I never expect the free games on Epic to be brilliant, but some of them are surprisingly good - such as the big con, which was awesome. Arcade Paradise looked cool, but boy does it suck.
The premise is quite appealing. Your rich dad wants you to run a laundromat, but you decide to renovate it into a retro arcade. The first few days of gameplay enforce this idea. You do slow, boring laundromat activites, but this is to finance buying the arcade room out back. The implication is that the laundromat premise will quickly be dropped so you can get into the meat of the game; playing retro games and micromanaging an arcade.
Nope! Instead, lucrative and ever-spawning rubbish, gum and laundry encourage you to get stuck into an irritating loop of doing a task, rushing out back to play half a round of a game, and then being torn back to the laundry cycle every 2 or so minutes. It's extra strange because the solution is obvious; have the main character hire a part-timer to do the laundromat stuff for you, and let the player focus on the fun bit. The laundry is only there to justify the story setup, after all, and the laundromat mechanics are clearly designed as time wasters.
It also has this truly bizarre mix of beautiful graphics and terrible graphics. The arcade games are all cute and fun, there's a great intro video, and the music is cool - but the actual gameplay is GTA5-esque semirealism that looks old and unpolished. This game needed time in the oven for sure.
I wasted a good hour or two on Arcade Paradise waiting for the bit where it gets good so that's why I felt compelled to write about it. It's strange to me that so much love could be put into a game without the creators realising they were making an elaborate chore simulator.
Stolen from https://satyrs.eu/garden
1. Time and date you started this?
19/07/24, during work hours :3
2.ASL?
23/Oh, You Know/My house!
3. Opinions on musicals?
I like them, but I don't seek them out. And I really didn't like Rocky Horror.
4. Favorite snack?
5. Have you ever been in love?
Yes.
6. Favourite Pokémon?
BEWEAR!!!!!!!!!!
7.Mario Kart main?
Isabel!!
8. Team Fortress 2 main?
Fuck off
9. Do you laugh at Youtube Poops?
Not the traditional kind, but I do enjoy a succulent tiktok compilation sometimes...
10. Are you listening to music right now?
I'm listening to Casiopea's new album, RIGHT NOW. It fucking bangs
11. Favourite shape?
I usually think about other more important things
12. Do you believe in astrology?
Absolutely not, it's only interesting as a sociological subject
13. Do you believe in the occult?
I'm an empiricist so, you know,
14. Opinions on vocaloid?
I have played 53 hours of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA
15. Would you ever want to be a rock star?
Fuck no!!!! I have zero musical ability
16. Do you easily get stressed?
I have generalised anxiety disorder :)
17. What is/was your favorite class in high school?
Nothing bruh I was depressed the entire time
18. What pokemon type would you be? Dual types are allowed
Dark/Fairy
19. Rei or Asuka?
20. Favorite HTMLtag?
Once again, I usually think about more important things
21. Are you religious?
A buddhist in the loosest sense.
22. Opinions on nightcore?
DISCOOOOOORD IM HOWLING AT THE MOON
23. Did you go through any major phase? (emo, goth, weeaboo)
I have been a fujoshi weeaboo since I was born. Not really a phase so much as my life.
24. Are you good at drawing?
I certainly like to think so :3
25. Do you crack your joints?
No.
26. Do you read visual novels?
Yes! I love umineko, the house in fata morgana, and shibuya scramble. Right now I'm reading DMMD!
27. Can you sew?
S-sort of... I can fix very basic holes, but not very well.
28. Can you cook?
I make the best butter chicken ever (lying, it's probably mid but I love it)
29. Most expensive thing you’ve bought?
My fucking car lmao
30. Opinions on cosplay?
I've cosplayed Maka Albarn and Taako Taaco. I'd love to cosplay Kageyama Shun from Kamen Rider Kabuto, but the belt is so expensive :(
31. What's your most hated band/musician?
21 Pilots lmao
32. Are you a dramatic person?
Definitely not!!!
33. What emoticon do you use most?
:3 and face with raised eyebrow emoji. Sometimes I'll just write 'face with raised eyebrow emoji' for impact...
34. Can a miracle certainly occur?
Nope, miracles are the human brain trying to create patterns where they don't exist.
35. Would you let a vampire suck your blood?
Only if it was sexy
36. Do you have a celebrity crush?
Hidenori Tokuyama. Yes, I am a lesbian, HOWEVER,
37. Do you like snow?
Yes!!!!!!!!!!
38. Were you really into Greek mythology as a kid?
Not really, I was normal
39. What are some things you could competently deliver a speech on?
Gundam, mecha anime, rhythm games, and film analysis!
40. Are you good at spelling?
My mum was an early childhood teacher, you know I got that fuckin thang (spelling) on me
41. which touhou wud u fuk?
:(
42. Do you think there's going to be a robot takeover?
be so serious
43. Has science gone too far??!?!??!?!
be so serious
44. Would you be an angel or devil?
Angel, I get nervous when I'm mean
45. Sine, cosine, or tangent?
I quit maths in year 12 please don't do this to me
46. Do you like licorice?
No way, that stuff is disgusting
47. What’s thing you cant stand that everyone else loves?
TF2, and Halo. Just can't stand em
48. What books did you like as a kid?
Warrior Cats. Yes, I shipped greystripe and firestar.
49. Can you play any instruments?
No :(
50. What song would you want to play at your wedding?
Honestly something stupid like DISCOOOOORD IM HOWLING AT THE MOON
51. Do you believe in reincarnation?
Maybe?
52. Finish the sentence: I’m just a guy who ______
jorks my penits
53. Have you been to another continent?
Nop
54. What’s your worst habit?
;)
55. Favourite vegetable?
Broccoli
56. What’s something stupid that scared the shit outta you as a kid?
Vampires bruh. They're scary
57. What’s one of your guilty pleasures?
Yaoi....
58. Would you rather be a ghost or a vampire?
vampiwe
59. What do you fear most?
Losing my eyesight :(
60. Do you sleep with any plushies?
yes :)
61. What hobby do you just not understand?
Skydiving. That shit is scary!
62. Do you like the taste of alcohol?
No way bruh
63. Are you a hopeless romantic?
Unfortunately yes
64. Which deadly sin best fits you?
Envy
65. Which of your physical features do you like the most?
All of it :) I'm very cute!
66. Are your ears pierced?
Yep, two in each ear - I used to have helixes but them shits hurt
67. Have you ever been in a physical fight?
no way im a loser
68. Where do you buy your clothes?
second hand shops lmao
69. Where would you live if you could live anywhere?
Japan (see me being a weeaboo)
70. Do you believe in magic? Or is it all a trick?
Magic isn't real, because if it were, it would just be considered science.
71. Have you read Umineko When They Cry? You should!
Without love, it cannot be seen...
72. What is the worst chore to do?
Putting away clothes fuuuuuck
73. What did your parents almost name you?
Udora lmao
74. What would you want your name to be if you were not your current gender?
idk lol
75. What were your first words?
Not sure, cause I just started yapping a lot when I learned to talk.
76. What do you want your last words to be?
'ouughghghgh i ghink im dying'
77. When did you first regularly start going online?
I've always been plugged in bruh
78. What year do you miss the most?
None of them regret is an illusion
79. Are you psychic?
Please ask again later
80. Would you fuck a clone of yourself? You’re not allowed to kill yourself.
YES
81. What do you use to listen to music?
Spotify sorry lol
82. Whats the biggest city you’ve been to?
Auckland lmao
83. Favourite animal?
Rats :)
84. What web browser do you use?
Firefox!
85. Are you allergic to kitty cats???????????
Yes and i am so so sad about it
86. Do you like energy drinks?
No.
87. Would you ever spend money on TF2 unusuals/CS:GO skins/gacha pulls/&c.
Jesus no (editors note: this user has paid for VBucks)
88. When do you usually go to bed?
10:45.
89. How often do you wash your hair?
Twice a day or less if im lazy
90. Would you download a car?
maaaybe
91. What was your favorite show as a kid?
I dunno, maybe hanna montana
92. What’s the silliest hat you own?
all my hats are completely serious, thank you
93. What album/song do you listen to when you’re feeling angsty?
I don't really get angsty im normal
94. Do you make OCs?
brother dont even get me started
95. What’s the goofiest thing you do when completely alone?
talk to my plushies...
96. Do you like fireworks?
Yes!!!!!!!
97. Favourite painter?
no favourites, im always on the prowl for something new
98. Favourite numbers?
Usually I think about more important things
99. What genre of vidya gaems are you really good at? (FPS, fightan, danmaku, racing, whatever)
Rhythm games, JRPGs. I have awful aim but I enjoy fortnipe
100. time and date you finished this?
let me get back to you on that
123Guestbook is shutting down. Sigh. I screenshotted all my old comments (thank you to all who left one) and will set up a new guestbook when this one goes down. It's sad to see another piece of the internet die; I can only hope neocities doesn't similarly go the way of the dinosaur.
In anticipation of visiting Japan in October, I've been trying to focus on learning Japanese. Last month I finally read my first full novel in Japanese - a Minecraft fiction book for 7 year olds, but a novel all the same. I'm also reading kanojo mo kanojo, which is honestly dogshit, but the writing complexity level is perfect so I'm suffering through it. Unfortunately I'm still awful at listening and writing, so it's doubtful whether I will even get a 'nihongo jouzu' on our trip.
My art tablet may be on its last legs. My wacom intuos pro medium (fancy, I know) has survived for 3-4 years, through a busted cable, and plenty of tea spills. Now, however, it has a tendency for lines to stop and start for no reason, and to not click on things. I've reinstalled drivers, messed with USB settings, replaced nibs, but nothing works. Instead of getting another intuos pro medium (they're ungodly expensive) I decided to get an ipad. Procreate seems like a wonderful way to get the cintiq experience without spending a thousand dollars - plus, I can use it to watch youtube, play games, and take photos, things an intuos most certainly cannot do. Actually purchasing an ipad and apple pen was the worst feeling ever - I am allergic to spending money - so I am currently on an ice soup diet until I get paid next week.
I've been thinking recently about my propensity to not contact old friends. I have a conviction that for all my old friendships or acquaintances, I left an overall bad impression rather than good, and they would generally be better off without me in their life. Obviously this is not true and I shouldn't try to place words in other peoples' mouths, but it feels natural to let myself lapse out of other peoples' lives. Even people I've loved, cried with, celebrated with, had incredible experiences with. I move forward, never looking backward, thus I have very few ongoing friendships that aren't online. It makes me feel lonely. I will try to organise a lunch with my old flatmate over the weekend.
Last week, I finally moved out of my old flat, and into a new place. I have different flatmates (thank god), a bigger room, and finally, a garden that I can tend to my heart's content. Words can barely describe my relief, as I was finding my previous flatmates (well, one in particular) to be absolutely unbearable. They're a smarmy person, with an inflated sense of importance and absolutely terrible taste in food and music. One time they served me a meal that was a suspiciously rectangular plate of mashed potato, which for some reason was green. I'm endlessly pleased to now be fully in charge of what I eat, even if it means I have to worry about it a bit more. They also had no sense of etiquette - if I invited my friends over, they would hang around, refusing to leave us alone for even a second, butting into conversation as much as possible. And then once insulted me for not bringing friends over. I wonder why...
Anyhow, it feels like I can finally start a new chapter in my life. My new flatmates who won't snicker when they pass by me enjoying my hobbies, or ever feed me oven-baked lamb chops - it's a dream come true.
I move out in two weeks. I am extremely glad about this, because yesterday's dinner, made by my flatmate, consisted of:
Needless to say I was not pleased.
There is now a very funny entry in my guestbook. It reads:
"⚠️ EUROPEAN IDENTIFIED ⚠️ EUROPEAN IDENTIFIED ⚠️ YOU USE DD/MM/YYYY ⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️ yyyy/mm/dd is the most logical. and mm/dd/yyyy. the day is not the most important info and should not be first. The year of the month is. If you're looking through papers you dont really care about the date, why is it first. Fuck "ordering" from smallest to biggest (even though the number for day will be higher than the number for month most times)"
I find this funny for a few reasons: Firstly, I'm not European, and it is not only European countries that use DD/MM/YYYY. Some countries even use different notation for different languages. I also find it funny because this poor person thinks that language should be logical. Unfortunately, I am a neocities website owner, so I enjoy randomness, and thus today I will be writing the date in full in French.
The randomness of language, and indeed presentation of data such as time, is one of the most beautiful things about humanity. We are so split on how to convey information that there are conflicting calendars and year systems still in use today! We can't even agree on how old someone is when they're born, what day the week starts on, or what base we should use for counting. We frequently modify, adjust, wiggle around, or circumvent our own arbitrary systems just so they'll conform better to the reality of life, such as moving an hour around depending on the season. Wouldn't life be sad if everyone used yyyy/mm/dd? Wouldn't it be uninspiring?
Finally, I find it funny because they're super invigorated about this. In order to make them as angry as possible, I'm going to start using really weird time formatting from now on. If anybody has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.
I'm very glad I'm moving out next month. That's because for some reason, yesterday night my flatmate decided to hide the tv remote from me instead of... talking to me like an adult. I was so baffled I didn't even say anything, just walked away. Their childishness and unwillingness to communicate has been getting on my nerves for a while, but this was seriously the end of my rope. Certainly, I watch movies often and they have every right to want a movie night. So why didn't they just talk to me during dinner or something? I was so upset over this I struggled to sleep. That's why I'm very happy I'm leaving.
Feeling better :) It's been so hot recently that I fear I may just melt. I don't go out much anyway but I'm especially being forced inside recently - 27c at 70% humidity is no joke. I'm also starting to pack up my things. I move in a month and a day, and I'm really looking forward to it. The place I move to has a garden that I've been encouraged to garden in, and a beautiful lounge and kitchen. It's a lot further from my workplace, but the longer bus ride will be worth it. Plus, I'm kind of sick of my current roommates. One of them I love like a brother, but the other (his partner) is rude, irritating and just generally anathema to me. So it'll be an absolute breath of fresh air to live with different people.
Yesterday I finished paranormasight, a very fun visual novel. I've moved onto a new one - clannad. Is it just me, or do all the girls in this game act like they're lobotomised? They don't just look like they're melting, they act like it, too. I know the VN and anime are famous and defined the 2000s as far as visual novels go, but I'm seriously unimpressed so far. I'll keep going, and maybe it'll surprise me.
Lately, I've been feeling pretty anxious and down about not being very... useful. As in, there's nothing about me that puts me apart from others. If I was a dentist or a scuba diving instructor, I would have specialist knowledge about something, and the skills to back it up. Instead, my job is eminently replacable by anyone with admin experience. I don't feel very useful in my personal life either. If I was bilingual, or even had my full driver's license, I would be able to do something not everyone can do. Even if I was a great cook, or I could crochet, or was able to draw something people were actually interested in. Instead, I feel like a nothing-person. You could scoop me out of the world and not very much would change. I can't look backwards and see an impression I've made on the world around me. It bums me out.
Maaaaan, why is learning Japanese so hard? I've been studying for years now but it feels like my improvement is glacially slow. Obviously it's easy to give up hope - and I refuse to let myself despair - but it's pretty annoying. I've been reading yotsubato, which is incredibly simple as far as manga goes, and that can still be challenging. I'm currently also watching yuru camp with japanese subtitles, and sometimes I can only gather the gist of a conversation. This is leagues better than I would have been able to do a year ago, but it's still disappointing and frustrating that it's taking so long. My end goal is to be able to watch tokusatsu without subtitles, and possibly even to translate things myself, and that's definitely a far-off goal.
Like I said though, I won't give up. I use wanikani to learn kanji, and I've recently started on Quartet after finishing Genki 2. Hopefully now that I've also incorporated immersion learning into my study, I'll be able to see my accomplishments as milestones that can compel me forward.
My interest in Japanese actually started with my dad. He's a two-time first dan black belt (once in Ashihara Karate, once in (REDACTED) with me) and he went to Japan in the 90s. When I was a kid, he would tell us about his travels and teach us how to count to ten in Japanese. He also watched ghibli movies with me and shows a very mild interest in anime. I hope one day I can go to Hiroshima with him and ring the peace bell like he did those years ago.
I'm 23 now! I had a nice quiet birthday with my family, who live in a small coastal town. My favourite gift was a very cute set of earrings. As for this site, it looks like someone has added it to a list on cloudhiker, which is like StumbleUpon. I feel very honoured to have my website on something like that, since this was originally just a fun way to waste time. If you're reading this because you found me through cloudhiker, hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for looking at my website!!!!
Anyway, since it's 2024, I should have resolutions, but I kind of don't. To put it boringly, it feels like right now my whole existence is just about saving money for something nebulous in the future. That's not to say I'm having a bad time - quite the opposite - but I'd like a bit of action. I'm planning to go to Japan with either my sister or my dad this year, so maybe that will be the highlight of this year.
It's been like four months since I last posted here... (crumbles into dust) Life is same old, although definitely looking up. I have a new place next year which is exciting cause im SICK of my current flatmates and their bullshit. I'm looking forward to my christmas break but work has honestly been going pretty well and I've been consistently overbudgeting so I feel pretty good about things. My Quartet Japanese textbook arrived yesterday and I'm immensely pleased with it; it's exactly at my level and it feels really great to be back in the saddle studying. I'd say I'm solidly in N4 territory, now struggling towards N3. My huge weak points are speaking and listening but I'm okay with being bad at speaking since I'm more interested in being able to translate text and audio. My writing is also pretty shit but the textbook is giving me plenty of practice. I'm actually okay-ish with kanji now after hours and hours of wanikani, although I only know about 450 by heart.
I'm hoping to go visit Japan next year, but my sister (who I'm planning to go with) is being really wishy-washy about getting permission from her boss. I'm considering just going by myself but I don't want to hurt her feelings. In other news, I'm single again, but I don't really mind and I feel happy to be single.
It's surprising how some experience and time can completely change one's ability to learn. I'm self studying Python right now for the game I want to make; in high school and university I learned C#, but I always had trouble with python. The way it handled for loops was especially confusing. Here's one for example:
cats = ['kitty', 'kitty2']
for cat in cats:
print('I'm a kitty cat')
In my brain, I could never understand where the variable 'cat' came from. It just seemed to appear out of nowhere. In contrast, nowadays it's immediately clear that it's just a placeholder word that refers to the current selection in the array as the program cycles through it - but I just couldn't get my head around that as a teen. It seems absurdly obvious now that I have more grey matter in there, but somehow it just never clicked. It makes me feel more hopeful for the things I still struggle with - maybe in a few years I won't have any trouble at all with something that feels impossible right now.
In other news, I recently read a really depressing essay someone wrote on their neocities. The theme was all about how some people 'shouldn't' make a neocities because they have nothing valuable to say. What an exclusionary, sad outlook on life. They really saw no value in people learning and having fun on neocities, instead deciding that websites had to be useful or interesting based on their own arbitrary opinions. I truly hope nobody who follows my website feels that way, because it's a massively limiting way of seeing the world. Self fulfilment and/or having fun is a reason in and of itself to create!
Okay, I finally did it and split this blog into two pages because it was getting massive. Feels nice to start fresh in a way! Anyhow, life is continuing on as it is wont to do. I made a game recently which you can play here, and I'm getting the itch to make another. This time I'm planning on making it more artistically cohesive so I'm learning how to animate 2d skeletons. Here's an example of one (the gif export option on DragonBones is scuffed as hell, I promise it's actually smooth and loops in reality):
Yesterday I had nothing to do at work so I read most of a book about topophilia. It's a very interesting area of study; a lot of it seems very obvious until you really think about it and realise you're making a bunch of assumptions based on your own experience. For example, the fact that to us the stars are really far away in all directions. But to a medieval person, looking up at the stars would be more like staring directly up at the pitch-black roof of a cathedral. Our concepts of verticality and horizontal thinking are completely different. Isn't that beautiful in a way?