I'm terrible at blogging 😂
So I'm just checking in quickly to say:
How the hell are we halfway through the year already 😱? From now nights will be getting darker again and it'll be 🎃 before we know it (although not until after Stray Kids at Hyde Park and, hopefully, Suho (please release the tickets SM/O2) 🙏🏻
I am way, way behind this month with everything, not just music-related stuff. For once this is not because I was busy playing Hogwarts Legacy - sadly, I haven't even had a chance to update it to get the new stuff, but because I was mega ill and had trouble even dragging myself out of bed for a week, let alone do anything productive, so nothing got done and now I'm playing catch up everywhere, not just with music.
As if I didn't already have enough on my plate, I have, possibly somewhat unwisely, signed myself up to play Dungeons & Dragons. It's something I've always wanted to do but never had enough nerdy friends to actually make it happen and as a hyper-introverted INFP (honestly, it's like 98% or something ridiculous) there was no way I was going to see if I could find a group or shop or whatever (I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like that round here anyway).
With no one to play with, I had never really looked into the mechanics previously. This turned out to be a huge mistake as it's far more complex than you would imagine (if you're not already a player) and it includes lots of Maths (at which I am absolutely hopeless).
It didn't help that despite almost all my fellow players being beginners too (finally, the nerdy friends I've been looking for all my life) they have all apparently prepared themselves for the day someone asks them to join a game and already have fully formed characters and book-length backstories; one told me she worked on the character for about six months 😱.
I, of course, have no such thing, and until I said yes to joining the game had never even looked at the many various handbooks that are mandatory reading. So, while trying to catch up on everything else I've also spent the last week studying the guides and watching Youtube videos on races and classes - everything, in fact, except actual gameplay, which would probably be most useful. Being ill and losing a week as well, certainly didn't help in either time or levels of anxiety. It is, without a doubt, the most intensive amount of studying I've done since I sat my NEBOSH qualification, which was about 20 years ago!
It's been a really up-and-down journey too, because as soon as I read through the descriptions in the player manual I knew exactly what race and class I wanted to be, but then felt obliged to change it once I saw everyone else's characters. Almost all the rest of the party is magical, so we're a bit lacking unless the game is set in wizard school - it's not (I don't think) as it's just a standard starter game to see how we all do and get an idea of how to play, so maybe it wouldn't have mattered if I'd stuck with my original choice.
I then chose something I thought was perfect but watching the videos made me question the class particularly, as it seems to be an unpopular choice that everyone hates playing. Several videos even suggested that it was the worst possible thing my race could play - although all the videos are extremely contradictory, to be honest - earlier today I saw another that suggested they were the perfect fit for each other 🤷🏻♀️ Go figure.
My big problem is coming up with a decent backstory in such a short amount of time, especially as all the videos I've watched suggest creating your character in collaboration with the DM to ensure it'll fit into the story. I know for a short starter game this isn't required but as everything is so confusing anyway, and with so little story - I know who my character is but that's about it - and no knowledge of what the game will be/where it will be set I'm finding it really tough, especially when you add in my habit of procrastinating indefinitely if given the chance and my inability to make decisions.
Anyway, the time has now come to bite the bullet and try to actually create my character sheet using the dice rolls and stuff. I've scheduled time tomorrow to do this before I start my annual rewatch of Goblin (also known as Guardian: The Lonely and Great God), as a reactor I follow (funnily enough the same one as has put together the D&D game) is starting the series for the first time.
Of course, my dice (the 5 sets of pretty coloured ones I bought and have carefully been saving for the day I can play a game) have disappeared without a trace and I can't find them anywhere. Someone has suggested I get online dice instead, so I downloaded an app which has them but I have no idea whether it's any good. Time will tell, I guess.
Why did I buy 5 sets? I have absolutely no idea.
I really hope I find my dice soon.
I have been slowly updating the monthly playlists with my May choices. I still have Chinese albums and Korean EPs and albums to do, but hopefully I should be completed in time to post before I have to start on the June ones (and the mid-year review - I still can't believe how quickly we got here).
Anyway, that's enough from me, as it's past my bedtime. Before I go I want to share this performance video from Yook Sungjae of BTOB. In May he released a fantastic single album called Exhibition: Look Closely, which is in my Top 3 singles playlist. It contains what will possibly turn out to be my favourite song of the year, a fantastic track called The Ghost. It's such a beautiful song, so I was very happy when he released a video for it.
