September Round-Up '24
This month was very stressful, yet simultaneously celebratory. I'm grateful for all the work I've received, and I'm working on projects that I'm hoping to put out by the end of the year. It's going to take a lot of effort as the weather continues to be horrible and things get progressively busier with holidays and other festivities, but I'm dedicated to working hard to create things that bring a bit more happiness to the world! I had tons of stuff happen offline that I didn't really talk about anywhere, so here's a little run through of it all, plus a look at media I was able to check out during September!
Quick Medical Update: I had a dentist appointment to get a cleaning and thankfully everything seems to be okay at the moment. (Thanks to everyone who contributed to my little $15 doodle stream goal a few weeks ago!) I'm trying to stay positive as I continue healing (yes, STILL healing from surgery a couple months back) and deal with other little health scares.
On September 10th, my very first newborn niece was born: Evee! My little sister Niki did an amazing job bringing her into the world, and ever since Evee's arrived she looks like she's glowing with joy... it makes me so happy!! My family visited town the week after the baby was born so we got to hang out a little while also cherishing the new life. Here's some art that my parents had commissioned from me months ago to celebrate the baby's coming (represented by Pokemon Eevee), alongside her "big brother" Woody the Golden Retriever!
This month was incredibly hot... the temperatures were consistently above 100+ for days, with one day reaching up to 122 as we were out driving. There was a week where my partner and I were barely home as a result of how dreadful it felt... but the good thing is that we'd been holding onto a gift card to use on special treats for when a bad heatwave hit, so we had a lot of nice food!! Here's a little glimpse into our food adventures (Warning!! Lots of yummy food pics ahead!!)
Food from Hamada-Ya Bakery: a delicious Japanese-style egg salad sandwich, soft yet gently crunchy melon bread, and an amazing Japanese strawberry cake in a cup!
Lucifer's Pizza has gotta be some of the nicest pizza I've ever had! The BBQ chicken is a huge delight!
Sunright Tea Studio currently has an Ace Attorney Investigations promo with Edgeworth and Kay stickers, so we had to go get some!! I got a fresh strawberry oatmilk drinky with lychee jelly, and Chris got the Edgeworth Oolong milk tea with brown sugar boba. Very tasty, and I love the stickers!
Chris and I stopped by 85 degrees Bakery to enjoy some of our favorite drinks: a boba milk tea for him, and taro lavender latte for me! You can see it before and after my latte was shaken up - it becomes a pretty purple! The oat milk adds even more creaminess to the taro flavor.
We went to Downtown Disney as a reward for a hard week of work and to enjoy the sweet Halloween decorations! One of the treats you can get is this Pumpkin Mickey donut, which I don't think was worth the price tag flavor-wise but was VERY cute and made me happy every time I looked at it!
Chris got a treat to share with me at Republik Coffee Shop: Orange Polenta Cake! It was gluten free and super soft and dense, with fresh orange zest in the icing and cake itself. Suuuuper delicious and moist, I would eat it again!
Chris and I enjoyed the Risograph Art and Zine Fest at Gallery Nucleus for the second year in a row! There were many fantastic artists, and even though I couldn't really support many financially, I'm very happy to see the Riso community thriving so well. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to get more zines (and be able to share some more myself!!)
There were quite a few trips to the zoo this month - for reasons such as taking my parents, to escape the heat, and exploring an entirely new one to me and Chris! Many cute animals were seen, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at them. Here are a few of the animals I got pics of!
Games
I know I mentioned it last month, but since it had just come out I didn't have much to say, but I ADORE Visions of Mana!!! The music, the atmosphere, the characters, the story... I love it so much I'm going to stream it on my Twitch for "Mana Mondays" starting October 14th!! Come by that day to enjoy the most gorgeous game I've ever seen. I hope it charms you as thoroughly as it did me; I'm excited to share it!
I made a lot of character art of the main cast... I'll be sharing it on social media soon!
Splatoon 3 celebrated its 2-year anniversary with Grand Fest, a huge in-game music festival with exciting events and incredible battle of the bands live during the finale tricolor fights!! This four-day festival was amazing to be a part of, and having an irl wristband to wear as I played made it feel all the more exciting. I shed some tears from excitement, nostalgia, and joy all throughout - what a fantastic event!! Despite being purely virtual, it'll live on in my memory for years to come! Such a great game!!!!
Some art I made of my Octoling in their Grand Fest wear! My team (Future) didn't win, but that's totally fine - the goal was simply to enjoy the game!!!
For the past year I've been ruminating on the story of The House in Fata Morgana, which was tragic but I loved it. We finally had the opportunity to play through Reincarnation, the sequel visual novel to FataMo's main story, but... it felt a little unnecessary, unfortunately. Although well-written, the characters' stories didn't feel as compelling and the "payoff" connected to ongoing small tragedies was extremely hit and miss (I can't feel compelled to like or redeem an adult character who hits on a child, sorry not sorry!!). I also missed the uniquely haunting art of the original game - not that Reincarnation looked bad by any means, it just wasn't as intriguing to me.
I started a playthrough of Kuon - a PS2 survival horror game by FromSoftware - and I'm highly impressed by it!! The vibes are perfect, and it reminds me a lot of how Silent Hill 2 made me feel mixed with the setting of Fatal Frame. The animation is surprisingly well done and it feels good to play, too. The camera angles are similar to Silent Hill in how they're cinematic rather than strictly following the player, so that can lead to a bit of wonkiness, but I'm enjoying this game very much so far!
You send off little "vessels" to save your game so you only have a limited number of saves. I'm doing my best to use them wisely!
Atlus' next huge game - Metaphor Re:Fantazio - dropped a demo recently so Chris and I gave it a shot! To me, it feels like a Persona game with a different coat of paint - one that I'm honestly not too interested in. The fact that the demo took us over 4 hours to get through most of and we STILL didn't finish it means that they're setting players up for a well-over 100+ hour experience - and as someone who personally doesn't like politically-charged stories of war or building fantasy kingdoms and/or armies, I doubt I'd get any further invested to wanna play. This isn't to say it's a bad game of course; the creativity of the team shines through even simple menu screens, and I can see where they'll make it engaging for those interested in what the story has to offer. I hope everyone who's looking forward to it has a blast!
I like the design of this guy, but unfortunately that's not enough to sell me on the game itself...
Anime
We saw the four 80's OVAs for Vampire Princess Miyu and while the vibes are pretty enjoyable, the reviews I saw referring to the voice acting as "bad" were unfortunately right. I'm hoping the anime adaptation is better (which I've read that it's supposed to be) - something to look forward to in October.
Garden of Remembrance is a sweet short film featuring mornings that feel ever-repeating until one little thing reminds you of colorful feelings long past. No words are spoken except for in the songs that play in the background so it's made to be easily connected to by anyone watching.
Other media
We started watching spooky media a little early to get into the Halloween spirit! The first movie of the season was one that released earlier this year: I Saw the TV Glow. The only thing I'd heard about the film is murmurs about how it was "good," but nothing specific, so I went in without knowing anything about the film itself. I was surprised by the underlying theme of accepting your identify when I only assumed it would be a potentially light horror film. Intriguing premise, and very much felt like something out of the period of time I grew up in.
Chris and I did a third rewatch of Twin Peaks Season 1 just for fun! It's so very well-written, funny and uniquely "weird" without belying the seriousness of the mystery at hand. It's an excellent work of art and I get engrossed in it any time it plays. Definitely recommend it if you're into murder mysteries and engaging storytelling with a sprinkle of drama!
October has arrived!
Next month's wrap-up is going to be "spooktacular" since I try to see a spooky movie every day of the month! This begins the busiest time of year for me so I may not be as social when I'm not streaming since I'll be focused on a billion things. Even so, you're welcome to drop a line anytime - just know I may not get back to you very quickly (please tell me about your favorite spooky movies/games!!!). Thanks for reading all this, and I hope to hear from you soon!
Vincent is lurking behind my TV... Halloween is here!!