Hello,

I was fooling around with ChatGPT recently and asked it to describe who I am. The result was surprisingly interesting, so I thought I’d share it. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what to write today. Writer’s block has been hanging around for a while.

I know I’ve been pretty quiet over the past several months. A lot of that time has been spent unpacking emotions and working through things I needed to process. I found myself constantly writing about one negative thing after another, and eventually I asked myself, “Who really wants to read that all the time?” So I stepped away for a bit and gave myself some grace. I needed time to acknowledge my pain, my hurt, and my anger. I’m not completely finished with that journey, but I’ve made progress. One thing I’ve noticed is that my outlook has shifted, and I’m genuinely happy about that.

My health continues to be a bit of a mystery. A couple of weeks ago, I ended up in the ER. The good news is that the doctors were able to rule out the things everyone was most concerned about. The less-good news is that nobody really knows what caused the issue. I don’t have any pain, which is fortunate, but I do have swelling that hasn’t gone away. It has remained pretty much the same since it started. I know that sounds strange, but for now there’s not much I can do except continue monitoring it and following up as needed.

Outside of that, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time playing Palia, and I’m honestly having a blast. The game recently released a new area called Royal Highlands, along with several new features, including horses. I’ve had far too much fun naming my horses after characters from Supernatural and matching their names to their appearance and personality. A small update yesterday also added the ability to ride Riffrocs. I haven’t had a chance to dive into that storyline yet, but I’m hoping to get to it today or tomorrow, depending on what life decides to throw my way.

I’ve also branched out and tried a few other games. House Flipper has been surprisingly fun and has a magical ability to make entire afternoons disappear without warning. The game itself isn’t new, but it was new to me. It took some confidence to step outside my comfort zone and try something different.

I’ve also played a few games with one of my children, and one comment I kept hearing was, “You did really good. You did better than I thought.” I won’t lie, that made me pretty proud. It took a lot of practice getting comfortable with a keyboard and mouse since I grew up playing with controllers, but it’s nice to see that effort paying off.

These days, I’m even getting invited to play games like Mario Kart 8 and Fall Guys with streamers. I warned them long ago that I wasn’t exactly a gaming powerhouse, but the more I play, the more improvement I see. Recently, I’ve started catching up to some of the streamers, and viewers have actually commented, “Hey, Amanda is getting better!” Those little moments make me smile more than they probably realize.

When I’m not gaming, I’ve been catching up on a few TV shows. Recently, I’ve watched M.I.A., Found, and even revisited Emerald City to refresh my memory. I’ve enjoyed all of them and found myself looking forward to the next episode whenever I had some downtime. I was especially disappointed to learn that Found was canceled and won’t be returning for a third season. It felt like there was still so much more story left to tell. As for M.I.A., I’ll keep my review simple: badass. Sometimes one word says it all.

Before I wrap this up, I have a favor to ask. If there’s a word, topic, or random thought you’d love to see me turn into a blog post, drop it in the comments. Writer’s block has been camping out in my head lately, and I’d love some inspiration. Two brains are better than one, and a whole comment section full of brains sounds even better.

Before you go, don’t forget to give your loved ones a hug and remind them how much they mean to you. Thank you for choosing to spend a few minutes reading my blog. I appreciate every one of you.

Until next time.