How are you holding up? It’s a crazy time out there and current WoW content is pretty bad, so I know everybody’s stressed to heck. If you wanna vent a little, go for it, just try not to get yourself banned.
I’ve been leveling a bunch of alts, really enjoying this exp buff, and also taking the opportunity to do old rep content on my main. I’m at 83 exalted reps so it’s gonna be a while yet before I get that sweet shiny unicorn, but it’s feasibly within my grasp!
Also did some RP the other night, for the first time in basically forever. That was fun. Not sure I wanna dive back into it full-time like I once did but it was a pleasant diversion for an evening.
I’ve been doing fine. Between Classic and Shadow of the Forest I’ve found stuff to entertain me during my extended quarantine unemployment time. I have actually been really enjoying Classic and I have a few things on my bucket list to complete as I probably play that game full time. It makes me kinda sad to be moving away from the regular game but the gameplay just isn’t what I like from a game.
I’ll stick around for RP and storylines and I’ll likely play through Shadowlands but unless that draws me back in I won’t be returning to the PvE or PvP aspects of the game for the considerable future. And I like that choice.
I know that feel, I live with the bipolar and the combination of quarantine and, y’know (gestures broadly at everything) sent me into such a bad spin I’ve had to take time off work. Fortunately my work is creative in nature and my audience are super supportive; I’ve been lucky.
Remember, you’re not a bad person for feeling bad in bad times. The brain gremlins are lying to you. Don’t be ashamed to do whatever you gotta to take care of yourself.
It’s incredibly tough. I’ve got a special needs daughter and sadly, this was her first year she was able to cope with going to school for a full day in a general setting classroom. It wasn’t always easy, but she was so proud of herself for being with the general ed kids and was making friends and having fun.
Thanks Covid19.
All the stuff we had planned for the summer-- the big state faire, some carnivals, trip to the zoo, daily trips to the playground and splash pad, etc? Well, none of that happened, but the kiddo did learn how to catch bluegill so that was fun at least.
Oh, and her weekly therapy has been reduced to a phone call once a month because of the pandemic.
So yeah, on TOP of all the usual worries about the state of the country, my kiddo is lonely, bored, losing some ground because of lost socialization and therapy…
2020 can just be done now. Not one single thing about it has been good.
With the current pandemic situation not getting better for the foreseeable future I’ve had to put school on hold. Just isn’t safe to go back to another state and no way am I paying full tuition for online classes. Kinda bummed but it is what it is. Adding it to my list of “fun and normal things I’d had planned for this year”.
Also been dealing with loneliness and anxiety issues. I’m more of an extroverted person and I practically feed off of social interaction so with not getting to see people it’s been a bit rough. Combine that with the state of the country and an uncertain future? Yeah it’s been kinda rough but I’m coping.
Otherwise, it hasn’t been all bad. Not getting cut from my job entirely was really nice though still had to take a bit of a paycut. This whole situation has allowed me to actually start RPing again, and finally go through the process of leveling up more alts. I’ve also started to go full mount and achievement hunter mode as its just something I find relaxing.
All in all, 2020 has been challenging but hopefully I can make it.
I’m well. In game, mostly focused on gold which is going well. I found a cool guild A-side, got some new Alliance characters (including Cef, a Void Elf Sef for WrA!) and am looking forward to SL.
IRL, looking for a new job and I may have snagged one, but it will be a fairly big life shake up. It’s only a 12-month gig but it’s quite a distance from my home, so I’d likely split my time. To that end, renting a room somewhere and being apart from my partner for part of the week but… we both decided it’s worth it, life changer in terms of breaking into a very lucrative sector that will affect the rest of my career in this country. We’ll see, though. There’s still the negotiation phase :0
I’ve tried to make the most of working remotely. No commute = no stressful drives through thick fog. Playing lots of music throughout the day when I take breaks instead of that wasteful ‘water cooler’ time. Had some gigs lined up before COVID-19 hit so I’m just arranging a good set list.
The music from Stonefire Tavern is one of my few covers. Feel like all the practice from being at home has really paid off because I initially picked it up from memory and did a pretty good job of it.
At the same time, it does get stir crazy. Eventually, though, this will be over and the world will be more adept at handling the next issue (I hope).
Visited my sister recently and she had an unexpected friend of hers pop up. I got home and she messages me saying that one of her friends coworkers was positive for covid. They tested negative, but that has essentially killed my mood for seeing my sister for a bit.
Trying to figure out if I’m ready to commit to a guild or not. It’s not something I want to jump in, get things going, and then not do anything. Been debating on making a recruitment post for a pretty long time now.
Also trying to decide if a community would better suite the needs of the theme of my guild so that folks don’t need to leave their current guilds to participate in.
Been thinking about what motivations I want to have in SLs. Am I going to do Heroic raiding? Am I going to get back into PvP? Am I going to go all in with RP coordination? Do I want to put more effort into the Alliance or Horde? Do I want to do a Guild for any of this or do I want to be a longer again? Can I really afford being a loner in WoW for another expansion?
Being unable to interact with people as often as I used to is making me stir-crazy. Went to interact with some online groups I used to know years ago, but then quickly realized we’d already long since drifted apart. Not a rude awakening, since I expected little else, but disappointing that I wasn’t pleasantly surprised.
And then I found my passion after eleven years of searching. I found something I love that I can put my all into. Coding. Games. And I can learn it all without being up to my eyeballs in debt, and I can learn the more advanced techniques from my father.
In fact, I told him about what I got into and he lit up, like he heard I was going to take up the family business or something. Which… in a sense, I kind of am.
Lose connections in one place, strengthen connections in another. I wouldn’t call it zero sum-- just tidying things up in my life so I know I have room for more. Something profound like that, I guess.
Don’t take this as a cry for help and I’m also probably going to fall asleep soon and stop responding but as long as I’m being honest I don’t think a day has gone by for the last month and a half where the notion of taking the long sleep hasn’t popped into my head.
Depression and anxiety and I have come to a very formal, businesslike arrangement and so in the same way people say they’ve made plans to run away to Canada if things get bad there’s always this sort of “Well, and I guess I could always just end it” ‘Plan Z’ at the end of everything I do for the day. I’ve gone literal thousands of days ignoring it though, or never even getting beyond what “Plan B” was let alone the rest of the alphabetical rainbow to get to Z.
It’s very hard to explain when it’s all chemical in nature, innit? Things aren’t ideal but they aren’t bad but still I have this unwelcome guest every day of my life that just hangs out in the corner of the room waiting. The house gets nicer around it but it never seems to leave. This most recent wrinkle of it being louder is just that I’m in a negative feedback loop of sorts - I can’t sleep so I’m fatigued, I’m fatigued so my nerve pain disorder flares up and I spend most of the day in constant nagging pain, so I can’t sleep because I hurt, Q.E.D.
It gets better though. And I’m not just saying that to me, I’m saying that to anyone else who needs to hear it.
Slowly realizing I never should have deleted my Interface folder two years ago.
Caught up with most of the BFA content in like two days on Serph. Ghaoithe is stuck in a crazy maze of questlogs that jump me like five places forward in the story from where she should be. Rep grinds are still bad. Daze also still bad.
Other than that, things are ok. Plucking away at a few stories. Playing more guitar. Enjoying the waves of summer storms that have been rolling over us. Laughing at how bad the MLB has handled their “season” and its inevitable second shutdown. Trying to figure out what to do with my new degree in the face of everything going on right now.
My state’s governor punted schooling decisions to the individual districts, so we’ll find out what’s happening on Monday. I’m prepared to take whatever remote option will be on offer, because my kid’s sensory issues make long-term mask wearing basically impossible.
They don’t pay teachers nearly enough for this nonsense.
Anyway, I’d dearly like to find an RP guild and get back into the swing of things, but the long list of expansion lull projects always seems to take up all my gaming time. Having frivolous problems is nice.
I am doing pretty well other than a light bout of insomnia atm. It’s my fault for napping earlier.
Lost most of my quarantine Ben & Jerry’s-every-day-weight so that feels good.
I really want to play WoW but I’m bored of 8.3. It’s a crummy feeling. I’m picking away at some things in-game though, but there’s not really a lot to engage me for longer sessions. Been playing a bit of Stellaris and today I - Oh God - reinstalled League of Legends…
I’m sick of a lot of awful crap on the news and online, and negativity everywhere and division and hostility. So I have retreated quite a bit from many many old online circles.
I have started studying up an old passion of mine, a passion I put on hold due to an ex wife drilling in my head that I need to let it go and grow up. That I had no chance of making it.
I am starting to study music again. Healing music, inspirational music, cultural music all forms of music. Music that doubles as magic and medicine.
Shout out to my gal for prodding me to reach back up for those stars. And to attain an old dream. I hope someday my music will be out there across the world helping people everywhere with whatever they listen to it for.
I’m sick of the crap in the world. I want to spread something positive because right now there isn’t enough positivity to go around.
My daughter’s first birthday today so that’s been a really fun thing to celebrate with her. We decided with the first birthday it’d just be the three of us, no extended family whatsoever - they’re coming to visit tomorrow. We just wanted a day together as a little family so that’s been really nice.
I’ve been somewhat thrown by Soljeron/Timari accusing me of child grooming earlier, on this thread’s namesake (all because I defended a guy named Necromar a while back, who once was in a guild with a known server creep.) So… not gonna lie that had me scared. The allegations are obviously false, but I was worried for my guild, and for my own reputation. The people who post here are great people though, and got behind me pretty quickly, which I really appreciated. So today I’ve felt happiness, fear, and love all in one, which has been a rollercoaster emotionally
Other than today though I think I’m going okay… though I’m starting to worry I’m taking on too many responsibilities. Extra responsibilities at work (I’m being trained up for a promotion), coupled with parenting, guild leading, and everything else… is starting to get overwhelming for me. It’s been manifesting as stress for some time but now there’s starting to be physical symptoms of said stress… so I’m worried if I don’t ease off a bit I could be on the road to a nervous breakdown . I guess we’ll see, but for now I don’t know what to do.
All in all with everything going on I feel extremely fortunate.
My daughter (3.5 yr) is doing real well and my wife and I are in a comfortable enough spot where she can stay home and care for the little one, we have enough space outside so Gabs can run around and have fun without us worrying too much.
My in laws are two doors down so Gabs gets to see them a lot and my parents are thankfully able to visit every 2 or so weeks.
Still feeling squashed. Little enthusiasm for anything. I keep poking away at a story for a reformed fan club.
I managed to make enough gold to buy another token for time, so I don’t have to pay with real money until January. I actually dipped into Classic for a little while, after.
Just wanna pop back into my thread to point out to everybody how many of the responses here have talked about folks feeling dispirited, depressed, afraid and generally down.
If y’all are anything like me, feeling like that can make you feel almost defective; we tend to blame ourselves for failing to measure up to some standard. I just want you to look around at this and be reassured that no, it is not you. You are just fine, you magnificent shining diamond, you. The world is a dumpster fire right now and it’d be strange if you weren’t depressed by it.
Try to keep your chin up, and remember it’s not your fault. Things will change and you’ll have room to be okay again.
Not having a gym means I’ve kinda slipped on my overall fitness goals, but all things considered, I’ve only really gained 5-6 lbs. at most and have still tried to stay active with cardiovascular and calisthenic activities.
Also, not having regular work really sucks. With my sports broadcasting prospects on the proverbial shelf while leagues and teams work through bubbles and vulnerable frameworks (looking at you, MLB…), I’ve been refocusing myself into my art and, to some degree, my writing. I’ve actually made some great headway in my artistic endeavors. I can actually draw hands! And feet! Especially with TOES!
In the meanwhile, I’ve been saving what I can from my unemployment benefits and limited work dates to get me through any rough patches, paying out my rent, and counting my blessings.
. I guess we’ll see, but for now I don’t know what to do.