#Anyway yeah so I'm still trying to make it happen just cheaper

[taldigi]

I uh went back to that dadske post and was going add a few more tags for flavor or context but I wrote toooo much so I'll just post as a text post instead. Yes, this is my hyperfixation and yes!! I do want to make my blorbo sad and miserable as all hell but I also need him to be loved relentlessly and made whole by his friends.

anyway Yuuko got her hair from her mother- and Yosk lets his hair return back to black because the wife hated him dying it. you can only handle so many years of being addressed as a disappointment before latching onto the fist person to express otherwise. (3 for 3! Get Saki'd, idiot!) then working too hard to do ANYTHING please that person (even though they might not really be the best person and are using you)

Go on boy, ditch your weird friends and your hobbies and things that make you happy and settle for the stable but soulless option of being a manager at a job you hate! (I am a firm believer in a "Manager of Junes Yosuke NOT good enrichment" after all.) Cause all thats embarrassing. dont you want me to be proud of you? The only person who's ever loooved you for you? (which is fundamentally untrue but when has depression or manipulation ever been rational?)

n/e/way one nasty divorce later and he's moving back to inaba for the cheaper rent for a place a that can actually fit him and a kid- and to be closer to his parents- hoping that maybe they would able to help out with the kid. Besides, he has an assured position at the Inaba junes. (the prodigal prince returns... return of the king... of junes)

BUT Surprise his friends are still there and Yu is too!! and yeah they're mad cause he basically evaporated but guess what? Yoosk isn't Yoosk anymore cause he's been drained of all his Yosuke colors.

"I spent years in a bad relationship and all I got was this lousy t-shirt... and a bad haircut and the total eclipse of my personality by the creature who steals my face when I perform customer service!”

I need Chie to try and fall into her usual banter and be met with... that and for her to grab Yu by the shoulders and shake him “Hes BROKEN FIXITFIXITFIXIT" and Yu having no direct answer because how can he help someone who's totally closed off?

Well, he can start through small things and reminders and food and Yuuko, which is proof that he's still there somewhere? After all, she's named after him.

I also need.... not JUST souyo but also the whole IT. Teddie and his niece bonding, Yosuke crying in some kind of relief and/or happiness when Kanji helps him dye his hair back again, Naoto helping him keep custody (so hard for a guy!!!) and Chie finally getting her usual banter back (thank god!) only for Yuuko to step up and kick Chie and forcing Yoosk to admit that what he and Chie have isn't antagonism (via explaining it to her)

Rise: *gentle gasp when she sees Yuuko* Tiny Yosuke. Yukiko, slamming her hand on the table and wheezing loudly: YOU'RE RIGHT.. SHE IS A TINY YOSUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then they gift her strawberry hairpins which she loves and it embarrasses him because oh god thats right-

Yu having to confront Yuuko's energy and be like "aw shit Nanako was easy in comparison" and Yosuke looking him dead in the eyes "I'm giving everything in order for her not to turn out like Nanako" which sounds bad at first (cause it's foot in mouth disease Yosuke still) but...

"What happened to 'partner', Yosuke?" "I don't think I deserve that, after disappearing and everything, huh?" & then Yu being too damn happy and giddy when it finally slips out.

anyway, I apologize for nothing. ur the one who read thru the Indulgent asf au/story concept. throws self out window and books it down the street.

[luigiblood]

Complaints about Switch 2 & People

Oh boy. I have a lot to say regarding the Switch 2, how Nintendo is handling it, and how people are handling it.

When it comes to the Switch 2 system as I see it, I am actually fairly content of what it is. You can criticize certain aspects like the HOME Menu, the games actually speak deeply to me in general, it would definitely be a system that I would very happy with as far as I'm concerned.

I will speak mostly as someone from France, so expect a lot of prices in euros here, rather than dollars.

This post has the potential to be dated over time. This might have been written too much in haste, and it's entirely possible that I would just change my mind on some of what I said.

Switch 2 Pricing

Now the elephant in the room: Yes, the pricing fucking sucks, especially in Europe. I absolutely will never pay the games at the suggested retail price. I can see some people being like "yeah you're just a Nintendo fanboy you'll pay full price anyway," even though on Switch throughout its entire life I never really paid actually much of anything at full price. A first party Switch game is usually 60 euros here, but I pay them at 45, day one, brand new, just from the store. It's not so bad for the experience that I get out of them.

The system itself is also very very expensive but I'll be honest, considering what the system is capable of, my initial prediction of 400 euros definitely felt too low. However I did not really expect the price of 470 euros. Too close to 500 for comfort for a single system like that. It sucks. But at least I pay for a system mostly once, I ain't those collectors who buys systems and collector's edition by the bulk. I can reasonably afford it, I just need one, and even then, to be fair, stores would lower it, I saw the price of 440 euros, which I think is at least more reasonable. It's still 500 for the Mario Kart World bundle, but it's not so bad, it's still paying a lot less than the game on its own regardless of physical or digital.

When it comes to Switch 2 games, Mario Kart World's price is 90 euros physical, and 80 euros digital. Donkey Kong Bananza is 10 euros less for physical and digital. My personal limit is 70 euros for a single physical game, because I'm still willing to pay at least the current full price for a game, but anything above that, I will absolutely aggressively pursue ways to get those cheaper. When it comes to France, where I live, physical Mario Kart World is 70 euros in stores, and Donkey Kong Bananza is 60 euros. It's still a bunch, to be honest, but I'll still try to get some of them further down if I can, but it's more reasonable than these insane "intended" prices from Nintendo. I sure still ain't paying full games digital yet.

But let's be clear here: You shouldn't support these high prices. It sends a message to the already pretty greedy game industry, who will absolutely take notes.

Also, to anyone who dares using the argument that games used to be way more expensive back then as an excuse: Fuck you. Straight up. This isn't an argument, this is an information. Yeah sure it was like that back then, but that isn't a reason to be this submissive and just accept this bullshit. Not at a time when the game industry is feeling a huge crisis when everyone gets fired, now we have to deal with that industry filling their pockets even further with even more of our money to make up for it? Fuck no. This isn't just about Nintendo here.

Game Key Cards

Just to be informative: Game Key Cards are Physical Game Cards that requires you to download the full game to play them.

This part was blown out of proportion. Personally I don't blame Nintendo on this, because third parties would have figured out how to do it even if it wasn't a properly defined thing. At least this is straight up clear on the front of the box, with a clear definition of "required download". This is just something that happened for a while on Switch 1, even other systems, and it's just basically a type of game cards to know about.

However people seriously misinterpreted this to affect every Switch 2 game, and I'll be honest with you, people are just straight up stupid. Imagine saying in the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct that there are new Switch 2 Cards, in red, that benefits faster read speeds. They straight up say that, so then to say now that they don't have game data, yeah nah that's just a straight up misinterpretation and I don't think it was hard to interpret it right. If I had that page in front of me I know I would just think that it is not affecting every game.

Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza DO NOT have this Game Key Card banner on the box art, while some others like Street Fighter 6 and Bravely Default do; this is clearly just for third parties who decided to cheapen out like crazy and fuck us all.

Nintendo Switch 2 Edition Game Cards

This is a recent development, where apparently a Nintendo UK Customer Support person said that NS2 Edition physical releases includes the upgrade pack as a code instead of being in the cartridge.

I'll be honest, this is strange and confusing to me. Game Key Cards bothered to mention what makes them different straight on the front of the box, but NS2 Edition box arts absolutely don't, they just say they include the game and the upgrade pack, but there's zero evidence that the upgrade pack would be a code, regardless of english or french.

I would straight up say IF this is true, then Nintendo is lying by omission, and I would be really mad about it. But the only source is a person who took a screenshot of an email, from a customer support person, from which I don't necessarily 100% trust on its own, even if it's an official source, but I still haven't found out what is the real source of this information, as in, who took the screenshot.

I would say to tread wisely before taking conclusions, because, well…

Misinformation is everywhere

People are just bad at reading. Frankly you should maybe do yourself a favor and stop trying to understand every aspect for the time being.

Nintendo is far from saying everything yet, I'm definitely frustrated at the lack of certain information especially for those who preorders. Though honestly, you should not preorder. Seriously you shouldn't do that so early. The preorders I do are like, at most a week before release? And I can just buy games from the store myself the day of release if I feel like it.

But people are so speeding up over any information that they just forget how to read. I honestly want to call names to anyone who does spread bullshit like that. I know it's easy to hate Nintendo, but you don't need to come up with bullshit to do it. If you wanna hate Nintendo, at least know what you're hating at before I make fun of you. It's not hard.

Tariffs

The fact that tariffs in the US finally got some "gamers" actually aware that politics can affect them is simply ridiculous. Cool that it happened for some, but it pains me to say this but it's so late. I ain't forgetting the bullshit. You should have been more involved before that. Politics isn't just stupid people you don't like talking bullshit, they decide shit for you and you should speak up and THINK.

Fuck Trump, and Fuck Nazis.

Switch 2 isn't innovative?

Personally I remember when people complained about the motion controls of the Wii. When they complained about gimmicks in general. Now we're getting a console that doesn't seem straight up outdated hardware wise, and accumulates the most amounts of gimmick I've ever seen from Nintendo.

But now I see some people sad that Nintendo isn't innovating. But what else do you want them to innovate on?

Instead I get the answer of "surprise." That answer is too easy to me. I'll bet you that whatever hardware surprise Nintendo comes up with you wouldn't be happy with it right now. I personally see gaming as basically a solved thing in terms of how we play. I still seriously think we peaked a while ago.

People respond with touch screen, motion controls, but frankly, those were stuff that we dreamed about from a technological standpoint. Gaming has always been tied to technology, and Nintendo was simply the one who said "let's bring some of them" instead of competing for power. The only thing I can see is like, more accessibility features and tech for more people to play.

I also saw mentions of how the Switch 2 is essentially a Switch Pro. It's the same thing again, even with games. I can tell you the exact same shit with Sony and Microsoft, just saying. I sure wasn't excited by the PS5, I personally feel like a lot of games could have worked with a bit less fidelity on PS4 and I wouldn't have batted an eye. I don't believe the graphical upgrades on PS5 are this impressive. I got impressed by the Switch 2 personally because it's almost like going from PS3 to PS4, since Nintendo was essentially a gen behind for a while. I think the games are actually way more worth the gen upgrade in terms of framerate.

In fact I dare say I could probably play on PS5 and Switch 2 for 20 years. That's right, I think we don't need hardware upgrades anymore. I think we're already good. PC is just shit, and everything is super expensive for barely any upgrade from hardware from 5 years ago. 4K is straight up overrated if you don't have a big enough screen, like I can't tell the difference unless it's real big. I personally prioritize framerate, and now I get told about 120 FPS which is something I don't have any idea of what that seriously feels like as someone who never had the opportunity of this kind of screen in the past.

I don't believe any hardware upgrades will feel impressive graphically anymore. Everything is about graphics, and at Nintendo I see a game with insane terrain destruction freedom that isn't voxel that I totally believe would not even run that well on Switch 1. That's the real shit I get excited about.

Nintendo Switch App

Why the hate on the Nintendo Switch App actually? It's just extra stuff.

Voice Chat was the only thing that seriously sucked in it and was a stupid feature of Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 1. It's like you guys forgot why you hated that app to begin with. I actually like what Zelda Notes is doing on it.

I think Splatoon 2 & 3, and Animal Crossing were handled pretty well on it too. Smash Bros. Ultimate however, I think it's very badly done, and it should have existed on web. The fact that it's not even a NSO requirement anymore at least for the app itself is cool, and at least adding friends with QR codes in the future is pretty cool and handy to avoid using friend codes.

[aprillikesthings]

can I finish this before I gotta get ready and leave for the Maundy Thursday service let's find out lol

(Edit: Nope.)

THREE MORE EPISODES LEFT

*cries*

s5 ep11 Failsafe

someone hold me

I have to actively suppress the urge to read the synopses of the episodes at this point

oh also lol this is just funny to me, I saw a post Elsewhere Online where someone watched all of spop the first time and they HATED the dumb names everyone has, and I think they mentioned Castaspella specifically.

And like FIFTY PEOPLE responded with "dude they had to use the original names from the 1980's series" and I was the only one there old enough to have watched the original series and I had to point out: the original series was made to sell toys. The vast majority of cartoons in 1985 were only made to sell toys. They gave everyone those dumbass names because it was easy for kids to remember and beg for the toys."

That's also why all the female characters in the original series have the exact same body type. Yeah the body shape itself was due to 1980's-era sexism, but also? It was so much cheaper to animate the show AND make the toys that way!

But also, it's hella ironic to me that the 2018 show has so little official merch!

And now, back to crying over cartoon lesbians:

good question

ugh I hate her

Shadow Weaver: "While you were traipsing around in space,"

OH MY GOD they were saving a few people's LIVES and it was kind of IMPORTANT but WHATEVER

"--some of us have been working to stop the Heart of Etheria from falling into Prime's hands. And we discovered the same thing you did. Rumors of a Failsafe that will break the restraints the First Ones built and set the stolen magic free." Glimmer: "Are you kidding? After everything that happened last time, you're still going after the Heart of Etheria? And you're helping her?" Castaspella: "We're trying to free the magic for all of Etheria so we can be strong enough to fight Prime. I'm doing this for your father and for you. Shadow Weaver is the lesser of two evils."

I love that she says this right in front of Shadow Weaver. Like "girl I hate her too"

nice

okay ngl I have mixed feelings about this one because unfortunately she's not entirely wrong here but also, shut the fuck up

(something something people are responsible for their own actions but also she wouldn't have done all that godawful shit if Shadow Weaver hadn't been such a shitty parent)

but yeah Catra gets up like she's about to fucking throw some hands and Adora's like It's okay bb

;_;

but also they do need the information Shadow Weaver and Castaspella have

so it turns out Mystacor was built on top of a First Ones' citadel? huh

Castaspella: "Beneath Mystacor, there are many secret tunnels and rooms, forgotten and sealed off. No one has been able to access them in centuries, but there are whispers of what they contain." Shadow Weaver: "An artifact known as the Crystal of Arxia, hidden there by a group of traitorous First Ones." Castaspella: "You said I could do it!"

lol they bicker like old marrieds

Adora: "If you figured it out on your own, why come back here? Why do you need us at all?" Shadow Weaver: "Because Mystacor is controlled by Micah, who, you may recall, is controlled by Horde Prime."

they've been TRYING

"If he seizes the Heart, it will all be over."

Stop toUCHING HER

oh god Adora turns around to ask Catra to help out--and she's gone

YOU'RE THE REASON SHE'S FUCKING "SULKING" and you fucking know it, why are abusers always so god damned surprised to find out their kids don't want to be anywhere near them

(I mean I know why, they think they should be able to control you forever)

aaahahaha Adora's just like Nah I'mma go look for her tho

anyway roll intro!

omg look at Netossa and Spinny on the bottom left awwwww

she looks so sad

well okay sad and angry

their conversation here is so good, because Catra's fully aware of why Adora's doing this, but is really struggling to push past how much she (justifiably!) hates Shadow Weaver and hates being around her

I actually do kinda wish I'd kept a list of all the times Adora does the self-sacrificial thing, separated into "someone asked her to do it" vs "nobody asked her to do it" lol

BUT ADORA EXPRESSES A NEED oh nice that's progress

Adora: "Hey, she can't do anything to us anymore. Please, come. We--I-could really use your help."

two things I really love about this: One, she doesn't say that she doesn't like Adora, just that it's not the reason she's going. Two, I feel like Adora knows damn well Catra's not being 100% honest here.

Like, to some extent Catra's saying this as a way of attempting to protect herself a little. She's taking baby steps towards vulnerability, and it's terrifying! And I think Adora can see that and is fine with it--not JUST because she's like "any crumbs are better than nothing" but ALSO because she doesn't want to push Catra.

Because yeah, if there was any actual doubt that Catra does like Adora--

WELL.

Entrapta was able to get Spinerella's chip out but says it had started fusing with her nervous system and they're running out of time to safely un-chip everyone.

But she's been digging around the network that connects all the chips to Prime, hoping to figure out how to disconnect everyone at once, and Bow gives her a little encouragement, it's really sweet.

OKAY so everyone who can, teleports to Mystacor with Melog making them invisible. (Apparently Catra doesn't get motion sick from it anymore which is nice lol)

I love the way they animated them being invisible

oh GOD okay

Catra turns around and says "looks like there's no sorcerers here" while, unfortunately, a sorcerer walks into the room. Shadow Weaver grabs Catra and puts her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, and Catra (understandably!! but unfortunately!!) jerks away in fury and yells

And her fury causes Melog to drop the invisibility

And now the chipped sorcerer knows they're all there

they manage to duck the attack but Adora goes to transform into She-Ra--and can't do it

she had this issue last episode aaaugh it's not from being near Shadow Weaver she wasn't there

okay but also Adora runs behind a pillar to hide from an attack with Catra and it's cute

girl help why is this giving me so many emotions

y'know it's funny how often I've bumped into posts of people who are confused as to why Adora starts trusting Catra again so quickly, and I frequently wonder if they forget all the childhood flashback scenes of these two. To varying extents they both spent their entire childhoods seeing the other as their only consistent source of comfort and (something resembling) safety, and with some notable exceptions Adora's spent the last four seasons (which was like three or four years) visibly holding out hope that one day she could trust Catra again. This despite the fact that she now has other sources of safety and comfort and love!!! Being with Glimmer and Bow and everyone else was healing, sure; but it never erased her grief over losing Catra. She always, always held out the tiniest flame of hope that Catra would change sides.

And Catra basically tried lighting her own grief on fire (metaphorically and kinda literally) over and over and it just didn't go away, and I feel like when she saved Glimmer and apologized to Adora she had sort of come to terms with the fact that her grief over losing Adora couldn't be burned away, but of course by then she figured she'd fucked up so bad Adora would never forgive her or trust her again. And rather than take it out on other people or suffer any longer she was willing to just die, instead. She really did think that sending Glimmer to Adora was going to be her last act, and she wanted Adora to know she was sorry before she fucking DIED. And I don't think her saving Glimmer was consciously meant to be proof that she meant her apology, but it was. And that's part of why Adora trusts her again.

The fact is, even after everything that happened, both of them had a hole in their hearts shaped like the other. ;_;

And that's why Adora runs and hides behind the same pillar as Catra. (I mean yes, it was also closer, but that's not tHE POINT)

Anyway, this is all why, as I previously noted, Adora's not being pushy. That failed on her, spectacularly; the couple of times she tried it. Asking Catra to come along on this mission is the closest she's come. And even then, it wasn't "you're a good person deep down and you should change sides because I think I know you better than you know yourself," It was "please do this for me, because I need your help." And Catra is fully aware of how hard that is for Adora.

And these two still have a lot to work out post-canon (like, Catra has still got to deal with her need to not just be seen as Adora's sidekick/shadow, and lbh right now some of the rebellion is like "we're only putting up with you for Adora's sake" as if Catra was Yoko Ono) but that's part of why I'm writing a fic lolol

I have so many feelingssss on a related note I spent like fifteen solid minutes last night in bed having taken an edible and listening to my playlist and staring at this gifset lolol

ANYWAY Castaspella knocks out the chipped dude and they run for it

AAAND lol I gotta get ready to go to church. There's still 17:30 left on this episode. Pfft.

BACK FROM CHURCH I washed someone's feet, they washed mine, they stripped the altar, I go back at one or two in the morning for the overnight vigil

In the meantime: gonna finish this episode

(what is my life sometimes)

Entrapta plans to find a bunch of clones so she can figure out how their signals to Horde Prime work. Swift Wind is like Ugh, fine, I'll go with you, someone's gotta save your ass

Entrapta: "Thanks, bird horse!"

lol how many times have they had that convo

A family can be a sorcerer and her evil ex, a girl and a boy, two traumatized lesbians, and a cat

But also it looks like something out of an episode of Scooby Doo

Shadow Weaver opens a magic door

ngl that's PRETTY. like it's obviously about the Heart of Etheria but wow!

(and there's a dinosaur???)

Adora notices how stressed out Catra is and says "It'll be okay...Trust me." ;_;

Shadow Weaver: "There's no time to waste!"

"...disturbance."

The disturbance was your fault, dumbass. I am reminded of all the times my dad got angry at us for being afraid of him. And would hit us. For being. Afraid of him. Because y'know. That's how you stop a kid from being afraid of you. By hitting them.

In any case Shadow Weaver is still trying to get between them and separate them and I just really need this bitch to stop.

(Yes yes I remember she dies later)

Castaspella: "We're on the right path. The Crystal of Arxia was rumored to be the key to reaching deep magic within Etheria."

"But those who hungered for more power have long sought other ways to obtain the deep magic...with disastrous results."

HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT lemme reblog

[demented-tours]

ADHD/Autism/Neuro-spicy/Exec Function Issues/Burnout Life Hack

So listen, as the owner and sometime operator of a brain with medium to hot neurospicy wiring, I occasionally struggle with... well. Everything. But particularly making myself do Small Tasks That Require One More Spoon Than I Ever Have Thanks To Having to Exist in this Dumpster Fire World AND Never Being Taught Anything Useful About Myself Much Less How to ACTUALLY Recharge or Regulate My Nervous System Which Only Has an "Actively Being Mauled By a Bear" Setting. (TM)

It's been a long few decades.

Anyway, as such, I have tried so many little ways to motivate myself, and some of them are decent, but I also have days where just... nothing seems to work.

Except this one thing. Now, it's only working NOW, but it seems to be working semi consistently, so I'm hopeful. Ish. As hopeful as I get anyway.

And it's low cost, requires no bullshit medical professionals or meds and it appeals to my competitive spirit and inner gamer nerd.

I figured I'd share here, though it's likely a terribly unoriginal idea, but hell, sometimes it's just reframing crap that you knew to be true once but forgot about it in the current depression-inspired stew.

We're gonna call this one Warmie Magic.

Step 1: Acquire/make a warmie. Those are the things you heat up and apply to body parts for relaxation/pain relief. They come in all shapes, sizes, stuffed animals forms. Let your sensory needs go wild. I like THIS ONE because it can be used on hot or cold settings and it comes unscented. It's also made for neck/shoulders, which basically always hurt. But they make them cheaper and in whatever shape you like. It just matters that you can heat it up in the microwave.

Step 2: Figure out your temperature setting timing for your warmie. For me, that warmie thing takes 4 minutes in my microwave to acquire that perfect near-scalding-yet-still-soothing temperature. Bonus if it's over 2 minutes of time, but really, whatever works, here.

Step 3: Fixate on some mundane, small task that you Need To Do: dishes. Laundry. List making. Toilet cleaning. Whatever. Put the warmie in the microwave, set the timer... Then get ready... get set... PUSHBUTTONANDGO! Try not to let your lack of body sense knock you into too many objects on your trajectory to the Task at Hand.

Step 4: Do the tasks for the duration of the short timer. You would be AMAZED at what you can do in 4 freakin minutes. Single load of laundry in machine. Or most of one load folded. Or at least a few pans washed. One toilet insides scrubbed. Dishwasher loaded/unloaded. Whatever--do it until the timer goes off.

Step 5: Stop the task, retrieve the warmie, and enjoy the sensory snuggle reward. Fuck about for a while.

Step 6: When the warmie is less warm, get up and repeat the process. OPTIONAL: Set another timer without the warmie and do it again while enjoying the sensory snuggle reward.

What I like about this is that I can trick my brain shit with the, "Well, hell, it's JUST four minutes" line. Or the, "We have to wait for the damn thing to warm up anyway, and it'll take fucking forever if we just stand here." Usually some combo, there, works. And it gives you a positive reinforcement reward that the body feels that isn't food oriented or what have you.

Obviously, your mileage will vary. All neurospicy settings are unique. I'm just going to enjoy this method while it manages to be effective. This is how I've made myself do my stretching routine, laundry, and dishes for the past few weeks, so...

This could also work for all sorts of things in all sorts of applications. I also used to write like this, sometimes. I'd set a timer for 30 minutes and just GO. Whatever happened in 30 minutes was golden. Six words or six thousand.

I've also done something like this with a snack pack of fruit snacks and I get one per tiny item completed because, yeah, my brain sometimes operates with a psychotic toddler's reward system setting. But it got the damn Wal Mart delivery unpacked.

Oh, and one last thing that's helped me... Do your breathing exercises to slow yea olde burnt out nervous system right after you pee. I can do a solid round of box breathing (5 seconds breathe in, 5 seconds hold, 5 seconds out, 5 seconds pause, rinse and repeat) while washing my hands. And sooner or later you have to pee so might as well use that as a functional reminder. Not that I remember to do this more than one time out of seventy, but in THEORY, it'd be great.

And now let's get back to our usual soft-porn-funny-shit-pretty-shinies programming around here.

<3Dee

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Observations on ep 11:

I missed some details last week, so I'm going to try to be more observant today...let's see how I go.

Move on? 😦 Move in?! 😲

Loving the YOLO shirt 😂 I know it's the name of the bar but still...

YO SPITTING TRUTHS 😂😭 "I think my chances of winning the first prize lottery are greater than having an ideal boyfriend". I feel so called out...

Has anyone mentioned the iconic couple shirts that Yo and Plug are wearing in the credits?!

Also, I need more April in the show. (And hello, Nonnie's tattoo!)

Yeah, I stand by what I said to @grapejuicegay in our dms -> Mew does not love Top anymore. If he thinks he does it's more that he's in love with the potential of what they had...but that's all but destroyed. Mew (and Top...and Boeing tbf) need to move on (Ah! The ep title!), I bet they won't though.

I need Dan to be happy... Where's Poppy? I need him to come in and sweep Dan off his feet.

Hello Meen! 🔥 She's gorgeous and so young. Oh oh! Dan could meet her and have a noona romance!

Khaotung Thanawat what the fuck is your face (I will forever think this when he cries, thanks kk!)

Sorry to lay down some facts but you can't guarantee that anyone will stay with you after 3 months, 6 months, or a year. It doesn't matter what you've been through together, this is something you can never predict. And so that can't be the reason for not being with someone - and this goes for Yo as well as Boeing/Mew, because Yo was afraid that Plug wouldn't stick around.

And therefore, that's the correct question Mew - "Can I trust you, Boeing?" And it's not really about trust. It's about making a choice every day to be with that person regardless of what the future might hold.

Boston, Nick, and that random extra basically did that meme 😂

ANOTHER ONE FOR THE KISSING CHARTS!!

But also, I'm loving flirtatious confident sexy Nick. Such a development from when he met Boston.

MVP NICK!!

Oh so many parallels are paralleling this ep. Boston telling Atom he can't fall in love 'just because he's the first man he slept with'...which is what Nick realises he did... Oh DELICIOUS.

I'm glad we got an explicit 'no one person can turn you gay, it's just who you are and always have been'. A+ show, A+.

Poor Atom, but I think he got enough comeuppance. Well done Nick, really.

Sand is cute with the kids but I have to just say this kind of teasing/fabricated truths messed me up as a kid. Why can we just say what really happens rather than make up a lie to make kids do what they should do? Maybe I was too impressionable (or gullible) but I used to freak out at anything that could have been bad for me if someone told me it was 'dangerous'. Anyway, back to the show...

Top what are you doing there?! You've not been invi-

IS. THAT. THE. STRIPY. LININ. SHIRT?!

Hold on.... *wheezing* I can't... I... That's nine people now, NINE, who have worn this shirt. And how has no one tagged me about it yet?!

Wait no, I'm not over it yet. I can't believe that fucking shirt has shown up again. I can't deal with it.

Yes, Top, yes I do... Because it means Top and Mew have matching couple shirts...much like Kawi and Pisaeng. smh

Ok, back to the show proper. Mew, you know you have not given Top a chance. And he's right to walk away.

What is Boeing's agenda??

Ok, I see you black and white vests...with the heart of the bed frame between you...

Yes, Force. That's what I want to see. Love the vulnerability.

If I had a nickel and all that... Another couple talking about travelling the world together.

Oh I have totally seen this t-shirt before. But dammit I don't recall where. HIVE MIND ASSEMBLE!

(And now I'm questioning if I've seen Nick's shirt somewhere as well... I take back what I said earlier, I want to be less observant).

Look, I've moved in with partners two times in my life with the main reason being 'it'll be cheaper/I'll save on the rent' and I can categorically say that I don't think its a good idea. MEW, DON'T. Move in because you want to, not because it's cheaper.

What in the Mew/Top/Boeing storyline is happening with the Ray/Sand/Boeing plot?! More parallels. Boeing is like the little leprechaun who wheedles his way into other people's relationships, casting a magic spell on one to stir shit up for the other.

Why is Ray doing this? Why is he so jealous? And did he just drink alcohol even though he's in rehab? Oh! Is he finally going to get the threesome he's been asking for?! 😂

Well...going by the preview for ep 12, I don't think so. But his jealousy escalated worryingly quick 🤔

Even though not as brilliant as last week, this show is still fantastic. However, I just can't get over how the Thai Communal Wardrobe is upstaging everything for me 😂

[ash5monster01]

Lessons of You Part 4

Pairing: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x FemReader

Warnings: fluff, mentions of depression, future smut, broken reader, 18+

Summary: Blake Parker was used to running. When life got hard, she’d run. The idea of sticking around to end up broken was scarier then she’d like to admit. So she hid away, cut all ties, and lived contently on her own. She was done running because no one could find her there. That is until a Navy Pilot runs into her life, and she learns allowing yourself to love can be scary, but hiding from it can be even worse.

word count: 2,350

Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Final

Masterlist

Blake hadn’t intended to ignore Bradley. That night that they kissed, they took a break to eat pizza, start the movie, and end up making out on the couch like teenagers all over again. Every part of Blake yelled at her to let him stay the night but she didn’t want to move too fast. Letting people in wasn’t something she could just do, she had to build up to it. So Bradley left with a dopey grin and a few purple marks on his neck, completely forgetting to ask for her number. Blake figured he’d stop by on his morning run yet he never seemed to go by. So she figured he had gotten what he wanted and left. No use texting him now.

This was exactly why she didn’t let people in. True intentions are never easy to see, and most of the time they end up hurting you. So better off to be alone, and grocery shop for one person. It was cheaper that way anyway. Who needs to know someone’s favorite kind of cereal when all you have to do is buy your own? So Blake didn’t even flinch as she grabbed the Fruity Pebbles without glancing at another box in the aisle.

“Blake right?” the brunette girl stopped to see a dark hair girl, she wore sweats and a workout shirt. Her hair pulled tightly back in a bun. Blake quickly searched her mind for how she recognized this girl. Then it hit her.

“Phoenix right?” Blake asked and the girl chuckled softly.

“Yeah that’s my call sign. You can call me Nat” Blake nodded as she reached over to shake her hand. "Sorry for my appearance. We've been training so much most of us havent had a second to leave base"

"I'm assumng that includes Bradley?" as Nat nodded Blaked felt her stomach churn with guilt. She thought he was avoiding her but turns out she was the one avoiding him all along.

"He mentioned he hadn’t heard from you in a while. I'll be happy to report you’re alive" Nat teased, knowing how upset Bradley had been considering he made out with a girl he really liked just to be ghosted and not have enough time to go and see if it was true. The mission was approaching fast and no one had still succesfully completed the course.

"I know, I meant to text but I figured he'd stop by on my morning run and then it just left my mind" Blake semi-lied considering she was unsure how to approach the situation. If she reached out and apologized Bradley would assume she wanted to be more than friends yet at the same time, straddling the guys lap, and tasting every inch of his mouth arleady sent the wrong message.

"You should shoot him a text, I might strangle him the next time he asks me what he did wrong. Men think all women can help them with their problems, and try being the only one on base" Blake laughed as Nat said this, it reminding her how she used to be the one everyone went to for advice. Then she remebered that doesn’t happen anymore and her heart shattered once again.

"I could see how that can be annoying, I'll text him" Blake reached for her phone and moved to the message app to start a new conversation. Nat watched like it was her job to make sure she actually texted her friend.

Blake

I've heard through the grapevine

that someone can't shut up about me

<3 Blake

Bradley

It’s not my fault, normally when

I kiss a girl they can’t leave me alone

“You’ve got yourself one cocky friend” Blake chuckled as she looked at the text from the boy. She had barely looked up from her phone when a response came through.

“All pilots are cocky, if we didn’t have such big heads we wouldn’t be as aerodynamic” Blake laughed at Nat’s response, not minding Bradley’s cockiness one bit.

“Thanks for making me text him, I can be pretty stubborn about these kind of things” Blake said waving her phone as she set it back down in her cart, waiting a moment to text the eager boy back.

“No problem, I get letting people in is hard but if you were going to let anyone, Bradley is a good choice” Blake smiled and nodded before slowly starting back down the aisle.

“Oh wait, Nat?” Blake turned to see the girl stop and face her. “Do you know Bradley’s favorite cereal?”

“He likes Captain Crunch” she told her and Blake thanked her as she grabbed the box off the shelf. Nat watched as the girl walked away, a content smile on her face.

Blake

I’d love to prove you wrong but

I’d rather invite you over tonight?

Bradley

Be there in 20

Blake was halfway done unloading groceries when she heard the truck door slam. She had left the door open for him again so once he approached she could smile at him from inside as she continued to put stuff away. “Hey B”

“Hey other B” Blake grinned back as he let himself inside.

“I thought you were never gonna text me” he told her as he sat himself at the counter, content with watching her put groceries away.

“And I thought you gave up on your morning run” Bradley’s eyes widened as she said this. He never assumed that she would notice. Then it all made sense why she never texted, she thought he had ghosted her first.

“I wish that was the case, they’ve been making us train earlier in the day. No one really has a hang of it yet” Bradley wasn’t allowed to give much detail, but they’d practically doubled their hours trying to make it in time. It didn’t help that is was Maverick they were training with.

“Are you on a tight schedule?” Blake started to feel bad for making him leave base if he needed to be focusing on something more important.

“Kind of, we have a big mission coming up. I don’t even know if I’ll be picked though” Bradley shook his head, knowing him and Hangman were neck and neck when it came down to it.

“Should you have stayed at base, I didn’t mean to drag you away” Bradley immediately shook his head, wanting to reassure the girl.

“No, we have the weekend actually. Our last weekend before the big operation” Bradley didn’t want to explain that they were given the weekend for loved ones, a last opportunity kind of thing. The mission was one you could easily never come back from.

“So what do I have to do, to get you to spend that with me?” Blake asked and Bradley felt the tips of his ears heat up.

“You say the word and I’m here all weekend” he was already bummed about having no one to spend the weekend with. Now he would get to spend it with her.

“Stay all weekend?” she asked and Bradley grinned. Blake wanted a trial run, a two day trial run. Maybe she could allow someone back into her life for once.

“There’s no place I’d rather be” he smirked and Blake laughed as she emptied the last bag, setting the cereal on the counter. Bradley reached out and grabbed the box. “I love Captain Crunch”

“You can have some in the morning” the indication of him staying the night made his face redden some more.

“You sound like my Mom” he told her and she belly laughed as she finished putting away all the groceries. Bradley watched as she walked over to him, and he turned to face her. The minute her hips nudged with each of his knee caps his heart rate doubled in speed.

“I don’t need you spoiling your dinner” she told him and Bradley wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against him in a hug.

“If you’re serving up dinner does that mean I get to serve up dessert?” Bradley asked, his face mushing into her neck as he fluttered kisses along the side. Blake hummed contently at the feeling.

“I guess that depends on how well you behave” she told him, hands running through the short strawberry brown locks.

“I don’t plan on behaving at all” he whispered into her neck, causing her to shudder as his hands firmly squeezed her ass.

“I expected as much” she told him as he pulled his face from her neck and looked her in the eyes. “But if you plan to misbehave, wait until I’m done cooking”

“I’m not that patient” he told her and she chuckled and shook her head before pressing a chaste kiss to his lips, his mustache scratching her in the process.

“You’re a Navy Pilot, I think you can handle yourself for thirty minutes” Bradley had no argument against this as she removed herself from his grip and moved to the stove where she started to cook for two. Which when you think about it, isn’t much more than one.

“I’m sorry if you thought I was avoiding you” Bradley said as she continued to work on the dinner.

“I’m sorry for not texting you” she offered back and he smiled softly at her. If this was his last weekend of freedom he was glad he was spending it here. Without the crushing reminder of loneliness and his bitter feelings towards Maverick. It was just him and a beautiful girl, one he’d like to learn more about, and it was the best distraction he could ask for.

“It’s okay, but I was close to coming and knocking down your door considering you had my number and I didn’t have yours” Bradley teased and she shook her head, a dopey grin on her face. She liked having someone around that made her smile so much.

“It’s more fun that way though, knowing you have all the power” she gave him a pointed look, knowing she was mainly in control of this relationship so far, no matter what it was.

“I’m not used to passing over the reigns” he told her and she chuckled, turning to fully face him as she allowed the dish to cook.

“You’ll have to get used to it because I’m a leader, always have been. My cousins used to pick on me for how easily control came to me” Blake stopped suddenly, sucking in a sharp breath at the mention of her cousins. She hadn’t had a thought like that infiltrate her mind and so easily slip out to none other than a stranger. Bradley noticed this, how her lip slightly quivered, and she regained her composure. He thought to himself how in control she was of her emotions. She was right about being a leader.

“Your cousins, are you close?” Blake started shaking her head and turned back to her food. Clearly trying to find a way to escape the conversation.

“We were” she said sharply, fighting to keep her tears away. She never would’ve considered allowing someone in her life would make her so easily crumble to all the ways she worked to keep those kind of thoughts at bay.

“Is that because you left?” Bradley didn’t want to push, but if he had cousins he would do everything in his power to stay with them.

“No, they backed away long before I decided to take my own step back” it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince him.

"Not to overstep, but if I had the choice I wouldn't of given up on them. Life takes a lot of turns, and people come and go, but sometimes youre lucky enough to have the ones who stay. If you ask me it sounds like you had the choice to stay and you left them" Blake felt the tears slip and she stepped back from the stove so they wouldn’t land in their dinner. Bradley had done nothing but offer her the truth, and he was also the first person to get through to her in a long time.

"Why is it you always have the perfect thing to say?" she asked as she quickly wiped her eyes and turned to face him again.

"I've been on my own a long time, not by choice. I spend everyday thinking about what my life would be if I still had my parents and Uncle Maverick" he told her and she drew her eyebrows together.

"You lost your Uncle too?" she asked and he shook his head.

"No, we had a falling out a few years back. Somet things you just can't come back from" he told her and she shook her head.

"Sounds like you need to take some of your own advice" she said squeezing his hand and for the frst time he thought about how he never gave Maverick a chance to explain. He never allowed himself to see how hard Maverick was actualy trying to fix things. Not only did Bradley lose his father but Maverick lost him too.

"I guess I do. Maybe the two of us just need to work on our people skills" he offered and she chuckled as she wiped away the remaining tears in her eyes.

"How about we start with each ottoher?" she asked, content on just being here with him because somehow he managed to comfort her despite only knowing him a few days.

"I'd love to work on my people skills with you" he said as he stood and wrapped his arms around her waist. Bradley gave her a quick spin, trying to lighten the sad mood they always managed to find with each other.

"I have a feeling you’re going to pretty good at it" Blake told him and Bradley chuckled and teasingly shook his head at the girl before pulling her to his lips for a real kiss. Never would he have thought book girl would be as amazing as this, if he could keep her forever he would.

Tag list: @emma8895eb

Comment if you want to be added to the tag list :))

[silver-wield]

Heya Silver, so I recently started re-playing Remake in my free time after work (since I'm one of the many unlucky ones who doesn't own a PS5, and per your advice, I'm holding off on buying one until it becomes cheaper and/or Part 3 is worth buying)

I did not know that the drink scene in Sector 7 (Chapter 3) is technically non-optional. What I mean is, there are 2 options: "something hard" (1) and "not in the mood" (2). Naturally, during my first playthrough several months ago, I chose the 1st option, since I was trying to get Tifa's Resolution. But during this second playthrough (now I'm trying to get Barret's Resolution), I chose the 2nd option to see what happens... and Tifa still makes the drink anyways, and Cloud still says the famous "kirei da" / "beautiful" remark that makes Tifa blush and makes him think he's smooth AF

I love how — even with a dialogue option/choice available — Cloud still calls Tifa beautiful no matter what, making the scene very much a non-optional scene, like the flower scene before it

Here's video evidence of it (not mine) as well, in case some idiot tries to dispute me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzUhdiniR0E

The convos have nothing to do with which resolution you get, and yeah, the drink scene is non optional, that's why those dumdums hate it. Cloud getting the flower is also non optional, so you can refuse every time and she'll still give it to you.

It's the illusion of choice.

How you get the resolutions is by doing sidequests in ch3 and 8. There's 6 sidequests in each chapter and that totals 12pts by the time you reach the sewer where your choice between Tifa or the walking dead will give you the tie breaking 1pt.

If you want Barret's resolution then you need less than 5pts total, so basically, just don't do any sidequests.

[bryastar]

word salad #12

oh shoot I'm back edition!

alrighty so, hi, it's been a bit. so I guess I should explain my absence a bit but I ended up getting a certain respiratory illness which included trouble breathing, headaches, nausea, fatigue, and it was so bad that it took me out for basically an entire week.....

yeah pneumonia isn't fun

anyway......

what have I been up to that hasn't been staying in bed all day while doom scrolling way too far in TikTok...

probably a tiny thing here but I reorganized my ipad icons a bit, keeping all the drawing apps on one screen (plus the battery info for the pencil), socials on the next, and games at the end. seems less overwhelming....and cuz I like the background art ^^; (art by @wavecipher)

solar eclipse! we had to drive out an hour towards the path of totality to be able to see it, but honestly this was one of the coolest experiences I've ever got to witness! pictures don't do it full justice and it's really hard to describe the mood. just being able to witness the moon slowly creeping in front of the sun slowly while experiencing this beautiful mix of daytime and nighttime vibes simultaneously....aaaa! I was really sad before I wasn't able to see much of the 2017 eclipse previously and I wanted to make certain it worked out this year, and just so happened that everything lined up perfectly (teehee) to be able to see this! (top pic taken by amber, the others by me)

butts! I ended up using a combination of pose to pose and straight ahead animation here. I wanted to try and push myself with this and experiment, and I'm discovering a bit that I enjoy doing things like water splooshes. down the line I wanna touch on more things like water ripples or fire animation too.

all of this happened before I got sick and bedridden and I was a bit worried that I would lost the drive to anima--

nope! still got it! I'm pretty happy with how this came out! I asked for a random object and a random action at home and got "apple" and "jumping" and I decided to add the bit at the end with it bonking and bruising itself. I used a mix of drawing individual frames, but also simple subtle transforms when the change was minimal anyway to streamline the work just a bit.

I originally struggled with getting the impact to look right. adding a smoke cloud and simulating a camera shake seemed to help with that (which I struggled originally because I tried to keyframe it in capcut but because it's animated of twos that came off weird and the earthquake effect didn't satisfy me either so I had to just manually move everything in toonsquid...which ended up taking less time overall anyway) I especially like the doubling/smear frame I made right before it hits the ground.

I think improvements I wanna make is planning out the facial expressions more. there is a point where the apple realizes it loses balance but I think it happens way too fast to be properly noticible at full speed. also I did abuse the transform tool juuust a bit much at the end so maybe I'll stick with reserving that for ease in and outs.

lately I've been in a bit of a Starfox kick. I ended up finding the N64 cartridge at a game shop (only $40 USD which was definitely a bit cheaper than I was expecting for a first party title) and I'm honestly really impressed with how well it looks compared to the NSO version on switch, particularly with transparency effects, colours seem bolder (the gold rings in particular stand out more), and how smooth the game runs overall (with occasional but expected slowdowns in certain areas). also the voice samples seem to sound more accurately to a radio signal. I also wanna see if I can get the 3ds version of SF64 sometime too and compare that.

alrighty so apologies for the extra word salading this time around but there was a lot to catch up on. hopefully I can keep up a bit more as I start to get back towards 100%

🦊🐦🐰🐸

[yesyourstalker]

Neta: so I take the slices of carrot cake and I kind of put it together and they make a whole cake

Warabi: so what you're making a wedding cake out of frozen carrot cake that's been in your freezer for 2 years?

Neta: no! I hate carrot cake. I don't like the texture but whatever he wants I do for him. I don't even know if we're going to get married. Honestly, I don't think I want to get married anymore. I was married. It wasn't great at the time but what kind of settled made peace............. Wow! So as if she knew I was talking about her.

Warabi: I'm going on break

Neta: hey syl.

Sylvia: hey Net........ How are you

Neta: I'm alive and medicated. How's your eye?

Sylvia: you know it's still glass. How's your ear?

Neta: still gone. Hehehehe.... But really how are you?

Sylvia: I'm good alive and medicated I heheheh.... I'm actually doing great! I'm engaged!

Neta: That's amazing! Sylvia, finally marrying Rift. He seems like a good guy. Cirrina seems to like him.

Sylvia: yeah... Of course he can't replace her actual dad. How is she?

Neta: doing good. She's at a turf war game right now. She's been going frequently. I think she might want to be on a team maybe when she gets to high school.

Sylvia:hmmm You know I hate those things. All it does is just glorify war and romanticize the shit that we've been through....... I swear surface culture........they have no respect for anything. They treat everything like it's a game.

Neta: come on Syl lighting up. It's different up here.... It's......... *sigh* I don't know. I should feel the same way too, but seeing her play. Hanging around with friends and acting normal. Having a childhood....... I don't want to take me away from her like it was taking away from us....... Just seeing her smile and laugh and I can't take that away from my little girl.

Sylvia: *sigh* I guess you're right......... As long as she's safe and happy. How is surface world anyway?

Neta: It's good, I got tanner hehe.... It's great! I'm really happy up here.... Got a nice store. Working my own business....the apartments are kind of small but I don't think I'm going to be staying there for long.

Sylvia: you still seen that metalopod guy? Hehehehe you two look very happy. It's kind of weird seeing you in a magazine. Was not a good picture. Terrible angle.

Neta: they never get my good side............. It's complicated right now. It's not bad complicated....... It's kind of like a waiting game right now...... You should meet him you'd like him............ Do you ever think of coming up to the surface??

Sylvia: no, I'm not going back. It's too much for me. I only went up there for missions. That's all I associate it with now. Every time I'm up there my guard is up and everybody is a threat I-......I can't..... I'm sorry

Neta: I feel the same way about the bunkers.... I can't go back down there............ever.... Is it different down there since the war is over?

Sylvia: It's really different! I wouldn't even call them bunkers anymore. We have shops, we can legally purchase and enjoy surface media now! Better plumbing, better homes. We have nicer light panels now! Of course the nicer areas have glass! Apparently they're working with jelly-co installing glass sheets so we can actually see the sun without going out to the surface!...... Which honestly is ridiculous because glass is a lot cheaper than artificial sunlight

Neta: *pffth*........I guess they're still treating sunlight as a luxury now and not as a right........typical....

Sylvia: Don't try to make this political. We'll be here all day hehehe...... I just wanted to catch up and ask if I'm able to have Cirrina over for a week. It's next year to be at the wedding and maybe....... Do you want to come too?

Neta: I think we can arrange that to happen. She'd love to see you get married....... I don't know about me though. It may change of aesthetically but........... It will always be a prison for me.............*sigh*..... I-

Sylvia: I get it. I completely understand Neta............ This place was not kind to you or anyone at that time

Neta:...............*sigh*................ Maybe I'll try going down there for a visit........ I want to see what music they have I can put in my shop.

Sylvia: whenever you saaay........... Maybe I can try going to the surface just to see cirrina play....... I also want to see how small your apartment is.

Neta: hahahahah shut up. See I knew you were going to do this. You always have to make fun of me about something!

Sylvia:wah wah wah.......... you shut up! If you're coming underground you better wear something nice not ugly clothes they wear up to the surface. They're like walking billboards. It's tacky, everything has to be branded. It's crazy.

Neta: RIGHT???. We used to just take blank shirts and draw pictures and shit. These kids have to have name brands. Do you know how much Toni kensa cost? It's like 100Gs for a pair of black and white shoes not the sales price!

Sylvia: I'm telling you surface dwellers don't take anything seriously. They don't know the value of money. They don't know the value of anything they just-

Neta: I thought you said we weren't going to be political.

Sylvia: be quiet............ The baby's crying. I got to go. Bye Net.

Neta: I got to pick up cirrina and see you later syl........... She's getting married. Maybe I should reconsider..

Mahi: she sounds nice. I can run the store If you're going to be underground for a while.

Neta: yeah thanks no problem. It'll be next year I have enough time to prepare myself and just to ......... mahi.... Were you listening to my conversation?

Mahi: just snippets of it You're next to the cash register. I couldn't help it here.

Neta: no, not that part. The fact that you can understand it. When were you going to tell me you know octarian?

Mahi: You never asked.

Neta: ..................................

Mahi: also, if you don't like carrot cake, you can just like get spice cake which is like carrot cake without the carrots but similar flavor

Neta:.......... Go on your break. I can't. I can't deal with you right now. Hahaha You're ridiculous hehehe You knew everything I was saying? what if I was talking shit huh?

Mahi belongs to @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[alarrytale]

I’m watching all these photos of Louis with fans after shows come in on twitter (X whatever) and something about it feels different from last tour… like he has a more lad type boisterous attitude he’s trying to portray, swearing even more than usual, calling fans ‘my girl’ which I know everyone freaked out about but I thought was kinda icky… you don’t know this person why are you calling them that if they weren’t a fan I doubt they’d swoon so much… anyway I’m just feeling like the connection we had with Louis that he loves to go on about is not there anymore, as much at least. I’m starting to see a more commercial side of him (I know I’m alone here) but it started with AOTV how he had a special screening where fans had to repurchase tickets if they wanted to watch extra scenes and the tickets were barely cheaper than Taylor’s who is in a league of her own… and as proud of him as I am for the 28 line I just don’t feel like it’s him? Before this I have never considered him as a fashion boy past looking good on a red carpet and now he has his own line?? And the prices aren’t exactly for the working class lad he goes on about all the time.

Maybe I’ve just grown tired and need a break but this is not the ‘faith in the future’ I imagined.

Putting every anons who's got feelings about Louis tour, and my answers, under the cut.

Hi, anon(s)!

I see the commercialisation of him too. But i think he's still got a good connection to fandom. Him going out to greet fans after the show is fan service and i appreciate that. I think the way he addresses his fans is sweet. There is no harm there as i see it. He's always been generous with pet names.

Not to be a larry defender but yall are unreasonable with criticising the tours here. "It's repetitive" NO SHIT??? It's a concert tour??? An artists gets on the stage, sings and leaves and it's been like that for decades and everyone was happy. Now when you watch concerts on instagram lives or can afford to go to 5 in the same tour yeah it gets boring. But that's not their fault??? Fans are too entitled, the only criticism I get is about sound/security but everything else is...yall have too much. Of course the speeches are same in every country. You aren't supposed to know them. Every artists, every band has more or less the same speech. Thanks for having me, good night, how are you, I love this country blah blah. I'm wondering how many concerts you've been to and what is a good concert to you. Imagine going to the cinema every day to see the same film and then saying it's repetitive and boring cuz that's what yall are doing. You need a reality check

Yes, social media has made it more difficult to entertain people. Attention span is shorter. People are more demanding and the entertainment industy is fighting for our attention. The competion is rife. There is so many artists, movies and shows to grab our attention. So to keep our attention and stop us from getting bored they need to make more of an effort than artists before them needed to. There are simple ways to do that, but they are not doing it. If you are not bored, or are happy with the way things are, then good for you.

The whole conga dancing thing originated at LOT and it works fine there but it just isn't suitable for Louis' indie music concerts. He'll never attract the male audience he wants with that kind of thing going on.

I love the conga line. I also don't want to attract a male audience if it's at the expense of existing fans and women...

About Louis not giving the fans everything they want and not playing to his pop/boyband strengths, we have to keep in mind that he might not enjoy those things as much as we do. I know a lot of us got on board with 1D, but he’s his own person with his own tastes and i don’t think it’s a slight against older fans that he wants to explore in a different direction. It happens all the time with artists who are around long enough.

Hi,

Both us and Louis knows it's give and take. He's happy we are allowing him to make the music he wants. He can't pull the rope towards him too much though, or else we let go. He needs his fans, but we also have a need for him to act a certain way and give us music we like. So it's give and take.

Do not compare them if you don’t know what you are comparing. They are not comparable at all. I happen to think Louis is a better songwriter and work out melodies better than Harry but each to their own.

But i guess that's the difference between Louis and Harry. Harry is an entertainer and Louis is a musician.///

And yet Louis has had no recognition at all for his musicianship whereas Harry has been given the top accolades in the industry, from many different countries. Harry can also play guitar competently and work out melodies whereas Louis admits he can only write lyrics.

“Louis claims to have a closeness and a bond to his fans unparallelled to other artists.” Every other artist claims some version of this. It’s just marketing.

I agree there is a marketing aspect to it. But i do believe that he's got a more special relationship with his fans than other artists. We are larries and he's closeted. He'd never be where he is now if we didn’t see through the bullshit. He wouldn't have a career and he knows that. So he gives us fan greetings after shows and signings to meet us and make a personal impact on us, and we on him.

@lenkagainstcity said:

"He is funny, got good banter, is charming, handsome, sexy, cheeky and loving towards his fans. He's the perfect pop star or boyband member."

*Anon who defended Louis first is back haha*

I totally agree that he has a huge potentional to give and oh god, I fell in love with him after my cousin invited me to see AOTV in the cinema with her because I´m a sucker for british accent, loved his vibe, charm and humour....so yes, there´s a lot he can give us and when I see his off stage presentance like how he interacts with fans, smiles, makes faces, the way he tells stories or how he dance, he can totally do this on stage but my first point in the previous ask was that this is his 2nd tour, 2nd year (comparing with H who basically has 4 years experience of solo touring) he´s touring SOLO and he´s just need to get more comfortable that noone is standing behind him to support him but it´s all on his chest - imo you can´t compare his solo tour with years of touring he´s done with 1D because 1D tours weren´t all about him. And we already saw a glimpse when he was more comfortable few shows in US when he danced a bit or talked a bit more than his common speech he says every show.

He has his own pace in finding this comfort to talk to thousands of people and to be more open. It feels to me like he already had to work a lot to even find his lost confidence - which he´s found. So now it´s all about to embrace his huge potentional to make every show special in his own way (not copying his former bandmates with ready signs or weird gender reveals). I can see the future in more unique shows that he´ll interact more with his band and tell some weird funny stories like Lewis Capaldi.

I think he will improve too, i'm just impatient as i said. I'm not sure the shows will change that much if he wants to continue being indie. It also depends on the size of his fandom. He can't use lots of money on huge stage shows if his fandom dosn't grow. I don't think he's a comedian like Lewis. I think things will change with his confidence if bg ends. I think that's holding him back.

[dragonqueenbizawagi]

I think we had a different brand than hello fresh specifically, but yeah. It can be a bit pricy compared to groceries where you live, but it's probably cheaper than takeout all the time (depends, check for yourself, and remember you're also paying for convenience). Those services are great tho if you're a teen/young adult who wants to learn to cook or become more comfortable in the kitchen (gotta practice those knife skills to get 'em sharp after all, hehe), but are daunted by the task. I found that I could pretty much do it all by myself, but if I fell behind and something needed doing while I was still busy with another step I had dad on standby to cover something. I could just call him into the kitchen and order him around like a real chef, lol! Like, "Watch the stove," "Chop these onions," or even one time "How much salt do I add to, 'salt the pasta water'?"

Btw, don't be afraid to look up 'stupid' questions like that - these recipes may be mostly beginner friendly but not everything is as intuitive as people think. I'm sure every cook has had to look up at least one obscure unit/method/ingredient before, like "what does julienne mean?", or "how to use (kitchen tool)" and I probably would have done that more if I hadn't taken two cooking classes in high school. Otherwise, you could just wing it and see how it turns out if that's more your style! I'm too over-cautious to do that tho. More power to you, since you'll be brave enough to experiment sooner!

PRO TIP: in order to not get swamped by all the steps needing to be done at once and start panicking like I did, here's a few things to help avoid that!

GET THE PREP DONE FIRST BEFORE COOKING ANYTHING!!! I know you think that you'll have time while it's in the oven, but you won't because you're too slow with the knife still (which is good, do it right before you do it fast) and you're probably supposed to be doing something else during that time anyway (usually making the sauce on the stove so it can be so it can be hot and ready when the stuff in the oven is hot and ready). So many times I had to call in backup because I was still cutting when the timer went off and I knew if I didn't hurry something would be cold by the time everything else was done. Don't do what I did! It's better to stand around waiting for stuff to cook than to be overwhelmed by the workload. And besides - there's always something to be done. Cleaning as you go is important but you could also set the plates out or something.

Actually, before you even touch the food, read through the recipe and play it out in your head. It's weird at first but trust me, the more you cook the more you'll get used to how long each step will take. So when you act it out in your head you might catch that certain things are going to take longer, or, "oh, I'll have to wash my hands a lot because I'm touching raw meat" and allot more time for things like that that aren't in the recipe.

If possible have someone else on standby to call in a panicked tone to come get the potatoes out of the oven before they burn. They do not have to be a good cook as long as YOU are a good director!

When all else fails, do your best not to panic. Or at least panic constructively. If everything needs to be done at once, get the cooking stuff FIRST and leave the cutting board alone until you're sure nothing's burning. Take stuff off the stove/out of the oven if need be and finish cooking/heat it back up later. It may not be perfect, but it'll be edible and probably still taste good anyway. If you flail a bit, that's fine. Professional chefs on tv flail and they've been doing this for years, so don't worry. It's fine, you're fine, everything is fine. Just work one problem at a time.

And if you completely muck it up and have to trash everything (which is not as likely as you think, calm down anxiety)– shrug it off and order a pizza. You deserve it after all that stress and you can just try again next time, learning from your mistakes. Shit happens, food/money gets wasted, and we try try again. Welcome to adulthood!

hey jsyk while hellofresh is dummy expensive and i wouldn’t reccomend it if you already know how to cook (if you’re a beginner like i was when i had it for 3 months, then it’s worth it), you should know that ALL OF THEIR RECIPES are free on their website and they all fuck hard

i will say that all the cooking instructions for veggies are pretty much the same (season with salt + pepper and roast on the top oven rack at 425F), but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

that being said, it also introduced me to methods i wasn’t at all expecting. i would have never thought to use cream cheese in my meat sauce, and now all my friends are constantly asking me to make my special rigatoni.

happy cheffin! :)

[ninjaturtlecosmo]

Just saw on Tiktok that apparently some bakers running small businesses were pissed off at Walmart for selling Valentine's Day cakes for 5 bucks, but also mad at people for choosing to save money by buying 5 dollar cakes instead of spending 100 dollars on the "luxury" cakes their businesses make..... Like I'm sorry, you're mad people have other shit to pay for in their lives and would rather enjoy a delicious cake from Walmart for just 5 dollars instead of spending what might be a whole paycheck on your cakes? Fuck off. I'm sorry, it's one thing if we're talking about some huge fancy cake for an occasion like a wedding, or a huge birthday party, but 100 dollars on a cake that only 2 people are probably gonna share together? Or if you're just one single person but still want to enjoy a seasonal treat? Yeah, I'm sorry, but 100 dollars for a small cake should be illegal. If anything there's no way that's not a scam when as it turns out, those cakes just use the same ingredients as cakes you can find at any grocery store.

Honestly though, it's not just these bakers at small businesses that overprice their products like this...... I know running small businesses can be hard, please understand I'm not trying to undermine that, but...... Okay, if you're reading this and if you're someone who makes plushie commissions for a living, please explain something to me.

So months ago, my friend @spideyladman was the one to get me back into The Amazing World Of Gumball for the first time since I watched it as a kid, and he's also the reason why Steve Small has become one of my most favorite characters. And I'm the kind of person that, if there's a certain fandom I'm really into, I'll of course want to collect merchandise of said fandom, including plushies or figurines of my favorite characters. I have a plushie of C3PO from Star Wars that I adore with all my heart, and plushies of all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well, plus Bumblebee from Transformers, among a few other characters I adore. When IF first came out and I instantly gained an interest in Art Teacher, I kept searching Google to see if maybe they'd release a plushie of him, but..... sadly the only characters that have their own dolls to this day are Blue, Blossom, Lewis and Uni. I just so happen to have Blue and Blossom.

Anyway, after getting back into TAWOG and becoming a Mr. Small fangirl, I went to Google to see if there was any merch relating to him, as well as merch relating to Larry...... Sure enough, some people on Etsy made plushies of the two....... The Mr. Small plush being 133 dollars, and the Larry plushies being between 85 dollars and 95 dollars.

So..... Again, if you're someone who makes a living making these plushies on your own, by hand, please explain....... Is the process of making these dolls really that long and grueling to where these prices are justified? What material is used compared to the cheaper plushies that might be sold in stores like Walmart or Target? I'm not here to shame you for the prices because I obviously don't know how the process goes, I genuinely want to know. Honestly, the only reason I'm talking shit about the small business bakers on Tiktok is because they had the audacity to actually get mad at people for wanting to save money by only spending 5 dollars on a cake at Walmart instead of splurging 100 dollars on one of their cakes...... Who else do I know of that got mad at consumers for not wanting to spend money on them, acting as if money is no issue for some people and that they were entitled to said money? 8D Oh yeah......

[thehumanexperience8b]

February 3rd, 2024: Cool!

Hello. I have gone absolutely insane this past week and I literally don't know why. But anyways! I feel good today, and yesterday wasn't bad but that's because I woke up at 2pm, and just had to get ready to go to work! I am still awake since yesterday... I am so happy that I'm not in college anymore, because now I can stay awake all night and not get anxious about waking up at a reasonable time! Nighttime is also when I'm most creative. I'm not going to be bothered by anyone and everything is quiet. I also have no responsibilities to think about, and no pressure to get anything done.

But speaking of freedom and creativity, I have been pressuring myself to be more creative but also feel it's useful. Money. I'm talking about money. I can't get a full-time job at the store I work at (at least I'm told, I don't show up to work early enough to talk to my boss), and although right now I'm comfortable because I only REALLY need to pay car insurance, it won't stay that way. So I'm planning on what I'm going to do. And I decided that... I might want to try YouTube again. You would have no idea because I hide the channel away like a dark mysterious secret, but I did have a previous channel that made me a little bit of money, but it really was pure luck. It was a Bo Burnham lyric video in 2018. Oh my lord... and it just blew up. However, I also "blew" all that money I made on random stuff on Ebay, I was obsessed with little trinkets I could get off that website. Then... what YouTuber's called the "Ad-pocalypse" happened, which was when a lot of companies withdrew from putting ads on YouTube videos. At the same time, YouTube demonetized my whole channel, and I tried to appeal the decision multiple times, but it didn't fix anything. So I pretty much stopped making videos on that account. Then in 2023, I made a new account and uploaded my first videos, which were me playing SurfCurse's "Freaks" on bass. A lot of my content is music or wildlife related, not anything that would be popular in the YouTube algorithm.

But I decided that although I'm not in college anymore, I am still smart, I can still make good points about things. I love researching and writing essays, and my weakness is that I lose track of my thoughts or genuinely can't talk to people anymore. Maybe it's from my Dad, always being so argumentative, but never open to debate or changing his mind. He made me feel like nothing I said would ever be good enough to challenge anyone's ideas. I only recently realized how bad it was when I was at work and my co-worker Kevin asked me why I flip some of the lids upside down when covering some of the food in the sandwich department. I told him that when there's too much food, like vegetables or cheese, in one of the tins, the lid actually covers more when it's upside down; because the ridges of the lid aren't lifted off of the edges of the tin, the lid is stable on the container instead of lifted, balancing on the food, letting the cold out. It's hard to explain without an image.. so I'll try and get a picture when I go into work today. The next day or so when he covers the sandwich line, I see him flipping some of the lids upside down. I said something like, "...did you actually listen to what I said?" And he said, "yeah, it made sense." He will never know how much that means to me. It feels like I'm speaking a different language, so when someone understands it, it genuinely stuns me. And then the other day, this woman asked me about our pre-made pizza doughs. She asked if we had anymore classic pizza doughs, because they were sold out on the cold case. Usually this means no, but I remembered we sold packs that had the sauce, cheese and toppings included for a homemade pizza. She saw it and said "oh this is perfect! It's better than what I was looking for, and cheaper! Thank you." I felt so good about that, I seriously didn't even know how to respond. I said "oh you're welcome! Thank you! Have a good night!" But it meant so much more than just those words.

So anyway... my point is I might actually enjoy making YouTube video essays, in an edited and easily digestible format, where I'll be able to edit out any quirks and I'll have a loose script to help me stay on track while talking. Just an idea. Maybe I'll be able to save the rant for the end of the video this time!

[shinglescat]

Man, im enjoying semaglutide.

Obv no prescription, because endo told me to get fucked and "tHiNk oF uR fUtuRe cHiLdREn". Yeah, aint happening, now please give me prescription? No, get rekt.

Went to a drugstore back in september and just asked for a generic, shoulda done it earlier instead of trying to jump thru the hoops with the endo for three fucking weeks. It's not Oz or Wegovy, it's Queensenta, the local stuff that's also luckily a ton cheaper. Started with 0.25, continued for two weeks and felt like I need more, so i had increased the dose. Stayed on 0.5 for the whole month after because i was scared of "the consequences and side effects" at first, tho honestly i shoulda jumped onto full dose after the full month on the drug, cuz I almost had no side effects except for the mild nausea after the injection.

Feeling like a human now, im honestly happy to trade the constant food noise and cravings for the permanent dull nausea. I can't believe i can now put away food without trying to finish everything, holy shit, even sweets are safe from me now, i don't have this burning desire to finish every snack i can find at home. Bitch, I don't even have the food dreams anymore, I don't even think of food as much as I used to. I don't have to fight myself anymore, the temptation is nearly nonexisting. I'm actually having fun eating now. One time, it took me 40 fucking minutes to finish a roll of sushi instead of my previous 5 minutes. I consciously order smaller portions when eating out cuz I know i won't be able to finish anything bigger. Oh, and when you fuck up and eat more than you can handle or you eat incompatible foods, but mostly eat more than you can handle - it's fuck around and find out time - the nausea and heartburn are so bad, you start to actively avoid this kinda situations. Fasting is all fun and games, but i aint doing that again, that's like actively trying to torture oneself.

Sibutramine was good, but not this good. I mean, they work in different ways, and I'm definitely keeping it in my arsenal, but you have to be fully conscious to fix the feeding behavior, and it doesn't guarantee you won't overeat, and it only lasts for 8 hours, while semaglutide takes care of everything while not making you fucking miserable. I'll be leaving sibutramine for emergencies, such as grandparents visits lmao, or when i need to work but i lack any focus and i need the adhd to stfu.

Anyways, really happy to not have to fight myself anymore, feels great to be normal.

The only major thing I have that isn't on the side effects for semaglutide is... it somehow made my spastic diplegia worse, I'm now having a constant back pain, and when I'd increased the dose to 0.5, it resulted in a really bad spasm situation, to the point where i couldn't walk at all. I thought those were kidneys, but nope, the spasms went up my back. So maybe take care if you have cerebral palsy, cuz the oral drugs take A WHILE to take effect with slowed down gastric emptying, up to three hours for me to feel anything from tizanidine. Still, i'd rather have constant back pain.

So far i'm positive about this helping me fix the decades of fucked up eating behavior.

[elfira]

trying to be aileen in a world full of alice

It's monday evening, September 30. I am at the library, doing some assignments, and also will work on the thesis (which I am very anxious for). September feels odd, really. Nothing big really happened, everything was just the same. Except people are progressing more than me, I guess. Some of my friends already did their proposal defense. Yet I'm still working on revising my own proposal, which I haven't even started yet cause I have this side of me who would throw up everytime I open the document. Idk. It's just scary. I'll try to remind myself that everything is okay, that revising is not something horror, that I can actually do it and it'll pass. But here I am, writing a not-worth to post writing now. I started to read again, cause I feel like I should feel again. It's been a long time since something really make me think and feel at the same time. The last entertainment I had was that one series called Presumed Innocent on Apple TV and I didn't even finished it yet. Ted Lasso was there as well, and I was also planning to make a tribute post to the series as it was really helping me a lot through stuffs. So, I read books again, tried the Beach Read, which seems like what everyone else's reading. I think it's okay, not intriguing so I haven't continued to read again. I also tried to read the historical fiction by a German author that was suggested by an online friend I talked to in Discord, which then I realized I had watched a movie adapted from the book. I of course have not continued cause it is 'historical'. So then, I tried to read a book from Sally Rooney, 'A Beautiful World, Where Are You?'. I like te book. Back then, Normal People would be relatable for me in some aspects. I think this book relates me in more aspects. And that's the only reason why I still read it. Well anyway, apart from reading book, I started cooking for myself. Cause it's cheaper I guess. And I can finally eat beefs without feeling bad cause Yoshinoya's very expensive and I can't spend more than $4 a day. But then I discovered this frozen beef on Shopee and I can cook it for like 3 times. Basically $1 for a plate. Nice offer.

This month I explored more and I found myself new people again. Someone who lives in Portugal, someone who's just mas-mas biasa, and this interesting same age guy from Tangerang. The one from Portugal is just like Felix from France (his name is not actually Felix in case he found out I have a blog) except that he's like, pretty introverted I would say. He's sort of nerd, he plays game, and he doesn't party. While Felix is more like a celebrity and friendly to everyone. Not gonna lie, but I still have a soft heart for this Felix guy. He's a good guy and we're friends.

The mas-mas biasa, let's call him Jack (it's supposed to be Jaka cause he's Javanese, but still it's not his real name). Jack is a normal guy I suppose, he works as a consultant in a politic kind of thing for the election. He's okay but he's too mas mas for me, you know what I mean? It's just our tastes and personality is different. And I don't think friendship can last long if it's not because we are the same.

The last one is this special friend called Pop. Pop is his real internet name, by the way. While I'm writing this, I still have not known his name yet, or maybe I will not even know his name even. So Pop, is a... cool, artsy, somewhat annoying (you know what kind of annoying I mean), and edgy typa guy???? I really don't know how to describe him, but yeah, he is cool. Like coooool. He's a student of Film & Television? I don't really know anything about him but he seems like a really really great guy. We shared a lot about ourselves, but still, it feels like I've only known him from the surface just yet. He's chill, he's smart, he's open minded. He likes Tottenham Spurs, he said. He's cute.

[totentnz]

oc duo game gimme

bea and vs

😇- What's their best trait?

👿- What's their worst trait?

vs and vg

🧠- What's your best memory with them? Worst?

👁️- Do you really know them?

👥- What are they to you?

OC Duo Answers Ask Game

it's been a few weeks since vincent guerra had proposed to batsheva cohen, the possibility of this happening had never crossed her mind, which made it all the more freakish to v. her best friend was about to get married and while she was happy for him things would change even more now - or perhaps they wouldn't, nobody knew.

the planning had started and one of the things that needed to be done was interviews: a bunch of questions for all their friends, a little something to remember these exciting times by. the newlyweds will watch this video during the reception.

of course this included v, she wasn't excited about it but she would do it - for them. this is a part of said interview.

"what's bea's best trait?"

"she got a bangin' body, i guess?" v replied, followed by an exhausted sigh from behind the camera. she sat up straight and fixed her smirk.

"bea's determined, knows what she wants - sometimes anyway. protects what's hers. don't care 'bout that psycho shit, comes with the territory, i'm guessin'."

"okay. and her worst trait?"

"hah!" v pointed at the camera. "nice try, buddy, not fallin' for that one." there was silence in the room now, v hated that so she decides to fill it.

"fine. she needs to get it in 'er fuckin' head i don't wanna fuck that twink o' hers. had my chance, didn't want it back then - don't want it now."

"share some memories of you and v. let's start with a good one."

"okay, cut. can i smoke in here?" she asked but was already reaching into her pockets to pull out said smokes.

"you want me to pick just one?" she put the cigarette between her lips and lit it.

"one good memory?" she took her first drag. "that's my best friend."

"say that then." the camera person replied.

"nah, fuck that! i'm not sayin' that shit on camera!" she the hand holding the cigarette in front of her face in dismissal. "this better not make it into the final cut."

"your worst memory then."

"there was this one time -" v stopped herself from continuing. "nah, can't say that. inappropriate."

"oh, so suddenly you care?"

"yeah! i can change for the better!"

"doubt that. this story will put you in a bad light, won't it?"

v didn't reply, which was a sufficient answer.

"c'mon you gotta tell it now! don't be a fuckin' baby." the interviewer egged her on.

"fine! fine! must'a been nine maybe even ten years ago now. v and i were living in this house down in san-domo, along with a bunch of other people." she paused for a moment and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.

"one night we are hanging out with two other guys when suddenly the three of them start making out? long story short he got all the action and i fucked off to my room. worst day of my life not gonna lie."

"you were right this is inappropriate."

"think you know him? like for real?"

"okay this is startin' to become so fuckin' borin'." she sighed and looked up to the ceiling, muttering something under her breath.

"we're almost done. just answer the fuckin' question."

"i've seen his asshole more times than i can count. does that answer your fuckin' question?"

"no."

"we used to help each other wax, it's cheaper that way."

"what does he mean to you?"

she groaned again, anxious to get up, she's been sitting still for way too long.

"i'm here, ain't i? i'm 'bout to attend his fuckin' wedding, his holy unity in front of the eyes of god - or whatever the fuck jews call it." she leaned forward and began chewing her nail.

"been here for the past ten years an' plan to be around much longer - am hopin' he will attend my funeral at least."