December 2021 Favorites

It's the last monthly favorites of 2021! Putting this out a little early since I'll be having company soon.

AI: The Somnium Files: I watched the entirety of this game over five days, and this mystery/sci-fi story was absolutely fascinating. There are various paths to choose as you put the pieces together, much like the Zero Escape games before it. And a lot of the characters had compelling, emotional stories. The sexual jokes were way too excessive and often in bad taste, in my opinion, and there were some extremely violent deaths I had to look away from. But I was obsessed the whole way through, and I highly recommend it, if you can handle the gore and crude jokes. (If you prefer watching games, I recommend Pharoah2091 on YouTube. I watched through the first two Zero Escape games with him and would highly recommend those as well.)

The Fosters (Again): The last season of The Fosters was quite impactful, covering some really important issues. The time jump episodes stirred up my heart once again, though I knew the outcome from the start. I will always ship Brandon/Callie, but I thought their canon resolution was beautiful. And I'm going to miss my wonderful, perhaps favorite, found family. Hoping for great things from Good Trouble.

Our Chemical Hearts: This book is brilliant and sad. And by the end, sort of dissects love into chemical reactions and expiration dates, albeit in a poetic, hopeful way. This is not how I see love, and perhaps at an earlier time in my life, I would've hated it for daring to insult my idea of soulmates. But this is also a story about deeply falling for someone hurting and broken, who just can't love you back in the way you want them to. And that is a feeling I know far too well. This book puts that feeling into words beautifully.

Animal Crossing: The update has pulled me back in, and I'm loving checking in almost daily as a nice relaxing task.

Neopets: TNT finally added the option to purchase spaces for more pets. 😭💖 If you're on Neo, come see my lovelies on call_me_firefly!

Music Favs: Outside Our Heads (Marie Digby), Shut Up and Kiss Me (Echosmith), Back to You (Selena Gomez), Bloodstream (Ed Sheeran), Where Do Where Go from Here (Ruelle), Stars (Dubstar), South of Sound (Lemolo).