Sanctuary

I’ve been thinking about sanctuary lately - the things that save our sanity and remind us that we’re people, and not just workfamilydinnerhousework drones. You know - the fun stuff.

Reading is a great example for me. Books can sweep you off your feet, break your heart, and take you to all kinds of places. (STATION ELEVEN). I mean. Um. There’s room in my brain-space for books and stories, always, is what I’m saying.

Also gaming. I’ve talked about playing Dragon Age on and off on here, and in terms of sanctuary, it’s the Big One. I can escape into  a fantasy world, where I get to SAVE the world, fight dragons and smooch on pretty elves.

The only downside there, for me, is that I let spawn start playing Dragon Age Inquisition, and suddenly my sanctuary space was a shared space. Which is a bit tricky when it’s my Top Thing To Make the World Go Away. And I don’t want to impose on spawn’s enjoyment of the game. So I decided to start up a new game, that only I know about, and I only play after he’s gone to bed.

I’m taking advantage of the fact I can swap between characters in the game, but it’s the perfect solution. Spawn and I can share the game on one level, and on another level, I can escape my whole entire life for an hour or so.

It - like reading - helps to remind me that I’m a person in and of myself, if that even makes any kind of sense. I can call up my sanctuaries, or wait until I won’t be interrupted and dive into my sanctuaries, and it’s there - in the middle of a book, or in the midst of the Emerald Graves in Inquisition, that I re-find myself as a whole person.

What about you? What do you dive into?

A List of things I like

I've been talking on and off for a while about doing a post of Things I Like That People Think I Shouldn't Because I'm a Woman in My 40s, but that's far too long for a blog post title.

Cleverer people than me could articulate a dozen reasons for this, but from my personal experience as a Watcher of Many Things (TV, movies) is that in these mediums, women in their 40s tend to be two things: wives and mothers. And that's it. That's all.

Their husbands are the ones who get the hobbies and the storylines while they stay home and be exasperated and cook dinner and make sure the kids do their homework.

These women seem to have no inner lives of their own: no struggles; no hobbies; no interests that don't pertain to their families. You could shake them and they'd sound like a piece of laminated paper.

As a Woman In My 40s, let me assure you, that this is bollocks. Here's the thing. I'm going to tell you a secret. Lean in a bit. Not that far, mate, steady on.

Women.

Are.

People.

Mindblowing, right? You know what that means? That means we like stuff! And just because we hit a certain age - I'm talking 40s here because that's what I'm in - doesn't mean we automatically stop liking stuff, and turn the robot switch on.

So, in no particular order, here are some things I like that people might side-eye me for. (Side-eye me all you like. Also, stick it up your jumper.)

1) Pop music. I love pop music. Completely unironically and joyfully. I don't just mean the pop music that was popular when I was a teeny eeny teenybopper, either (though, that too). I will happily watch MTV Music and the top 20 countdowns. My fave popster at the moment is Troye Sivan. Here's his Vevo channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TroyesivanMusicVEVO One of my fave pop songs lately is Can't Feel My Face by The Weeknd -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEI4qSrkPAs I'm not even sure why, I just deeply, deeply dig it.

2) Video games. I'm a late bloomer to video games, as most people know but I have embraced the insanity wholly. Right now, by "video games" I mean Dragon Age because it fills my very specific criteria for playing: a storyline. And the gameplay isn't impossible. I mean, I play on PC because I'm hopeless with consoles, BUT. STILL. But also, I'm VERY EXCITED about a new game coming out later this year - No Man's Sky. I mean. Just look at this trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmwG6Sj1Yfg How great does that look???? Exploring galaxies, terraforming worlds .... I cannot WAIT.

3) Superhero movies. I am resigned, mostly, to the fact that I'm outside of that all-important age demographic, the 18-30s. Also, I'm not a  dude, so that's against me as well. But. I love a good superhero movie. A great superhero movie? I'M IN AND I WILL BUY TOYS. Ahem. I mean. I get excited when I see a new Captain America trailer (though Civil War is going to be traumatic for everyone) or when I realise that hey, maybe Batman vs Superman won't suck! Who knows??????  You don't want to be sitting beside me in a movie theatre if there's a trailer that I'm excited for because I will Kermit-flail in my seat. It took me a long, long time to unleash my inner fangirl on the world at large, but now that she's out there, there's no holding her back. Nor would I want to. It's so much more fun to get excited about stuff that I love than being apologetic because I'm too old, or not a dude, or whatever.

What else can I think of? Tumblr, YA novels, fan-fiction. All of these things contribute to the person that I am. Yes, I'm in my 40s - I'll be 45 in June - and yes, I'm a wife and a mother. But. I'm also a lover of music, an overexcitable fangirl, a nascent gamer, and so much more.

My fave non-match 3 app games

I'm trying to blog more, which means trying to come up with topics - lol. I have a few in mind, and then I thought "hey, why don't I babble about some of my favourite app games?"

So. Here we are. At first, I just had three, but realised I couldn't leave out Midnight Castle from Big Fish games, a hidden-object mystery game and to be honest, the only hidden-object game I actually like. Here's the trailer: Midnight Castle

I like it because the quests aren't timed, and you can just kind of cruise through all of the different things if you just want to gather coins; or you can work through Prof. Pinfeather's tasks if you want to advance your game.

I tried Secret Passages, but found it annoying as the actual hidden objects parts were timed, and there seemed to be no logical progression to it? Maybe I was doing it wrong, but overall I prefer Midnight Castle. I can just sit down and bip through a bunch of them and not worry.

Next up, is Monument Valley from Ustwo Games and oh my gosh. Monument Valley is just gorgeous. Look at this trailer: Monument Valley

It's like ... physics via an M C Escher picture. It's full of puzzles and optical illusions. Ida - the Silent Princess - has to navigate through various obstacles to get to where she needs to go.

There's 10 levels in the original game, and eight in Forgotten Shores. There's also a one-off called Ida's Birthday, which I haven't played through all the way yet; though I've played through the rest of Monument Valley at least three times. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Third on this most random list, is Regency Love, by Tea For Three studios. This game is just so adorable, look at this trailer Regency Love

It's basically a Jane Austen novel. You play through as a young woman who's just out of mourning for her father, and there are different romance options (though it's VERY HARD not to romance the Mr Darcy character, though for myself, I preferred Mr Bookworm) and you gather points from motivation, which you can apply to the skills appropriate for a young lady of the time. There are pop quizzes (though some of the questions do repeat) and games of hangman as you go along, which help add to your motivation points.

It's beautifully rendered and honestly I spent nearly all of one Sunday playing through the whole thing.

Last, but by no means least, is Lifeline, from 3 Minute Games. Here's the trailer:
Lifeline

So basically, Taylor is lost on a planet, the last survivor of a crash. They reach out to you, and the choices you get Taylor to make, affect the outcome. (First time I played Taylor froze to death on the first night *ahem*). The goal is to get them to safety so they can be rescued.

It's a text-based game and every decision you - and Taylor - make affect what happens next. I'm about halfway through my third playthrough of this - lol. There's a direct sequel as well, called Silent Night, and also a Lifeline 2, which I haven't played yet but from what I can see is a totally different story. Trailer for 2: Lifeline 2

Happy playing!