Welcome to the only month in the year where it being a leap year actually makes a difference!
It doesn't feel much different from any other day to be perfectly honest.
Also, that's it from leap years for the next one thousand, four hundred and sixty-one days, so I hope nobody missed out on any leap-year shenanigans (not that there are any.)
…Also, yes, I am posting this two days late but pretending it's in February because that's easier for the automatic categorisation by month that this blog uses - why do you ask?
Anyway, remember this picture from October 2016?
Well, keep it in mind, because it's suddenly relevant again, for reasons that will become clear near the end of this post.
Anyway, I'm starting out strong with the day I ate a slice of cucumber - by which I mean the 3rd, when we visited Grandma & Granddad once again.
Because yes, I ate a slice of cucumber, which is the first time I'd willingly eaten something new in many years; it was in the name of trying to be healthier… though I did gag on it. Multiple times, in fact.
Also, I got a nice photo of some cherry (I assume?) blossom:
One week later, on the 1 my "vegetable saga" continued with lettuce, which I was able to eat without gagging (though I will point out I still needed to suppress my gag reflex.)
Progress is progress, right?
I also started a Nuzlocke playthrough (which I explained back in July of last year. The blue text is a link) of Pokémon Shield, a much easier game than Pokémon White, or Pokémon White 2, or (especially) Pokémon Ultra Sun.
It took me just over two weeks to complete it - but I did, which means I finally finished my first Nuzlocke!
The 11th saw me accompany Mum & Dad shopping to pick out a new pair of shoes… because when I say "my old shoes were falling apart", I mean it. Literally.
The back of the left sole and the front of the right sole had both started peeling off.
Anyway, we opted for lace-up shoes, which turned out to be a mistake the next day because, thanks to never learning how to tie my shoes, I spent ten minutes tying a single shoe. And that was with an online guide.
It eventually wound up being such a problem that I was bought elasticated shoelaces, so now I can just put my shoes on and tighten the laces in the space of about ten seconds - it's so much better.
It was Pancake Day (i.e. Shrove Tuesday) on the 13th, but the pancakes weren't quite as numerous as I was hoping, so I had pancakes again the next night.
After several (i.e. nearly four) years of getting up late, I was provoked by only getting up at 3.30 pm on the 15th, so I downloaded an app called "Alarmy", which allows me to set an alarm I can't turn off unless I do something; so I set the "something" to be "scan a particular QR code", which I've printed out and stuck on the wall downstairs, thus ensuring that at 9am each day, I have to get up and walk downstairs.
So far, so good - today marks exactly two weeks of waking up on time thanks to that app!
On the 20th, Hebe was meowing sadly at me, so I let him into my room, where he slept while I took a few pictures, including this one:
Meanwhile, on Animal Crossing: New Horizons, throughout the month (and periodically last month, too) I'd been working to breed blue roses, which are notoriously difficult to breed, with me deciding to use a less-luck-based method that, as a result of being less luck-based, had twelve steps. If you want, you can view it here.
Everything then came to a head two days ago, on the 27th, when I went onto ACNH to be greeted with this wonderful sight:
Finally, my quest for blue roses had resulted in, well, blue roses!
And the 27th's excitement didn't stop there - remember the picture I said to remember, the one about Mega Evolution in Pokémon Sun & Moon?
Well, the 27th of February each year is "Pokémon Day", because the original Pokémon games were released in Japan on that day in 1996, and they release a "Pokémon Presents" video with announcements and such - all of the "main-series" Pokémon games in the past 5 years have been announced in these videos.
Anyway, this year's announcement was Pokémon Legends: Z-A, set in the Kalos region from Pokémon X and Y!
As the image says, it'll be released next year, and it also features the return of the Mega Evolution mechanic introduced in Pokémon X & Y, which I'm especially looking forward to!
Anyway, that's all from me for this month.
I'll… probably (read: almost certainly) see you at the end of March - so bye until then!