#stars can be used to buy animals in the menu. this gives you absolutely nothing.

[flash-from-the-past]

Dream Pet Link 2

#flash #basic rules same as the first but with more animals and some bonus features. #if you stall for too long the game forcibly gives you hints. every hint takes away a star you get for that level. #stars can be used to buy animals in the menu. this gives you absolutely nothing. #most of the animals are blocked unless you play on gamesgames or whatever website this thing first appeared on. #and sadly whoever put it up on flashpoint didn't hack it to remove the block. later gamesgames stuff sucks like that. #as far as i can tell there's an infinite number of levels and what you get is randomized to some extent. #sooo basically no real improvement. #i only found this game while replaying dream pet link for the screenshot and if i never found it nothing of value would be lost

[creampuffqueen]

Team Bonding

Word Count: 2,328

Requested by the lovely @ruby-tucker, a fic where Nova and Oscar are friends and go to the mall and eat Dairy Queen together. You ask, I deliver.

I’m not super happy with the ending of this, but I like the rest, so I think that’s good I guess. Hope y’all enjoy!

~~~~

“Nova Artino!” Nova’s wristband buzzed as Oscar’s voice sounded from it, urgent and harrying. 

“What do you want? I’m working.” Nova said back. She was busy at her worktable, taking things apart and combining them back together. She hadn’t stopped working for two days.

“I’m coming to get you. I have a surprise.”

“I can’t.” She said. “I’m getting close with this-”

“Chill out, Nova. I’m taking you on a team bonding experience.” Oscar chuckled. Oh no.

“Team bonding?” Nova yelped. “Where? And why?”

“I’m coming to get you, and you’ll find out.” He laughed. “You don’t even have to dress up. You can wear sweatpants and a hoodie, I don’t care.”

He hung up, and Nova groaned. She was reluctant to leave her project, but after taking a moment to actually look at herself-

She needed a shower. And some fresh clothes. Adrian was right, she did have a tendency to forget about herself when she was working.

Nova didn’t wash her hair, since she didn’t know how close Oscar was, and didn’t want to go wherever he was taking her and the team with wet hair. Instead she tied her dark locks into a high ponytail and donned a fresh hoodie and leggings.

Ding. The doorbell rang through the small apartment, and Nova went to answer it.

“Hello, Miss Artino.” Oscar made a dramatic bowing gesture on her doorstep, cane in hand. “Will you do me the pleasure of joining me in my quest for Dairy Queen?”

“Your quest for what now?” Nova snorted. She stepped out, wincing at the sunlight. 

“Oh my stars. Guys, she’s never had Dairy Queen!” Oscar shouted over down the stairs. Nova rolled her eyes at him, but let Oscar lead her back down to the street.

Everyone was there. Adrian, Ruby, Danna, and even Narcissa. While the redhead wasn’t really a Renegade, she was essentially part of the team. Nova liked her, she was the kind of person who one could sit in silence with and feel comfortable.

“How have we all let Oscar drag us out here?” She asked. “It’s like, what, nine in the morning?”

“Babe, it’s literally one o’clock.” Adrian chuckled. 

“Oh. Yeah.” Nova sighed. She’d completely lost track of time again.

“Anyway,” Oscar continued, “We’re all going to the mall, and we’re going to have lots of fun. And after we have lots of fun, we are going to eat ice cream until we can’t walk anymore.”

“I can’t believe you dragged me away from my work for this.”

“It’ll be fun.” Oscar assured her. “Trust me.”

So Nova let him drag her along behind him as he walked, her wrist in one hand and his cane in the other. Ruby walked close by, laughing at his dumb jokes.

“Nova, have you ever been to the mall before?” Danna asked as they arrived in the massive parking lot. 

“No. I lived in an abandoned subway tunnel for over half my life. I wasn’t allowed to go to the mall.”

“So I hate to be that person,” Oscar said with a wince, “But can you try to lighten up? Just a bit? A little? Like, a tablespoon lighter?”

Nova snorted. “Absolutely not.” Oscar made a pouty face, and Nova nudged his shoulder. “Kidding.”

“Great! Let’s go inside.” Oscar let go of Nova so he could take Ruby’s hand, leaving Nova with Adrian, Danna, and Narcissa. 

Her boyfriend offered his hand, which Nova gladly took. As they approached the building, her blue eyes widened. 

“Woah.”

She followed the others inside, looking around incredulously. The inside seemed even bigger, if that was possible. Stores were packed close together, little booths in the massive walkways between them. Advertisements were everywhere, faces of the Renegades on seemingly every surface.

“Adrian, is it weird to see your dads’ faces on literally everything?” She asked.

“I mean, yeah. Kinda.” He shrugged. “You get used to it, though.” They followed Oscar and Ruby through the thickening crowds, almost having to run to catch up.

“This place is insane.” Nova gasped. “I don’t even know what to say.” 

“I am pretty good at rendering girls speechless.” Oscar smirked. Both Nova and Ruby rolled their eyes, Nova even going as far as to punch him softly. 

“Can we please stop in the Barnes & Noble?” Naricssa begged. 

“Why not.” Oscar agreed. “We’ve got all day.”

They followed the redhead into the nearby bookstore, and Nova watched as she grabbed what seemed like one of every book in the store. She skimmed some of the titles, but nothing interested her.

She did stop, however, when she found the magazines. 

“Guys, look at this.” They all glanced over to what she was pointing at.

A picture of their team was on the cover of a magazine. Nova remembered when they’d done this, only because Simon and Hugh had practically begged them. Most of the pictures had turned out bad, but apparently not all, since they were currently the advertising for a magazine she’d never heard of.

“Wow. I look like shit.” Danna snorted. “Why did you guys let me out of the house that day?”

“No, you look pretty.” Narcissa said earnestly. 

“Well, I know who looks pretty good in this.” Oscar grinned. He puffed out his chest, and Nova waited for the self-centered comment, but instead,

“Ruby. You look smoking, babe.” Ruby laughed and blushed, giving her boyfriend a gentle kiss on the cheek. 

“I’m gonna buy it.” Nova said with a devilish grin.

“Nooooooo.” Everyone groaned. Nova just flounced off to the register, magazine in hand.

She bought it, and ten minutes later completely regretted her decision. Why had she wasted her money on a stupid magazine she wasn’t even going to read when there was a literal carousel in the mall.

“Nova, have you ever ridden a carousel before?” Oscar asked.

“Yeah, they had one in the park for a Christmas festival one year.” She replied. “This one is way bigger.”

“C’mon,” He laughed, “This one is great.”

“I don’t have any money.” She sighed. “I spent it on the magazine.”

Her friend handed her a dollar, and Nova made to give it back, but he pushed her hand away. “It’s a dollar, Nova.”

So she let him push her towards the register, and she let him nearly shove her hand at the cashier to take the money and give her the carousel token. And after, she let Oscar drag her to the gate.

“Isn’t this kinda childish.” Nova asked, squirming uncomfortably. The only people on the thing were kids, or parents with young children. Not a teenager in sight.

“What does it matter?” Oscar laughed. He squeezed Ruby’s hand. “If they judge us, so what?”

The animal seats were moving up and down as cheery music blared, and Adrian took her hand. “What animal do you want?” He asked her with a smile.

Nova had to let it pass a few times before she decided. “I want the giraffe.”

“To make up for her height.” Oscar called over his shoulder. 

“Rude!” Nova said back, though there were no bite to her words. Instead, she started laughing.

The carousel stopped a minute later, and the kids clambered off. Leaving the team, plus the large amount of new children that had gathered behind them to go on.

Nova put her token in the gate, and it swung open. She followed Oscar as he and Ruby ran, hand in hand, to their chosen animals. She got to the giraffe and pulled herself up, finding herself next to Naricssa on the elephant next to her. Danna had a wolf, and Adrian had gone with the typical pony. 

When the ride started, Nova was nearly thrown off as it lurched forward. She clung to the metal giraffe with a yelp, wishing there was some sort of seatbelt. Especially as it started moving up and down.

Ahead of and beside her, she could hear her friends whooping and cheering. Even quiet Narcissa laughed happily, throwing her hands in the air.

Nova, on the other hand, held onto the moving animal for dear life. It was only after taking a moment to realize that she was hardly two feet off the ground that she felt comfortable enough to lessen her death grip.

The spinning motion was exhilarating, and she found herself getting into it. Why were these things supposed to be just for kids? Nova let out a loud cheer as the giraffe rose and fell in tune with the music.

It was all over far too soon, and Nova and her team tumbled off the ride with wobbly legs all around. Oscar was laughing nearly hysterically as he clung to his cane.

Nova leaned against the gate, the other hand clutching her belly from her laughter. “That was amazing.” She managed to get out.

“I knew you’d like it.” Oscar said with a grin. 

They managed to leave the area with only one minor issue, when Ruby toppled into Adrian, sending them both sprawling to the tile floor in a tangle of limbs and laughter.

Nova helped Ruby up, and Danna took care of Adrian, and they all got to a table to sit.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Oscar started, “But I’m gonna need some ice cream.”

“If I eat ice cream I will puke all over you.” Danna groaned. 

“Good thing I’m not making you eat it. Nova, come with?”

Nova tried to protest, but a moment later she was being dragged away by Oscar, Ruby, and Adrian. 

They pulled her towards another store, which Nova concluded must be the “Dairy Queen” Oscar was talking about. Why? Because it said ‘Dairy Queen’ in giant, bold letters in front of the store.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted a Dairy Queen Blizzard.” Oscar said. Nova turned to the others, but both Ruby and Adrian nodded enthusiastically.

“Fine. What flavors do they have?”

“Every flavor. All the flavors.” Oscar gestured to the large menu as they approached the counter. “Whatever flavor you desire.”

“Do they have just regular vanilla?” Looking at all the choices, Nova felt a bit overwhelmed. 

“I mean yeah, but you can go get vanilla anywhere. Only Dairy Queen has… let me see.. Heath Caramel Brownie.” Oscar chuckled, and pulled Nova along with him.

“I’m gonna get you a cookie dough Blizzard.” He said after another moment’s thought. “You’ll like it.”

“Why are you making all my choices for me?”

“Because this is a team building exercise, remember? We’re building trust.” Oscar put his hand on her shoulder. “Do you really think I would get you something to eat that was bad?”

They made it to the counter, and Oscar ordered the ice cream for him and Nova. Ruby and Adrian got their own, and they moved to the line waiting for their food.

“How come you didn’t bother Ruby about getting something plain?” Nova complained. “A chocolate dipped cone-”

“Because I’m his girlfriend, and he knows not to mess with me.” Ruby laughed. 

Oscar and Adrian joined her, and Nova glared at all three of them. “You are all awful people. How dare you.”

“Order for Oscar.” The worker called. And even with his cane, Oscar beat Nova to the counter. The worker tipped the two cups of ice cream upside down, and Nova’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. What the-

However, the ice cream was so thick that it stayed, and the worker handed Oscar the cups and two spoons. He turned back to Nova and handed her hers, and she gave him a sidelong glance as she took a bite.

“Oh.”

“It’s good, isn’t it?” Oscar nudged her. “Say it.”

“It’s pretty good. You were right.” Nova sighed.

“Ooh! She said it! Adrian, your girlfriend just said I was right! Imagine that!” He laughed at Nova’s glare, and the two of them walked back to the table where Danna and Narcissa were.

Narcissa already had her nose in a book, and Danna was leaning back with her feet on the table. They sat down, and Nova took another bite of ice cream.

Oscar was practically shoveling his in his mouth, but Nova decided to take her time. She chewed thoughtfully on a piece of cookie dough, and smiled at Adrian and Ruby when they returned.

They all descended into light conversation, Danna stealing the magazine from Nova and continuing to chuckle over their picture. Nova took a large bite of ice cream, and-

Oh sweet rot.

Her entire brain was exploding. She nearly dropped her spoon as she reached to clutch her forehead, eyes welling up at the sudden pain.

“Oh, shit, brainfreeze?” Oscar asked. Nova couldn’t answer.

After a few grueling, painful moments, the fire in her head ceased, and Nova leaned back, groaning. 

“What was that?”

“Brainfreeze.” Adrian said sympathetically. “Happens sometimes.”

“It felt like my head was being split open by a mideavel torture device, how can you be so calm?” She yelped.

“Have you never had a brainfreeze before?” Osca asked curiously.

“No.”

“It sucks, but it’s not, like, deadly. I think. I’m pretty sure.” He licked the back of his red spoon. “Just happens sometimes.”

She was reluctant to take another bite, but after a few licks and nothing happened, Nova finally finished her ice cream. 

And just like that, Oscar’s ‘team bonding experience’ came to an end. Ruby left first, finishing her chocolate-dipped cone and giving Oscar a quick goodbye kiss. Adrian was next, and Danna and Narcissa left together, Danna helping her girlfriend carry all her books home. 

Which left Nova with Oscar.

“I’ll walk you home.” He offered. “I mean, I’m no Adrian Everhart, but-”

“Okay, you dork.”

He grinned, and stood up. “Alright then. But before we leave, was this fun?”

“Yeah.” Nova admitted.

“Are you glad I dragged you away from your very important work?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

They didn’t say much else, instead walking back to Nova’s apartment in comfortable, companionable silence.

~~~~

Fanfic/Headcanon Requests!

#renegades #archenemies #supernova #marissa meyer #nodrian #osby #danissa #nova artino #adrian everhart #oscar silva #ruby tucker #danna bell #narcissa cronin #team bonding #fluff

[thedappleddragon]

Day 87 (Sunday June 7)

I woke up from a dream where I was creating an ad for ATLA and I got into cosplay and had to find a filming location. I went to the pool and a bunch of my friends were there. I showed off my stardew farming skills to Zuko and others who were around. At some point someone started closing the pool cover while people were still in the pool, and we had to pull people out before they drowned, including Judy Hopps. The scene changed to where I was in a new school. My hair was in a bun/ponytail, partially dyed, and really messy. I accidentally wore the school gym uniform on the first day. For some reason I was really excited about the school bathrooms having tiny sinks. I stood in front of the mirror, fixing my hair, and it was beautiful like Katara’s. Back to the pool party, I had brought along a blanket that I own irl to use as a prop to make it looks I was riding on Appa. Someone said they had a real fur throw I could use, but I said that it went against my ways to use things taken from animals, and as I was saying that, two giant ferrets wrapped themselves in the blanket. My dad tried talking to me about the video I was making, asking if it was through the school, and I got annoyed with him saying that it was an online competition. At some point I was trying to take a shot of a beautiful sunset to use in the background of my flying on top of Appa, but no one would help my film.

I woke up and we drove 2 hours to my uncle’s house, picking up my grandfather on the way there. We stayed for a while and talked and had food and went on a walk with my aunt and her service dog. I felt a little awkward the whole time. My aunt’s father (so I guess my great uncle?) showed up and told the same story he always tells whenever college is brought up, so pretty much every time we visit. He always says that when choosing your college major to make sure there are jobs available now. His friend went to college to make cabinets, and when he graduated, turns out no one wants professionally made cabinets. He tells that story all the time and shuts down any option I mention I had been thinking about for college. But eventually we left and drove another 2 hours back, getting Arby’s on the way back. There was a boy at the window and my sister thought he was Absolutely Scrumptious. We talked and talked on the way back, and I talked a lot because I got a soda in the drivethru and got a little hyper. I had a headache the whole drive.

When I got home I was just ready to lie down and play sdv and webkinz, so I did. I seriously considered buying the husky pup webkinz because 1) it’s the pet of the month and I’ve never owned one during its month and 2) I was looking for webkinz to buy back in like January to renew my full membership and that was one of the options I wanted and 3) I’m planning on making a nursery and I need a baby webkinz for that. I don’t think I’ll actually go thru with it tho. And while I was playing stardew, I took too long watering my field and missed the sdv fair event so I just reset the day and quit. I miss festivals more than I would like because I made my farm too big 😔 I really need to make more iridium sprinklers, but sometimes I forget to buy them from Krobus on fridays and I don’t have easy access to iridium in skull cavern because I die so easily. Im waiting until the end of year 2 for that statue grandpa gives you, but I’m still in the middle of fall. I DID complete the community center tho. >:) and I built a shed the other day perfectly tucked away in a nook behind the greenhouse (I’m on the forrest farm layout) and I used all the wood/copper/iron/oak resin I had saved up filling it with about 30 kegs, but I still need like triple that to fill it completely. Maybe I could make that my winter project.

I was just walking around my kitchen eating snacks at 1:30am and thinking about stardew and had an idea. Eric Barone (the creator) mentioned that at one point in development there was a cave farming mechanic where you could plant and harvest crops in the game. I was also thinking about how you can take the mineshaft directly to the 120th floor, but there’s nothing you can actually do down there. I was thinking about what if when you reach the bottom, you could hoe around or something and find an item called jagged rock or mysterious pebbles, and get a quest to bring it to Clint, since he knows blacksmithing and rocks n stuff. Maybe it’s labeled as a geode and when you go into the processing geodes menu and click it onto his anvil it doesn’t break, or maybe his hammer breaks instead. He tells you that he’s never seen rocks like these before and doesn’t know anything about stuff that far down in the mines. You’re prompted to find someone who knows about deep in the mines so you bring them to the dwarf, and he’s like “oh my! These aren’t rocks, they’re seed pods for rare plants farmed by my people before being attacked by the shadow people” (or skip Clint part and a cutscene begins with the dwarf as soon as you come up to the cave entrance) and he would bring you down to the bottom of the mines and reveal a secret chamber with like stalagmites and stalactites and dripping water. He tells you about how these plants take months and months to grow and are extremely sensitive to light, so they cannot grow outside this cave. You don’t have to come water it or anything, but it takes a full year to grow. You only get one seed and if you check on it throughout the year you get to see long vines grow and streatching over what was barren rock. It’s not like nice green lunch vibes, but grey scraggly thorny ones. Maybe bringing it different cave items twice a week like giving gifts to villagers can effect the quality of the fruit. Each quality would have different descriptions, the lowest saying how it’s inedible and desinagrates like ash in your hands. If you grow the highest quality one the dwarf is amazed and thanks you for reminding him of his family and home or something. A very moving scene. Or it could be revealed to be a star drop plant?? Idk. You could only grow one star drop tho, and the rest are just high-quality fruits that could be cooked into a really good everything filling dish. I’m just making stuff up as I go but I like this idea. If it turns out to be a star drop fruit plant, when you walk into the secret room for the first time with it ripe on the vine there’s a cutscene with the dwarf who can’t believe his eyes and the whole room is glowing slightly purple and with little purple sparkles everywhere. Moving scene yadda yadda. Eric take fucking notes. This scene could happen weather it was a star drop or not with some modifications.

I tried writing this entry throughout the day as it was happening, idk if it makes a difference, but I might do that more often. It leads to more rambling about whoever’s on my mind at the moment instead of just what I can remember from the day

#thanks for coming to my ted talk #corona diary #i wonder what happened to that anon who asked me about my quarentine journal posts

[bananxjin]

Two Halves of a Whole Idiot // Kim Seokjin x Reader

|| List ||

Word Count: 3,018

Synopsis: All it takes is one phone call for Reader to realize her feelings might run a little deeper than she’d originally thought. AKA: “Hey, let’s date!”

//Heavily inspired by this video which every Jin stan needs to watch immediately. Its ruined me.

I don’t think I’ve ever cranked a fic out faster. Not spellchecked so there might be errors! Apologies!//

Fluff || Fluff || Heavy on the Fluff

☆

“No she didn’t.”

“She absolutely did!” Jin yells into the receiver, sounding completely baffled. “She was like, ‘I guess it’s just kind of weird? You’re nearly thirty years old, and you’re still collecting Pokemon cards?’.” You roll your eyes. “And then when I asked to see a dessert menu, she said she doesn’t do desserts because they aren’t healthy.” He sighed, “I mean yeah, devil’s food cake isn’t healthy, but it sure is fucking tasty after eating a big dinner!”

You frown and lean back further into your computer chair. ‘I’m really sorry she didn’t end up being what you wanted, Jinnie.” You coo. You knew Jin had had a crush on this girl for months now. Everytime Jin would flirt with her or make an attempt to ask her out, she’d brush him off or as Jin would say, ‘She’s playing hard to get!’ -- You recall the rare times where she’d flirt with him or how he’d turn to jelly anytime she brushed her fingertips along his shoulders while he was working.

It was all for naught though, and deep down, you knew. She’d only use his crush on her to her complete advantage anytime something was ‘Too hard’ or if she was leaving early and couldn’t be bothered to finish a project -- She’d run to Jin, butter him up, and leave him in her wake. You didn’t want to say Jin was foolish, but…

He’s a bit foolish.

But that’s what love does to ya, right? Jin sighs again, “It’s not your fault, (Y/n). I think it’s just going to suck seeing her at work again on Monday.” You hummed in response, “I mean the date was terrible! I can already see it, she’s going to tell everyone…”

“I’d say don’t worry about it.” You responded, sitting up a bit. “You know everybody in that building loves you; you’re a walking teddy bear, and say she does manage to change one or two people’s opinions of you, who gives a shit?” You’re voice trembled a bit. Jin doesn’t respond.

“The people who want to be your friends aren’t going to let some crappy date with a snobby, spoiled brat ruin that.” You continued, “I know if she says anything to me, I’ll tell her where she can shove her rumors.”

Jin chuckled, “That actually made me feel a little bit better; thank you, (Y/n).” His sweet laughter brings a smile to your face; it never fails to do so. Ever since you’ve met Jin, that’s always been the best part about him. His laughter paired with his beautiful smile and goofy sense of humor. He’s always been your brightest ray of sunshine.

Then you start thinking about it…

“Do you have plans next weekend? There’s a new restaurant that opened up on the dock, and I really want to try it! They have boba and red bean pastries!” He exclaims excitedly, but you barely hear him over your own thoughts.

You’d always look the other way anytime he’d flirt with her because “That’s gross.” and “I’ll never understand why you like her; she won’t even give you the time of day.”, or when she would flirt with him, it’d make your blood boil. Yes, it was because you knew she was taking advantage of your best friend, but deep down, it was something much bigger.

Even now, after sitting here for the past hour, listening to him complain about the date going horribly and how his idea of her just crumbled -- You’re kind of happy that the date didn’t work out. That sounds terrible, but at least you’re being honest with yourself.

“(Y/n)? Did I lose ya?” He coos. You clear your throat, blushing a bit.

All those times in college when the two of you would stay up late, insisting you’re gonna study, but you played video games together instead. Falling asleep, cuddled up together on the couch; in your bed; in his bed. Being cuddled up to him during movie nights with your friends, or sharing food and drinks when you went out to eat together.

These feelings.

They’ve always been there.

“Yeah, I’d love to go, Jin! Will Saturday afternoon work?” He giggles on the other end, “Saturday afternoon is perfect!” He exclaims. “Ugh, I’ve gotta go now, though. I’m pretty sure my laundry finished like half an hour ago, and I don’t want anybody stealing my clothes from the dryer.” He sighs, “Thank you so much for listening to me whine about last night.”

You smile, “It’s no problem!” You exclaim, hesitating a bit before adding, “You know I’d do anything for you.”

You can hear him smirk, “I’ll remember that next weekend when we get the bill.”

“Hey!” You yell, making him burst out into a full belly laugh. “I’ll talk to ya later, okay?”

The two of you say your farewells before hanging up. You toss your phone onto the bed and slump downwards until you slide out of your computer chair and onto your floor like a puddle of mushy goo.

“So we’re really doing this, huh?” You mumble to nobody in particular, staring up at you ceiling. “We’re just gonna suddenly fall in love with World Wide Cute Guy over here and call it a day, huh?” You continue a little louder this time.

The anxiety begins to bubble in your tummy. What if you tell him and he shoots you down? You two have only known each other for nearly a decade now, surely it wouldn’t ruin your friendship?

A thought suddenly hits you, and you gasp. Did you actually end the call?!

The speed at which you move from your floor to the bed would put Speedy Gonzales to shame. You’re relieved to find that the call had most definitely ended, but on your lockscreen was a text notification from Jin. All it said was, “Seriously, thanks for always being there for me! I don’t know what I’d do without you!” Followed by a spam of pink, sparkly heart emojis.

Your heart swelled ten times larger, cheeks turning a dusty pink and you couldn’t hold back the soft smile forming on your lips. You wouldn’t know what to do without Jin yourself. Your best friend Jin, who gave your forehead kisses. Jin, who held your hand during scary movies or while walking down the street. Jin, who will buy the largest bowl of orange sherbet that’s offered, and then spoon feed it to you even though he bought you your own cone. You can’t help but cover your face when you remember the first time he did that.

“Wow! You actually ate off my spoon!” He laughed. “Yeah! You hold a spoonful of ice cream up to my face, I’m going to take the bite!” You laughed in response.

His laughter slowly died down as he took his own bite, “You know when they do that during anime, they always joke about how they shared an indirect kiss.” He giggled. You didn’t think much about it as you worked your way through your cone. Then slowly, you put the puzzle pieces together in your mind, nearly forcing your heart to stop.

“So, (Y/n)... How was our first indirect kiss?”

You huff out and fall back onto your bed, body feeling all warm and tingly as you begin to wonder what it’d actually feel like to kiss Prince Pillow Lips. You rake your fingers through your hair and turn to your phone again.

“Okay, okay.” You breathe out, trying to calm yourself. You’re suddenly hyper aware of everything. Every aspect of your relationship; every word you’ve ever said to him; every interaction the two of you have ever had. What should you say to him? Do you even respond? There’s not really much you can say, “Yeah, my heart would probably crumble if I couldn’t see you anymore?” God, clingy much?

You swallow and scroll through some reaction images you could send to him. You find a goofy one of Hobi laughing really hard with hearts surrounding him. Would that be weird to send? Namjoon’s the one that made it look like that and you’ve sent it to him before, but what if…

You scroll back through your chat thread, re-reading old conversations. Nothing here to indicate any developing feelings; just a bunch of terrible jokes, “I’m here!” notifications, and a few serious messages about Coworker that let Jin down.

You could hear your heart thrumming in your ears ‘Just do it!’ your brain screams. You feel little beads of sweat building on your forehead as you stare down the little “Call” button in the corner of the screen. What’s your excuse? The two of you just got off the phone, what else could you possibly have to say other than, “Hey, I just missed your voice, and I realized a couple of things about you and me-”

Somewhere in your dissociation, you’ve already hit the call button, and Jin’s been on the line for the last fifteen seconds asking if you’re there. You swallow and put the phone up to your ear.

“(Y/n)?! Is everything okay?”

“Yeah…” You rasp. “Is something wrong? Did you need to-”

“Let’s go out.”

… … … Silence.

“What?” He asks in a hushed whisper.

“Let’s go out… On a date.”

Silence. Again.

“Is this a joke? Are… Are you messing with me right now? Because (Y/n), if you are, then that’s really mean, and I don’t-”

“No, I’m being completely serious.” You respond, surging with confidence as you sit up right, “I know I said next Saturday, but actually I want to go to that new restaurant today, and afterwards I want to get ice cream from that little shop near the ferries? And then maybe we can go to the observatory later and look at the stars or something, I don’t know! But what I do know is…”

You take a deep breath, “I want to be close to you right now.”

Again with that blasted silence except this time, you’re actually worried he might’ve hung up on you.

He didn’t.

But your worrying persists.

“Okay.”

“... What?”

“Let’s do that, then. I’ll be by to pick you up in a half hour, yeah?”

||

As promised, you went to that new restaurant. Despite how awkward you felt over the phone, Jin acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. He carried the conversation in the car, telling you all about this American video game that he could finally buy and play in Korea, or how his parents were back in town and his mom desperately wanted to see you again, “She thinks of you as like her own daughter; she loves you!” He laughed.

The waiter directed “The sweet couple” to one of the outside tables where you got a lovely view of the ocean and all the tourists coming in and out of the ferry boats. Jin insisted on taking a cute picture together with the ocean in the background. You smiled through the anxiety and Jin held up his fingers in a peace sign. You had to complain after seeing the picture because “I look terrible in that! Please delete it!” And of course Jin had to laugh at you, “You look as cute as you always do, (Y/n)~” He cooed, leaning in closer to your face as he said your name. It did nothing to settle the butterflies in your tummy.

Damn him.

After lunch, Jin immediately grabbed your hand and dragged you further down the docks so you could get ice cream from the little ice cream shop. Jin had to get his Extra Large bowl of orange sherbet, and you got your usual cookie dough cone. That lasted all of thirty seconds when a seagull swooped down and reached for your ice cream. He didn’t manage to grasp it, but the fear of him swooping you caused you to drop your cone on the ground.

Jin couldn’t hold back his squeaky laughter, keeping a hold on his ice cream bowl as he doubled over in his cute, dumb laughing fit. “Please don’t worry, (Y/n)! I’ll gladly share my ice cream with you!”

The two of you took a seat on one of the benches. As promised, Jin took turns spoon feeding you and taking bites of his own. “That couldn’t have worked out better, actually.” He mutters through mouthfuls of creamy sherbet, “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish this all on my own.”

You roll your eyes, instinctively opening your mouth so he can feed you, “Then why do you always order the biggest size dummy!” You demand, covering a hand over your mouth. He chipmunks the ice cream in his cheeks, smiling wide at you, “Because I know you’ll eat it with me!”

It wasn’t quite late enough to see the stars just yet, so the two of you took a stroll through one of the many shopping districts in the area. Jin pulled you into one of his favorite shops so you could look at CD’s and cute stationary. From the moment you two walked through the door, Jin always caught you glancing back at the gudetama stationary set. Despite your stubborn adamancy, Jin insisted he buy it for you. “It’s the least I could do since you took me out to that restaurant!”

“I took you-! You’re the one that insisted on paying for the meal!” You bit back. He snickered, “It’s the thought that counts, (Y/n).” You stubbornly walked away towards the beauty products while Jin took the stationary set up to the cashier.

You thanked Jin for the stationary once you left, but you still berated him for actually buying it, “You didn’t have to do that!” You whined cutely.

“But I wanted to!” He mocked you in the same whiny voice before promptly grabbing your hand. You could feel your cheeks heating up, but you refused to say anything. Jin smirked and laced his fingers through yours. “Let’s head back to the car. It’ll be dark enough by the time we get to the observatory.”

||

The observatory was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night, mostly consisting of parents with younger children or older couples. The entire top floor was rounded, encasing telescopes that allowed you to look over the brightly lit city or up at the moon and stars. A little further down the hall was the gift shop where most of the kids would end up lingering.

You and Jin went through and looked through each telescope, wanting to get different views of the city and sky, but you kept lingering back towards a specific one that offered you a wonderful view of the ocean. “I love how the lights just reflect off the water.” You whisper, “The ocean looks beautiful at night.”

You’re startled as you feel Jin wrap his arms around your waist, resting his chin on the top of your head. “Hmm… I’ve seen way prettier.” He responds nonchalantly. You snort, “You talking about when you look in the mirror?” You ask somewhat jokingly. He smirks, “Sometimes, but even more beautiful than that…”

He gently pulls you back, turning you around to face him. He takes a good look at your face before a big dorky smile breaks out onto his own, “That,” He says, “Is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

You swallow thickly, tilting your head to the side, “What?”

“You.” He whispers, “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He says, sliding his hands down your arms and into your hands. You smirk at him, “I am sweaty and i’m sure my hair looks like a total mess right now, how can you joke like that? It’s mean.”

His large hands move down to cup your waist and pull you closer to him, “I’m not joking.” He says sternly, gazing into your eyes.

“(Y/n), I’ve liked you since our college days together.” He whispered leaning his forehead against yours. You ran your hands up his arms, and flattened your palms against his chest. “I thought that maybe if I get into a relationship with someone else, I’d be able to get over you, but…” His eyes search yours for a moment, “(Y/n), I need you. I need you and all of your affection and all of your baggage.” He chuckles a bit, “I’m a selfish man. I want all of it; everything... God, when you asked me out on the phone earlier, I thought... I didn't know what to think.” He huffs out.

Your eyes remain glued to him, unable to look away. He just laid it all out there for you in a complete state of vulnerability. Time to match his sincerity. “That’s wild because I’ve been trying to deny my feelings for you for years now.” You make a face immediately after saying that; way to ruin the moment, you think, but Jin doesn’t mind. He can’t help but laugh, “W-what I mean is…” You clear your throat, hoping Jin won’t notice your red cheeks, “I never thought you’d see me the same way I see you, so I thought… I’d rather preserve our friendship than take the risk.” You mutter, gaze flickering down to his lips. He smiles, “I don’t want you to deny your feelings anymore.” He whispers, “And I don’t ever want you to get over me.” You whisper back.

He finally leans forward, closing the gap between the two of you; finally gives you a taste of what you’ve been craving for so long. A soft, sweet, loving kiss that you want to pour all of your love into just for Jin. He inhales, smiling against your lips before wrapping his arms around your waist and dipping you. You squeal and wrap your arms around his neck. “I’m going to love on you so much tonight.” He mutters against your kiss swollen lips. You can’t help but giggle and lean in to kiss him again.

“But seriously… We’re both kinda dumb, aren’t we?” He laughs.

“Maybe just a little!”

#kim seokjin #seokjin #seokjin x reader #jin x reader #fluff #bts fandom #bts #army #army fandom #not that long of a fic but also #PLEASE WATCH THAT VIDEO OF JIN IT'S ABSOLUTELY RUINED MY LIFE #WHETHER UR A JIN STAN OR NOT #ya gotta watch #if you don't i'll break ur toes #jk #but actually we love and respect jin #so....... #watch him #♥♥♥♥♥ #anyway stream epiphany #dumb fluffy love #best friend au #cutesy stuff #anyway my heart belongs to Jin and don't you forget it

[browniesnivy]

Random Asks!

This template was made by biaesthetic, just so you know. I cut out some of the questions I didn’t I saw feel like answering, but otherwise her template worked really well for my needs! I saw cyberenergyshock do something similar and felt the need to do one myself, so here we go! Y’all really don’t know anything about me (which is mostly because i’m super paranoid about privacy) and I don’t intend to give out super precious info or anything here, I just thought it’d be nice. 

what was the last thing you read? The last book I read was issue three of the Bunny Drop manga. So far it’s a very cute story that I recommend to people who like family stories. It’s very touching and cute, but can be fairly thought-provoking at times. I haven’t finished it yet so I can’t give a full review or anything... but those are my thoughts so far!

favorite movie? Captain America: Winter Soldier! I know it’s a pretty basic choice as far as favorite Marvel movies go, but it really is just soooooo good. The action, the intrigue, the emotion, the relationships... all so good! Ten out of ten would watch again... and I believe me, I have. Three times in fact. And I’ve cried at least once every time because I’m weak sauce.

favorite book? That’s really hard... I really loved Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but I haven’ t read that in years and am really fuzzy on the details... so I guess I’ll have to say the Warrior Cats Super Edition Crookedstar’s Promise. What can I say, I love Warrior Cats! And this edition is just so emotional. Without giving away any spoilers, this book is an absolute emotional rollercoaster at parts and contains one of the most manipulative, petty, dangerous, terrifying and broken villains the series has to offer and she is just fantastic. If your down with some of the special Warrior Cats-brand of stupidity this book is a total treat!

dream date? We’d be alone somewhere quiet and serene, nature surrounding us as we were covered in a blanket of stars. Cool, refreshing water babbles nearby, giving poetry to our escape. The most calming and tranquil environment imaginable. However, we wouldn’t just enjoy the soothing scenery, but we would talk in a low whisper, joking about things only we would understand and geeking out over fandom, all in between mouthfuls of take-out pasta from Olive Garden. It would be a mixture of a fun hangout with a friend and a romantic tender scene. (I guess all of that was really corny, huh? Haha, sorry!)

do you have a crush? Not on anyone real... but if Hatsune Miku asks tell her I’m free!

what are your hobbies? I love creative pursuits like writing and drawing and have loved them since I was extremely young. One of my favorite pass times is playing video games like Pokémon, Fire Emblem, Harvest Moon, The Sims,, Civilization, Stardew Valley, Super Smash Brothers, and many many others... too many to reasonably name! I love reading novels, but manga and anime alike are what I seem to do more of nowadays. My parents are pretty strict on which anime I watch though, so I spend more time reading manga because they aren’ t nearly as finicky about my reading material since my younger siblings won’t have to be subjected to it. Also, I really love philosophy. Ethics and morals have always fascinated me and the idea of mapping out the human spirit like a genome is endlessly fascinating to me... I love to read books on morality and watch philosophical YouTube videos in my down time, and I hope that someday I can come to some kind of understanding of the truth. I guess that means I’m kind of lame! 

what’s your favorite time of day? Evening. I love the darkness. The chilling winds and the stars illuminating the dark skyscape is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen, and it’s all right their in your backyard if you only care to look! Well, I guess if you live in the city or something you can’t do that... in which case I’m very sorry! Anyway, the serenity of the night is something the daytime can’t match for me. Peace and quiet are seldom found around where I live, so the silence is very appreciated!

if you could look like anything, what would you look like? Anything you say? In that case I guess I’d look like a calico cat. That away, I could climb along fences and gates or go exploring into the wilderness without anyone looking at me funny! Plus, maybe someone would pet me!

are you a romantic? If you just read my ideal date, the I you’ll probably know the answer. Yeah, I guess I am! I’m not super ditzy or anything, in fact I rarely every feel romantic attraction to people, but I do long to find a soulmate. 

what’s your favorite type of weather? The rain, definitely. If you couldn’t tell, quiet tranquility is pretty much my aesthetic. I love water. It nourishes the plant life and makes everything sparkle with dew, the greenery becomes so much greener and everything becomes so much more vibrant... it’s like the spirit of the world has been born again. And yet almost nobody is out their enjoying it. Fine by me, I’d rather be alone on my walks down the rainy neighborhood streets. Bonus if it’s raining at night, because not only are the walks multiplied tenfold in their beauty, but when you decide to hit the hay the soft pitter-patter of the raindrops can gently lull you to sleep...

what do you like talking about? Well obviously I love to talk about Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I’m pretty much open to talk to anyone about it... but I also love to talk about other fandom! I also love mythology and philosophy (that though provoking shit) and just random trivia in general and it’s nice to talk to people who are also interested in it. Other then all that nerdy cooties, I just generally like listening to other people talk. As long as what you say isn’t completely repulsive to me I’ll probably listen, but I’ll probably crack jokes the entire time unless you’re being really serious. I love funny stuff.

if you got a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? Oh, I’d never even think about a tattoo! I’m far too much of a scaredy-cat, besides the initial pain the idea an image could be burned onto me forever kind of freaks me out. I have no problem with other people getting them at all, just not something I could ever do. I don’t really think I can answer this question adequately... but I guess if I had to choose I’d say something small like an eye or a teardrop. I’d put it on the lower part of my neck to the left side: it would be discrete and not very noticeable, but kind of pretty and thoughtful. Nothing to obtrusive or, dare I say, obnoxious for me.

do you want any pets? I wish! We used to have a dog when I was very little, and then we had a cat when I was about eight or so, but nothing since then. Such a shame, because I am filled with love and affection for cats and dogs especially and would like to have at least one of each someday. If I had to pick which breeds I’d like, I’d say a border collie (they’re so expensive, but hey a girl can dream, right?) and a calico. 

dream job? “When I grow up I want to write books!” I’ve been saying that since I was old enough to write my own stories. Above all else, I want to be an author, but even most of those have other jobs as well. Of course I’ve gone through phases of wanting to be different things... when I was really small I wanted to be a waiter, then in second grade I wanted to be a marine biologist (I saw sea turtles at an aquarium and fell in love. Don’t want to do marine biology anymore but sea turtles are still the some of the most precious beasts on this planet!), but now I’m thinking either an animator, a journalist, or a moral philosophy professor. Who knows what I’ll end up doing, I'm only a freshman right now, after all.

dream place to live? Take me home, country road, to the place, I beloooooooong…! No, I don’t want to live in West Virginia specifically (though that would probably be pretty swell), but the American South is where I grew up and it’s where I want to live. The flourishing flora, sparkling water forms, and the waves of fertile farmland are just some pf my favorite set pieces of the Southern United States. I don’t live there anymore, and there are a lot of social problems down there that might target me specifically, but just for the scenery alone I wish to go back.

dream vacation? Japan! in this dream scenario, I can speak Japanese and navigate the land without many hitches, ordering of the menu and understanding all the signs. I’d go to a maid café and one of those resteraunts where there are stuffed animals everywhere, I’d buy a crap-ton of weeb shit, if I was lucky I’d see a vocaloid concert... and the sightseeing! I’d go hiking on the mountains and see cascading waterfalls and flourishing sakura and  really neat beetles... I hope that happens to me someday!

do you want any piercings? I don’t even want my ears pierced at all, so not at all! I’m not a very flashy person, in fact I’m quite quaint, and I never wear jewelry unless my family somehow bamboozles me into it. I’d never wear any of it, so it wouldn’t be worth some weirdo assaulting my earlobes (or any other body part) for it. 

if you had kids, what would you name them? I think me having kids might be kind of a long shot all things considered (but who really knows, right?) but I do have several names I’m really attached to that I would gladly give to someone. The first is Eve, which I just absolutely adore the aesthetic of. If you couldn’t all ready tell, I love the nighttime, and this name just screams a sort of lovely starlight elegance. Plus, it was the name of my first crush in Harvest moon Magical Melody so... backstory! The other name I’d go with would have to be Jamie. It just sounds so peppy and interesting, it’s a very unique name that I can’t help but love. Not coincidently, Jamie was the name of another Magical Melody character I was particularly fond of, because they were my first experience with gender nonconformity and non-binary gender identity! 

what are your best traits? Am I really the best person to judge that? Well, I guess I can try. I try to be as patient as possible and to keep an open-mind because I hate hurting people’s feelings, believe there is always a kind and peaceful solution, and think every single person deserves personal respect and to be treated with integrity when possible. I’d say of all my traits, those are the ones I try the hardest to foster and exercise.

worst traits? I’m so anxious, literally anything going wrong cans end me into a panic. My family has kind of a history with predisposed anxiety, so I should probably get that checked out... but then the idea of being diagnosed as “wrong” freaks me out a lot. Vicious cycle. This underlying anxiety manifests in some other nasty traits of mine: specifically that I’m a wuss, a doormat, and a pessimist. Long story short, I’m way to worried for my own good.

what’s your worst fear? Well, I’m pretty much afraid of everything! Alligators, heights, amnesia, blood and guts, rejection, underwater tunnels, birds coming near me, loud noises, illness... there’s a lot more, but I’d say my biggest fears are failure and weakness. The two kind of go hand in hand in my mind, and the thought that I could fail and become irredeemable and worthless is petrifying.  

what do you want to eat right now? Something to know about me: I’m always hungry. I snack incessantly, so it’s a wonder I’m still such a skinny little bastard! Right now, I could really go for some sushi. Put some seafood and some avocado on that shit and I’m sold.

favorite social media platform? Tumblr! I mean, it’s really the only social media I have, but still! Even though looking at all the fighting and toxicity on this website that can really make me feel awful, there is an undertone of community that outweighs that for me. Seeing so many fans of Yu-Gi-Oh! and ShrimpShipping in particular makes me feel like I really belong somewhere, and when I see the entire community harmonize to create a positive environment I remember what this life is all about. When I get a heart on a post, I think about how someone liked that post, how something I made or that I said might have put a smile on their face or roused a chuckle from them, and that makes it all worth it to me. Plus, all my mutual are really cool!

favorite article of clothing? Jackets, blazers, hoodies, coats, sweaters, suits... I love that cozy shit! I unfortunately live somewhere really hot, so a lot of times flaunting my style makes me uncomfortable, but it’s worth it too look fly as hell! When it comes to dressing, I’m very butch to androgynous, which makes since because I’m pretty gender nonconforming, I always have been. When I was younger and at a different school I was definitely the tomboy, but now I tend to try and blend in more just because people at my new school seem so much more judgmental. 

do you play any sports? I’ve been playing tennis since I was in third grade! I really only ever play it during the school’s season because there is just so much homework and I’m always busy, and thus my growth has been greatly stunted... but it’s still a really awesome sport. There’s a precision and an elegance to it that just fascinates me, plus it’s not a team sport so I don’t have to worry about screwing my partners over! Unless it’s doubles, which I try to avoid whenever possible. Other factors that make me like it appealing to me is that I have the body for it (tall with freaky long-ass arms) and my dad plays it too, so we can go out and help each other improve our skills. 

favorite meal of the day? Well they’re all great, I mean food is food, but I’m biased to dinner. The biggest most complete meal of the day that packs the most flavor and is the most filling, dinner is great! In my opinion, going to bed on a full stomach is one of the best feelings in the world, so we can thank dinner for that. Plus, my mom lets me eat snacks after dinner so I don’t have to sneak around to eat potato chips... heh.

what are you excited for? ShrimpShipping Week definitely has me excited, because I have so many shrimpy ideas to let loose upon this world... and I’m really looking forward to looking at everyone else’s contributions too! ShrimpShipping Week is the time I can see the most unity within the community, and it truly is a wonderful experience! Also I’m hyped as hell for Smash Ultimate and that currently unnamed Animal Crossing 2019 game... I’m a huge Nintendo fan my dudes.

when was the last time you cried? Like a few days ago? I can’t remember which of these instances came first, but I figured out I got on probation in NJHS because I got (gasp) a C+ in Geometry?! That seriously fucked-up my self-esteem, so I cried about that. But I can’t really remember if that was before or after I rewatched Madoka Magicia (which I personally consider a brilliant work of art and an anime must-see)… well either way I cried really recently.

dream house? Perhaps by the side of a crystal clear lake, maybe by the banks of a babbling brook, possibly by the sparkling seashore... but somewhere near water there would sit a two story house. Crisp hardwood makes up the walls of the construction, and there are windows opening the entire house to gorgeous natural light. Inside, everything is painted soft colors that seem to glow in the light, and every piece of furniture looks like you could sink into it’s soft surface. The downstairs floor has a living room with cases for cards, game boards, and video game disks are displayed neatly and conveniently alongside posters and figurines. It is essentially a nerd rec room. Beside that, the dining room and kitchen are organized and clean, and you can still smell pasta from the night before. A large flight upstairs leads to an upstairs library and study, which then empties out into a cozy bedroom full of stuffed animals and an open closet full of suits and coats. The bedroom has a balcony attached to it overlooking the water source nearby, a quiet and comfortable escape out into the serenity of nature. I suppose that’s all very idealistic, but this is a dream house... so I can have as many plushy sofas and anime girl figurines as I want!

what’s something you hate about the world? How selfish a lot of people are. I don’t mean to sound mean or judgmental, but there are just so many people who refuse to even try to be kind. All they care about is themselves and they don’t understand how much their actions effect those around them, and they certainly never try to adjust their viewpoints. I think there are so any problems we could resolve if we just tried to understand the people around us. After all, they aren’t going anywhere. You might as well try to make life as pleasant as possible for others, right? But that’s just my two cents. 

what’s something you love about the world? Even though the world is full of self-serving close-minded folk, there are also those who are driven and motivated to try to improve themselves and those around them. They want to try to make things more positive for those around them, they want to help those in need, and they believe in people’s capacity to improve. They believe int he ability to change and to improve. And when I see these people join hand in hand to change the world, I feel very inspired. I know it’s not possible to solve every problem, at least not in one go. But seeing people who wholeheartedly try to help out is what I love most in this world. 

what scents do you like? I tend to like scents like chocolate or sizzling steak, the kinds of scents associated with foods. Like I said, I’m always hungry. I also love the smell of nature after a rainy day, it just draws out all the scents from the flora in the most fantastic way. 

what kind of sleeper are you? If a bomb detonated outside my house, I would still stay asleep. In other words, I’m an incredibly heavy sleeper. Basically no amount of rambunctious noise can awaken me from deep slumber, but I am very responsive to someone disturbing my sleeping environment by touch. if the bed rocks or a finger brushes against my face, I’m awake instantly, probably in an anxious sweat. That’s why I can’t sleep in the car. But if you give me a warm bed and take care not to touch me in anyway, I’m dead asleep. 

are you a cat or dog person? Don’t make me choose! I love them both so much, but for completely different reasons. Cats are good because they are cuddly and soft and relaxing, but they for the most part don’t give a fuck about anything. And dogs are nice because they are so fun and loving, and sometimes they seem just as complex as humans in their emotional capacity. I love them both so much, I don’t want to choose!

how long would you survive in a zombie apocalypse? I’d probably be one of the first to kick the bucket honestly. I mean, I’ve beaten my siblings and other kids in wrestling matches more times then I can count, but a zombie apocalypse? I’d be too scared to do anything! The only thing that might push me forward would be the desire to help my loved ones, but even then I think i’d be pretty useless. Suffice it to say I’ll be easy pickings when the zombies come for our brains.

when do you feel safe? I’m pretty much always nervous to be honest, so I guess I feel safest when I’m asleep! 

are you trusting? I actually don’t know how to answer that? I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and when I make bonds I get seriously invested in them, but most people on the streets I’m always a bit on guard about. Got to play it safe, you know?

what fictional characters do you identify with? Alderheart and Hollyleaf from Warriors. Alderheart because he’s really anxious and just trying his best to be useful, and Hollyleaf because she wants to do the right thing and follow the rules but often gets confused and starts going a bit batty. For something that’s not Warriors, I’d have to go with Homura from Madoka Magica, because she puts on a lot of strong fronts to protect those she loves and to avoid failure at all costs. I’m not trying to say I’m as fucked-up as some of these characters or that any of my situations are as bad as theirs were, just that I see bits of myself in them and can feel a connection to them.

what labels do you commonly get? Well there is a lot... fangirl, nerd, overachiever, butch, standoffish, weird, tomboy... if I named all the boxes I’ve been put in I'd be here all day!

what issues are you dealing with right now? Anxiety! That’s all I'm going to say, because I honestly think I’ve said enough about my problems. It makes me kind of uncomfortable shouting my fears into the internet because... it makes me feel guilty? I don’t know. Just... anxious. That’s my problem. 

how can someone win you over? If they display an extensive knowledge of one of my fandoms then I’m instantly sold. Do you know how hard it is to find fans outside of the internet sometimes, and even in the internet? I’m so down to get in any amount of fandom talk!

#well there you go #that's me I guess #hope that wasn't long and boring lol #q and a #about me

[tarenko]

Taren’s Games of the Year!

Another year, another set of amazing games and holy shit did 2017 have some knockouts! Please keep in mind this is based only on games I was able to play and there were a few I missed!

Best Art Direction - Persona 5

Persona 5 is a game that bleeds A E S T H E T I C from every single piece of its body. The games use of a red and black color pallet for the menus as well as incredibly smooth animations and a jazzy, upbeat score make it an incredible sight to behold and a joy to hear. The gameplay is the best yet in the Persona series with the reintroduction to demon negotiation as well as a plethora of abilities unlocked through your confidants. It’s an incredible tight package with a good storyline (though I still prefer 3′s overall story). If you are a fan of RPG’s pick this game up. You will not regret it.

Best Soundtrack - Nier Automata

I need to put a lot more time into Nier Automata than I have. This game has 26 endings and I’ve only scratched the surface so far. What I’ve played has been pretty good and I can tell there’s far more to the story. Combat and visuals look and feel great thanks to Platinum Games compared to the original Nier albeit somewhat simplistic compared to something like a Devil May Cry game. Where Automata has truly stood out to me though is in the music. Every single track in this game has been incredible. One specific track that began to play after the conclusion of a side quest has stuck with me ever since and I’ve begun playing it regularly out of how incredibly beautiful it is. Nier Automata is well worth anyone’s time and is sure to touch your robotic heart.

Best Fighting Game - Tekken 7

Tekken 7 is a beautiful looking fighting game with plenty of content and more on the way. The story mode is silly but fun to go through, there’s an arcade mode, online is tight, and THERE’S BOWLING. Did I mention GEESE HOWARD IS IN THIS FUCKING GAME WHAT THE HELL. Pick this up if you have any sort of love for fighting games. Honorable mention goes to Injustice 2 which I did not get the chance to play but since launch is adding Hellboy AND the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the roster.

Best Shooty Game - Splatoon 2

Splatoon 2 is more Splatoon with more content. More maps, more weapons, more missions, more game modes, more character styles and customization. More EVERYTHING. Updates are free and the game is still as fun as the original with many different ways to play and a great twist on shooting games as a whole where your primary target is the map rather than the enemies. Honorable mention goes to Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus which I did not get the chance to play yet but I’ve heard many good things about. You get to shoot nazis so it gets an A in my book.

Best Racing Game - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

This is kinda cheating as it’s sorta a rerelease of MK8 but Deluxe adds a proper battle mode now as well as a few new characters and all dlc included so I’m counting it anyway. This game is excellent. I have had so much fun with this game and being able to take my Switch to a friend’s place and both of us use a Joycon to have a few rounds is a total blast. Every single course is beautiful and fun as hell and the music for some stages is incredible. If you enjoy playing racing games with friends, don’t pass up this one.

Best 2D Platformer - Sonic Mania

Holy fuck. Sonic Mania is so good. From the visuals, to the music, to the gameplay, everything about it is tight and a blast from start to finish. The game is an excellent return to form for Sonic and the team of fans behind this have shown the world that Sonic can still go fast. 

Best 3D Platformer - Mario Odyssey

HERE WE GO. OFF THE RAILS. DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S TIME TO RAISE OUR SAILS. IT’S FREEDOM LIKE YOU NEVER KNEW. Mario Odyssey is my first 3D Mario game ever and I have to say, It’s p good guys. Platforming is incredibly tight, levels are super varied and interesting, exploration is greatly rewarded, and there are so many different abilities at your disposal. The base story of the game can be fairly short depending on how you play through it but the game has hundreds of challenges for you ranging from reaching areas, solving puzzles, racing RC cars, to so much more. It’s a game that screams fun and becomes an incredibly enjoyable challenge once you start searching for those harder moons. Honorable Mention goes to A Hat in Time, a game that looks so incredibly cute and I’ve heard nothing but good things about from friends.

Best Game I Played this Year that Came Out Last Year - VA-11 HALL-A

Va-11 Hall-a. If anyone ever asks me what my aesthetic is I just need to point to this game. The music, the art style, the characters, the setting, everything about this game clicks with me on a personal level that I adore. The premise is fairly simple: you live in a cyberpunk future under a shitty government. You aren’t here to cause a big change in this world but rather to serve drinks for the people who live in it. As you do you’ll learn more about your patrons, the world, and even your player character, Jill. The gameplay isn’t too involved but can have some interesting effects on the story which is the main star of this Visual Novel. The main story and sub stories of this game are some of the most relatable and enjoyable ones I’ve seen in a while from a game and I loved every single one. It requires you to pay attention and remember certain conversations to see how people connect to each other and understand each person’s motivations. There was never a dull point in this game and I can not recommend it enough. Please buy VA-11 HALL-A. It’s time to mix drinks and change lives.

Best Game of the Year - Gravity Rush/The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Okay I’ve been stuck with this decision for the entire year and I still can’t decide between these two. They are both masterpieces and deserve high praise, so let’s go over them both.

Gravity Rush 2 is the sequel to the original Gravity Rush and improves on it in every possible way. The world is beautiful with a cel shaded sort of art style and strong use of color to give each area a different feeling. Music throughout the game is absolutely incredible and the story gives an excellent conclusion to what began in the first game. Combat and maneuvering are greatly improved and the game is simply fun to explore and experiment different ways of using your powers. The characters in Gravity Rush 2 are top notch and found myself loving each one for their unique personalities. Kat is an excellent protagonist and the feeling of flying between buildings, hopping from place to place gracefully is incredible. I can not recommend Gravity Rush 2 enough and think it is a must have for any PS4 owner.

Breath of the Wild is my first ever Zelda game and holy shit am I hooked. This game feels so incredible to play and the world is incredibly beautiful and fleshed out. There’s insane amounts of detail to all the different ways you can approach problems and the feeling of experiencing a world that both you and your character know nothing about and have no requirement to go a specific direction at the start is an incredible feeling. The game rewards exploration and experimentation and tells a story through recovered memories that tie into the present day beautifully. The soundtrack is understated and usually small piano melodies but when things get intense turns into these wild mixtures of techno and classical music. I loved every moment of learning my way through the world and discovering new challenges and quests. If you own a switch or wii u buy this game. It is incredible.

#gravity rush #botw #mario odyssey #sonic mania #persona 5 #nier automata #video games #goty #va-11 hall-a

[robsonnwty900-blog]

What's new in Farming Simulator 17 PC

Although simulation activities have been known for ages, Farming Simulator launched the farming genre. Other farming games be, but nothing competes with this iconic series. Farming Simulator 17 brings mod help and contemporary reports to Xbox Individual and COMPUTER, bar is there that adequate to help excuse handing over the money?

The Farming Simulator series created with Farming Simulator 2013. Since then, sequels have existed every a couple seasons for COMPUTER and console. Farming Simulator 16 lived a vent of 15 for cell and PlayStation Vita.

Everyone knows this is a simulation activity where you run tractors and other farming machinery, grow plants and pigs, and control the financial aspects of a farm. So let's look at some of this time new stars with how much they improve the Download Real Farm game.

On the two included maps, Goldcrest Valley is sort modern and set in the USA. The other map, Sosnovka, happens throughout Asian Europe. Originally released as downloadable information for Farming Simulator 15, it has been remastered with top air quality. Farming Simulator games always launch with just a couple places, which is a bit skimpy.

For the new in the sequence, we can choose to play like also a gentleman or woman character. This could make the game more calling to modern audiences. It's absolutely a part of the right way. But, the game still control opportunity for new diversity.

The two individuals you can select from, one per gender, become both white. You can't modify their skin color, and you may choose the paint of their shirts. Giants Software is situated in Switzerland, a generally white voters. But in games like this, targeting a global audience, developers must consider players associated with extra races as well as their own.

The overall purpose with Farming Simulator has always been to buy all the areas on the plot and nurture the farm so great as possible. To attitude with '17, but the developers increase a pleasant dose of construction with the new vision system.

Each buyable chart of property is owned by the player which offers to pay a person for finishing missions. These missions become a great way to make money. After you've completed all of a farmer's missions, he'll promote the discipline representing a significantly lower rate than if you'd wanted to get it outright.

Drivable trains add a fun new factor on the sport. Players have several focuses in each map. You don't have to get them before pay maintenance fees, and you can jump immediately into them from everywhere on the map.

Cruising round in lines and consuming the surroundings is pleasant in its own, but they're and a great way to bring grain and timber for sale. You use a claw-game like crane to load stuff onto the school and check out the nearby selling point.

Farming Simulator 15 was not the interesting up for. The worst offender was their quality maps. Comparing ground textures between '15 and '17 on Xbox One, I detect only a limited improvement with attribute. The feels in '17 are so under standards for the console, which is a real shame. Still, '17 does apparently have increased mip mapping, so textures retain detail at a higher distance than in '15. Appearance is a little more described, and fair has become better too.

As for sound, Giants has put two in-game radio places to persons could toggle while making autos (and optionally, by foot besides). The composition is zero special, but it makes up for a varied experience than listening to the hard of temperament for hours on end.

Mod assistance was promoted as a main story of FS17 prior to its release, especially over the age to mods for the PlayStation 4 report of Outcome 4 were looking rocky. Now that the game is here, the nonsense seems to include stayed used for naught – at least by consoles.

Mods are numbered right for the label screen menu, so they're easy to attain. The stock lists several distinct categories of downloadable items, and a few extra categories like Latest and Most Downloaded. Dilemma is, between those groups, the Xbox One side individual takes 31 total mods at present.

All but one of those mods are only farming tools not a lot different from those included with the game anyway, although some seem to offer enhanced performance. The lone non-equipment mod changes gameplay a bit in disabling camera collision with vehicles. Its cause is Giants Software. The Maps category doesn't even have a single piece yet.

Like Farming Simulator 15, '17 supports 6-player online co-op. Participants could choose who can write the sport – random players, friends, or ask just. Once somebody chooses to join your game, you'll receive a prompt question whether allowing them to join or not. Nobody will be messing around with your farm and support without permission, that is fine.

The ability to join sports is unnecessarily confused by the game's selling of downloadable content (DLC). Should the host have any DLC or mods enabled, players may just be able to join the game if they have the same DLC. People find yourself having to turn DLC away (a option thankfully presented each time you worry a store game) so as to act multiplayer, really and so to people could enter.

A superior implementation would include the data for all DLC to all players, even if they don't acknowledge it. Then they can door the host's cars with multiplayer, but not on their own. Alternately, the game could trigger you to download any missing DLC about joining the game. As it is, you can't also know which information you're missing - you only get rejected.

Upon successfully touch a multiplayer game, everyone shares the same vehicles, income, with supplies that go to the number. You can start working together as a team. That is fun in a relaxing, social way. But as with areas of the competition, technical stems with results threaten to disrupt the enjoyment.

For instance, player character products have laughably bad life. When you start, that seems to help new participants like people just floated up into the space then behind once more. The shape doesn't need a flying animation. Moving with continuing looks awkward as well.

Another great trouble with multiplayer is Achievements. Participants that unite the host's game may earn Achievements, which is bad, but not entirely unusual. Some tough only allow the primary player to have them. But '17 goes a phase farther by not allowing the sponsor person to acquire Achievements in multiplayer. You can fill the exact same map from a record person game, but if perhaps one other person reaches in, you won't be able to earn Achievements.

Games like this really need Achievements to provide objectives and structure to persons, so arbitrarily not being able to make them when using friends is wholly unproductive. I tell with the developers around the matter by E3 shortly after Farming Simulator 15 went out, yet however, they wish not to address the issue in this sequel. I question if the people the leader of '17 play many other games.

FS17 offers 17 Achievements / Trophies in many platforms, a march down in the 26 Accomplishments in Farming Simulator 15. I suppose they chosen the Achievement count to match the year from the entertainment. Some are easy, like as drop down 50 trees or doing a 3-point thrown within the novel (but terrible) basketball minigame.

This year, players just must acquire one thousand currency rather than five million. You can manage your Easy Money Trick to make that a cinch, as well as knock revealed the 'play for ten hours' Achievement. There is once over a Accomplishment for locating 100 collectibles, and you just should find 10 before the break appear on the chart. The rest involve breeding animals, harvesting 10 hectares of home, with finishing all jobs for the NPC farmers. Stay tuned for our full Achievement Show with ideas for all of these.

Farming Simulator 17, like '15 just before it, is a significant strike at PC. We can safely take up a good console audience as well. It could call new to action-addicted gamers, but a ready with absolutely no violence can certainly fun. That a restful experience somewhat akin to performing Minecraft in Creative mode.

We know that collection gets a heap of cash. I simply want more of their money might be seen for the cover. There's no cause Farming Simulator 2017 needs to seem like dangerous because it work out. The physics are entirely terrible in several places. And a lot of clunky gameplay factors such as hitching trailers could clearly become strengthened, if only the designers studied other sports.

Seriously, I desire they'd spend some good times with Minecraft and give some of the strategies of which live mainly common with further activities over to Farming Simulator. One should deal with a lot of rough edges to enjoy FS17. But if you can do that, that surely offers a deep farming feel with lots of realistic licensed machinery.

[myrtlecornish]

All You Need to Take to Build Great Websites in 2019 One or More of These Top-Rated WP Themes

Advertise here via BSA

If you haven’t already, it would pay to check out the WordPress CMS. Same goes for the seemingly unending number of supporting themes. The WordPress CMS is the most popular website-building platform of its type on the market. Choose one or more of its supporting WordPress themes. Then, your ability to consistently put award-winning websites in place increases dramatically.

You probably don’t want to go down the entire list of WordPress themes currently on the market. That would take weeks, if not longer. This is time better spent getting your 2019 website building off to a quick and rousing start.

Check out our short reviews of 15 of the best WordPress themes currently on the market. They should make your search easy. It can take a little time to select among top-quality candidates, but it’s time well spent. Finding just the right theme to fit your needs is essentially guaranteed.

That said, let’s get on with it.

  1. Be Theme

There’s nothing wrong with building a website from scratch using code – if you’re quite capable of doing so. Even then, as a seasoned website builder, you’re likely to take advantage of any website-building tool or template you can get your hands on to shorten your workflow and produce a better product.

A case in point is Be Theme. It’s library of 400+ pre-built websites can be a Godsend for top-tier professional designers and beginners alike. Be is loaded with powerful core features, including the aforementioned pre-built websites you can install with a single click. There are 40, and they include the Muffin Builder, Layout and Shortcode Generators, shortcodes, design elements, a new Header Builder, grid systems, a powerful Admin Panel and on and on.

Be is responsive, SEO-friendly, retina ready, and above all fast and reliable.

And, if you don’t feel like coding, you don’t have to. It’s not necessary, and this WordPress theme you’ll be able to deliver quality websites in hours, to the absolute delight of your clients.

  2. Bridge

Bridge is a highly popular creative WordPress theme that has tons of design options, and the flexibility that goes along with it allows you to create exceptionally beautiful websites to showcase your creative talents and instincts.

With Bridge’s more than 376 and counting premade websites, it’s no problem to find a perfect match for virtually any business niche or website type to get a web design project off to a roaring start. You can even pick and choose design elements from multiple demos and drag and drop them into place with the ever-popular Visual Composer page builder.

There are plenty of other features included in this package that’s designed to make your website-building experiences easy, fun, and problem free – including the ability to get a website up and running without having to rely on writing even a single line of code.

  3. Brook

Efficiency, diversity, and creativity are three characteristics the developers of Brook, the multipurpose creative WordPress theme, have emphasized since day one. The result is a premier dedicated website-building theme that brings equal advantages to both professionals and beginners alike.

Brook is capable of serving any purpose, due in large part to its 30 professionally designed and crafted homepages addressing a wide range of business types and sectors. Brook is also noted for its squeaky-clean code that enables users to create fully responsive and fast loading websites.

Moreover, there are plenty of stunning features that would take users by storm namely one page navigation, one page menu, mega menus, infinite scrolling, off canvas menus, full-width image and video background sliders. More are awaited to be explored in Brook.

In addition, the package includes a nice selection of powerful plugins that are integrated into the theme. They include but are not limited to the WPBakery Page Builder, WPBakery Clipboard, Revolution Slider, Font Awesome 5 Pro, WooCommerce, MailChimp, etc.

  4. Uncode – Creative Multiuse WordPress Theme

A good way to determine how a WordPress theme can help you is to see what other users have been able to do with it. Uncode gives you that opportunity by providing an inspiring creative showcase of what its users have accomplished.

This creative multiuse theme provides exactly what you need to initiate a blog site, create a stunning portfolio, or display a product line – all in just a few hours, and without any need for code.

  5. Kalium

A host of layout designs, richly designed theme options, and drag and drop content building elements and concept designed demos characterize Kalium. This popular, highly rated multipurpose theme places at your fingertips everything you need to showcase your work as you’ve always wanted and intended to do.

Premium fonts and plugins are included in the package and Kalium’s frequent updates ensure constant and continual improvement.

  6. TheGem

This versatile, responsive, and high-performance WordPress theme is noted for its modern design and its wealth of versatile and flexible features and tools. TheGem is looked upon by many if not most of its users as the ultimate multipurpose WordPress toolbox.

To say that TheGem allows anyone to build anything may sound like a bit of a stretch, but it’s essentially true. With your innate creativity and a creative toolbox like TheGem – you can build whatever you can envision.

  7. Avada WordPress Theme

Avada’s professionally designed demos coupled with a host of design options lets you create virtually any design you can envision without having to put up with the bothersome restrictions some themes impose on you.

This WordPress theme has been a #1 seller for the past five years for several reasons, including the fact that its users love it.

  8. Real Homes

You’ll find plenty to like about this #1 ranked, 4.66/5-star rated real estate theme. The Real Homes WordPress theme is delightfully easy to use, its advanced property search feature can be easily customized to fit its user’s business model, and the same is true for its property listings features.

Users and their customers also benefit from Real Home’s frontend major payment gateways and property submission capability.

  9. Grenada – Creative Ajax Portfolio Showcase Slider Theme

It makes sense that the best way to create a stunning portfolio website is to select an elegant, innovative, and minimalist WordPress theme that’s more than up to the task. Grenada is precisely that. Grenada allows you to create a portfolio simply by choosing your favorite layout and building on it.

It’s fully responsive, and its features include a set of creative portfolio sliders, Ajax page load, and Visual Composer. It is also Gutenberg compatible.

  10. Houzez – Highly Customizable Real Estate WordPress Theme

Houzez has become the go-to WordPress theme for realtors and real estate agencies for a variety of reasons. It has all the features and functionalities a realtor requires whether in the office or on the go.

They include advanced search capabilities, property listings options, a super-efficient property management system and customizable drag and drop modules that allow users to match Houzez features to their business models.

  11. ForumPress

ForumPress brings to the table something most WordPress themes lack; the ability to easily integrate forum features and functionality into a website. ForumPress is powered by the bbPress forum plugin that allows this #1 ranked WordPress forum theme to easily set up a forum to match your user community as well as your company brand.

  12. KnowAll

A responsive and fully featured knowledge base theme for WordPress? Yes, we are talking about KnowAll. It makes sure that you concentrate on what you do best – your business. KnowAll takes care of all the customer support related stuff.

KnowAll is your perfect companion in business that will provide support to your customers even when you don’t have the time for it. It includes all the necessary features that you might need for running a successful knowledge base.

  13. MOVEDO – We DO MOVE Your World

Movement captures attention; whether it’s real or apparent. Modern clipping animations and ultra-dynamic parallax are only a couple of the engaging special features MOVEDO brings to the table.

If you’re stuck in a design rut or are looking for a way to add a little spark to your web creations, get on board with this motivating and enlivening WordPress theme.

  14. Schema

If incorporating SEO principles and practices into your designs continue to be a challenge, or you simply hope your design will somehow pass muster with the search engines you should look into Schema and what it offers.

The Schema theme should be in every web designer’s toolbox as it efficiently and effectively leads search engines through your site to show them what they are looking for.

  15. Pofo – Creative Portfolio, Blog and eCommerce WordPress Theme

Pofo provides all the features and tools you’ll ever need to create stunning portfolios to showcase your work. In spite of a focus on portfolio design, Pofo is a multipurpose WordPress theme that you can use for any other website project.

It’s simply that the website you build for a business or corporation will have much more to offer if it includes a portfolio that can convert a visitor into a buying customer.

  Conclusion

There are so many WordPress themes on the market, including more than a few very good ones. Then, it’s all too easy to tire from the search and settle for something that “works”.

We selected 15 of the best themes on the market today. This will make your search for one that best fits your needs as easy as possible. Any one of these should serve to get your 2019 design projects off to a roaring start.

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Professional Web Icons for Your Websites and Applications

All You Need to Take to Build Great Websites in 2019 One or More of These Top-Rated WP Themes published first on https://johnellrod.weebly.com/

[artsoccupychi]

5 Easy Ways to Make Gorgeous and Delicious Complete-Meal Salads

Do you think making a salad or eating it is a chore? What if it could be the most delicious thing you eat all day?

I wonder if you’ve ever had this attitude: “If there’s a bit of salad on the side of my plate, I’m covered.” I’m going to challenge that, too!

How to Make Delicious Salads the Healthy Way

In this article:

Nutritious Whole Meal Salads

5 Easy Ways to Make Salads Healthy, Gorgeous and Delicious

Changing to a Plant-Based Diet

6 Tips for Making QUICK Complete-Meal Salads

Complete-Meal Salad Recipes

  Nutritious Whole Meal Salads

One of the most life-changing shifts I made, away from my toxic Standard American Diet, to a whole-foods lifestyle I actually love (and never feel “deprived”)…

…was learning to make a salad a complete meal, and a PARTY.

I completely changed my attitude about salads—and I’ve helped thousands of others do the same.

Salads that make your mouth water. Salads that are colorful, and have a lot of variety. Salads that cover a lot of nutritional bases. Fiber, micronutrients, healthy fats.

Know Just What to Toss In

Let me show you how to put foods you’ve been meaning to get more of, in your diet—but you haven’t found a way to get them to make a common appearance.

The Ultimate Complete Meal

Salads that are a fabulous main dish. (Might even be the only dish.) You think I’m over-promising, here? Stay with me.

Making a commitment to complete-meal salads doesn’t have to be a chore. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming. And it certainly doesn’t have to be boring and bland, to make a salad the star of the meal.

Leave Out the Bad Stuff

I’m always asked to bring a salad to the family, church, or tennis team party. And I don’t think it’s just because I’m notoriously the “health nut.”

I think it’s because I just make a mean salad—no bacon, croutons, or dairy products required.

And over the years, I’ve learned five amazing tips to make a salad that isn’t just the recipe everyone asks for. (Take copies of my salad recipes to the party—people will ask!) These are also complete -meal salads, even for your whole family, including your picky eaters.

Leaning Away from a Meat-Based Diet

If you were raised with the “main dish” being chicken, steak, or pork, remember, that’s all just conditioning. It doesn’t have to be so.

It’s now clear, from nutrition research, that eating more plants is the #1 key to ideal weight, plenty of energy, and resistance to disease. That’s the conclusion of Yale University’s meta-study reviewing 10,000 pieces of published research, over 10 years. Many things, in nutrition, are controversial, but this is not:

Eating plants prevents disease.

  Looking for Healthy Salad Recipes?

So, salads are available in virtually every restaurant, so you’re covered when you travel or don’t eat at home. And you can actually request, in most eating establishments, many of the ingredients added to the restaurant salad, in these amazing 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook recipes.

(You can channel your inner Meg Ryan, in When Harry Met Sally with or without the fake orgasm. Just look at other items on the menu for clues about what they have. Most servers want to earn their tip, and they’ll get the kitchen to oblige!)

Meat vs Vegetables

When you eat meat for dinner, your body has to work, most of the night, to digest it. (It takes many hours to digest animal products.) When you eat salad for dinner, especially, digestion is complete within 2 hours. Take note of how much better you sleep!

Here’s what to toss on top of a plate of thin-sliced cabbage, spring greens, spinach, butter lettuce, or romaine.  

5 Easy Ways to Make Salads Healthy, Gorgeous and Delicious

You know to buy organic.

You know to toss in cabbage, and spring greens, romaine for crunch, butter lettuce for a softer mouth-feel.

Some arugula for a “kick.”

But these are “must-haves” on top of the greens, for a complete meal that lasts you till bedtime. Vegetables, legumes, and grains digest in less than 4 hours, whereas animal products take 8 hours or more, causing your body to “work” all night.

Add these foods for satiety, for nutrient density, and for a much more restorative night’s sleep:

1. Add Some Kind of Fruit

Make it something you like. My favorites are berries. Blueberries top every list of superfoods, for nutrient density and disease prevention, and they happen to be brilliant on a salad. But don’t forget raspberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries.

The seeds of a pomegranate are available in the winter, and nowadays, often you don’t have to do the work of breaking the fruit open—often you can buy a small tub of these brilliantly-hued little superfoods that famously protect against urinary tract infections. They add flavor, but they also add color to your complete-meal salads!

2. Add Some Kind of Nuts or Seeds

This step not only adds crunch, but virtually all seeds and nuts contain the best kinds of fats. Fats help you absorb the minerals in greens, better, and so they’re a great food combination.

I especially love the green-white of pumpkin seeds on a bed of greens—and walnuts…sliced or toasted or even candied almonds…or salty pistachios add a lot of flavor, requiring less dressing.

3. Add Some Legumes

Most Americans eat very few split peas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, and other legumes in their diet, whereas in the Mediterranean diet, well-documented to be the healthiest diet on the planet, they’re a staple.

I like to pressure-cook large batches, and then, when they’re cooled, freeze them in baggies. This way, I can leave them on the counter in the morning, and by dinnertime, they’re thawed and ready to sprinkle on a salad.

Choose Low Sodium Beans

Canned beans are convenient, while more expensive, and sometimes you can buy no-sodium or low-sodium organic versions that you can still feel good about feeding your family.

Rinse canned beans well, to eliminate some of the salt, if you can’t find low-sodium or “no salt added.” Besides this being a way to get more legumes in your diet, it makes salad a complete meal that will last you until bedtime.

Rich in Fiber

They’re high in fiber, as well, and fiber deficiency is one of the biggest problems with the Standard American Diet. While beans on salads are more familiar, split peas and any variety of lentils are some of the most nutritious of the legume family.

4. Add Some Cooked Whole Grains or Pasta

Nowadays, you can find organic, whole-grain orzo pasta, which is perfect for salad, and no one will know it’s not rice!

Organic wild and brown rice add bulk and fiber to “salad-as-a-meal,” and couscous, quinoa, cracked wheat, and bulgur add a “chewy” texture to round out the “crunch” of nuts and seeds.

As with legumes, you can cook up a large batch, and freeze one-cup portions in baggies, to add to future salads.

5. Use an Amazing Homemade Dressing

Prepared salad dressings have a lot of junk ingredients, including refined oils, refined salt, refined sugars, and preservatives.

If you don’t know how to make easy and quick, flavorful dressings, don’t worry. I do, and I’ll share!

Better than Commercial Dressings

I’ve got the most delicious dressing recipes that substitute for the commercial dressings, in just about every dressing type you like.

Both refrigerated and shelf dressings are high in toxic, rancid fats, refined salts and sugars, and even the neurotoxin monosodium glutamate that manufacturers now hide in many seasoning ingredients.

Salad Dressing for Your Health and Taste Buds

My dressings use the freshest, most delicious, high-nutrition ingredients. And because they’re so zippy and flavorful, you need very little to make your salad taste amazing.

When you’ve tried even a couple of my magic dressing recipes, you’ll never buy commercial dressings again. My secrets are to use only the finest, cold-pressed oils, herbs and seasonings that are superfoods rather than just “flavoring” and citrus juices are magical additions.

The Right Combination of Flavors

My secret, amazing dressings combine the salty, sweet, sour, and bitter in the perfect proportions. Some are creamy, some are vinaigrettes, and some use little or no oil at all. I even give you suggestions for perfect salad + dressing pairings.

At the bottom of this post, you can check out the 5 salads and 5 fresh dressings recipes in my 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook. They’re all a snap to make, and dressings can be frozen for later use.

Nutritious Versions of Every Dressing

Just about any dressing you love, I’ve got a healthy version of it! Only healthy ingredients—the fats, sweeteners, and seasonings. You’ll like them better, taste-wise, too, versus high-fat commercial dressings.

I am one of 8 children, and as the oldest, every night for dinner, my job was to make “salad for 10.”  

Changing to a Plant-Based Diet

When my grandmother beat cancer with a plant-based diet, my mother was inspired. I was raised eating a 95% plant-based diet, and I’ve raised my own 4 healthy kids to adulthood, the same way.

Enjoying the Lifestyle Change

So that’s how I became a bit of a salad ninja. Nothing about the process is daunting for me—from ideas to shopping, to quick prep, to considering them a complete meal. And finally, to totally enjoying them!

It will be an absolute game changer for you to take on this mindset, and habit—I promise.

So let me share with you 6 tips for “making salad the star” easy and quick. It all starts with mindfulness. When you’ve committed to “more salads this year” as a goal, you’ll start to notice some amazing things available to you, almost anywhere you shop!  

6 Tips for Making QUICK Complete-Meal Salads

1. Start Out Simple

Keep an eye out for what’s available, wherever you shop, that simplify your salad making. Don’t be afraid to adopt a recipe. Options are exploding, these days, as more people get interested in being healthier. Let me give you a few examples.

Spiralized Veggies

First, I’ve never been one to get out the spiralizer and make zucchini and yellow squash noodles. I absolutely LOVE steamed or sautéed squash noodles, though. I’ll choose them over pasta, at a restaurant.

But as a busy executive and single mom, I confess to being a little bit too lazy for the spiralizer.

Ready-Made Squash Noodles

Just this month, I stopped by a store I don’t often shop at, and they had “Squadoodles!” Noodles made from squash…I was thrilled!

I steamed them lightly, for five minutes, and topped them with organic spaghetti sauce mixed with pesto, and some sliced bell peppers.

Costco Tomatoes

You might love tomatoes, and if you do, grab the hot-house grown (almost always pesticide-free) or organic cherry or grape tomatoes at Costco—a party in your mouth!

Pomegranate Seeds

Lately, I’ve been seeing fresh pomegranate seeds in a cup—all the hard work of tearing that fruit apart, done for you! A pretty addition to your salad, adding a tangy pop, and crunch.

Cauliflower Flowerettes

Broccoli isn’t my favorite food but I adore its cousin, the cauliflower. Now I don’t even have to pull apart the head of cauliflower: I can buy a bag of “flowerettes” at Costco, cut the top of the bag off, rinse its contents, and steam the whole batch.

I toss in some cherry tomatoes, whatever sliced veggies I have on hand, and pesto sauce. Voila, lunch!

2. Use Marinated Food

Keep some marinated yummy foods on hand, to toss into your complete-meal salads. I like to keep Costco’s marinated asparagus and artichoke hearts on hand, as well as green and black olives.

Just a handful of any of those makes your salads very flavorful so that you need very little dressing or none.

You Don’t Always Need a Salad Dressing

I used to think that dressings were mandatory, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that all four of my children like salad better with no dressing! Who knew?

Then I tried salad-with-no-dressing myself, and, wow—I loved it when greens are topped with something both healthy and tangy, like raw sauerkraut or marinated carrots.

3. Prepare in Advance

Shred or chop a bunch of vegetables, and refrigerate them in one big container, with a tight-fitting lid. As I was feeding a family of 6, this was a lifesaver for two decades.

Young children do better with shredded vegetables, so I’d use my food processor to shred even the stems of broccoli. The big tub of veggies last a week, and I’d vary the bed of greens for my complete-meal salads.

4. Have Fun with Salad Bars

Present dinner as a salad bar. I’ve done this, many times, with my own family, and even when company’s coming.

Put a small bowl of each raw or steamed veggie, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, sprouts, and marinated yummy things, next to a giant bowl of mixed greens. Then everyone can have the salad they want!

Kids love choice and frankly, we all do. We don’t feel deprived if we get to add more of the things we’re attracted to.

5. Steam the Vegetables

Steam big batches of vegetables you prefer better than the raw version and add them plentifully to your salads.

Many people don’t want to take much time, to eat a plateful of vegetables, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and beets. But when they’re steamed, you still get a lot of nutrition and bulk, in ways that are very easy to eat.

6. Make Multiple Batches of Dressings

Double-batch your fresh dressings, and freeze half, in a jar. The work is almost the same, for a small batch, or a large batch, so go big.

The recipes last two weeks in the fridge. My recipes that don’t contain fresh produce (such as green onions) last much longer.  

Complete-Meal Salad Recipes

Check out my 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook recipe titles, and grab your free copy here!:

Spinach-Strawberry Salad

Southwest Salad

Everyday Salad

Cabbage Salad

Craisin Salad

Basic Salad Dressing with Variations

Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing

Asian Ginger Dressing

Avocado Dressing

Healthy Ranch Dressing

What’s your favorite salad and dressing? Share them in the comments section below!

Up Next: 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings

  Editor’s Note – This post was originally published on May 9, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

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#infrared saunas #healthy

[wooju-lee-blog]

Black garlic (흑마늘; heukmaneul) is a type of treated garlic produced through a fermenting process. When the sugars and amino acids present in the garlic undergo fermentation, these elements produce melanoidin—a dark-coloured substance that is responsible for the aptly titled black garlic. Tracing its origins is quite the challenge; a quick Google search offers nothing but hardly-credible information and a myriad of Internet forum hypothesis. It may or may not be a Korean product, according to Star Chefs; it was supposedly “fermented” in clay pots in the warm summer sun. Other sources claim that it hailed from Japan or even Egypt. Less likely but better documented, Korean inventor Scott Kim claims to have developed black garlic in 2004 as the next big superfood.

Truth be told, I had very little awareness of black garlic’s existence—at least until it was the focal plot point for an episode of the animated sitcom Bob’s Burgers. Little did I know, black garlic has become a staple ingredient in a variety of professional American kitchens since it was manufactured by Kim under Black Garlic Inc. Four years forward, the company began shipping products to stateside chefs. "It's deep. The flavours are so layered, and they linger," says Chef Evan Hanczor of Brooklyn's Parish Hall. "It has notes of dark caramel, chocolate, a little bitterness, a little sweetness, and umami, plus that je ne sais quoi."

Companies that mass-produce and distribute black garlic focus on a long, careful process of keeping garlic heated at a constant temperature of about 60°C (140°F) for a few weeks—to even a month! It’s not particularly hard per se, but it’s no easy task either, and its retail price reflects its tedious process. But because of its widespread popularity in South Korea, many DIY lovers (such as yours truly) have put it on themselves to make it at the comforts of home—using only a rice cooker. Precisely, literally anyone can make it. It only takes a bit of patience. And Febreeze. And a strong will. Also a strong mentality because of the smell...which is so bad, it’s heroic. 

Ingredients

10 whole garlic bulbs

Equipment

Rice cooker with a “Keep Warm” function. If the rice cooker you’re using doesn’t have this, it’s pretty much useless in this case. Keep in mind that the treatment process will leave your rice cooker with a persistent garlic stench, so I suggest buying an older one from Value Village, like I did.

Lots of Febreeze, scented candles, fancy soaps out in the open etc.

Method

Place the rice cooker in an area with good ventilation—preferably somewhere that’s not your kitchen as the smell will permeate any enclosed area. And it’s not even a subtle smell, either. Because I live alone, I had the wonderful privilege of using the garage at my friends’ humble abode at Spadina Road (shout out to Aaron for helping me avoid a potential smelly chaos).

Peel the outer skin of the garlic so that you can see the separation of the garlic cloves. Make sure you do not break the garlic apart!

Place the whole garlic bulbs in one layer in a rice cooker. 

Close the lid and press the “Keep Warm” button. Leave it as is for two weeks (approximately 14 days, obviously).

After the allotted time has passed, turn off the rice cooker, take out the garlic bulbs and let them rest until they come to room temperature. Multiple sources claim that it’s best to just leave it as it is for an extra two to three weeks, but because of time constraints, I disregarded that altogether.

After the garlic bulbs have cooled down, start peeling them—this will be easy to do as the cloves are mostly separated from the skin at this point due to the treatment process. 

Place the cloves on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with another parchment and air-dry in a cool area for a week. Keep cool.

Because I was expecting the entire process to take at least three weeks, I started the treatment process around June 25th. It surprised me how easy it was to make something touted to be so expensive; there weren't really any intricate steps involved with the bulbs once it was placed in the rice cooker. It was simply placing it in the contraption, turning it on, and setting it aside until the process was complete. 

I received constant (mostly nocturnal) updates on the severity of the smell. According to my friend Aaron, the smell didn’t really reach any of the rooms. But the entire garage was permeated with a sharp garlic scent for weeks, even after the rice cooker was cleaned and removed from the area.

The end results were as expected, all in its jet-black and stinky glory. Its flavour is rather hard to describe; there‘s some sweetness to it, some savouriness with a touch of earthy tone: a bit like a cross between caramelized onion and balsamic vinegar. To be honest, it’s not good by any means. Like, I was actually kind of upset for a good 5 minutes because it just was not worth all that effort. Would it be better if I incorporated it in a recipe? Absolutely. But consuming it in its raw form seems a bit, I don’t know, unbearable. However, I can see myself taking it like a pill, solely for its supposed nutritional benefits. 

Each garlic clove has a delectably soft, gelatine-like texture to it, almost to the point of being sticky. The only food I can think of with a remotely similar texture to it is a traditional East Asian dessert called 羊羹 (yōkan) or 양갱 (yanggaeng). Its mouthfeel can only be described as a slightly hard gummy bear; some pieces were incredibly soft, while some just felt mushy. I’m not entirely too sure why the texture varied so much, but something tells me I should have left it as is for an extra week or so. 

An article published on Munchies introduces the black garlic and the myriads of ways it can be used in a recipe. Chef Kevin Meehan of Kali, his newly opened restaurant in Los Angeles, is more or less an advocator of the specialty. He incorporates it in three out of the 11 dishes on his menu, which includes a beet tartare, a wheatberry risotto (which sounds incredible), and a beef dish with burnt onion jam. He even talks of experimenting with black garlic ice cream, which, honestly...should not happen.

Black garlic, Meehan declares, is "the ultimate form of umami."

It’s still surreal to me that you can naturally (well, mostly natural) modify a raw food and give it an added nutritional boost—and the fact that you can do it in the comfort of your own home is just an added bonus. So there really is no reason to be gulled into these faux-health “foodie” trends; the only difference between paying more than you should when you can make it at home is being fooled by clever (not-so-clever) marketing. 

My consensus on black garlic? Well, aside from just eating a few cloves like it’s some sort of absurdist snack, I have yet to try out a recipe that incorporates it. My primary interest in black garlic was actually more for its medicinal value than anything. I do want to incorporate a more health-oriented approach to my cooking. And black garlic’s benefits of reducing inflammation and osteoarthritis, boosting immune function, and improving cardiovascular health and circulation, all the while tasting decent (it’s inherently an acquired taste) is an A+ for me.

Next up: fruit hunt! I’ll definitely be making something peach-related as peaches are probably my favourite food. Like, my fervour for peaches can be summed up by this single, nonsensical scenario: I would probably get by just fine on a deserted island...if that deserted island also had an abundance of peach trees.

P.S. Here’s a clip from that Bob’s Burgers episode I mentioned before.

[mode7rap]

genoboost reviews the Final Fantasy VII commercial

via Game Music 4 All

I hate Final Fantasy VII.

Well, I love Final Fantasy VII, but don't tell Final Fantasy VII I said that. FFVII doesn't deserve my love, but I often find myself thinking about all the good times we had together. We laughed, we cried, we bitched about Cait Sith. Those were the days. But it was such a toxic relationship. I can never go back.

It's going to take a few more therapy sessions before I'm comfortable digging deeper into that. Today, I simply want to discuss a small portion of the very rich meal that is Final Fantasy VII. There are a lot of layers to this RPG onion, and I want to focus solely on the dry, dusty, useless onion skin, slowly rotting beneath the produce section lights. I'll be dissecting Square's game changing game commercial which appeared on US television ahead of the games stateside release. That's not a joke.

How did we all think Final Fantasy VII was so great? Clearly opinions have splintered in the 20 years since the game's release. It's hard to stay unbiased after many years worth of extraneous FFVII games, movies, and more games, and anime shorts. It's now pretty hazy just exactly what convinced me to love this game so much in the first place. Then I saw the original commercial again. My very sudden and brand new hypothesis is that the marketing blitz put on by Sony and Square (now Square-Enix) made sure we thought this game was going to kick every ass. It did. The commercials that aired constantly on cable television also made sure that viewers had no idea what the 'game' part of this game was. 

   So it's time to dissect a thirty second long and twenty year old commercial. This advertisement was the first glimpse of Final Fantasy for much of the US, except for nerds like me that is. That glimpse made Final Fantasy VII look like one bad ass mother fucker of an action movie, er, action game. It's a game.  You can play on the "Play Station." Somehow.

What do you even do in this game? It would appear to be some sort of motorcycle riding, helicopter chasing, explosion causing and/or preventing type action game. Maybe you get to play as an ass kicking, motorcycle riding protagonist that is also a soldier of fortune, as mentioned in the commercial! Mystery solved.

I don't know what's happening here, but it doesn't matter because I'm dead now.

Actually, I think the Soldier of fortune is the only thing this commercial gets right about Final Fantasy VII. But only if I'm being generous and assume when the voice over said "soldier" he meant SOLDIER. 

It's hard to think back to a time where we didn't know about sephiroth, JENOVA, and Cloud, the only three characters that very briefly appear in the commercial. Each with a haircut sillier than the last. None of these highly integral characters are established in any way. It's just some insane fever dream. Was that a monster?  Did it explode? Does CG hair have to look this ridiculous?

Absolutely.

I know I come hard at Final Fantasy VII like the old, jaded gamer I am, but back in '97 I was just as enamored by it as any other kid that got their kicks from playing Chrono Trigger and FFIII, I mean VI, I mean, ah fuck it. Square knew exactly what a young American gamer wanted to see. Explosions, revenge, motorcycles, soldiers of fortune, more revenge, another explosion, and another explosion and revenge, plus it's a video game!

This isn't a commercial for a hundred hour, story driven RPG from Japan (this is, and it gets me pretty damn hyped). This is a commercial for a high budget Hollywood action movie. It has more in common with trailers for Men in Black and The Fifth Element, the latest sci-fi blockbusters circa '97. This was long before Lord of the Rings made everyone very very familiar with the Fantasy genre. Back in 1997, no one in the US cared about grass or trees or magic or elves or none of that shit. Those were good times. Anyway, the folks behind advertising Final Fantasy VII knew what's up. They showed off nothing but the heavily industrial, very metallic side of Final Fantasy VII. Cannons, helicopters, motorcycles. This was some epic futuristic realism here. No magic airships, no swords, no riding on big dumb chickens! 'Wark' your ass on out of here you stupid chocobo, or is it 'kweh' now? Go 'kweh' yourself! 

"Did you unlock the motorcycle?"

"Not Quite."

Give Square some credit where it's due though, twenty years later, every major game release is marketed this way. Only cut scenes, no game play footage, and only the vaguest half paragraph outline of the plot. Makes me nostalgic for the storyline to Bosconian. Make sure your way dope commercial includes anything that would be cool to own or pilot, as long as it's a machine and not an animal, such as a very large, very colorful, very inbred bird. 

There isn't a single company fool enough to include actual gameplay in the commercial for said game. Some commercials these days don't include any images from the game at all. Even Nintendo themselves cut that shit out a few console generations ago. Well, Nintendo still tries to shove a little gameplay footage in at the end of their commercials. Unfortunately, Nintendo's stubborn respect for consumers makes for terrible marketing. Not to mention the incredible difficulty in conveying fun game play to a passive audience. Just make some jokes, or throw some babes at me, and/or a few explosions and I'm in! Buy me Bonestorm or go to hell!

Square-Enix has made a ton of missteps since the release of FFVII, which lead to the name Square-Enix itself, and my endless confusion on whether to call them Square, or Square-Enix when referring to the company when it was called Square, or was it Square LTD, I don't think it was Square EA yet, or was it EA Square in the US and Square EA in Japan… Ah fuck that too.

Actually (fixes glasses) the full name is… 

As I was saying, Square whatever has had some misfires in their long and expensive history, but damn were they on the cutting edge of logically baffling but ridiculously effective commercials.

If I'm generous, I could understand that there could be some difficulty in explaining a 70 hour epic within a 30 second teaser. Ungenerously, since this is a commercial after all. Please be skeptical of anyone selling you anything. Please? This is 30 seconds of random images and blatant lies created solely in an effort to take your money. Square got my money. Don't let them get to you too!

I'm not sure if this is the first RPG to be marketed to popcorn shoveling mongrels and not the elite console gamer class that knew what a JRPG was, or, as we called them at the time. RPGs. We didn't need more specific definitions because all console RPGs came from Japan. American companies made Bass Fishing and Bubsy, and a game starring the fucking president's cat. Who cares! Until FPS games gained some traction, US game developers would do their best to serve up nice bland plates of whatever Japan created first. 

Despite Square's best efforts, and explosions, the most insane thing about this commercial was the ending. 

:Record scratch

Appearing in the final moments of the commercial was the title "Final Fantasy VII." Wait a minute! I know what Final Fantasy is! I know exactly what Final Fantasy is! Hold on, where did four, five, and six go!?

I had already played Final Fantasy VI, although we called it Final Fantasy III back in my day. Whatever this commercial was that my eyeballs were subjected to was certainly unlike any previous Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy is about wizards and spell casting and swords and a bunch of numbers going up, sometimes down. You collect money, which you can use to buy new weapons, and you can find treasure, which is hopefully new weapons. There's just loads of text and menus. Honestly, it's all just text and menus. The point being, that there ain't none of that in this commercial, and we all know damn well there is plenty of that shit in the game. Conversely, I think every exploding building, crashing meteor, or giant energy weapon in the game is shown off in this commercial.

Before I watched this commercial several dozen times in order to form this deep and absolutely necessary analysis, I decided to make a list of a few words and phrases that come to mind when I think about Final Fantasy VII.  Play along at home. Just close your eyes and think of some of your most cherished memories with this very ridiculous game. 

Giant Swords

Armageddon

Bigger swords

Corporate greed

This guy are sick

Leveling Up

Great Music

Unlikable characters

Huge world

Huge monsters

Double crossing

Ancient stuff

Fancy wigs and dresses

Cait Sith… Fuck you Cait Sith! I never wanted you on my team in the first place you traitorous, plot advancing piece of-

Okay, I should stop there, but I think that's a good synopsis of FFVII to be honest. 

Now time to live blog this ephemeral seizure of a commercial.

There's an evil empire.

So evil it's a whole evil planet?

Giant cannon!

Modern day helicopters

Modern day motorcycle, is this Terminator?

The world is in danger! So it might be Terminator!

To Aerith: "Come with me if you want to live." No wait!

More cannons! These cannons shoot lasers!

It can shoot in this single direction though.

Was that a monster?

Quiet down in there!… You!

Everything is so shiny

At least this evil empire has some showmanship.

Great graphics!

...for the time.

There's seven of these!?

Another record scratch

This is a video game!?!?

and it's on the playstation!?

Whaaaaa…

As you can see, a few major elements of Final Fantasy VII seem to be lacking in the commercial. In a game with nine different playable characters, each with plenty of backstory, we see Cloud's dumb hair for a second, and Sephiroth staring down a robot. I remember staring at the print ad of this scene and having not a single clue what I was even looking at. Did you notice any swords in this commercial? Catch someone using a spear or inaccurately enormous shuriken shaped boomerang? There wasn't even magic. No magic in a game called Final FANTASY. No feathers, and not a single blade of grass.

If this commercial is to be believed (and who am I to not believe the very people who are trying to take my money) then this is pretty much James Bond, Blade Runner, and Armageddon, but playable. I wouldn't be shocked if this blonde haired soldier of fortune was voiced by Bruce Willis himself. Yippee ki yay Sephiroth. It's time to save the world from lasers and cannons and meteors and all kinds of other crazy crap.

Somehow…

Oh, I almost forgot, this game commercial doesn't feature any game play. Maybe it was an oversight. It's certainly not necessary to include gameplay footage. Why, Square gave us all the information we need to understand the gameplay, right in this very commercial, if you just look closely enough!

I can easily imagine the control scheme for this wild ride.

X = Motorcycle

Triangle = Revenge

Square = Explosions

Circle = Explosion based Revenge

L1+R1 = Run Away

This lack of gameplay footage is what changed video game commercials forever (except Nintendo). Nintendo was trying their hardest to show off some quality games back in the mid 90's, but that integrity lost them valuable MTV commercial real estate. Square and Sony on the other hand, began to create commercials that were more like existential references to the games in the PlayStation library, rather than provide actual details or information about why you should purchase the product featured. Nintendo clearly wanted to emulate these highly effective commercials, all while still conveying the inherent fun of Nintendo games. This meant that Nintendo became stranded in some horrible middle ground. Wanting edgy commercials with a bunch of crazy crap happening, while still conveying the style and quality of the gameplay. Don't forget to wedge some game footage in there somehow.

As reference, here is a 1996 Nintendo commercial. Coincidentally, I chose the commercial for Super Mario RPG, the final Square produced game for a Nintendo system for nearly a decade.

   Dammit Nintendo, it's like the head of your PR department is my mom. SO LAME. This commercial needs it's own analysis. I'm a life long Nintendo supporter through and through, but I have made no bones about their inability to create engaging commercials. Nintendo has been getting their asses kicked in the marketing department ever since Sega said 'Nintendon't.' Luckily Nintendo's games often speak for themselves in terms of quality game play. Of course, you would have to purchase the game to know that. Oh the irony! Every Nintendo commercial feels like the boxart to Phalanx. Baffling and unintuitive.

In fact, here's another one from 2005!

   Even after many years in this brave new world of logic free commercials, Nintendo still slides in that gameplay footage. Will they never learn?

Conclusion

Hey Square, I love all the convoluted stories, convoluted hair, and pompous cut scenes, but I also like the part where I rummage through menus to equip insane materia combinations, or just simply stealing from as many different enemies as possible. This commercial, and the frenzy for Final Fantasy VII upon launch reinforced those former attributes, sending Square into an anti-gameplay spiral that we've only begun to unravel. In the immediate aftermath of FFVII, Square gave us both the amazing 'cinematic RPG' Parasite Eve, as well as the bankruptcy inducing Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. 

Now they go by Square Enix, a little wiser, and a little less bold. They still waver between quality game play and an overzealous cut scenes, second only to the Metal Gear series (which also made Konami hemorrhage money, hmm). 

Next FFVII anniversary, I'm going to review the Knight of the Round (AKA the longest fucking thing in video games ever) in the same amount of time that the animation of Knight of the Round takes to play out. 

Thanks for reading! Support my work by subscribing to me on Patreon and follow me on Twitter @genoboost!

#new #post #news #blog #update #gamemusic4all

[artsoccupychi]

5 Easy Ways to Make Gorgeous and Delicious Complete-Meal Salads

Do you think making a salad…or eating it…is a chore?

What if it could be the most delicious thing you eat all day?

I wonder if you’ve ever had this attitude: “If there’s a bit of salad on the side of my plate, I’m covered.” I’m going to challenge that, too!

One of the most life-changing shifts I made, away from my toxic Standard American Diet, to a whole-foods lifestyle I actually love (and never feel “deprived”)…

…was learning to make a salad a complete meal, and a PARTY.

I completely changed my attitude about salads—and I’ve helped thousands of others do the same.

Salads that make your mouth water. Salads that are colorful, and have a lot of variety. Salads that cover a lot of nutritional bases. Fiber, micronutrients, healthy fats.

Let me show you how to put foods you’ve been meaning to get more of, in your diet—but you haven’t found a way to get them to make a common appearance.

Salads that are a fabulous main dish. (Might even be the only dish.) You think I’m over-promising, here? Stay with me.

Making a commitment to complete-meal salads doesn’t have to be a chore. It doesn’t have to be time consuming. And it certainly doesn’t have to be boring and bland, to make salad the star of the meal.

I’m always asked to bring a salad to the family, church, or tennis team party. And I don’t think it’s just because I’m notoriously the “health nut.”

I think it’s because I just make a mean salad—no bacon, croutons, or dairy products required.

And over the years, I’ve learned five amazing tips to make a salad that isn’t just the recipe everyone asks for. (Take copies of my salad recipes to the party—people will ask!) These are also complete -meal salads, even for your whole family, including your picky eaters.

If you were raised with the “main dish” being chicken, steak, or pork—remember, that’s all just conditioning. It doesn’t have to be so.

It’s now clear, from nutrition research, that eating more plants is the #1 key to ideal weight, plenty of energy, and resistance to disease. That’s the conclusion of Yale University’s meta-study reviewing 10,000 pieces of published research, over 10 years. Many things, in nutrition, are controversial, but this is not:

Eating plants prevents disease.

So, salads are available in virtually every restaurant, so you’re covered when you travel or don’t eat at home. And you can actually request, in most eating establishments, many of the ingredients added to the restaurant salad, in these amazing 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook recipes.

(You can channel your inner Meg Ryan, in When Harry Met Sally—with or without the fake orgasm. Just look at other items on the menu for clues about what they have. Most servers want to earn their tip, and they’ll get the kitchen to oblige!)

When you eat meat for dinner, your body has to work, most of the night, to digest it. (It takes many hours to digest animal products.) When you eat salad for dinner, especially, digestion is complete within 2 hours. Take note of how much better you sleep!

Here’s what to toss on top of a plate of thin-sliced cabbage, spring greens, spinach, butter lettuce, or romaine.

5 Easy Ways to Make Salads Healthy, Gorgeous and Delicious

You know to buy organic.

You know to toss in cabbage, and spring greens, romaine for crunch, butter lettuce for a softer mouth-feel.

Some arugula for a “kick.”

But these are “must-haves” on top of the greens, for a complete meal that lasts you till bedtime. Vegetables, legumes, and grains digest in less than 4 hours, whereas animal products take 8 hours or more—causing your body to “work” all night.

Add these foods for satiety, for nutrient density, and for a much more restorative night’s sleep:

1. Add some kind of fruit. Make it something you like. My favorites are berries. Blueberries top every list of superfoods, for nutrient density and disease prevention, and they happen to be brilliant on a salad. But don’t forget raspberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries.

The seeds of a pomegranate are available in the winter, and nowadays, often you don’t have to do the work of breaking the fruit open—often you can buy a small tub of these brilliantly-hued little superfoods that famously protect against urinary tract infections. They add flavor, but they also add color to your complete-meal salads!

2. Add some kind of nuts, or seeds. This step not only adds crunch, but virtually all seeds and nuts contain the best kinds of fats. Fats help you absorb the minerals in greens, better, and so they’re a great food combination.

I especially love the green-white of pumpkin seeds on a bed of greens–and walnuts…sliced or toasted or even candied almonds…or salty pistachios add a lot of flavor, requiring less dressing.

3. Add some legumes. Most Americans eat very few split peas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, and other legumes in their diet, whereas in the Mediterranean diet, well-documented to be the healthiest diet on the planet, they’re a staple.

I like to pressure-cook large batches, and then, when they’re cooled, freeze them in baggies. This way, I can leave them on the counter in the morning, and by dinnertime, they’re thawed and ready to sprinkle on a salad.

Canned beans are convenient, while more expensive, and sometimes you can buy no-sodium or low-sodium organic versions that you can still feel good about feeding your family.

Rinse canned beans well, to eliminate some of the salt, if you can’t find low-sodium or “no salt added.” Besides this being a way to get more legumes in your diet, it makes salad a complete meal that will last you until bedtime.

They’re high in fiber, as well, and fiber deficiency is one of the biggest problems with the Standard American Diet. While beans on salads are more familiar, split peas, and any variety of lentils, are some of the most nutritious of the legume family.

4. Add some cooked, whole grains or pastas. Nowadays, you can find organic, whole-grain orzo pasta, which is perfect for salad, and no one will know it’s not rice!

Organic wild and brown rice add bulk and fiber to “salad-as-a-meal,” and couscous, quinoa, cracked wheat, and bulgur add a “chewy” texture to round out the “crunch” of nuts and seeds.

As with legumes, you can cook up a large batch, and freeze one-cup portions in baggies, to add to future salads.

5. Use an amazing homemade dressing. Prepared salad dressings have a lot of junk ingredients, including refined oils, refined salt, refined sugars, and preservatives.

If you don’t know how to make easy and quick, flavorful dressings, don’t worry. I do, and I’ll share!

I’ve got the most delicious dressing recipes that substitute for the commercial dressings, in just about every dressing type you like.

Both refrigerated and shelf dressings are high in toxic, rancid fats, refined salts and sugars, and even the neurotoxin monosodium glutamate that manufacturers now hide in many seasoning ingredients.

My dressings use the freshest, most delicious, high-nutrition ingredients—and because they’re so zippy and flavorful, you need very little, to make your salad taste amazing.

When you’ve tried even a couple of my magic dressing recipes, you’ll never buy commercial dressings again. My secrets are to use only the finest, cold-pressed oils, herbs and seasonings that are superfoods rather than just “flavoring”–and citrus juices are magical additions.

My secret, amazing dressings combine the salty, sweet, sour, and bitter in the perfect proportions. Some are creamy, some are vinaigrettes, and some use little or no oil at all. I even give you suggestions for perfect salad + dressing pairings.

At the bottom of this post, you can check out the 5 salads and 5 fresh dressings recipes in my 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook. They’re all a snap to make, and dressings can be frozen for later use.

Just about any dressing you love, I’ve got a healthy version of it! Only healthy ingredients—the fats, sweeteners, and seasonings. You’ll like them better, taste-wise, too, versus high-fat commercial dressings.

I am one of 8 children, and as the oldest, every night for dinner, my job was to make “salad for 10.”

When my grandmother beat cancer with a plant-based diet, my mother was inspired. I was raised eating a 95 percent plant-based diet, and I’ve raised my own 4 healthy kids to adulthood, the same way.

So that’s how I became a bit of a salad ninja. Nothing about the process is daunting for me–from ideas, to shopping, to quick prep, to considering them a complete meal. And finally, to totally enjoying them!

It will be an absolute game changer for you to take on this mindset, and habit—I promise.

So let me share with you 6 tips for “making salad the star” easy and quick. It all starts with mindfulness. When you’ve committed to “more salads this year” as a goal, you’ll start to notice some amazing things available to you, almost anywhere you shop!

6 Tips for Making QUICK Complete-Meal Salads

1. Keep an eye out for what’s available, wherever you shop, that simplify your salad making. Don’t be afraid to adapt a recipe. Options are exploding, these days, as more people get interested in being healthier. Let me give you a few examples.

First, I’ve never been one to get out the spiralizer, and make zucchini and yellow squash noodles. I absolutely LOVE steamed or sautéed squash noodles, though. I’ll choose them over pasta, at a restaurant.

Spiralized butternut squash noodles

But as a busy executive and single mom, I confess to being a little bit too lazy for the spiralizer.

Just this month, I stopped by a store I don’t often shop at, and they had “Squadoodles!” Noodles made from squash…I was thrilled!

I steamed them lightly, for five minutes, and topped them with organic spaghetti sauce mixed with pesto, and some sliced bell peppers.

You might love tomatoes, and if you do, grab the hot-house grown (almost always pesticide-free) or organic cherry or grape tomatoes at Costco—a party in your mouth!

Lately, I’ve been seeing fresh pomegranate seeds in a cup–all the hard work of tearing that fruit apart, done for you! A pretty addition to your salad, adding a tangy pop, and crunch.

Broccoli isn’t my favorite food–but I adore its cousin, cauliflower. Now I don’t even have to pull apart the head of cauliflower: I can buy a bag of “flowerettes” at Costco, cut the top of the bag off, to rinse its contents, and steam the whole batch.

I toss in some cherry tomatoes, whatever sliced veggies I have on hand, and pesto sauce. Voila, lunch!

2. Keep some marinated yummy foods on hand, to toss into your complete-meal salads. I like to keep Costco’s marinated asparagus and artichoke hearts on hand, as well as green and black olives.

Just a handful of any of those makes your salads very flavorful, so that you need very little dressing, or none.

I used to think that dressings were mandatory, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that all four of my children like salad better with no dressing! Who knew?

Then I tried salad-with-no-dressing myself, and, wow–I loved it, when greens are topped with something both healthy and tangy, like raw sauerkraut or marinated carrots.

3. Shred or chop a bunch of vegetables, and refrigerate them in one big container, with a tight-fitting lid. As I was feeding a family of 6, this was a lifesaver for two decades.

Young children do better with shredded vegetables, so I’d use my food processor to shred even the stems of broccoli. The big tub of veggies last a week, and I’d vary the bed of greens for my complete-meal salads.

4. Present dinner as a salad bar. I’ve done this, many times, with my own family, and even when company’s coming.

Put a small bowl of each raw or steamed veggie, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, sprouts, and marinated yummy things, next to a giant bowl of mixed greens. Then everyone can have the salad they want!

Kids love choice—and frankly, we all do. We don’t feel deprived, if we get to add more of the things we’re attracted to.

5. Steam big batches of vegetables you prefer better than the raw version—and add them plentifully to your salads.

Many people don’t want to take much time, to eat a plateful of vegetables, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and beets. But when they’re steamed, you still get a lot of nutrition and bulk, in ways that are very easy to eat.

6. Double-batch your fresh dressings, and freeze half, in a jar. The work is almost the same, for a small batch, or a large batch, so go big.

The recipes last two weeks in the fridge. My recipes that don’t contain fresh produce (such as green onions) last much longer.

Check out my 5 Fabulous Complete-Meal Salads and Dressings eBook recipe titles, and grab your free copy here!:

Spinach-Strawberry Salad

Southwest Salad

Everyday Salad

Cabbage Salad

Craisin Salad

Basic Salad Dressing with Variations

Strawberry-Poppy Seed Dressing

Asian Ginger Dressing

Avocado Dressing

Healthy Ranch Dressing

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