Fall is here + zarbworld update 10/1/2026

The traffic on this site has increased steadily over this year. At this point last year, I would be lucky to get a single click on my website per month. These people were likely in my vague proximity, as I used to put stickers up around my city with my art or my website url present. But since the beginning of this year, I have been making stuff that has been drawing a lot more attention.

Nowadays, this website is getting about 1-6 clicks per day. Yep, we are practically e-famous now. So I figured I’d update the site and give it a bit more infrastructure so I can add some of the things I’ve written. I have a lot more writing I would love to share but they’re just not quite close to being done. I’ve also added an about page and a Guestbook! Since around July, I’ve been completely rebuilding and redesigning the site, but that is going to take a lot more time since I am learning some new things. But I can share some of the designs I’ve been working on.

Here is a cool navbar I designed. The globe graphic I took from an old archived version of Bungie.net and is a part of the Halo 3 multiplayer main menu.

Also new header graphic. It’s a small thing but I like it.

I mostly have the new site done, it’s a lot of the small details and having to learn real Javascript stuff that’s slowing me down. Plus I have to make a sterile mobile version. I’m taking a lot of inspiration from early 2000s web design when screens were still mostly 4:3 aspect ratio, but combining some modern elements into it. But for now the site will remain as it is, and if I finish up some writing I will continue to upload it here.

Speaking of writing, I have begun work on a new video essay. I originally had a script done and completed but after I began to edit and record the voice over, it felt like it needed more detail. So I started improving the detail of the writing and was going to re-record and edit. But now I am in a dilemma. Do I keep going and risk the project failing due to scope creep, or is it good as it is and just hurry to complete it? Not going to lie, out of everything that I have made that’s gotten a significant amount of attention, I’ve always had to sacrifice some detail I would have preferred to include for the sake of getting it out. So now I’m beginning to lean more toward the latter.

It just sucks, when you have an idea it’s almost best to put it out of its misery by actualizing it. You are just not as big as your fantasies. But I’ve been surprised to find that what I am capable of making has been enough as of this year. Awareness of scope creep has saved me pretty much every single time.

Lately I’ve also been playing video games. At some point in high school I kind of lost interest in video games, or just stuck to the ones I’ve always played, like Counter-Strike and Halo. Recently however, I’ve been seeking relief from my obsessional tendencies. Over the summer I found that when I’m particularly stressed, I tend to obsess over projects to a rather unhealthy extent. I’ll wake myself up in the middle of the night rapidly thinking about a subject, or vividly thinking about a design I’m working on in photoshop. And I won’t be able to get back to sleep. Then, I accumulate sleep debt which adds more stress, which further creates a difficulty with sleeping. It’s a terrible and cruel feedback loop.

So recently I’ve given myself a cut-off point in the day where I will stop working and play video games. And I’ve actually been enjoying them. I used to be unable to get immersed in them, but recently I have found it pretty relaxing. At first, I started with Mario Kart Wii. I three-starred all the courses. Then I finished ONI (2001). I always wanted to play ONI, and I am very glad I did. There was a surprisingly passionate and niche fanbase back in the day, I went on a hunt finding numerous fan sites from the early 2000s on the wayback machine. I even tried to make my own mod, but I got invested in another project before I could finish it. I tried to port the Crona Gorgan model from the Soul Eater DS game into ONI, but just couldn’t seem to make it work. But here is a funny video showing the abomination I managed to create:

The other night I finished pokemon platinum. That was probably the most immersed I had been in a game in awhile. It was incredibly relaxing to finish my nights playing.

Well, that’s pretty much all I have to add. Hopefully I’ll be back with some stuff soonish.

Music:

Birthday Boy - Ween (God Ween Satan live version)

Jetpacks for Julien - Alison’s Halo