#i had so much fun looking back at their very jam packed year for all of these <3

[jeongtokkie]

✨🐯 hoshi 2022 wrapped 🐯✨ 

for @caratonce​ happiest of birthdays and surprise i’m your secret caratblr giver <3​​ 🐯🎁

#seventeen #hoshi #kwon soonyoung #svtsource #svtdaily #2022svtgiftexchange #isaishi #it’s your secret gift giver!!!!! happy holidays isai! #also happy birthday!!! #i hope you like all the little hoshis 🫶 #i was so so pleased i got you bc we had just become moots 🥺🫶 #i had so much fun looking back at their very jam packed year for all of these <3 #s: seventeen #k.sy #sebeunnies #tw flashing

[weministertomonsters]

Point Hope Wolf Farm - 1

12th Day of Month 8

16th Year of Carther's Reign

I am starting this new diary with some measure of interest, and a large portion of disdain. You see, I am being sent off to Point Hope Wolf Farm for a few months to recuperate my lungs. Why my lungs matter so much to everyone, I know not. They have always been my most sickly organs, to the point where standing up too quickly sometimes arrests my breath.

I was disappointed by this plan largely thanks to receiving an invitation to Amelia Beaufort's legendary Autumn Ball the week before, which is bound to be stupidly grand, with lots of handsome people to mingle with. As it is, I shall be within pastures of smelly wolves all fall season!

Can you imagine? It is what it is, I suppose.

I will be grateful to draw in a full breath of crisp countryside air, at the very least. And who is to say it will not be fun? Mr. and Mrs. Whiteside are good friends of my parents, so it should be alright.

Picture me now, in a nice traveling dress with pink laces, hunched over my diary in the most unladylike way; I have already discovered the joy of being away from one's guardians. There is no sharp tongue telling me to sit straight or smooth my dress, I can be however I like. The tea cart came through and I have chosen a decadent little tart with a cup of tea. This train lurches so smoothly that naught a single drop can spill, even if it wanted to.

My poor health indeed prevents me from taking many holidays, so even this simple landscape is thrilling to me. I can't recall a time when I have ever been so deep in nature. The grass and trees simply roll on, almost enough to worry that Point Hope will be nothing more than endless pastures with only a small cluster of buildings, hardly enough to call a town and derive some pleasure from walking its streets.

But no need to be concerned just yet, there is the journey of a switch train and another two hours ahead. For now, I will eat my tart and do my best not to get jam on my pages.

The switch train has happened. This one is drastically cheap-looking with 'luxury' seats that would be considered third-class quality in the city. No matter, there is only an hour left to go and I am not a girl of unnecessary complaint. Good thing I have already had my tea on the first train because this one jerks and shakes so much that it makes drinking impossible. One gentleman across from me attempted and only ended up soaking his newspaper with tea.

Something interesting happened just now that made me straighten in my seat. Apparently there was a mixup in the cars, and one beast car had been put between two traveling cars, one of which happened to be my compartment. As it was, they had to walk a pack of wolves through the luxury car to get to their own. There was such an uproar of discontent, and one lady even fainted!

I just stared in amazement because I had not been prepared for what wolfmen would look like. These ones were docile in their collars of silver and disturbed no one as they were pushed through, but they were quite the sight! If I could draw, I would be tempted to try a sketch. Huge creatures with coarse-looking fur of shades from brown and cinnamon to black. Rough hands that end in claws that can rip a man's throat out in one violent motion.

Their eyes were that of beasts with human intelligence behind them, which was terrible now that I think back to it. Their bodies were vulgar to look at; they wore no clothes at all.

My curiosity tempted me to look between the legs, but I shamed myself out of it. One of them stumbled, jostled by the others. He fell to the ground nearly on my lap. I am surprised I did not jump up in sheer surprise, but I suppose the fear froze me. I was thinking,

Look at that huge head, with teeth as long as my hand. He could bite my leg off at once and think nothing of it.

I did note that his eyes were gentle and soft, like those of a good family dog. Suddenly he was being yanked up in a chokehold by one of the handlers. Let me tell you, the handlers themselves are no joke. They have to be strong to even begin to dream of handling such dangerous creatures.

Then they were gone from the car and people were grumbling with the vestiges of shock and some concern for me. I had just picked up my diary to begin my earnest recording of this remarkable encounter when the woman across from me in a giant feather hat said,

"Well, that was frightful. Traveling alone, young lady? Are you quite old enough?"

"I am in my twentieth year, ma'am," I smiled.

"Oh, indeed? Are you going to see your beau or family perhaps?"

So, she was the nosy sort. She reminded me of my Aunt Clarise, only this woman was larger and softer, with a bosom that would be quite pillowy for a weary head.

"I am taking a holiday for my health. The doctor said the clean air would do my lungs some good," I replied, and she set about with an earnest conversation about general health, the air, and what remedies worked best for congested lungs.

She knew it all and had a child like me. I just smiled and nodded along because I could not tell her that I cared little about my general well-being and only wanted enough performance out of my body to keep from fainting every two hours. Eventually, the train stopped in Point Hope, and I said goodbye.

"Have a good one, dear," she said. "I live in town myself, so perhaps we will cross paths again."

I told her I sure hoped so. The beast cars were unloaded too and the wolfmen were herded to the side to be loaded into large cages for transfer. I was quite certain they would be taken to Point Hope Farm because if there was another wolf farm, I had not heard of it. I had a carriage and driver waiting, a relatively handsome young man with a nice smile. He took my bags and opened the door for me and I settled down for the last few minutes of the journey.

This will be the last I write in my diary until the evening, for I will surely have too much to see to spare time for writing.

Part 2

#exophilia #monster lover #terato #werewolf #lycan

[youngveinsworld]

a recap of the take a vacation listening party at angels and kings, 16 october 2009

I was fortunate enough to be at Angels and Kings last night for the listening party! I drove from northern CT through rain and snow at lightspeed after work to beat rush hour traffic, nearly peed myself because there was no time for bathroom stops, made my train by 2 minutes after almost getting back onto the gridlocked highway and being honked at maliciously for cutting people off to avoid this...

...and was it all worth it? You bet it was!!

I got to Angels and Kings at 7:30 and there were literally ten people there, lol, a big difference from when Brendon played in August and the place was jam-packed. So I sat by my lonesome with my two beers against the wall and watched as people slowly trickled in. To those who have never been there before, it's actually a pretty small, laid back place, just a bar with a cool ambience and some comfy seats. The infamous spot for mugshots is in a little inlet that shares space where you wait for the bathrooms, two separate single stalls that ask no gender of you and are so covered in scrawl and marker that you can't see yourself in the mirror.

They played the Butch Walker album first, around like 8:15, at a volume much louder than the stock music they'd been playing before, to my happiness as the number of people had tripled and conversations were getting boisterous. I don't really know Butch Walker, I'd never heard him before, so all I can say is that the music was pretty good. Though his voice was much whinier than I'd expected from a man named Butch!

So I'm just sitting there chilling when I look up (I'm facing the entranceway) and there's Ryan!! With Alex, of course, and a few friends in tow whom I didn't recognize. They just stroll in and it's no big whoop-de-do, which is when I realize most of the people there did not come for the listening party, it's really just their neighborhood bar. Ryan was wearing his little brown suit. He looks healthier, not as skinny as he was last year, with his round cheeks and gorgeous locks :) Alex had his cape on! Loved it. Jon was absent, but I wasn't expecting him to be there as I'm sure he's in Chicago right now...unless he's moved to Cali as well? I can never tell with that elusive man.

It was so hard not to stare at Ryan the whole time! He's just so captivating. But I did my best. He knew lots of people there and spent the time 'schmoozing'.

A little before nine I heard the beginning of "Change" and I knew this was it! So that will be the first song on the album. There were quite a few people there now and I kept re-positioning myself to find where I could get the best sound, closing my eyes so I could hear better.

"Take A Vacation" is a very appropraite title for the album. I felt like I was on vacation! But it's so much more straightforward than the other work he's done. It doesn't sound like they're trying too hard or trying to prove something, it really is just a collection of fun pop songs, GOOD fun pop songs at that! Very, very pop-y. I wouldn't be surprised if critics compared this album to The Beach Boys like they continually compared Pretty Odd to The Beatles...though if that comparison makes anyone feel iffy, I'll let you know I don't particularly care for The Beach Boys and I loved the songs I heard last night. They're not cheesy in the slightest, but they are very lighthearted.

For the songs individually, I don't remember how many there were. There are at least two, maybe three, which are definitely not Ryan's voice- I say that because I cannot ever hear just Jon's voice on anything Panic has done and I don't want to say for sure that it's him, but uh, I'm 99.9% positive, so that's cool! One song was all about Cape Town, very twangy and mellow. All the songs blurred together for me, with the background noise- they are not radically different from each other, but yet they don't all sound the same but they do have the same sound to them, if that makes any sense? The last track, gah, I can't remember what it goes like but there were tears in my eyes. It was just that beautiful. It's an album that will make your heart swell and your hips shake!

And then it was 9:30 and I'd had my four beer maximum and was ready to go home, lol. But not without speaking to him, of course, and I managed to catch him alone as he was waiting in line for the bathroom. He was utterly gracious and so sweet, just as always. I finally got to shake his hand, something I've been waiting for which was a big no-no at meet and greets. Told him how much I loved the album, how amazingly excited I am for the music he makes, what a great talent he has, on and on because I never know what to say and I always want to say so much! I just really wanted to convey to him how much we truly love this music and how excited his fans are for this new band. He seemed very happy to hear all this :) Asked him about being under contract and he's a free man now, so they're really just hunting for labels at this point. He said the album should be out beginning of next year and he's very excited about it!!

And that's it. I apologize I have no media to share. There was no way I could've taken audio without it being completely drowned out by people talking. And I didn't want to take any pictures because, well, it's a dark bar and flash would've been really obvious and I didn't want to look like a creeper, lol. The end.

– from this Livejournal post

#recap #2009 #the young veins #young veins #tyv #ryan ross #with fans #listening party

[randomvarious]

2 Unlimited - "Here I Go" 1995 Eurodance / Eurohouse

So, yesterday, we had Belgian-Dutch dance project 2 Unlimited at their saddest, with their lame Euroreggae-pop hit, "No One," but today we have them at quite possibly their scariest, with "Here I Go," which sees them back on the dancefloor in order to catchily contemplate their potential and very literal descent into hell! 😈😱

And really, the only way their songs could've ever had some semi-coherent theme to them like this in the first place is if rapper Ray Slijngaard supplied bars that consistently stayed on some kind of topic, which he hadn't really done much of on any of 2 Unlimited's prior singles. But on the group's third album, Real Things, you started to see their songs acquiring, like, maybe, a quarter-inch of depth to them, as they tried to make music about, well...real things...😅.

There's no way out, man you try to escape Concentrate your mind cause it might just break Into half, crack down fast I keep my face straight no need to laugh I did some right, I did some wrong I regret these things, but I gotta stay strong I feel depressed, now don't you know Catch me, 'cause I'm falling deep down below

Reads a little bit like a very rough draft of an angst-ridden Linkin Park verse, doesn't it? And hey, weren't they fronted by a rapping and singing pair too? 🤔

Now, try not to read this following chorus from singer Anita Doth as if it's being delivered by Chester Bennington instead:

Oh, I can't escape I'm trapped and there is no safe place to go And I do regret the things I did but how on earth could I know? Here I go Here I go catch me I'm falling deep Here I go Here I go catch me I'm falling falling

Now, folks, am I really about to uncork one of the hottest and also single-stupidest takes in the history of music blogging here? Yes; yes I am:

The late period of 2 Unlimited's initial run in the mid-90s, when the lyrics on their singles started to employ actual themes, represents a clear predecessor to Linkin Park. In fact, the year that Ray and Anita both left 2 Unlimited was the same year that Linkin Park formed under their first name, Xero! It's actually all on the same continuum!

Anyway, this black-and-white video for "Here I Go" is pure, unadulterated nightmare fuel too, as people seem to be falling from very high distances, only to be caught by spider webs made of thick rope, which seems to delight some freaky-looking, underground-dwelling humans who live down there. And each one of those humans were all probably once one of those people who fell into one of those webs too. But now some of them very unsettlingly crawl on stilts, and the leader of the pack appears to get around in some kind of insectoid contraption.

Never could've imagined that exploring 2 Unlimited's videography past their popular US singles would ever lead me down into such a deep and dark hole, but here we apparently are right now! And "Here I Go" appears to have marked a turning point for the group as well, as it was their first single to not chart as highly throughout Europe as they'd probably hoped and expected. But funnily enough, while the well was clearly starting to run dry in 1995 with this one, two of the group's earliest hits, "Get Ready for This" and "Twilight Zone," would end up appearing Stateside on the platinum-selling first volume of Jock Jams that same year. And then further appearances on future installments of that series would end up extending 2 Unlimited's relevancy in the US far past the time of their initial breakup, which most Americans were undoubtedly completely unaware had even ever happened!

More fun videos here.

#eurodance #euro dance #dance #dance music #eurohouse #euro house #house #house music #electronic #electronic music #music #90s #90s music #90's #90's music #Youtube

[catboyhizashi]

My freshly collected thoughts about season two of good omens. (Not spoiler free!!)

First off, the negatives bc I need to talk about why I loved this season but before that, oh man.

I think you can really feel a decline in the quality of the dialog. Of course the characters were still fun and the banter works but I just feel like it was much simpler? Not everywhere, but there were some scenes where I did specifically noticed it. I also felt like the pacing was....irritating. The last episode ended up being jam-packed with so many things and some early episodes felt like they were dragged out, without any story happening. I missed some form of look back at the story from season one, it felt a bit disconnected but then again years have passed so it didn't bother me that much. Now the ending. My first reaction was why the hell was it necessary?? My prediction to this season was that through the parallel of Maggie and Nina our sweet sweet ineffable husbands would realize that oh!! they're also in love. I won't go into too much detail about what I thought would happen bc basically none of it came true lmao but I really did think we'd get them a happy although complicated ending. In the last scene, Aziraphale did feel like he regressed right back into his season 1, early season self. I'm not saying his decision and actions feel completely disconnected from his overall character but their arc this season was so sweet, they really showed how much they relied on each other (carved it out for ourselves and everything). And in this context I feel like he wouldn't have abandoned Crowley like that. And I know Aziraphale holds so many complicated feelings towards heaven, they just felt so much closer than that. But alas. The angst is beautifully painful, I have to admit.

Now the good part!

I am so happy we got to see pre-fall Crowley :") (he is never beating the babygirl allegations). Also I cannot believe their meetcute was the creation of our universe 😭. The historical flashbacks own my heart, I was very happy we got so many of them. Especially the Job part, it gave so much more context to their relationship and to me put a lot of what we see even in season one in a new and exciting perspective. They acted so incredibly married the whole season 😔 Crowley taking care of the bookshop, giving him the car, CROWLEY SMILING ABOUT NINA AND MAGGIE ??? he was so adorable. The fact that Aziraphale knows how much it means to Crowley to look after him????? All of these things just made the ending more painful but they were very well done. You also can't analyze this season without talking about the acting. John Hamm was amazing, memory loss Gabriel was so funny I wish he had a little more room to play with this situation but we obviously can't have everything. David and Michael were amazing per usual. Their dynamic is so incredible, the way they use a certain voice for these characters, the little mannerisms and facial expressions I loved in season one absolutely return and are maybe turned up to a 150% and I loved every minute of it. You can really tell that they wanted us to feel how well these two idiots work together, and just how much they care about one another. Their flashbacks and the way they talk to each other still makes me smile, and gives you that sort kf warm feeling. Like it'd be nice to be around them.

To summarize, I'm not completely happy with how this season played out and some of the creative decisions are foggy to me but it got me right back at 2019, being excited and emotional. I missed this show so much, I love these characters so much and I cannot wait to see where season 3 takes us. (BC THERE WILL BE A SEASON 3 STREAM IT PEOPLE STREAM. IT.)

#good omens #crowley #aziraphale #crowley good omens #aziraphale and crowley #ineffable husbands #ineffableboyfriends #david tennant #michael sheen #good omens season two #gos2

[krissiefox]

AirHeads (1994 Movie) Review

"Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or god?"

My wife has quite the movie collection, and over the years she's introduced me to all sorts of great stuff I'd never gotten to see before. Our most recent movie viewing was Airheads, a 1994 comedy about three goofball dudes in a band trying to get their music heard on the radio. I've never tried reviewing a live action film before, but I love nerding about the media I enjoy so why not try something new?

The story is simple, but a lot of fun. We're initially introduced to protagonists Chazz, Rex, and Pip. Pip (played by Adam Sandler) is Chazz's younger brother, and he's probably the most adorable character in the movie, being much more shy and awkward than the other two guys. Adam Sandlers' appeal to me can vary wildly - he was a lot of fun as Dracula in the Hotel Transylvania movies (the ones I saw, at-least) - but then there were things like "Mall cop" that he was involved with, which I couldn't watch for more than 5 minutes because the humor was so dumb and mean-spirited.

Anyway, Chaz and company are trying to get the local radio station to play their music so they can get to be more well known. It unfortunately doesn't go well, they get snubbed pretty badly, plus Chazz's girlfriend Kayla is one of the weird assholes who throws tantrums and destroys his belongings when they have arguments, I have no idea why he puts up with her violence, but he likes this wack-job for some reason. This time she not only smashes a bunch of his stuff but also kicks him out of their apartment, so he gets desperate enough that he plans to force the radio station to play their music.

They get themselves a few squirt guns that are painted to look like real ones, and fill them up with hot sauce. They then head over to the station and after a bunch of hi-jinks finally manage to sneak into the back door. Once inside, they threaten the radio DJ with their toy guns and he tries to play their tape, but it gets messed up. As this is happening the cops are called and situation starts to escalate as a hostage situation.

At this point all sorts of stuff goes on! A guy gets sent into the building by the cops with a real gun, and almost ends up actually killing people. One of the gals working at the station ends up getting all for Pip and tries to bump uglies with him - Pip is into it but also adorably shy. Chazz's girlfriend shows up with the backup tape and *sighs* decides to also destroy the radio stations stuff, too, just to lash out at Chazz. (this gal feels like the more feminine version of those gamer dudebros who throw their xbox controllers around all the time).

Eventually their guns are found out to be just toys, and this causes the SWAT team and police to close in. Still, they manage to get their wish of having a record contract signed and even get a little stage flown in for them to play on. Since the takeover had been airing on the radio the whole time, a crowd of people have shown up to support the band, including Lemmy Kilmister! They end up destroying the little stage that was flown in for them, since the stuff on it was all just props and they couldn't play their music.

They later get a happy ending even when ending up in jail, though, as they get to perform their music in prison and sell a very successful album too!

Overall, the movie is very fun, with lots of great humor. I was kind of put off by Chazz's girlfriend being such an asshole, but everyone else was very likable. Kinda like Jack Black's School of rock, the movie is also jam packed with all sorts of fun band references and even a few cameos (the aforementioned Lemmy as well as the band White Zombie playing in a bar scene). It's a got a feel good ending where "the little guys" get to be successful in making a career out of what they love, which is always nice. The soundtrack, as one might expect, is full of rock and metal, and kicks ass too.

#Airheads #Airheads movie #lemmy kilmister #white zombie #rob zombie #adam sandler #movie review #film review #movies #films #90s #KrissieFox reviews #KrissieFox movie reviews #kmfdm

[eteisvalssi]

finally got back home ik this joke is getting old but thankfully sara didn’t also want to stop the buses today because i would’ve been stuck in tampere otherwise and i finally have time to watch umk so i decided to write down some thoughts from the whole experience

- tampere as a host city was perfect. we didn’t have time to do anything before the event but the whole city looked so beautiful in purple light

- we arrived there at 7pm i think and there was almost no line to the floor seats, but the third floor was jam-packed with ppl bc all the activities and restaurants were there

- when we went to check our seats, they didn’t exist 🤠 we asked a staff member about it and they were like yeah we had to move your seats due to safety reasons, but you can pick a seat from this row that’s multiple rows back from your original seat. i’m now in the process of figuring out if our new seats were from a section with lower-priced tickets because if they were, i don’t really think sitting on the same row as some important people really made for the value lost

- the pre-show was great! the dance performance was good and we had so much fun singing along to all the songs they were playing while waiting for the actual show to start

- ylivoimainen/hoida mut mashup was indeed very kuumaa 🔥ylivoimainen was my most played song ever on spotify until a certain slovenian band took over and i love that they brought them back

- kuori mua. the song itself is fun and it really grew on me before umk, but sini was not the strongest singer that night and the staging was not my taste. wig snatched though

- dancing with demons. i liked this song, but idk why it feels so dated to me. susanna is a great vocalist though!

- glow. we were instructed to put our flashlights on for this song. this is a song that would’ve done better at melodifestivalen. it’s a bop and the most danceable out of all the songs and could become a huge hit this summer

- vox populi. i had mixed feelings about this one. i like it as a song, it’s catchy and i love nublu’s voice, but something in it feels a bit off. also the staging just wasn’t working.

- paskana. this reminded me too much of tattoo. she did give a great performance and she’s a very good singer, though pitchy at some points. deserved the jury points though.

- mania. the one that surprised me the most! the staging looked good live and even though he’s not the strongest singer of this year’s artists, his live vocals still surprised me in a good way.

- no rules. when they brought in the jegg and hung up the jorts, i didn’t know what to expect, but this was definitely not it. i didn’t like the song when it first came out, but the performance itself made it the best song that night and it deserved the win.

- the yle app didn’t even let me in when i wanted to vote :(

- pilvi’s performance. i’m not even exaggerating when i say that we just stood there with our mouths open for like half the song because we couldn’t believe we were witnessing such a bop. i’d heard pilvi sing before because she actually starred in a musical in my hometown before she became well known but i didn’t remember she was that good

- katri helena is a legend ❤️ ngl hittiputki has ruined me because i was just waiting for someone to sing señorita por favor after that 💀

- when they started announcing the international jury votes there was suddenly a huge camera right in front of us and at that point we realized that the people who sat next to us were the ones announcing the spanish and swedish votes (btw thobias seems so sweet! he was so excited when they announced the winner!). i was also worried that the camera would block my view from seeing joker out giving the points but luckily they went away for that 😂

- ruoska!!! it’s a banger and worked well on stage. at the end of this häärijä walked right in front of us wrapped in something dark and i didn’t even notice it before my friend was like omg was that häärijä 😂

- cha cha cha! loved seeing all of the dancers and it looked amazing on stage with the pyros and the lights and it actually got me kinda emotional

- the results were kinda surprising, but not really. i didn’t even think of windows95man as a contender for the win before that day, but hearing how much the audience cheered for him just when he was entering the green room before the show was kinda telling

- the afterparty was nice, imo there were too many people but what can you do when suddenly all of finland loves eurovision. there was music and some of the artists came to sing for us, we saw the winners and keira from last year!

- there were so many youtubers and influencers and other celebs i feel like everywhere i looked there was someone whose face i recognized

- at one point we went to the bathroom and just when i closed the door i heard the words mi bomo celo noč plesali and immediately ran back to the dancefloor by myself 😂

all in all it was a great event! me and my friend had so much fun and there was lots to do and see. hope to be there next year too :)

#now that umk has been wrapped i can finally go back to posting about my fave slovenes #umk24 #umk #personal

[pbandjesse]

What a day. I have a lot to think about right now. Because we saw three awesome houses. I wasn't supposed to like all of them!! So much to think about now.

The rest of today was very full too. I wasn't in the best headspace this morning though. I did not sleep well at all. I woke up my back pack a bunch and I was very cold. I just wasn't having a good time.

I slept in until 930 but it didn't help. I just felt really upset. James came and laid with me but they weren't fixing anything. Didn't close the window. Weren't making me feel better. I was being a big baby about it but I tried not to be to upset.

I took a shower to try to feel better. I got dressed and liked my outfit and felt a little better physically but emotionally I was just going through it still.

I sat on the couch and James came and talked me through our plans for the day. Go to the mall to see the train display. Get lunch. Get my x-ray. Get groceries. Go to my doctor's appointment. See some houses. Then have dinner with the Fulwilers.

The say wouldn't completely work out that way. But we had a very full day. I was a little stressed out about the x-ray. Because it's a walk in and I was not sure how long it would take so I didn't know when we should go and I was just struggling emotionally so everything felt hard.

I was trying very hard to not let it ruin the day. We would leave the house and went to the mall. James took me to see these trains years ago. And it was fun! I liked seeing the displays. I liked pushing the buttons. I liked seeing James so excited about them. They did say they felt a little self conscious because everyone else that was there was a family with a toddler. But I said they didn't need to feel any kind of way. It was fun and I was glad we went.

That mall has a Trader Joe's in the same complex so I thought it would be fun to go look around there. I was wrong. It was so busy I was very overwhelmed. We did get to grab a free sample that was a little little snack. But I needed to get out of there. So we left and headed to the Towson diner for lunch.

I made James laugh really hard when we were going inside. I reached for their hand as we were walking across the parking lot but they weren't quite ready because of a phone in their hand and I just go "you gotta be ready! I can be coming from any angle!!!" And they just lost it and it was probably the first time all day I felt like I was feeling more normal.

Eating also helped. We looked at houses and talked about the day. Tucker called and suggested somewhere for dinner. This would end up not working out but it was nice to be invited.

After lunch we decided to go to the imaging center for my x-ray. And then depending on the time we would decide what to do next.

It was about a half hour away and it was not a bad drive. When we got there I was like. This building is familiar. But when we got inside it wasn't the correct layout. Thankfully the woman at the desk was very nice and she said we just had to go upstairs. The elevator was broken but that was okay. We walked upstairs and that room was much more family and was how I remembered from last year.

We didn't have to wait long. The girl at the front desk was very nice and got me back pretty quickly. I was excited when she said I would get my x-rays right away on the patient portal. So enjoy seeing my bones!! Amazing. Also I am crooked and that is hilarious to me.

I did have to take my earring out which was difficult. Once I was done James helped me fix them in the waiting room when I was struggling so hard doing it myself. Love them so much.

We had about two hours until my appointment. So we decided to get groceries. Since we didn't need milk or anything that couldn't be in the car for a while. We walked in together but James would leave me in the produce area to run back to the car for bags. I enjoyed looking around at the deals of the week. I found boxed Thai tea which I have never seen before. I got a couple little snacks. And then James found me again. And told me that they took a minute because they went to the wrong Subaru and didn't understand why it wouldn't unlock. Incredible.

We did pretty good and got just about everything we needed. Tried to be smart about it. Still was to expensive. But it was fine.

It was still an hour early but I figured if they didn't want to see me yet that would be fine and we could just wait.

But they did see me a half hour earlier. Excellent.

This appointment didn't go as weird as last time. But I still don't think the injections went amazing. I have painful lumps in both my legs. If they are still lumpy tomorrow I'll call the doctor's. Sincere, the medical assistant, for sure is getting better at the leg injections but something went weird. I don't think I've had such a hard lump in my legs before.

I also was wildly dehydrated. I feel like that happened a lot today. Plus the sun was setting and was coming through the office window and I was baking a little bit. But I was alright. I would be okay. I was just really excited to go back to the car where my water was.

James said they were starting to deal with the 330 sleepies. Honestly same. I was excited to go home.

When we got back here we got word from our realtor, Harold, that we would go see the first house at 6. Which made it not possible to have dinner with the Fulwilers. But that's okay and we have rescheduled for next week.

James went for a bike ride. And I picked up the apartment a little. And just chilled with sweetp on the couch.

James came home and we hung out on the couch until it was time to go.

The first house is in Hamden. A very cool neighborhood and it overlooks the big park. But it's a sort of busy street. And it's street parking. But we didn't struggle to get a spot so it's probably okay. The biggest issue is that it is built into a hill. And from the street to the front door there at 27 stairs. So basically like the house I grew up in. This isn't terrible but there are some concerns about the retaining wall and shifting land.

But this house was great. The carpets upstairs were a little stained but beyond that this house was awesome. A partially finished basement. A little backyard. A really nice kitchen. Vintage charms. A porch swing! A vintage bathroom with mirrors everywhere. I really liked this one.

The problem is I liked all three tonight!! This first one was so good but I was trying to be like. Can't happen. To many stairs. But then we saw the other two. And they were also great! But both had one thing off.

The second one has awesome details. A finished basement with its own bathroom. A huge tub. Extra rooms. A porch. But it's an open concept on the first floor and I struggled to see how our living room would be set up.

The third one was hilarious. Like just as a bit it was so good. A spiral staircase. Multiple rooms. Weird cutouts. Visible beams in the ceiling. A loft that I had to use a ladder to get to. I love this one but living with a spiral staircase would be very tough. And there was no basement. Also it had a heat pump which makes the electric more expensive. But the house made me laugh a lot.

We stood outside with Harold and we were trying to talk through each one. The problem is they are all good. Each has pros and cons. Each brings something great to the table. This wasn't supposed to happen!! I felt like I had so much less clarity because I could see us being so happy in all of them.

But as we got to the car and started taking it through the more I felt like we should try for the first house. I loved the size of the rooms. I loved the location. I wish it didn't have so many stairs but it doesn't completely ruin it for me.

All of them have been on the market for a few weeks. So right now no one else is fighting us to put down offers. So we don't have to decide tonight. And tomorrow we might go see one that's at the top of the budget. In a really nice area. But things are happening! Crazy. Feels crazy to feel so good about so many places.

We went home and I was in a great mood. James made me dumplings and themself tortellini. We hung out in the couch talking number. I texted with my mom giving her updates and talking though what would have to happen to make this work. To actually buy a house. Feels crazy. But we might get a house before Christmas?? Wild wild wild.

I was feeling very stressed about everything. So I tried everything to calm down again. I took a very hot bath. I used my fancy face tool. I tried to be cool and calm. I do not feel cool or calm. I feel very excited and scared.

But I hope I can sleep easy tonight. And tomorrow things will feel more clear. I will be at camp all day. I am going to work on cleaning the attic. It was be a fun day.

I hope you all sleep well. And take care of yourselves. Goodnight everyone. Until next time!

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-pokemon-fan]

I'm gonna be praising Pokémon SV a lot on this blog, and making fun of the game's jank as well. So I'll take this opportunity to give my honest thoughts about that jank and the state of the Pokémon games. It's a long one, so read below the cut.

Scarlet and Violet are embarrassingly rushed. That is the keyword. Rushed. I believe that in most if not all cases, game developers are not lazy. When a game looks like this, it is obvious that the upper management did not give their developers nearly enough time. It in management's fault, not the people making the game.

In my experience, whenever someone complains that a game’s devs were lazy, they are really disagreeing with how the devs prioritized that limited time they were allowed. The world geometry is strikingly blocky and not very well textured and the frame rate almost never runs at 60 fps (your profile's play clock consistently runs short of your actual playtime because of this).

On the other hand, there are 400 Pokémon in the Paldea Pokédex. 102 of them are brand new to Gen IX. Every mon had to be coded, textured, animated, etc. It's impressive how expansive the dex is considering it contains 40% of all Pokémon ever created. So while performance is bad, they did use some of their time to give us a really good regional dex. It's impossible to know how many compromises like this were made, but I know there were a hell of a lot of them.

It is depressing that SV shipped the way they did in the year 2022. Breath of the Wild was essentially a Wii U game ported to Switch in 2017 and runs almost flawlessly on the exact same hardware. And it looks much better while doing it. It’s astounding that the higher-ups at Gamefreak looked at the game that their undoubtedly stressed and overworked devs were producing, and said “Yeah, that can ship this year.”

The problem has only gotten worse with this company. Black 2 and White 2 were absolutely jam packed with content, but developing on modern consoles is much harder than on the DS. Ever since, you can tell that corners have been progressively getting cut. X and Y had no postgame. Sword and Shield had an underwhelming presentation and finally cut the ever-expanding dex. Legends: Arceus has bugs all over and is startlingly unpleasant to look at. BDSP was developed by ILCA and not Gamefreak, but you can tell at a glance that they didn't have enough time either.

So, what's up? Will it get better? I doubt it. For every adult fan who cares about the state of the franchise and quality of the games, there are leagues more children who can't tell the difference between a masterpiece and piece of shit. The games will sell as long as there are children (and their parents) to buy them. You and I are the minority and no amount of boycotting would work.

The only way I see this getting better is if the next games are so catastrophically rushed that they are literally (and I mean literally) unplayable. When parents start returning the games for refunds because their kid can't play the game, things might improve. Ain't that comforting?

It makes me sad to see one of my childhood favorite franchises go like this. I want the best for Pokémon. Not just for myself, no. For today's kids and tomorrow's kids. I'm able to look at the games I played growing up--Platinum, Heartgold, White--and see the abundance of care and polish put into them. They're genuinely good games and I'm happy I got to play such good games when I was young. I want kids today to be able to look back 10 years and say the same, because right now? They deserve better.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet

[cinnamon-bunni]

Day 3: Warm Food

Here is the start of my Comfortember fics! Very excited about all these <3 while i didn't end up writing as many fics as i wanted to, i'm still happy with the ones that i did end up finishing. I was also just so excited to write about Nora, she's definitely one of my favorite OCs that I have, so i hope y'all enjoy her as well <3

Read it on Ao3! Word count: 1.3k

Nora liked days like these. The days where the weather wasn’t too terrible, and Aran’s mood wasn’t terrible either. The days when they strolled down the city streets, maybe into some sort of park or possibly down to the ports, until they found themselves in some sort of trouble. The sort of days when Aran bought her some random food, and they wouldn’t eat some shitty frozen food in their freezer. The days where he even listened to her when she rambled on and on about the books she read, and gave his own thoughts. Because, believe it or not, she liked having his attention and spending time with her brother.

(“C’mon, don’t you have friends for that sort of thing?” he had asked one day. Her blank stare was more than enough of an answer.)

Those days were few, though. A mix of Aran being in the States for boxing season, Nora in school, and her working as a waitress, they never really had the time. And even when they did, it was a hit or miss if it was actually a good day for either of them. The two didn’t exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly–and as oblivious Nora is to those sorts of things, even she knew that.

But on rare good days, it was fun. Nora liked them because they often outshone the bad days she had. And her brother wasn’t the worst, she supposed, so there was that.

“Hey.” Aran nudged her with his elbow, and nodded towards one of the buildings that was across the street. “Wanna get something to eat?”

The idea of getting out of the bustling street appealed to Nora, as did the idea of getting some food. But even from afar she could see how jam-packed it was, like a tin can full of sardines. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

But of course, Aran didn’t give her a chance to answer. Instead, he grabbed her by her arm, and started to drag her over to cross the street. Right into traffic too, with loud car horns and screeching of tires filling the air. Drivers yelled, Aran yelled back, and Nora quickened her step to cross faster.

Lunch rushes were always the worst, and of course it was no different in the restaurant that her brother pushed her into. She ran into a man with a large coat, stumbled back into her brother, and she hated how cramped it was. She felt stuffed inside, as the small waiting area was already packed with people who were in line for a table. The building was filled with noises of people talking, shouting or laughing, cutlery scraping against plates, and the sizzlings of food in the kitchen.

The place became a sudden overload for her senses, and Nora hated it. She wished that she had brought her headphones.

Nora gave a distressed hum, in hopes that Aran would hear. Whether he heard her or not didn’t matter though, because she was left ignored. She stuck close to him, even though her cheeks burned in embarrassment as she realized how weird it was for a seventeen-year-old like her to be so pathetic and overwhelmed. 

The only upside she found was that she was at least somewhat warm now.

She ended up being too focused on keeping herself grounded that she hadn’t realized that a waiter had asked them to follow him to their table. She stumbled a bit when her brother pushed her, but she followed. Whether Aran cut his way in front of the other people who were waiting, or the line just moved that quickly, Nora wasn’t sure. Wasn’t like she paid much attention to her surroundings.

They were led to a booth, one that was surrounded by other bustling and loud patrons. Once again did she just wish that they ate somewhere quieter and less packed. They looked through the menu, and they ordered. Aran talked, as much as he always did. He ranted on and on, not letting Nora get a single word in. Not like she would anyway, as she never really had much to say.

Aran was always like that though. Always unnecessarily filling up the space with his voice, somehow leading the one-sided conversation that was about boxing to American restaurants to animals to New York, until he completely forgot what he originally wanted to say. It frustrated Nora to no end.

She listened as he drummed his fingers on the table. Watched as he bounced not one, but both legs, causing the table to shake and rattle. She stayed silent as she gripped the sleeves of her jacket tightly.

Nora was pulled out of her mind, once again by her brother. A flick to her nose caused her to flinch, and give a harsh glare at him.

“Oh good, ya didn’t check out on me.” Her brother leaned back into his seat, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she just stared at him. “Mind telling me what caused it this time?”

“Too loud,” she answered. Her brother gave an inquisitive look, and she just shrugged. “Don’t like the noise.”

“Well, it’s good that I’m taking you out then, yeah? Getting used to it will help.” Nora shrugged again. That’s what everyone said–if she just actually went outside instead of staying in her room all day long, then eventually she would get used to the loudness of the world. But it didn’t solve the problem of losing herself when it got too overwhelming, nor did it help on the bad days when even the quietest of noises made her upset. Nothing adults ever told her helped, and she doubted Aran would be the exception.

“I should’ve brought my headphones,” Nora muttered. She withheld a flinch when her brother scoffed.

“Surprised you didn’t. Never seen you leave the flat without those dingy things. What’s with that, anyway?”

“It helps,” she answered, and added, “with the noises. It makes ‘em quieter, easier to deal with.”

“Does it really?”

“Mhm.”

“Huh.” Aran never stopped drumming his fingers. She could see on his face that he was thinking–a rare sight for the man.

She gripped her sleeves tighter, listening to the deafening silence between them, taking in all the other noises around her. Rubbing the fur on the cuff of her jacket with her thumb calmed her a bit, but not by much.

The waiter came by with their food. She mouthed a silent “thank you”, while her brother muttered his own.

“Well,” her brother started, grabbing a chip off of his plate, “if ya want, I can buy ya a new pair once we’re done here.”

She snapped her gaze up to him. “Really?”

“Eh, why not? The one you got is shitty and old anyway, might as well replace it.” He tossed the chip into his mouth, and she couldn’t help but smile, even while her brother started to bang his fist on the table because of the hot food burning his mouth.

Nora fought the urge to stomp her feet in delight. She couldn’t stop smiling. Eager to finish her meal and get out of the boisterous restaurant, she quickly scooped up spoonfuls of her stew to finish quickly. She then started to bang her fist as her tongue burned. She glared at her brother, who gave an ugly snort at her pain.

Whatever, it was fine. She continued to eat–slowly, blowing on the food this time–and felt herself warm right up. More than just from the heater of the building, or from the burning hot food, but from what her brother said. He’d buy a new pair of headphones. He would buy it. It was something so small, something that didn’t even really matter, but it made her smile nonetheless. Warmth spread through her chest, and Nora stomped her feet in glee, as a small indulgence. Her boots clacked loudly against the wood, annoying and harsh but it felt good. And then her brother didn’t say anything about it, and Nora couldn’t stop smiling.

#comfortember #comfortember 2022 #punch out #punch out!! #punch out wii #aran ryan #oc nora #oc nora ryan

[two-am-outlines-only]

Laughter is my Love Language

Summary:  Logan doesn’t laugh much when Virgil first meets him. Eventually Virgil learns when Logan is truly happy is when he opens up.

Warnings: food mention, some self deprecating humor. 

Ships: Logan x Virgil, Analogical

Word Count: 1, 664

AO3 Link

Logan doesn’t laugh much when they first meet, which is somewhat of a problem for Virgil since he often relied on laughter to fill otherwise awkward silences. The problem was that Virgil was funny in the stupid way- which he blamed entirely on his dad’s humor that fell over to the punnier side. Crack a pun, reference a meme or as a last ditch effort self deprecating humor was usually relatable enough. Logan fell for none of those and more or less was just left confused by them- or he took the self depreciation too seriously and Virgil ended up with a heartfelt lecture on how important he was. Which, as sweet as it was, wasn’t the point of poking fun at something at his own expense.

--

“Boy Logan that sandwich is jam packed!” said Virgil sometime during their freshman year of high school.

Logan had looked at his sandwich in confusion. “There’s peanut butter there too- but yes it’s Crofters.”

Virgil fought to keep the smile on his face. “Yeah I know, it was a joke.”

“But it is packed with- oh that was a pun. Clever.”

--

“Here comes dat boi!” Virgil cringed at his own voice as the meme reference fell out of his mouth. He hadn’t seen Logan smile once that day and all attempts at conversation had fallen flat so...memes. Why not? Logan was on his laptop often enough he had probably seen what he was referencing at some point. Plus Logan was gliding very confidently on his skateboard and Virgil was suddenly feeling very tense and wanted to break it. Logan, unhelpful as he was, merely stopped and kicked the board up to tuck underneath his arm.

“‘Dat’?” He questioned.

“I-it’s...a meme. I was- referencing a meme.”

“Ah.”

“...yeah.”

Nailed it.

--

“That’s just me being dumb though- you know how it is.” Virgil let out a defeated huff of laughter and settled his chin on his arms. It was their senior year and he was talking to Logan about his current grades. Everything else was straight A’s other than gym. He didn’t like changing in front of others and the bathrooms were blocked off for whatever reason so he just didn’t do it. He took the fail but still needed the credit or he’d have problems getting his diploma, which was completely stupid and unfair but he knew it was his own stubborn fault and-

“I don’t know.” Logan hadn’t laughed at the “joke”, of course he hadn’t. Virgil sighed, opening his mouth to say something else completely stupid and worthless but Logan beat him to it.

“You aren’t stupid. Lack of participation doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it means there’s some other problem that needs addressing if you’re willing to take a failing grade instead of confronting it.” Logan turned to him with a serious look. Always so serious. “So, if I may ask, where’s the problem?”

Virgil blinked. “It’s stupid.”

“Virgil.”

“I just...don’t like…” Virgil turned into his elbow, cheeks reddening at how dumb the problem really was.

“I didn’t hear you. Can you please speak up? Or write it down if that’s easier.”

Snorting he decided to take him up on that, tearing a scrap of paper off his notebook and writing it down.

There was a pause and then: “Is this all? If you take the make-up class there won’t be nearly as many people and if you get there early you can be changed before anyone sees you.”

Peaking around, Logan’s face was so genuine, like he actually wanted to help. Virgil almost didn’t have the heart to say why that was also a problem but he needed him to understand. “I won’t know anyone in the make-up class.”

Logan screwed his mouth to one side trying to figure out why that would be something Virgil would worry about. His face brightened somewhat as he looked back to Virgil. “If it would ease your anxiety I could take the class with you. While I may not have to make up for the credit, it is open to sign up for extra if anyone so chooses.”

Virgil bit his lip. That would- actually really help, but he couldn’t let Logan do that could he? “You don’t have to.”

“I am aware. But going would be a nice routine and I would be very happy to do it if it meant you would be more comfortable.”

“You’re serious? You would really do that?”

“I’m always serious, Virgil. Of course I will.”

Maybe sometimes Logan not getting the joke was a good thing.

--

“L, it’s three in the morning. Go to bed.” They were in college sharing a dorm, and though Virgil could fall asleep with the lights fully on so Logan’s lamp wasn’t keeping him awake, it was the fact the other man was still awake that was bothering him.

Logan let out a short, humorless laugh and waved hi hand. “I’m almost done.”

Virgil hated when he laughed like that. No happiness behind it, only stress and exhaustion and irritation. Sighing Virgil reached over and plucked the pencil from his hand, shooting him a warning look when it seemed like he was about to protest. He closed the book and stacked it neatly with the couple notebooks he had and placed the pencil and calculator on top. Turning to his dorm mate he pointed to the dresser in the corner. “Pjs. Now.”

Slightly concerned when Logan only stood up to do as he was told instead of arguing he shrugged it off and sat back down on the bed. Logan came over a moment later, plain black tee drooping over one shoulder and sleep shorts slightly rumpled. They really needed to do laundry. Before he could say as much, Virgil was suddenly on his back, Logan’s head on his chest with his legs sticking straight over the side. Laughing softly he ran his fingers through the others light red hair, combing out the tangles gently while Logan relaxed into him.

“Logan buddy, I love you so much but if we fall asleep like this we’ll never get up again.” The other grumbled but took a breath and rolled off his chest, swinging his legs over to turn on his side and nearly kicking Virgil in the head in the process. Smirking, Virgil crawled up behind him and flopped with his arm slung over his side. He laughed again when he realized he was already asleep, arms askew and already drooling on the pillow. Snuggling into his back and hugging him tight he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep himself.

--

Logan sat at the table with a book flat on the surface, notebook close by as he made careful notes for the next curriculum. His brow was pinched in thought and his third mug of coffee was cooling beside him, untouched for nearly an hour as he fixated on his work.

Virgil looked back out the window as he finished drying a glass. Gray clouds were rolling in and it was already starting to drizzle. Good, they needed a good rain for the start of summer. Tuning in once again to the furious scratching of a pencil behind him he set the glass down and whirled around, racing over and catching Logan’s hands in his own to tug him up and towards the door.

“Virgil what are we- it’s raining! Virgil!” Virgil stopped for a moment to look and see if Logan was actually distressed but upon seeing more fond annoyance than anything else he grinned and stepped out into the downpour. He took away one of his hands and led Logan in a spin down the porch, feet slipping slightly in the wet grass as he maneuvered them around. Logan was smiling now, stress lines gone from his face as wet hair flopped into his eyes and obscured his vision. Virgil’s own hair was slicked flat to his forehead, emo fringe he would never cut hanging down to his lips before he shook his head hard to dispel the water. Logan yelped and flinched away before laughing low at himself, grin turning mischievous as he reached up above Virgil's head to take a hold of a tree branch. Yelling as what felt like gallons of water soaked him he stood there thoroughly soaked and shivering slightly before letting out a howl of laughter, Logan following right after. He was sure the neighbors could hear them but he didn’t care. Logan was laughing so hard he was clutching his sides, shaking with the effort of holding himself together.

This was what Virgil loved most. Logan didn’t always laugh easily, not understanding the joke or understanding what was meant to be a joke but making sure the person was okay first. When he did laugh, it was one shared with others over whatever dumb, stress free thing they were doing. It was unplanned and in the moment, something Logan and Virgil were usually both averse to. But here in the rain, or getting icing everywhere on their wedding day, or the shared laughed when they woke up together after yelling at each other the night before to go to sleep it rang out; it was clear and joyful and carefree- a language all on it’s own that neither of them needed to “get” in order to join in .

When they first met Logan didn’t laugh a lot, which was somewhat of a problem for Virgil since he often relied on laughter to fill otherwise awkward silences. But when he opened up he began laughing all the time, each one precious and kept close to the chest. Virgil collected them, hoarded them even, storing them like coins in a jar in exchange for the happiness he felt each time he was the one to cause such a beautiful sound. And as they giggled still through slight coughs under a blanket that night, he couldn’t be more happy he could speak this language with Logan.

#oren writes #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #virgil sanders #sanders sides virgil #logan sanders #sanders sides logan #logan x virgil #logan sanders x irgil sanders #analogical

[wetladss]

Day 4

Bit more of a relaxing day this one. Thalia worked from home so I did some admin and research for what was to come. THalia made a really nice pasta dish for dinner. Then we headed out to East London as that seems to be where the music / art scene is pumping. The west side is more upper class so there isn’t as much street art and youth around. We traveled to brick lane to see a Jam night at 91 Brick Lane. Very cool street with heaps of graffiti. Venues and copious amounts of food with a strong indian cuisine present. The Jam space was nice. Good size space and a third of the room kinda was like a living room which was cozy. The Artists were good and had a great night.

Day 5

Went off to see Bettersea to see the inside of the power station that is converted into a mall and office space. Pretty cool building and realised it was the one that Pink Floyd had as an album cover with the floating pig between two smoke stacks. Pretty cool conversion and really well done. Headed back west to Richmond to check the area out and meet up with Chritan who had been living in the UK for over 5 years now. Went on a bit of a pub crawl and went to some nice Pubs on the river there. Got to see his Father in laws rowing boat he was restoring and witness the massive tide change as we were beving up. The tides come up over the pavement in that area and would submerge parts of the outdoor beer garden at one of the venues. Good time spent out there and really nice to catch up. After that I jumped back on an ebike to make it back for Mexican dinner with Thalia. Was a bit late so google maps it but it took me to an area where the high tide had taken up the road so road through it and got my feet soaked. Worth it though as the mexican food at MX Tacos. So delicious. Got to enjoy it twice. Crashed early that night.

Day 6

This was the last day in the UK before flying to France. Did washing and cleaning and help Thalia pack her things before shed headed off to work. I meet up with her later and we caught the train out of London so we could fly from a cheaper airport. Flew in to Toulouse and headed to our accommodation to get some rest for the road trip ahead.

Day 7

Headed off to pick up the car we hired off TURO. We had a mini van, Renault Kangoo which was actually pretty nice to drive. We picked it up and went to the French Kmart + Coles. Carrefour. We did a 1hr plus shop and got all our van life gear and some food for the next few days. Pretty fun getting the gear and seeing the French store. We then drove out of Toulouse and aimed for the coast. Really nice day for driving we saw the Pyrenees mountain range that separates Spain and France. Really nice clear day in the high 20s and the mountains had a nice layer of snow on the top of them. We continued on to the coast and stop through Pau for some lunch we made and to get a good view of the mountains. Then we head to Hossengor which was packed when we arrived with people leaving and hanging around. We stopped at the beach although it was getting late and a cold front was starting to settle in. We went and found a spot to camp and hear some live music near the beach so went to check it out. Randomly there was a American car appreciation festival happening and there was heaps of american classic car, trucks and buses around. After that we had our first night in the van. Got a bit cold as when we brought all the things it was really hot and we didn’t expect it to get that cold but looking at the weather it was going to be around 10-20 the next week.

[explode-this]

Re: last reblog:

The thing that finally flipped the switch, that got me from Bulimia All Day Every Day 24/7/365 NEVER STOP, was realizing that if I was ever going to be well I had to accept one very simple thing:

Being fat is not the end of the world.

This is not easy thing to accept, because we live in a world that says exactly that. Where you can read whole Twitter threads full of self-loathing people who would rather die early of a disease that requires the use of steroids to control than be made fat by their medication. Where doctors might not find your cancer until it’s way too fucking late because they assume any sign of ill-health is because you’re DEATHFAT (that’s what people generally mean when they say “obese,” so I’m just not sugarcoating it—plus I feel so much more metal blithely describing myself as not just fat but DEATHFAT). Where the merest hint of fat body representation in conjunction with positivity brings out a mewling crowd of Concerned Citizens™️ to sniffle and say “well I’m all for body positivity, but some people take it TOO FAR.”

I had to go on a calorie-restricted diet before I had my gallbladder out last April. It became my full-time job, just watching everything like a hawk, being on it for twice the amount of time than is usually prescribed (you know, because DEATHFAT). I was weak, I was tired, I was petrified I was going to be full bulimic again in a matter of weeks. I did in fact purge once because I freaked out about eating a few too many crackers. Getting medical help shouldn’t do that to you, but here we are.

But I didn’t fall back into that behavior. I didn’t start hating myself or exercising too much out of shame. I did begin going to the skating rink with regularity again, but it wasn’t just to burn calories or “earn” my food, the way I used to. It was to have FUN. It was to enjoy the muscle memory and skills I built over years of roller derby instead of letting my skates sit and gather dust. (Derby, I might add, was a time in my life where the combination of so much training and being on ADHD meds for the first time and going all the way back to active bulimia meant a massive weight loss—and well-meaning “friends” telling me that i “looked like a person now!” Team Captain, I love you, but girl—fuck off.)

I understand that there will ALWAYS be people who think they know what I’m eating or doing with my life by looking at me. People I can skate circles around, mind you. People who have never tried my cooking and see how jam-packed it is with vegetables. People who don’t know how many years of other people’s opinions I had to shrug off to wear the cute clothes I enjoy instead of oversized, misshapen garbage garments to hide from the world as to not offend someone else’s delicate sensibilities.

But being fat is not the end of the world.

I don’t worry about the size of my ass. I don’t worry about what my arms look like in tshirts. I don’t try to hide my soft tum-tum or disguise my thighs. I move my body because I love to move my body. I eat vegetables because they’re delicious and frankly I don’t know how to cook meat. I eat a bacon cheeseburger every week after Wednesday skating because it’s delicious.

It takes a very long time to get here. But it’s worth it.

I’d rather be kind, and funny, and smart, and well-read, and crafty, and creative, AND fat, than waste my life doing only some of those things and being cranky and self-obsessed because I’m wasting too much time trying not to be fat.

So if this is the opposite of every message you ever see out there, I want you to know this truth, delivered to you from the bottom of my plump little soul:

Being fat is not the end of the world.

#fat #fat fatty fat fat #if you ARE one of these folks who think it’s your business to tell another person that their body is wrong #please look inward #i think you might also need to know that being fat is not the end of the world. it’s not the worst thing you can be #and to all my fat homies #i love you #i love you so much #and I’m sorry that you’ve been made to feel like you’re not worth loving #but you are #and i love you no matter where your body takes you or what it looks like

[some-far-far-away-land]

Current Status

It's been a while since I posted an update.

So 2023 has been off to a good start so far. Crazy that it's already the 2nd week of March. The year is going much better than how things went down at the beginning of last year. As a reminder, a part of our ceiling broke due to water damage in mid-January after a big snowstorm came through, and then a few days later I flooded our apartment which had us living in our bedroom since we didn't have flooring until the first week of April. Glad that's all behind us, though we were $10,000 richer, I would NOT want to go through that again.

This year we plan on taking our first trip since COVID and of course, we are planning on going back to Seoul since we haven't stopped thinking about going back since we last went in Nov. 2019. Since we're both making more money than we did in 2019, we're planning on splurging for the trip so we've started saving from the get-go. When we last went we spent like $5k on flights, accommodations, food, day trips, and activities. This time we're probably looking at $10k-$11k for the 14 days we'll be there.

The plan is to go back in November again, we're thinking Nov. 4th - 19th. We are monitoring plane ticket pricing but we've already made a reservation at this amazing-looking 5-star hotel in Dongdaemun, which is pretty much at the centre of Seoul. We didn't really explore this area the last time we were there. Last time we stayed in a private room at a hostel in Myeongdong for the first 5 days to save us money, and then for the rest of the trip we stayed in an Airbnb in Hongdae which was super fun since the nightlife and shopping there was 10/10.

We mainly stayed in Seoul for our first trip and we are leaning towards staying there again for most of the trip but maybe doing 3 days in Busan before we head home. We'll see where we end up going as we're in the early planning stages. I feel like there is still so much to explore in Seoul but I do feel like we should try and see other parts of Korea too.

On this trip, we will mainly be exploring cafes, eating good food, and checking out luxury shopping. We did a lot of the tourist attractions when we last went so we're being picky about what we plan on doing this time around. We're also going a week earlier compared to our last trip so we're hoping to catch more of the fall foliage when we go. We want to visit Nami Island again, but maybe this time hiring a private car to take us. Definitely want to have a photographer come with us too to take photos. I'm also interested in going to Mt. Seorak and exploring that area for a day. Closer to Incheon Airport we also want to go to Paradise City where they filmed Singles Inferno.

In Seoul, we'll also spend a lot more time exploring Gangnam, Apujeong, and Seongsu. We didn't even go to Starfield COEX Mall last time and we even skipped out on Lotte World. We did buy tickets to go but it was on the last day of our trip and we were exhausted by then. So yea definitely planning on a more jam-packed itinerary and caffeinating myself so we take fewer naps this time around. We will have 2-3 days that will be more relaxed and not filled with activities so we can also enjoy our hotel and have a few days where we can see where the wind takes us. The last time we were there it rained a few times so if we have some buffer days we can potentially move days around if the weather isn't very good.

Either way, I'm really excited to travel again and to go back to Seoul. In the 4 years since our trip, I've definitely tried more Korean food and have upped my spice tolerance. I've also fallen in love with coffee/espresso drinks which is why I'm so excited to cafe hop! Of course, I'll be vlogging and taking lots of luxury content for the gram.

Will do another update on planning when we've bought our tickets. One of our bigger concerns at this time is figuring out where Corgsworth is going to be staying while we're out. I'm thinking with my parents but they are also planning on going on a trip at the end of October and it looks like they're gonna fly back on the 5th of November. My sister might not be joining them so she might be able to watch him but we'll see since my parents told her that they'd pay for half her costs if she wanted to come.

Thats it for now!

#personal #seoul 2023 #current status

[thegraveyardjohnsongrey]

26

Ah, 26. I put a lot on you. I put all of my younger self’s expectations into you. and i don’t think it was fair. 

even when nothing in the world makes sense anymore, i’ll be here

lots of laughter, and some tears. 

I think 26 has been the height of my anxiety. mostly because i feel behind compared to everyone else. and i feel the loss of everything so much. 

I thought that my Golden Year would be this .. endless, non-stop, jam-packed year with fun and excitement around the clock. 

and while i’ve certainly had waves of that, the majority of it hasn’t certainly been rosy. haha

I think the biggest victory that 26 taught me, was that: you can lose well, and still find something new

Pain is real, insecurities are real, and guilt is very much real.But so is a new beginning. A new start. And - brand new image of what we want (and can have) most in our earthly life.

Losing and losing well, without losing what’s most important i think - has been the height of my maturity thus far. And i’m both proud and excited at where that kind of mentality will continue to take us. 

I look back on what has made me the happiest, and made me me. And i celebrate those moments - with the hopes that something new (will also bring me new joy.

And i can do it again and again until i find it.

And i guess that’s the most Golden Lesson of all huh.

Onwards, to 30!!!!

[h-worksrambles]

Did remind fix KHIII for you? Or did III need fixing, alternatively?

Hmmm. That’s a tricky question. Because the thing is, I actually really liked Kingdom Hearts III. I had a blast with it and I still do. I don’t think I enjoy it quite as much as I or II (though keep in mind those are some of my all time favourite games). But I still thought it was really fun. It looked and sounded gorgeous, it had a lot of great moments. And it was a return to form on a gameplay level compared to Birth By Sleep or Dream Drop Distance. And not just in terms of the combat. This is arguably the first Kingdom Hearts game since the first where the levels weren’t entirely hallways (with the possible exception of Dream Drop). And as someone who has been craving level design closer to KHI for years, that was huge for me.

That being said, I had some definite complaints and I completely understood why others were more disappointed than I was. On a gameplay level it was way too easy and lacked optional content. While my thoughts on the story are more complicated. Again, it had a lot of memorable moments that did work for me. At the same time though, the pacing was really off with a lot of long-awaited moments crammed together at the end. The Disney worlds, while very fun to play, weren’t as well utilised as they could have been. A lot of characters felt really under-utilised, with a lot of missed potential for development (Kairi especially, but Riku, Ventus and several others suffered from this too). Sora’s the only one who really gets a half decent character arc by the end. Everyone else here gets scraps. Though, to be fair, a lot of my issues with the writing carried over from past games. I stand by the fact that DDD didn’t do a very good job setting up for III, so it was already starting off on the back-foot.

So it’s tough for me to say whether III needed ‘fixing’ considering how much I enjoyed it despite its problems. But did patches and DLC make the game better for me? Well, yes. I did find myself much more engaged with the game on Critical so that’s one huge improvement. I loved the Data battles (which were arguably even better and more challenging than those in KHII). And the extra playable characters were all fun and engaging to play in a way that really enhances the final battles (Roxas and Kairi are sooooo much fun here). This version definitely better succeeded at giving everyone more moments to shine in the final battle. And I think when you take vanilla III and Re:Mind together, you get a pretty good endgame. Also, Yozora is a pretty sweet superboss (even though I still haven’t beaten him). Does it fix my overarching problems with III’s story? No. It’s still poorly paced and jam-packed at the end. It’s still juggling far too many characters and plot threads without enough time to breathe. It still spends too much time setting up the next arc rather than bringing these characters’ journeys to a satisfying stopping point. It still carries over a lot of the problems I’ve had with the series’ storytelling since BBS. Also playable Kairi is a joy and I appreciate how the boss fight shows rather than tells that she and Sora are a good duo who work well together. But like…it doesn’t change how little she’s allowed to do before that or the fact that she gets freaking fridged fifteen minutes prior.

Put simply, it’s complicated. Again I like III. I like it a lot. Re:Mind and Critical Mode definitely made a game I already enjoyed even better. But I don’t believe they entirely fix the story’s underlying problems. And if you already didn’t like III, shelling out 25 quid for this isn’t gonna change your mind. I hope that answers your question.

#kingdom hearts iii #kingdom hearts iii remind #kingdom hearts #ask