Well, I guess it's that time of the month again – time to tell everybody here how much I slept in, because (with some encouraging) I abandoned my plan to stop this blog at the end of last year!!
I swear I'm not trying to be negative. I'm not even upset, I just thought that opening things like that would be funny. Was it?
…actually, don't answer that.
Well, we'll start things off with Thursday the 2nd, because I didn't do much at all on New Year's Day itself, which I'm sure is thanks in no small part to this weird pain I'd felt starting on New Year's Eve that continued for a few days afterwards. On the 2nd, I went out on a small walk around the park with Maia, and we planted a load of flowers in Pikmin Bloom, causing seven Big Flowers to bloom and give us rewards (like apples, oranges, and lemons!)
All throughout the rest of the month, I've been playing Pikmin Bloom with Mum and Maia, and I've found it to be a good way of getting me out and about – and that'll be good for my health!
On Saturday the 4th, we took a considerably less healthy decision and treated ourselves to burgers from the local burger van… place… thing… it looks like a stationary van, okay? We ate there back in August of last year, too, but I guess.
It was just a treat, and one we're only planning to have once every few months, but it'll be something nice to look forward to!
I'm very well aware of the fact that the photo doesn't actually show the burger, but I never actually photographed the burger. Oops.
On Wednesday the 8th, I went to Reading with Maia and had a lunch of meatballs and chips at IKEA, followed by shopping, which was itself followed by several (read: three) ice creams. You know, the usual. But my Nintendo Music app had given up playing things for some reason, and it was only when I deleted and redownloaded it later that night that it started working again. It hasn't given me any more trouble since then – and long may that last!
The weekend of the 11th and 12th saw the monthly Community Day* in Pikmin Bloom, so I walked around on both days – first through town on Saturday with Maia, and then around the park on Sunday with Mum – and managed to get in about 17,000 steps over the course of the weekend!
*why they call it a "day" when it's a whole weekend every time is one of the great mysteries of the universe
And then, on Thursday the 16th, I woke up late, and scrolling through social media told me of a particular announcement I wasn't expecting for like two months yet – that of the Nintendo Switch 2!
They even showed off what appears to be the next Mario Kart game – thank [CENSORED] for that, because it's been eleven years since Mario Kart 8, the last Mario Kart game, was released, and that's nigh-on half of my life. It looks like it'll have 24 racers in each race, which will almost certainly get… chaotic, shall we say! But I'm excited to see what they're planning for this one.
They also announced a series of "Switch 2 Experiences" to be held around the world – Maia entered me and herself into the drawing to hopefully get tickets, but we've since learnt that we weren't chosen. I suppose that makes sense, considering statistical likelihood and how many people must have entered. And I'll get my own Switch 2 & Mario Kart 9 when they're released anyway, so it's all fine.
Next up, I'm skipping over the next six days because nothing much interesting happened then – but on Thursday the 23rd, I finally had my first dentist appointment in nearly five years! I thought I'd been off-rolled from the dentist, but I managed to get myself in in the nick of time (because they'd increased the length of time to five years due to COVID.)
I learnt that (contrary to my attempted tooth count back when I was in Ireland) both of my bottom wisdom teeth have actually erupted, and while I don't have either out on the top, the top-left one is there, because it photobombed an X-ray of my problem tooth (my second top-left molar, which has a giant hole in it.)
As for the Problem Tooth™, it might actually need to be removed (which is on me for not visiting the dentist sooner) but the dentist said she'll try to save it first. Technically, I could also have a root canal if a filling won't work, but that would be an extremely awkward operation to do in the limited space the surgery offers.
I'm due to go for the filling appointment on the 19th, so let's just hope that the filling sticks and I don't get any extra pain, because I'd really like to not have a tooth removed.
Back to happier news now – on Saturday the 25th, Maia & I went to our local Marks & Spencer (fancy, I know!) and had breakfast out there. I had their "salmon royale brioche" – that's smoked salmon, a poached egg, and hollandaise sauce in a brioche bun – and it was nice! Funnily enough, it was also the first time I'd ever eaten a poached egg. Predictably enough, they taste just like eggs normally do.
And of course I had a couple of croissants too, because you can't go wrong with a couple of croissants.
Yesterday – that is, Thursday the 30th – Maia & I went to Reading again, because why not?
Lunch was at IKEA, because Reading lunch is always at IKEA, and this time I had four ice creams. We were hoping to go to Creams for more ice cream afterwards too, but we wound up not feeling up to it, so we gave it a miss instead.
Oh, and I had two more M&S croissants as well, because hypoglycaemia. I also saw "very large" eggs: you get more egg per egg!
Please tell me that was funny. It seemed funny to me at the time, anyway!
At least it's less weird than "giant picture of Claudia Winkleman on the ground", which is another thing that once came out of my mouth.
"Pokémon Day" is on the 27th of February, so I'm hoping for more information on Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which was revealed on that day last year.
But, that aside, that's all from me for this month – so I'll see you the day after "Pokémon Day" with whatever news (and also, more importantly, the things in my life that will have happened by then!)