#075 - You Think It's All Over, Then the Joke is On You!

 Hello everybody! Turns out, I skipped #73. :P That makes today the real 75. It's also April Fool's Day. If you were expecting this to be #76 the I got you, I guess. I didn't mean to skip #73 though.

Anyway, I started keeping track of my DMs again, like I did in September. Now that I have foreknowledge, I know what to write down initially so that I don't have to go back to add stuff. Surprisingly, we are off to a good start. 6 people sent me a DM first today. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting that. Usually, I start the conversations. Like last time, I'll be keeping track of everyone I directly send and receive messages to, how many of each, who started it, and the platform.

Other than that, my dad and I worked some more on getting additional cameras set up around the outside of the house. A critter has been crawling through the ceiling and I hope that tonight I catch it on video. I want to know what it is that keeps scratching up there. There was also a Half-Life Discord event and we played some Half-Life Deathmatch Source. Not really to my surprise, the event was already down to just 5 people after an hour. There was a new Minecraft AF snapshot today and I actually enjoyed it. Look up 23w13a_or_b to find out more. In addition to that, I played some of my modded b1.3_01 world. I finally made it to the Nether. Oh man, there were so many ghasts though. -_-

It has been made official, on Saturday the 22, my cousin and I will be having lunch with my friend. Going out for ribs is the plan. I am very much looking forward to it. Yeah, I like ribs and all but having lunch with my friend whom I haven't seen since October is what I'm really looking forward to. I also had a nice long conversation with B~ today. I don't remember if I shared on here before, but we converse from time to time. Today, she reached out for an opinion about life stuff. There was a fair amount that followed.

Honestly though, it makes me glad that there's one person who actually asks for my opinion on stuff. I think I've shared before that very, very, very rarely has anyone actually asked me for advice or something. But multiple times now B~ has done so and it brings a special kind of gladness in knowing that there is at least one person in the world who views the things I have to say as valuable.

Alright y'all, in the time since last paragraph and this one, I heard a noise above my room as per the usual these days and checked the camera I placed at the probable animal entrance. My prediction was correct- an opossum has made a living accessing our roof space. From what we've seen though, it is stubborn. We've been keeping an eye out for about 20 minutes but it really does not want to leave the space. It's 22:00 right now which means we'll have to deal with this tomorrow. However, visual contact has been made with the enemy. Tomorrow we do something about it.

So, what did I do yesterday? Well, let me tell you...

I played some more b1.3_01, Doom 64, and finished Fruits Basket. Oh man, what a franchise that was to get through. But because I'm tired, I don't have much specific to say, and instead will just give y'all the notes that I took during the whole thing. You better believe this post is going to be massive.

Fruits Basket Notes:

Season 1:

-Really memorable start of the series.

-So dramatic

-Almost wants to be a harem, but not really.

-Lots of exposition

-Nearly everyone has hidden motives

-Fruits Basket? More like Fruity Basket

-Backstory all over the place

-Intentionally ended with a fair of setup for later seasons.

Season 2:

-I'm for sure not the target audience

-"How much sadness can we fit into each episode?"

-Isuzu (Rin) is officially my favorite character as of E18. But I have been considering it for a while now.

-A lot of starting things halfway through one episode and having resolution in the next. And then start something new.

-S2E23 is my favorite episode because Cinderella-ish was amazing.

-Noticeable character shuffling where most folks go unmentioned for a while.

-The fruitiness was toned back.  It was quite a lot before.

-Once again setup for later content.

Season 3:

-The sadness continues

-S306 was a really good episode. Tied second-favorite with S1E1.

-There was a lot of buildup for Akito being the end-all in S1 and S2, but it was a quick switch to her mother for the first half of S3 until Ren became absent in the story. And then back to Akito.

-Some of the events feel rushed.

-I miss seeing the bootleg repairs being made when destruction was caused.

-A couple of unknowns remain, but it is still good resolution.

Prelude:

-The recap part reminds me of Evangelion Death (True)2.

-Kyoko and Katsuya had some pretty interesting lives before getting married.

-There was noticeably less depresso than the three seasons.

-The surprise epilogue at the end was nice to see.

Original:

-The pacing feels noticeably quicker

-The TV effects used early on feel like they did not fit which is probably why they ended up being removed in the reboot.

-Due to the pacing, there aren't really moments of big sadness.

-Depictions of smoking are present.

-I like the whimsical/mystical music.

-There's not a lot of subtlety with the storytelling.

-The series feels generally lighthearted, but it knows when it's time to be serious.

-Momiji's whines can become annoying, but it's not that often. Kyo doesn't bother him too much.

-At the end, I was not expecting Tohru to give up and run to her mom. Then her friends had to be the convincing factor for her to go after Kyo.

-The pacing was pretty consistent until the last couple of episodes.

In Total:

-Really good setup and premise and has good moments, but there's a lot outside my area of interest.

-So much exposition and backstory moments in the reboot that the story flow feels choppy. The original series is more consistent.

-Prelude was a good addition, with the stories of Tohru's parents.

-Due to the general style and mood of the original series, I think I enjoy it more. Maybe because I already had expectations, but the reboot seasons had a lot of depresso. The original didn't feel as sad.

-I like how much of the original series was able to make it into the reboot. There is a lot that was recreated accurately mostly in season 1, with a wee bit in season 2 as well.

-I think it's absolutely worth watching. From the start of the 2019 series to the end of the original, I enjoyed it.

I think I now for sure have talked about everything. I'm tired. I shared my thoughts about how I'm really looking forward to seeing my friend again and that B~ trusts me and my life advice. I am grateful that I know both of them along with other folks I like to have around. Thank you all for reading. Bye!