#2020? 2021? 2022? idk the pandemic one.

[thedreadvampy]

god why do I only listen to oingo boingo at halloween it's FUN MUSIC that I was just put off early on by being introduced to it in terms of Little Girls

[noxtivagus]

mhmmm starlit waltz.... sometimes i find my mind just wandering back to that. lil thing i wrote years back. from time to time. i really want to rewrite it soon before 2022 ends ><

[rassicas]

d’you think the COVID pandemic impacted development of Splatoon 3, which is why ROTM turned out the way it did? Because I recall Nintendo saying they didn’t start working on it until after the Chaos vs Order Splatfest, and then after that they put out three new Splatfests in 2020 and a 35th Anniversary Mario one in 2021 for Splatoon 2.

yeah im positive covid put a wedge in the development of splatoon 3. i dont know if its entirely to blame for how rotm turned out the way it did, and i don't know the extent of how much it screwed things over for the splatoon team i do have a theory that i think is likely though....

... I think this new years 2020 art was hinting at a splatoon 3 announcement that year, but it got delayed due to covid. considering the first trailer for S3 came in early 2021, it doesn't seem at all surprising that if it weren't for covid, an s3 announcement would've come even earlier. i think splatoon 3 did, and is, having some kind of development hell considering the time from announcement to release... it was announced for a summer 2022 release and ccame in september, which... barely even counts as summer? idk how much of it is due to covid or the splatoon team biting off more than they can chew or some other source of development hell [[spoilers from datamines]] and then currently, side order seems to be experiencing delays. there's splatoon 2 gear that's speculated to be released with the season that side order is coming out, iirc at the start, the gear was set for season 5 (drizzle 2023) but has currently been pushed back to season 7 (fresh 2024) [[end spoilers]]

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the AH for refusing to be friends with someone who flat out hated me?

From ages 22-26 I was friends with R 29-33. R had only worked once in her life which was mcdonalds for 3 months to buy anime merchandise her grandma didn't want to buy her. R's grandma is in her late 80's now just for reference. R's granny had married a rich military dude who was on his 3rd marriage or so then died, so she got all his assets which included like 5 houses, 3 were being rented out which is how she'd get her income. So R never worked and just sat at home getting into internet fights. My friend had invited her into our discord and I'd be civil with her despite knowing how shes been with others. I was working full time for shit pay and going to school full time too. R was very, idk how else to say it, but she always demanded our attention. The other people in the server were 5 from ages from 16-22, we never used how much older she was against her, but she really didn't acknowledge or respect alot of us were in school. Many times we'd had to tell her to step back and set boundaries with us. It did result in people leaving the server. So, in summer of 2019 R decided to go to college. She got alot of financial aid and said her goal was to become a therapist cause she was everyone's "mom". That stuff wasn't even remotely true, she was always a total bitch to everyone. R unfortunately didn't understand that going to school means having to put the work in. She was more interested in spending the financial aid on gacha, anime merch, and other stuff. She lost her financial aid after the spring semester of 2020, and refused to talk to her school about the pandemic stress and other shit. During this time, she tried making me do her assignments and I kept saying no or only helped a little. I had my own assignments, school, and I was stressed. Well, when she lost her financial aid due to academic probation, she blamed me. When the pandemic hit my school did this thing where you'd get partially refunded your semester depending on how you did. I was so thankful for that since I barely scraped by to pay for school. R was so fucking nasty about it. I didn't tell my friends that to gloat, I actually said that before she lost her financial aid. She said I didn't deserve it, cause people like her struggled more. Which is fucking weird since I'm a first gen POC and made a few bucks above minimum wage where I live. I didn't even enjoy my time at school cause of the stress and never having money. So she kept harassing me for getting government aid. I wasn't eligible for financial aid! My parents weren't even eligible for food stamps and we always fucking struggled. But I didn't deserve help, who cares if R is a cis white woman in her 30's that only worked once for a few months, she has it harder. Then R left our server when the pandemic started getting nastier, alot of us struggled but we stayed close in the discord. Then one day I reached out to R in late 2021 to say happy birthday and she said "whose this? New phone." I was hurt she didn't keep my number, but whatever. In 2022 she reached out to me for gossip cause I broke up with someone. Then now in 2023 she reached out cause she wants resources to be a vtuber. I'm sorry, she was shitty to me, I've been struggling, and she reaches out for that? Idk even know how I'd be able to help her with that. I told a friend from our old server and she told me how she had been doing R's assignments for school, but stopped cause she was getting stressed cause she had her capstone class that semester. So wow. R basically didn't do shit for school and gets pissy i get some financial relief. I then had another mutual friend tell me how R had told them she sent me a gift and I didn't send her one, one year. Uh? I tried. I ordered something online for her, and the company sold out, but kept my shit on back order. So R got it like a month late, it was a Christmas gift and I explained it to her, sent her screenshot of when i placed the order and sent her an Amazon gift card as an apology. So she bad mouths me for something out of my control?

I've been getting "hey" messages from R lately, and idk. I'm so done with her.

What are these acronyms?

[strangebiology]

How Funding Affected my Journalism Jobs

The different places I’ve worked as a journalist, and in related fields, have all had different funding. Here are my experiences at different places–and it seems to me that grant-funded stuff is the best. 

Internship at Nat Geo

Grants sponsored both of the other interns, but not me. Nat Geo makes a lot of its money through things like books at TV.

Mine was low-paid, but probably normal for an internship in 2016? LOVED the experience. Freelance at Nat Geo afterward was MUCH better paid. $14/hour part-time. IDK how much the grant-funded interns made. 2016.

Fellowship at PBS Newshour

A grant from the National Science Foundation funded me, but PBS is state-sponsored media. Interestingly, that’s a huge red flag in China and Russia, but I found the US-funded Public Broadcasting Service very fair to its subjects. Good experience, but even worse pay, at $13/hour full-time. 2016-2017

Job at Newsweek 

Their funding is from clicks. This place was crazy bad and paid garbage. Everyone hated it and almost everyone quit, unless they were being fired for making a living wage. Some people even got fired for accurately reporting on the company itself on assignment from their editors–there was no obscuring it, that was cited as their reason for termitation. Newsweek is Hellfire and damnation. I suspect the nonsense demand for 5 stories/day/person and silly demand that we make them go viral stemmed from the following: the fact that the company primarily made its money from clicks and higher-ups didn’t appear to care about the long-term reputation of the company or its reporters, and perhaps an ego-fueled refusal to try to understand what actually got clicks. $39k/year. 2017-2018

Freelance at VOX 

Funded by clicks/ads and grants at the time, but halfway through they started a contribution campaign. The difference I noticed between VOX and Newsweek was that VOX practices were smarter and they actually paid attention to analytics and sane business practices. Also, it's much easier to qualify for and get grants if you're actually doing good journalism, so I don't believe that Newsweek's policy of "lots of garbage" was actually business-savvy in any way.

Vox was a good experience, even though I wasn’t working as a journalist, but doing SEO/social media for journalists. $35/hour, then $50/hour part-time. Then I was laid off due to the pandemic. 2019-2020

Freelance at Alzheimer's Association 

Remote, not really journalism, but I liked it anyway. Nonprofit, so, funded by donations and grants. $65/hour part-time. 2021

Job at Bay Nature

My job was entirely funded by a grant. Odd situation–I got the grant and I could bring it to any legit journalism employer. Bay Nature was supposed to contribute 40% of my salary but flexibility happened and they just paid health insurance and such. They got basically no money at all from clicks, like, pennies a year. Not much from subscriptions. They have fundraisers, and at the time, there were 3 writers/editors and 2 fundraisers on staff. Later they hired another writer whose entire salary was paid by a philanthropist, and then I’m told they got another salary funded by a UC Berkeley journalism grant program. So, like half of their editorial staff was grant-funded.

Great experience, but low pay for the Bay Area. $50k/year, all from Poynter-Koch, 2021-2022.

Freelance at Politifact

A nonprofit and they probably get lots of grants. My particular position was also funded by a grant entirely. Loved it. $250/article fact check. 2022. 

Book

REALLY love it. $50k is from MIT Press, which is a not-for-profit, and it gets some grants and endowments. Then I got $56k from a grant from the Sloan Foundation on top. 

Future? 

I also got $500 (plus gas and hotels) to attend a day of learning with a program called Investing in Wyoming’s Creative Economy, and that means I’m one of 100 people eligible to apply for 10 $25k grants for future projects. The idea is to support creatives to stay in Wyoming and have sustainable businesses here. Maybe do some art that will bring in tourists. 

_____________________

Note that a grant sort of does, and sort of doesn’t, mean free money. It means money to support a project that usually has to have a mission and a public good, like educating the public. You don’t pay these back, and the org giving the grants doesn’t require a percentage of the profits or anything. But, for instance, the $50k grant from Poynter-Koch was more like a gift to Bay Nature, so they could pay me, and I worked for a year to actually have the funds. 

However, I’m not yet convinced that there is any objectively good funding model to ensure the most fair and accurate journalism. In theory, the capitalistic ones would be the best, but the public desire to read inflammatory stories about how their political enemies are evil, or a different generation is full of idiots, adversely affected the accuracy of headlines at Newsweek IMO.

You might think that the worst funding source would be Poynter-Koch, which is a program run by Poynter and funded by the Charles Koch Institute. But neither Poynter nor Koch even asked me to tell them what I was writing, let alone try to stop me from writing it. (Poynter hosted mentor-led auxiliary groups to talk about our careers/lives and such, so the topics of our articles came up sometimes if we chose to share that.) 

Anyway, I’m thinking of writing an article on how funding models affect journalism, for better and worse. There are some high-profile examples of grant funding causing harm. But for now, the above is my experience–pretty much all good, except not enough funding sometimes. 

[nat-the-octo]

man, Splatoon 3 is basically over, huh?

Everyone is doing their Splatoon stories rn, so I guess I’ll do mine I got Splatoon 2 with some Christmas money in New Years of 2020. My only previous knowledge of the series was a vague concept of the game when the first came out and watching old Failboat videos on it like Octo Expansion and photoshopping new weapons. I wasn’t really into video games as an interest (hyper fixation) until the pandemic, where my mom got a switch lite for the family to see the new animal crossing, and me later getting my own console for my birthday later in the year. All of which is to say: I didn’t know what I was getting into with Splatoon.

I sat down minutes after midnight (probably sleep deprived) and I was thrust into this colorful, creative, and diverse world where you’re constantly encouraged to stand out, make a difference, and live by your own rules. It’s difficult to explain why this game where people living how they want get to cover mundane gray cityscapes with color and life was so instantly appealing to me, but it struck a chord that sent me hurtling down a rabbit hole that would without exaggeration, change the course of my life.

I immediately played through the story mode, then played it 8 more times to collect every weapon, got my ass beat by Octo Expansion, cried during Into the Light, 100% Octo Expansion, and was lucky enough to be just in time for the real final splatfest of Splatoon 2. (I lost) This also boosted me to be able to actually experience and understand more video games as a whole, but that’s a different topic. This all led me to February 2021, (yes that all happened in 2 months) where me and my friend skipped online school to watch the direct on a playground in my neighborhood, and saw the reveal of Splatoon 3. From here, everything begins to speed up. I found my way onto Inkipedia, consumed all possible knowledge about this tiny trailer that was available, then consumed all info and lore about the current games, including characters, old splatfests, previous metas, splatband lore, and more. THAT led me to splatoon theories, (shoutout to rassicas), which later led me to splatoon fanon with theories and ships and ocs and suddenly it’s September 2022.

Ironically the section of time with Splatoon 3 might be the part I have the least to say about, mostly because it all feels so recent even today. I watched the trailers, read the twitter posts, thought Shiver was nonbinary, played the testfire, everything. Everything post launch feels so wonderful and great and everything I wanted from the game and more. I actually felt like I was apart of a community as I debated splatfest topics with my friends and complained about my weapons being nerfed. (I still get upset about the tenta missile nerf from like. a month after launch.)

I think this part of the story will hit a lot harder in a few years, when I experience my first actual content drought instead of joining at the end of one, but for now, I can just be satisfied by my memories and experiences with the series so far. This franchise has truly changed who I am today and will be in the future. I’m a completely different gender person now because of playing the game, and now I have my own little theories and ships and ocs that I haven’t put to page and all the things that made me start in the first place, and it feels like I’m truly part of a community for once.

idk how to end this so to whoever read this far, thank you, honestly. I hope we both get to live the lives we want in the future, no matter what life throws at us.

P.S. here’s a pic of my main OC for the first time, might do more stuff with her if i feel like it

[milfygerard]

I've received 188,609 notes

Top original posts

1). 14,307 notes - Mar 7 2024

Q: so you’ll condone cannibalism?

sure why not

2). 4,017 notes - Jul 7 2022

i really feel like tour ended and we just stopped talking about it like. they sang mastas of ravenkroft for multiple shows....

3). 3,442 notes - Aug 21 2020

4). 3,417 notes - Aug 23 2019

5). 3,395 notes - Jun 1 2021

6). 2,761 notes - Feb 26 2020

7). 2,741 notes - Mar 30 2020

Does anyone wanna see the picture i have of gerard way and kevin smith gently touching hands

8). 2,313 notes - Mar 15 2020

9). 2,289 notes - Dec 2 2021

10). 2,024 notes - Apr 26 2020

----

fun fact this is what i used to find the ntlis excerpt earlier bc tumblr search would give me nothing, but I thought itd be neat to look at my most popular posts since tumblr doesnt actually tell u that info. All the most popular posts outside of #1 are from 2022 or earlier (pandemic era, lots of posting lots of reblogging) and one single post (a screenshot of my tweet making a topical gaylor reference AND a toe bearding gag at that. aged oddly!) was made pre-pandemic. I think the mcr homosexuality collage will only continue to move up the ranks as more pride months come and pass, same for the all I want for christmas quote. Will be sad when something eventually knocks of so theres this he/they, a real classic. I turned off notifs for the cannibalism joke immediately so I cant believe its at fucking 14 thousand notes it cant possibly be that funny. Thats all I got folks, im putting 6 and under in a read more bc this was gonna be obnoxiously long as is and now ive written a long winded paragraph and I cant do that to my dash. Have a good one i guess idk

Created by Tumblr Note Counter

[notasimpleslater]

also, to your point about his feed seeming different; i agree that he probably hasn't handed his socials over to a PR person but he's for SURE copying ariana's style of posting; or she's just straight up posting for him. if you look at their posts, they're almost exactly the same in terms of style. not to mention that one picture he posted on him half in costume while facetiming someone... he was facetiming ariana and everyone knows it, he wanted to show it off without actually doing so.

shit, one last thing i promise but i just remembered this- IIRC ethan didn't make an anniversary post for lilly in nov.2021. when the pregnancy announcement happened the next year i thought they were just keeping extra private to enjoy finding out they were pregnant, but then they said they found out about the pregnancy in DECEMBER of 2021... idk something about that hit a litte weird and i feel like somehow that fits into this whole mess. somehow.

OMG, first of all thank you for all those messages anon! It's been months since I've gotten any ozgate anons, and I've been having Thoughts™ now that Wicked is picking up where they left off with filming this month. Second, I'm just gonna focus on these two messages since these are both good points I wanted to talk about.

I definitely noticed that when he started posting caption-less (or very short captioned) photo dumps. He's for sure copying Ari. They also sometimes put little hints of each other in their posts. For example, Ethan had this picture in his Spamalot opening night photo dump:

Then in Ari’s post from Spamalot opening night she posted a pic of him in that same shirt, but she zoomed in on the shirt so you couldn’t see that it was him. Another example would be what you said about that pic of him FaceTiming someone. I also want to note that his social media presence is nowhere how it was a year or so ago.

2. You’re absolutely right, he did not make an anniversary post in November 2021! I don’t remember if I talked about it on here, but it’s something I thought about when all the ozgate mess came out.

At the time I just chalked it up to something Assassins related because I do remember something specifically happening on that day (they were in previews, but I think CSC might have been doing a fundraiser?? I don't remember exactly what it was). But now I find it weird that he made anniversary posts in 2019 (while filming TSBM: live on stage) and in 2020 (during a pandemic), so why not 2021? It's also been mentioned a lot here that in summer'21 E + L did a lot of moving around/traveling, so who knows what could've happened during that time. It is very strange that Ethan made 0 posts about Lilly from summer 2021 until November 2022.

[clevercatchphrase]

2022 Year In Review~

Hey Hi Hello! It’s that time of year again! It’s time to sit down and look back on the year, dig up my list of resolutions and see what I accomplished, and what I didn’t. The first half of 2022 seemed to drag on painfully slowly, but these last six months felt like they flew by. Maybe it’s because I’m anxious and distracted all the time now, idk. Anyway, I don’t have a lot of preamble for this year compared to last, so let’s just jump on into reviewing my goals for the year and go over them one by one!

This year I had 10 goals. They were as follows;

Read 12 New Books on anything (1 book a month)

Finish and rewrite my 2021 NaNoWriMo project

Finish chapters 4 thorugh 8 of/and edit Clemency (2020‘s NaNoWriMo project)

Finish scripting the Waterfall Arc of Ghost Switch (and then maybe the Hotland Arc, but not the whole thing. I just know I can’t get that far yet)

Build a Comic Buffer for Ghost Switch

Reach 208 Pages of Ghost Switch by June 18th

Finish 1 Song Comic

Finish 4 one shots

Find a sulfate-free bodywash and hand soap.

Write that one crack fic.

Just reading over this list again, I know I didn’t even successfully complete half of these. Hell, I think it would be a stretch for me to say I completed 4. Anyway, going into these goals one at a time, let me start with-

1)Read 12 new books

I did this! In fact, I almost read DOUBLE that amount! (I was 1 book shy of 24!) though I will admit I’m fudging one of the books on this list, because I know I’ve read it before, but it had been several years since my last read of it, so I was rereading it again. The books I read this year, in roughly this order where;

Hate That Cat

Foxes of Firstdark

Wind in the Willows

David and the Pheonix

The Power of Habit

The Flames of Hope

The Black Gryphon

The White Gryphon

The Silver Gryphon

The gryphon Generation

The Green Dragon Codex

Guardian of the Gryphons

Gryphon Generation 2: A New Era

Owlsight

Owlflight

Owlknight

Gryphon Generation 3: Colony

Griffin ranger: Crossline Plains

Griffin Ranger 2: Monster Lands

The Rise of the Dragon Star

The Starward Light, and lastly

The Gold Dragon Codex

The Gryphon Chronicles; The Lost Heir

 Now let me review each of the books I read in overly simplified, very short recaps that barely explain how I feel towards them in any sort of coherent manner~

 1)      Hate that Cat

I remember LOVING Love That Dog when I first read it in middle school. It had a bit of a slow start, but then when everything gets connected at the end, and you realize this is a story about a kid processing his grief over his dead pet that spans MONTHS, it suddenly hits you all at once. I remember seeing this sequel in Barnes and Noble for years, but never bothering to pick it up. Then, one day out of curiosity, I searched it on youtube and found a teacher doing a read along to Hate That Cat for her class (it was a pandemic video). I listened along, and it was alright~ Not as touching as Love That Dog, but you do learn that the boy’s Mother is deaf, which I thought was neat (though him wondering what it was like to live in a world of silence felt out of place. Why wouldn’t he just ask his mom? Had the thought never occurred to him before? It was kinda weird).

2)      Foxes of First Dark

I need to confess- I own this book and have read it years ago, but it’s been close to, if not over a decade since I last read it, so I read it again this year. I was surprised by how much I remembered, honestly, but it was a decent read I think you should check out if you like foxes and/or xenofiction.

3)      Wind in the Willows

I have another confession to make. For my entire life I thought the children’s series “Frog and Toad” were a part of The Wind in the Willows. It was not until I listened to this audio book that I realized they were different properties. I kept waiting for frog to show up and he never did. I was so confused and then so embarrassed when I realized my life was a lie. ANYWAY, did you know there is this PHENOMINAL youtube channel/organization called Librivox that read and record audio books for free? There is one catch- every book they do is in the public domain, meaning all their work is pretty much volunteer based. They’ve got an IMPRESSIVE catalogue, though, and if you do some digging, you’ll probably find something you like! I “read” Wind in the Willows this way, and it was a nice way to chew up time on my daily commute to work and back. The voice for this audiobook was so good and soothing, even though I found this book utterly boring and even offensive and spots. Yeah, sorry classic lit fans, I didn’t like this one. I kept waiting for it to get interesting and it never did. The only part I liked was when mole and rat looked for the lost otter child and met pan. That was cool, but everything else annoyed me to no end.

4)      David and the Phoenix

Another book I read through librivox! David and the phoenix is a cute little children’s tale that isn’t too challenging or deep. It’s an okay, middle of the road story for kids. But the audiobook?? Fucking trash. I don’t know what standards the librivox people have if any, but the reader for this book was so monotone and stumbled over his words constantly, making this a chore to listen too. Also, I’m pretty sure this dude had a kid in the room at some points, because they would NOT STOP COUGHING IN THE BACKGROUND. It frustrated and even grossed me out at points. Come on, show a little more professionalism, please!

5)      The Power of Habit

I remember a time back in 2016 or 2017 it seems, when EVERY youtuber on the planet had an audible sponsor, and EVERY book they suggested was the power of habit. I stumbled across an illegal audiobook of this book on youtube as well, with a text-to-speech narrator, and my god.. this book is so bad???? I was kinda into it for the first third, learning about habit loops and how to form them and how to break them, but then the book’s ideals and tone shifts about 33% in, and started focusing on how habits can be used to manipulate and persuade consumers into buying products, or get them hooked on certain music, and…. It’s fucking horrifying?? The book portrays this as something positive, but as someone who is very nervous about spending money it sounded so diabolical. Each chapter the book just got worse and worse, skewing research and data to fit its narrative that the entire universe is controlled by habits. Example; they spend quite a bit of time talking about Michael Phelps, the swimming Olympian, and his daily habits. The book so desperately wants you to assume that the only reason he’s a gold metal champion is because of his habits, and it has nothing to do with his freakish anatomy which gives him a physical advantage. They mention it in one sentence, then never bring it up. It’s like… it’s like they want you to think none of the other Olympic swimmers ever win because they don’t have habits as good as his, instead of their physical limitations of their body. At one point, I thought to myself “jesus, this book is going to say the only reason the allies won WW2 is because we had better military habits, and not the fact that we dropped a fucking nuke on japan”.

And then it happened. Near the very end, this book had the audacity to bring up the civil rights movement and imply that the ONLY reason blacks protested was because of social pressure and habits, and not the fact that we were sick of being treated as subhuman. The book even ADMITS that habits were not the reason the civil rights act passed, but tries to brush this under the rug. I was so fucking angry, I went to the amazon reviews to read the 1 stars, and found a quote that perfectly encapsulates this whole book; “When you have a hammer as your only solution, every problem becomes a nail”. This is exactly what this book is, desperately trying to twist any moral failing of yours into the fault of your bad habits. Once I learned the habit loop strategies, I used it to improve some of my own, like drinking more water, and fixing my sleep schedule, but you don’t need to buy or read this book to be able to do that. If you think you need to improve your own habits, avoid this book and just research “the habit loop” on google. It will save you time, money and anger.

6)      The Flames of Hope

This is the last book in the third arc of the Wings of Fire series. I am not sure yet if it is the last book over all for this series, or if Tui T Sutherland plans to write more. I actually read this book day of release. I had errands to run that april morning, and last on my list was to stop by a target. I did so, found the book, then went to their garden and lawn furniture section, then, for the next 4 hours I proceeded to read the book cover to cover in the store. No one came up to me or stopped me or talked to me in that entire time. It was kind of surreal. I also remember being super tired that day, not having slept well the night before, so I could have just been out of it.

I didn’t like this book. I felt that there were too many characters, and none were given enough screen time. I didn’t like how the main characters were “invisiable” for half the book, but that never really pushed the plot forward. I absolutely HATED the mindscape sections and how little sense it made. I had such a hard time visualizing the space and how the POV characters were able to “see” or move about the area. It dragged on for so long with nothing exciting happening, and the ending felt so rushed. I don’t know if I dislike Flames or Gift more, but these last two books in this series were just so disappointing, it really dragged down the whole third arc for me.

 7, 8, &9) The Black, White, and Silver Gryphon (The mage wars trilogy)

I’m still on my gryphon-kick from last year, trying to read more books featuring them. This series by mercedes lackey was pretty okay~ I think I honestly liked the second book best, then the first, then the third. I liked the gryphon POVs, but was kind of disappointed that a lot of the first and second book to place in stationary locations, like a war camp or a castle. I wish I could have seen the gryphons in action more, exploring the world, if that makes sense. I really didn’t like the third book at all. I was excited to read about two friends going to an out post and surviving for six months, but then it just turned into a road-trip like story where they have to avoid one type of enemy, and it really let me down. It’s weird because you’d think I’d like this book the most, since the characters are traveling through an untamed forest, but when the one with wings is grounded, it gets very boring very quickly.

10, 11, &12) Owlflight, Owlsight, Owlknight

Another series by Mercedes lackey. I accidentally read this series out of order, unbeknownst to me. I read the second book first, then the first, then the third. I didn’t really like any of them. The first book I would describe as a child’s wish fulfillment. Darian spends the first half moping and complaining, and then gets everything he could ever want in the second half. The second book I would describe as “Things Going Well,” because there was literally no conflict that Keesha or Darian can’t immediately wave away until the very end and that gets resolved super quick as well. The third book was the best, but still not as engaging as any of the gryphon books were.  I don’t like any of these characters nor care about any of their problems. The owls in these books, for which the series is named after, aren’t even major characters or play a major role in any of them! False advertising!

13, 14, &15) The gryphon Generation, New Era, and Colony

These books were bad, but not as bad as “Eyrie” which I read last year. (I tried reading the second book, “Ashen weld”, and could not finish. Probably the only time I couldn’t finish a book out of spite because it was so boring). The characters have a bit more zest to them, but the plot and world building are weak and nonsensical. I swear the gryphons are just a substitute for people of color in this novel, and the conflicts are cartoonishly blown out of proportion. Thyra, your main character, is one of the oldest gryphons in existence, at the grand age of 19 years. So human society as a whole has only known about gryphons for less than 2 decades. How on earth does the sport of gryph ball become a world wide phenomenon in under 20 years.  How on earth is thyra, one of the first of her kind, allowed to roam the world free of constant observation or escorting from the scientists who made her? How did she integrate so quickly and easily into human society to be left to her own devices? The very fundamentals of this world do not make sense, which makes the rest of the book difficult to read. I read the two sequels as well, “new era” and “colony”, but it never gets better. There is a fourth book out now, but I doubt I will read it. The message at the end of the third book seemed to say that “eradicating the human race is okay, actually,” and Idk how to feel about that, honestly.

16 & 17) The green dragon codex and the gold dragon codex

After reading so many mediocre/bad gryphon books, I decided to retreat back to something I knew I would like more. 2 years ago I went on a book buying spree and bought a lot of dragon books of off amazon. One series was one I started as a child and never finished, called the dragon codex series, or something. It’s based off of D&D, and their classes and what not. While I enjoyed the first book as a kid, finally reading all the others made me realize that this series is never truly about the dragons, but rather the human characters which I found to be a huge disappointment.  I also noticed a trend where the dragons will always shapeshift into a human, which was a damper for me. I didn’t like the green dragon codex. It wasn’t even about the green dragon, and in the end, the green dragon (which are inherently evil) becomes a metallic dragon (which are inherently good) because someone believed he could be good. Why can’t he be good and green? Why can chromatic dragons ONLY be evil, and if you are good, you MUST be a metallic dragon instead? I would have been over the moon if a green dragon could be raised to be good, but forcing this dichotomy sends the message that “evil can never change, and if you become good, that means there was good in you all along.” How does the saying go… is it not more valiant to triumph over your evil nature and rise from the bottom, than to have always been good in the first place? I can’t think straight right now, but I hope my thought still manages to come across..

The gold dragon codex was a bit better, but still very shallow. I honestly have nothing to say, as there isn’t much there in these books to talk about. None of them are deep or thought provoking, but I can see how kids and enjoy them, and I’m glad I finally read the entire series. I did a bit of research and learned there were supposed to be a couple more books released, but never got made due to contracts and publishers expiring and what not, but the author decided to write her own series with no restraints, so maybe I can find these books and get something new out of them now that they don’t have to work within the limits of the publishers. We’ll see what happens~

 18) Guardian of the Gryphons

This book was bad. All the ideas are surface level at best and never explored in any meaningful way. The way the death of the parents is relayed was hilarious. Don’t read it. Don’t even bother.

19&20) Griffin Ranger: Crossline Plains and Griffin Ranger: Monsterlands

*Gordon Ramsay Voice* “Finally, some good fucking fiction.” These two books were INCREDIBLE. I read the first one online and was immediately hooked, I could barely put it down. It’s been years since a book has done that to me. The descriptions, the imagery, and the world building were top notch. This writer clearly knew what they were doing. As soon as I finished, I went out and bought the first two books. The best way I can describe the first book would be “western noir thriller”, while the second one is a dark suspenseful, borderline horror story. I know there is a third book out already, but much like these two, it seems to be the first half of a duology, and the 2nd (4th?) book isn’t out yet, so I don’t want to read it yet and be left on a cliffhanger. This book is about a parallel earth without humans, where anthropromorphic animals rule, including Lions, Wolves, Dogs, Ringtailed Cats, Parrots, and Griffins. It’s great furry literature and xenofiction. The second book takes place in our world, and it is one of the darkest, most suspenseful things I’ve ever read, and it really forced me to love characters I initially hated in the first book. I hope the author finishes book 4 soon. I don’t want to give anything away. Please go read it if you like griffins or xenofiction, you won’t be disappointed!

21) Rise of the Dragon Star

This book is the first in a new series by author Jess E. Owen, who wrote the summerking chronicles, and partially the reason I got interested in literature about gryphons. It was nice to return to this world of wolves, dragons, gryfons and lions, but I have to be honest, so far it’s not as good as Summerking was. I couldn’t help but feel like I saw more typos and grammar errors than the first series, which is a shame because the editing in the first series was virtually flawless from what I remember. I’ll continue reading whenever the second book comes out, but I’m not dying for it to be released like I am for griffin ranger. Again, an average fantasy romp for kids and mythology fans, but so far nothing deeper than that.

  22) The Starward Light

This book is also by Jess E Owen and is a collection of short stories set in her world. I enjoyed this book! It was a great collection of character studies for some of those with more minor roles, which always helps to flesh out the world~ I can’t say anything much more than that. There is no grand plot, or overarching story, but if you liked the Summerking Chronicles, you’ll enjoy this one as well~

  23) The Gryphon Chronicles; The Lost Heir

OH! I almost forgot this one! I actually read this book waaaay back at the beginning of the year. Probably the first or second on my gryphon kick. It’s alright. Not that deep or challenging. In all honesty I was kind of bored for the first 2/3rds. Perfectly serviceable children’s literature, but not really about gryphons. There IS one in the story, but he doesn’t become important until the very end. It’s more focused on an orphan human boy, and we’ve been there, done that in so many other stories, I was kind of checked out.

 Aaaand that wraps it up for the books I’ve read! That is one resolution down, nine more to talk about! Next on my list was;

2) Finish and rewrite my 2021 Nanowrimo project.

I didn’t exactly do this. The first draft was a jumbled mess, and didn’t make sense and all the scenes and chapters didn’t connect and the whole thing was riddled with plot holes. This year I made a much more detailed outline, and even took this up again as my nanowrimo project for 2022 and rewrote its second draft. It’s much more coherent now, but still I didn’t I finish it. Hopefully for 2023?

3) Finish chapters 4 through 8 of Clemency, edit and post them.

Didn’t do this one at all. Clemency might just end up being a story where I only post one chapter a year, which may offer a unique reading experience if you follow along as it’s being updated, but I can also understand why it would be infuriating or frustrating or annoying or not fun to read that way. I do want to finish Clemency one day, but it’s also not a story I want to rush, you know? So far, I think it’s one of the most introspective stories I’ve written, and I want to do my best to write it right. So, if you are waiting for Clemency to update, sorry it’s taking so long, but thank you for your patience~

4) Build a comic buffer.

I… can’t remember if I did this. At the time of writing, I am preparing to do this, as I am about to host a patreon-only stream to celebrate the end of the year, but I can’t recall a time I had more than three pages ready in reserve. I think if I ever did have a buffer, it never lasted long. I hope to change that next year, and I’m doing my best by trying to get at least 8 pages made in advance~

5) Reach 208 pages by Ghost Switch’s 4th birthday

I did this! Right in the middle of a memory! Proud of myself for maintaining an average of 1 page a week over these last 4 years. Now I gotta get to 312 before Ghost Switch’s 6th birthday in 2024~

6) Finish Scripting the Waterfall Arc of Ghost Switch

I.. didn’t do this. I made significant progress for sure, but… I’ve been putting it off for months, now. And the sad thing is, I’m almost done, too! I just need to script out Frisk and Undyne’s final confrontation, and the Waterfall Arc is done! Will I get that far in the comic in 2023? Part of me says I won’t, that we’ll only reach the middle of Waterfall by the end of 2023, giving me another year to put it off, but I’m gonna have to do this sooner or later, and I would rather get those smaller details ironed out now so I can make corrections early while I still have the flexibility, you know?

7) Finish 1 song comic

I did this! I made Dead Hearts for Undertale’s Seventh birthday this year! I can’t remember if this is the song comic I originally had planned for this year, or if it was just the one I ended up getting the most motivated to do, but I’m glad I’ve made another~ I think this is the third year in a row I’ve made a song comic? Last year’s was wandersong, and the year before that was undertale’s 5th birthday with New Soul. It would be nice to consistently put out a song comic for some video game every year, but I don’t know if I can feasibly manage that..

8)  Finish 4 one shots.

I didn’t do this. I think I only wrote one one-shot year, and I feel bad about that. I have the ideas, I have the prompts, I just don’t have the inspiration or time. Hopefully next year will be different.

9) Find a sulfate-free body wash and handsoap.

Lol, I did this literally the day after I posted my “2021 Year review” post. I remember this day, too. It was early January, I went to the supermarket early in the day, fully prepared to spend hours reading the backs of every shampoo, conditioner, and handsoap bottle to find one suitable for me. I quickly learned that the grocery store organized all the “premium” washes in one section which greatly helped reduce my research time. I found this great brand called “renpure” which fits my price tag, and it’s been life changing. Warning, TMI incoming; I used to have bad dandruff and an itchy scalp. To help alleviate irritation, I would use dandruff shampoo from Head and Shoulders. It would help for a day or two… but the itching would always return. I later learned that my scalp was itching because it was dry, and it was drying out because of my dandruff shampoo had sulfates in it. The shampoo I was using to help relieve my pain was also actively causing it. I noticed an immediate difference after switching, and my scalp hasn’t itched in months! My dandruff is also significantly down, though not gone completely (im not sure if that’s even possible since our bodies are constantly shedding skin all over, but hey, it doesn’t look like it’s snowing when I comb my hair now)

Okay, down to the last resolution;

10) Write that one crack fic.

I didn’t do this. I thought about it a couple of times, but this is so low priority, I never really expected to do it this year. What is the crack fic you may ask? I want that to stay a surprise, but for a hint, it involves a crack ship between 3 cartoon characters, 2 from cartoon network and one from Disney channel. I wonder if you can figure it out just from that. I will be impressed if you do.

 OKAY, NOW ON TO RESOLUTIONS FOR 2023!

I don’t really have a lot for this year. I think I’m becoming more realistic over the years, and more aware of my time and energy, so when I sat down to create a list, I honestly didn’t have that many. Maybe I’ll divide them into 2 groups, a “serious” list, for resolutions I will actively try to do, and a “casual” list for goals I will try if I have the time or energy. Does that make sense? Okay, let’s see what I want to achieve in 2023…

FOR SERIOUS GOALS, I WOULD LIKE TO;

Read 12 new books (1 Book a month)

Finish the Snowdin Arc before Ghost Switch’s 5th Birthday (June 18th)

Rewrite and finish the third draft of my 2021 (and now 2022) Nanowrimo project

Write 4 Oneshots (preferably Grow, Bake, Beach and Home, for BSaPT)

Finish Scripting the Waterfall Arc of Ghost Switch

One secret goal that, if I achieve, will render all other resolutions moot and meaningless

FOR CASUAL GOALS, I WOULD LIKE TO;

Finish writing Clemency, though maybe not edit/post it all

Write that crack fic

Build a comic buffer that will last me 2 months (8 pages)

 So… yeah, not that many goals this year. Hopefully this means I can achieve more of them and have a higher ratio of success to failure, but we’ll just have to see how that goes!

You know… looking back on my past “year in review” posts, it came to my attention that I… didn’t really review the year. Sure, I talked about my goals, but not too much on what I did those years. I’d like to change that, by also talking about some experiences I had, or events I found notable. I want… to remember more, but I can’t do that if I don’t record it, and pretty soon all my thoughts and memories blend together over the years, and I can’t remember what happened when. I’m already trying to recall who I was or things I did at the beginning of 2022 and find it near impossible, which bothers me. What did I DO in 2022? Did… did I do anything outside of work or sleep or draw comic pages? I know I did, but the fact I can’t recall with specificity which troubles me, and I’d like to prevent that going further. So think of this as… a diary of sorts. I will try to keep better notes to myself what I do over the months, probably in drafts or memos in my own note-taking discord so this section for 2023’s year review will be more fleshed out.

Okay, so, this year in February I went to an Ikea for the first time in my life. It was surreal. Now, I’m the kind of person who will drag my friends to the Container Store or Hobby Lobby for fun, and just look around for shits and giggles. Ikea also invoked a similar feeling like that to me. I liked the displays, and how even in America, all the display books are in their native Swedish. I opened up a few and tried to see if I could read it (since I’ve had a perfect duolingo streak for Danish these past 8 years), but sadly I could not. I can read the small bridge words, like “to” “so” “he” “she” “are” and “the”, but nothing much bigger. You’ll be proud to know I am now teaching myself Swedish on duolingo, though I’m only on unit 8 out of 43, which is still the really early stuff. Hm. I might try to teach myself Norwegian and Finnish next. I do like learning Danish and Swedish because the grammar is so similar to English, which makes it quick to pick up. Oh, forgot to mention, I don’t like the ikea displays with fake windows that have lights in them. It really fucked with my sense of orientation in the building, because sometimes I’d think I’d be right near a wall that was an ACTUAL window to the outside, when in reality I’m smack dab in the middle of the display room >:( Also I tried the meatballs. Eh, they were all right. Not crazy about them, though.

I didn’t really play a lot of games this year, which made me sad, seeing as I had bought so many last year and didn’t even start them all. One game I did buy this year, and proved to be a very interesting gaming experience was a game called “The Longing”, and it’s a game all about waiting. I found it pretty charming! I beat it in roughly a month. If you’re interested, I suggest looking up some video reviews before you buy, because it really is a game with a different play style that not all will enjoy. I hope to play more games this year, seeing as there are still so many I haven’t beaten or started (snakebird, typoman, carto, and linelight to name a few I’ve been meaning to get back to.) I think once spring break came around, I just got swamped with work and just kinda forgot about them.

OR, maybe it’s because I downloaded a mobile game on my phone for the first time in my life and got obsessed with that instead. The game is called “dragons world” and it’s pretty cute. It’s a resource management, Number Goes Up, kind of game, though the developers don’t update it any more, and haven’t for years, so it can be super laggy and bug out at times. Still, I like the character models and art MUCH more than Dragon City, which is why I downloaded that one instead. It’s a fun little time sink if nothing else.

Speaking of dragon games, I came to the decision to stop playing Flight Rising. It’s… an odd feeling for me, because I had played daily since I signed up in 2014, but as of late, the gameplay just felt… stale. I remember times in 2016 when I would get my laptop in bed, put podcasts on in the background, and just grind in the coliseum for hours. I don’t regret all that time spent back in those days, but the thought of trying to do that now seems so…. Pointless. I knew for the past several months I wasn’t enjoying the game anymore. I suddenly felt no desire to finish breeding projects when more and more genes came out, because I kinda felt like… “great, this gene is fantastic and would fit SO much better on this fandragon, but with THIS color instead, and now I need to go and recreate them..” Pretty much this whole year I was only concerned about finishing my bestiary, which felt like a sisyphean task because new ones were being added ever fucking week it seemed. Waaay back at the beginning of the year, I was already feeling the burn out, and put all my dragons into hibernation (except one, so I could still do the daily gathering) The only thing I did regularly on FR was brewing, because I would sell stacks of 99 materials around the holidays, but even that felt pointless now that you could convert your mucks and slimes to the other colors. Fun Fact- I used to have Flight Rising bookmarked to my toolbar. It was the second one in the row behind youtube. Every morning, I would turn on my computer, open my browser, and open up my most frequented sites first thing. They included Youtube, Tumblr, Doulingo… and Flight rising. This past November, after the earth holiday had passed, I just... deleted the bookmark from my bar, and hadn’t gone back since. I know I’ve missed the nocturne holiday, but I just don’t care anymore. It feels like breaking an addiction. I don’t want it, I don’t need is, and most surprisingly, I don’t miss it.

During the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year, I got back into the original Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games. I think the hype bleedover from the release of Scarlet and Violet reignited my love for the early pokemon games. I had never 100% them as a teen back in 2006, as I couldn’t figure out what to do past the main storyline tbh, but I’m proud to announce I’m well on my way to doing that now! Currently 100 hours on record with 278 out of 386 pokemon recruited, and 32 out of 43 dungeons unlocked. I haven’t been able to put much time into it since thanksgiving because of the holiday rush at work, but I hope to complete it in early 2023~ It’s been a lot of fun recruiting new mons and oneshoting every enemy with my overpowered, level 80 totodile that can conquer every dungeon on his own.

Let’s see… what else… Oh! I think either riiiiight before or riiiiiight after Ghost Switch’s 4th birthday, the follower count on my fan art deviantart surpassed the number of followers I have on tumblr. After just checking 5 seconds ago, the DA account currently has 2218 watchers over there, while here on tumblr I’ve been fluctuating  around 2,130 due to all the sexy singles in my area that I have to constantly decline. In all honesty, follower counts aren’t something I really pay attention to. Don’t get me wrong, I’m super grateful to everyone who likes my stuff and reblogs it and decided I was worth their time to watch/follow/subscribe to, but I would be doing this if I had no watchers, or 25 thousand watchers. To ruthlessly repurpose something I read here on tumblr years ago about raccoons; “God gave [me] hands and no concept of shame, [and I will create until the day I die]”. Ultimately, I find it a little unnerving that so many of us (because, yes, I am one of them) still use DeviantART, despite its undoubted decline in user friendliness over the years. Hell, I only use it as a mirror/archiving system for my fan art these days, but I won’t lie that a lot of webcomics I read nowadays are exclusively hosted there which humbles me.

I went to an aquarium that was repurposed from a car dealership this year. I got to touch a lemur and some sharks, several sting rays, a very amorous armadillo, a tamandua, a toucan, and an Australian possum. (Some weird lookin’ fish, I know. Over half these animals weren’t even in water!) The child in me who believed that Animal Junction from Zoboomafoo was a real place was finally able to die happy. I also ate dippin dots again for the first time in years, and got to live out my fantasy of being a giant ant eater for 15 minutes, so over all it was an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately this aquarium also constantly played unfitting videogame music throughout the whole building and it was fucking triggering to hear Undertale’s “megalovania” and Kindgom Heart’s “Sanctuary Remix” back to back when I was in the gift shop checkout. You can’t just play video game mating calls in the wild like that. It confuses us geeks and stresses us out. I wanted to meet their music curator so bad. I just want to talk, I swear.

This year for my birthday I had friends come over. We played jackbox and ate ice cream cake, and to end the day we did those melty perler-bead-and-pegboard art projects. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to do it again this year~

Welp… I think that’s all I have to say for now. Between times of novelty, most of the year was just spent living my life, enjoying each day as they came, creating and drawing and writing and dreaming. I hope to do even more of that this year, on top of other things, but we’ll just have to see where the wind takes us~ Thanks for sticking around with me, guys, and I hope you have a happy new year!

[xxxjarchiexxx]

the amount that life has been almost the same even not looking at international borders just in day to day life under biden vs under trump is insane actually. there are some things that genuinely are better under biden but they're like. Teenie parts of bigger issues where the bigger issue has stayed the same or gotten worse.

like, while ICE deportations have dipped like A LOT (like, seriously, so much, way more than expected and , in 2021, the lowest it had been in almost 20 years) the border wall has also extended. or like, while biden signed in a huge act to subsidize green energy, carbon emissions raised 8% from the end of 2020 to the end of 2022. or like how while the unemployment rate is around the pre-covid numbers as of 2022, but also in 2022 inflation peaked and is projected to stay above trump-era numbers for a couple more years while the rate of wage increase has stayed the same. biden introduced the save program to student loan repayments, but also unpaused them and didn't cancel them as promised (allegedly, he tried, but he could just sign an executive order, right?). he introduced stimulus checks and increased unemployment insurance during the pandemic, but also dropped all other policies to help protect the immunocompromised.

that doesnt even touch on stuff that only got worse. police brutality didn't change rates at all and in fact peaked in 2022 for the decade, including officers with MULTIPLE MURDERS UNDER THEIR BELT. trans conversion therapy laws passed nationally and it seems all we got was a tweet. 14 pipelines were built in 2021 alone, including one through a graveyard. hate crimes have increased since 2019, with them breaking 5 figures consistently since 2021.

and all of that is just domestic issues, not looking at how his international policy is using ukranian civilians to fight a proxy war by funding zelensky with little aid to civilians. and sending billions of dollars and bombs to israel to let it continue to serve as a genocidal us middle east military base with a kippah on. and funding the violent egyptian government who have am abysmal human right record. and deporting haitian refugees. and deciding the ethiopian government is no longer committing human rights violations despite their continuing ethnic cleansing.

so people can't say im focusing on the bad, i think his bill to extend power and internet and clean water infrastructure to rural communities was good. i also think introducing a cap on the maximum amount spent on meds under medicare was good. i also read that the percentage of people without health insurance hit a record low in 2022. violent crime levels also are somewhat lower than they were in 2020, though still higher than pre-2020 by a LOT. one goodish international thing was withdrawing from afghanistan (though it was. Poorly done, but it happened!).

i do genuinely mean that the good things that also got worse in the first part of this post are good too, the reduced ice deportations and stimulus checks and the save plan have legit made my life better and safer. but all the bad is there too and is bigger and more material than the good, if we're honest (aside from the ice deportations, honestly, because a lot of undocumented immigrants don't enter illegally so the wall is largely a disgusting a symbol, i think? i could be misinformed there, though).

i just. Idk if all that, even if you don't care about all the international human rights violations, don't make you want to at least threaten to not vote OR AT LEAST UNDERSTAND WHY SOMEONE MIGHT NOT i am not sure what to tell you, genuinely.

THIS ISNT SUPER WELL RESEARCHED, MY SOURCES ARE MAINLY FBI WEBSITE, STATISTICA, AND HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

[wickymicky]

i never thought i’d say this, but... i miss 2020 lol. in terms of kpop, anyway. i feel like kpop was a better year for kpop than 2021 and definitely 2022 so far. man... sigh

[spicyvampire]

thank you @sunsetandthemoon for the tag!

1. your all time favorite bl and why: let’s not fool ourselves we all know it’s Manner of Death, unhinged people in love + a plot that’s compelling + commentary on corrupted politicians/government/law enforcement and abuse of power + issues like safe abortion and sex trafficking, what’s not to love

2. that one bl that scarred you for life: honestly it was History 3: MDC (2019), like wtf even was that ending, I still do not understand it to this day

3. bl that made you feel very single: I just finished Bad Buddy (2021) so I guess that, watching them being sickeningly in love while we are in the 3rd (4th? tbh I lost count) of the pandemic in winter is just sigh, my turn when

4. if you could change one thing from a bl, which one would it be? I’d remove the ex from BLIH : I DO (2021), like I wouldn’t let him be as center focus as he was in the last few ep of that show, I’d give that time to Lei Lei and xiao Yuzhen to be lovely dovely

5. your top five: Manner of Death (2020), Word of Honor (2021), History 3 : Trapped (2019), Long Time No See (2017), Cherry Magic (2020)

+ Bonus : 3 Will Be Free (2019)

6. that trashy bl that you lowkey like: idk really I’d say Craving You (2020)? like it’s not really trashy it just really looks low budget but I think the leads had good chemistry and I’ve certainly watched worse storylines and acting

7. your favorite korean bl (it’s important we know): You Make Me Dance (2021), they got me with all those boiled eggs

8. but also your top 3 for kbls: (not putting the fav and the one that’s in the top 5 but they are included) Where Your Eyes Linger (2020), Color Rush (2020), Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (2021)

9. season 2? which one? Definitely Oxygen (2020) or Nitrogen like it was supposed to be called, only for PhuKao tbh cuz we didn’t get the rest of their story when they promised we will

10. a bunch of dramas will air soon. which ones are you the most excited for? Korean bl is finally giving me a vampire bl so Kissable Lips (2022) airs in a week, 49 Days With a Merman (2022) from taiwanese bl I mean mermaid???? yeah man sign me up for some originality and it starts airing in like a week,Gap (2022) thai gl looking foward to that, and tbh idk if I’m still that excited for Kinnporsche (2022) cuz that shit was supposed to air last year but I’m a sucker for mafia au so we will see

11. tagging : Idk who has done this yet so @laowen @pran-pat @liyazaki

[daydreamrry]

This is just a random observation that probably has been made a lot lmao—but I here the argument/ worry all the time of “why would they go this far/long with the stunt for a movie” but after looking at all of Olivia and Harry’s projects coming up, it makes so much sense. If you look at both of them, 2021 and 2022 are FULL of projects for both of them—more then they’ve had in a while.

Harry goes on hiatus’ for awhile and now 2021/22 are big project dumps for him after the pandemic and being gone for a bit before fine line, and Olivia as well.

Harry—

Dwd

Tour

My Policeman

Eternals

Breaking into the acting world in general (Dwd, MP, Eternals)

Pleasing

Possible HS3

Possible 2022 tour dates

Possible tour for HS3

Olivia—

Dwd

Jewelry brand

Brand ambassador (true botanicals)—which she earns money from endorsing

Biopic ‘Perfect’ she is directing

Babylon

Needing to become relevant in general lmao

Looking at in list form, this is A LOT of shit they need to promote, I myself didn’t realize how much shit they both have coming out soon....up to 15 things..

Which to the majority of us who work a 9 to 5s, doing up to 15 things a year isn’t a lot, but these are celebs lol.

Now compare it to their projects in 2019 (choose 2019 because...2020....#justpandemicthings)

Harry—

Fine Line

Upcoming tour for Fine Line

SNL

Music Videos for Fine Line

(I even threw in SNL and MV in there for a bit more, although SNL doesn’t require that much promotion it was something he promoted a bit, and the music videos would be considered an album promotion, so again, threw him some bones there)

Olivia—

Booksmart —including trying to get Oscar noms

She did some podcast thing?? (Idk, I’m not listening to that shit lol)

Did something for a movie called ‘A Vigilante’

Partnered with ‘Thred up’ for a mini clothing drop

(Threw her a couple bones too lol)

That’s up to 8 projects in 2019, and tbh, I would say only 5 if I wasn’t being generous, because I gave them some random ass things to cut them a little slack.

Now, directing/ being involved with two movies and dropping an album are BIG accomplishments for a year, but compared to this year and next?? It’s nothing lolol....

Just some reassurance for everyone, they are not doing this stunt for no reason or jus for one movie—they have so much stuff to promote.

If they were real, and they were just coincidentally being papped all the time (yeah, and I’m Jeff Bezos Lmaoo) there would be NO reason to constantly promote their shit in each and every article....

THIS EXPLAINS IT ALL PERFECTLY! 🙌🏽

the stunt is NOT just for DWD, there are multiple people and brands that are being promoted and are benefiting from this.

[jungkook97]

life update!

i feel like i haven’t done a long essay about my current life in a very long time (~mid 2019 i feel) and i just wanna pop in and say....YO

so idk how many people are still active on here who used to read my really dark stuff, but it’s been a wild rollercoaster since then. for anyone who followed me on twt, i got fired from one of my jobs back in 2020 during the start of the pandemic and fell in one of the darkest holes i ever been in. mind you, this job meant the world to me at the time, and for a week i laid in bed all day just sobbing to anyone who would lend an ear. 

i had lost a core group of friends on top of realizing i was being sexually harassed at work by a fling gone wrong + being in a horrific car accident like...things weren’t really panning out for two whole years. i was wondering if i had made the right choice to move out here from my abusive home because i kept being thrown into situations where i was in danger or overextended myself over and over again for people who did not care. it was getting to the point where it was a vicious and endless cycle of hurt and pain that actually persisted until a few months ago. 

my depression fell below my time back home in 2016/17 to where i started to spiral to the point where i had serious suicide ideation. that ideation turned into planning, and that was truly when i went to go seek help immediately after it happened a second time in the span of a year. lasted 10 whole days in the hospital and found out i had borderline personality disorder which made 100% so much more sense. i knew i was neurodivergent for a while, but i never could piece what i had for the longest.

anyway, i continued therapy with this new diagnosis. 2021 was my first year of healing and coming into the second half of 2022, i really can’t recognize myself and where i had been for the past couple of years. i truly wonder if i really made it out officially, but i can confidently say that i’m in such a better place than i ever had been. 

for the longest, i struggled with identity, depression, anxiety, toxic relationships, overextending myself for others, people pleasing, you name it. i had so many realizations and wakeup calls ever since my late teens and into my early 20s. i remember sobbing uncontrollably on my 25th birthday on a therapist’s couch just suffering from complex ptsd, the days i spent crying in my backstock room because of my situation at my job at the time, the nights i felt wickedly lonely in a room filled with people who didn’t care, etc. i lost an awful amount of friends and loved ones and yet, i still gained so many and still feel so loved right now.

my family and i have been healing. for the first time, my dad told me he was proud of me and my achievements and my mom and i hashed out so much in our talks in the recent months. my brother and i aren’t doing so hot, but i still got a lifetime with him to figure it out hopefully. 

right now, i live in my own place on my own without much worry about making ends meet or dealing with anybody who i couldn’t vibe with entirely. my friendship circles are rock solid and i’ve been looking at romance in a much more nuanced and balanced way. i realized my views on love changed a lot when my crushes both irl and celebrity are genuinely fucking great people and it’s only a matter of time when i am ready to date someone who matches my life path and grow with me. 

i’ve been well aware of my mental health issues, going to therapy, eating better, taking my days and time off and refocusing on what really matters to me. i realize i create and communicate things well and yeah doubts still form, but i feel more and more confident by the day that fuck, i am a talented, intelligent, beautiful fucking person who deserves the universe and all the universes. 

i’m deeply empathetic and no longer at a fault anymore, i’ve became more selfish, and my passions are lining up perfectly. i work at a job that challenges me with management and coworkers who genuinely care, i graduated with a degree in what i was deeply passionate about, and i participate in communities that really fulfill my needs. i have boundaries now that come up fast and protect me from so much potential harm. i stand up for myself more than ever before, louder and more convincing. 

there are so many things i need to work on ofc. i do need to be more bold and be more uncomfortable to be even more spectacular. i still need so much help with the work/life balance thing and not give in to #capitalism and work hustle culture. the self doubts of an ambitious and overachieving human being still linger on, which you know, is typical when ur filling in big shoes all your life lol

i want to create more coming into the second half of 2022 and really until the next decade. i’m seeing more people just having their life together whether it’s finding the love of their life, being able to travel and have such an amazing lifestyle, even more than i am and fuck, i wanna be there! i know i’m getting there. 

i truly made the best choices for me until this point in time. when i put myself first in those certain awful core memories of mine, my life changed for the better: 

got fired at a job? got a much better job. 

friends and family who didn’t care? cut them off and never looked back. 

lost interest in something from time and trauma? healed and got back into it even DEEPER.

wanted a better life? kept fighting for it. 

i just know things are looking up and better. the worst i ever felt was having covid which was very recently and work burnout, but in terms of the trauma and the crippling depression? i think most of that is behind me right now, in the rearview mirror looking rather sad bc they’re being left behind for good.

all i hope is that it stays there. 

[madmadmilk]

ugh ugh ugh ugh i need to vent,, literally please feel free to scroll by

✨ lmao but if ur nosy or wanna give me advice, here are the main topics: covid, traveling, family, guilt, hypocrisy and how to make a damn decision and stand by it... ✨

lol okay here is the scenario (i.e. my POV): it's been a tough year and whatever through the pandemic. my mood, personality, productivity is unpredictable and i've felt isolated– but "safe?" i've tried my best to wear a mask, get vaccinated, spread awareness of my platforms– just been vigilent. BUT–– despite all that i got covid (prior to my first vaccine) cos a family member took a rapid test, came to my room to tell me that they tested negative... when it was actually to early to tell lol. i got covid just sitting in my room, working from home. lol i was fine, they were fine but that left a deep impression on me....

>>> anyway, i live in virginia. and now my younger cousin, who is like a sister to me, is having a baby shower in florida around thanksgiving. i... want to go, but i'm deeply terrified of 1.) flying, 2.) flying alone, 3.) flying during covid, 4.) covid, 5.) getting covid and bringing to to them, 6.) getting covid and bringing it back home, 6.) florida, and 7.) being around extroverts with no escape out.

i know, i know i know i'm an overthinker and anxious for no reason but like.... i wish wish wish it was a simple decision for me to say "yes, i'll come" or "no, i can't." but it's not, and i'm literally having stress dreams.

i feel like i've been a huge flake through 2020-2021, but there was a pandemic!! i can't even commit to things happening in 2022. i get so paralyzed sometimes, but also i wonder if i'm just being lazy cos i don't want to give any energy to think about it. and sometimes i wonder if i'm just a hypocrite cos i HAVE done things– just not as far as going to florida.

it's not an issue for me to go out and wear a mask; i've eaten at restaurants or watched movies. but i've still avoided MASS gatherings, a lot of inside events, and just people in general. i hate the societal prssure of "well, you're already vaccinated, you don't have to wear one". but??? why not wear one??? .... and then going to visit family who says that? i can't deal with it

((also i think only half of them are vaccinated there, despite being healthcare workers. i really really don't want to even be around that conversation, however petty that makes me seem. my tolerance for it is so low.))

AUGHHHHHH!!! i just wish this wasn't a big deal to me, or a big deal to my family if i say no– but i care a lot, and i'm horrified that they'd think poorly of me. idk.

most ppl i've asked has told me, "just don't go." and i have made peace with that– but my mom (who is a nurse lmao) is calling me a scaredy cat. like??? ma'am....

ugh it bothers me so much to the point that i ~hate~ myself for struggling. i feel like i'm whining and it embarrassing.

i'm telling myself that this is baby shower, a well wish event, and that i can visit them another time.

i don't know. i feel so shitty over all this. i feel like i'm overreacting and being a baby but– i just dont' want to ever roll the die at a CHANCE of trouble. and i just fucking hope and plead that this isn't me just shying away into my shell.

lol i hate myself, i hate how much echoing goes on in my head, and i hate that these years have divided us in more ways than one.

i'm not going to go, i'm going to draft a text right now and then facetime them.

...

..

....

anyway lol... advice? thoughts?

sorry i only post sad shit aeilfalfaw

[jimimn]

It really feels like it was yesterday when I woke up and my timeline was full of jikook from 2020 and today I woke up to jikook in 2021 but a whole year has passed. It's genuinely so scary how fast this last year has passed. To be honest ever since the pandemic hit around march 2020 time was so weird for me... It really felt like time was so much faster than before and looking back it feels like I wasn't even able to enjoy many things that I still could have enjoyed even in quarantine. And there are some news about the Earth spinning faster too? I don't know if anyone else feels the same way but it's so terrifying how quickly time passes. Next thing I know, it's going to be August of 2023 and I'm waking up to jikook in 2022 😞

Yeah you're so right I felt the same way today too 😭 I saw the picture of cherry jimin in that car wash outfit and i was like ... didn't this happen just yesterday? I really feel like I blinked a whole year passed. And yes I agree. I sometimes still feel like I'm stuck in 2019 and the last two years just feel like a blur. Yeah I heard about the earth completing one spin a milliseconds faster i think and at first I thought it wasn't a big deal but it somehow is because .. science dhfjjfjfjd i do not remember what I read in detail but I remember reading that it wasn't good. But anyway yeah it's been 8 months of 2022 already literally no idea where the time went. It must also be because I'm kinda stuck in one place and I'm not moving forward but time is moving in its own pace so maybe it feels faster because I'm stuck? idk. Yeah it's terrifying :////