As always, let’s start with the numbers.

Media consumed # (remaining/total)
Movies Watched 5 (109/161)
Books Read: 5 (100/158)
Comics Read: 0 (331/811)
Podcast Episodes Remaining: 138

Well, the numbers don’t lie.  Things kind of fell off throughout the whole month of September.  My LCS relocated and had a huge grand re-opening sale wherein I bought more than 50 comics at a quarter a piece and if you add that to what Professor Alan gifted me at one point that month, I accumulated 61 comics.  The comics I bought myself are from the Badger and Starslayer books I’ve looked at on this site, so they do relate to the “mandate” that I have here, and they’re going to be included in the different runs that I’m going to try and read through as well as try and finish collecting before deciding what to do with them.

But I deliberately took a break from reading through my back issues, mainly because I wanted to focus on a couple of other things, mostly writing podcast episodes as well as making sure I stayed on top of what I was going to do for work.  But I’ve already pulled books for the month of October and with the Baltimore Comic-Con coming up this month, I might get some more (although I have a comic convention post and how I’m going to prep for that despite uncollecting coming soon).

I’m almost down to fewer than 100 books, though, and while the movies have slowed a little, looking up the flicks that I have in my DVD queue on the streaming apps has also been helpful.  Not always, of course, but I don’t think I would have been able to cross off as many as I have.  As mentioned in the previous post about movies, I’m going to have to come up with some sort of system for television shows and episodes that I have set aside on Netflix or that are on my DVR.  Usually when I’m streaming or renting movies, I use the Buy/Rent/Skip designation, but considering that some of the series I set aside are some I have never seen, I might have to make a call regarding how committed I should be to a show.

Podcast episodes actually gained a number.  I had picked up a couple of shows and went through them and still listen to certain shows on the regular, but I am hoping that if I’m able to stomach getting through the 45 My Dad Wrote a Porno episodes I have yet to listen through during October, then my unlistened to podcasts will be fewer than 100 for the first time in a while.

I had thought that taking the break from all the comics reading would be helpful and it was in a way, but since work started in earnest, I have found myself thinking a lot of how my bad habits are fed by work stress, especially that of spending money on stuff I don’t necessarily need.  I’ve done a lot more private journaling about that, but I will say that I was struck by how much going back to work sidelined my efforts here, especially in the last couple of weeks of September when I spent my spare time either catching up to things or just flat-out exhausted.  Thankfully, I think I’m working my way out from under this pile.

So I’m going to press on and see what I can do in October.  I’ve got some pretty cool movies in the queue and I’m looking forward to those; I’ve also been making my way through another Essential X-Men collection and that’s been a lot of fun.  Bring on the fall, I guess.