Tag: cs2023challenges

2023 challenges

2023 Challenges: Q1 Update

ohnoitsjade

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“Change the challenge update posts to quarterly”, she said. “You’ll have more done and more to update on”, she reasoned. She was wrong. I have really been trying to power through the challenges, and I am somewhat more confident that Q2 will be more successful, but for now let’s ruminate on Q1 (that’s up to the end of March, duh… not April as I kept telling myself).

Watch 25 anime

Erm… So the beginning of the year was not good for anime. I finished one series; Chainsaw Man, and I watched most of that in 2022. I started a lot of seasonal shows as I told myself I could manage it and *SPOILER*, I couldn’t. I’m definitely built for binging shows rather than watching weekly, but I do like being part of the hype so it’s a catch 22.

Watch 25 anime movies

Really slacking on this one – I watched Stranger By The Shore, and that’s it so far. A lot of work needed. On the plus side, I really loved it.

Watch 30 films

I’ve managed to tick off a few films this year; Hercules, Look Both Ways, and Always Be My Maybe. I really thought I was going to like Hercules as I love Greek mythology and I loved the animated TV show as a kid, but I really didn’t like it. I found it really underwhelming and not memorable at all. The other two were pretty standard rom-com fare, both fine but nothing I’d write home about!

Clear 15 games from the PlayStation backlog

I’ve finished a few games, but none of them were on my backlog. I’m fortunate enough to have gotten a lot of reviewing opportunities this year so all my free ‘gaming time’ has been focused on those. I’m back to the matter in hand now though!

Clear 12 games from the Switch backlog

I haven’t managed to play any Switch games so far this year. Shameful.

Get 12 platinum trophies

I didn’t manage to get any platinum trophies in the first part of the year, but I did a lot of legwork in getting the Octopath Traveler 2 platinum, which I’ll be so pleased to get. It’s an amazing game and takes quite a bit of work, so I really hope I can get it. I’m at a bit of a roadblock with it now so I’m taking a break from it because I don’t want to end up hating the game, so hopefully next update I’ll have done it!

Read 20 manga series

I’ve read 2 manga; My Summer of You, and My Broken Mariko. Both very different but I enjoyed both! I’ve had the first three volumes of Banana Fish sitting on my bedside table ready to go, but I can’t bring myself to start it yet.

Read 12 books

3 books read by the end of March, so that’s bang on track. I firstly read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and had my heart broken into a thousand pieces, and then I needed something fairly easy-going so I started The Paper Magician series by Charlie N. Holmberg, and finished the first two books in the series, with the third ready to go now!

Here’s to a better Q2!

2023 challenges

2023 Challenges: The Beginning

ohnoitsjade
Sub_Challenges2

2022 wasn’t a great year for me and the challenges. I set my goals way too high, with too many categories and then achieved not a lot. It’s always disheartening when you don’t reach your goals, even if they’re non-consequential like these challenges are, but even so it’s meant to be fun! I don’t want to be here writing every month that I didn’t get anything done!

That being said, for 2023 I’m going to change it up and do quarterly updates. I’ve never been great at monthly updates, I don’t think a year has gone by since I started doing the challenges where I’ve managed to stick to it, so I think quarterly will be a great change and will allow me to focus on writing other content for the blog – something I threaten every year, but which hasn’t quite materialised yet.

So, with this in mind, let’s see what I’ve decided to focus on this year.

Watch 25 anime
This is the prime candidate for things I overpromise on. I’m not sure I’ve ever hit an anime watching target. 25 seems quite reasonable – 2 shows a month brings me to 24, but 24 seemed like a weird total so I rounded it up. I think this is doable, but I’ve said that before and been very wrong, so we’ll see.

Watch 25 anime movies
Same logic as before, this works out at around 2 movies per month. I can do that, that’s easy. Right?

Watch 30 films
It’s easier to watch a non-subtitled film than a subtitled one, hence the increase in total numbers for this one. Just under 3 a month. Maybe I’ll start a Friday film night.

Clear 15 games from the PlayStation backlog
I joked recently that I don’t play games, I collect them, but there’s probably more truth in that statement than I’d like. I really want to focus on clearing down my backlog. I have so many games I’ve heard are fantastic, but they’re sitting on my (digital and physical) shelf unplayed. If anything, it’s a waste of money, so it’s time to change this! I’m including PS Vita, PS4 and PS5 for this challenge, so 15 should be a doddle.

Clear 12 games from the Switch backlog
Generally, I don’t play my Switch as often as my PlayStation, but I want to change that. 12 games seems reasonable – one a month!

Get 12 platinum trophies
At my core I think I’ll always be a trophy hunter to some extent. Whilst I’ve given up on shovelware games, I don’t want to abandon it altogether. My focus on clearing my backlogs means I’ll have less time for trophy hunting but I’m certain there’ll be some crossover, so I’ve set the target at a pretty conservative 1 platinum a month.

Read 20 manga series
Another thing I always buy and never consume – manga. I have a Shonen Jump app subscription, going wasted. I want to read 20 complete series this year. I’ll probably start some ongoing series, but they won’t count for this target unless it’s a complete series!

Read 12 books
I think I said in my 2022 wrap-up that I want to set myself some better reading habits by reading a little before bed each night. With my wanting to also read manga more frequently, I’m not stupid enough to think I’ll do a tonne of ‘normal’ reading on top of that, so I think 1 book a month sounds decent.

I think this seems like a reasonable goal for all of these challenges. I have a lot of personal goals I want to work on as well, so I think these relatively low numbers will leave me time to ficus on them, and there’s enough variety in the topics that I won’t get bored in trying to achieve them as a collective. What do you think about my 2023 challenges? As always, follow me on Twitter and see my progress on the hashtag #cs2023challenges.