IG Live Interview

This past Tuesday I was fortunate to be a guest on Multicultural Children's Book Day's IG (Instagram) Live series for Autism Acceptance Month! I interviewed fellow author (and fellow gamer!) Meg Eden, whose credits include Post-High School Reality Quest, Drowning in the Floating World, and the forthcoming Selah's Guide to Normal.

We spoke for about twenty minutes about her work, her neurodivergent identity, and, of course, which Fire Emblem game is her favorite. If you missed it, you can check it out here!

Anime Roundup

As I mentioned in this previous post, I took an unintentional break from anime because there was a sudden glut of non-anime shows that I wanted to watch. In addition to the ones I listed in the post, there was also the second season of Raising Dion, the rest of The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, and Letterkenny. But, well, you can't keep an anime otaku away for too long, now, can you? (WARNING: CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS)

Weathering With You

A full-length feature film brought to you by the same writer/director behind the brilliant Your Name (featured in this previous Anime Roundup post), this is a rom-dram with fantasy elements (similar to Your Name) that is about a teenage boy who runs away from home, goes to Tokyo, and meets a teenage girl who can control the weather - kind of like a slightly more subtle Storm from the X-Men. It starts off a little slow but gets real good, especially in the third act. The background art is some of the best I've ever seen in an anime, with near-photorealistic depictions of Tokyo that (I assume) are completely accurate. It's a great story with likeable characters, lots of emotion, and some humor sprinkled in. The secondary climate change theme is pretty relevant, as well.

Kotaro Lives Alone

This vignette-style dramedy takes the anime trope of kids living on their own without parents or guardians to the logical (illogical?) extreme, focusing on a four-year-old boy who lives by himself in an apartment complex. It does a good job of exploring exactly WHY a young child would be in a situation like that (as opposed to some animes where it's never explained where the parents are) and it delves into some pretty heavy and serious topics, like child abuse/neglect, divorce, etc., without getting overly dark about it. In fact, the overall tone is pretty light and optimistic, and I found myself breezing through all ten episodes of the first season in no time at all. Apparently there is also a live-action version, so Netflix, get on that, will you?

Soul Eater Not!

I was and am a big fan of the original Soul Eater (discussed in this previous Anime Roundup post). So when I found out there was a subsequent spinoff and it was on Hulu, I was all over it. Then, after a couple of episodes, I realized why it's called "Soul Eater Not!" - because although it's set in the same world as the original show (and, in fact, contains extended cameos by original characters), its tone is markedly different. Whereas the original was more of the shonen genre variety (plot-heavy action-adventure targeted at a teenage male demographic), this one is more slice-of-life/comedy/high school (in the middle of the second episode I was like, oh - I get it. "Not.") There is an in-world explanation of the "Not," with the main characters of this show being in the "NOT" class of their school, which focuses on simply controlling your powers, while the characters of the original are in the "EAT" class, where training to become heroes is the goal. Eventually the show does dip into some drama and peril, but then it quickly gets right back to being fuwa fuwa (light and fluffy). Or does it? Yes, it does. OR DOES IT??

Death Parade

This is a psychological thriller about a purgatory-like place, if said place was a bar where you play bar games (billiards, darts, etc.) to determine whether you go to "the void" or get reincarnated. Kind of like Squid Game, except not (also, this show came first). After the first episode it starts to veer away from the main premise a bit - which is good because otherwise it would get stale pretty fast - and injects an element of what I would call workplace drama as the various entities (called "arbiters") who run the purgatory-like place clash with each other. The penultimate episode features a fun cameo for hardcore anime fans, or at least fans who have watched anime shows that start with the word (HINT/SPOILER) "death."

Himouto! Umaru-Chan (Season 2)

I talked about season one of this show in this previous Anime Roundup post. Then recently, while sifting through my various streaming services for stuff to watch, I stumbled upon season two on Amazon Prime. Why they have season two but not season one, I have no idea. But it doesn't really matter - because of the slice-of-life style of the show, you don't need to have seen the first season to know what's going on (but you really should watch it anyway, it's on Crunchyroll). This second season basically continues the "story" of Umaru, the teenage girl who's a total overachiever at school and in public but a lazy otaku (nerd) at home, this time kind of delving more into her blossoming friendships with a few of her classmates, one of whom constantly says DESUWA?! (Japanese for "indeed") at the end of every sentence. Surprisingly, this is not as annoying as it sounds; in fact, now I find myself adding "DESUWA?!" at the end of my own sentences when I'm talking to my cats. One question I do have for the show (that I only thought of now for some reason) is: if Umaru wants to keep her slobby "Himouto" personality a secret, then why do her brother and she herself refer to her as "Umaru" when her friends are over? And why do said friends not catch on? It's not like they know tons of other people named Umaru. Maa, nandemoii (well, whatever).

Snow? Cats. Snow? Cats.

Snow in April??

Yes, said the cats.

Shall we play?

No thank you, said the cats.

THE END

Zomie Media

While my band Second Player Score is waiting for Beer & Ramen to be served, we took a little detour to record one song with our good friend Chris Hahn, guitarist/singer for Old Cross and the owner/engineer of Zomie Media.

Which song, you ask? Well, it's a cover song, one that we've been playing since the band started over ten (?!) years ago. It even predates most of our original material.

And its title is... actually, we're going to announce it on our podcast, so you'll have to listen to that to find out!

Or, I guess, you can just wait until we release it sometime this summer. Either way (and no, it's not Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know"). At any rate, we had a great time and a terrific first experience recording with Chris, so we're definitely going to be doing it again!

What's For Lunch

If you've been reading this blog for a while, then you're no stranger to my food-related posts, among them being things like Eating On A Budget and various Spam or Spam-adjacent recipes. This week, I figured I'd document what I've settled into as a pretty steady lunch (chuushoku or ohirugohan in Japanese) routine:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

- Spinach salad w/fat-free vinaigrette dressing

- Broccoli florets and baby carrots w/Sriracha ranch dip

- Oven-roasted turkey slices (3) w/pepper jack cheese on wheat; light mayo, hot mustard, black pepper, and turmeric

- Salt & vinegar chips

- Lemon seltzer

- Green tea (afterwards)

Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays

- Spinach salad w/fat-free vinaigrette dressing

- Broccoli florets and baby carrots w/Sriracha ranch dip

- Chunk light tuna (in water, unflavored, 6 oz. pouch) on white rice, seasoned with turmeric

- Side of kim chi, spicy

- Lemon seltzer

- Green tea (afterwards)

This has been going on for a while now, and I'm not sure when it'll change. Previously, I used to eat frozen entrees every day, but that didn't seem healthy or cost-effective after a while, so I switched to the turkey sandwiches and then added in the tuna-on-rice after that. I know you may or may not care about my dietary habits, but since this blog is really just a public online diary, I thought it might be fun - for me, anyway - to capture this moment in time so that one day I can look back and see what I was having for lunch at this stage in my life. If you got this far, thanks for reading!

Evidence That We Are Living In A Simulation?

So far, I've written two posts on this subject, the first one back in July 2017 and the second one in January 2018. Since then, it seems like public interest in this subject has only grown, with more and more books and documentaries being released that explore the subject of whether or not we are living in a simulation (I've read - and recommend - The Simulation Hypothesis and The Simulated Multiverse, both by Rizwan Virk). My own interest is, of course, ongoing, and a few recent incidents have prompted me to write another one of these "evidence" posts:

1. The Rock Chip Incident

Several months ago, I was driving from Portland to Vancouver on the I-205 freeway. As I was crossing the Glenn Jackson Bridge, I found myself behind a big rig truck that subsequently kicked up a rock at my car. The rock hit my windshield, creating a small rock chip. I went to Jiffy Lube, who said that the chip wasn't large enough to warrant a full repair, but that they would apply some sealant and call it good (the chip was still evident). Then this past weekend, as I was driving from Portland to Vancouver on the I-205 freeway and crossing the Glenn Jackson Bridge, I found myself behind a big rig truck that subsequently kicked up a rock at my car that hit my windshield IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT AS THE PREVIOUS ROCK CHIP. How do I know this? Because after I got off the freeway, I parked and inspected the windshield and found absolutely no evidence of the previous chip (which I already knew to be in roughly the same area as the new chip). So, either (1) the previous chip had somehow repaired itself while I wasn't looking (improbable); (2) a one-in-a-mega-million-chance event had just occurred (possible); or (3) the simulation had rerun the same incident in a Matrix-black-cat kind of way. Which is the correct answer? You decide. (P.S. I went to Jiffy Lube again and this time they fixed it.)

2. The Ant Side Quest

I've been having an issue with ants in my kitchen lately (no, not the aunts of Geico commercial fame). I consider it sort of a side quest in the video game of life because it's one of those minor inconveniences that I just tend to from time to time in between major story events (plus, it's more fun if you make a game out of it). So the other day, after I, um, removed a few ants from my countertop, I looked away for a split second, only to look back and see that several more ants had taken their place. Now, mind you, this is in the middle of my countertop, where there are no nearby crevices for the ants to crawl out from or any other places where they could have been hiding. Seriously, it was like they had just appeared out of nowhere. So, either (1) I had somehow not seen them along with the other ants that I had removed (possible, but unlikely); (2) they have super-speed and had darted out from somewhere during the split second that I had looked away (improbable); or (3) the simulation had respawned them, just like bokoblins that appear out of nowhere in The Legend of Zelda.

3. Letterkenny

This one comes courtesy of Kyle, the drummer in my band Second Player Score. He and his wife are fans of the comedy show Letterkenny, on Hulu (which I've just started watching, by the way). Well, recently they started a rewatch and noticed that the characters Reilly and Jonesy are especially fond of saying the word "ferda," which apparently is a hockey term meaning "for the boys," an action that a player takes that is beneficial for the team as a whole. Now, normally this wouldn't be unusual, except that Kyle and his wife both swear the first time they watched the show, which started in 2016, they don't remember those characters saying that word AT ALL. They know this because they find the word to be so distinctive (and possibly annoying) that they definitely would have noticed it the first time around. So, either (1) the show has been reshot with new dialogue (highly unlikely); (2) both Kyle and his wife just somehow forgot about or didn't notice the word before (if it was just Kyle, possible, as he's dealing with long-Covid symptoms, but for both he AND his wife, who isn't prone to making stuff up, to forget? Unlikely); or (3) the simulation has shifted into a different version of itself, causing a Mandela Effect-like effect).

So there you have it, the latest examples of possible evidence that we are, in fact, living in a simulation. If you have some of your own, feel free to share. In the meantime, I'm going to go watch Free Guy again.

Volumes Six And Seven Status Updates

In this post from January 13, I said that I had received the developmental edit of Joel Suzuki, Volume Six back from my editor, and also that Volume Seven was up to 5268 words (that's kind of an oddly specific word count, not sure what I was thinking).

Well, today, I'm happy to say that Volume Six is now ready for a line edit, which will be done by a new editor* and be finished by the end of April! Also, Volume Seven - which had made it all the way up to 14,000 words before I had to do my usual backing-up-and-starting-over process** - is now up to 16,000 words and has a pretty solid outline on top of that.

So, if all goes according to plan, we can expect Volume Six to launch before the end of the year, which would be ahead of schedule***. Fingers crossed, and stay tuned for more updates!

* My other editor, Susan DeFreitas, is still the developmental editor for the series, but she's gotten so busy and successful - rightly so! - with her other projects that she no longer does line edits

** Because sometimes you have to actually write the thing before you realize that the thing you wrote is not the thing you wanted to write

*** I've been on an every-other-year schedule, with Volume One launching in 2012/2013, Volume Two in 2015, Volume Three in 2017, Volume Four in 2019 - um, I mean, 2018, I was ahead of schedule back then as well - Volume Five in 2021 (January!), and now, hopefully, 2022 instead of 2023 for Volume Six.