Oh Look: 150 Posts!

 Oh Look: 150 Posts!

When I started this blog, it was really because I enjoy writing and games, and I hadn't been getting nearly enough of either in the midst of the pandemic. Plus, I knew I'd be stepping down from the role of Executive Director of a theatre company I had founded in short order and I have always needed some outlets of artistic expression in order to maintain my mental health and life balance. To say nothing of the fact that I really struggled with situational depression for the past year or two.

Therapy really helped me navigate that, and ultimately, the vaccines and ability to see people again made it possible for me to come out the other side of that depression. I'm still dealing with the fallout the depression created for me, but it's not hard to get out of bed anymore, I'm more engaged with people, and it no longer feels as though I'm walking around while dragging these weights along behind me. I mention all of this just because context matters, and while the blog did sort of start as a way for me to alleviate all of the things I was feeling, it has grown beyond that.

I thought I might drop the blog as things sort of "got back to normal," but I didn't. Now we're in the throes of the Omicron variant, but even as I was seeing people, playing games, doing work, etc, I continued writing. So I guess I'm going to keep going!

Since I started writing this blog, I've written a short horror novella, a short story, and started two others. I've been playing more new games as well as thinking more intentionally about how I'm playing a game and why. I've picked up my game designs again after having put them down before the beginning of COVID. I'm better at maintaining a calendar (of sorts) knowing that I've set some deadlines for myself. Namely, making sure I'm consistently posting content on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and weekends. It's not like having this blog has magically *fixed* everything, but it has given me a lot more than I planned when I first started it almost a year ago. Which, wow. I don't think I realized it has been that long, but it totally has...

Anyway, it's just a little thing to hit 150 posts (which is about a year of posting 3x a week), and I know I don't have a big readership or anything (except a decent readership when it comes to Armada; who'd have thunk?), but I've enjoyed sharing this blog with y'all that visit me here. I enjoy the feedback, the suggestions, and all that stuff. I'm pleased that some of you find this worth your time and that some of you have even found my advice or insight useful! Most of all, I'm grateful for the opportunity to share this hobby with y'all. 

I look forward to sharing new games, insight, and ideas here in 2022. Given that my gaming hobby is intertwined with a ton of my friendships, and given the fact that the incomparable Betty White died just as 2021 was set to expire, I can't think of a single, more appropriate way to close this post.