So, we’re on to a new year I guess, I took the changeover really quietly, and enjoyed my yuletide with staying away from people and just charging batteries, I’m not quite sure if I’m all the way back in to being ready to be social, but at least it’s getting a bit better again. I hope that stuff will get better, starting to get a bit tired of the cold times again, it’s a big shame that exactly autumn and spring, the two seasons that I enjoy the most are so short, I’m looking foreward to it, at least we’re on our way back now, with the days slowly getting a bit of length every day.

Books

I did finish Nightshade’s Touch on new year’s eve, I just wanted to get it over with before the new year, and it was pretty fun, with kind of a twist ending, it seems like the author really loves twists, so there are a couple in each book, if I’m not seeing wrong the next one will be the last one in the series, they are decent, but they are kind of weird and too tense in a way that I don’t really enjoy that much, so it’s going to be good to get through these. I’m not trying to paint it too dark, I do enjoy my reading, but for some reason this series is always a bit hard to get startet with, maybe it is that it feels more like urban fantasy than sci-fi, I’m not quite sure, but I think that’s a big part of it.

I started and fininshed Wild Fire by Rose Mackie, and this one was pretty fun, the violet sun series is always fun to get back to, and this one has been taking a bit more of a different route to the others, it’s still a fun series, and the characters are fun, but while the series are starting to branch out a bit it kind of feels like all of the romantic interests are more or less the same person, which is starting to wear a bit thin. One thing that is hauntig my mind was them describing a blowjob as using lips tongue and teeth, who the hell wants teeth?…

Lastly I did start one from another of the series I got in my latest haul, the Dark Planet Warrior by Anna Craven, I don’t have much to say about it, as I’m only 2 chapters in, but so far the writing is pretty fun at least, and probably don’t search the author having your safety filters of, or you do, I’m not your daddy.

Games

For games this week, most of the time I was restlessly not really managing to figure out what I wanted to play, I started a lot of them to get a feel, like The Witcher Throne Breaker, Lumines, Atelier Ryza, Star Dew Valley and some others, I feel like I could get into star dew again, but it’s just kind of hard to start in year two on my last save, and I’m not quite sure if I want to start from the beginning again either, as this year 2 save is the farthest I’ve gotten this far, I just have totally forgotten where I am, what my goals where at the time and so on, I guess I will have to try again in some time, and see if I’m in a better Star dew mood.

On friday I did spend some time playing rhythm games Rift of the Necrodancer and Taiko no tatsujin They are games that I always enjoy playing a lot, but they always end up being a timewarp and suck, so it’s something that I can’t really dedicate myself to playing very often, It was a fun time though, but it also feels like most of my friday just evaporated as well, so it’s a mixed blessing.

I ended up playing some Patrick’s Parabox it’s a really quite fun sokoban mashup where you can push boxes into boxes and them into others again, which leads to some really mind bending puzzles, I was getting into it again after having done some Baba is you which I got a collegue to play a bit as well, Baba is fun, but it’s so much of a brain teaser to me that I don’t really manage to play more than a couple of levels at a time, it gets frustrating really fast when I try to play it, I think I’m not really good in thinking the way the game wants me to think in some times, and I’m too stubborn to look up answers for them, maybe I need to see if there is a site with gradual hints for it or something that I can try, to get a bit farther in, and stretch that muscle.

Through the week I did play some rounds of Hades, and as I’m getting to the harder difficulties it gets harder for me to enjoy the game as much again, the gameplay is not really something I enjoy that much, I enjoy everything else about the game, but the running around killing things is not as fun all the time, but at least I have passed the real need to win as much, now it’s mostly about gathering nectar, which always feels kind of stretched out, I got some of the plushies as well now, and I probably will dip back into it now and again, but I don’t think it will be my sole focus as it has been for a couple of weeks. It’s kind of nice to have something to jump into for a run or two, gathering some more nectar to make everyone my friend. It was really satisfying getting to the point at the end of the story, and how the whole vibe in the house of Hades changed, and it’s fun doing the decorating, which I normally don’t like in the games. So I will get back into it.

As I have done lately quite a bit the next game that gripped me was also one that I bought a couple of years ago, this time it’s Ori and the will of the whisps I really enjoyed the first one, and it was one that I actually played all the way through, it was a really fun platforming focused metroidvania, and that’s what was really kind of bummed me out with this one the last time I played it, it seems to have put a lot more focus on fighting enemies, I don’t feel like it’s something that Ori really needed. But the platforming is still fun, so this time I’m going into it with a bit different expectations, and I’m quite liking it this far, I have reached the same point where I jumped off the last time, and I’m still having fun, so I will see, maybe this time I will get to explore some new places. The platforming is still quite fun, and the fighting is decent, and the environments are lush and nice which is really nice. Now I just have to learn to stop being stubborn attacking really challenging platforming sequences before I have the tools, so that I don’t frustrate myself too much. There still are some amazing platforming sequences, and I really like the way that they make it feel like you’re really exploring places, which I feel this does better than things like Hollow knight ghasp.

Media

Slowly I’m getting through the christmas flow of stuff that I’ve been enjoying, and I think most of the recaps and best of lists for 2025 are done now, I’ve been mostly enjoying that a lot, and it’s always a fun time with a lot of stuff. My podcast queue is finally down to it’s normal 15 or so episodes that I have ready from having been almost up at 50 at the biggest time around new years. It’s been fun, but it seems like the dregs that I have left are more the stuff that are a bit harder to get into. It’s kind of back to the thing where I have a base enjoyment of the stuff, and then there is a surprise episode that just really hits, which is also really fun. I ended 2025 with having listened to 95 days and 15 hours of podcasts, or 1893 episodes, which is pretty crazy, well I’ve been for myself a lot this year, so I guess it’s how it is, I’m not thinking that I will top that in 2026, it would probably be better if I don’t.