Looking back: Oct '25, Week 5

Minerva Murasaki
Nov 3
5 min read

Oh no, I don't have many pictures to share! 🥺 But it's okay! I had a rather pleasant week regardless! 🎵

✨ Gaming -- Played various games... and then there was RV There Yet?

Sadly I don't have many screenshots this week, so I'll be brief!

Went back to normal Don't Starve Together as Walter and still died a bunch. 🤔 I feel like I'm getting better but at the same time, it still feels like a struggle. The moment I'm stuck having to deal with a boss fight by myself, I'm left with either insufficient slingshot ammo, being unable to land a hit before a boss gap closer attack and dragging out the fight too long, or dying to gap closers the moment I get greedy.

Guess I have a ways to go before being effective as Walter! On the bright side I got to farm for Nightmare Fuel (something I don't usually do as Wormwood) and make 2 new types of bullets. Looking forward to a boss fight where I get to support and actually clear without dying. 🙃

Not my farm plot. Not sure how I feel about diagonal symmetry. 🤔🤣💜 (JK veggies of any form are great)

My friends and I tried to make progress with FFXIV's The Final Traverse (Quantum-40), but we're stuck at the last major mechanic (the 5 fire adds). 💀 Not sure when we'll challenge it again, but hopefully the next strategy we try will do the trick.

On Sunday, I was playing Judgment and streaming it on Discord for some friends when one of them brought up RV There Yet?. I saw the game on my Steam store home page earlier that day and thought that the name of the game was great. A few minutes later we were playing that instead.

The game is a little janky, but a ton of silly fun. 🤣 It might have replay value because how you complete the game seems rather free-form. But one thing's for sure: It's better with friends! 🤣💀

My friends also had a good time laughing whenever I genuinely screamed and died to snakes. More than once. My screams are a rare commodity so I guess this might end up becoming a rather memorable game. 🤔

Looking forward to play it again! 🥹💜 What a great impulse buy. 🤣

✨ Projects -- Published my cover of Neo-Aspect by Roselia, and had a tiny panic when Ari's Neverland MV was published

🥺

It's finally done! I have covered a Roselia song! (Sunkissed Rhodonite doesn't really count.) I attempted to record this song 3 times: Once late last year, once when I moved, and once after practicing with the Better Voice Vocal Trainer for a week. My honest thoughts on the Better Voice? It really does help! 🥹 It feels a little gimmicky, but I think the best part about it is that it helps to keep me focused on practice, and not subconsciously revert to singing casually.

I still think that I'm not great at singing, and there's a lot to be desired in my delivery of the song, but I'm satisfied having said the words and for them to be heard. My heart is very full. 🥹💖

Later in the week, Ari published her cover of Neverland by DECO*27! I helped with the video for this one!

I enjoyed going ham on the neon lights and scribbles in the chorus. 💜

As with all the things I make (videos, vocals, handicraft, dance), I felt that my works are always missing that je ne sais quoi. I'm aware that this is probably the result of not practicing finesse, because I have a rather high contrast/ aggressive approach to most things in life -- I'm either giving 0% or 100%, and that applies to what I hope from others too.

But Ari always has such kind words for the videos I make for her. 🥹 I'm glad she likes this one too.

I also took some time to break down what went into my TORINOKO CITY cover in a blog post! It was nice to revisit the scenes frame by frame from the After Effects project and recall the times I paced around my house, visualizing the song in my mind.

Nowadays, I focus on words, putting in less effort into storytelling and more into getting the right vibes by being careful with what illustrations to use for the my lyric videos.

I ended the week trying to record some difficult vocals for a new song cover with Yuraia's help. My throat was already strained from the daily practice, but I really wanted to make things work. It's not perfect, but I think it will do. 🥺 Will need to give my voice time to recover before I record the rest of the lines.

What a great way to wrap up October! 💜🐰

✨ Touching grass -- Went shopping in town with my partner 🥹

Despite all the good stuff happening this week, I was mentally rather drained because I had spent the whole of last weekend worried about my impaired vision. On the bright side, I have an appointment with a specialist tomorrow, so I hope to get some answers and advice soon. But till then, I wanted to take a break from looking at things up close at home, and treat my eyes to sights in town.

So my partner kindly brought me out to do a little shopping! 🥺💜 We saw many things, smelled many fragrances, bought snacks and cooking ingredients, had a nice early dinner, and headed home!

Here are some photos!