hikaruでちゅ digital journal

I have pretty fuzzy memories of the events in the previous Monogatari books, but I vaguely recalled liking Shinobu the most. So I was sorta looking forward to this? Especially after the Nadeko book. It ended up being more about Mayoi though.

The pacing of this book was pretty bad. Shinobu is a terrible narrator. The fourth wall breaking also got pretty stale, it wasn't even really that funny the first time. Overall it wasn't a very good story...but the character interactions kinda made up for it. And the Darkness phenomenon was interesting and made sense in that world. I should feel sadder Mayoi is gone but I feel like it might be temporary? I feel like it was hinting that Araragi could have done something if he had more knowledge. More time-travel shenanigans incoming? 😝

Splatoon 2 gear time. I usually don't like pink but Pearl and her hoodie were so cute in Octo Expansion I really wanted to make it. I used a minky fleece which is sooo soooft 😊

Fashion Theme: Grey and Sparkly Pink. In my head, the sunglasses are cos the outfit plus weapon is too bright 🤣

Emote: Bashful Brag, it's pretty cute. Feels like it matches the shoes in terms of vibe.

Gear Intent: I had to put quite a lot into SpPU because I'm bad at Kraken so need time to head back to a safer position when using it offensively 😅 ISS because I guess I liked the marking capabilities of the vanilla Heavy Splatling with Wavebreaker.

Ok, so we know the final fest theme now, and it's not the 3 idol groups against each other, so might as well post my Splatoon 1 and 2 outfits.

Marie is still my favourite news presenter. I wish I hadn't used the laminated glitter HTV though. But I also don't like the normal glitter HTV either 😅 Luckily Siser has a bunch of sparkly type HTV so I'll hopefully like at least one of them...

After

Before

Fashion Theme: Snazzily Silver. If only you could remove the bear paws. But no matter. I really like the Squink Wingtips. It's the kinda shoe I like to look at but would never wear myself.

Emote: Introduced in Splatoon 2 so Square Show-off.

Gear Intent: The usual splatling RSU but some SSU for the charge hold. SuPU to track people for longer and SCU to get more rain.

I felt like this book was set sufficiently outside of Kingsbridge and following characters only tangentially related to the town that it felt like a bit of a stretch to call it a Kingsbridge novel. But I suppose as times change and the world becomes more globalised, it would be weird to contain it to just England.

I really liked Ned. He felt like a combination of all the good things about Prior Phillip and Merthin. I also liked how he fell in love with Sylvie despite his attachment to Margret.

I also liked the message of religious tolerance and the details about Sylvie's stationery/book business. I felt like I could smell the paper 😍

It was interesting how Follet inserted his characters into real life events/interacted with real historic figures. I felt like I learnt a little bit 😅

This is the Fitzroy Hoodie pattern from Style Arc. It's pretty comfy! The cotton fleece from Homecraft Textiles is also nice, smooth on top with a bit of stretch 👍

Fashion Theme: Minty Bubbles 😊 This was originally my Nautilus 47 gear because I thought it went well with the whole charge-hold aspect, but I wasn't happy with my first Zink Mini outfit cos it very much clashed with the colours of the weapon itself 😅 After the Nautilus 79 was released, I did a big Splatling Outfit Switcheroo with this result. I'm very happy now that the colours are cohesive 🤣

Emote: Mini Splatling feels like a happy weapon so enthusiastic waves it is.

Gear Intent: Mostly RSU because Splatling. LDE because this was before they undid the Splatoon 2 ink efficiency nerfs. And 1 main ISS because Toxic Mist is so ink hungry 😣

Welp, turns out the first time I made this pattern, I hadn't printed it to scale, that's why the fit wasn't good... I swear I set it correctly, it must have been a case of I changed something else which reverted the scaling to default...oh well. Take 2 was recutting the fabric to a size 6, too small for me but fits my mum. And then I ended up rebuying the same fabric to remake it 🤣 well, tried to anyway, they ran out of stock of that print but this one is pretty much the same so all good 😊

Fashion Theme: Casual festival outfit! The Salmon Run geta sandals hadn't been released at this point, but in any case I wanted to stick to the white and indigo theme. I feel like this is the kinda thing I would wear to a festival because walking in geta would probably be really uncomfortable 😅

Emote: The off-balance stumble kinda matched how I felt about the game when I picked up this weapon. I was failing at getting results with the splatling weapon class and had resorted to missiles in order to stop feeling so helpless...

Gear Intent: One main of Special Power Up is my go to with missiles, one main of Quick Super Jump and Stealth Jump to take advantage of beacons...when I actually have any down lol. The rest is utility abilities.

This book left me feeling a bit conflicted. It was very good, but thinking about death makes me feel very uncomfortable. As does the thought of losing cognitive function. I just feel like my thoughts will go into a bad, existential negative spiral if I contemplate it too long. The way the author showed the time of death from the victim's point of view was very unsettling. The way Joyce recalled her friends now no longer of this world was heartwrenching.

I think after Joyce finally let go and cried I started feeling better about it all. It was cathartic for me as the reader too.

Once I was in a better frame of mindI was able to properly appreciate all the great things about this book:

Bogart was awesome. So pragmatic and straightforward.

It was also sweet reading Joyce's thoughts about Joanne.

The balance between the police and the Thursday Murder Club was well done.

I am curious if Karen and Jason get together after that amazing first date 🤣

(Man'O Wardrobe Inspired)

So I have loved the Zekko Hoodie since Splatoon 1, and made a bootleg of it many years ago (with my hobby heat press...the vinyl didn't adhere very well so it was very bootleg...) but after making it I realised...it's a bit too much maroon than I'm comfortable wearing IRL lol.

So that hoodie got donated and Splatoon 2 came and went and I still had leftover fabric in my stash. And during that time, my thinking kinda changed from wanting to make things as close to the in-game version as possible to well actually I should make things I will wear because they are comfortable and to my preference. So I made this short sleeve cropped sweater with the leftover fabric and you know what? Apparently this is a doable amount of maroon 🙃

Fashion Theme: Maroon and Off-White. I've loved this hoodie since the first Splatoon, and I was originally using the Sudadera Celeste (like everyone else using Ninja Squid) so wanted to switch to something else quickly 🤣 The glasses were something that I thought wouldn't go with anything, but that maroon tint on the lenses ended up being perfect. And Rockenberg shoes are always cool 😎

Emote: When you're wearing weird glasses like this a dorky little jiggle seems appropriate

Gear Intent: Ninja squid cos roller with SSU to offset the swim speed penalty. SCU and SS for them missiles. 1 main of ISM cos I always run outta ink for that decisive swing. Yeah I could just learn ink management but this is easier 🙃

This was a pretty slow burn. I only really started to enjoy it around the 60% mark. I found it a bit hard to get to this point because Winnie and Binh were both not particularly likeable. By the end of it though, I felt more sympathetic to both of them, although I can't say I grew to like them. What kept me reading was probably the non-chronological storytelling and the way the different stories ending up linking. It was very satisfyingly done.

I was surprised at the supernatural element. But it felt right due to the setting. I liked how things were open enough for interpretation while feeling pretty confident on my own interpretations.

I was also surprised because I had assumed 'going missing' was a bad thing. But in both cases it was more than the woman involved wanted to go missing.