The System is Down, Part 2

I grew up in the 90’s. I remember vaguely what it was like to not have the internet at my fingertips. I was always a reader. I didn’t need the computer as long as I had a book to inhale.

You know what I didn’t have to do in the 90’s, though? CONDUCT BUSINESS.

For nearly 10 days, I was at the mercy of my internet provider as my in-home wifi just decided to go kaput. No communication apart from an image of the narrowest outage area I’ve seen and the words “TBD” in the spot where they were supposed to outline the cause. I finally got a customer service rep on the horn, who finally told me that I was the victim of a nationwide copper theft trend. The problem was resolved, and my account was credited.

OR WAS IT. Because not two weeks later, my wifi spluttered out again — and I don’t have hard proof for this, but it does just seem like the last repair guy just kinda stuffed the new wires into my service box haphazardly because I had the gall to ask for answers.

Sometimes bad things happen, or at least inconvenient things, and there’s nothing you can do about them. So why worry?

Because, Timon and Pumba, I need money to live. Unlike you. Freeloaders.

Anyway.

Recent Gigs

Since my last update I’ve had the privilege of providing additional voices for the following shows:

Deep Breath

• Berserk of Gluttony, Episodes 5, 7 & 9

• Wistoria: Wand and Sword, Episodes 4, 7 & 10

• Delico’s Nursery, Episode 4

• A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring, Episode 11

• My Hero Academia: Season Seven, Episode 152

• Quality Assurance in Another World, Episode 11

• Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, Episode 21

• VTuber Legend: How I went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream, Episode 12

Featured Character: Hibari Hokobaru, MAKEINE: Too Many Losing Heroines!

The end of the summer season has blessed me with an angel, and her name is Hibari. You can catch my performance in episodes 8, 10, and 11 of Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines.

Hibari Hokobaru is a gem of a character rooted in a very specific archetype that doesn’t really exist in western media: the Gallant Woman. Hibari is the type of girl who watched a bunch of Takarazuka shows at a very formative age and has internalized every word and every sweep of the arm, to the point where she feels somewhat detached from the rest of the show’s narrative. Every move is measured, every hair flip communicates a message, and every conversation is a duel. Whether or not the person she’s speaking to is picking up what she’s putting down.

I’m a little in love with her? But I tend to fall in love with all of my characters somehow. Hoping for a season two so I can dive deeper into what makes this princely girl tick.

Consume!

The older I get, the more stories about high schoolers at the pinnacle of adulthood strike a chord with me. There are few times in your life when it feels like any decision you make can have a drastic impact on the rest of your life…and that feeling isn’t entirely unwarranted.

“Blue Flag” by Kaito is a story that perfectly captures that feeling, as well as all the messy anxiety, anger, and love that come along with it. It’s a story about kids trying to separate what they believe from what they’ve been told, and not always getting it right, and about the power of honesty to cut through shame and uncertainty. In some ways it’s a typical high school romance, and in some ways it’s something completely new.

Anyway it’s only six volumes long so you can rip through it in a weekend, like I did, if you want a good cry about some kids trying their best.

Performance of the Week

There’s a lot of reasons to watch Makeine. I’m in it! And so are a lot of talented actors. Today I’m highlighting Kevin Thelwell as our darling protagonist, Kazuhiko Nukumizu.

Nukumizu is what I consider a “trap” for an unprepared actor. The guy is written to be a boring stand-in for the reader, he has no ambitions or goals, and no close friends. His favorite hobby is going around to all the water fountains in his school to find out which pipe makes it taste the best. There’s not a lot to mine from, is what I’m saying. Not on the surface, anyway.

Thelwell doesn’t fall for the trap. His calm, measured delivery, punctured by snarky comments that an insult comic would be jealous of, provide a great sounding bored for the girls who are falling to pieces around him. He quickly found Nukumizu’s emotional ceiling, and when the narrative calls for it lets us see just how much he’s changing by letting in just a little bit of mess into his life. In a story full of high-octane emotions, Thelwell reminds us that small, quiet understanding can be just as powerful as full-throated acceptance.

Oops, the System is Down Again

As I’m writing this I’m on self-imposed vocal rest. My voice gave out after my improv team’s performance in Houston, and I actively made it worse by not immediately going to sleep back at the AirBnB. It’s day three of laryngitis, and I’m feeling dispirited.

When I was in middle school, I got cast in my first lead role as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. I worked hard for weeks, only to lose my voice the day before our first official performance. I managed to pull it together in time to be able to sing, but I still remember that feeling of intense despair at the idea that I wouldn’t be able to act because my body betrayed me. Because somehow, I tried too hard, and hurt myself doing so. And crying made it worse.

There’s a part of me that worries when I lose my voice, it will go away forever one day. I found a janky text-to-voice app on my phone and while using it for an afternoon WAS funny, using something similar for the rest of my life would be a gutting experience.

Sometimes bad things happen, and there’s nothing we can do about it. So why worry?

When you’ve built your whole life around something working and it fails, how can you not worry?