that's fuckin' right... i now OWN the epic gamer pc!!!

i did have to purchase a new screen but look at it! it's like a small telly

will have to excuse the mess in these images 'cause we're still in this temporary apartment... we might finally move back in next week, i dunno. besides my excitement that my mum decided to give me this thing, i do still have to pay off this new monitor and the laptop my mum wanted from the beginning (this thing was too overpowered and inconvenient for her needs so i'd get more use out of it.) on top of that i have yet to extract shit from my old hard drive before i can truly get back to bizznizz.

also i might have to change the website layout a smidge because some of it looks ridiculous on this screen.

that's right. after 9 long years of service, the 'puter has finally shat itself... 9 years! that's fucking nuts for a casual-use laptop worth 600 dollarydoos.

the cause? who knows! since yesterday it just began shutting off at random intervals. no overheating, checked the drivers and hardware, maybe it's the battery, it's a mystery. i have been in dire need of a more powerful computer regardless so skipping immediately to just building one myself seems like the right call. hope i can work something out in terms of the money i'd need. until then i'm gonna try and get stuff done on mum's (previously mentioned) epic gamer pc and probably just draw on actual paper or something. i will say this situation provides an interesting challenge.

good night sweet prince...

there've been renovations happening all in and around our building since last year. currently there's one going on that's too obtrusive for us to live there so we've been residing somewhere else a few blocks away and it'll be that way till somewhere in march (funnily enough the street name is bongerd, how fitting).

i wanted to be absolutely certain i could continue work from here so we bought a new desk which's height i can change at will. great, 'cause my other desk is all beaten up and inconvenient so i'm flying with this one from now on.

quitting smoking has gone surprisingly well, if the first week is universally the worst then it's smooth sailing from here. just brain fog.

so today: tried making shoyu ramen for the first time. keyword: tried.

not the most photogenic, in fact the shitty lighting combined with shakycam makes it look worse. except for the ajitama? i know eggs are hard to fuck up but i'm so used to hard-boiling all my eggs that i'm surprised it looked just like the images i saw.

otherwise it tasted fine. how authentic is it? i don't know! every recipe seems to be different so i just bought whatever i knew i needed and dicked around. if i learned anything it'd be that i should familiarize myself more with ingredients i've never touched before, especially dashi... fuck it's good.

to end this on a silly note: my mum's got this new rgb-ass mechanical keyboard-ass epic gamer computer to play rollercoaster tycoon 2 on. i now objectively have the worst puter in the family.

this actually happened on christmas of last year... whoops! well it's never too late to talk about it. my mum really wanted to show me Utrecht, commonly referred to as a "student city". so we went on the bus, ride was fun, spotted a lot of white herons (you don't see those around here). after stepping out and a short walk later i was already impressed with what it had to offer visually.

it's too futuristic for my liking but fascinating nonetheless. after some coffee we headed for the mall, and believe me, the small entrance made me really underestimate the size of that thing. i'd be very surprised if there isn't a store for something in there. the bottom floor had these pits where you could look down into what i assume are sewers, protected with glass, water flowing over the panes (of course i had to touch it). since it was christmas they put a big honkin christmas tree in the middle that went all the way up to the second floor (too bad you can't see it here). there's more stuff to mention but i don't think they're that different from your average mall in any bigger country. it's just very new for me because i've been going to the Alexandrium mall my whole life (which sucks ass).

we stepped out of the mall to our real destination, the town. i've lived in Gouda so that's the closest visual comparison i can give you. however what i said about the mall could just as well be applied here, they've got everything. we mostly looked at clothing stores (because what they offer us here is notoriously repetitive) and restaurants, which we should definitely try some on our second trip because they've got some good shit. i had to sit down at one point because i was that flabbergasted by everything i've seen up to that point. after a bit more walking following the short break we took the easy route and got some familiar grub. had a bitterbal and some cider, deciding wether to take the bus or the train back home. we chose the latter and walked all the way back through the town and the mall to get to the train station. while waiting there was a piano near our seats and people would take turns to play on it. i really began to internally shit on Rotterdam at that point because if something like that were placed over here it would've been pissed on and obliterated into smitherines already. can't have shit here.

train ride was fun because i haven't been on one for like... 4 years? we usually go everywhere using the car or metro. got back home and had my thoughts. like mentioned earlier, definitely a place worth revisiting. should probably bring pictures of my own next time too because these don't really do what i saw justice.

that's right... i don't actually own a record player yet but considering obtaining some records might be now-or-never it's probably best to purchase them anyway before i can't. I was going to order the soundtrack to yume nikki on vinyl, however it hadn't been restocked yet and apparently pizza tower's soundtrack was up for sale. why wouldn't i! 'course i'm not sticking to exclusively vidya game music and will try looking for the old stuff (i really want oranje boven by euromasters)... i think what set this off was the small trip to germany i took and seeing all the records they sold at an electronics store, we ain't got that kinda luxury. i'm aware vinyl collecting and setting things up for the task is an expensive venture but it's my preferred way of physically owning tunes. also it'd look nice on a shelf. i'll post an update upon receiving the first record (probably somewhere in april).

big fat year! massive, in terms of changes that is. while it won't be over starting 2024 (especially not the environmental changes), i'm actually looking forward... i'm most of all happy with the unusually big leap in artistic skills i've been able to make this year. i'd also like to mention the decision to dedicate this blog to more meta stuff and experiences rather than rambling about whatever i'm doing or what's on my mind from here on out ('cause reasons).

what do i want in 2024? a new 'puter, that's for sure (this thing's like 9 years old and the fan sounds like a bike engine, i'm legitimately impressed it still functions at all). probably not happening 'cause i'm broke but it'd be cool and save me a lot of time making stuff.

cheers!