclaim in the light, and what you hear in the ear, shout it from the rooftop."
10.  Turned a corner to face the brightening east sky, and saw 3 hydro poles with single crossbars.  They looked like 3 crosses silhouetted on the sky.
11.  Got home and woke three of my kids to show them the remaining eclipse and tell them the story (on our rooftop!)

Wow!  God loves me.

This website shows some awesome visuals of our solar system.
http://www.solarsystemscope.com/eclipse/lunar/

First Attempt: Trumpet

I told a few people that if God wants me to play trombone or brass instruments again, he'd have to do a miracle.
Here's miracle check number one. What do you think?