H and I finished the initial run of The Hundred Line together, but he’s less available now so I started the next runthrough on my own. I thought he’d be sad if I did a Darumi-heavy route without him, so I very deliberately did not-that, while not knowing anything else. ( I think this is the Coming of Age route? )

Here are the content notes for "Tenacity, Creativity, and Bravery."

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These are the character notes for "Tenacity, Creativity, and Bravery."

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(Catchup - 28 December 2025)
Hello, Dear Readers, and happy Christmas. Here is a little treat for you. It's a review of a children's opera that relates directly to Christmas!

( Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955 )

This poem is spillover from the October 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from mama_kestrel and see_also_friend. It also fills the "There are many flavors of outcasts here." square in my 10-1-23 card for the Fall Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Eric the Elven King thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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To PROVE that I am able to make a post without a single mention of K-9 (oh no I already failed), please enjoy pictures of the bird friends I made at the park yesterday :D


   

I call them magpies because that's what the black and white and beautiful blue-tinted tail colouring makes me think of, but I don't actually know. They are birb. And they are friendly!

One of them came to hang out with us when we took a little break, just sitting there, all puffy and chirping whenever we stopped paying attention to it. Really, surprisingly chill and friendly! I guess people around there are not jerks to them too much.



I know the quality of my pictures is terrible, but that's to encourage everyone to use their Power Of Imagination! I'm actually providing a great public service 😌

( Picture of a not a bird friend, at the same park )


Also I'm no longer the only person posting for K-9 out there :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D And they write a PoV I'm less comfortable with (FOR NOW) and that is just AWESOME. Happy times!!! 🥳🥳

Hello, Dear Readers. Let's start with a lovely post that I made tonight on Reddit.

Birthday of Tito Schipa

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldOpera/comments/1pxhits/birthday_of_tito_schipa/

( Read More Here )

As for my own life, there isn't really much to say. Christmas was fairly quiet, as usual. A and D have been coming down for breakfast, since they're off until the first week in January. They came and we exchanged gifts. Mostly, we got clothing and money. Mom gave me a few little things later, but that's our tradition, since I love stocking stuffers. Everyone has been doing well, and life is pretty much back to normal, albeit different now. At first, I just joined them out of sympathy and empathy, since M died and I wanted them not to feel alone. As a forty-two year old, I certainly have every right to eat by myself, and also to eat my own food, if I wish. But both the food and the company have been so good that I haven't chosen to do so. I am guaranteed to laugh at leat once with them, and usually several times. My parents are really pulling out all the stops with food. We've had so many interesting things lately that I'm beginning to lose track! Some are from Omaha Steaks, which I very highly recommend for their excellent foods. Tonight, for instance, Mom made Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). I had never had it before and I loved it. This morning, she made her delicious eggs, which I have always enjoyed, and they were wonderful! Joanie's been making her French toast, spair ribs, rib eye steak, quesadillas, and pepperoni bread. The other night, after ourmeal, we had caramel apple tarts. I thought I wouldn't like them, since I don't like caramel in chocolate, but they were extremely good! I am almost finished with my usual little bottles of wine, so I am going to try the ones in the Advent calendar.

Joanie didn't get as much snow as she wanted after Christmas, but we did get a few inches. Mom doesn't like it at all, since it means ice, and she's afraid to walk on it for good reason, having fallen a few times in her life on it. I'm not crazy about it, but I don't fear it. Alli, on the other hand, decided that snow is the enemy and must be barked into submission!

I finally made the switch back to IOS. I don't hate Android, but honestly, the Galaxy A15 was just too big, and I like the home button and a few other things inIOS, plus the fact that my Orbit Writer keyboard works beautifully with it and is small. The battery in my iPhone SE 2020 is only at eighty percent capacity, so I was planning on getting a newer phone. I found an iPhone SE 2022 with 100% battery for $112 and simply had to get it! Joanie tried to put the sim card into it, butshe couldn't get it to fit, and she didn't want to push it in and break it, so we're taking it to TMobile. I'm with Mint, whichis owned by them, and my parents are with TMobile, so I doubt it will be a problem. I'll still use my A15 for various things, but for phone calls, Seeing AI, and other instances where I need to hold the phone, I am very glad to return to a small form factor. And yes, I did consider the blueFox NX1, which is similarly priced. I might get it in the future. But I don't know much about the company or anything about their updates. The SE 2022 will be updated for several more years.

I have a few filler entries to write for this month, so I will probably do that tomorrow. At least one will be an opera review.

Can you guys believe that the new year is next week? What even is the onward march of time?

Tbh, I've been trying to wean myself off the idea that the start of a new [insert human calendar construct here] has to mean anything significant, as far as goals and life changes are concerned. I've not been terribly successful. There's just something so satisfying about matching new with new. It feels cleaner, somehow. And, of course, we're socialized to regard the start of a whole new year as an almost magical time.

I suppose if I were truly dedicated to fixing the part of my brain that rides or dies by the calendar, I'd deliberately eschew New Year's resolutions or goals that hinge on it. Buuut even the thought of doing that makes me feel physically ill-- I'm not even joking when I say typing that preceding sentence made my fingers go numb-- so I'm gonna have to just be nice to myself about this one. And, I mean, come on. It is kinda funny if I make "stop basing habits on human constructs of time" a New Year's resolution, yeah? I think it's kinda funny.

All this to say that I've been thinking about what goals I want to set for the year ahead. And I'm reeeally trying to narrow them down this year. I've got a bad habit of making everything I want to do a goal, which just overwhelms me to the point that I don't accomplish much of anything. It doesn't help that I tend to get too ambitious with a lot of things and then ruin things for myself. Still haven't fully grown out of that gifted kid mindset, in spite of my ongoing efforts. I might look at everything I would like to try to accomplish and then fold groups of those things into broad categories of goals. Y'know, "try more crafts" and "read more" kinds of items. Or else maybe write all those things out and rank them, then pick the top five as goals. Then whenever I mark something off the list, I can rotate in a lower-ranked item from the initial list. Up to a point at least. Something else I've been trying to get through my head is that not everything I want to do necessarily needs to be treated as a goal. If anything, that mentality is probably what overwhelms me, since I then unconsciously treat all those many things as more or less equally important.

But anyway, where are you all at as far as the end of the year? Are you giving it meaning in your life or is it just another day for you? I'm curious where everyone else stands.

The City That Refused to Stay Dying

This Indiana city is no longer defined by what it lost, but by what its residents are building today.

Instead of waiting for a master plan or a single catalytic investment, Keen began assembling homes and vacant parcels one by one. He helped launch the Portage Midtown Initiative and the South Bend GreenHouse, restored neglected homes, cultivated community gardens, and supported local builders learning to tackle small projects themselves. He often refers to these lots collectively as his “farm.”


This approach can work in many cities.

My favorite thing about birthdays is emotional blackmail, so my birthday wish is you watch the pilot for Interview With The Vampire.

If you already have, my wish is you post about your Christmas tree if you have one. I'd love to hear about your favorite decoration - especially if it's old or you made it as a kid! - see a picture even.

Love y'all ❤️

December has been busy-busy for me between Yuletide preparation (as a mod) and Yuletide preparation (as a participant who also took on a pinch hit), but now, ahh, everything is done and I can reap the rewards!

My awesome gift (5-minute fandom: British Airways "May We Haveth One's Attention" Safety Video):

A British Original: Discovering Haddersford House and Its Residents (2248 words, gen)
Summary: A magazine article from the world where characters in costume drama occasionally come to life of their own--and stick around after the cameras stop rolling and the crews have gone home.

I really had no idea what to expect from this request (just that I had to have something about this marvelous video!) and I love how it's played with an absolutely straight face. Also, there's a nod to Planet Vancouver, hee!

Speaking of the ridiculous played straight, this is understandable (and hilarious) with only osmosis knowledge of The Godfather:

An Offer You Can’t Refuse (Unless You’re Lactose Intolerant) (1008 words, Godfather movies, gen)
Summary: On the day of his daughter’s guinea pig’s wedding, Don Vito Corleone received a request he could not immediately refuse.

Absolutely the best Godfather fic ever.

The rest of my recs really do require canon knowledge, but I know many of you know these canons:

Memories Are Made of This (4002 words, Northern Exposure, Ed Chigliak-centered ensemble gen)
Summary: “So this is Cicely,” Ed said, gazing wide-eyed up and down Main Street. “Where’s the rest of it?”

This is wonderful - like an episode of the show, warm and funny and a little bit off-kilter.

Hoar and Hound (2236 words, Cadfael Chronicles, Brother Cadfael-centered gen)
Summary: On a frigidly cold December night, Cadfael follows a trail through the abbey grounds.

A lovely, thoughtful portrait of the abbey and of Cadfael. The way he quietly assesses the needs of the people (and creatures) around him is perfectly in tune with canon.

Dis Manibus (1364 words, Frontier Wolf, Alexios/Cunorix, Alexios/Hilarion, G)
Summary: Alexios goes out to make an offering to the shades of the dead, but he does not go alone.

This is lovely and tender and measured, and has something of Sutcliff in the descriptions. For me Alexios/Hilarion only works if it honors the close friendship between Alexios and Cunorix, before things went bad - and this is perfect.

We Greet the Peoples of the Tower (1717 words but heavily illustrated; Chants of Sennaar, gen)
Summary: There are some oddly regular scratch marks on a wall in the Alchemists' level...

Basically this is a fangame (though the game part is optional; the first set of chapters are illustrations with glyphs as in the game, and the second half holds the translations), a whole new level in which the Monster goes seeking the other peoples to assert he is a human and their brother. It's a moving story that fits with the game themes, and it's just very cool!

Actually, if you've played Chants of Sennaar, I recommend all the Yuletide works for the game as the fandom has clearly brought its A-game, they're all great. (The one above is just extraordinarily so!) And there are two Madness works I haven't even looked at yet!

The event is called Rewrite A Fic. It's a multifandom event that gives you eleven months to rewrite a fic you've written before. The event rules are that the work written has to be yours originally, the fic you are rewriting has to be at least 1 1/2 years old, and using generative AI for the fic is strictly prohibited. The length of the fic doesn't matter. There are no content restrictions, but the use of proper content warnings is required when posting the work.

See full comm details, including how to post to the comm and how to add to the comm's AO3 Collection at rewrite_a_fic on DW.

Tomorrow, we have to go to sleep at around 7-7:30pm, because we have to leave for Minneapolis at like 2:30-3:00am Monday morning to make sure we reach the airport, park, get through security and make it to our gate for a 6:30am boarding.

However, I keep getting winter storm warning alerts. Apparently beginning tomorrow evening and lasting until noon or so on Monday, there's supposed to be tons of snow, a blizzard, really, and white-out conditions on the highways.

Blair is at her grandma's house for Second Christmas (I couldn't go because I worked until 3pm today and the party began at noon) so when she gets back, I will ask what her opinion is. Strongly leaning toward the idea of setting out for Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon and staying in a hotel near the airport. I don't think she wants to, because we'd discussed that originally just for the convenience, weather aside. But I'm already concerned about making it with enough time to feel comfortable, and we'll have to drive even slower if the weather is as bad as it sounds like it's going to be.

Bleh.

In 2005, I was terribly invested in pop music, it was the thing that was keeping me afloat. I had first encountered Morning Musume few years earlier, and Toei's hero shows followed shortly after, first Gaoranger, then Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger featuring Nagasawa Nao in the role of Nono Nanami. Being so far away from Japan, we had no real understanding of idol culture save for how we approximated what we came to know from magazines and websites. Anyway, long story short, I became an idol fan, and I started following both Nagasawa Nao and Yamamoto Azusa from Hurricanger. By the time 2005 had rolled around, we were five singles into Nagasawa's solo career, two on King Records, the rest on avex trax, whom she signed with in early 2004. I can't recommend her music to you, but at the same time, I have a cabinet full of records, and I was sad when, after 2007, the well dried up and the most we got was a "best of" record the year later, something that led to me feeling somewhat shortchanged by avex. Having said that though, it was also a relief as the material the label was giving her was pretty awful. Despite my resentment, avex were very proactive in the mid '00s, having launched the career of Hamasaki Ayumi and having a clear vision of the kind of idols they believed sold best—Hi-NRG songs and gravure photoshoots were the order of the day, and a lot of avex's acts did really well within the parameters of that milieu, dream were especially popular, if I remember rightly, as were PARADISE GO!! GO!!. To use an analogy that might be a little too niche, avex's idols felt like they were all from Ginza, and I think that was an approach that dominated the idol industry until AKB48's "idols you can meet" really blew the lid off everything.

In amidst all those pounding Eurobeat drums, the scent of excessive baby oil used in every gravure shoot, as you were beginning to feel a little lightheaded from all the hairspray used, there was always one thing that avex was good at doing, however, and that was promotion. If you were on avex, you were on billboards.



( ~Yujo ni Ribbon~ )

As a note, I am jittery, running on caffeine, and haven't eaten yet. So this will be unruly.

I haven't had great Neocities experiences in the last 3 years, but since early last year I suddenly had an online penpal situation with an anonymous reader who found my site from a page about my shiny Pokemon collection. The emails turned from talking about Pokemon, jokes, website stuff, to computer and privacy related stuff and very vague allusions to personal problems. This person was very into privacy stuff and talked to me about alternative browsers and Linux stuff. To be honest, I'm currently not ready to take the Linux pill or care about alternative chat protocols, but I appreciated I was a space for this guy to give instructions and share resources. To be honest, I think a lot of the interest stems from political paranoia and whatnot, since the last email mentioned Jesus and a rapture....

I got an email from PA that they're deleting their email. I couldn't send my response. So I'll copy&paste the non-personal parts. PA doesn't appear to use ANY mainstream site outside of browsing personal ones, so I don't know if PA will see it.
ETA: HAHA OOPS I let the "locker room talk" slip in public. Oh well, anyone who has spoken to me privately knows I'm not politically correct.

The email contained instructions to quickly installing Linux and resources that I'll archive. I was going to ask for permission, but the account was deleted after the email was sent. If any Linuxheads want to comment and verify, feel free. I can post more tech advice PA sent me for legacy purposes.
( linux instructions and resources )

Hope you're okay, PA, wherever you are. My rebranded website by January shouldn't be hard to find. You know my email, feel free to throw me a line.

Not to be pedantic, but I wouldn't say Will is a wizard or a sorcerer; surely this is warlock territory.

Also, sitting on a shiny new icon that a) I can't upload because it's for an icontest, and b) I'll have to delete another before uploading, well. *sullenly kicks rocks*

( spoilery for 5x06 )

I wasn't a big fan of the first four episodes, but these two have been very entertaining indeed. Cool visuals! Emotional payoffs! Two thumbs up.

Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/27/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/27/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/27/25 -- I raked more in the parking lot.  I had to make another line.  It's exhausting and inefficient and not even making the stumps all that much easier to see.

EDIT 12/27/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel at the hopper feeder.

I am done for the night.
 

I enjoyed the last week or so of various celebratory meals and seeing people and getting/giving gifts.

But it's so exciting to have a normal day now.

One of the recycling bins will be emptied tomorrow!

I can go to the gym for the first time in two weeks! (I didn't, I was too tired (I keep forgetting to eat! I don't get hungry but I get exhausted!) but I can look forward to it tomorrow.)

We walking Teddy again today! (They've had visitors and others who asked to do it over the holiday, he is that much of a treat to walk.) All three of us could join it today, which was really nice; D got a cute selfie of us all and everything.

I can get a delivery slot for groceries again! (Tesco will bring us stuff tomorrow afternoon!)

Most importantly, normal stuff is happening but I am still off work. I am so tired I'm still sleeping a lot and tired all day.

I'm almost done! I'm gonna finish on time! I'm gonna do some faves. And next year I'm gonna finish without having to frantically cram the last week of the year! Ha ha ha. Maybe.

Rumor has it that Red, White & Royal Blue was written by a slasher after the orange felon's election in 2016, her fantasy response of what the world should be like. The book was recommended to me by slashers, but I hadn't got around to reading it before the movie came out. Usually I would read the book first, but my zoom movie group picked it so we all watched together.

It's a delightful film about the secret romance between the son of the female American president and the British prince. Both men are good-looking and charming, their initial antagonism, the building attraction, and their eventual relationship all very fun.

The British prince is played by Nicholas Galitzine, who I've seen in several other roles (also the prince in Amazon's recent Cinderella), and has recently bulked up to star in He-Man. He is an up and comer I expect to keep enjoy watching.

I won't say the movie is perfect, though right now all I remember of our mild critiques is Uma Thurman's Texas accent is bizarre.

I read the book afterwards, also enjoying it very much, and actually I'd recommend that order. The book has a lot more detail, more on the secondary characters of the sister and the assistant who is trying to keep the relationship quiet, that I think I would have been disappointed to not see in the movie.

It's on Amazon Prime and only available there afaik. Red, White & Royal Wedding is in pre-production. I'm very pleased to see a gay romance being so successful it spawns a sequel. It's about time.

I don't know that it was written by a slasher but it certainly feels like it. Not quite enemies to lovers, more like forced grumpy acquaintances to lovers. Very fun!