I am so far past ready for this entire train wreck of a year to be in the rearview mirror, but we’ve got two more months, and I’m going to at least try to make the best of them. I’ve mostly settled back into more comfortable routines, and although there’s a few parts of my life where I’m still riding on the struggle bus, most days are more or less fine now.
I love a schedule, but once I need to discard the plan and fly by the seat of my pants, re-integrating myself into the world of checking off to do lists and making good use of my time always feels hard. It’s worth it, because once everything is running smoothly, I’m at my best, but I feel like I’ve been huffing & puffing my way through a strenuous uphill climb the last month or so.
GAMING
#JustOnePercent
Planned games for the #JustOnePercent Project for October are Hammerting, Next Space Rebels, Factory Town, Exodus Borealis, Toy Tinker Simulator, Tunnel of Doom, PCI: Public Crime Investigation, Huntress: The Cursed Village, Fantasy Gardens, Archvale, Wytchwood, and He Will Shoot.
This is one of those times I’m super glad I built myself some wiggle room into this project. Having dropped almost half of October’s games, I still have not crossed the 100-game finish line, but even if I have some issues again this month, I only need to do three of these dozen games for the project to be complete – everything else is extra credit. Because of this, despite having chosen a dozen games, I’m going to set my goal a little lower this month – to cover at least 8 of the titles I pre-selected.
I’ve been finding moving screenshots from the Steam Deck to the PC to be more steps than I want to do on a regular basis, so the only game I set aside for Deck play this month is Tunnel of Doom.
World of Warcraft
Despite some frustrations that came with the pre-patch, I’m fairly certain I’m in for at least the Dragonflight leveling experience. As much as I’d like to set my goal to have a level 70 character before the end of November, that might be a pretty big ask with only two days to accomplish, and the potential for all the connectivity issues that tend to come with a new expansion.
Instead, I think I would like to focus on a small scale World of Warcraft related blog project where I choose a small handful of achievements, some from current content, some from expansions past, to focus my attention on each month. I was surprised how much I was able to get done in October once I set my mind to things, and if I’m honest with myself, chasing achievements and collectibles is one of my favorite parts of the game.
Given that it’s pre-patch, and there’s still quite a bit I’m trying to get used to, I’m going to make this this first batch a little challenge-light.
The Winds of Wisdom buff has been extended through the drop of the second half of the pre-patch on November 15th, so continuing to level alts doesn’t seem like the worst way to spend the next couple of weeks.
Other Gaming
This should be the last time for awhile that I’m going to have to de-prioritize general gaming in order to allow myself enough time to do all the other things on my list (although I expect at least the early weeks of December are going to be all about World of Warcraft). I do intend to participate in Unwise Owl’s group Humble choice review (assuming he decides to continue the project), and I have no plans to end my weekly co-op game night.
Past that, I think I’d like to dedicate some of my Other Gaming energy this month to figuring out if there are any other blog-projects I’d like to start up with #JustOnePercent coming to an end this month. Otherwise, provided I have time and energy, I’ll play whatever suits my fancy.
OTHER NERDSTUFF
Reading
I am still behind on my reading goals, although I not so far behind that I feel like I can’t get caught up. After a couple of book-light months, my interest in reading has been re-kindled (pun absolutely not intended). I’d like to shoot for six books again this month. If I manage to stick to my goal of reading to wind down at night instead of playing mindless phone games, this is probably very doable.
Stitchcraft
This is another hobby I managed to wrestle back on track during October, and I will be happy enough just to continue apace. I have four in-progress projects (including one that I set up specifically to be a portable project), and I’d like to complete at least one, with a stretch goal of two before the end of the month, which will put me on track to have my plate cleared before starting up my massive project after the first of the year.
Watching
I’ve mostly decided that I want to pick up Netflix again for a month or two, but I’ve been putting it off to make sure I had the time & energy to devote to watching everything I want to over the course of no more than 2 months before cancelling again. I had toyed with the idea of re-subbing during October since a lot of what I am interested in is horror or at least horror-adjacent.
However, the other thing I have come to realize is – there is no rule saying that horror is only for October. I can carry on my horror fling through all the winter months if I so choose (and I’m definitely leaning towards making that choice). So once I finish out whatever I feel like I can’t miss on AMC+ (which I am planning to cancel mid-month since my annual plan is ending, and I don’t feel like I get enough value out of it at full price), I’ll toss Netflix a little bit of money and start working my way through their original content I’m most interested in.
Most notably, I’d like to at least check out Channel Zero on AMC+ before I cancel. I don’t feel like I must watch all the seasons, but I’d at least like to know if it’s something I’ll actually enjoy, just in case they throw an offer of another year of bargain basement subscription prices at me.
Krikket’s Clubhouse
I really enjoyed having Monday night movies throughout October, and I am fairly sure I’m going to continue on that schedule through November. We even had some impromptu watch parties. But those were the only events that saw much success this past month, so I’d like to try scheduling some party game nights again. I’ll keep my expectations low, however, as with the upcoming holidays, I expect most people will have less time to hang out with their friends online while they are preparing themselves to hang out with their families in person.
IN SUMMARY
- At least 8 posts for the #JustOnePercent project.
- At least 4 posts unrelated to the #JustOnePercent project.
- Finish leveling at least 2 more characters in World of Warcraft.
- Complete the Mountacular achievement in World of Warcraft.
- Complete the Re-Re-Re-Renowned achievement in World of Warcraft.
- Participate in the group review of the November Humble Choice.
- Read any six books.
- Complete any one stitching project.
- Watch at least a few episodes of Channel Zero on AMC+.
- Cancel AMC+ before it goes back to full price.
- Schedule four Monday Night Movie watch parties.
- Schedule at least two game nights.
Nerd Girl Thoughts 