I know businesses have to make money. I know they need to advertise. I know Black Friday got its name because it often put businesses in the black, profit-wise. I know businesses have to remind you they have sales.

But holy good gravy.

I’m sure I’m not alone, but in the past week I’ve received literally hundreds of advertising emails and I’m not even on that many digital mailing lists. Yesterday alone, I received FOUR emails from MAC Cosmetics. FOUR. That’s at least three too many and, given how many they have sent me over the past week, at least way too many.

I’ve steered clear of most of the sales and shopping in general. I did go grocery shopping over the weekend.

Wahooo.

Over the past week I’ve been playing Fallout 76 off and on. It’s easily one of the most broken games I’ve ever played, but I still find it engaging. I’m looking forward to actually doing some missions and further leveling up.

Quick side note: as I write this, it’s 6am. In the past ten minutes, my phone has chimed with four more Cyber Monday emails.

Oof.

Back to games.

Also over the weekend, I played a little Destiny 2. I know that’s not a surprise, but my feelings about it might be. I can feel myself growing weary of the game at large and I never thought I’d feel this way. The gameplay is engaging, but the game is growing stale for me. The digital company of my fireteam is what’s keeping me coming back at this point.

I also got a chance to play Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII for the first time when a good friend and I teamed up for some duos in Blackout. It was a lot of f’s: fast, fun, furious, and f’ing ridiculous. I had a great time and look forward to playing more in the future.

Real talk: this week is always the hardest week of the year for me. My pieces may be a bit short or very short. I’m sorry in advance for that. But I will still be here, even if I am more brief than usual.

With that I ask: are you taking advantage of Cyber Monday? If so, what are you getting? Also, what will you be playing this week?

For me: I’d like to continue my exploration of the wasteland of Fallout 76, and I’d really like to start something new and not necessarily a new release. I want to, for once, just play what I feel like and not what I feel like I should be playing. If that makes sense.

Thank you for being here. It means more to me than you may think.

Please be safe out there, friends. Cheers.