Let’s not bury the lede—it’s been great!

A few things I’ve learned:

1. At my age, I can really only play about 4 hours of video games a day. Something happens after that—my eyes get tired, I get kind of bored of sitting down, and I just don’t enjoy playing anymore. Playing after that is like having a third dessert. The first two were great, the third is just more sugar.[1]
2. I still need to set intentions. I have the ability to slog through a video game just like I can slog through work. Meaning—I can make this not fun if I’m not aware of what I’m doing and my intention.
3. I’ve not faced as much ridicule from other adults as I thought. Most people are just curious. A lot of the bad stuff is just in my own head (as always).
4. There’s been something really cool about narrowing a lot of my focus down to one thing—I’ve been able to get really in depth with Elden Ring, and I think it makes my brain focus in an entirely different way. Like—I actually get to feel like the character I’m playing is me, and I have an idea in my head of what they’re like.
5. It really, really helps that the video game (Elden Ring) is awesome (more on that tomorrow).

Even if I weren’t into video games, I’d consider this staycation in other circumstances. There are a couple of authors out there where, if they released a new book, I think I’d consider taking a few days, if not a week, off of work.[2]

[1] Plus, you’re getting pretty far down the menu at this point. The chocolate torte was amazing, but do you really need the lemon shortbread cookies?

[2] So what is that list? Maybe it’s a whole post. But it probably includes Erin Morgenstern, NK Jemisin, and, sighs, George R.R. Martin.