#now I just need to finish my cosplays before september--

[popcorn-plots]

just got tickets to FanX!!

[thefrogdalorian]

It's New Year's Eve and I just wanted to share some mushy thoughts about life and Mando and Din and how this year has been overall for me!!

If you don't want to read below the cut I just wanted to wish you a Happy New Year!! I hope you have a wonderful time, whatever you do to celebrate. I'm currently on a trip so I may not be terribly active, but if you're struggling and the emotions of the day are a little too much, please do message me. I've been there plenty of times. You're not alone. NYE should really be about looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past, but I know how easy it is to get caught up in that depressive loop of thinking.

But if you do want to keep reading, then strap in for some Oversharing Online and gushing about how much Mando means to me:

I first started watching Mando during the pandemic in 2020, I think the first episode released like 2 days after the UK went into lockdown or something. 2020 was an awful year for me, as I'm sure it was for so many of you. A lot of things happened to me that I'm still trying to process but I hope to start therapy in the new year and go some way to addressing it.

Anyway, The Mandalorian came to me at a time I dearly needed it. It was welcome relief from The Horrors I was experiencing. I was hooked pretty much straight away, who was this mysterious man? What were his intentions? Was he good or bad? OH WOW THAT WALK. THAT VOICE!!! I loved it, but it wasn't until The Believer that everything changed for me. It went from enjoyment to full-blown obsession. I couldn't wait until Season 3 aired, and I think the expectations I had built up in my head could never have lived up to the reality of what I felt upon watching it for the first time. I was pretty disappointed most weeks, but I feel so differently now.

This year has been pretty strange for me. I had some amazing highs (like being able to go to Star Wars Celebration where I got to see so many amazing Din and Mandalorian cosplays which was an INSANE experience and I still kind of haven't properly processed yet??) and also some difficult lows.

In June I finally got my autism diagnosis, something I'd been essentially waiting for for EIGHT YEARS. It was a huge shock but also not shocking at all. As in, I knew I was autistic since being a teenager but I was absolutely not expecting to be told right there and then at my assessment. So when the psychologist looked me in the eye and told me that I was autistic it was somewhat of a gut punch. Processing it was extremely difficult but during that time I found myself drawn back to Mando and particularly to season 3. I rewatched it again and again fell in love with a season that I'd probably felt on the whole underwhelmed with at the time, until the last two episodes, which I loved instantly.

When rewatching it, I noticed things that I'd missed before, which led me to become kind of obsessed with the idea of Din and Bo together. I know not everyone enjoys that but that truly is what I love about media, that we can all watch a similar thing and interpret it differently! I don't think I'm any more correct about the way I view certain interactions than anyone else. Shipping should just be a little fun, not ruin your mental health or dictate how you treat strangers on the internet. And it especially should not lead to any real world harassment of creators and actors.

So in September an idea formed and between then and November a 182,000 word fic landed in my lap. That's the best way I can describe writing it for me, I was so fixated on finishing it and the plot just kept coming the more I wrote. It is by FAR the longest thing I've ever written and probably ever will write, but the routine of writing it and publishing it helped claw me out of a spiral I was in after my diagnosis.

And it was publishing it on AO3 that gave me the confidence to rejoin a fandom space again. It was a big step for me to put myself out there but I'm so glad that I did because that's what led me here, to discover this wonderful community who adore Din and The Mandalorian just as much as I do. I'm so happy that I finally found my way here. It was way less intimidating than I ever thought it would be!

I know that I haven't been here for the longest time, I wish I just got over my nervousness and made a tumblr earlier in the year so I could have joined in with the hype before season 3. But also considering how poorly received the season was overall, maybe it was for the best that I wasn't here.

Despite my relative newness here, I just wanted to say how welcomed I've felt and that is a truly lovely feeling. Thank you so much to everyone who has interacted with any of my posts and especially my writing in any way, big or small. It means a lot to me! I cannot wait to be around for all the buildup to Season 4, honestly. I know it seems so far but after midnight we can say it's (probably) only NEXT YEAR!

I have no idea what 2024 has in store for me. That doesn't scare me, in fact I'm quite excited about not knowing what will happen. I

Of course, I have some goals I'd like to achieve for myself but whatever happens, I know that Mando will be there to endlessly rewatch and whatever comes my way, I'll always have Din Djarin. He's the only man to ever exist! That gorgeous tin can who instantly soothes me every time I get to watch his silly little exploits with his silly little son. Where would we be without him, eh?

Anyway, whatever you're doing tonight to celebrate and even if you aren't, I wish you all the best. Stay safe, enjoy yourself and I'm sending you lots of love and light for the year. May 2024 be a healthy, happy prosperous year for you and your loved ones.

See you in 2024!

Love,

Spud 🥔🐸

[viscountessevie]

Roommates [ARC Review]

Release Date: 20th September 2023  Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Spicy Level: 🌶️ My Review:

Roommates by Ola Tundan follows Ariella Mason and Caleb Black who go from being coworkers at their company, Ivory Bow to being roommates after Ariella leaves her seemingly perfect life. Ariella has followed the model minority’s life checklist: perfect job, house and soon to be spouse, Jasper. Until one day, she decides to leave it all behind. She turns up at Caleb’s apartment desperate for a place to crash and hide out from the aftermath. Caleb, an arrogant and notorious player has to make a choice of giving up his bachelor pad in exchange for an offer he can’t quite refuse from Ariella. 

I’ll be honest, I tried really hard to like this book because I was so excited to support a writer of colour writing a Black lead and who I thought would be an Indian hero. A note to the publisher and cover artist: The man on the cover is tan enough and has the signature 'Indian fuckboy' beard to be mistaken as a South Asian man.

I did also push myself to finish this book out of respect for the author and to give a thorough review. I will get to what could have been improved on and what didn’t quite connect with me later on. However, I want to focus on the positives first. 

I would like to commend Ola on writing her first full length novel! Not everyone can do that so that itself is a great feat. I think the writing was easy to read so readers can breeze through this book especially if they enjoy the themes, characters and tropes. I will always appreciate a writer of colour writing diverse characters and providing much needed representation in the modern romance genre. I also loved how she flipped the stereotypes of Black and white families! Ola showcased a loving, close knit and healthy Black family with Ariella’s while Caleb grew up in poverty and a broken home. It was a clever move that was also grounded in reality. 

As for why this book just did not hit for me: I had just finished rereading my favourite books with the roommate trope with a Black women as the lead and Indian hero (it took me nearly half the book to realise Caleb was not in fact an Indian man). I wanted to read something similar and thought this would be a comfort like the other two. However, I was faced with my two personal book icks: slow burns and love triangles. So unfortunately, this book had the odds stacked against it for me liking it. I will fully admit that my expectations for the book and the personal preferences of faster-paced books with the sole focus on the main romance tainted my reading experience. 

As for what could be improved upon: While I understand that Aari and Caleb are meant to be flawed characters, I didn’t find them likeable at all and couldn’t find it in myself to root for them. There seemed to be a disconnect between how they were described in the summary compared to their character introductions. Aari was far from perfect and Caleb felt like a teenage boy cosplaying as a womaniser. I think Ola could have spent time building up their positive traits and connect them to their ‘character templates’ before revealing them to be messy, real people. At times they also came across as whitewashed. [Though now I do know Caleb was always meant to be a white man] Ariella was very explicitly written to be a Black woman but her narrative voice came across as odd. As did her dialogue with her mother. Sometimes I had to reread their scenes together because it seemed like she was talking to a friend or sister. 

Plot wise even though it was a slow burn, the writing could have been tighter. Virtually nothing of consequence happens in the first half of the book and everything seemed to happen in the second half. The cliffhanger at the end didn’t quite feel like a cliffhanger to me. I think the structure of the novel could have been reworked to add another chapter or two to wrap up the book instead of a second full novel. It felt like a typical Act 3 climax that needed a longer ending. 

Lastly, I understand the statement Ola was trying to make with subverting the trope and giving us a few female perpetrators. That being said, it wasn’t executed well and fell flat for me. While women like them exist, it just felt like women were being unnecessarily villianised - especially since Ariella did not come across as likeable to me. 

All that said and done, I do think Ola has a lot of potential and can only go but up from here. I am really rooting for her and hope these comments aren’t taken too much to heart but help to build a better novel in the future. Despite my own hang ups on this book, I would still recommend this to those who enjoy a slow burn roommates book with deeply flawed characters, love triangles, close familial relationships and turning stereotypes on their head. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

[needtoread81]

Tag nine (9) people you’d like to know better

Thank you for the tag @alexxxaloy

Oh dear Lord I kind of suck at this, but…

a bit more about me...

Last song:

I'm listening to a looping playlist with Lord of the Lost and Within Temptation, but the last song was "One Last Song" by Lord of the Lost.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=wLznWvBny8Y&feature=share

Currently watching:

I don't watch a lot of shows, mostly I read, listen to music and the news, and read som more... it's kind of in my "name" 😅

When I watch anything , it is mostly YouTube, currently my favorites are Rachel Maksy, Morgan Donner and listening to old Citation Needed episodes by The Technical Difficulties (Tom Scott and 3 friends)

Current obsession:

Horizon zero dawn❤️ and Horizon forbidden west ❤️(I might have a problem....)

- I got the Horizon Zero Dawn coloring book and the Horizon Forbidden West art book 2 weeks ago (already had HZD artbook and the comics, whant more!) Oh, I also own a lot of @godliath digital Ereloy stuff

- I've started making 3 horizon (sort of) original cosplays/costumes (Banuk villager, Oseram brewer and Nora hunter) but I don't plan on them being finished until september 2024. I just need my body to work and get some energy again.. (breathing without pain would be nice, freaking asthma)

- Replaying HZD with Frozen Wild, I "gotta catch them all" to every thing including all the datapoints (so close now!) I started doing the same with HFW before Burning Shores, but somehow I lost a powercell in the base and a crate in a ruin so I need to start over😓

- Re-reading every thing Ereloy (my favorit ship with my favorit boy Erend 🥰) on AO3 + a few more in the Horizon 'vers

- Just startede with a few drawings to test ideas for a second Ereloy painting (still need get back that energy, long covid sucks big time🤬)

Currently reading:

I read a lot, like when my body hurts too much, when my brain needs a break, when I'm bored, sometimes when I work and Ialso read for fun.. On average 3 hours (or more) a day, often 300+ pages in a day and multiple books at the same time, and before I found AO3 that meant 500 or more books in a year.

So just now on AO3 I'm reading

The Moth and Horizon au Twin Flames 🥰

On my kindle I just finished two of the books here today, and I am currently reading a few others

Anne Bishops - Crowbones

Anna Hackett - Hex

Lisa Edmonds - Mortal Heart

Vanessa Nelson - Hunted

Ilona Andrews - Magic Claims

Also, a few actual books, like I can hold them in my hand😮

Horizon Forbidden West Art book

William C. Diet - For Those Who Fell

Glen Cooper- De dødes bibliotek

Håvard Dahl Bratrein - Høvding, jarl, konge

I think that is it from me for now 🤷🏼‍♀️

If you have'nt already and feel like it (nine is a lot🙃) it would be fun to know more about you

@theyloy @mari-mary @felrend @xxxhellfireravenxxx @austenmarie @littlelionpaw @yogrossdude @souls-that-have-senses @nerd-artist

[whetstonefires]

I posted 11,002 times in 2022

That's 846 more posts than 2021!

177 posts created (2%)

10,825 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@beatrice-otter

@pavlovs-pigeon

@brawltogethernow

@vesperway

@audreycritter

I tagged 1,968 of my posts in 2022

#hoc est meum - 245 posts

#lmao - 84 posts

#mdzs - 75 posts

#ask - 61 posts

#laugh rule - 34 posts

#locked tomb - 29 posts

#batman - 25 posts

#cql - 22 posts

#blogblogging - 20 posts

#anonymous - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#the thing is tim has definitely not gotten that much taller so. bernard shrank??? i want to write a fic about the diegetic supernatural inci

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Oh protip for recently diagnosed glasses-wearers, that they don't necessarily tell you at any point in the acquisition process:

The 'polishing your glasses on your shirt' trope in fiction goes back to when glasses were actually made with glass, which is as you learn in any introductory geology course fairly abrasion-resistant.

Modern lenses, which are plastic--yeah yadda yadda hi-poly resin blah blah, it's plastic--are less robust, and if you go around rubbing smudges off on random fabrics without rinsing off any and all dust particles first you will micro-scratch them foggy faster than you'd like.

1,787 notes - Posted March 16, 2022

#4

Me trying to determine what range of months it is reasonable to feature a pregnant goat in a farm scene: gotta go to the How To Breed Goats website.

How To Breed Goats has informed me that while continuing to breed your female goat past age 10 is likely to significantly shorten her life expectancy, so maybe don't do that, the males are going to die in what's middle age for a not-overbred female regardless.

because goats have a heat/rut cycle, and apparently going into rut is really bad for the health.

a/b/o fandom i hope someone has taken notes on this and done some hilarious angst about the short lifespan of the average alpha.

2,799 notes - Posted September 7, 2022

#3

again, so many cql/mdzs modern AUs set in america and never one in which nie huaisang is like:

so i knew this dude in high school, right, who invented a new kind of nuke and so naturally the government recruited him to work in Defense before he even finished college but then he went rogue about an ethics issue with refugee camps and became the most famous terrorist in living memory and died in a police shootout

and that's the guy i, the Secretary of Education, want to help me kill the President.

3,477 notes - Posted April 18, 2022

#2

i do not like this update that collapses the note count into a simpler number. it is bad. that was not a thing that needed simplifying. i promise we can all round in our heads.

not only do i despise imprecision in general (and resent that in order to know the exact note count on a post i would now have to do math on the breakdown screen) i liked watching the note count go up by one when i pushed a button; that was valuable enrichment for the monkey. fix it.

4,292 notes - Posted April 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I love when people say Alfred Pennyworth is the most sane or stable member of the batfamily because like.

This is a man who had two exciting careers before he even stopped being 'a young man,' and then stepped up as a butler because it was his estranged father's dying wish

and then when his employers' son was orphaned accepted custody, and just

has been basically cosplaying a butler as 80% of his visible personality for thirty to fifty years.

He fell sideways into not-exactly-parenting and was like, welp, guess this is my life now and just. Continued to not-parent his ward long after he was a grown man, enabled all his weirdness, helped him slightly-more-openly-parent a succession of kids while always maintaining his posture of being an employee.

Did not have any real personal life and also has no coworkers to speak of.

Could have changed any of this at any time and repeatedly chose to not do that.

This man is a lunatic. This man is a cornerstone of all subsequent lunacies.

It's extra funny when the batfam says it because it's perfectly believable they would think so because 1) their baseline is so warped and 2) that's what he wants them to think.

He may in fact personally believe that he's the Only Sane Man In This Belfry, although he is wrong, but he for sure knows he's not actually okay. He just feels it's his duty that none of his charges notice it. Because it's not their job to worry about or care for him. Only the other way around.

Yes I am saying all this in the present tense even though he's still dead, because time death and comics are all fake anyway.

4,462 notes - Posted June 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[starsbegantofall]

Late July news and progress for end of summer events!

I'm on track with the stuff for San Antonio during Labor Day weekend in September.

I kinda wanted to host a j-fashion workshop panel just in case I never get another chance or if they really need a panelist, but I think I'd rather relax in the artist alley and not have to worry about stage fright. Maybe I'll write up the panel in my blog instead.

Sort of planned my coord for the mixer on Sunday, just need to make/decorate a hat, maybe some jewelry, and wait for the shoes to come in, and bring a spare coord just in case, which also needs a hat but everything else is ready.

Finished the backup spare casual cosplay I might wear Friday if I feel like it, except for the parts I can't see well on the artwork and don't want to mess with. I also may want to add some piping to the hat and line the jacket just to make it look prettier, but probably won't do so.

Over 50% finished with the actual cosplay for Saturday (only the hardest parts left lol). I need to cut a lining, decorate then sew the haori, put button holes on the jacket and belt loops on the hakama. I'm waiting on the prop to come in from China but don't have much hope, not sure how I'll deal without it cuz I don't want to buy from Amazon, ugh. I also may want to redo the socks. And maybe bring a prop sword.

Before that is the family cruise in August, which I really don't want to go to but might as well get it out of the way before November if you know what I mean. I want to buy a new pair of white sneakers (the previous pair hurt my feet) and a new dress or walking shorts, but will have to try shoes at a local store first before buying online. I technically have newish dresses to wear but not sure about their ease to wear and walk around in on a cruise ship since they are long and get wrinkly so easily.

I think I'm going to skip Windblume the weekend before San Japan so I can relax and catch up on my prep, and also don't know when my nephew has his birthday party, might be that weekend.

After San Japan is the local art market danmei fest, and my costume is uhh 80% done except the most insanely difficult parts once again lol. Maybe I'll learn my lesson one day and sew the hardest pieces first??? Nah. Never.

I'm done with sewing for now, so I'm going to switch gears and work on artwork. As mentioned on my blog or somewhere, I want to have several new fanarts for button badges ready by San Japan to give out. At least 4, although I have low hopes of actually giving them away.

Also need to buy/work on birthday gifts for summer birthdays, ok, I should do that first.

Pretty happy with my progress on these non-vital matters, but actually my house needs cleaning and the yard needs mowing lol.

[violadiaries]

*sigh* let's get this of my chest then...

Rant under the cut:

Exhibit 1:

taken during a little cosplay shoot in mid September...

I was incredibly insecure about (my body) everything, and was feeling low-key uncomfy the whole time, even if it had been my fucking idea...

I like the cosplay, I like the location...I just don't like myself

Exhibit 2:

taken this morning after I had finished my workout

Roughly 22 kg (around 48 lbs I think) have been shed between these two pictures, so do i feel better? More confident? Less uncomfortable? Do I like myself more?

The answer is: hell no I look at myself (my body) and am still disappointed, and close to giving up

Now do I give up? Also hell no! I have a goal to achieve, one I want to achieve, but I want to be happy about the results as well...and I just don't know how.

And if I talk to my family, I don't get much help aside from getting told I need to talk to a therapist and that they can't help me. If I go to a therapist I'm getting told that outpatient therapy is out of the question for me, because of my tendencies to think about ending my... subscription to life, you know? But I'm totally against inpatient therapy, cause the last time I did that shit I felt worse than before.

So what now? I'm sharing my woes with the internet who couldn't care less in an attempt to get it off my chest, cause I think else I'll burst.

Do I want sympathy? Nice words?

Maybe, I don't know...¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I just kinda wanted to talk about it, but not annoy anyone, which is why it's under the cut... •́⁠ ⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠,⁠•̀

[stregacorvina]

🎀 2023 Recap Part 2 🎀

Here we are with the second part of the recap, in the end I needed two parts for this year too!

JULY

Half of the year was already passed and school was over! But not my commitments! I still needed to take my “final exam” at my school: an interview with the principal and a committee of other teachers to talk about my school year, my students and my school life in general. I also needed to submit a project I developed with one of my classes (some pockets made by the 2 grade girls about their interests and hobbies)

I also had to submit TONS of papers (3 copies each!) the last days of school with my signatures, my tutor’s signatures and the principal’s signature! I really have to thank my colleague friends and my boyfriend for having acquired all these signatures for me at school while I was in the bed dying 😩

Luckily the exam went really well for me and also for my friends that took the exam with me and with all the school obligations behind we left for a long weekend on the mountains!

Without school I was finally able to sew full time again and I really pushed the Genshin Impact cosplay! And also other two cosplay for Lucca comics and games: Fantaghiró and Romualdo! from a very famous Italian 80s tv movies!

I started to regain a little free time and between diet and physical exercises I visited a very cool exhibition here in Milan with a colleague friend about Samurai Women.

This month was my boyfriend birthday and we went out for dinner in a very lovely restaurant and we finally enjoyed some time together ❤️

Between cosplay commissions and online classes I still had to take for school, I managed to sew something new for my dolls and I bought a very cute backpack to carry them around.

At the end of the month I went in Tuscany with my boyfriend and my family to visit my brother’s family and we had a pleasant holyday together. We went to see a textile Museum in the city where my brother lives and I really enjoyed the visit! I also submit this museum as a possibile destination for the school trip I will take with my class next April (if my health will finally be alright)

AUGUST

August started really smoothly, we went on the mountains again to relax and to enjoy some time together.

We planned a few hikes, noting too hard, but while we were doing the first one I had a really bad breathing shortage and I end up to the ER…two times in the whole month of August! It was a nightmare, I started to have troubles breathing again and i couldn’t sleep at all! I was exhausted all the time and all our projects went out of the window 😩

At the end of the month we manage to spent some days in Switzerland and the travel went really smoothly but I was constantly afraid of being out of breath again far from home. Not the best scenario to enjoy an holiday! We went on the Jungfrau the highest glacier in Europe and it was really breathtaking!

SEPTEMBER

My brother’s wedding was slowly approaching and so the beginning of the new school year so I decided to finally start sewing my dress for the wedding. Of course I managed just in time and I finished it at my parents’ house just a couple of days before the wedding 😂

The wedding was really fun and we celebrated my brother and his new wife with all my family and friends.

And then…two days after the wedding the school started again! This year me and my friends were decided to take things slowly, to enjoy our time at school and to focus on our girls more…and we’ve been stressed just like last year! Even more if possible!! We’re a week before the end of January now and we already need another holiday 😂

Before things at school became more serious I got back to Fantaghiró and Romualdo cosplays! I was determined to ship them by the end of the month because I’ve had other Cosplays to make before the convention (Lucca Comics and Games, the biggest convention in Italy)

I also started to see a nutritionist and to make more physical activities and I started to lose weight even if my health was still a mess.

At the end of the month me and my boyfriend went on the Lake Como (in Baveno town) to celebrate our 9th anniversary and we relaxed a bit on the lake.

OCTOBER

This month was a quite one. School was not so crazy still so I enjoyed my time at home making some school materials for my girls with my IPad (I still don’t use it as much as I would like to) and sewing some new clothes for my dolls.

I also sew the other only commission I took for the Lucca comics, a remake of an old cosplay I did some years ago Ulquiorra from Bleach.

Speaking of dolls, finally the dolls I ordered in March arrived from Japan (through a Spain dealer) and they’re adorable! So cute! I really want to sew something for them as soon as I can!

We did also some tourism in October, we went to Grazzano Visconti (a wonderful medieval town near Milan) for a goth weekend and we did a little tour of a sanctuary and a natural gorge to enjoy some clean air!

NOVEMBER

November started really well with a nice holyday! Me, my boyfriend and a group of friends we flew in Romania to celebrate Halloween and to visit the main attractions: Bran Castle/Dracula’s castle, Peles Castle, of course Bucarest city, Brasov, the beautiful salt mines in Turda and an amazing Steampunk themed museum in Cluj (the place I loved the most)

After the trip I got back to school obviously, just in time to start new classes for us fashion teachers; one about making patterns with a new technique (I did the second set of lessons at the end of this January) and I started a set of lessons one each month about some new developments in the fashion industry.

Between regular lessons and these extra classes I was feeling a bit overwhelmed again and my bronchitis stroke back…I was back to the doctors for more tests and medications 😩 I cannot go on with my workouts but I stick to the diet (I started a very restrictive Keto diet for all November and December)

This month I don’t think I had the time to see anything at all because I was constantly really tired

DECEMBER

I was really looking forward to the Christmas holidays to get the chance to finally have some proper rest and to spend some time with my family in Rome.

At the beginning of the month we went for a long weekend on the mountains even if I was still really weak and we didn’t do any hiking but I took a deep rest to sprint through the end of the year.

My birthday was slowly approaching and I bought myself the usual birthday present for myself 😂 A new doll of course! From a lovely lady here in Milan. She’s still without a name and without a proper character but I hope to enjoy her more this year.

Just before the end of the School we did a nice event the “Fashion Night at school” where all us teachers and some students teach classes for outside people from 7pm to 12pm. There was also a fashion school with dresses made by our students but, as I was in school from the 8am, I was dead tired and by 9pm I really couldn’t take anymore so I went home. But it was a nice event anyway and a lot of my girls came to help me. I also celebrated my birthday at school with my colleagues friends and my girls and they gave me a lot of presents! I really wasn’t expecting that!

During Christmas break I went back to my family as usual to enjoy some time with them and I really rested all day! Except for family gatherings I never left my bed ahahah

Back in Milan we left for the mountains again and we spent new year eve with some friends! And I took a lot of pictures of my girls and took all the rest that I can!

I finally managed to go through the entire year! As usual this second half of the entry took me almost a month to write because I never had the time to finish it (right now is the 4th of February 😅) but I am happy I did my recap this year too.

I don’t know what this 2024 will bring me, I really hope to recover for good and to finally start enjoying some free time! I have tons of new clothes to sew for my dolls! And a tons of new dolls to enjoy as well!

I am still not taking any sewing commissions for now because I really need to rearrange my sewing room and to do some renovations I postponed for years! Will this be the year that they finally be happening? Who knows…😂

Thanks again if you read all this entry until here and I hope to be more active on my social again! As usual I have tons of projects in my mind and I hope to have also the time to make them!

[agatharoulina]

SQUID GAME PHENOMENON: Good Timing Is A Must

These couple weeks, I might at least hear “mugunghwa kkochi piotsseumnida” three times a day on my social media timeline like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc. Yaps, it’s the opening game from the survival Korean drama, Squid Game. Unlike the other K-dramas, this series only distributed by Netflix. This limited series is suitable for you who can’t stand to finished twenty episodes of typical K-drama (2 hours per episode) because it consists of 9 episodes. You can binge watching in one sit on weekend. There are ways to say tell this series is a big success. It breaks the records for being #1 in almost every country that has Netflix (not much for India). The after effect of this series is massive. Many fan theories and cosplays spread on social media platforms until now, Jimmy Fallon had the casts on his talk show, and the casts’ followers on Instagram spike multiple times (especially Jung Ho Yeon from 400.000 followers to 18,9 million followers).

It took 10 years for Hwang Dong-hyuk to finish this series and turn down by many production houses before become the box-office series. Beyond the magnificent cinematography, storyline, and well-manage casts, this series won’t be a great success without a good timing. Squid Game was released on 17th September 2021 when many awaited series and movies on Netflix were also released on the same month. But it chooses the date after Hospital Playlist finished its final season and the fans of Money Heist just finished watching season 5 part 1. Pandemic has strike us for almost two years and make people to be on their survival mode all the time. The theme matches the situation, particularly the economic situation become harder and make people desperate to find instant. Imagine if it releases without pandemic situation, I doubt there will be any success.

Even though you need to wait for a good timing, it doesn’t mean you have the reason to snooze your project. When the time comes, you will be prepared.

(Picture source: IMDB)

[night-dragon937]

Finally Finished the Sanders Sides Set and Why I’ve Disappeared in September

First off, good stuff!!!!

Finally complete Logan cosplay!!!! (soooo difficult to find striped blue ties that aren’t 40-60 usd)

The tie is tied horribly and I have no clue how to make these smaller or I would, but all six!!

Proof ^^^^ lol

(note: i typed this up in the beginning of october and didn’t want to post it cause it made me feel bad. i’m feeling slightly less bad about it, so i’m going to post this before i just decide to delete it. but i want those of you who care to know to be able to know)

Aaaand the bad news. I’mma add a split right here in case you don’t want this negativity in your day, I totally understand!

tl;dr basically I didn’t have access to social media during september and atm i only have access to tumblr, and even then i’m risking a lot every time i use it-

below is what exactly transpired in that month...

A few of you know how bad my home life is (if you don’t, it’s pretty bad...)

After I told my therapist about the incident I posted about on here (I don’t expect you to go read it, there’s a ton of tw’s), she said that she was legally required to call CPS (child protection services) because it was an instance of child abuse (no way...). So they called the day after we made the report (which, i had an anxiety attack while retelling events cause it was fairly traumatic to me, as well as past events...) and my parents found out that I was involved in making the report. My (step)dad was ranting about how he’s such a great parent and now for some reason people and going to come and take his boys away (my younger half siblings, his blood children...) and he’s going to have to get a lawyer to keep his family intact. My mom was at work at the time.

She came home early, and the four of them had a private little talk upstairs, then they came down and mocked and berated me for telling anyone about what had happened. They blamed me for what I’ve gone through and told me to stop playing the victim. The lady came over and was rather sweet. She started off just asking questions, getting a feel for what was going on. My parents pretended to be very nice and very concerned. When we got down to the core of the issues (my queerness in relation to their christian beliefs), the lady revealed that she was a christian and totally understood why they were doing the things they were dong. she validated their actions. the exact ones that warranted a cps call for child abuse from my therapist and her clinical supervisor.

they kept acting like the things i was saying never happened, and lying right to the lady’s face and discounting anything i said, all four of them saying that i made things up and lied about things. they said that i was holding them hostage by threatening to kill myself. repeatedly. the only times i’ve mentioned wanting to was in the context of them being really toxic towards them and me attempting to listen to their request of me being open with them and letting them know how their actions and words were making me feel and asking them to stop because it was making me really bad. they lied to her and said horrible untrue things about me.

So my parents decided to take all social media away from me. they almost deleted my accounts. they disabled youtube and fucking chrome on my phone. i couldn’t open a single web page for a month (until i was able to borrow this laptop from the college). all my healthy coping mechanisms (looking up tiktoks/vines on youtube to distract myself, watching positivity vids on youtube, reading fluffy fics on ao3 to cheer myself up, looking up positive content on different social media platforms, getting validation from friends over social media, etc) were taken away. they then told me that if i accessed social media, they would take away my vehicle and phone. i drive half an hour to work most days, i need my vehicle. my work schedule is on my phone, i contact work and other people with my phone. i use music on my phone (my most important coping mechanism). they also are making me pay car insurance for my vehicle, do more chores, and requiring me to hang out with them more. those are whatever, i don’t care so much. but hanging out with them causes me to feel bad, and they took away most of my ways of feeling better. i’ve been doing so much better since i started secretly using tumblr, my mom even noticed the improvement in my mood.

so yeah if i don’t get back to you, don’t post as much, disappear for a couple days... it’s because they’re snoopy as fuck and i have to do a lot to cover my tracks so they won’t find out. also, i return this laptop at the beginning of december, so i will be gone that month. that one month of hell. i am trying to get a laptop that belongs to me, but those are expensive and i need to save money, relating to the incident that happened last week that is too raw to talk about publicly yet.

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestle Kingdom 15 day 2 preview

TBD vs. Jay White - White is challenging for the IWGP heavyweight title and IWGP intercontinental title, against the winner of Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi from last night.  In fact several of the matches on this card are major spoilers for yesterday’s show, so I guess the whole thing needs to go under the cut.

Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White - Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito last night to become the 73rd IWGP heavyweight champion and the 27th IWGP intercontinental champion.  White is using his “IWGP double championship right to challenge” contract to receive this title shot.  If White wins, Ibushi’s 24 hours as double champion would be the shortest reign in the history of either championship.

Ibushi was devastated when he was knocked out of the Double Gold Dash last year, and moreso when he lost to White in the consolation match.  Ibushi and White met again during the G1 Climax, where Jay beat him again.  Ibushi nevertheless won the G1 Climax to earn the “right to challenge” contract.  However, the contract is defended like a championship, and Ibushi put it on the line against White...who beat him again.  White then elected to take January 4 off and schedule his title match with Naito for January 5.  However, Naito decided to spend the 4th defending the title against Ibushi.  The upshot is that Ibushi has finally achieved his dream, but he must immediately put it all on the line against his nemesis, who isn’t exhausted from working last night.

Frankly, I’m not sure why they set this up where the 1/4 main event sets up who gets to wrestle White, like he’s the biggest star in this thing.  I suppose maybe the idea is that he’s unavoidable so that you’ll worry until the very end that he could ruin everything. Maybe that psychology connects with the Japanese audience.  It doesn’t with me.  I’d rather just see the best and/or biggest match close the second show, and White vs. Ibushi isn’t it.  Their match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 last year was so dull that I lost interest for about 20 minutes.  Jay will go for the same cheap heat spots he always goes for, and Ibushi will randomly no-sell or oversell each of them, depending on whether he wants to be Ultra Instinct Shaggy or Ricky Morton at any given moment.

I suppose White-Ibushi matches have been fun, sometimes.  I really liked the G1 Climax 2019 final.  But personally I was over this feud months ago.  I really hope they’ve come up with some new material, or this is going to be a long slog for me.  I’m picking Ibushi to win, because I really don’t think they’ll book White to win just to troll the Tokyo Dome.  But the bigger problem is, I wouldn’t care if they did.

Taiji Ishimori vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Ishimori is defending the IWGP junior heavyweight championship.  Hiromu defeated El Phantasmo last night to earn this title shot.  Ishimori won the title from Takahashi on August 29, although they met again in the Best of the Super Jr. tournament on November 15, where Hiromu won.  So this is the rubber match.

This match should be good to great, but it feels inevitable that Takahashi will regain the title.  That’s not all bad, since he’s a big star and I’m a fan, but the match would mean more if Ishimori had been built up bigger.  I suppose the pandemic made that difficult, since there were enough shows (or junior heavyweights) for Taiji to really burn through other top contenders.

I guess I’ll just try to get in the mindset of enjoying Hiromu’s coronation, instead of hoping for a match that could go either way.  Then, on the off chance Ishimori actually wins, I’ll be properly shocked.  But I’m not betting on that happening.

EVIL vs. SANADA - Welp, it had to happen--after Evil turned on Los Ingobernables de Japon and joined Bullet Club, it was only a matter of time before his tag team partner Sanada finally got a hold of him and...wait.  I’m looking at my notes for the Evil-Sanada match from October 17.  I’m frankly not sure why Sanada suddenly got mad at Evil two months after winning that match.  I’m pretty sure they just ran out of ideas for each guy.  Well, the October bout wasn’t as emotionally charged as I wanted anyway, so I’ll take a delayed grudge match if I can get it.

I believe Kevin Kelly commented recently that a win for Sanada here moves him closer to the main event title picture, but a loss sends him tumbling back down. I’d agree with that assessment.  Along the same lines, a win for Evil suggests a renewed push for him, whereas a loss would signal that they’re putting him on the back burner for a while.  I don’t expect either guy to headline the really big shows, but even on the lesser shows, only the winner of this match makes sense chasing the heavyweight and intercontinental titles.

I’d be in favor of these two brawling all around the ringside area (as much as safety procedures allow) and getting it out of their system.  Blow this feud off quickly, so we can get on with new business--Sanada working his way up the ladder, and Evil plotting against his rivals within Bullet Club.  I’m picking Sanada to win.

Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb - Takagi is defending the NEVER title.  Cobb beat Shingo in their last singles encounter in September, but Takagi wasn’t champion yet.  So Cobb had to beat him again in a tag match in December to set up this match.  Of course, in the meantime, Cobb turned heel by joining Will Ospreay’s new stable, the Empire.

You could always count on either of these guys to have a great clubberin’ battle, but Cobb’s heel turn should add a vicious new edge to this matchup.  We should get a strong showcase of what to expect from Evil Jeff Cobb, above and beyond what he demonstrated in World Tag League.  Accordingly, I think he basically has to win the title.  There just isn’t anything so important that it’s worth keeping the belt on Takagi; the most interesting thing he could do right now is chase Cobb.  So this is another “feels like a foregone conclusion” match on a card full of them.  At least this one should be fairly different from the others.

El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi - Despy and Kanemaru are defending the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team titles.  Wato and Taguchi each managed to beat Despy in one-on-one matches during Best of the Super Jr., so I guess they figured they’d make a go of it as a team.

If you’d told me a year ago that a Young Lion would come back from excursion with a bunch of fancy vignettes, and it was all to build to this match, past-me would never have dreamed that the new guy would be the dimmest star of this group.  But as it happens, Desperado had an epic star-making performance in BOSJ, Taguchi is a comedy institution in the promotion, and Kanemaru is at least a champion.  Wato just hasn’t been booked like a hot new star, and the whole idea of having guys like Taguchi and Hiroyoshi Tenzan coach him just makes him look weaker.  You get the feeling this match is designed to help him recover from all that, except that I have no confidence he’ll actually win the big one in the Tokyo Dome.  If he loses here, he’s basically Captain New Japan Mark II.

What’s worse for Wato is that I’m not even sure it’s a good idea for him to finally win the big one, not at Desperado’s expense.  The drama of the BOSJ final took me from “Oh, that one guy who looks like Skeletor cosplaying El Kabong” to “holy shit El Desperado isn’t fucking around.”  They need to run with that, and maybe dropping the tag title is step one.  But dropping it to Master Wato?  I guess Wato could pin Kanemaru, but still.

To me the best finish for everyone involved is if the champs retain and Wato flips out and turns on Taguchi.  But that sort of thing is awfully swerve-y for New Japan, and it’s smarter not to assume it’ll happen every time it’d be a little convenient.  So I guess we’ll see what they’ve got.  But I feel safe predicting the champs retain and Wato doesn’t get over as a babyface.

Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Chase Owens vs. BUSHI - This is a four-way match to decide who gets first possession of the provisional KOPW 2021 trophy. Whoever holds the trophy at the end of the year will be the official King of Pro Wrestling in 2021, or something.  Yano won the title for 2020, but it’s a new year so we have a new title.  The participants here were the final four of last night’s New Japan Ranbo gauntlet match.  I gather that the first man to score a fall over any other opponent wins.

This is a pretty oddball lineup so I would imagine this match will just be a lot of shenanigans.  All four guys will cheat to win, but Owens and Fale will work together to double-team cheat, so they can be bigger heels than the other two.

Yano originally won the KOPW 2020 trophy in a four-way like this one, by stealing a pin over Kazuchika Okada of all people.  So I would think that makes him a heavy favorite to win here.  The only question is if the bookers think it’d be funnier for his tricks to backfire when dealing with the massive, extremely irritated Fale.  I think I’d rather see Fale defending the trophy for six months, to be honest, but my gut says Yano will win again.

AZM & Saya Kamitani & Utami Hayashishita vs. Natsupo & Himeka & Maika - This is one of two women’s matches to provide exposure to STARDOM, the women’s promotion owned by New Japan’s parent company.  In Japan it’s seems to be considered normal for promotions to be all-male or all-female, and for fans to only want to see one or the other on a given event.  So I get the impression some New Japan fans have a problem with running Stardom matches on a NJPW show, although I certainly don’t see why.  In any case, TV and streaming rights mean that Western fans probably won’t actually see this match; I’m not even sure it will be televised.  And I unfortunately know nothing baout Stardom, so it’s kind of pointless for me to comment on performers I’ve never heard of in a match I’ll probably never get to see.

Tam Nakano & Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri & Giulia - Another women’s match to showcase Stardom.  In this case I at least recognize Iwatani’s name from some ROH shows a couple of years ago, but that’s about it.  I’m all for getting women’s wrestling some more exposure anywhere you can do it, but unfortunately these matches are aimed at the live audience in the Tokyo Dome, and won’t do much good raising my awareness.

[caitsbooks]

PREPARING RAPUNZEL + ANASTASIA FOR NEW YORK COMIC CON – COSPLAY CHECK IN

New York Comic Con is swiftly approaching and I made a bad decision.

First, let’s back up. In case you don’t know, New York Comic Con is October 3rd – 6th at the Javit’s Center. It’s a huge convention, with countless panels, autographing sessions, and, of course, cosplayers.

I’ve been going every year since 2015, but usually, I only get tickets for one day. Last year, I was lucky enough to sneak away for two. This year, I’m going for three.

Since I’m going more days than I usually can, I wanted to have a new cosplay.

This is where the bad decision comes in.

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[ Related: BookCon & BookExpo Survival Guide ]

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My original plan was to create – from scratch – Anastasia’s “Once Upon A December” dress and have that be my new cosplay this year. When did I come up with this plan? The 3am on September 2nd.

I realized that that probably isn’t the smartest idea, considering I’ve never made a ballgown from scratch, styled a wig, or tried to start and finish a cosplay in only a month, so I changed my mind.

Instead, I was going to do two new cosplays: Anastasia’s yellow and pink ballgown from the end of the movie, and Rapunzel in her classic dress and braided hair.

Why is this less of a bad decision? Because I’m not making the dresses, I ordered those online. All I have to do is make the accessories and style the wigs. Should be easy, right?

Wrong

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Read more to see just how wrong I was!

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I made this decision the day before my semester started, so you can already tell this won’t be good.

I ordered a Rapunzel and Anastasia dress online from a trusted cosplay maker. It was my first time ordering from them, so I was a little nervous, but their reviews looked good and I know some people who have gotten dresses from them and loved them.

It would take 15 business days for the dresses to be made and shipped, so in the meantime, I started looking at the wigs.

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RAPUNZEL

Rapunzel required a lot more things than I anticipated.

What I Used:

Pascal plushie

2 strong magnets

Ballet slippers

2 Rapunzel wigs

Needle and thread

Alligator clips (no teeth) & bobby pins

hot glue gun

wig combs

detangling spray for synthetic hair & a wide tooth comb

a whole lot of flowers

My first mission was making the wig. And this wig was quite the challenge.

I ordered two simple Rapunzel wigs off of Amazon. They were both 47″ long and not horrible quality. They came already braided, with three mini-braids in the main braid. I picked one wig to be my main wig, took out the main braid, but left the mini-braids.

Then I went to detangle.

Yeah, the movie is called Tangled for a reason.

This wig took FOREVER to detangle. It took several days of (not so) patiently combing through the hair to finally get it presentable. Once it was detangled, I cut wefts from the second wig and sewed them into the main one, making it thicker. If you want a full tutorial on how I did this, and how I styled this wig, let me know!

For the styling part, I did a dutch braid on each side of the wig, where they would join into the main braid. I used some gel to keep the hair from getting too messy as I braided. Once I got to the end, I tied it off. Then, I took some remaining hair from that spare wig, and used it to extend the wig. This hair I left simply hanging. I plan to trim it a little and maybe put some little braids in it later.

Speaking of little braids! I covered the area where the extension was sewn in with a mini braid from the second wig. I also took the other two mini breads and weaved them into the braids on Rapunzel’s head.

Then, I took my set of LED string lights (battery operated, and they don’t get hot), and weaved them into the braid. I made sure to try to get it in the hair as opposed to on top of the hair.

Finally, I took $40 worth of Michael’s flowers and cut them off the stems, then hot glued them to alligator clips. Some I would glue alone, but I mostly glued multiple flowers together in a clump. I clipped them into the hair, using around 14 flower clumps to make the wig look good.

This was EXTREMELY stressful. Definitely would not recommend for a first-time wig styler. The detangling process definitely took the longest, but there were definitely a few do-overs when it came to braiding (I also learned that I suck at braiding).

I’m just glad it’s done, which brings me to cosplay #2…

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[ Related: BookCon and BookExpo 2019 Wrap Up ]

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ANASTASIA

The wig I used for Anastasia was a basic red ponytail wig from EpicCosplay. It shipped really fast and was surprisingly good quality (if not a little small for my head, but I can make it work).

In the movie, Anastasia has her hair in a fancy up-do. However, I’m really bad at styling up-dos. Really bad. So I ordered a bun extension from EpicCosplay and figured I would just attach it and be done.

Ha.

I took off the ponytail clip, and started pinning the remaining hair into a small bun so I could put the bun extension over it. However, I underestimated how much hair there was, and my “small bun” ended up too big. Luckily, I was able to try my hand at styling and made it into a cute little up-do that doesn’t need the bun extension.

For Anastasia’s accessories, I ordered her “Together in Paris” necklace from Etsy, and decided I would make her tiara.

Her tiara is almost like a mix between a kokoshnik and a fringe tiara, and I couldn’t find anything online that looked similar enough (at a reasonable price). Instead, I ordered some EVA foam, plastidip, spray paint, and rhinestones.

Now, I actually haven’t finished this yet, and I’ll explain why soon, but in case you’re curious what my plan was, it was to cut the foam into the rough shape I want then sand the edges smooth. Next, I would use heat to set the foam, then coat it in plastidip to seal it before painting. I ordered a glittery spray paint that I would do a couple of coats of, before the main event. I got 2 yards of rhinestone strands. I don’t know if it’ll be enough, but I’m not too worried about it. I plan on gluing the strands to the tiara in vertical stripes like the movie. And then I’ll be done!

But that probably won’t be happening for this con.

Why? Well, let’s talk about the dress.

It arrived, and it looked nothing like it was supposed to. Instead of being gold and pink, it was light pink and hot pink. There were also some smaller mistakes, but the color issue was the main thing. It looked nothing like what I ordered, and nothing like Anastasia’s dress.

What I ordered vs. what I received vs. the original dress in the movie

So yeah. Not great.

I didn’t expect it to be as good quality as the photo, but I expected it would resemble it a little more than it did.

I contacted the seller and I’m waiting to hear back, but yeah, there’s no way Anastasia is going to work out for NYCC this year.

That said, I still have Rapunzel and my old cosplays. But I definitely learned the hard way to not try to make two new cosplays with one month left until the con.

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Are you going to NYCC this year? What days are you going, and are you planning any cosplays?

I’ll be there Friday-Sunday. On Friday, I’ll be Belle in her gold ballgown, Saturday, I’ll be Rapunzel, and Sunday, I’ll be Belle in her blue village dress.

If you see me, be sure to say hi!!

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Follow Me: [Blog] [Bookstagram] [Cosplay Instagram][Twitter] [Tumblr] [Goodreads]

[yukarisensei]

Top 10 Anime of the Decade (incl. Winter Anime 2020)

Minna-san, akemashiteomedetōgozaimasu (Happy New Year)! It’s been awhile...sorry T^T. Life has been absolutely INSANE since the last time I posted, which was...omg September. OwO I honestly did not watch a lot of anime because real life has been so crazy. BUT that doesn’t mean I didn’t watch ANY anime. 

I was originally just going to post my annual Winter Anime Season post but after watching Joey: The Anime Man’s “The ULTIMATE Top 10 Anime of the Decade List” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqY25glHPxE) I wanted to look back and reflect on some of my favorite anime of the decade and share them with you guys as well. Like Joey I will also include some honorable mentions in the list. Without further ado, here are some of my favorite anime from this decade:

2010

Durarara!!

https://myanimelist.net/anime/6746/Durarara?q=durara

This was one of the first few shows that @perfectlynorm first recommended for me to watch when he and I reconnected back in 2015. I didn’t watch this show back when it first aired, but I really wish I did. The storytelling really stood out to me and I loved how all of the characters’ stories interconnected with each other. The seasons that came out later in 2015-2016 were great as well, but this first season was by far the best. 

Honorable Mentions:

- Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! (still one of the best romance/comedy anime to this day...I NEED A SEASON 2!!!)

- Shugo Chara (technically it aired years before 2010 but it’s one of the first few shows I got into during that year)

- Kimi ni Todoke (a slow burner but it’s still one of the few romance anime I go back to from time to time)

2011

Fate/Zero

https://myanimelist.net/anime/10087/Fate_Zero?q=fate

Again, this is another show that @perfectlynorm recommended back when I really started to become the filthy weeb that I still am. This was also the first show that introduced me to the greatness of ufotable’s animation. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works was amazing, but this show really blew my mind. The animation, the story, and the characters were top tier amongst the shows I watched at the time. This is a show I could recommend to new anime fans. 

Honorable Mentions:

- Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love 1000% (this show unlocked my love for idol anime, a very memorable part of my teenage years)

- Sekaiichi Hatsukoi (still one of the best Boys Love/Yaoi anime I’ve ever watched...still waiting for the day he officially falls in love with him ugh)

- No.6 (another @perfectlynorm​ recommendation...that ending still hurts T^T)

2012

Kuroko no Basket

https://myanimelist.net/anime/11771/Kuroko_no_Basket?q=kuroko

One of my male high school friends recommended this to me...I wonder if he new that he was cursing me at the time. This show was my introduction to the sports genre in anime. To this day, this show is still one of my favorite sports anime. Yes, looking back on it now parts of this show are extremely unrealistic and is mainly loved by fujoshis, but if I were to introduce any new anime fan to the sports genre, this would be the first show on my recommendation list. 

Honorable Mentions:

- Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic (I started this show for the voice actors, I stayed for the story and characters, 10/10 would watch again)

- Sukitte Ii na yo. (another great romance anime that really builds the relationship between the two main couple...without holding out the kiss until the last episode)

- Kamisama Hajimemashita (loved the anime and the manga...I was sad to see it end and that the anime was rushed, but it’s another romance anime I could watch again)

2013

Attack on Titan

https://myanimelist.net/anime/16498/Shingeki_no_Kyojin?q=attack%20

Oh wow, @perfectlynorm​ recommendation lol. At the time, I would not have watched this on my own free will since I was (still am) weak to blood and gore. However, when I first watched this...I pretty much binged the entire first season within a week. I still remember the thrill and heart-pounding excitement I felt from watching each episode. I still have a lot of episodes to catch up on before the FINAL season (omg) comes out next fall, but I am excited nonetheless.

Honorable Mentions:

- Free! (ugh the fujoshi bait was so real in this show, but I LOVED it)

- Kuroko no Basket 2 (I was soooo hyped when I was watching this show, even while I would wait for each new episode during my Saturday ballet classes)

- Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love 2000% (imo, the BEST Utapri season)

2014

Free!: Eternal Summer

https://myanimelist.net/anime/22265/Free__Eternal_Summer?q=free

At this time of my life, I just graduated from high school and was about to start the next big chapter of my life: college. This show really spoke to me back then because, like the characters, I was scared and uneasy for what happens after high school. I especially related to Haru’s uncertainty for the future and unwillingness to change. But as I followed his journey throughout the season I eventually felt ready to take the next step towards my future along with him. 

Honorable Mentions:

- Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (I DIED while watching this show, it provided so many laughs that I would recommend this to anyone)

- Akatsuki no Yona (love, love, love Yona and her harem of strong ikemen...I still feel proud that @lunastories​ absolutely FELL for this show)

- Haikyuu!! (one of the best sports anime EVER...I’m so so sad it’s ending soon)

2015

Kuroko no Basket 3

https://myanimelist.net/anime/24415/Kuroko_no_Basket_3rd_Season?q=kuroko

It was very difficult to choose a favorite anime for this year, but when I thought about what show I felt the most emotions from start to finish, I picked the final season of KnB. I was reading the manga while it was still being serialized so nothing in the show came as a surprise plot-wise, but to watch this show from the very beginning to the very end made me very emotional...until Last Game became a thing (god it still hurts T^T). 

Honorable Mentions:

- Ore Monogatari! (this has to be my FAVORITE romance anime, it broke so many romance anime stereotypes and i could watch it again and again)

- Haikyuu!! 2 (it’s haikyuu, nuff said)

- One Punch Man (still haven’t watched season 2, but omg I LOVED season 1, I still remember how much my friends and I laughed for each episode)

2016

Yuri!!! on Ice

https://myanimelist.net/anime/32995/Yuri_on_Ice?q=yuri

*deep breaths* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ok. This show, as embarrassing as it is to admit, MADE 2016 for me. Like so many fujoshis and fudanshis, I ate this show up and awaited week after week for each new episode to air. I know there are so many criticisms about this show, but f**k the haters. For me, and for others, this show changed what anime could do: normalize a same sex couple without fetishizing it. 

Honorable Mentions:

- ERASED (a GREAT mystery anime, that brings a lot of feels and thrills 10/10)

- Boku no Hero Academia (omg loved it, scroll down for more of my thoughts about this show)

- Kiss Him, Not Me! (this is the anime for fujoshis, watch if you are or think you are one, trust me)

2017

Boku no Hero Academia 2

https://myanimelist.net/anime/33486/Boku_no_Hero_Academia_2nd_Season?q=boku%20no

I picked up the first season of this series before the summer 2017 anime season because of all the hype about it, and omg I was so excited for the second season. I eventually got all of my anime friends to watch it and they got so into it that we would do our first group cosplay together for the show at AX a year later. This show really made 2017 for me and I am very happy it is still so loved to this day...now I just need to start season 4 hehehe. 

Honorable Mentions:

- Hitorijime My Hero (one of my fav Boys Love/Yaoi anime cuz the main couple does not bang for every episode and actually TALK lol)

- Tsuki ga Kirei (a romance anime that i think accurately portrays an awkward, but sweet middle school romance)

- Recovery of an MMO Junkie (another fav romance anime, the main couple are absolute cinnamon rolls please please watch it)

2018

Banana Fish

https://myanimelist.net/anime/36649/Banana_Fish?q=ban

The ending of this show still breaks my heart, but this show was a huge part of 2018 for me. At first, the show’s brutal and violent themes startled me and prevented me from watching it when it first aired, but when @perfectlynorm​ convinced @passionateflame​ and I to watch this after AX 2018, I was blessed and cursed at the same time. Ash and Eiji’s strong emotional connection was what warmed and broke my heart at the same time. Rest in peace...my heart.

Honorable Mentions:

- IDOLISH7 (an idol anime that beats UtaPri to death...excited for season 2 in 2020!!!)

- Gakuen Babysitters (not only gives me endless amounts of feels and warm fuzzies, but also reminds me why i love working with kids)

- Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (THE show for otaku)

2019

Fruits Basket

Although 2019 was probably the year I watched the least amount of anime, Fruits Basket was my favorite anime of the year. It was hard to pick my favorite and to narrow down the honorable mentions, but this anime was my most anticipated show of the year. I had high expectations going into it since the original anime was a huge part of my teen years, and I was definitely not disappointed. I’m so excited for the upcoming second season in 2020!!!

Honorable Mentions:

(Edit: ok I cheated by adding 4 but all of these shows were AWESOME!)

- Dororo (one of the great surprises of 2019, 10/10 would watch again)

- Demon Slayer (jumped on the bandwagon after AX and OMG I’m so glad I did)

- Dr. Stone (SURPRISE another @perfectlynorm​ recommendation...LOVED IT)

- Beastars (...I’m not a furry...but Legosi is best boy)

Here is what I am watching for winter 2020:

Haikyuu!!: To the Top

https://myanimelist.net/anime/38883/Haikyuu__To_the_Top

YES!!! My crow babies are back after a FOUR YEAR hiatus!!!

AND that concludes my top 10 anime of the decade list. I do not think my taste in anime has changed too much over the years, but within this past year I have come to be genuinely and pleasantly surprised over anime that I never would have picked up 10 years ago. So I guess I want to approach anime with a more open mind in 2020. 

I only plan to watch Haikyuu for this winter season because I am going to be busy with student teaching and finishing off my last semester in the teacher credential program at my school. But things might change...

Anyway, thank you so much for reading this MONSTER of a list if you made it to the end. Let me know what you guys think. What were you some of your favorite anime this decade? What was your favorite anime this year? Are you watching any anime this season? I hope 2020 starts off great for all of you! Matane!

[momokun-receipts-blog]

“Conclusion” to Charity Projects by Mariah Mallad

(original text by momokuncosplay whose blog unfortunately isn’t viewable anymore)

About 2 months ago Mariah started multiple charity projects for various different causes. The first being a print set where the proceeds would go to hurricane relief. The second being a charity stream for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. Tl;dr: she was very slow and very unprofessional setting all of these charity projects up. Two months has passed since her first stating the prints would go to charity and they’re still on preorder. A month has passed with her not continuing the stream to reach her goal.Because of this people have been upset, and also because she kept giving different dates for when she’d continue the stream.Finally, Mariah tweeted towards the end of October that she would try to stream a few more times and if she didn’t meet her goal of 2500 by the end of the month she’d donate the rest herself.

Despite her saying she’d just donate the rest if she didn’t reach the goal, three days later she tweeted that she won’t be able to stream because she has to finish a cosplay for Blizzcon, with no mention of donating the money.

People tweeted at her demanding she donate the money. It seemed as if Mariah kept changing the time for when she planned on actually going through with it. She changed her tune again, and said she’d donate it on November 2nd since thats apparently when she started the “campaign.”

After days of no news again, someone asked when she’d be donating the money and once again she changed it to when she got back from Blizzcon.

It takes about 5 minutes to donate money to a charity online, so I’m unsure as to why she felt the need to push it back for so long.

Finally after a weekend of loitering outside of Blizzcon, Mariah posted she donated the money.

Notice how the amount she raised has changed. First it was 1800, then 1600, and now its 1500 out of 2500. Also in my honest (totally not biased huehue) opinion, I think she waited so long because she was waiting for her Patreon money to come in at the start of the month. I have no doubt she spent what she raisedd and panicked when she realized she wouldn’t be able to donate the full 2500. This would explain why she waited weeks to actually do the donation.

That at least concludes the charity stream. For the prints however… thats still up in the air. As noted in a cap above the prints don’t actually ship out into mid to late November. Even though she has had the prints for over two months now.

In mid October Mariah tweeted that the reasoning behind the $15 charge of the charity prints is because of the costs it takes to make the prints and ship them out.

So if using the highest numbers she provided that means each print will be a donation of $5. So people have been waiting two months to simply pay for shipping and donate $5 to a fund. Not to mention about a month before, in September, she said she may just her own money to ship the prints out in a Patreon post.

Clearly she has decided it would cost her too much to do that out of pocket, even though that would mean MORE MONEY going to the relief fund.

I have said this in every post about this charity bullshit, but please. DON’T. FUCKING. DONATE. THROUGH. HER. It took her a MONTH to donate the streaming money, and all she had to do was put her card info into a website and pay it and chances are she spent all the money anyway. She’s also overcharging people because she doesn’t want to spend her own money on buying prints and shipping stuff out. If you want to donate $15 then donate $15 directly to the charity! Do not get scammed by her.

[spidergwenistrans]

So I’ve been back at work for a week now, and in a lot of ways it’s not as bad as I worried it might be, but in a lot of ways it’s worse too.

I was really worried about the new uniforms being more form-fitting than the old ones and the fact that I wear a sports bra every day would be really obvious, but it just looks like an undershirt for now, so that’s alright. What’s really bothering me is how easy it is to just slip back into acting like I did when I thought I was cishet, not that it’s THAT different, but like, idk, it feels like I’m putting on old clothes that just super don’t fit and it doesn’t make me feel good. At school this year, it was a fresh start, I didn’t know any of the people in my class before September, other than 1 or 2 who I never knew that well, and hadn’t seen in a couple of years. Having a fresh start this year at school was probably the best thing that could have happened to me right now. Being able to figure things out without all the baggage of people who already know m and have expectations, but aren’t close enough for me to actually talk to is just so much easier. Even though I still use my birthname irl right now, and still use he/him pronouns, being at school, it didn’t bother me as much as it does at work. Of course, at school I felt free to be whatever kind of person I wanted to be, and at work there’s still mostly old me working there, so I have to act like, “one of the guys.”

ALSO, I found out that I didn’t pass a couple of my classes, by like 4%, but the way my program works, you have to pass everything in the semester to move on to the next one. I was granted supplementals for all 3 of the classes, which means I still have a chance to move on to 3rd semester, but it’s the 3 hardest classes in the 2nd semester that I have to write or perform exams for. I have just under a month to study and practise, but I have to work every weekday, plus I’m trying to finish my Link cosplay before comicon this weekend, and then I’m teaching next weekend, so I’m a little at a loss as to when I can study or go practise in lab.

As if trying to pass my 3 supplemental exams and moving on to my 3rd semester wasn’t stressful enough, I absolutely do not want to come back to this job next summer, I want to be done with working there, done with working shitty, unpredictable hours for crappy pay, and I want to at least be looking for a job in my field, if not already working. Part of why I so adamantly don’t want to come back to this job is that I want to be able to present feminine full time, and I wan tto be able to change my legal name, and use she’her pronouns and I don’t feel safe/comfortable doing any of those things while at this job. Another big thing is that by next May I’ll have been on HRT for long enough that I likely won’t be able to hide the effects quite so effectively, right now it looks like I have well developped pecs when I wear a sportsbra, but by next year, I hope that’s not the case. I also depserately need to stop working these kinds of hours for such shitty pay that I can barely afford to do anything besides work. There are so many things I want to do that cost so much money compared to what I make in my job, but wouldn’t even make me bat an eye if I was getting paid entry level in my field. Not to mention that since my field is relatively safety conscious, there are actual rules about how long you can make people work for and how much time they have to get for rest in between shifts.

[myaekingheart]

So quick little story time because I’m feeling kind of sappy and nostalgic tonight: 

I’ve been cosplaying Rapunzel since 2011 and from the getgo, all I ever wanted was to be the best possible Rapunzel. I wanted to be movie accurate as all hell with a perfect dress and the longest wig I could possibly imagine. She was my first “real” cosplay, and the first dress I had my grandmother help me sew. I was super gracious for my wonderful grandmother’s help, but of course my snooty 14 year old self was never completely satisfied. It wasn’t as picture perfect movie accurate as I had wanted, and the wig I dropped $40 on on Ebay was the worst quality wig I have ever purchased in the history of my entire life. I would get super discouraged seeing all these other Rapunzel cosplayers on deviantART who were just straight-up flawless, and then get turned away from online roleplay groups because “we already have a Rapunzel and she’s phenomenal so we don’t need you” or whatever. It was super disheartening and I was honestly outrageously competitive. This character meant, and still means, so much to me and I just wanted to do her the utmost justice and express my love for her in the ultimate way. My Rapunzel cosplay went through so many phases and evolutions before reaching the state it’s in now, and has been in since 2016. I was finally able to purchase my dream dress from Angel-Secret and construct a 13ft long wig that wasn’t on the verge of falling apart during the entire day. The first time I ever wore this cosplay to a convention was in September 2016, at Space Coast Comic Con. Within about two minutes of stepping foot into the hotel where the convention was being held, I was approached by a man who at the time I did not recognize. It was Nephi Garcia, aka Designer Daddy. Yes, the Designer Daddy. Turns out I was living under a rock (or in this case trapped in a tower hahaha) and had no idea who he was at the time, but he approached me once my best friend was finished taking my picture in front of something and he told me he liked my Rapunzel cosplay. I was super awkward just due to being extremely socially anxious and we chatted for a very short time asking me if I had made the dress myself, and when I said no he asked me if it was Angel-Secret and I said yes and he pointed to a gorgeous Anastasia dress he had on display by his table and said he made it and I was pretty much shell-shocked. It wasn’t until after the fact that I learned who Nephi was and clearly I became a massive fan. As someone who has always had self esteem issues not just in cosplay but in all aspects of my life, to hear someone like him, someone so talented who was capable of making something so gorgeous, compliment my cosplay, was just life-changing honestly. Whenever I start feeling like I’m not a good enough cosplayer, and especially when I fall back into those old feelings of being inadequate as a Rapunzel cosplayer, I remind myself of that day and that if someone like Nephi Garcia can think my Rapunzel cosplay is good enough to approach me and compliment me for, then I shouldn’t be so damn hard on myself. 

(That’s me! @ Space Coast Comic Con 2016 v) 

(This was a pic that Space Coast Comic Con posted to their 2016 album of Nephi and that GORGEOUS dress he had on display)

I know this is probably such a teeny, tiny incident and with the number of cons Nephi Garcia has attended in the past few years (and the level of fame he’s achieved in the community since), I wouldn’t expect this to be something anyone else would really remember but I remember it and it was honestly such a monumental moment that every time I think about it, I can’t help but become overwhelmed with immense joy and gratitude. I know if cosplaying makes me happy, then I shouldn’t care what other people think and I should just do what I love and all that stuff but that doesn’t mean compliments aren’t much appreciated, and especially when they come from someone who is so extremely talented and whose work I’ve admired ever since. This will forever be one of my most cherished cosplay memories, honestly, even if it was only like, two minutes out of an entire day. So if Nephi Garcia ever does somehow see this some day (???), I just want to say a huge thank you to him for that incredible moment because as tiny as it may have been, I will hang onto that forever and always remind myself of it in those moments where I feel as if I’m not good enough or get trapped in that cycle of putting myself down over and over again. I sound super sappy and nostalgic and all that crap but I don’t know, I just started thinking about this again tonight and for some reason it hit me really hard and I just felt like I need to ramble about this for a second in response hahahahaha

But yeah so that’s basically the story of when I met Designer Daddy at a convention and he complimented my Rapunzel cosplay and lowkey led to a change in my entire perspective on how I view myself and my cosplaying.