An Unexpected Opportunity and a Stupid Epiphany

About a month or so ago, I applied to a fanzine—a magazine made by fans, for fans—about Annette Fantine Dominic from Fire Emblem: Three Houses just for the hell of it. (The art of her you see here, by the way, is a commission I received from the inimitable @feliahanakata. You'd better believe it's on my wall right by my desk.) She's one of my favorite characters of all time, and I thought it might be interesting to write for a pre-established character and universe. I didn't think anything would come of it.

Well... I got the position!

I don't know how much I'm allowed to say at the moment, so I'll leave out the details, but regardless, I couldn't believe I actually landed the spot. A hoard of other talented writers applied, and I'm so used to rejection at this point that I think my brain just defaulted to it even before I sent the application. Yet here I am, an official member of the team. Weird, but I'm proud of myself. Now all I need to do is follow through with a story worthy of the character and her legacy. No big deal. I'll have more to say further along in the process, so stay tuned.

Now, as for that "stupid epiphany" I mentioned, it's not that the epiphany itself is stupid, it's that I feel stupid for having the epiphany at the age of 24. Let me explain.

I make no secret of my love for books, comics, games, movies, and TV. It's in the things I say and write, the things I do every day, and the relationships I have with family and friends. Today, however, I... realized something. I realized that for as much as I love all the aforementioned forms of media, I don't think or talk about music too much—and not because I neglect it. Quite the opposite, in fact: Unless I require intense concentration, I am always in the mood for music, which isn't something I can say about any other form of media.

It's more a feeling I know I have—something deeply ingrained in my subconscious—than a fully-formed thought, so it's a bit hard to explain beyond that. I learned to love other forms of media, but it's almost like I left the womb with music already in my bones.

Y'know what? Why don't I just rattle off a few favorite artists, albums, OSTs, and songs of mine? The music that helps me get through the day. I'll do five each to keep it short and sweet, and cut down on overlap.

ARTISTS
The Beatles
Magenta (Christina Booth, the lead singer, is my favorite vocalist ever)
Spock's Beard
Bill Wurtz
Shoji Meguro

ALBUMS
Stupid Dream (Porcupine Tree)
Boston (Boston)
The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (Lin-Manuel Miranda)
Bridge Across Forever (Transatlantic)

OSTs
NieR:Automata (Keiichi Okabe)
The Star Wars films (John Williams)
Shadow of the Colossus (Kow Otani)
Cowboy Bebop (Yoko Kanno and Seatbelts)
Octopath Traveler (Yasunori Nishiki)

Songs
"Rain" (SID)
"Beautiful Ruin" (Masafumi Takada)
"Komm, süsser Tod" (ARIANNE)
"A Horse with No Name" (America)
"Snake Eater" (Cynthia Harrell)

Whew! That was not easy, especially limiting myself to five a pop and eliminating overlap. Either way, I think the music itself can do a better job of explaining than I can. Give it a listen if you have a minute, and send me a few favorites of your own.

Signing off for now. Until next time, Dear Reader.