#also yay more Christmas Art from me

[rockhousejai]

🎄Seasons Greetings!🎄

From Miss Boop herself ❤️

Alt

[sunflawyer]

HI FRIENDS!!! LONG TIME NO SEE!!! 🧡🧡🧡

I'm so sorry I've been inactive for the past few days, finals are still making me busy!! @-@ Plus I've been making my secret santas (I got a lot to give!!!) so I haven't really had the time to check Tumblr. I MISSED YOU ALL!!!!

My dearest mutuals... Hope you don't forget about me... Looks at you with my pleading eyes... 🥺

AFTER XMAS I'LL BE FREE FROM SCHOOL AND I'LL BE MORE ACTIVE I'M SURE OF IT!!! ☀️

Plus I've been thinking of doing a small selfship art raffle to celebrate my 300 folls!! Yay!!! And also open my commission!!! ☀️🌟🌟

Merry Christmas to you all! Have a holly jolly holiday!! 🎄⭐

[tartrat]

Kapyy is going out tonight, he’s on his vigilante shit.

This is the most cursed thing I’ve made and that includes an abstract painting of an amethyst I made over Easter break. The sketch with the basic idea and more thoughts and headcanons below I guess.

Firstly don’t look at the mouth too much, the teeth were annoying me. I seem to do like a simplistic style for people and not going overly detailed on their features when i put effort in. For my A level final piece, a self portrait, i sort of made my eyes mouth and nose less deatailed but you can still tell that it’s a face and so it looks kinda good. Honestly this piece looks better than i thought it would, i sort of panic when making art but i can make stuff look good when i put effort in, see the other canvas paintings I’ve posted here.

I started this on the 3rd of August and finished on the 10th.

As seen with my last post i hated doing those rhinestones and tassels but they ended up looking kinda good. I did the hair the same way i did the hair in my previous posts. I used the same brushes as well, custom watercolour and glitter brushes and the procreate turpentine brush to blend. I have a lot of process pics of me working on the colouring that look cursed that i kinda want to do a photo dump on. I also used the chromatic abbreviation filter on procreate to create a subtle glow around him.

Also i decided to put a signature on it, something that i keep forgetting to do on other pieces I’ve made. (Well for school i put my name on the back of my canvases, by the end of the year i had like eight canvases and by sketchbooks)

I had what i like to call a glee-lapse where i started re-listening to a bunch of glee covers, specifically: Nasty/Rhythm Nation, The Boy Is Mine, Start Me Up/Livin’ On A Prayer, and Don’t Start Believing. Other songs i listened to include, Ldn By Lily Allen, Black Magic by Little Mix, Take Me to Church by Hozier, Bella’s Lullaby from Twilight, Touch-Tone Telephone by Lemon Demon, American Healthcare by Penelope Scott, Grace Kelly by Mika, Misery Business by Paramore, Coney Island, My Tears Ricochet, Better than Revenge, So Long London, But Daddy I Love Him, I look in Peoples Windows, Down Bad and the song this is based off of, Vigilante Shit all by Taylor Swift. I was at the Eras tour in Dublin in June which ended my A-levels exams. I also got the signed midnights blood moon vinyl for Christmas in 2022, then i put a st brigid’s cross i made on it and my mum thought it was a photo of Jesus when she saw it hanging on my wall.

The just dance wiki seems to have argued over who Kapyy’s performer is. Like he’s performed by someone, there is a kinda unnerving behind the scenes photo of him, like has he just escaped into our reality like Layl and Gabriela have. Where did that behind the scenes pic come from?

Headcanons I’ve been developing. So still going off the whole Kapyy and Talia are twins, they both have ADHD. This comes from me possibly having undiagnosed adhd that is manifesting as anxiety so yay. It’s also just came to me that since i said that their dad should be from Cyber funk that he should be the Blinding lights extreme coach. Basically Blinding lights extreme and Giddy on Up take place round about the same time so BLE meets GOU whilst he visits Wasterra, they fall in love, eventually get married and have twins, Kapyy is ultimately kidnapped at birth leaving Talia unaware that she has a twin until she unknowingly meets him shortly after the events of I Knew You Were trouble. The GOU and BLE coaches were popular performers of their time and teach performing arts classes art a university now, with Talia studying English literature and language, and Kapyy being an Art student who performs on the side (So basically I’m Blue extreme), as in he gets paid for performing but he masks he actual feelings, whilst Talia would actually show her emotions through her ability to control tvs.

Other headcanons include, when Kapyy isn’t doing too great the Levitating Extreme coach has to bring him home and make sure he’s ok. Kapyy and Talia are basically Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls sorta, Talia is dipper and Kapyy is Mabel, like how they ground each other. Both of them are also double jointed (obviously their performers most likely aren’t). That’s about it so far.

I also think that i alienated the two people on twitter who follow me for yo kai watch by just posting just dance fanart there, luckily there is the Yo kai watch Just Dance Game, when my worlds collide, so i want to do more yo kai watch fanart. I have an idea for a yo kai watch x just dance fanart, kapyy may or may not be involved ion that.

That’s about it, i feel fuzzy again like I’m excited and nervous to post.

As for where Kapyy got the bodysuit from, well…

Bonus doodle:

[camellia-salazar]

Too late to post on Christmas, too early to post on New Years, just in time to post these in December.

Remember last year that I said I felt like drawing characters in winter clothes? Well this is it. I lost motivation afterwards lol

This was part of the collection of drawings I did a while back, but I reached the limit to that post so I'm posting it here. (Ft. the weird costume box thing I talked about before, the more I think about it the more weird it seems to me).

Getting back into MFN got me to draw the characters so hopefully I improved since the last time I drew some of them. Oh look Gorgon got a mustache now.

The characters I actually wanted to draw from MFN but felt like I should draw Gordon and Ricky first. Still got to draw these guys tho yay

Finished this during both Christmas Eve and Day. But didn't want to post this before the recent MFN fan arts I did. (Also sorry for the bland gray background I can't think of a good one).

Drew this sometime after the Christmas party one. I was gonna give up but then motivation hit me fast so I finished it. I just love to draw characters together like this (Again, sorry for the background).

Started drawing this a couple of months or so ago, but for some reason I stopped drawing it after getting a lot of it done. Then I recently got the motivation to finish it finally and I'm glad I did. (Shouldn't have took so long ngl).

So there you go, some more fan art for whoever likes these characters and/or the stuff they're in. Kinda wish I drew more wintery or Christmassy stuff but I feared not posting it soon before the month ends so yeah.

Thanks for viewing my fan art and reading the texts. Merry (late) Christmas! And Happy (early) New Years!! 🎄🎉

((my favorite part was drawing them sweaters✨))

(i dont got enough tag room to tag every avenue q character on here RIP)

[whatiswhump]

Christmas 1957, Alfred Finch

A continuation of this series

Hi I’m back :) and this one’s LONG and I’m proud of it. Yay happy holidays

***

“Merry Christmas, Alfie,”

His head had just been shaved again, lice were making their way through the wards. It made his cheeks look so hollow despite the paper crown that had been clumsily placed on his head by a nurse.

Words didn’t come right away to Fie so he nodded back to Sean. He was aware today though, Sean could tell.

Turkey and mashed potatoes were unceremoniously still strewn across his tin tray. So much for a holiday meal. Sean wished he would eat it though.

“Th- that’s why I’m wearing this?” A wry smile snuck in as Fie nodded to his flimsy holiday accessory.

Sean felt an instant warmth that made his heart swell and he laughed a bit too loudly, “Yes it's what they call it holiday cheer, although I think Eddie took the square of chocolate you got with it.”

The wry twist of Fie’s mouth remained a bit longer signifying what would be a strong response these days.

Sean had read the charts this morning, Harris’s crony, Capshaw, hadn’t given up on the hydrotherapy yet. He had been scheduled in for it nearly every day this week.

He was surprised Fie was okay enough to even be in the cafeteria considering his typical response to the treatment.

“Hey how about you eat a few more bites of the Christmas feast for me, eh?”

Fie’s eyes trailed down at the sloppily served bits of meat in tepid gravy and potato. But despite his hesitation, he didn’t disobey, he lifted his fork and got to work. It twisted something in Sean to see how easily he followed requests... when everyone else in the institution ignored this and acted like he was feral, immediately going for force before bothering to request.

“Also Sophie says hello by the way,”

His patient paused mid attempt to skewer some meat with a confused expression.

“My wife, I think I’ve mentioned her, she and I got married a few months ago, yeah?” That had been during the no contact stage.

This did seem to jog his memory, he nodded but still seemed surprised. Sean spoke about him outside of work?

As if he read his mind, Sean continued, “Yeah, I tell her about you, especially your paintings. She’s an art history professor you know… Anyway, she asked me to wish you a merry Christmas.”

Alfie paused completely, clearly half here-half somewhere else, lost in thought, “...What year is it?”

“It’s 1957 'bout to be 1958, buddy.” Sean didn’t like thinking what that entailed for his friend, nearly four years in here now. Where had the time gone?

He was four years older than Delano now.

“Merry Christmas, Alfred.” 

Both young men jumped slightly at the arrival of Dr. Harris, how long had he been close by?

Alfie just stared back at him frozen, some of that old fear was returning as well.

Harris smiled, “I am glad the nurses are spreading some cheer,” and gestured to Alfie’s ridiculous hat, “And I am glad to hear that you’ve been trying harder to tolerate the hydrotherapy Alfred. That is brave of you as we all know how much it has frightened you in the past.”

Fie looked down at his plate ashamed. He remembered that. Over and over. A room full of people- him bare and being forced into water by so many hands. Harris watching…

“Dr. Harris, I hope that you’ve had a pleasant holiday?” Sean politely responded after a few beats of silence and an awkward cough.

“Thank you, Sean, yes. In fact I will be off soon, the wife and children are expecting me for Christmas dinner. Just like to stop in today every year. The holiday can set many of our patients off, I like to be assured that everything is under control.”

Sean agreed with that, many patients preemptively were given extra sedation today. It made him a bit sad but then he remembered the alternative- them suffering unnecessarily- missing family, memories, some even waiting for a visit from Santa Claus that would never come… It was cruel to them. Such a happy happy day turned cruel.

Dr. Harris gave Sean what was probably meant to be a polite smile, “Sean, would you give Alfie and I a minute? I’ll call you back over if you’re needed.”

An alarm bell went off in his head but he could only say, “Sure, Doctor,” And then glance to Alfie, who was still looking at his plate and walk to the perimeter of the room to join a few of the other orderlies.

“Alfred, please be polite and put your fork down and look at me.”

Fie dropped his fork almost robotically and wrapped his hand in the other in his lap.

“What else did I ask?”

He dragged his eyes up to the doctor standing up above him. He was wearing a red and green tie.

“You have children?” It came out before he even realized it, surprising both of them.

Harris smiled in amusement, “Yes, I generally keep my personal life separate, part of the profession I am afraid. Two boys and a girl. The eldest is sixteen.”

Harris could see the cogs turning in his patient’s head, new information about a man he knew surprisingly nothing about. He prided himself in being strictly a doctor to his patients, nothing else, no extraneous details. It was all about the patients after all.

He loved how painfully clear some of Alfie’s thoughts could be. And this was such a nice little Christmas gift dropped into his lap, especially since his initial plan was just to discuss water therapy again.

“I can tell you are surprised, what are you thinking about right now?”

“And stop picking at your hands.” He added with a touch of sterness.

Alfie’s worrying hands stilled instantly. His eyes looked bigger when they clumsily shaved his head like this. It was a shame they didn’t do a better job, he could have been a handsome young man. Even still.

“It’s just that you’re always here- I didn’t think- I didn’t know-” That he had children of his own? That he was someone's father…

It was natural that Alfred would see him as a father figure, it happened with a lot of patients, it was difficult to avoid. 

“I know you see me as a father, Alfred. I’ve helped you and taken care of you, it’s natural.”

Then Fie looked surprised again.

“This is why you still need so much more therapy, you’re a clever boy but you’re not making the most simple connections related to your psyche.”

Fie wilted a bit and after a brief moment nodded back to Harris. Sean had told him to agree when he could, he said it would help.

“Now Dr. Capshaw will restart hydrotherapy again today- only one day off. If you cooperate in our next session when I return tomorrow maybe we can consider reducing those sessions.”

Alfie looked back to him and nodded in understanding. He really would like that. He was getting better at hydrotherapy but afterwards he still cried every time. And really anything to see less of Capshaw.

“That’s a good boy. Now behave the rest of today, the nurses have enough to deal with, and you don't want to be sedated- or worse get a lump of coal, on Christmas do you?” He said with a smile and bent over and ruffled his hat partially crumpling it where it sat on his head.

“Merry Christmas Alfred, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Harris beamed in his good cheer and turned on his heels to leave the hospital for what Alfie imagined was a roasted goose with all of the trimmings and three smiling children. 

Maybe he was a good father? Maybe he played catch in the backyard and read stories alloud by the fire?

A shiver went through him as he was lost in this thought, only to jump again when he felt a hand on his back.

“Just me, bud,” Sean’s voice rumbled kindly.

Alfie deflated a little in his seat, “He said I have to have treatment today.”

Sean’s eyebrows were creased as he came into his vision, rounding the table, “On Christmas? What do they say? No rest for the wicked?”

“Is that me or them that's the Wicked?” Alfie replied dryly but lacking the smirk a joke would require.

Sean elected to ignore the dour comment and move forward, “I was watching you though, you did a good job, I saw you nodding- agreeing- just like we talked about. I know it isn’t easy.”

“You said that before- at one point… I used to fight it?”

It was Sean’s turn to smirk, “Like a tomcat, a force of nature,” He replied with a tone of distinctive pride, “You really stuck it to them.”

“Sometimes I feel like I still want to…”

Sean paused, sensing the dangerous territory, “Fie, listen, that’s not a bad thing but-”

“But then they’d erase me again… I know. So I won’t.”

He sighed, “It’s just not fair, Fie. You should be able to fight and I should help you-”

“But it isn’t fair no matter what and if you’re gone...”

Fie was frankly amazingly lucid today. It was reminding Sean of how painful it could be when he was.... as opposed to the other special kind of torture of when he was out of it- this way he was aware of the injustice, the cruelty.

“You’re right,” Sean breathed out, feeling decidedly un-cheery.

As if reading his mind in turn Alfie responded with a wry smile that didn’t match his eyes, “Merry Christmas to us then.”

Sean then smiled bigger than he should have, “I do have one thing that might tip the balances of today…”

Alfie actually looked mildly curious.

“If you’ll do me the honor of escorting me back to your quarters, there may or may not be a surprise waiting there…”

Fie tried to suppress a small smile and nodded. He almost got up but then looked apprehensively at his tray, reflexively ready to be told to eat more.

“Clean plate club as far as I’m concerned.” Sean shooed him up gently with a smile. 

Fie wobbled a bit and wasn’t fast by any stretch of the imagination but when they made it back to his cell Sean gestured inside like a prize show girl.

Fie raised his eyebrows when with a cursory look nothing was visible. 

“You think I’d let the nurses take it home for themselves? Look a little closer-”

Alfie stepped inside as he had hundreds of times before. The only thing in the white cell was an iron bed with white sheets and a gray scratchy wool blanket. 

He looked back at Sean, now really confused.

“Check the sheets” Sean smiled.

So Alfie did, tucked right within was a small bundle…

Alfie immediately sat on his bed with the green wrapped bundle on his lap and then just stopped, staring at it.

“You can open it anytime,” Sean reminded him in a teasing voice.

Fie looked up at him, almost surprised again that he was there, already so distracted by this new object.

But he nodded minutely and looked back down to the parcel.

It was wrapped with a thin red and white twine bow that he gingerly pulled loose. Before it fell away he rubbed it with his fingers, savoring the touch.

Gingerly, so gingerly he began on the paper. There was no tape so at his little tug it easily came away. First visible was a card.

“Merry Christmas! From the Cyril’s” read in cheery red script around a green snow covered tree with little yellow lights dotting it. Fie’s finger brushed slowly over the pressed inks. After a long moment, he opened up the card and something fluttered out.

Sean jumped over to retrieve it and embarrassedly spluttered as he handed it back, “Sophie wanted to give you a card but each one has our snapshot in it for family and friends out of town- it’s corny, i know...” his cheeks were red.

Fie just silently took the thick glossy cutout back and stared at it. It was Sean, that he recognized, but bizarrely out of uniform, in a knit button-up leisure shirt. And a woman beaming at the camera in his arms below him. She was so happy- beaming wasn’t enough of a word to describe it. Her hair was done stylishly in medium curls that swept off her face and her dress, even in the black and white, was obviously colorful and jubilant.

They were beautiful.

He looked at the writing in the card, “Dear Alfred, Merry Christmas from us. Good tidings and continued wishes for your improving health. With cheers and fond wishes, Soph and Sean.”

The script was decidedly ugly which unexpectedly made Fie laugh, scrawled with sharp points and careless dots and crossed t’s, somehow even that was amusing and warm.

“Oh her writing? I know!! Apparently the nuns used to use a ruler on her hands in grade school for it- she thinks she’s talented for it!” Sean laughed warmly.

Fie closed the card and smiled at Sean, “Thank you, Sean.” He couldn’t believe they would give him this, it was almost too kind.

“Well thats just the card! Look at the rest!” Sean replied giddily.

And sure enough, to his surprise, (as he had forgotten about the lumpiness of the parcel) there was more. First was a little pie, the size of a hand and absolutely delicious looking, then… a tiny notebook, again no larger than a hand with a little pencil fit into the spine. 

Fie picked up the notebook, dumbfounded. Green leather bound with tissue thin pages turned over and over in his hands.

“Mostly for drawing…. If you ever felt like it when i can’t take you to the art room but also I don’t know...” Sean rubbed the back of his neck, “For remembering things you don’t wanna forget- important things-”

Fie shifted the contents of his lap beside him to jump up and hug Sean but clumsily more fell into him than anything.

“Thank you-” He mumbled into the warm winter uniform sweater, “Thank you.”

Sean held him securely, “Merry Christmas bud, you probably deserve a helluva lot more than this.”

---

@cursedscribbles @voidwhump @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @aliceinwhumperland @whump-it @professional-idiocy @ziptiewhump @angrystudentgoopfire @jaxonjekkels @clubbem @simplygrimly @whole-and-apart-and-between @bumpthumpwhump @rosesareviolentlyread @whumpasaurus101 @hurting-fictional-people @burtlederp @thelittlegirlwithcurlyhair @crystalquartzwhump @rotfern @sentientpileofmoss

[elizabethplaid]

daily notes - dec 15, 2024

Though my hours are still sporatic, I've been sleeping well. Last couple days, I've been shaking as I'm trying to fall asleep and waking up (though less so for the latter). Woke to my "monthly visitor" today, and now this past week makes sense.

After my afternoon nap, it was too early for dinner, so I just sat in the living room with phone games. Very glad to have my mom's bear Gus, so I didn't have to bring more things downstairs with me. (I brought my striped-knit blanket, because it also makes for a good back-rest cushion.) Dinner was (frozen, store-bought) ravioli; nothing fancy.

The rest is mostly mundane day-to-day notes, below the cut.

More knitting upstairs, watching more Silent Hill 2 (remake) game play. I caught Secret Sleepover Society's live-stream of it tonight, which went a little late. I prepared to do more knitting, but I had a sudden impulse to tidy.

Managed to (mostly) put away one hamper of clothing. Technically, it was only half-full, but the accomplishment is that I freed it up and put in new laundry. I also gathered some things for a load of cold-wash: my new Wampus t-shirt, the multi-packs of tank tops (dark/bright colors), and my black hoodie. Will need to add my robe later.

====== My call with phone-friend went well last night, and we touched base again this morning. I'd mentioned wanting to buy a cd of Christmas music for their family, as it's an album that means a lot to me. They said, "Just to double-check, you know I'm not Christian, right?" (paraphrased, of course) I knew, and we discussed our mutual appreciation of the arts, how we enjoy things even if we're not of that faith. [Modern-American Christmas is pretty secular nowadays.]

This album came out in 1982, and I've been listening to it as Christmas music for half of my life. In more recent years, especially as I leaned on music during the times with terrible nightmares, I've listened to it year-round. In fact, I often forget that it's technically a Christmas album. The few songs I recognize as carols are pretty chill, and it's all piano solos - no vocals. In fact, it has the only version of Pachabel's "Cannon in D" that I can stand. Winston's variations distract me very well.

So I sent my friend a link to a youtube playlist of the album's songs. "Thanksgiving" is my fav song on the album. If you were around back in the days of 8tracks, you might remember that "Thanksgiving" and "Carol of the Bells" were the first and last tracks on my mix, "Christmas in Kodiak".

Amid discussions of the video essays I've been watching lately, my friend recommended some other youtube channels to watch. I scrolled through and recognized videos I already watched, which means I know I'll like their other stuff. Also got to mention the neat video I watched about Fred's "ascot" in Scooby Doo.

I felt so energized and alive as we nerded out, talking about these different videos and topics. We also discussed video games, as we need to make a Steam Family group later. (It's the new iteration of sharing across accounts.)

======= I need to work on shopping lists soon. Gotta pick out things for the wishlist, to send to my dad and phone-friend. I'm going to use my friend's wishlist for my gift(s?) to them, though I do want to check a couple other sites for inspiration.

Depending on whether I'm up for a Bangor trip, I might ask my dad to order yarn for me online. (It'd be nice to pick it up in-person, but I might not have the stamina by then.) I usually ask for cds and household things, like my shower seat last year. Might need a new cd album-binder soon. I haven't put them away in the binders in years, and they're just stacking up, haha.

As I noticed back in August-ish, I'm feeling better about accepting gifts from loved-ones. I had a bit of trouble at the beginning of this year, but I def feel better about it now. Yay progress!

[milkemim]

Day 7: Christmas Cards

WC: 908

Link to all chapters

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

December 7th. The first week of Christmas went by in a flash. Since today was a Saturday, both Veneziano and Romano got to sleep in a little. Their beds were warm and soft, unlike the weather outside. Unlike [Name’s] bed. Or their whole house.

Slipping on their coat and shoes, shivering, they head out the door. The heating inside stopped working overnight and no matter how many layers they put on or how many warm drinks they drank, nothing eased the freezing feeling. The repairman wouldn’t be coming anytime soon either. So, they decided to pay the two brothers a visit.

Both the brothers wake up to the ring of their doorbell. Veneziano groggily gets up after a little and walks downstairs, to see Romano already at the door, yelling at [Name] for something. “[Name]! What’s going on, why are you here eso early?” He smiles and walks up to the door as well, “And come inside, don’t let the cold in!” He urges.

[Name] steps aside Romano and he closes the door behind. “Hi, Veneziano! The heaters aren’t working at my place and since you guys live near, I thought I’d spend the afternoon here, at least until it’s fixed. If that’s fine, that is.” They explain.

Romano sighs, “I guess it’s fine since you’re already here anyway.” He crosses his arms and looks down.

“Yay! Welcome to our house, [Name]! It’s been so long since I saw you!” Veneziano cheers and hugs [Name] quickly, already wide awake, partly because of the cold that found its way inside while the door was open.

“Yes, yes, thank you! I can make you guys breakfast, since I came at such an early hour. I haven’t had any yet, anyway.” [Name] says.

“I’m going back to bed. Wake me up when It’s done.” Romano walks back to his bedroom. He was still cranky from waking up so early after staying up so late.

“I’ll help you!” Veneziano happily offers and leads [Name] to the kitchen. He was always happy around them, as he was with most people. “Let’s make cornetti and valdostana! Oh, and brioche!”

Making everything on Veneziano’s from nearly scratch took roughly 2 hours. Thankfully it was the weekend, so no one was late to work. The two also made a lot more than just enough to feed three people, so they could heat some up during the following week in a rush.

After Veneziano went to wake Romano up, all three of them enjoyed a warm breakfast with coffee. It woke up Romano enough to be somewhat sociable and officially start the day. [Name] offered to do the dishes while the two brothers got dressed and ready.

The day was pretty ordinary. The three played video games in the living room for the most part. Afternoon came quickly and everyone was pretty tired of the console by now, so what would be a better idea than to make Christmas cards for their loved ones?

It was originally just a joke from Romano, but Veneziano quickly agreed to it. “I am NOT making Christmas cards!” He quickly backpedaled.

“Come on, Romano, it’ll be fun! And I’m sure Spain would love to hear from you! When was the last time you saw him?” Veneziano annoyingly latched onto his arm. “And It’s not like you actually have anything better to do!”

[Name] watched as the two argued with a small smile. “Let’s not force him, Veneziano… But it would be nice if he joined us.” They gently pulled Veneziano away from his brother.

“Fine. This better not take too long.” Romano sighs and reluctantly agreed and slid down from the couch to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table with Veneziano and [Name].

Veneziano got the arts and crafts basket out. There were assortments of stickers, colored paper, glitter glues and various supplies. Veneziano also puts Christmas music on from his phone, which Romano was not a fan of.

“Turn that off! It’s barely been a week of December!” He tries to grab Veneziano’s phone, but he holds it away from him.

“No way! It’s Christmas!”

“Not nearly!”

[Name] laughs at their antics and takes a red piece of paper and crinkle-cut scissors. “Let’s not fight! No one wants to go on Santa’s naughty list last minute, right?” They say as they start cutting a smaller part from the paper’s corner.

“Romano is already on the naughty list!” Veneziano pouts.

“Hey! Let’s just make these damn cards.”

Everyone works in silence for a moment. The only noise in the living room is the quiet Christmas music coming from Veneziano’s phone and the sound of making cards.

“I’m going to make matching cards for Germany and Japan!” Veneziano suddenly exclaims.

“Of course you are…” Romano mumbles.

“Don’t be so bitter. I’ll make a card for you too, but it needs to be made in secret!”

“Shut up.” Romano rolls his eyes.

“Who are you making a card for, [Name]?” Veneziano asks, turning to them.

“Secret~” They wink.

Unbeknownst to the three of them, they were being watched. By grandpa Rome and Germania!

“Look at my two little grandsons! Aren’t they so cute?” Rome happily smiles, hidden behind the doorway to the living room, even though they wouldn’t be able to see him anyway.

“First of all I don’t think they are little in the slightest, but yeah, yeah… Whatever you say.” Germania sighs and watches them with him.

[oceangirl24]

Find the word…Red and Blue edition! (And a quick update)

IRL hasn't relented much yet and I'm still struggling to find the energy to write so the next update will likely take another 7-8 weeks to get out. Hopefully not. Hopefully the ongoing situation in my neighborhood will be resolved before then.

I was able to get in a little drawing (see the new Aud sketch above). Yay! 🎉

Also my favorite niece, @axolotlsupremacyowo, tagged me in her new Find the Word game.

Here we go!

Words for me:

Sky, Ocean, Blueberry, Sapphire, Denim

Words for you:

Ruby, Ladybug, Cardinal, Holly, Bricks

Tagging: @stealing-your-kittens @the-orion-scribe @winterlovesong1 @justanotherpersonwhowrites @violetrose-art

Open tag too if you'd like to join the fun.

Also if you want to be tagged, let me know and I'll add you. If you did, let me know and I missed you, throw something at me. It's been awhile since I've done these. 😅

Sky

Another flash of lightning cracked through the sky. As the thunder subsided, the doorbell rang. Cautiously, Shawn approached the front door. He pushed the curtain of the narrow window to the right of the door to the side just enough so he could see out. It was dark. The porch lamps were no match against the stormy night; darkness swallowed any light they cast.

Lightning tore through the sky once again. In its radiance, he could see the shadow of the Boogeyman at his door.

-Saudade: Preparations

Ocean

Shawn started to move again-this time he ran. As he did, thoughts of his father's drunken fits chased him. He swore he could hear Chet roaring in fury just behind him. He panicked and raced faster, desperate to get to the safety of the apartment and Jon. But memories of his father pursued him. The taunts and the insults echoed like the bellowing of the ocean in his ears reminding him of how worthless he was, how useless, how much easier life would be without him. He felt the sharp, painful sting of an open palm against his cheek.

-The Return: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Blueberry

With the mood dampened, Shawn and Julia busied themselves by going over the menu. Certain foods were off limits due to Audrey's altered taste thanks to her pregnancy. Bacon was an absolute no-go as the smell exacerbated her all-day sickness.

Instead of bacon, Julia made sausage patties the way Audrey taught her to make them from scratch while Shawn made blueberry pancakes the way she had taught him.

As he dropped pancake batter on the skillet, he glanced at his sister and asked, "How old were you when Mom taught you to cook?"

-Saudade: "I Never Sang for My Father"

No sapphire. 🤔

Denim

Audrey looked so frail and young and even more so next to guys like Harley Kiner, who had also taken a liking to her. If it had been up to Jonathan, he would have assigned her to a class at the elementary school. It was easy to picture her in a denim jumper with her hair tied back at the nape of her neck surrounded by kids who no doubt would brighten to see her each day.

-Autumn in Philadephia: Cory and Shawn's Miracle Soap

[centuryberry]

CHAPTER 11- IT SO-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- IT'S JUST SO AMAZINGGGGGGG- WHA- AND OUR DARLING YUEEEE <333 THE LITTLE QUEEN IS JUST SO CLEVERRRR, ALSO SHE GOT TO MEET GRANDPAPA SO MORE FAMILYY SO YAY! ALSO SHE CALLED WUKONG BABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! IT JUST. SO PERFECT. LIKE MUAH! I BET NEZHA IS JUST CARRIED WITH HIM HANGING FROM ERLAND LIMPLY LIKE A SACK OF POTATOS

ALSO OH NOOOOO, THAT DEMON .D:

(Ehehehee >:> also me mayhaps be working on a few somethinggsss, still from chapter 10 but I mayhaps have moree ideasss)

You feed me and everyone else so well with your art! Take your time with the process and just know that every time you post it’s like a surprise Christmas present! I just can’t wait to see what you have in store!

Also, I’m happy you liked the recent chapter! Nezha went through his own version of a fetch quest turned into a convoluted side quest…or maybe even a major quest.

[seven-pillows]

hi woow i have a lego ask if u feel like answering one: which lego sets do u have and what are ur faves if any? and what other sets do u want to get besides the pegasus? the unicorn is soo cuute btw!!

hi yay thank you for giving me an opportunity to yap 😈 putting all this below the cut because i couldn't help myself. here are all the sets i own in the order i got them + my thoughts on them

1) 10281 Bonsai Tree

this was given to me for my birthday last year! i think this set has become an instant classic, it's such a nice looking display piece. i put it on the windowsill in my staircase which was very silly because when it gets knocked over, those loose studs go EVERYWHERE 😭

2) 31140 3-in-1 Magical Unicorn

this is my favourite set ever i love it so much! i impulse bought it in a bookshop one day because it has a seahorse and is rainbow, two of my favourite things. i've definitely gotten my money's worth with how many times i've built and rebuilt the different models. plus, on Rebrickable, there are so many custom models people have made out of these pieces! i've turned it into a rhino, a boat and a helicopter from other people's instructions. love that website.

fun fact, an hour or two after i bought this (this was before i even really started getting into lego) they released the first teaser for the Animal Crossing lego sets. the way i manifested that?

3) 21340 Tales of the Space Age

this was a christmas gift! i think it's really pretty and i love how you can change the constellation in the third one. that being said, it just feels a bit silly to have a set be so 2D like this? this could have been an art print.

4) 77050 Nook's Cranny & Rosie's House

i got this one in March! when the AC sets were announced i vowed to get all of them no matter what. i have not done this because they are very expensive for what they are and i don't love them as much as i wanted to... the minifigs are perfect but i think the way that everything is on its own little squircle base looks a bit messy. that being said, as someone who grew up loving Animal Crossing but never had any merch because it was still pretty niche, my inner child was very happy building this set :) i really enjoy how you can change the layout of the furniture in the house and all the individual outdoor pieces.

4a/4b) 30662 Maple's Pumpkin Garden and 30635 Beach Cleanup

these two little sets came for free with the previous one! the Animal Crossing one is cute, kinda whatever though. it's pretty much just an add-on to the main sets. love Maple ❤️

the Friends one though? i held off on building it so i could have it to cheer me up some day i was feeling low. when i finally did build it i fell in love with it! it's just really colourful and cutesy. my first job was actually litter picking by the seaside so it's so bizarre and coincidental that i ended up with this. i've attached this set beside Rosie's house to try and incorporate it into my little Animal Crossing town. i guess Aliya is the player? Pascal looks different though 🧐

i will say though that this set does feel very greenwashy. i follow some sea glass collectors on instagram and they're always finding lego bricks washed up on the shore... i can't really talk because i'm out here buying their products but i do feel a bit guilty sometimes. but also life is short and i'm just trying to be happy. idk. surprise ethical discourse 🤩

Sets I want

i've ordered a few more Animal Crossing sets, namely Dodo Airlines and the Town Hall, because i want to have a little Animal Crossing town (and also just so i could get that damn pegasus 😑). i am also really looking into Lego Friends because i think they have some beautiful and interesting buildings in that theme, and the commitment to inclusion and representation just feels really nice. but yeah. stay tuned for more unwise financial decisions

[haus-mom]

1, 10, 20, 30 and 40! And 9!

aaaa thank you mar!!!! you better believe i'll ask you back! though when this gets posted the questions will already be on your askbox but anyway

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

AUGH I HAVE. A LOT ACTUALLY but if i had to choose a few hmmmmm

first there's ninten!!! yes that's actually his name. or ken. he's named ken in the novel. any mother/earthbound character would fit but i'm specially attached to ninten because Back Then he used to get characterized as this super silly guy with millions of penguin plushies in his room and he's just. he's a cool dude! his first and only quote in the entire game is at the end, when the adventure is over, he just plops into his bed and falls asleep mid sentence. the penguin thing is kinda canon btw. he loves penguins <3

then there's neku from twewy!!! i'm trying to go chronologically or i'll get irrevocably lost. met him through kingdom hearts and seeing as his game was on the ds i was like "eh why not" (<- this later led to a life changing experience)

he's such an idiot and i actually hate him a lot <3 (affectionate. like, really affectionate) he's the definition of a closed off edgelord but he grows so much and learns so much and dhsbhdabhjhjbhj

there's another reason why he's here though!!! twewy is played with both screens on the ds, neku being on the lower and his game partner on the upper. but i absolutely sucked at keeping track of both screens so my brother would control the partner so when i see him i smile remembering everytime my brother and i almost broke my ds in half trying to beat sho <3 it was christmas too! yay!

the fun part about being a fan of this game is that the only official art that came up when i looked him up were a super close up of his face and a spoiler. so i had to go into the game files and get this pic myself.

anyway.

this is yuuichi mizuoka from re:kinder, he's the last character someone would consider a comfort character, and he basically invented being a princess with a disorder (sort of. heart did it first)

this is also the little guy who went around biting people (like chibita!) and telling you why he's a comfort character would both be extremely spoilery and extremly sad, because i already showed you his introduction and he's just. he's a murder baby, what else do you need? the things that this li'l fella has both gone through and done are unspeakable. he's unfixable. he's also 8 years old.

honestly every parun character (that. that i know of (?) is a comfort character in the sense that if i see them i get all happy and [FLAPS HANDS]

some more than others, like, i can highlight tokimeki, gote, ramu, and if you show me a picture of handa i will actually do the 🥺face irl. does that make topema from henderland no daibouken a comfort character? wait, she actually kinda is, isn't she?

i have some more but this ask would never get actually answered if i listed them all, have the ones from my formative years (11-13 y/o, everyone's formative years, right?) honorable mentions are the second year trio from inago, kasane teto, ryuunosuke naruhodou, minori hanasato, sora kingdomhearts (that's his actual name), takane enomoto... see, this is why we go chronological, otherwise we get confused and forget characters </3

9. which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

neither, actually, i don't like coffee and caffeine makes me sleepy, so i normally don't drink any... i don't like tea either, so i'm team third option: chocomilk :D!

10. would you slaughter the rich?

not realistically, because i'm hilariously weak (physically), but i'd gladly watch others slaughter the rich! i'd feel bad doing nothing so i can offer emotional support! i can even dress as a cheerleader. or the cheer squad from osu tatakae ouendan. hell yeah.

20. do you say soda or pop?

les digo FANTA y COCACOLA porque creo que aparte de "bebidas gaseosas" no tenemos ninguna palabra así cortita para definirla, así que en españa (no sé si en alguna parte de latinoamérica tenéis alguna) siempre les decimos como las marcas. creo que rebloggeé hace poco un post sobre marcas teniendo que ceder derechos porque la gente empieza a decirle a los productos como las marcas y me resulta hilarante

when speaking in english i say soda because, despite my (british) teacher's best efforts, i was raised by american youtubers and that cannot be undone. pop is a hilarious word to me because it is what it is. it goes "pop!" when you open it, so it's called pop!

30. is there dishes in your room?

there were two (2) dishes in my room when you sent this ask, but i decided to be a responsible adult and wash them before having dinner. there's a cup here though. from dinner. because i don't feel like leaving it in the sink just yet.

40. did you have any snacks today?

uhhhh, do chewable fruit candies count? when it's exam season i usually have a bag of snacks nearby because the sugar does wonder to my concentration ✨ might be placebo, might be me doing better because i get to have A Little Treat, who knows

(these candies have the flavour written in portuguese, i think, and i was so confused like 'what the fuck is a mirtilo 😭'

cuando vi el limón, que pues, es literalmente limão, quedé como así

[theriacballad]

Heyo! I'm Dandy, below you can find more information about me, as well as links to my carrd and pronouns page; including some common tags you'll see on my page.

BASICS

I go by a lot of names, of which you can find on my pronouns page, but my main ones are usually displayed in my carrd or my tumblr Bio. Neato!

I am a MINOR. So please, for the love of all things unholy and holy, don't be weird with me. With that being said though, please do not interact with me if you are under the age of 16, you are allowed to interact with my content, as I can't stop you from doing so, but please be respectful of my wishes.

I'm an autistic nonbinary fellow, so tone tags are greatly appreciated; I also suffer from dissociative disorders and other disorders I am not willing to disclose, so please be mindful of that.

I will say slurs I can reclaim, and I will also make KMS and KYS jokes; of which will be tagged incase you do not wish to see those posts. Suggestive posts will also be tagged; SUGGESTIVE POSTS WILL NEVER BE OUTRIGHT NSFW! AS I AM STILL A MINOR!

FANDOMS AND INTERESTS

As of right now, I am heavily hyperfixated on IHNMAIMS, Ultrakill, Jekyll and Hyde, and gothic horror literature in general. My brain chemistry is forever changed by these Victorian aged fools and sopping wet cats and robots; feel free to talk to me about them!

Other content and fandoms you may see on my page consists of: IHNMAIMS, Ultrakill, FNAF, DSAF, TMA, Undertale, TSP, True crime, Scenecore, LSOH, Heathers, Black Christmas, Scream, general horror movies, Chickens, and a lot more! If you wanna tag me in any of this content, feel free to! I love seeing it :] I am a self taught artist and roleplayer, I've been roleplaying for almost a decade now and doing art since I was like. Young. Lmao. I post about my ocs here sometimes, you have probably seen Roman and Rufus, along with Bennie posted here on occasions!

TAGS

General Jekyll and Hyde tags - for anything related to Jekyll and Hyde! Gothic horror/Literature tags - Anything related to the generalized enjoyment of Gothic horror literature and the like :] Meowing on the microphone - For when I spew bullshit out of my maw! Yay! Kitty's arts and crafts - For whenever I post art! JAH Paddock AU - For the AU that I am writing on AO3, posts about it, updates, etc!

OC tags - for any ocs I post !

IHNMAIMS tags - For I have no mouth and I must scream related content

-- Slurs usage - for when a post of mine contains a slur.

-- Suggestive - for when a post of mine can be deemed suggestive.

-- KYS usage - for whenever I use a KYS or KMS joke.

More TBA.

I know this post is pretty long, but hopefully it goes over the general stuff of my page and what's to be expected here. :] Here's my links!

[salchat]

Heya I just obnoxiously went through and reblogged and/or followed people from just about every post you’ve made in the last few weeks.

Also, your art has driven me to formally ask for your hand in marriage, so just lmk when the best time to do that would be. That’s all 🤗

Hello! Reblogging is never obnoxious! It's lovely! Thank you! But sadly my hand is already occupied... I've been married for (scratches head and counts on fingers) over eighteen years!

I'm very pleased that you love my art, though. And yes, as you said in one of your non-obnoxious reblogs, a lot of it is drawn with vine/willow charcoal on newsprint, which is very swishy (technical term) and very cheap. I also use different types of pastels - pastel pencil, hard pastel, cheap rubbishy pastels and sonetimes very expensive soft pastel - I've been insisting on art supply vouchers for Christmas and birthday for a couple of years now so my supplies have built up!

I like crayon too and oil pastels, but charcoal's always my favourite - vine, pencil and compressed. Oh, and I nearly always use an overhand grip. I can't bear holding anything in a writing grip and making little itchy-scritchy marks - it has to be swooshy lines and curves and flicks and scrubbing and then mushing it up with my fingers. Very messy and lovely.

What you see in my posts, though, only represents a small fraction of what I draw. I order newsprint and cheap construction paper in big stacks of five hundred sheets (A3 and A2 size) and I have piles and piles of awkward, floundering, strangely-shaped figure drawings and portraits - a potential avalanche of lovely, messy rubbish that I have to work through to progress.

In fact, it's time to neglect various houseworky things now and do some more drawing! Yay!

[blanketempress]

this blog is turning 10 this year 🍾🥳🎉

I made an improvement timeline to celebrate

2013 - The year I stopped reading mangas so much, and got into webcomics instead. I also decided to ditch DeviantArt because it was getting worse and worse for everything

I was really into Sandman and Steam Powered Giraffe

2014 - I got my first drawing tablet for Christmas 2013, but for almost two years I still drew everything on paper to color/ink digitally later

I was still very much into Steam Powered Giraffe. Also this was the last year where I had patience for inking until 2022

2015 - Definitely tried to break from my manga style but I had an unfortunate dorito face phase

2016 - Last year of Steam Powered Giraffe, last year of traditional art as well

In retrospect, I'm kind of impressed by the fact that my art got anywhere. I did a single human anatomy study based on a photograph. I had never done a single one. At all. Ever. Before that. Woopsies

2017 - A lot of OCs stuff got done between 2016 and 2018, I even finished writing a short story

Despite learning how to do studies and vowing to do more of them, I did NOT do a single human study that year, but I did try very hard to understand perspective (then I dropped it completely until 2022)

2018 - The return of anatomy studies

The year I finally accepted to use references, contrasts, and to learn how to paint

2019 - Lots of DnD and OCs stuff in there, and some experiments on lines and colors techniques, yay

2020 - Since I was finally going somewhere with my drawings, I, of course, decided to stop for two entire years smh

2021 - Literally all I could churn out were 6 character cards for one of our VTM campaigns

2022 - We're back and it's vampires central baby

It took me almost a year to shake off the rust and get back in the game

_

Thoughts and prayers for 2023 ; if everything goes right I'll keep doing anatomy studies and maybe by 2033 I will have bullied myself into drawing backgrounds and landscapes

Here's to another 10 years

Special thanks to @mellyoraa, @kimodraw, @magpiecrown and of course @charlesemersonwinchesteriii for sticking through ten entire years

[travelingtheusa]

NEVADA

2024 Dec 23 (Mon) – Well, I am back from five days in NY.  It sure flew by!  I finally saw the oncologist (yay).  All bloodwork was fine.  I also saw the eye surgeon and he clipped off the stitch that was hanging on my face.  His response was that I sleep on my left side and that was what caused the stitch to work its way out.  Are you kidding me?  He said it was an anchor from my eyelid to the orbital bone.  But it’s been months and enough scar tissue would have built up by now so there “should not” be any problem.  That man will never touch me again!

       I had delays on both flights coming and going.  Southwest seems to be having problems.  When I got back, the lock on my duffle bag was missing and some of my clothes were wet.  My bag had been left out in the rain.  Maybe it was opened in the rain.  I don’t know.  Nothing appeared to have been taken.

      We met Joan and Peter for dinner on Saturday.  We went to the Crystal Shops to Ding Tai Fung for soup dumplings.  It was an interesting experience.  Afterward, we went to the Arte Museum.  It used a clever arrangement of mirrors, hanging objects, and moving items to give a very surreal experience.  We even colored a picture of a jungle animal then had it projected onto the wall.  Cool.

      Then we went to Jason Aldean’s Bar and sat out on the patio overlooking the Strip while enjoying cocktails.  A wonderful evening.

       Sunday, we did laundry and grocery shopping.  Just hung out at the campground.  Got a message from Joan that Diane’s mother passed away.  It will be a blue Christmas for them.  So sorry.  Kit has been very ill for years.  It is a blessing for her.  She was down to 60 pounds and in constant pain.  Joan sent a note that the burial will be on January 3rd.  We were planning to leave on that day.  I stopped by the office and extended our stay for one more night so we could attend the funeral.  Then I had to call the next campground and extend our arrival by one day.

2024 Dec 12 (Thu) – We picked Les up at 10 and drove to Boulder City to see Hoover Dam.  The water levels were incredibly low.  Wow!  Hope the area gets lots and lots of rain soon.  On the way back to Vegas, we stopped in Techatticup, a ghost town outside Nelson.  The place is an old gold mine that has accumulated lots of rusty vehicles and other paraphernalia over the years.

       We got back to the Luxor at 4:55 p.m. for our 5 p.m. Blue Man Group show.  Paul turned the truck over to the valet and we hustled our way to the theater.  We sat in our seats at 4:59 p.m.  Just made it!  The show was OK but not as good as I remember it (we’ve seen it twice before).  Paul thought it was pretty much the same.  So much for impressions!

       After the show, we went to the Tender Steakhouse in the Luxor.  It was not as good as the Chart House.  Les kept going on about what a good time he has had here and what were his favorite things were and so on.  I guess he really enjoyed himself in these five days here in Vegas.  He will be leaving for Arizona at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.  I had offered to meet him for breakfast, but he wanted to leave early.  We said our goodbyes and returned to the campground.   

2024 Dec 11 (Wed) – We picked Les up at 11 a.m. and drove to Joan’s factory/shop.  She gave Les a tour and lots of snacks and candy to take back to his room.  At 12, we drove with Joan and Pete to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  They make homemade chips, which everyone enjoyed very much.  The food was good.  The burgers were huge.

       After lunch, we took Less back to the campground and visited for awhile.  Poor Sheba has been suffering diarrhea – something new for her.  I think it’s the stress of us being out so much and her not being fed at her regular time. 

       At 5 p.m., we drove back into Vegas to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner with Joan & Peter.  There was a large party that came in and blocked a view of the stage where two performers were playing instruments and singing German songs.  The place was loud.  Les seemed to enjoy himself very much.

2024 Dec 10 (Tue) – I went to the eye doctor this morning.  He says I had dandruff of the eye.  The little white mark is supposed to be an infection.  When I got home, I pulled at the white mark thinking it was an infection and trying to scrape it off.  To my surprise, out popped a stitch!  And it is still attached.  That’s what the infection has been about all the time – my body trying to reject this stupid stitch, which, by the way, the surgeon told me, would dissolve.  Can’t wait to get home and confront him.  In the meantime, the eye doctor here prescribed an eye scrubber, eye drops and a salve for my eyes.  CVS did not have the eye drops and I will have to go back when they get it in.

      Paul and I went to breakfast at IHOP after the doctor.  Then we picked Les up and went to Fremont Street.  I like that place very much.  It’s so colorful and busy with all the people and actors.  Les was smitten with it, too.  We walked up and down, stopping to look at the light show overhead and at the various characters acting around the place.  One particularly interesting character was a guy dressed as a gorilla.  He jiggled and wiggled and jumped and danced to the music.  Les was enamored with it.  He went over and put $5 in the bucket.  When he did that, the gorilla wrapped his arms around Les and then posed for a picture.  It was pretty funny.

       Then we went in the Golden Nugget Casino.  We dropped a big $3 in a machine and only won $1, which we promptly put back in the machine.  Then we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse in the casino.  The rodeo is in town and the cowboys had reserved all the seating at the restaurant.  It was an hour and a half wait.  Not even our Landry’s card would get us in.  So, we went to the Chart House for dinner (also in the casino).  We were seated at a table next to a 75 thousand gallon living aquarium tank.  It was entertaining to watch all the exotic fish swim around.  The food was excellent as well.       We went back out to Fremont Street and walked around some more.  Les did not want to leave.

2024 Dec 9 (Mon) – It was a good day today.  We picked Les up at 11 a.m. and went to lunch at Blueberry Hill Restaurant.  They have a great breakfast and other menu items.  Les only had a bowl of soup, Paul had a BLT, and I had a huge salad.  Afterward, we drove along the strip, admiring the buildings and pointing out various interesting things.  At one point, Paul drove the wrong way down a one-way street.  We were trying to show him Fremont Street.  Les thought it was very funny.  Las Vegas is a very confusing town.

      We drove to The Sphere for “Postcard From Earth.”  We had difficulty getting into the parking lot – again because the roads are confusing.  We finally got in.  When we pulled in, Paul tried to give the attendant cash for the $18 parking fee.  The guy said “Card Only.”  Les pulled out his credit card, but the guy spotted the $20 and said he’d take that because it was quicker (there was a long line trying to get into the parking lot).  We all agreed it was a scam and the guy pocketed the money. 

       How can I describe The Sphere?  It is a giant bubble.  The entire surface is covered with lights that project pictures of incredible quality.  The pictures are constantly changing.  It is very mesmerizing.  Inside, the building is massive.  The ceiling must be 20 feet high.  Everything is painted in dark colors.  The bathroom was very dim.  I’m glad I don’t have a vision problem; I wouldn’t have been able to see very well with the walls, stalls and floors all painted black.  There were two robots on stanchions.  They talked to the audience.  The animation was just like Walt Disney World’s animatronic characters.  The robot would interact and actually hold a conversation with you.  The show was equally mind blowing.  We sat in the lower middle of the auditorium.  Les said he read that the place holds 70,000 people.  It was huge!  The screen came on and covered the entire front, sides, and top of the building.  You got the feeling of moving as the pictures scrolled by.  The seats vibrated, wind blew, and you could smell the dust from wind storms.  Luckily, it didn’t rain on us.  At one point, a giant elephant came onto the screen.  It towered over us and looked down at the audience before strolling past.  Then came a herd of giraffes, one looking right down at us.  Then a theater filled with people looking at us as we looked at them.  It was quite the experience of the night.

      We got out of the show and went to get some dinner.  There is no restaurant in Les’ hotel.  We stopped in a Korean BBQ place.  What a repast!  We got a meal with many different kind of meats offered.  You said what you wanted (Wagu beef belly, sirloin steak, ribs, lots of seafood like squid, etc.) and the waiter brought it to the table raw.  We then put it on the burner in the center of the table and cooked the meat.  We didn’t know what was what but we cooked and ate it.  There were also about 20 different vegetables in small bowls and we each got a full bowl of white rice.  We had so much fun passing everything around and tasting all the new treats.  The meal ended with ice cream.

2024 Dec 8 (Sun) – Our friend, Les, arrived in town.  We first met him and his wife on the Alaska caravan we took in 2015.  Since, we have been good friends.  His wife, Rae, passed away 2 years ago.  Les is here in Vegas for a week.  We will be doing shows and dinners with him while he’s here.

      We picked Les up from his hotel (Hilton Grand Vacation Club Resort) at 5 p.m. then drove to the Italian American Club for their dinner and Christmas show.  Joan & Peter, with many friends, also joined us.  We had two tables of 8 for the dinner.  It was fun.

2024 Dec 7 (Sat) – We didn’t do much today.  Just stayed in and potsed around on our respective computers.

2024 Dec 6 (Fri) – We went to Joan & Pete’s at 4:30 p.m.  From there, they drove to the club house where the condo association was having their Christmas party.  There was a buffet with a strange collection of food.  I guess they don’t coordinate who brings what.  There were way too many desserts and not enough food.  After we were all done eating, a local high school chorus group came in and sang for half an hour.  What remarkable talent!  What really impressed me was the ethnic mix of the kids.  That is so important to understanding other people – to be near them and work with them and get to know them.  These kids will grow up well adjusted in dealing with people different from them.

       After the entertainment, we went back to Joan & Pete’s for a Christmas tree decorating party.  About 20 or so people came over and there were lots of desserts and drinks for everyone.  Joan loves to entertain and I think this is her favorite time of year.  We stayed until 9:30 p.m.  Since Paul had a lot to drink, I drove home.  The GPS took us by the strip and all the lights and bling were overwhelming.  I wanted to stop and look at everything.  Looking out over the horizon, lights from people’s home seemed to stretch forever.  There are a lot of people living in Las Vegas.

2024 Dec 5 (Thu) – Paul and I finished all the Christmas cards.  Since Escapees changed the number on our mailing address, I had to change all the return labels.  I also put a red arrow on the envelope to point out the change.  Hope people pick up on it.  All in all, we have 160 envelopes – 50 with letters – to mail out.

      Sheba was actually playing with one of her toys this morning.  She seems to be feeling pretty good.  We have been giving her Laxatone for hairballs and constipation.  She is throwing up less and having more bowel movements.  I guess it’s making her feel better.  The limp is starting to come back.  I guess the shot is wearing off.  I’ll have to find a vet to give her another one before we leave Vegas.

2024 Dec 4 (Wed) – We met Joe & Diane for lunch at Cracker Barrell.  I had meatloaf had roast beef.  Both meals were good.  They have remodeled the store.  I remember reading something about Cracker Barrel trying to re-invent itself.  Sales have been declining since the pandemic struck so they are looking to refresh and rebrand themselves.  The remodel of the store is nice, although it seems to have less clothing than it did before.  The dining area is nice to look at but they took away the walls between booths so that I was literally sitting next to the guy at the table next to us.  The half wall was all that divided us.  That was uncomfortable.

      I finished addressing the Christmas cards and addressing the envelopes.  Tomorrow, I put the return labels on and stamp them all.

2024 Dec 3 (Tue) – It was a busy day today.  I got the Christmas card list updated.  Now that I am the president of SMART, I need to send cards to all the officers of the organization.  That’s a lot! 

     We took some purchases back to Target.  It turned out the cashier had charged us for 3 rolls of wrapping paper but we had only bought one.  Someone got free paper on us.  We’ll have to be sure to look at the receipts in the future.

      There was a top at the Post Office to pick up stamps.  Wow!  They went up 20 cents in June.  It is now 73 cents to mail a first-class letter.  We mailed off the Christmas packages to the kids.  That was another wow!  It cost $236 to mail their Christmas gifts.  We could have bought a whole lot more presents for that money.

      We did the laundry this morning.  There are only 3 washers and 3 dryers in the annex we use.  We had to use all 3 washers.  Someone came in wanting to do laundry so we consolidated the 3 washers into 2 dryers.  As a result, not everything got dry.  We had to run some things through again.  And the lady never came in to use the dryer we left empty for her.  Hmmmm.     

2024 Dec 2 (Mon) – We drove to Vegas Image at 3 p.m.  Joan gave us boxes to pack gifts in and lots of candy for the kids.  Then we all drove to Joan & Peter’s house.  After visiting, we went to Green Valley Ranch casino for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  The food was very good.  Afterward, we did some gambling.  Both Paul and I had good luck.  I spent $40 and Paul spent $60.  We walked away with $102  after playing for an hour.  That’s what I call a good night.  It cost nothing in the end.

2024 Dec 1 (Sun) – We stayed in the campground today, wrapping presents and getting our annual Christmas letter written.  I want to send it out early so people can see our change of address.

2024 Nov 30 (Sat) – Adam invited us for left-overs this afternoon.  Joan & Peter joined us.  Everything was quite tasty.  On the way home, we stopped at a liquor store to restock our libations then at Target to do some Christmas shopping.  We till have one or two things to pick up.

      Paul pulled all the Christmas boxes out of hiding.  The place is overflowing with “stuff.”  I will be glad to put to all away.  How “Bah, Humbug” is that?

2024 Nov 29 (Fri) – We went to the PX to take advantage of their Black Friday sale.  The ads said everything was 20% off with another 15% off if you used your AAFES credit card.  We bought gifts and other things.  Not everything was 20% off but we did get some good prices.  While there, we had lunch in the food court.  The place was so packed.  It seemed everyone wanted the deals.  As I was waiting at the jewelry counter to buy a pair of earrings, there was young man in front of me who was spending $1,200 on jewelry.  Whew!

      After we got home, we did the laundry.  It is only 75 cents a machine.  It only cost $3 to do two loads of wash.  That’s a deal!  We also put up a SMART poster on the bulletin board.  We just did cheese and crackers for dinner tonight.  Just not hungry enough to cook a big meal.  Besides, we have stuff all over the place.  We’ll be wrapping tomorrow.

      It looks like the ant traps have worked.  There was not a single ant to be seen anywhere tonight.     

2024 Nov 28 (Thu – Thanksgiving) – We went over Adam & Diane’s home for dinner tonight.  Joan & Peter were there as well, as were several of Adam’s friends with their families.  It was a lively night with drinks and good food.  We played two games of 31 and I won both.

2024 Nov 27 (Wed) – We ran out of propane last night.  It’s been cool – down in 40s at night.  After getting some propane, we went out for lunch at Farmer Boys.  The sandwiches were excellent.  Their sides were weird.  The onion rings were the size of half an onion!  And the zucchini sticks were the entire length of the zucchini!  Then it was a quick stop at WalMart to pick up wine and a pecan pie for tomorrow.

2024 Nov 26 (Tue) – We ran some errands today.  Went to Home Depot to pick up new towel holders.  One of the holders that was on the cabinet door broke.  We stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch.  I did not care for my smashed burger.  Paul remembered that they were known for their tacos on Long Island so he promptly got tacos for lunch.  We found fuel for $3.25 a gallon.  Yay!  Most of the places around here are close to $4. 

      At 4 p.m. we drove to Joan & Pete’s house (it was almost an hour drive there but only 34 minutes back).  They weren’t back from a board meeting, so we let ourselves in to wait for them.  They showed up about 10 minutes later.  After wine and visiting, we went to dinner at Chef Roma Kitchen.  It is an Italian restaurant.  The food was good.

2024 Nov 25 (Mon) – After 9 days of constant moving (one night at every campground), we have arrived at Nellis AFB Desert Eagle RV Park in Las Vegas.  Whew.  It will be nice to sit for a while.  We are here until January 2nd.  Then, it will be on the road again.

      We left Kingman, AZ, around 10 a.m.  We left late because it was only 100 miles today.  The drive was easy and direct.  Check in was pretty easy.  The campground is familiar.  We have been here three times before.  We set up and just hung out for the day.  I sent Joan & Peter a text letting them know we had arrived.

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Startups

Startups is an Oink Games card game, where the players are investors considering the value of a small number of companies and their eventual value in terms of exploiting one another. It is a card game of simple mechanics with complex choices, where you choose on your turn if you’re going to spend money to explore new options or just take the options other people have served up for you. At the end of the game, your cards in your hand are contributed to your portfolio in front of you, and the player who has the majority of any given business is now in charge of that business, and get money from all the players who don’t.

It is crisp, it is tight, and I feel like what I did in the first paragraph bordered on a full synopsis of the game without actually specifically counting every element of the game out in an agonising list. It was a Christmas gift for me years ago and I finally, finally, finally got to play it and immediately after we played it, multiple people in the group said ‘let’s play it again.’ Before bedtime.

This game rules.

Okay, but how am I going to fill out a whole article about it after that?

First of all, to talk about Startups as a board game involves talking about it in the three ways I default to: The game’s abstraction (the theme and fiction of the game), the game’s enrolment (how it gets you into its rules space where your actions are uncertain), and the game’s stuffness (what material elements of the game present a space for those elements to reach you). This is a structure for game analysis I use in classes, and which I think serves as a useful toolkit for explaining games both as constructed objects, but also games that already exist.

First up, abstraction. The game is about investors in startup companies that are competing in a semi-regulated market. The amount of money you have is fairly intangible, and purchasing shares in companies is much more about opportunities than it is about available money. At the end, the majority shareholders of each business can claim dividends from everyone else involved in that business, yay, but along the way you have to spend money to get access to more opportunities (drawing more cards). The companies’ ability to deliver on their claims is completely immaterial, and the whole thing is represented with a stark and extremely crisp style of art that’s actually a little too fun and a little too cute to really be the corporate logo aesthetic it’s teasing at.

The game enrols you into its rules really quickly. The first turn and the last turn are almost identical, and all you need to learn to play the game is that you pick up a card, you put down a card, and everything about those choices flows from that. The complexity, the places you get all pulled into the rules space, is in watching what other players are doing, what they’re putting down, and determining what they want to do and what they can’t do, and what, therefore, it’s safe for you to do on the way to your goals.

I am personally delighted by the form factor of Oink Games’ games. They come in a little box that seemingly only Oink use to present their games, which is a unique size and shape in an industry of generally standardised oversized game forms. The games are so tiny and so tight and I imagine it means shipping them is very convenient and easy, which belies the price these games command, when you have internalised as I do that the games industry largely pays for transport. What makes up Startups as a material presence in my life is a deck of 50ish cards, maybe 60ish tokens, a rules pamphlet that is bordering on inaccessible at its printing scale, and six large tokens.

And this is where this game, and many Oink games, stands in my mind. A lesson to walk away from these games with.

You might notice that I don’t pay a lot of mind to costs of games, most of the time. Sometimes there are games whose whole financial footprint sits wrong with me; I wondered why the Avatar: The Last Airbender TTRPG was so merely good when it was the most successful TTRPG product of all time on Kickstarter. The way that D&D and Magic: The Gathering exist as games means that they need to be held to enormously high standards and can indeed be left permanently unforgiven for things like how they treated Orion Black. Typically speaking, though, when I discuss finances of games, it is as a matter of how extreme outliers in budget and price exist.

Oink Games, and Startups in particular, are games whose whole form factor is attainable for me. I can make games comparable to Startups. I didn’t make Startups – it’s a really, really good game and part of what makes it so good is clearly round upon round of polished playtesting. Its corporate art aesthetic, its tuned numbers, I do not compare my work to that of Startups because I think my work is just as good, but because I think my work lives in the same space as this game.

Right now, with the stock I have, I charge $15 for games of the scale of Startups. The retail price in my country for Startups is $35. I know Oink are paying less for the raw materials of their game than I am for mine. I know they have better deals for distributing their goods than I am for mine. I know that Oink have made a game for less than I make mine and they are selling it for more than twice as much and that means that Oink value the game, the rules and the experience of that game, very highly.

Oink games are priced like Oink thinks the game is valuable.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!