Captain’s Log: When Life Chaos Meets Gaming Therapy

Captain’s Log, Stardate 2602.22.2

Tonight’s log comes to you from the late hours of the night, when sleep once again refuses to cooperate. Between perimenopause insomnia, life responsibilities, relationship dynamics, and the constant chaos of adulthood, I’ve been searching for small moments of relief — sometimes finding them in unexpected places like video games and science fiction adventures.

So for now, Cadets… welcome back to nightly logs.

 

🌙 Insomnia, Cold Fronts, and Florida Weather Confusion

Guess what Cadets? For the time being, I am going to start blogging again every night to try and help my insomnia.

As much as I hate the cold, which is part of the reason I moved to Florida from Michigan. Another cold front is coming through tonight and for the next few days — and I’m sort of excited.

I feel like that’s a little bit of why I haven’t been sleeping the greatest lately. It’s been cold longer than usual this year, so I think I was starting to get used to it. At least that’s my guess as to why the morning hot flashes took a break.

It’s been pretty warm again for the last week, and my body can definitely tell. It’ll be nice to have a break from it for the next few nights. Might as well live it up for as long as possible before the summer heat of death hits.

🏡 Homeownership Reality Check (The Stuff No One Warns You About)

We were just talking about trying to get the power washing done as soon as possible on our birdcage around the pool.

You always have to do that first and shock the pool before you can put the solar cover on to start heating it up. We’re not bougie enough yet to afford a heated pool — nor do we really need one since I don’t have time to use it during the winter because of Open Enrollment.

Maybe one day…

Before I get into the more interesting things, I just want to say — when you buy a house, be prepared for the pros and cons of taking care of it.

When I was living here by myself, I had to do everything myself. Which was fine. It helped me stop drinking back in 2021. That’s also the year I started getting sick and losing a bunch of weight. I was already on my way toward change, but there simply wasn’t enough time in the day to be hungover and take care of a house alone.

❤️ Relationships, Expectations, and Reality

One of the pros of being in a relationship is having help with that stuff.

Granted, if I lived alone there would be fewer things to take care of — like only having 4 cats instead of 7, no kid, and no man to clean up after — but I got a fresh reminder today of the life I used to live here by myself.

Boyfriend is still out of commission. Getting old sucks.

He started cleaning out his office yesterday and overextended his shoulder in the process at some point, throwing his back out completely. He ended up in bed most of the day today and yesterday.

Of course… it was also my second day of cat chaos laundry.

I also try to food prep on the weekends, which is time-consuming. My day is already busy. I was not thrilled looking around the house knowing he was broken and the kid was coming home tonight.

There was stuff everywhere — bathroom, dining room, foyer.

And if you haven’t read my other blogs yet, one of my cats started spraying this past year when a new renter neighbor moved in with an outdoor cat. Then he showed up outside harassing Hodor out back out of nowhere.

I have OCD. I could not let the kid come home to a bathroom he couldn’t use.

So I:

Cleared the bathroom

Stripped and remade his bed

Collected trash (trash night)

Cleaned his room

Mopped sticky stuff off the floor

Unrolled and vacuumed a huge rug

Moved office items so the cat wouldn’t mark them

He thanked me. So did his son. That was nice.

I know he would have done the same if the tables were turned. He picked up a lot of slack during Open Enrollment.

But all I have to say is…

My version of picking up the slack and his version are vastly different.

Can you guess whose version is better?

That’s the biggest downfall of relationships. You expect you out of your partner — and it’s incredibly frustrating when you don’t receive the same level of care in return.

The effort is there. I know he’s trying.

There’s just a lot of disappointment sometimes.

A lot of that is on me, and I’m working on it… but it’s still a struggle.

🎮 Gaming as Stress Relief — Enter Star Trek

Enough depressing stuff.

Let’s talk about something more entertaining.

Like the brand new Star Trek game Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown.

I’m pretty sure it’s multiplatform, but I have it for my Xbox Series S. I got it on opening day.

I say I’m a gamer… but apparently you’re not supposed to get online games the first week they come out.

I never played many online games until recently. I only got my Series S last year thanks to my boyfriend. He’s always been an Xbox player. I got him a Series X our second Christmas together and got sucked in myself.

We originally had three TVs in the living room when he and his son moved in, but the kid barely used the third one — even with nice headphones and everything.

Kids don’t appreciate shit these days.

Anyway…

Now the third TV lives in our master bedroom, so I have two TVs in there.

I get to play video games and rewatch Star Trek whenever I want.

Before all this? I only played Nintendo.

Still no Switch 2 yet.

I know enough not to buy new consoles immediately… apparently not online games though.

🤯 Voyager Game Frustrations (Borg Space Rage)

But seriously… Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown has me wanting to throw my Xbox controller across the room most of the time.

Star Trek Online has been out 16 years and still doesn’t give great directions to help you progress, so I don’t know why I expected better.

I ended the night stuck between two nebulas in Borg Space on the mission Scorpion, which according to the internet should finally unlock the stuff I need.

It freaking better before I lose my mind.

🕹️ Not Enough Time for Games (Adulting Wins Again)

I didn’t get much playtime today — honestly most of the weekend.

I only had enough time to update my Duty Officers in Star Trek Online.

I’m also at that point where I need to grind and progress more before moving forward. Sick of dying constantly.

So busy, I didn’t even get to play PlateUp this weekend either.

📺 Random Recommendation: Pluribus

Somehow between adulting and gaming breaks, we started and are currently finishing Pluribus on Apple TV.

It’s freaking crazy if you haven’t watched it yet.

Highly recommend.

⏰ How Do I Have Time For Any of This?

I was up early AF obviously.

I don’t sleep.

Hello, perimenopause.

Tomorrow I get to:

Get up with the kid

Food prep

Workout

Get ready

Take boyfriend to urgent care

Make it back before my psychiatrist appointment at 10am

The universe LOVES adding things into my already jam-packed schedule.

But who am I kidding?

We live in hell.

I’m sure this happens to everyone all the time too.

🚀 Final Thoughts — Finding Escape Where You Can

If you’re looking for some kind of release, try out one of the many games I’ve recommended. Most are multiplatform now.

Gaming is my favorite type of escape.

Tune in to learn some more of my favorites another day.