A Song in the Trees

Today, I celebrated Public Domain Day by uploading a few newly public-domain photos to Wikimedia Commons. Happy 2026!

I played a lot of video games I enjoyed this year:

• "The Roottrees are Dead" is a fun web-simulation puzzle game


• Oblivion (remastered) is very pretty even when disabling stuff to get better performance, improves on some problems in the original, and maintains that broken Oblivion charm


• "The Crimson Diamond", despite my issues with the ending sequence, was a great throwback adventure game


• I put a lot of hours into inventing farming and building community in "Roots of Pacha"


• I played "Expelled!" in one sitting (does get a bit tedious to replay the day toward the end), but the MC is so much fun in how unapologetically ambitious and ruthless she is


• Still haven't finished FFVII Rebirth, but there are so many games in the game!


• Just started playing the stat-building game "The Royal Alchemist", and while it's not perfect (easy gameplay, lots of typos), I'm enjoyed the royal intrigue and reputation-building mechanics


• And of course, I've been playing and modding Morrowind between writing way too many words of fanfic about it

Unfortunately, I had relatively bad luck in picking books I enjoyed this year. I DNF'd more than usual; the worsening editing standards in publishing are not helping, but I also happened to pick some that seemed interesting but ended up being a slog that I dropped or skimmed through after a certain point. After we started moving, I also did not do a lot of Japanese reading or watching, which I want to focus on more this year.

In skating, I finally received my new boots, which hopefully should fit better. I did a dance lift for the first time and passed a dance test, my upright spins are now much better, we fixed my bad-leg spiral, and my edge work is also improving. We even got me a baby Salchow that my coach immediately said I was doing wrong lmao. Onward and upward.

My partner and I bought a house, which was a pretty big deal. Moving was not at all fun, but we do enjoy being away from our landlord. There is still a lot to work on; however, we have managed some improvements already like replacing the furnace with a heat pump, and Z wants to learn more about plumbing and carpentry so he can do more on his own. I found out that the library system has thermal imaging cameras available, so I have one on hold to help find out where else we can improve our sealing.

Z's nasal surgery was successful; he had the stents removed the day before we left for Lake Placid, and I sat in to watch. Hoo boy I had no idea they were going to be that big. How did they fit??? He still had some stuffiness thereafter, but after a few weeks, he was pretty much recovered. He is able to breathe properly now :)

We had a great time in Lake Placid and Skamerica. It was actually a little weird to go online after and see the negativity, some of it felt like people were looking for a reason to be mad about the location, like when people claimed that nobody in town knew it was happening (you could hear locals talking about it everywhere, and there were tons of signs) or were freaking out about how a town in the Adirondaks was going to get a few inches of snow the day after the competition and how that was going to cause broken legs and stranded skaters. Can't remember ever seeing that before about other competitions. (There was one vaguely sketchy road going out of town; the highways were entirely clear.) I saw people begging for it to go back to Boston, but as someone who wrote a long email to the Boston organizers about the safety issues and baked-in ableism we faced at the event to zero reply, Iiii can't say I'm eager to ever return to that arena. Norwood was okay, but you couldn't walk to the event very easily due to its location.

Anyway, I will try to do a separate writeup about it, but the arena was cozy, very well-lit, and easy to navigate. The security people were nice and made no fuss whatsoever about my camera. I said hi to someone from my skating lessons. None of the seats would have had a bad view. I'm not usually a big skater-spotter, but it was hard not to see anyone in such a small town - I think I saw Alysa grabbing lunch one day. Overall, good experience! Lake Placid being quite expensive was the main downside. We also explored the town a little, and they have a beautiful public library with a reading area set on the lake.

This week, we were planning to see my mom again, along with my dad and friends at home. Unfortunately, Z developed a sudden case of vertigo, and even with medication, he's not up for that long of a car ride, so we're putting it off until he is feeling better. When will that be? We have no idea. He is scheduled to get PT on his vestibular system the first week of January, so we are crossing our fingers that will help.

So we have tried to have a cozy little Christmas here; we put his itty-bitty Christmas tree (it's about six inches tall) on our cat tree and put our presents to each other under that. We bought a log cake from the grocery store that we knew would not be as good as the bakery version, and it turned out to be pretty bad lol, but I baked some other sweets instead so I'll just have those. His parents came by today to say hello and bring us some food. One upside is that since washing dishes makes him dizzy, we finally got to work on the dishwasher the people who renovated the house left half-installed, and now it's working.

We also had the holiday show at my skating club! My coach and I did a variation on the Dutch Waltz with some original choreo thrown in, including a lift. Even made a bit of a costume this time with some net and a leotard. I biffed it on the spiral of all the things, but we ended on a good note, and I had fun :)

Been a busy week for Z and me. First, my old computer chair broke down - technically, I could sit it in, but it required a delicate balancing act and would drop me to the floor five times a day - so we went and got a new one. The nicer-looking one with actual colors was only $20 more than the greige version, and I happily went with that.

Then Z had his surgery on Halloween to help open up some airflow in his nose. We were joking that it was spooky enough for us every time we had to swap out his bandages until the bleeding stopped. Nobody else had the dedication to get real surgery for his costume, he joked. He's doing pretty well, except for a lot of post-surgery congestion that we're told is normal. Once he was asleep after that, I booted up some random indie horror games to play. I'm not sure if our new neighborhood does trick-or-treating; there's no sidewalks :( and it's not that quiet in terms of cars, so people might take their kiddos elsewhere.

This week, I had a couple of doctor's visits of my own. Vision is good! PCP asked me to get bloodwork which came back as indicating my thyroid is under-active. Still waiting for the doctor to call me back to confirm, but it would explain a couple of things, and when I texted my parents about it, both of them said they had a parent with thyroid issues, so. Thanks, genetics?

I have turned in the final final FINAL version of my project proposal, which was a bit stressful for various technical and contradictory advice reasons, but it's in! So now I can not think about it for a few months. That's meant a bit more time for keeping up with the GP series, haha.

And speaking of figure skating, I'm taking off most of this week, and my mom's coming up for a road trip to watch some real life figure skating with Z and me. Z's parents also came over today to say hi. We made them pad thai, and his dad made us a vegetarian version of a Ilocano dish that is basically fried vegetables, usually made with patis (fermented fish sauce).

Tonight I made myself do some more cleanup from the move; we still need more shelves, but my office at least looks more organized now. Step by step.

Me, practicing a spiral on my bad leg: Huh, it feels like if I try to tip my upper body forward any more, I'm gonna fall over the toe pick.
Me: Does it anyway, because that's what you're supposed to do and my coach is always trying to get me to push myself
Me: Falls over the toe pick

That's why I bought the knee pads and the padded gloves!

Spiral on the bad leg is also a bit shakier than usual since it's the ankle I hurt falling down the stairs a few months back, and I'm still rebuilding ankle strength in more challenging positions... which means I need to practice on that side more 😤

Brain is melting out of my ears a bit from working on this grant proposal. It's due very soon, so at least it won't last much longer! I'll be taking some time off next week and in November, so there's that to look forward to as well.

Z was gone for the weekend visiting friends, so I got to hang out with our clingy little cat (who is very, very attached to Z) allll by myself and witness his screaming rituals to try to summon The Better Human to come cuddle with him. Did get some of my own cuddles in, though! Also went to get some groceries and nearly got hit by a car that decided I'd had enough time in the crosswalk 🫠

In better news, though, I worked on my FIAB assignments and made some progress at filling in the ditches around the foundation of the house. Also went to movie night at S's place, where we voted to watch Blade Runner. Very good, very atmospheric movie, although I'd completely forgotten about the creepy scene between Rachael and Decker. I know it was still more of a thing back then for the female lead to act hesitant before kisses/sex, but it did noooot land well for our group. (I couldn't get into Han/Leia when I finally watched Star Wars as an adult because of this - I understand that their first kiss scene wasn't supposed to make him look pushy, but it still made me feel uncomfortable to watch and see it presented as romantic.) Afterward, of course, someone brought up the replicant or human question. My vote was that the most psychologically interesting option would be if he is human but has strong doubts about whether that is the case.

I recently played a couple of new adventure games, both of which I enjoyed a lot! The first was The Beekeeper's Picnic, which is a Sherlock Holmes adventure set after Holmes has retired to keep bees in the countryside. When Watson arrives for a visit (or to stay?) after WWI, Holmes decides that he needs to surprise him with a picnic. Of course, Holmes can't even try to scrounge up a full picnic basket without solving some minor mysteries.

One thing I really enjoyed is that all the dialogue is voice-acted by professionals, and on top of the solid writing for the main quest lines, there are many comments you can trigger by trying things out, like having Holmes play his violin for everyone. There is also a built-in hint system that you can access by picking up the phone and dialing Mycroft, which I thought was a very cute idea, but the puzzles were pretty straightforward, so I didn't end up needing it. It's cozy overall, with nice side characters in the various villagers, although it occasionally touches on more serious topics like Watson being deeply affected by what he saw during the war. The controls are a little janky, but my impression was that it may have come from the engine that was used, and it didn't stop me from playing the whole game through in one sitting.

While it's a very shippy game if you're into Holmes/Watson, at the end, at least if you put together a good picnic, you can direct their ending conversation depending on how you would like them to understand their relationship - as very good friends, found family, lovers, or no words needed.

The one thing I would say is that it's a very short game, so the full price might be a bit much if you're on a budget. (I picked it up on sale.) The quality is definitely high, though.

The second was The Crimson Diamond, a parser-based mystery EGA adventure game (especially inspired by the Colonel's Bequest) with some modernized features. The main character is Nancy, a new geologist at the Royal Canadian Museum in 1914 who wants to formally study mineralogy, and after a red diamond is discovered in an old mining town, she gets sent to investigate. The only building that remains in town is a single lodge with its own drama going on.

As an EGA game, the color palette is very restricted, but the graphics are done well despite that, and it's one area where you can see the Colonel's Bequest influence. The central mystery also builds nicely from 'I'm a mineralogist :) I want to find some cool rocks to test :)' to murder investigation, the characters were distinct and varied and fit well into the, and Nancy was a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing the bits where she geeks out intensely over minerals, which is also useful for the plot, and also having her immediately act like an adventure game protagonist and start barrelling into every room and stealing stuff out of drawers with no compunctions. The puzzles were mostly not too bad, save for a couple of obtuse ones that made me reach for the dev's hintbook, and I mostly enjoyed the 'good' ending.

Did have a few complaints: there is a meaningful distinction between 'look' and 'examine' that I missed for the first few hours (not sure if the game just skips over that entirely or if I missed/forgot one text box that tells you). One of the other features inspired by the Colonel's Bequest is that certain events are missable, as characters move around the game world. I think this is an interesting idea, and it does help the game feel like the world doesn't revolve around the protagonist. However, some of those conversations are weirdly particular about what order they can be seen in for no discernible reason, so I ended up reloading one chapter a bunch because A and B will wait forever to have a conversation you can eavesdrop on, but C and D have to have theirs overheard first or you've missed it. There is a built-in skip button, at least.

You also can't get the best ending if you don't grab a missable object earlier on - I probably could have replayed in about five minutes, but I was tired of typing commands at that point, and it's dumb in any case and also not clear why Nancy couldn't take one of several other obvious solutions instead, which she refuses to do. (You need to immobilize the last villain, who is an elderly woman, and the ONLY solution you can use is using a padlock to restrain her to a heavy item. You can't have Nancy tackle her, it would just take too long to undo some rope tied up in the scene, etc, it felt very BUT YOU HAVE TO DO IT THIS WAY for some reason.) And lastly, the main switch between ending types comes before you have to type a bunch of commands in as well, and honestly the endings are SO neatly divided into Bad and Good that the game might as well have asked, 'do you want to ruin the lives of yourself and your new friends for fame and fortune that you find unfulfilling because you never pursue your true dream for Reasons?' which was too pat for me.

But overall quite liked it, and it had me hooked! There's a lot of great flavor dialogue for trying different things in this one as well, there are multiple ways to draw some of the conclusions the PC needs, and it's a rare game where someone looking at the wrong type of rock for what they're supposedly investigating and comparing minerals on the Mohs scale are important to the plot. Pretty impressive effort from a single dev. Apparently a sequel is in the works, which I'll be looking out for.

After a morning of wondering if the seller would work things out with the title company in time, a lunch break full of signing lots of documents and asking questions about them (we got a refund on one of the fees, always good to ask), and an afternoon of wondering when our wire transfer would go through, suddenly a bunch of savings blipped away from us, and we were able to go pick up our house keys 😊

We went over tonight to get started on cleaning the place - it's been empty for a while, and it's covered in dirty footprints and spiders - and in the midst of thinking about a bunch of things that we need to fix up and work on, I stepped into the backyard for a break. A foggy moon was rising over the trees, and the yard was covered in fireflies that must be enjoying all the plants that were left wild, blinking so quickly it looked like the bushes were glittering.

It was a very stressful process, and there is a lot going on in general, but I feel really happy right now.

(And bonus, a big paper that we've been working on that represents two years of work got accepted today after our second round of revisions!)