At times, January seemed endless. It was especially jarring after the blur of December. I found myself walking in circles like a caged dog at my day job—and by walking in circles I mean doomscrolling, or reading about tuberculosis , because customers were few and far between—sixteen in a single day!—and there wasn’t much to do. With all that idle time, I started making a list of all the things I liked about 2025, and failed. But I plotted my escape route while being paid to do it.
They’re very much still a work in progress, but I’m organising a walking food tour around Old Strasbourg, focused on the city’s dual identity and how its food was shaped by history. I’ve been doing tours for several months now through an agency, and the feedback has been phenomenal (I also get to do them with Cosmo), but I believe I can truly make them my own without any middlemen. To make the tours richer, I started reading about how the old republic wouldn’t have flourished without winemaking—and I know tourists love their trivia bits. I’ve already been brainstorming how I’ll visually design the tours and help guests create memories. The logistics still seem daunting, but I’ve got big plans. Maybe expand to Colmar and Basel. Even Paris?
By this time last year, I’d finished my Chinese New Year prints—not without help from Thrissa—but now I find myself scrambling to get the illustration right and on time. I started with a bunch of brushstrokes in Procreate, but I can’t seem to make it look “effortless.” Calligraphy is hard—especially digitally. Did I mention horses terrify me? I once saw one bite a chunk out of a cousin’s shoulder a few minutes after he was thrown off the saddle, and I’ve never been the same since. Still, it’s good practice. I hadn’t illustrated in over six months, but I did create a new CV. I stuck with the riso/poster look (shocker), edited it down to a single page, and—for the first time—didn’t include any work samples. It’s all to appease the HR bots so they might actually notice me. So far, it’s been rejected seven times.
I wanted to take more photos this month, but I ended up more busy managing Cosmo and his unstoppable pulling than paying attention to the world around me—when I wasn’t stuck at work, that is. I even took a day trip to Paris, my first since 2023. Almost every time I return home with memory cards ready for backup; this time I came back with two books, a Japanese cheesecake, and only one salvageable shot.
Somewhere in the 2ème arrondisement — January 2026
Despite a few recent additions to my ever-growing game backlog, I kept coming back to Cast n Chill on Switch 2: an uncomplicated, unexpectedly deep fishing sim with impeccable PS1-era presentation. I only wish they’d implement joystick inputs when reeling fish in, because I do it instinctively—thank you, Ocarina of Time—but the game doesn’t register them.
Courtesy of Wombat Brawler
As part of setting the mood for learning Japanese (the language, I mean), I’ve been playing a lot of city pop, Masayoshi Takanaka and the Once Upon a Katamari OST, with its several bangers—now also part of my gym playlist.
Since Rediseño México turns 10 next month, maybe I should revisit the flags and create new things with them? Just in case I find nothing else to do.