Not a New Year's Resolution

[lucymonster]

This year, I'm going to replace as much of my doomscrolling as possible with more meaningful entertainment. It's not a New Year's resolution because I always flunk out of those. I technically started last year and I'm not setting any formal Read #X Books or Listen to #Y Albums goals. Just ... more mindful content consumption as a general theme for 2021. I'm also going to try and be more actively social when I do come online. Mutuals, this is the year I comment on your posts now and then instead of just silently admiring you on my way down the page.

So yeah. Welcome to the first, irregularly scheduled edition of Things I Enjoyed With Purpose Instead of Lurking Obsessively on Social Media.


Fic

Music Box Dancer by ambiguityisnoonesfriend (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy + Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren, Rey & Voe (and Ben Solo)):
This is a fantastic fleshing-out of my favourite bit character from the Kylo Ren backstory comics, and just in general a really great canon-divergent AU where Ben never fell to the dark side and Rey was raised as a Palpatine. Despite the dramatic alignment flip, they're both still 100% their canon selves and the resulting dynamic is extremely satisfying.

Music

Across the Dark by Insomnium:
This was pitched to me with words like "soaring" and "majestic", which on my first listen it really did not live up to. My initial reaction was more like "this is perfectly adequate" and "sure, I'll leave it on in the background while I knead my pizza dough". Several days later I've run out of leftover pizza but upgraded the album to "FUCK yes, I love this, play it again". I can't explain why but it's just grown on me more and more with every listen.

Omega Arcane by Shade Empire:
I normally lose interest in symphonic stuff quite quickly, so I'll have to wait and see if this one has any longevity, but right now I love it. Dawnless Days has the same giddily, gratuitously evil vibe I enjoy about Anaal Nathrakh, but with more melody. Ash Statues is just straight-up beautiful.

Comments

[osprey_archer]

I too have been working at replacing my doomscrolling with meaningful entertainment. It feels like it shouldn't be hard, but doomscrolling is so low-energy (despite being simultaneously boring/terrifying) that it can be hard to rip myself away to do something that would require... a very low amount of extra energy, really.

[lucymonster]

It really shouldn't be as hard as it is, hey? My mistake with past reform attempts has been setting the bar too high - for a while I had a 'get up and clean something instead' rule going, which worked great in the mornings when I had lots of energy, but fell apart completely once I started to get tired. Music has been working great so far. Even when I'm too tired to read, I can generally manage to sprawl in a beanbag with my headphones on.

[osprey_archer]

I try to remind myself that the software developers designed these apps to be addictive, so basically we're all snorting digital heroin so OF COURSE it's hard to pull ourselves away... but it's still so annoying that it's so hard to pull myself away. I remember when I was eight and had the attention span to read books all day, and where did that GO?

[snickfic]

I will be excited to see you around more, being social!! And for the opportunity to comment on posts of yours. :)

[lucymonster]

Ta! :) I've been a silent enjoyer of your media reviews and rec posts for a while, and New Year New Me is going to be a chatty enjoyer instead.