Teck's Treehouse

A separate /home directory

2026-06-23T16:35:15.735+09:00

As someone who has been using Linux from its early days, I used to keep my home directory on a separate partition so that I did not lose data or have to recustomise stuff when I had to reinstall Linux. Back then, Linux was not very compatible with new hardware, and I often had to reinstall Linux to find a distro that worked or suited me. Or when upgrading.

Then, Linux became easier to use, easier to install, easier to upgrade.

And I grew complacent.

And panicked when the triple upgrade (Debian 12 to 13, LMDE 6 to 7, Proxmox VE 8 to 9) failed and my main PC went into an endless reboot loop. Thankfully, I had a snapshot prior to the upgrade, and rolled back without any issues (so far).

Still, given that I need to upgrade to Proxmox VE 9 and LMDE 7 soon, I really want to be able to keep my home directory intact. Luckily, I have an old SSD that used to hold my OS that can be used for migrating my home directory.

First, I formatted that disk and created a ext4 partition on it. It shows as

/dev/sda1

on my system.

Then, I rebooted my system, and at the grub screen, pressed 'e' to edit the boot options, changing splash to 3, then F10 to boot into the console.

I started by mounting the spare SSD.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/new_home
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/new_home

Then, I used rsync to transfer data in archival mode.
sudo rsync -aAvx /home/ /mnt/new_home/

It was now time to mount the SSD as the new home directory. First, it needs to be unmounted.

sudo umount /mnt/new_home

Then, I renamed my old home directory.

sudo mv /home /home_old

Finally, I mounted the SSD as my home directory.

sudo mkdir /home
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /home

The last step is to edit /etc/fstab, and for that, I needed the UUID of the partition.

sudo blkid /dev/sda1

This gave me a string (which I will call MY_UUID here). I used this string to edit /etc/fstab by adding this.

UUID=MY_UUID /home ext4 defaults 0 2

Then, I rebooted the system. Running

lsblk

showed this:

Now that the home directory is separated, I can afford to do a fresh install of LMDE 7! That would be the next task when I have some spare time.

Upgrading from Proxmox VE 8 to 9, Debian 12 to 13, PBS 3 to 4, and LMDE 6 to 7

2026-06-18T10:27:18.351+09:00

Warning: Follow this method at your own risk! Read update at end of post!

Proxmox VE 9 has been out for a while, and it is based on Debian 13, which has also been released for a while. However, other than my main server (a ML110 Gen9) running on Proxmox VE 8, all other parts of my homelab are not standard installations. My Proxmox Backup Server has a concurrent Proxmox VE installation. My Fujitsu Celsius M740 Proxmox workstation that was installed with XFCE desktop on top of Proxmox VE 7 originally. For my main workstation running on a Ryzen 7 5700G, I had previously installed Proxmox VE 7 on Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 and then dual upgraded it from Proxmox VE 7 to 8 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 to 6. It was going to be painful to upgrade all of them to the latest version of Proxmox VE and Debian/LMDE.

Still, I knew I had to do it, and with a bit of time yesterday, I steeled my resolve and went ahead.

I used the official guides and my previous attempts as references.

Upgrade from 8 to 9 (for Proxmox VE)

Upgrade from 3 to 4 (for Proxmox Backup Server)

Upgrading workstation to Proxmox Virtual Environment 8

Dual upgrade: Proxmox 7 to 8 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 5 to 6

The actual upgrade process was more a case of changing the source.list files in /etc/apt so that they use trixie (Debian 13) instead of bookworm (Debian 12), and gigi (LMDE 7) instead of faye (LMDE 6). After which, I ran

apt update

apt dist-upgrade

Once again, repeated use of

apt -f install

dpkg --configure -a

apt dist-upgrade

helped me to finally get everything upgraded.

The main server seems to be running stably on Proxmox VE 9 with Linux kernel 7.0.6. However, the main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G suddenly rebooted while on kernel 7.0.6. So, I decided to roll back to kernel 6.8.12, which was previously running fine when it was on Proxmox VE 8.

The backup server seems to be fine too.

The Fujitsu workstation is not used much, so I am not sure how stable it is.

Also, for the workstations, given that they have the LMDE repos installed due to my love for having Linux Mint icons, I faced the same issue where Proxmox does not recognise the version codename "Gigi" (which is LMDE 7). It causes the error message "unknown Debian code name 'gigi' (500)" and so I had to edit /usr/lib/os-release and change

VERSION_CODENAME=gigi

VERSION_CODENAME=trixie

I guess I should not have to do this again, hopefully, for a couple years more.

Update 22 June 2026:

The main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G has been randomly rebooting, especially when Bluetooth is used. I don't know if it is a PSU, CPU, RAM, SSD, or upgrade issue, and I am now rolling back to a previous snapshot. If that works, the issue would be the upgrade.

Update 24 June 2026:

I tried to upgrade the main workstation with Ryzen 7 5700G again. It broke miserably. And when I tried to roll back, I couldn't run timeshift because the package broke. I had to reboot into a live USB of LMDE 7, but when I tried to run timeshift on that to restore the snapshot, it rebooted halfway. I suspect there is some package in LMDE 7 or Debian 13 that is causing the reboot. In the end, I used a live USB of Linux Mint 22.1 to run timeshift and managed to restore a snapshot. Given that something in LMDE 7 or Debian 13 is causing reboots, I won't be pursuing the upgrade path for this PC anymore.

Update 28 June 2026:

I booted up a HP T630 thin client using LMDE 7 live USB, adding the boot options

radeon.si_support=0 amdgpu.si_support=1

and ran it for 4 hours, with htop and nvtop running, a long YouTube video on Firefox, and glxgears too. I have also checked that it is a X11 session, not Wayland. It didn't random reboot... I really hope it is not a case of LMDE 7 or Debian 13 being incompatible with my AMD Ryzen 7 5700G PC... because that would kind of shut off the upgrade path even via a fresh install.

Japan premiere of Sparks of Tomorrow (二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-)

2026-06-14T18:00:00.000+09:00

Today, I managed to catch the Japan premiere of Sparks of Tomorrow (二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-), the next TV anime series from Kyoto Animation that is loosely inspired by a light novel published by Kyoani. It will start airing on TV and streaming services from July 2026. The Japan premiere included a stage event with the voice actors of the two main characters (Sakamoto Kihachi, voiced by Uchida Yuma, and Momokawa Inako, voiced by Amamiya Sora) as well as the director, Ota Minoru.

While Kyoani did publish a light novel titled 二十世紀電氣目録, it seems that the anime series is only loosely inspired by the original work, and therefore, it is anyone's guess how the story will pan out. Basically, the official website says:

A Tale of Adventure for Boys and Girls
Who Dreamed of the Age of Electricity
in a World Shrouded in Smoke!

A little while ago.
Kyoto in the early 20th century, having evolved differently from the history we know today.
In a world where only steam engines had advanced, the city was shrouded in smoke.
──A little while ago. Kyoto in the early 20th century, having evolved differently from the history we know today. In a world where only steam engines had advanced, the city was shrouded in smoke.
With challenging art backgrounds reminiscent of Impressionist paintings and intricate animation, it depicts the dreams of boys and girls shining in an era of upheaval and innovation.
Kyoto Animation's new frontier.

From the way it is being promoted, it seems that Kyoani is trying to position this as the next Violet Evergarden.

Except for me, it wasn't.

The background art was very well done, and the animation was Kyoani class. But that's about it. The Japan premiere showcased episodes 1 to 3 of the TV series that will be aired in July, but the story failed to draw my attention. The characters were deformed sometimes to exaggerate expressions, but instead of adding to the artistic expression and direction, it felt more like a cheap comedy trick most of the time. For around 67 minutes (the length of the premiere), I couldn't help but feel it was trying to copy Miyazaki Hayao and Shinkai Makoto in some weird mash-up that simply failed to hit home.

The music used for the series also felt generic, like something you have heard elsewhere. I don't even remember it now. I don't even have much to say for the story because it felt like another boy-meets-girl generic romcom, except that it is set in some steampunk alternate Meiji-era Japan, using the kanji 明滋 instead of 明治 for Meiji to show that it is an alternate timeline. The last 10 to 15 minutes was so uninspiring that I was more or less dozing off, just waiting for the show to be over so that the stage event could begin.

The stage event was also very generic. The voice actors talked a bit about the recording, director Ota said he was chosen as director because he volunteered. I was hoping to hear more about how they went about formulating the (uninspiring) story or working on the soundtrack, but the director was shy and never really talked. In the end, I treated myself to a Whopper Jr. at Burger King as a way to make it up.

On the way home, the words from the recent episode of Akane-banashi came into mind. "Support is gained after you've displayed your art. If such support precedes your art, that's proof of your immaturity." Kyoani has pushed out many great works in the past. Even after the arson attack, Kyoani pushed on, and fans continued to show their support. We kept believing that the Kyoani we knew will return. But is that support really support, or something mixed with pity?

Official anime website

Finally, dark mode

2026-06-12T20:18:39.648+09:00

After so many years, finally, there is dark mode on this blog.

Given that I haven't touched the template of this blog for many many many years, it was a challenge to add dark mode. In the end, I gave up, and asked Claude to do it.

Now, the blog will load in either light or dark mode, depending on your system's settings. There is also a toggle at the lower right of the screen to force it to switch modes.

In the midst of this change, I also realised that the blog has been on default mobile settings, which meant the desktop template was not being used when viewed on mobile devices. I have also fixed that.

May 2026 calligraphy "homework"

2026-05-31T09:30:00.013+09:00

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for May 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 舟従南浦囘

Single character 一字: 豹

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 詩書作我閑中地風月知人醉裏天

Unsubmitted pieces:

April 2026 calligraphy "homework"

New round and two down

2026-05-07T13:13:00.003+09:00

After practising several hundreds of times, I finally selected two pieces for submission to this year's Sankei International "Sho" Exhibition 産経国際書展.

Some candidates which were not submitted:

The next one should be Kanagawa Art Exhibition 神奈川県美術展, with the submission deadline somewhere between September and October (TBC). If it is not being held again this year, then the next one will be Onchikai Shodo Exhibition 温知会書道展 with deadline being October.

April 2026 calligraphy "homework"

2026-04-30T09:00:00.003+09:00

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for April 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 水入北湖去

Single character 一字: 義

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 外發英華

Unsubmitted pieces:

March 2026 calligraphy "homework"

A new round... one down

2026-04-17T14:24:00.001+09:00

After more than 200 pieces, I finally selected the piece for submission to this year's Mainichi Shodo Exhibition 毎日書道展, sparking off the first submission for this year's round of exhibition submissions.

Some candidates which were not submitted:

Now to work on the piece(s) for Sankei International "Sho" Exhibition 産経国際書展.

Update 18 June 2026: The results came today, unfortunately, my piece was not chosen. Guess I will be trying again next year.

This was the piece that was submitted.

March 2026 calligraphy "homework"

2026-03-31T09:30:00.005+09:00

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for March 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 陶然共忘機

Single character 一字: 試

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 放情宇宙之外息足懐抱之中

Unsubmitted pieces:

February 2026 calligraphy "homework"

15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011

2026-03-11T15:00:00.014+09:00

15 years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake and its resulting tsunami struck Japan on 11 March 2011.

I still cannot forget watching the news that day.

I still cannot forget the experience of living in Tokyo for a year after the earthquake, with the frequent aftershocks and an entire nation dealing with the aftermath. And how the movie Suzume strikes such a chord in my heart.

Violets blooming again

2026-03-07T15:37:00.009+09:00

「また、この花が咲く季節になったんだな」
"It is again the season when this flower blooms"

My violets are really blooming early this year.

February 2026 calligraphy "homework"

2026-02-28T09:30:00.033+09:00

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for February 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 我醉君復樂

Single character 一字: 憩

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 羅江春信盆梅報紙帳宵寒鶴夢知

Unsubmitted pieces:

January 2026 calligraphy "homework"

Welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse

2026-02-17T20:48:00.034+09:00

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐！ Today marks the first day of the Year of the Fire Horse, or 丙午, and what better way to celebrate than to post some stuff written for this day!

The couplets for this year reads

蛇行福起

馬到功成

I also wrote the characters for 馬、福、吉、祥 and used GIMP to give them a red background.

The originals:

Once again, happy Chinese New Year!

Watching The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie (劇場版「僕の心のヤバイやつ」)

2026-02-14T22:30:00.025+09:00

I really liked the anime adaptation of The Dangers in My Heart, and when they announced a movie, I was very excited. Somehow, I overlooked the part about it being mainly a compilation film, rather than a proper sequel.

However, even though 95% of the film was mostly from the TV series, it was very nicely compiled to show the story of the relationship between the two main characters, and Ushio Kensuke's music really added a lot of emotional impact. Just the amazing soundtrack itself was worth watching this movie in a theatre.

Movie-goers were even given this small booklet with a short story drawn by the original manga author.

I really hope they will make a sequel to this series because the story is really a nice, heartwarming one. I could read the manga. But I want the music by Ushio Kensuke!

Watching It Will Soon Be Time to Say Goodbye (ほどなく、お別れです)

2026-02-14T18:00:00.029+09:00

Many years ago, I watched a movie called Departures (おくりびと) that really moved me. It was a movie about encoffinment, so when I saw a new movie on a related topic, I was interested to see how it differs.

It Will Soon Be Time to Say Goodbye (ほどなく、お別れです) is a movie about a funeral house. The male lead is not just a funeral director, but is trained in encoffinment. The encoffinment part, though, was only briefly touched on in this movie, unlike the 2008 movie. There was also a fantastic element in this movie, with the female lead being able to see dead people.

Frankly, when I saw the fantastic element early in the movie, I thought it would not be to my taste. And there was nothing really exceptional about the movie, with it being composed of a few short stories about each dead person, brought out by the funeral house's staff as they prepared and organized the funerals. But somehow, the movie brought tears to my eyes. I don't know why, but I ending up crying. I think it was the acting of the two leads, plus the melancholic soundtrack. I also think I won't have cried if I didn't watch it in a theatre. Watching it in a theatre allowed me to focus on the movie fully, and fully absorb the acting and music. It reminded me that, in this age when many movies are made for streaming, there are still movies that are best enjoyed in a movie theatre.

Real "Violet Snow"

2026-02-08T12:30:00.003+09:00

"Violet Snow" was a song used for the trailer of Violet Evergarden series.

And I guess it is real.

It snowed today, and the snow covered an early blooming violet.

Noble, faithful, pure as the driven snow, a fragile beauty.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf)

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Audio commentary notes for TV series

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

<1>

Snow day

2026-02-08T12:06:00.003+09:00

It doesn't snow often in Yokohama, and even if it does, the snow doesn't accumulate.

But not today.

I could even make a pair of small snowmen.

And there was even a tiny icicle.

And Vivi got a nice layer of snow.

And the violet that bloomed early discovered that spring is not here yet.

January 2026 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

2026-01-31T22:36:00.013+09:00

These are some other calligraphy pieces that I wrote in January 2026.

I hope that I can one day write something for the Singapore navy. I don't know if it would be nicer to have a vertical or a horizontal version, so I tried writing both.

Otherwise, January was mostly spent preparing for the exhibition deadlines in April, May, and maybe in June.

December 2025 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

January 2026 calligraphy "homework"

2026-01-31T08:30:00.001+09:00

The "homework" pieces that I submitted for January 2026.

Hanshi kanji 半紙漢字: 長歌吟松風

Single character 一字: 算

Hansetsu kanji 半切漢字: 氷花看晩浄風葉識天寒

Unsubmitted pieces:

December 2025 calligraphy "homework"

42nd New Year Exhibition of Sankei Sho International Association 第42回産経国際書展新春展

2026-01-24T18:30:00.002+09:00

My last submission for 2025 is being exhibited at the 42nd New Year Exhibition of Sankei Sho International Association 第42回産経国際書展新春展, and I found time to go take a look.

The exhibition is being held at The National Art Center, Tokyo (国立新美術館). Instead of going from Roppongi Station, this time, I came in from Nogisaka Station.

The exhibition is mostly for members of the Sankei Sho International Association, who get to display their works in different sizes, including very big pieces.

To meet the art museum's criteria for public exhibitions, it also accepted submissions from the general public. As usual, these submissions are smaller and cramped together like this.

This is my work, which uses the character for horse 馬 as it is the Year of the Horse.

The 48th Exhibition of International Calligraphy and Ink Painting 第48回國際書画展 did not charge any admission fees, so I went to take a look again. It had both calligraphy and ink paintings on display. The ink paintings were also not the plain black and white ones too. There were all kinds of colourful paintings.

Time to go back to work on my submissions for 2026!

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

2026-01-14T09:00:00.003+09:00

Work in progress (placeholder):

I was going to work on this fan translation but work came in and I had to put this on hold. But there are probably fans who look forward to it, so I am putting a placeholder here and will gradually update it when I have time to work on it. When it is done, I will remove this note.

This is an unofficial translation of the chapter 花と自動手記人形 (Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll) found in the compendium Violet Evergarden The Anniversary -Flower- (the compendium brings together all four volumes of the light novel series, together with two new chapters). I am sharing my translation so that fans who do not understand Japanese can read it.

Note: The rights to the original work belong to the author Akatsuki Kana and Kyoto Animation. While this unofficial translation is being shared under fair use, I will remove it if it comes to my knowledge that this translation is being misused or if there is any infringement of the copyright owners' rights.

(You can find all my posts related to Violet Evergarden here, including my review of Violet Evergarden the Movie that debut in 2020 after watching it 14 times, my translation of the messages from author Akatsuki Kana and illustrator Takase Akiko found in this new compendium, my Tellsis language translator in Flutter and Python, my thoughts about the portrayal of guilt in Violet Evergarden, summary of production crew events, etc.)

--------------------------------------------

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll

by Akatsuki Kana

花と自動手記人形

暁佳奈
--------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------

This is a list of Violet Evergarden short stories that have been written by author Akatsuki Kana, with links to fan translations (when available). I hope you enjoyed these two short stories as much as I did.

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf)

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Audio commentary notes for TV series

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

<1>

Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

2026-01-14T06:30:00.001+09:00

Work in progress:

I was working on this fan translation but work came in and I had to take a break. But there are probably fans who look forward to it, so here is a sneak peek of what I have done so far. I will work on the rest when I have time, and eventually remove this note when it is done.

This is an unofficial translation of the chapter ローラと自動手記人形 (Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll) found in the compendium Violet Evergarden The Anniversary -Flower- (the compendium brings together all four volumes of the light novel series, together with two new chapters). I am sharing my translation so that fans who do not understand Japanese can read it.

--------------------------------------------

Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll

by Akatsuki Kana

ローラと自動手記人形

暁佳奈
--------------------------------------------

“Get off at Zufall, okay? Remember, Zufall.”

I will always remember that day at the station. “After you get off at Zufall, Aunt Agatha will be waiting. She’s my older sister.” Why must I be the only one to go live with a relative in another land? Why isn’t my father coming along with me? I was too young to understand.
“Dad, when will you come?” My father just gave his usual grumpy face without replying. “Dad, do you find me a nuisance?” He shook his head in response. When my older sister was alive, he spoke a bit more.
“You don’t need to think too much. Just don’t be rude to your aunt.” My mother passed away early, so we are a family of three: my father, sister, and me. Much older than me, my sister was kind of like a mother to me. Our conversations revolved around my sister, so without her, there was not much to say. With only my father and I, we were a dysfunctional family, with my silent father and me, afraid of him because he felt old-fashioned and overbearing.
“Will you be okay? You’ll be all by yourself in Ruhig…” I overcame my fear to ask this question. If I recall, the war was intensifying back then. “That’s not for a child to worry. I’ll be fine. Get going.” It felt like he was pushing me away. I looked down and thought, if only my sister was here. She would have rebuked, “Dad, why are you talking like this when you really love your daughters?” She was someone who could have said this to him.
If only she was here.
She would pester him to hug us, and my father would eventually give in and hug us, saying, “I love you.” That was about all the intimacy our family had.
I said, “I want to stay too. I won’t be in the way.” She would have said this, but she was no longer around. There was only me, the less cute of the two sisters. I myself felt sorry for being alive. It is my sister that the world truly needs. Maybe God made a mistake.
“You won’t be of any use here. Hurry up and get on the train. Go now.” My pleas did not get through to him. If my sister was there, things would probably had been different.
Sad and anguished, tears filled my eyes. Being brushed away like a puppy, I felt like my father truly hated me. If I had to feel like this, I wouldn’t want to have lived till now. If you didn’t want me, why did you bring me into this world?
With such thoughts of self-reproach, I got onto the train. I just wanted to quickly disappear. From this world. No, from my father’s sight.
But our farewell did not end like that.
“Laura…” He started to say something that he would never usually say. “Sorry for everything so far.” I held my breath in surprise and turned around to look at him.
“I was a bad father. But I will change. I am going to work hard for you. So…”
I understood what he was apologizing for. After my sister passed away, my father cared even less for me. In his own way, he recognized his sin for ignoring his young child, not even ten years old. Still, I had thought my father was someone who would rather die than say sorry. He was such an old-fashioned person. I thought we would never be able to understand each other.
“Behave well. Be a good child, and I will definitely go and look for you again.”
Why? Why now?
“Dad!” I rushed to get off the train, but he pushed me back onto it. “No, Laura. Listen to me.” “No, Dad! I want to be with you.”
“No, Laura. Take care of yourself. Be good. Take care.”
Why now?
“Dad! No!”
Why did he have to be nice to me in the end?

“DAD!!”

If only he had given even a small piece of that kindness to me when my sister passed away.

When the train departed, I just kept shouting “Dad” while waving at him. He waved back too, but he soon disappeared from view.
“Dad…”
I hugged my small luggage and sobbed. It was only when my voice became coarse that I realized… I did not say anything back to him. No, it was not in retaliation for how he had treated me. It was because I felt I was the unwanted child. I never thought he would see me off in this way. And so, I didn’t prepare anything to say.
I could hear my sister say, “Why are you doing like this when you really love Dad?” No, Sis, it is not like this. After you died, things started to fall apart.
“Give us a hug and say you love us. Come on Dad, Laura, don’t be shy.” I could not say what she said. Even if I did, my father would not feel happy. Please don’t blame me. I am not good at handling things like you, Sis.
A daughter who cannot even be thankful for being raised. I was not a good daughter to Dad. I wish I wasn’t the one who survived. If only I could reset everything back to the start.
If I could have stopped my father and sister that day. If I had hug him that day and said, “I forgive you.” That day. That day. That day.
God would have granted a special person a miracle at such a time. But God was not looking at me.
---
It was just after winter when letters started arriving at the small plunge basin.

It was a time when flowers started to bloom across the land where the snow was melting, after being wrapped in cold and hugged by snowflakes. Someone sent letters imbued with their hopes. No, it was not like paper letters floating on the spring river and falling into the plunge basin. They came in the form of messages in bottles. A message in a bottle—it is like a prayer, going with the flow, hopefully picked up by someone who may write a reply. It may dirty the water, but it can feel romantic to people.
And right now, someone threw a message bottle, sending it on a voyage across the water. Bobbing up and down, it kept floating, going with the flow. You can see the shape of the land by looking at the path taken by a message bottle. Zufall is in a mountainous region blessed with natural resources, so much so that it is called a forest kingdom. There are waterheads near the mountain ridges, forming small streams over time and spreading water all over the place. The message bottle dropped into this plunge basin in spring because, during winter, the waters were frozen and people were huddled up at home to withstand the cold. There was no one to pick up the bottle. That was why the sender chose to put out this prayer in spring.

“Found it!”

Bluebells were just starting to bloom around the plunge basin. A girl picked up the message in a bottle. She was around ten to twelve years old. She was extremely petite. A scarf adorned her thick, black hair, and she wore an apron dress. She was holding a basket full of wild vegetables, the bounty from a forest in spring.
“Stop! Stay there.” Amid beautiful blue flowers swaying in the spring breeze, this girl stood at the water’s edge. It was like a scene from a fairy tale.
Placing the basket on the ground, the girl looked around for a stick. With a face overflowing with curiosity, her round cheeks were red with excitement. Resembling a small animal, like a squirrel, she squealed with joy when she found a stick that was just right. “Yes!” She was so excited she started talking to herself.
Holding the stick like a warrior with a famous sword, she went back to the water’s edge. Then, she used the stick to draw the message bottle toward her. “Ah!” She lost her balance and almost fell into the water. Stretching to reach the bottle, she managed to pull it toward her, falling on her behind with the momentum.
She was speechless for a few seconds, unable to believe that she fell, but soon started to giggle. She wiped her fingers, wet from the still cold spring water, on her apron, and started to open the bottle. She took out a corkscrew from the pocket of her apron dress. The cork of the glass bottle was really hard to remove. She used all the strength in her small body. “Pop!” Out sprang the cork. The girl fell backward. She almost flipped over.
Somehow, she managed to get up, almost falling forward in the process. Birds and small animals looked as the girl weaved her story.
“Ha, ha,” panted the girl as she took out the letter from the bottle. It was not a long letter, and it would be pushing it to say the handwriting was good. The girl stared at the letter, in a trance, as if charmed. There was a serious look in her eyes, like a detective searching for the truth behind a major case. However, she was not a detective.
“I wonder what it says…”

Coincidentally, this was a few years after the Continental War, which split the world. Literacy was low due to the many years of war. Simply put, the Continental War was a war where countries all over the large continent fought each other over different things, including religious differences, natural resources, and territory. There were a multitude of reasons and no single overarching cause. If anything can be said about this war, it was that this war was started by certain hot-headed people, causing many years of suffering on innocent people. There was a universal shortage of manpower for postwar recovery, and the younger generation was made to deal with the aftermath.

Laura, the girl who picked up the message bottle, was from this generation dealing with the postwar aftermath. Just as she was entering the village, she heard, “Laura! Where did you go, neglecting the housework?” Startled, she looked to see who called her.
“Aunt Agatha.” It was a well-built farm lady who looked like she was in her forties. She was carrying a baby, around several months old, on her back. Seeing someone who continued to work by carrying a baby on her back, Laura felt like she was struck by lightning. “I wasn’t neglecting… I had already made breakfast,” she nervously replied. She was afraid she got caught. She was also feeling sorry for neglecting the housework. These two emotions controlled her body.
“What were you doing then?” Agatha wouldn’t let Laura change the topic. “I was going to prepare lunch next, so I went into the forest to get these.” She lifted the cloth covering the basket to show the wild vegetables. The message bottle was deep inside the basket. Fortunately, Agatha did not notice the bottle and looked happy at the amount of wild vegetables. “Oh, the ones that I like. That’s quite a lot. Isn’t it too much?” “You like them so I thought they would make lunch more colorful. But I only picked a little. I wanted to get berries too, but they will still small.” “It’s still too early. Maybe in a month or so. Even so, don’t run off on your own. Let me know if you are going anywhere. Do what I say.” “Yes.” Agatha was a bit controlling, or rather, overly protective.
“How many times have I said this? It’s dangerous over there. Strange people have been appearing there since the war ended. Oh, have you fed the chickens?” “Erm…” Agatha immediately understood from the reaction, and with a fed-up look on her face, said, “You forgot again?” “Well…” Agatha looked like she was having a headache. “That’s the third time this week.” “I’m sorry. I’ll do it right now.”
Just as Laura started to leave, Agatha grabbed her shoulder. “Wait. I want you to listen properly here. Why do you keep forgetting?” Laura was at a loss for words. She herself wanted to know why she kept forgetting. She thought, “This is like asking a person, ‘Why are you a person?’”
Why am I a failure?
Laura had never been a very sharp girl. She worked hard, but it didn’t always lead to results. And now, she was being labeled as forgetful. She might have picked up a message bottle, but her true motive was to find wild vegetables. She wanted to make Agatha happy, so she went looking for wild vegetables. She wanted to be praised.
But she forgot her main motive when she saw the floating bottle in the plunge basin. Thinking about the sender, engrossed in trying to decipher words that she could not read, time slipped by. And now, Agatha was mad at her.
Why am I like this?
Agatha was waiting for a reply, so Laura reluctantly said, “Because I am an idiot.” She felt sad saying this. Tears started welling in her eyes. If this was a time a bit further in the future, she might have been diagnosed as emotionally unstable, resulting in attention deficiency and receiving care for her condition. But this was not such a time.
Agatha glared at Laura, saying, “An idiot… I don’t think you’re an idiot, though.” However, her kind words were followed by a heavy blow. “You’re just slow and clumsy. Even so, you can remember the order of work, right?”
“I’m not as clever as you, Aunt Agatha.” “That can’t be. We’re aunt and niece, related by blood. Like your father Finn, you bear the name of Forsyth.” “But I can’t do everything right away like you.” If Laura Forsyth was poor at doing things, Agatha Forsyth was the exact opposite. A true workaholic, doing everything correctly without any lapses. She also had aptitude as a manager, with strong crisis management skills that understood the actions of everyone. That was why she immediately started looking for her niece the moment she noticed she was missing. To Laura, Agatha was from a different world.
As such, they did not get along. “I’m not saying you can’t do things. I’m telling you to work hard.” “I’m trying to do my best.” “But you still don’t get them done. How will you be able to live in the future if you are like this?” “Well…” “You’re the one who’ll be in trouble when you grow up. Do better. You can’t survive if you aren’t useful.” It was difficult for the blessed to understand those less fortunate.
Spoken to firmly, Laura naturally turned her gaze to the ground. I want to do better too. That was how she felt. Maybe even more strongly than others. Because of that magic spell cast on her by her only family.
“Be a good child, and I will definitely go and look for you again.”
She recalled her father’s words. I want to be a good child. If she was a good child, her father would come to Zufall to look for her. In other words, if she was not a good child, he might not come for her.

--------------------------------------------

My overall thoughts on Violet Evergarden The Movie

Events:

First cast greeting event for Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie: Cast greeting event to thank fans

Production staff event at screening of Violet Evergarden the Movie

Letter of appreciation from Violet Evergarden's author Akatsuki Kana

Post on Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Post on Sumire Philharmonic Orchestra's Violet Evergarden (unofficial) orchestra concert

Translations of short stories:

Gilbert Bougainvillea and the Fleeting Dream (unofficial translation of "ギルベルト・ブーゲンビリアと儚い夢")

Violet Evergarden short stories: "Logbook entry" and "Diary entry" (unofficial translation)

The Starry Night and the Lonely Two (unofficial translation of 星降りの夜とさみしいふたり)

Diethard Bougainvillea's If (unofficial translation of ディートフリート・ブーゲンビリアIf)

The Tailor and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 仕立て屋と自動手記人形)
Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

Tellsis (Nunkish) translation:

Decoding the Violet Evergarden postcard

Translating the message card from Violet Evergarden Orchestra Concert 2021

Last line of Violet's final letter to Gilbert

My Tellsis language translator in Flutter that runs on Windows, Linux, and Android

My (old) Python script for translating to and from Tellsis language (Nunkish)

Insights on the movie:

Was Ekarte Island based on Folegandros?

Touching scenes in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Violet Evergarden the Movie is a story about guilt

Article about story consistency/inconsistency in Violet Evergarden the Movie

Audio commentary notes:

Production staff

Voice actors

Music staff

Audio commentary notes for TV series

Violet Evergarden TV anime series

All posts related to Violet Evergarden.

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The cars my father drove

2026-01-09T12:11:00.003+09:00

Just a note to self, about the cars that my father drove (I think he owned most of them, though the earlier ones could have been shared with his brothers).

Mitsubishi Lancer

Mercedes Benz (model unknown)

Honda Accord

Mitsubishi Galant

Mitsubishi Sigma

Honda Accord

Mazda 626

Honda Accord

Toyota Corona

Mercedes Benz (model unknown)

Mercedes Benz 200

Given that he died young, it is quite something to have gone through 12 cars in that time...

Also, after watching Initial D and seeing how Bunta always passes a cup of water to Takumi, I also recall something. My mother has motion sickness but she never suffered when my father was driving. I think it might be because my father honed his driving skills making deliveries too. He delivered potted plants using a light truck, and my childhood memories include those of going on deliveries with him as he drove from place to place, trying to make all the deliveries in time without damaging the plants. This could be how he developed skills for driving fast without causing discomfort to those in the same vehicle as him. I myself never realised how fast he drove until when I was older, and sitting in the passenger seat, noticed him going at 100km/h down a busy public road.

Meanwhile, my first car was a Toyota Vios.

First calligraphy piece for 2026

2026-01-03T14:45:00.002+09:00

In Japan, there is the practice of kakizome 書き初め, where you write some calligraphy piece at the start of the new year. This is my piece for 2026.

This is the year of the horse and that is why this piece starts with the character for horse 馬.

First snow of 2026

2026-01-02T21:00:00.008+09:00

I didn't expect it would snow so early in 2026, but it did.

It only snowed for a couple of hours so the snow did not accumulate, but it was still quite a bit of snow while it lasted.

Teck's Treehouse

A separate /home directory

Upgrading from Proxmox VE 8 to 9, Debian 12 to 13, PBS 3 to 4, and LMDE 6 to 7

Japan premiere of Sparks of Tomorrow (二十世紀電氣目録-ユーレカ・エヴリカ-)

Finally, dark mode

May 2026 calligraphy "homework"

New round and two down

April 2026 calligraphy "homework"

A new round... one down

March 2026 calligraphy "homework"

15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011

Violets blooming again

February 2026 calligraphy "homework"

Welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse

Watching The Dangers in My Heart: The Movie (劇場版「僕の心のヤバイやつ」)

Watching It Will Soon Be Time to Say Goodbye (ほどなく、お別れです)

Real "Violet Snow"

Snow day

January 2026 miscellaneous calligraphy pieces

January 2026 calligraphy "homework"

42nd New Year Exhibition of Sankei Sho International Association 第42回産経国際書展 新春展

Flowers and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of 花と自動手記人形)

Laura and the Auto-Memories Doll (unofficial translation of ローラと自動手記人形)

The cars my father drove

First calligraphy piece for 2026

First snow of 2026

42nd New Year Exhibition of Sankei Sho International Association 第42回産経国際書展新春展