#and ive wanted to read the picture of dorian gray for a while

[loverboybrightsideghost]

i find myself completely by accident sauntering vaguely and slowly downward into wilde-ness

[sleepy-vix]

hi !!! so i know you've read classics and i have a few questions for you. lmk if i'm being annoying btw

uh first i was wondering what classics i own that you've read and your thoughts on them (i've been accumulating a collection for a while but haven't read them)

little women

great expectations

the picture of dorian gray

alice in wonderland

frankenstein

emma

pride and prejudice

great expectations

the secret history

the great gatsby

i was also wondering your favourite subgenres of classical books? i've been specifically interested in the russian classic subgenre

um where you would recommend me to start? out of the books i have preferably

and just any other general tips for reading would be helpful yeah

(i'm finally getting back into it after four years and i'm kinda lost idk)

NO YOURE NOT ANNOYING !! i saw your video on tiktok and was like shxbsjd i want to talk abt your books with you so bad but i didnt want to be annoying 😭

sigh im such a nerd

ok sooo lets get into it :D

get ready for alot of text

the books ive read will be in blue (purple is i'm going to read them soon)

• little women -> i loved ittt. i have yet to read the other books in the series though (theres little women, good wives, little men, jo's boys). the movie (by greta gerwig) is one of my favourite movies ever so i have an attachment to the story. i recommend watching the movie first if you haven't already bc i honestly preferred it more, but the book is also incredible and sweet and the writing is great and it made me cry and learn to be a better person

• great expectations

• the picture of dorian gray -> ooh this one was one of my first ever classics, i think after children's classics and the catcher in the rye. i loved it alot. the descriptions are so beautiful and the premise is so interesting and agsbj i'm just so obsessed with the way oscar wilde writes !! actually i've heard people say that this is a good place to start for classics, but i'm not really so sure about that. i think this definitely is a staple in classic literature, but i recommend saving this as your 2nd or 3rd classic read so you're more used to the eloquent writing style of classics and you can fully appreciate the picture of dorian gray in all its glory :)

•alice in wonderland -> oh i loved this sm. i love alice in wonderland in general, more specifically the tim burton version. i think this is a good place to start, since i know you like alice in wonderland so you're already attached to the story and therefore will most likely enjoy it alot. the sarcasm and wit in this book is really enjoyable and fun, i finished this one really fast back in primary school :)

• frankenstein -> i finished this recently ! it's so great, i love frankenstein so much. though, it did seem like nothing much was happening so just beware that even tho its labelled as horror, it's more... thoughtful? it's really nothing like frankenstein in popular media, though i think that's part of its charn actually

• emma -> i've read 2 chapters of this. i'm planning on actually sitting down and finishing this next week or so! i recommend the movie with anya taylor joy if you're hesitant about reading it, bc the movie was really good :)

• pride and prejudice -> if you want to get into jane austen, this is probably the place to start. she's a really amazing writer and the way she creates characters and character relationships is so amazing i was really impressed by this book ! tho i gotta say i dont feel any particular attachment to it and im not exactly in a hurry to pick up her other books. like her writing is really good but im just not really into high society and period romance drama. i still recommend this though since it is a good classic and a staple to the genre.

• the secret history -> ooh this one isnt exactly a classic but definitely does deserve to be. I LOVE THE SECRET HISTORY SO SO MUCHHHH. i've reread this book like nearly 3 times. donna tartt's writing is so phenomenal and the characters are all so interesting, i can't wait for you to read this! though, one con is that it is reallyyy long and ik that its not uncommon for people to get sick of how the story drags on :( so i recommend making sure that you're fully hyped to read this cus i'd hate for you to drop it half way since its so brilliant i promise. pay attention to the way she writes scenes and characters and just anything ever because its just so well doneee.

• the great gatsby -> i have this and i'm thinking of reading it next actually !! im just letting myself process frankenstein and go back to read the frankenstein introduction before moving onto this :) i've heard that it's grand and gives old money but thats all i can say

ok looks like thats all !

i recommend starting with alice in wonderland and then going to the picture of dorian gray or pride and prejudice :)

ah also my favourite subgenre in classic literature is horror (they tend to not be scary at all and more thoughtsy) or japanese (osamu dazai is all ive read but im really interested in reading more japanese authors)

russian literature is also cool, though ive only read crime and punishment by dostoyevsky. i really want to read notes from underground or white nights or dead souls by nikolai gogol next agsbdj

if you're looking to get into it then probably white nights is the best since many people say its the best and also its really short compared to c&p. im not an expert tho so honestly you do you

also if you enjoy frankenstein and the picture of dorian gray then i REALLY reccomend the case of dr jelyll and mr hyde because its so short but sooo good

as for reading tips, i reccomend taking breaks and not pushing yourself cus then you'll find the experience tedious. also dont be intimidated because reading classics is like reading any other book except the writing style is super eloquent. read whatever subgenre of classic you enjoy and dont force yourself to read others if you arent interested :)

THATS ALL FROM ME. tysmmmm for the ask i had so much fun answering this

sorry for yapping so much i cant help it when it comes to books so your fault for asking 😔 /lh

i hope you have fun and feel free to slide into my askbox if you have thoughts to share or anything else to askk

oh wait actually im curious, whats your experience with classics so far? what books have you read? did you enjoy them?

[wrens-book-reviews]

A notion of my reading journey [Nov. 5 2024]

When i was a child i loved to read, throughout grades 3-7 i read more books than i can count. i remember finish the goosebumps series my school had in the littl elibrary and how hooked i was. i remeber the massive amounts of books i would read back then. when i was 13 i read all of twilight, i read percy jackson and harry potter and i inhaled it all.

When i started middle school, i suddenly had lots more homework, and a new school with different people, new systems ne w everything. i stopped reading that year. and i barely ever picked up a book unless it was for school. i wanted to read, but never had the energy or time to. this continued from the start of middle school until my last year in high school. 6 years without finishing a single book.

after i started university, i decided i wanted to go back into reading, i moved to a bigger scity with mutiple different bookshops; and my university had a huge store also filled with books, that were mostly barnes and noble editions, which is a rare find here in Norway. i bought a couple. at first i bought a couple of classics since TikTok was raving all about classic literature back then. I remember that day i got Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein, Emma, The picture of dorian gray and the odyssey. i was ecstatic, and so exited to read.

i tried reading at the start of the semester, but noticed very fast that school again has gotten the better of me, and i was unable to enjoy the books i tried to read, since i was too tired to understand the words on the pages after having to read University grade books in 3 different languages. it took a while before i managed to finish a single one of these books. I finished the picture of dorian gray the summer of 2023, and slowly tried to get back to myself.

At the end of the year, and a failed exam, i decided to try and take a little break from everything, and looked into some newer releases to read something simple to get my brain off things. I found a starling house in my local geek store and bought it cause the cover looked cool and i enjoyed the idea of a haunted house story line.

i started it january first 2024.

And i devoured it! it took me max 6 days to read that book and i fell in love with it, it was immersive, and fun and quite simple to digest while still making me feel so many things! it was such a fun read with such a interestign plot it made me feel happy about consuming any form of medi afor the first time in soo long! i still think its one of my favourite books of all time, simply because it made my fall back into the love of reading. since then ive read 35 other books, and all of them have been lovely. i have dropped out of university, and im trying to find a way in life again, but i think that as long as i got my love for readign things will somehow turn out for the better :)

[aliens-took-my-iwa-chan]

Sooo my bestie, my beloved, my trusted entertainment recommendation person

(a title only my sister had archived thus far, thank her for getting me into haikyuu so i could meet you and @bussyenthusiast ; i love you both ♡(˃͈ દ ˂͈ ༶ ) )

a glorious announcement: i have finished the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

I have one, very, very severe criticism, being that it's way too short! I want more, especially more in the perspective of Jekyll. That last chapter was just goregous and I can't stand that it's already over. I'd be particularly interested in a letter from the perspective of Mr Hyde.

Can i just say i love that it's DR Jekyll and MR Hyde, like you may be me but you didn't go to med-school, deal with it

In a way i have to applaud the author for getting such a good story across in so little words. Definitely not my own writing style, as you may be able to tell by my love for elaboration and commas and semicolons; nether the less i loved it.

Off to read more fanfic i suppose. I bet good money on finding at least 1 deus ex machina in which Hyde faked his death when they broke in the door. Then again i might just start the picture of Dorian Gray this evening, we'll see

IDJSJDJJSJFJD-

(hdhdjfjsjjf ily too <3333333 also thank you to your sister for getting you into haikyuu xD)

LETS GOOOOOO JFJFJDJFJFJE YAYAYSYFJJR IM SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT-

Exactly!!! its so good, I wish I couldve read more!! im glad you share the same sentiment haha

IKR-

mhm mhm, the writing style was much simpler than frankenstein and dorian gray but it worked?? so well???? idk I just love this book so much and I’m so hdjfjejfjdkkc im so frickin excited that you finished it

MHM YEAH MOOD 100% HAHDHDHDH

so who was your favorite character? not sure if you can tell but I am a Hyde Enthusiast xD

also!! if you want more jekyll and hyde content theres a webcomic called the glass scientists and theyre in it!!! ive been obsessing over it for a while lolol if you cant tell by all the posts ive made about it + my new pfp xD

(if you dont want to read it no worries, just a recommendation ^-^)

YESSS LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT A PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY!!!! the writing style is so gorgeous i think youre gonna love it-

[asynjja]

i .     alias, name.     i go by lyn but those who i have known for a very long time are allowed to call me aylin. u do get a financial penalty though if you pronounce it the same way as eileen!!

ii .     birthday.     august 9th.

iii .     zodiac sign.     leo sun, gemini moon, leo rising. i don’t actually know what that means though other than that rylan doesn’t vibe w leos and that’s why i’m her archnemesis.

iv .     height.    5′3′’ or 5′4′’ i never really know!!

v .     hobbies.     writing, reading (crime, scifi, non-fiction sajdhbasdhj. i am actually subscribed to some science magazines for the sake of keeping up with recent research), yoga!!! and i love cooking, always wanted to have a fancy food insta but never committed to it.

vi .   favourite colour.     forest green!

vii .     favourite book.     the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde and interview with the vampire by anne rice, both of which i desperately need to re-read. when i was a little younger i used to be obsessed with paulo coelho’s veronika decides to die and read it five times or so.

viii .     last song.     bed on fire by teddy swims and tbh all of his songs just hit the right spot for me, i’m completely obsessed with his voice.

ix .     last film / show.     i’m currently watching the fifth season of haven, so.

x .     recent reads.     currently reading a book on germanic mythology (non-fiction), tried reading the princessa: machiavelli for women by harriet rubin because i got it for 50 cents from a thrift shop but it’s absolutely not for me and i honestly can’t recommend it, and next is the history of bees by maja lunde which my mother-in-law got me!!

xi .     inspiration.     part of it was through watching vikings but i also gotta admit i’m stubborn and i’ve always struggled with my identity as the daughter of a migrant mother and i kind of wanted to change my own perception of germanic history and fight back against the appropriation of it by the (german) far right? my mom sometimes told me about the amazons and i grew up with a lot of typical female anger, i suppose, and i channelled that into the creation of moa zhao who had to endure so much not just because she was a woman but because she continuously struggled with her ethnic and religious identity and was stripped of it repeatedly, ultimately creating herself over and over. and i’ve always liked the concept of immortality as something inherently antagonistic: people want to better themselves and fix relationships and go on adventures because one day they might no longer be able to, and moa lacks that. i suppose i just wanted to explore suffering from a different angle.

xii .     story behind url.     asynja are the female gods or the primary norse pantheon but because asynja was taken, i simply added the second j!

xiii .     fun fact about me.     i’m allergic to latex and i found out while working at the lab and wearing latex gloves! i was too focused on work that i didn’t notice the itching until i took the gloves off and saw the rash. didn’t think much of it still because i’d never been allergic to anything before, but then i had intercourse w/ regular latex condoms and... yeah, u can imagine how it went. moral of the story is: don’t ignore the rash on ur hands because the rash on your hoo ha is way worse.

tagged by.     @carelessgraces​ ily.     tagging.     the first seven people on my dash, so: @msppotts, @bythieves, @klarsynt, @becomelions, @daerknss, @snipesaw, @soulstcne!!

[moranjpg]

list of books i want to read again in 2022

I just came back from my online shop of choice and already added 8 new books to my shopping cart, all the while looking at a backlog of easily 30 unread books that have been sitting on my shelves for years. (surely this doesnt sound much to the hardcore reader, but i am just a simple and average media enjoyer). So what else is my ADD-riddled brain supposed to want to do but ignore all the new and new-ish books that might give me the opportunity to discover new stories and instead read some of my faves and other long-forgotten books again? Here‘s a list of what I am dying to revisit this year :)

The Vampire Diaries! Ive already binged through the first one. Time for the other 6! (The newer ones don‘t exist to me.)

The Fever series. I don‘t remember anything about that except for a book with an irish title that I always felt awkward about because I couldn‘t pronounce it. (Pretty sure I could, now)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe! Need to revisit this one before reading the sequel!! well! i didnt quite expect this to break my heart That painfully

Frankenstein. This one i‘d have to buy first because I lost my copy many years ago and never bothered again.

The Picture of Dorian Gray. A classic. I know I loved every page of it and I‘d love to revisit that feeling, especially now that I‘ve learned more about Wilde‘s life.

The Hound of d‘Urberville. Deliciously queer-coded villain action neatly packed up in short stories. My life has been so bleak since I finished it.

The Secret History. I started a reread last year and then got swept up in life just as I realized just how much of a Cali Boy™️ Richard actually is. Hilarious. I need to get back to that.

A Clockwork Orange. Just to touch up on the everything. I saw a comment about it today and was shocked to realize that I completely forgot about the sick ass lingo they had going on.

Thirteen Storeys. I hate Jonny Sims‘ endings but the stories itself are glorious and I need to experience them again.

If We Were Villains. Man I just love campus novels and this was the best one. Really miss those guys.

Combining this with my actual 2022 Suggested Reading AND the backlog of books I have AND the books I really really really want to buy… Man I don‘t think twelve months will be enough

[kalonxoxo]

my reading list

hello all! i am severely lacking in content to post, so I am easing myself into the blogger life by starting off with an adorable, rather simple post instead of one of the content heavy ones which are a work in progress (rather anxious about getting my info correct). here is my reading list!! ive tried to eliminate the book i am reading and have to read for my sixth form classes but it is as follows; 

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde status: currently reading 

i had initially heard of this book when longingly glancing at the summary in waterstones when weeding through the penguin classics section. from first read the book encapsulated me and i was head over heels. genuinely wanted this book for about 7 plus months until christmas came around and there it was gleaming on top of the sofa. love u gran and grandad xxxx. 

my fascination and love of this book has only grown over time - deep diving into faust and faustian pacts after reading a quote in chapter 1 of wharton’s age of innocence had, in a rather modern sense, ‘increased the hype’. anyways, i am indeed only on about chapter 3  but i think this may be becoming a favourite of mine. (would anyone be interested in knowing what my favourite books are?)

the way of all flesh by ambrose pary status: currently reading

i can’t lie, it was the author’s name that caught my eye. after doing the ‘medicine through time’ unit in gcse history, and learning about renaissance surgeon, ambrose paré, ambrose parry had definitely sparked an interest, and to be honest i’m sure 15 year old me found it quite cool. no surprise here, its historical fiction! 

but unlike the historical fiction pieces i already own, it is a historical mystery set in 1847 and follows will raven, a medical student in edinburgh, yet begins chapter one with a dead prostitute. rather classy, yes? i began reading this in the hotel during my brief family holiday to london and read more while waiting for the train home. needless to say i am engrossed entirely. have a feeling this is going to be a good one :)!

darcy’s voyage: a pride and predjudice retelling by kara louise status: in the queue...

i picked this one up for £2.50 (no literally - the price is still pencilled in on the inside of the cover) from barter books (a.k.a heaven on earth). allthough i do have the timeless jane austen original on my shelf in my bedroom, i’m perplexingly tempted to read this one first; a coveted break away from 19th century romance in a manor house in the middle of nowhere. i haven’t yet dived into the pages yet but am excited to do so. i have my fingers crossed this will be a refreshing perspective on classic tropes and romance while still keeping the heart-wrenching storyline.

if i never met you by mhairi mcfarlane status: read 2 chapters but then i fell in love with dorian gray instead

this screams rom-com wattpad original but let me tell you i am all here for it. just from reading the aforementioned two chapters, mcfarlane has set the plot in motion extremely well and i was picturing the movie in my mind when reading. 

the mixture of formats is refreshing and it reminds me of the layout of one of my favourite books; the next together by lauren james (reincarnation meets lovers throughout history). i can confirm that i am heavily excited to carry on reading, but am forcing myself into commitment of just one book for the mean time. 

honourable mentions: a.k.a everything that is also on the ‘read next’ list but i feel as though i’m droning on enough already:  the shadow of the hangman by edward marston death of an avid reader by francis brody the victorian house by judith flanders antony and cleopatra by william shakespeare  the flat share by beth o’leary words in deep blue by cath crowley

[snivellussnoop]

Fanfiction Year in Review

thanks to @glowstar826 for the tag! I am honored to hear that my looking up to you was your proudest moment of the year, and I’m glad to say this is still very much the case. here’s my response:

Fics completed in the order of which they were completed:

There are just a few of these since most of what I write is novel-length, but here are the little things I did!

He Wished a Lot of Things - AO3 | Wattpad

The Memory Cabinet of an Alchemist - AO3 | Wattpad

Fics updated this year in the order of which they were published:

Philophobe - AO3 | Wattpad

Arrested Development: An Unnecessary Continuation - AO3 | Wattpad

Delocaponum - AO3 | Wattpad

Number of words written:

roughly 200,000. terrifying.

Most popular fic:

On Wattpad: Not Gay! (please don’t read this. I mean I’m not going to stop you but when I plead like this I am solemnly warning you)

On AO3: He Wished a Lot of Things

Personal favorite:

Delocaponum, with He Wished a Lot of Things as an honorable mention.

Favorite scene:

in Delocaponum, I love writing the banter between the characters. one of my favorite parts so far was in chapter IV: A Warm Unwelcome when Severus is trying to get Remus out of his office after making fun of his monthly “predicament” by giving him a tampon, and Remus keeps ignoring his warnings as he verbally lists a multitude of crimes that he sarcastically is asking Snape not to commit while he’s away. It eventually ends in Severus calling him a slut and finally getting the door to shut.

A close second to this is from chapter VII: Charming Consultations when Snape goes to see Flitwick, who is overenthusiastic about his presence. Severus reminds him not to treat it like the coming of Jesus Christ, but Filius ignores him and congratulates him on being hired (although not specifying that this was the reason for congratulations), and Snape asks, “For what? The coming of Christ?”.

Something that challenged me:

My addition to Arrested Development challenged me a lot because I had to adopt the humor and writing style they achieved in the show, which is incredibly difficult to embody, especially in book form. I grew so much and am still growing thanks to my decision to write this.

Delocaponum also is a challenge as a whole. The chapters are longer than I’ve ever written before, the plot is slower, the writing style is richer, and it’s supposed to be canon-compliant, which has led to a lot of study on the plot points of Snape and Lupin’s lives in the eighties, along with researching the dates of full moons and planning accordingly. This work also plays a lot with grief, growth and healing, which can be difficult to harness all at once, but it’s going well and I’m constantly adapting to be able to write it as well as I can.

A part of writing I’m proud of:

(Delocaponum, chapter VII: Charming Consultations)

“He spent all of last night lying insomnolent, urging himself to just go to sleep, beseeching his own instincts to let him alone and leave him to fall into his own dreams. But he couldn't do it. Thoughts kept running around him, hissing against his ears in the fashion of the unforgiving snake like which he himself is described. Hypotheses. Dubiety. Complete uncertainty. And all this, inopportunely, orbiting tight round the memory of Remus Lupin standing out in the rain, and the sensation of his hand laying itself gently on his unsheltered shoulder.

He's decided that he shouldn't be letting this affect him in such a way. Absolutely so.

He's decided that he shouldn't remember Remus going out of his way to make him tea the way Albus said he liked it, or the pleas to offer him assisting services in compensation for some very free Wolfsbane. He won't pay any notice to how he likes Bruce Springsteen and house plants and accents his entire home with greens and reds. He won't think any longer about his soft handwriting on half of the bottles in his classroom, or how all of his suits and vests are tailored in colors that match each possible shade a leaf revolves through, green and dark mustard and deep mahogany and many, many browns.”

A comment that touched me:

All of them touched me. Really.

Something that inspired my writing:

The Picture of Dorian Gray, J. Edgar, my secret Pinterest boards, Gregory Alan Isakov, the different hues and shades of brown, George Orwell — specifically 1984, nature and seasons, Sweeney Todd, The Hobbit, Knives Out, Braiding Sweetgrass, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Ozark, Steven Wilson, a collection of old vinyl records my grandfather gave me a few months ago, David Bowie, The Phantom of the Opera, the dynamic between myself and this girl that I’m either in love with romantically or platonically (I legitimately cannot tell as I’m ace and the lines are blurred as hell), The Mysterious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, unisex first names, The Imitation Game, Latin roots, mythology, and lots and lots of Shakespeare.

My proudest moment:

calculating all my works together and finding out that I’ve written close to 350,000 words in the last two years. i also feel incredibly rewarded when i finish a long writing project. the longer i’ve worked on it, the better i feel when it ends.

My writing goals this year:

Finish as much as I can with the busy time I have. I hope to finish Philophobe at least, and ADAUC next. Delocaponum I’m hoping to get out as quickly as I can, although this may take the rest of the year or longer.

Tags:

I’m pretty new to the writing community of tumblr so I don’t know any people off the top of my head that write and haven’t been tagged already. if you see this and would like to participate, please have a go! indirectly, i’m tagging whoever is reading that wants to join in.

[charlie-is-three-rats]

banana, lime, mandarin orange, and nectarine

banana: least favourite fruit? fuck pineapple I honestly dont get the hype

lime: a picture of Dorian gray ( ive been reading this for so long because short attention span)

mandarin: what are you looking forward to? making macarons maybe tomorrow idk when

orange: age range? idk if this means my age (13) or the age id date ( probably nobody for a while I dont want a relationship lol)

nectarine: what does your name mean? I

charlotte is a type of fruit cake, and its probably accurate as I am quite the flaming homosexual.

thanks for the asks love x

[medusasresfriadas]

6, 13, 17, 36, 42, 50!! (Excuse the long list :P)

 6: Which book was the last one you really, really loved?

i think it was the gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue? honestly i forget the books i’ve read and when ive read them really easily. 

if we’re getting picky and only counting the sort of books than you wouldn’t mind reading instead of being alive (not in a suicidal idealization kind of way. just being so absorbed in a story that it might as well swallow you whole. the kind of book that, if you read it, you spend most of the day almost in a haze, going through the motions with your thoughts about the book as constant background noise you slip into when you can

so. that doesn’t sound entirely healthy. i promise i didn’t mean to make it sound like that), probably all for the game? i think it was after those that i started pretty mediocre books and just didn’t read for a while, but again,time… is hard

13: Name a book with a really bad movie/tv adaption

naming another one, just because i can! and because i’m still pissed at the precy jackson adaptation, so yeah. the lightning thief, don’t think i have to explain this one

17: If you owned a bookshop what would you call it? 

i don’t even know. i do know that it would be an either terrible or surprisingly clever pun that @aoi-herondale came up with and had me at least three minutes laughing. we’ve joked about a library before and we agree that it would have a cafe/some sor tof cofee shop area or whatever the word is (no, im not copying your answer) so, some sor of cofee/hot chocolate pun i imagine.

sorry this one’s not really an answer

36: Name a book you consider to be terribly overrated

i already answered this one, but i just remembered la celestina is considered a spanish classic. so fuck la celestina and fuck every character in that book, except melibea probably, because she was under a spell or some shit. 

(i know i feel very strongly about old books no one cares about anymore, but thats life)

42: Which was the best book you had to read in school?

the first i can think of is En el Corazón del Bosque, one of those books with activities that you had to read en cuartoi de primaria o por ahi, which is the first instance of a school book being genuinely good. some actual bests are The Picture of Dorian Gray and La Vida es Sueño (look, more old books instead of sticking to my century), both of which i technically chose to read, and i’d read both before i had to for school, but they still count

50: Why do you love to read?

i’m sorry, this one’s definetly getting a long answer and the post is alreaady long enough as is

okay, so. when asked out of the blue why i read, my instinctive answer is because i love stories. and i do, i love stories, and i love the characters that inhabit them and care about them dearly. but there’s always something else in that question isn’t there. always an implied instead. why do you read so much, istead of watching a movie, or tv. why do you spend your free time consuming a medium that is at least partially responsible for ruining your eyesight instead of going out and playing football when you get home - why did you ruin your eyes reading under the covers instead of going to sleep - why are you making an effort - it’s an effort, for many people - instead of doing things i enjoy more.

and i don’t mean to dismiss the importance of sports, or how fun they can be. and i hate to see audiovisual media put down to praise the wonders of reading. i have watched movies that feel like the’re going to change your life, movies that take your breath away with their cinematography, or with soundtracks so iconic they keep being referenced and played in arrangements years and years after, or soundtracks that simply have really good music. i have watched shows that made me care about the characters more thamn most book protagonists i can name, more than some of my extended family.

this was just a very roundabout way of saying, because it’s important to me that it is understood, that there’s nothing inherently supperior or holier in books. and yet. and yet i consider them one of the key factors of my life, of shaping me as a person.

part of it is, obviously and giving due credit to my mother, that i’ve been listening to stories for longer than my memory stretches, and that my memory does stretch to stories i heard before i could talk with more than one consonant in a way it doesn’t for most things.

part of it is that a book can be carried around everywhere, while a movie can only be downloaded - since pretty recently - and you can’t really start watching rear window in the middle of class. for a person who both doesn’t like and doesn’t know how to properly socialize, you can understand the benefit

the last reason, the one i’ve been building up to, and a consequence of the other two is that… i’m just shaped for them, if that makes sense. movies, shows, podcasts, comics, whatever, do make me feel really strongly, but afterwards it’s just… over. maybe i’m still scared, because i get scared easily, but none of those have made me cry endless minutes after i finish them, or grin stupidly in the middle of class because i remembered a line i particularly liked. i mentioned aftg earlier. well there’s something incredibly fucked up that happens in the second book, if i remember correctly. this event is - thankfully - never described in excruciating detail, and it would’ve been a thousand times more shocking if it were a movie. but, the book centers on the person that went through that, and the reaction of the protagonist, the emotions he feels, and how other people react to feeling similarly.  i’m not exagerating when i say i was so horrified after reading it that i didn’t feel capable of talking - not even to someone, just the thought of making sounds was too much - for hours, and i didn’t feel okay until after more than a day. 

maybe i’m just very empathetic, but that’s it. the action is important but what i truly seek out is the description of emotion, be it a straightforward description of anger or devotion full of imagery and metaphors.

i read because i’m greedy and want the character’s feelings in addition to my own

[snehasblogposts]

Field Trip Blog

I chose to visit the Art Institute because I hadn’t been there since I was in elementary school. I went with my best friend and we made a little day trip out of it. We began by exploring the Chinese and Japanese pottery exhibits. I was the least interested in these because I felt like they seemed sort of repetitive. Most of the pieces ended up blending together for me, so much so that I can’t remember a specific piece that stuck out to me. I took a Chinese and Japanese History course a couple semesters ago so reading about the pieces did jog my memory which I appreciated. I knew about most of the time periods in which the pieces were made, and what was going on at the time. It was nice to be able to build off of that prior knowledge, but still not enough for me to be intrigued by it. We wandered around for hours and spent most of our time looking at sculptures and contemporary artists like Andy Warhol. We also spent a considerable amount of time viewing Gallery 262 which included pieces like Ivan Albright’s “Picture of Dorian Gray” and Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”. 

“Picture of Dorian Gray” is one of my personal favorites because it is a great representation of the book by Oscar Wilde. I had an emotional connection to this piece because I remembered when I first saw it as a child and how long I stared at it for. I thought it was horrifying but I couldn’t look away. I didn’t particularly like the painting. Back then, I didn’t know who Dorian Gray was but then later, as a grown up, when I read the book, the painting suddenly made sense to me. Now, it is one of my favorite paintings and I get excited whenever I see it or it is referenced. 

The 2-3 pieces that stuck out to me while at the museum were all sculptures. I’ve always preferred sculptures over paintings especially sculptures that portray stories from Greek mythology. I was most attracted to sculptures because they seem so life-like and can portray emotions, texture, and actions in a realistic way. I think I’m the most drawn to them because sometimes I can’t wrap my head around how creating them was even possible. 

This piece was titled “Panel from a Sarcophagus Depicting the Abduction of Persephone”. This piece immediately caught my eye. After reading the description of the piece, I was able to identify each of the characters in the Greek myth through their facial expressions and place in the piece.

This sculpture had to be my favorite out of all the art I saw the museum. It is called “Jephthah’s Daughter” by Chauncey Bradley Ives. I inadvertently completed my Responsive Time Exercise with this piece. I didn’t realize I was observing it for so long until my friend came and found me. It portrays a biblical figure who has been chosen as a sacrifice and is now awaiting her imminent death. I began the exercise by looking at her clothes and admiring how the artist was able to create realistic textures and folds in her dress, making it look like it was draped on. It made me feel like reaching out and touching her to prove that it was marble and not real cloth. After staring at it longer, I was able to see the sadness and fear in her expression. Her posture and facial expressions all gave away her emotions of fear and vulnerability. I truly did feel bad for her at one point. My relationship with this sculpture changed over time because I was drawn to it initially because of it’s beauty and craftsmanship. After viewing it for a while, I began to connect with her emotions.

Art Criticism:

I chose to criticize this piece because it was one I had not seen before and I didn’t want to have any prior experience with the piece or artist. This piece is called “Interior at Nice” by Henri Matisse. It portrays a woman sitting at a table on a balcony which could be high up or near the ocean. The blue of the background suggests it is one or the other. The woman doesn’t have many facial features and sports short brown hair. She wears long brown boots and white and cream clothes. The interior of the building has many different elements. Lines are used in a grid pattern to portray tiles on a pink floor. The same grid pattern is used for texture on an arm chair, which vaguely resembles a croissant. Color is used well in the piece, making each component vibrant and separate from the other. The teal of the shutters on the door contrast the pink tiled floor. This piece was created using oil paints which gave it a more dreamier look. There weren’t any harsh lines to the piece, despite it being a portrayal of a room which should essentially have some harsher lines and shadows. I think the use of shadows would have given the painting a bit more dimension than it has. 

[fvisualvomits]

my highest ever uni mark (74, a presentation)

Virginia Woolf’s ‘Into the Lighthouse���: A psychoanalytical reading

Pessimistic picture of a culture in disarray. This despair often results in an apparent apathy and moral relativism.

Modernist lifestyle themes -

Changing attitudes to narrative perspective and novel form

No modernist agenda or outline: but with Freud’s ideas coming into popularity it was impossible to ignore their impact on literature and art. Modernism possesses multiple and perhaps unreliable narrators, subjectivity, and stream-of-consciousness narrative. Symbolism James p.138: Nothing was simply one thing!

The novel is not concerned with the plot but rather the interiority of multiple characters.

Psychoanalysis conscious/unconscious: Descartes and ‘I think therefore I am’ instead of physical actions – what is not revealed is true. By its very nature, the symbolism of literature in Modernism was incapable of being simply stream of consciousness – notably in the titular symbol of the lighthouse. despite Woolf stating:

‘I have not studied Dr Freud or any psychoanalyst – indeed I think I have never read any of their books: my knowledge is merely from the superficial talk. Therefore any use of their methods must be instinctive.’ (Letters v. 36)

Freud’s idea of the conscious/unconscious is vital in reading ‘To the lighthouse’ in terms of the Lighthouse and Mrs Ramsey herself. However, his theory of the Oedipus complex presents itself within their children in relation to Mr Ramsey. 

Into the Lighthouse and Woolf’s own life:

 Father rented Tallad House in St Ives, Cornwall, from 1882, as a summer retreat.

 Woolf’s mother died when she was 13.

 Leslie Stephen (Woolf’s Father) became deeply depressed following this death

‘Transfixed by the portrait of their mother, her sister Vanessa wrote, ''It is almost painful to have her so raised from the dead.’ (Lily Briscoe on page 110 (3.2) ‘Perished. Alone The grey-green light on the wall opposite. The empty places’ – Lily is not physically alone, but psychologically without the mother figure of Mrs Ramsey)  

Woolf thought of painting as did Lily Briscoe – an exploration of creative output.

Woolf’s brother Adrian was not allowed to visit the lighthouse, similar to young James Ramsey. 

Alix Strachey, a practising psychoanalyst and an old friend of the Woolfs, discussing why Leonard had not persuaded Virginia to see a psychoanalyst about her mental breakdowns, concluded ‘Virginia’s imagination, apart from her artistic creativeness, was so interwoven with her fantasies – and indeed with her madness – that if you had stopped the madness you might have stopped the creativeness too… It may be preferable to be mad and be creative than to be treated by analysis and become ordinary.’

The Oedipus complex - 1899 book The Interpretation of Dreams (1910 official)

James Ramsey is infuriated by his father’s presence due to the love he possesses for his mother. 

‘Had there been an axe handy, a poker, or any weapon that would have gashed a hole in his father’s breast and killed him, there and then, James would have seized it… his wife, who was ten thousand times better in every way then he was (James thought)’ (1 Woolf) – the murder of Basil Hallward in Dorian Gray 

‘The mad passions of a hunted animal stirred within him, and he loathed the man who was seated at the table, more than he had ever loathed anything in his whole life.’ - Knife

Implying his mother is ‘better’ is clearly a sign of this, yet his fellow brothers and sisters are not fond of Mr Ramsey. While the boys have grown out of their Oedipus complex, the females perhaps feel neglected by their father, as Cam later confirms (I shall return) the next quote goes further:

‘But his son hated him. He hated him for coming up to them, for stopping and looking down on them; he hated him for interrupting them… but most of all he hated the twang and twitter of his father's emotion, which vibrating around them, disturbed the perfect simplicity and good sense of his relations with his mother’ (27 Woolf)

Here James goes further: indicating that not only does he hate his father and love his mother, but here he recognises the disturbing nature of this: guilt in association with his confession. This ‘twang and Twitter’ may not only allude to this but his fear that his father recognises his attachment to his mother.

‘Tyrant’ (125 Woolf )(Both children refer to the father as such) ‘Well done! James had steered them like a born sailor. There! Cam thought… you’ve got it at last. For she knew this was what James had been wanting, and she knew that now he had got it he was so pleased that he would not look at her or his father or at anyone… His father had praised him. (153 Woolf)

This is the resolution of the Oedipus complex, as James, in particular, finds resolution within his father, allowing him to develop a mature sexual identity under Freud. Cam’s feeling of neglect by her father is also resolved (a strong theme in Woolf – Walter Pater absent father. (superego formed)

Mrs Ramsey & The Lighthouse

As a lighthouse guides those lost at sea to safety, Mrs Ramsey is the pivotal character representing emotional security to those around. She harbours her guests in their times of emotional distress: 

‘She looked out to meet that stroke of the Lighthouse, the long steady stroke, the last of the three, which was her stroke, for watching them in this mood always at this hour one could not help attaching oneself to one thing especially of the things one saw; and this thing, the long steady stroke, was her stroke… ‘it seemed to her like her own eyes meeting her own eyes… ‘she was searching, she was beautiful like that light’ (46)a

Caroline Ramsey projects her character onto the lighthouse. This is perhaps an escape from the emotionally damaged characters that surround her namely in the form of her husband, a key scene of her fragility is chapter 8 when she asks ‘going somewhere, Mr Charmichael?’ and he ignores her, causing her to reflect on her interior trauma – ‘never did she show a sign of not wanting him’ – internalised guilt

The ego, driven by the id, confined by the superego, repulsed by reality, struggles to master its economic task of bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it; and we can understand how it is that so often we cannot suppress a cry 'life is not easy'!  If the ego is obliged to admit its weakness, it breaks out in anxiety regarding the outside world, moral anxiety regarding the superego, and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id. (78 Freud 1933)

The struggle of the ego constantly to maintain a happy persona. She immediately returns to reading James the fisherman and his wife in order to please her son.  Depression?

The portrait painted by Lily Briscoe of Mrs Ramsey, although abstract, reflects that of Oscar Wilde’s own Portrait of Dorian Gray. A once beautiful portrait reflects events that have occurred – In Dorian’s case his increasing corruption, but in Lighthouse it is the but perhaps it is not the physical portrait itself that changes greatly but the perspective of Lily, much altered that heightens the portrait in aesthetic value. 

‘It was done; it was finished. Yes, she thought, laying down her brush in extreme fatigue, I have had my vision’ (154)

Resolution – of the Oedipal complex, perhaps Lily is projecting her affection onto the portrait. Or perhaps, using Freud further, this has all simply been a dream or series of dreams – short time span of novel (afternoon) / (10 years later) (Afternoon)

[thediaboazulbookstore-blog]

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended the anarchic world opened up by America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving. Since its first publication in 1985, Blood Meridian has been read as both a brilliant subversion of the Western novel and a blazing example of that form. Powerful and savagely beautiful, it has emerged as one of the most important works in American fiction of the last century. A truly mesmerising classic.

Eros Unbound by Anais Nin A naive model slowly discovering her sexuality; an erotic moonlight encounter on a beach; a man teaching the art of passion in a gypsy caravan; and a woman in love with a scent from Fez - Anais Nin's stories explore the nature of sex and the awakening of desire.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs. Brilliantly conceived and executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood's devastating irony, wit and astute perception.

Pygmalion by Georges Bernard Shaw With an introduction by Nicholas Grene discussing the language and politics of the play, this witty comedy of manners is the author’s dramatization of a Cockney flower girl's metamorphosis into a lady, both a fantasy and a platform for his views on social class, money and women's independence. As a brilliant reworking of the classical tale of the sculptor Pygmalion, who falls in love with his perfect female statue, and a barbed attack on the British class system and a statement of Shaw's feminist views, it both delighted and scandalized its first audiences in 1914. Although essentially shy, Dublin-born George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) created the persona of GBS, the showman, satirist, conversationalist, critic, pundit, wit, intellectual buffoon and dramatist. Deeply concerned by what he saw as the exploitation of the working class, Shaw was an active Socialist and a brilliant platform speaker. He remains the only person ever to have been awarded both the Nobel Prize in Literature and an Oscar.

Silas Marner by George Eliot Wrongly accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for work and his precious hoard of money. But when his money is stolen and an orphaned child finds her way into his house, Silas is given the chance to transform his life. George Eliot's favourite of her novels, combines humour, rich symbolism and pointed social criticism to create an unsentimental but affectionate portrait of rural life.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein In 2075, the Moon is no longer a penal colony but it is still a prison. Life isn't easy for the political dissidents and convicts who live in the scattered colonies that make up lunar civilisation. Everything is regulated strictly, efficiently & cheaply by a central supercomputer, HOLMES IV. When humble technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis discovers that HOLMES IV has quietly achieved consciousness (and developed a sense of humour), the choice is clear: either report the problem to the authorities... or become friends. And perhaps overthrow the government while they're at it. The novel has been called Robert A. Heinlein's crowning achievement.

The Rainbow by D.H. Lawrence With its frank portrayal of human passion and sexual desire, the book was banned as 'obscene' in Britain shortly after first publication. In his introduction James Wood discusses Lawrence's writing style and the tensions and themes of The Rainbow. Set in the rural Midlands, the novel chronicles the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family over a period of more than 60 years, setting them against the emergence of modern England. When Tom Brangwen marries a Polish widow, Lydia Lensky, and adopts her daughter Anna as his own, he is unprepared for the conflict and passion that erupts between them. Suffused with Biblical imagery, the book addresses searching human issues in a setting of precise and vivid detail.

Oscar Wilde - The Major Works It brings together a unique combination of Wilde's poetry and prose short stories, plays, critical dialogues and his only novel - to give the essence of his work and thinking.  Oscar Wilde's dramatic private life has sometimes threatened to overshadow his great literary achievements. His talent was prodigious: the author of brilliant social comedies, fairy stories, critical dialogues, poems, and a novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. This volume represents all these genres, including such works as Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest, The Happy Prince, The Critic as Artist, and The Ballad of Reading Gaol.

Rabbit at Rest by John Updike Fifty-six and overweight, Harry Rabbit Angstrom has a struggling business on his hands and a heart that is starting to fail. His family, too, is giving him cause for concern. His son is a wreck of a man and his wife has decided that she wants to be a working girl. He has to make the most of life. After all, he doesn't have much time left. In this fourth and final novel about ex-basketball player Harry Angstrom, as through the winter, spring, and summer of 1989, Reagan's debt-ridden, AIDS-plagued America yields to that of George Bush, Rabbit explores the bleak terrain of late middle age, looking for reasons to live. Winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

[attractionjapan]

Heartbreak in Tokyo: The Making of a Player

Heartbreak in Tokyo

Sometimes a bit of heartbreak can be just the leverage you need.

  I.

It was early 2012, and I was finally gaining some traction with game.

  I decided to take a Bootcamp with Dorian Gray and RichinJapan to really bring my game to the next level. We ended up in a club in Roppongi, where I talked to many girls, but none stuck in my mind quite as much as she did.

  Standing with her female accomplice, I talked to her in my (then decent) Japanese. I spoke a few sentences and she gave me a dead stare back before stating bluntly,

    “You sound fucking stupid when you speak Japanese.”

  She walked off, and took a little bit of my heart with her. I don’t know why, but she captivated me a little with her mannerisms and the way she was so frigidly icy and bitchy.

  I reapproached her a few times throughout the night, and found out she was actually with her boyfriend at the club. Not only that, but it was her birthday and he was ignoring her. After four of five approaches she finally was warming up to me, and I eventually asked for her number (“No, but you can have my email”).

    At the time, I was working nights at a bar in Roppongi. Somehow, I managed to work some magic with her email, and she stopped by occasionally to see me. We hooked up at some point along the line, and she started to frequent my bar and just sit by as I worked.

    She was everything I thought I wanted – rich, beautiful (a model), and funny. Her parents were the CEOs of a large manufacturing company and had houses in several Asian countries between which she could freely move – if she chose to do so. She had a family house in Tokyo, complete with live-in chef and driver, where she could live, rent-free. But she didn’t want to be within reach of her parents, preferring her own autonomy.

  She was trying to evade her live-in fiance (yes, the guy from the club who was ignoring her on her birthday), who she was on a low note with. She’d come into my bar late nights and stir around one drink for hours on end until my shift ended, at 6 am. We’d travel back to my dingy place in West Shinjuku and crash out as the morning light started creeping in through the curtains.

  I had a roommate then, and while there were technically two “rooms,” they were separated by nothing but a curtain. Still, after my roomie left for work we slept long into the day before I left for my day job.

    II.

She wanted to move out, badly. She said he was abusive, both verbally and physically. This continued for a while, and even though I told her to leave, she wouldn’t. Or couldn’t. He would sometimes take a picture of her pet rabbit perched precariously on the balcony of their tower mansion threatening to push it over if she didn’t come home.

  One day, my roommate and I decided it had been long enough.

  We went to their place and grabbed her essentials – her purse, laptop, and pets (her rabbit and dog) – before jumping in a taxi. He was fuming and ran down the street after us.

  She stayed with us for about a month, dealing with constant threats and abuse on her phone. I actually took away her phone at one point since she seemed unable to stop reading it, and was totally affected by his words. At this point, I was really in over my head for this girl. Looking back, I don’t know if it was the drama or the girl herself, but at the time I really loved this girl.

  She moved into a new place – in the same general area as her old place, but at least she was finally separate from him. She settled in, and I’d go over and she’d cook me tasty food and I’d pretend her dog was cute.

    III.

It was about six months into the relationship, and I had stopped gaming entirely. When I started seeing her I had another regular girl, but I phased that one out when I stopped caring about her. I guess when there’s compelling drama in your life, normal relationships just don’t captivate you as much. I hadn’t fallen this deeply, this intensely, this quickly for a girl ever before. I just wanted to see her. And now that it had been several months since she’d been trapped by her abusive ex, things seemed to finally be getting clearer.

  I called her one day and she suddenly told me.

“I’m getting back together with my boyfriend. I can’t see you anymore.”

I asked her to meet up, just to say things face to face, to explain this to me. It made no sense.

  She declined, and I didn’t see her again.

I was frustrated. Heartbroken. Angry. In utter disbelief. I simply couldn’t understand why she would go back to this guy who was hitting her and threatening her. Was it because I didn’t hit her?

It’s funny how you can try to be the good guy, do all the right things, and in the end, some people are just destined to self-destructive behaviors.

    The Making of a Player

IV.

I raged for a few weeks. And I went out and started talking to girls. More than ever before. With a renewed passion and desire.

This time, I would show her! She would know, if we ever ran into each other again, that it was her who made the mistake.

  Before meeting her, I had only really dabbled in game. I thought I wanted it. I dipped my toes in the kiddie pool. I felt the elation at a number and the sadness at a rejection. But I was still dealing with ripples, safe within the confines of the shallow side.

Now, determined, I would stretch out beyond the reef, into the rough tides and surf, out with the sharks. I delved deep, deep into game. Why?

I now had the leverage. I had the motivation to push forward. Not to get hurt again like I had been. To attract more, better, hotter girls than I had. And that’s exactly what I spent the next 5 years doing, and I’m incredibly grateful for the amazing experiences those 5 years provided me. So much so that now, looking back, I wouldn’t change what happened for anything. The breakup, the pain, the heartache, feelings of betrayal. The bitter medicine of change tastes horrible, but the results are undeniable.

Without her cruel and sudden destruction of my heart, I probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to commit so single-mindedly, so completely to game. And if I hadn’t done that, well I certainly wouldn’t have had the motivation to build two businesses and create a lifestyle that brings me around the world.

    V.

The funniest part of it all?

I ran into her again one New Years’ Eve. For the first time in years, we spoke. She looked at me, carefully picked a girl’s hair off my scarf, smiled, and said “You’ve changed.”

She found her way back into my bed once again, only this time things were different. I hit her up periodically, busy with my own life and engagements. One time I called her up late at night and asked if it was ok if I brought an Argentinian girl over for a threesome.

“Send me a picture of her.” She said.

I did, and she agreed. “Oh she’s really cute! Ok!”

The Argentine in question ended up drinking a bit too much and falling asleep, and I hooked up with my ex in the other room as she slept.

“When I last saw you, you were like a boy.” She mused as our heartbeats calmed and sweat dried. “Now you’re a man.”

The post Heartbreak in Tokyo: The Making of a Player appeared first on Attraction Japan.

from Attraction Japan http://attractionjapan.com/heartbreak-tokyo/

[renegadeslut]

all of the cafe asks!!!

Vanilla Chai Latte : Are you in love?

yes!! :)

Flat White : Coffee or Tea?

well i need coffee to function but taste-wise tea has more to offer i think

Cappuccino : What’s your middle name?

magdalena

Mocha : Dream Job?

a writer

Pumpkin Spice : Dream car?

i dont want a car tbh

Jasmine Tea : If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

apart from thailand (where i am in fact travelling next month) id still really like to see japan

Old English : You’re stranded on an island, who do you bring with you?

if people are off limits a book i guess (the master and margharita probably ive wanted to read that for quite a while)

Iced Chocolate : Do you have a crush on someone?

well you could say so i guess haha

Caramel Frappe : Favorite video game?

im really not a video game kinda gal

Iced Lemon Tea : Favorite song/band?

thats impossible to answer honestly

Iced Cafe Mocha : Favorite thing to do on rainy days?

idk cook something nice or order takeout? maybe a movie or some tv shows

Hot Chocolate : Are you an affectionate person?

depends. i guess so yeah

Caramel Macchiato : You’re travelling the entire world but you can only take one person with you. Who do you take?

my boyfriend or my bff

Green Tea : How tall are you?

160 cm i guess .(

Early Grey Tea : The inevitable Zombie Apocalypse is upon us! What’s your plan of action?

cling to some powerful people or smthn idk

Mint Tea : How do you relax?

i dont know how to relax

Vanilla Latte : Board games or drinking games?

drinking games

Iced Coffee : Do you like reading? If so, what’s your favorite book?

les miserables, the tin drum, all russians love birch trees, the picture of dorian gray, norwegian wood, captain michalis, love life and demian are the first to come to mind

Italian Soda : Describe your dream date

no idea, a nice meal and a couple beers??

Sparkling Water : Describe what qualities you look for in a person

i like kind and open people with a nice sense of humour and a certain charisma

Orange Juice : Have you ever had a valentine?

no

Rose Hip Tea : Describe your first kiss

depends on what you count as kiss (tongue or no??)

Herbal Tea : You’re at a candle shop, what scented candle do you buy?

cocnut or cocoa butter or cinnamon, something warm and sweet or spicy