Welcome to 2026! Let's make it count!

The year 2026 looks and sounds fake to me still. It's a science-fiction year where imaginary things happen, hypotheticals and jokes about pigs flying and all that. I don't know how long it'll take for that effect to wear off, because I feel the same about the thought of 2027. Regardless, we're here now, so we may as well make the best of it. After all, we only get one shot at 2026, right?

I've decided that this is going to be the first in a new habit, which is making at least one general blog post here every month. I aim for it to be a little update about me, my life, what I'm up to, and a broad overview of the things I'm working on and how things are going. I think having a monthly benchmark like this will make it easier to gauge my progress, both as a person and in my work, as well as keeping me feeling rooted in linear time. God knows my mind will turn into spaghetti otherwise.

So first, updates! What's new since my last post?

The biggest one first and foremost is I managed to get my new laptop!!! Thanks to a few incredibly generous individuals, I was able to gather enough funds to order it, and it's here and all set up! I'm writing this post from it right now, and it still feels a little bit like I'm borrowing someone else's laptop, but I'm sure it'll wear off eventually. Especially as I continue to use it for work, for gaming, and also decorate the lid with stickers (gathering stickers now, gotta maximize space). The Windows backup/restore service was helpful in getting a jumpstart, but it's pretty limited in terms of transfering programs or anything like that. I had to manually reinstall basically everything, and I did a lot of comparing settings and whatnot to make sure everything's set the same as it was. Not a big deal for most things, though I did have to find an install disc for Microsoft Office 2010 on Internet Archive and crack it (simpler than I expected). I backed up all my files months ago, so I copied over some photo folders I use a lot, most of my documents, my games folders, etc. If anything, not only does Word 2010 run smoother on the new laptop, but since it's a fresh install, it doesn't have the weird corruption my install on my 2018 laptop had. Everything's set up to respond in an instant, plus I can run Dungeon Defenders on High quality, so I'm really happy with everything. I haven't put my old machine away longterm yet, because I'm sure I'm gonna run across some very specific instances where I need to copy over some files from a niche drive location, and I don't wanna damage it by constantly opening/closing it just to copy over one random file on a whim. She'll sit by my bed for a little while longer, until I'm mostly certain I have everything I need from her.

With my new laptop secured and setup as my main, I'm gonna aim to up my productivity again. It was really hard to do anything amidst all the laptop troubles before, especially trying to keep files safe on my drive, waiting so long to boot up or load Word, manage the physical deterioration, etc. Now that I can boot in a minute and load Word instantly, keeping my files local while also archived on my portable drive, I don't really have any problems anymore. I want to try and create a habit for a work week that I can live with, a Monday-Friday schedule for writing every day, squeezing some art in on occassion, not forcing myself to get up too early or work too late, and take the weekends to rest. I really want to make this whole "indie Internet artist" thing work as far as a job, but I also want to take advantage of the situation to try and take care of my mental and physical health. That includes better self-care habits, better eating habits, consistent work schedule, etc. Making these monthly posts is actually a part of that aim, trying to make a regular weekly and monthly cycle of things.

My schedule also tends to be somewhat fluid in accordance with my girlfriend's university schedule, I tend to go with her when she goes to class and work in the library. I really enjoy environments like that, people coming and going, everyone going about their own tasks, letting me just sit there with my own things and do what I came to do. I usually put out a message to my friends saying I'm there, and sometimes a friend stops by to say hi and hang out for a bit. I also either have PictoChat open, or a 3DS with StreetPass, and mention I'm there to the local DS club I keep up with. Last week I actually chatted with a club member on PictoChat for a good 20 minutes or so! It's a great setup for me, and tends to lead me to my more productive days, so as the university semester revs back up, I expect my productivity to follow suit, though I also want to practice keeping my motivation up when I'm at home, in bed, etc. for those days when I can't go out.

I talked about my writing projects at length in my last post, and that's what I intend to get back to. I want to focus especially on my Robotgirl Lost to Time, supplement that with a fantasy short story compilation (specifically working on a Legendarium at the moment), maybe throw out some other short stories along the way. I'll work on the winter-themed story I alluded to before throughout the year, and hopefully have it ready to go when Winter 2026 rolls around. I want to start carrying my sketchbook and doodling when I feel the urge to, stockpile those as subscriber bonuses. Really I guess I want to start acting like this is my job instead of just saying it.

I also want to continue maintaining this site, not only adding onto it functionally, but also writing more content for it. I recently reviewed the Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 update, and I have some ideas for new gaming articles I want to write, even if I'm not sure how many of them could be interesting as a whole piece. Ultimately that's a moot point because I can write and post whatever I want in the end, so maybe I'll have some shorter posts, some rambly posts, doesn't matter as long as I enjoy it. I try to avoid the pitfall of just writing what I think other people want to read, and instead think of it as "If this was made by someone else, what would I find interesting?" and work from there. I try to create things I would like to read, and aim towards a particular audience who would find something called "The Balanced Diet of Gaming" or an analysis of the art direction of the GB Zelda games to be interesting reads, bonus points if they choose to interact with it after posting and make it a communal conversation/collaboration.

That kind of philosophy I think is how I approach all of my art. I could absolutely do my research and write a trans lesbian mechsploitation toxic yuri romance fic and get a ton of interactions from the community, but I'm just not really into that. No hate, just not my thing. I'd rather leave that to the people who want to write that sort of thing, and instead write about a robotgirl in a distant Adventure Time-adjacent future, or a fantasy world of my own making. Will it appeal to everyone? Likely not. Will to appeal to a niche audience? Yeah, most likely, but those are the people I want to read my work the most. The people who will read it, enjoy it, and choose to engage with it further are my target demographic, even if it's a bit of a mixed audience between my different genres. I want to not only give readers a fun and interesting time, I want to foster community and conversation with what I write, and help bring people together in that sense. Stories are what brought me and my friends together as kids, it's what led me to my passions, it's what connected me with my loved ones I have now. Why wouldn't I want to do the same for others?

I guess if I ever doubt my dedication to writing as a passion, I can reread what I just wrote. Telling stories is something I've been passionate about for the better part of a decade, and I feel I finally have an opportunity to do something with that. I'm in a place in my life now that makes it more possible than ever for me to pursue my passion and turn it into something tangible, and I don't want to throw that opportunity away. So I'll keep writing, as fast or as slow as I can manage, and make sure that I tell my stories. I'll figure out the rest from there.

~ Alex Amelia Pine