Gaming & Caregiving: An Interest of Conflict

I only alluded that I was deep in some medical situation last year without revealing what it was because I was not comfortable to be open about the details then. I didn't know how long it would last, and I didn't want to assume anything in regard to its continuance. But here we are in 2025, and I am still doing it so I may as well be out with it since this is probably going to be a part of me for a long time to come. As you may have guessed from the title, I am currently a full-time caregiver but not just the watching the elderly kind. I am a home dialysis care partner, which means that I manage the home dialysis for a loved one. In case you are not familiar with dialysis, it's that medical procedure for those with renal failure that involves pulling blood out of your body to be cleaned by a machine before the blood goes back into you. It all sounds pretty gnarly, and I guess if you can't handle the sight of blood, it probably is but I am so used to all of it now. I do this five times a week. In our case, each treatment takes 3 hours and 25 minutes to finish but that doesn't include preparation time and whatever galaxy forsaken issues that may pop-up along the way plus inventory management, inventory pickup, and post treatment clean up, et cetera. So yes, it's a fulltime job. If you look back to my gaming livestreams post-February 2024, you may have seen me stopping dead in my tracks having to take care of mid-treatment troubles. I want to make it clear however that I am happy to be a care partner. That is not an issue. The problem is that since home dialysis takes a lot of my time, it is causing a conflict when it comes to enjoying my games, which is something that I am struggling with in an ongoing basis ever since this whole thing began.

This is where the cleaning magic happens.

Weight Goal Achieved

I have written last year that I started practicing calorie counting as a way to help me lose weight, and this past weekend, I finally reached my weight loss goal. It was quite a surprise too because I was projecting it to arrive sometime mid-month. I felt so good about the accomplishment and then I saw the picture that I posted in the aforementioned article, and I felt even better. In total, I have gotten rid of close to 50 pounds off my body ever since I started my weight loss journey, and all of this was accomplished by merely watching what I put into my mouth and monitoring my calorie intake. There were no exercises involved even though I am itching to get back into yoga because truth be told, I am starting to notice that it's getting harder to open those tightly secured lids. No weight loss medication, no voodoo. Oprah, it was all pure human spirit and self-control, something that you used to believe in.

Is Life Better in Super Ultra-Wide?

My last display update was in early 2018, so that was about 7 years ago. Fast forward to last Friday, my 57" Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 came in. We were expecting it to be delivered yesterday but apparently, as with all of our most recent deliveries, it got bumped up several days as we are approaching Christmas. You would think that they would be delayed until after Christmas because you know, chaos and all. This display had been on my wish list for some time, and apparently my guy decided to get it for me as my Christmas gift. Thank you so much, love! Thus, the question at hand.

Best Christmas gift ever? I certainly think so.

Random Gaming Star: Essa

This feature will appear whenever I encounter a startling, memorable character in the games that I play. The characters don't have to bear any significant impact on the games as long as they are able to make a positive and/or a negative impression on me. Also, bear in mind that I have never been a fan of spoilers so those things will be kept to a minimum. Enjoy!

Case File #3: Tyranny (Personal Computer)

12,000 Milestone & Life After Yoshi

Oh yes, I did it or, oh no, I didn't? My Game Library collection has reached its 12,000th entry (12,013 at the time of posting to be precise). I thought I have slowed down a bit with inducting new games in, but it's easy for the library to continue to expand thanks to the plethora of free games being offered left and right these days on the Personal Computer platform between Amazon Prime gaming and Epic Games, and Steam has been good with those sales events despite it getting more and more difficult to find deals now that I have a lot of games on that particular platform. So, business as usual on the gaming front.

Some new arrivals from the current Steam Autumn Sale.