2020 Gratitude: Twitch Streams

*Okay, this is not a video game, but it is precious and I love it*

There are a lot of things that I’ve discovered in quarantine that I never thought that I’d be into in the “before times,” whether they just seemed out of my league or because I didn’t have time for them. Watching streams on websites like Twitch was one of those things. I had a pretty limited knowledge of or interest in video games and spent my free time watching the latest Netflix show, with little wiggle room for anything else. How/why was I going to watch someone else play video games for hours on end?

However, with the copious amounts of free time that I now have in quarantine, I’ve been watching more and more streams! The transition was pretty obvious: because I had already been sucked in by YouTube earlier in the year, I started watching YouTube clips of gameplay that I realized were pulled from livestreams, then started tuning into the streams as they were happening every night.

The easy examples here are Disguised Toast and Sykkuno‘s Among Us content. I’ve found it much more fun to watch streams when either (1) I know the game or (2) the streamer’s personality makes it interesting, and these two, along with their group of friends, check both of those boxes. I’ve even started watching LilyPichu‘s content, which skews less toward games and more toward music and art, and I’ve found it to be very soothing and wholesome, especially near the end of the night as I’m winding down my day.

My boyfriend and I have taken to sometimes just putting on Sykkuno’s stream in the background while we work or play other games with friends. At first, we were drawn in by their clever gameplay, taking notes for our own games, but later enjoyed watching them simply mess around with each other and doing dumb things just to see if they would pay off.

I even started watching non-stream content, like silly competitions on OfflineTV’s YouTube account or Valkyrae’s non-gaming content, which I think feels extra relatable because we are about the same age (which I still can’t believe!).

I’ve even done a bit of research on parasocial relationships because, yeah, watching these streams makes me feel like I’m part of their friend group! Which I definitely am not! But I have come to understand and appreciate the appeal of streamers, and have welcomed their content into my life in a way that I did not expect would happen this year.

2020 Gratitude: Survivor: Winners at War

My love of Survivor started back in 2015. I vaguely remember watching the finale of Survivor: Cagayan in college, but I wasn’t really interested because I hadn’t watched the rest of the season. Those same friends asked me to watch Survivor: Cambodia (a.k.a. Second Chances) with them a few years later and, in my post-grad boredom, I decided to join them – and got sucked in!

From that point on, I was obsessed. I found every season on various streaming services, read /r/survivor religiously (mostly to know which seasons were must-watch and which ones I could skip), and soon I had my favorite (and least favorite) seasons and contestants. I like to joke now that I can talk about Survivor the same way that other people can talk about sports!

In that same vein, this year’s (only! unfortunately!) season of Survivor could be considered the Super Bowl of Survivor: a season made up entirely of people who had won their previous seasons. What a treat!

In the interest of not spoiling anything, because everyone I know should watch Survivor, preferably not spoiled, I won’t go too deep into gameplay, moments, or specific players*.

Instead, I will say that having a TV show to tune into every week helped me build a routine and, as I’ve said many times before, having a routine has been the saving grace of my quarantine. Building that routine around one of the most entertaining seasons of my favorite TV show ever, with my favorite cast ever, was the cherry on top!

(* But if you’re interested, like I mentioned before, I can talk about Survivor like it’s a sport! So if you’re as obsessed as I am – let’s talk!)

2020 Gratitude: House Sneakers

*My wide-width babies (image from sportshop.com)*

As an avid runner, I’m acutely aware of every ache and pain in my body, especially in my legs and feet. I’ve struggled with plantar fasciitis, calf pain, hip pain, ball-of-the-foot pain, toes going numb – the whole gamut!

I had read that wearing shoes around the house is helpful for feet that need the support, but had somehow conned myself out of thinking it would help me. A lot of it was cultural – like, can you imagine an Asian person wearing their shoes around the house? Some of it was also laziness, since my feet were in shoes for the majority of the day anyway and I convinced myself that they need to breathe at home! I had never even been a slippers person before this, for the same reason.

However, when quarantine started, I was in the house a lot. And my shoes lost the support they usually had all day. I stopped running outside and, though I was getting my steps in outdoors, my numbers were nowhere near their pre-quarantine amounts. I was honestly just spending less time on my feet than before, and my physical well-being was not happy about it.

Enter: house sneakers.

It’s extremely corny and I never imagined myself saying this ever in my life, but they were the perfect double whammy: I missed shopping and I saw a sale! I had brand new, clean, out-of-the-box shoes that I could safely wear around the house! It was a win-win!

I’m able to comfortably stand in them when cooking, doing dishes, or working at our makeshift standing desk (read: my laptop, stacked on top of some textbooks, on top of a dresser). I’ve even taken to doing at-home workouts, like weight lifting, in them, and have noticed my performance improving while wearing them, since my balance and form are often better with foot support.

To my fellow Asian people (or, truly, anyone else who never thought they would ever wear shoes inside) – try it! Seriously! As long as you’re diligent about keeping them clean and don’t wear them outside (though I did take a few steps out of my apartment before literally yelping and running back in to change my shoes), they’re a great way to treat your body to some much-needed comfort and (literal) support.