#and then I got a bad grade in dentistry...

[birdmenmanga]

weughh,,, exhausting...

[derpinette]

too many males getting veneers when really they should be investing in hair transplants if anything

[raylangivins]

i haven't been back to the dentist in like two years because i know he's gonna tell me to eat less sugar and i just don't have it in me to pretend i agree. we've had teeth and sugar for a bajillion years, surely it's on you guys to figure that one out at this point. i won't stop. i won't. oreos after dinner are a human right!!! 😡

[khaleesiofalicante]

hi Dani, how are u?

Do you think there’s a way to stop worrying about grades? I’m majoring in dentistry, but as a first year I have to take basic math for some reason (?). Every teacher has a different grading method, but mine only makes quizzes. Last week I had a quiz and the teacher decided to do it in groups, and I really thought we made everything correct, but the teacher submitted the grades and we only got half of the grade (8/16) and since then I’ve felt really bad because I had done really well until then in the class :((

My classmates told me it’s not a bid deal, but I feel really shitty about everything, because I had done everything really well until then.

I hate feeling like my grades define my worth, but I don’t know how to stop it either 🥲.

I totally relate to this too—especially when I was in uni. First of all, the assignment you did was a group assignment, so it's not entirely your fault. If you got a perfect grade, you wouldn't have taken all the credit, right? So if you didn’t meet your expectations, then you shouldn’t blame only yourself either.

I think something that really helps to not rely too much on your grades for your self-esteem is to ask for qualitative feedback from your teachers. Most teachers just give a grade or a score and don't say much else. If they don’t do that, then you should go to them and ask: What did I do well? Did you see me make any easy mistakes? What can I do better? These are actually questions that you can ask your teacher not just after an exam, but after any assignment or class.

Basically, communication with your teacher about your performance is actually healthy and helpful. I say this while admitting that not all teachers are open to doing this (some are just assholes), so if you do have the opportunity and a teacher who is willing, then talk to them and get their feedback and use that because that's more concrete than a number on a piece of paper.

The second thing is much harder to do, and I've only done it myself when I got older. It’s realizing that exam grades or scores don’t actually reflect your intelligence at all. Especially in a lot of education systems, exams test memory recall and the ability to write a lot in two hours or some other skill that actually has nothing to do with the subject or the career you might be interested in. You really need to find alternative ways to make yourself feel better because more often than not, people who tie their self-esteem to their grades end up tying it to their salary or which university they went to or how many degrees they have, etc. It’s a slippery slope.

It’s okay to tie your self-esteem to your academic achievements. It’s completely normal. But let it be something concrete and personal—like completing a course that you found online, writing an article or essay about a topic of your choice, attending a conference on dentistry, or helping out a dentist at the office. These are all things that will also make you feel good about yourself, and guess what, they are long-lasting and much less stressful than an exam.

So if you’re in uni, I would deeply recommend that you look for opportunities to learn about dentistry or medicine in alternative ways other than just uni classes. If you only learn from school, then the only way you can judge yourself is by your grades. So expand and diversify the way you learn, and you will slowly stop worrying about grades too. There are so many opportunities these days, so I’d recommend that you look out for them and try them out!

Hope this helps!

[xellandria]

Some time toward the end of March, I broke a tooth. I don't remember the specific day but I can tell you it was a Thursday night cos it was during raid time, so I called my insurance-mandated dentist the next day aaaand... they're a Monday-Thursday joint. Suffered all weekend, called them on Monday and the earliest they could get me in for an emergency appointment was two weeks later. Which, you know, I took because what else was I going to do?

If you know me at all you know that this is one of my personal nightmares. I don't know why dentistry in general makes me as anxious as it does because it's not like I had bad teeth growing up or any specific bad dentist memories or anything (though I did randomly mentally scar myself by watching Ren & Stimpy once when I was too young for it, that's a vivid enough memory) but here we are.

Anyway two weeks later it turns out that it was my bottom right wisdom tooth, which somehow makes it at least a little better because the wisdom teeth are "optional" and you're not really expected to get through life with them, they're just kind of bonus teeth, right? At some point during the pandemic I'd broken both wisdom teeth on the left side of my mouth and when I'd tried getting dental attention for that everybody was closed because peak pandemic hours, so I've just been living with random spurts of tooth pain for years at this point. But anyway the dentist was going to put in a referral to an oral surgeon and I'd just get all four (three broken, one not broken yet) out. Sucks, but a routine enough thing. Also found out at that time that I had some cavities and the soonest they could get me in to deal with those was August.

Two or three weeks later I'd gotten the letter from my insurance saying that the preauth had gone through but the oral surgeon hadn't called me yet. I was in varying amounts of pain so I called the dentist asking both for the status of that referral ("oh we sent it over but here's their number you can call them") and for advice on what to do about the pain in the interim (where I had to go through a song and dance to prove I wasn't an addict but eventually got a low grade one-time prescription; I'm down to my last of those pills now). That was mid-May, two months after my initial dental emergency.

Called the oral surgeon, set up a consult appointment for that which was only available at a time when I had a different doctor's appointment already scheduled, which I then had to reschedule. Eventually got in to see the oral surgeon in the middle of June and asked him too many questions and it turns out that as the result of my questions and answers to the questions I asked, he couldn't do the surgery because he felt I was too anxious to be able to handle it without being fully sedated, which he was unable to do outside of a hospital setting due to legal... something... so he was going to notify my dentist and they would get me a referral to a different oral surgeon who works within a hospital setting so they could actually do the damn surgery.

Two weeks later I called my dentist again to find out what the status of that referral is, only to find out that no, my oral surgeon hadn't actually told my dentist about that so they were under the impression that things were working smoothly on my end. They started the referral process then but of course we're now in the start of July and I've been dealing with this since the end of March and... you know.

Middle of July comes around and I get a text right at the end of one of my spravato sessions from a maxillofacial and oral surgery center to call them at whatever number to set up an appointment. Except they don't say where they are.

They're in Portland. That's a three and a half hour drive away. But they are, apparently, the closest available full sedation oral surgeon covered by my insurance so I GUESS THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING NOW.

My consultation appointment with them is next Thursday--which yes, I have to do in person, which means an eight hour round trip just to have them look into my mouth in person and be like "yeah you need surgery" and then set up the actual surgery, which will probably be a multi-day thing because it's full sedation so they'll need to keep an eye on me afterwards. My mom and I have no idea what we're going to do about the cats; depending on what time of day the surgery ends up being scheduled for it's possible she'll drive me up the day before and I'll stay in a hotel then take a taxi to the hotel at like 6am or whatever the day of, then she'll drive back up to pick me up the day after. I have no idea. The other option is dragging both cats three and a half hours up to a cat-friendly hotel in Portland and hanging out there for two days. We'll see.

Circling back around to the actual dentist, yesterday was the appointment for some of the fillings in those cavities they discovered while I was there. It was supposed to be an hour long but I was sitting in the chair unsupervised for ten minutes before the dentist came in and said that the nurse+he had talked and decided I was too anxious to get my fillings done outside of full sedation too and he was going to put in a referral to a guy in Redmond to do that under IV sedation as well. I was just fucking sitting there! I wasn't hyperventilating or anything! My blood pressure was fine! WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE, I WAS DOING PRETTY WELL I THOUGHT?

Anyway so now that's up in the air too. At least while I was there I got a prescription for another ~15 pills to hopefully keep me alive until the actual surgery. Unfortunately I'm writing all this at four, five in the morning because it's a bad pain day and I keep getting woken up by the pain in my mouth and throughout the writing of all this the tramadol should have kicked in and hasn't done shit so I don't really know what I'm going to do at this point. I'm so tired of all this. It's been five months and nothing has actually been done.

[dangerously-human]

13-18? 💖

13. What was an instance that completely turned your bad day/week around for the better?

Usually it’s when a friend talks to me or says something nice to me, especially if someone reaches out to ask me to do something together or encourages me without knowing I need it just then. I am struggling to think of an exact example right now, but it’s definitely happened multiple times in the recent past. You’re really good at it, actually!

14. Name the first ten things that make you happy right now. Don’t even think too hard about it just write whatever comes to mind first.

Friends, books, potatoes, fresh fruit from the produce market, Ireland, my sunshine child, nests of blankets on the couch, Endeavour, accomplishing a goal, my 5th and 6th grade class at church

15. What’s the best pun you’ve ever heard?

Man, there was this chain email I got when I was, like, 11 or something, this very long and involved joke about dentistry at Christmastime that ended in “there’s no plates like chrome for the hollandaise,” and that is STILL what my brain suggests to sing every time I hear that tune.

16. What song always makes you happy no matter what?

“I Wanna Get Better” by The Bleachers

17. What is an inside joke that no one else would understand?

“curiosity and probably potatoes.” Technically there are two people who would get it - former work bff and I still laugh about it (it was the theme of my birthday present this year) - but neither of them is going to see this, so it counts.

18. Tell us about a moment where you felt absolutely free and alive. 

There was a day not too long ago that I was driving home from somewhere, flying down the highway in the sunshine and singing at the top of my lungs to Audio Adrenaline, and even though I still felt stuck in quarantine hell and the world felt so uncertain, I knew I was alive and loved and saved and it was just one of those moments of real release, you know?

[drshojo]

The World, My Childhood And My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Hello friends!  

Its Dr. Shojo coming at you with a post that will be divided into three parts!

Part One: The world as we know it! 

The world has changed a lot since we last connected. For starters, TOILET BOUND HANAKO KUN HAS NOT ONLY A PHYSICAL RELEASE BUT A GORGEOUS ANIME! And not only that, but MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM! IS GETTING AN ANIME AS WELL! The last time I wrote about Katerina there wasn’t even an official English translation of that long-ass light-novel-title. And now?

A WHOLE ANIME. A BISEXUAL HAREM AWAITS! I am JAZZED!

Do you think it’s my fault? No matter, I’ll take all the credit. All the manga I talk about are getting anime adaptations. I’LL DO MY DUTY AND TALK ABOUT SOME MORE!

But first. Let us address the Covid-19 shaped elephant in the room

I deeply regret that it took a whole-ass pandemic to get me back to writing. In my defense, I bought an iPad and started drawing like 900 kokichi oumas. I was really busy with that. And then I started reading fanfiction. Then that got me thinking about how fanfiction such an interesting look into how people interpret fandom, use it for wish fulfillment and escapism, and good god is everyone OK cause that bulimia fan fic was super detailed....and I am officially on a tangent. Off track. Ahem.

We are all staying inside a whole lot more which means y’all probably need some reading material and Dr. Shojo has your back! Go read “Horimiya”! It’s amazing! Ahhhh, my work here is done! I'm serious, if you’re here for a Shojo rec, that’s it! There's also like 8 million more Otome Isekais to check out now. It’s like they’re multiplying like rabbits..............

As a Doctor, I must advise you to stay inside and read some manga and practice social distancing. Embrace your inner hikikomori. 

Allright? All good? Okay now one final disclaimer:

This post is going to be talking about something a little different than usual and I want to start by giving you some context about who Dr. Shojo is in real life. 

Part Two: Dr. Shojo Exposed 

You see, when I was little I was obsessed with Japanese media. This doesn't surprise you at all I can tell. Probably because I walk around calling myself Dr. Shojo and shout about manga that you should read.

Anyways, the reason why I was obsessed wasn’t because of the big eyes or the spikey hair or the interesting new culture. It was because it tended to have more character development and overarching plotlines than the media I was used to in Canada. Dexter’s Lab, Magic School Bus, pretty much everything I saw on TV was episodic in nature, so imagine how much my mind was blown when I saw Naruto and Card Captor Sakura, heck, even Pokémon had the Indigo Plateau! Here were kids that were learning more and more each day and got to see enemies become friends and vice versa. They lived and grew older just like me. Except they were cooler than me. And had more interesting lives than me. I gotta tell you, I was so sad when I was 12 and Kero didn’t tell me I had latent magical powers. But there was magic in my life and it was the magic of a complex narrative story. And not only that, it had a sense of movement and had cool costumes. I was hooked immediately.

Also, fun fact, at that age I happened to be a complete and utter tomboy! I loved pretending to fight my friends in the playground and was really worried that puberty would ruin my life because being a girl sounded so CUMBERSOME.

Which leads me up to my confession. Before I became Dr. Shojo, I was in fact......Dr. Shonen.

Bleach? Naruto? One Piece? I've read every single chapter there is.  

Hundreds of hours of watching fight sequences. Another fun fact, I only got into shojo because my aunt bought me volume 7 and 8 of Fruits Basket thinking “all mangas like the same right? Kids love comics?” It’s a tribute to how episodic western media was back then that she thought buying volume SEVEN and EIGHT was a REASONABLE PLACE TO START READING.

Now you might also say, Hey! Dr Shojo! Cardcaptors was a shojo! And you are right! but back then the anime was marketed to boys over here in the west and they actualy like, edited out episodes that they thought wouldn't interest boys?! Second fun fact, Once when I was in Grade 3 I was told I was not allowed to join a club under the stairs cause I was a girl and it was BOYS ONLY. The point of the club? To talk about how great Cardcaptors was! I Kid you not!

So anyways, your pall Dr. Shojo loves Shonen manga to this day!

The only reason I made this Dr. Shojo blog specifically about shojo is because, being a tomboy with no female friends, reading shojo manga was the first time I really thought about what it meant to be a girl and fall in love. And y i k e s. Shojo manga, like most media, fails miserably most of the time in displaying real world relationships. Or at least, it  doesn't prepare you for how disappointing everything can be. When I had my first kiss, I was thinking about how it didn’t feel at all like how I felt reading Zen and Shirayukis kiss in Akagame No Shirayuki Hime. Those were formative years, and shojo was one of the only places I saw romance being talked about for younger audiences. I liked reading romances where no one had any sexual experiences and were figuring out what love meant to them. But let’s shelve this topic for now.

The point is that gender roles are dumb and if you have an open mind there's a world of stories out there for you. Take this time inside to read something you wouldn’t normally. Critically think about the ways that the worlds you see in stories and how you experience the world differ. What are the messages a story is trying to tell you? And why do you like the stories you do? Reflect on how the stories you tell yourself color your view of the world. Even mindless entertainment leaves an impression on us. Anyways.

Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to absolutely lose my hecking mind over the Shonen Jump series MY HERO ACADEMIA: Vigilantes!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Part Three: I downloaded the one month free trial of the Shonen Jump app and made you read all that, so I can tell you that today Dr. Shojo is going to rant about a spin-off of a shonen manga

THAT’S RIGHT, OF COURSE I READ HERO ACA AND YES I DID PICK UP THE SPIN OFF SERIES. SHONEN JUMP LETS YOU READ ALL THE NEW CHAPTERS FOR FREE ON THEIR APP. KIDS, IF YOU LIKE SHONEN AND YOU’RE PIRATING ON A SCANLATION SITE STILL GET OUT BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO SEE THOSE WEIRD PLASTIC SURGERY AND DENTISTRY ADDS ANY MORE.

SHONEN IS HERE AND ITS LEGAL AND ITS FREE FOR YOU. GET OFF MANGA FOX OR MANGA ROCK OR WHATEVER THE KIDS ARE USING THESE DAYS.

OK, so by this point in the article you have learned two very important things about me: 1) I love Shonen manga and 2) I read a lot of fanfiction.

Specifically, I read an absolutely biblical amount of My Hero Academia fan fiction and let me tell you, A solid chunk of it is vigilante/ Deadpool / criminal with a heart of gold themed.

So when I saw Hero Aca had a spin off, and it was about vigilantes, I was NOT SURPRISED IN THE SLIGHTEST. Ao3 sure is powerful.

Now, if you will permit me a tangent in a post full of tangents—HOLY CRAP, THERE ARE TOO MANY VIGILANTE AUS. I CAN'T KEEP TRACK OF EM. IT’S THE ISEKAI PROBLEM ALL OVER AGAIN. I GET AN EMAIL A FIC HAS UPDATED AND I’M LIKE IS THIS THE FIC WHERE DEKU HAS AN ABUSIVE MOM OR THE ONE WHERE HE HAS SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER OR THE ONE WHERE HE’S VIGILANTES WITH HITOSHI. OH WAIT, nvm, it’s the one where deku has a healing quirk.

OH WAIT WHICH OF THE 6 DEKU WITH HEALING QUIRK VIGILATE AU FICS IS THIS ONE?! ARGH WHY DIDN’T I WRITE A DESCRIPTION IN THE BOOKMARK FOR THIS!

My gripes aside, there's a reason why there's such an abundance of vigilante story telling—

Deadpool made like an absolute buttload of money and people love sass and memes.

People have a desire for a story in which they see themselves. Or, how they think of themselves.They like a story about someone who maybe came from nothing. Someone who has less money, maybe someone who is unlucky and had some bad breaks. Someone who never learned they had magic, never got their Hogwarts letter, never saw Kero, someone who never got that God-level quirk from All Might. And if your on Ao3 They want someone who also has seen a lot of memes and kind of wants taco bell and is also questioning their sexuality a bit?

Enter our new hero VIGILANTE DEKU.  

But the cannon can't do this, cause hey, Deku is the chosen one. Albeit, chosen by All Might, He’s got his own thing to do. But how can we still cash in on a vigilante story?

And thus enter our New-New hero KOICHI HAIMAWARI—code name Nice Guy and then later The Crawler. True to his relatable roots. He’s just a dude in an hoodie who can go about as fast as a bike.

First off, I love Koichi. He wants to be a hero and fight crime, but most of the time he has to run away because at the end of the day he's just a dude.

He’s cute but not wildly good-looking, A bit of a nerd but not like an extreme okaku. He’s got a part time job and hates violence.

And this is where Koichi really shines—in every day stuff. He helps out wherever he can. Often, that just means listening to people complain and maybe helping his friends out with whatever they’re going through. He’s the kind of guy who smiles, not because he's especially brave, but because he just takes things one at a time and doesn't sweat the past. I think it’s really telling that he missed getting into hero high-school because he skipped the entrance exam to help someone. He’s the kind of person who lets us experience the superpower of human decency and empathy. And you know what? That’s something the world need desperately.  

This theme of human decency is really the driving force of Vigilantes—it’s a manga about how the laws are there for a reason but sometimes they unfairly impact the poor and vulnerable. It's about how a lot of criminals are just people who fell into bad social circles or on bad times. People have the capacity for cruelty and violence but that’s never all they are.  

Now, speaking of crime, the entirety of Hero Aca falls into some murky water when it comes to its evil doers. Much of the fandom has a huuuuuge problem with how much the franchise is willing to sweep under the rug in the name of redeeming their baddies. RE: people getting mad about forgiving Endeavor’s child abuse, or Bakugo’s suicide baiting. Or Mineta’s blatant sexual harassment.

But this theme is in Vigilantes even more than it ever was in the main series. To start off with, there’s this guy who tries to rape Pop Step early on, and the later he later winds up befriending everybody. It becomes a running gag that each new villain winds up befriending the other villain guys and then they all open a cat café together.

Using jobs as a way to lift people out of lives of crime is great and all but in the story there is no nuance or consequences for past wrong and well.....it feels very weird.  It's like Vigilantes plays at having an opinion about moral ambiguity and the complexity of human existence and then just.......lets everyone get along because who has time to get into all that. Make of that what you will but it sits weird for me personally.

Anyway, let's move on and talk about POP STEP our main girl!

I love pop stars and I love vigilantes and a guerrilla performer is defiantly a character I could get behind. And I think they do a good job with Pop. She is actually kind of shy, but has this secret edgy persona she puts on when she performs. She is every girl on tumbler in the early 2000s. I also looooove that they make her not that great a singer. SHE’S GOT PASSION AND CHARISMA and maybe not born talent but like why should that stop you! Talent can be earned through practice and this is a great lesson to show people.

Unfortunately, Pop is also a great example of everything wrong with romance in Shonen.

It’s established early on that Pop loves Koichi because she is the girl he rescued all those years ago and yada yada yikes we’ve heard this one before. Many times before.

Sure, it's fine that they’ve met before, but gosh am I sick of damsels in distress. It's like she can't love him just because she respects what a great guy he is in her life and in the community at large, no no, she just needs to be rescued on top of that. And LOLOLOL isn't it funny he never noticed she was a girl because she was a child with short hair?! Once he realizes she has boobs now they will for sure fall in love! That’s how love works!

She's just with him all the time—nothing romantic ever happens she just gets a little tsundere.

I am never ever going to believe Koichi likes Pop because he spends like sooooo much time with her and they never have like, a moment. The first time he considers her is when Makoto is like, ‘hey I would love to get together with you, but have you thought about if you are crushing on Pop’. (Also this entire plot point is suspect—she's arbitrarily falling for Koichi cause he.......is the protagonist?)  

Say what you will about shojo, they give you the emotional conversations, the moments where you think.....ahhh I can see why she is falling for him. They give you context! Shonen likes to just say HERE’S A GIRL YOUR AGE. YOU CAN DATE LATER WHEN THE ADVENTURE IS DONE.

Just when they might get together, Pop suddenly turns evilllllll. The evilllll beeeees made her eeeevilllll (and more sexy).

*Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Because why on earth would they get together if Koichi didn’t get to rescue Pop one more time?

I’m tired. These troupes are tired. I’m sure you are too. HOWEVER! If your still with me, Let’s move into why I'm really writing this post. Let’s get to the part that got me screaming to my friends, who by the way, don’t even care bout Hero Aca….but listened anyways. May you all find nakama like these my friends.

Anyways,

HOLY FUCK ERASERHEAD’S ENTIRE BACK STORY IS IN THIS AROUND CHAPTER 60 AND IT IS WONDERFUL AND ABSOLUTLY HEARTBREAKING AND IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTER BACKSTORIES I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IS THE REASON WHY THIS SERIES IS A MUST-READ FOR MAIN SERIES FANS.

AND BY ALMIGHT.  

WHY. IS. IT HERE.  

I present to you my late night text messages to my friends

ALSO, AIZAWAS TEACHER IS PRINCE?!?!?!

AHEM, so as you can see, I kinda lost my shit.

And now, I would like to formally defend my claim that DESPITE HOW AMAZING IT WAS, ERASERHEAD’S BACKSTORY HAD NO BUISSNESS BEING IN THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF MANGA.

Eraserhead, aka Aizawa Shouta, is a side character who is working with the police on some crime stuff. He is not a main cast member in this spin off. He’s a guest character that fans of the main series will be like OH COOL. GRUMPY CAT MAN LIKES CATS ON HIS OFF HOURS TOO. LOVE THAT FOR HIM.

So, my imagine my absolute surprise when Aizawa runs into Koichi and the following happens:

It starts to rain, so, like in any good manga, this means some great FORCED BONDING TIME

Except no. It doesn't because rather than start talking, Aizawa JUST STARTS REMEMBERING—ABSOLUTLY SILENTLY TO HIS OWN PRIVETE SELF—HIS ENTIRE TRAGIC BACKSTORY.

AND THIS GOES ON FOR CHAPTERS.

THIS GOES ON LONGER THEN ARC ONE IT FEELS LIKE.

I LOVE IT, BUT KOICHI IS ABOUT TO JOIN ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA IN THE DUBIOUS CATEGORY OF “PROTAGONISTS THE SERIES FORGOT ABOUT IN LIEU OF COOLER SIDE CHARACTERS”.

AND LO IT HAS NO BEARING ON THE REST OF THE PLOT, CHARACTERS, OR STORY

What the ever-loving-just WHY?

WHY?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

SURE, IT’S A COOL TIE-IN.

YES, OF COURSE I LOVED IT. I SHIP ERASER MIC, I DREW THIS FOR HECK’S SAKE:

AND YET I AM ANGRY.

I AM ANGRY BECAUSE MY FRIDAY WAS RUINED BECAUSE VIGILATES SUCKER PUNCHED ME WITH AN AMAZING STORY THAT REALLY WASN’T PLOT RELEVANT AND PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THERE.  

IS THIS WHY THEY TOOK LIKE NEXT-TO-NO CARE WITH POPS ARC?!?

I mean its ongoing, so it’s too early to say but—

In conclusion—

Excuse me one more,

AIZAWA WAS TAUGHT BY PRINCE!?!??!?!?!?!? PURPLE RAIN PRINCE!?!??!?!?!? WHAT!??!?!?!

It’s so ABSURD that I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I HAD TO WRITE PARAGRAPHS TO JUSTIFY YELLING ABOUT THIS ONE THING. WHAT THE ABSOLUTE—

Ahem,

Anyways, I hope you liked this weird rant/personal-story/random-diatribe in three parts.

If you’re reading this, thank you, stay safe, and I’ll be back with more shojo manga next time.  

Ciao!

Dr. Shojo

(aka Dr. Shonen)

[onestowatch]

Dacey on Quarantine Creativity, Falling Asleep to Bill Burr, and “Broccoli’s Keeper” [Q&A]

Vancouver-based band Dacey is the latest act to grace the cover of Spotify’s “Fresh Finds: Indie.” Lead singer Dacey Andrada, guitarists Justin Tecson and Waterfall Eyes, bassist Joshfrompomo, and drummer Marco Marin are taking the Gen Z world by storm with their hazy brand of genre-bending DIY music. With a Mac Demarco-like nonchalance and a Steve Lacy-esque groove, Dacey sits comfortably at the intersection of bedroom pop and alternative R&B. 

“Broccoli’s Keeper,” the band’s newest single (out now on Kitsuné Musique), is a woozy tribute to dro. With an effortless lilt, Andrada lays down lyrics about getting high on your typical afternoon over a jangling guitar instrumental.

I had the pleasure of catching up with frontwoman Dacey over email last week to pick her brain about “Broccoli’s Keeper,” creativity in quarantine, and falling asleep to the dulcet tones of Bill Burr. 

Ones To Watch: Who is Dacey?

Dacey: My name is Dacey Andrada, and I’m the lead singer of the band DACEY, I’m a singer-songwriter born and raised in Vancouver BC. I make music with elements of alt-R&B, neo-soul, lo-fi hip hop, indie, and jazz.

So, you’re based in Canada, and first met at the Nimbus School of Recording and Media in Vancouver. How have your cultural surroundings helped shape the music you make today?

I’m a second-generation Canadian, I was born in Vancouver BC, and was raised in a Filipino household with both music-loving parents. As a kid, I grew up listening to my dad’s music collection, which consisted of burnt CDs, cassette tapes, concerts pre-recorded onto VHS tapes, and vinyl. We had an array of genres, including artists such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Jackson 5, Etta James, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, the Beach Boys, and Amy Winehouse. 

I was a four year old who stood on top of the family coffee table as if it were a stage, entertaining guests with my fake Britney Spears headset microphone. It wasn’t until grade school that I realized I was mostly drawn to, and most passionate about Motown, Jazz, R&B, and Funk. In high school, I played bass in jazz band and sung in jazz choir, which contributed to my growth of very niche jazz music. 

From then on, I slowly started writing my own music around the age of 11, progressively discovering my style in writing as the years went by. At the beginning of high school, I began listening to new artists that were in and changing the game. I gradually grew my love for hip-hop, neo-soul, indie alternative, and immediately fell in love with the music of Tyler, the Creator, Kanye West, Anderson .Paak, SZA, Hiatus Kaiyote, Mild High Club, Mac Demarco, and Thundercat.

When did you realize music was something you wanted to seriously pursue?

Growing up, I’ve always had a passion for music. So ever since I was little, I’ve always wanted to be a performer. It wasn’t until after high school, I realized right away that the dentistry route wouldn’t be for me, I then started performing all over Vancouver.

How have you been staying busy in quarantine? Have you picked up anything new?

I’ve been recording for our upcoming EP, It is currently in the process. I’ve picked up biking, hiking, and long walks. Last year while I was still in school, it had been hard for me to stay physically active because I would always be in the studio either recording or producing for my classes. I would say I have been the most active this year due to quarantine (which isn’t a bad thing lol).

Walk us through your songwriting process. How has social distancing affected your creativity as a group?

Usually during band practice or whenever we all get to be in the studio, either one of us would come up with a chord progression, then we all add our parts and jam it out. I would then take a recording of it, bring it home, then write to the piece. Otherwise, I would come up with a chord progression first, sometimes the lyrics would have already been written, and bring it to the studio to show the band, then jam it out until we see fit. Since quarantine started, it has slowed down our creative process and our workflow, since we weren’t really able to meet up as much to make new material. However, we’re slowly getting back into the groove and grinding it all out.

What’s your go-to “interesting fact” when you do icebreakers in class?

I like to sleep with podcasts from my favourite comedians on. I can easily fall asleep to Bill Burr. 

“Broccoli’s Keeper” is such a fun name - how did you come up with the idea for the song, and more importantly, who is Sir Pablo?

“Broccoli’s Keeper” is derived from the term brother’s keeper. It is a metaphor for a person who’s in charge of the kush. I was inspired by the song “Addicted” by Amy Winehouse, and I sort of based the song around her’s and especially around my experiences. It’s just about how greedy you have to be sometimes with your dro. Sir Pablo is anyone who mooches off you way too often, and is a weed fiend.

Are there any artists you would like to tour with or collaborate with in the future?

So many! I would love to collaborate with Tyler, the Creator, Anderson Paak., Tame Impala, SZA, Kali Uchis, Steve Lacy, and Mac Demarco one day! I feel like I’m missing someone…

What’s next for Dacey?

We’ve got a new single coming out in September! We’ve got our EP coming up in the next few months, can’t really pinpoint a specific date, but it’s real soon! We’ve also got a music video for “Broccoli’s Keeper” dropping.

Who are your Ones To Watch?

Hamb Sun, an artist also based in Vancouver! He’s super dope, and his style is really unique. He really makes it his own.

[anyabelrose]

[ emilia clarke, thirty-one, cis female, she/her ] ━ did y'all see [ anya belrose] walkin’ into [ the galaxy ]? they’ve lived in frostford for [ most of her life, ] and you can catch ‘em around town working as a [ dentist ]. I reckon they’re pretty [ optimistic & free-spirited ] but I hear they can also be kinda [ too idealistic & indecisive. ] if ya see ‘em around, be sure to say hi.  @frostfordstart​

hey hey there! i'm lily and yes! i'm super excited to be here and introduce you to my baby anya. she's a very old muse of mine that i decided to bring back into life. my discord is lilypad@6933

BASIC INFO

NAME: Anastasia ‘Anya’ Belrose

GENDER: Female she/her

DATE OF BIRTH: June 18, 1988 (31)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Birmingham, Alabama

OCCUPATION: Dentist

ORIENTATION: Panromantic, Pansexual

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

BACKGROUND

tw: death

anya was raised in frostford, the middle child of gregory and ivanna belrose. their parents moved to frostford from birmingham when anya was just a few months old. he worked as a dentist and her mom stayed at home.

the belroses are a middle-class family, her father's job allowed them to have a decent life but far from lavish. her mother is of russian origin, her parents immigrated from sochi a few years after she was born. therefore, anya and her siblings speak fluent russian.

a bright young girl, anya never seemed to fulfill her potential. she's always been very smart but her grades didn't show that since she often got distracted talking too much.

sooo restless. she needs to be active all the time, otherwise, she'd go crazy.

like most people who come from a small town, her biggest dream was to leave frostford and travel the world.

the best way she could accomplish that was through college, and so, she finally left town a few weeks after she turned eighteen to attend college in boston.

all her life, her father tried to spark her interest in dentistry and he thought he'd succeed when she agreed to major in pre-dental. however, just a few days after she arrived at college she switched her major to philosophy.

TW: DEATH❗ her father never found out this until her graduation day. he was deeply disappointed which hurt anya, but what hurt the most was his abrupt passing just six months later due to a heart attack.

heartbroken, she decided to make him happy and entered dental school. turns out it wasn't that bad and started to grow on her.

she returned to frostford every summer and it was during one that she began a relationship with another boy, one that she'd known since they were kids. they remained together throughout the four years of dental school and the day of her graduation he proposed.

the wedding was just a few weeks away when she started to have doubts but people kept telling her to push them away and she did, until the wedding day.

everyone was waiting for her and right there she knew she couldn't do it. she said she needed to go to the toilet and escaped. people tried to contact her for days but by the time they did she was already somewhere in europe.

two years went by without her stepping foot in frostford, too ashamed and afraid to be judged for what she did. however, two weeks ago she received a call from one of her siblings to let her know that her mother was seriously ill.

she moved back a few days ago, ready to take care of her mom and will start working as a dentist

anya is a very optimistic person, but she has some commitment issues and gets bored easily. she is a mess and she's still trying to find a place in this world although for now, that has to wait.

[implant-tedavisi-blr-blog]

Are Dental Implants for You?

An oral implant is an "origin" device, usually made of titanium, utilized in dentistry to sustain reconstructions that appear like a tooth or group of teeth to replace missing teeth. A typical implant contains a titanium screw (looking like a tooth origin) with a roughed up or smooth surface area. Most of the oral implants are constructed out of readily pure titanium, which is available in 4 grades relying on the quantity of carbon and also iron contained.this page They are made use of for the support and also retention of dentures, fixed bridgework and the replacement of one or more missing out on teeth.

Essentially all oral implants put today are root-form endosseous implants, i.e., they appear similar to an actual tooth origin (and therefore possess a "root-form"). They are positioned within the jaw bone and also become affixed to the surrounding jaw bone. The bone of the jaw accepts and osseointegrates with the titanium post. Osseointegration refers to the blend of the implant surface with the surrounding bone. Dental implants will certainly fuse with bone, nevertheless they do not have the periodontal ligament, so they will certainly feel slightly different than all-natural teeth do throughout chewing features. The implants continue to be inflexible as opposed to having some adaptability that all-natural teeth have since they are affixed individually to a gum tendon. Prior to the development of root-form endosseous implants, the majority of implants were either blade endosseous implants, in that the form of the steel item put within the bone looked like a flat blade, or sub-periosteal implants, in which a structure was created to lie upon and was affixed with screws to the subjected bone of the jaws. Oral implants can be utilized to support a variety of oral prostheses, including crowns, implant-supported bridges or dentures. They can also be utilized as anchorage for orthodontic tooth activity. Making use of oral implants allows un-directional tooth activity without mutual action.

You should recognize that not everyone may be a candidate for receiving an oral implant.There has to be enough sustaining bone existing especially in the upper jaw that remains in such close distance to the maxillary sinus. You likewise should have excellent dental hygiene and be in good basic health and wellness. That being stated, particularly invasive procedures can be applied like bone grafts, or bone augmentations and/or sinus lifts to offer enough bone. One noticeable contra-indication for implants is positioning them in the reduced jaw to close or touching to the mandibular canal which has the mandibular nerve running through it. Placing implants in such places could lead to long term and/or irreversible feeling numb of the reduced lip and jaw. A very undesirable end result certainly! Although lots of oral experts can provide you with implants, you have to do your due diligence and also make certain that the professional you choose, is highly trained as well as experienced in dental implant treatments. Dental specialists, Periodontists, Endodontists and general oral experts that have had the needed training as well as education and learning can execute this solution for you. The actual oral implant procedure is not typically unpleasant throughout or after the medical placement. It is generally carried out with using an anesthetic however different methods like nitrous oxide, IV sedation and/or basic anesthetic treatments are readily available. If you make a decision to have your General Practitioner do this procedure, see to it to ask the number of she or he has done. And inquire where as well as when they got their training in dental implant treatments. The healing time needed before loading and placing the denture, crown or repaired bridge on the implant may vary widely. I believe most practitioners will allow from 2-6 months for the recovery procedure and also complete bone assimilation to happen. That stated, the instant placement into a current extraction site as well as instant loading has lately become much more usually due to the fact that the success rates for this treatment are currently rather appropriate. If you ought to see a dental implant advertisement that states" Teeth in a day", it is a treatment more appropriate for a totally edentulous (no teeth existing) instance where all of the teeth are to be extracted or have actually already been drawn out. You might ask what is the rate of success for oral implants? Well that depends upon the operator's abilities, on the quality and also quantity of bone present, the person's oral health as well as the condition of the remaining teeth and encouraging periodontal cells. A people that smoke, have diabetes mellitus, bad oral health habits and/or various other endangering general health and wellness problems are NOT great candidates for successful implant treatments. The success rate of excellent prospects is very high. Around 95%. The expense of a fundamental oral implant is usually $1,250 to $3,000. Relying on your circumstances, additional prices for things such as when it comes to a posterior jaw, bone regeneration, sinus elevation, and also vast diameter or slim size implants can promptly raise the costs included to as high as $15,000 to $30,000 for the complete treatment for the upper or lower jaw. That being stated, an associated expense of an un-complicated solitary implant can range 1500.00 and also 3,000.00 depending where you live as well as who is doing the surgery. Several dental institutions for example may have a specialty program that may supply to do a single implant for a significant discount rate contrasted to private technique. Subsequently, if you live near a dental school and get accepted into their dental institution dental implant program, you might be able to have an implant or implants done at a lowered price. Know that most estimates given for implants do not constantly include the superstructure that will be positioned on top of the implant. Consequently, it will be up to you discover what the overall expense will be consisting of the price of the crown or crowns, bridgework or dentures that might be needed. For edentulous people that need to put on reduced dentures, the dental implant treatment has become the next finest thing to chopped bread. Offering you are an excellent candidate and can afford it, oral implants can enhance your lifestyle significantly.

[hearts-hunger]

“D’you need a pencil, love?”

Part Two || Masterlist

Pairings: College!Roger x Reader

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: None!

A/N: My darlings!! Your love for part one was so encouraging; I’m so glad you enjoyed it! This part is a little dialogue-heavy, but I think it’s v cute. My update schedule is nonexistent, so I don’t know when part three will be up, but I promise I’m working hard on it! I hope you like part two! ♥

The minutes ticked by painfully slowly through your next two classes. Though you took thorough notes, hardly anything you wrote down registered with you. You promised yourself you’d have a real look-over later that night, but currently you were too distracted by thoughts of the slowly-but-steadily approaching coffee date.

Your initial excitement hadn’t worn off, but it had started to become outshone by an ever-increasing nervousness. You hadn’t thought when getting ready this morning that you would be going on a date, and you fussed with the pleats of your knee-length peasant dress, wondering if he liked it. It didn’t really matter, since he’d already seen you in it this morning and you hadn’t given yourself time to change into anything else before you were supposed to meet him, but you still worried. Honestly, what was a guy like him doing asking out a girl like you? He could have any girl he wanted.

None of your worrying could change the fact that he’d asked you out, though, and eventually you packed up your notes from your last class and headed towards the library. There was a café frequented by most of the students at Imperial College London right across the street, and you usually popped in to get a cup before you went to study in the book stacks. You wondered if you’d be the first to arrive, or if he would already be there. You felt your heartbeat start to jump higher and higher the closer you got to the café.

As you came up to the door of the quaint little coffee shop, you gave yourself a second to compose yourself and not show outwardly the panic and excitement that were warring for dominance in your chest. You caught your reflection in the window; you looked fine, a little nervous, perhaps, but ultimately as good as you could have hoped. You tucked a stubborn curl behind your ear and opened the door.

You saw him almost immediately, back to you, blue shirt stretched over his broad shoulders as he leaned on the counter and talked to a man standing catty-corner to him. You didn’t want to interrupt their conversation, so you hung back, waiting until Roger turned around so you could get his attention.

The man Roger was talking to glanced over at you; he nudged Roger’s shoulder and nodded towards you. Roger turned, smiling when he caught sight of you.

“Y/N,” he said happily as you came over. “Right on time.”

“You did say not to be late,” you reminded him.

He grinned. “So I did.” He motioned to the man standing next to him. “This is my mate Brian. Brian, this is Y/N.”

Brian smiled at you and held out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Y/N.”

“And you,” you said, shaking his hand. He was taller than Roger, with dark, soft curls and brown eyes.

“We’re in a band together,” Roger supplied.

You looked to him in wonder. “Really? What band?”

“It’s called Smile,” Roger said, flashing you a smirk that left you no doubt that he used that line all the time.

“Yeah, because Roger here is studying to be a dentist,” Brian teased.

Roger’s smirk faded. “I was gonna leave that bit out for the moment, mate, until she though I was a bit cooler, but thanks.”

You laughed. “Dental school is great,” you said. “Very up-and-coming.”

“Yeah, well, Brian wants to study space dust for a living,” Roger said. “Which is kind of even less cool than dentistry.”

“I’ll have you know that astrophysics is very cool, Roger Taylor,” Brian said, unruffled. “Plenty of girls think it’s very rock n’ roll.”

“Space dust?” Roger asked, doubtful.

“Well, maybe not space dust, per se,” Brian admitted. “But they do like that I know all the constellations. What can you do, tell them to floss every day?”

You laughed. You liked Brian, and you could see why girls would like to lay under the stars with him and have him point out constellations. Roger didn’t seem to upset by his friend’s ribbing, and you could tell they were good mates.

“Don’t you have a class to get to, Mr. Astrophysics?” Roger asked. Brian grinned.

“Yeah, actually. Sorry I can’t hang about and let Y/N know what you’re really like.” He grabbed a stack of books from the counter. “Don’t forget they moved us to 7, so we’ll need to be there by 6:30.”

“I got it, I got it,” Roger said, waving his friend off. “Tim’s the one you need to remind.”

“You should invite Y/N to come,” Brian suggested.

“Yes, thank you,” Roger said, lightly shoving his friend towards the door. “I’ve got it covered.”

Brian smiled at you. “It was nice meeting you, Y/N.”

You smiled back. “You too, Brian.” Roger watched as Brian left, his expression affectionately exasperated.

“A real charmer, that one, isn’t he?” Roger said.

“What did he mean about inviting me tonight?” you asked. “Not that you have to,” you added quickly.

“No, it’s alright,” he assured you. “I was going to anyway. We’re booked to play the Rose and Crown tonight.”

“Smile?” you asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, we’re not bad, you know, you might like it. You don’t have to come, of course, but it’d be great if you did.”

You smiled. “I’d love to,” you said, all plans to go over your notes later that night forgotten. “When should I be there?”

He considered this. “Oh, maybe 6:45-ish? If you want to get a spot close to the front? And that way I could have a chance to see you before we go on.”

“I’ll be there,” you promised. “What kind of music do you play?”

“Rock n’ roll,” he said confidently, a hint of pride in his voice. “Real Led Zeppelin-type stuff.”

“I don’t know that much about Led Zeppelin,” you admitted.

He put his hand to his chest and feigned like he’d been shot. “Bloody hell, sweetheart. Tell me it isn’t true.”

You giggled. “I’m afraid so.”

“Oh, man, I’ve got to show you their album sometime,” he enthused. “The way Bonham starts out real subtle and jazzy on ‘How Many More Times’, and then about thirty or so seconds in, he just goes wild on the ride cymbal and starts in on the toms and drives the whole song along...” He seemed to notice he was rambling and cut himself off with a bashful smile. “Anyway, he’s a really great drummer.”

“Are you a drummer too?” you asked, endeared to his enthusiasm.

You could have sworn he blushed. “Not anywhere as good as Bonham,” he said, “but yeah. Brian plays guitar, and Tim’s on bass guitar. He’s also our lead singer.”

“Do you sing at all?”

He shrugged. “Sure, sometimes, for backup.”

“Well, I’m excited to see you play tonight,” you told him. “You can teach me what real rock n’ roll is like.”

He inclined his head in a bow. “I consider it an honor to be your guide into the wonderful world of rock music, my lady.” He looked back up at you. “I’ve just realized I’ve never asked if you wanted a drink. I apologize.”

“Oh, no,” you said, blushing, flattered at his apology. “I’m fine, thank you.”

He raised a brow. “You’re sure? This is technically a coffee date, remember.”

“Right,” you said. “Um, a cappuccino would be lovely, thank you.”

He looked pleased that you’d allowed him to get you something. “Coming right up.”

You waited by the counter as he ordered cappuccinos for both of you; a few minutes later, he brought them over and handed one to you.

“There you are, love,” he said.

You took a sip of the hot drink and was glad you’d let him get it for you. “Thank you. For buying, I mean.”

“My pleasure,” he said. “I did ask you out, after all. Shall we find a seat?”

You followed him to a two-person table by the window and sat across from him, noticing how golden his hair looked in the light of the afternoon sun.

“So, what’s your story?” he asked, studying your face with a gentle kind of curiosity.

You smiled. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything you’d like to tell me,” he said easily. “For instance, what are you studying?”

“History,” you said. “I think. I’m taking a lot of history classes, anyway.”

“So you’re in the chemistry class just for the requirement?” he guessed.

“Yeah,” you agreed. “I’m afraid I’m going to fail, though - I’ve always been horrible at science.”

“I don’t believe you could be horrible at anything,” he said sweetly. You blushed.

“You’re very sweet,” you said, “but you don’t know how bad my grades were in my high school science class.”

He leaned back in his chair, draping his arm over the back of it. “I could always help you out, you know,” he said. “I’ve had to take loads of chemistry classes to qualify for medical school. I’m not a mastermind, but I could show you a few tricks.”

“That would be great, actually,” you said sincerely. “Thank you. And - ” You pulled his pen from your bag. “I’ll try to remember to bring my own when we study.”

He cracked a surprised smile. “I was only joking earlier, you really can keep it,” he said. “One less pen seems a small price to pay for getting to know you.”

You couldn’t help the shy smile that his words brought out. He certainly did know how to make a girl feel good about herself.

“Well, thank you,” you said, putting the pen back. “I’ll cherish it forever.”

He laughed, dimples showing in his cheeks. “You’d better.”

You took a sip of your coffee, mostly to hide behind while you recovered from how very much you wanted to kiss those dimples.

“So you’re from America, right?” he asked.

You raised a brow. “However did you come to such an astute observation?” you asked in your best posh British accent. He rewarded you with an amused smile.

“What part of America?” he asked.

“Virginia,” you said. “It’s right on the east coast, kind of in the middle between Maine and Florida.”

“Why’d you decide to study here, then?” he asked. “No schools that fit your fancy back home?”

“I’m actually with an exchange program,” you said. “I technically go to the University of Virginia still.”

“So you’re only here for this term?” You wondered if you were reading too much into it or if he really did sound disappointed.

“No, I’m here for the whole year,” you said, trying to gauge his reaction, but you didn’t need to. His broad smile was plain as day on his face.

“That’s great,” he said. “I mean, that you don’t have to just be here for a few months. You can’t really fit the whole London experience into one term. Are you going back to Virginia for the holidays?”

“I am,” you said. “It’ll be nice to see everybody.”

“Any special chaps back home?” he asked.

Your heartbeat jumped. “No. No one special.”

He leaned his forearms on the table and studied your face, a smirk playing across his own. “I bet you’re a heartbreaker, aren’t you?”

Your laugh was a little embarrassed. “No way. I think you’re projecting.”

“Me?” he asked, playfully incredulous. “So you think I’m the one breaking hearts up and down the isle, do you?”

“Oh, I know you are.”

He leaned back in his chair again and looked at you with amusement in his pretty features. “Well, I won’t deny it,” he said. “But where’s the fun without a little risk?”

You frowned. “Getting your heart broken isn’t exactly a walk in the park.”

He gave you a knowing look. “There was a special chap, wasn’t there?”

“Was being the operative word here,” you reminded him as he took a sip of his coffee. “It didn’t really count, anyway, because he didn’t even know I liked him. I don’t even know if you can qualify me as a person who’s had their heart broken because I’ve never even been on a real date before.”

Roger almost choked on his coffee. “What?”

His surprise amused you. “It’s true.”

“You are joking, aren’t you?” he asked, genuinely surprised. “You mean to tell me that this is the first date you’ve ever been on in your whole entire life?”

You blushed. When he put it that way...

He ran a hand over his face. “Well, that really puts the pressure on me, now doesn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

He bit his lip. “I mean, I’ve got to make this one really good. If it’s your first one ever.”

“You’re doing a pretty good job so far,” you told him, endeared to his concern.

“You’re not just saying that?”

You laughed. “No, I really mean it. I’m glad my first date is with you.”

“It’s probably the best first-date experience you could have hoped for,” he teased.

“Oh, definitely,” you agreed. If only he knew how right he was. “And since you’re going to be a fixture in my memory even when I’m old and gray and telling my granddaughters what my first date was like, I think it’s time I got to ask you some questions.”

“Ask away,” he said easily. “Though we’ve pretty much covered everything already.”

You gave him a doubtful look. “So the only thing there is to know about you is that you’re studying dentistry and you play drums for a band called Smile?”

“Basically, yeah.”

“I refuse to accept that,” you said. “There’s got to be other things a girl should know before getting tangled up with a guy like you.”

He raised a brow as the ghost of a smirk crossed his face. “Tangled up, eh?”

You blushed. “I only meant - ”

He chuckled, easing your embarrassment. “I know, I’m sorry. Continue. What kind of things would you like to know?”

You met his eyes; they were more green than you had remembered. “What’s your favorite color?”

“I don’t have one,” he said with certainty.

You frowned. “There’s not one color you like more than the others?”

“No,” he said. “I like all of them equally.”

You huffed. “Well, do you have a favorite food?”

He looked amused at your slight frustration. “Anything Japanese.”

“What’s your favorite movie?”

He didn’t have a lightning-fast answer for that one. “Oh, let me think on that one for a second.” He tilted his head back, as if looking to the ceiling to remind him of what his favorite film was; you took the opportunity to appreciate the view of his jawline and the steady pulse under it. Before you could get too distracted, though, Roger’s attention was back on you.

“I’ve got it. Have you seen that movie that just came out last year, 2001: A Space Odyssey?”

You shook your head. “I heard it was weird.”

“It was,” he agreed. “But in a good way. What else?”

You thought for a minute. “Hmm... what’s your middle name?”

“Meddows,” he said. “Roger Meddows Taylor.”

You considered him. “Meddows,” you repeated. “It’s pretty. It suits you.”

You thought you saw his cheeks redden a bit. “Thanks. What’s yours?”

“Y/M/N,” you told him. “Not nearly as unique as yours.”

“It’s lovely, though,” he said. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

It was your turn to blush. “Oh, hush,” you said. “Go on, ask me a question before you say anything else entirely untrue.”

He asked you what kind of music you listened to, and from there you spent the next two hours asking each other things and talking about anything and everything. He was funny and easy to talk to; being with Roger was easily the most fun you’d had since coming to Imperial College London. Some part of you wondered if this was all a game to him, if he was having fun in the moment but had no intention of following up with you after you parted ways. You ignored that cynical part of you and decided to just enjoy spending time with him for now, irresistibly drawn to the boyish charm, laid-back confidence, and surprisingly gentle sincerity you found in him.

Besides, he’d invited you to his show that night, so at least the spell would remain unbroken until then. You supposed it was his right to never see you again - though you suspected that wouldn’t be the case - but at least you had tonight. You were fairly glowing from his attention, and you were going to enjoy it while it lasted.

Just when you’d come to an impasse in your argument over who was the most attractive Beatle - “Paul’s too, I dunno, cute. George was a real stunner in the early days, though.” - Roger’s gaze caught on your watch and he cocked his head to be able to read it.

“Bloody hell, is that the time?” he asked.

You checked your watch; it was already past 6. You searched his face, mildly panicked.

“You’d better go,” you said. “You don’t want to be late.”

“Yeah,” he agreed as he stood. You followed suit. “Brian already thinks I’m incapable of getting places on time.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “D’you want to, um, just come with me now? I mean, you’d be getting there earlier than you thought, but it might be easier. We’d just be setting up for the show. And I can take you back to your flat after.”

“Sure,” you agreed, going through the door he held open for you. You didn’t mind spending more time with him. “Thank you.”

“My van’s just over there,” he said as you walked, indicating the student parking lot by the library. “It’s not exactly a boy racer, but it gets the job done.”

“Would you be disappointed if I told you I don’t know what a boy racer is?” you asked.

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m absolutely gutted. This whole date’s been a waste now,” he teased. “No, ah, a boy racer is a kind of sports car that’s got a lot of modifications. I think Americans call them hot rods?”

“Oh, yeah,” you said, rubbing your arms against the chill of the light breeze. “That makes sense. Some of the guys at my high school were into hot-rod racing. I always thought it was kind of dangerous.”

“It’s really cool, though, you’ve got to admit.” He looked over at you. “You cold, love?”

“A little,” you said. “But it’s no big deal.”

“Here,” he said, shrugging off his denim overshirt and leaving a red tee underneath. He held the overshirt out for you, and you gratefully put it on over your dress.

“Can’t have you catching cold,” he said.

You gave him a bashful smile. “Thank you.” His shirt was warm and smelled like him, kind of sweet and smoky.

He opened the passenger door of his van for you when you reached it.

“Your carriage awaits, my lady,” he said gallantly, flourishing his hand. You giggled. Between his shirt tucked around you and the smile on his face at your laughter, you did feel like royalty. You didn’t know what could have made such a sweet and charming boy like Roger Meddows Taylor want to take you out, but at the moment, you didn’t really care. It was only you and Roger and the Beatles’ new single “Hey Jude” on the radio of his van, both of you singing at the top of your lungs. You couldn’t imagine any girl had ever had a better first date.

Read Part Three ♥ 

taglist: @onceuponadetectivedemigod ♥

let me know if you want to be added!

[hcrcwitz]

last but not least! please HMU or LIKE THIS to plot again, i luv u all for stickin w me in this trying time.

❝   constance wu.  cisfemale.  she/her.   ❞   ━    𝕝𝕒𝕜𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨  welcomes  heather zhao  with  open  arms.  the  thirty-five  year  old  botanist has  been  living  here  for  fifteen years,  give  or  take.  on  a  good  day,  they  seem  the  vehement  &  eccentric  type,  but  their  deceitful  &  capricious  tendencies  shine  through  when  there  are  no  taxis  into  the  city. 

heather was also a freak as a child. why??? bc i find freaky children to be very relatable ok. im incapable of writing a character w a normal childhood.

born in raised in toronto, her was was a dentist & her mom stayed home to watch her & her 2 siblings!!! she’s the middle child and u can TELL

she was a science kid!!! like....u know the kind w all those little science kids to like grow ur own crystals and blow shit up and whatever. thought lighting stuff on fire was cool. 

she was fairly popular in school!!! although most definitely a trouble maker. top of her class, student council president, yearbook editor, track star, valedictorian, her plate was FULL. and yet.....the little shit was always in detention

everything was just so BORING, which is why she chose to keep herself busy and do so many things. there was never one place she fit in, always bouncing around trying new things and befriending new ppl. 

she graduated early and ended up getting hella scholarship money & she went off to uni to study dentistry just like her dad

her uni roommate was..........a horrible influence on her. well, they were bad influences on each other tbqh because heather wasn’t exactly a good egg to begin with LMAO. 

they definitely focused more on their social lives than their grades, but heather still did p well in school.

heather decided pretty quickly that she did NOT want to be a dentist and eventually, after her and her roommate decided it would be a great idea to grow pot plants in their dorm closet, switched her major to botany instead and the bitch was a whiz! casually growing & selling closet pot to fund their horrible spending habits

she got engaged to her college bf on a whim & she moved to lakeview w him & they got married as soon as she finished her degree. needless to say it definitely did NOT last. she stayed married to him while she finished her masters and then the two called it quits, but she stayed in town. 

a few years later she ended up pregnant w her first child shortly after she finished her doctorate!!! she’d only been dating her boyfriend for a few months at the time but of course......being the impulsive gal she is, they got married!!!! they ended up having another child before they inevitably split up. they currently share custody and they’re on v good terms!!!! there rly are no hard feelings, things just didnt work out for them romantically but they’re still v good friends!!

she got engaged again at some point but never quite made it to her third marriage, which is fine by her. she’ll probably be married another 3 times before she dies but who cares!!!!! weddings are fun. when will she learn her lesson???????? we may never know

anyway, now she out here doing plant things and being a Cool mom. she mostly does a lot of environmental research w her job but also......she runs a grow op on the low, pls don’t tell the police. she’s making bank for the future of her CHILDREN.

she rly is a whackadoodle y’all

she is Loud. generally a cheerful person but she can flip flop so quick it’s SCARY. blames her lack of sleep but she’s always been like this.

indecisive as hell, moody, generally just........a little bit psycho. 

kind of has her head in the clouds???? 

kind of wants to fight everyone she meets.

she rly still is that little trouble maker she used to be and has only smartened up a LITTLE bit since becoming a mom LMAO. 

likes to to reckless things to feel alive. still thinks everything is boring, which is probably why she’s being risky af with her fuckin grow op???

she’s like nancy botwin but actually a Good mom LOL.

a bit of a creative type! never really had the chance to explore that side of her growing up but she’s fully exploring it now that she has kids. makes their halloween costumes and now she’s 10000% a pinterest mom.

she’s Out there. marches to the beat of her own drum, doesnt care what the other bitch pta moms think. she’ll FIGHT THEM!!!! karen better watch her damn back sis

some extra lil bits bc i Gotta

her two kids are ava (8) and miles (6) and she loves them more than absolutely anything in the entire world ofc!!! they are her angels............if u let her she will show u a million photos of them and brag abt them forever.

wine mom??? we don’t know her. heather is a VODKA mom 10000%.

her ex has the kids on weekends so........that is her time to SHINE sis!!! she rly loves to go out and dance and she slays karaoke. 

she rly likes cooking and she thinks she’s AMAZING but.....anyone else will tell u that she is horrible. 

but she’s rly into healthy eating & her and her kids have a garden and they grow their own veggies & shit its a wholesome family activity 

honestly she rly is a kid at heart!!!!

always stressed out but still crackin jokes

she’s smart but still bad at most things??? bad at cooking, bad at driving, bad at time management, but good at helping her kids out on their school projects and REALLY good at planning the best sleepovers

honestly the best way to sum her up is just..........she’s nice but she wants to fight u 

[borkingbarnes]

Hiii! I'm starting university next year and I'm SUPER nervous. Do you have any tips??

FIRST OFF CONGRATS ON GETTING IN AND GOOD LUCK DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR!! 

I went a little overboard with this because its a lot of stuff I wish I’d known first year so everything will be below!

this might be really over-said but it’s the biggest thing honestly— don’t. Fall. Behind. Courses typically build on previous knowledge so it turns into a whole snowball effect and you’ll feel so suffocated if you let it pile up. 

Attend lectures. Skipping lectures might seem tempting, especially if your prof posts their notes online but actually going to class forces you to focus on the material. Even if you go on your phone all class, you subconsciously absorb info by hearing the prof talk about it. 

Stay organized. Whether it be physical paper notes, online notes, or documents on your computer. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself come exam time. 

You actually need to study outside of class. This was one of my biggest issues in first year. I breezed through high school and never really needed to study outside of class and thought uni would be the same and boy was I sooo wrong lmao 

Everyone has different ways of studying. One of my friends can just read over the notes 3 times and go into the exam and score high 90s while I find that writing stuff out a few times helps me remember things because I actually need to spend the time focusing on it. Find what works for you. 

If you do bad on the midterm, it’s not the end of the world. Midterms are usually worth less than a quarter of the grade and you can always redeem yourself on the final. 

But on the previous note, know when you need to drop a course. If you’re trying to get into grad schools such as med, dentistry, vet, etc. grades are super competitive. It’s better to lose some money on one course than to fail it, have it lower your GPA and potentially have it ruin your chances of getting into grad school and having to do another year (which is way more expensive than just one class!!) just to boost your GPA back up. 

Ask about things you’re unsure about!!! If you’re not comfortable asking during class then email the prof directly. Most are always happy to help and most check their emails fairly frequently. 

Take advantage of those extra help/SA/tutorial sessions. 

Don’t rely on a doctor’s note as a guarantee that you can get your exam deferred. Illness is unavoidable sometimes but a doctors note for a cold won’t get your exam deferred. (Not to mention that profs typically will make the deferred exam harder) 

It gets better. It sounds cliche but it really does. After you get over the transition from high school and the course load, it’s much more enjoyable. I absolutely hated first year and found the learning curve extremely frustrating, but second year has been so much nicer. 

It’s okay not to meet your grade goals. There’s a saying that ‘C’s get degrees’ lmfao. But that being said, don’t aim to “just pass”. 

Sleep. Don’t pull all nighters. You retain less information when studying with a tired brain. Plus you’ll blank on stuff you do know because your brain is so tired. 

Reading the textbook helps!! It may seem boring but they help a lot. Especially with courses that require lots of memorization. The repetition helps a lot

Do practice questions and exams. Practice practice practice. 

Try to make at least 1 friend/acquaintance in each class. It helps if you’re sick or miss a class, you’ll still have someone you can get notes or info from or even to just check materials you’re unsure of with. 

You’re gonna be more inclined to skip that 8am class lol. Take classes later on in the day, future, mid-semester you will thank yourself. bonus little thing: If you have a few extra dollars, you can get one of those “sticker white boards” which is pretty much as the same suggests. It’s a huge sticker sheet made of the whiteboard material for dry erase. I got mine off amazon for $15 (it’s 200inch x 88 inch and I cut the 200 in half and stacked them one on top of the other bc it’s a better dimension for me). They’re incredibly convenient for math or if you’re a very visual person and like to draw diagrams or flow charts (BIO PATHWAY SYSTEMS!!). Plus it saves a lot of paper! 

[astroi]

"Proliferation Contretemps."

(Part 1)

The fights we, the ninja and my father, have can get a little bloody, but luckily I handle most of the hand-to-hand combat.

“It’s seems like you’ve improved from our last fight, Green Ninja. Have you been practicing?” Garmadon and I circled another like two predators battling for a territory - not completely untrue.

“Yeah, how’d you tell?” I kicked him in the gut. He retaliated with an uppercut to my jaw. Always the damn jaw.

I had to resist saying, “Aw shit man, not again,” instead going with a reliable, “Ow!” Yet another tooth came flying out, the same one as last week.

I glared, “Do you always have to go for the teeth?”

He laughed, “I’m surprised you have any teeth left to lose, Green Ninja.” He paused to study the fallen denticle, “Didn’t you already lose this one?” He held it in his palm as if recognizing it as one of his own.

I, tired and fatigued, admitted, “Yeah, what’s it to you?”

“It’s an implant.” I added to remedy my fears of him maybe connecting the dots.

“This would be some high quality dentistry work, if you were telling the truth.” The sweat formed from our battle pressed my blond hair on my face; I brushed it back under my mask.

“Of course, I’m telling the truth; I’m a ninja.” I spat out some blood. He blinked at it as if seeing it for the first time.

“Aren’t ninja supposed to deceive?” Lord Garmadon scoffed; kids these days: throwing around the word ‘ninja’ willy-nilly.

“Awfully sangria for human blood, isn’t it?” I stared at him blankly.

He clarified almost smug, “Your blood is mulberry-colored not red, Green Ninja – or should I say, ‘La-loyd?’”

I paled, either from the blood loss or the shock, “I-I, what? What are you saying?”

Before I knew it, he had me in a bear hug – or a regular hug? Pressing my arms against my sides, he pulled my mask off with his spare hands.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” He held me so tightly, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever let go.

“We’re done fighting, La-loyd.” He gazed at me with such relief in his eyes as lava-borne flames trickled down his cheeks. The anger and tension on my face had vanished in favor of confusion. I didn’t know what to do; Uncle never taught me about this type of situation, so I rested my head on top of the crook of one of his elbows.

I looked up at him awkwardly, “Can you, um, put me down?”

“No,” His tears landed on me; they didn’t sting like I thought they would, “Not yet.” He held me closer. I couldn’t find it within myself to struggle; I sort of wanted this too.

He set me down soon enough, but didn’t let go. I tried to blink the tears out of my eyes, but that just caused one to escape. Its lime glow alerted Garmadon to it.

“La-loyd?!” His grip dropped, I jumped backwards to regain some distance.

“You’re hurt!” I frowned, and then continued searching for my mask, for it held my headset.

“Yeah,” I retorted with a bitter tone, “You caused that, remember?” In the corner of my eye I saw it, while I completely ignored the hurt expression on his face.

“And, it’s ‘Lloyd’, Dad, not ‘La-loyd.’” I rushed towards it; I had to contact the others.

“No, L-L-O-Y-D; I should know, I named you.”

He noticed me moving toward it, “Hey, stop moving while I’m talking to you, La-loyd.” I picked it up and whispered, “We’ve got a code: yellow.”

On the other lines, they were still occupied with the Shark naval and land forces.

Zane was the first to reply, “Oh no, a code yellow!”

“Oh man, that sucks.” Cole stated bluntly.

“Yeah, sorry, dude.” Nya’s response was muffled somewhat by the water spraying out from her mech.

“A code yellow?! What’s a code yellow again?” Jay asked between breaths.

“So your dad knows? Do we need to fetch you, bro?” Kai confirmed.

“La-loyd! Stop contacting your little ninja friends, and listen to me when I’m talking to you.” The Secret Ninja Force heard Garmadon as he swiped the garb from me, his son.

“Give that back, Dad!” I tried to take it back from him, but he was taller than my max jumping height. He grabbed me and I sunk my teeth in him before I could really run that plan by me.

Despite that, he didn’t let go, which just made me feel more like a ‘Garmadon’ than I had all week, “Uh, sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” I mumbled looking away, unable to rub the back of my neck, I hadn’t bit anyone since I bit Chen in third grade. I wasn’t certain, but biting people didn’t sound very befitting of a ninja.

“Those are good instincts, La-loyd; but your venom doesn’t work on me.” Had he just encouraged me to bite people?

“Ve-venom?” That explained so much, and yet so little. Had that been the reason Chen was sent to the hospital when we were younger?

“Is that why Chen hates me!?” I blurted. Whoops.

Dad hummed as he adjusted his grip and started walking toward his mech, “I don’t know who this ‘Chen’ is, but if you bit him, probably. Our bite, albeit non-fatal, inflicts excruciating pain to its victims.”

“Oh, I said that out loud. Um, I,” I didn’t tell anyone, not even Uncle Wu, about it; but I guessed that someone like Garmadon would probably understand more than he would, “bit him in third grade after he hit me for, uh, having fangs – they had just grown in. He was sent to the hospital afterwards; I thought I gave him rabies or something.” I chuckled a little.

He joined me in my laughter, “Not rabies, but you did give him a neurotoxin.”

“Aw, man,” I groaned, “No wonder he hates me.” He set me down in the spare seat of his upgraded Shark mech; was he suspecting this for awhile? The clicks of the locks on the seatbelts snapped me out of whatever trance or dopamine-induced civility I was just in.

“Uh, where are we going?” I managed to ask when he turned the mechanical shark on.

“I’m going to get your teeth and other wounds cleaned up and – I don’t know – have you spend the night at my place. I’ll call your mother in the morning when I decide on what to do next.”

“You can’t be serious. I can’t ‘spend the night at your place.’ Mom’s gonna kill me!”

“Well, I can’t send you home as you are now that I know who you are. Not in good conscience.”

I squirmed, “You’re evil! And, not to mention, you ruined my life!”

He pressed a button on his console and said rather calmly, “Retreat! We got what we came for! And someone spruce up the guest bedroom on my floor!”

He turned back to me, “How could I ruined your life; I wasn’t even there?”

I hissed in anger. Realizing my mistake, I covered my mouth in shame; Garmadon drew a monstrous side out of me that I tried so hard to push down. He chortled at my embarrassment.

The sun had just set when we arrived at his volcano lair, I gulped when he parked in one of his docks. There was no retreating, so I followed him to a room in the medical wing where he dropped me off.

“Dinner will be ready in an hour, La-loyd. I’ll show you to the dining room then.” He looked guiltily at the bruise forming on my jaw, “Let them treat you, it shouldn’t take too long.” He closed the door.

“Okay.” I wasn’t in a position to really object.

By ‘too long,’ I wasn’t expecting it to take well over 45 minutes.

It started with a skittish medical assistant entering the room, taking my vitals, handing me a plastic cup to urinate in, and then telling me that the doctor will be in shortly.

After that, the doctor arrives in a lab coat that was covered in dark red splotches. She had exam gloves on and her hair tied up in a bun like she was fresh out of surgery.

“Well, hello there, La-loyd.” She greeted me like I was a small child and mispronounced my name like Garmadon – or was that actually how he intended for it to sound?

“Hi.”

“Today, will be taking some blood specimens as we do an overall check-up.” She discarded her gloves into the biohazard bin and pressed a button on the wall. She grabbed a popsicle stick and approached me.

“Open wide, say: ‘Ah.’”

“Ah.” She pressed it to my tongue and nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to disinfect your wound.” She applied a black gel to the gap that was already filled with the beginnings of a new tooth. The gel was cool to the touch for a couple of seconds before it morphed into a burning sensation.

Fiery tears fizzled as they formed and fell, “If it burns, it’s cleaning the area. She filled a paper cup with tap water and looked at it for a moment as if to be debating something in her mind, and then she flung its contents at my face. A loud sizzling sound erupted from my face as my molten tears hardened into some sort of green silicate. She plucked some off my cheeks with a pair of plyers and dropped the gem formations into the cup. She filled another cup with water and handed it to me.

“Swish once the aseptic gel’s done.”

“Can you flick your tongue for me?” I frowned but otherwise complied. I hadn’t done so in years, so the rush of smells that followed overwhelmed me for a second. The blood, the bleach, my sweat; I gagged.

“Oh my, are you okay?” She threw the wood away into the same red bin as the gloves.

I swallowed, “I’m fine. I just wasn’t expecting it to smell so bad.” I flinched when I heard her write something down on her clipboard.

A male nurse entered with a vile and a few needles. She spoke low to the nurse, “Don’t blow any of his veins; in case you forgot, he’s the boss’s kid.”

“Oh, and Mr. Garmadon? We noticed that you’re behind on your vaccines, so we’ll gladly give them to you – your father already consented.”

“What? How would you know that? Do you have access to my medical records?”

“We have our ways.” Hacking, no doubt.

“Are, are you charging for this?”

“Not at all; you’re Lord Garmadon's son. Why would we charge you? Besides, I doubt you have any money to pay with anyway.” Not wrong; I didn’t even have my phone on me – it was still at Wu's with the rest of my clothing and school stuff.

I shrugged as the nurse drew a vile of reddish purple blood. He balked, “You really are the boss’s kid, aren’t you?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and looked up at the security cameras in the corners of the ceiling.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” He rolled up the rest of my sleeves to give me my flu shot and my Hepatitis A shot.

After he placed the last band-aid and gave me an ice pack, Garmadon entered. Everyone, even the doctor, began to cower. My arms ached too much to move them into any battle stance. I tightened my grip on my icepack; it was starting to burn my hand.

“We-we did everything you requested, Lord Garmadon.” She bowed, he seemed to ignore her in favor of me.

Our eyes met briefly, “Even his vaccines?”

“Yes, sir.”

He stared at me, “Is this true, La-loyd?” Why was he going to take my word above his employees? We were battling not even an hour ago.

I showed him my bandages. He grabbed the hand I wasn’t using to hold my icepack to my face.

“Okay, La-loyd, let me show you where our dinner is.” After we left, there was a collective sigh that came from the room.

After several minutes of silent walking, we stopped at the dinning room. There were only two plates set on the table, despite its length suggesting it could hold at least twenty.

“Here we are, La-loyd! Take a seat right there.” The warlord pointed to a leather seat adjacent to the plate at the head of the table. I sat, but I didn’t bother masking my discomfort.

Garmadon clicked the microphone on his clothing, “Bring the food out!”

He cleared his throat indicating he was about to engage us in small talk, “So, La-loyd, how’s school treating you?”

I moved my chair away from him slightly, “It’s cool.” I said dismissively.

“What about your ninja friends? Do they treat you well?”

“Why do you care? But, yeah, they’re all I’ve got.”

The food came disrupting his window for a response. It was blue lobster with a butter glaze. It came with a side of popcorn shrimp and calamari fries.

I bit my tongue once I had a fry in my hand hoping he wouldn’t notice.

“Why are you doing that? Just eat your food; it's not poisoned or anything.” He noticed.

“Why am I doing what?” I ate a fry experimentally, “Is this squid?”

I bit my tongue again; the food smelled fine.

“Yes, but why are you biting your tongue like that? Are you trying to suppress your instincts?”

I wanted to tell him, but he never had to hide what he was. “What instincts?” I lied poorly.

I narrowed my eyes mumbling, “Well, that’s none of your business anyway, Garmadon.”

“Son.” My eyes darted to him, pupils slits before dilating again.

“You wouldn’t understand.” I ate one of the shrimp; not too shabby, could use some lime juice.

“Or would I?”

I glared, “No, you wouldn’t understand what it’s like for people to be constantly comparing you to someone you’re not.” I cut vigorously into the lobster’s shell. As bits broke off, it made loud crunching and crackling crashes. I winced.

“For people to see you as nothing more than a monster.”

“When people see me, all they ever see is you!” I clenched my fists. The floodgates were open, I couldn’t stop myself from venting.

“To have to constantly push down what feels natural, just so you can go a single day without being picked on or people pointing at you and saying, ‘I bet he’s as evil as his dad,’ or ‘Why haven’t those ninja killed him yet?’ Or, ‘Ninjago would be better off without him around.'” I rubbed the tears out of my eyes, the flames dancing on my hands was almost enough to distract me from the memories I was reliving.

“No one was there to tell me that it was normal to react the way I had.”

“La-loyd, I didn’t know.” He put a hand on my shoulder. I inched away some.

“Of course you didn’t know, you said it yourself: 'you weren’t even there!' You never bothered to know! I lived my whole life feeling like a freak. It sucks to despise your reflection and what you are!”

I started eating a large portion of the lobster, shell and all. It was oddly calming to bite into something crunchy. Garmadon watched me with worry in his eyes.

“I, you’re right.” He broke the silence.

“That it sucks?”

“Yes, that, but also that I should’ve been there for you when you were growing up.”

He grimaced, “But I wasn’t. I’m sorry, La-loyd, but we’re together now.” He squeezed my arm, but it was still tender from the flu shot. Maybe the pain was making me more aggressive than I usually was; Oni blood was weird like that.

“We’re not 'together now.’ Did you seriously think that I would move-in with you just because you captured me?”

“I just thought I could make things right. We can finally make up for lost time. There’s so much I can teach you: how to tie a tie, ride a bike, and, if you're feeling up to it, conquer a city!”

I always wanted someone to be there and do those things with me - well, not the last one - since my mom wasn’t there either, but I never saw that person being Garmadon. It was clear that he was only trying to butter me up to helping him conquer Ninjago. Of course, what was I to expect from an evil warlord?

[mdcom-blog1]

Hello my fellow soon-to-be allied health professionals!

      by Marieth Evangelista

Entering a medical field course is not that easy , it takes a lot of hard work and there’s no shortcut. You can’t survive if you are too lazy and just want a chill life.

Allied health courses including Medical Technology, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Optometry, Biology and even more, are  roller coaster and maze of life. Everything that you are studying must retain in your heart and mind because it might save life someday.

Since you are here, I know you’re on of us and also an aspiring health care professional. We all do struggle a lot especially in our studies no matter what year or course you are in.

This part of our blog will give you survival tips, motivational messages and quotable quotes  that can surely lift you up, inspire you, empower you and motivate you whatever struggle you might facing right now.

So keep scrolling...

As a Medical Technology student, I consider myself as a warrior.  I am fighting and protecting something, and that is my dream and my passion.

YOU! You are a warrior, too. Whatever heavy load you  are bringing with you right now, just keep going and one day, you’ll be able to put down those heavy baggage and you’ll be able to feel the lightness and happiness. JUST KEEP GOING!!!

Every medical students know the struggle and feeling of being in this course. You have to prepare yourself for a sleepless nights and more coffee to drink. You also need to get ready for an everyday quizzes and exams. Since the course is not that easy and subjects are not that also easy to pass, it takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work just to be able to pass the exams and comply to the requirements. There are times that we spent most of our times studying for a particular subject, sacrifice your sleep and time just to study for an exam, but still failed. That’s the time of our lives wherein we are feeling so down and stressed. Having the feeling of not being enough despite of doing your best.

But dear, let me remind you of this cliché phrase that Your grades doesn’t define your intelligence. Here are some messages that I’ve seen somewhere in the social media and I’m going to share to you.“Don’t let our academic performance define you as a Doctor. You can be  a hundred times better than any exam can measure. YOUR PATIENTS NOW ARE COUNTING ON YOU.” “You had a bad score, so what? Had a bad grade, so what? Been dismissed, so what? “Don’t let our academic performance define you as a Doctor. You can be  a hundred times better than any exam can measure. YOUR PATIENTS NOW ARE COUNTING ON YOU.”

“You had a bad score, so what? Had a bad grade, so what? Been dismissed, so what? Your success would not depend on the number of times you failed today. Now will it define your value or career in the future. So here’s what, pick up yourself and fight again tomorrow.” I’ve also read something saying that just because you got a low score on an exam, doesn’t mean that you don’t know everything and most of all doesn’t mean that you’re a failure, it is just because what you’ve studied didn’t appear in the exam but still you study and you are still able to use it in the future.

There are times that we feel so unmotivated and discourage, maybe we are looking for an inspiration  in someone else or something else not knowing that only “you- yourself” could be the source of motivation.

You need to believe in yourself and the rest will follow. What you think will happen, will happen so better fill your thoughts with positive outputs so you could perform better and do better.

It is never wrong to ask for support, maybe from your family, friends, and most of all from above. No man is an island and you really need to ask for guidance and advices from other people that could surely help you somehow. You can open up your problems and release all the stress that school stuff gave you.

There are times in our life that we limit our self because we are afraid and we have a fear that it might not work. But we shouldn’t live like that. STOP LIVING IN FEAR.

YOU ENTER A SUPER MAZE GAME OF LIFE FEATURING ALLIED HEALTH COURSES, THEREFORE, YOU ARE BRAVE. YOUARE NOT AFRAID AND YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

 MOST OF ALL, TO SURVIVE AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED, REMEMBER TO HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD.   HE DIDN’T PUT YOU THIS FAR TO LEAVE YOU.

Only God knows your struggles, your pain and your sacrifices. Let us always go back to Him and let Him do what we can’t do for ourselves. God has a purpose for your struggles and problems. There are reason why you fail and why you didn’t passed. All of your hard work will be paid off and It will be worth it.

ALWAYS TRUST THE PROCESS. Accept that we are still learning and we are growing every day. CHEER UP! NEVER GIVE UP. YOU’LL SAVE A LIFE SOMEDAY IF YOU JUST KEEP ON GOING AND LOVE WHAT YOU ARE DOING NO MATTER HOW HARD IT IS.

HERE ARE MORE INSPIRATIONAL VERSES AND MESSAGES

[sloane-davis]

1, 3, 5, 10

↳ 💌            70 horrible questions … fuck it.                (not receiving anymore)                                                                   💌 ↵

01. Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

I do. I have always been very close with my parents. It was just us three for a really long time before my mom got pregnant with my little sisters, and because I was an only child and could get a little lonely sometimes, they made sure to spend as much time as they could with me as possible. My dad would take me to work every day after school, my mom would take me shopping and on her trips to her dentistry conventions... It was fun. It’s still fun with the twins. We have dinner together every night, my dad and I bake together all the time, and every once in a while, my mom will still take me on her dentistry conventions. They’re not the most fun, but I’ve met some interesting people there. 

03. Do you regret anything?

I don’t. 

Well.

When I was in 8th grade, Owen Nielsen asked me out on a date and then stood me up. So when his birthday came around, I made him some cupcakes but put salt in them instead of sugar. I left them on his desk “anonymously” and I got to see him all excited to try them only to throw up when he did. He then cried about it for a while because he’d had a bad day and I made it worse. He knew the cupcakes came from me too, because... the cupcakes were too pretty and I’m the one with the bakery. I felt awful about it. I still do. To make things worse, I talked to him recently and he told me that he still regretted not showing up to our date, but that he had gotten too nervous to actually show up and he didn’t have my number to let me know he couldn’t make it... He didn’t even do it maliciously and I made him cry on his birthday. So... I guess I do regret that.

05. What is your relationship status?

I’m single.

10. When was your last physical fight?

I’ve never been in a physical fight! And I would rather not be in one ever.