How about the holidays!
December 3rd, 2025
Much love to those who are dealing with the holiday rush! The good and bad part about my job is that work slows down around this time. My hours are butchered in a way that I'm barely working at all, making me extra thankful that I live with someone who can pick up my slack (bless my old man!). While applying for part-time jobs to fill the space and waiting for rejection emails that employers would rather die than send you anyway, I'm just trying to take it easy and soak in the free time I get while I have it.
Thanksgiving just passed, and it was the first one we had since I went vegan. My old man was more than happy to buy me some plant sausages and skimp on the turkey, saying "we never finish eating it all anyway" and "it's really just for the tradition". I love to cook, so I decided to make something for the occasion, anyway. It would just have to be a day late.
My thanksgiving work, a lentil loaf! Packed with fibrous lentils, oats, carrots and more, and flavored with various spices and seasonings for a delicious umami taste, it came out wonderfully savory and filling.
For a large period of time I'd been relying on my memory for all the recipes I come up with as well as those I'd been modifying from online. I'm an idiot and this is a bad idea. I finally decided to grab Paprika Recipe Manager on both my computer and my phone and it has saved my life. I promise I'm not being paid to do this, if you cook often check it out!
Amidst everything else, the biggest time sink right now has been Fantasy Maiden Wars, the Touhou SRPG fangame that I had mentioned earlier! I'm close to the end, now (it's been at least 80+ hours, if you can believe it), and to say it has delivered on everything about itself is a massive understatement. I may or may not make my own post dedicated to it, if I can find a way to narrow the scope of what I want to talk about— there is just so much good packed into this game that I think I could actually talk about it forever. Every hour has been worth it, and then some. I'll just leave it here: If you're into SRPGs, then play Fantasy Maiden Wars. If you're into Touhou, then play Fantasy Maiden Wars. If you're into both of these things, play Fantasy Maiden Wars. If you're into neither of these things, play Fantasy Maiden Wars. Just play Fantasy Maiden Wars. I beg you.
In addition, I'd been meaning to look into Inazuma Eleven for a while now, and the recent release of Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road felt like a grood reminder to start! Both the games and the anime interested me, so I started watching the anime with Marjorie, partly to fill the spot of when you want to watch something but you don't want to expend too much brainpower on it. And holy shit, this is right up my alley... It's essentially soccer, but as a high-energy kids battle anime, with a lot of stock tropes and archetypes, but backed up by some genuinely solid writing and a lot of heart. We're only a few episodes in, but the designs are so much fun, the action of the matches is exciting and over-the-top, it has a great sense of energy already. It's not this super compelling watch, but it's such a good time, I can easily see myself sticking with it for a while. And that's before even getting into the games, which look very fun in their own right. Am I already a fan? I guess so!
In Inazuma Eleven, middle school soccer is cranked up to eleven through a plethora of supernatural powers. Longtime fans find the way it indulges in its over-the-top nature without ever winking at the camera to be its biggest charm point, and I'm inclined to agree.
Lately, outside of all that, despite my limited time I have been able to talk to more friends lately, even in passing, and get even just a little bit closer with them, which does make me happy since I feel like I've become more distant over the years. I don't exactly think of myself as distant in disposition, but various complexes make it hard for me to trust myself with other people sometimes. It's always a good feeling when you become closer with someone than you were before, and when you feel like you can really rely on them. Thank you Mimi, Jane. I'm glad to have known you for this long, and glad to keep knowing you.
Everyone be as kind to yourself as you can this season, and please keep warm!
Almond Breeze Almond Nog, my winter season savior, because I don't know how else to end this.