Looking back: Dec '25, Week 1

So many things happened this week, and I got to do so many different things!

✨ Gaming -- Played lots of BG3, some MonHunWilds, rushed a D4DJ event, checked on cats, and ended the week with Lost Judgment!

Spent most of the week playing Baldur's Gate 3 because my partner was enjoying Star Ocean 2 whilst hoping that I would wait for him before starting on Lost Judgment. 🙃 But who's complaining?

I learned that I can use Photo Mode in cut scenes. I want to try taking more pretty pictures in my next play-through!

When I started my current play-through, I wanted to try collecting all the quarterstaves in the game. I refrained from checking the Wiki for the full list because I wanted to see just how many I could get from memory and playing through normally. But now that I'm near the end of the game I decided to check, and am surprised at how many I've missed. 🙃 Oh well! It was just a fun challenge I had set for myself anyway. 🤣

But for most of the weekend, I was playing D4DJ because I REALLY wanted the latest event card:

MERM4ID MERMAID 🧡💚🩷💛

I tried to gacha for another character, but got a card that I wanted earlier this year instead. 🤣🤣🤣 So I'm not too upset!

Will I continue to gacha or grind the event to upgrade my card? We'll see how fast my sore wrists recover from the ache. 🤣

It was a good week for Neko Atsume too!

I saved enough points to expand my house!

The cats are so cute. 🥹💜 I wonder how much longer I'd have this game on my phone after I'm done collecting all the cats. We'll see!

To top off the week, I got to start Lost Judgment on Sunday night!

The tutorial case showed off all the improved mechanics from the previous game, and I'm feeling hopeful that this title will be a lot more fun than the last! ✨

✨ Touching grass -- Visited the dentist, met my parents for a meal, and attended my partner's company BBQ!

Dental check ups are important! So I booked an appointment for my partner and myself for Thursday. It was a pleasant visit, or at least it was less stressful than the last! 💀

Then after doing some grocery shopping, my partner and I met up with my parents for a meal! My parents had just returned from a trip to China, so it's been a while since we last met. The moment my mother saw me, she reached into a bag and said, "I saw this and thought that I must buy it for you."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I immediately took it from my mother's palm, wiped it down with a wet towel, and gave it many head pats. 🥹🥹🥹💜💜💜

I regret not taking a photo of the food because it was SO good. The highlight of the meal was sharing 2 pots of curry fish head between the 4 of us -- that's a LOT of curry and fish to go around! It was really affordable too.

The next day (Friday), I met my partner after he was done with work to attend his company's year end barbecue. The food was great too! They had hired a private chef to do the cooking for them, which I've never seen before. :O Thanks to their professional handling, the food was always perfectly cooked, and everyone got to spend time chatting! I got to meet a nice lady who clearly heard a lot about me through my partner. It's been a while since I've had such a pleasant conversation with someone I just met. 🥹 The whole experience reminded me of the time when I used to work for co-working spaces, and I felt grateful for the opportunities to learn to mingle at social events. Not that I did a lot of mingling, but I learned how to look approachable, and I think it probably helped to encourage some to break the ice! I also got to try Skol and Anchor beer (they obviously ran out of budget 🤣🤣🤣), and both tasted alright for affordable beer! 🤔

We stuck around until it was time to pick Ari up from the airport! 💜 Then I learned that the shops at Changi Jewel (the huge mall connected to the airport) are mostly closed past 10PM. 💀 So while waiting for Ari we nibbled on some french fries at McDonalds even though we weren't really hungry. 🤣

✨ Something interesting -- Ari stayed over for the weekend! 🐰🐰

Stuck a sticker so that Ari would know which switch to use for her "room".

My partner and I agreed to host Ari for SGCC weekend, so I spent quite a bit of time across the week preparing a space for her! As she was only staying for the weekend, and we didn't have anyone else who might stay over any time soon, instead of getting a fold-able mattress I laid out a duvet over a foam rug. I hope it was comfortable enough for her, but I would probably get a mattress the next time any friend stays over. 🥺 I felt a little bad seeing her sleep on something so thin... I also hope that she felt comfortable in the area of our living room that we had cordoned off for her. 🥺 At time of writing she's still sound asleep, so I hope that's a good sign? 🥹

I can't speak for her experience staying with us, but from my perspective she was such a joy to have around! 🥹💜 I was home the whole weekend, so I was always around to welcome her home. I loved how, despite being tired from being out and about the whole day, she would always start sharing some highlights of her day as she put down her belongings. When my partner and I were gaming she'd watch and chime in once in a while while she was doing her own things, and every night we stayed up late to chat over late night snacks. 🥹 My partner also got to prepare brunch for us every morning before Ari headed out. He likes cooking, but I'm not much of a foodie, so it was a good opportunity to have fun in the kitchen with 1 more mouth to feed! 🤣

I just hope that she was able to relax and enjoy her time, and not feel pressured to be extra courteous around us. 🥺

But alas all good things come to an end, and Ari will be heading back home later today. I'll cherish these memories, and look forward to the next! 💜

Ari got us a snack from Malaysia! I miss the biscuits from one particular manufacturer from Penang, but this was pretty tasty too! 💜

✨ Snack corner -- Week 1 advent calendar snacks from my partner!

Well, excluding Dec 1 because I've already shared that last week!

Everything was yummy. :3 He even accounted for Ari being over and got extra snacks for her! 🥹

1: Tin of Christmas edition Redondo chocolate wafer sticks

2: Calbee Vegetable Fries

3: 2 sticks of Tao Kae Noi seaweed (original flavor) 4: Chocolate and strawberry Yan yan stick biscuits

5: A bottle of Hundreds and Thousands

6: 4 Landour chocolates

7: Häagen-Dazs cookies and cream ice cream cup

8: Languly chocolate cream-filled cookies

I wonder what else I'm going to get this week! 💖

✨ Projects -- It's a secret!

Spent some time working on a fun project idea that came up mid-week. Hopefully we'll finish it in time! 🥹

🤍 SPECIAL SPACE FOR A SPECIAL PERSON FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION 🤍

MIMI IS THE BEST!!! THANKYOUILYSOMUCHFOREVERYTHING

~🤍~

~💜~

Hopes for this week

♪ I have some work to do! But I'll save time for:

☆ Prepare my outfit/s for Comic Fiesta weekend!

☆ Prepare an outfit for a friend's wedding this week.

☆ Adjust my Live2D parameters (you know what that means)

☆ Play Lost Judgment!

☆ When I don't hope to play Baldur's Gate 3 I get to play it, so...

Thank you for reading! 🌙🐰