The Cracked Mug v 2.0

[erikakaiser]

one more day of work then I can play Hello Kitty Island Adventure til my brain leaks out my ears

[erikakaiser]

one more day of work then I can play Hello Kitty Island Adventure til my brain leaks out my ears

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[erikakaiser]

Had a really nice restful day yesterday!

I woke up really early, more early than desired, and lazed about playing some video games (do not ask me about my gameplay hours in HKIA that's between me, god, and probably your ability to look it up on Steam because I don't think it's hidden). I went to lay back down before Sunday morning anime, but then my Sims need bar for hunger started yelling at me, so I made a tasty food pile of eggs and potatoes. Greggo got up a bit late so we only watched two episodes and thennnnnnn I actually don't remember what order I did things in but basically the rest of my day was tidying a little, napping, and walking on my treadmill to stretch my legs and enjoy being next to the window with the rainy weather. Ended off the day watching a few more episodes (we're watching Gundam Zeta, since Masque is on a vacation with poorly internet and could not join us for G Gundam) and doing a villager hunt in Animal Crossing!

(said hunt was technically unsuccessful, as I was looking for a bunny villager and never got one, but I let it autofill and got Ketchup who I think is extremely cute so I'm not mad)

Today I need to get some stuff done but I think it's as good a time as any for some end-of-year review/goals/etc----actually before I type up all that lemme make a food, the Sims need bar is starting to yell again, probably because it's 9:30 AM and all I've had since waking up around 7:00 is a few sips of Celsius

[erikakaiser]

I will say yesterday it really hit me that I can relax and be safe at home again, and it was nice

[erikakaiser]

okay!

2026 approaches!

Some overalls:

Obviously the big thing dictating this year, especially from July onward, was my relationship with Sophie imploding, but I am content to consider that an expensive mistake, which we as humans sometimes make, and am looking forward to fully moving on. I can't do that until her belongings are out of my space and the lease is fully turned over to me, so I have some miserable logistics ahead, but I've survived many miserable logistics in my life and am quite capable of handling them.

This means next year involves a move, I think likely to a nearby suburb because living in the city is cool and neat but I want more space for the money I pay and the ability to park without either having an aneurysm or continuing to pay 150/mo for a parking garage. Possibly getting a dog, as well? It's definitely time, I've been wanting another dog for a while but have kept setting that to the side in order to cater to the needs of a person who was awful to me.

Anyways, with that out of the way--

This year I read 29 books, which I feel great about! I will continue to say that once I started the habit back, and especially once I stopped weirdly mourning my past and much different self who could read like 50+ books a year with no sweat, integrating reading back into my life has unsurprisingly been a net positive!

Any books is better than zero books, and 29 books isn't bad at all!

(I continue to use Goodreads to track my reading, and continue to never give anything a star rating! man I love not owing the wide open internet my opinions)

I don't know how much art I did but also more than zero and with marked improvement! My most recent pieces are these, one was a gift for a friend and the other is my character Merillian having a bad time:

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I may try to post more of my art online (on bsky) next year, not so much for specific views/likes/whatever but just to get more okay with "I made this and am confident showing it to other people." So far I have posted I think none of my art online, or to be honest I've posted it and then deleted the post shortly after, so I want to be more sure of myself and say hey, I made this! Look at it, or don't, but I made it. If I end up posting art and it makes me feel bad, or I get weird interactions or something, then I'll reassess!

I applied some organization and thoughtfulness to how I play video games, because it's a hobby I enjoy but I want to explore more and different games, and I want to finish them (the ones I want to finish, specifically; I am long past the days of finishing media I dislike due to sunk cost fallacy or just being a stubborn ass). I have been using https://backloggd.com/ and, much like with Goodreads, am refusing to give things ratings. It's worked well for me! I've tried a spreadsheet tracker in the past but have accepted I just am not someone who is going to regularly update a spreadsheet, so I need something that is very click-and-done.

Next year if I continue to use backloggd I should have a pretty good track of all the games I've played! This year I've finished 8 games, since I didn't start tracking til late, and to be honest having a list helped me push to complete some I otherwise might've left half-played for no reason:

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(I consider an idler "finished" when I have either completed the main goal or get bored of it)

I started writing again! I mentioned the power hour thing in a past post so I won't rehash it, but man, finally telling myself to shut up and do the thing was long overdue and I feel good about it. Lemme see how many words approximate I've done in my novel project--- Scrivener says 2,734! Again, more than zero, but I do want to see that number way higher next year! I won't set it as an outright pass or fail goal, but I would love to finish the draft completely in 2026. I want to be a published writer, and I can't do that unless I buckle up and do it.

In any case, the world is big and scary but I am small and scarier so let's fukken gooooooooo

[erikakaiser]

It occurs to me something I will reassess re: refusing to give things ratings/reviews is if it's an indie game or indie space, I should be taking the time to like and review those games

(if I like them, if I don't I will politely shut my mouth about it)

[erikakaiser]

one more day of work then I can play Hello Kitty Island Adventure til my brain leaks out my ears

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[erikakaiser]

I miss my dog

[erikakaiser]

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[erikakaiser]

hep new year