#because they aren’t at my church or my choir or in my coffee shops or friends with my friends!

[emjee]

Staring at the wall trying not to think about how the last time I got laid was a one night stand with a queer guy that was somehow better than all of the sex in my 1.5 year previous relationship and that only happened because of Hinge but I will not re-download an app, re-downloading an app is the mind killer etc etc and besides they don’t even work anymore

[wherethesunsails]

ok now im rlly curious what are all ur spotify playlists?

....... I have So Many Spotify playlists and I just updated them all with covers too so the covers of my spotify playlists all have a similar vibe! ok so alphabetically

........... - just a bunch of kind of shouty angry sort of songs good for angsting

3.17.19 - this is a date playlist, the only one of its kind, I hung out with an old friend a while ago and this playlist is just a bunch of songs we listened to that night it was a good time :)

<3 autumn mixtape - this is that autumn mixtape i made for you forever ago great fall vibes

a six song study playlist - what’s on the tin i have a million study playlists

ajr - it’s just. all ajr songs

bonfire vibes - these are just all songs that give me bonfire vibes yanno

bops - this started out as just harry styles ajr and jon bellion but it’s got more variety in it now it’s got a lot of bangers

chill bops ‘19 - a bunch of just hanging out music from like the end of 2018/beginning of 2019

chill bops ‘20 - same as before just with a more refined music taste

chill driving ‘19 - it is not fun to describe these playlists because i designed the titles to be self explanatory

christmas - there’s a lot of michael buble in here

classic bonfire tunes - bonfire vibes but with a vintage vibe

classics - ummm it’s like sixties and seventies stuff?

coffee shop ‘19 - like if you were sitting in a coffee shop this would be playing

coffee shop ‘18 - same as before but more dedicated to the vibes less dedicated to the music taste

colton - so. this one is self explanatory (if it’s a name playlist it’s songs that remind me of people)

concerning hobbits - lord of the rings vibes

consider this... - i made this playlist to make tinder boys think i was interested in love

cross-country roadtrip - these are all songs by netherfriends that are named after cities and states

crushes - a specific song that reminds me of a specific crush (feat. you, clark, my ex, .... base unit josh?, uhhhh ethan?, emma, hannah, and colton)(lmao why isn’t david in there oh he might be the ymca not josh. unsure)

disney - again... what it says on the tin. I miss that ao3 tag where did it go

driving masterlist - if a playlist has driving or roadtrip in the title its songs go here

driving with dad - my dad has a weird ass taste in music idk what to say here

elliot - uh so this one is songs that remind me of you lmao

falling in love - just like. falling in love vibes yanno

falseheteros+ - this is the highlights of falsettos, legally blonde, beetlejuice, and book of mormon

feeling some sort of way - uh like. yearning vibes?

get back into pop punk - this was previously titled ‘why are you getting back into pop punk you freak’ and i think that was really funny but i made it public so

ghost songs - this is just like. the ghost duet and the ghost choir

girl in red - it’s girl in red songs.

halloween - spoopy vibes

hannah - again. name playlist

highlights of my music taste - this was also created to impress people from tinder i havent utilized either of them yet

hozier - . it’s hozier songs.

hype - this is a new playlist it’s kind of rap and various tiktok songs all of ppcocaine’s songs are on here

jon bellion - love this man’s music

jon bellion, rex orange county+ - rex orange county and jon bellion both have respectable bangers so. yanno

keiynan lonsdale - i love this guy incredible music

kendall - it’s. kendall songs.

kentucky soundtrack - this is my christian music masterlist for when i go on a missions trip

khalid - he has bangers what can i say

leon bridges - this guy’s vibes are immaculate

lily james - yeah so i’m incredible gay for this woman

lofi - there’s not a lot here but these are bangers

love story soundtrack - i think i made this to get me in the mood for writing/reading romance

mamma mia - i love this musical so much i have no explanation you don’t need one

mandy patinkin highlights - this is just the songs i like from evita

meme songs - i’m pretty sure if you listen to this playlist you’ll be rickrolled

mr pence’s summer camp - lmao these are queer songs/artists

mutuals roadtrip - oh yeah i made this collaborative i’ll link it so y’all can like. add to it

new stuff - songs i’ve discovered and i’m trying to learn

panic! at the disco - just bangers from mr brendan urie

paper due soon - uh so this is a playlist based on the theory that if you’re writing a last minute paper and you put on boss music from a video game you’ll write faster so this is undertale boss music lmaO

post-basketball aux - parent approved tunes for long drives home

preshow hype - :’-/ this playlist isn’t gonnna get used anymore probably because it was music to get us hyped before plays and i’m not in those at school anymore rip

queen - i love freddie mercury end of discussion

rat pack vibes - this is like. sinatra and bing crosby and the like

rex orange county bops - i love that guy he makes good music

ritters after close - this is all. terrible music. very naughty. meant to be played when there aren’t customers to offend

roadtrip ‘20 - the goal is to feel like you’re looking moodily out the car window in a coming of age movie

roadtrip soundtrack ‘18 - same hat

S- sexy - uh this just has drunk in love by beyonce on it because i think it’s a sexy song

sam - this one goes out to my friend who i kind of had a crush on and then he started dating one of my best friends from school and then i wasn’t allowed to be friends with him anymore and she hates me :)

savanna - i miss sav she was a blast. it’s a lot of mlp

seventies - decade playlist

she dates boys - uh. it’s a sdb vibes playlist

sixites - decade playlist

soft boy epidemic - if i remember right this is just ben platt

soul - wh- what it says on the tin

studying - self explanatory

summer ‘18 - summer vibes

summer of ‘19 - this one is songs that make me think of last summer i miss last summer so fucking much

summer roadtrip ‘18 - uh this is just all of the summer ‘18 and roadtrip ‘18 playlists combined

theatre - musical songs, a lot of abba on here, the entire soundtrack of hamilton

theatre 2.0 - more songs to belt on here than the last one

theatre kids during quarantine be like - i’m sick of this playlist now but it slapped at the beginning of quarantine

throwback - this is like. ‘00s-’10s bangers

tiktok bops - only the elite songs lmao

to nobody - uh this is another playlist i made for you lmao

upbeat driving ‘19 - bangers

veggietales - i needed a veggietales playlist, very useful for church functions and for being seen as a child

weird mix but okay - uh yeah this is like jon bellion and classic rock lmao

wuhluhwuh - i didn’t wanna put wlw in case some family found this playlist and knew what it meant lmao

yearning - just gay shit dude. that’s it

made you a mixtape (it has heart emojis around it) - yeah this is a playlist i made for you too

and there you have it that’s all of them! if you wanna listen to the playlists or even just check out the sick cover images i used my spotify is here!

[nataliedanovelist]

(I did not draw this, my friend, @missinspi, drew this for me) (https://www.deviantart.com/missinspi)

Wanna read fics with this OC in it?

For a fic close to canon Gravity Falls (season 3?), read this.

For an AU about Stan and Ford getting a new neighbor at seven-years-old, read this.

Miscellaneous Oc Asks

@cityandking created a (relatively short) list of random, weird, hopefully interesting OC asks. Feel free to specify a character or just send a couple of questions, and then share it around!

What six CD’s would your OC keep in their car? Is it just a taste/preference thing, or do any of them have particular significance? I can’t think of any particular CDs, but as far as artists go... Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Queen (or in the Gravity Falls world, the band called King), ACDC, a disk full of instrumental piano music, and a Dolly Parton CD her friend Madeline Ingrid probably gave her.

What does your OC smell like? What does your OC wish they smelled like? Coconut butter, japanese cherry-blossom perfume, and occasionally disinfectant (she works at a hospital). She tried every hard to smell nice, as most women do, and if she feels like work is ruining that, she might use her favorite “stress relief” lotion to help overpower the smells of rubber gloves and baby spit up.

How aesthetically-oriented is your OC in their clothing? Their living space? Their general presentation? If their look™ is mismatched, is that on purpose? Hephzie has a plain, easy-to-follow fashion sense: blue-jeans with t-shirts for casual events, jeans with blouses for nicer days, and occasionally a sweater for the winter. She also has a small love for boys’ clothes; she won’t shy away from mens’ t-shirts or button-ups if they feel nice and look OK. Her living space is relatively tidy (having grown up with grandparents who needed clean floors to avoid falling) but she’s not a clean freak. Her living space is very artsy and mitch-match, having friends all over the world and she loves learning about different cultures. She might have a rug from India by her bed, but a quilt from Ireland on her bed and a small statue from Hawaii on her dresser. With a bunch of hand-me-downs and mis-match tastes, her overall aesthetic is old and comfort.

What one word would you use to describe your OC’s vibe? Chill.

What’s one mundane thing that would throw them off-kilter? Why? Nuclear families. She grew up with her Grandma and Grandpa on her mother’s side. She never knew her father and her mother abandoned her at a hospital, not even waiting to see what would happen to Hephzie. So Hephzie values family very much, but she sees no reason why blood should be the most important factor in the definition in “family”. The idea of a “normal” family, one with two parents who are married and in love, siblings, and occasionally cousins and aunts and uncles, is like a dream to her. It’s nice, but not for her.

What kind of AU is your OC best suited to? What kind of AU would be the worst? Is there any AU that would be, objectively, just really funny? Hephzie is in 2 AUs: one pretty close to canon Gravity Falls, and one in which she grows up as neighbors to Stan and Ford. Both AUs are very interesting and I love seeing how she responds to each scenario, but I think the more “tragic” of the two is the canon-like one. I’ve toyed with an AU of her becoming a singer and I can see it going either two ways: either she crumbles under the pressure and gets into drugs and overdoses, or she flourishes and uses her money and power for good, like feeding the hungry and helping the homeless find homes.

If your OC could pick a different name, title, or pseudonym for themself, what would they pick? Why? Have they ever been given an alternate name/title, and how do they feel about it? Well, her birth name is Alicia-Sarah Hephzibah Fisher Cece, but she HATES the name Alicia-Sarah and only goes by Hephzibah/Hephzie. In one AU, she legally “fixes” her name.

If your OC were playing D&D, what would their race and class be? What backstory tragedy™ would they give their character? Does that reflect their own life in any way? Be honest. Okay, because a certain extra-special person in her life loves D,D, & More D, she plays, too. She’s an woodland elf, a healer, and has very little interest in her character, but she likes the storytelling and the praise she gets if she manages to heal a wizard with pointy-ears and fluffy brown hair named Rokuro the Righteous.

Star Wars or Star Trek? A certain boyfriend of hers likes Star Trek better, but she likes Star Wars better. It’s been a bitter rival since the beginning of time.

If your OC is from a fantasy world, where in the real world would they come from? If your OC is from our world, which fantasy world would they most want to live in? Bonus: Would you ever write/RP them in that world? Hephzie grew up on Irish folktales (her grandmother’s family is from there), so she would love to meet færies and see magic and meet a selkie. Screw being a mermaid, she wanted to be a selkie! And... no, don’t expect a fic about this.

What plant, animal, and color does your OC feel like today? A Venus Flytrap, a mongoose, and the color dark-green. It’s been a rough day but she’s keeping a level head.

If your OC were a superhero, how flashy would their costume be? Also, what would their superpower be? Does this go with their costume at all, or are they all about fashion? #Can’tFightCrimeIfYouAin’tCute Well... in the canon-like AU, she’s kinda a superhero already, so... think something like a knight’s armor on the arms and legs with a maroon cape. Power would be healing, but she can also fight hella well with a sword and bow-and-arrows. And she’s never cared about looking good, she just wants to survive the war...

Does your OC thrift? Buy designer? Where would they shop irl? GOODWILL FOR THE WIN!!! She and her friends called it “treasure hunting” in high-school and it stuck. She loves it, and when a certain somebody came out with a song about it, she was livid (even if she was fifty-something years old).

Is your OC superstitious? If so, what superstitions do they believe? If not, what do they think of superstitious people? She’s constantly around the supernatural and abnormal... and loves it. She thrives off of what is different. So, superstitious?... Hm, she isn’t paranoid or afraid; she welcomes it with open arms.

Is your OC religious? Do they want to be? Have they ever been at some time in the past? How complicated is their relationships with worship/the gods/the church/etc? Her grandparents took her to church growing up and she loved the music. Her grandmother was the choir director and her grandfather played the piano, and she had “the voice of an angel”, so she happily sang in church, but she kinda stopped going to church when she went to college, but if you ask her she’ll tell you she’s a Christian. She says it just makes sense to believe in a god; there’s too much that science can’t explain. She also likes studying Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism to learn more about other people and cultures.

Hardwood, tile, or carpet? Hardwood. But she will NEVER say no to a fluffy rug.

What’s their go-to parlor trick? Are they actually that good at it, or do they just enjoy it? Do people tell them they’re good, even if they aren’t? How do they handle criticism? I can’t really think of a good parlor trick. She has a lot of talents she keeps on the down, like singing and stand-up comedy (don’t ask). On another note, she takes criticism overall pretty well.

If your OC could request one boon from a god, what would it be? The extermination of a certain three-sided demon.

Favorite comfort food? Do they enjoy junk food or are they more of a foodie? Can they cook? What’s their favorite thing to cook? OREOS are HERS! DON’T TOUCH THEM UNLESS YOU WANNA LOSE A HAND! She also secretly loves watermelon (doesn’t like to tell people this) and her comfort food is either hot tea or hot chocolate. Something to warm her hands. And no, she can’t cook; she burns everything. EXCEPT, she can brew coffee and she’s a pretty good barista (was one during college).

Any major theme(s) or conflict(s) in your OC’s life? How have they dealt with that? Are they aware of it, or do they ignore it? Did you design them with such theme(s)/conflict(s) in mind, or did they evolve naturally? Loyalty is a huge one for her. I think so many people have forgotten what it means to be a true friend and what real loyalty looks like. You’re willing to go far and wide for the people you care about because you want to, because you get fulfillment out of doing the right thing. Hephzie will have your back, no matter what. She doesn’t care what race, background, gender, sexuality, religion, she doesn’t give a shit. If you’ve got her, you’ve got a loyal friend. IOne thing she struggled with - and is only semi-aware of it - is loneliness. She finds it suffocating. It’s slight PTSD from losing so much in her life, and she’s not terribly clingy, but she’ll wallow about it and sink into depression if she feels abandoned or alone. She NEEDS that reassurance that she is not a freak and not alone and that SOMEONE would care if one day she was gone. This evolved naturally when shaping her backstory and realising it needed to have realistic consequences.

If they could steal one major piece of art with no consequences, what would it be and why? Bonus: how would they pull off the heist? Anything Bob Ross. Loves that guy. And she’d probably just recrute Stan to help her with either blackmail or her “Please, for me?” line.

Now it’s YOUR turn!

[annaklover]

Quarantine day, I LOST fucking track.

Here's the issue. It can take up to 14 days if infected to show symptoms. And if you're a carrier, you're not going to know until they run titters after this is over. In the mean time, say you were exposed 10 days ago, went to the bar crawl, out to the mall a couple times, over to a few house parties, and visited family after church. You've exposed hundreds. The excuses of I'm bored, and I miss my __ insert whomever here is selfish. We had a lady in the town next to is test positive, knew she was under the weather, but still went out and about for a week with symptoms. That's one person. She is reflective now. Sees she was a selfish person, but she wanted to live her best life. Because she's entitled to, right? It's a wake up call when one of the people who died got it via community spread in her area. She is always now going to wider if she killed that vet. Because she couldn't be bothered with staying 6 feet from others for 2 weeks, and now she's forever separated by 6 feet of dirt. Her coughing may have given someone else, a coffin. What a weight she now carries.

Every time we are going out and hanging out, we are resetting the clock on this thing.

I applaud those front line workers, man. They are the MVPs in this. To those who made the hard choice to close and wait it out. We see you. We appreciate you. And when you reopen, we will be there for you. For the eateries still opened, crib side delivery in gloves, we see you now. And appreciate not only your commitment to your food, but to creating a slice of normal for us.

There is a literal, mum and pop coffee shop in town. In a basically dead mall, but they don't care. They also roast their own beans. We've made weekly trips there to purchase pounds worth of beans. They have Starbucks prices. $1 an ounce for beans. BUT they are opened, and local, so we are making the trip to support them. They actually messaged me during a snowstorm today to tell me they were closing early, on the off chance we were coming today for beans. Customer. Service.

I was at Walmart the other night and saw a family of 4 kids from the school I teach at. It was the first time I ran into any of my kids, and it hurt so much I couldn't let them hug me. I missed the school parade where the staff stood safe distances apart and the families drove past. But one of my work besties got called my name more times than she could count.

Schooling. I'm don't for the entire year. I lost over 40 jobs, probably more. The only support we for was a link to the unemployment office, with no guarantee of compensation. BUT we will be expected to come back and work after this is all over. Our next paychecks won't be until October. But, let's pretend you didn't just stiff us, and leave us in the cold. They already had a shortage. Ekk, for next term is all I'm going to say.

Teachers are trying. If your student had the teachers that wanted to raise thinkers, you got stuff for your kid to keep mentally stimulated. If you had a teacher that was all about just getting through the days, they either piggybacked off the ones that work(and low key took all the credit to the admins), or sent bare minimum. Parents at home are getting a ride wake up to how little school really does to teach kids, and how much it does to just reprogram them to whatever society is fadding at the moment. I was told by friends that they have maybe 120 minutes of lessons/work for their kids, daily. That's with 30 for music and gym. 15 minutes blocks, tops. And parents are losing their ever loving shit. These are the same parents throwing parties and playdates as well.

We have been lucky, as LoKi is far less stressed, and most prepared with the idea of this than probably any of his peers. He was truly an introvert, that put it all out when he was on stage. Now he can get his work done in 30 minutes and then take a break, eat all the goldfish one can humanly consume and go to his music room and play for 3 hours and call it homework for 2 classes(choirs & concert band) He's doing a Google classroom for taekwondo as well, teaching pattern work, and doing things the Master comes up with for conditioning. That counts as all his gym. Plus he loves going for walks with his dad, so that's bonus Phys Ed. Computers is basically chatting about the rest of your classes on a Discord channel, Bio is watching science crap and taking open tests, councilor is checking in or replying to an email or Google doc, English is read this thing, take a open quiz. The rest of the day he's moving Discord, and playing games with his mates around the world. They check in and talk about how they are all doing. He's highly connected. After his dad goes to bed, he and I go watch some comedy shows. He is mentally & emotionally doing far better than his peers, and many adults we know.

We started this 3 Mondays ago. We are guessing this goes through mod May, with normalcy/complacency back by end of July. Just in time for us to get our dog. It will not be a puppy, but a 7yo bitch. Another Universe given dog. She will live out the rest of her years as just a dog. Who hopefully becomes BFF to the doggo directly down the hill. More on her later.

Take care all y'all. Please do the 14 days asked of us. Yes, for many it's been longer, but we are paying for those who aren't now. Wash your hands. Physical distance. And don't even get me started on Tiger King jokes, because we actually knew him from when they used to come to the rural mall by us, back in the day!

[arawynn]

I somehow survived the past very busy weekend.

I’m still tired but I can deal with that. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Saturday

10 am to 2 pm: Choir practice in our church hall. A lot of it for our big concert on 2nd advent, but also for the choir meeting on Sunday. We had two breaks with cake, juice and coffee.

After tidying up, we drove to the church hall of the other church in our town where the mandatory after singing coffee drinking would take place (because our church hall is way too small for the 130 people we expected) and set the tables (after moving them so we’d have enough seats for everyone.)

We were home around 3.30 pm. I somehow ended up being responsible for making a cake for said choir meeting (it’s an easy but very tasty one) in addition to the one mum made, so I looked into the recipe and the various cupboards of our kitchen to know which ingredients we have and which we need to buy.

Then we went grocery shopping - for the cakes and lunch/dinner since we didn’t have anything besides breakfast and the break-cakes. We made hot dogs because they are quick and easy to make (they’re actually one of the few foods my dad is successfully able to make.)

After dinner mum starts making her cake, I sit in the kitchen and help her occasionally. Until my cake is finished, it’s around half past 7 in the evening. And I was incredible tired.

Sunday

10 am: We meet at the church hall for the drinking coffee to make canapés. I and 2 other members of our choir spread butter on the bread, another 3 people add the cold cuts (cheese, salami and three kinds of ham). 

My sister and I were home again around 11.20. Which I honestly didn’t expect at all. Since my choir would have a final rehearsal/warm up before singing at 1.15 pm, I fully expected that we’d be there the entire time.

Around midday, mum came home from work. We had a quick lunch (leftovers from Thursday which had been an official holiday - we had put them into the freezer) and left again around quarter to one - to arrive early enough in case anything we had forgotten before needed to be done.

During the final rehearsal, we were honestly bad. Too slow, not in tune with the others, things like that. But we got it worked out.

At 2.30, the singing part of the meeting started. We did well (and received lots of positive feedback afterwards), some of the other choirs did...less well. The main reason is that church choirs are commonly made out of people older than 65 and into their 80s - because younger people usually aren’t interested in church and church choirs / find them uncool. My sister and I were with 24 and 25 respectively definitely the youngest participants.

The singing part took at least an hour - though I have absolutely no idea how long it actually took because I didn’t have my watch (forgot it on my desk at work) and dress pants for women usually don’t have pockets to keep a phone in.

When it was over, we went to church hall where the drinking coffee would take place. For a change, I didn’t need to help with re-filling the plates with cake and canapés or the coffee pots. After a while (enough time for everyone to eat and drink but before they finished) it was time for the just as mandatory ‘who’ll be the host next year?’. Which was rather quickly solved. One of the choirs volunteered to host it should nobody else volunteer. Well nobody tried to make a competition out of it so they’ll be hosting next year^^

Pretty quickly afterwards, it got time to start tidying up - which meant my “break” was over. A bunch of people was already in the kitchen and starting to wash the dishes since the automatic dishwasher was a teeny tiny thing that would need hours to get the dishes of roughly 130 people clean again. So I went to collect the dirty dishes from the tables.

Later, when everything started to calm down again, we started apportioning the leftovers. We had lots of it. My family alone took like 20 or 30 canapés, a bunch of cake and another bunch of cake that’s currently in the freezer and will be shared during our next choir practice on Wednesday evening. Mum also packed a couple canapés for our choirmaster who didn’t really have time to eat because she had a bunch of appointments that day.

When everything was clean, mum, my sister and I drove to the church where our choir master would play the organ during the Sunday evening service. We also had some stuff from our church hall that we wanted to bring back - it’s easier to do with 3 (actually 4 people since my sister’s boyfriend joined us) people instead of one alone.

My sister had called her boyfriend to let him know he could have  a share from the leftovers - he has a healthy appetite. However, when we came home, dad was eating - not our leftovers. We basically started a dinner of leftovers on the spot - my sister’s boyfriend ate a fair share, just as expected. I didn’t eat anything since I ate my share earlier and wasn’t hungry at all.

It was again roughly 7 pm until I could retire to my bedroom and have some time for myself. So my weekend has been very full of events and with little time to relax. I’ve been exhausted today as well - partly also because I couldn’t fall asleep that well since I had lots of things going around in my head.