Humpday Update 5/21/25: Dungeon Crawling in Fantasy Life
Reading Time: 10 minutes
Took a week off! I… what? You didn’t even notice? Oh. Well, fine! Not like I have feelings or anything. I guess we don’t even need to do this update! NOT LIKE YOU’LL NOTICE! Go ahead, ask me to play co-op with you in Fantasy Life, see what happens!
You’re lucky I have stuff to say. I’m just going to be over here, talking to myself. You could be nosey and read along and comment and all that. You know, if you NOTICE this post.
I feel like there was a lot to say this week, obviously. I even almost broke it up into different themed Updates. But I think I like how I have it separated here. A book section, a game section, to go with the other sections already. Just means you have to scroll more. Sorry, not sorry!
In this post, you will find affiliate links to Amazon.
If you use them, I will get a kickback that will in turn help me and my blog out.
So thank you!
Humpday Update
- Took a week off! My toes being dipped around in so many ponds, I had to let my skin de-wrinkle a bit. I was focusing on shop stuff though, so more on that later.
- Got to feed some gators with the boy at a birthday party he was invited to. It wasn’t until I shared it in the discord that I realized how much of a Florida thing this is.
- I made some decals for the wife’s computer and they came out fairly decent! Maybe I should start selling some? 🤔
- I finally cracked open the wax seal kit the wife got me for our anniversary!
- It took me like one seal to get the hang of it. I think it’s freaking awesome and I cannot wait to stick it to my next order. When I tell you how many years I’ve been wanting to mess around with this, you just don’t understand.
- By the time you read this, Universal’s Epic Universe will be officially opened. I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around that awesomeness. We’re freaking stoked, hopefully we can get in there soon. I have Universal Studios based posts I’m already writing so look forward to those!
- Speaking of Universal, we recently went and managed to grab the new magnet for passholes! I love these magnets when they’re specially themed, and this one celebrating Jaws’ 50th anniversary is probably one of my favorites. Maybe I could trade one for the Jurassic Park one we missed out on.
- Tried the Pepperoni Puff things from Little Caesars and my GOODNESS, everything you’ve heard is true. I saw people leaving there with nothing but these tiny little boxes as if they were picking up their daily dose of drugs from a dealer. This was the first time in a while we went to Little Caesars but I think we’ll have to be going more often.
- Facebook gave me a memory from years ago. Apparently, I share more memes than pictures of my kids but whatever. This one though, I just had to immortalize it here because it still makes me crack up for some reason.
- I was looking for a game (see below for which one) and wound up finding this hat!! I bought it 5 years ago!! Never freaking wore it because it came undersized. It was sold out in minutes so they couldn’t replace it so I just kept it. I recently started wearing hats again and this is now the 2nd brand new, unused one that I found in my closet LOL.
- It was to celebrate the 40th anniversary for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. So I was super bummed it didn’t fit. BUT! I looked up ways to stretch out hats and turns out it’s possible. Just get a pot of boiling water and hold the hat over the steam. The heat from the steam will make the band more pliable. So while it’s hot, stretch it out and put it on your head. After I burned myself, I found out that it worked! Woo hoo!!
- BOOKS!
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- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke has been on my list fooooorever and I finally checked it out. I did a short review on Goodreads but I’m looking get a post out for it. The first quarter or so I was so lost and felt incredibly stupid, especially knowing how adored this book is. But once it clicked and the plot showed itself? Oooooooooooo boy!
- Also finished James by Percival Everett! This was Barnes & Noble’s BOTY last year (that’s Book of the Year. I totally could’ve said it, but I like saying BOTY more) and that kinda puts me on alert. Alert in that I become highly aware of its potential, but at the same time, highly skeptical that I will enjoy it. But then all that skepticism went out the window when I found out Everett won a Pulitzer Prize for the novel! How did I like it? Here’s my super short Goodreads review. But spoiler: 5 freaking stars, good lord, what a story. Definitely one of those “everyone should be forced to read this” books. I’m talking mandatory high school reading, here. But I’ll save the rest of my thoughts for my review.
- I will say that Dominic Hoffman, the narrator for the audiobook, did a phenomenal job and I highly recommend checking that out.
- If you listen to podcasts, here’s one from the folks at Barnes & Noble where they had Percival Everett over to talk about James.
- I started to read Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnimin. Well, the audiobook, again. This has been on my list and in my library for yeeeeeaars. Heck, I bought it in 2023! Since it released in 2020, it has always been on the top of the list for people looking for recommendations of audiobooks. Consistently, the top two audiobooks always recommended are Project Hail Mary (my favorite book), and Dungeon Crawler Carl. So it’s crazy that I took so long to check it out. Even friends of mine in my discord have been recently singing its praises. And lemme tell ya, I’m more than half way through and all of the praise is justified! You NEED to check out this audiobook. The voices and the immersion you get with the announcers and characters is top tier. So so good! You can check them out here, on Audible.
- There are 7 books right now in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, with possibility of 10-11 total! I freaking cannot stand long series, but at least this will be a long series for the sci-fi lovers.
- Last year, the first 6 books were released on hardcover and they look AWESOME! I think this is where all the recent love is coming from, as the eye-popping books on the shelves most likely brought in a ton new hype for the books. When I start to get into buying books again, I’m definitely going to get these.
- I’m primarily an audiobook reader but I never specify that unless there’s something about the production quality or the narrator that really stands out. People get mad when you say you “read” a book but really just listened to the audiobook. To those people, I say f*turns up volume on AirPods*.
- I get mostly everything I read through Libby, thanks to my local library! Yes, I have a butt ton of Amazon affiliate links spread out through this post, heck, the next bullet point will have an Audible trial link that I’ll get a really nice bonus for if you sign up for just the trial. BUT, I will ALWAYS tell you to do what is best and cheapest for you, especially when it comes to the library. The library always wins.
- Seriously, if you are not utilizing this option, what in the hell are you doing with your life?! Here! Use this map to find your library closest to you, then get in there, and sign up for a card! Then take your card, and use it to sign into Libby. There, you can access ebooks, and most importantly for me, audiobooks! All from the comfort of your own couch. Or bed. Or toilet. I don’t care where you are, just do it! And wash your hands, you filthy animal. And IT’S ALL FREE!! Search up James, and Piranesi as well! Let me know what you think.
- Of course, you can’t get away with everything so easy. The library is amazing, but consumerism is gonna consumer you. There are plenty of audiobooks out there that are exclusive to Audible. Which means, you can have the most amazing library in the world, but you will still have to go through Audible to listen to these. Dungeon Crawler Carl, and Project Hail Mary sit on the top of this list. SO! If you’re interested in those, but not yet signed up, click right here to check out everything Audible has to offer. You can get discounted rates on audiobooks, and depending on your plan you choose, you can either grab 1 or 2 books a month. Heck you could even gift a membership to someone if you like them that much.
- GAMES!
- RetroRentsAL, friend of the blog, and previous guest of The Talking Place, can’t shut up about FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time. This is a brand new sequel to the original game on 3DS. It got me to thinking about how awesome it was back then, and how beloved it was. But like everything else, I never finished it! So I went looking for it because I always told myself it’s one of the 3DS games I would never trade in….
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- So imagine my face when I realized I traded it in 😩. I kept Code Name S.T.E.A.M. for some dumb reason, but not Fantasy Life?! Oh I was in denial for a while, looking everywhere it could be. But I guess I really stooped that low. So horrible, I really hate past me sometimes. Was thinking about actually booting up the 3DS to scratch the itch too. Guess I’ll be looking forward to playing the new one whenever it is I’ll pick it up.
- I’ve been on a physical kick (as should you!) so I was bummed to see it’s only physically available in Japan. I could easily import it from Play-Asia, and for $52! So I’ll more than likely go that route even though I would totally get it on Steam if I had the credit on there. But getting it on Switch means I could eventually play it on the Switch 2 if I ever get one. And there’s going to be a Switch 2 upgrade to improve frame rate and such so that’s awesome to hear!
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- If you’re curious, check out the video above going over what Fantasy Life is all about. If you’re unaware, it’s a cozy life sim, much like Animal Crossing. Only, there is a whoooole bunch more going on on this island.
- Looking for the Fantasy Life, I not only found my hat that I mentioned above, but I also found Picross 3D for the Nintendo DS! Yeesh, the amount of hours I lost to this little game. Almost as many as Clubhouse Games. That’s around here somewhere too, I know.
- And then I unearthed my old New Nintendo 3DS (I still curse this name). MAN, I miss this little machine. I should do a post dedicated to it. So many great memories and times. So many adventures. So many Pokémon caught with the kids. It was legit the best and without a doubt most amazing handheld ever. AND STREETPASS! Ahhhhhhhhhh the memories. UGH so mad I traded in Fantasy Life and so many other games for it.
New on the Blog!
- Nothing! Haha!
- What’s on the pipeline:
- I have a new podcast out that you can listen to, I just haven’t made a post for yet.
- Also have another show that I have yet to even publish! On top of the game, I am.
- Reviews for Piranesi and James should also be coming.
- A tour around Universal Studios’ new big store on City Walk!
The Business End
- Nothing new on the blog itself, but hey! New Stickers! And bookmarks?!
- I’ve been wanting to make this sticker forever, and I’m happy how it came out. I wanted to make it with different ships and such so whenever I’m bored I’ll work on those alternates.
- While going around the Universal store, we saw a bunch of awesome Super Nintendo World merch. I loved the designs of the neon Mario icons so much, I just had to make myself some stickers and bookmarks! I’ve been making stuff enough now that I can look at most things and figure out how it was made, so being able to recreate something is fairly easy.
- These are stickers that were born from the decals I made the wife. No lie, I’m loving how they came out!
- And here are the bookmarks! It takes so much in materials to make bookmarks, so I took myself out of bothering with making new ones. But I couldn’t resist! Figured I’m making a lot more seamless files these days, a bookmark would be a great way to sell them other than files for fabric making.
- If you want to buy anything, check out the links below to the listings on my Etsy shop! No, the trademark designs are not for sale there.
- I also re-listed a few stickers that I didn’t know had their listings expire!
OK, that be it for this week’s humpday update!
Until next time!
Que dios te bendiga
Los