September 2021 Favorites

My stress levels have been high, my energy has been low, and yet I somehow have been writing again. Which has been like a breath of fresh autumn air. Here's what else I've been into this month.

Linger: I'm continuing to love The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. It took me a while to get into the additional PoVs in this book, particularly Cole's. And one of his chapters was pretty upsetting (at least to a vegetarian like me). But he grew on me towards the end. I also found the... lore? Science? Of the wolves to be quite interesting this time around. And of course, I continued to love Sam and Grace's story. Their tragic soulmate love keeps me obsessed with this series. Only one main book left to finish, and I'm excited and sad at the same time.

Once and Again (Again): I cannot quite describe the intense feelings this often somber and beautiful show gives me, and I hate that I'm hurtling towards the end of it now. But some of my favorite episodes are here, near the end. I'm picking up on just how much the different characters are tied to each other. Lily's warmth has reached out to all the other characters by this point in the show. There's a found family aspect to her love that goes beyond her new stepchildren. To her ex's baby's mother. To her husband's ex-wife. Her compassion is lovely. And as my therapist pointed out based on my description, the show really covers a lot of mental health issues in a vulnerable and authentic way.

The HotSpot: So, back in '06-'07, I was hugely into GameSpot's podcast, The HotSpot (as well as their weekly video stream, On the Spot). I often revisited my favorite episodes over and over again. And while a lot of the guys ended up moving to Giant Bomb after Jeff's firing, and I love the video content on that site, I was never as into the Bombcast as I had been with The HotSpot. Something has been pulling me back to my old favorite video games podcast. Yeah, the content is super old and sometimes shows its age, but my favorite jokes are still funny, even if no one still cares about them except me. "But don't let Dietrich drive it!"

Music Favs: Wasted Daylight (Stars), Bad Habits (Ed Sheeran), Heartstrings (Leighton Meester), Awake (Lovelast), Backslide (Lemolo), After (MUNA), Nothing Ever Changes (Donna Lewis), Come Closer (Acceptance), Linger (Jonatha Brooke).