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We have challenges for a reason. We set a goal that seems impossible to meet and then do our best to complete it in the allotted amount of time, hoping we will emerge victorious. February’s video game challenge has been a massive success, but sometimes great starts doesn’t always mean the momentum will continue. We stumble, and I can honestly say March has been a stumbling block for me.

My video game pick for March was to finish Saints Row 2. I thought this pick would be easy to tackle because it’s similar to the progress I’ve already made with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. My playthrough with the main story missions was about half-way in. I had at least one final set of gang missions to complete before reaching the final missions to end the game.

My game playing had a good start at the beginning of the month. Weekends are usually my time to set aside for this or any leisure activity I like to do to wind down after a long week of work. What I didn’t expect was how quickly my weekends filled up for this entire month.

As you can guess, and with the month just about finished, I failed to complete this game. It isn’t for a lack of trying. The month came and went really quickly and my social card filled up on the weekends without me realizing it. Fitting gaming time on a weeknight is especially hard when I have other things I do after I clock out of work, or I’m too exhausted to really get into a “gaming mood.” Weekends came and went by in a flash and I suddenly found myself waking up and getting ready for a new work week.

My failure to finish the game I intended to play and complete all the way through the end of the month has showed me how difficult it is to be an adult gamer. Well, it isn’t exactly news to me these days, but it hits you hard when you’re doing this challenge. You crave those extra days when you can sit and game for as long as you want. When you’re much older, we don’t really have that sort of luxury anymore.

Clearly, this challenge is designed to get me really serious about finishing the games I have in my growing backlog and to get motivated to play all the games until the end. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of starting games, but never really finishing them for whatever reason. This isn’t a habit I want to continue, especially if I know the game is good if I just give myself time to stick with it or not get distracted by every shiny new game I get.

With Saints Row 2 being a bust in the completion department, I haven’t quite figured out how I want to approach my first failed game challenge. Do a redo next month? Go back to it at a later date? I’ll figure it out. This actually leads me to April’s video game challenge pick––I don’t have one.

Why you ask? April is going to be a weird month for me. I have work and personal obligations to take care at the start of the month, a vacation coming up out of state after that, and my own birthday celebration to prepare for after I come back from vacation (I’m getting old!). There’s a lot happening in April and I know for sure I won’t have any weekends to spare in that month to game.

April being what it is, I plan on taking my 3DS with me during my vacation. However, I don’t want to declare an official game to complete during April because, come on, I’m on vacation! How much gaming am I really going to do, unless I’m winding down for the night in my hotel room?

I may post a special progress report in April to recap any games I have taken with me on my vacation or manage to play before I leave for my vacation. At least I’ll be gaming, but maybe it might not be as focused as my one game a month challenge. Don’t worry, dear readers. I plan on getting back on schedule with the video game challenge in May.