Happy Monday, my friends! I had a nice, restorative weekend in spite of the whole 6-day workweek freelancer with a million projects situation. And I needed it. Oh, how I needed it.
This week will be a bit slower for me thanks to the holiday here in the States, and I am looking forward to a bit less rushing around a little more time with my books and my video games. It’s my in-laws turn for Thanksgiving, which means we’ll be staying in the city and as much as I love spending the holidays with my family, I do also relish the ones where we don’t have to travel.
What I’ve Been Up To
Work/Writing
The deadline for the super secret project is -checks notes- 8 days away, so I’ve been working on that. I actually went to a cafe to work this Saturday, since I had a freelance article due and the project to work on.
When I first left my full-time Student Affairs gig to freelance, I pictured myself working in the cafe all the time. The reality, especially given that I’m still a part-time Student Affairs human, is that I have at least one or two meetings each day, and I’m not the “take a meeting in a cafe” kinda gal. So, I rarely actually go work in the lovely cozy coffee shop nearby. But on Saturday, I did. And it was lovely.
General Life Updates
Pretty standard stuff last week, all things considered. I have been trying to make some changes to my diet and be more active again, since apparently I am at an age where the doctor informs me I need to make “lifestyle changes” because of my cholesterol. Rude, but fair.
In all honesty, I eat a pretty healthy, pretty varied diet, so I’m not sure how much of an impact I can have in that arena. But, I’ve definitely slowed down my activity levels since the move in February (is the move even a valid reason anymore?). So, I’ve dusted off the treadmill and spend some of my audiobook/podcast time in motion.
Current Obsessions
Gaming
I picked up this cozy game called Spirittea for work, and I am kind of obsessed with it. It’s been advertised as Spirited Away meets Stardew Valley and that’s pretty accurate in terms of vibes, except I’m not terrified and emotionally scarred by the game like I was from Spirited Away.
In BG3 land, I have finally reached Baldur’s Gate after managing to get through a tough boss battle that had me stalled for a week or so. (Yes, I get paid to write game guides. No, that doesn’t mean I can’t get stuck when playing them). The city is overwhelming with all the people, but I’m plugging away.
Books
After being very much stuck in a slump, I finished two whole books yesterday. Please applaud.
Now I get to pick what I read next, and I am feeling weirdly pressured about it since I want it to be something that keeps me on the upward move out of slump territory.
Movies
As the title of this week’s newsletter suggests, I finally got my butt out to the theater to watch The Marvels. Given the delays with the Captain Marvel sequel and the general fanboy hate for Brie Larson’s performance, I had a bad feeling about this movie.
After watching it, even though I did enjoy it, I think my instincts were right. It felt like the studio sort of phoned it in, opting for a random new villain instead of following up on the “We’ll be back for the woman” situation from the first film.
I got the impression that there was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy happening here. “Audiences don’t want an all-female superhero team, so let’s not try too hard with this one.” Which… audiences do want that, but they’d like you to do it with the same respect you give to the Dude Team for Bros films you churn out like butter.
The Marvels was fun. There were some good comedic moments. But it didn’t feel like there was real heart and soul in it, like they expected and maybe even hoped it would fail, so they could stop dealing with how much dudes hate Brie Larson for reasons I cannot comprehend.
As a woman who thought Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel were about to usher in a great new era, I was disappointed in this one. I wanted more.
Also, I haven’t watched a movie in 3D in years but I didn’t want to wait an extra half hour for the standard showtime. In my opinion 3D doesn’t add anything except an annoying second pair of glasses. Does anyone prefer 3D? I doubt it, somehow.
Words on the Web
For some reason, I thought it was a good idea to offer to help with coverage of the new Call of Duty video game. This in spite of the fact that I am a) terrible at first person shooters and b) I hate them.
I got a few guides in, but mostly, I wound up writing a couple of features about why the game and I did not get on.
The first was simply me being terrible at the Zombies multiplayer mode.
The second was about my unexpected reaction to putting on my husband’s headset, which gave me a flashback to being the girl in the Halo chat many many years ago.
Features are my favorite thing to write, because they’re basically personal essays, am I’m a personal essayist at heart. So, it was a good week, even if I did have to try and aim at things with an Xbox controller (yuck and yuck).