#I use Animal Crossing stickers for all my drawings but I feel like they especially fit her

[the-wandering-blob]

BEHOLD!!! MY REGRETEVATOR OC!!!

Her name is Penelope Plaything, but everyone just calls her Plaything. She is a little ragdoll who really likes tea (🇬🇧) and loves to play. She’s very sweet and happy, but also cares deeply about her looks:3

She spawns from a floor called “The Playroom”. There’s a little toybox that she climbs out of and goes over to the elevator. The way you complete the floor is that you have to pick up the toys that are randomly strewn about the floor and put them in the toybox! Nothing bad happens if you don’t get them all, you just get send back to the elevator.

[pbandjesse]

I am feeling just slightly stressed out. I think I am just very tired. I am feeling better but I am just exhausted.

It was a pretty good day. I slept alright. And woke up feeling fine. Getting up was hard. But I got myself together and James made the bed and gave me my lunch and offered to carry my drinks to the car but I was alright. I just wanted to leave with them.

I was surprised that the car had frost all over it. I didn't want to scrap it off the glass so I waited for the car to warm up and watched James bike off. I didn't have to wait long.

It was a fine drive to camp. I don't know why but I did not wear my puffer jacket and I was very cold outside even with a sweater and a fleece. I would be inside for the majority of the day though and would be fairly comfortable.

I drove up to arts first to drop off all my large stuffed animals. Some will probably still come home but for now at least they have a safe place to be. Once those were put away I went back down to the office.

I could see over at the nurse's office there were some work trucks. I wasn't sure what part they were working on but they were doing something.

When I got to the office I microwaved my breakfast and set myself up. I drew the card for my neighbor's. I wrote out some well wishes and told them I was sorry I couldn't do more. It was nice to draw. I was in a drawing mood.

I would actually do some more prep work for my daily sticker project. Just getting some early work done so if I fall behind I will have something to fall back on. Especially since everything is so busy right now. And it's only going to get worse. Not at work but in life. And it was nice to work on the style I'm going for.

As I was drawing I saw the men from the nurses office walk over. They came in the office and said they needed the nurse key and that they would be back to work in the basement. They were very nice. I texted our office group chat and told them we had men in the basement. Which is the most ominous way to say that. But it was true!

Eventually everyone else came in. I told them about the detectives coming to my house. And the card I wrote. I had James print that to give to the neighbors and apparently Jessica thought it was incredibly sweet. I'm glad no one thinks it's weird. I just felt like it was the least I could do.

It would be a nice day. I would have emails to write and some things to create for sending interest emails out for staff. Me and Sarah would also do a bunch of research to find vendors to email about possibly being a part of our music festival. That took a surprisingly long time because we had to find emails and not everyone made that easy!!

I did get a lot of reading done today too. I finished my book about the 1793 yellow fever endemic. It was very interesting and honestly while it was sad it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. There was some hope at the end. I do wish they did an epilog like the Dear America ones do but that's okay. I still enjoyed it.

The day would go pretty fast. At one point Dad asked me to call and we discussed some house stuff. And he asked if I could try installing zippers in some of his pants. I can sure try! He's sending them with Mom tomorrow. And I will do my best to get that done ASAP. It was also just nice to talk to him. He sounded healthy. And he's really proud of us about the house and that feels good.

I am a little stressed though because Jennifer, the loan processor, asked for some information from me but when I followed up with what I think is what she's asking for she didn't say anything! I wish she would send confirmation emails but she didn't with the last documents either and it just stresses me so bad. Especially on a holiday weekend. Like girl. Please just tell me this is what you need so we aren't going to have to push back the closing. James thinks it was the correct info though so fingers crossed I guess.

I am excited though. Like it's happening. That's so cool. I'm going to miss this apartment a lot but this is new! This is going to be great! And if I keep that energy it will be true even if it is hard.

The end of the day came pretty fast. I was ready to get out of there, mainly because I was excited to go hang out with Callie. I said goodbye to everyone and they reminded me that MLK day is Monday. But I already don't work on Mondays so it didn't matter to much. But I hope they all enjoy the extra day and I'll see them Tuesday.

On my drive my blood sugar felt incredibly low. My hands started shaking. I sent Callie a text I would need to run to the grocery store to grab a piece of a pizza. And she was totally cool about it. I just couldn't think and needed food immediately.

As soon as I parked I saw her and we walked over and I quickly got my pizza and basically inhaled it. I was actually able to talk and focus once I ate and I was slightly embarrassed that I got that bad. But she was cool about it and she filled the air while I couldn't talk.

We went over to amazing glaze and I finished eating my pizza and we decided what to paint. She picked a tiny trinket dish and I got a pasta bowl/plate. I have done this shape before buts its one I go for at home a lot so it seemed right.

And I had so much fun painting. She filled me in about school. I filled her in about the house. She painted a bunny and I painted a bedroom with little beads all tucked in. I impressed the workers which is all I'm ever trying to do. And while we were there for 2 hours, and I for sure could have been there longer, I am super proud of my piece.

I really enjoyed Callie's company. We talked about camp and life and she offered to help us move because she's great. And I had a very good time.

We finished up a little after 630. Just as the rain started. We hugged and said goodbye. And it really felt like we left at the perfect time because right after I got home the storm picked up and got very heavy and very windy. I was happy to be home.

But I was in a weird mood. While me and Callie were painting I texted James something time sensitive and they didn't answer me. It was going in 40 minutes and I finally called them and asked them to answer my texts and I hate the this is something we continue to struggle with. It's literally the only thing in our relationship that makes me angry. And it's because it makes me feel like I can't call them in an emergency. And it upsets me really bad. And they felt terrible but it doesn't fix it. And I just want them to try to be better.

So my mood was sour but I'm sure I also was just tired and it made things feel worse. James did tell me they knocked on our neighbor's door and gave them my card and apparently she was super grateful and told James if I didn't call her husband could have died. And I am horrified that it was that bad. I am glad that he's home. I'm glad I was able to help. I still wish I could have done more.

James was in the kitchen doing something for a long time. I opened the mail and texted my mom about tomorrow. I'm really excited to have her and my aunt visit. I just have to be well rested for it!!

I took a shower. I was hurting a bit. My lip has been doing better and I didn't wear a bandaid today. But then I hit the wound with the zipper of my fleece and it hurt so deeply and continued to hurt for hours. Cleaning it in the shower also hurt but I am still trying to baby it. It's getting better but it's still split. At least it's not as swollen.

I am in bed now. And I am very very ready to sleep. We are going to have a long day tomorrow.

Mom and aunt Nadine will be here for brunch. And then we are going to the visionary museum. And I'm really hoping for a good day. I hope you all sleep well and have a nice day tomorrow. Be careful in the heavy winds. I love you all. Goodnight!!

[positivityfortoday]

☀ PositivityForToday’s 10K Celebration ☀

There are SO many things worth living for and reasons to smile and be happy! With the help of my lovely followers/friends, I have compiled a list of 1,000 things that make people happy, for my 10,000 amazing followers! Hopefully, this list is able to help you, make you feel better, or give you a reason to smile today! 

☀ 1,000 Happy Things ☀

Seeing cows while driving

Moss on really old fallen trees 

Seeing a lil baby you don't know in public, and they smile at you!!!

Parents doing their kids hair or just people doing someone they care about’s hair

Really ragged old and well-loved stuffed animals 

When the dandelions start blooming

Spring blossom

Daffodils

Bluebells

Sharks

When you're sitting outside your house or something and people passing by wave and say hi

That feeling in the summer when you have your window open and you're listening to your favorite music

When someone does a hobby just because they enjoy it even if they aren't the best at it

Comfort shows and books

People speaking their native languages

When my brother gets something to eat and always gets me something he knows I like

When I finish a crossword 

When I see something that reminds me of someone I care about

Paintings

My best friend (I love her so much shhhh don't tell her)

My dog! I love him 

My little sisters! Adorable, creative, and very witty. I love them

Music! I get the happy shaky feelings and just,,, y e a h/listening to songs

Singing! Especially for band practice!

Sunlight beams in the morning

The moon

Eagles

That feeling when you’re with friends and you’re all laughing so loudly, and you just feel complete

Talking to my favorite people/talking to my best friend

Sunrises and sunsets

Seeing the stars

Cats

Butterflies/Moths

Snails

Warm sunshine

Purple gel pens

Hugs

My children

Sunny days

Beautiful views

Spending time with my family and friends

Playing badminton

Cycling

Playing with little kids

Playing with dogs

Whales

Animals doing daft things 

Talks and walks with my son 

Morning breakfast and coffee 

A good spicy lunch

Laying in my bed at night and just checking on current affairs and news

My boyfriend

My friends 

Art

Owls

Minecraft

Voice acting

Petting my dog

Smelling Flowers 

Feeling a cold thing when I’m warm or a warm thing when I’m cold 

Giving and getting kisses

Random texts from friends

Coffee flavored chocolate 

Singing

Moths with big white wings

Underdone scrambled eggs

A rainy night

Bubbles

That first warm day of spring

Going on hikes

Being outdoors

Candy

Chocolate 

The smell of playdoh 

Taking photos

Getting new clothing 

Candles

Birdwatching

Going on picnics

Writing poetry

Reading books

The holidays

Making people smile/laugh

Coffee

A nice warm blanket

Eating ice cream

Snow globes

Lightning bugs

Flowers after the snow melts

The smell of rain

Sitting on the steps early in the morning

Being the first to wake up

The feeling I get after running

The comfort of a favorite shirt

My girlfriend 

Family

Random acts of kindness

Babies

When I play with my dog by pretending to run at her and she goes crazy with excitement 

My cat 

Rain

Baking

Piano (playing or listening)

Small flowers

Flowy skirts/dresses

Wholesome romances

Hearing a song for the first time and loving it immediately 

Playing my flute

Horses

Listening to vinyls on a record player

When someone remembers a little detail about you

Painting my nails

Doing yoga

Doing exercise

Beating a personal record

Rainbows

Making crafts

Taking a shower after a long day

Going to the zoo

Going on vacation

Being at the beach or near water

Watching Netflix

Going to the movie theatre

Watching a live play at a theatre

Learning something new

Teaching someone how to do something 

Toasting marshmallows and eating S’mores 

Cupcakes

Seeing a shooting star

Taking a nap

When someone compliments me

Decorating my room

Picnics

My favorite band

My favorite celebrities

My favorite actors

Setting a new goal

Collecting rocks

Putting on fresh clean sheets

Seeing Christmas lights

Listening to birds chirping

Giraffes

Camping

Sitting by a bonfire

Eating mashed potatoes

Bullet journaling

Driving in the car with the windows down

Dancing

Looking at pretty pictures

Concerts

Funny jokes/puns/memes

Fireworks

Sparklers

Pretty clouds

My favorite shoes

Getting new art supplies

Making photo edits

Making gifts for my friends and family

Getting gifts from people 

Balloons

Succulents 

Playing an instrument

Drinking a nice cup of tea

Iced tea on a summer day

Eating fresh fruit

Getting my hair braided 

Eating at a restaurant 

Being on a boat

Swimming

Making new friends

Finding an animal in nature 

Pumpkins and pumpkin patches

Carving pumpkins 

Autumn and all the beautiful colors

Acting for theatre

Making video edits

Wearing a costume for Halloween

Dressing fancy

Finding four leaf clovers

Pressing flowers

Scrap booking

Handwritten letters

Stickers

Hummingbirds

Elephants

Eating breakfast 

Gardens

Inspirational quotes

Wearing my favorite necklace 

Baby animals 

Little streams and ponds

Foxes

Sun shining through trees

When it’s foggy out and you can see dew drops on plants and spider webs

Being on a swing

Finally accomplishing a goal you’ve been working on 

When a new season of your favorite show comes out

Doing my makeup

Cleaning and organizing 

Daydreaming 

Taking a bath

Christmas 

Watching funny videos

Wearing sweaters and hoodies

Fuzzy socks

Helping people 

Little figurines and objects

Popcorn 

Brownies

Looking out the window 

Wolves

Opening a window for fresh air

The smell of coffee 

Watching YouTube videos 

Getting a haircut 

Seeing a deer in the woods 

Watching birds fly

Finding shapes and objects in the clouds 

The smell of fresh laundry

When someone tells me something reminded them of me

Stepping on crunchy leaves

Animal crossing

My switch

Softball/baseball

Basketball

Soccer

Seeing cool cars/old cars

Rollerblading

Drawing with chalk on a sidewalk

Going to bed early

Stargazing

Making progress

Checking things off my to-do list

Taking Polaroid pictures

Going for walks

Jogging

Going to the library

Starting a new book

Finishing a good book

Playing board games

Koalas

Slippers

Big trees

Sunlight coming through the windows

Waking up on Christmas morning

Getting book, song, movie, etc. recommendations from my friends

Making music playlists

Finally receiving packages I ordered in the mail 

Baking desserts

When my favorite song comes on

When people make playlists for each other

Finding new characters to ship

Having free time

Sticky notes

Sunbathing

Traveling

Peace and quietness

Alone time

Meeting my step/exercise goal for the day

The people who love me

Soup

Coloring books

Getting into bed after a long day

Pillows

Fandoms

How unique and different everyone is

Getting a lot of work done

Looking forward to my future dream job

Playing video games

Being on Tumblr

Taking time for myself

Practicing self-care

Face masks

Finding money you forgot about

Holding hands

The smell of apple pie

Starting a new tv show

Getting letters in the mail

When the seasons change

Summer

Mugs and teacups

Smoothies

Breakfast food

Disney

Going into the woods/forest

Trying new creative outlets

The smell of sunscreen

Eating the food you’ve been craving

Knowing and feeling that people care

Telling a good story

Laughing so hard can’t stop and your stomach hurts

Late summer nights

Late night drives

Sparkles

Glitter

Listening to people I love talk about their favorite things and what they’re passionate about

Listening to podcasts

Turning up the volume of my music

Putting my headphones in

Blasting my favorite songs through my speaker

People accepting and supporting others for who they truly are

Wearing something cozy

Soft light

Love

Warm weather

A well-rested night

Waking up in the morning and feeling refreshed

Knowing that every day is a fresh start

Well written characters

A book I can get lost in

Sloths

My parents

My siblings

My grandparents

The feeling of sand beneath your feet

Heated blankets

Bagels

Toast

Getting something for free

Samples

Constellations 

Mason jars

Practicing a new skill

Finding a new hobby

Lazy weekends

Mac n cheese

French fries

Having deep conversations with my best friend

New jeans

Going to IKEA

Skirts 

Dresses

Doodling

When other people are happy (especially people I know and love)

Marching band

Sleeping in

Having the day off

Getting new books

Playing guitar

Playing ukulele 

Random compliments

A change of scenery

Cuddling

Waking before the sun is up

Reading old letters

Zebras

Exploring

Building Lego sets

Using photoshop to make edits

Journaling

Walking along the seafront and breathing in time with the waves

A good rom-com or nostalgic show

Writing lists

Pinterest boards

Looking back at my accomplishments

Talking on the phone with a friend or family member

Wrapping presents

A blue sky

Loving someone 

Waterfalls

Washi tape

Penguins

Donuts

The color yellow

Sleepovers

Cooking dinner

Kind gestures

Trust

Inside jokes

Songs that make you feel nostalgic

Seeing other people’s art

Comfy clothes

Wearing pajamas

Calligraphy

When someone calls you by your nickname

Going to Target

The first sunburn of the summer

Ramen noodles

Chinese food

Thrift shopping

Flower fields

Flowers growing in random places, like through a crack in the sidewalk

Writing

Sparkly snowflakes

When it snows on Christmas

Mixing paint colors together

Perfectly shaven legs

Puddles

The color red

Thunderstorms 

The smell of flowers

The ocean 

Adult sized onesies

Driving a golf cart

Fairytales

Cartoons

The color blue

Pasta

AO3

Crickets chirping

Seeing everyone’s houses decorated for the holidays, especially Christmas

Other people sharing what makes them happy

Monkeys

Being understood

When someone texts to make sure I got home safely

Iced coffee

Becoming better at communicating with others

Seeing a friend for the first time in a while

Good morning and good night texts

Drinking a cold glass of water

Deep conversations in the middle of the night

Collecting sea shells

Building blanket forts

Tan lines

Being under lots of blankets

Making better health and money choices

Getting chills from a song even after hearing it countless times 

Liking how I look

Hot chocolate

Finding new music

Buying cute things

Wearing an outfit I really like

When someone tells you how glad they are to be your friend

Gardening

Watching raindrops race down a window 

Trying new food

Finding exactly what I was looking for 

Planning my future

Finding a song that perfectly fits my mood or describes how I’m feeling

Writing little notes to people

When someone tells me I did something good

Eating ice cream on a hot day

Making friends with animals

Going to football games

Seeing people genuinely interested in something

Snow days

The last day of school

Winter break

Spring break

Thanksgiving

New Year’s Eve

Turtles

Sitting outside on a cool summer day

Watching rain

Watching the ocean waves come in

Netflix binges

A new movie release I really want to watch

Driving with a window down for the first time in the spring 

Taking a cruise

Giving helpful advice

Getting helpful advice

Doing a favor for someone who needs it

Someone referencing one of my fandoms or something I love out of no where

Learning and knowing stuff

Doing something physically challenging or scary

Listening to my bedroom fan while I fall asleep

Coming up with a new creative idea 

Finding something I wanted at the store on sale for a good deal

Finishing all my assignments on time or even early

Hugging my dog

Taking my dog for a walk

Teaching my dog a new trick

When strangers stop to say hi to my dog

Listening to audiobooks

The weekend

Finding a new flavor of chapstick

Drinking Kool-Aid, it makes me feel so nostalgic

Watching nature shows on a weekend morning

Watching cartoon shows on a Sunday morning

A good TV show, most likely something I've watched before because that way I know it ends well

A good, delicious comfort meal on a Friday night by myself 

A café in the city centre at noon when it's not filled with the morning rush or afternoon coffee breakers

The stars from my childhood bedroom because they're the brightest here

Listening to my favorite playlist really loud on a long road trip and singing to myself loudly in my car

Having an entire day to myself without interruptions from anyone

Opening the curtains first thing in the morning 

A new jacket

Going to the cinema on a first release day because it's always super exciting and full of people anxious to see a movie they've been waiting for forever

Listening to live music

Riding roller coasters

Going to amusement parks

Lizards

Seahorses

Starfish

Eating fair food

Feeling an instrument vibrate when you’re playing it

Hearing my dog snore

When my dog dreams in his sleep 

Wearing a new piece of clothing for the first time

Feeling the sun on you

Eyes in the sunlight

Seeing city lights

Singing in the shower at the top of my lungs

Looking at someone and them knowing exactly what they’re going to say

Laughing till you cry

Being under a blanket

Going to craft stores

Watching boats

The idea of traveling the world

When my dogs let me lay my head on them

Listening to an old song and having it bring back memories

Candy corn

Crazy socks

Quotes

Fall and the leaves changing color and the crisp feeling in the air

Making snowmen

Making gingerbread houses for Christmas

Making videos with family

Burning a candle

Booping a dog’s nose

Getting letters/notes from people; writing them

Snow globes

Dr. Pepper

Doc martens

Fortune cookies

Potatoes

Easter

Finishing something

Skipping rocks

Warm rain

When someone opens up to you

Finding the right words to say exactly what you wanted

Animal footprints

Eating outside

Fairy lights

The smell of a hotel

Windows

Meeting a new dog

Dolphins

Getting magazines in the mail

Being in the woods as the sun starts to rise and the animals wake up

Warm days

Adirondack chairs

A warm breeze

Clothes and blankets hanging outside to dry

Feeding birds

Aquariums

The color green

Tie dying things

Going to art museums

Going to science museums

New albums from my favorite artists 

Seeing moss in nature

Finding cute little mushrooms 

When a dog wags its tail a bunch and is excited to see me

Playing fetch with my dog

Obsessing over something and having someone to talk about it with

Going on a walk with my best friend and talking about life

Looking at old pictures and reminiscing on good memories

Reading a book that's so good your brain wants to read faster than it can

Laughing with friends about the weirdest things

Being appreciated for doing small things you wouldn't even have thought about yourself because it's something you *just do*

Being creative

Watching animals

A story I can't put down

Stretching

The moment when you listen to a new song/album by your favourite artist

When you're at a concert and anticipating the moment before the band comes out

When at a concert and they play your favourite song live

The moment when someone compliments your outfit 

When you see someone wearing merch of something you like 

Seeing the sunrise/sunset 

Watching the sun rise out of the water or sink down into it as it’s setting

This ecstatic feeling in general when you're just living in the moment with people who love something as much as you do

Hugging my cat and smelling his fur

Listening to my music by myself and singing to it 

Making edits I’m really proud of 

Losing hours in a good book or fanfiction

Writing sentences that I actually like 

My siblings and my parents when they're being chill and funny

Watching my favorite tv shows and movies and yelling about them into the void 

Finding a new good song 

Fresh out of the shower + fresh clean sheets feeling when you go to bed

When I come downstairs in the morning and my dog greets me right at the bottom step with her lil’ tail wagging

Knowing that if I ever needed someone to chat with, someone would be there to lend an ear

Tigers

Lions

When you shuffle your music and the exact song you want to hear plays

When all my family is around the outdoor fire on a summer’s evening

When my nieces and nephews give me squishy kid hugs

Being home alone and being able to cook or bake in the kitchen without disruption

Driving around with a friend in the evenings and just belting our favorite songs

Seaside walks

Disney World

Seeing live theatre

The sun shining on leaves and stone buildings

Dancing when I'm alone

Color-coordinating my outfit

Floating on my back in the sea

The smell of summer nights

The smell of winter mornings

Colorful things/environments

Bunnies

Walking along lakes/rivers/the sea

Spending time in nature

Taking care of my plants

Giving affection to my loved ones

Listening to other people's stories

Reading about people I've never met before or places I've never visited before (especially if they are now just a part of history)

Embroidering

Pandas

Swimming in a river or the sea

Stargazing (my favorite moments usually happen an hour before sunrise)

White-caged-bird

Feeling the breeze when I spin and my heartbeat when I dance for an hour at a time

All the wonderful smells of flowers and colours that nature has to offer

Sharing good laughter with someone

Feeling like I belong

Travelling and discovering new customs of different cultures

Hiking or foraging

That feeling when I'm approaching the end of a really good book and I let myself be engulfed by the fact that it's a unique experience, that I'll never experience as the first time again

Observing my local fauna

Petting and taking care of an animal (double the joy if it is friendly with strangers)

Drinking a good cup of honey tea

Finding a perfume that suits me

Eating something sweet

Enjoying a meal with others

Cat paws tapping on the floor

Dipping a biscuit into tea

Trying to catch leaves falling from the tree

Having sunlight hit your face when you’re napping

Objects that cast a rainbow when the sun shines through them

Seeing patterned shadows

Ambient mood lighting

Sleeping

Wearing jewelry 

Cheese

Playing chess

Fresh air

Going somewhere new

My Mom’s cooking

Being inspired

When someone holding your hand rubs their thumb lovingly in circles

Picking strawberries

Otters

Painting the walls of my room

Wind chimes

Seeing that your favorite people are active online

Finally understanding something you were struggling with

The excitement you get when someone reblogs your writing or art

Getting a new notebook or journal

Appreciation

Validation

When someone tells you they love you and mean it

The smell of freshly baked bread

When my dog falls asleep on me

Making new online friends

Found family

Finishing cleaning my room

When someone lays their head on your shoulder

Doing something right on the first try

Finally sitting down after standing for a long time

Getting goosebumps from hearing or seeing something you love

Seeing a gorgeous view

Loving someone and them loving you back

Freshly baked gooey cookies

When a song comes on and everyone starts singing

When I’m out for a run and it’s hot and it starts raining. Nothing makes me feel more like a human than getting caught in the rain on a run

Swimming in the ocean

When people are talking about something they really love and get carried away trying to explain it all to you

Puppies

Being in the middle of nowhere and actually getting to see the whole sky of stars that you never get to see in a city

Finding people that love the same things you do

 When something silly reminds you of someone you love; like every time I see an orange and green gummy worm I think of my sister

When you’re hugging someone and they squeeze you a little bit before they let go

Weather where you can leave all the windows open in your house

Trampolines

Driving with no destination in mind

Falling asleep to the sound of rain

Hearing other people laugh

Laughing only because you hear someone else laugh and it's just so contagious

The first snowfall of the year

Disney movies

Listening to someone tell stories and they have like 15 side stories in between the main one

Romantic movies

Bubble baths

Smiling between kisses

Wearing sweatpants

A clean house

Pizza

My computer

Cheesy pickup lines

When people tell me they miss me

Cool spring mornings after a storm

My job

Butterflies

New shoes

Oversized shoes

Caramel apples

Volunteering

Meditating

Running my blog

Finding sea glass at the beach

Getting my nails done 

Planning vacation

Hot cider

Telling people I love them

Writing in my gratitude journal

Eating homegrown vegetables, fruit, and herbs

Remembering a good dream I had

Happy endings

Colored pens

Decorating for the holidays

Finishing a really good tv show

Leopards

Summer rain

Thunderstorms where I can just open my window to the full extent and just watch and listen

Calls with my best friend

Seeing a meme and sending it to my friends

Getting an email from AO3

That moment when you get an idea for creating something

Walking barefoot on the grass

Sending thank you notes

Writing events I’m looking forward to on my calendar

Dippin' Dots

Spicy food

Seeing a full moon

Eating cookie dough

Eating seasonal food

Bubble wrap

Going to the car wash and getting rainbow soap

Dark chocolate

Soft blankets

Weighted blankets

Soft drinks with crushed ice

When I get an unexpected phone call from someone I love

Wearing flip flops

Longer daylight hours

Having a BBQ

Frosting cookies

Making cupcakes in the microwave

Watching the Hallmark channel during the holidays

Taking selfies or photos with people I love

Putting on lotion

The smell of a baby’s head

The Office

Online shopping

The smell of freshly cut grass

Surprising my family or friends

Looking at the clock when it’s 11:11

Being productive

Quilts

Doing good on an exam

Someone doing a favor for me (especially when I didn’t ask)

Eating pancakes with syrup

Origami

Sprinkles

Confetti

Waving at people

Giving high fives

Complicated Handshakes between you and your best friend

Naps/feeling well-rested

Eating one of my favorite foods

Hearing good news from/about a friend or family member

Looking at nature (these days it's seeing squirrels in my neighbour's garden and looking at my plants and trees)

When make someone happy or feel like I made a difference (including a satisfied client)

Success (good grades, a gifset that does well)

Hugs from my mom

Learning new things

Chatting with my friends because they’re all amazing people

Group watches of my favorite tv show or movie

That feeling when the house has just been cleaned/when I’m freshly showered

Making jokes/laughing with people

Reading fluffy fanfics

Driving on the road to a destination far away, I love the trip as much as (if not more than) arriving at the actual place

Reading affirmations

Green tea

Getting breakfast or lunch from a nice restaurant 

Learning about topics that won’t benefit me; like Chinese history, geography, ancient flora and fauna, etc. just things that I find cool 

The jokes my girlfriend makes, especially when they’re the same ones she always makes

Stories from the past! Stories from history from people who actually lived through it

Stories in general, just hearing the life experiences of people in completely different positions from me. I love hearing people’s stories

Drawing intricate things, like old buildings, landscapes, and plants

Cooking a nice meal

Grocery shopping and farmers markets especially 

My cat! All of her weird little habits too, like how she stands in front of my feet so I’ll push her where she wants to go 

Botanical gardens

State parks

Museums

Art galleries

Listening to stories my grandparents tell

When people tell me about their life goals and dreams

Being surrounded by the people I love 

Living the best life I can

Partying hard the night away

Daydreaming

Sunflowers always make me smile

Warm tea

Big fluffy clouds in a blue sky

Friendly babies

Hearing a past favorite song

Singing karaoke 

Biking riding

Helping others

Chocolate milk

Sweets and fruits

Having fun doing things I love

Dragons

Video games

My favorite things

Writing

Affection

Exercising

Being on Tumblr

Pinterest

Looking at flowers and plants

Playing with my cats

Chatting with my friends (at the moment it’s through zoom, of course)

Finding new ways to decorate my room

Window shopping

Spending time with my boyfriend

Wearing my favorite outfit/accessory

Eating something delicious

The cool side of my pillow 

Tears of joy

Woodpeckers

Reading poems

Hugging trees

Tree houses

Airstreams/campers

Playing frisbee

Making sculptures

Puppy ears

The first day of spring

The first day of summer

Sending silly photos to my friends

Building sand castles

Winning prizes at the fair or arcade

Marbles

Cacti

Scrolling through my phone

Writing fanfiction

Seeing someone you haven't seen for a really long time

Putting together collages

Printing out photos I love

DIY projects

Sewing 

Crocheting 

Listening to steel drums

Haunted houses

Going through a corn maze

Picking fresh fruit or vegetables

Bubble tea

Starbucks

Dunkin donuts

Disneyland

Disney Princesses

Climbing trees

Finishing errands

Rewatching my favorite episodes

Scrunchies

Milkshakes

Ice cream blizzards

Listening to acoustic versions of songs

Hot tubs

Rubber ducks

Coconut flavored food

Dipping fries in ice cream

Discovering a new type of animal

Seeing hot air balloons

Frogs/toads

Splashing in puddles 

Having plants inside my house

Teddy bears

Iridescent/holographic things

Bird houses

Breakfast in bed

Crystals/gemstones

Ziplining 

Dew drops

Glow sticks

Flower crowns (especially handmade ones)

Spring rain 

Watching other people make art

Lighthouses

Finding heart shaped things in nature

Thinking of getting my own apartment

Coming up with a new recipe for food

Cookbook recipes passed down through families

Bookshelves

Making pretty yogurt bowls

Seaside houses

Flying on planes and being in/above the clouds

Flower bouquets

Looking at and learning about the planets

Fruit snacks

Palm trees

Weeping willow trees

Cherry blossoms

Eating cake

Decorating cakes with eccentric icing designs and colors

Whipped cream

Having snowball fights

Hearing Christmas music

Tattoos

Wearing rings

Green grass

A tidy organized desk with cute desk supplies

My craft room

Hammocks

Little cottages

Cotton candy (and cotton candy flavored things)

Looking at all the paint pallet colors in paint stores

Stamps

Taking silly photos in photobooths

Going to the mall

Making jam, especially strawberry jam

Reading outside

Finding a bird nest and watching eggs hatch

Looking at photos of my family and friends 

Finding old flora and art books

Eating fresh corn on the cob with butter on a summer day

Lily Pads

Icicles

Inner peace

Sitting under a tree

Not having to turn on the light in your room when the sun is shining through

When restaurants have patios you can dine at

Fishing on a pier

Seeing old couples in public

Making gifs

Trees swaying in the wind

Anime

Dying Easter eggs

Laying in the trunk of a car and watching the clouds or stars

Night lights

Flower shops 

Outer space

Kitchens

PB&J sandwiches

Toasted Cheese

LoFi music

Listening to/watching ambience videos

Turtle necks

Peaches

Looking at old maps

Figurines of the earth/globe

Honey and bees

Cheesecake

Seeing footprints in sand and watching them be washed away by waves

Anything related to the moon, stars, and sun

Reading my horoscope (even if I know it’s not real)

Archways decorated with hanging flowers

Yogurt

Pudding

Knowing that I’m not alone

Ancient roman sculptures

Macarons

When someone tells me they care about me

Weddings

Watercolour

Birthday parties 

My brother

My sister

When my dog leaves his bed to lay in the sunlight

Doing mini photoshoots with my friends

Hand making bracelets/necklaces (friendship bracelets)

When someone calls me darling or honey

Love letters

Game night

Skateboarding

Stress balls and squishy toys

Starting something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time

Playing cards

Doing puzzles

Word searches

Kittens

Ordering takeout

Stepping out into the fresh air

Creating vision boards

Getting a massage

Writing positive affirmations

Lunch dates

Standup comedy

Listening to classical music

Nature/animal documentaries

Having someone there to listen to me

Listening to someone when they need it

Accepting myself for who I am

Looking back and seeing how far I’ve come and all the progress I've made

Doing something my future self will be thankful for

Speaking up for myself

Being near loved ones

Finding time for my hobbies

Giving myself time to rest

Saturday mornings

Marrying the one I love

Discovering new things

Going to new cities

My idols

Pastries

Feeling the wind on my face on a car ride

The sensation of music in my ears and like nothing else matters

People who have my best interest in mind

Simplicity

Fulfilling my dreams

Discovering a new ice cream flavor

Knitting

Making myself a priority

Knowing that I am important, and I matter

Thank you all so much for following me and supporting my blog! It means a TON! I never expected for this blog to become popular, especially because I originally started it to help myself get through some mental health issues. I am so happy to be able to share my journey of healing with you all! It means the world to me to help or make a positive impact on even just one person’s life! Each and every single one of you is amazing!! You matter and you are SO important! Thanks again for your everything! Have a great day!!! Sending sunshine your way!! 

[framing-visualculture]

Garden by Meiting Song

Hello everyone, welcome to Framing Visual Culture. I am Yi Jing Fly. Today’s guest is Meiting Song, a graphic design and motion graphics artist based in New York and Beijing. Her works exude the fun and exciting energy of early 2000s Asian pop culture and embraces girlishness in their character designs and color palettes. She is currently finishing her final semester at School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC.

Meiting talks about how she developed a simple aesthetic for her digital designs through the process of silkscreen printing, finding the relationship between colors blocks. She also shares her influences looking back on the nostalgia of 90s and y2k aesthetic shared between her Asian friends, where the common language of communication is English but the visual language of shared pop cultural knowledge transcends words. Meiting ponders why no one aspires to design the branding of feminine hygiene products, and hopes to one day work on such a project herself, where she gets to design a fun and lovable brand image for such a ubiquitous and important product.

I saw that one of your illustration has been translated to a t-shirt design on Animal Crossing?

Haha, yes. In the beginning I tried to make a pixel art design in Adobe Illustrator, but there is some difficulty as the squared corners become rounded in the game drawing tool. It’s hard to come up with original designs as I have to do a lot of drafts, so what I do more now is to turn clothes already available in stores or others’ designs into digital versions in the game. There are also many accounts (like Nook Street Market) dedicated to making designer fashion and luxury items into Animal Crossing outfits. It also feels great when I can wear a luxury brand I really really like without spending any real money!

What is the situation like for young artists and art students now in NYC with Covid-19? Do you feel less affected since most of your works are digital?

For students in the digital art department it’s pretty much the same, we are used to working remotely on our laptops. But I’m taking a risograph course this semester and I can’t access the studios to work on my prints.

The grad show is also affected, as we usually have a huge event at SVA where we get to present our works to industry experts and network with them. I would say our career prospects are definitely jeopardized.

I especially love the animation series and gifs you’ve been working on lately. They remind me of Chinese paper-cut animation enlivened with simple Internet aesthetic. Can you tell us more about how you developed this aesthetic over time?

When I first started out doing graphic design in college I was making a lot of minimal and clichéd designs. We were all inspired by Apple’s aesthetic, but the minimal things I made in the beginning were more unfinished, and I realized I can’t keep doing that.

For the whole of last year I took silkscreen printing classes, and that was where I really challenged myself to think about the relationship between color blocks and each layer I’m making; eventually I learnt the skill of simplifying a very complicated thing. A lot of people like to make complex prints with silkscreen, but that’s not meaningful for me personally. At the time I also looked at a lot of art involving color blocks, and Taiwanese graphic designer Wang Zhihong’s works especially inspired me.

There are strong elements of 90s and Y2K Asian pop-culture in your works, are they from your own nostalgic references?

When I was little I didn’t pay particular attention to the pop-culture I was consuming. It was actually after growing up and meeting many Asian people from other parts of Asia that I noticed these things more. In fact, my inspiration comes more from other people’s sense of nostalgia. For me I watched a lot of Card Captor Sakura, Crayon Shin-Chan, Doraemon, and Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana was actually my fashion icon as a kid. Now I am searching for the songs that were super popular in my childhood, like Jay Chou’s songs, and trying to recall the streets and scenes where I heard them. It brings me a lot of joy doing that.

Another interesting thing I found is that, with my Asian friends, even though we communicate in English, we actually know the celebrity or show we’re talking about, we just don’t know the name in the other language. Communicating this shared cultural experience in English and reaching that moment of connection beyond language is really great!

Fashion and art are very interrelated. Oftentimes we find artists expressing themselves in both their art and fashion, and the aesthetics of both are usually aligned. What kind of clothes are you into right now, and how do they reflect or inspire your creative process?

Right now I’m really into the clothes by designer Rui Zhou (a recent Parsons MFA graduate). I especially like the sinuous lines in her garments, the flow of the curves, as I like round edges. The pearl/ bead element that holds the delicate knitwear together is my favorite part, it almost looks like an exclamation mark! I probably wouldn’t wear the whole look directly over my body, but it’d nice to just wear a piece of the ensemble as an accessory. There are also a lot of singers and celebrities in America that are wearing her clothes in their MVs or photoshoots. I find it interesting that what is indie or non-mainstream is the mainstream in New York.

Ruizhou SS19

I do think that she is one of the designers creating entirely original designs and pushing the boundaries of fashion. You recently did a collab with clothing brand Unif and photographer Monimogi, can you tell us the concept behind that collab?

It began with Moni following me on Instagram, and she liked the Sunrise Mart zine that I made and wanted to collab on something similar for Unif. Sunrise Mart had more of a Shōwa era advertorial aesthetic, with the nostalgic design elements stemming from that time, but for the Unif zine I wanted to make something with a Y2K aesthetic.

A page from Sunrise Mart

A page from Unif zine

I wanted to make something very “Tai” (corny Taiwanese subcultural style), hence the blings and saturated colors, and the use of Traditional Chinese chracters. They are quite characteristic of early 2000s teenage girls magazines as well. In those magazines you will often find horoscope readings or personality quizzes, and I incorporated that into the Unif zine, by making a quiz for “finding your perfect shoes.” I previously made a quiz for finding out what type of drink you are in Sunrise Mart and my friends told me it was pretty accurate lol.  

I also made a series of stickers to go with the zine, adding many elements that I have designed on my own. I also slid in a picture of a glass dildo with a heart shape on the top, and I thought no one would find out since its quite inconspicuous, but Unif side found out immediately and exposed me. But they kept it anyway because they thought it was funny. They’re pretty chill about things.

It took quite a while to make this, from the photoshoot in February to layout design of the zine in March. The Covid-19 situation was worsening at this time, and I had to focus my mind on making this really cute and fun zine when in reality I was being super anxious.

[peace-coast-island]

Taking a road trip!

Taking the scenic route

Digby, Isabelle, Arabella, and I are kicking off the new year with a road trip!   

We’ll be driving down Sunset Rose Blvd. - one of the most prettiest highways in the area that’s full of nice places to stop by - until we get to Wizpire. After spending a couple days over there, we’ll be taking Lighthouse Lane through Spectrum Falls and make several stops along the way until we get back to the camp. 

The RV’s all packed and ready to go! 

Places to see at Sunset Rose Boulevard Tea and Cakes For breakfast we stopped by a cute cafe that was highly recommended by our friends. Good thing we got there before the morning rush ‘cause as soon as we left, the place was started to get packed! I got oolong tea, a taro bun, and a matcha mochi cake - yum! Also, I love that they serve the tea in a reusable cup because the design is so pretty and it keeps the tea warm for a long time without burning your tongue. 

Paper Florals A stationery shop full of handmade goodies! After hearing about Rolly & Cece expanding their online shop by opening a store in Stellaire Creek, I was ecstatic. So obviously we had to stop by there and check it out! Today was also a lucky day as we got to meet Rolly & Cece in person, which was super awesome as I’m a fan of their vlog since discovering them last year.   

Spent nearly 900,000 bells on a journal and a bunch of stickers - but it was definitely worth it!   

Bubbles to Go For lunch we stopped by a sandwich and bubble tea place! I heard it’s known for their tiger milk tea and banh mi sandwiches. We also got shaved ice topped with condensed milk, mung beans, and grass jelly - a childhood favorite! It’s been a while since I had banh mi - like a real one, not an Americanized one -  and this definitely hits the spot! 

Origami Peak After getting our food, we drove a few miles up to the famous Origami Peak, a popular spot for sightseeing and taking pretty pics. We set up a picnic on the grass where we can see the mountains and the infamous rocks shaped like origami animals. The weather’s a bit chilly today, but that doesn’t take any from the lovely view of the sky and scenery as well as the good food and company. I think if it was a bit warmer, we wouldn’t have this place to ourselves.   

Now I can cross off visiting Origami Peak from my bucket list! 

Woodland Creatures & Wishes I’ve never heard of this place but Isabelle and Arabella were hyped about it, so naturally I was too! The shop’s run by Arabella’s friend May, who’s super sweet and I absolutely love her whimsical and minimal aesthetic. She makes jewelry and enamel pins as well as art prints. She also has a vlog channel so I’m definitely gonna check that out later! 

I love her art style, especially how she draws woodland creatures. So I had to get an art print, a bracelet full of animal charms, and a super cute hedgehog enamel pin!   

Kuy Theav Parlor There was a Cambodian restaurant on the way so I knew we had to stop there at some point. From what I’ve heard, it’s known for its Phenom Penh noodles, also known as key theav. Since Isabelle, Digby, and Arabella never had kuy theav, I wanted them to try it, especially since this is authentically Cambodian. Also, kuy theav places aren’t as common as pho places. 

Final verdict is two thumbs up from everyone! Definitely gonna take my mom here in the future! 

Tarts and Hearts It’s getting late and we need a place to stop by. Luckily Nutmeg’s place is along the way and she offered to let us stay over in her cabin for the night. We managed to get there about an hour before closing time so we got to hang out at Tarts and Hearts and enjoy tea and pastries. Nutmeg’s been trying out some new recipes so we got to try those out too! 

The next morning we had espresso and pastries for breakfast, went sightseeing at the mountains for a couple hours, and then took off on the road. 

Trina’s Trinket Box A cute shop full of handmade trinkets and decor! Trina teaches online classes on things like seashell crown making, branding for small businesses, and glass bead making - and Arabella highly recommends these courses for anyone interested in any of those topics. Trina was also more than happy to show us some trinkets she’s been working on, which was fascinating! 

Of course, I bought a butterfly trinket and a celestial ornament to decorate my camper. I did some redecorating a while ago so the new decor will go perfectly with it. 

Cloud Cafe Spent about three hours at a cafe to pull out our computers and get some work done. I know it’s a vacation but Isabelle and Arabella need to touch bases with the others as once the trip’s over, they’re gonna be super busy. Also, there’s things I need to get done so future me won’t be in over her head when plans unexpectedly change. One of my goals this year is to procrastinate less so I’ve been trying out some new things to improve my workflow, get organized, and stop leaving things at the last minute. 

In those two hours I managed to get a lot done - and I think the caramel latte and veggie quiches helped a lot. The general vibe of this place makes me feel productive and ready to go! 

Tulip Park More sightseeing and taking pretty pics of the tulip garden, the fountain, and the creek. We also enjoyed tea, churros, and sesame balls from the vendor stands. Today happened to be ping pong day at the recreation square in the center of the park so we went there and played a few matches. Got lost along the way since the park is huge, but we discovered many cool stands and bought some stuff like bracelets, stationery, and scarves. 

It’s been a long while since I last played ping pong and it was a lot of fun - especially after sitting in an RV for hours! 

Preppy Pizzaria One last stop before our final destination! The restaurant was a bit crowded when we got there so we walked around the shopping area for about half an hour while waiting for seats. The wait was definitely worth it though as it’s one of those popular restaurants that lives up to the hype. The pizzas are fresh out of the oven and from where we sat, we could see the kitchen.   

We also ordered a couple large pizzas to go so they can serve as a late night snack and breakfast. 

Half an hour later we reached Wizpire around 9, which is pretty much right on schedule. I’m looking forward to a day of rest before the big seashell hunt the day after!

[deebormzone]

Revving up the Disappointment Engines

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

There’s a presentation for it tomorrow morning. One character reveal is guaranteed. I am excited.

HOWEVER. I know from experience that it’s best to set one’s expectations real, real low. As such, here’s my take on who tomorrow’s presentation will reveal.

It won’t be too disappointing, no matter what happens. Generally speaking, any addition is a good addition. The only bad announcements would be a delay or something to do with microtransactions.

Much of the Smash Direct will probably go over different game modes, since we haven’t heard a single thing about those yet. Classic Mode, Break the Targets, Event Matches, that sort of thing. A stage maker would be big, but there are so many stages already that I don’t care much. A story mode would be HUGE, but pretty unlikely. Story or no, I’d love a platform game like Melee’s Adventure Mode, Brawl’s Subspace Emissary, or Smash 4′s Smash Run. Speaking as a monster who lives in a hole, single-player content is very important to me.

But a new character is always the big draw. One character will be appearing for sure, big animated trailer and all. One Echo Character is also fairly likely (and if we’re especially unfortunate, the one new character will BE an Echo). More than one new character seems pretty unlikely, so don’t count on it. I’m guessing there will be six new characters for a final total of 70 on the select screen, and even that might be too generous. Point being, Grandmaster Sakurai is going to draw these reveals out as long as possible.

So who will it be?

All my most wanted characters are completely ridiculous impossible choices, which I’ve accepted. My best hope is for somebody interesting. It’s a fair hope, since there are so many interesting options. Of course, there are also some uninteresting options, so I’d better get ready for one of them. Let’s go over some possibilities.

Man with spring instead of arm: SPRING MAN

Spring Man is the safest guess and also one of the least exciting. His punch extend, and that’s it, somehow managing to have a moveset even less interesting than an anime swordsman.

Really, I better get used to this possibility, because it’ll be him tomorrow for sure. Main character of a big new Nintendo IP for Switch, a character from a series about fighting. Plus, for the first new character reveal, they probably won’t go with a bombshell third-party. It’ll be someone safe and basic, and Spring Man is truly the safest and most basic.

I’m sure Soccer Guy will give him an interesting moveset. Maybe incorporating some stuff from ARMS. Like... those bombs that appear mid-game, or something. He can do it.

Part of the issue is that every other ARMS character is more interesting than the mascot. Slime creature Helix, metal gladiator Mechanica, karate noodle Min Min, and Master Mummy, who is automatically interesting by being a mummy. Even Ribbon Girl is a touch more interesting than Springo.

Anyway, Spring Man comes first here because I’m sure he’ll be the reveal. This is my Official Prediction. Of course, there are other lukewarm possibilities, like:

Gremlin who poke with stick: BANDANNA WADDLE DEE

This is a basic Kirby enemy who is incredibly popular for some reason.

Really, I shouldn’t be too hard on this guy. I just haven’t played the games in which he’s important, except maybe Kirby 64, and no one is sure if that was really him. It’s one of the problems of being generic, people have trouble recognizing you.

Plus, he has decent moveset potential thanks to his spear and other Waddle Dee tools, like the parasol. It’ll be a bit weird to me, getting such a basic dude in with so few character slots available, but if it does end up happening, I guess it won’t be so bad.

Mulched tree plumber hero: PAPER MARIO

Paper Mario has a lot of possibility, some good, some bad. He could easily be an Echo, but he has enough options to be a full character, too.

The most heartbreaking option would be a full character reveal based heavily on Sticker Star. That’s probably the worst possible reveal (does that guarantee it will happen?). Even if he’s not fully stickerized, there’s no way his Final Smash won’t be one of those Objects. Probably the fan.

Any content from Paper Mario one or two would be fantastic, but I almost don’t want to consider that because it definitely won’t happen. I guess I could stand the occasional sticker if he’s otherwise based on Thousand-Year-Door. I GUESS.

Girl next door, haunted mansion, etc.: ASHLEY

Ashley is okay. I’m generally pro-witch; there’s a lot of moveset potential there. Her personality (”I literally do not care about anything”) is alright, too. This would be coming off of the release of Warioware Gold, so the timing’s right.

The other fat reptile: KING K. ROOL

Now this is interesting. K. Rool has a lot going for him. He’s got a wacky fighting style including guns, thrown weapons, and boxing, and he’s a villain, which is always fun. Plus, I heard he’s inexplicably popular in Japan.

This could be a pretty hype guy to announce, but he hasn’t been seen in a while. That, and it might be a little weird to reveal another villain who’s similar to the Riddler.

Human-shaped energy squid: DARK SAMUS

This is a likely Echo Fighter. She’s not really that interesting- just a villain who eats a lot of blueberry jam- but actually being Metroid Prime is worth a point or two.

Secretary of cross animals: ISABELLE

Another possible Echo, although if they wanted to they could give her a unique moveset based on office work and building public works atop enemies’ heads. I’d like that.

Various Pokemon Representing the Most Recent Generation

Decidueye would be most likely. “Archery bird” has a lot of good moveset potential. Incineroar could be a cool grappler, but seems a bit basic. Primarina might be the most interesting due to not having legs, so they’d have to give it a really weird moveset. There’s also been talk of Lycanrock (boring), Necrozma (maybe TOO bizarre), and Mimikyu (I’ll take it).

It’s hard to get too excited about another Pokemon, though. Since they represent whole species, Pokemon characters don’t really have much personality of their own. Plus, it would feel like using a treasured Smash slot on a character who has to get in to meet corporate requirements, which is crappy.

Of course, a character like that is most likely to be revealed at the first Smash Direct. Ah well.

8.8.8

A few people have noticed that the date for this Direct has a lot of eights. Could be nothing, but it could also NOT be nothing. And, if it doesn’t mean nothing, here are three things it mightn’t not mean:

Echo Fighter Octoling. Octolings aren’t big-name, highly-requested characters, but they’re cool enough. They might not fit with the game’s release schedule, though; I hear the whole roster is decided years in advance, and Splatoon’s Octo Expansion was fairly recent.

Octopath Traveler content. That’s a big new Switch exclusive that sold really well. (I’ve been playing it in parts- it’s okay.) I guess it’s possible, but it’s third party. Plus, the game is about eight different main characters, so Sakurai might not be able to pick one, or to mash all eight together in one moveset. Still, a character would be cool if it was a wacky one like Merchant, and not a basic one like Soldier.

Heihachi, from Tekken. This would be because “hachi” is Japanese for “eight.” It’s a stretch, but you never know. Namco’s been on board for a while, after all. They made Smash 4, and might have helped make Smash Ultimate...? I should know this. Anyway, despite being a simple martial artist, I would be fine with Heihachi. I liked his moveset in Playstation All-Stars, combining simple attacks with stances, combination moves, and a few miscellaneous thrown objects. Also, I laff any time Smash Bros gets a big-name character who was, or was supposed to be in All-Stars.

DANTE

Some people have been saying Dante will get in. I don’t know why.

Sure, I guess.

in summary:

I expect a lot of talk about single-player content, one Echo reveal, and one new character. Probably Spring Man.

With that, my expectations are correctly tempered. Now, even if the announcements tomorrow are just okay, I’ll be able to play the prediction game.

Good luck to everyone! I hope that, even if somebody I don’t care for gets in, it makes somebody else’s day.

[givemesnekboiasap]

Photo Booth

Here’s a one-shot inspired by @ikesenhell Glitter and Gold. Set in Modern AU

Some Fluff, Some NSFW, overall my first attempt at 3 person relationship. Hope you’ll enjoy.

@cherryb0mb79 ​sorry about the delay on the Mitsu-chan continuation. I’ll edit it a bit before posting within the next 24 hrs. In the mean time, hope you’ll enjoy this little doujinshi

 @deathbyotome a little something for you to read, heehee

Japanese honorifics - sama, dono, san, chan, kun (rank in according to formality)

“Tell me why am I doing this with the both of them……”

“Well...technically, you lose the bet and you promised to clear the forfeit by today and since you cannot make a decision, the 11 of them, excluding myself, draw lots and those who drew the longest stick wins

“Longest? I thought it was supposed to be the shortest….”

Sasuke whispered, “the thing is, none of them find it a chore to perform the forfeit, especially if you’re the prize...” the last sentence nearly muffled as he covers his mouth. Kelsey Lee looks at him, her cousin cum childhood friend. She counts the familiar faces that always hangs around with her nerdy cousin and those who she seen before in her workplace in the cosplay cafe.

“...why is Mori-dono doing among them?! He knows my boss!”

“He’s a friend to Shingen-sama and Kenshin-sama. I’m sorry about this, had I know about your connection with him, I would never would have asked him to join in. He’s one of four among them comfortable in cosplaying.”

“Let me guess, the other 3 would be Oda and Date and Shingen himself then….ahhhhh, fine! Let’s get this over with...which of the guys am I partnering with?....No...not them…...please, Sasuke, please tell me it’s not them...”

The silence speaks for itself, as the two males, one with ebony hair, the other chestnut mane, chiseled faces, toned bodies, long legged swagger and confident strides brought them to her doorstep.

“Seems like we’re your escorts today, kitten. Right, Nobu?”

She scrowls at the both of them, especially Nobu, who gives her a smirk that sets her teeth on the edge. Kel turns away from them, walking to the booth to get their costumes.

Today, there’s an anime festival for otome games, and they need change into costumes to cosplay as in-game characters. She has to stand-in for a fellow colleague, who’s down with flu, when the guys dropped a bomb on her head, telling her she needs to fulfill the forfeit now; which is to date with one of them, according to Nobu. Her manager, Ms Hana, takes one look at the gathering and propose an alternative; cafe mascot cum dating. Kelsey nearly expires on the spot when Ms Hana said she needs 2 male volunteers dressed up as famous warlords.  

“Hurry up, we haven't got all day!”

“If you’re not out by the count of 10, I’m coming in...1...2...3...”

“!!!...Wait! I’m...having problem...the sash...”

Nobu had enough of waiting and pulls the curtain aside, causing Kel to shout at the top of her voice.

“GET THE FREAKING ‘ELL OUT OF HERE!!!” Nobu winces but ignores her command. He slides the curtain back and takes a long look at the source of her problem.

“Next time, call for help….stubborn female...” He holds the heavy obi sash for her and tighten it as she ties the obi coil in place.

“...even if you and Masa were the last males available….” she stops as she recalls the last time she did that, she was being kissed within an inch of her life by him, of all people. His lips curve into a teasing smile as he too, remembers how this conversation ends up.

“Done...I must commend you on your appearance. You truly look wonderful in traditional kimono.” His hands lingers on her obi, she can sense the heat and the heavy presence of his appendages just below her bustline. Her breathing deepens unintentionally, syncing with him. If she tilts her head back, she knows he’ll look down and that would lead to complications. Neither wants to make the first move, cocooned in the tiny changing closet.

Masa’s voice shatters the intimate moment as he draws the curtain open. “Are you ready? Your manager is hounding outside. Seems like we, as new additions, has caused a surge of customers hovering outside the cafe….ooohhh, well now...I must say you look absolutely gorgeous, Kelly. You should wear kimono more often.”

Luckily Nobu already had his hands removed from her person and took a step back when the curtain is drawn. Releasing a sigh, she squares her shoulders and look at her partners cum dates for today and smiles.

“Let’s get started. Today is going to be a very busy day...I wish to the both of you to have the patience and stamina for the day.”

……

Break arrives and the trio hunker down in a private booth at the back of the cafe to rest. The cafe is closed in preparation for guest arrivals of other cosplayers. The guys had no idea that modelling for avid fans to take snapshots after snapshots of them as the in-game characters would be this tiring. And some of those fans are professional photographers, representing famous magazines catering to the otaku industry. The poses and fighting stance they had to put up with taxed their arms and backs. Then there were the females who wants to take selfie with them. Kelsey chuckles as she watches them shudder in reaction.

“Hey, Kelly...how did you stomach people, completely strangers pawing you in the name of taking photos?” She is not surprised that Masa is the one who voiced it. He hates confinement and being pinned in to take tons of photos is making him ansty.

“Aww, my poor baby feeling put out? Don’t worry, the worst is over. We can go for our ‘date’, I don’t shrink from my promises.” She pats his cheek, giving the wild stallion of the gang, a teasing smirk. As she start to withdraw her hand, Masa catches her hand and lifts it to his lips, giving her a kiss on the top of her palm.

“......Masa...” she squeaks, her face flushes pink rapidly. Nobu, who is sitting on her left, turns to sit behind her and pulls her back to his chest with his right arm. Masa starts to nibble her fingertips, causing her breath to hitch. Nobu bends forward, his lips at her ear, whispering

“Relax, he knows. He’s fine with it, I’m fine with it. He already told me of the accidental kissing incident...hold it!” He tighten his grip of her when she starts to struggle out of his embrace.

“It’s your fault, you know. All that fire and energy, when you channel it towards something, it’s fascinating to watch. When you do that to a person, especially a guy, like us, it’s like an unspoken challenge to take you, tame you and own you...” Masa comments as he continues showering affections on her hand with his velvet lips. The eyepatch currently covering his right side made his left eye more brilliant as it glows with banked desire.

Nobu relaxes as she stops all signs of escaping and shifts her onto his lap. “Not to worry, Kelsey. A promise is a promise, this is a date. We will not proceed any further from first base without your verbal consent. What’s more, we need to take a photo to commemorate our official first date together. Masa, let go of her hand. She needs to cool down before we bring her out. I’m not willing to display her current expression to any prying eyes, especially from our group.”

Kelsey’s mind is still spinning from the revelation the two had heaped on her head. How? When? Why me? She still doesn’t understand her appeal; they must have cracked their head from doing too many stunts...wait, that’s more to Masa’s alley. Nobu is the rational one, despite his autocratic attitude. As she tries to figure out what’s going on in their mind, the trio manage to rejoin everyone and they enter the convention hall for the festive celebrations.

Masa found those sticker photo booth and drags everyone there for photo sessions. When Kelsey asks him why, he just shrugs, “This is different from those photo sessions, I can do whatever I like.”

She just shakes her head, chuckling softly. As soon as everyone is occupied with taking photos of themselves, Masa pulls her into one of those booths with a full-length curtain, concealing them once the divider flips down. Nobu steps in a few seconds later, holding her body close to his as Masa fiddles with the touch screen, scanning through the choices available. Kelsey had to whisper to avoid the others from listening into their conversation.

“You do know that this is a one-time deal? After that, we’re going back as friends...” The guys show no indication of letting this ‘date’ slide, with Nobu giving her an arrogant look, and Masa chuckling softly.

“Lass, you can wait for all eternal but there is no way we’re going back as friends...especially after a revelation of my reaction while watching you getting touched by males during the photo sessions” Nobu’s eyes took on a deeper shade of red, something akin to garnet when he speaks.

“...I know you’re worried about how people might look at you if they found out about the threesome. Indeed, that is something I have considered and discuss with Masa. We will, for appearance’s sake, remain as friends. However, you’ll have to limit the point of contact on your person from other males. Neither of us will hold responsibilities when the line is crossed…...behind closed doors, you are ours. Understand?”

“Crystal but I still don’t think….hmph…!!!”

Her protests are being drowned under the onslaught of Masa’s kisses as his lips come into contact with hers. Fingers being entwined by another, her arms pulled back as Kelsey is being squeezed in the middle of two muscular torsos. Nobu grazes her ears, nibbling the outer shell as Masa tilts his head for a deeper penetration. Only when she slumps against the devil’s chest did the dragon releases her to surface.

“......There, perfect for the photo shoot.” Masa grins down as he adjusts her kimono and turns her to face the camera. With his arm on her shoulder, Masa stands on her left as Nobu took her right, placing his left hand on her head. “One, two, three…” CLICKS

…………

By the time Kelsey is aware of her surroundings, the machine has printed out the stickers and Masa retrieves it from the dispenser. After taking one look, Nobu gives a tiny smile. He took it out from the chestnut mane male’s grasp and tucks it into the folds of his kimono. Masa grumbles about someone being possessive, he walks out with her, his arm sliding around her shoulders and keeps her close to his side. Nobu follows behind at a much slower pace, enjoying the view of his interest and rival hand in hand, noting to himself that this is going to be an interesting experience.

[boof-kun]

Do those... asks...

@bicep-naruto​ thank ;)

(1)Do You Sleep With Your Closet Doors Open Or Closed?

closed

(2) Do You Have Freckles?

nop

(3) Can You Whistle?

i used to be able to but now i cant :/

(4) Last Song You Listened To.

stan the beatsmith - heaven or hell

(5) What Is Your Favourite Colour?

purple but i also v like black, blue, turquoise/teal, and pastel colors

(6) Relationship Status.

songle

(7) What Is The Temperature Right Now?

48 degrees fahrenheit

(8) Did You Wake Up Cranky?

i woke up tired but i wasnt  cranky

(9) How Many Followers?

332

(10) Zodiac Sign.

capricorn

(11) What Is Your Eye Colour?

brown

(12) Take A Vitamin Daily?

no but i do take a couple different medicines

(13) Do You Sing In The Shower?

no

(14) What Books Are You Reading?

rule of the bone by russell banks

(15) Grab The Book Nearest To You, Turn To Page 64, Give Me Line 14.

this is a random book from a drawer (i havent even read the book i dont know why it was in there) “...and snarling about everything. Four smokers were...”

(16) Favourite Anime?

hhhHHHHH I HAve ToO MANY (death note is one of my favorites for sure though)

(17) Last Person You Cried In Front Of?

i think my dad?

(18) Do You Collect Anything?

i like putting stickers on my door (and i have a bunch of sheets of stickers in a drawer) if that counts as collecting something

(19) What Did You Have For Lunch?

i literally cannot remember

(20) Do You Dance In The Car?

no

(21) Favourite Animal?

cats are good friends. i also like penguins and dogs.

(22) Do You Watch The Olympics?

no

(23) What Time Do You Usually Go To Bed?

sometimes eight but usually around one

(24) Are You Wearing Makeup Right Now?

no

(25) Do You Prefer To Swim In A Pool Or The Ocean?

pool

(26) Favourite Tumblr Blog?

yours ;)

(27) Bottled Water Or Tap Water?

water from the fridge thingy

(28) What Makes You Happy?

you, video games, my cat, remembering rlly weird dreams

(29) Post A Gif Of What You’re Currently Feeling Right Now.

(30) Do You Study Better With Or Without Music?

mmmmmmm its about the same but its harder to focus if the music has words

(31) Dogs Or Cats?

i love both but cats are more chill

(32) If You Were A Crayon What Colour Would You Be?

the one no one uses

(33) PlayStation Or Xbox.

i have a playstation but for all i know xbox could be better

(34) Would You Swim In The Lake Or Ocean?

ocean. lakes are scary

(35) Do You Believe In Magic?

black magic (bc religion)

(36) What Colour Shirt Are You Wearing?

green

(37) Can You Curl Your Tongue?

no

(38) Do You Save Money Or Spend It?

i save money until i find something that i want to buy

(39) Is There Anything Pink Within 10 Feet Of You?

the blanket underneath me has some pink on it, theres a few random items with pink, some pink gel pens+markers+paints, and some pink on the stickers on my door and on the drawings from when i was little

(40) Do You Have Any Obsessions Right Now?

yakuza 0

(41) Have You Ever Caught A Butterfly?

like once or twice in third grade. one also landed on my thumb in my backyard.

(42) Are You Easily Influenced By Other People?

not unless their thinking is convincing

(43) Do You Have Strange Dreams?

yell heah

(44) Do You Like Going On Airplanes?

not really bc theyre boring

(45) Name One Movie That Made You Cry.

im not sure ive cried of a movie tbh

(46) Peanuts Or Sunflower Seeds?

sunflower seeds

(47) If I Handed You A Concert Ticket Right Now, Who Would You Want The Performer To Be?

id probably sell the ticket tbh

(48) Are You A Picky Eater?

slightly picky

(49) Are You A Heavy Sleeper?

no

(50) Do You Fear Thunder / Lightning?

no i like thunder/lightening the sky goes pew pew

(51) Do You Like To Read / Write?

i like both even though i literally never write 

(52) Do You Like Your Music Loud?

yeah but i get a headache after a while if im wearing headphones and its loud

(53) Would You Rather Carve Pumpkins Or Wrap Presents?

carve pumpkins

(54) Put Your Music On Shuffle, What Is The First Song That Came Up?

i dont have an actual playlist. i just like videos (mostly music) on youtube and choose what i want to listen to (i dont unlike any of the songs i dont listen anymore just because i want to look back at what i used to like ten years from now). anyway ill just close my eyes and choose something random bc if i shuffle it i wont know where anything is:

lights - klaypex

^^ i used to listen to that v often in fourth grade (i still like it tho)

(55) What Season Are You In Right Now? (Weather)

fall

(56) What Are You Craving Right Now?

love and affection

(57) Post A Screenshot Of Your Tumblr Feed.

(58) What Is Your Gender?

female

(59) Coffee Or Tea?

tea even though i dont drink either

(60) Do You Have Any Homework Right Now? If So, What Is It About?

i have a project for ceramics about 3d art from an ancient civilization, a specific artist, or from a movement

(61) What Is Your Sexuality?

aroace

(62) Do You Make Your Bed In The Morning?

ive been sleeping on the floor for the past few months so no

(63) Favourite Pokemon?

i dont have a favorite but when i was younger i used to watch pokemon all the time and i remember i loved piplup

(64) Favourite Social Media?

tumble dot come

(65) What’s Your Opinion On Instagram Stories?

i dont have much of an opinion on them

(66) Do You Get Homesick?

sometimes 

(67) Are You A Virgin?

yeah

(68) What Shampoo And Conditioner Are You Using Right Now?

pantene conditioner and dove shampoo i think? i usually get something random

(69) If You Were Far From Home And Needed To Sleep For The Night, Would You Choose To Rent A Crappy Motel Room For $60 Or Sleep In Your Car For Free?

id probably sleep in my car bc im afraid of motels especially crappy ones. i always feel like someones watching me in motels/hotels + since its a motel it might be nasty and im not taking that risk

(70) Are Both Of Your Blood Parents Still In Your Life?

ye

(71)  Whats The Next Movie You Want To See In Theaters?

i dont watch movies

(72) Do You Miss Your Ex?

dont have one

(73) What Is Your Favourite Quote Right Now?

all of the 34 sad quotes i showed you :))

(74) What Eye Colour Do You Find Sexiest?

i like all of them. i dont find any of them “””“sexy””””” though

(75) Did You Like Swinging As A Child? Do You Still Get Excited When You See A Swing Set?

GOD i was obsessed with swinging when i was younger... like my best friend and i in preschool were known for being inseparable and for always going really high on the swings. and ye, i still get excited when i see a swing set

(76) What Was The Last Thing You Ate?

i dont remember what i did five minutes ago let alone what the last thing i ate was

(77) What Games Do You Have On Your Phone?

neko atsume and thats it

(78) Would You Give A Homeless Person CPR If They Were Dying? Why Or Why Not?

no bc i dont know how to do cpr. if i did then sure bc itd be the right thing to do probably

(79) Been On The Computer For 5 Hours Straight?

yEALL HEAH

(80) Stalked Someone On A Social Network?

also: YEALL HEAHHE

(81) Do You Like Meeting New People?

mmmm typically no

(82) Do You Wear Rings? If You Do, Take A Picture Of Them.

no

(83) Do You Sleep With Your Bedroom Door Open Or Closed?

its open but barely bc i dont want the light to come in

(84) What Are Three Things You Did Today?

ate, saw you ;), and nearly poke myself in the eye

(85) What Do You Wear To Bed?

sweatpants and a tshirt

(86) List All Of Your Different Beauty Products You Have Right Now.

UUUU soap

(87) Are You A Day Or Night Person?

night

(88) List All Of Your Video Games On Your Phone, Console Etc.

wii u - botw, twighlight princess, hyrule warriors

ps4 - persona 5, fallout 4, neir automata, ffxv, yakuza 0, and two other final fantasy games

3ds + dsi that doesnt work anymore - animal crossing, ace attorney the trilogy, super smash bros, pokemon x, devil survivor 2, a mario game that avarey gave me, cooking mama 2, this zoo game that i lost, gardening mama, and maybe one more?

phone - neko atsume

((im planning on selling a few games))

(89) Tell Me About A Dream That You Had And When It Happened.

i can tell you irl bc theres a lot and its be more confusing if i wrote it out ;))))

(90) Favourite Soda Drink?

coke

(91) What Sounds Are Your Favourite?

f u n k y sounds + i heard some asmr of a person cutting chalk, soap, wood, etc. and that sounded nice

(92) Do You Wear Jeans Or Sweats More?

jeans when im going out, sweatpants at home (so probably sweats more)

(93) How Do You Look Right Now?

ungly

(94) Name Something That Relaxes You.

laying down and pretending im dead

(95) What Tattoo Do You Want?

maybe one of a constellation? or of a symbol from a video game or something i rlly like and means a lot to me

(96) Favourite YouTuber?

mmmm dan and phil are p entertaining and so is jenna marbles

[technologicalsanbustech-blog]

i phone x

                                                           iPhone X review: face the future    

 After months of hype, endless speculation, and a wave of last-minute rumors about production delays, the iPhone X is finally here. Apple says it’s a complete reimagining of what the iPhone should be, 10 years after the original revolutionized the world. That means some fundamental aspects of the iPhone are totally different here — most notably, the home button and fingerprint sensor are gone, replaced by a new system of navigation gestures and Apple’s new Face ID unlocking system. These are major changes.

New iPhones and major changes usually command a ton of hype, and Apple’s pushing the hype level around the iPhone X even higher than usual, especially given the new thousand-dollar starting price point. For the last few years, we've said some variation of "it's a new iPhone" when we’ve reviewed these devices. But Apple wants this to be the beginning of the next 10 years. It wants the iPhone 10 to be more than just the new iPhone. It wants it to be the beginning of a new generation of iPhones. That's a lot to live up to.

This review is going to be a little different, at least initially: Apple gave most reviewers less than 24 hours with the iPhone X before allowing us to talk about it. So consider this a working draft. These are my opening thoughts after a long, intense day of testing the phone, but I’ll be updating everything in a few days after we’re able to test performance and battery life, do an in-depth camera comparison, and generally live with the iPhone X in a more realistic way. Most importantly: please ask questions in the comments! I’ll try to answer as many of them as I can in the final, updated review.

But for now — here it goes.

Design

At a glance, the iPhone X looks so good one of our video editors kept saying it looked fake. It’s polished and tight and clean. My new favorite Apple thing is that the company managed to move all the regulatory text to software, leaving just the word “iPhone” on the back. The screen is bright and colorful and appears to be laminated tighter than previous iPhones, so it looks like the pixels are right on top. Honestly, it does kind of look like a live 3D render instead of an actual working phone.

The iPhone X basically looks like a living 3D render

But it is a real phone, and it’s clear it was just as challenging to actually build as all the rumors suggested. It’s gorgeous, but it’s not flawless. There’s a tiny sharp ridge between the glass back and the chrome frame that I feel every time I pick up the phone. That chrome frame seems destined to get scratched and dinged, as every chrome Apple product tends to do. The camera bump on the back is huge; a larger housing than the iPhone 8 Plus fitted onto a much smaller body and designed to draw attention to itself, especially on my white review unit. There are definitely going to be people who think it’s ugly, but it’s growing on me.

There’s no headphone jack, which continues to suck on every phone that omits it, but that’s the price you pay for a bezel-less screen with a notch at the top. Around the sides, you’ll find the volume buttons, the mute switch, and the sleep / wake button. The removal of the home button means there are a few new button combinations to remember: pressing the top volume button and the sleep / wake button together takes a screenshot; holding the sleep button opens Siri; and you turn the phone off by holding either of the volume buttons and the sleep button for several seconds and then sliding to power down.

And, of course, there’s the notch in the display — what Apple calls the “sensor housing.” It’s ugly, but it tends to fade away after a while in portrait mode. It’s definitely intrusive in landscape, though. It makes landscape in general pretty messy. Less ignorable are the bezels around the sides and bottom of the screen, which are actually quite large. Getting rid of almost everything tends to draw attention to what remains, and what remains here is basically a thick black border all the way around the screen, with that notch set into the top.

I personally think the iPhone 4 is the most beautiful phone of all time, and I’d say the iPhone X is in third place in the iPhone rankings after that phone and the original model. It’s a huge step up from the surfboard design we’ve been living with since the iPhone 6, but it definitely lacks the character of Apple’s finest work. And… it has that notch.

Display

The iPhone X is Apple’s first phone to use an OLED display, after years of Apple LCDs setting the standard for the industry. OLED displays allow for thinner phones, but getting them to be accurate is a challenge: Samsung phones tend to be oversaturated to the point of neon, Google’s Pixel 2 XL has a raft of issues with viewing angles and muted colors, and the new LG V30 has problems with uneven backlighting.

Apple’s using a Samsung-manufactured OLED panel with a PenTile pixel layout on the iPhone X, but it’s insistent that it was custom-engineered and designed in-house. Whatever the case, the results are excellent: the iPhone X OLED is bright, sharp, vibrant without verging into parody, and generally a constant pleasure to look at. Apple’s True Tone system automatically adjusts color temperature to ambient light, photos are displayed in a wider color gamut, and there’s even Dolby Vision HDR support, so iTunes movies mastered in HDR play with higher brightness and dynamic range.

It’s just a terrific display

I did notice some slight color shifting off-axis, but never so much that it bothered me; I generally had to go looking for it. And compared to the iPhone 8 Plus LCD, it seems like a slightly cooler display over all, but only when I held the two side by side. Overall, it’s just a terrific display.

Unfortunately, the top of the display is marred by that notch, and until a lot of developers do a lot of work to design around it, it’s going to be hard to get the most out of this screen. I mean that literally: a lot of apps don’t use most of the screen right now.

Apps that haven’t been updated for the iPhone X run in what you might call “software bezel” mode: huge black borders at the top and bottom that basically mimic the iPhone 8. And a lot of apps aren’t updated yet: Google Maps and Calendar, Slack, the Delta app, Spotify, and more all run with software bezels. Games like CSR Racing and Sonic the Hedgehog looked particularly silly. It’s fine, but it’s ugly, especially since the home bar at the bottom of the screen glows white in this mode.

Some apps almost look right, but then you realize they’re actually just broken

Apps that haven’t been specifically updated for the iPhone X, but use Apple’s iOS autolayout system will fill the screen, but wacky things happen: Dark Sky blocks out half the status bar with a hardcoded black bar of its own, Uber puts your account icon over the battery indicator, and the settings in the Halide camera app get obscured by the notch and partially tucked into the display’s bunny ears. It almost looks right, but then you realize it’s actually just broken.

Apps that have been updated for the iPhone X all have different ways of dealing with the notch that sometimes lead to strange results, especially in apps that play video. Instagram Stories don’t fill the screen; they have large gray borders on the top and bottom. YouTube only has two full-screen zoom options, so playing the Last Jedi trailer resulted in either a small video window surrounded by letter- and pillar-boxing or a full-screen view with the notch obscuring the left side of the video. Netflix is slightly better, but you’re still stuck choosing between giant black borders around your video or the notch.

Landscape mode on the iPhone X is generally pretty messy: the notch goes from being a somewhat forgettable element in the top status bar to a giant interruption on the side of the screen, and I haven’t seen any apps really solve for it yet. And the home bar at the bottom of the screen often sits over the top of content, forever reminding you that you can swipe to go home and exit the chaos of landscape mode forever.

I’m sure all of this will get solved over time, but recent history suggests it might take longer than Apple or anyone would like; I still encounter apps that aren’t updated for the larger iPhone 6 screen sizes. 3D Touch has been around for years, but I can’t think of any app that makes particularly good use of it. Apple’s rolled out a lot of screen design changes over the years, and they take a while to settle in. We’ll just have to see how it goes with the iPhone X.

Cameras

I haven’t had a lot of time to play with the cameras on the iPhone X, but the short answer is that they look almost exactly like the cameras on the iPhone 8. Both the telephoto and wide angle lenses have optical image stabilization (compared to just the wide angle on the 8 Plus), and the TrueDepth system on the front means the front camera can take portrait mode selfies. It’s nice.

iPhone X rear camera (left) / Pixel 2 XL rear camera (right)

Of course, the main thing the front camera can do is take Animoji, which are Apple’s animated emoji characters. It’s basically built-in machinima, and probably the single best feature on the iPhone X. Most importantly, they just work, and they work incredibly well, tracking your eyes and expressions and capturing your voice in perfect sync with the animation. Apple’s rolled out a lot of weird additions to iMessage over the years, but Animoji feel much stickier than sending a note with lasers or adding stickers or whatever other gimmicks have been layered on. And while iMessage remains a golden palace of platform lock-in, Animoji are notably cross-platform: they work in iMessage, can be sent as videos over MMS, or exported as MOV files. Nice.

Face ID: it works, mostly

The single most important feature of the iPhone X is Face ID, the system that unlocks the phone by recognizing your face. Even that’s an understatement: the entire design and user experience of the iPhone X is built around Face ID. Face ID is what let Apple ditch the home button and Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The Face ID sensor system is housed in the notch. The Apple Pay user flow has been reworked around Face ID. Apple’s Animoji animated emoji work using the Face ID sensors.

If Face ID doesn’t work, the entire promise of the iPhone X falls apart.

The good news is that Face ID mostly works great. The bad news is that sometimes it doesn’t, and you will definitely have to adjust the way you think about using your phone to get it to a place where it mostly works great.

Face ID is cutting-edge tech, but the fundamental concept is pretty simple: it’s basically a tiny Xbox Kinect. An infrared projector flashes out thousands of tiny dots that cover your face, and the front camera clicks on, captures that image, and turns it into a depth map. That map — not an actual image of your face — is stored locally on the iPhone X’s Secure Enclave, which is the same place Apple stored Touch ID fingerprint data.

Setting up Face ID is ridiculously simple — much simpler than setting up Touch ID on previous iPhones. The phone displays a circular border around your face, and you simply move until a series of lines around that circle turn green. (Apple suggests you move your nose around in a circle, which is adorable.) Do that twice, and you’re done: Face ID will theoretically get better and better at recognizing you over time, and track slow changes like growing a beard so you don’t have to re-enroll. Drastic changes, like shaving that beard off, might require you to enter your passcode, however.

Face ID should also work through most sunglasses that pass infrared light, although some don’t. And you can definitely make it fail if you put on disguises, but I’d rather have it fail than let someone else through.

In my early tests, Face ID worked well indoors: sitting at my desk, standing in our video studio, and waiting in line to get coffee. You have to look at it head-on, though: if it’s sitting on your desk you have to pick up the phone and look at it, which is a little annoying if you’re used to just putting your finger on the Touch ID sensor to check a notification.

You also can’t be too casual about it: I had a lot of problems pulling the iPhone X out of my pocket and having it fail to unlock until Apple clarified that Face ID works best at a distance of 25 to 50 centimeters away from your face, or about 10 to 20 inches. That’s closer than I usually hold my phone when I pull it out of my pocket to check something, which means I had to actively think about holding the iPhone X closer to my face than every other phone I’ve ever used. “You’re holding it wrong” is a joke until it isn’t, and you can definitely hold the iPhone X wrong.

You can definitely hold the iPhone X wrong

That’s a small problem, though, and I think it’ll be easy to get used to. The other problem is actually much more interesting: almost all of the early questions about Face ID centered around how it would work in the dark, but it turns out that was exactly backwards. Face ID works great in the dark, because the IR projector is basically a flashlight, and flashlights are easy to see in the dark. But go outside in bright sunlight, which contains a lot of infrared light, or under crappy florescent lights, which interfere with IR, and Face ID starts to get a little inconsistent.

I took a walk outside our NYC office in bright sunlight, and Face ID definitely had issues recognizing my face consistently while I was moving until I went into shade or brought the phone much closer to my face than usual. I also went to the deli across the street, which has a wide variety of lights inside, including a bunch of overhead florescent strips, and Face ID also got significantly more inconsistent.

I’ve asked Apple about this, and I’ll update this review with their answers along with more detailed test results, but for now I’d say Face ID definitely works well enough to replace Touch ID, but not so well that you won’t run into the occasional need to try again.

Recent Apple products have tended to demand people adapt to them instead of being adapted to people, and it was hard not to think about that as I stood in the sunlight, waving a thousand-dollar phone ever closer to my face.

Software

There’s a lot of new hardware in the iPhone X, but it’s still running iOS 11 — albeit with some tweaks to navigation to accommodate the lack of a home button. You swipe up from the bottom to go home, swipe down from the right to bring up (down?) Control Center, and swipe down from the left to open the Notifications pane. That pane also has buttons for the flashlight and camera; in a twist, they require 3D Touch to work, so they feel like real buttons. It’s neat, but also breaks the 3D Touch paradigm. It’s the only place the entire system where 3D Touch acts like a left click instead of a right click. It’s emblematic of how generally fuzzy iOS has become with basic interface concepts, I think.

Switching apps is fun and simple: you can either swipe up and hold to bring up all your apps in a card-like deck, or just quickly swipe left and right on the home bar to bounce through them one at a time.

And… those are basically the changes to iOS 11 on the iPhone X, apart from the various notch-related kerfuffles. If you’ve been using iOS for a while and iOS 11 for the past month, nothing here will surprise you. Apple might have completely rethought how you unlock the iPhone X, but it’s still not giving up on that grid of app icons or making notifications more powerful or even allowing the weather app icon to display a live temperature. Siri is still Siri. If you’re buying an iPhone X expecting a radical change to your iPhone experience, well, you probably won’t get it. Unless you really hate unlocking your phone.

The iPhone X is clearly the best iPhone ever made. It’s thin, it’s powerful, it has ambitious ideas about what cameras on phones can be used for, and it pushes the design language of phones into a strange new place. It is a huge step forward in terms of phone hardware, and it has the notch to show for it. If you’re one of the many people who preordered this thing, I think you’ll be happy, although you’ll be going on the journey of figuring out when and how Face ID works best with everyone else.

It’s a new iPhone

But if you didn’t preorder, I suspect you might not feel that left out for a while. The iPhone X might be a huge step forward in terms of hardware, but it runs iOS 11 just the same as other recent iPhones, and you won’t really be missing out on anything except Animoji. Face ID seems like it’s off to a good start, but it’s definitely inconsistent in certain lighting conditions. And until your favorite apps are updated, you won’t be able to make use of that entire beautiful display.

All that adds up to the thing you already know: the iPhone X is a very expensive iPhone. For a lot of people, it’ll be worth it. For a lot of people, it’ll seem ridiculous. But fundamentally, it’s a new iPhone, and that means you probably already know if you want to spend a thousand dollars on one.

Because this review isn’t final, we’re not scoring the iPhone X yet. Leave your questions and comments below, and we’ll try to address as many of them in our final review as we can. We’ll add the score at that time as.

                                 ............sanket         

[caveartfair]

Amid Controversy, the Whitney Biennial Plays It Safe

John Edmonds, The Villain, 2018. Courtesy of the artist; Company, New York; and the Whitney Biennial.

Lambrequin and Peplum, , 2017. Diane Simpson Whitney Museum of American Art

Maybe it’s not fair to expect an exhibition as popular and overly scrutinized as the Whitney Biennial to take huge risks—especially not after the last edition dissolved into a still-simmering debate over race and identity politics. And yet, there’s something undeniably flat about the 2019 show, co-curated by Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley and opening to the public on May 17th.

There isn’t much here to quicken the pulse, with even the politically inflected works coming across as too polite for our current moment. And if one possible function of the biennial is to act as a kind of cross-section of American artistic practice, this exhibition makes some puzzling choices. An alien visitor to the biennial would be forgiven for thinking that most current painting is of the mildly inept, figurative variety, and that found-object assemblage is the way most humans choose to creatively communicate with each other.

The General,, 2018. Nicole Eisenman Whitney Museum of American Art

But let’s start on a positive note: all the way up on the Whitney’s 6th-floor outdoor patio, lashed by wind and cold rain during Monday’s press preview. Here you’ll find one of the Whitney Biennial’s only true showstoppers, an epic sculpture by Nicole Eisenman called Procession (2019). A parade of migratory humanoids is caught mid-journey, possibly in the process of transporting a series of modernist-looking metal sculptures on plinths.

Every element of this sprawling piece is a delight, from the lovingly sculpted cartoonish genitals to the puffs of steam randomly emitted from unexpected orifices. Procession recalls a heroic journey from millennia past, but idiosyncratic Easter eggs abound: a Kryptonite bike lock here, a pair of New York Giants socks there. The funny, complicated sculpture is comfortable juggling sophomoric fart humor with reflections on power, bondage, servitude, and the pomposity of religion—and art, for that matter. A bumper sticker on the back of the cart reads “How’s My Sculpting? Call 1-800-EAT-SHIT.” Procession’s very placement is a stroke of genius: just outside of the museum proper, as if the procession wasn’t quite able to make it to the halls of culture.

Inside, it’s warmer and drier, but also a little predictable. The ghost of Robert Rauschenberg hangs heavy over work by Eric Mack, Troy Michie, and Tomashi Jackson: photo transfers, quilt-like collages of material, and evocative detritus (other artist’s press releases, political buttons, deconstructed bits of clothing).

Installation view of Nicole Eisenman, Procession, 2019.

Across the board, there’s too much found-object assemblage. Wangechi Mutu’s Poems by my great grandmother I (2017)—a construction of wood and cow horn and a dangling pencil that rotates, drawing a circle on its metal base—could be a small-scale homage to Bruce Nauman’s Carousel (Stainless steel version)(1988). Robert Bittenbender’s unwieldy wall sculptures, cages stuffed to bursting with metal cords and junk, seem like hyperbolic parodies of the magpie aesthetic. There are interesting things about some of these works—including large-scale sculptures by Joe Minter—but the sheer volume of them gives the impression that contemporary artists are basically collectors and curators of things they have bought or found.

One big exception here are inventive sculptures by Puerto Rican artist Daniel Lind-Ramos, who makes magic with palm tree trunks, beads, coconuts, soil, and other poetic objects. As with the best of Nari Ward, a sense of symmetry and gravity give these sculptures a sense of ritual importance, despite their secular materials.

Eric N. Mack, (Easter) The Spring / The Holy Ground, 2018. Courtesy of the artist; Morán Morán, Los Angeles; Simon Lee, London; and the Whitney Biennial.

Sentinel I, 2018. Wangechi Mutu Whitney Museum of American Art

Painting fares the worst of all in the Biennial, which seems to be asserting that the medium isn’t dead, just uninteresting. Kyle Thurman’s figurative depictions of men are a weak stab in the direction of Leon Golub; Eddie Arroyo’s paintings of shabby building facades in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami may be conceptually interesting, but they’re imminently forgettable as images. Calvin Marcus’s massive canvases are betting on the fact that size is what matters, even when the subject matter—an Ed Ruscha-esque view through a car windshield; a circle of donkeys; an upside down snowman—seems arbitrary at best.

There are a few bright spots to be found, including Janiva Ellis, a stand-out of the last New Museum Triennial. And Keegan Monaghan’s thickly painted renderings of boring things—a rotary telephone, a bit of wood fencing—have the funky, borderline kitschy feel of Red Grooms. Three works by Marlon Mullen are charming and unexpected—all based on the covers of popular trade magazines like Art in America, abstracted into color, pattern, and the text of marquee names, from Grant Wood to Elizabeth Murray.

5825 NE 2nd Ave., Miami, FL 33137, 2017. Eddie Arroyo Whitney Museum of American Art

An emphasis on photography at the Biennial enlivens things a bit, including a small room’s worth of work by Paul Mpagi Sepuya and his peers and collaborators—who are often credited with authoring certain images, eliciting a confusion that’s ultimately about how porous and fluid creative communities can be. The on-the-rise John Edmonds gets two side hallways for his sensual, elegant portraits of black men and women posing with African masks and sculptures. Curran Hatleberg, who has the third-floor gallery space essentially to himself, was a welcome discovery for this critic; his evocative, empathetic portraits and landscapes fall somewhere between Alec Soth and Gregory Crewdson.

Other highlights include Meriem Bennani’s series of videos, housed here in a series of offbeat pavilions outdoors on the fifth floor balcony. Like much of her work, the new installation begins with a documentary subject—Moroccan teenagers, caught laughing, hanging out, and complaining about how Instagram won’t verify their accounts—but also detours into comedic special-effects absurdity. We see local architecture in Morocco’s capital city swaying and crooning R&B lyrics like “I’m a sexy house in Rabat.”

In the ground floor lobby gallery, the always incredible Chicago-based artist Diane Simpson has a series of sculptures that could be storefront displays or altars. Their forms, made with painted fiberboard, lurk on the edge of familiarity—is that a coffee grinder, a length of armor, a trio of folding chairs?—but never fully resemble any one thing. Olga Balema’s sculptures, meanwhile, have a somewhat similar approach to DIY abstraction, albeit messier; who knew one could cover so much ground with little more than carved styrofoam and tape? And Brian Belott’s installation of freezer units holding ephemeral frozen sculptures show a similar knack for funky, handmade invention, even if not every visitor was impressed. “Marc Quinn,” a jaded woman next to me said, referring to the British artist famous for making a bust of his head with his own frozen blood. “That’s the problem with ice—it’s been done!”

Incoming, 2016-2017. Keegan Monaghan Whitney Museum of American Art

If there’s one area where the 2019 Whitney Biennial really stumbles, it’s with the outwardly political. Surely, part of the curatorial conversation must have involved the elephant in the room: Either engage with the oppressive shadow of Trumpism, or treat the show as a respite from the news cycle. This exhibition merely makes half-hearted gestures toward the topical. There’s a goofy series of wall-mounted photo sculptures by Josh Kline, which depict scenes, including the reception desk of Twitter, being slowly covered by rising water. Marcus Fischer presents a reel-to-reel machine playing the recorded thoughts of fellow artists prior to the 2017 inauguration, probing their “fears and reservations about the Trump presidency.” The results are a beat poem (“civil rights…discrimination…polar bears…fracking”) that’s only revelatory if you’ve been sleeping for the past few years.

Alexandra Bell’s biennial contribution is more substantive—annotated articles from the New York Daily News covering the overblown and racist rhetoric surrounding the wrongly accused “Central Park Five.” One piece includes a full-page newspaper ad, written and paid for by one Donald Trump, which calls for a return to the death penalty and no-holds-barred policing. Bell uses a yellow highlighter to isolate especially egregious language, and replaces all the photographs with black boxes. It’s an interesting exercise, but not as compelling as Bell’s better known series, which reworked pages of the New York Times to address racial bias surrounding the killing of Michael Brown. Meanwhile, Kota Ezawa’s film National Anthem (2018)—which animates the artist’s watercolors of NFL players taking a knee—is a political artwork that absolutely no one visiting the Whitney would be likely to be troubled by. It’s as well-meaning as it is toothless.

More successful are a set of drawings by Christine Sun Kim, which remind us that the personal is always political. The artist, who is deaf, weighs in on various sources of her “deaf rage,” experienced in various settings (“while traveling,” or “in the art world”). The quasi-scientific diagrams pinpoint all the many ways in which a differently abled artist can be pushed to the brink. Kim isolates two instances of what she categorizes as merely “cute rage”: “Being offered a wheelchair at the arrival gate…and the braille menu at restaurants.”

Christine Sun Kim, Degrees of My Deaf Rage in The Art World, 2018. Courtesy of the artist; White Space, Beijing; and the Whitney Biennial.

But there is a single instance of hypertopical critique that hits its target, and hard. The most thrilling and dangerous work in the otherwise tame Biennial comes courtesy of Forensic Architecture. The hard-to-define, multidisciplinary collective chose to call out Whitney board vice chairman and Safariland CEO Warren Kanders for the sources of his wealth—namely tear-gas canisters used against migrants at our southern border, and bullets fired by the Israeli military.

While it’s not mentioned directly in the video, Kanders’s presence on the board has caused a swell of protest in the lead-up to the Whitney Biennial, mainly spearheaded by the collective Decolonize This Place. Fellow biennial artist Michael Rakowitz actually pulled out of the show in solidarity with this movement, but Forensic Architecture has done something more effective: remain, and bite the tear gas-grenade-wielding hand that feeds them. Their film manages a nice balance between the didactic and the poppy, concisely explaining a broader initiative to use machine-learning and artificial intelligence to identify online images of a specific teargas product made by Kanders’s company.

“While my company and the museum have distinct missions,” Kanders was quoted saying in a letter to Whitney staffers, “both are important contributors to our society.” Watch a few minutes of Forensic Architecture’s effective, rapidfire footage and you’ll likely disagree. Kudos to the curators for putting the film, Triple Chaser (2019), in the center of the sixth floor galleries, rather than relegating it to a less prominent corner of the museum. But what does it say about this Whitney Biennial that its most relevant moment is one that seems to call the whole enterprise into question?

from Artsy News

[xladymalice]

some cute and unique asks - Answer Time

Soooo... I’m finally able to answer the questions you asked me the most.

Let’s see what we have here...

Oh yeah, I should’ve warned ya that I am rather boring with this, sooo...

have fun?

1.  have you ever been in love? Yes, I was. Two times actually. The first time was a child love... it was even a summer love. It lasted for the summer holidays and ended as sudden as it started. I was nine back then and didn’t know that I was in love with the boy. We both had felt attracted.. like... there was something. Something real and special but we both ended up lying to each other. Then our ways parted. I’ve never seen hima gain. The second time it rather complicated. It was not a good one, so I won’t talk about it. Let’s say I know how a heartbroken soul feels like. I haven’t been in a real relationship back then, but it still hurt me deeply. This second love is the reason why I don’t trust anyone on romantic feelings. I’m very difficult with this topic.

10. what’s your favourite animal? Phew... animals and I are a difficult topic. We kind of share a love-hate relationship because my parents have never allowed me to have pets. So I’m not used to them and don’t like them that much anymore. My favorite animal though... hmm... Probably dolphins... maybe even sharks. Harmless one would be a cat tho.

11. what is your favourite song right now? Ohh... I’m listening to so much. But I think currently it’s this one.

13. do you like sunny days or rainy days better? That’s some hard question. I think it depends on my mood? Sunny days motivate me to work more than usual. I like the warm tingly feeling on my skin. But I don’t like heat too much, so I rather sit in the shadow of trees and draw. I think I’d prefer rainy days to relax though. I love the sound of the rain. Especially in the evening. You see, I’ve got a skylight right above my bed. I love the sound of the rain hammering against the window. It’s so nice.

21. what is your favourite word? What is up with this question tho? Like... I’ve got several asks about this one x’D My favorite word.... “suggestive” maybe. Like, I’m not sure if you mean my most favorite word to use while talking or in general. But since I do talk very.. uhh... suggestive with a double-meaning behind the most sentences, this will be the perfect thing to describe it. Oh boi, I love hinting at things.. especially dirty ones. >D (Or as some of your guys noticed... it’s also “fuck” for me... sorry)

25. what are you thinking about right now? Oh boi, I’m actually thinking about too much. My heads a constant mess filled with the most weird ideas. Right now I’m thinking about some dirty Swapfellcest in a club. Like.. this idea has kept me busy for a month now.  I can’t stop thinking about how the Bros act out of Game-Mode and flirt with each other. This keeps me all.... aah.. flustered? I love the idea of aggressive flirting, not caring how others would look at it. Just to hide somewhere dark and uh.. have fun. Shit, why am I again thinking about SMUT. Frick, I’m weird. (Usually I think about food, rolf. I love to cook and bake)

26. what emotion do you feel most often? I guess I feel anxious, worried and stressed the most. I’m usually under permanent pressure of duties, expectations and other stuff. RL is super shitty. That’s why I rather sink into my lovely fantasy bubble and draw. If I’m in a good mood, I feel weird and funny. My sense of humor is off.

27. what is your favourite season? It’s probably spring. I love to watch the nature get all green and nice again. Also it’s slowly getting warmer. And well... my birthday is in spring, sooo... x’D

30. do you prefer the moon or the stars? Frick, that’s hard. Uuuh... I guess I’d prefer the moon. The moon changed it’s shape, manipulates the earth and tide... I love how it brightens up the night or let’s the darkness consume it all. Yeah, I think I’d chose the moon.

35. what is your favourite thing about yourself? Fckkkk... I don’t know??? I don’t like myself really??? But if I had to say something, it would be -ironically- sympathy. I am a very nice person who always tries to help everyone. I am good at making people laugh and forget about their sorrow for a little while. I think this is a good character trait... I mean.. everyone needs someone to lean on and I tend to be the person to do this.

37. who is your favourite music artist? Phew... uhh..  that’s hard. When I was younger, it was Shakira. She was my Idol back then and she was the reason I wanted to learn belly dance, haha. My favorite music band is Skillet. I love them. “What I believe” is my most favorite song of them. I’ve gifted my best friend Satsu a dogtag with the lyrics of it “You are what I believe”. I’ve got an ask about uh.. About a good artist?? I don’t know if you mean like.. drawing ones.. hah. There are so many tho. I can’t list them up... xD

40. when was the last time you cried? Hmm... I think... it was... two weeks ago? Yeah.. something about this. I’ve had a very hard fight with my mother. My mother is like my best friend who supports me no matter what. Since I’m also her friend, I’m also carrying her burdens... she hasn’t got that many friends anymore and she’s very, very old (She’s 60.) Sometimes she’s in a bad mood and lets it all out on me. We tend to fight hard then... and the last time was very unfair, since she used unfair arguments against me. Just like a mother can be. I’m actually a very sensible type of human. I cry easily even if I don’t want to.

44. what do you think about when you can’t fall asleep at night? That’s hard to answer. It’s always something else. My mind is constantly busy. I’m worrying about friends, family and life. My darkest thoughts are about death though. Sometimes I’m even wondering why I am alive. There’s no sense in being alive in the first place. I don’t beliebe in god, but I do believe that there is something powerful outside that can manipulate us. So yeah.. it’s all random and mostly negative. The only times I feel good - even not able to sleep - is when I talk to my friends. Chatting and fooling around keeps me alive and happy.

46. what is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for you? I am so simply to be pleased. Like for real. I’m happy about the smol things in life. So the nicest thing... maybe the gift of my best friend last xmas. She made me cookies and put a sticker on it which said: “You are: Awesome Cool Special GODLIKE” She made me almost cry about it, because she crossed the godlike answer. This was referring to my obession League of Legends. I felt so happy about this lil’ shit. It’s nothing big but it brightened up my day when I felt down. For me... the nicest thing is to make me laugh, if I feel down. And I can be a vry, toxic and depressive shit if I feel down. So the nicest thing is laughter.

50. do you have a nickname? The most call me by my short name of my real name. I kind of don’t want to put it here do. My other nickname’s are: “Little Satan” “Mindenluder (german ftw)” and “Minx” (Miststück in german tho XD)

[xxkeachuxx]

My Current Thoughts About My Life:

So, I haven`t really been on Tumblr in awhile. How have you all been? I hope that you`ve all been doing well, and that the new year has been treating you all well, so far. <3

I just currently feel like expressing my current thoughts while I`m on here. Disclaimer, this is a long post. Once I start writing/typing, my mind thinks up a lot of things at once that I would like to add...Whoopsies... (/_\)’*

Okay, let’s see. Where to start?

So, currently I am unemployed. I was working for quite awhile in an office type place, I guess as a personal assistant. I would just help out with paperwork, such as invoices and packing slips, and various other things that needed to be done within the workplace itself. I was let go, but not by choice by the person who told me the news (the only reason why I got said job in the first place was because my friends parents work there). I think due to the new year, and the more higher positioned (?) people didn`t want me on the payroll for the new year (I`m assuming by the conversation I had over the phone). Getting jobs now a days is all about connections sadly (I`ve applied to so many places within the last year or so, and only got jobs due to connections (a food industry, that I will not name was by far the worst, and only if need be will I work at a place like that again). I also have dyed hair now (which I dyed on December. 19th of last year), and I don`t want to spend hundreds of more dollars that I can`t afford to spend on dying my hair back to my natural hair colour (dark brown), or a natural  hair colour because anything else will be “Distracting to costumers”, because you know, my hair is getting the job and not me as a person... *Sighs* I’m planning on going back to college in September for a Photography program (I may upload some of my photos on here), but that costs money, especially when it’s a three year program. This would make it my third time going to college. Third times the charm, right? *Fingers Crossed*

To help make some money in the meantime (although I know it won’t be much), I was thinking about starting an Etsy store, and selling stickers of @cryaotic‘s Sup Guy character (for example) because he is fun and easy to draw. If/when I do decide on this idea, and end up making some samples (besides some sketches that I have in mind in my sketchbooks), I’m going to try and get in contact with Cry, and ask for his permission, since I obviously don’t own the rights to this character. I’m more than happy to give him some of the profit, but again that’s a whole thing in itself. I know there’s the whole fair use thing, however I want to try and get permission for these types of things when I can. However with this, I want to have things ready before moving forward, if anything.

Side Note:

[If you don’t know who Cry is, he is a gamer on YouTube and he does Twitch streams quite frequently. He’s an amazing person, and he’s the second YouTuber that I subscribed to over four years ago on YouTube. I will leave a link to his YouTube channel, as well as his Twitch, just in case any of you are interested and would like to check him out. Obviously, I would recommend him and his content. They are on the lengthier side, but they are worth it, in my opinion. (^_^)’* <3]

Links:

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChaoticMonki

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/cryaotic

I’ve also been considering selling some of the photos that I took during my photography course in college last year on Etsy as well (I would make prints on different kinds of papers with various different sizes, possibly different colour filters and/or schemes as well). There are a select view photos that I actually really do like. Again, these are just some thoughts that have been forming within my brain recently.

Technically, I did graduate from my one year program last year (I started in January of last year, so I did the semesters backwards). It was only for a certificate, which I didn’t know about until way later on into the second semester. I was in the program called Foundations in Art and Design. I’m definitely more of a sketcher than anything. I would say that I’m pretty decent at sketching. For me, I do need a reference to work off of, or my drawings will look like chicken scratch (putting it politely). After playing Final Fantasy XV, I had the realization about how much I really do like photography. Prompto’s side quests were so fun for me to do (if anything, I looked forward to his side quests the most), and I looked forward to all of the photos that he would take during the day(s) before you go and rest somewhere. Whether at a motel, safe haven, etc. The ending hit me like a ton of bricks. I hope that I can take at least one picture that’ll impact somebody in the same way that the ending impacted me. <3

Side Note:

[I actually have so many ideas for Final Fantasy XV for contents that they could add to the game itself. I know that this is a shot in the dark, but if anybody has any idea(s) on how I can get in touch with the creators please let me know. I would appreciate it greatly. (^_^)’* <3

Should I do a video and/or post on my ideas? Hhhhmmm... *Pounders Thought Deeply*]

I also really want to get back into making YouTube videos. I really do miss making videos. I’ve also been thinking about voice acting, or at the very least trying to do something similar to how Cry does his Cry Reads series (Link to his playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL100E6F8D8D47702F). I think that would be a great way to start off, and see how it goes from there.

I still really want to do charity live streams in the future, especially as many twenty four hour ones that I can. I have a few charities already in mind, I just now need to make time, figure out how to record everything, figure out what to do and how to go about it all, and get/save money for certain equipment's. Again, fingers crossed I can do this sometime in the near future. *Fingers Crossed*

I’m twenty one, and I’m going to be twenty two next month, and I still don’t know what my life is even about currently. I would love to move out someday soon (nothing is wrong with my household or anything like that, I just would like to move out), travel the world and take photos (I should probably get my driver’s license... *Sighs* (So many idiots on the roads now a days that I would rather not deal with, although I know that it is inevitable to avoid them... *Even More Sighing*)), play more video games, and continue where I left off on YouTube (for those of you who have been supporting me during my absence, thank you so much. It all really does mean a lot to me, and I really do appreciate every single one of you. (^///^)’* <3). Charity live streams are something I want to do in the very near future, and I want to continue sketching and taking photos (My goal this year is to take a photo for everyday of this year (I completely forgot to take one yesterday, so I’m going to take two today!). I do miss singing and acting (I took Vocals and Drama all throughout high school, and I enjoy and miss writing as well. I have so many interests, but it’s just deciphering the hobbies/interests from what I would like to do with my life career wise. I have a good handful of things that I’m good at, but nothing that I really exceed at. I know that things don’t happen overnight, and that practice does improve skill sets greatly. I also like to cook and bake, and I like to dance as well...man, I just like a lot of things... xD xP

Side Note:

[This has nothing to do with anything career wise, but I really would also like to watch more animes. I’m currently on episode ten of the first season of Danganronpa (I would also love to play the games and read the manga’s involving this series!), and I watched the first episode of Yuri!!! On Ice recently (earlier this morning before going to bed). I really like the horror genre, but I’m not opposed to other genres of anime. If you really like anime and/or you would like to watch some great and interesting people, I have four amazing YouTubers that I think you should check out! I will leave there YouTube channels and Twitch links below. (^_^)’* <3

Links:

The Anime Man (Joey (Congratulations on reaching over one million subscribers recently, Joey. You truly do deserve them all, and more. (^_^)’* <3)):

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ETCazlHenpXEsrEJH-k5A

Second Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgJZxXviSbPbEMrsO6DpuQ

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/thean1meman

Akidearest (Congratulations on almost reaching eight hundred thousand subscribers, Aki. You truly do deserve them all, and more. Here’s to nine hundred thousand, and soon one million. (^_^)’* <3)):

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_1HVMnw-610qx54iEiWk7A

Second Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSMpnI56rm5Iu-lKEas-fKQ

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/akidearest

Lost Pause (Noble (Congratulations on reaching almost one million subscribers, Noble. You truly do deserve them all, and more. (^_^)’* <3)):

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LostPause

Second Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtg2R3JEs9z06_sfkO_t7g

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/lost_pause_

Misty/Chronexia (Mathieu (I know that this is on the later side, however congratulations on reaching one million subscribers, Mat. You truly do deserve them all, and more. Also, congratulations to both you and Jess on the news of your baby *Spoiler Alert* girl! I can’t wait until she’s born, and I know that the two of you will be great parents. (^_^)’* <3)).

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChronexiaMisty

Second Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MistyChronexia

Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/misty_chronexia

...Did I forget anything? I mean, knowing me I probably. If I did, I can always just add the missing points/thoughts later on to this post when they come to mind.

Don’t give up on your passion(s) and your dream(s). If you don’t know what you want to do yet in your life, don’t worry. You’ll figure it out eventually, I mean look at me. I’m planning on going to college for a third time, and if it weren’t for Final Fantasy XV and Prompto’s character, I may not have figured out how much I really like photography, and my last college program had a photography course in it! Prompto will always have a special place in my heart, and in all honesty I do see a lot of me in him and is character. Thank you to the creators and character designers of Final Fantasy XV and Prompto, even though this was clearly unintentional. You will never know how much Prompto’s character means to me, and how much he impacted my life for the better. I hope that one day I can impact at least one person, the same way this all impacted me. <3

Side Note:

[Anyone else think that it would be so cool to voice act for the Final Fantasy franchise? I would love to do something like that someday! *Even More Finger Crossing!]

Trust me, to this day I do feel pressure here an there, but don’t let pressure from others get to you. There is no time limit when it comes to finding your passions and figuring out your life dreams! If you don’t, I believe in each and every one of you. (^///^)’* <3 Meghan Camarena, also known as Strawburry17 on YouTube, made a video called Dreamer over a year ago. I will leave a link to her video, as well to her two YouTube channels. She’s an amazing human being, and this video really did help me out a lot.

Links:

Dreamer Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAY1oY0uurA

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Strawburry17

Second Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/LifeBurry

Gaming Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4IgEVgl6t18-89GPekZtAw

Also, I’m going to add the links to annablutube’s and Damien Dawn’s version of their song, Silent Scream, as well as there YouTube channels. I’ll also have a link for Anna’s song, Where Do I Go?, which is one of the latest songs that has been made. When the official music video comes out, I will add a link to that video as well. They are both really talented musicians and such wonderful people. They also reached their goal on Kickstarter, and I’m so glad that I could be a backer, and help them out with their dreams, and help make them into a reality. Congratulations you two, I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you all! (^///^)’* <3

Links:

Annablutube:

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/annablutube

Silent Scream Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIlghWDd7RU

Where Do I Go? Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ks1Ly5jDU

Damien Dawn:

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/DamienDawn

Silent Scream Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j9mApdBhOI

Anyways, I hope that you’re all having an amazing day or night, wherever you are in the word. Stay safe. <3

Never give up. <3

- Keanna <3

[cutiecrates]

Cutie Reviews: Kawaii Box Oct 19

I have complex feelings today, on one hand I’m excited because the brand new Cooking Mama will be arriving. On the other, my mom had to go to the hospital again and I’m worried about her.

So basically... you could say I chose to do this now to bide time. Besides playing Animal Crossing and some heavy duty Spring cleaning.

Word of the month: Majyo/Majo- Witch

Event of the Month (besides Halloween): Taiku no Hi/Health and Sports Day. Which takes place October 14, the day before my birthday x3

“Everything you need to be a kawaii standout at a spooky party!“

Unicorn Cosmetics Bag

Our first item is this exclusive to Kawaii Box (or you can check their online shop Blippo.com) cosmetic bag, featuring the pastel color variant of the Kawaii Box print and a big, cute unicorn! It has a nice pink zipper on top and leather strap for easier carrying, and the inside has bright pink crinkly fabric lining; it feels like the fabric you use to avoid water damage.

The bag is of a decent size, so it would be perfect for carrying around some necessities to the store, in another bag or pack, or even if you just want to use it to help organize something in the home.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I’m always looking for these in the boxes, because I tend to accumulate stuff from all of them and rather than keep every box I get, I can use these for the similar or smaller items I don’t have another place to put. Overall it’s very nicely made, and I really like it, I’m glad to see a variety of brand exclusive items in the box.

Koala’s March & Umaibo (not pictured)

I think we’ve all seen Koala’s March by now, right? I won’t be getting too into topic about these, but basically if you’re unfamiliar with them, they are little koala-shaped biscuits/cookies with Koala drawn on them and a thick, chocolate filling. They’re very yummy, and over the years there has even been a few different flavors, like strawberry. They each also come with a little Koala drawing you can collect on the top and bottom flaps. Koala’s March is also known for its benefits to the real Koala of the world :3 and it’s one of those few Japanese snacks you can easily find outside of Asian territories.

For Halloween, we have the basic chocolate. But these ones feature adorable Halloween-themed designs. You can also cut around the bottom to use it as a cup for holding things.

I had every intention of taking pictures of the various biscuits/cookies, but they were kind of smashed up and broken apart. Sometimes snacks just can’t handle travel very well, but I would highly recommend trying these if you never did. They’re very yummy.

- - - -

I’m sorry guys, but the umaibo that came with this months box was annihilated when I got to it. It would have been a messy picture and I didn’t think it was worth including. I don’t have much to say on it because I’ve reviewed several of the same Umaibo and this one was no different, because... it was...

CORN POTTAGE

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know that its my MOST FAVORITE UMAIBO EVER. If you haven’t then now you do :P it’s so delicious~

Hattifattener Plushie

This silly looking creature is from the series Moomin, and it has come to celebrate Halloween with you. This is a 100% polyester made plush thickly filled with cotton. The hands are made from very soft fabric, and it has a long silver ball-chain.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

As simple as this is, I couldn’t think of something more ideal for Halloween than a ghost-like being such as this. I don’t really know anything about the Hattifattener, but it’s pretty cute looking. It’s very soft and plush, and while it has little detail, they are very clean and neat.

Halloween Party Stickers

Whether you’re attending or throwing a Halloween Party, journaling, drawing a picture for the month, or just collecting stickers. These ones are the perfect little touch of spooky cute ♥

For this box, we could get a couple variations of sticker sheets; like cute animals dressed up, ghosts, or this mix of Halloween spirits and icons like I got; such as Jack-o-Lanterns, bats, and some Japanese spirits like the Kappa, the umbrella ghost or long necked lady; there’s even a few Non-Halloween creatures, like a mermaid and genie. The stickers are also puffy, giving them that 3D-ish look.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I love holiday-themed stickers x3 they’re always really fun to look back. As much as I don’t like repetitive designs on sticker sheets though, I’m not that bothered by it on this one because the repetitive ones are recolored or a bit different in style, rather than being the exact same printing repeat.

Ghost Heart Pin

Kawaii Box not only gave us one exclusive item, but two this month :D This is a cute accessory you could wear on person or attach it to a purse or something else if you really wanted to. I’m not sure if you can tell in this pic, but the pin is actually pretty big, about the size of my fist. It also seems to be of really good quality, and has a nice, solid response when you tap or hit it.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

I really got into collecting pins the past few years, so I’m excited to add another one to my collection.

Cat Teru Teru Bozu Pen

Teru Teru Bozu are ghostly looking objects one can make in order to keep away bad, rainy weather. So for this month, we have a kitty one who has come to make sure Halloween is at its best this year; unless you’re like me and keep it in the box, because it was pretty chilly and rainy this year.

The pen is an extremely basic clear tube with a black ink fine-tip. The kitty TTB can be sat aside, or you can put it on the pen butt so that it can keep you company while you write.

♥ ♥ ♥ 

As cute as the kitty is, I find the rest of the pen to be extremely repressed/plain/boring. But it works perfectly well, so it’s not like I wont use it, it’s just not in my top 10 list.

Shine Rainbow Bookmark

Our next item is this really pretty bookmark ♥ by Tree In Art, these came in various designs and colors and feature shiny, colorful flakes in various shapes; such as a star-themed one shown in the booklet, or this one that I got, featuring unicorns, sakura flower, flowers/snowflakes, and dots. There is also a small silk ribbon tied through the top for an additional touch.

I never heard of the brand TIA until I started seeing it in this box, and since then I have come to really like it! They have a variety of items as I’m learning, in all sorts of designs, such as casual fat kitties and narwhals, floral, and magical elements like mermaids and unicorns. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I also really like reading, and for the past few years I’ve been obsessed with this yarn bookworm I got from a craft store, but its eyes have gone missing and I’m kinda tired of it, so this will be a lovely change of pace~

Glitter Star Hair Clip

I was the most excited about this item, so I’m very happy I can finally begin wearing it! These came in a few variations, each consisting of a clip covered in shiny deco flakes, and adorned by a large clear star filled with shiny star flakes and some others; such as the metallic shells mine has ♥

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I’m completely in love with this~ It’s so pretty, and it’s not too decorative that it might look strange to wear, it’s just enough. The quality of the clip is also really good, and I love hearing the flakes inside shake around as I move my head or tap it.

It also really goes with my nails right now :3 its a win-win.

Colorful Scratch Notepad

This is our last item of the month, a fun little scratchpad. If you never seen these before, they are basically colorful, smooth pieces of paper or card stock covered in black material that you “scratch“ off to reveal your image in the color of the sheet.

This specific set comes with multiple pieces of rainbow, along with one gold sheet, and one silver.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

These are a really fun way to pass time if you like to draw or doodle. It’s also very relaxing, and this specific set is a dream because of how soft and easy it is to draw on the black stuff- the only downside is that because it’s not the usual smooth, gummy-ish paint-like substance that is really easy to remove, this one kinda smears like pencil would, so you might need to clean your hands after using it. I also wish we got an even amount of each color sheet.

♥ Cutie Ranking ♥

Content - 5 out of 5. I love everything, it’s so much fun! A couple of them might have been basic or plain looking, but they work fine/have good quality.

Theme - 4.5 out of 5. They were really close to getting a perfect score this time, but I felt like a couple of items didn’t really fit the spirit of the Halloween theme.

Total Rank: 9 out of 10 Cuties. I really liked this box, it especially excelled in comparison to the past few boxes this month and I enjoyed it. I’m in love with quite a few of the items, and I can’t wait to use them in full now!

♥Cutie Scale ♥

1. Star Clip - I’m going to wear this a lot :D I love it love it love it!

2. Bookmark - It’s so shiny and pretty to look at~ I adore it~

3. Unicorn Cosmetics Bag - I probably would have picked this as my top favorite item, if not for the fact I liked 2 more way more.

4. Ghost Pin - It’s pastel color scheme and heart shape are kawaii x3

5. Scratch Notepad - It’s very fun, I really like these. I actually own a couple of them, but none with pretty metallic sheets.

6. Halloween Stickers - They’re cute, even moreso than the ghost stickers we got last year~

7. Cat Teru Teru Bozu Pen - it’s cute, but also on the plain side. I really like the super-decorative pens more. 

8. Hattifattener Plush - It’s plain looking but still kinda cute.

9. Umaibo - This almost felt painful to do because its so delicious, but with how messed up it was out of the package -edible or not- I didn’t feel like it earned a goo score.

10. Koala’s March - As yummy and cute as they are, once they’re gone they are gone you know?

[winstonhcomedy]

How’d Winston Do Last Night? 10/31

Last night was a spooky night of salacious comedy. I definitely had a moment last night where I was probably at my scariest.

Last night was Home Sweet Home and I don’t think that’s an open mic I’ve had the opportunity to talk to you all about. It is every first, third, and fifth Wednesday of the month in Richmond.

 It is hosted by my really good friend Jacob McFadden. Jacob used to run an open mic at a spot called Pie before it closed down. I unfortunately never got to do that show, but I try to get to HSH every chance I get. 

Jacob is a really strong comic who unfortunately isn’t out as much as he used to be. I’ve booked him on some shows and he always follows through with a strong set. Right now he is going through a super tough time, because his baby niece passed away suddenly. This was the first time I’d seen him since then but he did seem in good spirits but def more somber than usual. I don’t usually do this, but if your heart compels you click this link and donate money to the ASPCA in her name. I know it would mean a lot since she absolutely loved animals! 

https://www.gofundme.com/gopupmezsuzsi?fbclid=IwAR2CF2kq1dFs8Uvt5d__gP6L3GW7CuNEUC8jIFHE37pjCXKZSm1IO9bPVhs

Thanks guys!

HSH is a grilled cheese restaurant and bar with an upstairs loft area where the comedy shows take place. Everybody gets about 5 to 7 minutes, and there are never any content restrictions. The crowd can be hit or miss, but it is usually a productive mic. 

I got to the show last night dressed as Calvin and Hobbes, and got to chill with Francesca Lyn and her boyfriend/good friend of mine Clay Shoaf. Fran had mouse ears on and Clay was wearing a graphic hat, bit jacket, and was carrying a joke book of “hilarious one liners”. 

Clay used to come out and do comedy a lot more, and in all actuality he was the very first person in the Richmond comedy community who was not only nice to me, but that I considered a friend. He also performed on the first Clash of the Comics that I was on.

When Clay was going up every night and really hitting it hard you could always expect some interesting and funny takes from him. He is definitely a comic who modeled himself after guys like Doug Stanhope, but the difference is unlike most of the people who try to copy that style; Clay had a unique take and strong joke writing ability. There were countless times where Clay would bomb don’t get me wrong, but even then I always looked forward to hearing what new shit he had to talk about.

Since he has put comedy on the back burner for the last year or so I’ve come to really appreciate when he comes out to mics. When he is out it usually means something inventive/weird/offensive/wild is going to happen. Which I always love to see.  Clay isn’t everybody’s cup of tea and I fully understand that. But there is literally nothing that brings me greater joy than seeing a group of new comics see Clay Shoaf for the first time.

It was kind of a light crowd but nothing too bad. The people were a little talkative, but they were into it. Danny Dunlea went first and didn’t have the hottest set. People were still shuffling in, and seemed disinterested.

Next was my set. Jacob likes to have fun with intros so I got brought up as a white nationalist which was exciting. I did a little light crowd work and got some good pops then started working on my jokes. I referenced Jim Crow and a dude was like too soon, I told him a white guy dressed as Kanye West for Halloween doesn’t really get to make that call.  That got a good laugh and I kept doing my material. It went well. Definitely felt like I started to get them into it. I ended with a brand new joke, and it went well. I’d give this set a B-. It was fun and spooky!!!!!

Afte me was Francesca. She did a sweatiest I gave her and it went ok. She got some laughs out of some interesting premises. She had a good line about Lunchables and Andes Mints, and she closed out about how she only sleeps with Wiccans. All in all pretty good set for the crowd.

After her was Clay. Clay was doing a character called Comedian Big Lil’ The Comic. He was a grizzled hacky road comic. He came up shit on the room a bit, sat down, and read out of a joke book. By the end of it he was pitching his bumper stickers, and begging people to buy from him. It was a great character and my favorite set that I got to see of the night. He had sunglasses and a ridiculous hat on and it just sold the whole thing. 

After his set my buddy Bryan Williams went up and did ok. He talked about how small his dick is since he is asian which is a joke he knows I hate. It got some laughs, but he’s a new dude who is still struggling to find himself on stage. He talked about being Bi which is my favorite thing he talks about because he doesn’t look like a stereotypical bi/gay guy. He will figure it out, but he’s always a good hang. I love the dude.

After him was Mu Cuzzo. Funny new comic who was trying to work out his crowd work. He is doing ok for 2 minutes until he points to a girl in the audience and starts talking about her “slutty” outfit. She took this to mean He thought she was a slut so she got up and is yelling at him for being rude and calling him a slut. It was crazy uncomfortable. It was also hilarious to see someone who has their ass cheeks hanging out arguing the differences between her “naughty” schoolgirl outfit and a “slutty” schoolgirl outfit. She wasn’t crazy or mean, and she went the route of trying to embarrass him. Telling the audience, “I hope you laugh at this man’s jokes. He’s a bad man.”

She left and took her bf with her, and Mu kept doing crowd work. Rule #1 of crowd work is ladies don’t like being referred to as sluts. It was a good learning experience for him. Crowd work is a lot harder than most comics give it credit for. 90% of comics who shit talk it do not have the ability to do it. Joke writing is amazing and important but crowd work is a difficult and important skill to master.

During this whole thing I walk upstairs and caught Bert Martling going through my stuff and flipping my backpack inside out again. I had already told him that if he did it again I was going to fight him. I had reiterated this several times over the past couple weeks. 

I caught him while he was in the middle of it and Mu was still on stage. So I just started yelling at him. I got so heated, and it was the angriest I’ve been in a long time. Bryan and Francesca were right next to it when it was happening and they looked mortified. Especially Bryan. The look on his face was hilarious.

I don’t like resorting to yelling, but that is a super personal boundary to cross. I legit carry everything in that backpack. I have my MacBook, my headphones, all of my joke books, my glasses, my wallet, and lots of stuff from work including drawings from my students; and quite honestly I don’t want or think anyone should go through anyone else’s bag. That is an invasion of privacy, and super messed up. Especially after already saying it was off limits.

Now some people are going to be like, “that’s not a big deal Winston. I don’t know why you’re freaking out rn.” Well screw you guys. I had to leave last night because I double checked in the bag and one of the drawings my students made got ripped when he was doing it. I had to leave or I was going to absolutely lose it again. 

To me it was the equivalent of going through a lady’s purse. It’s such an invasion, and a line that in my opinion shouldn’t be crossed. I can legit take a joke about anything. You can joke about me, my joke, my family, my religion, who I date, what I believe in, and I will laugh right along with you. But if you invade my privacy like that I am not going to be ok with it, and quite frankly I don't think anyone should be.

After this happened I watched Jameson Babbowski do a weird ass set as a Geraman dude with a ridiculous hat. Like just a wack wizards cap. He had a Bose speaker playing some German techno song but it was so low literally no one could hear it. He had fun, and it was super weird. This is the kind of thing I love to watch. People did not get it, but he committed. 

So I left and Bert eventually sent me an apology message and I accepted it and moved on. I don’t hate Bert, I’m not mad at Bert (anymore), and I don’t even dislike him. I just felt violated, a boundary had been crossed, and I didn’t feel respected as an individual or a man. I accepted the apology and he and I are on good terms now. 

After leaving I got about 7 or 8 messages from people asking about it. Literally nothing travels faster than gossip in the comedy community. I love all of my fellow comics, and I love all of you laydees/baybees!!!

This was a dramatic but fun night. Tonight I”m off to Baltimore and can’t wait to hopefully have a good show. I’ll be back to recap tomorrow. LOVE YOU LAYDEES!!!!! xoxoxo KISSES!!!

[nihaohanno]

Article #5: Free Subject: TRAVEL DIARY

Japan, the land of the rising sun 🇯🇵

Introduction

Let’s go back to the real beginning of my semester in Asia. In fact, I first traveled to Japan before I started my student exchange in Taiwan. Because classes were beginning late (end of February) in Taiwan, I took the opportunity to use this time to discover Asia and get familiar with it. As for one of my friends the student exchange was taking place in Japan. We decided with my friend to visit him for a ten days trip. It was an unforgettable trip and I would like to share it with you with more details. That’s why I chose this first travel as the topic of my “free subject article”. This article will be structured as a little diary of my journey and I will detail every day I have spent. In this way, you can follow up my travel and perceive at the same time each day my feelings and my discoveries.

Day 1: 6th of February – Aéroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle - 11pm French time: let’s get started!

The big date is today, the departure day. Let’s go to the airport to take the plane. Everything is being checked, we are ready. We are excited and nervous at the same time, our feelings are mixed. The adventure starts today and we cannot go back.    The evening seems to be long, luggage is checked, we say our last good bye… Time is up and it is now time to get in the plane. We had 13 hours of flight which represented a very long and boring time, I must confess. Weird to realize that we are crossing the world in only few hours by covering thousands of miles. We are finally landing in Tokyo…

7th of February – 7.30 pm local time: arrived in Tokyo, Haneda International airport

Here we are, after long hours of flight, we ARE in Tokyo and we are started our Asian adventure.  Custom, luggage and finally we took a van to join the center of the city.  We booked a reservation with the “Airbnb” website, a little room for two people in a place called Daikanyama near the most famous district of the city: Shibuya. Shibuya is well known for the biggest crossing road of the world. An iconic place in the international city. The house was just perfect and the host, Lisa, was so much kind and friendly. I recommend it, so I give you the link bellow if someone wants to do a travel in Tokyo and desires good advice: https://www.airbnb.fr/rooms/6292260. She gave us a little welcoming gift: a Dorayaki, one of the most popular Japanese confectioneries. It is Anko (sweet red bean paste) sandwiched between sweet pancakes. After meeting Lisa, we get out to eat something and rent a Wi-Fi pocket to have internet connection. Wouah! Shibuya is just incredible! Lights everywhere, big buildings and skyscrapers, big shops and such a big crowd in the street. Now we realize that we are in Tokyo, Shibuya, the most busy and lively area of the city. It is the first time of my life that I see this kind of place, it is a very special feeling. Feelings of the day:

(I will write some words at the end of every day of this diary, it is how do I feel before fall asleep.) Can’t believe that we are in Tokyo and that I will pass an entire semester in Asia. Jet lagged but very excited to start visit the city.

8th of February – 9.30 am: first day in Tokyo, Daikanyama, Tokyo

We woke up and saw the beautiful sun of Tokyo. It is a beautiful day today. Let’s start the day. We laughed about bathrooms which are so weird, same for the shower. We walked all morning in Shibuya and Shinjuku districts. We saw all of these fascinating shops. Especially, we visited a big electronic shop, the biggest one I have ever seen. Around 6pm, we went to drink a coffee in such a beautiful place: Starbucks Coffee Tokyo Plaza Omotesando in Harajuku. The Starbucks is situated on the top of the building and you can admire the view on the rooftop and drinking coffee. This place was just amazing, a little garden on the roof decorated with lights with an incredible view of the city. Finally, we went to the mythic Tower Records and saw the famous “no music no life” logo. Tower Records is a big shop (as “La Fnac” in France) destined mostly for music. Every floor has his own music style such as Jpop, Kpop, Rock and Jazz…  In the tower there is also a bar and a little scene. This kind of place is a sacred place for all international musicians. This night we also went in a big mall called “laForet” well known in Tokyo and we ate Japanese sushi there. Sushi is one of the most famous main meal in Japan and I confirm that I have never ate better sushi before. Sushi restaurants are funny decorated and the organisation is quite special: sushi are on plates that sit on a rotating conveyor belt that runs through the restaurant and by every table and seat. Customers select the sushi that they want to eat with an electronic tablet and as it passes by you are ordering, sushi are given. This kind of Japanese sushi restaurants is called “kaiten-zushi”, most restaurants offer photographic menus and you can simply serve yourself from the conveyor belt. We loved it! Feelings of the day: Japan is a country who have a culture force in electronic, music and food. Tokyo is a busy city with a lot of movement and where a lot of things are happened. Tokyo is a megalopolis and a hearth of business and it is seen. That’s the atmosphere I felt.

9th of February – 10 am: Day 3, Omotesandō, Tokyo

This is the day 3.  We decided to go have a walk on Omotesandō Avenue and do some shopping. We had a meal in a typical Japanese restaurant near the mall and the street market. Surprise of the day: It is snowing today in Tokyo! So happy to see some snowflakes in japan. This evening, we did a famous Japanese karaoke with some other friends we met. Karaoke (カラオケ) is the singing of songs to music accompaniment synchronized with lyrics displayed on-screen. It originated in Japan and is now popular around the world. Karaoke is a well-liked pastime enjoyed by people of all ages in Japan. Modern karaoke establishments consist of multiple private rooms (karaoke boxes) that are each equipped with a karaoke player and microphones. Besides countless Japanese songs, a reasonable selection of English songs is usually available. One can also order food and drinks in most karaoke boxes via phones that connect them directly to the reception. It was very funny experience and we felt like real Japanese people this night. We tried to sing in Japanese but it was a defeat aha!

Feelings of the day: In Tokyo I’m feeling safe. Indeed, Tokyo was selected as the world’s safest city, it is THE number one of the ranking and it is true!

10th of February – 10 am: Day 4,   Meiji Jingū, Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

This shiny morning, we decided to go visiting the Meiji Jingū temple in Tokyo. Meiji Jingū (明治神宮,) is a sanctuary dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Located just beside the JR Yamanote Line’s busy Harajuku Station. Meiji Jingu is one of the Japan’s most popular shrines, it was just beautiful. The area is built with a traditional Japanese architecture. In the sanctuary, you can follow the traditional custom: write something on a paper and put it in on a prayer wall.  We did it! In the sanctuary, a lot of sacred events are happened, we saw a traditional wedding this day, with traditional music and clothes. After that, we ate something and we went to a typical place in japan: game shop and purikura. In Tokyo there is a lot of different shops especially made for playing games. These kind of shop makes you think of Las Vegas games but in Japanese way. I mean, you hear different kind of music everywhere and cartoons characters voices. It is very animate like feels like being in a manga, it is a whole universe. We spent around two hours in it, so much things to do! The funniest activity we did with my friend was the amazing Purikura machines. If you want to stick to the “extreme-Japanese-way” of memory making, taking purikura is definitely an option. In Japan, Purikura (プリクラ) refers to a photo sticker booth or the product of such a photo booth. You get to make your own album original, creative, and most of all, fun to look. Nowadays, with the purikura machine, you can apply fake eyelashes, change eye and hair color, enlarge your eyes, and make your legs look longer and slimmer. These features are all optional and you can make yourself look way better (or more strange, if you want) in the purikura pictures. This is the reason why it is extremely popular among the fashionable Japanese girls. Of course, you can write or draw anything on the pictures as well with the pen function, and make the photo stickers fun and original. The important thing we remember with purikura it is that Japanese girls always wants to be better and to look like someone else, especially look like western girls.  Girls are fascinated with our eyes and our skin colour, that’s why some of them are using estetic chirurgical to change their body, but it is an another topic.

For the end of the afternoon, we went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (東京都庁舎). Where houses the headquarters of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. There is two panoramic observation decks, one in each tower on floor 45 (202 meters high), are free of charge to the public and contain gift shops and cafes. So we took the lift to the latest floor, the 45th, to see a sweeping view of the city… It was just incredible! I have never seen this kind of view. It is a must to do in Tokyo definitely! So we saw the sunset and we stay there until the sun was completely goes down. We ate a bit and we came back home to sleep.

Feelings of the day: Traditional architecture and buildings, I saw two different period today, it’s nice to see both. I begin to get used to Japanese life. Tokyo is just amazing and I don’t want it to end. 

11th of February – Day 5 – National Foundation Day – Tokyo

Today is a National day Japan and it is celebrated at the Meiji Jingū temple, so we decided to go back there and to see the celebration. National Foundation Day is celebrated on February 11 to mark the foundation of Japan and the accession of the first Emperor of Japan, Jimmu, to the throne (in 660BC). It is called Kigensai. During this day and all along Omotesando and Meiji Jingū temple, there is a parade of priests. It was amazing to see a national day in Japan and to understand the Japanese history and foundation in this way. The parade was beautiful, adults and child were wearing traditional clothes.

For the afternoon, we went to Ueno Park and to the famous Ueno Zoo of Tokyo. We ate something at the big outside market of Ueno. Then, we visited temples in Ueno, in particular the Kaneiji Temple which was very nice. And after, the best part of the day, we went to the zoo!! Panda, birds, tiger, otter, white bear, penguins, fishes, flamingo, snakes and reptiles… So much animals to see in the zoo! After the zoo, we had a walk in the Ueno Toshogu Peony Garden and in the market near the Garden and nightfall came.

We had a long way to come back to Shibuya before met our friends in one of famous restaurants in Tokyo. The particularity of this restaurant is that there is a hot plate in the middle of the table and we had to grill ourselves the food before eat. It was delicious!

Feelings of the day: It was so nice to live a National day in japan and understand the previous story of Japan. It was a day of party for Japanese people and we felt the happy and proud atmosphere all along the day.

12th of February – Day 6 – One day in Asakusa – Tokyo

This day we met Japanese girls, family friends of Penelope. So we trusted them to visit something typical in Tokyo. They decided to bring us in the famous district of Asakusa, the district near the famous Tokyo Skytree Tower. Asakusa (浅草?) is a district in Taitō not far from the center of Tokyo. The district is famous for the Buddhist temple of Sensō-ji dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon goddess. There is also a famous pagoda located at the end of a large shopping way called Nakamise-dōri. So we saw the temple, the pagoda and Nakamise-dōri, had some shopping on the way and took some pictures. The only bad story of the day was that I lost myself in the crowd when we visited the Sensō-ji temple. I was so scared! There was too much people this day definitely.

We try traditional prayers and sacred wishes in the temple. Especially two of them: Firstly, we did something called Omikuji at Senso-ji through the Hozomon Gate:  is apparently a great place to learn your future via omikuji. An omikuji is a strip of paper that predicts your fortune when you make a prayer to the gods. The contents written on that small slip of paper shows your future. There are 7 types of results ranging from the best daikichi (excellent luck) to the worst daikyou (terrible luck). Place a 100 yen coin through the hole into the money collection box by yourself. When you’ve inserted the money, shake the omikuji box several times. You will hear a neat shaka shaka sound. An omikuji rod will poke out from a hole in the box. The characters written on it, seen in the red box, mean 88 in Japanese. After, we searched for the drawer labeled number eighty-eight in the shelves located right next to the box. And it is done. Whatever you had at the beginning, you fixed it and you will have an entire lucky life without doubts. Secondly, we did also Osuisha, it is where you go to purify yourself. You wash your hands with water pouring from a dragon’s jaws, and wash your mouth… All of those rituals were such good to do!

Moreover, we ate at another typical restaurant of Japanese style: eat on the floor, sit on pillow. It was such a funny experience! We had to take off our shoes and sit in front of a pretty little table well decorated like in Japanese movies. Servers were wearing typical Japanese kimonos. It was very delicious and not so expensive compared to the quantity of what we ate!

Finally, we went to see the famous Tokyo Skytree tower, second highest tower in the world. It was just incredible and so much high! After come back in Shibuya, we went also in a mall to see the famous big Pokemon store of Tokyo, one of the most famous Japanese cartoon.

Feelings of the day: It was so nice to meet this girls. I was very happy to meet Japanese girls and saw their enthusiasm they had for us to visit and show us their culture. Their kindness was incredible, it was very pleasant. This day was shiny and was just unforgettable.

13th of February – Day 7 – Odaiba Ōedo Onsen Monogatari – Tokyo

Shibuya, day seven, we went to have a drink in Tower Records during the afternoon. 6 pm, we took the monorail to go to the Odaiba artificial Island to do the Onsen Experience. What is Onsen? Onsen are natural hot spring bath, typical places in Japan for relaxing in the middle of the nature. We saw that Ooedo Onsen Monogatari on Odaiba was a great place for the uninitiated to first experience a Japanese hot spring bath. It is one of the largest Onsen of Japan’s Capital City. So we decided to spend the night in the Onsen, exactly until 10 am the day after. Because Onsen are organised as well as a little town with so much things to do. It was just incredible! So there are: an open-air bath, foot bath, big common bath, bath of silks and a rock salt sauna. But also games, candy shops, restaurants with typical Japanese food (ramen, Udon noodles, yakitori and sushi), fortune tellers, spa and esthetic treatments, full body massage, foot reflexology, fish therapy… It is also said that there is a Futsal is opening sometimes!

Onsen are created for spending as much time as possible relaxing in the nature. It is a Japanese habit to take a pause or spend good time with friends.  So when we arrived, we had to pay and wear a Japanese Yukata, traditional Japanese clothe. To dress up in Yukata, it is very important to know the procedure to not doing a mistake. How to dress up a Yukata? Choose from 9 different yukata patterns, slip on the yukata with only your underwear on, and make the collar length even. Tuck the right side around to the left hipbone, and wrap the left side on top. Adjust the belt width, and place its center in front of you. Cross the belt in the back, bring both ends to the front and tie a bowknot. Turn the belt around clockwise so that the bow may come slightly to the right or left on your back. Important: Do not cross the right side of the Yukata above the left. This is how Japanese traditionally dress the dead in yukata.

It was very fun to wearing Yukata and seems like traditional Japanese girls. And the time in the Onsen was such a big experience. Notice: you are not allowed in the onsen if you have a tattoo. Most public baths in Japan have similar rules.

Feelings of the day: Onsen hot spring was such a big experience in Japan and it is definitely a thing to do. Very relaxing and peaceful place. But I have to notice that it was a very special experience too because hot springs have to be done naked… I will never forget that night by the way!

14th of February – Day 8 – 10 am - Valentine’s Day – Tokyo

It is 10am on the morning, we are leaving the Onsen after spending the entire night. So went to sleep a little bit at the house to keep force for our last day. Because tonight is the last night in Tokyo and also a big event programmed: Valère is a fan of metal Japanese music and he wanted to show us his passion. We went at a metal concert of the famous Japanese band called Versailles. Music genres of the band are symphonic power metal and neoclassical metal. It is not the genre of music I used to listen but it was very interested to discover the Japanese style by the way! It was just unexpected! Costumes and make up were fanciful and very original, it is a kind of community style. The place was also incredible, very huge. The power of the music in the room was very impressive!

The most incredible moment was when we met singers after the concert. Singers were considered like real stars in Japan and it was impressive how much Japanese people like them and support them.   So it was a nice way to end the trip and a nice night with good company. We come back to home for sleep one last time in Tokyo. So sad…  

Feelings of the day: It is our last day in Japan, our last feelings, our last memories. I can’t describe how much Tokyo is worth to see. It is not finished, it is just the beginning and now Taiwan wait me!

Good last night and happy Valentine’s Day!

15th of February – Day 9 – last day - 9 am – Tokyo

Last morning, time to say goodbye Japan, it is already over… It’s already the end of this unforgettable first trip in Asia. I’m so glad that I’ve done so many things in Tokyo and will never forget this incredible city. Japanese people are so nice and it is very cool to live in Japan.  Now it is time to start my university semester in Taiwan and discover Taiwan for 5 months. A lot of surprises are waiting to me, let’s take this plane! You know already the following now… To be continued…