Not dead! Just occupying that mental space that I suspect a lot of people are sharing right now, where it feels that the end of year break is both still so terribly far away, but also far too close with respect to how much still needs to be done.
That said, I cannot deny that perhaps for the first time since doing Time to Loot, the thought of letting it all slide took root with more substance than just a fleeting thought.
Clearly, for now at least, that isn’t what I’m doing. I do think current energy levels through to the break are likely to dictate that, more or less, journals will be it for a bit.
So… Situation normal then. Hah.
On the Suno front, I’ve more or less put it aside for the moment. I think I’ve got what I needed from it for the time being. Although… When I went to cancel the subscription it offered to me for half price, and being a sucker, I took it — so never say never.
Gaming Goals
October Goals
- Coral Island: Get to a tier 3 house, and tier 2 Coop and Barn.
Nope. Didn’t do it. Almost no sooner than setting that goal did I pull away from the game. I’d entered a part of the game where… in any other genre, I’d probably call it a ‘grind’, but for this, let’s say the routine set in.
The goals were clear. I knew how to progress toward any of them I so chose. But they were also going to take days of doing more or less the same things.
I had seen more than a full year ingame, and so it became time to move on. Will I ever come back? Perhaps. But certainly not going to carry the goal over for now.
November Goals
- Where Winds Meet: Clear the main story quests of the game’s first region.
I am excited for this one. It is one of those ‘does everything games’ that could well prove too good to be true. Previews have by and large been very positive, so I’m holding out hope and hype, and really cannot wait to jump in.
At another time of year, I may well have considered taking time off, even if only a couple of days to make for a long weekend.
As to what it is if you have no idea… It’s a Wuxia1 inspired Single Player adventure… Or with Co-op… Or with a full MMO-lite mode, which you can switch in and out of as you see fit.
You know what?
Here’s a video. It’s the best mix of going into detail and still not going on and on I have found so far.
Games Played October 2025
| Rank | Game | Hours | % Gaming Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wuthering Waves | 23.6 | 22.0% |
| 2 | BALL x PIT | 15.6 | 14.6% |
| 3 | Hades II | 13.6 | 12.7% |
| 4 | Battlefield 6 | 12.7 | 11.8% |
| 5 | Necesse | 7.6 | 7.1% |
| 6 | Overwatch 2 | 6.6 | 6.2% |
| 7 | The Bazaar | 4.9 | 4.6% |
| 8 | Duet Night Abyss | 3.8 | 3.5% |
| 9 | Coral Island | 3.7 | 3.5% |
| 10 | Dispatch | 3.7 | 3.5% |
| 11 | Megabonk | 3.4 | 3.2% |
| 12 | Helldivers 2 | 2.4 | 2.2% |
| 13 | Drill Core | 1.9 | 1.8% |
| 14 | Ember and Blade (Demo) | 1.4 | 1.3% |
| 15 | Crime Scene Cleaner | 1.2 | 1.1% |
| 16 | Shogun Showdown | 1.1 | 1.0% |
I definitely had a ‘play all the things’ month here. BALL x PIT was something of a surprise hit for me. I haven’t quite finished it yet, I still have one or two characters to unlock and perhaps one more level to unlock.
I’ve been working on getting every character I unlock to have a completion of every level I’ve unlocked, which has advantages, but might be something I need to put aside to see the end. Haha.
Books Read October 2025
The urban fantasy kick continues. While I’ve been reading Dan Willis’ Arcane Casebook series, Benedict Jacka released the third entry in his Inheritance of Magic series.
I’m keen to jump into it, but it’s going to have to wait now, and will be a welcome salve when for when I reach the end of what Dan Willis currently has out. Hah.
Also during October, I passed the 15 books read goal I set for myself on Goodreads, even after having read the first 5 volumes of Arcane Casebook as a single omnibus edition that counted once.
So I’m happy with that, anything more from here is just gravy!
Sometimes you need to listen to those energy level alarms and take a step back. The virtual quill and paper will be here waiting if you decide to return 🙂
Indeed. :)
Hanging on til Christmas, then we’ll see how things go!
I took the 50% ofer when I went to cancel my Suno sub too but I haven’t even opened the app since the renewal. I’ve done everything I want to do for now. I really need to spend the time organizing what I’ve got and figuring out what to do with it, not adding to it. That said, the fact that you only keep full copyright on what you make when you’re subbed means I’d always need to re-sub any time I wanted to go back and redo anything so it’s handy to have the sub there in the background.
I could do with a new urban fantasy series. Dan Willis is a new name to me. Is he any good? Like, as good as Jacka? Or as good as Jim Butcher?
Hm. Well- I think it would be fair to say Urban Fantasy on the whole is not a genre one reads for the quality of prose.
I hit a rare DNF on my first attempt of Storm Front (Butcher’s first Dresden Files book) way back in the day when I first tried it. I can’t even recall why I later went back and started it again, but I had to turn off that part of my brain’s critique to get through it.
And I’m glad I did- the narrative as a whole throughout the series is highly enjoyable.
But clearly not all of it got turned off all the way, as when you asked me whether Dan Willis is any good in comparison to the others, that’s still the first place I went. Haha.
I’d have to actually go back and look across them to give a ‘real’ answer under this lens, but short of doing that and thinking through it, I think Jacka does best here, with Willis in the middle, then Butcher (at least earlier books, I have almost no memory one way or the other of quality here in the later entries).
Dresden Files — possibly as my first foray into the genre though — ranks best for narrative to me. Alex Verus series from Jacka a very close second though.
I think being honest, Willis and his Arcane Casebook series does trail some distance behind those. The first four books in particular followed a certain template quite strictly. Willis did start deviating from it from Book 5 onward though, at least a bit, and even having said that — I’ve found the whole thing enjoyable enough that I’m not wanting to put it down until I’ve read everything Willis has put out.
I think it’s a fairly easy recommend if you’re specifically looking for another Urban Fantasy series, and the early 30’s Depression-era New York setting is interesting too.
I was definitely in that ‘looking for another UF series’ after completing the first two books of Jacka’s most recent series, and this has most certainly scratched that itch quite well.
If we imagine a day though where I’m current on all three authors, and then have the unlikeliest of scenarios that all three of them land a book the same day, I’d read Dresden Files first, then Inheritance of Magic (Jacka), then Willis most likely.
…All that said, I have several more books to go, and the ramp up in stakes has started to unfold, so, maybe I’ll end up revisiting that.