The past week has been chock full of activities, and my physical exhaustion is still catching up with me.

Being sick for most of the year will apparently do that to you. Well, that and not being in my twenties anymore.

I’ve continued to surprise myself with how much I am enjoying South Park: The Fractured But Whole. I’ve been enjoying it so much, that I’ve been staying up all night playing it…on more than one occasion. The game is ridiculous and I love it, but the next morning I feel like garbage and then sleep all day. It’s not the best schedule, and it’s one I’m hoping to remedy.

Of course, I’m writing this around 1am. This after sleeping all day after staying up all night Saturday night, you guessed it, playing South Park.

Clearly I need to reevaluate my priorities, but I’m hoping to get back on track this week. I’ve got around 20 hours into South Park, so I imagine I’m getting fairly close to the end game. My time with it has been wonderful and silly and exactly what I needed right now.

On Friday night I did two things that pushed me terribly far outside of my comfort zone: I met up with an online friend in person for the first time, and I finally conquered my fear of mazes and haunts.

I’d met my friend through a Facebook group I’m fairly active in. We realized we lived within five miles of each other and always talked about getting together. Between the fact that I’ve been sick for most of 2017 and that I felt I’d disappoint her in person, we hadn’t yet met. We decided to finally meet…at Knott’s Scary Farm! She brought three of her friends, and they were all wonderful. I was so nervous before I met them, but I’m so glad I went.

Also, as I mentioned, I was able to finally conquer a nearly decade old fear. Back in 2008 I had a bad experience the one and (then) only time I had been to Knott’s Scary Farm. It was my first haunt and my first maze. A scare actor wouldn’t allow me to pass for an absurdly long time (so long we were holding up the other maze guests). I had asked and asked that person to move and to allow me to pass, but they didn’t move or allow me to. I finally had to say I was going to find a manager if they didn’t get out of my way. It freaked me out and I didn’t do any more mazes that night and I never went back.

I love horror movies, horror novels, horror games, and, in theory, I love the idea of haunts and mazes because I love the atmosphere and production value.

So I went with my new friends and we had such an excellent time! I went through not one, but six mazes and they were fantastic! The scare zones between the mazes were also interesting. So much fog was being pumped into them that I literally could not see anything. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but I couldn’t see a thing, not even my own hand in front of my face, nor my friends around me. It made me wonder how such a thing could be safe for so many people to walk through.

I already can’t wait to go back again next year.

This week, I will be finishing up South Park, then picking the first Wolfenstein back up to finish it before starting Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. After that, I’m hoping to dive in to Assassin’s Creed: Origins. And if I get to all those games this week, I will consider myself productive, indeed.

All in all, it was a glorious week. I’ve also watched seven episodes of Stranger Things: Season Two, and I’m hoping to finish that up tonight, as well.

With that I ask: what will you be playing this week? What will you be doing to celebrate Halloween?

Whatever you do, please be safe out there. Cheers, friends!