Week 4: The Princess S(and)witch

I wrote a blog post for the first time in nearly 5 years, it was kind of spur of the moment and I enjoyed writing it. It’s about how I manage time spent on side projects. I think it could touch more on mental health and how having time to spend on side projects is a privilege, but maybe I can save that for a follow-up. You can read the post here

Charlotte bought a toastie maker. I ate 13 toasties this week. I thought I’d never want to see a slice of bread again, but once the weekend arrived I really fancied scrambled egg on toast so I guess I have a high bread tolerance

We started playing Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. I like it so far, there’s enough classic Crash but also a few nice new mechanics. “Platformer” is the only genre that Charlotte and I align on when it comes to video games, and I think that’s because she’s better at them than me

When I rebuilt my website, I finally ditched Google Analytics because it’s just super creepy how much they track and I don’t want to be part of that. I was fully intending on not measuring traffic to my site, but after a quick look into privacy-focused analytics I ended up trialling Fathom (note: this is an affiliate link).

I decided to stick with it after the free trial, I really like it! It’s so much simpler than Google Analytics and I feel good because it’s not logging anything personally identifiable but I still get a rough idea of how my site’s doing

I started trying to play Dungeons and Dragons again in one of the groups I’m the Dungeon Master for (online via Discord). I love creating non-player characters, working out their background, and developing them over the course of a game. It’s very easy (especially when you’re setting a game in a mostly western Europe-inspired world) to end up with these characters being white by default and quite homogenous, so a couple of years ago I started making a concerted effort to include a more diverse cast of characters in my games.

That’s when I discovered this amazing blog for writers: Writing With Color. It’s enormously in-depth and has helped me to write characters and world history that avoid common tropes and stereotypes. You should absolutely have a look at this site if you’re doing any kind of creative writing, and consider donating to help keep it running

On Saturday we had a viewing party for The Princess Switch: Switched Again. I love The Princess Switch (treat yourself to a watch if you haven’t seen it), and it’d be really tough for the sequel to live up to the hype, but I think it was good! There was a lot more adversity and mild peril in the plot than the original, and I’m not sure about the recasting of Olivia, but I’d watch this film again. Realistically over December, I expect to watch it 3–4 more times, and then maybe I’ll come back with a more in-depth review

I had a snowball-in-a-can on a whim and it was delicious, I should buy some advocaat

I really need to eat some vegetables after toastie week