#i Make Sticker myself and buy them (I really did) just for being happy

[newtdoods]

If anyone ever thinks about selling sticker related to Dungeons and Daddies… I will buy them. Just give me the stickers, they give me happy stims - Dungeons and Daddies fanart itself gives me happy stims- and the podcast itself gives me happy stims, also the whole fandom does-

but sticker is another level of happy stims… I‘m happy to be alive in a time where dndads and sticker exist 🤙🏻✨

[wrenofwvnds]

march, march, march of

the falsettos..stickers!

this is for the gay musical theatre fans (me) 🏳️‍🌈

u know the drill, these will be up as individual stickers on my redbubble asap! again, if anyone wants to buy me a cricut so i can print them myself, i’d be v happy to accept 🫶🏻 i also meant to export the lineart so it could be a flash sheet but i merged the line art and then closed procreate before i realised 🤦‍♀️ anywho, im gonna try and edit it on photoshop and then i’ll post that too!

i’m having so much fun making more sell-able art and i really feel motivated by it. i think the combination of getting into tattooing and going to the queer market at the lgbtq+ centre in london lost month, has inspired a new wave of marketable art within my ~practise~. i’ve seen first hand how happy art can make people, just from being at the tattoo studio doing my apprenticeship, so i feel inspired to make illustrations that will also bring people joy!

i did a load of stuff to sell in 2020 but it didn’t do well so i felt very disheartened. but right now, i think i have a wider understanding of what commercial art can be - and that you can do it in a way that still feels authentic to yourself as an artist. so that’s what these stickers are! things related to my special interests that hopefully a lot of people will also enjoy :)

i totally recommend falsettos as a musical and am finding it very interesting to research! musical theatre is such an interesting medium and i love seeing how people have utilised it to tell important stories through music. falsettos covers themes around the AIDS crisis, jewish identity, homosexuality, divorce and family. it’s a very human story and the music is great!

[beneathashadytree]

LUNCH TIME - JOTARO KUJO X READER

Warnings : none I think, this is set between DIU and Stone Ocean, a sort of happy family AU, reader is gender-neutral!

Genre : domestic fluff for the loml

Word count : 0.6K words

Additional notes : This is super short, but I just missed Jotaro🫶🏽

Tip jar if you’d like to buy me a Ko-Fi!

Masterlist

“You got the shallots I asked for?”

“Yeah, they had an offer, a whole kilogram for 4.55. A steal, huh?” They looked proud as they handed him the bag with the ‘DISCOUNT!’ sticker. “They also had some fresh parsley on sale, so I got some.” After setting the rest of their purchases down, they leaned in to give him a kiss to the cheek. Loathe as he would be to admit it—if asked about it, that is—they noticed how their husband leaned in a bit, and how he even let out an absentminded (but certainly affectionate) hum at that.

“Thanks, I can work with that too.” Jotaro began to work on peeling and slicing the shallots, while they went to wash off the rest of the produce in the sink. Considering just how they fared in the kitchen, they sometimes thanked the higher powers that he was perfectly fine with being on cooking duty forevermore while they handled groceries. “What soup do you want?”

A confused look made its way on their face. “I don’t think any of the food you’re making goes well with soup. Unless you’re making miso soup, which would be too much.”

Momentarily setting the knife aside, he sighed. “Jolyne’s voice sounds weird. I think she’s coming down with something.”

“Aha. It’s probably cause of that ice-cream you two got yesterday. Honestly, what were you thinking, having something that cold in the middle of February, and on the beach no less?”

Their scolding fell on deaf ears, as they both knew that Jotaro was helpless when it came to Jolyne. Just one look at her dazzling smile and sparkling eyes and he was sold, giving in to her every whim and fancy. It was up to them to be the disciplinary parent, or else she would’ve turned out horribly spoilt.

The accusatory train of thought never got them anywhere with Jotaro, though, and they knew it was pointless to go on, so they turned to more important matters. “In that case, I can make her some vegetable soup with lemon and pepper. Works wonders, I tell you.” Standing up after having crouched to grab the broth they’d made last week and left in the freezer, he was giving them a dead-pan look. “What?”

“Do you wanna blow our house up?”

Rolling their eyes, they shoved his shoulder—which, unsurprisingly, did not make him even budge. “You brat. I made you that soup before when you were quarantined.”

“Could’ve sworn that was your mother’s,” he mumbled under his breath, amusement on his face as he turned back to dig out more vegetables for the noodles he was making. “I’ll cut extra for that soup. You just focus on not burning that broth.”

“Hardy-har-har.” With nothing more than mild annoyance, they started the thawing process. After a few moments of silence, they quietly asked, “Can you even burn soup?”

“Are you taking that as a challenge?” Jotaro snorted, somehow having already finished dicing up half the vegetables, and currently tearing open two packs of noodles. “You’ll find a way to do it. I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“You know what? Starve.”

“Hardly a threat, considering I can fend for myself. You on the other hand…”

“I’m off to wake Jolyne up for medicine,” they loudly interrupted, not before giving him a vulgur gesture with their hands. “Time for the cook of the house to work solo.”

“You forgot to—“ he tried to quickly interject, then sighed as they’d already long slipped upstairs. Shaking his head, he side-stepped to the abandoned stove, turning the flames on low. “Good grief. You really would’ve burnt the soup like that.”

Taglist: @blondeboyfriend @mrsgiovanna @boorishbrambling

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[spilledcoffeeclub]

Notes on Dracula, vampirism and reverse colonization. Very interesting. Rant about perfectionism and Filofax system and so on ⬇️

I have a paper due tomorrow that I haven’t really started on. No, that’s not true. I’ve read a lot and taken a lot of notes and that is work in and of itself, but I haven’t started just puzzling them together into an actual essay. It’s a very short essay, basically just to show you’ve read the material for this time period, but as always I’m struggling with trying not to to overwork myself and make the most perfect essay ever. I’m trying to remind myself that it doesn’t need to be perfect, it doesn’t ever have to be good. It just needs to be done.

I think this feeling of anxiousness over perfectionism is also due to the fact that I recently moved Filofax and we’re sort of still getting to know each other. Previously I’ve used an a7 Filofax and was very happy, but it was getting a bit ridiculous bending over a7 inserts (even though I made my inserts a bit bigger, not-quite-a6) and using 20 pages for a small article or some notes. It was also hard to decorate and I lost a lot of the creative aspect of commonplacing that I really do enjoy. So I decided to move but it’s been difficult. I’m searching for that same comfort I had in the a7 Filofax but I can’t find it, the pages feel so big and with the possibility of decorating I want every page to look amazing and I’m worrying about paper thickness - should I go single or folded? Even worse is insets and templates, I want to make my own but everything I try out is just not it, and I can’t really figure out what it is. Furthermore the Filofax-binder I’m using isn’t really compatible with fc compact inserts, there’s a lot of overhang and the experience is just not great. I usually work with a bit of overhang but this is just not fun. I did buy what I thought would be a moterm cover but got scammed quite badly, it was a cheap thing and I don’t want to talk about it because I’m still upset but everything has been returned so maybe next month I can get an actual moterm.

Filofax is still superior in every way. I get a bit of fomo for bound books from time to time but for me it fees like once you go rings you don’t go back. The customizability of each insert and being able to move around pages is just too good of a deal to ever give up. My notes may not look the way I want them to for now but damn if they’re not in order. Maybe some other time I will be okay with using a bound book again, but as I’m studying at the moment I wanna have complete control over my notes.

My plan for now is first of all to just turn in my paper on Dracula, and then completely start over with Filofax. Take one page at the time. Will probably update on the process I believe, maybe that will be a fun video to film? I’ve never filmed a video, would anyone wanna see my process?

I’ve also started working on some sticker and a sort of introductory page to August and it’s going very well. Stay tuned for more details.

[guvato]

Tamalog Day 16

Our Monday started at 7AM with fairly simple things to do as per usual, everyone was doing good and happy, so i just got to calling the Sitters when possible, and also woke up Kuchipatchi for from his beauty sleep to get him to House-Sit and then i went to bed since i was pretty tired.

At 1PM i woke up and after brushing my teeth i grabbed my Tamas and went to my "office" with them to eat a meal and wait to go to work. After picking everyone up from the Sitter, i made sure to check on them once again just to be certain that they didn't need anything, and they didn't, so i could take some time for myself until duty called, and soon it did. Ginjirotchi just had alerted me that he has pooped, but when i went to clean it up the doorbell rang, and Valettchi entered the house and i just had to sit there, embarrassed as they circled around the living room and danced while the poop was still there. After that horrifying situation, i cleaned the poop up and fed Ginjirotchi some Hamburguer at the Restaurant, and after going back home we cooked our meal of the day whitch was a Blancmange, two new foods to the Recipe Book, oh yeah! Picochutchi told them to bring out the Lobster Sub, and Kuchipatchi just had some Soup and some Curry.

Afternoon was pretty chill, Picochutchi and i did some Tama Searching since i went to work today, and we made some good progress towards our Tama Friends stickers, we just didn't find anyone new yet. Ginjirotchi also went exploring today and met Kyawatchi, but sadly i wasn't able to take a picture of them together due to being kinda busy at the moment, but hey, add a new Tama to the Tama List. Kuchipatchi and i went to Tama Work and danced quite a bit since i needed some cash to buy him more food, and luckily today we had sales all over, so we grabbed a whole lot of food to last until...tomorrow. Ginjirotchi was also eating a lot today, since after having a Dessert Platter he had yet another embarrassing moment today which was not having enough money to buy some food, which we dealt with really quickly, going to the arcade and picking some fruits to gain some Gotchi Points that went straight to more food.

Evening came fast today, seems like every day just goes by in 10 minutes nowdays. When i came home i found Picochutchi really bored and laying on the floor, so i did the best thing to do when you want to cheer up your Tama, i went to the TamaVerse with her and we checked out some new clothes (nothing new or interesting to us today), and when we came back, i gave her some snacks, and that was enough for her to get back to happy mode. Ginjirotchi asked me to play at home also, so we played some matching game and got all but one match right, which means we are now the best buddies in all of Tama Town, after that i fed him the delicious Chicago Style Pizza, which he didn't love, but he liked it. Kuchipatchi didn't need much as i fed him pretty good and he was happy, so i just let him be. But them a little later my Smart needed charge, so i put it on charge and when it charged Kuchipatchi was CRYING calling for me, hungry as a horse and i was like "what? didn't i feed you already big guy??" but i couldn't let it stop me from giving him more food, cuz you know, he was really hungry, poor thing.

I barely had any time to react when Kuchipatchi was asking for help to fall asleep, and i was really gotten by surprise with how much time had gone by since i got home. I am really losing track of time lately. After helping him, i checked on Ginjirotchi and Picochutchi, and they were doing great, Picochutchi was just getting ready for bed and Ginjirotchi was...doing what he does best, which is running around the living room and being cute. So i let wished them good night and let them just do whatever before they slept. And them our Tama Day was over. Our friends had gone to sleep and i was left to attend to my own business the rest of the night, which kinda makes me sad not having to check on them, usually feels like something is missing. Anyway, thank you for reading this Tamalog and i will see you tomorrow. <3

[nei-ning]

I'm glad I went back to sleep since I had the following dream:

I was at the local market with my sister and she encouraged me to buy one cheap scratch lottery. So, I bought one which was 2 euros. I won small price from it so I was able to buy 2 more. I won again (price was 37,05€) so I bough 3 more now. 2 small and 1 big.

The way how I picked these scratch lotteries was amusing (still is in a way) since I was making some "serious Vegeta" expressions and just snatched them randomly right away instead of spending my time, slowly eyeing them and wondering which ones to take. I even laughed about this to my sis in the dream! :'D

Anyway! Small ones gave me nothing but the big one did. Next, all of the sudden, I was in traditional Japanese bedroom. It was SMALL and empty otherwise except for this wide and heavy, dark brown (or black) colored table which was mine. I, apparently, had won it from the scratch lottery. As I sat down next to it, my sister sitting across me, I was still holding my big scratch lottery. It was black, red and gold in color. It had 3 parts to scratch, top one being the obvious one.

I eyed it and the table in turn, letting my hand slide over it since, heck, it was beautiful, simple, elegant and smooth! Next I focused more on the scratch lottery and noticed it had small circle pic of Lianshi (my favorite female in Wu army / Dynasty Warriors). I flipped the scratch lottery* around, finding little info about her.

This SL* wasn't original. When you buy it, you get to choose a character to use on it since this SL has special things. Mine was something which slows time and character down so then you can't get so good prices. Luckily I had chosen Lianshi since she's very FAST woman! However, this SL had effected on her a bit, making her from "Very fast" to "Fast" so she still "allowed" me to win good stuff!

I also now read more about the 2 other scratching areas which I hadn't touched yet since I hadn't realized them. I was allowed to scratch them too but they had hidden prices. I was nervous and anxious but I started to scratch.

At first, 4 egg shaped fully GOLD little chicks appeared by each table leg! I didn't understand so I kept scratching a bit until I decided: "Heck, I need to check those chicks!" I did check them one by one and ALL of them had "pressed in side" which had something written in them. I didn't see the text because of bad lighting but I felt them under my palm and fingers. But it was something REALLY GOOD! I don't remember was it money (lots of it) or decorations inside this Japanese room of mine. I remember being super happy, stunned, excited and just OOOHHH!!

I returned back on scratching this SL. NOTE: I never actually saw what came out under the scratch layer but I still won prices, ahah!

Next my little bro is somewhere behind me, opening this black drawer which I had won and it had appeared in this room. He pulled this big transparent Bleach sticker out, giving it to me with saying: "You just won this."

I held the sticker, looking at it. Let me say it was wonderful, ahaha! Right in the middle was Grimmjow in a fancy white suit, to his left (our right) was Ulquiorra and his right (our left) was Inoue and someone else. Either Rukia or Ichigo's little sister since all what I remember was her short black hair. But the thing what went over Grimmjow's head? It was a freaking rainbow! This sticker INSTANTLY made me think of a tarot card: Ten of Cups which is REALLY DAMN GOOD CARD!

I let my sister see the sticker (since she collects them) but I told her I'm keeping it. Keeping it sealed too. Didn't want to go open it, aha! At some point I won 25,000 euros and, Hell, I started to think:

"This scratching lottery is changing my life!" and I kept repeating this to myself few times in disbelief! However, my sister had now also noticed it how this SL was changing my life and she said to me at one point: "I need money too." and I instantly replied to her: "I'll pay you, I'll pay you. Don't worry." (since I'm in dept to her and I sure as heck will pay her back. I want her to get her money back.)

I kept scratching and eventually I had a couch in the room with that big table but I also had 2 mattresses in this small and narrow "bedroom stuff storage room". Those mattresses were on one shelf and on top of them laid this older Japanese woman, perhaps at her 50's or 60's. One other older Japanese woman suddenly came in the room, apparently wanting to take one off the mattresses (I don't speak Japanese) but this old lady on top of them, good God, ahah! She jumped to sit up so fast, instantly starting to "angry talk" in a "Gangster" way (how Japanese gangsters speak - but better give a reference. Go listen Masanori Fukushima in Warriors Orochi or Samurai Warriors game series, in Japanese, on Youtube and you know EXACTLY how this woman spoke! :D). But yeah, the other woman left empty handed and I... I felt so happy and blessed to have this grumpy old gangster granny there to protect my stuff :'D

Then I started to wake up which sucks since I hadn't finished scratching my lottery! I tired to get back to sleep but no use... But when I opened my eyes and took a look of my phone: Another confirmation! I had 17% of battery left and clock was 17:17 (aka 5:17pm).

Now this dream had A LOT of good messages! A LOT! Grimmjow and rainbow TOGETHER, golden chicks, money, how easily I won / got everything, 25,000 and then that 171717. I had to Google numbers' meanings.

Big among of money in a dream: "It signifies that you are open to recognising your value and embracing positive changes in your life." 171717: is a gentle nudge from the universe, urging you to stay true to yourself and follow your intuition. It is a reminder that you are supported and protected by your guardian angels, who are guiding you towards a higher level of consciousness. / It's a message waiting to be revealed to those who are eager to connect deeper with their spirituality. It's time to trust in the bigger picture. / It's encouraging you to keep up the good work, focusing on growing into your best self and staying positive. It's a sign that all your hard work aligning with your true self and goals is paying off, so don't stop now.

So, huhuh, all is looking pretty good! And I welcome this message since I've been hell anxious, worried and stressed about my life the last few days, thinking how nothing works, nothing changes, I can't change anything etc. bullshit :'D

[kirchefuchs]

(I had to scroll down far and wide for this photo lmfao ☠️)

HELLO CERESS

if you were to rate how your current TSP brainrot is going, how would you go about yours (mine is still 1000000/10 because this game has me on chokehold at all times istg /silly)

MORE IMPORTANTLY THO, how has thou been a-doing :]

life has been quite the jerk to you, huh? I'll beat its ass– I mean what who said that damn hahbshsgsyshs /pos

BUT ON A REAL NOTE, eat water and drink food cuz TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF IS IMPORTANT 💯

— 🅰️non (heh, missed me?) || 07/02/2023

Yes I missed you a lot 🥺

As for my TSP brainrot......

It's being drowned out by my Wolfwood Trigun brainrot quite a bit right now, but that's not to say I don't still have TSP brainrot.

I'm still very receptacle to drawing TSP art since I did so just yesterday. Though with both brainrots I'm finding it difficult to use my brain at all, so there is that.

I still absolutely adore TSP and want to draw and make more content ofc. You don't have to worry about that.

As for my general life..... eh. I'll separate things into good, bad, and neutral feelings about the things.

Good: I got to have a sleepover with @dime-smothied (it was her first one ever, which was super crazy, lol). Also I bought I trigun print along with some stickers and a hoodie from my favorite artist ABDIllustraits (I would tag him bit I don't wanna bother him. He is on here though, and I adore his YouTube videos. The way he does them is just ♡♡♡♡♡)!!!! And earlier I got some TSP keychains and and acrylic standee in the mail, so I'm super happy about those!!! I love them a lot and I'm so excited to get the stuff from ABD!

Neutral: I've been temporarily back at work this week since they were severely understaffed due to people vacationing and such, so I'm making money again. So that's nice. I have a pretty set plan for moving out of my parent house, I just need to buy my own car, make doubly sure I have plenty of money saved up so I have time to find a job after I move, and then just get everything packed and double check my housing situation. So pretty soon I'll be able to move out and I'm excited about it, just gotta get all that stuff done.

Bad: Um. My pet snake Theo died two days ago........ I don't know what else I can say right now about it. I hurts and it's frustrating to say the very least. I loved him a lot and I miss him. So, I'm dealing with those emotions right now. I'm doing my best to cope, but we'll see as time passes how I do. Distractions are appreciated.

So yeah. That's pretty much everything I think. Honestly, I'm so happy to be getting asks from you again, you really help brighten my day 🅰️non, so thank you ♡ Right now I think I just need things to draw and fun drawings or rambles to look at. I'm always sad when I can't bring myself to draw or make anything so any ideas or suggestions mean the world to me.

And dont you worry about my health, I've been eating and drinking plenty of water I think. My friends are usually pretty good about making sure I keep up on that. I appreciate the concern though ♡♡♡

[kurumeki]

Boris 5/23 @Proxima, Warsaw

Last time I saw Boris live was in December 2019 and that was also the first Japanese band I had the chance too see since pandemic started. Needless to say – I was very excited about the gig. I didn’t plan on it, but for some reason I entered the venue first (I’ve never had a ticket number that would be A1 in Japan), and despite running to merch stand first, I still managed to secure a spot in first row, right in front of mic stand. Which is exactly where I wanted to be, knowing that for this tour Atsuo is not playing drums, but being strictly band’s frontman and doing vocals.

Merch wise – I was pretty upset when their staff told me that caps didn’t make it on time for the gig. I really wanted to buy one with Amplifier Worship Service, guess I will have to order it online from their EU store. But I got other items I really wanted – the tour t-shirt with the leopard (love love love the design), I got a patch for my battle vest, pins, stickers (because I also need my laptop to look sick with those) and then I decided to buy a polaroid with the whole band and their autographs; I recall this is pretty rare stuff to buy (price wasn’t that bad? It was 100 PLN per polaroid, I think that’s fair).

Boris is known for bringing less known Japanese bands on tours with them, so support for this part of their European tour was 明日の叙景 (Asunojokei) – fairly new band playing post black metal. I’m not that much into this type of music, but their show was good; I was especially impressed with the vocalist and his general vibe. At the end of their set I snatched the setlist, so I can listen to the exact set later.

Pic from 明日の叙景; it was so easy to spot myself but of course they picked one where my eyes are closed. Oh well.

When time came for Boris, I was so ready. In 2020 they released album NO and that was like my favourite record from that year, it’s so heavy and energetic, I was hoping they would go on tour with this stuff and guess what – it was happening! They played mostly songs from the mentioned NO but also from Heavy Rocks released in 2022 (on my birthday, to be exact! August 12th). I think that’s a perfect super heavy mix. Knowing what to expect, I was preparing myself mentally for their show, but jesus fucking christ – it was so much better than in my imagination.

First of all, being in front row, it wasn’t difficult to get Atsuo’s attention. Guess me willing to give the band my all, to headbang until my neck cracks, to scream their lyrics didn’t go unnoticed. With Atsuo stepping onto the podium in front of the barriers, I didn’t expect anything less than him taking my hand a couple of times; during another song he was having an emotional moment and he fucking cradled my face with his hand, that caught me so off guard but I mean – no complaints. For Fundamental Error I really did my best with singing along and Atsuo fucking held the mic to my lips during chorus. That was well. Also unexpected, but if he wants you to do shit, you just do it. Do I fall for this type of interactions with audience? Absolutely! At the end my efforts were rewarded – for the last song Muchio, the support drummer, left the stage and Atsuo finally sat behind drums. He used the gong behind him (as usual) and poured his heart out on drums when they played Farewell; and as the song and the show finished, he got both of his Pearl gong mallets and gave one to me and the second one to a woman next to me that really was competing for attention.

Some other highlights from the set – I loved their black outfits, I was really fascinated with Wata’s heels, her shoes looked so cool. And while I love watching her absolutely kill it with her vintage Les Pauls, my eyes were drifting to Takeshi (when I was not looking at Atsuo, which was 90% of the time). The double neck bass/electric guitar just looks so fucking cool when he’s playing it and he has got some amazing moves. I was so so sooo happy I got to hear (and sing!) Kikinoue live, that was my dream ever since I heard this song for the first time. Nosferatou was also amazing live, I love how their slow drone tracks feel like being wrapped in a warm blanket of sound. I sure am glad I wore earplugs to the gig, I think I would have not survived in the first row if not that.

Below's the setlist. Encore was Farewell, as mentioned.

After the show I did something that I’ve not done before – decided to wait outside the club for band to come out, because I really needed to talk to Atsuo. I have hinted it a few times already in my posts, but basically on the fanclub platform I’ve asked Morrie if he’d like to go on tour with Boris as their support, to which Morrie very enthustically said that he would love to and he is simply waiting for invitation. Knowing that I could get a chance to talk to Boris about it, how could I not at least try? Also – I’ve made a connection recently, befriending a guy that knows both Morrie and Atsuo privately; the guy and myself really get along and upon hearing that I’m going to Boris show in Warsaw, he decided to text Atsuo and let him know I’d be there.

The wait outside of venue was almost an hour and I almost gave up (not because it was cold; I was just tired after two shows), but then they came out! I nearly ran to them, not risking I miss a chance to speak to them. One good thing about me is that I’m stupid brave, which means that if I get a chance to talk to a musician, then no matter how anxious and silly I feel, I will fucking do it. So I just came over to Atsuo, being full on „hey, do you have a minute? Our mutual friend K-san was telling you about me, I think”. It was so worth to wait for an hour on the back of the club to see Atsuo’s face light up with „oh right! You’re Cherry, nice to meet you”. (DEAD ON THE SPOT!) I passed him the message from Morrie, he laughed about that enthusiasm. We chatted just for a minute or two more and when I was already bowing and wishing them a safe travels for the rest of the tour, Atsuo was like „don’t you want a picture? Come on!” and suddenly we were taking the group shot. That was not on my bingo card for the night. Did I crop the pic from my own instagram? Hell yes, I am a lazy goblin.

It’s safe to say it was easily the best Boris show I’ve been to and I am just already impatiently waiting for them to come back for a show (but this time with Morrie! Come on…).

[danggirlronpa]

GUESS WHAT CAME IN RIGHT ON TIME FOR MERCH MONDAY

There is a LOT to get to here, so even though I've received a couple other items in the last few weeks, this'll be the only one we go over this week!

TL:DR; I generally am very happy with the whole thing and ABSOLUTELY recommend buying it! I'm definitely happy I bought (:

Let's start with the zine itself!

This is a NICE zine. I want to emphasize that, while I have critiques with the cover and keychains, the work itself is gorgeous, and you can tell just how much work went into it. Even having seen the ship list previously, I was still so delighted and surprised when I turned the page to a ship that barely gets content. The book itself is a little stiff, which makes it difficult to read the text without feeling like you're doing a heinous crime against books, but that's extremely normal for paperbacks in general. The pages are each well made and fit visually with the cover, despite being different material; in my quick skim through, I didn't immediately spot any obvious printing errors, and the text (despite the shine in this image making it look otherwise) is all distinct and easy to read.

The cover is also gorgeous artworks. But it has...more marks than I was expecting. I've taken a picture of those on the back.

These are not fingerprints; best I can tell, they were either in the paper itself or part of the printing process. Some of them came out after rubbing down hard for a minute, but only temporarily, and the scratches unfortunately seem permanent. After owning it for a little while (and retroactively talking about it on this post), it also accumulates fingerprints and new marks very easily. It's not a dealbreaker, but I wish they had picked a glossier cover style.

On to stickers!

I have nothing but praise for these. They're fantastic. They stick easily, they unstuck easily once they're put down, they're made in such a way that if you crease one pulling it off it's easy to uncrease, the glitter on the sheet is gorgeous, they didn't peel up at the sides...I am so incredibly happy with these. It was such a nice little touch to have all the tiny stars and hearts as stickers to decorate the rest of my sticker book. I'll keep an eye on them, because I've had stickers before that I've had to mark down for re-review because they deteriorated faster than they should, but right now? Might be my favorite overall feature of the whole bundle.

The extra Tokomaru print! This is another one I have nothing but praise for. The reflectivity is obvious (it was hard as hell to get this picture without the lightbulb making a mirror selfie cameo), but it doesn't make the picture unseeable. The glitter on the edges is applied differently than the sticker sheet, but still really nice. And unlike the other stiffer items in the bundle, this one has no obvious scuff marks.

Please note that this is thick and meant to either sit on a shelf or put up with putty. You CANNOT pin it on a board, and it's not quite thick enough to hang.

Now...the keychains.

I didn't mention this in the TLDR because I'm honestly not sure whether it was an issue others might have, but to start with, they got my order wrong. Of the six keychains I ordered, four of them were the characters listed. They did respond very nicely when I reached out, and I'm not TOO mad about this - this was the most personalizable part of the bundle, and mistakes happen! - but it's worth noting.

And then getting to the keychains themselves. This section was originally pretty critical, because on the surface, these do appear to have quite a bit of wear and tear. However, these keychains do in fact have little plastic covers to keep them from harm! I had a really difficult time telling if they were there, and struggled to peel them off without scratching the keychain - but once you get them off, they're absolutely stellar. I'm a little miffed at the mistake, but that's mostly directed at myself for not checking more thoroughly. I've included a brief video to show just how stark the difference is before and after peeling them.

Again, I want to reiterate: I LOVE this zine. I've had to lie down several times reading the fics. I have been gleefully retracing several pieces of art for an hour. I think the overall product is well worth the minor issues I had!

[lululawrence]

Hi! May I ask why you choose to send cards to people you don't even know? Do you pay for everything yourself?

lolll ya know, valid question. the first year i did it, i offered christmas cards only to my mutuals and they weren't homemade. i just bought some cute ones from target and mailed them off to the people in my group chats and mutuals from tumblr who saw my post and reached out. i had seen some other people offering cards to their mutuals the first christmas i was on tumblr, and i loved that idea so much i wanted to do the same, so i did.

after that first year, though, i had so much fun and had a decent amount of interaction with my blog even if i didn't really know who they were, i figured why not offer cards to everyone? no one has to take me up on it if they don't want to, if they aren't comfortable sharing their address, that's fine! they just won't sign up. i didn't know if there would be a big participation or anything, but i figured it was worth a try. i kinda stepped up my game that year and got some boxed handmade cards that are absolutely beautiful to send out. i still buy a box of those just in case something goes wrong and i run out of my own homemade cards now, so i have backup, because i love them.

more people than i expected signed up for the cards that year, and i had so much fun! it really took a time of year that is full of depression and anxiety and stress and worries for me and allows me instead to focus on other people. on helping others have some cheer during the holiday season. i've always been someone who believed that if i'm having a hard time, the best way to get through it is to turn my focus outward and instead find ways to help other people. so i continued!

i had wanted to try to make my own christmas cards, like i used to when i didn't have any kids and when my oldest was just a baby, but it took a few years to get to the point of being able to do that. it took a lot of work and was of course a much longer process, but i'm not really an artistic person. card making was something i felt like i could do decently well and was a bit more personal, you know? and again, it was a way that i could find joy during a time of year that is insanely difficult for me because it is just riddled with triggers. adding the making of the cards to the mix has meant that the last few years has been a big learning curve for me and i didn't get the cards out on time the last two years... maybe the last three hah but i TRIED and i still sent cards to everyone who asked one, even if they didn't get there until well into the new year haha

this year though you're all getting them on time as long as the postal services do what they're supposed to do haha!

as for paying for them, yes i pay for them all myself. since i purchase everything (except for the stickers i use, which are actually kind of stupidly difficult to find outside of Christmastime) only when they're on sale (usually buy one get one free or something) and use coupons on top of it, things don't really cost as much as they could. especially when you consider that i make over 100 cards using what i purchase, and then still have supplies left over so i can use them towards the cards i make next year too. basically, i spread out the purchasing of the items i use through the year as best as i can to make it more cost effective and less of a burden on our finances at christmas/birthday season in my house. i went a bit more simple with the cards this year compared to previous years because finances have been a lot tighter for us the last six months than what they have been even previously, and i couldn't really fill in the holes of what was missing after everything i made last year. but it was fine, i just figured out a design that would work using just what i already had in my supplies and voila! hehe

so yeah. long story short, i do it because it makes me happy during a difficult time of year for myself and as long as people are interested in cards from a stranger, i'll keep doing it. literally the only thing that could ever stop me is if i didn't have the money to buy the stamps to send them out or something. hehe

hope that helps, and happy holidays!

[lapeaudelamemoire]

Slept poorly and didn't get much done today. That's fine, it's been a big week, and I deserve a break for finishing up my last week on placement while writing up these assignments, and the stress of having to deal with obtaining medical documentation.

Been dreaming of work even in my sleep for much of the last week and before that. I've spent the entire last week if not the last two or more pretty much staring at my screen all day, all week, now that all documents are digital. My eyes have deteriorated since last year writing my thesis and all of this continuation. It worries and bothers me, but I don't know that there's much I can do about how our lives and work all seem digital these days, in many fields; and even for leisure.

At least I won't have to be at work on placement any more come Monday and Tuesday.

(If I haven't been replying or interacting much, I'm sorry, this is why - I can barely take my eyes off work, I'm snowed under.)

-

Since deleting Instagram I've bought even less. I don't even really buy myself 'rewards' any more for doing work or finishing things; which is not to say that I withhold them from myself, but rather that I don't really feel as compelled to any more. It would be a nice treat, but it's not something I need, and I don't have to bribe myself the same way any more.

I scroll past lingerie posts by a brand that used to be my favourite. And there are things that I want that I would still like to buy, and might perhaps regret if I missed out on, but I don't feel like it would be So Terrible if I did; and have made my peace with potentially not having and 'missing out on', that being the case. I've noticed that I buy things because I want them, and would like to have them, but I rarely wear or use them. Parcels stack in my living room, unopened for months, even over a year. There is actually really quite little that I genuinely need or want. I can like something and not own it, or possess it. I think that's something good to learn, and one we don't learn enough or much of; but I think the world or things would be better if we did. I would like to travel still, too, but even that has lessened somewhat in drive.

I have my partner and really, the days are happy as they are. It sounds cheesy but when we're together, looking at him and being with each other is enough to give me smiles for days.

Lately, though, I've noticed myself buying some little things that I previously never bought, like stickers, or key chains. And I've actually used the keychain, but with the stickers, just having them and looking at them all still in the sheet makes me happy. Growing up and shedding the notion of trying to look cool and not personalising your things is great. I have never been more openly me.

But I think actually that all of this is also because of him; taught to me unwittingly by him. Maybe I would have gotten here by myself too, by now even, or eventually, I don't know. But being with him - I've changed. Of course, of course, being with different people changes you. But still -

I love being with my husband. Unpretentious as he is, caring as he is. With others there is always bothering about how we look - and he does like to be told he looks good, of course - but everything is so simple, so distilled. We are as we are. Unpolished as we are. We eat. Wake up together. Go to sleep together. Spend our days in each other's orbit. Maybe this is the definition of [一起/一块儿] 过日子. Nothing extraneous, nothing added or dressed up, no airs. I remember early on one day, this turn in myself I noticed brought on by being in his presence, a sense of community as something surrounding him and committed to in his actions. That was the first time I really felt community as something real as a context you lived in, and not just some abstract concept or nebulous notion of a large circle drawn around an area, bigger than just your immediate links to friends or family.

With someone else, I'd probably still be the same person I was, buying up lingerie and wanting to stay in fancy hotels and dressing up in finery. But I like who being with him has changed me into.

I want for so little now. We laugh plenty in each other's company. I am so aware, every day, how much this life with time spent together sharing our lives is a treasure.

[angel-is-not-creative]

SwampCon

I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed walking through all the Honor Society students and the middle school science fair kids in cosplay at 9 in the morning but I persevered.

I did go to high school in cosplay once for spirit day however I was insufferable in high school so I try not to think about it. I've never been to an actual convention before though so this was a first.

I am pretty heavily involved in fandom culture but god I was shocked by the amount of anime I did not know. I also felt incredibly old because where were the Hetalia cosplays?! I didn't see a single one and it just feels like as a community we have forgotten our dark past. Though I did see a homestuck cosplay so I have some hope left.

I attended for the entirety of the day on Saturday, most of my time was spent volunteering but I did manage to spend $80 somehow like I really don't know what came over me.

Volunteering was very nice and laid back and it is something I will likely be doing next year as well. I was a bit upset that I didn't get to check out the maid cade because I was so busy but I know that it will be back next year so it's cool.

I really enjoyed watching the kpop dancing panel, I don't know anything about it but the dancers looked really good and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.

To be honest, I don't think I have complimented this many people in my life, there were so many cool cosplays and a lot of them were from some of my favorite shows (lots of sk8 the infinity which I loved, a few soul eater and danganronpa ones as well).

The artist alley is where I lost all of my money. There were so many talented artists with amazing pieces and I'm a huge sucker for supporting small artists. Here is my haul (plus a pair of horns that are not pictured).

For the record I have never even seen My Hero Acadamia I just really love Present Mic and this print was just so cool I couldn't not purchase it. The posters are so amazing and I had to stop myself from buying more things. These were all an investment into my happiness and honestly, cash isn't even real money.

Javi's bad fanfiction reading panel was so funny, I feel a little guilty for contributing in the emotional turmoil of a couple dozen people with my very enthusiastic vote for the most horrendous fanfiction known to man, but also I think those people left just a little more cultured. Fanfiction is a vital part of fan culture and we cannot deny how much of it is just straight-up horrible and frankly disturbing so much of it is (I read over 15 million words of fanfiction last year so I am qualified to speak on this). I did have to leave a little early because at that point I had been at the con for over 12 hours and was starting to fall asleep in my chair.

I met a lot of cool people throughout the day, and it was really nice just knowing that you already have a shared interest. Within the first few hours of being there, someone asked me if I was a "button, keychain, or sticker autistic" and when I told them I was a sticker autistic they handed me a swampcon sticker. It was a really nice moment for me I don't know why.

The other volunteers were also all so kind I didn't really come to the con with anyone but I was always talking to someone throughout the day because everyone was so friendly and open. I even got to talk about Hetalia ships with someone which just made my day. I ran into a lot of you guys there as well which was so fun. If you saw me after like 1 then my wig was off because that thing was way too itchy to wear for a full day, I only made it like 4 hours.

Next year I will not be spending all of my money and I'm gonna drag some of my friends along to make sure I get to do all of the activities like maid cafe and the Miku concert (I did not attend but I helped pass out glowsticks so you may have seen me hehe). This was actually so much fun and I would have attended on Sunday as well if I didn't have so much homework to do.

This was me at the beginning of the day with my volunteer badge :P

[pbandjesse]

Today was a really good day. I'm a little tired but not as bad as I have been the last few days. The most thing I'm annoyed about is that my eyeliner won't stop melting. I got a new one and it's supposed to be the exact same as the one I always use but for some reason it is melting all over my eyelids. Which is very uncomfortable. But besides that it was great.

I slept okay last night. Waking up was a little hard but not as bad as it has been. I got dressed and I love my outfit. I was a little unsure about weather because it seemed chilly outside but it was supposed to go up to almost 80°. And it was going to rain but not for the whole day. But the outfit I ended up with I felt very cute. Specifically because I was going to match my table and that was very important to me.

James stopped to get us breakfast. For the second day in a row they asked for our order then went away for a minute and a second person came back and asked for our order again. Very bizarre. And then we went to the museum. James helped me bring some stuff over and it didn't take very long to set up my table because I had done all the planning beforehand. And I was thrilled with how it looked. First thing before I even said anything up though I went and gave Ann a hug and told her how great her hair looks all grown out and curly. So cute. And then I was helping some people with their tents and it was drizzling a little bit but it wasn't too bad. I was really excited to share with everyone my new products and my new branding strategy and all of the things that I learned and did. And just telling people about our honeymoon. That was really exciting to get to share that with everyone.

Some people didn't show up that were supposed to and that was very annoying. The parking lot was full and I'm not going to call out anyone but a particular vendor that was asked to be there, paid to be there, was very rude. We were having some problems with electricity and we were trying to figure out how to get their spot power because they needed it for the thing that they were doing and all of a sudden the person running the stall came over and said that waiting any longer was unacceptable. And it's just like dude they're trying to figure it out and he kept asking well what are you doing. And I'm just like calm down. It was fine. He was pretty obnoxious and I hope that they don't have them come back late while the guests loved it I was not a fan.

That's actually the second time I've been in a market with them and they work very nice to me either when I talk to them then. Just as like hey we are both artists working here. But whatever. Some people just have bad people skills but are good with kids I have met many of those over my years of working.

I had a great morning though. I had the same anxiety and feelings that I always have at the market that I'm not going to make any sales and I failed as an artist and I'm wasting everyone's time and everyone's mad at me. But it was only 9:10 when I had sold anything it was having these feelings so I knew I was being silly. I brought some stuff to work on. I'm finishing up my knit piece and sewing down all those edges and I brought a whole bunch of bears that I had cut out that I wanted to finish. And I was very proud of myself that I did buy 1:00 finish all the bears that I had brought. And it was like down to the wire with the one. But I got them all done and I'm very happy.

And I did make sales. Stickers were very popular and I'm really excited about that because I would love to order more of the styles I've designed. I ended up selling almost 15 stickers and four stuffed animals and a few keychains. Everyone also really loved my free candy that I brought. And only one person tried my gumball machine for a discount but it was fun to experiment with it. I think it will work better when I have more of the wooden marble I'm hoping to stop at the dollar store tomorrow and see if they have them. If not I will continue to look.

I did have some really nice conversations with people and just enjoyed people watching. We had a lot of returners. I have a lot of repeat customers from last year. A few families who own multiples of my bears and frogs. And just people saying nice things about my work which always feels good. But there was also a lot of brand new people who have never seen before. And a couple new vendors so that was exciting. I also just loved talking to the people I've known for a long time now. Like Ginny and Helen. And it was just a good day.

I had gone inside because I was short some of the birth certificates for my bears and James printed them for me. And they told me they were going to get a quesadilla from lunch from the next Mexican ladies. But by 11:30 I realized they still had not come outside and I didn't want them to miss lunch so I went and ordered us quesadillas and they were so good. A little pricey but honestly my mouth is watering just thinking about them. Though I was a little sad that my teeth on my left side hurt and I don't know why because they're all crowns. They should not hurt. But one of them seems to be exposing the metal and I don't know what that means or what I should do about it. Like the porcelain has come off of it. I think that their porcelain over metal but I'm not entirely sure how they are made.

I brought James there quesadilla and they seemed very excited. And I went outside and finished my final hour. And it was great. I had a great conversation with Stanley and Bob. And we talked about Alaska and how beautiful it was and some of my branding this year and how I'm excited to make everything food themed. And I really just felt good. I didn't feel as exhausted. I was still a little out of it but I wasn't as like dizzy tired as I had been.

Cleaning up took an extra couple minutes. I didn't have my wagon with me so I had to make two trips to the car. But it's fine it's not heavy. And then I went inside to say goodbye to James and told Angie I would see her later. And then I went home.

When I got back here I had a snack and watched a video. And got changed into a house dress. I tried to fix my eyeliner to try to figure out why it is melting but I have no idea and it's making my eyelids feel very sticky and dry. I don't know how something can be both sticky and dry. And then I slept for a while.

When I woke up James was home and they came and gave me a hug. And then we had dumplings for dinner. Hung out on the couch. I got dressed in my wedding event nice long dress. Fixed my eyeliner again. And then headed out.

And it was a really fun night I didn't have as many like big exciting conversations as sometimes I do. It was more of a struggle to get people to come back. But the people I did talk to were lovely. They were all like oh my God what's your background why do you know all this. A couple people thought that it was the end of my work day and that I was being held up by them talking to me and I was like no no the couple paid for me to be here. Please ask me questions I would love to share with things with you. And I did have some nice conversations about camp and sharing some information with a couple of people who are teachers about field trips there and the work that I'm doing for the Native American program. And I had a good time. I did do some cleaning of the banister in the machine shop because it was really dirty but it just made it more sticky. Like the finish has been taken off and it was awful. And I don't know how to fix that. It needs like rubbing alcohol or something I think. But I had a really nice night and I sat with Angie for a while and then she said I could go home.

And I'm almost home now. Talk to text is a dream. Because it's very hard for me sometimes to focus on writing my post. But I also don't love doing talk to text with James around. I just feel awkward about it. So I'm glad I can do this before I get home. And I'm hoping tonight to just chill and have a nice time laying around and tomorrow I don't have to work until the evening so I'm hoping to just do some cleaning at the apartment and maybe go to the museum early to roller skate and I have to go to the dollar store up there anyway and maybe I'll go to the thrift store who knows. But I just hope that this trend of me already feeling a little bit better continues and I just have a restful day and I feel good and I feel happy. I hope that you all feel happy as well. Sleep well everybody. Be safe out there. Good night.

[wroteonedad]

The 20's Made Me Regress

As a kid, I used to love nothing more than getting up at 7:30 in the morning and watching episodes of Hannah Montana while I cuddled up with my teddy bear and hoped that today might be the day that mum and dad take me out for a Happy Meal. I loved those blackcurrant and apple Fruit Shoots. Now I am 22 and I still like to get up, watch Hannah Montana reruns and choose which stuffed toy I want under my arm today. I feel so much nostalgia and so much comfort for things I had as a child that I used to train myself to get rid of. 'I won't sleep with my teddies from the day of my 13th birthday' I would say to myself and then I would fail, feeling chilly at night and grabbing the first handful of stuffed bears I could find.

I would spend endless hours, playing the Sims 2 on my DS, a story which followed a girl whose car breaks down in a sleepy town and they walk into the hotel and suddenly they're running a few errands for the place and become a manager all in the same day. I always used to think that whole narrative was so cool, like a dream. I would go to my grandmas house and play Sims 1 on the PC. There was one pre-made household who had lots of money and I once converted their room into an arcade and deleted the front door before they would go to bed every night, just so they wouldn't get robbed.

My room is covered in a variation of novelty fairy lights, lobsters, pumpkins, you name it, it's there and I even bought myself a lava lamp because my grandma had one in the spare room when I was a kid and I used to sit in the cold room at 6am, watching the orange lava flow up and down. I could sit for hours and watch it. I would see the sticker that says to not touch it and I would still reach my hand out, acting surprised when my finger was burned, red raw from the heat of the wax.

I would persuade my family to buy every issue of Girl Talk, flicking through every one of its bright pink pages and reading all the celebrity gossip which always revolved around Cheryl Cole and Selena Gomez. Not at the same time of course.

Maybe it was Covid. Maybe that was the major event that took place that made me regress the way I did. A time in which we were all stuck at home trying to find means to an end every day for over a year. I still remember spending Christmas alone in 2020 vividly. I hate nut roast. That Christmas made me realise how much I hate them. Honestly. The texture is off. I think there was something about being indoors alone for such a long period of time that made me come to terms with how much one needs to have comfort. Human touch and interaction are two important things to have in life, but what happens when you have no access to that? I lived in a house where I could easily go a week without even saying hello to my own housemates. The most we ever really said to each other was 'who's turn is it to get toilet paper?'. It was sad. I was sad. And when they all got to go home for Christmas and I didn't, I was devastated. You can live in a home with a group of people who you don't like and who you don't speak to, but when they all leave and go to their homes, the silence becomes so loud. I think that was the key point where I found the bear I'd had since I was a child and I took it out and held it close again. I haven't really let go since.

I got back into playing games. I can't name one person who didn't end up at least buying a Switch during lockdown. And sure, I stopped playing my Switch when rules were lifted and then using it again every time there was a lockdown. But now, I find that there is no comfort like playing a Switch. I pick up Animal Crossing maybe once a month, I feel bad, but I love to check up. I've gotten into playing Kirby and Mario and Breath of the Wild. These games are making me feel like I am living my childhood again. I love the comfort of the cosy games, the games which also make me go Kyle mode every now and again. I love feeling warm with my piles of toys and extra blanket layers and I've found joy in kitsch lighting again. I think a lot of us are in the same boat. The historic events from this decade have been so surreal that it would feel more strange to not regress, at least in some way. It's made me feel humble and it's taught me to not feel so embarrassed about picking up things again now that I used to love and finding a new found love for it all over again. I now understand why my nanna would lecture me when I told her as a child that I couldn't wait to be an adult because I can do whatever I want whenever I want.

I wish I could tell 8 year old me that paying taxes and working a full time job is not fun and that I should just appreciate the moment as it happens.

[crystal-in-nagasaki]

my last few english boards

For the almost three years I've been living in Japan as an English teacher, I've been making monthly English boards at my junior high school for my students. I shared about most of my boards here and here, but I wanted to share the last few remaining boards that I made as I am leaving Japan soon. I put up my very last board this month for July since the students are on summer vacation for most of August, and it was bittersweet. I've been working on the boards for so long and they've evolved so much since I first started. I'm really proud of the work I put into and them and I hope that my students enjoyed them each month.

Without further ado, these are my last few English boards for the months of May, June, and July 2024:

In May we covered the themes of NASCAR, Easter, and pets, giving historical background and fun facts. I also encouraged students to adopt pets instead of buying them from pet shops, since puppy mills are a big problem in Japan. For the sticker poll, I asked the age-old question of whether students prefer dogs or cats, which got pretty even results. For a matching exercise, students matched dogs with their English breed names, which are mostly the same in Japanese so was fairly easy for them. Lastly, for the free white I used an Easter theme of eggs in a basket to ask students about their favorite candy. I was happy to get many responses, but most of them were in Japanese or just pictures they drew. Regardless, I'm glad that they interacted with it at all.

Next, let's move on to June.

For June, we again covered Pride Month, as well as the themes of Midsummer and Flag Day. Again, the text sections mainly gave historical background and facts. I also decided since I was leaving soon to come out to my students publicly, and posted a picture of myself and my girlfriend on the board.

On the spring/Midsummer theme, the sticker poll asked students to vote for their favorite flower, and each flower also included a small bit of text explaining what each person's favorite flower says about their personality, which I thought was fun. For a matching section, I had students match country names to their flags. On the inside of the flaps I also gave hints about what each of the colors and symbols of the flags represent. Lastly, the free write activity asked students to design their own flags using a color key explaining the meaning of colors in flags. I was really excited about this, but worried the students wouldn't interact with it. I was very surprised to find that many kids made flags and it made me so happy!

Lastly, let's talk about my very last English board I made, for the month of July.

For my last board, we did the themes of rednecks and Southern US culture, Shark Week, and of course, a farewell to me since I'm leaving soon.

I decided to talk about rednecks because apparently there's a "redneck day" in July and I thought it was a unique part of American culture to share. But I got a bit concerned while making it, because I couldn't figure out how to approach the term "redneck" which can be viewed in several ways. Many people make fun of rednecks for being gun-wielding, Fox News-watching bigots, while there's another shade of meaning which discriminates against poor rural white people. I tried to approach it with empathy and education, because I think the root of the problem in the worst of "rednecks" is a lack of resources and education. So I didn't want to make fun of them for being poor or uneducated, but didn't want to gloss over the fact that many of them hold bigoted views. In the end, it's a complicated topic, so I just told the students the literal origin of the word and shared some surface-level culture like Southern food, clothes, and music. I'm in a really interesting place to share American culture with my students, so I want to be able to teach them about many different kinds of things, even if they can be complicated.

Anyway, that was a tangent, but I also covered Shark Week, in which I used the board as a platform to correct misconceptions about the danger, or lack thereof, that sharks pose to humans. I tried to pick the cutest, friendliest shark pictures I could and talked about how shark movies give sharks a bad rap, and they aren't actually the evil killing machines that the media makes them out to be. I also told the kids not to eat shark fin soup, because it's responsible for millions of shark deaths every year and doesn't even hold nutritional value or flavor.

I tied the poll in with rednecks by asking students if they prefer the countryside or city, to which I was surprised that most students answered with the countryside. I thought that many rural kids want to escape rural life, but I guess many of them are content here, which is nice to see. I also created a matching activity in which students can match different kinds of sharks to their names. I thought it wouldn't be so difficult, but many of the kids struggled with the names more than I anticipated.

Lastly, for my goodbye section, I wrote a simple letter in English to the kids telling them that teaching them meant a lot to me and telling them what my plans for the future are. I attached some pictures from my time in Japan to show them that I had many great memories here. Under this, I put a large heart for students to write goodbye messages, and for the message cards I used all of my leftover leaflets from previous boards. I'm not sure if the students understand what I was trying to do, but it meant a lot to me to throw back to all my past boards like that. At the bottom, I made a true or false quiz of facts about me for the students to see how well they got to know me. It was fun to make even if they don't know the answers.

Well, that's it. That's the end of my brand, English Boards by Cris-senseiTM. I had a lot of fun and learned some valuable creative skills from making these boards, and I'm really proud of them. I can't necessarily say I'll miss doing them because they were a lot of work and I was often rushing and sometimes even stayed late, but seeing the finished product up after everything always made me feel proud and happy. I hope that even after I leave this school, the English board will live on and the kids can continue to enjoy it.

Thanks for reading!

[guvato]

Tamalog Day 11

When everyone woke up at 7AM, i fed Picochutchi some Roast Beef and Kuchipatchi some Hamburguer (one of his favorites!), Himetchi was doing alright so when the others were ready i called the Sitter for everyone so i could get some sleep.

At 1PM, i woke up, got myself ready for work and went on to have something to eat, while i was eating, Himetchi asked me to make an album and i was like "an album? neat! lets do it." and after selecting the pictures i saw this really long and heartbreaking animation of them saying like "thanks for everything" and getting on the Tama Spaceship, then they go to the Tama Planet and look at the Album and START CRYING WHILE THE PHOTOS YOU SELECTED SHOW UP ON SCREEN. After that they'll give you a new egg for you to take care of but man, that really affected me, i wasn't expecting that today, they just had to make it more bitter than sweet, huh? Well, that's why i love Tamagotchi, they matter so much to me and are the cutest and most interesting things in the world for me.

Anyways, we got a baby boy, and after taking good care of him for a bit, he turned into a Fuyofuyotchi, which is one of the cutest Tamas i've ever seen. He ate a lot through the afternoon and even had some of the Sponge Cakes i made with Himetchi, we didn't play yet, but Depagatchi did come into the house and danced a little with Fuyofuyotchi, which again, was kinda confusing but really cute. Kuchipatchi ate a lot of burguers today, but hey, it's his favorite food so he doesn't care, keeping him happy is pretty easy also, but that does not mean i'll just forget about him, as i make sure that if i check on one Tama i shall also check on the others too. Picochutchi and i spent a lot of the afternoon together, as i did go out today and brought her with me to do some Tama Searching which was a big success, we got so many tier 2 and tier 3 stickers and met some new Tamas too, one of my favorite things to do on the Uni is Tama Seaching for sure. I could also use the Tama Walk but i think i would want to complete my Sticker album before doing the full care icon run for the Tama Walk icon.

At night much of nothing happened, i just checked on Fuyofuyotchi, and he was doing great so i just left him to his 'being cute' business, Picochutchi and i went to the TamaVerse for the Tama Arena event and we had basically the same performance as yesterday, just one flag to completely put us down into 3rd place, but i'm sure she had some fun doing it as much as i did. We were also versing two Lionetchi so i guess we can say we got beat by children, and they were surfing good alright. After that i fed her some of that good ol' Sumo Style Hot Pot, which she loves, and got her social media picture of the day. Kuchipachi was the last one i checked on, and he was doing fine, so i gave him some pets to raise the fondness meter a bit and then just waited for him to go to bed, which he did, so i helped him fall asleep and even though Picochutchi was still awake, i didn't want to bother her, as we did spend a lot of time together today, so she might be tired of seeing me, lol.

And with that we finished our Tama Day, and oh boy was it an emotional day, i thought the Uni's farewell was pretty sad and bittersweet, but seeing Himetchi go kinda broke my heart. I hope i can keep whoever Fuyofuyotchi turns out to be for a bit more time this time, and i shall miss Himetchi greatly even though i know she is doing fine. Kinda makes me afraid of what type of goodbyes are in the other systems...well, we shall know when we are done with one of these devices, only then i shall buy a new Tama. Thank you for reading, See you tomorrow. =]