Have To Cancel This... I Shut Down HARD About An Hour After Posting It, And I Have Not Recovered Enough

have to cancel this... i shut down HARD about an hour after posting it, and i have not recovered enough to stream. sorry for the double rug pull!

still no stream tomorrow since i won't have time, so we'll find some other time during the week to fit it in. maybe the evening of the 26th?

i won't have time to stream kirby tomorrow... so we're doing it tonight instead! plan is to finish the extra modes in one big sweep and clear out the rest of the game

as usual, the vod will go up tomorrow morning for anyone who can't make it 💙

new pre-stream archive! in which i talk about the holidays and reflecting on the rest of the year, as the music takes us on a journey through discussing various Mario games 💙

This weekend's stream forecast (2023-12-29)

streams aren't over just yet for 2023 – i've got not one, but TWO streams planned before the end of the year! drop in at https://twitch.tv/skysometric if you're interested in watching:

Tonight (7PM Central): let's close out Kirby and the Forgotten Land so that we have a clean slate for the new year! we'll be playing through the extra modes all in one sitting, tackling the game's toughest challenges. did you know that KatFL is the first time that these extra modes are canon to the series?

New Year's Eve Special (start time TBD): my family has a New Years tradition of playing Galaga until the ball drops – and this year, we'd like to share that tradition with you! @harmonyfriends and i will be on together until the clock rolls over at midnight Eastern (11PM Central). if you've got nowhere to go on New Year's Eve, come swing by and celebrate with us!

2023 Resolutions In Review

it's new year's resolution season, and for me, that means looking back as much as looking forward. yesterday i wrote about all that i accomplished this year, and today, i want to look at the resolutions i wrote for 2023. i got so much done that, surely, i knocked those out of the park… right?

so as the year draws to a close, i’m not making any resolutions about what i’ll accomplish online, because i know that i’ll be drawn to it no matter what happens. no, my resolution for 2023 is to improve my IRL, so that this year is not as miserable as the past two have been.

uh. Shit

okay, so… i definitely neglected my IRL this year, in favor of creativity. i'll freely admit that some of it was escapism, throwing myself into the act of creation so that i could get away from how i felt about my life. but other parts of it were to get something off my plate, so that i could handle my IRL with more grace and less stress. so it wasn't all bad!

but this quote especially hits like a truck:

then, once i’ve bolstered my IRL with stronger foundations, more joy, new inspirations, less stress… online stuff will naturally follow. i will always want to create. resolutions are for putting in the work.

the sad truth is that i did not get the stronger foundations that i wanted; most of my year was spent in survival mode until i could get home and create again. i want to create out of joy, not escapism! to be clear, there's nothing wrong with the latter – but only i have the tools to get out of survival mode, and i did not accomplish that this year.

i did, however, put a dent in the mountain of stress. here's some things i tackled IRL:

my partner and i put a LOT of effort into improving her mental and physical health this year, getting her to new appointments and treatment and professional help that she did not have last year. i consider this our biggest IRL accomplishment of 2023!

with good budgeting, my partner and i were able to upgrade our computers, phones, and consoles. every single device i just listed was 5-10 years old and falling apart at the seams, so these were very necessary upgrades! all of them have contributed to us getting more creative work done this year, like my upgraded computer allowing me to stream more often – as well as getting more rest.

we also got out of the house more, picking random nights to go shopping, go to the park, or just get food. it's nice to be able to do that again, after the pandemic locked us in the house for so long… but we're just natural couch potatoes anyway lol

i have a psychiatrist and a therapist now! i don't get to see them often due to my health insurance, but it's a good start and something i may be able to invest more into in 2024.

speaking of which, i got to try ADHD meds this year. they didn't work out… but i did try, and it was worth the effort of trying. i would like to try again next year, though i am not making it a resolution.

i wouldn't call this an accomplishment… but we lost two cats this year, and while we'll miss them dearly, it does mean a lot less cleaning and chores to take care of our remaining two cats. having four cats was a commitment we did not choose in the first place, and it was a sore spot for many reasons – but we did our best to care for them anyway.

it's a lot for one year! and i did accomplish my goal of being less miserable than last year… it's just not everything i hoped for, resolved for. i've allegorically polished up my house, but the house itself is still built on shaky ground.

i would say something like, "oh well, there's always next year!" and in truth, there are a lot of opportunities on the horizon that could very well bring the stronger foundations i'm looking for. but i am not going to make the same resolution again… because, quite frankly, i don't know what it takes to get out of survival mode! and i can't possibly predict how a year will go, or what the whims of my ADHD will decide to focus on. i'd rather play it by ear, and just… try to be cognizant of how much i'm leaning on escapism.

so here ends this resolution… but 2024 brings new possibilities, and maybe they'll lead me to where i was already headed.

i really did not expect that i would be competing for dumbest thing i've made this year, but we're at 3 in a row and no signs of stopping

What Your Favorite Cheese Says About You

with apologies to the classic xkcd comic, What Your Favorite Map Projection Says About You

mild cheddar: you're not really into cheese.

american: all cheeses are good, how could you pick just one? you settled on american because it reminds you of the comfy grilled cheese sandwiches of your childhood. you still sleep with stuffed animals. cringe is dead, live free.

shredded mozzarella: you know just enough about cheese to know that you like white cheeses better than yellow cheeses. you've always wanted to try more, but you've never really had the opportunity. maybe because all the other cheeses are so expensive. maybe because your parents don't get the other cheeses. (because they're all so expensive.)

swiss: swiss cheese from the store is just okay, but you're still chasing the high of that one time you had authentic swiss gruyere. you frequently remind all your high school buddies of that one time you scored the winning kick. these are surely unrelated.

sharp cheddar: you like pairing things, which is why you get deep into shipping and fanfictions (not a hard read, considering you're reading this on tumblr dot com). you make charcuterie boards for every holiday and birthday that you possibly can.

pepper jack: variety is the spice of life, which is why you always get pepper jack for that extra kick. you add more seasoning to all of your takeout because it tastes better that way. one time you stole a candy bar just to feel something.

gouda: you are SO sick of all the puns.

muenster: fuck that guy who likes american, you know how to make a REAL grilled cheese. you tell other drivers on the road how they should be driving. you got into king gizz before they were cool.

provolone: you have a mountain of sandwich ingredients at home that you use to make mile-high sandwiches for lunch. you are rarely hungry for dinner, but you are very excited about tomorrow's sandwich.

fresh mozzarella: your favorite pizza is margherita style, and you only get pizza from places that are authentic enough to serve it. you got very mad at the other mozzarella listing because clearly the author hasn't tried REAL mozzarella. don't worry, you can quit clutching your mozzarella pearls now.

brie: you treat cheese like others treat chocolate – savoring the richness of every bite as it melts in your mouth. you have a collection of antique china that you don't ever use because that would make it lose its value.

parmesan: you hate that everyone thinks of those canisters of grated cheese when they think of parmesan. you wish you could show everyone what real parmesan tastes like, but you can barely afford it yourself. you should go start that restaraunt of yours already.

velveeta: is something wrong with you?