Jackie's Fridge

This is a solid list with descriptions so you can figure out if the theme and game play is appealing to you: https://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/single-player-board-games/

Wingspan is on the list, and while it’s pricy, it’s a lovely engine-building game that can get very involving. A couple of my friends were obsessed with this one for a few years.

I’d also add Sagrada, another pretty game where you work within set parameters to match dice colours & pips to “build” stained glass windows. It can be challenging and requires strategy and a little luck, but again, very involving and satisfying.

There’s also a single-person dungeon crawler from an indie developer that you can take anywhere: https://gladdendesign.com/products/paper-apps-dungeon

And if you don’t mind screen time, there are a surprising number of board games on Steam, with online play options so you can play with others.

I try to create - drawing, making music, sewing, repairing appliances, learning how to do new things. Single-player games (video or board) are a nice way to unwind and distract your mind while still keeping it challenged. I am lucky enough to have a couple chill days who like to snuggle, and that snuggling helps way more than I ever thought.

Absolutely! I’ve had luck with the iFixIt step by step tutorials, but for this specific TV there was a YouTube video where the person walks you through troubleshooting and teardown. I kinda lucked out finding that!

I highly recommend learning how to solder as well as the basic techniques of using a voltmeter to test power and continuity. There are YouTube videos for these and other skills that help demystify troubleshooting and repair.

It also helps to have the mindset of “It’s already broken, so what’s the harm in trying to fix it?”

A couple years ago I grabbed a 55" LG tv from a curb dump. Owner said the screen would flash briefly, then turn off. Found out that’s typical when one of the backlight LEDs dies (resistance is screwed up). Got all new LED backlight strips for the price of a decent dinner and spent an afternoon switching them out. It’s been our primary TV since and I’m stupid proud about keeping it from the landfill. 100% recommend repairing stuff like this.

Can recommend. I bought a huge bag of these exact babies and spent a Saturday morning hiding them throughout my entire office building, including my own work area (for plausible deniability). People were finding them for years. More than one co-worker would re-hide them, so the babies migrated constantly.

Nobody knew I started the whole thing they blamed our HR director, who was on holiday that weekend and had an alibi. The mystery kept people intrigued.

One of my tasks at work is creating content - blogs, social media posts, internal communication emails, etc. We are instructed to write everything at a 5th-grade level because that’s where the average American reads. Not the lowest-level American, the average.

I also get to do customer support for people who would not have to contact me if they had actually read the information I wrote for them.