Hi there, it’s been a long time! You may have thought I had given up and for a while there you were absolutely right, but it’s a new year, a new me and a fresh start. In the last couple of years a lot has happened in my life that affected my dedication to the blog, I just didn’t have the mental capacity or time to think about it any more but as time has gone by I’ve finally come to realise how much I enjoy writing and I want to open it back up again to be an outlet for that. This comes with a blog re-design and core subject changes. Don’t worry, gaming will still feature, but it’s not going to be the main topic any more.
Over the last couple of years I’ve had a few false starts trying to get to back into writing this blog but it’s never quite stuck. Eventually, I came to the realisation that I have become uninspired by the theme (gaming). It turns out that I have a select few, core games that I love, but once I’d mentioned them at least 10 times each I felt uninspired and started struggling for content. Furthermore, my style and tone of voice have changed so I don’t feel like my old posts necessarily reflect who I am and the persona that I want to portray anymore, some of my older posts really make me cringe!
What is the new blog going to be about then? That is an excellent question, and if I said ‘everything’ would that be too broad? I really enjoy writing and so I’m just going to write. It will primarily be opinion pieces and reviews of movies, games, books, TV shows, etc. but there will also be some slices of life, stories, maybe even some writing exercises that I am more proud of if my confidence gets there. I’d like to experiment and find what kind of niche I particularly enjoy and hopefully people will find them interesting, useful and amusing. We’ll see what sticks.
Going forward I will be doing some blog admin, archiving my old posts and possibly deleting some of my more embarrassing and less popular ones. I’d also love to start reading more blogs as it’s been so long that I’ve been out of the circle, if you have any recommendations for anything geeky/story based/or just anything you particularly like in general, please drop a comment below with the link!
Thank you to the wonderful Kelly at Why We Play Games for the nomination! I haven’t done one of these for a while and it was great fun.
The Rules
Display the logo
Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog
Answer the questions
Nominate 7-10 bloggers
Ask these bloggers 7 questions
Questions and Answers
What is your favorite video game genre?
RPGs all the way. I love games where you can make your own character and really become a part of the world, It’s so immersive.
What is your favorite music genre?
I am happy to listen to a bit of everything (with some exceptions) but my overall favourite would be Alternative Rock.
What games do you play when you want to relax?
Generally games that are nostalgic and have more cartoony vibes. Like Stardew Valley, Pokemon, Legend of Zelda (Wind Waker rather than Breath of the Wild for relaxing)… Right now Spyro is the go-to.
What are your favorite hobbies?
I’ve always been really bad for having too many hobbies and finding I don’t have any time to myself trying to do them all and since lockdown started I’ve been using it to reevaluate what I actually enjoy most. Anything that I don’t actually do that much while I have all the time I’ll ever have, I won’t worry myself about in the future. So, taking that into consideration my favourite hobbies would be:
Gaming: You may think “duh, obviously” but since we’ve been indoors and I’ve had so much more time to play I have come to the realisation that I really love gaming. Before all of this I was playing maybe a couple of hours a week when I got some time and feeling kind of guilty when I did but I really do love it, it’s relaxing, sometimes it makes me think, sometimes it challenges me, sometimes I play with friends and family and it’s a good time, it’s made me want to write again. I missed it a lot and I’m really enjoying getting re-acquainted with it. When this is all over I just need to keep this frame of mind with it and not let myself feel guilty for spending a lot of time on it.
Pole Dancing: This is the main way I keep fit. Since I started it my confidence has built so much and I’m so much fitter and stronger than I used to be. It’s so much fun as well.
Sewing: I don’t sew that often but it is a great skill to have and has come in handy more than I would have ever thought. I like having the ability to make things that no one else has. I went through a bit of a leggings phase after Xmas and that’s what I’ve been making a lot of since (I have way too many clothes, I can’t justify making more right now, but leggings are wonderful lockdown and exercise wear). Here I am in my Shark leggings!
What shows or movies are you watching right now?
In terms of TV shows Community, Ru Paul’s Drag Race (Gigi or Heidi for the win!), and I’ve just started watching Modern Family from the beginning.
I really like 80s movies. Recently we watched Top Gun (not really for me), When Harry met Sally (amazing movie), and Good Morning Vietnam (super amazing). Got any recommendations for some more?
What is your favorite video game and/or TV series?
That’s a tough one… I’ll say God of War because I just started playing the newer one again recently. I wrote about it before and was kind of disappointed. Actually, reading that post back (I don’t want to link to it because I’m embarrassed) I really attack it and playing through it again with less of a nit-picky, critical eye I don’t really know why I was so aggressive when I wrote about it, maybe I should do a review of my review. Anyway, it’s such a good game (as are the previous 3) and I didn’t realise quite how much I knew about it until my boyfriend started asking me questions about it and I just went off on one for ages about the whole previous trilogy and all the related Greek and Norse mythology.
My favouritie TV series is probably Spaced. Though I have many favourite series like New Girl, Brooklyn 99, How I Met your Mother they all suffer from being American which means the finales are terrible (except Brooklyn 99 which hasn’t got a finale yet, fingers crossed it’s a good one). Spaced is a British comedy that brought Simon Pegg to the screen. It’s funny, nerdy, and delightfully weird. It’s also directed by Edgar Wright (of Hot Fuzz, Sean of the Dead, Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs The World…) so if you like that sort of thing do give it a go.
What helps you feel calm?
I live near the beach and I like walking down there on a nice day to watch the waves and chill for a bit.
My Questions
How have you been spending your time recently?
Where are you going to go to eat when we can go out to eat again? (I’m thinking of this amazing burger place right now and I am really looking forward to it *drool*)
What was the last movie you watched?
What brightens your day?
Recommend a Netflix/Prime/Disney+ show to watch!
Do you have a song that gets you pumped up?
What is your favourite sweet treat?
My Nominations
I’m quite late in responding to this nomination so I’m not sure who has been nominated by others and who hasn’t so if you read this post then consider yourself nominated!
First of all, sorry for being a little AFK at the moment! What with the new God of War coming out and things suddenly getting a little more manic at work I’ve not really found the time to blog. I missed you all!
Thank you so much to both TriformTrinity and The Codex: Online for nominating me! They are both wonderful blogs and I thoroughly enjoy reading their posts. Please check them out if you haven’t already!
I’ve taken ages to answer these but finally it’s all done! I’m going to answer Trinity’s questions first (as he nominated me ages ago) and then I’ll answer Codex’s. Hope you enjoy!
The Rules:
Thank blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
Triform Trinity’s Questions
If you had the chance to write one article that could change a person’s life. What would you write about given your previous content?
Based on my previous content I guess it would be about not feeling awkward/guilty/bad/etc about your hobbies that some people perceive as lazy or negative, like gaming or anything else you might enjoy doing in your spare time, and learning to embrace them.
One day you see a portal to another world. Where does it take you?
A world where everyone is a mythical creature (based on their personality) so some are unicorns, some are fairies, dryads, griffins, satyrs, etc… But there’s also gorgons, sirens, crab people, werewolves… None are necessarily good or evil, so no big war going on, they all find a way to use their talents, sirens give singing lessons, griffins are used for long distance air travel, dryads are great gardeners, the satyrs are really good musicians, gorgons are great sculptors. They just have loads of great parties.
What type of music is your home? The type that you can always fall back on to fully relax and is the one that interests you the most.
My mum has really good taste in music (in my opinion) and I love listening to my favourites from her selection when I’m chilling out. This would be stuff like Otis Redding, Amy Winehouse, Kirsty Maccoll, The Small Faces, Salt-N-Pepa, Destiny’s Child… So sort of souly with some tongue in cheek pop I guess.
You are making a game, what genre are going with and why?
I would make an RPG because I’m always a big fan of those and I love the freedom you have in some of them to develop your character.
Breathing in space or breathing under water. Which one do you choose?
I would love to breathe underwater. Mermaid was pretty high on my list of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I absolutely love swimming and if I could breathe underwater I would just build myself a little sea house in a nice coral reef somewhere… I never understood The Little Mermaid, why would you give up being a mermaid for a guy? Especially a guy you’ve only seen once. Ariel was a bit of an idiot really.
Favorite mascot?
Mascots aren’t really a huge thing in the UK… Can I say the deflating Pikachu that got aggressively dragged off stage at the Pokémon World Festival? I felt bad for him.
What is your morning routine before going to work/school/etc.?
I fight the urge to stay in bed, wondering how long it would take for people to come and kick me out of my flat and super comfortable bed if I just never went to work. I eventually drag myself up and turn off the alarm that I have to now leave at the other side of the room because I can’t be trusted to have it next to the bed in case I snooze it. I grumble my way to the kitchen and do 15 minutes of yoga where I go through an incredible transformation turning into something resembling a human being somewhere between cobra pose and sun salutation. Then I have a smoothie, get dressed, pack my lunch and snacks for the day, make sure my pet rats have some food, realise I’m running a little late, sprint out the door and go downstairs, run back up the stairs because I think I forgot to lock the door but no, I did lock the door, so I sprint back out and head to work.
Tell me a story of when you encountered your first video game.
I honestly don’t remember my first video game, let alone the encounter. It was probably either Tetris or Pokémon Yellow. I’ll talk about the latter because I remember that one the most, and rather than tell a story, as I can’t remember it, I’ll just say what I remember. First off, I really hated Gary Oak. From the arrogant music that accompanied him and his trademark ‘smell ya later!’ slogan I hated him. I ‘d call him Buttface or something to get petty revenge but it was never enough. One thing I did love was Pikachu, especially the fact that Pikachu walks behind you and you can talk to him. I always enjoyed starting the game over after a few gyms, I liked getting the weaker Pokémon and getting them to evolve (and I still do!). I played it in a very chill way and just enjoyed wandering about. I loved my Gameboy Colour and would take it everywhere with me, even battling my bad car sickness sometimes so that I could play it more. Hope that makes up for not being able to remember the story of my first encounter with it!
Actual pic of my Gameboy Color and Pokémon Yellow game, both of which still work!
What is your element?
Water.
Why is this your element?
I love water, as mentioned in a previous question I would love to be a mermaid. If I ever got super rich I’d have a swim up bar in my garden swimming pool with flumes, diving boards, slides, everything… It would be like a water utopia. Besides swimming in it I love the sound of the rain, it’s a really calming sound, and I drink loads of it I guess so there’s that too.
Running or walking to your destination?
I hate jogging, it’s one of the wort things someone could voluntarily put themselves through. Why someone would choose to do that? Walking it is!
The Codex: Online’s Questions
1. In your lifetime, what has been your favorite year for gaming?
Right now PS4 because it’s my only console, we do have a PC but I don’t want to spend more time on a PC after being at work all day so it gets put on the side lines a bit. I do really want a Nintendo Switch though and I dare say that might take the place of favourite if I get one.
3. Favorite song on the radio, right now?
I don’t actually listen to the radio that much because I hate hearing the same songs over and over again, unfortunately I can’t always escape it in the office so I think I would say IDGAF by Dua Lipa. It’s not the sort of thing I normally listen to but it’s fun and catchy.
4. Favorite shower jam song?
I’M WALKING ON SUNSHIIIIINE WOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAH!!!!
5. Perfect weather?
I love the sun. I live really close to the beach and I often wish for lovely sunny days so that I can go there for the whole day. I love taking a good book, eating ice cream, sun bathing and attempting to swim in the English Channel, I’ve tried it several times and once your entire body goes numb you don’t notice how cold it is!
6. A place you’ve travelled to before and wish you’d never left?
This is kind of skewed because a) I was very young and you tend to remember things in a more glorified way when you’re younger, and b) I had the 5 star treatment in an amazing hotel and resort so it’s not really the experience of the actual country itself or one that I’d be able to afford now. When I was 7 we went to Dubai and I can still remember it so well, it was absolutely incredible. We stayed in a wave shaped hotel next to a water park and an incredible beach, the food was amazing, everything I remember was amazing… I would love to go back one day. I’m worried that I’ll be disappointed though because things will have changed so much or it won’t be how I remembered it.
Maybe one day I’ll go back…
7. If you were invited to an episode of dancing with the stars, but had to be matched with a villain from your favorite game(s), who would your partner be?
I think Ganon from Legend of Zelda would dance a mean Tango. I probably wouldn’t because I would have a hard time keeping a straight face but he’d be pretty good.
8. Orlando, Florida. Would you rather spend the weekend at Universal Studios or Magic Kingdom (and all of it’s affiliated parks)?
I have never been to America, let alone Florida. I would love to go though. There’s so much I’d love to see in both Florida and just the whole of America that I don’t think I’d ever get the time!
I’d love to go to both of these but if I had to choose I think I’d go for Universal Studios, just because they have a Harry Potter section.
9. Did you invent a language when you were young? What was it called?
I did not, I wasn’t quite that creative!
10. Mc’Donalds or Burger King?
I do’t really eat fast food that much, and when I do it’s usually pizza. I suppose between these two I’d choose McDonald’s because I do like milkshakes and chicken nuggets.
11. Do you like the feeling of being warm in cold weather or being cool on a sunny day?
I hate being cold so I would say being warm in cold weather. I am one of those people that has a blanket in the office so that I can feel warmer when it’s cold. It’s actually a scarf but it’s really wide so it covers most of me. I’ve considered buying a heater to put under my desk and warm my feet as well…
My Nominees
Only going to say 4 people and then anyone else that wants to answer the questions, please feel free (11 people is hard)!
Are you going on holiday this year? (Or where have you already been on holiday this year?)
Type “I want a” into your phone and then let predictive text come up with the rest, then tell us what it says! (OK, this isn’t a question but I think it’s fun.)
Have you ever met someone famous?
What was the last thing you read? (Or the last movie you watched if you’re not into reading.)
What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
What would be your dream guest line-up a Comic Con?
You have to fight a minotaur, answer a difficult riddle, or climb a mountain to advance to the next stage of your life. Which one would you choose to do?
Which TV show is your guilty pleasure?
If you were to get sucked into a video game, like in the new Jumanji movie, would you be secretly pleased?
Which video game do you come back to over and over again and why?
If you could play only three games for the rest of your life, what would they be?
Thank you again for the nominations, and I hope you guys enjoy answering my questions!
Thank you to Jay Borenstein from Nerd Speaker for the nomination! His blog is all about nerd culture, from art to video games. It’s a great blog, do check it out! I actually was nominated for another one of these a while ago and I started writing a draft for it but never got around to finishing it, to my shame I also can’t remember who nominated me first time round but thank you!!! If you jog my memory in the comments I’ll put a link to your blog here too!
The Rules:
Display the award logo on your blog.
List the rules.
Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well. (Uhh… Google it, I don’t know)
Tell your readers three things about yourself.
Answer five questions from the nominator.
Nominate from 10 to 20 bloggers. (I have not nominated this many…)
Notify the bloggers by leaving a comment on their blog.
Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice, including one weird or funny question.
Share the link to your best post.
Three things about me
I just got back from a skiing holiday and, after breaking through the pain barrier on my 4th day skiing, my legs are suspiciously pain free. I don’t trust them anymore.
I got really obsessed with Ru Paul’s Drag Race a little while ago and I have a farm on Stardew Valley, as a reminder of that time, where my animals have names that are a pun on contestant’s names (Shantneigh, Jinx Moosoon, Mew Paul…)
When I was little I saw the music video for Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee), if you don’t know it has horribly animated blue aliens in it that party with the singer on stage. That night though I had a nightmare that the blue aliens were being stalked by a scary space creature while the song played in the background. For years I thought that my dream was the music video, I wouldn’t watch it and if I heard the song it gave me the creeps. To my shame it wasn’t until I was about 20 and I mentioned “that scary music video where the blue aliens get brutally murdered” to my friend, who understandably looked at me like I was crazy, that I realised I’d dreamt it.
Jay’s Questions
What did you want to be when you grew up? If you even consider yourself grown up?
I wanted to be a popstar really badly. Unfortunately, I’m not. I wouldn’t consider myself grown up now to be honest so right now my dream job would be basically spending more time with my blog! I didn’t realise how much I love writing until I started this. I keep imagining how I could branch it out if it got more successful but first I need to sit down and have a good WordPress session to dress is up a bit.
Name the most recent game or movie that made you want to give a standing ovation when the credits rolled.
Going to say this for both a game and movie because two examples immediately sprang to mind:
On the game side I would say Undertale. It was truly a wonderfully written game and I haven’t had that much fun playing a game for such a long time. Check out my post about it for full appreciation!
On the film front I’m going to say Atomic Blonde. OK, so the plot was a little meh… But I found myself literally sat on the edge of my seat, holding my breath throughout those fight scenes. I can’t tell you how refreshing it felt to have what looked like a genuine fight scene, and with a woman no less. Usually in a fight scene with a girl the girl does all the beating up and manages to avoid getting hit. When she does get hit there’s like a pause and an “oh shit, you’ve done it now” moment but not here, Charlize Theron takes her fair share of hits too, as would happen in reality. They were hitting each other with literally anything they could reach, they were out of breath like you would actually be, it was almost like they’d been put in a room and told to fight for real, using whatever they could to win. I loved it. Not that I want to see people beating each other up but in a movie world that’s filled with superheroes doing their epic “oh it’s nothing” choreographed fights, making it look so effortless, it was just good to see something so raw and real that made me wonder if the heroine was actually going to get out alive. Plus the 80’s soundtrack is awesome.
SO BADASS
If you were forced to listen to the same three songs on repeat when working out at the gym, what would they be?
My gym music is really different to the music I usually listen to, I’m usually more into my Indie Alternative stuff but that doesn’t really suit working out.
Work Bitch by Britney Spears. Anyone that does not put this in their list is lying. No matter how much you try to deny it this song is just perfect for working out.
Red Alert by Basement Jaxx. Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo… I have a soft spot for Basement Jaxx.
Boom boom boom boom! by The Vengaboys. No explanation needed.
Who is your real life role model and why?
I really want to say Miss Piggy but I guess she doesn’t count as a real life role model… This is actually really hard… Oh well. So Miss Piggy is badass. She doesn’t take shit from any body, including her boyfriend. She has impenetrable self-confidence and has been an actress, model, socialite, editor for Vogue, a pirate, an astronaut, a singer… And she looks awesome doing all of them. Even when she was Mrs Cratchit in The Muppet Christmas Carol she was still fabulous. To top all of that off she’s a pig which is not normally what you’d associate with all of the above and yet she rocks it.
If you could have an adult pair of cartoon jammies, which character(s) would you want on them?
I would like Princess Peach jammies because I religiously stick to her when I can as my choice of character in Mario games, she’s a princess so hopefully the jammies would come with a matching crown, and the jammies would be pink by default and I like pink!
My Best Post
Going to cheat a little here, not my best post but my second best post, A Platform For My Game Shame. I’ve mentioned my best one on lots of other things recently so I wanted to give a little love to this one instead. It’s all about being terrible at platformers, specifically Mario games, and getting frustrated as a result because that’s considered one of the best gaming franchises.
The Nominees
I have a little list of bloggers that I’m nominating, take at look at their blogs because they’re all awesome, but please feel free to consider yourself nominated if you want to answer my questions. I nominate everyone!
Thank you to Megan from A Geeky Gal for nominating me! As the name suggests her blog is full of some wonderfully geeky things, including cosplay, fandom related posts and lots of merchandise ideas. She wrote the mystery blogger award post ages ago so I’m sorry I’m only just getting around to writing this!
I really love these nominations because it’s so much fun to answer people’s questions and then read the answers to yours!
Rules
Put the award logo/image on your blog.
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny
Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever said it before on my blog but much like my nominator my name is also Megan (although an English Megan so it’s not pronounced in the American way which makes me wince every time I hear it, sorry American Megans…)
When I was a teenager I had a blog about baking which, looking back now is a bit cringey because I wasn’t a hugely successful cook and my writing was probably awful. It’s still out there somewhere, gone feral in the internet wilderness, I won’t attempt to find it or share the link though because I’m too embarrassed
Fairly recently I adopted a couple of rats named Hanzo and Genji and they are very spoiled and very adorable
My Best Post
I wrote a post called Adulting and Gaming: My Struggle To Do Both and even though I wrote it back in October it is my only ‘old’ post that still gets fairly frequent visitors and comments.
Megan’s Questions
1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I really, really, really wanted to be a popstar. I had no other ambitions other than one time I wanted to be a waitress but that was mostly because in the movies they always wore cute outfits and ended up marrying a rich, handsome man (feminism, right?) Unfortunately I am not a popstar… Or am I????? (That would be an awesome twist, wouldn’t it?)
2. If you had to describe yourself using only 5 words, what would they be?
Shy – I’m quite quiet and a bit socially awkward until I get to know people well
Weird – In a good way, well I think so…
Geeky – I’ll happily go on about my favourite fandoms for ages until someone shuts me up
Open-minded – I think that everyone should believe what they want to believe and do whatever they want to do as long as it’s not harmful to anyone while respecting everyone else’s beliefs and lifestyles.
Indecisive – This list took me far longer to write than I care to admit.
3. What TV show, book, or game has most impacted you personally?
This is a difficult one because there are so many! Books were my first love before games or TV shows so I think that one of my most read books, The Hobbit, would probably be it. It launched me into an incredible fantasy world that defined my go to genre, from that I discovered so many other books, and then games and TV shows, that have all impacted me and had a hand in shaping who I am today. It’s also a book that no matter how old I’ve been when I’ve read it I’ve always enjoyed it just as much as the last time. I can’t remember if that was my first ever fantasy book, probably not, but it’s definitely the one I remember reading the most (even more so than Harry Potter which was sooooo close to being chosen instead).
4. If you could be any villain in a TV show, book, or game, who would you be and why?
I think I’d be someone like Gabriel from Supernatural because he has a lot of fun. (If you don’t want to know anything about this character skip to the next question because I’m kind of dancing over a minefield of spoilers here) I don’t think I could ever be evil, I’d be more of a mischievous annoyance if I was to be on the bad side of anything and he certainly ticks the box there. I would also quite happily just stay out of any drama going on between powerful forces but would ultimately side with good if things were to get out of hand so I can also see myself going down his path. His episodes are hands down some of the best and while, yes he’s not a villain in the traditional sense he does annoy a lot of people. I mean who isn’t an alternating villain/good guy at some point in Supernatural anyway?
5. [weird] What strange food combinations do you really enjoy?
I don’t think that this is weird but everyone I eat it in front of seems to think it is: peanut butter and celery. I like getting a stick of celery and spreading the peanut butter so that it fills the dip in the celery. Nomnomnom…
My questions
If you could wear any video game/Movie characters’ outfit for a day (male or female) whose would you choose and why?
Which song would play during the credits in a movie about your life?
Which scene in a movie/tv show always makes you laugh?
Bit of a moany post today but please bear with me. I’m hoping for some advice from fellow bloggers so if anyone fancies giving a bit of game-related agony aunt advice please feel free to advise away.
The long and short of it is that I’m trying to adult and it’s taking away from my gaming time. I wish it wasn’t the case, I didn’t even notice that much until I recently started playing Planescape: Torment, but it’s true. I’m not the same gamer I used to be. I’ve changed a lot since my teens where I used to dedicate my evenings and weekends almost entirely to playing games without a care in the world (I was a popular teen…) but now all I can manage is an hour or two in the evening on some days, and maybe a few hours on the weekend. While that may seem a lot to a non-gamer it is nothing compared to what I used to do back in my teens or when I was at University. The reason behind this is not rocket science, it’s just that I now work full time, because of this I don’t expect to launch back into the day-long gaming stints that I used to be able to do, but even so I don’t seem to be able to reach the levels of gaming time that some people seem to be able to achieve. After a long day at work followed by cooking dinner, making lunch for work the next day, and maybe some exercise I only end up with about an hour or maybe two of free time, if any free time at all. I slump to the sofa, exhausted, and lament my lack of time as my other half, usually working his way through a game as I look on jealously, points out yet again that I have too many hobbies. Now we get to the point where I get a bit confused and annoyed. I have two fitness classes a week after work, I manage this blog, and I sew occasionally. On top of that I have a weekly driving lesson which is a bit of a pain but that’s only temporary and once it’s over I get a free evening (and a car). When you say it like that it’s not really a lot, is it? Most of my time in the evenings is actually taken up by cooking which I enjoy doing because I’m a big foodie and my cooking skills have increased dramatically since I’ve been watching what I eat a bit more, but it does take up a huge amount of time. Dan will simply not eat if food is unavailable and will happily forgo a proper, home-cooked dinner for a microwave meal to maximise his gaming time and while I don’t mind a microwave meal occasionally I don’t want to eat them all the time. Finally, I want to get a good night’s sleep so going to bed late to get that extra gaming time in always makes me stress that I’m going to be too tired in the morning.
As I said before, I recently downloaded Planescape: Torment and I like it but I’m struggling to get into it. This isn’t the game’s fault it’s more that it’s so immersive and there’s so much to explore and do that I need to set aside a good couple of hours to get a decent amount of progress in. I don’t want to play it in the week because it’s on the PC and I spend all day at work looking at two PC screens so the thought of spending a few hours at a desk in front of another PC when I get home makes me feel slightly nauseous. Instead I’ve been playing it on the weekend and during the week I’ll either play through a couple of days of Stardew Valley or a few Overwatch matches (the TV screen is not on par with a computer screen so it’s OK). Even then though there’s more adulting to do, socialising is a big part of my weekend because I don’t get a lot of time to see people in the week and while I love my friends and don’t want to sacrifice my time with them it does still take up a large amount of my weekend. Even when I do get to sit down for a long time and play I’m constantly thinking “you could be doing some exercise right now to help with that thing you’re doing in your exercise class, you could be sorting through your spending to see how you could save some money, you could be making a big batch of food so that you don’t have to cook as much in the week… Could be doing this, could be doing that” and I can’t switch it off. If I keep on playing I will feel angry with myself at the end of the weekend because I don’t feel like I’ve been productive.
I don’t think that playing games is a waste of time but I do make myself feel guilty for playing them because for some weird reason I seem to think that they are things that should be put on the back burner and only played as a reward when I’ve finished the never-ending, constantly-being-added-to list of things to do that I have. I know that that’s ridiculous because some of the things are not really that important and I love playing games, I never used to feel guilty for playing them. Weirdly “could have made some stuff with your sewing machine” is one of the critical thoughts going round my head in these moments but sewing is just another hobby, it’s not something that I consider to be more important than gaming (if it was then my blog would be about sewing instead and I wouldn’t have met all you lovely people), they’re on equal footing in terms of enjoyment and time consumption but the fact that I end up with physical proof after I sew something sort of makes me feel like it’s more valued.
I guess I just need to de-stress and stop thinking about all of these things (much easier said than done) because the fact is even if I didn’t have any hobbies I would still find a way to distract myself and procrastinate instead of completing the ever growing, self-improvement list.
How do you regulate your time between gaming time and ‘adulting/chore/hobby’ time? How much time do you get to game a week? Do you ever get to escape from the black hole of ‘ unrealistic things to do’ as an adult?
I have reached 100 followers!!! I am so happy and proud. When I first started this blog back in April I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, I was very nervous about it and it took every inch of my confidence to press the ‘Publish’ button on my first post. Little did I know back then that there was such a wonderful blogging community waiting to welcome me, discuss all my favourite games and boost my confidence to the point where the dreaded ‘Publish’ button is not that scary any more.
When I first started blogging I promised myself that I would update my blog with WordPress’s Personal Plan when I reached 100 followers, so my blog may look a little more professional soon, depending on when I get around to it.
Now for my speech…
I want to thank all my super regular readers for… Well, for reading my blog regularly! You’ve all helped me out so much with my confidence in writing and I love discussing games with all of you.
I would also like to thank my first ever follower, Claudio Caudullo from Explore the Gaming World. I don’t see much of you in the blogosphere and don’t know if you will see this, but I will always remember how excited I was when I got a notification telling me I had my first follower, you even beat my mum to first follower position, impressive.
Finally, thank you to everyone else that reads my blog, whether it’s just occasionally or frequently, I truly appreciate it so much and I hope that you’ll keep coming back for more Tea Party action!
I know that 100 followers is not a huge amount compared to some but it’s still a big milestone for every blogger and I’m very excited. I’m not going to make a big thing about it though, I’ll just take my 100 Followers trophy and go eat my 100 Followers cake in celebration.
Did you guys think I was joking? Any excuse for a Tea Party!
Dragon's Tea Party 