#my dad and I have to talk her out of Amazon stuff so often

[maaagic]

My mom when I send her a link to a clearly reputable shopping website she hasn’t heard of: 🤔 I’m not comfortable with this we should find something else

my mom clicking on literally the most suspicious Amazon items ever: ooooh hehe Amazon good surely nothing will go wrong

[rainyarcades]

do you have any headcanons for the ggy trio?

Tysm for asking this aughhhh

I'm only gonna go over Greg in relation to the other two because Gregory alone I talk about headcanons for a lot, and he's included in the post about the 3 star fam headcanons. So yeah

I just made a separate post for my sorta headcanons for GGY specifically, which you can find here.

Greg was a really good friend before being glitchtrapped. He was during it, too, but that was Rab playing an act. He's a super sweet kid, despite everything

Greg would give Tony his own pocket money sometimes. "I get a lot of it, and you need it more than me." Tony didn't like to accept it, but Gregory is a persistent person.

Greg would always help Ellis with the arcades he wasn't very good at. "I learned this strat, actually...."

Gregory would get them both snacks and sneak them under the desks in class, the trio eating them when the teacher wasn't watching. This was especially the case if Ellis seemed less hyper in class or Tony was particularly quiet.

Gregory was extremely helpful and kind with Tony when his dad got locked up. He was there for him. Ellis is better at lightening the mood, but Gregory is good at real comfort and supportive words

They're all there for each other. Gregory fights when people pick on his friends, which is rare-ish-- they don't really get bullied-- but it still happens, and Greg gets hurt. He gets anxious. But then Ellis and Tony are there. Tony's awful attempts at comfort make Gregory laugh, while Ellis is naturally good at making people smile

The trio balances each other out perfectly, and it makes things easier in school! Sometimes, Tony needs to lighten up and see the bigger picture. Sometimes, Gregory needs to relax and take things slower. Sometimes, Ellis needs to be brought back to earth a little.

Ellis has a pretty normal life. He doesn't have any particular bad shit going on, only the losing his two besties thing in the case of canon. His home life is okay, though; he has a caring mother and a little sister he enjoys taking care of, despite her attitude sometimes-- It's small, and it's nice. His dad is usually away at work, but he finds time for his family.

Ellis has as much monty merch as he can possibly get, but he insists on winning it himself at the Plex instead of just finding it on amazon or whatever.

Tony's secret opinion on Ellis would be so heartbreaking for him. Ellis would be devastated to find Tony doesn't like his silly side. It'd drive him away, "Wow, man. Okay. I'll find new friends, you can have Greg all to yourself. Enjoy it."

If Gregory knew about it, he would side with Ellis. He'd be angry, but also try to help Tony loosen up. "Hey, you don't have to be super mature yet. You're so young. Trust me, you should enjoy being a kid before you force yourself to grow up. Being forced into growing up sucks, I promise." Tony would hate the fact that it sounds like he's talking from experience.

Tony loves music! His dad liked music, and he could play guitar, so Tony likes music and wants to learn to play. He also wants to learn piano. He learned like 2 meme songs on piano to impress people in music class and almost got detention (tryhard)

Tony listens to music mainly at the moment. He wants to learn to write songs. He doesn't wanna be a songwriter-- He's still set on investigative journalism. It's just a hobby

He'd write lemon demon type shit mixed with like uhhh. Idk. Less silly, more serious stuff. Imagine Cabinet Man, but it's about an arcade controlling a person, and it's slower and more ominous sounding (the GGY song)

He listens to songs his dad likes, often. Reminds him of him. He misses him every day, and it's a way of escaping. He usually listens to music late at night, and he thinks... just thinks.

Gregory is the one who got Tony into cheesy 80s music instead of mf. The Clash and The Cure, which his dad likes. "Should I stay or should I.... Nah. Listen to this." He hands the phone back and it's playing Material Girl

Speaking of, Gregory loves 80s music! Ellis loves hard rock and punk music. They really do reflect their glamrock faves in terms of favourite music genre!

They'd have a collab playlist that they can all add music to, and Gregory always quietly adds things he thinks are funny. Tony got 'How Bad Can I Be' blasting in his ears one day and turned to see Gregory and Ellis giggling away nearby.

Gregory adds real songs. Some really good ones. But then he also adds it's raining tacos 60 times. They played it on a speaker once, and when it's raining tacos started playing, Gregory turned it up so it blasted through the cafeteria. All 3 of them got detention

The trio definitely snuck into a show at the Pizzaplex. Yeah, two of them can afford it, but what's the fun in paying? And it's from there that Tony was obsessed with Bonnie. It's the one thing at the Plex he can't pretend he doesn't find childish

Tony has been trying to forget it. He's too old for all that. But he just loves the characters despite everything. He'd start going into how he can like the glamrocks because he researched glam rock, while Gregory and Ellis don't really care-- "Yeah I looked into Glam Rock. It's like. A part of queer history. It's important haha. and I can look into its influence. Okay? It's normal and fine and mature." And they're just like "??? Okay???"

Greg's favourite is Freddy, Tony's is Bonnie, and the duo are super close. Ellis isn't stupid. He definitely thought they were gonna end up together or something; even if they weren't gonna end up like that or anything, Ellis is a huge tease

They all tried cooking once! Tried. Tony isn't a bad cook at 14, but he's an awful, terrible cook at 12. Ellis can't cook at all, and Gregory can only bake (at age 12, also badly).

No matter what they're making, Ellis manages to make slime every time. His favourite to cook is spaghetti and the pasta is always mushy, the sauce always thick as hell with not enough meat... It's slime. Tastes nice, with the worst texture of all time. Despite that, the boys like it anyway. When Tony's sad Ellis is like right. Dude. I'm making you my slimy spaghetti surprise rn

Greg would bake them all cookies at the weekends they work on school projects! They're usually slightly too hard or too soft, but they taste okay.

Ellis helped one time and the cookies became slime. "Oh my God Greg. Who made these, Ellis?" "Uhmmmm excuse me you're doubting the master chef of the three musketeers?" "He helped."

Greg got extremely, scarily good at baking that one September before he and Tony went missing (Afton/the Mimic can really cook apparently!)

The trio has a Minecraft server, owned by Gregory. Tony builds actual houses and stores, Ellis builds really huge complex things like farms and redstone contraptions + traps, and Gregory builds sometimes like Tony, but is shockingly good at it. He builds megabases. But he also starts a million things he never finishes, accidentally breaks things, causes chaos (usually along with Ellis), buries Tony or moves him while he's AFK, and /kills everything.

Ellis and Gregory built a dangerous labyrinth, and Greg teleported Tony to the centre of it. He's in spectator mode with Ellis, watching Tony struggle and constantly respawn in the maze while he complains. "MF GIVE BACK MY CREATIVE PERMS???" "Seek the exit, and your desires will be met." (leaves vc)

If Tony ever gets genuinely annoyed by their antics, Greg usually builds him something as an apology because he feels really bad about it.

And uhh that's all for now! I could probably come up with more eventually, but these ones have been on my mind abkshduhdjd

Thanks for the ask!

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check In September 15th and 16th, 2023 🎀

I was a bit stressed on Friday. And really tired. Like crying on the phone talking to my dad about how tired I was. I did not want to go to work, but I did and had a goodnight regardless. Everything worked itself out and I stopped stressing so hard. I was gonna rest before I had to go to work but my friend decided to talk my ear off for an hour about her family woes, even after I told her I wanted to rest my brain for a bit. I love helping my friends when I can but sometimes I just need a break from socializing.

there’s not much to update on but I’ll give an update regardless!

🩷 What I Ate Sept 15th -

Breakfast - bagel sandwich and a coffee

Lunch - bagel w whipped cream cheese and another coffee

Dinner - Alfredo pasta w spinach and chicken and a small salad w egg, cheese, and a little ranch dressing

Extra - morning coffee at home and not near enough water. Also some mini mint chocolate candies, like three

I was really feeling bagels. They were so good.

🩷 What I Ate Sept 16th -

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs on brioche style bread with slices of cheddar cheese

Dinner - Two bowls of spaghetti with marinara sauce and grated Parmesan cheese

Snack - macaroni cup, three cups of coffee

I just realized I didn’t take a break to eat lunch at work today. That is the first time I’ve ever forgotten to do that.

🩷 What I Accomplished Sept 15th & 16th -

Worked a total of 13.5 hours at my job

A lot of self compassion and rest

Morning skincare and night skincare routine (sept 16th)

Studied Japanese 10+ minutes each day

Reorganized my desk with my new desk supplies

I received some new acrylic desk organizers, stationery, and Japanese study books today! I bought two writing workbooks and I bought the Genki I and Genki II textbook + workbook + answer key bundle off of Amazon and I am so excited to start using them all soon! In my Japanese studying so far, I’ve memorized almost the entire hiragana chart and started keeping a physical list/anki flashcard set of hiragana vocabulary off of Duolingo and have been practicing my writing on Renshuu. Renshuu is surprisingly such a great tool for me right now, like it’s the complete reason I memorized the hiragana so fast. My plan is to start using Genki I right after I memorize (most of) the katakana. I’ve been listening to Japanese music a lot and talking out loud to myself on occasion. I’m just super excited about this language.

I think I’m quickly approaching the edge of burnout right now and I’m desperately trying to find a way to delay the burnout or stop myself from burning out altogether because I have too much on my plate to just lose myself now. Like I’m genuinely enjoying everything I do in a day but it’s tiring me out. I don’t sleep very well right now, I’m not working out, my nutrition isn’t the best, I over-consume caffeine and I’ve been neglecting my self care. I am working to regain balance because I don’t want to tire myself while trying to build the best life for myself. Todays first step was keeping my promise to do skincare and study Japanese. Tomorrow will be skincare, weekly planning, and completing my due assignments and notes. If I can rebuild trust with myself, I have a good feeling I can get back on track with my daily ideal routines. Just need to take it one step at a time.

I know my blog appears that everything is so great and girly and perfect for me but my life is not like that entirely. I do romanticize my life in the way I live it, I am the main character if my own story, but life is life and stuff happens. I don’t have the perfect body or health, I don’t have the best discipline or motivation sometimes, and yeah, my life isn’t perfect. However, I am still so grateful for the life I am currently living, a life that I never thought I’d be so content with. This blog has helped me determine the direction to go in and keeps me motivated often, and I am so at peace and proud of all that I’ve built and have had help creating for myself. Thank you to everyone who reads this. It is the little interactions, the daily notifications, the pride I get from my consistent updates that keeps me level. This is therapeutic for me in a way. Like an online diary. And I absolutely love the space it’s given me to be my true self, my most comfortable self. I am not perfect but i am happy. Happy with my progress and my journey and my community.

Sorry for the little joyful ramble. Again, I appreciate this community so much. I wouldn’t have driven my life in this path without this community.

🩷 Song of The Day - The Greatest by Sia

One of my all time favorite motivational songs. Just listen to the lyrics. Absolutely simple and amazingly powerful.

that’s all for these last two days! Will be getting more detailed in my daily accomplishments, and am working on a stationary review though I did order more so I might way until it gets here to complete the review post!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷🤍

[emeriethevalkyriegirl]

Totally Spies (Valkyrie) Chapter 11

@sunshinebingo @aelinchocolatelover

4 hours later

“Come on, Diana! Show those bad guys who’s boss!” Emerie cheered for the amazon princess while munching on popcorn.

The girls had taken advantage of their stay in the organization and turned their new dorm into their own personal hideout. After exploring their rooms, Gwyn suggested that they watch some TV while on their first day here. The guys have told them that they’ll call them down for training in a couple of hours. So, the girls changed into their workout outfits and proceed to kill some time.

Currently, the three girls have decided to watch Wonder Woman on HBO max. The girls were at the climax of the movie. Nesta was slurping up her half-empty soda, Gwyn was wincing at all the parts that involved punching or kicking, and Emerie was air-punching whenever Diana would start fighting. Emerie grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in her mouth. “Told ya this movie was awesome.”

“I’m more of an MCU fan myself,” Nesta replied as Emerie gasped. “What! MCU!?” Nesta smirked. “Yep. Marvel is way better with their characters then DC.”

“At least DC doesn’t wait years for more Marvel content. They just work on the next episode for the next series instead of focusing on the movies.”

“Like Teen Titans Go?”

“....okay that reboot was a bitch, but STILL!”

As the two girls continued to playfully argue, Gwyn heard a faint knock at the door. “Hey guys, someone’s here.” she said as Emerie and Nesta stopped talking and looked at the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s Tamlin.” The girls smiled and rushed to the door, eager to greet their friend. Nesta made it to the door first and swung it open. Tamlin was leaning on the edge of the door frame with a smug look on his face. “Hi, Tamlin.” Gwyn greeted as Tamlin gave her a look of shock, but it faded away quickly. “Nice to see you again. I was afraid I never would.”

“How come?” Emerie asked as Tamlin gulped and cleared his throat. “Oh, nothing. Cassian told me to come get you for training,” he replied pointing his thumb in the direction of the training gym. “You girls ready?” he asked as the girls nodded.

After grabbing their stuff from their rooms, the girls walked out of their dorm to follow Tamlin to the training center. “So, Tamlin it’s been a while since we’ve seen you,” Nesta said trying to start a conversation. Emerie butted in. “Yeah, how come we don’t see you as often as we do with Rhysand and his brothers?” Tamlin laughed nervously, rubbing his hand at the back of his head. “I...actually don’t work for Prythian.”

The girls stopped walking. “YOU DON’T!?” they exclaimed rather loudly. Luckily no one was around to hear them. Tamlin chuckled. “Nope. I live in Hewn City with my dad. Our organization is called Spring.” he explained as the girls looked at him with excitement. “So, they’re other organizations besides Prythian? How many are there?”

“I think about 6. Maybe 7.” Tamlin answered, trying to think back on his history of the organizations. “What’s it like there? At Spring?” Nesta asked. “Well, we have a pool, an all-day spa and saloon, a 24/7 open game room-”

“GAME ROOM!” Emerie shouted, practically jumping for joy. “Oh, I love video games.” she cried as Tamlin laughed. “You can come visit anytime if you want,” Tamlin suggested as the girls gasped. “Really?” Gwyn chimed. Tamlin nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I can send you the-”

“Yo, Flower boy.” The conversation was now at an end. The girls and Tamlin turned around to find Cassian standing behind them. He wasn’t his usual annoying self. His tone was serious. Scary even. Cassian’s attention was on Tamlin. “I thought I told you to take them to the training center.” Tamlin frowned. “I was.”

“Didn’t look like it.” Cassian fired back, rolling his eyes. He turned his attention to the girls. “He’s not bothering you, is he?” Cassian suddenly asked him. Why would Tamlin be bothering them? They were friends. And why did Cassian even care? Nesta glared. “He was helping us. We’re fine,” she said, her change of tone feeling like a slap to the face. Cassian rubbed his nose with his index finger and thumb and sighed. “Whatever. Come on, you’re already 5 minutes late.”

---------------

“Are you sure this is necessary?” Gwyn asked nervously rubbing her arms together making it look like she was hugging herself. Once the girls said goodbye to Tamlin, they continued their way to the training center. This time, Cassian was going to teach them about their footwork even though they all insisted that they didn’t need it if all they were gonna do was punch a couple of guys.

So, Cassian decided to give the girls a demonstration on footwork. And Gwyn was going to help him. All she had to do was attack him with as much force as possible. But Gwyn felt sick to her stomach having to hit one of her friends. Well, Cassian wasn’t really a friend. More like a good person. She hasn’t known him for very long yet.

Cassian was looking down at her with his arms crossed, his expression laid with confusion but also impatience. “I’ll be fine Gwyn. All you gotta do is punch me.”

“But won’t it hurt?” Cassian was about to make a sarcastic remark about her not having the strength to knock him down but decided against thinking it would just make her cry. “That’s all part of training. Now dig deep and hit me as hard as you can.” Cassian replied. Gwyn gulped and curled her fingers into a fist, being mindful of leaving her thumb out of it.

“You can do it, Gwyn!” Gwyn heard Nesta cheer from the sidelines holding a thumbs up. Emerie jumped in the air and punched the air as she did back in the dorm. “Yeah! Kick his ass!” Inhaling, Gwyn raised her arm and threw her punch right for Cassian’s ribs.

Once the fist had collided with Cassian’s rib, Gwyn reeled her hand back and placed pressure on top of her hand. “Ouch! Why is your body so-” Gwyn didn’t have time to finish her sentence. One second, she was standing on her feet, the next she was on the ground, her back to the floor. She didn’t even realize Cassian had the upper hand until she was down.

Her friends stood in shock at their friend. “How did-? What did you do?!” Nesta cried out as Cassian stood up from tripping Gwyn. “I tripped her. It’s a basic move for your lower body strength. Best way to do it is when your opponent is distracted.” he explained holding out a hand to Gwyn. Gwyn gratefully accepted and walked back to her friends. “Another reason why I was able to trip your friend was her lack of footwork. If I recall correctly, Gwyn’s feet were standing so close together that they were practically touching.” Cassian added like it was that obvious.

“What I’m trying to say is, you need as much lower body strength as your upper body strength. You can’t have one without the other.” Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie looked at each other and back to Cassian. “So, how are we supposed to work on our lower body strength?” Emerie instantly regretted those words the moment they came out of her mouth. Smirking, Cassian brought out a thin TV remote and pressed one of the buttons.

Immediately, a giant ray gun appeared from the ceiling, aiming itself right at the girls. “Cardio test activated.” The gun said to them ready to fire. Nesta and Gwyn glared at their friend. “You had to open your big mouth.”

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Sweet Pea and Fangs//Mission Accomplished

Request: If you're busy you can ignore this. I really like your poly! Fangs and Sweet Pea and I was wondering if you could do another one. Maybe about what being a family with them would be like. (You know like what kind of fathers would they be.) Thanks!

hey!! this was super cute to write! i hope you like it! 

- Okay, so lets just say right now

- They would be the best dads in the world 

- And you can bet that they both have mugs with ‘best dad in the world’ written on them

- Which they of course use literally every day 

- So much so, that you have to replace them every couple of months 

- Usually because Sweet Pea puts his down on a table to aggressively 

- Or because Fangs doesn’t stir coffee, he bashes the spoon from side to side until he breaks the mug, the spoon, and occasionally himself. 

- Anyway

- So lets say you got pregnant at like 24/25ish 

- All three of you had moved out of Riverdale 

- Because I mean lets be real, its not the safest place to start a family 

- With the murderers and the cults and the gangs and literally everything else 

- Plus, it had been Sweet Pea and Fangs’ dream to get out of the southside and riverdale and to have a better life than their parents did 

- So all three of you have stable jobs that you love 

- And a cute little apartment

- Filled with photos of the three of you 

- And so many memories of your life together 

- Including some random dog statue that Fangs found in the skip behind the apartment complex 

- To this day you and Sweet Pea have no idea why he was there in the first place 

- But you think the scratches on his hands, face and neck had something to do with it

- And so many plants 

- So basically you’re parents already...right?

- Anywayyyyyy

- So, you guys were doing pretty good

- Vey, very happy together 

- And you’d just come back from visiting Toni and Cheryl and their new baby girl

- Who is adorable by the way 

- So you’d be chilling at home

- You and Sweet Pea watching something on Netflix 

- While Fangs cooks dinner (its his turn and he’s the best cook)

- And you’d notice Sweet Pea and Fangs exchanging looks 

- So you’d be suspicious

- And eventually, after the two of them giving each other very odd looks all throughout dinner, you’ve had enough. 

- ‘okay. what’s going on?’ 

- ‘we wanna have a baby’ Fangs would blurt out and you and Sweet Pea’s eyes would both go wide. 

- ‘what?’ you’d look between the two of them 

- Fangs is pushing the last bit of food around the plate 

- Sweet Pea is refusing to make eye contact with either of you, finding the ceiling fascinating 

- While you’re tapping your foot against the floor 

- ‘hello? anyone care to expand?’ 

- And Sweet Pea would sigh, and tear his gaze from the ceiling, settling on you. 

- ‘fine. we’ve both been thinking about it for a whil-’ 

- ‘and then we went to see toni and cheryl and their kid is so cute and they look so happy and we want to start a family with you’ Fangs would interrupt. 

- Of course you’d also thought about having kids.

- Sweet Pea and Fangs are the love of your life 

- They’re who you want to spend the rest of your life with

- Plus you’ve been dating since you were like 16, so it makes sense 

- But it was difficult enough for Toni and Cheryl to have a baby

- This is going to be complicated 

- Both of them will obviously be this kids dad...

- But what if when its born the other gets jealous?

- What if they feel like they’re not properly apart of it? 

- Would you even find out who the biological dad was? 

- Or would you just leave it?

- What about when the kid is older?

- There’s already enough stigma about kids having two moms or two dads

- What about one with two dads and one mom?

- So, you’d all sit down after dinner and talk about everything 

- The possible problems 

- How you would raise it

- If you’re all ready

- And you’d finally figure it out 

- Well, the best that you could anyway

- But in the end you’d figured that you’d all be alright because you had each other

- So then the fun bit ;)

- You’d be trying for a few months 

- Much to the happiness of Fangs and Sweet Pea

- They weren’t complaining 

- And then when you do get pregnant 

- Holy fuck are they happy

- Like literally jumping around, hugging each other, hugging you

- They’re literally the happiest people ever 

- The first thing they do is call Toni

- Because well, they have to tell their best friend that she’s going to be an aunt. 

- And a few minutes later, Cheryl texts you a video of Toni on the phone, jumping up and down as they tell her. 

- Anyway, so once they’ve calmed down they instantly go into protective mode. 

- Like

- ‘oh, sit down. standing up is not good for the baby.’ 

- ‘what?’ 

- ‘do you need a drink? food? a nap? a hug?’ 

- ‘i’m good’ 

- And you think this is just going to last for a few days 

- But no

- This continues all through the pregnancy 

- And afterwards tbh

- They are so protective 

- You always sleep in the middle so they can both keep you two safe 

- Even if it is a nightmare when you need to pee

- Fangs did suggest a bucket by the bed but you and Sweet Pea both agreed that was too far

- They go to all the scans 

- And cry

- Every. Single. Time

- Sweet Pea’s suggests going to the baby classes

- Even though you’re kind of unsure of what people will say

- But you go

- And its surprisingly, okay

- You get a few strange looks 

- But who the hell cares 

- And Sweet Pea and Fangs both have their own little notebooks that they’re furiously scribbling notes in 

- And they always take turns to practice on the fake babies 

- Plus, before you all go to bed the three of you will read baby books, occasionally swapping them every so often. 

- ‘did you know that new-borns are short sighted’

- ‘ha, four eyed loser’ 

- ‘i’m sorry. how old are you sweet pea?’ 

- So they’re just the sweetest 

- And every time they come back from work they aways have something for the baby 

- Literally. Every. Time 

- No matter what.

- ‘how many shoes do you think this baby is going to need?’

- ‘i don’t even think babies need shoes, at least not for the first few months’ 

- ‘no baby needs this many leather jackets.’ 

- ‘yeah, but its got a snake on the back! how could i just leave it there?’ 

- ‘where did you find a leather jacket for a baby with a snake on the back?’ 

- ‘...the serpents made it for us.’ 

- And they buy the most weird stuff 

- Like you’re getting amazon packages every other day

- The neighbors think you guys are doing something illegal 

- Sweet Pea buys a baby grow that has labels for where the arms and legs go 

- And when you ask him why

- ‘its for fangs. i’m just helping him out’ 

- So in retaliation, Fangs buys one with instructions of where to feed the baby and where to change it

- Also this doesn’t stop when your baby is born, they’re still buying stupid t-shirts with stupid slogans on well into its 20s 

- Your favourite thing they’ve bought is definitely the fake tattoo sleeve 

- So, you’re keeping the gender a surprise 

- Because who cares 

- So you’re going for like a yellow or gray nursery 

- And Sweet Pea and Fangs are insisting on doing it all them selves 

- The painting 

- The furniture 

- The little accessories 

- Everything

- Needless to say you hear a huge crash within five minutes of them starting 

- So you do it together instead

- You start painting while they put the crib together 

- There’s some left over screws at the end but they decide against telling you that

- It looks stable enough 

- And just to make sure, Fangs tested it out...and got stuck

- They make sure to take tons of pictures throughout the entire pregnancy 

- Much to your annoyance 

- ‘I’ve just thrown up for the third time in five minutes...stop taking my damn picture.’ 

- ‘i want to capture every moment’ 

- ‘why!?!?’ 

- But you love the majority of them 

- There’s some of you by yourself 

- Some of them with you and one of them 

- Others with the three of you together 

- Both of them looking at you like you’re their entire world 

- (which you are) 

- And there’s a few pictures of just the two of them with fake pregnancy bellies on, in the style of a professional photo shoot 

- Another late night Amazon purchase 

- Which when you opened you were...confused to say the least. 

- When you’re nearing your due date they make sure at least one person is with you at all times, just in case you go into labour 

- And that works, until the day you actually go into labour and you’re alone 

- Fangs is at work and Sweet Pea had to run to the store to get ice cream and snacks

- And then it happens

- You’re panicking but trying not to, but its not working 

- Sweet Pea comes back and then he sees your panicked face and he drops the food and almost himself to be honest 

- He’s running around trying to find your bag and his bag and Fangs’ bag

- And you’re trying to ring Fangs but he’s not answering 

- Sweet Pea eventually gets through to him when you guys get the hospital and you can hear Fangs screaming down the phone

- He makes it there in five minutes, even though he works at least fifteen minutes away

- They’re on either side of you 

- Both panting and telling you to breathe

- Basically they are being ridiculous 

- And very unhelpful 

- Especially when the breathing is mainly to calm themselves down

- And then Sweet Pea gets distracted, blows a rubber glove up and it pop’s 

- And to be honest the fright it gave you, you thought you’d given birth

- But when its time for you to start pushing they’re right next to 

- Holding your hands 

- Saying so many nice things 

- Being so sweet and supportive 

- And they also take a moment to hug each other while they watch 

- Like they’re crying 

- At one point Fangs just screams 

- ‘i told you not to look down there’ Sweet pea scolds 

- ‘does it go back to normal?’ Fangs would ask

- ‘god, i hope so’ You’d groan in pain

- But then your daughter is born and they’re smitten

- This tiny little life is theirs 

- And it relies on them for everything 

- And they’re so proud of you

- Literally they’re heart is going to burst with love and pride for you

- They love her so much 

- And instantly take their roles very seriously 

- The first night they let you sleep because well you’ve just given birth, you need a rest

- And it gives them a chance to bond 

- They take turns holding her 

- And feeding her 

- And just talking to her

- ‘we’re you’re dads’ Fangs would whisper

- ‘i’m sweet pea. nice to meet you.’

- ‘what are you doing?’ 

- ‘introducing myself. i have to make a good impression, and we need to teach her manners’ 

- ‘shit, you’re right. hello, i’m fangs, your other dad...do i like, shake her hand?’ 

- ‘hmmm, yeah. i think she’s too young for a high-five’ 

- ‘thats your mom over there. she’s asleep at the minute so we have to be really quiet, but she loves you so much...and so do we. you’re our entire world’ 

- They’re so gentle with her

- And with you 

- When you get home, the three of you show her around her new home 

- And show her all the pictures on the walls, explaining the memories behind each of them 

- You also make sure to introduce her to her siblings (the houseplants) 

- When she’s a little older Sweet Pea starts teaching her how to defend herself 

- ‘she’s three sweet pea, she doesn’t need to know how to karate chop someone’ 

- ‘yes she does. i’m always going to be around to keep her safe...but just in case. which reminds me, do you know how to karate chop someone?’ 

- Fangs teaches her how to cook 

- Like she knows everything by the times she’s 10

- Both of them teach her stupid (and sometimes inappropriate) jokes

- Out of the two of them, Fangs is usually the one to tell her off

- Actually, its you...you’re the one to tell her off if she’s done something wrong because they both can’t bring themselves to shout at her 

- Its difficult for you too (so its a blessing that she’s actually pretty well behaved, unlike all three of her parents) 

- Fangs is definitely the most over protective 

- He follows her around when she starts to crawl, literally if she moves a centimeter, he’s up and following her around. 

- Sweet Pea is always the one to cheer her up when she’s sad

- And you’re the one she always goes to when she’s hurt herself or if she just needs a hug

- She loves all of you so much 

- And you love her

- They still insist of taking pictures of literally every moment 

- It actually increases after she’s born 

- You really don’t know how thats possible 

- Even she gets annoyed at it

- ‘really dad? another one??’ 

- ‘hey! when all three of us are dead and buried you’re going to look back at these and wish we’d taken more’ 

- They make it their life mission to teach her every single thing they know about the world 

- And all three of you make it your life mission to make sure she knows how loved she is 

- Which you definitely accomplished

[june2734]

The Short Lived Golden Age of Nerdy Web Shows

There was a time between the years of, let's say, 2007 to 2015 that I like to call the golden age of nerdy web shows. It consisted of a lot of small low to no budget productions that had a lot of heart, the kind you just don't see very often anymore for some reason. Many of these show have found a dedicated home on streaming services like The Fantasy Network, some have even gained enough steam to be featured on big name services like Netflix and Amazon like The Guild and LARPs The series respectively. I'm not exactly sure why the web show trend died out so hard, maybe the crowds just aren't there for them anymore like they use to be with some many pieces of high budget productions on streaming services vying for their attention. Every once and a while I'll jump onto Google to try and find new web shows that have that same heart and feel but rarely if ever do I come up with anything. As far as I can tell the only place new nerdy low to mid budget web shows or films gets any attention is at GenCon or small streaming services like The Fantasy Network. Who knows if there will ever be another nerdy heartfelt web show created that captures the spirit of those old series I hold so dear to my heart, but regardless if it happens or not I'd like to bring some attention to a few of my favorites. They may be old by the standards of the internet and maybe even cheesy by today's standards, but I really think they were something special and if you give them a shot maybe you'll think so too. If you have any others that you think would fit in with shows like this feel free to let me know.

The Gamers: Hands Of Fate

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment use to be one of my favorite channels for nerdy fantasy related content back in the day. You could always see the quality and passion that they put into every piece of content they out out on their channel. They're still around today but they've shifted their focus to other ventures such as the ever popular trend of live streaming table top games rather then making scripted content. That being said their old stuff is still well worth a watch and The Gamers series, particularly The Gamers: Hands of Fate, is some of their best work they’ve ever put out. The series centers around a group of table top gamers(the same that can be found in most of the other The Gamers creations by ZOE), particularly the character by the name of Cass, as he steps into the world of one extremely popular card game hopes of impressing a woman who's a huge fan of it. But this is seemingly simple premise is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this series. The show also features a secondary narrative that involves the characters that actually exist in the card game as as the players decisions in the real world effect their lives and leads one character, Buckstahue(not sure if I’m spelling that right), in particular to start questioning what mysterious forces are controlling their lives. The show is a real treat filled with twists and turns I never saw coming, it's fascinating seeing how the real world actions of this card game effects the card characters lives as well as question if and when Buckstahue will figure out what strings control her actions. The stories surrounding the other characters in the party might not be as engaging but they are by no means a weak point of the series either, many of their subplots are engaging in their own rights and pay off certain character moments established in proper The Gamers creations. If this peaks your interest then the series can still be found on Zombie Orpheus's Youtube channel or as a movie on The Fantasy Network. ZOE had pivoted more towards live streaming as opposed to the scripted content of their past but I'd love to see more content from The Gamers one day. Source

LARPs The Series

LARPs The Series first premiered at GenCon 2014 and took home the award for Best Independent Series. The year after it was picked up by Geek and Sundry as a part of a push for more scripted content on the channel which was where I and many others first got a chance to watch it. When the short trailer for popped up on the G&S channel everything about it screamed that I was absolutely going to love it, and I wasn’t wrong. The series centers around a 4 man party of larpers (AKA Live Action Role Players) by the names of Will, Brittany, Arthur and Sam and their DM (Dungeon Master) Evan as we follow their lives in and out of the game. The show is surprisingly heartfelt and sympathetic towards the characters involved in this often misunderstood and mocked hobby as it shows how larping enriches their often turbulent lives and connects them all as friends on a deep and meaningful level. These characters felt real and you really rooted for them as they deal with, work, relationships and the many other hurtles of adult life as they wait eagerly to gear up for whatever peril might befall them in their next campaign session. The show was also pretty hilarious, seeing them play out classic predicaments that any party, whether they be larpers or table top roleplayers, have experienced such as one player trying to roll to kill a tavern owner or romances between PCs were always a joy to watch unfold.  Another thing that most will notice right away is how the production value and direction are surprisingly astounding as well, especially in season 2. I was shocked by just how much quality was put into the show from the costumes and sets as well as from a writing standpoint. If you're interested in checking out the show then it can be found on Amazon Prime but they can also still be viewed for free on YouTube or in The Fantasy Network. Beanduck, the production company behind LARPs The series, is working towards a funding campaign in hopes of earning enough to produce a third season so if you have any spare change you might want to toss it their way in support. Regardless if you decide to help or not, LARPs The Series is a show that I think any nerdy individual will enjoy. Source

Glitch

Glitch was another show produced by the team over at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, but it never seemed to get the same kind of love as many of their other productions. The concept was brilliant: What if one day you woke up and found out your life operated on the logic of video games? Well this is the predicament that a programing temp nicknamed Glitch finds himself in. Most episodes of the show centered around particular game mechanics causing problems in his and his friends lives and how he tries to figure out ways to work around or fix problems they've created. Glitch, Wyatt and Samus were all fantastic characters and it was always fun seeing Glitch trying to work through some real world problem with game logic like trying to flirt with a woman he likes using a conversation wheel like in Mass Effect or figuring out how to "defeat" his boss at work who he see's as an actual game boss. Another thing I liked about the show was how the characters really felt like real people I knew, they played games on the couch, debated about which Sci-Fi starship captains were the best, and they grilled each other in nerdy ways while working in slang from their favorite bits of nerd culture into their daily vocabulary. I always hoped that ZOE would eventually put out a second season but unfortunately for whatever reason that never became a reality. Now days the channel that originally hosted Glitch has changed their name to Burger Orchard and rarely if ever uploads anything, but luckily those original episodes of Glitch can still be found on their. Give it a watch, it's short but sweet and if you really enjoyed the show a lot there are little companion shorts that can also be found on the channel. Source

The Street Fighter

The Game Station was an early find for me back in my early college days, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shaved away many hours watching all kinds of gaming related content on that channel instead of studying for exams. One production, created by one of the channels founders Layne Pavoggi, which came out in late 2011 and was a cut above much their already fantastic content was a short lived series was called The Street Fighter. The series centered around a single dad by the name of Phil who has just lost his job and decides to take up a short career as a professional Street Fighter player to provide for his son as well as keep his mind off of the stressful and highly competitive job market. This a real underdog story that’s extremely reminiscent of old sports 80s films where the protagonist has everything working against them, with that being said you might think that such a trope filled narrative would make things a little predictable and you wouldn’t be wrong but there’s still plenty to love since this concept has really never been explored with videogame to my knowledge. Phil is a guy you’d be hard pressed not to warm up to, especially when you see him interacting with his preteen son Ryan or his best friend/semi love interest Camile (played by former All That star and all around spectacular person Lisa Foiles). Seeing him trying to make his way into the job market, taking odd jobs here and there just to try and get by while also playing Street Fighter to destress and become better for the sake of winning a competition for money to support his son really makes to root for him through all of it. One aspect of the show that I really this is fantastic is how it feels truly authentic to the FGC (Fighting Game Community) when it comes to talking about all of the technical aspects of play Street Fighter on a competitive level. There are moments when Phil goes into detail about his “bread and butter” combos or talks about different strategies when it comes to taking on different characters compared to his main. The show was short lived but it can still be found on The Game Stations channel, if you’re looking for a heartfelt underdog story then I highly recommend giving The Street Fighter a shot. Source

Versus Valerie

Versus Valerie is a bit of series finale for a fictional character created by Hannah Spear for the character more commonly known as the Sexy Nerd Girl on her YouTube channel. Even if you didn't watch the characters vlogs over the years leading up to the web series I still think you'll find something to enjoy in this extremely charming show. It centers around Valerie Lapomme, the titular Sexy Nerd Girl, as she lives life hanging out with with her best friend Guy, shopping for comic books, going on dates, vlogging, and trying to make something of herself as a mid 20 something living in Toronto. The brilliant thing about this series is how each episode is structured like or makes homage to popular shows, films and games such as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Memento, and The Matrix just to name a few. On top of that the show is surprisingly well produced and written for something that spawned from a fictional vlog series, Valarie and Guy are much more fleshed out and all the characters including them have some really fantastic character arcs and moments in the show. Valerie’s awkwardness and extremely nerdy imagination felt embracingly relatable to me personally since I often imagine different situations in my life in relation to my own nerdy fandoms. What I was often taken aback by when I first watched the show years ago was just how enjoyable all of the episodes were in their own special way, and the pay off of it all really feels like a proper satisfying ending to the strange and imaginative journey we’ve been on with Valerie. If it peaks your interest at all then you can still find the full series on the Veruse Valerie YouTube channel as well as some of the vlogs prior to the series on the Sexy Nerd Girl channel as well. It’s well worth a viewing and aside from the fantastic lead characters of Guy and Valerie the show also managed to grab Mark Meer as a supporting character, aka the voice of COMMANDER MOTHER F^*$(^% SHEPARD BABY!!!  Source

[mosylufanfic]

Holding Out for a Hero

I’m so proud of myself, I finished a 12 Days of Killervibe prompt at the last minute!

Holding Out for a Hero

Caitlin pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing out against the burn in her eyes. No matter how she juggled the numbers, they always came out red in the end.

"Dammit, Daddy," she muttered.

The bell over the door jingled, and she jerked her head up, pasting a bright retail smile on her face. "Welcome to Jack Frost Toys!" she called out, quickly minimizing the accounting software. "Are you looking for anything specific?"

Usually they weren't. Usually, they came in, wandered around a little bit, and left. If she was lucky, they bought something before they left.

But the man standing just inside the door, snow dusting his hat and shoulders, said, "Yeah, please, I'm begging you. You're my only hope."

She cocked her head and guessed, "A . . . Star Wars toy?" There wasn't any particularly hot Star Wars toy this year that she was aware of, and she followed every toy blog and website she could find. 

He laughed, tugging his gloves off and shoving them in his pocket. "No, just a desperate nerd looking for a Puffy Penguin. My niece is three and she watches the show on repeat. I know Leo Lion is like the hot toy this year, but Maya knows what she wants. For her it's Puffy or nothin', and I couldn't tell if you had any from your website so I came down here just in case and please?" He widened his eyes at her. "Please."

Her heart melted. One of the best things about this store was seeing children find their new best friend. Second on that list was adults who cared enough about the children in their life that they moved heaven and earth to find, not just the latest hottest toy, but the toy that was just right.

She slid off her stool. "I've got some ZooFriends toys right over here. We're sold out of Leo, of course -" Everywhere was sold out of Leo. "But I've got Puffy in a variety of styles."

"Oh my god," he breathed, snatching a Puffy Penguin stuffie off the shelf and holding it as if it were the Holy Grail. "You've got them all. Elly and Slowpoke and Skyhigh - " He stared at the elephant, sloth, and giraffe toys lined up next to the penguins.

She smiled brightly. "Now this one says phrases from the show, but this one is a lot huggier if you ask me -"

"I'll take them both," he said, grabbing the talking Puffy. "Holy shit. Nowhere has ZooFriends anymore. How do you?"

She bit her lip. "Lucky, I guess." She stepped away and grabbed one of the plastic hand baskets printed with the store logo. "Would you like a basket?"

He took it. "Really? Because it's three in the afternoon on the first Saturday of December. A toy store should be wall-to-wall. Where is everybody?"

She turned away. "Amazon," she said. "Walmart. Websites, chain stores -" She shrugged and tried to laugh. "The plight of the modern small business owner. Is there anything else I can help you find?"

"I'll keep looking around," he said, studying the shelf. "So you're the owner?"

She nodded. "This store has been in my family for five generations."

He almost dropped the basket. "Five - Did they even have toys that long ago?"

"Oh, toys have been around as long as humans have had childhood! Did you know they've found marbles in Egyptian tombs? And dolls in archaeological digs. Toys are how children learn about the world, and how they start to decide their identities and practice interactions with others! They . . ." She trailed off, blushing. "Sorry, my major was psychology and I did my senior thesis on the role of play in early childhood development."

He held up a hand. "Hey, I'm the last person to shame anybody for nerding out. That's pretty awesome. You're in the right business."

"For right now, anyway," she murmured. 

"What?"

She smiled brightly. "I don't suppose you have any more nieces or nephews that need Christmas presents?"

He studied her for a moment. "Do you have any action figures?"

"Collectible or to play with?"

"Collectible?" he said hopefully.

She led him down the aisle and to the back wall. His eyes went wide. "Oh my god, you've got Max Mercury, black series." He grabbed it off the wall. "And Brainiac? This is a great section!"

She smiled. "My dad invested in these because he was hoping to bring in the collectors."

"Well, he made good choices." He picked the Braniac from its spot and turned it over in his hands, studying it closely. 

She left him to it and went back to the counter. She didn't feel like agonizing over the accounts when he was still here, so she cleaned the counter, dusted the book corner, and rearranged the ZooFriends shelf to fill in the empty spots he'd left when he took the two Puffy toys.

After half an hour, he came up to the counter with an overflowing basket, most of it action figures. With her heart singing the song of small business owners, she scanned them briskly.  His purchases came out to well over two hundred dollars. It was a drop in the bucket of her costs, of course, but it was a bigger drop than most. 

He handed her his credit card without a wince. When she ran it, his name popped up on her screen. She handed it back with the receipt. "Here you go, Mr. Ramon."

"Cisco," he said. "Please. Mr. Ramon is my pop."

"Cisco," she said. "I can wrap these if you want."

"Just the Puffys," he said. "The action figures are for me."

She grinned at him and selected a print of happy reindeer to wrap the stuffed animals. "Naturally."

He laughed self-consciously. "I'm not sure whether to be insulted or not. I promise I'm a grown-up man."

"Of course you are," she said, hands busily folding and taping. A really nicely grown-up man, too. She battled back her blush and hoped he hadn't noticed. "But I'll never look down on any adult who still likes toys."

"Well, sure, that's a good hundred and fifty dollars of my total."

"There's that," she acknowledged, setting aside the first perfectly wrapped box and picking up the second.  "But toys are important to children's imaginations. And children grow into adults, who still need their imaginations." She nodded at the Max Mercury he held. "I don't think any of us ever really outgrow the desire to be someone's hero."

"Well," he said, "you're my hero today."

She met his eyes and felt the blush rise again. "Thank you."

He grinned and accepted the bag with the two wrapped presents inside. "And come Christmas morning, I'll be Maya's hero."

She smiled. "She's lucky to have an uncle doing his best to find her the perfect present. I'm glad you came by today."

"Yeah, well, it was coming out here or spending a hundred and seventy-five dollars on eBay and hoping like hell it made it here in time." He fiddled with his wallet. "I really don't mean to be that guy, but your website is . . ."

Her face went hot and she made a business of putting away the scissors and the tape and rolling up the rest of the wrapping paper. "Archaic?"

"I was going to say behind the times," he said tactfully. "If you had web ordering, you'd be sold out of ZooFriends and a whole bunch of other stuff."

"I know," she said. "But I really haven't had the time to get a good system set up since I took over the store. I need inventory software that integrates with ecommerce and for that I need technical skills, money, and time, and I don't have any of those."

He leaned on the counter. "You don't have to tell me, but how did it get this bad? You clearly love this place and I really don't feel like you would have let it fall behind like this if you had a choice."

She chewed her lip. "My dad died in September."

Sympathy spread over his features. Not the plastic, practiced sympathy she'd seen so often, but real compassion. "I'm sorry. Was he sick?"

"He had MS," she said. "He'd had it since I was ten, and he'd always kept on top of his medication and his therapy and everything. So - " She looked down at the perfectly clean counter and wiped it off again. "So when I was away at school and he told me he was doing fine, I believed him."

"He wasn't doing fine," Cisco guessed.

She shook her head. Tears burned in her eyes again. "It probably started small. Just little things falling through the cracks. Then the cracks got bigger, more things fell through. . . ."

He nodded. "They tend to do that."

"Mhm. Then last spring, he had an assistant manager who embezzled a lot of money - "

"What!"

"They caught him!" Caitlin assured him. "But most of the money was gone, and the stress of that just sent my dad's health into a tailspin. I'd just graduated so I moved back home to take care of him."

"And I'm gonna guess you were so wrapped up in that, you didn't even realize what was going on with the store until you took over."

She sighed. "Got it in one." She mustered up a smile. "I didn’t mean to dump that on you. It's bad now, but things will come around. They always do. The holidays are the best time of year to be a toy seller."

"Yeah," he said. "They sure are." He smiled back and gathered his purchases. "I'll tell people about this place."

"Great," she said. "Here's my card, by the way."

"Caitlin Snow," he read off the little rectangle of cardstock. 

"That's me. Let me know if you have any particular collectibles you'd like me to obtain."

"Hmm?" He was looking at his phone. "Uh, yeah, if I think of any, I'll give you a shout. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," she echoed, watching him leave. The jingle of the bell over the door echoed in the toy store's emptiness.

**

Walking back around the building to his car, Cisco snapped a pic of the business card Caitlin Snow had given him. Then he dialed a number on his phone and wedged it between his shoulder and his ear as he pulled on his gloves. "Hey, Iris? Got a moment?"

"Hi, Cisco. Half a moment. My editor's breathing down my neck again about finding some heartwarming story to fill up Sunday space."

"Yeah, I remember you mentioning that. What would you say to a struggling fifth-generation local toy store owner who just took over the business after her dad's death, carries everything from ZooFriends stuffies to high-end collectibles, and knows toys backwards and forwards?"

Iris paused and he could practically hear the gears clicking. "Tell me more."

**

A week before Christmas, Cisco finally found a good excuse to drop by Jack Frost Toys again. With the name of a rare collectible action figure in his pocket, he turned into the parking lot and found it jam packed. He finally managed to wedge his little car into a space half on the gravel and climb out.

This was a good sign, right?

When he walked in the front door, the girl behind the counter wasn't Caitlin. "Welcome to Jack Frost Toys!" she called out before returning her attention to the grandma-looking lady at her counter. "We absolutely do gift certificates. How much would you like that for?"

The place was transformed. There was no other word for it.

When he'd come in the last time, it had been neat and bright and colorful, but empty and somehow sad. Now there were people in every aisle, voices ringing off the rafters. He cut down the doll aisle and almost stepped on a kid sprawled out on his belly, leafing through a colorful picture book. A little girl was staring at the Barbies as if she were deciding the fate of nations. A couple of moms were talking to each other over the Lego sets.

"It's just such a cute little place! It was getting so run-down there for awhile, but this new owner’s really spruced it up."

"I used to come here when I was Mandy's age and it always seemed like the most magical place to me. I'd forgotten all about it, honestly, but we're coming back."

Cisco smiled to himself and edged around them to the collectibles wall. 

The door to the stock room opened and Caitlin came out, arms loaded down with what seemed to be flat-folded gift boxes. She stopped short when she saw Cisco. "Hi!"

"Hey," he said, smiling at her. She was wearing reindeer antlers and her hair was up in a bouncy ponytail. "You're busy."

"We are! I'm sorry, I've got to -"

"Yeah, go ahead."

She went to the front counter and stashed the gift boxes underneath. "Allegra," she said to the girl who'd greeted Cisco as he came in. "I just got off the phone with our supplier and they'll have more wrap here tomorrow. Can we hold out?"

"It'll be tight, but we should be okay."

"Great. I'll be back to cover your break in a few minutes, okay?"

"Take your time, I'm good."

Caitlin edged back around the counter and paused to check in with the moms. She considered their questions, looked around, and plucked a few sturdy wooden toys from a lower shelf. "I really like this designer for the textures they incorporate," she explained. "Babies enjoy being able to experience different kinds of material as they explore the toy, and it stimulates their brain development. Have a look at these. I'll be right here if you have any questions."

"Thanks so much."

She beamed and moved on. 

Cisco watched her consult with the little Barbie lover and pick out a second book for the reader, as well as four or five other small interactions. It was like watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel or Einstein doing calculations on a chalkboard. She was in her element.

She came around the end of the aisle and spotted him again. Her face lit up. "I'm so glad you came by again." She threw her arms around him.

"Uh," he said. "Hi again to you too." He gave her a quick hug back.

She pulled away, blushing. "Sorry. I - I just wanted to thank you. I know the article in the paper was your doing." 

"Oh," he said. "No, that was nothing. I just called up a friend. She's the one who did the interview and that great photo - "

 Iris had been savvy enough to pose Caitlin by her display of the coveted ZooFriends toys. Cisco had noticed how bare the shelf looked now. 

" - and you were the one who made this shop so amazing that once people knew it was still here, they came."

"But none of it would have happened if you hadn't put it in motion. You said I was your hero that day for having the Puffys, but you’re my hero now.

“Pshaw,” he said. “Like you said, nobody grows out of that.”

“But not everybody does something. So. Thank you."

"Well, you're welcome." He looked around. "So you're doing pretty good, it looks like."

She nodded, beaming. "People started coming in after that article, and PalmerTech asked me to purchase toys in bulk for the families at their company holiday party. All my part-time workers are doing as many hours as they can, and I'll be able to pay the rent for January and February, and if it keeps going like this, I can hire somebody to revamp the inventory system for ecommerce." 

She ran out of breath and panted for a moment, her eyes bright.

Cisco had to smile back at her. "That's amazing."

She nodded. "I mean, we're still competing with Walmart and Amazon, and we still took a real hit from what Jay did. So we're not out of the woods, but this - " She looked around, eyes still bright. "This is going to give us some breathing room.   

"I'm really glad."

She turned her smile back on him and stole his breath. "Sorry, I'm just chattering away, and - did you come by looking for something else? Another collectible?"

"Ah - well, I was planning to ask about the limited edition Star Wars figures they're talking about for next year."

"I don't think I'm going to be able to order any of those until March, but I can definitely get your contact information."

"Oh. Okay, sure. But actually it was an excuse."

Her brows crinkled. "An excuse?"

"I really wanted to come by and see if you wanted to go get coffee or something. Sometime." He looked around. "I mean, maybe not right now because it's still December and you're slammed, which is great, but - "

"I'd like that."

His stomach filled up with warmth, like drinking an entire mug of hot chocolate. "You would?"

"Very much." 

They smiled shyly at each other until Allegra called out, "Caitlin? A little help?" She had a line that stretched halfway down the doll aisle.

"Oh!" Caitlin said. "Uh, I should - "

"Yeah! Go. I'll hang around until you're free, and then I'll get your phone number."

"Okay." She gave him one last smile before rushing up to the counter and opening up a register. "I can help who's next over here! Oh, sweetheart, that's a great choice. Your best friend is going to love it."

Cisco watched her for a moment, smiling to himself, and then turned to browse the collectibles. She'd been right, he mused. The holidays really were the best time of year to be a toy seller.

FINIS

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

I can’t believe it, 2020 is finally over. Or at least, it will be on the day this goes up. From where I’m writing it, we’re nearing the finish line, but haven’t yet reached it. Part of me wishes I could have finished season 1 in the same year I started this blog, but I’m getting close to there anyway, so I shouldn’t despair. This episode...yeah, looking at the episode title, I cannot remember for the life of me what the Shiatsu Technique is. By next paragraph, I’ll have rewatched the episodes, and I’ll know. See you in a second!

That was an...interesting direction for Shampoo’s introductory arc? I mean, it’s her second episode, and she’s barely in it. I think I’ll have quite a bit to talk about, but I will say once again I’m holding off on doing a Shampoo Character Spotlight just yet, just because I want to have more material to discuss.

So, anyway, the episode starts with the Tendo’s asking Akane to wake up Ranma, and it’s made clear once again just how angry and jealous she is over the whole Shampoo situation. That doesn’t get any better when she relents but finds that Shampoo is snuggling in Ranma’s bed with him, without him knowing. She dumps water on them, activating the curse, Shampoo tries to kill Ranma, he turns back, she wants to kiss him, it’s a bunch of hijinks.

As Ranma and Akane walk to school, they bicker a little more fiercely than usual, now that the spectre of Shampoo’s affections have come into the picture. Ryoga is chilling on a nearby rooftop, and he’s actually ready to leave. He’s being very angsty, upset that Akane only likes him as P-chan, and knows that if Akane ever admits to loving Ranma, it would break his heart. He tries to head back on the road, only for him to get hit by random water throwing lady’s water, at which point Shampoo finds the piglet in the road.

Next scene, the amazon breaks down the wall of Ranma’s classroom to give him lunch, which as it turns out is Ryoga, though he hasn’t been killed or ever really cooked. Still, Akane and even Ranma are concerned, even if Ryoga doesn’t really appreciate the latter. Angry at Akane ruining her plans for Ranma several times now, Shampoo gives Akane the Kiss of Death, but Akane doesn’t back down, and is ready for a match, despite the fact that Ranma seems absolutely sure that Akane has no way of winning.

By the time Ranma gets to the place they are fighting at, the match is already over. Shampoo is gone, and Akane is unconscious on the ground. When she wakes up, she feels rather refreshed, but is more than anything confused: Akane has no clue who Ranma is. It isn’t regular amnesia, either. She still remembers her classmates, Ryoga, even Ranma’s dad.

After a lot of Ranma trying over and over again to remind Akane who he is, which even fails when Ranma activates his curse, they eventually go to Dr. Tofu. As it turns out, he knows what did this: the titular Shiatsu Technique. It actually has a much longer name, but I will stick with that. Anyway, Ranma’s dad was passing by and saw the whole thing. The move is actually just washing and styling the person’s hair, but using specific herbs and massaging scalpel pressure points to specifically remove memories of a single person.

The only way Dr. Tofu can imagine curing it would be with more Chinese herbs, so Ranma takes Akane out on the city to try and find Shampoo and get what they need. Only thing is, Shampoo shows up at the clinic right afterwards, because it turns out she’s been living there, working with Dr. Tofu.

So, that’s the episode. I’m going to start with some things I didn’t like as much, before getting into what I thought actually worked. The entire premise is just a bit...odd? Like, I have to admit I’m kind of down on amnesia plots in general, just as a matter of personal preference, but even if I wasn’t I feel like using one in the middle of a main character’s introduction arc is a tad bit strange.

I talked a bit last week about how I find that shows using jealousy as a way to show much a person cared about another is kinda sucky, so I won’t go over it again, except to say I’m still not a fan. I’m even less a fan of the fact that Akane is still being looked over as a fighter. First she never really got to fight Kodachi, and now that Shampoo is here they get...a fight we don’t see that only lasts a few seconds.

Shampoo is an amazon warrior, I get that. But I just find it annoying that they completely sideline that conflict for the amnesia one, when giving Akane an opponent to fight who is better than her would be a great way to make her grow. Even if we got a real fight and she lost, it could be something to build on later, a way to see where Akane is as a martial artist. Sadly, this series doesn’t really take Akane seriously as a martial artist, so that wasn’t ever going to happen.

Only other small thing to cover in the negatives column is that I didn’t really like the whole comedy bit of, “Uh oh, Ranma shows Akane his curse, but she thinks he’s a cross-dressing pervert!” It’s just...yeah, I don’t have the mental energy to dive into that topic, let’s just say it left a very bad taste in my mouth.

So, what did I like about the episode, then? Well, quite a lot. As much as I dislike the general idea of doing an amnesia plot here, I liked some of the specifics of it. The fact that not only had Akane forgotten Ranma, and only Ranma, but that it seemed as though she couldn’t even form new memories of him, no matter how much he or others tried to make her understand, definitely added urgency. In a good way.

I also found myself liking the technique itself, strangely enough. The fact it’s just washing the person’s hair, but with special martial arts stuff, is just kind of amazing, ridiculous in that exact Ranma 1/2 kind of way. The fact that all of the characters treat it dead seriously, none of them laughing at the idea, also helps make it even funnier.

Speaking of funny, the slapstick was pretty on-point this episode. It wasn’t quite as funny as some other episodes, but I definitely was at least smiling for a good portion of it. The whole scene of their class trying to help Akane remember Ranma was pretty funny too, in English and Japanese.

For something more heartfelt, I love that after half an episode of Ranma teasing Akane, of so many episodes of Ranma kind of being a jerk, his immediate response to her forgetting him is to do everything he can to fix it. It goes uncommented on so far, but he clearly hates the idea of Akane never knowing who he is. It could just as easily have been done with Ranma not caring in the slightest, being an aloof jerk, but this shows that Ranma does genuinely care about Akane, even if he often has a bad way of showing it.

Ooh, also, on the characters front! Ryoga! My boy! I haven’t really talked about it in a while, but I’ve been kind of unhappy with how Ryoga is being portrayed for a while now. Ever since his arc, he’s just been chilling as P-chan, only turning back to try and take Akane from Ranma in some way. He’s been very scheming and underhanded, which doesn’t fit what I remembered of his character at all.

This episode was much more like it. Ryoga fits so much better as the brooding boy, stuck in the moral dilemma of what to do about his position with Akane, scared of how she might really feel. More of this, please, and less of him making schemes to steal her.

So then, how does this episode shake out, on the whole? Well, I don’t think it’s a surprise that I wouldn’t say it’s as good as last week’s. In fact, it’s dropped quite a few places. Just barely in the top half of episodes I’ve seen thus far, I’m putting this episode just above the Ranma vs Ryoga fight and one spot below the big fight that ended Kodachi’s arc. So, here is the new ranking.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Next week, I think we’re finishing this arc? I’m not completely sure? We’ll have to see? All I know is, the penultimate episode of the season is titled “I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye”. Sadly, unlike Ranma, I do have to say goodbye, but only until next week. See you all then!

[phawareglobal]

Roz Jones - phaware® interview 358

Rosalind Marshall-Jones is an innovative speaker with more than 15 years of experience in the caregiving industry. She is a seasoned health care provider, who runs Jacksonville’s Best Caregivers, an organization that provides short and long-term health care. In this episode, Roz discusses the impact #covid19 has had on home healthcare from anxiety, depression to feelings of isolation. Learn more: thecaregivercafe.net

Hi, I am Roz Jones, I'm the CEO and owner of Jacksonville's Best Caregivers, and we are located in the Sunshine State of Jacksonville, Florida. My company, we are a nonmedical home healthcare business, and we provide four levels of service to your loved one: sitter, homemaker, companion, home health aid, and certified nursing assistant. Our mantra is, "If you can't do it all, you give us a call." Today I just want to talk to you all a little bit about caregiving during #COVID19, what has changed, is anything still the same? As many of us know, it's not the nursing homes that many of our loved ones may be in or may eventually be in, were not built for isolation. So with them being isolated in the nursing home, it's caused many problems. It's caused depression. It's caused anxiety, as well as death. Some people have died from loneliness. So how do we reverse this? How do we make sure that this does not continue on? We have to make sure that either you have to make sure you stay in contact either by phone, or by writing letters, or sending cookies. I'm going to give you a good example, the client that I'm taking care of today, her great nieces and nephews and friends during #COVID19, the children drew pictures, someone baked cookies for her, someone sent her a really nice bottle of scotch. Yes. So they have sent her all kinds of wonderful things to keep her going, and they have called, and that is so important. The isolation, even though it stops the physical contact, you still can contact through letter writing and these other things. So that's part of the way #COVID19 has impacted the nursing homes. Now, so far as doctor's visits, that's another impact, because many of the people living in facilities have doctors come in. Well, now they're doing the telemedicine to where they're doing it over the phone. So the lady that I'm taking care of, we have had to talk to the doctors by phone, and we have actually had to do the actual assessment of her body for the doctor, or for the nurse, or whoever, because either they're not able to get in because they didn't take the #COVID19 test, or they won't come in because of the high risk to the population here in the different facilities. So that's another way #COVID19 has impacted. Also too, #COVID19 has impacted when it comes to advanced directives. Many people did not, during #COVID19, they didn't have their advanced directive. So when it was time to make decisions to move people, they didn't have that information already taken care of, so they didn't know how [the patient] wanted to be treated, do I want a DNR? Do I want to be incubated? These were decisions that were not discussed nor prepared for prior to #COVID19. So now, since #COVID19, you have to sit down and have this conversation. I know people don't want to talk about death and all of this, but it's a conversation that has to be had. There's no way to get around it, none of us can get around it. So make it easy for your family. Have everything in order, your advanced directive, your will, your trust, so that this stuff does not go to probate. Let's not make the courts rich. Let's leave a legacy for your family by getting your life insurance, make sure it's up to date, make sure all of this stuff is taken care of because now #COVID19 is pushing us… is forcing us, to have this conversation that we didn't want to have before. One of my clients, she was supposed to have hip surgery, and for many of any type of major surgeries or minor surgeries, they pushed it back. The reason why they pushed it back was because the hospitals needed either the ventilators or the PPE to take care of people with #COVID19. So that was a priority. So if your surgery was not life-threatening, you had to postpone it. But now since you postpone it, you have to do different things for pre-op, during the surgery, and post-op that you didn't have to do before #COVID19. Also too, during the #COVID19 crisis, we asked people and I beg, "Please, ma'am, please, sir, go and get tested." Not only for your peace of mind, but then to keep the people that you are around, your loved ones, to keep them safe. Not only get the #COVID19 test, but get the antibody test to see if you have had come in contact with someone in the past, or if you currently have it, because the antibodies will tell you instantly whether or not you have been in contact. So those are just some of the ways that #COVID19 has impacted caregiving. And another way it's impacted too, is that going to the grocery store is different. We have to go during non-high peak hours to the grocery store, or they can't go at all and I have to go out and do the shopping, or we have to use Instacart or some of these other shopping companies to bring the food in. Then in some of the facilities, they have cut out dining completely, and they deliver the food to the resident because of #COVID19. Now some of the facilities here in Florida, and I'm not sure about everywhere else, but here in Florida, they are just getting to stage one to where they are allowing them to come back out and have some type of interaction with one another. But for months, for six months, many of us have had to take care of the person inside of the facility, or, I'm blessed with my client, she has a car. So we go out and do what we call field trips or excursions. We ride around the city or we may take a trip. Many of you may be familiar with St. Augustine, so we ride through St. Augustine. We may go somewhere else, but getting out once a week, those are the things that you have to remember when you have a loved one in a facility, and not even at a facility, at your house because of the isolation, get them out of the house. That is so important. Then also too, another thing that we've had to do is Amazon has been huge here in a lot of the facilities. They deliver here at least four or five times a day because they work with Whole Foods, so they bring the food, they deliver undergarments, they deliver the bed pads, medicine, pill boxes, all these types of things that we took for granted that we used to go to the store for, now we've had to alter our shopping because we cannot go out like we used to in the public. Even me as a caregiver, I have had to alter a lot of my life. I, too, only go to the stores here in Jacksonville. They allow essential personnel to come in on Thursday mornings and Friday mornings before anybody else to do shopping, which is nice. So that means that we don't come in contact with the general public that much, other than the employees at the store. I used to take my uniforms to the dry cleaners. I don't do that anymore because I don't know who may or may not have #COVID19 that's cleaning the clothes, so I do everything myself. When I go home, it's a different process. I Lysol my shoes before I come in. I change my clothes in the garage, and I'll wash them separate from everybody else in the house. So #COVID19 has taken a significant impact, not only on the people receiving care, but also on essential employees. I bathe with a different soap. I don't bathe with Dove or Dial. I bought a special surgical soap that I use to make sure that I'm clean. These are the precautions that I take since #COVID19. Then on a weekly basis, I go and get a #COVID19 test. Every week, I have a standing appointment to where I go and get a #COVID19 test. The new normals are, I'm going to give you an example, at the end of our shifts, before I leave out, we have to wipe down the doors with Clorox wipes. All the high touch areas. We make sure that we have it clean, the refrigerator door, the microwave, the toilet seat handle, the guard rails that they pull up with. All of that is things that of course we would clean, but now we clean it more often to reduce the opportunity for #COVID19. So it's a new norm. Are we going to go back to the way we were? No, no, I don't think so. I really doubt it. One of the first things when #COVID19 first came out, the concern was because of my age if I go to the hospital with #COVID19, will they treat me or would they let me die? That was heart clenching for me to hear one of the clients say that. It wasn't even a client, it was just one of the residents, excuse me, walking in the hallway and having a conversation, "Will they treat me or will they let me die because of my age?" So that was the mentality for a lot of them until it started coming out that they're treating the elderly as well as the young, and everybody was being treated the same. But initially when it came out, that was scary. They were saying that we weren't going to treat the elderly and they were going to let them die. That was real scary. Even with the veterans, a lot of them, again, isolation. So we're sending them back through another trauma, it's almost like another war. My parents, my dad is a Vietnam vet. It's been very hard on them because they are so isolated as well. So we haven't even been able to visit my parents. Now, my client here, she's very lucky. We get to go and see her daughter and her granddaughter, but some people aren't that lucky where they get to actually go and see their loved one. But we still take the precautions when we go out and visit. We have the mask. We have the hand sanitizer, we do all of that, but it's important to her. She always says, "I want to see my babies. These are my babies. That's my only grandchild." So we make sure that we take her on a field trip to go see her children, because they're so isolated and they can't get out like they want, they're not coping well. A lot of them have lost weight. A lot of them don't eat. They don't have an appetite. That's when depression sets in. So some of them have had really gone to a deep depression. Now here it is six months later, they're starting to get out, and it's almost like a flower being blossoming that they're able to get out. Just like this weekend, I will make sure that we get out at least two or three times in the next couple of days to make sure that they see each other. That's part of it is to make sure that we try to get back to some, normal way of visiting and some normal way of being able to see family and friends. So those are the things that they don't have. Because when they were able to visit during #COVID19, they had to visit on the other side of a screen or look outside their window to visit with their loved ones. That was horrible. That was horrible. Or they had to do a drive by. With my client, her daughter has done drive-bys, and we've sat outside and spoken from a distance, but that's all we could do. That's all we could do. We are a country of human touch and touch is so important in thriving, and healing, and living. When you lose that touch, they lose a lot of their identity and who they are. So we try our best to make sure that if they can't do a hug and a kiss that at least they can see them, at least from a distance. But now, they're going to allow some hugging and things like that. So hopefully it's going to be a turnaround for a lot of them. This isolation has been horrible. This has been horrible. I can't wait for them to be able to get back out and mingle with their community. These facilities were built for them to be able to still thrive in a community that's similar to what they had when they're at home. And we shut that off for six months. It was like taking six months of their life away. My optimism for 2020, I think we are going to be able to start having more interaction but we have flu season coming up. That's the scary part. So still we have to take those precautions, even in flu season, just remember that. This is not over, so we have two things that's going to butt heads. We have #COVID19 and we have the flu season. Take the same precautions. And get your documentation in order. That's my biggest thing. Please, ma'am, please, sir, sit down with your family members and get your documentation in order, and don't let it go to probate. My name is Roz Jones, and I am aware that I am rare.

Learn more about pulmonary hypertension trials at www.phaware.global/clinicaltrials. Never miss an episode with the phaware® podcast app. Follow us @phaware on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube & Linkedin Engage for a cure: www.phaware.global/donate #phaware #ClinicalTrials

Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site

[forlornmelody]

Thoughts on Titans Season 2 under the cut (for spoilers)

I love how they characterized the Wilson fam, for the most part. 

Slade was pretty spot on, though I’m not sure why he insists on calling Joey Jericho dead around Rose, when Jericho is right there in his head. Maybe cause he wants Rose to think that so he can get revenge? So she stays on his side?

Speaking of which, how long has Rose known the truth? How did she find out?

Somewhere I swear I made a post about Rose actually working for Adeline the whole time (I’m still hoping the housemom persona is just a front. I want superspy!Adeline, dangit), but it’s not showing up. I’m not sold on Rose just letting Dad carve her eye out and just trusting him with the process. Now, if she was doing that to convince him she was on his side, and no one else’s I could see it. Unless she thought it wouldn’t be permanent, which, given her behavior in Ghosts, it’s possible. Mostly, I think they got Rose’s characterization right--pushing people away to protect them and herself, but her whole backstory with her dad doesn’t quite add up on its own. 

Also, WHY DIDN’T WE GET MORE CLOSURE ON JERCHO’S ARC!? Is he still inside Rose? Does she go back to Adeline’s? Cause that would be fucking hilarious. Also, his body in a coma in a hospital somewhere? I have so many questions. He can’t stay in Rose because I want some Jeriwing action, dangit. 

I was really nervous about Chella being a first time actor, but he KILLED it as Jericho. It was so fun seeing so many people fall in love with one of my all-time favorite superheroes. I love how they made him canonically bisexual from the start, made him a music nerd, and a sweet heart with just the right amount of snark. I love how they cast a deaf, genderqueer actor to play him. I really hope the writers bring Chella back specifically next season. More reasons for Jericho to get his fucking body back. 

Also, it’s weird to me that the Titans screamed at Jason for planting shit in their rooms, and when they find out it was Rose and she apologizes, they forgive her just like that? Is it because of Jason’s near suicide that they grow up suddenly? It’s strange to me that the show didn’t explore this at all. 

As much as I loved Gar, Conner, and the Cadmus arc, I really wish they saved it for Season 2. Slade was supposed to be the big bad, not a runner up. Kory could have saved Jason. I have no idea why she doesn’t fly on this show. Her losing her powers is interesting, but she seemingly still had all of them in that episode. And Gar could have had stuff to do besides supervising Conner. Gar wants to be a Titan more than anyone in that Tower. He would literally involve himself in everything if the writers allowed him to. In the comics, Gar craves attention and validation.

If Jason isn’t back on the team next season, we better get Red Hood & The Outlaws, is all I’m saying. And I want Jason and Rose to reconcile, not quickly, mind you, but in a Shit Is Happening And We Have To Work Together sort of way. ALSO JASON DIDN’T GET A HUG. WHERE IS THE RIOT HAPPENING? I WANT IN. 

As for Blackfire being the big bad next season? I’m open to it. I hope they handle the story right. I’ve seen it handled poorly, even in the comics, more often than not. Kori is one of my favorite characters and Anna does her so much justice. 

I also don’t really want Bruce Wayne involved at all. The whole point of the Titans is to not be involved with their mentors any longer. They’ve had two seasons--let them fight without the training wheels next time. 

I didn’t want Donna to be the one to die, and I hate how it was accidental. Maybe they were making a point there, about war or whatever, but still. There are *cough* other OG Titans who really have told all they can of their story and are ready to retire, right? Right? You know who I’m talking about. Do they need to kill them off? Nah. Just give them their own show so I don’t have to watch them take up screen time I’d rather have focused on other characters. But if they insist, they need to die by a supervillian, imo. I’m a little sad that we didn’t get to see more of Donna fighting as an Amazon. And couldn’t she fly in the comics? Am I imagining that? Seeing her go toe to toe with Conner was AWESOME, though. 

I still love Jason’s arc so, so much. We got to peak underneath all the jokes and the cockiness and see the fucked up kid who just wants people he can trust. 

I also like Dick’s a lot. Did it take up too much screen time? Eh, maybe. But at least it was interesting. But he doesn’t have to save everyone all the time either. He shouldn’t have to. Give the other Titans time to shine and give Dick some time to see a fucking therapist. Also, give him more hugs. Preferably from Jericho.

Overall, I LOVED Titans. I literally started following everyone from the show on Instagram because I craved content in the 6 days between new episodes. It’s gonna be a long 10 months til season 3. It just frustrates me how much is left unsaid at the end. 

[lovemesomesurveys]

Do you watch really old tv shows or movies from the 1970’s or earlier? Yeah. One of my favorite shows is I Love Lucy, which is from the 50s. I like The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Brady Bunch as well. Who’s your celebrity crush(es)? Alexander Skarsgard. What do you think of fake people? They’re fake. Whats a song you absolutely hate? I can’t think of one I hate, but I mean there’s a lot I don’t like. Ever been to a rave? Nah. I’ve never had any interest in going to one.

Are you afraid to name the person you talk the most shit about? If I’m talking shit it’s probably about something I saw or read in the news. Usually celebrity gossip related stuff. Are you a jealous person? More envious. Who do you text the most out of your friends? My mom and brother. Song playing right now? I’m not listening to music.  Has anyone ever mistaken you for someone else? Yeah. Are you really interested in the lives of celebrities like Miley Cyrus?
 I do follow celebrity gossip/entertainment stuff. What would you do if you saw a complete stranger dealing drugs in public?
 I wouldn’t do anything.  If you don’t have to be up by a certain time, do you like to sleep in as late as possible?
 Lately I’ve been sleeping in until 12 or 1 in the afternoon again. For awhile I was getting up earlier, like around 9 or 10. It always changes. What did you buy the last time you went clothes shopping?
 I just bought a pair of Adidas leggings from Kohl’s recently. I haven’t done much clothes shopping lately. How many books do you think you read in a month?
 It varies. I finally got back into my groove recently after not reading for almost a year.  How often do you play video games? What are some of your favourites?
 Every now and then. I was playing regularly for a bit when I got my Nintendo Switch last year for my birthday. I played Super Mario Odyssey and a couple murder mystery games. The last one I played was Luigi’s Mansion 3 back in January. What are a few things that get on your nerves when it comes to Facebook (or your social networking site of choice)?
 I just can’t stand the people that have to hate on and criticize every single thing. They have to find something to hate on no matter what it is. For example, I remember hearing a story about how a large amount of flowers that had been used for a big event were donated afterwards to patients in nursing homes. It really brightened up their day. But of course there were the people like, “oh wow give them old flowers that’ll die soon. That’s nice.” Seriously??? I see people shit on everything constantly and it’s just super irritating.  Do you keep a hand-written journal or diary?
 Nah, this is my diary. What are three things you’ve started to like lately? Lemon pepper wings and a couple new shows on Netflix. What was the last reason for having butterflies in your stomach?
 I don’t remember the last time I had the good kind, but I have the nervous kind a lot. If you live with your parents, do you spend a lot of time with them? If you don’t, how often do you go home to visit them?
 Yes I do. Do you need a lot of space in relationships, or are you happy to spend a lot of time with your SO?
 I need a good balance. Like, we can’t just be each other’s entire lives and not do anything outside of each other. What was the last thing you cooked from scratch? Pfft. I don’t cook from scratch.  Have you ever won anything from those games in arcades?
 The closest thing is winning a lot of tickets that I was able to use to buy prizes. When was the last time you went out to a fair?
 Yearssss ago. How far is the nearest zoo or wildlife park from your house? Do you go often?
 An hour. What are you wearing at the moment? Is it for any particular reason? Black leggings and a black RHCP shirt. Do you have anything interesting planned over the next few days?
 Nope. What do you do when you can’t get to sleep?
 So what do I every night? Tumblr, surveys, watch TV, listen to ASMR and watch other YouTube videos, and scroll through Pinterest. Sometimes I also read or color. Are you a morning person? Or does it take you a long time to wake up properly? I’m definitely not a morning person. It takes a long time for me to get up at any time, though. I want to keep sleeping. I just have to finally drag myself out of bed and to the coffee pot. How old is your oldest living relative?
 My grandpa is in his late 80s. Are either one of your parents retired? If not, what do they do for a living?
 No. My mom is a manager at Walgreens and my dad works at a mechanic shop. Do you buy a lot of DVD’s, or do you tend to just watch everything online for free?
 We very rarely buy DVD anymore. We see a lot of movies in theaters, rent from Amazon or the PS4 store, and watch Netflix. Could you happily spend the day in your pajamas? Or do you prefer to be out and about doing things?
 I spend majority of my time at home in my comfy clothes. When was the last time you were in a hospital, and what was the reason?
 Back in 2012 because I had to have surgery. Does everyone in your household own their own computer? My brother and I do. My mom uses her iPhone and iPad, and my dad just uses his phone. Do you find that your feet get unusually hot at night sometimes? Not my feet, but yes I find that I tend to get hot at night. It’s been getting too warm here already and I hate it.

[canaryatlaw]

okay, well today was fine, kinda boring but that’s okay. I was supposed to be prepped to call a client when we were opening at 8:30 but I think I tried to reset my alarm for like 15 minutes later but accidentally set it for an hour and 15 minutes later because next thing I knew it was like 9:30 and I had an email about a call to make, so I scrambled getting some things good to go and was calling like 10 minutes later. it was basically the same deal as what our volunteers do (what I did when I was a volunteer) and we generally check over the papers before they’re submitted to the court so I was very familiar with the documents and such, we were keeping the affidavits shorter than we usually would because we didn’t want to have them on the phone with us for like 3 hours, but once I got the info I knew would seal the deal I was satisfied with that. the forms were the easy part though, figuring out this process for legit the first time was confusing to say the least, and we had to wait like, at least an hour for the clerk to call us back and there was a lot of like, questions thrown around to which I was like....I’m not the right person to answer this question please call my boss because I do not know the answer, lol. but eventually we got the video chat up and working and like 10 seconds later we were on with the judge, at which point I scrambled to at least put a cardigan on and move to the living room so it’s not super obvious that I’ve been doing this sitting on my bed in my pajamas. we had some audio issues at first but got them figured out, and the actual hearing was a breeze because we got a good judge who knows what she’s doing (unfortunately she’s a criminal judge not a civil one, so we only get her every so often when they’re rotating the civil cases) and basically just confirmed the affidavit with the client and read it into the record and that was that. there was some confusion after that about how she was going to get the documents, but we settled that the clerk would email them to me and I would email them to the client, so I left off with the client that I would forward them to her as soon as I got them. the only problem here is they did not in fact email me anything, so I sent an email to the client saying as much and that I’d talk to them in the morning to make sure she gets them. so yeah, it was our first successful venture into doing remote hearings, and I think the first for the courthouse itself, so that’s really good being that we know domestic violence has been spiking with everyone trapped indoors, and in many cases trapped with their abusers, so being able to at least do some of our work was definitely important. somewhere in the middle of everything I spoke to my mom, she said my dad’s blood pressure had dropped somewhat during the night but they were able to get it back up and weren’t too concerned about that, and they were able to cut his sedation meds in half, so that was good. the whole thing is just so damn frustrating, and I’m sure it’s worse for my family because they’re right there but still can’t see him, and like just the idea that he’s been totally alone since walking into the hospital and is now not able to communicate on his own at all and the whole thing is just really upsetting, but I’m trying not to think about it too much because since they moved him to the ICU the news has been mostly positive, so I’m trying to focus on that. I’m just kind of terrified that at some point I’m gonna pick up a call from my mom and she’d say he took a bad turn and was gone....just every phone call has that possibility right now and I hate that. but my mom did also say they had the ventilator at 60% when it was previously higher so that’s good at least. sigh. anyway. once I was done with work stuff for the day I put on Hunters from amazon prime video and ended up finishing the season, and HOT DAMN this show is just so wild and so freaking well done on so many levels and THAT FUCKING PLOT TWIST at the end that I did not at all see coming and I’m like highkey annoyed about it because it’s actually really similar to a final plot twist in a Jodi Picoult book that’s also based in the Holocaust concentration camps. but damn, the show is so fucking good. not for the faint of heart for sure, but really good, gripping drama and it set itself up for another season EXTREMELY well (like holy shit, I won’t spoil it, but the final tease of what is to come is fucking bonkers on so many levels) so I’m very much hoping it gets renewed. You can really tell the actors were putting so much of themselves into the roles, especially with Carol Kane who had such a ridiculously good performance and it kind of threw me at first because the thing I mostly associated her with prior to this was from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt where her character is written to be ridiculous and comedic, and then to see her in something like this knowing that this role must’ve meant so much to her as a Jewish woman, it’s like really gripping stuff. I hope the show gets a shit ton of Emmy nominations (Logan Lerman and Al Pacino should both get nominated for best leading actor in a drama, and several others should get noms for featured actors). so that took up a lot of the rest of my day, but once it was done I turned on a few episodes of Grace and Frankie before showering and starting to get ready for bed, and now I’m here and ready to go to bed because I’m set to be on call again in the morning so I definitely need some sleep. Goodnight peeps. Hope you had a decent Monday.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #242

“i don’t miss you, i miss the misery.”

How many pairs of converse shoes do you own? Hm... three or four? Any other names your parents planned to give you? The only one I *think* I remember is Katelyn. Thank fuck I dodged that bullet. Which is the most beautiful place you know? The mountains between NC and TN, if I remember correctly. I was very young. What do you work with? I don't work period & I hate it. Have you ever hit an animal with your car? Thank Christ no. Favorite ride at the amusement park? I guess ferris wheels. Favorite beauty essential in your bathroom cabinet? I don't have a "favorite" considering I don't use any regularly. Do you have many followers on your Tumblr? Nah. Do you tan easily? I burn like toast, man. Are you expecting something in the mail? No. Do you inspire others? Idk. What do you collect? Meerkat stuff and Silent Hill merch. Do you like cats? Hell yes!!! Are you healthy? If you excuse my weight and muscle atrophy, I'm actually pretty healthy, according to a billion tests I've gotten done when trying to discover *why* I had such awful pain in my legs. Have you ever been out of state? Yeah. Can you always blame your acts on that you were just too drunk? Fuck no. Three things you try to avoid as much as possible: Well dying lmao, getting hurt, public speaking. How many times have you been overseas? Zero. Do you use to have someone in mind when shopping for underwear? Wait what the fuck- What accent do you have? I don't really have one, although I do have a southern tone with some words sometimes I suppose. I also do say things like "y'all" or "fixing to (do something)," so I use some Southern terminology. Where would you like to live? The mountains of western NC. Sigh. Do you follow fashion? No. Do you have a big butt? Ever heard of Hank Hill Ass Syndrome? I have Hank Hill Ass Syndrome. Your worst job nightmare is: Customer service EVER again. Who’s the coolest rapper in the world? Idk and idc. Do you count how long you and your gf/bf have been together? I mean yeah, I think anniversaries are worth celebration. Healthy relationships aren't always easy to maintain; to remain in love takes forgiveness, loyalty, dedication... all that. It shouldn't be hard, but it takes effort. Have you graduated? High school, anyway. Rihanna or Lady Gaga? Lady Gaga, definitely. Do you use fake eyelashes? No. What’s your worst interior design nightmare: I dunno. Probably just being very crammed? What makeup brands do you use? I don't have any particular ones; I don't wear makeup enough. What’s the worst kind of rejection you could give someone? I genuinely feel it to be how Jason did so with me. Three and a half years in a very serious relationship, and he out of the blue breaks up with me over Facebook because my depression became "too much." Like by NOW I understand I can't shame him for wanting to be happy, but the way he did it was fucking cruel and tore me apart. Like especially when this person was your refuge from daily pain and pretty much your god and future (never make someone that, holy holy HOLY shit don't), that individual just suddenly having enough and breaking contact off like that was emotional murder. Do you have a crush on someone right now? Well yeah, but it's like... a "tamed" one? Is that an accurate word? Like I understand it just can't work right now, but it doesn't stop me from liking her. Is there anyone that many people think is hot, but you don’t? I'm sure there's someone. Do you sort and organize your clothes in some kind of way? Sorta. When somebody intimidates you, how do you usually act around them? Nervous, skittish, more awkward than usual. Is your favorite singer in a band or does he or she ride solo? Brendon Urie is in P!atD and Patrick Stump is in Fall Out Boy. Freddie Mercury was the vocalist of Queen. Did your parents ever hang your old artwork up on the walls? Yeah, Mom still has some up lmao. How often do you wear chapstick? Only when my lips are actually chapped. Do you walk around your house with your shoes on or do you take them off? Definitely off. What is the weirdest obsession you’ve ever had? Collecting stickers, maybe? How many of the seven deadly sins have you fulfilled today? Sloth is on the daily lmao, gluttony, and lust. Should guys always kiss the girl on a first date? Not always, of course not. It depends on the comfort level, and I would ALWAYS ask first. Which band has the corniest music videos? Corniest lyrics? I don't really watch music videos, and idk about lyrics. What subject is/was hardest for you in school? Math. Have any songs ever inspired you to play an instrument? No. Do you ever use Pandora? No. Are you better with creative writing or writing essays? I think I'm good at both, but I probably excel in creative writing. When was the last time you were rick rolled? No clue. What is the weirdest animal you’ve ever seen as a pet? Seen, I guess a chinchilla, though that's not really "weird." If you had to change one, would you rather change your hair or your eyes? Eyes. When was the last time you had a ‘she-mergency’? I had to look this up to be certain what that even was lmao. Probably some time I started my period at school and had to use folded toilet paper or something for a while. Which sounds creepier: sleeping in the attic or the basement? I'd say it depends on the make-up of each and its cleanliness. What was your favorite computer game as a kid? I think it was called The Amazon Trail 3? It was a damaged disc however, so it froze a lot. I think I only finished it once or twice; even knowing it would likely crash, I just liked playing it as far as I could. Have you ever tried on your mom’s wedding ring? No. Any shows on TV that you flat out refuse to start watching? 13 Reasons Why, to name perhaps the #1. What is your opinion on fruitcake? NO. Here’s a tough one. Would you rather marry your cousin or a dog? Oh fuck off, neither. Who did you last dream about? I can't remember what it was about, but I know Mark was in it lmao. Do you have trouble remembering important things? Sometimes. My memory is atrocious. Which animal can you imitate the best? Audibly? Probably a cat. Which is harder - walking in the snow or sand? Sand. I FUCKING hate walking through sand. It's one reason I don't like the beach. Do you like sour candy? oml YES. If anyone, who did you sit with at lunch today? N/A Have you gotten any injuries lately? If so, what and how? Not anything I can remember. Are you a clumsy person? You have no idea. How about disorganized? I'm oddly split down the middle. Last male you talked to in person? My dad. Have you ever had a sunburn? Oh boy, I've gotten past that. Try sun poisoning. Are you thinking about asking anyone out? No. Pink lemonade or regular lemonade? PINK! Chocolate or strawberry milk? Oh boy, chocolate. I tried strawberry as a child and absolutely loathed it beyond words known to man, and I will not be giving it a second chance. I remember it pristinely. Disgusting. What volume is the ringer on your phone? It's on vibrate. Have you ever won a contest on the radio? No. Do you often write on yourself? I never do, 'less we're talking about tattoos lol. Is there writing on the shirt you are currently wearing? No. Frosted flakes or frosted mini wheats? I hate the latter, so I guess frosted flakes, though I don't really remember how they taste. Do mushrooms really add flavor to food? I hate them, so they obviously have enough flavor for me to notice them... What about onions? Yes. Are you a fan of Thai food? I've actually never had Thai food. How about Indian food? Same as above. Have you ever tried sushi? No. In your opinion, who would be the best president? I don't know. What was the last thing you spent more than $20 on? I have no ide- oh wait I paid for Teddy's surgery with... money I don't know from whence it came? Was it financial aid money? Idr. Do you wear actual designated ‘pajamas’ to bed? Pj pants and a tank top. When was the last time you were tempted to do something you’d later regret? Probably take a nap late in the day, ending in me being unable to sleep well at night. Thankfully, I decided against it. Have you ever had feelings for your best friend’s significant other? Yes. Well, not current best friend, but a former one. How many times did you ride in a car today? Zero. Are you comfortable in your own skin? Fuck no. What's absolutely splendid is even when/if I lose the weight I aim to, I'm going to have loose skin that literally might make me hate my body more until I without argument muster up the money to get it surgically removed. Are you in a good mood right now? I'm alright. When was the last time you had an ice cream cone? Been quite a while. Did you eat breakfast this morning? Yeah, had some cereal. Have you ever been in a cemetery at midnight? No. Do you live on your own? No. I don't even think I could tolerate living alone because of my depression and how loneliness can severely trigger it. I'm realistically probably not moving out until it'll be with an s/o. If not, who do you live with? I live with my mom, my sister's dog, and my cat and snake. How old are your siblings, if you have any? I have a lot, and I don't know the ages of all of them, only my two immediate sisters: 26 and 21. Have you ever had a crush on a sibling’s friend? No. Have you donated blood in the last 2 years? No. What was the last free t-shirt you received from? School. Is there anything you are looking forward to at the moment? February 4th, baby. Tattoo gets fixed up by an artist I like far more. Him not having an open booking until then should say enough. Are you an atheist? No. Are you Asian? No. Are you fluent in another language? No. Are you in the military? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Are you an artist? Not professional, but I enjoy making art. Are you a musician? No. Are you an athlete? Oh, hunny- Do you have a favorite flower? I really like orchids. Where was the last place you went that was more than an hour away? Great question... The trip to my therapist is about an hour, but not over. Why were you going there? For therapy. Who was the last person to tell you you looked nice? Probably Mom, idk. Have you ever been to a nude beach? Hell no, I wouldn't even if I was in great shape. How many websites do you have an account for? WHEW I have no idea, A LOT over all the years. Have you ever paid for any kind of online membership? Well, WoW is an online game, so a subscription, though because I obviously don't have my own money, I'm sadly rich enough in the game to use monthly tokens. Do you try clothes on before you buy them? Not always. I try to avoid it because I just hate doing it. What would you do if you knew a robber was in your house? Well I obviously don't know how I'd react on impulse, but I'd imagine myself locking my door and then climbing out the window. Then run like a motherfucker up the road some to a neighbor's, or hide in the nearby woods and call Mom. What’s your favorite type of pizza? Meat lovers sobs in wannabe-vegetarian. Have you ever been afraid of falling in love? Yes, very. Who’d you last see in a tux? I don't know. Do you record any TV shows and watch them later? No. Do you have difficulty pronouncing any words? Yeah, particularly "breakfast." I tend to put a "t" after the "k." Do you have your own computer? Yeah. Out of everyone you know, who was the most heart? My mom. Who’s the bravest person you know? Oh man, that's hard. I know a lot of brave people. Who would you want to have your back if things got tough? More than anyone in the world, Mom. Have your friends ever given you answers to homework, last minute? Yeah. Have you ever dated someone who was real sportsy? No. Have you ever done something terrible, but took forever to feel bad? By this point in time, I consider how I spoke to Jason before going to the ER multiple times absolutely terrible, and yes, it did take a very long time for me to realize just how cruel it was. Now it's fucking HARD to accept I ever said what I did. Have you ever read Shakespeare? Yes. Can anyone really change anyone that doesn’t wanna change? Nope. Do you think that anyone currently has a crush on you? I would assume Sara still does, but again, we know a relationship between us just isn't wise right now. What profession do you admire the most? The most? Man, that's hard to decide. Probably those that risk their lives for others, like firefighters, cops (yes, I am aware some abuse their power, but good cops deserve all the respect in the world), etc. Have you ever made a fake profile, for any reason? I don't believe so, no. What’s the hardest lesson you’ve ever had to learn? Bad things happen to good people and no, the universe does not care. Have you ever questioned your sexuality? Well obviously.

[coriknox]

sup ? i’m ac, 22 years old, from the gmt+1 timezone and my pronouns are she/her. i play matias (cody christian) too and he’s A LOT more developed than my gorl cori here, so excuse the mess, she’s brand new and i’m still trying to figure her out. you know how it is. i’ll keep it sHoRt.

☁☼☁( maia cotton. cisfemale. 22 ). welcome back to your summer paradise, CORNELIA ‘CORI’ KNOX we were wondering when you’d finally show up! the town’s really missed how ADVENTUROUS you are, even if you can be a bit INCONSISTENT at times. we hear back home they call you the HOYDEN, makes sense considering you remind everyone of WORN OUT DR. MARTENS, WEARING SUNGLASSES AFTER A NIGHT OUT, TANGLED HEADPHONES AND A CITY SKYLINE AT NIGHT. ☁☼☁

background:

so cori, will kill you if you call her cornelia, or at least do something that’ll make you regret calling her so. only her parents and her sister calls her cornelia and that’s bad enough as it is. i know, eDgY.

it’s fun really, cori grew up with an older sister who was basically perfect, she tried very hard to be anyway, and that made it pretty hard for cori. she definitely had to live up to some unrealistic standards and that caused her to act out a little, not really but compared to how poised and picture perfect her family seemed to be, cori was definitely the black sheep. 

she found that her family and the whole socialite culture of new york was extremely stiff and boring. when she was younger she often times ran away from home, although she mostly just ran as far as her neighbors so no one was ever really concerned. not that they’d bother since they were all busy being in awe over her sister. she would always lash out and told her parents she hated them often. even if it wasn’t true.

while her sister was a ballerina (of course), cori would play soccer and while she was actually very skilled at it, it wasn’t exactly sOcIaLlY aCcEpTeD by the fancy people, her mom was actually kind of the only one who at least tried to support her but it was far from wholeheartedly.

anyway, as she grew up she drifted more and more from her family, her sister doing a good job at driving a wedge between them as well, she was very unecessarily competitive for no reason and whenever cori would accomplish something, her sister would find a way to outdo her. her sister did a good job at manipulating their mom into thinking cori was some sort of poisonous snake and their mom had never been very strong willed so she believed it.

so naturally cori just sort of started paying less attention to them, she would basically couch hop, since she still wasn’t old enough to buy her own place and she didn’t mind it to be honest, as long as her friends and/or acquaintances didn’t mind it.

she did well in school though, nothing crazy she wasn’t like extremely smart nor stupid, the thing that really dragged her down was her lack of concentration and having to sit still for too long. she managed to graduate but didn’t apply to any colleges, she wasn’t planning on studying for a couple years since she didn’t actually know what she wanted. this made her parents react and call in anger but cori honestly didn’t care what they thought at this point.

instead she went to europe and backpacked around for 6 months before then taking another 6 months, through thailand and australia, with a group of random people, but it was one of the most amazing years of her life and it was definitely worth it. it wasn’t like her parents never called or didn’t try but she figured they only called to tell her she was doing everything wrong and fortunately she was beginning to like herself for who she was.

anyway, the last couple of years has been spent partying and just living life with no care, she’s in her best years after all so why waste them. she works as an event planner at 1 oak due do having a lot of connections and her work time fitting her lifestyle a lot more than a 9-5 job.

she was lured back to spent the summer in the hamptons due to her mom inviting her telling her that dad would be there too and everything, and honestly cori never hated her parents or her sister (she definitely wasn’t her biggest fan though) and she knew she hadn’t been the best daughter to exist either so she felt maybe it was time to try and make up for that.

anyway skip forward to her landing in the hamptons, getting picked up by her mom and sister and her mom claiming that ‘dad is dead’ when she asks where he’s at and cori almost crying before her sister diffuses it by saying they’re getting a divorce cause he was cheating on mom with his assistant. it’s only slightly better. so yeah, good start to the summer there. she’s already miserable.

personality:

so cori, is honestly very chill, she’s always down for a good time and can be convinced to most things just because what does she have to lose ? she's not officially disinherited or anything but she wouldn’t be surprised. she’s got very little shame and will flirt with whomever. also always ready to fight if you try her.

she could sell sand in sahara and can talk to any and everyone, also probably how she managed to get that job at 1 oak. she’s the type of person who’s got tons of close friends, but not really like best friends. she’s not all that good at intimacy, despite always needing people around, doesn’t wanna be lonely, but wants to be wanted too?? doesn’t want rejection though.

she always means well and if she really is sorry about something she will do everything in her power to make up for it, although sometimes that backfires too. when she invests herself in something she really goes all in.

there’s obviously more but i’m trash at explaining.

headcanons:

when her grandma died, cori was on tour with a band, you could say she was lowkey a groupie and thus she didn’t answer her phone and since then her family sort of decided to keep her out of family related stuff

- this also explains why she didn’t know of her parents split before landing in hamptons, even though everyone else had known for three weeks.

one time her sister had just broken up with her bf of 5 years and to try and cheer her up, cori booked a trip for herself, her sister and her mom to malta. she then proceeded to forget her moms birthday, which her sister reminded her off, and had to emergency buy a bunch of souvenirs from malta - claiming she bought it off amazon, only to find out she was two days early, her sister had just not so accidentally left that out.

- anyway, she had a terrible time and got shitfaced with a bartender whom she ended up sleeping with and then the next day she paid him off to flirt with her sister and give her a little kiss, although of course her sister found out and they didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the trip.

- also befriended a ten year old, whom she played a lot of mini golf with while her sister was pissed and took their mom out for shopping and shit.

very poor time managing skills, if you want her to come on time you have to invite her an hour early.

her apartment is basically hotel cori, it’s either friends needing a place to sleep or some random guy she brings home from the club but nonetheless someone’s always over and she doesn’t mind, you’re always welcome, can’t even imagine how many people know where her spare key is at this point.

here’s her pinterest !

[mariposalass]

Pinoy Pride (Familial F/O Week 2019 Prompt #1)

This is my take on Prompt #1 for @selfshippingsylveon’s Familial F/O Week 2019 event, theme is Holidays/Weekends. Because I’ll be stuck in Singapore this week, I’ll be posting just a bunch of headcanons and drabbles in lieu of full-on stories because of the bad timing of the trip announcement my Dad dropped on me and my mom. I went with Holidays and an emphasis on Philippine Independence Day (June 12) and also about the fam bunch & their dabbling of the Filipino culture, because we need a ton of Philippine self shipper representation. While the others are not forgotten, the main focus will be on the fam bunch this week as the event says it.

Also, tagging @plucky-belmondo because we Filipinos gotta stick together! Anyway, let’s jump right in!

It’s no secret that Filipinos are the ethnic group with the largest demographic in Daly City and there is also an even bigger one in San Francisco called Kalayaan SF. In fact, many cities in the Bay Area and San Mateo County are slowly beginning to celebrate it more as the years has passed. So celebrating the founding of the Philippines as a modern republic is quite common here and Mari & co. do partake in it.

While it took him so long to get onboard with PH Independence Day fun, Harry enjoys it a lot despite being an Englishman: he is just slow in celebrating it until now, while Kairi full on adapts to it and loves celebrating it so much: she would help out in cooking stuff like adobo, lumpiang shanghai, garlic rice, etc. with the family for lunch. Meanwhile, Issa and Mari will get extremely patriotic to the core on that day, to say that they get really excited when the day comes is a big understatement.

Mari, Kairi and Issa also enjoy wearing clothes in color palettes from the flag for the big day as well, and the three of them would coordinate the colors to match up the color palette. Something that Harry, Philip, and Sora might need to take notes from.

Uncle Gru has a big problem with the Minions causing chaos during the festivals and parades held for the day that he had to use the Freeze Ray on them from ruining it for everyone involved and the people wanting to partake in the fun during the time Mari just finished her third year in college.

Edith and Agnes would sometimes dress up in some of the local costumes, especially the Maria Clara dress, on the day itself, all day long. Auntie Lucy stores them in pristine condition at the storage room and will give them a good cleaning a few days before the holiday begins.

Belle volunteers to do reading sessions with kids in the Daly City Public Library every June 12, using books written by Filipino writers in both English and Filipino (or just Filipino in some cases) that she often borrows from Mari and Issa, although she does have a section of her ever-growing library that has Filipino written books just to be safe. Just recently, Margo has joined along with her at the library and is slowing getting the hang of Filipino from Issa’s tutoring as well.

Despite the awkward past Japan and the Philippines had before (*cough, cough* World War 2 and the government’s non-apology about the comfort women issues *cough, cough*), Michiru doesn’t mind joining the Independence Day events in support of the Filipino American community & Filipinos worldwide and has been improving in cooking Filipino food with Issa’s help in the last couple of years. Hotaru and Setsuna would sometimes join them in the cooking session with them, Mari, Harry, and Kairi. Haruka can’t sadly cook to save her life though.

In spite of having a messed up mastery of the Filipino language, Mari has been trying to teach Harry and Kairi how to speak and write it for years and, just like her, their mastery in it is mixed and barok to say the least, although Issa has been helping the three out (along with the rest of the fam bunch) in recent years, so it’s not a lost cause for all. She is also helpful in helping Auntie Diana to reach full fluency in Filipino, so whenever the latter meets up a Filipino and speaks to them in Filipino without having a ‘nosebleed’, they will get floored in amazement that a millennia-old Amazon can speak and understand it really well.

Believe it or not, the (12th) Doctor did claimed that he did witnessed the Proclamation of the Philippine Independence in Kawit, Cavite in 1898, but whether that is true or not is yet to be confirmed. He could be trolling you if you ask me personally.

While most of the fam bunch will avoid the offal food from the 7,107 islands for various reasons, Uncle Maui and Auntie Diana will at least try them out just once. Last time that happened, Mari was horrified to learn that he (Maui) managed to eat up the diniguan (which is pork offal, meat, and blood stew) without cringing in fear. Talk about having nerves of steel for a demigod!

The siblings and Issa will spoil Margo, Edith, and Agnes (and Scooby, Kirby, and Marina & her adopted siblings) with Filipino treats such as dried mangoes, barquillos (wafer rolls), polvorons, etc. whenever they buy them on their trips to the Philippines or when relatives from the Philippines send all of that stuff to Daly City in a balikbayan box. It will be always be a treat for them whenever that happens.

Since mango ice cream is a thing in the Philippines, Auntie Diana will always get excited to taste it when visiting the country on business trips for the Louvre. Mangoes can make for great ice cream too.

Expect to hear OPM music all day long on this specific day. It was a suggestion that Margo brought up as she was trying to learn to understand Filipino through music at the time and still does to this day.

[trans-advice]

Sorry if this violates and rules or anything, but I really don’t know what to do. My parents won’t let me go on T, and my depression and suicidal thoughts are getting really bad really fast because of it. I don’t have any more ideas on how to convince them, and I’m scared they’ll think I’m lying if I explain what’s happening (my sister thought I came out for attention and my dad thinks I’m faking my ADHD). Any ideas? -🌙

as someone with mental illnesses such as adhd, bipolar disorder etc, in addition to my transgender condition (”not because of it, but in spite of it”) i definitely needed help from my parents & my school. also to be fair, my sister thought that i was faking stuff too. (ugh, i don’t talk to her anymore, but yeah.)

Anywho i suggest 2 things:

look up informed consent hrt clinics (especially sliding-scale ones)

find support groups & support services like at school, doctor’s offices & such, for your adhd & mental illness. (especially get documentation before you’re 18).

look up informed consent hrt clinics (especially sliding-scale ones)

the reason i say look up informed consent clinics is because generally once you reach the age of 18 you can make your own medical decisions including signing off on informed consent to get hormones. granted, that might be a really long ways off & it also unluckily happens to be when your first puberty would be ending. BUT you should look into it, because the point is your parents do not have control over your body forever. it can give you hope. it can give you a sense of if i survive this long i can start to thrive afterwards. 

sliding scales mean they either base the amount they charge you based on income or they have a minimum amount but you can give them more money so they can stay afloat better. this will be important because if you get kicked out for being responsible with your health, then budgeting is super important.

as someone who lives in illinois, the clinics i know of are planned parenthood, howard brown health clinic in the boystown neighborhood of chicago, and chicago women’s health center (cwhc doesn’t have). beware that sometimes they charge separately for the appointment & for the hormones. i know with planned parenthood at least like a year or so ago it was like $250/appointment. 

the good news is that transgender hormones are basically all generics & that’s why clinics we might think are more for afab people are actually very well versed in our hrt needs (as well as both the transgender community & the reproductive health communities both having a shared concern about bodily autonomy). the bad news about the generics is that there’s a lack of research with hrt. 

find support groups & support services like at school, doctor’s offices & such, for your adhd & mental illness. (especially get documentation before you’re 18).

if you attend (public) school (in USA), try to meet up with a social worker or a school nurse to get referals to find like someone who has the power to diagnose you with adhd &or find like general support for like special needs. (adhd can be a learning disability). if there’s a guidance counselor, then perhaps meet up with them to get your foot in the door/referral.

granted, i am personally not familiar with how to do this as the student because i was checked out for special needs when i was like 2. point being, explore these means for social support. also if you have a family doctor talk about the adhd with them & how to get support when your dad is being irresponsible in following up.)

also that website meetup.com might be a good idea as well. there’s also NAMI (national alliance on mental illness) https://www.nami.org/ there’s a program called “the living room” which basically allows you to talk with a volunteer who can help you similar to a social worker does & it’s usually less money than an ER if it’s any money at all.

the reason you need to get documentation before you turn 18 is because some social services require documentation of “disability” or “diagnosis” while you were a minor AKA in USA that’s before the age of 18. (actually, a lot of this advice is USA centric. sorry about that.) there are sometimes other social services that can give help to people who have pertinent records only after the age of 18 years old.

for long term purposes, also try to get any records of like disability, diagnosis, doctor records, school records, individualized education plans, evaluations, etc. try to get either these records or a copy of them & keep them safe. sometimes, it can cost a lot of money (like $50+ per record holder per copy). however, it can be free of cost to get them transferred over to a new doctor etc. just know that are time limits on how long somewhere can keep your records depending on where you live. in illinois it’s 7 years after you last met up with the record holder (whether doctors, schools, banks etc.) however, if you think your household will try to destroy these documents, then you need to look for another place either a friend, or a storage locker or something. granted, this can cost money & such.

personally, i use zipper bags of insulated reusable grocery bags because it basically acts like a box with straps & the insulation liner gives some protection from the elements. however, i do suspect that there are improvements to be made with that situation perhaps wrapping them with plastic bags etc. 

other things to take care of

to use public transit sometimes you need to get a public transportation payment card. sometimes they also use an app. you might need either a debit card or a currency exchange. however public transit varies from region to region.

regarding burner/smartphones, idk honestly, because that requires knowing your budget & such.

https://www.vanillagift.com/ there are also vanilla visas which only allow you to put money on once & there’s a fee. you can also be a minor when you buy these cards. you can then use them to buy anything within USA. however, when you get to your last $2 you can put that onto an amazon.com account to put towards a gift card balance there. the reason why is overall you cannot put money back on the card. therefore it’d actually end up being more liquid to put that last bit of money onto an amazon account since using multiple gift cards to pay is not something enough places are set up to do.

while green dot cards have a ton of fees that i wouldn’t want to use them, they are reloadable debit cards you can get without a bank. https://www.greendot.com/our-products/new-everyday it can then be used to order stuff online or by phone or in person etc. personally, i’d look around at other banks, because fees, but it can be a way to do it maybe more secretly if needed. that way you can use it to like pay for public transit if it requires an app, or pay for products for your transition if you can’t do cash etc. 

here are some hotlines just in case

https://www.translifeline.org/  it is also the only service in the country with a policy against non-consensual active rescue. this is because of the history/commonness of police brutality against transgender people. however, their services have had a lot of controversy about wait times & quality of training.

https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ (if you mention suicide they do call emergency services on you because mandated reporting. to be fair, suicide survivors mainly say they did wish they wouldn’t die once they started so it does have the intent of preserving your bodily autonomy in that sense. however, because sometimes it can out you & the hospitals are sometimes unable to understand/handle trans people & the cops often have policies not based in reality AKA are brutal & unaffirming of trans people, mandated informers can be bad.)  therefore do not talk about suicide with them. if anything maybe talk about things that are stressing you out in the short-term. like the people around you are jerks, how to deal with ignorant people, etc. their website is generally awesome too though, so maybe give their site a look at least.

general resources

https://transequality.org/ (this gives information about  anti/discrimination laws, the legal processes of changing your gender marker & name on official documents, etc.)

https://www.lambdalegal.org/issues/transgender-rights

basically if you survive long enough, your luck will change since the world changes (sometimes you have to help out, but other times, work with what you got).

good luck, peace & love,

eve