So...it's been a long time since I was in these parts or posting, but...dammit it's Yuri on Ice. So, umm, hi! Long time no Doing Stuff? Someone informed me that this had gone up today, and I thought I'd come read it but probably not partake of the discussion, but, well, I can't resist.

Anyway, so Yuri on Ice is incredibly important to me. It was January or February of 2017 when I watched the show for the first time, after meaning to ever since it started airing. I've been a fan of figure skating, and particularly Men's Individual Figure Skating since the 2006 Olympics, so the fact that there was an anime about it, and that it was apparently Really Gay, made me want to watch.

But I expected it to be really silly in a typical anime way. At the time I was in a worsening period of depression, in the months after the 2016 election, and I was desperate for anything to distract me. Something light, something Not Serious. I'd been bingeing on romance novels. So this sounded right, and I started the first episode.

And I think I watched the whole season in two days. And then I watched it again. And again. And then I went looking for the fandom.

And then something happened. I started writing. I wrote my first piece of fanfiction (or ANY fiction) in eight years. And then I started writing more. And I was writing multi-chapter pieces, and entire series, and my writing was getting better. I couldn't STOP writing. So much so that I decided Fuck It and started writing an original novel. I wrote 60,000 words in a month on that, while also continuing to work on YOI fanfic.

The last year and change of my life has been defined by the Yuri on Ice fandom, and writing. I've come so far in a year on my craft of writing, when previously I had given up on that as something I might be any good at. This show single-handedly pulled me out of a depression. It's changed how I think about myself and my life and my goals.

There are a lot of reasons I love this show, most of which are spoilery. But the biggest one is that it's inspirational; it's about doing what you love, and overcoming challenges, especially mental ones. I'm not the only one to be wildly inspired by this gay figure skating anime. It's possibly the most uplifting piece of media I've ever experienced. And GOD KNOWS that's something we all collectively have needed since it aired.

ETA: Oh, I just realized Mark is probably watching the dub. I have some serious problems with the dub, and have never been able to get all the way through it. The sub that was revised when the dub came out is very, very good, much better than the original CR subs. The dub...well I'm pretty deep into nitpicky meta territory, but it can give some pretty different takes on some scenes. In general I feel like the dub has a much more comedic tone than the original, which is more introspective in feel. And there are a couple of vocal performances I DESPISE. (Victor's is unfortunately one of them. That accent is TERRIBLE. Many of the accents are pretty damn bad. Why? Why did we need over-the-top European accents?)

Honestly, as someone who has at times read ALL the Vetinari fanfic available, there's not nearly enough of that.

I personally thought of the "Fée Verte" (Green fairy) of absinthe fame. Since absinthe was strongly tied to the idea of hallucinations, madness, and even poisoning, leading to it's ban, the connection seems appropriate.

I was totally thinking of Sayer's Lord Peter stories. At least the later ones. I reread them all the time for the characters and social commentary (especially Gaudy Night my god).

ETA: Of course you have to ignore the moments of terrible period racism and antisemitism. *sigh*

When I was in college, in a French literature class, my classmates led a near-revolt at everything we were reading being so depressing. My professor (who was AMAZING) made us a bargain that if we made it through all the depressing stuff that winter, in the Spring we would all go to the (Bronx) zoo together. And we totally did.

Yeah, I absolutely used alcohol to deal with my social anxiety in my early 20s. I had a theory that once I'd been really drunk with someone then I could relax and really be myself with them. Eh, it helped and I had fun.

I definitely don't enjoy drinking to excess anymore though. One or two is nice, more is no good.

They're also allowed to lie about the consequences of confessing. "Oh, just tell us the truth and you can go" is totally allowed.

For better or worse, I always imagine Dragon, King of Arms like this:

YAY Feet of Clay! I'm so happy to be starting this book. First of all, the Watch books are my favorites, and Sam Vimes is my top Discworld character. But coming back to the Watch books always feels like coming home to me. We're in Ankh Morpork again and seeing all these characters we've come to know and care about.

Plus Feet of Clay is one of the best Watch books. It also feels like it marks the real beginning of "Prime" Discworld novels.

That's about all I can say without spoilers. This is going to be such a joy.

You know, one thing I've noticed is that Americans (of which I am one) tend to pronounce French-originated words closer to the French pronunciation while Brits sort of stubbornly insist on pronouncing it like it was English. So yes, Mark is wrong in this case, but I think there's a broader linguistic thing going on.