Hey there, Vince!

Well well well, another year - what have you/I been up to?

On life

Being present, happy, satisfied, whatever you want to call it - it's been a very conscious decision to enjoy the moments I've got and lean really hard into what I want to do myself. I haven't had many down weeks of not doing anything I want to do. That's just normal adult agency, but of course I mean it in a way that's like...I like what I'm doing with my life. I'll rate my last year as a very solid 7.5 because it's been so full of contentment, but with nothing that was SUPER out of pocket as a highlight.

On phones

OKAY ALSO MAJOR NEWS finally after 14 years of holding out, I got an iPhone. Specifically, the orange iPhone 17 Pro and BY GODS it is a great device - you're going to love it. So much convenience packed into one lovely experience...the software/hardware competition with Android is just so miniscule now. Perhaps it's just being in Australia where there are a LOT of people with iPhones that makes it easier to have an iPhone - AirDrops are so easy, the camera is nice, the automations work pretty well. I won't say life-changing but it's pretty close HAHA.

On games

I started playing a lot of a game called Sekigahara - it's been weekly for like 10 months now, playing this 1v1 game with a good friend of mine, Alex. It's not just about the game itself, it's the ritual of having a weekly game, and growing bonds outside of just the game itself as well. I think it was unexpected how much I would get into this game...I wrote up an unofficial fan expansion for it because I thought it would be fun (and it was!) - but also I have loved how deeply strategic and chess-like it is. Genuinely a 5-star game for me.

On movies

I bought a modified DVD player that could play any Bluray or 4k DVD, because really, though I've set up RealDebrid+Stremio, I know that at any point it might shut down and I'll lose access to a lot of movies. My newest thing is to try and find all of my 5-star movies and purchase them in 4k ULTRA just in case. The movie watching is ramping up as well; going through a whole lot of old movies and finding gems - using Letterboxd is super fun. Dude, you should have watched City on Fire so much earlier it absolutely SLAPS it's so good omg the Hong Kong male fashion is PEAK.

On celebrancy

DON'T WORRY ABOUT FALLING BEHIND ON CELEBRANCY TRAINING - I actually have married one (1) couple now!!! THE CELEBRANCY IS CELEBRANCYING it all finally got done earlier this year and now we are SO. CLOSE. to being formally registered and being able to do it alone. Already 2 more on the horizon this year so we just gotta get better at marketing and working out how this small business thing works :P

On house stuff

The house projects have had very little progress. I got the gallery wall up, but the blinds in the kitchen aren't done, and the spare room isn't much better. The office and spare room are just...fine as they are now. I think I probably need to do another boardgame cull as well. But the actual next project is actually getting an EV charger into the carport for a new EV that I've bought - WAOW decisions really do get made quicker when there's a war.

And of course, Gandalf is still having the time of his life with me, and being loved by so many of my friends as well.

On pizza

Oh that reminds me - I don't know if you were thinking about it, but I bought a pizza oven in July or something and went into a deep pizza hole of making pizza over and over and over and over and over again. It's now a core personality trait and essentially was the most life-changing thing I bought in the last year HAHA I goddamn love pizza now. IT'S SO FUN TO MAKE it's so fun to eat, like prawn and zucchini! Salami and hot honey! FLAVOUR COMBINATIONS UP THE WAZOO! Extremely crowd-pleasing. I think this counts as the doing-things-with-hands hobby right? Well, enough for now - still finding that next thing to do now that celebrancy is done.

On love

I think I'm most proud of deliberately pouring love into the places they're supposed to go. Sure, romantic love is still elusive, but friends and family haven't been. Watching friend's kids grow up and helping to show them things, traveling around the world to celebrate marriages, making big travel plans with good friends, playing and teaching mahjong, spending quality time with family both here and overseas - it's all part of that love. I still have so much more to do in this aspect (I need to go see Steph in London I miss her so much!!) but I'll get around to it.

Anyway, shit went well dude. 32 wasn't too bad, chinese zodiac was right.

Chat soon :)

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✔️Real Life Recommendations

1. Paprika - 5 stars - my most recent 5 star movie which is like a weirder, more surrealist version of Studio Ghibli but gave me the exact same vibe of novelty and fun as watching Spirited Away for the first time. It's a story about dreams (Inception!?) but definitely has more adult themes. I think it's got a more cheeky and fun vibe than Inception in that it's SO inventive and fun, and due to it being animation, can be more of a visual feast. HIGHLY recommend this one!!

2. Garfield Pizzeria - it's stylish, Tokyo Neopolitan-style, a bit overpriced, but has some fantastic pizza. I'm always looking for new flavour toppings to experience, and they had this really cool Cacio e Pepe pizza with crisps on top that was delicious - I'll definitely be trying to make it soon! Add some Pidapipo after your pizza and it's a perfect night out on Lygon St :D

🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway

1. Number Gacha - just a fun lil gacha game to get numbers so that you can get numbers to unlock all the numbers. And fight!

2. No Slop Grenade - use this the next time someone copy pastes the entire 12 page AI output to you instead of just answering your question.

3. Project Hail Mary Star Map - someone made a Project Hail Mary-like display for the Petrova line and navigation in the galaxy using ACTUAL NASA star data. It's insanely detailed and cool to look at (though you kinda just look at it for 10 minutes and then its over).