#I love this app actually sometimes I can just come on here and yap and post random things it’s so fun

[f1nneas]

I wish I had a babygirlicious man next to me to keep me company right now 😼😉

[crazylittlejester]

the fandom has felt kinda quiet to me for a few days now (which might totally be my fault i dont think im using this app correctly) and i kinda feel like im standing with a group of people where everyones done talking and no one know what to say next so im gonna do what i do then too: Yap ‼️ (its my one talent)

if you’d like to yap with me feel free to hop in my ask box and say whatever you like, headcanons, theories, whatever, but for now here are some random little headcanons I have:

(disclaimer: my apologies for weird spelling errors or oddly autocorrected words im dyslexic lmao)

- Wild loves to do fun things with his hair! He loves braiding it up in new styles or putting pretty things in it or buying fun clips to keep it out of his face. Sometimes one of the others with shorter hair who can’t do their own fun hairstyles will ask Wild if they can do his, and he almost always says yes

- Legend is the most likely to buy little gifts for the others. He’s not as likely as the others to verbally say he cares, and he can come off as a bit standoffish, but he really does love the others and gifting them little things is how he shows it. He bought Sky a beautiful new carving knife once, he loves giving Wild earrings (and Wild is not above just poking new holes in his ears so he can wear more of them at once), he gave Warriors a new journal one time, etc.

- Four is a HUGE fan of rain at night. He loves the sound it makes on roofs, it’s calming to him. It’s less fun when he’s sleeping outside, but he just loves the sounds and smells of rain. Warriors does too, and the two of them have sat out in the rain together silently, just enjoying each other’s company

- Twilight loves the occasional pet as Wolfie, as long as the others still hold the same respect for his physical space they do when he’s a hylian. He loves hugs, he loves the occasional pet, and he loves bonking the top of his head into the backs of Warriors’s legs to trip him before he innocently runs off to Time and acts like he’s done nothing wrong in his life ever

- Sky wakes up every day and chooses peace. He chooses kindness and love, and he seems so very calm and sweet on the outside, but if someone dares to lay a finger on someone he cares about he will explode and there will be serious consequences. He’s genuinely a very loving person, but he does have a side of him that’s just full of rage that he occasionally unleashes on monsters that deserve it. He one time let a sliver of that anger loose at a monster that knocked Wild unconscious and the others stood their with their jaws open, and then of course Sky turned back around after he calmed himself down and looked at them all like “:3”

- Hyrule cuts his own hair and because it has a good amount of curl to it, it ends up looking fluffy and it’s hard to see exactly how uneven it is. When Legend found him just trimming his hair in the dark with a knife he was like “what the fuck” and ever since he’s at least tried to help Hyrule make his hair a LITTLE more even (its still an absolute mess, but it looks fine on him)

- Wind gets under stimulated a LOT, it’s hard for him to just stay in one place or walk super slow or not be doing something with his hands, so Warriors taught him how to finger knit so he can do that while he walks as a sort of mindless activity. He doesn’t really make anything in particular, and he ends up unraveling it at the end of the day so he can keep reusing the same ball of yarn, but it helps him stay with the group and it gives him something to do as they walk

- Time is the biggest prankster of the group and he gets away with it every single time, and Wind, Wild, and Hyrule often end up taking the blame for it. The only ones who know it’s really him are Warriors (though he never actually catches him in the act, he just knows) and Twilight, who’s seen him do it several times and had to swear his silence. He’s too scared that Time will be disappointed in him if he reveals who the true prankster is, but he does feel genuinely bad every time someone else gets yelled at for one of Time’s dumbass pranks. On their last day together Time does reveal it was him all along, and then he literally leaves and disappears before the others have a chance to yell at him for it. When he arrives at the ranch alone with tears in his eyes, laughing his ass off, Malon somehow knows EXACTLY what just happened

- Warriors is usually the one who helps mend the other heroes’s clothes. They all have SOME ability to sew (some of them are better than others, like Wild and Legend, and some of them refuse to fix the holes in their clothes until it gets so bad there’s no fixing it and they literally just have to buy another tunic, *cough* Wind), but more often than not Warriors gets asked to do it, and he does it gladly. He does a wonderful job every time, and sometimes he gets to embroider little patterns, which is a lot of fun for him. When he gets bored he’ll just do that on his own spare tunics

again feel free to come talk to me in my asks or add ur own headcanons to this post :) i like to yap and i’ll gladly yap with you if you send me things

[eonars]

ive tried like 3 times now so i guess im gonna do this in parts

so last thursday i went out with a man id been talking to off An App since before i went on that work trip, the conversation over text wasnt necessarily flowing ever and there were some long pauses while i was away that had me convinced it was joever but he always popped back up and even asked me how things were going and what i was doing. so we meet up the day after i get back and across 3 different bars and 5 drinks we get on like a house on fire. both like the same music (we were both at the same music festival in early august, talked about that a ton obviously) both play the same games (both main death knight and do very high mythic plus keys in wow) and as we get more comfortable with each other we start holding hands and intertwining legs and stuff while sat down. we make all kinds of plans for future concerts to go to together ranging from aura noir in like 2 weeks to him saying he will let me know if he ends up with a spare ticket to sigur ros in november because if he does he'll definitely take me along. we talk about different horror movies to watch together and he lets me yap on nonstop about fish related stuff, which he's actually super knowledgeable about and tells me i sound so lovely when i talk about it and i explain things so well that anyone could understand them and that it's amazing to listen to. he says he's so proud to know someone so intelligent who might actually do something notable for science and put this country on the map for scientific discoveries. we talk about art and he asks me what my favorites are in the national gallery in town and why and we discuss them. i mention i do art and he asks to see and literally can't contain himself when i show him and says i'm amazingly talented. things are going so well and the conversation about music and games and concerts and art and science has not idled or stopped once that when he's like oh shit i have to run for the train i'm like well instead of running we can continue having drinks here and then wait for the trains to start again at mine? and he's super down so we head back to mine and crowd together on my tiny twin bed in my tiny bedroom sized flat and he lets me put on jewels of the rift, the crunchy jpg quality reuploaded ancient natgeo documentary about cichlids i watch on youtube every time im feeling down. i tell him wow i've never been able to convince anyone to watch jewels of the rift with me before and he's like ohh don't worry i'm here now and about 40 minutes into jewels of the rift things get a bit 😏 but i stop things from going tooooo too far and we both have the worst nights sleep ever on a 90cm wide bed as two 6ft+ people who have been drinking heavily. he leaves at 7:30am and hugs me and quietly says it was really nice to meet me and i tell him to text me when he gets in which he doesn't so i text a little bit later asking if he got in ok. he says he only just woke up then and because i know he has work that night i ask how it's going and he just says it's going ok. i reply with a half joking type thing about how i hopefully didn't give him the german engineering university plague and get left on read so on sunday i text asking if he'd be interested in hanging out again sometime and then put my notifications off and go into the woods. i don't realize he replies 5 min later with "I'm a bit busy these coming weeks. But we can probably go to a concert or something sometime if you want :)" which feels really. not good to read. and so i reply back saying i'm definitely going to the aura noir show we talked about in like 10 days so just let me know and get left on read. it's now thursday and i still haven't heard anything and like.

[averageclawcodeenjoyer]

Alright so as far as introductions go, I guess I should probably make one before I get too far into this.

HERES MY ABOUT ME POST!

My name's Leonardo, and you can call me any version of that that you want (Leo, Leon, Leonard, Nardo[my favorite], either way, it's all the same to me.) My pronouns are He/Him. I am an artist, author, animator, and a DEDICATED CLAWCODE ENTHUSIST (Hence the name)

I am also VERY autistic and don't get tone a lot, so tone tags are very important to me, especially when there's joking or sarcasm involved.

Ahem.

I know the Spiderverse Fandom isn't particularly alive (SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP) but I will try to post often, even if it's just a shitpost here and there. I really want to help feed into the ClawCode brain rot since the content for these two is SEVERELY FUCKING LACKING. So. If you have requests for things, I will probably end up doing them! My asks are always open, and I'd love to hear from anybody. I don't have any friends that love them the way that I do 😔😔

I have not had Tumblr before! Which is a little insane, so I'm new to all of this and learning how everything works. Please forgive me if I don't know the proper etiquette on this app lmao. My friend has been guiding me through all of this and told me to make an About Me post, so that's what I'm doing.

Here are some tags that will frequent my posts!

Yapping Hour - Will either be used for headcanons, or short stories/ideas/other ClawCode related crap. It's just going to be a general tag that will probably go on most of my posts from here on out.

Slur Gallery - Will be of the art I post of them, be it ship art or other :3 because everybody deserves a gallery of slurs to look at. AND JUST LOOK AT THEM!

Earworm - Is the tag I'll use when there's music involved, like songs that remind me of them (and the heavy analysis that goes with it **COMING SOON**), or animatics that I'm working on, or just anything that has to do with a song. Edits, artworks, the whole shebang.

Talkaholic - This will ALSO be used for mini stories/facfics, but more often than the yapping hour. So if you wanna read my writing of them that's what you can find it under.

Offline - will be under posts like these, where it isn't directly related to anything, just random blocks of text or other art that I feel like posting.

Oil And Water - THIS tag will be about the fanfic I am currently (excruciatingly slowly) writing! It doesn't have a happy ending and is meant to be a HEAVY angst story, like hurt/no comfort or very little comfort. I have one chapter out currently but will be working on more soon (and will make a separate post about it! But I will link it here as well. MOTIVATE ME TO WRITE IT /HJ)

Prowler Party - Is what I'll put on ALL of my posts as an extra way to help find me if one so desires d=(^o^)=b

OOC - On the chance that I might make something intentionally out of character, I will put this beneath it. I know a lot of people don't like mischaracterization, or incorrect portrayal of a character, but sometimes it's really fun to write, so I will be including that was well.

I think that's all that I can think of right now (I'm running off of an hour and 40 minutes sleep), but things may change or be edited in the future. But for now, I'll be signing off.

Shipwrecked - THIS WILL BE ABOUT MY SELKIE/SIREN AU BECAUSE IM ACTUALLY NOT OKAY ABOUT IT AND NEED TO SHARE MY INSANITY

HELLO AND THANK YOU TO THE WARM WELCOME I'VE RECIEVED!!

MORE COMIGN SOON

[diorcities]

hii!! Iove you and your writing sm that I sometimes just open your account and reread stuffs (also love your theme), anyways, I was wondering how you write so nicely and what your inspiration is. I am a new writer (well not like new, new. But like new writer here on tumblr) and I actually wanted to get some advice on being a writer here!! Also be brutally honest if you want' I am open to any changes!! hopefully you'll see this and give me some helpful advice bcs I really need it. ANYWAYS (I'll just stop yapping now) Hopefully you'll have a great day/night ahead of you!! (I love you sm I am not even joking hehe)

thanks, that's very sweet of you! :( it's gonna be so short cause i literally don't know how to explain it without sounding generic, but these are my tips and secrets. hopefully they're helpful.

i read as much as i can from authors whose prose i like, that and that i'm an inveterate romantic. i also take care of the content i consume bc reading poor writing surprisingly deteriorates you.

for inspo, daydreams and favorite authors. my favorite form of narration is poetic prose, so madeline miller and victoria schwab are my pillars.

now with tumblr, i'd say a good use of tags, good layout and a nice first sentence or paragraph to start. i keep my favorite book extracts in pinterest for inspo and recently i started to use an app for all my writings called notion thanks to hazyhae.

so i'd also say surround yourself with good authors and make friends if possible bc it can get lonely if you come here thinking they're competition.

have a good day, sweetheart. hope it helped, love you ♡♡

[sunoopsis]

meow :3

6) macy's - written (1.1k)

warnings! : mention of suicide (jokingly), unnecessary yapping by me im sorry

<september 30, saturday, 8:30 am>

Woken up by your alarm, your day was forced to start… You had to get out of the house by 9:15, any later and you’d be late. You sat on your bed, trying to regain your consciousness. Last night, you went to bed overjoyed from your small, but meaningful conversation with Jaemin. Fun fact, you tend to overthink in the morning. Sometimes, its a blessing, other times a curse. Your topic of overthinking this morning was Yizhuo’s message. Something about best friends, romance and Jisung not having the right to comment on it. What did it mean? Maybe it doesn’t concern you.. Oh, but what if it did?? Maybe you shouldn’t think so hard about something so unnecessary. No, seriously! You wasted 15 minutes thinking about this! That's, like, 5 more minutes than you normally waste! Before you can think about the topic again, you get up and wash your face, do your skincare, normal morning stuff. Now, you have very few tasks left, doing good!

You went back to your room and packed your bag. You packed your uniform instead of wearing it. Normally, back in middle school, you always wore tights and a shirt under your uniform, so you were super-protected. But, wow.. The high school uniforms were just TOO pretty to ruin by wearing something underneath. Last week, your team had a half-practice, which was just to set the basics for the team and get to know each other. And last week, you just wore your uniform as is, just with short-tights. You realized that it was actually pretty uncomfortable, soo… nevermind! You decided you’d just change when you got there. Because of this decision, you just wore a short-sleeve and sweatpants and headed to the kitchen.

You shot your team’s groupchat a text asking them their coffee preferences then treated yourself to some cereal. By the time you were done eating and brushing your teeth, everyone’s orders were transferred to your notes app. Finally, you put on your rollerblades and headed out. Since you lived quite close to the school, you and your brother skated to school and just kept a pair of shoes in your lockers (skating to school? wtf is this, cardcaptor sakura??). You took a little detour to the nearest cafe and ordered everyone’s coffees. Clutching the bags of coffee, you continued your way to school. Some people’s orders, you had already memorised from earlier years. Like Yizhuo’s(duh), and the captain, Minjeong’s.

Your team had 2 consistent captains. It was either Minjeong, or it was you. Whichever one of you guys was the senior, that is. You had a lot of respect for Minjeong, she’s very passionate and hardworking, she’s also a very dependable leader, she’s always been like that, for at least 4 years. You felt quite thankful for the Koreans in your school. Jisung, Minjeong, Jaemin…the list goes on. You’re thankful, because its not usual for Koreans to attend an international school. Ugh, are you really overthinking again?! Well, I can’t say I’m exactly against it, check the clock! Its 9:15! Can you believe it? Normally, you’d barely be out of the house by now, I’m proud of you! I’d love to explain the rest of your day in detail but.. Saturday wasn't actually supposed to be this long.. Because this chapter is about sunday… sorry.

<October 1st, 2023, Sunday, 9:00 am>

Good morning! You slept half an hour more than yesterday, impressive how you limit yourself, I’m jealous! Mark’s friends will arrive around 10 am. That means here's an hour until you get to see Jaemin again~ but it also means an hour until you have to work on your project…  Its fine! You're quite prepared. You have all the supplies ready, plus 5 seniors to help you! (actually 4, but unfortunately you had no idea donghyuck wasn’t coming. but its fine cuz his help probably would’ve been useless.)  You went on with your normal routine, wore something cute (not too cute cuz then you’d be overdressed), and went downstairs. You were greeted by your brother and annoying news.

“Good morning, (n/n)! Bring whatever you have prepared for the project here, its better for you two to work here.”

how unnecessary…

“What? why?” you were obviously confused, as you had no knowledge of this beforehand?

“Because then, Chenle doesn’t get left out, plus you get to see Jisung, yeah?”

(translation : I’m gonna keep an eye on the both of you and don’t forget Jisung is here so you don’t focus on Chenle too much)

You hesitantly threw him a thumbs up and went to get the stuff. Sometimes, you’d wonder… why the hell was your brother this overprotective?! Did he want to be the only popular-with-the-opposite-gender Lee? Or does he have some really confusing but genuinely good intentions? Yeah that mystery’s got a lot of time until its solved…

You waited patiently, occasionally gossipping with Mark to pass time. Time passed, and passed… And everyone slowly started arriving. Jisung came first, who you ended up spending time with until the second guest, Chenle arrived. Obviously, after Chenle arrived, you two were redirected to the table, And you started working. Both of you were so invested in your work that you didn’t even notice the others coming in at first. Time went by as you worked your hardest. Did you argue a lot? yes. Did you ask Mark and Renjun for help like a million times? yes. But did you get half of the project done in 3,5 hours? oh absolutely. You were impressed with yourself. Normally, if you were paired with Yizhuo (like you constantly have been for the past 9 years, with some exceptions), you barely would’ve gotten anything done. Considering that, maybe Chenle wasn’t so bad, after all.

You excused yourself around 15 minutes before 2pm, barely before they had left. You dressed nicely, of course! You were meeting up with your best friend, and there was a 90% chance of jaemin seeing you… When you went down to get out, they’d left, just as you’d planned. You dressed in a casual, but fashionable style. Simple tank top with a design and a tennis skirt. Normally, Mark isn’t quite fond of you wearing tennis skirts in crowded places, since he’s afraid of others thinking its a regular miniskirt, but you were just feeling like taking risks today :3c 

You arrived at the mall around 2:10 pm, all that was left was to wait for Yizhuo to arrive. Your plan was pretty simple. Treat yourself and Yizhuo to (a very late) lunch, and then look around to find and surprise your brother. Well, you… only managed to get half of the plan done.

because your brother was at macys and you fucking despised macys and would rather kill yourself than enter one ever again.

jeno is a vulgar lottle man plz forgive me im writing these half awake

-

no bc truly what were mark and chenle doing in macys😭😭

-

masterlist

not really a taglist but taglist: @thisisnotjacinta

[piastri]

Tumblr Tag Game

Been waiting to do this one so thank you for tagging me Anna! @gp2engine 💛

1. Why did you choose your url?

I had it saved since Yuki’s F3 days and was waiting for the day he got into F1 and that day came so 🎉

2. Any side blogs?

This is a sideblog, @dailycillianmurphy is another one and i have a few others mostly to save things on. 

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

I’ve had my main since 2014... i was a lonely year 7 and for better or worse turned to tumblr for interaction. 

4. Do you have a queue tag?

Yeah ‘q’ coz i’m really creative like that <3

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

I had a Daniel insta fanpage in 2017/18 and this was a good source for like Dan updates, so i’d occasionally reblog pictures of him. I didn’t interact with anyone or speak in the tags so it was pretty much just a place to save pics. I started being active on here in April 2019 coz I got tired of f1 reddit dudebros but still wanted to speak to people about it. 

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

Coz that’s my baby, that’s my love 💘 My header + url are both F1 so I wanted something feeder series to reflect my blog and it’s a really nice pic of Liam who is my fave feeder series driver :)

7. Why did you choose your header?

I made a bunch of Daniel/Lewis headers last year and i thought they looked pretty so i just meshed them both together so I could have both my faves there :D

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

For once my tagging system comes in handy, it’s close between Uncle Daniel and my ‘prove them wrong’ set, they both have 1.5k notes. 

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I don’t really know who i’m mutuals with it’s hard to tell with sideblogs. 

10. How many followers do you have?

2.6k 

11. How many people do you follow?

312, 174 of which are motorsport blogs (yes i just counted and i didn’t realise i follow that many wow) 

12. Have you ever made a shit post?

Yeah but i don’t do it that often, i’ll leave it to the actually funny people

13. How often do you use tumblr a day?

Depends, during the work week i delete the app off my phone which decreases it a lot so probs 1-2 hours in the evening, during the weekends.... when am i not on here. 

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog?

*cricket noises* it was a while ago now, and just lead to mutual unfollowing. nowadays i just don’t respond, if u wanna argue under my posts go ahead just don’t drag me into it. 

15. How do you feel about the ‘you need to reblog’ posts?

‘I guess it depends? Like those posts about a topic that says stuff like you need to reblog otherwise you don't care I'm always like "well now i won't do it".’ < yap agreed, or like the ‘reblog or u’ll have good/bad luck’ posts gtfo. In terms of supporting content creators, i feel like it’s beating a dead horse at this point but yeah pleaseee reblog it means a lot and motivates us to make more content so i feel like it’s a win-win situation. 

16. Do you like tag games?

I really like being tagged!! I don’t talk to that many people on here so it’s nice to be acknowledged from time to time. I’ll admit i’m not the best at doing them sometimes like my brain just short circuits and for the love of god there’s only so many times i can expose my shitty music taste 😂😩

17. Do you like ask games?

I don’t do them often coz i’m scared i won’t get any asks lol, but it’s nice when people do send them and I like reading other people’s. 

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

Cassy @dams-racing is tumblr famous as she should be :)

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I’m straight but some of my moots are very lengg, I wanna send asks gushing over them but then i’m like are we that close, are u gonna think i’m creepy? so i just send marriage propsals on anon lol 

20. Tags!

Tagging: @dennishaugers (i forgot that u changed ur url djskd), @maxielstan @iguessfutball @querencva @justdrivee @brighterrdays if you haven’t already and anyone else who wants to say that i tagged you :)

[andhinaratri]

Get up from the infinity pool

No, it’s not that literal infinity pool that I love the most. It’s the digital infinity pool that often sink us down that we don’t realize…or maybe we do?

Another day another week and almost come to another month. September is coming so soon, since today is the last day of August 2021. Is always fast right? The time is getting harder to handle…

Through this post, I will share my experience in the past several weeks (or months) without this specific infinity pool called social media. I learn the term of infinity pool to portrayed the social media phenomenon from the book called “Make Time” written by JZ and Jake. They both worked in the industry that created this social media — Google. Yaps they worked in Google and already in the top of ladder. They represent social media as an infinity pool because of these never ending flow of new post, new twit, new info etc. Yapps it sometimes feel like a blackhole too…so scary that we can lost in space in no time and hard to get back.

Back to my story, yaa, so I already detached from my lovely twitter account and instagram for quite a while now. I know, I am not fully detach from the whole social media — as like now I am writing in tumblr and watching some tutorials from Youtube. However, I sometime feels that instagram and twitter are the double trouble. They are my worst distraction and steal quite a lot of my time. Its easy to get hypnotized when you open those two apps. If you lose your control, you will scroll and scroll and scroll and — often time — without realizing it, you get lost from minutes to hours. A lot of people already talked about it, I won’t repeat again.

So how it feels?

Yaaa, to be honest, it actually make me feel relieved. I smell a freedom. Once I realized it, I made my twitter back in September 2009, this year will be the 11th anniversary of my account. Thats enough time for a children to finish elementary school, isn’t it? For my instagram, I first signep up in 2012-2013 (I forget) which means this year is the 8th anniv 😂 what a wonderful commitment that I made to my social media. How can I am soooo in love with them and put my time a lot for that loooonggg?? OMG — I believe you are now start to count your time spent on social media 😝

Are you not afraid to be left out from your circle by signing out your social media?

I would say, I am not feeling like that at all. From the “Make Time” book also I learned about it. They said that “if its that urgent and emergency, the news will come to you eventually”. You know what? That’s well approved in my case. After I quit — not a 100% but nearly left only 5% on it — people start to reach me out directly, whether they send me a message, call me or even video call as well. From this point of view, I can build the real connection again with all my inner circle. I also realized that by seeing someone else’s instastory - feed - twit - or anything called status is just an illusion of connection. You feel you know how people are doing, but the truth is not. It give you the sense of it, but its not real. So I choose to build back my real connection, the real interaction and intimate relationship, not by watching people’s social media updates.

Hmm, but my job really need social media, how can I quit?

To be honest, I got a loooottt of questions and statements like that. I am here not to offense anyone. Its pure coming from what I feel and experience. Luckily, my job not involving social media for the daily basis. So the condition might be very different from you. I think the problem lays in the way we use the social media. For me, since its pure entertainment tools, I think the time investment (and sometimes emotional investment) to it was too much. So, its not good anymore for me to keep use of the tools that give me contra-productive. If you, need this app so much, and you might be contra-productive if you leave it, then go for it. But be wise. Use it intentionally. Leave it while you are not using it for your job. Avoid to open and scroll for no reason. That’s my 2 cents ☺️

What else?

For my final thought, I want to give you the real effect of this decision. We are all having the same exact 24 hours/day. All of our activities cost our time, including when we open and scroll social media. If before this, I can spend around 30 minutes to 3 hours per day for social media only. So, when I did not open my social media, I get my 30 minutes to 3 hours for free. Then, what I am doing is trading that time for social media to read an abandoned books or medium articles. Also, I use my time to work out and get more productive ar work. The result might be different from one to another, and this is my experience.

To close my post, in whatever condition you may face today, I hope you are doing it well. Everyday we make a decisions and please make it consciously. So that you’ll be mindful of what you are doing and know the consequences of it. Please stay healthy and grateful as always…

[rontra]

do you have any recommendations on how to like. Take In Umineko. I think it looks really cool and I’d like to get into it, but there’s a lot of things that are confusing (like all of the different games, the manga, the anime, ect.) and I’m not really sure where to start watching/reading it. Do you have any advice on where the best place to start is?

HOH BABY NOW THIS IS A GOOD ASK

Basically, a lot of this depends on you and how you prefer to take in media. People are different after all; some people like reading long novels, some prefer comics, u know! So let’s just go over all the avenues and how to get at them, and the rest is up to you!

I’m gonna make this post very long. VERY VERY LONG. IM SO FUCKn SORyr

First, I’ll talk abt what umineko is; then I’ll discuss the various media; finally, at the end, I’ll write down what I typically recommend to newcomers! SCROLL REALLY FAST TO THE HEADERS IF U HAVE NO TIME FOR MY RAMBLING LOL

So…here we goooo

READING UMINEKO: UNTANGLING THE WEB

OR: what the fuck is umineko and why do you want me to read it, diesel?

Since this is a general To Whom It May Concern post: Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Or Umineko: When They Cry, alternatively When The Seagulls Cry) is a murder mystery/fantasy/metafiction visual novel published between 2007 and 2011. I know “murder mystery” and “metafiction” sound pretty boring when you combine them, but trust me–Umineko’s unlike anything you’ve seen, and defies explanation. Still, I’m here to do my best!

Umineko is about a rich and complicated family, and their annual family conference–and the year it goes super duper badly. On an isolated island, in the middle of a typhoon, tragedy befalls the family–on a massive scale! Someone is killing them–all of them–and the only answer that seems to be rising is–

“Beatrice did it.”

But Beatrice isn’t supposed to really exist. Not for real!! No one by that name is on the island. It’s just a story! She’s made up–Beatrice is a legend. A witch who has lived for a thousand years–who loaned the family patriarch ten tons of gold, an insane amount of wealth, in exchange for his soul. Now she’s collecting on that loan, taking everything back, with interest–the lives of the family included.

Is the culprit a human, or not? Does the witch exist, or not?Is the culprit one of the 18 people? Does a 19th person exist? Or…?And, most importantly–when the typhoon passes, will anyone remain alive on the island?

[YouTube: Umineko opening]

I’d super-recommend Umineko if you enjoy: strong characterization, a solidly built mystery (with plenty of smaller mysteries to try your brain with along the way ;) ), complex and nuanced characters, hype magic fights, Logic-Based Combat(???), deep discussions of trauma and its consequences, large casts of characters, Genre Fuckery, coping, Meta™, and milfs Complex Lore

I would, however, NOT recommend Umineko if you are triggered by/can’t stomach reading about: body horror, gore, death, trauma, child abuse, bullying, discussion of suicide, discussion of sexual assault, etc (you can message me for a more complete list of warnings; I’m happy to provide super-specific ones if there’s something specific you’re concerned about, or even give you specific scenes to watch out for. I kept this vague on purpose, but if you message me off anon or via DMs here or at @aceyasu, I’ll be happy to answer anything!)

Overall it’s a pretty dark, emotional story, with a lot of Themes™–but it’s also full of love and genuine heartfelt Feelings. I don’t think any story has touched me the way Umineko has! Of course, everyone’s experience is very unique to them, but I think Umineko has something for everyone (provided, of course, that we’re taking into account the content warnings and excluding people who can’t/don’t want to encounter those things!). The characters, music, story and message–it all has a lot of heart and it all is very important to me as an individual. Obviously no media is flawless, but I think Umineko’s good outweighs its bad…YMMV though of course :p

Also, hype magic fights.

OKAY WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY

Umineko’s story is told over 8 arcs–styled as “episodes”. I use “arc” and “episode” sort of interchangeably! Specific ones I just call “EP#” though. All you really need to know though is there’s 8 of them, of varying length, and you have to read them all for the full story.

Thankfully they’re numbered, am i right?? HAFDmgkdfmg

Each episode has its own focus within the overarching narrative and comes with its own fun mysteries and harrowing developments just for you! yay! But basically, the important thing is that they’re divided into the Question Arcs (1-4) and Answer Arcs (5-8).

Sometimes, to make things confusing, the Answer Arcs are also called “Core Arcs” or “Chiru”. I will use “Answer Arcs” here, but if you encounter those two elsewhere, that’s what they are. :p

ACTUALLY EXPERIENCING UMINEKO

(now that im done YAPPING)

The anime

Generally viewed as a poor product. It’s a bad adaption that fails as a standalone, too, because of the amount of important scenes that are missing. Don’t watch the anime first if you really want to get into Umineko. It’s a fun watch once you know how it’s supposed to go, though :p Covers the Question Arcs only, ends with EP4–so even if it was good, it would only be half the story… press f to pay respects. The opening fuckin slaps though, and all the VAs are solid.

The manga

Each Episode has its own manga adaption, usually done by a different artist (with exception of EP1, EP3, and EP8, which are all by the same artist). Generally solid; gets the most important parts. For people who want to get through quicker, the manga helps a lot.

The primary cost is that a lot of characterization doesn’t get to shine AS bright, as there’s simply no time to get into the nooks and crannies (still a great cast, though). However, the art is usually fantastic–since the artist changes every EP, it’s easy to deal with even if you don’t like a specific one’s style. It’ll be gone by next Episode!

A lot of moments get punched up by the more visual format of the manga. You really get a better sense of the characters interacting physically with one another! You do, however, run into the Scanlation Problem…..

I know, I know–most people, when given the option to, don’t want to pay for things. So when given the choice between fan scanlations and the official release, a lot of people would choose the scanlations. And they’re fine…for the most part…except for the parts that aren’t. Some parts (notably in the Answer Arcs) are…bad. Really bad. Even I can’t really understand it sometimes, despite knowing this story inside out… LOL

If you’re good at parsing Scanlation SNAFU or can’t afford/don’t want to buy it, you can find Umineko on MOST manga hosts! I don’t know which you prefer so I’m not gonna link ‘em hahahafkgmfh I usually use Manga Rock but that’s because I usually am reading on my phone and I like their app. The episodes are all numbered, so it’s pretty easy to find your way around!

On the other hand, if you have a hard time understanding poor translations, reading inconsistent typesetting/fonts, or simply Can afford it/prefer buying media, the manga is being officially released in English by YenPress! As is standard nowadays, you can get them in both physical volumes and digital e-books! However, YenPress’ release is currently ongoing–the first volume of EP8 is slated to release in March.

[YenPress link]

The visual novel

Ah, here we are–the head honcho himself…! This is the original version of Umineko. These are the ones we call “games”, and why we sometimes say u “play” Umineko, but. Really. It’s just reading. They’re kinetic novels. Its literally just reading. So I don’t know why we complicate things like that.

(“if she an .exe, shes a game”, I guess… xD)

This is where the characterization and voice of Umineko really shines! The style is often simple to read, sometimes even comically casual, but it cuts deep when it wants to. Even really simple lines can have a really strong impact–it’s a really pleasant style to read, IMO…pretty easy to understand most of the time, but emotionally resonant all the same!

Reading the VN is somewhat of an undertaking, because of the amount of hours required…It’s a far longer read. Depending on your reading speed and whether or not you pause to think/talk about things as you read, people clock in 100-200 hours to finish it.

But, on the upside–because it has so much more time than the manga, the VN can really get deep into the characters, their dynamics, and their inner conflicts. You really get a deep sense for everyone’s character and it makes most of the cast feel fleshed-out enough that you appreciate all of them to some extent (whether positive or negative :P)

Oh, actually–the original Umineko branded itself a “Sound Novel”….as opposed to a Visual Novel, where the emphasis is on, uh–Visuals–Umineko leans more heavily on audio to create its atmosphere. And the music? Fuckin rips!! The Umineko soundtrack is huge and has tons of absolute bangers. It’s easy to see why it decided to market itself as a Sound Novel rather than a visual novel–the graphics of the original PC version are simple, but the atmospheric sound effects and BGM really shines.

Here’s some enticing tracks to pique yr interest (be careful about the comments/etc though, there’s Definitely spoilers in there xD)[worldenddominator] [dead angle] [dir] [system0] [hope]

The VN nowadays is split into the two halves; if you get EP4, it’ll include 1-3 as well, essentially. Picking up Question Arcs (or EP4) and Answer Arcs (or EP8) gives u the whole 8 episodes. Easy peasy! Because we live in the future now, and retroactive inclusion of past games is just convenient!

There is an official English release now, which is a brand new luxury. It’s even on Steam! Wow! That’s the easiest way to get your paws on the hands-on experience. The translation has been slightly updated as well! Also, they added a new set of toggle-able graphics that are…um…I mean they’re certainly new…#BarelyContainedOpinionAlert

If you don’t want to pay or can’t afford it…uhhh….I used to have torrent links but they’re all dead. :T still, you can probably just find them, if you know your way around torrents. For the translation, you’ll have to either get a pre-patched version of the game, or use the translation group’s instructions to patch it yourself. 

If you can’t do either of those, or just don’t really have a preference, or…any number of reasons, you can also find all the games fully recorded and uploaded to YouTube (with or without commentary)!

As for the links, I’ve got them right h–

Wait–oh, sh–the graphics are bad?!? You think the graphics are bad? Or you think plain reading is boring? Y-you can’t understand what the background image in this scene is even supposed to be? Ah…the post-2007 struggle….

The visual novel, Part Deux: AH, THE JPEGS edition

OKAY SO I SPLIT THIS APART BECAUSE IT*S IMPORTANT

If you wanna spruce up your VN-reading experience, here’s the thing: they ported the game to PS3, with brand new graphics and–get this–full voice acting. Wow! There’s even CGs now…Jeez!

These are NOT the same graphics as the new ones from the official English release! That’s important!

SO, if you wanna spruce up the graphics a bit, or you enjoy voice acting with your novels, you can do that! People took apart the PS3 games and made patches for the PC version to enjoy the new graphics and voices. And now it’s available for the Steam version as well!

[SPRITE COMPARISON: ORIGINAL PC | PS3 | STEAM]You pick your favorite!

ALSO VOICE ACTING! WOW!! Remember how I said the anime got two things right and they were the OP and the voice cast?

SAME CAST, BABEY!!!! They are all excellent and do a wonderful job! It can really add some more interest if you struggle with staying focused on “plain” reading.

Okay so NOW the links:

You’ll have to dig up torrents yourself if you want those, bc its 6am and I’m too sleepy to… uzu

QUESTION ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

ANSWER ARCS[Physical Eng release] or [Steam page] +[PS3 PATCH]

YOUTUBE[Non-commentated, with PS3 patch] you can find more just by searching but this one looks good to me :p

RONTRA OPINIONS / SUGGESTIONS

Personally, I favor the VN for most scenes, but the manga for my light casual reading. Y’know? The VN can be pretty…um…dense, at times.

Ironically, I think EP1 itself might be the biggest hurdle for total first-timers. It’s definitely paced as a “part 1 of 8″ for the first solid portion! By which I mean, it really takes its time establishing the cast and their individual situations. Which isn’t a bad thing–especially in the overarching scope of how long the story is–but if you aren’t sure about the premise, format, or if you’ll enjoy Umineko at all, it can be sort of…challenging.

It all really depends on the individual–things like attention span, investment, and personal preferences, imo. Some people just don’t enjoy reading that much text at once! And that’s fine! Some people love it and that’s fine! Some people think the intro is too long, some people think it’s intriguing from the start. Some really like watching character building, and some prefer to see action happening. Either way is fine, so it’s really up to you!

Usually, if someone isn’t sure, I suggest they try EP1 in manga form first, just to see if the general premise entices them; it’s fully possible to jump back and do the VN if you decide you like it! It sacrifices some characterization in exchange for exploring the main premise a little faster.

Similarly, if you just can’t get into the VN–you can read the entire thing with manga too, if you favor action over the deepest character lore. It’s still a good time and a good experience!

Though, in EP1′s favor–if you ARE sure about it, and are able to dedicate your attention to the first 10-13 hours of set-up, EP1 has one of the most rewarding escalations I’ve encountered! If you are able to sit and read a fairly long-winded introduction, you are rewarded with the most buck wild Popping Off you can imagine.

So there’s nothing wrong with jumping right in there with the VN, if you enjoy reading!

However, if you do find that the VN is dragging too much for you, you can go in reverse too–and finish EP1 by manga, then decide if you want to jump back to the VN or not. I promise, the novels pick up the pace too–it’s just getting all the introductions down that can be daunting, when the initial cast size is a staggering 18 people (plus the LORE has to be established too)!!

Just for you–if you want to get into Umineko, but struggle with EP1, I’ll offer my private archive of YenPress manga rips for EP1–read the manga, official english translation, for free thanks to your dealer friend, rontra,You will have to message me about it, though–off anon or via DMs, here or at @aceyasu.

My favorite setups when I play by myself are either Original PC Graphics + Voice Acting, or Full PS3 Patch. I personally really like the original PC graphics, but I understand some people think they’re kinda…um…Rough, to say the least xD PS3 graphics are a close second for me though.

I don’t really like the steam version’s new sprites. Some people don’t mind them, so it’s up to you what you prefer, but I think they don’t really convey the feeling as well as their counterparts sometimes… :/

But hey, everyone’s got their own opinions!

I also prefer the EP8 manga to the EP8 VN. If I have control over someone’s first playthrough, I always push over to the manga for EP8! In my opinion, it’s a rare instance where the adaption is better than its original. People have different opinions on this, of course, but since this section is My Opinions Central, that’s my opinioooon!!! :D

SO BASICALLY MY OWN PERSONAL PREFERRED STRUCTURE IS

->TRY EP1 (jump over to manga if struggling; if enjoyed manga ep1 until the end, hop back into the VN at EP2 and come back to EP1 if you want to later)

EP2-EP7 VN

EP8 MANGA(EP8 VN if desired afterwards, once the dust settles)

But you’re free to do what you want, of course. ;9

And then after that there’s some spinoffs that I didn’t talk about because that’s a post for another time. (There’s a fighting game! It’s packed full of spoilers.)

AFTERWORD

All in all, Umineko is…big. its very very big. it has a huge cast (the final count comes out to like, almost 70 characters!) and a huge story. and huge feelings.

The manga and the VN are the main avenues of getting into it. It’s easier than it looks at a glance; and yet, more daunting than it seems…

If you have the time and energy to pour hours of your time into it, Umineko is a super worthwhile story that tackles genuinely difficult material with a delicate but honest hand.

It clowns up sometimes and stumbles over its own demographic–see: Weird Vaguely Unpleasant Anime-brand Sex Comedy that springs up a lot in EP1, some in EP2, and then largely disappears save for a few dumb jokes here and there–but overall is a solidly built and solidly delivered story about trauma, love, loss, and getting your family ritual-murdered by a thousand-year-old witch who may or may not be real.

And if you have any questions at all (or just wanna talk Umineko), you can send an ask or IM me here or at @aceyasu–you can ask for my Discord too if you wanna really get into it. Or DM me on twitter! I’m happy to answer any question or elaborate on anything you’re confused about. I tried to go over this post quickly, so if I was too vague on something, feel free to ask!

The same of course applies to content warnings; if there’s something specific you’re worried about, I can answer it for you, whether it’s “does [specific thing] happen/appear” or “how much of [thing] is there, i can handle a little bit”! Anything! Of course I want people to read my favorite, but I also more than that want u all to be safe.

I’m very sorry that this post is literally three thousand words long. Umineko’s been my special interest for almost ten whole years. I get chatty! But hopefully my passion shines through and gets you excited!!!

LOVE, A BIG NERD

[jimin-jungshook-over-literalbae]

BTS Suga Soulmate AU *Fluff*

Hey guys! What’s up? So, I’ve been using the app to update but I think I’m going to switch to using the browser because I have a lot of editing stuff to do. I need to work on my master lists. I think I’m going to update my browser one as well, but I’m not sure. There’s a lot that has not be put on it. I really loved writing this and I really hope you guys like it! As always, if there’s anything that you guys want to see, please feel free to send me a request! I love writing what you guys want to see! Lets get into this, shall we?

Soulmate AU Explanation: here

Profiles: Here

     You can feel exhaustion soaking into you as you wait for the bus to come. It’s early evening and you had just gotten off of work, having started some time early this morning. People wander everywhere, seeming directionless and lost. After working late last night, you’re a little bit out of it, exhaustion beginning to steal your concentration. You wait near the edge of the curb, the bench taken up by two boys your age who seem deep in conversation. You find yourself staring at your phone to pass the time.

     “Watch out!” A voice behind you shocks you as a hand wraps around your forearm, pulling you away from the curb. A bicycle speeds through the space you had been standing in moments before.

     The fear and adrenaline you should be feeling are the last things on your mind. The hand on your arm is freezing, almost as if they belong to an ice sculpture. You find yourself staring at his fingers in shock as ice slowly ebbs its’ way up your arm. Frost spreads from his fingertips, feathering its’ way up your forearm. You had heard about the different kinds of manifestation that come from meeting your soulmate but you had never seen one so physically overwhelming. He releases your arm quickly, staring at him hand in shock.

     The palm of his hand is painted with frost, which had started to edge its’ way to the top of his hand. The same frost encloses your forearm, close to your wrist. It appears delicate yet harsh, somehow. His finger brushes across the frost on your arm. Where his touch had once been cool, it now feels warm. It’s as if your skin had grown accustomed to the cold and could now bear to be touched by it. When he touches the frost with a single finger from his other hand, it feels hot for a brief second before the frost wraps around the tip of his finger, cooling his touch.

     “Holy shit,” He breathes, his eyes meeting you to mirror the shock you had yet to find the words to express.

     “I’ve never seen anything like it,” I admit, tracing a finger over the frost on my arm. I’ve never seen such a volatile reaction between soulmates.

     “Well, I guess I should introduce myself,” He steps back a little and rubs his hands together nervously,” My name is Min Yoongi.”

     “I’m Y/N,” You say softly,” I hope we can get along.”

     You’re not quite sure what else to say. He’s attractive with dark hair and pale skin. Although he’s taller, his stature is smaller. You don’t really mind that though. His friend seems to be watching him with a mixture between restrained excitement and complete shock. He bounces up to him, his lanky form practically vibrating.

     “You found your soulmate! Who knew you would be the first one?” The boy’s voice is loud and a large smile takes over his face,” My name is Jung Hoseok and I’m one of Yoongi’s friends.”

     “It’s very nice to meet you,” You can’t help but smile at him, enjoying his excitable nature.

     “Here,” Yoongi’s soft voice captures you attention once again. He holds a phone out to you, a contact screen open. You fill in your information and hand him the phone again. Suddenly being confronted by your soulmate sends a nervous feeling washing through you. He offers you a shy, but gummy, smile. At this point, the bus pulls up and he has to go. You sit on the bench and watch your soulmate climb onto the bus, the frost on his palm winking in the light.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

     You nervously wipe your palms against your jeans. You had agreed to meet Yoongi to get coffee and you could practically feel yourself shaking. This is the first time you’re seeing him since your first meeting. You’ve texted a lot and learned a lot about each other but he seems to have quite a busy schedule. He has admitted to be completely uncomfortable with the soulmates concept. He doesn’t trust himself to know how the handle this situation properly. You admitted you were just as scared as he is.

     “I’m sorry. Did I make you wait long?” His voice wraps around you as he approaches.

     “Not at all! I just got here myself,” You tuck your phone in your pocket and take a moment to fix your hair.

     His outfit is casually sexy. He is dressed for cooler weather, which has been approaching quickly. You both order your drinks, which he insists on paying for, and decide to take a walk near the river. The conversation is casual and he’s nothing like you expected him to be. Although he’s quiet at times, he smiles and laughs a lot. You can’t help but love that smiles and what it means. It’s unlike any smile you’ve ever seen and it always manages to pull at your heart strings.

     “What do you do?” You sip your drink, letting the heat soak through you.

     “I’m a music producer. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years now and I’m pretty satisfied with it,” One of his fingers brushes against the back of your hand, the cold shocking you once again. The comfort comes immediately after, bringing a smile to your face. It’s weird that such a shocking and overwhelming feeling has already begun to bring you comfort. Physical contact is a huge thing for soulmates and has the potential to calm even the craziest emotions.

     “That’s amazing. I can’t imagine it was an easy thing to do,” You find his fingers wrapping around yours and you can’t keep the smile from your face.

     “It’s not but it allows me to feel proud about what I do. This is what I’ve always wanted to do and I don’t want to lose that,” He admits, staring down at your entwined fingers quizzically. The frost slowly climbs up your hands, pushing its’ way past your sleeves and disappearing farther up your arm. You can feel it spreading across the rest of your body the longer your hold his hand. As it spreads, you notice it grow fainter. It makes your skin seem paler with the frost resting delicately on your skin.

     “I will say, I definitely wasn’t expecting to meet my soulmate at a bus stop,” As the cold wind sweeps past you, you find yourself burrowing into his side. It wasn’t a conscious decision but more based on instinct. He releases you hand to wrap his arm around your shoulder. You can see the frost resting on his neck, it’s movement ceased by the loss of skin contact. Yours stopped somewhere around your collarbone. You can feel it, crazy as that seems. It’s almost as if it has become a layer resting directly over your skin. Something tells you that it will melt into your skin when it covers your entire body.

     “If I’m completely honest, I wasn’t expecting to meet mine at all,” His free hand rubs against the back of his neck,” I’ve never been a big fan of the soulmate concept.”

      “I wasn’t either. It always seems like some weird fantasy that doesn’t actually exist. I’ve never seen a soulmate sign quite as… dramatic as ours,” You look up to see two tall figures practically sprinting toward you.

     “Hyung!” A voice bellows from one of the tall figures.

     “Tae? Kookie? What are you doing here?” A small black and brown ball bounces toward Yoongi. You can’t help but smile as a soft look comes over his face. He crouches down to pet the small dog, whose entire body is wagging with his tail.

     “Are you going to introduce us, hyung?” The boy with lighter hair asks, his eyes searching yours.

     “This is Y/N. She’s my soulmate,” Yoongi stands with the small dog enclosed in his arms.

     “Really! That’s so cool!” The light haired boy turns to you,” My name is Taehyung!”

     “Jungkook,” The other boy is quiet, his eyes flickering between the two of us with interest.

     “So Hobi-hyung was telling the truth? None of us were quite sure if we could believe that you found your soulmate first,” Taehyung chews on his bottom lip before his eyes widen,” I don’t mean that in a bad way! I just meant that you weren’t really invested in the idea of soulmates…”

      “You’re right. I’m glad I’m wrong,” Yoongi turns to you with the small wiggling puppy,” This is Yeontan, Tae’s dog.”

      You reach out your hand almost nervously to pet the wiggling puppy. He sniffs your hand curiously, before licking it. His long hair runs through your fingers as you pet him. You glance up to find Yoongi smiling at you, once again. Jungkook’s eyes widen.

      “You don’t smile like that very often, hyung. She must make you pretty happy,” Jungkook grins and playfully pushes Yoongi.

      “Watch it,” Yoongi doesn’t sound angry but he quirks an eyebrow at him,” I’m still your hyung.”

      The four of you talk for a while before Taehyung realizes he’s running late for a schedule and the two children bound away with a yapping puppy at their feet.

      “Sorry about that. They’re a bit of a handful sometimes,” Yoongi looks at you nervously.

      “They’re nice,” You smile, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. The cold blooms and you relish in the feeling. It makes the moment feel more real, less like the dream it feels like.

      “We should probably get going. It’s going to be dark soon,” He takes your hand once again and you feel more relaxed.

      The two of you end up at his apartment. You help him cook dinner and the two of you settle in to watch a movie. You curl into his side and rest your head on his shoulder. Soulmates always seem to gain an instant comfort and joy in the presence of the other. It feels instinctual. Toward the end of the film, after you had finished eating, you look up at him and relish in the beauty that has now found its’ way into your life.

       He glance at you and smiles. In the next instant, his lips are pressing to yours. Once again, that icy feeling spreads across your body. It spreads from you lips all the way down your throat. Soon, you can feel it all the way to your toes. When you finally pull away, he’s just as breathtaking as he was before.        

Before your eyes, the ice sinks into his skin, becomes one with it. Along with that comes the feeling of acceptance. Having a soulmate scares the shit out of you, but it also excites you for the possibility of what it means for your future and for his.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Please feel free to send me any requests you might have!

[minditruitt]

Virtual Living

How many devices do you have? 

Tablet? Smartphone? Laptop? Desktop? Alexa? Bonnie? Betty? Lorraine? 

God help me......

‘This will make your life easier’.

‘This will import all your information faster’.

‘This will keep you ahead of your competition’.

‘This will organize all your lists, passwords, notes, voice mails, emails, snail mails...wait, why does ‘snail mails’ make no sense? 

Snail Mail...singular...all encompassing, all knowing, the bane of our existence since....well, I can’t remember. The pony express, I guess. 

It delivered invitations, letters from family members, letters from friends, love letters, holiday cards that I would string up and enjoy the entire month of December. There were also your bills, notifications....I guess, notifications. I can’t remember getting any of those. Was a notification part of the American English language back then? 

You woke up, put on your bathrobe, slippers and shuffled out to get the paper and maybe ‘the mail’ from yesterday every morning. 

Hell....I don’t know what I’m talking about. I rarely shuffle and god forbid leave the sanctity of my house in a bathrobe....lol   After being shot out of the divorce cannon and into the world of retail cosmetics and female accoutrements where I blossomed into a version of myself that was perhaps simmering on a back burner but my personality took off like Canadian Goose flying toward Florida. 

Why? 

Because my life, frankly, depended on it. Sure, I made mistakes. I went on dates with people I would have never known had I stayed in my comfortable suburban house in a neighborhood comprised of 8 streets named after trees that were mowed down to make room for these houses.....lol

My husband, at the time, and I always had a mobile phone, in our cars we had integrated phones and we had fax lines, phone lines, dial up modem lines and at one time I actually counted 13 phone numbers if you counted everything including my husbands work space in the house and in the office. 

Did that make our life easier? Hell no. 

I used to see him with two cell phones....one on each ear at times. 

We were in constant contact. All. Day. Long. 

You were on alert all the time. Calls, emails..... We didn’t text then but I always had my phone on and sometimes he would call when I was shopping. I would try to put what I was dong in a reference he could understand. 

“Hi, I’m on the back 9, I’ve had a dog at the turn and things are moving along.”

This meant I had completed some shopping at some stores, I’d had lunch and the crowds and traffic weren’t bad ensuring I would be home at a decent time. 

Now when I’m out I don’t have to check in with anyone but my phone is always on. Messages from friends, the man I’m dating, family members, fellow managers at work, are all important to me so I feel like I should be available ALL THE TIME. 

But it isn’t just messages, text or otherwise....there’s:

Messenger, Instagram, Facebook, Email, LinkedIn, various news apps like my local one, BBC World Service, CNN, Twitter, and formally eHarmony. (Thank God that’s over.) 

I’ve always been a tad nervous. Ok, ok....that sound that just reverberated over Raleigh was a collective laugh from my friends that I actually cry over because I feel so blessed to have them. 

But all the dinging....it gets to me. I have tones for different people, different apps....I have 3 emails on my phone, 3700 pictures, a long list of contacts, Candy Crush, Casino 21 games and who knows what all else. I used to get push notifications but had to delete the news app for them to stop. Of all the worst of these tones is Messenger. I have got to figure out how to change it. For some reason it makes me jump when I hear it....It’s shrill and comes out of the blue. 

Most days I feel like I’m being pecked to death by a chicken. 

My laptop is under my coffee table because it’s on it’s way out but I have pictures on there that I still need to transfer, I have an iPhone that is as attached to me as a Starbucks cup. I have a Surface Pro that was given to me by someone I dated for a couple of years. I have Bluetooth in my car, I have most all the social media apps yapping and yelping and dinging and pinging at me ALL. DAY. LONG. 

I don’t turn off my phone at night unless I need to for personal reasons that would require another blog post....

But is all this availability necessary? Does it make me feel better? Being so connected? 

No. 

And here is why....I am constantly checking to be sure I haven’t missed someones birthday, someones text, someones email, someones tag of me, someones request for prayer, someones funny Facebook meme, a message from my boss, a message from my boyfriend, a message from my mother, a message from my daughter, a message from my ex-husband, a message from a friend, a message from my uncle who lost his wife in April, a message from my son, a message from group texts, group messages, writer’s groups to which I have yet to make a meeting, a message from clients at work, and the most important message of all.......The email from Starbucks telling me I’ve earned a reward....

So no, I’m not at all relaxed. I’ve already had my medication this morning and am sitting here laughing while writing this freehand because it is so ludicrous...

My heart is racing from the adrenaline of writing, the upset from last night, and my one cup of lame coffee I made for myself an hour ago. 

Do you think the Neanderthals cared about what was going on in the next cave?

Maybe all they did was draw pictures on the walls of their neighbors new yak or something. 

We rush out the door to work, headphones in sometimes, phones going, heels clicking on the garage floor, the work bag, the hand bag, the lunch bag the bottle of water, keys to the store, keys to my car, keys to my little carriage house jangling alongside my nerves and what am I doing? Leaping in the car an hour before I’m due at work headed to buy more caffeine to add to my racing heart so I can keep up with today’s world. 

Will I die young? Probably. The pace I’ve been keeping during my life will most likely catch up with me. 

I don’t think that ancient mankind thought they couldn’t get through their day without a Grande Americano, room for cream, extra shot, breakfast of champions guzzle fest on an Interstate going..... ( of course the speed limit ).

No they sat there with a slab of rock trying to fashion the newest body style update of the Flintstones car.....If the thing cracked or fell on his toe he probably beat up something or someone and said whatever.....I’m going to just go eat my buffalo leg sandwich and call it a day......  

Was he stressed? Maybe....but he didn’t have to take 4 dozen pictures of his situation and post them on StoneAgeChat.com.

My tongue in cheek musings on all the social togetherness is just that....satirical musings. 

But do I check, and you know what’s funny? When I post my newest blog post on LinkedIn I get no likes but i get a notification that upwards of 50 people at times click the link and then I can see from what parts of the country these people are. It’s fascinating. Several countries and states no where near me. So I guess you could say I post this not only for writing practice but I love the more intimate comments from my Facebook friends and family. Apparently a few people think I can write after all. And that makes me feel good. It gives me the push to keep going. Keep writing. Keep practicing for what’s next.... 

Thank you to everyone that takes time out of their day to read my rambling,sometimes funny, always genuine babblings, that give me a little boost of confidence. So in all reality, or virtual reality, it’s the individual people and their love that make all the difference to me. 

[laurajanecostello]

Healthy eating is always a buzz topic. Every time you look at a women’s magazine there is an article about “How to Drop Fourteen Stone in a DAY!” and every time you go to Facebook or Instagram there is a MLM rep trying to sell you all manner of things to “DROP WEIGHT FAST!” with their stories of body weight lost, and how it all only costs “£3 a day, hun!”

I’ve never been a big “health geek” or anything like that. I’ve always been very much “everything in moderation” but I have a habit of overindulging sometimes – hence my “less than ideal” frame. I’ve always been “overweight”, except for pretty much before I hit puberty. I’ve always been pretty much a UK size 16, although recently I was up as far as a size 20. I fluttered between an 18 and a 20 when I was pregnant, which if you remember from my previous posts led to all kinds of “you’re fat, you’re failing” rhetoric from the hospital with which we originally registered. Thankfully the hospital where we had Eden cared more about actual diagnosis than some percieved risk and life was easier there.

But now here we are, nearly two years after having Eden and I’m still unhappy with my weight. Just like how I’m Learning to be a Curly Girl, I decided a month or so ago that it was time to STOP being unhappy with my weight, my body and my shape and DO SOMETHING about it! Because after all, I’m the only one who can.

Here’s some things I’ve been doing to make a difference.

1. That Has HOW MANY Calories?!

I get very much into the habit of “it’s just a take out” or “It’s just a whole bag of Starmix.” I feel like that’s where my downfalls are. I use an app called “My Fitness Pal”, which is a free app on iphone. It does have paid features, but I only use the free ones at the moment and I’m not sure I have any plan to upgrade my membership. Anyhow, it allows you to easily log your food and drinks through the day as well as giving you a calorie goal based on your personal weight loss goal. It also reminds you to log in each day, which keeps what you are eating in the forefront of your mind. It has an excellent exercise tracker and whilst I’m pretty sure it overexaggerates on calories burned sometimes, it’s good to have a ball park figure of what calories you “claim back” by exercising. I also like that it links up to the (not wholly accurate) iphone steps tracker, so you can see what your step count is like throughout the day. It also can pair up with fitbit and other such activity monitors, although I haven’t tried that because I don’t own one…

Logging food is great because sometimes I will log something BEFORE I eat it and then can see exactly how much damager it would do to my daily goal. Sometimes I go ahead and eat it anyway, but nine times out of ten I will substitute or decide on a smaller portion. You can also see your daily goals for fats, carbs, protein, vitamins and other things that make up a healthy diet.

(On a side note, if you want to add me in MyFitnessPal you can do so HERE)

       2. Substitutions

I often allow a treat but with a substitution. So, where I would have normally had chips, I’ve substituted for Jacket potato or mash. Where I would have had several fizzy drinks, I’ve had one fizzy drink and the rest are water. Where I would have eaten a whole bag of sweets, I take a portion and put the rest back. Just enough to curb the craving! I’ve also changed my Starbucks order from latte or cappuccino to Americano with no milk.

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed substituting – even in my lattes on the occasion that I do have them – is coconut or almond milk instead of cow’s milk. Coconut milk has slightly more fat than cow’s milk but in terms of vitamins it does a whole lot better. It has more vitamin C, Vitamin E, vitamin B1, vitamin B3 and in terms of minerals it has more phosphorous, potassium, selenium, iron and magnesium than its dairy sibling. Coconut milk is also much lower in sodium than cow’s milk, which is a really good thing.

My favourite coconut milk is the Vita Coco milk, which is made from coconut cream and coconut water. It seems a little sweeter and much more full bodied than an average coconut milk. We go through quite a lot of it, so the bottle sizes are ideal for me and my coconut loving tummy. It’s not too badly priced either at £3 per litre.*

      3. The Little Exercise That Could…

People say that diet is the main focus in losing weight and science shows the same, but exercise plays an important role too. I know I find it hard as someone with a full time job and a toddler to get in any real exercise. The gym would require childcare and I hate the gym anyway, so what’s to do? Well, firstly I walk. I try to walk as much as I can. Sometimes I walk when I could have taken the bus. I promised myself when I started trying to lose weight that I would walk up the stairs at least once a day, which I am still doing even though I now work on the seventh floor – sob! It’s hard, but it gets easier every day. I’m also looking for a good Zumba type youtube video, so let me know if you know of any. I’m sure Eden would love to complete some dance workouts with me!

4. Water, Water. You Gotta Drink Way More Water Than You Think… 

I’m channelling Doc McStuffins on this one.  Humans are made of about 60-70% water, so when we don’t drink enough we hold onto what we already have meaning we hold onto a whole bunch of water weight. When we drink enough, our body will happily pee out excess water, meaning that we lose the water weight – hooray! Drinking at least 2L of water a day also helps concentration levels, keeps tiredness at bay and keeps us bright eyes and bushy tailed. Oh, and it has no calories and no nasty sugars to mess with your teeth. Winner!

Water does get boring after a bit, so I often pop a herbal teabag or two or some fresh fruit in my water bottle just to jazz it up a little bit. I invested in a 1L water bottle with a straw from Typo.com, which I adore because it just sits beside me on my desk and I sip from it throughout the day. It comes everywhere with me when I’m out and about and clips onto the buggy too. Eden also loves to drink “juuuuuuice” (water) from my bottle as well. I’m about to get her the smaller version for herself!

I’m keeping it light at the moment, so those are the four things that I’m doing and trying to do well. I want to make a sustainable change, so it’s not just a “fad” or something I will get bored of after a couple of months. In the month that I’ve been doing this so far, I’ve lost 6lbs. It’s not amazing, but it’s a good start for me and I’m hoping to keep it coming. I’m also down to a solid size 16-18 rather than an 18-20, so we’re heading the right way.

In an ideal world, it’s not about losing weight, it’s about getting down to a state where I feel comfortable and where I fit the clothes that I want to fit. It would be nice to get down to a healthy BMI as healthcare professionals love to yap about BMI, but we all know that BMI is not a great measure of health. I’d rather be healthy and slightly overweight than a “healthy BMI” and be miserable and it be impossible to maintain. It also means we’re creating healthy habits for Eden as she grows and it means she is more likely to be a healthy weight as she grows.

What are your weightloss tips and tricks?

Weight Loss Ticker! This will update throught my weightloss journey. I’m hoping to be down maybe 50obs or so by the time we go to Florida in December. I’m calling it operation #dontbeaflumpforflorida. Wish me luck in my quest to be less Pooh, more Princess!

*Disclaimer – We were sent this product in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain our own and we recieved no financial incentive.