*slides in like I didn’t abandon this blog for three years* how the FUCK are we doing?

Okay, I actually have a good excuse this time.

The last time I posted here we had just moved in, Luna turned two (as in terrible two lol), and the holidays were right around the corner, so everything was absolute fucking chaos. At the same time I was juggling all of those things, I was also enrolling in college to finally upgrade that two-year degree to a four-year one. That took just about all of my time from January 2021 to around September of this year (2023). PLUS. Plus… I am working six days a week on top of that because what the fuck is optional overtime anymore. *sigh* On a good week, it is eight hours of mandatory overtime instead of ten. On a rare, even better week, I get no overtime at all. And those weeks are always hilarious because having two days off in a row is a genuine headfuck for me, especially without a pile of coursework waiting for me. The fact that I have four days off for Thanksgiving break soon is wild as shit to me. Am I supposed to just… enjoy myself? Lol

In summary, I was actually productive this entire time, so maybe we are on the dark timeline after all. Hate to see it. The dark timeline, I mean.

ANYWAYS. I am obviously not going to cover the entirety of every little thing I’ve been doing for the past three years, but I can gloss over a few things here and there. Here we go. *cracks knuckles*

Luna: First thing first, the princess. Luna is barely recognizable from the person she was three years back. I mean… not even a week ago, her first tooth fell out. I was SOBBING after we put her to bed. I just cannot believe she is the same seven-pound newborn that I used to stare at in disbelief because I could not believe that something so beautiful could be a result of me in any way, shape, or form. SIGH. But, yes, Luna is doing great. She is as hilarious and sassy as I expected her to be based on how she behaved as an infant. At the same time, though, she is an absolute sweetheart. Shy, soft-spoken, sensitive. Once she warms up to you, though, she is an absolute jokester and prankster. She really is a wonderful kid. You don’t know how many times I heard someone respond to an interaction with Luna by asking, “Can I keep her?” And I’m always like, “HA HA HA NO”. Even her school bus driver was like, “Girl, if you ever need a babysitter, I’ll watch her for free.” LOL. Yeah, I get it. I don’t blame you for offering.

School: Ah, yes. And then there is college. I am proud to say that I *FINALLY* acquired a bachelor’s degree in computer science (software development concentration), and that I did not do it by the skin of my teeth as I expected I would. I… actually…. somehow… graduated summa cum laude? I still feel like when the actual graduation ceremony takes place in December, someone is going to snatch my degree away like T.I. snatched the necklace from that girl in ATL. Hold on. Let me find the gif.

Anyhoo, yadda yadda, I am done, I did it, I’m proud of myself, etc.

I think what boggles my mind even more was some of the wild shit I experienced at school that I just decided to never unpack until… now? For example:

• Please tell me why I received assignments with instructions that were sometimes over a decade old? I mean… The required program would be on version 14, the instructions would say, “Please be sure to get version 4 since it is the latest version,” and I would scream internally. The compatibility issues were KILLING ME.
• My first project ever was making a text RPG that allows users to navigate through corridors to find a key and escape a dungeon. The professor told us not to make it too complicated because coding a game alone is tough. … Flash to me two hours later, balls deep in creating lore and world building with an entire script in mind. I am a dummy. 🙂
• I literally only have one class where I did not get an A+, and the more I think about that class, the more I have to just fucking laugh because it was one of those bullshit classes that anyone could ace if they have the patience to write papers every week. My professor was just a douche. You can’t study or research for that. That is aggravating.
• Like, he deducted two entire letter grades from an assignment (as in dropped from an A to a C) because I did not italicize the correct text in my APA references or whatever. HELLO???
• I would not complain if I was penalized for that to a reasonable degree. I made a mistake. I get what I get. But… Who the fuck deducts like 20 points for something so ridiculous? The pettiest of petty bitches.
• Then I started to notice that he was not only nitpicky with every single shit I submitted, but was also so nitpicky with other students that it led to arguments on the public discussion board. But I think my favorite part of that class (besides the end) was a classmate mass-emailing everyone in the class just to basically say, “Is it me or is our professor pedantic as hell?” That is when I pretty much went, *phew*. Okay. It is not just me. Those of us that responded were pretty much like, “Nah, man. You’re not alone. This guy sucks dick for skittles.” At least that was somewhat therapeutic.
• The hardest class I took was (a) not even related to the career path I wanted and (b) was just an elective. It was essentially doing graphic design and animation using a program called OpenGL. OpenGL is what was used to create Minecraft. In theory, as someone who loves to draw and was starting to love programming, this should have been a great class, right? NOPE. The fact that someone once said that the GL in OpenGL stands for “good luck” should tell one many things.
• OpenGL had me sobbing in the darkness at 3 a.m. in the morning because I couldn’t create a loop that successfully formed triangles into cylinders for a 3D water bottle. Then the water texture I used was not repeating properly, so the water bottle had sharp edges on top of looking goofy as fuck. I was legit upset. Like… I shed actual eye water. Over triangles and images of water. *sigh* That was all the proof in the world that if you get tired enough, you will turn into a moron. Please get sleep, ya’ll.
• One time I was up at unholy hours in the morning with Mark, drinking and laughing at stupid shit while we did shitty kinetic energy experiments for my physics class. I felt like we were drunk, destructive frat boys but instead of destroying public property and people’s lives we were just breaking cheap shit in the physics experiment kit, recording it like we accomplished something, and cackling like we didn’t have an entire child sleeping in the other room. Lol
• I had to narrate two 10-minute long PowerPoint presentations for two separate classes, and upload them on YouTube. HELL. Then I had to post them in our discussion boards for critique. DOUBLE HELL. I… need to know who came up with the idea for these assignments? Come outside, please. I just want to talk.

Okay, I think that’s enough for now. Outside of those bullshit moments, I enjoyed learning about programming and software development. Now I just have to secure a job that makes me feel that joy of learning and creating something fascinating every day.

Gaming: I cannot for the life of me remember all the games I played since 2020/2021, but a few games stand out. Final Fantasy XIV was a huge one. After being stuck in A Realm Reborn hell for years, Mark and I made it through Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers in a matter of months. Maybe a year or so. We pretty much had to stick to the main quests and ignore everything else because free time was scarce. Anyway, it was incredible. Shadowbringers, especially, legit had us in tears. The story was beautiful, Masayoshi Soken’s music was immaculate, and Emet-Selch is the best villain of all time. Fight me if you disagree. Lol. Anyway, I wish I could lose my memory of Shadowbringers so I can play it again. Uh… I made it through Endwalker, but Mark started GM-ing for a few campaigns on discord around that time, so he didn’t get to join me. Honestly, having to wait like an hour just to log in was fucking hilarious in hindsight because being a three-digit number in the server queue is already horrendous but FOUR digits? Like… If I didn’t log in late then I was not logging in. That was basically how it went. Then when I saw that Square-Enix had to stop people from buying FFXIV because it was too successful was just… *chef kiss* Anyway, here is my character. I’m a dragoon main, but I’m working on my Paladin right now:

Anyway, what else did I play?

Zelda. Absolutely. Made it through Breath of the Wild (with Luna putting me in a headlock whenever I wouldn’t let her play along the way lmao). That final battle was incredible. I had goosebumps fr, especially with that music in the background. It was just perfection. Of course, I lost my mind when Tears of the Kingdom was announced, and was just speechless while exploring the great sky islands. Then I found out we would not only be returning to Hyrule’s map but also exploring UNDER Hyrule too? I love it. I really do. Whenever I get the time to play (or whenever Luna is asleep or distracted), I try to play so I can run around, do whatever I want, and just enjoy that freedom. It is such a great game. I never get tired of it.

Of course, I played Final Fantasy XVI. It was fun. I loved the battle system, Masayoshi Soken kicked ass again with this soundtrack, and I liked the characters a lot too. Dion/Bahamut was definitely my fave. My dragoon and dragon obsession remains. Lol. If I can be honest, though, I was a bit disappointed with the game overall. Towards the end it just felt like a barrage of junk quests before heading to the final battle. I was also not the biggest fan to the plot. Like the quests, it started off so strong, but the closer I got to the end, the more convoluted everything felt. The better elements of the plot were enough to move me, but getting into the root of why things were the way they were in Valisthea is when things just got wild as fuck. This is just my opinion, of course. If FFXVI is your game of the year then, by all means, hype it up! I just… did not feel the same magic I felt with FFXIV, for example. Would I play it again? For sure. The battle system is fun as fuck, and the eikon battles were god-tier.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a game that I’ve been following for years, but did not think too much about since I did not have a PC strong enough to play it. Once it dropped on the PS5 though… MY LIFE WAS CONSUMED. It is such an amazing game. I knew I was in for something special when I got to that character creator screen because the options and music were so good. Then the game itself started and I got lost in the sauce. Lol. No but seriously. I lost so much sleep because of this damn game. The battles and exploration and story are just top notch. Also, I was not expecting to unpack as much of my past as I did while playing this game. Astarion’s story in particular just… destroyed me. Then it put me back together with hope and encouragement. Like… Thank you, Larian and Larian’s writers and actors. Seriously. The characters and their backstories are my favorite part of the game. I was always checking camp to see if they had new things to say because I just adored them.

But yeah. Those are the major ones that I remember.

Movies/TV Shows: Okay, look. There is no way in hell I remember all the TV shows and movies I watched since 2020. My memory is BALLS. I guess the ones that stand out are House of the Dragon, The Boys, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Batman, Jujutsu Kaisen, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, The Bear, Abbott Elementary, The Righteous Gemstones, and… Damn… I really can’t grasp them even though it feels like they are RIGHT there. Anyway, I’ve been watching a lot. The thing I probably watched the most, though, was Dimension 20. I love Dimension 20 so much. I still think my favorite campaign of all time, though, is Exandra Unlimited: Calamity (not D20, I know). Now THAT campaign had me by the throat. That final episode had me sobbing so hard. Brennan Lee Mulligan is a fucking genius. Anyway, that’s been about it.

Oh! We did take Luna to the movies for the first time. She really wanted to see that new Mario movie, so we took her and got her popcorn and waited to see her thoroughly enjoy the experience. … Only for her to decide like 30 minutes into the movie that it was not all that and she wanted to go to the park instead. I was like, “That’s nice. Enjoy the movie.” Lol. Of course, like a typical five-year-old, her opinions and feelings change like every ten minutes, so by the end of the movie she was singing praise about the movie. Meanwhile, I had just woken up from a nap so I have no idea what happened after they got into the Mario Kart segment of the movie. I was up all night on that day doing a project, so I was OUT the moment I had a chance to just sit still and do nothing.

But I digress. That is all I remember.

Conclusion: Maybe it’s best to end things right here. It is just going to be ten hours of me trying to remember basic shit. Lmao. At least if I make an effort to update regularly then I can just try to recall things that happened recently rather than things that happened an entire administration and like 20 global crises ago. Don’t even get me started on thinking back on past news events. Actually, not going to do that. I don’t need that stress on the one fucking day off I have every week. 🙂

Yadda, yadda, I hope everyone is doing fantastic. Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout my college arc, and had such kind words after I finally finished. It means the world to me.

If I don’t get around to it later: Happy Holidays!

Take care~

• Yo!
• I’m still alive! … Somehow…
• The real MVP of 2019 is my immune system. I WAS SO SICK THIS YEAR.
• Scratch that. The real MVP is Luna because SHE WALKS NOW. Go baby go! … But not that fast! And not that far!
• Anyway, I can’t blame laziness on this current hiatus. I’ve actually been super productive/busy with adult shit.
• Started a new full-time gig back in September so my stay-at-home days ended like three months ago. Of course, I miss having ample free time and being able to sleep in daily but I also like money and all the nifty things I can get with it so I ain’t complaining. Obvious benefits on both sides.
• This means Luna is experiencing the daycare life these days.
• It took her a few weeks to really adjust but after a while she started making a bunch of friends and she makes all the daycare workers happy and she doesn’t  cry in the morning anymore so… yeah… I am super happy. Small Lady is growing up.  I’m so proud. ( T w T )
• Speaking of adjustments… WOW. We all had back-to-back colds and flus and shit for WEEKS. It was so shitty man. I was literally sick for like two months straight. Luna and Mark too. Lately, it hasn’t been too bad though. I’ve been taking vitamins and drinking Emergenc-C and doing everything I can to not get sick.
• All of this is normal from what I’ve been told. If your kid starts daycare then prepare to be sick for an eternity. ^^
• But anyway.
• My job is decent. Can’t sneeze at the pay or benefits. Of course, I have people there who aggravate me and the workload ranges from slow to nightmarish but that’s like 100% of jobs out there. Honestly, who cares? Lmao
• Uh… What else?
• I GOT A SWITCH AGAIN. YAAAAS
• And with that Switch: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Stardew Valley, Untitled Goose Game, and Dragon Quest XI. There will definitely be more in the future.
• Finally got a new phone too but that’s not ultra exciting or anything. It still does the same shit. Just on a slightly bigger screen with noticeably more memory.
• Our Halloween was okay despite the rain we had. Luna went as Hermione from Harry Potter… for like three hours. But she was sick and she pooped her pants so we changed her into pajamas and she went to sleep.
• Thanksgiving was awesome. My siblings and I haven’t all been in the same room for years because some of us live in different states and we’re all turbo busy, so it was nice for all of us to reunite and have fun and eat. Good times!
• Our Christmas was great. I liked the stuff I got a lot and Luna is having a BLAST with all of her toys. By the way, don’t go to her food truck because she likes to throw your order in the fridge and drink all the smoothies then yell “NO” at you when you ring the bell for service. One time I asked for a taco and she straight up switched the sign from open to close right in front of me and started drinking smoothies again. 0/10 but at least she’s adorable.
• Uh… What else?
• I’m drawing and writing as much as I can these days which is not as much I’d like. I’m doing my best to rearrange my free time to be more creative and cutback on tumblr. I live on tumblr on my free time. *sigh* … So many funny, pretty, awesome, etc. things to look at.
• Yep…
• So, basically, same hobbies but less time.
• Oddly enough, I managed to make it to Heavensward (FINALLY) despite the lack of free time. I really marathon’d through dozens of quests one weekend because I was sick and tired of ARR and I wanted to move on to the expansions. LOL. Anyway, my character is cool. *blows a kiss to my character who is a dragoon dressed as Firion for some reason*
• I think that is all.
• I really cannot get into ALL the shows and movies we watched.
• Watch “The Mandalorian”. I’m sure it’s better than whatever garbage Star Wars movie is in theater these days.
• “The Witcher” was mediocre. Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. It was just okay and fun to watch at times.
• We’ve primarily been watching old movies that we couldn’t catch in theaters (ex: Us, John Wick 3, Spider-Man: Far From Home). I can’t wait to see “The Joker”… whenever that is…
• No new anime or manga for me. No new books or graphic novels either. D:

I think that’s the gist of it. I would like to share more drawings or at least post a real entry but… time will tell. I’ll work out a routine eventually.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEARS!

A new decade begins soon, so let’s all start it with positive vibes and awesome goals! ^_^

 

P.S. I did not forget those last few panels… haha… MAYBE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE HAPPIER RIGHT?