Hils's journal

I get tomorrow off! I'm looking forward to that, especially since I finally feel pretty human again, no more lingering illness.

1.
The horizon has glimmers of color as I drive to work, these days. It's very nice! It also means I'm cynically like "it's going to be sunrise when I'm driving to work and then daylight saving is gonna happen and it'll be dark again", because that's just how it goes.

2.
Periodically I remember that doing things gives you more energy for doing things, inclusive of how hanging out with people means you have more energy for hanging out with people? Truly the most annoying thing, knowing that sometimes forcing yourself to do the thing will result in feeling better! But also sometimes you need to not because of being out of energy/spoons. Balancing this! The worst!

3.
Star Trek: Discovery s3 continues to be overall good!
(When did I last talk about this. Ep4, apparently! So!)
s3e5 "Die Trying": I adored the set design for the seed ship. This was a good example of moving the plot along while setting up a farewell episode for a crew member who wouldn't be continuing on!
s3s6 "Scavengers": I want the miniseries/full arc of this episode. I am extremely here for the Michael/Phillipa/Book trio! I also think that having more time to dig into the prioritization of "solve the Burn" vs "obey Starfleet structure" vs "save people" would have been excellent.
s3e7 "Unification III": I will indeed cry upon seeing old footage of Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Uh. idk, the Qowat Milat are always cool? This episode progressed arcplot, mostly?
s3e8 "Sanctuary": god I really want more specifics about what Book's empathy powers are. Fun antics around following the letter of the law with Starfleet protocol, and makes it clear that yeah the Emerald Chain is gonna be the arcvillain. Also, Adira comes out to Stamets as nonbinary! in a scene that's very "okay yeah this is meant to be #relatable to teens", which isn't a bad thing but also I fundamentally am like "but it's Star Trek, why would a nonbinary person be worried about if they'd be accepted in Star Trek?"
s3s9-10 "Terra Firma", parts 1 and 2: A two-episode farewell to Mirror Phillipa Georgiou. I loved this as a character study for her! However! It makes the season's pacing really weird, since there are only three episodes left in the season and these two episodes were basically not about the arcplot at all. Phenomenal for the relationship between Michael and Phillipa, though, holy shit.

Truly a lot of my feelings about DSC s3 are that it doesn't seem to quite know if it's an episodic show or an arcplot show, and that leaves me resenting both the cutaways from episodic plots to arcplot scenes and the cutaways from arcplot for episodic plots. xD I still enjoy it because of the character dynamics, and I'm glad Tilly is starting to get what she's owed, but it's kind of messy plotting. Looking forward to the finale anyway, and I also expect that s4 will have an easier time with figuring itself out since it won't be as busy trying to establish the new time/setting as well.

4.
I also watched the first 9 episodes of Duet of Shadows a republican-era cdrama with ~19min episodes about very butch4butch investigator protags. Definitely having a good time! The first case/arc is basically "a trans man opera singer got outed and died", for reasons that turn out to not be a gender-related hate crime (his gender is very respected by those who know him! there's a scene in which someone who knew him hands one of the protags a binder and is like "pls use this instead of bandages"!). I think this is fun. Not everyone will. xD Curious what the next case/arc will be, and shall see how long it takes for me to finish it!

5.
Watching Yanxi Palace slowly continues! We're seven episodes in now, and Yingluo has attracted the Empress's attention (positive). The brief cut back to the eunuch tasked with figuring out who the quick-witted maid (Yingluo) is for the Emperor in the midst of that was very funny. But mostly these episodes have been about how clever and ruthless Yingluo is, and how those are necessary traits in the inner courtyards of the imperial palace.

6.
Six Sentence Sunday is always a fun meme. This is more than six sentences, but it is Sunday!

“Ms. Warram,” Ames said icily, his patience worn thin, “you have not even given me details about your offer. Your letter said nothing about compensation, support, or even a timeline for prototyping. It merely told me what you wanted from me, and nothing about this conversation leads me to believe I will enjoy the environment of your trading company. Treat me with the respect the title of Chief Engineer implies and I might consider visiting your workshop to make an informed decision. Otherwise, I do not see any reason to continue this conversation."

Emeline sat up straight, hands folded in front of her, that ring catching the light. He still couldn’t quite make out the design on it. “Amaranth dev Citronel,” she said, “I will show you the workshop. You will come with me?”

Ames opened his mouth to say “No”, but the light kept gleaming from Emeline’s eyes and ring, and he couldn’t concentrate through them. His tongue felt thick and heavy, as did the rest of his body.

It occurred to Ames, as the light stole over him, that he had been so busy worrying about the mundane side of predatory business contracts that he hadn’t even thought about a mage dead-set on taking him.

His lips said Yes, and Ames’ last conscious thought was that, if nothing else, Rhei would know something was wrong as soon as they arrived back in Jogan’s Rest.