Potentially weekly check-in

Wordle 952 4/6

🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Hobbies

Warcraft

Tuesday I started the Warcraft week with only two +20 dungeons left, so I focused on it more than is ideal, and after several hours and four groups (the first one succeeded, the second completed the dungeon over the timer, and the third fell apart before starting), I got them both done. Cool. I have officially achieved all in-game rewards I could possibly care about for this season.

This is unusual. For years now, I'd go through a cycle in my Warcraft-playing pattern. Early in a patch/expansion, I'd play my main character heavily, splitting my time roughly evenly between "competitive" stuff (raids, dungeons, etc.) and "casual" stuff (quests, gold-making, collecting transmogs, etc.) Those competitive goals are seasonal. For me, the endgame has been Ahead of the Curve (clearing the Heroic raid) and Keystone Master (a score of 2000 in dungeons; roughly doing them all on 13-14). Neither one is the highest in-game achievement possible in their respective areas, but they're close and they seemed more than challenging enough to me. Once I achieved those, I'd play alts more than my main for purely fun stuff and less overall.

But not this time. This time I got Keystone Master earlier than ever, and sort of cheated on Ahead of the Curve. Dungeons are widely agreed to be easier than usual, so completing them at +20, truly the highest in-game achievement possible for dungeons was attainable to me. Numbers scale indefinitely but from this point on it's just about bragging rights. As of Tuesday afternoon, I was truly be done with the season. Maxed out rewards. Nothing left to strive for. I still might not have the legendary, but at the moment everyone online seems to agree that it's so lackluster, and getting it is definitely luck-dependent, that I think I'll be OK without it. 

So Tuesday night I went to bed, optimistic I'd find myself playing less naturally since I had achieved my "main" goals and then some. I felt good about it.

Reading

Soon after finishing Starter Villain, I started Anansi Boys. I'm doing it more out of completionism or stubbornness than actual enjoyment. It's too early in the book to say it's bad, but it's slow to start and twee in a way I wouldn't go out of my way to enjoy. 

So why do I feel an obligation to read it? To help declutter. (Maybe I should have a tag for this, it occupies so much of my thought.) In addition to generally getting more space in the house and using it better, we're planning to renovate in the next two years, which will basically require moving twice. The less we have to pack and tote, the better. Anansi Boys is one of many books around the house I've never read, and T. hasn't finished it either. I'd feel bad either keeping it and never reading it, or giving it away unused. Not sure the second thing is rational, but there it is. 

I've also been decluttering by taking books to nearby Little Free Library. When we move, I'm almost spitefully looking forward to putting my books in a limited number of boxes and telling T. that culling, packing, and lifting the rest is her problem. 

Good and Bad Days

Over the weekend we ran several errands, me driving because there's snow in the general area of course. We also went to see Frozen at the Kennedy Center, so that was cool, pun intended. I can't be exact about the errands because I'm not doing this on a day-to-day basis any more, but there's probably nothing wrong with that.

Monday and Tuesday were average or below average, except as discussed above. 

Wednesday was pretty good. I got stuff done at work and even at home a bit. Maybe not as much stuff as I should have, or not the right stuff, but the trend was in the right direction.

Thursday was a waste. No exercise. Not very productive at work. Not even in Warcraft, despite spending  a lot of time playing. (So much for those hopes Tuesday.) I did a set of races - casual and collectible, fair enough, and limited-time - but got sidetracked a lot. I also tried to raid a bit to get another chance at the legendary, and failed a lot. I underperformed as DPS and got complaints about my tanking. Raiding in PUGs on this character isn't fun and I'm bad at it. So why am I spending so much time on it?

That's a depressive way of thinking. Persistence theoretically leads to improvement. But the fact remains that it's bad for both my productivity and mental health. I really should limit time in the game. I've tried various resolutions and not stuck with them (although this week has been a return to the Wednesday and Friday blackout days, for what it's worth). And some kind of hours-per-day limit might be more effective with the right details or mindset.

Friday, in addition to not playing Warcraft, I was also good at work and got exercise. Good for me.