Do Nothing, Save Money
It’s amazing the value of doing nothing.
Recent Steam sale? Bought nothing. There are like 30 items on my wishlist, but none of them are particularly… buyable? For example, I have Sekiro on there but A) it’s a newer game that won’t see a deep discount, and more importantly B) I have no means of playing. I’m actually coming up on the end of my 4-week baby probationary period (i.e. paternity leave), but that just means a new reality of daily babysitting and the same lack of any ability to do much of anything after work still.
Recent Amazon Prime Day? Well, I did buy some house stuff because I’m a bleeding heart liberal that nevertheless enjoys next-day delivery of… let me check… 100 ft extension cords, razors, fish food, and USB chargers. More importantly though, I did not buy that PS4 Pro $300 bundle despite the fact that I was actually browsing Amazon right when it went up.
If I’m honest, it was less willpower and more dithering. “Surely I would play it! Totally different scenario from the PS3 I have hooked up next to the monitor I’m currently typing on.” “If I’m buying a console for no reason, why not a Switch instead? There are fewer Playstation exclusives I’m interested in, plus it’s portable when watching the baby!” “Yeah… but Final Fantasy 7: Remake.”
“…aaaaaaand it’s gone.jpeg.” “Success baby.jpeg.”
I have talked in the past about my digital hoarding predilections, insofar as it is more centered around avoiding paying MSRP. A good deal on a game that I want to play eventually is very enticing, because when the mood strikes, it strikes hard and turns any other game into ash in my mouth. This used to be a big problem.
Now? I have accepted my fate. I play phone games and browse Reddit for nine hours, then maybe play something equally mindless, like Fallout 76 or now Graveyard Keeper when off baby duty. Could I jump back into Divinity: Original Sin 2? Not really. I mean, I could play it, but I’d probably be interrupted every 30 minutes or so, and only have about two total hours in any case. When that becomes your gaming time horizon, your tastes shift.
I am hoping that things will eventually settle down. My child doesn’t sleep through the night, or even in a crib for longer than 15 minutes yet. I think babies are supposed to though? I have no idea. All I do know is that sometimes doing nothing is the correct answer, which just so happens to correspond to my existence at the moment.
Christ, I just want to sleep. And play videogames.
Posted on July 18, 2019, in Miscellany and tagged Amazon, Baby, Deals, Do Nothing, Fallout 76, Steam Sales, What Am I Doing With My Life?. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
In An Age 
As mentioned before, the first 6 months are a whirlwind the first time around, with each week being something different that consumes most of your time and energy. It gets better man, don’t worry. Once they nap more consistently that’s prime gaming time (unless the wife wants to hang out, but from experience those breaks are great for both people to have some nice quiet time alone).
The absolute most important thing, both for the baby but especially for gaming, is to set and iron-fist enforce a sleeping schedule in their own bed. Don’t let them sleep in your bed or your room unless they are on deaths door, and don’t let anything get in the way of the time they go to sleep. No, you can’t stay at someones house a bit longer with the kid, no, you can’t keep the kid up a little past their nap time, and nope, sleeping in the car isn’t an option. People might hate you, but you’ll hate yourself a lot more if you have kids that stink at sleeping.
My kids go to bed every single night at 7:30pm, and 95% of the time once we say goodnight, that’s it, they stay in bed and sleep. From about 8pm to my bedtime, I can game. My buddy who sucks as a parent has his same-age kid stay up past 9pm, and most of the time they can’t fall asleep unless dad is also in bed until they are out. His gaming time is awful as a result. Don’t be my buddy.
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