#to be fair i was playing roblox the whole day but i did what i needed to

[thechaotichorselord]

[alvaeris]

cool! I think I've heard of it, but i've never played. i play Minecraft mainly, occasionally roblox. I'm so glad you like the song!! your playlist name is very true. yeah!!! I was super excited when I found out about it. also, writing a script??? that's INSANE/pos my program hasnt done that as far as I'm aware. it gets easier as you go along!! 6 hours is more than we usually do, if that makes it better. typically there is a commander calling cadence, but sometimes it a matter of watching people in formation with you. fair enough!! I just started going this year. I'm hyperverbal (basically I never shut up) so I am also a grandmaster in the sport of yapping. i used to play chess but I got bored of it. a little bit busy!! gotta stay going though. as for the questions i totally didn't forget to answer, I found your account about a month ago I believe, but i don't remember how I found it.

-🦌

it’s pretty similar to dead by daylight! or so i’ve heard. i don’t actually know anything about dead by daylight. also, MINECRAFT!! i used to play a lot, but i can’t do so anymore. i wish i had minecraft on mobile too grgrgrgrrrrr… i tried to keep a lot of pets in my minecraft days. mainly mooshrooms. i love mooshrooms so much. they’re the cutest mobs ever plus they give out mushroom soup which is… pretty insane. they’ve got a whole soup kitchen going on inside them. they’re adorable i want a million mooshrooms. i’ve also tried to keep the ender dragon as a pet, but for some reason if you spawn it in the overworld it always flies to spawn?? like it tries to go to 0,0,0 coordinates. which is fine if you live at 0,0,0, but i didn’t. so unfortunate….. one day i will try again. I WILL GET MY DOMESTICATED ENDERDRAGON, NO ONE CAN STOP ME. what games do you play on Roblox?

it’s at moments like these i realise how spoiled for choice we are with our instructor. she’s the nicest! she lets us write our scripts if we want to, as well as choose what topics we want to act on, and suggest plays we want to do. we did a horror/musical/slice of life production earlier this year. it was pretty cool! i was in the musical bit. i love musicals. sadly my role didn’t do much singing, though.

i would assume so! but it would be hard to get started if you’re completely unused to physical training. i hear 50 jumping jacks in drama for warmups and immediately wish to die. also, what’s cadence? is it, like, the rhythm or whatever of how you march? also, the image in my head that pops up at ‘watching people in formation with you’ makes me giggle, because i can just visualise a bunch of people in formation furtively glancing left and right at each other while marching, so they’re just constantly side-eying the people next to them.

i think with the length of this response it’s safe to say that i, too, like to talk. a lot. i might be hyper verbal too, maybe. i feel like i seem quieter irl, though. it’s just the speed of my thoughts, which is probably why I’m chattier when writing stuff down. i have a love/hate relationship with online chess. i love it when i win, and when i lose i decide that i despise it and always have. but with physical chess i never lose. if someone were a move away from checkmating me I’d simply eat their pieces. CHECKMATE!!!

a month is a pretty long time, damn. i hope i’ve been entertaining! i try to be, eheheheheh. you can never know how many people you have just watching you without interacting. like you, probably. you’re interacting now, though, which is great! i love interaction. i giggle and kick my feet whenever people interact with me. i just love attention in general!

i am just now realising how long this is, HELP. when i am in the mood for yapping i do not shut up ever. I AM SO SORRY.

[rozinaaa]

I Don't Want to Be an Internet Person - by Ginerva Davis for Palladium Magazine

A piece about what it means to meet someone who is extremely online, and realising that being in a room full of extremely online people is the same as being in an empty room.

The last line ("You can close the computer, but the world will go on without you.") really stood out to me, since choosing not to be online isn't an option anymore. Everyone's online to some extent, even if it's just to do the basics such as banking and checking emails along with occasionally streaming some form of media. In this day and age, I don't think there's even one person who isn't even aware that the internet exists, since the internet is now everywhere, and a part of modern life for better or worse. Choosing to be extremely offline is essentially shooting yourself in the foot. Try going a day without being connected to the internet at all, and see how it goes.

Ironically, one of my most earliest memories (from about the age of 4, so in 2005, when the internet was just a fairly mainstream tool, not like how it is now) involved using the internet, although how I accessed it then (by using the family computer (which I also remember being assembled and set up by someone, but I don't know who it was), that ran Windows XP, and lived in a knocked out and repurposed cellar under the stairs in my childhood home, essentially a tiny makeshift room that sat in the hallway, also known as the most public part of that house, which meant that using the computer was a fairly public deal, although at the time, I mainly used the computer to play games that ran on Flash, and not much else) is completely different to how I access it now, where I have multiple devices, one which is in my pocket for most of the time (and demands to be charged), one which is a wonky laptop I've had for six years, a few other things, and the computers which I access at university.

Now, the internet feels unavoidable and inescapable. What once was a thing I did every now and then (access the computer under the stairs to play some games for a bit, before going on to do something else) is a thing that is as invisible as the air, since it's just there everywhere, and that without any air, it'd be impossible to survive.

I've heard my parents talk about people they've dealt with at some point at work (mainly the older generation, over the phone (usually boomers who are stereotypically known for outright refusing to adapt to new things, but then go on to put their whole life stories and spread blatant misinformation on Facebook), simply because they've spent most of their lives without this newfangled internet crap), who refuse to ever use the internet, even though it would make their lives a hell of a lot more easier if they just adapted and used the internet like everyone else, instead of paying by cheque or cash (to me, those things are defunct since I just pay by card, and I'm too young to know about paying with cheques on a regular basis), they could just at least have an online bank account, and a whole load of other things, instead of being stuck in their old ways, since it's what they've always done.

I fear that I might end up to be one of those people, since I've already been against the rise of the metaverse (although I'm not against the metaverse as a concept since I play ROBLOX (a fairly metaverse-y game, where you can join in with different experiences) in my spare time, and I've played a fair bit of virtual world games/MMORPGs when I was younger, it's just that I'm against the commercialisation of the metaverse, as well as using that word as a buzzword, which is what a lot of companies have been doing recently, simply because Zuck decided to venture out into something new, and I know that if he does something, it'll be an enforced, ad-filled disaster, where everyone is constantly spied on, in ways that currently don't exist on social media), and I'm currently not a big fan of AI taking over everything (ChatGPT just does my head in, but I think I'm more annoyed at the fact that everyone's currently raving on about it, than I am about the actual technology (since I guess it could be helpful in some cases, but this essentially renders some parts of my practice as obsolete), especially when I know that this will die down in a year or so, when another new-but-not-that-new technology crops up and grabs everyone's attention to the point where that's all they can talk about), not to mention that I barely use social media anymore (apart from LinkedIn, but that's just because I'm looking for jobs and keeping up with the IT industry news), since that's just a hellscape in general that I don't want to be a part of, since I've got better things to do.

I guess my stance on technology is that I'm bored of people just talking about exactly one thing for a year (2020 was all about Zoom, but that was fairly reasonable given the situation, 2021 was all about NFTs, which seemed interesting in theory but was something that I was (and still am) skeptical about mainly due to the environmental impact of them and the hypercapitalist crypto bros who kept pushing them onto everyone and caused a huge backlash (so I'm glad that stupid trend has died down), 2022 was all about the metaverse, which I like for my own personal enjoyment and not for overly commercial reasons, and now, 2023 is all about AI, which at the moment, I'm currently fed up of hearing about every single day, to the point where I just wish people would shut up about it, but I guess when people do shut up about it, I'll be able to decide for myself if it's good or not, so I wonder what topics the rest of the years will bring), since it's just a full whack echo chamber, and to be honest, I'm tired of echo chambers since no one really brings anything new to the table, let alone a different opinion about a certain thing. Instead, it's just people praising some hyped up technology that's been around for a while (and they think they invented it), without being critical and looking at the flipside of this new and wonderful thing. One of the main reasons I don't use social media that much anymore is that I'm tired of seeing the same thing parroted for the millionth time (not to mention ordinary people just performing for the algorithm, the feed or whatever), but just in a slightly different way, and to be honest, I'd rather use niche forums and servers (so basically Reddit and Discord, as well as a few similar things), than just scrolling through a firehose of samey information all the time, to the point where my feed is so predictable that I know what to expect and I don't bother by having to trudge through a sludge of things that I already know about.

I'd say that I'm moderately online (I pretend I do not see my screen time stats), since I pretty much use it when I have to (just banking, phoning home, checking emails, looking for jobs, upskilling, and doing work), as well as using it for general recreation (playing MMORPGs, browsing forums, and quickly looking up things that are on my mind), but then again, everyone does that. I don't understand niche TikTok lore because I don't have a TikTok account and I don't want one, even though it's all the rage with my generation. I do however, enjoy watching ones that are genuinely funny and relatable (this also goes for memes as static images), but that's about that.

However, I don't want to be extremely online, and to be honest, I just want to use the internet as a tool instead of shunning it entirely, since I'll just end up shooting myself in the foot if I don't use it at all.

[anonquack]

| His Merch |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot!

Word Count: 4256

Warnings: None, just some curse words. Fluff :]

Summary: Being such good friends with Quackity leads to the inevitable; catching feelings. In fear of ruining your friendship with him, you kept quiet about your feelings. Although usually good at that, after a merch drop and a slip-up on stream, you prepare yourself for the worst. Queue the incoming call from Quackity himself.

Today had been a productive day, in your opinion. You'd woken up earlier than usual, ate breakfast, cleaned around your apartment, and managed to get started on editing a video you'd recently filmed.

That's why you considered yourself very deserving of sitting down and enjoying your friend's stream as you ate some snacks.

Quackity had a fun stream planned, and had hyped up a 'big announcement' on Twitter, and the whole timeline was already speculating what it could be as they awaited for Quackity to start stream.

Being his friend had some perks though, contrary to popular belief. He'd discussed with you what the big announcement was as you sat on call with him a few nights prior to the big day. It was merch, and according to your past experience with Planet Duck products, it was sure to be soft and super comfy. You were very much looking forward to getting your hands on some of his new merch.

He'd brought up sending some to you, one of the previously mentioned perks of being his friend, but you politely declined. Much to his surprise. He'd asked why and you'd simply stated that "It was fine," and perhaps it came off as a bit rude. A 'no thanks' to his merch that you hadn't even seen.

But you had plans of your own, you wanted to acquire said merch on your own, and support him financially in the process. He didn't have to know that though, so with a small 'Oh' from him as his response, you swiftly changed topic of conversation.

Now here you sat, watching the stream as Quackity explained what he'd be doing with his friend John Smith. Riding go-karts around what looked like a storage unit. You couldn't help but worry as you watched them zoom around, occasionally getting close to crashing, and eventually doing just that.

The stream itself was rather fun to watch, but you kept your debit card beside you. This was in case he decided to drop the merch announcement out of nowhere. And that was exactly what he did. Another perk of being his friend was you grew a 6th sense for these type of things. Always had a feeling for what was about to happen when it came to Quackity.

You watched as the chat freaked out, watched as the notification from Planet Duck went out, notifying everybody that the merch had been released. You quickly typed into your computer, and the internet seemed to be taking its time to redirect you to Quackity's merch site.

After some time, it finally loaded and you began to look at all the options. The merch was wonderful, Quackity had been hyping it up to you (you'd asked for no reveals, wanting to wait like everyone else) and he had been absolutely right.

Most of the designs were new, except for the iconic Planet Duck logo, and were all very cute. You had Quackity's stream playing in the background as you maneuvered your way around the site, finally deciding on which merch you'd be buying.

As you went to purchase, a red sign alerted you that there was no shipping to your location. To which you quickly raised an eyebrow, panic starting to rush through you. Maybe you should've accepted his offer.

After refreshing multiple times and watching the Twitter timeline freak out as well over the inability to ship to several locations, it finally seemed to work, and the payment finally went through. A big "Thank you for your purchase" appearing onto the screen.

You let out a sigh of relief, clicking back onto the tab where the stream was, a small smile on your face. You'd actually managed to get it on your own. It was nerve-racking, when it seemed like you wouldn't be able to get the shipping to work, when it seemed like it'd sell out before you had the chance to buy some.

Now you finally understood what it felt like, the stress of getting your hands on merch before it sold out. It'd been an exhilerating experience.

You relaxed into your seat as Quackity's laugh filled the room. He was recreating bits from Fast and Furious, and zooming all over the place. You watched with a fond smile as he drove around, throwing random Spanish profanities at John Smith here and there.

The funky heart glasses he had on did nothing to ease the warmth that was spreading through your chest at the sight of him. You were suffering due to your confusing feelings towards your close friend, but nobody knew, or at least that is what you told yourself.

You tried to focus on something else, something that wasn't solely him. The go-karts were going pretty fast, and you remembered the scene they were recreating from the movie. Whichever random thought came to mind, you'd focus on it instead, too scared to let your thoughts wander elsewhere.

When it came to and end, you were conflicted. You were glad your heart would be able to catch a break, but you also missed him almost immediately. Sickening, really.

You took some time to reflect on what you'd done so far. Cleaned, ate your meals, worked on some editing, got some Quackity merch, and enjoyed a fun stream. It was rather productive, to say the least.

But there was still some time left in the day, and you figured you'd put the energy coursing through your body to use.

Taking a seat at your desk, you turned your monitor on before opening the twitch app. An alt stream would be perfect right now. After going live and sending out a tweet letting your followers know you were live, you patiently waited for the viewers to start coming in.

Considering this was an alt stream, you figured you'd play some random game and just chat for a bit before heading to bed. As the viewers came in, you gave your greetings before opening a tab for roblox, getting on a random server to play an obby game as you talked to chat.

There was a content smile on your face as you asked chat how their day had been, how they were feeling, your little character jumping around and passing through the beginner levels on the obby game.

"I'm actually in a really good mood, chat. My day has been going so well." You began, glancing at chat here and there, smile growing at the memory of the adventures acquiring Quackity merch.

After the chat was flooded with questions asking about what had happened, you indulged. "I was watching Quackity's stream earlier today, and it was so much fun!" The smile grew before softening as you focused on the obby. "I was also able to get some of his new merch."

The chat erupted into bits of 'friends supporting friends' to 'y/n in quackity merch???' and people yelling that they had been or weren't able to get merch.

Seeing the chat made you laugh, nodding your head a bit. "No because I was so nervous I wouldn't be able to get some-" you admitted, attention now focused solely on telling the viewers about your own experience.

"I was trying to purchase, and there was a line, and then it said it wouldn't ship to my location?? I was so worried I wouldn't be able to get some. But it finally worked. I'm excited for it to get here." You finished your small rant, a content smile on your lips.

Chat consisted of people agreeing with the technical difficulties occurring at the time of the merch drop, others saying they were too broke to buy anything. It felt nice, to see something from their perspective and also have shared an experience like this.

"Big Q actually offered to send me some, but I told him no because I wanted to get it myself.. Wanted to get it fair and square." You said as you refocused on the obby in front of you, fond smile on your face as you thought about how nice he was. He was willing to send all of his friends some of his merch, free of cost.

"Also wanted to give him my support by actually purchasing it, you know?" You added, resting your chin on the palm of your hand as it leaned against your desk. You took this time to read chat, which was exploding with what you thought was a combination of Quackity's username with yours, and 'bffs ur honor!!'.

You smiled at that, hands finally moving your character around. "Really, he has been such an amazing friend, extremely welcoming, always fun to be around. And just.. life is never dull when he's around. He's always been there for me when I needed it and well‐" A pause. "I'm glad I was able to support him in some way." You hummed softly as you finished up yet another small rant about Quackity.

At the realization that you'd been talking about him for far too long, and that he was not meant to be the focus of your alt stream, you cleared your throat and began focusing on the obby game once again.

You shifted the topic of conversation to the video you'd also been editing today, and that quickly took everyone's attention away from how affectionately and fondly you'd been speaking of your dear friend. Everyone was now excited about the new video.

Seeing how easily the chat's focus changed made you ease up a bit, and you were able to enjoy the rest of your stream playing random roblox games and discussing some stuff with chat. It lasted for a bit longer before you finally decided to end stream.

Some goodbyes and after stream officially ended, you found yourself on Twitter. Everything seemed pretty peaceful on the timeline, up until the trending page came up.

Your name was trending, along with 'QUACKITY IN CHAT' and the infamous combination of usernames. A monstrosity, really.

You heard yourself audibly gulp as you clicked on the trending topic 'quackity in chat'. Much to your dismay it was true. There was screenshots that showed Quackity was watching your stream. That meant that he'd heard you talking about him in that sickening tone. That tone that was unnecessarily sweet and fond.

You didn't know who was freaking out more, the so-called shippers, the timeline, or yourself. You gently bit at the inside of your cheek, scrolling and reading all the tweets of people trying to guess how Quackity must've felt while hearing all that. Others raising an eyebrow at how long you'd gone on about Quackity and how 'perfect' he was.

You'd fucked up, that was for sure, and it wasn't even intentional or fan service of any kind. It was an alt stream, it wasn't planned in any way, shape, or form. He'd been brought up, and you'd accidentally spilled all fond thoughts you held of him.

Your cursor hovered over a specific tweet that read, 'want someone to talk about me the way y/n talks about big q'. It was sweet, and perhaps made you smile just a little bit.

As you read it over in your head, a notification popped up on your screen, the discord notification ringing in your ears as you read who the message was from. Quackity.

You messed around with your mouse for a bit before finally closing the Twitter tab, and instead opting to open the unread message.

Quackity

hey (:

You stared at it for a bit, blinking in disbelief at how normal the message came across. Perhaps he'd tuned in during the last half of the stream. Perhaps he hadn't been able to watch while you rambled about him, and perhaps he hadn't been on Twitter either. One could hope.

y/n hi (:

It showed that he was typing almost immediately after, and you tried your best to calm your nerves.

Quackity call?

You felt yourself tense at the message. Maybe he wanted to let you down kindly. 'Hey! Saw your stream, and I just wanted to ask if you could chill the fuck out. That was kind of creepy. Maybe never speak of me ever again. Do not perceive me any longer, thanks!'

Something along those lines for sure. That's what probably awaited you if you said yes to this. But what exactly were you supposed to do instead?

y/n ofc

It only took a few seconds for the call to come through. Stalling wouldn't help, so you answered by the third ring.

He greeted you, and everything seemed normal. The calls were normal between you two, but you were just on edge due to twitter trending and the stream that took place less than an hour ago.

"How are you feeling, Quackity?" You asked with a small smile, today was a big day for him, and you were sure he'd enjoy talking about how fast the merch sold.

"I'm doing great. Really happy that the fans liked the designs and just.. we sold a lot. I'm happy." He restated the last bit, the smile was obvious in his voice. You didn't have to be seeing it to know. Another perk of being so close to him. You had a clear visual image of what he probably looked like right now. Cute smile plastered onto his equally cute face.

"I'm really happy for you, Big Q. You deserve all the success that is coming your way and more." You hummed softly. Everything you were saying, you meant wholeheartedly. There was silence for a bit before he finally spoke again.

"I watched your stream."

Fuck. There it was. You should've expected it but it still hit like a ton of bricks. You felt your mouth turn dry, could barely manage to get out the word, "Yeah?"

"Mhm." Straight to the point. There was a bit of silence, you were unsure of what to say. Why had he brought it up? It was bound to happen, but what was the reason behind bringing it up? To tease you, let you know he wasn't interested, or because roblox obbies are just so much fun?

"You didn't have to buy it, you know?" He finally said, breaking the silence.

"I wanted to." You reassured, "the merch is really pretty. Worth every penny."

"I could've sent you whichever you wanted." He stated bluntly. As if it was weird of you to have gone and bought it on your own.

"Thank you, but I wanted to buy it myself. Let me? Please?" Let me show my support this way, is what you meant to say. It came out softer than intended, and you could feel your heart beating against your ribs. You really needed to watch your tone around him.

"Of course." He responded, just as softly. He'd drive you crazy one of these days. They'd have to lock you up, and you'd never see the light of day again.

"Did you have fun riding the go-karts?" You asked, a small smile on your lips as you wandered back onto the Twitter tab, a clip of his stream now on display on the timeline.

He let out a small laugh, "I did. Did you enjoy watching it?" You nodded before responding, "Of course. Was concerning watching you crash into walls though."

He hummed softly in response, possibly contemplating what to say with how long he took before he spoke again.

"Did you really mean all the things you said on stream?"

Somehow, even with your own attempts to change topic, the focus was back on your stream and the things that had been said. You wouldn't be able to dig yourself out of the hole you'd dug.

It was entirely your fault, for even allowing yourself to consider him as anything but a great friend. It was your fault for taking the late night calls, the sweet tones, and messages the wrong way. Your interpretations were all wrong and now you'd have to sit here and apologize for practically outing yourself on stream. For letting the whole world know that you had romantic feelings for a good friend of yours. You'd probably made him so uncomfortable.

You felt yourself cringe slightly at his words, already gone quiet for far too long. You had to speak up, even if it lead to a good friendship ending a few minutes from now.

"Of course I did. You're great, Alex." The use of his name was meant to assure him you meant it wholeheartedly. It made the moment feel more intimate, too. Much to your own dismay, yet again. You couldn't help it.

The possibility that your friendship with him could come to an end real soon made you act on your feelings. It left you unhinged. If it was all going to end here, maybe you'd allow yourself to act on impulse. End it with a bang.

"Thank you, really. I know I probably wasn't meant to hear all that, but it was really nice. Made me feel nice as well. And just, seeing that you didn't accept the merch from me because you wanted to support me directly.. thank you."

His voice was soft, felt like warm honey to your taste buds. You could almost hear your heart melting inside your chest, could feel it dripping down and touching your diaphragm, oozing into every single crevice in your body. You'd never understand how he had such effects on you. How he was able to make you so fond of him.

"I meant every single word. You deserve that and so much more." You reassured yet again, a small smile on your lips. You heard him let out a small chuckle, which made you laugh as well.

Moments later, he had turned his camera on, wanting to show you all the merch. You'd asked for him to put it on, since you were a 'visual learner' and had to see it on him in order to fully understand what it looked like. He had playfully rolled his eyes, but hadn't really argued against it.

So there you were, watching as he changed from hoodie to hoodie, moving out of frame to change into the shirts. You could feel your heart thumping harshly against your rib cage at the sight of him. Some looked bigger on him, some looked just right. They all looked wonderful, and super comfy. Perhaps that was simply because they were on him, and he looked so comfy.

He looked like he could give the best hugs.

"You really think so?" His voice came out a bit sheepish, and the light pink that dusted his cheeks was becoming more and more evident. Huh?

"What?" You said, a dumb look on your face as you tried connecting the dots.

"That I could give the best hugs." He stated slowly, as if he was testing how it sounded before adding, "Do you really think that?"

Had you really said that out loud? Fuck. It took acting on impulse to a whole other level. This wasn't something you two usually did, but I guess it was okay since everything might be ending soon. Ballsy moves.

"Yeah. You make the merch look so cozy." Your throat felt dry, eyes glued to his face, wanting to catch every single second of his reaction. Wanting to see each movement of his facial muscles, to find out what it could possibly entail. "Makes me wonder what your hugs feel like." You admitted.

Your eyes scanned the entirety of his face, perking up slightly at the sight of his face flushing, leaving him with the softest tint of pink to spread across his cheeks, almost matching his pretty lips. What the hell did that even mean?

"Maybe you won't have to wonder for too long. With guidelines being lifted and all." The line. Blurred at that very moment, for sure. His eyes were glued to you as well, which only made you hesitate every single movement you could think of doing at that moment.

"And in the meantime? What am I supposed to do?" Risky. Crossing lines, jumping over hurdles. This all had to be against friend rules or something. You could feel your sanity decreasing each second this call went on. But he wasn't stopping any of this either.

"I could send you a hoodie." The sentence brought you out of your Quackity-induced haze, making you quickly shake your head. What? Before you could protest or ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, he explained.

"My hoodie. Y'know. Mine. One I wear. You can give it back when we meet up, perhaps."

Your mouth went dry again, shocked at the domestic feeling it gave. He was suggesting he send one of his hoodies. It would smell like him. It was the closest thing to giving him an actual hug. It would be paradise.

"You'd really do that?" You asked, still in disbelief, but he quickly nodded his head. "Oh." You said softly, before a smile appeared on your face. "I would like that, then."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I'll send it then." He hummed, smile spreading on his lips as well. Everything going on was making you feel dizzy. It felt so surreal.

You'd mentally prepared yourself for the worst, but instead were met with a flirtatious Quackity. He'd said sweet things to you before, but you never allowed yourself to take it seriously, not wanting to get your hopes up. And it never went to this extent.

It seemed he realized what just went down, a loud laugh escaping his lips. "Holy shit. You're gonna have one of my hoodies soon."

"I am." You chimed in, smile on your lips as well.

"And you'll wear it around." He added.

"I will."

"You'll look good, as always."

You could feel the heat rush to your face. What was going on? Was this real, or just a very cruel dream? Alex Quackity was fucking flirting with you.

"Are you flirting with me?" Bewildered tone, raised eyebrows. Your brain couldn't even begin to progress what was being said.

"What the fuck does it look like I've been doing?"

"Have you really?" Warmth spread across your chest at how blunt he was being. The line was gone. It'd been erased, never to be seen again. There was no shame in him. Admitting he was flirting with his whole chest.

"I have. Why are you so surprised though? I've subtly flirted with you before.. and I mean, were you not confessing your undying love to me on stream?" He raised a brow, feigned confusion on his face. He was teasing. You let out a groan, covering your face with your hands as he let out a laugh.

Surreal. He confessed to having flirted with you in the past. So you weren't delusional, nice to know. "Are you done?" You asked, face still covered by your hand in shame.

"I saw a tweet that was saying they felt like third wheels since I was in chat, and you were just going on about everything you liked about me." You kept your face covered. He was not stopping. Now he was the unhinged one.

He was visibly scrolling through the timeline at this point. "Oh, and one saying they want what we have. What do we have?"

You finally uncovered your face. "I don't know. Whatever the fuck this is, I guess?"

"Well, what is this?"

"Mm... whatever you want it to be." You finally answered, and there was a surprised look plastered on his face at that.

"Whatever I want?"

"Yeah." You paused. Would he regret this after he got out of this haze? What if it had just been flirting for fun? But he wouldn't play with your feelings like this, would he?

Alex Quackity was perfect though, and perhaps he had a sixth sense about when stuff was wrong with you, because he caught on to your hesitation.

"Hey." He called out softly. The teasing, flirtatious tone was gone, now replaced by the softer tone reserved for late night calls, or when everybody else in the vc had left and it was just you two.

You look at where his face was on your monitor, relaxing a bit simply by his tone and the soft gaze he held on you.

"I know everything sort of progressed pretty fast tonight.. but your stream really helped me realize a few things. I do like you, y/n. Not fucking around or anything." He said it in a firm tone, one that told you he wasn't messing around, but still felt oh so intimate.

Everything he was saying was exactly what you wanted and needed to hear. Reassurance that your feelings weren't unrequited. You couldn't believe your rambling on stream had lead you guys here.

"I like you, too. If that wasn't obvious already." You mumbled out, eyes averting before glancing to see his reaction. He had the biggest, cutest, grin on his face. Charming, and extremely contagious. You couldn't help but smile back.

Holy shit.

"Is this real?" You asked out loud, smile never leaving your face.

"It is. All thanks to your ranting on stream. How cool is that?"

You couldn't help but still feel rather embarrassed that he'd heard all of it, but it had brought you two here. All embarrassment was worth it. Especially if it meant it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for you two.

"Very cool." You mumbled, before a smile appeared on your lips. Today really couldn't have gone any better.

[fika-wika]

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦A Parents Roll🏠🤔

My oh my I’m not a parent yet but I definitely got some inner standing to drop on this topic. The question that was asked is "Do we own our parents?". Tell me, Who's decision was it to have the baby? Who's decision was it to raise the baby?

   If you ask me, kids Should not owe their parents anything unless they are 18 and asking for money..they better pay it back because that kid is old enough to get a job at this point, ill actually touch on that later. But first NO, if you have a child it is NOT their job to pay back everything you have/still do for them. YOU as the adult made the choice to bring them INTO the world (No that does not mean you have the right to take them out either😑 sorry life isn’t THAT fair) so you made it YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to nurture that child, to provide for them, to GUIDE them, to insure they're lives can be lived happier than the one you are currently living. That is not the burden, but the Blessing of being a parent. When you made the decision to push that baby out her tummy you made a pack to honor the blessing of making sure the next generation makes It, SELFLESSLY.

   I’m also someone who doesn't believe it's our job to FORCE our opinions on our children as well. Yes discipline them right from wrong, but part of being understanding is knowing that they will grow into their own person, understand that who they become is a reflection of what YOU have shown them at an early age. How they act, how they respond is all apart of you as the parent and the environment you held them in. Learning to be UNDERSTANDING of our children as reflection of ourselves through the decisions we have or could have made will make such a big difference in your personal relationship with your child. Parents get into it with their children yes that’s normal with any kind of relationship at some point in time, but what I feel as parents we could do better is instead of getting so upset at them for something they are seemingly doing wrong or for the way the are choosing to respond to us. Why not first take a step back and handle the situation in a reflective way? Change your perspective and instead of asking them, FIRST ask yourself “where did this attitude of theirs come from? What initially sparked this emotional response in them? Can it be traced back to me or someone else in my family? How did it affect them and how do they handle this emotional response?” THEN decide how you move forward in responding to THEIR emotional response rather than expect them to understand and respond to yours first. I believe the best teacher for our children is to teach with our examples THEN our words, If they saw and we communicate how we reflected on an emotional response before choosing to act impulsively to someone else or their own responses, they would then learn that maybe that’s the right way to handle the situation first. Then maybe, just maybe we can result in talking about the issues and whats really causing them, before jumping to pulling out the belt and whooping some A--. But don’t get me wrong, sometimes that belt might be necessary, but necessary or not, the only thing that is 100% necessary, is learning/ teaching them how to reflect and communicate before resulting in an impulsive action, this will result in less mistakes made as they get older. I feel instead of expecting our children to understand us as people, first we should make it a priority to want to be apart of their personal lives and get to know them as a person and in doing so will they be more open to wanting to share and be closer with us as they see we wanted to with them from an early age. Its harder to do this as they get older if you haven’t done so at an early age, notice I didn’t say impossible. It will take more time through trial and error to adjust and transform any relationship that functions one way, into a newer, healthier way. This lessons actually works for even older people and the relationships we cultivate now even outside the home. To get to know someone the best way to proceed is by first opening yourself up to them and showing them who you are first. Then they are more willing and trusting of sooner or later sharing themselves with you.

   I herd a mentor of mine I like to listen to named HINDZ, you can check out his podcast on youtube and spotify but he talked about how we can't fully control what our kids choose to indulge their time into forever, especially as they get older. Like you can't keep them away from technology, it's everywhere these days. So instead of trying to ban it from their lives which could result in even more rebellion growing up as we shouldn’t keep trying to put walls in front of them, why not give them that freedom to explore and be curious? Why not teach them how to use it in a responsible and disciplined way that can add value to their time while on it? Another thing he talked about was if my daughter is playing roblox on her tablet, I feel as a parent it would be smarter to go to her and ask about what's she's playing and take the initiative to join her world rather than trying to get her to fully understand mine right now. The result? She will come to me about how she's doing this and that in her game with joy and It'll make her as a child more open in WANTING to engage and share with her parents what it is she does on her devices, rather than hide it away as if I'm not interested in being apart of her world or that I'm unable to understand it. When as parents, we should want to be apart of their world, their growth.  I myself have found this especially true as well just from watching my younger brother. He’s 7 now and every time I go over to visit my family he’s so quick to ask me if I wanna play some game with him, or watch some show with him and that’s because I always do my best to show him that I am interested in his world and what makes his life enjoyable right now. I’m sure yes the whole being stuck in home all day also plays a part because he doesn’t get to go out and make friends anymore like before, but that just makes it ALL the more important we be willing to give our children the sense of friendship and common interests. No need to fill him in on my life unless he asks of course, I’m an adult and he doesn’t really care to understand that stuff right now not fully anyway, as he shouldn’t. He should enjoy his simple life as a kid for now and enjoy the fun that life has to offer him. I hope he always holds onto that childlike joy of his even as he gets older. I know he brings it out of me all the time and I enjoy that very much. I take that kinda joy with me everywhere afterwards, that fun innocent childlike joy is what keeps the hope and joy alive in us all. I understand doing the work of taking the initiative anyway you can to be apart of your children's world isn’t always easy for some parents but it’s never impossible and I’m a firm believer that if you really truly wanted to do something, you’d find a way no matter how small it might be, that small gesture could make such a huge impact on the life of the person you’re aiming it towards especially your child. Taking that extra initiative is not only a form of appreciation for your child, but its the highest form of love you can give them willingly and authentically. Because everything else you do for your child, is mandatory and is what you owe to them for bringing them into this world, but showing them that love isn’t something we have to do, but something we are given a choice to and absolutely SHOULD do if we want to have beautiful, healthy and open readerships with our kids as they get older.

    Speaking of older, lets trace our steps back to what I said in the beginning. Because lets be honest, vice versa is also very much true, as your children get older and are more cognitive and aware and are stepping into their own being in this world getting ready to go make their own mark on it, its not so much that they don’t owe you but its more like they are in less NEED of you. I mean yes you're always technically gonna needed you family but need more in the sense that they are needed for that emotional comfort and family reassurance and less in the monetary way you always relied on them growing up. And that’s something children should grow up learning to understand, that yes as they get older they will need less and less from their parents till the day they can officially walk on their own two feet in the big world. At that point it is no longer the parents obligation to support you. Emotionally, yes they should, monetarily no they should’t have to. That’s your job now as an adult in the world to be able to provide and make those decisions for yourself and take the actions for your own now. Yes your family is always there for a second input but it is ultimately your choice as an adult to make them for yourself. And the parents job at this point is to LET you make them When you are at that age. No I don’t even want to put an age on it because I firmly believe sometimes your age should not determine how aware and reflective you are and capable you are as a person to be ready to step out and make your own decisive decisions. Especially these days some kids grow up really fast and CAN make it out there, where as some stay in the nest longer than others because they DO need that extra time to feel ready and prepared. But at some point in time we will have to step out our comfort zones and grow up, one way or another life will push you in that direction. 

    So this was just my own insight into this matter, I’m sure its stuff a lot of you already knew or thought about but I feel its always good to reiterate things in case someone needs to hear it today. And I do hope I was able to offer a new perspective or way of looking at a situation in your own lives and this is of some help to anyone. Maybe share this with that one family member that needs to hear it from a 21 year old who doesn’t even have kids of his own yet haha but ill tell you what. I cant wait to have some of my own. So I can watch them grow into their own warped versions of me and fill them will all the love and joy life has to offer and be able to guide them through the lows they will experience. And I don’t care what anyone says, yes I can wait but I personally got baby fever over here and want a mini TreTre...when it happens it happens 🤷🏽‍♂️ lol thats just my personal opinion. Ill be joyous either way, I look forward to such blessings. Tune in for the next post and thanks for reading all the way through I truly Love all of my readers ya’ll are amazing, I’m sure this is a lot to read and I value the time you all took to read my words. Keep loving n stay blessed.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #460

Top Ten Games of Lockdown

So Happy Christmas! Did you have a good time? I know most of us won’t have been able to spend it with families the way we used to. I’m very fortunate in that I really enjoy spending time in the house with my family, so if that’s all we really get to do over Christmas it won’t be the worst thing in the world, especially considering what the world is nowadays. But for the people who couldn’t see families, missed their presents, struggled to find food, or suffered even worse problems, my heart goes out to you. Let’s hope 2021 is a little bit less crap.

Anyway. What with lockdown, there has been a fair bit of families-sitting-round-the-living-room going on. A couple of weeks ago I listed the films we’d been watching as a family that helped us get through this difficult time. Well, we also played a lot of videogames. We played on an evening; we played on a morning. Sometimes we even devoted a whole rainy day to sitting in the front room and enjoying some interactive entertainment! I mean, don’t get me wrong, we did other stuff too. But we had a few fun days with controllers in our hands.

I think we all needed stuff to help get us through this year, and games were a big part of that. For me, I probably ended up playing slightly less than usual; I was no longer alone in the house during the day, and for some reason everybody just stayed up a bit later so I didn’t get to go on after they’d all gone to bed quite as often either (this is also the reason why there are loads of films from 2019 and 2020 that I’ve still not seen). It’s great fun to gather round the TV with a Switch controller in your hands playing a game together. It was also great fun playing “passive co-op”, as I call it; when one person plays a single-player game but is given advice and support from others in the room. This happened a lot. Also sometimes someone would be on the Xbox, someone on the Switch, and someone on the laptop… we really need a fourth console, thinking about it.

Anyway, here are ten games that we as a family enjoyed; not necessarily all at the same time, but during communal gaming sessions or together in multiplayer. Games that helped make 2020 a little bit better. So even thought it’s not been the best year, let’s raise a glass to gaming – and also to the Switch and Xbox Game Pass. They’re great, they are.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017, Switch): Mario Kart is a great leveller, and one of those fantastic games that can encompass a wide variety of skill levels. Sometimes we let the kids win a bit; sometimes we try to show them that you can still have fun without coming first. Sometimes my youngest daughter insists I play as “her” character so then “she” can win. But I don’t need to tell you how great Mario Kart is, and the Switch Joy-Cons make it feel even easier to have a quick multiplayer session of an evening.

Stardew Valley (2016, Xbox One): I bought this a while ago thinking my eldest might enjoy it, but I’d barely scratched its surface; during lockdown, however, my wife and kids devoured it. My wife, in fact, has completed two farms and my kids aren’t far behind. The news of the update, with new farms and collections and a split-screen mode, is tantalising for the rest of my family. Incidentally, I’ve just installed My Time at Portia, which might be scratching a similar itch.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020, Switch): sadly we’ve not managed to sucker my wife into the charms of Tom Nook’s adorable vision of capitalist hell, but there’s still time. This was a great way to spend the pandemic: living on a tropical island full of weird animals, doing nothing but digging up fossils and adding rooms to your house. Serene, relaxing, compelling… and rather social, too, which is a plus.

Boom Blox (2008, Wii): yes, we still have our Wii out; it’s great for the kids. Boom Blox is a very underrated multiplayer, with simple turn-based levels and a mechanic that even a five-year-old can grasp. Yes, it’s prompted tears because someone didn’t win, but it also allows for much hilarity as you miss the blocks you’re supposed to knock down and instead send flying a cardboard squirrel or something.

Minecraft (2017, Xbox One): Minecraft was a social boon this year. Not only could my kids play together, but they could also play with – and chat to – their cousins in the game. Added to the fact that it’s a great construction and educational tool, and they gave way some interesting educational levels, and you’ve got a recipe for success. Now if only they’d release the path-traced version for Series X…

Pokémon Sword (2019, Switch): my kids love Pokémon; my eldest plays the card game, they both collect stuffed toys, and the anime is a regular feature on our Netflix account. Sword, I think, took a while for them to get into, but with us all playing it at different speeds it was good to compare notes and share in our respective journeys. Fun, too, to see how my youngest developed and became more competent as the year progressed.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Discovery Tour (2018, PC): it feels a little bit weird to say “hey, yeah, my two primary-aged children really loved playing Assassin’s Creed this year”, but that’s what they did; Ubisoft making the “Discovery Tour” versions of Origins and Odyssey free was fantastic, especially as my eldest was studying Ancient Greece. A huge, living world, realistic but accessible; suitable for kids but with the heft of a AAA adult videogame. They both love walking around this world, and I was impressed by how scalable the engine was.

The Sims 3 (2009, PC): yep, it’s old, but it’s good; I whack all the cheats on and it just becomes a sandbox construction game for my kids. But I’ll be honest, the thing they really love is designing families; they spend most of their time creating the characters and then have to switch off before they can really get to play. They don’t mind; that’s the fun part.

Untitled Goose Game (2019, Xbox One): another one that my wife and eldest adored, poring over the puzzles and trying to figure it all out. The “horrible goose” dynamic is a dark comic joy, and even though I got frustrated by the fail-repeat dynamic (I always do with these sorts of games), my nearest and dearest persevered. Daughter #1 was especially upset to discover it has departed Game Pass.

Wii Fit (2007, Wii): turns out sitting down inside all year can have a negative effect on your health; who knew? So we broke out the Wii Fit board to try to shed a couple of grams. My kids are way into it, even though I don’t think the game is designed to take such young frames into account. No matter; its fun mix of healthy activities and balance-based minigames still compels. They really love keeping the penguin on that ice…

Just bubbling under here are a few games that were very important, but didn’t quite have the reach to impact everyone in the household in quite the same way. Roblox, for instance, is huge with my eldest, and she’s just recently discovered Fortnite (these games have a social impact for kids her age, it seems); she and her sister also really enjoy Zoo Tycoon and Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure. For my part, playing on the PC of an evening while my wife was caning Stardew, I absolutely loved Gears Tactics. And – whisper it – I also let my eldest play a little Halo, too. How inappropriate of me.

Oh, and Civ VI. Obvs.

[legotablesite-blog]

Lego Table with Storage Top Picks

Toronto's Graeme Dymond will be LEGO's master builder at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Vaughn Mills. Read below for the best Lego table guide.

Henry Carr J considered the six unregistered designs chosen by the parties. Neptune's claim for infringement failed on all of them. For only two was the judge willing to find that there had been copying - first, DeVOL had copied the idea of saw tooth shelving present in one of the designs for a cabinet. Second, DeVOL had copied the idea of a curved end cabinet of another design. But there was no copying of the physical manifestation.

Top Lego Table Options;

My first new models of the year arrived this morning (I'm quietly pleased with myself that I lasted this long), and they are the modern British navy starter pack from Navwar. I'm not sure yet what the gaming purpose for these models is, although I am considering a couple of what if conflicts. I need to do some reserch into possible rules sets as well. This aside I am aiming to collect all the major surface assets of the current Royal Navy (and with the defense cuts that shouldn't be too hard).

The furniture that comes along with the Kidkraft Majestic Mansion 65252 dollhouse is all very sturdy and made out of wood for years of quality playtime! You can actually feel that the furniture is high quality in your hands, especially if you've previously played with plastic furniture.

Ultimately though, even if Rokkasho gets up and running, two problems remain: it alone cannot recycle enough fuel to stop the waste mounting up, and there is still the issue of burying the vitrified waste permanently in a crowded, quake-prone country.

We might be at a crossroads with kid-friendly MMOs. We're seeing that there's mixed success with current kid-friendly virtual worlds, and some of the reasons it's struggling are hard to fix. But instead of making the game and hoping for the best, why not build the tools to let kids (and adults) make their own games, as Roblox and Minecraft have both successfully done? Thousands, if not millions, of young gamers have essentially become budding game developers thanks to those two titles, and they're building games and worlds that rival what game studios have been able to create.

I built this for my brother in law for Christmas. We stayed with them for New Years Eve and I took everything with us to assemble it there, well, I miss-measured a couple pieces so had to bring the entire thing home again and then they didn't get it till just now when we saw them again. Hopefully it turned out awesome enough to make up for it. I just painted it, but think how cool it would be with some seriously cool embellishments like brass additions, a cool handle, maybe some leather straps!

So I finally got tired of stepping on Legos and decided we needed a Lego table in my son's room ASAP. We needed to get the pieces off the floor and put into a dedicated spot. With a Lego table, I can tell him, the Legos need to stay by the table and in these bins.

I could not imagine my son sitting at a table that looked like it came straight out of a preschool for three year olds. Lego tables can be somewhat of an investment and I did not want to make him think that legos was for babies or small kids. At this point I believe a big kid lego table with storage was in order.

You need to be even more cautious when photographing children. They of course make excellent subjects but sadly your motives can easily be misconstrued. If you want to cover a local sports day, school fair or play always obtain permission from the school first.

There's no doubt we have fallen behind,” says a senior Toyota executive who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the subject. We have not even begun to make the fundamental structural changes that VW has” in designing and applying flexible vehicle platforms.

So many great ideas here! My son, 10, is borderline obsessive with Legos lol My husband and I have been thinking about a Lego themed room for him for a year or so. I think I'm going to send this hub to him so he can see for himself. Thanks for sharing!

BlackBerry - We could try to explain the importance, impact and popularity of the BlackBerry this decade, but instead we've given it its very own decade feature to tell its tale. Unfortunately, no single BlackBerry ever really satisfied our pure gadget lust in the way the Treo did.

LEGO Play Tables;

Three-quarters of the major stockholders of AB, NBC and CBS are banks such as Chase Manhattan, Morgan Guaranty Trust, Citibank, and Bank of America. The overall pattern is one of increasing concentration of ownership and earnings. According to a 1982 Los Angeles Times survey, independent daily newspapers are being gobbled up by the chains at the rate of fifty or sixty a year. Ten newspapers chains earn over half of all newspaper revenues in this country.

While we're in the home, we would be remiss if we didn't say that connected lights which only a few years ago seemed gimmicky and expensive have now become commonplace. There are still expensive bulbs loaded with new features (speakers) or that claim to be better in one way or another, but there are now affordable systems. Killing in this category is Lutron , which has a three tiered level of connected lighting offerings, beginning with their Caseta series (best for one room), RadioRa 2 whole home system which increases functionality and connectivity with other services and devices (Sonos, Alexa, among others), and their top-of-the-line whole home (or whole mansion as the case may be) Homeworks QS which can control the lights inside and out, and the shade and sunlight inside the house, as well as the music and also integrates with yet more devices and appliances.

This project from Bob of I Like to Make Stuff is straightforward but does require the ability to cut accurate miters and the skill to use a table saw in various ways. Basic pine boards and 1/2-inch plywood are used in construction, along with plenty of wood glue, brad nails, and dowels.

As a fellow Democratic Socialist we share the same basic vision and hopes for America. But from time to time I am forced to part company and criticize his views on a particular question. In the past we disagreed on his assessment of the character of Dr. WEB Dubois, and the viability of Ralph Nader's bid for theu presidency and its implications for African American political strategy. And now I passionately disagree with his assessment of President Obama's political strategy and policies. It is this question that I wish to address in the present commentary for the best Lego table with storage.

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