June 2023
Hello everyone! June took its time this year, which was really nice seeing as the rest of the year has flown by! Usually I get excited about all the summer activities but this year, I didn’t really do anything I normally do. I didn’t go to Pride or Comfest, didn’t do any crazy stuff with my family for their birthdays (although I was able to see all of them at the very least)…nothing really stood out to me this June.
That all being said, I still had a great month! Let’s get into it…
Tears of the Kingdom
The newest Legend of Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, has been out for about a month and so far I’ve been loving it. I am obviously not playing it nearly as much as I would like thanks to being the mother of an 11 month old, but every chance I get, I’ve been exploring the Sky Islands, the Surface, and the Depths of Hyrule.
I won’t spoil anything, but I’ve been playing the story pretty closely up until the very end. I haven’t gotten the courage to go and face Ganondorf! Well, it’s less “lacking courage”, more “I don’t want the game to end”. I feel like I haven’t really explored all there is to offer with this game. I’ve finished all the temples, but I haven’t found all of the Shrines and the Lightroots. I’ve found all of the Tears within the Geoglyphs, but I haven’t found all of the caves and the Bubblgems inside them. I know I’ll never find all of the Korok seeds, but I’d like to find all of the armor sets I can find.
It’s the side quests and adventure that awaits within them that keeps me coming back to the game everyday as well. The characters are fun and it feels good to help them! I really hope that once I finally defeat the Demon King, I’ll feel like I can still come back and play more. With Breath of the Wild, I played until I collected everything but the Korok seeds (there’s just no way!), and even then I still came back just to walk around and explore every inch of the map. I hope I’ll still feel that pull to play once the main quest line is complete.
Olivia Update
My lil bean is 11 months! Olivia has grown quite a lot over the last month. She’s also getting to be so smart and cute, dancing along to music, pointing and doing her best to mimic gestures we make during sing-a-longs (like beeping the horn during “Wheels on the Bus” or clapping on beat to “Bingo”).
Liv also has been confidently calling me “Momma” and Matt “Daddy” or “Dada” (although it sounds suspiciously close to “Kitty”). I’ve been hearing her say other words too, like “pop”, or “bed”, or even something like “bottle”, even though it’s more like “babuh”. It’s been wild to watch her brain explode with all this knowledge all of a sudden.
I’ve been trying to plan her birthday party for months now, and when people started asking me about it I realized her first birthday is next month! I usually don’t plan parties for my own birthdays. Sometimes I’ll plan a brunch or a dinner, but not an actual party. Knowing that Olivia won’t remember the party also makes me not really want to have one for her.
Of course, I realize the party isn’t really “for her”, despite it being her birthday. It’s more of a celebration for the parents and the family that supported and loved them throughout the first year of parenthood. It’s hard being a parent! Having so many friends and family that love Olivia as much as I do makes me so happy, and makes me want to plan something special not only for Liv, but for everyone who loves her.
Music Obsessions
I didn’t go to Pride this year, but I was definitely envious of everyone that got to celebrate out and about in the city. By the time I was done with work, I was ready to go home and just sit. However, I was inspired to make a playlist with all of my favorite songs from Pride 201X. I worked at a gay bar and lounge, Level, for several years. It doesn’t exist anymore, and while near the end I was ready to move on to a new job, I still miss it dearly. It was my first serving job, and my first solo shift was Pride weekend. I still don’t know how I survived.
Working at Level introduced me to many people and many different kinds of music. I took from my memories of the place to make the playlist for the month (seeing as I’ve only been listening to Sleep Token otherwise). If you’re interested in listening, click here!
This month was nice and slow, which was honestly what I needed. Having the time to breathe is really what I needed! Usually it’s the opposite around this time of year. I’m expecting July to be the crazy month this month, seeing as Olivia’s first birthday is coming up.
Thanks for reading! As always, feel feee to subscribe to me here on Medium and follow me on Twitter so you never miss an update from me. In the meantime, I hope June has been nice to you, and July treats you the same! I’ll see you here next week with something new!
