Something keeps me coming back to thinking about Kanon every once in a while.  It's not got the depth that Madoka does, or the musings about life that Rain World triggers in me, or the expansive web that Outer Wilds does, but it's got =something=, for sure.  It's not just that Makoto is cute, not just that the atmosphere is pretty, not just that I've thought about it a lot, but I think the combination of all of these things summing together to make more than a whole.  I'll write more about Kanon someday, still, I'm sure.  Perhaps this is an apt time, as we start to go into the colder months.

There is something both comforting and isolating at the same time about the cold.  Perhaps that is a bit of what Kanon captures in its essence.  It's really no surprise that what you might know as an original definitive "wintertime" anime resonates with me, given my preference for the season.  Of course, all of those Key/Kyoani works try to blend together warm comfort with sadness, but somehow it just seems to "fit" into place in a certain nostalgic way in the midst of the winter town in Kanon.  A town that you come back to.  Staying at an aunt's house.  In those scenes with Shiori where we see the light of the fountain and the "bokeh" effects (I hope I'm not just making this up), it's almost dreamlike.  And in those dreams of ours we think about love, loss, loneliness, and warmth.  All of these things.

It's something I'll think about more, I'm sure.

Anyways, I've really been hard at work trying to get a lot of things taken care of!  I didn't end up writing any more of those vote forward letters (didn't do an xmas letter today or yesterday either....), but I spent a great chunk of the day working on Rhythm Quest, which was well-spent.  I've got a new minor release ready to go for tomorrow and then I'll try to spend some time writing up a devlog, although this one will be a little less exciting/snazzy than the others since there's no levels or graphics to show off, just a bunch of fixes and improvements that I feel good about knocking out.

It's been a little bit since my last DDR session so maybe that'll be a thing tomorrow, but then again, tomorrow I might have my hands full between cooking and finishing up the Rhythm Quest stuff, and setting out some treats for the trick-or-treaters.  Might just be a good night to kick back and relax with this week's ALTTPR seed, alongside some letter writing.

I think I could use a little bit of a self-pat on the back, honestly.  Voting is all taken care of, I did some other errands today (groceries...), been cooking every day still, continuing to work on GT basement timings for my ALTTPR site.  Even filed a message to complain to my dental insurance provider who claims that my dentist was out of network even though they were last time?  Well, I'll give that some time, I'll probably get to the bottom of it eventually.

I skipped MCS this week, honestly it didn't even occur to me to go today; I had already been at Dancebreak with the Stanford kids on Monday and I had gone out to Teance to drink/work and after doing my groceries and taking care of dinner I settled in to work on Rhythm Quest and it wasn't until the night was all done that I realized that oh yeah, it is Wednesday, huh.  Well, there was an event at Baba's House that I could have gone to as well, but I think I made the best use of my time.  I don't have to do everything -- that extends to tomorrow as well!  There's a thing happening at Baba's that I could go to, but I get the feeling I'm just gonna want to chill and save my social energy for a potential Teance outing on Saturday.  Fall Ball is already next Friday as well...maybe I'll be skipping MCS again, haha.

I got asked whether I could teach a class at Dancebreak...it's been so long since I taught anything.  I'd be happy to do it; probably not a bad opportunity to both keep that muscle in shape as well as try to at least provide some engagement (if not some actual learnings).  But whether I end up actually having the time and energy to put together a class structure is another question entirely.  I'm loathe to play things by ear when it comes to teaching; it's just really hard to be efficient and not have things drag along if you're not well-prepared.  I'll let it happen if it happens, and not happen if it doesn't happen.  I mean, I'd like to run a full-fledged event sometime as well, but...yeah, same thing there.

Are there more things to do and take care of?  Yeah, sure.  Some more room cleanup, putting together my revamped Cycle7 setup, replacing the chickies' litter...more xmas letters...the Kanon writeups...endless Rhythm Quest work lol, and xmas shopping I guess.  But regardless of how much or how little there still is ahead, I'm doing well.  The sounds of typing on my Evo80 have been satisfying as well :)  Did a clay mask the other day and my skin is even feeling great since then, too!

It's not that I want these times to last forever, or even that I'm worried about making the most of them.  It's just a little sad thinking that they'll someday be gone.