Halfway:

The paperback copy of '100 Waifus' arrived in the mail today, so I'm starting to focus on the book a little more seriously.  So far I've reached Chapter 28, which is about halfway through the book, without encountering anything in need of editing.  (Okay, to be nitpicky, I did delete an accidental extra space after a period that was ungrammatical).  I am highly confident that this time I'll reach the end without having to edit anything, at which point I can officially declare the story over.

I'm very glad I got my edits in to Chapters 1 & 2 before the paperback arrived, or I'd have had to do this all over again.  45 times should be enough.  6 years of editing should be enough.  Please God don't make me edit anymore!

I'm really enjoying the story.  It's as sexy as ever, despite this being the 45th freaking time.  The detailed and down to Earth description of how society is set up, how school is set up, how work is set up, etc., is really enthralling.  It shows how much better life could be than modernity.  The book has a great sense of humor, a lot of it self-deprecating, that constantly brings a smile to my face.  The waifus are all unique and all shine, one after the next, no matter how few pages they're given to work with.  But they're all given something to work with.  Nobody is left out.  The short but fiery speeches justifying incest, pedophilia and polygamy are mic-drop persuasive.  I don't see how anyone could disagree with them once they've read them.  And because no other book ever written is making these arguments, '100 Waifus' manages to add something new to the collective wisdom of mankind by doing so.

The boredown, 'One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' style, where I recount absolutely everything that happened in the entire day during Chapters 21-22, provides a unique and compelling insight into how densely impactful every moment of Christopher's life is.  It's a perfect contrast with the general style of the book which timeskips massively through the years while only casually mentioning short moments worthy of note.

Every chapter, every page of '100 Waifus' is vital and necessary to the overall flow of the story, but I can't hide my excitement as I approach closer and closer to Cute's debut, and the story turns towards a more abstract and philosophical bent.  Of course, mixed in with all that philosophy are endless lists of names, but it's a small price to pay for the chance to date Cute-sama.

I'm already looking forward to the final two chapters where Cute's children take the spotlight. . . it feels like every chapter the story gets better to the very end.

Meanwhile, the outside world is still on the move.  The Happiness 2 visual novel, long stuck in translation limbo, is slated for release on the 26th.  Russia has liberated all of Ukrainsk. (sadly not Ukraine, but Ukrainsk will do for now).  Index GT volume 11 is out and partially translated.  Index translators are super-fast so I'll likely be able to read it after finishing '100 Waifus.'

Israel seems to be expanding their war into Lebanon.  Of course Israel has the right to defend itself, and Lebanon is shooting missiles into Israel.  But you could also argue that Hezbollah has the right to defend Gaza, like any hero who tries to intervene in the case of a battered woman, so they have every right to rain hell down on Israel.  At the same time you could argue Israel is defending itself after the October 7th raid by Hamas, and on and on it goes.  Eventually you start arguing about who started it in 1948, and then suddenly we're discussing the Holocaust, the Balfour declaration in World War I, and the pogroms of the 1800's.

So long as people keep insisting on reprisals, on an infinite chain of 'defects' with no one ever burying the hatchet, this war will go on and on, forever.  This is stupid and pointless.  Israel will never achieve its dream of security by invading all its neighbors.  Israel's neighbors will never achieve their dream of security by eliminating Israel.  The only solution is for everyone to come to a mutually satisfactory solution through negotiation.  No more terror attacks, no more reprisals for terror attacks, no more dredging up ancient history, everyone just stopping and getting along.  If the parties involved are too immature for this obvious solution, it needs to be imposed upon them by the outside world.  The whole world has grown sick and tired of this bullshit that has lasted for almost a century now.  Some sort of United Nations government mandate should be put in place where we, and by this I mean the entire United Nations, not just the West, govern the entire region ourselves and make sure nobody is hurting anybody.  To sweeten the pot, the United Nations should provide so much money to the region that not a single person is living below the poverty line anywhere in the region.  That's how you cut the Gordian knot.  That's how you switch from 'defect, defect,' to 'cooperate, cooperate.'

That's how everyone stops pissing and moaning about their past and starts looking forward to the future instead.  By being so rich and happy and safe that the past no longer matters to anybody.

I'm reading an incredibly loving book right now so I'm in a benevolent mood.  I want everybody to be happy and a world at peace.  Feel free, U.N., to take up my brilliant offer and run with it at the next Security Council meeting.  Why can't we all relax and watch anime?