#apretentiouscactus

[xyalovegood]

1, 19, 50? Happy new year!!

end of year ask meme

1. First things first, did you have a good year?

I’d say so. Silly as it may seem, getting into kpop at the end of 2017 really really was the best thing I ever did. Because of that, in 2018 as I continued to delve deeper into the new world of kpop, I did so many new things I never ever would have done otherwise. I tried Korean food, started finding joy in putting together outfits for the first time in my life and I actually started enjoying looking in the mirror and taking pictures of myself (I even bought a skirt and actually wore it !! I used to hate wearing skirts or dresses; I always felt uncomfortable in them), I also started wearing earrings again and painting my nails on the regular using music videos as my inspiration. tl;dr: I’ve started having fun with and generally just putting effort into my appearance and because I’m happy with the way I’m presenting myself to the world I feel more confident.

I finally found a good reason and motivation to learn another language, and even if I haven’t actively been doing that as much as I’d like, I’ve picked up many things just from exposure to it. I found countless new people to look up to, people who are very nice and hardworking and humble, and some of whom are the same age or younger than me, and as such are going through similar things and they bring me comfort. I tried dying my hair. I even tried learning some choreo once or twice—yes, kpop actually got me to exercise. And of course, I found music to listen to again. For the longest time I only had one or two artists I liked and didn’t really have new music to listen to; now I never run out of it. I love it; it makes me energetic, makes me happy, makes boring tasks more fun—I don’t know what I’d do without you, kpop.

Also, because of our shared desire to attend kcon, me and my mom finally decided to just do it and go on a real vacation, just the two of us, and have healing time like we’ve always wanted to. (I love my dad and sister, but they’re just… on a different wavelength. To put it bluntly, they’re high maintenance and are common-sense-challenged. When we travel with them we’d be making sure they didn’t leave anything behind, making sure we don’t get separated, dealing with my little sister’s whining, and trying to figure out what to do because we have different ideas of what “fun” is…  We can’t totally focus on us; they kind of suck all of our energy.)

So yeah overall I went to six nights of concerts in 2018, found a lot of new sources of happiness, and kinda got myself out of a rut by trying a bunch of new things, so yay!

(Sorry sorry, I couldn’t help myself; it was too much fun lol.)

19. What was one nice thing you did for yourself?

Hmm, I feel like I’m good at making sure I get alone time to recharge so I don’t get socially tired or crabby? A necessary skill for any introvert lol. I don’t think it’s a skill I acquired in 2018 specifically, but it’s what came to mind. I also totally indulged in adding to my rapidly growing collection of kpop albums and merch, if that counts…

50. What do you wish for yourself [for the coming year]?

Pretty much the same thing as last year. I just hope I can be a little more productive, healthier, happier. Maybe even learn from my mistakes and give in to instant gratification less. I’d love to be able to stop worrying about the future and figure out what I’m good at and what I want to do, but that may be asking too much lol. Someday I’d like to find a good irl friend or two again, ‘cause I haven’t had one of those for a while. It’d also be cool if I could work on appreciating what I have more instead of taking things for granted. But I don’t want to put a bunch of pressure on myself for this to be some kind of amazing year, I’m just aiming for “a little better than last year.” If I can improve myself just a little bit, I’ll be happy. Not to be cheesy or whatever but any growth is growth, and it’ll add up. 🤠

Happy new year to you too, and thanks so much for asking, fren! Sorry it took me a few days to respond; as you can probably tell I took a bit of time to think about my answers first lol.

[get-out-of-my-face-you-spinach]

49 and 8!

sorry it took me so long to answer this! i thought of my answers a while ago but then before i knew it i was going to LA again and everything kind of went out of my head for a bit. 😅

8. Which Cypher part do you like best?

okay so it’s really hard for me to pick any kind of favorite song ever, but for right now… i listened to all of them after you asked me this, and i actually enjoyed part 3 the best. i think i’m just always down for swearing in kpop songs lol and also i like how hype it is. ^^

49. What kind of concept would you like to see in the future?

is there any concept they haven’t done yet? 😂 honestly idk about a new concept but i always love when they do fun concepts like go go and anpanman, where there’s room for some improvisation on stage, they wear outfits with a lot of color, and the choreo is just so fun and cute i could watch them perform the song over and over again. :’)

thanks for sending me this; you really didn’t have to!!

[xyalovegood]

@because-seconds-not-the-same tagged me to list my top 7 comfort movies! (thank you girly; it’s nice to have another way to pass the time 😄)

unfortunately i don’t think i have that many...! i was never really a movie person until recently, and even now i find most of the ones i watch to be just so-so. so i’ll list as many films as i can and then fill in the rest of the slots with general go-to comfort content! ^^

tangled, hands down

the journey movies feat. josh hutcherson, bc they’re so bad & i love watching them with my sister

the force awakens, bc i’ve seen few (or no) movies as many times

lilo & stitch, which i only just saw for the first time recently but it’s one of those ‘damn, movies really can be this good, huh?’ movies, and watching this movie is the emotional equivalent of wrapping yourself up in a blanket with a warm drink on a rainy day

~ non-movies ~

5. john mulaney, bc watching his netflix specials never gets old & always cheers me up

6. chenji/the foreign swaggers/basically any nct content because few people on this earth are as hilarious and i feel very strongly about this

7. jenna & julien, honestly probably the humans i’ve never met who bring me the most comfort in this world and just make me feel like everything’s gonna be ok and there is good in the world and i can’t explain it but they :(

+ bonus: 2gether the series, bc it has a high rewatch value and is just so sweet and wholesome and makes me smile until my face hurts which is ahdkkagsj rare

also i literally only started it this week, but i’ve already watched and rewatched nearly the whole thing and i really feel it’s one of the best shows ever ?? gmmtv’s the gifted is Art and tbh the ending is kinda comforting especially given the state of the world rn...! i think it has a good message so yea everyone go watch it please lol

ugh it’s been so long since i did one of these i have no idea who likes to be tagged and who doesn’t...! so if you’d like me to refrain from tagging you in future posts just let me know, and don’t feel like you have to do this one either! @apretentiouscactus @pynklikeme @dona-in-character @ryokothebadgamer @delphineera @ashleymint

[xyalovegood]

top ten songs you’ve been listening to recently

thank you muchly for tagging me @because-seconds-not-the-same! I hope you’re ready for some kpop recommendations... idk if there are any rules but I’m limiting myself to one song per artist. otherwise who knows how many bts songs I’d put on here. 🙃

the eve--exo. I recently bought their newest album and I love it. the eve is one of my favorite tracks. (but tbh I love most of exo’s songs.) the link is to a performance if you wanna check it out~

go go--bts. as with most bts songs, I love this one a lot, especially because the live performance--compared to dna and mic drop--offers the most opportunities to do things a little differently each time and it’s the most entertaining and fun to watch. (linking to a live performance again.)

clap--seventeen. I got into seventeen just before their comeback and I’m so glad I did. this song and music video are both really fun. (linking to the music video.)

boombayah--blackpink. blackpink was the first girl group I started to like and they’re just awesome. (link to music video.)

voodoo doll--vixx. ah, vixx. my first impression of them was that their music videos were a little... creepy? but they’re hella good dancers and their songs are dope, and I’ve learned to appreciate the unique storytelling in their videos. XD (link is to the dance practice ‘cause idk if you’re down with, like, stapling of skin and stabbing of brains and stuff.)

red flavor--red velvet. listen, idk what’s going on in this music video either. just go with it. (link to music video.)

dramarama--monsta x. I am so here for this song and the black and red aesthetic, beautiful rain scene, and time travel concept in this music video. 👌 good stuff. (link to music video.)

married to the music--shinee. if you’re not into decapitation, eyes popping out, and people losing parts of their faces, maybe don’t watch this music video. (it’s not really graphic, I’m just giving you a head’s up. XD) (link to music video.)

devil--super junior. catchy song with good vocals. 👍 (link to music video.)

fantastic baby--big bang. how could I not include a big bang song? and this one’s my favorite. something about the way they say “wow. fantastic baby” is partially really cool but also makes me want to laugh? anyway. (link to music video.)

I’ll tag @apretentiouscactus, @placesoftimeandspace, and @delphineygt (don’t feel like you have to do it though!!)