#I HAVE THOUGHTS I HAVE OPINIONS I HAVE READ ALL THE EXTRAS BUT SJs BECAUSE I WAS GETTING TOO EXCITED

[torchstelechos]

Grabbing the SVSSS fandom in a chokehold, do you guys know that I fully one hundred percent think that SQQ, SY, and SJ are different characters within the meta narrative because of the fact of how the story is structured for our main character? I understand that SQQ is a courtesy name and has actual culture reason for it but because of how our characters come to be SQQ I find myself thinking that all three of them are separate characters and thus why I usually differentiate them when speaking about them in posts

[midnyghtmadnes]

Thoughts

So... I finished SVSSS. Gonna just stream out my thoughts. Will be long cause I wanna cover all my final opinions. Then I’ll shut up about it lol.

So, all in all, the novel was enjoyable and fun. Definitely can't say I have the same emotional investment in the characters as I do in MDZS though, except SY, he's my favorite.

To start, I guess this is where fanfics will come into play, but I want more SY and Airplane interactions. They're the only two that can truly understand the other's situation and I think that’d make for a lot of interesting and fun interactions. Though at the same time it's also funny how they have that understanding but their current relationship is basically just like, not a love-hate relationship. But a.. somewhat camaraderie I'll help ya out maybe if you need it-but I also don't particularly like you, relationship. Still, I am falling onto the Cucumberplane wagon (not in a shippy way though).

As for MBJ and Airplane.. I just wish the novel went into the status of their relationship after everything that happened. SQH was constantly stressed out by him and seemed to have had his share of beatings from MBJ. I saw shipping stuff with them as I was reading it and I was like.. ehhhh? At that point the only connection I knew was that MBJ was the one who was supposed to kill him, so I was like ?? Where did that come from. By the end of the extras, I wanna say I'm on board with it lol, but I just wish we saw more.

Tianlang-Jun and Zhuzhi-Lang... :( I love them and am really sad for them. And yes, I do constantly forget that ZZL killed Gongyi Xiao (who I liked a lot), but come on. He's snek Wen Ning and you can't tell me otherwise. I also actually like Shen Jiu's character. Which is kinda funny thinking about it, cause for example I know many ppl find JGY to be a sympathetic villain, and while I can understand, I still hate him lol. But SJ, who feels very similar to JGY in some ways, I find him really interesting and want to explore him more (that's what fanfics are for ayyy). Funny how all the antagonists of this story caught my eye lol. I didn't care for any of the villains in MDZS in terms of nuance (not that they were poorly written, but they just weren't the Type™ I fall for). But SV managed to get me to want to know more about all of them.

Bingqiu final assessment.... complete indifference. It wasn't as terrible as it could've been, and the extras did make it better, but idk. I flipped flopped a lot as I was reading regarding whether I was okay with it. The 50s chapters, no. Then it got better. Then chapter 80 happened and I was just.... it was genuinely painful getting through that chapter lol. I was constantly pausing and just.. collecting myself. Then the extras and I was like, hmmm it seems.. ok I guess. But I still think it's not the healthiest relationship. You can’t tell me his spiel in chapter 79 isn’t still a total guilt trip. Xin Mo exacerbates his negative emotions, it doesn’t make them up. He’s also constantly jealous even in the extras, making comments of suspicion on the slightest things and just wanting SQQ’s attention for himself. His whole world revolves around SY, and that’s just not a healthy thing for any relationship. It’s undeniably obsessive, and while I don’t see LBH acting on his jealousy, I think that’s only because “it’d make Shizun sad” and not because it goes against his morality. I think LBM is just as capable of doing messed up stuff (murder, torture, etc.) as LBG.

I also just feel like there's something that just doesn't connect between SY in the whole novel, and SY in the extras. By chapter 78 he still did not seem particularly reciprocative of LBH's advances. And even within the extras he's very no-touchy and anti-PDA. He tends to refuse LBH’s requests for intimate moments (until the crocodile tears guilt him into doing what LBH wants) and overall is easily embarrassed, like he's not confident in this relationship. I think at the least more lines of buildup should’ve been added, particularly in moments where it was just the two of them.

And you know what also kinda bugs me about it? I dislike how much the story pushed on that SY was confidently straight since birth. If you want to convince me that the initially ‘straight’/uninterested character ends up falling for another guy, just don’t push it so hard in my face contradicting that. Wei Ying flirted with girls, cool yeah. But the novel never gave the impression he was completely closed off to the idea. With how WY is written, I can totally see him being bi. But SY is more like, well I somehow ended up raising the ML as gay but hey that’s not so bad I guess, at the last minute. I can't say I ship LiuShen either, but I can definitely see the appeal when the canon alternative may easily not float your boat. Nothing beats Wangxian in my heart though 💕

As I expected, am sad with how the relationship with Cang Qiong Mountain ended up. I mean I guess it wasn't necessarily on bad terms, but basically his other disciples are left without their shizun and the sect's whole familial relationship is scattered. I guess it's because I appreciate Wangxian staying in the Cloud Recesses, having this space of theirs and the Jingshi that they can call home. I read the fanfics that have LWJ making WY a lotus pond out front and just their beautiful domestic post-canon life. I love that they can go out night hunting with the juniors. They can go out and travel, just the two of them, when they want. They could retire one day if they wanted. But they'll also always have a family to come back to. LQR begrudgingly accepting WY in time. The bread and butter that is Yunmeng bros reconciliation. Bingqiu.. doesn't really have anything like that. For instance, Liu Qingge and LBH are on terms that I don't feel could ever be recuperated the way WWX and JC could. I don't think Bingqiu could ever stay at CQM in complete comfort. So that's just a little sad.

Also is it just me who, when reading, would always imagine TLJ with short hair, even tho nobody ever has short hair in these novels lol.

Anyway lol, I think that about covers everything I can think of. If you got this far, you the real one ✌🏼

[tossawary]

Hi! So, when I read the most recent commentary and you brought up SQH/SJ, I thought that was best since I never expected you to have that idea! But then you mentioned the MBJ/SQH/SJ prompt and I suddenly got hit with a flashback so... uh, in my defense I have an agenda?! A certain someone(s) made me invested on their relationship in any shape or form and since you said to hit you up, I threw them and added MBJ for spice! Almost thought I was ignored because of how completely out of nowhere pt 1

it must have seen lol, but, guess here we are now, so, yeah, sorry for the whiplash and dragging you to the hellhole that is /rare parings/ *shudders* the fact that you’re just considering it just feels me with excitement! Would love to see your take on it! Love your work and all! Anyway, yeah, good luck with the remix! You can do it!! pt 2

Haha, I’ve had rarepairs before. They are fun! 

MBJ/SQH/SJ just surprised me because that’s a configuration I hadn’t really thought about it it’s interesting to think about how that could plausibly work. Because I think it can plausibly work! Which is interesting! 

I’m generally not a fan of most OT3s, especially rare ones (which often feel more random than anything else, or straight-up without the necessary chemistry on at least one front, in my opinion), because I feel the “poly solution” can sometimes skip over all of the extra work of a relationship like that. Even just from an author’s perspective, there’s a lot more going on to juggle! Instead of just A/B, it’s A/B + B/C + C/A + A/B/C as a whole! 

MBJ/SQH/SJ (and SQH/SJ by themselves) jumps out at me as interesting because of all the ugly edges. For me, there’s no going into MBJ/SQH, SQH/SJ, or MBJ/SQH/SJ without at least some acknowledgement of the sharp edges and the complexity and the work of that relationship. 

Anyway, yes, I got the prompt! Sometimes I can’t get to prompts immediately (I only have so much time to write!) and sometimes I’m in the mood for something else, so I’ll ask for different prompts and it might look like I’ve completely ignored the ask, but I did get it and I’m definitely thinking about it! 

Thanks! 

[dc41896]

Perfect

Hey guys👋🏾! So I saw in the video from the recent USO live chat that Chris said if he wasn’t acting, he’d be doing something where he has to work with his hands a lot and thus here we are lol! Hope you like it😊!

Pairing: Builder!Chris EvansxBlack Reader

⚠️: Slight angst, fluff

“Ohh this one is pretty! What do you think Ivy?,” you ask lying the lilac onesie against your swollen abdomen. With only a month left until your due date, you finally decided to try to organize your closet to accommodate her growing collection of clothes.

Although tiny, the amount of outfits and other supplies bought by you, your fiancé, and both sets of your family and friends warranted her own room really, but being stuck with your quaint one bedroom apartment the small plastic dresser in your closet would have to do.

“I’ll tell you this baby girl, you are definitely spoiled already.”

“And your grandparents wouldn’t have it any other way,” you hear from behind paired with the light thud of work boots hitting the floor. “Can’t blame them entirely though, me and your mom might have had something to do with that too.”

“You’re home early.”

“Yea the floors didn’t take as long as we thought they would.”

Kissing your cheek, he notices the box of diapers you were currently trying to move with your foot but not getting far. Bending down reaching for the cutout handle, he moves your hands beating you to the box before placing it with the others. “Here babe let me get that. Remember the doctor said-,”

“I know what he said Chris. I’m the one who told you what he said since you weren’t there remember?”

You didn’t mean for it to come out as bitter as it did, but you also couldn’t hide your frustration anymore. He was always a perfectionist when it came to his work. From the paint to the furniture placement, and even the plants outside, he never wanted a client to walk in seeing anything out of place or thinking he didn’t care about what he did.

You understood and loved how much he cared, but with your heightened emotions and the fact that this was a pretty important time in both of your lives, him not being there broke your heart a little more each time it happened.

“Y/N, I know I haven’t been around like I want to and I’m sorry, but it’s just I really want this house to be perfect.”

“I know you do, but I’d also like for you to actually see her moving on the screen rather than me tell you what happened. Or hear her heartbeat in person.”

Grabbing your sides, he gently pulls you closer bringing his calloused yet soft hands up to cradle your face and graze his thumbs against your cheek while peering into your eyes.

“I promise you things will be different as soon as everything’s done. Then I’ll be at every appointment and by your side so much you’ll be sick of me,” he smiles.

“You really shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” Sliding out of his grip, you make your way to the kitchen, hands rubbing the base of your belly as he follows close behind.

“It’s not my fault this all had to happen while you’re pregnant.”

“I know.”

“Really? Could’ve fooled me,” he sighs, back leaning against the counter watching you remove different items from the fridge trying to put something together for dinner.

There’s silence as you chop bell peppers to sauté in the pan slowly heating up on the stove. You could feel his eyes still on you though as you moved about getting different seasonings and other tools to help make your meal, but you refused to say a word.

“Guess I’ll go shower then,” he states under his breath ready to leave so you could have the space you clearly needed.

“What’s so different about this house?”

“What do you mean?”

“Every other build you’ve done you’re telling me any and every detail about it and even a little about who it’s for,” you explain still focused on the sizzling pan in front of you. “This one, you haven’t said one thing about it other than you finished the floors today. Then you’re rushing out the room to take secret calls and working later than usual, which makes me believe this house must be something special.”

“I haven’t really had the time to tell you since I’ve been so busy.”

“...sure you’re not just trying to bury yourself in your work?” Hearing your sniffles, he walks up behind you turning you around to see your glossy eyes as tears begin to fall. “I mean I know I’m a bit more emotional and probably more annoying-,”

“Shh, stop,” he softly speaks wiping away your tears and hugging you close to his body. “You’re not annoying and I’m definitely not burying myself in my work. If I could, I’d spend every second with you doing anything you want.”

“You say that now, but I’m sure you’d think different after.”

“Nope. Never.”

Bringing your hand up to his lips, he kisses the diamond on your finger before moving to your lips making them move together as if they were part of a passionate dance.

“You’re gonna make me burn dinner. Again,” you smile resting your forehead against his.

“Sorry,” he chuckles leaving one last peck on your lips. Letting you turn back around, his chin sits on your shoulder and hand lightly rubs up and down your belly as he helps with the remainder of the meal.

———

The following week, Chris finally finished the house and couldn’t wait to give you a tour through the bare home. He was practically glowing with excitement each day leading up to the weekend, when you both agreed he could show you.

Driving through busy streets and backroads shaded by canopy trees, you eventually arrive in the driveway of a grey house trimmed in white with pillars of the same color. On the wrap around porch sat two dark brown rocking chairs seemingly waiting for someone to rest in them, while bunches of orange and yellow chrysanthemums were planted in the flower beds just below it. Carefully stepping out of the black Ford truck, with his help, a small smile forms on your lips as you look from the building to your future husband.

“What?,” he shyly asks nervously fidgeting with his hands.

“Nothing, just amazed again by what you do. And also wondering what made you chose to plant my favorite flower?”

“Guess you were stuck on my mind,” he winks kissing your lips before grabbing your hand and leading you up the steps to the door.

Your footsteps against the dark hardwood and Chris’ voice echo throughout the empty house as he takes you to every room, noting how the furniture would be placed once it arrived and asking your opinion on how it would look. Walking down the hall, he points out the master and guest bedrooms pausing in front of the last door with his hand on the knob.

“I’ll tell you now, I did this room all by myself so go easy on me okay?,” he states making you giggle.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s just as beautiful as the rest of the house.” Slowly opening the door, you notice it to be the only furnished room in the house with a grey crib, dresser, changing station, and cloth rocking chair all matching in color.

“Aww babe! Why didn’t you tell me they were expecting a baby too?”

Black butterfly stencils staggered along the pink wall above the crib, seeing the teddy bears placed on top of the changing table instantly draw your hands to your stomach as you become even more excited for your own bundle to come into the world.

“I uh also got them an extra little present from us,” he states opening the top drawer to reveal a folded baby blanket covered in clouds. “Think it’s okay?”

“Yea it’s-,” you start as you notice the shine of golden letters embroidered in the corner. Stepping closer to him, Chris can feel his heart pounding in his ears as he watches you read what’s been sewn on the blanket and look at him confused.

“Why does it have Ivy’s on it?”

“Because it’s hers, along with everything else in here.”

Words seemed to be something foreign to your brain as you continued to stare at the man in front of you wondering if he was being serious.

“Wha-? How-?”

“Grandma Peggy left this land to me in her will and I always planned to build a house on it but never got around to it. When little Ivy came in the picture though, I thought now was the perfect time.”

As you scan the room holding onto the blanket, he starts to feel a bit scared from your silence.

“W-We can always change stuff around though if you don’t like it,” he stammers rubbing the back of his neck. “Like maybe the crib can-,”

Unable to complete his words, he feels your arms wrap around his neck as your lips press against his moving in perfect sync.

“It’s perfect!”

“Really? You think so? It’s okay if you want to change anything I swear.”

“No I promise I love it how it is,” you giggle kissing him again. “I love everything, thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me love. I’m gonna do anything I can for the both of you to make sure you’re taken care of, and nothing will stop that.”

“I know, which makes me feel worse about thinking you were purposely trying to stay away,” you sniffle looking down at the blanket in your hands.

“Well, it didn’t help that I wasn’t being as open as usual.”

“But still I shouldn’t have even let my mind go in that direction and I’m sorry.” Wiping your tears away, he lies your head on his chest rubbing soothing circles on your back.

“That’s in the past okay? Now we focus on what comes our way next,” he smiles to which you nod your head wrapping your arms around his waist and enjoying breathing in his scent as you both stand in the peaceful quiet.

“So you really love everything? Be honest.”

“So much that if I wasn’t pregnant, I probably would be in the morning,” you bite your lip looking up to see his raised brow and amused expression.

“Looks like you might be getting another sibling soon Ivy,” he whispers down towards your stomach making you laugh.

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeychicanawrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for, or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

[fantastic-multistan-bxtch]

I’m answering all these just to have some info bout me and whatnot. Shoutout to @peachykibum who has a new blog when you click on their account. Thank you for these!!!🎵👏✨😊🤩❤️

Just a heads up next post will be the shit ton of artists I know. & Yes in this I do have a lot of the same artists as answers.

K-Pop Ask Game

What was the first song you heard by your bias group? When did you hear it? : FANTASTIC BABY by BIG BANG. Around my birthday and my moms bday. She was in Cali at the time getting medical help. I was on the phone reacting to her reaction while she watched the music video. Was thought to be a phase but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be apart of it for me. RIP Mama and 9 years later here I am so NOT a phase lmao💜💔.

List your top 5 favorite k-pop groups. : SHINee, BIG BANG, f(x), 2NE1 & SUPER JUNIOR. From the beginning💙🖤💜💖💚

Who is your ultimate bias and why? : I gotta say G-DRAGON the Kwon Jiyong. The Peace Minus One man himself. Runner Ups are Jay Park, Key, & CL, etc it’s hard.

Has a k-pop song or music video ever made you cry? : Yes. Can’t remember a music video, but Peter Pan by EXO, Baby Don’t Cry by Daesung. Idk what else.

Name your top 10 favorite k-pop albums. : ALIVE-BIG BANG, MADE-BIG BANG, Pink Tape-f(x), DREAM GIRL: The Misconceptions of You-SHINee, DARK & WILD-BTS, 130 Mood: TRBL-DEAN, COUP D’ÉTAT-GD, RED TAPE-H1GHR COMPLIATION, EVOLUTION-Jay Park, Sexy, Free & Single-Super Junior. (Extra because I have to!!! CRUSH-2NE1)

Who is the funniest idol in your opinion? : Honestly either Key, many in SJ, Jay Park, Amber, BM, Jessi, TOP, idk they are all so funny I can’t remember all of them.

What is your favorite k-pop choreo? : Ohhhh hard one!!!! I mean HyunA Change, Bang Bang Bang by BB, so many from SJ and GG, and I am the best 2NE1, Nunu Nana Jessi; I really CANNOT choose one! And that’s not even all of them! The iconic ones aren’t all here!

Put your playlist on shuffle and list the first 5 songs that play. : What playlist? Kpop playlist? I’m unsure so right now I’m listening to : ‘We Be Wildin’ Jay Park x Yultron feat. HAON~

What is your favorite k-drama that any k-pop idol has played a part in? : The Liar and His Lover!!!! Joy was amazing!!!

What is your favorite OST by a k-pop group/idol? : My Romeo by Jessi for Cinderella and the Four Knights!!

List your top 10 bias wreckers. : Aww shit the people who need to STAY IN THEIR LANE. JK omg lmao. Daesung BIG BANG, Jonghyun SHINee, Kai EXO, June IKON, Jooheon MonstaX, P.O. BLOCK B, Siwon Super Junior, BamBam GOT7, V BTS, FELIX Stray Kids.

What is the oldest group that you stan? : That would be Super Junior.

What is the youngest group you stan? : Stray Kids I’m pretty sure.

Do you have a favorite music video of all time? If so, what? : Omfg. Either Fantastic Baby BB, BANG BANG BANG BB, Everybody SHINee, Ring Ding Dong SHINee, SPY SUPER JUNIOR. Etc I really can’t choose one huh?

What is the most underrated/under-appreciated group you stan? : Honestly I’m not sure at all on this one because I probably don’t know that they are I mean I think I know some but I don’t know who to say.

How long have you been listening to k-pop? : Alrighty here’s the story! I randomly found and watched SHINee’s Ring Ding Dong in 2010 but it wasn’t until PSY went viral in 2012 that I really got into Kpop finding SHINee again and f(x) and BB and SJ and GG and 2NE1 and Jay Park all first etc.

Do you have a favorite k-pop blog? If so, tag them. : I do not sorry!!!

Do you own any k-pop albums? If so, how many? : Sadly no it was thought to be just a phase by my family so I wasn’t ever really allowed to get anything but now I have merch. And hopefully I will be getting a few of my favorites irl at least.

Name the top 5 groups you’d like to see live. : Well I already saw BIG BANG so, if I can’t include soloists here’s my list. KARD, SHINee, BLOCK B, STRAY KIDS, and does H1GHR artists count?

Who is your favorite soloist? : Hahaha easy Jay Park! Runner Ups are no doubt HyunA, DEAN, Amber, CL, ZICO, Lee Hi, Jackson Wang, Jessi, Eric Nam, MINO, Bobby, & Suga. Haha sorry at least I didn’t add them all.

Are there any k-pop songs that you can sing or dance to? If so, which ones? : Heck Yes!!! Sing-🎙Dance-💃🏼: The Promise Jay Park🎙, Hello Bitches CL🎙💃🏼, +5 STAR+ CL🎙, Nalina Block B🎙💃🏼, Gotta Talk to U Seungri😑🎙, La La La BB🎙, Number 1 BB🎙, BIG BANG BB🎙, FXXK IT BB🎙, BANG BANG BANG BB🎙💃🏼, Bonnie & Clyde DEAN🎙, RUNAWAY GD🎙, I am the Best 2ne1 🎙💃🏼, Metronome Jay Park🎙, Missing You 2ne1🎙, Bonamana SJ🎙, Promise You K.R.Y.🎙, This is Love SJ🎙, R.O.D. GD🎙, YOU DO GD🎙, Hitchhiking SHINee🎙, Love Scenario IKON🎙, Oppa Oppa SJ D&E🎙, HyunA Change💃🏼, Electric Shock f(x)💃🏼, NUNU NANA💃🏼, some PSY, SHINee, and other SJ and Jay Park songs.

Is there an idol you’d like to hug? If so, who? : That’s hard af um everyone? But honestly Jay Park, BM, Jessi, Chan, Leeteuk, Amber, GD, Daesung, Leo, Taemin, idk who else. 😅🤗

What groups do you like that have either disbanded or disappeared? : As I’ve listed above even though they have; 2NE1, f(x), JJCC??, Wonder Girls, idk who else.

What idol do you think you have the most in common with? : I know I’ve said all of them for multiple questions but of course I did because they are Kwon Jiyong (GD), Jay Park, Key, Yesung, Amber, Jessi, & that’s it I’m pretty sure.

If you could hang out with any of your biases, who would you pick and why? : WHO??? WHY?? As you can tell that is not a question to ask ME!!! The answer is my answers to numbers 6 and 22 and 24!!!! Ahahaha why? Because those questions answer why pretty much sorry I answer this way my mind is a MESS.

Thank you if you actually read all of this! I really wanna make friends on here for Kpop and etc so it’d be really great! Check out my bio for my main blog!!!

[bunnimm]

Hypothesis: Jikook/Kookmin Timeline

In this post I am going to try and write down a KM timeline based on the material available to us and guesswork to connect it. I agree with a lot of other supporters in many aspects and therefore this won’t be too different from anything you’ve read before, except for some minor details perhaps. None of this should be taken as truth as it is simply a hypothesis from my perspective and mostly for me to collect my thoughts by writing it down. Basing your own opinion on various sources of information, views of people with different perspectives and also being prepared to let what you believe be challenged is a healthy way of going about this I think. We can guess, discuss and make hypotheses but not claim any truth unless it comes from KM themselves. But let’s celebrate the love we do see.

Here we go! 

2013/2014:

I won’t go into too much detail here as I agree with most other KM supporters and I don’t really feel the need to chip in on the rediculous dislike trope that was created back then and still gets mentioned today. What we can see in material from around this time is a very nervous JK not knowing how to react to JM wanting to spread love and give the maknae love, sometimes in very extra ways. When I use the word extra it’s not with a negative connotation at all but simply a way to describe how JM sometimes showed love to JK in very out-there ways and how he reacted to it. 

If JK had developed a crush on or feelings for JM his reactions, that look like rejection, make a lot of sense to me but was probably confusing for the latter sometimes as we have some reason to believe that the maknae acted a bit differently at the dorm. I don’t know if JM simply saw JK as a younger brother at this point and tried to ease his nervousness with more love or if he too struggled with how to express his feelings and it came out rather enthusiastically. This whole period feels careful, confusing and experimental to me.

2015:

In footage from the beginning of the year we can see a JK that is a bit less nervous as well as a less extra JM. What implemented this change could be numerous things. In an interview (around 19:10) in May JM is asked why he likes the maknae so much. His answer deflects a bit from his previous enthusiastic ones and this time he simply implies that “he is cute because he is the maknae” while JK looks very interested in knowing the answer. What happens after is also interesting. The reason behind the younger showing less nervousness and dropping his guard a bit during this time could be the fact that he was starting to become more relaxed around his hyungs and perhaps more comfortable with his own feelings. JM’s actions however are usually a lot more difficult to read. 

Around the summer of 2015 I, like many others, believe that there was a change in KM’s dynamics. Some speculate that this switch occurred around the time JM had an accident/fainted at a fan meeting in Japan and I can definitely see that being a possibility. The less nervous JK, who sometimes even responded to JM showing him love, that we begin to see this year was perhaps driven to be more straight forward with how he felt because of this event. He may have vocalized it or something else could’ve happened that made it undeniable. I have also explored the thought of JM’s feelings not being parallel with JK’s at first and truly just seeing him as a younger brother to dote on (in his flirty ways) and as I mentioned previously he can be difficult to read. They met six years ago which is a lot of time for feelings to evolve and that evolution doesn’t have to be linear, or parallel I should say. Nothing is simply black or white. 

However, I think it’s safe to say that there is an apparent difference in how KM act with each other if we compare the first half of 2015 to the second half. It’s particularly obvious on JK’s part I would say as he is suddenly initiating a lot more of the moments between them, be it back hugs or what could be considered flirting. This moment (0:30 and onwards) from the end of August happened right after this switch I think. JK’s stare is very deliberate and he doesn’t flinch or avert his gaze as JM looks back at him. JM’s face says even more. At first he has a more serious or surprised look on his face and when he smiles it’s not a goofy smile but an affectionate one before they both snap out of it. 

The rest of the year contains a different type of flirty banter and comfortable skinship compared to what we can find in earlier years. Just to give you a few more examples of often mentioned KM moments from this “year of change” we have the Christmas Live with HopeJiKook, this vlog from MAMA and JK being rather upset when someone thinks he doesn’t like JM in this Live from Thailand (he also seems to want everyone to hear him tell JM how pretty his eyes are). Since these are only a few of the more popular moments please feel free to leave an ask if anything else around this time, or any time on the timeline, caught your eye that you want to discuss. 

So, one of my guesses would be that some type of confessions or expressions of feelings/attraction took place this year. This was three years ago so the question I have, and they might have had, would be: what’s next? 

2016: 

This is where it gets difficult for me to even make guesses. I have a hard time connecting certain things and I’m gonna try and explain why. 

If we imagine that KM confessed to having feelings for each other in 2015 then naturally the next step would be to get into a relationship or start dating, right? Well, maybe for most people it is but I don’t agree with that. I’m not going to use the word “dating” on my blog as that is something that’s not really used where I come from and I’m a bit wary of the definition. But that’s not my main point. 

The thing is, since I am quite new here I am still not too familiar with the idol industry, how management works, economics, scandals, dating culture, enlistment, you name it. And even if I was, what BTS is doing has never been done before. What they are going through together is unimaginable and no matter how much some try to analyze every moment and every second captured on camera we only get to see what they choose to share with us. I am beyond grateful for everything the choose to share with us. They are going through this together but they are also individuals with layers. From my perspective, the communication we have seen between the members and what they have shown us of themselves makes me think of the lyrics in “Sea” but I am going to switch around the words. Where there is despair, there is hope. 

Do I believe that a same-sex relationship in this unimaginable situation is impossible? No, I do not. But we have to consider what this would mean and the problem for me is that it’s hard to imagine what would happen behind the scenes. However, this healthy communication is partially what’s giving me hope just as I mentioned above. Now we have to include BigHit in this. Say and believe what you want about what’s going on right now but I would like to believe that there is care between the company and the members. Especially care about their health but they also care enough to recommend LGBTQ+ MVs to their artists and have NJ going from describing love “between a man and a woman” to “between a person and a person”. Even if that was a personal choice I don’t think it’s a reach to believe that these matters have been and are being discussed within the company. 

So how would KM be approached by the members and the company? I really don’t know, but I am going to try and make a guess. Let’s say that the rest of the members and also the company/Bang PD were made aware of what was happening between KM as it happened. I believe that the care they have for them would result in the wish to protect but also wanting to see them loved and happy. Perhaps 2016 was the year of trying to see how they can do both but also for JM and JK to explore their feelings with each other, what they want, what works for them, what would be healthy/safe for everyone involved in this situation and what makes them happy. Apart from this I would guess that boundaries and agreements were set to make sure that KM could explore safely. 

I can imagine that this is why it’s hard to connect and analyze a lot of the moments from this year. Uncertainty, caution, tension and love all mixed up in a big blender that was this year. I’m going to finish of 2016 by mentioning some popular moments that all have a mix of these. The flirty epilogue Live, the “I’ll be your future boyfriend”, nuances in Bon Voyage season 1, Run episode 12, JM and SJ reacting to JK and this JinJiKook Live. The last two have the common factor of JM complaining about JK acting differently towards him or not coming to him when he asks. These occur in two different halves of the year and could simply be teasing or something more significant. This along with all the other lovely KM moments of 2016 are the reasons I remain confused as reasons far from any guesses I could make are possible.

2017:  

Now last year was a lot in many ways. After the confusion of 2016 I am still confused but there is also this new sense of slight clarity or intention perhaps. If I were to make another guess I could imagine that in the beginning of the year they might have been certain about what they want after some time of trial and error. Imaginably they decided that they do want to be in an established romantic relationship. Or simply say that this is me, this is him and this is us. Around this time we have Bon Voyage season 2, Summer Package and also Burn the Stage which are all filled with moments I would love to discuss. I also want to mention here that the love I see in JM rushing to and staying with JK as he fell ill is so very powerful and beautiful regardless of relationship definitions. 

I found my way here around one month after the release of G.C.F in Tokyo so I missed all of the reactions and discussions that stemmed from the initial release but the talent JK possesses can’t be praised enough. The way he is able to convey how he sees the world, his world, and the people he loves is astounding. I might make a post about G.C.F in the future but I don’t know if I have anything new to add that hasn’t already been said. Some see G.C.F in Tokyo as a definite coming out and others as more of a “letting people in a bit more” which would be my first guess. But since I can’t ask JK directly about the details, and people will interpret art differently, I will for now just enjoy his work and his adoration still seeps through the screen by the way it’s edited with the song.

I tried finding some words similar to domestic to try and explain what I see in KM moments from 2017. I couldn’t find something that resonated with me completely but loving, attentive and inevitable come close. That inevitability has been visible for a while but is quite prominent in Memories of 2017, Burn the Stage and when they travel for example. Some people seem to believe that KM, the members as well as BigHit are all in on slowly exposing the world to KM and that this began last year. That they expected a different reaction from the first G.C.F. I don’t know how I feel about some big elaborate master plan but them deciding to partially share more might not be a complete reach. They haven’t stopped talking about that trip to Tokyo and I believe that could be them emphasizing on and wanting to share how much it truly meant to them. That attentiveness and inevitability feels even more evident as we enter the Love Yourself era towards the end of 2017 and even more so after that wonderful trip. 

2018: 

The first half of this year was quiet but we know now that it was a very hard and bewildering time for the members with both rest and exceedingly hard work behind the scenes. This was my first comeback and my vocabulary really isn’t good enough to describe that experience. KM-wise I was honestly quite taken aback and wanted to know if what was happening felt different to anyone else or if I was simply not used to the content. Most seemed to agree that this was a new level of KM and truthfully there are too many moments to list. Something I want to emphasize on is that it’s not just about what we call “moments” but how that inevitability I mentioned previously is more apparent than ever. The casual intimacy combined with the tension filled moments.

Some like to speculate what the future might hold but I’m going to end this timeline in the present. We have no idea what a same-sex relationship between two idols would be like let alone the personal situation of KM. If they indeed are in a romantic relationship they do not owe us to share anything what so ever and if they would ever want to I don’t believe we can predict the timeline of that event or what would follow after. For now I hope they are healthy, safe, loved and in control of whatever they want to do or share. 

Before I end this I want to make it very clear again that this timeline is simply a hypothesis based on a pattern I see as one possibility. Even though this post is very long I still only included a fraction of what could be discussed and we still only have access to a fraction of their lives which makes respectful guessing all we have. This is me trying to connect the lovely moments we do get to see and filling in the gaps by guessing, which could be very far from the truth or not. No matter how KM’s relationship has evolved into what it is now, what I want to celebrate here is the love, care and respect I see between them in the moments that are shared with us.  

[studylizziee]

How I prepared for the UKCAT

Okay so as I did my UKCAT not long ago, I thought I’d do a post on how I revised for the exam and the strategies I used, before I forget it all. Here are my UKCAT results, so you can decide based on that whether you want to take my advice or not! My score is not super high, but it’s above average, which is all I wanted.

General

Before you get practising, I think it’s important to familiarise yourself with the online layout and features of the test. The UKCAT website has a tour tutorial which I used and found really helpful. There’s also a question tutorial which breaks down the different subtests.

Flagging

This is one feature of the online test. You can click a button to flag questions that are taking too long, and come back to them at the end on a review page. All questions (except one type in DM) are worth the same amount. So don’t spend ages on one question! Flag it, move on, and come back to it at the end.

No negative marking

The exam is multiple choice, and you don’t lose marks for answering a question wrong. So when you go through the questions you’ve flagged, eliminate answers you know are wrong. This is so important because if there are 4 options, and you manage to eliminate 2, even if you guess the answer you still go from having a 25% chance of getting it right to a 50% chance.

Strategy

With the UKCAT, it’s all about trying to maximise your marks by answering as many questions correctly in the time as possible. There’s a few different ways to try and do this, but my main two were either:

do as many questions as possible then guess the rest

‘guess and flag’ more time-consuming questions to come back to (the guessing part was in case I didn’t have time to return to that question)

Verbal Reasoning

my strategy was to skim read the passage first, mentally summarising the subject of each paragraph, which gives you a general idea of the structure 

next I would read the question / statement and try to find the relevant information in the passage

this is made easier by the fact that you already have an idea about where info is in the passage, so you can locate it quicker

also, when reading the question / statement, allocate keywords (such as names and dates) to help you navigate the passage quicker

when I was running out of time at the end, I would skim read, then answer the questions without returning to the passage to save time

when I was really really running out of time, I would go through and guess the rest 

this strategy fell under type 1 above

Decision Making

there’s a wide variety of questions with DM, so figure out which ones you are better at and worse at

I would ALWAYS ‘guess and flag’ if it was the kind where there was a confusing table to read, but complete all the venn diagram ones (my fave)

REALLY GET TO KNOW YOUR VENN DIAGRAMS, not even kidding like 60% of questions involved one

top tip: if you’re given info that looks like ‘there are 25 kids. 4 like basketball only, 6 like swimming only, 2 like football only, 1 likes swimming and football, and 5 like all three’ etc, draw out a venn diagram!! It will help you visualise the info and solve it so much quicker

if you’re wondering what to draw on, you’re given a little whiteboard notebook thingy and a marker pen

also, you don’t have to solve the entire puzzle to answer the question!! often you won’t be given enough info to finish the puzzle but they will ask about parts that you are able to complete

then on to the argument questions, by which I mean the type where there’s a question and you have to select the strongest argument for / against

a strong argument: directly addresses ALL aspects of the question, does not make assumptions about what might/might not happen, and is based on FACT not opinion (backed up by stats is a bonus)

e.g. if it was ‘should we increase the legal driving age to reduce the number of young drivers and thus pollutants in the atmosphere?’ a bad answer would be ‘yes, young people drive too fast and cause 20% more deaths than older people’. Although it has stats, the question was asking about pollutants in the atmosphere so this argument is not relevant

Quantitative Reasoning

first of all, some questions are multi-step and take wayyy longer than others. I would always ‘guess and flag’ these and move on to questions that were quicker to answer

make sure you’re up to speed on your basic maths skills: percentage changes, percentage increase/decrease, ratios, fractions, conversions, area / volume, averages (mean/median/mode) 

the one they ALWAYS test you on without a shadow of a doubt is speed = distance/time !! make sure you know how to rearrange it to find distance and time as well

with regard to graphs: avoid doing too many calculations, and try to eyeball it to see what is closest to the answers available

ahh, the on-screen calculator

it’s awful - BUT, I have a hack!! which I found out literally the day before lol

so I thought you have to click with the mouse to enter numbers and it was taking forever, but you can use the number keyboard!! 

all you have to do is make sure that Num Lock is on! (thank me later)

I don’t really have much more advice for QR, just reassurance. I was getting like 500 every time when I practised, but the actual test I found a lot easier, and I got over 700

Abstract Reasoning

I didn’t actually do that well in this section lol

mneumonics seem to be the way to go though, and the one I used (as recommended by @medicslacks) was SCaN for Placement 

shape, colour, number, placement

then also check things like symmetry and angles 

just practise with this one though, it seems impossible at first but you do get better!

Situational Judgement

READ THE GMC DOCUMENT ‘GOOD MEDICAL PRACTICE’

THE LINK IS HERE

I printed it and read it. Not only does it help SJ, but in general it informs you about what is expected of doctors, and I’m sure it will help at the interview stage

generally, things that are important are: maintaining patient confidentiality, working well as a team (and if there are problems address the issue privately with the individual before involving third parties), accountability for mistakes (always apologise and take responsibility), knowing your limitations, maintaining public confidence in the profession 

patient safety is the no. 1 priority so if anything threatens that it is ‘very inappropriate’

Useful Resources

These are the resources that I used during my preparation:

1250 UKCAT Practise Questions by Olivier Picard (latest edition) - I started off with this one. It was good if you want extra questions to practise with, but in the end I think I would have been better off sticking to online resources

Medify - I used this for the majority of my preparation. I had it for 2 weeks and I found it really useful. I recommend starting with the practise questions, then doing timed practise, then moving on to the mocks that are available 

UKCAT practice tests - when you’re on to the final stages of revision, I recommend doing the official UKCAT practice tests. There are only 3 which is why I saved them until the end!

Okay so that concludes my post! The UKCAT is honestly the weirdest exam and I have no idea why medical schools think it’s an indicator of how good a doctor you would be. But good luck to anyone doing it, and I hope this is helpful! X

[rum-and-shattered-dreams]

Thoughts on the SJ conclusion...

Now that I've had some time to think about it all, here's my take on the Samurai Jack ending (below the cut).  If you loved it as is, that's wonderful and I'm happy for you (no sarcasm, I really am).  I'm thankful for the team and all their hard work and that, after all these years, we did finally get to see their ending.  If you loved everything as is, then please don't click the read more because it's entirely personal opinions and ideas on what I would have liked to have seen done differently.  But I am only one audience member out of many so it's still an insignificant view in the grander scheme of things but I will approach it from a constructive standpoint for the sake of building writing skills.

Firstly, let me be honest here and say that I watched this show in its initial run for its art.  I loved the backgrounds and animation and the framing and angles of the shots.  I loved the character, world, and creature designs.  All of those elements have been stunning through the entirety of the show's run.  Super kudos to all of the art team. The writing, though...  Alright, some of the episodes were really well done in themselves but there was always an element that was a little...  well it didn't suspend my disbelief enough or it sat awkwardly with me.  When I saw the previews for the new season, perhaps I had higher hopes than I should have had and at first I really loved how they were handing things with the added freedom of the adult rating...  But then things got too rushed. I realize they had limited time, both in amount of episodes, minutes per episode, and time to do the actual work as well as a team of people who probably all had different opinions and ideas to incorporate on how the story should wrap up.  It's probably a stressful work space to say the least so I definitely appreciate that there are many factors that go into a final product like this.  That being said...  I think the episode time could have been used more wisely. Given those perimeters, the Jack/Ashi romance should have been left out.  There simply wasn't enough time to develop it (whether you ship it or not.)  They were allies and that was good enough.  (Let the audience take out of it what they will at that point.)  That was precious time that could have been added to the final fight and a fulfilling conclusion for a series that had already established itself as being more about the adventure and not so much about romance. It seemed like the entire romantic arc and the timing of Ashi's disappearance at the end were just for the feels and...  while I think it’s perfectly fine and practically required of writing to add in elements that make the audience feel things, for me it didn't work because the romance was too forced.  TBH I would have felt more if she died/ceased to exist without any confirmation of a romance, if they'd left it as a sort of organically developed and undefined relationship between them.  All I needed was to know they cared about each other and we were already there before the awkward episode. As for what I would have liked to see in the conclusion, I would have liked to have seen him stay in the future.  The past is the past and it may have sucked but lets move forward now with who we are.  Maybe, for those who enjoyed the romance, this is where it could have been hinted at.  And, if it had been his conscious decision to stay in the future, considering Ashi's ability to create a time portal, I think it would have been a pretty powerful message. Rather than lose all of those friends and allies he'd gained over the years, the people who stood up against all odds, he decides to stay with them, to allow them and their victory to continue to exist.  Yes, there were many losses over the years when Aku's tyranny reigned but those affected at least got the chance to exist.  If a sacrifice had to be made in the end, I think this one would hold more emotion since we're talking about him sacrificing something he'd been trying to do since the beginning of the series.  And, to me, that would show a lot of character growth on his part, too.  The loss of his parents and childhood home would be pretty devastating since his feelings toward them were well developed and continued to be present throughout the series...  (We could also take into consideration that he may have erased Aku's evil from the timeline but nothing says some other evil didn't appear...  There's no guarantee that the timeline without Aku would have been worth sacrificing the one with him.) And, I'm not going to pretend that paradoxes aren't influencing me in this idea.  If Ashi couldn't exist without Aku in the future, then the whole concept crumbles because Jack's defeat of him couldn't exist either.  There are ways around this, like the idea that there could be a parallel timeline that still exists somehow but if that was the case, I think Ashi could continue to exist... Another option I would have accepted was that the time portal was a reaction to the heat of battle, a desperate maneuver done without much thought put into it and it’s only after Aku’s defeat that Jack finds out what he just sacrificed (which, I think is what they were going for but they could have used the extra time from deleting the romance episode to articulate it better and give him a moment to deal with it.  And, as others have already pointed out, Ashi probably should have disappeared either immediately or gradually over time in a noticeable way.) As for Ashi’s personal fight with Aku, I would have liked it if it had remained personal and that her own drive to be who she wanted to be was what freed her from his control.  It could even still involve love, because I believe wanting love is a valid motivation for a charactert.  She could have come to the conclusion that “You don’t care about me, you’re just using me!  Jack and those people out there do actually care about me!” Anyway...  whee...  just...  thoughts...  That are still a little incoherent.

[tbhstudying1]

from I should be studying... https://ift.tt/2Nn3r1E via See More

How I prepared for the UKCAT

Okay so as I did my UKCAT not long ago, I thought I’d do a post on how I revised for the exam and the strategies I used, before I forget it all. Here are my UKCAT results, so you can decide based on that whether you want to take my advice or not! My score is not super high, but it’s above average, which is all I wanted.

General

Before you get practising, I think it’s important to familiarise yourself with the online layout and features of the test. The UKCAT website has a tour tutorial which I used and found really helpful. There’s also a question tutorial which breaks down the different subtests.

Flagging

This is one feature of the online test. You can click a button to flag questions that are taking too long, and come back to them at the end on a review page. All questions (except one type in DM) are worth the same amount. So don’t spend ages on one question! Flag it, move on, and come back to it at the end.

No negative marking

The exam is multiple choice, and you don’t lose marks for answering a question wrong. So when you go through the questions you’ve flagged, eliminate answers you know are wrong. This is so important because if there are 4 options, and you manage to eliminate 2, even if you guess the answer you still go from having a 25% chance of getting it right to a 50% chance.

Strategy

With the UKCAT, it’s all about trying to maximise your marks by answering as many questions correctly in the time as possible. There’s a few different ways to try and do this, but my main two were either:

do as many questions as possible then guess the rest

‘guess and flag’ more time-consuming questions to come back to (the guessing part was in case I didn’t have time to return to that question)

Verbal Reasoning

my strategy was to skim read the passage first, mentally summarising the subject of each paragraph, which gives you a general idea of the structure 

next I would read the question / statement and try to find the relevant information in the passage

this is made easier by the fact that you already have an idea about where info is in the passage, so you can locate it quicker

also, when reading the question / statement, allocate keywords (such as names and dates) to help you navigate the passage quicker

when I was running out of time at the end, I would skim read, then answer the questions without returning to the passage to save time

when I was really really running out of time, I would go through and guess the rest 

this strategy fell under type 1 above

Decision Making

there’s a wide variety of questions with DM, so figure out which ones you are better at and worse at

I would ALWAYS ‘guess and flag’ if it was the kind where there was a confusing table to read, but complete all the venn diagram ones (my fave)

REALLY GET TO KNOW YOUR VENN DIAGRAMS, not even kidding like 60% of questions involved one

top tip: if you’re given info that looks like ‘there are 25 kids. 4 like basketball only, 6 like swimming only, 2 like football only, 1 likes swimming and football, and 5 like all three’ etc, draw out a venn diagram!! It will help you visualise the info and solve it so much quicker

if you’re wondering what to draw on, you’re given a little whiteboard notebook thingy and a marker pen

also, you don’t have to solve the entire puzzle to answer the question!! often you won’t be given enough info to finish the puzzle but they will ask about parts that you are able to complete

then on to the argument questions, by which I mean the type where there’s a question and you have to select the strongest argument for / against

a strong argument: directly addresses ALL aspects of the question, does not make assumptions about what might/might not happen, and is based on FACT not opinion (backed up by stats is a bonus)

e.g. if it was ‘should we increase the legal driving age to reduce the number of young drivers and thus pollutants in the atmosphere?’ a bad answer would be ‘yes, young people drive too fast and cause 20% more deaths than older people’. Although it has stats, the question was asking about pollutants in the atmosphere so this argument is not relevant

Quantitative Reasoning

first of all, some questions are multi-step and take wayyy longer than others. I would always ‘guess and flag’ these and move on to questions that were quicker to answer

make sure you’re up to speed on your basic maths skills: percentage changes, percentage increase/decrease, ratios, fractions, conversions, area / volume, averages (mean/median/mode) 

the one they ALWAYS test you on without a shadow of a doubt is speed = distance/time !! make sure you know how to rearrange it to find distance and time as well

with regard to graphs: avoid doing too many calculations, and try to eyeball it to see what is closest to the answers available

ahh, the on-screen calculator

it’s awful - BUT, I have a hack!! which I found out literally the day before lol

so I thought you have to click with the mouse to enter numbers and it was taking forever, but you can use the number keyboard!! 

all you have to do is make sure that Num Lock is on! (thank me later)

I don’t really have much more advice for QR, just reassurance. I was getting like 500 every time when I practised, but the actual test I found a lot easier, and I got over 700

Abstract Reasoning

I didn’t actually do that well in this section lol

mneumonics seem to be the way to go though, and the one I used (as recommended by @medicslacks) was SCaN for Placement 

shape, colour, number, placement

then also check things like symmetry and angles 

just practise with this one though, it seems impossible at first but you do get better!

Situational Judgement

READ THE GMC DOCUMENT ‘GOOD MEDICAL PRACTICE’

THE LINK IS HERE

I printed it and read it. Not only does it help SJ, but in general it informs you about what is expected of doctors, and I’m sure it will help at the interview stage

generally, things that are important are: maintaining patient confidentiality, working well as a team (and if there are problems address the issue privately with the individual before involving third parties), accountability for mistakes (always apologise and take responsibility), knowing your limitations, maintaining public confidence in the profession 

patient safety is the no. 1 priority so if anything threatens that it is ‘very inappropriate’

Useful Resources

These are the resources that I used during my preparation:

1250 UKCAT Practise Questions by Olivier Picard (latest edition) - I started off with this one. It was good if you want extra questions to practise with, but in the end I think I would have been better off sticking to online resources

Medify - I used this for the majority of my preparation. I had it for 2 weeks and I found it really useful. I recommend starting with the practise questions, then doing timed practise, then moving on to the mocks that are available 

UKCAT practice tests - when you’re on to the final stages of revision, I recommend doing the official UKCAT practice tests. There are only 3 which is why I saved them until the end!

Okay so that concludes my post! The UKCAT is honestly the weirdest exam and I have no idea why medical schools think it’s an indicator of how good a doctor you would be. But good luck to anyone doing it, and I hope this is helpful! X