Monday, April 15, 2024

Now that I'm caught up...

So, now that I am finally caught up on all the shows (I think), might as well do a general update. All the things. Well, most of the things.

The Bad...Back in December, I slipped and fell right before Christmas on our slippery deck. Tried to catch myself on the concrete planter and wound up jamming my shoulder up completely and messing up my rotator cuff on the right side. Months later (April now) and it's still slowly getting better, though a lot of the pain now is in my neck. Having trouble being on the computer for long (D&D nights leave me a bit wrecked now the next day). Have been going to an osteopath, though I'm still waiting on my NHS physical therapy appointment (in May). It's massively slowed down my writing as I just can't take being on the laptop long. Which is probably one reason I've watched more dramas and anime lately...

I am also, truth to be told, very over this D&D project now. I very much wish I'd never started it or had taken the out when WotC gave me an excuse with their mishandling of the SRD/Open License stuff. It's nearing draft completion (just a couple chapters to go) but there's a lot after that, if I'm actually going to Kickstarter it. And I am mentally just ready to throw it all away. I won't, but I feel like it. We'll see how it goes. I wish I'd just picked a novel to work on instead. I dunno. Or just quit it all for now. I don't have to write anymore. And, honestly, it's really not worth it.

The Medium...I'm about two months in on restricted calorie diet + more exercise and I've lost a stone. Coventry has, let's be honest, been a very bad place for me. It was a move that made sense for us at the time but it's not been a good place for my mental health (any of us, honestly) and definitely not my actual health either. I was this close to being able to get off my blood pressure medication before we moved here. Then I gained a stone and a half at least. Allergies are bloody debilitating here too. Don't generally like the people. Or the place. If there's a nice restaurant or store--it closes. Just feel generally trapped. It's just that bit too far that taking the train into London for the day isn't easy and if there's anything else going on--which there always seems to be something--there's just no way to justify it. On those rare occasions when I do make it in, it feels like a literal weight has been lifted off of me. Ha, and I can breathe better, literally. 

I'm just lonely here. 

But I was supposed to be talking about the medium good stuff here -- I am really happy that I've finally lost some weight. I'm eating 1000 or less calories (usually around 800ish) a day and exercising about 6 days a week. Hubs is away visiting family this week, so I'm doing an hour in the gym (usually only get to do 40 minutes when he's here, as he swims). I am SO close to breaking into the next bracket (120s), which I haven't been in since basically we moved here. Body fat % has also gone down 7%. So I am feeling more like "me" than in a while, other than the shoulder/neck thing.

Also started HRT and that's helped too, I think.  At least on some things. It definitely isn't a cure all, but some things have improved and not getting migraines either and skin has calmed down. Honestly, that is a good thing -- it SUCKS when you're, like, 50 and getting pimples again. It's, like, FFS. Give me a break. So happy it helped with that. Menopause is a sucker punch.

Playtime...I'm playing (regularly) just a few things right now. I've mostly given up on Trading Legends, though I check in every now and then because I like the people I met in the guild. But it basically became impossible to win anything ever because of the crazy Russian whales. Instead my main game is Isekai: Slow Life, which I don't think I've written about? Maybe I have. It's very similar to TL, actually, but isekai/anime based. Have met some nice people there too, and even dragged some TL people over. Am running a guild, though also regretting that I bothered doing that. Glutton for punishment, I suppose. 

Other than that, I have weirdly picked up MeChat again for the last couple of weeks. It is, admittedly, just as poorly written as it was before. But I was feeling a Mystic Messenger shaped hole in my life and though I'd tried to run an otome-style game in ChatGPT's DeepGame, it just really wasn't very good at it. I did even try to do MM again but, honestly, I can't be waking up in the middle of the night or keep track of the chat timings during the day. MeChat is generally awful (writing, art, money-grabbing to unlock anything decent) but you can just sign in whenever and spend a couple of minutes. 

I won't talk about any of the particular LIs as even the ones where I'll be, like, hey, I'm actually enjoying this one a bit and then they do something stupid and it sucks as bad as the others. So I honestly don't know why I'm bothering. I have NOT spent any money on it. It's kinda funny, actually. They added an AI option and after chatting with it about what I wanted out of the game, it basically told me I should go somewhere else. Ha. It is right. I think I just don't have the spoons to pick up a new game right now. I suppose I could try the DeepGame thing again. Sometimes it does really well and sometimes...not. But at least it isn't raunchy like MeChat (which sometimes even happens in the ones that aren't labeled "spicy", which is super annoying).

Other than that, I am still midway through the Bakarina game second run through. The problem with that is I always forget about it because it's on the Switch. And I guess it makes me feel more guilty about work stuff if I pick it up? Since my phone is right there and I can spend a few minutes and then move on.

Anyway, I guess that's enough of an update. Going to try and actually get some work done today.

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