#On my way to create a YouTube channel I came across this wonderful person so it was necessary to dedicate this piece of music to him that I

[frogcraftingg]

hi! I hope it's ok to ask this but. Ive been wanting to do more MC content and came across your stuff, which has inspired me more to do more content! I was wondering how much success you see posting on other platforms to promote your YouTube channel and all? Ive been doing shorts on YouTube, along with posting on TikTok and Instagram, but a lot of people state that YT shorts are unreliable if my main goal is long form content... Ultimately I'm looking to build a community around my stories I tell on Minecraft. And I'd love to hear from someone with more experienced in the area I'm interested in!!

Hi! Such a great question!

I'm a bit newer to trying to promo my content via different places, so I'll give you the short version and then explain.

TLDR: I'd say there's some success to be had in cross-promoting, though I've had the most success via Instagram first and TikTok second, but I follow trends and try to apply them to my niche, or show off different bits of my worlds and promote my videos on the worlds that way. It has varying success.

Explanation: So I wanna start off by saying I don't post ANY short-form content on YouTube. Similarly, I stopped posting anything except for Let's Play/SMP content + the occassional tutorial as that's pretty much what I want to make and the audience I want to build. Posting short form (as well as long form) content to YouTube can be tricky because those videos can pop off with a certain audience but then other types of videos can have trouble getting to the audiences you want them to (i.e., less regular watchers than usual watching the videos). I think there are people who have success but I've not caught on to what that is, exactly. I think it's easier to convert people over if they like to watch long form rather than short form content.

TikTok can be hit or miss. TikTok imo really values educational and/or highly entertaining content. There is room for story content, but it has to grip people right from the first second and as an amateur storyteller (me, I'm just starting out on that journey haha) that is very hard to do!! I really look up to people like GeorgeIRL (this video is my favorite), but most of my success there is about the packs I use and recommending other packs/mods. I've had a few other random videos/memes do well, and sometimes I do have people come into Twitch streams/find me on YouTube and recognize me from TikTok. If I have a trending video about my hardcore world or whatnot, I will usually reply to comments saying I make videos (link in bio) if they are interested.

Instagram is where I've personally seen the most success, as it has a really untapped market for Minecraft imo. I apply trends via the reel sounds there to my niche (like this video here or another example that popped off) and this has definitely brought people to my YouTube and Twitch channels in the last month.

I wish I had more info on storytelling specifically for you, but as far as rates for getting people to one place to another.... Conversion rates, no matter how good your content is, are usually pretty low, I'd say maybe 5-10% max at their "best." Even with a combined ~90k on TikTok/Insta, I definitely don't see those numbers on Twitch or YouTube yet (via live-views, views per video, subscriber/follower counts, etc).

I didn't really try to promote my bloodlines content as it's lore-based but also new to me, so i wasn't 100% sure how I wanted to present it. I may have better feelings in the future once I get the hang of insta reels a bit more on how to do it.

As far as pure numbers go though...Truthfully, the best conversions for me have come from Twitch and I think there's a lot of room for storytelling and creating a world (together) there that people enjoy, though I did also have a lot of luck there with the twitch recommended algorithm and live-streaming in general based on the start circumstances that I had.

Overall though I love that you are doing something fun and including a story in your worlds, it's absolutely amazing. Wishing you the most luck, let me know if you wanna chat anymore about anything!

hugs!

[decadentfoxexpert]

Special thanks to @Musio Channel

[creeps-and-pasta]

Hi! Came across your blog while looking into creepypasta stuff and was wondering if youd know some key info on the main characters and the various versions of them? Ive seen lots of different versions of the creeps and lots of varying ages for them, it seems cool but also a little confusing. Like ive seen several ages for Jeff Woods: 13, 15 or even in his 20s. Im pretty curious about him and some others like Jane, Ben, and Nina!

Thank you for taking the time to send me these asks! I love explaining and going over creepypasta history. Also, thank you for your patience, I’m busy moving into a new apartment, so I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while. 

I haven’t yet found one place to find a bunch of creepypasta history in one place, which I’ve been trying to fix. I’m planning on making either a google docs or neocities page one day that will put a bunch of creepypasta info in one place, but that will be a while. The info I’m pulling from is TV Tropes and the creepypasta fandom wikia.

The creepypasta fandom is different from most fandoms, because it lacks a true canon. Jeff the Killer is a huge example of this, it’s really hard to tell who first came up with him, or which version is the original. 

Essentially, the famous Jeff the Killer image has been around since 2005, and in 2008 a user on Encyclopaedia Dramatica named Sesseur created a video about Jeff the killer and Liu, which I will link here. (WARNING for images of spiders and the original Jeff the killer image). My favorite line from the video is “he’ll fucking gut you” lol.

So anyway Sesseur is credited as the creator of Jeff the Killer and Liu, though it’s unknown if he created the og image or not. It’s notable that Jeff is an adult in the story. This version is Jeff C. Hodek.

The classic Jeff the Killer story, where Jeff is a kid that gets bullied and set on fire, was created by GameFuelTV on deviantart. This was in 2011. This is Jeffery Alan Woods. Jeff is like, 13? 

A rewrite was made in 2015, by K. Banning Kellum, who I believe has a tumblr account, so be nice to him. This is the Jeff that has half his face burnt off, I think Kellum possibly did this to mimic TwoFace from the Batman comics, rather than the Joker homage that Jeff has had for years. I believe this Jeff is still named Jeffery Alan Woods.

There’s also Mr.Betty Kreuger’s version that I may as well mention. He’s a voice actor that did a whole lot of creepypasta impressions back in the day, and has a terribly written creepypasta series on his youtube channel. I…do not like MBK, but admittedly his hallway of nightmares video is sick af. He has a really good LJ voice. ANYWAY. His version of Jeff is called Jeff Keaton. 

I could go into so much more depth with this, and I will probably make another post soon detailing the many Bens in this fandom, along with Jane and Nina. This is just…a lot of work to write about lol. I used to have notes about this somewhere, but I can’t find them atm.

    I guess the key word here is “interpretation”. There is no One True Jeff, or one way for a person to write him. It’s all up to your personal interpretation of who Jeff is, what he is like, and which last name you prefer him having.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #520

Top Ten CBeebies Programmes

Ah, the wonders of timing. A couple of weeks ago, everyone was banging on about it being the twentieth anniversary of CBeebies, and I wanted to get in on that action. But, wouldn’t you know it, Valentine’s Day got in the way of relevance, and so we’re doing a birthday celebration a bit belatedly. Never mind. By the time you get to twenty, you should be able to wait a little bit.

I’ve thought about CBeebies a lot, and some version of this list – or one like it – has been percolating for quite a while. This is because I’ve worked in kids’ TV almost my entire adult life, and especially since my kids have been born, I’ve spent a lot of time working actually for the BBC, oftentimes making promos for CBeebies. So both personally – having small children who watch the channel – and professionally – making stuff for the channel – CBeebies has been a big part of my life in the past decade.

What’s given me pause, though, is the fact that I actually know some people who make programmes for CBeebies. I don’t wanna upset anybody! Especially, y’know, anybody who might want to give me a job. So what I’m going to say here is this is not a list of absolute quality; I’m not saying these are the best. But they’re the ones I’ve fallen in love with the most. That might be because I think the writing or production is genuinely sublime; it might be because we came across them at the right time in the right circumstances. Maybe my kids loved them! When your kids love stuff, really love it, you tend to soften on it, even if you weren’t very keen on it to begin with. This is brought to you by “I have totally come around on Minecraft YouTubers”.

Oh, and yes, there are omissions. That’s because, as my kids have gotten older, they’ve started watching, well, more Minecraft YouTubers than CBeebies shows. I’ve got friends with younger kids who go on about Bluey, which I’m sure – from the sounds of it – I would just flat-out love. But I’ve never seen it! My kids are too old, I guess. Or too into Avatar: The Last Airbender or whatever. Or – let’s be honest – they’re just playing Minecraft, or watching people play Minecraft.

So here we go: my Top Ten CBeebies shows; shows that mean a lot, one way or another.

Hey Duggee: is it the music, the artwork, the voiceover? The tone of wry whimsy combined with heartfelt preschool sentiment? Is it the genuine humour and excellent writing? Is it the raft of in-jokes and references, from The Life Aquatic to Apocalypse Now? Is it my minor role in making The Stick Songgo viral? All of this and more; the best children’s TV programme ever made.

In the Night Garden: simultaneously a very sweet and gentle imagery and music that lulls children into another world and, ultimately, to sleep, and also the most bonkers, batshit, balls-tripping stuff you’re likely to see. Nonsense songs! Size-changing vehicles! Dancing flowers! Symmetrical stone-stacking!

CBeebies Bedtime Stories: Jackanoryfor the 21st Century, the simple pleasure of somebody reading a story aloud will always work. The soft, relaxing presentation adds to the “bedtime” aspect, and a huge selection of impressive celebrity readers makes it an event programme for all ages. I mean, come on; everyone from Dolly Parton to Captain America is here.

Topsy and Tim: creating a kind of soap opera for nippers is a phenomenal idea, introducing them to ongoing narratives and stories about familial dynamics. There are all kinds of cool topics explored, from illness to bereavement, with a keen eye on its audience. The cute family and great performances help too. A common fixture round ours.

Show Me Show Me: I’m starting to think nobody is better at introducing the very young to the world of television that Chris Jarvis and Pui Fan Lee. Gentle, engaging, fun, and a perfect start to the day when your kids get you up too early.

Swashbuckle: the perfect kind of gameshow for young kids; really energetic silliness. But what lifts it up is the bevvy of terrific performances, from Gemma Hunt to the trio of pirates, telling incredibly silly and very funny stories amidst the slapstick, chaotic gameplay. Plus I got to go on set, so it gets extra points.

Our Family: there were a trio of programmes, all made – if I remember correctly – by the same North East production company, following the lives of the very young as they experience things anew. Our Family was one, but there was also a cooking programme and one dealing with “My First…” These were great windows into individual lives and shared experiences, and really sweet preschool documentaries.

Waffle the Wonder Dog: taking the Topsy and Tim preschool soap format but making it way sillier, we now have essentially a comedy-drama about a talking dog and his beleaguered family. Hijinks ensue, lessons are learned, and at the centre of it is a flat-out adorable dog.

My Petsaurus: here we have, perhaps, a lesser-known show, but one which was just huge in our house, albeit briefly. A short selection of shorts, it features a girl and her cute pet dinosaur. That’s it; a simple premise, really well executed. I’m a sucker for an interplay of animation and live-action, and this is a great example, with a really good young performance at its centre. Because my kids were into it a bit more, it’s just eased out the broadly similar Woolly and Tig, which is also brilliant.

Go Jetters: there’s a lot of chatter about Octonauts, which I’m not going to diss, but for my money you can’t beat Go Jetters. A preschool Thunderbirds with a globetrotting bent, where it succeeds for me is in the absolute disco swagger of all-knowing boss Ubercorn, and especially in the moustachioed grump Grandmaster Glitch. Two incredible performances from Tommie Earl Jenkins and Marc Silk.

See, I already feel really bad for having to miss out things like Balamory, Dinopaws, and the educational one-two punch of Alphablocks and Numberblocks. Basically, CBeebies is great.

I've made a very rare edit to this list (I hardly ever edit them after they're posted apart from to correct spelling and grammar mistakes!) because, like a massive idiot, I confused the titles Let's Play and Show Me Show Me - so in the very unlikely event that you were confused by me referring to Chris and Pui instead of Rebecca and Sid, that's why. Sorry to all involved! In fact, Let's Play itself was a very close-run thing, a fantastic show that my youngest especially loved.

[r3almellow]

MLQC Boys With A Famous S/o

Here we go! Thank you anon for this request I hope its to your liking!! Apologies for typos as always!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kiro (YouTuber S/o)

How did you meet ?

You were a YouTuber that had over 500,000 subscribers. During a Mukbang Q&A video you received a question in regards to your celebrity crush. 

“I think the big ass poster currently behind me kind of gives it away, but my ultimate crush is Kiro. I’d give anything to meet him at least once.” You went even as far as to give him a shout out. “Hey, super star! I heard you were a big foodie and since you like to eat and I like to eat, maybe we can eat together sometime? Okay, that was dumb, please ignore this!”

Little did you know, Kiro was a huge fan of your videos and just so happened to see your request. Next thing you knew a clip of you “shooting your shot” made its way to his social media page with a caption of “Its a date ;)” right above it. You just about died when you saw his post. You were only joking around! Well...not 100% joking, but you didn’t expect him to respond! 

You spent weeks talking to each other through private messages soon after. Your messages filled with gushing over your similar interests, playful banters and light flirting. He offered to be a part of your next Mukbang stating that it was better to have two people eating themselves into a coma on camera than one. You couldn’t argue with facts and took him up on his offer! Kiro only had one condition...you let him take you out on a date afterwards.

And the rest was history. 

Dating

The cutest couple to have ever existed! 

Both of your social media pages are filled with couple photos. 

You both get to dress up in disguise whenever you go on dates! A baseball cap, sunglasses, and face masks are your usual go to’s, but depending on where you’re going you might be required to get a little creative. 

Dealing with overly excited fans and even more persistent paparazzi was a bit new for you, since your interactions with people is mostly through the internet, but you handle it pretty well.

Interviewers practically threw themselves onto every opportunity to get information about your love life. Kiro was more skilled than you about these things, so you tend to just laugh awkwardly and let him take care of it. 

Kiro appears a little more in your videos whenever he’s free which the fans are grateful for. Of course, your channel doesn’t turn into all things Kiro and you never use him for your own personal gain. 

Dating Kiro did open up some opportunities for you, like getting to experience award shows and networking with other celebrities and content creators. Again, you refused to throw Kiro’s name around just to get the things you wanted. 

You both like to bounce ideas off of each other, whether its for his music or for your latest video. Having two creative minds come together does wonders! 

You’re almost always somewhere in the background during his live streams.  

Gavin (Actress S/o)

How did you meet? 

High school. You were a part of the drama club and Gavin was...well...forced into being a part of the stagehand after being threatened with expulsion from his last brawl. 

You were the first one to welcome him. You were kind, funny, and cute. And when you were on that stage? Mesmerizing was the best way to put how Gavin saw you. You were inspiring. 

After graduation Gavin lost contact with most of his acquaintances, but he never once stopped thinking about you. Gavin wasn’t big on celebrity news, but he actually kept up with your progress once he got wind of a newcomer taking the entertainment world by storm. 

Fast forward to a few years later and he was playing bodyguard for one of the most successful actresses in the world. You. This was just an undercover job that was going to last as long as his target was still out there. 

There was definitely chemistry between you. And while Gavin wanted to act on his feelings, his work had to come first. You respected that, but that didn’t mean you weren’t going to let him know you were interested. How could you not be? You had a huge crush on him back in high school and now that he was by your side practically every day those feelings came back with a vengeance! 

As soon as Gavin’s objective was complete he continues being your bodyguard stating, “Only I can keep you out of trouble.” Which you responded by kissing him.

Dating

Once word got out about you dating your “bodyguard”, it shocked many that you decided to be with someone that wasn’t a celebrity. 

Even so, Gavin doesn’t look like your average Joe. He has the body and face of man who could easily be on the cover of Vogue or Vanity Fair, but you know your man isn’t about that life. 

You’ve spent years being a private person, so when you and Gavin start dating not revealing much was easy. The public only knew what you wanted them to. 

There are a lot of at home dates filled with takeout and movie night. Just being in each others company is more than enough for you!

You work out together a lot! He’s really good about motivating you especially when you have to prepare for an upcoming movie. You honestly don’t need a personal trainer when you have Gavin. 

The paparazzi are afraid of Gavin. Like they won’t even get within six feet of you whenever he’s around. The last poor soul who got a little too close for your liking ate asphalt within seconds.

Gavin isn’t one for the limelight or the glitz and glam, which you appreciate. Its nice to be around someone that isn’t a part of the entertainment world. 

You don’t have to hide a part of yourself, in fear of judgement, whenever you were with him. You appreciated Gavin’s genuine nature. He was always truthful with you and he never gave the impression that he was only with you because of your status. 

Gavin does a great job with making you feel special. Whenever you feel like you don’t meet the standards of what the industry wants, he pulls you out of that dark hole and gives you the pep talk you need to get through the day.

You could walk around without an ounce of makeup on or trade in a Dior dress for sweatpants and a t-shirt, and Gavin still found you beautiful. 

Victor ( Famous Pianist S/o)

How did you meet? 

Victor was a fan of your work for quite some time. There was something about your raw talent that drew him to your work. He always made it a point to go to all your live shows whenever he was available, but has never met you personally. 

It wasn’t until you waltzed right into his office out of the blue. When he saw you enter his office with Goldman and two security guards tailing right behind you, he didn’t even recognize you. You looked as if you had just rolled out of bed with a messy bun, ripped jeans, t-shirt with some random cartoon character and thick rimmed glasses. His first thought as you stared him down with a frown was, “Who let this homeless person into his office?” 

When Goldman called your name as the two security guards grabbed your arms, Victor had to do a double take. The elegant and graceful woman, who commanded the stage with just pads of her fingertips, was...YOU?! 

Victor allowed you to stay, curious to know why you were here. You business with Victor was simple. You wanted funding to create music schools for low income families. You had sent countless emails to LFG with hopes to do business with them, but after being ignored the first few times and receiving a rude rejection email that morning, you were ready to take the bull by the horns. 

Surprisingly Victor found himself intrigued by you and thus started an interesting partnership. 

The more Victor got to work with you the more he became attracted to the headstrong, smart, and talented person who seemingly enjoyed ruffling his feathers every chance they got. 

You were also attracted to the blunt, detail-oriented man and it bothered you to no-end. What you saw in a man who probably would critique drawings from a toddler, you had no idea. But you appreciated his work ethic. He genuinely wanted you to succeed with this project and you couldn’t deny his heart was in the right place. 

The day the first school opened was the day Victor decided to stop tiptoeing around the mutual attraction and asked you out.

“We can celebrate your accomplishments over dinner.” 

Dating

The CEO of LFG and the child prodigy turned world famous pianist dating?!

CAN WE SAY POWER COUPLE?!

Whenever paparazzi get a picture of the two of you, you both look as if you just finished a professional photoshoot. You NEVER look bad in those photos. Never! 

And when you do professional shoots? It leaves people SHOOK. Magazines like Forbes have never had such a beautiful couple grace their covers before. Just wait until people see your wedding photos.

You always ask him to visit you during your rehearsals which he almost always declines but shows up anyway, if he’s not too busy. He’ll also bring a box of his homemade pudding because knowing you, you probably were too busy with preparations for your upcoming concert to eat. He’ll take you out to eat afterwards, but the pudding should hold you over for a bit.

Victor will never admit this to you, but your music helps him de-stress after a long day at work, so whenever he isn’t with you, your music helps him fall asleep. 

Victor also likes to watch you work. Seeing you so focused as you create your next piece was a sight to beheld. The pensive look in your eyes as you went over your music sheet, the slow nod of your head as your fingers danced across the keys as you intently listened to the melody, and the way your eyebrow twitched when you hit a key you didn’t like; all things oddly enjoyed seeing.

You’ll never catch him staring. He’ll pretend he’s working whenever you feel his eyes on you and if you try to call him out on it, he will most likely deny it. 

Lucien ( Novelist S/o)

How did you meet? 

You needed the help of someone knowledgeable with neuroscience for your next book. Someone recommended a Professor at Loveland University who specialized on the topic. That was how you met Professor Lucien. 

You two worked closely together once you started your manuscript, going over various topics under the neuroscience category. It wasn’t surprising just how intelligent the man was on the subject, but you were in awe about how much you knew.

Your meetings would often start at the university which led to you going home together once you found out he lived in the same building as you. You leveled up from the lecture hall to aquariums, movie theaters, restaurants, and his apartment where you had lunch or dinner. 

Your conversations never stayed on the topic of work. It often changed to your interests. You found that you and Lucien had a lot of similar interests like your taste in books and art. He also developed a love for teasing you. 

Seeing the look on your flustered face turned into one of his favorite pastimes.

When it came to the topic of your books, you learned Lucien has read quite a few of them and was very intrigued with your work. He asked you numerous questions, questions no one thought to ask. 

He admitted to you his favorite of yours was the first book he ever read titled, “The Boy Who Dreamed.” You jokingly offered to sign his book, but he declined with a smile.

“I’ll admit I do enjoy the book, but I’m more interested in the woman who wrote it.” 

Dating

More dates at your favorite places. 

Almost every other week, Lucien seemed to have tickets to art exhibits, festivals, or the movies. 

His teasing intensifies by a hundred! That man loves to tease you and you hate it! You love it. 

The closer you got to Lucien, the more you realized he didn’t enjoy talking about himself, so it takes a while to learn about him or his past. You never press him for information, but he does reveal things to you within time.

Lucien loves when you read to him. Its how he falls asleep and once you find out he has trouble sleeping, you always suggest what you call “story time.” 

In truth, having you by his side is more than enough to get him to sleep, but if you aren’t there hearing your voice will do the trick. You could be reading anything and he’d be fine with it. From Dr. Seuss to H.G. Wells, Lucien was fine with it as long as he got hear your voice.

You like to ask for his opinion on your latest projects. He does a great job making you think outside of the box which will make things easier or challenging during your writing sessions. 

Whenever you encounter writer’s block, Lucien will pull you away from your laptop and mountains of papers to enjoy a nice relaxing day with him. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doooone! Please comment if you enjoyed this! I’d love to know what you guys think!

Want to read more of my writing? Check out my MLQC masterlist here!

[noa-nightingale]

Steven Lim Appreciation Week: Watcher-era Steven

We are celebrating Watcher-era Steven and I want to talk about Hidden Narratives for this day of Steven Lim Appreciation Week!

From the description: “Steven Lim speaks with Asian American leaders across industries about how the coronavirus has impacted our community.“

There are six episodes and one of them is also on youtube. Keep in mind that these episodes were created in March/April 2020. More on that at the end of the post.

Quick disclaimer, I am not Asian American and it would be inappropriate for me to lead any kind of conversation about this podcast; therefore I attempted to keep this relatively surface-level. But I have to admit that I got carried away with this pretty quickly and I am not sure if I stayed in my lane. It was meant to be a short, appreciative post but it got out of hand - if I overstepped boundaries, please let me know.

A warning, this podcast deals with heavy and difficult topics, including racism, grief, pain, people losing their businesses, people hurting. It is also very focused on people coming together and how they can help each other - but these topics are still not easy. I still wanted to write about it because I think that Steven deserves all the appreciation in the world for his work.

The first words that come to mind when thinking about this podcast are “heart” and “dedication”. It has a lot of heart - and despite the not always happy topics, it is such a wonderful, beautiful podcast. You notice the hard work Steven put into it, the passion, the care.

In the intro of the first episode he said he was nervous when he made the podcast but that he hoped that people liked it because it would make him feel good. He explained where the idea came from: His friends talked about how the virus effected their livelihood, and he felt hurt and helpless. And he realized that he could share their untold stories.

Episode 1: How Coronavirus Shut Down A Restaurant in 24 Hours

In the first episode, Steven talks to his friend Deuki Hong, chef and owner of Sunday Hospitality Group, whose restaurants shut down in March 2020. He talked about the emotional impact of things happening so fast, trying to keep his employees safe and worrying about his team, having to question a lot of things he had been taught, and having to deal with the uncertainty.

Steven mostly asked questions and listened. Deuki Hong had to make some difficult decisions, and Steven was never judgmental about it - the podcast allowed for a very honest conversation about a very difficult situation.

The first episode very much was about trying to look out for each other, and that is a sentiment that continues throughout the entire podcast.

Deuki Hong said near the end of the episode: “When people are hurt, they just want someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, whatever that is, so be that person, just be kind, cause yeah, there’s a lot of hurt people right now.”

There is a GoFundMe set up for the team called Sunday Family Dream Fund. It is still open and has not reached its goal - the first episode of Hidden Narratives came out in March 2020 and the last donation to the GoFundMe was 8 months ago, so I am not really sure what the current state of affairs is. (I will come back to this at the end of my post.)

Episode 2: Why This NYC Restaurant Is Staying Open In A Pandemic

Steven mentions in the beginning of the second episode his “close emotional connection to the food industry” and that it is one of the reasons he started his podcast with two stories from two different restaurants. He also wanted to look at the topic of keeping the restaurant(s) open vs. closing it from two perspectives, and says that he does not know if there is a right or wrong answer.

Steven talks to Jimmy Ly, chef and co-owner of Madame Vo and Madame Vo BBQ. Jimmy Ly made the decision to keep his restaurants open. Steven started the conversation with: “Jimmy, thank you for sharing your story and I hope that those listening can gain a little more compassion, a little more empathy and a little more understanding.”

I found it touching that Steven’s first question was “How are you doing?” - it was asked in a way that allowed for an honest answer. This is also something he continues throughout the podcast, and it is very obvious that Steven is a very thoughtful and considerate person.

Jimmy Ly talked about his decision and for him, too, it is about his staff and his obligation toward them - the wanted to take care of them. Steven summed it up with “It is a choice for them between their livelihood and their safety”.

He talked about the measures they took to keep their staff as safe as possible and about adapting to the situation as best as they can.

Jimmy Ly said, if somebody on his team contracted the virus, he would shut his business down. It was obvious that none of the decisions he had to make and has to make are easy. They also talked about how Asian owned business were hit the hardest, and the drop in business for many.

The end of the episode got emotional - Jimmy Ly talked about how people who had to close their small businesses would most likely not be able to open them again. He said he and many others worked hard and that it is unfair that they could lose everything.

Steven talked about the impact Madame Vo had on him and that he could tell that Jimmy Ly cared about his restaurant, staff and customers and the food and that he poured love into it. Jimmy Ly said that Madame Vo means family to him.

The episode description includes the link to the Madame Vo website - Madame Vo Kitchen is still open while Madame Vo BBQ is “temporarily closed”.

Episode 3: FBI Warns Asian Americans Of Racist Outbreaks Due To Coronavirus

In the third episode, Steven talks to Benny Luo, the founder and CEO of NextShark, about the surge of racism against Asian Americans. He said despite growing up one of the only Asians in his school and being attacked for it, he has never seen so many Asian Americans being attacked in his life before.

From the description: NextShark is “one of the leading sources of global Asian and Asian American news”.

Benny Luo talked about the cases of racism against Asian Americans rising and that him and his team work the hardest they have ever worked in the history of the company to be able to report the stories.

He also talked about the impact of being confronted with those stories regularly - that it is psychologically draining but that his team feels a responsibility to do this work and that he is proud of his team.

Benny Luo told about someone writing to the team about the momentous moments happening for Asian Americans in the past years - and how it felt like it all came tumbling down. He said it is hurtful but that he also hopes it will be a time in history where the entire Asian community will come together.

But he also highlighted the good - there are people doing important work, in the medical field and in other fields, and it is important to be proactive - and these stories should be covered too.

Steven called the conversation “enlightening and therapeutic”. Benny Luo said to Steven: “You’re a creator, you’ve been a representative for us, being an Asian face on a really really big platform and (...) you doing interviews like this with me and you speaking up, I mean, those things have a lot of impact so no matter what it is, I think that you’ve made a big contribution in helping advance us forward.”

Here is the NextShark website.

Episode 4: On Andrew Yang And How Proving Our "American-ness" Won't End Racism

The fourth episode deals with the controversial op-ed by Andrew Yang that advises Asian Americans to show their American-ness to combat racism. Steven said that he was hurt by his words but also by the way Andrew Yang was treated as a result.

In the episode, Steven talks to Taylor Weik, a Japanese-American writer who wrote an article in response to the op-ed. From the description: “Taylor shares more context on why Yang's call-to-action was dismissive to the history of Japanese-Americans and details the negative impacts of Yang's article on the Asian American community.“

In his reflection of the episode, Steven said he did not know how to feel when the article came out - he did not agree with Andrew Yang and he thinks what he said was harmful but people also dismissed all of Andrew Yang’s previous accomplishments. Steven said he can understand the outrage. He said that he thinks that Andrew Yang can learn and that they can grow as a community.

It was clear that this was a difficult topic for Steven but he did his best to have a balanced and fair conversation and to not condemn.

Episode 5: Why American Healthcare Workers Aren’t Safe From The Pandemic

In the fifth episode, Dr. Shuhan He, an emergency doctor and the co-founder of GetUsPPE.org, talks with Steven about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers.

They had a conversation about what exactly PPE is and why it was so hard to get. They not only talked about the importance of PPE in hospitals but also in nursing homes. Another topic was the importance of wearing masks.

Steven said: “A lot of people are grieving and (...) I’ve been feeling a lot of pent-up sadness and I don’t know how to channel the energy.” He asked how people can help.

Here is the link to Dr Shuhan He’s organisation GetUsPPE. Once again Steven mentioned people coming together and doing good.

Episode 6: Should Churches Gather During a Pandemic?

The sixth episode is very personal to Steven - his Christian faith is the most important thing in his life. He talks to Pastor Drew Hyun, pastor and leader of Hope Church Midtown in New York City. Steven attended Hope Church when he was still in New York.

They talked about churches gathering - Pastor Hyun’s churches are meeting remotely. He said that people were missing connectivity and that’s why they decided to make services interactive and using Zoom instead of having live streams. They also switched their style of services to a style that would allow more interaction.

Pastor Hyun said what makes the situation so painful is that people share the collective grief but are still physically isolated. Steven asked how people are doing spiritually - Pastor Hyun said there was a hunger, and that people are starting to think about faith and life and God.

He said they would not be gathering because they want to be a loving community - a loving community would serve the vulnerable, deliver food to the elderly, raise money for small businesses, serve non-profits. He wanted to lean into love and generosity.

Steven talked about the challenges with his own faith - why would God allow such a devestating thing? He said he can at least channel all the energy of grief, and that giving back has been therapeutic for him. He also mentioned that churches are now more accessible than ever.

They talked about some churches not being willing to stop gathering in person - Pastor Hyun said it is a grief to him and that the most loving thing that churches can do is not to gather.

Again, the end of the episode got emotional - Steven asked how Pastor Hyun personally was doing and he told about how he tried to support the restaurant of a friend and walked out of it crying. He said it would be easy for him to fall into despair and cynicism - but that he clings to the thought that God will do something. He talked about people suffering and how hard it is to watch - and that the situation is challenging.

Steven said he would keep him in his prayers. Pastor Hyun said: “Thanks for what you’re doing and I think it’s beautiful - you’re telling the stories of pockets of light in the midst of what’s happening.”

In his reflection, Steven said that he had been struggling with the situation every day but where he can find joy and peace and confidence is God and the belief that God has a plan for him.

A few closing thoughts: I admire Steven’s dedication. I think this quote from the end of episode 3 sums it up: “I spend my evenings editing this, it’s not part of our overall business plan and probably, you know, we’re losing money from it. It’s not supposed to be my priority. But I’ve been given the green light by my co-founders, by my head of development to continue making this show.”

That’s incredible hard work right there. And it deserves to be recognized.

The podcast was created in the early stages of the pandemic. I don’t know how the people who shared their stories are doing now, about a year later. I would love to have some updates - I thought about doing some research myself and create sort of a follow-up but, again, I don’t know if I am the right person to do it.

To conclude this already too lengthy post, I want to return to the main themes that could be found in all episodes: Coming together, helping each other, creating support, being kind, channeling negative emotions into positive actions, making positive changes.

That’s what Steven is doing with this podcast and with the rest of his work, and it is very very impressive, commendable and inspirational.

[persefone88]

10 + 1 Wangxian Recs - Theme Sex Work

I am currently mostly in MDZS (Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster od Demonic Cultivation) fandom. And fully and wholeheartily shipping Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian. And since I have collected 2000+ Wangxian bookmarks on AO3 I thought it was high time to pick out some of my favourite fics to Recommend. But since it is hard to pic just a few I decided to separate them into themes.

This theme is fics where sex work such as prostitution, camming, porn or sugar daddies is central to the plot.

But rest assured these are fics with little to non actual WWX/Others or LWJ/Others

Impulse Spending by mondengel

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31971652

Summary:Lan Wangji needs some money. Lan Xichen is happy to provide.

All Old Things are New Again by The Feels Whale (miscellea)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32645620

Summary:Full-time necromancer and part-time cam boy, Wei Wuxian, finds himself unexpectedly homeless. An enthusiastic patron comes to his rescue.Conversely:Immortal Cultivator Lan Wangji has been waiting a long time for his deceased husband to be reincarnated again. In retrospect, he should have anticipated that this is how it would go.

For a Good Time, Call by ScarlettStorm

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26241559

Summary:The picture is of Wei Ying, that much is clear. It’s of a lot more of Wei Ying than Lan Zhan is used to seeing. He supposes that, technically, Wei Ying is dressed. It’s a bare technicality, since one of Wei Ying’s hands has rucked up his black tank top practically to his collarbone, showing a long expanse of abdomen and one nipple. Sweat beads on his sternum, catching the light like jewels. His other hand is--Lan Zhan feels his eyes widen, as though unable to look away from a train wreck--on his hip, one thumb tugging down the waistband of a pair of red briefs. Wei Ying is biting his lower lip and looking directly into the camera, sultry, his eyes dark and inviting. His erection is obvious, outlined against the red of the briefs and framed carefully with the hand on his hip. Lan Zhan’s brain goes wildly, screamingly blank.Or: Lan Zhan accidentally finds his best friend's OnlyFans account and has an ongoing emotional crisis.

just go with the flow (last thing we should do is go slow) by cakeswrites

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474443

Summary:Wei WuXian, on the downside of luck and flat fucking broke, takes a stab in the dark by creating a profile on a website looking for a sugar daddy (at the suggestion of Nie Huaisang, because of fucking course this is his idea of helping). He doesn’t expect much beyond the typical grab-assing of gross old men like he’s read about on the net so many times, so it’s the shock of a lifetime when his profile garners the attention of none other than esteemed philanthropist, Lan WangJi. Wei WuXian is skeptical and hesitant - after all what the actual fuck could he have in common with such a fuddy duddy? - but soon finds himself ensconced in a tryst that will knock the wind out of his lungs as he unveils the dark interests lurking just beneath Lan WangJi’s calm surface. Throw in the high society scandal of being the disowned child of the prestigious Jiang clan publicly on the arm of the second master of Lan, and things are getting quickly out of hand.

Temptation's Mask by threerings

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23490808

Summary:Lan Wangji stumbles upon a gorgeous, enchanting, submissive camboy that quickly becomes something of an obsession. But when they run into one another in public, revealing both their identities, will it lead to more?

there's a song that i still hear faintly by TheGirlWithTheKite

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386201

Summary:Lan Wangji slid open the door, and the usual scent of sandalwood did not greet him. Instead, floral notes came. As he stepped further into his home, he turned towards the incense pit and his breath caught as he saw the person tending to the tea kettle. His hair was pulled back and up onto his head. A large Lan flower headpiece in the center, with pearl tipped pins adorning the sides of the arrangement. His face was mostly kept clear of paints. Pearls hung from his ears, around his neck, and off his wrists. His robes were in a soft Omegan blue with red accents that looked beautiful against his tan skin. But the most beautiful thing was the smile breaking out across his face. “Lan-gege! I did not think you would arrive so soon, or I would have been ready!” Despite the radiant beauty of his face, to where he could have been mistaken for a female Omega, his voice was deep. That of a man. “Lan-er-gege,” Lan Wangji said before he could stop the words from tumbling out his traitorous mouth. “I am the second son.” The Omega blinked and then smiled wildly again. “Alright, Lan-er-gege. You may call this one A-Ying.”

Shared Space by hoarder_of_stories

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31940470

Summary:Lan Wangji hears that Wei Wuxian is going to be evicted from his apartment, and offers him a place to stay. Wei Wuxian has recently started doing online sex work, and worries that this will make things awkward. (He’s right! It does! They’ll figure it out, though.)———“It’s only until I can save up enough and find another apartment,” Wei Ying says apologetically, staring at the pile of boxes in the corner of the cleared-out second bedroom.Lan Wangji grips the reinforced case of his phone hard enough to hurt. He wishes Wei Ying were moving in to stay. He likes the way the messily-packed boxes look in his austere apartment. “Mn,” he says. Don’t worry about it.

Tonal Vibration by Opalsong, Vorvayne_reads (Vorvayne)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25492462

Summary:Long-Haired Twink In Lingerie Does Intense Edging to Bichen’s Latest Dirty Talk Video #ReactionVid #Edging #Selfbondage #Bichen To follow this video you will need: your favourite remote controlled vibrating dildo and a strong ribbon or length of soft rope. OR One too many comments of “tag ur porn” on Lan Wangji’s extremely popular Youtube ASMR channel gets him thinking. Wei Wuxian, a middlingly popular camboy, and long-time fan of Hanguang-jun’s ASMR finds the new smutty dirty talk channel and films his reactions to it.

intrinsic and elemental truths by brawlite

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27311434

Summary:All Wei Ying knows is this: Lan Zhan does cam work. Lan Zhan doesn’t tell him anything else.

Superfan by 74243

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30839138

Summary:“I’m not going to apologize for my job,” Wei Ying said, “so if you want to give me some kind of lecture--”“No,” Lan Zhan said. “You misunderstood. I am...” she paused, as if considering the best way to put it. “I’m a fan.”

how to be a heartbreaker by sweetlolixo

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24401746

Summary:“Lan er gege,” Wei Ying sings out an old nickname, his lips curving up into a well-rehearsed smile. It’s adorable, and it’s pretty, and he knows it mesmerises anyone who lays their eyes on him. He has done it a million times—bewitching and convincing men who need to be convinced.He just doesn’t expect to hear the hitch in Lan Zhan’s breath, too, and feel the taller man’s grasp around his wrist tightening.He fell for it.A sickening thought suddenly enters his brain, and Wei Ying wonders if he should be so cruel.“Do you want to find a private space for us, Lan Zhan?”

[ghostbustermelanieking]

oddly specific memories i have of listening to tma

in honor of the finale, and because i am a sentimental asshole, i bring you this potentially uninteresting and completely pointless list. i'm gonna miss this show a lot

half my original reasoning for listening to the podcast was to motivate me to walk on the treadmill. this did not work. but i did it the first time, when i was going through the trailers and anglerfish, and i remember the room where my dad keeps the treadmill is really dark and the spooky chanting sort of freaked me out

after the treadmill, i ended up listening to the bulk of the first four episodes on the couch, and halfway through i let my oldest cat, winnie, who always lived outside (i know, i was very against actually keeping her outside) in the house. and she jumped up on the couch with me, which she literally never did. (she was very grumpy and not super affectionate.) i had that cat since i was five, and she passed last june, and i really miss her. quarantine kind of gave us the opportunity to hang out with her a lot, because we were home so much. so i'm glad these memories are kind of intersected in my mind. (below: a pic i have from that day.)

my friend sarah relistened along with me the first time around, which was extraordinarily sweet of her, and also led to some interesting interactions. for example: she forgot when it was revealed that sasha was dead, so she accidentally spoiled that for me when i asked when the others would find sasha (and i spent all of season 2 just like. anxiously vibrating over this fact). she also made this post, when i was still in like early first half of season 1, and my immediate thought was "oh no martin is dead." i hadnt even MET martin at this point

back in early quarantine, my mom had this rule that we had to do something new every day (to keep away the depression... ha ha). anyways, all i wanted to do in my free time was sit around and listen to tma (and also watch this show i was into on netflix), so i came up with some lame excuses, one of which was "i'll give myself a pedicure." this led to the memory i ultimately associate with mag 56 (trevor herbert 2) being me sitting out on our roof balcony thing, giving myself a horrendous pedicure

another time, my family wanted to go play tennis, and they brought me along and brought a hammock for me to lay in. there was this excess material from the hammock, and the sun was in my eyes, so i ended up pulling it up and over me to block the sun and creating this ridiculous hammock cocoon thing. one of the episodes i listened to that day? "tucked in."

before i ever started the show, my friend sarah stayed with me while i was pet sitting. i remember when she got there, she'd just listened to 150 and was telling me how freaky it was (she was still trying to get me into the show), and she was like "of course we're staying on a CUL DE SAC." (that was also the weekend she watched us for the first time and was very upset because i slept through the whole thing, which is scary when you're staying somewhere by yourselves.) anyways, i spent the whole show waiting for the scary cul de sac episode

while i was listening to the show for the first time, my step-dad (an artist) started painting an EYE on the door downstairs near my bathroom. a fucking EYE. he didn't finish it til i had finished the show. but still weird!!

i binged like 12 episodes in one day to finish season 4, which is not impressive at all, but it's still my personal record. i just remember staying up late in my dark bedroom (til like.... 11 i'm lame and i go to bed early), listening to like 158 & 159 & 160 and just being knocked on my ass by how good it all was... i was SUPER spoiled by this point, through my own fault, and i knew exactly what was coming, but actually experiencing it was nuts

the second week i listened live was 167, where the public release was delayed by a couple hours by accident. i spent like 20 minutes refreshing spotify, thinking it was broken, before going on tumblr and seeing what the deal was. (and 167 remains one of my favorites of s5 because i remember just going "thank god it was worth the wait.")

this one car ride where sarah and i made some of our friends listen to the first three episodes of the show. it was the middle of the night and we were just like blasting down i40 listening to anglerfish and do not open etc

the night the what the ghost episode publicly dropped was the night after my graduation, and i was sleeping out on the couch in the living room so my grandfather could sleep in a bed. it was super dark, and i am a jumpy person, and i Remember being mildly disgusted with myself because the corny sound effects were actually freaking me out. (i think i mightve actually seen something weird that night, maybe, but that's another story.)

the weekend my parents moved me into college, we couldn't get the cable in the house we were staying in, and we were all sitting around doing nothing, so i jokingly suggested starting tma with them, and they were like ok grace. my step-dad promptly fell asleep and my mom zoned out -- which is probably good, she doesn't like horror and she's super claustrophobic, so it's probably better we never got to do not open

my brief roommate in college talked about how she was into those youtube channels where people just read scary stories, so of course i was like try tma out. so she listened to the first episode on her own, and we were out one night, and she started mag 02 while i went into an ice cream place. she was into it (she kept being like open it, ya pussy) and wanted to keep listening while we went home, and even back in our room. i had only been in town for a couple weeks, and barely knew my way around, but i also didn't want to turn the gps on and be interrupted every five seconds. so i tried to find our way back on my own. it took the entirety of mag 03, and into mag 04, before i did it. so now i will forever associate across the street with all those wrong turns i took in a dark, semi unfamiliar city, trying to get back to our college without a gps

the day of the early drop for 179 was the day i moved back home from college -- a five hour drive by myself. i ended up listening to it on the final stretch of the trip, when i was super tired and it was dark and i knew it'd probably be a crazy episode. just me full blasting down i40, drinking an energy drink (which i never do) through a hole punched in the top, listening to daisy's death

186 early dropped the day after initial u.s. election day (when we still didn't know anything). my mom had set up a "watch party" in the living room with these giant air mattresses, and we all sort of spent the day crowded around the TV watching the numbers. not much of a memory, but i remember sitting on that air mattress and listening to martin's monologue in the midst of that messy week

i had a virtual therapy appointment on the day of 187's early drop, and my dad was home, so i drove to an empty parking lot to do the session in some privacy. i was trying to listen to the episode before the session started, so i ended up listening to the last half sitting in my car, in the pouring rain, just staring at my radio in shock (187 remains one of my favorite s5 episodes)

my friend sarah had just come home for winter break the day 189 dropped, and we decided to listen together, just like driving around in circles drinking coffee and listening and speculating on whether or not that was really martin

i started my relisten right after thanksgiving and was just kind of blowing through fast as i could through the whole of december. i had to go back to college to empty out my dorm, and i went to the beach after, and i ended up listening to mag 11 while just like walking around in circles in the tide pools. the closer it got to christmas, the more christmassy i wanted to keep things, so i would like. listen in the mornings and turn on one of those Netflix fireplaces and get all cozy

my other friend went with me on a mini bagel road trip in december, and he was still trying to get caught up, so we listened to mag 169, 170, and 171 on the drive home. (by this point, i was accustomed enough to s5 and smiting scenes to automatically reach for the volume controls when jude perry and jared hopworth died.)

when i relistened to mag 47, i was sitting with my cat beezus. i paused the episode to write this big long meta, so i was in a different headspace when i pressed play again. jon immediately yelled for sasha and i immediately jumped, and beezus gave me a searing glare and just got up and left

i relistened to piecemeal while i was cooking, which i thought was kind of funny and also disgusting

after christmas, i got into the habit of bringing my cat georgia into my room in the mornings, and she'd crawl under the covers with me while i listened to tma

one story i've always liked to tell from my first listen is how when i first listened to the meat arm grinder episode, my dad asked me to help him cook hamburgers later that day and explained how hamburgers are ground up (to my disgust). i hit meat grinder in my relisten and um. you'll never fucking guess what i made for lunch that day

so i had all these arbitrary rules for myself when i started tma last april, and i've broken like all of them. i started listening to tma while virtually working -- you just pull it up on your computer and it works. (i got the life scared out of me when one of my coworkers started talking over the podcast, wondering who it was that had walked into jon's office and why he wasn't reacting and why i didn't remember it.) i also started listening a lot while driving, which led to several long meta posts i wrote being typed up in a parking lot somewhere

i spent the entirety of 194 anxious-cuddling georgia. (i tried to do this for 198 and then didn't have any anxiety to cuddle her over.) i fully plan on doing this for 200, where i am sure i will need it again

my favorite place to listen to tma probably ended up being the roof room at my mom's, and unless something goes awry, this is where i will listen to the finale. (with georgia, of course.)

this list is super uninteresting, like i said, but here it is. i'm gonna miss this show a lot. i can't wait to return to it, later in life, and make all new listening memories in the process

[cxhnow]

Chloe x Halle Talk Police Brutality and Postponing Their Album

“The way our music has evolved is exactly how we're evolving as young women.”

Four days before the release of their sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, Chloe x Halle addressed their fans to let them know they’re postponing it. In a video posted across their social channels, sisters Chloe, 21, and Halle Bailey, 20, sat shoulder to shoulder at their home in Los Angeles, surrounded by hovering green trees, and tried to sum up their range of emotions after witnessing a global uprising against police brutality.“In honor of all of the lives lost in police brutality, we felt like it was right to postpone, and fully shine our attention and our work on them,” Chloe said, with both a shake and clarity in her voice, in the video to the duo's 2.7 million followers. Halle added, “Music has been used for a long time to bring us joy and healing in difficult times like this.” Just weeks before, George Perry Floyd, a Black man living in Minneapolis, died in police custody while a white officer’s knee was pressed on his neck. As video of his killing spread, and after the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, protests sparked around the world demanding accountability and allyship with the Black Lives Matter movement. On the day Chloe, Halle, and I spoke by phone, Tony McDade, a Black trans man in Tallahassee, Florida, was fatally shot by an officer. In Los Angeles, where the sisters live, protesters strung their bodies together to temporarily shut down the 101 freeway. In Atlanta, where they were born, six police officers were charged after being accused of using excessive force on two Black college students who were tased and pulled out of their cars days earlier.During a time when fans are more critical of how celebrities engage in civil rights activism, Grammy-nominated musicians and actors Chloe and Halle Bailey don’t tiptoe. They urge fans to sign petitions, donate, vote, and recognize Black life, early and often. They celebrate Black joy year-round. This is what their followers have grown to expect from them. Chloe and Halle have always had something to say, and it just so happens to be an important time to speak up.

It’s hard to wrap your head around the unbreakable confidence it takes to be a female pop artist if you aren’t one. Thankfully, Chloe and Halle have each other. For decades, the bond among members of Black singing girl groups has given audiences soulful and fun music. In the '90s, groups like SWV, En Vogue, and Zhané made upbeat R&B music that made you want to dance with your homegirls. Now, contemporary duos like KING, Van Jess, and Ibeyi stand out for their rapturous vocals enveloped in dramatic production. Chloe x Halle add to this legacy by singing, writing, and producing ethereal music that resonates with the girl next door.Yet there are distinct differences in the duo’s vocal style; they don’t try to match each other’s voices to create some sort of uniformity. Rather, they play off of rhythm and song pacing to meld their voices. When they do sing choruses and bridges together, their voices, albeit distinct, create layered, otherworldly melodies.The duo’s sound is often described as angelic, giving leeway for some to describe them as two women without sin. Chloe and Halle want to shatter this idea because it’s not realistic. “For Ungodly Hour we were so excited to just flip the narrative of being the perfect angel and show the other side[s] of us.…," says Halle. "The dark side, the naughty side, the things that happen that you don't see behind the scenes.” 

The majority of the 13 songs on the album are about navigating messy situations — sometimes ones that you have caused. In the midst of trying to be a better friend or romantic partner, you know that you’ll always be imperfect, and decide to love yourself anyway.“I've always been a jazz head," Halle says. “I don't know why, but there's something about the pain and the love and the heartbreak that you can truly feel through the essence of those songs that are sung by Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald.” As of late, Chloe’s “really, really been inspired by '90s music and early 2000s production,” a vibe you can hear and see in “Do It,” the second single off of Ungodly Hour.“We wanted to show our sensual side because we are growing as young women, but we still kept it classy and cute,” Chloe says. “It was just really fun for us to do that. We also wanted to start dancing this era, and just something really simple. And it makes us so happy to see everyone doing that dance on TikTok.”Chloe expands on how the name of the album and title track came about after working with the U.K. duo Disclosure: “We wrote this song [the title track “Ungodly Hour”] with Disclosure, and we had the best time,” she recalls. “I forgot what I was watching, but I heard the phrase ‘ungodly hour’ and wrote it in my notes. [It] kind of stuck out to all of us, and we were like, ‘What can you say with this?’ We all came up with this sentence: ‘Love me at the ungodly hour,’ which means love me when I'm at my worst; love me when I'm not all dolled up and made up. Love me when all my insecurities are out on the table.”’

“We started writing about when you're in a situationship with a guy and the chemistry is there, and you know the love is there and your connection is so deep, but he's not going all in," she continues. "For some reason he doesn't want to commit. He's entertaining other options, and it's just saying, ‘You know what? I love myself enough to walk away and put the brakes on this and to pause this. So when you decide you like yourself, when you decide you need someone, when you don't have to think about it — love me at the ungodly hour.’”Other emotionally complex tracks on the album include “Forgive Me,” a haunting song inspired by Chloe’s own life, after she discovered a guy she was involved with was going back and forth between her and another young woman. “I Wonder What She Thinks of Me” is a song that tells the story of the new love, the one a man gets with after he’s broken up with his ex.The vocalists are eager to make music that grows with them and becomes more layered as they do. “The way our music has evolved is exactly how we're evolving as young women,” Chloe says. The chromelike wings they turn around and show on their album cover, worn with black, latex dresses, are symbolic of their strength and power.When I ask what they hope for in the future, the Bailey sisters seem at ease. Chloe would love to work with BTS: “They're performing — it's top-notch. I'll sit at my computer and watch all of their music videos and all of their performances.”“Awards would be nice," she adds. "Being at the top of these Hot 100 lists would be beautiful and amazing, but as long as I'm growing and I'm a better version of myself tomorrow than I was today, I am content.”

The duo is used to releasing music during times of political duress. Two years ago, when Chloe x Halle were part of our music issue for the release of their debut album The Kids Are Alright, the world was grappling with an immigration travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump, the #MeToo movement, and pressing climate change legislation. That album was an intonation from the sisters to young activists approaching human rights issues head-on: “Do it while you young. Don't let them turn you numb. Don't let them get you strung. Ooh, let me put you on,” they sing on their first album's title song.“I was 15 through 17, and Chloe was 17 through 19 during the making of the album,” Halle says of their debut project. “We were still very young. We were still trying to figure out what we wanted, and I think that showed in the music.”As artists, the singers say their first album was about proving they could play an active, hands-on role in the production of their own music in an industry dominated by men. As two teenage women, it was about showing the world that, although they didn't have all the answers and weren’t sure what was lurking around every corner, they had the guts to find out. At that point in their careers they had been signed to Beyoncé’s Parkwood for five years and had released one other project, the Sugar Symphony EP, in 2016. But aside from opening tour performances and high-profile appearances, they hadn't become household names.

Now, amid a health pandemic and a country in unrest because of its history of white supremacy, Chloe and Halle are navigating being famous and also having a distinct voice. While finding ways to take care of themselves, the sisters are also promoting an album from their home, in the rooms where they first honed their craft as writers, instrumentalists, and producers. “We've kind of gotten back to our roots and started doing what originally got us started," Halle says, "which is doing YouTube covers, interacting on social media, and connecting with our beautiful fans through there.” A lot has changed in their personal lives as well. They're private about the details, but say they’re learning more about guys and finding themselves in relationships and situationships. They’re experiencing more love, heartbreak, and the misguided antics of boys. "We have to take our power back as women and not allow ourselves to be played,” Chloe riffs.In January, the third season of their Freeform show, grown-ish, dropped. In the college-centered comedy, led by Yara Shahidi, Chloe plays Jazz and Halle plays Sky, ambitious twin sisters who attend the fictional state school Cal U. Jazz is balancing being in love with her boyfriend Doug (played by Diggy Simmons) and schoolwork; Sky is focused on being a track star while navigating her interracial relationship. Like the sisters in real life, their characters are witty, impeccably stylish, and proud of their Blackness. But unlike Chloe and Halle, they’re far more overt about their love lives — often kissing in hallways and openly discussing their sex lives — and unfiltered opinions.Before stay-at-home orders went into place, Chloe and Halle had been expanding farther into Hollywood, and pursuing separate film projects.In July 2019, it was announced that Halle is set to play Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid. Many saw Halle’s breakout feature-film role as a huge win for inclusion, but, like clockwork, people on social media found an issue with the revamped iteration of Ariel being played by a Black woman. Halle spoke out on the discourse, telling Variety at the time, “I feel like I’m dreaming, and I’m just grateful. I don’t pay attention to the negativity. I just feel like this role is something bigger than me. It’s going to be beautiful.”

Halle remains grateful, but says of the negative criticism, “We've always learned to just keep our heads up no matter the situation. No matter what anybody has to say about you...just keep pushing.”

Like Halle, Chloe is also expanding her acting chops in feature projects. In December, Chloe wrapped filming for her role in the horror film The Georgetown Project, starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Simpkins. “I'm really protective of my energy, I'm very spiritual, and I love God,” she says about the thriller. “So I was constantly praying when I was on set. But surprisingly, the energy on set was so positive. And I learned so much by being around all of these Oscar-winning actors.”

Humility is a running trait between the sisters. They don’t hide their confidence, but are also God-fearing and incredibly gracious. They’re media-trained and polite, but also find a way to be frank. They say this album is a “whole different world” for them as they reveal more of their personalities, while exploring what it means to be grown women.

“We are learning to embrace who we truly are,” Chloe says about their music evolution. “Our insecurities, our sexuality, owning our power. I'm grateful that we are given a space where we can do that comfortably. And I'm grateful for our parents, because they instilled in us that we need to be strong and independent young women.”

[noona-clock]

Untitled - Part 2

Genre: AU/Fluff

Pairing: Junmyeon x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10  |  Word Count: 3,031

“I’m sorry, what?!” you chuckled in very strong disbelief. There was no way you had heard that correctly.

Because Trish had just called you on your lunch break and told you that Junmyeon had loved you.

“Okay, sorry, bad choice of words,” Trish laughed. “He said he loved your date.”

“But he didn’t even ask for my number! He didn’t say he wanted to see me again! He got all quiet and weird and awkward at the end!”

“Jongdae told me that he just got nervous and panicked!”

...Someone who had over twenty thousand followers on Instagram, someone who regularly filmed himself and uploaded to YouTube got nervous? And panicked? Around you?

“But he also thinks you didn’t like him, so I told him I would find out,” Trish stated.

Oh, dear. So, apparently, your first date had just been a flop all around.

Lovely.

“No, no, I --” but you cut yourself off before you could answer.

I mean... did you like him?

If you forgot about the very end when you thought he had been trying to get rid of you... then...

“I mean, he was really cute. And nice. I don’t know if I would say like just yet, but... I would be willing to give it another shot.”

“Okay, good,” Trish said quickly. “Because I already gave him your number.”

“Trish!”

“Have fun on your second date! Bye!”

And she hung up before you could reply.

You were in the middle of letting out a dismayed sigh when your phone buzzed. You jumped a little because you’d just hung up with Trish; you weren’t expecting a notification!

But also you realized it was time for you to head back upstairs to your home office. Even though you were a writer and you made your own schedule, you found it was much easier to only allot yourself one hour for lunch, just like a regular office job would. It kept you on track and prevented you from procrastinating the rest of the afternoon.

As you approached your staircase, you realized you’d looked at your phone for a reason: a text message had arrived from an unknown number.

...It couldn’t be.

Could it?

Trish had just told you she’d given Junmyeon your number, so it couldn’t possibly be him texting you already.

Right?

But, lo and behold, when you slid the notification and read the message...

You couldn’t help it.

His message made you let out a soft breath of a chuckle, and you immediately started typing back your reply.

If he wasn’t going to wait at least 24 hours to contact you, you weren’t going to wait either. You’d never enjoyed playing those kinds of games, anyway.

You figured you might as well be straightforward. You didn’t have a ton of dating experience, but you did know it was better to be honest from the get-go.

After pressing send and seeing the message had been delivered, you began to make your way upstairs. When you arrived at your second floor, Junmyeon had already replied.

Okay, the fact that he used the word ‘buffoon’ amused you to no end. You hadn’t heard anyone use that word in ages.

Maybe Jongdae was right. Maybe Junmyeon was kind of... lame.

But, like, in a good way.

In a way that you were most definitely attracted to.

But also he had just called you smart and beautiful and funny.

Was it getting warm up here, or was your air conditioner broken?

You headed into your home office, plopping down in your desk chair and curling one leg up underneath you. After sending back a bashful emoji in response to his compliments... you decided to go for the straightforward approach one more time.

Well, okay then! You’d started the day thinking your blind date had not been interested in you at all, and now you were going to end the day with a second date.

Not bad for a Monday.

Of course, that meant you could just barely concentrate on your work for the rest of the day.

...And the rest of the week.

Whoops!

You and Junmyeon didn’t message each other constantly during the days leading up to your date, but you did have a few conversations here and there. You decided where and when to eat, you asked a few of the deeper kind of ‘get to know you’ questions, and Junmyeon even shared his Instagram and YouTube handles with you (you decided not to tell him you’d already looked -- at least at his Instagram).

By the time Friday evening arrived, you’d barely written three pages of your current book... but you’d watched about fifty of Junmyeon’s travel vlogs.

You were somewhat surprised to find he didn’t seem much different in his videos than he did in real life. Granted, you’d only seen him once in real life, and he had apparently been so nervous that he had acted more strangely than he usually did. But he was still cute and sweet and cheesily hilarious as he showed everyone all the fun things you could do at a destination.

Of course, you watched his latest vlogs from France, letting out wistful sighs the whole time because you were so jealous and wanted to visit. And, to be honest, you wouldn’t be opposed to visiting with Junmyeon... he seemed like a pretty fun travel partner, although you probably wouldn’t want to be on camera all the time. You wondered if it was difficult to truly enjoy yourself if you were almost constantly filming. Junmyeon certainly seemed like he had a good time everywhere he went, and he had started his channel almost two years ago, so... apparently, he didn’t mind it all that much!

Junmyeon had suggested a nice -- but not too nice -- restaurant in one of the more hip neighborhoods of the city. It was small and quaint and adorable and used mostly local ingredients and was perfect for Instagram -- no wonder he’d chosen it. You’d never been there, but you’d researched the menu extensively before leaving the house, and everything on it sounded more than delicious.

Just as it had before your first date, your heart was racing as you walked up to the restaurant at 5:58pm, exactly two minutes before your set meeting time.

Unlike your first date, though, Junmyeon was already standing there waiting for you. A smile lit up his face when he saw you approaching, and that racing heart of yours skipped just a few beats.

Okay, seeing him in person after watching his vlogs for the past few days was... kind of weird. And it made you super nervous! It felt like you knew him better than you actually did.

“Hey!” he greeted enthusiastically, lifting up a hand and waving at you.

“Hello,” you replied a bit breathlessly. You could feel a very bashful grin tugging at your lips, and you clutched at the strap of your bag somewhat awkwardly.

“You look great,” he said as he moved to slide his hands in his pockets.

Oh, god, his smile was so adorable. Almost too adorable to handle!

“Thanks,” you chuckled shyly. “So do you.”

Because, of course, he did. You hadn’t admitted it to yourself, but when you’d thought Junmyeon didn’t like you, you’d been a little disappointed because the guy was just so good-looking.

A very shallow thought, yes, but... oh well!

“Are you hungry?” he asked with raised eyebrows, gesturing toward the entrance.

You opened your mouth to tell him that, yes, you were incredibly hungry, but your stomach audibly rumbled before you had the chance.

...Seriously?

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Junmyeon chortled, his smile widening and getting only more adorable.

Your cheeks burned, and you actively avoided his gaze as he moved to open the door for you. Once you stepped inside, the hostess pulled a couple of menus and led the two of you to a small table by a window.

Junmyeon scurried in front of you, pulling out the chair for you and murmuring a “here you go.”

“Oh, thank you,” you said softly as you sat down. Your gaze caught sight of the hostess as you put your bag down, and you saw she was smirking ever so slightly. It was probably far too obvious the two of you were on a date, and you figured that part of working at a restaurant must be fairly amusing.

As soon as Junmyeon took the seat across from you, the hostess handed you both a menu. “Your server will be right with you.”

“Thanks,” Junmyeon replied, shooting her a quick grin before shifting his gaze to the menu.

“This place is so pretty,” you observed as you took in your surroundings. The lighting was just slightly dim, casting a warm light over the rustic tables and chairs and creating a super intimate atmosphere. “Have you been here before?”

“Just once,” he answered, lowering his menu so he could look at you. “I took my mom here when she came to visit -- oh, wow, that sounds kind of weird, taking you to the same place I took my mom. I’m not -- I mean, I just --”

“It’s flattering,” you interrupted with a cheeky grin. “If it’s good enough for your mom, I’m sure it’s amazing.”

Junmyeon let out a visible sigh of relief, and it took everything in you not to giggle out loud. He went back to looking at his menu, but you noticed he rolled his eyes a little at himself.

“What did you order when you came?” you asked, hoping to ease his awkwardness just a little.

“Ah, I got the sushi platter,” he replied. “It was amazing, but I love sushi. If you don’t like it, it probably won’t be that amazing.”

“Oh, no, I love sushi,” you told him, feeling your eyes widen with excitement. “I’ll definitely have to try that.”

“Yeah?” Junmyeon asked with yet another adorable smile. “Would you maybe want to share that and a couple of appetizers?”

“It depends...” you said, holding back a playful smirk. “Which appetizers? And there are right answers.”

“Aha, my first test!” Junmyeon looked far too happy and eager, and he dramatically looked back to his menu, his eyes scanning the appetizer selections intently.

You had to stop yourself from giggling as you watched him, and you knew you needed to remember to thank Trish for making this happen. Not even just the first date, but this one, too. If she hadn’t told you he’d simply been too nervous to make it obvious he liked you, and if she hadn’t given him your phone number, you wouldn’t be here right now.

And Junmyeon wouldn’t look as adorable as he did right now.

“Okay, I got it,” he announced confidently, laying his menu down. “The dumplings and the crab tempura.”

To be honest, you would’ve been fine with any of the appetizers; you’d just wanted to make things entertaining. And you also wanted to be able to boost his ego a little when you told him he had picked the right ones.

“Bingo,” you grinned.

As you saw the server approaching out of the corner of your eye... you knew the real first test was coming up.

Would he let you order your own drink or would he try to order for you? It always irked you when dates tried to order for you, like you weren’t capable of telling someone what you wanted to eat and drink...

“Evening, guys,” a tall, somewhat lanky guy asked with a friendly smile as he stopped by the edge of your table. “What can I get you to drink?”

You glanced over at Junmyeon, and you saw he was giving the go-ahead look, obviously letting you place your drink order first.

Phew. Thank goodness.

You ordered a water and a diet soda, and Junmyeon ordered a soda for himself right after.

“I think we’re ready to order food, as well,” he added.

“All right, go for it,” you server nodded.

“We’re going to share the dumplings and the crab tempura as well as the sushi platter,” he told him, pointing to each on the menu as he said them.

Once the server had jotted everything down and collected the menus, you crossed your arms on top of the table and leaned forward just a bit.

“So,” you said with a soft sigh. “You’re leaving on a trip tomorrow? Where are you going?”

“I’m headed to Guam, actually.”

“Oh, wow!” you exclaimed, raising your eyebrows slightly. “That sounds awesome, I’ve never been there.”

“No, me neither,” he told you, “I’m super excited.”

“What are your plans?”

Junmyeon filled up the time until your server arrived with your drinks, telling you about his schedule and where he was staying and how long the flight was and what the weather was like over there. You listened intently because you were genuinely interested to hear about a place you’d never been before, but also...

His face while he spoke was so cute -- like, on another level cute. It was very clear that traveling was his passion, not just his livelihood.

When the two of you started eating, Junmyeon asked about your writing and what you were working on these days. Even though you insisted your job was not exciting like his was, you still described the plot of the book you were writing. He asked about your writing process, too, and by the time you explained everything it takes to actually get a book published, your plates and glasses were long empty. You had paid the check over half an hour ago, and both of you had simply been sitting at the table, talking.

(The second real test Junmyeon had passed tonight was the fact he hadn’t argued about you paying for the meal.)

“Oh, wow, I guess we should get going,” Junmyeon murmured when he caught a glimpse of his watch.

You grabbed your bag, sliding your chair away from the table and heading out of the restaurant. You felt Junmyeon rest a gentle hand on the small of your back as you weaved through the tables, and the unexpected touch made your heart flutter around in your chest.

“How did you get here?” he asked once you were out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.

Oh, no. The last time you’d told him you’d taken the subway, he had replied very awkwardly and had just left you there in front of the museum.

Would the same thing happen now?

I mean, your second date had gone worlds better than your first, so probably not. But still! Maybe he didn’t trust people who took the subway, and that’s why he left so suddenly!

“I, uh... I took the subway,” you replied with an awkward chuckle, gesturing toward the station over your shoulder.

“Here, let me walk you to the station,” he offered, holding his arm out to usher you down the sidewalk.

Not for the first time that night, you let out a mental phew.

The two of you walked in comfortable silence for about a minute, and then you heard Junmyeon inhale sharply. He was obviously about to say something, so you glanced over at him.

“Listen,” he began a bit hesitantly. “I just want to apologize again for the way our first date ended.”

“Oh, no, it’s --”

“It’s not fine. To me, at least. I’m kind of... really embarrassed.”

You reached over and put a comforting, reassuring hand on his arm, patting it gently. “It’s okay, really. I think you more than made up for it tonight.”

“Yeah?” he asked hopefully, raising his eyebrows over at you.

You nodded, feeling your cheeks warm because of the look he was giving you right now.

“Well, just so we’re clear this time...” Junmyeon cleared his throat softly. “I had a really good time tonight, and I would like to continue talking to you. I would like to go out with you again when I get back.”

And now your cheeks were only getting warmer, but that was no surprise considering what he’d just said to you.

“Me too,” you replied. Your heart was fluttering so violently, that was about all you could manage to say at the moment.

The subway station was just up ahead, so you began to slow your steps. And when you reached the staircase leading down to the train, Junmyeon stopped and turned toward you.

“Have a safe trip,” you requested, nervously clasping your hands down by your stomach.

“Speaking of, what kind of souvenirs do you like?” Junmyeon asked with another one of his adorable smiles.

“Oh, you don’t need to bring me back something,” you assured him with a shake of your head.

“T-shirt? Mug? Magnet? Earrings? Necklace?”

It was obvious he would keep going until you answered his question, so you let out a soft chuckle and said, “Pens. I like pens.”

“Ah, makes sense,” he nodded. “You’re a writer.”

“That I am,” you affirmed with an amused smirk.

“All right, then. One pen for the lovely lady. I’ll let you know when I’m home? Maybe we can meet up again?”

“I’d like that,” you replied. At this point, you were pretty sure your cheeks were going to fall off your face because of both how hot they were and how much you were smiling.

Junmyeon smiled back at you, and he leaned in almost as if he were about to hug -- or kiss? -- you... but then he took a step back. “I’ll.... talk to you later, then,” he said instead.

“Yes, talk to you later,” you grinned.

“Safe trip home,” he said as he continued to take more backward steps away from the station.

“You, too!” you called out, lifting your hand in a wave.

Junmyeon waved back, and you waited until he had turned away before heading down the stairs to the train.

It was crazy how you could leave a second date with a completely different feeling than you had with the first date.

Like, completely.

Apparently, Junmyeon was just as bad on first dates as you were.

Part 3

[thefanficmonster]

Corpse Infested

Corpse Husband & Reader (Gender Neutral)

Warnings: Mentions of dysfunctional family, Family problems, Swearing

Genre: Humor, Comfort, Platonic fluff, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: When your friend disappears for a long time, seemingly having lost interest in what fueled the most passionate fire in their life, you cannot not worry about them. Even if you wanna give them space, you will reach out, you will offer your help. You will tell them they always have you to rely on and talk to.

Requested by Anon. Hi dear! I’m really sorry it’s taken me so long to complete and post your request, but here it finally is! Hope you come across it and if you do I hope you enjoy the read! Love, Vy ❤

For me, it’s never hard to find things to do. I’ve constantly got things on my mind and tasks to tend to, keeping me occupied and my mind focused at all times. I think that comes with living in a home as dysfunctional as this one. I honestly can’t recall a time when my parents got along nor can I think of a time where there was at least one second of peace while the two are both present in the house. It’s always a warzone up there. I’m saying up there because I tend to live out of the basement of their home. I know living in your parents’ basement is considered a peak loser point, or the bottom of the bottom, but you’d have to believe me when I say - I wasn’t always like this. In fact, I only recently came back to this hell-hole and boy do I regret it. I mean, it was a decision forced upon me by circumstances. Trust me, I tried every other option there was. When my dorm was to be closed down and demolished, we were given a notice to start planning our next move about a month early. You can bet I immediately started looking at places but my very tragic and miserable budget didn’t allow such a purchase. No rent was adequate for me and my near-empty wallet so my second option was moving in with my best friend who was also not in the greatest of situations but I thought I’d give that a shot too.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t work out. She lived in a tiny apartment with her boyfriend and his best friend at the time, so four people in one apartment was a nightmare. Still a lesser nightmare than this one but a nightmare nonetheless. Some unwanted and downright traumatizing events chased me out of that place after barely managing to pack my stuff. Therefore, finding myself on the streets again, I had no other option other than the obvious and least liked one: moving back in with my parents.

Making money during my first year of college hasn’t been easy. Working two jobs at once and also streaming video games on the side was what my time was filled with all throughout the first semester but then this damn pandemic started and now ruined everything for me. I had things going for me, I was slowly getting my life together and now it has all fallen apart yet again. The places I worked at closed down due to quarantine and I haven’t been able to steam, not only cause I’d be the victim of my parents’ comments but also cause my terrible home life would be exposed to all my fans and viewers. It’s not like I could cancel out the commotion going on right above my head, it’s a livestream and this house’s walls are cardboard thin meaning all the arguing I hear almost 24/7 will serve as background noise for my streams.

I haven’t reached out to my friends or fans to inform them of this which I feel slightly guilty about but I’m really not looking forward to having to lie to them, just as much as I’m not looking forward to having to tell them the truth so instead I’ve picked silence which is probably either worrying them or driving them insane. Either way, I’ll make my comeback soon.

Well....not very soon by the looks of it...

I have to gather the money, then I have to find a place, then comes the packing, moving out of here, moving into the new place...oh God, there’s so much to it that I don’t even wanna think about. Just that thought that I’ll be inactive for that long makes my stomach turn. Streaming’s where I’ve been channeling all my negative emotions, turning them into something positive and entertaining with the help of my friends.

Speaking of my friends, I should probably put emphasis on how amazing they are. Basically the older siblings I’ve always wished I had. I’m the baby of the group, the eighteen year old freshman in college, powering through life the best they can cause they are constantly getting tripped up by inconvenient occurrences such as this one for example. I tend to have the gang poke fun at me quite frequently - all lighthearted and with good intentions obviously - but they are also the ones to get super defensive if anyone gets the balls to talk shit about me. They’d never allow me to be the victim of any smack talk or online rumors and ‘cancel culture’ or whatever the hell people will come up with to leave others restless and wondering if they did something shady a decade ago. Well, to be fair, I didn’t even know about the concept of social media a decade ago and I’ve never been one to post much but I still have a protection squad in case anyone decides to come after me.

Little do they know the people I need protecting from are the very people that are supposed to protect me - my parents. Luckily, they don’t venture into to basement very often if at all and I have my own exit to the outside world so I don’t have to run into them unless I absolutely have to. The only time I emerge to the surface of the house - aka the ground floor - I do so to leave my share of rent money on the dining table and I usually do it when they aren’t home or when they’re asleep - that happens often with how many bottles they each knock back on the daily.

*sigh*...at least I don’t have to talk to them, right?

Anyhow, remember how I mentioned I always have things to do? Well, right now I’ve tasked myself with rifling through the large boxes containing random stuff I found in one of the basements down here to see if there’s anything I could possibly sell online. For starters, I’d like to hope there aren’t any severed body parts in here because this was one shady-ass basement before I moved in and un-creeped it a bit so I wouldn’t have to become an insomniac due to the paranoia of there being a homeless person down here with me or some paranormal entity. Regardless, old basements tend to be, apart from haunted, also filled with junk no one would find valuable despite it actually being worth something after all. That’s basically what I’m hoping to find at the moment.

As I dig through the contents of the first box, the YouTube playlist I have put on on my phone cuts off causing me to furrow my brows in confusion for a second before my ringtone pierces the silence the lack of music created.

I quickly mute the ringing and take a look at the Caller ID to see a name I never thought would pop up on my screen as an incoming call - Corpse. I, as well as many of our friends, know that he’s not the biggest fan of talking to people on the phone so this is rather surprising. Still, I pick up the call in case it’s not a mistake and an odd chance that it’s somethin urgent cause Lord knows Corpse doesn’t call people willy-nilly. 

Thank God it’s quiet up there at the moment.

“Hello?“ I try my best to cover up the confusion in my voice but I can only assume I didn’t do the best job considering Corpse replies with a slightly awkward chuckle.

“Surprised you, didn’t I?“ He asks, getting my cheeks to redden a bit, “You can’t blame a guy for calling after up and disappearing on him and on the whole internet. Where’ve you been?“

I open my mouth to respond when I hear the sound of glass breaking a shouted curse from upstairs.

Oh for fuck’s sake!

“Um...you know, places?“ I’m aware the answer isn’t only nonsensical but also sounds more like a question, but I can hardly focus on that right now. I’m too buys praying to an entity I don’t fully believe in for the situation above to not escalate.

“Uh, is everything ok over there? Where even are you right now?“ The teasing tone to his voice is all but gone at this point, replaced with deep concern, having obviously heard the commotion that did the exact opposite of what I prayed for - escalated.

“Y-yeah, it’s ok. It’s just another Thursday, you know.“ I attempt a small laugh but it’s blatantly miserable, “I moved back in with my parents when they announced the quarantine so that’s where I’m at now. They’re not the quietest of folks as you can tell so...“

“I FUCKING HATE YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT! I HOPE YOU DIE“

Oh crap, here we go.

“...So I can’t really stream a lot...or at all.“ I mutter, cringing with all my might, “But it’s only temporary! I’ll get back in the saddle as soon as I find another place to stay.“ I don’t dare mention how long that’s gonna take me, it’ll be too disappointing and depressing for the both of us. “So yeah...um...thanks for showing concern but there’s really nothing to worry about. I’m ok, everything’s ok, things are just...a bit off the rails, but I’ll fix em no problem. Like I always do!“ I attempt to sound as cheerful as possible with little success due to the overwhelming anger I feel towards those people upstairs and the gut-wrenching nostalgia for the world of streaming I can no longer be a part of because of them. Actually, I put the blame first on the pandemic and second on my parents - if it wasn’t for Covid I’d probably still be in my dorm!

“Hey...um, I think I know an affordable place where you can take up residence. Only if you want to, of course.“ He sounds hesitant but I easily overlook that as excitement bursts throughout my entire being at the sound if an escape being offered to me just like that. Had I known I’d find the solution to my problem in the very people I spent time avoiding because I was afraid of their pity, sympathy and judgement.

“Oh please, it could be a rat and roach infested shoe box and I’d go running to it. How much is rent?“ I ask through a gasp of hurried laughter that’s a result of my inability to contain said excitement. Listen, I’ve been sitting here in Hellsburg for three months now and haven’t gotten a proper shuteye during that whole period, whatever Corpse is offering has to be better than this misery.

“Rent can be discussed once you move in...“ He trails off, “And it’s not rat nor roach infested but there’s a slight issue...“

“Which is?“ I’m honestly expecting the worst: in a bad neighborhood; faulty wiring with a high chance of being electrocuted; faulty piping with a high chance of flooding; people have died there; things get randomly moved around in the middle of the night etc. However, I don’t voice any of them to avoid getting laughed at for my wild imagination.

“Well, uh, it’s corpse infested.“ He says a little awkwardly, causing me to let out an inaudible sigh.

So my ‘people have died there’ guess was on point, huh?

“People have died there, huh? Well, I can turn a blind eye to that as long as I don’t find their bodies in the closet or meet their spirits at 3AM.“ I attempt to joke, now second-guessing my eagerness to accept the offer.

Corpse bursts out laughing his ass off at my statement, getting me to furrow my eyebrows in confusion and wonder what I said was so funny - it was a poor attempt at a joke, it in no way deserves that sort of reaction, barely a chuckle in my opinion.

“You’re golden, Y/N, I swear.“ He says once he forces the laughter to subside, “I meant corpse infested as in Corpse Husband infested.“ He breaks out in another fit as my brain slowly starts connecting the dots.

Oooohh he’s asking me to go live with him

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait, hold up for a sec. Are you aware of what you’re offering me? I mean, we’ve never met IRL, you barely know me and....and for all you know I could be the serial killer in this situation!“ I have no idea why I’m pushing my luck, don’t ask. I just don’t want him to make a decision he’ll later regret, I guess. “Like, I could kill you in your sleep!“

“Would you?“ He asks confidently, silently stating he already knows the answer.

I roll my eyes, “Of course not! But...” He cuts me off.

“Great, the offer stands on my end. I’m not a noisy nor nosey roommate so I suggest you start packing. If you choose to live in that hell-hole over living with me, I’m sorry but I’ll be hella offended, just so you know.“

Corpse sounds like he’s about to hang up on me, a decision already made, so I hurry to stop him. “Wait! What about rent?”

“Fuck the rent, pack your bags.“ And just like that, despite my efforts, he hangs up on me.

Well...this is a chance of a lifetime that I know refusing would lead me to not only remain stuck here but also put me in the hugest loser bin. There’s also the fear of being Corpse’s burden which I’ll try my best not to be - I mean, I’m a super independent person and Lord knows that if this offer came any other time or from any other person, I would’ve declined asap, no discussion.

But streaming

But sleeping properly

But having a normal life again

Yeah those are most certainly the reasons I get up and go into the closet in search on my emptied suitcase. Time to fill it up again, I guess. This time with a smile on my face and excitement fueling each and every movement of mine.

@maat-the-prescriptive  @simonsbluee  @save-the-sky  @itsminniekat  @hacker-ghost  @bi-andready-tocry  @imtiredaffff  @jazzkaurtheglorious  @hereforbeebo  @fandomgirl17  @chrysanthykios  @maehemscorpyus  @loraleiix  @letsloveimagines  @annshit  @i-cant-choose-a-username-help  @enigmaticmaze  @divine-artemis  @waterlilypat  @idontknowwhatthisisfam  @evi-ka  @classyandfabulous00  @redperson58  @lilysdaydreams @solowheein  @mythicalamphitrite  @axen-gers  @luckygirl144  @nj01  @buddyemily   @the-albino-lioness  @stardream14  @gdhdkfnn  @nomadicgypsyy  @preciousskye  @fluffysuicideunicornsworld  @o-kaelin  @manacharlotte  @awkward-youtube-trash  @lolalee24  @bonky-beerns  @meme-lord-and-savior-sebastian  @strawbrinkofdeath  @teenloves  @tams0527  @browneyespinkhair  @starstruckllamapuppy  @daisychains012  @y0ulooked  @tinytacosuitcaseflap @supernatural-is-my-only-life  @jula-pauline  @melodykitty  @just-that-bi-girl  @crazybutconfidentaf  @lowellshade @alphakees  @bellero  @weallneednamjesus  @starryhanji  @boiled-onionrings  @husherstan  @fockingwhore  @melaningoddessthings  @prettypastelpetals  @haleypearce  @godwhyamiawkward  @y-napotat  @daisychainyoonmin  @little-miss-rebel3  @free-wheelin-bi-sexual  @redmoon261 @darkacademic2  @wiseflamingoqueen  @into-the-end  @namikhai-i  @nastiablr  @thelittleplantlover  @mirktuan  @dont-hyuck @jjk-bunny  @vintagegothlover  @easygoingtheatre  @itsrandombooklover  @miiaivi  @emmybaybee  @befourgolden  @jjk-is-my-shit  @eternalteaaars  @spacebadgerx  @princesslunalight  @acequinn14  @samm48  @misselsbells06 @simp-lykawa  @fo-love  @marishimomura-blog  @therealglenncoco  @cinnamonbun332  @killtherandomness  @sanshinexxxsan  @fee-btheweeb  @press-lay  @cathleenpotgieter16  @jazzydoesstuff  @moonlxghtbay  @forestrain2000  @hyunjinhugs  @blood-of-fandoms  @lovellylies  @ukiyolixx  @simpforhpcharacters  @chrisdylan17  @parkerjisung  @pedernille  @theodonyous  @wineandionysus  @malfoystilinskii05  @morbid-x  @coryisagee  @jessewa26  @scoobydooluver97 @mindintheskies365  @raeanneinwonderland  @indecisive-empanada  @gluttonypalace  @loriane2503  @btsiguess-kpop  @khaoticbunny  @lucidlycactus  @smiithys  @rottenroyalebooks  @kpopgirlbtssvt  @fangirl-tc27  @fr0z3n-1  @notmesimpingfortechno  @shotarosleftpinky  @kunoi-chan  @idk-whats-wrong-with-me  @yikeroonie  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @poetry-and-tea  @ama-do-writing-stuff  @wishbonewolf  @emeraldxhope  @t0xick1tty  @kusuinko  @speakyourselfloveyourself  @sophia902103  @lo-manburg  @classsykittykat  @dmgama  @depressedpuppythatneedscoffee  @btsiguess-kpop  @akaashi-baby  @gun-jong-simp  @geschichtenfee  @yerapotato-wp  @browneyedgirl365  @thysagclub  @sparklycloudnight  @helloatomicshadow  @queentorresstuff @vtte @val-gal  @lucy-bunny17  @aaliyahh0  @katluckybear  @boyleanti  @straybids  @franchesca-791  @cosmicstorm19  @averyisbackinthetrashcan  @aomi-nabi  @xlanawriter  @allensimpsforcorpse

[gulgbtqplus]

EGM candidates

Our EGM is on October 9th, 2020. If you would like to run for any position, please fill out this form https://forms.gle/EMdnNa7Nr7ybah7E6! We will be updating this list as responses come in.

VP Secretary

1) Robyn (they/them)

GULGBTQ+ has been a real lifeline for me (like many others) since I started university and especially now in my 3rd year in the middle of a pandemic. And so I would love to be VP Sec to give back, support and uplift the community that’s had my back and been my safe space for the last few years.

I previously spent some time as Non-Binary officer last year so I already have an insight into the on-goings of the society. And I also attended Trans and Non-Binary coffees nearly every week. As VP Sec I would want to give more attention and accessibility to POC, disabled, and trans students in particular, especially right now.  I would love to continue to work with the SRC and GUSocNet in particular, and reach out to others also. As a home student, I know the importance of having a network and so I would love to keep strengthening the network we have built as a community and expanding it. But of course most importantly working alongside our already amazing exec and committee to put ideas into motion. (And maybe make a zine or two ya know).

I realise the massive responsibility that is being part of the exec but I’m more than willing to rise to that challenge this year. Overall I want everyone to feel like they have a safe space within the society and that this is their community too. It would be a joy to be your VP Sec this year and continue to help carry on the community we have here! :) (And stay safe!)

2) Liam (he/him)

I’d be the right candidate as since I’ve joined I’ve been active in the society whether it be events or discussions going on in the server. This is important as there always has to be an open channel for discussion and chat no matter the topic. Being the VP Secretary is a big undertaking and in that i'd love to be able to chat to you all whether it be in coffees, direct messages, or an anonymous poll every now and again to find out what direction you want the society to move in. The priorities of a society are fluid in a changing world and I believe i'd be the one to step up and give people the voice to help us steer in the right direction

Events Officer

1) Robyn (they/them)

As Events Officer, I would love to continue the work previous folk have done over the last few years in running more accessible and ever creative events. Moreover this would be incredibly important with the on-going Covid situation and I would love to have the challenge of creating new events with the committee and in the society to adapt to the new online environment. To find new ways of fundraising for the society and also making online events just as exciting as in-person events were. I’m a very creative, inventive and adaptable person thanks to my degree, the projects I do outside of university and work I did with charity events back at school. Last year, I spent some time as Non-Binary officer, attending trans & non-binary coffees throughout the year and so I have a decent idea of running events already in the society. I would strive to continue to make events more accessible and welcoming to POC, international and disabled students etc., and also manage the issues that previous years may have had by taking on constructive feedback consistently. In all, I want to create a space and event for everyone by solidifying communication inside the society and outside the society.

Communications and Technology Officer

1) Evelyn (they/them)

I’m a social and economic history student. I have found it really valuable to meet people through GULGBTQ especially the craft group. I really don't know what I'd have been able to do otherwise as I found it quite difficult making friends etc when I first came to Glasgow last year. On that note I would like to contribute to the society... Mostly I'd really like to improve the website e.g. the calendar is in need of a bit of TLC!

2) Liam (he/him)

As a technologically oriented person, I believe I would be able to do the Communications and Technology role justice by setting up regular channels for communication. The website as cute as it may be is dated and could do with a freshen up. This is however easier said than done, after evaluating with everyone what priorities for it we should have the slow process of neatening it can begin. To bring people to any events, the weekly announcements message could be posted on the page along with a link to the Discord server. The page is a representation of what we do as a society yet it lays bare with nought but who is on the committee and manifestos of who would like to be. Be gay do crime, thanks for listening.

Men’s Officer

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4 or 5 years. I came out as transgender in 2016, and since then have openly shared my transition and experiences on a small YouTube channel. I’m tired of the narrative that as a trans man I am not a “real” man, and the barriers faced by transmasculine individuals in accessing things that are typically put down as 'feminine' needs (sanitary bins - I’m looking at you!). I am incredibly keen to push for change in the teaching of healthcare subjects, so that it is less awkward accessing things such as cervical smears and menstrual care, and that healthcare teaching in general stops being focused from a cis-het viewpoint. Whilst that may be one of my personal main focuses, wider campaigns and work around challenging stigmas particularly associated with men’s mental health and sexual health is really important. So I’d want to make sure there is involvement in these too.

2) Liam (he/him)

GULGBT+ has so far done a great job of having everyone feel accepted and have a space to chat but at the moment there isn't a Mens Officer and from anecdotal experience there is a significant lean in the societies demographic to female students at least in terms of activity in the society. My aim as this years Mens Officer would be to make the society a welcoming place for all, whether this is through running events directed towards those who aren't aware of the society or aren't aware of its purpose.

International Officer

1) Alexandra (she/her)

After moving to the UK last year, there were so many new things that I had to learn and there was plenty of confusion and mistakes along the way. Now that I've settled in and I feel comfortable as a resident of Scotland, I would love to have the opportunity to give advice and guidance to those who are still figuring things out, or are just looking for solidarity during a difficult adjustment period. It can be so disorienting and isolating to leave behind your family and friends to move to a new country, and I hope to let some folks know that they're not alone and they can talk to me and all the other wonderful people in GULGBT. This club made a huge difference for me in this regard, and I want to make sure others get that opportunity as well!

2) Pat (they/them)

I've been an international student in different countries over the years and it's had a profound impact on how I can conceptualize and relate my own queer identity. Listening to and supporting each other as international students who are far from home and potentially in a very different situation culturally and linguistically is so important, when it comes to LGBTQIA+ issues as well as the bureaucratic and everyday. I want to make sure that the society is providing a space for international students and potentially make connections with other societies for international students to reach new members and share resources.

First Year Ordinary Member

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4-5years. Having already spent a fair bit of time getting to know many of the LGBT+ freshers’ community at UofG this year, I’d love to be able to act as a linked voice for them to help make sure they still manage to have a great first year’s experience. This certainly wasn’t the year anyone expected, and I’m really keen to try and help make the best of what we can so everyone has a positive start to their course.

Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

1) Ethan (he/him)

Hi, I’m Ethan - a graduate and now first year medical student, who has been involved in student representation as some kind of liberation officer for the past 4-5years. From completely relaunching my previous university’s LGBT+ society, to starting its first separate dedicated group for trans students, and being elected as the first trans rep for students across Scotland… my undergrad was busy! I’m really keen to bring the experiences I’ve had, and lessons I’ve learned, with me to GULGBT+ and get involved through my next 5years studying at UofG. Being a postgrad and/or mature student comes with its own unique challenges and I want to work with the committee, SRC, and wider university to make sure you are well supported in achieving all the things you want to whilst still being able to balance everything you have going on outside of university. Aside from that, something I am keen to work on during my time studying medicine, is making the curricula of healthcare subjects more inclusive of LGBT+ patient scenarios and education.

2) Pat (they/them)

Community is really important to me and has become even more so since the suspension of in-person meetings. When I came to Glasgow last year, I found that the vast majority of people I met through freshers events and societies were a good few years younger than me and it seemed like I was the only postgraduate/mature student around. I would like to continue facilitating a space for postmat students in the society and ensure that people older than the average student will feel welcome and at home in the society.

---

Preferences of those running for multiple positions:

Robyn

1. VP Secretary

2. Events Officer

Ethan

1. Men’s Officer

2. Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

3. First Year Ordinary Member

Pat

1. Postgraduate and Mature Students’ Officer

2. International Officer

Liam

1. VP Secretary

2. Men’s Officer

3. Communications and Technology Officer

[independentartistbuzz]

Good Music, Good News 3.0

We continue to be touched and moved by the depth of sharing and Good News that is coming from the Cyber PR Music camp.  Nd we are not surprised.  Ariel and her team have sent us some of our favorite gems over the years. We are pleased to bring you part 3 of our 4 part series.

Please Follow the Spotify Playlist below to hear all of these amazing tracks.

[HERE]

Thanks to all of the artists who shared their music AND their good news.

Mara Measor | “Love Will Find You”

Is Now An Expectant Mother During A Global Pandemic

I had a miscarriage back in February, right before the pandemic hit. Then was able to get pregnant again a few months later! We had another scare at our first ultrasound and was flagged with a higher risk of our baby having chromosomal abnormalities, but upon further tests the concerns were cleared. And I'm finally getting used to the idea of having a baby boy next year. It's been such a roller coaster, but I'm riding it. :)

John Ellis on behalf of Val Starr & The Blues Rockets | “Whether Blues (2020)”

Experienced Loss, Family Members With COVID & Made Music To Heal

Our daughter-in-law came down with Covid and is still fighting it, and our granddaughter Ariella tested positive as well, but being eight years old, she didn't really exhibit any symptoms.  Lost a couple of friends to pneumonia and strokes, cancer in some other friends, car accidents wracked up a good friend, and then the election happened.  Life rolls on, faith in our Higher Power keeps us sane, and had a lot of time to work on recordings this year. Val Starr, my wife and bandmate, has written a great blues song that we'd like to share with you about all of us pulling it back together again.  Called "Whether Blues" , whether you're right, whether you're wrong, don't mean a thing till we get along"

Tabitha Chapman | “Celebrity Boyfriend”

Got A Publishing Deal

I am immensely grateful to God that despite the hardship, sorrows, pains and restrictions that typified the year 2020, I was able to release 3 singles, and I also got myself a publisher.

Valerie Romanoff | “Pink Skies over Still Water”

Created An Online Music Festival About Mindfulness & Meditation

Without the hustle of preparing and traveling for my live events with the Starlight Orchestra, I stayed home and developed a way to share the energy and messages in my Healing Music albums. I came up with an online show called "Groove Into Bliss: Musical Meditation & More" where my guests and I talked about the benefits of relaxing and releasing stress, the power of music to open the channels to well-being, and offered guided meditations.  We spoke of tips and tools for positive thinking, manifesting the life we desire, and the many ways we can use music to boost our joy! Through the online show I made many connections and was invited to be a guest on many high-vibe broadcasts and events, and I was invited to wrote a chapter in an upcoming book titled “The Wellness Universe Guide To Complete Self-Care: 25 Tools For Happiness.”

Apostrophe Music | “Keep the Hope Alive!”

Released Home-Recorded Music During The Pandemic

I released whilst we were in the heart of the lockdown during the month of April. As India went into a historic lockdown with over 1 Billion people being asked to stay indoors, the air of anxiousness and uncertainty brought out this song called Keep The Hope Alive! The only feeling we all had at that moment in time. 

I felt like it was a message that needed to get out there and once we recorded it out of my home studio (no access to studios because of the curfew lockdown situation) I posted the song on to Youtube and Facebook with a video and subsequently after that we did an official audio release in July. So this is the story about this song I released as the whole world went into lockdown.

Len Seligman

Turned The Tragedy of Losing His Mother Into Beautiful Songwriting

Like a lot of songwriters, I was moved to write a song about COVID-19. While neither my health nor economic situation suffered, the pandemic made it so that I could only visit my mother a couple of times in the last 6 months of her life, despite her living just 20 minutes away. She died in September at the age of 97.

When I looked inside to see what story I wanted to tell about the pandemic, I quickly knew that it would be about the beautiful ways people have shown up for one another. Yes, there's been enormous suffering, but it's also been extraordinary to see the tremendous upwelling of compassion that the suffering has brought out. That is what inspired this song.

Steve Andrews | “Where Does All The Plastic Go?”

Had A Successful Release That Led To Idea for Ocean Aid Concerts

My song “Where Does All The Plastic Go?” is getting included on playlists on Spotify, getting great reviews, and opening doors for me in unexpected places. This is wonderful because I'm thinking big and also came up with the idea for Ocean Aid Concerts to raise awareness of threats to the oceans. I am leading the way with songs on the subject of plastic pollution and my song could be included in any concerts that happen.

Richard Strange | “Christmas of Hope”

Used Hopeful Christmas Anthem To Fundraise for Charity

We (Musicians Together & Sweet Charity Choir) released Christmas of Hope, a single produced in aid of Help Musicians UK, last Friday December. We are donating the proceeds to Help Musicians UK, a charity that you may be aware of, specifically to their 3rd hardship fund. Some quotes from the charity's CEO, James Ainscough: “Music has been a unifying force that’s supported and entertained us all this year, more than ever before.” "But for tens of thousands of music creators across the UK the impact of lockdown and social distancing on their ability to earn, to create and to connect, has been disastrous for their finances and mental health.” "This 99-year-old charity has been in the privileged position of financially supporting over 21,000 musicians this year and we couldn’t have done it without the generous help of music lovers across the length and breadth of the country.”

Jody Whitesides | “A Perfect Man”

Created Deeper Relationships With Fans

I have been changing my approach to music this year. In doing so it increased the response I got from people on social media and via email. The most powerful thing was having a female fan tell me that the song “A Perfect Man” had brought her to tears. The reason, she could feel the love of the person singing to his counterpart and how he didn’t want to be put on a pedestal to fail the love of his life. Which is the main theme of the song. It was great to hear it hit home with a fan.

Andrea Kremer (The Aeon Wanderers) | “Don’t Say Anything”

Formed A Musical Duo via Facebook Groups

After 20 years promoting other people's music for a living, I partnered with a multi-instrumentalist/songwriter that I met in a Facebook music group, and we formed a musical duo called The Aeon Wanderers. My bandmate lives in Scotland and I live in Boston, so even before COVID-19, we were working remotely, collaborating on lyrics in a Google doc and doing videos "together" using green screens. We started by recording covers, but soon we were working on originals, and in August 2020 we released our debut album, "Fictional Histories." Being on the artist side of the equation rather than the marketing side has been eye-opening and fun!

Barbara J. | “Merry Christmas, Darling”

Has A Holiday Release Airing on World Indie Network Radio

My Christmas cover single, "Merry Christmas, Darling," has been selected to air on World Indie Network Radio's (WNIR) Holiday Spectacular Radio Special! This song, a holiday classic from The Carpenters, also serves as the pre-release to my Carpenters cover album, which I plan to release early next year.

Raphaela Gilla | “Michael’s Mantra”

Guided A Troubled Fan Through Meditation And Towards Healing

One of my fans wrote me a message that she was not feeling well and asked me if I could help her. I felt that the really needed help and gave my phone number immediately. In our conversation she told me that it was hard for her to breathe, and she felt a lot of fear. I could hear her breathing heavily.

I guided her into a meditation – I guided her to consider her breathing as an angel's feather. This opened her breath tracks to the earth and to the sky. I noticed how she slowly began to relax and began to breathe deeper. She cried out of relief, thanked me and asked me about my fee. I told her that this is a gift from me to her. It was a very touching moment.

We stayed in contact. Since then, she grows and feels better.

John Mueller | “I’m Doing Fine”

Brought Joy With His Latest Release

My fave moment of this challenging year was when a complete stranger wrote to me that they heard my new track "I'm doing fine" and how it was uplifting to them and brought some joy. I appreciated they took the time to notify me and to bring joy with my music is my ultimate goal. Getting this release out there and the entire album "You are Here" its included on during this year made a positive note for 2020.  

Nia Ocean | “This Christmas”

Channeled A Christmas Song To Help Us All Shine Our Inner Light

About two weeks ago, I saw an insta story from a dear friend of mine which literally “woke me up”! I got so inspired that the next day I had written a whole song, a Christmas song that is. The song is called “This Christmas'' and I made it really to remind us that WE make Christmas what it is.. our spirit, our love, our cheer, it’s OUR light that gives it all meaning. So even though 2020 has been a tough year, we can still choose how to end it. It’s easy to expect and allow for Christmas 2020 not be special because it will be so different due to quarantine, limited travel and lost loved ones, but this song is a ray of light in these times of darkness and difficulty, reminding us of what matters most and that we all have a light within us to shine and share with our ourselves , our dearest ones, and the world...especially this Holiday Season.

Stay tuned… There’s more Good News Coming!

[lokisasylum]

If you’re a Taehyung stan, please read this

Okay, at first i wasn’t gonna talk about this because its kind of a touchy subject, a little controversial and honestly I don’t feel like giving clout to this person. So for the sake of this post I will not even mention her name.

(No, no, wait. Don’t get any wrong ideas. This has nothing to do with Shipping Wars or the whole Tae-hates-Jimin-agenda blahblahblah.)

I don’t know if you guys have noticed that a fairly new youtuber arose with this weird AF channel, messy as hell videos and honestly people in general were ignoring her, almost little to no views and zero comments.

But what drew my attention was that in the past days (5-6 days or so), she suddenly starts mentioning Taehyung in her videos (title and all) along with L*e J*nghyun of CN//Blue. And the first thing that came to my mind was:

“Oh my god... not this shit again with the whole B*rning S*n issue and people still trying to connect Tae into this whole mess.”

Because we KNOW how hard people have been trying to create scandals out of nothing for BTS. So, of course I stupidly clicked on it to see what it was all about.

AND HO-BOY ....WAS THIS ALOT TO UNPACK...

So this girl, who is NOT Korean (could be American, but I’m not sure), Is dead-ass alleging to have not only met Le* J*nghyun through tumblr was it? (and maybe later on they kept chatting elsewhere) But that she somehow got into an ONLINE RELATIONSHIP with him for a span of 4 years. A relationship that, according to her, became toxic real quick. Making her a victim of (online) abuse by this Idol.

Now, you might be wondering: “Okay, but what the fuck does this have to do with Taehyung?”

So get this.

This girl?? Is not only claiming to have been in an ONLINE relationship with a Korean Idol that she says she met on tumblr or whatever. But she is also stating that Taehyung is a direct witness to this “relationship”. Because according to her, she and Tae have been “really close friends/best friends (ONLINE)” since 2015 and they have this “special bond/relationship” where Taehyung supposively used to call her on her cellphone frequently.

BUT NOT ONLY THAT!

That Taehyung himself tried to stop or warn her about getting into that relationship with J*nghyun. That he “called her the same day that she accepted” and now “regrets not waiting a few minutes longer” to for his call, otherwise “she wouldn’t have accepted.”

OH MAN HOLYSHIT, BATMAN!

I know!

This all sounds like some deep ass AO3/Wattpad level, Idol/fem!reader, scenario type of shit.

But wait! THERE’S MORE.

This girl is reaching SO FAR that she made up this WHOLE ASS analysis/theory stating the following:

- That Taehyung has been living with a lot of regrets since then. (Funny she would say this, when there’s a post she wrote on her twitter saying that she didn’t recognize Taehyung UNTIL RECENTLY since she “met him in 2015 [ONLINE] before he became famous” as if BTS debuted in 2015 instead of 2013. So her story is full of contradictions all over)

- That whenever he sings, he is singing TO HER.

- That all of his solo songs (Stigma, Singularity, 4 O’ Clock, Scenery and even Winter Bear) were ALL written by him, ABOUT HER and what she went through and the guilt he “still feels” for not being able “to save her”.  So this “makes her happy” to know that “Tae still thinks about her all the time.” (When WE, as ARMY, KNOW that Namjoon is the one who wrote Stigma based on Demian, 4 O’ Clock which is a song Tae secretly dedicated to JIMIN, and Singularity. Whereas Tae wrote and composed the last two [Though he did needed help from Namjoon for Winter Bear since its 100% in english and he didn’t know if he had worded it correctly].)

That the reason WHY Taehyung refuses to speak of the issue is because Le* J*nghyun’s company is secretly blackmailing/threatening BTS/Bighit to keep quiet (But how could she possibly know this when she doesn’t speak Korean, has never been to Korea and doesn’t seem to have any online friends in the kpop fandom. Much less K-armys unless she’s following or buying info from sasaengs and EVEN THEN--).

But if you think that’s bad/borderline delulu???

The worse part is that she has both a Twitter and Instagram where she writes these things EVERY SINGLE DAY, AT EVERY HOUR. Talks about Taehyung ALOT and in a very creepy, almost stalker-ish matter (also, she ONLY speaks of Taehyung, she never mentions the other members by name, only BTS as a whole/group). And uses every single trending topic/hashtag she can find for the day to bring attention to her posts.

If the trending topic is TrumpsImpeachment? She’s using that.

MentalHealthAwareness? Yep, been there done that.

sexscandal and politics? She’s using those too.

EmpoweringHumanity? BreastCancerAwareness? She’s using it.

A new Anime trending?? She’s on it.

OH AND DID I MENTIONED THAT SHE IS TAGGING BTS AND TAEHYUNG TOO ON THESE POSTS?

NO?

WELL SHE IS.

*EXHALE....*

I... don’t know what this girl is trying to prove, I dunno if she’s just a regular clout chaser/anti spreading rumors/overly obsessed fan cause she is even calling herself “one of many Armys”. And I honestly found it so offensive from her part to be calling herself an ARMY so freely, while at the same time saying that she was gonna expose Taehyung and get him dragged into this scandal one way or another if he, himself, doesn’t "come clean” on his own.

And the reason why I won’t mention her name here is because this is slowly starting to blow up and a lot of people (from different fandoms and even NON-Kpop fans) have started calling her out on her bullshit while also reporting her accounts for slander. I can give you the name through private message, but not here.

So if you guys ever come across something like this or this person and it seems shady as hell. Don’t give the person any attention, just do the typical thing we do: Ignore, Report, Block, and Walk Away (If you can send a screenshot to K-armys to have them report it to Bighit, do so as well).

Don’t engage, because its very clear that this girl is hungry for attention and I’ve seen her use the “mental illness” and “race card” (since she is also a po*c) way too many times in her defense. So for all we know, she could be just trying to provoke the fandom/s and cause a reaction or get a few to attack her directly so that she can come around and drag everyone like it has happened before. 

==================

UPDATE: After receiving much backlash & hostility for her behavior, the girl had no choice but to come clean with her claims. And admitted that she did in fact made everything up from the beginning and in addition also admitted to having a serious (personal/emotional/mental) problem which made her believe (in her mind) that she really did have this relationship with an Idol whom she has never met.

[1-800-seo]

— 1-800-SEO'𝗌 ᯽ '𝖶𝗋𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝖯𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇' —

— 𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀: 𝗃𝖺𝖾𝗁𝗒𝗎𝗇 𝗑 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

— 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝗋𝖾: 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗅𝗎𝖿𝖿/𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝖼𝗋𝖺𝖼𝗄𝗁𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗒

— 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽𝗌: 1810

— 𝗌𝗎𝗆𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗒: 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗮𝗲𝗵𝘆𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘃𝗹𝗼𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂

— 𝗐𝖺𝗋𝗇𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌: 𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝗈𝖿 𝖺𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗁𝗈𝗅/𝗋𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝖴 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖴𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝖺𝗅 𝗈𝗋 𝖦 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖦𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅

The familiar ping sound of a new email in your inbox reassures you that you *are* an actual administrative assistant that works in an office and you most likely shouldn’t be ogling the hot guy in the adjacent office building. Considering it’s your first week, it’s not exactly how you’d like to be caught not doing your work if you had to be. You’d started that week as administrative assistant to the executive manager of New Calibre Telecommunications, or NCT for short. He was a slim nice-enough young man named Lee Taeyong; you were in charge of writing or transcribing his letters/emails, making travel arrangements, computing and preparing expense reports and creating department budgets. Just two weeks earlier when you’d said you’d got the job to your brother he’d called you an over-glorified and well endowed personal assistant, and you guess you could say he was right.

This all brought you back to the email that was now sitting in your inbox, one minute old and unopened. Its sender was a Jung Jaehyun, a name you’d never heard before but supposed it was nothing new since you, your self, were new.

You opened it and inside was not the general corporate jargon you expected. Upon your screen was a blank video thumbnail and it’s relative play button, a url link, and a message below it. It read: “For Jeffery who loses everything and who must remember to back up his hard drive.” It also featured a few casual excessive emojis that your computer only registered as a small question mark box, because of course it didn’t register emojis.

You pondered clicking on the play button but decided against it, instead clicking on the url link that was oh so tempting. Upon clicking on it you were swiftly redirected to YouTube.com, you rolled your eyes expecting a rick roll, when in actuality what seemed to be a vlog appeared. The title was “Daily Jaehyun: Post-hotel-hopping Wind Down ⛩✨” Curiosity overtook you and you clicked play, you knew you shouldn’t be doing this in work hours, however a few seconds couldn’t hurt. A smooth and tanned skinned young man lay on a bed in the middle of a hotel room. He had on shorts that were probably too short and no top. His torso was obscured by the blanket but you could still make out his taut muscles underneath the fabric. His hair looks soft and gently rests on his face as he lies horizontally. Next cut is to a glass cup of pink coloured tea and a spoon swirling around the edges. He cuts to him taking a gentle sip and then he pushes some hair out of his dark amber eyes. You hear footsteps in your peripheral and X off the tab. Just in time before the new intern, a somehow harsh looking baby faced girl named Yeji, places a pile of papers on your desk and leaves. A close call.

And so your day goes on like normal... except you can’t get those damn 25 seconds of a certain video out of your head. His gentle face remains seared into your brain. The brand of soft visuals and taut muscles. The contrast of his sharp jawline and the pink tea. The colour matched his gently blushed cheeks, the rose flush that dusted over his honey skin.

And so you went home and couldn’t get him out of your head. You lay awake seeing the image of him sprawled across the hotel king bed, replaying it and relaying it to yourself. You resolved you had to do something, whether that be finish the video or speak to this Jaehyun.

And so, the next day you set about that task. You opened up that email for the second time, this time hovering over the sender’s information. It revealed to you many interesting things. A few of those being that the sender, Jung Jaehyun, sent it from a pc on floor 9, and that pc is located in office 34G, which is part of managerial.

Well now you know this information all you had to do was go visit that specific office in the hopes of a findings. A lingering question stuck out, who is Jeffery? And why was he sending his vlog to him? Of course you have to inform the sender that he sent it to the the wrong person and you definitely didn’t just email him this because you definitely don’t want to see his face, *definitely not*.

You leave your desk and make your way to the lift. Stepping inside, you squish yourself as far back to the wall as possible as fellow office workers pile in. It’s all a bit too close for comfort when you are saved by the bell, or in this case the automated voice saying “Floor 9, Doors Opening.” Everyone removes themselves from the lift and you straighten out your work outfit. Thank goodness you ironed your pencil skirt this morning, never knew you’d be meeting a YouTuber; and possibly a hot one at that.

You make your way to office 34G, dodging past colleagues in the marketing sector. You spot a guy in the closest desk you know as the infamous ‘Ten’, chugging a brown liquid in a vodka bottle you *really* hope is coffee and nothing else.

You approach the needed door and knock firmly twice. Your palms start to sweat and you rub it off on your skirt. A smooth voice calls “come in” and you make your way through the door. A familiar pair of eyes meet your gaze and you begin to wonder if this was a good idea after all. After a small nervous cough you begin, “Sorry to interrupt, I’m ____ ____ from floor 8, I’m administrative assistant to Mr Lee. I received an email yesterday around 2pm and it was rather,” you look at the floor and shuffle your feet, “private. I believe it was for someone else. I came here to let you know.” You attempt to make eye contact but his gaze is a tad intense. You try your best to keep your eyes trained on his brown irises and not the expensive looking navy suit he’s wearing. “Ahh my greatest apologies, I’m sorry for any inconvenience. May I ask what was contained in the email? I send out a lot so I’m not too sure as to what it was regarding.” He lets out a low chuckle.

“Umm it contained a video and a short message, if that’s any help.” You try not to let on you watched it, let alone read it, but the blush creeping up your face probably says too much.

The man you identify as Jaehyun let’s out a startled cough and sits bolt upright in his chair. “It wasn’t anything, umm” he runs a hand through his hair, “obscene.. was it?”

A gasp escapes your lips, a breath you must of been holding in that you didn’t realise you were. “Oh no, not at all! You drank some tea in it and that’s all I saw. I’m greatly sorry for invading your privacy, sir. Please forgive me I’ll be leaving now.” You turn to face the door. What had he been sending? That’s none of your business... however you wouldn’t mind maybe getting to see those muscles again... you clear you’re thinking and press down the door handle.

“**Stop**, before you leave, you at least need to let me explain, and make it up to you some how, I’m the one who has put you in this situation, I’m the one who needs to make amends.” A commanding voice calls out. By the time you turn around he’s stood up and has one hand in a pocket and one on his desk. He looks to be in thought, or troubled.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds or looks I swear.” When he says this he doesn’t sound so composed like he has the rest of the time. “Please, have a seat so I can fix this mess.”

“I don’t know, sir, I have already caused enough interruption.” You mumble out.

“Nonsense, have a seat and all will become clear; I’ll ease your thoughts for you as I’m sure you’re curious.” You cautiously take a seat and look up into his hazelnut eyes.

“Basically, I have a YouTube channel as you might have guessed. I’ve tried to keep it a secret for as long as possible since I don’t really want it getting out. It’d only be fuel for my cheeky tormentors who go by Doyoung and Ten. When I finalise a video, I send it to my work computer since it has more space and let it post on there. However I must’ve accidentally sent it through to yours instead. I believe you’re from floor 8, right? Well, I believe I typed in the computer location code wrong and it sent it to yours instead. I should of typed F9 instead of F8 like I must’ve done. By the way, none of my videos are dodgy on there, it’s just travel vlogs and general ramblings so don’t be too worried.” He closes with a nervous laugh and scratch of the temple. He turns to look at you in the eye, most likely expecting an answer.

“Ahh I see now. Well that clears up a hell of a lot. I do have one question though, if you don’t mind me asking...” you twist a piece of hair round your index finger. “No, go ahead, you already know my big secret what more could you ask anyway.” He lets out a soft laugh and his eyes crinkle.

“Ok. So, not to be rude but, who’s Jeffery?” You pose the question that has boggled you for around 24 hours. You’re met with laughter and an embarrassed face palm. “Well... I can tell you that it is just a silly nickname.” He uncovers his face and you see a sickly sweet smile. “A long time friend of mine, Johnny, jokingly named me that during our college days in the frat houses. It was a wild time.” He relates whilst reminiscing, more than slightly embarrassed.

“Oh ok, that clears up even more, sooo that makes sense, the email was addressed to yourself. I got it now.” You let out a giggle, “You’ve finally solved the puzzle! Can I give you a prize?” He unexpectedly says.

“A prize? What do you mean?“

“Well I’ve put you through a bit too much and I want to make it up to you. How about I take you for lunch this afternoon? Would that be ok?” He gently says, hands clasped.

“I’d love that. As long as I get to hear more crazy stories.”

“Of course, the tales are complimentary, the company is what you pay for.” He jokes, a smile creeping up his face.

[richincolor]

Interview with Kat Cho

Wicked Fox, Kat Cho’s debut, was released yesterday and of course I had to pre-order it. How was a person expected to wait after reading this summary?

“Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He’s drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.”

Kat Cho was kind enough to answer a few questions about her book. After learning more, you’ll likely want to grab a copy too.

Nine-tailed foxes seem incredibly fascinating. How and when did you first hear stories about the gumiho?

I first heard about the gumiho in Korean folktales as a child. But I was reintroduced to them as an adult. At this point I was writing again and I knew immediately I wanted to write a book based on the myth. She is so often cast as an evil being that I wanted to know why. As I delved more into research on the fox spirit I found a few very old stories that represented the fox spirit as an ambivalent, even helpful, being. I wondered why she became cast as so evil. And I love the exploration of moral ambiguity that must exist for someone who must kill to survive (a la vampires and werewolves). I loved the idea of doing that exploration with Korean source materials!

What do you love most about the Jihoon and Miyoung?

I love that they see a kinship in each other even though they’re two people who react very differently to hardship. I also love that they took a while to realize that they love each other (or I hope that’s how it comes across). For me, it takes me a bit to warm up to someone enough to trust them with my heart, so I wanted that for my characters too, especially because they’ve been hurt before by people they loved. I also wanted to show that often times the healthiest love is the kind that grows out of genuine friendship and affection. In some ways the story is about how Miyoung learns how to create meaningful friendships and one of those friendships just happens to grow into love.

The setting of Wicked Fox is modern day Seoul. What are your favorite things about the city and did any of them make it into the book?

The Food! And yes, it definitely did. I guess I also really enjoy the fact that a lot of the history exists within the streets of Seoul, in the way the buildings are built to what has been kept preserved over the centuries. The modernization of Seoul is newer than we might expect seeing how sleek and high tech so much of the city is. But when my mother was a little girl they still used ondol (coal/wood heating) in the floors. Some people still use it today. And I love that this dichotomy exists within the city.

I’m always excited when books begun during NaNo go on to publication. How has NaNoWriMo been helpful to you and what keeps bringing you back over the years?

It helps to motivate me! I love that writers from all over the world participate. It’s really inspiring to see others hitting their goals. So even if I don’t always hit my word count goal, I still feel like I’m not in this alone and it helps me feel motivation to keep going even when I hit some road blocks along the way.

After completing your first draft, how long did it take before you felt ready to look for an agent and what was that process like?

It took over a year for me to feel the manuscript was ready. It was a slow drafting and revision process because this book had so much importance to me. It held so much of the things I loved: my Korean heritage, influences from K-dramas, Korean mythology. I wanted to do justice to it all. So I took my time on making sure it came out the way I wanted. But even then I definitely needed guidance and counsel from someone in the industry. So when I signed with my agent, I was really happy that she was so enthusiastic to revise it with me. The book became so much better with her help and I was very confident with it when we went on submission to editors. Don’t get me wrong, the submission process was still super stressful, but it would have been ten times worse if I didn’t feel so good about the book I’d worked on with my agent.

Can you tell us about something that has surprised you during the publishing process?

How many different people get involved! There are so many departments in a publishing house and they all have a part in getting the final book out there. Of course, we all know about the editor and even the publicist. But there are copy editors, designers, artists, digital publicity, and assistants at all level who make sure the communication is always there and that all the moving parts are working in tandem. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done sometimes if I didn’t have my editor’s assistant checking in with me and giving me information about different parts of the process. Also things as simple as knowing where to show up and when is really important in keeping an author’s anxiety in check and that stuff often comes from an assistant. There are a lot of unsung heroes in publishing, but they’re all very important to the process.

In reviews and blurbs, Wicked Fox is being described as a book for fans of Korean dramas. It’s almost impossible to choose a favorite, but can you share a few of the K-dramas that have made you cry and swoon?

Hahaha, get ready for THE LIST: W: Two Worlds, Gaksital, School 2013, Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, Goblin, Oh My Ghostess, Pinocchio, Healer, Coffee Prince, My Love From Another Star, Goong, Descendants of the Sun

I have recently discovered the podcast Write or Die and am enjoying the episodes. What inspired you to start your vlog and have a podcast along with everything else you are doing?

I started the vlog because I knew I was going to travel a bit both for the book and for personal reasons and I really wanted to record those times. But as I got more into vlogging I also realized I loved the idea of sharing my writing and publishing journey as well. So it became a hybrid vlog and authortube channel. For the podcast, that was first started by my best friend Claribel Ortega (author of Ghost Squad). She and I were having a conversation once when I was on sub and I was saying it felt like I’d never sell my book (fun fact: time has different meaning when you’re on submission to editors/publishing houses, it moves super slow and 1 day feels like 100). Claribel said that the submission journey always took much longer than we think from the outside and if she interviewed a bunch of authors she was sure their submission stories would be as harrowing (if not more) than my own. She was right and when I was a guest in one of the earlier episodes we found out that we loved talking about industry stuff and writing so she invited me to be co-host and the rest is history!

Kat Cho is a YA author who loves to incorporate her Korean heritage in her writing, especially if it involves describing food. She loves anything that encourages nerding out, including reading, K-dramas, K-pop and anime. She’s the author of Wicked Fox (Putnam/Penguin, 2019).

You can find Kat online at:

Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Write or Die Podcast, KatChoWrites.com