Another short recap. The bad times I mentioned in my January recap ran into February and only in the last week or so have things really started to ease. I’m trying to appreciate the lack of crisis.
This was the month I pulled way way back on social media. I am not missing it, at least not now. I do maintain a Twitter account which I use mostly to follow games. I’ve been gradually unfollowing actual people. I deleted Mastodon, deleted Discord. I’d delete a bunch of others if I ever used them but remembering them and logging in just to try to figure out how to delete the account just seems like too much effort.
Even when work and stuff was just crushing me into a paste, I could feel this one parcel of my brain was feeling lighter thanks to avoiding the toxicity and toxic positivity of social media. The free periods I used to spend doom scrolling I’m now devoting to reading, which feels like a much better use of my time.
The one exception is Facebook, of all things, where I’ve found a small enclave of folks I’ve known for literal decades and who’re mostly content to exchange pleasantries now and then. It’s super low volume and hopping in once a day even feels like overkill. So that suits me pretty well for now. But damn is Facebook creepy. I bought a pair of windshield wiper blades from Amazon and literally within 5 minutes my Facebook feed was full of ads for wiper blades.
Anyway, on to the recap.
Last Month’s Games
Genshin Impact has been taking up like 90% of my gaming time. Still really loving it (obviously) and it’s been the perfect escapist kind of game for these trying times.
The other 10% is a bit of The Witcher 3 and a tiny slice of Persona 3 Portable which, in theory, I’m playing on the Steamdeck in bed. Except I’ve been staying up so late I tend to just collapse into sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. It’s a great fit for Steamdeck though, considering it was originally designed for a portable device.
Pillars of Eternity is, I guess, dropped.
New Games This Month
Nothing
TV
The Last of Us has been incredibly enjoyable for us. I, of course, have played the game. Angela has not. I think we both enjoy the show about the same amount.
The Bad Batch isn’t grabbing us as much as the first season did. We are in season 2, right?
Poker Face is a new kind-of detective show, I guess? It’s about a woman (played by Natasha Lyonne) who has one ‘supernatural’ ability in that she can always tell when someone is lying. But she is on the run from some bad dudes and from the cops. She keeps stumbling upon crimes and opting to solve them. We, and a lot of others, are picking up kind of a Columbo vibe.
And we’re still grinding through Star Trek Voyager. On the last season and I feel like you can just watch the writers running out of ideas/interest.
Oh and Picard S3 but that’s just barely started. So far we’re digging it.
I’ve also been watching a lot of soccer. EPL and US Women’s National Team, plus MLS just started.
Reading
Lola was having some health issues in Jan/Feb and wasn’t up to walking much, but still wanted to be outside. So I was standing around a lot, and started back on The Expanse novels, reading via the Kindle app on my phone. It feels good to be reading something again. Nemesis Games is the book I’m on.
And that’s the recap. Maybe my last recap; I’ve been thinking a lot of turning off the blog. But I won’t go into all that just now.
Well, when I saw you deleted your Mastodon account, I thought “I’ll just have to leave more blog comments then!”
… or maybe not.
I’m glad paring down your social media has been good for you, & I hope Lola’s feeling better!
I’ll still be littering your blog posts with my inane comments, though!! 🙂
I’d be very sad if you switched off the blog but you know you can always switch it on again. Nothing is forever and that works both ways. Maybe don’t delete it so much as let it lie fallow.
I need to check where that Natasha Lyonne show is showing. I bet it’s not on any service I have.
Hope Lola is improving. Beryl’s in for spaying next week which is nerve-wracking. I never really had this with my many cats. Dogs are intense!
Poker Face is on Peacock over here. I’m not sure if its a “Peacock Original” or if it is also airing on TV.
Lola has bounced back and is much better, thankfully. We gotta appreciate every day with her as she’ll be 13 in June so, y’know, her time with us is limited. But for now she’s her old goofy charming self.
The worst part of Beryl’s spaying will probably be the cone she has to wear, if she is anything like Lola. Lola has 3 stages of cone acceptance. Timidity, where she hardly moves; this just lasts a day or so. The Careful Period where she gets very dainty in her motions and figures out where she fits and where she doesn’t. And then the “I don’t get a fig” period where she just muscles through whatever tries to stop her. This phase results in LOTS of chaos in the house!! 🙂
Best of luck to Beryl!
Glad to hear life might be putting your recent set of crises into the rear view for a bit. I think, maybe, might be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in my own life — but still worried it’s just another train, so will leave that one be for the time being.
Separately, I’ve since worked out I can’t comment via WP from the work network any more so my last one didn’t go through — but a show you may like as something to go to on Apple TV post Mythic Quest — Shrinking. It’s more on the drama than comedy end of things, but so far has been a great show for the wife and I. On a whim I also gave Ted Lasso try a while back — didn’t expect to enjoy it at all, I’m very much not a ‘yay sports!’ person. But turns out don’t need to be, and next season is later this month too.
In terms of any thinking of shuttering the blog, I get it, and I’ve been there over the last little while as well while maintaining essentially token efforts to keep it going.
I’m very much with Bhagpuss though — better to let it lie idle than to fully shutter it. Either way though, definitely hope you stick around. <3
Happily things continue to improve for me. Or maybe ‘become less horrid” is a better way to put it, but it’s funny how the usual old rut feels pretty good after a bad patch. Hope what you’re seeing is a light and not a train, too!! I know you’ve had a long rough patch.
Thanks for the Shrinking recommendation. I’ll add it to the mental list. I did watch Ted Lasson and came at it from the same point of view you did. Thought it was some show only soccer hooligans would enjoy and wound up completely loving it. Another ATV+ show I’ve heard is good is Severance, but I’ve yet to try it.
I liked Severance, definitely bit of a slow burn start, but I think is worth it and I’m looking forward to the next season!