Furikake Corner

#41 - A Quiet Start to the Year, Goals In Mind, Gin - 02/01/2026

Happy new year!

2025? Get outta here! 2026? Gladly! And that is how i've felt since the year began, to be frank. I'm not sure what's got me so energetic and motivated per se, especially given it's cold outside and the frost is here to stay for another month or two, but I'm glad to have that energy with me. Honestly, maybe it's because I also spent new year's eve and the early hours of the first day of the year just having fun. I got drunk off of carefully curated shots of vodka mixed into glasses of Irn Bru I poured for myself, alongside a monstrous combination of olives, cheese, salsa and nacho chips to form a giant bowl of nachos, all the while I chatted to my loved ones (my partners <3), siblings, close friends and the like. I spent my night in a voice call with friends, drunk as all hell, playing and streaming Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, and generally just having fun as I kept playing and the year passover occured. Usually i'd sit near the nearest available TV and watch the live countdown, but I decided not to do that this time. I dont know why but, some traditions I feel need to be changed up from time to time and these kind of traditions are no exception to that rule. The rest of my night would be spent with friends until they all tuned out for the night, and I ended up sleeping for two hours straight due to going to bed at around 5AM, hearing the rain rizzle onto the concrete around where I live, clearly the aftermath of the fireworks going off at the turn of the year. Alas, even despite the lack of sleep, the year insofar has been nice. It's been quiet, which I appreciate, and while the usual suspects continue to be...well, the usual suspects, they're easy to ignore given that I've been focused on getting back into the commission-work rigmarole and I've been working towards finishing the comms I've got on hand so that I can free up space later. Im feeling particularly happy about that, because people are wonderfully patient and I am also working at what I feel is an appropriate pace. Once the queue has been whittled down, I'll see to opening up a new commissions post on the socials and maybe altering some of the prices. I know my worth and I also know how long these comms take, so, it's only fitting. Depends though, I'm not skeevy about the whole thing, I don't wanna be gross like that. But anyway, back to the point of what I was saying: I've been keeping busy, because I know that if I don't, seasonal depression is gonna claw me alive. I know that seems like I'm being exaggerative but if I recognise that the seasonal depression really debilitates me, then, I know that it's best I keep going, because the alternative is no good.

I'm sure you can read from what I've said here but, I do have goals in mind. In the earlier blogposts from last year, I mentioned work on an LSD Dream Emulator video; that's still on the docket! I was basically halfway done with the footage, which is all I need towards the thing other than writing some basic points up on the script file - I have the idea of what I want to discuss within that video project basically memorised, the idea of the game being interactive art and how that piece of interactive art has inspired the creation of more interactive art, and how such a game like LSD is genuinely amazing for that. "LSD Dream Emulator and the beauty of interactive art", or something like that, in terms of the title. But i'll be coming back to that, for sure. The main two focuses for project development right now are gathering footage for a minecraft crt dreams, and a TWOC crt dreams (TWOC being an abbreviation for Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex - though you probably knew that to begin with based off of what I previously said so I dont know why I explained this haha). These two are the ones Im making basic points, putting my thoughts onto their script documents for, and gathering the necessary footage. Other than this, the next video will be on flash games - I know that's somewhat overdue, but, I didnt really have a deadline for that video to begin with and I think the points I made for that one have a more potent poignancy when it comes to being released NOW. So I'm aiming to get one of my art commissions done in the next few days, then free up some time for the less intensive stuff on that front, and then I can return to video production on the flash games video. I know it seems like i've got a lot on the mind and a lot on the docket, but, It's true, I DO. But I think I can handle it and it will certainly keep me active during these next two or so dreary months. Its funny really, I used to love winter, but...that's also because I thought that winter began in December when I was a kid, so my smaller self thought that we had autumn in october and november, then winter in december to march. Just a wee bit off haha, only a wee bit(!) But, alas. I actually dont really like these cold months anymore, mainly because Winter just sets off the seasonal depression and it sucks, and also because it's just...cold. And while I don't WISH for snow upon us, I'd rather these months have snow just for the sake of making the days look pretty rather than be so dull. There's something a bit dystopian about how the days get darker quicker, the full moon's out and glows in the dark sky like a christmas ornament that's somehow escaped storage, and the only sign that this ISNT spring or summer happens to be the fact that frost is everywhere. Make the season pretty at least, that would be nice! But hey, we can't all be winners. So thus, I wait for spring. I think ill be able to enjoy all of the seasons to their fullest once I have ownership over my life, which is the main thing: I want to achieve that, to no longer be bothered by the usual suspects around me who just make things ten times more stressful because they can. It's boring. I'll never understand this idea of tempting fate and arguing over unnecessary things, when...there's easier ways to solve your problems. Maybe that's me being naive, I dunno, but I think that problems can be solved through talking normally and NOT acting like pitbulls with rabies, a two-in-one combination package of bullshit and misery. But yeah, when I have the time and the patience and the chance to enjoy life to it's fullest once I'm away from the usual suspects, I think that the only problems i'll get will literally just be handling bills and particulars - I get EXCITED at the thought of that because it means that I can handle them...and they'll be done with! Who knew it'd be that easy? Amazing development! WOWZERS! WONGA! SOMEONE GET ME A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE! Fuckin-a. Haha. But yeah, maybe that's a very binary viewpoint but I generally think that life is a lot simpler if people dont take the obvious routes marked with danger, doom and disruption to something as simple as living a life. Like, motherfuckers see two paths, right? They see one labelled "peaceful route" and it's a yellow brick road surrounded by flowers and birdsong and sunlight. On the other side is the "chaos route", which is a road made up of traps, spikes, swinging maces with spikes, and knives everywhere that can cut you up and turn you into salami. Motherfuckers see, metaphorically, the two choices and go for the chaos route, then complain later about being hurt. I never get people like this, especially when I am annoyingly dragged through the route without any care for if I say no. So I'm gonna go for the peaceful route, thanks. My anger or more volatile emotions are reserved for things that genuinely deserve it, not being artificially forced out at the latest package of bullshit the usual suspects living around me enact on a whim. Besides, it's draining. So yeah, ill enjoy the seasons when I'm not being dragged through the bullshit, and I have time to actually...enjoy them.

Okay, to get back to the main point of this section of this post, here's the general schism of what my main plans for video production are:

And there are the bigger things, like sapari video 2 and sonic xtreme, that I need to do, but given they're bigger projects, I'll start putting focus on both once my backlog of stuff here lessens.

I guess the last thing that I want to really discuss is...well, a leftover of new year's, I guess?

I have an unopened bottle of gin here, and a whiskey glass befitting to use for it. Yet, I drank vodka on the big night a few days ago, so...when am I gonna drink this? Perhaps there'll be some big success ill have that warrants drinking gin? Im not sure. See, I know I love drinking. Hell, I enjoyed myself a lot last month with drinking, and I learned to be far more moderate about it too. Ironic that I learned through recklessness but hey, im 25, gotta make some errors I guess. But yeah, the gin is a bit of a mystery to me, and I wonder about it really. I just hope I feel some good successes this year. No, not hope, WILL get good successes. Hoping is good, but having the means to say YES, I WILL DAMN SUCCEED, is what I'm tooling myself towards nowadays. So i'll save this gin for something good!

I believe in treating oneself if the effort has warranted so. It's a workaholic thought, but, I do feel good when I treat myself accordingly.

May this gin be a nice encapsulation of success I'll feel, this year~