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I spent last week with family in Memphis, Tennessee, which is where my dad hails from. It had been over 7 years since the last time I was there, and I had little cousins I’d never even met! Despite this, they know me very well, as I have carefully cultivated my reputation. But it was a great time! We did some touristy things, like visiting the fish pyramid, but mostly just hung with family. Lots of swimming, and watching of Teen Titans, and arguing about the correct pronunciation of “J’onn J’onzz.” It was lovely, but spending every day with people is exhausting, and when those people are children it’s doubly exhausting, and I had a couple nights when I just…couldn’t sleep, so by the time we were on the 15-hour drive home I had basically lost my mind.
It’s better now. It’s a little better now. I hope someday to sleep again.
Notable Breakfast
Dog Thing
Things my dogs did in Memphis:
Vista: lifeguard ineffectually
Leilani: try to fight the pool cleaning robot
Mixed Media
I brought six books and a Nintendo 3DS with me to Tennessee, but I might as well not have bothered, because all I did in my spare time was watch Haikyuu!! I love this show, and find it so incredibly fulfilling to watch, and no one is more surprised than I am. The characters are sweet and fun, the emotions are high, and I just get completely swept up in it. There was a sequence in the first season where the losing teams in a tournament reflected on just how honored they were, despite their losses, to have been able to play volleyball. I was shockingly, genuinely moved. By volleyball, a sport I have never cared about.
The show follows a high school volleyball team, and in particular two first year players on it: Hinata and Kageyama, a spiker and a setter, respectively. Hinata and Kageyama were briefly rivals in middle school, and aren’t really thrilled to have to play on the same team, but discover that their unique styles of play combine to make them a powerful duo. They’re also unique in that they are wholly and insanely devoted to the sport of volleyball, which is overwhelming at first–for the viewer, and for the other members of their team–but eventually starts helping to drive them all towards victory.
The show doesn’t linger solely on those kids for long, however, and spends time letting you get to know nearly all of the players, plus the managers, plus coaches, plus competitors. Which sounds like a lot, but is surprisingly manageable? The character building is really exquisite.
My personal faves are the club sponsor, a literature teacher who knew nothing about volleyball but went all out trying to learn for the good of the kids, and the coach he recruited, a former player who’d been doing a lot of nothing with his life. I’d also like to note that I waded into a show about teens and came out on the other side shipping the only two adults in the joint. To paraphrase a friend, they’re a bit like those couples in romance novels who get together after they inherit a baby, only in this case the baby is 15 teenage boys.
I watched most of season 1 of Psycho-Pass, which is my best friend’s favourite show. I largely enjoyed it, although the things he loves about it–the philosophy discussions, basically–were not things I was super interested in. I enjoyed the action and a lot of the characters, but the show has a serious problem with the way it depicts violence, and in particular violence against women, that ultimately I wasn’t able to get past.
I read Not Drunk Enough vol 1 by Tessa Stone, and loved it so much I immediately went and caught up with the rest of it online (it’s a webcomic!). Not Drunk Enough is a horror comic about a repairman who gets called to a job in a building overrun with something terrible. Part one of the long-awaited Legend of Korra sequel comic, Turf Wars, came out last week, and I devoured it. It’s so good. I read The Wendy Project, about a girl who deals with her grief by fixating on the Peter Pan story. It was wonderful. I read She and her Cat, about a woman’s relationship with her cat, told from the cat’s perspective. It was lovely, and had a lot of unexpected depth. But the stand-out book was definitely I Hear the Sunspot by Fumino Yuki, about a hard of hearing college student who recruits another student to become his note-taker in class. It’s about their relationship, but also about deafness and disability, and how the odds are stacked against people who are disabled. I got very emotional about it.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Fics I Shouted About
along dream paths by Mysecretfanmoments // Haikyuu!!, Ukai/Takeda. Ukai sees a bit of a poem in Takeda’s notebook, and it starts him thinking.
alleyways and payphone calls by cafecliche // Yuri!!! On Ice, Yuuri/Victor. Their lives are a series of hotel rooms and airports.
Still He Offers the Sea Shell by Chash // Anne of Green Gables, Anne/Gilbert, modern AU. After 6 months of Anner hearing about Gilbert Blythe, he comes back from studying abroad. This was a wonderful, wonderful updating, Anne & Gilbert are perfect.
Paper Dolls by cupiscent // Harry Potter, Draco/Harry, wartime au. A fic about Draco receiving a letter, and making a choice. An exception to my general dislike of teenage h/d fics.
10 Things I Hate About Reunions by BryroseA // 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat/Patrick. 10 years later, Kat and Patrick run into each other in an airport. This was exactly what I didn’t know I wanted.
Vkusno! by mtothedestiel // Yuri!!! On Ice, Yuuri/Victor. The year after Yuuri retires, they’re guests on Top Chef. I know literally nothing about cooking competitions, but this was DELIGHTFUL.
Some Unholy War by omelet // Greek Mythology, Hades/Persephone, AU. Hades leaves the Underworld and finds himself held captive by a goddess. I loved this flip around.
Where You Lead (I will Follow) by MsEerie // Power Rangers (2017), Zack/Jason, group fic. Jason comes down with the flu. The voices and interactions in this fic were delightful and perfect and I loved it.
Yuuri Week 2017 by counterheist: I couldn’t pick just one of these perfect Yuuri/Victor fics, most of which are video game AUs.
(Note: more than a few of these I gleaned from Aja Romano’s glorious fic rec thread on twitter, which I HIGHLY recommend.)
Lastly
bye i need to sleep
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