I have done a lot of creative and productive work lately: started a new manuscript, prepared a revised manuscript to send to an editor, cleaned up some web stuff, started cleaning up the house. Things are at a point where I feel I must find something fun and useless to do before I accidentally burn out.
It has happened before. I justify a habit of working and working because I actually like my work nowadays (except for some parts of it). I gave up a lot to steer my career this way because it felt worth it, and it doesn’t stress me out in the same ways my old career used to.
I’m thinking a new game might be fun. I tried going back to Starbound, which I haven’t played in years, only to remember why I stopped playing it in the first place. It’s a lovely game but all the things I would do there are things I’d rather do in real life. Err, as in exploring and decorating, not sprinting off mountains and dying.
My partner and I went for a short hike in a National park this weekend. We brought a bunch of snacks, loads of water, and a field guide to local birds and played the nature-spotting game. It felt oodles more exciting than catching Pokémon or playing Minecraft (the latter of which we also have enjoyed somewhat recently) especially now that the weather is getting warm.
So I’m thinking of the kinds of games I sometimes crave and how things in meatspace might scratch that itch. My partner is playing Hardspace Shipbreaker which strikes me as like sci-fi Trash Panic with a story. A trash disposal/salvage game does sound intriguing.
I’ve been trying to learn more about permacomputing, and recently learned how to “salvage” a slow old laptop by turning it into a snappy Linux machine. Maybe this new game craving is a nudge to pick up another old device and have a play. It’s not a useless pastime, but it should be good fun.
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