Snowflake Challenge 8

[got_quiet]

Challenge 8: Talk about a current fannish project

I don't have that much in the way of fannish products. I'm not typically producing anything. I guess the most relevant thing I'm doing is reviewing Visual Novels over on playingstory . I'm almost completely through all the VNs from the BLM bundle. I have a possible six games to go, assuming that all of them are actually Visual Novels and not something else, actually, which many under the VN tag are. I was hoping to have that finished up by the end of last year, but juusst missed and am now distracted by Balders Gate 3, haha.

Once I have played all the VNs in the bundle, I have a master post already mostly written out in which I give out "awards" to the games I enjoyed the most for one thing or another, and will be offering to give away some of the games via a steam code or similar to give back to the indies who made those games and donated to the cause. I'm hoping this will happen by the end of winter, but I think it depends somewhat on how soon I extricate myself from Baldur's Gate.

The other project that I actually work on with some mild consistency is my worldbuilding, but I don't consider that fannish activity. It's just sort of creative work. I've been lazy about organizing everything into something legible so maybe I'll work on that today a little.

And even further from fandom but also on a more fannish vein(?) I'm practicing Hakobi Usucha Ro, which is sort of an early fundamental form for tea practice. It looks like this:

Watch on YouTube

 

Comments

[impala_chick]

Oh interesting! Do you speak Japanese? I've been looking for someone to practice with. I'd love to know more about Hakobi Usucha Ro, if you feel like sharing. Did you have to purchase all the different pieces for it?

[got_quiet]

If you are looking for some Japanese learning pals vriddy posted recently that they were thinking about starting a new com for Japanese immersion. The post is here if you want to check it out.

I speak Japanese the way someone who dropped out of Japanese college classes 15 years ago speaks Japanese lol. I'm very bad at it. I can understand a little more than I can say, which is good because my classes are all in Japanese! It's seriously hard mode.

Formal chado/sado has hundreds of different methods of preparation depending on the season, the event, the type of guests, whether it's the first/second/third tea of the day, etc. Hakobi Usucha Ro is like the beginner fundamental tea process for Winter, with a "Ro," which is an indent in the floor that serves as a hearth. It has a pot of water instead of a kettle. You can see a ro in the video I linked. It's hard to find a house in the US that will allow for such a thing so there are also elevated practice ro you can use.

Usucha refers to "thin tea" as opposed to the more formal and high end Koicha or "thick" tea. Koicha is so thick it's basically a sludge. It's supposed to be the consistency of "Potage" and is much harder to properly make, so students start with Usucha. Even though we call it thin tea people who are not used to it can be surprised by how thick and strong it is.

Unfortunately tea can be an expensive hobby. Our teacher provides most of the material, but students are expected to invest in a lot of things, like some of the personal tools that are used in every tea, and utensils that they can use to practice with. Plus the tea and the required sweets also add up. Stuff like the kettles and braziers and stuff are usually supplied by the teacher until the students are advanced enough or obsessed enough to get their own.

[impala_chick]

Thanks so much for the link to that post!

Oh wow, that's so fascinating. The video does show a lot of different materials, so I wondered if those would be supplied. I didn't know that there are 'thin' and 'thick' teas. I love my green tea bags, but I kind of take them for granted when I should have realized there are so many traditions around tea! Best of luck with your class :)