Headed Back Down (to the Lab)
What’s up y’all! It is absolutely fantastic to see you today, thank you so much for joining! Life has been relentlessly marching forward lately. Let’s get caught up on what’s been going on over here in mclepke world.
The last blog post here was at the very end of August, and speedrunning-wise, it left off with us sitting at a 38:37. The history to that point looked like this:
January 30, 2026 - 41:36. Approximately #100 on the leaderboards
February 5, 2026 - 40:15. Approximately #76 on the leaderboards
February 18, 2026 - 39:30. Approximately #53 on the leaderboards
March 7, 2026 - 39:10. #45 on the leaderboards
August 30, 2026 - 38:37. #34 on the leaderboards
Picking the story back up, I next PB on September 4th, modestly lowering the time to 38:29, and improving our leaderboard position to #33. Two days later on September 6th, I PB’d again, this time improving to 38:14, and #25 on the leaderboards. That 38:14 is where I am still sitting today.
That we remain at 38:14 is not an indication that I stopped trying though. I’ve broadcasted six times since getting that 38:14, totaling 25 hours of cumulative time live streaming attempts. I have been sticking to my Tuesday / Thursday / Sat or Sun schedule, so six streams covers two weeks of life.
We’ve hit a wall. Some of the excitement is fading. Being a master of the crash-and-burn, one of my goals right now is to not do that. Okay. If we’re going to try and be smart about what’s happening right now, how can we do that exactly?
Well, 25 hours of live streaming attempts with no new best time indicates that our current PB of 38:14 and our skill level are relatively evened out. This is roughly where my current skill level can take me by the looks of it.
If I just keep streaming on my schedule and keep banging my head against this wall, I will eventually get a better time simply due to grinding out more favorable luck. Mega Man 4 has some luck to it. Of the 80ish seconds I am off of the world record, I could probably get 20 seconds closer with this head banging.
Zooming out though, when should you commit to banging your head against a wall in search of better luck? Aside from never, which is definitely a viable option, the other logical time is when you’re at your absolute peak of skill level. Otherwise you’re grinding for luck time that you’ll need to re-grind if you ever increase your skill level. You know?
Of course, you also increase your skill level a little bit via this head banging. That’s one other incentive to do it. My intuition here however is that it’s time for me to head back into the lab to see if I can’t push my skill level even a bit further still. With only 81 seconds separating us from the world record, and my resolve starting to naturally fade, I can’t help but think this will be the final trip into the Mega Man 4 lab.
I have no doubt that I will PB at least one more time in this game before we call it quits. But, for the first time, I’m starting to see the finish line with this project. We’re in the late stages of this thing. I’m tired, but this is the last big push. The thought of speedrunning a game that is NOT Mega Man 4 is very tantalizing.
So with all that said, expect a pause in the streaming schedule while I hit the lab and look for some improvements along the margins. We’re not done yet.
Other than speedrunning…idk. I have been living. Working out three days a week, broadcasting three days a week, and chilling one day. I’m making some pumpkin mochi today for a fall-themed party one of my friends from GYM is having. My weight loss for the year is up to 34 pounds, so I’m close to the next 5 pound milestone. I’m getting pretty strong again from all the lifting. I’ve migrated from large shirts to medium ones. The journey continues when I hit publish on this and go to my workout class 45 minutes from now.
I’ve been waking up around 5am most days. I’ll commonly nap from 2pm - 5pm or thereabouts. I can’t fit the nap in every day but I often do. I’m still cooking whole food every day for dinner for me and Erika. I’ve been getting into cabbage.
Podo and Pancake are healthy and happy. Pancake is still thriving at 16, while Podo will turn 6 next month. He’s a good boy. All throughout these warm months we’ve been walking around the city far and wide.
I’ve started the process of getting all my body hair lasered off. It’s time. It’s going to be a long term project, but I’ll keep you posted. To start, I’ve been lasering my under-arms as a sort of conservative test area. It’s not super visible, doesn’t get exposed to the sun (sun complicates lasers), and is small-ish. It’s going well so far, so I’m plotting an expansion to other areas soon. It hurts a little but really isn’t that bad (everyone asks me this).
Anyway, that’s it from me today. I hope you have an amazing and magical day today. Yes, you! The world is crumbling around us, but you can do it. I believe in you.