Category: Random Topic

Mid Month Check In – Blogtober

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a very stressful few weeks, so I decided that having a Mid Month Check In would probably be a good idea.

Starting at the top, I’ve been on top of Blogtober every day! Only a few days have I been “late” to post. By late, I mean past 5PM PST. My personal goal is to always have the next day’s post ready to go and be scheduled to go up at 12pm (though, I usually get the notification between 12:30pm to 1:30pm). I’m not sure what topics I’ll be focusing on during the back half of the month, minus of course the 9-1-1 episode reviews. But I’m happy that I’ve been getting better about it.

I’m also so glad that I got ahead on Whumptober, because I have been in burnout mode for weeks. Before October, I ended up writing up through October 17th (and a few other random days). I know I have to finish the rest, hopefully within the next few days. Something I decided to do was keep up with the stats of each story, which has been amazing to do and watch. I’ve been surprised about which fics are getting more noticed, and which ones haven’t been. I’ll go thorugh all the stats in November, once it’s been a couple days for the last story.

Which leads me into the next part. So, because I’m post every day in October and planning to posting throughout December, I decided that I want to take a bit of a step back in November. So, I’m hoping to post twice a week, probably Tuesdays and Thursdays, but that’s subject to change. I’m trying to avoid completely burning out, and this will probably help.

November is already shaping up to be busy. I have to finish a Halloween/fall fic for a “fic crawl” right as November starts. Then I have to make massive progress on my Holiday Gift Fic for someone on the 118 Discord. I also have to write a bunch of continuations of different Whumptober fics, which will be… stressful. On top of that is my birthday in the middle of the month, and also I’m responsible for Thanksgiving planning and cooking and everything. It’s going to be… a busy month.

As for December, I’m again going to do Blogmas, which is from December 1st through the 25th. I did it last year and enjoyed it, so I decided to do it again. I don’t have too many plans for this time. The only true December plan that I have is that I want to watch 25 new (to me) movies. I’ll be spending the rest of October and all of November deciding them, and I’ll be announcing the list at the end of November. Any suggestions for things I should watch can be thrown into the comments.

In my personal life, I actually had some news, thought I wouldn’t say great. I actually recieved a email from a position that I really want! I even had a short interview via phone, where I was told that I’d hear something between three days to the end of the week. That timeframe just happened to end… last Friday. I’m somewhat discouraged, because this is a position that I really want. It’s looking more and more like I didn’t get one of the ten spots. But I’m actually somewhat OK, because I know that I at least made it in once. That means I can do it again.

Until next time!

Solving Mysteries in Quarantine: Finders Seekers- Blogmas

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I’m just talking about something that I love, and has been very beneficial to my family.

Mom hasn’t really gone further than a car ride since she decided to quarantine back in March. She’s taking everything really serious (so am I, truth be told), so she doesn’t go out. Which is why I started searching the monthly box world to find something for her to do.

I came across the Finders Seekers Mystery Box.

Basically, it’s a who-done-it in a box, with a website to plug everything in. In the most simplest of terms, anyway. But we’ve gotten a kick out of every one we’ve received, especially after the first one.

Each box contains a series of puzzles and challenges for you to solve. They are of all varieties. Some you can solve quickly, some take more time. If you get stuck (which happens), the website provides you with hints should you choose to click on them.

But what really got Mom and I was the little tidbits of history placed in the prose of each mystery. Just little grains, just enough to make us look for more. Or rather, let Mom tell me all about said grain of history, because she’s a walking history book.

We’ve done several as of now. We started in June, with Paris. We’ve also had July (Boston), August (Beijing), September (London), October (Las Vegas), and just finished November’s box (Toronto).

Each one has been a blast. Paris was great because my mom has a love for Europe. Boston was right down memory lane for me, since my first big trip away from home was to downtown Boston, and many of the clues in the box dealt with that area. Beijing was fun, mostly because we didn’t know much about the culture. We cracked many an Old Guard joke about London (Mom had just watched it when we got the box). Las Vegas had a lot of throwbacks to the Ocean’s series, so that was fun for the movie buffs. And finally, Toronto, which I wasn’t expecting to like as much as I did. Also, there were a lot of funny little jokes in the text.

The game is a little expensive for what you get, but we’ve been enjoying the experience so it adds up well. If you like it, make sure to tell the curators. They deserve all the love.

For history people and puzzle solvers, this is a box right up your alley.

Until next time!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled- *Record Scratch*

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I had all sorts of plans for what I wanted to post for my first regular post after a month of daily entries.

And then the election happened. Or rather, is still happening.

I won’t lie, I am very much on one side (though I’ll keep my political leanings away from here). The past now thirty six hours have become the most stressful hours of my adult life thus far.

I honestly don’t really know what to say right now. As I type this, the race is getting closer.

Hopefully by Friday my brain will be back to normal. But today I’m calling it done for now.

Until next time?

Check In Post – Blogtober

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Hey guys, it’s been a minute.

Obviously I needed to take my own advice and step away for a few days. It was needed, and I feel more mentally prepared to deal with what comes next.

I felt like I hit a wall after news broke last week that two people from Rooster Teeth had personal chats and photos doxed and stolen from them. Then the stories came out about one of them, to the point that mentioning his name gave me a panic attack.

For the sake of my mental health, I ended up unfriending/unfollowing pretty much everyone at RT. I couldn’t take seeing the posts about what happened, or seeing people trolling with pictures of that person, or just hearing about it.

I also just stepped away from blogging as planned. I couldn’t get past thinking that my favorite member of Achievement Hunter… Nope. Not going there. Google is your unfortunate friend. I’m not bringing that nightmare fuel into my safe space.

Anyway, this is just a check in post. I’ll be back to regular blogging for Blogtober starting tomorrow, as well as posting four more posts to catch up, since I’m now behind and that bothers me.

I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care of yourselves.

Until next time.