In this post I'm just going to chat about life stuff and random quarantine stories for your enjoyment.
So books have been a major lifesaver. I generally have been trying to get through 1-2 a week and it's been amazing! I got super into Christina Henry's "Alice" books, which was especially awesome because I never really saw myself as a fantasy horror reader until now. I have always been into jump-scare horror games like "Five nights at Freddy's" and more recently "Bendy and the ink machine" so I'm honestly shook by how long it took me to read this genre. I highly recommend Christina Henry's books, they are seriously imaginative, have a fair amount of gore and have the most surprising twists. I generally don't read series books (there are some exceptions) so it feels weird recommending a (soon to be 4) part series. Oh well, sometimes the best things are the craziest things.
On that bookish note, I have currently read 56 books so far as part of my "100 books in a year" challenge. It's actually insane. If you are curious to see what I've been reading, head on over to Goodreads, I log every single book I read (starting from last year) on there. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/90323109-bookish-hound
Games have also been a heck of a lot of fun! I stopped gaming around January last year to focus on revision for exams and I never got back into it until last week. I am back into "Cuphead" and found out that you can play co-op which is freaking awesome! I also re-booted a minecraft server I created and have been playing with some friends. Despite these new ways to play with other people, I am still very much a solo player. It is actually stupid how many hours I have poured into games like "Papers please", "911 operator" and "the sims 4" but as a fair few gamers will point out, solo games are better for that sense of achievement that seems to have gone missing since lock-down. "The sims 4" recently had a sale and I was able to get the university expansion pack, I am actually hooked, this pack is addictive. Even though I have played a grand total of 479 hours of sims over the past 4 years (I can't believe I've actually just said that) I spend the vast majority of my time on there creating sims, Only recently have I had the patience for home design. Suddenly the university pack comes along and gives you objectives for actual game-play. What does this mean? Whereas my free-time used to be taken up with books and playing my acoustic guitar, it is now entirely dominated by the family of highly-intellectual sims I have created. I know that "animal crossing new horizons" has somewhat blown up over the internet. Admittedly I don't get it. You see for those of us who don't have the privilege of owning a switch, we have to make do with "animal crossing new leaf" on some form of DS or just not play "Animal crossing". I know that "animal crossing pocket camp" exists on the app store but I really don't understand it. Basically I don't understand the big "animal crossing" craze, although the character design is so so so cute.
Aside from games, another great thing that has come about is fandom. I have been a member of various geeky/nerdy fandoms throughout the years and up until now, I've not had the chance to fully explore the full power of fandom. I have loved it so much. I finally have the time to watch theory videos and general discussions on Youtube, I have been able to label myself as a "nerdfighter" despite having watched "crash course" and "vlog brothers" for a fair number of years and I've been able to discuss fan theories on discord servers. I was a huge member of the "Gravity falls" and "Steven Universe" fandoms whilst episodes were still being released and consider myself a forever fan in the sense that both shows had a major impact on my life. However it's been great uncovering new shows and going back into fangirl mode 24/7. So what have I been watching? "Amphibia", "The owl house" and "Infinity train" as well as re-watching old favourites like "Adventure time", "Bea and puppycat", "we bare bears", "over the garden wall" and "Milo Murphy's law". If you couldn't already tell, I am really into fantasy horror cartoons as well as shows with major plot lines and quality character development. So what shows do I recommend? If you are looking for something with a deep plot line and a lot of things to analyse, I would try "Over the garden wall" or "Infinity train". If you are looking for more character development then I suggest "Amphibia" (pre-warning, Anne isn't very likeable at the beginning) or "Steven Universe". Currently the show I am digging into the most is "The Owl House", it has strong "Gravity falls vibes" and interesting lore.
Theatre online is better than I thought it would be. "Frankenstein" with Benedict Cumberbatch as the monster, has been by far the best digital performance I have ever seen. End of discussion.
Music has also been great. Once or twice a week, a friend and I pick a soundtrack to listen to, we text each other lyrics from the songs and/or discuss the plotline and really dig through the layers. Basically it's a once a week serious geek out session. So far we have listened to: "Hamilton", "A new brain", "Dear Evan Hansen", "Gallavant", "Steven Universe", "The rocky horror picture show", "Portal 2 the unauthorised musical", "Be more chill", "The little shop of horrors musical" and "Undertale the musical. I honestly love these sessions because it brings us closer together as friends as well as helps us both uncover new music. My favourite has been "The little shop of horrors musical" and I listen to it a lot, highly recommend. It's creepy and quirky and...just give it a listen.
Quarantine actually sucks and everyone is going to get through it in their own way. I was an absolute mess for the first 4 weeks, I found out the hard way that some days are going to be doable and others just aren't. Don't beat yourself up for being "unproductive". In fact I would like to ban that word from the English language, the game has changed completely so who the hell is to say what's productive and what isn't? It is such a difficult time right now but some good things are coming out of it. We are learning how be more patient and empathetic, mental health is finally being seen as a priority, we've been learning new ways to communicate, there's time to do things there wouldn't otherwise be time to do and we are all learning how to be more resilient.
So what am I trying to say? Everyone will get through it in their own way and we really shouldn't judge people for how they chose to cope in this crazy time period. There are things to do and there is time to stop, chill out and take time for ourselves. There are ways of supporting other people and there are ways of supporting ourselves. There isn't such thing as a "small achievement" anymore, every single achievement, including getting out of bed and eating is a major achievement and we should all feel proud of ourselves for simply being. We should feel proud for letting ourselves feel how we feel. We should feel proud for staying at home and staying safe. I am aware that sounded borderline preachy but it needed to be said.
That's all for now, I hope this blog and these kinds of posts feel like a warm hug and I'll see you in the next post.
Take it easy- Amello
