The September 2023 Review

This month was as busy as I expected and I’m out of breath just thinking about it. Here are some highlights.

Work

As anticipated, September was busy because all the work came bottlenecking into this month. It’s partly my fault because I could have followed up sooner, but instead I waited like I wasn’t the one in charge here. That’s a pretty strange feeling – that I was in charge of getting things together and had people in my team. It’s certainly given me a new perspective and a sense of appreciation for a solid, well-rounded crew – my assistant editor who picked up all the loose ends, and the layout editor who got absorbed into my team when I realised that made more sense.

I think it’s pretty cool that this is an all-women team, and it went with minimal drama. Solid team. Job done. Can’t wait to see the magazine in print.

Irene C’s Wedding

My friend’s wedding dinner proved to be a fantastic reunion situation for me and my media friends, most of whom I haven’t seen since leaving the industry. There was plenty to catch up on and connections to reforge. I was in the local media for nearly 14 years so that’s a lot of people to say hello to and repeat the story of where I am now. Thanks to Irene for this opportunity, and congrats to you and Shakiru on the wedding!

TTRPG

Seni Kita by HAUS was quite a lot of fun. My talk went well, although I’m not sure how many people were even listening. The Saturday group was already in session with Tiny Dungeons by then. I wasn’t playing, so I floated around, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I had a fantastic time, but I really over-extroverted myself.

For the second weekend, I went there to check out the other booths and hang out with friends. Ended up giving a couple of oracle and tarot readings. Maybe that’s a booth to consider in the future? Anyway, I was inspired to start work on some of my chapbooks in the backburner, and explore the art/preloved market scene a bit more. That’s my plan for the remainder of the year.

Anyway, if you are in Kuching and want in on the TTRPG action, email me or hit me up via Mastodon. You can also add our Game Master Eric on Instagram.

Gaming

I’m still playing Palia. It’s a nice, no-stress way to unwind so I’m not bored yet because there’s plenty that I have not unlocked. I’m also working on setting up my house, but my decorating skill is as bad as it is in real life.

The image above is a corner of the innkeeper Ashura’s private room. If you’ve played, you’d know that Ashura’s wife had died (I forgot if he ever told me why). I found this little shrine situation here and I think it’s pretty sweet. The details though! That portrait of her is gorgeous. There’s also a gravestone for her in the Rememberence Garden, and Ashura visits every day.

I’ve also been seeing a lot of Baldur’s Gate 3 content on Instagram. I wasn’t feeling very compelled to play until the multiple livestream recordings of people reacting to Astarion’s romance arc. *fans self* I’m still not gonna spend over RM200 on a game I’m not likely to finish.

Stories on Fire

I’m not sure which was more insane – me joining a challenge to write one short story every day of the month during one of the busiest months of my year, or me actually concluding it at 26 out of 30 stories. (I would have done 30/30 if I didn’t sabotage myself on work and Seni Kita weekend.)

At some point soon, I’ll elaborate about the experience on the Stories on Fire page, where you can currently find my catalogue of titles and descriptions. I’m glad I joined. Some of these stories will get polished and sent somewhere.

Twitch

Along with SoF, I’ll have to mention some progress on Twitch. This month, I cracked past 50 followers and all the way to 70, thanks to me being online more than usual, and getting raided by a few Twitch friends. Not bad for someone who hasn’t had her mic on all month because my old USB port won’t stay connected and I had to prioritise my mouse and keyboard. It’s fixed now. I’ll figure out how I want to do this moving forward.

I do plan on redoing my scenes. They got increasingly more cluttered as I added things to it. I want to simplify, or at least, organise it better, and I’m waiting for the right mindset to add a to-do list to the stream. I think I’m settling into the writing/coworking side of the community, although I do plan on working on some crafting in the coming weeks.

Pelikan Hub

Pelikan Hub 2023 was a pleasant affair. A bunch of regulars and a handful of new people who are proving to be great additions. My duty as Hub Master was fairly painless, except then I had to draw an outline of that cat on our banner and realised I’m so rusty at art that it took me much longer than it should. I came to the meet with a box, and left without it. Everything was given away, including the banner and the Hub Master’s gift.

The group separated into two tables – the main one with all the inks and pens being wielded, and a smaller one where we’d just sat and chatted. I was happy for the latter since I was rather over-extended by that week, but I’m also happy that the bigger group bonded quickly. One of our newcomers packed a gift of stationary for everyone, which was unexpected but sweet.

Coming Next

• I am participating in two marketplaces in October – Trunkie Junkie, and the Pay Day Bazaar at La Promenade. I’ll be hawking off my preloved books at both.
• I also plan to experiment with making chapbooks. I got a couple of things ready to go but have yet to get my shit together.
• I’m exploring the digital garden concept of maintaining a website. There’s a link below if you’re interested.
  .

Links Roundup

A no-commentary list of articles and media I found interesting enough to share on my Discord server.

• NASA needed help with a mission. The Vatican came to the rescue.
• The Opposite of Déjà Vu Exists, And It’s Even More Uncanny
• When Wizards and Orcs Came to Death Row
• ‘Biggest act of copyright theft in history’: thousands of Australian books allegedly used to train AI model
• Being an imperfect gardener of my digital garden
• You Just Found Out Your Book Was Used to Train AI. Now What?