Entertainment/Hobbies
Towards the beginning of the year, I didn’t invest much in myself or in my hobbies. I was dealing with certain issues that were taking a toll on my mental health. I was so consumed that I neglected my self a bit.
However, I got a blessing in disguise as Covid. Not something that one would normally say in a sentence with that word but it’s kinda true. It sucked being sick, I hated it. I couldn’t do shit. I was so tired and weak. All I did was watch House and Cheaters and sleep.
I was bored… I hate being bored.
It was the kind of boredom that made me mad. I was too weak to stimulate myself mentally and I couldn’t eat anything good because I couldn’t taste anything. I could however think about all the things that I wanted to do or was interested in. I had forgotten for like 5 months that I owned a 3DS and could actually play that. My friend was just recently telling me about Majora’s Mask and I thought the concept and artwork sounded cool. I had other games that I played when I was younger with my first 3DS. Seven Wonders, Transformers: Decepticons, The original sonic games, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Princess and the Frog, and Tangled. All the games that I got with my new DS came with it and I was too poor after 19 to by any more games. I wanted to learn how to cross stitch. Another one of my friends from work brought their cross stitch projects to work and I always thought it was so cool to watch. I can sew a bit but I was never really a big fan of sewing but it’s a nice skill to have. My grandma always pushed for my sister and I to sew but we never took.
I had covid, I had vacation time, and I had money. So I bought 3/6 games that I wanted for my DS and bought a cross stitch. And thus my year of finding new hobbies commenced.
It’s nice to engage my mind with something new. I didn’t have much time in college to pursue anything new. I didn’t read anything new, I consume anything new outside of alcohol and drugs, and I didn’t watch as much new shows as I wanted to. My time was filled with school work, friends, drama, boys, etc. I wish I could’ve spent more time cultivating more hobbies to fill my time with. I wish I spent more time creating in meaningful ways. But I realize I am young and I have time. I am discovering that I enjoy doing these new things at the right time. I have my entire life to enjoy these hobbies. I’m not limited to having just one hobby. I’m not a slave to them but I do enjoy hearing their call. It fills me with joy. It allows me to relax. It allows me to connect with others. It allows me to do what I have always done, seek community. Be in new spaces and be more of me. I want to do so many things. I don’t have enough time in the day to do the hobbies that I want to do.
I hope next year I can indulge in more hobbies and more entertainment. More media that makes me feel things, envision things, and enlighten me.
Here’s some things I got into this year!!
Shows/Movies
| Show/Movie Title | Episodes/Seasons Watched | Ratings/Thoughts |
| What We Do in the Shadows | 38/40 | 5 stars. Absolutely stellar. Not ready for it to end |
| Space Dandy | 23/26 | 5 stars. I’d give it more if I could. The story telling is absolutely phenomenal and moving. Breath of fresh air and a killer soundtrack. Will be one I show to my kids |
| Big Brother | Season 2/ 26 | 5 stars. I love reality tv. These people are messy boots down |
| Steins Gate | 24/24 | 5 stars. Amazing. I was hooked. It’s been a while since I watched something that had me wanting more. I watched it in 2 days |
| Temptation Island (US) | 55/60 | 4 stars. If you love trashy reality tv, this is your guy. Cuck Island is what they should call this |
| Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | 20/176 | 3 stars. My boyfriend really loves this show wanted to show it to me. I don’t really like sci fi as much but I thought the plot was interesting |
| Doctor Who | 11th Doctor | 3 stars. Really moving performances by some actors on the show. I’ve seen a little bit of the show when I was younger( SuperWhoLock fans unite) but it wasn’t my cup of tea. Still isn’t really. Too predictable for me. |
| 1000 Pound Sisters | 57/57 | 5 stars. Trust and believe I do not play about these white women. I started watching as a joke but somewhere along the way I got super invested. Even my boyfriend loves it |
| High School DxD | 20/53 | 2 stars. Pretty bad. Would be 5 stars if I wasn’t looking at teenage boobs. Adult boobs are much cooler |
| Monster Monsume | 12/12 | 4 stars. It’s a good laugh and some decent monster girls. Ended up watching the uncensored version… don’t watch around your girl |
| Desperate Housewives | Season 4 | 5 stars. Incredible. They don’t make shows like this anymore. |
| LetterKenny | 15 episodes | 3 stars. I honestly didn’t like it too much. One of my good friends also liked this series and swore by it, my boyfriend as well. It just didn’t live up to what I thought. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time. |
| Fruit Baskets(OG) | 15/26 | 2.5 stars. It was okay. I can see why people like it. Incredibly slow build up. Maybe I didn’t allow myself to feel the tension build. |
| Talk to Me | watched entire movie | 4 stars. I thought it was great. Using the hand as a drug that someone is using to cope with grief. Lovely. Watched 2 times |
| A Discovery of Witches | 16/26 | 2 stars. I’m being nice. It sucked. The plot could’ve been nice if the love story wasn’t rushed and the main character was |
| Outlander | 6/91 | 2.5 stars. It was okay. Interesting story and you can feel the sexual tension and just overall tension of the characters but everything else is a little flat for me. Might return to it or just read the book like I did with A Discovery of Witches |
| Alien/Aliens/Alien 3 | Watched all completely | 3 stars. I thought they were nice movies. I can see why people love them. I personally love Aliens 3. I thought it was a great direction to go with the plot. I loved how “bad” the movie was. The CGI wasn’t that good and a couple scenes really made me laugh. I was more invested in this movie than I had been in all the other ones prior. Aliens 2 was not my favorite, I’d rank it pretty low |
| Alien: Romulus | Watched all | 2 stars. Saw it in theater with some friends. Didn’t like it. Didn’t do anything new. Was just a mashup of all the Aliens movies. Not quite a cash grab but didn’t have the same feel as all the other Alien movies. Not really interested in seeing where they go with this storyline tbh |
| Challengers | watched entirety | 3 stars. Saw it in theaters with my boyfriend. Incredibly stupid gay. It was fun to watch the tennis matches tho. Some decent camera work. |
Cross Stitch
I was nervous to start something like this. You would think that sewing an ‘x’ pattern would be easy but it’s actually quite hard. While it’s somewhat mindless work there are areas where you need to lock in. I think I was a bit ambitious for my first piece, it was much larger and detailed than I was expecting. I like the challenge though. It gives me something to do. It’s such a fun hobby. I wish I had gotten into it sooner. I have plans to eventually start sewing without a pattern but I would like to do a couple more pieces to try out some different stitches before I try that.
Books
| Book Title | # of pages | Genre | Ratings/Thoughts |
| Heart Mate | 175/300 | Romance | 2 stars. It’s a shirtless guy on the cover type of book so it was supposed to be sexy. I didn’t like the writing, made me feel like I was 16. |
| Storm Glass | 5/512 | Harlequin | I’m unsure of what to rate this one. I didn’t get to spend as much time with this one. |
| Of All the Stars and Teeth | 45/416 | Teen Fiction/Fantasy | 2.5 stars. I suggested this one for my book club. It was our first read. I’ll try not to be too mean. The writing was fine, I just didn’t want to be a 17year old girl again. This is the last teen fiction book I want to read for a while. I want to see some adult do some adult things and handle situations like one. |
| The Hogfather | 75% (audiobook) | Sci Fi/ Fantasy | 3 stars. It was okay considering it was 2 things I didn’t like, Christmas story and sci fi. I have nothing against sci fi, there are some things that I enjoy about the genre but for the most part I like my fantasy a certain way. The story telling was whimsical and comical which made it easy to read. The writing was great and the plot was interesting. Many funny moments. |
| A Fire Bright and Burning | 60/416 | Fantasy | 1 star. Sucked, I hated it. I hated the writing. Anything that has swear word substitute is a turn off for me. I hate seeing frick in anything I’m reading. |
| Caught in the Devils Hand | 280/280 | Romance/Fantasy | 4 stars. It was a much better romance book than Heart Mate. The writing was better and the sex scenes were a lot more enjoyable to read. The plot of the book wasn’t too bad in the beginning, but I felt like the later half of the book could’ve been written differently. The lore is interesting enough but the book does what it does with all main girl leads and makes her stupid special. Like god level special. Would be Nice to have more lead up to that, more foreshadowing or just build up in general |
| Jujutsu Kaisen | 30/30 volumes | Shonen | 3.5 stars. Man, I’ve been reading this book series since I was a sophomore in college, I have been graduated for almost 2 years now. To see it end is crazy, but I can’t say I’m super happy with it. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. A lot of things felt meaningless or rushed or maybe I didn’t have my thinking cap on tight enough. Wish it would’ve ended a different way and people got utilized in a better way than what they did |
| A Discovery of Witches | 592/592 | Fantasy | 3 stars. I’m actually being super generous. Man this book is boring as fuck. It should not have been almost 600 pages. It’s giving Cassandra Clare levels of uneccesary writing. The premise was cool but it was not executed well. She had a lot of cool elements that literally went no where. I hate the male love interest and the female lead is a twat. Shit just happens to her. I hate those types of stories( with the exception of Twilight). It’s a miracle I actually finished it. I had to power through it. |
| Shadow of Night | 100/592 | Fantasy | 2 stars. This is the second book in the Discovery of Witches series and if you can believe it, it actually got worse. It was so fucking boring, I couldn’t even pick it back up. I physically could not pick up the book. I gained a $12 late fee because it had been over a month since I checked it out. It was a miracle I could even get to 100 pages. Please don’t write shit like this again. Just slow slow slow. It’s worse than a slow burn. It’s like reading really bad fan fiction. |
| Video Game Title | Mode of Playing | Progress |
| Minecraft: BigChadGuys Plus modpack | PC | not a completion game |
| Majora’s Mask | 3DS | 2nd mask |
| Windwaker | Wii | Still in the first dungeon |
| Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga | Wii | Watched Anakin become Darth Vader (idk which movie that is) |
| Donkey Kong Country Returns | 3DS | Just beat the first island boss |
| Sonic Chronicles | 3DS | 90%. I am stuck on that one plane level towards the end |
| Among Us | Phone and PC | Not a completion game. Been playing with my friends from time to time |
The Abode 