Weekly Cervids are a bit of an undertaking, and I don't tend to have much to say! I spose, then, that this will be the monthly Cervid for December! Like I said going into this, the Cervid is simply an intention for me to write more. If a solid weekly schedule can't work out, then something less frequent is better than quitting altogether.
But I digress! How have you been, my dear reader? Perhaps you are reading through this some day far in the future, combing through my articles from the beginning? Stretch a bit, grab something to drink -- it's good for you :3 Without further ado, then, here is the Cervid (and a bit of a larger issue, at that!)
Oh, the holidays. Christmas is *fucking everywhere* in Canada all the way from mid-November. It's charming and beautiful at first, but it gets a bit tedious the 20th time you hear Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at work. Although I consider myself an autumn person, the winter months have a special place in my heart. The contrast between the bleak outside and the warm, inviting interiors is beautiful. Being inside during a heavy snowstorm is often an incredible feeling, and the nighttime is so bright from the reflectivity of snow (early morning dawns are also quite an ethereal feeling!) To add onto this, a lot of good horror takes place during the winter -- think "That Which Gave Chase", "The Thing", or "To Build a Fire" -- the isolation of it all adds to any additional horror elements you want to add on. Also, Frostpunk! It's a decently fun game, but the premise alone is intriguing: imagine the whole world dropped into an eternal winter in real life.
One more important aside, before ending this segment. Most people have places to live, warm domiciles to live the winters -- but as a society we have failed many people, and homelessness doesn't just go away in the most dangerous month of the year. Many people freeze to death, unreported, and it's a terribly grim reality. Do your part this winter, and do some research into how you can help local shelters and homeless communities. Get involved, donate money if you can, and of course: stay compassionate.
I finished Return of the Obra Dinn this month! Usually it takes me a lot of push to actually finish games, but I finally made that push for this lovely adventure! I must say, nearing the end of the game and tying all of your loose ends together is a wonderful experience. And (I shall keep this vague so as to avoid too many spoilers) but the way I went through the last remaining fates led to my final fate solved being one that was very relevant to Bargain, the postgame chapter. Typically I'm pretty stupid when it comes to puzzle games like this, but I'd find myself enraptured in trying to figure out the identities and whereabouts of these fictional crew members, and finding clues and connecting them together felt AMAZING. I've mentioned it in a previous Cervid, but I believe it deserves its own larger blurb here! I would definitely recommend it if you're a fan of deduction games and/or pirate adventures and/or cool black and white visuals.
My sincerest apologies! Many promises have fallen flat these past few issues. Namely I promised a certain segment, as well as a complete finished project for the year -- but the holiday rush and subsequent exhaustion has left me with very little time and energy. But perhaps the let down will let up, because the new year is rolling around! 2025 was already quite the big year for me as a person, but I'm hoping to make 2026 even bigger. For one, in the first half of the year I will be moving out for the first time, so that will be a huge undertaking (but very rewarding!) Aside from that, I am hoping to put forward some magazine submissions in the near future, see if I can't get any poetry published. More poetry and (perhaps!) short stories will likely be coming out here as well whenever I have the time and energy, but primarily I will write about my luck with publication. (And hey, if that luck turns out to be bad, it's just another learning experience to make me a stronger writer.)
Oncemore, some neat Stuff!
Coding Stupor: Not too much for me to say about indie game soundtracks; they're some of my favourite music. This is a nice youtube mix (that I'm listening to while writing this!) that I find helps me focus.
@longpainter.bsky.social: A lovely bluesky account I have followed, he posts incredible oil paintings that had me stunned. Definitely worth a look, and he has his website linked for further viewing.
Thank you all for joining and reading this issue of The Cervid! The intent is to have another issue by the end of January, if I have enough to talk about by then. I'll see you around?
[Kim Flake, 2025 (for the last time)] <3