🏖️ Tansan

[dizzy bone]

I did the sappiest thing possible and moved my boyfriend onto Tansan!!! (RIP my side character Hyuji) I’ll most likely document his resident’s first few days on Tansan but first, here’s a cute photo shoot of us on a mountain picnic date 🏔





Something about seeing his name on my map and his uncannily similar avatar makes me feel so happy inside.

 

[dizzy bone]

Loving the brown tones of Tansan and pops of colours welcomed by spring.

 

[dizzy bone]

Off to Space Camp

It's been a while since I've been back on Tansan! I can't stay long though. There's more pressing matters at hand: I need to help my fellow crew members at Space Camp! We were instructed to bring along our passports but I was worried that I had no recent travel documentations, so I made a quick forgery. The backdrop of my passport was inspired by our iconic Tansan mountain!

It was sad to say goodbye to my villagers, especially Dizzy. He even packed me a photo of him to take with me to space. I don't know when I'll be back, but I've been asked to help head the Moon Bunnies team, so I'll document my time at Space Camp in my journal. Off we go!!!

The Moon Bunnies quarters on The Lopez seem comfy enough. Crew members aren't allowed in the control room, but here's a glimpse of what I have to deal with: lots of buttons and control panels that I have no idea how to navigate.... but they don't know that! No matter. Hopefully we will get instructions from Captain Gulliver soon. Wait, where the hell is he?

To be continued...

 

[dizzy bone]

Reluctant Baby-Sitter
Space Camp 2023

Ahh after a long day of hitting "accept" buttons, I'm finally ready for bed. Woo-o. Thank you to the Bell Tree staff for arranging such nice accommodations for the captains. I have my own private room with a kitchen and bar, stocked fully with popular flavors of "space food" (mmm my favorite biang biang mian slurpee). Woo-o. Of course, I didn't forget to put out the photograph that Dizzy gave to me before I left Tansan. I was actually quite sad to leave my villagers knowing that it may be years before I return. At least I can rest easy knowing for a fact that they wont perish before my return (years of time travelling confirms this).

Now all there is to do is kick my feet up and catch up on some light reading. Woo-o.


...Wait... what's this noise?

DIZZY???​

Suddenly the faint "woo-o" noises that followed me through my journey to space all makes sense. From the toot toots coming from the back seat of the bus ride to the rocket site, to the unmistakable sounds of someone feasting on a peanut butter sandwich in the cargo hold in The Lopez. So it was Dizzy all along!! On one hand I'm happy that I can experience space with my best bud, but I wasn't expecting that I'd take on the role of team captain and baby-sitter.

Oh well, that's a problem for another day. Welcome to Space, Dizzy.

To be continued. ​

 

[dizzy bone]

Dizzy and Jules' Space Expedition Part 1
Space Camp 2023 ​

Signing up for Space Camp, one of the biggest draws was the potential to explore the galaxy and beyond - location scouting for Camp was part of the job description. However, I never expected to be doing said location scouting with Dizzy, whose head is too big to fit into any space helmet. Fearing repercussions for allowing a villager on board, I decided to schedule my expedition shifts as solo missions so I could sneak Dizzy out with me. Fortunately, I was able to find a handy antenna device in the control room that allowed an oxygen force field around whoever wears it.

The first planet we scouted, which I will call "Coral Abyss", was a unique planet that was seemingly covered by a thick layer of misty fog. Our feet dragged as if we were in a sandy swamp. When we emerged from the fog, the whole terrain looked eerily similar to the aquatic biomes we know from Earth. In fact, it looked almost exactly the same as that area Hamphrey took me for scuba diving not too long ago. The biggest difference however, were the gigantic coral mountains in the distance that were shaped like pointy brains. Floating among us were asteroids that had broken off of these mountains by tidal storms.

As we bounced along the terrain in our space suits, we came across an adorable "alien" that burrowed out of the white sands. It looked like a garden eel had sprouted little arms and an antenna not too different from Dizzy's. We observed for a bit and recorded our findings. It made some melodic sounds that hypnotized us into a small dance. Nothing too dangerous on this planet, it seems. Looks like we have one potential planet for a backup game of team relay races if necessary!

To be continued.

 

[dizzy bone]

Keeping Tabs on the Tansanians
Space Camp 2023

Before I left for Space I gave a very important task to Tasha: to keep tabs on daily life on Tansan. I chose her specifically so I could have fun with these tongue twisters. Were my villagers missing me? Were they paying rent on time? Are villagers freaking out with the confirmation of alien life? Unsurprisingly, life on Tansan is the same. Still, whether they missed me or not, I asked Tasha to send a space telegram to my receiver now and then. Today I'm opening up the very first transmissions with Dizzy.

Tasha [July 25, 2023]: Jules, the day you left, the mysterious ship docked on the shores of the north-eastern beach once again. It dropped off its usual shipment of fish, but I got curious and went inside. For some reason he was selling unlimited amounts of baby chairs. Who the hell has that many baby chairs to sell and why? Anyways, the new shipments brought in some much-needed foot traffic to the fishing village.

Tasha [July 26, 2023]: As you instructed, I went to check up on your boyfriend's move-in progress. I'm saddened to say the place is still a mess. 80% of the boxes are still unpacked and I also saw him falling asleep after rummaging through the box of cook books. I would help him, but it's simply not my problem. You understand.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIK​

Tasha [July 27, 2023]: Erik's birthday party was a success! He was sad you couldn't make it, but he was very touched that you made arrangements for him and his best friends to get together and play boardgames. After delivering your present I helped snap some photos for them before I headed out. Erik invited me to stay, but I can't understand boardgame instructions even if you explain it 10 times over. I'm pretty sure those babies didn't get it either. The next time I send you a transmission you might be orbiting yet another far away planet. I hope you're having the time of your life!

Btw don't freak out, but I couldn't find Dizzy for a few days now. Cyd isn't sure where he went either. I'll investigate more and find out but hopefully he just went home to see his parents. Love, Tasha.

 

[dizzy bone]

Maintenance Day
Space Camp 2023

There are several jobs we gotta take care of here on the Lopez. Today Dizzy and I are working maintenance on one of the most important rooms on the ship: the processing room. All of those exotic, alien matter we come across on our travels are all processed and sampled in this room. They are then sorted and then synthesized accordingly for different purposes needed on the ship. You might not know it, but the bath bombs you're using may or may not contain little bits of that cosmic bubbloid you befriended earlier... how do you think we get it to be that bubbly?

 

[dizzy bone]

Last Days of Summer ​

So… half way through Space Camp I unfortunately got terribly busy with work and had to step away for a bit (I am so so sorry team!). I had planned on coming up with some elaborate space odyssey for me and Dizzy that I’d post in this journal but didn't have time. So before I completely forget all together, I wanted to at least post a photo dump of some of the Summer happenings on Tansan and at Space Camp that I took photos of but never got round to posting.

---

Up in Space

Turns out our journey in Space was a very bumpy ride, but it was sure a fun one nonetheless. Pictured: a lava planet that was too hot to get a proper visual on the camera, and a rocky planet I visited with Dizzy (80% sure the asteroid came from this planet’s orbit, oops). Thankfully, the two of us were able to get back to earth safe and sound.

And finally, here’s a family photo I took towards the end of Camp. This abduction-themed photo felt a little too real for comfort...

---

On Earth ​

Tasha had to break the news to our newest resident, Ale, that the Island Rep might be gone longer than expected. In fact, a couple weeks at space camp was actually 20 years on earth... but it's nothing a little bit of time traveling can't fix. So while I was gone, the new resident got acquainted to island life on Tansan. He even helped out making holiday homes for some extra cash. He's set to open a new pizza shop in town real soon (hopefully!)

​

---

Tabby's Birthday

Another birthday happened while I was MIA! Last year Tabby had an enchanted forest themed birthday party inspired by the TBT Fair so I thought it would be fitting that she’d have a Space themed party (she’s a TBT event baby). She celebrated as usual with her best friends, the first 5 villagers of Tansan. Happy Birthday Tabby!

Looking forward to autumn on Tansan!​

 

[dizzy bone]

Sunday morning ​

 

[dizzy bone]

Customers at Tasha's Laundromat doesn't stop her from getting her work out and yoga in. ​

 

[dizzy bone]

Ale's Basement Studio Bedroom​

Back in March I made an ACNH character to represent my boyfriend. I knew he wasn't actually going to start playing his character or ACNH (as much as I'd love that). I also knew it was likely that I wouldn't play his character often either. Instead, I wanted to make sure that I at least got round to fully completing the interior of another mansion-sized house since interior decorating is always my most procrastinated project. We decided to make his house represent some of our irl future plans, a restaurant for him and a studio for me. But that's for another post. This one is to show off his our basement studio bedroom! I love designing studios because it's a fun challenge to fit all amenities into a small space. This studio features a queen sized bed, bathroom, kitchen, and living room. More photos posted in the spoiler below!

Spoiler: See More...

Here's a full look of the distribution of space. Because I wanted to have "natural lighting" in the basement that normally does not allow windows, I had to settle with using a white window-panel wall. I also went back on my old ways and used a bookshelf to create a fake wall between the bed room and the bathroom.

The Living Room! Sadly, no room for a desk or much decorations. I wanted to keep it spacious. In fact, I even ended up removing some of the other decorations like food items that I left on the table because it looked messy. I wanted to put out a guitar for him because he plays wonderfully, and a Nintendo switch for me. I also designed a photo frame of us

Here's a close up of our tiny kitchen! Having a nice big kitchen is important to me. They are one of my favorite rooms to design in the game. But I decided to keep the studio kitchen smaller because I made another larger kitchen upstairs for the restaurant. The only thing that really bothers me is the fact that I couldn't fit a sink in there without making it look too cramped. But whatever. Maybe I'll change it later.

Here's a view from the couch showing a glimpse into the bedroom.
​

One of the hardest part of designing this studio was my insistence on trying to fit a queen sized bed. If I just used a regular single it would have been easier, but I wanted it to represent a space for two. But harder than that, it took me a while to find the right type of clothes storage to use. I settled with the wooden wardrobe, but I did also consider the "midsized clothing rack" which I would use as a wall divider between the bathroom. I decided against it because I hated the clothing options. Instead, I used the wooden bookshelf as the wall. For this kind of build it was more important for me to add all the amenities rather than add a lot of personal items.

>:O Constipation is not fun
​

And that's about it! It's so awkward and hard for me to take photos in party mode for some reason so I'm glad I got these photos out of the way. Gonna end off with these two pics of us enjoying a home cooked meal~

The next area of this house I'll highlight is Ale's pizza shop in the main room!

 

[dizzy bone]

Happy Chuseok &
Mid-Autumn Festival

​

I actually think moon cakes taste horrible but some of the packaging is so creative. Back at home in Korea I used to love eating the songpyeon my mom got me. I would eat so much I'd get sick. I'm feeling nostalgic so I made a little photoshoot where Tasha plays my mom. Idk Tasha just give me cool mom vibes.​

 

[dizzy bone]

Learning How to Make
Pumpkin Pound Cake!

Today Dizzy taught me a new recipe perfect for Autumn... pumpkin pound cake! Whenever I get the challenge of mastering a new dish I know I have to cook it and share it with Dizzy. My pantry on my island home is always quite bare... I don't like to keep ingredients because I take long stays off the island and who knows what old foods will attract those pesky cockroaches. So for this recipe I decided to do a little bit of "island shopping" and test out Ale's new pizza shop's kitchen.

First, I checked my own garden behind my house for the veggies needed. I guess the pre-2.0 days of only growing pumpkins traumatized me - there wasn't an orange pumpkin in sight. In fact, it reminded me of my past pumpkin-craze clearly documented in my old journal. I decided to enact my island rep privileges and take a few pumpkins from my villager's "community gardens".

Ursala's Vegetable Patch




Immediately down the street from my house is the main and largest villager neighborhood. I heard Ursala grows a tiny community garden for the folks that live there. Once a week they would rotate and cook for each other in the community. I wasn't exactly part of that community cooking club but... she wouldn't mind if I take one of everything right? For science.

Erik's Pumpkin Patch



The next villager garden I visited was Erik's and I hit the jack pot! Turns out Erik is quite the pumpkin farmer. He had upgraded his skills significantly since his first attempts at farming and now sells them every weekend at the farmers market. I guess this isn't considered a "community garden" and is actually private property. But it wasn't just me who was participating in pumpkin related crimes. I even saw Ken lurking around to steal some too. Ok maybe it was just me... Ken was just out for a stroll.

After I gathered all the ingredients necessary I quickly headed to Ale's to start baking and cooking.

After the preparation was completed it was time to show Dizzy. Okay, I felt a little bad for taking their resources, so I invited Ursala and Erik too. Dizzy was super impressed with my rendition of his pumpkin pound cake recipe (to be honest he's not picky at all). Ale even helped cook a veggie quiche with the remaining veggies. We had the little tasting at Ale's new pizza spot. It's not yet open to the public but it's set to open in the next few days! So here's a little sneak peak of it. I'll make a more in depth post about the pizza shop soon!

 

[dizzy bone]

The driver for Tansan's delivery company was out sick today, so I decided to step in and help out. Driving up and down the street is the easy part, but I had to hype myself up before carrying such heavy boxes over to the super market.

Who knew bags of soil were so comfortable to sit on? Hmmm this may take a while.

 

[dizzy bone]

Erik is the hardest working stick-picker upper & pumpkin farmer on Tansan
Ursala admires his tenacity from the bridge​

 

[dizzy bone]

5am Routine​

It's 5am on Tansan, the hour reserved for only the most productive members of society. After having a light breakfast and admiring the twilight hours on Tansan, we're off for a morning group stretch. Other than our Essential Workers, Jambette is up and early with the crew. Chip Jr. is also recording an early morning livestream special.

After a very fulfilling and expertly synchronized stretch, I stop by the bakery to get some freshly baked bread, still hot and toasty from the oven. This 5am routine is a special snapshot in time where I can keep Tansan only to myself--

Beep beep beep beep.

BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Ah... It's 10am. This heavy feeling on my body wasn't the weight of my bench press but the blinding ray of sunlight, a sleep paralysis demon. I missed my alarm again. Maybe one day I will finally be part of the elusive morning crew, but not today.



Might as well go back to bed!​

 

[dizzy bone]

A yummy snack awaits Dizzy after his chores: a strawberry creme sandwich with sprinkled dust bunnies​

 

[dizzy bone]

I didn't think much of this letter I received from Ursala until I saw her having a conversation with Jambette in a quiet part of town hall. There was an intense expression on Ursala's face - concern in her eyebrows but a threatening smile on her face. Maybe it's just her towering height, but for a moment I was a little scared for Jambette.

 

[dizzy bone]

My first thunderstorm in a long time took me by surprise ​

 

[dizzy bone]

Now it really feels like autumn on Tansan. ​