Step 93: Finally Play the Game You've Waited 15 Years For!

 

I knew from the very first commercial I ever saw of Kingdom Hearts that I needed that game. Like, needed it so much that I asked my mom if we could trade in the PlayStation 1 console that she had just bought me for my birthday for a PlayStation 2. Like, needed it so much that when I did finally get the game, I literally tore it out of it's container. (Literally--it snapped in two because I was so excited to get it out, and I'd never played a PS2 game before, so I didn't know how to get the disks out without breaking them.) Like, needed it so much that I begged the game store clerk to replace it for free... and thank Ansem the Wise he did.

Kingdom Hearts was the first (and one of the few) video games I ever completed. With it's Disney characters drawing me in and it's lovable new characters keeping me there, I devoured the story line. It was simple and clean. (Insiders pun intended!) I eagerly awaited the sequel--an understandable 3 year wait. They came out with Chain of Memories to help you pass the time, and once again I added a Sony gaming console to my Christmas wish list. Just like with the first game, I tore into CoM... and I hated it. I couldn't finish it. But, no worries, right? It's a stand alone game... it won't have much bearing on KH2...

Wrong.

The problem with the Kingdom Hearts Franchise is that it's actually not so simple and clean. And each new addition seems to just make it worse. I did finish KH2 because it was on a console I was comfortable with and I still loved the characters... but I had trouble understanding the story because I hadn't finished CoM. And in the 14 years it took them to produce KH3, they threw more and more side-stories (that actually aren't side stories) out there--and each one required a DIFFERENT gaming console! I tried to play some of them, but in the end I had to watch an hour long video summing up everything that had led up to KH3.

I WILL finish Kingdom Hearts 3, though. I've been waiting for 15 years (I had to wait a year after it released because, even though I had the game, I didn't have a PS4). My friends and I had joked that the third game wouldn't come out until we had kids, and some of us do! It's personal now.

Plus, despite the story being horribly confusing and the characters getting cheesier and cheesier, I'm still dedicated to them. I've grown up with them, and I want to know what their fate is. My heart is connected to theirs, and together we are finally going to take down that son-of-a-bitch Mansex once and for all!

Step 92: Keep a Journal

Even if we weren't in a pandemic, I would recommend keeping some sort of record of yourself--a diary with a heart shaped lock on it, one of those new-fangled bullet journals, or even a high tech blog ( ;) ). You can get as simple as a day planner or a calendar with abbreviated lists of what happened that day. That's what my grandma did, and it was cool looking back and seeing what she had taken note of throughout her life.

I'm currently using a a Mood Journal that my friend Katie gave me at the beginning of the year. I didn't think I'd be able to keep it up--if you couldn't tell from my sporadic posts on this site, I'm not the greatest at journaling every day--and while I haven't always filled it out completely, I have enjoyed this form over any of the others I've tried. (I'm sorry Blogger!!!) I find it really helpful because it gives me a chance not only to write down what's happening in my life, but how I actually feel. It lets me set and monitor my goals for each month, and it asks reflective questions at the end of each week. One of the questions it always asks is what you're grateful for, and this week it's you, Katie! Thanks for sharing this unique form of journaling with me!

Step 91: Summarize the Past Year and a Half in One Sentence

The boyfriend mentioned in Step 90 now lives with me in our very own apartment, and we're trying not to go crazy during a pandemic by continuing to work (he actually goes and delivers pizza and I do what I can for the library from home), watching way too much tv (he got me addicted to Ash vs. the Evil Dead and I got him hooked on My Hero Academia), planning vacations, canceling vacations, breaking the self quarantine by getting groceries for my mom and dad, sticking to the self quarantine by playing video games (Stardew Valley and Kingdom Hearts are my faves), cleaning up pet pee, being said because pets passed away, sometimes exercising, and occasionally writing.

I know it sounds like I only described what we've been doing for the past month because of the COVID-19 scare, but I promise this isn't an April Fools Prank! That's pretty much what I've been doing for the past year and a half. Life continues to chug along whether the world gets sick and shuts down and it continues whether I write or not. But so far, social distancing has given me more of a chance to work on my writing, so I thought I'd try bringing back my blog. We'll see how long it lasts!