#i think this is the funniest thing ever lmaooooooooo

[zipquips]

i sent my dad a really sweet message about how i put the spock and kirk figurines he got on my desk. he got them for me when i moved to college my freshman year so i would remember him because we have been watching star trek together for years so i told him having them at my desk feels fitting since he spent years engaging in my science interests with me and would spend hours at the dining table trying to help me with my math homework. and without that and the million other ways he's supported me i don't think i would've gotten this far so the kirk and spock figures have come to my desk so it's like he's there with me after all he's done

and after all that, he just answered with "cool" ajdshkasj

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

05/12/2024 – 05/18/2024

Sunday

Week 14 of missing Cipher Academy

Not much to say about Girl Meets Rock except hell yeah Hatocchi get his ass!!!!

UNDEAD UNLUCK IS CRAZY GOOD THIS WEEK WOAGHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHHHH This battle was predicated on the idea of “imagination”, but now it has developed into the idea of “conviction”, given how Feng’s determination helped power the cannon and plant the seed of doubt in Lang’s mind. BUT ALSO NICO OPENING THE WORMHOLE TO THE MASTER RULES ROOM IS AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGG I LITERALLY SCREAMED OUT LOUD LMAOOOOOOOOO it’s simultaneously the funniest shit ever while also being a genius move, and seeing Soul being absolutely flabbergasted is so incredible. But then seeing him appear to feel genuinely frustrated and sad at Lang’s defeat is also really interesting…of course Tozuka would give the villains compassion and care for each other…love is one of the central themes of UU after all…and this makes this war all the more compelling… That last spread is genuinely so beautiful…Lang conceding defeat and granting her foe some happiness in her final moments…NicoIchi marriage…it’s just so peak… I don’t know how UU manages to top itself every week but god it feels good to be a part of the journey.

Obligatory beach episode in Oshi no Ko is fine, there are some fun jokes in there. And the love triangle seems to be resolving itself…if not for the Ruby thing LMAO

I’m glad they got that guy out of the air in Dandadan, because the drawings of hand to hand combat are just gorgeous.

Damn, the information drop in One Piece is actually insane…it feels surreal to be finally hearing history that I first got hints about literally ten years ago…

Ahghhrhghghaeujglhgeayhgj the new SpyFam chapter…Martha/Henry is so so so so so so sooooo good…SpyFam is so good when it’s a genuine war drama because it doesn’t shy away from how war permeates and affects society…the kids going through air siren drills and the talk of drafts and everyone’s futures…Martha suffering the loss of her dream and taking control of her life by enrolling in the army and confessing to Henry, only for the bell of war to toll once more and shove a wedge between them that will last for most of their lives…agh… I really hope they get together, and not just at the end of the manga like a lot of shounen manga like to do because I want to see them explore their new dynamic in their old age… If only every manga was as proactive and caring about romance as Undead Unluck is…

I reread Hoshi Dake ga Shitteru to see if I would want to buy it when the officially licensed book comes out and I think I will…! The writing in this was always pretty refreshing to read, and it’s fun and realistic to watch Kengo and Sora slowly orbit around each other and read each other’s intentions until they finally concede that they’re in love. And the astronomy theming and all this talk about dreams is just the cherry on top because it reminds me of Twin Spica. It’s an 8/10 for me, and I’m looking forward to picking up the physical version.

Finally finished reading If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late… I’ve harped on about my issues with this series enough, so I’ll just say that the gist of my problem with it is that it’s a fairly shallow narrative. I’m sure that kids enjoy it, and I probably did as a kid myself, but it’s not particularly rewarding to revisit as an adult because there’s no added depth to be found. Just a quirky series banking on punny humor and the allure of a big mystery and a secret society that lets kids work for them for whatever reason. Unfortunately I’m committed to seeing this series through to the end, so you’ll probably get a lot more griping from me.

Man…I think I’m genuinely too stupid to understand Monogatari. I finished Nekomonogatari Black today and I just feel confused… Monogatari’s trademark of long-winded conversations just leave me always playing catch up as I try to understand the line I just heard while the next line is being said. I went to go read some essays about Nekomonogatari and I think I get it more now, but I don’t get Araragi at all…I rarely do… Maybe I should read the books, at least I can control the pacing there…but I feel like Monogatari might just not be for me, because I can hardly feel emotionally impacted by it when I can’t tell what’s going on. I really wanted to like Monogatari, though…it seems to mean a lot to a lot of people and I love Cipher Academy by the same author so much so I don’t know why this just isn’t clicking for me…

I watched the second episode of Smartypants and it was about as mildly entertaining as the first. Jess’ presentation felt the most straightforward, just straight up facts rather than jokes lol. Jacob’s was solid and genuinely funny at times and came to a satisfying conclusion, much like Trapp’s in the last episode, but I think my favourite of the three has to be Katie’s for her sheer commitment and enthusiasm. I relate, as an egg lover myself…

Monday

Living Dead…Sleeping Dead… Having now read the ending, the name of the manga hits like a truck… Both can refer to Sada, of course, but I’m also inclined to believe that Living Dead also refers to Mamiya in a way… He was aimless in life, only chasing the one ambition he knew and leaving behind the rest of the world in the process… But Sada brought him back…and tried to keep him there, even using up his last moments to try and impart that message to him… Meanwhile, the Sleeping Dead moniker makes me want to die because it’s what Mamiya desperately wanted for Sada in the end…but of course it couldn’t come to pass… This story was never going to end happily… I was surprised to see Mamiya just straight up admit his feelings, but I suppose it was the last chapter so the mangaka wanted to get things moving along. But god, seeing them being intimate and Mamiya slowly opening up to happiness was so incredible…and it only made the ending all the more tragic. Narratively, I think the story was a bit all over the place and not always in control of what direction it wanted to go in, but that last conversation somehow tied everything together and illuminated the themes of the work so beautifully that I can’t even be mad. But god I feel so miserable…8/10…

At least the new Oni to Tengoku chapter cheered me up somewhat…Aoki and Tengoku’s tentative relationship and its down to earth writing is always fun to read about…

And then I read Koisuru Psycho no Shirayuki-kun lmao It seems to be a quintessential edgy “get revenge on your cartoon bullies” escapist power fantasy, but the BL theming and excellent figure art have intrigued me… I normally wouldn’t read a story like this but sure, I’ll watch the “crazy” guy kill some kids for his crush, why not. Everything about this story is so over the top, though, so let’s see if I get annoyed enough to drop it before it concludes.

Tuesday

I’d been itching to read another Sammy Keyes book so I picked up Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception today and finished it in one sitting lol I love this series so much that I’m trying savour them and not read them all at once, so it’s always a treat when I do get to read one. This entry was pretty cute, with some musings about the value and purpose of art in a way that a younger audience could appreciate and some more progress on the Sammy/Casey romance front, but the highlight for me was definitely seeing Rita take more of an active role in the mystery. It’s nice to learn more about her and see her step out of the “worried guardian” role for a bit, and the old people love quandrangle was really fun to watch play out. Personally I think Rita deserves to have a fling with Lance before marrying Hudson but that’s just me. The mystery was kind of the weakest link here, given how 80% of its runtime was less so about a specific crime and more “things seem suspicious, better investigate”, but it was still decently interesting.

Wednesday

I tried reading Moju by Edogawa Ranpo, but the translation was a little off and filled with typos and grammatical errors that I couldn’t really get into it (and after looking up the translator, it seems like this wasn’t a one-time occurrence). The intro itself was also meh – it seems a little ridiculous that after two run-ins with the blind man, Ranko wouldn’t connect the dots right away that the weird guy wearing sunglasses at her show is the same guy??? And I’m sure the ero-guro stuff was shocking for 1931, but now it just reads as edgy slasher stuff. So yeah, no thanks.

Thursday

DunMesh with a side of excellent spicy noodles today – I used水煮鱼 broth, shanxi noodles, ricecakes filled with cheese, spring onions, and some meatballs I made yesterday and oh my god it was so good. Possibly the best “throw stuff together” meal I’ve ever made for myself. I felt very immersed in the dungeon cooking experience. Watching Izutsumi learn how to actually relate to people and be a part of a team is very cute! Also a nice lesson in learning how to deal with things you don’t like in order to move forward in life.

Friday

Drag Race All Stars 9 huh… I have to be honest…I’m not really feeling this season… I’m glad that they’re competing for these great causes, but now it feels like Drag Race is trying too hard to be a “feel good” activism season and the vibes are just way off. This overly positive tone was fitting when it was the winners season and we were celebrating the girls’ achievements and how skilled they are at their craft, but it’s not really working for me here. I guess part of the issue is that there isn’t anyone I’m particularly rooting for in this group? And then not having eliminations sucked a lot of tension out of the room… I think I’ll actually skip this season entirely. I’ve been watching every main Drag Race and All Stars season since 6 and 3 respectively, but I’m just not compelled enough to continue with this one. I did watch the first episode, though, and it was alright. The song performance was weirdly good in a way where I feel like production stepped in to help (it definitely felt like they were trying to avoid turning the charity song into a meme if one of the verses flopped), but then the sudden perfume themed runway threw me way off. This is something that would’ve been its own main challenge back in the day (flashbacks to that extremely weird animated sidekick challenge from season 9??), and seeing it thrown in here for seemingly no reason was so weird. At least the voiceovers were all pretty funny, and the outfits were nice…except for Gottmik’s. Literally what was that…the placement of the chains was so weird and random and unflattering, and the base was just a basic black dress… Gottmik was a favourite of mine on season 13, so this was a bit of a disappointment. Plastique’s outfit was pretty amazing, I was marvelling at the mechanics of having two sets of wings that closed over each other…it’s definitely a step up from the Courtney Act wings, though those still have a special place in my heart. But yeah, the vibes are just off and I don’t want to watch the rest of the season.

Saturday

To be honest I was sad today but then a four hour video essay I’ve been anticipating for two years got posted just as I was about to eat dinner so I spent most of my day watching that instead of anything else

[dishands]

55

I was thinking about this all day. Trying to figure out which one I wanted to talk about. In my 11th grade year of high school, I was really focusing on track, my mental health, and grades. Only thing I actually cared about besides family and all. Anyways, let’s call this person “KJ”, KJ was a very clingy, emotional person, at first glance. All she wanted was attention and that was understandable. Um, this is where it gets very confusing. As we were talking for like days and night, she said “We are a couple now,” my dumbass was like okay great. That should’ve been a warning for me. I barely knew anything about her besides KJ name and where she was from. She kept asking me to FaceTime her and call her all the time, and I finally got the courage to. We would talk for hours and hours about nonsense and it was really nice at first.

Suddenly, she would shut me off and not tell me anything until like two weeks later. I thought something happened to her, but she was always posting stuff on Snapchat, looking at my posts, and reading my messages. This whole story is fucked. She came back talking about how her phone was stolen and I just said okay and didn’t think else about it. Until, she mentioned someone name uhhhh “Zay”, which was her ex. I don’t like dealing with ex(s) and the funniest thing about it we lived near each other and she wanted to fight me. Anyways, she showed me screenshots how they were STILL DATING when we just started dating. I was already frustrated with my graphic design assignment. I wish I still had the messages because it was literally the funniest thing ever. I kinda sent her ex an threat to fuck off (Gordon Ramsay voice). Zay sent me her location and I was speechless and decided to continue texting her which was a good thing. Ugh. Zay basically told me that was dating two people at the same time and I should just drop her. Zay also said she was saying how she wanted to have sex with her and be her girl. My stubborn ass thought she was lying and just said I believed KJ anyway. Keep in mind I kept texting Zay for further investigation lmao. We argued like a lot about stupid reasons. We were both in the wrong. Finally, around May, it was KJ birthday the day of my State Champion for track. We are in the hotel room and I’m all happy and shit. Blah, blah, blah. When are as heading home, we were arguing again about something (I can’t remember shit). She would always post “someone call me (girls only)”. I was trying my hardest to be nice but it got to a point that I couldn’t anymore. We broke up that night. Three days later, we got back together then she suddenly shut me off. This is what infuriated me about KJ. Instead of saying it she’ll just leave me clueless. She went back to her old ways: ignoring me, talking to other people, and just being a dick. I kept apologizing, apologizing, and apologizing for what happened. She looked and left. So I left a long ass paragraph how I felt about the situation. I remember crying and being so mad typing it lmaooooooooo. She replied and sent me a streak— basically a nude. To everyone because her ex got it too :)), like two months went by and went right back because we started flirting. She cut me off again and this time I was so so so depressed. I was so desperate for a answer from her. I said anything, I mean anything to get her attention. Blaaaaaaaaah. I left her alone and met someone else that following summer. She was sweet but that didn’t last long because of reasons. The ending result, I’m best friends with Zay to this day and what the fuck.