So, it’s been a whole month into 2022, and I haven’t written a word.  Work has been busy and the home life has been busy as well.  My wife is still recovering but getting better with each day.  It’s a marvel really what pneumonia has done to her, even more so than the actual COVID itself.  But we are surviving and moving forward which is fantastic.

Anyway, on to some site news.  So the bill came due for my website hosting this past month.  I pay for every 3 years and then of course I pay a domain renewal every year.  The good news since you are reading this, I paid my bill.  I will admit however, there was some pause this year due to everything going on and the extra money would have helped even if I do set it aside in the ole budget.  I can’t guarantee that come 2025 I will keep going unless some things really change.  I love having my own website, but let’s face facts…the pandemic (I take full blame but the timing is uncanny) has taken a big ole crap on my creative strain and I spend most of my time taking care of my family, not searching for new content.

What am I doing with my time, well watching wise I am watching a few tv shows including Peacemaker (fantastic so far) and finishing up season 5 of Endeavour (I know I’m two seasons behind) along with whatever movie the missus and me decide to throw on. Oh and the usual dose of pretty much anything that’s on Discovery+ except for those really bad reality shows (I’m sorry, I can’t get behind 600+ lb life or east la hollywood wives or whatever that garbage is).  But if its Cooking Related (Alex vs America is great or anything with Guy Fieri), True Crime or the Paranormal, I’m all about it.  Though to be fair, my wife just makes fun of me when I watch the Ghost shows so those tend to be at a minimum.

Books, I am currently reading Legends of the Dragonrealm Vol. 1 by Richard Knaak and have finished the first two books in that anthology.  I should be done with that tomb by mid February.  I’ve enjoyed it a lot but honestly I think I like the Turning War trilogy a little better than these three books here.  In gaming, I am currently playing Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean (almost done with the second film) and Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart (point and click from Artifex Mundi).  There was an announcement about a week ago that Nightmares from the Deep was delisted, and while I wasn’t worried about my copy suddenly disappearing, I was concerned about me forgetting about it.  So rather than let it get swallowed up by the backlog monster, I decided to just go ahead and start it.  It’s okay, but there is nothing unexpected as of yet.  It actually seems to be one of the easier Artifex titles.  But I’ll shut up in case it starts getting a lot harder.

I also am still playing Hades even though I royally suck at the game.  Something like 70 escapes and I’ve only beaten Hades twice.  But I’m making my way through the story and actually have over half of the achievements.  I also am trying to finish Murdered: Soul Suspect though I think I missed a collectible so I got to go back and figure out what that is before I finish it out because I’m right before the last major part (aka the point of no return).  So it’s now or never and I really don’t want to play the game again.  In January, I did a bit of backtracking as well and finished up the remaining achievements for Scott Pilgrim (both 360 and Xbox One versions) as well as the first Sam and Max game.  I also played a game on my X1 called Omno which required some good hands in order to make it through the various sections.  But I finished it and didn’t miss anything.  Though I start to wonder at my age is if these type of games will start to allude me.  I already play a lot of games that require more thinking than any sort of quick reflexes.  Though I do play a ton of beat em ups still but let’s face facts, those games were never really are that hard for me.  I dunno, I just see how frustrated I got with Omno (though I never quit), and wonder.

I do need to do a little more with this site and figure out a theme going forward.  Whether it’s reviewing a game every couple of weeks or perhaps review 2 films a month and a game while I am providing news about what is going on.  So let’s do this.  Starting this month, I will review at least one game and 2 movies (blu-rays) a month starting this month here in February.  Then usually what happens is other things spawn from that.  The problem is I don’t really want to review Lego: POTC or Nightmares from the Deep, lol.  I’ll figure it out, and there should be more content soon.  Enjoy.

It’s been a rough month and a half on the ole household.  Arguably the worst Thanksgiving I’ve ever had (even surpassing the one where I ate Chinese with my mom and dad in a very cramped one bedroom apartment in the middle of Houston).  Not so much for the Thanksgiving itself, but for what went on directly after Thanksgiving which was 100% attributable to the occasion.

My wife, mother in-law, and father-in-law all caught some form of COVID.  I was spared because I got jabbed (due to my work requirements).  My son did catch it as well but he shook it off like nobody’s business (that kid is a freaking tank).  My wife easily had the worst of it, spending ten days at the local hospital.  She was home for Christmas, but she is still having major issues, just less of them as she continues to improve.

While my wife was fighting for her health, I was busy trying to juggle a full time job and take care of my son who is not nearly old enough to take care of himself.  Oh, and clean/wash a few things so the house wasn’t a total pigsty.  I sorta succeeded on the last one.  At least I bathed the kid on a regular basis, lol.  I can laugh about it now to some degree but it was extremely stressful.  Mostly I am worried about my wonderful wife who used to run circles around my old and middle-aged self.  That’s not the case anymore, and I feel horrible about it.  Of course, I help her (and my son with what he needs) as much as possible.

Now, I have to worry about the incoming bills despite being insured (don’t worry, the site’s not going anywhere, I need this outlet) and keep my job at the same time so I can take care of my family financially.  It drives me bonkers on most nights and rather than play a game or watch an interesting movie, I tend to stare at the tv, watch Discovery+, Peacock or maybe some wrestling but nothing that requires brain power as it were.  I don’t even find any interest in my book.  Of course, it could have to do with the fact that the book I read during this crisis was the biggest piece of woke garbage I had read in quite sometime, but I digress.

I still struggle with the fact that outside of a few scattered reviews, I don’t really write creatively anymore.  I can’t really call this “creative”, since all I’m doing is passing along the events as they happened.  It’s writing, but nothing more than an exercise to make me feel better and gets words onto a page.  It really is a form of therapy for me even if no one ever quite responds.

That’s really it for right now.  I do have another article to write for this site involving the game Time Pilot which deals more with backwards compatibility and really isn’t part of “THIS”.  I’m not going to end this article with any sort of sappy thing like “Go Get a Shot”, because up until several months ago I was against it and still believe in free will of the individual.  I have zero ill feelings towards my wife and only wish for her to get better.  I need my wife for her warmth, love, and also selfishly for my sanity (which is a fragile thing).  We’ll try to keep it upbeat for the New Year and know that 2022 will be a much better year.  Enjoy.