#my study plan at the moment is super similar for japanese

[rigelmejo]

'lazy' study activities

Yes, this is an extension of the big monster 'study plan' post I am working on. The big study plan post will link more tools and articles to use, this is more like a short suggestion of study activities you could try.

(Scroll to the bottom to see the SUMMARY)

If you already watch cdramas, continue to do so. Download Google Translate app on your phone (and Pleco, and any other translation app you like). Watch cdramas that have hard chinese subtitles on the videos - many youtube cdramas already are like this (you see chinese hanzi subs on the videos). Keep watching with english subtitles on too. Every 3-5 minutes, look up a word or phrase you're curious about. Google Translate allows you to type in words or phrases with pinyin, so if you see 小心 or 你放心 or 他死了 in the cdrama, you can type what you hear 'xiaoxin' or 'nifangxin' or 'tasile' to get the translation. If you don't hear the pronunciation clearly, or don't know pinyin letters-pronunciation well, then you can also do writing input and write in the hanzi you see on the hard chinese subtitles. I'm left handed and didn't know the stroke order as a beginner, my handwriting is usually incomprehensible to writing recognition software, and google translate still usually figured out which hanzi I was writing. So yeah, just watch what you'd normally watch and look up a word/phrase every 3-5 minutes as curious. This activity will ADD up. In a few months you might know a lot of words. If you are a beginner, maybe start with this activity and just keep doing it for a while. Eventually you'll start to pick up dozens of words, maybe even a few hundred. You'll probably eventually get curious about what grammar you're looking at, how to parse the sentences, how to remember hanzi better, and you can use that curiosity as motivation to push you to do some of the more 'intensive' study activities like learning about hanzi and grammar.

Not the laziest activity, because it does require reading an education material: but all you have to do is read it. You don't need to memorize, or study intensely, just read leisurely through it once. Read this dong-chinese pinyin guide, when you have decided you're a bit annoyed you can't figure out the pinyin to type the words you're trying to look up in cdramas. Or read it when you're eager to try typing with a chinese phone keyboard so you can type in hanzi instead of using writing-input, since typing the correct hanzi will make looking up new words easier. (To type hanzi you just type the pinyin, then pick from the hanzi suggested). Reading through this will take as little as 15 minutes, to as long as several days if you're just reading 1 section of it a day in 3-5 minutes. If you enjoy re-reading and reviewing, you might spend a few hours total on this pinyin guide. But if you're lazy? Just read through once, and know you can always come reference it again later if you're confused and want to clarify something. If you plan to learn zhuyin, you can check out the zhuyin guide at the top-right tab of the linked page.

Also not the laziest activity on here, as it will require reading educational material for 20 minutes to 2 hours depending on your reading speed and if you split it into different days and if you personally enjoy reviewing or not. Again, just read through these once when you have a few free minutes to spare. If you're a beginner, you'll appreciate the basic information about hanzi and how they work.

Part 1: Chinese characters in a nutshell

Part 2: Basic characters and character components

Part 3: Compound characters

Part 4: Learning and remembering compound characters

Part 5: Making sense of Chinese words

Part 6: Learning and remembering compound words

If you are a beginner and don't know much about tones, you may also want to spend 20 minutes to 2 hours on some days/weeks you have free on these informational things on tones:

Four Tones Explanation (great explanation video)

Tone Combination Practice (with some useful notes in it)

When Do Chinese Tones Change (good explanation, helpful 3rd tone explanation)

Accent Lab Mandarin Tone Pairs (I recommend this tool for listening practice, and later in your study to check on increasing your listening skills)

And finally, 2 textbook explanations of tones that I've found useful here and here.

Learning new words: if you find the pace of learning slow from just shows, are getting eager to learn more words FASTER so you can understand more? There's a few options.

There's SRS apps like Anki (or Pleco app's flashcard area), and if you enjoy flashcards or can focus on flashcards better than me, then if you do SRS apps 15-30 minutes a day the studying WILL add up. I cannot focus on such apps though, and once my focus burns out it takes me 1 hour to study 5 words... when for most people, they take 5 minutes to study 20 words or more in these apps.

If you're like me and can't focus long term on doing something like flashcards. Option 1: you can still use an SRS app like anki. Just cram 'new words/sentences' ONLY for a few days or weeks (so when you can get through as many words as other people you try to get through as many words as you can in 30 minutes to 2 hours), and when you start to feel the focus fade then switch to only review cards (and only New review cards until you've reviewed everything once). Quit reviewing when the focus is totally gone. You may finish reviewing everything, or you may not. Doesn't really matter. The initial 'new words/sentence' cards were to get an initial exposure of this means X, just like watching shows gives you that initial exposure the first time you look up an unknown word. You will 'review' these words more by seeing them in cdramas and other things, especially when you're still a beginner who needs to learn a few thousand common words. Option 2: same activity, but use a word list (or word list with sentence examples) online or printed on paper. Read through the list once over a matter of days until focus fades, then try to read through the list a second time (review) until focus is lost.

Option 3: Audio flashcards my beloved. If you REALLY do not want to look at flashcards for 15-30 minutes a day, or like me you REALLY can't focus at all on flashcards sometimes (because if 5 minutes take an hour to study like for me it's not very time effective ToT), audio lessons and audio flashcards will be your friend as a beginner. If efficiency is not your highest priority, I suggest you go to the Hoopla or Libby library apps, and looking up 'chinese lessons' or 'learn chinese' and try out some of the audiobooks and audio courses. Also go on Spotify and look up 'learn chinese' and try out some of the podcasts (I used to listen to Coffee Break Chinese), look up lessons on youtube (and things like "chinese sentences english translation"). ANY lesson that speaks chinese sentences, then speaks the english translation? Perfect, you can use it. Anything that tells you the chinese, then the english translation, is making sure you understand the chinese being used enough to start learning it. If you want to be particularly efficient with your time, you'll want to prioritize listening to audio that has MANY new chinese words per lesson. I listened to the chinese spoonfed anki audio files, chinese/english sentence audio, with new words or grammar in every sentence, but also a lot of words re-used in new sentences so i'd get some 'review' of words I'd heard before even if I only listened to new audio files until I finished. Those audio files have ~7000 sentences and probably a bit less words but still thousands. Immersive Languages (library audio lessons you can use) and Chinesepod101 would probably also have fairly information dense lessons.

Why are audio lessons and audio flashcards lazy? Well, particularly when it's just english/chinese sentence audio, you can listen to it while doing your regular daily schedule. Fit 30 minutes or even hours of listening a day, into when you're driving, commuting, walking, cleaning, cooking, grinding in video games, exercising, doing busy work you can listen to something in the background during. I tested this by doing it myself, and even if you are not paying full attention and just in-out of listening in the background, you will learn new words. So listening in the background while you play video games you would anyway? Easier, versus trying to focus on flashcards (very hard for me lol)? As far as 'intentional study' of educational materials, listening to audio lessons and audio flashcards is the easiest to do while continuing your regular daily schedule (aka not needing to carve out extra study time). The main drawback is it is very listening focused, so if you aren't working on reading skills with cdrama subtitles, graded readers, or webnovels eventually, then your reading skills will fall behind.

As an extension to the 'listening is easy to add to a daily schedule' idea: if you are an upper beginner, you can listen to learner podcasts entirely in chinese or graded reader audiobooks. If you're an intermediate learner, you can listen to audiobooks of webnovels you've read, or listen to audio dramas of stuff you've read subtitles for before, or if it's comprehensible enough for you then just listen to new audiobooks and audio dramas. You can listen to cdramas you've watched before playing in the background, or condensed audio (audio of shows with the silence cut out). Not only that, but when it comes to stuff like this, where you know SOME words but not all words? Or where you can read the words, but can't understand them when listening? Re-listen to the audio a LOT. I'm talking 10-20 times, or at least 5 times. Play chapter 1 of an audiobook on loop in the background while you clean your room, or while you level grind in a video game, or while you mull through doing a spreadsheet or lifting boxes at work (if you can work fine while listening to audio), or while you commute. You will, genuinely, notice your comprehension improving the more you re-listen even if you only paid half attention and didn't follow the plot the first few times. It is one of the easiest study activities to do, once you're at the point you can listen to audio materials. Just keep re-listening until you're bored and want to pick another, or until you feel you've understood as much as you can in that audio file (although I bet you if you've listened 5 times and think 'that's all I'll understand,' if you let yourself listen 10 times you'll be surprised how much MORE you end up understanding by then).

If you're getting ansty (as a beginner) about not understanding the grammar of the sentences you see in cdrama. Use that as motivation to spend 5 minutes to 30 minutes a day (or if you enjoy reading just read for 4 hours one day and be done) to read through some chinese grammar guides. You can either look up "basic chinese grammar" and read a few articles, or find a chinese grammar guide and just work your way through reading it. I personally suggest that, if you're bored by it or unable to focus: either JUST read the grammar point TITLES and then read more into the topics you've been seeing in cdramas that you want to learn more about. Or you just read HSK 1-4 grammar points, since they're the basics. Or you skip to the 'grammar point example' and read the examples to get a visual of what's going on. Or only look up specific grammar points as you watch cdramas, if something seems confusing.

I personally felt... it was easier in the long run, for me, to just read a whole grammar guide as a beginner. Did I understand everything? NOPE. I didn't understand like 2/3 at all. But skimming through an entire grammar guide made me aware of all the ways to expect past tense: 去 过 过了 了 以前 etc, ways to expect the future and ability and desire 会 要, how to ask yes/no questions 吗 and suggestions 吧, 有 没有 i have/dont have and how have can be used to express past tense things, 不 don't/not, how 的 地 can make descriptive phrases (地 is like english -ly) (and how in chinese a sentence clause-的 usually goes in FRONT instead of in the middle like in english), how 得 is both 'must' and also has several grammatical functions to look out for (that I didn't get used to until I read a lot to be honest), and 着 has grammatical uses too (the first of which was it seemed similar to the english verb ending -ing to me). These were basic things, and a lot of their more particular aspects went over my head.

But knowing roughly how to pick out 'that's a verb' and 'that's probably a descriptive' and 'that's a clause' and 'that's negative' and 'that's past tense' or 'that's present or future tense' helped me start guessing the overall main idea of sentences and paragraphs WAY sooner than it otherwise would have took me. If I'd only looked up 1 grammar point occassionally... it could've taken years to recognize these basics. Instead it took a month of reading a grammar guide, then several months of seeing that grammar in cdramas and webnovels just to fully recognize what I saw. I did still look up a particular grammar point when confused, but usually I already was vaguely familiar with the grammar point to look it up (like seeing 把 in the sentence and knowing THAT is what i should look up because it's confusing me). So yeah: feel free to do it the way you prefer, as we all will have different preferences and things that work better for us. But for me, it was worth just reading 4 hours of a grammar guide in 15ish minute chunks over the course of a month.

Unfortunately the grammar guide summary i read (chinese-grammar.org) no longer exists. So I will link some options I've found, but if you find more concise and simpler grammar guides please share them! Introduction to Basic Chinese Grammar. AllSetLearning Chinese Grammar Wiki (way too long to read easily in my opinion but I used this to look up specific grammar points later in learning a Lot), Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar: A Student's Guide to Correct Structures and Common Errors (this one is a print book but the only modern book I bought for grammar), and Wikipedia's Chinese Grammar Page (which is the grammar guide I'm currently reading through to consider as a resource - i think as far as summarized it may be one of the shorter options).

Whenever you feel ready to learn hanzi? Honestly the sky is the limit on options. If you like SRS apps like anki, Skritter is an app I've seen recommended for hanzi, I used some "chinese hanzi with mnemonics" anki decks (while I could focus lol). I personally found the easiest way for me to start was to just read through this book (which is for free as an ebook in many libraries/library apps, and can be found in free download book sites):Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters; Includes All Characters for the AP & HSK 1-3 Exams. I liked this book because it made up a story to help me remember meaning, pronunciation, and tone. Along with providing example words. It's only 800 hanzi, and all I did to study it was read a few pages every couple days until I finished it - it took me around 3 months to finish the book. I didn't review (though you can re-read and review if you enjoy that).

But the mnemonics really helped form that 'initial recognition' memory and so when I started reading graded readers (once I'd studied 300 hanzi in the book), the graded readers helped 'review' those new hanzi and I learned them fast. For the 1000 hanzi I learned on my own after this book, I utilized the mnemonic story strategy that this book taught, and it was fairly doable to just keep picking up hanzi by looking them up when reading, coming up with a mnemonic story in my head, then moving on. As I kept seeing hanzi again, I'd eventually remember them. (And they say it takes 12-20 times of seeing a word to remember it, so at worst that's how much I was looking up new words... sometimes only 1-2 times though).

I would suggest that if you don't use SRS apps like anki or Skritter for hanzi, use some tool with mnemonics like a hanzi book with mnemonic stories (like the one I linked or a few others that exist). And when you look up new words in cdramas, and later graded readers and webnovels, please listen to the word's pronunciation a few times. So you're getting a bit of initial recognition of the hanzi's components/visual AND the word's pronunciation. If it takes 20 times or less to learn new words, then you'll want to get that much reading AND listening exposure.

When you have some basic grammar knowledge (or if you're really tolerant of ambiguity), keep watching cdramas as you have been. But try to pause the show every 3-5 minutes and read a chinese subtitle sentence. You can use the english subtitles to try and parse the chinese word meanings, or look up keywords using your translation app, whatever you want. Since a LOT of cdramas have chinese subs, and you watch with english subs, you can utilize these dual subtitles to start practicing reading skills and practicing guessing new words from context (in this case the context is the scene, the chinese words you already know, and the english translation). Later in your studies, when you stop using english subtitles sometimes, this will have been good practice of getting used to trying to read chinese. This pausing every 3-5 minutes to try and understand a chinese sentence should not take much time, maybe adding 5-10 minutes of watch time to a cdrama episode (depending on how long you pause). So it should be fairly easy to work into your schedule.

So yeah. The big summary of all this is:

If you want to make progress at a pace most people are going to find not too slow, I suggest 1-2 hours on average of doing stuff with chinese a day. (Or more hours a day on average if you want to get through the beginner phase faster). It'll take thousands of hours to learn chinese. Your pace will be extremely slow if you do less than 1 hour with chinese a day on average.

If you already watch cdramas, then keep doing that and just start looking up words (and eventually trying to figure out some sentences) once every 3-5 minutes as curious.

Spend 5 minutes a day reading articles on chinese writing system, and pinyin, and basic grammar, for a few months. You don't need to memorize or review, just get a basic initial exposure.

Approach other educational materials that way: if and when you start more 'intensively' studying, you can just get an initial exposure to the ideas (like a hanzi book, a grammar guide, reading word or sentence lists if you like to do that). You don't need to memorize or review, you don't need to understand everything. Just get an initial impression. (If you enjoy memorizing or studying though, go wild lol)

Audio lessons and audio flashcard study materials will require no time to fit into your schedule, you can do those while you do daily activities that you can listen to audio while doing. As an intermediate learner, these can also be used the way extensive reading is used - to pick up more vocabulary, improve grammar understanding, improve comprehension speed.

New words take (lets rough estimate) 20 times of seeing to remember. So you'll be looking up new words up to that many times when watching cdramas, or later when reading, and that's okay. It'll take a while to fully solidify this new information and you can just keep watching cdramas and doing things in chinese, and the information will eventually be learned. Especially as a beginner: you'll run into the few thousand most common words CONSTANTLY, you will eventually learn them as you keep looking words up and doing stuff in chinese. You do not need to do any special scheduled review (like SRS anki cards, skritter, pleco flashcards) unless you personally enjoy doing it, or want to speed up your progress and are okay with carving 15-30 minutes of time specifically for doing that.

The process of transitioning to graded readers, cdramas with no english subs, and webnovels is it's own beast - which I can cover if you want (and will in the bigger post's step 3). But the short of it is: if you keep doing activities until you've learned around 1000 words, you should be able to start reading easy graded readers and gradually increasing their unique word count until you're reading graded readers with 1000+ unique words. (And you can start graded readers knowing only 200 words if you want! Mandarin Companion has books for beginners if like me you'd like to practice reading ASAP). At that point, you should be able to transition to easy webnovels (using Pleco Reader/Clipobard Reader, Mandarinspot.com annotation, Readibu app, or highlighting and right clicking and using google translate in a webpage) and to watching cdramas you've seen before or with simple plots in chinese only. How many words you look up, or if you look up zero, is all fine: as long as you grasp the main idea of the plot. If you look words up, and can grasp at least the main idea? Then you can watch/read as long as you look words up (and you'll learn the other detail words from context) If you can grasp the main idea without looking any words up? Then you can watch/read without looking words up (and learn new words from context). The first few months (or even year) of transitioning to webnovels and cdramas with no english subs will feel hard, even if you know all/most of the words. It's just part of adjusting to actually comprehending all the things you've studied. I suggest following Heavenly Path's Reading Guide as soon as you're ready to start trying to read - first graded reading material, then webnovels once you've learned around 1000 words.

[fizzingwizard]

Episode 27! It’s a transitional episode and I have Thoughts but nothing major really happens until the very last second :P

Cap of the day!

You know what they saw about the megane shine... next season’s villain is Jou-senpai!!! you heard it here first!

More below!

GAWD I LOVE JOU

no but SERIOUSLY... so glad to have the rest of the team back. They really do make EVERYTHING better. Taichi and Yamato, yeah they’re cool, I love them, but they just don’t carry the show by themselves. And in a similar vein, the rest of the team needs Taichi and Yamato too. Otherwise they have no reason to be all dramatic and show off their cool sides.

(other than Koushirou of course who was just born Cool but it’s the kind of cool most people don’t recognize until you literally own the entire world Koushirou’s three steps from becoming Seto Kaiba except NICE)

ok back to business... last week we left off with the team finally reuniting and bringing Hikari along. For some reason the two groups both decide to stand in a straight line like two baseball teams about to shake hands. Leomon’s team still looks fricking ridiculous

Sooo jury’s out on how Taichi’s gonna react to Hikari! Yamato’s been so chill with having Takeru around, I started to wonder if we’re gonna see super over protective big bro Taichi instead this time! But for the most part he’s just surprised that she’s not surprised by the Digimon.

Hikari is creepy. lol. She’s very much the “cute little sister” type and this episode, at least, we didn’t see any kind of initiative from her, which is to be expected, I mean give the kid some time to adjust. We don’t see a lot of personality though either... I guess we can say she likes cute things, and she’s pretty darn calm... I don’t really like her voice though. It’s a perfectly fine little girl voice, but she always sounds like she’s about to doze off...

Obligatory “cutest couple” pic

The group then basically recaps what’s been happening in the human world recently. Which is all pretty important stuff. But for some reason Taichi and Yamato don’t fill them in on what they’ve gone through?? They have to explain Takeru and Patamon because well there’s a surprise but then they’re like “oh yeah Patamon’s the holy Digimon” and I’m like WHOA. DUDES. IT’S THE HOLY DIGIMON. THE THING Y’ALL RISKED YOUR NECKS FOR. Shouldn’t there be a little more interest, both in the telling and the hearing?? XD

Koushirou’s most excited to update their digivices.

Taichi: Why so blue, Agumon?

Agumon: I shouldn’t have had so many Hawaiian blue energy drinks... but how else did they expect me to fight non stop

Koushirou even has handy dandy charts and images to illustrate. He’s going to get hired somewhere and immediately promoted to CEO, by the CEO.

Patamon: “Hi! I’m the Holy Digimon! Bow before me!”

Jou introduces himself to Takeru and Hikari as the “leader” and tries to convert them to his religion (No-play-only-study-ism) to make them his first acolytes when he inevitably becomes the season’s true final villain. But Gomamon’s all over it.

Gomamon: “You can’t have acolytes until you master maniacal laughter, Jou, didn’t you read ‘Villainy for Dummies’ like I told you to??”

Agumon adorably walks right up to Hikari and asks her if she’s okay and if she feels scared. Hikari says “Agumon’s cute!” Taichi’s face is like “cute? cute?? he’s a dinosaur! dinosaurs are cool!” but he wisely says nothing because you cannot argue with girls about what we think is cute you just cannot

Then Hikari notices something even cuter! Patamon!

Hikari: So cute! I want ten!

Takeru: Sorry, he’s one of a kind and mine!

Hikari: *looks at him* So cute! I want ten!

Takeru: Wait... of me?

Hikari: (u3u)~♥ ﾁｭ

Takeru: (o///o)~♥

love at first sight???? lol

In a nod to the original series, we get a scene of Taichi asking Hikari if she has a Digivice and her being like “oh that thing, I filled it with catnip and gave it to Miko”

Taichi: No digivice! Well I guess this means there’s no way she’s a Chosen Child like us!

Agumon: Infallible logic

Meaning the Zurumon are on the move! this time to FREAKING NASA

Taichi: *most unimpressed voice possible NASA??

I thought hey, it’ll be fine, we’ll just have to fight some more... but

Nasa: *launches a rocket*

The internet:

it’s all just variations of people oh-no-ing in Japanese. A little further down someone just writes “Explosion” in English lol

Due to the weirdness in the digital world that is affecting the human world, a bunch of waterspouts appear in the ocean. Eldradimon’s like “oh bother”

he protec!

Mimi and Palmon rush to comfort each other with a hug.

Jou... immediately gets seasick.

Gomamon: So how’s that maniacal laughter coming along?

Jou: DON’T MAKE ME OPEN MY MOUTH

Awwwww. Point of interest.... Koushirou is barely larger than Hikari x’D

Leomon, for some reason, decides now we must part. He doesn’t think these kids can survive this storm and offers to protect them as they escape. The kids are powerful against evil monsters but weak to weather lol. I’m sure the actual logic in no way was “Now that the rest of the team is back from their pointless stint in the human world we no longer need Leomon to play back-up”

They don’t agree without an argument, but Leomon insists, because he believes the Chosen Children have other important things they are meant to do. We get a cool scene of everyone making their escapes. Sora takes Mimi with her

Taichi and Hikari join Koushirou

And Yamato and Takeru “join” Jou (but really Yamato’s the one calling the shots because Jou’s busy struggling not to pee his pants)

It’s just in the nick of time... before a giant whirlpool seemingly sucks Leomon and Eldradimon into the sea.

Taichi: Oh my god did they just DIE??

Kabuterimon: Don’t look back!

Taichi: I know... we have to respect their sacrifice...

Kabuterimon: Well, that and you might be scarred to see Leomon’s reenactment of Ariel at the bottom of Ursula’s whirlpool

Taichi: huh

(look I think I’m funny and that’s what counts)

Getting all split up like this made me think they were gonna end up split up for reals, but the team manages to stay together for now.

They arrive at a new continent covered in weird spikes! Yamato picks up his digivice like a walkie-talkie and says one word: “Taichi”

it amuses me that he could only bring himself to say “Yagami” for a good while in the beginning but then he finally started saying “Taichi” and now he just can’t stop!!

Anyway he’s alerting the others to the fact that some? of the spikes on the island are actually Tortomon about to attack them. Before going to join Greymon’s attack, Taichi flings Hikari at Koushirou “HERE PROTECT MY SISTER SINCE YOU HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO”

jk but seriously... why does Taichi need to be all up in the action? Until now I thought it was something they all had to do to help their partners, because they usually ride on them during battle, but this episode seemed to suggest that Taichi goes out of his way to do it even more than is maybe necessary. Which doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, but xD

Reason #1229345894 why the team is better when they’re all together: Mimi is hilarious and SORA HAS A GOSH DARN PERSONALITY. She DOES, folks. We hardly got to see it recently -____- this episode at least lets her react to the others. Ugggh. Irony of ironies, Sora needs more love.

It’s a stampede! Simba! NOOOOO!

Sooo... the battle with the Tortomon goes pretty well but then this guy called Groundramon or something appears and uh... starts to eat them... like it’s pretty visceral y’all o_o le eugh

Taichi is shocked and recalls last episode when he saw Seadramon power up and evolve after eating Ebidramon. He does not choose to mention the time he was eaten by Devimon. EH IT’LL BE FINE I’M SURE THAT WASN’T IMPORTANT ANYWAY

Greymon: Don’t get eaten.

Garurumon: lol same to you

The Agumon/Gabumon bromance is honestly one of the best things about this season. Not that we get a ton of it, but when we do we do I always feel like “yes, that’s Digimon, that’s it right there”

The Digimon rev up to face off with their cannibal and Groundramon quickly decides Ikakkakumon looks the most nutritious. He probably has lots of blubber and meat on him so I guess I’d go for Ikkakumon first too

Ikkakumon: Don’t eat me!

Jou: Wait don’t! He was teaching me how to be cool!!!

Taichi: Eat him! Eat him Groundramon! I can’t let Jou be the cool one!

Yamato: Are you two fighting to see who can reach peak villain status first?

Taichi/Jou: I’m naturally competitive

ka-boom!

Our heroes are blown back by. Takeru quickly runs to check on his big brother who seems to smack his head on a rock...

Yamato: It’s cool. I’m cool. The definition of cool. Ishida Yamato. That’s me.

Sora: Oh no, I think he’s got a concussion.

Takeru: No, that’s how oniichan is on a normal day.

The team starts to feel overwhelmed! That’s when a fire ignites in Taichi’s eyes and he announces the next siege!

Yamato: Taichi...

no but okay what even IS this moment. The episode goes out of its way to show us Yamato reacting to Taichi not giving up. This is a Thing. I don’t know what he’s feeling here - impressed? Happy that Taichi’s able to bring everyone together when they’re feeling defeated? Or is he also recalling how that same desire to never fail almost got him killed and his partner transformed into an evil evolution a few episodes ago?

So like I keep saying I don’t see why we had to split up the team for so long, and for now I stand by that. But one thing’s clear: the show wanted only Yamato around to witness what happened to Taichi. (I mean, Takeru was there too, but he’s a baby xP) And even Yamato doesn’t know everything - we don’t know how much he was actually conscious for. But I feel like, if there was any point to the separation at all, that was it. I hope so anyway. I like the idea of Yamato grappling with how to know when Taichi’s going too far while at the same time really valuing the way Taichi’s able to push them to victory.

Turns out Taichi’s new plan is... even bigger guns!

Pointed directly into Groundramon’s mouth!

Yamato: This is madness.

Taichi: No! This! Is! DIGIMON ADVENTURE:!!!!

Everyone attacks poor Groundramon in the mouth x’D im crying

The combined attacks seem to overload Groundramon and then MetalGreymon launches missiles down his throat, which cause these internal explosions. Uh, gross... like if there’s any time Jou should be puking it’s now

we won by being even more violent than normal! yay us!

Not that this means we get a break because Darknightmon chooses now to make his dramatic return!

They get blown back again

... but I love how adorably protective the big brothers are whenever it happens <3

Yamato and Taichi finally remember they never told the others much about what they’ve been up to recently, other than “we found the holy Digimon.” Now they add “and we found Darknightmon too.” Wow what a level of detail.

I honestly... expected Darknightmon to be interested in Hikari instead of Takeru xP It was a little too predictable so I was glad when he seems to go right for Takeru and Patamon after all.

Patamon, who’s recent hobby has been watching musicals, begins to sing:

Don’t ever kick a dog

because he’s just a pup!

You’d better run for cover

when the pup grows up!

Taichi: Uhh did he not see the part where Gavroche dies??

Yamato: He fell asleep before we got that far.

Angemon!!

Honestly... as a fan of 99 Adventure, Angemon there was SUCH a dramatic thing and... this isn’t. I know, I know, it’s a different show, we do things different in 2020... I just remember the excitement I felt about Angemon’s first apperance though. But, to be fair, although it takes a long time before his second appearance, once it happens Patamon always evolves to Angemon without all the fanfare and it’s just a normal evolution. So... yeah, this all makes sense xP

At least we end on a cliffhanger! What’s gonna happen?? Tune in next week!

So I guess I wasn’t that off about the team splitting up again, I was just wrong about when... next week it looks like they’ll be separated, which, although we just got everyone back together, I’m not upset about as long as each group gets focus. Now that they’re back in the digital world, there’s potential for stuff to happen. But it depends on the groups as well. I do sort of expect this is mainly a “put Taichi and Hikari” on their own maneuver.

Oh, was right about Darknightmon going for Hikari after all xP

My guess is... Angemon’s gonna fight but just not have recovered enough to stay in that form for long, and somehow that results in everyone separating... we’ll see. More importantly...

NANIMON!!!

My relationship with this guy is love-hate! I love to hate him x’D So I’m glad he’s back! Still want to see Piximon and Whamon the most but I’ll take it!

[ship-trek]

I would like to know everything about your ships with Spock, Uhura and Bones please!!! KJFEWHKJFW if there's lore or fic I wanna read it and if there's art I wanna see it those three are VERY GOOD (I have a lot of love for TOS) @goldenworldsabound

@goldenworldsabound

!!!! I! Thank you for this lovely ask!! I also have a lot of love for TOS, it was the first Trek I watched and it's always going to have a special place in my heart!!

If you really want to know everything, we're going to be here for a while, so this is going under a cut for length. I should never have been enabled like this. None of them have any fics yet and I can't really draw all that well, so there's no art either, but I'm always happy to ramble about them and call it lore, so here we go!

Ok, as I'm writing down the lore for my ship with Spock, it's becoming a lot longer than I thought it would be - as in it's over 1000 words and we *just* got to Starfleet Academy. I'm going to trim it down a bit to try and get a shorter version and I'll probably turn the rest into a fic. Even with the cuts, though, this is really long. You've been warned.

Once I finish my WIPs with Nerys, I have some plans for some TOS fics, so hopefully my lovely friends will get their fair share of fics soon! I can tag you in any TOS fics I write if you'd like, but of course there's no pressure!

Bones:

I selfship with Bones in the way I do to cope with some specific issues, so lore-wise it's a bit different than my other ships. I don't really have an s/i, it's just me here in our world. He's off on the Enterprise doing all those fun space things, but I can call him whenever I like and he always tries to get back to me as soon as possible if he misses the call at the time. He doesn't miss them often, though - he and I set up a system so I can mark calls as high, mid, or low priority and he'll interrupt almost anything to take a high priority call. I hardly ever use it, but it's nice to know I can reach him if I really need to. And he's amazing to talk to! He's really supportive and always willing to listen to me, and he gives the best hugs :)

I'm actually really excited because he's due back on Earth soon, and he promised to come visit! He can't visit often so every time he does he goes out of his way to make our time together special. It's one of the little ways he shows he really cares about me.

This is a fairly new ship for me, so I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about Joanna. I'm unlikely to add her as a familial f/o, but we might end up as friends or I might just ignore her entirely. It's my canon now :)

Uhura:

So! I am a massive language nerd. I've been teaching myself both Vulcan and Klingon in addition to studying Latin, Japanese, and Spanish in school at various points. (Yes, Swahili is next on my list. Yes, this is because of Uhura.)

Nyota and I met at Starfleet Academy (more details on how I got there in Spock's lore as both ships use the same s/i) during one of our xenolingustics classes. She seemed super cool, but she had a friend group already, so I ended up being too scared to approach her. I haven't always been the best student, so I got into the habit of taking any extra credit opportunities that came my way. Our xenolinguistics teacher offered extra credit if we went to a presentation being hosted by the xenolingustics club, and I figured I had nothing to lose, so I showed up. Nyota saw me there, recognized me from class, and encouraged me to join the club. She seemed nice and I was free, so I said I'd try it out. I came to a few meetings and we ended up becoming friends!

I was never close with her friend group (we didn't have a lot in common and i just didn't fit their vibe) but she worked hard to make sure we still had time to hang out, and I never felt like she liked me any more or any less than the rest of her friends. How she balanced it all, I don't know. I still think she might be superhuman.

She was a year ahead of me and we ended up falling out of contact a little bit when she graduated. Between her (and later my) assignments, there was just never enough time, and as some of you may know (Sorry!!) my ability to stay in touch with people online is atrocious. We didn't stop talking entirely or stop being friends, but it wasn't until we were both assigned to the Enterprise that we were able to reconnect, and we're even better friends now than we were back then. I didn't exactly figure out who I was, but I grew more comfortable with the process of growing as a person and not having all the answers, and as a result I ended up way more confident in myself and with a lot less self loathing. Turns out, that makes you a lot more fun to be around! I still have a lot of work to do in that area, but I'm a lot better than I was back at the academy.

She and I hang out a lot on the Enterprise, sometimes with Spock or Nurse Chapel and sometimes just the two of us. We sing together, play games, talk in half a dozen languages (just because I don't know them yet doesn't mean my s/i can't!) and just do all those normal fun friend things. Sometimes we even teach or help each other learn new languages (I'm learning a new dialect of Klingon and she's learning Latin). One thing I've always really appreciated about her is the way she handles spontaneity with me - when she wants to hang out or change plans on short notice, she always gives me a really good sense of what she's suggesting we do and gives me the chance to raise any concerns or questions about it before we have to make a decision.

Interesting quirk of our friendship: I can usually be flexible about what we do but really need to know in advance who is going to be there, and she can usually be flexible about who's going to be there as long as she has a good sense of what we're going to do. It took us a little while to figure that out and start warning each other appropriately, but once we did things got a lot better!

It's really a crime that the writers didn't give us more Uhura-centric episodes because there are just so many things I want to know about her! This is also a new-ish ship for me, so the lore isn't quite as finalized as I'd like. If you see me changing things about our ship later, that's why!

Spock:

Ok, important warnings time. My selfship with Spock fills a very particular emotional role for me that causes me to be unusually protective of him and our relationship. I'm aware that this isn't exactly emotionally healthy, and that's something I'm actively working on. Part of the benefit of my ship with him is that he can fill this role rather than me putting it on a real person, which, yeah, wouldn't be great. A lot of this has to do with him putting me first.

To be clear, I view my ship with him as happening in one of many similar but distinct universes (there's a TNG ep I'm thinking of here) that's separate from both canon and other people's ships with him. That's why I say that our s/is probably can't be friends (unless we have some universe crossover stuff going on). I would never want to get in the way of another person's ship with him! And this is the division of things that makes it easiest for me to wholeheartedly support others' ships with him, which is something I very much want to be able to do. (What I'm trying to communicate, badly, is that I want to be clear that I don't view the way he thinks about me as being true anywhere outside of my ship with him.)

I do refer to him as my best friend, the platonic other half of my soul, and other similarly intense terms, which he reciprocates. We also have a minor telepathic bond (I have Headcanons about Vulcan telepathy and no one can stop me from using them). Our relationship really is strictly platonic, but if that's going to make you uncomfortable, the time to stop reading is now! I'm also always happy to work out more detailed tags if needed.

Now! On to the actual ship stuff. I've changed around the lore a little bit recently to be a little truer to the way I've been shipping with him for the past 6-7 years, so hopefully this is the final(ish) lore. There are several moments where if canon says otherwise I simply do not see it. I am looking away. My canon now :)

It's late, later than I should have been out, but I'm too young to know better and too excited to care. My cousins are playing in the sand out ahead of me, but I've had enough of the noise and the people for right now, so I'm doing what I do best: wandering off when I shouldn't. The beach is busy but the nearby hills are quiet, so I start to climb. Even at that age, I hate sand, and the stone staircase is a welcome relief.

I was so focused on the climb to see him and by the time I reach the top, I'm too exhausted to do anything but flop on the ground. As soon as I do that my eyes turn skyward and then I'm too focused on the stars to do much of anything else. Even with the lights around, it's a dazzling display. Most call it science, but to my untrained eyes there's a much simpler word: magic.

Between the exhaustion and the stars, it takes me several minutes to realize I'm not alone. A Vulcan boy I don't recognize is sitting on a bench a few feet away from me, staring at something in his lap and staying very still. I watch him for a while and when he still hasn't moved, I walk closer. He twitches - clearly, he knows I'm here - but keeps his eyes fixed firmly on his PADD. If I were older, I would have gone down the hill and this would have been the end of it.

But I wasn't older. I was young, and dumb, and perhaps most dangerously of all, I was curious. I didn't go down the hill. Instead, I walked up, pulled myself up to sit on the far end of the bench, and asked the question that would end up shaping the rest of our lives:

"Have you ever looked up?"

And he did.

I rambled about the stars and asked about his logic homework, and he watched the stars and patiently answered my questions. By the time we parted ways, I was smiling with his contact information tucked safely into a pocket and he watched my go with the corners of his lips pulled up into that classic Vulcan not-quite-smile.

My mom recognized his name and description as the son of Amanda Grayson, a friend of a friend, and she let me use her PADD to keep in touch with Spock until I was old enough for my own. He turned out to be a few years older than me and a lot of fun to be around with a subtle sense of humor that never failed to make me laugh. We'd hang out in person whenever I went to Vulcan or he came to Earth and we talked almost every day online when we were apart. He was (and is) my best friend, and we saw each other through the highs and lows of growing up. Even when his bullies got really bad and when my school social life went down the drain, we always had each other, and somehow that was enough.

Because of something something Vulcan brain development, the eligible age to apply to Starfleet is 20 rather than 16. (ooc this is my headcanon and I need it for our backstory to work, so shh.) I was certain he would apply for Starfleet Academy the moment he was eligible, and I think his decision to wait for a year shocked everyone. I asked him about it, wondering if there was something wrong. We'd talked for ages about how much he wanted to escape Vulcan, so why wasn't he now that he finally had the chance?

His response? "Not all humans treat me as you do. The bullying is unlikely to change, only its source. If I am to be bullied no matter my path, I will choose the one in which we are together."

I have never felt more honored in my life.

We applied for Starfleet together the next year. His father was devastated displeased that he did not choose the Vulcan Science Academy, my parents were upset that I was moving out so young, and we rolled up to Starfleet Academy as the resident pair of family disappointments. Good times.

The academy was a blast, though. We got to see each other! In person! Every day! I was there to stand up to the people who teased him, he was there to encourage me to make good choices, and we both were there to remind each other that sleep is a necessary biological function not to be ignored. We were both studying science, but he focused on the astrophysics side and I focused more on the biology side, so we didn't share too many classes, but we'd hang out all the time in between classes and we tried to take the same electives when we could. Having similar interests helped a lot on that front.

I was a weird child that had by now grown into a weird teenager, so I didn't have a ton of friends at first. Even when it started directly affecting his social life, Spock was never embarrassed to be seen with me, and though he claims that he would be treated the same without me... I doubt it. Still, though, it helped a lot to have him there, and he's never held it against me.

I did convince him to do a show with me once. He tries to hold that one against me but he had fun and we both know it. Besides, it's my job to drag him into illogical things sometimes :)

We graduated together but like so many close friends are, we were posted to different ships. It was a weird time for us. I was doing great, honestly. I was medicated for my chronic illness (finally!), in therapy (finally!), and I loved my ship and fellow officers. My job was interesting and engaging and I was having a blast. Spock, on the other hand, started to struggle a little bit. Though he always treated me like an equal, I think there was a part of his mind that always thought he was a little bit better than me, and seeing me succeed seemingly effortlessly where he was struggling was hard for him. We got through it, though, and he got some better accommodations (and later a transfer to a ship that fit him better) which made everything a lot better. I even ended up taking some engineering classes and wound up getting a degree in engineering too, just for fun.

Before we knew it, he was the first and science officer of the Enterprise and I was a lieutenant commander working for him. (I say working for him, but really it's a lot more like working alongside him. Most people in the science department assume that if you tell something to one of us and don't specifically say not to tell the other, we will, so you can basically report things to either of us.) I do some work for Scotty too, and Kirk likes to joke that I'm an honorary member of the bridge crew at this point. It was a funny joke right up until I started getting invited to briefings, but hey, who am I to complain?

Serving together is a lot of fun. I'm one of the only people on board who doesn't constantly pressure him to show his emotions, with the result that he is a lot more emotional with me. He knows that I don't view his moments of emotion as a reflection of how Vulcan he is or isn't, so he has nothing to gain by hiding them. Mostly, I don't comment on them, which is his preference.

While we're both happy to offer each other emotional support when needed, most of the time we end up just sitting with each other and letting them process it on their own. Between my emotional regulation issues and his I Am A Vulcan mentality, it's been a great way for us to show each other the support we crave without worrying about finding the perfect words.

Speaking of words, I'm one of very few people on the ship who speaks Vulcan. I actually learned it years ago because of him so we've been speaking it to each other for a while, and we take the Vulcan tendency to drop words to a truly ridiculous extent. Uhura tends to joke that we created our own language somewhere along the line, but it's a fun way to annoy Bones when he really gets on our nerves. He can't even complain about it because as it turns out having the ability to converse in a way no one else understands is very, very useful when a mission goes south. You can't really complain about something that's saved your life, now can you?

The telepathic bond (again, very minor and strictly platonic) came about when he had to meld with me on one such mission gone wrong. It wasn't planned, though we'd talked about it in the past and neither of us was upset by it. Bones tried to joke that our minds were so compatible that we were probably going to start dating now and immediately found himself on the receiving end of two death glares. Credit to him, he never made that joke again. We view each other like family anyway, so yeah. No.

But I like the bond we have! It's nice to know when he's uncomfortable but not saying anything and it's easier for me to tell when he's protesting for effect and really does want to go along with my bizarre illogical scheme and when he'd rather not. As someone with no real sense of social cues or sarcasm, it's a lifesaver. Besides, he's been a lot more comfortable with causal touch between us since it formed, which is great for me.

We also play a lot of D&D together. It's something I got him into but which he took to like a fish to water, and the lengths we go to to avoid scheduling conflicts for our weekly game night are probably a bit excessive, shall we say, but it helps that all the friends we'd normally have conflicts with end up getting invited too. He very rarely DMs, but when he does, you better hope someone in your party has a decent intelligence stat because his puzzles are amazing. Seriously, I don't think you've really played a puzzle based game of D&D until you've played one of his. Works of art, I tell you.

I could go on about him for hours, but I'll wrap it up here for time and length's sake. If you have any more specific questions, I think I've already effectively demonstrated that I'm incapable of shutting up about him!

[ecofinisher]

The Adventures of Super Nathan 4 - Chap 1

Fandom: Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Pairings: NathanielxLila, AdrienxKagami (Side/background ships: LukaxMarinette, JulekaxRose, IvanxMyléne)

Rating: 13+

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/29003949/chapters/71182620

https://www.wattpad.com/1016775028-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-4-chapter-1

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Ah yes, I'm starting this fic without even having an idea what the middle will be, Lol. How I love that. Right now I have this fic in plan and one for the Snow Queen fandom (Which practically is dead or is alive, but in Russian only) so I'm giving it here a try as I actually planned to start this one first and Snow Queen just fell into my life by accident. (As usual, a ship pulled me into the fandom along with Amy MacDonald because why not?) (I also have the interest in a Crossover between MLB and SNow Queen, because I just love the idea of RollanxGerda with their elemental powers as superheroes in a lovesquare too xD I need to outline that once I got ideas.

Additional note:

- All mentioned offsprings, classmates, and random are actual OC's of mine.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg sat on the couch of the Kurtzberg household face timing with his wife Lila Kurtzberg, which was out for a few months in Italy due to her work as an actress.

„Today really was now the last day of our recordings here. Tomorrow in the morning I will catch the train to head back to Paris. That one will go directly to France and has only one stop in Turin," Lila explained making Nathaniel nod.

„How many episodes are now in front of me until the one you recorded today?"

„Uhm I think you have 18. We are currently at 42. But you will enjoy the last few episodes, cause my character Isabella will......nah I can't spoiler you that, but you will be surprised," Lila quoted making Nathaniel frown.

„Oh now I'm curious,"

„Hey, I already told you why I had to dye my hair in black and brown lens. You have to wait for it along with the other viewers,"

„Can I at least know if it will end in a cliffhanger?"

„Duh of course. It's the end of the season, that's to keep the tension high," Lila answered. „But I can tell you there will be a few new faces and one of them you may recognize very well,"

„Who? Any of your aunts?" Nathaniel questioned making Lila shake her head.

„No it's Wayhem," Lila responded. „He will have a minor role as a class clown. He is actually pretty decent for that role. At least in the tryouts he was,"

„Thanks to Gabriel he made it there too. That's actually cool,"

„It really is," Lila agreed.

From behind the couch where Nathaniel sat appeared a small girl, which jumped up at the couch on Nathaniel causing him to yelp and the girl with the long brown hair looked at the smartphone to see the raven-haired woman on the other side of the electronic device.

„Hi mama" The girl greeted her mother, which smiled enchanted at seeing the daughter on her husband's lap.

„Hi bella, where have you been?" Lila asked at the sudden appearance of the girl.

„I think Nathalie was working on something special for you," Answered the redhead gazing into the blue eyes of the daughter, which winked back at the man. „But as it is a surprise you can't know it until you're here," „You two are being really mean," Lila joked crossing her arms pretending to be mad at the decision of the two blue-eyed family members.

„Come on pumpkin. You'll see it tomorrow when you get back. I'm sure it will blow your mind, right Nathalie?" Nathaniel asked earning a nod from the daughter.

„Well then the only thing I have to do is to wait until tomorrow," Lila added earning a nod from Nathaniel. „Has anything special changed during the time I was gone?"

„Well, what happened.....yes Sabrina is pregnant. I've heard that from Adrien. Adrien has next Friday his exam again, which he had failed two times before and I think that's it so far. Tomorrow also I will attend the first school day of Nathalie along with Luka and Kagami with their son,"

„That's great Nathy, and Nathalie I don't know what your dad said, but don't forget to brush your teeth before going to bed," Lila warned earning a nod from Nathaniel.

„We took care of it. I promised to let her watch your show tonight if you're okay with it,"

„Okay. It's actually rated 13+, but just the last few episodes I would rather not let her watch,"

„Okay it's fine," Nathaniel responded. "I'm here for her,"

„Look I'm finishing the call for now. I'm going to visit Nana before leaving,"

„Okay, be careful," Nathaniel warned making Lila chuckle.

„Don't worry with Trixx around me, I'm safe," Lila assured earning a nod from the husband.

„See you tomorrow,"

„Bye Nathy," Lila said sending Nathaniel an air kiss, then Nathaniel turned the call off and picked the remote to turn the TV on, which was showing a commercial of Wayhem holding a cereal package in his hands.

„Nutty by Nature. The new cereals for young and teens containing almonds, raisins, and walnuts. Try it out. This may contain nuts and gluten. Suggested to be served with milk or yogurt,"

„Isn't that the cereal you wanted to try out?" Nathaniel questioned sitting up on the couch, followed by Nathalie which sat beside the father.

„No, it had Ladybug on it," Nathalie mentioned earning a nod from the redhead.

„Okay, we can see it next Wednesday during shopping," Nathaniel said, then watched on the TV the logo of an Italian studio appear, then Nathaniel placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. „Look Nathalie the show is about to start," Nathaniel said putting the TV a little louder as the logos had played a 90th themed song in the background and showed a coyote near a road in the middle of the desert howl leading to the start of the intro and a car pass by on the road, then the theme song of the show began to play which was a pop-rock remix making Nathalie dance with her head amused at the song.

„Cool," Nathalie commented afterward she smiled brightly as she recognized in the intro her mother walk towards the camera, then under her married full name was blended in and Nathalie looked up at Nathaniel, which smiled at seeing her name on the screen.

„And what do you think of mom?" Nathaniel questioned. „Doesn't she look beautiful there?"

„She is very beautiful, dad," Nathalie agreed lying her head on the father's shoulder looking at the screen seeing a different actress with a similar body and facial structures as Lila strutt towards the camera and an Italian name appear under the woman's name.

„That woman there plays the younger version of your mom," Nathaniel pointed out earning a nod from the daughter watching the camera switch back to a male younger, character who also had his actor name announced on-screen through the introduction of the show.

At the mansion of the Agreste's, Adrien Agreste along with his wife Kagami and their common son had made the first steps of their life under the same home they were in since their first part of the education.

Adrien's ten-year-old sister sat in his old bedroom watching TV along with her five-year-old nephew Elliot. The boy Elliot sat interested looking at the movie to see a male character with fire powers throwing it on a trunk to make fire, so a group of kids got reunited around it to heat their hands.

„Rocky the fire guy is so cool," Elliot commented earning a nod from the older niece.

„What about Ally the water girl?" Questioned Hope. „She's also cool,"

„Nah I prefer Rocky," Elliot defended making Hope chuckle, then see an anthropomorphic rabbit push out from the ground two walls to form a tent-like shelter.

At the entrance of the room entered Kagami wearing a white tank top and red shorts as her sleeping outfit, then she made her way towards the couch, where the two blonde Agreste's sat and she placed her hands over on Elliot's shoulder.

„Elliot, it's bedtime," Kagami announced leaning her cheek on Elliot's face making him sad. „Do I really have to go now to bed?" Elliot questioned looking up at Kagami, which nodded.

„It's almost 10 am sweetie and you know tomorrow is your first school day and no one wants to have a tired boy during the class?" Kagami stated tapping the boy on the nose.

„Can I wait until the break?" Elliot questioned watching Kagami look at her watch and at that moment the movie got into a commercial making Hope groan disappointed.

„Not again," Hope complained making Kagami chuckle.

„Look you two, what about tomorrow we all watch that movie you were looking at? You two, me and Adrien?" Suggested Kagami earning a nod from the two blondes.

„Where's Adrien?" Hope asked watching Kagami open the TV guide to check the movie title. „I haven't seen him since dinner,"

„Your brother is studying for the big exam. You know after the last two times he failed he isn't really easy to convince to stop or take a break,"

„Dad is studying too much, mom," Elliot mentioned earning a nod from the mother, which helped her son down from the couch.

„Learning about medicine isn't for everyone. Even if Daddy is giving his best," Kagami mentioned earning a nod from Elliot.

„Will school tomorrow be hard for me?" Elliot asked making Kagami shake her head.

„No, it's very easy if you pay attention and if there is something you don't understand you can always ask your teacher at the school or us," Kagami said watching Elliot grab her hand, then Kagami walked out with her son into the corridor to reach the last room, where she got into and was in the bedroom, which got altered after Hope got older and Elliot was born into the Agreste heir. His bedroom contained a bed with a night table beside him and on the left side he had a bookshelf with only a few books on it and the others remained empty for now. On the wall he had four different watches both analog and digital, each of the clocks was adjusted to the European time zone and the Japanese time zone, which had about a difference of 8 hours. Kagami watched Elliot open up the bed for himself and got into it, then grabbed from under his pillow a red panda plush making Kagami smile remembering they had got the animal from their trip to Japan two years ago. Elliot used to sleep with the plush every night after they bought it for him.

Kagami adjusted the covers of the boy and looked at the boy, which smiled at the woman afterward Kagami pecked the boy on the cheek wishing him a good night.

„Good night, my little boy,"

„Good night mom," Elliot wished watching the mother caress the boy on the forehead gently before he closed his eyes, then the woman got up and left the door half-open and walked across the corridor into the bedroom, which now was used by Adrien and Kagami to sleep. Kagami encountered Adrien sitting in front of a desk with his arms on the table reading a book about diseases. Adrien was notably close to falling asleep, then Kagami walked toward the man, which was focused on the book, then Kagami placed her hand on Adrien's shoulder shrieking him along with herself, then Adrien sighed in relief to see it was just his wife.

„Oh it's you Kagami," Adrien mentioned watching Kagami pick up the water glass on the table handing it out to Adrien, which took it to drink,

„I just brought Elliot to bed," Kagami mentioned earning a nod from Adrien, which yawned. „And you better go to bed too, get a good night of sleep, then you wake up, have a walk or a jog, take a shower, have a good breakfast and you continue your work. Give your brain a little more oxygen before you spend another day inside the house. Elliot sort of is right, we barely saw you today,"

„I'm sorry," Adrien apologized getting up walking into the bathroom to wash his face. „I have been focusing a little too much lately on the studies,"

„Half of the summer vacation," Kagami added earning a nod from Adrien, which grabbed a towel to clean his face. „Tomorrow depending on if he receives homework or not I suggested Elliot and Hope to watch the movie they didn't finish watching tomorrow. If you're okay with it, join us watching the movie. So you'll be spending a bit of time together with your son and at the same time you can give your head a break,"

„Sounds like a good idea. What's the movie about?" Adrien asked leaving the bathroom, then removed his t-shirt while Kagami closed the door behind them.

„I don't know, but the main characters seem to be some sort of superheroes with elemental powers," Kagami responded. „I think you may like it as well,"

„Okay, okay. We'll see it then," Adrien spoke getting rid of his trousers as Kagami got into the bed, followed by the blonde, which covered himself with the bed cover and looked around at Kagami, which yawned making Adrien smile and lean his forehead on his wife's, then kissed her on the nose. „Good night,"

„Good night Adrien," Wished Kagami closing her eyes along with Adrien, so they would soon fall asleep.

Luka Couffaine stood in the kitchen of their 3-room apartment putting inside a sandwich grill a piece of toast on each black surface, afterward he added on the front row a slice of cheese and on the top of it, he added ham onto it. Luka closed the grill tight so it would grill the sandwich, so he took the time the device was cooking to store the ingredients back and he took out a pack of orange juice, then filled it into two cups, then brought them to the table. Luka walked out of the kitchen towards the corridor of the apartment to spot his son Rouven Couffaine get out of the bedroom while yawning making Luka smirk.

„Morning champ," Luka greeted the boy, which made his way toward the kitchen. „Did you sleep well?"

„Yes" Rouven responded. „Is mom gone to work?"

„Yes she is, but she told me to give you kisses and wish you a good first school day," Luka mentioned. „And you don't need to worry about it, you will see Elliot and Cody there. At least you will already know two people,"

„Cool," Rouven responded sitting down, then Luka went back to the kitchen to check, if the paninis were done and saw the grill had the green light turned on, then Luka opened it to remove the paninis into a plate and placed it in the middle of the table, so Rouven could take one, while Luka took the other.

„Mmh I love this smell," Rouven commented as he took a bite from his sandwich. „Delicious,"

„What do you think will you learn today at the school?" Luka asked. „Any idea?"

„Math?" Rouven answered.

„What else?"

„Gym. Mom said I needed to pack my gym stuff," Rouven mentioned. „She forgot to help me,"

„Okay, I will help you later with it. You don't know, where mom left your notes for school per coincidence, right?"

„I don't know,"

„Alright, let me just finish my toast and I will see, what you need," Explained the father earning a nod from the boy, then Luka heard his smartphone on the counter begin to play a rock solo, followed by Rouven use his hands to pretend to play a bass, making Luka chuckle, then Luka picked up the smartphone to see his wife's name highlighted over the number.

„Hello Marinette," Luka greeted. „Rouven is already having breakfast,"

„Great, look I forgot to pack Rouven's gym clothing. Can you do that for him?"

„Sure I was about to do that after Rouven mentioned it. Was there anything more on the list except for that and the writing utensils?"

„Uhm the water and the snack box I left it inside the fridge, the writing utensils he's got it inside his satchel, books and booklets he'll receive at the school as they require a certain type of it and that's all so far....oh and the school cone. I have hidden it in the back seat of your car,"

„Okay, I will prepare everything for Rouven. See you later,"

„Bye, I love you,"

„I love you too, Marinette," Luka finished the call, then walked toward the corridor to get to the room of his son to organize the needed school material.

On Monday morning around the 9, Ivan Bruel was reaching along with his son to the elementary school.

„We're here," Ivan said looking down at the raven-haired boy. „As I see Rouven or Elliot didn't arrive yet,"

„Yes," The boy said, then watched along with the father a black sports car stop, where a man with a mustache sat and from the back seat left a brunette woman together with a blonde girl which carried her backpack, then both made their way to the schoolhouse.

„We seem a little early or everyone else is already here. What do you think of going in to see your classroom?" Ivan asked earning a nod from the boy, then the man accompanied the son to the entrance of the schoolhouse to spot a few more children along with adults surprising Ivan at the number of parents that were present to attend their children's first day of school.

„Wow, there are really many parents present. Have you seen it, Cody?" The strong man asked earning a nod from the brown-eyed boy.

„Yes," Cody responded, then noticed in front of a classroom his father's old classmate Nathaniel Kurtzberg stay looking onto a sheet, while next to him stood Nathalie Kurtzberg holding her school cone tight in her arms.

„Nathaniel, hey!" Ivan called walking along with Cody to the redhead, which smiled and held his hand out to have Ivan slap his hand on the friend. „You're going to the class of Miss.....uh.....Donner. Evangeline Donner,"

„It is Donner like give in French, not Donner like thunder in German?" Nathaniel asked showing his daughter's schedule to the tall man.

„Probably the French version," Ivan mentioned. „Can we go in already?"

„I think so. I just got here," Nathaniel responded entering into the classroom to find a few students present with their parents in the classroom, then Nathaniel widened his eyes as he recognized a few of the parental figures inside the room. „Wow, I know some of those faces look that's Leeton Sakamoto. He plays in the Parisian soccer team," Nathaniel said advising Ivan to look at the second row, where a middle-sized man stood beside the desk looking at his own son, which was showing the adult something.

„Yeah and there's River Langerak the journalist Alya works with," Ivan pointed out watching the woman take a selfie with the raven-haired daughter making Ivan smile at the deed the woman was doing.

„Uh hum," Agreed Nathaniel, then both walked their kids into the class and Nathalie sat down in the third row along with Cody.

„Do you think Elliot and Rouven will be in our class?" Nathalie asked the boy, which shrugged his shoulders.

„I don't know," Cody responded placing his school cone on the table, afterward Nathalie did the same and both leaned their backs against the wall watching a brunette woman enter along with a blonde girl into the class greeting accompanying her to the first row on the left side.

„That girl I saw before as I got here," Cody mentioned. „I think her grandpa is rich. He drives a very fast car,"

„Cool," Nathalie answered, then watched a man dressed in a police suit accompany his raven-haired son, which waved along with the dad at the present citizens, afterward a Rose Lavillant entered into the class making Nathalie smile as she recognized one of her mother's best friend enter along with a white-skinned girl with light blonde hair, making Nathalie curious.

„Whos' that girl?" Nathalie asked making Cody shrug his shoulders. Rose smiled as she recognized Nathaniel and Ivan, then meet up with the guys by embracing both with excitement.

„Oh boys I haven't seen you for so long," Rose began. „How are Lila and Myléne doing?" Questioned the blonde.

„Fine," Both men answered.

„Lila is coming today from Italy from her acting time. Have you per coincidence see the show yet?" Questioned the redhead earning a nod from the petite woman.

„Yes, I've been liking it so far. Juleka mostly," Rose responded. „Oh and I have only told Kagami about it, but I and Juleka finally made it to adopt our first child. Let me introduce you to Eireen. She's originally from Danish descendants, but her parents lost their lives in a......shipwreck,"

„Oh," Both men replied sad, then Rose patted the girl's head making her smile a little.

„She has already been for a month in our house to get to know us better. So far I think she's liking to be with us,"

„If she's interested, she can befriend Nathalie," Nathaniel mentioned. „Nathalie is my daughter. She's sitting right behind you," Explained the redhead watching the blonde girl look back at the brunette girl, which smiled a little shyly at the adopted girl.

„Hi nice to meet you," Eireen said, then Cody got up and showed Eireen the place.

„Hey you can sit with her if you want," Cody offered making Eireen shrug her shoulders.

„You don't have to go for me," Eireen mentioned making Cody shake his head.

„No, it's okay. I'll be sitting somewhere else," Cody explained making Eireen nod and sit down on the chair, followed by Cody picking up the school cone.

„Oh, I forgot your cone. Will you wait here? I will go immediately to the car to get it," Rose said making Eireen nod, then Rose ran out. Nathaniel took out his smartphone to check the time and saw a message from his wife Lila Kurtzberg.

„Are you at the school now?"

Nathaniel went down on his knees, then held his camera to Nathalie making Nathalie jokingly stick out her tongue, followed by Nathaniel making a dorky face so he could take a picture of the two.

„Shall I send it to mom?" Nathaniel asked the girl for permission which nodded, then the father got up to send the image to the mother of the girl.

„Hey Ivan, hey Nathaniel," A voice said, then Nathaniel looked aside to see Luka Couffaine come along with his son followed by Kagami with her boy Elliot.

„Hey Luka," Nathaniel greeted.

„Hey Luka, hey Kagami," Ivan greeted. „Where's Adrien?"

„He stood back to study," Kagami responded. „You know this Friday he's got the exam and hopefully he will pass it this time,"

„Oh right. I really hope he can make it this time," Mentioned the raven-haired man. „It's harsh when all your friends pass but you,"

„Yeah it really is," Kagami said, then she heard someone call her name and she looked across the classroom to see Adrien's old university friend Jin pass by together with his son. „Hey Jin, great to see you,"

„Same Kagami or should I say.....Mrs. Agreste," Jin joked doing to the woman finger pistols making the son look confused at his father's comment.

„Is that a friend of dad?" Elliot asked looking up at the mother making her nod,

„Yeah. He was with your dad in the same class about five years ago," Kagami mentioned. „Dad would probably love to see him again,"

„Let's tell Dad, " Elliot asked watching Kagami place her hand on the boy's shoulder.

„Maybe we can ask Jin to visit us after school," Kagami mentioned then Nathaniel came between the two Agreste's.

„Are you three actually coming tonight to the surprise party?" Nathaniel asked making Kagami wide her eyes and facepalm.

„Kuso, I forgot about it. I promised you to come and I also promised Elliot and Adrien to watch the movie they missed yesterday,"

„On TV?" Nathaniel questioned.

„Yeah, but we can still watch it on replay before 72 hours pass," Kagami mentioned. „I should have written all my promises down on an agenda. I've been so busy lately that I forgot it,"

„It's okay. Can happen," Luka mentioned patting Kagami on the shoulder.

The school bell rang and before the teacher entered a blonde woman entered along with a blonde boy making Luka chuckle along with Ivan, making Kagami and Nathaniel furrow their eyebrows in confusion, then Nathaniel looked at Luka questioningly.

„Hey, you're married," Nathaniel spoke, then Luka hit the friend on the shoulder.

„I know. I'm just laughing cause that's the woman who vaccinated Rouven last time at the doctor," Luka explained, then watched the class teacher enter into the classroom with a suitcase on wheels, then she gazed in surprise as she saw the full class along with their parents.

„Wow, I'm impressed," The teacher commented placing her suitcase beneath her desk. „This is the first time after ten years, where I have so many parents present on their kids' first school day,"

„It's actually a pretty good thing," Jin shouted making a few adults snicker.

„It really is. And you're the father of who?" The teacher asked.

„I'm Jin Norgay, father of Zheng Norgay," The man introduced himself approaching the son, which sat on the table next to a blonde boy.

„Alright so, as this is our very first day of school. We will be spending the first hour getting to know each other. First I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Mrs. Donner. I'm 33 years old and I was born in Bretagne. In my free time, when I'm not working I like to read and play cards with my family," The teacher introduced, then picked up a ball of yarn from her table and held it on the beginning of the threat and threw it at the first student on the first row, which was a raven-haired boy. „So you're the first one to introduce yourself to the class. You don't need to tell a lot. Your name, nationality and maybe what your parents work is a good start," Mrs. Donner suggested earning a nod from the boy.

„Hello everyone. My name is Duarte. Actually, I have two names. I'm called Duarte André. But you all can call me Duarte. Both my parents are police officers, which met at the work. I come from Portugal, but was born here in France," The boy said earning a nod from the teacher.

„And now pass the ball to the person you want and hold the thread," The teacher asked watching the girl threw the ball back at a raven-haired girl, which smiled at the boy.

„My name is Ruby Langerak. Uh.....I'm from many countries somehow....My mother is from Ireland and England. My father from Sweden and Portugal. I'm sort of from all those four countries," Ruby explained making a few students chuckle.

„Wow, that's interesting. Which languages do you speak at the home?"

„English and French for now," Ruby responded. „My mom said maybe later I could learn Swedish as it is similar to English and furthermore if I want to Portuguese,"

„I can teach you," Duarte suggested earning a nod from the raven-haired girl.

„Aww that's sweet," The teacher commented.

„And my mother is a journalist and my father works in a theatre building the stage and other important things," Ruby explained throwing the ball at Cody, which sat behind her.

„Hello my name is Kodiak, but everyone calls me Cody. I'm from France and my mother works as an actress at the theatre and my father works in the kitchen for a house, where only seniors live,"

„A retirement home?" Asked the teacher making Cody shrug his arms.

„Yes Mrs. Donner," Ivan responded making the teacher smile and Cody passed the ball to Elliot, which frowned at Cody's lazy decision.

„My name is Elliot Agreste. My father is French and my mother is Japanese. My mom works in a bureau at the animal rescue center from my father's family and my dad is at home learning for a big exam, so when he passes he can become a doctor,"

„Ah wow, that's a great idol you got there," The teacher complimented making Elliot smile and look up at Kagami, which gave the boy a thumb up. Elliot threw his ball at Nathalie, but it landed in front of Eireen, then she looked at Elliot, which shrugged his shoulders but smiled at the adopted girl to let her take the ball of yarn.

„Hello everyone. My name is Eireen, I'm from Denmark. My parents died a few years ago in a ship like in the movie with the iceberg and I was in an orphanage with other kids and got adopted this year by my mother. This year is a little special to me, cause I have for the first time in my life new people that like me and also I have now two mothers instead," Eireen said, then a few adults looked at each other bewildered at Eireen's situation.

„Did you hear that, she has two mothers" A voice said making Rose swallow at hearing that comment, then Luka noticed it and placed his hand on Rose's shoulder to comfort her.

„That's still amazing Eireen. At least you found two people that are there to help you out and take care of you. That's what matters the most, right Mrs. Donner," Luka stated earning a nod from the teacher.

„Yes you're right Mr.....,"

„Couffaine, Luka Couffaine"

„Yes thank you, Mr. Couffaine "

„Don't worry. You'll know my name in a few years," Luka said jokingly making the teacher chuckle and watch Eireen slide her ball to Nathalie.

„I'm Nathalie Kurtzberg. My dad is from Germany and works in a comic book store. My mother is from Italy and works on a TV show as an actress,"

„Oh is it from the show Isabella – The rebirth?" Questioned the teacher watching Nathalie look up at Nathaniel which nodded.

„I've seen a few episodes. I think I know who your mother is," Mrs. Donner stated watching Nathalie throw her ball across the room at the hands of a blonde girl.

„The name is Debby, short for Deborah. I'm from Spain and Scotland. My mom works as a vet assistant and my father works in a recording studio for music," The girl introduced herself earning a nod from the teacher, then she threw the ball across the room to another boy, which introduced himself to the class too, followed by others students until everyone's turn had passed.

[guilianafms]

            new  york’s  very  own  guiliana  rasananda  was  spotted  on  broadway  street  in  gucci  marmont  logo - embellished  leather  sandals  .  your  resemblance  to  lalisa  manoban  is  unreal  .  according  to  tmz  ,  you  just  had  your  twenty  third  birthday  bash  .  while  living  in  nyc  ,  you’ve  been  labeled  as  being  doctrinaire  ,  but  also  pragmatic  .  i  guess  being  an  aquarius  explains  that .  three  things  that  would  paint  a  better  picture  of  you  would  be  the  lingering  scent  of  her  perfume  after  she’s  long  gone  ,  a  fenty  beauty  gloss  bomb  as  her  staple  to  any  makeup  look  ,  and  the  glitter  of  diamond  encrusted  jewelry  on  tanned  skin  .

            hello  ladies  ,  gents  ,  and  nonbinary  pals  !  my  name’s  jin  and  i’m  super  stoked  to  be  here  !  i’ve  seen  this  group  in  the  tags  over  the  years  ,  and  i  decided  that  it  was  high  time  for  me  to  slide  in  (  and  now  that  my  school’s  closed  ....  indefinitely  ....  i’ve  got  the  time  )  .  giuliana  is  fairly  new  so  i’m  still  working  out  some  kinks  that  may  arise  ,  but  i  have  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  direction  i  want  her  to  go  in  !  i  can’t  believe  that  this  is  my  first  time  playing  lalisa  in  a  couple  of  years  ,  but  since  the  chance  arose  ,  i  decided  to  take  it  .  i  won’t  chat  too  much  ,  and  i  need  to  make  a  new  d.iscord  since  i  forgot  the  password  to  my  old  one  but  if  anyone  wants  to  plot  ,  feel  free  to  slide  into  my  dms  (  or  i’ll  slide  into  yours  !  )

basic  information  .

FULL  NAME  :  guiliana  kanya  rasananda  .

NICKNAME(S)  :  gigi  ,  lia  ,  liana  ,  ana  .

BIRTHDATE  +  AGE  :  february  12th  +  23  .

ZODIAC  :  aquarius  .

HOMETOWN  :  new  york  ,  ny  .

GENDER  :  cis  female  .

NATIONALITY  :  thai - american  .

ETHNICITY  :  thai  .

HEIGHT  :  5′6″  .

LABEL(S)  :  the  amaranth  ,  the  vixen  ,  the  trust  fund  baby  ,  and  the  princess  .

ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION  :  biromantic  .

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION  :  bisexual  .

LANGUAGE(S)  SPOKEN  :  english  ,  thai  ,  japanese  ,  and  learning  spanish  .

OCCUPATION  :  socialite  ,  ‘  model  ’  ,  and  youtuber  /  social  media  influencer  .

POSITIVES  :  clear - headed  ,  assiduous  ,  self - reliant  ,  pragmatic  ,  and  cosmopolitan  .

NEGATIVES  :  disputatious  ,  exigent  ,  doctrinaire  ,  selfish  ,  and  unscrupulous  .

PLAYLIST  :  roxanne  /  arizona  zervas  ,  bad  guy  /  billie  eilish  ,  body  /  loud  luxury  ft.  brando  ,  nasa  /  ariana  grande  ,  mother’s  daughter  /  miley  cyrus  ,  sway  with  me  /  saweetie  w.  galxara  ,  say  so  /  doja  cat  ,  mad  at  me.  /  kiana  ledé  ,  apeshit  /  the  carters  ,  elastic  /  joey  purp  ,  watermelon  sugar  /  harry  styles  ,  ain’t  my  fault  /  zara  larsson  ,  lemon  /  n.e.r.d.  ft.  rihanna  /  nice  for  what  /  drake  ,  sugar  /  brockhampton  ,  icon  /  jaden  smith  ,  zimzalabim  /  red  velvet  ,  come  thru  /  joji  ,  in  my  head  /  ariana  grande  ,  broke  bitch  /  tiny  meat  gang  ,  honey  /  lay  ,  deserve  /  kris  wu  ft.  travis  scott  .

biography  .

let’s  see  if  we  can  keep  this  short  ,  am  i  right  ladies  ?

ratana  saelim  has  humble  beginnings  in  bangkok  .  her  parents  owned  a  small  restaurant  in  their  neighborhood  ,  and  they  lived  comfortably  ,  but ratana  still  had  to  work  hard  to  ensure  that  she  got  into  college  and  could  stay  in   college  .  she  often  did  her  homework  behind  the  counter  of  the  restaurant  ,  and  eventually  went  on  to  attend  bangkok  university  .

she  met  her  future  husband  at  bangkok  university  ,  a  fellow  student  named  kamnan  rasananda  .  he  was  studying  business  while  she  was  studying  law  .  in  contrast  to  ratana  ,  kamnan  grew  up  in  an  extremely  affluent  home  and  was  set  to  inherit  his  family’s  company  .  he  was  a  year  older  than  ratana  ,  and  the  two  got  married  after  her  graduation  with  her  master’s  degree  .  they  settled  in  bangkok  following  their  wedding  .

the  years  passed  ,  and  the  couple  established  themselves  in  their  respective  fields  .  kamnan  started  his  own  business  in  real  estate  and  construction  ,  so  they  decided  to  expand  out  of  asia  and  into  the  states  .  they  made  their  home  new  york  city  ,  and  settled  easily  into  a  multi - million  dollar  penthouse  on  the  upper  east  side  .  since  they  were  to  focused  on  their  careers  ,  it  wasn’t  until  they  reached  their  mid - thirties  when  they  had  their  first  and  only  child  ,  a  daughter  they  named  guiliana  .

guiliana  was  a  beautiful  little  baby  who  has  an  infectious  personality  while  growing  up  .  ratana  and  kamnan  may  have  been  busy  people  ,  but  they  never  had  an  issue  with  putting  work  on  pause  to  spend  time  with  their  daughter  .  the  couple  supported  their  daughter  in  everything  that  she  did  ,  and  that  even  included  when  she  turned  fourteen  and  decided  that  she  wanted  to  start  doing  youtube  videos  . 

going  through  high  school  ,  guiliana  had  been  a  member  of  the  photography  and  yearbook  clubs  ,  and  this  was  at  the  same  time  that  she  started  to  truly  focus  on  her  channel  .  of  course  ,  her  content  at  the  time  was  quite  cringy  (  shoutout  to  that  one  song  that  everyone  used  in  morning  routines  )  .  as  the  years  passed  ,  she  obtained  the  right  equipment  to  make  her  content  better  .

by  her  senior  year  of  high  school  ,  her  channel  grew  to  massive  numbers  .  she  dropped  the  makeup  videos  since  she  found  that  she  was  more  interested  in  fashion  than  makeup  ,  and  was  comfortable  with  sharing  her  personal  style  .  she  got  a  lot  of  backlash  because  she  grew  up  rich  and  people  often  felt  that  she  was  ‘  flaunting  ’  her  lifestyle  ,  but  really  ,  most  of  her  clothes  from  the  places  that  were  often  the  rage  at  the  time  (  urban  outfitters  ,  brandy  ,  etc  )  with  the  occasional  luxury  piece  like  a  purse  or  something  .

now  ,   she  isn’t  that  active  on  youtube  anymore  since  she’s  grown  into  more  of  a  socialite  ,  but  she’ll  still  do  weekly  vlogs  ,  catching  up  videos  ,  and  her  fashion  videos  .  despite  not  being  that  active  ,  her  channel  is  still  growing  and  has  now  amassed  five  million  subscribers  .

personality  .

guiliana  has  been  a  part  of  youtube  since  she  was  a  fourteen  year  old  ,  so  she’s  been  able  to  start  ignoring  the  haters  !  quite  honestly  has  the  most  idgaf  attitude  towards  people  who  have  anything  to  say  about  her  only  showing  luxury  outfits  and  such  on  her  channel  .  that’s  all  she  knows  since  she  grew  up  in  that  ,  but  quite  frankly  she  doesn’t  care  !

out  of  all  of  her  labels  ,  i’d  say  she  mostly  resonates  with  the  trust  fund  baby  .  outside  of  her  youtube  channel  ,  guiliana  doesn’t  do  much  other  than  spend  money  and  sleep  until  eleven  so  don’t  expect  her  to  be  out  there  making  businesswoman  moves  .

don’t  give  her  a  compliment  because  what’s  the  saying  ...  give  her  an  inch  and  she’ll  take  a  mile  ?  that’s  guiliana  to  a  T  !  she  knows  that  she’s  cute  and  her  parents  have  only  ever  praised  her  ,  so  she’s  got  something  of  an  over  inflated  ego  at  times  .  she  can  go  on  and  on  ,  so  please  tell  her  ass  to  shut  up  if  she  starts  taking  it too  far  !

headcanons  .

a  born  and  bred  new  yorker  ,  guiliana  doesn’t  possess  a  driver’s  license  .  she  gets  driven  around  in  a  bentley  bentayga  and  when  her  driver’s  not  available  ,  she  exclusively  uses  uber  black to  get  around  the  city  .

her  style  is  pretty  similar  to  lisa’s  where  one  day  she’s  exclusively  wearing  streetwear  ,  another  day  she’s  a  bit  more  feminine  ,  and  then  sometimes  she’s  wearing  pieces  straight  off  the  runway  !  when  it  comes  to  her  more  feminine  style  i  think  of  the  youtuber  kerina  wang  .

she’s  most  comfortable  when  she’s  in  her  apartment  .  usually  ,  she’s  only  wearing  a  lingerie  set  (  not  the  entire  thing  )  and  lounging  around  .  she’ll  throw  on  a  robe  or  something  to  answer  the  door  ,  so  just  call  her  ahead  of  time  .

i  can’t  make  up  my  mind  on  how  guiliana  usually  has  her  hair  (  since  lisa  switches  between  long  and  short  )  so  we’ll  just  say  that  she  gets  extensions  a  lot  !  currently  ,  i  love  her  long  brown  hair  so  click  for  reference  here  .

she  has  no  real  plans  for  the  future  ?  she’s  kinda  of  taking  it  day  by  day  and  enjoying  her  twenties  while  she  has  them  .  right  now  her  main  focus  is  her  instagram  and  her  youtube  ,  and  she  has  no  real  aspirations  to  do  anything  outside  of  that  at  the  moment  .

never  leaves  the  house  without  wearing  a  pair  of  heels  ?  even  when  it’s  cold  outside  ,  she’s  wearing  ankle  boots  with  a  heel  or  the  ever  elegant  over - the - knee  boots  .  

her  go - to  drink  from  starbucks  is  a  cold  brew  with  vanilla  sweet  cream  .  she  doesn’t  drink  coffee  with  sugar  .

wanted  connections  .

            i’ll  more  than  likely  end  up  reblogging  things  into  the  tag  i  made  for  these  ,  but  since  there’s  nothing  there  right  now  ,  i’ll  just  list  off  some  specifics  that  i’d  love  to  have  !  if  none  of  these  are  to  your  taste  ,  we  could  always  brainstorm  ,  work  off  chemistry  ,  or  let  me  know  if  there’s  something  that  you  think  guiliana  could  fill  !

i  might  end  up  sending  this  in  to  the  main  ,  but  i’d  love  to  have  the  fiancé  that  she  left  at  the  altar  !  truth  be  told  ,  i  kind  of  feel  as  though  she  may  have  done  it  simply  because  she  finally  realized  that  things  were  moving  too  fast  and  she  kinda  of  needed  to  pump  the  breaks  ?  she  definitely  didn’t  do  it  in  the  best  way  ,  but  it  could  be  an  interesting  relationship  /  dynamic  to  explore  .

she’s  been  in  new  york  since  forever  so  i  just  imagine  there  being  a  slew  of  connections  stemming  from  that  ?  friendships  ,  rivalries  ,  and  romantic  connections  !  idk  why  i  love  them  so  much  ,  but  i’d  really  love  for  her  to  have  an  ex  best  friend  .  we  can  determine  why  their  friendship  ended  ,  but  i  really  love  exploring  the  demise  of  relationships  .

my  brain  is  blanking  so  🤠  .

[thejolteonmastertj]

The LOV Being Portrayed A Certain Way Started In Season 3

Relevant to the current My Hero Academia manga arc.

Discussion & manga spoilers past the keep reading link.

TR: Some discussion of trans/homophobia.

So some people have discussed how the League Of Villains (LOV, otherwise known as the Villain Alliance), are being written like the heroes of their own Shonen manga in the recent chapters, as discussed in this post by bloodycarnations, and by Khorale in this post.

I highly recommend that you read their posts first if you had not already.

But this didn't come from nowhere, in fact, the league has been gradually easing into this motif, to us as viewers, very particularly ever since AFO’s final stand. 

There were no hints at the league being portrayed this way while Shigaraki was still under the shadow of AFO as far as I can tell, which I find very interesting.

The first possible clue came right after AFO told Shiggy to leave and fly out of the nest.  It starts during AFO’s fight against All Might.

Its a really small detail, but it’s notable because the heroic motif continues to build over time.  After Deku, Kirishima, and Iida grabbed Bakugo, there is a moment where the league is at a loss for what to do.

But the way it was written is what I’m paying attention to here.  Usually, villains in anime aren’t portrayed as having a good teamwork environment.  In fact, these same villains, specifically Magne and Spinner were already shown having a squabble during the training camp arc over whether or not to kill Deku.  The squabble resulted in them being pinned down by the heroes while they were busy arguing.

But this time it's subtly different, they are genuinely and wholeheartedly cooperating on-screen for the first time (without threatening to kill each other like they were in the USJ arc, or merely hanging around and being annoyed by each other during the training camp arc).  While Deku & crew are getting away with Bakugo, Compress and Spinner have a brief panicked exchange: (Dub dialogue used)

This is bad, who can do distance?

Kurogiri and Dabi, but they’re down!

Then Magne steps in with a plan:

You two, come here.

And then the three of them creatively apply Magne’s quirk to throw Compress towards Bakugo... I just want to emphasize that Magne literally threw him, like, way up in the sky, and they did it willingly (it would have worked too if Mount Lady had not got in the way).  What they did requires a lot more trust and cooperation than anything else they had been shown doing before.

This level of cooperation continues to be highlighted in the Yukaza arc. 

First, Magne gets killed off, as we know, but this line and her whole speech is very notable.

This establishes something that will continue to be reaffirmed at different points in the manga.  This isn't a normal villain organization where the leader calls all the shots.  Notice how while Magne goes through her whole tirade Shiggy does nothing to object to or interject into anything she says.  This is a mostly democratic group where Shiggy grows to respect the wishes of his comrades as well as his own.  They are (slowly) becoming a team.

There are a few other villains in Anime I could think of who operate in a similar manner, but most of them arguably also fall into the villains-as-the-heroes motif, such as the villains in Nanoha A’s (Nanoha season 2).  Villains like those from the Nanoha series also, however, tend to have noble goals... but resort to villainy out of desperation.  Huh.

Then there is this contrast between the Yukaza and the LOV even Shiggy himself, as well as Overhaul eventually brings up.

Shiggy acknowledges the disposable nature of being a Yukaza underling.  Although whether he is referring to Magne’s value as a skilled fighter or a person or both is up for interpretation, he is using Magne’s name in contrast to “small-fry yukaza human shields.”

Whatever Shiggy’s intentions behind this particular line are, the contrast itself is clearly there.  The Yukaza members are disposable, and this is shown multiple times through the arc, especially when the heroes start fighting the villains.  The LOV on the other hand, clearly would not use each other as meat-shields in the same way, based on their emotional reaction to Magne’s death. 

Overhaul takes note of this when Shiggy attempts to make peace with and form an alliance of sorts with the Yukaza.

This is a similar contrast which drove Natsu from Fairy Tail episode 6 (the main character) into a righteous rage upon seeing a villain kill their fellow villain. 

Heroes/main-characters protect their friends, villains are backstabbers.

The Yukaza from this arc, the QLA from a later arc, and many other villains in manga/anime also differ from the LOV and other villains-as-heroes groups (like from the Nanoha series) in terms of affection.  Toga here is shown putting a handkerchief over Twice’s broken mask, accepting and assisting in correcting his panic caused by mental illness/trauma.

And then we have the elephant in the room.

The LOV members are progressive in terms of not just mental health issues, but with LGBT+ issues as well.  When Overhaul misgenders Magne, a Trans woman, Twice stands up for her.

We need to address something else first though.  It’s not uncommon for villains to be LGBTQ, and historically this cliche stems from homophobia because the association of gay and gender-non-conforming people with villainy backed up the idea that gay people are villainous/bad irl.  The uncensored Japanese version of Sailor Moon had several gay villains, even Pokemon used to dress up Jessie and James in gender-non-conforming outfits all the time.

But here’s what’s different.

1) Times are changing, LGBT+ people are becoming more accepted, particularly among young people in Japan (Sorry I can’t provide links, Tumblr keeps marking my posts as spam when I do that, but follow @JusticeKazzy_ on twitter for more info!  The Japan Times published an article titled: “More in Japan identify as LGBT as social awareness grows, study finds”.  A YouTuber known as ‘That Japanese Man Yuta’ also did an interview video on it back in 2015). 

Negative portrayals of LGBTQ+ people are becoming less common... it obviously hasn’t gone away, but things are improving in the uphill battle.  Horikoshi made it a point to also establish another canon Trans character, Tiger, a heroic character who would play a role in the battle vs AFO not long before Magne made her first appearance.

I think Horikoshi did that intentionally, not to soften the blow of Magne’s death (if he did have that intention in mind, it didn't work) but actually in order to establish that being an ally in this world is a positive attribute, a heroic attribute even, in contrast to Overhaul’s callous treatment of Magne’s identity.

2) In the past, when LGBT+ people were portrayed as villains, most writers did not bother researching the significance of misgendering or dysphoria... nor were these concepts attempted to be portrayed in a sympathetic manner.  (Horikoshi obviously neglected to do research on bad LGBT+ tropes in media, but that’s not the point of this post).

In any case, the League Of Villains aren’t just a team, the individual members are all established as progressive, and accepting of each other’s identity and who they are.  Spinner readily called Magne by her preferred feminized nickname, “Big Sis Magne,” even while they were arguing during the training camp arc. 

Nobody in the League ever misgenders Magne, only Overhaul did that.

Then the rest is history, this all led up to the League’s current manga arc where they beat up on Nazis, the QLA & crap.  Other villain groups in the manga are being used as key tools in order to emphasize the LOV’s heroic attributes by way of contrast.

Based on Khorale’s post linked above, it’s possible that Shiggy’s development as a compassionate leader actually started before AFO’s arrest, we just did not start to see the results until later. 

AFO had been encouraging Shiggy to act on his own for a long time...

... but will that turn out to bite AFO back eventually?  Where, exactly, is Horikoshi going with this set-up?

Who knows honestly, but I’m super excited to see!

[macattackp]

I often vent a lot about how much I have lost and how little I can do after these last few years.... so inspired by a friend... I’m going to take a moment to try and point out the interesting and good things about me... Pardon the incoming storm of self praise, this will be harder for me than for you trust me...

I’ve drawn comics since the early 90′s

I’ve written novels since 2005

I have two novels published

I have been told my writing style elicits emotions and has imagery so strong it makes people forget they’re reading a book

I am able to write in a manner that touches peoples’ hearts

I publish comics in both English and Japanese

I have four years of stage acting training

I have four years of offering voice acting work

I have three years of working with puppets

I have two years of experimenting with camera angles and cinematography

I have over 15 years of being the go-to person for counselling and life problems

My mind is able to recreate scenes from memories complete with images, sound and feeling that I am free to walk around in. This lets me remember where things were and can also let me replay movies and music in my head

I am ridiculously observant to changes and can notice something as small as ants walking around 8 meters away

I am able to hear frequencies higher and lower than most people

I can usually tell quality, density, and type of material by touching it

I have stronger empathy than most

I do literally feel other peoples’ feelings

I am able to notice when someone is upset without being told

I am able to tell most of a person’s life story from just a picture of them

I have talked over a dozen people out of taking their own lives (each of which are irreplaceable)

I’m often sought for relationship advice even though I don’t know why given my own luck with relationships

I have made irreplaceable friendships with people from over a dozen countries

I’ve been cooking since I was 7 years old

I am a sucker for romance and cute things and am okay with how that is not really acceptable for a guy to be

My kink is making my date feel the absolute best they can

I’m told I give pretty decent massages

I will spend a year planning a super intricate gift for you with loads of hidden meanings if you mean enough to me

I will drop everything to drive a long distance and be with someone who is hurting if they mean enough to me

I will probably forgive a person for just about anything provided they actually want to be with me

I’ve been involved with social media through Google Video, Facebook, Myspace, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and more since 2005

I go well out of my way to help others

I know how to fly a small aircraft and have a few times

I know how to drive in less than a meter of visibility

I know about 4 different types of sword fighting styles

I know about 6 different types of social dance styles

I know a rather large number of types of instruments (though most of them are rhythm based)

I have been trained in contemporary, choral, and gospel singing

I achieved high 90′s in business, academic, technical, and creative writing

I graduated University with a 4.0 average

I have taught myself Japanese to almost an N3 level and am working on French

I have tutored Japanese students in English for over 4 years

I have an almost insatiable curiosity and have studied physics, space time theory, neuroscience, biology, C#/C++/Python/and Java programming, business analysis, filmography, game design, and much more

I’ve started and owned two different businesses

When I was a kid I invented a card game similar to Yugioh and actually made a decent income off the cards until parents got angry at me and threatened legal action if I didn’t stop

I usually keep a surprisingly cool head in life or death situations

If I lose the use of a limb or muscle I can usually compensate by rebalancing myself and using different muscles

I survived 6 years of almost daily torture by sadists

I have survived over 20 years of PTSD and chronic pain

I have pushed forward through constant failures

I have pushed forward through constant pain

I have pushed forward through a lifetime attacks, mistreatment, and just not knowing why it never seems to work for me

I have pushed forward through cancer tests

I have pushed forward through MS tests

I have pushed forward through watching my body crumble

I have pushed forward through being insulted from the sidelines

I have pushed forward through watching people who matter to me fade away

I have pushed forward through the fear of not knowing what is going to come

As I’m approaching turning 29 this weekend... it’s honestly hard... I look back and think of how much more uncertain things look than even they had been in the past... but at the same time, while I’m still far from where I want to be... I’m starting to realize better who I am. And much to my surprise I’m a lot more kick-butt than I expected!

I don’t know what the future holds, and there are still those who will look at me and scoff about what a waste it is that I can’t even accomplish this or that... but looking back... there’s a lot of things I HAVE done... a lot of compromises I HAVEN’T made... a lot of areas those same naysayers couldn’t even hold a candle to... So here’s to a future of trying harder to figure out who I am, and striving to be who I am needing to be. If I’m not strong enough yet, I’ll just have to keep trying until I am. It’s scary and I’ll admit I’m pretty tired... but life is a journey we take one step at a time!

[mildlincrs]

hi, tumblr — it's been (way longer than) a minute, but i'm back from the chaotic journey that was junior year! and with that, i wanted to continue what i started with my advice for rising freshmen and rising sophomores; i’ll be writing a final post for rising seniors once i (theoretically) finish high school.

note: i'm currently attending high school in the united states, so there are certain points i mention that may not apply to you if you aren't also studying in the u.s., but i still hope that you get something out of this post!

note 2: this post is pretty long -- a lot longer than the previous advice posts -- and also pretty personal. i go in-depth on what junior year was like for me (spoiler: not great), and subsequently, i have plenty of advice to help avoid some of what i ended up experiencing. 

my junior year experience

for reference, click [here] a list of my junior year classes (along with classes i’ve taken and plan to take). i took two ap courses, and the rest of my courses with the exception of band were honors courses. 

to be blunt -- junior year was one of my worse years of high school, academically and mentally. sophomore year was definitely one of my lowest points, too, but junior year was really shitty in a lot of ways. i was busy working (trying to) nearly all the time, and i found myself constantly under stress, struggling to maintain my grades -- especially in my calculus and physics classes. at a certain point in the year, i subconsciously stopped caring, i think, to the point where i couldn’t focus at all when i was working, instead opting to do things that were considerably less productive. i’d study for up to five minutes at a time, only to stress myself out of studying and go to sleep -- yes, i stressed myself to sleep. other nights, i’d stay up doing absolutely nothing, in spite of the massive amounts of work and studying i still had left to do. i was close to failing my physics class, at one point, too, and physics was arguably the class i studied and worked the hardest for.

another reason that this year was pretty terrible for me was the fact that i was recovering from several injuries. in june of 2018, i injured my knees -- for reasons i’d prefer not to disclose -- and though they were healing over the summer, with marching band, the injuries were only exacerbated. if you want an idea of how bad they were, i struggled to simply walk short distances if i didn’t have any sort of support. marching band is basically dignified, faster walking, so you can imagine the kind of stress that i was under. because of this, i had to stop dancing and take a season of winter guard off -- two of my biggest emotional releases in life. without both of those things for over six months, i felt pretty directionless, and i ended up relapsing (i have chronic depression). that along with the business of junior year made life feel pretty damn miserable. physical therapy didn’t help me, i had virtually no time to schedule a meeting with a therapist or other mental health professional, and i was exhausted 24/7. 

all this being said, junior year still had its good moments! i got to take two astronomy semester courses, both of which only reinforced my love for astronomy  -- i’ll be doing astronomy-related research in the fall - i got to play some pretty damn good music in band, qualified and made all-state band for the first time, and i became closer with my best friends and got to make new ones. i completed a year-long research paper (while missing quite a few deadlines on the way) that turned into what’s probably the most vulnerable piece of writing i’ve ever produced (message me if you’re interested in reading it!), and i didn’t fail any of my classes. good stuff. 

more on not failing my classes: 2nd semester was kind of weird for me, in that my grades went up in some classes, but slowly sort of decreased in others. for example -- i studied and worked my ass off trying to improve my calculus grade during 1st semester, but my exhaustion caused me to fall asleep during a lot of classes, meaning that i would always miss the material being taught, and by the time i got home that day, i was so exhausted that i would just fall asleep until the next morning, not even bothering to figure out what i had missed during class. with physics, worked harder than i ever had during 1st semester, but i continued to receive low scores on tests and heavily relied on my lab and quiz grades to keep me afloat. i cared less about japanese more and more, (which SUCKS because i really loved the class and language but my effort just went downhill) and i can distinctly remember not studying for several of the tests that were administered, and as such, receiving subpar scores. i did, however, pass all of my finals and ap exams, which was definitely a plus. 

tldr: my work ethic went to shit, and i salvaged it somewhat, at the cost of losing a lot of sleep and not eating for multiple days at a time WHICH IS NOT HEALTHY. DON’T DO THIS PLEASE. junior year was worse than sophomore year in a lot of ways, but i fucking MADE IT so who’s the real winner here

advice for junior year

my number one piece of advice is to take care of yourself. you’ve probably heard it before, but that’s because you should do it. i’m 100% serious when i say that it can really make a difference. i mentioned that i lost a lot of sleep and didn’t eat sometimes during the school year, and because of that, i was super super sick at one point which only made my mental health worse, which only decreased my ability to focus and work properly. please stay healthy ahh like hydrate, get some mf sleep, and eat well! if you have to choose between studying for a test and sleeping at 3am, then go the fuck to sleep. and it’s not just about being healthy enough to do well in school! it’s literally your own wellbeing. put your physical and mental needs first, no matter what.

for ap courses: highly recommend looking on the collegeboard website for practice questions! the website also outlines the test structures, which i found helpful for me when i was studying for the exams. if you’re hoping to score a 4 or 5 on your ap exams, it’s in your best interests to go in prepared as possible. iirc the website also provides overviews of all the content that should be studied/is covered on the exam, which can help structure your studying, too!

another thing on ap courses: while if you score well enough on ap exams, you might be able to transfer those credits to your college courses (if you enroll at a u.s. college), i wouldn’t recommend loading your schedule with ap courses. they’re college-level courses for a reason; they will be fast-paced and involve a lot of work on your part. a rule that i used when deciding what ap courses i would take in high school: if i didn’t particularly like the subject, then i took the honors version of the course. otherwise, if i felt like i could challenge myself, was interested in the course, and if it was available, then i signed up for it. i knew from sophomore year that i wasn’t good at dealing with both school and my mental health, so i recognized that i’d need to lessen my ap coursework as much as possible so that i didn’t throw myself into an even worse situation (i took zero aps sophomore year). 

don’t spread yourself too thin involving yourself in things in and out of school. sort of similar to my philosophy of not overloading my schedule, i made sure that i only committed myself to extracurriculars that i cared about and enjoyed doing. i personally marched my third season of marching band, and remained involved in my school’s urban dance club as much as possible (though when i took a break from dancing, that was definitely harder, but towards the end of the year, i was able to participate in a few performances with my friends). i also participated in an outside wind ensemble every week, and that was plenty for me -- i had a lot of music to practice both for that group and my school’s band, and then i had to balance THAT with practicing music for private lessons & auditions, and with schoolwork. i know there are people who are involved in so many extracurriculars, which i wouldn’t recommend. devote yourself to what you love in high school; that will also give you something worth writing about in things such as college applications! better to pursue what you love with passion and authenticity than to sign-up for a club for the clout even if you’re not remotely interested in it. 

if it’s offered where you live, i would recommend taking the sat and/or act during your junior year. i’d also recommend taking subject tests if you have the time for it. the earlier you take these tests, the more likely you are to have an opportunity to retake them if you don’t score as well as you hope. you can also start taking these tests during sophomore year -- i took sat subject tests in june of my sophomore year, took the sat twice during junior year, and i will be taking the act in july. i’ll also be retaking an sat subject test and taking a completely new one. 

while it may be daunting, start thinking about college -- whether you want to go to college or not, where or what you’d like to study, etc. since i plan on majoring in music, i started researching sort of early so that i could give myself enough time to finalize a list of the colleges i am applying to and the repertoire i need to learn and practice for auditions. but regardless of what you decide to do with your future, no one is expecting you to have every step of your life labeled out. things can change, and that’s okay! that’s literally how life works. definitely reach out to your counselors if you want advice from them! i’d also recommend sitting down with your parents and talking about the college application process with them and what they can do to help you.

there’s a lot of pressure during junior year -- it’s the last full year of high school before college applications, and typical for students to be busy 110% of the time. that said, find time for yourself to destress and do nothing school or work-related. if it helps, schedule specific times of the day where you just relax and do something that makes you happy. finding a work-life balance can really make a difference (i say, not having one, though i have many friends who talk about this to me).

if you need help with anything at all -- talk to someone about it! feeling super stressed and shitty? talk to someone you trust, whether they’re your closest friend or a teacher (which reminds me, if you plan on asking a teacher for a rec, take time to talk with them if you can, it makes a difference). you are not alone. i know for some people (especially for me, actually), it can be super difficult to open up about what you’re dealing with, but it’s arguably better than trying to push your way through it all on your own.

best of luck during your junior year -- i believe in you<3

love, fei

[distractedhistotech]

Before MSA + 1: Vivi Meets Arthur

Vivi had been having a boring day.  She’d been planning on training with her dad, but he’d said someone had scheduled a private lesson so instead she was reading a book of ghost stories outside with Ben next to her.

Vivi was trying to figure out if the story about the silver man with a third eye was true when a short, stout man walked over, sat in one of the porch chairs, and opened a hunting magazine.

Vivi studied the man for a moment.  He looked pretty tough even though he wasn’t that much taller than her.  His body shape sort of reminded Vivi of how dwarves were often portrayed in fantasy series.  Plus she was pretty sure that was a wrestling championship belt he was wearing.  Also, his hair was pretty cool looking.  Orange and yellow with some black thrown in.  It even extended to his beard.  “Hi mister!”

He glanced over the top of his magazine.  “Hey.” Was that an accent she heard?

“I haven’t seen you before.  Are you new?”

“Nah.  Just prefer to keep to myself,” said the man.

He definitely had an accent.  There were some elements of the typical southern accent a good portion of Tempo had, but it also had a lilt that she hadn’t heard from anyone else local. Vivi wondered if she could figure it out if they talked some more.  If not, maybe after a bit of talking she would be able to ask without coming off as rude.  “I’m Vivi. Who’re you?”

“Lance.”

She got a name! “Did you schedule the private lesson?” asked Vivi.  “Dad doesn’t get many of those.”

Lance was silent. “My nephew needs some help.”

That caught Vivi’s attention.  Nephew, not son.  Was said nephew just visiting?  Or was this a permanent situation?  Was it a recent change or had it been like this for a while?  Was there a way to ask without being nosy?  “What’s his name?”

“Arthur.”

Vivi giggled. “Like the king.”

Lance groaned. “Yeah.  The king.”  Huh? Sore point?

A loud thump came from the dojo.  Vivi looked in that direction in surprise.  Wow, what were they doing in there?  Vivi glanced towards Lance and saw him looking in the same direction with a furrowed brow.  Was he worried?

Ben suddenly sat up and looked towards the dojo doors right before they were opened by Hiro. Vivi’s greeting died on her tongue when she noticed that A: He was bleeding, and B: He looked furious. “Dad?”

Hiro’s eyes darted to her before turning his attention to Lance.  “Why does your nephew know how to kill?”

Vivi’s mouth dropped open.  Lance winced, but didn’t seem too shocked.  “That bad?”

“He just…If that knife had been real…”  Hiro frowned and started pressing down on his head wound with a sigh.  “Were you even aware?”

Lance glanced at Vivi. “I only know what I told you before.”

Feeling curious, Vivi peered past her father and into the dojo.  Inside was a boy a bit younger than her who was clearly related to Lance. He was hunched in on himself and looked like he was about to have a panic attack.  He didn’t look like a killer.  He looked like a scared kid.

Ben stood and walked into the dojo.  “Ben?” Ben walked over to the boy, Arthur, and sniffed him.  Arthur blinked and held out a hand.  Ben licked Arthur’s hand before Arthur started petting him.  Vivi debated for a moment before following Ben into the dojo. Arthur stopped petting Ben and looked up at her with wide eyes.  Vivi waved. “Hey.”

“Hi,” said Arthur.

“So…You live with your uncle?”  Arthur nodded.  “I’m kind of surprised you managed to land a hit on my dad.  He’s pretty tough.  Must be getting old.”  Speaking of which, she could hear the two men talking in hushed tones that she couldn’t quite make out.

Arthur looked a bit uncomfortable.  “I didn’t mean to!” he said, an accent similar to his uncle’s coloring the words.

Vivi blinked. “Oh, did you mess up a move?  I do that all the time.”  She huffed.  “I just can’t seem to move correctly when I try to copy what Dad shows me.  I guess I’m just not suited for fighting.”

“You’re lucky,” muttered Arthur.

Vivi blinked. “Huh?”

Hiro walked back in, pressing some gauze to his head.  “Vivi, please step out so Arthur and I may continue the lesson.”

“Can I watch?” asked Vivi.

“Yes, you can. No, you may not,” responded Hiro.

Vivi pouted at her father’s grammar correction and walked back outside with Ben on her heels. Hiro closed the door behind her. Vivi huffed and sat down near Lance. The silence was awkward so she turned towards him.  “So, where did Arthur learn to fight anyway?”

Lance gave her a look. “That’s personal.”

“Okay.” Something about Lance just made it clear that was settled.  “So, where’s Arthur’s parents?”

“Not here.” Once again Lance somehow made Vivi not want to pursue the subject even though she wanted to know.

It was like some sort of mundane super power.

“You guys have pretty cool hair,” commented Vivi.  “How do you get it like that?”

“Gel.”

Vivi waited. Lance didn’t go into detail. “Wait.  That color’s natural?!”

“Yeah.”

How did that even work?!  She guessed the orange to yellow could be the color fading somewhat, but what about the bits that were black?  Especially the end of his beard?  How do you even go from orange to black naturally?  Vivi thought that sort of thing only showed up naturally in anime.

…Actually considering some of the anime hair people came up with, this was pretty tame.  Vivi fingered her own black hair.

Her family’s hair turned blue when their power awakened.  Her father died his hair black to avoid questions simply because he didn’t think he had the personality that would make dying his hair blue believable.  Her Obaa-san’s hair had turned gray before Vivi was born.

Vivi wanted blue hair. She didn’t like the way black hair looked on her, didn’t like how it looked with her clothes.  “I’m thinking of dying my hair blue,” she randomly said to Lance.  Lance gave a grunt in response.  “It’s kind of annoying how limited hair color is in humans, don’t you think?  Mostly black and brown.  Some red and orange and yellow.  I think it would add more color…More eye colors would be nice too. We have more eye colors than hair colors, but it’s still mostly brown I think.  Some blue.  Some green. Hazel.  Gray or purple if you’re lucky.  I guess red if you’re albino.  No orange or…”  She trailed off.  “Actually, your eyes look kind of orange.  Maybe those are just super rare too…”

“Pops up in the family,” said Lance as way of explanation.

Did Arthur have orange eyes too?  Vivi made a note to check when he came out of the dojo because she was definitely sticking around for that.

“So what do you do?” asked Vivi.

“Car mechanic.”

“Oh!”  A couple of things snapped into place in Vivi’s head. “Kingsman Mechanics!”

She’d never been there.  Tempo was just big enough to have three garages.  Two were big chain garages that you could find anywhere.  The last was Kingsman mechanics, which everyone preferred to the other two.  It was a bit out of the way and owned by the only employee, but the work was second to none, and the owner (Lance if Vivi was right.) was willing to do payment plans that other places wouldn’t consider.  Was apparently willing to barter to an extent if someone was in a tight spot.  Even had a junkyard behind the shop that Vivi could only assume was for scavenging or something.  When her father needed to have the car’s oil changed, he’d schedule at Kingsman Mechanics if he could get an appointment and they weren’t too busy.  The way he’d described the owner, he was shorter than most, muscular, no nonsense, practical, and Scottish.

Huh, so his accent must be a combination of Southern and Scottish.  No wonder it was so unusual.  “What got you into cars?”

“…Seemed like a waste of money to buy a car when I could fix one up for myself.”  Lance shrugged.  “Turned out I liked fixing up cars.”

Vivi nodded. “Yeah, it’s lucky to get a job you enjoy.”  She huffed. “I know what I wanna do, but I’ll probably have to get a second job or something.”  Paranormal investigating wouldn’t pay all the bills.

At this point, Baa-san suddenly appeared, walked over, and plopped several ofuda on Lance’s leg. “Put those on your windows. They’ll repel negative spirits.” Lance raised an eyebrow as Baa-san walked back into the house.

Vivi was more surprised by how many ofuda Baa-san had given Lance.  Why would he need that many so suddenly?  If he’d never needed them before…

Unless they weren’t for him.

“What exactly does your grandmother do for a living?” asked Lance.

“She’s a former miko, Japanese shrine maiden, a sort of priestess,” explained Vivi.  “Ofuda are…sort of like charms for luck or protection.”  Vivi took a closer look.  “Like Baa-san said, these are for repelling negative spirits that might try to hurt you. Kind of surprised she just came over and gave them to you.  Usually she asks a bit more about what’s going on.”  Actually, now that Vivi was looking closer, she could see these were ofuda that Baa-san had made, not Vivi, which would make them stronger than what they usually gave out.  “Are you being followed around by something nasty?”

Lance glanced toward the dojo.  Something to do with Arthur?  Lance looked back at Vivi.  “What exactly does your family do?”

“Well, like I said my Baa-san is a former miko, but still does little things out of habit. Dad is a theology teacher at the community college and teaches martial arts.  Mom’s a psychologist.”  Vivi grinned. “But we also occasionally do paranormal investigations.  Not a lot though.  Not much happens in Tempo.”

“Uh huh.”  Lance studied the ofuda for another few moments before stuffing them in his pocket.  So he was keeping them!  “Any other way to keep away ghosts?”

Vivi grinned. “Having a priest bless your house usually helps.  So does burning sage while praying.  Some places sell sage bundled into sticks specifically for that purpose.”

“Hm.”  Lance looked down for several moments.

Vivi opened her mouth to try and ask Lance if anything odd had been going on at his house, but Ben headbutted her in the stomach.  She huffed and gave him a look.  He just yawned.

“Does your dad give religion lessons?” asked Lance.

Vivi blinked. “What?  At home?”  Lance nodded. “I don’t know.  He already has his lectures at the college.”  What did religion have to do with seemingly unnecessary defense lessons and a possible haunting?  “You could probably sit in on Dad’s classes for free if you don’t care about getting credits.”

“It’s not for me.”

Wow, what was up with Arthur?  Before Vivi could ask, the dojo door opened.  Her dad walked out, Arthur following a moment later.  “That’s it for today.  Lessons will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  The lessons on Saturday will be longer since school will not be an issue.”

Arthur looked at her dad in surprise.  Lance nodded. “Thanks.  Was getting worried I wouldn’t anyone.  Any chance you could teach him theology or something?”

Hiro blinked, frowned, and studied Arthur.  Arthur looked away, grasping at his arm.  Hiro nodded. “That might not be a bad idea. Can you bring Arthur after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?”

Lance nodded. “I’ll make it work. Somehow.”  He gestured turned, gesturing for Arthur to follow him. Arthur gave the Yukinos one last confused, lost look before leaving as well.

“What was that about?” asked Vivi.

Hiro sighed. “Arthur has had a rough life.  He needs a lot of help if he wants a chance at living normally.”  He turned to Vivi.  “Would you mind sitting in on the theology lessons?  It might help him if someone his age is present.”

An opportunity to figure out what’s going on?  “Sure.”

“And don’t try to push Arthur for answers.  He’s nowhere near ready,” continued Hiro.

Darn it.

[fematchups]

Can I have a matchup for all 3 please? I’m gonna spread my info across 3 asks if that’s okay! I’m a pansexual female, who’s INTP and Slytherin with a Pisces sun and Libra moon. I’m a full time criminal law student and I also part-time waitress at a Japanese restaurant. I’m about 5’3, average-shaped body, pretty busty (if I do say so myself), long dark blonde hair and green eyes. I love makeup, jewellery + fashion, and have what most people consider an ‘expensive taste’ 1/3

I’m an ambivert who sometimes comes across as cold and mature (even scary), but I have no problem engaging in polite, friendly conversation. I’m quite emotionally sensitive to things around me, but never let it show; I only open up to people I’m really close with. It’s really easy for me to become obsessed with things - once I find something I love (a uni project, a fandom, a hobby etc.), I put my whole heart and soul into it. 2/3I love to learn new things, & always try to deepen my knowledge of law, politics + history - I even hold season passes for a lot of local history museums and used to volunteer in my hometown museum when I was younger. I have a secret obsession with cute things and collect plushies, but I’m too embarrassed to tell anyone. I absolutely adore animals and already have my ‘dream dog family’ planned for when I eventually move out. I enjoy singing, reading, writing, ballet, poetry + playing piano. 3/3Wow you have so many interests! Also, your dog fam will be so happy & fun 😊 hope you enjoy, sorry I am so behind on these matchups!!!Nohr: Azura

🌊When Azura first spots you, you’re learning a song on the piano, singing quietly to yourself as you repeat a verse again to get it down correctly.

🌊Azura is mesmerized by your voice and piano playing skills, and can’t help but sing along to the song.

🌊Although you’re surprised that someone has heard you, you continue to sing along with her, and much to her enjoyment.

🌊You exchange names, and talk a little bit about how you learned to play piano and to sing and why these are hobbies of yours.

🌊Azura listens to you intently, seemingly hanging on to every word you say. She responds thoughtfully as well, and you can’t help but enjoy the rare company of someone so genuine.

🌊Somewhere in that conversation you mention that you’re also interested in ballet, and her eyes light up. She’s a dancer too, so she is definitely interested in learning a new form.

🌊Azura takes this opportunity to ask you when she can see you again; the two of you decide to meet for a dancing date next time.

🌊You’re both incredibly nervous while you’re teaching Azura some ballet basics, but as time goes on you grow more comfortable. She also teaches you some of the dance moves she often uses for her performances.

🌊Whenever you spend time together it’s always time well spent. You and Azura are excellent at making one another feel at ease.

🌊You eventually both build up the courage to open up to one another. You each tend to hide your emotions around those you’re both close with; so, when you decide to open up to Azura and vice versus it just shows how much you’ve learned to trust one another.

🌊Once she gets to know you better Azura becomes the kind of s/o who can seemingly read your thoughts or pinpoint your emotions in any given situation.

🌊Since it’s easy for her to read your emotions, Azura is an excellent confidant and comforter. She always knows exactly what to say to cheer you up, calm you down, etc. Azura also knows when to simply hold you when words can’t suffice.

🌊When Azura first sees your plushy collection, she can’t help but hug you because she finds it so adorable! From then on she likes to surprise you with more additions for your collection. She also never once pokes fun at you for it.

🌊One of your favorite pastimes is visiting local museums together. You two make an entire day of such visits—wake up early to dress nicely and grab breakfast, spend hours at the museum, go shopping at your favorite stores, eat dinner, then go home to relax for the rest of the night together.

Hoshido: Oboro

👒Oboro takes note of you while eating at the restaurant you’re working part-time at. When you serve her, you note that Oboro is an ambivert similar to you—appearing cold, but willing to talk if you engage her. So, each time you interact with Oboro, you chat her up some more.

👒Oboro ends up ordering different items just so she could spend more time talking to you. You realize what she’s doing, and take this opportunity to ask her out on a date so you can finish this engaging conversation.

👒Oboro is very taken with you at this point, so she agrees to meet you at the shopping market you’ve suggested for a date.

👒When your first date takes place you both compliment one another on your outfits a ton! You two then spend the day doing some shopping and browsing the various street foods laid on display.

👒Oboro notices right away that you have expensive taste in things, so she becomes your voice of reason while you’re out shopping. She’ll only advise you against buying something too expensive if you ask her to help out that way, though.

👒If you spot something too expensive and that you don’t really need, Oboro will help you rethink your decision.

👒If you see an item you do need and there’s a cheaper option available that’s just as good quality-wise, Oboro will suggest you go cheaper instead.

👒Oboro loves to make handmade clothing for you, and often gifts you with them for special occasions.

👒One of your favorite things to do together is relax at home together; you’d be flipping through your schoolbooks or reading leisurely while Oboro sews clothing. In moments like these, Oboro likes to throw out random questions to you about your area of study or about any political/historical curiosities she has.

👒If you ever are interested in learning how to make clothes, Oboro will be absolutely thrilled to bits! She’ll teach you for free and tell a bunch of little anecdotes about why she loves sewing clothes and about her passion for fashion. 

👒Oboro loves animals too, so when your relationship progresses to a certain point the two of you adopt a bunch of animals together, including the members of your dream dog family.

👒Oboro is also a big fan of surprising you. She loves showing up unexpectedly at the restaurant you work at, and especially since it’s where you two first met.

👒She’ll also plan spontaneous dates to your favorite spots, often whisking you away and letting you guess where you’re going the whole way there. You’ve never guessed correctly before, so Oboro has quite the knack for surprising you.

Awakening: Laurent

📓Like you, Laurent is a frequent museum-goer, and one who tends to visit the same ones you do.

📓One time, Laurent is looking at a particular painting on display when you approach him. You break the ice by explaining its historical and cultural significance to him.

📓Laurent is pretty surprised that you’re so knowledgeable about history, and gets a bit ahead of himself by politely asking you about a bunch of other exhibits for the remainder of this visit.

📓By the time you’ve covered the entire museum, you both have become pretty comfortable around each other, both having slowly dropped your colder façades as the day progressed.

📓Your shared interest in history gives Laurent the confidence to ask you out to visit a different museum next time, and assured you that he will act as the “tour guide” there. He also says he’ll pay for your ticket because he’s the one who asked you out.

📓When you show up to the date looking all dolled up in your nice clothes with matching jewelry and makeup. Laurent is honestly left speechless and a bit embarrassed, because he felt super underdressed. However, you let him know you don’t think he’s underdressed at all.

📓The date turns out to be a ton of fun with the two of you running around checking out different exhibits and ending the day with a nice meal at the museum cafe.

📓Many dates later, Laurent visits your home for the first time; he’s little surprised to see that you have such a large plushy collection, but he thinks it’s just really adorable.

📓When you him you’re a bit embarrassed about this obsession of yours, Laurent is quick to invite you to see his own. Even though he’s a bit insecure about his obsession, as people have made fun of him for it in the past, Laurent wants to help you feel less embarrassed about your plushies.

📓It’s your turn to be surprised when you see Laurent’s room chock full of books to satisfy his reading obsession. He’s embarrassed for you to see them, but you definitely don’t judge him.

📓Most of your time spent together involves trying out new activities and indulging in one another’s various interests. You each love learning more about the other person, and so this is a great way to do that.

📓You’ve taken all kinds of classes together (cooking, dancing, sewing, yoga, you name it), and each time it’s been an adventure.

📓You each credit one another for expanding your horizons and for encouraging you to be the best that you can be.Songs listened to:

Sunflower // Post Malone

Young Lover // St. Vincent

Semester // Dear Boy

Supercut // Lorde

Mermaid // Skott

Give Me the Night // George Benson

Uncomfortably Numb (feat. Hayley Williams) // American Football

I Want to Be Alone With You // Wishes

The Cure // Lipstick Gypsy

[rigelmejo]

personal updates on my progress:

I watched episodes 3 and 4 of Granting You A Dreamlike Life in only chinese with chinese subtitles, and looked up no words while watching. I paused perhaps once an episode to read a line that was too fast that I wanted to look at better. I comprehended most of what was going on. I feel I caught the gist of the faster spoken scenes, even though I didn’t catch all the words in those scenes (visual storytelling sure helps - so I’m sure it was my brain catching words I knew and heard, combined with words/characters I caught and read, combined with the visuals and acting, for me to figure out what was happening). A lot of the less meaty scenes I followed mostly everything.

I consider this a huge accomplishment for myself! ;w; When I started trying to learn chinese in August 2019 knowing nothing, comprehending nothing but greetings and numbers... imagining getting to be able to do this was an incredible thought!

Based on this... I think I could start diving into watching some chinese shows I wanted to watch, that have no english subtitles.

Anyway I was just incredibly happy to accomplish this! 

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My process, and the progress over time:

Every few weeks for the past few months since December, I’ve been trying to watch chinese content in only chinese, and it’s been slightly less of a slog each time. The first time, I tried watching Anti-Fraud League and only got through 12 agonizing minutes of being very focused to only catch about 50% of what was going on. Around that time I also watched some all chinese youtube videos where I’d catch 25-75% of what each sentence meant, and not enough to overall follow the videos (they were show/fandom discussion videos). Then I tried watching The Shaw Eleven Lang’s first episode in chinese only, which managed to be comprehensible because it’s mostly action - but I did not catch a TON of words. Then I tried Anti-Fraud League again, and got 25 minutes through it... I caught a lot more, so it was easier, but it was still mystifying enough that my brain felt FRIED trying to focus enough to understand. Next, I tried watching Handsome Siblings on Netflix - with a translating app open to look up words, and paused a lot. It took me 1 hour to get through the 40 minute episode. I managed to follow the gist, but again it was a slog in the sense my brain felt quite fried after an episode. So next I watched episodes 2 and 3, still with a translator and pausing, and felt equally fried. But i managed to follow the plot, while only looking up 10-20 words an episode. 

 It was too draining though, so I took a break (because I am LAZY). A few weeks later, I went and tried to rewatch the first episode of Handsome Siblings. I caught a LOT more words, and comprehended a lot more phrases and sentences. I still was looking up 5-10 words an episode though. It felt less draining, less of a slog.

A week after that, I tried watching episode 1 of Granting You A Dreamlike Life on Viki app. What is really cool, is viki has the ‘learn english’ mode on their phone app now. So I used their dual chinese/english subtitles for episode 1, and used their click-for-definition subtitles to look up a TON of words. I probably looked up 50 or more words in the first episode. It took me like 1.5-2 hours to finish that first episode. I would compare it to intensive reading, mainly because I did look up SO MANY words since I had the convenient ability to.

That was, as expected, a SLOG. But comprehension wise it was quite easygoing, since I had english the whole time to fall back on. It took a conscious effort for me to focus on the chinese subtitles instead, and look up words, so that I was doing some studying instead of just ‘watching the english subs’. I think used in the right way, the viki ‘learn mode’ is so useful! (And I’m super excited they expanded it to all chinese shows subbed with english - before, it used to only be on a handful of shows). Now, I think this was a fantastic way to study. But it was also intensive. And... as we know... I am LAZY.

So the next day, I watched the 2nd episode on youtube where there’s only chinese subtitles. Like with Handsome Siblings, I had my phone translator app open and looked up 5-20 words during the episode. Also like watching Handsome Siblings, this cut down my watch time to 1 hour or less to get through the 40 minute episode. And, like watching Handsome Siblings, it was managable but somewhat draining simply because the urge to comprehend MORE instead of just the main gist made me want to pause/look things up a lot. It was clearly getting easier though. I think part of the ease was the fact that for episode 1, I intensively looked so many words up - so I already had exposure to a lot of the words the show might decide to use frequently. (Like meatbun oh WOW does this show say it a lot).

And so, because, as we know, I am lazy... I just decided to watch episode 3 the next day without looking up any words. So I just didn’t. So the episode took maybe 45 minutes instead of 40, to add in the short pauses I did to rewatch a couple phrases or look at a few complicated sentences while my screen was paused. Definitely the ‘easiest’ experience so far. But that is certainly because I have improved in my chinese, and because I did a bulk of my ‘looking words up’ in episode 1, so I have a nice base of knowledge to rely on. Like... this show also says ‘theatre troupe’ and related words a lot, and because I saw those unfamiliar to me words constantly in episode 1 when I looked them up, I now recognize them much easier in subsequent episodes. So I feel my ability to watch this show without any english, including without looking words up, is probably in part to the experience of looking so many words up in the first episode. I think if I tried to dive into an entirely new show, and look up zero words ever, I’d be struggling a great deal more.

Anyway. Back to the description of the experience: watching episodes 3-4 were pretty easy going. They didn’t feel like a slog! They didn’t feel draining! Which is super exciting to me, because for many months when I’ve been practicing trying to watch chinese shows with only chinese... it has been immensely draining, and I’ve had to focus so hard that I felt burnt out quickly. This time, I did not feel burnt out, and could have kept binging the show. This change is a huge improvement for me. Because, the easier it gets to engage with content and not feel burnt out, the easier it is to want to keep trying to do it. And for a long while I’ve been having to balance the rates of “looking things up to understand” with “comprehending enough of the gist to keep watching.” When I have to look up things constantly, it’s draining and I’m apt to not try to do it very long. When I watch something I barely comprehend, I have to focus so hard I get exhausted and the high amount of confusion is also very draining. Ideally, I look up just enough words to boost my comprehension to a percent I can bare to continue watching without feeling drained, while also limiting my look-up frequency enough that it doesn’t become a burden. 

---

A semi-related side note, dual subtitle tools: if you do think the resource of dual subtitles and chinese subtitles you can click for an instant definition sounds like a great thing to use, there are tools to do it on multiple platforms. All of the following tools are free. Viki app and website have ‘learn mode’ (which I believe they also have for korean and japanese). Viki’s learn mode works on any show with over 50% english subs (I’m so glad they expanded the tool to so many shows). I think its a phenomenal tool! There is a similar tool for Netflix, a chrome extension called “Learn Languages with Netflix” and it has a plethora of setting options which are cool to explore, in addition to the same features as viki’s ‘learn mode.’ I personally don’t use the netflix one, because I prefer watching Netflix on my tv - so I just use chinese netflix subs, and look words up on my phone. But I think the extension is super useful - you can even change the settings to watch only in chinese subs, with a definition if you click on a word (which is a nice middle ground between my method of using a dictionary with only chinese subs, and full dual-subtitles with definitions). The maker of that chrome extension also recently made an extension for YouTube called “Learn Languages with Youtube.” That extension is also free and in beta right now. The extension requires that the youtube video has both english and target language captions. I personally do not use it, because again I prefer watching Youtube on my tv. My method is: I find chinese shows on youtube that already have chinese hard subtitles on the video (which are most chinese shows, thankfully). Then, I just watch the show and look up words if I need to. If I am desperately confused, I can click ‘captions’ and turn on the english captions for a moment to get a full sentence english translation. An alternative way to do my method, and what I did more at the beginning: find a chinese hard-chinese-subbed show on youtube. Turn on the english captions. Then whenever you want to learn a new word, stop the video and turn off captions (to see the chinese hard-subs). Sometimes on youtube, the english captions will not cover the chinese hard subs, and you can see both at once like ‘dual subtitles’ - this also helps with matching new words to english. I find that doing it this way is easier when I’m mostly just trying to focus on a few chinese phrases/sentences/words an episode, so it’s more suited to beginners if you plan to do it all the time. I think the extension “Learn Languages with Youtube” is overall a good alternative method, I just do not use youtube on the computer enough to use it myself. 

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Final notes - my thoughts on how much watching chinese shows in only chinese is helping, and why it may help me improve, and what it might be helping with specifically: 

I don’t know how we learn or acquire language. I have read on these topics in some articles and books, and watched some lectures on these topics. But I certainly don’t know the way any expert does, so all of the following are just my thoughts and theories based on my own experiences.

What I am fairly sure watching target language content in only that language is helping with:

Helps me get more context for words I’ve studied, more exposure to those words used in different ways and situations, and helps me remember them better. This exposure also helps me learn more about how to actually use these words in practice.

Same benefit for grammar structures - allows me to see the grammar I studied in target language context, being used. This helps me remember the grammar, and helps me get used to the different ways it actually occurs. Helps me get a sense of when it should be used. Basically, it provides practice to reinforce the grammar I’ve studied and also to learn more about how it’s used in practice.

Helps me get used to following native speaking speed, because in materials focused on language learning the speaking is usually clearer and slower. So engaging in content meant for entertainment instead of education means seeing the language used in more varieties of ways, spoken in more varied ways. So it makes me get used to listening to quicker speech, to variances in speech, to guessing slang from context. Basically - reinforces what I know and makes me improve in using what I know at faster speeds and with more variance. 

Helps me improve reading speed, or at least improve my ability to skim through text for main ideas. Depending on how good my listening ability is for a given scene, I will either rely more on my listening ability or my reading ability to figure out what’s going on. For a lot of chinese words, I’ll either remember the written form or the pronounciation a little better - so for me personally it often varies on which ability I’m relying on more to understand a scene. Sometimes I’ll catch sounds I know and try to figure out what’s going on based on the words I heard and understand. Sometimes I’ll see characters/words in the chinese subtitles that I know, and try to figure out what’s going on based on that (for example, in Granting You A Dreamlike Life, I guessed what 心跳 xintiao meant by knowing it was ‘heart’+’leap’ and based on the scene realizing it means ‘heartbeat’). So, if I plan to minimize how often I pause, I have to get used to glancing at the chinese subtitles as fast as they’re spoken. I have to get used to glancing quickly at those sentences, identifying which characters match up to the words I actually know and recognized when I heard them, then continue to scan the sentence for unknown words and try to match those to what I’m hearing (based on if I know any of the character pronunciations and can match them to what was spoken, based on if I know the character meanings individually and can guess from context what they mean when combined in a word/phrase, etc). The worse my listening comprehension is, the more I rely on those chinese subtitles. The more my listening comprehension is decent, the more I have to focus on BOTH listening and reading to try and link up what I’m hearing to the text and to use ALL available knowledge I already have to guess at what the unknown parts mean from the surrounding context. 

Basically: I am fairly sure watching a show with only chinese audio and subtitles gives me the ability to practice my vocabulary recognition by providing more context and exposure, listening comprehension of words I know, more exposure to grammar I’ve studied with context, listening comprehension speed, reading comprehension speed, and comprehension of words I know. 

It’s certainly beneficial to some level, to use engaging with totally target language content to practice consolidating what you have learned, and improve your ability to understand what you’ve already studied.

To a smaller degree, it also helps me pick up a few new words and phrases - especially if I already know surrounding words, if I know the characters/words that combine to make the new ones, and if the scene provides a lot of clear visual context for what’s going on. (To use Granting You A Dreamlike Life as an example - shifu, dage, meimei, dagongzi, gongzi, jingcha, laoban, changge, xiban, baoqian, shengjian bao, gege, xihuan, shenti, da si, mai, are all words that even a beginner who didn’t know those words could probably pick up from context of the scenes alone, since the scenes they are said imply their meaning pretty clearly). 

This smaller aspect, is what I am most curious about. I am curious about how many NEW things I could potentially learn from engaging with target language content in ONLY the target language. The benefit of improving understanding and practicing what you’ve Already studied is pretty obvious. But how many new words/phrases can you acquire/learn, how many new grammar patterns can you pick up, if you engage with target language content and do not use any translations to help you (so no dual subtitles, no dictionary look up)? 

I’m definitely going to be testing this question as I go through and watch more of the show.

I’m curious as to what the answer will be. There’s definitely the possibility that my mind may decide it “understands enough of the gist to follow the plot” based on the words it already knows, and just relies on that existing knowledge without learning more. 

There’s the other possibility, that I might ‘naturally’ acquire more words as I watch more, because they’ll be understandable from context and repeatedly shown to me, so I will eventually ‘pick them up.’ (This would be the ideal outcome.)

The only other experience I have to compare this to, is when I was learning french. At a certain point when studying french, I stopped looking up new words that confused me. Because I am lazy, and I got good enough to follow the gist of the main ideas of what I read without needing to know those confusing words to do so. Because I am lazy, I just stopped looking things up. Even though if I had continued to look words up, it would have helped me improve and understand more.  So... I went to only learning these new confusing words, by guessing their meaning through context. That was the only thing I did. The thing about french though is... a ton of french words are cognates (or at least resemble a similar meaning word) in english. So it is incredibly easy to figure out the meaning of new french words in context. And once you know enough french words, and there’s only a couple ‘mystery’ words a sentence - even if those words do NOT resemble english at all, there’s so much context around them that you DO understand that make figuring out their meaning easier. This process, as expected, was a slog at first. I often read books and only understood like 50% of the pages I read (I could follow the main ideas, but rarely the finer details). Eventually, it just became easier. Probably because over time I picked up more new words. 

Learning Chinese is a fair bit different. There are very few english cognates, especially compared to french. So there are a LOT more words that I cannot guess from context. At least, not unless I have managed to learn all of the words surrounding the new unknown word. So in french, I could look at a sentence with 60% new words, guess all the cognate meanings and then be left with 10% new words that were confusing enough I had to actually contemplate their meaning based on context. If I look at a sentence in chinese with 60% new words... I will maybe, at best, be able to figure out one new word’s meaning from context. And that is IF I happen to know the characters individually that make it, IF I know enough of the grammar structure to guess what the function of the new word is, IF I managed to understand enough of the surrounding sentences to guess at what the hell these 60% new words might even be ABOUT. There is a lot more I need to rely on and lean on, just to pick up a new word in chinese. 

Now, some study methods help with this issue. Using Memrise to grind the 1000 most common chinese words has been an excellent help. Me being able to recognize the most common words has helped enough that now, I run into a lot more sentences where I only run into 20% or less new words. So these mostly-comprehensible sentences give me chances to learn the few new words from context. But bigger sentences, or sentences on more specialized topics, still basically stump me. I’ll continue using Memrise to learn more common words, and characters, because this has been helping a lot. Second - me studying characters seems to help as well. Mostly because then when I see new unknown words, I have at least one hint about what they might mean, and I can pronounce them (so its very fast for me to look them up in a dictionary). When watching Granting You a Dreamlike Life, the new words I’m picking up easily are the ones made up of characters/smaller words that I already knew. Third - using Clozemaster as an ‘stepping stone’ place to learn from context. Clozemaster gives cloze sentences with one missing word (that you will learn in the context of the sentence). It starts with the most common words, and slowly progresses to teach you less and less common words. This means the sentences tend to increase in difficulty at about the same speed as you gain the ability to comprehend these more difficult sentences. A total beginner will find Clozemaster a bit brutal. But upper-beginner and onward learners may find that Clozemaster is a great way to quickly find i+1 kind of sentences. (i+1 sentences are generally sentences where you understand almost everything in a sentence, except for 1 new word or phrase or grammar point). The app is designed to basically give you i+1 sentences that slowly increase in difficulty as you learn, so that the sentences never become too easy and progress in difficulty with you, and so that if you follow the order of their sentences you will not run into sentences far beyond your level either. So, these are the tasks I have been doing to give myself enough ‘supports’ to lean on, so that when I find new words in target language materials, I have some tools to rely on to help guess their meanings from context when I’m able to. (Another thing that helps build this ‘support,’ is studying grammar. If I recognize the grammar structures, that’s more additional context I can use to try to determine the meaning of a new unknown word. I didn’t include grammar study in this list because I did a ton of grammar cramming early on in month 2 of learning Chinese. Nearly all my grammar study after that has just been me reading/watching chinese and reinforcing those points I already read an overview on. If I ever start struggling again though, I plan to delve into studying grammar more to help give myself more ‘support.’)

But yeah. Basically... I am curious of how much a person can learn SOLELY from engaging with target language content in only the target language. With no additional flashcard studies, no dictionary translation lookups. How much can really be learned SOLELY from the context of a show/book?

With french? In my personal experience, you can pretty much just improve ‘naturally’ over time by trying to engage with target language material and watching yourself ‘naturally’ learn more over time. Once you’ve got a solid common-words basis, and can at least understand the grammar structures when you see them, words themselves are pretty easy to pick up from context over time. It does NOT always feel ‘easy’ by any means, in fact it feels draining and takes intense concentration at first. But you can basically improve without any more vocabulary flashcards or drills, without any more ‘outside of target language content’ studies. You can just immerse, at a certain point, and you’ll improve without any specific focused effort. At least that’s how it was for me. If I wanted to get back into french, I’d probably just start reading some of my french books again and it’d come back to me. Then I’d keep reading, and I’d probably improve. (Take me with a grain of salt, because my writing/speaking was never studied much, and so I would be doing purposeful study drills for those... I am only talking about comprehension).

With chinese? Because there are no cognates to rely on, and certainly dependent on how many characters in a given sentence I recognize... I have no idea if the same approach as I had in french would yield similar results. I don���t know if learning vocabulary can be acquired the same way. I’m interested in finding out. I do know that... for me personally, based on my specific tolerance/intolerance for ambiguity, I needed to learn a solid basis of characters and words before I could brave trying to engage with target language content without english to fall back on. Like... realistically, even when I was first starting and could only focus on a show for 12 minutes to comprehend THE BARE GIST of the MAIN IDEAS, I knew about 500 common characters well (and recognized probably 1000), I knew about 300 common words well (and recognized probably over 800). Now that I am finally feeling less-drained engaging in target language content, I know around 800 characters well (and recognize probably 1500+), and I know about 1000 common words well (and recognize probably 1500+ words - I have no idea how many are common words though, because I know all the HSK 1-3 words, some HSK 4 and 5 words, and also a smattering of specialized genre-specific words based on the specific chinese content I regularly consume). 

At this point in my studies, I can’t actually say how many characters or words I recognize at least somewhat, I can only firmly determine the amount I know I’ve purposely recorded studying (so only the words I have done flashcards for). I know I’ve done 1000 flashcard words. I also know I have 660 cards in Pleco (which are the more specialized vocab I look up and save for later reference, and I know they’ve got some overlap, hence my guess of 1500+ total recognized words). I also know that when I come across words I think are easy to remember, I don’t bother with flashcards (so shifu, gongzi, baoqian, zhengming, heibai, hei, hong, hongse, yu, ying, xing le, hao de, gongsi, banfa, mao, gou, gou le, mingming, ba le, suan le, etc... I never make flashcards for those... any words I think are self explanatory or hear so much I remember them easily, I don’t bother). I also delete my Pleco flashcards when I no longer feel like I need to regularly glance at them for reference. I can say for certain, that I know at minimum 1000 words well. I don’t know how many more words I know well. I can say for certain I know at least the 800 characters in one of my hanzi books known well, because I finished reading the book and when I look over it I no longer find any new information. I know I recognize a solid amount more than that, because I have a 2,500 hanzi book where I have about 1000 hanzi highlighted as recognized - and some of those hanzi overlap with the known ones in the 800 hanzi book, so I am not sure how many beyond 800 I know solidly. 

---

idk some last comments: I do NOT recommend Granting You A Dreamlike Life as your first cdrama lol! Pick a show you like!!! Maybe pick a show you’ve already watched once with subtitles in your native language! Or pick a show in the genre you are prioritizing learning words for (daily life, detective, wuxia, romance, etc)! I personally think action shows and daily life shows are the easiest to jump into. Followed by shows in the genre you consume the most. Now... I do think Granting You A Dreamlike life is relatively approachable - lots of daily life conversations, visually a lot of scenes are clear from context. But it is... not the greatest show by any means. I’m only watching it for Zhu Yilong and Bai Qian’s evil cousin from Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms lol. It’s... kind of fun, maybe? for a weird mess? But part of why I’m doing this show, aside from more Zhu Yilong, is I also don’t care too much about the plot. So I don’t get annoyed when I don’t understand something, since I don’t care enough. When I was doing this with Handsome Siblings, I cared about the plot a LOT so the vague parts I didn’t understand frustrated me immensely, and I wanted to pause/rewatch/lookup so much it slowed me down considerably. It also drained me more, because I was trying to pay attention to everything super hard. Whereas with this show, it’s not a big deal to me if I miss some details, so it doesn’t feel as draining. 

So I guess... the positives of picking a show you already watched once: you won’t be frustrated if you miss details since you already know the plot. The positives of picking a show you REALLY want to watch: you’ll care and be interested in it... but you may find it more intensive of an experience, which can be draining. The positives of picking a show you find kind of fun: hopefully keeps you interested, but also hopefully is less intensive since you don’t care if you miss a detail. The positives of picking a simple show: easier to follow! Easier on your focus! (although I don’t personally know any ‘simple’ shows except maybe... peppa pig? Which I don’t want to watch). 

For me personally, interest is the biggest driving factor in what I’m choosing. Because I need to be motivated to actually get through an episode. The second biggest factor is ‘if it’s something new I have never seen before.’ Because for me specifically, I want to test my progress in being able to comprehend things. And I feel I can do that best by watching something I have absolutely ZERO summary or prior knowledge of, and then seeing how decent I am at actually figuring out what’s going on. If I watch something I’ve already seen, then I can’t test this progress as clearly. There are plenty of benefits to watching something you do already have context for/have already seen once: that’s why many people suggest reading a summary of episodes beforehand, or rewatching/reading something you already experienced in your native language. Because the context may help you pick up new words easier, and may help prevent you from getting frustrated at the parts you don’t comprehend. For me personally, I prefer to do this by watching something brand new, to test my progress, then watching it a second time (after reading a summary to check how much I comprehended the main ideas, or watching it with eng subs a 2nd time then again in all target language a 3rd time) if I want those rewatch benefits.

[arohauniverse]

[INTERVIEW] ASTRO, a proper example of growth

People usually say that young kids ‘grow differently everyday’, and boy group ASTRO is such. ASTRO, who recently celebrated their 500 days since debut, showed remarkable growth with every new album they release.

ASTRO held their first fan meeting at the Jangchung Arena last February and met with more than 5,000 fans. While touring four Asian countries right after, they also captivated overseas fans’ hearts. Fourth mini album ‘Dream Part.01’ title track ‘Baby’, which ended its promotions last month, was nominated for first place in music shows for the first time. ASTRO, who successfully concluded their longtime dream to hold their first solo concert, is now ahead of Japan Zepp Tour this month. Indeed, they are ‘a proper example of growth.’

10. How is it going for you after ‘Baby’ promotions? JinJin: First of all, we held ‘The 1st ASTROAD to Seoul’ on the 15th and 16th of last month at Olympic Hall, Olympic Park. After the concert, we had a vacation for two nights and three days. Now, we’re preparing for Japan Zepp Tour. Also, we are practicing hard for ‘KCON 2017 LA’ and KBS2 ‘Music Bank in Jakarta’.

10. Thoughts about holding your first solo concert? Rocky: I knew that a solo concert is a faraway dream, but it was amazing standing in your own personal stage, thinking ‘So we’ve already grown this much?’ Now is the start. I think that the future is full of more fun things to do.

10. Most memorable moment from the concert? Eunwoo: The first appearance. The first song was ‘Hide&Seek’. So as to match the title of the song, we appeared not from the main stage but from the thrust stage. The fans were surprised, but the crowd still cheered. We revealed the official light stick ‘Robong-ie’ recently, but the venue glittered with Robong-ie’s glow, so it often made me smile. We should go up the stage with a cool expression but [our faces] twitched like a clown’s. Moonbin: By the looks of it, the time we sang ‘Every Minute’ is memorable. It was a song I like, we went up the stage for that song wearing a formal suit with a fierce image, and the fans were satisfied. Sanha: For me, it’s that time when the fans did the slogan event. We were singing an album’s B-side ‘Star’ when the fans raised the slogans with ‘I’ll always stay by your side’ written on them. I was very touched and thankful.

10. You said in an interview with TenAsia last November that it was your dream to hold a solo concert. JinJin: Yes! Previously, we founded the official fanclub ‘AROHA’ and also held a fanmeeting. We also wished for this [solo concert] at the time. From debut until now, the scale of the performances are getting bigger every time. The fans who support us increased that much. We are thankful. I also commend ASTRO! Moonbin: We are achieving our goals one at a time. We think positively and say, ‘Do well and rewards will follow.’ We now desire a higher goal. We rose to an honorable place—the first place nominations—with ‘Baby’. We will prepare even harder for the next album and try getting first place.

10. ASTRO’s new dream? Sanha: Soft drink CF model! We will show you our very own refreshing-ness!

10. You recently reached your 500 days. Looking back, how was it? Rocky: Surely, we have grown compared to our debut era ‘Hide&Seek’. We have learned a lot. We worked hard unconditionally during ‘Hide&Seek’, but now we relaxed a little.

10. If you had a moment where you thought that you should grow more? Eunwoo: We want to consolidate ASTRO’s own colors, so that the reactions ‘trust and watch’ and ‘look forward’ will follow when you say ASTRO. I think we still lack a bit for that part. Moonbin: I think I have to take better care of my physical fitness. We usually promote for 2 to 3 weeks and our schedule is hectic so it’s difficult. Everyone is working hard to stay in shape so it would be nice to maintain our energy from the start of the promotions until the end.

10. We’ve talked about the team’s colors, but where do you draw the line between keeping your identity and being stagnant? Rocky: This is why we worried a lot. ASTRO has showed off bright music and refreshing concepts until now. Some might think that we’ll only do similar things. So we thought, ‘What else can we add?’ My conclusion is that if we suddenly change, we might hear some hostility instead, ‘ASTRO, why?’ Bearing ASTRO’s refreshing image, we want to nurture the member’s individual skills and slowly show our changed selves. JinJin: We cannot have a ‘refreshing’ image forever. We are merely wearing clothes that match our age. Naturally, we can become a group who wears manly clothes, sexy clothes, and various colored clothes. ASTRO is a team who still wants to do a lot of things. Our anticipation is bigger than our worries.

10. We’ve heard that maknae Sanha is going to receive his ID card. Sanha: Yes! I went to the district office to have my ID made, and they captured my fingerprint. It was really amusing. JinJin: Sanha was just a sixth grader when I first met him. He was smaller than I am but now he’s the team’s tallest. At debut, he put on blusher on his cheeks and had braces on… Among ASTRO, the member who changed the most is Sanha. He grows up well so I am satisfied.

10. Agency’s rookie girl group Weki Meki will debut on the 8th. What does maknae Sanha feel about having a direct junior? Sanha: It’s a little hard to say but… I’m proud. It would be nice if Weki Meki will get good results. I wish that they enjoy well. (Eunwoo: Sanha sunbaenim gave an advice!) Moonbin: I think they’d do well since everyone worked hard. I think it is important that the senior leads the junior well. We will also grow more and become a dependable senior.

10. Eunwoo recently had his first try with a drama with KBS ‘The Best Hit’, how was it? Eunwoo: The fun on stage and the joy from acting are a little different. ‘The Best Hit’ is a work where I learned a lot of things. I had a lot of worries at first. So I practiced acting well, and prepared a lot. It seems that everyone watched well. I was able to discover another side of me. I gained confidence and I want to greet with another work.

10. How did the other members see Eunwoo’s acting? Rocky: It was a little bit difficult. Just kidding. Since Eunwoo hyung is immediately on my side while he’s on TV, it is amusing and fun. At first, I watched the drama with the thought of poking fun at Eunwoo hyung, but Eunwoo hyung looked like he gradually became absorbed in his role, so I enjoyed watching the work itself later on. MJ: Eunwoo’s character’s name was MJ. His character is a ‘feisty top star’, I saw a different person from the Eunwoo that I know. I commend him. Eunwoo: MJ hyung gave me a mission. ‘Promote MJ by working hard in the drama’. Moonbin: So that’s why when you search MJ in portal sites, Eunwoo’s name also shows up.

10. MJ appeared alone on MBC Every 1’s ‘Weekly Idol’ Masked Idol corner. At the time, you were chosen for the first batch of Masked Idol. MJ: Originally, I wanted to be revealed around the second, third episode, but I won first place on the first episode so my identity was exposed. While filming the variety alone, I felt that I have a little more confidence. I’m the style to look tense during the early parts but feel a bit easier as time goes by.

10. Moonbin was a child actor, but there aren’t any acting activities planned? Moonbin: I want to try if opportunities present themselves. I want to appear on KBS2 ‘School’ series. I just turned 20 this year, so there is still a desire to take on a role of a high school student.

10. Jinjin and Rocky recently started studying composition. JinJin: We’ve been self-studying since we were trainees. Our desires recently became bigger so we talked to the agency after the end of the concert. We have been taking classes from professional composers for some time past. We will learn well, even the details, so we hope to participate in ASTRO’s albums later on.

10. What is your music style? Rocky: I’m [still] in the learning phase so I cannot give a specific definition, but it’s a bit different. I’m really into G-Dragon sunbaenim’s solo song ‘Untitled, 2014’ so I am interested in slow tempo music. JinJin: I tend to follow trends. For a while, I was stuck in the future bass genre, then I fell for tropical house during the ‘Baby’ promotions. When I like a genre, I listen to and learn the music of famous DJs and producers in that field.

10. Field where Sanha is interested in? Sanha: I want to try being a radio DJ. It is fun reading the stories of listeners and communicating. I would want an 8 to 10 program. I want to become a DJ who listens to the listeners’ worries and comforts well.

10. You went on a tour around four Asian countries last February, your thoughts about your overseas fame? Eunwoo: When I look at the comments on ASTRO SNS, there are many international fans. It is difficult to often meet with international fans so we feel sorry and think that we have to work harder. We were thankful for the very enthusiastic and ardent welcome during the Asian tour. We gained strength from thinking, ‘Can we really receive this great love?’

10. If you have a special experience during overseas performances? JinJin: When we did the Japan showcase, I was really surprised that the sound system is good. Also, since the watching culture of Japanese fans differ from Korean fans, it was new and amusing. They enjoy listening when we sing songs and cheer for us enthusiastically after the performance. Moonbin: On the other hand, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong fans are immensely enthusiastic. They like small gestures and hand signals. US and Mexico are also hot.

10. Goals for overseas activities? Moonbin: We want to hold a world tour. Jinjin: We also want to hold Japan dome tour. Moonbin: We’ll work harder because it is our dream to stand on the US Super Bowl stage.

10. ASTRO’s secret for receiving love inside and outside the country? JinJin: There is a unique energy that comes when members are united. We often hear the words, “I feel good when I see you,” which seems to be an advantage. Moonbin: This bright team atmosphere was created thanks to MJ hyung. MJ hyung always liven up the mood. MJ: I would thank the members instead. I joined ASTRO the latest, but I was able to mingle like this thanks to the dongsaengs who cheered for and helped me by my side. More than making the mood, I think we gathered each member's personality and made a rainbow called ASTRO.

10. Is there a time where you shared your personal worries? Rocky: I often talk about my worries about the music when practicing. A bit more serious and cheesy story is the ‘family meeting’. It’s a meeting we do every time ASTRO’s activities end. We all eat together and talk honestly with each other. Moonbin: We also talk about the things that hurt us. I’m the type to talk about those things whenever because if those pile up, they are bound to burst at some point.

10. When can we meet ASTRO’s new album? JinJin: As much as possible, we want to release one more album this year. At that time, our goal is to become the number one singer.

Source: Tenasia Translation by Nico of ArohaUniverse✨ Please take out with full credits!

[steamishot]

Homeless Swing

Starting the day off with writing a few things. Work isn’t too busy so I’m taking my tasks slow. I’m also trying to be less distracted at work. I think I can do my job well enough on the surface level, but to prevent myself from being bored, I want to actively be more organized and increase my expertise on the subjects I handle. It will definitely help me see my work as more purposeful as I learn things to do tasks with intent and not just with the purpose of completing them.

Last week, I had lunch with a floor mate, C. She normally eats at her desk. We decided to go to in n out on this day. It was my first time eating out with her. We’ve had lunch (food brought from home) together a few times before. After in n out, I decided I wanted to go pick up a small snack/drink at Trader Joes. As we were crossing the street on Westwood/Weyburn (C was walking to the left of me), this semi hobo/druggie looking white guy who was walking opposite of us, quickly walked towards C and swung his fist towards her face. Luckily she was able to dodge his fist, but he scraped her neck with his skin. She ended up tearing up because it was so random and terrifying. It didn’t occur to me to really look at the suspect so that we could report him later. I just kinda pulled her away and walked away fast because I was more scared he was gonna come back and try to attack her/us some more. A few strangers came up to her and asked “What was that about? Are you okay?” She also mentioned how it wasn’t the first time it happened to her. As a college student, she was once walking up Bruinwalk and a hobo swung his bag at her. I thought it was kinda strange, like she was a magnet for these crazy people. Anyway, we walked to TJ and I wasn’t sure how to comfort her. “Do you want anything? I’ll get it for you.” But she declined. When we got back to our floor, I told my supervisor and colleague what had happened. I normally don’t initiate conversation but I actually had something to say that day. “Something weird happened during lunch” I announced to I, L and student worker S. They advised that she tell the HR director so he can request some patrol officers to be in that area. We later called UCPD together over the phone and tried to describe what the suspect looked like. She remembered a pink shirt, I remembered green for some reason. She remembered shades, I didn’t. She remembered a ponytail, I remembered dreadlocks. Memory is a hard thing to rely on. Because at the moment, you’re more terrified than anything. It made me think of rape/crime when sometimes a victims story wouldn’t add up and they are dismissed as lying. A police officer later came by to see her in person and said that this same person was reported by someone else, and he indeed was wearing a pink shirt! I don’t wear my glasses normally so my eyesight is not crisp most of the time. I feel like this could be hazardous if an event like this happened again and I don’t even remember what the person looked like. When I told my mom the story later, she said I am so lucky because the guy targeted her and not me.

On Saturday, I hung out with a former coworker (a social worker at my last two jobs). She is 48 years old, a single mother, and has twins who are currently going to separate colleges. I hadn’t seen her for at least a year and a half. She used to live in the 626 area but decided to buy a home in Lytle Creek (middle of nowhere, 20 minute drive up the mountain lol). I drove us to yoga, and she mentioned how I sound different- that my voice is stronger/less meek. I said ah, I didn’t realize it but it’s probably a product of working in an American environment versus Chinese. I probably became more fake and overly energetic as well LOL. I didn’t tell her this but it took me a while to get used to her voice and accent again. B is a spunky person who DGAF lol. She reminded me of who I used to be. Staying true to herself. She lives isolated in the woods. Has an art studio. Is doing social work and is studying for a Psy.D. Her boyfriend is a 66 year old Japanese American detective who worked on the OJ Simpson case. I got to meet him for lunch after yoga. He lives in little Tokyo, a 15 minute walk to his work. We went to a random Japanese restaurant around that area. I thought we were an odd bunch- a 66 year old male, 48 year old female, and a 27 year old me. My friend joked that we could pass as his daughter and granddaughter lol. But, he looked good for his age. He actually grew up in the LA area too, in the neighborhood next to mine. He went to my rival high school, which he said at the time was about half Asian, half Latino, and a sprinkle of blacks. During my time I think it was like 90% Latino. All the Japanese Americans had moved away by that point. I asked him a little about crime- he says the majority of perpetrators are homeless people- killing and hurting strangers in broad daylight. Not sure if his statistics are correct, as he’s more of a detective than a police officer, but it was interesting he mentioned that after the incident that happened to my friend. He told me that just last week, a homeless stabbed/killed a 70 year old man in little Tokyo from behind at like 4:30pm. Anyway, I thought it was pretty awesome to have had the opportunity to meet him. When we got to the restaurant, he was all “order whatever you like”, but I felt a little weird having someone I didn’t know pay for me. I just looked him up on transparent California, and it seems he is a Deputy Attorney General and makes about $150k, so I shouldn’t feel too bad lol. He probably would feel emasculated and weird if a young girl like me ended up paying for my own meal. From what my friend told me previously, he is married and has kids, and my friend is like the other woman. He also acts as a father figure to my friends daughter (helping around the house, helping daughters move to college, etc). I was curious but didn’t want to ask him about his other family.  

 I made a macramé plant hanger for the first time with L. It was really nice to check out her DTLA apartment, although I admit I was a little bummed at first about having to pay $6 for parking to visit her lol. The amenities are super nice and it was definitely worth going to. We talked about career, friendships, and relationships. She instinctively acts as an older sister/mentor. I like it because she doesn’t come off as a know it all or overbearing and is a good listener. I found inspiration from her to keep working hard and to carve a career path for myself. She has had many years of doing LDR as well (at least 4). She told me that she has friends who similarly just started LDR, and come off as very confident that they will last. She noted that I/Matt seem to be more realistic and humbled regarding the distance, which is why she thinks we’re more solid and can work out.  

It's officially 2 months since he moved away. I was feeling quite sad over the weekend (not sure which part of my menstrual cycle that was on), but now I’m back to being more okay. Although I do share the sentiments as he said last time, that I don’t feel complete without him. I forgot what physical intimacy, kissing, and sex feel like. So in a sense, it’s good because I’m not thirsty haha. I’ve gotten over the initial wave of celibacy. Recently he asked me about what I want to do in life to try to help me with achieving my goals. I had trouble answering, as I feel my life isn’t very intentional. The only thing that came to mind was living abroad (outside of hobbies I can do with my current lifestyle). I told him I don’t really care what I do as long as it allows me a cushy lifestyle and abundant PTO lol. I told him that maybe I should’ve been a good Asian and just followed through with a specialized field like pharmacy or optometry. He then rebutted saying that I’d probably be unhappy and live life like I’m always pushing a boulder up a hill. Because that’s kind of how he feels, as he was pressured to go into medicine. He says he has no identity, which I think may partly be the case for me too, as we live more for our families/communities. 

Yesterday, he asked me about my goal income and age of achieving it. Then asked what my ideal household income is. This made me feel insecure because I know I’ll never hold the prestige or financial potential as that of a doctor. I know he has quite expensive taste (lol) so I started thinking, wouldn’t it be easier for him just to date someone of similar status so he will for sure reach his household income goal of 300k? In hindsight, I realize he is asking because he wants me to be the best version of myself, and he doesn’t like seeing wasted potential. He does the same thing to one of his best friends (who he says ignores him during these pep talks lol). He also sees it as a practical way for me to spend my time while he’s in residency. So that we both will be working hard towards our career during a period of time when he won’t have the capabilities of being an excellent partner. During our phone conversation, I asked him, “what happens if Connie can’t reach her financial goals?” He said, “she will be banned from life”. Then I said, “Mattay is gonna ban her from being with him”. Then he said, “you think so?” I said “yeah”. Then he gave me a serious “no” lol. I think what he means is that I’ll be losing in life because I’m not trying or giving my all, so, I’m not living life completely. At the end of our facetime call yesterday, he made goals for me in order of importance: 1. Get fit/strong by work out 45 min a day 2. Carve out a career goal and plan 3. Work on hobbies 4. Cultivate friendships and said I have to take care of myself before I can do anything else hence the importance of number 1. Anyway, I realized at the end of the day we were thinking about different things. I was honed in on my insecurities about not being able to offer enough in terms of social and financial status and worries about him not finding me ambitious or good enough. On his end, I think he was more concerned about me being bored and sad- and wanted to push me into doing something productive. These topics of discussion are uncomfortable but they are vital for growth. (Thanks Suze for helping me see this!)

[astormyjet]

March 13th - July 18th 2017: ES and JHS Graduation Round Two, Korea and Osaka, Hanami, Early ES Sports Day, Becoming RA, Shiminami Kaido Round Two, More Farewells and the Start of Summer.

Yeah, it’s been a while folks. Life hit me full force. As did the looming threat of the future. I’ve been working on trying to motivate myself. It’s pretty hard, when you set the bar low and you eventually achieve what you want, there’s this big moment of well, this is temporary, what the f**k am I going to do with my life after this. Basically the last few months have been one existential crisis after another. Fun times.

A bunch of really cool 6th Grade Elementary School kids and 3rd Year Junior High School kids graduate in March. I keep seeing a bunch of the JHS Graduates on my bike to and from school this year, my fave tennis kid from last year nearly ran me off the road and into the river the other day she was so stoaked to see me. A bunch of my faves from ES came to the JHS, but I haven’t really had the opportunity to teach them or be in class with them as much as I was with the 1st years last year.  It’s made me a little jittery to be honest.

 I’ve only really had the chance to go to 2nd year classes, and that’s not picnic being that 80% of the kids are little punks. I love them to bits, but they are disrespectful, lazy little shits - and have been since they were in the 6th Grade. In part this is due to the way their English teacher taught them last year, but it’s also on them. It takes WAY to long to explain anything to them, so we’re stuck in discipline mode for 90% of class, review mode for 5% and have very limited time to do anything outside of the text book. They’re getting better, we’ve made more headway with the tougher kids which has bought the mood of the classroom back a bit, but there is still SO MUCH TO COVER. I want to go to 3rd and 1st year classes more. *sobbing* At least my 3rd years have been writing to me a lot. I have ninja-ed my way into some of their classes during my free periods, but it’s not the same...

My new 5th Graders are fantastic, cute and terrifyingly smart kids. I mean all the kids I teach are smart, but this lot are quirky and just so...genki? My 6th Graders are still great too. Which is a relief. I was worried they’d get one of the teachers from last year and that would change them for the worse, but that particular teacher was moved to another grade. English club is going well, it was so popular this year that a bunch of kids got turned down. We’re at capacity with 28 kids, and boy is it stressful having to think of fun stuff to do with a bunch of kids for an hour and a half every two weeks. But I love it.

South Korea and Osaka were fun. I’ll be honest, I think I bought the mood down A LOT in Korea, which I feel really guilty about. The person I was travelling with had so much they wanted to see and do, but I was a total fun sponge. I just felt REALLY uncomfortable in Seoul. I walked past a couple of anti-gay protests, and I think that had something to do with it. Being around other tourists also just..drove me mad? People are so rude? I think I’ve been in Japan too long as the standards I have for politeness are way too high...

That said, the lady in our hostel was really sweet. As were the other guests. Most of the vendors I interacted with were civil, even when I fucked up and started speaking Japanese instead of English out of habit (guy took it in his stride, and was almost relieved I think because his Japanese was better than his English). It was easier to find clothes that fit, particularly pants. The food was delicious, and the things we did go and see were pretty fun. I loved K-star Road and Myeondong. When we were leaving for Osaka, there was a drama or a CM being shot in the Airport, so while we were trying to get to sleep there was a lot of yelling and camera people running by. It was pretty cool. 

Osaka was much more my speed. I enjoyed going up the tower and doing some shopping in the Pokemon Center (this time minus the encounter with random 5th Grader from my ES) and ironically enough the Korea Town there. We were only in Osaka for a night, but as soon as we hit the ground back in Japan I just felt like I was home. There’s something that has always pulled me towards this place. I’m not sure how I’m going to leave in a few years. Hopefully by then somewhere else will be calling to me just as strong. 

After that trip it was right back into the new year with the teacher change and the new classes. Introduction lessons were about the only time I’ve had lesson with my 1st year JHS kids this semester so I’ve had words with my JTEs and they’ve paid lip service at least to timetabling me in for next Semester. Somewhere in this time I got pissed at my ES Supervisor for all the mucking around with the timetable and not informing the Japanese ALT about the changes and making her come all the way in for no classes or classes in the afternoon only. It stopped happening for a while...then it happened again today. Hopefully it was a one off thing or I’m going to have to talk to the BOE because it’s really not fair on anyone.

There were a bunch of Hanami parties ect too around this time. Also a couple more farewell parties. I applied for RA some time in Feb and got the position in March/April along with another person who is super cool and motivated, so that has had me busy.  In May there was Golden Week, which I did pretty much nothing in, besides go down to the Ikazaki Kite festival on Children's day again. It was fantastic. My ES had their Undokai/Sports Day in May too due to the big Paralympic championship being held here in September. It was so much fun this time, I dodged between tents and got to hang out with the really little kids as well as their parents and we all enjoyed cheering for our teams. The team I was on won for a change!!!

I graded from Green belt to brown finally after a four year period of dodging grading for Karate. I’ve learnt about 4 more kata since I have been here too, which is overwhelming. My teacher is threatening me with my black belt either at the end of this year or middle of next....so better get into shape a bit more before then. 

I bought a new skate board and have gone out a couple of times with my friend and his girlfriend. It’s surprisingly easier to cruise on compared to the old k-mart board I had, though I miss my longboard something shocking. I also miss being able to cruise around on it like back in Uni, you can’t really do that here without breaking the law or getting run over by someone. 

In June we held our first RA event, doing Iyo-kasuri dying in Matsuyama. It went well for a first event, I just need to relax a bit and plan stuff out for myself a bit more. The next event we’re hoping to hold is one for a Beach day after all the new people come in. But that is after Orientation, so I am going to start plotting that in about two weeks. 

I also did the Shimanami Kaido again with AJET. This time it actually went a lot better, it RAINED something fierce on the second to last island so we basically swam up the last couple of hills, but it was well worth it. It was hot, but not unbearable. There was also a festival at the end of it in Onomichi which was cool. The morning after, on the way to get breakfast we ran into on of the guys I came in with in 2015. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but he pointed us in the direction of a really nice bakery. So props fellow kiwi. Best Curry-pan I have ever had. 

I took the JLPT N4 on July 2nd. I’m pretty sure I failed again. But I only have myself to blame. I need to figure out how to study. I was always one of those kids that did really well on tests with relatively little study at High School, I just needed to pay attention in class and do the homework. But everything changed when the firenation..I mean Uni attacked. I know for a fact my conversational Japanese has gotten heaps better (though it is strongly Iyo-ben/Yankii/Inaka), my reading and writing hasn’t improved at all. Nor has my ability to do their shitty grammar puzzles, really the format of that section is going to be what makes me fail in tests I study for even...but for now it’s over, I think I’ll wait until this time next year to sit it again, if I pass I’ll aim for N3. 

This last weekend there was the AJET leaving party on Kashima island in Hojo. It was a bit surreal to be quite honest. A fair few of the people who came in with me, as well as the sempai who guided us through our first month, are leaving. I know life will plug on as normal after they’re gone, that is the transient nature of this job, but it is going to be odd for a bit having new faces around in a couple of weeks.

It’s made me realize how fast time is going. I have no plan for after JET yet. I have no ambition or motivation really. I don’t really have anything waiting for me back home other than Student debt and few job prospects. So for now I guess the plan is to take more TESOL courses, brush up on my Japanese and look into what I need to acquire a similar job after my final renewal.

One of my 5th graders was on the island when we got there. So that was weird....but she was really cool today, bragging to all her friends about how she saw me and my friends. A bunch of kids were surprised I even had friends, but that’s another story for another time. The next day as I was going to pick my bike up from the repair shop (my back tire burst on my way to the supermarket/station on Saturday) I ran into one of the shyer 6th Grade kids and her cousin. We had a special fifth grade lesson with my teacher for JHS, we’re doing phonics, and it’s equal parts hilarious and terrifying how kiwi these kids sound. 

This weekend there is E-Talk camp, which I am looking forward too. One of the few decent 2nd year JHS boys is doing it again this year as well as one of my fave 3rd year girls. I think there might be one more kid, but my teacher didn’t really confirm that yet. I’ll find out on Saturday hopefully.

I’m going to my ES End of term party on Thursday, which I am looking forward to, but also dreading. The nurse who has been at the school for the last year or so is transferring out to Seiriyo High School and we’re getting someone new. So this party will be the last time I see her for a while. She’s been pretty cool about me coming in and out and chatting with the kids who have anxiety issues and the kids who aren’t feeling well, but are still genki enough to be sitting up. It’s also been really nice to hide in the nurses office while I don’t have classes because I can do my homework there a lot faster than I can in the teachers room, and they had the aircon on earlier...and not as high as the teachers room does...either way, I hope the dynamic doesn’t change too much, especially for the two kids who have that place as their refuge.

Next week, I have a trip to Tokyo coming up. I need to get off of the island for a bit again I think. And I need to do it on my own. So I’ve booked five days away, and only have tentative plans to meet up with my former Japanese housemate. I want to climb Takao-san, even though people say it’s nothing special and I want to go to Ueno Zoo and do a couple of nerdy things in Akiba/Ikebukuro again. I just need to push myself a little more. Then it’ll be right back into Orientation Prep and welcoming the new kids.  

Orientation prep is a bit stressful. I screwed up and made things complicated for everyone by trying to be considerate of my stressed out JHS JTEs. At the end of the day I should have just bitten the bullet and started planing the whole demonstration lesson on my own and run through it with whoever I was going to do it with a couple of times before the actual event, but noooooooo I had to go and try change things up by asking if we could have one of the other ALTs in our region do it with our old boss....but that’s a problem for tomorrow or the end of the week. I am confident I can pull it off if things fall through, but if not, there is really only me to blame for it all.  

I have so much to do before I leave, but I should wack the last of the urgent stuff out by tomorrow afternoon. If not, I took leave on Friday, so between cleaning my house up for Micheal to stay here on his last night while I am away and packing (hopefully not too hung over) I have time to get the bulk of what I need done out of the way before my holiday and the printing deadline. 

Basically I am happy, a little stressed, somewhat frustrated with lack of classes at my JHS, but also shit scared of the future. What else is new....

[thestickchick]

I've been spending my personal martial arts time in a project. On the spur of the moment in my 2nd Degree test about a month ago, I converted our first form, Baston Anyo Isa, into the jo.  This was part of my demonstration that Arnis prepares a person to work with just about any weapon (using the Okinawan/Japanese kobudo weapons), if you are flexible and creative.  Here is a video of that conversion, which I came up with literally about an hour before this video was recorded.

I decided to continue with the theme of converting our forms into the jo when I had students who wanted to compete at a local (Arnis friendly) charity tournament.  If they were going to work hard to compete, I would, too. It's our first competition as a school, and I didn't want my kids to go alone, y'know? Thus, I've been working on making Baston Anyo Lima into jo for the last few weeks.  This is Baston Anyo Lima, performed by myself in 2013.

Baston Anyo Lima is designed to be performed with a one-handed sword or stick, usually no more than 71-81 cm (28-32 inches).  The jo is a 1.5 meter (5 foot long) blunt two-handed weapon.

These things are not super similar to one another, as weapons go.  Short one-handed blade to longer two-handed blunt.  It is important to try to keep to the spirit of the form in its original weapon - the stances, moving back and forth, the angles of attack and defense - while also making sure what you're doing with the different weapon actually makes sense. It's important, in my opinion, to make sure what I was doing isn't moving from the realm of things you could or would actually do with the weapon, to becoming "dances with sticks". You long-time readers of this blog know what I think about "dances with sticks".

This meant I had to really think through and apply what I learned a long time ago with the jo (in 2014).  I did the conversion, getting help from my teacher when I got stuck, and now I have a workable jo version of Baston Anyo Lima. I have no idea if it'll do well at competition or not.  Honestly, it's not the point of the project anyway.  It'd be nice to win something at competition, sure.  I am totally down for winning things. But it's more important for me to understand how to convert one form template to another, using a weapon that is really different than the one the form was originally designed for.  This makes me think really hard about both weapons involved. After this competition, I plan to work on Baston Anyo Lima again, this time converting it into nunchaku.  The intent is that I will use it for competition in November, but also, it's just another brain-candy, nerdy little project. Y'all know how I love that stuff. I'll let you know how the competition turns out - and I will (probably) have video of it, so you can see the form. Tell me about personal projects you've worked on in the martial arts that weren't strictly required for your studies.  Have you worked on editing or converting forms from one thing to another?  Let me know in the comments!

[jeonmefortae-blog]

What If? (BTS Q&A)

Hey my lovelies, HAPPY SUNDAY! Hope you all had a great day whether you are stressing out >< or whether you are having holidays. Good new is, if you are living in Malaysia, you will have Gawai holidays! (or only Sarawak for that matter?) 

But anyways! Thanks guys for leaving me ‘What If’ questions to answer on instagram. I find this really fun as i saw a lot of people doing this on instagram! It would be really nice to know what would you do if you got caught up with your favorite celebrity nice to know about your thoughts on something as well! Anywayy, i want to thank you guys deeply again. 

So basically, my ‘What If’ questions are about BTS in general! Like for example: ‘What if i met Jungkook?’ 

So shall we start?

^^ very cute picture or gif above by the way! 

Okay. 

1) What if kookie asked to stay in my house because he doesn’t have any place to stay? - asked by @/pewtaepie 

Answer : 

Omg, this answer got me shook, thanks so much ;-; Okay, OF COURSE i would i mean- but the problem is it would be more awkward because i stil live with my parents. But however, if that is the case then ofc i would still offer him a place to stay, because poor kookie! :( But if i was staying alone (no dirty thoughts here) of course everything would be less awkward because there will be no one around except me. Of course being me, i would be breathless and freak out like a potato. I would REALLY GET HEART ATTACKS. Don’t blame me if i DIE on the spot. Then, once i calmed down i would probably ask him whats the matter! Of course, (i want life to be as good as the fanfics ;) ) Hopefully by him staying at the the house we can be close friends because kookie and i share many similar interests. I would ask him to cook together and do chores together. Go to the mall together and help me with those groceries :’) Oh! and also play piano together with him singing by my side. (and you know hopefully it gets somewhere) JUST JOKING! OFC OBVIOUSLY in reality we have to sleep seperate rooms because if my virginity was lost I WOULD BE DEAD MEAT. My mother would slice my head off :”) lollll sorry the answer was just supposed to be short, but i made it freaking long. 

2) What if you found out you were childhood friends with one of the members of BTS? - asked by @/yourbutterflyy

Answer : 

Holy moly. The answer would be that im very very absolutely shook. I mean out of the blue someone tells me that i am actually connected to them? :’) daebak. Of course, knowing me i cannot sit still. I have to meet my childhood friends because i mean- childhood friends are precious. However even if i meet them they have got to remember me right? :D  If our memories were rooted very deeply or in the case that maybe he got amnesia, i would ofc try and help to recover his memories :’) And me myself would try and remember all the things we did together and then as we reunite we would have many things to talk about and so that we can recreate these memories together again :’) 

3) What if you had to choose a BTS song that you have to sing in your life forever? - asked by @/namjinmochi 

Answer: 

WOW. I had a hard time thinking of this one. But i would choose ‘Butterfly’. Its the song i fell in love at first sight. BTS songs are mainly really catchy and energizing and there are less ballads (won’t really call this a ballad) (i think its a cross between a ballad, and hiphop?) but this song gave me FEELS. IMMENSE FEELS. I cried when listening to just the instrumental version, and don’t mention the prologue. The prologue got me bawling and i could hear the butterfly instrumental in the background. ;-; This song gives me feels that can break my heart but at the same time heal it. Its like a lullaby that heals my tired and weary heart. The melody of it is very easy to remember and so its pretty chilly and cool when you can easily hum its melody :’) another song is probably run (ballad ver) i cried literally! those high notes hit my heart & also Spring Day. the lyrics are really meaningful and its a melody that you will remember for quite a long time. 

4) What if you had to choose one song BTS sang to you? - asked by @/unnati_8230 

Answer: 

Hmm like the previous question, one of my fav songs is Butterfly so i would love them to sing that :’) because i really want to see their passionate faces when they sing this song. its really aesthetically pleasing. 

5) What if i found BTS living a block down from me? - asked by @/taes_suga_kookie 

Answer: 

ASDFGHJKL!!! WOAHH WOAHHH okay. I need to chill. Like this, i am practically good as being their neighbours! Being a good citizen i would probably send some gifts for the new comers :’) because i mean its BTS and of course i have a high chance of seeing them so i want to do good deeds as their fan! Of course, if i had the chance i might even get invited to their house, but due to manyyy privacy reasons i would also try to limit myself, because their neighbourhood might be flooded with fans, and i hate crowds so... advantages and disadvantages. (the neighbourhood would be filled with screaming fangirls) but hey at least i fulfil my wishes right? :’) i am already pretty fortunately staying close to them. maybe i hope we can all be good friends too haha! there would be soooo many things to talk about. 

6) What if you became BTS’ new manager? - asked by @/bangtanfamfic 

Answer: 

OMFG WHYYY OMG AHHH - ;-; umm umm of course i would be freaking happy for this job offer like- omg! BTS’ manager its like the best job on earth :”) however being a new manager i should not attract much attention. Also, i think i need to toughen myself up because of all the fans who love to push people. I cannot be fragile on this job :’) but i am willing to learn. But things like planning schedules and doing things for the boys is a-okay! IT WOULD BE HEAVEN. I would get to talk to them everyday, and there are so many opportunities for us to get close and ofc i would get to see them in their everyday lives (it would be pretty interesting) because all i can see is them outwardly on stage and everything- but not like behind the scenes. I want to see yoongi working on music, i want to see them practicing and everything! :’) ofc, i want the previous manager to teach me many things as well! SEJIN OPPA! TASUKETE. (LOL Y JAPANESE HAHAH) 

7) What if you found out that your bias is actually studying in the same school as you? - @/preciousbngtn 

Answer: 

Hi i love you Christina and i will answer this question HAHAHAHA. BUT OI OMGGGG- If Jungkook was studying in the same school as me i would be shook asf you know. I WOULD FLIP. Obviously i want to introduce myself to him like ‘welcome to this school im rachel’ or something like that. BUT I BET THERE WILL BE SO MANY GIRLS GOING AFTER HIM  which leaves me out a chance :’) because i am always super slow hahaha! if its like this, i won’t really bother until i see him with no one. I don’t want to cause a ruckus either :’) (ill be a good girl thank you) i want to treat him like a normal classmate and friend. the rest can be all up to fate :’) of course it will be a distraction in class!!! i will not be able to pay attention damn it. 

8) What if i was BTS’ girlfriend? - asked by @/ttaevmin_ 

Answer:

OMFG!!!! OKAY UHM I CAN’T BREATHE. Okay, let me start with each member. Because you said BTS, so i will just cover members one by one. 

If i was Namjoon’s girlfriend, we would sure talk to endless hours because i believe i can talk comfortably with him, maybe even learn new things together :’) and he can teach me many new things as well! I am sure there’s lots of things to share! our dates can be anywhere! 

If i was Jin’s girlfriend we would soooo go grocery shopping together and cook amazing stuff for the boys :’) we would scold the bangtan kids together muahaha! ofc, because we share our common love for pink we can fight people who hate pinkeu :’D and ofc our date can be something simple like just stay at home and eat each others food! (i don’t mind!) 

If i was Yoongi’s girlfriend, i would try to get his ass out of bed, cheer him up with my wierdness and optimism. (we are total opposites btw) i will cheer him and motivate him daily as thats what he may need? (i will make sure i see his gummy smile) And because i love to compose, i would also do lots of composing works with him :’) i would soooo drag him out of the house and have fun HAHAHAHA but its a win win situation, at times i would just stay at the house if he wants too! however, on days 

If i was Hoseok’s girlfriend, that would be heaven on earth because Jhope is mostly similar to me. I am positive and optimistic, always happy,bubbly and friendly. We would so laugh at a lot of things and entertain the boys and be second hand embarassments as well :’) our dates can be anything! i mean- i believe hoseok seems like a very mature man to me.  

If i was Jimin’s girlfriend, i would treasure this little precious mochi :’) i would treasure him more than i treasure myself. Because his sweetness is no joke, it needs to be soooo protected. i would proabably cause lots of embarassment to him anyday, HAHAHAH but my main goal would just to be a good girlfriend and give him lots of love. Our dates can be anywhere! im not picky :) 

If i was Taehyung’s girlfriend, that would be heaven on earth as well. because uhmm character wise i am like Taehyung as well and also because taehyung’s ideal type is very much like me. i would get along with him pretty well and i think taehyung will be reaally sweet and also a protective boyfriend :’) i can very much imagine that he will love his girl til death and so being his girlfriend i would love him wholeheartedly and give him my all. 

Lastly. If I WAS MY BIAS’ GIRLFRIEND. 

If i was Jeon freaking Jungkook’s girlfriend i won’t think i will able to live for even a second. The moment i saw his smile i immediately knew that there was something about him. and from that moment, we actually have lots in common (except the fact that he is good at everything) being his girlfriend would be really humurous and funny as i feel like i am dating someone near my age. (he is just one year older than me) i think we will share lots in common and we will have many things to say as well! i don’t care if he is not good with dates or girls, i just want him to be jungkook. :’) our dates can be anywhere! but since he loves the beach we can take a drive down to the beach and hold hands in the sunset like how romantic right??!! i would live to see his cute smile anyday and i will do my best and my all to see him genuinely happy with me :’) not because he is my bias but because i love him as he is. 

9) What if Yoonmin isn’t real?- asked by @/lustyoongi 

^^ OII HOTNESS OMFG

Answer:

I WOULD FLIP. IMMA PACK MY BAGS AND GO TO KOREA AND SEE WHAT’S WRONG jokes i cannot do that but IMMA PACK MY BAGS AND GO TO KOREA. And i am not leaving until i attend all their fansigns and get them back to shape :’) anti climax : on the side of reality i would be really devasted and just cry tissues away. 

10) What if BTS had given up from the beginning? - asked by @/hoseoklq

^^ this is so funny like omfg 

Answer: 

To be honest, if they have given up i won’t be as crazy and wierd as i am now. BTS has been a factor that pushed me to become a stronger person. They are people that inspire and admire me. If they had given up i would no longer acquire this strength. BTS all in all is my happy pill, just seeing them brightens up my day. it will be a huge mistake if their group wasn’t there anymore :’( there would be a hole that kpop is missing out on. then they wouldn’t know what they would be able to achieve and how much their fans adore them. BTS’ music leaves a strong impact on the young generation. Not just the lyrics and music but also their power and image that they bring. BTS is also known as a group filled with members of different unique personalities and together they are the most beautiful moments of our lives :’) teens need to know a lot about youth and they need someone to speak up for them and to tell them ‘i know, i have gone through this, but its gonna be okay. ‘not today. today we fight.’ they need message of love and strength. thats why BTS is a group that i feel is close to me even if they are miles away. 

and finally, if they had given up, IMMA PACK MY BAGS TO KOREA. (lol why am i like this) LIKE YOU AINT GONNA LEAVE LIKE THIS BISH (JOKESS) 

11) What if Jungkook wants to be my secret admirer/what if he admirers me? - asked by @/kookienochu  

Answer: 

oKAY...OMG. Uhm, of course i cannot stop him from ‘liking’ me but it depends. Speaking from reality point of view, i don’t really believe in love at first sight unless love builds up through genuine relationships, but if he likes me i would totally feel the same way. but if we aren’t really close yet i always suggest to be my friends first :’)  but if he already knows me so well, then i think i will be ready to be his girl. I mean i may like him and all but in the end, relationships need to be genuine in order for true love to exist. i mean- no matter how much  i claim to love him, i would only like the idea of dating him, but that doesn’t mean i love him. Okay, so if i was already his really good friend and he knows me like so damn well, obviously i am ready to start this relationship. There needs to be a perfect timing and a perfect bang! to it. Even so, i need to know that whatever obstacles may pass, we must sort it out rationally and not just fight and break up for stupid reasons. Moreover, i would really feel grateful, because i was always called ugly in school, so its good to know that he finds me beautiful in my own ways. :’) remember guys, its not love just because your heart always beats around a person. its not just love if you are crushing on love. love withstands time and it takes lots of time and effort to accept someone and know their flaws and accept them still :-) 

lol i would save love talk for later. I am considered a ‘love doctor’ by my classmates and i always give ‘advice’ so if you want you can always DM in my instagram! :) 

And that is all folks! 

Do follow me on instagram if you want its @/kookiemonstae! 

If you want me to do more stuff like these you can always suggest and leave comments for more!