Week 150: Girl-bossing IRL and In-Game

elenalilamartin
Nov 17, 2025
3 min read

Week 150: November 9th-15th, 2025

This week, I had a meeting with my boss at my second job (as a "training and quality expert") to meet the new project manager. The meeting was actually my idea because I wanted to get face time with the key players in the company's new chapter (aka, me, the CEO, and the Project Manager).

Anyway, to spare you the boring details of a beige-core, overpriced coffee shop, I'll keep it short and sweet: We met at the coffee shop side of Malibu Farms in Seaport Village downtown ($24 dollar parking for 2.5 hours is no joke!) and had a really great meeting. My role is becoming one of consultation, direction and collaboration, and I really enjoy feeling helpful and impactful for a small business.

I got a sub-par, $10.43 (including a $1 tip) iced chai with oat milk, and enjoyed the view from the windows. I wasn't really bothered by the coffee or the beige-ness because I felt like I really blossomed in the least corny way possible. I felt empowered to present what I have created in my role and felt like I was really doing something. It felt nice to be busy, and even though the stress and anxiety of being a type-A person will always loom in the background, I managed to do everything I had to do in my "day job" and still have time for my second job.

Anyway, while my world "irl" (for those not fluent in internet acronyms, 'irl' means 'in real life') was busy this week, I also was doing a lot in a virtual sense.

I always have a bunch of games I play, but I am deep in my Animal Crossings: New Horizons fixation again. I started this island originally in December 2024, and put in about 400 hours playing until I burnt out for a long stretch. However, recently (even BEFORE the shocking announcement by Nintendo about a new update coming to New Horizons!), I got fixated on re-doing my entire island. Now, especially with the update approaching in January, I'm fully on the Animal Crossing train again. There is something about the colder weather and the coziness of a game like Animal Crossing that has tons of people returning to a game that kind of "fell off." The news from Nintendo was a very pleasant surprise, and you can see the level of excitement from the gaming community on posts like this Reddit "MEGATHREAD".

While it is still a major work in progress, I have now completely flattened my entire island and removed everything I spent 400+ hours creating. This included a fish market, gas station, convenience store, plant shop, pink cafe, and amusement park I had built, as well as removing all of the custom paths I had over the entire island.

While this may mean nothing to you, for my knowers out there, my current villagers (also listed in order of MY preference) are:

Ketchup: I would die for Ketchup literally.
Bones: My son!
Bam: A true himbo.
Del: The resident island dad.
Roald: The islands newest resident (he replaced Eunice, who I loved but kept asking to move out...*glares*).
Sylvia: I have a soft spot for her because she was my first villager but she may be moving out soon...
Spork: A goofy guy
Claudia: A true diva
Pippy: She's very slowly growing on me...
Jacob: I have not really taken to him... I want him to leave... sorry...

I would love to get some new faces, but want to at least get each villagers photo before they move out. We'll see what happens.

The major renovations I have planned for the island is to create a tiered neighborhood area on the left side of the map, and move the museum, Nooks Cranny and Able Sisters to their own special areas. I put the campsite on the left side of the map and created more of a campground. I also made a heart-shaped lake on the top right because why not. I still am not sure where I will put MY house. If anyone wants to visit my island, let me know!

I may be doing big things in a silly little game, but I am also doing big things in real life (irl, remember?) and thought this Instagram post was very funny and semi-relevant...

Anyway, sorry for the random bit about a silly game and a boring coffee shop (with a not-boring, girl-boss meeting!), but again, like I said. I was busy.

Bonus: I saw some major rainbows on my drive up to the Bay Area from San Diego.