Video Games on Kimberly Hirsh

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:57:27 -0400

🎮 My character in Disney Dreamlight Valley: Belle likes reading, so surely she can repair this damaged rare book!
Me, a librarian, in real life: No. No no no. Enjoying reading does not automatically confer preservation expertise.

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 01:29:00 -0400

🎮 Had a breakthrough in Blue Prince and I’m so excited about it it’s hard to sleep.

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:53:06 -0400

🎮 Playing the first Final Fantasy pixel remaster and it makes me so happy. The music especially. I have played this video game more than any other. It’s very soothing.

Wed, 12 Feb 2025 01:23:21 -0400

🎮 Downloading the Final Fantasy I - VI pixel remasters. Very excited!

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:47:58 -0400

I played Spyro the Dragon (Reignited Trilogy version) and had fun but 3D games mostly give me motion sickness so now I feel gross. Uninstalled and will try Kirby Super Star tomorrow. 🎮

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:59:41 -0400

🎮 Finished The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom last night. Super fun! I love puzzles, I love getting to be Zelda without her having to be disguised, and I love that the world is still making new games I can play now that 3D games seem to give me motion sickness.

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:46:26 -0400

🎮 I got Metroid: Samus Returns. I’m really enjoying it. I know there will be parts that are super difficult, but I am happy to use walkthroughs or whatever. I’m also finding that I don’t mind having to repeatedly try a fight in this game as much as I sometimes do, so that’s nice.

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 11:40:50 -0400

🎮 Finished Metroid: Zero Mission.

This is a remake of the original NES Metroid with a lengthy epilogue. I mostly enjoy Metroidvanias for the exploration.

I think my thumbs need a rest after this. It might be time to play an RPG or puzzle game. But eventually, I’ll move on to Super Metroid.

Wed, 29 May 2024 11:57:09 -0400

🎮 Played Assemble with Care.

I’m really feeling wholesome games lately, especially those with a warm pastel color palette and soothing music. In this game, you fix people’s stuff and inspire them to fix their relationships.

On sale on Steam for $3.19 through June 11, iOS & Android for $3.99.

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 23:08:13 -0400

I know there are things to do in life besides play Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, but I don’t care to do them. 🎮

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 10:14:00 -0400

🎮 Okay people of the Internet. I’m about to start Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. See you in a couple hundred hours.

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:06:49 -0400

🎮 Finished Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3. Classics all, only accessible for me due to the rewind feature in Nintendo Switch Online’s NES software. With my limited hand-eye coordination, age, and time constraints, this is the only way I was ever going to play these.

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 04:30:51 -0400

🎮 Finished Link’s Awakening.

Super fun!

Sun, 07 Jan 2024 20:52:16 -0400

🎮 Finished The Legend of Zelda (NES).

A classic, of course. I’ve never been able to get very far before, but I played it with Nintendo Switch Online and made liberal use of suspend points (aka save states) and walkthroughs. I had fun and finished both quests.

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 02:15:28 -0400

🎮 Played the Pikmin 4 demo, ended up buying the Pikmin 1 + 2 bundle, and I feel so guilty every time my little plant guys die in battle. 🌱

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 07:30:39 -0400

🔖 Some interesting links around “wholesome” as a word for things that restore us, rather than a conservative metric by which to judge people:

When Did ‘Wholesome’ Become a Gen Z Compliment? (NYT Gift Link)
Why Are We Craving “Wholesome” Things? (The Good Trade)
Wholesome Games 🎮

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:38:28 -0400

🎮 Playing Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe with my kid. Super fun. Couch co-op Kirby seems to be his gateway to playing instead of just watching. Might do Kirby Star Allies next.

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 15:10:33 -0400

🔖📺🎮 Read Television Is Better Without Video Games and Video Games Are Better Without Gameplay (Ian Bogost, The Atlantic).

Maybe Ian Bogost should stop playing video games.

Wed, 18 Jan 2023 19:55:01 -0400

🎮 Played the Dragon Quest Treasures demo.

Cute with some fun mechanics and a cool world but not so compelling that I’d purchase without a steep discount.

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 19:38:14 -0400

🎮 Started playing The Secret of Monkey Island on the Steam Deck. Correcting a gap in my point & click bona fides. So far Yakko & Wakko Warner as the Fettuccini Brothers is my favorite part.

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 17:08:00 -0400

🎮 Apparently my Dragon Age: Origins character isn’t in leather armor that looks like underwear. She’s in her actual underwear because I guess I unequipped her regular clothes but failed to actually equip the leather armor. I’ll fix this when I’m next playing.

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:07:00 -0400

🎮 I’m more than 10 yrs behind & have already played Inquisition but some quick thoughts after 1 hr of DA: Origins:

I appreciate that the music in the Denerim Alienage has Klezmer vibes.
I do NOT appreciate that my leather armor is a bikini.

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 03:46:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read Playing ‘Tunic’ Reminds Me How to Approach Sickness and Recovery by Martin Cahill (Catapult).

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 16:50:00 -0400

🎮 If you told me in 2015 that I would be really psyched about getting farming sims by 2022, I would have laughed at you. Yet here we are.

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 14:03:00 -0400

Okay, I have enough people still hanging out on Twitter to stick around, reactivated syndication.

Via @toddgrotenhuis on micro.blog -

Introduce yourself with five video games 🎮:

Final Fantasy VII
Dragon Age Inquisition
Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Return of the Obra Dinn

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 21:57:23 -0400

🎮 Things from today’s Nintendo Direct that feel like gifts they’re making for me, specifically:

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
Harvestella demo today
Tales of Symphonia remastered (I never finished the original on GameCube but I loved what of it I played)

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 15:45:29 -0400

On Kimbertide Day 4, I enjoyed an ice cream sandwich. For day 5, I’m playing Metroid: Zero Mission. 🎮

Sun, 03 Jul 2022 19:10:03 -0400

Kimbertide Day 3: Played a little of the new Capcom Fighting Collection 🎮

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:46:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read Inside the fight to save video game history.

Great intro to the copyright issues at play in the conflict between game companies and museums & libraries over providing access to old games.

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 23:39:00 -0400

Started Octopath Traveler again tonight and it made me very happy. Last time I played was almost 2 years ago. 🎮

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 23:48:08 -0400

Words cannot convey how psyched I am for Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers Edition. I’ve wanted a Chrono Cross remaster for a long time. PSX-era JRPGs were my first post-Atari 2600 console games & have a special place in my heart. 🎮

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 14:12:00 -0400

Today’s 28 Days of Black History post about Jerry Lawson, who led the division that made the first console where players could change out game cartridges, is exactly the kind of thing my vintage computing nerd heart loves. Check it out! 🎮

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 06:05:00 -0400

10 Video Games to Know Me 🎮

Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Chrono Cross
Golden Sun
Final Fantasy X-2
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Dragon Age Inquisition
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:24:00 -0400

Closing out the year with a couple of runs in Hades 🎮 followed by some Star Trek: The Next Generation 🖖🏻. Here’s to staying on-brand in 2022.

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 23:28:00 -0400

I spent about an hour tonight playing the 1980 Commodore 64 port of Super Star Trek and I have no regrets. 🎮💻

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 11:31:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

How Indiana Jones, Rambo, and others ended up in 1980s Czechoslovak text-adventures | Ars Technica arstechnica.com
Read: arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/10/how-indiana-jones-fought-the-communists-and-led-an-era-of-activist-video-games/

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 18:07:00 -0400

🔖 Read Who Writes the Books in Video Games? . This is relevant to my interests. 📚🎮

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 15:51:00 -0400

🔖 Read From Princes to Pigeons: A Beginner’s Guide to Otome Games 🎮

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 19:27:00 -0400

🎮 Played Dragon Quest III.

Each game in the series gets more expansive. I love that.

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 22:41:00 -0400

🎮 Played Dragon Quest on Android. Gorgeous pixel remake of the foundational JRPG. Super fun! 🐲

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:29:25 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Loki episode 1 finds a startling way to rest the antihero for Marvel TV - Polygon polygon.com
Read: www.polygon.com
polygon.com https://www.polygon.com/22526851/loki-episode-1

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:29:01 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Loki episode 1 recap and Easter eggs: Thor’s naughty brother gets busted for time crimes - CNET cnet.com
Read: www.cnet.com
cnet.com https://www.cnet.com/news/loki-episode-1-recap-and-easter-eggs-thors-naughty-brother-gets-busted-for-time-crimes/

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:21:41 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Star Trek | Games of Fame gamesoffame.wordpress.com
Read: gamesoffame.wordpress.com
gamesoffame.wordpress.com https://gamesoffame.wordpress.com/star-trek/

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:21:27 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

1974: Super Star Trek - 50 Years of Text Games if50.substack.com
Read: if50.substack.com
if50.substack.com https://if50.substack.com/p/1974-super-star-trek

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:21:10 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Addendums | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/06/25/before-adventure-addendums/

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:20:59 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Part 5: Wumpus 2 and 3 | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/04/05/before-adventure-part-5-wumpus-2-and-3/#comments

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:20:43 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» Hunt the Wumpus, Part 2 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/05/hunt-the-wumpus-part-2/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:46:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» Hunt the Wumpus, Part 1 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/05/hunt-the-wumpus-part-1/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:22:36 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Part 4: Hunt the Wumpus (1973) | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/04/03/before-adventure-part-4-hunt-the-wumpus-1973/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:22:23 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Part 2: Mugwump, Hurkle, Snark (1973) | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/03/15/before-adventure-part-2-mugwump-hurkle-snark-1973/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:22:08 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Part 1: Hide and Seek (1972) | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/03/14/before-adventure-part-1-hide-and-seek-1972/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 12:29:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Before Adventure, Part 3: Caves (1973) | Renga in Blue bluerenga.blog
Read: bluerenga.blog
Jason Dyer https://bluerenga.blog/2019/03/20/before-adventure-part-3-caves-1973/

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 12:27:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

1973: Hunt the Wumpus - 50 Years of Text Games if50.substack.com
Read: if50.substack.com
if50.substack.com https://if50.substack.com/p/1973-hunt-the-wumpus

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 08:57:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Forty Years of Lunar Lander technologizer.com
Read: www.technologizer.com
technologizer.com https://www.technologizer.com/2009/07/19/lunar-lander/

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 08:56:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Lunar Lander: The Full Story of the Legendary Game and Genre fictionphile.com
Read: fictionphile.com
fictionphile.com https://fictionphile.com/lunar-lander-video-game/

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 08:55:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

1972: ROCKET - 50 Years of Text Games if50.substack.com
Read: if50.substack.com
if50.substack.com https://if50.substack.com/p/1972-rocket

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:57:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Something Found In The Oregon Trail - Code Dive codedive.substack.com
Read: codedive.substack.com
codedive.substack.com https://codedive.substack.com/p/something-found-in-the-oregon-trail

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:06:44 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» On the Trail of the Oregon Trail, Part 5 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/04/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-5/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:06:31 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» On the Trail of the Oregon Trail, Part 4 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/04/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-4/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:06:18 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Oregon Trail Ver. 3 (BASIC 3.1, 1978) | Desert Hat deserthat.wordpress.com
Read: deserthat.wordpress.com
deserthat.wordpress.com https://deserthat.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/oregon-trail-ver-3-basic-3-1-1978/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:06:01 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» On the Trail of the Oregon Trail, Part 3 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/04/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-3/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 22:03:52 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» On the Trail of the Oregon Trail, Part 2 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/03/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-2/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 21:14:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Rafting Down the Columbia River died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/rafting-columbia.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 21:13:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Matt’s Store & Starting the Game died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/matts-store.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 21:02:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Crossing Rivers died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/crossing-rivers.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 21:00:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

The Earliest Versions of the Game died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/early-versions.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 19:51:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

A Brief History of the Oregon Trail Game died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/brief-history.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 19:50:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

The Oregon Trail Memes died-of-dysentery.com
Read: www.died-of-dysentery.com
died-of-dysentery.com http://www.died-of-dysentery.com/stories/memes.html

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 19:34:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Designing the Travel Screen for “The Oregon Trail” | by R. Philip Bouchard | The Philipendium | Medium medium.com
Read: medium.com
medium.com https://medium.com/the-philipendium/designing-the-travel-screen-for-the-oregon-trail-535491bc2cfc

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 18:44:00 -0400

🔖🎮 The FEMICOM museum is my new favorite thing.

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 13:11:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

Designing the Hunting Game for “The Oregon Trail” | by R. Philip Bouchard | The Philipendium | Medium medium.com
Read: medium.com
medium.com https://medium.com/the-philipendium/designing-the-hunting-game-for-the-oregon-trail-257924bdc6ae

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 10:25:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

How I Managed to Design the Most Successful Educational Computer Game of All Time | by R. Philip Bouchard | The Philipendium | Medium medium.com
Read: medium.com
medium.com https://medium.com/the-philipendium/how-i-managed-to-design-the-most-successful-educational-computer-game-of-all-time-4626ea09e184

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 09:21:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

» On the Trail of the Oregon Trail, Part 1 The Digital Antiquarian filfre.net
Read: www.filfre.net
filfre.net https://www.filfre.net/2011/03/on-the-trail-of-the-oregon-trail-part-1/

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 08:33:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

The Forgotten History of ‘The Oregon Trail,’ As Told By Its Creators vice.com
Read: www.vice.com
vice.com https://www.vice.com/en/article/qkx8vw/the-forgotten-history-of-the-oregon-trail-as-told-by-its-creators

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 08:24:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read

1971: The Oregon Trail - 50 Years of Text Games if50.substack.com
Read: if50.substack.com
if50.substack.com https://if50.substack.com/p/1971-the-oregon-trail

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:44:00 -0400

Played Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego? via the Internet Archive with M. this morning & explained that Moscow is no longer the capital of the USSR bc the USSR is not a thing. Get the World Almanac from the Internet Archive if you’re going to play. 🎮

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 22:30:04 -0400

🎮 Currently playing Hades on Nintendo Switch.

Been coveting this for a while, so when W. suggested getting it today, I squeed. Love the art & vibe so far. Button mashing & playing in God Mode.

Mon, 18 May 2020 17:08:43 -0400

🎮 I finished playing Final Fantasy VII Remake yesterday. I had fun with the game and I adore Tifa, Aerith, and Jessie, more than I did when I originally played Final Fantasy VII about 20 years ago. Marlene is the best part because she looks kind of like my kid. FFVII is in a weird spot for me because it was the first console game I really played, and I played it at a time when I really needed it, emotionally. I’ve tried replays in the past but never made it through. My understanding of the plot has always been… fragmented? And wasn’t made better by watching Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I deliberately halted a replay before going into the remake so I wouldn’t be constantly comparing them, and I’m happy with that decision. Anyway, I was confused by the ending but didn’t dislike it, and once I talked with W. about it, I found that I actually wished they’d gone bigger in the same direction. I’m now doing a playthrough of the original, and after that I may dig into some of the Final Fantasy VII Compilation titles before going back and doing a plus game replay of FFVIIR.

Thu, 30 Apr 2020 20:05:00 -0400

I have bangs for the first time in 30 years and it’s Tifa’s fault. 🎮

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 23:23:00 -0400

🎮 I think Tifa is my fave now? I always liked her, but now I like her best?

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 20:29:00 -0400

🎮 It’s happening.

Weekly Update: 04/11/20

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 11:43:51 -0400

We just finished up week 4 of staying at home. In one sense, I didn’t have much going on before this; grad school and parenting a young child don’t really leave much space for doing things. But I’m realizing now how I do have even less going on, because I’m not even going on playdate outings or whatever.

We started watching Animaniacs with M, just in time to get excited for new episodes coming sometime ever.

Like so many other people, I’m growing weary of doing all of my communicating with people who don’t live with me via Zoom call. I do like being able to see people’s faces; I hate phone calls. But it’s wearying, right?

I found out that I didn’t get a dissertation completion fellowship from my school. That would have covered my tuition, fees, and health insurance, and given me a (very modest) stipend to cover living expenses. Because life, I have missed the deadlines for all similar awards. (Though I only found 4 I was eligible for anyway.) This has prompted a lot of questions for myself about what comes next, specifically in terms of being able to contribute to my family’s financial wellbeing, which is going to need a lot more help because our childcare costs are more than doubling next year. I’m reluctant to take a (eventually) face-to-face full-time job, because I want to be with my kid in the afternoons. He’ll get out of school at 3:15 and I want to be there to pick him up, not put him in aftercare or delegate that to somebody else.

So, what can I do, that will pay me, lets me work from 9 - 3, and is flexible enough to accommodate both dissertating and chronic illness? I’ve landed on freelance editing, which I did for a few months after getting my MSLS. (And maybe a little writing, but it doesn’t pay as well.) My current assistantship contract ends on May 15; I’m open to taking on new work any time after that. If you need an editor, get in touch. I’m hoping the university will be able to work with me to at least fund my tuition and fees, but tuition doesn’t buy groceries or pay preschool teachers, soooooo…

That was kind of the biggest thing that went down this week. I spent a day moping about it and not feeling like doing much else. But I did read some Internet things. Let me share them with you!

I will be soothed, actually

Why We Turn to Jane Austen in Dark Times I love Jane Austen. This does a great job of explaining how her works are soothing without denying that life is hard sometimes.

I try to check Tumblr’s Week in Review most weeks, because I want to know what people are fans of. When I saw #cottagecore pop up, I was intrigued. It’s kind of like… hygge with more fairy rings and fawns? And also, from what I’m reading, a queer-friendly aesthetic in a way some other Internet aesthetics aren’t.I wanted an explainer, and the Internet gave me one. And then it gave me two more. This has me pondering Internet aesthetics. I’ll let you know what I’m thinking about those as I develop my thoughts further. (But FYI, two of my favorites are vaporwave and [seapunk]aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Seap….)

Also, I’m fairly certain the appeal of cottagecore/farmcore is related to phenomena like the Joy of Missing Out and the general consumerist move toward coziness more broadly. (I even briefly thought, “Maybe I should crochet big cozy blankets and sell them for exorbitant sums.” None of us are immune to this sort of thinking, I fear…) Also I got a little grouchy reading about grandmillenials, who I guess seem to me to be wee babes rediscovering the New Domesticity and sharing it online as though Gen X didn’t already do that over 15 years ago…

Currently

📖: Blue Mind by Wallace J. Nichols, A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland
🎬: ST:TNG in 40 Hours
🦸‍♀️: The Power of X
🎮: Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

Weekly Update: 03/27/20

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 16:34:34 -0400

I’m trying a new thing with a weekly round-up on Friday.

This has been the second week of social distancing for us. We order our groceries via Instacart, always tipping 10%. I’m wondering now if we should tip higher. If they go on strike, we will find other ways to get groceries, but as someone who is potentially high risk for COVID-19, it has been such a blessing/privilege to be able to get groceries this way.

This was our first week “back” from M’s earlier-than-expected spring break, which means Zoom calls with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, parents, and teachers at 9:30 am every morning. It’s been such a balm to see all those precious faces, to hear the kids say each other’s names and say hello. M and I also did a call with the family of one of his dearest friends. He wasn’t super interested, so it was mostly me talking to them, but it was still nice to do. (Moms trying to talk to each other while the kids are around, though, isn’t really a thing that can happen.)

I have stolen a few moments here and there to work on both my dissertation research and the research for my assistantship. I’m hopeful that next week I’ll be able to dig into those more.

Very little gets done aside from keeping the kid alive. I have had a couple of glorious baths with sea or Epsom salt in them. Media gets consumed. Sleep happens, though often poorly. We eat, and the food mostly isn’t junk (my Hershey-bar-with-almonds habit notwithstanding) but I wouldn’t say there’s much cooking going on. W makes tacos, or I toss some chicken and potatoes in the Instant Pot.

It’s been beautiful outside. Going out and sitting on the deck, it’s easy to forget what a scary time we’re living in. People walk their dogs on the trail. Kids ride bikes. M and W’s mom play in the yard with a beautiful set of fairies and animals that she got for M.

I am trying to blog daily. I spent a late night using every resource from holisticism that mentions purpose or career to help me think about what’s up with my life. While I don’t think the movement of the heavens controls what we do, I think astrology and human design are valuable tools for interrogating ourselves. If we’re reading a description that is supposed to be of us, we can ask ourselves whether it resonates or not. Mine usually does.

Between those resources and Co-star, I am coming to terms with the fact that while I want to do meaningful and helpful work, my priority in life is more home and family and less career. Not that I don’t want one, but that career doesn’t define me. I’m realizing that spontaneous self-expression is very important to me, as is interrogating identity and how it is constructed. I’m embracing the fact that blogging is the most accessible form of spontaneous self-expression for me, that it’s one I’ve been carrying on in one form or another for almost 20 years, and that it’s a very fine hobby to have as one’s primary hobby. The others wax and wane, but blogging is always here.

This is a nice segue into what I’ve been reading online this week, because as I decided to really embrace kimberlyhirsh.com as a personal blog rather than a professional blog or something aimed at getting me jobs or providing income, I’ve been reading about personal blogging and its value. Here are some of the things I read that stuck with me:

How blogs changed everything This is a post from 2009, but still has a lot of value today. My favorite part is when Rosenberg says, “Blogging allows us to think out loud together.” I love the concept of blogging-as-thinking. Every time I run across it, I go, “Oh YEAH! THAT’s why we do this!”
Personal Blogging Is the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me This more recent piece, written in 2015 and updated in 2017, references the earlier one. The author writes:

Personal blogging does not require you to become an expert at anything but your life. We’re all experts at our own lives, and sometimes we have experiences that are universal that would bring like-minded people together. We share these experiences on a personal blog in the hopeful attempt to reach out and make other people who are going through the same thing a little less alone.

This helped me think about the purpose of my site/blog. It’s three-fold: first, it serves as a way for people who meet me to get to know me deeply. Whether we meet face-to-face or online, it has value because I try to be myself here. I’m old enough that I’m kind of done pretending to be something I’m not. If people see what I write here and don’t want to work with me or be friends with me, we weren’t going to be a good fit anyway. Second, it serves as a set of reminders to myself. My future self is the primary audience for this blog. Over and over I search its archives for things I’ve written, whether about health or academics or something else entirely. Third, it is a way to help people, to make them feel less alone, or to illuminate processes that may be opaque to them. This is really what this quote is getting at. (You’ll notice the new description, with both Helpfulness and Transparency included in it. That’s what this is about.)

The Personal Blog This piece, from 2014, claims that there is a renaissance of personal blogging happening. I like to imagine that’s still the case, or perhaps even moreso now than it was them. (For more on this question, see The blog is dead. long live the blog, The Death of the Blog, Again, Again, and Blogging is most certainly not dead.) This quote resonated with me in particular:

There is something about the personal blog, yourname.com, where you control everything and get to do whatever the hell pleases you. There is something about linking to one of those blogs and then saying something. It’s like having a conversation in public with each other. This is how blogging was in the early days. And this is how blogging is today, if you want it to be.

This is happening more and more, especially with technologies like webmentions supporting it. (Hat-tip to @c, author of that article.)

And this is an especially valuable moment for it, for focusing on this small bit of the digital world over which we have control:

Finally on the personal blog front, Robin Sloan and Colin Walker really get at the reason I’m embracing kimberlyhirsh.com as a fully personal blog (which will necessarily include my work, because it’s part of who I am):

The thing about blogging is, you can just write about the things you love. A “professional” “critic” (scare quotes because who even knows what words mean anymore) has to do something else, something more difficult: manage a kind of unfolding… aesthetic… worldview? Balance one thing against the other? A blogger suffers no such burden. A blogger can simply

love a thing, and
write about it.

In that aforementioned new tagline, “Enthusiasm” is the first word. It’s placement is very deliberate, I assure you.

And one more thing. Because it’s All Muppets All the Time (my DVD set of Season 1 of The Muppet Show just arrived!), I really appreciated this article asking Why Doesn’t Disney+ Have More Muppet Stuff?.

Last but not least, current consumption:
🎵: Labyrinth Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/The Muppets (2011) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
📖: Blue Mind by Wallce J. Nichols
🎬: Picard
🦸‍♀️: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures
🎮: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Lego Marvel Superheroes, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 13:22:18 -0400

🎮 Played Monument Valley 2.

I loved it but it went so fast!

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 19:08:52 -0400

🎮 Played Monument Valley: Forgotten Shores (again not for the first time).

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 07:43:00 -0400

🎮 Played Monument Valley (not for the first time). As beautiful and satisfying as ever.

Updated my Now page!

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 11:37:00 -0400

Just updated my Now page with the following information:

I’m living happily in Durham, North Carolina with my husband, W, and our three-year-old son, M. We eagerly look forward to M being old enough to get kittens. All of our parents and siblings live in our metro area, and we get to see them often. It’s really lovely.

We’re hosting monthly brunches so we get to see friends more. I’m planning to try to find more ways to get social interaction in, because both grad school and parenthood are immensely isolating.

I’m in the process of scheduling my dissertation proposal defense for my doctorate in Library and Information Science. My dissertation investigates how cosplayers find, evaluate, use, and share information, both online and in-person. I’m working as research assistant to Dr. Marijel (Maggie) Melo, on a lot of exciting projects related to academic makerspaces. I’m also accepting word-of-mouth referrals for information services consulting clients for summer 2020 (including literature search, bibliography, literature review, metadata analysis, content strategy, writing, editing, and web development) and exploring what it might look like to commit myself to an independent information services business more extensively.

I’m making it a point to take my fun where and when I can: reading books using recommendations from NovelistPlus, watching TV shows and movies based on Tumblr’s fandom statistics, and playing video games based on whatever mood I’m in.

I’m back to being gluten-free and corn-free, after the extreme indulgence of the holidays. My hormones are still finding their way out of the woods in the wake of weaning my son.

I recently found the term “agnostopagan” in Erin Morganstern’s book The Starless Sea, which the character who describes himself using it defines as “spiritual, but not religious.” For me, it’s more than that, but it definitely felt like something clicked when I read the word. Mostly, I believe we make our own magic through setting intentions and creating visual and metaphorical reminders to assist us in setting them and carrying them out, and also I believe that I don’t have enough knowledge to be certain about anything bigger than me. Lately, the tools I’ve been using for setting my intentions are moon cycles, the Tarot, candles, and crystals.

Currently:
🎵: Spotify’s “This is Big Daddy Kane” and “This is KRS-One” playlists
📖: The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern and How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick
🎬: The Empire Strikes Back
🎧: Micro Monday
🦸‍♀️: Ultimate Spider-Man
🎮: Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns

Last updated January 8. 2020.

Fri, 23 Mar 2018 12:48:00 -0400

🔖🎮 Read Hitting the Restart Button: Mass Effect Andromeda (The Learned Fangirl) by Kristin.

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 23:56:47 -0400

🔖🎮 Read The Nintendo Switch Gave Me Back My Video Games by Mark Serrels (Kotaku AU)

Yes, this.

When my son was a tiny thing, I could strap him into his carrier and wear him to sleep as I sunk hours into Dragon Age Inquisition or Final Fantasy XV. But as he’s gotten more mobile, that’s stopped being an option. The Switch solves this problem beautifully. I can play as he naps and stay at his side. If I wake up early, I can play. I think it will take me forever to beat Breath of the Wild but that’s fine.

I love the Switch.