Challenging is the perfect way to describe this year. Many people in that March time frame were in the same place as my family. I was left uncertain about my children’s future when the school district suddenly closed. I spent the rest of April and May trying to come up with supplementary home schooling for my daughters. At the same time my wife, who is a nurse, was living the daily grind of not having enough masks, hand sanitizer, and other PPE at the nursing home she worked in at the time.
Meanwhile, I went from wondering if I would have a job, to being thrust into the world of being an “essential worker”, which put me in the very scary front line of figuring out how to properly manage a business and keep myself safe. Those early months felt so dire and it became more important than ever to try to find a way of letting stress go. Each of my family members found different ways of decompressing.
For my wife, it was Bubble Witch Saga. She could just sit, drink tea, and let her mind drift after a hard day. The kids became enamored with Animal Crossing this past summer. It is quite possibly the only game I have even seen them sit quietly and watch each other play. Even though I have played more games this year than I possibly ever have, my one constant that I come back to regularly is Apex Legends.
I have spoken about it before, but the ability to hop in and play this battle-royale style FPS without the need of hearing toxic online chatter is extremely refreshing. And because of the amount of time I have put into the game, I have gotten a lot better with my FPS reflexes. I won’t be turning pro anytime soon but gone are the days of me dying right away…well…at least most of the time. Here’S to hoping and believing 2021 will be an amazing year. Good day, God bless, and have a happy new year!
Ryan Files is an avid comic book and video game consumer, reviewer, and critic hailing from the boondocks of Illinois. He has taken his ethnographic cultural studies background and applied it to his love of geekdom. He is a huge Star Wars nerd, Castlevania fanatic, and his power level is definitely over 9000. When he isn’t online writing about how he misses old school beat em’ ups like Final Fight, Streets of Rage, or TMNT IV Turtles in Time, he raises his 3 Dora Milaje warrior girls with the most awesome wife a blerd could ask for. You can reach the mumbly one @moblipeg on Twitter or email him at moblipeg@gmail.com.
