2026-11-01 08:00:00
Hello again, old friend.
I’m excited to be done with my Cringetober drawing challenge, which I participated in for all 31 days. Upon finishing it, I’ve decided that I’m not going to do this again next year. I probably wouldn’t have aimed for completion if I hadn’t set a goal way back in January to do so. While I’m glad I pushed through and accomplished my goal, it taught me that this isn’t for me.
I think daily drawings required too much attention from me that I wanted to spend elsewhere—even if I spent only five minutes drawing something, the task would loom over me the entire day. And most days, I put in the bare minimum effort, because I didn’t feel enthused about drawing.
Next year, perhaps I’ll try a different drawing challenge, but it won’t be a daily one. Same with Plein Airpril—I’ll likely do it again, but also without the daily goal.
I’m working on a redesign.
It’s based on my current reading page design, which I’ve been quite enjoying. I want my website to be cute and channel the stationery vibes that I have been so obsessed with all year.
Of course, thinking about redesigning is far easier than actually redesigning, so I don’t know how long this will take. I’m a bit hesitant to even share a screenshot, because me talking about things before they’re finished is a great way for me to never finish it.
Not much still! I saw Street Fighter, which was aggressively mid, and Forgotten Island, which had a fantastic and scary villain design.
I’m hoping to watch You Can See Everything and Wildwood soon. Everyone is talking about the former and I believe the latter will reaffirm my belief in art.
Time is a flat circle, and I’m playing Maplestory Classic. Will it be less grindy than it was 20 years ago? Who knows! One fun thing now is that I am an adult with adult money, so I could buy cash shop items if I wanted to. Who’s to tell me I can’t spend real money dollars on game cosmetics.
Thinking about doing party quests makes me miss Destiny raiding.
I’m slowly making my way through my horrible library backlog, while also recklessly visiting used bookstores at every opportunity. I love the concept of buying books. Reading books I own? Hmm, I dunno, what if I didn’t.
In October, I enjoyed:
I’m currently struggling to get through the fantasy tome The Strength of the Few, and hope to finally tackle the nonfiction books I have stacked on my table…
2026-10-04 08:00:00
Not really any movies lately!
Reading is turning into my primary hobby now, and I’m continuing to have so much fun. I also keep buying books and then not reading them, because I’m busy also borrowing too many books from the library.
Lately, I’ve enjoyed:
For spooky season, I’m reading The Haunting of Hill House and rereading The Shining.
I went to see Hermanos Gutiérrez, who were amazing! I discovered their music last month, which was great timing for getting tickets to their tour.
A couple of weeks ago, Sophie had digestion issues, so I had to whisk her away to the vet, an event that traumatized both of us. She’s good now, but it was the first health issue that’s come up since I adopted her earlier this year, so it stressed me out a lot. I took a lot of photos of her poop.
To commemorate it, I drew a comic:
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what monetizing my art would look like. I’ve dabbled in getting paid for it over the years in informal contexts, but I’ve never put a dedicated effort toward it.
For October’s drawing challenge, I’ll be doing Cringetober again.
I’m aiming to participate for all 31 days this time, though the time investment will be significantly less than Plein Airpril—the five minute sketch is going to make a few appearance, methinks. I’ll be posting on Mastodon every day, and eventually get them all onto my site for proper archiving. (I have yet to build the useful sketchbook posting system of my dreams.)
Unrelatedly, here’s a recent pencil sketch, which I don’t use often:
I wanted to update my website homepage for Halloween, and had a fun idea for it, but sadly haven’t had the time or energy for it. Maybe I can pull it together sometime during the month…
2026-09-11 08:00:00
Sometimes I’m like I wanna write a blog post but idk what to write about; then I’m like, I should do a weeknotes post but idk aren’t they getting kind of boring and bland (for me to write) and I should try something different; today I guess I wanna write something and weeknotes are the tried and true structure. I shouldn’t overthink it.
Not much! I finished House of the Dragon season 3, which was great; I watched the first episode of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms; tomorrow I’m going to watch Filipiñana.
I’ve chilled out with playing Fields of Mistria—I made it to Year 2 Winter and now play a day or two every session, instead of thinking about it constantly and playing for twenty hours a week.
Control: Resonant comes out soon, which I expect will consume me for the rest of September. Before that, I should probably play the last week of the Marathon season, i.e. the best time to visit the lose everything factory.
I’m still reading a lot, and wish I had more time to do it. I finished Love in the Time of Cholera, which is beautifully written (some quotes here). I have a lot of books on hold from the library that I’m eagerly anticipating—an Emily Henry book, some horror, Uzumaki by Junji Ito (finally I think I am brave enough to read it lol)… maybe I should revisit The Shining for Halloween szn next month.
I also watched a bunch of videos from YouTube creator lexi aka newlynova, which included some very entertaining recaps of unhinged books (h/t Toni for the rec).
And I’m morbidly fascinated by the new book by MrBeast and James Patterson… I Want To Know
I continue to have stationery brainworms. My 2027 planner will be the Hobonichi A6 HON with the Yumi Kitagishi cover. It now sits on my desk and I look at longingly every day, pining after January 1 when I can begin using it.
I feel some despair about the end of summer and looming end of the year. I have accomplished so little?! Dare I say, I have accomplished nothing!!! (Obviously this is an exaggeration; you know what I mean.)
I need to figure out how to make the most of the cozy season. Cozy food? Cozy decor?? Soup? Romanticizing blankets? Once the sun disappears, I will be basically useless. I fear I will devolve into DepressionPosting™.
I want to redesign it; I want to make another spooky homepage (unlikely); I want to yeet it into the bin and start all over; etc. etc.
2026-08-21 08:00:00
We’re nearing the end of August 2026, and I figured it’s time I give up the pipe dream of writing a 2025 recap the way I envisioned a whole year ago. Some sections are what I did write over the past eight months; other sections I simply could not muster up the willpower to write about this late in the year, hence their relative sparseness.
In 2025, I watched 58 movies and 12 shows.
I got invested in the Toronto Blue Jays during the World Series, which was, in retrospect, a terrible decision that caused me and millions of others an untold amount of anguish and despair. If you are a Dodgers fan, never speak to me again.
It’s too painful to recount the emotional devastation of this whole experience, but I suppose it was also extremely entertaining for the neutral fans. And if I allow myself to pretend like I too was a neutral fan, I can make a list of some of those moments:
Anyway. After, I rewatched Moneyball and the video essay Why baseball is the best movie sport, and vowed to never get invested in professional sports again.
Well. Does pro wrestling count? I’m not invested, but I continue to catch bits and pieces since my partner is a big fan. My wrestling knowledge remains very limited, but I like Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. Following all the storylines isn’t for me, but I like watching everyone (namely, the women) being very strong and beautiful, with their incredible outfits and ability to throw each other around.
Yet another year has gone by where my music listening remains pedestrian. Alas! This year I discovered The Last Dinner Party, enjoyed Lady Gaga’s music, and listened to a lot of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.
Older songs I discovered this year.
I listened to various of Batman-related audio dramas, which I really enjoyed:
In a wild turn of events, I played significantly less Destiny 2 this year than I ever have before. It got dethroned by Stardew Valley in playtime.
I did very little fiction reading this year (4.5 novels…), and read a bunch of DC comics.
My favourites this year were Batman and Robin: Year One and the Nightwing run by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo.
Whenever I try to articulate why I liked a certain comic, I always say “and I really like the art.” Good art—impossible to define, I know; perhaps better articulated as an art style that I like or compels me in some way—is a necessary condition for me. (Case in point: I did not like the art for Red Robin (2011) or Batgirl (2000), two well-received runs, and consequently don’t really care for either.)
I only read a few indie comics this year. The standout was Song of the Seabirds by Narsid. It was available as part of the ShortBox Comics Fair; I don’t think it’s possible to buy at this time.
It made me cry a stupid amount. The art is breathtaking; I would turn a page and be flattened by how beautiful it was.
I went to see the Broadway production of Hadestown, which was perhaps my most memorable entertainment experience all year. I’ve listened to the cast recording repeatedly ever since; last month, I went to see the proshot in theatres multiple times.
Fav moments include:
Trying to write a conclusion in August 2026 is a fool’s errand. My conclusion is that I should have thrown in the towel six months ago and published what I had, instead of letting a draft fester in the background all year.
Some optimistic things that bode well for my 2026 recap, assuming I write it:
Okay, that’s all.
2026-08-16 08:00:00
2026-07-10 08:00:00
