Video games are like drugs

It turned out that I did get sick, and in fact I’m still recovering. I never felt too bad, but this weekend I made some poor food and activity choices which compounded with sickness to make me feel especially miserable. On the bright side, I’ve barely spent any time on the idle game. On the other hand, that’s because I’ve spent all my time on replaying Stardew Valley. It has had two large updates since I last played it almost three years ago, so there is some interesting new content, and I’m enjoying revisiting it because I haven’t played it in so long. At this point, I’ve already finished the interesting part of the game. In most of my games that make it past the first season, this is the point where I quit. Some endgame content has been added in the updates, but even so I don’t think I have a lot else to do in the game, so I expect that I’ll be finished with it by the time break starts next Friday. Which means that I’ll be able to start a new game for the winter holidays. >.> Or maybe I can get my act together and get back to programming. I think I’ve said it before and I’m still convinced that video games rob me of my thoughts as well as my time, and without thoughts I’m less likely to feel motivation or inspiration to improve. In short, video games are like drugs.

I’ve been investigating winter holiday travel destinations. This is my last chance to visit Kyoto, but I just can’t get excited about it. Kyoto has many famous places, but they are all temples. I think if I read a book about the history of Kyoto, it would be interesting to visit, but since I don’t see myself doing that between now and then, I think I will pass. I looked at Takayama and Kanazawa as I mentioned in my last post, but there wasn’t much of interest there either. So now I’m looking at Yokohama. There’s a Kirin brewery with tours, which would be interesting, and I think I would enjoy just walking around, especially around the pier area. The ramen factory is apparently a popular attraction, but it didn’t interest me until I saw that you can create your own ramen. There’s a Mitsubishi Industrial museum which sounds like a counterpart to my beloved Toyota Museum. Nearby, there’s an international mall. I think with three or four solid-looking activities, Yokohama is worth a visit. Now to see if I can recruit someone to go with me. There’s also the possibility of going skiing, but given the expense and my lack of enjoyment last time, I don’t think I will proactively seek a chance to do that. I’ve checked it off my list—that’s probably sufficient.

Stardew Valley is a waste of time, but it has also inspired me to think a bit more about gardening and DIY to do in my future. Not that I’ve actually done so, but I’ve got the motivation in the back of my mind, hahah. I’m a bit bored today, so I might find some time this afternoon to look up some plants to grow.