So basically, the only requirements are these:

• It must be found on the Google Play Store.
  
• It must be playable without an internet connection.
  
• It must be free.
  
• It must not drain out my battery super quickly.
  

https://www.reddit.com/LifeProTips/comments/cddivj/lpt_want_to_play_the_free_play_game_on_your_phone/

https://www.reddit.com/LifeProTips/comments/cddivj/lpt_want_to_play_the_free_play_game_on_your_phone/

https://www.reddit.com/LifeProTips/comments/c28ffx/lpt_want_to_play_mobile_games_on_your_phone/

Note: I’m not a citizen, but I’ve been living in the US long enough to be considered a resident alien for tax purposes. On my visa, I cannot work any job that’s not directly related to my major in grad school (IT/computer science), but I can invest in the stock market.

Section One: Assets and Debt

Net Worth: from -$13,603.63 (Jan 2020) to $9,605.97 (Jan 2021)
Retirement Balance: $16,000 in my 401(K).
I only started working 2 years ago and my company messed up my registration so they basically didn’t put any money into it my first year there (I found out in horror and they gave me around $1,000 to say sorry…). I contribute 9% and my company matches 3%.
Savings account balance: $2,500
I have $2,500 set aside as my “emergency fund”, and I’m building back my vacation & study abroad budgets after having to tap into them for a move. My job is very stable and I won't be let go any time soon (unless I quit myself) so I’m not setting aside a big emergency fund for now.
Checking account balance: $3,111.01
Investment account: $1,500 in some stocks.
I initially dumped half of my 2019 bonus and some monthly contributions (totaling around $4,000) to this account to test strategies. This was my “study fund” and I didn’t care if I’d lose it all. I grew the account to around $10,000 and withdrew almost everything (that went to all the fees I had to pay to break my lease, my brother’s lease, deposit, moving expenses, and new furniture) and left $1,500 worth of stocks in there right now.
Credit card debt: $2,243.76 on my BestBuy card and PayPal Credit.
I had the money to pay for the items in full but they offered X months interest-free and I wanted to throw money into my debts instead. I always pay off all balances well before the deadline. I also pay all my credit cards in full and have never paid any interest.
Student loan debt: $11,046.09 left on my $20,000 loans at 8% for my BA in Biology and Statistics. Day 1 of arriving in the US, they sat us down, handed each of us a pen, and said hey kids here are the terms of your 8% loans, sign the documents now! I just turned 17, didn't even know I had to pay this money back, and remembered thinking "Is 8% a lot?" That's how clueless I was.
As a non-citizen, I will never have them canceled, so my plan was to tackle this as soon as possible and I started paying more aggressively until they made it 0% interest since Q4 last year.
Car loan: $4,900 left on my $10,000 loan at 8.9%. I didn’t have a long credit history when I bought the car (September 2019) since I only got my first credit card after graduation, so the rate was terrible. I’m planning to pay this all off after my bonus comes in March.

Section Two: Income

Income Progression:
2012 - 2016: I had multiple student on-campus jobs all throughout my undergrad, making from $7.25 to $10/hour. After graduation, I couldn't find any job directly related to my majors within 3 months (I had only been searching for Bio lab work), ran out of money, and had to go back home. Honestly, I didn't want to keep doing science either and was very lost back then.
2017: My first full-time job was being a tutor for a private college prep institution when I went back to my home country to “figure out what I wanted to do with my life.” They paid pretty well for the standards of living there ($1,000/mo). I worked that job while self-studying how to code and data science courses on the side and preparing my grad school applications.
2019: I got a job at my current company a semester before I graduated from my MS in Data Science program. This was my first “big girl job.” I started out at $64,000 and couldn’t work for 2 months due to complications in my visa processes so that ate up all my savings that year. By the end of the year, they bumped my salary up to $76,000 and we also had an annual 3% raise, so in total $78,280 + 5% bonus.
2020: One of my teammates left and one thing led to another, I got a title change from Data Analyst to Data Scientist towards the end of the year. I asked for a raise and they bumped it to $96,000 + 5% bonus.
2021: After our annual 3% raise my salary is now $98,880 (+ at least 5% bonus). I think I’m slightly underpaid, but this job is very low-stress and flexible (especially after we WFH).
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $5,082.58
Taken from my last paychecks (before the annual raise)
Gross salary: $8,000
Tax: $2,081.68
401(k) deduction: $720
Health insurance: $115.74

Section Three: Expenses

Rent & renter’s insurance: $935 for my share for a 2bed/3bath condo. My parents pay a flat $700/mo for my brother’s share. He recently moved here since his school went virtual until at least the end of this semester and our family wanted us to be nearby to take care of each other.
Savings contribution: $900
Investment contribution: $420, but will increase once my car loan is paid off.
Debt payments:

• $1,000 on car loan until paid off.
• $200.13 minimum on student loans for now at 0% interest, will increase to $1,100 when car loan is paid off.
• $300 for Best Buy & PayPal Credit promotional deals

Car insurance: $127.01 ($762.05 paid in full every 6 months)
Car registration: $25 ($300 annual)
Donations: $20 monthly (ASPCA), plus several hundreds throughout the year (last year I donated to BLM orgs and local animal shelters)
Gas: $0. I drive an electric car. Charging probably drives up my electric bill by a bit, but still cheaper than gas. Also, this means no car maintenance at all until my car battery dies, which probably won’t happen in the next 5 years.
Utilities (electric, natural gas): ~$150
Wifi: $40
Cellphone: $10.61 ($108.66 for 6 months and I got a $45 credit from my bank)
Groceries: $500 (for 2 people)
Subscriptions: $20 (HP Ink, shared Netflix account, YNAB, Disney+)
Pet expenses: ~$20 for wet cat food
Personal care/hobby: I collect perfumes. Between makeup, skincare, clothes (which I had planned to stop buying this year) and perfume bottles and samples (the majority of my "personal care" expenses...), I averaged $400/mo last year. Without the makeup, skincare and clothes, I budget $150/mo this year for my fragrance hobby.
Household supplies: $30
Education: $30 (language/technical textbooks, Udemy/Coursera)
Gifts: $30
Credit card fee: $21 ($250 annual)

Section Four: Background

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Education is one of the top priorities in our household and this has been instilled in my mind since I was a kid. Perhaps because my grandparents were both professors and my parents both attended grad school, it was expected of us to have at least a bachelor's degree. With that said, my family tried to support our higher education financially as best they could and I'm very thankful for it. During undergrad, I had need-based financial aid and on-campus jobs, and my parents helped with the rest of my tuition. I still had to take (required by the school) a $20,000 loan. My grandmother helped pay for my 2-year master's program.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
During high school, I had a measly weekly allowance and my dad had me write out all the transactions in a notebook. I thought it was very silly back then but now thinking back, it was probably some good practice. Other than that, they didn't talk about money at all, and I was absolutely clueless and wasn't interested in personal finance until a couple of years ago. I don't remember how but I think I woke up one day and decided to read every book about personal finance I could find and now I do talk with my dad about finances.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was washing dishes as a student worker! We all had to do it our freshman year before we were allowed to find other jobs. I managed to find 3 other jobs (stage crew, sports event worker, and math tutor) and stayed with all of them for 3 years.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Even though our parents never let on to us about their finances, they made sure that we'd grow up comfortable financially, so I didn't worry because I didn't know anything.
Do you worry about money now?
Yes. As I grew up, I came to learn more about my parents' financial situation and realized that they've sacrificed a lot for us. I had the majority of my college tuition supported by the school, but my brother doesn't, and tuition in the US isn't cheap, especially when you convert it to our local currency. I also never know for how long I can stay in the US and keep making the same kind of money I'm making now so I'm trying my best to pay down the student loans ASAP.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became fully financially responsible for myself when I started working at my current company. Before that my student worker jobs paid for my personal expenses in college but my parents still chipped in for tuition. I guess my family back home is my safety net but personally, I wouldn't ask them for help even if bad things happen to me in the future.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Nope.

Diary

Day 1 (Thursday) - $3.35

• Alexa wakes me up and turns the light on. I change into my work clothes and head downstairs to my “office.” My boss starts our daily standup call, talking about what we did yesterday and what we plan for the day.
• I have my annual review meeting. Everything goes well and my bosses are very pleased with what I’ve done, especially after I transitioned into my new title as a Data Scientist, which honestly brought me more fulfillment in my job as well. We talk about our annual bonus and raise, which I already expected. It’s not a lot of money but hey any money is money and I’m not saying no.
• Some people bought my photocards so I gather all the orders and purchase a shipping label since 1 order is with tracked shipping. (Don’t ask me how this works but I’m a K-pop fan and we collect expensive cardboards. Depending on the popularity of the member of the group, profit margins can go up to 400%.) I head to the post office and drop off all the packages ($3.35)
• I’ve been waiting for the mailman all day and he finally comes! I’ve been working from home for almost a year now and my back pain is starting to kill me so I decided to “invest” in a $400 chair with lumbar and neck support. My cat happily takes the other chair and starts claiming her territory on it.

Day 2 (Friday) - $206.24

• I wake up on cue at Alexa’s daily briefing. Half an hour passes while I ponder on a perfume sample set I saw in someone’s fragrance collection on Reddit.
• I eventually give in and purchase the Zoologist sample set ($120.24). It’s within my budget this month, I’ve been eyeing this one for some time now and I can resell it for 80% value once I’m done testing them, so it’s not a huge loss anyway.
• Late lunch today. I make a quick lunch with sausages and keto toasts and quickly finish it while watching some YouTube videos on personal finance and updates on $GME (no I did not buy any shares).
• When in doubt, throw every leftover food in your fridge in a pan and make fried rice. Side dish is sweet and sour tomato and egg “cloud soup.” Then we have our weekly family video call with my parents back in my home country.
• I go down the YouTube rabbit hole again and buy 2 more perfume sample sets ($86.00). All the purchases today (~50 samples) would probably take me months to try out so I promise myself no more until next quarter as I click the pay button.

Day 3 (Saturday) - $71.27

• I wake up at 8:45 am and laze around for half an hour, scrolling down Twitter and answering my friend’s questions on how to enter the stock market. Today is my cheat day (I have one every 2-3 weeks), so I contemplate if I should order delivery for lunch. I check YNAB and decide that it’s too expensive, so I go downstairs to make myself a hearty breakfast with a latte, half a croissant, grilled chicken breasts, and snack on some shrimp crackers and tangerines.
• I purchase a shipping label ($3.22) and head out to the post office. For some reason I want to smell like a lemon cake today, so I spritz on Xerjoff Lira, put on sunscreen, and head out. This perfume always makes me feel so warm and delicious.
• I spend the whole afternoon catching up with my Chinese and Korean lessons for the week.
• Suddenly craving some instant noodles, so I immediately get up and head to a local Asian grocery store to shop for instant and pho noodles (I’m planning to make pho for Lunar New Year) and some snacks for my brother ($38.71). We drop by a bubble tea shop nearby and get bubble tea and 2 dessert cakes ($19.71). I usually don’t drink sugary drinks, but since it’s my cheat day, I put in an order and pay for the both of us.
• Some more PC orders came in and they’re all with tracked shipping. The post office is closed tomorrow but I’ll just pay now for the shipping labels so that I won’t forget ($9.63).

Day 4 (Sunday) - $0.00

• I literally do nothing today until 4 pm.
• I make dinner, then finish my Chinese lesson and review the flashcards I made yesterday. That’s enough activity for the day.
• One of my friends calls to show me her album haul of the day and I'm tempted, but (fortunately?) there's no kpop store in my city so I make myself forget about buying any more albums.

Day 5 (Monday) - $40.10

• I wake up with a headache, not feeling too well, so I request a day off and message my boss. I can’t go back to sleep, so I just lie there in bed for a couple of hours. I suddenly remember that WandaVision is on air, and there are a couple of movies on there I haven’t watched yet, so I subscribe to Disney+ ($7.52) and start binge-watching.
• We ran out of soft drinks for my brother, so I have to drive to Costco again after lunch ($32.58). I also need to drop off all the orders that came in over the weekend.
• I go to my old apartment for my move-out inspection (I haven't been living there since December but still had to honor the 2-month notice and pay for all the rent). There are a couple of spots that might cost me some deductions in my deposit. Sigh. At least I get to tell them to remove the charges on my lease for February, and they assure me that they will.
• I finish binge-watching some movies on Disney+. I see Colourpop is advertising some Valentine’s Day palettes on my feed. I do not need those, I do not need those, I do not need those. I should’ve just unfollowed makeup brands on social media. Some more late-night scrolling, and then I finally go to sleep.

Day 6 (Tuesday) - $8.02

• I wake up groggily, still feeling a bit sick. We have a late standup today, so I take my time making my coffee and start working, as my cat also settles in on my lap and starts napping. My head is still aching and I'm not sure if it's the cold or just keto flu so I load up on electrolytes, fish oil, and acetaminophen just in case.
• Somebody lowballed me on one of my postings. Ugh I hate it when they do this, but this one is not selling too well, so I meet them halfway. I purchase another shipping label ($3.03).
• Today is our bi-monthly deployment date, which means all the engineers (and anyone who has committed changes in our codebase) meet up and sit around until all the merges are deployed into production. I had some changes last week so I just sit there and do my own work until it's my turn. My boss told me this morning he had some test API from one of our new clients so I go to check out some of the data there. Oh how I love me some messy, messy data that nobody knows what to do with.
• The repair guy who came to fix our washing machine doesn't leave until 5:15 pm so I drop by the post office late, but just in time as they're collecting the mail! Then I drop by a nearby (rather upscale) grocery store as I'm running out of heavy cream, but everything is so expensive. I compare price per oz and pick up the coffee creamer instead ($4.99).
• I heat up the cauliflower rice and leftover curry and eat dinner as I watch Coco (I can't believe I've never actually watched it!) Then I review my Chinese flashcards for a bit, do half an hour of Just Dance until I sweat, play with my cat, and call it a day.

Day 7 (Wednesday) - $3.49

• I stayed up quite late yesterday playing a mobile game and finally wake up after snoozing the alarm for the 84th time. My boss starts our standup at our usual time; there's nothing urgent or pressing today so I just take my time. I take a quick nap in the afternoon and go back to work.
• I use the last drops of avocado oil to fry up some bulgogi for dinner. Need to go back to Costco for more avocado oil tomorrow, I guess.
• After dinner, a friend asks me about perfume samples that she wants to try. I go online to search for them but no dice since they belong to a new collection that only got launched in Europe. I take this time to try out some similar smelling samples in my collection as well.
• I review my Chinese flashcards and do some workbook exercises. After an hour, my brain is fried on Chinese but I don't want to go to bed yet, so I pick up a book on my bookcase that I was reading a while ago (A Random Walk Down Wall Street) and read one more chapter.
• An order came in so I purchase another shipping label ($3.49), update my budgeting app for a bit, and then head to bed.

Summary

​

Category	Amount	Note
Food & Drink	$95.99	Groceries
Fun / Entertainment	$7.52	Disney+ subscription
Home & Health	$0.00
Clothes & Beauty	$206.24	Perfume samples
Other*	$22.72	Shipping labels
Total	$309.75	shipping labels not included

*I don’t count the shipping labels as expenses because they’re already factored into the profits I made from my sales, but I included them anyway because they're still charges on my accounts. Any profit goes back to funding my album purchases so... I guess it's a vicious cycle.
Overall, a pretty normal week for me in terms of food. I don’t eat out often (I allow myself only one meal and one dessert every month) and have used up my 1 dessert allowance this week so I probably won't have any more this month. I might’ve gone overboard with the perfume purchases this week, but tbh perfumes bring me joy. My mood is lifted and I'm transported to old and new places every time I put on a perfume that I enjoy, so for me, it’s worth it. I try to be frugal whenever I can, but I'll never skimp on education and hobbies that make me happy. Writing this week-long diary, I realize I need to get back to working out, though. I'll probably have to stop procrastinating and pull out my RingFit gears still inside the moving boxes. Playing Just Dance also makes me miss dancing so bad as I used to be active in several dance crews since college (but stopped after I started working full time). I'll try to stick to Just Dance for now to get my cardio until Covid is over and I can get back to in-person dance classes.

Hey Reddit, I've never posted anything before but honestly, I'm desperate.
I'll start it off by saying I (17F) have a very rocky relationship with my parents. My dad's a veteran who lost his legs, and sustained major PTSD that he doesn't get treated, and my mom is very religious and has suffered from many issues, like eating disorders, insomnia, etc. They both have had very, very hard lives, but I genuinely can't take it anymore.
I've realised I repressed a lot of memories from my childhood, and I used to think we had a very good relationship. We'd spend time together, play games together, watch movies, etc. But things changed after I started remembering, and started talking to others about the issues. My father used to be violent towards me. I remember being 4 years old and him chasing me to my room, where he tried to punch me (edit: repeatedly). I still remember the sound of his ring hitting his wheelchair as he sped towards me, and I genuinely have nightmares. I've been informed by my mother and grandma that that was an ongoing thing throughout most of my childhood. I grew up in fear, I was CONSTANTLY yelled at or chased, and I just started forgetting everything that happened to me.
My grandma informed me about times when I'd run into her room and hide under her vanity table while he waited by the door, calling my name and trying to force me to come out so he could hit me. He stopped doing that as I grew older because he had a change of heart, but he never stopped yelling. Things didn't really get much better from there.
They found out I was bisexual and non religious in 2016. They locked me in the house, took away any means of communication to the outside world, and made me feel so guilty for existing that I forced myself to repress my sexuality and my beliefs. They used to put so much pressure on me to get into my current school, till I genuinely considered running away a better option than disappointing them so severely. My dad never really stopped being aggressive towards me, he just stopped being able to catch me, as I learned how to evade him when I got older. As he's handicapped, I usually just hide in an elevated place because he won't be able to reach me until he calms down. I remember him rushing me when I was 13 or 14, and I threw myself off the chair instinctively to get away from him. He grabbed me by the back of the shirt and almost tore it off of me (and choked me) while trying to get me back. I grabbed onto the door frame and managed to get away and run.
He's started being more verbally abusive. He will call me ungrateful, spoiled, a brat, a bitch, a snowflake, a whore, and various other things that I genuinely can't make myself remember. I dealt with it. He'd constantly criticize or berate me, I dealt with it. I started being a little more distant from them as I was tired of never remembering any interactions with them and any I did remember ended with me crying and him yelling. He was offended by this distance, claiming he never did anything to deserve this and was hurt that I was pushing them away.
He cried. I said he was manipulative because he literally told me "your actions caused my tears" and blamed me constantly for our deteriorating relationship. I started having very bad stress tics because of my family. They are VERY strict (I can be out till 7 PM on a good day), and usually I spend the last hour crying because I'm scared of getting in the car with them and being berated and yelled at. I have a very strong fear of loud noises, I jump every time I hear his ring hit his wheelchair, and I literally had a tic attack where a few of my tics consisted of "please don't let me go home", "they're mean", and "scared". My friends started recording these signs without me being aware of it.
Things came to a head a couple days ago. I am sexually active with my boyfriend (17M), we have no means of getting pregnant (he's trans), and I have sexual trauma that I am trying to work through slowly with him. I got assaulted by my cousin twice when I was 11, the second event was an attempted rape. My mom never believed me and covered for him, and convinced my dad he didn't do anything wrong and was just being a boy. I then started getting groomed online because of how lonely I was. It took us a year and a half to even get comfortable enough to have any kind of sexual atmosphere, and this has been helping me work on my issues with vulnerability. Also, it's honestly just a fun thing to do. My parents received a photo from an unknown number about us looking at lingerie together, as I'm trying to feel more confident in myself (I'm recovering from an eating disorder). My mom got me in the car, with me being completely unaware, and then demanded my bag and my phone. I took out a regular bra we had bought, but forgot about the underwear. She found it, and this is where shit hit the fan.
She hit me over the head with my bag, turned around in her seat and started hitting me. She kept screaming at me that I was a whore and a slut, and my dad agreed. I froze. They drove me home where they felt the need to tell my grandma that I was no longer a little girl, and I'm a filthy whore and it's all my fault. There was a screaming match between them, where my grandmother blamed them and they blamed me. I just sat there trying to make sure nobody charged me again. She left no bruises, but it kind of.. broke something in me? I guess.
They took everything, but they forgot my PC has wifi. I contacted a friend of mine and my boyfriend over discord, and my friend started telling me that I NEED to leave this house. His mother is a psychiatrist, his father works in the media, and another friend of ours father is a diplomat who could pull a few strings. His mother researched how to get me out the legal way, and has found a way where I could be placed in their custody. His parents are VERY nice and healthy, and it would be a good place to finish my last few years of highschool. We had enough evidence of abuse, I have a real chance to escape.
But the problem is, I love them. I love my parents so much. I know they're extremely abusive, there are so many things I can't even begin to write here because of the character limit (like them screaming at me over the phone so loudly my friends could hear it various times for GENUINELY no reason). My parents have put all the blame on me for this situation, my mother called me cheap, and they're taking me to get my hymen checked to make sure I'm still a virgin (I am). My mother used my most treasured memory of us (us playing Undertale together and getting soft over the pacifist route) against me, making me feel like a monster for ruining her image of her perfect little girl. They intend for me to stay in their house until I'm married to a Muslim man they approve of, I intend to leave for college.
We are SO close to New Year's, and my dad has heavy trauma associated with that. He spent so many years alone after the war and New Year's was always a time associated with loneliness. My friend's mom wants to take me to report the abuse Monday, days before New Year's. Also, I know they love me in their own way, and that me leaving would LITERALLY crush and kill them. They have no other children, and I don't want to make them anymore disappointed than they already are. They have already threatened that if I hurt them again (like with them finding out I was sexually active with my boyfriend of 1.5 years) I would literally be dead to them. I know what this will do to them, but I'm GENUINELY suicidal at this point. I can't live like this anymore, I can't remember anything, I get shamed constantly. They're trying to be nicer to me now but I'm literally sick all the time. I can't leave bed. I'm scared of them. My boyfriend snuck over early in the morning just to hug me while I cried for hours, trying to gently encourage me that I need to leave because he can't lose me like this.
I know leaving them will hurt me, and them, and I'll never be able to forgive myself for any of this. This entire situation is so stressful and I GENUINELY don't know what to do. Maybe I should just stay and accept this way of living, but I know it's going to kill me sooner rather than later. Please help.
Also, I'm very sorry if this is all over the place or weirdly formatted, I am on mobile and panicking while trying to get my thoughts together, I just want this all to be over. I don't think any of what I wrote makes sense honestly, I just have to get my thoughts down.
Edit:
I forgot to mention my parents coming into my room every night ever since it happened to reassure me they still love me and they can forgive me in time if I work hard enough, and they give me hugs. My mom wants to replay Undertale with me and it's making me feel so guilty and terrible about even thinking of leaving.

With 2020 coming to a close and as we near 100k subscribers, we thought it'd be a perfect time to reflect on the past year and highlight some data!
​
Monthly subscribers and page views
​

Month	Page views	Subscriber Gain	Total Subscribers
January	5,066,009	2,873	57,189
February	3,736,317	1,219	58,408
March	3,817,163	1,320	59,728
April	4,744,995	4,395	64,123
May	4,432,803	2,838	66,961
June	4,212,461	2,160	69,121
July	3,623,297	1,628	70,749
August	3,289,385	1,628	72,377
September	4,070,785	1,499	73,876
October	5,344,463	1,934	75,810
November	6,391,697	7,716	83,526
December	11,218,715	14,436	97,962

As you can see, the subreddit has grown steadily throughout 2020. We enjoyed a tremendous spike in growth over the last three months, due in no small part to the success of Cyberpunk 2020 on Stadia. This community is renowned for its exemplary niceness, so let’s continue into 2021 and beyond with open arms for our new friends.
​
Activity from the Stadia team on the subreddit
​
Going into 2020 people were quick to express some discomfort in the way official news was being shared on the sub. However, the Stadia team really ramped up their communication and community interactions. Things continue to improve on a rolling basis.
​
In 2020 the Stadia team showcased:
​

• 47 This Week on Stadia blogposts
• 15 unique interviews with developers producing their games on Stadia
• 2 Stadia Connects
• 10 Dev blogposts
• 11 Savepoints
• Over 51 documented responses on threads
• and much more that can't be officially documented!

​
Changes to the subreddit in 2020
​
Our top goal all along has been to anticipate and meet the needs of the community. Of course, we can’t anticipate everything, but we have strived to make changes and be flexible as the community grows and evolves. Take a look at this “change log” from 2020:
​

• In total we have 33 verified developers that are recognized on the subreddit
• In October we introduced controller flairs for people to rep their favorite controllers
• We introduced a weekly setups thread. To condense all the awesome setup pictures people have
• We introduced a weekly creator appreciation thread for people to give their favorite youtubers a shoutout!
• We’ve been maintaining a periodically rotating find-a-buddy thread where you can try to find friends to game with, an unofficial upcoming games list, an unofficial from the community page that highlights community content and an unofficial timeline page that highlights major changes to Stadia throughout the year
• We really perfected our wiki this past year and have a very in depth look into everything Stadia

​
Some special shoutouts
​

• We’d like to start out this section with a huge thanks to our original two Top Contributors, u/baltinerdist and u/one2escape. While the TC flair has been discontinued, these two were hugely instrumental in setting the tone of helpfulness and initiative that this subreddit is now well-known for.

​
And with that we’ve seen a couple more passionate community members emerge this year, some being:
​

• u/Pieceof_’s monthly graphs that showcases pro games entering and leaving the pro library
• u/jdeslip’s weekly data dump on everything Stadia

​
Some Community highlights
​
In terms of submissions, a ton of memes and excitement emerged from the release of Cyberpunk 2077.
​

• The initial announcement that the game was coming day and date with other platforms
• The following announcement that a free premiere edition would come with the game
• People spreading the good word
• Someone feeling age catching up with them
• Stadia finally feeling a little spicy on twitter, again and again
• The person that just wanted to play the game and received a nice surprise

​
The subreddit showed us all the ways people are using Stadia in this crazy unprecedented time
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• Someone’s daughter with a partially paralysed left arm using tandem mode to enjoy Stadia
• Nintendrew tinkering away until he managed to get Stadia running on a Switch
• Running Stadia on a Tesla model 3
• Two beautiful souls, that took advantage of mobile data play and were still able to play Stadia despite shotty hotel wifi
• Finding the missing ingredient in a balanced breakfast
• Following it up with a delicious dinner
• Cloud gaming in...wait for it...a cloud
• Playing Thumper with Philips Hue Sync
• Co-op action on a Microsoft duo

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The subreddit surprised us on a regular basis with the amount of talent and creativity on display. It seems Stadians are a passionate bunch!
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• A photoshopped gif of Astronauts using Stadia onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with a very relevant game!
• An Assassin’s Creed Valhalla inspired controller concept
• Utilizing the Macbook’s touch bar
• A Stadia themed mask

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And last but not least the Stadia community showed its true colors and showed the world what kind of community we are. Warm fuzzies warning
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• Someone’s RDR2 online experience
• A covid patient wishing everyone happy gaming with the release of Cyberpunk
• Console love, not console wars
• A community member checking in on Grace after an absence, and a clever reply from Chris
• Someone commenting on the vibe this subreddit gives off
• Someone shared with us their family photo
• Greetings from Hawaii with a beautiful sky
• A reminder that in the end, we’re all gamers

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Needless to say, this subreddit has such a wide variety of content it would be near impossible to highlight them all. The fact of the matter is, the community is what makes Stadia what it is and we can’t wait to see what kind of content you’ll produce in 2021. Thank you all for your passion and excitement!
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Plans for 2021
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Going into 2021, we’re nearly double the size we were when we started 2020, and what better a time than to expand the mod team a little! Stay tuned for a dedicated announcement where we’ll give the specifics on how to apply to be a part of the subreddit team.
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In addition to that we’re definitely looking toward ways we can improve the subreddit and make it a better place for old and new Stadians alike. Suggestions, tweaks, improvements; we want to hear them all! We can’t implement every single request but we can give it a go if we feel it’s the right move to make.
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Some side notes though before offering suggestions that we’ve addressed previously:
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• If you have seen something another subreddit has done that you liked, those examples are great and help us visualize suggestions made.
• Stickies are reserved *typically* for official Stadia updates, important announcements about relevant ongoing situations (promotions, outages, etc) and subreddit announcements such as this one! Normally if something gains a lot of traction, it’s already high up on the front page and highly visible.
• In terms of content being circulated through the sub, the biggest impact you can make on content being highlighted is to utilize the upvote/downvote mechanic. Thankfully Reddit offers content to a broad spectrum of interests and the upvotes will highlight what the community wishes to see. If you see something breaking the rules, please report it! We constantly monitor /hot and /new but we have real life priorities as well that often lets content slip through.
• In terms of self promotion, we’ve been removing anything that even remotely proclaims “I’m streaming!” or “Here’s some gameplay”. We want to promote discussions, if your video is a comparison between 2 things, a deep dive into a specific topic, or literally anything else, please feel free to share it on the sub. We want to create thriving discussions not free advertising.

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On that note the mod team would like to wish you all a very happy, healthy, and productive 2021. We can’t wait to see what becomes of Stadia alongside all of you.

Happy almost new year! Thanks for reading 😊 I included some R29-inspired questions before the diary begins as they provide interesting context for me as a reader *EDIT: and are important to understand our financial situation.* You’ll notice that I don’t talk about work at all – this is primarily because I was on PTO the whole week, but for me my job is just that, and I see it as a means to an end rather than a core piece of my identity. I do enjoy it, but ultimately it enables me to live the life that I want to live which is what’s important.
Section One: Assets and Debt
Net worth (made up of figures below): $817k. Many MDs on here don’t list NW, but I’m always curious so thought I’d do the math for you.
Retirement balance: We have a total of $325k saved for retirement (my husband D. and I each having approximately half), the majority in 401k/rollover accounts and less than 10% in Roth. We have been contributing since we started working, and both began maxing 401k (pretax) three years ago. We also began maxing Roth contributions last year, so contribute $51k/year total (plus 4% employer matches) to retirement accounts.
Home equity: $268k. We bought our townhouse in 2017 with a down payment of $130k, and we currently owe $297k on our mortgage. When we bought, our income was much lower and we started with a 30-year mortgage; last year we refinanced to a 15-year, and since then have dumped an additional $40k and shaved 2 years off of it, so we are on track to have it paid off before I turn 40 (unless we need to move for work before then, the slight possibility of which gives me the hives to think about). We have a low interest rate, and while we could make more with the money we’ve used to pay down our loan by investing it in the market, we feel like we have enough exposure with our brokerage and retirement accounts already and I would love to have the peace of mind of being mortgage-free.
Savings account: $66k in a joint high-yield (not really, recently – more on that later) savings account. This is what we consider our emergency fund.
Checking accounts (one large joint account that our paychecks both go into, and two smaller individual accounts): $47k. Way too high, need to move some of this into savings or investments.
Non-retirement brokerage accounts: $111k, about evenly divided into individual accounts for D. and I
Non-mortgage debt: $0. No student loans and while we put most of our expenses on credit cards, we pay off the balances in full every month.
Section Two: Income
Monthly Take Home: $9227 between the two of us. This is after our pretax contributions to 401k, medical/dental, and HSAs.
My income progression: 21/$30k - 24/$45k - 25/$55k - 26/$66k - 27/$85k (current pay includes an $8k bonus which is all but guaranteed). I have bounced around quite a bit career-wise, but have been in SaaS customer success for the last three years.
D.’s income progression: 23/$63k - 25/$75k - 27/$98k - 29/$124k (last year he also began receiving $5k in RSUs per year, but I am not including them in his income or our assets because they are not vested). He is and has always been a mechanical engineer.
Section Three: Expenses
Mortgage (principal + interest only): $2507/mo
HOA dues: $222/mo
Property taxes: $6300/yr (we recently closed out our escrow account and pay taxes directly to the city)
Condo insurance: $372/yr – this will sound low compared to those in fee-simple homes, but because we don’t own our roof/the exterior of our townhouse it’s quite inexpensive and our community’s master policy covers the rest.
Savings contribution: Whatever is left over, usually in the ballpark of $2k/mo. Our emergency fund is substantial and we own a home (albeit not in full), so there aren’t any specific items (aside from retirement) that we are laser-focused on saving for at the moment.
Utilities: ~$140/mo
Wifi: $81/mo
Cellphone: $35/mo – I am on my parents’ plan and D. has a cheap Google plan.
Gym membership: $14/mo. D. and I share a Peloton Digital account and do all of our workouts on there.
Pet expenses: $300/mo (insurance, food/treats, grooming, and anxiety medication)
Car insurance and tax: $643/yr – this is for our vehicle tax and D.’s insurance only, I am still on my parents’ car insurance policy. We own our one car in full (parents purchased in my name).
Home security subscriptions: $130/yr (Ring doorbell and Nest camera streaming)
Jewelry insurance: $204/yr for my diamond rings and earrings
Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee: $550, but $300 of that gets credited back to travel, and with the other credits they have now for DoorDash and Peloton, the card almost pays for itself right off the bat. We thought about canceling this year since the only travel we are doing is local AirBnBs, but decided to hold onto it and will hopefully use the points for some nice vacations when this is all over!
Entertainment subscriptions: $0, we use D.’s parents
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it? My parents both have master’s degrees and while I never saw college as optional, I never felt pressure to have perfect grades or to attend an Ivy League like them (I ended up going to a good state school). I have a bachelor’s degree, and was lucky to have college paid for by my family. D.’s parents paid for his undergrad and he did research for a professor to pay for his graduate degree. I have been encouraged to get a graduate degree, but the idea of working and going to school at the same time is too overwhelming to me (kudos to everyone who does this) and I don’t want to give up my income, not to mention that in my current field it wouldn’t mean any substantial salary bump.
Did you worry about money growing up? I never worried, per se, but going to a private school I noticed that we had inexpensive cars and a smallish house, compared to my friends’ Lexuses and McMansions. My parents never talked about money, so I drew my own assumptions that we just had enough to live modestly, and not much more. I discovered around college that this was not the case at all, and I give my parents a ton of credit for never letting on how comfortable we actually were – I think it taught me some important lessons that have translated into me budgeting fairly well and not feeling entitled.
Do you worry about money now? Not at all. The only thing that somewhat stresses me out is given the head-starts we have gotten financially, I want to provide the same (college, wedding, down payment, help with random things as adults) for any children that we have, but that is very far off in the future.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? I received about $100k from the estate of a grandparent who passed when I graduated from college. Every year since then, I have received $15-$30k from my living grandparents and/or parents. The initial $100k helped us immensely because it mostly funded our down payment, and the subsequent annual gifts aren’t something that we budget for, but they allow us to buy fun extras that we wouldn’t feel comfortable spending on otherwise and travel internationally frequently in non-covid times.
Wednesday 12/23
· 7:30 AM: Happy first day of adult winter break! I barely used any PTO this year and as such am taking the last week and a half of the year off. The last time I had this long of a break was over a year ago and I’m excited. D., our dog T., and I slowly get out of bed and get ready to go. Our cleaners are coming this morning, and for everyone’s safety we leave the house when they come. We hired cleaners starting when we first got T. – definitely a luxury but so worth it because I would otherwise be cleaning for 20 minutes a day. They come every other week. I leave a check on the fridge ($120 for their normal fee plus $100 holiday bonus), unlock the front door, and the three of us get in the car. $220
· 8:15 AM: D. drops me off at our favorite breakfast restaurant where I order biscuits and coffee for us from their outdoor window. We haven’t dined in a restaurant since February, but our local restaurants have done a great job of pivoting and creating options that allow us to support them and feel safe. $27.60
· 11:00 AM: Back at home, I clean up after the cleaners putting everything back in its correct place and start laundry. Since I’ll basically be sitting in my living room for the next 10 days (as opposed to my home office – what a change!), I drive to the florist and pick up a beautiful arrangement of ranunculuses, roses, and other unidentifiable flowers. $53
· 12:30 PM: My mother-in-law stops by with our stockings and we talk in the driveway for a bit. D. has had to go into the office for the duration of the pandemic, so we unfortunately probably won’t be spending any time indoors with either of our families for several months, despite both sets of parents living under an hour away, but we make do by meeting up outside.
· 5:00 PM: I plug in the heater in our garage and blast it to make my workout slightly more bearable. At the beginning of the pandemic, we had our garage floors and walls finished so it would feel like a real room that we would want to work out in vs. a dusty garage. I love how it looks now, but it is still as cold as any garage in the winter. I string together a few Peloton strength workouts. We don’t have the bike or treadmill, but I am obsessed with their app and strength classes and never want to go back to an in-person gym.
· 8:30 PM: Call my grandparents, who live about five hours away, on FaceTime to catch up. The last time I saw them in person was probably a year and a half ago – I was supposed to visit them in May, but they are quite elderly so I decided not to take any chances with covid. My grandfather’s brother passed away a few weeks ago and I know they with they could be spending more time with family these days, so I try to call them every couple weeks. After we finish talking, I take T. out for a pre-bedtime walk and we go to sleep.
Daily total: $300.60
Thursday 12/24
· 10:15 AM: I don’t think I’ve slept this late since college, but we have nothing to do today so I take my time getting up. As we get dressed, I hear the doorbell ring with what is probably our millionth package since Black Friday. It’s a printer! We have been living the millennial lifestyle of not owning a printer ever since our last one broke a year or so ago, and when I worked in an office it was fine because I would just print everything there. We finally decided something needed to change when I made a Poshmark sale last week and had to drive to my parents’ house to get the shipping label because our library (the other place we would usually print) is closed.
· 11:00 AM: After setting up the printer and rolling around on the floor with T. (normal dog mom activity), I make myself eggs and an English muffin, my usual breakfast. I generally do not enjoy cooking at all, but my parents got us the Caraway cookware set for Hannukah and it is a dream to look at and use so I’ve been in the kitchen much more than usual the last couple weeks.
· 12:00 PM: Tonight is Christmas Eve, so we’re doing Chinese food over Zoom with my family. I order our dinner from a much-acclaimed restaurant that we’ve never tried for an early afternoon pickup to avoid all the other Jews picking up their dinners ($56.32). After placing our order, I peruse through my Pinterest wish list, which is what D. and I use to buy each other gifts, to see what’s left over from the holidays. I pull the trigger on a cute and comfy-looking Varley sweatshirt ($109). Since I started working from home in March, I’ve worn athleisure every day, so pricier brands are worth it to me. $165.32
· 1:00 PM: I pick up our dinner and listen to an episode of This American Life to pass the time in the car. When I arrive at the restaurant, I’m happy to see that this early in the afternoon the pickup table has a huge number of orders.
· 4:00 PM: I knock out a killer 45-minute full body strength workout, courtesy of Adrian Williams. The garage is warmer today, so I only wear a sports bra on top. Aside from not having to travel to a gym, the fact that I can feel comfortable wearing whatever I want is one of my favorite things about working out at home. I shower and don my Christmas eve attire of Align leggings and a cashmere sweater (AKA the same general outfit I wear every other day of winter).
· 6:30 PM: We meet up with my family on video chat and enjoy our Chinese takeout. I am fairly picky and went with my usual of tofu with broccoli, and a side of fried cauliflower. After eating, we play a bunch of rousing rounds of Skribbl (online Pictionary-type game) until everyone is ready for bed.
Daily total: $165.32
Friday 12/25
· 6:40 AM: T. jumps off the bed to signal that it’s time for his morning routine to start. I take him outside to pee, feed him breakfast, change his water, and then we get back into bed and sleep for three more hours.
· 10:00 AM: Christmas morning isn’t a big deal around here, but it seems like a good excuse for cinnamon rolls. I walk 20 minutes in the cold to the only grocery store nearby that’s open to pick up a can of Annie’s ($6.14). We have a car, but since I began working from home and therefore moving less, I’ve been trying be mindful about using errands within ~1.5 miles from home as an opportunity to get some steps in and enjoy the outdoors. $6.14
· 1:30 PM: I review our bank accounts and notice that our checking account (which earns virtually no interest) has way more than what we like to keep in it due to some recent bonus payments from my work and a check from my grandparents, and decide to apply $10k to our mortgage as an extra principal payment, which takes five months off of it. $10,000.00
· 3:00 PM: I do 30 minutes of core exercises in the garage and then take a shower, after which I proceed to give myself a very sad pedicure, no paint. Even with professional help I do not have the most beautiful feet, so given the fact that I have not gone to a salon in 11 months they are currently a slightly terrifying sight.
· 6:00 PM: D. and I put the new Wonder Woman on TV and half-watch it. They filmed it around the DC area and a chunk was filmed a mile from our house, so it’s cool to recognize spots we’re used to dressed up as movie sets. I make a simple dinner of sauteed broccoli and ravioli.
· 9:15 PM: After we finish Wonder Woman, I waste some time online and discover that a photographer whose work I love is having a 20% off sale. I spot a framed photo print with balloons spelling “I AM BUSY” and think about how it would be great addition to my video background in my home office. I go back and forth on whether it’s too sassy since I work with clients, but decide to go for it before calling it a night. $319.43
Daily total: $10,325.57
Saturday 12/26
· 9:30 AM: We start our day with a couple episodes of Bridgerton on Netflix. I was thinking a period piece romance was going to be a me-only show, but D. is surprisingly down to watch.
· 11:30 AM: While I’m getting dressed (switching my leggings and sweatshirts), I see that T.’s overflow toy basket in our closet is getting quite full and decide to do something about it. D. and I pick out 10 or so of his least-loved toys for donation. When T. was a puppy we had a BarkBox subscription, but as he got older and stopped destroying toys we ended up with way too many and I figure that they would be better off going to some pups in need. It’s a beautiful day, so I bag them up and take a scenic trail walk to the animal shelter a couple miles away. The shelter and the city recycling station are right next to each other, so I also bring our empty glass bottles and jars.
· 12:30 PM: Back at home, I make myself eggs for lunch. I’m a creature of habit, what can I say? This is money diaries, not food diaries, but I know my palate is bland.
· 2:00 PM: I’m sitting in the corner of the sectional in the living room. T. comes over and curls up literally on top of me…I guess he’s decided it’s joint naptime. I have other things I sort of need to do, but cannot handle how cute this is so I accept my fate as his lounge chair.
· 5:00 PM: D. prepares zucchini and Trader Joe’s cacio e pepe for dinner and we watch another couple episodes of Bridgerton. A couple hours later we finally decide that we should get off our butts, so we take T. on a short and painfully cold walk before D. retreats to the den to play video games while I tidy up the house (I am really OCD about neatness so this is a constant thing for me).
Daily total: $0
Sunday 12/27
· 6:30 AM: My morning to take T. out. He jumps off the bed right on time, we go outside for a bathroom break, and then pile back into bed. How am I going to get back into the habit of actually starting my day at this hour when my vacation is over?
· 10:30 AM: I eat honey nut cheerios for breakfast and hop on video chat with one of my oldest friends, who I’ve known since middle school. She lives overseas now, so I haven’t seen her in person for well over a year. We catch up on life during the pandemic – it’s interesting to hear how differently (read: better) other countries are handling it.
· 1:30 PM: I drive into the city to go biking with my dad. I know there’s free parking somewhere near where we’re supposed to meet, but I’m directionally challenged so I pull into the first parking lot I can find and start a parking session on ParkMobile ($5.74). My dad finds free parking and after yelling at each other for 15 minutes on the phone we finally locate each other and start biking. About five minutes in I realize that I cannot feel my pinky fingers or toes at all, and we decide to call it at a measly four miles. I make a pit stop at Whole Foods on the way home to pick up a variety of random snacks – dark chocolate, popcorn, granola bars, yogurt, etc. ($39.75). $45.49
· 6:00 PM: I throw together homemade pizza for dinner. After we eat, I spend some time organizing our closet in an attempt to feel productive…I am not great at just relaxing. After I’ve run out of things to move around, I kill some time on Reddit, take T. out for a nighttime walk, and go to sleep early.
Daily total: $45.49
Monday 12/28
· 9:30 AM: Wake up, stumble down the stairs, and eat honey nut cheerios for breakfast. T. comes downstairs, stares at me until I go to the couch to cuddle with him, and I hang out with him on my lap editing my money diary formatting.
· 11:00 AM: Tomorrow is trash day, so I go around the house consolidating trash cans. I then throw our towels in the laundry. The time at home not working is starting to drag and I have six more days, so I order Codenames Duet from Target to pick up later today. $16.95
· 2:30 PM: I return from Target and check mail to discover that our escrow refund check is on the way, woohoo! It’s D.’s turn for errands and he goes to Harris Teeter to pick up vegetables and dinner foods. We have a very piecemeal grocery shopping strategy – we buy about a third of them at HT, a third at Whole Foods, and a third at Trader Joe’s. $50.68
· 4:00 PM: Another great workout, where I use almost all of our weights. When D. stopped going to the gym in the spring, he insisted on getting a ton of free weights for our garage, and while at the time I was skeptical about how necessary it was, we now have enough equipment that anyone except for a bodybuilder could easily get a great workout in.
· 5:30 PM: Dinner tonight is hot dogs and homemade fries. We unpackage the new game and settle in at the dining room table for a couple rounds, and once we’re done, I do a thorough kitchen cleaning.
· 8:00 PM: I binge a few episodes of John Oliver on YouTube. As you can probably tell, I am running out of activities to amuse myself with. D. tells me that he has purchased “shoe cream”, whatever that is. His quarantine spending habit has been on fancy shoes and shoe care items, which feels odd for a time when he is wearing nice shoes less than ever, but whatever. $25.43
Daily total: $93.06
Tuesday 12/29
· 5:45 AM: I am rudely awoken by D.’s alarm – why he decided to work on this random Tuesday during the holiday week, I do not understand. Luckily T. is not disturbed by the alarm and stays cuddled up next to me under the covers.
· 6:30 AM: D. leaves for work and is not particularly gentle with the door, so T. gets up to investigate. Before getting up to take him out and feed him, I check my email and am dismayed to see that T.’s lifelong grooming spa is closing – not because they don’t have enough business, but because they have too much business and not enough employees. Such a strange year for the pet industry…vet waitlists these days are also many weeks long because so many people have adopted during the pandemic. I make a mental note to look into alternative groomers to go to starting next month.
· 8:30 AM: I do some research on end of year banking promotions. When we opened our Ally savings account the interest rate was 1.2%, and since then has shrunk to .5%, so we are thinking of moving our savings elsewhere for the time being. I spot a Citibank promo that will give us $700 if we park $50k in it for a few months, which is about $500 more than we would get from Ally in the same time period. I bookmark the page for us to look at together over the weekend.
· 11:00 AM: I vacuum the house with our Dyson Animal. I detest cleaning (this is why we have cleaners) but this stick vacuum makes me inexplicably happy, so I use it in between the cleaners’ visits.
· 12:00 PM: Settle in on the couch with T. in my lap for an episode of Below Deck. I am slightly overwhelmed even opening Bravo because I have three episodes of RHSLC that I need to catch up on. I grew up without cable TV and having access to all these shows now honestly stresses me out because it feels like a never-ending to-do list. I know that’s a really odd way to think about entertainment…
· 3:30 PM: I’ve barely moved today, so I bundle up for a walk around the neighborhood (without T. – he is useless for long walks when it’s less than 50 degrees). I’m a bit nervous because this will be my first time crating him in a couple months, but I know it’s important to do this from time to time so that he doesn’t develop any separation anxiety. When I come back, I open the crate and am thrilled that he decides to stay in there and continue relaxing. It makes me so happy that he still loves his crate!
· 5:00 PM: D. is home from work and neither of us feels like cooking, so I offer to pick up Chipotle. I get a tiny burrito without meat that they charge as two sides, and D. gets a steak burrito. $12.38
· 7:30 PM: Another few rounds of Codenames, and a family walk before bed. That’s all for the week (aside from my reflections below) – see you in the comments!
Daily total: $12.38
Weekly Total Spend: $10,942.42
Food and drink: $192.87
Fun and entertainment: $16.95
Home and health: $10,592.43
Clothes and beauty: $134.43
Transport: $5.74
Reflecting on the week: I would say this was a fairly normal week during quarantine, with the exception of the $10k house payment and the art print. Since it’s the end of the year and we know where we landed against our annual budget, we’ve spent a bit more freely than usual over the last few weeks. Being home all the time definitely makes mindless spending easier; before the pandemic we spent a lot on things like transit and a dog walker that aren’t in the picture now, but now I often find myself online shopping just for fun, which I didn’t do as much in the past. Nonetheless, I feel like we are in a good place financially, and I’m looking forward to watching our savings and investments grow in 2021.

Just wanted to share my experience today setting up Shadow on the Fire TV Stick. Played Star Wars: Fallen Order on ultra settings without a hiccup.
Here's the hardware list for setup:

• Shadow Boost using Quadro P5000 GPU.
• 4K Fire TV Stick
• 8bitdo SN30Pro controller
• iOS or Android device
• Television (obviously)

The Firestick is located close to our 5G router. It's a basic router that came with the cable service. You can setup anywhere in the house, given you have a mesh network in your home (pods supplied by cable service that extend WiFi around your home).
Instructions:

1. The Firestick comes with an extender cable in the box. This I believe boosts the WiFi signal, so suggested to plug it in.
2. Connect your controller to the Firestick. XBOX controllers are best, but the cheaper SN30Pro works, since it has the same buttons essentially, and is well-built.
3. Install "Mouse Toggle" app on Firestick. This gives you mouse functionality needed later. Follow this guide to install it, and despite comments, you can use the 4K Firestick link provided in the article. It works: https://www.firesticktricks.com/mouse-toggle-firestick.html
4. Install "Downloader" app on Firestick (covered in guide above).
5. Within Downloader app, navigate to APKMirror and download/install the latest Shadow build for Android. I used the 3.4.4 BETA: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/blade-group/
6. On your mobile phone or tablet, install the "Fire TV" app from official app store. This gives you a bluetooth keyboard needed later. Once downloaded, connect it to your Firestick using the code provided on screen.
7. Go to your computer and fire up Shadow PC. If like me you have games on several platforms like Steam, Epic, Amazon, Origin, etc., you'll want to access your installed games that utilize a controller in one interface on the Firestick.
8. Open Steam, and add the games you want to show up on the Firestick from each platform. Installed Steam games will show up in your library automatically, as you'll be using Steam's Big Picture Mode to navigate on the stick. Games from other platforms must be manually added. Here's a guide: https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/how-to-add-games-to-steam-library/ "scroll to section: Add non-Steam games from other services (such as GOG.com)".
9. A few tips - favorite the games in Steam you've manually added from other platforms. In this way, they stay separated from your main Steam library for easy removal later. Also, you likely will want to rename the games in Steam as they take on the game's executable file name (which is not pretty).
10. In Steam settings > Interface > enable “Run Steam when my computer starts” and “Start Steam in Big Picture Mode”.
11. In Shadow settings, set your bandwidth to a few Mbps lower than recommended, to ensure smooth playback. In my case, they recommended 20 Mbps. I set it to 10 Mbps.
12. Shut down your Shadow session, note your Shadow username/password, and return to the Fire TV Stick.
13. Open Shadow app on the Firestick. Login with your credentials. You can use the standard Firestick remote for this part with its built-in keyboard.
14. Once credentials are entered, you'll be presented with a 6-digit confirmation code sent to your email to approve the connection. Open the "Fire TV" app on your phone and with its keyboard, enter the 6 digits in the email. Then click the "Continue" button in Shadow.
15. Shadow will ask to convert your Shadow PC to Beta version. This is OK, as it only does it for the session, and nothing gets messed up. When you open Shadow on your computer later, it'll revert back to regular Windows 10 with all your stuff intact.
16. You should be greeted by Steam in Big Picture Mode when it boots up. From there you can navigate to your installed games library using your XBOX or generic game controller. Launch a game and Bob's your uncle.
17. If like me you have some Star Wars games from EA, you'll likely need to login to Origin again on the Firestick. Using a combination of "Mouse Toggle" and "Fire TV" apps, you can navigate the Origin login process since it requires keyboard and mouse input. For Mouse Toggle, you press play/pause button twice to enable it, then up/down to move the mouse.
18. A quick note about bandwidth. The Shadow android app has its own bandwidth setting independent from the standard desktop Shadow settings. By default, it was set to 5 Mbps, so I set it to 10 Mbps (as I know my network can handle that), but YMMV.
19. It's worth noting that you should keep at least 1GB of storage free on your Firestick at all times for best performance, and the Shadow app uses roughly 55MB of storage space. It keeps next to no additional data or cache. I was pretty shocked at how light it is!

I wanted to document this process in case it helps anyone else. I've heard the 4K Fire TV Stick flakes out on others, but as of January 2021 I had zero issues playing Fallen Order for an hour with the best graphic settings. Also I didn't notice any compression artifacts on a 52" 1080p LCD TV.
I don't believe the 30 minute inactivity shutdown is a problem with the android app, so IMO it's worth moving longer gaming sessions to the TV. Less chance of losing in-game progress when you step away for an exercise break.
Stay healthy gamers!