August sure went by in a flash. I’ve had plenty to do all month, yet it also feels like I’ve done terribly little. Maybe that’s a psychological effect. The combination of my calculated starvation, heatwaves, and too much whiskey. Maybe we sneakily skipped a few days. Who knows?
August has been a winding down period for the site. I usually see traffic plunge hard after unnatural spikes like the ones from months prior and this continues to hold true. This time, however, the downward trend has been exceptionally mild. In fact, traffic is up by about 1.25 compared to Q1 of this year. My only concern is that most of these views are directed to older articles that have done consistently well. New reviews see about half the traffic they used in their first week, after which it’s a gamble if they find long-term appeal or not.
The hentai reviews performed particularly poorly, but that was to be expected. I realize that most don’t really care about hentai in the sense that they’d read a review or opinion piece about them. Writing about them is more of an exercise for myself, though I am always pleased if the end result amuses people. I do have to repeat that I genuinely, passionately recommend Lucy Got Problems. That novel was so much.
Outside of the digital realm, I continue to achieve remarkable success with dieting. I got below 90 kilograms, or 200 pounds, and I’ve noticed that some of the good habits stuck. A lot of healthy food is just plain delicious, it turns out. Why get fatty shoarma when the vegan alternative has the same spices and you’re going to drench it in garlic sauce anyway? I’ve also been eating lots of chicken, which is always tasty, and lately I’ve been trying protein bars as a replacement for lunches or breakfast.
I did notice that I went overboard at times. Some days I’ve been feeling lightheaded, especially if I felt like I had to compensate for a cheat day and only ate around 1000kcal worth of food. And boy howdy, there sure have been some cheat days.
Summer brings BBQ after all, and I still prefer meat on the BBQ over any healthy alternatives I’ve found. I even went to a yakiniku restaurant in Amsterdam, which was amazing. For 120 euros a person you get several courses of their finest wagyu cuts, mixed in with beef tongue, side-dishes, and sushi. We also, by accident, ordered the most expensive sake on the menu. I pointed at the wrong thing and felt too awkward to correct it.
That was the most expensive drink and the most expensive night out I’ve ever had, but it was for my friend’s birthday and we had a great time. I do really want to go there again sometime and I’d rather not wait until my dude’s birthday comes around again. I’ll figure out some excuse.
Next month will be pretty busy. I got some big reviews coming out for interesting series, but still need to write some of the articles and mini-reviews between them. I’ll also be at Tomocon Nijmegen on the 25th. I’ll get back to work for now, but I hope to see you all again next month.
