No Post Last Week. Keep Scrolling! (3/31/25-4/6/25)

I meant to make this kind of post last week (3/31-4/6), but got a bit lazy. I didn’t watch anything new for that week so I thought I would just write more about myself and how that week went.

During that week, I signed up for a gym membership at this place called, “The Camp”, about five minutes from where I work. My supervisor and the nepo-baby at the office have both been going there for a minute and somehow convinced me to give it a try. After using guest passes for a few days, I decided to sign up for a couple of months. In this particular gym, I am going to hour-long classes. You’re in there with a trainer and about 10-15 other people (depending on the day and time). The trainer warms you all up and shows you the usually 8-10 different workouts you’ll be doing for the session. From there, you get into groups of about 3 or 4, get to one of the workout stations, and do the exercise for about a minute or so before moving on to the next station. To keep you constantly working, the trainer will add in in-between exercises, usually focused on your core. The appealing thing about this gym, compared to the others I’ve been to in the past, is how much of the guesswork is removed. I don’t have to worry about what exercises I should be doing to work certain areas of my body, how long I’ll be doing it, and not being able to use certain machines or equipment because they’re occupied. When I go to this gym, I know I’m in there for about an hour and will be doing all the exercises the trainer demonstrates. For someone like me who really struggles with getting motivated, this kind of gym is something I can get behind. My goals during my time in the gym are admittedly vague and my reasons for going may also seem odd. Ostensibly, I’m going to stay active and lose some weight, but really I feel like I need something else to do. For a long time now, I’ve felt like that 9-5 fish in Spongebob that he describes to Mrs. Puff as a positive alternative to prison life (I’ll link the reference below).

Typically, I wake up and get ready, go to work, go home and play video games or watch TV. Maybe I’ll get into a voice chat, if others are around and even then if I feel up for it. Maybe I’ll decide to watch a movie at home, although it’s often something I’ve seen before because I have this weird thing in my head that’s like “this is precious off time, why risk it on something I’m not familiar with?”. Maybe I’ve made plans to go out with friends, even if admittedly I’m stressed throughout the day because I may be trying to blitz through an especially busy work day, or worrying on a light day if I’ll get screwed over with a last minute stop far away. I dunno, I feel like I’ve been trying to min max the free time that I have into something satisfying, but ultimately feel like I’m in a monotonous cycle. So by going to the gym, while it can be seen as another routine, at least I’m doing something different.  

After a brief hiatus, last week I finally finished all the prerequisites I needed to renew my RT license for California. Seems small, but since I (like many) have an issue with procrastinating, I’ll take my victories as they come. Speaking of which, there are upcoming events meant to look forward to that I should be prepping for, but have been putting off. Different kinds of events, but my issues are about the same. My anxieties of how I will fare in social situations, either with mostly strangers or extended periods of time with friends. Overthinking proper etiquette, or just not wanting to make myself look silly or incompetent. I think about these things and then find myself second guessing if I should go or not, repeatedly. Ultimately though, time and time again, I find that it’s usually not as bad as I make it out to be in my head, so eventually I’ll push on through my procrastination and trust I’ll have a good time in the end. 

That’s more or less what was rooting around my head last week, with some of that bleeding into this week too. As I wrote earlier, I didn’t watch anything new, but I still wanted to highlight the media that I was enjoying last week. I began a 2nd playthrough of Doom Eternal, a game that I’ve only finished once when it came out FIVE YEARS ago in 2020. It was funny in the first couple of hours, because I worried I was getting too old for these kinds of games (I was playing at the "Ultra-Violence" difficulty). Shortly thereafter, things clicked again and I was having a blast. Just like when it first released, the game is still so tightly designed and satisfying to play once you take what the game is trying to teach you into account. I also found it cathartic. One day last week, reading about the current state of things, specifically hearing people’s takes on the state of things at work, left me in a crappy mood. As I was about to go to bed, angry and depressed, I decided to just play through another level in DOOM Eternal before calling it a night. After that I went to bed in better spirits and slept like a baby. I believe finished the base game on 4/7/25 and have since moved on to “The Ancient Gods Part I” expansion. I’ll be finishing that one soon. I have also restarted a playthrough of Cuphead (2017), after playing but not finishing it last year. The game has been a fun and satisfying challenge, but also a vibe given its art direction and style. The horizontal flying shoot-’em-up boss fights are my favorites, probably because I have more of an affinity for that style of game, compared to the boss fights that take inspiration from Contra (1987) and Gunstar Heroes (1993). I haven’t finished Cuphead yet, but I do seem to be in the final stages. 

At the time of writing, it is Sunday night and getting late, so I think that’ll be all for now. I did just see Warfare (2025) today and I indeed have thoughts on it, so that’ll be my next post. I’ll try get that one out soon, but no promises. Have a good night.