September 2025 Wrap Up

This past month was exciting and encouraging! I finished the alpha of SilentMemoir, successfully installed Arch Linux on my new laptop, beat two games, and my rock climbing YouTube channel hit 100 subscribers. So yeah, it was a productive month. I didn’t work on everything I thought I was going to, but it was still such a good month!

SilentMemoir

This blows my mind because it’s the first thing I’ve built from concept to a working MVP. That’s still just so crazy to me that I was able to do that. I can see how people can totally get addicted to this feeling of completion and building things. I’m already onto my next project in my head, lol. Something I’m going to prioritize is fixing bugs in the program because I know there are some, and I want to get in the practice of going back and fixing things. I’ve heard that reviewing and fixing code is most people’s least favorite thing to do, so I should build that habit now while the project is fresh.

Snip Snap Snip Snap

So I’m making another pivot - I jumped ship on the JavaScript course to start the second half of Boot.dev, but then I actually went back to it because I want to finish what I started. I’m typically a completionist because I love finishing things, and after thinking about it more, I realized I need to build my personal website before diving into backend development. Here’s my thinking: you need a frontend to have a backend. I can’t really build or test backend functionality without something to interact with it. Plus, my personal website project has my full attention right now, and I want to learn Svelte to build it properly. So finishing JavaScript first gives me the foundation I need before jumping into Svelte. I was originally doing JavaScript just to fill time at work and because I figured I’d need it eventually for anything web-based. But now it’s actually serving a purpose - getting me ready to build something I’m genuinely excited about. The backend work for SilentMemoir (syncing across devices, web app, database) can wait until after I have a solid handle on frontend development. Sometimes the best way forward isn’t the straightest line, and that’s okay.

I Use Arch BTW

I already wrote about this here, so I won’t go into too much detail, but I’m really happy with this little project. It forced me to understand what’s going on with my system in a way I didn’t expect. It also helped me realize how much stuff is happening in the background that I didn’t know about - mostly because since installing Arch, I had to put everything there myself. So yeah, I had a lot of fun with this!

Gaming

I thought it would be fun to start including what I’m playing in these wrap-ups because I’m always playing something. This month I finished Ori and the Will of the Wisps and started and beat Hyper Light Drifter. I thought I would try an AI created banner lol

An Emotional Master Piece

I played the first Ori a couple years ago and loved it. It was the first time in my adult life that I was genuinely moved by a video game. So when I heard that Will of the Wisps was coming out, I knew I was going to play it - it just took me a couple years to get around to it, lol. The best way I can describe it is that Will of the Wisps was everything I loved about Blind Forest turned up to 11. From the art design to the platforming to the combat to the overarching story, it was incredible, and I’m so glad I decided to play it after all these years.

A Great Rec by my Friend GPT

After beating Clair Obscur, I was feeling a bit lost about what to play next, so I asked ChatGPT for recommendations based on games I like. I mentioned Hollow Knight (Silksong is out now and I can’t wait to get around to it), Ori and the Blind Forest, Hades, and Mega Man X (the GOAT), and it suggested a couple of games, including Hyper Light Drifter. I’d never heard of it before, so when I checked it out and it looked interesting, I waited until it was on sale. Luckily, a Steam sale started shortly after. After finishing Ori, I jumped into it, and I have to say - it’s a great little game. I played through it pretty quickly, only taking about six hours to beat the main storyline. Unless a game really captures my attention, I don’t usually do many side quests. I really enjoyed the level design and how responsive the combat is. I also liked that there are different ways to build your character. I went with a sword and dash-focused build because I like aggressive playstyles in most of my games. My one issue is that besides the last boss fight, the game doesn’t get harder as you progress. In fact, in the last level I really didn’t have to pay much attention because I felt really OP. Other than that, it was a great game!

Climbing YouTube Channel

This isn’t something I talk about much here, but I’ve been rock climbing off and on for about 6 years now and consistently for the past 3 years. Last year I set a lifetime climbing goal to climb all the benchmarks on the 2016 Moonboard, and I’ve just been posting the climbs on YouTube for fun. Well, this past week I hit 100 subscribers, which is wild to me. I never would’ve thought this thing I’m already doing would gain any traction. So yeah, that’s just a little wild to me.

To Wrap It All Up

September has been a great month - I feel like I’ve done and learned so much! Since I know more now, I’m starting to feel myself get analysis paralysis. There are so many things I want to learn and do that I’m stuck not deciding, or I start a bunch of things but don’t finish them. So I’ve decided to just do what I find interesting, which right now is learning JS so I can learn Svelte. From there, who knows what I’ll do, but that has my interest, so I’m just going to do that and learn along the way.