Space Vixen's Log

Stardate 2024.07.26

Wait, what happened? I was distracted by something and wasn't paying attention.

Happy birthday, website! It was exactly one year ago (yesterday) that I signed up for Neocities and began building this little private getaway, mostly as a big middle finger to the ever-tightening grip of social media destroying everything that's ever been special about the internet. I wish I had more of a celebration planned, but to be honest, I completely forgot it was even coming. Either way, yay!

That said, I wish I had a more positive spin to put on this blog entry after the last one sounded so miserable, but alas, the second verse remains the same as the first. Summer is kicking my ass, work is kicking my ass, failing to get enough sleep is kicking my ass...my ass has been extremely popular this past month, but not in the lucrative way I'd like it to be!

But alright, let's see the glass as half-full for a minute here. Since the last entry, I've added a whole new style update to the Review section so that you can pick which Review to read from a thumbnail gallery OR the traditional text index. That meant downloading 40-some cover images for each show (usually plucked from IMDB or Amazon), and figuring out how to line them up in a way that made sense for the page format. Admittedly, it's a mess on the code side, but hey, I'm still an amateur in terms of writing HTML. At least it's functional, yeah?

In more exciting news, I am exactly ONE track left from finishing Bimbo In Limbo, and it's...well, it's a work in progress. Writing a multi-part moving train wreck of a single track that changes tempo and time signature multiple times throughout is an absolute CHALLENGE, but it's one I really feel like I'm ready to rise up to. I won't call it a masterpiece, but if I can make it work, it's a format I'd like to really pursue for future albums as well! Still waiting on the cover art, but I have faith that it's going to turn out rad as fuck.

Speaking of, art is something that's been on my mind a lot lately, and the desire to return to this webcomic idea still bubbles on the back burners of my brain. It's a goofy idea, 100% fetish-based, but whether it would turn out good or not - or whether anyone would even like it at all - is irrelevant. I just want it to exist outside my head, so I'm keeping the dream alive until I can secure the time and energy to realize it.

Then again, I'm also still entertaining the idea of whipping up a novel for NaNoWriMo in November as well. I re-read through the original notes file I'd scribbled up years ago, then added a whole host of revisions and reigned in some of the other concepts to create a more singular, focused body of work that I can reasonably use to lather up into a full story. Who knows if it will work out, but won't it make one hell of an adventure just giving it a try? I haven't partaken in NaNoWriMo since...I dunno, 2013 or so? I want to give it another shot!

Alas, for all these goals and ass-pirations to come true, I need energy, and until this harsh hated heat dissipates, it just isn't there. It's all I can do to come home after work, take a nap, then play through yet another run of Skyrim alongside my wife. We've been watching Tom Fawkes attempt a 100% playthrough Oblivion as an Orc who makes sandwiches, and it brought back the old itch to play an Elder Scrolls game again. My wife downloaded a collection of mods that - in addition to adding a TON of cosmetic, gameplay, and QOL changes - also adds nudity and sex to the game in fun and exciting ways, so she's been having a blast with that (when it's not crashing). Meanwhile, I rediscovered the joy of getting the Block skill to 100, thereby unlocking Fun Mode for the vanilla game. You may think I'm joking, but watch that video and see for yourself. It's the CORRECT way to play Skyrim!

In other video game news, I also just finished The Outer Worlds for the first time. I'm a bit annoyed at the way people bounced off that game, because while the gameplay itself is admittedly a bit sparse (especially during the end sequence, which feels very "sorry, we ran out of budget"), the game's satirical wit is excellent. A perfect skewering of corporate culture that is hilariously apt and perhaps more relevant in the here and now than ever before. Many of its most absurd jokes about the way yuppies think and talk almost seem too extreme to be funny...until you realize people like Elon Musk and company ACTUALLY DO talk exactly like this. Frustratingly enough, it almost declassifies the writing as satirical since it's so close to the truth!

Outside of games, the new anime season is underway, and I'm happy enough with my choices this time around. Last season was so full to bursting with good titles that it's actually kind of a relief to be watching a more subdued, "mid" collection of choices this time around. As always, that's not to say they're disappointing or bad, they're just not absolutely stellar like Train To The End of The World or Girls Band Cry was last season. And before you ask, yes, I will be writing up a review for Plus-Sized Elf, for obvious reasons.

I guess that's all I have for news this month. Even though I'm light on accomplishments as of late thanks to the hellscape that is summer, looking back on what I've accomplished here on this site over the past year, it really is pretty astonishing. I literally built this place from the ground up and filled it with my rambles and my creative works, not as a product to be sold or a service to be maintained, but simply as a passion to be shared. And that's something I can always be proud of, no matter how much or how little I've achieved as a result.

Alright, that's enough words. Time to get back to what really matters in life: just fuckin' around!