Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake Microreview – 20/20
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Author: Melissa
July Seasonal Produce
30 Days of Meditation
Yesterday I posted a challenge to myself to complete 30 Days of Yoga; no excuses, no exceptions. Today i’d also like to throw some more fuel on that fire and give myself another challenge to complete 30 days of meditation.
Sometimes I think about things a little too intently and I build up a lot of pent up anxiety about a wide variety of mostly meaningless topics. I think taking the time to clear my head and focusing myself each day will do a lot of good in my life.
To get myself started, I downloaded the Stop, Breathe, and Think app on my iPhone/iPad which provides different focuses of meditation based on how you’re feeling. You can either complete their self assessment exercise and they will recommend meditations for you or you can select your own without the assessment.
30 Day Yoga Challenge
Once, long ago, I was in the habit of practicing yoga every day. During that time, I felt better physically and mentally than I had in a long time prior. I miss that feeling and I want it back. The problem is, I’m lazy. I start again for a few days, then get bored or make excuses and fall off track.
So here it is, I’m going to do 30 days of yoga; no breaks, no excuses.
I use an application on my iPad called Yoga Studio.
Yoga Studio provides several “classes” per competency level, lasting different lengths and focusing on different goals. Just as an example, I can take a class for beginner strength lasting 30 minutes or mix 15 minutes of beginner combination with 15 minutes of beginner flexibility, depending on my attention span and how I feel.
Individually each of these practices are powerful in their own right and each serves a particular purpose. When practiced with intention and consistency, they develop stamina, strength, energy, flexibility and inner peace. Yoga has numerous health benefits including improvements in cardiovascular, musculo–skeletal and mental health.
At the end of my 30 day challenge, I will have (hopefully) created a good habit and continue practicing yoga without the need to create a challenge like this.
Transistor Microreview
Transistor Microreview – 19/20
Transistor, like it’s predecessor Bastion, is a beautiful product of the developers at Supergiant Games who are trying new things with each new game release. This game features a science fiction theme with an exceptional new combat system. I removed one star from the “fun factor” category because I felt like there was something ultimately missing to make this game perfection. I myself can’t quite figure it out, but I know it didn’t hold all of the same magic for me that Bastion did.
Take all of this with a grain of salt, however, because this game is still an incredible experience!
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Bastion Microreview
Bastion Microreview – 20/20!
The art design, narration and music of Bastion, beautiful and unique to the SuperGiant name, caught and held my eye and ear. As much fun as I was had learning the story, then hacking and smashing through each level, the music really motivated me and I still listen to it outside of the game to this day.
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My Favorite E3 Announcments
Once upon a time, when I worked briefly as Jesse Cox’s assistant, I attended E3 for the first and only time. It was a fantastic experience for a starry-eyed gamer such as myself. Here were all of these brand new video game teasers and demos to preview, free memorabilia to collect and kindred spirits to experience it all with! Sadly I haven’t attended since, and I’m not sure if I ever will again, but I was able to follow along from home and here are the games I’m the most excited about:
Mass Effect Andromeda – March 2017
The Last Guardian – October 25th, 2016
Dishonored 2 – November 11th, 2016
Pyre – 2017
Telltale’s Batman – Summer 2016
Telltale The Walking Dead: Season 3 – Fall 2016
Skyrim Remastered
Other games that caught my attention:
Horizon: Zero Dawn – February 28th, 2017
Detroit: Become Human
There was a huge push for Virtual Reality this year, and while I would love to step into a game experience, I’m a little wary about purchasing one when they release. I’d like to see how others are feeling in regards to quality of system and the first games released before I take the leap.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Microreview
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Microreview – 20/20!
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has now established itself as my personal favorite of the series. The graphics are fantastic and the music is beautiful, but the story and the relatable characters are what really struck a chord in me. The adventure is still there, with journals to consult and puzzles to solve, but they removed the supernatural element that was present in the first three games, and I appreciated it more.
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We went camping!?
Cameron and I went camping with his family at Lopez Lake this weekend! It was the first time we’ve been camping together and the first time I’ve been camping since my Girl Scout days in high school and before, and boy, was I out of practice!
As much as I’ve always loved nature, I’ve grown close to technology and haven’t really thought about how much I’ve come to rely on it. Cameron’s parents and his brother’s family own campers, so it was an easier transition after all these years to have them nearby with electricity and running water (including toilets and showers)! Cameron and I opted to sleep in a tent and while the padding underneath us was comfortable and the sleeping bags were warm, I did not sleep as well as I hoped.
I dragged my sleepy self out of bag on Saturday morning and after a hearty breakfast, we all went for a walk with the dogs. The scenery was just as beautiful as I remembered, but it really broke my heart, and put the drought into perspective, when I saw just how low the water has sunk. We were walking on a dried out bed of sand and brush that used to be completely under water with the banks high above us and it was incredibly humbling.
When we returned to camp there was some free time and even though I brought my iPhone, iPad and Nintendo 3DS along with me, I ultimately found myself wanting to read whenever we weren’t socializing. We talked, we laughed, we ate a lot of tasty food and celebrated our Nephew’s birthday, it was a good weekend!
2016 Game Progress
One of the new year’s resolutions I gave myself this year is to play and complete 16 video games within this year of 2016. So far I’ve played and completed 7 games and I’m currently playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which is a mammoth of a game, believe me!
Other games I’ve completed are:
- Lara Croft Go
- Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
- Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- Trine 3: The Artifacts of Power
- Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
- Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Whole Heartily 