#already not a fan of the premium stuff but whatever | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dervampireprince · 11 months ago

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hi! have you ever thought/considered posting your stuff on spotify/tiktok? /gen

thank you and have a nice day/night/whatever

for a while i posted small clips to tiktok however i soon stopped doing that. i would want my dervampireprince tiktok to be 18+ only and it's just too hard to curate that on tiktok, and the comments i was getting on my tiktoks and youtube shorts are the most vile comments i've ever received and so i don't want to go back to posting there. i don't understand why anyone would want my audios on tiktok anyway? you wouldn't be able to listen to them with your phone screen off. and if i posted them on tiktok more and they did get nice attention it's only a matter of time before people ignore my no-resposting rule. i've seen too many other asmrists/va's work reposted on spotify with no credit, often instead credited the official voice actor for the character a fan is doing an impression off instead of the fan.

as for spotify, i have no idea how the rules with copyright work there but i presume any fanworks wouldn't be allowed (character's name have trademarks on them and i wouldn't be able to use them, i've noticed that gibi asmr on spotify only posts her original asmr over there and none of her fandom roleplays). so the only thing i'd be able to put on spotify would be my original audios. and i have no idea how spotify works for posting. it's not a social media, even though some people seem to think it is and just respost any song or audio that isn't there's as a podcast (i have already had my audios stolen and reposted as podcasts to spotify multiple times). but again it's not a social media where anyone can just upload anything, think of it more akin to netflix than youtube, where only official stuff is meant to be posted. it's not just as simple as uploading my audios as an album, splitting them up into tracks of 5 minutes because...

it costs money to put your music (or in this case asmr) onto spotify. i would have to pay a distributor to do it and i'm not okay with doing that, i'm not okay with giving the license to my audios to any other person of company for them to potentially do things with it i don't want. yes there's services that most use who you just pay a yearly fee too, but it's less about the money and more about me wanting to retain all rights including distribution rights to my audios. and i wouldn't even make back on royalties what it would cost to distribute them.

now that's for uploading them as music, as albums. the reason why there's too many people reposting others asmr onto spotify as podcasts is you don't have to pay to make a podcast. so the only way i'd be able to upload my asmr onto spotify would be as a podcast. currently there is no way to monetise spotify podcasts (listener support donation are only available in the usa and ads are in closed beta). and then people would be able to listen to them offline through spotify premium instead of having to pay me a little money on patreon. am i fully against uploading my original audios on spotify as a podcast? no. but i don't see any benefit of it. and i don't mean no benefits for me (though i can't make any money off it and i don't see how it could increase my audience when people go searching for asmr on youtube far more than spotify), i mean i don't understand the benefit for you. anything spotify could give you, soundgasm already does and it does it without having to pay for a premium subscription to avoid ads.

i don't see the need for you guys to have my audios on spotify. if you want to listen to them with your phone screen off you can listen to them on soundgasm for free with no ads (you can turn off your phone screen and it will still keep playing the audio), or pay £5 to be able to download ALL of them off patreon and then you could cancel and never pay for another month and you still have all your downloads on your pc/phone. i don't think £5 for downloads you get to keep forever of 200+ audios is too much to ask. or £10 if you want access to all my n-sfw audios.

if anyone has any reasons they think putting my audios on spotify as a podcast would be a good idea or would be helpful for either myself or my listeners i would be open to hearing them. i just really don't understand the point of managing another website of uploads and keeping on top of that when whatever i think you could want from spotify is already available on either soundgasm or patreon.

#faq #the vampire answers

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digi-tama-in-your-pocket · 3 months ago

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Last V-pet update of 2024 and a summary of the year

I woke up to find Frankenthumb on my Tamagotchi connection, and Ultforce Veedramon or whatever it's called on my Wind Guardian color. Nothing to report with Santa Clautchi. And I've already put my Angel away, but i'll definitely be putting the Santa Clautchi away and the Wind Guardians away. I think i'm finally coming around on the Connection, I still think it was overhyped by the community but i'm liking it more now. So i'm debating on if I want to keep running it into the new year.

So how was my 2024 in V-Pets?

Well, I took up the hobby of making beaded charm straps to my v-pets with their own charms dangling from the ends, there was some trial and error, first the beads I used were too big before I settled on these smaller beads, and I took up polymer clay hoping to make my own charms but it never quite worked out. So I just bought charms from craft stores, e-bay, and etsy. I love customizing things, so adding charms really helped spice up the hobby for me.

My collection grew quite a bit. It was a really Tamagotchi heavy year. I got a ton of vintage Tamas, the Connection remakes, a Smart, not to mention all the merchandise from Cakeworthy, a complete Cybies Collection, and I managed to watch all of the available english Tamagotchi anime. I didn't slack on Digimon or Odd pets, but it was pretty small in comparison to Tamagotchi stuff this year.

We haven't seen much from Giga Pets this year I think, just the bunnies and the Worlds Smallest. I haven't got the worlds Smallest, not sure if i'm interested. But they did share some really nice fan art I drew in April on their official social media feeds. I poured my heart and soul into it. Sadly Giga Pets isn't very popular so the only comment on it is asking an unrelated question about one of the products. Oh well, I mostly drew it for me. I made a fair bit of progress in Digimon World, more than ever before, I just need to get interested in the game again to keep making progress.

Not the most in-depth summary, but it was another great year for the hobby for me.

It's not all sunshine and rainbows though. It looks like support for Digimon v-pets in the west is officially ending. Digimon ver 20th stock is drying up on Amazon, and every new product they've announced has been premium bandai exclusive. They've also been collaborations with existing brands, which doesn't fill me with confidence. Im very worried for the future of Digimon virtual pets, but i'm going to hope for the best.

#v-pet log #tamagotchi #digimon #giga pets #gigapets

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leastdatablebracket · 2 years ago

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ROUND 3, MATCH 5

Propaganda under the cut!

Drake Walker

Propaganda

Jobless complainer with a codependent relationship with his best friend (Liam) who bitches about monarchy and nobility constantly, even though he benefits from staying at the royal castle for free. I think it might be mentioned once... in book 3 or the sequels that he actually does some work around the place... seems like something that the writers threw in to make Drake seem less like a useless freeloader. Rude as fuck for literal no reason, obsessed with being a man, he's chock full of toxic masculinity. Won't ice skate, hates the opera, won't drink wine or "girly" drinks, sees fancy food and I feel like he complains just for the hell of it. Just a general pill of a human to be around. Grown ass man (mid to late 20s) who hates the royal life so much, he can just leave! Get a job! Move out! He doesn't have to 24/7 be on call to emotionally support Liam! He can move into the city and call or visit his BFF whenever Liam is having a crisis or needs support or advice or whatever. Utterly ridiculous situation to have Drake there constantly hating on everything. Obsessed with manly stuff only like whiskey and eating BBQ or sloppy joes or some shit like that. Complained in the third book about a pink wedding cake (or decorations?), which caused Drake Walker stans to actually get angry (although he would literally do this, he 100% would bitch about pink) and the writers took out that line. I guess dissing on pink things was just Too Much finally for Drake Walker fans. You have to pay diamonds (the premium currency) to see the soft side of this RO, which is so hilarious to me... why would I ever pay diamonds to spend MORE time with this guy??? I don't need to see Drake's "soft for only one person" scenes, I need to punt him into the sun. Drake Walker fans used to be or still are insane so god help you if you put this horrible man in the bracket. Choices has really fallen though, they lost 90% of their tumblrinas when they introduced their subscription model, so you might avoid the DW discourse.

His vibes are rancid

The propaganda here is perfect, but to add a bit for Drake, at one point they rewrote some of the original game, and do you know how they tried to make Drake more likable? They made the main LI of the game, normally a sweetie, a jerk fuck boi. Like the only way the creators of Drake could think to make him more likable was to just make the other characters worse.

Vace

Propaganda

well you (the pollrunner) already know cause hes ur icon but i will say that at least he is meant to suck as a romantic partner with only one ending (two if you include astronaut) having him and sol (the player character) staying together on the other end tho there's three ways to start dating him one is to make him go to therapy n then start dating after he is no longer abusing his girlfriend (either breaking them up by convincing him to dump nemmie or convincing nemmie that hes the scumbag he is n she deserves better) another is to be his side piece and the third way is getting him so mad he drags sol off by the neck to beat the shit out of them with this event ending with either him n sol sleeping together (also causing him and nemmie to break up) sol getting the living daylights beat out of them (to the point they got knocked out n needed medical care) with the implicit threat of vace will do this again if they dont stay out of his way and sol avoiding both of those things but being so shaken by the experience that theyre struggling to breath until theyre outside and fully away from him which gives a very different undertone to hooking up with him in this event

#round 3

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yourqueenb · 2 years ago

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Out of all the mystery books on Choices, were there any that you found particularly fun and/or well written? I'm not sure if it's just me bcs it might be a matter of taste which is super subjective, but something about the way PB does mystery stuff feels kinda...lackluster? I'm not sure what exactly it is about their mystery books (like TUH and MAH), but while they're not necessarily terrible they usually don't feel super satisfying

It’s def not just you. Idk how many times I’ve talked about this, but PB can’t do mystery. I believe that 100%. Maybe in the very beginning they could because I remember enjoying Most Wanted. But I haven’t played it in forever. And all of their mystery books after that have been lackluster as you said. (And I do mean all of them, including VoS and CoP, which are fan favorites).

I think one of the issues is that they always feel the need to make us investigate whatever noble pursuit the person had along with their death. And they really play up the fact that the victim was basically a saint and loved by all. And it’s just like 9 times out of 10, I do not care. It gets annoying and old. One of the other issues is that they also always do the collectibles for clues and stuff. And it’s usually either that you need almost all of them to understand whodunnit, how, and why (see: TUH) or pretty much none of them because they’re actually just extra pieces of information that aren’t all that interesting (see: MaH). Of course the former is worse because paywalling plot/other important story aspects is flat out ridiculous. But the latter annoys me too because premium content should add something to the story, not just little factoids.

I think writing a mystery book is a balancing act. And we all know PB already struggles with balance outside of that. They don’t know how to set the stage, build intrigue, and stop throwing in red herrings to let the story come to a conclusion at the right time. Or if they do manage to build intrigue, they still can’t craft a proper twist that feels shocking but makes sense/is believable at the same time. So that’s why VoS had a good setting/all that suspense throughout, but fell flat in the end. And that’s also why MaH never really found it’s footing as a mystery to begin with imo.

Didn’t intend to write an essay, so last issue I’ll speak on is the fact that PB also rarely writes good villains/a good dynamic between the MC and the villain. I think what their mystery books are missing is the feeling that whatever we’re investigating is a puzzle that needs to be solved. And one of the ways they could create that is by writing both villains/antagonists and MCs who are actually intelligent and fun to go up against/play as! It’s usually that the villain is 10 steps ahead. And not because he/she is particularly crafty but because they dumb MC down to drag the story out for 16-20 chapters. CoP is an exception because MC was actually pretty smart, but we had the dumbass murderer and her even dumber minion. So I truly believe that if we had characters who didn’t just bumble their way through the story and were legitimately formidable adversaries to each other, we would have a lot more fun maneuvering around the obstacles/red herrings/etc. thrown at us and solving the mystery OR being surprised by the twist/resolution but able to pick up the breadcrumbs and connect the dots after it’s revealed

#choices #choices stories you play #playchoices #choices app #choices ask #of course they don’t *have* to do the whole ‘the villain is a mastermind’ thing to write a good mystery #Glass Onion is a prime example of that #but (excluding MW bc I don’t really remember what happened in that book at all) PB has never done an intelligent villain/MC combo—#— in their mystery books imo #so I just think that would be a lot of fun #but even if they never decided to do that there are still a number of things they could do differently #to make their mysteries not so mediocre #but I’ve been on my soapbox for long enough 😭#I’ll just say that if it isn’t already clear I do not think any of PB’s recent mysteries are particularly well written anon #there are certain aspects that made them fun — namely the LIs and/or MCs #but as you said the mystery parts themselves aren’t terrible they just aren’t satisfying either #and I’ll also say again that MaH specifically should’ve been like a 5-7 chapter slasher that’s it

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arixordragc · 5 months ago

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Speaking as someone who is, and always has been, in favour of UB, I definitely have Some Thoughts about this.

1. I'm in favour of UB largely because I have long since lost any attachment to Magic's own "original universe". I don't care about Spiderman, or Dr Who, or...Mr Assassinscreed. But I also don't care about Chandra, or Jace, or Kellan, so what does it matter? But I'm aware enough to know that if I did care about Magic's lore, I would be incredibly pissed at being told it's getting cut back so that we can get even more Marvel slop - as if that's not already everywhere.

2. Although I don't care for Magic's lore, you know what I do like? Fantasy. Especially good, traditional high fantasy, the sort that first drew me into the game way back in 2000. The sort that, despite your recent insistence otherwise, really was foundational to the game back then. Even if I haven't enjoyed the story and characters for many years now, I could still enjoy the rich fantasy aesthetic that I love so much. But with Magic's own aesthetic leaning more and more sci-fi and few of the announced or released UB releases fitting that aesthetic, the look and feel of the game is still drifting away from what I once enjoyed so much about it.

3. You lied. I know when people say that it's usually hyperbole for "Circumstances changed to make the thing you once said years ago no longer true", but no, in this case you straight up lied. There is absolutely no way that this decision was made in the, what, five days since you last told someone that UB was "additive", that it wasn't taking away anything, only giving other fans something they like as well? Well now it literally is taking stuff away, and you had to have known about this for months if not years. Feels like statements about it being purely additive were nothing more than a hollow attempt to temporarily pacify complainers in the hopes that they'd have grown to accept it by the time this announcement arrived.

4. It's just too much. Not only 50% UB, but six set releases a year for standard alone, along with whatever supplemental premium releases you're adding to the mix. It looked like you were really taking steps to address the issue of product fatigue, but then you go and completely reverse it with this.

5. You already know how people feel, because you once felt the same way. You're allowed to change your mind, of course, but that doesn't mean everyone else has. If you genuinely don't understand why people don't like this, just remember how you felt 15 years ago and realise that some people still feel that way.

6. In a way, it speaks to a general lack of faith in Magic's own IP. Good franchises don't need to shoehorn POPULAR THING to grow and maintain a fanbase, the fans will come and stay based on the franchise's own merits. Occasional crossovers and nods can be fun, but again - 50% is a lot.

7. There are people out there who love Magic's creative. I'm not one of them, but I know they're there, and there are a lot of them. You must know this too, or you wouldn't have a whole creative team employed. And you've just told these people you're cutting back on the thing you've spent thirty years carefully creating and getting them attached to, in exchange for yet more of stuff that already permeates so much of pop culture. If people like Marvel, they can get Marvel in SO many other places. If they like Bloomburrow, or the Phyrexians, or Jace, there is only one place to go for them. And you're shrinking that space, significantly, in order to push more of the stuff that's already everywhere.

If you don't immediately understand why people would be hostile to that, then nothing that anyone says can help.

I’ve always felt the core role of this blog has been one of information. We make a lot of choices in design, and I try to use my various communications, including Blogatog, to walk the players through what we were thinking when we made key decisions.

The challenge with this approach is that it’s very logic-focused. It uses intellectual justifications to explain actions. But the problems I’m often responding to are emotional in origin. I have a good friend who’s a psychologist. He refers to this (using the words of author Robyn Gobbel) as an owl brain solution to a watchdog brain problem.

When someone is hurting, hearing about why the thing that is causing them pain is the result of intellectual decisions falls flat. That’s what has been causing some tension lately here on Blogatog.

It’s clear that for some Question Marks changes over the last few years represent the loss of something key to what makes Magic special to them. To them, the game is losing its heart.

While I can’t necessarily do anything about that, I want to better understand what you’re going through. So I’m using this post to ask players who are concerned with the recent changes to help me understand their feelings. Let me hear your stories about how your lives have been affected by these changes.

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whiskerinthestars · 4 months ago

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Chapter 3: Ignition Point

Urban Ascent

Rummaging through this footstool—one of those cheap, pressed-wood boxes covered in rough cloth, hollow with a removable lid for storage—I’m searching for that Dollar Store box of “emergency candles” I bought three years ago. In this narrow one-bedroom apartment, with less square footage than a department store bathroom, storage is a premium. So, I’ve become an expert at cramming stuff into every available nook and cranny. Apartment living, right? It usually makes things hard to find, though, since I’m not exactly working with the Dewey Decimal system here.

Ah, here we go—half a candle, rolling around loose among the random debris. Not sure why it’s the last one left—or why it’s snapped in half—but I guess it’ll do. After dragging the coffee table back in front of the couch, I sit down and set the flat side of the candle on one of those “thirsty stone” coasters. Not sure they’re as “thirsty” as advertised, though—seems like the water just pools on top before evaporating. But whatever.

So, how exactly do I go about creating fire? I guess the name of the game here would be to project this mana outside of my body, right? If those cultivation cycles taught me anything, it’s that the further I have to push it out, the harder it gets. Maybe I’ll channel the energy just beyond the tip of my finger, and if I hold it close enough to the candle—it’ll heat up enough to combust. Well, no time like the present, right?

I stretch out my finger until it’s practically touching the top of the candle and begin to concentrate. Just like before with the bottle cap, I imagine forcing the mana to the tip of my finger, but this time, visualize it exiting in the form of heat. As expected, the flow drops by half as it reaches my elbow and halves again at my fingertip—there’s definitely a pattern here. And as if to prove my point, by the time the energy exits my finger, it feels like the flow has halved yet again.

If the energy I sent to my arm was one-hundred “units” of mana—Uhh, I guess I’ll call it Mana Points, or MP for short. I know, I know—but what do you expect from a chronic RPG fan? Anyway, fifty MP makes it to my elbow, twenty-five to my finger, and a dismal twelve-point-five MP actually exits my fingertip. That’s practically a one-to-ten ratio, and I’m guessing there are even more losses when it converts to heat.

Note to self: the novels were right again. Internal arts are a lot easier than external arts, huh? No wonder all the beginner cultivators in those stories focus on the basics of speed and strength. Creating a flame out of nothing probably isn’t going to happen, good thing I decided to just focus on heat then right? The candle has to retain some of the heat I pass to it, right? If I can just feed it heat faster than it loses it, eventually it should get warm enough to combust on its own.

Huh—I guess this still counts as superhuman, but my power being worse than a Zippo lighter is still disappointing. Whatever—everyone has to start somewhere. Is the candle even getting warm? I gently poke it, half-expecting it to be warm, but... I’m not sure I’m feeling much. Maybe it’s warmer—but—not by a significant amount. Sure wish I had a temperature gun right about now. Not actually leave the house and go buy one—wish—but still.

Wait, how dumb can I be? It’s not like I only have one finger, right? I’m already sending mana down my whole arm—so why limit myself? Actually, who says I even need to use my fingers? It only halves once it reaches my fingers. I could just release the energy directly from my palm. That would be more efficient—50 MP straight from my hand—but it wouldn’t necessarily produce more energy.

But, it’s a trade-off: 100 MP for 50 output from my hand at 50% efficiency, or 500 MP—100 for each finger—for 125 output, but at a miserable 25% efficiency.

But now the question is—is it worth being two and a half times hotter at the cost of five times the mana? In this case, I’m not sure it is. I don’t need a big blast of energy all at once; I just need to build it up faster than it can be lost. Why burn twice the gas to go the same distance if time isn't a factor? I think slow and steady wins the race here. To begin with, I don’t have much “gas” in the first place, so it’s not exactly the time to be wasteful.

Reaching back out to the candle, I sort of cup my hand around it, almost as if I’m shielding an imaginary flame from the wind. There’s something incredibly primal about tending to fire. Just like my countless ancestors, I slowly tend to this soon to be flame, this source of heat—my light in the darkness. Okay, that’s a bit dramatic—I do have a lamp in the corner of my room—but sometimes it’s important to set the mood.

That extra twenty-five percent is really making a difference this time—I can practically feel the heat building up on the candle. Reassured, I double my concentration, focusing with all my might. I try to heighten my imagination to its fullest potential. What is heat? And what am I trying to do with it? Warmth isn’t enough—I’m not seeking comfort. I’m seeking power! The power to burn, the power to destroy. Hotter—it has to get even hotter. Like the combustion of flammable gas exposed to a spark, like the fusion of hydrogen fueling the sun. The kind of heat that grows into an unwavering inferno—a recursive function feeding into itself, a destructive cycle. Fire begets fire. One flame becomes two. Two becomes three. And from three—comes the destruction of everything!

The true nature of Yang itself—destruction, light, heat, and fire—the embodiment of man’s willpower, his drive to impose order, and his capacity to break down whatever stands before him. Yang is relentless, consuming everything in its path, forging power from chaos. As I focus on this intent, I feel the fire within me flicker and grow. This is no longer just about lighting a candle—it’s about tapping into something far deeper, a force that connects me to the very fabric of existence.

My palm feels as though it could ignite the very air. My breath quickens as I imagine the power coursing through my veins—acting as an extension of the universe’s boundless energy, an inferno ready to be unleashed. And then, without thinking, I do it. I scream at the candle before me.

“Burn!”

To my shock, it does.

Perhaps with a bit too much power—it’s hot! I quickly yank my hand back as I feel the flame lick against my palm. Not burned, but definitely startled, I lose track of time, staring blankly at the flame as it dances atop the candle. My eyes are wider than they’ve ever been—both literally and metaphorically. It feels as though, for the first time, I’ve caught a glimpse of truth. Even though my heart pounds in my chest, a strange serenity washes over me, the kind of stillness that only comes in moments of profound enlightenment.

I know, even now, that this single moment will be etched deeply into my mind. Though I’m living it right now, it already feels like something I’ll look back on with nostalgia and wonder. It’s the oddest sensation of disembodiment—like an even more intense sense of déjà vu. Past, present, and future seem to blur together, distilling into this singular experience. In that moment, I almost forget who I am—my entire sense of self nearly dissolves into the flame.

“Who am I?” The words escape my lips, though I don’t even remember saying them—it doesn’t feel like I’m in my own body anymore. I can practically see myself sitting there, as if my soul has left me, hovering just above, watching from a distance.

Suddenly, a sense of urgency floods through me. I realize this is a pivotal moment—a crossroads. If I don’t answer now, I’ll lose everything. It’s as if the very heavens themselves are holding me at gunpoint, demanding an answer to this one question.

I steel myself, feeling a surge of resolve—perhaps the strongest I’ve ever felt. The words gather at the tip of my tongue, ready to spill out as I—

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redphienix · 11 months ago

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Look, I'm glad some nintendo fans are happy about the prospect of a new console but like.

It's been like 15 years since consoles had any relevancy what-so-ever as their unique purposes have been stripped away and replaced with less and less value and more and more paid services.

Nintendo, a company I hate for their corporate bull shit, anti-preservation practices, and their fucking audacity in regard to short stocking things to seem "trendy" which just supports scalpers, and charging a premium for roms, and destroying as many community driven projects as possible and being fucking shitty as hell and this post ain't about that.

Anyways, Nintendo got away with earning a place in the modern console market by being "different". An identity that they have put less and less meaningful effort into as they keep glancing over at the greedy practices the other consoles do and going "Oooooh, good idea" and now you're paying double internet fees for the privilege of using the internet you already pay for, now that's Nintendo Power!

Unless the next console is Wii levels of innovation (it won't be) or at the very least gamecube levels of consumer pricing (they won't) there couldn't be less reason for me to care about a switch 2.

They are gonna slap an extra tier of graphics on it so it matches a base PS4* and they're probably having internal meetings RIGHT NOW asking each other "Do you think we can get away with wiping the e-shop again?"

I couldn't be less interested. I rather enjoyed my switch and I only played like 4 games on it reasonably, that is MORE than I expected, but there is no reason for ANY new console, just straight up.

The only hardware news I'd be excited to hear would be something like "Nintendo decides to release every single game for all their old consoles all at once on a 50 buck emulation box" or "Nintendo decides to begin small production of replacement parts for all their old hardware, as well as reproduction carts/disks of their classics"

You know, ridiculous stuff they wouldn't do because it's an investment that would lower their perceived rarity value and would meaningfully support their legacy instead of their preference of ripping tiny pieces off their legacy and going "Hey! See this? Want it!? Get Switch Online :)" while they burn down the house of anyone trying desperately to support their legacy titles.

Anyways, hope it's sick or whatever. They never fixed joycon drift did they?

*= Now the argument isn't that nintendo NEEDS stronger processing power for graphics exactly. I think the game industry push for graphics is so fucking pointless and wasteful and horrible for its own health that it drives me batty! BUT I AM emphasizing that if Nintendo wants to keep up with the modern trend (a trend that sucks and has sucked ever since HD was considered not HD enough) then they WILL half ass it to a degree that makes it pointless.

#my posts

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clover-watch · 2 years ago

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guess i'm back...

#overwatch 2 #already not a fan of the premium stuff but whatever

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idontblushsrry · 4 years ago

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Got the Aux hcs||Jujutsu Kaisen

A/N: These hcs are prolly gonna vary from general artists/genres to general chaos towards the end :D also gonna do some for the kyoto school...eventually. Didn’t incl. Yuuta because he’s not here yet but tbh he prolly listens to MCR or smthng let’s be real. I apologize for Maki’s being so short, I know her fanbase is starving for content and I’m sorry I was unable to provide it this time.

Word Count: 1123

Plot Synopsis: Some dumb music taste headcanons for the tokyo school. ((I only included characters that have appeared in the anime like fully, onscreen w lines not just mentioned, and I also only did the main ppl from the Tokyo school so that’s why there’s no Yuta or Nanami.))

Itadori

First and foremost

The man is a barb (Nicki Minaj fans) and a hottie (Megan thee stallion fans)

No I don’t take criticism

Aside from that, Yuji listens to pop and some rap (mostly megan thee stallion)

His pop taste is also not limited by generation, he definitely listens to artists like Anri and Miki Matsubara

Other artists he listens to are probably; Rihanna, Post Malone(he just does, idk why), Doja Cat, Brittany Spears, Shakira, Kesha, Lizzo, Ariana Grande

Fushiguro

Fushiguro unironically listened to wake me up inside in middle school, again, I do not take criticism

He also listens to artists like Mother Mother

Fushiguro is kinda embarrassed of his music tastes though so he’ll lie about what he’s listening to

“Fushiguro what are you listening to?”

*cue panicked Fushiguro struggling to put his phone away* “N-Nothing why”

Also this man listens to Lady Gaga and probably some Panic at the Disco

But for sure panic at the disco

Also he makes playlist named after his friends and what not

Now one might say aww, how sweet

Which, yes it is, but also, Fushiguro refuses to let anyone know his true music tastes so adaptation is necessary for survival

If Fushiguro has the aux, it’s a good day, he knows everyone’s music tastes and probably already has a playlist tailored specifically to everyone’s taste, there’s never a single song that everyone hates

Kugisaki

She listens to Avril Lavigne and Kesha

Her and Yuuji have pretty similar music tastes (himbo/lesbian solidarity)

She also listens to songs like Jenny(by the studio killers) and Youth(Troye Sivan) and just stares at the ceiling pining

Her playlist reflects this

From pop to pining and then back again

Also she hasn’t stopped streaming Driver’s License(Olivia Rodrigo), her and Yuuji listen to it and every time she just falls out (when it first came out, she got so invested in the drama of it all)

Genres she listens to are rock ballads, pop, and any playlist with words including but not limited to ‘wlw’, ‘girls are pretty’, ‘how to not have a crush on Maki-senpai’

Artists she listens to incl. Kali Uchis (stumbled upon Dead To Me and hasn’t ben the same since), Queen, pop girlies like Brittany Spears, and Troye Sivan

Maki

Maki mainly listens to workout music or indie/chill beats

Like her playlists are lowkey dry

And she refuses to use spotify premium, even though Gojo’s paying fo it

I can also see her listening to an occasional orchestral/instrumental piece like Ushiwakamaru

Inumaki also kind of put her onto listening to video game soundtracks, she probably listens to the soundtracks of games like Persona tbh

She does allow herself the small pleasure of listening to Hozier from time to time

Inumaki

Inumaki is a menace

His music taste, while there are bangers, mainly consists of music found in memes/tiktoks/etc.

((He also listens to video game music, but more of the Mario Kart sort))

I’m thinking like Vengaboys, Aqua, etc.

He does listen to other artists like Junko Ohashi and Rina Sawayama on occasion, the majority of his music taste exists to make him laugh as he thinks of all the random jokes made to the songs

Whenever, Inumaki has the aux cord, everyone in the car just mentally prepares themselves

With Inumaki, they feel bad telling him to stop because he’s really sweet and nice, and, maybe he just doesn’t know

But he does know, he just doesn’t care

Panda

Panda listens to 80/90s rap

Tbh he’s got the best music taste out of everyone sorry not sorry

He mainly listened to whatever Yaga put on growing up so that’s why his taste is older than he is

Artists for Panda include Biggie, Pac, Outkast, etc.

Principal Yaga is black I just know Panda grew up listening to Ice Cube and the like while he was training I just knowwww

Panda’s playlist choices though usually aren’t too egregious

While Panda’s no Fushiguro in terms of adaptability, who’s really gonna be opposed to listening to bangers from the 90′s

Gojo

Gojo’s taste in music exists solely to torture Fushiguro

Now does he necessarily like any of these songs he plays? No

But does his desire to antagonize out rule his dislike? Yesyesyesyesyes

Gojo, unlike Inumaki, does not get the same sympathy

When Gojo syncs up his Bluetooth (bcus let’s be real that man does not have a car with a physical aux cord) everyone in the car just lets out the loudest groan

Just for that he’s gonna make 3 extra unnecessary turns

In actuality though, when he’s not bothering his students or Nanami, I imagine Gojo is a fan of 90′s rap as well as classical music

I think he also likes rock too, he discovered it back in his student days and it never really went away

He also definitely has a playlist called something like ‘my main character music’

General car shenanigans(imagine this as a class trip to some place that’s about 2 hours away)

Gojo and Inumaki team up to antagonize everyone

Like they will play 10 hour loops of caramelldansen with absolutely ZERO remorse

Fushiguro and Kugisaki slowly just go insane during the course of this

Although, Kugisaki will be a lot more vocal about it, cussing up a storm by the 4th loop.

This will then lead to Gojo and Inumaki being overthrown; Gojo being replaced with Ichiji at the wheel and Inumaki on thin fuckin ice

When the inevitable silence becomes too much to handle, Yuuji will tentatively offer to play his music

It’s all good, California Girls and Toxic instant hits

Yujji’s reign will end in one of two ways; 1) eventually, a Megan Thee Stallion song comes on a Gojo’s like “whoa kid, that’s not very family friendly” or 2)The sound of Kugisaki, Gojo, and Itadori singing poorly on purpose pushes Maki to take over out of frustration

Either way Maki takes over and they all kinda doze off because of how chill and soothing Maki’s music is

This ends when Ichiji gets a little too relaxed by the music and almost swerves, causing them to abruptly cut the music off

Panda just puts his paws up non-defensively like, “Don’t ask me, my music isn’t family-friendly either

At which point they all look to Fushiguro to save the day

And he does... until his phone battery dies

(Bonus) Sukuna

Sukuna probably tunes out all the miscellaneous stuff that Yuuji listens to

But one day he was minding his business till he heard Yuuji playing a Nicki Minaj song

Now, whenever Yuuji falls asleep, Sukuna will pop out every once in a while just to turn on Nicki.

#no i do not take criticism #i will also not be arguing this lmaoo #feel free to add on if u want just tag me so I can see it #jujutsu kaisen imagines #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #itadori yuji headcanons #itadori yuuji headcanons #itadori headcanons #fushiguro headcanons #fushiguro megumi headcanons #kugisaki headcanons #maki headcanons #maki zenin headcanons #inumaki haedcanons #gojo satoru headcanons #gojo headcanons #idontblushsrry

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putschki1969 · 4 years ago

Text

Hikaru’s Fan Club App “Helixes” Tutorial

I would like to motivate everyone to join Hikaru’s Official Fan Club “Helixes”. Hikaru’s team worked very hard to find a platform that would work for everyone regardless of their nationality. While the app is not ideal for foreign users, it comes with a ton of advantages. Overall, Hikaru’s app solution is much more user-friendly than Keiko’s, Wakana’s or YK’s fan club. Here’s a quick list of PROs and CONs

➕ All you need is a smartphone, a Japanese app store account and a credit card ➕ No Japanese address required | No proxy service required ➕ Digital content is easily accessible anywhere/anytime ➕ Digital content is quick/cheap to create so naturally Hikaru and her team will be able to provide a lot of stuff ➕ English translations/subs are partially available ➕ The option to choose between a monthly/annual plan is convenient if you want to save money ➖ You need to get a Japanese app store ID/account to download the app ➖ The content is only available in the app ➖ A bit tricky to navigate if you don’t know any Japanese

I am not gonna lie, getting my membership set up yesterday was a pain in the ass but that was mostly my own fault since I let myself get too distracted with a bunch of unnecessary details. Now that I have experimented a bit I can confidently say that it is actually quite easy to become a member of Hikaru’s fan club. If you are feeling a bit intimidated, please continue reading. I will try to walk you through the steps. Yesterday’s post was all over the place and some of the things were plain out wrong so just ignore whatever I said there. Without further ado, let’s get to it!!

STEP 1: Set up account

Yesterday I was very confused and frustrated and I was wrong about a lot of things. Gettting your account set up and handling the payment can in fact be done on your computer. Just go to this page here and click on the LOG IN button on the right [Note: My first mistake was to click on the Premium Registration button on the left which doesn’t work on the computer]. When you have clicked on the LOG IN button you are asked to enter your e-mail address and password but since you do not have an account yet, you need to click on NEW REGISTRATION.

You are asked to confirm the TERMS&CONDITIONS by clicking on the button.

CREATE an account with your e-mail! You can use pretty much anything as long as the address doesn’t contain one of the @s listed below.

Enter you e-mail address and a password (needs to be more than 6 characters), confirm the password. You are sent an e-mail to finish the account creation process. Be sure you can receive mails from the following address: [email protected]; Check your spam folder in case it’s not in your inbox. Then click the LINK in the e-mail.

Once you have clicked the link you will be forwarded to the LOG IN page again. There a little sign will pop up telling you that your registration is not complete yet. Click on OK and then LOG IN with your e-mail address and password. You are redirected to MY PAGE and another little box pops up telling you your registration process is still not finished since you need to enter some more info. Click on REGISTER.

Enter a nickname, your sex, your date of birth and your prefecture (in our case, go for the final option which is OVERSEAS). Your e-mail address should already be filled in. Then click on CONTINUE.

Time to choose your preferred plan. Personally I would go for the annual plan but whatever floats your boat. Then enter your credit card information and click on CONTINUE. You are then asked to confirm all the information and THAT’S IT. You are DONE with the registration! Another pop-up with a link to the app store. Technicallly, you could now open the app store and download the app but as foreigners it’s not that easy since the app is only available in Japanese app stores so please refer to STEP 2. On a side note, you will also have received an e-mail confirming your registration, your chosen plan, your membership period etc. The mail contains a link to the app in the different app stores as well but as we already established, that won’t be of any use to you as long as you don’t have a Japanese store account.

STEP 2: Get the Helixes App

The “Helixes” app is currently ONLY available in Japanese app stores (possibly in a few other Asian stores but definitely not in my regional one). You will not be able to download the app with your regional account so you need to create a Japanese account for your app store. It sounds a bit tricky but it’s actually quite easy. The important thing is that you should not make any changes to your already existing account because that could potentially screw up your current settings. It’s much safer to log out of your current account [Note: make sure you know your sign-in information: e-mail/password], to make an additional account and to then use the new one on top of your old one whenever the need arises. I use an iPhone so I can only provide information on how to set up a second Apple ID. I am sure if you google “How to get a Japanese Google Playstore Account” a few useful tutorials will pop up but I have no way of checking if the tutorials are any good. You will have to trust your gut on that.

EDIT: A fellow fan was kind enough to create an APK for the Helixes app. Android users can download this app package to their mobile phones to easily install the Helixes app without any extra steps. This means that you do not need to get a Japanese app store account. Thank you so much, @zacsblog!!

EDIT 2: Hikaru’s team have provided a link to a makeshift browser version of “Helixes” so you do not actually have to get the app if you don’t want to.

Anyways, I can’t remember exactly how I created my Japanese Apple ID back in the day (it’s been a while) but I found THIS tutorial and THIS tutorial (Method 2: Creating a New Japanese Apple ID) here which both seem quite legit. I am pretty sure I did a mixture of both tutorials. I definitely used a computer and not a phone to create the account but the computer didn’t have iTunes installed on it. I just went to the Apple website to set up an ID here: appleid.apple.com/account. The basics are the same in both tutorials so you should be able to figure it out. It’s important to fill out the form. [Note: Email must be different from your main Apple ID]. Then you need to choose "Japan" from the list of countries. I think I may have also chosen Japan in the bottom right corner of the website but that might cause a language switch so be prepared for that. Google Translate is your friend in situations like this! Once you have filled out the form, submit it. Check your email and text message for a verification code. And you're basically done. You have created a new Apple ID.

Now you need to grab your phone (unless you have already done everything with your phone) and go to your iTunes Store where you can log out of your regional account (if you haven’t already done it). Log in with your Japanese account information and VOILA, all Japanese apps are at your disposal. You can either search for the “Helixes” app in the appstore or use the link that was included in your account registration e-mail from STEP 1. Once you have downloaded the app, you can log-out of your Japanese account and go back to your normal one. When you open the “Helixes” app you need to sign in with your e-mail and password from STEP 1 and then you have officially reached your goal! Hikaru’s amazing fan club content will be available for you! BANZAI!

I hope all of this made sense and you are willing to give this a try. Please SUPPORT Hikaru and JOIN her fan club. There is already so much awesome stuff to discover and I am sure it’s gonna get even better as time goes by. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

#kalafina #hikaru #hikaru//#helical #h-el-ical//#helixes #tutorial #news #hikaru fan club #long text post #picture heavy

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nightswithkookmin · 4 years ago

Note

3 I don't think jk feels that way. He loves to protect jm why would he want jm to take even more heat by making things clearer to the fans? Not to mention except nibbling on jm's ear, tatoos & gcfs are not a clear indication of what jk feels he also hides behind art (wich is very subjective) to express his feelings and even denied jm being his main model. Even V has been more direct about writing songs about jm. So for him to be frustrated with jm would be unfair & hypocritical which idt jk is.

This post you mean??

I didn't feel the need to get into it directly because everything you said in here is based off of a misinterpretation of my post- the post in response to the Anon who said there seems to be a strain on Jikook's relationship, for context.

I never said or implied your premise, ergo your entire argument is pointless? Lol. If I had to respond to it, it would have been 'No. You didn't understand it correctly.'

Maybe you should read over it again?

I mean, no one else seem to have had that impression in the comments apart from you?What is it in that post that gave you that impression? Maybe I should read over it too... Damn.

I simply pointed out in response to the Anon, that JK seems much reserved in the way that he expresses himself towards Jimin mostly post JM's birthday. Which may or may not confirm my earlier suspicions about the whole JM birthday saga- which as I said, again, I don't want to make conclusive statements on because it's an on going phase and so it's a bit hard to reconstruct the timeline.

I said and meant and intended to mean, that if JM and the company or even BTS had expressed disapproval on JK wanting to post on JM's birthday then JK choosing not to express himself openly in regards to JM in the aftermath would be understandable. Jk seems like the all or nothing kinda guy to me- I've been saying.

They are either treating the glass closet as a glass closet or not. Which would mean JK stops his bold gestures and expressions towards JM and JM stops publicly doting on JK and expressing himself towards him in the way that he does.

But if JM is going to dot on him openly and express himself openly with regards to JK, then JK should be allowed to do the same- however way he prefers.

I didn't say I felt JK is frustrated because Jimin does whatever you are saying. All I said is I feel he gotta be frustrated if he cannot express himself the way that he wants to- especially given his personality and his background.

He often talks about not being censored much growing up as a kid and so he is used to having his way and doing things the way he wants.

My point being that Jimin expresses a certain level of 'nervousness' sometimes with the way JK expresses himself with regards to him. Especially since JK's 'bold' moves often times scratches against their glass closet to the point it can be considered 'outing.'

Jk posting on JM's birthday when he hasn't done that for anyone in the group since Jin's birthday last year would have been borderline "outing" considering. And as I said, I don't think that would have sat well with either Jimin or the group or even BigHit because it would raise a lot of brows and have people questioning whether there's more to Jikook's relationship.

Frankly, as I pointed out, given the circumstances people would raise questions over whomever he chooses to post for next regardless, especially if he doesn't post for anyone else after that- it would be world war Z up in these streets I tell ya. Lol.

JK has had his passions sabotaged over the years- his GCFs I mean, and this was one of the means he had to express his authentic self and his raw feelings as a person and as an artist. Expressing his feelings clearly is important to him as much as recieving.

And if he cannot express himself with regards to the person he loves in the way that he wants then that's got to be frustrating to him, in my opinion.

And when you think that the person he loves can get away with blurting out things like that 'the best thing in his life is waking up to see his boyfriend's face in the morning' in a middle of an interview then you'd understand what I mean.

The members booed at JM for that yes, but I don't think had JK said that, that they would have had the same reaction to him- did you see their reaction when Jk blurted out 'arrest me' when Jimin said he wanted to be a police officer or something?

That doesn't mean JM doesn't make similar bold moves that are equally risqué in regards to JK. Just saying he often gets away with it because majority of the fandom don't take him seriously at all, lol. They often dismiss his moves towards JK as fanservice or tie it to his "naturally kind and affectionate" personality.

As to whether that is fair or not- honestly I don't care. Lol. I'm more interested in observing their interactions to try to understand the motivations behind their actions and behaviors- which again, are all just theory and assumptions.

Honestly, I don't impose my judgment on Jikook's actions in that way. If I had to, I'll just say they are both wrong and they are both right and all is fair in love and war. Because I sort of understand the motivations behind these actions even if they are just theory.

But I don't do the JK vs JM business- which is what it seems you are doing here?

I keep saying they both have valid needs. JK's needs are not less valid than JM's needs. Neither is JM's needs less Valid. They both have valid motivations for the choices that they make. From my perspective.

They both have downsides and upsides and I am well aware of it. I just don't mind. I mean, they are human in every sense of the word.

JK fuming whenever someone breathes near JM but he himself being Mr roaming hands premium is double standards. If you don't want Jimin touching others don't touch others. It's as simple as that. JM playing Mr 'I'm available never been wed' when he knows damn well he is in a committed relationship with Mr double standards roaming hands premium is foul play.

They both suck. Lol.

Yet I don't mind at all. I love them regardless.

Besides, as I said, from the feed back I got it seems you were the only one who had that impression? I would have made a post to clarify it sooner if I sensed from the responses that two or more people had had similar impressions of it.

I usually don't hold myself responsible for other's comprehension skills and it didn't seem like you were asking for clarification either? May be next time ask for clarification if you are uncertain about anything instead? I don't know. Just do whatever makes you happy I guess.

There were certain statements you made in here that I found interesting regardless- the part dismissing JK's means of expressing himself but claiming V exresses his intentions better through his art....

You think may be V is able to talk openly about writing songs inspired by Jimin because there is nothing there to hide and his song lyrics aren't indicative of nothing?

I'm sorry but Friends seems like a very friend zoned conversation than a confession of romantic feelings to me.

I don't think JK wants to write a song about how Jimin is his bestfriend- Jimin would skin him alive. In my opinion. Lol.

Plus, when Tae tried to make a duet with Jimin the company (producer) allegedly didn't green light that project- I wonder why. Smirk.

Even as friends, there seems to be a limit they are allowed to go with their artistic expressions.

In JK's case, well Jimin have said he isn't really good at expressing his emotions and JK have admitted in recent times- in his Be Weverse Magazine interview that he is not particularly great at writing everything he wants to express.

Personally, before I heard him say this, I often felt he seemed to hold himself back a lot from fully expressing himself through his lyrics. He has a broad range of musical experience and honestly a rich lyrical palette from his various song recommendations throughout the years and I expected more from him when it came to his lyricism and expressions.

I don't take his lyrics for granted though because it is still one of the means through which he expresses his authentic self and after reading this bit about him, chilee I'm gone treat his lyrics like the gospel. Sorry Jesus. Lol.

I don"t know but perhaps he waters down on his expressions through his lyrics too- I mean there is only so much he can say without letting people into his inner psyche?

Dude had to sneak Stay past JM. Lmho. He's so cute.

The point I'm making is, you can't claim it is unfair for JK to use his art as cover to express his feelings for Jimin and then in the same breath praise another member expressing his feelings for Jimin through his art.

And the part about JM going out of his way and taking risks to break JK"s walls in their earlier dynamic... who asked him? Lol.

No seriously, who put him on that mission? He has his own Jikook agenda. I don't think he was doing JK a favor. Do you? I find that narrative problematic. Jimin is not a charity case. JK is not his 'console"ation price.

I don't think JK feels indebted to JM and I don't think he should. That's not love. I don't think Jimin wants his pity either. Again, that's not love.

Then the bit about JK protecting JM. I think I addressed it already. JM has a duty to protect JK as much as JK has a duty to protect him.

If him expressing his love for Jimin the way he wants to is him not protecting Jimin, then JM equally openly expressing his feelings for JK is him not protecting JK.

I won't hold this over you though because your response is based off of a misinterpretation.

Please let's not do the whole JK vs JM thingy next time. I get that a lot from my fellow PJMs here. Jikook are not enemies.

I had to respond to this because you said something about it not being fair that I didn't post the original Ask.

Please bare in mind you are Anonymous and it's hard to ask for clarification and stuff from y'all when I don't understand anything about the posts and comments you send in.

But at your end, I think you are in a better position to quote me and ask for clarifications if you want one. You don't have to. But I think it makes it easier to have certain conversations.

I enjoyed your thoughts. I haven't read them all yet but I will.

Stay safe. I purple you.

Signed,

GOLDY

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af1899 · 3 years ago

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FEH - update notes [5.10.0] + thoughts and reactions

So, I.S. posted the release notes for the Fire Emblem Heroes 5.10.0 software update with quite the delay, but you can see them here.

I'll comment on each point of interest right below, skipping on less relevant stuff Imo.

Tfw you were saving for the merge but it'll come at you for free the same month

I was planning to save for Halloween Kagero (and use the opportunity to perhaps get a merge on either/both Halloween Myrrh/Mia) but her first merge is literally coming my way with enough participation in events and I'm excited to get it of course, I'm definitely gonna work my way through it. My plan now is to summon all but blue in her rerun banner in the first round, then wait for whatever banner could be of my interest before deciding if I wanna keep trying... at least this free merge will help me...

If you're looking to fodder her, she has [Bottle Juice+] (always active [Guard] positive effect) or [Bold Fighter 3] as noteworthy fodder, you'd probably prefer the former since it's seasonal and somewhat useful, but the latter is also great.

This time, both 5★ [Combat Manuals] are seasonals, the other is Halloween L'Arachel who has a bunch of nice fodder options, I'm taking [Madness Flask+] (grants same effect as [Fury 3]) and [Rally Atk/Spd+] as I think they are among her best comboes (as for who will get those, it's been decided to be Female Robin... I don't really like at all the Lv.2 {Tactic} effect and I'd daresay Cecilia is better for colorless/blue checking overall, so I'll delegate that role to her and do something else with Female Robin... who should start to get some premium skills), but should you need to plan ahead who needs some of her skills, she has the mentioned ones plus [Swift Sparrow 2] and [Spd/Res Ruse 3].

You may also be able to get that Young Innes, a good practice is to save all {Divine Codes: Ephemera} of the month until no more are obtainable, then pick the [Combat Manuals] you need, otherwise you may be risking to lose one of the free 5★ ones or even the [Heroic Grails] one — which you shouldn't — but with active participation you should get something over 700 to get those.

The red refines batch

This time, everyone is only red, like... why? But at least, some units that have been waiting on those refines will finally get them, Soleil has sure been waiting for long, hasn't she? I'm not excited for her at all but I'm glad for her fans.

I'm moreso looking forward to Laevatein's refine, even though I don't have special admiration for her, she's still an interesting character indeed, I actually have her but never built her properly... and I'm glad I did wait this long since a refine should give me a better direction on how she should be built:

Bridal Tharja was also due her refine since she was the next seasonal with preference weapon waiting on a refine, next should be Summer Tana, which I'm hyped about!

I'm also curious about Julius too, sadly I foddered one of the free copies but I still have some around should I end up building him someday, hopefully his refine will give me a "oomph!" to get on it.

Wrapping things up

Gonna start to finish this post talking about this new feature, from the looks of it, the [Memento Events] (cinematics you watch to get [Rapport] and rewards) can be now obtained by choice using a specific resource that's locked to the current season of the [Heroes Journey] event, so you should use them before they vanish...

[Memento Events] can now be watched anytime, instead of when [Heroes Journey] is around.

I think this is a nice feature, it doesn't do much to improve the event's overall rating Imo, but it's nice that at least, I.S. allows us to somehow relive it anytime.

I realized I've never gave my opinion on this event... I'll rate it at 7.5/10, it's nice to have more interaction with our units, we can even hang out with our favorite character by bringing along [My Summoner] in a growing variety of sceneries, some of them being really heartwarming, but the rewards are slightly underwhelming barring [Orbs], and asides the cutscene stuff you have to partake in [Heroic Ordeals]-esque battles that cost [Stamina].

Aaanyway...

...Yes, I consider this part important, I'm still waiting to put "No Justice" (whichever version) from Fire Emblem Fates everywhere in the game, best track of the game hands down.

This is more important though:

...There'll be a maintenance period, we've been notified before I believe, neverthless, it doesn't hurt to add the periods here and remind you the game will be unplayable during this period, the seasonal banner comes the 7th.

Use this clock for reference... so you can have an idea of when maintenance starts; for me, it starts at 9 p.m. the 5th and ends the next day at 2 a.m. (PT is 4 hours behind GMT-3), it's likely we'll get the trailer in-between, and the update roll out at 8 p.m. (GMT-3) at the usual day before the banner, do note they don't say when the update will be out.

As for you, use said clock to determine what's the difference between the PT timezone and yours, then use that difference to go forward/back in the time periods that appear above.

For example, it's 10/1 11:50 p.m. in PT, and 10/2 3:50 a.m. in GMT-3, I can see there's a 4 hour difference, so I add 4 hours to each timestamp I.S. gives me: "10/5/2021 10:00 p.m." in PT is "11/5/2021 2:00 a.m." in GMT-3. (The date format in my country is DD/MM/YYYY but normally I'll use the American format here, to avoid confusing the English-speaking community)

The update details are now in the bulletin board in-game but figured you could keep this advice for the future, the in-game notices already convert the timestampts to your timezone.

In any case, that's all for this post and I hope the info here has proven to be helpful to you!

Btw... I just spent 4 [Orbs] on [Performing Arts] revival banner (had a circle with three red stones, 1 colorless and 1 green, chose the latter first then the former) and got nothing special on either, just some random low rarity units... meh, I'll just keep saving.

#feh #fe heroes #fire emblem heroes #refines

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mandrs-writes · 4 years ago

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My Writing Advice

Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a writer. I vividly remember writing stories about my dog way back when I was seven years old. And when I was eleven I was bold enough to think I could write my own novel and sent drafts to my older cousin for editing. Writing was my life, my escape, my passion. And it still is. But I haven’t always had a good relationship with it.

When I turned thirteen, I struggled severely with undiagnosed depression and anxiety. High school was terrible for me. All that passion I felt for writing? Gone. It wasn’t until I was older, that I was diagnosed with depression and began taking antidepressants. At the time, I was attending college to become a nurse, which was literally just a crapshoot because I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. Finally though, I came to the realization again that English, or writing, was more my passion. So I changed majors.

I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a focus in creative writing. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Wow! You probably wrote a lot during college!” Wrong. While I did write a lot of thesis papers, did a short stint in poetry, I think I wrote one short story for my fiction workshop. But other than that? Nothing. I don’t know when it happened, but I developed a severe fear of writing.

What is a fear of writing, you ask? Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is, I would write something and get literal anxiety over it because I hated it that much. I would agonize over every little detail until I was ripping my hair out. I despised my writing, something I used to be so passionate about, it was now something that caused me great distress.

Why am I sharing this with you? Well, as some of you know, I am now a very active fanfic writer for ereri. I update roughly two fics a week and sometimes I sprinkle a one shot in there if I’m feeling sassy. So how did someone like me, someone who used to agonize over my writing, go from hating every detail of it, to sometimes pumping out roughly 10k words a week and actually enjoy my writing?

While I am no expert on writing, I want to share my advice, regardless. I’ve come into contact with so many great writers who I know struggle with similar things that I once did, and sometimes still do (I’m far from perfect). Here are some tips I have when it comes to writing. I hope it helps:

Get in the right headspace. Clear your area of any and all distractions. Lock yourself out of social media, turn off your phone, kick your significant other out of the house— whatever that looks like for you, just create the perfect space for you to create. Any distractions could easily pull you out of your creative mindset and ruin your flow. I personally always work in my living room, away from my desktop because I just know I’ll play video games if I try to write in my office. I find the perfect playlist for the scene I’m writing (I seriously have so many playlists for writing. If you don’t have Spotify premium for playlist making, I seriously suggest you get it), sometimes put a Pinterest aesthetic board up in the background, and just get to it. My fiancé knows when I’m writing not to bother me and he stays in the other room. Make sure you establish clear boundaries with your housemates when you’re writing. Interruptions can sometimes not be pretty.

Once you’re in the right headspace, JUST WRITE! Seriously, I know it sounds like a no brainer, but it’s a lot easier said than done. Whatever is in your head, just write it out. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, silly or irrelevant. Just write it. Writing and editing are two very different beasts, and when you’re in writing mode you need to focus ONLY on writing. Again, I know this sounds very obvious, but I know from experience that this is much harder than it sounds. My best suggestion is to find a writing partner to do sprints with. Set a timer for 20 minutes and see how much you can write in that time frame. When you’re writing with a friend, it becomes a challenge to see who can write the most in that 20 minute time. You’d be surprised what you can do in that short amount of time. And what you write might actually be amazing! I know I’ve surprised myself on more than one occasion writing like this.

Keep editing and writing separate. I mentioned this earlier but it’s so important that you do this. Our brains work differently when we edit and write. When we write, we put our heads into a creative mindset where we are inspired to create and expand on new ideas. However, when we edit, our brain slips into an analytical mindset which is great for critiquing and finding errors but TERRIBLE for creation! That’s why you MUST keep these two things separate. Believe me, I know this is hard to do. I used to be SO SO SO bad at this. I would write a paragraph, go back and read it, edit it, and rip it apart. My confidence would be shot, and I wouldn’t be able to write anything else for that session. Eventually, I forced myself out of this bad habit with lots and lots of practice (again, writing sprints are AMAZING for this!). You might think that what you’re writing isn’t any good and you might be itching to go back and read it and fix it. But I assure it, it’s probably A LOT better than you think it is. Leave it alone. Let it sit. And when you’ve finished writing your chapter, let it sit even longer. Don’t touch it for another 12 hours. I’m serious. When you have a fresh pair of eyes and your brain is in the analytical mindset, THAT’S when you should be editing.

Always carry something with you to write your ideas down. Whether it’s your phone or notebook and pen, always be ready to write down an idea! Sometimes a juicy idea or thought will come to you at an unexpected time like in the shower, while you’re driving, or while you’re trying to fall asleep. That idea WANTS to be written down! Whenever I’m laying in bed, thinking about my stories, I’ll grab my phone and write down a line or phrase or idea that pops into my head. It might not make sense, but my brain is trying to get it out on paper so that’s exactly what I do. I might not use it, but at least it’s there if it does end up being good!

Find a friend/beta reader to read your stuff. And I’m not just saying this for editing purposes. No, I’m saying this for confidence purposes. I’ve always struggled with self-doubt. Like I said before, I struggle severely with depression and anxiety, and sometimes I get into really bad slumps with my writing where I think I’m the worst writer there ever was. My imposter syndrome flares up and I wonder what the hell I’m even doing with myself. Luckily, I have a friend and beta reader who refuses to let me falter when times are hard. And maybe we don’t beta read each other’s works in a traditional sense (I don’t really know how a normal beta reader behaves, to be honest). What I do know is, my friend will leave interactive comments throughout my whole chapter, commenting on what she likes, what she thinks works really well or what could be better. Having her interact with my chapter and tell me what is good and what isn’t, significantly boosts my confidence and makes me feel loads better about my writing. Honestly, if it wasn’t for her, I probably would’ve given up on writing by now. But it’s reassuring knowing my number one fan is always rooting for me on the sidelines. Get yourself a fan that roots for you, too.

There’s no such thing as too many ideas. I always hear people say ‘I have too many ideas. I don’t know what to do with them’. I know what you can do with them… WRITE THEM DOWN, SILLY. If you have inspiration for an idea, WRITE IT. I know you might feel like you have too many projects and that might stress you out. And if you are stressed by the amount of wips you have then maybe you should set some aside. But if you feel a great amount of inspiration for a new idea when you already have another idea in the works, write it anyway. Whatever you do, do not squander that inspiration! That idea wants to be written. Even if you don’t think you’ll do anything with it, it’s great practice and if the inspiration is there, it should be relatively easy to get the idea out on paper. I’ve written multiple chapter fics before because I had so much inspiration for the idea and then never posted them. I was so overcome with inspiration that I just NEEDED to write them. So I did. Maybe I’ll go back to them and finish them one day when the inspiration strikes me. And if I don’t, that’s okay. It’s good practice to listen to your inspiration and use it as it comes. Stifling your inspiration will only hurt you in the long run.

That’s pretty much all the advice I’ve got. This might be a little rambly and I’m sorry for that. I literally was just thinking about this last night and wanted to get my thoughts out so that I could maybe help some people that are in similar situations that I once was a year ago. If you want to write, but you don’t think you can, just do it anyway. Writing takes practice. It’s not something you can master on the first go. It took me almost a year to find my writing voice and I’m still developing it as I go. Don’t get discouraged. If this is something you want, you can do it! Just write!

#writing #my writing #writing advice #text post #i hope this helps #advice

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yourmandevine · 4 years ago

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Some stuff that made me happy in 2020, in no particular order

God send you no greater loss. It’s something my grandmother said a lot — a bit of highly Irish Catholic wisdom intended to remind you, warmly but sharply, that whatever you’re currently suffering through isn’t all that bad compared to what lots of other people are dealing with. That it probably isn’t too much to complain about, in the grand scheme of things. That you should, instead, be grateful for what you’ve got, big and small and everything in between.

God sent a great many people a great many unfathomable losses this year, and as hard as it felt at times, our family wasn’t among them; we’re lucky, in the big picture. In the past, people have recommended I try writing those reasons down, to give myself a list of stuff to be thankful for, for the times it’s tough to summon up the gratitude. I figured the end of the year was as good a time as any to make that list, to highlight the stuff that helped me get through this year — the reasons big, small, and in between.

So: here goes.

Peanut butter and jelly

I haven’t counted how many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I’ve eaten since March 11, which is good, because that would be an absurd thing to do, and a sure sign that I have succumbed to a very specific kind of madness. It’s also good, though, because I would undoubtedly be ashamed by the number; the figure would be titanic, like the unsinkable ship of same name, or the iceberg that sunk it.

Or, at least, I would be ashamed under normal circumstances. This fuckin’ year required whatever flotation device you could find, and you know what I found in the fridge and cupboard? A couple of slices of bread, some strawberry jam, and some goddamn Skippy.

Need a weird mid-morning “brunch” after not having breakfast because you went right from waking up to remote school with the 6-year-old? Crank up a PB&J with that third cup of coffee. Need to pack something in the diaper bag to feed everyone while you’re out at the playground for the afternoon? Stack ‘em up, son. Need a late snack after working the overnight shift filing weird bubble playoff columns? Three letters, one ampersand, one love.

I need to eat better in 2021. But I kind of needed to eat sort of like shit to get through 2020, and time and again, when your man needed it most, PB&J was there.

Sunday night Zoom sessions with college friends

I know that most of us started something like this back in March; I’m not sure how many have stuck with it. I hope the answer is “a lot,” because honestly, knowing that I’m going to end the week by seeing a few friends — some here in Brooklyn but mostly beyond our reach for safety’s sake, some who’ve moved away — has felt like a stabilizing agent on more than a few occasions. It’s important, and no small blessing, to have people in your life who really know you, weird messy ugly bits and all, and in front of whom you can let everything go.

That gallery view’s provided a place to vent, to seethe, to laugh, to cry, and to try to find some semblance of center before heading back into another week. I’m grateful for it, and for the people in those little boxes. Except for the time they reminded me that, when I was 18, I was pretty sure I was a Pacey, and they were all extremely confident I was a Dawson. They were right, but still: a bitter pill to swallow, then and now.

Olivia calling herself “Dr. Bloody”

She took out her little toy doctor kit and just turned into a cackling villain.

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Deeply disconcerting, yes, but also adorable.

All Fantasy Everything

What got me in the door was the conceit: three very funny stand-up comedians (Ian Karmel, David Gborie, Sean Jordan), often with a very funny guest but sometimes without, pick some topic or another and engage in a fantasy draft of their favorite aspects or representations of that topic. (It is, crucially, a serpentine draft. Now what is that? That’s a great question.) Some favorite examples: Mikes; Words That You Think Make You Sound Smart, vols. 1 and 2; Things You Yell After You Dunk on Someone; Fictional Athletes; Crimes We’d Like to Commit. Yeah. It’s that kind of podcast.

What kept me around was the friendship. Listen to an episode and it becomes really clear really quickly just how much the three hosts love each other, how much fun they have being around each other and making one another laugh. The warmth radiates, just pours out of the speakers; in a year where I sorely needed some good vibes, I appreciated my regular check-ins with the Good Vibes Gang to just ... unclench for an hour and a half or so.

Drinking beer

OK, I’ll admit: This doesn’t sound great for me. It’s true, though. I really like beer. (We brewed one in our kitchen, which I realize is something of a “bearded guy in Brooklyn” cliche, but here we are. It was exciting to complete a project, and it tasted OK-ish.) At some points this year, it didn’t feel like there wasn’t much to look forward to, and sometimes drinking some High Lifes or Narragansett tall boys — with my wife in our living room, with friends on the computer, whatever — helped take the edge off a shitty day/week/month/year. I look forward to being able to do that outside with people again.

The Good Place

I am sure some very smart cultural critics and political thinkers and social revolutionaries have forwarded compelling arguments for why this show is Bad, Actually, because that seems to be more or less true about most things, whether because said thing is Actually Bad or because the economics of the attention economy on the internet functionally necessitate the composition and publication of pretty much every position on pretty much every issue, and especially ones that present a counterargument for why you shouldn’t like the thing you like, and might be kind of a piece of shit for liking it. But I liked this half-hour comedy about the way the universe might be put together, why we should try to take better care of each other, and how doing so might be a pretty great way to take better care of ourselves.

Andrew let me write about it a little bit for a big project we did before the series finale aired, which was really nice of him. I found myself thinking about this part a lot this year:

I also thought a lot about Peeps Chili, but that happens every year.

Taking pictures of my dog

Check out this flumpy goddamn champion:

“Lugar is a good boy” is the main takeaway here. They don’t all have to be complicated.

Schitt’s Creek

I know we’re not alone in this, but we inhaled this show this year. A half-hour comedy about people being laid low, learning how to deal with who they actually are, and finding some grace and community and opportunities for growth kind of hit the spot, I guess.

One of the most wholesale enjoyable ensemble comedy casts I can remember; Catherine O’Hara was already in Cooperstown, but what she made with Moira Rose only polishes her plaque. I’ll never be able to describe with any specificity the thing Chris Elliott does, but I know it has made me laugh since I was a child too young to understand the Letterman bits or see Cabin Boy in the theater, and it’s probably going to make me laugh until I am dead.

I love that people who, for years, never got to see themselves or people like them on screen got to see David Rose on screen and maybe recognize themselves a little bit. The idea that seeing the David/Patrick relationship might make them maybe feel a little more at home, a little safer and more whole, makes me happy. Sad, about the before, but happy, about the now and the what comes next.

Past that, I just love how what was ostensibly a family-and-friends production for a Canadian channel just got absolutely everything right—the tone, the look, the sound, the theme song, the cast, the jokes, my goodness, the jokes—and before long, the rest of the world just got it. Like catching a fastball square on the barrel. Something the show clearly knew a little bit about.

Finding new outdoor places it was safe to go

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the need to give the kids a place to be that wasn’t unnecessarily dangerous but also wasn’t inside our two-bedroom apartment led us to do more exploring than we had before. Shirley Chisholm State Park is great. Canarsie Pier was a fun place to spend a Sunday morning; so’s Canarsie Playground. If we got there early enough or made our peace with some rain, the beaches at Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden were pretty rad this summer. I lived in Staten Island from ages 8 through 18, and during breaks throughout college, and don’t think I ever hiked in High Rock Park — that’s dumb, because it was nice!

Even if all those little excursions did was kill a little time and reduce the overall stress level of the four humans stuck in our four walls, that’s not nothing. Some days this year, it was everything.

Cobra Kai

I know I’m late here; I didn’t rush to seek it out because I don’t consider myself a huge fan of The Karate Kid, or at least not a big enough fan to sign up for YouTube’s premium service. I checked it out when it came to Netflix, though, and I honestly can’t believe how much I enjoyed this show. Give me “dumb, but with heart” every day of the week.

I believe in Miguel Diaz; I believe in Johnny Lawrence; I believe I will be firing up Season 3 next month, and perhaps drinking some Coors Banquets in its honor. (I cannot, however, believe how the “get him a body bag” thing came back around, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Closing unread tabs

I’m a serial hoarder of links, and I am bad at finishing all of them. I’ve tried to get into Pocket and Instapaper, but I’ve never been able to turn that sort of workflow — open link, save to third-party service, go back to third-party service later to read, then delete from there — into something that felt instinctual, natural, or habitual. So: lots of tabs. Like, lots of tabs.

This was a dicier proposition than usual in 2020, because cutting my work week in half to be able to more effectively coparent two kids who didn’t have school or day care for most of the year meant less time to read things.

I tried to do my best to keep up with the important stuff for work, and to read at least some stuff about how other parents were dealing with their anxiety/anger/depression/frustration at having to be on 24/7 and work, and to stay abreast of (at least some of) what was happening in the world. Sometimes, though, I would wake up and realize I’d been holding onto blog posts about Really Interesting Rotation Decisions on the 11th-Seeded Team in the East or whatever for literally nine months, and I would go against my nature and just hit the eject button on a 25-deep window, and something amazing would happen: I wouldn’t get fired for being shitty at my job. I would move on with my day, and I would feel about 10 pounds lighter.

I still keep too much stuff open. (As we speak, I’ve got three different Chrome windows open on two different laptops. I choose not to count the total tabs.) But I do so knowing that, if it gets too heavy, I can experience the momentary joy of surrendering to the inevitability that I can’t catch everything. In that moment, I feel OK with my decay.

Reading writers I wasn’t familiar with before

Two in particular stand out in my mind: Nekias Duncan, now of BasketballNews.com, who does excellent film breakdowns and statistical analysis, and Katie Heindl, who writes basketball stuff of all types all over the place, and strings sentences together in a way that scratches an itch inside my brain. I’m grateful I got more chances to read them this year, I look forward to bigger and better things for both of them, and I’m hopeful that, if things calm down and our schedules go back to something approximating normalcy, I’ll have more bandwidth to hunt out more new voices in the year ahead.

The time I ambushed my wife as she was trying to break down and put away the girls’ space tent

Pretty good.

Siobhan learning to ride a bicycle (with training wheels, but still)

The moment passed pretty quickly; Not Exactly A Mechanic over here can’t get the training wheels to reliably work right without either loosening them too much or tightening them so much that she can’t pedal it. In that first moment, though, and for as long as it lasted, it was really great to see her get excited about doing something new, big kid shit, for the first time.

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She was proud. I was proud of her. And then we went to a playground for a few hours. Pretty good day.

Tyler Tynes roasting me

Tyler did some incredible work this year — The Cam Chronicles is getting deserved praise as one of 2020′s best podcasts, and his reporting on the Movement for Black Lives was exemplary. It’s hard to top this, though:

You know what the messed up part is? I was excited to tell him what I was doing, just because I knew the reaction would be so violent. Like a body rejecting a transplant. So lucky to have such a dear, dear friend.

PUP

I’m late on everything, so I didn’t start listening to PUP until the spring of 2019, but I haven’t really stopped since. This year has been too sedentary too often; this band is too kinetic to allow me to stay there.

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“Bloody Mary Kate and Ashley Kate” is never more than about 20 minutes away from returning to the front of my mind. I would fucking love for it to be safe enough to watch these guys live at some point, and I am absolutely going to take Steve up on his offer.

Someone sending me a shirt based on a joke I tweeted

First:

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Then:

I’m not sure you should be rewarding my behavior, SnoCoPrintShop, but I appreciate it all the same.

Which reminds me:

Family dinner/family movie night

My wife works in Manhattan and commutes back on the train, and we've tried to prioritize getting the girls to bed early since they were little, so that doesn’t leave much of a window between when she gets home and they go in the tub for us all to connect; before everything shut down, we almost never really ate together. We’re still not great about it, but for a while now we’ve carved out Saturday as family dinner night, where we sit down to eat and talk about our “up” from the day — something that happened that made us feel good or happy, or something we’re looking forward to. (We used to talk about our “down,” too, but that kind of seemed like overkill. Why try to focus on more bad shit right now, you know?)

Then we settle in for a movie, with who gets to pick rotating each week. It’s mostly been Pixar, which has been great but also has its drawbacks; after she caught me crying during one of them (maybe the Bing-Bong scene in Inside Out? or Miguel singing to Grandma Coco?), Siobhan straight up told me, “You need to get yourself together, man.” We just watched My Neighbor Totoro, too, which they loved, so we’re probably going to try some more Miyazaki soon. It’s a really simple thing, but it’s one we rarely made time for before, and it’s been really nice to manufacture something positive that we can share and look forward to together.

Sometimes looking like a shiftless drifter

No shade to anyone who felt strongly about getting a lineup or whatever, but I haven’t really felt like going to the barbershop was worth the risk, and I continue to refuse to believe that my wife can actually pull off the fade she’s long wanted to give me. (It is also possible that she just means she’s intending to run my fade, and that I will before long wind up cold-cocked and slumped by my bride of nine years.) So I’ve just kind of been growing out my hair like it was when I was single, and sometimes been letting my beard get kind of out of control too, and, well, I sort of like looking a little bit like a Wildling, it turns out.

I have since trimmed things up a little. It didn’t go over well with my youngest. Oh, well. I’ll try to do better next time.

My wife and daughter singing the Pixies

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We don’t know all the words to too many lullabies, so we sing the ones we do know the words to. This will probably come back to bite us in the years ahead. For now, though: Pretty good.

Doughboys’ Tournament of Chompions: Munch Madness: Mac Attack

I can’t believe how invested I became in Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell’s quest to determine the best menu item at McDonald’s in a 64-seed tournament that spawned hours and hours of delightfully funny audio featuring all-time home-run guests like Jon Gabrus and Nicole Byer, who gleefully feed into the often warm, sometimes antagonistic, always entertaining chemistry between the two hosts. I have also never found myself wanting to go to McDonald’s more in my entire life. I have hit the drive-thru a couple of times since, and the boys are right: The McDonald’s fountain Coke does just hit different.

Sound Only

I’ve lost track of whether or not a 38-year-old is considered a millennial, but I’m quite confident that I’m not exactly plugged into “the millennial lifestyle” as my teammates Justin Charity and Micah Peters discuss it on their podcast, which relaunched this summer. Doesn’t matter, though, because I love hearing Charity and Micah talk to each other even if I don’t know what they’re talking about.

Their conversation about Dave Chappelle was great. After listening to their Travis Scott episode, I felt like I kind of understood who he is and why he occupies the space he does in pop culture now. I had no idea how they were going to get me to give a shit about set photos from The Batman, but this they not only got me there, but wended their way toward blaming 50 Cent for needing to know who Groot is to have a conversation on the internet, which is something for which Abraham Lincoln did not die. The show is good, it's getting better, it’s fun to hear them talk their shit, and Charity’s regular bellowing of “I, TOO, AM AMERICA” has made me smile for four straight months.

Siobhan’s letters and notes

She’s in first grade now, and she’s taken to communicating her feelings through the written word. A lot.

I won’t pretend that I loved all of these in the moment. I can only get so upset, though, when she’s already writing with such a clear voice. (And trying to use proper punctuation. (And drawing little cartoons to drive the point home.)

Palm Springs

I’m having a hard time remembering too many specifics about it right now, which probably means it’d be a good thing to rewatch over the holidays. But, as I’m sure many people noted many months before we got around to watching it, a comedy about living the same day over and over again, and about trying to figure out how to make your life mean something when everything seems meaningless, scratched a pretty particular, and particularly important, itch this year. It could’ve been twice as long, and I would’ve eaten up every second of Andy Samberg and Cristin Miloti together.

I’m pretty sure I cried, although this year, that doesn’t necessarily mean much. Also, put Conner O’Malley in more things.

Joining our union’s bargaining committee

I won’t say too much about this, but I will say that becoming an active participant in the process of a labor union negotiating its first contract with management has been an extremely educational experience. It’s pushed me to have conversations, sometimes difficult ones, about our priorities as a staff and a company. It's helped me get closer with the other past and present members of the BC, and has led me to start developing relationships with members of our staff that I otherwise might not have had much of an opportunity to get to know.

The organizing work takes time, effort, and energy, but trying to do what I can to help take better care of my colleagues has been well worth all of that. Here’s hoping that in 2021 we can reach a deal that helps make our workplace even better, stronger, and more equitable for all of us.

Publishing a story about Stevie Nicks’ Fajita Roundup

I swear this is true: After I accepted my offer to work at The Ringer, but before I started, I told a friend that one thing I was excited about was that you had the chance to work on offbeat stuff here, in both the “kind of weird” and “not about the NBA” senses. That, I thought, might maybe open the door to me getting to write a story about a Saturday Night Live sketch I saw when I was a teenager about Stevie Nicks from Fleetwod Mac running a cheap Tex-Mex restaurant in Sedona, Arizona — a sketch that I wasn’t sure anyone else remembered, but that was stuck in my head forever.

That story ran on May 26.

A lot of people seemed to like it.

Accomplishing this goal was, as dumb as this might sound, a highlight of my year, and, honestly, a highlight of my career. I’d like to do some more stuff like this next year, time permitting; we’ll see. Whether or not I do, I got to do this. I’ll always have that.

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