Would ya look at that. It's already August. A little more than halfway through the year.

And where are we?

I... I am kinda still where I started since the beginning of the year. I thought we were doing big things this year, but I took a hit from the convention -- I'm stuck with a sooo much stock. My shop is still doing okay though! Not bad. It's been 5 years since I launched shop, and it has been a super slow growth (because I honestly don't know how to market LOL), but it's nice to see it growing so far the past 3 years.

House renovations were done last month, and we're finally comfortably settled in. I haven't exactly done what I set out to do after renovations were finished, even though I have my setup (not exactly dream setup, but close enough) but I'm hopeful to eventually set a rhythm for it.

Lately we've just been playing Xen and made a lot of online friends! Even formed a guild with them and have a Discord server. It's been fun. Oh! I guess another thing I just started (because of Xen, really) is opening a POD (print-on-demand) store and getting a PO Box. Now I used to not be into the idea of a POD shop, like Redbubble and whatnot, but this one is literally my acrylic manufacturer anyway, so I thought, why not? The return on investment is seemingly better than other PODs -- still low though. I did think about doing a POD with Gelato or something, but I honestly prefer handling my own products, even though it would eat up more of my time. I think just being more "hands-on" makes it feel more like "my business," and more content possibilities. I mean, nobody wants to watch a vlog... of someone working on the computer? lol

The PO Box is mainly for privacy matters when mailing stuff out. I don't expect to be receiving mail, but if I were ever to gain a big following, maybe I would receive fan gifts haha

Happy happy new year! Welcoming in 2026 a little late, but I've been caught up with social activities in-person lol

I just saw an old post where I said that maybe we were done with Japan... we were not LOL because we went again, our 4th trip, in Nov 2025 Thanksgiving week, and came back to the States before Christmas. Unfortunately for me, I caught the flu two days or so before Christmas, aka two days after arriving home. Probably because I was working in the cold, cold living room without a jacket, only a blanket.

Anywhos, after that, we had to go down to LA for his siblings Christmas/New Year hangout. We were there for a few days; we went to Universal Studios~ (funnily enough, last month we went to Universal Studios Japan heh)

I'm settled back at home now but I'm busy preparing for my first tabling convention at SHMCon, happening on January 24. The club's anniversary is in February and we usually do it around that date, but this year they decided to do it a month early. I'm tackling things a bit everyday; my stickers (the main thing!) is still in limbo -- I placed my order back in late November, and another in late December, but there's been some issues. I'm hoping that the stickers will still arrive in time, given a week buffer. Business cards were done and submitted to my local print shop yesterday~ turnaround time is about a week. Super excited for those because they came out cute! I suck at designing cards because I keep changing my mind because "artistic freedom" and "professionalism," so they come out looking like there were too many chefs cooking LOL But this time! This time I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Also luckily, Daiso had lots of supplies for table setup, so I got some of those. Ordered a few more things online, and then I need to prep signage. I have about a week left to prep for whatever else, so I'm not too rushed. Really the only thing is my stickers OTL.

To dos:

1. Design shop sign
2. Design stamp (for packaging)

Must watch anime: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

[edit: LOL scmplayer no longer works properly and it made my blog not load sooo no more music :p ]

For the love of cats.

I started reading "The 4-Hour Work Week," just because. Why didn't anyone tell me that the ultimate goal is to "live" like a millionaire, not to BE a millionaire? I think that changes the perspective of things, because, why are we all chasing money?

We are chasing money because we are trying to do things that use money. Because millionaires are eating premium foods/cuisine and going on trips we can only dream of. In reality, we're not "chasing money." We say we want money to buy this and that, go travel, etc. But after voicing our goals in such a way, we settled on just summarizing it all in one sentence: We want money. And from there, we've lost our true goal in life.

This is your reminder: live like a millionaire, not to be a millionaire.

(Being a millionaire is just a bonus) 

 Cannot believe that I had epigastric pain (probably) because I ate heavy, fatty foods and didn't drink enough water that day. The area right under my ribcages was giving me a dull pain, and initially I thought I was just getting a weird stomachache/cramping. Using the restroom didn't help. I hoped it would just go away by itself. But it didn't. So I wasn't able to get any sleep the past two days; the pain kept me up, woke me up, and I was just turning a lot. On top of that, my period came so I was like getting 2 pains in my abdomen area. 

I got some Tums this morning, and only had a small/light meal of rice porridge. I think the Tums helped; the pain has pretty much subsided, but I can feel it come and go. I'll probably take another one or two later tonight. They were pretty fun to eat?

Right now, I'm pretty hungry... no more snacks at home so I could only snack on some grapes. Still hungry. Oop, now my tummy is hurting a bit. Should I take a Tums?

 This chapter really... I wouldn't say "opened my eyes" or resonated with me... but it definitely clarified some things I was conflicted about.

A lot of people hesitate to take responsibility for their problems because they believe that to be responsible for your problems is to also be at fault for your problems.

That's something I am guilty of, even if I was unaware. Now I try to actively talk myself through things: is it my fault? Is it my responsibility? I feel better saying something is my fault, but it's your responsibility blah blah blah, but I also think there's still a very thin line between what is "fault" and "responsibility." 

I also liked this line: 

"Many people may be to blame for your unhappiness, but nobody is ever responsible for your unhappiness but you."

Again, this chapter feels like we're talking about mindset. It's how we react to things, how we choose to perceive events, etc. And this would relate to the previous idea of values. Because our values determine how we react and perceive events.

Apparently this leads to "victimhood," where one is always calling oneself a victim. It's passing off the responsibility of solving problems to others. It's blaming other people, instead of taking responsibility.

"You are always choosing" because when we move forward in life (or backwards, or whichever way), ultimately we made choices. Life is a game. Imagine it literally as a game. When given an event, what are the choices you can choose from? 

"Do nothing" could be a choice.
"Get angry" is a choice.
"Blame someone else" is also a choice.

And then? It may be someone or something's fault that you feel angry. But it is your responsibility to figure out how to process that feeling. If you choose to get angry, which leads to--I don't know--hitting someone. 

Who's at fault? Who's responsible?

I think this concept is something I need to keep actively thinking about.

 I think I've heard of the self-awareness onion before, but never looked into it. At least, if you were to ask me what it was, I wouldn't be able to explain it. It's basically digging into your emotions.

The layers:

1. Understanding your emotions (ie. This makes me happy)
2. Ability to ask yourself, why you feel certain emotions (ie. Why am I happy?)
3. Deeper layer of asking why -- this pertains to personal values (ie. why do I consider this a success/failure?)

 Would ya look at that. It's already August. A little more than halfway through the year.

And where are we?

I... I am kinda still where I started since the beginning of the year. I thought we were doing big things this year, but I took a hit from the convention -- I'm stuck with a sooo much stock. My shop is still doing okay though! Not bad. It's been 5 years since I launched shop, and it has been a super slow growth (because I honestly don't know how to market LOL), but it's nice to see it growing so far the past 3 years.

House renovations were done last month, and we're finally comfortably settled in. I haven't exactly done what I set out to do after renovations were finished, even though I have my setup (not exactly dream setup, but close enough) but I'm hopeful to eventually set a rhythm for it.

Lately we've just been playing Xen and made a lot of online friends! Even formed a guild with them and have a Discord server. It's been fun. Oh! I guess another thing I just started (because of Xen, really) is opening a POD (print-on-demand) store and getting a PO Box. Now I used to not be into the idea of a POD shop, like Redbubble and whatnot, but this one is literally my acrylic manufacturer anyway, so I thought, why not? The return on investment is seemingly better than other PODs -- still low though. I did think about doing a POD with Gelato or something, but I honestly prefer handling my own products, even though it would eat up more of my time. I think just being more "hands-on" makes it feel more like "my business," and more content possibilities. I mean, nobody wants to watch a vlog... of someone working on the computer? lol

The PO Box is mainly for privacy matters when mailing stuff out. I don't expect to be receiving mail, but if I were ever to gain a big following, maybe I would receive fan gifts haha

Happy happy new year! Welcoming in 2026 a little late, but I've been caught up with social activities in-person lol

I just saw an old post where I said that maybe we were done with Japan... we were not LOL because we went again, our 4th trip, in Nov 2025 Thanksgiving week, and came back to the States before Christmas. Unfortunately for me, I caught the flu two days or so before Christmas, aka two days after arriving home. Probably because I was working in the cold, cold living room without a jacket, only a blanket.

Anywhos, after that, we had to go down to LA for his siblings Christmas/New Year hangout. We were there for a few days; we went to Universal Studios~ (funnily enough, last month we went to Universal Studios Japan heh)

I'm settled back at home now but I'm busy preparing for my first tabling convention at SHMCon, happening on January 24. The club's anniversary is in February and we usually do it around that date, but this year they decided to do it a month early. I'm tackling things a bit everyday; my stickers (the main thing!) is still in limbo -- I placed my order back in late November, and another in late December, but there's been some issues. I'm hoping that the stickers will still arrive in time, given a week buffer. Business cards were done and submitted to my local print shop yesterday~ turnaround time is about a week. Super excited for those because they came out cute! I suck at designing cards because I keep changing my mind because "artistic freedom" and "professionalism," so they come out looking like there were too many chefs cooking LOL But this time! This time I'm pretty satisfied with it.

Also luckily, Daiso had lots of supplies for table setup, so I got some of those. Ordered a few more things online, and then I need to prep signage. I have about a week left to prep for whatever else, so I'm not too rushed. Really the only thing is my stickers OTL.

To dos:

1. Design shop sign
2. Design stamp (for packaging)

Must watch anime: Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night

[edit: LOL scmplayer no longer works properly and it made my blog not load sooo no more music :p ]

For the love of cats.

I started reading "The 4-Hour Work Week," just because. Why didn't anyone tell me that the ultimate goal is to "live" like a millionaire, not to BE a millionaire? I think that changes the perspective of things, because, why are we all chasing money?

We are chasing money because we are trying to do things that use money. Because millionaires are eating premium foods/cuisine and going on trips we can only dream of. In reality, we're not "chasing money." We say we want money to buy this and that, go travel, etc. But after voicing our goals in such a way, we settled on just summarizing it all in one sentence: We want money. And from there, we've lost our true goal in life.

This is your reminder: live like a millionaire, not to be a millionaire.

(Being a millionaire is just a bonus) 

 Cannot believe that I had epigastric pain (probably) because I ate heavy, fatty foods and didn't drink enough water that day. The area right under my ribcages was giving me a dull pain, and initially I thought I was just getting a weird stomachache/cramping. Using the restroom didn't help. I hoped it would just go away by itself. But it didn't. So I wasn't able to get any sleep the past two days; the pain kept me up, woke me up, and I was just turning a lot. On top of that, my period came so I was like getting 2 pains in my abdomen area. 

I got some Tums this morning, and only had a small/light meal of rice porridge. I think the Tums helped; the pain has pretty much subsided, but I can feel it come and go. I'll probably take another one or two later tonight. They were pretty fun to eat?

Right now, I'm pretty hungry... no more snacks at home so I could only snack on some grapes. Still hungry. Oop, now my tummy is hurting a bit. Should I take a Tums?

 This chapter really... I wouldn't say "opened my eyes" or resonated with me... but it definitely clarified some things I was conflicted about.

A lot of people hesitate to take responsibility for their problems because they believe that to be responsible for your problems is to also be at fault for your problems.

That's something I am guilty of, even if I was unaware. Now I try to actively talk myself through things: is it my fault? Is it my responsibility? I feel better saying something is my fault, but it's your responsibility blah blah blah, but I also think there's still a very thin line between what is "fault" and "responsibility." 

I also liked this line: 

"Many people may be to blame for your unhappiness, but nobody is ever responsible for your unhappiness but you."

Again, this chapter feels like we're talking about mindset. It's how we react to things, how we choose to perceive events, etc. And this would relate to the previous idea of values. Because our values determine how we react and perceive events.

Apparently this leads to "victimhood," where one is always calling oneself a victim. It's passing off the responsibility of solving problems to others. It's blaming other people, instead of taking responsibility.

"You are always choosing" because when we move forward in life (or backwards, or whichever way), ultimately we made choices. Life is a game. Imagine it literally as a game. When given an event, what are the choices you can choose from? 

"Do nothing" could be a choice.
"Get angry" is a choice.
"Blame someone else" is also a choice.

And then? It may be someone or something's fault that you feel angry. But it is your responsibility to figure out how to process that feeling. If you choose to get angry, which leads to--I don't know--hitting someone. 

Who's at fault? Who's responsible?

I think this concept is something I need to keep actively thinking about.

 I think I've heard of the self-awareness onion before, but never looked into it. At least, if you were to ask me what it was, I wouldn't be able to explain it. It's basically digging into your emotions.

The layers:

1. Understanding your emotions (ie. This makes me happy)
2. Ability to ask yourself, why you feel certain emotions (ie. Why am I happy?)
3. Deeper layer of asking why -- this pertains to personal values (ie. why do I consider this a success/failure?)