I thought it was worth a general update kind of post to catch up with myself and work out where I am and what’s going on next! I’ve been somewhat AWOL for a few weeks and I want to consolidate what’s been going on and what I’ve achieved. Work, life, family, pets, chores, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, being a carer. All things that ‘get in the way’ of being crafty, stitching, gaming and writing. Albeit some are more pleasurable distractions than others (I don’t begrudge spending time with the family and the pets… honest!)!
The last week or two has seen me trying to juggle new ways of managing pain and fibro and kicking off what’s known as a flare by doing it. Flaring is a what it sounds like; although when just typing that, I got an image in my head of Rick Flair ‘whoooo’ing from the days when my mum and I used to watch WWE Wrestling together. So more accurately flaring is symptoms all coming on at once, intensely and being bastards about it. It can last for hours, days, weeks, months or years. You can have them occasionally or frequently, back to back if you’re lucky! When I got diagnosed, the Professor thought I’d been in a constant or rolling flare for over a year; which does explain why I felt so bad all the time. Flaring for me is usually in the form of no energy, a decent amount of pain and cramps mainly in my hands, feet and legs. I also walk like I’ve not ridden a horse for a long time and just got off one. FYI -I haven’t rode a horse for a while, but I do miss it.
It can be pretty difficult to focus outside of a flare bubble. I sometimes get peaks and troughs, so in a trough if my hands are good I’ll try to game or stitch depending on if my brain and hands are cooperating. Here’s what I’ve managed to achieve though while trying to ride things out:
Gaming
If you don’t know by now, as well as loving all things roguey and AAA titles, I have an affinity to what some people would consider as ‘shit’ games. This could be things that fall into the categories of kids games, indie titles, games with terrible controls, horrible grinds and all-round badly made trash. It’s not that I think they’re terrible (some are to be fair) just that’s what they could be judged as. The latest random game I picked up to play was Little Dragon Cafe on PS4. I loved the Harvest Moon series and this was linked to that which is why I wanted to give it a go. I won’t lie, it got a bit tedious and samey towards the end of the main campaign but I finally finished it last week. I’m now on trophy mop up to try and get the platinum which might take a while.
I’ve finally set myself up with a PSN Profiles account which shows an appalling percentage completion overall. I’m definitely going to work on this (she says confidently); I think I could reconcile with a number in the 80s. There are some things that will never get platinumed – we tried to play Ark and Don’t Starve Together and were frankly terrible at them!
I’ve also spent some time sorting out my XBOX account. I lapsed my Xbox LIVE Gold years ago so I’ve sorted out GamePass and I’m back in action. That is to the point I’m now paying for a service again and I’ve downloaded a few games. I used to love my XBOX 360 but for the next gen I bought both PS4 and XBOX One and I fell out of love with the XBOX. I think the very first interface properly put me off and I’ve never really gone back to it since. I need to rediscover my love again, although, most of the back catalogue of shame is on PS4 (a story for a different time). I need a gamertag account like PSN Profiles for XBOX, I’m not sure who to use though – if you have a recommendation please let me know.
Crafting/Stitching
I’ve been able to make some progress albeit it slow. I finished my second Pokemon ‘Home Sweet Home’. As the Instagram post says, this is going to live at another sweet home as it’s a gift for a friend. No reason, I had extra fabric and threads, he saw what I was doing for our office and liked it so now he has one for himself.
I’ve made a new start – rather than finishing something that’s already started and put in the box of doom for years. It’s a bigger piece that the Pokemon one but it’s not as huge as the next one I’m starting. I post stitching progress updates on my Instagram account (@craftyroguegamer); the starting point is up on there but I’ll get some progress photos in another post here.
Everything Else
Not to bleat on about having fibromyalgia but one of the things it makes it hard to do for me is exercise or just move about in general. Getting a puppy has helped with that and I wouldn’t deprive him of walks because I feel rubbish. However, I did used to be a gym bunny though and not being able to exercise like I used to really took its toll mentally and physically. I’ve been looking for ways to push myself but not push myself right into a flare from exercising (been there, done that several times, paid dearly for it each time). I came across online challenges for undertaking exercise over a certain distance and then getting a medal at the end. After researching various websites to bribe myself into walking more by getting a medal to flash about at the end of it; I settled with The Conqueror Events – Hadrian’s Wall Challenge. I’ve always loved history and that’s what most of my degree work was in so it seemed to tie in nicely with my interests. After stumping up £24.95 for the enrolment and medal package I downloaded the app and we got cracking. It took 8 weeks but on May 30th we finally completed it. You record your distance each day in the app and it calculated distance and time remaining. You could also track your progress along the route and see where you are on street view. I was really excited about this, but to be honest it was a bit underwhelming. I don’t know if it’s because everyone in lockdown had the same idea but it took a long time to load and the view where I am at street level feature didn’t always work. Anyway, it didn’t impede on the experience so much that I won’t do it again. After payday and after work chaos has subsided we’re going to continue the historical theme and do the much shorter Inca Trail Challenge which also has a cool medal.
I’ve got lots of plans and ideas spinning around in my head for various other things (as usual) from hair colour to designing my own cross-stitch patterns to taking some more courses. The trouble is, with the exception of hair dying they all detract massively from hobbies! I’m trying to just enjoy what I can do at the moment and not add anything extra to the days but it’s hard as I feel more creative and ready to learn that I have done in years. Must curb the new stuff thoughts and concentrate on the back catalogue of game shame and the stitching… bad thoughts keep creeping in though!!
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