WHITE RABBIT MOONLIGHT SOCIETY QUARTERLY ☾ vol. 3

Summer comes to a close and my sense of foreboding grows.

In a sense of desperation, I've forced myself to go out running and biking and swimming under the hot sun to enjoy summer to the fullest. But isn't there a saying cautioning against anticipatory grief? And not pre-emptively mourning that which you haven't actually lost yet?

Anyway, some updates:

Birthday Cake Matcha Latte

Cosmic Brownies

I've been baking instead of drawing. I thought I would stop baking after the spring but I guess I genuinely enjoy it. I made cosmic brownies (very popular in the office, I made it 3 times), pistachio swirl brownies (also well-received), chocolate banana bread (less flashy but reliable and predictable), and other less interesting baked goods that aren't even worth a mention. And I made a lot of cold drinks in the hot weather: I survived on barley tea, iced coffee, and matcha lattes.

I also ended up making White Rabbit milk tea in an attempt to clear out things that have been sitting in my kitchen cupboard for far too long. In this case, I used up my rock hard White Rabbit candies and a-couple-months-past-the-best-before-date evaporated milk. I did not get sick from it.

Fittingly, I drank my milk tea in my new HK milk tea cup which is also my new favourite cup (see below). When I had offhandedly requested that classic ceramic cup from my friend who was travelling to Hong Kong, I failed to consider that he would now have to travel across various countries with this fragile, bulky item. Oops. But it made it back to Canada unscathed and so now I have to show it the proper appreciation every time I use it. Thank you, Stephen.

And I got a new camera lens! I think the difference is clear between pictures taken on my phone vs. my Fujifilm. I've been searching for the Fujinon 27mm f2.8 for a while, but it's been on backorder for more than 2 years. I switched focus to the Fujinon 23mm f2.8 when it came out because it was also a pancake lens and fortunately it was easier to procure.

I like it a lot. This camera is so small now that it's easy to bring around anywhere, so I've really just been taking silly pictures of my everyday life without much thought. And I'm glad I did because this summer has been full of colour.

Oh, I found it:

"He suffers more than necessary, who suffers before it is necessary."

Giant Dot Cake by Paola

I've enjoyed my time in the sun. But I also really enjoy the fall so I guess it's not all bad, yet.

WHITE RABBIT MOONLIGHT SOCIETY QUARTERLY ☾ vol. 2

It is still technically the second quarter of the year so I haven't missed the deadline yet. Originally, I naively thought I could aim for monthly updates, but now I think quarterly is a bit more realistic.

I have been making stuff since the last update. Not consistently, but regularly. I've actually made a lot of stuff for work. I'm not in an artistic field but I volunteer for different committees and initiatives and kinda force my artwork onto them. However, I'd like to keep that separate from my hobbies online, so I won't share that here.

Otherwise, I've just been having fun by going with whatever creative impulse strikes me at the moment. For a while it was crocheting, and then baking, and now I'm back to playing around in my sketchbook. I spend a lot of my time outdoors now that it's so hot out and I can easily bring my sketchbook along. I cannot deny my Leo nature, the sun rejuvenates me!

I've also been going to various workshops with crafty friends. I like workshops because they let you play around with different materials and media that you don't normally have access to. This is ideal as someone who likes to try a little bit of everything but really does not have enough space and/or money to start yet another hobby. 

I've crocheted a bunch of practical items: more book sleeves (for friends), a banana hammock, and a stuffed animal net for my ever-growing collection. I do have vague plans to crochet some net tote bags and waterbottle holders, but I think my crocheting season is finished for the year. It will resume once the weather starts to get colder and I stay inside again.

And even though I just said I cannot afford to start new hobbies and buy more materials, I bought acrylic markers! They've been my most recent tools of choice because they're just so fun. I am such a lazy painter in that I hate the set-up and set-down that comes with painting. These markers are super convenient and I love the bright colours. Colour theory has always been a weakness of mine, so this is forcing me to experiment with a more limited palette.

And I've always found this to be true: the more you create, the more creative you become. Intentionally creating makes you start to see the world in a new way. I'm excited to see where the second half of the year takes me.

WHITE RABBIT MOONLIGHT SOCIETY QUARTERLY ☾ vol. 1

Welcome to a new series, created with good intentions and not a lot of thought. But I thought this space could start to function a bit like an actual blog with more regular life updates.

For a while, this blog has been intermittently updated with mainly travel, sometimes art (and crafts), and occasionally something personal. And I think I would like to keep it more on the impersonal side because the internet is a scary place. But as I resolved at the end of 2025, I think it's important to have a somewhat independent space to make and share art.

So I'm going to use this series to share the various creative things I am working on.

To start off the new year, I spent most of the weekend decluttering and reorganizing my 'studio'. (That's a play on words because my art studio is really just my studio apartment.) I've accumulated a lot of art supplies throughout my lifetime. It is my main hobby and I enjoy playing around with so many different media, but it makes me uneasy when I have a lot of stuff sitting around my apartment. I don't have enough storage space for that.

I have a lot of things I wanted to crochet last year, but that fell to the wayside once the weather got warm and I refused to stay inside. Then I crammed a bunch of crafting in December for Christmas gifts. Now that the holidays are over, I am slowly working through my crochet list. I am starting off with a practical love letter book sleeve so I can carry my books around without them getting damaged. But I ran out of white yarn so it ended up being too small for my current book.

I also have quite the stationery collection, which only grew with my most recent trip to Japan. There are so many high quality stationery goods in Japan, but I get overwhelmed by choice so I ended up purchasing brands I was already familiar with. Below is the Hobonichi Weeks and A6 blank Midori I started this year. This is my first time trying the Hobonichi weekly planner and I am loving it, it has a lot of fun themed pages. I am using my Midori as a catch-all for notes and brainstorming and I covered it with a pink paper book sleeve I also got in Japan.

The year just started so I don't have much else to share. I also don't know how often I'll update this series. Stay tuned, I suppose.

2025 in Review

Nighttime in Sapporo

I ended 2024 with quite a bit of uncertainty, although that was a conscious choice on my part. I'm happy to say that things unfolded rather nicely in 2025. This was perhaps mostly out of luck.

My personal highlights include:

1. Planned a successful family trip.
2. Reunion in Japan with two of my best friends, 10 years after our first trip together.
3. Went to Europe for a scientific conference.
4. In fact, I just travelled a lot, including solo travelling to 3 different countries!
5. Got the job!
6. Learned a new skill (crocheting).
7. Achieved my humble reading goal of 12 books in one year.
8. Made a good chunk of art, and now awareness of my "commissions" is spreading through word-of-mouth.
9. Unintentionally established a monthly dinner club with new(er) friends.
10. And strengthened old(er) friendships.

My plans for the new year include more of the same as last year. Which I suppose means I am either heading in the right direction or becoming stagnant.

Every year, one of my overarching goals is to create more and more. I don't think I am saying anything particularly radical when I gripe about the current state of the internet, social media, etc. I am sick of ads and websites that prioritize ads rather than actual human connection and expression.

I used to love the creativity that came with personal websites. The first website I "customized" was a Neopets Petpage. Eventually I learned more HTML and moved onto my own website with pixel art and a guestbook. And I think I want to go back to something like that: a creative space to customize as I want.

I will start with this blog.

One Day in Amsterdam

Technically 21 hours, and closer to 5-6 actual hours exploring Amsterdam due to my preference to be super early to the airport.

I purposefully selected a long layover at Schiphol Airport on my way back from Prague because I wanted to explore Amsterdam a little bit. I relied on Ran (who used to live in the Netherlands) to create an easy, quick itinerary since I had technically less than a day.

I mainly walked around Centraal Station, which had plenty to see in my opinion. I had a lunch of Manneken Pis fries (recommended by Ran), got ripped off with an overpriced stroopwafel (not recommended by Ran), got a Miffy keychain (she is everywhere), went on a canal cruise, and did my best to not to get run over by a bike.

One thing that stuck out to me was how many lovely people I met in less than a day. I am far from the most cynical of my friends but I have my moments. But lovely people would start talking to me and that encouraged me to start talking to other lovely people. It was a good reminder that you get what you give.

I will be back for more, Amsterdam.