Weekly Report

Weeknotes: December 22nd - December 28th 2025

Good Morning Magpie

28 Dec 2025 — 5 min read

Disclaimer: It should be mentioned that Weeknotes are always a snapshot of the week itself and lack the fullness of life - as is the case with any personal blogging.

✨ Happenings

With Avery visiting the city for holidays, we managed to spend time with each other. For Monday, Alexis, Ang, and Katelyn joined Avery and I at Kensington Pub for lunch (bangers and mash for me with a cup of earl grey tea). The following day, Avery and I went to Chinook Mall for a shopping adventure (along with a few other stops), before having lunch at Alumni Sandwiches.
On the morning of Christmas Eve, our day started with a degree of frenetic energy. The neighbours above us had their pipes burst and water leaked into our condo unit's craft room, bathroom, and laundry room. Though it created some immediate stress, we responded to it quick enough to (seemingly) mitigate much of the potential water damage, with the condo management company promptly isolating the leak and getting a restoration team in to set up industrial fans and dehumidifiers. This result has meant contending with an incessant droning noise for the rest of the week and a lack of access to our shower and laundry machine (including today, as I write this on Sunday) - but all things considered - we are grateful for how this process has developed to date.
Despite the brief rainfall inside our condo, Taylor and I spent Christmas Eve playing games together (like BALL x PIT), snacking on charcuterie, watching the timeless Muppets Christmas Carol, and having sushi for dinner (none of our regular Chinese restaurant take-out options were open).
On Christmas Day, Taylor and I went over to Jan and James' place to spend the day with the family. We opened presents in the morning - it was a raucous affair! We had a full house, with Dan, Rand, Judy, Gary, all present, along with an old Sanford family friend, Betty joining us for dinner. James was not feeling well, so the rest of us pitched in to help out in the kitchen - we had a lovely dinner with turkey and steelhead trout, along with an accoutrement of sides and desserts!
For Boxing Day, we started the day by getting brunch with Krystal and Avery at Galaxie Diner. Afterwards, we spent hours running errands and getting our condo organized/cleaned. I wanted to go to Critical Mass, but the cold temperatures were brutal and I was exhausted.
On Saturday morning, Taylor and I met Nyx in Kensington at Higher Ground Cafe for warm beverages. Afterwards, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and then perused the bookstore for awhile. In the afternoon, Taylor and I returned home to continue cleaning and playing games – the cold was still rough. On Sunday, Nyx, Taylor, and I went to read and chat at I Love You Coffee Shop on 4th Street SW. On our way back home, we stopped at Reid's Stationary and looked at all the wonderful notebooks (they are stocked up with some top-tier brands right now), then puttered around the condo for the afternoon.

📗 Reading

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen - Finished Reading

The latter half of the book discussed topics like the popular depiction of asexuality as illness, the challenges of allo-ace relationships, and sexual consent. Interesting book with a lot of great conversation pieces to be had.

Vertigo: The Rise and Fall of Weimar Germany by Harald Jähner - Continued Reading

Not much to say so far, but I will say that hyperflation is getting out of hand and no one trusts the economy very much. Also soldiers are mad – like really mad.

🎮 Playing

Lumines Arise

I played a lot of Lumines Arise this week. It's basically Tetris, but you clear blocks of 2x2 (or more) instead. Very lovely aesthetics and soundtrack. When I go to sleep after playing it, all I can think of is clearing these blessed blocks repeatability before I drift off into dreamland.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

One of my pals gifted me Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and I started playing through the game. It reminds me of Skyrim with its RPG system and poor optimization, but better combat and more compelling worldbuilding. So far I am trying to get a spellblade build going.

BALL x PIT

Taylor and I have been playing this incredible roguelite game on the Playstation 5 all winter break. On the surface, it looks like one of those shitty mobile games, but damn, there is so much more to its addictive gameplay loop that gets the dopamine going!

🎵 Listening

Argument by Fugazi (Album)

I have been sleeping on Fugazi, because holy shit, I love them and they are right up my alley. I went to Sloth Records on 17th Ave (not my dear Blackbyrd Myoozik <3 ) and picked up Fugazi's 2001 post-hardcore album.

🔗 Links

Concept Artists Say Generative AI References Only Make Their Jobs Harder

Given the immediate outrage over the recent comments by Larian Studio's CEO Swen Vincke over the reported usage of AI during the creative process, TWIV journalist, Edmond Tran interviewed several concept artists to explore this underexamined process in a video game's art development. Interviews suggest that generative AI undermines not only the economic viability of the creative class in this industry (specifically concept artists), but also fails to provide the means to produce original concept art itself by merely amalgamating source material. Even if only used for ideation, it reduces the friction needed for the creative process and forces concept artists to hunt down the original source material being used by generative AI. At its core, this article helped me understand concept artists and their role within video game development – which was something I was truly unaware of.