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 I had some hope early last year of attending LA Con (aka this year's WorldCon) virtually, but things happened and I did not get my act together. Simiarly, I tend to still like to watch the Hugo Awards, but in my defense I was working Saturday. With the time difference I don't know if I could have caught them live or not, but, either way, I did not manage that either.

Congratulations to the winners. 

I also this year failed to do my reading, and that is something I can rectify. Although now that these pieces have won, some of them will have very long wait lists at the library. Still, there's no statute of limitations on reading award winners. 

I don't have a lot of other earth-shattering news to share. Despite working this weekend, I ran a D&D session on Saturday morning. It went pretty well. My players are not always fond of fighting, but I was prepared for that and so I made sure that they could communicate with the creatures that would have otherwise been "bad guys." A new NPC showed up who very clearly has "Side Quest" and/or "New Campaign" on a sign around her very fluffy shoulders (she is a smol tabaxi.) She has also introduced a few more plot strings in need of tying up, but my players seem to have taken the (incredibly adorable) bait so all is well.

On my way to work on Sunday, there were no egrets, but I did spot a trumpeter swan (possibly two, but I go by at speeds and do need to watch the road as well.) 

Do I have other news? My computer has basically stopped functioning so it's going to be time to look for another one. If you all have ideas of a place to get cheap, reliable laptops, please let me know. The only thing I am fussy about is keyboards--though now that I have a full-size keyboard that I can plug in, less so. The only thing I use my laptop for is surfing the internet and writing novels. I do most of my file storage on the Cloud, but I'd still rather not have a something quite as flimsy as a Chrome book, unless there is nothing else reasonably priced. 

Yeah, so that's me. You?

 Yesterday, I could not get my computer to behave at all, so I missed my opportunity to have a Wednesday post. Alas.

Today seems to be a good day, so I'll put something out here, lest any of you worry that I've dropped off the face of the earth.  Yeah, so, HI!  I'm here and above the ground. Yes, I am hoping to replace this computer soon, but I wouldn't have a job at the library if we were made out of money.

Yesterday was Shawn and my legalversary. The anniversary of our legal marriage. So, we've been legally married as long as Minnesota made it legal for same-sex couples to be wed. So, however long that was? I don't really know, except I think it was a year before the Federal government announced it. Obviously, a very important timeline for us. Regardless, though, we do feel as though it's worth celebrating, so Shawn, Mason and I went to Red Rabbit in Saint Paul and enjoyed their happy hour. It was so lovely outside. I wish it would rain? (The Twin Cities are in a severe drought.) But, I can not complain about the temperatures. It's been insanely lovely here. Red Rabbit has tables outside and so we dined al fresco, which always feels fancy.

In other news, Mason starts law school orientation on Friday. So, that's exciting for him. To that end, we did some back-to-school clothes shopping with mix success yesterday. (We, because Shawn decided to take our anniversary off as a holiday from work.) Mason found several good shirts, but is struggling to find good men's shoes that he can walk in. He's got a bead on some brand names, so, worst case scenario, he'll order online, but yesterday morning was an exercise in frustration on the shoe front. There is still the Mall of America, which I'll drop him off at tomorrow.

The only thing I would have reported to you all regarding things watched or read is that I fell into Banana Fish HARD. Netflix has a new anime of this very OLD manga (1985- 1994.) Those of you who know this manga, just be embarassed for me, okay? I can't help that I was, in fact, a teen in the 1980s and so this hits me squarely in the id. Like, if I had had Banana Fish when I was 15? Yeah. I'd still be writing fanfic.

So what is it all about? It's ostensibly about a young Japanese photojournalist assistant who comes to 1985 gang-ridden America to document the criming and lawlessness of our great country (as imagined by the Japanese.) His name is Eiji and he embodies the concept of "sweet cinnamon bun." As part of his assignment, he meets Ash Lynx (whose name can not be better) an insanely good looking and OP gang leader (seriously, we learn that despite his tragic backstory which is Epstien Files worthy, he is a literal genius with an IQ of over 200, is so beautiful no one can resist him, and was trained in sharp shooting by a former Russian super-soldier, and is just naturally an expert in hand-to-hand combat. Frankly, everything I want  in a fictional man.)

Can I recommend it? I dunno. It's very laughable in a way? The tagline is: "Nature made him beautiful; Nurture made him a killer!"  It's lightly yaoi because there is a clear draw between Ash and Eiji, though the only kiss they share is in order to pass a seceret note while Ash is in prison. The plot is kind of insane in the way of what a friend of mine calls "gonzo anime," because the plot is basically about a mind-control drug invented by the mafia and the US governement, which by chance intersects with our hero Ash because 1) his brother was infected with it during his service in Vietnam (1985 version)/ Iraq (2026 version) and 2) the mafia kingpin that Epstein file trafficked him as a youth is the mafia connection. 

Can your suspenders stretch this far? I don't know. Mine only did because I chose to remove them entirely, flop them over the back of my chair, and just sit back and enjoy this thing for what it is. Also there is a lot of violence? So many gun fights. So much shooting. And, because even knowing all this going in, I think it's important for some of us in 2026 to know that not all ends well, in fact, let's just say Cowboy BeBop and Banana Fish share an ending. If you know, you know. If not, just know it's not happy.

I should probably not push my luck too much with my computer. I hope you all had a lovely week or so in my absence and are doing well.