all made up with nowhere to go

Last night, not for the first time, I dreamt that the Xenomorph from Alien was really real and it was in my house.

I don't know why I've started having this as a nightmare, because it's not like I've watched anyone play Alien Isolation, or any of the films, because I know already that the Xenomorph scares me, so I avoid it.

So I woke up with my heart pounding, and laid there, terrified. As you do. Eventually I fell back asleep, but you can bet it took me some convincing that actually I'd imagined all that.

~

Anyway, it was my birthday yesterday! I spent it under a woollen blanket in my living room, being toasty warm, with the cat sat on me while I alternately played Tactics Advance (in German™) and watched stuff on youtube. Which wasn't too different from a usual day, except for the blanket, and telling myself not to stress about stuff like chores and that.

(I honestly do not know why I didn't think about the wool blanket before, because yesterday was the warmest I'd been all winter, and I didn't have the heating turned up any higher than usual).

This year was definitely an improvement on the last two birthdays. Last year, I spent way too much time stressing about town flooding (which it did, and was nothing I could have done anything about anyway). And the year before I was running on very little sleep and spent most of the day crying, thinking everybody hated me. But yesterday was just chill, and it was sunny for most of the day, so it was just really nice.

(Also Outside Xbox uploaded a Hitman 3 Three Ways to Play video, so that was awesome. Hitmans? On my birthday? It's more likely than you'd think!)

~

Finally, Aoife streamed Abzu on this Monday just gone and, while it's not quite as chill as Journey, it is full of fish! All sorts of fish! It's like swimming in an aquarium!
(Though you may not want to watch it if you are afraid of deep water, because there's a few bits featuring the Bottomless Ocean™ and it's mildly unpleasant, even if it isn't real. Also if you are afraid of whales, you might want to give it a miss).

Anyway, I thought it was pretty neat, so I thought I'd share with y'all :)

This week, I have been mostly ill!

I did my last day of work for the year on the 23rd, and I don't go back until the 3rd of January. I was already feeling a bit wonky due to not a lot of sleep, and then, as is customary, I got sick on Boxing Day! \o/

(Me and mum ended up, years ago, saying that it wasn't really Xmas unless we were both ill, so...happy Xmas to me, I guess!)

The weirdest part is that I don't actually feel that ill, but I must be, because two nights in a row now I've slept over ten hours, and my sinuses feel gross. Additionally, I went to Burnley to spend Xmas money and felt fine while I was out, but then not great again the next day. And I have been having ALL THE FEVER DREAMS! Twice I dreamt about Hitman, because I've been watching the Outside Xbox team play it, and last night I dreamt about the end of the most recent Star Wars film, wherein Rey, Kylo Ren, and Yoda's force ghost went for pizza. I am pretty sure this is not how the actual film ends.

~

I went up to my brother and sister in law's for Xmas day, and they fed me. They had also invited friends over, which was a change from last year. My bad tooth started giving me aggro while I was eating, though, so that was fun! (I did really want to eat all the food I'd been given but it was a battle).

After my nephew went to bed, my sister in law started making one of the not-Lego sets he'd been given (I think she does this so she can help him out if needed), and I helped her find the pieces, and I had fun! I think making a Lego set is like doing a jigsaw puzzle, in that it's a bit of a challenge, but it's also kind of soothing, and it's an accomplishment when you get it right.

I didn't get any physical presents - I was given Tesco vouchers, and I gave them money. I went to Tesco the day after Boxing Day to find vidya and pokemon plushes, but didn't find either (well, I did find vidya, but there was nothing I wanted immediately). I discovered that Tesco sells sterling silver jewellery and it's really nice/not expensive, so I might go back and get some, IF I can decide what I want.

What I did end up buying was: two notebooks that were on sale; two sets of Zebra metallic gel pens; a set of postcards (also on sale); some iridescent nail stickers; some iridescent fake tattoos; a pencil case with stars on (also sale); and a new bathmat, because I'm actually a boring adult ;)

I have a plan for the one notebook. I decided a bit back that I would make more of an effort in the coming year to write coherently about games. So this notebook is for that, in that I'm going to make notes in it, and probably draft out posts in it, too.

(I mean, not that I needed a new notebook for that, I have plenty of notebooks already that I could've used, but at least I bought it with a purpose in mind? Unlike the other one which I just got because it was in the sale and had a fox on the front of it).

Anyway, I managed to spend bang on twenty quid which, as the cashier who served me pointed out, I couldn't have done if I'd tried. (I really couldn't; I did try keeping track of how much everything cost, but between my brain being mush, and being overwhelmed in general, it didn't happen).

I also bought some cheap Xmas chocolate, and the first Witcher book, but that was not with my vouchers.