Heated Rivalry is such a good example of why I think romance is speculative fiction <3
What do haters say about romance? It’s unrealistic, it’s contrived. What is the standard response from fans? “It’s fantasy.” Undervalued form of thought experiment.
What is the other big complaint that haters have about romance? “You know what’s going to happen.” Romance stipulates a happy ending, so the speculative “what if” question is “what if this unlikely pair got a happily ever after?”. A lot of the time, that requires warping the world somewhat!
When people complain that romance is unrealistic or predictable, they are missing the point. Those deviations from our world are the experimental results of asking “what if?”. Those are the speculations.
What would Stanley Cup games look like if gay hockey players always got happily-ever-after endings? Different!
Anyway, I know there are lots of genres that mix romance and traditional speculative fiction genres, but I like to think about the speculative power of the romance elements themselves.
It’s good to do thought experiments about nice things happening to people, having the hottest possible time, and everything working out.
Remember beans? They’re still delicious. I’m kicking off a new set of zines in the same old format: 3 recipes, 2 dreams, and 2 postcards. If you know me in real life, let me know if you want a paper copy. If you are anyone at all, print a copy for free:
I have yet to find anyone who keeps bird notes beyond a list on ebird, so I setup my notebook my own way… Little bit log book, little bit nature journal, little bit grimoire.
Sharing because I love looking at other people’s notebooks so maybe you do too.
Three sections: a big list, notes by species, and dated session notes… I am contemplating adding a section for omens 🔮
People have different rules for life lists… I have never been a serious birder but I have been a casual birder my whole life. Lot of girl guide badges and relatives who always bring binoculars. So I started my list from the beginning, from memory.
I thought about including birds I saw in zoos or rescue programs, but when I reflected on animals I have seen both caged and free I decided not too. It’s really different seeing flamingos on the loose.
Most of my notebooks are various grimoires so I am in the habit of dedicating them. Seemed apropos to dedicate each section of this one to a bird.
To make bird notes easy to look up I numbered them in the same order as the life list, but I feel no pressure to fill them all in. I don’t usually reserve sections in notebooks but this seemed worth it. Most commercial/pre-printed bird journals have a reserved section for each species.
Same as the bird list, I added old memories here.
I like including notes by bird because it gives an easy way to figure out where to find them. I organize my urban foraging notebook this way too, by plant, so I can easily figure out options for gathering public fennel or plums or whatever.
Video from the day of that Northern Saw-whet bird note in 2017. Little owl sleeping in the city, directly outside my third floor bedroom window. Seems like sleeping in a windy tree might feel similar to sleeping on a boat.
I love this photo because you can see a chickadee perched above the owl, screaming, which is how I notice owls 90% of the time.
Dated notes section is the one part i did not add any retroactive info to. Just free pages to add notes from outings and classes if i want to. My goal is to include sketches even if they aren’t great.
Other things I might eventually add to the bird journal: a checklist organized by bird family, space for goals like learning more local bird calls, and, for real, notes on bird omens because they are so dramatic sometimes.
Lol I just want to add that this is a photo of white paper that I took outdoors with southern exposure literally at noon. PNW winter gloom is no joke.
![Photo of a handwritten notebook page.
Dated Notes - dedicated to Snow Owls and migration.
1 January 2026- Panama Flats (suburban wetland) Victoria BC with [redacted]
There is a list of birds, a simple sketch of a turkey vulture wing, and a note that other birders explained turkey vultures have translucent wing feathers, unlike eagles or ravens](https://pearlofcivilization.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/dated-notes-576x1024.jpg)