Adventures and Episodes: What Just Happened? January 2021

Erm… what just happened?

How is January almost over already? And yet, how was this also the longest month ever? I mean… no month could possibly be longer than March or April of 2020, but January just somehow seemed to drag forever.

With a sudden, abrupt, face-plant into the wall kind of end.

If that isn’t like January…

shakes head

But the good news is that the end of the month means two exciting things.

  1. February is Fantasy Month Starts On Monday!!!

  2. Today is time for our monthly recap “Adventures and Episodes” post!

Reading

Let’s start with the good, shall we?

Reading always = good. Partially because it’s my favorite thing, and partially because I have gotten extremely good at picking books to read that I generally end up enjoying.

I’m hoping to write actual reviews for more books this year, it is one of my 2021 Dreams, after all, but I’ll just do little “sum up” reviews here to whet your appetite.

I’ve already finished EIGHT books this month. (No, I didn’t READ eight books this month, I started a couple of them prior to January, but I finished them this month, so they count for this month). Here’s my summary of the spec-fiction books I read this month:

Averell.jpg

Lost in Averell

already reviewed here

audiobook / child of 2 worlds / teenager struggling to find her place in the world / very light read / unique fantastical land / portal fantasy / 3 dragon eggs

Masque

beauty and the beast retelling / political intrigue / murder mystery / very different take on the whole “Belle being held captive by the Beast” element / 5 dragon eggs

Deadwood

sequel / evil pinocchio who possesses all things wooden / todd’s dysfunctional family / heart-stopping moments / laugh-out-loud humor / JULIO!!! hearts / also much screaming at the end of the book (by me) / 5 dragon eggs

fabled.jpg

Fabled

not a Little Red Riding Hood retelling / Isabelle seeks her fortune / archery / giants and quests and obstacles, oh my! / intriguing characters / excellent ending twist / 4 dragon eggs

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

East of the Sun, West of the Moon retelling / classic fairy tale style writing / tenacious heroine / loved the family dynamics / 4 dragon eggs

Ember Hawk

excellently done “enemies to lovers” trope / intriguing magic system / elementals / alternating POVs / epic feel / political intrigue / 5 dragon eggs

Writing

In the first few days of this month I got caught up in a whirlwind of a project. Currently, I am choosing to keep it Super Secret. The entire thing is actually completely written AND edited, so I’m sure you can guess that it’s not a long book. But that’s all I’ll say for now.

Other than that, on the writing-related front… I finally have my new computer back, and we’ve transferred everything over to it from my old computer and the latest back-up I had (Aug. 31). I have learned my lesson: no keeping the laptop and glasses of water on the nightstand together, and be more diligent about making sure that my back-up solution is actually working.

You may have seen the announcement already, but Second Son released in audio book, and I am three-quarters of the way through listening to Yorien’s Hand.

Watching

We started watching Star Trek: Enterprise with the kiddos. They’ve seen TNG and Voyager, and now that we finished up Mandalorian with them we needed another show. Someday, they will be old enough for things like Stargate SG-1 not to give them nightmares… someday.

We also watched Miracle with the kiddos. Man… that movie gets me every time. And if you want to be encouraged about the world we’re living in today, just take a couple of minutes and go watch the opening credits of Miracle. The 70s were also a time of turmoil, fear, and anxiety. We survived. (Well, I didn’t, I wasn’t alive in the 70s… but… you know what I mean).

Derek and I are re-watching our way through Andromeda, as well. It’s been approximately 14-16 years since we watched it and we’d both forgotten a lot of it. Like, I remember the characters, and certain episodes, but we think we must have been watching it during finals and when I was directing the play at the school where I taught or something, and so there have been whole episodes where we’re like Gandalf…

Other than that… the kids and I are also watching Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, which is just ADORABLE and I love it.

Life-ing

The big adventure around here this month has been ICE SKATING. We bit the bullet and bought everybody ice skates (I even got new skates) and we’ve been frequenting the outdoor rink in our township, which has been a blast. It’s fun watching the kids learn this new skill, and I think it also teaches a good amount of mental toughness and perseverance.

We FINALLY got some more snow, so we’re going to go sledding this week, as well.

Other than that… we’ve gotten fully back into the swing of school.

Sunday School at our church has started up again.

Gaming

We’ve had some fun game nights this month with friends. During the summer, Derek and I got together with some friends and we played through Pandemic Legacy Season One, which I’ll have to talk about more fully at some point. For now, suffice to say that… I would never have guessed this in a million years, but… playing Pandemic Legacy DURING a pandemic was… oddly cathartic.

We took a break through the holidays, and now we’re starting up Pandemic Legacy Season Two. So far, it’s really fun.

We’ve also played Shadows Over Camelot, one of my favorite games. However, I was reminded that it doesn’t play well as a 3-player game, and newer cooperative games tend to be a little more well-thought-out in terms of economy of turns. But for what it was back when cooperative games were barely a thing, it’s still a pretty fun game, has gorgeous artwork, and you just can’t beat the theme.

And we were recently introduced to a new game that came from a Kickstarter, called Canvas. It was super fun.

And that’s pretty much it for the month of January!

Talk to me, dear Reader! What did you read/watch/write/do in January? Anything super memorable? Do you enjoy board games? Do you have a favorite board game? I’d love to hear from you!