games

Happy Thursday

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers, and welcome to Thursday! It even mostly feels like a Thursday to me this week, which has not been the case very often lately.

I am having a shockingly good week, despite feeling a bit under the weather and very tired (mornings have been a consistent struggle). Our quarter at work is wrapping up, and I’m living in the space of knowing that I only need to make it through two more days of work before I take a whole week off, so that’s lovely. I got some really phenomenal financial news yesterday that’s going to have me flying high for a while. All-in-all, life is good.

I spent some time earlier this week working on worldbuilding for the D&D campaign I am DMing for some friends (we’ve been on a hiatus for a bit as a bunch of us were moving and starting new jobs and stuff, but will hopefully be back to playing soon). I wrote more of the story for our next session, and created a map of the world we’re playing in using dice. I’m really pleased with how things are coming together and I’m excited to get back into the game. I’ve been watching a lot of “actual play” RPG content in the last couple of weeks, too – some stuff from Critical Role and Dimension 20 (basically this means I’m watching a bunch of people play D&D or other RPGs, which might sound horribly dull but I get really into the stories and I love learning how other people handle the stuff that comes up in RPGs). And I’m trying (so far without success) to find some local folks to game with…although with COVID numbers trending in the direction they are, I probably won’t feel comfortable playing in person for a while yet.

I think that’s it from me this week. Please, please, if you haven’t been vaccinated yet and are able to do so, do it. Wear a mask indoors/in crowds. It’s not fun but that’s where we’re at. I hope you’re all hanging in there.

Zoning Out

/ Alyxander James / 1 Comment

Hello, dear readers! We’ve survived another week. I hope you’re all hanging in there despite the shorter days and higher COVID numbers. I’m finding that all I want to do these days is hibernate.

Because I haven’t been on Facebook for the past few weeks, I was feeling like I needed a new mindless activity. I also just got my end of quarter bonus from work. So…last week I bought myself my first ever gaming console, a Nintendo Switch Lite. (My brother has always played video games, but was never great at sharing, so mostly I watched him play growing up and had very little of my own experience. I did get into the Sims for a bit about ten years ago, but it’s been a while since I’ve played a video game.)

I spent most of the long weekend getting acquainted with my new toy, and it is definitely really great for zoning out. I sourced some recommendations from friends and so far have really enjoyed Night in the Woods (which I played all the way through in two days) and Stardew Valley. I’m having a lot of fun with it, even if it means I’ve been a bit less productive than I intended to be this week.

I don’t have a lot more to talk about this week. Looking forward to a songwriting workshop this evening and a D&D game or two to wrap up the week.

Take care of yourselves, friends.

Sleepy Week

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers! It appears we have made it to another Thursday. Since we had Labor Day on Monday here in the US (which meant a long weekend for me), I’m a little bit extra discombobulated about time right now.

I’ve been extra tired this week. A lot of this, I think, has been the weather, which has been pretty consistently overcast. I also haven’t been sleeping great – staying up later than I should and having weird and unsettling dreams when I do go to bed – which is not helping anything. It hasn’t been a bad week, though. The long weekend was nice. I had two D&D games, a couple of other regularly scheduled virtual hangouts with friends, and my first songwriting class of the new session at the Old Town School (via Zoom, of course). And Monday we used the extra day to put together a LEGO set, which was a lot of fun.

I wrote a song for class this week that I’m pretty happy with (I might post it here next week – I want to let my classmates hear it first), I got to play another session of my friend’s tarot-based game last night, and work has been pretty chill, so all in all it’s not been a bad week. I’m just very sleepy.

On that note, I think I’ll sign off for the week so I can focus on drinking my coffee and trying to wake up a bit more. Stay safe – keep wearing your masks and social distancing and washing your hands. I know it sucks, but the pandemic isn’t over. Keep hanging in there!