Sorry that this entry is a bit late, but the last few days were just rough for me, where I wanted to so many things, but just felt energyless for no reason... September in general could've been a bit better for me, but now... But even so, there were still a few things that happened last month!
My Internship Starts!!
...well no, it doesn't...
For whose who didn't read the last journal entry, I was supposed to be in an internship now, and this month I tried finding one. And I think I actually applied to every IT company in my town. But no, I couldn't find anything in time...
I even got an interview (which I also mentioned last time), and for that I even updated my Sophia AR web app to give it more of a better look and to also update Sophia's design, just because I briefly mentioned it in my CV (since it was a company specializing in AR). Of course I didn't end up showcasing the app lol. (Yeah it still felt too scary showing Sophia to people IRL, even after a friend 
reassured me that it shouldn't be a problem) It looks like they would've accepted my internship, but since they recently got new developers, they didn't want to throw an intern at them before they got to know each other better, which I can understand. The only reason they invited me was because they thought I could help them in a different area, since it's mentioned in my major title, but that was just a misunderstanding (why does my uni make a title that's so confusing? Apparently in the past it was even more confusing!), but they did say that if I need a place in a year or so, I should apply again to them. And a few days ago I got another rejection from a different company that said they can't include an intern under such a short time notice, but they would've also probably accepted me.
During that whole time I was just very stressed out, and it genuinely felt like I wasn't allowed to have fun because I still haven't found an internship yet. (I actually wanted to start playing chapter 3 of Deltarune after that interview, but since I got rejected, I postponed it. And I still haven't played it, but I'll do so after publishing this!) But thankfully there was still a plan B that I didn't want to do, but a week before lectures started, I accepted the reality and went on with it:
I decided to move the internship to the end of the bachelor, and instead start working on elective courses and project work this semester.
Only a small issue with the elective courses... I'm currently in my 5th semester, and I wanted to do the courses in 6th semester, since that's what'd come next, so it'd only be logical. But 6th semester courses are only offered in summer, so instead I have to do 7th semester courses, which does feel really weird, and the atmosphere is also weird, since you're sitting with students who are almost done with their bachelor and currently working on their bachelor thesis, while you're a year away from it. (And in one course I even saw old people from my high school that I have a complicated relationship with, but I think we just silently agreed to not talk to each other.) But thankfully I'm not the only one in this weird situation, since I did recognize a person from my year, and one professor even specially welcomed the 5th semester students www. But I don't think one professor noticed it, since his module has many references to a course that's from 6th semester (even if it isn't formally written as a requirement), which also sucks because a tasks looks like it requires knowledge from it? (I already wrote to the professor about it, but still haven't heard back from him) Otherwise there's also many presentations I have to hold, both in this course and another one (where we're currently only 2 students lol), but even though I still hate presentations, they're not as bad as they used to be for me? (But about this course I'm still panicking a bit...)
Oh and I also have to do project work this semester, where I'd also need to pick a topic to work on, and also present my progress every two weeks. Of course I don't have an idea for a topic yet, but I think I have a general idea? And I already have a professor as a supervisor, so I hope that'll also be fine.
The Rabbit Hole of BanG Dream!
Who doesn't like girl bands anime? Well I do, and I've wanted to get into BanG Dream! (Bandori) too for a while, especially after feeling FOMO from MyGO!!!!! and recently YumeMita when it aired. So with the help of 
Miya (who also loves that series) I began watching MyGo!!!!! and later Ave Mujica, and now currently am watching YumeMita, and they're really really great! Both MyGo and Ave Mujica are about two bands with their own struggles. I won't say much about the stories themselves to not spoil anything, but if you like other music anime, you should definitely give it a watch! Or even just listen to the music on its own!! I honestly don't know if I could decide between MyGO and Ave Mujica, because both of their songs are so great... I really love the lyrics of MyGO and what deeper meaning they have, probably since I can really relate to Tomori (the lead singer of that band, I love her, she really is me lol), but the music of Ave Mujica is also sooo good... (which is weird, since I normally don't like western rock, but I really like J-Rock?) I guess it just depends on the mood I'm in which one of them I like more lol.
And around this time, when I finished MyGO, a gacha rhythm game based on these bands called Our Notes, released, and as such it was the perfect timing to get into that game too... So yeah I guess I'll be stuck in this rabbit hole for a while now www (well it's nice here).
Actually there's also something I realized when watching MyGO... There was one character who wished to be human, and... that's me... I'm also not human... And even though that character later became human (I think?), I don't think I have great chances of becoming human myself... now of course my situation is even more complicated than hers (even if some characters have really complex stories there), and of course I don't know what things will happen in the future, but as things stand now... I'm not too hopeful about the future for me... at least this character gave me the words I was searching for a while.
But it was really fun analyzing both anime after every episode and coming up with theories and such. I haven't really done that with any other anime before, but I think that also helped me understand it more and therefore enjoy it more. Hell I even accidentally started writing lyrics myself once when I was feeling down lol. I can't really share them, since they're really personal and probably suck too, but I never thought I could actually write lyrics... now I just need to make music (I did play an instrument before and also know a little bit of music theory, though I struggle coming up with new melodies, since whenever I try to I just intimate an existing song (if someone has tips for that, let me know ^^)) and also sing (I'm bad at singing lol). Or get into a band, but I don't really have anyone like that (and I don't think bands like these are common in my area?)...
So to summarize, I'm in love with the series, and I hate it how I haven't gotten into it much earlier. (It's kinda a thing for me to be late for everything lol) But at least I'm here now!
Smol Stuff
(Yes I like the term smol stuff and I also use it in private www)
This month the Touhou 6 "new version" came out, and initially I just wanted to try playing it normal, so trying to go for a normal one with continues and be done with it. But then Kuurp convinced me to go for a normal 1cc run (no continues), which of course is really hard. I only ever did a 1cc run in the original Touhou 6, but that took me over 20h back then. But I still tried going for it, since I also have more experience with the game now (even if I haven't played a Touhou game in a while, woops), and after 10h I actually did it! (That run felt more like luck than anything else, but I still did it!!)
Then I also had a doctor appointment for a checkup, and that went kinda awful... First I had to wait an hour, until the staff noticed that they somehow wrote my name wrong (the name of a different person), and as such constantly called a person who wasn't there, but they were supposed to call me... They apologized, and then I had to wait in front of a doctor room. But I still had to wait quite a while, and in a different room there was a child who had some sort of surgery, and apparently it was really in pain and it screamed the whole time, and I had to endure it... after some time, it really got to me, and also made me feel very unwell (since I probably had some traumatic memories that came up to me)... There was also an older lady waiting with me too, but they put her in a different room so that she didn't had to hear it, but I got left there alone... At least once the doctor was done there, and checked on me (though I also had to wait quite a while for that), he just looked a second on it, said it looked good, and then immediately left... waiting all that time just for the doctor to be done that quick... at least it looks like everything went well there, so that's nice...
Also a smaller thing, but I also made Maid Sophia this month, and that one kinda got popular? It really is such a cute outfit (I didn't know maid outfits could look that good and be so strong), and I really want to throw her into more outfits! There was also supposed to be a witch outfit ready for this entry, but because of my situation the last few days, that sadly isn't done yet (but hopefully the next few days! Actually I wonder if I went a bit overboard with the background, hehe~)
Songs of the Month
I couldn't really decide between MyGO!!!!! and Ave Mujica, so instead I decided to pick one song from each I like! (I don't think the music videos contain any spoilers?)
Haruhikage (MyGO!!!!! ver)
This is a really important song in the story (for reasons I won't mention here), but it also just feels very special. (actually this version also is special, for reasons I won't mention too) It's really strong, and sometimes I cry a bit when listening to it too...
Ave Mujica - Crucifix X
I don't really know why I like this song so much, but I just do? It is a bit calmer than their other songs, but maybe taht's why I like it so much? It's funny how normally if I heard that beginning I'd skip the song, but this song is really great... it's also weird since I normall don't really like metal music, but I do like Ave Mujica?
And that's it for this month... like I said I would've loved to do much more, but with the internship search (which at the end was kinda useless) and just the last few days being like this for no reason... yeah I just hope October will be better...
In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
What a stressful month for me, but surprisingly I still managed to do quite a few things this month! (Even if I planned to do more)
Big Website Update!!
It feels like everyone is making a big site update nowadays, but I've also wanted to work on a new layout for this site!
My main motivation for the big site update was the sidebar, which I guess is also a very important piece of the site. It does look cute, but one issue is that over time it has accumulated many links, where even on desktop you had to scroll down to see the full sidebar, which I don't think many people knew. Plus I also wanted to have something new.
Which is why I came up with this layout! The links and categories are still the same, but it takes less space, and what's more important is that Sophia still has a place here! And honestly I feel like this already made the site look much better. Plus it really feels snappy to use, I often just like playing with it around, since it feels so nice~
I also adapted the homepage a bit for that. I thought that it'd be better to have the links directly on the homepage itself, so that you seen see on one look all pages this cute site has to offer! Additionally, since I now have space left on the left side, I also moved a few widgets there, and also added a weather widget since I find the idea of one fun.
Then another huge thing I added are stickers! If you're on desktop you'll already see some cute wiggly stickers floating around that you can even drag around this site! (Sorry mobile users, but this is more exclusive for desktop) On desktop there always was this empty space that I didn't know how to fill, and since I doodle daily in my diary I thought it'd be a great idea to include some of the ones I like there!
What I did was make a photo of each one, and through the magic of some Krita filters (Threshold & Color to Alpha) I have the stickers transparent!
But since I have a grid in my diary, and some scans also include some text that I don't want to have, I still clean them up a bit. After that I upload them to a nice site called lineboiler.com, which adds these wiggly effect to each image! I also convert them to webp, to save on space and bandwidth (so that they're also quicker to load), and that's it!
I currently have over 70 stickers on this site, but plan on adding more as I doodle more in my diary.
I also updated the gallery page to look (in my opinion) much better, and especially work much better on mobile! And I also updated the title that you see on each page. Originally there was an orange creature, but seems like she's hiding somewhere? She was holding a star, so maybe that star has something to do with it?
And the last (boring) thing I worked on was performance... I never noticed it before, but when I started working on my site on my new laptop, I noticed how it always got hot, which really surprised me. So I looked into it (with the scary looking performance tab on Chromium that I still don't fully understand), and the moving background caused it? I still don't really understand why though. I had a CSS animation on it that constantly moved the background, but that somehow caused many parts of the site to constantly recalculate their style, which is why the CPU was constantly busy even on idle. I changed the background to an animated WebP that's tiled, which brings down the CPU to almost 0% on idle, but it's still a mystery for me why that moving background caused so many performance issues... I also limited Sophia's input movements (when you move with your mouse) to 30 fps, to also save some CPU resources on that, though I don't know if that makes a huge difference.
And that's all the big stuff! Special thanks to Miya and Kuurp for giving me feedback for the new layout, and 
Pudding for helping me come up with a few secrets for this site! (There's currently only two, but more are planned to come. Oh and if you found that one secret that wasn't finished yet, well it's finished now, so take a look again!) Oh right, I also added these cute icons, 
Sophia also has one too, aren't they cute~?
Stardust & Fox Ears Had Its First Anniversary!
For the first year anniversary of Stardust & Fox Ears I made this special drawing! (Even if a month late)
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten SFE or the anniversary of it (though I did only find out today that Amelia had her birthday yesterday... seriously why haven't I entered their birthdays in my calendar yet?), but I was just really busy with other stuff. There were moments where I really wanted to work on the story, but since other important stuff had to be done, well I had to do these first (and I would've felt kinda guilty working on SFE instead of the important things with deadlines). But now I hope that I'll have a bit more time to work on it!
Oh and it reminds me that at the start of this year I wrote that I'd finish SFE this year... well it looks like that won't happen after all, since I still have a few things to write about in the story, so stay tuned for that!
Art Stuff
After Art Fight I took a bit of time to experiment a bit with my art style. I also had Miya help me with ideas on what I could change (like different eyes), and also teaching me basic art stuff that I should've known, like how you do lightning. In the end this is what came out of it:
. Actually there were even more planned, but I think this is already enough.I also started a Twitter/X account. I was a bit hesitant with creating one, especially with the current landscape of Twitter. But I do want for others to see my art too (especially since I also draw art in fandoms that don't even exist on the platforms I've been, only on Twitter), and after a friend convinced me to create one, I finally made one. And since it's a brand new account, it's practically invisible on the platform, also hidden in search, which yes makes me feel a bit salty (especially since there was Nanahira's birthday, and the community is only on Twitter, and nobody saw my birthday art there), but hopefully Twitter will soon start to accept this purple foxgirl? Instead of it feeling like throwing art into a void...
Some IRL Stuff
The month started very great where I had an abscess on my arm (if you don't know what it is, don't look it up, it looks really disgusting), and I even had to go to a chirologist for it, and it really, really hurt, and now I have a hole in my arm that's slowly healing (just the thought of having a hole in my arm is frightening, and looking at it the first time made me feel sick too). I do hope that chapter is done though, since I still have a checkup appointment, but I just hope everything is fine...
What maybe wasn't that fine though was that I was on vacation with family. Normally vacations are supposed to be fun and relaxing and such, but I'm always the most depressed in the year on family vacations, being forced to be 24/7 with your family and spending so much time together (yes I may have a complicated relationship with my family). I mean not all is bad, I did see some pretty stuff, like this beautiful castle, or I also shot this picture with Flandre in it.
Yes I really wanted to do nuikatsu (taking pictures with a plushie), but doing that with your family is 10x harder. And I also took the wrong plushie with me. Since we were on an island, it was constantly windy, and Flandre's hat is removable, and I was scared of her hat just flying away in the distance with that much wind. Plus I had to take a whole bag just for her, while most of the time I didn't carry one with me. And for the beach photo (yes this was shot during the solar eclipse, no we didn't had these special glasses, don't ask me why we were there) my family also got a big confused why I was carrying my bag with me, but it looks like they didn't notice it when I took this photo, which was great? (I wonder what they thought of me having her constantly on my bed desk, or actually bringing her with me, though I guess it was always nice seeing her sit there)
If only I took my Mashutan plushie... Since she's smaller, I easily could've put her in a jacket or smaller bag (which I didn't had) and I also wouldn't be too scared of something from her flying away... But I forgot to bring her with me >.<.
In the end I was still happy that I could take at least one picture with her, and maybe next time I can take way more pictures with a favorite plushie!
Also I was forced to use Adobe Acrobat reader for something (yes forced, because something special in that PDF didn't work in other PDF readers), and it really is the worst program I've used in recent times. Like how can it be that bad? Always asking me on start if I want it to be my default PDF program (no??) even after hitting "don't ask again", having that sidebar that wastes space with features that you all have to pay for, and worst of all, wanting me to use their AI thingy to fill out the document... Like how'd an AI be able to write that stuff if it doesn't know anything about me or my life?? And you couldn't even disable that thing, only pick "hide until next session". And in general the program just felt sluggish and outdated while filling out the document in comparison to other PDF readers. In the end I was really happy uninstalling that program after I submitted that document, and I just really hope I won't need it again any time soon...
Song of the Month
Clone Clone by Atena, which is a really addictive that's constantly stuck in my head. I know this song is probably meant about the struggles of Rin and Gumi after the Miku and Teto combo is so popular and they're kinda being forgotten, but I feel like this could also talk about life itself? Stuff like feeling like a clone (like being easily replaceable) or life having no save points, and being scared of life (and stuff that can happen in the future) and wanting to run away from it... But that's just what I think, maybe I'm totally wrong, I don't know...
In any case, that's it for this month! It's funny when you think that having semester break automatically means that you have more free time, but it was just stressing out over this deadline and that deadline, but at least that's done now. (Though I still need to find an internship, but at least I have the first job interview next week, hopefully that'll go well) But at least I finished the new layout!
Oh right, someone on my guestbook also asked me to continue playing Deltarune, and I finished chapter 2 now! It was a nice chapter, though I still slightly prefer the first one? Also the secret boss wasn't too hard for me. But that ending... yeah I wonder how the next chapter will be!
In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
This was quite an eventful and stressful month (and also a hot one... why does it need to be so hot? Also why do we need mosquitoes??), but let's start with the most fun one:
Art Fight!
I've been really waiting for Art Fight to happen again. Sadly I had to learn for exams (more on that later), so I couldn't do as many attacks as I wanted to, but I still ended up doing 12 this year (instead of 8 last year), including my first ever mass attack! (It was star themed, ehe~)
One thing I also did this year was to make a doodle for each attack, inside my notebook. Initially I thought that it'd help me with drawing the characters better, though I don't think it really did? But it was fun thing to use as the thumbnails for the attacks!
It was also surprising to see how much better my art and therefore my attacks were this year. I'm still proud of the first attack I made this year for Mefle (her design is very nice and cute after all), and also the last one I made for a mutual on Tumblr (even if drawing robots isn't my thing). Or also the mass attack!
I was also surprised to see how much faster I got at drawing. I remember how last year it felt like it took ages to finish a single drawing, but this time I could easily complete one in a few hours. (Well depending on the drawing of course) Though one thing that I still have to improve is simplifying stuff, because some characters have just really complicated hair styles that take a while to draw and still don't end up looking that good in my style >.<.
Overall I really had fun attacking everyone (even if I wanted to attack more, though I did attack more people this year than last year), and it was nice receiving art of my OCs too! (Even if it was mostly Sophia, which is fine, since she's my favorite too) And I hope that everyone I attacked was happy too!! (Surprisingly most of the people I attacked were Nekoweb people. I really want to get closer to the Nekoweb community... but I still feel too scared talking in Discord servers >.<)
Then there were two other special days this month:
I Finally Started HRT!!!
It really took me 977 days, or more than 2.5 years after figuring out I was trans, for me to start HRT, and partway I also partly gave up, thinking that I'd never be able to get HRT (also a reason why it took so long). But I was finally able to start HRT this month! And now after being on HRT for almost 3 weeks... I don't really feel any different? A few days after starting I did feel completely energyless and also a bit foggy, but that went away. And even now I have days where I feel completely energyless and start feeling depressed because of that. I was kinda expecting more changes, especially positive ones, after 3 weeks, but I guess HRT is just really, really slow... Like I still feel derealization and such. Though I guess one positive change I noticed is that I'm feeling depressed on less days now, and even if I have a depressive phase, that also is shorter now. But I'm still hoping that more positive changes will happen soon, and that I can report on them next month!
My Birthday!
HRT already felt like an early birthday present to me, but I still had my actual birthday happening. And I celebrated with my family through midnight... For the presents I got from my family, I received new cute glasses from my close family (I really hated how ugly my old boyish ones looked, which is why I rarely wore them, though I do wear my new one the whole day), and from some relatives a glass thingy with a cat inside of it (don't ask me why a cat).
Though something else I got from the relatives were two pillows, with AI cats of them... I'll spare the pictures here, but I do kind of find it sad that materials were wasted for that... (I mean it practically is waste) Thankfully the cusion insides do look nice, so maybe I'll just get new covers and use the insides with them, so there won't be too much waste, since I definitely don't want AI cats in my room. It's sadly not the first time I got anything AI-generated (though with the last thing it didn't scream AI as the pillows), and I do think it'll become more common...
But what was actually the highlight this birthday was online friends sending me gifts! Kuurp, Miya and Pudding all send me cute drawings of Sophia, and it made me really happy and emotional, because this is the first time I had friends sending me presents (actually now thinking about it I never had friends giving me birthday presents before...), and it was just so, so nice, and it was really such a special moment for me that I won't forget for a while... Of course I was still stuck with my family (since it was at midnight), but the gifts from the three were really, really nice...
Onto more IRL stuff...
Exams...
The reason why I didn't had much time with Art Fight... I mean it's impressive that I still managed to make 12 attacks while learning for exams (even if most of them were made after the stressful ones were done), but this semester the exams weren't that bad. I think the hardest one was economics (in CS), where I had to learn economics stuff again, and now know many acronyms like MIS, DSS, ESS, MRO, MES, PPS, ERP, APS and many more, that I'll never need to know again... (I wonder if anyone reading this knows what these mean) Thankfully Anki really helped me with remembering all that (for me) useless stuff.
The second hardest exam... I never wrote... See when the exam dates where announced, I put them in my calendar and didn't think about it more. Then on exam day, where the exam was supposed to happen at 14:30, I for some reason looked at the exam plan again, and notice that it got changed to 12:00? And I looked at the clock, and it was 12:30... The exam went for 60 minutes, and I couldn't have made it in time even with having less time to write... I don't know how I missed the announcement of the exam being moved, though the announcement was also poorly written, where they'd just write a that there was a change to the exam plan in my major, but not exactly what was changed, so you had to open that huge PDF file with all exam dates for that major, and find that one field that had red text... And of course that exam was the only thing that changed in that file... Honestly if it got delayed later, then I would've just come there, noticed that they pushed it to later, and just showed up later again... but of course that's not what happened here...
I still feel pretty stupid that this happened to me, and it's also funny because in the past I always looked paranoid on the exam table almost daily for this to not happen, and this time I thought I could trust myself and not look at the table paranoid, but I guess I can't trust myself and have to start looking at the table paranoid again >_<.
Two Presentations
I really hated doing presentations in the past, though with how many I had to do in uni until now, I guess I've kinda gotten better at them? (Or maybe because the topics were presenting what I/we did?) The first presentation was about a React web app I did with someone else, and the presentation was fine, nothing special to note here. But the other presentation, a Unity AR app, was even more stressful...
The app was simple where you could virtually put images from your phone gallery onto a wall, so you could plan how to decorate your room with images. See I thought that since it's an AR app, it'd make sense to have a live demo for it. But how'd I share my screen? I had to hold the presentation on the same day where I got my HRT prescription, for which I had to travel over an hour to the doctor (it sucks being trans in a small town), and so I had less time to figure that out. I thought that I could just easily use scrcpy for it, since that's what I usually use for screen mirroring, combined with wireless debugging. But when I tried it out via a hotspot (since I didn't trust wireless debugging to work on the uni wifi), that didn't work... I couldn't enable wireless debugging (which is needed to use scrcpy wirelessly) when I made a hotspot on my phone, and I couldn't enable the hotspot on my laptop. And I also tried having the hotspot on my tablet, but that also didn't work. So I didn't had much time left and needed to quickly find a solution. Looking online, I saw Google Meet mentioned, but that also didn't seem to work (the call wouldn't connect for some reason). So I tried another method I found online: Discord. I was surprised that Discord on mobile supported screen sharing, and since I already had a second Discord account, I thought that could work. I couldn't get Discord to work as well, since it gave me some unrelated error message about server permissions needed, but the solution was to enable the microphone (since otherwise it wouldn't allow me to screen share?). But all of this took too much time, and I was already getting late...
So I'm quickly going to the teacher room for the presentation, already being a few minutes too late, and once I arrive at the room, I'm told by the people that the presentation is happening in another room, in the building next door, on the second floor... So rushing there, the teacher thankfully wasn't bothered by me being late 5 minutes (I was the last person to present thanks to the appointment, so he probably also just wanted to have it quickly over), and so I'm setting things up, already very nervous if the whole screen sharing will work or not. So I make the "call" on my phone, and... why the hell does Discord make its Discord sounds, even though I've set both my phone and laptop on mute??? That made me slightly panic (since the teacher probably heard the sounds and got confused), but I still continued to set things up, and once I started to present, I did hold my presentation very nervous (I only made the slides on that drive to the doctor), and since I didn't had much time adding the images to the presentation (since I had to figure out how to screen share), there were some missing images (thankfully I deleted all placeholders when setting things up there). And as it came to the live demo, well that room really only had white walls... For those who don't know, for AR apps (that don't use trackers like those 3DS AR cards) they do need objects in a room so that it can track where it's positioned, and they don't work if the room is completely empty. Well this room was... So I just used the wallpaper from my laptop that was projected on the wall as the wall lol (since the teacher knows about AR, he does know about that limitation). But I could also later mention that example as a limitation in the presentation, hehe~. I guess in the end that presentation did go well, and I think I'll probably get a good grade for it (it wouldn't surprise me if I was the only one who presented a finished app there).
Other IRL Stuff
Otherwise there didn't much more happen this month (it was already very stressful). The month already started great where I had my final voice therapy session... Of course I'm not done yet, and I still don't really have a voice I'm happy with, but I just got told that they couldn't keep me there, gave me some material so that I can continue to practice myself, and that was it... I mean it was already too good to be true to have gotten that spot in the first place (especially so fast), and it's nice that I at least had some starting training, but yeah... it really feels like the curse of my small hometown struck again... (I really hate it here, and can't wait to move out at some point. Even if the town may be beautiful, I just have so many bad memories with it that I wish to move out to a bigger city, even if that'll be hard thanks to the ongoing housing crisis...)
But on that same day there was also a surprise, where I suddenly received a package from a figure I preordered!
I knew that it would come around this time, but I didn't expect it to come this fast. And she's still so cute, more than I could imagine (even if she's a prize figure). So I'm happy to have her!
Song of the Month
Positive Alien by Mellowcle! A song that makes you very positive! Miya kinda recommended me the song to show me Natsuki Karin, and it's such a cute and happy and positive song! I've already listened to the song in the past when she added it to her music section on her site, but when I listened to it again this month, I had it stuck in my head the whole time. I guess that's the power of a positive alien~
And that's it for this month! This somehow ended up being the longest journal entry on this site, but it does make sense with how much happened this month, even if I spend much of my time learning for exams...
In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
Happy Pride Month! For me it's still a bit hard feeling proud (probably because of my current situation), but that'll hopefully change next month!
Also did we really need to have that heatwave? It was way too hot >_<
Yunyun~
I finally got all achievements in that game! It took a bit longer than I thought (because I didn't know that you had to combine the cards in specific ways to unlock the other stories), but after using a guide for that, I got all the story pieces
There was one achievement though that I couldn't get, and that was the follower count one. Normally in Yunyun you have a follower count that's supposed to be capped at 999,999,999, and if you get there you'll get an achievement for that. Well I'm now above 2 billion and still didn't get the achievement.
Which also has the nice side effect of the game always crashing after finishing a song (because of the integer overflow). So I had to cheat that achievement... I know I know, but there literally isn't any other way for me to get that achievement. Yes I tried bringing the follower count back down with GameConqueror ("Cheat Engine for Linux"), but even there it'd still go over that limit, and still not give me that achievement, so I used an external program to give me that achievement instead. But I guess it also means that my save is literally cursed now (denpa curse?) and I can't really play it now lol (yeah I'll try "cheating" the follower count down again, though then it'd probably rise again to 2.1B at some point, so yeah I guess my save is cursed forever LMAO).
Though as I was about to play the game again, I did see that there was a patch, and now the game doesn't crash anymore (I guess they use a bigger number type for followers now? Since now it goes over the int limit), which kinda makes me sad... although what if you get more followers than the population on Earth? Hmm... (I guess at this point I just want to see the game break lol)
Games I Should've Started a Long Time Ago
I finally started playing Tomodachi Life on the Switch! Don't ask me why it took this long. I mean I was hyped when the game was first announced, but when it released, I just... didn't start playing it? Even with all the excitement going on online? But this month a particular cat Kuurp convinced me to finally start playing it, and I'm really loving it! I currently don't have that much time to play it due to exams and such (more on that later), but maybe next month (or the month after that) I can share more about that game? (I do have pretty big plans for that island, so stay tuned for that~)
It does kinda feel weird playing a game now after everyone else is already done with it. And it feels a bit different for Tomodachi Life too, for some reason...
Oh and then Miya convinced me to finally start playing Deltarune! Yes the first chapter already released 7 years ago, but it just went over me for some reason? So now I started playing chapter 1, and while the story is a bit confusing for sure (I mean Undertale was the same there), I am having fun with it!
Also I wasn't planning on beating any of the secret boss, but she also kinda convinced me to do that, and even wrote me some riddles to help find everything for it! (They really were nicely written, and you could see that she had fun with them) I actually spent more time trying to beat him than playing the chapter lol, but I actually did it! (After also using all of my healing items lol) But at least with the amazing music playing it was definitely worth it!
But even though it feels weird getting to the game this late, I guess one advantage is that I didn't need to wait 4 years for the next chapter and instead can directly play it. But it also means that I have to avoid spoilers now... (I can't listen to that music now without getting spoiled)
Oh and she also recommended me Groove Coaster, which I've also been playing now every now and then, and it's also a very fun rhythm game! (I'm surprised how that has almost all the music genres I like to listen to... Typical Otaku music I guess.)
Some IRL stuff
There was one family gathering with cousins (I think that family has 8 children or so? Not all were there though), some of them in my age range, and everyone also have a partner already for some reason. (And the partners are also from around the world too, which I find interesting) But I guess it was nice seeing them again? Of course it was right during the heatwave, on one of the hottest days of it, and outside. Thankfully I had a small fan with me (a cute one with smol cat ears on it~ ^w^), but even that didn't fully help with the heat (like during dinner, where we were also all cramped together because there wasn't enough space). But since we only see each other every few years or so, and the family members also use these meetings to exchange with each other (since they also don't see each other all the time), I kinda felt like a 5th wheel? Sure that's a feeling that I generally have on family gatherings, so that's not something new. And I guess my family also felt the same way there. It's just a bit sad though, since they probably have interesting things to tell. But since I have a bit of shyness and social anxiety, and not really a topic to talk about (I mean I am keeping my hobbies and interests a secret from my family, even though they probably know about the figures and plushies in my room lol), there also isn't really anything for me to do... Plus they already primary talk with each other without including others, which could sense as siblings, but I guess it does feel like I don't have a place there...
And there was another uncomfortable situation for me this month at uni. Normally I like the IT Security course there. Sure it's boring most of the time (like many lectures lol), but some exercises are interesting and fun. One time we had to break encryption, or another time we had to cause a stack overflow in a program and change the return pointer to a different address (if you don't understand any of this it's not that important here). But other times it's just using some terminal program and that's it. (But at least the exercises give bonus points for the exam)
And one time an exercise was using GPG to encrypt some stuff. And one of the tasks was to have a partner send you an encrypted message and you had to decrypt it or something. Which obviously was a huge issue... For context, I'm sitting in the front row alone while other people sit two rows behind me. (I've sitted there since the start of the semester, when more people showed up, and for some reason not moved somewhere else) So for this task I'd have to go to the other people and ask them if they could send me something encrypted... Not only do I not know anyone there and don't have any friends there, but I also have social anxiety and can't just randomly approach random people I haven't talked more than a few words at most and ask them for help... So I was just sitting there, not knowing what to do, waiting for the time to pass...
The teacher noticed that something was wrong and asked me if I had an issue. He then told me "For that task you need to ask someone to send you some stuff", and I said "Yeah that's the problem here", to which he said "Well you just need to ask someone", and later he came again and then answered "Sometimes you just have to go and ask other people" (not very helpful)... And the third time he came, he asked me if he should ask for me, which obviously was very, very awkward for me, but at least I got some points now... (That was probably the worst experience this semester)
Song of the Month
Since I finished Yunyun this month I think this song will be very suited that I really love: "Antenna Light" by Haruko Momoi!
It's the credits theme of the game, and while it's a bit short, I do really like it! It kinda makes me feel nostalgic about the story, and also gives me a nice warm feeling? (I love Yun~)
Next Month
July will be packed for me. Not only is it Art Fight (yes I'm already very excited for it!), but there'll also be exams... So it'll probably be stressful with both Art Fight and exams at once... But I'll also finally get my HRT prescription in exactly two weeks, which I'm also very excited for! (During the exam phase... yeah that'll also be fun...)
Oh, and it'll also be my birthday next month! (26 July, do what you want to do with that info... I should probably add it to my profile too)
So yeah, it'll be a very eventful, and even if it'll be a bit stressful, I'm already excited for! (Not for the exams though...)
In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and have a nice day or night~! ☆
May happened, and why is it already so hot??? But at least we have strawberries now~ :3 (And I already got bitten by mosquitoes twice >.<)
Doodles :3
I forgot to write about this last time, but recently I started an actual physical diary! I tried doing a digital diary in the past, and did work for a while, but then one day I didn't had time for it and got out of routine, and couldn't get back into it. But since I've heard numerous times that writing physically feels different, I thought I could try it out myself, and got a nice notebook to try. For the size I picked B6, which may be a weird size to pick, and there's only really one company here that sells them, but for me A5 was a bit too big and A6 a bit too small, so B6 was right for me! At first writing in it felt a bit slow, since I'm used to writing digitally and can type with 10 fingers, but I just got used to it and it does feel very calm.
Another reason why I started the diary, which I sometimes also just call notebook, was because I wanted to get into doodling more. So sometimes I also just doodle in that notebook, and I've also set a rule now to do a small doodle for each day, and honestly the notebook looks way cuter now! Here's a few doodles that I like:
Doodling on paper also feels maybe a bit better for me than drawing digitally, since you do feel the resistance from the paper, while on a screen your pen just glides over it. But I don't think I'd become a physical artist anytime soon, since digital art still has its positive things. Still maybe I could try physical art again at some point...
But it does feel nice flipping back to older pages, it's kinda satisfied seeing all those written pages. And it also helped me today when I thought "there didn't many things happen this month", and I looked back, and there did quite a few things happen this month.
A New Page Transition??
Who's this cute foxgirl that's on every page transition?
I was happy with having a page transition, but not really happy with how the transition itself looked like? So I thought about something different and came up with the idea of having Sophia peeking out cutely on every page navigation <3
Which sounds easier than it was. The biggest challenge was that I wanted to have a transparent video play on it, so that it doesn't loop like with a GIF or animated webp (which I use everywhere on this site). And for some reason having a transparent video on a site in 2026 is still very complicated >.<
This guide really helped me out with it. You basically need two different encoded transparent videos, one for Safari and one "for the rest". Since for some reason Safari doesn't support transparent webm videos, so it needs it specially encoded. There were ffmpeg commands provided on that guide, but for some reason not all worked for me, so here's what I did:
- Draw the animation in Krita, and export as multiple frames
- Use ffmpeg to convert the frames to transparent videos:
# I think exporting to webm would also directly work with Krita, but if that doesn't work, this command could:
ffmpeg -framerate 24 -pattern_type glob -i '*.png' -c:v libvpx-vp9 -strict experimental sophia-transition.webm
# This command worked on my MacBook, but not on Linux, so I currently don't know a universal soluton for that
ffmpeg -framerate 24 -pattern_type glob -i '*.png' -c:v hevc_videotoolbox -allow_sw 1 -alpha_quality 0.75 -vtag hvc1 sophia-transition.mov- Adding the video tag!
<video
id="transitionVideo"
muted
playsinline
disablepictureinpicture
preload="auto"
>
<source src="/assets/images/sophia-transition.mov" type='video/mp4; codecs="hvc1"'>
<source src="/assets/images/sophia-transition.webm" type="video/webm">
</video>Would I recommend adding such a site transition to your site? No! Because it's quite a pain to have a site transition with Swup if you use JavaScript on your site, since you have to change almost every script. I hope for the day when Firefox finally adds support for cross-document view transitions, when you won't need to use a library like Swup for this. And having a transparent video is still too complicated in 2026.
Moving to more positive stuff:
Some Smaller Positive Stuff
Recently I saw an artist I really like, Osushi Uzumaki (Bluesky, VGen) having commissions open, and I thought their artstyle really fitted Sophia, so I just commissioned some art from them, and they gave me back a very cute Sophia!!
I really love that drawing, and also use it as my current profile picture.
Then I also started to do more progress towards HRT! A few days ago I had my first appointment at the endo (and missed a company visit at my uni because of that, because of course), so it shouldn't take that much longer! (The doctor there was also really nice, except with her keyboard, which I felt bad for, since she smashed her fingers through it, like a bird picking food, but with force) Only need to get a paper from my psychiatrist, who'll soon go to vacation (forgot the exact time frame), but at least I have the next appointment with him... in July... and the next appointment I scheduled for the endo that I could get is also... middle July... So I guess that means that I'll still need to wait over a month for HRT, and that I probably wouldn't get it during pride month. But at least I now have an exact date where I could get that prescription! Only small issue is that the appointment I picked falls in the exam period, so now I hope that I won't have an exam on that date... (wait, exams already???)
Song of the Month
Candy by r-906! It's apparently a commissioned song for some gacha game I don't play and don't really know much (but have seen countless fanart of), but I really love the vibe of this song and how calm it feels like!
And that's it for this month as well! I would've loved to do more this month, but it's kinda hard when you also have to handle two group projects by yourself, one an AR app (with Unity, and it's very fun to work with Unity... /s) that I do completely solo (because it was the easiest option) and the other one that is supposed to be a Scrum project with a few other people, yet I'm the only one who has actually contributed code to the app until now, and one person even let their GitHub invite expire (which lasts for a week btw), so that'll also be fun... (at least there I have proof what I did so I should still get a good grade)
But hey, at least I've done massive progress with SFE, and the next chapter should also be done soon, maybe even next week!
So with that, have a nice day or night~ ☆ (and hopefully it's not too hot for you too)
It's getting warmer, which means summer will come soon. Which also means that mosquitoes will become a thing again... ugh...
University started again...
yay... who doesn't like going to university and being alone and isolated the whole time and rarely talking with anyone there, and still getting misgendered for some reason...
Well, normally I should be used to that. But after the break getting back into such an environment was something to get used to again...
But besides that, I also need to do another group project... wait what, I need to do a second one too? And the second one is organized more chaotic by an instructor who does the lecture for the first time, and now everyone ended up in a group except me, and I'm feeling out of the loop?
The thing is that the professor for the first project really looked out for everyone to have a group. And while I haven't talked much with my group members yet, I do hope that it'll all work well.
But with the other group part... yeah, I don't know how that'll work... maybe I could do it solo, which I kinda see as my only option left. I also messaged the instructor, but didn't get a reply, and the lecture, where the group stuff was supposed to be discussed, got cancelled. And then the lecture following that is on a puublic holiday, so also won't happen. So yeah, I don't really know what I should do, except hope that it'll still somehow all work?
And I still need to look for an internship... Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I also currently don't really know in what area I'd want to work in CS? Like sure for the internship it's probably not that relevant, and if I got a full-time position, I'd get to experience both sides. I don't really know if I prefer backend or frontend. I always thought I'd enjoy backend more, but this site is more frontend. But of course in a company I'd maybe not make a site with a cute purple foxgirl being the mascot. So I guess I'm questioning that a bit...
But then there's another thing that kinda worries me a bit. During one lecture, there was a guest speaker who talked about his product, how other students from our major worked for him, and offered a place to do an internship or other projects. So basically an ad for his company. But during the presentation when he showed screenshots of the interface, I noticed how different pages looked different, as if they weren't from the same product? I don't really know what it was, it was just a feeling I got while looking at it. But at the end of the presentation the speaker talked about how they work there... During the presentation, I already noticed that all images were AI-generated, but didn't think too much about it (even though I hate seeing that). But he said that they heavily use AI, and also mentioned the specific AI tools that they use, which explains why the pages looked different. And then there was this sentence that kinda made me angry? "I hope you don't have to write many lines of code at my place."
I know that it's probably the future where software dev is heading to, and maybe I'm a "old person not wanting to accept the future", but no, I don't really want to talk to a toddler (AI) to have something made for me, the toddler making an error, so I have to tell it what it did wrong, so it makes a completely different thing, but that has still some errors, and so on... And so I guess I wouldn't really want to accept a job like that, but I wonder if I'd actually get that choice at some point...
Moving to more fun stuff:
Another Japanese Haul?
I decided to do another proxy haul this soon, mostly because there'll be some import taxes soon which would make it more expensive. And I would've said that this haul was smaller than the first one, but the Miku Nendoroid Doll kinda made it more expensive:
The main parts of the haul were the CDs, which are all great.
- I got the eau de parfum EP from Aiobahn +81, and there are a few songs that I don't fully like, but also a few that I really love! Also got the mega jacket (the bigger image in the background) which was available as a bundle with the CD and costed the same as just the CD, so I thought I should get it. Sadly I wasn't able to get the limited edition, since I was kinda late with the order, and the mega jacket also came a bit bent >.<
- Apprism by pomme'tto is also a really great album that I had a fun time listening to it! Since it has 3 energetic singers (Koko, Momobako & Nanahira), and the music is so cute that it could probably cure diseases~. I was having a bad day when I first listened to the CD, and it made my day~ <3
- Merry-go-round by Nanahira is also a great album, and it also comes in a nice tin case! It's more calm from her usual energetic music (it also had a song made by Mitsukiyo, which I found surprising), but I also really enjoyed it!
- And finally I wanted to add a Vocaloid album to the haul too, and then I saw the supercell album, with the original artbook?! Of course I had to get it! I think this CD is probably my favorite one out of them, since I really love these classic Vocaloid songs. And to have them in such a great quality now. I recently also got much better headphones, and it was quite an experience listening to Love is War, which is the first track of the album, in such a great quality, and to hear all the details of the song... I actually didn't image I'd enjoy that CD so much, since I wouldn't consider myself a huge ryo/supercell fan (I mean I only really know the older stuff), and I'm normally not a huge J-Rock fan (except for the 2010s Vocaloid songs, weirdly enough), but I really love this album!
Then, like I already mentioned I also got the Miku Loungewear Nendoroid Doll, and even though it was kinda expensive... she looks soo cute... She actually replaces a Miku bootleg figure that I had on that speaker before (that is now in a box of shame), and she looks really, really cute... If only she wasn't that hard to pose... like I already struggle a bit with posing Nendoroids, since the parts are so small, and sometimes you need to apply a bit of pressure on them, which makes me scared of breaking them, but since there's fabric now, you also have to be careful to not have the fabric get stuck inside the joints. Another issue she has that is a general issue with Nendoroid Dolls is that you can't leave darker clothes on for a longer time since then the colors of them could transfer on the plastic... Since her dress is light colored, I can just keep that one on, but it means that the jacket has to go for having her sit there... but she still looks cute without a jacket <3
Then finally I also got Cure Arcana Shadow and Mashutan (Star Detective Precure) plushies! I really love Arcana Shadow (she kinda feels like me), and if you aren't active in the Precure franchise, well she's kinda a big hit now and everyone else loves her too. Which also means that all her plushies are sold out and people sell them for higher prices now, like double what you'd usually pay for them. So I also decided to look second-hand for it, and found a listing that sold both Arcana Shadow and Mashutan (her fairy companion) for what other sold just Arcana Shadow, so I immediately got that. (I didn't initially plan on getting Mashutan, but since she was together in that bundle, I decided to get it) But when they arrived, I was kinda surprised how small they are? Like I kinda find it funny how Mashutan as a plushie is bigger than Arcana Shadow. But at least they still look really nice just having in my room.
I haven't added these things to the collections page, which I also made this month, yet, but will hopefully do that in the following days (was kinda lazy doing that yet). But this'll also probably be my last haul for a while, because of the import taxes...
Yunyun~ (and the Nanahira Shrine)
And of course, Yunyun happened...
Well before that, I quickly finished my first shrine on my site, for none other than Nanahira!! (I love her so much, if you haven't noticed yet) Since she's the voice of the character Qtie, I wanted to finish the shrine before the game came out, since I was expecting an influx of new fans (which didn't really happen yet? Maybe it's still too early for that?). And I also learned more things about her while making the shrine, and I do think the page turned out quite nice, so I'm quite happy to have made it!!
But yeah, I was really excited about Yunyun Syndrome, since it got first announced. And ignoring the drama (that I won't go into), it's a pretty nice game! I love both characters, and I guess Qtie also feels kinda relatable to me? (Maybe because I also have my own share of trauma, and while mine may be a bit different from hers, there's still the same dark thoughts that felt familiar?) The story itself loosely made sense for me, but it's a rhythm game about denpa songs, so of course it makes sense that the story would also be kinda nonsensical. But all in all I still had a fun time! Well I'm not fully done yet, since I still aim for all achievements, which shouldn't take me that much longer, but the main story was still fun to enjoy!
Song of the month
I think with the surprise that Love is War has given me, I have to crown it as the song of the month. (It also has been stuck in my head again since then)
It's really such a great song, even after so much time...
And as a small bonus, here's a really great cover of the song, the one from Ado!
Her voice is so energetic in it and also has such a punch, and I also want to scream with her if I could, so I definitely recommend it!!
And that's it for this month! Thanks for the 150 followers! And also sorry that it took a bit longer for this post, because of university, Yunyun, and other things.
In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
Another month passed where I had more planned than I actually did, but at least I put a new SFE chapter out!! I wanted to do something for April Fools, but didn't have a good idea for it. I had an idea for a joke blog post, but when I started writing it I noticed how it probably wouldn't work (it was supposed to be a parody to an article I found online).
New Stardust & Fox Ears Chapter!!
Yay I finally released a new SFE chapter!! Sorry that it took a while. For some reason I couldn't really get in into the right mindset to continue working on the story, and that I also struggled to think how the story could continue. I initially had the story only planned until the event where Sophia and Alice meets. And while writing chapter 5 I had the idea of broom riding, but not exactly how I'd write that arc, so that it'd fit the story. And also how I'd have Amelia more involved, that black catgirl Sophia is too shy to ask to be friends with, and how that plot should continue. (Sounds kinda weird writing it out like that here)
But then at some point I finally had the right mindset for it and found the motivation again to think more of the plot, and now there'll be a tournament soon! Hopefully this time it won't take me that long to write the next chapter! ^w^
(Also that tournament sounds like an interesting game idea, hmm...)
Netpass
And in March I also playing more with my 3DS! I haven't used my 3DS in a while, and traditional StreetPass is also dead, but I (re)discovered Netpass! (Rediscovered because I heard about it before, but never actually used it)
For whose who don't know, StreetPass was a function on the 3DS that allowed you to trade game data, like for example your Mii/Avatar or records, with strangers that you pass on the street! This was nice when the 3DS was still active, but for many years now nobody carries their 3DS around with them, so that functionality was kinda dead... But then some people made Netpass, where you can meet people online! Netpass has different locations you can pick, and like StreetPass you exchange info with strangers, and then have them in your game! So I've been able to play StreetPass Mii Plaza again, and maybe now I can finally complete all the puzzles. Also this gives me the chance to also play the DLCs for StreetPass Mii Plaza that I never was able to buy as a child, and once I was able to, StreetPass was already declining. So now I have the chance to kinda reexperience them! And it's quite fun! Kinda makes me feel nostalgic of that Nintendo era... I don't want to get into that discussion here, but you really took these things as natural back then, but now Nintendo has changed, and I also don't quite like their modern stuff? Yeah...
DJMAX Respect V
Oh and I also started playing DJMax Respect V now, mostly to get better in keyboard rhythm games (since I'm bad at them >.<), and it looked like a nice game that was on sale. And now I can do 4 buttons, but I'm still bad at 5, 6, or 8 buttons >.<. So I still have a lot to practice on. And I guess that game also gives me a glimpse into Korean music, which is something I haven't really looked into. I mean it's fine, but I still prefer Japanese songs somehow.
Onto IRL stuff...
I'm Doing Voice Therapy Now?
...yes, that's something I didn't imagine, at least not so yet. But I did start voice therapy now... I really was lucky to get a spot so fast. I only had a few sessions, so I haven't done that much yet except breathing exercises and starting with pitch, but I'm actually doing voice therapy now, which is a nice surprise... (still no HRT though, yes I'm doing voice therapy before HRT, I don't understand this medical system myself... at least things are improving now)
Song of the Month
I love Patchouli (maybe you see a bit of her design in Sophia?), and there's also this cool Patchouli song somebody recommended me in my guestbook at the start of the month, and ever since then I've been too obsessed with the song: Cinderella is a magician by Shibayan Records!
I don't know what's with the song, but I just really love it. Whether it's the lyrics, the vocals, or just the song in general? I also discovered MyonMyonMyonMyonMyonMyon!, and I guess I should start listening to more Shibayan Records songs, since that one is also really addictive!
And that's it for this month! Like I said at the beginning, I would've loved to do more this month, but for some reason didn't... (Also didn't really do much on this site, except the SFE chapter...) And soon the next semester at my university will start, which I'm already very much excited of... (not really) And I still need to look for an internship, which also sounds challenging... Will be nice again going back to university and not talking to anyone there, sigh... At least I hope that next month I'll be able to be more productive with this site.
In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
Another month passed (the shortest one of the year), and now it's March. But I still did a few (big) things in February! (Even if I planned to do more)
New homepage!
I wasn't very happy with my existing homepage, so I decided to remake it! I wanted to do something more unique, so coming up with a design was a bit hard, especially since the early ideas where kinda the same homepage I already had. And I also wanted the homepage to be responsive (so that it also works on different screen sizes), which also was a challenge. But I finally came up with this layout!
Having Sophia sit under a tree was a great idea (and I'm proud of that!), but the issue I had with that was that I have never drawn with that perspective, so it was really hard to do. I tried using posing websites, but I'm still not fully satisfied with it. But I'll keep it like that for now, since it does look nice.
Moving Sophia, and new design!
And then for some reason I had the idea to make Sophia alive? I thought it'd be cool to have a Live2D-ish version of Sophia on my site, and the sidebar was perfect for it. I had the existing Sophia image there for a while now, and my artstyle has improved a bit over time, so it started to look a bit "outdated", so it was the perfect chance to update it. Which also gave me the opportunity to slightly update Sophia's design, so here it is:
It's still mostly the same, but the lines look cleaner now with my artstyle, more floof in the ears (I saw some people who made fanart of Sophia - again thanks for everyone who sends me art of her or any other character of mine - use more floof in her ears, so I thought I should also do that, since it does looks cuter), she now has a cute bow on her dress, and she also now has a thigh strap and a ring on her ankle (anklet). (Though for Stardust & Fox Ears I'll keep using her old design)
Animating Sophia was a bit harder though. I could've made my life easier if I just used Live2D, which you also can use in a browser, but for that I'd need to learn how to use Live2D Cubism (the software to make these models) and also add 2 MB of JavaScript to my site, which I also didn't really want to. So instead I made something custom myself, with a bit of JavaScript and CSS transforms! And I think it looks nice! Sure it could've looked more professional and better with Live2D, but I'm still happy with the result! Even if working with CSS transforms can sometimes be a nightmare (implementing the full window function was very hard, since I use transform: scale on it, so it doesn't behave as you'd expect).
Onto IRL stuff:
My first Japan haul arrived!!
After waiting for a while (since the Miku 15th anniversary Nendo got delayed by a month), I finally received my first Japan haul at the start of February!
Center piece (and the reason why I made that order) is the very cute Miku 15th anniversary nendo, that just looks very nice, and also has a very nice package.
I really love the design of her since it was revealed a few years ago. There's also a cute scale figure of her, but scale figures are just soo expensive... At least I have this cute figure!
I also got a nice Marisa keychain that's both-sided, which is nice, because the Miku keychain I had before was only one-sided, so sometimes it rotated when I had it on my bag, and the backside is just white, which doesn't look that nice. Then I also got an artbook from an artist I like, and a few plushies: a smaller Patchouli one (since I like Patchouli and wanted to have something of her in that order), and two Chocotto Punitto's of the Scarlet sisters, which also look very cute (Fumo's are way too expensive, but these ones also look really nice to have on my desk). And also a Flandre deskpad/playmat, since I always wanted a deskpad, but I never saw a design that I liked (and I tried looking on sites like Etsy, but they are filled with AI nowadays), so I thought that this one could be great to have on my desk!
And lastly I also got a CD of the album Moving! from Camilla feat. Nanahira! Even though I've bought music before online, this is actually the first time I've bought a physical CD, and I don't know why, but it was just a unique feeling for me to hold that CD with Nanahira on it. The album is great, and I've already listened to it many times before buying the CD, and also now. I actually didn't know much fan it could be collecting music, and while I don't think I'd want to have a huge collection of music, I do want to start buying CDs every now and then. (Since my PC is already a decade old it still has a DVD drive, so listenting to the music and ripping the songs is easy. I can't remember the last time I use that disc drive and heard it spinning.) Actually I already ordered two new CDs and let them store at a proxy for now, since they were about to sell out (one of them even was on the last stock, and it also was a older album), but I'll only let them deliver at like the end of March or early April. (I also wanted to do a bit of a smaller haul around that time, before the new EU import taxes start to go into effect...)
So in general it was a nice experience, and I now have more anime things on my desk... I already had a few figures, but for me it still feels a bit weird to actually have these things in my hands? Like with the Scarlet sisters, I only ever interacted with Touhou digitally, but now I can hold Flandre in my hands? I guess I'm still at the stage where I feel a bit "weird" for having these interests, but they do bring me fun, so of course I'll keep doing them! (Not as if I had a different option...)
Miku Expo
I always wanted to go to a Miku concert, but I've never actually been to a concert before, and I always wanted to wait to go to one with someone else (especially since I also have social anxiety), but I never had one to go with there. So when I learned about a Miku Expo happening in my country in November, I was kinda sad, since I don't have anyone else I could go with there, so I thought that I should skip it, like always...
And then I bought a ticket... It was kinda expensive, and I still don't know if I'll actually be able to go there (since I'm supposed to be in an internship at that time), but I do hope that I'll be able to see that concert! (Even if it still sounds anxious, though I guess that's a problem for "future me", even though I hate "future me" problems. It is a reserved seat though, so at least I don't need to go there hours before to get a good position.)
A new Precure started
And I already very much like it! I find the theme of detectives very interesting, and I'm really enjoying it! I also find it interesting how the story is happening in 1999, though I'd also love if they'd go more into that. I do love Cure Answer (because she has purple hair), but I also really like the ice cream-addicted girl Luluka and her outfit as Cure Arcane Shadow, and can't wait to see and learn more of her!
Song of the month
After someone has recommended me I've Sound (which is a very good group!), I've looked more into KOTOKO, who was a member of I've Sound (I've heard of her before, but never looked more into her), and kinda fell into a new rabbit hole... It's a bit hard to just pick one song, but I think I'll go with Sakuranbo Kiss, since it's kinda addicting for sure.
And that's it for this month! I kinda wanted to do more this month, since I also currently have semester break, but that didn't really work that well? Maybe next month though. In any case, have a nice day or night~ ☆
Wait the first month is already over? It feels like not much happened this month...
Exams...
I didn't really update the site that much (besides the art page, which got a big overhaul), since I was quite busy with studying for exams and then actually writing them. But now I'm done with them! (Well I technically still have to write one, but that should be fairly simple, since, well, it's web basics) Hopefully I can update this site more now, and also work more on Stardust & Fox Ears! (I didn't really touch it at all this month, but I hope that I can finally work more on it during the semester break. Still have to think how I'll handle the broom riding arc...) Also I've been working on a redesign of the homepage that I hopefully can publish soon!! (I hope it'll actually look as good as I currently imagine it, since it'd also be a bit different)
WebTiles
Oh right, WebTiles also happened this month, where I made a small cute tile and added a bit of info about me and Sophia. Later on I also got invited to a clan, which was a nice surprise, and I now got the (3, 9) tile! (I should actually add something Miku related to it...) Also you can obviously headpat Sophia in that tile, something that was a bit harder to implement than I thought it'd be. See I wanted to add it the day after WebTiles launched (where I just copied the headpat script from my site and modified it a bit lol), and the site was still a bit buggy, so it was kind of frustrating debugging the issues (for those who don't know, Webtiles has its special mechanics that make working on it a bit different), but I did somehow manage to make it work! And later when I got invited to the clan I also added that transition that happens when you click on it and made Sophia hide a bit like a cat, which I find makes the tile even more adorable!
Oh right, if you want to visit my webtile, you can do it here~ :3
Cosmic Princess Kaguya!
I generally don't talk about anime here, but maybe I could change it! I've been following Cosmic Princess Kaguya! since the covers released on YouTube (which are great), and when I saw the movie released, I didn't expect too much, like that it'd be an average movie. But when I actually saw the movie the day after release (because the movie is over 2 hours long, and I didn't have that time on release date), I was just amazed... I already wrote a bit on my miniblog about it, but I think this might be my new favorite anime movie of all time (which was A Silent Voice for me before, which I know is a huge statement). I mean why wouldn't it? It has covers of Vocaloid songs, so that already makes it amazing. But the visuals are also stunning, the music (even the original one, which was also made by Vocaloid producers, like 40mP or even ryo!!) is great, the performances (expecially the World is Mine one that's probably already all over social media), I also really liked the story and love the characters, seeing Iroha and Kaguya grow... Oh and it's also Yuri, which is always the best! I was hooked and excited the whole time!! (So I guess it does make sense that it'd beat A Silent Voice for me...)
I don't want to spoil the movie here, but the story is inspired by The Tail of the Bamboo Cutter, which you might've heard being referenced in some anime before. If not, that's also not a issue, since the movie explains that! And it's a bit sci-fi with VR, and Kaguya becoming a streamer (which now that I'm thinking about is also interesting with how the different worlds interact with each other).
So if you haven't watched it yet, you definitely should! (For some reason I thought that the movie would've already exploded in popularity at this point, though I think it's only now getting more popular, since today I saw two artists I follow making fanart of it)
I've thought of rewatching it again, but spending 2 hours and 20 minutes again on a movie is a bit too much to me... but at some point I'll definitely do it! At least I'm still listening to the music from it! (Especially the Vocaloid remixes, which are great)
Also while watching the movie Yachiyo kinda reminded me of Miku, which I found interesting.
And a Precure ended
You and Idol Precure was fine I guess? I mean it wasn't bad, but it also didn't feel that special for me? The ending was great, but also felt a bit rushed for me? Especially after the fight,
I guess one thing I liked was Purirun and Meroron, who looked like childish creatures, becoming human, and also appearing more mature (which always felt a bit weird with Purirun?). And I guess there were also parts where Chokkirinu felt relatable to me...
But now I'm excited for Star Detective, which looks really promising!! And the first episode will already air tomorrow!!!
Song of the month
Of course it has to be one from Cosmic Princess Kaguya! I think my favorite cover song from it would be this remix of Melt by ryo (supercell)!
A remix of Melt in 2026, maybe by the original ryo! I don't know why, but I really love this remix. It feels so upbeat and positive, and this MV also has Miku! And the MV is also cute! (It doesn't contain any spoilers for the movie, so you can safely watch it if you haven't seen the movie yet) This version is sung by Miku, but if you're interested, you can listen to the version that was sung by Kaguya in the movie (that was played in the credits) here.
And that's it for this month! Now that my exams are over, I'll probably work more on the website and also more on Stardust & Fox Ears. Also I'm currently waiting for a order from Japan that should hopefully arrive next week! (My first haul from Japan, hopefully it'll all work out)
Have a great day or night~ ☆
(Maybe I should do it a tradition to end journal entries with a WigglyPaint drawing)
Happy New Year 2026!!
A bit later this year (hope I'm not too late), because it was a bit stressful for me, so I didn't set it as a top priority to have this entry ready for the first day of the year (I currently need to learn for exams >_<).
Journal
I'll still continue with this journal, since it's nice to just write down what happens in my life. One thing I'll change though is to give each section a title, so that it looks nicer! (like in this entry)
There should also be a mascot for this year's journal, but I haven't completed that yet, so that'll get added soon!!
Art
One thing I want to do this year is to improve my art. In the past, I only ever drew if I had a reason to, like needing assets for my site or a character's birthday or to make someone a nice surprise or Art Fight. I never really saw myself as an artist (mostly because I suck at art), but after Drawing December, where I did a small drawing daily, it was fun, so I want to "force" myself to draw more! Not daily, that was a bit too time-consuming for me. But at least once a week will be nice (even if it's just a quick doodle)! I'll also update my gallery to better have a timeline of my drawings (I'm not happy with how my gallery currently looks like).
I also want to improve my artstyle, for example looking a bit into shading (very simple shading though). I do like my thick lines, so that's something I'll keep (maybe I could look into coloring them a bit, but I haven't tried it out that much yet). I also want to get better in drawing better poses (so that they look more "energetic") and also get better in drawing at different perspetives.
Stardust & Fox Ears (SFE)
I want to complete SFE this year! Not because I don't like working on it, but because it was supposed to be a bit of a shorter story, and I also don't want to keep working on it forever. I still don't know how many chapters it'll actually end up to, but I think it'd be nice to be done with it this year.
I already have an idea for a next story, but it's still in the early planning stages, and I think it'd be better to concentrate on SFE first before starting a new project.
IRL
I guess there isn't much to say about IRL. I'm still continuing my studies like usual. Except I have to do an internship this year, and the thought alone makes me really worried. I mean, having to send applications to companies, going through interviews, and then actually working there for months... But I'll probably manage it...
Others
Otherwise, like last year, I want to be friends with more people! That goal kinda didn't really work out as I wished last year, but I do feel more comfortable online now, so hopefully this year that'll happen! (But since I'm still a bit shy online, it could be a bit hard...)
I'd hope for the same IRL, but that's currently rather unrealistic for me, so I guess just online for now could work out.
And that's it! I hope you enjoyed reading this, and that you'll have a great start for this year!! ☆
