First things first: Happy new year! I’m so excited to be starting a new year fresh, and to still be blogging after over five years. I’m so grateful to have this outlet to express all my geekiness. I noticed recently that my blog has just hit the 2,000 follower mark, which I never thought would happen. I’m lucky to have people who care to read my blog posts, so thank you! I hope everybody had a lovely New Year’s this week.
If you missed it, I just published my favorite post of the year to write: What I Loved in Video Games in 2017. The post is my way of honoring the games that I played and what they did well. This year it was also an excuse to rant about the Injustice 2 character I most hated to go up against!
As for what’s new this month, I thought I’d share some of my New Year’s resolutions for a change. I’d love to hear what yours are too if you care to share!
Writing Goals
This year I want to write regularly. Rather than come up with some crazy daily goal I know I won’t be able to honor, I decided to go with once a week, minimum. When I can, I’ll be writing every day. I woke up this morning and wrote for over an hour before starting my day, which is how I’d like to begin most days this year. But knowing that life is insane and things like vacations, work stress, and my wedding may whisk me away from my keyboard sometimes, committing to at least a short session of writing once a week seems perfect. It will keep me in the writing groove without making it feel like a chore when I’m super busy.
Daily Gratitude
Sometimes I have a tendency to focus on the negative. I have my good days, and I try to be positive in general, but I also can’t think of a single day that’s gone by where I haven’t complained about something, at least a little bit. It’s just a habit. I think a lot of us probably do that. But I don’t want to focus on the negative in life, and I definitely don’t want to get bogged down with stress that’s all in my head. So I’m going to spend a few minutes every day actively thinking of or writing down what I’m thankful for.
Artist Date
My family has talked about the idea of having an Artist Date every week, but it was a long time ago and I almost forgot about it. However, I recently remembered and decided it would be the perfect way for me to feel more creative and enjoy the solitude I often crave in my life. Basically, it’s a solo “date” you go on, doing pretty much whatever you want. It could be a trip to an art museum, writing at a cafe, or just people-watching somewhere. It might be as brief and simple as a solo walk on a pretty night, or as big as signing up for a new creative class like photography or collage. Apparently once a week is ideal for these, but I’m just going to commit to twice a month to keep it doable all year.
Read the News
I know, I should be doing this already. But there are weeks when I don’t keep up with the news beyond superficial headlines, and I need to change that. It’s important to know the details of what’s going on in the world and to have an opinion on issues that matter, so I intend to devote some time every week to reading news articles and studying issues I care about.
Other Resolutions:
- Read 20 books
- Run a 10K
- Meditate more often
- Save a little money every month
- Travel somewhere new
- Get married =)
As for what I’m up to lately, I’m still playing Assassin’s Creed Origins, reading lots (I just got a Kindle!), and I just ran a 5K to close out 2017. Now I’m ready to tackle 2018. And even though there’s no reason the new year has to be the time to start new things, it does give me the kick in the butt I need to start living a better life, today.
What are your resolutions this year? Is there anything you’re looking forward to in 2018?
— Ashley
Robo♥beat 
I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions myself, though I admire your passion for the idea. For me life continues as it has. Gaming and beating my head against the wall that is book three. A few months ago I was thinking it might be possible to finish Soulcleaver in 2018, but at the current rate I think I’ll be lucky if I get book four done by the end of the year.
As for gaming, I’ve been bouncing around between different titles while I wait for WoW to finish releasing Antorus (the raid that wraps up Legion’s story). I tried Warframe briefly (blog on that tomorrow if all goes according to plan), and I got randomly sucked back into The Division over the holidays, so I’ve been playing that a bit. And I’m dipping my toes into ESO’s Orsinium DLC, which I bought on sale ages ago but never got around to playing.
Nice, I’m interested to read your post about Warframe. I know you said SWTOR would probably be more enjoyable for me, and I also have ESO waiting after only playing the opening hours so far. For whatever reason I just struggle to get into MMOs, but I love hearing how your adventures are going. Good luck with your writing too!
I must admit to being slightly perplexed by your stated reticence regarding MMOs. Destiny is an MMO, and you seem to like it just fine. Plus a lot of your favourite single-player games play very much like MMOs minus only the other players (Skyrim, HZD, etc).
Well, either way, I’m glad I provide some insight and/or entertainment.
Yeah, it’s funny, but I guess I get intimidated by the idea of needing to play with others. I’m a very antisocial gamer! I have gotten my fiancé into Destiny but that’s the only one like that we play together, and we think of it almost as a couch co-op game. Most MMOs are too RPG-ish for my friends, so I would be playing alone. And then I get nervous I’ll face a mission that is too challenging for a single player, on purpose. Even in Destiny, I don’t play Raids or anything that require groups.
Besides that, I have found that the MMOs I’ve tried (ESO and SWTOR, and what I’ve seen of some others) don’t have the same graphics or visual quality as my favorite single-player games. They just look and feel very different to me.