Hello, I'm Back + Some 2023 Stuff I'm Looking Forward To...

Hello, I’m back from my annual break from blogging. As usual, some posts—like Short Stories—will return to a more regular schedule in February as I get back into the swing of things. To start out this new blogging year, I wanted to do a brief recap of the stuff that kept me entertained through December and early January, as well as the books and albums I’m waiting for in 2023.

On my break, I didn’t read as much or watch as many movies and TV shows as I thought I would. The main series I watched was Harry & Megan on Netflix. As for books, I won’t mention them here, since I have upcoming reviews for them.

What preoccupied much of my attention was: I got into a couple of indie games. Nintendo was having a great sale on some of the titles I’ve had my eye on, and I couldn’t pass them up. The first was Ooblets. It’s a cozy life-simulation with a cute style, which had the creature collecting aspect of Pokemon with the farming and decorating features comparable to games like Animal Crossing. But, it also has mini games as well as fun dance battles, which you conduct with your Ooblets and their special dance moves. Jokes aside, that aspect is basically a strategy card game. It’s not very hard to get the hang of it and start leveling up, but the deck had a measure of unpredictability to the moves that are dealt each turn. And, it kept it interesting. The other titles I picked up were Going Under, an action-rpg set in an office building, and Lost In Random, an action adventure game with a card/chance aspect to part of the battle mechanic—which reminded me of the dance battles from Ooblets (just a little more complicated and with a focus on defeating enemies to progress in game). I’m still in the early stages of those games, and I like them so far. The only drawback for Lost In Random that I’ve come across, is that it lacks a manual save function. I have to pay especially close attention to when the game is auto saving, before I go back to the main menu. Other than that, I like the style of the graphics, as well as the story (at least to the point where I’m at).

And, now for some of the stuff I’m looking forward to. My list is, of course, never concrete, and it evolves as the year goes on and more stuff finally gets announced. What I have now is very short.

Albums

Ellie Goulding’s Higher Than Heaven. This album is slated for an early February release (the third, to be exact). I’ve been an on-and-off follower of Goulding since her 2010 album, Lights. The singles released in support of Higher Than Heaven, has set a certain expectation for me, since I’ve liked everything I’ve heard so far.

Kimbra’s A Reckoning. Slated for a January 27th release, A Reckoning is one of my most anticipated albums of the year. I’ve been waiting for another full body of work by Kimbra since as far back as 2018. That was the year Primal Heart released, and, to this day, it’s one of my favorite albums.

Books

**Note: As a reminder, the Harpercollins Union is still on strike. So, no Harpercollins titles will be mentioned here today.**

The books I’m currently looking forward to include: Cinnamon Twisted by Ginger Bolton, Four Parties and a Funeral by Maria DiRico, and Hot Pot Murder by Jennifer J. Chow. I also want to get back into the Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn. And as far as classics go, I’m planning to tackle The Iliad and The Odyssey. 

So, that’s about it for today. I look forward to another year of blogging!