I’m chancing a stream schedule post today because I’m feeling better with my medications.

Granted, I have a psychiatrist appointment tomorrow, so she might want to change things again.

I think I’m going to refuse this time, though. I’ve had enough jerking around with meds for now.

Normally I try to keep my streams to one of three days. But this work week is a busy one.

I also don’t have the weekend available for stream because I will be spending it with Manthing.

So I decided to stream on a day that I might not normally—Friday! And it’ll be DBD shenanigans.

Friday night DBD just feels like it will hit the spot after this work week.

I hope you’ll come hang out! Don’t forget to follow my Twitch so you get notified.

Upcoming Plans

Website Rebrand

I mentioned a bit ago that I’m contemplating rebranding Gamer Girl Confessions to just Chestnut Plays.

I’m still a bit waffle-y about the choice, but I’m leaning towards the rebrand.

Chestnut Plays is just an easier URL to type and to remember.

Right now I’m still doing some research on how to handle it mindfully and not destroying everything I’ve created over the past eleven years.

Which, honestly, is not something I thought heavily about when I moved from Blogger over to WordPress. Unfortunately.

More Posts

I’m trying to create a bit more content lately so that this doesn’t turn into just a random stream schedule website.

That would be boring for y’all. And for me, honestly.

But I just haven’t had a lot to talk about. The only media I am consuming on a regular basis are books.

And writing a book review for every post would be boring to me. Or at least, it’d get old after a bit.

Especially since book reviews take some thought. I can’t make micro-posts out of them very well.

I started playing Dead by Daylight (DBD) sometime in mid-September of 2020. And despite finding it enjoyable, I never really found a survivor that I adored.

In DBD, suvivors and killers each get unique perks that can be learned by other suvivors or killers. Killers also get unique powers.

DBD survivors, however, end up being purely cosmetic once you’ve unlocked all of the perks (since they have no special powers).

Once I started getting to a spot where I could treat my survivors more as a cosmetic skin rather than the skills they came with, I couldn’t really find a character that I wanted to “main”.

Folks that play DBD seem to gravitate towards at least one survivor character that they tend to play. Even to the point of never playing any other character or outfit.

I’ve always just kind of round-robined my survivors. When Yun-Jin, and then Élodie came to the game, I played them a bit more often than the other survivors.

But I still didn’t have a survivor that I really would call a main… until Mikaela came around.

Mikaela Reid

Mikaela Reid was introduced to the lineup of DBD survivors on October 19, 2021 with the release of the “Hour of the Witch” mid-Chapter DLC.

With her introduction, she brought a new mechanic to the game: boons.

In DBD, there is a mechanic around totems. The idea is that since the beginning a killer can use a perk to “light” (or hex) the totem and get a very strong skill to put pressure on the game.

Survivors can “cleanse” totems, thus rendering the associated perk obsolete for the rest of the game. It’s a risk/reward kind of thing. But that’s all survivors have been able to do—cleanse totems.

With the additiona of Mikaela, DBD survivors could now make use of the totems for their own benefit with new skills to “light” (or bless) the totem.

This mechanic addition really called to me. I found it fascinating since it plays to my more altruistic gameplay of assisting fellow survivors.

Not only that, Mikaela is a red-headed witch. Absolutely sold! Until Mikaela, I’ve never thought to Prestige any of my characters.

Well, that’s not fully true. I’d thought about doing it with either Yun-Jin or Élodie, but there was no burning desire to do so.

Mikaela changed all that. The only thing that could have made it a million times better is if she had a larger body-type.

We have Jeff with his dad-bod… why can’t we get a chubby female-presenting DBD survivor that has more meat than just the sterotypical gaming additions of tits and hips?

Yun-Jin Lee

Yun-Jin Lee was added to the survivor lineup on March 30, 2021 with the “All-Kill” Chapter DLC.

Yun-Jin called to me just with her lore. She is very closely tied to the Killer (The Trickster) that also released in the same DLC, which is somewhat of a first for original content in Dead by Daylight.

She very much could be a killer in  her own right; she is no innocent like some of the other survivors have been in DBD.

While she had not yet murdered anyone herself, she protected The Trickster (the artist Ji-Woon Hak) and kept the murders she knew he was behind a secret all in the name of protecting her career.

That’s a big step from gray into black. And this called to me. Plus, she’s just downright stylish.

Élodie Rakoto

Élodie Rakoto joined the plethora of DBD survivors on December 1, 2020 in the “A Binding of Kin” Chapter DLC.

What drew me to Élodie was also part of her backstory—the fact that she is akin to Indiana Jones.

Élodie is an occult investigator, driven to find the thing that took her parents from her.

In order to obtain information and resources to track the thing down, she starts working for someone called “The Collector”, and obtains magical artefacts for him.

I mean, it sounds quite a bit like Indiana Jones to me.

One of the other things I like about Élodie is that she knew one of her fellow DBD survivors (Felix Richter) canonically before being brought into the Entity’s realm. Which I think is a first.

And of course, like Yun-Jin, Élodie is an absolute fashionista.

So far this month I have finished six books… which is more than most months this year, and I still have a few days left.

Granted, one or two of those books were a DNF read (did not finish), but I’m also trying to be better about giving myself permission to DNF books.

Which may or may not become another post in the future.

I also got myself a new reading chair!

I used to have a papasan chair there (it’s now in the living room), but it’s just not comfortable for long periods of time.

I’ve been eyeing these oversize circle/oval chairs for a while, but they’re like… $1200 USD minimum.

So on a whim, my partner and I went to a local furniture warehouse and found this one for about $450 USD. I had to get it.

I do not regret the purchase at all. I’ve used the chair a lot in just the week I’ve had it, and the fur children love it so very much!

It’s funny to feel like I’m nerding out over a chair, but I totally am. Does this mean I’m an adult, now?

Fanhouse heard all about this first, by the way. Fanhouse is a great way to access behind-the-scenes content, pet spam, and more, while also supporting me. More info can be found in my sidebar!

Nerding Out Over Gaming

This time of year, I always seem to get into a Sims streak. There’s nothing wrong with that, I just find it interesting.

I am hoping that it lasts longer than it usually does, however, because I’m really enjoying the Flower Legacy Challenge that I’m working through on stream.

I’m also currently playing DBD, though I’m still disappointed over various things Behaviour (the company) has done as of late.

But there’s nothing to really scratch the itch of DBD without playing DBD right now.

I’ve eyed Propnight, but I have yet to try it. I really want to try VHS, but have yet to get an invite to the beta.

Nerding Out Over Project Management?

Okay, this one might be a bit out there… but hear me out.

I’ve been trying to create a content workflow with Trello and my bujo this past year for content creation, and it just hasn’t been working out.

Trying to set specific dates for each piece and portion of content is a pain in the butt with Trello, and sometimes I need something a bit easier to change up in the moment than my bujo.

I decided I needed something more project management-focused.

Enter… Asana. And the above YouTube video, which helped me to set up a content calendar specific to my needs.

I’ve only been working in it a week but so far it’s helping me to be a bit more pro-active than reactive with my content.

It also helps me to better see what is and isn’t a reasonable ask of my time based on what else the day holds.

And when I have bad brain days, it makes it much easier to see when I can re-work things to try and stay on the timelines I want to set for myself.

Overall, it’s helping me to feel a bit more balanced. But, like I said, I’ve only been using it about a week.

So we’ll see how well it holds up throughout the year.

Have you been nerding out over anything this month?

After a stressful month at work, I have some time off. Which means a few more days on the stream schedule this week!

I’ve invested in a VPN finally, so I put some DBD on the schedule for the first time!

I’ll be doing some DBD Thursday night after a day of working on content.

As I mentioned last week, I don’t really celebrate Christmas, so I’ll be doing some cozy Animal Crossing on Christmas Eve evening into the night, with more DBD on Christmas evening into night.

New Years Streams?

I’m not sure what my plans look like for New Years, yet. I’m sure I’ll be spending time with my polycule bubble, but I’m still not one hundred percent sure of that, so I can’t definitively say when I’ll be streaming.

I would like to do a Goal Setting and Vision Board stream, but that will probably be the first week of January, rather than on New Years itself.

Going into the New Year, I would like to keep my stream schedule to a minimum of one day, with a maximum of three.

Working full time is not necessarily conducive to streaming consistently, but I’m trying my best to be as consistent as possible.

As always, you can follow me on Twitch and turn on notifications, or check Twitter for updates on when I go live!

The Midnight Grove event is still live in Dead by Daylight. Pumpkins spawn in possible totem spots and award bonus Bloodpoints when smashed—both for killers and survivors.

Tangled generators and hooks have made their way into the land of the Entity, granting even more bonus Bloodpoints when completed and used.

And a new Event Tome has been added, playable only during the Midnight Grove event. The Tome includes lots of fun cosmetics for the new survivor, Mikaela Reid, and The Doctor killer. There’s also three new charms obtainable in the Tome.

The Midnight Grove DBD event is live until November 11, 2021. So be sure to check it out if it’s of interest to you!

Tome Status: Completed

I completed the tome! I’m surprised, honestly. I wouldn’t have completed it if Behavior hadn’t extended the ending date of the event.

Especially since I’m still working through my feelings of their Fungible-esque stunt (I have a post on that in the works). And the feels left me not playing DBD for a bit.

It was a much better feeling working through the two tome levels than grinding out the fifth year anniversary crowns earlier this year. I get that they’re different events so they have different objectives, but the crowns were an absolute pain.

I suppose I could’ve left the crowns alone, but I can be a bit of a completionist. Which is why I found the Midnight Grove DBD event much easier to handle from that angle.

In fact, I didn’t technically need to complete every single piece of the tome to get the cosmetics from it. I did anyway, because they were bonus rift rewards. And I really like to complete Rifts for all the fun cosmetics.

I mean, you have to at least get to the end-point of each one for the Charm reward. But in Level 2 of the Tome, for instance, you can obtain all the cosmetics without completing every single challenge.

However, as I mentioned before, I like to finish things out, and it was bonus rewards for the Rift.

And… Mikaela has honestly become my main survivor. So I had to have the extra cosmetics for her! I’ve never really connected with a survivor enough to Prestige them, but Mikaela will be my first.

I also really like Yun-Jin and Élodie. They’ll be next to Prestige. I didn’t connect with them as hard as I did Mikaela; I always flip-flopped on spending Bloodpoints to prestige one of them first. Then ended up spending the points to level killers.

Long post short, while I’m still feeling some type of way about the Pinhead debacle, I liked this event and I’m loving the new survivor.

Oh, and the new Killer released on the PTB today? LOVE HER!

IntPiPoMo Counter: 3/50

I mean… that’s kind of it right now for games? I haven’t played a lot of DBD lately because I’m just enjoying FFXIV so much.

Like, way more than I thought I would, honestly. Maybe it’s currently my cozy game of choice?

I should probably spend some time in DBD at some point soon, though, to make the most of the rift pass I picked up!

Audio Books

I’m dealing with a lot of stress, and it’s making it difficult to feel the desire to read. I still want to read, mind, but just sitting down with a book is not as appealing right now as it has been.

So I’ve been reading more audio books than usual. Because they’re the easiest thing to work my way through at the current moment. They also allow me to also do things like gather in FFXIV, or spend time on chores, be creative in my bullet journal, etc.

This is post 30/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

The Rules

He starts with five rules for this exercise. The more detailed explanations can be found in his post.

1. The consequence for playing a sixth title? Playing anything outside of your pre-selected five titles will result in any gaming device you touch spontaneously combusting. (I mean, not truly, this is a thought-experiment!)
2. Selections aren’t limited to a certain platform.
3. All DLC for a given game is fine and included within your pick, including unreleased DLC at the time of your selection.
4. Mods and total conversions are okay.
5. Each entry in a series of games is considered an individual selection.

My Five Games

Honestly, right now I’m only playing two games regularly, and before picking up FFXIV I was only playing one game regularly. But because I can be fickle in my game choices, I will pick a few outside of my current main two as flex options for myself.

Dead by Daylight

At the current moment I’m not playing as much as I had been due to FFXIV currently being the poster child (I really want to experience stuff before Endwalker and try to catch up!), but it’s a game I’ve been playing consistently for the past year, I guess?

Back when DBD released, it was something I never thought I would actually play. But watching some streamers I enjoy play the game made me interested in trying it out.

Needless to say, I instantly became hooked. Pun intended.

But truly, it helped to re-awaken my interest in horror entertainment (novels, movies, etc.) that I lost long ago, and gave me a vast array of diverse content creators to follow on Twitch.

Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV)

The current favor child. I’m loving the heck out of it right now.

But I am not fooled into thinking that I will stick with it for forever. I never do seem to stick with MMOs consistently. I flit around them constantly.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

While not a staple, this one is on the list because I use it as a way to have date nights with one of my besties. It would obviously need to be on the list so that I could spend quality time with her.

I still have a lot to do and unlock, and I enjoy hunting the collectibles. So it’s a good all-around choice if I need something to do.

Stardew Valley

While I am not currently as into it as I was earlier this year, it’s a game I spent a lot of time in when I finally got to try it out and play it the way I wanted to.

There’s still a lot for me to finish in this one as well, so I wouldn’t mind playing more of it at all!

Code: Realize – Wintertide Memories

Otome (and dating sim) games are some of my absolute favorite. I received this one as a gift and have yet to play it.

So I could put in about twenty more hours into the franchise to complete all the storylines, see all the CGs, and unlock all the achievements!

It’d take up at least a month’s worth of gaming time, and give me the flex to play something different.

This is post 20/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

The D.A.W. or Developer Appreciation Week is an event that used to happen in our blogging community but fell by the wayside. The idea behind it was it was a week to show our appreciation to the people that make all of those games that we love. The thing is over the years we have grown past just being a “gaming” thing, so for other communities it might be a time to reflect on your favorite Authors, Musicians or just Creatives in general.

I’m going to do a few different appreciation posts throughout the week, but today I wanted to start with games. I’ve really only been playing two games regularly right now: FFXIV and DBD. Though FFXIV has become the favorite as of late.

I’ve written longer posts before about the games and their developers that I appreciate, but today I just really want to shout out a thank you specifically to Dead by Daylight devs (who eventually listen to feedback) and FFXIV devs (who truly seem to care about the community, though Square as a whole needs to do better with the whole -isms within the company thing, but. Y’know.).

Thank you for giving me games that have been keeping me at least somewhat sane this year.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

This is post 16/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

Right now, Dead by Daylight is just really my go-to game on weekdays. It’s great for end-of-night gaming so I can intersperse chores and content creation tasks in between matches in a variety of ways. I mainly either do a match then walk away to handle a chore, or do things while I’m sitting in queues. It depends on the time of night, and if there are any events going on. Until they implement MMR, anyway. Queues seemed to be fairly quick during the MMR test they did a few months ago.

FFXIV

I’m really enjoying the story! I’m having fun working my way through all the dungeons and getting closer to Heavensward. And I’m also still completely blow away by the Corpse Groom (Tam-Tara Hard) questline… Like, to the point of needing to blog about it because I’m still mind blown. So expect that soon, I suppose!

Reading Challenges

Right now I’m digging working through reading challenges. I’m participating in a few that are yearly, and a few that are seasonal. Two upcoming ones I’m participating in are both by Creating & Co. First is an unofficial Peter Pan Retelling challenge. There are no prompts for this one—just to read four retellings during the week of August 16-22. For that one, I’m going to read:

• Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey
• Darling by K. Ancrum
• Peter Darling by Austin Chant
• Blood in the Water by M.A. Kersh

There’s also the Written in the Stars Readathon for September that I’m planning on participating in (see video above), but I probably won’t talk about that challenge until September rolls around.

Content Bujo

I’m trying to get better about my content creation schedule every week, since I want to make content (both my adult content and this content) something I do long term rather than my day job to better care for my mental and physical health. But to start working towards that goal, I needed a way to facilitate that without it getting lost in my personal day-to-day bullet journal. Therefore… I bought a half year B6 Stalogy and made a content bujo! It’s also an excuse for me to use up the many weekly sticker kits I have so that I can buy more.

If you want to see more of the content bujo, you can sign up to my Fanhouse for weekly posts about it. You can even get the first month free with the code: TWITCH

I did end up creating some quick tables in my journal—one for killers, and one for survivors. I listed out four columns: Licensed, Non-licensed, Crown Get, and Name. The first two columns might seem redundant, but it makes sense to my brain to see a “yes” shorthand symbol I use in one column versus another. And in the end, it truly did make figuring out what I had and what I needed much easier. Heck yes, crowns!