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Well, it's been a week. ^^;;

I've been playing Final Fantasy VII for the first time in ages and really enjoying it. I'm playing the Switch version, with most of the 'cheats' enabled, which has basically made it into Story Mode, which is fine. I know eventually I'm going to get to endgame chocobo stuff and no cheats will save my arse... (also chocobo breeding/racing my beloved - Sephi can wait lol)

((seriously, if S-E could just make a chocobo breeding mobile game...))

Went down for the local-enough 30 Minutes Label Day/Contest yesterday and there was a really good turn-out. (Seven contest entries!) Winners were store-level only, compared to like, the worldwide gunpla contest, and the judging seemed to favor creativity over craftsmanship. (Which makes sense for 30ML, tbh.)

The store itself has rearranged with a big section for gunpla/bandai kits at the front, unlike the little corner the last couple times we were there. While we were there, an old guy was wandering around complaining loudly about how few 'real' model kits there were and how terrible color-separated snapfit stuff is. I was very tempted to confront him but his absolutely mortified wife was already trying to get him out of there.

Let~ People~ Enjoy~ Things~

That said, color-separated snapfit stuff is great and lowers the barrier for entry and can lead to a person attempting different types of models requiring different skills! Or they may be happy sticking with color-separated snapfit stuff and that's also great! (And either way, hobby shops stay in business! Double-great!)

Need to finish up my Redacted entry next.

( March Was Deadlines! )

When not working on my Redacted project, I'm trying to get my desk cleared off and get things ready for the next Hobby Market, which is the 4th. Also need to get this month's mail sent out, which is 90% ready. And some very minor car repairs (and maybe schedule some more major)... Got my eye exam scheduled too because my right eye seems impressively fuzzy again. Blrgh.

Many swords, again... worked on archiving and got a decent bit done. Close to a half-dozen new fandom pages? Felt pretty good. ^_^ I've refined my workflow and while I don't know if it's actually going any faster, it feels faster. Before, I would code up five or so pieces, put them on Neocities, and then put them on DW. Now I'm just doing one at a time, putting it on Neocities then immediately putting it on DW and logging it. Makes it a little easier to pause, if nothing else.

I do wish I'd put a little more forethought into how I'm logging what I've done, but I don't think there's any perfect solution there. After a point it'll be much easier, like when I'm just cruising through AO3 by fandom when there's only a few dense fandoms left. Right now I'm all over the place and logging things into composition books is getting kind of gnarly.

Worked a bit more on MG Tallgeese Flugel, but mostly worked on stuff for 30 Minute Label Day. Definitely not a prize-winning display, but a fun one. And that's honestly what I want - a fun display and one people can interact with. Like, I'll offer to let people touch, gently, and check out articulation and details and whatever. There's not much that can be broken beyond repair, if anything. Need to get back to my [Redacted] contest entry, too, as that's coming due very soon.

Goal for the week is getting my desk cleaned up. What even is going on here?!

Apparently last week was just a week of Doing Things, because along with setting up Saint All-fi (works most of the time well enough, thus far), I also made my first Suruga-ya order for the year. It arrived yesterday, and didn't get dinged for tariffs because it was all books. (One gunpla server is waiting to see how the tariffs are now and where the break-even point is for sales/fees, dollar-wise.) Two Gundam books, two Fire Emblem books. One replaces a weirdly damaged book from some years back, one I've never actually seen in stock before, two others just very good prices.

Premium Bandai did varying price points of Gundam Kit Fukubukuro this year, and just put up a few more sets. I snagged one earlier in the year and thought it okay and after some dithering, picked up another. They've all been very good deals, as far as MSRP goes. Since the one I just ordered is still a mystery to everyone, I'm going to try to keep it a surprise til I open it. This is difficult because plenty of people will receive theirs first and post to discords/reddit.

I am still mired in various projects, so my poll is still open for just a smidge longer.

Also, taichara and I had talked about Final Fantasy for weeks (months? years?) and what to play and I finally said 'roll for it' and we're playing Final Fantasy VII. I'm playing the Switch version, and trying out the various cheats for lulz. I am about to go into the Shinra building.

I also started playing Arknights again, kinda. I downloaded it onto a tablet so I could uninstall it from my phone (still there despite not playing in a year) and whoops, no guilt and a bunch of goodies, along with some nice QoL. Doubt I'll stick with it for more than a few weeks, but I did kinda miss everyone.