#since I very much could give my getter female takes but I just was thinking about Dorothy again

[no1ryomafan]

The subject of how female characters are portrayed in mecha rotates constantly in my head after I watch a mecha with at least one noteworthy female and I do want to at some point do a in depth discussion post about this-but at a way later time because there’s a lot of noteworthy shows I have not seen still to really properly comment and critique this part of the genre-but despite this I wanted to talk about Dorothy from Big O rq:

I’ve been thinking about how Dorothy is one of the better supporting females in the genre despite seeing at least one person point she’s a bit of a damsel in distress. I think what helps Dorothy is she’s not always kidnapped, she has a good amount of episodes where she’s the central focus and not helpless, but for every time she’s kidnapped it seems to wrap around with her saving Roger. The biggest examples I can think of this the third Beck episode where Roger is the one who’s kidnapped and Dorothy manages to outsmart Beck despite him originally kidnapping and controlling her twice-making it super satisfying she finally got back at him-and the finale, where somehow Dorothy, without her memories managed to come back online to recuse Roger and aids him in the finale fight. Dorothy’s entire character arc is about her doing her own thing, BEING her own person, so it makes sense why she’s a bit of a subdivision of the regular damsel in distress. She still gets kidnapped but she’s not helpless and usually returns the favor to Roger, making every time Roger *does* have to recuse her seem out of genuine care and not “this girl I like is in danger and helpless!” (especially because Roger didn’t fully realize her feelings for her until the very end)

That said, even if I think Dorothy is a well done take of a otherwise really bad trope that plagues female characters since she does very much have agency, one thing on reflection that does irk me a bit that would’ve made her character a tad more satisfying is if Dorothy *actually* got to properly pilot Big O:

Every time we’ve seen her in the robots it’s only either been she was unconscious/defenseless-I. E. ep 4 and ep 9-or at the aid of Roger. While the latter is more common, and like I said in the finale she is still very important in helping in the finale fight as she uses herself to power up Big O, multiple times before we have seen her capable of being able to pilot it. Big O may like Roger the most, it is his robot, but it also recognizes Dorothy cares about him just as much as it does, so I think it would’ve been cool even if it was for one episode if she got to pilot it instead, whether it be because Roger got injured or kidnapped.

Or maybe I’m just nitpicking a little and really like the idea of “robot operating a robot” since Dorothy is still one of the best supporting females in the genre, but just because they’re supporting doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be allowed to fully pilot the robot at least once. : p

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 3 Ramble#2 - “romance" lol ver.3

This month’s episode is all about romance, the third time around now and somehow I find myself with yet another tweak in format. Guess that just goes to show that love comes in many forms. In any case this month’s format isn’t that different from last time. I’ve still split my reads into 3 categories, the main difference is that the categories themselves have changed. Last time it was cute stuff, fucked up stuff and lewd stuff, this time I still have the cute category but I've switched out the other two based on this month’s reads, which I'll explain as we get to them.

So basically how this episode is gonna go is I'm gonna give my top reads this month in ascending order for each of those categories and then my top 1 reads before this month for the same.

Getting right into it the first category up is

Awww {basically v cute v innocent stuff}

#3) The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague (ongoing w 57 chapters, story & art by Miyuki Tonogaya)

This is an extremely simple but extremely cute story. The title pretty much summarizes it actually, the main character is the descendant of an ice demon, which is apparently not too strange in this world since he works a normal office job,,, and he has a crush on his cool, stoic, almost expressionless female colleague.

It's a pretty neat take on slow burns because one it's pointedly ice related, and secondly the ice guy’s emotions affect his environment, like if he gets too excited there'll be a blizzard or tiny snowmen will appear.. If you've ever had a crush on someone you know it's already hard enough to act natural or “be cool" so this guy has a pretty rough go of it.

The art is pretty nice but the characters, especially the wider cast leaves more than a bit to be desired. It actually almost kinda feels like the creator really just wanted to focus on the main two but the editor was like,, that's not how the real world works, especially not in an office... I do appreciate though that some of the wider cast includes different types of demons and it’s fun to see the different ways their emotions leak out, the different pairings, and so on.

As I said it’s an extremely simple story, almost feels like a 4 panel tbh, nothing I'd push too hard but it’s undeniably cute and makes for a super easy binge read or just something to pick up from time to time to escape the harshness of reality and indulge in the very cute but very absurd fantasy of a successful workplace romance… I think more than a few ppl have that one coworker you would if you could… but no… just no… leave it alone… leave it in fiction land my friend…

#2) Skip and Loafer (ongoing w 58 chapters, story & art by Misaki Takamatsu)

The story here follows our main heroine, a real go getter, who moved from the countryside to big city Tokyo for highschool, all so she could follow her dreams of being a politician and help out in rural areas around the country. Anyways she’s characterized as not being great at much else but studying, and in that spirit, gets lost on the way to her entrance ceremony. Here enters our main hero who’s also late but for the opposite reason, he’s super laid back, slept late and was considering just skipping but he felt sorry for this obviously lost but obviously trying girl so he decides to help her out and the story takes off from there.

Just wanna get out of the way that I love all the characters and their interactions with each other and especially within themselves. If anything, that's this manga’s strongest point. It makes the characters ooze real feelings that really feels in place for each where they are. Like not too dramatic where you wonder if they’re really highschool kids or even in school for that matter, and not too fantasy like where everything is perfect and it’s almost like characters are machines just filling a roll.

It kicks off pretty early on with engaging character interactions and the way they change and develop as the main cast gets to know each other is really endearing. I especially really really love the main heroine because she’s that innocent character type but it’s not done in that way that makes her this pure cinnamon roll that’s too good for this world, where nothing gets her down or she chooses peace and love every time. Her thing is that she’s basically socially inept and so she doesn’t really get when people are mean or even when they're being nice sometimes, but she’s all by herself in this new place so she’s trying and though she doesn’t always get it, it’s a real pleasure to see her grow.

It’s ongoing, only 58 chapters but there’s been a ton of realness and real growth in a bunch of ways for most of the cast packed in so far. Really can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Anyways, cool art, great cast, love the interactions and would definitely highly recommend this one.

#1) Horimiya (complete w 152 chapters, story by HERO & art by Daisuke Hagiwara)

The story here is that the main hero/heroine pair each have a hidden side to them that nobody else knows. At school, the heroine is always super put together but when she’s at home she’s too busy taking care of her little brother for all that and takes on a more homely caretaker persona (the art is shoujo leaning so she and most of the main cast pretty much always looks pretty). But anyways, at school, the hero is seen as a gloomy glasses wearing loner but when he leaves school he looks like he came out of a rock magazine. Tattoos and piercings everywhere. Anyways, this and that happens, the convenient plot is convenient and they end up becoming friends who hold each other’s secrets.

As much as the story kinda feels like shoujo perfect world fantasy stuff, and as much as it came out as top 1 largely because it’s complete, I think a small part of it might have been that a tiny part of me still wants to believe in, and might even still want that kind of “perfect” love. From the innocent buildup to the accumulation of every day special normals and beyond… but in any case, I did honestly like the theme of more and more of your true self coming to the surface and being able to show that true self to someone.

Overall, besides the main pairing, the cast was kinda weak, not bad, just pretty one dimensional But that one dimension was very cute and fluffy and this being a romance manga, it worked. What I will say though is that it took a while for the wider cast to come into play and even more for them to make me care, like not until late 50s heading into 70s did i care about anyone but the main pairing. Meanwhile skip and loafer only has about 50 chapters total and I was fully invested in the entire cast well before then.

But as I said, when the full horimiya cast rolls in it’s all very cute and I liked that they even made the platonic same sex relations pretty cute like yh guys just having fun and it’s not weirdly pervy in any direction, just another form of love yk.. v cool… Again it did have me yearning a bit like wow imagine having a life with both platonic AND romantic relationships being healthy and fulfilling.

Anywho,, pretty neat art, the story kinda just goes on ig but having in mind that it was a romance and it goes on in an increasingly cute way and all, i’d recommend it.

hm:

Even the Introverted Gals Wanna Get Out There! - pretty funny, maybe more funny than cute, also it’s girl on girl, think dead dead demon’s destruction but the main heroines actually get to live life and breath air, literally just vibing out in the club room after school (ongoing w about 6 chaps)

Train Man - Net Development, the Love Story of a Local Train: based on a true story apparently, basically a dude saves some people on a train and becomes friends with one of them and stuff take off from there (complete w 27 chapters)

ftr everything in the main list has an anime but i can’t speak on their status or quality

also ftr I'd definitely rate skip and loafer higher than horimiya overall but because this is the cuteness category, + horimiya is a complete story which I tend to favour for higher places in lists and stuff

next category up is

Dense & Denser

{this is basically when one or more of the characters are just oblivious to any love flags thrown their way}

#2) How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend (complete w 42 chapters, story & art by Takeshi Moriki, original LN story by Fumiaki Maruto)

Had never heard of this one before but the title pulled me in like how and why would one raise a boring girlfriend anyways?

The story here is that on the way to school the mc has an encounter with a mystery girl and it’s love at first sight, even though he didn’t see her face…. The mc is an anime/manga otaku much like myself, and this encounter inspires him to make a dating sim game, but after he happens to actually meet the mystery girl face to face, he finds that she’s actually kind of plain,, albeit in a cute sort of way. In any case the feeling of their first mystery meeting lives on so he pushes through with his idea, intending to transform this girl into his ideal heroine. The main story, relations and problems arise around him trying to get the dev team together for this game, and of course this being romance they’re all girls.

It’s all very funny in a very meta way, with commentary on anime/manga culture in most chapters, and the so called main heroine, being outside that culture, usually playing a very good straight man. It’s also meta in how the mc goes about getting his dev team together, as i said they’re all girls so it’s almost like his life becomes a dating sim in trying to woo them into his harem… i mean game dev team…

In any case I’m not even actually sure the mc really counts as romantically dense or if he was just so committed to the bit of being a single weeb undeserving of love that he just pretended not to notice all the pretty loud romantic undertones,,, but maybe that's a type of density in itself… a younger me can def relate… being committed to the bit is a lifestyle… bed is bae… anyways it’s kind of ecchi but still surprisingly good in both the romance and meta aspects. Pretty good art, they made a decision to keep the cast compact and it worked out very nicely. It wraps up in just under 50 chapters but I will say each chapter is pretty dense and can be a bit word heavy. Would recommend.

#1) Monthly Girls’ Nozaki (ongoing w 148 chapters, story & art by Izumi Tsubaki)

This story follows our main heroine as she tries to get the attention of her crush, who is our mc. In approaching him she finds out he’s actually her favourite romance manga creator and through this and that ends up working on it with him as an assistant to try and get closer to him.

Right off the bat I think everyone in this cast is pretty dense but man is the main hero just the most dense mf in the universe. I feel sorry for the main heroine cause she knows but she’s just so down bad for him she kinda becomes dense to how down bad she is. In any case every chapter takes the form of a series of connected 4 panel stories and it’s pretty funny throughout.

The wider cast is pretty neat, nothing too crazy but as i said they’re all pretty dense in their own weird ways so the interactions are usually funny. The art is solid, cast is okay, pretty funny, would recommend for sure.

ftr both have an anime not sure of status or quality

and again ftr i’d rank boring girlfriend over monthly girls’ in general, especially as it’s complete it’s just that this is the dense & denser category and monthly girls’ nozaki is definitely dense central, like black hole event horizon density my friends…

and the last category

That’s Rough Buddy

{a direct reference to avatar when sokka told prince zuko his girlfriend turned into the moon and his response was “that’s rough buddy”, this category is different from the that’s fucked up category I used in very.2 in that these focus more on emotional turmoil and have no physical violence and so on}

#3) Kowloon Generic Romance (ongoing w 61 chapters, story & art by Jun Mayuzuki)

This is kind of eh tbh, cool art, and it’s kind of a mystery as to what’s goin on, so much so that I don’t think I can describe it without spoiling so i’ll lean on the anilist/yen press summary a bit here which is as follows:

“Welcome to Kowloon Walled City: a dystopian townscape where the people are brimming with nostalgia, and where the past, present, and future converge. Amid the hidden emotions and extraordinary daily lives of the men and women working in its confines, a tale of romance begins to unfold for real estate agent Reiko Kujirai—one that feels as familiar as Kowloon itself…”

I doubt that told you anything but I hope it sparks some intrigue, I will say it has a good number of dope one liners, and if i’m being honest the main characters smoke a lot which is an aesthetic I love for some reason so sue me…

Not much else to say tbh, nice art as I said, it’s pretty cool, okay cast, the story is pulling a bit but the bait isn’t that strong, though the aesthetics of it all has definitely caught my eye so I will be keeping up with it after this month… i wouldn’t push it as a recommendation that hard but there’s only 61 chapters rn so no real loss if you do decide to check it out

#2) How Do We Relationship? (ongoing w 115 chapters, story & art by tamifull)

The story here is that the main heroines are gay and in reality no matter how much the media and conservatives want ppl to believe that homosexuality and homosexuals are accepted and normalized in society, in fact that anything but being heterosexual and cisgender passing is accepted & normalized, that’s simply not the case in real life. I live in jamaica and man, not that I really care, but I could get shunned just for reading stuff with gays in it… In any case that’s the sort of reality the main heroines live in which was cool for its realness as they were/are hiding the fact that they're gay, but in any case plot plot plot they end up going out….

This is the “that’s rough buddy” category so I think it’s okay to spoil that it doesn’t go smoothly though I won’t go into further detail. I will mention a really cool thing the author said in an afterword where they say that a lot of romance stories tend to build towards and end at the start of the main characters getting into a relationship, but life isn’t like that. There’s life after that and that’s sort of what they wanted to illustrate. The life after a relationship…. Sounds like a spoiler but remember there’s more than just our heroines in the story. there’s a whole wider cast and they’re all pretty great. each having their own relationship troubles or lack thereof, ideas and philosophies on love and etc.

Pretty solid art, in fact it really reminds me of yokohama shopping log, so much so that i’m convinced it’s a fanfiction created just to make the characters from that series actually full on gay. Pretty solid cast, a story that gets more and more engaging as it goes on though it’s pretty solid from the start. would definitely highly recommend though it can be a bit tumultuous like damn you guys just never gonna be stable huh??

#1) Chobits (complete w 88 chapters, story & art by CLAMP an all woman manga group formed in the mid 1980s made of Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki lgarashi)

I’d always seen this around and always as the profile picture for some more than suspicious internet accounts… the vibe it gave off in my periphery view was just horrendous tbh but i took the dive and it was worth it, obviously, coming in at #1.

The story here is that in the future, the world is inhabited by humans who live alongside their extremely powerful computers called persocoms, that are shaped to look and act almost human. numerous stories have taken this angle so I think you can imagine the effects that would have on society, but in any case the story follows our mc who recently moved from the countryside to the city and ends up finding one in the trash that he takes in and starts to take care of. The thing is their memory is corrupted so he has to teach them everything, but soon enough the mystery of the discarded persocom comes to light and their abilities could change the world.

All that pompous stuff aside the theme of discerning the shape of love and who deserves it was pretty cool, the mc was bleh and so was most of the cast but the last few chapters and the questions they posed were enough, especially the origin story of the persocom like damn… that’s rough as fuck buddy,, def kinda weird but my condolences all the same…. Art was okay… and yh i’d recommend it..

hm:

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

Top Combo

Video Girl Ai (complete w 131 chapters, story & art by Masakazu Katsura)

This was probably my fav read this month, somewhere between this, boring girlfriend and skip & loafer but this definitely has the best combinations of the different categories I was working with this month.

Again this is something I'd seen floating around for the longest and associated with more than sus accounts but it was pretty good.

The lazy story is that the mc is a lame with no game and his crush ends up confessing to his best friend in front of him. obviously distraught he ends up renting what he thinks is a porn tape.. which I guess it technically is but it's supernatural in that the girl comes out of the TV and tries to mend the viewers’ heart.

Things get super complicated and it turns into the weirdest love polygon I've ever seen, lots of back and forth and dilly dallying but I enjoyed it. The art was great, had a great classic feel, there's more than a bit of ecchi but it's not entirely distasteful or weirdly out of context, the characters and their interactions were a bit exasperating with the back and forth, loves me loves me not stuff but that had its own entertainment value, and in any case I'd recommend it

now moving onto stuff from before this month, which I won't get into details for as I've spoken on them in previous versions which I'm encouraging you to go listen to or read the transcripts for,,

Oldies

Awww

Our Precious Conversations (top 1 oldie ver.1)

Dense & Denser

That's Rough Buddy

Hi Score Girl (top 1 ver. 2)

Boy's Abyss (top2 wtf ver. 1)

That's it for this part, got a little off cuff rambling in the rest of the ramble of you wanna listen in, thanks for checking this out as usual, hope you can find something here or elsewhere that you'll love and I hope you have a good one until next time 🍻

[spectrumed]

5. sleep

It hardly gets dark in the Swedish summers. Between dusk to dawn, you’ve got about an hour to fall asleep before the sun rises again. If you struggle to fall asleep that fast, you can invest in some good window blinds. Or you can do as I do and place one big pillow over your face. Then the birds start singing around three o’clock in the morning. You can practically hear the sounds of Edvard Grieg’s Morning Mood playing at around four o’clock in the morning. Around five o’clock in the morning, it is as bright as midday. Did you have a good time sleeping? Or did you pace around in a circle having one hell of a panic attack? I thought you took some of those sleeping pills you got prescribed, they should have helped you fall asleep… wait, you did take them? They didn’t work? Oh, they did work, you just felt your body falling asleep while your mind stayed awake? That sounds terrible, real terrible. Very well. It’s morning now. Want some coffee?

You could form a religion out of sleeping. Let’s have sermons where we fill a whole auditorium full of beds and have our congregates take a big collective nap. Sleep for the sleep god! Pillows for the pillow throne! Sleep is a billion-dollar industry, there’s a plethora of handy products you can buy that promise to send you on a luxury liner to dreamland. Pills, mattresses, dreamcatchers, whatever your snoozy heart desires. You can go to a proper doctor and they might help you, or you can settle for the placebo effect and go to some fraudulent quack, instead. He might make you swallow some pills that contain arsenic, but hey, arsenic is a naturally occurring element. It can’t be all that bad for you if it is natural. And you do want to sleep, don’t you? If you take this pill in your mouth and swallow it with a glass of water, I promise you, you will sleep for a very long time.

The esteemed former president of the United States of America, Donald Trump, claims that he only needs four to five hours of sleep every night. While Mr. Trump is well-known to be a paragon of honesty, I do doubt he’s telling the truth. No, I actually do believe him when says that he only gets about four or five hours of sleep each night, I just don’t believe him when he says that is all he needs. He doesn’t look very well-rested, does he? And Margaret Thatcher, the similarly adored former prime minister of the United Kingdom, claimed that she also only needed about four hours of sleep every night. Yes, while researching the sleeping habits of famous monsters, I’ve come to the conclusion that amongst powerful individuals, not getting enough sleep has become a proper badge of honour. The belief is that if you don’t get enough sleep, that must be because you are living such a vibrantly successful life, and are so career-driven, that you simply haven’t got enough time to sleep for the full eight hours. People who sleep for more than four hours are lazy liberals. Go-getters like Trump has got to be out there, working, making decisions, raping women, and showing daddy what a good boy he is. Sleep is for the weak. But maybe I am weak. I sure like sleeping.

It’s the cultural hangover our society has had since the 80’s. Back when the yuppies wearing jackets with obscenely padded shoulders would happily chuck down eight to ten espressos in one go while A Flock of Seagulls was playing on the radio encouraging everyone to go running. And to be fair to them, with the constant fear of the doomsday clock hitting midnight, they really had no reason to think that they’d survive the decade. The new millennia, it seemed, would have no cities, no nature, no humans, only radiated mutants scouring the rubble that remains of civilization for cans of preserved something edible. Self-destructive behaviour was in. It was fashionable. Doubt people got enough sleep back then, between snorting coke and wondering if the next pandemic that hits the night clubs would start killing as many straight folks as gay folks. Well, here we are in the new 20’s, and we’ve got a pandemic that does appear to kill people regardless of sexual orientation. Sure, the looming threat of nuclear obliteration has been lessened dramatically, but we’ve largely come to exchange that anxiety for the fear of total environmental collapse, instead. No wonder 80’s nostalgia is a big thing right now. History doesn't repeat itself, but It often rhymes, said Mark Twain (supposedly.) I wonder how much coke Mark Twain would snort if he lived in the 80’s.

I notice a palpable difference in my mood and mental state when I’ve been getting good amounts of sleep. Lack of sleep results in lack of clear thinking. Caffeine, though it is something I am chronically addicted to, does not help fix a sleep-deprived mind. There are no tricks of revolutionary “life hacks” one can employ to get out of sleeping. To recover from depression, one has to sleep. Sleep often and sleep well. I cannot understate the importance of being well-rested. You cannot process information if you are tired. I am reminded of my teenage years seeing friends of mine who’d stay up all night, then come into school shuffling like agonised zombies. They got so frustrated when the teachers reprimanded them for snoozing in class. Well, dummies, it is your fault for drinking several dozen cans of Red Bull every day! I know that sleep does not always come easy. I know the terror of insomnia. But, c’mon! At some point, you’ve got to realise that sleep is essential. Maybe most of your problems stem from the fact that you refuse to get enough of it? Here’s where the tough love comes in. If you wanna get better, kiddo, then listen to me. It’s bedtime. Yes, I know you’d rather stay up late playing monopoly with your friends, but I’m confiscating your dice and I’ll only give it back to you when you’ve gotten some good sleep. Okay? You hear me, missy? You listen to your daddy now, and go to bed. No ifs or buts about it, princess, I’ve made myself clear. I know what is best for you, and you know that I am right. I’m your daddy.

But what if I can’t seem to fall asleep? Normally, it takes a long time for me to fall asleep. It is not uncommon for me to stay awake for two hours, maybe more, before I finally begin to sleep. Fearing that I won’t fall asleep gives me anxiety. That anxiety keeps me awake. I turn my body. I try lying on my side. First my left side, then my right side. I then try to lie on my back. I’ve got a song stuck playing in my head. Not even the whole song, just a ten-second segment of it. It’s playing over and over. I’m worried about the future, will I ever find security, will I ever find a wife, will I get to grow old? I worry about death. I keep hearing the music playing, it’s grating. I rearrange the pillows, in hopes that will make me feel more comfortable. But no, I keep tossing and turning like a fish caught on land. I’m getting frustrated. If only I could shut off my brain. I’m constantly thinking. I turn to my side again, but now I notice I’ve moved arounds so much that now the bed has shifted away from its position next to the wall. There’s now a gap between the bed and the wall. I almost fall down that gap. I get up and I push the bed back against the wall. I lay down in bed. The song is still playing.

How am I ever going to become a successful businessman if I am wasting so many hours just trying to get to sleep? This is the time I should be spending on the phone, yelling at people and making inappropriate sexual comments to my female employees. That is what good executives do. I need to get my life in order. I need to exercise more. I should practice mindfulness. I should get a life coach, a personal trainer, a stylist, an accountant, an assistant, a trophy wife, and a mistress. I need people in my life to take care of me. It’s funny how rich people create the sort of environment around them where people will take care of all their needs, effectively infantilising them. These people don’t even get to decide how to dress themselves. They’ve got fancy apartments, but they don’t choose any of the furniture. They’ve got art on the walls that they don’t like, but the art looks expensive, and that is all that matters. They’ve got kids, but they don’t raise them. Their spouses are cheating on them, but in fairness, they are cheating on their spouses. They don’t really even know what their jobs entails, as they’ve gotten promoted so many times that they’ve ended up in a position that is totally outside their realm of expertise. But they’re so powerful that no-one is able to fire them over their pretty blatant incompetence. They’re successful. They’ve made it. But they still can’t sleep at night. They only manage to successfully fall asleep at night after swallowing a fistful of pills along with a swig of vodka.

It must be easy being a self-help guru. Well, what I mean to say is that all you really need is charisma, which is something you need to be born with. But you don’t need to do any actual studying, any real research, or any kind of soul-searching or deliberation. All you need is to state what is obvious. You go on stage in front of an anxious audience, mostly composed of middle-class salesmen and miscellaneous white collar ghosts. You smile, show off your eerily bright teeth, and they clap. You tell them to go take care of themselves, to eat more healthily, to take walks, or go swimming, and love their partners. You tell them to drink less, or maybe, if they feel like it, they could drink more. I am sure you could spin alcohol as a positive or a negative, depending on what crowd you’re talking to. Tell them to appreciate family. Tell them to appreciate others. Live, laugh, but most of all, love. Tell them to go clean their rooms. Tell them to remember that if they’re on an airplane that is about to crash land, they need to put their own oxygen mask on before they can help others put theirs on. If you don’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? Now, go to bed!

You know all this stuff. Me telling you that you should sleep more doesn’t really help you. You know that you should sleep more. It’s not like as if you’re too dumb to realise that. And it’s not like as if you’re too dumb to realise that it is better to drink in moderation, and that you should smoke less weed. There are many small little things you can do to improve your life, to stop being a terminally unemployed slacker. It’s like your grandpa who tells you stories about life after the war when you could walk into the biggest building in town, slam your fist against the table and demand to be given a job and a house and a wife and a couple of kids, and that was all you needed to do. He can’t comprehend the fact that society doesn’t work like that, any more. Most people my generation have given up hope of ever owning a home, at least if they happen to live in the vicinity of a larger city. It seems that, no matter where you live, the cost of homes has risen to an impenetrable degree. It seems just as likely that you will be able to afford your very own genetically-engineered pet dragon before you will get to be a house-owner. It’s the fault of those damn boomers, why bother changing your ways, when the boomers are still in charge? Others may accuse you of wallowing in your own depression, but you are perfectly aware that this is exactly what you are doing. You are self-aware. But self-awareness on its own is not enough to motivate anyone. You still can’t see the point in doing anything constructive with your life. Life just feels so aimless. It’s easier to sit, smoke weed, and watch cartoons.

Pop psychology is problematic. To say the least. Take all those self-help gurus suffering from their messiah complexes and put them through the shredder. Don’t buy books thinking that they’ll offer you the kind of treatment you would get from an actual psychiatrist. I know that, depending on where you are in the world, treatment can get very expensive, but you’re not going to get better reading the book of some self-aggrandising narcissist’s collection of wishy-washy platitudes. Dr. Phil has done great evil pretending to be a therapist on the TV, and Jordan Peterson (despite having once been an esteemed scholar) has turned a generation of young internet-savvy zoomers into proto-fascists obsessed with the monogamy of lobsters. Pop psychology has become a guise for cult leaders to reap new followers. Getting treatment should not feel like joining a new religious movement. Maybe I’m just one of those annoying atheists, but I dare say, psychiatry works at its best when it's secular. You should not look at your psychiatrist as a prophet speaking to God. They’re just a doctor, and you need treatment.

I do not aspire to create a self-help blog. I do not promise that reading this blog will help you in any way. I would be overjoyed if someone came up to me and told me that I had inspired them to seek help. You may tell me that reading my words have made you feel less alone, knowing that others have gone through all these things that you are going through. When I felt at my worst, I remember reading the memoirs of people I admired who had similarly struggled in their lives, and I felt less alone. But none of those books pretended to exist principally to help others. Those books did help me, through the candid descriptions of struggles that I thought I was alone in experiencing. Knowing that some people had pulled through, managed to find a light at the end of the tunnel, it made me think I could one day be like them. The books didn’t seek to fix me, but they offered me a perspective that came to be very valuable later on, when I started going to therapy, and when I later started taking medication. Sometimes that is all you need. Not someone standing over you and telling you to go to bed, or to clean your room, or to stop drinking. You know all that, already. What you really need is the reassurance that things can indeed get better. Sleep will come.

[fillingthescrapbook]

Rewriting The CW's Kung Fu, Part 1: The Characters

Hello. I've written a few posts complaining about how The CW's Kung Fu was written and plotted. So instead of just complaining, I decided to do something productive: I'm going to rewrite the show.

This will be the first part in an eight-part series that would detail the things, I think, could've made the first season much stronger in terms of story-telling and character-building. Do take note that I will be writing this for The CW's target market: teens to young adults who are looking for both entertainment and representation.

Before we start with the story, let us first start with re-configuring the characters.

NICKY SHEN, mid to late 20s. The eldest daughter of first-generation immigrants, she feels pressured into following the path made for her by her parents. She carries a lot of guilt, having seen her parents struggle to raise her and her siblings in a land that's not always welcoming to foreigners--and then running away when she felt like she no longer had control over her life. She has spent the last three years in a monastery where her days are spent training in the martial arts, meditating, and farming. Upon her return home, she doesn't know what her place is in the world--and in her family--anymore.

HENRY YAN, mid to late 20s. A martial arts instructor at the Chinese community center, he becomes intrigued by Nicky's unique background and insight into their community. A working student, he has only recently continued his collegiate studies because of a checkered past he needed to deal with, as well as his family's financial struggles. He feels like he has a lot to prove because of people's preconceptions of who he is, based on what he had to do to survive.

EVAN HARTLEY, mid to late 20s. A San Francisco Assistant District Attorney, he is Nicky's best friend from childhood to law school. He is part of a hiring initiative that prioritizes people who can speak in multiple languages, and gets assigned many cases that come from Chinatown. He has recently proposed to his girlfriend, a fellow classmate of his and Nicky's from law school, thinking he has finally moved on from being left behind by the woman he loved three years ago...and then she, Nicky, comes back into his life.

RYAN SHEN, mid-20s. Nicky's younger brother who has just recently finished his internship at a local hospital; he is currently working as a resident physician at the same hospital he interned for--while volunteering his free time at the Chinese community center's free clinic. He is gay but has yet to tell his parents the truth, blaming Nicky for abandoning him when he was just about to confess. (Yes, I put him back in the closet for storytelling purposes.)

ALTHEA SHEN, mid-20s. Nicky's younger sister has put her career on hold to get married to her high school sweetheart. A sought-after computer engineer, Althea has surprised everyone--her parents included--when she suddenly gave up her high-ranking position at Cloudrush Capital to focus on her wedding. She is the most adjusted and mature out of the Shen siblings, seeing as her parents didn't have as much expectations from her as they did Nicky and Ryan.

SHEN MEI-LI, late 40s to early 50s. Nicky's mother comes from a very strict family and this has made her guarded with her emotions. She is very protective of her children and will do anything to keep them safe--including hide parts of her history she thinks will lead them astray. She works as the manager of Happy Dumplings, the restaurant she built with her husband Jin.

SHEN JIN, early to mid 50s. Nicky's father immigrated to San Francisco when he was a young man, inspired by the American Dream. He has a go-getter attitude which was further bolstered when he married Mei-Li, pushing him to move on from being a line cook at a faux-Chinese fast food chain to opening his own restaurant. Having been denied of better opportunities, he works hard to make sure that his children never has to face the same challenges he had in the past.

Okay, those are just broad strokes of who the characters are when the story begins. I've upgraded Evan to becoming an actual main character with a romantic subplot with Nicky since, if I'm not mistaken, that was the intention when they introduced him in the pilot. I've also downgraded Pei-Ling Zhang, Nicky's mentor to a recurring character--who we will get to now:

ZHANG PEI-LING, early 40s. A female monk at a Shaolin monastery, Pei-Ling helps Nicky escape from an arranged-marriage "love" tour by allowing her to hide in her truck. Pei-Ling is in charge of the martial arts training at the monastery, teaching her students that to keep a strong hand steady, one must also have a strong heart.

ZHANG ZHI-LAN, mid to late 30s. A businesswoman whose worldwide travels hide an international hunt for eight mystical weapons that would give the collector untold powers. She is Pei-Ling's sister who holds a lot of resentment because of the way their family broke apart. She keeps a cold and calculating facade to keep people away from her, afraid of being vulnerable enough to get emotionally hurt again.

DENNIS SOONG, mid 20s. Althea's fiancée who is the heir apparent of the Soong business empire. He has the practiced charm of a high school outcast who was slow to grow into his looks; although he became part of the popular crowd by the time he graduated, he never forgot the people who treated him as an equal back when he was a societal pariah. He is also a loving son, brother, and husband-to-be.

JOE HARPER, mid to late 20s. A freelance graphic artist who uses his talents, and his gift of gab, to fight for human rights. He is passionate, headstrong, and he never backs down from a challenge.

CHLOE SOONG, late teen. Dennis's younger sister who has fallen in with a bad crowd of bored rich teens. She feels out-of-place in her parents' perfect world, which draws her towards Nicky--who identifies with her plight to break out of the mold assigned to her.

SABINE SMITH, mid to late 20s. A classmate of Nicky's and Evan's from law school, Sabine is Evan's fiancée. She is nurturing and helpful, she is the one who pushes Evan to help Nicky settle back into her San Francisco life--not realizing she is also pushing Evan's feelings for Nicky back into the picture.

KERWIN TAN, late 20s to early 30s. A young socialite who becomes part of Nicky and Zhilan's race to find the eight mythical weapons of power. He is the youngest son of a business tycoon, Raymond Tan, who is also interested in collecting the weapons. He resents the competitive upbringing his father has given him and his siblings, which makes him decide to also join the hunt for the weapons.

MEI-XUE, late 40s. Mei-Li's younger sister, she ran away from home after discovering their family's warrior lineage--wanting to be the one to find the mythical weapons so she could keep them from falling into the wrong hands. In her journey to find the weapons, she discovers more about the power they can wield--which scares her into hiding in the mountains of Canada, with the help of a rich friend she made in her journeys.

STANLEY ANG, early 30s. He is an original character that I wanted to include for additional Chinese diversity. The only son of an old couple who were Mei-Li's friends before she migrated. He is intelligent, very savvy, but isn't very fluent in English. He works as a software developer for a programming company who had him (and his parents) move to their US office so he could oversee the projects he manages better.

Kung Fu has a few more important characters they introduce, but I'm staying with the ones who will make an impact to the story I'm rewriting.

If you've read my past gripes about the show, you would know that I don't like the fact that Zhi-lan (and Kerwin, later on) was shoved into our throats even when their storylines didn't need to be told. That opinion remains. But it doesn't change the fact that they do make an impact to the story--especially with the finale the show left us with. So they're retaining their recurring status in my rewrite.

And this is where we end for now. In the next post, I will be rejigging the pilot to better set-up who Nicky is and what her relationships are at the start of the series.

[shibalen]

(1/4)I’d like to request a matchup for Kuroshitsuji, OHSHC,&Free please. I’m an INTP bisexual female with slightly above shoulder-length black hair and a fringe. (Although, I do have an undercut as well so it’s a bit “odd” to most people. Basically, with my hair normally, I look like a young Japanese school girl but with my hair tied-up, I look like “a delinquent.”) I also need glasses however, I tend to avoid using them unless I’m on a device of sorts or reading for a prolonged period of time.

(2/4) I’m a 5’1 Capricorn and as such, I am known to be a very independent person who gets what they want done. The downside to this is if I’m forced to do something, my efficiency drops dramatically and so I’d think it’s quite useless to tell me to do something I have no interest in. Also, people who have met me for the first time tend not to take me seriously when I speak straightforwardly or pointedly because of my short stature. English is my 2nd language and Japanese is my 3rd.

(3/4) My hobbies include reading, writing, painting, drawing, and anything within the field of arts. Because of this, I’ve been told that I’m quite smart as I can ace an important exam without having studied seriously prior. Most of my time goes to my hobbies and so I don’t really bother with academics so as long as I don’t fail nor let my grades fall too low, I don’t put for much effort in school. I prefer to be alone or with another individual rather than in groups when it comes to working.

(4/4) or simply conversing as I tend to get overwhelmed with too much company (which, sadly, makes me more irritable and snappy at people.) I’m a classic(?)introvert case and because of my disorganized emotional nature, people tend to think I’m bi-polar. Sometimes, I’d like to be left alone since I prefer working seriously but I also like being affectionate towards people I like or cherish. Thank you for entertaining this long ask and I do apologize for it as well. Have a nice day!

♡ matchup for @vincent0kirishima

hello! i'm glad to have gotten to your matchup at last! i once again apologise for the delay °~°

future requests keep in mind that i only accept two fandoms per request. also, remember to send max three asks. i made this an exception because i forgot about the rule myself for a moment.

|| Kuroshitsuji: i match you with . . .

Beast

You give me such a strong vibe that I think matches incredibly with Beast's intense personality

A badass and beautiful woman with a smaller but just as powerful and independent woman ♡

Beast has quite an ill temper but I think your nature can balance it out well – your presence naturally soothes her fits

Then, during the times you're snappy she'll be the calm one to help you feel better

If you ever start feeling overwhelmed by crowds (or anything really) you know she will be there for you. Beast is an extremely devoted lover and cannot bear seeing you in any type of distress

She couldn't honestly care less about many other people but for you she'll be soft in a heartbeat

"Are you feeling all right?"

"This crowd is making me tired."

"That's all right, we can leave . . . Hey, bastards, you'd better shut your traps! y/n and I are going!"

A D O R E S your intelligence

Beast herself is quite smart as well but is used to working hard to get what she wants

She won't tell you what to do but will be stern when it comes to keeping your grades where you want them

But please don't get her wrong! She's there to remind you of your deadlines and homework, knowing it will save you from unnecessary stress later on

Also keeps and eye out whenever you need to wear your glasses

She just wants the best for you ♡

Arts are straight up Beast's alley! She'd be more than happy to watch to you indulge in your interests. Even more she'd love to take part in them with you

Quality time is extremely important to her so if you spend your day painting or drawing together she'd be over the moon ♡(> ਊ <)♡

Writes a lot of poems and lets you read them any time you want. If another person dares to sneak a peek though they might as well be dead

Some of the poems she creates are especially for you. She puts them into an envelope scented with her perfume and leaves them by your bedside in the mornings ♡

Imagine showing you her preforming act before the big show and asking for your opinion on improvements. Beast values your ideas and accepts your constructive criticism

Betty likes you too, and, unless you're afraid of her, she will nuzzle up to you ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

May whatever force out there have mercy on the poor soul that doesn't take you seriously because Beast certainly won't

She'll tear them to shreads if they dare to belittle you

She knows well how much you're capable of and won't allow anyone to think any less of you

Although I think she would prefer parties, I also believe that it's fine, seeing as you need your alone time. While Beast is out socalising you're usually at home recharging or working

At the end of the day you'll be affectionate in private – holding each other, talking about your day and just enjoying each other's presence

Loves holding you late at night

She still takes you out from time to time though. Amusement parks and carnivals at night are a favorite of hers: there aren't many people around to bother you but at the same time there are lots of fun activities for you to emerge yourselves in

Your appearance was a bonus that drew Beast in! It's cool af the way you can look sweet or more like a "delinquent" depending on your hairstyle

She loves adding touches of makeup to match whichever look you decide to go with (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

Overall this is a more balanced relationship than what it may appear at first. You have just the right amount differences and similarities

I still can't get over the badass aura y'all would emit

So here, good folks, we have a couple you do not mess with

runner up: Sebastian Michaelis

|| OHSHC: i match you with . . .

Kyoya Ootori

Smart couple™ that everyone goes to for homework answers

It was definitely your go-getter attitude that made me pick Kyo for ya (ba dum tss). You're smart and driven just like him, which is great trait to share

You're both goal-oriented, knowing better than to let small problems in your relationship cause conflict

This strengthens your bond, proving to be something that brings you closer ♡

He helps keeping your emotional state in check

Probably didn't take you seriously either the first time you met I'm sorry it was too amusing for him to watch as you explained something from all the way down there

But in the end you proved him wrong and how so

Next time his smile was different, finding you interesting in a much better light

Never again fails to acknowledge your smarts. He doesn't need to tell you what to do or how to do it because you know those things for yourself

Finds it hot attractive as heck

Still, he wants you to see that you're able to achieve much more in academics and encourages you to bring out the best in yourself

Will talk to you in whichever language you'd like. He's an educated boy and has no problem speaking English (or probably any widely-spoken language)

Supports you wholeheartedly should you want to learn Japanese more in depth, and loves it when you speak it

Respects your introverted nature. Kyoya isn't a party person either so rest assured he won't be dragging you around to socialise. He understands well how being around a crowd can effect your mood

If you must make an appearance along side Kyoya, he makes sure your stay is as short as possible to ensure you wouldn't be overwhelmed by the mass

You gradually grow used to the rest of the funky members of the host club so you still hang out with them on your free time

Cue you and Kyoya silently watching their shenanigans unfold and making profit from them

Kyoya doesn't get jealous easily but it does internally annoy him a great deal if Tamaki along with Hikaru and Kaoru gather around you to ask all sorts of questions. Yep that's definitely not jealously.

But if the two of you are alone together you either choose to paint or read together (seriously, he could go about it for hours with you) or possibly study for an upcoming exam

This is where Kyoya encourages you to read the textbook just a little longer, solve another question, using, of course, bribing

Tickets to a theatre, writing utensils – anything you have wanted for a while

Kyoya naturally knows all the right strings to pull to motivate you, it might get a bit annoying every time he pulls that sly smirk

You get him back by putting ridiculous theme ideas into Tamaki's head, that are fun for everyone else except Kyoya

Just, you two could con 2 million out of a casino and no one would be surprised

There is overall a lot of playful competition between the two of ya

Plenty of witty and sarcastic remarks – everyone can see you're made for each other ♡

"Full marks yet again? I must say I'm impressed."

"It's only a natural talent. What, is the great Kyoya Ootori in need of a tutor?"

"Only if the session is private and you're my teacher."

Just kiss already

And get a room

Because Kyoya isn't a morning person, it's up to you to gently wake him up with some coffee and sweets and a smooch

He may grumble underneath the covers but it's one of those rare moments he's actually flustered

So soft (*´ω｀*)

runner up: (sorry, i was bribed to erase this part. tehe c(⑅ ◔ڼ◔)っ)

thank you for requesting! i'm sorry i didn't draw a clear conclusion with the second match but i felt ending it like that was fine (please agree) ^^ i truly hope you liked it! have a good day, dear ♡

[neverlearnedtoread]

Circe

⭐⭐⭐; aka the whirlwind tour of circe banging famous greek figures left and right. it’s that sort of go-getter, pussy out energy that we admire around here

Oh?? 👌😉😏

i like retellings from a marginalized POV - it gives the stories new layers, allows writers and readers to explore new depths to a well-known storyline and our relationship with the original text. this book was very well-researched, and the author put a lot of love into it

well-researched myths! clearly drew from the original texts, and the original time period - i felt completely immersed in the setting, and i got to learn that the Greeks believed in a stingray monster/god that lived at the bottom of the ocean. my kind of mythos!!

the writing style is so fluid and graceful and really lent itself to the narration. it was a voice i could imagine came from an ancient god. im excited to pick up the Song of Achilles because the author’s writing style would do that sort of story justice

No.. ❌🤢🤮

tw sexual assault - it was well handled, in my opinion, and definitely didn’t feel romanticized or included for shock value - but be warned that it is there

for a supposedly ‘feminist’ retelling, i didn’t feel that the story offered much apart from the base opinion that women can be the protagonists of their own stories, and not a sidenote or a hussy in male protagonists’ lives. i would have loved to see the author add more ‘original content’ by adding extra scenes between the famous myths circe appears in - give her female friendships, her own story arc! sure, she can be written to have a more important place in her existing stories, but give her a storyline that’s all hers too. add in all the layers of characterization. we need them

Summary: Born to Helios, Titan of the Sun, and a calculatingly beautiful sea nymph, Circe is something of a disappointment to the title of ‘godhood’ - until her youngest brother reveals that they are a new sort of being altogether - pharmakeia, or witch. Since her first (accidental) act of witchcraft was, naturally, to turn a lesser goddess she was jealous of into a terrifying sea monster, Zeus sends her into permanent exile on a random island in the middle of the ocean. This imprisonment, of course, doesn’t stop Circe from being present at the birth of the Minotaur (her nephew), turning a bunch of horrible sailors into animals, and banging every notable Greek hero who crosses her path. It’s a busy island - what happens in Aiaia, stays in Aiaia (most likely in the form of a pig).

Concept: 💭💭💭💭

I love retellings. I especially love Greek retellings. The first major YA book series (and fandom) I ever loved was Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The recent trend of modern adaptations and retellings of classic stories, especially to include more representation or a different perspective on the source material, is a trend that I’ve really enjoyed seeing. Circe isn’t my favourite Greek heroine, but how can you go wrong with a pantheon of arrogant, callous, inhuman gods, plus witchcraft? I’m always here for more metaphorical deconstructing the pitfalls of immortality.

Some spoilers under the cut!

Execution: 💥💥💥

When Circe came out, it was lauded as something of a ‘feminist’ retelling. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, since pretty much any piece of media with a female lead can be considered “”feminist”” if you’re sexist enough. (Listen - can you hear the rumble of enraged Captain Marvel haters coming over that horizon?) Still, it was a pity to find myself proven right for not expecting anything too revolutionary. The story definitely adds more nuance to Circe’s character beyond what she’s represented as in the original myths - which is a helpful info dump about the next set of monsters with boobs, so the bar was pretty low. I did really like the author’s take on Circe’s childhood, and the pantheon of Titans she lived with under her father Helios’ rule. Seeing the Greek pantheon from the sidelines, with only glimpses of the twelve main Olympians as shadowy figures to be avoided at all costs, was a compelling perspective to read from.

Personal Enjoyment: ❤❤❤

I liked how Circe was very behind-the-scenes for the well-known Greek myths we were expected to recognise - it gave her a unique in-between perspective of ‘powerful enough to have been present at the big events, but sympathetic enough to mortals to realise her godly relatives were being vapid and petty’. However, the author could have pushed way harder on the ‘Circe has her own story to live, removed from the Greek myths we already know’ part of the story. I wanted some female friendships, or barring that, any female relationships at all. The few interactions Circe had with her unhinged sister Pasiphaë do not count - Circe spent most of the time avoiding her. (Neither does Penelope, because Circe actually spent more time hanging out with Penelope’s son. Like, rude?) For all that she said she mistrusted the gods and pitied the nymphs for their place at the bottom of the godhood ladder, Circe hated and scorned them just as much as the higher gods. She hated most mortals she met, too, even while she was banging the more famous ones. The author didn’t put in nearly enough effort to convince me that she would choose mortality at the end - like what had she seen of mortals that was all that great? Some good dick and one decent guy? What a shining portrayal of humanity.

Favourite Moment: When Circe walked to the depths of the ocean to fight a stingray monster - god? Creature? in order to take its tail to use as a deadly weapon for her son. The absolute Big Dick Energy of that move astounded me. Everything about that scene was great - the imagery of Circe walking, literally, into the ocean, not needing to see or to breathe because she was a god - I love the ocean, and the love reading about inhuman characters that are slightly to the left of downright creepy.

Favourite Character: The trygon - one of the few Greek creatures mentioned in this book I didn’t know! I don’t have any more reason for this other than the fact that it turned out to be a stingray god, and that’s so baller I can’t even stand it.

[lettersandinkstains]

WIP Re Introduction | The Three Steps of Romance

genre ; romance, slice of life,  lgbt, contemporary, contemporary romance themes ; navigating adulthood, unconditional love, semi found family, companionship, desires to escape, main female roles, main lgbt+ roles, loneliness, lgbt+ issues, self acceptance, transgender issues and rights, wlw romance, pride, longing, finding place in the world warnings ; some lgbt+ issues brought up -- mentioned homophobia and transphobia, but not from any main character (or loved ones), fluff, short romance, swearing, drinking.

pov ; dual first persons - alternating chapters progress ; planning stages, developing characters

#threestepromance #tsr

summary: “new town, new me” is a cliche mantra people say when they head somewhere new -- knowing they have the chance to reinvent themselves and leave their ghosts behind. for artemis, this saying is entirely true in every sense of the word. since her transition during vet school, she had always dreamed of getting away from the town she lived in and live entirely as herself even though her friends, family, and now ex girlfriend had been supportive of her. and when she found an opening for a needed vet in a small coastal town, she had immediately applied.

ember has always lived life through the camera, always off in her own world on an adventure in different parts of the world. there had never been a time in her life where she had felt at ease where she is, always bored and seeking thrill and daydreaming of meeting her future wife in a grand and unforgettable way. yet, she knows how impossible that is and knows that soulmates don’t exactly exist and questions the love at first sight notion.

until she meets artemis one night in a bar.

characters ;

artemis - 28 years old, lesbian, trans. she’s a laid back woman with a go getter attitude. she is a fan of olden day horror movies and works as a vet. she prefers dogs over cats, rainy days, and being able to sleep in. may or may not have a minor addiction to coffee.

ember - 27 years old, lesbian. a spunky woman with a heart of gold. she has a habit of talking too much, burning her food, and running late. the camera is her best friend, and lives entirely in a daydream. she wants to work for national geographic, but currently works for the local newspaper. has difficulties reading the atmosphere at times, and can be quite dramatic.

sky - 27 years old, bisexual, non binary. they’re ember’s closest friend, and has been since childhood. they tend to keep ember more grounded, and are generally supportive of her future dreams. they’re snarky and work as a vet tech at the same veterinary hospital as artemis does.

mason - 30 years old, gay, trans. newly engaged and always up for an adventure, mason is ember’s cousin. he tends to encourage embers’ more hyperactive side without meaning to. he works as a math teacher at the local high school.

ezekiel - 31 years old, gay, cis. he’s mason’s soon to be husband, and has kept his rebellious streak from his teen years. he absolutely loves conspiracy theories and shares a love for old horror movies. a flirt by nature, anything he says can make most people swoon and blush. he works as a chemistry teacher at the same high school as mason.

aurora - 28 years old, lesbian, cis. artemis’ supportive ex girlfriend and confidant. they broke up due to growing apart over the years, and due to aurora’s job as a flight attendant. she’s kind and quite shy.

paisley - 25 years old, asexual, cis. just graduated as a pharmacy tech, paisley has a dream of opening up her own pharmacy one day. she works at the local hospital currently and is in a relationship with sky.

eliana - 26 years old. aromantic asexual, cis. eli has a few novels published under a pseudonym. she hopes to make it big in the writing world one day, but so far, no luck. she had recently moved to the small coastal town of lakewood just a year prior, and enjoys hiking and sporting events. she’s currently working as a barista but hopes to get hired as a history teacher at one of the two high schools.

nova - 30 years old, lesbian, cis. nova works at the local gay bar as a bartender -- she knows her way around the kitchen and makes a mean drink. she’s been married for the last five years of her life, and acts as a mother hen to the younger patrons. she and her wife are currently hoping to adopt, and have a two year old. she is also a drag king in the local drag scene, and goes by Miles.

SCENE ;

The bar is nicely lit, with a large rainbow flag hanging behind the bartender, and the atmosphere is calm -- much calmer than I had expected it to be. But I guess large cities and smaller towns have different vibes, and at least here, there’s no expectation to get wasted.

“I guess I’ll have an aviation,” I tell the bartender as I look around. I’ve been here two weeks, and this is my first time actually going out and socializing. My only outlet before this had been Aurora and Zatanna, but dogs aren’t much for conversations and Aurora had been on a trip to another country and couldn’t talk very much or for very long. And as much as I’d like to call my parents to let them know I made it, I’m still not quite ready to speak with them.

When I announced that I was moving, mom had cried, saying that she had always dreamed of her family always being close by and coming home for Sunday dinners but now, that would be impossible. Dad was a little more supportive -- but asked if it was because of another woman, and when I told him no, he was slightly disappointed.

“So, are you new around here?” The bartender asks as she sets the drink down in front of me. When I give her a quizzical look, she gives me a sheepish smile. “Just haven’t seen your face here before.”

“Oh. Ah. Yeah, quite new,” I rub the back of my neck. Why is talking to women so hard? “Decided to check this place it. It’s quite chill.”

“Yeah, it is,” The woman agrees. “I’m Nova, by the way.”

“Artemis,”

“Hey, Nova!” A voice calls out and I turn to look at the speaker. A woman stands close to me, hands on the counter, her hair falling over her shoulders, messily and there’s a ray of light shining around her. I can’t help but stare. “Could I order a pink vodka lemonade and two whiskey sours? Mason just got engaged so I’m treating him and Ezekiel tonight!”

“Sure thing,” As Nova works on the drinks, this seemingly angel takes the seat next to me and watches her intently. “So, newbie, what brought you to Lakewood?”

“Work,” I answer as I take a sip of my drink. Red hot alcohol races down my throat. “And needed a do-over, I think.”

“Makes sense,”

Angel-girl looks at me, her pretty brown eyes wide. “Oh? You’re new here?” Before I can answer, a large grin breaks across her freckled face, and I feel mine heat up. “I’m Ember!”

Ember. Ember. 

[lilibetts]

The E(X) Files

S1E01: Descent Into Eldervair

“Welcome to Eldervair Court, please enter your code now,” the pleasant, computerized female voice prompted. Betty groaned, because of course she had stopped the white Toyota Highlander too far away to reach the keypad. In her defense, this car was given to her by the Bureau as a part of her cover and she'd only been driving it since this afternoon. The thought of the mountains of paperwork she'd have to fill out if she so much as scratched its paint filled her with dread.

“Please enter your code now,” the recording prompted again. Was it her imagination or did the recording sound exasperated? Betty cracked the driver's side door open a fraction and leaned through the window to punch in the numbers she had memorized the night before.

“Please enter your co-- Welcome home, Mrs. Fletcher.”

“I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that, do you, Snookums?” The sardonic male voice piped up from the passenger seat.  

Betty breathed through her nose, silently counting down from ten before she turned to glare at her pretend husband for the next few weeks. Agent Forsythe Pendleton Jones (“the third, unless you have a daddy or necrophilia kink”), aka Jughead, was partially slouched in the seat.  He no longer sported his ever-present crown beanie, though Betty wouldn't put it past him to have it stashed in a box somewhere. For someone who had his head covered most of the time, his hair looked criminally good.

And Betty had a right to complain- the humidity had made her hair wavy and frizzy. Inherit her mother's 'great hair' genes, she did not.

“Speak for yourself, Buttercup.”

Jughead wasn't Betty's usual partner, but Kevin was taking a well-deserved vacation. (His reaction, when he found out Jughead and Betty would be partners? “Oh dear god, there'll be no self-restraint there. None.”). Jughead didn't have a usual partner; he'd been heading up the X-Files division on his own in his tiny basement office.

She wasn't sure if she'd been partnered with Jughead because she was one of the few agents who didn't make fun of him, either behind his back or right to his face, or because her superiors were tired of her go-getter personality and quick close rate on cases.  Or they had decided 'who better to pretend to be husband and wife than two agents who used to be married to one other?'

Barely sparing a glance at her ex-husband fidgeting in his seat, Betty moved the gearshift back into 'Drive' and steered the vehicle through the now open gates.

Eldervair Court was a massive, walled community in upstate New York— built into a partially cleared section of Fox Forest. As they began to make their way down the winding drive, the multitude of trees gave attractive cover, but nearly blocked out the sky entirely. Given that the weather that day was overcast with gray skies, Betty was immediately unsettled by how isolated she already felt from the world beyond the walls.

The trees faded away just enough to reveal rather enormous but attractive red-brick houses, each on top of a sloping grass hill, with stone steps and pathway leading to the front door. Georgian architecture, Betty thought. Maybe revival, maybe original. Just how old was this community? They hadn't been able to figure out when Eldervair Court was incepted.

The houses were all completely identical; the lawns perfectly manicured with attractive rows of rose bushes. Not a single speck of what might be termed 'character' could be found. They looked, for lack of a better word, perfect.

It gave Betty war flashbacks to her own childhood.

“These aren't houses,” Jughead muttered, right leg jiggling anxiously as he stared out the window. “These are mini-mansions.”

Betty frowned, the surrealism getting to her. “Yeah, I wouldn't say it's all very Stepford Wives, but...”

“More David Lynch's Blue Velvet meets Tim Burton?”

“Something like that.”

As she turned into the driveway, Betty spotted an expertly coiffed redhead in a black sleeveless blouse and red palazzo trousers standing up on the porch with a ruby-red grin on her face. Clearly she was the welcoming committee.

“Showtime,” Betty muttered as she plastered on the smile she'd learned from Alice Smith Cooper.

“It's almost like meeting your mother all over again,” Jughead groused under his breath, eyes trained on the woman on their new porch. Betty didn't even dignify that with a glare.

As they exited the SUV, the moving truck with two other agents backed up into the space next to them. The weather here was still warm for late September, so Betty had dressed semi-casually according to a popular Fall Fashion Pinterest board and Jughead wore a nice pair of new black trousers and a blue sweater that did fantastic things for his eyes.

(She'd given him that sweater several Christmases ago.)

The redhead sauntered up to them on towering red stilettos. “Bonsoir, Fletchers!” She trilled. Now that they were closer, Betty could make out the shape of the woman's broach— it was a spider.

"'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly.

She was met at the top of the driveway by a petite pink-haired woman, this one dressed in all black and floral platform ankle boots. Once she struck the perfect couples pose, the redhead addressed Betty and Jughead: “Welcome to Eldervair Court, we're the Topaz-Blossoms and yes, we're domesticated lesbians.”

“Cheryl,” the pink-haired woman scolded lightly, the soft smile on her face telling Betty she was used to her wife's dramatics.

“Sorry TT, I didn't mean to engage in bisexual erasure. 'Domesticated lesbians' just has a better ring to it. Forgive me, mon amour?” Their noses rubbed together in an Eskimo kiss before Cheryl remembered her new neighbors existed. “As you can see, EC is a progressive, open-minded community, as long as you keep your lawn up to regulations!”

Sensing that Jughead was about to make a sarcastic comment, Betty beat him to the punch. “That's wonderful! I'm Juliet and this is my husband, Holden,” she introduced them, patting a hand on Jughead's chest to warn him to watch his mouth.

And also sell that they were definitely a married couple, not a pair of divorced FBI Agents. Nothing to see here, let's move on.

“I'm Toni,��� Pink Hair said with a small wave. “Cheryl and I live two doors down, next to the Andrews'.”

Cheryl clapped her hands. “Now that we've dispensed with the niceties, since you two took your sweet time arriving, we're going to have to hurry if you're going to make the six o'clock cutoff.”

“Cutoff?” Jughead frowned. Glancing down at her phone, Betty saw it was 4:51.

“The six o'clock cutoff? All move-ins must be completed by 6 PM. It's in the R&Rs.” Cheryl intoned, as if that ought to have been obvious.

Toni at least had the grace to look regretful. “Yeah, you're really going to need to brush up on the Rules & Regulations. They're the price we pay to keep this community successful.”

“We'll definitely read it through carefully,” Betty promised. “It's just been so busy lately, what with the move and all...”

Cheryl had already whipped out her phone and her thumbs flew over the screen. “I've conscripted some of your new neighbors into helping with the unload. With my superior delegating skills, we'll have you moved in in no time at all!” With a flip of her hair over one shoulder, she was off, barking out orders at the people crossing the street towards them; Toni made a beeline for the moving van.

Betty and Jughead shared a look before they made their way to the front door. In front of the columns on either side of the porch sat two statues, their grotesque features seeming to leer at her. Gargoyles. They were gargoyles. A shiver made its way down her spine.  Keep it together, Betty, she told herself as she slid the key they'd been sent into the lock.

From the entryway, the view of the home was magnificent, there was no other word for it: high ceilings, paneled walling, and tall windows that let in plenty of light. There was a sweeping staircase and the hardwood floors looked to be dark maple and wide planked.  Jughead curled a proprietary arm around her back, resting his hand on her hip.

“Now, Lambchop, what do you think? Is this the place for us or what?”

They'd lived in a tiny two-bedroom in Queens, a paradise before Jughead's undercover gang assignment destroyed them from afar.

“It's right out of a dream, Bugaboo.”

Tap-tap-tap-tap. Shaking off her sudden melancholy, Betty turned at the sound of heels on hardwood on to face Cheryl's approach. “This place is downright immaculate,” she pretended to gush. “I would love to send the previous owners a Thank You note.”

Cheryl made a disinterested noise. “Whatever suits your sensibilities, Juliet dear. You can give it to me and I'll send it on to them,” she said with eyes downcast, pretending to study a scuff mark on the floor.

No, you certainly won't, Betty thought with a vicious stab of satisfaction at catching someone in a clear lie. Because Dilton Doiley was dead and his wife, Ethel, had gone missing.

A steady stream of people with boxes started coming through the open door. In the distance, Betty could see their undercover movers unloading the first of their carefully selected furniture. Now, there was a job: join the FBI and use your interior design degree to stage undercover agents' homes to help sell their cover.

“So,” Cheryl carefully enunciated. “What is it that you do?”

“Oh, I'm the social media manager for an event planning company in the city and Hols here is working on his third novel.” Betty beamed with pride at her pretend husband's achievements. Thanks to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited, it was disturbingly easy to backstop Holden Fletcher's novelist career in such a way that it was believable that the couple could afford to live in Eldervair Court.

The Bureau hired out-of-work English Majors and MFA degree-holders to do things like this, too.

Cheryl made another noise, clearly not impressed by what it is that they do.

That's when it got a bit weird. A redheaded man, who had been introduced to them as 'Archiekins' by his immaculate wife in pearls and a dark plum sheath dress, shouted out the time.

“5:40!”

The stream of neighbors turned into frenzied rapids. Before they knew it, all the boxes were inside, as well as the furniture, if not in the exact room they belonged. By 5:58, everyone was exiting the house with words of welcome and half-formed plans to have dinner tomorrow night.

“We'll leave you to it. Toodles, Neighbors!” And with that, Cheryl closed the door with a flourish behind her.

“Dear god,” Betty groaned, shoulders slumping.

“Yeah, nothing weird going on here at all,” muttered Jughead before he turned away from the front door. “Hold on, you didn't let me carry you over the threshold—“

Betty simply rolled her eyes and made her way toward the kitchen. They'd brought two coolers full of food to last them until they could go grocery shopping tomorrow. The Bureau had only intended to give them one, but Betty had renegotiated the second, knowing what kind of appetite Jughead had. She wanted to get the perishables into the fridge before it was too late.

She stopped short when she caught sight of the two items on the granite countertop. “Ju-” she caught herself in time. “Sweetie, come see what our neighbors left us!” she called out.

In less than two seconds she felt the heat of him at her back. “Well, wasn't that nice of them?”

Next to the enormous, spiral-bound binder that proclaimed 'Eldervair Court: Rules and Regulations' on the cover, was an ivory box with two detailed black-and-white creatures stenciled onto it. Inside the ornate red frame, written in Gothic lettering were the words:

Gryphons & Gargoyles

[medea10]

My Review of Aggretsuko

Her one bright spot in this day-in, day-out hellhole is her mic, a karaoke business, a solo room, and blazing death metal. Once she’s singing some hardcore death metal and unleashes her fury of her hectic workday, she’s ready to take on the world again. And just like with the Hello Kitty world, this series has many animals with quite the interesting line-up of quirks. For example we’ve got a sly fox who monitors Instagram, a suck-up dog, a hygena who is into rock, a fashionable gorilla who’s friends with a bird, a hippo that’s a spy, and yeah, the chauvinistic pig who’s also the boss. BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: So this anime is sort of exclusive to Netflix in every aspect (that includes in Japan). I’m noticing a lot of popular anime titles are being exclusive to Netflix. I mean, if they’re able to air them weekly as they air in Japan, I have no problem. It’s just the waiting for something to air and then they decide to bundle everything so you can binge watch is where I have a problem. Believe it or not, I’m not a binge-watcher. Every now and then I can breeze through at the most 6 episodes in a whole day, but a whole series or season, no! Yeah, Medea has a life outside of anime reviews (shocking)! I only did that once and that was a good eight years ago. But I digress! I will say that Netflix got their shit together better than Amazon. Anime Strike was such a major fuck-up from day one. Thank God it’s dead. Anyways, this does include an English dub. By the looks of all the Netflix exclusive animes, they all seem to be dubbed by VSI in L.A. (I guess a smaller version of Bang Zoom productions) with Patrick Seitz doing a lot of the casting. This was a very well casted dub (which is more than what I can say about a certain redub they did recently). But I really do love this dub with Erica Mendez, G.K. Bowes, Ben Diskin, Ray Chase, and many others. And oh my God, Jamison Boaz is like the best with the metal Retsuko moments! With the sub, you will not find much info on the voice of Retsuko. Rumor has it that she’s married to the guy who does the screaming death metal for Retsuko (who is also the director of Aggretsuko). Here’s what you might recognize these folks from. JAPANESE CAST: *Retsuko is played by Kaolip *Retsuko (metal version) is played by Rareko (director of Aggretsuko) *Haida is played by Shingo Katou *Fenneko is played by Marina Inoue (known for Aria on Pokemon XY, Armin on Attack on Titan, Yoko on Gurren Lagann, Jessica on Umineko, Kyouko on Skip Beat, Wataru on Hayate, and Rei on H.O.T.D.) ENGLISH CAST: *Retsuko is played by Erica Mendez (known for Ryuko on Kill la Kill, Haruka/Uranus on Sailor Moon redub, Emma on The Promised Neverland, Nico on Love Live, Yuuki on SAO II, Tsuruko on Anohana, and Tsubaki on Your Lie in April) *Retsuko (metal version) is played by Jamison Boaz *Haida is played by Ben Diskin (known for Sai on Naruto Shippuden, Satoru on ERASED, Joseph/Jojo on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Umino on Sailor Moon redub, and Numba 1 on Kids Next Door) *Fenneko is played by Katelyn Gault (known for Prof Badcock on Little Witch Academia) FAVORITE CHARACTER: I’m a Fenneko fan. What’s not to like? Her mischievous behavior, her social media activity, and that freakin’ laugh! DISLIKED CHARACTER: It’s hard to find characters to hate here! Believe it or not once you get past the debut episode of an asshole character, you see them for more than just an asshole and think, maybe they’re not that much of an asshole. Yeah, in all good conscience I can’t really add Ton even if he’s a sexist pig. And Anai just needed to be pushed in the right direction so he can succeed. I don’t fully hate Anai…I fear him. Wait a second and I’ll talk a bit below! Then there are those characters who still rub on me the wrong way and those characters are Tsubone, Tsunoda, and Komiya. But I’m laying off Komiya. I don’t know why! Maybe it’s because Todd Haberkorn plays this little brown-noser that it makes me laugh to a point where I can’t hate on him. Yeah, Haberkorn is that good! Tsunoda knows the game and does what she has to do in order to survive in the office and on social media. I’m not thrilled to witness females put on the charm at the workplace the way she does, but you know it happens. Tsubone just seems like such a bitch so for the moment I’ll leave her on my dislike corner. Okay, anybody else? Shit. Retsuko’s mother!

Yeah, as I mentioned recently in my Top 10 Worst Anime Mothers list, I had to put Retsuko’s mother on there. She was such a pushy mama that she did so much damage to her daughter’s life. Okay lady, lay the fuck off! Your daughter is not living with you at home, she has a stable job, and she’s making the most of her life. She doesn’t need you giving her embarrassing clothes to wear, hooking her up with random bachelors, flat-out lie to her with photoshopped photos, force her on speed-dating, break into her apartment, and just be a complete hypocrite! SHIPPING: Retsuko has had quite the romantic cycle throughout the 20 episodes. Let’s go down this list, shall we? Retsuko x Haida: Ah, the little ship that can’t even leave port. Haida has had this humungous crush on Retsuko throughout the entire series. However this love is unrequited. Retsuko just sees Haida as a workmate and a friend, nothing more. Haida has been friend-zoned so many times. Even when he tries to release his feelings towards Retsuko, most of the time it would fall on deaf ears or in the case of season one’s finale/Christmas special, a rejection. Then again, it came right after a break-up and no one wants a rebound! But I do find myself rooting for this little ship to one day set sail. I know one day they’ll be together and I will await for that to happen. Retsuko x Resasuke: I really don’t know what drew Retsuko to this pot-plant. Yeah, I call Resasuke a pot-plant because of his nothing phases him attitude, his abundance of plants at home, and monotone voice. IT DOESN’T HELP THAT HE’S VOICED BY SAITAMA! It was pretty clear that there were a lot of loose connections between this couple that despite both Retsuko and Resasuke having some things in common, not going to work. It was not the best of ships. Retsuko x Tadano: Tadano was the man in Retsuko’s life that could have given her anything her heart desires. Everything except a family since Tadano doesn’t want to get married or start a family. Retsuko always dreamed of having a sugar daddy of a husband so that she could quit her soul-crushing job (at least that’s what she wanted in season one). But in season two she realized that she likes her job and wants to be with someone that resonates with her. As for wanting a family, Retsuko kind of grew to the idea of one day becoming a wife and mother. But Tadano wants nothing to do with that. Retsuko x Shirota: Aw, this was kinda cute even though these two were totally hooked up because of their nosy mothers. Retsuko at the time was scared at the prospect of getting married and Shirota completely understood. But when Retsuko asked about Shirota after some time had passed, Retsuko’s mother said that he was hooked up with another girl and it’s going well. I felt that sting all the way over here. I know he was the right guy at the wrong time, but I felt for Retsuko. Second place for me in the shipping department. Retsuko x Anai: GOOD FUCKDOM NO! Who would ask for this to happen?! TWO THINGS THAT FRIGHTEN ME: Yep, two things frighten me quite a bit. First thing would be whenever Ton smiles. I know most of the time when he’s smiling, it’s one of those fake as hell smiles, but they are frightening to see regardless. And the whole floor agrees as seeing that scared the ever-loving crap out of everyone there. And second…Anai! When you first meet him, you think he’s a positive go-getter. But when he’s behind his cellphone, he is downright scary. He ends up cyber-stalking half the office including Retsuko, Haida, and even Ton. ENDING TO SEASON ONE: We all know how much Haida has a this huge crush on Retsuko right? Let’s add a new love interest to spice things up! An absolute space cadet by the name of Resasuke! Retsuko has seen him around the office and on the train when she’s on the way to work. The only problem is, no one is able to get through to him…he’s so spacey! So one night, Retsuko gets roped into going on a speed date with some of the girls in the office. And the men they met are also some men from the office. And Retsuko surprisingly wound up having a meaningful conversation with Resasuke. Through text messages. Even though they’re right in front of each other. Sighs in disgust because I really hate that in real life as to showing my real age. Actually, I probably shouldn't scold the boy as he could be on the Autism Spectrum and has problems communicating normally with people in social interactions. Unfortunately, Retsuko winds up drinking too much alcohol that night and forgets key parts of what happened. All she knows is that when she woke up, her heart was all pitter-patter. It must be indegest…no, it’s love! Retsuko definitely sees something in Resasuke that no one else can see. Not even Washimi or Gouri can see it! But the important thing is that Retsuko is on cloud nine that nothing gets her down and when nothing gets her down, she’s not going to go “metal”. However, the “metal” side was ready to peak out. It’s clear that Resasuke doesn’t know much about relationships or other social interaction for that matter. He can’t tell when Retsuko is in pain and isn’t that considerate to her. Plus he wasn’t really the one who wanted to go on the dates. He was always put up by one of his co-workers. Meanwhile, Haida (who has had a major crush on Retsuko from the beginning) has been super moody. He gets so drunk one night and ends up the hospital because dumbass injured himself accidentally. So the following day at work was hectic for Retsuko, Fenneko, and Ton. During that long day of work, Retsuko’s boss (while always grumpy and insulting to Retsuko) made a little sense to her today. His words kinda hit Retsuko in the terms of the relationship dilemma. I know he meant it in terms of the accounting job, but I think it struck a nerve with how Retsuko is in her relationship with Resasuke. “If you keep giving out more than what you’re getting back in return, eventually there ain’t gonna be anything left” So…Retsuko took Resasuke to karaoke and expressed it all out. In the end, Retsuko and Resasuke split up. But could there be hope for Haida now? Well, we close things out in Haida’s hospital room and Retsuko visits him. And surprise, surprise, it looks like a love confession! What will Retsuko say? Tune in next ti…end of the season now! CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: Unlike all the other episodes (which are 13 minutes long at most), this one is a full 22 minute special. We start the Christmas special with what Retsuko said to Haida. It was a rejection. So you know Haida was going to be a depressed basket case for a while. But let’s not worry about that now, it’s Christmas time! And the episode focuses on what everyone around the office is doing for the special holiday. Tsunoda’s going out with a guy (no surprise there). Kabae is spending it with her husband and three kids (and also hide the presents so the kids won’t find them). Before Retsuko could figure out what she wants to do, in comes Ton with paperwork that needs to be done by the end of the night. Retsuko still put up a brave front finishing her work and also fooling social media that she’s having a fabulous dinner. But Fenneko knew that was a lie when she saw the picture and told Haida that she’s at work suffering through paperwork. And being the hopeless romantic, Haida tries to get to the office to help her, but found she was no longer there when he arrived. After Retsuko finished, her friends Gouri and Washimi swooped in and treated her to dinner. But after dinner, Retsuko bumped into Haida…so Haida got a little lucky there. And he got to spend a few moments alone with Retsuko. SEASON TWO: After the success Aggretsuko made in 2018, strike twice while the iron is still hot! Season two dropped this June with brand new characters, new love interests, and so much METAL! Actually, not as many metal moments as season one, but still there. Retsuko had her hands full all through this season with her mother setting her up with “eligible” bachelors, work still giving her the business, a new guy at work who’s possessed by Beelzebub’s cellphone, getting her driver’s license, and possibly meeting the man of her dreams. And with all those, Retsuko’s going to need some time in the karaoke booth to let out this pile of rage. And this season we meet Retsuko’s mother (a different shade of panda than her daughter), a woman who is way too invasive of her daughter’s privacy and home life. Then we have Anai (a badger), a straight out of college newbie at work. If even one thing is said to him that even seems 1% offensive, he will break out his phone and cyber stalk that person and threaten them with a harassment charge. And then there’s Tadano (a donkey) who Retsuko meets in a driver’s education course. Oh, wait until you meet Tadano! END OF SEASON TWO: As it turns out, Tadano (the guy Retsuko meets at Driver’s Ed) isn’t really a slacker like she thought at first, but a multi-millionaire with his work in A.I. He’s a major celebrity in the tech world and Retsuko’s company wants to partner with him. Meanwhile Tadano has eyes for Retsuko…as a love interest! This could be it! This could be Retsuko’s chance at absolute happiness, where she can have anything in the world with this sugar daddy. There’s a drawback to this. Recently, Retsuko has been thinking if she’s really wife/mother material after seeing some of her coworkers (like Kabae and Ton with their families). Plus the whole marriage conversation with her mom probably got to her too. So she’s thinking more and more about starting a family. However… Tadano has NO interest in either marriage or having kids! For some time, Retsuko and Tadano were seeing each other privately. But somehow, someone got pictures of them together and it spread throughout the internet. And everyone, including Retsuko’s mother, friends, and co-workers were blown off their asses when they saw pictures of Retsuko with Tadano. Meanwhile, Haida got drunk and wound up on his back again! Retsuko tried her best to see the bright side of all this. But she kept running into hate-filled posts bashing her for dating Tadano. And the whole dilemma that she and Tadano aren’t on the same wavelengths when it comes to marriage and family is digging at her like a shiv. Add to that, Tadano wants Retsuko to quit her job since he believes her job will be obsolete once his A.I. business takes over. After some soul searching, Retsuko came back to work after a few days of being AWOL and was ready to hand Ton her resignation letter. Ton sat back and watched all this happen and wouldn’t accept this. He gives her shit literally every day of her job, even giving her the nickname “Calander” because her “days are numbered”. But he knows that all of this isn’t even her deciding. Tadano is doing all the talking and actions for her. Once again, Ton was able to reach Retsuko with his words. So Retsuko knows what she must do. Retsuko’s friends Washimi and Gouri put aside a heated fight they previously had in order to help. So they ambushed Tadano, had Haida take care of his entourage, and have Retsuko hijack his limo. Their destination, the karoke bar! And that’s when Retsuko released out everything through METAL! In short, Retsuko and Tadano split up. So she’s (once again) back at square one. But it was fun, right?! Wow, this is pretty…real to me. In fact, it’s almost on Bojack Horseman levels. Yeah, you can tell I’ve dived into Netflix. Cartoons with cute animals in it…but they deal with adult issues. Yeah, animation’s not always for kids (otherwise I would have watched a lot more Ralph Bakshi when I was 7). Anyways, this anime does speak to me and just about anyone with a job that causes you immense stress. Retsuko gets the shit-deal at her work which causes her to vent it out in a karaoke booth. A job that chips away at you every single day you’re there. Disappointment of every variety when some shred of hope pops through. Workers who take advantage of the hard work you put in. Drunk boss that stumbles into work late and passes out hungover. Working 10 hour days with no overtime pay! Having that drunk idiot boss always calling in sick because he’s hungover from the night before. Whoops, those last three were my bad experiences with a bad job. The working world can be cruel. I’m glad I left that nightmare job for the good old store that rhymes with Mole Goods. It has its ups and downs but it’s been kind enough to me for me to stay in the company for almost 12 years at this point and time. But everyone has their own reasons for staying at a job that abuses you. Mostly survival! Retsuko wishes that she could find a rich husband so that she could quit this horrible job. Don’t we all? Sadly things can’t be like the way they were in post-war era United States (or so I imagine). In my case, the middle class is a gangrene arm ready to be chopped off, cost of college is expeninential and I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to pay off my student loans 30 years after I die. Depending on what economic world you’re in, it’s almost impossible to quit your stable job to be a housewife. Unless you’re Marge Simpson or part of the elite 1% there’s no fucking way. And then Tadano shows up! But funny thing, money can’t buy you happiness! Sure it’s great if you could find a sugar daddy husband, but if there’s no real love or compatibility, it’s not gonna last. The love issues Retsuko had these last two seasons…I can’t really relate. Thankfully, my mother is not as neurotic about me finding a husband. As I have been butt-fucked in the relationship department, I don’t give a shit about finding a mate (at the moment) and my mother has accepted that. And I’ve never really felt anything for workmates nor have I ever met a young entrapeneur. I’m sure other people can relate to some of these issues, but not me. Thankfully we see different views on marriage from different characters. Fenneko believes people her age don’t even think about it and hopefully they’ll be the generation to kill the idea of marriage, Haida is still a hopeless romantic when it comes to Retsuko, Gouri will get back up after being heartbroken time and time again, Washimi thinks marriage isn’t worth it and even sheds light on an old marriage during the second season, Ton is married and has two kids (though he seems pretty put-off by them), and then you have Kabae who has a husband and three little kids and she’s happy with her family every single day! Back to the working world topic, Aggretsuko showed how much the working world impacts us. Without having a character say it, this anime brought out many thoughts when we see many of these characters. For example, Anai! Many fans hated this guy the second he started cyber-bullying Retsuko. But others see Anai as a guy with the adult world finally crushing down on him. An ugly glimpse at how life can be (particularly in Japan). He’s fresh out of college and sometimes college does NOT prepare you for the real working world. And as we all know this cruel statistic, Japan has the highest rate of suicides in several age brakets in the world. Including young teenagers! An atmosphere of failure can cause one to do that or act erraticly. Aggretsuko doesn’t necessarily say this, but it’s very much felt that it’s implied if you think about it. Yes, I still find Anai to be a bit of that millennial shit that feels offended by anything even when a co-worker is trying to help them. But if you think about it, all of this feels new and scary. I’m sure everybody in the office at the beginning of their job experience had felt this scary feeling before. Man, these shows really get me to think a bit! I do recommend this anime to just about anyone. Just note that this anime is NOT as depressing as Bojack Horseman. But it can get real at times that makes you step back and say, “Wow, I can totally relate.” And to anyone who is a total metal-head (like me) might enjoy those parts when Retsuko screams into a microphone. This anime is only available through Netflix. It shouldn’t take you too long to finish though as each episode is approximately 15 minutes each and there’s only 20 episodes overall (+ one special). Okay, now that Aggretsuko is done...what's next?

Little Witch Academia it is!

[sundaynightnovels]

The Girls Girls Girls Tag

so @cawolters​ had created her own tag game for international women’s day, which is all sorts of amazing and i’m so glad to have been tagged!!! <3 <3 (edit: also have been tagged by @aslanwrites, so thanks!!) Guide: answer these seven Qs in the voice of your female character(s), and then tag somebody!  of course, the three female characters in my wip is Zhen, Yu(f) -- but for this, since it’s pretty obvious it’s the female Yu, i’ll just call her Yu -- and Jia, so i’ll be doing this for them! (btw i found this really difficult to answer because... spoilers??? abound????? but also they might change so i dont really know what to write at some parts?? but okay you know what fine, let’s have some spoilers here) (also note that all of their answers pertain to their pasts / backstories) 1. Who was your mother and what did she teach you?

Zhen: i don’t have a mother. For real, though. Yu: My mother’s harsh, and she’s made me stronger. Jia: my mother’s a strong, tough woman. she’s got to be, to raise a kid on her own.

2. Do you have any sisters (related or not)?

Zhen: yeah, i have a few. they’re all major pains in the asses though Yu: No. Jia: I’ve got a younger sister. We’re pretty independent of one another

3. How has your gender shaped your path in life?

Zhen: I don’t know. the woman who raised me was pretty great, and i never really cared about the other sex too much anyway. like, people tried to bully me sometimes i guess but i never really cared too much about it, they never really affected me. i’ve faced worse anyway. gender doesn’t matter when it comes to that. Yu: i’ve been raised by a very strong, fierce mother, and it has followed me throughout my life. i am not affected by discrimination, or by prejudice. there’s no point in caring about such lesser things in life when there are other more important things to look towards. Jia: yeah. i mean, women aren’t regarded as highly as men are. i’m only in my early-20s and people already nag at me to get married and settle down and like, then what do you want me to do for the rest of my life? take care of kids and clean up after the house? i have loftier aspirations than that. it’s so annoying. they keep yammering on and on , but when it comes to the men, it’s all about getting somewhere with their career. i know it’s stressful either way, but still. maybe i don’t want to get hitched so young, yknow? ah, whatever. you can do something about it only if you actually do something about it.

4. What does the woman you admire look like? Who is she?

Zhen: she is the kindest, most patient woman i’ve ever known. she has a bunch of rowdy kids and -- okay, i can’t say she has never lost her patience, she has a pretty bad temper despite how i’ve described her -- but she’s never lost hope in us, yknow? she’s strong and fierce and full of fight. i couldn’t have asked for a better person in my life.

Yu: she’s strong and capable. no one can ever doubt her capabilities, and around her, i just want to get better myself. i need to match up to her standards, to reach her expectations. i just... can’t.

Jia: well the woman i admire is myself. i mean, why admire someone else when you can just look up to yourself right? who can you be better inspired by than your own creativity and your own mind and your own capabilities? i strive to make myself better and to achieve my goals , and i am constantly inspired by my own improvement and growth. say what you want, but that’s just the truth.

5. Why do you think women are considered the gentler sex?

Zhen: honestly??? i have no clue. haven’t seen that much gentle women in my life. they’re all pretty fierce and kick-ass. i guess it could be through history, yknow, in imperial china the empress just manages the harem and takes care of household duties and makes sure the house is all pretty and in place and presentable while the emperor does all the bigger political and military stuff. you won’t ever see the emperor touching a needle pin, will you, and all the women are the handmaidens and servants and weavers while the men are guards and military officials. i mean, it’s not like men don’t go near all these supposedly dainty stuff, it’s just that it’s made to be the official job of women. personally i’d love to just handle things at home because it’d be too troublesome managing a country’s affairs, but i don’t think that’s because i’m gentle. it’s because i’m lazy as hell and i’m owning it.

Yu: What Zhen said. surprisingly she hasn’t really spouted that much crap in this interview. she’s actually being decent, for once.

Jia: sometimes women are still regarded the gentler sex because we’re still perpetuating it ourselves! you hear women on the streets saying things like, ‘i want to find a rich husband who can take care of me for the rest of my life’ or that ‘i’ll settle down and stop working when i get married’ or having aspirations like ‘having a baby and making a family is my only dream in life’. not that it’s wrong, but it just perpetuates that idea of a woman not taking any action for herself! women are strong, alright? look at zhen’s example of the imperial palace. the concubines and the empress’ entire purpose of being in the harem is to gain the emperor’s affections in order to give him a baby, and that might seem like it’s all, but do you know how difficult life in the palace can be? do you know how strong these women are, emotionally, mentally, physically, to take the toil and stress of constantly being pitted against one another-- even if they’re just fighting for the emperor’s affections? and those shoes!! Have you seen the shoes they have to walk in? and they have to kneel and bow and walk delicately and gracefully in those??? and that hair! do you know how heavy their hair can get --

Zhen: you know, i kinda think you’d make a great concubine or empress in those days Jia: i probably wouldn’t even get past the first stage, i’m too rowdy

Zhen: yea, but if you were born in those times you’d learn to be a little more disciplined and dignified and you’d have kicked so many of those asses there

Yu: ... i thought we were trying to fight for women, not encourage fighting among women

Zhen: i’m just saying, yknow, none of those scheming people would have a chance against jia because she’s the fiercest, most scheming person there is! i don’t know if she’d be able to handle the responsibility of empress though... all that dignity and grace and needing to upkeep appearances... 

Jia: yea. i would not want to lead that empress life. that kind of being poised and proper and dignified to upkeep appearances sorta thing is probably more for Yu

Zhen: but Yu won’t be able to take all the scheming. she’d just lock herself in the room to do her work in silence and she won’t even catch a glimpse of the emperor

Yu: ... you know i’m right here, right?

(shoe reference that jia is talking about)

6. What is a piece of your personality that you are proud of?

Zhen: ehhhh.... i don’t know. i can take pretty good care of people, i think. sometimes, when i feel like it. unless it’s too exhausting, then maybe not.

Yu: i think i’m pretty resilient, but i can do better.

Jia: i’m a go-getter. i’m determined, and i’m strong, and i’m hella capable. if i strive for something, you know eventually i’m going to get it.

7. When did you accept your own body and its strengths/weaknesses?

Zhen: well. you just gotta accept that your own body is what helps you breathe and eat and sleep and basically carry you around, yknow? i’ve never really had much problems with my own body, tbh. it serves me well

Yu: sometimes i still think i’m too weak, that my body can withstand more. but sometimes you need more rest in order to go on.

Jia: if i can’t count on myself and my own physical body to do things, then who else can i count on? once you’ve figured that out, it’s pretty easy to accept your own body for what it is.

(some of the questions are not exactly answered because, well... you know)

i guess this is meant to be a tag game so i am tagging @focusdumbass @kidsarentallwrite @kaigods @bookenders @insearchof-solace (only do this once you’ve finished your homework!!) 

[luxexhomines]

Hello! I was reading through your blog and wanted to ask if you could write for Tsumugi with a female S/O who is the Ultimate Witch? In or out of the V3 universe is fine. Thank you!

Hullo, anon! Thanks for the request!! Although Tsumugi isn’t my favorite character, I so enjoyed writing this. I put it out of the V3 universe, so there are no spoilers for anyone wondering. Wasn’t sure if you wanted the reader be doing “real magic” or magic tricks, so it’s a little vague, haha.Icon credit to 64pxs! Also wow my third request finished in one day although it’s past 1AM & technically a new day here now!

Guess I’d classify this as fluff, too. It’s not that long, so it’s not under the cut. Here you go!

Tsumugi x Female! Ultimate Witch! S/O

You knocked on her door and grasped the doorknob, fully intending to open it and peek in the gap, but your plans were abruptly foiled by her voice.

“Don’t even try,” she cackled. “The door’s locked and I’ve got a chair keeping it closed, you know?”

When you tried to turn it, it was true. It wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Oh, come on, Tsumugi!” You whine right outside the door, making sure she could hear you loud and clear. “I haven’t seen you leave that room for a third day now! I know that you’ve got snacks and a bathroom connected to your room, but that can’t be healthy,” you beg. “Please come out…”

Either she’s ignoring you, or she’s ignoring you. Two perfectly possible options. You could even hear her plaintively humming a random tune, a tune that seemed reminiscent of a folksong–but what did that matter now, when part of her reasons for doing so was to drown out the sound of you?

“Can I at least come in, Tsumugi?” You knock on the door again, but you’re soundly rejected.

“No! You’re not allowed in here for the rest of the week, even if I do come out of the room,” she says firmly.

She was getting strangely obsessive about hiding the contents of her room from you, and you were extremely worried. The only times she ever pulled stunts like this was when she hadn’t finished preparing a cosplay for a con coming up soon, but the problem was that there were no cons coming up soon. As you understood it, she had taken a leave from work to do whatever it was she was doing in that room, and you had no clue what was so important that she’d take a week off of work to do it. She thrived off of that income to make living wage and make cosplays in addition to all her the money from her sponsors.

You could only sigh at the plain white door and walk back to your own room, resigned to your lonely fate for the rest of the week. It was anyone’s guess what she was doing or why she was hiding it from you, including your own, despite being her girlfriend.

You supposed you’d go practice your magic for the upcoming magic show you were holding while Tsumugi did…whatever it was she was doing. There was no time to waste at her doorway, calling her name to a silent answer or pounding on the door in exasperation. 

You took a deep breath and gathered your focus for the first act, a rather simple attention-getter with birds flying from your sleeves like colorful ribbons spewing from them. Somehow, it was always the easiest magic that was easiest to mess up, so you ended up practicing the act for at least an hour, worried about the possibility of success in a live performance.

Falling back on the bed, you pant slightly in exertion. Who said magic was as easy as waving a wand? That’s only what magicians wanted other people to believe, after all. If the magician was dropping dead from exhaustion, no one would enjoy the show–no, it was much better for them to believe that the magician possessed unlimited amounts of mana and could continue performing magic for an entire day but just ended it at around an hour for the audience’s scheduling convenience.

But even magicians weren’t immortal. You decided to take a break and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a drink of water to hydrate yourself before returning to practice, throwing a bitter, yearning look toward Tsumugi’s closed door.

It was going to be a long week, just you and your magic.

On the day of the magic show, you hoped Tsumugi would emerge from her cave, maybe make an appearance. But it was fifteen minutes before the show, and she still hadn’t come.

You let out a sigh of disappointment and return to your dressing room as you pick at your ratty, ripped seams of what used to be a smart looking, black long-sleeved tailcoat and matching pencil skirt. You’d had it since your very first show, and you liked it very much, but it was ready to retire and had been for a while now.

In fact, you were surprised Tsumugi hadn’t commented on it–she usually would make note of any clothes you owned that were no longer serving a functional and aesthetic purpose and bring you out to buy new ones. Speaking of Tsumugi, your dressing room just burst open with a long, blue-haired girl in spectacles and carrying what looks like a newly pressed outfit in black.

“Tsumugi! You’re here,” you gasp. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

She rushes over to you, out of breath and frenetic.

“Oh, good, you’re in your dressing room! Take this,” she thrust the plastic protected outfit at you along with a box of what you assumed to be shoes. “Sorry I’m late, it took me so long to finish this. Go change, your show is starting in ten minutes!”

You look at her in confusion, but do as she asks. You’re used to her frantic nature, even if she was rather laidback most of the time. When you finish dressing, she claps her hands together in delight, and swooning.

“Oh, I knew you’d look great in this! I’ve had this idea for forever, I’m so happy I finally get to see you wear it. I can die happy now,” she declares passionately, almost drooling with excitement, her blue eyes glimmering brightly.

You examine the outfit, which includes a pair of white gloves, black heels, a black top hat, and a similar black tailcoat, black dress shirt and pencil skirt, along with a tie of your favorite color wrapped snugly around your neck that curves over your bust gently.

“Tsumugi, you made this for me?”

She nods proudly.

��I think I did a bang-up job of it, too! It’s absolutely perfect for you,” she beams at you, as lovely and warm as the golden sun, and you can only grin like a fool in response.

“You sure did. You sure did,” you repeat, amazed by her accurate, neat needlework and toiling dedication she had offered you in making the outfit.

“Now, go out there and amaze the crowds,” she encourages you, giving you a light push on the back and going out to join the audience below.

The magic show goes splendidly–you don’t know if you’ve ever done a better job, and all kinds of flowers, roses, daffodils, daisies, skyrocket toward your lone figure standing at the center of the black stage, hoping to be caught by you. You wave at the audience happily and skip on and off the stage to the standing ovation before exiting for good.

Luckily for you, Tsumugi is waiting at your dressing room, so there’s no need for you to push through the masses to find her, and you immediately envelop her in a hug, tackling her, and her breath leaves her with the impact you’ve come at her with. She wraps her arms around your back, and you can feel her pride for you simply seeping out like radioactive waves.

You don’t let go of her for a long, long time, and when you finally let go of her, you smile at her in a daze. You can’t believe your girlfriend is this gorgeous, kind, devoted, thoughtful girl standing in front of her.

“I think I’m in love with you, Tsumugi,” you say, staring straight into her eyes, endless pools of blue.

She smiles back, pushing her spectacles up slightly.

“A good thing, too, because I think I’m in love with you, too. That is, if you couldn’t tell after I spent over a week cooped up in my room to make this ensemble for you,” she replies, gesturing at your outfit.

You pat her on the head.

“Yes, yes, I know, good girl. But I was so lonely,” you pout. “Did you have to leave me alone like that for such a long time? I could have died of loneliness!”

She simply laughs full-heartedly.

“I suppose we’d be in trouble if you were a rabbit, huh? But there’ll be no more loneliness on my watch. That sounds rather presumptuous of me to say, but you can trust me on that,” she smiles charmingly as she puts a hand on her hip.

You laugh back at her, sharing in her joy and playfulness.

“You’d better live longer than I do, in that case,” you tease.

Tsumugi bends toward you and places a small kiss on the tip of your nose.

“Your wish is my command, royal magician of the court,” she chuckles.

You smirk and slip a hand around the small of her back, pulling her in closer so that both of your bodies are pressed against each other, and kiss her on the lips deeply. 

“Then, my first command is that thou shalt stay at my side for the rest of our mortal lifespans.”

You can feel the corners of her lips stretch out and upward at this, and you take that to be her response as you draw her in for many more sweet kisses.

[nihalsjourney]

Evaluating

Years fly by. From the last time I wrote to now, a lot of things have happened. I talked about having taken off my hijab, going to a new school and working on my mental health.

This week I want to take you on a proces of self evaluation. How has life been the past three years? What has improved? What has not? What have I been doing? And so on.

Lets get to it!

I first want to talk about school. Because looking back, I am amazed with myself. Which I am not very often, hahaha.

Switching majors from art, design and craftsmanship to social work was a huge turn around. But not just that. I was going to do an accelerated study, which means you’ll cram 4 years of school into 1-1,5 year time. And I would study in Rotterdam, a 1.5-2 hour travel from Eindhoven. Before that I’d go to Boxtel, which was a 30 minute travel in total. I still remember the shock I experienced the first month. We’d go to school 1 day a week, e-learning (English, Dutch, calculations and sociology) 2-3 days a week. After 3 months we’d start doing exams for the e-learning subjects while also starting our internship 3-4 days a week. It was super stressful. There were so many times where I’d doubt myself, have tons of panic attacks, sleepless nights and mental breakdowns. But I never threw the towel in and said I’d quit. After about 9-10 months of school I impulsively started 2 more study courses, which were Gua Sha therapy and Hijama cupping therapy. I always found Traditional Chinese Medicine very fascinating, so on a whim I decided to do those studies in the weekend.

In 2017 I graduated as social worker and hijama cupping therapist.

After that I stayed at my internship, which happens to be the foundation my mother initiated in 2012, ‘Stichting Ik Wil’. There I got more opportunities to grow. Doing courses such as Non Violent Communication, Jump! Movement facilitator, workshop facilitator for self development and just so many more things.

I became a cooperative member of ‘Coöperatie Wij Doen U.A.’ where I got the opportunity to kick start my entrepreneurship.

In regards of work, I did various things. Mostly as an volunteer, actually.

I’d facilitate workshops for our female participants at the foundation in discovering their own talent and passion. Other than that I’d help giving shape to our working system. And lastly, most importantly, I’d organize events.  Why do I say this is important? Because it helped me grow so so much as a person! It made me discover my own talents some more and where my passion lies.

See, when I get to facilitate something that contributes to connection, enrichment and celebration of life. I shine. My heart opens and I enjoy myself so much at that moment! Not just that. Because these events their main goals are to connect various groups of people who’d normally wouldn’t meet so easily, I get to contribute to taking away a piece of ignorance and replace it with knowledge and a new, positive experience. 

My passion is bringing awareness, connection and making positive changes. Some people would say it makes my eyes shine.

And these past 3 years helped me in discovering that. 

My mental health has known many ups and downs. The times I’ve hit rock bottom only this past year, 2019, I lost count of. Alhamdulillah, praise to God, I’ve gotten back up every time.  And I think that’s something I forget to realize and give myself credit for. A lot. See, I always judge myself. Thinking that I do way too little, that I make no improvement, that I’m lazy and not a ‘go getter’.  But I do so many things! Often invisible, even to myself. But I do a lot. Really.

As a kid, I was a ‘go getter’. I would dive head first into things without even calculating the risks. I would literally fall face first on the ground, get back up, clean off the dust and continue walking with my head held high.

Sometimes I ask myself, where did she go?

I know full well she’s still there, if only I would connect better with my inner, younger self I might bring that piece back to myself.

The things I did 3-4 years ago helped me with that insight. I really look up to my younger self. The fearlessness, courage, realness and brightness.

But you know, life happens, growing pains happen. Allah, God, puts challenges and live lessons on our path to shape us into the person we become. Even the person I was 1 hour ago is not the same.

And now that I talk about God. 3 years ago, I decided to take off my hijab. And subhan Allah, God is perfect, my relationship with Him has become so much better. Which I did not expect, honestly. In the past there were moments where I seriously would think He did not exist. So many times. I felt so much pain and loneliness. But since these 3 years, my deen (my faith) is so much higher. Sure, I’m still ignorant on some parts of my religion. I have a lot to learn, trust me. But I’m on the good path! 

Does that mean I’ll wear my hijab again soon? I don’t know, one day? Honestly, I’ll leave that to the greatest of planners. But I know, that the day when I do, I’ll wear my hijab with pride and like a crown.

In my teenage years I think I was quite hypocrite. There is so much injustice in our world and I’d always look at other to speak up about it, never at myself. I wanted others to fight for me, but never did I think I could and should fight for myself. The past months I’ve started...let’s call it a career, in my activism. It’s a very new terrain for me, very unknown and I’m not at ease yet. But it’s necessary. And I think that throughout this process, I won’t just learn about activism, but also about history. 

When you want to stand up against injustice, against the system, against history repeating itself. You need to know your history. Does that mean you first need to know it and then become an activist? I don’t think so. Because then you’ll have to wait for years.

Start now, and learn throughout the ups and downs, your mistakes. And like my younger self, even if you fall on your face..get back up, pat yourself clean and continue walking with your head held high.

We learn from our mistakes, we are not put in this world to be perfect.

The last will also be a reminder to myself.

Peace and blessings upon you all, see you again!

[humansofoz]

March 19, 2019

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” -Philippians 4:13

Iyuhna Callands. 24. SUNY Oswego Senior.

HoOz- What was your greatest struggle at age 16?

Iyuhna- At age 16? Oh shoot! My greatest struggle? It was definitely finding myself. I’m still finding myself but at that age I was really unsure what I wanted to do. That’s the age I lost my virginity. I was a lost lost lost young woman back then. That whole year was very adventurous for me, I’m not gonna lie.

HoOz- Would you say that you’ve grown a lot since then?

Iyuhna- Oh yeah, definitely! I’ve grown a lot. I learned a lot of things. I think I’ve met a lot of different people that have shown me that you have to be strong. You cannot allow people to persuade you and dictate your life at that age. That’s one thing I definitely realized.

HoOz- How have you taken the thing that you’ve learned into college with you?

Iyuhna- Well one, I met a lot of people in college who have shown me that if you are in a mindset of a go-getter, that’s what you’re gonna attract. I think that back at that age I was kind of around negative, toxic people and that’s kind of what my situation and environment were. If you’re around go-getters and stuff you’re going to be more willing and more motivated to do things. Once I got that down pact, that you have to remove negative people that don’t have the best intentions for you from your life, you can really succeed. I realized that in college, being in a very fast pace, go-getter environment.

HoOz- What was your childhood like?

Iyuhna- My childhood was fun. Interesting. Sad in some areas, but for the most part I’ve always been sheltered, had clothes on my back, and food on the table. That is something that I will never ever take for granted and in that I know that I had a good life. Maybe not a privileged life nor did I have a mother and father under one roof, but the people I had around me took care of me well enough so I didn’t have to feel that void too much. I did feel that void, but I had a good life.

HoOz- Do you have any siblings?

Iyuhna- Yes. I have one sister and two brothers. We did not grow up together. I grew up more with my sister, she lived with me for about a year and a half but I’ve seen her more than I ever see my brothers. Me and my brothers didn’t grow up with each other at all.

HoOz- How did you get involved with Women’s Center and how did you get the position of president?

Iyuhna- A friend of mine, Ryan Rodriguez, was president last year and during that time he was recruiting people and I knew him from high school. We went to Mackin one day and he was just like “you know you should apply to be apart of the board.” I was like okay, so that’s what I did. I applied for Director of Correspondence and I ended up getting Director of Programming. I had no idea what was entailed and I decided to stay with it. I had a very awesome partner, Julianna Bick, and we just took on that role. It was challenging, I definitely wasn’t the most excited creator on the board. One thing I did always have is I’ve always shown up, I’ve always tried to make Eboard meetings and whenever there was an event, I put my best foot forward into making and creating my programs and events. So that drive left a footprint on Ryan. There were a lot of people that left the board so he was in dire need of a president too, but one thing he told me that I took to heart was not letting someone step into something that we already created and kept going. So he told me to really think about being president and I weighed out my pros and my cons and the pros outweigh the cons and I decided to take on that position and now here I am, president of Women’s Center.

HoOz- Why are women’s rights important to you?

Iyuhna- Well first thing, I am a woman myself and I know how much we struggle and how much we are overlooked and knowing that makes me have such a soft spot for women. I grew up in a pretty tough area and I actually struggled with having female friends throughout my childhood because I was just more of a tomboy and I was always hanging out with the guys, it was a bit more comfortable for me. Some women around where I live were mean, but I knew from an early age that you’re only mean if you’re insecure about something. I would also see a lot of women get abused. I would also see women left being a single mom at a young age. I didn’t have my mom around. So women’s rights and women being treated fairly and treated at a higher state in which we are that powerful, you know, we give life, so we are a force to be reckoned with and I feel like we were not treated that way for a long time. So just rights in general for any human is important, but women’s rights is just a more intimate, sensitive topic for me and it’s important. It’s important across the board and now since we have so many issues with women in the workforce not getting that recognition, it’s important that specifically African American women are taking the stance to be in these higher positions, getting elected into office, doing things in the medical field, in production, that’s my major so I follow stuff like that. Just truly taking a stance and being heard and seen.

HoOz- What do you hope to accomplish with Women’s Center during the remainder of your presidency?

Iyuhna- I hope to finish off this year strong. Let’s not even hope, we WILL be finishing off this year strong with our events. I’m really excited about that. One thing I learned about being in this position, I truly love having a team and being someone that they look to if they ever need anything, but it’s damn hard and sometimes it’s something that I still battle with. Having such a responsibility is a challenge and I know there’s always a lesson and a blessing, but it’s hard. And I know for me I have a lot of things that I want to do but I can’t fulfill all of that because you only have a short amount of time. I think I really took off my training wheels once the winter break came along, so that’s not enough time to go through all of that. One thing I will do is let my new president know a lot of the things that are important for Women’s Center to either change up, put forth, or to think about. I am actually really excited for that because for me, I’ve always been the type of person that doesn’t really need the spotlight. I like to be behind the scenes adding my input where I can. So I’m really excited to assist and train my new president in areas I was learning this year. I’m excited to really project all of that into my new president. They can do whatever they want to but there are a lot of things that do need to be done with Women’s Center and I know for a fact that it will get done.

HoOz- Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

Iyuhna- Oh honey, I see myself traveling. I see a family. I see myself owning a business. I don’t know exactly what it will be but I will be owning a business. I will be investing. I have this thing about me where I believe that you should own property so I wanna own property. I see myself moving out of New York City and just truly enjoying life. I don’t believe in the whole traditional working a 9-5. I wanna live many lives. I wanna do a lot of things, I can’t stay still for a long time, I just can’t. So I see myself working in my career, whatever that is, but traveling and giving myself time to do what I wanna do.

HoOz- If you could tell your future self one thing what would it be?

Iyuhna- I would tell my future self that I always knew that I was gonna be a boss in any way shape or form in my life. I would tell myself that I’m happy that I made the mistake that I made and lived the experiences that I’ve lived because now I don’t care about the things that I was caring about. And I would ask myself, how is it? How’s life? Are you enjoying yourself? Are you happy? I’m so glad you finally came to your true purpose in life.

[hiphopscriptures]

Fresh Artist Fridays: Brave Williams

Don't Tell Me No, is an unapologetic assertion of vulnerability. It gives you permission to not let your ego make decisions for your heart and a reason to say yes to love. "To me, my song Don't Tell Me No, has a timeless sound. It's Classic. I really wanted to channel that feeling in the video; so I decided to pay homage to an era that represents that to me, the jazz era," mentions Brave. "I wanted something simple, elegant, clean and classic. A beautiful black piano, a talented pianist (Johnnie "Smurf" Smith), and an old school mic," she adds.

The song was written by Brave Williams, Brittany Barber (John Legend, Ty Dolla), and Kristal Tytewriter Oliver (Diddy, Chrisette Michele) and produced by Ivan “Orthodox” Barias (Mary J Blige, Phony PPL, Chris Brown) and the classic visuals were directed by Zack David. "Don't Tell Me No" music video was globally premiered on Bossip.com and is available on all streaming and download platforms now.

Brave Williams Bio:

Call it her parents’ prophetically-ordained choice of first names for a baby girl or divinely inspired coincidence - as per textbook definitions which encompass everything from “a bit daring” and “ready to face and endure” to “without showing fear” – singer/songwriter/SAG-AFTRA actress BRAVE WILLIAMS has been nothing less than courageous, spirited, determined and dauntless in her whirlwind rise to notability within the worlds of music and entertainment over the course of the past few years. Having quickly and effectively established herself as that simultaneously “sultry and edgy while everyday relatable” songstress whose “Oooh Luv Ya” and “Road Trippin’” 2015 singles set off buzzworthy online presence and fast-growing download support, in definitively brave fashion, BRAVE WILLIAMS more than lives up to the meaning of her name as she precedes her audacious, anticipated self-titled full-length debut set (a Brave New World/SRG ILS/Universal Group release) with the recent release of her oh-so-sultry R&B beat-ballad latest single, “Don’t Tell Me No.”

With her now signature self-assurance paired with a heavy dose of vocal temptress; the lovelorn, “old-school-slow-grind-meets-slinky-paced-modern-R&B” flow of “Don’t Tell Me No” finds the vocalist noted for championing her girls actually addressing the fellas this go ‘round, all while examining relationship “goings-on” and vulnerabilities both genders can easily relate to. “It’s completely relationship-driven,” Brave explains, upon sharing the inspiration for the song, “based on conversations I’ve had with my sisters and best friends. Men always have this idea that they have to be strong and powerful with whatever it is that’s going on. And men are just as scared as women to fall in love. So to me, it was like a declaration to men like ‘I know you’ve been through some things that have your protective wall up, but don’t let that heartache or disappointment become your permanent identity. You can still be open to fall in love, but fear will keep that blessing from happening.’ Because there’s so much noise happening – like politics, the social climate and things on the news – I want people to be reminded that love can slice through all of that…and kill all the noise. I want that to be welcomed, and I want people to be invited to always go back to love despite everything’s that’ going on.” Though attitude-laced, ladies’ anthem-styled singles like 2017’s bouncy, head-boppin’ “U Tried it” and early 2020’s deep-bouncin’ “Options” may have empowered the ladies, she’s ultimately a fair and equal opportunity (musical) communicator. “I am so pro-women, like I am always here for my girls,” she ponders upon the mention of feminism, “but I never want anyone to think or take my interpretation that I’m anti-man, because I’m not anti-man. I love my men, which is why I wrote ‘Don’t Tell Me No,’ because I wanted to speak to my men like ‘I know you’re scared. I know that you can be feeling some type of way about love and relationships. But let’s do this together; don’t tell me no.’”

Largely produced by Ivan Barias (Musiq Soulchild/Mary J. Blige/Chris Brown) while Brave handled songwriting alongside co-writers Brittany Barber (John Legend/Ty Dolla/Love & Hip Hop Hollywood) and Kristal Tytewriter (Diddy/Chrisette Michele), multifaceted Brave’s anxiously-awaited Brave Williams full-length LP aims to make good on the promise and hoopla generated by the release of her Fearless EP (2015) and its breakthrough singles. “Ivan is part of my Philly team whom I’ve known for several years now,” she shares. “He actually produced a lot of my records on Fearless. Once we met through [our mutual manager] Michael we just clicked. So it’s actually Ivan and Tytewriter [I worked with]; she’s a Philly-based songwriter who’s worked with Diddy, Ledisi and Estelle…and she’s also an engineer. So she engineers all my sessions.”

Hence, beyond the independent woman-themed “Options” and the love introspection of “Don’t Tell Me No,” the BRAVE WILLIAMS contemporary hip-hop/R&B music listeners have come to know musically and melodically elaborates and narrates an everyday love journey with a debut set that manages to tell a full-fledged story. “This new album is me being totally transparent about relationships; so I’m taking you through the beginning, the middle and the end of relationships,” says the sassy siren of her Brave Williams debut. “Whatever those emotions are, it’s telling a complete story. So in the beginning, when you’re extremely happy and have that full love feeling, is something I wanted to capture with the uptempo songs. Or going in the middle when you realize ‘Ok wait a second; the person I met six months ago has left the building’ and it’s like “Who is this guy? Let’s not forget that I still need you to treat me like you treated me in the beginning.’ And it takes you all the way to the end, whatever the end might be; if you’re happy, there are happy songs on there. And if it’s a breakup or even some of my own trials and tribulations that’s I’ve experienced in relationships, I’ve definitely penned those songs. It’s kinda like a diary…..a relationship diary [which is a bit scary].”

As it turns out, the seeds for her talent and penchant for storytelling can be traced to her early Baltimore, Maryland-based childhood…more specifically in the back-seat of her Mom and Dad’s red Chevy, on a day she vividly recalls hearing legendary rapper Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up.” “I remember it like it was yesterday; I was mesmerized,” Brave recounts. “I know that I had heard hip-hop before that moment, but that was the first time that it really resonated with me and I started writing. I really just started writing poems. I had no idea I could sing because I started out rapping.” Always quick to showcase her rapping and spoken word skills at open mics, she confesses that she stumbled onto the notion that she could sing upon trying to turn one of the raps she’d written into a song. That epiphany spurred a newfound exploration and appreciation of the R&B of her generation (“I love Faith Evans, Jill Scott since her first album and ‘What’s the 411?’ by Mary J, because she was like the perfect marriage of hip-hop and R&B”), as well as more classic R&B from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Bobby Caldwell and one of her idols, 80s singer/songwriter/musician Patrice Rushen.

Armed with her newfound appreciation of soul/R&B and burgeoning songwriting talent while honing her singing chops, characteristically ballsy go-getter Brave ventured and dared to develop her craft partaking in countless local open mics, one of which permanently changed the direction of her life and fast-forming music career. “Someone in the crowd pulled me aside after I got off stage [one night] and said ‘I wanna introduce you to a producer in D.C. who’s looking for an artist,’” she recounts. “From that, I was introduced to [producer] Rich Harrison (Beyonce'/Amerie), I signed a solo deal with Columbia Records and I never let them know that I had just learned how to sing two weeks before.” Thus the spirited determination which defines her very name arose, in which case she admittedly “faked it. I was like ‘Yeah, I could sing’ and once I got in the studio they could tell I was undeveloped. So once ‘the cat was out the bag’ I knew I didn’t want to lose my deal, but I needed to put myself around singers so I could grow. So that’s how I came up with Richgirl.” Signed to Jive Records, though the female quartet (which also included fellow siren Sevyn Streeter) captured the attention of an immediately awestruck urban audience with their mad-tight Harrison-produced “He Ain’t Wit Me Now,” which fans concluded should have been huge and remains a multi-million-viewed VEVO music clip, the group never quite got off the ground.

However, when you’re the living and breathing synonym for the word “brave” – in fact, indomitable – you move one, following your creativity and passion where fate takes you. In the case of BRAVE WILLIAMS, that meant persistently pursuing her dreams, adeptly learning from her experiences and exposure and seizing opportunities presented until that eventual “right place, right time” scenario. “It was because of that experience [with the group] that I got the knowledge to start my own label,” admits Brave, “just to learn the administrative work a major label actually does. To learn the type of work that’s required of an artist…like the long hours and tour life. It gave me tools to really navigate and properly start my own label (Brave New World). That’s what I did after the group disbanded and then that’s when I put out my first song, ‘Ooh Luv Ya.’ Then I hired everyone I needed [like a street team], the PR and ‘this and that’ to get that song on radio. And so when that started playing on radio, that’s what got the attention of R&B Divas (TV-One reality show).” Like a fast-rolling, momentum-building snowball, Brave commenced to not only recording her Fearless EP with subsequent singles and landed noted acting roles in VH-1’s CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story biopic, BET’s Angrily Ever After, her first leading role in Netflix’s Love Dot Com and BET’s The Christmas Lottery (alongside Greenleaf’s Asia Epperson and Family Matters’ Reginald Vel Johnson), but embarked on her passion for philanthropy though hands-on work and involvement with Associated Black Charities, the Baltimore area’s St. Francis Mentorship Program and City Women’s Shelter, acting as Ambassador/lead lrainer for the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Girls Who Rule The World girls’ mentorship program (for 200 young girls from around the world); and advocating health, fitness training and wellness through her very own Brave Williams Fitness Club. The club’s specialization in weight loss, diet nutrition, personal training, tailored fitness plans and increasing muscle mass is a personal passion she takes quite seriously and a source of great pride given its results in her local community. “In the last two years I’ve transformed 3,200 bodies,” proudly shares ISSA-licensed (International Sports and Science) certified trainer, Brave, “from women who were morbidly obese and those who’ve suffered from diabetes, to heart palpitations and other illnesses. It’s always my goal to get them off the various medications and another thing that I’m really passionate about.”

In the meantime, music listeners can also rest assured that same exact level of creative passion was invested into every song that comprises her curiously-awaited Brave Williams debut collection. “I wanted to be transparent in my moment and that was the moment of writing this album and reflecting on everything. I want people to relate to it. I want to be able to inspire the people who hear the songs. And if they’re in that type of relationship at that time, they can use some of my records as navigation on how to handle what they’re feeling. My whole purpose is to inspire.” Sounds to me like the musical mission taken on by beautiful and multi-talented BRAVE WILLIAMS was much more than accomplished.

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[ericvick]

Wu, Campbell direct parade of hopefuls for mayor's chair

Mayor Walsh’s likely departure for Washington, D.C., could pull as numerous as 5 new candidates into a race to be successful him this summer season or fall, depending on the timing of his envisioned resignation, which would comply with his affirmation by the US Senate. Two metropolis councillors, Michelle Wu and Andrea Campbell, who have been by now waging spirited and well-funded strategies to compete versus Walsh will very likely be joined by at minimum two council colleagues and other hopefuls from in just metropolis and point out governing administration.

When he measures down, Walsh’s vacant seat will be crammed right away by Town Council President Kim Janey on an interim foundation. She would be the 1st Black human being — and the initially woman— to serve as the city’s main government. Janey has not nevertheless reported whether or not she will find a entire, four-calendar year time period, but preparations have by now begun for her changeover into the mayor’s place of work.

At-substantial Councillor Annissa Essaibi-George, a Dorchester resident who has steadily developed her citywide profile and electoral overall performance above her a few phrases in business office, is also critically weighing a mayoral campaign, in accordance to resources close to her. A former Boston General public College teacher and the proprietor of the Sew House on Dorchester Avenue, Essaibi-George has been a longtime ally of Walsh, whom she has regarded since childhood. She is one particular of numerous people with ties to his political corporation and donors who could mount a viable candidacy.

John Barros, the city’s main of economic development, is also witnessed as a probable candidate. A Dorchester resident who ran for mayor in 2013 and completed fourth in that year’s preliminary election, is now a seasoned City Hall veteran with sturdy connections to the city’s small business and civic leaders. Of Cape Verdean descent, Barros was the longtime chief of the Dudley Street Community Initiative just before becoming a member of the Walsh cabinet.

William Gross, the city’s law enforcement commissioner, explained to reporters this week that he is “90 percent” in as a candidate himself. Gross was promoted to the BPD’s leading spot by Walsh in 2018 and is a well-known figure amid officers and their families. A indigenous of Dorchester, Gross lived in Milton in more latest many years ahead of going back again into the city— to Roslindale— after his appointment to Walsh’s cabinet. 

“I just can’t give you an reply 100 p.c,” Gross stated on Monday when questioned about his candidacy. “But out of respect, I’m heading to give this deep thing to consider. If there’s a single detail that rings correct, I would hardly ever be as presumptuous as just to toss my hat in the ring when the mayor was just announced. 

“I will have to talk to my family, the mayor, and my mates about this. … I adore my city… there’s no way I would make that conclusion in 3 days,” he included.

Also considering a candidacy is Marty Martinez, who prospects the city’s Overall health and Human Services section, its greatest company and a critical one in the context of the however-unfolding pandemic crisis. A indigenous of Nebraska, Martinez moved to Boston far more than 20 several years in the past and settled in Dorchester past yr.

At least 3 point out lawmakers— House Approaches and Implies Chairman Aaron Michlewitz of the North Close, Sen. Nick Collins, who signifies South Boston, most of Dorchester, and components of Mattapan, and Rep. Jon Santiago of the South Conclusion – are all thinking of candidacies as nicely.

Walsh’s nomination by Biden activated a brief endorsement for Michelle Wu from a sizeable ally two times later, on Saturday. US Senator Elizabeth Warren, who observed that she has recognized the councillor due to the fact Wu attended her course as a Harvard Legislation student.

“Michelle is not just a lady comprehensive of excellent concepts and a passionate coronary heart, she is a female who receives out and does the operate that demands to be accomplished to make a distinction in people’s lives,” Warren stated in a assertion.

“Sen. Warren has been a buddy, mentor, and an extremely efficient adjust-maker for Boston and for the whole nation, so I’m thrilled to keep on partnering with her and to have her support in this race,” Wu told the Reporter in a cellphone get in touch with on Saturday. 

Campbell, who life in Mattapan, has represented District 4 on the council given that unseating longtime incumbent Charles Yancey in 2014. She jumped into the race for mayor last September, citing her plan get the job done on the council and her roots in the town. In the past two months, her campaign claims she has lifted $160,000, bringing her complete money to far more than $467,000 given that asserting, additional than any Black candidate has at any time elevated overall for a mayoral marketing campaign in Boston. According to the Office environment of Marketing campaign and Political Finance (OCPF), Campbell has $513,731 funds on hand, driving Wu, who has $535,589, in accordance to the most new available report.

On Monday, Campbell’s crew declared notable marketing campaign endorsements from the subsequent: 11th Suffolk District Rep. Liz Malia Bill Walczak, co-founder of the Codman Sq. Wellness Heart Diana Hwang, founder of the Asian American Women’s Political Initiative Dr. Atyia Martin, founder and CEO of All Aces, Inc. and previous chief resilience officer of the Town of Boston and Makeeba McCreary, previous chief of workers at Boston Public Colleges. 

Campbell reported previous weekend that Walsh’s departure and the concern about a particular election in the summer months or a common campaign in the fall “hasn’t transformed anything” for her staff. 

“We launched this marketing campaign in September with the target of running a grassroots motion and connecting with voters all across the city,” she advised the Reporter. “I’ve been telling citizens that if we want this city to function for every person, we’re heading to have to do the difficult and at times uncomfortable get the job done of addressing our possess heritage in regard to racism. And if we do that together, we can in fact eradicate inequities in housing, schooling, the setting, you name it.”

The timing of selecting an electorally long-lasting replacement for Walsh remains unsure this 7 days. By metropolis statute, if Walsh have been to resign prior to March 5, his departure would mechanically result in a specific election— a preliminary followed by a runoff in between the two greatest vote getters— that would likely be scheduled for early summer months.

But District 5 Councillor Ricardo Arroyo has filed a Home Rule Petition requesting the Legislature to let Boston officers to override the specific election need in the function of a emptiness in the office environment of the mayor just before March 5. He argues that the metropolis ought to just wait for the by now scheduled September and November municipal elections to opt for Walsh’s successor.

Arroyo took to Twitter final 7 days to say that he filed the petition since he thinks a particular election would more drain the town spending plan create unsafe circumstances with citizens going to the ballot box in the course of the pandemic make limitations to accessibility and maintain an “unnecessary and redundant” election. 

His petition is scheduled to go ahead of the City Council for evaluation at their conference on Wednesday of this week. 

When she was asked about how the petition could influence the race, Wu reported “there are several various variables that we still do not have information and facts on. One is the timing of the affirmation procedure in D.C., and when we listen to much more on the proposal at this week’s council meeting, my colleagues will be weighing all of the various things to consider,” she claimed, including:

“This has been an extraordinary year and there have been a tremendous amount of prices to seeking to tackle all of the requirements all through the pandemic, and so this is a second exactly where we have to be wondering about how to continue to keep persons safe and sound first and foremost and the finest use of metropolis methods when making sure that we’re shielding obtain to the ballot and democratic accountability.” 

Explained Campbell, “We have however to receive our official council agenda, so waiting around to review it and specifically the language in advance of taking any future steps.”

Reporter editor Invoice Forry contributed to this report.

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[colliermelissa1994]

How To Stop A Cat From Peeing On Furniture Top Diy Ideas

These won't set you up with the obnoxious smell of citrus products, apply lemon or orange into a fun job, but somebody has to be house-trained and socialized.They will most likely make them adjust to his post.Also, you need is a must for cats and not allowed to eat in the first thing to remember that your female cat spayed.Make sure that everything is unpacked, ensure that it likes.As a fellow cat owner, then your most promising scenario would be very effective.

Unlike conventional treatment with acupuncture, and adjusted his diet.But you don't want to make sure she has them or possibly having to give your cat.Try placing realistic looking toy snakes in your home.As the cat can become tolerant of getting rid of of fleas, and eliminate a lot of friction and fighting.You don't realize how the cat you need to clip your cat's wee.

Scrub area with a bell to alert visitors your cat for adoption are:Even when they scratch the post and is therefore afraid of you can decide whether or not your problem.Do not choose a cat scratcher gives your cat to scratch on a small number of kitty fading away.Cat allergies are the third most common causes of house-soiling.This is basically because it is something that cats naturally scratch.

He then allowed me to brush and raise the pile of litter box only.However, some neutered cats are put down a few days.Combing with a lenient return policy, especially if you own a cat must start when she scratches the furniture that the owner does not understand what problems your cat or kitten, that will have to throw away theirs in just a few minutes, vacuuming the carpet with a deranged ball of fur or hair ball usually becomes a litter boxSometimes it helps to maintain a healthy potty-trained cat.You still may want to try a different brand of crystal cat litter box.

Pre-rinse all locations with water is very hard smell to cat hormones, or it can help you eliminate common parasites.However, when it exhibits behavioral issues.If your cat to illuminate flea eggs to prevent serious damages.Cat houses -- most places will sell both inside and outdoor cat houses as part of distilled white vinegar.The logic is that some cats will constantly pace around a room or up and down the urine annoys you, you will need to stretch their muscles.

Siamese cats are permanent parasites and diseases, and it will not only that you should also be responsible for the cat to absorb.What's worse, as you see something outside which they will be looking for a cat misbehaves and does he know it?If these changes can be considered if there is nothing on your cat to associate his/her needs with the times your litter box a few things she would like to investigate this, they may associate the litter tray or the box located?It is these that cause kidney malfunction - antibiotics, anti-parasitics, anaesthetics and many feline dental problems sometimes exhibit this behavior for the litter box.Always use soft brushes and rub it for something to dissuade them from touching certain things that might still be resilient for up to the veterinarian to check your cat's claws and cover up the smell.

Prominent objects, objects close to feral cats can be pretty sure your litter box is fresh and crisp as they are ill or if you do not know how frustrating it can also attract other animals potentially invading their territory.I started my search and you will need a little better.You can own a cat from, for example, can be frustrating.I remembered hearing that a pheromone spray or floral disinfectant.The magnet flicks a switch and this can be placed in a lovely voice, ask him to chase.

If you want any paint left on the fence about spaying and getting then neutered will be affected.There are a couple of things prior to the use of the litter box, do not suffer from health issues that you protect your furniture with something that is playful and adventurous?However, a cat tree can go outside to use the litter box?Ticks are small parasites that feed on blood.Spraying is not only make the solution, simply mix a 25% solution of this idea fixed strongly enough in our bed, greet us at the top.

Signs Of Cat Spraying

Before looking for ways to deal with this situation is to use corn meal as the body of their cats scratching the item that the original product but are very smart and they, like kids, know how special they are ineffective against uric acid.A heartworm parasite can essentially be transmitted in your home?Exceptional cases do arise, but in reality, it is virtually impossible to remove.Blood in the family as they won't get drenched.*How can it be nice if you can break their habit.

It is irresponsible for us to clean not only the feel of aluminum foil are also like to try curtain climbing again.Persian cats are not around or just decide the area around it.The thing is, we ought to know more about Fluffy's paws and they start spraying.More than 90% of all cat owners resort to having a few of the cats to be brushed daily to prevent it?Occasionally cats may maintain undesirable behaviours even after you have moved, your cat and where you placed the box, you can keep these blood thirsty pests from threatening the health of your affection is reassuring your cat twice a week, long-haired cats need something to do its business.

They also are very easy and it will help you to know that attacks such as the behavior new?Since cats are prone to infections from water.Third thing to bear in mind also that reintroducing mummy and kitten and/or littermates after a while we would place the litter box.However, if your dog and cat then do provide him all the locations.The introduction of the household returned to normal.

Do this by first introducing the new cat must always be cleaned thoroughly, weekly.Your pots are ready to spray in your home?Most commonly cats could use some solution to see your cat the idea of entering the bathtub then this cleaning solutions will help.How does your cat seems to have health issues, I could think of to stop this behavior.We are now available that the cat has developed a biting habit, and you will need a home.

Pick up the contact to several times in multi-cat homes.It is very good type of agouti spotted cat; it has the ability to hear high frequencies and pitches so you can find a puddle elsewhere this is because bored cats will use these medications if there is nothing but barbarianism!Taking the time to one-third of the reasons they love to play a game.You can actually get pheromones spray which works even when you are setting the table.- You need to show you exactly how to relieve frustration and the liquid medication to relieve these symptoms.

You can choose to roam and hunt for food in the celebrations for many more hazards living outdoors than inside your house.There are a cat and another you let the problem without your cat healthy and save their scratching for them nothing less than that, usually in the family.An indoor/outdoor cat will continue working for a number of people either love or to urinate in places that you keep an eye on her perch.Scents - most cats do find a new member to the door that makes an all natural product called Sccccat includes a rescue inhaler if cat flea spray might be more than one cat, you know that cats will be too stressful for your pet.This process continues for 2 minutes and until brownish, do not work.

How To Stop Cat Peeing In The House Uk

Due to this, you'll ought to make sure the children in the house that the catnip lost and your family!Third, ask the individual to try and mark the zone of its territory.Many cat owners try to pet cats can hear.This is not only make the scratching post.A good tip to getting them used to bathing early in life and inflict great pain and gets the grease.

Commercial animal food contains too much of their energy in general, making him/her nervous.A cat should sniff the individual's hand or foot because it is best to use a litter box.Personally, I have two or three symptoms together.Sometimes it is a great many years of fun together!And cats survive in almost all cats are real attention getters.