Hey! Sorry about saying I'd be way more consistent about the blog and then immediately falling out of the habit of updating it again...
How I've Been
It's kind of twisted how mental illness like this works, right when I feel like I'm about to turn my life around it all comes caving back in again. I'm doing better now, and hopefully for a while. I'm not at the high highs that I was last time, which means that hopefully another fall is further off and less dramatic.
The job search has been going about as well as it has been for a long time. I haven't really made any progress in finding employment, despite my best efforts. To be honest, it has had a dramatic impact on my mental health and sense of self-worth. It SUCKS to feel unhireable, especially because all of my future plans, including but not limited to just surviving in a self-sufficient manner, requires money. I think I need to be less picky and finally open myself up to the last line of work near me that I haven't attempted reaching out to yet: fast food. I've worked in food before, and it was one of the worst-feeling periods of my life mentally. However, I can't not have a job, since so much of the self-improvement I need to make in order to actually make my life something I can feel proud of require money. Maybe I'm being a little pessimistic about the whole thing, but that's just how it feels right now. I'm sure it'll get better, eventually.
The dental work I've been needing done is finally finished for the time being, it seems. I'm extremely happy about that. Next on the docket in terms of general health stuff, is probably hormone therapy and antidepressants. Hormone therapy, at least where I am, seems to be a pretty easy thing to start at least where I am, however mental healthcare is a completely different thing. I have no idea how to navigate that system, so I think I'm gonna work on the easiest option first. I'm sure it'll have a positive effect on myself mentally, anyways.
What I've Been Up To
A whole lot of nothin' is what I've been up to!
Well, that's a bit of a reductive way of putting it. But I have not really been up to much besides consuming media in my ample free time. I've been continuing the Wheel of Time series with my partner at our same slow-and-steady pace, and they've recently introduced me to the Lord of Mysteries series. I just finished the first volume from that the other day, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It starts a bit slow, but I appreciate the world building.
I've been continuing my viewing of Attack on Titan, and am currently in the middle of writing another post about my thoughts on the first two seasons. I've been really liking it, and I'm extremely interested in seeing where it goes from here.
On the games front, I finished every ending of Armored Core 6, and enjoyed my time with it quite a bit. This is the first extended experience I've had with the franchise, and I found it consistently engaging on the first and second playthroughs. The third went a bit quick and was mostly a retread of the same stuff, but I'm glad I did it. The final set of encounters were exhilarating, and test you on your knowledge and proficiency of the game's systems - a true final boss. I'd recommend the game, if you're into high-octane action and extremely cool vibes.
It's kinda funny, when I went to the bookstore to get the first Lord of Mysteries book, it was the day after I had finished Armored Core 6, and I actually ended up finding a model of my favorite character's AC, the Steel Haze. It was a fun project, I haven't built one of these in a while. It would be nice to get back into the habit of getting one of these every now and then, but little charges like that do add up.
Another game I just finished up, with both of my partners, was Splatoon Raiders! I've been a big fan of the Splatoon franchise from the very beginning, and their first big spinoff was a huge success. I wasn't expecting a looter-shooter to be what's next out of the franchise, but I had a very fun time with it. The final stretch of postgame content was, frankly, a little annoying towards the end. However, the satisfaction of completing a game as moment-to-moment fun and engaging was worth the little bit of grind and repetition the endgame posed.
I've also been really excited for World of Warcraft: Forever ever since its announcement, and have been chipping away at a Warcraft 3 campaign playthrough to get myself in the headspace for some good ol' classic WoW. I convinced a couple people to join me in the early days of WoW Forever, so I think some large party farming is in my future. I think it'll be fun, a modernized approach to a classic WoW style game is THE thing I've wanted out of the MMO space for years. It sucks a little bit that it is mostly just Classic WoW again, but I will still be able to have a lot of fun with it.
On my Gamecube, I've been enjoying Tales of Symphonia. The Tales series is something that I've considered a type of blind-spot for quite some time. I knew that they were character-driven action RPGs, I just didn't exactly know how the combat worked. I didn't know that it was, in fact, a 2.5d beat-em-up! The combat, setting, and characters have been fun if not super deep, but that's the kind of game I knew I was getting into from the start. I'd say my introduction to the tales series has been positive, and I'm excited to see where the game takes me from these humble beginnings.
What's Next?
Another few blog posts in the near future, hopefully! I plan to start working towards getting my driver's license and getting my hands on a car in the future, as long as I can get some money set aside for driving school. Most of my plans hinge on finding a job to get a bit more money to support myself with, which sucks. I need money to make my plans happen, but my plans are to get more money. Sucks how that works.
On the media docket, I'll just continue what I have on deck already for the time being. I do plan to replay Danganronpa 1 before the year's end, in preparation for Danganronpa 2x2. I'll probably start that at some point in November, depending on how much of my life WoW Forever wants to eat up.