minecraft >> vanilla

18 Aug 2026, a recollection My creative cycle had begun its shift from writing fanfiction to playing sandbox games, much like in a previous period... This is the second repetition of this motif in this cycle. Being a social recluse is an observed symptom as well.

Anticipating the event of playing Minecraft is dreadful. It's likely that I grew scared of the monsters in this game again. Regardless I happened to be in a voice chat of people who were all playing on their own worlds. And thus I hopped into mine... and toured through the builds I have built so far. Some I didn't remember as well, and so I rediscovered these memories. As I walked through them.

The last thing I was doing, it seemed, was naming my new dog. In front of the anvil I held a name tag but had no name to give. I don't even remember this dog, but I recall thinking it looked like a popular donut flavor. I went to gather all my house pets———Goochie, Butter, and the donut dog. I thought my new dog was wearing sneakers, one on each of its four paws. VC said something about new jordans. It was a good idea... Thus donut dog was named New Jordans.

Choco Butternut was the donut flavor that New Jordans reminded me of but I felt like I've named too many things after it. Then I realized I had a cow named Choco. Choco the cow, Butter the cat, and Nut the dog; my friend completed the trio for me, and it was a good idea but I think "Nut" is too plain for how New Jordans looks.

I had updated my world from 1.21.11 to 26.2. I haven't seen the new babies. I updated the Programmer Art Continuation texture Pack I was using, which made Butter look less goofy. I fed Mozart a golden dandelion to make him a legit Forever Baby ghast.

After touring my base, I took Suicide Horse out on an adventure to find him a mate. Suicide Horse, the horse that walked along the edge of a deep ravine as I tried to tame it. His real name is Eito and I know he's had a rough past, and I wanted to continue it. He lives in a containment facility: a white box house, with one white bed and one book on his bookshelf. Not that they mean anything to him, him being a horse. Entrance and exit is reinforced by double iron doors that I spent an hour on figuring out the redstone for. A double door that opens one by one somehow, activated by a button on the wall that he couldn't press because he was a horse. Pressure plates wouldn't have worked for this facility. The jank doors are an important investment for everyone's safety.

We rode out into the savannah with New Jordans trailing along. Our search for a little donkey named Nozomi is long overdue. We ended up in a swamp, which I've never seen ever before. We found a witch's hut... I was very scared but we killed her! She had nothing in her house but a black cat. Unfortunately I didn't have any fish. I know I do want this cat, and I'll be back for it with some fish.

25 Aug 2026 For this session, I felt like playing with a touchpad. Videos over dramatize how hard it is. They end up with drastically different keybinds, but in my case I just had to remap the Left and Right Clicks to two keys on the keyboard, and I chose Right Ctrl for Left Click and Right Alt for Right Click. Scrolling however is stuck as a touchpad only thing for now which is a little difficult but not the end of the world. I started to use the number row to select items on my hotbar. Perhaps more keybind mods can aid with this.

I spawned on top of a tree with my bed and my horse. I'm still looking for a donkey named Nozomi. I wanted to get out of the swamp that has grown hostile despite its relative peace. I passed by water buffallos that strangely looked a lot like normal temperate cows, and orange frogs that moved like aliens. I wanted out of there so I entered the neighboring taiga. Although not hostile, the biome was gloomy. Sheep and rabbits were getting mauled by wild wolves. Eventually I found a village. I was still looking for a donkey. Nothing else caught my eye except for how it felt like nobody lived here. I found them, tucked away by their well, but I don't think they were here before I got here. I saw salmon in the river and remembered That Black Cat left abandoned in that witch's hut. Here my touchpad setup was put to the test. My performance killing little fishies in the water was about as good as if I were playing with my usual choice of controller which is an xbox layout gamepad, except my pinky was extra tired because it's the finger assigned to the Kill button. Maybe there's a more optimal remap but it is necessary that my index and middle hover uselessly in the air while my thumb controls the touchpad, to accomodate typical hand anatomy.

I turned back because the taiga didn't interest me, back through the swamp and into a forest. Then I remembered the cat and turned back again. Taming it only needed one fish; my docile trophy that proves my bravery that day I slayed its witch.

Eventually I found a plains biome. It was a wonderful sight. There were so many animals, yet still no donkey. I did, however, spot a pure black horse. I didn't mean to return with another horse but I wanted it because I have a white horse. Still I wanted to find a donkey named Nozomi, so I slaughtered some beautiful cows for their hide to make another fresh saddle. We found another village, but unfortunately no donkey. We ended the session there.

26 Aug 2026 Tonight was a gamepad night. Though I was determined not to return home without a donkey, after looking up the spawning mechanics of donkeys, I decided it was the best course of action to take for now. The plan was to return home for a quick drop by to settle my new black cat and black horse at home then continue my search on the meadow hills in the north.

I had some complications travelling home. Black cat got stuck in a village and I didn't notice until I was at the peak of a savannah plateau. I gently descended careful not to break my horses' ankles down the steep mountain to the plains at its foot. In the village I spotted I searched, desperately, for my black cat. Checked every house, yet it was nowhere to be found. Until, I realized, I might have been in the wrong village. My cat was in a completely different town. It was in the next plains village over, on the other side of the plateau. So I dragged my horses and my dog across the bends of a river just to avoid having to put on another balancing act at great heights———all the way over just a little under a thousand blocks, I finally found my weird cat, staring at nothing.

We had to go home but not without a few more complications in our way. Scaling more mountains, I dropped one of my precious leads and lost it in the grass. I pressed on forward until I was back at the top of the mountains, then I realized I had lost my compass after fumbling with the controller a while ago———while we were still down at the plains. Tired of dragging my horses I leashed them up and ran down there myself with my New Jordans quick after my feet. This time I took the time to look for it in the grass since without it I wouldn't be able to lead us all back home. It was a quick trip without the horses.

I returned to the top of the mountain and continued to lead towards more familiar hills. And at the top of a cliff while taking in the view I spotted: her. A little donkey named Nozomi, sitting along under an acacia tree. Celebration! I gently scrambled down the steep sides of the cliff with my horses, had them leashed up nearby as I tamed her. She took a bit of time but it was all right. I was very happy to have found her. She helped me a lot with carrying my stuff too.

Home wasn't far by then. Still I had to be careful with my equines since it was very hilly terrain. Leading three clumsy sets of hooves across my diagonal bridges was almost a disaster as Nozomi started walking off the edge since I was such a bad driver. We all made it to Carrot Bulb, and a little meeting party was thrown. Butter didn't care so it ran straight to my bed and flopped over. Whatever. Every one of my house animals gathered in the living room to meet the new black cat. And Butter did eventually decide to check out the commotion.

Outside my three equines were tethered to a single fence post, and I transferred them to some flatter land with more space so they can rest easier. Before ending the session, we had to bestow our new animals their names.

First was Suicide Horse's graduation. Now that we found Nozomi, he can be labelled with his real name, Eito. Nozomi had always been Nozomi, and so all I did was make her a nametag that makes that already-reality more apparent. I took the two and tethered them to the lamp post by my garden farm. I have to make them a new house to move into. [not how hinnies are made]

Next was to name the black cat and the black horse. I wanted to name a black animal after a chess piece. I thought of 'Rook' for the horse, but also thought 'Horse' was a really good one. I was stuck on the idea that the black horse was a darkmode Eito which is why I tamed it in the first place, so I gave up giving it a cool chess name and instead gave that to the cat; it was given the name Pawn. The horse I decided to name after one of my original characters, Eili. Eili and Eito.

28 Aug 2026 Friday! I started at the second most perfect time at around 8:30PM but the session ended up lasting about 2.4 hours which is way over my Minecraft daily time limit of two hours. This was primarily due to me having a fun chat with people in the voice chat.

On the agenda was to plan Nozomi and Eito's house. I began with a bit of post-adventure inventory tidying, putting my stuff away in chests. I gave Mozart outside time so he could get fresh air but he ought to play with the doorway instead, entering and exiting the house repeatedly. It was very amusing to watch ([attempt to capture]). He only did this while I was watching. When I walked away, he turned his attention from the doorway to me and followed me around. It was strange to me since I wasn't holding any snowballs. Did I look like a snowball? I was worried he might hurt himself if I left him alone so I lured him back inside to feed him with some actual snowballs, but he didn't want any... I wonder if the golden dandelion I fed him permanently suppressed his appetite so he'd never grow up.

A lot of my time was spent lollygagging in the game as I was distracted by the conversation we were having. I decided that Nozomi and Eito's shall settle in a dollhouse, much like the one from dodie's music video for [Intertwined]. I gathered the blocks I think I will need which are cherry wood and pale oak.

Their house was to be constructed on the hill of the west cherry blossom forest. In the midst of clearing trees I built a tiny rabbit pen where I kept stray bunnies that hopped around. I hope to start a rabbit farm.

The hilltop is ridden with underground caves that made it seem difficult to build on. I decided to build it right of the Rainbow Sheep Ice Cream Parlor.

I beat a skeleton with my bare hands without getting scared because I was busy ranting to my friends in call.

29 Aug 2026 The last four hours total of playing on this world were spent on menial tasks like cutting trees and digging out the side of the hill to make room for the new dollhouse. I repaired my diamond pickaxe and shovel to full durability.

02 Sep 2026 I didn't write. For a few sessions straight I did nothing but build Nozomi and Eito's new dollhouse house, and there wasn't much story to tell. I documented its construction, however, on video. The entirety of it and the little sidequests during it.

The two equines will have a wedding ceremony. I just need to fetch their guests in preparation. Today I went to the jungle to get Takumi and Yugamu. I saw Yugamu the moment I stepped into the jungle, but silly me forgot to bring any seeds. The two that I had didn't please him. I scrambled to gather some off the ground but when I turned back, he was gone. I looked for him hoping that he would let me tame him with more seeds, but instead I spotted a stalking ocelot. Felt dread on my shoulders... But I couldn't believe it. I went deeper in the jungle and spent days more searching.

It was scary terrain. I had left Eito across the river where the land made sense, and had Goochie accompany me. It was a tiny jungle but I found in its heart a deep crater full of lush tropical forestry. A shallow pond sat at the bottom of miniature split waterfalls. It was a mystical sight. I imagined settling amongst the trees; a small hut perhaps and a small farm to harvest the pooled minerals of the caldera. But I'm not sure; it's a boring dream.

I find it hard to settle in Minecraft. Maybe it's the terrain generation being so realistic. In past versions with old world generation, stuff is a bit senseless and ridiculous, and I couldn't name any landforms from the real world. In new worlds, despite the land being physically more difficult to explore, I notice that I tend to avoid modifying it. When traveling I avoid digging or towering up to get over hills; I'd rather find a climbable path. Building bridges is also not a thing that occurs to me naturally. I limit myself on how many flowers I pick because I'm just a guest. I don't take anything I don't need and could craft in the immediate future from villagers. Recently I made the decision to dig out a chunk of the West Cherry Hill for the horse dollhouse. I didn't like the process or decision but I needed the practice, because this world is mine. In the jungle I encountered another ocelot. It was minding its business, on the tree. Yet I had my sword drawn. I put down stone to climb trees that I don't know, to reach it. It wasn't doing anything bad and the jungle was its home, not mine, but I wanted a parrot.

I do cut trees without replanting them, as though to say I've been here. And the clearing meant, I'll be back.

I brought home four birds. We dance!