#i didn't think they could be THIS cliquey but i guess i was wrong

[yupuffin]

The longer I spend applying for zines, the more I get the idea that not everyone who runs them knows what they're doing...

[fayewoodss]

I don’t think you did anything “wrong” I think a lot of the time when people’s engagement randomly goes down it could be for literally anything, a lot of people will unfollow others for having a different opinion or simply not really liking what they post, which sucks but I guess it’s just part of being in a fandom like this

Personally I think there’s a silver lining there. A lot of people tend to seek out things that upset them and get all bothered by it and complain or send rude anons so if they’re smart enough to just distance themselves from people who bother them it’s better for everyone 🫂But I believe you deserve 10 times rhe folloewers and recognition!! Your work is so unique and not like anything I’ve seen from our fandom before and I LOVE it!:)🩵

I think that's the most reasonable way to look at it. Obviously people drift away or want to see specific content, and my blog isn't just one fandom so that can be deterring for some. I think I took it to heart because this fandom (dtblr) both has shown me a lot of love, but also a lot of ostracization. I came in not knowing there were "rules" and "groups," so I ignorantly ran straight into a minefield. What I've experienced here versus other fandoms has been... very very different. I've felt and seen hidden motives and agendas for things that really weren't/shouldn't be issues. It's kind of what kept me away from the fandom despite enjoying dt for years... :/ So, even if I didn't do anything "wrong," seeing people group together in cliquey ways and having mutuals going from interacting with me and messaging me near everyday to unfollowing and giving me radio silence without explanation is confusing and hurtful.

But again, I am focusing on the support of the friends I have made and I do engage with the belief most people here act with good intentions. I know that I mean no harm when I interact with stuff. My main crime is being annoying and cringe. So, I'll continue to be annoying and cringe because at the end of the day it's my blog and my art.

[kharmii]

now that these reports come out about the truth of everything messed up, shi**y and sinister going on in the trans community gibes me hope that we're witnessing the beginning of the end of this madness and lunacy.

I've seen posts of people being upset about these reports not realizing the people wanting to help and save these people... but I guess you don't want to be saved if you have a "freedom to do everything without consequences" card to be revoked from you... Honestly I'm torn... I feel sorry for all the people pressured into this shitty mess but I can't say I feel too sorry for the people abusing their newfound power and harrass anyone with opposing views...

My hope that once I'm an old lady people look back at this time and think: "WTH was wrong with these people???" has chances of becoming a reality and it gives me comfort...

What needs to happen, -and what eventually will happen- is that there will be hordes of adult survivors who will give testimonies of how they were manipulated into mutilating and sterilizing themselves at a vulnerable age. They wouldn't have had the emotional maturity to be given that sort of agency. People need to wait until they are adults to vote or buy alcohol, but they can chemically sterilize themselves before puberty? They can take drugs that will disintegrate their bone structure and set them up for cancer at an early age because it's super trendy on Tumblr?

Side note: I'm surprised someone hasn't told me personally that I should be arrested for saying such things. That's what they are doing to JK Rowling right now. I keep seeing all the posts here on Tumblr smearing her and basically calling her a criminal because her opinions on biological reality challenge the world views of the militant left delusional narcissists who have to destroy all non-believers. -Like really? She is considered a threat to you people because she doesn't believe, say, a female cosplayer with XY chromosomes is really a woman? -And you think her life and career should be destroyed over this?

Same with those people on the Volo Nation Discord who had a member recently do a plug where they wrote: "Bans are not issued based on what someone draws or writes outside of the server save for extreme circumstances or bigotry (but I'm not gonna vet every newcomer). Your actions within the server are more important." Hello, but didn't you people discuss me in a private channel and throw me out, even though I was a committed lurker and never contributed anything? Were you that petty and narcissistic you saw my opinions as a threat on a forum devoted to simping over a fictional blonde cartoon character?

Here's a hint. Being clannish little twats in whisper networks is a very feminine stereotype, even though a lot of people in fandom fancy themselves as being masculine. That's not to say most women are actually like that. Perceiving females as being cliquey and gossipy is actually a product of culture misogyny. Woman-haters will base all our characters on the actions of the worst, just because they are often the most vocal and vicious. Anybody with a desire to fight against the patriarchy could try doing better. To be fair though, it is considered masculine to want to murder people and stomp their heads into the ground, which is something the radical left has always proven good at throughout history.

Secular progressivism: The cause of more death and misery than all religious wars combined.

Transgender movement: High casualty modern human sacrifice.

[euphoriacrossing]

So while I sit here trying to get normal balloon spawns...

I may as well write a blog. I am using a guide post on how to catch normal balloon spawns to try and get more cherry blossom recipes. Well I am only half using it.. I am camping on the beach waiting for normal balloon spawns instead of going there every 0/5 ending minute. I'll share the guide on here after this if I remember, but I already got one new cherry blossom recipe just by camping on the side of the beach that balloon spawns are coming from and ignoring the bunny day balloons, so I think this could work, too.

Anyway, now story mode is over, but I still have so, so much to do that it's not even funny. I am making it my main priority to save miles up to buy all the different paths and stuff. I think I have three left to buy so roughly 6,000 miles to earn. But saving miles means making less bells as Nook mile trips are where I made the most, I think. And now I can't take them because I have no miles/am saving miles and so I don't have the bells to pay off my house or to build a new bridge or any of the things I am saving for. But in part the fact it is harder to save bells just makes it feel like I have more to do and that is comforting in a way. I want the appeal of this game to last forever but I know my brain doesn't work like that. Still for now it's the best distraction I have and I'm grateful for it.

Having the ability to make paths is tough because it's just another million decisions to make and hope I get it right or can redo it better or whatever, so that Euphoria becomes the island I dreamed it could be. Right now I have a lot of dirt paths and I think they look okay. But I plan on redoing them someday with either custom paths or maybe just the arched tile ones... I like that path style. Still I started when I just had dirt so I just kind of kept going that way.

It looks alright, I think, especially at the entrance. I haven't finished a lot of the paths on either the right (residential) side or the left (wooded area/orchard) but I have mostly finished the center which is shops and such.

(So far I've gotten a normal balloon spawn every 5 minutes! So it works to just hang around the beach and then look for the spawns at every 0 and 5 ending minute. Edit: Aw, nope just didn't get that last one... I am probably doing something wrong then. Oops Edit2: Definitely doing something wrong. Didn't get a spawn again. Oh well I'll check the guide again once I finish this post. I am also watching for wishing stars so it won't be a total waste.. though I haven't seen any of those either. Last edit: Guide said spawns don't happen every time AND I just got another regular balloon, so maybe I'm fine? I hope I am not just wasting time.)

I am moving most of the houses before I do the paths on that side which is ANOTHER expense for sure, but after seeing a couple of my friend's islands, I knew I could make the houses probably a bit straighter and I decided I want them not quite as closer together as I want everyone to be able to have a yard. One of my friends has houses that are PIN straight and have little yards to them. I don't think I can accomplish that. But I do think I can space them out far enough to fence them in and have little yards.

So I started with the last to move in which was Marina. I put her in a space both by the beach, and by my house because even though she just moved in we're absolute besties. No but honestly, I love her. She sings like everywhere she goes and it's adorable.

I would move Beau next but I think he might stay close to where he is. Unfortunately if I have to move him a little bit I first have to move his house out of the way and then move it back because you can't move buildings just a tad, you have to find a whole new spot. This is why I had to move the whole museum to a new spot as it was slightly out of line and i couldn't just move it to where it lined up. I wish i had known this when i put things there. I didn't take care placing anything because I knew it could be moved. I only ASSUMED it could be moved a small amount as well especially since I assumed correctly that you were paying for it. But no, so oh well, now I have to come up with new spots for things, that's fine. Luckily both Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters I got in perfect alignment with resident services like I wanted to so they're all on one straight path.

Anyway, I hope I can get it looking like i want it to. I thought that decorating it how I wanted would be the hardest because I still need to find all the furniture. But the paths might give that a run for it's money when we talk about difficulty level if you include trying to get all the houses in the right position and such.

But as hard as I've been "working" (it's definitely still fun or I wouldn't do it) I have found plenty of time for play as well. Yesterday morning I visited a friend for her KK Slider concert. I luckily have a good group of friends from a discord I'm part of and a lot of them are from other countries so they experience stuff before I do and things like that. So a bunch of us visited her for her KK concert and we did some of that...

And then things got a little wild...

Lol, it was fun. I thought for a second about the state of the world but I didn't panic thankfully. I just saw a bunch of us coming together from across the globe, some of us in quaratine, almost all of us at least ADVISED not to go out unless necessary. The world is a scary place right now, but the fact we could still come together from across the globe to be silly and enjoy a game together makes me feel like everything might be alright. I mean, it would still be cool even if these things weren't going on, but the fact they are abd socialization is becoming more difficult than ever, it's cool to see an alternate means of that in action.

I can't believe I took no pictures of her super straight houses, ugh, if I go again, I will have to, they are literally perfect.

And the weirdest thing about all of this to me is how included i feel in all of this. We're all on a small AC discord together and it seems like a lot of them have maybe known each other a while. But unlike a lot of other places it doesn't feel cliquey to me. I've always been welcome to come to their islands, and they have always been very courteous when any of them have come to mine. They act as happy to see me as they do anyone else. And I've only known them a short time so it would usually feel strange to call them "friends" but it doesn't. Now obviously they could feel differently but if they do they don't show it. I am incredibly grateful to have found them. I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to play with.

I actually was invited from this tumblr. Likely after I made some kind of post about not feeling like I belonged in the AC community or something similarly emo and whiny, I'm sure. So I am surprised I was invited at all, but I am so thankful I was. It was just what i was looking for in the AC community.

(Yes! I learned cherry blossom umbrella! Balloon hunting is going fairly well considering I only had like two of the cherry blossom DIYs total before I started and now in about an hour I've doubled that.)

I do have some facebook friends and such I have play AC with, and I am also grateful for them as well of course. It has brought us closer together and I am thankful for that. I have one friend who we constantly send each other gifts like if we accidentally got two of something or a DIY we already have or just if we think something is cool, it's really fun. I enjoy mail as much in game as I do in real life.

But yeah, I was nervous when this game first came out that I would be stuck playing just with my sister. And don't get me wrong I love playing the game with her, we always have a good time. But sometimes you need socialization beyond your own family and I really saw this as my one chance to connect since I'm not very social, I am very anxious, and I just struggle with these things. I may have been right about it being my best chance at connection because I can hide a lot of the awkwardness in game. Very thankfully though, I found people who accept what I can't hide in game. And who accept me. For some reason that's just been really hard to do. Every community I am a part of I feel like an outsider until now. But yeah, I am looking forward to a continued friendship with these people and continuing to enjoy the game moving forward.

I guess I've rambled enough. I still need to get more balloons, but I can't write here forever. Though... I frequently do write far too much here and I wonder if it get read. If it doesn't I don't blame ya. But yeah. I will leave you with this adorable pic I took while Marina was singing... you can't really tell she was singing, but still, she's adorable either way.

(And don't you love this dress? I have it in I think 4 different colors, I just love it.)