Tag: life update

Febuwhump Update: FINALLY DONE!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It only took until the early hours of May 8th, but it’s finally done.

Oh. Thank. God.

So, let’s recap, since it’s been a bit since I really discussed what the heck Febuwhump is. Febuwhump is a writing challenge that’s hosted on Tumblr. There’s a set amount of prompts, one per day, as well as ten alternative prompts for when you just can’t think of something. The challenge runs from February 1st through the 28th, with final posting supposed to be going up in the first few days of March.

And yet, I didn’t finish until May.

So what happened?

A couple of things, actually. One reason is that I just got burned out. I was trying to write longer and longer stories, and I just couldn’t finish in a day. So then I was trying to write ahead, and also post consistently on this blog, and stream on Twitch, plus do my normal duties here at home. It just became too much, and something had to give. So, I took a step back and took a breath.

Another thing is that I gave myself several unrealistic deadlines, then didn’t live up to them. The first was obviously March 1st, which I blew by. Then, I aimed for March 28th, so one month late. But by that point, I was knee deep in the 9-1-1 fandom and just burned out with The Old Guard. So, I figured April was a good goal, and aimed to be finished by midmonth. My goal was to have everything completed, then I was going to send it to be put into book form at an independent book printer (since this is fanfiction, and I wasn’t actually publishing it). I wanted to give my mom a copy of all the stories on paper, as she has trouble navigating Archive of Our Own.

And that didn’t work out as well, because I got stuck with three prompts left. Actually, it was only one prompt, which was the finale of The Immortal Genius, but that’s a gripe for another day. When I finally pushed through that barrier (almost five thousand words later), I just had two fics left, and those because love letters to the TOG community, as I decided to set back fully from the fandom until we get more sequel information.

That’s a topic for another day.

To get back to the story, I posted the last story on the afternoon of May 8th, and immediately set to work printing every story in a logical manner, before carefully putting them in a three ring binder and presenting it to Mom for Mother’s Day the next morning. (Yes, there were tears). And that almost didn’t happen, but that’s because my printer decided it wanted to take a ten to fifteen minute nap between every twenty pages. But I got it done and finished and now I can breathe.

So, let’s hit some statistics, because I honestly haven’t looked beyond just a quick glance at my nightly “You’ve Got Kudos!” email from AO3.

AO3 allows you to sort your top five fics in a few different ways. I’ll go through a couple of them, and then give a couple things I noticed on my own.

In terms of Hits, the top five stories (of 28 total) were “Poisoned” with 705, “Identity Reveal” with 588, “Who Are You?” with 577, “Hallucinations” with 555, and “Memory Loss” with 526 total hits. Fun fact, only “Hallucinations” is not a fic in the Immortal Genius series.

In terms of Kudos, the top five stories (of 28 total) were “Identity Reveal” with 73, “Who Are You?” with 71, “Burned” with 62, “Hallucinations” with 60, and “Gunpoint” with 58.

In terms of Bookmarks, the top five stories (of 28 total) were “Poisoned”, “I Didn’t Mean It” and “Recovery” all with 6, and “Who Are You?” and “Identity Reveal” with 5.

In terms of word count, the longest fic was “Recovery” at 4,825 words, which was the finale of the Immortal Genius series. The shortest was “Take Me Instead” at 269, which was an introspective look at Booker’s mindset during the beginning events of The Old Guard. I lost my train of thought on that one real fast, so it wasn’t a successful one.

The fics that I’m the most proud of, for a variety of reasons, were “Impaled” (because I went for comedy, and it made me laugh), “Mind Control” (because I wanted to see if a different explanation for Booker’s choices though TOG could have been different if he didn’t know he was doing the damn thing), “Buried Alive” (because at that point, the fandom had buried everyone but Copley, and it was his damn turn). “Betrayal” and “I Can’t Lose You Too” (where I delve into Nile’s relationship with her brother, and upon meeting him again, has to walk away. It’s heartbreaking.), and honestly “I Can’t Lose You Too” (which had me in tears as I got into the meat of the idea. It deals with death, and saying goodbye, and I was legitimately sobbing as I finished).

I’ll only mention it here (I have a whole post planned later), but I also really enjoyed where The Genius Immortal took me. What was initually just supposed to be a few short stories became ten, and I’m not done yet. Also, I managed to cross in 9-1-1 right towards the end, which means that sometime soon I need to sit down and get to plotting.

But yeah. Here’s a few more fun stats, because why not. I received 8504 hits across all twenty eight fics. More were on the first twenty, then it dwindled, which makes sense, as it was getting pretty saturated with Febuwhump stories on AO3. I had 59 bookmarks in total, as well as had 21 different comment threads across the stories. Some stories received a lot of comments, most did not. I’m totally cool with it.

Oh, and the total word count? 30,373 words. Here’s a quick fun fact. I joined AO3 in 2012 and ported over a bunch of fics that year, as well as all of my 1sentence challenge posts from LiveJournal. Most of what was posted was pre-2012. That year I “wrote” 17,056 words. Every year since? If I published anything on AO3, it never was more than about two thousand words total. In four months, I’ve almost doubled my AO3 word count. Four. Months.

And for the record? I just did that math while writing this post. My phone is on the calculator app on my lap. And I’m still kinda in shock.

So. Yeah. That just happened.

What’s Next? You might be asking?

Well, I’m taking a short break from writing. I got my second vaccine shot on Tuesday (edit note: this was mostly pre-written on May 9th, but edited to go up on Thursday, because I ended up feeling like getting hit by a truck), and I’m just taking a couple days to myself. I’m finishing my clean up of Lego City Undercover, and planning my run for Persona 5 Royal on stream either tomorrow or next week (I may push back, not sure). I’m about to start a good book that I’ve been sitting on (Good Girls, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson, sequel to one of my favorite books of 2020, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder). And honestly? Taking a breath has been a good idea.

I’ll jump back into writing soon. And who knows? Maybe I’ll finally get back to a couple of my passion projects I’ve been sitting on.

Maybe.

Don’t count on it. 🙂

Until next time!

When Life Gets Away From You…

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s been a very stressful couple of weeks.

So, my uncle got his second vaccine. Since he ended up being one of those people who got flu-like symptoms from it, he was a bear for three days. The problem with this is that it makes it hard for me to do anything, because when he’s not feeling good, he’s loud. I’m talking about bitching, complaining, grumbling, complaining all day. If I turn on music (mostly lo-fi right now), he complains that it’s bothering him. (Never mind that I don’t particularly want to listen to the Beatles or whatever movie he’s watching, but no, I apparently have the volume control problem. Yeah, right. *eyeroll*)

I finally was able to be allowed to sign up for the vaccine (yay for living in California), and it took until the early hours of April 20th before I got my appointment. But yay! I’m half way there! I ended up with some upper arm aching and honest to god insomnia for like five days, but I’m finally getting some sleep and am now 100% back to normal.

Mom’s been having a nightmare of a time at work, which means I have to be around to be her sounding board. There’s been moving people around, rules changing for no good reason, decisions reversed by the end of day but causing confusion before hand, the works. It’s been a pretty stressful time for her, so I’ve been doing my best to keep her company.

What did that mean for me?

Well, it meant that everything I was doing got put on hold. I basically had to step away from writing and streaming for a while, because I was needed else where. Everything ended up on the backburner. Of course, since I wasn’t feeling up to it, the timing was good. But still. I didn’t want to take another hiatus. Hopefully this will be the last one for awhile.

But I’m back on schedule, for the most part. I did a short stream on Sunday, where that afternoon I started my “hate-play” of The Lego Movie 2 Game. We got almost all the way through the story requirements, so hopefully on tonight’s stream we can finish the main story and start in on the replay. Because getting through this quickly would be nice.

I’m also almost (FINALLY) done with Febuwhump. Yes, I say that nearly two full months after the end of February. Look, inspiration was fleeting, and everything sucks. But I did finish The Immortal Genius, that crossover story I started in like November. It’s totally finished. Kinda. Maybe? Okay, probably not. I’ll save that for another day.

I’m doing my best to write ahead for when I get my second shot on May 11th, because I just know I’m gonna get knocked on my ass. Fingers crossed and all that. But things are looking up. Nothing is perfect yet. But is there anything that really is?

Tonight I return to streaming. And hopefully tomorrow, I get closer to finishing that writing challenge.

What will the next day bring?

Until next time!

What. A. Weird. Day.

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I’m totally aware I always aim to post a new post at around Noon Pacific Standard Time. That’s my personal goal. But today turned everything on its head, and now here it is, almost 10pm PST, and I’m just now having ten minutes to type this up.

So, where to begin.

My original goals for today were as follows: post finished and scheduled by 10AM. Febuwhump post #25 finished and edited by Noon. Work on some stream stuff until 1PM, then join mom for a late lunch and Opening Day for the Dodgers. Once that was over, watch 9-1-1: Lone Star and make dinner, with finishing setting up my stream for tomorrow’s long stream.

What actually happened? Well…

I woke up early and started reading. Once I realized it was already ten, I jumped up, only to almost fall because I twisted my ankle last night and forgot about it, and it got tangled. I hobbled over to my desk, and then got called out to mom’s desk in the living room, because she needed my help.

From 10-12 I was her gopher, which I can’t complain about because she’s my mom. Then I got an email that I could get her signed up for her vaccine, which I prompted did, only to discover that the earliest appointment was today at 3PM. So, she took the day off early, we watched the beginning of the Dodger game, then took off for Ventura.

And of course, let’s not mention that the Dodger game was a dumpster fire. Either the refs are willingly blind, or they just hate the Dodgers, but every call put the Dodgers back. Add to it Kershaw falling as a pitcher and Dave Roberts’ inability to pull him when he should have, and you have the nightmare that was today.

We got her shot and headed home, got caught in traffic, and I developed a massive headache. So, once we got home at 4:30ish, I curled up on my bed for awhile, to rest my aching head.

Dinner was ordered in, and finally I was able to sit down and work on my stream overlay. I finally got my alerts set up (I hope), got my donation link set up, and I finally have a timer I can use. So yay, I’m all set for tomorrow.

Only… it’s now nearly ten, and I’m beyond behind.

So yeah, I did the major things, with the added bonus of finally getting my mom’s first vaccine. The only thing left is to treat myself to the first episode of Lone Star, and then go to bed early, because 9AM and nearly 10 hours of streaming are ahead of me.

And for some reason? I can’t wait.

Until next time!

(If you want to find my stream, I’m over here on Twitch! No pressure, just Legos.)

The Pandemic – One Year Later

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Today is a heavy post day. Sorry in advance, but it’s been a long time coming honestly.

Mom and I were eating dinner last night (my uncle ate and left, with scarcely a “thank you for the food” offered), and we both realized at the same time that she’d been in isolation for over a year now. It wasn’t what we were talking about – I was attempting to convince her to give 9-1-1 a chance, but that’s not happening any time soon – when it hit her.

One year, with her only direct contact being me and my uncle.

It got me thinking. Just how much has changed in a year. Not outside in the “real world,” but here, within these walls of this apartment. What was different.

Well, for one thing, I’m still jobless. There’s a reason that Mom has stayed completely isolated, even though the vaccine rollout has started (she’s like right under three of the perimeters, so hopefully the next round in Ventura, she’ll be able to get it). When I left my job in April, it was because I feared for her safety. Even now, I’m looking for a full time, at home job, so that I don’t risk hurting her.

As it is, I only enter stores twice a month. Once to get the groceries that for some reason aren’t offered for drive up pick up, because of course there are some things. The other time is to get a certain item that Mom needs (being vague for her privacy), that cannot be delivered. When I get home from those trips, everything is immediately wiped down with disinfecting wipes and put away, and then I hop right in the shower, with my clothes in the laundry. While I’m doing this, Mom is in another room, isolating, just in case.

Another thing that’s changed is that we’re talking more. Now, it’s been Mom and I VS the World since I was twelve, but I’ll be the first to admit that our relationship wasn’t always the best. We didn’t have fights or whatnot, but I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I didn’t tell her everything. Now? I swear she knows me more than I know myself. We have lunch and dinner together, we watch movies and shows together, and heck, she’s planning on joining me on a stream one of these days, once I figure out my “second monitor” issue.

Something I never expected is that, because I don’t have a job, I’ve been learning to cook. I’ve never been very confident in cooking, or inspired to do it. It was a trade off, that I cook at least five times during the week. It’s been honestly pretty good. I’m still just going basic meals, but it’s been really educational for me.

For me, I’ve noticed I’ve changed the type of media I consume, and how I engage in it. I gone from being a fan of many things to just a select few fandoms. I was never a real fan of binge watching, but lately I’ve watched a few series in just a matter of days. I’ve also stepped away from one of the biggest fandom I was involved in, which I never really expected to do.

To my surprise, last year was one of my worst reading years. I just couldn’t get into most anything I had bought in preparation. Instead I reread some books, and just finished up some my outstanding collections. In fact, several of the books that I was actually excited to read, I ended up not being a fan.

Another thing that’s happened is that I’ve returned to several activities that I just have been missing for some time. I actually picked up some Lego kits for the first time in a long time. They are these Lego Marvel Mech Armor sets, six of them to be exact. They only took about 45 or so minutes to put together, but it was fun to go back in time and build like I used to, instead of just playing Lego games for my entire existence. (Which reminds me, I need to get back on that. I have so many left to play…).

The other thing I returned to is writing! I’ve wanted to get back into writing for the last several years, but this year has been especially successful. Heck, in February, I wrote 23 stories in 23 days. Day 24 may have been fighting me, but I hope to get it posted onto AO3 by the end of the day. Heck, I’ve even been working on one of my original ideas, which I haven’t touched since before we moved!

To be totally honest, the only real thing I’ve really really missed during this year is being with my cousins, who are the only reason we chose to move to this specific town in California. We’ve seen them from afar, and dropped off gifts, but I miss hugs from them.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg of what what my family has experienced. We’ve been so lucky that we have the ability to stay together in a safe location. There are so many people that have been effected by COVID, and my heart goes out to each and every person that has been effected in some way.

I’m ecstatic that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even though it will be a long time before things are back to what passes as normal. I just know that I’m with my family, I’m safe, and I’m going to keep my head held high. It’s the only real way we’re gonna get through this.

Until next time!

When Your Brain Says to “Take a Break…”

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

This has been a very… interesting two weeks for me.

Let’s set the stage. It was March 23rd. At that time, I was writing well, planning out my next several prompts for Febuwhump, just starting 9-1-1, and was even getting ahead on my blog posts here.

Then Wednesday happened, and that all came to a halt.

Nothing happened, technically. It’s just, my brain basically just said ENOUGH. It was like a switch was thrown in my mind. No more writing, no more reading.

I was staring at a blank Google doc and I couldn’t get the words to flow. Nothing worked. It just wasn’t happening. And my self imposed goal to finish Febuwhump on time just didn’t happen. Actually, none of it happened. I still have the doc for the 24th open, with like five lines in total written on it.

I can’t just blame me wanting to watch 9-1-1. It did became my distraction from writing. But not in a bad way. I was actually really depressed because I couldn’t string two words together. At least with that series, and my goal to finish before today, I felt like I was accomplishing something (even if it was just watching a TV show).

But it still sucks, because I didn’t finish on time. 24 is still mostly blank, with what’s there just not worth touching. 25-28 are just in bullet list form. And that’s a looming thought that I’m going to be dealing until I finally get this done, because I’d still love to get it done ASAP.

Heck, I even didn’t write a blog post for over a week! And I’ve gotten pretty good about that. But I just couldn’t get words to flow. Nothing worked.

Until late last night.

Last night, I couldn’t sleep. I knew the reason: I was anxious about going to the grocery store this morning, as I go in only once a month and it’s always stressful, mostly because most of my town just doesn’t seem like they care about being safe anymore.

I was laying in bed, looking up at my ceiling in the near total dark (thanks possessed Xbox One that likes to turn on and off all night, with it’s damn bright light). My phone lit up with a review for the last Febuwhump post that I’d posted before everything came crashing down. Normally I wouldn’t check my phone after midnight if I wasn’t already up, but something told me to do it.

And then, it was like that switch was thrown again.

I was half asleep, but I pulled up my notes and started editing. Expanding the ideas, changing up a few things. Working on this post. Basically I took an hour to get back into everything.

And now, here it is, four PM and things are (mostly) back on track. I checked out for about ten days, but now I’m back at it.

There are times you just have to step away, take a break, reset. And that’s what I did. I blasted through 9-1-1 and now I can finally watch it live tonight. I 100%-ed Lego Batman for the first time in my life. I watched all of Wandavision and restarted my MCU rewatch with Mom. I even plotted out everything I’m going to write on this blog this week.

It’s not something that happens often to me, but it does happen enough that I know what I need to do when it happens. And now, I’m going to try to get ahead of it. But for now, I’m back (if a little late).

I’m off to watch 9-1-1 (and probably complain, if the reactions on Twitter are anything to go by).

Until next time!

Streaming Updates

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Hey all!

I was going over my streaming schedule for the next month or so, and of course things have to change due to releases and the like.

First, I’m still going to stream Monday-Thursday 8-10pm PST, weather/health permitting. I’m really trying to get better about it, so I’m doing my best to get ahead of everything, so that I’m not stressing by 7, which is usually the cause for me cancelling a stream.

This Friday was supposed to be my second book stream of the month. I’d already planned on pushing it a week due to Owlcrate’s shipping being delayed. However, Owlcrate announced that the box isn’t shipping until February 24-26, which would be right around the date for the next stream. So, instead, this Friday I’ll be doing another gaming stream, and we will be delaying the book stream until the box arrives. I’ll announce it when I have an idea of when the box is coming. It’s totally possible that I may have to shift the book streams a week across the board. But right now it’s up in the air.

As for upcoming games, we should be finishing up with Kingdom Hearts II by Thursday the 18th. Next up with be What Remains of Edith Finch, which will be next Monday. It’s a short game, but I have plans for Friday night (Wandavision!), so I only have the normal bonus time to do the Friday stream. If you haven’t heard anything about this game, all I will say that it’s one of the best and well written games I’ve played in a while. I just played it on Xbox One and loved every second of it.

After that, I’m hoping to replay The Avengers. Now, I know I said that Kingdom Hearts III was next. However, I really want to play the new DLC when it drops on March 18th, so I figured that replaying Avengers would be fun. Plus everyone gets to see me suck at playing certain characters (re: THOR).

I don’t honestly think it will take a month to play through The Avengers and the DLC. If we have extra time before the DLC drops, there’s a puzzle game called The Gardens Between that we might give a play at. Another short puzzle game that also has a beautiful story, told in silence.

As for this Friday’s bonus stream, I’ll be playing this wonderful puzzle game called Glass Masquerade. It’s your standard puzzle game, with all the pieces being stain glass and weirdly shaped. I’ve already beaten the game before, so this is just going to be a casual play.

So, this week’s stream schedule looks like this: (2/16-2/19)

  • Tuesday (8pm): Kingdom Hearts II
  • Wednesday (8pm): Kingdom Hearts II
  • Thursday (8pm): Kingdom Hearts II – hopefully finale
  • Friday (4pm): Glass Masquerade [casual]

Next week’s schedule is shaping up as well: (2/22-2/26)

  • Monday (8pm): What Remains of Edith Finch
  • Tuesday (8pm): The Avengers
  • Wednesday (8pm): The Avengers
  • Thursday (8pm): The Avengers

Should Owlcrate arrive on February 26th, we will go ahead and do the book stream. Otherwise, we will have a bonus unplanned stream as soon as it arrives.

As for Kingdom Hearts III, as soo as the Avengers DLC is taken care of, I’ll be jumping into it. I’m only holding off because of Avengers, and I was talking it up because I totally forgot that the second DLC was announced. That’s my mistake and on me.

So yeah, here’s the quick update. If there are some cool games that drop before March 18th, than things might get a little messy. We shall see what comes next.

(And just in case anyone is wondering, I’m going to watch the Nintendo direct a bit late today so that I can attempt to record my reactions. If the video doesn’t completely suck, I’ll throw the reaction video up on YouTube. We shall see.)

Until next time!

I’m Doing Blogmas!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

I mentioned it in Friday’s post that I will be doing Blogmas this year! As with Blogtober, I really wish I could do this with vlogging, but I just am not ready to record my day, mostly because thanks to the pandemic, I am basically doing the same thing every day.

Blogmas (or Vlogmas or Bookmas) is a daily post/vlog in December through Christmas, or longer if you want to. I will be going though December 25th.

I actually have managed to make a schedule for at least the first half of Blogmas, though of course it is very much up in the air if I have to push things back and forth. There should be a good mix of video games, books, Christmas, and just random stuff. Let me know if there is something you want me to add.

In between all this, I’m trying to read and finish a couple books, watch like three Luca and Matthias movies, and finish the Lego Challenge (which will get it’s own post when I do it, hopefully in the first couple days of Blogmas!), well as work on a couple Lego PS3 games.

… Note to self. Find my PS3. I think it’s in my blanket and pillow pile.

Anyway, hello to Blogmas 2020!

Until next time!

Turning 30 / Life in Quarantine Update

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

You’d think after basically locking myself in my apartment for eight months, I’d know how to spell quarantine on the first try by now. I always want to make the second “a” be an “e”. Whoops.

Anyway, it’s been a minute. A couple things happened in the last two weeks. Nothing major, except to me.

First off… I’m old now.

I turned 30 on the 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th. I’m honestly not supersticious, so the whole Friday the 13th thing just doesn’t bother me.

Considering the pandemic, and the fact that my family actually has brains and we rarely if ever leave (and it’s only me going to the store safely), the only people who celebrated the day with me were Mom and my Uncle (who lives with us). It was a good burthday, I swear. And I also scored a couple cool things.

I was happy to get my hand onto November’s YA Book Club book, The Ravens by Kass Morgan (of The 100 fame) and Danielle Paige (The Dorothy Must Die series). It’s a book that may be right up my alley, though I haven’t picked it up yet. I also was gifted the wonderful comics The Old Guard, which is what the movie is based on, of course. It’s my second time reading through all ten issues, as I already purchased the series on comiXology on Kindle. I’m happy to have them of course.

It was a good birthday. We got Red Lobster (drive up of course) and Devil’s Food cake for desert. Then, after Uncle went to bed for the night, we popped some popcorn and rewatched The Old Guard, with my running commentary because why not. And, since we were definitely having a TOG theme running, Mom and I pulled out something to celebrate.

I am still in love with that hoodie. It’s been kinda chilly in California (my thin Florida blood is crying), so it’s getting a lot of use. And it was a purchase that supported charity, so of course!

Besides my immeditae birthday presents, I was gifted a couple gift cards to Amazon, which has got a lot of use for PSN cards for crappy trophy games (more on that Wedneday). I also grabbed a couple Lego Vita games, Lego Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin and Lego Jurassic World, both of which I didn’t own. I also got a bit of a shopping spree from Redbubble, which I’ll show off if it ever gets here.

As for my life in quarantine, it’s been going okay. I’m finally getting back into some writing (see Friday), reading, and I’m about to watch Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, probably tomorrow. Plus, more TOG cast films. I’m still having time management issues, but I atribute that to just not having something to focus on. Next week will change that, hopefully.

I’ll see you on Wednesday. I want to hopefully get started with Queen’s Gambit before I crash tonight.

Until next time!

Where Did the Past Two Months Go?

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Wow. I think I fell in a hole or something. That was… unexpected.

Hello all again. This is not the post I planned to upload nearly two months ago. Actually, I had promised myself I wouldn’t upload a “whoops I totally didn’t die” post for at least six months. That was the plan, anyway.

The past two months have been trying to say the least. My dear uncle has been dealing with some health issues, and those have caused delays and aggravation all around. On top of that, it’s just been very stressful every day, with the world still on fire and no real change in sight until November (if you’re US-based, please vote!).

I myself had to step away from everything. I have scarcely read my towering stack of books, nor have I played another Lego game since beating Dimensions at the end of August. I’ve watched The Old Guard a few more times, and a couple of other things, but noting really substantial.

I think I just really needed a media break. Or really a life break. I went mostly silent of Twitter, loaded up my Tumblr queue with posts, and just stepped back. I did watch some of Gamescom and the PS5 announcement. I watched and cheered through SGDQ Online. I danced though RTX at Home last week.

But I really just checked out.

Up until last week, I just didn’t care. I just got overwhelmed.

But now I’m actually feeling more like myself. I started the FX show Trust, which is based on the abduction of John Paul Getty III. Not normally something I would watch, but Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank star, with Luca Marinelli (Nicky from The Old Guard) playing the kidnapper in an amazing role. I also watched Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker from The Old Guard, noticing a theme yet?), which was actually great. I may just read the original novel, which is a major departure for me.

I finally started playing Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but I’m not on the frantic pace I had originally set for myself. Since the next Lego game has been delayed until Spring 2021, I don’t feel the need to push myself to hit my original goal of October 20th. Instead I’m also playing though some of my more neglected games, including Concrete Genie, Marvel’s The Avengers, and Final Fantasy XV. All games I have wanted to play, all games I ended up just pushing off. I may also finish my playthrough of Persona 5, but I feel like I have to restart again (but that’s a story for another time).

Actually, as proof that I started feeling better, I wrote something! Just a little thing, but I wanted to help push the amount of The Old Guard fics over 3000 on Archive of Our Own, which we did on September 18, just over two months after the film debuted on Netflix. I really need to explain my hyperfixation for this film one of these days.

I’m going to cut off here, mostly because it’s late and I want to get this scheduled and posted. I have a lot I plan to do this coming week, and getting this started was item number one on that list. Hopefully the week runs semi-smoothly, and all goes well.

Until next time!

I Have to Get Better About Posting…

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

One of my goals for 2020 was to post on this blog at least once a week. Well, it’s been eight months, and wow have I failed that goal. Then again, 2020 has been the year of failed goals, so I can’t complain too much.

So, let me quickly go over what has happened since the beginning of the year, minus the obvious.

I’ll start with the fun:

We moved into a new apartment in September/October. I finally have my own room again, which is amazing. I had to buy three more bookcases and a cart for the amount of books I own, which is absolutely amazing. I broke 200 platinum trophies in early November, using Lego Batman 2 on the PS3 if I remember right. I’m still earning platinums, but I decided to take my time for now on, so I’m not rushing to hit 300 by November.

I started playing all of the currently available Lego Xbox One games in early January. I’m completed 13 of the available 16. We still don’t know when Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is releasing (rumored October 20th), so I can actually take my time with my final three games. I’ll do a separate post regarding that soon.

Onto the bad:

I had to quick my job in mid-April. Without going in to detail, a coworker apparently tested positive for Covid-19. Since I worked at the front door checking temperatures and asking the requisite “Are you safe to enter” questions, I was one of the first told (no identity given). I had asked in that phone call if there would be any changes in procedures or if the building would be professionally cleaned more often. I was told, nope! Business as usual. Since I have my mom and uncle to think of, both of whom are getting up there in age and with a myriad of health issues, I had only one answer.

I quit. Outright, over the phone to my boss, who was less than impressed with my quitting. But I really don’t care. My family’s safety is more important than anything else in my life.

So I’ve been unemployed since April. I’ve been applying to different places, but my anxiety (and my mother) just won’t let me even consider positions that deal with the general public, as our area is spiking and going to the store is bad enough.

Besides going food shopping, I’ve only been out of my apartment like four times since we started our quarentine. My uncle has needed me to drive him to some of his medical appointments, so I’m the unpaid chauffer. Getting unemployment benefits in this state have been tedious and a nightmare. The only other thing we’ve done is taken a drive through Malibu, where we didn’t stop, just enjoyed the sights from the car.

As of now:

I’m changing up my Twitch channel to focus on both video games and books. I’m using this time to catch up on my (now extensive) to-be-read list. I’m reading books that I’ve put off for years again.

I’m more active on my Twitter and Instagram accounts, though I’m planning on getting active on this blog as well. My goal is to review every book I’ve read this year on both my Goodreads account and here, which I will be starting to do in about two weeks, after I do a week of posts regarding…

The Reading Rush! I’ll be doing a separate post regarding this (to go up Friday I think), but I’ll quickly mention that this is a reading marathon running from July 20-26. There are seven book challenges, plus all sorts of other challenges. Yay!

I promise to be more active in the coming months. So lets go!