Words On Wednesday

I hate new year's resolutions as a matter of principle, but I am overweight and unhealthy. That needs to change. If that coincides with the beginning of a new calendar year, so be it. I've expressed a lot of pessimism before about  new year's resolutions . It seems pointless to wait for a new year to begin if you're making a resolution to do something good, especially when most people who make resolutions over-promise and under-deliver. I *know* how flaky we are as human beings, so I *know* there isn't much point in making a resolution at all. Validity of new year's resolutions aside, I need to lose weight. I've struggled to maintain a healthy weight for most of my life. I was big as a kid. When my blood pressure tested high at the beginning of 10th grade when I was 315 lbs, I spent basically a full year drinking tons of water, eating healthy, walking about 4 miles every day, and playing an absurd amount of Dance Dance Revolution. By my junior year, I was d...

This month, I'm discussing a cocktail that isn't so much wintery in and of itself, but one that adopts a winter-themed variation. The peppermint White Russian is basically the cocktail interpretation of those little miniature candy canes you get from the mall Santa Claus. Recipe: 2 ounces vodka 1 ounce coffee-flavored liqueur 1 ounce heavy cream 1/2 ounce peppermint syrup The Gemini suggestion for December was critical: December Theme 1: Holiday Indulgence. The month for eggnog . Other options include rich, creamy drinks or cocktails with festive notes of gingerbread or peppermint. A Peppermint White Russian. Theme 2: Sparkling Celebrations. Bubbly drinks for New Year's Eve. A Cranberry Champagne Cocktail or a simple Prosecco with a twist. I've done a spin on eggnog before. I like gingerbread, but I wasn't sure what kind of cocktail would feature it. And the traditional bubbly drinks served at New Year's Eve parties are just not for me. I don...

After getting a Steam Deck and leaning more heavily into PC gaming, I've been really eager to see my Steam Replay for 2025 and get a more meta view on what I played this past year. While the Steam Replay doesn't span the entire calendar year (it registers everything you've played on Steam "between the first second of January 1 and the last second of December 14 (GMT)"), it covers enough of the year to get a good approximation. Plus, I didn't get my Steam Deck until April, so I was still mostly playing on my PlayStation 4 before then. I did play some games on Steam that would run on my Surface Pro 7, but the time after April is significantly more representative of all the games I played. In any case, this is the first year that Steam has taken the lion's share of my gaming time. The summary image that Steam provides for social media sharing is a good overview. I played 43 games (36 of which were new) across 1,652 sessions, earning 470 achievem...

With 2025 coming to a close, I wanted to look at the results for Game of the Year, specifically from Golden Joystick and The Game Awards. I watched both events, but I've included the lists of nominees and winners at the end for posterity.  In short, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 positively SWEPT the competition. It is the broke the record for the most wins at The Game Awards , a monumental achievement on its own. The team at Sandfall Interactive had to get their steps in, coming up on stage so frequently at both award shows. It was fairly accepted that Expedition 33 would win at least a few awards, including overall Game of the Year, but that level of success and accolades was frankly ridiculous. One of the more controversial awards that they received was Best Independent Game specifically from The Game Awards. Indie games have grown increasingly popular in recent years, and anyone with a good idea can build a successful game if they put in the effort and catch at least ...