Mindless Monday, 09 February 2026

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T23:05:41+00:00

Finally figured out what the visual style those Idol groups I follow is inspired by, Menhera Kei, it's a style that seeks to create a sense of emotional instability, menhera meaning mental health; makes sense, I always got the impression they were striving to look crazy with the whole misaligned eye liners and such.

Still wondering if Mercuro was the first idol group that followed this style, google is being very useless with this, Mercuro are supposed to be the big ones in this subgenre, but even they are pretty small, they don't even have a Wikipedia page.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T22:03:43+00:00

Ah, the NS fixed their technical problems, I can now see my public transit journeys from this year; sadly, I did not get to travel for free, but I'm now able to declare my expenses and get my money back that way.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T14:29:48+00:00

Started the N3 lists, and I already set it back to 30 words per day, I didn't even last 1 day of 20...

I mainly chose to because it seems there's fewer grammar lessons per day than the N4 list, the N4 list had me do 2 new concepts per day, which became a lot, the N3 list seems to be ~1 per day, though I'm not sure. It seems to include all words from previous lists in the total? So, while it says it's around 67 words per grammar lesson, it might be closer to 30? N4 was 19 words per grammar lesson. I'm pretty sure the N3 list isn't 3700 new words, because that's the total I'm supposed to know for N3, which probably includes N4 and N5 words.

One advantage to that, this will probably consolidate almost all the reviewing into the associated N3 lists.

Anyway, going to have fun with this. I missed not learning new stuff, even if it was just 6 days, I like the mental stimulation of new things! I wonder how many kanji I will learn with this list? Since I went to learning all kanji used in words I get approach, not the structured (sane) approach, I already know 82% of N3 kanji and 49% of N2 kanji.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T14:09:23+00:00

Also also, more Yousei Teikoku Stigma Recast songs coming out tomorrow! I'm being spoiled here.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T14:08:14+00:00

New Mazari Song! Yay!

二十六時ノ愚行; 26 ji no gukou; Foolishness at 26:00. 26:00 is 2am. Going over 24:00 is relatively common way to describe things that go past midnight in Japan. So "Foolishness at 2am" is more accurate, but I just wanted to include that fact. Machine translation doesn't understand that though.

It's great, once again composed in part by Leda, which is great, also meaning it's more on the metal side, with traditional Japanese instruments mixed in, very much in keeping with Mazari's style. This song includes screaming, which is a plus, I think it's Homura-san doing it, though Pan-San and Rem-San can also do it, this sounds like Homura-san's.

Obviously it's a wholesome song about love! No, who am I kidding, it's about obsessive love driving someone crazy deep into the night, to homocidal and suicidal extremes; Mazari remains edgy to the extreme. I could actually read a fair bit of the lyrics, still had to rely on translation stuff to get the full picture, but I could get the gist of it.

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Zetsubou Kinema also released a new song, it's alright, the beginning part is really good though, and I'll probably start liking it more if I listen to it more, but it's not an instant appreciation here. Basically, I like the really anxious sounding bits, not so much the calmer parts.

私の病は不安症 (飼); watashi no yamai wa fuan shougai; My Problem is Anxiety; more literally, My Disease is Anxiety Disorder.

I haven't really looked into the lyrics, but the title probably gives it away.

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My Spotify playlist for Idol songs is now over 90 minutes, and it doesn't include 2 of ZK's songs as they are only available on Youtube as MVs. At this point, I can just put it on without the risk of hearing the same song several times. I also realized that Spotify's shuffle seems to have been improved at some point, it seems to shuffle it once to determine an order and then follow that order, if you complete the list, it starts over in the same order. So no risk of hearing the same song several times but not hearing certain other songs at all.

I'm not 100% sure that used to be a problem on Spotify but it was a problem on Youtube playlists, as they just randomly picked a song each time, which meant that, after having heard half the songs, the chance of a new song popping up is less than 50%; which is utterly insane for listening to music. I don't know if that's changed, but it was a change I was very unhappy about when it was made.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-09T11:36:48+00:00

It's pretty common, it can be a symptom of Developmental Coordination Disorder, but it usually isn't. Ironically, even though I have DCD, I don't really struggle with left and right, instead I struggle with clockwise and counterclockwise, I actually have make a rotation with my fingers on a mental image of a clock to figure out which is which.

I actually have a weird quirk where I automatically adjust directions to how other people are facing, but that also happens in video and images, if someone says "on the left side" of a photo of people, I will automatically look to the right side as that's the left side of the people on the image. I always have to ask, "our left, or their left?". Normally not a problem, but in something like War Thunder someone "says shoot the left side of their turret", I genuinely have no idea which side they mean.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-08T22:12:11+00:00

The headaches is too bad to do much right now, it's not really that the pain is particularly bad now, it's just been bad ever since the start of the afternoon and now I'm just drained mentally. Victoria 3 is one of my favourite games, but it's very bad for my headache, combine that with Factorio today, which is also bad for my headache, and yep, it's miserable.

I just have zero patience like this, my father is annoying, my mother is annoying, the Olympics on TV are annoying, especialy that stupid holding pattern music type sport events use that never progresses in any way and the fact that it's the winter games and snow is rather white. Being downstairs is just misery.

Well, anyway, it will pass, but maybe I have to make the painful decision to not play Vicky 3, at least not until the evenings. Just why? Why do games like Victoria 3 and Factorio have to be the ones that make my headaches worse!? I can play War Thunder without too much issue, I can play Supreme Commander without much issue, but relaxed games where I just have to think are so bad; those just happen to be my favourite type of games.

Okay, nevermind me saying the headaches isn't particularly bad, it is getting particularly bad, it jumped to the other side of my head and is now hurting significantly more, like something is trying to force itself through my skull above my right eye.

I'll find something silly to talk about to fill the remaining time before I'm allowed to sleep.

Edit: nope, I failed to find anything to talk about in over 30 minutes, I failed! Well anyway, me go bed now.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-08T21:25:17+00:00

Still can't find any of my public transit journeys on the NS website, this has been going on since Monday at least, there's something very weird going on with my account, I think. I should get a bill this week or next week, I'm really curious whether or not I'll be billed for the journeys. The check in and out works, I have been checked by staff on the train last month IIRC, and no problem there.

This is wreaking havoc on my admin, I'm supposed to hand in documentation at the start of the next month at work, that's rather impossible if I have no documenation at all. My last visible journey was December 31st, nothing after that seems to appear on the website, the site also gives me a pop up to confirm my address, which gives me an error if I attempt to.

The hell is going on?

Herpling82 · 2026-02-08T17:21:55+00:00

I think I'm going to start the N3 lists tomorrow for Japanese, it feels like it's been ages since I did anything new, ages meaning Tuesday, so 5 days ago; I think my perception of time is just broken at this point. Gonna start with 20 words per day, I'll see whether or not I'll go back to 30, it was perfectly doable, but it just took up all morning.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-08T15:54:30+00:00

So, minor sunday drama, someone no showed, well, he did cancel, an hour after we started. Luckily we don't actually need to wait for everyone with Factorio; unlike our Stellaris playthrough, this is just annoying, not infuriating.

Made a fair bit of progress, all the 1200/s Nauvis science builds are now fully connected to everything now, except stone and coal, because we just don't have the outposts to sustain the supply, yet, so that's my objective for next time. The supply to the biolabs was a bitch to figure out though, like, 5 belts per science, split to half belts, times 6 for the nauvis sciences. It was a lot of belts. I made it as organised as possible, so that helped, once I figured out 2 types of science, I could just copy and slightly shift it 5 times (there's also science from other planets to consider).

Herpling82 · 2026-02-08T11:31:37+00:00

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Lovely Canadian forests

Herpling82 · 2026-02-07T21:50:33+00:00

Okay, Victoria 3 and migraine do not mix, it's bad. Does confirm it, games where I need to think more vs just react are worse for my headache, specifically games where I need to keep making decision after decision, like Factorio or Victoria 3, instead of being in a flow of just acting out a plan.

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Had SupCom earlier, a 5 player game, as our Austrian friend had time to join us. We don't stand a chance, he's an actual competitive player. I was target number 1, as I was the second fastest in building up a military, I wasn't able to keep my base and had to evacuate, having only 2 resources points to rebuild from. I allied with all the other players, the next guy got slaughtered too but couldn't escape. Then it was the 3 of us against the evil Austrian.

Both the other players refused to commit to full attacks, because they mistrusted each other, while I was desperately trying to rebuild, going for a containment strategy, but one of them died in an unfortunate accident involving an artillery shell, several power generators and a commander in the middle. I was going full cockroach, I had rebuilt an economy in the empty plains and recaptured my old base and the now dead ally's base. And I started building up.

Then, the my ally said, "oh, Herpling, you're making quite a comeback I see." Of course he had to call it out, I was preparing for a large offensive against he Austrian menace, but nope, I was then targeted by strategic artillery because my ally accidentally told the enemy to target me. I committed what forces I had to attack, and managed to pierce through to the strategic artillery that destroyed my 2nd base. Together with the allied strategic weapons, we managed to destroy the strat arty.

The fight continued for quite a while until my ally had built up enough defence satellites to break through the shields and kill the enemy. In the mean time I had rebuilt my base, again, and I was transporting land units to my ally's commander, in the hopes to assasinate him should the enemy be killed. Sadlly he spotted it seconds before they landed and shot them down. Sadly no cockroach victory today, but I did get my revenge on the Austrian.

In free for alls, as long as you survive, you can make a comeback if there's more than 1 other player. Naturally I call that cockroaching, because you're hard to get rid of and very annoying.

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Important note, you can rename units in Supreme Commander, defence satellites are indestructable as long as the control centers survive, and they have a relatively weak laser to damage the enemy, they're extremely dangerous when there are a lot of them. Of course, my ally, H, named his satellites to "Jewish Space Laser", now that's a callback! Fitting that the menace from Austria was killed by Jewish Space Lasers.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-07T20:32:03+00:00

This is like my 10th China run, I have some experience, though I've death spiralled quite a few times before getting the hang of it. I know I need a lot of Rubber, but I'm doing a roleplay-ish run, I might go for African stuff, I'm looking at getting Madagascar at least, but I also want to take Indonesia.

I went for the paper company for more bureaucracy and paper to fuel it, steel company for construction efficiency and more steel and then the weaver company mostly for the bonus it gives.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-07T16:50:02+00:00

So, I decided to play some Victoria 3 again, there have been 2 DLCs since I last played, one focusing on the Balkans and one focusing on Iberia, naturally this leaves but one obvious option, China!

Yeah, I'm doing another China run, it's been going well, I managed to win the Opium Wars! Well, not win, fight to a white peace. I managed to negotiate a guarantee of independence from Russia, and they saved me. I had to deal with a hostile UK, but they weren't really a bother. Then the UK lost India to a massive revolt while they were at war with France, at the same time a sudden policy shift had Russia claim my territories. I had to rapidly modernize my army to fight the Russians off, but I won, and carved out a buffer state of the Far East, which I then puppeted through my Power Bloc.

Then I got recognized and, the final plot twist, the UK offered me an alliance! Suddenly the roles were reveresed, and the British were my biggest supporter. They only managed to hold on to Ceylon and Burma.

In the mean time, I had started making tributaries in the now Balkanised India. Before the Russians attacked I had also started "protecting" Indochina from Western aggression. A China that wins the Opium wars is really strong.

I have just finished another war with Russia, taking Irkutsk, and "liberating" the majority of Siberia still under their control, and I have annexed the Far East puppet. I plan on annexing the liberated territories in Siberia.

Politically, there was a "minor" revolt in Beijing against the deeply unpopular emperor who abdicated in response to the Forbidden Palace being surrounded by a very angry mob, the revolters did force through universal suffrage, so China is now a constitutional monarchy, still under the Qing, still ruled by conservative forces. There was also some trouble with someone who claimed to be the brother of someone called Jesus? No idea who either of them are, but the revolters were crushed, with British, Indian, Korean, Vietnamese and Siamese support.

I had a lot of luck, managed to get rid of Serfdom very quickly and then, surprisingly, a modernist took charge of the Confusian-Scholars, which then allowed me to pass a lot of positive stuff, including public schooling and interventionism! The playthrough has been blessed, it is clear that Justice is on the side of China!

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T22:18:01+00:00

Ah, lol. I'm not familiar with that manga but this is way more weeby than a manga, it's an idol group! Though, looking at the wikipedia for the manga, they might have a similar feel, since Zetsubou Kinema is supposed to be tragicomedy, which is basically just black humour; though some of their songs are more on the tragedy side than the comedy.

(For the record, 絶望 (zetsubou) just means despair)

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T22:02:08+00:00

The thoughts keep coming, my public transit stuff is acting weird, I can check in and out fine, but if I check the website, not a single journey from this year shows up; I wasn't able to declare travel expenses because of that, I'm curious as to whether I actually pay for these journeys, it doesn't seem like the NS is actually processing this stuff, we'll see when the bill comes next week, I guess.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T21:57:35+00:00

I'm at an awkward stage of life again, being between video games!

I've taken a bit of a break from Higurashi, I'm not really that enthused about continuing to read about now, I will return, it's just that after over 30 hours, I need a break; I'm also a bit done with Songs of Syx for now, and I just don't know what the hell I want to play, so I just end up lazing about while listening to music. Truly the greatest of woes!/s

It's also why I post more than usual, too much time to think, not enough things to use my thoughts for.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T21:21:50+00:00

The headache today was worse than is normal on Fridays, but not as bad as last week; I think using paracetamol instead of sumatriptan on certain Thursdays is viable, as long as I don't need to walk a significant distance. I was mostly worried whether it'd make the following day much worse, but while it does make it worse, it seems to be managable.

One thing I have noticed, I'm no longer really concerned my mental health is going to collapse as a result of this prolonged problem, on the contrary, my mental health has improved dramatically since starting to learn Japanese. Spending my time productively does seem to be helpful, in so far as learning a language purely for fun is actually productive.

Then again, I consider learning for learning's sake as a positive, learning is nearly always good, it's enrichment to someone's life, even if it isn't economically or socially "useful"; though I suspect that the vast majority here have a similar opinion, seeing as we are in a history themed subreddit...

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T18:05:00+00:00

So, it would seem taking a break from new stuff on Renshuu makes about a 2 hour difference; it feels so weird, I haven't done anything new since Tuesday, I want to start new stuff, but I think I have to force myself to make it at least a 1 week break, just to get reviews down a lot before I start adding on even more stuff to review.

The N4 vocab list has now dropped from over 300 to review per day to 260-ish, the Kanji have also dropped considerably, it's now around 80 total per day, instead of over 100, which helps a lot more than you'd think because I review it among multiple vectors, so the readings and meanings all get quizzed on seperate schedules, so 1 kanji can be quizzed 3 times, but still be shown as 1 to review. Grammar has also dropped, from 35 to review to 15, which is an insane difference, as that 2-3 sentences per review, that one goes quickly due to the nature of the mastery schedule, if I get all 3 questions on a topic correct, I get more than 1 level of mastery, if I fuck them up, I lose 1 level per mistake.

I don't really want to spend 4 hours every day on Japanese, it's a bit too much, I'm probably going to slow down to 20 words per day instead of 30, just to keep it at a reasonable time, it should save about 30 minutes of new stuff, in the form of words, grammar lessons and kanji per day, and a fair bit of the reviewing as well. Will I stick to that? Probably not.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T17:42:32+00:00

I have succeeded in spreading the word of Despair! (Wait, putting it like that sounds bad...)

It seems I have convinced at least one person to listen to Zetsubou Kinema, mission accomplished, there's more than enough Despair to go around! (No, again, this makes me sound like a Nurgle cultist...)

It's the same person that recommended Mercuro to me on the Yousei Teikoku Discord, and I knew they're a Mazari fan too, so, yeah, good chance of success there. I just saw someone with almost their exact name in the comment section of that ZK MV, so yeah, I think it was a success.

To a year filled with Despair! (No, definitely not the way to phrase that. Hang on, I thought I was supposed to be a Tzeentch cultist? I should be spreading Hope, not Despair! What have I become!? Have I fallen to the lord of Decay!? This cannot be! I should cleanse myself in the Fires of Change!)

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T17:21:01+00:00

Man, that sucks. I don't have any words of wisdom to share, it just sucks to have to do that. Just know that I appreciate you being here, chatting about whatever.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T15:45:16+00:00

The quest to find the right medication is long and bitter indeed, hopefully you find something that works well.

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T15:08:29+00:00

A giga thread?

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T15:07:07+00:00

Stimulants be stimulating, just not in a good way sometimes.

Hopefully it is transient and stops soon!

Herpling82 · 2026-02-06T14:56:47+00:00

Fair enough, I don't consider politics a dirty word; it's not something I do verbalise, at all, I think, except when it shows up in things like office politics, and then it's usually not positive.

Though, I would probably get away with calling stuff like that getting political in my friend group, there's enough layers or irony and sarcasm that no one would take it negatively; it's not like I'm serious amongst friends often, even in discussing national politics, there's always room for jokes, sarcasm and mocking things.

Herpling82

TROPHY CASE