I'm almost done my last semester at community college, wowee.

Life has been lowkey stressfulish. But for one thing, over the semester I've gradually gained a bigger appreciation for art history because of the two art history courses I'm taking. I visited the Philly Art Museum with my boyfriend Dan and my brother-in-law, and it was quite nice. I've also gained clarity in my skills in Blender through my 3D modeling class! I've dabbled in Blender a lot over the years since middle school, but recently has definitely given me more clarity in what to do in Blender lol.

Not much else to say for now... It's quite tedious to try and manage my website tbh. I wanna do more but I'm trying to find efficient ways to implement stuff like blogs without adding unnecessary tech debt for myself down the road. I just wanna post art entries and mini-blog without having to manually do everything, let alone have to edit EVERY page when I want to make changes to my site layout dammit!! PLEASE, IF YOU'RE READING THIS AND YOU'VE GOT IDEAS, PLS TELL ME!!!

Oh right - we didn't get rain here for over a month since September until the last couple weeks. It really had me worried for a bit, but I'm glad the rain has returned for now.

10/9/2024

Hi gang!

I've been pretty busy with working away at my final semester of college, hence the lack of recent website updates, along with generally not being able to do other things I want to work on outside school. I know I probably should already have an RSS feed by now, but sometime soon I'll have it when I get the time to. It's waaay too early to start saying "guhh dun worry gauys am not dead1!!" lol.

I really would like to be able to blog on my site very easily without having to directly open up my website code and manually put in entries one by one. You know, like, a blogging system of some sort.

Anyway, during my limited free time, I have came across some pretty cool new stuff recently.

If you like whimsical, unique, fun clothing that still has some class, I highly recommend you check out Mochipan!

They are seriously the best shop I've come across yet. Ever since I first came across their digital artist jacket design and dove further into their shop, my heart was kidnapped as I learned about the shop and looked at their stuff. They make just about every other fashion brand look boring and soulless in comparison to the stuff they design and make. It's even better that they're entirely independent yet quite established for one, and they just radiate personality.

For every design they make, they post them on their social media (here's their Twitter!) to check for the public's interest before they go ahead and make samples. Once the designs are finalized, they get them ready for pre-order! They often have plenty in stock once their pre-order campaigns end and have an abundance of inclusive sizes no matter your size. As a person who regularly has trouble finding XS, let alone S, for clothes that I remotely have some interest in, this is another thing about Mochipan that completely wins me over.

For an indie shop, their prices are very reasonable, considering the labor that goes into the designs and samples, and the amount of soul and creativity that enriches them. Meaning, don't expect these prices to be like Shein or Forever 21 prices. For that reason, they are not stupidly expensive; though they are pricey, I must emphasize very reasonably so in a way that you get incredible value. The prices are completely worth it considering what you're getting, and considering that other shops will offer the same prices for honestly boring shit with maybe shady practices!

I also want to expressly appreciate the fact that they don't have the stupid gendered categorizations that most fashion stores have. The only categorization you get is sizes and type of clothes, and I love that so much. It always feels so limiting having things split between "womens clothes" and "mens clothes," because then the clothes are needlessly made exclusively for those categories and it gets very hard for people like me who want clothes not specifically made for people like you.

As a genderqueer person, I do wish that they will come out with more masc designs soon. They have posted a few, but have yet to produce them. It would also be nice if they made more tech-y, gender neutral designs with the same flair they put into their existing designs. But nonetheless, Mochipan and their clothes have been the kind of shop I've always dreamt of coming to life, hands down. They are honestly an inspiration for upcoming indie entrepreneurs.

I went ahead and bought their stylish, subtly sexy Higanbana black skirt a couple days ago after considering what size I should get (I went ahead with a downsized XXS as they recommended for a snug fit, since the band is particularly stretchy). I love that it has an Asian touch as an Asian person in combination with it having a touch of sexyness. I may post a couple photos of me in styled outfits with it when I get it.

Another thing I came across recently that has been in my sights ever since is the Pilet 5 console.

Earlier this year, I became interested in cyberdecks. Cyberdecks are basically non-traditional computers that you makeshift and tinker around yourself to your hearts content. They are probably a computer nerd's dream toy, and that's when I looked around and came across Clockwork's uConsole.

It looked really nice and fun to tinker around with. A handheld computer that you can hold in your hand, different than a traditional smartphone. Built in with Linux and all, and running on a Raspberry Pi 4.

I really wanted to get it, but... it takes an average of at least 10 months to arrive if you don't live in China. That's way too fuckin long from the moment I click buy to the moment I get my hands on it.

Well, a week or so ago while I was on the Google app, Google had recommended me an article discussing the Pilet 5 console that's in the works. And I can't fucking wait for it to be released.

It's Clockwork's uConsole but better. It looks cool and runs on the latest Raspberry Pi 5. Soulscircuit offers two options: the Pilet 5 console that's the typical handheld with a QWERTY keyboard on it, and the Pilet 5 Tablet, which features a touch screen instead. The tablet seems to be a lot more fun, as it's supposed to be modular, allowing you to add modular parts to it for your needs, making it great for game emulation and other tasks. You can still of course do the same tasks on the console.

I can't wait to get my hands on it when it comes out. It's expected that with their cheapest option, it'll cost ~$200 USD, which is pricey but reasonable enough for a cool gadget like this cyberdeck.

9/17/2024

I decided I add this bulletin section for in-depth status updates! May be temporary until I figure out blogging systems, and/or until I figure another use for this!

Earlier I got very close to being in a serious car crash.. yeah. I'm still in shock about it as that was seriously the closest to possible serious injury h. I was trying to turn into the road while exiting out of my car's dealership to head to the dealer's service shop. I was focused on how far and fast the cars in the distance were going in order to calculate when I can make my turn into traffic, but because I was also preoccupied with minding the directions along with my step-dad assisting me, I tried to floor my turn into traffic and almost hit an on-coming Amazon truck. Luckily my step-dad alerting me just as it was happening, and the truck swaying away just in time, my reflexes kicked in and I braked full-stop immediately as soon as my brain realized what was happening. I feel so bad that it happened, knowing how it could've gone worse had any of those factors played differently. I haven't been feeling good recently because of huge priorities like school taking up most of my bandwidth (Art History courses suck), leaving me with little of it left to relax and stabilize, so that definitely shook me up a lot.

That's one highlight of my week so far. Another highlight from today is that my new mechanical keyboard arrived today! AND ITS SO PERFECT !!

I type so much more faster and easier on this compared to my previous Razor Widowmaker V3. Admittedly, it didn't take me that long to figure out what kind of mechanical keyboard I wanted to replace it with, so I took a bit of a gamble with the quality when I went ahead with the Gateron x Invictus iG 98 keyboard, especially with its $89 price tag (I'm under the impression that this is a "cheap" price for a good mechanical keyboard). But at the same time, it really was a straightforward decision since it was the keyboard that fit my criteria the most for my next replacement - mostly full-sized, good linear switches, good color scheme/appearance.

AND BOY IS IT PERFECT CUS HOLY SHIT IS IT GBREAT!!! The quality is so good, it does't feel cheap at all. It's completely sturdy, and every keystroke is a breeze. It feels so much nicer, so much more lightweight to type on, so much easier on my fingers. And also the right amount of quiet. It's not loud, but the noise is also not silent, and I love it! The colors and the art on it is very nice, even if it wasn't 100% my taste or personality. I chose it for the artsy-ness rather than the cuteness, but that's not to say I don't like it.

So yeah, today has been eventful. I'm just trying to take things little by little and stay stable.. h