#i started this trend like ? three years ago now???? and it’s gotten kinda big!! it’s really exciting to see!!

[arcane-gold]

it’s a tradition!!🎄

pls join me this year for another #ocmistletoe in which we all draw our ocs kissing. this year my rook rel is giving out kisses !!

[pagingevilspawn]

Can you write a jolex Easter fic when they celebrate Easter with their kids. I would love that.

bunny kisses and easter wishes

I speed typed this lil thing, because I got this request a few days ago, so I apologize if it isn’t very good. and that it’s kinda short. i only really checked over this once, so i’m sorry if there’s a lot of mistakes. i just really wanted to get it out today. happy easter to all those who celebrate! 

Easter Sunday had become a big deal in the Karev household throughout the years. It’s love and intensity wasn’t nearly as close to the ever-so expensive Christmas, but it easily took over second place as the family’s favorite holiday. (For the kids at least. Jo and Alex would always love Halloween the most for many reasons.) They decorated their house’s outer appearance to the nines, complete with easter egg lights that stuck in the ground, small inflatables, signs, and the occasional plastic bunny or two. Hanging from the tree on their lawn were easter baskets that they had tied to a piece of string, full of fake grass and hand-dyed eggs in extravagant colors. Inside, they had set out the Easter themed tablecloth, and traditional candy from the holiday could be found inside of ceramic bowls in the shape of bunny’s.   

It came as no surprise when at exactly seven thirty in the morning, three children came bumbling into their room, feet heavy against the hardwood floors as they raced each other down the halls, eager to awake their parent’s first. They were told that they couldn’t wake up Alex and Jo earlier than that, or they would postpone the hunt. The oldest, Blaire, reached the two sleeping figues before her little brothers, running up to the bed and shaking them both awake. 

“Mommy, Daddy, get up get up!” she cheered, a wide grin across her face. At ten years old, she knew that the easter bunny wasn’t real, but it was still more than fun to hunt for eggs across the house. Plus, she knew how much her parent’s appreciated the fact that she still put on a show for her younger siblings, who were a few years younger than her, and still full of belief for traditional holiday characters.

Not even a second later, two more bodies came flying onto the bed, taking the liberty of jumping up and down to wake up their parents rather than shaking them. Their youngest, Chase, jumps onto his dad’s back in all of his two year old glory, as if Alex wasn’t already aware of the presence of the three in the room. Months upon months of being on high alert while raising them as newborns turned both him and Jo into incredibly light sleepers, much to their dismay. They had been awake the second their footsteps had come down the halls, it was just nice to close their eyes for a bit longer. 

Jo slowly wakes up next to him, giving him a sleepy, half smile that he never failed to make his heart stutter. She takes six year old Holden into her arms, giving him a hug as well as she could while he tried to squirm away. Being in first grade meant that he was too cool to give hugs to his mom, but Jo refused to acknowledge that, and still hugged and kissed him like he was still the tiny baby that would snuggle in her lap at every given opportunity. Sometimes, when he refused to give her a hug before he went into class, she would shout an ‘I love you baby’ just to get back at him. It was petty, but it worked, because after enough times he had learned to give his mom a hug before class. 

“No mommy! The easter bunny came!” the boy protests, eventually escaping her grasp when he lands back on the floor, brushing a strand of too-long hair out of his eyes. Jo had been trying to set up a haircut for the past week, but they both were struggling to find enough time out to do so. It wasn’t like Holden was complaining, actually preferring the floppy hair more than he shorter haircut, but Jo said that he wasn’t going to look like his Uncle Link used to as a grown man. (Which Holden hated, since Uncle Link was seriously the coolest and he would definitely have floppy hair if the blonde used to as well.) 

“I know. Give me and Daddy a minute, and we’ll be right down. In the meantime, go see if the easter bunny ate all of his carrots, ‘kay?” Jo mumbles, rubbing her palms against her eyes in an attempt to rid herself of sleep faster. Footsteps then padded out of the room and down the stairs, excited chatters echoing through the halls of the house. 

Jo and Alex give each other a small, exhausted smile. They had been up until two thirty that morning, hiding eggs after both working fifteen hour shifts, and to say they were tired was an understatement. Bags hung heavy under both of their eyes, but they both knew it would be worth it when they would see the kids hunt for the plastic eggs. They lean in and connect their lips for a quick peck because they were both aware of their terrible morning breath. When they pull away they both crash back onto their pillows, taking a few seconds to let the tiredness leave their bodies before the start of an eventful day. Dragging themselves out of bed, they brush their teeth and try to make themselves at least somewhat put together so they didn’t seem like absolute zombies in front of their kids. Jo pulls her phone off her charger, tucking it into the pocket of her robe before they head down the stairs, the kids eagerly sitting at the island next to a plate of ‘bunny eaten carrots’ and a note. 

“Mommy we can’t read it. The writing’s too messy.” Blaire complains, waving the paper around, surely wrinkling it a bit in the process. 

Jo holds back a chuckle. Alex’s penmanship was barely legible on it’s own, let alone when he was practically so tired he could barely take a few steps without feeling like he could slump over whatever surface was available to him and take a nap. 

“Hmm,” Jo hums, taking the paper and squinting to read it, struggling herself to figure out the words on the note. “Blaire, Holden, and Chase, Happy Easter! I have hidden forty-five eggs around the house for you to find this year, fifteen for each of you. Chase’s eggs have spots, Holden’s have stripes, and Blaire’s are plain. All eggs are hidden in the kitchen, living room, and dining room. Make sure not to take any eggs that aren’t yours. Happy hunting! Easter Bunny.” Jo reads off. 

She folds the paper in half, placing it back down on the island. “Before you guys find the eggs, open up your baskets.” She points to the three different colored baskets that were on the table, each holding separate items based on their children’s current interests. They dig in quickly, each pulling out the candy first, marshmallow peeps, chocolate bunnies, and packets of Reese’s peanut butter cups eggs. 

Blaire grabs her basket first, the purple wicker one with hints of green, her face lighting up when she sees the book she���d been eyeing for weeks now and a new shirt that she had been begging for since she saw it online last month. 

Hudson lets out a boyish cheer when he pulls two video games out of his basket, pumping a fist and smirking. Jo gives Alex a relieved smile. New video games were coming out constantly, and it seemed like the second they got him the one that was on trend, it was being replaced by another game. So, for the two games about blowing random things up to still be considered ‘in’ was something they were both taking a large, silent victory about. 

Chase giggles when he pulls out a few toys, running over to Jo to show them to her immediately. He was easily the quietest of the three kids, tending to hide in Jo’s shoulder whenever meeting someone new or clutching onto his older sibling’s legs whenever they were out in public places like the park. “Look Mommy! T-rex!” he exclaims, trying to open up the box that held the green dinosaur. 

“I know baby! But you gotta go put it back now if you want to look for eggs,” Jo reminds him, placing a kiss on the top of his head, nuzzling her face in his hair. She savored these moments with her youngest, knowing that Chase was only getting older every day. Her and Alex both agreed that they were done at three, so with that she seemed to imprint every detail of Chase’s childhood to memory, taking more videos and pictures. It had gotten a little bit overboard at some times, but Alex knew where she was coming from so he never complained. They had both chastised themselves for not filming more things with their first two, sticking more to pictures, so they were making up for it with their youngest. 

The two year old toddles to the table, climbing back up to the chair with the help of his sister, pulling out more toys and setting them down beside his candy. Once the baskets were free of anything except the paper grass at the bottom Alex tells them that they can begin their search. 

“Blaire, help your brother.” Alex calls out from his spot on the couch, pulling Jo closer to him while she films the hunt, thankful that their house had an open floor plan so she could record moments like these. 

The girl nods, grabbing Chase’s tiny hand and bringing him along on her search, picking him up to reach eggs that were out of his reach. All of his spotted eggs had been significantly easier to find than the other two’s, something Hudson had complained about at first until Alex shot him a look that immediately made him close his mouth. 

“Aww c’mon I can hear the money in that one!” they hear Hudson complain, trying to reach for the egg in his sister’s hand. 

“No, it’s mine. Your’s have money in them too, you know.” Blaire argues back, putting the blue plastic egg in her basket, shooing Chase off to the couch since they had found all of his eggs already. 

“Daddy look. Eggs!” the young boy dumps his basket onto the couch, thankfully not cracking any open in the process. 

“Woah, good job buddy,” Alex ruffles his hair, shooting him a proud grin and pulling him onto his lap so he was now rested between him and Jo. “We’ll open them once Bee and bubs find all of theirs okay?” he reassures, making the toddler nod his head.

“Aww c’mon, can’t we trade? Just once?” Hudson pouts from the kitchen, holding out one egg in exchange for the one his sister had just put away.

Blaire smirks, eyes flicking to her mom for a brief moment before focusing back on her brother’s. “Fine. But I get to pick which egg.” Did he not know that the heavier ones were all coins and the lighter ones had dollars? Well if he didn’t, that worked in her favor. 

“No, you can’t trade.” Jo butts in, seeing what angle her daughter was trying to play. On one hand, props to Blaire, because Jo thought it would be another year before she made the very obvious connection, but on the other, she had assigned the kids certain eggs for this reason exactly. 

“But mom—” the girl starts, jutting out her bottom lip in hopes to let her mom let it slide. 

“—The Easter Bunny said that you can’t trade. I don’t know about you, but I want him to come back next year, and I don’t think he will if you guys don’t behave.” Jo tells them, raising her eyebrows to show that she was serious. 

Little Chase looks up at her with wide eyes. “No! Bunny come back!” 

Alex quickly reassures him, pulling Chase closer to him and giving him a squeeze. “Don’t worry bud, he’ll come back. Bee and bubs are just being big buttheads right now so Mommy needs to knock some sense into them.” he knows that the boy didn’t understand half of what he said, but he feels a grin split across his face when the toddler erupts into giggles. 

“Buttheads!” he laughs, smiling so widely that Alex can’t even pretend to hold back chuckles of his own. 

“Yep, buttheads. But don’t say that word, it’s not very nice. Only mommies and daddies can say butthead.” he clarifies. The last thing he needed was Jo knocking him upside the head because their son was the only baby in daycare to say bathroom words. 

Minutes passed, the two older children looking for eggs around the house, climbing up on tables and chairs no matter how many times Alex and Jo told them that they weren’t hidden inside of the light fixtures. 

When both kids had found their eggs, they bounced back to the couch, dumping their eggs on the cushions and immediately cracking them open, cheering every time they got a dollar versus coins. Chase didn’t have money in his eggs, but rather jelly beans, something he liked much more than change. (two year olds had no need for money, and jelly beans were something much more fun than coins) 

In the end, the two of them had gotten one twenty, two tens, three five’s, and five one’s. Chase had a mountain of multi colored jelly beans gathering on the coffee table. A bit much? Yes. But they liked to splurge on holidays like these. They didn’t just become surgeons because they wanted to save people. (That was the main reason, but they both agreed that healthy paychecks did make a big decision in deciding their career path when they were younger. Now? Now it was all about saving lives, the money was just a nice bonus.) 

“I can get a new game!” Holden cheers, tossing his dollar bills up into the air as if it was ‘raining money’. In his eyes, he was rich now. Sixty bucks and change? Next step was becoming a millionaire.  

Jo scrunches her brows, looking at the boy confused. “You just got two new ones?” she clarifies. Were there seriously more games that he wanted to get?

“Yeah, but they just came out with a new Call of Duty,” the boy smirks, as if the answer was obvious.

Jo groans, showing her obvious dislike of the game. Normally, she was all for virtually blowing things up and killing fake people, but the game seemed just a bit too mature for a six-year old. She would just have Alex play with him in the beginning to make sure it wasn’t too bad she guessed. 

She claps her hands together a large smile painting her lips. She gets up from her seat and grabs three bunny ears headbands from a table in the entryway. “Put these on, and I’m gonna take a picture of you guys. After this we can get ready to go over to Auntie Mer’s for waffle Sundays, okay? If you guys are good, Daddy might make them into easter shapes” she grins as she hands each of the kids a pair of ears, only Blaire looking displeased at having to wear them. She gives her daughter a look, which makes her huff and reluctantly put on the shiny purple ears.

Alex ushers Chase off of his lap and into line with his siblings, Jo placing the blue ears on his head, matching his basket. She smiles wide, putting the kids side by side. 

She pulls out her phone, opening up the camera app and putting it on portrait mode. “Okay, on the count of three, say ‘Little Bunnies’!” she’s met immediately with groans, Hudson telling her ‘no’ the second he hears it. She’d been trying to get them to say it for years, but each time she got the same response. Insanity, Alex told her year after year with a crooked smirk, Is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. He always followed with, You’re basically insane for thinking that they’re gonna wanna be called bunnies if they didn’t last year. Plus, they always see it coming. It’s been happening for years now. 

“It was worth a shot,” Alex pipes in, pulling Jo into him, resting his head against hers, not even bothering to hide his smile at the scene in front of him. 

“Okay, fine. On the count of three ‘Happy Easter’. Sound good?” she confirms, earning nods from all four of the Karev’s. 

“One, two three!”

“Happy Easter!”

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 28 - Risk assessment of restarting events, German experiment.

K: Hi, Lets start this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome....Oh, I forgot to say 'This is Dir en grey's Kaoru'.

J, T: Hahaha.

J: Well, say it now, haha.

K: No, well, Im always saying this, but the preparations to get this show started each time are so slow!

J, T: Hahaha.

K: I got here about 90mins ago!

J: Yeh, honestly for me, sorry about this, but I mistook the time and the day, I only noticed when I saw Tasai's LINE message.

T: I was thinking, 'this is not good'.

J: 'Joe san! We're all already here!' And I thought, 'Eh!?', and I rushed here in a panic. But  they still weren't ready to start recording.

K: Seriously, they havn't ever got it all set up quickly and smoothly.

T: Thats right.

K: We're waiting for so long.

J: Yep, there's been a lot of waiting to get to this point. But we do have time to have a meeting about the theme.

K: Yeh, we do that. But why does it never work out properly? They only have to do the same thing every time. We're talking about this every third episode.

J: Yeh, and we record three at once, so its like every time, haha.

K: Hahaha

J: Yep, we start each recording session with this conversation every time. Its become famous already.

K: We are kinda grumbling a bit.

J: The viewers have no connection to this.

K: Well, anyway, for today...Joe san, could you please?

J: Yes, 1500 at a concert - risk assessment of event restarts in German experiment. With the reopening of music and sports events in mind, which have faced huge restrictions amidsts the spreading of Covid-19, German researchers conducted an experiment on the 22nd, analyzing the risk of infection at a real live concert. On this day, a team of researchers from Martin Luther University in Halle, Germany put on a concert by the singer Tim Bendzko in an indoor venue in Leipzig. 1500 people took part in the experiment. Masks and small size tracking devices were distributed to the audience, and their hands were applied with fluorescent gel before entering. This was to record areas of high contact within the venue, and identify where people are touching the most. Professor Gekle from the same university's medical department said, 'I want to be able to offer some means of making a reasonable decision as the whether or not events can be permitted. We need the means to predict how many people will be infected after events are reopened.' Three scenarios were tested: a pre-pandemic environment, a mid-pandemic/strengthened infection prevention environment, and a limited audience environment. The team will analyze the gathered data, and evaluate the success of  the prevention methods using a mathematical model. They will announce their results within this year. Soo, this has finally gotten started.

T: It was picked up on a 26" Sharp *1

J: Yes, in the end 1500 people took part in the experiment.

K: Didn't they say they wanted 4000 people?

J: Yeh, maybe they couldn't gather that many.

K: Yeh

J: Sounds like it.

T: I think so. It looks like the data is split into three parts. The first group is like at the start of the pandemic with everyone...

J: Everyone crammed in. Doing a live show in a packed space.

T: Yeh. The second group was testing the prevention measures, like using alcohol, with a certain amount of social distancing. And the third group was keeping a strict distance of 1.5 meters between each person, and making it perfectly spaced out. Then they could gather these three sets of data.

J: Yeh, I see. It looks like we could get some good guidelines out of this.

K: But if they say the results will be out within the year, thats still quite a way off, isnt' it?

J: Yeh, we may have to wait a bit, but as for big events in Japan, the government made an announcement on the 21st of this month (*Sep or Oct 2020*). They will continue with their 5000 upper limit of people allowed in indoor or outdoor facilities. As to why they will continue this, a govt. person had this to say in an article for Mainichi Shinbun. 'Experts are saying we have already passed the peak, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't extend the limit on spectator numbers. The rest of the world would never forgive us'. Germany is using this kind of scientific logic, but Japan is saying 'we won't change the 5000 people limit, because the world wouldn't forgive us'!

T: Yeh..

Kami: Can I say something? ..Um, I listened to the report, and I got distracted by the names of that singer and that professor, Tim Bendzko and Professor Gekle, so I didn't really listen to the rest.

T: Well, yeh, those names are pretty interesting  to Japanese people.

Kami: So I wasn't listening much...but you said, 'The rest of the world wouldn't forgive us'..if they were to lift the limit on 5000 people?

J: Yes, yes. Not me, someone connected with the government said that.

Kami: Thats pretty amazing, isn't it? They won't lift the limit because the world would never forgive them?

J: Well, experts are saying we are past the peak, so..ordinarily, this would be a good time to lift the limit.

Kami: Even though experts say we are past the peak, the world would never forgive us, so we won't lift the limit...Japan is really keeping up with the trends, isn't it?

K: Its cute, right?

J: Yeah

Kami: Its great, isn't it?

J: Its like, we know the science, but we don't wanna get bullied!

Kami: Even I didn't think of this. Thank you very much for this.

J: Well, its a new discovery...

Kami: Yes, I started to really love Japan.

T: Its a politician's job to explain this type of thing properly tho.

Kami: I really love Japan now.

J: But this really isn't any kind of scientific logic.

K: But the rest of the world aren't doing live shows as much as Japan is...they can't can they?

J: Ahhh....yeah.

K: In that sense ???*2

J: Japan is always in this kinda grey zone. There's a lot of talk about this request for self-restraint, like what does it mean? Like, Can I? Can't I?

K: Nothing has been forbidden though, has it?

J: Yeh

K: Also, what was it? A kind of bike event that took place in North Carolina..

J: Yes, thousands of people attended. Events like that are happening in America. At the moment, there are no penalties for doing anything.

K: People are just not doing stuff by exercising self-restraint

J: Thats it.

K: So that means Japan hasn't even ???*3

J: Yeah.

K: No, well it depends how you say it! Didn't they have anything clearer to say?

J: It wasn't very scientific.

K: We've only spoken about Japan, but in Taiwan they are holding concerts with over 10, 000 people.

T: Thats amazing, isn't it?

K: Because they have a really low rate of infection right?

J: Yeah, they do.

T: This was on August 8th, right?

Kami: The world has forgiven them right?

J: Well, yeah.

T: Doesn't this photo have quite an impact?

K: Its great, isn't it? Its a packed live show.

J: It is. They are wearing masks, but there is no distance between them.

T: Its just like normal.

K: That means they've returned to daily life then? In Taiwan?

J: Well, I guess so.

K: I spoke about this before, but I wonder if they will do experiments on other areas of life, not just live shows. This German study is only looking at live shows, right? Other things...

T: For example, public transport?

K: Mmm

T: Public spaces, they could do the experiment with public transport and stuff.

Kami: If Japan conducted this kind of experiment, the world wouldn't forgive us, right?

J: Well, you might not even be able to gather participants.

K: Well, conversely it would be seen as raising the infection risk, if Japan did it.

T: Are you slightly envious when you look at this, Kaoru? The Taiwan live show? 10,000 people gathering like this..

K: Well, i mean, at our lives people aren't all sat down like this, so I'm not sure. It doesn't feel like authentically back to normal. Its great that so many people can be allowed in there though.

Kami: Haven't Dir en grey ever played in Taiwan?

K: We have. It was good. How many times did we go? Twice?

Kami: Was the food nice?

K: Emm, yeh, haha.

J: Hahaha. The topic has turned more relaxing towards the end, haha.

T: Kami sometimes says cute stuff.

J: Yeah.

Kami: What did you eat?

K: What did I eat? Hmm

J: He's quite interested in this, isn't he?

K: I don't really remember.

Kami: Did you go out during the night?

K: Eh? Err, I think I did, yeh.

Kami: Did it taste nice?

K: Did it taste nice?? Well, I don't think I ate at night.

T: Did you try that Stinky Tofu?

K: I have never tried it!

J: Ahh, it really stinks doesn't it? That..

K: The smell is too offputting.

J: That knocked me flat...But you could do live shows if you went to Taiwan though?

K: They wouldn't let us in.

J: Ahhh, right. At the moment..

K: Yeh, we wouldn't be allowed in.

J: Now we have this problem.

K: They're not allowing people in, so...huh? *a music box sounding tune starts playing*  Whats that?

J: Is someone's phone ringing? Haha, is this revenge from Kami? Are we ok?

Kami: You're ok.

K: They're not allowing people in, thats why they can do big shows. Probably.

J: Yeh

K: Well, who knows when Japan, or even the rest of the world will be able to do live shows like this, but im interested to see what kind of results this experiment will produce.

T: We can do an episode about it.

K: Yep. Well, the conversation was a bit all over the place today...

J,T: Hahaha

K: But please tune in again next time. Please subscribe.

*1 I don't know what he means by this.

*2, 3 Couldn't catch

[aaaaang]

Drabble prompt: Wuko goes on their first date and mako takes too long to realize that it is in fact a date and not just two bros hanging out lol

Oh... I got carried away with this one.... I really liked this one....... thank u sm 💖

Wu has been acting weird lately. It's true that Wu acted weird all the time, but this was a very different kind of weird. Mako didn't know what to make of it...

The night started just as any night did between the two of them. Mako was by himself as he tried to work on some paper work and Wu was... doing what ever he did in that bedroom of his. (Mako would be lying if he said he didn't have his own vanity routine, but he genuinely did not know what took him that long. And how can someone own so many shirts in so many colors?)

It was quiet and peaceful. That is until Wu barged into the room, loud and bigger than life. He did that a lot, taking charge of a room and becoming center stage. By now, Mako has gotten used to how much room he takes.

Suddenly, they were both off to a night on the town. However, when they entered the Sato Mobile, Wu turned toward Mako and asked where he would like to go. Some place that they hadn't been to. Someplace Mako specifically knew. Afterall, Wu always chose and he'd rather see something Mako would like. So, despite his better judgment, Mako gave the driver the address to Narook's.

Clue number one: attention.

Narook's was not the place to take a prince. It was in a worser part of the city (but not the worst) and there was a good chance they could have run into trouble. Not to mention the joint itself was nothing like the up scale restaurants Wu had taken them to before. The walls were old and not as well kept as they should be. Seating was close together, which on a busy night meant weaving your way through people and tables and definitely knocking into people. The decor was probably pretty far from on trend as well. Oh yeah and the kitchen was pretty much right there.

But when Mako thought good food, he thought of warm cheap noodles and broth. Surprisingly, Wu seemed enthralled with it all.

"I don't think I've ever been to a place like this before. So... worn and vibrant!" Wu was observing a rather loud party right next to them with a smile. "And pretty loud too, haha! I don't think I've ever had a noisy dinner."

Mako rolled his eyes as he leaned back in his seat.

"You should be here during a pro bending tournament. Much worse," Mako added on with a bit of a groan. Oh the many times he had spilled food during a busy night...

Wu laughed at that, turning his attention back to Mako and leaning across the table.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing, you know. I think I like this." Wu gestured vaguely around them. "You don't really feel alone. Kinda like you have a family."

There was something in his eyes that seemed to give away a lot more than he was telling. Mako almost wanted to ask but he found the words trapped somewhere. There was something else in the air and in their words. Feet pressed against his under the table, and he pressed back without much thought.

"Oh my-Mako is that the wolfbats? Wait a minute... Mako is that you in that picture?"

And then that something else was gone.

Clue number two: the air.

After they finished eating, Wu insisted they walked around. Something about fresh air helping digestion or... what ever. Mako tuned him out. (Definitely did not get distracted by watching Wu covering his ears or anything. No, he intentionally missed what he said.)

Fall was starting to come to an end, and with winter came a chill. It wasn't too bad yet, just enough to bite at your nose and ears. Mako dealt with the cold rather well, years of living off of the streets developed a bit of a resistance to it. Also, he had his fire bending to warm him up if he truly got chilly.

It seemed Wu did not fair the same. He brought a scarf to cover his neck, but as they kept walking he pressed closer and closer to Mako to seek warmth. It got to the point where their hands constantly bumped into the other. Not wanting him to freeze, Mako simply pulled him into his side with a hand on his waist. Again, he thought nothing of it.

"I told you to wear something heavier," Mako chided.

"Mako, I can't predict it to drop so quickly. What do you want me to do? Hire a 24/7 weather man or something?"

Wu seemed to press into him just a little bit more than necessary. Mako didn't find it in him to mind. They spent the rest of their walk quietly talking to each other. Mostly, Mako listened. He didn't mind that each either.

Clue three: touch.

The rest of the night passed like this: Wu and Mako walked down the streets with the light of the lamps and shops guiding them. Every once in a while they were stopped either by people recognizing Mako or by some window catching Wu's eye. They stayed close together and nothing else eventful seemed to happen. It was overall just... pleasant. Much more enjoyable than bars or mixers or what ever else Wu drags him to, that's for sure.

They make it back to the hotel suite, and Mako goes back to his paper work. At this point, Wu goes to the bathroom and then to his room for the night. Instead, he lingers in the shared room. It's odd. Very odd.

Just as Mako gets puts his pen to paper Wu speaks up.

"Hey Mako, I had a fun night tonight," He says quietly.

He's leaning against the entrance to the hallway, his arm across his body as his hand props him up. Wu looks small. He's a small man in general, but he always seemed to take up a room. Now he seems to be just a tiny flame in the corner of a dark room.

"I did too," Mako says back.

Somehow that doesn't feel like the right answer. There's this quietness between them, and similar to the moment in Narook's but a little... worse? Mako cannot figure out why. They hold each others gaze.

Then Wu pulls away. The moment is lost as a smile stretches across his face. His usual bright smile, yet he somehow looks small still.

"Well! You tired me out, big guy. I'm going to head to bed. Make sure you don't fall asleep at that table again. You'll get a neck injury, and then what would i do without you?" Wu pulls away and heads towards his bedroom door. He waves as he heads inside. "Night buddy! See you in the morning!"

And as quick as he came in hours ago, he's gone. It's quiet. Mako is alone.

At first he picks up his pen and tries to write again. He tries to call back the thought that he had before Wu spoke yet the only thing that he can think about is Wu and just how odd tonight has been.

Why had Wu wanted to go somewhere Mako enjoyed? He didn't share a taste for high end cuisine like Wu did. He suggested a noodle joint of all things, yet Wu agreed. Actually, he seemed to really enjoy it. The only other person he's seen eat like that was Bolin. Mako knows this because he couldn't stop watching him eat. He tried to hide it, but it certainly made him smile.

And they walked along the streets, why did Mako indulge him in that? Wu looked and walked like money, he was aware of what could have happened on that street if they weren't careful. But Wu was pressed against him, excitedly telling him about some story or another. When people recognized Mako they gave them a *look* and he found some sort of amusement out of it. Mostly, Mako couldn't stop watching the way the lights of the city shaped and changed Wu's face. How much his eyes seemed to shine and reflect them. There was a certain loud beat in his chest as his heart-

...

Oh.

Clue number four: his heart.

The chair crashed against the floor as Mako stood. Before he could entirely understand what he was doing, he was making his way to Wu's bedroom door. He caught himself before he burst in and instead opted to knock on the door pretty loudly.

The door cracked open, Wu hiding behind it.

"Yes, Mako?" He asked tiredly.

Mako felt his mouth dry out and his tongue turn to sandpaper. He forced the words out of his mouth.

"I was just-you know tonight it was uh great! I uh-I realize I didn't quite-uh... you and I, we went as pals-I mean not pals. We-"

Mako silently cursed to himself and squeezed his eyes shut. Stop stumbling over your words, Mako! Stop fucking this up! Why did he have to be so bad at this, huh?

Breathe in. Breatheout.

He opened his eyes to find Wu starring up at him with a blank expression. He carefully tried again.

"Wu... did you take me on a date?" Mako finally asked.

Wu covered his mouth as he started to laugh. Embarrassed, Mako joined him.

"Yes! Of course it was a date." Wu answered him after his laughter seemed to calm down some. There were tears in his eyes threatening to spill and stains where they had before. He reached over to crowd into Mako's space. "Took you long enough. I thought you were letting me down easy..."

"No, I really didn't know." Mako pulled him closer, just like he had tonight. Both hands on his waist. "I should have known, it seems pretty obvious now. But... well I haven't been on that many dates you know."

Wu hummed and slowly slid his hands up Mako's chest to steady himself.

"Did you like it? The date?" Wu asked softly. Mako could see in his eyes he was worried. "Do you... do you like me?"

"Yeah. Yeah I did." Carefully, Mako leaned down to place a kiss on Wu's lips. He pulled away with a whisper. "Yeah, I do."

He didn't have to see Wu's smile to know it was digging into his cheeks enough to show his dimple. He could feel it as Wu pulled him down for another kiss. And then another. And then another.

They spent that night exchanging soft kisses and sharing secrets in the dark. No one but the moon that covered them in light was there to witness them. It was odd, but Mako could get used to this new normal between them.

[purplesurveys]

688

Have you today?

Looked in a mirror? Not on purpose. We just have several mirrors in the house that I unavoidably pass by and look at.

Watered a plant? Not today, but my dad has asked me to do it a couple of times in the last week.

Worn denim? I haven’t worn outside clothes in almost a monthhhhh. And that includes denim.

Washed your hair? Technically yes. I took a shower at around 1 AM? before heading to bed.

Been in pain? Kind of. My left eye has been irritating me almost every night/morning since the year started; sometimes it gets incredibly swollen, sometimes it just feels like something is stuck in my eyelid. Either way it’s always uncomfortable and painful.

Had a nap? Haha, not yet. But since the lockdown started I’ve been having an afternoon siesta everyday. Brushed your teeth? Yeah, it came along with the ^ above 1 AM shower. Kissed someone? I haven’t been able to kiss my girlfriend in almost three weeks now and I’m miiiiiserable.  Used a cheese grater? Nah, I haven’t used one in a while.

Eaten something sweet? Not yet. I might eat a few pieces of chocnut later though. Spoken to a stranger? Not today, but we did have a village guard knock on our door earlier to give my dad a quarantine pass – it’s to confirm that he’ll be the only one in the family allowed to leave the house in case we need to go to the groceries or something. I peeked by the front door to listen to the interaction, but I didn’t speak with the guard myself. Dropped something? Sure. My bottle of eye drops. Felt upset in some way? You can say that. There’s a new trend on Facebook where groups are created so certain universities can just trashtalk one another as a joke. It was funny at first but there are some posts that have gone too far, personal, or both, and it obviously hasn’t been good for my mental health lol. Drank coffee? Not yet today. I usually have it in the evening. Walked for more than thirty minutes? I also haven’t walked much in three weeks. That’s kinda what’s supposed to happen when your entire city is put on lockdown. Signed up for something? No. I’ve logged in to certain sites, though. Travelled in a car? I also haven’t been in a car in the last couple of weeks. I was able to ride with my dad the night before they imposed the lockdown – we were visiting my grandpa in the columbary because it would’ve been his 80th birthday that day. Opened a can? Nope. Thought about doing something crazy? At the back of my head I always think of driving up to see Gab because I miss her a lot, but it just remains a crazy thought in my head. Listened to a new song? Yeah. I have a couple of saved playlists and I don’t know like 94% of the songs in both of them, so I’m always listening to a new song everyday. Written in a notebook? I haven’t. I’ve written on a piece of paper, though. Fed an animal? Yup, my dog needs his breakfast. Checked your emails? LOL NOPE, and I don’t plan to check them any time soon. Told someone you love them? Yeah, before we both turned in at like 3 AM lol. Made a phone call? Yeah I also called my girlfriend earlier.

Have you in the last week?

Update: I skipped this survey the whole day and now it’s 10:30 in the evening, and I’ve already done a bunch of stuff I said no ^ to earlier lmao but am too lazy to change. Let’s gooooooo

Travelled on a bus? Nah. The bus personally isn’t my main mode of transpo and I only get to ride them when I’m in a group and there’s no choice but to ride a bus, like for field trips or for group itineraries during vacations.

Washed your face? Yeah. I did this today because my face was feeling annoyingly oily. Put a face mask on for the first time in a long time.

Used a blender? No. I don’t think we even have a blender at home, cos no one ever makes stuff that needs to be blended.

Received a phone call? Sure. Gab and I called several times in the last week, and my grandma has also called from time to time to check up on us because the lockdown has kept us from seeing her regularly.

Talked to someone you dislike? I...don’t think so. If I did I’d definitely talk to Gabie about it, and I haven’t done that with her haha.

Consumed alcohol? Ugh, bleck. Yeah. I wanted to get buzzed last week and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s is the only thing we have in the house so I had a small sip and just... disgusting. Whiskey is just not my thing, so never again.

Eaten pasta? Spot on. We had spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Planned for an event? There is no event to plan, and it’ll stay like this for the next 3-4 months probs.

Asked someone for a favour? Sure, I asked Gab to be the one to write the write-up that’s going to be on my college yearbook.

Watched something funny? I’ve been watching tons of these to fight off boredom during the break.

Trimmed your nails? Yep, they were getting long and uncomfortable so I got rid of them.

Browsed Reddit? Also yep. School kept me busy for a couple of months and I wasn’t able to use Reddit then because I’d usually pass out by evening. But right now I have more than enough time to browse it, so I’ve been doing some catching up.

Talked to yourself? I guess? Not as much as before the lockdown though, because I’ve already been usually by myself throughout this break, and don’t feel the ~need to talk to myself.

Purchased tickets for something? Nah. They cancelled almost all future events up until May or June...there’s no tickets to be bought at all to begin with.

Felt like you were annoying someone? Meh, it happens every now and then.

Cleaned a toilet? I’ve never done this at all.

Reminisced about the past? LMAO yeah. Someone created a Facebook group that lets alumni from my high school just shit-talk the school and bring back (and reveal) old drama, scandals, and controversies. It’s hilarious, it hasn’t pissed me off, and past students exposing teachers who turned out to be trash and/or perverts is so satisfying.

Used headphones? I haven’t had headphones in a while.

Laughed with a friend? Yeah, but just virtually. I haven’t heard most of my friends’ voices in a while.

Cooked dinner and then didn't feel hungry? Nah. I HAVE helped my dad make dinner a few times this week, which is like huge baby steps for me in learning how to cook haha.

Written a list? I don’t think I have in the last week.

Played an instrument? Nope. Felt jealous or envious? It happens. Ignored a text message on purpose? Lol yeah I guess. There were times I got fed up with Gab being such a slow replier that when she replies, I stopped wanting to open my inbox. Congratulated someone? I just did! UP’s med school results were released a few hours ago and I congratulated my friend Michelle for passing. Her decision was super clutch – she initially passed med school as early as high school but she declined it so she can take journalism instead, because it’s what she thought she liked at the time. Four years into the course and she realizes she hated it, so she made the really clutch decision to review for med school exams and she ended up passing every single one she took, UP being the icing on the cake. Honestly I wish I had balls like her.

Have you in the last month?

Made a piece of art? I don’t think so.

Rewatched one of your favourite tv shows or movies? I rewatch Friends at least once or twice a month, so ya got me there.

Called a plumber? We haven’t needed to do this.

Been to a see a doctor? Yup, an optometrist. Something’s been going on with my left eye for a while, so I went in to have a checkup a couple of weeks ago.

Finished a book? I did :o I had to read an entire book to make an essay for my business news class. It’s an investigative piece on the fast food industry, which I honestly dig, so I didn’t have a hard time reading and finishing it.

Had a crush on someone? Sure.

Travelled on a train? Definitely haven’t done this at all, except for that one time three years ago when I had to do it with Jum to go to the House of Representatives in Manila.

Worn heels? I don’t think I did, no. Been to a friend's house? Yeah, I was at Gabie’s a couple times before the lockdown started. Shared a bed with someone? ^ Just her. Been to see a movie at the cinema? Haven’t been to since Knives Out last December. Paid attention to celebrity drama? Nah. High school drama though, I’ve been all over that the last couple of days lmao. Felt anxious? I feel it at least once a day. Taken an elevator? Sure. Given someone the cold shoulder? Only when I don’t reply to Gab because she takes too long to reply, lol yeah. It doesn’t last too long though; it’s just a playful tantrum thing. Purchased a new book/game/movie? Nah, I think I find most of my content on YouTube/Netflix anyway. Applied for a job? Hahahahahahahahahahhaha not yet don’t rush me. Used a printer? I don’t think so. Had lunch in a park? But do we have parks at all? Lmaooooooooo Gotten a manicure or pedicure? Definitely not into those. Made an appointment? Ish? If the one with the optometrist counts. Had a blood test done? Not since 2010. Suffered from a major bruise? Lol dude I haven’t moved a lot in the last few weeks, there’s absolutely no reason for me to get a bruise. Researched a topic in-depth? Yes. I am in school, after all.

Have you in the last year?

Been to the beach? Yep, but it’s been a literal year and not less than, and I am haaaaaardcore missing the beach. No idea when I’ll be coming back.

Visited someone in the hospital? No and I hope I won’t have to for now, given what’s been going on.

Played pinball? Ooh I just did earlier this month! Gab and I went to BGC for a whole night of partying, and when everyone went home we stayed so we can go bar-hopping, and there’s a place called Barcade that’s...well, you get the name. ANYWAY they had sooo many vintage arcade games and a couple of pinball machines, and we didn’t waste time playing each of them. It was sooooo fun.

Travelled on a plane? A couple of times.

Worn a costume? I was Dora for Halloween, so yup.

Been thrift shopping? I don’t...think so?

Thought about getting pregnant or got pregnant? Hell no.

Made a big life decision? Not really. Hasn’t everyone’s lives been put on hold because of this stupid virus?

Changed a lightbulb? Never had at all, really.

Framed something and put it on your wall? Nah. I’m not really that kind of person.

Been stargazing? I’ve been doing this a lot recently cos I’ve been staying at the rooftop at night more often. And with everyone at home, the light pollution has been clearing up and the stars have been so much easier to see.

Made a new friend? If the new applicants for our org count, then yes.

Added to a collection? I don’t have any.

Been to the dentist? Oh yeah. I had a really bad toothache throughout December but the dentist took it all away ahhdkjfhdjsfhsf I’m so grateful lmao.

Broken up with someone? Nope.

Held a baby? That’s a bigger nope.

Created a budget? Nah lmao I would never be able to follow it.

Confessed feelings for someone? Already did.

Had surgery of any kind? Nope and I hope I’ll never need one.

Quit a job? Never had a job,

Been in a car accident? NO thank god hahahahahahaha Purchased something worth over a grand? Yep, one of my Christmas gifts for Gabie was well around two grand. Pesos though, so that’s like roughly $40. Been on vacation at least 500km/300mi from home? Yeah, we always do at least one of these when my dad’s home. Applied for an academic course? Does enrolling count? I’m still in college lmao. Had your photo taken by a professional? I had my grad shoot taken last January.

[cassolotl]

Coming off testosterone

I stopped taking testosterone on day 235, May 19th 2019 - 6 days ago, and after just under 8 months of low-dose testosterone. I had 1 pump of Tostran gel per day, which the medication leaflet says is 10mg of testosterone.

~

WHY DID I START TAKING LOW-DOSE TESTOSTERONE?

I’m nonbinary, and my goal was always to be androgynous. I started taking testosterone to deepen my voice, mainly, but the idea of a more masculine fat distribution on my body was appealing because I also have dysphoria about my hips and slim shoulders. “Passing” as nonbinary isn’t really a thing because most people don’t know that there are more than two genders, so the best I could really hope to achieve realistically was to confuse as many people about my gender as possible. 😈

Changes I wanted:

Deeper voice

Genital changes

Less feminine body fat distribution

Changes I didn’t want:

Facial hair

Hairline changes (but if it happens a little that’s okay)

Loss of hair on head

Body hair

A couple of years ago I had one session of voice therapy (NHS), which was fun and very interesting, but it taught me a couple of things. One was that finding my lower pitches and getting that low resonance by finding my chest voice was definitely helpful and relieved my voice dysphoria. The other was that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with multiple voice exercises per day to keep it that way. I pretty much decided that day that testosterone was the most sensible option, and even though it was scary I would just have to find a way to deal with the negative effects.

My voice dysphoria was sort of disconnected from my idea of my gender. All I really knew was that my voice needed to be a lower pitch and more resonant. I felt that dysphoria especially when I was talking excitedly or when I was singing. But I also knew that I didn’t want people to mistake me for a man either, and since it’s a very long slow process and quite unpredictable I knew that I would need to be careful to keep track of things to make sure I didn’t start giving myself a new kind of gender dysphoria in the masculine direction!

It was another year or two before the stars aligned and I actually managed to get the can of Tostran into my hands (NHS).

~

HOW DID IT GO?

As I mentioned above, I was on a low dose, one pump of Tostran per day. One can lasted about 107 days. The endocrine nurse said I could reduce the dose to half if I squirted the gel onto my leg/stomach as usual and then wiped half the gel-dribble off with tissue and threw it in the bin before I rubbed it in, but I never did that. The two-month blood test put my levels at 9.7 nmol or something like that. (Female range is 3 or below, and male range is 10 or above, so I was very nearly almost at the male range.)

The first month I got that scratchy throat feeling, which I now know happens when my voice is deepening, and I noticed my voice getting a little lower. Also I was SO GREASY OH MY GOD, I had to shower twice as much, I had to get some high-powered anti-perspirant deodorant. It didn’t make me spotty, it was just disgusting! But it felt okay because I could tell it was affecting my voice. I also noticed that I smelled different, and that my bedroom acquired that delightful(??) teenage boy smell! Ew. This kicked in properly in under a week, and trailed off around month two, though I still needed to take more showers and wear hardcore deodorant and I was still more greasy for the entire time I was on T.

On day 26 I noticed that my... [flails around wildly for non-dysphoric word] pudendum had gotten a little bigger, and I regret not getting “before T” photos. The growth was fast and a lot more noticeable than I had expected, and it was extremely emotionally intense, because I hadn’t realised but I’d been sort of suppressing and dissociating from genital dysphoria for my whole life. I knew I had genital dysphoria, but not how much or how it was affecting me. I was completely unprepared, and it was overwhelming. (I am very lucky that I was able to access fortnightly gender-specialist talking therapy at Charing Cross GIC during this time.) A few weeks later I started looking into genital surgery options. I think my genitals haven’t changed much in the last 2 months, so I guess it took about 5-6 months to get to where they are now.

Here’s the graph the Voice Pitch Analyzer app [iOS/Android] makes:

And here’s the graph I made myself using data from the app:

In the second graph, the thing I notice right away is that my highest pitch now is lower than my lowest pitch pre-T.

My first month was rapid pitch drop, and then there were a couple of months of wibbling around on a plateau, and then after that things kicked off again, I had a few scattered days of scratchy throat and things started meandering downward. A common pattern was two to four weeks of wild fluctuation and no drop, followed by a sudden drop over a day or two. Sometimes my brain took a while to adjust to a drop in pitch, and I would tire myself out speaking with a higher pitch than my vocal chords really wanted to do.

In the last couple of months I got a lot worse at making the voice recordings, which in hindsight might be because I was less enamoured with being on testosterone, and it was maybe a sign that my testosterone advantages were sort of wrapping up and it was nearly time to stop.

No one who sees me regularly said unprompted that they could hear a difference in my voice. When I asked people if my voice sounded different, they said “ehhh, maybe kinda, yeah?” I learned that testosterone doesn’t make your voice sound different! It makes it feel different, to yourself and to other people. My therapist, who I see (approximately) fortnightly, said she couldn’t tell the difference at all, and when I played her my day 1 voice recording to compare it to my current voice (6 months or so) she was like 😮.

Strangers are still mostly gendering me female, as far as I can tell, but my appearance and my voice means that strangers gender me male a little more often than pre-T. I also get “sir, I mean ma’am, gosh I’m so sorry...” more often. It makes me uncomfortable to make people uncomfortable, so I just usually say “it’s okay, I’m nonbinary so I’m kind of both??”, which rarely makes them less flustered or less confused. I had some cards made years ago that have the nonbinary flag on one side and the definition of nonbinary on the other, which I should just start handing out whenever this happens!

My testosterone dose was too low to stop my menstrual cycle, but it did seem to mellow out the highs and lows. My PMS and menstrual symptoms are generally a nightmare even though I have no uterus to bleed from, so that was a nice relief. It was very strange to experience PMS and boy puberty simultaneously.

I kept records of my specific dysphoria feelings from about 3.5 months, thanks to prompting from my gender-specialist therapist at Charing Cross GIC in London:

The ideal outcome, which I was looking out for, was all of the lines meandering towards that horizontal line in the middle. That would mean the feminine dysphoria was reducing and the masculine dysphoria was reducing.

I am pretty lucky, in that most of the changes I wanted from testosterone are permanent and the changes I didn’t want are temporary or reversible. I made some lines on the graph more bold because those were the ones that I wanted to keep an eye on. Here are my thoughts on this graph:

Facial hair was impossible to score because it gave me both masculine and feminine dysphoria. Feminine because those dark fine hairs on my upper lip are most often seen on cis women, and masculine because they were caused by testosterone and male puberty.

When my pudendum started growing it also gave mixed signals. It was good because it was getting bigger, but as it grew it highlighted that there was a lot going on down there that made me feel feminine dysphoria (mainly labia around my pudendum, and sometimes that it was still relatively small).

I am not a very hairy person. I thought I wouldn’t like having more body hair, and for a few months when I scored my dysphoria I focused on specific patches of new hair and thought about whether I was dysphoric and thought that I wasn’t. After a few months I realised I was being too short-sighted. Yes, I can totally deal with these new fine hairs on my thighs. Yes, this darker and thicker hair on my shins is okay. Sure, these hairs around my belly button are no big thing. But when I took a step back and looked at the bigger picture, and saw the hair as a pattern, my whole brain recoiled. Yes, I am definitely dysphoric about masculine patterns of body hair on myself. :S

There was a trend of all types of dysphoria getting less over time - until month 7, when they all started getting worse except voice. It took a while to be sure it was a trend, but looking back on it, that was definitely a thing!

The ideal outcome would be all of those lines converging on the middle horizontal axis, and it hasn’t happened. There are no flawless solutions for nonbinary people at the moment. As things stand and with what’s available to me right now, I will probably always have gender dysphoria. But I’m pretty glad that I’ve done what I can and I will keep doing what I can, because it is all helping.

Unrelated to any gender stuff, I have put on weight and gone up a size or two in trousers and one size in t-shirts. It could just be that I’m in my 30s and my metabolism is slowing, which is what I assumed it was at first, but the weight has come on in quite a short space of time, so that made me think about what I’ve been eating and why. I noticed that I was craving carbs and sugar, eating it, and then feeling unsatisfied afterwards. The type of hunger I’ve been feeling lately feels the same as the type of hunger I had when I had Implanon, a three-year birth control implant. When I had that removed my appetite went back to normal. So this putting on weight feels a lot like a hormonal thing. I have mixed feelings about it! I strongly dislike my clothes feeling wrong and having to buy new clothes, but also bits of me are pleasingly wibbly and it’s fun to be able to rest my cup of tea on my stomach when I slouch. :D

Also unrelated to gender stuff, even on a low dose many of my EDS symptoms were noticeably reduced: fatigue, loose joints, joint pain, IBS, dysautonomia. (Joint pain and fatigue were still present, but not as bad after exertion.) I also noticed that the really vivid dreams and very emotional days that come with PMS mostly disappeared, which I was sad about.

~

HOW DID I KNOW TO STOP?

People gendering me in different ways has increased lately. Like, a few weeks ago me and @watchkeyphone were trundling about town, and one charity/religion street-hawker person asked if we were sisters, and then a hundred yards later their colleague called us “lads” or something.

A week or so ago, I realised that my voice was sounding and feeling resonant in my chest pretty much all the time and that felt pretty nice, but I was still scoring my voice as sounding feminine, and I wondered if that might be because the changes are so gradual that I just changed my idea of what feminine sounds like. I noticed that I was more comfortable recording my voice to put online for various reasons.

I don’t live in a culture where people go around saying “excuse me sir” or “hello madam”, we don’t routinely gender each other in a formal way. But also, either I don’t have enough casual contact with strangers to notice gendered familiar words like “mate” or “love”, or strangers just avoid using those kinds of words with me because I’m hella queer-looking. So I basically realised that I have no idea how strangers see me or hear my voice at all.

So, in approximately this order:

I put a recording of my voice on the internet and asked strangers to gender my voice. Most of them said androgynous, leaning a little masculine. One person said I sounded like Q, a computer-generated intentionally genderless voice!

I went to a queer social group, and when it came up in conversation naturally I complained about how hard it is to know when to stop testosterone because I can’t tell how my body and voice are gendered by other people, and a lot of people I see regularly still see me the same way as they saw me pre-T. A couple of people said, “actually, in the past couple of months I have really noticed the effects...” So that was reassuring!

I decided to notice how my pitch works in different situations compared to pre-T. After the queer social group we went down to the river and some people swam, and when they got into the water and it was very cold, some of us cheered supportively - and I tried to woo like the “woo girls”, and my voice just came out at a dude pitch instead...! I apparently can’t be high-pitched at high volumes any more.

I watched a video about gender and voice by someone I’ve met in person. When I met them I noticed that their voice was pretty androgynous, and I enjoyed it and thought about how nice it must be to have a voice that can’t be easily gendered by strangers. When I watched this video last week, in which their voice was exactly the same, I noticed that they sounded like me. That was the moment that I realised my voice was done!

I spoke to my PA about it. I played my pre-T voice to her and her face was A Picture, she could not even. She then said that she has quite a feminine voice, and she suggested we each make a recording of our voices reading a paragraph of the book on the table, and then compare to her partner’s voice in a recording. My voice sounded more like her male partner’s voice than like hers.

I can now speak with a comically low deep resonant voice if I want to, and I can also speak with a high cutesy voice in order to address my cat, provided I am warmed up a bit.

~

HOW DID STOPPING GO?

On the day that I posted the voice file online, when strangers started saying I sounded masculine, I was honestly pretty surprised. In my head strangers in person were still mostly gendering me female, but when I really thought about it people hadn’t actually been gendering me much at all. I think I had been assuming strangers were hearing a woman’s voice because the change had been so gradual that I hadn’t had a moment where I could “update” my own gendering of my voice. I didn’t wake up one day and go “wow I sound like a dude” or whatever, so there was just nothing to update.

So, as soon as there was an indication that I might sound like a man soon, my gut said “NOPE” and I worried a little bit about going too far in the masc direction. If I keep taking T then I will sound more masculine and I might regret it, but if I stop and find that my voice dysphoria could be relieved with a little more testosterone I can start again in a few months, right? So I decided to not take it that day unless I learned/felt something that indicated I should put the gel on, and... I didn’t.

The first couple of days were pretty uneventful. Around day 4 I started to feel really run-down and chronic joint pain from EDS was flaring up, so I cancelled near-future plans. Yesterday was like the worst of my (uterusless) periods, I was in a lot of abdominal and lower back pain and then last night I slept for 11 hours... And today, also typical of my uterusless periods, it feels like a storm has blown over and I feel like a new human.

So what I’ve concluded is, coming off T triggered a very, very bad period.

Also, the past couple of days I have once again been SO GREASY, and I got spots yesterday, which is unusual in itself, but these are striking because they are WEIRDLY HUGE?? One of them is on my jaw and has caused a very noticeable swelling, so I’ve named it Balthazar.

(From “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” S03E12: Nine Days.)

~

WHAT NEXT?

It’s only been a week, so I’m assuming more weirdness is coming, but it’s all going to be ovary-hormone-related silliness so I’m pretty much used to it and I’m not too worried.

I am sad that I will probably slip back towards feminine body fat distribution. I will probably lose some of the weight that testosterone brought with it, but the remaining weight will probably end up on my hips again. I am really not looking forward to dissociating my hips again but I don’t know what I can do about it except have liposuction every few years?! (I will not do that.)

I am also sad that the bad bits of my menstrual cycle will go back to Full Force, and that my EDS symptoms will worsen again.

I am very much looking forward to my body hair getting finer and lighter, and maybe my upper lip hair will fade a bit too. If not I will probably have to get it painfully removed.

I want a metoidioplasty. Unlike many trans guys, I want no testicular prostheses, no vaginectomy, no phalloplasty, no new urethra. The clinicians at Charing Cross are aware that I want to have a metoidioplasty, because I included it in a letter when I wrote to the endo about a blood test, to make sure my surgery needs are documented in my medical records from the earliest date possible. I did that because they have minimum-time requirements for a bunch of diagnoses and referrals (like, two appointments before hormone treatment recommendation), which you can sometimes get around by providing reasonable counter-arguments. One of their requirements for referring for genital surgery is being on testosterone for at least a year where clinically indicated, so since testosterone has done its job now that means I’m not clinically indicated for testosterone any more, and I’m hoping that being on T for only 8 months shouldn’t be an issue. I also found a blog by a trans guy who had a simple metoidioplasty like the one I want, and his blog posts are really helpful and informative and have good quality non-porn photos (so rare omg), and his junk and my junk are extremely similar in size and appearance. (Here are his before and after pics.) So, fingers crossed the docs will consider that I have been on T for long enough and my pudendum is developed enough that surgery is an option.

I’ve written to the endocrinologist to say that I’ve stopped putting on the Tostran gel, and to ask if I still need to have those blood tests I’m meant to be having. I’m due to see him on 1st July anyway, a little over a month from now, and no doubt I will have saved up a list of questions for him!

~

CONCLUSION

Testosterone works.

[vivareverie]

"So, what now?"

That's a question I've had stuck on my mind for at least the past month or so now, regarding the state of my content production and my life as a YouTuber. It's a question that I've somewhat avoided asking myself for the past year, because I somewhat naively thought "Hey, everything'll just work out". Needless to say, that isn't the case, so here I am asking myself this question now.

Before I go any further I'd like to quickly clarify something: This isn't a depression thing. It might sound like a depression thing by the way I'm writing or the overall tone of this post, but I currently have zero mental health issues and require no sympathy in that area. All this is is an introspective look at my state of affairs, looking at what I did wrong attempting to grow my channel, and where to go next.

So, let's start from the start: My channel's success was lightning in a bottle. "Surprise! Your video has gone viral!" Starting with super short meme-y pony toy videos. Well... Admittedly that was at least a few years into my "career" at that point, but all my content before then just silly "Early-teen goofing around"-type videos, once I suddenly actually had an audience to make videos for, I obviously wanted to keep going. What's important about this "Era" is that I had a theme going on. I was the "Pony toy video guy", that was where my initial audience came from, watching my ~10 second long meme-y videos for a short giggle. These videos were very short, very easy to make, and had an audience... So, why did I stop?

Three big reasons: One, money. To make videos making fun of silly pony merch, I had to buy the merch, and, to put things into perspective, that Celestia toy alone was $50. Imagine that but for every single toy in every single video and it adds up quick. The good news is that I liked collecting them, and I had the money, but that was quickly running dry. You might ask "Well, couldn't you reuse toys?", and I did a bit, however...

Two, I hated reusing jokes, and still do to this day. Even back then I'd felt I used the "Celestia toy hits thing" joke 2-3 too many times. I suppose I'd somewhat considered it a running joke- but without putting a twist on it, it was just the same thing happening over and over again. Although "toy abuse" wasn't the entirety of my content back then- I did still try to be creative about it- but nonetheless I kinda felt that well drying up. Plus, finally, there's reason three, and this one is probably a bit obvious...

Three, I wanted to try out animation. It's history time: The reason why even my earlier pony animations looked at least half-decent was because I already knew ahead of time how to use Flash, the program used to animate MLP. This was because I used Flash to learn how to make terrible bodged-together video games, some of which are still online over on Newgrounds and Kongregate (And no, I won't be linking them (Maybe at a later date)), those games, although they were pretty terrible, did inadvertently teach me how to use an animation program, meaning that, when my YouTube channel kinda blew up, I suddenly had an entire genre of media to create with at my disposal.

Thus started "Phase two" of viv, the "Short goofy animation" phase. At the time I didn't think I was gonna ditch the toy video stuff, but after a short while I felt... More satisfied with my animation work. It took me a while to nail down why, but in the end I felt like I was "Undeserving" of the amount of attention I got from my toy content, and felt as if I had to "Earn" the amount of followers I was getting. My toy videos were recorded with terrible audio, a bad camera, very little care for lighting (One video in particular's punchline was ruined because I didn't think about lighting, "Applejack Wins" I believe was the name of that one), however my animations, with the exception of a couple of my early ones having framerate issues, were very "Clean" and felt polished, something I definitely couldn't say about the majority of my toy videos.

Likewise, my standards went up, and they went up fast. I did start off making more silly goofy short stuff, but I kept setting borders for myself making content more difficult to pump out. I wanted to make music videos, but I eventually said I didn't want to make them using pre-established "stuff you could buy on itunes" tracks, worried about potential copyright ramifications. A lot of my short videos were based on clips of songs, and I stopped doing those for the same reason. This was also a very similar (Albeit technically very different) reason why I stopped using show-style puppets, and although I technically could've continued animating show-style if I wanted, my standards had gotten higher still, and I wanted to start making animations using my own "Design" of puppets. Those are the horses you see in the banner of my Patreon page, the doofy ones with the fat noses. This starts what I'd call "Phase three" of viv.

...However, where I went, the majority of fans did not follow.

My earlier content was easy to digest, easy to share around, and easy to click on. Short doofy meme videos. Phase three of viv however- Although the content I was making was finally meeting my stupid standards, it ran into two problems. One, content production got slooooow. The entirety of the first couple of "phase three" years feels like I'd gotten nothing done, despite the, well, "Objectively better" quality videos coming out. I can count how many vivshorts I have on three hands, which is... Not a lot. It's good, and all of them are great, don't get me wrong, but throughout this entire "essay" I've been leaving out one giant big huge factor regarding my content: YouTube itself.

I'm sure you've heard this a million times before, but in case you haven't: YouTube does not promote channels that don't post often. The system likes channels that make long videos, and they like them posted every day.  This is... The complete opposite of the state of my channel, however. Especially these days, where my projects get larger, and the gaps between videos get longer. Unfortunately, the amount of production put into videos does not necessarily translate to views- Or at least not anywhere near the amount it does compared to my older videos.

I did make an attempt to make my channel more active with my Vivcast series, but, although that series has its fans (And I love you all much and you know who you are), I feel like all that did is hurt me during phase three viv. It littered my channel with videos that only a very niche audience would appreciate, and meant that newcomers would have difficulties finding the videos my channel was centered around when visiting my channel, which is, you know... A bad thing. All my Vivcast videos are now unlisted on my channel, but the playlist is still publicly available for those who still want to see them.

The second big reason why I got a huge dropoff of viewers from phase three viv was the change in style, or, more specifically, the lack of using MLP characters at all. I stopped being part of the trend, and went and did my own thing. It gave me more creative freedom, but it was less "Immediately appealing". It's far easier to click on "Rainbow Dash is Excited" than it is "The Second Day of Chrasmas". I've created a bubble of content that only those inside the bubble can enjoy, and this bubble is already inside the bubble of MLP itself, which, as much as I wish it wasn't so, has a huge huge huge stigma around it that to this day has never dwindled. Despite my content being less about the ponies themselves and more about the comedy or the writing or the animation, just the vague connection to MLP is a huge turnoff for potential new viewers who although might not care for MLP might still enjoy the content I may put out.

So, due to this, I have a dwindling viewerbase both because I'm not directly using MLP characters (Meaning the general MLP fans are turned off from my content) and also because I'm using pony characters in the first place (Meaning the non-brony side of the internet won't be looking at my content in the first place). I've inadvertently created a niche inside of a niche because I became complacent. I thought "Hey, if I make videos, the viewers will come, as they always have been", and that was true a few years ago, but I've diverted the train far far off course and not many people still want to stay on the ride.

...Okay, I should mention, no, 10k views per video is not bad in any way. That's really really good and many many many youtubers wish they got a fraction of the viewerbase I got, but it's all relative. In my case, I'd steered my life towards "Hey, I got a good following going, if I grow my following enough I'll be able to make YouTube videos for a living! That'll be super cool!" And that was okay for a long while, while I was "Doing the motions", while I was at college, while I was at university, while I was looking for a job and not finding any for... The entirety of 2017. That's a long time, that's, like, 4+ years at least. But, that whole time, it was fine. I was in no rush, I was in no hurry, no real problems, I'd gotten a little lazy and my content slowed down for it, but I didn't necessarily need the money so I wasn't churning out garbage 24/7 just to make sure I hit a threshold. I thought to myself "Hey, I'll think of something, eventually. 10k views per video isn't enough to make a living off of, but I'll make something that'll go viral again, eventually. It'll be fine."

However, that changed this January.

My new years resolution was to go back to making monthly videos. The Second Day of Chrasmas I made relatively quickly and I'd totally be up for keeping that going, I thought. But my free time was suddenly whisked away, and I was suddenly told I'd be "Working for the dole" for half the week, every week, for at least the next 6 months, or until somebody finally decides to hire me. If that's French to you, essentially that means that, in order to get the money I'm literally living off of, I'm now forced to spend ~15 hours every week doing tiring sweaty exhausting labour work, getting pricked, scratched, sunburned, and bitten, on top of the obligation I already had regarding finding work with the job employment agency I'm hooked up with, oh, and that's not even mentioning that I'm not earning any more doing this work than I was earning the entirety of 2017. essentially meaning that all the free time I'd grown complacent with the past year is now gone in the blink of an eye, and I'm getting nothing out of it.

...So I thought "Okay, 2018 will be the year I finally set my channel back on the right track." Suddenly that's something I can't do. I can't make videos that bring the views back when I literally don't have the time nor energy to make those videos in the first place. The past January shows it, I forgot to make the post-January update Patreon post because of how quickly the month passed by for me. My complacency led me down this track and now I'm paying the price for it.

Okay... So... What now?

This was the question I asked at the start of this post, and what you just read is my story leading up to this question. I don't know if I have the right answer to that question, but I have a few proposals.

One: Cut my ties with pony content entirely. This is a route I'd been intentionally avoiding because I didn't want to be one of "Those guys". You know, the "I'm grown up and more mature now, and therefore I cannot like or associate with pony anymore". That... In itself, I'd personally say is an extremely immature sentiment, cutting ties with who you once were is like denying part of your life existed. Likewise, if this were the route I'd take, I would never deny my association with MLP... However, I would be changing all my branding and future content to not be MLP related, and move into, say, video games stuff instead. That way I can tap into a very large audience of people that didn't exist within my bubble within my bubble. I may be able to grab that "Lightning in a bottle" once more... I wouldn't stop doing Bronies Reacts, though.

Two: ...Keep going. This is the significantly more risky route, but I still have unfinished business in pony content. The two big ones are Trigger Happy Horses and Brony Polka Animated, Trigger Happy Horses being very very well loved and a project I would be very happy to continue if I had the money and time, and Brony Polka Animated being a project I teased... Ah jeez, two years ago. Both projects would require at least several months straight of work to finish/continue, meaning no other content on my channel (Outside of stuff that maybe I could hire other people to edit (Which would imply I had the money to do so, which, I don't)), meaning it'd be super unlikely my channel would grow in any way from it. I'd still be inside my niche of a niche, that double-layered bubble. But... Maybe people would come back if they saw these projects as finished projects? I don't know, and I have no way of knowing- But I expect that may unfortunately not be the case.

Three: Do both... Kinda. Perhaps I could begin by doing new stuff that appeals to a larger audience and completely ignoring those huge projects on my backlog until I've reached a point of equilibrium- And then return to them once I've maintained a stability on my channel. Albeit, that implies I get to that point in the first place, I may be trying to throw darts at this invisible dart board for the rest of my life, meaning those projects go entirely unfinished forever...

...At the end of the day, if I want to keep doing YouTube, I'll want to be earning enough off of it to make it viable. This means consistent revenue, every month, every year. I'm getting a very nice fraction of that off of Patreon right now, and I thank all my patrons wholeheartedly for it, but... I need at the very least quadruple the amount I'm currently earning to get back to even attempting YouTube full time. Single time pledges won't really help either, I either need four times the amount of patrons I have or at least ten times the amount of views on my future videos, and consistently.

This revamp needs to happen. With it I'll be revamping the structure of my Patreon page before the end of the month, including probably removing the $10 and $30 pledge options... Which I feel like is kind of a terrible move because it's the last foothold I really have, I'll be cutting my revenue in half with that move alone, but I don't feel comfortable being pledged those amounts when the content I'm putting out is minimal at best, and entirely against what you were asking for at worst. Although I believe there is an option to pledge a higher amount than the given pledge amount, no rewards come with that, and nobody is obligated to do that for me.

Will this post do anything about my situation? Deep down I kinda hope it will, but really... I don't expect it to, and I've accepted that. You gotta deal with what life gives you, and when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That term is thrown around so much it sounds like white noise so I'll turn it into a metaphor that actually means something: If you're given shit, make something out of it. Well, I've been given shit, so here I am figuring out what to sculpt it into.

It's midnight where I live now, so I'll be going to sleep. When I wake up I hope to have the answer to my question.

Good night.

- Viva

[richard-the-boy-wonder-blog]

This Week on Buzzfeed

Author: JJM

Pairing: Reddie

Prompt by: @richietoaster

Rating: (no clue yet honestly)

Summary: “This is all just one big mistake” Eddie says bashfully, “really? I thought it was kind of cute” he replies pulling the straw to his drink between his lips with a smirk.

“20 places with the best bread- no uh…. 30 things that can be used as a- ugh no…” Eddie glances at his untouched plate of pizza, “15 italian cuiseans to step in- oh my god im so fired” Eddie groans and rakes his nails through his hair setting his laptop aside to stretch alittle in his criss cross pose on his bed.

His boss had given him the weeks lead project meaning come monday his article would be plastered on every social media website and could be shared world wide. Something Eddie had worked hard to earn, he usually had no problem getting fairly favorable acticles out but now his idea bank was bone dry. Perfect timing for writers block. He groans aloud as his usual work playlist starts over again for what feels like the hundreth time a crule reminder of how long hed been sitting there and how little work had gotten done. Eddie loved the classics he really did but he needed something new.

He grabbed for his phone scrolling through bands currently trending puckering his lips so to help him think and focus, something he picked up from his mom watching her paint her nails for so many years.

He sighs through his nose before giving up on his persistent scrolling and just clicking on a random band, pulling a piece of pizza to his lips standing as he took a bite.

Music filled his room a calm bass line starting the song soon followed by drums and- ’god that voice’ he thinks to himself kinda dancing in place to the music.

He knew he had heard the song before over the radio on his way to work but never paid it much mind knowing soon itd become over played and hed hate it. But now that he was listening to it on his own time it actually sounded good. Really good.

He picked up his phone looking at the bands name, ‘Mouth’ Eddie furrows his brows kinda laughing to himself, what kind of band name is Mouth?

Eddie shrugs and sits back nodding his head a little to the song pulling up the band on google as he listened along, choking when he caught a glimpse of the lead and only member on the band, Richie Toizer. His face flushes and he finds himself biting his lip looking at the man on the screen his curls are unruly, his glasses make his eyes at least three times bigger than their actual size, and hes pale for someone living in California. Hes fairly attractive for someone whos stage name is 'mouth’ he wonders why he woukd pick something so dumb to be his alias.

He goes to instagram quickly finding Richies account scrolling through it his crush growing by the second, it should be illegal for someone to be this fine. He looks to his laptop type bar blinking like its beakoning him, he looks back to Richies picture, if life was a cartoon this would be the part a lightbulb would appear above Eddie’s head he smirks to himself sitting back down pulling his laptop back into his lap taking one last bite of pizza.

'15 up and coming composers that are secretly really hot:

1) Mouth.’

And it trends, within hours almost accumulating 50k reposts just from Facebook.

When Eddie wakes up Tuesday and sees how well his article is doing he just about faints, hes stunned something he wrote, a fluff piece at that, had gotten so much attention.

He opens his notifications for twitter scrolling though noticing a large amout of them are his readers tagging Richie Toizer in the article. He throws his phone and his whole face goes red as he realizes he didnt think this all the way through.

He looks at his alarm clock and for the second time that morning feels like blacking out, he was supposed to be at work 20 minutes ago.

He really is going to get fired.

He rushes into work running past Heather at the receptionist desk who waves to him every morning, “im so sorry Heather ill bring you a bearclaw on Friday!” He yells over his shoulder, booking it up the staires to the second level where his office space resided.

He plops down in his desk chair sighing aloud as he logs onto his mac when a light tapoing comes from beside him, he looks up and smiles.  “Hey Bill” he breath out still trying to catch his breath but eventually has to pull out his inhaler from a drawer, “so Mouth huh?” His friend chuckles out from above him. “Oh shut it” Eddie says half joking as he opens several of his social media accounts on his computer digging through thousands upon thousands of notes to see if Richie had responded to any of the posts hed been tagged in. “I c-cant believe you o-openly h-hit on someone in an a-a-article like that.”

“I wasnt hitting on him okay? I was just… Expressing an interest in him thats all.”

“You said he was a sexy vampire” Mike pitches in leaning against the wall of Eddies annex, “-though a  local Californian resident Richie Toizer doesnt seem to get sun evident through his gorgeous pale skin. A top his black curls he has the appearance of a sexy vampire. Is what you said to be exact.”

Eddie groans rubbing his hands dowm the whole length of his face exasperated, “okay yes i called him a sexy vampire so-”

“You also pretty much admitted to wanting him in your bed.”

“Okay!” Eddie yelled pushing both his friends out of his workspace “get out get out get out! I feel bad enough i dont need you two giving me greif about this” he says his arms falling to his sides once his friends both finally step put into the hall.

“W-were celebrating tonight, d-dinner a-and a movie m-my place?” Bill asks raising his eyebrows at Eddie whos sighs and smiles before nodding as his friends walk to their own desks.

From where hes standing Eddie hears the small ’ba-ding!’ His phone sounds off when he gets a notification on twitter , he groans and picks it up nervouse that Richie will see what hes  done to his good name.

'Richie Toizer @Trashmouth:

Guess my secrets out that im a vampire B) @Gazebos meet me for lunch sometime? Love to meet you ;)’

His stomach drops and all the blood in his body rushes to his face and he trips without moving, thankfully landing in his swivel chair.

A hand goes to cover his mouth completely fogetting all the germs he could potentially be there, this couldnt be real.

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

A/N: this was short but im probably gonna write more chapters to make up for it. Im so sorry for any typos im writing all this on mobile. Also fun fact with the '15 italian cuiseans to step in' was inspired by the time i stepped in a lasagna youre welcome. Message me about this and enjoy! 💖

@not-reddie

[inexchangeforyoursoul]

Say, if they are also called Spanish chestnuts, but there's no Spain... would they be called Dressrosa chestnuts? … would make sense, right? (btw if it wasn’t obvious by now, this is framed as an actualy story arc)

16. Definitely not a date ( ffn ao3 )

Getting tea is another small adventure for Kat, though, as two especially chatty girls try to get into a conversation with her. Which in itself isn't a problem, trying to get 'him' join a dance party in the evening on the other hand.... was not something she would ever agree to. Not right now, nor at any other time, and especially not with people who wanted to get in her pants. The other problem she soon faced in this pickle was that Usopp ran after Luffy who was getting way too much into the 'visit everything you can' spirit and disappeared somewhere down the line.

The sweet release came in the person of three other familiar faces, two of which were beyond amused, and one that bore a mixed expression of incredulousness, desperation, anger and disappointment.

“What--- what did you...?!” is all that Law can manage after a minute of gawking at her. She could swear to see a tear in the corner of his eye. He's also dressed... tastefully, more than either of them are usually. Definitely not his style, either. One of the girls had a hand in that; apparently they've returned to the ship already. All in all, Law's pretty; some guy, probably not the first to do so, has seemingly also taken notice of that and is eyeing him until Kat catches the man red-handed... or eyed, and quickly moves along.

“Sssh,” she soothes him, squishing the cheeks of the man paralyzed by the sight of his defaced appearance.  “It's washable, the beard will grow back, and your earrings are on the wardrobe... Cute headband, by the way. Nami's, right?” she adds, looking at the golden-brownish striped accessory. Kinda odd to see him outside without any of his stuff; also, she should get a similar headband. It suits her.

“It is,” interrupts Penguin the scene which both him and Shachi, who is playing sword-bearer with Law's oversized piece strapped on his back somehow, find quite amusing by the looks of it. “The captain wouldn't stay put once he found out that you were out... Usopp told us you should be here.”

“Usopp?” she perks up, looking at them with Law's frozen face still between her hands. “Did he manage to find Luffy?”

“Yeah, the dude found the fair games and had a whole barrel full of apples and water in his mouth when we left,” laughs Shachi. “We should totally revisit that place later,” he turns to Penguin, who gives a decisive nod as an answer.

“Actually,” latter continues with just a wee bit too much artificial mulling as she releases Law from her grip, “since you've already been found, we aren't necessary here. You two can take care of yourselves,” he states, nodding towards Shachi.

“I agree,” his friend says, cracking a big smile and already stepping backwards. “Let's see what Straw Hat and Noseman are up to~”

By the time the sentence 'where the hell are you two going?!' gets formulated in Law's head as he's getting over the shock, the crowd has already swallowed them.

To Kat, this feels suspiciously like her Sunday afternoon adventure, except less bothersome or embarrassing, because her partner is just as unwilling as she is. Turning to Law, she sighs. “... do they do this to you often?” Or generally? Because she sees a trend here...

“Do wha--” the last bit gets lost as he sees her blinking at him with a face of fatigue and lament. She turns to the left, to the right, looking around with somewhat spread arms, then points them towards him. Then her. They are alone. That's what she's talking about... It's his turn to sigh. Painfully. “Oh, for fuck's sake.” They had to go and set up a 'date,' didn't they. This day is getting better by the minute.

“Took you long enough,” Kat notes, then takes a careful sip of the cup of freshly prepared green tea that just got handed to her.

“In my defense, it's been... years since they last pulled a stunt like this.” At least five, if not more.

“To be fair, though?” she turns back to him, stepping direction chestnut stand, “As long as I hang with you instead of the guys, I'm less likely to be flirted with, so... might as well play-pretend for the time being.” It's gotten annoying, so as far as she's concerned, fake date: start.

“You what?” He squeaks in her voice, deciding to follow her for the time being. He's left with little breakfast and is tempted to get something right here after running around, and those two dumbasses will be fine, too. Although... Shachi had everything on him, including the money. Fuck.

“I'm sayin' you're popular, Law.” After that, she frowns at the distance. “Some granny also slapped my butt,” she recalls the old woman from about fifteen minutes ago, shivering. It's just as bad as random old men doing the same. What was she even, back then? Fourteen? People are so gross. At least that woman's not targeting children.

“Good lord...” Law is just as mortified by the thought as she is, if not more. Shaking the image off and peeking up at her, he continues; “... I know you are not lying because you would have cracked by now, but I still have a hard time believing you. It's... quite rare for anyone to just walk up to me.”

“I'm telling you, there's been three plus-minus one women either staring or hitting me up. I guess... I make you look more attractive? Than you actually are?” she says, lifting a brow. That... just might be it. A handsome guy who's reserved, polite and just... legitimately nice? She'd be lowkey smitten as well. They stop at the end of the queue. “It also kinda applies to you and not-me,” she ponders. With that, she takes another sip of the hot drink.

“I'm... not exactly following,” Law admits after some delay. Especially the last part.

Let's try and put this into words for him... “Well... you can be quite a prick, you see- no offense. The very same quality also makes for a cute shrew, though; which you are, at the moment. That's all there is to it.”

“Um...” He can't make head or tail of what she's trying to convey, so he's just going to ignore being called a... shrew. “Am well aware of the first point. Seen enough women who don't give a damn, though.”

“Can't and won't argue with that, but it's not what I'm saying.” Seeing there are still three people before them, she turns back to drop an unadulterated truth bomb on this poor, socially inept man who's somehow worse at this than her. Preferably in a low enough voice as to not scar anyone else listening for a lifetime. They've already heard more than enough. “The thing is the following, Law: while both of us have decent looks, I'm not peppy or feminine enough to be attractive to the average man, and you are too much of a deep-frozen salt crab to be perceived as a viable partner. This much you can follow with ease, right?”

He nods, although he would argue about being that bitter. And quite frankly, she can be damn peppy when up to it.

“Okay, the catch is the following: we exchanged wrapping, and,” here she naps her fingers, “all of a sudden, I'm 'hot' and you're 'cute' to people despite everything else being the same,” she says, adding air quotation marks with her free hand. “I turned from puny buttercup into a bright sunflower while you blossomed into some brazen goth rose instead of the stinky corpse flower you like pretending to be. All because I'm a decent person with a hot male body, and you look like an underweight girl with an attitude that comes off like a crumbly butter cookie wanting to look tough. It's... some eldritch amalgamation of nonequivalent exchange... that makes us fit into an ideal for the other gender. And as such, people fucking love it.” Having finished that, she flips the sunglasses back on; it's their turn and she asks for one medium bag of chestnuts.

Law scowls at the young, but dull vendor while thinking about what Kat said just as the other looks in his direction while shoving the goods into a paper bag, and is greeted with a sudden smile. And a wink. Glaring another way, he eventually settles on two young women who giggle and whisper to each other while looking into a direction that's very suspiciously where Kat is standing. Kat, who's smiling politely while paying, and who may or may not have called him her 'worse half' just now while talking to the guy whose question he's missed.

This is quickly getting worse than being stuck in a skirt.

“You alright?” she asks a few minutes later after leaving the stove behind. “Like, I understand if you need a minute to get over the way that dude looked at you...” And talked about him as if he wasn't right next to her... so double fuck that guy, she ain't noone's 'cutie,' even if it's only her body we're talking about.

“Please, don't remind me,” he moans. They entered a less crowded section of the fair, and he still felt more people gawking at him than what's realistic.

“Chestnuts?” she asks, tilting the bag towards him. Maybe she should just... punch people who look at Law funnily. Sound plan.... except she has no memories of ever punching anyone, so maybe not. It would be weird.

He sighs, remembering that he's gotten hungry, then gives the paper bag a suspicious look. His stomach growls, too- hopefully she didn't catch that. “... never had any, to be honest. Are they any good?”

“May not be down your alley, but can't know until you give it a try,” she says, drinking some more  tea. “Careful, though, I just picked one that was still hot.”

While he's fiddling with the piece he fished out, she stops at another shop.

“... do you prefer cottage cheese and raisins, apple and raisins with cinnamon, pumpkin and poppy, or sour cherries and cinnamon?” she asks, pointing at the selection. He peeks up. Can't really tell what the food is in the first place apart from likely being something sweet. The sign says 'strudel'.

“Um...”

“You can just say no if you're not feeling adventurous,” she says, nibbling on a chestnut after securing the bag with her arm. “There's also a kind of ribbon-like cake down the road with sugary coatings, if that sounds any better. We also could go looking for actual food like meat, but there's only overpriced delicacies out here and I'm not that loaded.”

He is not feeling adventurous, that's true; does feel embarrassment upon being found out, though. But... he's hungry, goddammit, and the stuff smells damn nice. Closing his eyes, he groans. “By rule of elimination... pumpkin and poppies.” Latter is something he's also never had before. There is always hope that he won't hate it, though. Then again... explicitly sugary pumpkin? Maybe he should reconsider...

A small smile appears on her face again. “Also not a fan of raisins, huh?”

“... yeah.” He also has trouble imagining what apparently sweet cottage cheese could taste like.

Regardless, he's surprised to see her buy that kind for herself a minute later.

“Why'd you even get that?” he asks as Kat flicks one very obvious piece of raisin from the chunk of whatever she just bought.

“Because... it's my favorite, and fair food spares out the more expensive stuff from sweets, such as, guess what? Raisins~” With that, she takes a careful bite, checking for any additional suspicious brown dots before actually chewing.

He takes a tentative bit out of his piece. Not bad, though the texture is... something else. She pokes him in the shoulder to motion towards a bench. The surface is covered in dew, however.

Kat just lowers herself a bit and slides a leg across. Stuff is cold, but watcha gonna do.

“Hey, easy with my jeans!” he complains, also finally getting the chestnut piece open from one side.

“Washing machines still exist, princess.” With that, she's already settled down, putting the lukewarm bag of chestnuts in her lap and the tea cup aside as she makes a real effort at eating her piece of sugary cottage cheese. “Sit down so its noble sacrifice won't go to waste.”

He complies after short consideration. “... still rude.”

“You admitted being rude a few minutes ago, too, so fine with me,” she notes, already having devoured half of the thingamajig. She flicks it another few times to get rid of two more raisins.

Law meanwhile tries to ignore that the bench is rather cold... and that the current pad is about as wet as his pants would have been if Kat did not swipe off the water. He shivers.

“You cold?” she asks with a mouthful.

“Not really, but... I should have gone for something warmer regardless.” And ignore Nami's meddling. He has no idea what her problem with his getup was. So what if the straw hat and hoodie clashed? And he can wear anything that tells people to fuck off in a roundabout way, thank you very much. Jesus.

“Oh, hey, that guy...!” Kat perks up as one of the bushoo turns up around the corner. This one has cerulean blue mask and horns, making it stand out from the other reddish and brown ones.

“What about him?” Law asks, chewing on this weird pastry that he cannot really decide to love or hate at this point. Which is weird, because usually he can immediately tell whether he loves or hates food. Also, what even are those costumes?

“Nothing much, a nice old man who lives above the grocery shop opposite of us. He's always out on the festival around these parts, from start to finish. I hear he's had this self-made costume for decades... anyway, just say hi if he comes over, would you?” The man goes another direction, however, and is quickly distracted by a mother and her roughly 10-year-old son, both of whom Kat also knows. The lady is some kind of secretary and visits the cafe a lot with her kid, sometimes even husband. The cafe, which, well...

Kat turns around.

“What is it?” With that, Law crumples up the paper of the finished-up strudel.

“... checking how the renovation is doing,” she says, surveying the grounds. Law also takes a peek over his left shoulder.

There are two more shops closed near to the obvious target of attention down the road; one of them is nearly past saving. He didn't notice it thus far, but they've come around to the spot where that odd situation started a week back by now. The Cafe called Kukari, which he hasn't even seen until now, is near untouched by comparison. Yes, some windows and a pillar have apparently been crushed, but latter is close to being done and the glass should not be much trouble afterwards. Well, there could be more work behind the paper covers, too. What does he know.

“Yep. If the place was still in one piece... I'd be working right now. In your body. Or you in mine, but let's be honest.” She seems amused enough at the thought. Monday will be hell if she's still stuck in this body, though.... explaining this situation... how? Kat sighs. “I wonder if Adam's in there... he basically lives in the damn place.”

“Adam?” he slurs through the shell of the single chestnut he's been fiddling with, turning back around towards her.

“My boss,” she mumbles. Suddenly she has her doubts about sitting here, especially with Law around. That could go all kinds of wrong. Adam, please be at home, or at least don't notice a thing. Thanks.

With that, she also faces forward and grabs the lukewarm cup of tea. Looking back at Law, she cocks her head. “You still not done with that?”

“You bought the sweets right as I was figuring it out, okay?” Honestly, he's annoyed with this. Especially because he apparently likes chestnuts and getting the thing out is a nightmare. As is getting rid of the bitter, hairy middle layer that he hates with comparable passion.

She cracks a smile upon seeing his efforts. “Honestly, some of them are just really stubborn, it's best to have a knife around for this,” Kat muses, picking a few specific pieces from the bag. “Here, these should be easy enough.”

With that, Law gets a hand full of chestnuts that are just about popping out of their hard little prisons. “Thanks.”

As they are playing chipmunks (and making a mess of the spot as Law has no qualms about throwing the unnecessary bits onto the ground), they notice a light drizzle falling- a few seconds later, clouds dim out the already weak sunlight.

“Geez... haven't been able to keep up with the weather report,” Kat starts, glaring into the grey puffs; “I sure hope there's no actual rain involved. We could go into an actual shop... or pay another visit to my house, it's about as far from here as it's from the ships,” she muses while standing up at last and shoving the remainders of the still kind of warm chestnut bag into the hoodie's pocket.

“We're better off going straight back to the docks,” he replies to that, still seated. “You will have managed to skip another two hours, if not more, by the time we get back to business. I'd really appreciate if you stopped doing this.”

“Two hours ain't nothing,” she states, crumpling the shell-filled paper and napkins of both her and Law's strudels, then wannabe-telepaths the bundle to the dustbin when noone's looking; her aim sucks, after all. “Anyway, I need to return the cup first, so we'll take the long way around,” she says then, drinking the rest in big gulps, which she follows up with turning said object upside down. The murky leftover tea at the bottom lands with a negligible splash.

As Kat is waiting for him to pull himself together, she notices that the hair on his forearms sticks skyward. “... dooo you want your hoodie?” she asks, remembering the extra layer to spare.

Just as she utters that, he shivers. “Actually... I do. Yes,” he sighs reluctantly and visibly cold out here. Then, a second later, as she pulls it off...

“.... what the everloving fuck are you wearing?” he deadpans as the turtleneck appears.

“Bought it earlier today,” she beams. “For the record, you can't keep it.”

“Why would I?” Why would he? Good enough for a one time joke, but that's about it. Also, 'can't keep it?' That's such a Luffy thing to say.

“Because it's lame and nerdy doctor stuff?”

“Not part of my image, sorry.”

His image, he says. Kat tries her best to stifle her laughter and shoves the cartoon bear hoodie on his head. That's one image, alright. “Okay, whatever. Without the others this fair is pretty damn boring, no lie. Let's go already, if you want to that bad.”

“As eager as I am... I'm afraid of getting up,” Law confesses with a sigh as he's getting his hands into the sleeves. He just knows by now that sitting for a while will result in uncomfortable things direction pants afterwards. Sick and tired of it. Can't help it either, however, so he braces himself and gets on his feet. Can't ignore Kat's constant grin any longer, however.

“Wat's so funny?” he asks, hugging himself for warmth. This is a godsent right now- and the pocket housing the chestnuts gives a nice little extra, too.

“...you look adorable.” That big hoodie on her stick body is just... too cute. Looks as comfortable as it is, too. She could pinch his sullen, rosy cheeks.

“That would be you, not me,” he replies. Which is something he immediately regrets, placing a slightly sticky hand on his face.

She snorts. “Thanks.”

This otherwise totally forgettable line is on par on the embarrassment-meter with that last Saturday evening. Actually, scratch that. He's more embarrassed by this. And he feels he's blushing, too. Ugh...

As he's mulling over this, Kat sighs. “Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it like that.” It's always embarrassing when a comment burns you back... it just happens sometimes. Also dang, it is rather cold out here when there is no sun to shine. Just as she thinks about that, some rays break through the thinning cloud layer; not enough by far to get warm, though. “Now go, go, go, before I'm the one freezing my ass off,” she says, shoving the recovering Law a little to get started as she makes her way towards a long-ish stinky alley between restaurants to cut a few blocks of houses.

As they step inside, they fall silent. The cause of it is not just an awkward episode; as the buildings cover up the gentle warmth of the broken sun, an oppressive, cold silence sweeps through the alleyway. If the icy breeze had claws, that's what would have been tickling up their ankles and down their necks. They pass a broken cup that's just like the one in Kat's left hand.

There is a great temptation from her to take up the much faster everyday pace, and Law feels a pair of eyes on his back. Then it's two... three. If this is something bad, -and it does feel bad,- it's really bad; Kat has no experience and he has no real means to defend even himself in a brittle body like this.

Halfway through, she raises her head, and takes his hand; he feels it tremble a little as her fingers close on his. “We are running late, let's hurry.” Law follows the misplaced suggestion without protest. Hinting at being missed is good. Godspeed.

They can hear something clank behind a container as they exit back into the pallid light.

“I'm never going through there ever again,” Kat mumbles with a shiver as they mingle in the crowd while still firmly holding his hand. That was... really stressful. It was probably... some of the stray cats often in there, or a homeless person at worst, but that felt freaky as hell. And of course her lungs or something around those parts starts acting up after this. Just great.

“There was definitely someone in there,” says Law, blindly cutting through the masses by her side. May have been some thieves or other scum preying on fair-goers who took the route, but either way, no good news in there. They had luck.

By the time they are back to the booth offering tea, their speed is back to normal, but they are still kind of on edge. They take a half-hearted look at the games corner to check whether the boys are still out, which is to no avail, as expected. Walking back towards the shipyard at last and slowly getting over the experience, Kat speaks up:

“... by the way, do you want to switch hands or something? The other one should be an icicle by now.” She knows her own body well enough. When it's cold outside, her hands are just as chilly as the wind, even under some thick gloves. She hates it.

“... oh.” That is all Law can muster, realizing that he's still holding onto Kat. He kind of forgot about it, to be honest... partly because he's still hung up about the alley, and partly because, well... his body's hands are really nice to have around. Handy, one could say. … would be amused at that, wouldn't she. And Kat's also not wrong about the other hand hiding inside the paper bag with the maroni where it's decently lukewarm.

He releases her hand and puts his inside the pocket as well, looking up forward where the main mast of the Thousand Sunny is in sight. Write this up to the embarrassing shit he's done today, because boy, there was quite some of that.

As they get on deck, they are met with bright light again; the clouds decided it's time to let the sun shine just as it didn't matter anymore. They silently acknowledge that it's just one of those days when nothing goes quite as planned.

[preciousmetals0]

Why Tesla and Bitcoin Will Reach New Heights in 2020

Why Tesla and Bitcoin Will Reach New Heights in 2020:

If you’re in Tesla, you’re making a lot of money right now.

If not, don’t worry. Tesla is about to get a huge supply-demand balance that will shoot TSLA through the roof.

And we have to talk bitcoin.

There’s a lot of speculation around this digital gold. So, I’ll show you what’s really happening and why you should inherit a “bitcoin millionaires” mentality in the markets.

I’ll also tell you how pot just made another move toward becoming one of the biggest disruptions of the decade. And the best stock to buy before the rise.

[embedded content]

Tesla Stock Price Soars Higher

I want to start off this week by talking about Tesla. If you have Tesla stock, congratulations. Right now you are making a lot of money. The stock is way up. It’s almost $500 as of the time I’m recording, which is Thursday. There’s a lot going on with the stock right now.

First of all, a couple days ago Tesla started their deliveries in China — a couple thousand a week, which is huge. China is, by far, the leader in electric vehicle (EV) sales in the whole world. 1.4 billion people live there, so that’s a big, important market for Tesla. In their factory there, they are going to be able to make 500,000 cars a year.

That’s a lot of supply to meet even more growing demand in China. That’s big news for them. It’s going to be a big boost to their sales and, we believe, going to be a big boost to their stock price. Another boost to their stock price is the fact that a lot of people took profits recently.

Millennials Are Buying Tesla Stock

The number of accounts on Robinhood, which is a popular app for trading — some of you might even use it. I know it’s a popular app with millennials. You can see that a lot of people have taken profits and they are just starting to get back in. At the end of the chart you can see the spike.

The number of accounts with Tesla is going straight up.

A lot of people saw that Tesla had gotten to the high-$300 range and sold off quickly after that. There was a lot of profit taking around there. But this time, it was completely different. There’s so much demand right now.

That’s going to keep going even higher because so many people got out and there’s so many on the sidelines. People are just now starting to buy back in around $480. That is a big deal for Tesla, both for the company and the supply and demand for their stock.

Tesla’s $90 Billion Valuation

Finally about Tesla, it is now the highest-valued carmaker ever in the world. The valuation is almost $90 billion. That is a big deal. The market is finally catching on to what they’re doing, the importance of the EV market and that they are the pioneers there.

More States Will Legalize Marijuana in 2020

Illinois legalized recreational marijuana on January 1. It was a big hit with $3.2 million in sales on day one alone. $11 million in sales in the first five days. There’s clearly a huge market. The first day at $3.2 million in 50% higher than the average day for all over Canada, which has three times more people than Illinois.

In one of our services, $10 Million Portfolio, we have a few companies that are really big in Illinois. It’s part of a trend we’re seeing where the U.S. is about to dominate the global pot market. By 2024 it’s expected to be more than a $40 billion market. Like I’ve said before, I think it’s going to be more than that.

As we’ve seen, it’s disrupting the alcohol industry and the tobacco industry. In the U.S. alone it’s a $2 trillion market. Pot at $40 billion by 2024 seems really low considering how much marketshare they are already taking from these trillion-dollar industries.

Bitcoin Millionaires

Finally, I want to talk about Bitcoin because of all the speculation about it. It did see a big price spike recently from $6800 to $8400. That’s a good thing. I want to show you this chart that really shows the amount of supply-demand imbalance that’s going to happen in the very near future. It’s been happening already actually.

You can see this is called the Bitcoin Millionaires. It’s any account which has more than 1,000 Bitcoin in it. The number of accounts has just gone up. When the price dropped in 2018, nobody sold. These big buyers, these people who are really taking up all the supply of Bitcoin, they don’t sell when Bitcoin crashes 80%.

That’s huge. That’s unlike the stock market where you see panic from hedge fund managers and billionaires who get completely out of the market and say it’s the end of the world. With Bitcoin you have this same level of demand from these big buyers that prop the market up.

With The Halving coming up in May, it’s going to get even more important when these people keep holding on. The amount of Bitcoin entering the market is going to be cut in half. The supply is going down and the demand is staying steady in the worst of times and going up in the best of times.

This follows a principle that’s pervasive throughout all markets, but with Bitcoin it’s important to realize. That is demand at higher prices. Now if you’re just getting into Bitcoin, you kinda heard about it before when it hit $20,000 but didn’t really pay attention to it, you’d say, “Wow, I would have bought a whole Bitcoin if I’d have known all of this.”

The realistic probability of you doing that is very low. At the low, there is no demand. It’s really the same as with stocks. Nobody is buying and everybody is fearful. The law of demand at higher prices says that when the price goes up, there’s more demand. This is completely true.

Bitcoin is Bottoming Out…For Now

When you see it at $3,000 you think it might go to zero, but then when it’s at $8,000 you think maybe you’ll buy in. Then it goes to $10,000, $12,000 and $14,000 when it peaked in June and everybody is buying. Then it goes down and everybody sells. They don’t want to go back in for a while because they just lost some money.

That’s the demand at higher prices. That’s important to note because, right now, Bitcoin is bottoming out around $7,000. It got below $7,000 a couple times recently. There’s not that much demand, but when it goes up to $10,000 or $15,000 again, more people are going to be buying in.

That’s going to push the price up because demand is higher at higher prices. It’s really that simple. We saw this before in 2017 when it went from a few hundred dollars to $20,000 in a year. It was really unknown by the general public when it was at $500.

Then, once it started making headlines and everybody was talking about it, people were becoming millionaires in a week. That just drove demand even higher. It’s a herd mentality. Right now we are at the point where demand is low.

As we see it start to go up, maybe because of the Halving or just because of the overwhelming demand by big buyers, we’re going to see even higher demand pushing it up even more. As Paul and I have said, we think it’s going to hit $100,000 this year. We believe it’s going to be a big year for Bitcoin.

I know it can be discouraging to see it fumble around $7,000 or $7,500 for a little bit, but I think now we really are at the point where it can make a big run in a short amount of time. I think this could be a very big year for Bitcoin. Just remember, when the price goes up demand goes up too. That’s what has caused the big rallies we’ve seen before in Bitcoin.

That is all I have for this week. This is Ian for Bold Profits. I hope you have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Regards,

Ian Dyer

Editor, Rebound Profit Trader

[goldira01]

If you’re in Tesla, you’re making a lot of money right now.

If not, don’t worry. Tesla is about to get a huge supply-demand balance that will shoot TSLA through the roof.

And we have to talk bitcoin.

There’s a lot of speculation around this digital gold. So, I’ll show you what’s really happening and why you should inherit a “bitcoin millionaires” mentality in the markets.

I’ll also tell you how pot just made another move toward becoming one of the biggest disruptions of the decade. And the best stock to buy before the rise.

[embedded content]

Tesla Stock Price Soars Higher

I want to start off this week by talking about Tesla. If you have Tesla stock, congratulations. Right now you are making a lot of money. The stock is way up. It’s almost $500 as of the time I’m recording, which is Thursday. There’s a lot going on with the stock right now.

First of all, a couple days ago Tesla started their deliveries in China — a couple thousand a week, which is huge. China is, by far, the leader in electric vehicle (EV) sales in the whole world. 1.4 billion people live there, so that’s a big, important market for Tesla. In their factory there, they are going to be able to make 500,000 cars a year.

That’s a lot of supply to meet even more growing demand in China. That’s big news for them. It’s going to be a big boost to their sales and, we believe, going to be a big boost to their stock price. Another boost to their stock price is the fact that a lot of people took profits recently.

Millennials Are Buying Tesla Stock

The number of accounts on Robinhood, which is a popular app for trading — some of you might even use it. I know it’s a popular app with millennials. You can see that a lot of people have taken profits and they are just starting to get back in. At the end of the chart you can see the spike.

The number of accounts with Tesla is going straight up.

A lot of people saw that Tesla had gotten to the high-$300 range and sold off quickly after that. There was a lot of profit taking around there. But this time, it was completely different. There’s so much demand right now.

That’s going to keep going even higher because so many people got out and there’s so many on the sidelines. People are just now starting to buy back in around $480. That is a big deal for Tesla, both for the company and the supply and demand for their stock.

Tesla’s $90 Billion Valuation

Finally about Tesla, it is now the highest-valued carmaker ever in the world. The valuation is almost $90 billion. That is a big deal. The market is finally catching on to what they’re doing, the importance of the EV market and that they are the pioneers there.

More States Will Legalize Marijuana in 2020

Illinois legalized recreational marijuana on January 1. It was a big hit with $3.2 million in sales on day one alone. $11 million in sales in the first five days. There’s clearly a huge market. The first day at $3.2 million in 50% higher than the average day for all over Canada, which has three times more people than Illinois.

In one of our services, $10 Million Portfolio, we have a few companies that are really big in Illinois. It’s part of a trend we’re seeing where the U.S. is about to dominate the global pot market. By 2024 it’s expected to be more than a $40 billion market. Like I’ve said before, I think it’s going to be more than that.

As we’ve seen, it’s disrupting the alcohol industry and the tobacco industry. In the U.S. alone it’s a $2 trillion market. Pot at $40 billion by 2024 seems really low considering how much marketshare they are already taking from these trillion-dollar industries.

Bitcoin Millionaires

Finally, I want to talk about Bitcoin because of all the speculation about it. It did see a big price spike recently from $6800 to $8400. That’s a good thing. I want to show you this chart that really shows the amount of supply-demand imbalance that’s going to happen in the very near future. It’s been happening already actually.

You can see this is called the Bitcoin Millionaires. It’s any account which has more than 1,000 Bitcoin in it. The number of accounts has just gone up. When the price dropped in 2018, nobody sold. These big buyers, these people who are really taking up all the supply of Bitcoin, they don’t sell when Bitcoin crashes 80%.

That’s huge. That’s unlike the stock market where you see panic from hedge fund managers and billionaires who get completely out of the market and say it’s the end of the world. With Bitcoin you have this same level of demand from these big buyers that prop the market up.

With The Halving coming up in May, it’s going to get even more important when these people keep holding on. The amount of Bitcoin entering the market is going to be cut in half. The supply is going down and the demand is staying steady in the worst of times and going up in the best of times.

This follows a principle that’s pervasive throughout all markets, but with Bitcoin it’s important to realize. That is demand at higher prices. Now if you’re just getting into Bitcoin, you kinda heard about it before when it hit $20,000 but didn’t really pay attention to it, you’d say, “Wow, I would have bought a whole Bitcoin if I’d have known all of this.”

The realistic probability of you doing that is very low. At the low, there is no demand. It’s really the same as with stocks. Nobody is buying and everybody is fearful. The law of demand at higher prices says that when the price goes up, there’s more demand. This is completely true.

Bitcoin is Bottoming Out…For Now

When you see it at $3,000 you think it might go to zero, but then when it’s at $8,000 you think maybe you’ll buy in. Then it goes to $10,000, $12,000 and $14,000 when it peaked in June and everybody is buying. Then it goes down and everybody sells. They don’t want to go back in for a while because they just lost some money.

That’s the demand at higher prices. That’s important to note because, right now, Bitcoin is bottoming out around $7,000. It got below $7,000 a couple times recently. There’s not that much demand, but when it goes up to $10,000 or $15,000 again, more people are going to be buying in.

That’s going to push the price up because demand is higher at higher prices. It’s really that simple. We saw this before in 2017 when it went from a few hundred dollars to $20,000 in a year. It was really unknown by the general public when it was at $500.

Then, once it started making headlines and everybody was talking about it, people were becoming millionaires in a week. That just drove demand even higher. It’s a herd mentality. Right now we are at the point where demand is low.

As we see it start to go up, maybe because of the Halving or just because of the overwhelming demand by big buyers, we’re going to see even higher demand pushing it up even more. As Paul and I have said, we think it’s going to hit $100,000 this year. We believe it’s going to be a big year for Bitcoin.

I know it can be discouraging to see it fumble around $7,000 or $7,500 for a little bit, but I think now we really are at the point where it can make a big run in a short amount of time. I think this could be a very big year for Bitcoin. Just remember, when the price goes up demand goes up too. That’s what has caused the big rallies we’ve seen before in Bitcoin.

That is all I have for this week. This is Ian for Bold Profits. I hope you have a great Friday and a great weekend.

Regards,

Ian Dyer

Editor, Rebound Profit Trader

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: DISMANTLING THE WOLF PACK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Any thought of the Hartford Wolf Pack making the post-season were slim at best, but another Monday off day trade pretty much seals the team’s fate. The New York Rangers have tossed in the towel on their AHL affiliate's season and have begun the dismantling the 2018-19 edition of the team. In the space of a month, the Rangers have traded their team captain, Cole Schneider, the fourth consecutive season where the team captain was dealt, their first off-season signing from last summer, goalie Marek Mazanec, and now the team's leading scorer, Peter Holland. Holland, 28 was a former #1 overall pick of the Anaheim Ducks. He was dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 22-year-old defenseman, and former first-round selection, Darren Raddysh, who was playing with the Rockford Ice Hogs. Holland was assigned to Rockford with a ledger that has 20 goals and 49 points on it, tops on the Wolf Pack and ninth in AHL scoring race. Holland was one of the three assistant captains on the team. The other assistant captains are Steven Fogarty and Matt Beleskey - who's filling for the injured Rob O’Gara. The new assistant structure is still being formulated. “We have a couple scenarios we have looked at, but no final decision has been made,” remarked head coach McCambridge. The second year bench boss kept his remarks to the point in losing his leading scorer. “Peter did a lot of good things for this organization its an opportunity for both players we get a young defenseman on the back end and that’s a part of pro sports and part of the game of hockey,” replied a measured Keith McCambridge. Did you get a heads up that this deal was a possibility ? “As a head coach in this league you always know around this time of year, the trade deadline time this is a possibility of some type of movement,” said McCambridge being very precise in his answers when asked twice about the trade. In Holland’s first game with Rockford he posted two primary assists in a 3-2 OT come from behind win in Grand Rapids sporting jersey number 13. For the the Pack’s Matt Beleskey, now the most senior forward of experience on the team he has been through the revolving door of hockey was sanguine regarding the upheaval of the past month. “You see what the big club what direction there going in. It’s tough, but as a team you have to look at yourself and were not winning and when things aren’t going well there gonna be changes. Its really tough to lose Pete, he has been a good player and leader for us. I know he wasn’t asking to go anywhere it’s kinda surprising, but it’s a part of the business. We all know things happen at this time of year (trade deadline) it usually does and I don’t think its over.”” For Beleskey, he loses just not only a teammate, a fellow veteran to guide in the sheperding process with the younger players which Holland embraced, he loses his linemate. Holland along with the presently injured Ville Meskanen formed one of the few consistent solid lines the Pack have had all season. Helping young players absorb this lesson is not by him alone,but he clearly a few extra bricks are tossed on his shoulder. “Its kinda done by committee,but you have to point out if you have a losing record changes are going to happen. You certaintly don’t want to get use to this (losing) you want a team to stick together and be able to go places in April and may that’s a lesson. I kinda try to preach when things are going well, these kinda changes don’t happen.” Beleskey skated with Lias Andersson and Bobby Butler the last two days and that changed Thursday afternoon. Lias Andersson, who has just one goal and six points in 16 game since the Rangers reassigned him after four points in 21 games in New York was recalled as the Rangers because they will sit either one or both, Steven Hayes and ex-CT Whale Mats Zuccarello who are expected to be traded by Monday by the Rangers. “Look we have what maybe 30% of the team we started the year with. I think one or two defenseman right now from the start, so that’s tough to get into a groove, but our job is not to make the lineup, its to play. That’s all you can really do,”. The Holland trade was the 22nd AHL level trade made prior to Monday’s NHL trade deadline by the parent clubs since mid-December. These moves are primarily cap space moves for this season and in some cases for next season, a year before the expected lockout/work stoppage coming at the NHL level. Holland scored his 20th goal Sunday afternoon in a wild 5-4 OT loss to Wilkes Barre allowing the Wolf Pack to have had at least one 20 goals scorer in each of their 22 seasons. Holland is a UFA after this season which his salary was a one way NHL deal at $700K. The player he was traded for is right handed defenseman Darren Raddysh who had a strong junior career with Erie (OHL) with 65 assists 81 points plus 22 points in 22 OHL playoff games and eight points in five Memorial Cup games in his last season. Raddysh was a free agent undrafted signee to an ELC deal by the Black Hawks which he has one more year left at $70K-AHL/$755K-NHL.Raddysh has played 120 AHL games with Rockford with 13 goals and 48 points for the 6’0 200lb. rearguard. His brother Taylor plays for Syracuse (AHL). McCambridge got his first look at him at Wednesday’s practice. “He was poised with the puck, moved it well, I liked how his shot came off his stick, a good first practice and impression,” said McCambridge. Having a righthanded defenseman is like a lefthanded pitcher in baseball everybody wants a couple of them. “There are year when you might six righthanded shots as I have seen a lot of different mixes in the past. Right now, you want the best available defenseman to work on the back end.” The Wolf Pack have a truly very important three in three this weekend they must be all regulation wins no overtimes or shootouts if they can keep the very slim post season hopes alive. Friday season long nemesis Springfield is in town and Saturday starts a home and home with the team holding fourth place in the Atlantic division the Providence Bruins. “We felt we have had some good efforts like against Toronto, we split two games in Lehigh Valley never an easy easy building to play in this league. Then  again Bridgeport we had a chance there against a team who added two good piece on a conditioning loan (Andrew Ladd and Thomas Hickey both recalled on Monday). We like the traction we have had, we just haven’t gotten the results.” For John Gilmour he realizes this a critical weekend. “We have had a do or die mentality lately, we just haven’t gotten the W’s we wanted. We have a little over 20 games left we can’t afford to drop any and were playing every game like it’s a playoff game. We have to have a lot of desperation to our games if we want to make the playoffs which is our goal.” The Wolf Pack are down three games to none can they reverse the trend ? NOTES: -Beleskey with one more year left at $1.9 million of an originally deal signed with Boston in 2015 who carries only an $800K cap hit for New York remains the optimist and realist, “Your always trying to figure what’s gonna happen, but I‘ve learned in this business you never know what’s  gonna happen.” -The Pack injury front there is some encouraging news Ville Meskanen (lower body) practiced in his a red no contact jersey could see a game as could Ty Ronning (lower body) and Brandon Crawley (upper body) practiced could see some time this weekend. Defenseman Rob O’ Gara (lower body) still remains a week or so away from playing. -The Wolf Pack continued to add more player insurance ahead of the trade deadline with foward Zach Lynch from Wheeling (ECHL). The three year ECHL vet has 15 goals and 37 assists for 52 points in 53 games with Wheeling Nailers (ECHL). He has 145 career ECHL games with Wheeling and Manchester and 36 career AHL games with Utica, Springfield and Portland when they were in the AHL as the Pirates. -The Washington Capitals picked up ex-CT Whale Carl Hagelin from Los Angeles for a 3rd round pick in 2019 and a conditional sixth round pick in 2020 late Thursday. "We are pleased to welcome Carl to our organization," said Caps senior VP and GM former New Haven Nighthawk Brian MacLellan. "We felt this trade enables us to add depth up front and provides us with a veteran player with a tremendous amount of speed to help us on the penalty kill." -Ryan Donato, son of ex-Pack and Sound Tiger Ted Donato was traded by Boston to Minnesota for Charlie Coyle, a younger cousin to former New Haven Nighthawk, Bobby “The Cat” Sheehan. -Ex-Pack Desmond Bergin signed a PTO deal with Binghamton he was playing with Adirondack (ECHL). -Former UCONN Husky Derek Pratt having been scratched both games that he was eligible for was released on Tuesday from his PTO deal and reassigned to Maine (ECHL). This was similar to Matt Petgrave two weeks ago who was scratched for three games he was eligible for and returned to Brampton (ECHL). -Goalie Chris Nell, still Rangers property was reassigned early in the year to Greenville (ECHL) their old ECHL affiliate from Maine was curiously reassigned to Hartford Wednesday. Like Halverson is in the last year of his contract. -Justin Salvaggio who played four games last year for the Wolf Pack was reassigned from Maine (ECHL) to Wichita (ECHL). -Looking ahead four Wolf Pack players will be UFA (unrestricted free agents) Group 6 category at the end of the year. Group 6 is defined as a player with three years pro experience who has not played 80 NHL games by their 25th birthday making them unrestricted. Steven Fogarty and Rob O’ Gara each have just 11 games, John Gilmour is at 28 and Boo Nieves who is in New York, if he plays all of the remaining 24 Rangers games will qualify by just two games. Dustin Tokarski and Connor Brickley on recall are straight UFA’s. -After three games and no points ex-Pack Dale Weise was assigned to Laval by Montreal. -Micheal Haley, the ex-Wolf Pack and Sound Tiger was claimed off waiver by his former NHL team the San Jose Sharks from the Florida Panthers. -Former New Haven Senators head coach Don MacAdam brought in as an interim coach on December 18th was let go after exactly two months later from SC Csikszereda (Romania-EBEL) that plays in the Austrian Elite League. -Late breaking news is the New York islanders have named Oak View Group (OVG) to be the new management company of the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. This is significant in two ways. One, OVG that is the group beginning the renovation project on the Seattle KeyArena that will house the NHL’s 32nd yet unnamed franchise. The other significance is OVG is in partnering with MSG run by Jim Dolan who is the primary financial backer in OVG on renovation in Seattle and have a piece of the pie with the Islander new building to be built in Belmont Park slated to begin at last report next month. Webster Bank Arena’s original 20 year lease negotiated by the late Roy Boe expires in two seasons and the building at 20 years of age will need state funding to begin replacing and repairing its operating mechanical systems. Matthew Herpich, was named the new GM of the Webster Bank Arena, a 12 year veteran of arena management . He has run arena’s in Chicago, Portland,ME, Cleveland State University and in Aiken, SC. Michael Picker, the current President and GM, a long time Islanders executive will remain as President of the Sound Tigers. The deal will be effective February 28th. Read the full article

[amaris-noir]

answer all of the numbers, pls?

Thank you for asking! I’ve tried to answer all questions I could answer to~ 

1: Is there a boy/girl in your life?

I don’t know how to answer that. There kinda is someone but isn’t..

2: Think of the last person who hurt you; do you forgive them?

Yes. At least I’d do my best to try to. 

3: What do you think of when you hear the word “meow?”

Cuteness, kittens, nekomimi in anime? D:

4: What’s something you really want right now?

Pass all the exams this month, find a job I’d be comfortable with, be somewhere else. 

5: Are you afraid of falling in love?

I think next time I’d be but I can’t tell if there would be next time.

6: Do you like the beach?

If it’s not very hot or crowded and I can find a place where I can escape Sun then yeah~ I like sand, breeze and sea 

7: Have you ever slept on a couch with someone else?

I don’t think so? On a bed yes (I slept with mom, one or two friends) but couch no

8: What’s the background on your cell?

Black and white image of Japanese city neons 

9: Name the last four beds you were sat on?

What XDD My mom’s bed, a hospital bed and that’s basically it. 

10: Do you like your phone?

Pretty much yes. Just hope it won’t start slowing down more.

11: Honestly, are things going the way you planned?

I plan very little..  I’ve planned more travelling this year and this hasn’t worked out yet and it won’t because I don’t even have money anymore

12: Who was the last person whose phone number you added to your contacts?

Dentist?

13: Would you rather have a poodle or a Rottweiler?

Definitely a Rottweiler if I could choose.

14: Which hurts the most, physical or emotional pain?

It depends on the kind of physical pain because there are ones that I can take and ones that make me wanna die. But I guess emotional pain is worse? It’s always shitty and makes me cry and wanna die or stop feeling.

15: Would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum?

Ah! I visited both when I was in Germany last time but idk what was better. Zoo is definitely more attractive and more fun and alive.

16: Are you tired?

Physically so so, emotionally rather yes..

17: How long have you known your 1st phone contact?

I assume my 1st phone contact was my mom/home number so I’ve always known them.

18: Are they a relative?

Yeah - mom

19: Would you ever consider getting back together with any of your exes?

Maybe if I still loved someone and the reason of breakup wasn’t because the relationship was toxic or really bad. But I don’t have any exes so I can’t consider it.

20: When did you last talk to the last person you shared a kiss with?

What

21: If you knew you had the right person, would you marry them today?

I can’t afford wedding hahaha But if I had the right person I’d definitely want to marry them, not necessairy on the spot. Also it wouldn’t be up to me only :3

22: Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Those kissing questions.. *rolls eyes* 

23: How many bracelets do you have on your wrists right now?

None. I’m not a bracelet person.. Maybe I’d be but I can’t even put them on by myself D:

24: Is there a certain quote you live by?

I’m sure there are many that have influenced me but I don’t intentionally live by any particular one.

25: What’s on your mind?

Everything.. feelings, uni, exams, more feelings, summer plans?, life.

26: Do you have any tattoos?

Nope

27: What is your favorite color?

Black haha I like others as well but not as much as black.

28: Next time you will kiss someone on the lips?

That’s not something you can plan if you’re single and not a person who’d drunkenly kiss strangers in the bar. So idk. Will I ever even do that? 

29: Who are you texting?

Lately only two or three people at most

30: Think to the last person you kissed, have you ever kissed them on a couch? PLS NO

31: Have you ever had the feeling something bad was going to happen and you were right?

Not sure.. I feel very confused about my negative feelings

32: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to?

@slaugrath I definitely bother him with things and he doesn’t seem to mind

33: Do you think anyone has feelings for you?

At the moment, I don’t know but rather not

34: Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes?

Yes ♥ many of my friends and my family (it seems one thing about me is complimentable! I’m glad there’s at least one thing)

35: Say the last person you kissed was kissing someone right in front of you?

eeh..? I don’t kiss anyone, pls stop.

36: Were you single on Valentines Day?

Yes ( . .)

37: Are you friends with the last person you kissed?

38: What do your friends call you?

Karolina, Mariko

39: Has anyone upset you in the last week?

Mom, ME, my friend

40: Have you ever cried over a text?

Yes

41: Where’s your last bruise located?

On the right arm

42: What is it from?

I don’t know XD

43: Last time you wanted to be away from somewhere really bad?

I wanna be away from my brother and this house.. very often

44: Who was the last person you were on the phone with?

Mom…

45: Do you have a favourite pair of shoes?

Yeah!

46: Do you wear hats if your having a bad hair day?

I’d have to wear hats everyday XD

47: Would you ever go bald if it was the style?

No D: I don’t follow trends that much. Who would like to look like the half of the city?

48: Do you make supper for your family?

No? We make breakfasts and suppers individually.

49: Does your bedroom have a door?

Yes? 

50: Top 3 web-pages?

idk.. youtube? tumblr? Such websites! :3

51: Do you know anyone who hates shopping?

Yeah

52: Does anything on your body hurt?

Yeah, my kokoro ( . .)

53: Are goodbyes hard for you?

Depends on what kind of goodbyes and with whom. I’ve never had any hard goodbyes.

54: What was the last beverage you spilled on yourself?

Probably tea.

55: How is your hair?

It’s wet .. I washed it a while ago.

56: What do you usually do first in the morning?

Check my phone.. Go to the kitchen to make myself tea.. Go to the bathroom to clean my face.

57: Do you think two people can last forever?

I think they can

58: Think back to January 2007, were you single?

Surely

59: Green or purple grapes?

Green ones~

60: When’s the next time you will give someone a BIG hug?

I don’t know but I know whom I wanna hug 

61: Do you wish you were somewhere else right now?

Yeah.

62: When will be the next time you text someone?

Today, soon? I gotta finish this and study and then text. Maybe in the evening after German course

63: Where will you be 5 hours from now?

Language school

64: What were you doing at 8 this morning.

Sleeping.. I kept waking up but I was sleeping in general.

65: This time last year, can you remember who you liked?

Yeah… The same person as now

66: Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile?

No.. Sounds sad haha 

67: Did you kiss or hug anyone today?

Nope and I won’t

68: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night?

I had lots of thoughts and can’t single out the last one.. I don’t remember when I fell asleep.

69: Have you ever tried your hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end?

Kinda..

70: How many windows are open on your computer?

Three.

71: How many fingers do you have?

… 10 fingers, 10 toes, luckily. 

72: What is your ringtone?

I don’t remember.. my phone’s on vibration mode all the time.

73: How old will you be in 5 months?

23 *sobs*

74: Where is your Mum right now?

In her room.. not working today because she’s ill.

75: Why aren’t you with the person you were first in love with or almost in love?

Someone has to like you back first.. and want to be with you D:

76: Have you held hands with somebody in the past three days?

No..

77: Are you friends with the people you were friends with two years ago?

I’m still friends with most of them

78: Do you remember who you had a crush on in year 7?

A classmate?

79: Is there anyone you know with the name Mike?

Nope.

80: Have you ever fallen asleep in someones arms?

No.. *forever alone*

81: How many people have you liked in the past three months?

Jesus, how many people should I have liked? :o Just one XD’

82: Has anyone seen you in your underwear in the last 3 days?

Family I live with ._.

83: Will you talk to the person you like tonight?

I want to but I don’t know if we’ll talk..

84: You’re drunk and yelling at hot guys/girls out of your car window, you’re with?

I don’t understand this question. You mean whether I’m with hot guys or hot girls? I’d say guys but my opinion about what is hot in guys is not so obvious or typical haha 

85: If your BF/GF was into drugs would you care?

No, I’d just watch them destroy themselves.. D: Is such a question even necessary? Who wouldn’t care? 

86: What was the most eventful thing that happened last time you went to see a movie?

Hm.. literally nothing happened. Unless people who come way too late count XD

87: Who was your last received call from?

Mom

88: If someone gave you $1,000 to burn a butterfly over a candle, would you?

what the fuck D: I don’t think I would ._.

89: What is something you wish you had more of?

Affection, love, true friends, friends I’d feel comfortable with and could hand out with, money, knowledge, hair, femininity? 

90: Have you ever trusted someone too much?

Probably.. I think I trust people.

91: Do you sleep with your window open?

Rarely.. I can’t fall asleep because of noise. But I wake up at night or in the morning and I open it then :3 I don’t usually have problems with falling asleep once I wake up.

92: Do you get along with girls?

I guess?

93: Are you keeping a secret from someone who needs to know the truth?

From my grandma who asks if I like someone but I don’t think she needs to know the truth 

94: Does sex mean love?

Obviously not.. Not necessarily.

95: You’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, is that a problem?

I don’t wanna be in a room alone lmao

96: Have you ever kissed anyone with a lip ring?

No. idk how kissing with or without one feels anyway

97: Did you sleep alone this week?

Yeah

98: Everybody has somebody that makes them happy, do you?

To some extent. It’d be much easier if I didn’t think and feel so much

99: Do you believe in love at first sight? 

Uh.. I think it’s a coincidence but it’s possible that you can start liking someone and can’t explain why and it develops and nothing about that person makes you stop liking them so the feelings of a kind of infatuation you’ve had get more real. 

100: Who was the last person that you pinky promise?

I don’t do pinky promises I guess?

[stinkybeanus]

all odds (if you are really really bored do all)

I was but now I’m exhausted Nighty babes

1: Let’s start with a tricky one; what is the real reason you are confused right now?Why I can’t have a bunny or a cute little rat??

2: Do you ever get “good morning” texts from anyone?Yes! My bf!

3: If your significant other smoked pot, would you care?Nope cause I smoke with him 😊

4: Do you find it easy to trust others?No not really. I have to really get to know the person

5: What were you doing at 11PM last night?Sleeping

6: You’re drunk and lost walking down the road; who is with you?My boyfriend or another friend probably

7: What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on?Probably be really depressed and leave. Idk if I could forgive something like that

8: Are you close with your dad?Kinda sorta but not really

9: I bet you kissed someone last night, right?No :(

10: What are you listening to?Give It All- Foals

11: You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life - what is it?Sweet tea

12: Do you like hickeys?Mhmm I love them!!!

13: What time do you go to bed?Between 12 and 3 usually

14: Is there someone who continuously lets you down?Not really sure, I stop talking to people who do that

15: Can you text as quickly with one hand as you do both?Nope

16: Do you always answer your texts?Yes I hate have unanswered texts

17: Do you hate the person you fell the hardest for?Nope I’m in love with him still. Good thing I’m dating him

18: When was the last time you talked to one of your best friends?Right before he passed out on me

19: Is there someone that makes you happy every time you see them?Doobie Doo

20: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night?Can’t remember. I flat out crashed and don’t know what happened. I did wake up and my phone was plugged into my headphones. Not my charger cable. I was so tired I mixed them up last night I guess

21: Is anyone else in the room with you?No, just me, but it’s good cause I’m picky about who sleeps and stays near me

22: Do you believe what goes around comes around?Sometimes but not usually

23: Were you happier four months ago than you are now?Sorta. Work is easier than school and isn’t as much of a stress inducing pain in my ass

24: Is there someone you wish you could fix things with?Yes, and I’m working on it, seemingly well so far!

25: In the past week, have you cried?Several times yes

26: What colour is the shirt you are wearing?White with Alpacalypse graphics on it

27: Do people ever call you by your last name?No and I will ignore you if you do (except if you say Sommers, cause I’m practically part of the family so that I’d respond to)

28: Is anyone ignoring you right now?Nope

29: Do you have a best friend?A very small group of them

30: Would it be hard seeing someone else kiss the last person you kissed?Very. Unless I’d be kissing the same person

31: Who was your last call/text message from?Taddy

32: Are you mad at anyone?Not currently

33: Have you ever kissed someone older than you?Yes my bf

34: How old will the last person you kissed be on his/her next birthday?21 in like 2-3 weeks

35: How many more days until your birthday?154 or something like that

36: Do you have any summer plans yet?No not yet but probably school and working

37: Do you have any good friends of the opposite sex?Sure

38: Are you keeping anything from your best friend(s) now?Nope

39: Do you have a secret that you’ve never told anyone?Yep

40: Have you ever regretted kissing someone?Oh boy yeah that creepy fuckboy who gave me a pregnancy scare almost 2 years back

41: Do you think age matters in relationships?No, unless one is a minor and the other is significantly older

42: Are you available?Sure hmu if you wanna be friends or if you’re a cute girl who wants to date my partner and I possibly were cute I promise

43: How many people have you had real, strong feelings for since high school ended?Not many honestly. After I stopped going to high school in my senior year, I have kept to myself mostly. By far, probably like 4-5 people I’ve made connections with that have lasted

44: If you had to get a piercing (not ears), what would you get?A nose ring but not the septum kind

45: Do you believe exes can be friends?Yes and I’m working on fixing the friendship 👍🙂

46: Do you regret anything?I guess yeah cause there’s things I wish I would have done

47: Honestly, what’s on your mind right now?Bunnies and rats

48: Did you ever lose a best friend?Several of them cause people like to ignore me until I’m a convenience again

49: Was your last kiss a mistake?No I kissed a golden retriever puppy on the nose and got my face licked. That’s the opposite of a mistake babes

50: Why aren’t you pursuing the person you like?Already did that and am dating said person

51: Has the last person you kissed ever seen you cry?Yeah often

52: Do you still talk with the person you LAST kissed?Yes but not currently cause he’s out like a light

53: What was the last thing you ate?Chicken and broccoli alfredo pasta

54: Did you get any compliments today?Yeah but from creepy dudes on okc and on here

55: Where are you going on your next vacation?Not sure yet but hopefully it’s with my partner

56: Do you own anything from other countries?Maybe jewelry. Not really sure

57: Are most of your friend guys or girls? I’m actually not sure.

58: Where have you lived most of your life?South Florida. Hate it tho. I wanna move to Washington or Oregon

59: When was the last time you took a long drive? Yesterday. I drive about an hour to school and an hour and a half to 2 hours back (cause traffic)

60: Have you ever played Spin the Bottle?Yes but so long ago that I barely remember it

61: Have you ever TPd someone’s house?Nope

62: Who do you text the most?Taddy

63: What was the last movie you saw?Wreck it Ralph!!!

64: What’s preventing your current boyfriend/girlfriend from going back to their ex?Me. I’m too perfect to leave

65: How many boyfriends/girlfriends did you have in 2011?None

66: Is the last person you kissed younger than you?No he’s older

67: Do you curse around your parents?On occasion but no not really

68: Are you happy with where you live?NO TAKE ME SOMEWHERE UP NW TO WHERE ITS NICE AND COLD

69: Picture of yourself?

70: Are you a monogamous person or do you believe in open-ended relationships?I’m oily but it’s hard to find a unicorn who we’d like and who’d like us both back. So generally monogamous which isn’t bad cause were like a married couple

71: Have you ever been dumped?Three times by 3 different people. One of these times after a month went by we got back together and then I dumped them

72: What do you most like about making out?If he holds my face and when I struggle for more, he slightly pulls away and teases me. But also his soft kisses are the best

73: Have you ever casually made out with someone who you weren’t seriously involved with?Yeah almost 2 years ago. See the creepy fuckboy question

74: When you kiss someone for the first time, is it usually you who initiates it or the other?I’m usually the other person but I respond with enthusiasm

75: What part of a person’s body do you find most attractive?I can’t choose seriously because I love the entire body as a whole. But probably tummies

76: Who was the last person you talked to last night before you went to bed?Ian

77: Had sex with someone you knew less than an hour?No

78: Had sex with someone you didn’t know their name?No

79: What makes your heart flutter and brings a big cheesy smile to your face?My bf telling me sweet things

80: Would you get involved with someone if they had a child already?I mean maybe but like I require lots of attention so probably not. It’s not fair to the child to get all of the attention

81: Has someone who had a crush on you ever confessed to you? Maybe? I don’t quite remember aside from like the person I’m dating now and the person I dated before

82: Do you tell a lot of people when you have a crush?Maybe but if so then vaguely

83: Do you miss your last sweetie?Kinda. More in a platonic friendship way tho

84: Last time you slow danced with someone?I haven’t

85: Have you ever ‘dated’ someone you’ve never met?Is this mocking an ldr?

86: How can I win your heart? Love me, feed me, give me your attention and care, and take me places and let me pet all the animals

87: What is your astrological sign?Cancer!

88: What were you doing last night at 12 AM?Sleeping

89: Do you cook?Nope

90: Have you ever gotten back in touch with an old flame after a time of more than 3 months of no communication?Yeah I suppose so but it’s more of trying to maintain a friendship

91: If you’re single right now, do you wish you were in a relationship?N/A

92: Do you prefer to date various people or do you pretty much fall into monogamous relationships quickly?The second one

93: What physical traits do you look for in a potential interest?Generally the trend I noticed is cute tall sorta chubby guys with nice hair and lovely eyes and a cute voice. But like honestly it’s whoever stands out most to me in a crowd of people

94: Name four things that you wish you had!A bunny, a rat, a lizard,and a puppy or a cat

95: Are you a player?Nope

96: Have you ever kissed 2 people in one day?Probably not no. At least not romantically no

97: Are you a tease?Apparently so 😏

98: Ever meet anyone you met on Tumblr?Yeah several people

99: Have you ever been deeply in love with someone?Yes I am currently 😍

100: Anybody on Tumblr that you’d go on a date with?Probably yeah

101: Hugs or Kisses?Both

102: Are you too shy to ask someone out?Usually yes

103: The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?Their face and body

104: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you babe?Yes

105: If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was in relationship, would you go for it?Probably not no, unless both people in that relationship are ok with non monogamy. Even then I’m in a relationship I would still not

106: Do you flirt a lot?I try but I’m not the best but my looks make up for it.

107: Your last kiss?I don’t remember what day I last kissed my partner. Sunday maybe?

108: Have you kissed more than 5 people since the start of 2012?Nope

109: Have you kissed anyone in the past month?Yes

110: If you could kiss anyone who would it be?My bf

111: Do you know who you’ll kiss next?My bf yeah

112: Does someone like you currently? See previous

113: Do you currently have feelings for anyone?Yes

114: Do you like to be in serious relationships or just flings?For me, serious stuff

115: Ever made out with just a friend?Yeah in elementary school.

116: Are you happier single or in a relationship?In a relationship

117: Your own question that you want me to answer. Just write it.How are you and the gf hun?

[topicprinter]

I spoke with Sam Huebner, the founder of Parker Baby about the ups and downs of running an e-commerce business. We chatted about how they prioritize product development, vet their manufacturers and acquire customers.If you want to listed to the audio of the interview you can get it here.Product: Practical baby products to make parents’ lives easier.Sales Channels: 100% onlineSales / month: $300kMargins: 17% netLocation: Parker, CO (HQ); China, Cambodia, India (manufacturing); Kentucky (fulfillment)Founded: 2015Team: 2 Full time, 2 Part timeWhat does Parker Baby sell and how did the company come into being?We sell baby products, primarily textiles. We sell whatever my wife comes up with that might make our lives a little bit easier. Back in 2015 my wife and I had twins, I was working in investment banking and we were spending a lot of money on baby products and my wife had some ideas to improve on some of the products that we were buying and using every day with our twins. We started off with some very simple bibs that my wife designed.We put the order into a manufacturer in India who we continue to use today. They just kinda took off. We continued to put out new designs, moved on to a couple of new products and about a year later I quit my job in investment banking and pursued Parker Baby full time. We’ve gone from those first few SKUs to about 45 SKUs today and grown our team from just my wife and I, to still my wife and I, one other full time employee and another a part time employee. We actually have four kids under the age of five so we’re still able to come up with product ideas pretty regularly because we’re in the thick of it. I think that gives us a little bit of an advantage in that we really do use every product that we design and sell daily.Was it an active choice to keep your products to one-size-fits-all, rather than having multiple sizes per SKU?Our original goal, and we still pursue this to a certain extent, is that our product line would grow as our kids grow. We have started offering toddler sized items and we’re going to continue to develop some of those as our kids get older and we see needs for products that are similar to baby products that we already have that we can develop quickly and easily. We still have a laundry list of product ideas that we want to pursue some day. Fortunately one of our part time employees is pregnant and we tell our employees that whenever they have an idea for a new product, or a way to improve a product, that we’re all ears because you gotta stay on top of trends with baby products.How do you take that laundry list of product ideas and decide what you want to bring to market?We try to prioritize products that we believe have a larger market and that’s because I feel there’s less risk if we’re launching a product that is proven to sell by competitors and we know the volume is there. My wife will be able to tell me if she thinks a product would be useful as a parent or how much a mom would be willing to spend on a product or how many of her friends are using this or would use that.The next thing we focus on is how quickly are we going to be able to develop this product and how complex it is. Do we have a supplier that we already use? And if we do, we put that to the top of the list. Depending on who the supplier is and what is their minimum order quantity, can we get away with a low minimum order and develop this product to test the waters? And then if it ends up being a home run, can we quickly scramble to make more of it?Our supplier relationships are really important when we consider new products because we’ve really developed some good relationships with our suppliers and have a lot of trust with them. They know how our process works as we develop a new product. It really allows us to get products to market to market quicker and more efficiently.How do you go about vetting your manufacturers?It’s a process that has evolved over time. When I was doing this as a side business we found our first manufacturer, who does our bibs and several other of our products, on Alibaba. We got lucky with him. He’s been super easy to work with. I flew out and visited him face to face last year for the first time. More recently it’s been largely referrals. We’ve hired a consultant as a product developer and she has had relationships with factories overseas with some other brands that she’s worked with in the past.We’ve been able to use those relationships to build out some of our products. It’s always great when you can get a referral from someone who’s worked with the factory because you don’t really know what to expect when you are interacting via email or even on a phone call. You hate surprises in the product development process and as you get to know and develop these relationships with suppliers you can minimize those headaches. Now I try and visit every factory face to face.I think meeting face to face is incredibly important. I understand there are people who have never met their manufacturers face to face and it works for them. But I really like to see who I’m doing business with, see their operation, see how they operate, and see how they treat their employees. All that stuff is super important to us and I think it really is mutual. I think they really value those relationships where you take the time and effort to get over and visit them. I’ve found that the best suppliers are really proud of what they’ve built. They’re proud of the businesses they run, which is no different from how we operate.A lot of online brands are starting to veer away from Facebook and Instagram as User Acquisition channels because of the cost. Are you still using those channels?We’re definitely feeling the same pressure that everyone else is. I think the only thing that might be different on the social media side is that we’ve always felt this pressure. The baby market is saturated on social media and it’s always been pretty expensive for us to advertise on those platforms. It’s no secret that our target market being moms spend a lot of time on social media. In the past year we’ve adjusted our priorities and how we’re spending our advertising budget to focus more on Google ads and Google product searches.It’s been a battle, but that being said our social media presence is a huge part of our branding and it’s a huge part of how we validate ourselves as a business and how our customers are able to validate us. So we put a lot of time and effort into our social media accounts. We use it as a way to engage and interact with our customers.What percentage of your sales come from Google, Organic, Social or other channels?In terms of paid traffic Google is at least as much as our social media traffic. Email marketing has been incredibly effective for us and we’re gonna spend some time next year really trying to focus on optimizing our email marketing. I think we’ll start to see our social media advertising start to drop and hopefully our email is able to pick up on that.Since your target market is moms, have you found Pinterest to be useful?We have tried some paid advertising and we’ve found that it just does not convert. People had warned me about that with Pinterest. It [Pinterest] is more idea based rather than looking for something to purchase or to spend money on to really convert. We haven’t spent a ton of money on it because we worked with their team for a long time to try to get to work and it just did not end up being effective.Do you think Pinterest doesn’t work because the users are too early in their purchase journey (they are just looking for ideas) or because the platform is restrictive?That’s a really good question. I don’t think it’s the actual platform. I think it really is the user base. I just don’t think people who browse Pinterest are inherently buyers. Whereas on the Google search console or Amazon you’re more likely to have that intent to purchase.What ROI are you seeing from your paid channels?It really varies in the three to five [multiple] range. The low end being social media but it varies throughout the year. In the fourth quarter we’ve seen a lot of pressure that’s been limiting us on the ROA [Return On Assets] side of things whereas email is always pretty steady. On Google shopping we have been steadily improving, taking advantage of some smart shopping campaigns this year that really took a few months to get going. The first couple of months were tough, but they’ve really started to improve and even in fourth quarter have continued to improve, so we’re optimistic about those going into 2020.Have you had any channels that are a complete flameout?We dabbled on eBay for a little while but from a branding standpoint just didn’t feel like it was a good fit. Amazon has always been our bread and butter but we’ve seen a lot more pressure, as has everyone else, recently on Amazon [with] a lot more competition.Do you feel there is an undercurrent of merchants turning their backs on Amazon due to the experience?I don’t know that I would have ever described it as a great experience. It’s been serviceable. It’s hard to complain because we are able to grow our business quickly. Because of Amazon we didn’t have to hire customer service right away and we didn’t have to have a warehouse where we were fulfilling hundreds of orders every day right away. From that side of things it’s really tough to beat Amazon as a seller. But in the last 12 to 18 months things have gotten worse because they made it very apparent that they’re just going to nickel and dime sellers.I feel like there was a fundamental shift right around a year ago to prioritizing the cheapest items in their algorithm. That’s been a tough change for us because we’re an American business and we are not the cheapest. We’re not selling directly from the factory. We’re not selling the cheapest baby products out there. We are fully compliant with our product safety testing which isn’t cheap. We don’t hire overseas. We hire everyone here in the U S and so we have these additional costs and Amazon has made it very apparent that they’re gonna prioritize the cheaper items. That’s been a tough, tough battle for us over the last 12 months.What tools does Parker Baby use to keep the company moving forward?Inventory Planner: Frankly we just haven’t done a great job of managing inventory, forecasting sales and it’s been a really effective tool for us to make sure that we’re minimizing our stockouts, which as you probably know can be detrimental on marketplaces like Amazon.,Gorgias: We use it for all our customer support. It’s been really affordable for a business our size.Easypost: On the fulfillment side of things we have been using Easypost for over a year now. We had some issues on black Friday 2018 with a lot of our orders because of the sheer volume but this year we did even more volume and we didn’t have any hiccups. They figured things out and we’ve been really pleased with how they’ve been managing the fulfillment for us.What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting an e-commerce business?I’m going to be a little biased because I come from a finance background, but it is incredibly important to know your numbers. I’m amazed at how many small businesses just don’t do a good job of staying on top of their books. Early on I think we did waste money in places, that if I had been more diligent about keeping up with our books, that could have been avoided.What is your net profit margin goal for next year? What is your sales goal for next year? If you are going to cut back on your advertising, how is that going to affect your margins? How is that going to affect your sales? And if you are going to see a decline in sales, how is that going to affect your purchasing capacity and your ability to get better pricing on your products. Understanding all that stuff is really hard for entrepreneurs without a finance background. Definitely spend some time learning that side of the business, using the resources that are available to you to really get a grasp on the finances.

[rieshon]

Spring 2018 Preview

I can’t believe a new season starts in a week already... heres the shows.

1. Comic Girls: KIRARA ANIME BOIS. Do I even need to say more than that? The girls look absolutely adorable, the animation looks on point, and although the director is a debutante he's being backed up by an impressive quartet of writers including Takahashi Natsuko, Yokote Michiko, Hanada Jukki and Machida Touko. Oh yeah, it's also got a bunch of hot channees in addition to the cute schoolgirls. You can't go wrong with this one.

2. Amanchu! ~Advance~: Satojun is back at it again with the silly hiragana subtitles for sequels. The masters of healing are back again for a sequel to what was one of my favorite shows of 2016. More Teko, more of that sexy Itou Shizuka-voiced teacher, and more relaxing feels. This is exactly what we need to fill the Yurucamp-shaped holes in our hearts.

3. Alice or Alice: There are a lot of things that make me excited about this show. Obviously the cast is one: Ayaneru plays the main character, and we got Natsunee and Oonishi in there too. The director is Kobayashi Kousuke, an alumnus of the Pretty Rhythm series who was very heavily involved in Pripara, which you may know is the best anime ever made. And then there's the aesthetic: everything from the character designs to the title logo make this look and feel like a harem anime from 15 or so years ago, which is absolutely my jam. Pretty hyped for this one.

4. Sword Art Online Alternative Gungale Online: One of the weirder things to happen over the past year-ish is that I've become an unabashed SAO fanboy. The shows are just good, y'all. So you can imagine how I feel about a new show set in the SAO universe written by the author of Kino no Tabi, a show I just put in my top five of the last year, and with characters by Kuroboshi Kouhaku (also of Kino) who is the utmost hotness right now. Hopefully this will be more than enough to tide us over while we wait for SAO3 to arrive.

5. Waka-Okami wa Shougakusei: This looks like a kids anime at first glance, and, well, it is. It's based on a series of popular children's books, but they've really gone all out with the production values based on the PVs (Madhouse producing) and it looks immensely charming. Some of the best anime are childrens' stories, so I'm quietly excited about this one.

6. Hinamatsuri: This is shaping up to be one of the weirder shows of the coming season, and it looks great. From the look of the PVs, feel. are going even more all-out than they usually do with the visuals, and it also looks genuinely funny. Plus it's got a cute loli. Should be good.

7. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Die Neue These: It's finally here. Obviously I've heard nothing but good things about the original series, but I'm never going to have the motivation to go back and watch something so old, long and difficult, so hopefully this new anime has got me covered. I'm sure there will be plenty of discourse about it; I just hope it's decent.

8. Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai: Somehow, we've still never gotten a sequel to the wonderful Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, but this show brings together the chief staff of that show for a new romantic comedy anime at Douga Koubou. With that pedigree (they even got the same guy who did the OP song for Nozaki) there's definitely reason to be optimistic about this one. Not to mention it's got cute gaijin girls and an imouto voiced by Inosuke.

9. PERSONA5 the Animation: I think I'm going to give up any ridiculous illusions I have of actually playing the game any time soon and just watch this. It's the only realistic way I'll get to see dat Kawakami-sensei and Takemi-sensei. You know I'm all about the channees right now, and man, does P5 have some good ass channees. The anime is actually being directed by Ishihama Masashi, the man who did Shinsekai Yori and literally hasn't done another TV anime since, so that's pretty exciting. Obviously, a lot Shinsekai Yori's success is because of the material adapted, but if you can make a masterpiece like that you've got to have some kind of talent.

10. Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: CUTE CHANNEE ALERT WEEWOO WEEWOO WEEWOO. I'm all up ons this. Is there anything better than cute OLs? ...Man, things sure have changed around here. Also, that title is just mean when it's literally an anime about otaku having romances. SOME OF US OUT HERE ARE LONELY

11. Last Period -Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari-: Has there been a good social game anime yet? I guess Schoolgirl Strikers was alright, in that I actually managed to finish that one, but most of these turn out to be bad. I hope Last Period can be the one to buck the trend and be truly good, because I love the silly light-fantasy tone that it looks like it's going for. Wisemen for best girls. There's tons of cute girls with great designs (the one thing you can always count on social games for) and it'd be a shame for them to go to waste like so many before them.

12. Hisone to Masotan: I got really excited when I saw this because it looked like a cute anime about fighter planes. Instead it looks like it's a cute anime about fighter... dragons. What a ripoff. I wanted the planes. My aviation-nerd pouting aside I'm sure it will still be adorable JSDF propaganda. I just really wanted the planes.

13. Golden Kamuy: It's some kind of weird serendipity that I'm studying the Ainu for school this semester and now we get an anime explicitly about the Ainu. Period anime are pretty cool (the Russo-Japanese War isn't a setting explored in much visual media at all), the premise sounds cool, and I really like the look of the Ainu girl. Plus, how often do we get Ainu culture actually presented in anime? Remains to be seen how well it's done, but it's pretty neat.

14. Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Aw yeah. If only Jug was around to see the horse girls. I have no reason to doubt that this will be great fun, especially since it has the financial backing of Cygames, who have more money than God. Just hopefully we don’t have to see any of the cute girls get put down after breaking a leg.

15. Lostorage conflated WIXOSS: Somehow the WIXOSS anime series is still going. selector is still one of my favorite shows in recent memory, but Lostorage was complete spaghetti compared to it, so there's nowhere to go from here but up, right? This new series promises to bring back the characters from selector, which gives me mixed feelings. I don't want them to just play off nostalgia for the old show, but I'm also kinda excited to see Yuzuki and Tama again. I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe a new director will shake things up for the better.

16. 3D Kanojo Real Girl: Man, who wants a 3D girlfriend? Can your real life girlfriend be considered 3D if you're living in a 2D world? This stuff always leaves me conflicted. I'm down for some Serizawa Yuu-voiced heroine, and the always-capable Akao Deko is writing the screen adaptation, so it might be good.

17. Mahou Shoujo Ore: Oh god. I'm pretty sure I saw clippings from the manga of this a while back. It's a mahou shoujo where the girls transform into buff dudes in magical girl outfits for some reason. It can't be a coincidence that the protagonist is named "Uno" and is voiced by Oohashi Ayaka. If this show is even half as amazing as Fantasista Doll it'll be a great success.

18. A.I.C.O. Incarnation: There are a few Netflix-funded series this season but most of them don't look especially interesting. This one looks alright, but it's using the stupid Netflix bulk release model so I guess I'm waiting until April to start it despite all the episodes being out already. It looks like it could be a cool science fiction show, and I like the Naruko Hanaharu character designs.

19. LOST SONG: So this is that Suzuki Konomi promotional vehicle... From the PV, it doesn't look great, but I am a big fan of Konomin's singing so I guess I'll have to check out at least an episode. I just doubt her ability to act as well as she can sing.

20. Caligula: Strangely, this show does not seem to be about the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder who ruled as Roman emperor from 37 to 41. I actually have no idea what it's about. Something about idols. But some of the character designs look pretty good, especially that blonde channee, so it's a maybe from me.

21. High School DxD HERO: It's baaaack. The show I watched three seasons of for Ayaneru that gave me almost no Ayaneru is back to continue to refuse to give me Ayaneru, probably. But hey, I like channees now anyway, so I may as well keep watching out of tradition if nothing else. I just hope Gaspar is like, actually in it this time...

22. Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai: This is an anime to promote Gunma... I guess? It definitely doesn't look like your typical local promotion anime... Apparently Gunma is a totalitarian state in this world. The green-haired girl played by Ucchii looks pretty good so I'll check it out.

23. Akkun to Kanojo: SUPER tsundere love comedy? Even regular tsundere is good. Unfortunately it's the dude who is tsundere in this one which isn't the thing I want. But the girls still look pretty cute so I'll definitely be giving it a look.

24. Mahou Shoujo Site: Uh oh, it's dark magical girls. There's nothing wrong with the concept per se but works like this often end up being grimdark for grimdark's sake (see: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku) so it makes me worried. This one looks like someone tried to mix Madoka and Jigoku Shoujo. It should be good for a laugh if nothing else.

25. Kiratto Puri Chan: Well, here we are. This is what they killed Pripara for. So who did they get to succeed the comedic savant Moriwaki Makoto? Well, it's a guy without a whole lot of directorial experience: Hiroshi Ikehata. What he has directed have been some incredibly charming shows, including the underrated Akiba's Trip anime and Sore ga Seiyuu. The main writing credit goes to Hyoudou Kazuho, who has worked with Hiroshi on all of his directorial projects but doesn't have any especially interesting work to his name. The biggest chance this has to be even marginally worthy as a successor to Pripara is if they continue to draw on the extended family of Pretty series creators, like Pripara did to a large extent. With Moriwaki's steady hand removed, I don't have high hopes, but if they killed Pripara for a show that's not even decent I am going to be upset.

26. Aikatsu Friends!: So Stars is ending and a new generation of Aikatsu is here as well. I can't let this pass unnoticed because Kido-chan is pegged to be one of the new Aikatsu leads and I'm always thirsty for new Kido-chan anime. I didn't really like Stars, so I hope this new one is more on the silly side, like joji anime really should be.

27. Cutie Honey Universe: Rember Cutie Honey? I mean, I don't, but a lot of people do. Apparently it's the 50th anniversary of Nagai Gou's venerable battle girl series, so they're doing a revival of it. I really dig the neo-retro art style going on here, and the cast is absolutely star-studded (our current darling, Kurosawa Tomoyo, is included among the likes of Hanazawa Kana, Tamura Yukari, Horie Yui and Kugimiya Rie) so I just might check it out.

28. Steins;Gate Zero: I really don't know if I want to watch this. Steins;Gate wasn't the worst of the semicolon anime; in fact, the first half of the series was greatly enjoyable, but I don't think I need to retread the infamous "shooting of the moeblob" that led to the godawful second half. It's got Christina, I guess. I just really don't know if I can subject myself to Okabe again.

29. Megalobox: This looks technically amazing, I just don't know if I'm interested in it. Will probably wait to hear other people's opinions before I check it out, if I ever do.

30. Gegege no Kitarou: I don't think I'll actually watch this, but the latest version of the classic children's anime has been getting some attention because the character designs for the female characters are, how you say, Extremely Good. They're definitely good enough that I'm tempted to check it out. Dat Nekomusume...

31. Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory: It really happened. I'm including this as the highest-profile show I definitely won't be watching. I haven't seen any of the other FMP anime, so it would be stupid to try and jump in here. The subtitle being abbreviated "IV" (for season 4) is very cute though.

I don’t know how to rank shorts so heres those:

Tachibanakan To Lie Anguru: It's time for another Yuri Hime anime! All you need to know about how hype I am for this show is the tagline: 'The harem manga protagonist is a girl!?' Tsuda Minami is once again going to have to be hard gay, this time with five different girls apparently. I'm especially looking forward to the Mikakoshi-voiced blonde. Unfortunately, being a Creators in Pack anime, it's a short...

Fumikiri Jikan: This is a five minute anime but I absolutely love the premise: girls wait at a train crossing. That's it. You gotta love manga and anime sometimes.