Happy Leap Day (Thanks, 2024, for the Extra Day to Write This Up)

Est. Read Time: 15min

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I made it! It was a slog, and quite the trial (evidenced by this being a relatively short update published around 8pm on the last day of February), but I did manage to get a second blog post done this month (hooray for leap days). So, I'm back on track! Now to keep this up for the rest of the year....

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Before I get into it, though, I just wanted to point out that I'm back to using Mali. I still have no clue which font I want to stick with permanently, so it looks like I'm back to rotating them. Kalam may be out of the running, though. It feels like a fun, hand-written font, which is what I like for this blog. After all, I wanted it to feel like I AM just handwriting everything. But... is that still the look I want to go with??? And if so, is Kalam any better than my original font of Coming Soon??? At the very least, is it better than Mali? I'm thinking 'no' on both of those fronts, but I would still love input if anyone wanted to drop a comment below. Alternatively, Josefin Sans was a nice font. It definitely felt more "professional" and less "Geo-Cities". A way to make this blog feel a bit less like some 20-something's online diary from the early 00's and more like a (nearly) 40yo is writing it in 2024. Although... this blog clearly isn't a "professional" resource to learn ways to improve your own writing or whatever anyway. So why do I care that it looks a bit immature???? Especially since I JUST SAID I still like the aesthetic of this being "handwritten"? Gaaah! Why can't I decide on a font!? It's been a year of trying them out! And why is overall decision-making so hard for me lately?

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Yay... burn-out and stress! woooooooooooo

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Hubby and I really just need enough finances to take, like, a month-long sabbatical where we can forget the world exists and we can just fully recharge.... I need the Covid shutdowns back, but without the social isolation, and constant fear and panic that we could catch a disease that might kill us, or that we'd pass to our loved ones and indirectly kill them, or that we'd all catch and then have chronic health issues for the rest of our lives.

Hooray to the last one actually happening to us! wooooo again.....

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This past month, my husband has been prepping for D&D to start back up on Monday. Which means he's been busy plotting away the next stage of our campaign. The teasers he's given me are so good, and I love what he has planned for a repeat NPC. Aurora Morgen got the writing bug again and has been sending me more notes on nir plot for me to check out. It's been a lot of fun to interrogate the world ne built in order to help nir flesh it out a bit more. Plus, it's been cool to spaghetti-toss ideas at the wall to see which ones Aurora likes. There were some in particular that I've pitched that I truly love. If Aurora ends up not going with them I might have to swipe the ideas back for my own stories somewhere down the line...

Speaking of, since everyone else around me has been bit by the writing bug, and I've been coming up with ideas for Aurora, does that mean I have some new writing myself?

....

Yeah... no.

Hacker Girl
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by Birdman, Inc.

I dunno. I've tried changing up what I'm writing about. I thought, "Maybe I'm just burnt out on Miraculous Ladybug and need to write ANYTHING else." So I stepped away from Seduce with Caution and One and the Same and all of my ML plot bunnies.

Instead, I've worked on this blog, for more of a casual, "diary-like" writing style. I tried the Hailey's On It! fanfic idea I talked about in my December update. I tried working on a NoPixel OC. I played around with more ideas for Jolene. I tried thinking more about the OCs and world I created for my original story Blame Fate for This that I wrote for Ronoxym's 30th birthday. I tried even thinking more about my OCs and the world I came up with for The Race for Destiny, my old hodge-podge fanfic/original hybrid story I came up with while in college; my first-ever NaNoWriMo attempt. Hubby and I FINALLY started crossing things off of my massive To Watch list again. I got back into reading the webcomics and digital uploads of manga.

Oh! I don't think I mentioned that last time. Yeah. I have been reading manga on Comikey. It's like WEBTOON, but for manga. I found out about it because ChibiSunnie works as a copy editor at Comikey. I started really focusing three mangas there.

• My Housemate Sano-kun is Just My Editor!
        28yo Shinomiya Teiichiro is so engrossed in his own prolific writing that he frequently forgets self-care. During one of his multi-hour writing binges he faints from lack of sleep, food, and hydration. His dutiful editor (and biggest fan) Sano Satoru finds poor Shinomiya passed out on his floor, and nurses him as he recovers. Fearful that it may happen again, Sano suggests becoming Shinomiya's housemate. That way, Sano can do the house work, prepare the meals, and make sure Shinomiya isn't working himself to death. Plus, if he's already right there, he can always edit Shinomiya's writing on the fly, which will make their work turn-around that much faster.
        It takes some convincing, but Shinomiya agrees, and Sano starts his quest to get Shinomiya to a healtier work-life balance. It doesn't take long for the writer to realize (1) he's been neglecting his health WAY more than he imagined, (2) it's nice to have someone take care of him, and (3) it sure is lonely in the house whenever Sano is gone....
        Shinomiya's prolific writing (but not the self-care neglect that results from it) is such wish fulfilment for me. Also, Shinomiya feels VERY ADHD-coded in the limited chapters that I've read. He hyperfixates on his writing to the point that he doesn't even realize he's hungry or thirsty until his stomach loudly (and rudely... according to him) interrupts his flow, or he's about to pass out being the main bit of evidence. There's also a part that I just read where Shinomiya - who, again, isn't even 30 yet - stands up and his shoulders and knees loudly pop. He laments his aging joints and Sano asks him when was the last time he exercised. Even as little as taking a casual walk.
        ....
        Let me tell you... I felt so called out by Sano's question. I really do need to get better at that myself....
• The Lady Likes a Nerd Over Princes
        Plucky 14yo Sharina is the eldest daughter of the earl. While at her magical school, she meets the studious and quite somber Riol, third son of a baron. He stops her from touching a toxic flower, and she falls in love at first sight. She tries to win his affections by personally making him a picnicked lunch the next day. Problem being, the scent of the cookies she made Riol catches the interest of the first-prince of their country, Leonardo. An arrogant and entitled brat of a teen. Not recognizing the prince, Sharina calls him out on his rude behavior, which only intrigues Leonardo further. Even after revealing to her who he is, Sharina is unphased and calls Leonardo a thief when he takes the cookies to try. Leonardo is now fixated on Sharina and claims her as his own. "Ever the arrogant narcissist, Leonardo can’t fathom how anyone could turn him down and his persistence crosses into the realm of harassment" [from the official Comikey posting]. Riol's constant rescues of Sharina from the prince's advancements only paints a target on his back as Leonardo marks Riol his rival (and causes Sharina to fall all the harder for Riol).
        Poor Sharina and Riol now have to constantly dance around the varied harassment from the prince as he continuously tries to destroy Riol and claim Sharina as his trophy.
        The whole thing is cute and playful and the prince is gorgeous but the biggest prick in the most entertaining way. Plus, you have that good ol' romance plot going on as Sharina tries to win Riol's affections. Meanwhile, Riol won't even entertain the thought of them being romantically involved due to how much higher a societal ranking Sharina is (it wouldn't be proper). Riol is actually only at the school on scholarship. So, despite still being a noble, he's also very much a "fish-out-of-water" as most consider Riol barely a step above peasant. It's just a fun little story, and I love watching them thwart Prince Leonardo's advances.
• From General to Bride: Marrying My Strongest Rival
        First-princess Leone (age 23) gladly serves her kingdom of Alderia by being the general for their fearsome army. She even received the moniker "The Golden Lion" due to how fierce she is, and yet beautiful with her golden hair flowing like a mane. One day, while in the midst of a heated battle, her opponents - the Kingdom of Zergios - abruptly retreat. Leone soon after discovers that she has been betrothed to the marshal of Zergios as part of a peace treaty. She now has to learn how to make a new life in the land of her once most-heated enemy. Not only that, but she's tasked by her father to help their new allies to prosper.
        Leone is actually incredibly graceful and modest. She has no ill-will towards her new husband or compatriots. She instantly takes on the role of helpful citizen of Zergios. Or, at least, she tries to. The people of Zergios, especially its young prince, are understandably wary of her. She's also unsure of her dynamic with her new husband, who is too busy with war-recovery efforts to truly socialize with her. There's a connection there though, and a potential romance.
        I'm personally so invested in the budding romance between Leone and her husband, as well as how she'll win over the people of Zergios so they believe she truly is their ally now. It reminds me a little of The Dragon King's Bride with the whole warring nations and arranged marriage that might have a true romantic foundation. Plus, it's nice to see a strong female protag who is also kind, courteous, and helpful.

I also started up yet another new comic over on WEBTOON: I Will Live the Life of a Villainess.

      Korean woman Yuna Jeong dies when she's hit by a car that ran a red light. However, her life doesn't end there. Instead, she gets isekai'd into the land of Kartica; into the life of Duke Rosaria's only child Elena. Problem is, Katrica doesn't exist. It's a fictional country from a romance novel Yuna used to read in her previous life. The other problem? Elena Rosaria is the villainess of that novel.
      According to the novel's plot, Elena is betrothed to the crowned prince. However, he ends up falling in love with the novel's main character Rosetta. Elena then spends the novel making Rosetta's life miserable to try to keep her away from the prince, which would allow Elena to eventually become queen instead. When all other attempts fail, Elena tries to poison Rosetta. In the end, the prince and Rosetta marry, and Elena is beheaded!
      Obviously trying to avoid that outcome, Yuna tries to rewrite Elena's story. New problem: Elena is already an adult and betrothed to the prince. So her complete change in personality is a bit hard to try to hide. Plus, she has that whole struggle of trying to remove herself as far from the Elena/Prince/Rosetta love triangle as possible. On top of ALL of that? Turns out she's not the only one isekai'd into the story! The previously meek and overlooked first-prince is also acting a bit strange and a lot bolder lately. The first-prince and Elena dance around each other as they try to confirm that the other was originally from Earth, as they attempt to rework the fates of the characters they were forced to inhabit, and as a potential romance blossoms between them.

If you haven't noticed, I have a thing for fantasy romances... what can I say? A woman my age tends to read romance novels. I just do mine via pretty pictures online. Anyway, I do love how unique this story is, because the romance is actually SUUUCH a backseat plot that some of the main comments on the comic are "Oh. Right. This story is in the Romance category." The focus instead is on Elena (Yuna) empowering both herself and other female nobles that would otherwise be overlooked simply because they're women. It showcases Elena's craftiness and strategic mind. It also has a lovely little cat-and-mouse appeal to both Elena and the first-prince getting their footing in the lives they are thrust into. It's like a narrative game of chess. Quite engaging. I caught up on all of the available free chapters in a blink.

Honestly? Between those three mangas, adding in I Will Live the Life of a Villainess, and getting back into The Dragon King's Bride, FLOAT, and Rental Hero, I've managed to get a lot of reading in this month. Not nearly the 7.5hrs per month that I'm aiming for this year, but definitely better than my January record.

As mentioned, I also managed to wrestle the TV away from Hubby's obsessive watching of NoPixel content, and we crossed off a bunch of shows and movies I had on my To Watch list for a while.

I'm doing what a writer is "supposed" to. I'm consuming content. Engaging in it. Noting what I like about it, and what I would change. The Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action series on Netflix, for instance. If I went into that cold - never saw the cartoon - I would have really enjoyed it. The writing is a bit clunky, but I still liked the characters and the chemistry the cast had. The wardrobe and sets were gorgeous and captured how they looked in the cartoon. The actor they cast for Zuko - Dallas Liu - was so convincing as the character that he even straight up sounded like Dante Basco (Zuko's original voice actor) for a bunch of his lines. The CG and green-screening still needed a bit of help, but it was way cleaner and prettier than anything Marvel has given us the past couple of years.... sadly....

The plot of the entire series is "There's this 100year war that has been going on as the Fire Nation tries to conquer the rest of the world." The cartoon almost makes the war secondary to the Gaang's personal growth and development. The live-action, on the other hand, leans a lot harder into the war plot, and the idea that war isn't fun. That it's messy. That it's brutal. That people are suffering. That people are doing whatever they can to survive. The live-action focuses on the world more than the characters, I think.

Sokka is brooding as he suffers imposter syndrome in his attempts to be a Warrior(TM) to protect his home and impress his father. Katara is suffering PTSD from watching her mother violently die trying to protect her. Aang is wracked with survivor's guilt as well as the guilt of abandoning the world; unintentually allowing all the pain that has happened over the past century. Zuko is still his broody, angsty self... never change, buddy. Iroh is mostly unchanged as well, but... less goofy and relaxed. The side characters are also darker and angstier.

The cartoon knew what it was: a cartoon. It dealt with the heavy concept of a war-torn world, but still had the characters - especially the Gaang - as light, fun-loving, playful, snarky, sarcastic, and embracing what limited joys they could find. The cartoon was awesome because it had that great balance of light and heavy. It made you laugh, but also made you think about the seriousness of what these kids are going through.

• Sokka got over his misogyny, and then got past his inferiority complex.
• Katara got past her anger, and no longer tried to compensate for her mom by being the Mom Friend to everyone else.
• Aang matured, embraced his responsibilities, and got past his guilt.
• Toph learned that it's okay to be vulnerable around the right people, because doing so doesn't diminish your strength.
• Zuko healed from his traumas, and grew the courage to stand up against his tormentors.
• Azula realized the emotional traumas and neglect she endured growing up. We don't get to see her overcome them, but realizing they're there and that she's broken was a character arc in-and-of-itself.

I don't see any of that happening in the live action though. With the exception of maybe Zuko and Azula (and we haven't met Toph yet), the live-action versions of the Gaang just.... aren't quite the same characters.

And they killed my favorite episode: "The Cave of Two Lovers". I mean, they kind of butchered a lot of the episodes... but did really well with others, such as combining "The Storm" and "The Blue Spirit".

I'm going off on a tangent. Point being, I watched something I really wanted to; was excited for. It was "mid". Not terrible. Not the greatest. Made me want to give the cartoon a rewatch. But decent for an adaptation, and good if it's the first introduction you have to the series. Anyway, I went in with a little bit of an analytical mind. I noted changes I liked. Changes that made sense. Changes that made no sense to me. Changes that just straight up made the story kind of worse. I sorted out WHY I felt that way.

That's what I'm "supposed" to do, right? That's supposed to help me improve my own writing?

I did the same thing for the other shows and movies we watched this month. Same for the many manga/comics I've been reading. Same with helping Aurora with nir story, and even Hubby with his campaign ideas.

So, why isn't any of this translating into ME doing narrative writing!? Why, whenever I bring up a word doc or this blog post do I INSTANTLY think of a million other things I should be doing? I have this work project that isn't crucial, but I've been meaning to do for ages. I have emails to check! I have Facebook or Discord messages to answer. I really SHOULD go through my Tumblr Drafts blackhole and start tagging and reblogging them. Seems like as good a time as any to research credit card options or get lost on Zillow house hunting or work on the dozens upon dozens of popped seems along the king-sized quilt my mom got me as a wedding gift. You know what? It's been AGES since I've played my mobile games on my tablet, or touched my Switch. Let's use the time to play some games instead! That'll help!

NuaNia
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by PRANEAT

WHYYYYYYYY!? Used to be that you couldn't STOP me from telling a story. My life was writing. I felt most myself when I was writing. I was bursting with ideas and couldn't write them down fast enough.

And now?

Now I run away from the IDEA of writing. Even this blog post. I'd get a couple of paragraphs in and then magically find something more pressing to do before I forced myself to come back and sit down and just TALK TO YOU FINE FOLKS. No thoughts needed. I'm just having a conversation.

I've NEVER been this writing-adverse before! In the 30-some years since I learned how to tell stories, I have never been this disconnected from writing. This bored with a blinking cursor. The blue lines on notebook paper blending together as my eyes lose focus and gloss over.

I just want to be pre-2020 LycoRogue again.

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The first half of March is going to be a bit crazy. (Implying my life hasn't been a hectic, inconsistent schedule for YEARS now....) I'm on a 9-day work week, leading directly into me and Hubby going to visit my out-of-state family for my sister's birthday, her soon-to-be niece's birthday, and my godson's birthday. In other words: work nine days in a row, have a four-day weekend to visit family, then back to work for a 7-day week before our schedules are semi-back to normal. We also have our first D&D session since October in the middle of my 9-day work week. Then have our second session the Monday after coming home from my long weekend. Oh! And I'll have to work on sale price tags the long week I have post-family-visit.

I'm sure I'll find time to work on writing somewhere in there. Right? I can still get that quarterly story written?

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Guys, I don't think I'll be hitting that stretch goal of publishing a new story at least once per quarter.... At least, not unless I push myself to maybe work on that Hailey's On It! fanfic. I have a skeleton written up. And the back half of the first season is supposed to start in March. Maybe the new episodes will re-inspire me to actually officially pen that fanfic. It would be a fitting time to post my first fic for the fandom too... when the show is back in swing.

We'll see how that goes, I guess.

If not the HOI fanfic, then.... honestly, I have no clue. The well is dry and I am BEGGING the Muses for enough rain to refill it. Not even all the way. Just enough to end the drought. Maybe nicer weather returning will be the key. Maybe roleplaying again will be. Maybe simply getting sunshine again so my brain isn't just static snow nearly every waking moment. I'll take anything.

Wish me luck. And, until next time...

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A New Fandom Enters the Ring

Est. Read Time: 20 min

*sigh* Well, it did it. The year 2023 broke me. My goal to post SOMETHING to this blog at LEAST once a month has been missed. October came and went, and I didn't even NOTICE that I didn't post something until this past Friday.

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October was... rough. I feel like that's been the theme of 2023, especially since my birthday. My husband wasn't able to get as many days off as I did. Which meant we couldn't really have a true vacation for our anniversary, as I would have liked. I'd even appreciate a staycation where we could reconnect, catch up on TV shows or movies on our To Watch list, or maybe organize the apartment a bit. Instead, nearly any and all plans I had were interrupted by taking my husband to work, picking him up from work, doing chores while he was at work that I wouldn't mind stopping abruptly to go fetch him, etc.

There was also a LOT of literal getting rest: sleeping in, going to bed early, taking mid-day naps. Just... a LOT of catching up on sleep instead of catching up on house cleaning or our To Watch/To Read/To Play lists.

My poor Animal Crossing: New Horizons island. It's been so neglected. My island is officially a year behind the IRL date. Couldn't even manage to catch up on that over my vacation.

Once my vacation was done, the schedule was MOSTLY back to normal... for about a week and a half.

Manager still had something like TWO-HUNDRED hours of PTO to use before the end of the year! Technically, she has 80 hours she NEEDS to use, because the remaining 120 hours can roll over into next year. But that's the cap: 120 hours; all others are forfeit if not used before the end of the calendar year. Still. That's ten PTO days! And the owners get cranky if their sales associates take time off in December because that's their busy season. Plus, I always take the week between Thanksgiving and Hubby's birthday off. So Manager had a little over a month to use AT LEAST ten vacation days! She decided that the week before Halloween would be the perfect time to use five of those ten "mandatory" days before Biker Coworker or I took our time off. That way Manager still had the rest of the year to sprinkle in MORE vacation time. She also bookended her requested time off with her normal days off each week, bringing her time away from work up to a nice 9-day vacation.

So I was again scheduled to work ten days straight while Manager was on said vacation.

EXCEPT!

Three days into my work week/two days into Manager's vacation, Hubby was NOT feeling well. He barely slept. He was coughing up a storm. He felt weak and feverish. He called out from work. I was feeling fine, and of COURSE no one has any sort of covid protocols in place anymore, so I still went to work. Only to discover that night that... yup... Hubby caught covid a second time. I tested negative, so I was back at work - and out of the apartment as much as possible while Hubby isolated in our bedroom - the next two days. We're now up to my sixth day of work, and Manager's 5th day - out of 9 - for her vacation. I got home from work. I got dinner ready. I crashed while trying to catch up on Dracula Daily entries (another endeavor I failed at, but at least I got further along this year than I did last year). Hubby texted me at 8pm to see if we wanted to do a watch party: me in the living room, where I had set up my nest, and Hubby in our bedroom with his isolation nest. I was feeling very weak, but missed socializing with my husband, so I was game. We watched a couple of shows while texting back and forth. By 10pm I felt like I was on fire while still shivering up a storm. I had already tested that morning and got a negative, so I had to wait until the following morning to test again. However, I had confirmed that I had a fever, so I was 99.9% sure that I had failed to dodge the damn virus and that I was also now covid positive. The following morning did confirm my suspicion. Still had a fever, and now a positive at-home covid test to match.

Tumblr post by @somanyjacks-writes and @wormsslime
This post has resonated with me for two years now. So true.

Thursday, October 26th, I called out sick via a picture of my positive covid test and thermometer reading texted to Manager, her boss, and Biker Coworker. Biker Coworker claims to have tested daily on the 26th, 27th, and 28th, and it came back negative each time. However, she still had a fever and vomited on Saturday. She says it was a bad reaction to her allergy medication increase to combat the higher allergy count in the air. Either way, it meant she couldn't work on the 28th, and Manager had to cut her vacation short (apparently Biker was running the store solo both the Thursday and Friday I was out because Manager's boss couldn't find coverage?????). Poor Manager not only had to cut her vacation short, but there STILL wasn't any additional coverage so she had to work solo Saturday through Tuesday! FOUR DAYS! Let me remind you that our store's layout does NOT make it the safest location to try to run solo! This inability to find coverage is such BS!

Anyway, regardless of the fact that Hubby and I were now both covid positive, we decided to keep to our corners. That way we weren't keeping the other awake with our coughing. So, for the second round with covid, I was trying to sleep in the living room on a loveseat for a week. At least this time it was a reclining loveseat, so I was able to stretch out a bit easier, but it still wasn't the most comfortable thing. On Sunday, Oct 29th, nearly a week after Hubby was confirmed positive, he managed to get a negative test. We then decided to trade nests so I could hopefully get better rest. It did help, but I still missed my husband. We both still have really nasty coughs as I write this, so we are STILL sleeping apart from each other to try not to wake the other up throughout the night! I might offer to Nest-Switch again today. That way we each get a week on/week off with sleeping on the loveseat.

That said, I DID finally test negative on Halloween. Both Hubby and I went pretty much the full 7 days to flush covid out of our system. Luckily, neither of us needed medical intervention. There were a LOT of naps though. I probably slept about half the time I was out sick. I couldn't really do much for more than an hour at a time before needing a two-hour nap to recoup. Even though I tested negative Tuesday morning, I was still too worn out - and was still too wary of being contagious - to go back to work that day. Instead, I went back to bed and slept for the next SIX HOURS! That was when I was NEGATIVE! I woke up just before trick-or-treating started, and quietly wept that I would have to miss out this year. Dressing up in costume, passing out candy, and seeing everyone else's costumes are all reasons why Halloween is probably my favorite holiday. And I had to just stay inside in my PJs and ignore the world on my favorite holiday this year.

COVID SUCKS, YOU GUYS!

So... yeah! Here's your reminder that it's STILL HERE! I am the TENTH person I know who caught it THIS. YEAR! Fifth within the past MONTH! Don't let the media make you think this is done and over! Go get your vaccinations and/or boosters if you are medically able! (Hubby and I were actually scheduled to get our booster THIS WEEK! So close and yet so far!) Wear your masks still! Social distance when possible! Be careful out there, folks!

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Edited by LycoRogue

Now that I've written it all out, it's kind of obvious why I didn't write anything in October. Still hurts though. I even missed Friday the 13th (AKA Plagg Appreciation Day) again. I HATE when I can't even celebrate my own personal fandom holiday! I just don't have the time anymore, and when I DO have the time, I don't have the energy anymore. The rare times I have both the time AND the energy? Inspiration decides to stay away.

We're five days into November, aka NaNoWriMo. I didn't even REGISTER that it's now NaNo until Rozsavaria asked me if I was doing it and if I wanted to join nir in writing meet-ups to get some writing done. I told nir that I was not officially signed up for NaNo this year, but it might help shake me out of my writing funk if we met up. We'll see how well that goes.

Oh! Quick side note. Rozsavaria did rebrand online, so, going forward, ne will be Aurora Morgen, or just Aurora (makes things a little tricky if I wish to talk about one of my ACNH villagers, but it's easy enough to distinguish between my IRL friend and an Animal Crossing penguin).

Anyway, despite not having the energy or motivation to write anything for.... quite some time... I DID start getting the itch while I was out sick. One of the cases of not having the energy despite having the time.

The story would be a simple one-shot, but it isn't for Miraculous Ladybug. It's also not for any of the fandoms I've written for before, nor is it an original story. Over the summer I got addicted to a new Disney Channel cartoon: Hailey's On It!

Official promotional image

For those who don't know the show, here's a semi-quick primer:

The show follows 14 year old Hailey Banks. Despite admitting that she hates trying new things, and what few new things she IS interested in she frequently talks herself out of, Hailey started up a pseudo-bucket-list in the first grade. Her "Big List of Things I'm Totally Gonna Do". The list got so long - at least 411 items! - that she started filling a notebook with it, as shown in the promotional image above.

On New Year's Eve, Hailey made the New Years Resolution to actually do the items on her list. Immediately afterwards, she was attacked by Chaos Bots (the weird robot crab things in the promotional image). They tried to destroy her list, only to be stopped by the time traveling Professor (the purple-haired woman with prosthetics in the background by the roller coaster). The Professor lets Hailey know that her list is a national treasure in the future. In the timeline The Professor is from, Hailey not only kept her New Years Resolution, but she managed to check off EVERY ITEM on her list within that year! Completing her list within a year started Hailey down the path that led her to invent a device that not only stops global warming, but actually reverses it. Saving the planet from its otherwise fiery doom within the near future.

The Chaos Bots, who are sent back in time by some mysterious unnamed villain, were trying to destroy Hailey's copy of her list, like G-rated Terminators. The Chaos Bots' goal is to stop Hailey from completing every item, because that would then set her on a different path that results in her NOT inventing the cure for global warming, leading the world towards its flaming death within Hailey's lifetime.

As The Professor says: "No pressure."

The Professor is then abruptly sucked back through the time portal, but not before she gives Hailey a smart phone loaded with the most advanced AI program from The Professor's time: Beta. He's tasked to be her guide and assist Hailey in completing the list. In order to better accomplish those tasks, Hailey builds Beta a robotic body to pilot, and then hides it inside one of her stuffed animals (hence the teddy bear in the promotional image; that's Beta).

Hailey ends up hiding both Beta and all of this "saving the world" stuff from everyone she knows, assuming it's too overwhelming and/or fantastical to be taken seriously. The only exception is her best friend Scott (the guy behind Hailey in the promo). She knows/trusts that her beloved himbo of a best friend would believe her, so she confides in him about everything.

Well.... NEARLY everything.

Naturally, a cartoon with a 14yo female lead HAS to have a romantic subplot. So here's Hailey's: she grew a crush on Scott back in the 5th grade, and added list item number 143: Kiss Scott Denoga. Like all of her other 400+ list items, Hailey chickened out and never let Scott know about her feelings. Now that they're 14, she fears that he'd never see her in a romantic light, and fears all the more that HER having romantic feelings for HIM might ruin their friendship. You know, that old chestnut.

Added complication to the whole "kiss Scott Denoga" thing... Scott's crush Kristine wants to ask him out. Not ready to come to terms with her feelings and confess to Scott, Hailey gives Kristine her blessing. So Scott isn't even romantically available anymore. Oh, and Kristine now considers Hailey her bestie. Neat.

Despite those complications, Beta keeps trying to come up with plans to cross item number 143 off Hailey's list (thinking it's the simplest to complete) and Hailey has to keep redirecting him to a different list number they could try to accomplish, all while trying to keep Scott in the dark. Luckily, as I mentioned, Scott's a glorious himbo. As Hailey states in the pilot, "he wears the same pair of jeans for a month. He calls potato chips 'crispy dippers'!" Beta's main "nickname" for Scott is "buffoon" for a reason, is what I'm saying.

So, the show - set up as two 11min mini-episodes within the roughly 22min runtime - follows Hailey, Beta, and Scott as they try to check off all of Hailey's list items within the next year. Beta uses his knowledge from the future and the data he's gathered based on current events and character interactions with Hailey to calculate which list item has the highest completion probability at any given time, and the episodes tend to focus around that. There are some episodes, however, where it focuses more on just Hailey's life and her relationships with her family and friends, as well as maintaining her friendship with Scott by focusing on what he'd like to do that day. Which means a list item isn't necessarily completed each episode, and not every list item warrants getting its own episode - such as her list item to eat a raw onion like an apple.

They've also shown that, as long as Hailey completes the item within the year, she can still add to the list. Which means the writers have 400+ list items to play with to tell their story. They can end the series without showing all 400+ list items (just hand wave that they were completed off-screen), or they can surpass 400 items and just say that Hailey added them throughout that year. We also aren't given the whole list - obviously - that way they can build up Hailey's list based on what individual episode plotlines they want to tell. As of right now, there are 67 list items known (but not necessarily completed).

I personally love the premise of this show. A risk-adverse girl finds her confidence as she does a bunch of seemingly average childhood adventures - such as completing a corn maze without getting lost, making a female friend, and throwing a successful party - motivated by the fact that completing this list is her first step in saving the world. It's wonderfully high-stakes and low-stakes at the same time. The show creators were largely inspired by the grand adventures the titular characters of Phineas and Ferb went on, and wanted to create a show with a similar vibe.

The show - not in small part due to Scott's endearing idiocy - is wonderfully cheesy and dumb and playful. Simple things, like winning a sand castle tournament, gain world-saving stakes and are treated with the proper absurdity you'd think that premise would create. Hailey ends up adopting a balding flamingo with a flatulence problem. Scott's girlfriend writes, directs, and stars in a high school musical all about hats (complete with hat parody songs of famous show tunes such as "Seasons of Love" from RENT and "Tomorrow" from Annie). Hailey beats out a bunch of 1st graders in a competition to be Sherriff For A Day at a debunked wild-west-themed amusement park. She represents Scott in a mock trial where Scott "sues" a fellow classmate for ownership of a popular phone app. Hailey competes to be the Crab Queen - a school position similar to homecoming queen at her school that no other student actually wants to win. Weird Al does a cameo as a Willy Wonka-esque owner of the in-universe version of Pringles (Dingles) and takes Hailey and Scott on a tour of the factory in an obvious Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody. Hailey, who is naturally great at bowling, struggles to miss as many pins as possible during bumper bowling so her notoriously terrible-at-bowling father could win a game.

Hailey - being voiced by Moana star Auli'i Cravalho - is also of Hawaiian descent. As a sort of nod to that element of Hailey's character design (strongly influenced by the fact that she's voiced by Cravalho), as well as an in-joke about Cravalho's big break with Disney, Hailey's twin baby brothers are named Dwayne and Johnson. Obvious reference to Cravalho's Moana costar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is himself half-Samoan.

Like, it's wonderfully-dumb stuff like that which makes this show so endearing to me. It gives me the same "dumb plot with semi-high stakes" vibes that seasons 1 and 2 of Miraculous Ladybug had. Even the slow-burn romance between the 14yo female lead and her best friend (well... Chat Noir would be Ladybug's best friend in this scenario).

Over the seasons, Miraculous Ladybug has become more intense, character driven, and full of overcoming trauma. I love that for the show. It has become so engaging - and quite a bit frustrating, but we'll ignore that bit - as it moved away from episodic storytelling and moved towards a more serialized over-arcing storyline. I don't hate that decision because it gives everyone so much to talk about and be inspired to create (well... except me, but ignore that too).

I just miss when ML was a dumb show I was semi-embarrassed to admit that I liked. I miss when it was my mindless show that I could watch to destress and laugh at. We don't have many of those dumb, mindless moments in ML anymore.

But I DO have them in Hailey's On it! and I love that about this show!

Sooooooooo, yeah. While I was recovering from covid, part of my time was spent with my new comfort show: Hailey's On it! Which DID manage to gift me a new plot bunny. I haven't physically written it out yet, but I have played out the scene a few times in my head to try to lock the story in.

As mentioned, the romantic subplot of the show is Hailey HAS to kiss Scott before the close of the year in order to complete her list (and eventually save the planet). There was an episode where Hailey and Beta found a work-around with the whole Scott and Kristine "problem": a part Truth-or-Dare, part Spin-the-Bottle party game. Spoilers for this episode to follow.

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I know that most of you might not care, but I wanted to still throw up that spoiler alert for the few who might have cared....

Anyway, Hailey and Beta reason out that, since it's under the pretense of just following the rules of the game and therefore wouldn't necessarily have any actual meaning behind the kiss, Hailey could kiss Scott without betraying Kristine (and Scott wouldn't be cheating on her). Beta then manipulated the game so that Hailey would have to spin to kiss someone and the spinner would land on Scott. The trick goes off without a hitch (for the most part) and Scott's game. He leans in for the kiss, only for Hailey to realize if she were to kiss him she would want it to mean something, so she pulls away from the kiss and says she quits the game.

That's it. That's the spoiler: Hailey doesn't follow through with the kiss. Super minor, but, again, I don't know who might care about that sort of thing. So I figured I'd play it safe.

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Edited by LycoRogue

Small little spoiler section this go. Long-and-short of the episode, and the point of me bringing it up in the first place, is that Hailey discovers throughout the course of the episode that she wants her first kiss with Scott to mean something. If she's going to kiss him, it's because he now knows her romantic feelings for him, and, hopefully, returns them.

Therein comes my plot bunny. The more I watch the show, the more I want SCOTT to initiate the kiss. That way he doesn't question it. That way he doesn't think they kissed only because it's one of Hailey's list items that she HAS to complete. Also, that way Hailey doesn't think Scott just went along with the kiss to help her complete the item, since he knows how important crossing an item off her list is.

I have no clue if the creators already know how the kiss is going to happen and who would initiate it. I don't know if they want Hailey to initiate it because it will be an accumulation of the confidence she built while doing the rest of her list. I'm assuming that's how the show is going to go, and I don't hate it. I get it. I'd be game if that's where the show goes.

Still. I really REALLY want it to be Scott to initiate the kiss. So that's my one-shot: Scott lets Hailey know that he sees her in a romantic light, and initiates the kiss. Beta cheers about them FINALLY crossing item number 143 off the list. Hailey confesses that she put kissing Scott on the list way back in fifth grade, but wanted to make sure it meant something when she crossed it off. They talk about her crush and how she stepped out of the way for Scott to be with Kristine, and then talk about Scott developing feelings for Hailey instead. They bond. Beta whines about the "mushy atmosphere" or something. Fluffy little ending.

Oh, and I want the show to NOT wait for "Kiss Scott Denoga" to be the last item Hailey has to cross off. Much like fellow Disney Channel cartoons Kim Possible and The Owl House (and even ML), I want Hailey's On It! to have a season where Hailey and Scott are dating while they knock off the last of Hailey's list items. I want to see them as a couple, not finish the series with them becoming one. I want to be rewarded for my patience through the slow-burn romance subplot. Which means I may finish my one-shot with a gag list item that Beta is now determined to get Hailey to do since #143 is FINALLY crossed off. Maybe the list item "rollerskate all the way to Orlando [from California]" which is teased in the opening theme song.

Maybe, instead of working on One and the Same or Seduce with Caution, when I meet up with Aurora to work on our writing I'll instead focus on this HOI one-shot. Maybe I'll take a break from ML and work on more HOI fanfic, or branch out to other fandoms. Maybe reconnect with old fandoms like "Hey, Arnold!" or X-Future. Maybe I need to shake things up to finally get my writing mojo back. Who knows?

With any hope, I will have a second November blog post for you fine folks at the end of the month. If I succeed, I have two goals to share in that post: 1) my HOI one-shot, and 2) my annual Giving Thanks list. Maybe focusing on the HOI fandom will inspire me to properly cross off my own goals. Here's hoping.

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