哦还很有趣的是，我本来最担心四字熟语的填字游戏，结果发现中文填原来的谜题毫无障碍wwwww 然后为了保持统一感，抽签的签文（和狐之歌的牌子）就都没有修图，第二章就保持一个和风的感觉吧～ 另外英文的谜题改成了The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog，算多少跟狐狸有点关系，不容易，不容易 伊吕波歌的谜题也重新设计了，没有单纯地用ABCD👍
From The Lord of the Rings movies → extended editions → behind-the-scenes → books (Chinese) → books (English)/audiobooks (narrated by Andy Serkis! Haven’t listened to them yet…) → The Hobbit movies → *repeat* → and maybe even another round of The Lord of the Rings (it’s a loop…), then The Silmarillion → other related books → Chinese/English versions and audiobooks…
I might not make it out this year >A< If there’s any delay, it’s all because of Tolkien…Wait, Another Code is releasing soon, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side is on February 14th, and FF7 Rebirth is on February 29th, I… need to pull myself together…
My Kindle had some issues yesterday, which took me quite some time. Fortunately it wasn’t anything serious. I was kinda shocked to find out that Kindle Oasis seems to be discontinued. Nooooo—the only device left with physical page-turn buttons…What does Amazon have against physical buttons?! Are they really not going to make these wonderful things anymore? (It’s typical for me; anything I start liking ends up being discontinued *crying*
Anyway, Paperwhite has two new versions, with a 6.8-inch screen and warm light, reaching the standards of the Oasis (except it doesn’t have page-turn buttons!…
In the end, while I was figuring this out, I started browsing Audible…I wanted to re-read “Bullet Train” and “Three Assassins” (by Isaka Kotaro), and “The Mantis” is out too (tho I’m waiting for the paperback)… It’s a pity that Audible are just audiobooks and Kindle books (text) still need to be purchased separately (wish they are on the same app…) (:з」∠) I bought tLotR trilogy anyway. After all, it’s narrated by Andy Serkis, and I’ve wanted to listen to it for a long time. I also discovered Stephen Fry has narrated the complete Sherlock Holmes stories…It’s over 70 hours… (I probably need to grab the book to enjoy it. Will I ever listen? Just add it to the collection first haha
(Off-topic)
Also, because of these Kindle and audible shopping thing, I ended up unable to sleep whithout the sleep balm’s help…My bedtime has been pushed back hour by hour after I got back from the holiday. (The phone screen is too much for me; reading physical books doesn’t help much since I need the light on, so I really rely on Kindle as a sleep aid…*sob* Really need to get ready for work now qvq (Oh, you remember your work!
I probably had mentioned it before…I particularly love the robes made for Saruman, especially the fabric. His white robe has this subtle colour of “looking white” but shimmering in various colors with different lighting (easy to write but difficult to make!). The costume used a lot of embroidered fabrics, looking luxurious yet with many worn details. The details and textures are almost impossible to capture by the camera, but still, they are an essential part of the character, of creating a realistic Middle Earth. That’s one thing that I really love about the movies…They even had potters and glassblowers to make all the jars, cups, and bottles, just for the authenticity and uniqueness of Middle Earth. I still deeply admire (and fascinated by) the passion of tLotR crew (*wipes tear*).
Talking about the “reality”…Suddenly I (kinda) got why I can’t draw very fantastical or exaggerated designs, like crazy hairstyles and fatasy clothes and stuff… I like to think about how the clothes are made and worn when drawing them for the characters…If the character needs to travel or fight, I just can’t help wondering if the outfits are convenient or reasonable… then very unlikely to make them a Final Fantasy style (tho I love FF! I know games (especially the fantasy ones) don’t need such realism—sounds more like an excuse of unable to draw complicated designs haha. I also enjoy making a lot of backstories that will never appear in front of the players (yes i enjoyed doing this…). They are my embroidered fabric q_q
Weta was a new studio at the time they started to make tlotr, and Weta Digital was founded specifically for the movies (PJ: It would be too costly to go to the US for digital effects, better to do it locally). PJ even joked that tLotR was the biggest low-budget film shot in Wellington haha…but I love the charm of low-budget films! It’s really fascinating to see the creators making the most out of the limited conditions (same for indie games). I almost forgot that the extremely terrifying scream of the Ringwraiths is Fran’s scream, and the sniffing sound is performed by PJ himself lol How can one look at the Ringwraiths the same way after knowing this wwww
Another thing I noticed when rewatching…I knew the opening battle in the Fellowship was done by CG but I didn’t quite understand the tech (I was young…). Each little figure (agent) is an AI with its own thoughts and actions. The battle wasn’t “set up” (not drawn by CG) but generated. That’s indeed something in 2001 (and the tech was mature enough to be used in the industry back then). I couldn’t help but laugh out when hearing about the agent: don’t you guys have Agent Smith in your program haha…Hugo Weaving is just outside!
Watching the movies is like riding a time machine. I spent lots of weekends watching the DVDs when I was in high school. I haven’t watched them for many years but very line is just vivid in my memory. Watching them still feels like a “Sunday afternoon”.
And I often say that if I want to create a nice place, like Sango Village, the idea is “a place I want to live”. It seems to come from what Alan Lee said when he designing Hobbiton ; v; Though I’m not in the level of Alan Lee I hope I made some nice little places that you can relax in there. *covers face*
I had a post of the Middle Earth map from a magazine back in 2003…It was in my room for many years and I always keep it with me…kinda want to hang it up again. (In the end I didn’t. It was too precious for me to be taken out again lol)
By the way, after exercising (with NS) for over four months (plus a week of travel), finally my stamina seems to have increased. I also can sleep well and wake up early recently, so…can I finally get back to work (?!
There’s a lot on my mind but I’m unable to actually make them. I’ve finished another junk journal, and one of this year’s goals is to stop buying stationery >A<
Sometimes I wonder if it’s the journals make me update less on SNS… Anyway, I won’t give up any of my projects. That’s for sure.
I originally wanted to write about plans and new year resolutions (though it’s already past mid-January…) I usually hate new year resolutions because I feel like such things are just for talking, so I prefer summaries over plans. Even so, this year I seem to have some resolutions at the beginning of the year, maybe for the first time in my life! Maybe I really have a little hope for the new year (aka the future) (!
I plan to read more books, update more frequently, write down my ideas without hoarding them, continue exercising (as the doctor told me), and it would be great to use my camera more…and even better if I could draw more (if my back pain gets better); v;
P.S. January 3rd is Tolkien’s birthday (T’mas), so the New Year is really suitable for reading tLotR! ( P.P.S. Speaking of not hoarding…I didn’t write about the movies I watched in December, or have I looked at my travel photos yet (I took photos without looking at them…I’m not the one I use to be…)
Before resume my project, I will probably release a localization first. A small announcement to motivate me to start working. >A<
本来还想写一下计划和new year resolution的（1月都过一半多了哪还new year…）， 虽然我最讨厌new year resolution，因为觉得这种东西都是嘴上说说过三个月就没然后了，厌恶所谓的仪式感和只说不做，所以比起展望更喜欢总结，比起计划更喜欢写已经发生的记录， 不过即使这样的我今年好像也有一些年初的resolution，可能我长这么大头一回！也许真的对新的一年（aka未来）有那么一点希望吧（！
Unfortunately, I caught a cold right after returning from my trip, and I’ve mostly been lying at home sleeping 😷
I had no idea that the winter in Japan was soooo dry…It’s an island country! The humidity was around 30%, which was hard to get used to. They use air conditioners rather than heating, which felt like being air-dried…I did drink a lot of water and had many lozenges, yet my nose and throat still hurt. Then I went back to my home in China. The humidity was just above 20%…I finally collapsed (:з」∠)
Then I unpacked and packed, had some rest, and read some books…I finished “Ensel and Krete”, which is by the author of “Captain Bluebear”. I love Bluebear so much and looked forward to this one for a long time. Well…It’s an amazing story, though it’s hard not to wonder if the author was on mushrooms when writing it😂 I also read some Peanuts comics. I got a collectable set from a friend (when she was tidying her bookshelf). They’re really cute…the kids and Snoopy are just healing. They are also great for bedtime reading, though the hardcover book is huge and heavy. It’s a pity that I can’t finish the whole set in a short holiday.
I’m heading out to Japan and China this Friday, so I might as well update a bit (even though not much to share…) Firstly, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! As everyone knows (not everyone), I’m not a big fan of celebrating holidays or birthdays, so I just shut down my mind every December😂. This year, without any projects or pressures, plus I started journaling and such, by year’s end I naturally found myself thinking about the new year and new notebooks…Like, is this what a normal December feels like? Do people really happily reflect on their year and then look forward to the new one coming? Maybe I should give it a try (!
Ryan is the character that really hates holidays, but I guess this didn’t show very well in the story. He is just ill-tempered and basically hates everything😂
I planned to play some games today. Recently I’ve been thinking about playing (clearing) something in my Steam library (which is an impossible task, why bother), and I was playing an indie puzzle game…There were many puzzles (kinda interesting) but lots of them didn’t really make any sense (…), plus I kept forgetting the controls and the previous progress. In the end I just got stuck absurdly and the whole lot of puzzles felt like homework (… I hope myself from the past wasn’t a pain to the players…(Hopefully…Anyway what I have done is done, I’ll just bear this in mind when making another game😂
When I paused to grab something to eat, I took a glance at the movie “Django Unchained,” and then I couldn’t stop. It’s so engaging that there’s no good place to pause —Though it was late, I stayed up until 4 AM to finish it. The film was a bit long, but I have no complaints. I thought it was going to be a western, but it should probably be called a southern😧 Quentin’s linear narrative is kinda rare (?), but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen even though there was only linear story telling.
Actually, the movies I wanted to talk about are The Matrix trilogy…but it’s too late now (I mean 7 AM), so I’ll have to leave it for next time (…
The second wave of merch will just have two sets of stickers…for a start! I originally planned to make the acrylic keychains for the TAT gang (the images are ready), but I kinda got stuck on the “chain” part…I wanted to have some simple black cords (colored cords would be even better) to make a tiny charm (that could be decorated on a binder)…but the factory didn’t have those cords, only bead chains or keyring clasps. Star clasps look nice, but they might not look like small charms for a binder, while bead chains feel a bit…cheap. (Anyway, black cords look cheap as well, don’t they?!) Therefore I might end up choosing bead chains after all.
I also want to fix up Charlotte’s fullbody image slightly. It wasn’t very well drawn (for it’s an old picture from 2016…). Making an acrylic standee will flip it horizontally, which is a bit risky. And I haven’t finished the images for another set of small standees, so I won’t rush the job.
I was planning talking about the merch, but I’m kinda too exhausted to find out where to start… Well, firstly I really want to thanks everyone for the support *started to cry*
For example…The idea of these small standees sugguested by a player (who made the first oversea order!) I was always shocked and very nervous when having an order (that’s one of the reasons that I didn’t look very enthusiastic about the shop…actually I am!) I know I should feel happy and proud rather than anxious. It’s just hard to control it😂
The staff at Afdian (who makes and sells the merch in China) are super nice and reliable, which saves me a lot of trouble…T T However, the work hours in China for me are basically…around 2 AM to 5 AM. I feel like my health might not allow me to keep going like this (:з」∠) (Well…to be honest they are something I want to make. I know it’s no big deal to anyone else if I make it or not… (But I’d feel really guilty if they doesn’t sell and just piles up in Afdian’s warehouse…I do hope it sells out soon!😂
…What nonsense am I talking about as a creator (:з」∠) Anyway, it’s the best thing if you can like the merch (and use them)!! I’ll keep pushing on 💪!
One thing about making merch is that it’s not just about printing the images. There’s image editing and surveys beforehand, and after receiving the merch, I need to think about the packaging, buy wraping materials, pack every item, take photos, and list them online. The whole process is just…not easy. I admit that I underestimated the workload of counting items and packaging. Even I got my wraping materials by very fast delivery, usually they still needed at least two days. I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by…
Maybe I made things too complicated for the first wave. I did have a great time (….) trying various papers, bags, and ribbons. This time I calmed down a bit (the stickers are simpler too). I just bought some colorful envelopes and cute bubble bags for wrapping. Of course, I also printed new seal stickers and some cards as a gift!
Actually, I also made three wooden stamps this time, which were still in the transfer warehouse. Also, I should be traveling during Christmas, and returning at the beginning of January. I won’t bring my pc for the holiday, so I’ll just stop working over Christmas (which means there really isn’t much time left this year…I originally thought about struggling to finish the drawings and place the order before leaving, so when I come home, I could happily receive the goods (like in August), but suddenly…I feel this sounds too familiar…😂 That’s exactly what I thought (and did) in August, and in the end, I was stressed without any rest until the last moment (you never know what will happen when making merch!)… Not sure if I should rush it ((if not, I’ll think about it next spring or summer.
It feel like a blur after getting back to the UK in September…and before I knew it, even the Singles’ Day (11th Novemver) was passed. Only a month left before travelling…so I hurriedly had the items shipped from the transit warehouse. I hope this parcel, including the postcards and stamps (the stickers were delayed by a few days and I didn’t wait for them), can arrive before I leave. —So somehow, I ended up listening to the whooshing noise of the deadline again. How… *looks to the sky*
Time flies too fast இ௰இ
My recent interest has been all about watching movies. I started by rewatching “Vanilla Sky,” and then started to rewatching “Mission: Impossible” again…one movie a day. To me, the first six were all great, but the 7th is difficult to say… I rewatched “Reservoir Dogs” again today. I was initially a bit shocked by the violent scenes when I first watching it, but after all these years…Yeah it is a brilliant movie.
In the first half of the year (while working on “An Halloween Afternoon”), things were still pretty normal, then everything went beyond my control (I want to go home! I need to go home!). I watched a lot of Japanese dramas and movies, and completely fell behind on my reading. Now with the year almost over, I may not even reach 20 books—planning to read hard in the last month, or I won’t be able to write for the reading list of the year. In the other hand, I did watch quite a few movies, although there’s nothing particularly to recommend. Everyone has probably seen the must-watch ones already. (I sincerely recommend “Vanilla Sky”).
…But I’m not worried about the year-end art summary, 😠 (???).
爱发电这边有爱发电的工作人员（超级nice又靠谱），省了很多心……T T 不过做谷子，再怎么说也要在工作时间交流，对我来说基本就是……早上一两点到四五点，继续做下去感觉我要撑不住了(:з」∠) （虽然，即使撑不住了其实还是自己想做（自嗨）的东西，可能对别人来说多一点少一点并……没啥差别w （卖不掉堆在人家仓库里我还会很愧疚，还是希望能早日卖掉的！😂
Here are some recent photos, I seem to have hoarded again orz.
P1, Sunset was difficult to take, but the sky looked really blue. I still can’t get used to it getting dark at 4:30 pm. I want to hibernate =-=
P2, a Powerpuff Girls pen holder (makeup brush holder) I bought from Shein. I still haven’t figured out what to put in it _(:з」∠)
P3, A small gift box and some dices from Shein! They look pretty. Now I have a manual random number generator! haha
P4, my curtain lol, with gradient sheer and little stars. It sparkles during the day www (gives off a disco vibe…very amusing) I thought it was too girly when I bought it, but now I completely love it.
P5-6, I made a small note book using the memo block. The purple one turned out to be 75 sheets of paper plus 75 sheets of cardstock…rather than 400 sheets of memo. What can I do with these 7x7cm cards?
P7, I bought three boxes of 400 sheets memo blocks, without know what I was doing…Finally, just one box left, I need to keep using them (.
P8-9, made a small journal for recording journal entries
P10-11, spent the Halloween eve making a junk journal. I actually bought props like pumpkins and little brooms, but Halloween just passed like that (…
P12-14, took a walk in mid-October, very autumnal. I even found a big mushroom under a tree (kinda wanted to journal about the walking, but I doubt I’d do that again untill next spring (it’s cold…)
P15, the honorable retirement of my mini hole punch. I can’t believe I broke the hole puncher ahhhh… (I made it work too hard, my bad😂 It was a very good puncher!
P16, the afternoon sun shining through the curtain holes. I really love west-facing rooms (although it’s super hot in the summer). Everything displayed is the stuff I like, and the calligraphy is written by my mom (It’s said something like, “more or less it’s just fine”).
P17, Bar keep and Rosie holding hands~ (I also love this spot on the shelf. It’s the first things for me to look at when I turn my head
P18, this year’s DQ stationery. They released an A5-sized adventure notebook! The inner pages are also very beautiful. Love it! Better than the A6 planner.
P19 is the Kokuyo loose-leaf notebook. I really like this green colour and this dog
P20 is a beautiful sky, and a rose shooting up into the sky 😂
I wanted to practice drawing and photography, but in the end, my mind went blank then I watched a movie, “The Fugitive”, instead. The 1993 film is truly great🥹
Movies are wonderful. Making movies is like crafting dreams, and watching movies is like dreaming.
2023-09-27 Suddenly realized…I’ve reached 100 patrons on Afdian from history!
I’m so happy! Thank you! Wishing everyone a happy holiday!!
2023-09-27 突然发现， 历史发电100人达成！
很开心！感谢！ 祝大家假期快乐！！
2023-10-05 Some holiday random talk~
There’s a lot that I’d like to talk about, but every day it’s like… Still, my biggest problem is lack of energy; when I do have some, it all goes into journaling and collaging *sigh* The last time I posted only one line about the mailing boxes…it was because I fell asleep after writing just one sentenceˊ_>ˋ
Anyway, have a great holiday everyone!! Rest well! I’ll show off my junk journals in a few days (not that anyone wants to see them).
I want to do everything, but end up doing nothing. The only motivation I have is cleaning and (junk) journaling. Cleaning the room ➡️ collaging/journaling ➡️ room becoming a total mess ➡️ cleaning up again is currently the ultimate way for me to de-stress😂
More update after some sleep: I’m still cleaning up after getting back home (I know it’s been a month…), because my room was very full! There was no place to store the merch!! Yes, I still haven’t managed to display them, and sometimes I feel a bit guilty about the friends (and players) who got such large packs! (… I really want to display them in my room (tho there’s no space), and I also want to take some more nice merch photos with my camera (rather than my phone…even though I’m not good at taking beautiful merch photos இ௰இ) Therefore I start organizing and decluttering, but only managed to throw away a few old t-shirts. My stationery drawers are also a mess. I can barely remember what I stuffed in them, making them very inconvenient to use… → So I’ll organize! It’s great that I’ve got some paper scraps and packaging bags. I’ll try junk journaling! → Well…I think I need more stickers and scrapbook stuff…இ௰இ → Start browsing shopping sites… I also bought some storage items when ordering stationary, looking forward to some home improvement (😣 Btw, there’s a pack of memo that I can’t find anywhere after unpacking…the TWTP cards are also missing, which is quite frustrating.
I constantly feel tired is probably because I exercise more…I’m still getting used to it. Walking or playing Fitness Runner for half an hour makes me tired, though it’s nothing for normal people…😂 Plus it really feels like the day just buzzes by when not sitting in front of my pc for long hours =-= Now you see the necessity of eating well, sleeping well, and exercising properly…
It’s great that Fitness Runner now has Simplified Chinese (and English). This game is one of the fitness games that suits me best. It’s easy to play, and the training is nice, highly recommended! The character I choose is voiced by Kana Hanazawa, and I really like her voice! (Some how she reminds me of Katrielle Layton. I’m just so happy and…satisfied).
I also tried guka (it’s like decorating an acrylic chip with tiny stickers)…It feels nice to decorate a binder with charms and keychains😂 The moment I started using a binder…I thought about making keychain merch. I’ll will consider it next time (is there really a next time…
P6 is my little junk box. I swear that I’ll not hoarding anymore… Actually, I’m also trying very hard not to hoard my thoughts (and pictures) for updating. I often feel that I can’t deal with the things going on my mind, then end up having a huge block, which makes everything very exhausting. (Like…why did you make so much merch! *eyes closed* I’m reflecting!! By the way, P6 and P7 are suitcase stickers that I bought on Amazon (copy right issue…?), but, well, the quality is good so I just don’t want to throw them away. I’ll try sticking them on my junk journal. I also dug out a self-made Sailor Moon sticker book from my elementary school days when I was at my home in China, and realized that I’ve been making scrapbooks with printer paper since over 20 years ago! They were even A5 size haha! I truly a fan of A5 size, nothing has changed a bit😂 It was a book full of beautiful Sailor Moon stickers in my memory, but seeing the actual items now…the print quality haha…The stickers are blurry and have lots of ghosting, plus many weird 90s-style colorings (many of them are unofficial…) I also scaned and printed some manga covers to put them in the scrapbook (I guess I was one who used up the colour ink…). The inkjet printer around 2000 was like…If the ink dots are any rougher they’d be a colorblindness test chart (?!) Oh my, real Y2K…
So last night I realized, I’m still making sacrpbooks and playing with (unofficial) Sailor Moon stickers! 😂 A friend said: Life is a circle www But at least now I have Sailor Moon 30th Anniversary stationery 😊! Oh right, I’ve also finished the second MD notebook. I do enjoy keeping the diary, tho I don’t have much energy to talk about it.
Also, here are some pictures when I was taking a walk. I met a cat on the road who came over to rub against me, then just flopped down on the ground😭 There was also a day when there was a sunshower. I was pretty tired and upset but forced myself to go out…and saw this (half) full rainbow, which was rare🌈
I went to look at the moon on Mid-Autumn Festival. At least I need to take a glance…The clouds were thick, the moon was very bright, and it was pretty to watch the clouds drift by. When I was taking photos, an outdoor cat friend jumped out again! He just plays in my gardern day and night😾
My recent favorite background music for doing homework is this → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFNPrOfxBWo The music is nice, and a 50-minute Pomodoro timer is just right! It has a good reminder sound! Recommended~
Don’t sit for too long! Stay hydrated! I really recommend black tea with dried tangerine peel (Chinese herbology). Teabags work too. It’s nice to brew a big pot, and then happy drinking!👍 Please eat well, sleep well, and rest well. Hope you have a happy october!!
(Just this nonsense radom talk can also take me an hour…today’s update ends here😂)
Oh, the hoarder’s dilemma: “What if I want to use this after it’s gone?” There will always be more stuff in the future! When am I ever short of bits of paper and plastic bags? Don’t hoard! But still…I haven’t had the heart to throw away a big bag of kraft paper bags and clean bubble wrap…(trying to reuse them…) And these stickers…why did I buy two of them? I can’t even use up one set😭
Junk journals made of junk are still junk, ans I have to clean up a space for them… The law of conservation of junk😭
I also made three mini notebooks with unusable sticky notes, using up a stack of memo blocks (they are as heavy as bricks…). Four-in-one is where I took four memo and stick them into one sheet, using up some unwanted washi tape at the same time… In the end, I only made 17 pages, leaving me feeling a bit unfulfilled, kind of like, “Huh, is this all the junk memo block I have?” (you…
Hoarding updates also bacame a lot of rambling…and I feel like it’s exhausting for the readers too, m(_ _)m
Additionally, I do think a month is enough to form a habit. After being forced to take walks for a month with my parents at home, I’m fine with exercising now… And after a month without social media, I don’t even feel like checking them anymore (…). I usually find it quite hard to form habits. I hate having to do a little bit every day :/ Somehow it feels like I’m on the right track, I can push on (like…updating daily?—not happening, lol).
It surprise me that I just started to keep the diary and never missed a single day. I wish I had this much dedication for other tasks! The weirdest habit I can’t maintain is taking vitamins. Doctors always told to have some Vitamin B, but over the years, I’ve hardly taken any. I never remember to take Vitamin D in the winter due to the lack of sunlight, even when I put it right next to me…Well, writing this as a reminder to myself 😂
Also, there’s something about journaling that I wanted to write on Lofter (a blog I used to use), but I’ve been hoarding it forever and haven’t… I’ll talk about it in the next update (…). ← Writing it here so I don’t forget =-= (↑Unfortunately this never happened as well😂)
