#the past half year has been great but i need to adjust things to take better care of myself

[bixels]

quick update on art moving forward:

i'm gonna be switching back and forth between doing more original work/non-mlp content and gg20s art from now on. things may go slower, but that's part of me trying to take care of myself vs. the past couple of months which has been "i need to finish and post at least 2 gg20s artworks every week or i'll die." i still need to finish that utena juri illustration, and i have a neat character design exercise i wanna do on designing 90s high fantasy anime characters.

for full transparency, here are some things i have lined up for gg20s (on my end at least, tulli's still going strong): character designs for nyc characters (coco pommel, coloratura, suri polomare), the disney opening sequence video, more rarijack (obviously), including that one-shot fanfiction, and a daring do comic.

ty guys.

#personal #delete later #the past half year has been great but i need to adjust things to take better care of myself #because i've also been extremely tired all the time #today because i'm taking a break from twitter and don't have pressure to keep making art to post i decided not to draw #and it was nice

[bonny-kookoo]

Does someone older JK spoil the OC sometimes? Like surprise her with something which he considerd to be nothing it would mean so much to her?

Oh he does, ALL the time! Warnings for a bit of angst, beginnings of a panic attack but Kook handles it well

"...we can go there again, maybe before new year's if I can get a table on short notice." He simply says as he drives you both back to his place, radio playing quietly in the background.

You're still a little overwhelmed.

He does things like this a lot- expensive dinner dates in restaurants he either knows or wants to try out, randomly buying you clothes or jewelry he finds online and deems pretty, or he just changes things in his house to adjust it more towards you and your preferences. Like the pillows in his bedroom, the by now multiple pairs of thick socks for your cold feet, or the baking supplies he bought for you now stacking up in his kitchen.

It's things like that you're not used to. In the past, it has always been you who needed to adjust and do things for your partner- not the other way around. So now, you feel almost guilty whenever he does something- like a bank account draining, slowly going further and further into the negatives, red numbers piling up and making you anxious as to when he'll want it all payed back.

"Did you not like it?" He wonders, taking your silence as a sign of discomfort as he pulls up on the expressway. "You don't have to lie." He chuckles, reaching out to hold your hand.

"No, it's not that." You deny, letting him warm up your cold fingers. "It's just.. it was a little expensive, no?" You wonder, and he shrugs.

"Was it? To be honest, I don't think it was considering what we ate." He just brushes off. "I've been to steak restaurants that were a lot more expensive and half the quality. And the service was great too, so I didn't mind." Jungkook explains, and it's now that you realize once again that you and him live in quite different worlds. Or at least, used to.

For him, money isn't an issue. He's made and is making enough of it to live comfortably, he doesn't have to really worry about running out of it anytime soon, even if his company was to go bankrupt next week. And he's also got enough saved up, has invested with good tactics in mind, so it's really no wonder he doesn't see a problem in spending the amount that he does.

But you aren't used to that. You have been living paycheck to paycheck with barely anything left over at the end of the month, needing your bonus desperately as to not fall behind on any payments you have to make regularly. You've lost your apartment before, had to sleep at friend's places to get by, and even ate only at the company cafeteria to save money usually spent on groceries. All of this feels almost excessive, and you also worry.

What if Jungkook starts spending too much on you? He shouldn't fall into a habit of mindlessly throwing money out.

"What's on your mind, darling?" He wonders, lifting your hand to kiss the back of it, before he changes lanes.

"I just.." you fidget a little. Jungkook isn't a bad guy. He won't get mad. He won't scold you. You won't have to endure being lectured for the rest of the ride- you know all this, and yet again, the past haunts you and makes your breathing pick up as you begin to chew on your lip.

Suddenly, you realize he's pulling up to a gas station, parking on the side. He gets out to get something from the backseat, before he walks around the car to open the passenger door where you sit, unbuckling your seatbelt. "Here." he offers the bottle of water, having opened the cap for you. "Put your legs out like that- there we go. Breathe baby." He gently tells you, squatting down a bit to make himself look smaller. "Take your time."

You feel embarrassed. How do you explain to him that you were feeling like a kid about to confess a bad grade just now?

"We can keep it a one-in-a-month thing, maybe, if that makes you more comfortable." He proposes. "I didn't take into account that it might be overwhelming to you- I'm sorry." He apologizes, but you shake your head, looking down at your knees.

"I just.." You mumble, unsure how to really explain. "I feel.. back then, you know.." You sigh, having trouble finding the proper words. "Talking in the car makes me.. anxious." You admit. "Because you know, when you get mad.. I can't escape.." You say. "I can't get away from it."

Jungkook kindly takes the bottle away from you to put it on the backseat again, before he's back in front of you.

"Thanks for telling me. I had an idea it might be that, but I wasn't sure." Jungkook says, hands on your knees. "I promise you I'm not mad. And I'm in no position to be mad at you for having opinions or personal taste that might differs from mine. We're two different people-" He chuckles. "-of course we'll have different views on things."

"But I really liked the dinner too." You say. "I just.. I don't want you to start.. spending so much money on me to the point of, I don't know, losing sight of it." You confess. "And maybe, we should keep stuff like this a bit rare? So it doesn't become routine. I want to keep it special.." You say. "I'm not.. I don't really know much about this stuff, because I never had enough money to go to these fancy places, and get designer clothes, or plan vacations in different countries and all that. I feel.. stupid sometimes?" You spill, making him lean his head a bit to the side. "Like, what if you one day take me to a company gathering or something, and someone asks me something and I can't answer or I say something dumb-" You rant. "-or maybe you won't ever take me because I'm too young? Maybe Eve is right and I'm not really the kind of-"

"Baby, darling, stop-" He chuckles, pushing your shoulders back a bit to look at him. "-take a good breath. You're panicking." He worries a little, but tries hard to stay composed as to not make you spiral any further. "Eve is wrong. If you're okay with this, of course I'll take you to company events. Why wouldn't I show off such a beautiful women at my side? I'd never pass up a chance to make those stuck up geezers jealous." He jokes, making your crack up a little. "Let's keep the dinners to special occasions. Keep it special, like you said." He offers, holding your hands now. "And I'm also.. the fact that you worry about me makes me feel.. very special." he chuckles. "I appreciate you looking out for me."

"I always look out for you.." You mumble. "..I just don't want to overstep any lines. You know. Since you're older than me-"

"Just because I'm older doesn't automatically mean that I know everything better." He reassures you. "Our age gap has nothing to do with any sort of power balance. Please don't think you can't speak your mind just because I was born earlier than you."

"..okay." You nod, and he leans forward to peck your lips, before he closes the door for you after you pull your legs back in and buckle your seatbelt, him getting back into the driver's seat to do the same.

"You know.." he starts, as he pulls out of the gas station to continue the drive back home. "..I'm really falling in love with you." He chuckles, dimples of his cheeks showing with how hard he smiles.

"Huh?" You wonder, taken aback by the sudden confession.

"I mean it." He nods. "I really am."

"I'm glad then." You admit. "..cause I am too." You admit, making him grin before he reaches over to hold your hand again.

Knowing that he really won't ever let you go again.

#bts imagine #bts fanfic #bts fic #jungkook imagine #jeon jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook imagine #bts jungkook imagine #bts jungkook fanfic #bts jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook fanfic

[cryptidcola]

Reflections (of the Past)

>> Somewhere in Jubilife City, there’s a large monument celebrating the Hero of Hisui— it doesn’t depict their face, or any distinguishable features at all— but 5 days a week, a young person passes it on their commute. They pay little mind to it, a mundane part of their daily routine, until 200 years ago in ancient Hisui, when they reflect on their past in the future and they realize it was for them.

>> A set of identical twins in their high school days, idly flipping through a world history book when something catches both their eyes: a black and white photo of a group of people taking up the bottom half of a page. Their eyes scan the picture, and Emmet points out an older gentleman in the crowd, his hat tipped to reveal a balding head; “He looks like you, Ingo,” Emmet says, his voice teasing. “Like us,” his brother quickly corrects, adjusting the hat on his own head that he wears to cover the hairline that’s been slowly creeping backwards ever since he turned 16. They spare one more glance at the photo before turning the page.

>> Cyllene is a national hero— her sword is displayed proudly in a plexiglass container in Jubilife City Hall beneath a regal portrait. She is a celebrated figure, her name spoken with respect all throughout the region.

Somewhere in Sinnoh a boy grows up— the youngest member of a most prestigious bloodline. He has her face; her aloof, stoic demeanor; lacks her physical strength but has all of her ambition. It’s never enough. His parents are wealthy enough to buy him everything he could want but give nothing he needs. “Why can’t you be more like your cousins?” “Why aren’t you top of your class?” He can’t connect with his peers. He can’t even connect with most Pokemon. One night, a Zubat flies into his room through an open window. He guides the small, blind creature back out; eventually over the course of weeks it becomes routine. “I’ll show them someday,” Cyrus whispers to the Pokemon, now clinging to the ceiling above his bed, “I’ll create something perfect.”

>> The name Laventon synonymous with scientific achievement— he is held up as one of the first great minds in the study of Pokemon. His work viewed as the foundation upon which most of the knowledge of Pokemon biology is built even to this day. Scholars of all ages, from the youngest elementary school children to graduate students study his work on the first ever Pokedex. Dozens of universities all over the world have buildings bearing his name where researchers continue his life’s work— his legacy.

In the town of Postwick in the Galar Region, an 8-year old, purple haired future Champion beams with pride when his class opens their science textbooks to chapter 2 and a photo of his ancestor is among one of the first things they see.

>> Champion Cynthia wanders the stacks of Canalave Library— it’s late, and she is restless. Normally it wouldn’t be open to visitors at this hour, “But for you, Champion, I’ll make an exception,” the librarian had said, sensing the urgency in her voice, before asking her to lock up when she finished and wishing her a good night. The ancient floors creak below her feet as she walks across them— it was her own kin who had put them down, building this library in an attempt at penance for his ultimate betrayal— to educate future generations so that perhaps they would not make his same mistake.

Finally, the Champion approaches a nondescript door at the back of the building; and as she turns the key, Cynthia is greeted by a dark, long-disused office. A large, wooden desk sits at the center of it, sprinkled in a light coating of dust. She scans the bookshelves lining the room for a moment before she finds what she’s looking for— gathering the old, handbound tome in her arms; and as she sets On Giratina And The Distortion World down on the desk, her grey eyes are reflected back at her by an old picture of her ancestor, grinning mirthfully with his Togepi.

A/N: Whaddup, I normally don’t write anything to share but I had some Thoughts™️… and my dear @shmothman convinced me to post them here.

Speaking of! The Volo + Cynthia part of this fic takes place in the same canon as their masterpiece Judgement | Forgiveness where after battling him, Volo gets sent to eeby deeby the Distortion World and earns redemption for himself, in case anyone was confused!! If reader-insert fic is your jam I definitely recommend checking it out!!

UPDATE: Now cross-posted to AO3!

#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #volo #champion cynthia #captain cyllene #galactic boss cyrus #submas #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #warden ingo #professor laventon #cynthia pokemon #cyllene pokemon #cyrus pokemon #ingo pokemon #emmet pokemon #bri.txt #bri writes #best of

[chimchimmarie]

POV: That one time Jimin couldn’t help but get jealous in one of your date nights.

Waiter: “Here you go. Just something for the lovely lady.”

The waiter placed a nice plate of cake in front of you, and hovers around with a smirk and playful glint in his eyes. Completely ignoring Jimin who was just seated across from you.

You: “Oh, we didn’t order dessert. There must have been some mix-up.”

Jimin adjusts himself on his seat, annoyance laced his face. He knows where this is coming from. He has had a hunch since you entered the restaurant. This guy hasn’t stopped ogling you for the past half an hour and it’s starting to get on his nerves.

Waiter: “Nah, it’s on the house.”

Still focusing on you and not even lifting his eyes to Jimin.

Jimin doesn’t blame you though. His trust in you and your relationship is secure enough, he’s not really gonna let a harmless flirting come between you. Especially one that you don’t reciprocate much less be aware of.

He’s always been aware of how your beauty and presence stand out and command a room full of hungry eyes without even trying. And with how you’re so elegantly dressed up tonight, he knew something like this is bound to happen.

Don’t get him wrong. Having a kind, smart, funny and gorgeous girlfriend like you makes his heart swell in pride. Although, it’s sometimes a struggle to ward off anyone who thinks they have a chance with you, too.

You’ve clearly got everyone under your spell and he knows this because you have made him feel the same way in all your years together. He just couldn’t stand those types of guys (or girls) who relentlessly try to flirt with you and you being so oblivious of this everytime makes his frustration hit the roof.

He’s not the jealous type. He tells himself that. But it’s just so hard sometimes. And he’s only human. He’s bound to get irked one way or another.

You: “Oh, wow! thank you! That’s very nice of you. This is really great service!”

Waiter: “Sure.. anything for the lovely lady.. Just let me know if you need anything else.”

Jimin rolls his eyes at the sheer audacity this guy has. He must really think he had some real chance with you or something. And that thought makes him scoff.

You: “Thanks!”

You: (Turning to Jimin..) “Babe i can’t believe we got free cake!” 😄

Jimin manages to stay calm as the waiter finally goes back to the counter. Despite the raging desire to give him a piece and a fist of his mind, he won’t. He doesn’t want to ruin this night for you.

Jimin: “Baby, i can’t believe you still don’t notice these things..”

You: “huh? Notice what? What do you mean?”

Jimin: “Babe, that waiter’s been checking you out since we got here. It still amazes me how you’re so oblivious of people trying to flirt with you.”

You: “Are you jealous?… Is my baby jealous??..”

Jimin: “Of course i’m jealous! I can’t help it..” 😒(He does that pout you’re so soft for)

You: “Awww.. my baby.. you know i only have eyes for you.. right? There’s nothing— and i mean absolutely nothing— could ever take my eyes off of you. You know this!”

Jimin: “Really now…? Even a shirtless Henry Cavill?”

You: “pfft.. it’s a no for me.”

Jimin: “Matt Smith with that Targaryen hair?”

You: “Tempting.. but no..”

Jimin: “Chris Hemsworth doing a bench press?”

You: “Babe, you think so little of me.”

Jimin: “Min Yoongi, Suga, AgustD…?”

You: “oh…hmmm… i don’t know.. maybe?”

Jimin: ☹️

You: “I’m kidding!!! I only have eyes for you—Park hotness Jimin. Okay?? I’m yours baby. Just you.”

Jimin: “Fine.” 😏

Jimin was deadset in marking his teritory in the entire date. A hand on your thigh, an arm on your waist, a kiss to your hand, Soft whispers to your ear. He knows he’s being extra touchy. He wants them to see.

But before you could leave the place, you take matters into your own hands. Much to Jimin’s surprise, you decide to put on a little show for the curious eyes. When The same waiter ushered you out of the restaurant to wait for the valet, you grab Jimin by the collar and pull him down for a kiss.

#jimin pov #park jimin pov #park jimin imagine #parkjimin pov #jimin x reader #jimin x you #park jimin imagines #bts #park jimin #bts jimin #bts bias #jimin #bts chimchim #jikook #jimin park #bts imagines #bts bangtan boys

[bluesfortheredj]

The saviour.

Part 1.

A/N: this got too long so there’ll be other parts. A dash of angst ahead.

It had almost been a year and yet here you were again, sitting on the damp grass in front of Billy’s headstone with your fingers picking at the bright green blades that leant upright against your jeans. You stick your bottom lip out and audibly puff to move a stray piece of hair from your face without using your hands, then move your eyes up from the ground beneath you to the engraved words that you’ll never forget. It hurt a little less to remember your time together these days, and you could now manage most conversations about him without shedding a tear or two which was huge progress in your eyes. He’d been your everything at one point, and learning to live without the person you loved the most was a difficult adjustment to say the least.

“Hey, (Y/N),” Max calls from behind you, her school bag slung over one shoulder.

You jump up from your seat on the grass and slap your hand against your forehead, “oh god, was I meant to pick you up today?”

“No, no,” she smiles, “you’re all good.”

The two of you extend your arms out to one another when she’s close enough for a hug, then you stand side by side with your arm draped around her shoulders protectively.

“How are you doing, kid?”

She shrugs and exhales deeply, “okay I guess. How about you?”

“Same,” you nod in agreement as you slide your arm away from her, “need a lift home?”

“Y’know… you don’t have to.”

“I know, it’s no bother though.”

She chuckles a little, “no, I mean you don’t have to stick around in Hawkins… Steve told me about your job offer.”

“Steve should have kept his mouth shut,” you mutter with an eye roll, “it wasn’t as great an offer as I thought it was anyway, so it didn’t matter. Always remember to read the small print!”

“But he said-”

“Honestly Max, it wasn’t for me,” you reassure her with a soft smile, “why would I want to move half way across the country for some crappy job when I’ve got all that I need here?”

“Yeah, some weird sister type girl you never asked for, a group of teenage kids that always use you as a taxi, and Steve the co-worker who seems to tell everyone your secrets...” she points out with a single raised eyebrow.

“I’m an only child, so I’m definitely not complaining about the sister thing!”

“I’m really glad that Billy found you,” she admits as her eyes briefly dart down to the headstone.

“I’m really glad he did too,” mirroring her action, “anyway! Come on, I’ll take you home.”

You’re driving through the town when you spot Dustin, Lucas, and Mike together wearing matching t-shirts, and you can’t help but pull over and get Max to roll her window down to question them on their new outfits.

“You guys are just so cute!” you laugh, pointing at their tees, “look at this!”

Dustin gives you an unimpressed stare, “they’re for our dungeons and dragons club actually.”

“Hellfire? Sounds like a metal band.”

“It’s Eddie’s design, he’s the dungeon master.”

“Right…” you look to Max, “this Eddie okay?”

“He’s a bit of a freak, has failed to graduate for the past couple of years so he’s about your age, but he’s harmless really.”

“Hmm, okay. Well, enjoy guys!”

“Uh, (Y/N), couldn’t give us a lift could you?” Mike asks with a begging smile.

Max looks at you and smirks as she thinks back to your conversation earlier, and you let out a chuckle as you nod for them to get in.

You arrive at the school to see a couple of other guys in their Hellfire t-shirts standing around waiting for the group to assemble and the three boys quickly exit the car without so much as a thank you to join them.

“You’re welcome!” you call out through the open window.

“Sorry (Y/N), thank you!” they shout back with a wave.

“Which one’s Eddie then?” you ask, looking between the excited group of professional nerds.

Max glances over and points past your face, “the one staring right at us with the long hair.”

He brings his hand up to wave at the two of you as you sit there staring intently, and you reply by bringing two fingers up to your eyes then jabbing them in his direction so he knew you had your eye on him.

“Okay…” Eddie trails off as he turns to Dustin slowly, “who is that?”

He turns to see you driving away and laughs, “that is (Y/N). Did she give you the ‘I’m watching you’ stare?”

“Yeah, like, I got chills from that. Damn. From all the things you said about her though, you never said she was so… pretty.”

Dustin’s eyes widen and his mouth drops open, “what?!”

Eddie looks around at the group who are now all staring at him and he clears his throat before striding through the middle of them to the door, “never mind, let’s play!”

He’d heard a lot about you through conversations with the three boys, and it almost felt like he knew you already; your long term boyfriend Billy had perished in the Starcourt Mall disaster after saving you and Max, and you’d become a sister figure for her since then, along with the other kids who all shared the horrific memories of that day. You worked with Steve at the video store in town and the two of you were basically known as everyone’s second set of parents. He’d fallen in love with the personality and traits of this mysterious girl he’d never met, and now his feelings had heightened simply by him finally seeing the beautiful face he’d been longing to meet. It was strange for Eddie to finally see what you really looked like after trying to piece together little bits of what you might look like, and now he just couldn’t shake the image of you in the car from his mind, which wasn’t ideal on D&D night.

“That was shocking,” Mike laughs as they exit the school after quite an easy game thanks to the dungeon master’s wandering thoughts.

“I know man, I know,” Eddie sighs, “I’ll be better next time.”

“Hmm, well we’re going to the video store tomorrow…” Mike starts, watching Eddie’s cheeks flush pink, “wanna come?”

“Uhh… well… I dunno,” he shrugs, trying to be nonchalant.

“It’ll be fun, you can meet Steve as well!” Dustin encourages.

Eddie relents, nodding his head slowly, “fine, yeah, I’ll tag along.”

“Meet you there at midday then, see ya!”

#stranger things imagine #stranger things s4 #stranger things fic #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #billy hargrove #billy hargrove x reader #reader insert

[saintqueer]

first, i wanted to say thank you for your super long response essay to the earlier anon! i feel like your thoughts are always so nuanced and you laid everything out so patiently and thoughtfully! if you happen to read this and answer it, great, and if not no worries! take the time away from public fandom you need if you need it, take care of yourself and do what makes you feel good!

i guess my thoughts are half-question/half-theory. i definitely agree with you that it seems like there's been a real shift in energy from hl since 2020 and especially lately (and especially that we're missing a piece of the puzzle), but my question for you is, at least the way i read your essay (and totally could be misunderstanding you or missing nuance) it seems like you feel like at least some of this is coming from h&l themselves? and i wondered why?

at least for me, i've picked up on that shift, but i also feel like i'm picking up on a sense that h&l, and especially h, has a lot of plans going a bit off the rails/not to plan atm in general, which would obviously affect louis' plans to the extent they're larry-related/adjacent. i mean, as a glaring example, i can't imagine that whatever is happening with holivia right now is what they intended for this stunt - for most of the news around harry's first major leading role to be about whether or not he was a homewrecker who spent so much time sleeping with his director that the quality of the film suffered. (if that was the plan... idk man, get better pr people). it feels like a plan was made based on the original filming schedule, and between covid delays and post-production, the stunt is lumbering on without any real renegotiation despite the fact that an almost 2 year 'relationship' with no official confirmation in the face of what appears to be a custody battle and increasingly mainstream rumors about on-set behavior makes no sense and looks bad. (olivia's been notably silent on other projects she was supposed to have in progress, so again, something maybe happening behind the scenes there).that also ties in to something i thought when h was announcing his residencies and am coming back around to - that we may be seeing the end/untangling of harry's contractual obligations with jeff/full stop/maybe even CAA. (for good or for ill, as a former lawyer, i see him shoving all of those residencies in and can't help but think that's a way to meet a contractual obligation for a set number of tour dates that goes with his album obligations, since he doesn't seem to be planning on touring harry's house separately, and he's certainly distanced himself from the azoff set of celebrities he used to be more tied to, like kendall). and as for louis, i'm sure whatever plans he had made are inextricably affected by h's plans, especially if we're looking at something to do with bbg ending (idk....).

obviously there's a lot going on behind the scenes we don't know, but i just wanted to say i've picked up on a lot of the same vibes it seems you have, but i'm also just feeling like h's pr in particular is just... flailing, rather than part of a planned/coordinated push in line with h's long-term goals.

dude, you say that I articulate things well? the way you explained this was so perfect.

basically, i agree with most of what you're saying here and have had similar thoughts as well. like ive begun suspecting over the last 6 months that olivia is more central to whatever has been going down in the last year with both HL.

and i DO think harry is at the end of his rope with a lot of stuff. and i do think louis has made a lot of adjustments based on various factors.

ive entertained so many different ideas and possibilities that could explain the uniqueness of the past year even including blackmail. never landing on one because obviously i don't know shit. for me, the biggest confusion comes from them seeming to play along harder than usual while still looking miserable.

like i know olivia is a nightmare, but if harry really WANTED to sell it, he could do better. louis still looks far more happy with a stranger's child than his supposed son, he could be more convincing. YET they are still playing along far more and relentlessly than ever before imo.

about your question of why i think part of it is coming from HL, i should probably clarify. i don't think hl are sitting there like "this would be a great idea" but i do think that certain things can be avoided and i had hoped we would be past things like shitting on larries in a fans DMs or blocking your biggest UA. i would think that there would be a way to push the babygate narrative without flying a child out to a foreign country to spend the day with strangers. i feel like, despite the ways they are still constrained by narrative, i would hope that they would have the ability to the use the less harmful way of pushing it.

they very well might have a big grand plan they are working towards completing. nothing would make me happier. but the way things are constantly shifting and never in a specific and consistent direction, more and more it just feels like they are chickens running around with their heads cut off.

louis wants to be successful, harry doesn't want to lose the opportunities he has gained. i don't blame them for that, but we get caught in the crossfire. but not only us. THEY get caught in the crossfire because they don't seem all that happy and content to me. they seem tired of playing the game but utterly unwilling to stop because they are terrified of what will happen if they do. more than self-protection for me, it's like i want to protect myself from having to watch them run themselves into the ground with work and lies that can't be undone all leading up to some kind of horrific george-michael-esque outing scandal that i know will just break my heart because they deserve so much more. because the industry will turn on them one day no matter how well they play by its rules.

#anon

[ballet-symphonie]

Hi Ale! Do you know why the majority of principal dancers in the Mariinsky rarely ever dances? I'm not talking about Ivanchenko, Vishneva, Novikova who is pregnant or Tereshkina who is injured. But Skorik, Kondaurova, Somova??? Askerov, Shklyarov??? And even in other ranks, the minority are active soloists. Also, there are some really great talent getting buried. Such as Malyshev, Khiteeva, Ionova. I'm not gonna comment on the whole Steppin, Belyakov (and may I add Konovalov) situation bc we all know they should've been promoted.

Also, with the 2023 class of very talented girls being accepted in the company, I don't see the older ones getting the attention they deserve. And I could possibly be wrong on this, but I think these girls are already getting overworked, which makes me think about how the same thing happened with Lukina. Hoping this time they get it right.

All I have to say is #MTPROMOTEYOURMEN :')

Herllo! Here are my best explainations for those names, some have more valid explanations as to why they're not dancing than others.

Kondaurova: recovering from Achilles surgery, this is a beastly hill to climb

Skorik: took a month (?) of sick leave in May and is apparently taking her time getting back into shape

Shklyarov: often takes a decent amount of time off in the summer to spend time with his family and do independent projects, also is now dancing a bit lighter load due to age

Somova: was apparently on personal leave???? can magically take huge chunks of time off and return in gorgeous form for Nikiya????

Askerov: seemes decently schedlued to me

Ionova: long injury break definitely slowed her down, she's dancing the Odalisque trio in a few days with Shamala Guseinova and Maria Koshkareva

Khiteeva: Dancing...but definitely someone potentially in danger of being buried by the 2023 class.

Malyshev: Is dancing but MT is just s l o w, premiered Espada early this year and has been consistently selected for premieres of new work like Sergeev's "12"

I am fully #MTPROMOTEYOURMEN. It's getting more and more ridiculous, the men's ranks mean literally nothing in terms of casting yet still affect their pay. There's at least half a dozen guys in need of a promotion, Stepin is at the top of that list IMO. With all due respect to Ivanchenko, he should be moved to the guest soloist rank with Korsuntsev. With that adjustment, and them being down another male principal...there should be more than enough room to promote Stepin. It should have happened 6-8 years ago. I thought, at long last, the fabulous Solar debut with Shakirova would finally send him to principal...

It's also clear that MT didn't learn their lesson with Lukina because the situation repeated itself with Khoreva. Fortunately, I don't think she's severely injured as Lukina was, but the comparison is still blatant. The rate at which they were both preparing new principal roles was unsustainable.

Honestly, with the way the 2023 class is being pushed, I think we might look at the company 5 years from now and see essentially very few prominent soloists between 2018 and 2023. Below are notable grads from the past 5 years, the bold ones are who I'm confident in the current trajectory of their careers.

2018: Khoreva and friends (Ionova, Nuikina, Bulanova)

2019: Khiteeva (I'm hopeful for because she has promoted once already...this next year is important for her)

2020: Smirnova (MK) and friends (Avsajanishvili, Plotnikova, Bespalova)

2021: Chernyavskaya was the biggest name, this class really got destroyed by COVID

2022: S. Khoreva?? Honestly I don't see anyone besides her form this class getting much of a chance to dance soloist parts

2023: Koshkaryeva and friends (Valiullina, Kurpina, Karymysheva), injury concerns for the first three especially those with traineeships in conjuction with their senior year

#mariinsky ballet #too many people to tag #mariinsky theatre #ballet ask #ballerina #ballet life #russian ballet #vba #vaganova ballet academy

[serbaird]

i keep meaning to make a post about the state of fereldan politics at the point of when this blog is set but words are so hard and also i'm afraid i'd end up writing it like an academic essay. so anyway, here's some vague thoughts that may get written up into a proper post at some point, for anyone interested:

between the blight and the events of inquisition, ferelden's nobility is pretty clearly on its last legs.

queen anora (and to a lesser degree, prince balfour) are aware of this and are also keenly aware of the old nobility standing in the way of the reforms they deem necessary to improve the lot of all who live in ferelden.

so what are you gonna do? make more nobles, that's right!

gregor is also benefitted by this, as he is sent to act as a page to a knight (where he receives the education that a minor nobleman's child might) and is later knighted himself, thus placing him on the lowest rung of ferelden's noble hierarchy.

throughout the latter half of anora's reign, there are indeed a great number of reforms introduced that do improve the standard of living throughout ferelden & work towards making the country a more equal place.

given that origins highlighted just how thoroughly shit a lot of the nobility is in ferelden, a great number of them feel threatened by these reforms, especially where they lessen the power that these old, established families had.

i think as well, while there is a precedent for commoners having been given titles, that's usually been as a reward for heroism, and slightly different to what anora and balfour do after the events of inquisition. this also irritates a number of old families.

the couslands' monopoly on ferelden's teyrnirs and their place as the most powerful family in the country also sets the old nobility on edge. given that balfour is married to the queen and a vocal supporter of the reforms, it doesn't take much of a logical leap to connect the couslands to the struggles of ferelden's old nobility.

this leads to tensions within court, though they are largely bubbling under the surface until queen anora's death.

with anora and balfour's daughter, morwen, generally favoured by the newer nobility and a few of the older families, the landsmeet selects her as anora's successor. this is not, however, without argument from dissatisfied nobles who believe that what ferelden should do is in fact return the theirin line to the throne. morwen's succession is not as comfortable as her supporters would wish it to be.

early in morwen's reign, before she has had a proper chance to consolidate her power and fully settle into her rule, the tensions begin to boil over.

pro-theirin nobles are able to locate an illegitimate child of cailan's, and conspire to place him on the throne and unseat morwen, despite the landsmeet having crowned her already. she is too much of a mac tir, too much of a cousland, and clearly of a mind to follow the example set by her parents. prince balfour even remains, in his later years, as a close advisor to her.

there are now clearly two separate camps within ferelden's court, those for morwen and those for a return to the past, which they believe is signified by a theirin on the throne. the first signs are starting to show of things coming to a head, and the golden age of ferelden that was ushered in by queen anora is clearly coming to an abrupt end.

a lot of this needs fleshing out / some adjusting and i don't have a proper timeline yet. but this is the general vibe. i just think it's fun that ferelden's golden age is immediately followed by some of the messiest political drama the country has ever seen , okay, thank you.

#lore.

[187days]

Day Forty-Six

My school has a big career-tech center with, among other things, an award-winning culinary program. The students run a cafe, under the direction of Chef A, and teachers can take food to go three days a week. Today I didn’t bring my own lunch, so I grabbed salad, homemade french onion soup, cheesy bread, and a slice of cake. All of it was delicious, and much-needed fuel for a busy day.

Note to pre-service teachers: ask about programs like those when you interview at various schools. They’re nice to have, for both students and staff. 

So why was today busy? 

I had a lot to cover in APGOV: Fed. 78, Marbury v. Madison and judicial review, the structure of the modern court system. Then I assigned a group project on various SCOTUS cases (I’d love to do Court Madness again, but with the course being a semester long now it’s a bit too time-consuming, so I’m doing this instead) and gave students the last half hour or so to begin working on that. 

Essay rough drafts were due today in World, so I spent the bulk of both blocks proofreading, fielding questions, giving pointers. I am really pleased with how it’s going, though. It’s a challenging assignment, and I imposed a tight deadline for it because I’d noticed when they did current events write-ups that most of them finished with a lot of time to spare. I gave them two and a half blocks for this essay instead of the originally-planned three and a half, and they were able to adjust and manage their time successfully. It helps that they came in with noticeably stronger writing skills than last year’s freshman, so I didn’t have to teach as much upfront about essay writing. I do have to help individuals here and there, but overall? This is awesome. 

Since the quarter’s ending, I have a bunch of students in to retake or make-up work during flex block, which kept me on my toes. I’m glad so many opted to make use of that time, though. It’s especially great to see freshmen who are close to making the high honor roll put in the effort to earn those last few points, especially if they’re students who struggled academically in the past. It’s amazing how different middle and high school can be for some kids. 

I also had a handful of students stay after because they were doing things for other classes during flex. Dean 1 stopped by while one of the seniors was making up an APGOV test, and the look he gave to those FRQ questions was pretty great (I suspect my student may have been feeling the same way about them). He was there to talk about his recent visit to my class, and apologize for not having his written feedback done; long story short, there have been some Incidents that have occupied his time. 

Another thing that’s happening: unusually high absence rates. There’s no one cause- like, we’re not having a Covid outbreak- but several different ones. Some families are taking trips, some kids are sick, there’ve been an odd number of injuries (broken bones, concussions, etc...) It’s bad timing since the quarter is ending on Friday, but it is what it is. 

#teaching #teachblr #edublr #educhums #education #teacher #high school #social studies #day forty six #Dean 1 #holla at the career tech department

[iconicfitnessae]

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work. The Importance of a Multi-disciplinary Team

The more like-minded professionals you have on your side, the better the chances are for success in all training, health, and rehab-related issues.

‘Hannes! You need to be careful when buying a car. Cars depreciate in value; in fact, everything in life depreciates faster than a car, except ice cream. Ice cream is the only thing in this world that depreciates in value faster than a car, so if you don’t need a car in Dubai, please don’t buy one; buy an ice cream instead; it’s much cheaper’.

These are very wise words from Thomas, a sophisticated elderly gentleman that has been training with me twice a week since late 2021. These are the kinds of wisdom Thomas likes to bestow on us younger trainers here at Iconic Fitness. Thomas is very strong and functionally fit, thanks to all the work he has done during the past 3 years with us. Thomas enjoys taking the odd breaks between his sets, so this is when these wise words come out in heaps for us more inexperienced ‘younger people’ in our 40’s.

Thomas is an avid sailor and world traveler, and he spends most of his time here in Dubai working part-time as a consultant and horseback riding. Thomas is all about horseback riding. That’s the main reason he signed up with me.  He suffered from severe back pain during and after his rides, and he wasn’t going to stop his favorite activities. My main role as Thomas’ trainer and coach is to ensure he can maintain his horse-riding hobby a few times a week without pain and also ensure he remains bulletproof to garden, sail, and ride his horses. Horse riding can be done in three sessions a week for anything between 60 and 120 minutes per session. The riding for that duration is already a challenge in itself. 3-6 hours of any physical activity per week is taxing on the body, and on top of that, its an activity where you have to use your strength, coordination, and endurance abilities at random given moments during a ride, depending on what horse you have. Thomas also likes a challenge, so he simply won’t opt for a tame horse or one that’s been accustomed to daily riding activities. No, sir, Thomas likes to pick out stubborn horses. He loves telling us all about his horse riding stories, as he has recently rode horses all across the world and only mainly comes to Dubai, as the setup here in Al Qudra is the best facility he has ever seen. ‘There is just something different about these Arabian horses,’ he says. Yes, Thomas likes his challenging horses, so my challenge as his rehab coach and conditioning expert is ever-changing and challenging. 

Thomas has come a long way. In our first few sessions, I had to teach him how to squat properly. He used to squat a lot on his toes and only in half-squat positions—”horse-riding positions’. We later incorporated full-depth squat positions to further activate the gluteus and still maintain the most important VMO-affected angles and activities to support his knees while also maintaining all the strength he has accumulated over the decades due to the horseback riding positions. From isolated squats, we had to progress to a more full-body squat approach where he pulls bands towards him during a squat to maintain forces mimicking riding that directly loaded the weaker parts of his balance. All this while I have to strengthen the core, back, gluteus, and coordination. Our sessions progress to more compound movements superset with spinal mobility and mimicking’spinal decompression’ as much as we could in a gym setting.

It’s the tinkering, adaptations and progression in his training along with clear and solid communication between him and me that made the great progress. 

There is thus a lot of prep work, feedback from Thomas and tinkering going on to adjust workouts based on how he feels after a ride, and where his next destination will be and what equipment they will have available if nay at all. Constant communication, online programming and assistance along with a 5 min chat every morning while he is cycling is essential for prep for the coming sessions. The importance in support and communication cannot be overestimated.

As his personal trainer, I can only do the best work when he was in the gym with me in person. When he travels to Denmark and Portugal every quarter, things do become tricky, and this is where I need additional input as his coach. And this is where a multi-disciplinary team is so important. Thanks to the great insights from the outstanding crew at the Franklin Chiropractic Clinic in JLT, Dubai. With the valuable insights from Dr.Marius Coetzee, Dr. Madeleine Franklin, and Chloe Hoeben who have all worked very closely with myself and Thomas, I was able to tinker and adapt Thomas’ training even further and also support him more. The great communication from Franklin also expanded my understanding of what Thomas would go through during his travels and what effect irregular routines and sleeping patterns in different hotel rooms and beds would have when he travels. The core function of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) is to bring together a group of healthcare professionals from different fields in order to determine a patient’s treatment plan.

As a strength and conditioning expert and rehab coach, I specialize mainly in 2 things: conditioning and rehab. But a client’s needs often stretch further than that. Some clients need additional nutrition and dietary support. Others need valuable insights from a surgeon, physiotherapist, or, in Thomas case, physiotherapists and chiropractors. As good as a coach you believe to be or as good as you think your coach is, the reality is that no one knows everything. The body is a wonderfully complex system, and if you have niggles, pains, health-related issues, or struggle to improve your health, you need a team to assist and back you up. It’s ideal to get input from professional, like-minded people who assist you in working towards a common goal and strive to get you to your performance and health goals as quickly as possible and safely as possible.

I’m happy to report that Thomas is stronger than ever, moves incredibly well, and recently spent an entire week gardening in his mom’s garden back in Denmark in full squat positions and carrying odd-shaped bags and flower pots with no back pain. He sails most weekends and still rides 2-3 times a week.

If you are struggling with back pain or any performance-related injuries,. Let me know. Come and see us, and let’s get the conversation started. We have built a great support network with like-minded people who communicate very well. The more people you have on your side, the better for you.

#Teamwork #fitness tips

[kaonarvna]

January 2024 is (finally) over. This too-long month took up twenty full pages in my bullet journal; this year hasn't been kind to my body so far. As always, I could probably be kinder to it too.

「 tired boy (lazy monster) ; a clawed man, near asleep, snuggles up to a cushion on the sofa. 」

「 30:00 x2 ; forever 05:30 ; 19:30 ; a figure does their physio stretches on the floor, potted palms and ferns sit before him. 」

Here's the month's vent sketches: lots of hands, some mild chronic pain-informed body horror, monstrous little creatures crawling out from the flesh.

Fun stats for nerds:

I worked on my WIPs one time this month. (very sad)

I made art on thirteen different days. (very good)

I did eleven loads of laundry. (ouch, my electric bill)

I went climbing nine times. (nice)

I only went to bed late 5 times. (very nice)

「 ouch ; a figure stretches their neck to the left, hands rubbing at the skin. he wears a shoulder brace on the right side. many little eyes peer at him. a note above reads: TAPE NECK 」

「 oh no! a figure with crossed arms grips at their arms, hunched forward, away from the viewer. two shoulder braces' straps cross across his back. 」

My shoulders and hands have been nasty all month. I routinely wear two shoulder braces at work now, half reactive, half preventative. It feels secure. But, it also makes me look like I was designed by the wish version of nomura, what with all of the straps. I have two wrists braces as well now, and take them with me everywhere. So, so many things.

「 big claws bore into and rip open a figure's torso, separating a shoulder from the rest. lots of little watchful eyes peer at the mess. he reaches weakly for a bottle of pills beside a potted plant. faintly, "too late" is written in pink. 」

「 ouch ; a hand at rest, a pen sits over the thumb and the under the fingers. a little one-eyed skeletal monster breaches the skin and mantles out from there flesh. 」

Writing has been especially painful lately. It has me a little worried. But, taking breaks every few minutes keeps things manageable. So many little breaks. My hands have been the focus or many sketches, probably because they're an easy on-demand reference at work, A N D they're always killing me.

「 worms ; worms writhe in a closed grip, between fingers and weaving through a sleeve. tape it up ; a kinesiology covered open hand is watched by little eyes, as it begins to unravel. 」

I was exposed to pinworm and chicken pox outbreaks this month, along with a litany of other diseases. Miraculously, I evaded all of them. I've been suspiciously healthy the past couple of months. The same happened last January, then I fell ill in March and needed three rounds of antibiotics over the course of a month. Really hoping that doesn't happen again.

「 a massive beast with too many eyes fixated the figure of a man hovers, maw agape. its many tongues hang slack, so near the man's face, while clawed hands near its head. he is distracted, eyes closed, adjusting the strap of a shoulder brace. oblivious. 」

I don't remember what prompted these two. I realise I draw a lot of little eyes, I call them "watchful eyes" when I talk to myself about the little things. I'm going to choose not to analyse that too much.

That said, I'm constantly watching myself, conscious of being perceived, conscious of appearing a certain way to myself and to others. Especially where it concerns being a somewhat visibly disabled young man, there are always watchful eyes. There is always masking.

「 a figure sits in foetal position on the ground. a great clawed beast and many eyes readies to scoop the pitiful thing up in its too-powerful hands, an all seeing claw machine of a creature. its own bony and misshapen body stretches into the background. 」

It's been a long month. A long, tired month. A long, painful month. February will likely be much the same, it's always a tough month. But, as always, I'll make it through somehow. I always do.

#disabled artist #heds #hypermobile ehlers danlos #ehlers danlos syndrome #vent sketch #vent post #invisible disability #disability #Disabled #Bujo #bullet journal #art #sketch #Eds

[creativecourse]

30 Day Photoshop Mastery Information 30 Day Photoshop Mastery is a course that aims to help participants master Adobe Photoshop, a powerful software used for image editing, graphic design. How To Create Amazing Photos In Photoshop… Without Huge Learning Curves And Constant Frustration! Thousands Of Budding Photographers Are Taking My 30 Day Challenge to Develop Their Photoshop Skills And Create Works Of Art From Their Photographs! If You’ve Ever Wanted to Create Amazing Photos without Spending Hours in Photoshop, This Is for You… Looking back on photographs is a feeling unlike any other, isn’t it? Whether it’s family events, holidays… or pictures of your grandchildren, nothing else warms your heart like looking back at treasured photos. Unfortunately, while capturing photos is easy… editing them and making them look amazing is a lot tougher… And today, using Photoshop can seem more complicated and time-consuming than ever before. Photoshop isn’t just for manipulating unrealistic photos it’s your ultimate digital darkroom… Creating high-quality images and editing them WITHOUT guesswork can seem near impossible… And, as a result, you end up being left with a bunch of half-hearted photos you’re not happy with. Maybe you’ve tried to follow online tutorials before… Maybe you’ve tried to learn how to use Photoshop yourself… Or maybe you already have some basic editing skills – but want to make your photos look even better… Today, I’m going to show you an EASY and EFFECTIVE way of creating stunning works of art from your photos… Without spending hours in Photoshop trying to “figure things out” yourself. Creating Stunning, Memorable Photos In Photoshop Is Easier Than You Think… My name’s Blake Rudis, and for the past decade, I’ve been teaching budding photographers like you skills and strategies to make your photos look great in Photoshop. I realize the struggles and frustrations that come when you don’t know how to use this powerful photo editing tool… And I realized that almost ALL conventional Photoshop tutorials, courses and guides are poorly laid out. They’re confusing… they overload you with information… And, for the most part, they don’t take you by the hand and give you step-by-step guidance. That’s why I decided to create a special 30-day challenge… that gives you a small “bitesize” lesson every day, for 30 days. It’s designed to teach you the skills and techniques you need to make high-quality, great-looking edits to your photos… And already, this 30-day challenge has helped thousands of photographers, like you, create stunning works of art… memories they can look back on for years to come. What You’ll Learn In This Course? Adobe CC – Exploring Your Subscription The Three Parts to Photoshop Intro & Overview of Bridge CC Intro to Adobe Camera Raw & the Global Tools Advanced ACR & Local Tools Ps Interface, Layout, & Setup Layers, Layer Types & Working With Layers Adjustment Layers & Saving Layered Documents Opacity & Fill Blend Modes Blend If Blend If & Adjustment Layers Intro to Masking Clipping Masks Selections & Selection Tools Select & Mask, Select Subject, Remove Background Color Range Selections Cleanup Tools Content-Aware Fill Layer Transformations Filters for Creative Effects Filters for Noise Reduction & Sharpening Adobe Camera Raw as a Filter Smart Objects Actions Custom Brushes Full Portrait Workflow Full Landscape Workflow Full Architecture Workflow The Many Ways to Do 1 Thing in Photoshop About Author Hey, I’m Blake Rudis, and I’m what you’d call a Photoshop fanatic. All my life, I’ve been trying to capture and edit the PERFECT photos, and for the last decade I’ve been teaching others how to do the same. In 2010 I launched a blog. While initially a way of showcasing my work, before long, thousands of people were visiting, asking me how I created the shots and captures displayed. It quickly turned into an education platform. Since then, I’ve helped tens of thousands of men and women learn basic and advanced Photoshop skills…

And I founded the f.64 Academy – a fully comprehensive “online school” for those wanting to learn how to use Photoshop to create the best-looking photos of their lives. Today, I’m incredibly excited to invite you to join the 30 Days To Photoshop Mastery challenge… and in just 30 days from now you’ll be up-to-speed and competent with Adobe products… letting you create works of art from your photos. The next challenge is about to begin, so make sure you secure your spot now. Click the button below, and make creating great-looking photos the easy way. More courses from the same author: Blake Rudis

[aliyah-alejandro]

where is 'home' ?

"What is taking you so long to choose what to bring? Do not bring clutter, those are not important anyways. Just the ones you need that can fit in the balikbayan box is enough," my mother berated me as I stared at the big pile accumulating in front of me. She has been asking me repeatedly for twenty minutes yet I only sorted at least half of what I really want to bring to our supposed  'new home'. 

Not much of an impressive progress to her (I am not a fast packer, you see) but the on-going turmoil within me seemed more important than minding what could be the biggest turning point of my life. 

I am not new to packing for trips, for long-week vacations, or for temporary visits to provinces where relatives I rarely meet except during holidays reside. I am not new to packing the usual toiletries, eco-friendly notebooks I asked for every Christmas Party that is barren of words and cartoon-themed towels that barely dry the surface of your skin but keep anyway because towels are great. Yet, for some reason at that moment, I can barely choose between a cream-colored top and simple graphic tee as casual clothes. Moving houses are indeed a huge step towards change.

It was the month of December in the year 2021. The air was cold, as usual. Everyone can finally feel the spirit of Christmas after living for two years of social isolation and families can finally gather together without the fear of disease. It was such a joyous moment, a sign of progress that things are going to go back to how it used to be. I was happy. I liked to believe I was, yet looking back on it, I cannot say I was happy of change, of the uncertain, of the future. In fact, I was terrified. 

Terrified was not the only emotion I felt. There was also guilt and regret. Guilt that I took advantage of the years of not really living in the moment with the people I hold dear to me and regret that there was only limited time to say goodbye. It turns out it was not just me who was not ready for change. Before I knew it, I was boarding a plane on the way to my new home, staring at my empty Messenger inbox at three in the morning after sending my last goodbyes out of boredom while waiting. 

The morning we landed, I realized something on the way to the apartment we were supposed to be staying in while looking out the cab window: Everything is so green. So lush of vegetation which was very different from where I grew up. There were fields beyond fields of green, tall trees that loomed over and provided just enough shade from the blistering sun. Of course, there were also stories of buildings and hotels that you can only see flourishing in the city. Strangely enough, there was relief and a new sense of excitement that ignited within me. Everything immediately felt familiar. At first, I did not understand why I even felt uneasy because I can see myself doing fine in living here. It was new but it provided me an opportunity to start a new life. I was wrong.

Turns out, I was getting ahead of myself. Countless amount of sleepless nights from worries of fitting in with my peers, of keeping up in society, of understanding the language I only heard from my parents but never had the chance to learn from first-hand. It was such a difficult time of adjustment that lasted for several months of staying in our new place. Giving up was always the option until I finally found my footing. I can say that for me, the start of a face-to-face pilot opening definitely helped me come out of my shell. Not because I wanted to but more on being forced out of it for the sake of academics and socialization. It was not the most ideal motivation but it helped in a way that I could find my people.

You might be wondering by now, where is this home that I am talking about? To answer your question frankly, I am still yet to find out where my home is. I can say my home is back in my old house, or in our current apartment, or in the city I used to live in for the past 16 years. But, saying that would mean I am not being entirely truthful because our "home" is more than its physical structure. It is in the people you surround yourself with, in the familiar route you take back home, in the food you eat from your favorite restaurant that you go to when you feel you deserve it. Home will always be where you feel most comfortable, where you can freely be vulnerable without fear or judgement.

Photo credits to: https://www.detourista.com/place/iloilo/, https://ko-fi.com/s/87d3c15536

#writing #reflective-essay #education

[killconfirmed-topdownshooter]

Evaluation

I decided to use Unreal Engine 5.2 for my project. This allowed me to use the newest features in my game. I didn't really use a lot of other software, this project was pretty much only in unreal, and it's mostly because I wanted to work on just the technical thing rather than making assets or ui. I used a lot of youtube videos which I learnt from to make the game. Games like League and Cod coming together really did make a unique experience. Unreal has been an amazing tool for the past 5 years, I've used it since year 10 of high school starting on 4.21 I think it would take a while for me to adjust to any sort of new engine since Unreal has been everything I’ve needed from the start. Allowing me to make all my games. Youtube has been a big help in teaching me loads of super complex things right at the start of college, like on my second project ever I decided to spend half of the given 7 weeks figuring out how to make blend spaces and anim blueprints which I had never done either before and now since I did that struggling then I now could setup animBPs and blend spaces like there nothing.

I think my concept was solid concept and that having an idea from the start really allowed me to meet with the core ideas I had in my concept. I didn't need to alter any part of my concept but didn't really get everything I touched on in it, I said I could have added maps like a neighbourhood or a shopping mall and I think just with more time I would have been able to add these. Generally through this project I wanted to keep things super simple so I didn't run out of time and it worked I was blasting through everything and managed to get my MVP done before the easter holidays, but when my project got corrupted I had to restart all over again and since this time was meant to be for doing the written work it really put the pressure on me to get it back to the MVP and follow what my concept had stated as well as my MoSCoW. The general idea was still there but the direction and feel of the project had changed, before it felt that I was making a new quirky top-down shooter game with levels and missions, but after it feels like I just need to scramble to what I had before with no look into the future but as well as an icky feeling of boredom and frustration since I was just remaking the same thing but now I couldn't remember any of the code which was super annoying so having to remake it made it lack the enjoyment I had before. It did change but not in its final product just how I looked at the project.

I exceeded my expectations due to having my project nearly done which was at my expectations but when it got corrupted and I needed to remake it that's when I exceeded it since I didn't think I would get my project done and all my written work which I managed to do. I'm super happy with my project and it does fulfil the proposal. I think without the corruption I could have been generally higher quality since I would have still had the hype for the project.

In conclusion, I feel like this project was a success. Everyone who has played it had great positive feedback which was good, but I would have liked to get some larger-scale playtests I've learnt to always playtest with other people because they might notice quite a few things you missed. This project was definitely a learning experience for me since I have never done the top-down genre this seriously before my arcade project wasn't aiming with a cursor it was walking in the direction of the button press so having to get the character to rotate and look at the mouse cursor was the first task for me to overcome but once I did I managed to carry on. One absolutely huge learning experience was losing my project, it had never happened to me before and thought it never could but I was wrong and we all experience it at least once if you learn from it that is and I have, I now don't use the hard drive for projects but for assets other smaller files instead I use version control, now this is a lifesaver. There are many different version control software out there like Perforce which is what I use for work, I would have used this but it costs money to run the servers so I decided to use GitHub. GitHub is free and anyone can use it, it's super simple to set up I go over it in one of my blog posts but it allowed me to ditch my hard drive for projects and just upload everything to GitHub repositories, this means I can pull and push things from my desktop to my laptop and both versions are updated. Next time I just need to make sure I don't rush into things which I didn't do as much this time as in other projects, I really came into this fmp with nothing, no ideas in my head to give myself no bias when thinking of the project idea from the research I had done. Finally, I wanted to say that I have learnt a lot from every project I've done, every single one. I am so proud of myself and my work even if it's not fully the outcome I wanted or liked I think all my projects are unique in their own way even if they share assets from online. I look forward to making new projects in the future I can gather all the knowledge from the past 2 years and put it into every project going forward, I hope to make games that are more scalable, which allows me to expand easily on them rather than hard coding things in. my most recent projects like kill confirmed and working on an indie game allowed me to see and test scalability in games which leads to a more smooth dev and gaming experience.

[tuesday8econlive]

Name: Chunhua Hung

ID: 22767646

The impact of Covid-19 on the catering industry in Guangzhou

I used to live in Guangzhou, a cosmopolitan city located in the south of China. It is well-known for its highly developed economy as well as the rich cuisine culture. Before the pandemic, the catering industry there was flourishing, with a wide range of restaurants, cafes, and food markets, attracting numerous tourists and local residents. One of the most typical type of dining in Guangzhou is called “早茶” （morning tea）, which allows families and friends to sit together in a traditional restaurant and enjoy various kinds of snacks and talk for hours.

It goes without saying the outbreak of Covid is devastating to the catering industry. According to Qichacha, an online database that delivers information about China-based private and public companies to consumers and enterprises via mobile app, web, and APIs, up until November 28, 2022, at least 495,457 catering-related enterprises have been shut around the country. For a city that is huge on culinary pleasures like Guangzhou, the situation is even worse. Starting from January 2020, Guangzhou has undergone a number of lockdowns of different scales in the past three years. With the exceedingly strict restrictions, a large amount of branded chain diners went out of business, not to mention those small family-owned ones. One of the most famous restaurants called Guangzhou Restaurant serves as a great example of how harsh it is to survive under that circumstance. 

An article on sina.com illustrated its struggle during this special period of time. In 2020, its business was significantly impacted in a negative way, with revenue declining sharply. In the first half, the net profit dropped by 82.28% compared with that of 2019; 2021 saw a rise of 48.32% in revenue thanks to the controlled situation. However, in the second half of 2022, especially in the fourth quarter, due to the sudden rapid spread of Covid, the operation of the restaurant was again limited.

In order to keep the business alive, owners of different restaurants came up with a variety of adjustments. To start with, almost all of them carried out the “take-away only” measure in response to the “no dining in” policy. A big catering group called Weiguo Kitchen in my community, which was usually with a long queue outside before 2020, started to offer packed signature dishes for local customers. Apart from that, many restaurants utilised social media, such as Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) and WeChat (the most popular messaging application in China), as a platform for promotion. Some of them even cooperated with influencers and created attractive content, like short videos or vivid blogs for the purpose of enlarging their fans base and generating more revenue. The most impressive part is that even in such a harsh setting, many of the restaurants still work hard on creating new dishes or beverages, providing customers with new sensations and improving satisfaction. And by adopting such methods, some lowered the their cost somehow.

Good thing is that at the beginning of 2023, all covid-related restrictions have been eliminated, and the catering business in Guangzhou is facing yet another thriving spring. With that being said, it is still a big challenge for practitioners in this line to mine more profit considering the changes in consumers’ behaviour and habits brought by the pandemic.  

It can be implied that on the supply side, catering business faced challenges with maintaining supply chains due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. While on the demand side, there is still a need for catering services for individuals as well as for remote work arrangements. It is undeniable that the majority of companies in this business in Guangzhou suffered a lot in this turmoil, but some managed to maximise the profit and stay alive.

[chunhuahung]

The impact of Covid-19 on the catering industry in Guangzhou

I used to live in Guangzhou, a cosmopolitan city located in the south of China. It is well-known for its highly developed economy as well as the rich cuisine culture. Before the pandemic, the catering industry there was flourishing, with a wide range of restaurants, cafes, and food markets, attracting numerous tourists and local residents. One of the most typical type of dining in Guangzhou is called “早茶” （morning tea）, which allows families and friends to sit together in a traditional restaurant and enjoy various kinds of snacks and talk for hours.

It goes without saying the outbreak of Covid is devastating to the catering industry. According to Qichacha, an online database that delivers information about China-based private and public companies to consumers and enterprises via mobile app, web, and APIs, up until November 28, 2022, at least 495,457 catering-related enterprises have been shut around the country. For a city that is huge on culinary pleasures like Guangzhou, the situation is even worse. Starting from January 2020, Guangzhou has undergone a number of lockdowns of different scales in the past three years. With the exceedingly strict restrictions, a large amount of branded chain diners went out of business, not to mention those small family-owned ones. One of the most famous restaurants called Guangzhou Restaurant serves as a great example of how harsh it is to survive under that circumstance. 

An article on sina.com illustrated its struggle during this special period of time. In 2020, its business was significantly impacted in a negative way, with revenue declining sharply. In the first half, the net profit dropped by 82.28% compared with that of 2019; 2021 saw a rise of 48.32% in revenue thanks to the controlled situation. However, in the second half of 2022, especially in the fourth quarter, due to the sudden rapid spread of Covid, the operation of the restaurant was again limited.

In order to keep the business alive, owners of different restaurants came up with a variety of adjustments. To start with, almost all of them carried out the “take-away only” measure in response to the “no dining in” policy. A big catering group called Weiguo Kitchen in my community, which was usually with a long queue outside before 2020, started to offer packed signature dishes for local customers. Apart from that, many restaurants utilised social media, such as Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) and WeChat (the most popular messaging application in China), as a platform for promotion. Some of them even cooperated with influencers and created attractive content, like short videos or vivid blogs for the purpose of enlarging their fans base and generating more revenue. The most impressive part is that even in such a harsh setting, many of the restaurants still work hard on creating new dishes or beverages, providing customers with new sensations and improving satisfaction. By doing so, they somehow lowered part of the cost.

Good thing is that at the beginning of 2023, all covid-related restrictions have been eliminated, and the catering business in Guangzhou is facing yet another thriving spring. With that being said, it is still a big challenge for practitioners in this line to mine more profit considering the changes in consumers’ behaviour and habits brought by the pandemic.  

It can be implied that on the supply side, the catering business faced challenges with maintaining supply chains due to disruptions caused by the pandemic. While on the demand side, there is still a need for catering services for people who did not have the time or the condition to cook, as well as for remote work arrangements. It is undeniable that most of the companies suffered a lot in this catastrophe, but a small portion of them managed to maximise the profit by adapting to the new environment.