Done This Week

Well, it’s a new year, and it already feels unforgivably stupid.

I did set some goals, but… Going through last year’s goals, it was very clear the way in which my life fell to pieces in March and never really got back on the rails. Best laid schemes, and all that. So I find myself a bit gun-shy over making any grand new plans. Top surgery, which in theory should only occupy my January and February, feels like a sufficiently robust and/or daunting goal to carry the remainder of the year. Planning anything else feels like asking for trouble.

I heard the first meadowlark of the year. It seems very early for that. I wonder if that means it’s going to be a mild winter. I also saw a red fox running through my field, pausing occasionally to pounce on the various rodents living out there.

Lewisia: 3 new pieces written, and all January posts queued up, which will carry me through the end of Lewisia Year 7 (?!?!)

Day job: 25.5 hours--I have lost track of what day it is entirely at this point, and the prospect of working a full week of five days fills me with despair

Cooking: finally got to make my seed loaf again, though I overcooked it thanks to having a fully functional oven; chocolate chip ginger spice cookies; pizza for New Year’s Eve

Gardening: planted the white peach tree we received at dad’s memorial

Reading: volume 1 of the Moomin comic strips <3

Listening: Run With The Hunted by Skyhill (their first album, which doesn’t have the polish of Out in the Moonlight but still delivers exactly the vibes I liked them for)

Aftermarket Parts: submitted the request for a leave of absence through the portal thing that my employer uses (now waiting for approval), worked on a list of things to pack for surgery week

Clock Mouse: 1319 words

Fandom Snowflake 2025 Challenge #3

Challenge #3

In your own space, talk about a fannish opinion you hold that has changed over time. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I used to be much more snobbish about adaptations. In fairness, some of this was born out of the very bad, ham-fisted dubbing that was done to anime when it first started gaining traction on network tv. To be an anime fan in the '90s was to be contemptuous of American corporate translation and voice acting hack jobs.

This was also an era when movie or (less commonly) tv adaptations were met with sneers of "the book is better." Which was often true! This was a reaction founded on very real experiences of seeing something you loved mangled by people who a) didn't understand it, b) didn't respect it, or c) thought fans of it were idiots (albeit idiots with disposable income), or some combination of the above.

It was still, however, a knee-jerk reaction that had less to do with the actual quality of the thing and more to do with performative high standards. It was a way of proving you Knew Better™.

And y'all, that is so tedious. It is so much more fun to be happy about things. But also, sometimes adaptations are good? Sometimes, even the ones that depart significantly from the source material?

The dub of Yu Yu Hakusho was genuinely good, from a translation/regionalization and performance standpoint. The movie adaptation of The Martian makes changes to the pacing and plot to better fit the medium, and it makes for a better movie. Slavish adherence to the source material, especially when changing mediums, typically makes for a worse end result.

I'd much rather, these days, see an adaptation that understands the heart of the story being told and prioritizes preserving that. Give me the part of the story that made me care, and I don't mind how much window dressing you change. Show me that you, too, understood why this story mattered and that you love it as I do.

This, incidentally, is how you get really good, bonkers adaptations of classics. Go nuts!