davetheanalyzer

Our rabbit passed away. She was not eating but otherwise acted normal. Then there was a day where she increasingly moved less and less. We tried our best and I did some massages to her I saw on youtube, but she was gone by the morning. It was a shock. My parents cried and were wracked with guilt. I wondered if we wouldn’t get anymore pets but Dad after a week wanted another rabbit and he tracked down shelter with one specific rabbit he liked. I was concerned he would be upset if someone else nabbed her first but it turned out she was at the shelter for a while and she’s a lot bigger than our previous rabbit or the photos implied. She’s still skittish with being petted but I’ve been laying near her with my hand out and talking to her, getting her used to my presence. She’ll nudge and sniff me now, which is great, but it’s still a work in progress.

On Friday, my laptop’s screen issues got even more aggravating. I had to type this paragraph 1 handed that day while another hand pressed the bottom strip below the screen. The constant screen discoloring and even freezing even when I touched other parts of the laptop was frustrating and I tried all combinations of pressing and moving the screen up and down. I’m afraid that might have exasperated the problems. I asked dad to get the screwdriver he used for taking apart the laptop to see if pulling the screen off and back on helped. I lost a screw 3 separate times, the last time I thought I lost it for good. Still, pulling it off and putting it back on seems to alleviate the problem somewhat, so I’ve been keeping the screwdriver nearby. Before I ran across that solution, this problem finally made me go on Ebay and order another screen but when it arrived today, its video cable port was smaller and so have to send it back tomorrow. I didn’t learn from last time that I should look up the model number of a part I want to replace. I did that earlier and it’ll be here within 2-5 days. Hopefully I chose the right 1. Maybe finally I’ll at last get rid of the screen freezing and flickering I’ve been dealing with for nearly a decade. It’s been severely cutting into my time writing, and reading and watching things I like.

I saw Weathering with You on HBO Max. I came across mention of Makoto Shinkai and his films and so decided to try this 1 out. It was alright. The film was about Hodaka, a runaway to a rainy Tokyo for freedom. He struggles on his own, eventually becoming homeless, before he takes up a job offer from Keisuke Suga, who runs a magazine about urban legends and supposed magical happenings. Through some brief meetings, he meets Hina who seems to be able to give specific areas temporary sunshine and they decide to make a business using that power. It was never established why Hodaka ran from home but supplementary material said his parents mistreating him might’ve been a factor? I was surprised Keisuke’s helper and job hunter Natsumi was his cousin. It was an amusing reveal in contrast to the unfortunate conclusion she led Hodaka to think to mess with him. The sequences where they give sunlight to various people and groups was great and sometimes touching. Hina’s brother Nagi seemed to not like Hodaka at first but he quickly won the boy over and even supported the 2 getting together. Speaking of romance, Hodaka clearly has blossoming feelings for Hina. Nagi being a romantic at his young age was weird but a bit amusing.

But the rain doesn’t stop and when child protective services come to Hina and Nagi’s apartment, the weather gets worse. It becomes clear to the 3 that Hina’s partly the cause of the weather and what needs to be done to stop it. But these are kids, of course they don’t want to deal with sacrificing 1 of their own. Hina eventually collapses under the weight of her responsibility and disappears to make the weather right again. Hodaka and Nagi are distraught, especially when police and child services take them away. The officer in charge of him seemed quite unsympathetic – why was someone else not on this case? I did find Hodaka just being able to flee out of the police station unbelievable without anyone being able to grab or stop him. Natsumi driving around to help him escape was good. Her comment about using this as a police biker, only for Hodaka to say she’ll be disqualified for helping his escape was amusing. Keisuke cooperating with the police but then changing his mind after Hodaka’s circumstance reminds him of his own lost love was good. The cloud fish life seen at the climax and earlier in the film were cool, even if 1 seemed to be a whale. Does that distinction matter in the clouds?

Hodaka bringing Natsumi back at the expense of the storm continuing above Tokyo forever seems contentious. That means the city’s permanently changed and some people will get hurt or die due to the endless rain. I read this was Shinkai pushing against the belief that 1 person should be sacrificed for the good of the group. I can see how bigotry can come from sacrificing the 1 for the many mindset and can agree with it to some extent. At least Hodaka and Hina seem to be guilty to some extent about the decision years later when he comes back after graduating. An old woman he helped said that Tokyo originally had more water and in a sense the flooding was going to come sooner or later anyway. This reasoning seemed to assure Hodaka a bit. Tokyo seems to have adapted to the new normal and I wonder where Hodaka and Hina will take their relationship from here. I wasn’t able to really connect with the film but if you can get passed gun use and injuries like scratches and even blood and this film sounds up your ally, seek it out.

That’s all for now. Down with Trump and down with apartheid in Gaza and the West Bank. May hostages on all sides be free. Until the end of May, see you!