panicking penguins

17 Jan, 2026

The streets were frozen over again, this time with the thinnest layer of ice i've experienced for a long time, which in the early hours wasn't even visible in the amount of time my brain reserved for evaluation of the floor. I wasn't alone, and like a group of penguins, the people who started working while the rest of the city »pressed the snooze button«, waddled along like a group of silently panicking penguins.
The Wife told me, that Kirby was, again, excited to be walking on such slippery sidewalks, challenging his balance whenever he could; like the person who never fell on his coccyx before that he is.

Before leaving work, i was told by my replacement, that the second person for that shift was in hospital care. Yesterday he mentioned a pain in his back—that got stronger over the last couple of days—, turns out, the pain was caused by kidney stones. He should take it as easy as possible for at least a week; and knowing our schedule, i phoned the Wife to ask if it's ok if i fill in tomorrow. I'll take a day off next week, on which i take full care of Kirby.
It's frightening how bad the overall health of the department members is at the moment.

On the way home, the hosts of the podcast i was listening to—Zeman und Setz—, talked about Kowloon Walled City¹ for a moment, just when the tram passed a corner where i lived until i moved out; one of vienna's Gemeindebauten[^gemiendebau]—municipal building—, which are like a compressed version of Kowloon Walled City. The basic needs could be met without having to leave the complex.

Ultraman Omega's final episode was released². The show ends fast, and puts a spin on one of the Ultra tropes. Now i'm looking forward to the New Generations clip show starting next weekend.
Der Zahn was a surprisingly fast read, yet good read. Its story has been told a few times, it's kind of Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person for kids, without any great gesture. And that in particular made it a great read. The only thing that gets resolved when we leave the characters, is their willingness to try and manifest the change they'd like, both—and i struggle to think of another phrase for it at the moment—good and bad.

I'll leave you with something, where i wasn't sure if my brain filled in the wrong words or not.