Where Possum Was and Where She Hopes to Go From Here (tl;dr I’m back)

I feel like I owe the readers of this website some explanations on why I was putting out outstanding content, all but disappeared for two months and then returned to put out content again.

I debated putting out the whole story but ultimately decided against it. If you follow me on Twitter, you've heard bits and pieces but the tl;dr is right after I took my hiatus from writing for Christmas and my birthday my life just…fell apart in every conceivable way. Between my years-long struggles with mental illness, (I'm type 1 Bipolar among other things), an online shopping addiction that I've been struggling to curb, and two shitty months of nonstop bad things all came to a head when I became the target of some honestly quite mild but still traumatic workplace harassment. Tada, I hit rock bottom.

I'll spare you the complete story. What they say is true, rock bottom looks different to everyone, and you know when you’ve stared at it. Mine looked like being alone in the ER at 2 am, dry heaving as a side effect from pain meds, and listening to the angry psychotic person next to me. In those eight hours, I reevaluated a lot of things.

Fast forward to now. I've had a medication adjustment, am getting loads of therapy, and honestly breaking away from bad habits. Part of that is cutting back on how much I work and abstaining from online shopping, things that filled hours of my life. I'm healing and reconnecting with things that give me joy. (In a side note, I recommend SMART recovery. I finally started attending some meetings after being on the cusp of it)

Overall, I've been reconnecting with things that make me happy. I've been watching anime (that Bocchi is pretty good) and playing video games. I've been experimenting with writing, such as that little Nuzlocke thing. I've also realized that as much as I enjoy chronicling video games I loathe writing about anime.

That’s the past and present. What about the future? My dream is to make The Geekly Grind a unique place in the indie game industry and be a place that loves and supports indie devs. Whether that's realistic, I can't say! Let's just experiment for the next few months and see! And if it fails, it fails.

Here at my goals for things to work on in the next few months

Biweekly Wishlist Wednesday on Wednesdays

Biweekly Demo Day highlighting currently available demos on alternating Wednesday

Indie game demo or early access reviews WHEN ABLE. I am the Possum Princess of Previews! Devs have been nice enough to ask that I play their games and I need to honor that.

Weekly Nuzlocke Updates on Friday

Adding audio for my posts for accessibility.(Which was supposed to happen in January OOOPS)

And honestly, while I don't want to spread myself thin I'd like to do a super special experimental silly thing and do a monthly fantasy or science fiction romance novel\novella review. That's a BIG maybe though.

For now though, one step at a time. I going to dedicate some time a day to writing and see where it goes. I’d like to give a shoutout to everyone who’s supported me, especially the people at The Geekly Grind who have been very understanding, all things considered.

(Real talk, though! I'm not going to promise that I won't miss deadlines or sometimes have to take a week off.)

That's a wrap. I don't really know how to end this. Have the picture I posted of my cat Squig on Twitter. (btw you can follow me @Pumpkaboocoffee)