davetheanalyzer

After some fits and starts, I finally restarted writing. Though I’m not completely out of the woods yet, my cough has calmed so much that I can maintain a decent sleep schedule and can write without much distraction. I let myself re-listen to youtube videos at night which threw off my sleep schedule but I finally got that out of my system and am back to normal. I’m already inputting changes to the second to last chapter for my mon-inspired story. The last chapter might be difficult, since it involves dropping in moments of characters from 2 different groups coming to like each other without extending the chapter’s length drastically. Writing freeform fanfic has experienced similar delays but it has its pleasant and frustrating moments. I plan to resume making up missed writing days starting next month with Tuesday for fanfic missed days and Wednesday for original fic missed days, though I’ll skip if those days are too busy for any reason. I might finish these missed days within half a year but I’ll try not to stress myself sticking to the schedule.

I’m getting more screen freeze issues, so after some digging, I found the model number for my laptop and was able to track down and order the exact screen wire for it. I didn’t order the other parts yet because I didn’t want to have another situation like last month where they didn’t fit after all. If it works, I’ll order more parts in the future. While dealing with the screen issue, the white wire of the 2 wires for the wifi antenna broke. It still allowed me to use to the Internet but it was inconvenient. Dad fixed it last Friday but when bending the screen up and down to make the screen unfreeze, the white wire broke again. I think I found a replacement but I’ll have to double-check if it’s the super-exact right model. Maybe I should ask Dad to show me how to take apart the laptop myself. He’s getting on in years and I want to be able to deal with more of these technical problems at my own discretion.

I saw The Boy and the Heron. To ease myself into watching films again, I’m only watching those available on streaming services and I’ve been thinking about seeing this Miyazaki film for a few months now. It was pretty good. It’s about a boy who lost his mother during World War 2 and must deal with how to move on, especially when his privileged father falls in love with his mother’s sister. Right from moving to the countryside, there’s signs things aren’t as ordinary as they seem, with the heron that sweeps by them in the mansion’s outer hall and continues to skulk around. I do like that Natsumi tries her best to be nice to Mahito who isn’t very forward with his emotions. It’s clear he’s mixed about his new stepmother but won’t say anything bad. I also like how he becomes close with the elders who help around the house. Not a lot of things are spelled out about character feelings and motivations and where the magical happenings come from, forcing you to read between the lines.

The students at Mahito’s new school seem to resent him for what I interpret as his family’s wealth and Mahito self-harms to avoid dealing with their harassment. Mahito’s a smart kid, so immediately knows when something supernatural is going on and is caught between wanting to investigate and making sure he is well-prepared. He’s wary of the Heron and his claims he could reunite him with his mother. He learns how to use a bow and arrow but only when his stepmother Natsumi goes missing does he act. He finds the mother the Heron shows is a fake and shoots an arrow with the Heron’s own feathers that stabs his beak, revealing he was a big-nosed humanoid inside. What follows is an adventure with talking, man-eating birds and a magical world Mahito has to explore to find Natsumi. The animation was beautiful and lush especially in these sequences. Mahito meets a fisherwoman who rescues him from pelicans that he later recognizes as a younger Kiriko who feeds warawara that are supposedly the spirits of babies before they’re born? IDK what to make of that.

The Heron returns and he and Mahito have an entertaining dynamic where they’re wary of each other and the Heron tries to fly off after Mahito fixes the hole in his beak but it doesn’t work and they grow to trust each other. Mahito gets the help of Lady Himi a woman, with fire powers, to rescue Natsumi from parakeets. But Natsumi lashes out at him hinting that she bore more resentments against him than she seemed or was trying to hurt him to save himself. Only then does Mahito call her mom but it’s too late. Mahito meets an ancestor who was revealed to have created this world from a magic meteor and wants Mahito to inherit the world. That the Heron rescues Mahito showing the increasing friendship between the 2. Mahito declines his ancestor’s offer knowing with the scar he inflicted on himself he has corruption inside him too and he didn’t want that kind of power. The parakeet king understandably wanted to save the magic world to protect his people but doesn’t have the qualities or patience to do it.

As the world collapses, it was interesting how Natsumi and Kiriko were able to save themselves and that Mahito and Himi bumped into them while running back to Earth. It turns out Himi and Kiriko are from an earlier point in time and Himi is Mahito’s birth mother. Despite being told of her future death, Himi doesn’t care, wants to make sure Mahito’s born, and says she’s proud of him. It’s nice Mahito expressed concern for the pelicans to escape back to Earth too. Despite all who leave that world forgetting about it, Mahito took one of the world stones that helps him retain his memory. It was nice the Heron saw Mahito as a friend before departing. Did the Heron come from somewhere else other than that magic world? It turns out the doll of Kiriko that Mahito brought along was old Kiriko the whole time and she transforms back to normal. Mahito is now happier and more comfortable with his stepmother, including the younger brother he has when they leave the country home after the war. I’m unsure if he still remembers the other world but I hope he does. There’s depictions of child self-harm, bloody cutting up of a giant fish that includes the spilling of its guts, animal harm and death, bird poop, and Miyazaki possibly not having the most great family relations, but if can deal with that, I do recommend this film, with its themes of how to live and move forward.

That’s all for now. Free Palestine and the hostages on all sides. May Trump and Musk fail utterly in their goals. See you at the end of March!