Looking back: Nov '25, Week 2

I was determined to make good progress with my next music project, so I tried to stay focused on the goals of the week!

✨ Projects -- Recorded vocals, edited, timed, mixed, and...

I'm happy that I managed to chip away at the tasks across the week, working late into several nights and even on the weekends. Feels good knowing that the music file is now sent off for mastering, and I can work on the next list of tasks! Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm happier about completing tasks or the process of making music at this point, but who's complaining? 🤣

It's not my best work, but I really had fun with this one! I hope it shows in the final product. 🥹 Without giving away too much, there were several motivations for this project:

1. I wanted to commemorate having a Live2D model for a year. I seldom use it, but nothing makes me happier than knowing that I get to be a 2D girl whenever I want to.

2. I wanted to wrap up the year with a project that celebrates some of the highlights.

   1. I entered 2025 while listening to MOGRA, and tuned in several times throughout the year!

   2. I cosplayed LoveLive! again after so many years! Also sang along to lots of idol tunes during MOGRA streams!

   3. I tried mixing my own covers!

   4. I learned to trust my feelings when singing. For too long I've been trying to sound like what I thought people wanted to hear. It was causing my voice to become really tight, so I started to go with whatever came naturally to me. 🥹 I'm not a better singer, just a more confident one.

      1. And for a while now, I've been wanting to prove to myself that I have improved... even if just a little.

      2. And for a while now, I've been wanting to prove to myself that I can be cute/ genki/ cool too. 🤔 I think my online image screams emo (by my mother's standards) and sentimental. 🤣🤣🤣

   5. And more! 🤣

3. I wanted to have fun singing songs I like! Not every project needs to be serious! Also, similar to games, if I made full covers of ALL the songs I like, I'll be dead and still have a want-to-sing song list longer than my... intestines? 🤔

4. I was almost at 1000 subscribers (by the time I confirmed the plan). By my estimates, I figured that it was possible to reach a 1000 before the end of the year. Little did I expect it to hit 1000 this week! :o

I'm a little concerned that the "drop in quality" would shock the people who subscribed after GHOST and Neo-aspect, because I wasn't particular about how well I sang this time. Similar to the medley I sang for my Live2D debut, I was rather light-handed on the edits too(light-handed for me, that is). But I'm ready for unsubscribes and disapproval. I'm just SO happy to have sang the songs I picked. I didn't even care if the songs suited my voice. This is a project I truly did just for myself, and I hope that those who see me will see me in it.

I really hope that those who have followed me all these years would enjoy it as much as I did though. 🥺🥺🥺 I can't wait for them to see, or hear, the other sides of me! 🥹💖

... I also can't wait for them to see the new me. 🥹

That said, this week I'll be focusing on the video! If all goes well, we'll have a new video to upload by the end of the week! Or the start of next week! ⭐️

✨ Gaming -- Judgment, BALDUR'S GATE 3, and...

Hello? Anyone home?

Surprise! I got to play BG3 this week even though I was so busy! Didn't really have plans to play games with friends this week, so I crawled back to the Sword Coast.

Man, I love this game so much. Sometimes I wonder if I'm weird for replaying it so many times. But despite having played this game for 720 hours, I still get to experience new conversations! And it makes me so happy to be "Echo". (Oh? 🙃)

Made progress with Judgment too!

PLEASE PERCEIVE MY DRESS UP DOLL.

Not saying who this is! No spoilers!

Okay but it was a short lived venture. I am sad. :(((((((

And... I started playing NekoAtsume 2... because YouTube has been showing me a lot of online drama and I really wanted to detox... but still needed some entertainment for my idle brain...

GO AWAY DOGGO!!! Don't disturb the kitties! TTATT

✨ Something interesting -- Played with Picrew and tried On-Together

Made using this Maker! Featuring... my various personas?

It's been a while since I played with Picrew makers, so I checked it out and found this cute one!

It feels weird to call them "Original Characters" as most people do, because they really feel more like various extensions of myself. 🤔

I've written about why my gaming personas are male before, but I don't think I've mentioned that I have 2? 🤔

Back in high school, during the hay day of MapleSEA and AuditionSEA, I was at the age when I was starting to figure out who I was (well, clearly I still don't have AN image of myself). I played MapleSEA and AuditionSEA quite a lot, so I was trying to give my character/s a name that would truly feel like mine. I kept picking names of things that were transient: Nouns that described things that couldn't exist by itself, and were more like perturbations. I wanted to describe the feeling of being real, but not really being there, and where the source of its existence is not the entity itself, but something else. I would then tag an adjective to it that would normally not be used to describe something like that.

I ran through so many names. But one day, it clicked, and I had a name. Then I tried to create a male character instead, and then I had an image.

My FFXIV character (Arcturus) takes on the color scheme I used back then (tanned, dark brown hair, green eyes), but Echo retained the other aspects: the practically short hair, messy center part, lifeless eyes, expressionless face. He's now pale in complexion, hair color, and eye color -- but not strikingly unnatural, and that brings me a lot of comfort. It feels like finally being home. 🥹💖 Arcturus is still special to me because he represents the hope of who I'd have wanted to be (not his gender though, just how he would be perceived as a male).

I originally named Mimi "Minerva of Regulus"! So go figure who the girl in yellow was! 🤣

... is it weird to have so many personas? 🙃 How powerful would I be if I was a character from Shugo Chara?!?!?! 🤣🤣🤣

Speaking of Arcturus, I tried On-Together, a virtual co-working game!

Arctutu. 🤣 Somehow their red outfit was more like orange...

Cool tool! Can see it being used as something to add some color to streams! 🤣 I still prefer Spirit City's aesthetic though.

✨ Snack corner -- Sandwich tower and a glass of instant coffee!

Realized that sometimes I just want to share pictures of my snacks, so here they are!

Had this for a late night snack with my partner!🌙 Top to bottom: Coleslaw (leftovers from dinner), Grape and peanut butter swirl, and okonomiyaki-inspired! The last turned out pretty tasty!

Just nice looking instant coffee that I had on Sunday morning before heading out to spend time with my family. No frothing! The froth came from the instant coffee and not the milk! Isn't that cool?

~💜~

Hopes for this week

♪ Work on the last video for the year! 🎞️💖 (I'm already done with another outstanding cover's video.) Gonna have fun with this one! ✨

☆ Play Judgment!

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

☆ Clear all my chores before the weekend! They've been mostly neglected this past week. 🤔

Thank you for reading! 🌙🐰