#so ... to my minimal amount of followers who have absolutely forgotten about this blog since then....hello again

[kinaaaard]

hmmmm. maybe im back

[astralescent]

Art credit [x]

I confess this is long overdue, I said years ago I would do one for 300, then 400, and when I got to 500 I barely had the time to think about it before I was at 550... anyway, you get the idea. I don’t know where you guys keep coming from, but man am I glad to see you. It’s thanks to all of you this blog is still kicking well into its third year and I’m honestly so thankful this blue prince can still instigate some interest.

There are some people I want to give a special shout-out to, however, because they keep me motivated to get online every day and do what I do more than most. 

@ofimitations / @windsadept / @felinae / @birdballads / @larchangele​ ; This is probably getting repetitive at this point, but you still deserve a mention more than anyone else. You were there long before this journey started and I hope you’ll be there long after. I still very much admire how well you can grasp the characterization of any muse you dare pick up and, of course, your talent for art. Hopefully you keep sharing those with me for many more years to come. You’ve been the greatest friend I could have hoped for and a reliable enabler, supporter and reminder that someone somewhere does enjoy the effort I put into this character - on top of being an outstanding roleplay partner and writer. Together we ride -- and that’s an understatement.

@radiantxhero ; you were the first person I met through this blog and definitely the one to have the biggest influence on it. On day one, we had an immediate connection both ooc and through roleplay, and I knew I could count on you to push my writing and characterization to the next level. I was right in the sense that there’s little I haven’t done with you. Our muses have come much farther together than I had ever expected them to, and I’ve found a friend I know I can always confide in and who will never give up on me, no matter what.

@miracleblossom​ ; you let me into your sanctuary, quite literally, and that’s something I’ll never stop being thankful for. Not only is it the side of this community I like best, but you also turned out to be a very good friend, and I love getting to geek out over games and movies with you - as scarce as it is nowadays. I’ll never forget the early botw days, or our few movie nights, and you’ll always be one of the best things that happened to this community in my opinion - no matter how sparse your activity becomes.

@caraidean​ ; you honestly restored my faith in multi-muse blogs. It’s so refreshing to see someone who’s so dedicated in developing them based on canon rather than collecting them for the heck of it, and to have them all be treated with the same amount of effort. It’s admirable, really, how well you manage to do them all justice, on top of being an excellent partner in general when it comes to plotting and writing long, relevant threads. I hope you stick around for a bit because I’m so excited for the couple of things we have planned. I’m definitely glad I found you and hopefully I can live up to your expectations.

@bladeoath ; I haven’t forgotten you and all you’ve done for me when I was first getting into this blog; pushing me to live up to your writing but also encouraging and reassuring me regarding my first language handicap. You more than anyone taught me to keep my head up and just do what I love no matter if it pleases other people, and I’ll never forget that. You can disappear for months and keep switching blogs but you’ll always be my Lucina, and you’ll always be my friend.

@recklessmoon​ / @galdrxr​ ; we may not see much of you these days but I still love your muses and your writing to bits, and it’s always a treat when you show up in the server on discord. I hope you’re doing well and I that we can see more of you sooner than later.

@pueravem​ / @absolutely-peachy​ ; our interactions may be kept to a minimum but you’re still one of the first Smash blogs that stuck out to me as someone that was here to stay, and I don’t forget people who reached out to me when I was at my lowest. I know real life can get in the way, but you’re truly one of the most positive presences in the community and I hope you’ll continue to be for a while.

@madkingtrashking​ ; I know you’re probably very aware of this at this point, but you are such a refreshing presence on the dash, the way you care about your muse despite how most people feel about him is admirable, and you deserve more recognition for the work you put into him.

@naglfcr / @delleal​ ; I may have only found you recently but I love how you go about portraying your muses. I can easily agree with how you think of them for the most part, and I very much enjoy your interventions on discord.

@dawnpriiestess​ ; I fell in love with your Micaiah instantly - though I believe I already told you that, so things could only get better when you joined the chat and I got to see you were a really cool and creative person on top of a good writer. Here’s to hoping you stay with us for a bit, I really like having you around.

@radiantwill​ ; a weird egg, but a good one. I already told you how much I love your portrayal of Ike, but I should also point out the intensity and sincerity with which you write is just as phenomenal. I’ve found in you a very relatable roleplayer and person, too, and I can’t wait to get started on those few shenanigans we talked about.

@clericallis​ ; we’ve barely scratched the surface of our first thread, but I can already tell I love how much you care for your muse. It shows in your writing, but also in the way you speak of him, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of both.

@valflame​ ; my biggest regret is admittedly not clicking that follow button earlier; I absolutely adore how you don’t back down from situations where your muse’s more ‘negative’ qualities need to be put forward. It’s amazing to finally see someone bold enough to portray a villain in all their flaws and complexity instead of shying away and caring only about making him them look good. I hope neither of you ever lose that fire, and that I’ll still be here to see it for some time. I know you get this a lot, but if anyone in this fandom makes me want to play fe4, it’s you.

@heroismdreams ; you’re doing amazing sweetie. honestly, you deserve all the love and attention coming your way, your cynthia is incredible. I can safely say this is the best second gen portrayal I’ve seen since leaving the fe13 community, and I love how sincere your writing is and how willing you are to reach out to the FE community beyond Awakening.

@ardent-lux​ ; our interactions have been minimal up to this point, but it’s still a treat to be following you and to see you on the dash. You’re both an impressive artist and a talented writer, and you have one of the best developed OCs I’ve had the privilege to see on this website. 

@daein-liberation​ ; you deserve a shout-out if only because the Dawn Brigade deserves more development and appreciation, and I’m glad you’re providing that for us, and doing so with great accuracy, at least from what I’ve observed. I also enjoy how interactive you can be - it really brings the dash to life which I was missing before I found you.

@tikiwiki​ ; I don’t care how long you’re away or that you may never return, you’ll always be my Tiki and I will never stop hoping you’ll be back.

[rissaroundtheworld]

Zen and the Art of Boat Maintenance: A life update which does not include too many feelings

Its been a bit since my last blog post, but I have an excuse! Two actually. The first is that I have been VERY busy, until I stopped being busy, and then I was VERY lazy. The second is that a few weeks ago marked my travel-aversary. A whole year gone! I began to write a blog post full of all kinds of feelings on the matter - I wrote more than two full pages, single spaced, to be exact. It was about how my life had taken all kinds of unexpected turns, how grateful I am to have been able to create a new, better path for myself in life, and all the things that I gained by losing my former life. And before you ask, yes, I am aware that I’m starting this post with atrocious grammar. See what I said earlier about my laziness? Its real.

I wrote two pages, stopped because I was tired or had to do something or got bored, and then couldn’t bring myself to go back to it. Maybe I’ll revisit it one day, but here’s the summary: life was really shitty for awhile, I made a huge and terrifying decision to leave a year ago, it was (very) difficult at times but I learned a lot about myself and about the world and its the best thing I have ever done. And now I’m more self-actualized or whatever and I have better stories. Therapy would have been cheaper but man this has been more fun!

So, in lieu of my feelings-y post, I have decided to write a regular old life update to the tune of my normal posts: nonsensical, with minimal feelings. A true reflection on how I’m trying to live my life!

My last post ended with the conclusion of an incredibly fun charter, followed by the hand (boat) delivery of ice cream cartons from the Kunas. Could life possibly get better? Spoiler alert: it did. Since then we’ve had several more charters, and a LOT more fun. A little backstory: for anyone who hasn’t been to the boat, which is 100% of my reader base except former charter guests and Christie, its an owner’s version Lagoon 380. What this means is that there is a hull entirely dedicated to the “owner,” and now used exclusively by charter guests, with a queen berth and private head. The other hull has the two other berths and another head, and it’s where we sleep. Here’s a snapshot of my charter prep strategy: about two days before each charter I morph into a psychopath and completely scrub the hull where the (two) guests sleep; the day before I scrub the kitchen and decks, and then I throw anything I can’t find a home for/can’t be bothered to clean into the other hull. Which is usually a LOT of stuff. I do not allow guests to look because its an embarrassment of epic proportions, but it works. Until four people come on board.

Cue panic. I’ve discovered that I panic much more easily these days, which may have something to do with nearly a decade of not being able to panic about anything ever without having to deal with a counter-panic infinitely worse than whatever the original problem was. But I digress. Now I had to clean BOTH hulls! I know, you’re all very sympathetic. In all honesty, it was a lot of work, but I was really excited about this charter. You see, we have to do a fair amount of communication with our guests beforehand. It begins with general information: making sure our guests understand the logistics of getting to us, checking about dietary restrictions (more of the pain of meal planning in another post), inquiring about general interests. Guests often have many questions as well, since most of them haven’t been on a trip like this before. The point is that, when you charter with us, we get to judge you via email beforehand. This is entirely unfair and we’ve been wrong plenty of times, but sometimes we’re right in the best way possible. This was the case for this charter. I had a good feeling from the very beginning, but then I got an email with this quote: “We all love sushi, no dietary restrictions for us. We will be bringing some tequila after hearing that you make a mean Margarita, do we need to bring other ingredients besides the tequila?” Yep. I knew we would all be best friends, and I was right. We drank far too many margaritas (re-named Marissa-ritas, Tracie you had better start calling them this), played games (they brought their own, scoring an infinite number of points with me), ate great food, listened to killer jamz, saw amazing sunsets… we really had so much fun. On our final night we ran out of tequila, but no one missed a beat when we substituted rum into the newly named ���rum-aritas.” We put out our underwater green light to attract ocean life, and were treated with a spotted eagle ray who seemed to just want to hang with us (or she smelled the freshly cooked Mackerel). We named her Rachael Ray. After a “few” rum-aritas, I looked over to see Nate in full dive gear jumping into the ocean. In the name of camaraderie, or rum, or both, the rest of us dove in after him, which was the start of my very first night dive. Rachael Ray let us swim right up to her for quite some time, and when she tired of us, we took turns diving down around the green light to investigate what was beneath it. It was, most definitely, one of the coolest things I’ve done in a long time.  

Our guests left, and you might think this is the end of the story because how could things be better? But things continued to go up! Prior to the four person charter, Nate and I discussed the possibility of bringing on another crew member. This seemed like a good choice for two reasons: one, when guests are on board I work from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. I love what I do and it honestly doesn’t feel like work, but the idea of having a helping hand made me pee my pants just a little bit. Maybe I would be able to sit down and get to know our guests! Or not finish each day feeling like my legs may be broken, watching the skin on my hands peel off and disappear into the ocean! Two, after being on a boat with one other person in the middle of nowhere for six months now, I’ve discovered that I like to talk. A lot. Nate... not so much! I needed someone to talk to, and he needed someone for me to talk to. And just like that, Heather was on board, and she and I were immediate best friends. In addition, she did the dishes! And lots of other things! She made me realize what a shitty volunteer I was while I was traveling, because she worked HARD. She was great company, she knew all of my music (a BIG plus), she tolerated my obsession with games, and she enjoyed Balboa as much as Nate and I do. It was a match made in heaven. As we prepped for the next charter, Nate and I couldn’t figure out why we had so much free time, or why we felt so relaxed. We were paranoid that we had forgotten something, but in all reality… having crew took such a huge load off. We were SO grateful, and I was able to enjoy our next charter (a young Dutch couple who insisted on drinking beer and playing Cards Against Humanity every night… not a problem on this boat!), SO much more!

The charter ended and we once again walked away with new friends. But, now, it was time for something slightly less exciting: during all this fun, there had been a small (huge) problem. Both engines had issues, one of which was big. Nate is incredibly capable when it comes to boat maintenance and repair, but this one (two) required outside help. So, we blocked the rest of September off of our calendar and sailed to Puerto Lindo for maintenance. Heather the magical human kept me distracted on the passage so I didn’t feel sick. We spent 4-5 days upon arrival doing absolutely nothing. We went out to eat. I had cheesecake. We had ICE CREAM! We ordered sundaes at a nearby restaurant, and all asked for the “adult” ice cream. The server said “do you know what this means? It comes with rum on top.” We’ve been back nearly everyday since.

One engine is coming out today. We’re here for (hopefully) two weeks of boat repair, then sailing back to San Blas for our October charters. We are trying to remain zen. I have a bit more free time than usual, so I’m experimenting on new recipes. I’m also walking on land a lot, which is weird. When we’re too lazy to cook we go out to eat. And of course, we continue to keep Balboa stock at an all time high, and feelings at an all time low. So there you have it. A non-sensical, feelings free update on life. Want to know more? Come visit :)

PS: if you have any favorite recipes that are fish/chicken/veg based and are fairly simple, send them my way! If I use them for charters I will rename the dish in your honor. Pinky swear.