Sidequests for Dec. Part 1

Looking through the remaining Sidequests, I pulled out some of the ones I likely won’t do at all. Those include dancing like no one is watching (I don’t dance period), making the lighting warm and ambient in my space (unless lighting a candle counts, which I do on occasion – I already use curtains that let in plenty of natural light because I love natural light, and I have no plans to switch out lightbulbs), and building a blanket fort (which sounds like loads of fun, but a little less so when my partner in crime has a broken arm). I also have a card saying to prep a few healthy meals, but my boyfriend keeps cooking. He usually does make plenty that I can eat for a few days, so I guess that counts? It’s maybe not healthy? But better than eating out all the time?

I wasn’t super intent on picking up trash around my neighborhood, but I’ve had a friend that’s been on a mission to pick up a bag of trash a week for a year, and she’s been way ahead on her goal for that and still going. I asked her if she would do a bag for me as well, and she obliged.

Some of the easier ones have also been done. I baked something from scratch quite a few times this month. Last week I made cinnamon rolls as part of a holiday thing for work, and made 3 trays of it. I also said the ABCs backwards, probably very incorrectly, and I splurged on some spendier chocolates to snack on as well.

One was unintentionally completed the other day. My boyfriend usually leaves some of his stuff on the front porch when he goes out to sit and smoke, and someone stole his brand new earbuds he got as a gift. The app showed them at a neighbor’s house, but I thought that was strange because the neighbors in question are an older lady and her wheelchair bound father, and I doubted they’d be roaming the neighborhood snatching things off porches. We asked nicely and she let us walk around her property, and then we climbed into the concrete ditch to walk up and down it a bit and check. I think that counts as somewhere nearby I’ve never been before, because I’ve never walked along any of the ditches here.

The other two easy ones included getting a new plant for my space (the third and final one) and going to a local coffee shop. Since it’s Christmas, the available plants included poinsettias or mini living Christmas trees, so I got one of the trees. Both options are poisonous for cats, but the tree might actually be able to survive outside. We’ll see. There’s also a local coffee shop on my way to work that opened up just this year, and I enjoy having an excuse to visit them.

I don’t know for sure if I will complete all of the remaining sidequests, but they’re fairly simple ones that I have the means to do. I’ll do another update closer to the end of the year with the remaining cards.

As for the reasoning on why they got derailed – my boyfriend got hit by a car when he was coming home from work on November 24th. He was on a scooter. The driver was a 19 year old boy with no driver’s license AND no car insurance. He has a separated shoulder joint and a broken arm, and had loads of bruises that have mostly healed up. He also possibly had some broken ribs because he hasn’t been able to get comfortable/is very sore all through his chest and back, and a mild concussion that they didn’t think required a neurologist. Because it involved a vehicle, his insurance initially pushed back saying the car insurance should pay, which is problematic when the only person in the accident that should have had car insurance didn’t. He’s been out of work (thankfully his job is safe, they already told him they’d take him back as soon as he was well), and very miserable, but we’re getting it figured out.

Sidequests Week 45

A late update! Another cat with ringworm. Fun times.

This week’s were pretty simple, but I still kind of failed this week’s sidequests as well. They included watching or reading something that makes me laugh, writing a letter or email to an astronaut, and puring my closet of old clothes and donating them.

Finding something that makes me laugh isn’t hard, I rewatched the new Deadpool movie, and have been reading a book series called Dungeon Crawler Carl that does have moments that make me laugh out loud. But that was the only one I really completed.

No matter where I shuffle it, I don’t think I’ll be writing a letter to an astronaut. Reaching out to random strangers to bother them isn’t a thing I’m comfortable doing, even when I’m a huge fan or thankful for someone’s service. If writing to an astronaut to spread a little positivity is something you’ve never thought of but now kind of think is cool, the card does say that the mailing info can be found on NASA’s website. Browsing the site myself, it’s a little hard to find. They do offer their social media links if those exist. A google search says that letters can be sent in NASA’s care addressed to certain astronauts, but that particular address is provided as answer to a question from 1998 – it could still be valid, I suppose. It actually kind of sounds like this is a bit harder to complete unless I choose an astronaut first, do a bit of cyberstalking, and then use the contact information on their personal sites or DM them through social media.

The clothing purge is a bit harder as well because I’ve already done it from another deck earlier in the year and I’m not the sort of person that owns and buys loads and loads of clothes. I have some clothes that are close to falling apart, but I would feel donating something like that.

So kind of a fail week, after a missed week. Kind of reminds me how it became harder to stay on top of the writing challenge at the end of last year as well.

Sidequests Week 44

The sidequests for this week included setting an early bedtime for more sleep, lighting a candle, and to go stargazing and learn something new about constellations.

Sitting outside at night and looking up at the stars is always nice, and I do it on occasion, though I rarely seek out any constellations except for the most commonly known ones. I did look up some information for the constellation based on my zodiac (Libra) but didn’t really locate it. I did learn that there are only 88 constellations that are recognized by Western astronomers while I was reading about Libra, and thought that was interesting.

Setting an early bedtime wasn’t too hard, I’ve been going to bed fairly early most of the week. I used to stay up regularly until 2 am, and it seems I’ve been heading to bed before midnight most nights lately. I kind of dislike that though.

And lighting a candle is simple enough. Sometimes after cleaning I’ll light a candle to help improve the smell in the house, so that was almost a normal task for me. I’ve got a few candles with fun sayings on them, as well as a Bath and Body works candle that is mostly used up. I also have a recent candle from Fragrant Jewels – I’ve always liked their products because you can get a random ring with them.

Also it kind of occurs to me that I intended to take a lot more pictures throughout this sidequest thing but haven’t because I am awful at taking pictures. Oops.