September 2025 Summary
September 30, 2025
Tags: Monthly Summaries
It's the end of September and I haven't posted anything since the first. Oops.
I did intend to post a thing, it's all outlined! I just need to, uh, make it into actual sentences and not just bullet points. This is the kind of thing that happens when you try to write blog posts, update an entire link hoard (that's also almost done lol) and write a fanfic all at once. My brain is FULL and I must do ALL OF THE THINGS. While also like, being an adult and stuff.
Anyways, I felt a little inspired by Divergent Rays' "Weekly Wrap Up" series, and wanted to see if and for how long I could do something similar. Just as monthly summaries instead, for many a reason. So All of these will be separated into four sections, unless I have nothing for a particular section: notable stuff I did that I want to share, stuff I read I want to share, stuff I listened to I want to share, and stuff I watched I want to share. Mostly in order. Mostly. Maybe in the future I'll add more categories as needed, not sure yet. Playing this by ear.
I guess I'll jump straight into the deep end and start with a more personal one, since it's at the top of my notes here (and yes, I took notes; the only blog posts I make that come to life are those made in a day or those I took notes for lol). I started therapy at the beginning of this month, and while I'm obviously not going into too much detail I can highly recommend it. 10/10. Among the million other things wrong with this bundle of nerves floating in my skull, though, is severe driving anxiety.
I only mention this because part of the therapy is exposure therapy in the form of a video game. That I got for $2 on sale. Which is... really funny to me for no reason. Like, I get the logic! I know why it's supposed to work! It still makes me smile. Maybe that's a good thing. I haven't tried this particular game yet; we actually started with a free one with ads and. Uh. Ads in a driving game. They were ads for other driving games, less chill ones. We dropped that one real fast. Maybe I'll talk about my silly car game here too at some point, not sure.
I also went to HowlCon, another online otherkin convention. I don't really have much to say about it, unfortunately, beyond "I went" and "it was neat". I think both attendees and panelists would benefit from it being spaced apart further from Othercon. Points for using Cryptpad to host the schedule though!
Oh, a not-so-fun-fact about me: wrists hurt :( I draw for fun and write for fun and code for fun and video games for fun and my poor wrists can't take it. Not helped by the fact no one taught me you draw with your elbows and shoulders until I was in my 20's. Of these hobbies, drawing has been the one hit hardest by the fact my wrists hurt... until this month! I found a way to draw that DOESN'T hurt >:3 okay, sketching still isn't super comfy, but that stage doesn't take super long so I can take more breaks without it taking a million years to finish a drawing. Still perfecting my methods, so I'd be more comfortable talking about them once I've nailed down exactly how I want to do things, but I got the broad strokes needed to prevent pain and that's good news for me!
I also started exercising! :3 It started as a joke I told to some friends, but then I realized "uh, shit, that would actually be good for me" so here I am! The best/worst part is that I managed to find two that could be done in bed (those being planks and glute bridges) (don't take this as medical/exercise advise I just have Big Sad and deal with it my way) so even if I don't feel like it I really don't have any excuses. Which... also means I have no excuses. No escapes for me. Oh no.
I also started a challenge run of Pikmin 4! I'm planing on doing a mini-series on that, sort of "live-blogging" (but not really) my experiences through each area. So I won't say much... beyond that it's a very strict no upgrades challenge. The only way to make it harder would be to ban Ice Pikmin from combat use.
Lastly for this section: I gave VIM a shot! Just yesterday, in fact. It's... interesting. VIM came pre-installed with Kunbuntu, and so just runs in Konsole. That set up is absolutely not going to work in the long term, as I can't jump multiple lines at once if the lines are not numbered (unless there's some secret setting to turn numbers on that I am not aware of). I'd like to keep using this basic, built-in version of VIM I have though, at least to get used to it more before 100% committing and downloading another thing. I like just having text, I like the movements, I hope not having to switch to a mouse so often will help with wrist pain, and VSC is being weird and glitchy :( Once I really get to know the program, I'm sure I could get really good with it. So far the only thing I really miss from VSC, though, is the nice auto-formatting of my code. I like indenting to "nest" code within code, and VSC picks up on my patterns and continuities them for me. This version of VIM does not. I'm sure that NeoVim or some plugin for it would, though, should I ever decide that I do want to stick with VIM.
Read
Get Rid of Your Google Fonts (Blog Post) - Very short post by Bits By Cat, just saying that using Google Fonts (the service) is a privacy concern that "violates the GDPR of the EU". And then they give you some alternative front ends if you want to keep your fonts. Just handy to know :3
Fictionfolk Code (Blog Post) - Social codes can refer to... well, many things, but in this case it refers to a messy (/affectionate) string of characters and symbols that can be decoded to reveal something about the individual. Ballonlea here made one for Fictionfolk, which has made me want to put some in my about page for some other groups! Dragons, otherkin, furries.... yesssssss...
Are You Under the Influence? The Tail That Wags The Dog (Blog Post) - A more political one this time, but still important. Soatok, our local furry cryptographer , talks about social media, algorithms and dark patterns.
Listened
The Fan, the Pro, and the Spaces In Between (Podcast) - Podcast, but has a readable article version if that is of need. Long but good listen/read from Fansplaining on the current history of where fanfiction and traditional publishing meet (for better and worse).
Watched
Why is Physical Media Back? (YouTube) - Jakob Burrows explains why physical media is coming back, citing things such as control and ownership (among many others!)
Knights of Guinevere: Pilot (YouTube) - Very promising new show from Glitch about how messed up Disne- I mean a totally fictional theme park company with lots of princesses and robots really is. Warning for mild blood and gore.
Playing Allumeria - I have hesitancy to add gameplay/let's play type videos to this, and I don't intend to make it a habit. But Mahjong has a very calm style of commentary, so he gets a pass. Also, my computer is a potato and I'm not sure if it could run this game. Could try but Scared. Anyways, Allumeria is an interesting looking early access game that combines elements of Minecraft and Terraria. And I, for one, am happy to see more block games blossom like this.
End of Post Website Checklist
... Is identical to before, really, so I'm only marking down one super important item and bolding it to avoid repetition + emphasize importance.
- LINK LIST OVERHAUL!!!