A little over a month ago I finally started my Hades II 1.0 playthrough, and I've been having a lot of fun. I just reached another milestone today so I thought now is a good time to post some notes.

( My first 62 runs )

Why human babies are born helpless yet highly aware of the world

Because they cannot survive alone, human development unfolds through constant care. Feeding, carrying, soothing, and protecting do more than keep infants alive – they shape what babies see, hear, and experience.

A baby who cannot crawl into a group still becomes part of it, because caregivers bring the world closer. In that sense, dependence does not slow development. It creates the conditions that development grows from.


This explains a lot about why isolated or neglected infants -- in hospitals, orphanages, disadvantaged homes, etc. -- so often fail to thrive or outright die. They are deprived of the developmental needs for attention, interaction, and bonding with adults that would have supported healthy growth. The result is the same as when nutritional needs go unmet.

Today is sunny and chilly.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/28/26 -- I did more work on the tomato cage.

EDIT 3/28/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/28/26 -- I sowed chives, catnip, and lemon bergamot in former fruit boxes that should make good upcycled pots.









.
 

Or several corpuses? (Corpora?)

I’m just getting tired of people claiming that “nobody” says things that I’m certain I’ve recently heard on contemporary lowbrow media. But I just can’t prove it! And I can’t make them prove it either!

Even fansites with searchable scripts would be something.

This is a prayer to Baba Yaga; this is a prayer of resistance.


This is a prayer for Baba Yaga. This is a prayer for Resistance.

This is a prayer for the magic of chicken feet, the heat of old hates, the way old bones hurt. This is a prayer for Resistance.

I live for the applause. XD; I've gotten some very nice comments on the Victor/Leon post and I've just been om nom nomming them up. ;3; I know we're supposed to write for ourselves and all, but I. I love comments. And I managed to reply to all of them, because I want to be that person, I want people to know I appreciate them taking the time to comment. Weh. ;/////; Comments. ;3;

Friday is my Sunday and I don't waaaant to go back to work tomorrow, I want to stay home and watch jacksepticeye play Resident Evil Village and figure out why people ship Ethan/Chris (not a dig, I'm very intrigued by the idea!). It's a short workday, even! I need to be an adult about it instead of such a baby. :(

AND THEN I LEFT THIS OPEN and it is now Saturday, a workday, which is only 1:30p-6:30p, but I don't know how to not think about work before going in. It's frustrating. :\ Gonna do some laundry and try and focus on anything else.

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

 
Image: Mr. Buttercup being a bed hog. Ms. Willow is tolerating his foot planted firmly on her back. They are sacked out together on my ugly Christmas sweater quilt on our couch. 

I don't have a lot to say today, I just wanted to be sure to post at least once a week. 

I took some time off this week from some of my volunteer work. I've got an interview on the 7th of April for a job at Anoka County Libraries doing the exact same work that I used to do for Ramsey County Libraries. Wish me luck? I feel kind of special to have gotten this far, considering the job market. Given the food prices, etc., goddess knows we could use the money.

In addition to marathon-ing the anime, I also speed ran the manga. I reread the entirety of the original Prince of Tennis manga this week, and I want you to know that nobody should do this to themselves. It is bad, and I feel bad. I will not be reading the sequel.

The beginning of the manga is about tennis. The end of the manga is about superpowers and pseudo mysticism and being willing to die on the tennis court. It is very very stupid.

(It's all on the Jump app 😂)

Anyway, thoughts on the anime inc. changes, more thoughts on the manga, etc.

• Well it turns out the reason I remembered nothing about the Midoriyama matches is because they were pretty boring, but the jousei shonan matches that replaced that in the anime go on longer and are even more boring.


• I forgot that thing where Ryoma's dad called kids toys to play with, what a douchebag.


• I hate Rikkai ahahaha. Sanada beating people just makes him a douchebag.


• The manga is funnier and more ridiculous than I remembered. The bowling episode comes straight from the manga!


• I like Kaidoh's match with young Rokkaku guy in the manga, but I actually like Ryoma's match with him in the anime even more, it's fun and they seem to be having fun. That's probably the only adaptation change the anime makes that I actually like, though.


• Fuji has his eyes open so much more in the manga. Also, I like temporarily blinded Fuji in the manga more but the selfless state nonsense is so dumb. What is with all the pseudo mystical nonsense?!?


• Kaidou and Yagyuu dressing as each other to play doubles! And I just started the Nationals OVAS, and they did adapt that, yay!


• It well and truly jumps the shark during the Shithenhoji matches. That boring doubles comedy duo comprised of homophobic stereotypes? They're not even funny! The pinnacles of mastery or whatever the fuck it was is so dull. I know it was slowly going that way, but it stopped being about anything remotely like real tennis, and started being about super powers and pseudo mystical nonsense. Inui and Tezuka doubles but it wastes the chance to be interesting about their partnership because Tezuka turns it into a singles game. Why?!? WHY?!?


• The Rikkai matches were also so boring.


• And like, remember early on when Fuji forfeits a match because Taka is injured and it's not actually good for adolescents to play injured? By the end Taka is like 'I am willing to die in this tennis match' and bleeding from every orifice and this is just how tennis works now in this world... The number of games where Seigaku players are bleeding all over the place by the end... I feel like by the end the mangaka forgot he wasn't supposed to be writing about superpowered samurai fighting each other to the death. It's only school sports! 🤣

I reached the bit towards the end of the anime where Ryoma's jetted off to America and Tezuka and Fuji have a match which, if I shipped them, would probably delight me, but as I don't... I'm mostly like, why is there so much exposition?! Well, because they haven't interacted much in the anime but the anime wants to sell this as a super intense relationship you just haven't been seeing so there has to be endless voice-overs about how this is so intense actually! I think it would work better if there had been more interaction between them throughout and there wouldn't have to be so much info-dumping. Also, LOL at the writers having to get Ryoma out of the country first, because realistically both Fuji and Tezuka have been way more intense at him than at each other. And why is this match three entire episodes long??

I feel like this is a writing issue - if there had been better set up long term there wouldn't need to be so much effort put into this 'no it's totally so intense you guys' thing now. I'm happy for the TezuFuji shippers, though, they must have loved this.

Also, LOL at the coach being like "tennis is like a game for him" about Fuji. Okay, but tennis is actually a game though?

Also, 12 year old Ryoma being invited to the US Open is A BRIDGE TOO FAR for me. NO! That is too stupid! And it sort of warps everything around it in the anime, which means that a bunch of scenes which were about Tezuka and people's relationships to Tezuka in the manga become about Ryoma in the anime but without the same emotional heft.

I am finally on to the Nationals OVAs, though, and I am enjoying myself. Even though Eiji basically cloning himself is so much stupider in the anime somehow. But I love Taka and Fuji's doubles match; they're nice boys who are friends and they enjoy tennis and bring interesting things to the game and that's really all I want.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Hyotei rematches animated. Those were basically the last bits of the manga I enjoyed, but also I really enjoyed them, so let's see if the anime lives up to that.

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

If you were given the ability to reform how your country’s leaders were chosen and how they serve, what would you change?

( Read more... )

Incredible Video Shows Sperm Whales Come Together to Birth a Calf

The beautiful moment when an entire group of sperm whales came together to support the birth of a calf has, for the first time, been recorded in unprecedented detail.

Over several hours on 8 July 2023, scientists recorded two sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) family groups coming together in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Dominica, taking turns to assist with the birth and help the newborn calf stay at the surface to take its first breaths.


Species survival depends on cooperation.

Our theme for this session was "World Cuisine." I wrote from 12 PM to 3:45 AM, so about 13 hours 45 minutes, allowing for lunch and supper breaks. I wrote 3 poem on Tuesday plus 3 later in the week.

Participation was up, with 7 comments on LiveJournal and another 40 on Dreamwidth. A total of 11 people sent prompts. There were no new prompters.


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the March 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Confident Guesswork and Improvisation"
"Nuff Respect"
"Refusing to Melt"

"To Understand Water" (Polychrome Heroics, October 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl)


Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from March 3. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

This month's donors include: [Bad username or unknown identity: janetmiles>, <user name=], and Anthony Barrette. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 0 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.


The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.

The following poems from the February 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."


"An Expression That Crosses Boundaries"
Story Date: Saturday, July 9, 2016
Summary: Shiv and Pain's Gray make treats to celebrate Rutledge setting up a teleport hub, and they visit Kardal at the Syrian Foods truck.
236 lines, Buy It Now = $118

Shiv had heard that Rutledge
was going to get a teleport hub.


"Foraging Forever"
Summary: Refugees of the Fall struggle to find enough food and cope with cultural differences.
195 lines, Buy It Now = $98

If there was one thing
they all had in common
after the Fall, it was hunger.


"Walnut Park"
Story Date: Monday, June 6, 2016
Summary: Boss Blaster looks at an empty lot and imagines a food truck park.
505 lines, Buy It Now = $253

Just after breakfast,
Boss Blaster's phone rang.

Checking the screen, he saw
that it was Farrah Van Andel,
his usual real estate agent.

Moon base and Mars! NASA makes exciting announcements

NASA is committed to achieving the near-impossible once again, to return to the moon [by early 2029], build a moon base, establish an enduring presence, and do the other things needed to ensure American leadership in space.


It's good to hear serious space aspirations again.

( Read more... )

It's very late March, I know, but better late than never. Most of this was written back in December/January.

( Fannish things )

( Non-fannish things )

( Minor season 5 spoiler )

I actually have a similar thought about the most recent episode I watched of Young Sherlock, ( Read more... )

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( Read more... )

Today is cloudy, cold, and damp. It stormed last night, so we finally got a good soaking rain.

I fed the birds. I've seen a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I cleared dead stems from the telephone pole garden.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I cleared dead stems from the septic garden.

I've seen a flock of sparrows.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I cut four poles to make a tomato cage. This is the general concept.

I've seen a flock of house finches.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I placed the poles around a large pot by the new picnic table garden, then started lashing them together. It needs more work and support, but at least it's started.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 3/27/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Have some more thoughts about media!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girlvol 1-2 by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, et al— Remember last time when I was like “maybe I should reread Squirrel Girl”? Well I decided to go for it and that was a great idea, thanks past me. These are so much fun! I enjoy Doreen’s unconventional approach to problem solving and her general enthusiasm for everything! I’m also glad that they kept the letters sections in the collected volumes – I love getting to see all the cute cosplay and squirrel pictures.

(Reading this had made me think about the were a bunch of girl centric fun comics around 2015. I wish that trend had continued)

Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges, polterink, et al— The final Lumberjanes graphic novel. Pretty cute, though I do feel that these graphic novels aren’t as good overall as the main series.

Mamo by Sas Milledge— I really liked this fantasy graphic novel about two young women trying to deal with a town where the magic has gone wrong. The art was so good! Lots of big sweeping landscapes, but also great details. Lots of excellent birds too!

( Batman: No Man's Land and Batgirls )

In a random reddit thread this time.

Truly, people will never, ever stop complaining about the man.

Also on reddit: "This is an old book" but also "snapchat was mentioned". Uh....

**********

( Read more... )

Two teens are forced to consider each other's point of view.

Flip by Ngozi Ukazu

The other day my friend from work, Andrea, texted me and was like, "Wanna hang out and do some art stuff?" Obviously, I was like, "HECK YES!", so we did, and I had a great time!

It wasn't long enough, but times like this never are - even if she'd stayed all day, it wouldn't have been long enough.

She did some linocut designs, and I mostly worked on a cross stitch design that I am embarrassed to say I had not touched since November last year. I thought it had only been waiting since January, but not according to the date on the squared paper ¬_¬

Anyway, I've nearly finished it now. I just need to get it so it all looks good together, and then I can try it out. When I have finished being sidetracked by the maybe five other things I've thought of since then, lol. Some of them are listed below, but my brain is like a percolator right now, and it's great (but also annoying because I can't split myself into multiple parts to do all the things at once).

# Instagram kept recommending me this guy who customises clothes by covering them in running stitches, mostly sewn with sashiko threads and the end results look AMAZING. I think he also makes some of his own clothes as well, and I am obviously WELL INTO THAT AT THE MOMENT. Obviously I started following him, even though every day I get closer and closer to packing IG in. This is him, if you're interested.

tl;dr to that: I've dug out an old pair of black jeans that no longer fit me, as well as a pair of jeans I got from a charity shop. I'm going to practice on both of those with designs and see what happens. The charity shop pair I'd bought to cut up and do something else with but they do, in theory, fit me, so if whatever I do turns out good, then maybe I can actually wear them!

(This is also not a new idea - I wanted to do similar a few years ago with a denim jacket that I've since got rid of, but tattoo designs I wanted but couldn't afford or wouldn't get. Obviously my brain was just waiting for the right moment to actually do it).

# I went to Burnley yesterday, and bought a whole bunch of things I didn't need (and also some I did), which included a needle punching kit, to give it a go and see if I liked it. And I think I do? I have a couple of criticisms with the kit, but given I paid a fiver for it in The Range, I'm not going to moan too much.

I love how textural it comes out using DK weight yarn to make the design with, though. Which figures, given you can make rugs with this technique.

I'm obviously going to have another few goes with things I already own, and see what I can do with the needle I have, rather than putting in another order for stuff I might end up not wanting or using.

# I also bought fabric medium so that I can paint designs directly onto fabric, or print on it with blocks I have, or linocuts I may make myself (because I do actually like printing, I just don't talk about it a whole lot). Also I figured fabric medium was a better way to go, since I already have a bunch of acrylic paints that I can use with it.

~

I don't think I have anything else to say, and I'm actually feeling well enough now to go and do some chores, so I guess I should do that!

Today's theme is Manga.

( Read more... )