Thoughts on the 8 New Games I Played Over Christmas

So I got to play a lot of new games over Christmas time and it was fantastic and I wanted to give my some of my thoughts about them. I'll rank them at the end or something probably. I have a lot of games to go through so probably won't go suuuper in depth or anything.

1. Cat in the Box

Eric and Becky both got a copy of this. Absolutely stellar trick-taking game where you decide what color your cards are as you play them down. Definitely one of my favorite games I played over this Christmas and now definitely amongst my favorite trick-taking games ever.

Ben and I do question if it legitimately has legs or not. For now, it's still golden, though.

2. Scout

Joseph and I both got a copy of this. Another stellar trick-taking game; this time around you can't organize your hand. I think I prefer Cat in the Box, but they definitely feel different enough that you don't really need to compare them.

3. Dead Reckoning

Eric got this a while ago, but we played it for the first time this Christmas. Had tons of fun with this card-crafting, exploration, pirate game. There's still a lot to dig into here replayability-wise, and I'm excited to do so. I'm afraid of too much "take that" in games, but I think this hit the balance well.

4. Alice's Garden

Becky gave this to Aunt Kathy. This was a huge hit this Christmas, with Uncle Gary notably playing it a ton. He even, after a game of spades, whipped it out and taught Uncle Alan how to play. Kind of legendary.

It's a fun point-salad, tetris-like, drafting game. Definitely had fun with it and would play again. Mildly concerned about balancing, but it hasn't ruined the experience (yet). A fun game practically anyone could get into.

5. Trekking through History

Becky gave this to Uncle Gary. Solid set-collection, ¿time-management? game with a fun theme. You're hopping through time doing really cool things, but you only want to hop forward in time, so you're trying to pick up cards that make that happen.

6. Ark Nova

I convinced Mom to get this for Eric. Super popular game (currently #4 on bgg) for a reason. Love the theme. Had a lot of fun with this one and played it quite a bit. It is commonly compared to Terraforming Mars, which I think is fair. I will say I prefer Terraforming Mars thus far. I just feel cooler when I'm playing Terraforming Mars -- just having more raw fun, if that makes any sense whatsoever. Ark Nova is fantastic regardless and I will absolutely continue to play it and hopefully get my parents to buy the expansion for it.

7. Khora: Rise of an Empire

Becky gave this to Sarah. I have mixed feelings on this one. It felt snappy and nice, but almost too quick? I felt like I didn't really have time to do much, idk. And I have more than mild concerns about balancing in this game. It's got a really cool base with some neat mechanisms, but it just didn't land for me.

8. Survive!

Joseph got this (not sure from whomst). A riot of a game that you can't take too seriously. Had a lot of fun with this one. If you just ignore how luck-based it is and just have a good time with it, it can be a blast.

If I had to rank the games it would be something like this (tiers are ordered):

S: Ark Nova, Dead Reckoning, Cat in the Box, Scout

A: Survive!, Alice's Garden

B: Trekking through History

C: Khora: Rise of an Empire

Survive! and Alice's Garden is a toss up. Ordering #1-3 is also tough, but I feel good about where it stands.

The Hilarious Moment That Has Been Building for Over 11 Years

First Piece of Background:

I don't really own a good coat, so I wear, like, 6 layers every day to class to stay warm. This is not meant as a complaint of any form. I'm quite content with it.

Second Piece of Background:

There's this classic classic old blog post of mine posted on September 26, 2012 when I was a wee 11-year-old child. Sweaters, Sweat Shirts, Jackets and Coat is its title, and it talks about just that: Sweaters, Sweat Shirts, Jackets and Coats. Which brings up the question: Why didn't I put an 's' on 'Coat' in the title? Nobody knows.

In this blog post, I make an account of the different definitions of those words and make an hilarious statement, "Now you know the definitions. So, now when our friend calls there jacket a sweater you can feel smart and correct them. (Don't be a jerk about though) Then if you come to an argument you can just come here."

Welp, the moment came.

I was at school just the other day, and my friend (who has read parts of my blog) inquires of me, "Why do you wear so many layers? Why don't you just wear a coat?"

"I do wear a coat, I just happen to wear three of them."

"I would argue that those are jackets, not coats."

"I actually have a blog post about this."

"I was actually going to bring that up."

*Laughter here and throughout the rest of the conversation*

"You've read that blog post?? Are you going to send it to me?"

"Yeah, I was actually thinking of doing that."

"You 100% should, that would honestly be a hilarious and a golden moment for me."

And they did.

And so, after 11 years, 3 months, and 14 days, I had somebody send me my own blog post and (without being a jerk about it) correct me on the definitions of coats/jackets.

Twist Ending though!

According to the definition of a coat on a blog, my so-called jackets could be considered coats! "Coat: an outer garment with sleeves, covering at least the upper part of the body: a new fur coat."

This definition is word for word what it still is today on dictionary.com, but I quite honestly prefer the definition that comes through a google search which reads, "an outer garment worn outdoors, having sleeves and typically extending below the hips." This definition leans toward the side of my jackets not being coats due to them not extending below the hips. 

Perhaps I'll have to create an updated version of my post to align with more accurate definitions. (I've actually already decided to do this because I think having a direct sequel to an 11-year-old blog post is fantastic.) I'll also have to expand there or in a separate post about how definitions generally aren't my favorite thing in the world.

I Really Want to Write a Story

I really want to write a story.

And I have this struggle because I'm afraid that other things I do get in the way of that desire which has been building in me. Because I just want to write a nice little fictional story. Don't know how long. Or almost quite literally anything else about it right now, haha. But I want to write it. And I want to share it.

On a side but definitely related note:

It's on my bucket list to publish a book someday. Or get something published in a book (ex. like a poem in a book of poems). Or something to that effect. Ever since putting that on my bucket list, I've always imagined publishing something fictional. I guess simply because that's what I want to do -- hence the whole, you know, bucket list idea. 

Although I recognize now that it may be more achievable/whatever to publish a non-fiction work about literally whatever. Maybe I'm off on that, but idk. And maybe I'll try to do that at some point; it does also excite me. But right now: Small little cute story excites me far more.

Explaining what I meant by "I'm afraid that other things I do get in the way of that desire":

1. I have the 2024 Campaign to construct. Its date grows ever nearer, which is exciting, but also daunting. I feel I have so so so much more to do for it. And part of what I have to do is story writing. But that's not the kind of story I want to write. 

2. Writing these posts. Writing these posts clearly takes time and the construction of thoughts etc. etc., just like writing a fictional story would.

Sometimes it feels like they use up my "allotted time of writing", if that makes sense. But I know fundamentally that's just not true. I can do both. 

It reminds me of the vague notion that some people feel like they can't find time to read fiction because they already read the scriptures (and/or other books written by modern-day prophets etc.) -- I don't know if anyone else has come across this, but I feel like I have. And it's just not true. You can just do both. Just because one activity involves reading doesn't mean that you can't simply have another activity that involves reading. And it's the same with writing.

Side note: I use the word 'just' a lot.

Regardless of all the various other thoughts, I do have a key takeaway I want to do:

If I feel I don't have time to or simply don't want to work on both a personal project and a blog post, I can write a blog post with some basic updates on how much progress I made on my personal project. I think it's a swell idea. I'll keep it in mind.

Potential Blogging New Years Resolution

I think it would be cool to post every week for an entire year. 52 posts in total. 

Granted, I've already had more than 52 posts in three separate years. Also, granted, Eric has already achieved well well over this feat as well: 8 out of the 12 years he's been posting on his blog have over 52 posts with 6/12 having around 300 posts or more and one year (2017) him even achieving the feat of 1 post per day for a total of 365 posts.

But there's something nice to just the flat number of 52. 48 is also a nice number since it's flat 4 per month, which is appealing to me. I also know I have a lot of things I want to write, and this is a good way of getting me to actually write them.

Couple problems with this idea:

1. Although I like the idea of consistency, I also enjoy the freedom I give myself. I write when I want to. I write when I feel it would be helpful in some way. If I don't think it would be, then why would I? I also want to be able to post on a random day if I want to. What if it's simply a special day of the year that doesn't land on a Sunday? Am I not allowed to post?

2. I, if I'm being honest, want my blog posts to be read (specifically by my family). And I'm afraid if I post that frequently many more will go unread.

So I don't know. What do I want to do?

I guess I'll figure it out as I go? I think I'll just start and if I want to switch it up, I'll do so. Not sure if that makes for a very good new years resolution, haha, but I think I'm just allowing myself the flexibility to recognize in the future if I actually think the new years resolution is improving me/my life at all or if it's not.

Regardless, I know I want to keep writing my thoughts and various other things and posting them here:) I hope you'll join me for them.