#might as well use the skills I learned to make my hobby more productive if there's even a little bit of interest

[splashink-games]

Interest Check!

hi friends!

I've been feeling like I should spend more of my time being creative/productive.

in addition to reviews, would any of you be interested if I decided to stream (games/writing/dev stream) or make videos (let's plays, reviews, dev logs, etc.)??

[desultory-novice]

Here's a probably bizarre one

Are you into Table Top RPGs? And if so what do you think a Kirby themed one would look like? In just broad strokes at least, not asking you to get in depth with all the numbers or something

I'm trying to actually make one along with a few friends of mine as a "little" group project, we're throwing out ideas, figuring stuff out and what not. Turns out making a proper TTRPG is difficult and requires a lot of thought.

I used to be! In my family, playing D&D (2nd edition!!) was like watching sports for other families! I dropped out of the hobby sometime in my teens, as I started to struggle more with roleplaying ^^; and though I've shown interest in the occasional system and even played in a handful of one-shots, a lot of my knowledge comes from overhearing stories from my siblings, who are still into it!

When I brought this concept up to my sister briefly, she mentioned something (and maybe it was spun off something legendary blogger Prokopetz had said) about trying to "twist" D&D into a system for telling stories it just wasn't keyed to tell! That you CAN do that, sure, but maybe it's not the most efficient way...?

Soooo...

...In that sense two TTRPGs that come to mind when I think about alternate ways you could do a Kirby game other than just "explore dungeon and kill monsters!" (...Note that these might not be perfect fits either, they're just ones I've heard about and caught my interest!)

Magica Logia, a Japanese-only RPG (sorry...! ^^;;) that was really popular on NicoDouga/NicoVideo that is mostly based around playing these magicians with true forms (O~ooh, Soul Forms, you say?) who go around solving magical incidents!

While there IS combat, most of it is about learning what is even going wrong and using your skills (which are more like "concepts" and all HIGHLY interpretable) to detect just WHO has been affected through roleplay scenes that play out in a turn based structure!

It was REALLY popular to do long videos of characters from various games and anime playing versions of themselves via Magica Logia and so I often think that it suits a variety of more story-based settings! (Like, a huge focus on the story of a session is finding out who has been POSSESSED by the evil forces this time and I hope you can see my vision for how well that would work for Kirby!)

Another that I'm slightly less familiar with but I've always wanted to learn more about is Ryuutama, which, to quote the main website, describes itself as "Miyazaki's Oregon Trail?!" XD

A huge focus of the game seems to be around "regular" seeming characters going to new places because they're filled with wanderlust (and Kirby IS a wanderer!) and managing the resources to get there! (How much food you have at any given time feels like it would be a natural fit forany Kirby TTRPG) 

I also like that the journey and the places you go seem to be decided on by the group as a whole, with everyone contributing something! It reminds me very much of how magical various places in Pop Star (or the rest of the Kirby-verse galaxy) can be! And I think that kind of inventiveness would be wonderful.

Do you really want Kirby and the gang to explore a re~gular old cave? If it's going to feel like Kirby, the cave ought to have... Oh, crystal stalagmites in the shape of ice cream! Or that reflect your image like funhouse mirrors! Or the ceiling is covered with moss that acts like glow-in-the-dark bedroom stars!

...Again, I haven't seen this one played before like I have with the other one so I'm mostly going off concepts I find appealing from the product page! It does make you think though!

-

As for ideas of my own, I'm split when it comes to character creation. Either everyone should be allowed to make their own "Kirby"/Puffball and you KEEP it to puffballs, or you pass on playing Kirby and let people choose from a variety of commonly returning ally races (Poppy, Simirror, Birdo, Dee, Chilly, Joe, etc...) The reason I would suggest going either all puffs or all non-puffs is because even though my ideal Kirby TTRPG is not amazingly battle heavy, I still think that would really cut down on any questions of POWER SCALING (my beloathed... :shiver:)

I think that creativity in the interpretation of game mechanics should be emphasized, and that smaller numbered dice would be better (D4s or D6s, a D10 at most??)

I can see stats being more akin to MOODS rather than like, physical prowess and how fast you are/magic potential etc? After all, Kirby is strong enough to tackle on otherworldly horrors...but the comics often depict him as being unable to when he is, say, [Tired] or [Hungry] so having to balance your player character's ~total health~ as opposed to just their HP might make things feel more Kirby-esque, as opposed to just a Kirby-themed D&D reskin! (Not that there's anything wrong with that, if that's where one's interest lies!)

Another thing from Ryuutama that I liked the sound of was each character having a key [Personal Item] that is important to them! Maybe it's not EVEN magical, maybe it's just...emotionally significant?! Maybe part of the goal of story creation can be discovering what ties these characters together through an exploration of their items! (Everyone declares theirs to the game master and the game master builds the adventure around that?)

Anyway, I think I've made my preferences for a "non-standard" style TTRPG here clear! Sorry if that wasn't your desired direction...!

-

But yes, good luck with you and your friend's project! I'm sure it IS a lot of work! I don't know how much progress you've made in the week it took me to get to this one, but I would love to hear more if you think you've narrowed in on your idea! And I'm sure a bunch of others here would be interested as well!

[lemonthepotato]

Narratives Schools Teach Us About Language Learning That I Dislike

Maybe this is rich for a monolingual to say, but I hate this narrative we’re told growing up that English speakers are just “lazy” when it comes to learning other languages. It’s a lie, and honestly, I think it just blatantly ignores the reasoning why English is so widely learned… cough, colonialism. The school system? Not wanting to teach us things that might us uncomfortable or break the historical narratives? Never heard of that before. Sarcasm.

No, other countries aren’t just super intelligent compared to English natives (I find intelligence narratives in general rooted in… many things). The reason why someone living in Wales might not speak fluent Italian is the same reason why someone living in Japan probably doesn’t speak fluent English, why would they? Well, also the fact English education in Japan is the equivalent of Spanish education in American classrooms… not very good, but mainly the lack of a need to speak it.

And that’s not laziness, it’s that the human brain is wired to go with the more practical options, the ‘easy’ ways. This is why I believe motivation to be a myth, something I have been reminding myself recently as I go through a pretty fucking difficult time in my life. Motivation isn’t something you strive for in order to be productive, it’s something that makes you want to be productive. Does that make sense? Motivation is the reason we do things, it can’t be forced.

It’s not lazy for someone living in America to not know fluent French… because they don’t live in France, so the chances that they’ll need to speak French, unless they’re living in certain parts of Maine or Vermont or something, are low. The same is true for other countries.

I don’t think language learning should be shamed into people. From a young age, it’s driven into us that the lack of proficiency is our fault, not the system’s, based on a lack of discipline. My high school forced us to take two language courses, and sometimes you wouldn’t even end up where you wanted regarding that.

I feel like this narrative just further discourages people from learning other languages- you’re not “skilled” enough. If you don’t have the time to learn it, you’re just not “motivated” enough. Let’s ignore the fact that unless your only hobby is being a polyglot (based tho) you have other shit to attend to- you’re just “lazy.”

I think the easiest language for someone to learn is the one you can immerse yourself in easiest. After putting myself through two weeks of nothing but Japanese content with minimal grammar study, I also think ‘immersion’ is overhyped. I think “you’re not immersing enough” is the new form of shaming, honestly. But I’ve learned from my mistakes, so I’m learning about Spanish grammar before I immerse. Spanish? Yes, I’ve switched to Spanish. Why? Well, growing up I tried learning many languages, and ended up giving up and throwing 5 years into lazily ‘learning’ Esperanto. Didn’t really work, I could form sentences but vocabulary was lacking and relied on google translate. I truly believe duolingo doesn’t work, even for ‘easy’ languages.

But, anyway, I felt shame for the fact I couldn’t learn a ‘harder’ language. But you know what? Don’t let anyone shame you out of learning an “easy” language. I wanted to learn Japanese and French too because I felt like I would’ve been too lazy or basic learning Spanish, but let me tell you, there is nothing wrong with learning an “easy” language. I don’t even believe there are languages “easy” for English speakers based on objective difficulty.

I think it’s about how much you can expose yourself to the language more so, though, yeah, obviously an English speaker will struggle more with learning Mandarin Chinese than French. But like. I think having a “beginner” language that you learn is perfectly fine. You’re learning a language and that’s okay. And also, don’t let people do the opposite either, and shame you out of learning a “harder” or even more obscure language. Just do what works for you.

I’m focusing more on Spanish because it’s easier to expose myself to; that’s all. Sure, learning Japanese sounds like fun, but it’s not practical. I think it’s okay to look at a language, study it a bit, but not aim for total fluency. I think you can appreciate a language without focusing so much on the end goal. Yeah, sure, if you want to learn Frisian (a language pretty close to English, so probably ‘easier’) but you think you’ll get more coolness points for learning Korean… you can do that. But you don’t have to start now. You can look at a language and think “I like this. I’ll study this from time to time. I appreciate this language” without feeling like a failure for not understanding it.

This goes for non-native English speakers, by the way, or people who speak very different languages than English. You’re not a failure for not understanding it. I also think there’s a discussion to be had about the opposite; shaming people for NOT speaking English. I’ve actually heard stories of people going to Japan and being upset that they can’t communicate with Japanese people. Yeah, uh, you’re in JAPAN? What are you expecting?

So, fuck it, I don’t care if learning Spanish will make me “basic.” Not everyone has to be a hyperpolyglot and there seems to be a weird internet measuring contest of who can learn the most languages. Also, I find it really funny when people assume I can speak Irish because I’m Irish. It’s actually very hard to learn Irish unless you live in very specific parts of Ireland, trust me.

What the fuck was I even talking about again? I went on a tangent about how I was basically like a weeb but for American culture growing up and then deleted it. Try growing up on the internet and not developing a half-American half-Irish accent. Btw despite people telling me that, I was never really aware I had an Irish accent. I used to not really care about my culture growing up, honestly, especially since I’m detached from it, but I kinda like being Irish, now. Will I ever learn Irish, though? PFFT. No. Irish class in high school KILLED my motivation because not only did I want to learn Spanish & French but got stuck in the Spanish & Irish classes, but I’m convinced that language teachers don’t even know or care about the languages they’re teaching.

Anyway, I swear I had a point with this post… see, sometimes I want to make well-structured essays on this app, but I’m just too incoherent, man. Oh, speaking of languages, considering Co09 the flip side came out and sucked, it made me curious if there was any Spanish fandubs of the original games. And you know what? There was a trailer for one a year ago, but it has like, 1,000 views, which sucks! Oh, yeah, another reason why I want to focus on Spanish > Japanese is that a lot more media I like is available in Spanish than Japanese. Also, Spanish has, like, an easier barrier of entry? Japanese has kanji.

You know, a lot of people shit on kanji, but I think I can acknowledge “it makes things 10x harder for me, but that’s okay.” Like, for me, the thing with kanji isn’t even the amount of kanji, it’s how many strokes some kanji have! I have poor eyesight 😭 at the same time, though, removing kanji from Japanese is like… I think it would get confusing fast because from what I’ve heard, it’s like, uh, okay, what’s a metaphor I can use? Imagine removing contractions from English but if 80% of English was contracted. Actually, avoiding using contractions was something I did as a young teen… for some reason. I just felt a need to speak “proper” or else I was bad or improper. But it’s just awkward. Sorry, “it is” just awkward.

Another thing- I’ve kinda grown to hate Esperanto. It’s really hard to immerse yourself in a conlang, and honestly, I should’ve just spent those 5 years learning Spanish instead of losing confidence. If you’re going to learn a language that’s very similar to English, kinda easier for an English speaker, why not learn the one that’s actually practical? Also, I know I said language learning shouldn’t be about impressing people, but I just- I don’t even like Esperanto anymore! I’m kinda embarrassed about it, frankly. It’s not even a good auxlang. Though, I will say, people who say Toki Pona is better as an auxlang are kinda funny. Imagine you’re in a burning building and trying to communicate with your Spanish friend in Toki Pona. You’d spend more time thinking about how to say “fire!” than running out the building. So, honestly, I think Esperanto is better in that regard, but I think Toki Pona is a better language because it accomplished its goal. To be fair, though, I think Esperanto kinda gets an unfair rep. Like, yeah, it didn’t age the best, but back then, there wasn’t really any social media, Zamenhof was polish, so it’s not like he could make the perfect auxlang with all languages considered. Nowadays, if you want to know more about a language, you can just use google. Back then, Wikipedia didn’t really exist.

Also, really depressing fact about Esperanto is that people were killed in WW2 for speaking Esperanto. I wonder how much of Esperanto’s lack of success has to do with the historical repression/censorship of the language. To be honest, I don’t even know if it’s possible to make a “good” universal auxlang.

But honestly, I find the fact English is such a widely spoken language more depressing than anything. So many non-natives learn English because it’s inescapable.

The moral of the story is that if you speak another language and want me to learn it, just refuse to speak English to me. The social pressure will be too embarrassing and I will buy 10 Swedish textbooks or Bengali or Serbian. Okay, I have no idea why those were the first three languages I thought of.

Anyway, I hope nothing in this post comes off the wrong way. Overall, I think that people being colonised into learning English, and then the education system putting individual blame onto English young children for not being “smart” or “motivated” enough to learn a foreign language, is, er… definitely problematic. I also think it’s bullshit to get mad at foreign people for not knowing English, too, obviously. Just like, be chill, god damn. Language learning should be done out of a genuine desire to learn a language.

[bittertarot]

honestly i agree about going for money in life cause rich ppl get to do so much but us average folk are like too average to have a lavish lifestyle as theirs. heck id even do music if i had any talent not just for money but the things these groups get to do nowadays versus what life was like before social media came about is a huge difference. sometimes its just a matter of being either too old or not young enough to do something like that nowadays as most music groups seem to sadly be getting younger and younger, i also feel like for those who have actual talent honestly id just go for it but theres always smth like age or different circumatances or perhaps not getting the right opportunities either or being somewhat limited in options. i do think life gets to a point where theres fewer options the older you are as its best to learn from a young age in order to succeed and gain that money. idk these are just my opinions you can disagree if you want.

so many folk fretting about fs and whatnot when they really never tried being single like theres not much responsibility besides whoever else is in your life and again honestly i do not think it matters if we do or dont date an fs. i think people were fretting about jungkooks fs so much lately bc they didnt want to be single or wanted jk for themselves and even if idols do date it would never make their fans happy for their idols which is sad

the fact its even called a dating scandal in korea shows how narrow minded it still is like what do people expect idols to be doing? dating rocks? no one? but i also think there would be some uproar regardless bc of who they are or their title as idols. like they can date a normal non idol but their fans still going to be upset that it isnt themselves. ahh well they cant win :( hence why in a way im glad im not an idols fs lol thered still be many cons or in general consequences. i do think idols are a bit more open minded in terms of other cultures and what they might want in their fs but their fans should accept its just never going to be them

sorry for my rambling and sorry for your loss too hope u feel better soon <3 ^^

Hello! So, I don't remember when I said "going for rich people is a good plan" or whatever but I mean there's points to both sides. To accumulate that wealth you need to be willing to put the hard work in, even if you marry into it. If you're a child of a wealthy family, you need to put in the work to maintain that wealth and legacy. It's a chain of hard work - I personally think you can do anything whether you're old, young, etc. It's just a matter of your mindset and how much work you're willing to put in! These days, it's mainly more about the connections you have and the hard work you put in. Social media can make you famous/popular, but it cannot single-handedly generate millions unless your life goal is to be an influencer doing TikTok dances 5 times a day for a living. I think learning certain skills (e.g. budgeting) are important and can help you establish that wealth earlier on, but you can always teach yourself. I have no prior experience owning a business, but the skills I learned throughout daily tasks over the course of my life have helped me to reach a point where an idea is starting to blossom into an actual product. And I agree, being single gives you more time to work on yourself to allow people to enter your life without the situation feeling forced. You get to become more comfortable with yourself, you make life-long connections/friendships, you develop hobbies, stories to tell your future friends, etc. It's a time to establish yourself and experience personal growth when you're single, not stress over finding a new relationship!! I think each relationship, friendship, etc brings a life lesson alongside it - so it doesn't matter whether that person is the person you intend to marry or not. Just enjoy the present without panicking about the future, that's the best advice I can think to tell everyone as well as my past self <33 It is quite sad, a lot of idols seem lonely. Jackson Wang is a prime example of this, he's expressed this loneliness a lot. Idols have the right to be happy without their "fans" criticising them for wanting a future where they have a family or just aren't dancing on stage anymore. That is quite narrow-minded, I think it'd be better if netizens and delusional international fans took a break from Kpop content for a month and got some hobbies, worked on themselves and enjoyed life for a bit. To an extent, I do pity some idols FS that I read for. They seem very closed off/introverted and would not do well if the relationship were to get leaked to the media, especially if their information is also leaked and they are a non-idol. I just hope they will be alright and fans will be more accepting sooner or later ! Idols ideal types may not always be the kind of people they'll marry - but they do definitely know what they like in a person. Fans do need to accept that the most likely case is that it is not them! However, the industry thrives off of parasocial relationships. It's fine, no worries! This discussion has certainly been interesting, feel free to respond to this via another ask if you would like to. And thank you so much :] <3

[joyeeuxe]

Reading Chong Yue operator file

(with some, i mean a lot of commentary)

I really adore him ughhhh, a good big brother we finally deserve

I used google translate to tl texts from aceship so it might not be 100% accurate, keep it in mind. Will edit here and there if i find more reliable translations

And let's see

Chong Yue works as martial instructor (he taught wushu) in RI

Ling requested Doctor not too overwork.assign him to many missions since Chong Yue came to RI to rest

Chong Yue files censored his combat skill test result as ■■

His medical test indicates that he has normal body, a very well worked out one (the one who wrote seems kinda thirsty lmao)

Archive 1

He has strict morning exercise routines everyday and because he teaches martial art, everyone learning with him are expected to follow his routine

NIAN ROPED HIM INTO HER MOVIE PROJECT LMAO

Everyone noted that he is just a normal guy™ compared to his little sisters

They said he is gentle and nice person auhwhdwjjs da ge

Archives 2

Initially other OPs are avoiding him because they think he is a serious person

But then when other OPs discovered he have many hobbies (wood carving, literature, poetry and brewing coffee etc) they started to invite him to various said activities and got shocked when he accepted their invitation lmaoo

He is interested in modern cultures and open to try new things

When he joined the movie production, he learned how the technologies relating to film making in two months 😭 he's a fast learner huh

EVERYONE BASICALLY SAYING HE IS OLD BUT NOT REALLY A TECH BOOMER HELLPP

Archives 3

Nian said that Dusk was reluctant (?) To see Chong Yue when he visited, so she created a painting of her and a hut with surrounding mountains (she basically trapped Chong Yue inside her painting for a whole night). And by the morning, Chong Yue basically shattered the painting and Dusk asked when did he find out, he replies he knows from the start because which big brother that doesn't recognize his little sister? (Chong Yue knows that the 'Dusk' accompanying throughout they day/night was just a painting) and Nian commented that Chong Yue was playing along just to make Dusk happy

Chong Yue was trying to persuade Dusk to go and live with him and Ling at the frontline (basically he doesn't want her to be lonely and a shut in) but he failed yeah lol

(AUGGH MY HEART DA GEEEE 😭)

Nian mentioned that when Chong Yue wakes up (as a Sui fragments, he sealed himself and molded a mortal body, it seems that Chong Yue is in mortal body and the rest of his siblings are not because Nian said that the 2nd brother will try to get Chong Yue to teach him how to do that after knowing this secret) seems like his 2nd brother knows how to do it too

Apparently the sword on his tail is where he sealed his true form??

Archives 4

This archives talks about Chong Yue wanting to retire after defending Yumen for so long

It said that Chong Yue hates killing the most yes he is the one who did killing the most too (the war and all)

He has acquaintances with many people, but the more acquaintances he has, the fewer he knows (god this sounds so sad...ahjbfjhef)

Chong Yue expressed that he loves the mortal world so much and wished that the world to stay in peace (as in not let Sui get revived and wreck more havoc and no more war i guess). That he is no longer 'Shuo' (his real name) but now 'Chong Yue' (his mortal name) because Chong Yue is a part of this mortal world (CRIESS)

[drbanewell-blog]

Unlocking Your Potential:

The Journey of Lifelong Learning

Welcome to the start of an exciting adventure! Lifelong learning means always being curious and eager to learn new things, no matter how old you are. It’s about growing and improving yourself every day. In our fast-changing world, lifelong learning is super important. It’s the key to reaching your full potential and living a happy, fulfilling life.

Why Lifelong Learning Matters

You might wonder why lifelong learning is such a big deal. Here are a few reasons:

Staying Up-to-Date: The world is changing fast, and new skills are needed all the time. Lifelong learning helps you keep up and take advantage of new opportunities.

Keeping Your Brain Sharp: Learning new things keeps your brain active and healthy, reducing the risk of memory problems as you get older.

Feeling Accomplished: Learning can make you feel proud and satisfied. It adds fun and excitement to your life.

Advancing in Your Career: People who keep learning often move up in their jobs because they have valuable and up-to-date skills.

The Power of a Growth Mindset

Lifelong learning starts with a growth mindset. This means believing that you can always get better at something with effort and practice. It makes you more curious, open to challenges, and willing to try new things. A growth mindset is like the engine that drives lifelong learning.

Simple Tips for Lifelong Learning

Here are some easy ways to make learning a part of your daily life:

Set Learning Goals: Decide what you want to learn and set clear, small goals. Whether it’s learning to cook a new recipe or picking up a new hobby, having goals helps you stay focused.

Make a Plan: Schedule a little time each day or week for learning. Even 20 minutes a day can make a big difference over time.

Stay Curious: Always ask questions and explore new ideas. Be open to different perspectives and experiences.

Use Technology: There are many online resources, apps, and courses that make learning easy and fun. I will be introducing several of these in future blog posts.

Join a Learning Community: Find people who love learning too. Join clubs, attend workshops, or participate in online groups to share ideas and stay motivated. To get you off to a good start, check out my Facebook™ Fan Page dedicated to my passion of Lifelong Learning. You may also want to join my Facebook™ Group that is dedicated to helping others to reach their full potential and to lead a richer, more fulfilling life.

Product Reviews and Recommendations

In future blog posts, we’ll explore different topics related to lifelong learning. We’ll also review products and recommend tools, courses, and books that can help you on your learning journey. If you’re 45 or older and looking to reach your full potential, these resources will be especially useful.

Upcoming Topics Include:

Best Online Courses for Lifelong Learners: Reviews of online learning platforms.

Must-Read Books for Lifelong Learning: Recommendations for books that inspire and educate, from classic self-help to the latest in brain science.

Productivity Tools for Learners: Reviews of apps and tools that help you organize your learning, take better notes, and remember what you learn.

Amazon Product Links

In future blog posts, I will include direct Amazon links to products that can support your lifelong learning journey as well as to products that cater to both the personal and professional lives of those 45 and older. This diverse list might include these type items:

Books: From inspiring biographies to how-to guides, I will link to books that expand your knowledge and spark your curiosity.

Tech Gadgets: Devices like tablets, e-readers, and smart pens that make learning more fun and convenient.

Online Course Subscriptions: Easy links to sign up for online learning platforms, so you can start learning right away

Health and Wellness Products: Items that help you stay healthy and energized, which is important for effective learning.

Home and Office Supplies: Devices like ergonomic office chairs, standing desks, and home office lighting solutions that make your immediate environment more comfortable and conducive to learning.

Home Improvement: Items such as smart thermostats, LED lighting solutions, and energy-efficient appliances that take advantage of better performance and overall energy-saving.

Travel: Items like luggage, travel accessories, portable travel chargers, language translators, and passport holders for those desiring to do more traveling in their golden years.

The Bigger Picture: Embracing Lifelong Learning

Lifelong learning is all about seeing change as an opportunity. It’s about being curious and resilient. Whether you’re aiming to advance in your career, start a new hobby, or keep your mind sharp, lifelong learning is the key.

It’s never too late to start. The beauty of lifelong learning is that you can begin at any stage of life. The skills you acquire and the knowledge you gain can open doors to new opportunities and experiences you might never have imagined.

Final Thoughts

Lifelong learning is a journey, not a destination. It’s about continuously growing and improving, both personally and professionally. As you embrace this journey, you’ll discover new passions, meet inspiring people, and find greater fulfillment in life.

In the coming weeks, we’ll explore different aspects of lifelong learning, giving you valuable insights, tips, and resources. Whether you’re looking to boost your career, improve your brain health, or simply find new ways to enrich your life, this blog will be your guide.

Stay tuned for more articles, product reviews, and recommendations to help you on your lifelong learning journey. Together, we’ll unlock your full potential and make learning a lifelong habit.

Welcome to the adventure of lifelong learning!

Join me on this journey, and let’s make lifelong learning a fun and enriching experience together.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Preview of Future Blog Topics:

Building a Learning Community: How to connect with other lifelong learners and create a supportive network.

Time Management: Strategies to balance learning with your other responsibilities.

Effective Learning Techniques: Simple methods like spaced repetition and active recall to help you learn better.

Mindfulness and Learning: How mindfulness can improve your learning, with tips on how to practice mindfulness every day.

The Role of Fitness in Learning: How staying active can boost your brainpower and help you learn better.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate and an affiliate marketer, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase through any of the links above, I am compensated at no cost to you. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I personally write each blog post, however, the outline and portions of the this and future posts may be/have been crafted and/or refined with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

[xiaozeal]

Children | Chibonuunh

Elena...Regal...Twilight...Army...Military...Coronet...hmm...Acid...Valkyries (ty)...hmm...Thanatos...Leviathan...Adam...Eve...Sniper...Precision...Sparrow and Raven...Poseidon...Athena...Eclasty...Prism...and when there's more!~ Love, Distinguish (Kitsugeh), Recognition (Sansuhmnuhn), Latte (Shiguehnun), Xuanjuah, Celestial, Pivon, Pirate, Maroon, Xiu Xin, Xiang Leieh, Migumi Crisin, Scythe, Grimoire , Sex (Xiengshi), Pivotal, Kitenshi (Might)

Yejusen Yuno (YAY MY HIGHER NAME) | Please give my kids the requirements. Thanks!~ (5 of YOUR WISHES CAME TURE YEJUSEN), and also a Psychology Book Requirement: Blink

All Surname | Wei

Requirements

English | University Writing and Critical Thinking Using Literature

Foreign Languages | Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Khmer (Cambodian)

Mathematics: Calculus 2 (I made it to 5000 A+, Yes, Calculus Based Physics, Chain Rule...)

Psychology Requirement: AP Psychology or University Psychology

Social Sciences | Economics, Political Science, Anthropology, Philosophy, History (U.S. History, European History, World History)

Science Requirements | Biology, Chemistry, Physics

Triple Threat | Music (Voice Requirement) Instrument of Choice, Violin, Piano | Dance (Hip-Hop and Ballet) | Acting (Live, such as Production, and Film)

Game Requirements | Dance Dance Revolution | Arcade Games | Carnival Games (AT LEAST ONE WIN from Ring Toss into the Bottle and ONE WIN from the toss into the Giant Jug) | Final Fantasy: VII Completion | Guild Wars ( 5, 20s, with Ascension and Elite Armor, One Elite Armor from Kurzick and One Vabbian Armor, And One Elite Armor from Prophecies) | Beat Prophecies, Factions and Nightfall | Guild Wars 2: Rift Warden Title Requirement, 5 Max Levels (80) with at least ONE Birthday Cake (80) (Deer Rank: 10 Minimum in PvP Arena), World vs. World Requirement (5: Assaulter), Neopets: 1,000,000 Neopoints |Illusen and Jhudora Avatars | Secret Avatars: Get To Mission Level 20, League of Legends: Level 30 Account Requirement, Ragnarok Online: 3rd Class with Transcendence (10 Characters), Mario 64 (255 Stars WITHOUT Looking Up The Strategy Guide), Dynasty Warriors 9 (Unlock Diao Chan SET: Diao Chan, Lu Bu, Duong Zhuo

Swim Requirement: Level 7 Completion with the Certification (There is 10+, The City of Orange) | Competitive Swim

Martial Arts: Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Piguaquan

Leadership/ASB (Board Positions Included) | 4 Year Requirement

Volunteer Hours: 1000 Hours

Steps Requirement: 100,000 Steps

Classes: Honors, AP, IB (Full Diploma)

College Acceptances Requirement: Universities of California (UC) or California State Universities (CSU)

Sport: Volleyball

Bonus | Superlative Tier

Hobbies | 5 Minimum

Cooking Skill Requirement | Cambodian Level

Anime Requirements | Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Sailor Moon, Full Metal Panic, Naruto (First Season Minimum)

Yes, Daddy goes through all of your works, academics especially. Work hard in school!~ Make a lot of friends! Be your best. Finally, learn to grow. Learn from each other. You guys are siblings. Help each other out. Always be there for one another. I taught you guys well! #SiblingSkills Hehehe~

List of Books (Read 12, BLINK is Required of Sythe and Grimore)

Art of War

Eragon

The Romance of The Three Kingdoms

The Da Vinci Code

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Harry Potter

The Hunger Games

The Bad Beginning

Crazy Rich Asians

The Devil Wears Prada

Dracula

China Rich Girlfriend

Rich People Problems

Beyond Good and Evil

Drowned Wednesday

Strawberry Girl

Catching Fire

Mockingjay

The Diary of Anne Frank

Night

The Iliad

Brave New World

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Sons and Lovers

Crime and Punishment

Oedipus Rex

The Most Dangerous Game

The Lottery

Peter Pan

Alice In Wonderland

Two Good Friends (BEST CHILDREN'S BOOK)

The Road

Pride and Prejudice

Frankenstein

Hamlet

Romeo and Juliet

Taming of The Shrew

A Doll's House

The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe

Holes

By The Great Horn Spoon

Little House On The Prairie

Animal Farm

Charlotte's Web

Brisingr

Eldest

Magic Requirement: Elements (Water Focus)

[deerydear]

My ego wants to put on a peacock show, so whatever I'll talk about this: I'm a girl, but this dude is literally like my fucking twin. I used to take steroids and they made me look all manly and shit, and I looked like this! AND MY NAME IS BECKY. I don't look so manly anymore cuz I stopped, but I still look like a cavewoman. .........unga bunga.

ME JANE, YOU TARZAN!

if i could just email myself in 2014 and say "this is what you'd look like if you were a boy" then that would satiate all the curiousity in my bones and I would be able to move on as a funky chick. goddamn! Another interesting thing happened, too... I don't know if this is part of maturity, or if it was the male hormones... because I was like seventeen when I started my two years of taking those..... but, you know how there are some theories that girls prefer more like, soft animal things, and guys tend to like mechanical shit? I mean, I personally found this very true. I kind of used to put on airs that I liked guns, and shit like that... but I wasn't so interested in the pure mechanics of it, or of anything...... I just liked animals, and plants, and living things.

"There are several studies though that suggest that theory of mind may develop earlier in females, and that girls and women are on average better at making inferences about people's mental states and adjusting their behaviour accordingly. These differences may arise, in part, from differences in social interest. Young girls even at 12 months old show a preference for dyadic interactions, spend more time watching a film of a face than a film of a car, and make more eye contact. They are more interested in facial than spatial/mechanical stimuli even at birth."

I'm sure there's exceptions to this, because I do think hormones play a big part in it, and some girls naturally have more testosterone.

It also depends on your genetic code. Some of your genes may be sensitive to particular levels on hormones, while other people's may not.

Such as in stuff like: Androgen-insensitivity syndrome, where someone may have a lot of testosterone in their blood... but their androgen-receptors may not function properly, or at all.... so their cells don't use the testosterone to activate androgen-sensitive genes.

I would also guess that some individual's genes could potentially activate with very little androgen, if the opposite can be true. All our genes come from a series of mutations! Everyone is different! When I started the testosterone, there was a point where I did start getting really.... intensely interested in shit that my old self had thought was incredibly boring and tedious.

I don't care if anyone thinks this is just pigeonholing, because I genuinely felt something happen. Like, it was inside of me. I kind of wish that it didn't happen. I miss just being a frivolous girl. That's such a not-girl thing to say.

I feel like someone might invoke the Placebo effect, but I am pretty sure....... that....

well, okay, so how it happened was more like: "oh shit, i'm not pretty girl anymore. i don't have my beauty to buoy me up anymore to the top echelons of society! i guess... um, i need a better hobby than just sitting and staring at myself in the mirror like the modern day narcissus?" I guess something that could have diverted this feeling was if I had learned some kind of intense mechanical skilled work when I was younger. I mean like, weaving, skinning, knitting, some kind of building. I painted and drew often, but that....... I don't know, it feels good to do something where the point of it is to make a functional product, and it doesn't matter how pretty you are, because functionality is the point. I mean, beauty is very important..... but so is food, warmth, skill....... I think that I coasted by too much on my beauty, instead of 'diversifying my portfolio'. so many people I meet say I'm goddamn beautiful, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I was like...... perfect. As much as I could have ever asked for! I knew this before I made the final decision to take the hormones. I knew I was throwing my lucky hand away. That damn snake in my head just kept saying, "it'll be better this way, i promise, just eat the forbidden fruit, man! take a bite!" now, I'm an exile

I think my other problem was that I just didn't want to make mistakes, so I often didn't want to try new things unless I thought it would go my way right off the bat. Which, there were a lot of things I wanted to do over the years, and now I'm doing them. I really easily could have not done the steroids and still could have learned these lessons. It's not either/or.... I knew this, too... and I just WANTED TO BE 'RIGHT'! I WANTED IT! I AM LUCIFER, MAN! I was the most beautiful, made into the most ugly by my own decision.

sorry to my evil twin, if that sounds like i'm saying that guy is ugly.... he's not really ugly. I wasn't talking about him. At least he's a real dude, and not a woman pretending to be a dude. He's got a ding-dong, he can back up the implication. and I have a poosaaaay, and when I was at that particular crossroads, I knew I could have just chosen to be proud of it. I was investing way too much of my mentality into some kind of ephemereal internet political world that's made-the-fuck-up out of the cut-up-and-stitched-together pieces of other people's lives.

This was written a month ago, or so.

"Those situated in the mode of Lucidity gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of Passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of Dark Inertia go down to the hellish worlds."

--- Lord Krishna, the Bhagavad Gita.

Oh yes, I feel like a man of Passion, who stays in between. In that mode, one neither goes upwards, nor downwards, but stays static. It is his own choice.

I could quote more.

The Blessed Lord said: Again I shall declare to you this supreme wisdom, the best of all knowledge, knowing which all the sages have attained to supreme perfection.

By becoming fixed in this knowledge, one can attain to the transcendental nature, which is like My own nature. Thus established, one is not born at the time of creation nor disturbed at the time of dissolution.

The total material substance, called Brahman, is the source of birth, and it is that Brahman that I impregnate, making possible the births of all living beings, O son of Bharata.

It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kunti, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.

Material nature consists of the three modes- Goodness, Passion and Ignorance. When the living entity comes in contact with nature, he becomes conditioned by these modes.

O sinless one, the mode of goodness, being purer than the others, is illuminating, and it frees one from all sinful reactions. Those situated in that mode develop knowledge, but they become conditioned by the concept of happiness.

The mode of passion is born of unlimited desires and longings, O son of Kunti, and because of this one is bound to material fruitive activities.

O son of Bharata, the mode of ignorance causes the delusion of all living entities. The result of this mode is madness, indolence and sleep, which bind the conditioned soul.

The mode of goodness conditions one to happiness, passion conditions him to the fruits of action, and ignorance to madness.

Sometimes the mode of passion becomes prominent, defeating the mode of goodness, O son of Bharata. And sometimes the mode of goodness defeats passion, and at other times the mode of ignorance defeats goodness and passion. In this way there is always competition for supremacy.

The manifestations of the mode of goodness can be experienced when all the gates of the body are illuminated by knowledge.

O chief of the Bharatas, when there is an increase in the mode of passion, the symptoms of great attachment, uncontrollable desire, hankering, and intense endeavor develop.

O son of Kuru, when there is an increase in the mode of ignorance madness, illusion, inertia and darkness are manifested.

When one dies in the mode of goodness, he attains to the pure higher planets.

When one dies in the mode of passion, he takes birth among those engaged in fruitive activities; and when he dies in the mode of ignorance, he takes birth in the animal kingdom.

By acting in the mode of goodness, one becomes purified. Works done in the mode of passion result in distress, and actions performed in the mode of ignorance result in foolishness.

From the mode of goodness, real knowledge develops; from the mode of passion, grief develops; and from the mode of ignorance, foolishness, madness and illusion develop.

Those situated in the mode of goodness gradually go upward to the higher planets; those in the mode of passion live on the earthly planets; and those in the mode of ignorance go down to the hellish worlds.

When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can know My spiritual nature.

When the embodied being is able to transcend these three modes, he can become free from birth, death, old age and their distresses and can enjoy nectar even in this life.

Arjuna inquired: O my dear Lord, by what symptoms is one known who is transcendental to those modes? What is his behavior? And how does he transcend the modes of nature?

The Blessed Lord said: He who does not hate illumination, attachment and delusion when they are present, nor longs for them when they disappear; who is seated like one unconcerned, being situated beyond these material reactions of the modes of nature, who remains firm, knowing that the modes alone are active; who regards alike pleasure and pain, and looks on a clod, a stone and a piece of gold with an equal eye; who is wise and holds praise and blame to be the same; who is unchanged in honor and dishonor, who treats friend and foe alike, who has abandoned all fruitive undertakings-such a man is said to have transcended the modes of nature.

One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstance, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.

And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal.

[crochetqueenscreations]

Getting Started with Crochet

Hello!

This will be the introductory post on this blog where I talk about all things crochet, and how to get into crocheting as a hobby. While many write off hobbies like crocheting and knitting as silly and not worthwhile, this is a skill that has proven to be a worthwhile investment in many ways. Not only has it been a good hobby to have as a distraction and break from every-day life, but learning to crochet is a practical skill to have in terms of making clothing, gifts, and even products to later be sold. The images below are all examples of things made with crochet technique:

Crocheting a Scarf, 0Cassandra0Clevenger0,  https://flic.kr/ps/2qAJkL, Flikr https://flic.kr/p/pkM6xh,  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As shown in the image above, crocheting has practical purposes. Here, crochet is being used to make a scarf. While simpler stitches can be used, this image shows that by using different stitches, more complex designs can be utilized to make artistic statements at the same time.

Bright Yellow Flower Crochet, singlestitches,  https://flic.kr/ps/HpBk4, Flikr https://flic.kr/p/7y1cyh 

Here, crochet is being used to make a flower aplique. This little flower will most likely be used as part of a larger project and used to decorate a bag, hat, or other item of clothing. Not only does adding details like this make crochet designs prettier in general, but adding them can make pieces even more personal to the designer or intended user of the item.

Crochet Dolls Links to an external site. © 2023 by Hana Zainea Links to an external site.is licensed under CC BY 4.0  

Crochet also can be used to make larger projects, like these dolls that I made in April 2022 (left) and May 2023 (right). These projects demonstrate how crochet can lead to the development of creative thinking and skill progression. Both of these dolls were modeled after some of my favorite music artists (Conan Gray (left) and Harry Styles (right)) and were not meant to be much more than a personal project. Throughout the process of creating them I picked up a lot of useful skills that I apply to different areas of my life. While the general body structure of both dolls was based off of a pattern from a book I’d gotten, there was no instruction on how to make the hair, how exactly to embroider the faces, etc. Because of this. I learned how to modify existing patterns, how to make items completely from scratch, how to embroider, and in general how to be creative in the process of crocheting.

Crochet resistance, Plusea, https://flic.kr/p/27h72wS, https://flic.kr/ps/Z5eaC, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

This piece found above reflects that crochet clothes don't have to be chunky sweaters. The delicate stitch work completed here demonstrates that crochet is extremely versatile in its use.

So now that I’ve provided a few examples on what crochet can do, below I’ve provided information on what a beginner crocheter absolutely has to know, as well as resources, products, videos, and books that helped me when I was first learning how to crochet. I’ll most likely do a later post on beginner stitches, how to crochet, etc. but for now, I’ve provided a link that I think might be useful on the very basics of crochet. This video teaches you basic stitches when crocheting that will be applied or built on in pretty much every future project you’ll make.

Your first project:

Once you’ve mastered how to make general stitches, you can move on to making your first project. When beginning your first project, it can be overwhelming to decide what to make. One of the first projects that I recommend that a beginner make is a crochet beanie. This video in the hyperlink teaches you how to make a simple beanie using beginner stitches, and includes information on exactly how to modify the pattern to fit any size from newborn to adult. 

Another pattern I’d recommend to beginners wanting to express their creative side, is this video on how to make mini crochet monsters. This is another wonderful project that only uses basic stitches, is fairly fast to make, and is helpful in teaching how to work in smaller sizes and many other basic skills that are useful to have alongside crocheting like embroidery, sewing, etc.

Patterns Resources:

Luckily in the crochet world, there’s already a beautiful community that is provided online. Once you learn how to crochet, the sky's the limit to the things you can make. One of my favorite places to find patterns is Ravelry, which is an online community with many free patterns as well as patterns available for purchase. Ravelry is a wonderful place to find patterns as well as find an online community of support. Etsy is another place to find patterns, and if you’re looking to find patterns to trendy clothes, this would be the place to find them.

That's all for now!

[buriedsecretspodcast]

How I learn things (Learning Things: March 20, 2023)

Some things I want to learn, including how to make DIY paranormal investigation gadgets.

I spend a lot of time learning things. From researching paranormal subjects for my podcast to deep diving into my many hobbies, I almost always am juggling multiple projects that require me to delve into different areas. That learning style might be overwhelming for some folks (and I'm sure it's not as efficient as it could be), but it's just right for my neurotype. I love to always have a handful of projects in the hopper so I can jump between things depending on what I'm feeling most interested in at the moment.

I want to talk more about learning

I'm still working out exactly how I want to do this weekdaily blogging thing, but because I'm always consuming a lot of information and tinkering with things and ideas, I'd like to try out a new thing! On Mondays, I'll focus on what I'm learning and link to things I've been reading, watching, and listening to over the past week.

Since this is the first installment, I'm going to spend a bit more time talking about my learning goals over the past year and for the coming year, as well as some of my philosophy about learning. (I'll include links to other things starting next week--this post was getting too long already, without me including a link roundup.)

I love reading about other people's goals and learning methods, so if you're like me, this is for you! And if not, check back tomorrow, when I'll be back writing about Polaroids, nostalgia, and the paranormal.

Learning goals

I'm not really one to sit down at the beginning of a new year and plan out my goals for the next twelve months. That's because I have a ton of different interests, and my rule is to follow them wherever they lead me—even if it seems like they're taking me down a strange avenue to something that seems useless or irrelevant to the other projects that I'm working on. I've found that in almost every case, subjects that I have been obsessed with at one point or another end up coming in handy later on. (Even if it's years later.)

That being said, while my learning can be somewhat unstructured and whim-driven, I often find out that I've set a learning goal without realizing it. I'll suddenly find myself doubling down on developing a new skill, and when that happens, I try to focus on it and then build out goals.

Here's what that has looked like for me over the last year or so:

2022 learning goals

A few months into 2022, I realized that there was a specific technical skill I wanted to work on: I wanted to develop the ability to confidently create vector-based illustrations.

I'd worked with vector-based art previously, but I had always been modifying or working with illustrations drawn by someone else. I didn't feel confident in my ability to create my own vector-based illustrations.

Because I had always used Adobe Illustrator in the workplace, I started out there in early 2022, but I quickly found that the software was too bloated and difficult to use from a performance standpoint. Even after I swapped out my old laptop for a fairly high-powered desktop PC, Adobe Illustrator crashed constantly, and the amount of troubleshooting I was having to do from a technical standpoint just wasn't worth it. I was spending more time researching why the program kept crashing than I was actually learning to use it.

Also, as most people know, the Adobe suite of products have a truly awful and predatory pricing model that may be fine for corporations with deep pockets, but that suck for individual artists, especially hobbyists. (Also they employ dark patterns to wring even more money out of their users when they try to quit. For example, like many users, I unknowingly signed up for an "annual plan, billed monthly" meaning that cancelling "early" would incur a fee of hundreds of dollars.)

So I switched to the Affinity suite of products, in particular Affinity Designer, and I have not looked back since. Affinity's software is lighter weight, works equally well on the iPad and PC, and each program is a one-time purchase that barely costs more than a single month of Adobe.

I'm happy to say that I now feel good about my ability to do vector-based illustration. Now that I've mastered the basic skills, I have been doing vector-based illustration a little bit less frequently, just because it's more time-consuming than raster illustration. But I still use Affinity Designer on a near-daily basis to clean up and finalize stuff that I've drawn in other programs. And I'm excited to continue building up those skills.

Other things I was learning in 2022

In 2022, I also had a few other specific areas of interest that took a bit less time and effort to learn about.

Many of those were work-related (I became self-employed in 2022, so I spent—and continue to spend—a lot of time honing skills related to my work.) But when it comes to fun things, in addition to my usual interest in the paranormal and the weird, I also got really into:

Solarpunk ideas and fiction (which I talk about a bit more on my podcast episode "On mylar balloons and forgotten futures.")

Improving my digital art skills in general. Technically, I've been drawing digitally since the late 1990s, but I slowed down a lot after 2004 or so (when life got busy), and since then had mostly done physical art and occasional drawings in Krita. Last year, I bought an iPad and committed myself to drawing on it (nearly) every day.

The zettlekasten note-taking/PKM method. I set that up for myself in Obsidian, and have been using a zettlekasten-inspired note-taking strategy on a daily basis. I don't know how I lived without this method, which is ideal for researchers and creators. (I'll have to elaborate on it another time.)

2023 learning goals

I started 2023 without any specific goals, but in January, I ordered a soldering kit, because there have been a number of tech-related projects that I'd like to tackle sometime in the future—but they require soldering skills.[^1] I also ordered a soldering practice kit that included a DIY EMF meter.

I didn't get a chance to work on those kits or learn soldering at all during January or February, because those months ended up being hectic, but I planned to begin learning the skill in mid-March.

In early March, I had the opportunity to use some ghost hunting tools that I had never gotten to try before, which then got me thinking about what sorts of ghost hunting gear I could DIY.

I was already aware of and interested in the DIY REM pod build using the MadLab Junior Theremin kit (which some commercial REM pods have been known to use). But then I started thinking: could I use a Raspberry Pi or Arduino to build devices akin to the Ovilus or Onvoy? What about something like the Plantwave and other biodata sonification tools? (The Plantwave, which "convert[s] changes in electrical conductivity of plants into audio" isn't a paranormal investigation device, but I think it has major potential. It's based on an open-source design that has a variety of decent-looking DIY instructions online.) I have a ton of ideas for different tools that I'd like to experiment with when investigating. And I can see a pretty clear path to making many of these devices, if I acquire the right skills.

What skills are those and what steps do I need to take? I'm still building my list, but so far I've got:

learn to solder

learn to build basic electrical circuits

get to know how a microcontroller like an Arduino works, and how to integrate it into the circuit and with various sensors

get comfortable cobbling together code that does what I want it to do

tackle some basic/easy projects

once I feel good about my basic skill level, scope out the more complex projects that I want to try and execute them in order from simplest to most complex

ideally, in the longer term, I'd love to learn how to model things for 3D printing (so I could have cases, etc, printed), but this feels very much optional at this point

It's a long-ish list, but I feel pretty good about it. I've now watched a ton of online tutorials about building circuits and using Arduino microcontrollers, and, reassuringly, a lot of them seem to be geared towards artists and people who have never done this sort of thing before, so it seems I'm in good company.

I learned the basics of soldering last weekend (with middling success; my DIY EMF meter would light up, but didn't seem to detect EMF changes—it just says that everything has a high EMF all the time. My best guess is that I screwed something up with the potentiometer and it's essentially stuck on a too-sensitive setting, but I'm not sure.)

I had hoped to continue to practice soldering this past weekend—by making one of the theremin kits I bought—but my entire weekend got derailed by a surprise carpet beetle problem in my apartment, which took many (12+) hours to deal with. So fun stuff had to wait. I'll keep you posted when I do get around to the theremin kit/DIY REM Pod build.

Other things I'm focused on in 2023

Other than wanting to gain the skills to build some fun gadgets, here're some of my other current areas of interest and smaller goals:

I got a sewing machine for Christmas, so I have a number of small things that I want to make and/or alter. (I have lots of sensory issues so am constantly modifying all of my clothes.) I suck at reading patterns, so I'll be keeping it to easy stuff that I can do without patterns for now. Improving my sewing skills in a real way will have to wait for another year (and I already own plenty of clothes; it's not like I need to make more right now) so this year it'll be all about practical, easy projects. But I do want to get more comfortable using my sewing machine and to get through my backlog of easy things I want to alter/mend/make.

I'd like to find a way for me to incorporate art into my paranormal investigations/interactions (through automatic drawing, etc.)

I want to polish up one of my (many) draft novel manuscripts and get it ready for me to use it to either find an agent or to self-publish it. [^2] (By the way, if you're a fan of queer romance novels—usually with a hint of fantasy—and are interested in beta reading, hit me up!)

Wrap up

So those are some of the (probably many) themes you can expect me to give progress updates on, as well as share links and research about.

If you have expertise in the subjects I'm trying to get better at, I'm very open to advice! Also, I'm super curious about how other people structure their learning and research, so drop me a line if you want to share your methods and philosophies for learning.

[^1] If you're curious, I would like to do the mechanical keyboard mod for my Alphasmart 3000 (I do most of my nonfiction writing—like my blog posts and episode scripts—using dictation software, but I still like to type most of the time when writing fiction, and I love using Alphasmarts as a drafting tool.) Also, I have an inkling that I will want to make some modifications to my already heavily-modded Koss Portapros sometime in the future, but the additional mods I am thinking of require soldering.

[^2] There are pros and cons to both, so I'm very much on the fence about whether I'd want to go the traditional vs. indie publishing route. We'll see.

This was originally published on BuriedSecretsPodcast.com.

[thatadhdfeeling]

The differences between HYPERFOCUSING and HYPERFIXATING

Tl;dr: Hyperfocusing is intense, uncontrollable concentration that can be productive and/or harmful. Hyperfixating is an obsession that can take up a lot of time, effort, and money, but is suddenly dropped. Both of these are common experiences with ADHD and other disorders, and hyperfixation can be mildly felt by neurotypical people, but to a lesser extent and far less frequently.

Hyperfocusing

is the state in which your attention is solely focused on the current task. This could be as simple as filing a nail, or as complex as reorganizing a room. It could be a minute, or several hours. And I don't mean this task is your main focus, I mean it's your ONLY focus.

Nothing else in the world exists to you. People struggle to interrupt and grab your attention. Time isn't a construct you understand anymore. Your nervous system stops sending alerts to your brain about physical symptoms. Hunger and a full bladder don't exist. Being in pain from not moving or muscle aches from heavy lifting aren't a recognizable thing.

It can be dangerous. When your body doesn't recognize hunger and you forget humans need to eat, you can cause digestion issues, low blood pressure, low brain oxygen levels, heartburn, etc. When your body doesn't tell you to stop and go pee, you can cause UTI or bladder infections and fevers. It is not a choice, it's not just working through lunch, and it's not just being super interested in something (although 99% of the time hyperfocusing is related to a task you find interesting).

Once you come out of the hyperfocusing state or are successfully interrupted, executive dysfunction tends to sink in and returning to that task is almost impossible. And everything hurts! It hurts to pee. It hurts to not eat. No time to prepare food, only to eat the food. You can feel very faint and confused due to lack of brain oxygen levels and lost perception of time. It's honestly not a fun experience to come out of. But you can get a lot of detailed work done while hyperfocusing! Hopefully something useful, but as it's not a choice of what on or when it happens, it isn't always productive.

Hyperfixating

is being obsessed with something. Could be anything. Learning a new skill, picking up a new (or old) hobby, an object, a person, a TV show.... Anything. But it's not just liking this thing a lot. It's an obsession.

Spending hours doing or researching or practicing or reblogging about it, even during inappropriate times. Sneaking it or something you can use to look it up with into work or school. Risking a lot to immerse yourself with it. Constantly thinking about it. Dreaming about it. And possibly hyperfocusing on it.

Everyone can enjoy a hobby or be a fan, but this isn't just enjoying it, it's obsession. It's the craving for that dopamine hit as though it were a drug. You find yourself spending so much money on it, and you're convinced it will last for a long time. You have this overwhelming desire to share it with the world. You'll tell your friends and family about it. Show them. Try to get them involved. Have your entire world surrounded by this hyperfixation by inserting it into every part of your life.

And then it's gone.

There's no warning, no getting bored period, no slowly becoming disinterested. You wake up one day and you don't care any more. It's over. It might come back in a few months or years, but more often than not it doesn't. And this can be a very low period. You feel incredibly dissatisfied and bored, but nothing fills that void. Nothing compares to the feeling of the thing you hyperfixated on, including the thing itself. It's like finishing a book or show and not knowing what to do with yourself after. When people ask you how it's going with that project or interest, it feels like a walk of shame to admit you haven't touched it for a very long time and no longer want to. That you spent so much effort and time and money on it and told yourself and everyone else that you weren't going to get bored of it. But you did.

And then the next hyperfixation comes along...

Hyperfocusing and hyperfixations are two common symptoms neurodivergent people experience. Mostly found in those with ADHD, but can be seen in other disorders as well (I believe autism is one of them. I am not autistic, I can't speak for members of the autism community on this). Both hyperfocusing and hyperfixating have their pros and cons, and neither can be controlled or started/stopped at will. The subject matter is also not a choice. Many neurotypical people experience times of intense focusing or obsessions with interests, but not quite to the same extent as often. Neurotypical people can mildly hyperfixate, but it tends to be for a longer time and usually includes a more gradual decline of interest. Some people are able to turn careers into it. If you are neurotypical and truly hyperfixate on something, congratulations, you've discovered your passion. But for someone with ADHD, they may struggle with this, as the hyperfixation can stop suddenly after a shorter time so they can't use it to help with career advancement. These are things that take over the lives of neurodivergent individuals. People have lost jobs over it, gone bankrupt over it, caused health problems because of it.... It's not just something everyone experiences. Neurotypical people can, but it's rarer and less intense. ADHD isn't a lack of attention, it's the inability to regulate it. So while we struggle to maintain focus, we also struggle to stop focusing at times.

If you know someone who's neurodivergent and tells you about these experiences, just listen. Let them teach you about their interest. Let them passionately talk to you about it. If they are hyperfocusing, follow up with them later. Even if they responded to a question during that period, double check if it's important to make sure they remember. Prepare them food ahead of time. Let them know if it's been hours since they got up and walked or went to the bathroom. Don't shame them for dropping an interest, or tell them their hyperfixation is annoying. Understand that they can't control hyperfocusing. Care for them, because they'll need it.

I don't speak for everyone with ADHD, this is just me trying to explain the differences and how strong they can be. I don't speak for anyone else, neurotypical or neurodivergent. Yes, everyone experiences these symptoms sometimes, but not everyone experiences them to the same extent and less frequently. That's why disorders are classified as they are. Please see my "Why saying everyone has ADHD is harmful" and "Disorder and disability aren't bad words" posts. I also have no sources, just personal experiences and what I have been explained by my therapist (who also has ADHD) and other neurodivergent people. So hey, I could be wrong. I'm always open to education, and wish for the world to understand that neurodivergent people are different, and that's not a bad thing!

[thetinypsychologist]

HOW TO SURVIVE UNIVERSITY AS A FIRST-YEAR STUDENT

So! I am currently in my first-year at University but I’ve been studying for a couple of months now and feel as though I have enough information and experience to make this post!

MANAGE YOUR TIME

Whether it’s a timetable, to-do list, writing in your planner - you need some sort of method to manage your time and note what tasks you need to do and when. Set a specific time for each class and plan your own class schedule. Even better, study for your classes at the same time they should be held. This will create a sense of routine and make things so much easier. Find what works for you! Your perfect system won’t work great for your friends! There’s no shame in not being able to keep up with the schedule you’ve made. If you’ve tried or if it hurts you mentally or physically, then that schedule is just not the one for you. Finding a system that works for you takes time, patience, and courage. but it will be absolutely worth it. Find yourself a routine that works best for you! I know that my method doesn’t work well for my peers: I make a to-do list for the week and note down the tasks I want to do for each day and do a little bit everyday but I know some people would rather do everything in two days and have the rest of the week free! Below I’ve showed how I organise my week:

BE ACTIVELY ENGAGED

In your lectures and seminars, engage!!! Ask questions, answer questions, take part in the discussions!! It’ll help you retain the content much easier and you’ll enjoy learning so much more compared to just sitting there mindlessly listening. Take notes, even if you can record your lessons and/or access the lessons later. This will force you into focusing and minimise the chance of you getting distracted and zoning out. If you have any face-to-face lecture/seminars then it’s a good idea to sit in the first few rows, towards the front - again, this minimises the chance of you zoning out and increases the chance of you engaging.

ACCOMMODATE YOURSELF

Accommodate yourself, not just with comfort, but also with actual necessities that you cannot usually get in your usual classroom/library due to whatever reason. Whether it be stress balls, stim toys, motivational cards, calming music/candles. comfort items. chewing gum. As long as it helps you focus better, keep it with you. Other necessities may be water, a snack, sticky notes etc. Make sure to declutter your study space. put your phone out of reach & turn off notifications. If you have problems with this, I recommend using an app called Forest or putting your phone in another room.

FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

I know that I will start a lecture around 9/10am. But all mine is asynchronous (narrated powerpoint or videos) and so I will sit for literally two hours just listening to the lecture trying to take notes but very quickly losing focus. I’ve now realised that I can make notes from the powerpoint slides, and then use the narrations/videos for when I want more detail or don’t understand something. This saved me a lot of time, cutting down my time spent on one lecture from around 70 minutes, to 35. This gives me more time to start other content, work on my assignments, and give myself the breaks I need to work efficiently.

WORK TOWARDS YOUR CAREER

Since more and more people go to universities each year, the job market is becoming increasingly competitive for academics. It is important that you obtain skills outside of your studies – for example through societies or volunteer work. Just find something that’s fun and doesn’t feel like another burden. You might also want to become a student representative or part of a student parliament if your university has one. Your university’s career service provides you with tips and resources for a good start into your work life. Things are competitive - find something to make you stand out. Examples of things I’ve done (not just at university) include: Senior Prefect, write and directed my own play for younger students to perform, TEFL course, taught at an Arabic school, volunteered as a youth worker, Duke of Edinburgh Award, Course Representative etc.

MAKE FRIENDS

Being at university can be lonely. You might have moved to a different place, you’re faced with new challenges, and you might find that adult life is not at all like you imagined. Having someone to talk to is important. Good thing that it’s never easier to make friends than at university. You are surrounded by people your age (and it’s actually a lot easier to not see people you don’t like than it is in school.)

Fresher’s week is full of opportunities to meet new people! Check out the societies at the fresher’s fair. In the UK, there are usually societies for every niche interest you can think of. You might end up not actually going, but sometimes you still keep a friend. Another idea is to make a group chat with people in your classes - introduce yourself to the people sitting next to you. Ask them if they would like to go to lunch together, check out the library etc.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

University is not all about working 24/7 and pushing yourself. Listen to your mind and body. It’s normal and okay to feel lost or overwhelmed. Please take care of your mental and physical well-being during this very, very weird time. Keep yourself active. Re-ignite old interests/ hobbies. Give yourself some love. A tip I always give to people is to have some sort of creative/kinaesthetic hobby - whether it’s writing, art, embroidery, making collages, journalling etc. Having some sort of fun creative outlet is just what I need when I don’t want to do work but still want to be a little productive. Make sure you’re eating enough, and make sure you’re getting at least 8 hours of sleep. Take care of your body.

MISC TIPS

Make cheatsheets to revise from

See if your university offers free/discounted versions of resources like MS Word etc

Talk to your tutors. Get to know them so they know who you are.

Don’t be afraid to ask you tutors for help - that is what they are there for. They LOVE students that are self-advocates for their own learning.

Give yourself breaks.

Learn your methods. Learn how to use whatever resources / software your university uses. Learn what study styles work best for you.

[cosmiclatte28]

Baking! (Yuta x you)

a/n : heyyo it’s friday, let’s have some “me” time and enjoy some imagine with Yuta! Idea came from @yutahoes comment on previous post HOT PATCHED

warning : none! suggestive, how you ended up with a bun in the oven! (your beloved Nami), and of course 2020 was a baking year and I am more than willing to share you the recipe i am referring to for this story! DM me :D also i got a bit too carried away :) but it’s gonna be fun :D

tagging : @2-3-t-i @yutahoes @ailoveyuta

with that said.. enjoy your scene! 

Ever since the pandemic started and staying at home becomes a mandatory rule, you and your fiance, Yuta have been trying to overcome boredom with all possibilities. On the first month of staying home, you two are very excited about having “leisure” time while working at home. Both of you are delighted by the fact that you don’t have to wake up early, drive in the busy streets, and you just have to slip into your proper clothes when there is a board meeting. Considering your job is a magazine editor, you have meetings but luckily not every day.

Second month, you start to do yoga and exercises with Yuta every time he is bored, and he has nothing to do. Well, his comeback is still in preparation, so he only comes for regular practice and always got home when your office hour ends.

Fourth months, you pick up a new hobby and because your magazine company needs to make a new fresh content that suits the situation, the team comes up with a baking page. You are assigned to make the content, including taking pictures and trying the recipes your team made. You also have to do the editing but there’s help with that. You take the challenge, though you never bake before you see this as the perfect opportunity to start a new hobby. Things were great, the content is rising in demand since the world is baking suddenly! You got your raise and you enjoy doing this until your silly ass fell from challenging yourself to a wild yoga pose. You hurt your arms, they are a slightly fractured and you cannot make your baking content for the first three weeks of recovery, but you are so irritated to just stay in front of the laptop and watch your other friend make the pictures and cakes. So, when you can no longer hold yourself back, you plead the director board to give you back the baking section and they did love your job so you won the part back.

“Yuta can you come home earlier today?” you question the man who already wears his mask and has his training bag ready on his shoulder.

“Me?? I guess I’m done after lunch, I only have to practice singing today. Why?” he asks you back

You put on your sweetest smile “Don’t you want to try baking? I need some help with the rubric.”

Yuta’s eyes twinkle, it’s been his wish to try baking but because of practice and the amount of tools to wash and lack of time he hasn’t been able to do it. Now that you are offering him, he thinks he can seize the opportunity.

“Okay, I’ll try, who knows NCT will have a baking vlog after this, might flex about my skills” he smirks and you only grin at his cockiness.

“Okay, you can go.” You push him away after kissing his cheek and blushing when he winks at you and disappear behind the door.

Today you just have to wait for the team to send you the ingredients and recipes. You wonder what you’ll bake today no, what Yuta will bake today.

He was lucky the baking procedure he has to do today is easy. Simple lemon cake and you manage to get good pictures of Yuta’s hands and the aesthetic bowls and whiskers. You manage to hold the camera with your stiff casted hand, but it works even when you look super silly.

“Oh gosh! This is healing.” Yuta exclaims when his first cake comes out of the oven nicely and with a good aroma. You quickly take pictures and once it’s done, Yuta has already cut a slice and pops it into his mouth. “Yummy, I am talented indeed.” He sounds so confident and you hate to admit, his cake is better than what you expect and knowing your husband, you know he won’t stop bragging about this, he might even go as far as trying more baking recipes.

--

Your nightmare comes true, once his promotional schedule with NCT is over, he comes home with a load of baking supplies.

“Yuta, what’s all of this?” you ask when you help him bring in bags of spices, butters, and decorating tools.

“My promotional week is done and I have our well deserved rest! I am going to be productive and bake for you every day!” he smiles like a little kid who just get a chocolate and you can’t say no to him.

“Oh no, not every day Yuta!” you joke as you help him organize the spices into the kitchen racks.

He brought different types of flours and sugars, even bought yeast and baking sodas. Oh he really is planning to bake!

“Well, I have to finish some works have fun baking! Make sure you wear the apron and don’t set the oven too high. Wash the bowls too okay.” You pat his long hair and skip into your room.

Yuta takes his time to shower, sing in the bathroom, check the internet for easy recipes and even compare recipes from different websites.

His choice finally is decided on the famous banana cake, it doesn’t require mixer and he notices you have bananas at home.

“Flour, bananas, eggs, butter…” he bends to take the things out and places them all on the counter. Next he brings out the bowls and whiskers and the rest of the stuffs he needs.

“Okay all set,” he rubs his hands and takes the apron you have. Yuta’s lucky he can use your apron well, (thanks to his small waist). “And where is it,” he walks to the living room to get his small rubber band and as he bites the rubber between his teeth you happen to leave your room to get some water.

“Oh!” you exclaim when you see a hot scene reveling in your eyes. If you bring something, you’d drop it already.

There under the golden hours of the sun from the window, Yuta is tying his hair up and his lip bites is not helping you. Not to mention the apron fitting him well. You kinda regret not buying a “cute” apron.

“Let me help,” you grin when Yuta fails to tie his hair. Somewhat in the middle of tying his hair we was surprised to see you gawking at him. He blushes a little when you step closer and take his hair into one bundle and expertly you tie the band around it.

“There you go! Neat and tidy.” You click your tongue and run a hand down his exposed biceps.

“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” you playfully ask him this when you learn just how “dolled” up he is. In your apron, smelling good, looking hot, and smirking.

“As much as you want me to tease you, see that?” he points to the kitchen and you follow his finger direction “I am baking you cake.”

You lead him to the kitchen, cool yourself down with a glass of iced water and Yuta starts to busy himself with the recipes.

He starts by measuring the cups of flour, sugars, and spoons of cinnamon and baking soda.

You choose to observe him instead of coming back to your work. You’re glad you have saved your works earlier and don’t have to return for it.

Yuta looks super serious when he cracks the eggs and starts mixing them to the dry ingredients. You take note at how accurate he is, you learned about the small details about baking through your rubric.

“Need help?”  you ask when Yuta starts to whisk the mixture together. He brings his bowl to his waist and with his tilted head and angled hand, he starts whisking the batter.

You have to hold yourself back when you see how he looks delicious right now. With an apron, a tied hair, tongue sticking out of his lips from focusing, his flexed arm and how he smirks at you. Gosh he’s the real cake here! You wonder how will he react if you suddenly come and bite him there on his neck which is inviting you to bite a mark there. Hey mark!

“No, I got this.” He winks at you and continues whisking the ingredients. Another minute passed by, he adds the mashed bananas and some cut apples for better taste. You focus on his actions but mostly enjoying the show he gives to you.

“You look hot.” You blurt that out loud as you secretly eat the choco-chips he will add later. “You think I look hot? You haven’t seen me whisk a whipping cream or make a meringue!” Yuta says as h places the bowl down and begin doing the next step.

You lean over the counter, eager to see what he is doing next. “Okay, all set just add choco-chips and stir and pour to container.” He smiles nicely to you, expecting to get praises or just a satisfied face. But all Yuta sees is your side smirk.

Yuta can always read you like a book, so without losing his cool, he checks you up from head to toe. He notices how you’re not focusing on him, biting your lips, and your ears and cheeks are as red as strawberries right now!

He connects the dots in his head and snaps his finger in front of your face. You jump in surprise “What?” you yell, clearly annoyed that your fantasy session is destroyed.

“No you’re staring at me too intensely! Stop it,” he acts like his innocence just got violated.

You click your tongue “Yuta, blame yourself!” you pull your hair in despair when you feel your body heating up more and feel tingles slowly creeping up.

Yuta is ignoring you when he shows off his flexibility by bending forward to put his container in the oven. “And that’s the right temperature, now we wait!” he tosses the mittens aside and leans his body to the table you’re seating at. He glances to the cup of water with only ice cubes left, he grabs it up and swirls it around before sipping the remaining drops.

“What are you looking at Princess?” his playful remarks are slipping from his lips. You bite your lips down and try to shake whatever idea you have in your head after seeing him drink the last drop of water like that is the best water in the world. His Adam’s apple bopping is not helping you at all, you lick your lips and lowkey will kill him for making this looks so yummy and advertise-able.

“Nothin’” you lie though it is as clear as day that you are “eating” him in your mind.

“You sure? You don’t look like that.” He says and then knocking the glass to his lips to take the remaining ice cubes in his mouth.

You nod your head and turn redder if it’s possible. Dang Yuta is clearly teasing you and you love it. “I-“ you can’t stop your sentence for the next thing he does is taking your lips there with ice cubes in his mouth. The cold sensation wakes you up from your day dream and you press your hands over his trained arms. He passes the cube into your mouth and you’re surprised with this new sensation. Oh Yuta and his surprises!

He continues taking you there until there’s no more cubes left and both of you are already breathing harder and the atmosphere has turn super hot. Next thing you know, you’re already on the sofa pinned down by Yuta as he teases you with butterfly kisses here and there.

“Yuta-“  you moan out his name when you have the chance, your hand pulls on his hair so he can stop kissing you for a while “Your cake.” You breathily remind him about the cake in the oven.

“Hm? My timer hasn’t gone off.” He ignores your attempt to stop taking you here.

“You want this right? Or do you want to eat me instead? You really look desperate earlier.” He nuzzles into your neck and gives some generous kitten licks there.

“Oh you were teasing me!” you defend yourself “Admit it.” You push him away to see his eyes and get the truth out, but Yuta is Yuta and he always has his way of making you lost. “No, I did not. You were this turned on by me, that you were having such sexy thoughts in the middle of the day.” His hand travels south and you already stifle a moan so he won’t be cocky about it.

He already plays with the hem of your pants, only seconds to pulling them away and eating you raw there, but his timer goes off and he has the biggest grin on his face, while you the biggest disappointment. “Yuta!” you’re already sounding so desperate, tears are forming in your eyes and Yuta only chuckles, he wipes your tears and stands up from between your legs.

“Oops! My bad, cake is done! Why don’t we try it when it’s hot?” he leaves you to turn the oven off and takes the cake out. He left you like that! All teased up and messy.

“Yuta- you will pay for this.” You groan before ignoring the pain from the edged pleasure and stomping your feet angrily to the kitchen.

“Come try this, tell me if this is good.” He offers you a forkful and you angrily chomp down on it.

“Bad.” You mutter, as you cross your hands over your chest but still chew on the delicious cake.

“Bad? This is so yummy! I can take this to the boys, and they’ll ask for more.” Yuta towers above you.

You pout “Fine, its yummy.” Your hand reaches out for some more bites, but you stop and shake your head “You. Finish what you did to me, or I cannot enjoy my cake.”

He giggles and in one swift motion already has you in his arms “Alright my princess, let me enjoy my cake instead!” he brings you to the room and you’re already giggly again, giving him kisses and playing with his hair.

You swear you will kill him if he only leaves you in the room and goes back to eat his cake in the kitchen, lucky you he did not do that. You both know that the cake will be cold once you’re done with the session but who cares when Yuta can bake more of them!

 And that is probably how you end up putting a bun in the oven with Yuta!

fin.

[theji]

Things Yizhan Made Me Do

It's BXG Day today! 🐢💛

To commemorate the occasion, I thought of making a list of 13 out-of-character things that I've done since falling into the fandom. (OK I'm a bit late I meant to do this sooner, the day is ending soon in a couple of hours).

1. Start a blog

And a public one, no less. I had a blog when I was in my teens but that was private, like a personal diary. My day job already involves writing so off-work I would usually like to indulge in mindless activities. Now, here I am, maintaining a Yizhan blog. I have not even used Tumblr prior to this but I'm enjoying it now, rambling about our fav boys. Writing is not a chore if it's about them.

2. Join a fandom

I joined a boy band fan club once upon a time, some 15 years ago, but I was never as invested in it as I am now with Yizhan. Back then it was just buying some merch, attending their concert/autograph sessions, listening to their songs. Apart from work, dog mum duties, personal relationships, other hobbies like kombucha brewing, most of my free time is now spent on the fandom. My Netflix account is crying. There is just so much to do and catch up on (I'm not complaining). I also enjoy interacting with and learning from other bloggers here. Antis are no fun and some industry news/developments/hate messages are upsetting but ultimately, you curate your own fandom experience. And I choose positivity and rationality.

3. Indulge in RPS

I don't ever 'ship'. What is 'ship'? 😆 I was always a dutiful audience, just enjoying whatever drama series and moving on after that. I started with CQL like most people and I didn't even notice/like GGDD until much later. Didn't even set out to 'ship' anyone but now I'm a self-professed turtle. SZD is SZD, and anyone can see something special between them if you keep an open mind. I wrote about my SZD reasons here previously. That said, GG & DD are individuals, each with their own successful careers. They come first, the ship comes second. That I'm very clear of.

4. Use Chinese apps

Gosh, my phone and tablet are now full of Chinese apps. I used to have only WeChat cos I needed it for work but now I have Weibo, Oasis, Douyin, WeTV, MangoTV, Youku, etc. Some of them are not even available in the app store so I had to find alternative sources to download them. haha..I even have paid membership for some of these apps. And now, browsing Weibo daily becomes a routine. If you wish, you can just get stuck browsing Weibo for a long long time. It's entertaining.

5. Read fan fic

I only started about 6 months ago but now I'm hooked and fics are largely the only thing I read these days, apart from news. But I only read Yizhan or WangXian fics (p.s. calling for fic recs of other pairings!) I know some might have different feelings about fan fics but to me, I really just see them as fiction, with characters (and sometimes traits) bearing similarities to GGDD. Similarly, I separate the platform from the incident so I have no problems going to A03 despite GG's incident. I just enjoy seeing the characters named XZ/WYB having happy endings in many different timelines and universes. While most of the fics I read are explicit (by design), I don't use them as tools to play out certain fantasies or to think of GGDD in a sexual manner. In fact, I really hate fics that have little substance and just go into the explicit parts without plot development. I like those with interesting premises too, like one I read recently where XZ is a serial killer and WYB is a police officer investigating the case but also in love with him. I do have plans to share my list of fav fan fics some time down the road so keep an eye out for it!

6. Willingly read Chinese

Yes, Chinese may be my mother tongue but I don't use it much in daily living unless I have to. I also find it tedious to read Chinese cos the characters are just so squashed together. If I have a choice, I will always pick English. But now, I read so much Chinese from my daily weibo browsing. I even read fan fics in Chinese! Who am I? On the plus side, I think my Chinese comprehension and translation skills improved. I also picked up some internet lingo used by Chinese netizens, which are pretty interesting like doi, 🐮🍺, 🖍. My all-time fav is yyds.

7. Act like a cougar

In real life, I have always maintained that younger men are childish. At least those I have encountered. But look at me now, fangirling over two younger men (I am closer in age to GG, but still..). I even jokingly call them my 'China Boyfriends'. I look at them very respectfully most of the time.

8. Buy merch

Seriously, once you start, you can't stop. At least that was what happened to me, although I'm still quite selective when it comes to supporting their endorsements. I usually go for consumables like food, cosmetics vs collectibles cos I'm more practical. Also, GG says to support their merch within reasonable means so that's what I'm doing. Just buying things that I'm interested to try and not because it has their faces or names slapped on it. In a way, this suits me cos I like trying new brands and stuff anyway.

9. Keeping a Yizhan archive

Photos, weblinks, videos, songs, fan fics list..my phone is full of these things now. I think my Yizhan photo gallery is only second to the folder with my dogs' pictures. But how can you resist when we are blessed with new pics of them almost every week?

10. Camp for livestreams

I'm lucky I live in the same time zone as the boys so I don't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to watch something. But that's the thing, being in the same time zone sometimes make me feel like I HAVE to watch that thing live because, why not? Why wait? Not shy to admit that I once watched a live programme in the middle of work but I made sure I finished what needed to be done. I think so long as we don't let these livestream schedules run our lives, there's no harm in camping for them.

11. Watch c entertainment

I am one of those who used to pass over Chinese productions, simply because it's a Chinese production. Not in a scoffing manner but I'm just genuinely not interested in them nor the celebs. I was more of a US/UK production kind of person, occasionally Korean/Japanese. Now, I'm learning to enjoy them although I just watch those with GGDD in them. No energy to follow other Chinese celebs anyway. The other programme I'm contemplating watching even if it doesn't have them in it is Who's the Murderer (GG was only in one of the cases) cos I like the premise. On the flip side, now my sis and partner keep making fun of me cos to them, all I do now is "watch China shows". That is so not true. Or is it?

12. Write fan mail

I wrote a letter to GG once. A long-ass letter. I hope he read it. That's all I'm gonna say. 🙈 hahahahaha

13. Desire to visit China

China was never on my list of to-visit places. Just wasn't interested. I have been to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou a few times in the past for work but even then, I never felt the urge to revisit for leisure. Now, I wanna visit GG and DD's home town, visit Chongqing to see the graffiti wall with Bobii Zanbii on it, eat mala hotpot and try out their sauce recipe, attend BXG events, dine at the CQL restaurant... Watching TTXS also made me realise that there are many beautiful places in China with natural landscapes and all that. I used to be clouded by my disdain for the regime and some behaviour of its citizens but now, I recognise that the country is separate from the regime or a smaller group of poorly behaved citizens. China is a beautiful country and I would love to visit some day. I will fly over immediately on my own if someone gives me tix to ADLAD!!

Well, I hope some of these things resonate with you. Feel free to share the OOC things that Yizhan made you do.

Once again, Happy BXG Day! 🐢💛🐆🐇🐷🌶🦁🍑🐶🍍🛹🎋

[hindisoup]

Self-studying a language with self-criticism

If you are a self-demanding person, like me, you may set yourself very high expectations, and then feel upset from time to time when you fail, like me, to reach these unrealistic requirements.

Self-analysis is a healthy skill we can use to assess and measure our success, or to observe our shortcomings in a way that guides us and help us towards our learning goals. But sometimes it turns into counterproductive self-criticism which may drive us to compare ourselves to others or causing us to lose confidence. Lack of confidence and feelings of guilt or shame that may be felt due to those unmet self-set goals may stop a language learner from booking their next iTalki lesson or answering voice call from a language partner - feeding into the cycle of failing to reach our learning achievements.

Here are some tips that I have found helpful when that sinking feeling of failure hits:

First of all, check your energy levels. Sometimes, especially in the autumn or winter, the lack of natural light combined with busy work or study schedule can drain you, and you simply cannot perform at your best every day. If you have a low motivation day and notice that your inner monologue is self-deprecating or overly negative, focus on the basics. Try to give yourself a good night's rest and have a warm meal at least once a day. It's okay to mend your study routine to match your energy levels. Even if today is a bad day, tomorrow may be different. You are allowed to rest and it doesn't mean you are lazy. Self-care is not a failure, it is the key to Success with capital S.

Be kind towards yourself. Give yourself compliments and try to see yourself through the eyes of a friend. Look back and see how far you have already come. Congratulate yourself even on the smallest achievements, even if you think they may seem insignificant to others. It's about your learning and your journey. Focus on the positives, even if you acknowledge that you still have a lot to learn.

Remember, what made you begin to study your target language in the first place. If there was a special song or a film that inspired you, remind yourself of it, and the feeling of inspiration and excitement you might have felt back then. Your initial feelings and thoughts are valid, even if time has passed and your motivations or reasons for learning have grown or changed.

Try to think of mistakes as opportunities for learning. Especially, if you notice that you keep making similar mistakes time and time again, it may be useful to stop and analyse for a bit what particularly is tricky for you. Identify the issues and break them apart into tiny and approachable learning points, whether it's about a certain tense, a verb ending, case or pronunciation of a particular sound that keeps slipping from your mind.

Keep language learning light and fun. Personally, I've found it helpful to try my best to approach language like a child. A child doesn't mind their mistakes, they are curious, they keep exploring and learn through trial and error. What matters is communication, understanding and being understood. It's good to set some goals and targets for learning, but it's also okay to write off your weekly listening task by listening to a podcast from a phone speaker when taking a bath or watch a 10 minute stand up comedy gig in your target language while eating breakfast. Anything, that can give you the feeling that you have already engaged your brain in language learning today, well done you! On days of low energy or motivation, it is okay to do any activity you can squeeze in your schedule that relaxes more than stresses you.

If you are highly critical or demanding of yourself, receiving feedback on your language mistakes can feel awful. Accepting one's mistakes in a way that doesn't cause us to feel overwhelmingly like a failure can require a lot of soul searching and take a long time. It may be easier to think of yourself as a work in progress than to accept that you have failed at handling failure. Set yourself reachable goals and explore within yourself what kind of criticism you can process constructively. It's okay to set your limits and choose the situations where you receive feedback on your language skills. If needed, you can change language partners, limit your time on social media, or other contacts where you feel like you are being unwantedly corrected.

If you feel that your language partner or tutor is too critical and that their well-intended corrections turn into counter-productive punitive thinking in your mind, it's okay to word it. Instead of allowing yourself to wallow in the feelings of shame and ending up thinking about quitting the language altogether, you are allowed to tell people what type of feedback you are looking for and what kind of corrections you would want to get by saying things like: "Last time you pointed out that I should be mindful of pronunciation. I'm working on it. Today I feel like focusing on verb tenses, can we do that?" or "Please ignore it if I use wrong tenses today, I know I need to practice them more. Today I need you to help me expand my vocabulary", etc.

Finally, get connected with other language learners. It can be an extremely lonely journey if you are learning a language by yourself as a hobby, and not part of a group. Learning alone can be effective, but talking to other people at different stages of their language path, even if they are studying other languages, can be extremely helpful in that we all have bad days, most of us occasionally feel like a failure, but we also want to celebrate our small successes together - a native speaker may not fully appreciate the sense of joy when you have finally grasped some bonkers irregular conjugation pattern or are able to pronounce your first nasal sound correctly, but another language learner surely will!

[myonmukyuu]

A setting where Ayumu is in love with Yu, and Setsuna cheers her on.

Previous | Series Masterpost | Bonus (TBA)

**

The fourth main update to my series has finally arrived! Your food is here, SetsuAyu nation! Sorry for the huge delay guys, I know it’s been 2 months since the last update 😅 . I’m done with university for the year though! So I have more time to draw 🥰

First things first - a disclaimer from me:

This story is written with the context of the SIFAS story - which is fairly different to the anime. Ayumu’s motivations are a lot more self-driven in the anime, but in the game she does kind of just agree because Yu needed members to keep the club together (she does come to love the whole idol thing though).

I do make anime references! But they’re just that - references. So just keep in mind I use the SIFAS story as my general guide.

In this comic I wanted to kind of explore Ayumu’s motivations as an idol and compare it with Setsuna’s. Like I said, it does kind of clash with the anime, but Ayumu’s motivations were one of the main things that spurred this entire series in the first place. Putting aside her own hobbies and joining the idol club for her...Ayumu really does love Yu a lot doesn’t she?

I also wanted to show the current state of SetsuAyu’s relationship in this series - how they would support and reassure eachother. Alongside this, the shifting feelings of both SetsuAyu regarding the things that they want. Hopefully I was able to communicate those feelings. 🥰

That being said, this comic was a full-on marathon! 14 pages - the longest of any comic I’ve done yet. The last comic was half the size! It really tested my discipline and stamina. Ever since starting work on the comic, I didn’t skip out a single day 💪💪

Past me is such a fool though. Look it her talking about the third update - “9 pages was too much. I’m happy to do a 7 page comic” - little did she know that she’d limit break again and make a 14-pager😂😂

In case you’re curious, the final timeline for the production of this comic was:

Draft: 7 days

Lines: 9 days

Colours: 9 days

Finalising: 3 days

For a total of 28 days! Phew, I’m exhausted. On weekdays I typically spent 2-5 hours and on weekends easily 4-9 💪 ! As I said, it really pushed both my stamina and my discipline. It feels so great to finally be done!

I’m really happy with how this update turned out by the way. It’s like with every update I do, I always feel like I’m improving with my art skill. Each update is like a step up from the last! Every comic I do feels like a learning experience and I hope that I’ll continue to improve 💖 

I’m really proud of a few pages, so I’ll post them up in another post without the bubbles to show them off 💖 💖.

Again, past me is a fool.

I was like “#3 was way too complex! I’m not doing that level of colouring again!” before one-upping it with this update 😂 😂 . It turns out that I really like toying with lighting. It’s so fun... #5 will take place at sunset so I’m excited for that too 💖 . I’ll have to do a lot of research for it!

I hope you guys enjoyed this update - I really did put a lot of effort into it. I wish I could stream more or show more WIPs but I really wanted to keep all the best things about this comic secret so it could surprise everyone! Admittedly whenever I stream/show WIPs I always pick the more boring looking panels just because I want to hide the cool ones. Sorry if that means that my streams end up less interesting 😂.

On another note, I’m thinking of recruiting a typesetting editor. I’d still like to do basically everything myself, but I recognise that there’s a lot of things that I have no clue about. I really don’t know much about typesetting, so having a critical eye would really ease the weight on my shoulders. I feel like I spend way too much time agonising over how to wrap text... Well, we’ll see how I go moving forward.

Anyways, thank you for reading! And if you’ve been keeping up with this series then I doubly thank you!! I put a lot of heart into this, so the idea of people actually being invested always makes me smile so much (and cry a little).

Expect a bonus coming up within a week! I’ve been excited to draw this one for a while! Though maybe it might be longer than that. I’ve been considering writing up a post about my comic-making process in case people were interested. If I do decide to go through with that, expect the bonus to be a little delayed 💖 .

As for what’s actually in the bonus... well let’s just say this image is in my notes about it: