6/8/2026: supporting creators (monetarily) ~ paint tool sai is good and cheap.

4 months ago, while going through my art files, I came across a reference I made for the purpose of creating a 3d model of my original character. Besides getting reminded that I really need to finish what I started, out of the blue, I suddenly felt immense gratitude for those who developed paint tool sai, the program that I had used to create the aforementioned reference.

That was when I decided: I'm gonna buy the license to paint tool sai. for real.
Upon visiting their official website, I was taken aback by the price for the program: a mere one-time payment of $37 will grant you permanent access to sai, sai2, and any updates to come. I had no idea it was this cheap just to legally own sai. Compared to the prices you need to pay for other (good/popular) drawing programs like Clip Studio Paint or Procreate, this is better than anything you could ask for. I immediately made my payment, and the licensing code was swiftly sent to my email. Paint tool sai was now mine to use, forever!

What the hell does all of this mean then?
This could have been a shill for paint tool sai (it is, go check it out if you're looking for a good drawing program.), but I decided to connect it to something I have been thinking about.
A lot of times, when I use free programs or assets from the internet, I often forget that people who offer me these utilities had put a lot of effort into making them. One explanation I can come up with is that the "free" label essentially distracts me from the fact that someone, an ordinary person like me, or a group of people, had to work on this and pay fees to be able to host the website that made it so accessible in the first place. It's easy to take the creator's efforts for granted when you're so focused on what's infront of you: a free-to-use program or resource. Hell it doesn't help that at this point I have become so accustomed to popups of the creators asking for support or donations that my mind just automatically filter them out.

Only recently did I start to actually pay any mind to these popups. I have begun to make small donations to those whose work I appreciate or enjoy. It is, admittedly, out of my own selfish desires though. I'm afraid that if any of these people ran out of money or got into a pinch which leads to them having to quit or take down their website, that would be pretty bad for me. Where the hell am I supposed to get entertainment/resources/funnies/trivial informations to regurgitate now?

The bottom line is...
It's nice to support creators and the work they do, especially if you would like to see more of what they have already put out, and monetary gains is one of the most best incentives for someone to keep at creating.

6/7/2026: step outside and you'll get burnt for real ~ i want to ride my bike outside ~ why do people like summer again?

Having a bike really changed everything for me; the time it takes for me to go anywhere has now been cut in half, I can go pretty much anywhere I want, AND I also get some exercise in after spending at least 8 hours on my computer <-the biggest advantage to having a bike, at least for me it is.
Ever since I first got a new bike about a month ago, i have been trying to keep up a daily biking streak (because otherwise i wont be going outside at all). But now that we've approached the middle of June, it's becoming increasingly clear that I won't be able to maintain this habit.
Most days are now, on average, 35C/95F degrees. Even during sunrise (~6:00AM) it can only go as low as 28C/82F. To pile onto that, the humidity is almost always averaging 70%. Stepping outside of my room with the AC on is already unbearable, let alone going outside.
Last week, I was bored out of my mind just staying inside all day, so I thought I would take my bike out and go to the arcade to play PIU after a one-year hiatus. This was a huge mistake. After 15 minutes of biking I was already sweating buckets. I was drenched in sweat and due to my lack of knowledge of getting around the city, I was running into 3 consecutive red lights that had no trees around to protect me from the scorching heat. (When I finished up and was on my way home there was a downpour funnily enough. God really has it out for me)

It's safe to say that I won't be heading outside on my own volition anytime soon during this season.

* PIU or Pump It Up is a Korean rhythm/dancing/arcade game by Andamiro. It's basically DDR, but with one more pad in the middle.