So I fell down this rabbit hole…

I wouldn’t normally call myself an obsessive personality, but I do occasionally get a little hyper-focused on something that appeals to me for whatever reason.  A TV show that resonates, a foodstuff that meets some mysterious physiological need (apples and peanut better are a cyclical favorite), a genre of fiction that I suddenly need to devour.

But generally, I’d call myself a curious plodder, or maybe a dabbler.  Open minded to a degree, but mostly even-keeled.  Which is why the last couple of months have taken me by surprise, because I have become obsessed with a board game.

In my last random, non-book post, I mentioned Wingspan.  It’s an engine building game with an ornithological theme.  It’s all about building out bird habitats, which sounds so boring I’m impressed you made it to the end of this sentence.  But oddly, it’s not.  It’s a compulsively playable, gorgeous, game – so much so that I’ve bought both available expansion card sets (they plan on one for each continent) and upgraded to a wooden dice roller and storage set.  I have been thoroughly sucked in.  And not just me; MT has, to my astonishment, been just as thoroughly sucked in.  So much so that he’s starting to recognise and identify birds we see out on our weekly hikes.  We play at least once a day, and often twice (games last about 45 minutes); it’s turned out to be a great way to relax and de-stress, which has become more important than ever in these crazy days.  I’m still a little confounded by its ability to captivate me, since the last game I bought and played with enthusiasm is Scrabble, but it’s been a lifesaver, so I’m embracing it.

I’ve still been reading and up until last week, still thoroughly on my non-fiction streak.  Lately, I’ve been weaving in fiction re-reads from my adolescent years, and just yesterday, picked up a Seanan McGuire for a re-read.  For the first time all year, I’m thinking about buying books again, curious about new titles for the first time in recent memory.

In retrospect, it’s obvious that I needed to unplug and remove myself as much as possible from humanity.  People were – are – stressing me out in a myriad number of ways and, as I was getting dangerously close to taking a flamethrower to most of my interpersonal relationships, both online* and in real-life, unplugging and distancing myself was probably a wiser move.  I’m still not sure I’m ready to mix and mingle, but I was delighted when I woke up this morning and felt like sitting down to enter my read books and writing up a post or two.  That hasn’t happened in a long time.  So, Yay!

• Nobody specific, just an accumulation of frustration and fed-upped-ness with the general stupidity of online discourse in light of recent (read: the past several years) events.

Hopefully everyone has been doing well and enjoyed their holidays.