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Contrails: Oct '26, Week 1
I must have slept in a weird position last night. 🙃 Was hoping that if I walked around and did some chores before sitting down to write that it would help ease the tension in my neck and shoulder, but it's still there. Oh well! 💀
🌙 Work 🌙
Finished editing vocals for another song! A part of me wanted to rush straight into editing vocals for another song. But due to the way the timelines are now, that won't help to move other projects forward. So I decided to start working on a video instead.
Thinking about rough timelines (just estimates because none have deadlines):
October (2nd half)
2026 2nd last solo: Video making
2026 last collab.: Mix, video assembly, and publishing
2027 collab.: Vocal guide making
November (1st half)
2027 collab.: Recording & vocal edit, submit commission request
2027 solo: Recording
November (2nd half)
2027 solo: Vocal edit, simple mix, submit commission request
2026 2nd last solo: Mix, video assembly, and publishing
2026 last cover: Vocal edit
December (1st half)
2026 last solo: Mix, video making, and publishing
This is likely to delay into 2nd half, barely making it before the end of the year.
- HOLIDAY -
Buffer for 2026 projects
Initiated in 2026 but have to be completed in 2027 (if none of the above get delayed into 2027)
2026 collab 2
2027 ballad solo
2027 rock solo
2027 collab
Honestly, it's not that I had squeezed a lot of projects into 2.5 months. This is the result of weekend bottleneck and lack of deadlines with external stakeholders. Am I upset? Not really. Do I miss working on everything alone? Yes.
But I knew when I decided to collaborate more that I had to be ready for months of delays. I knew what I was trading off. The real question is how long am I willing to continue at this pace? At one point, I could cover a song very comfortably within 1 month. Now, the last cover I had planned for the year (which I was really motivated to cover) would have taken 3.5-4 months to complete.
I might be able to salvage this situation if my friend for the 2027 collab. agrees to delay the recording to 2027. But I fear that they will drop the project instead because the project was agreed on in early August.
Maybe the solution is to not care?
Maybe the solution is to trade off something else?
🎮 Gaming 🎮
My Sim passed on this week, and so I have "completed" my play-through of The Sims 4. 🥹💜 I thought I was going to get abruptly booted out of the lot, but I was surprised that you can continue to play as the Sim even after they had passed! I don't remember having that option when I first bought The Sims 4 years ago. But I decided that stopping at this point was the best ending for this particular Sim. :) I had set her out to be quite the hustler with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. So from day one she never stopped spending all her time on her skills, and it was refreshing seeing her seem so fulfilled every day! 💖 I've played Sims that can't wait to run off to do something else, but this one? I expected someone brainy, but never expected someone so diligent. She ended up being quite a loner, spending almost her whole life at home and only talking to her dog, but I think it was the best choice for this Sim! I mean, she was always happy and satisfied, and isn't that enough? 💖
That said, nearing the end of her life I realized that she might not complete her latest aspiration (aspirations are side quests for reaching milestones), so I calculated the number of days she would need to get her final job promotion. Turns out, it would have been just enough! She would get promoted the day she would pass! Wow, how amazing! It was like it was meant to be! EXCEPT!!! On that fateful day, she was at work, when suddenly I was notified that she would skip work. I was confused: How do you SKIP work if you're already AT work???
Turns out, the Sim had teleported back home without completing the work day... to pass away. 💀 Based on her job rating she was THIS CLOSE to her promotion!!! If she had stayed at work she would have definitely been promoted that day. What made things worse was that the grim reaper took her while she was at the driveway, so her gravestone was considered to be OUTSIDE the editable plot of land! I couldn't even bring her home!!! 🥺💔
But that's alright! I had fun! ✨
The Sims 4 was not the only game I "completed" this week! ⭐️
I escaped my Valheim slump by checking out and completing the Early Access campaign of Solasta II with friends! I enjoyed Malmis-ing, and I would never miss an opportunity to use Eldritch Blast. My only gripe is that my opinion of the developers have yet to change since Solasta: The game design seems heavily focused on the individual's (maybe mainly the DM) experience of a session of DnD - a team of 4 where individuality/ character doesn't stand out, and the game is optimized for solo play with a passable multiplayer option. I can see the improvements they have tried to make from Solasta in Solasta II, and overall the game is still an enjoyable activity to spend time with friends, but it still feels like an homage to DnD as a TTRPG rather than to tell a compelling story. If not for the excellent voice work by well known voice actors, I don't think the key NPCs in the story would have had much appeal at all.
But hey, it was still good fun despite encountering some bugs. I still look forward to having a good time with my friends when the full campaign is out! They make the experience truly special. 💜
What did I say about Valheim slump? Oh, right -- it was back to Valheim after the brief getaway.
Our game progressed a bit this week. We're now scratching the surface of the Deep North while returning to the Mistlands and Ashlands to upgrade our gear. Despite several set backs with deaths and recovering from base raids, my partner and I managed to end the week on a high note, I think! I would like to try my best to push for game completion this week though -- we've been locked in to this game for over a month now.
In contrast, I miss long board game campaigns that would last months. Those were good times. 🥹
Rounded off the week with some good Forza Horizon 6 vibes. 💜 I'm not done with weeklies yet, so I'm looking forward to getting back into it some time mid-week!
Oh, and I played a little Sonic Racing: Crossworlds too! Keeping in touch with the game in preparation for the upcoming festival this weekend. Give me those ticketsssss!
Not directly gaming, but I watched the Triple-i Initiative stream with friends! There were so many ooky-spooky games, probably to ride on Halloween hype. 🤔 I want to return to Windrose, but I have other games to play, so maybe I'll wait for more updates before returning like my partner suggested. 🤔
🐰 IRL 🐰
Met my family to celebrate my father's birthday. His twin brother (i.e. my uncle) joined too. It was a nice lunch! It made me feel grateful of the kind of people we surround ourselves with.
It made me feel grateful for the brief moment in the vastness of time.
~💜~
Hopes for this week
♪ Prepare MV for solo cover
♪ Maybe prepare vocal guides for collab? I might not. We'll see.
☆ Try not to gain weight (lol)
☆ Play Valheim (and finish it?)
☆ Play Forza
☆ Play Ratatan 1.0 when it releases on Thursday night! 🎵 ☆ Play Sonic Racing this weekend -- Your Machine's Inferior!
Thank you for reading! 🌙🐰
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