#((....lucky us...XD))

[mewtwoandme]

Guys I think we killed Jericho.....

I call dibs on his stuff

Like hell you do!!

[teecupangel]

Nothing has made me feel like I'm Ezio more than watching people go crazy over coins I threw in the air as part of our New Years party.

[kingofthewilderwest]

So if I took up private music lessons again (budget pending), which would you vote for?

Banjo: The original private lessons plan. Bluegrass and its history have become a deep soul-fulfilling passion for me since I got into it in 2019. I've run into technique issues (ex: hand adjustments) that I don't know how to correct and are bottlenecking progress. If the teacher here is good, lessons would un-bottleneck me so I could work up tunes full speed and participate informally in local jam groups, which, if they're sorta good, would be stimulating and allow me to live my passion for a moment.

Cons: bluegrass lessons risk not being as bang-for-buck, with more casual and less intensive information and progress. There are many free resources I could tap into - and while they don't replace in-person feedback, might get me just as far in other respects. Many bluegrass greats didn't learn through lessons, and my prior musical training means I have a good sense of what I should be fixing. I also live in an area where there's rather limited bluegrass.

Level: late beginner Progress stakes: low Rewards: casual Local opportunities: casual

Flute: The instrument I've invested the most into already (besides piano). At my musical "height" in 2011, I was good enough on flute to be first chair all-state orchestra but not polished enough to audition into a good music school's spots. I'm craving returning to classical music and there is no thrill as extraordinary as performing flute like a diva in orchestra. This is when I feel at my best. Truly polishing flute would be working up my first, most driven, and cared-about investment, and could light a deep fire in me like nothing else.

However, I live in a small area with few resources and few ensembles - even fewer good ones. Most interesting ensembles I'm locked out of because I'm not a college student. The other interesting ensembles I'd had difficulties doing because flute is omnipresent and competitive. I'm already in one of the only bands I can access (it's "meh" and doesn't 100% fill my itch). I'm good enough to do the chamber groups at a classically-oriented church. There is a "semi-professional" orchestra and a local chamber group here, but the likelihood of there being a flute opening in the next five years is slim. I'm trained enough I can polish and grow myself. It would be an honor to study under a master flautist, but what is the chance that in this small area, there's someone advanced enough to push me to a new level? (the level I would need to get into the orchestra if an opening did happen)

Level: early advanced Progress stakes: high and ambition-oriented Rewards: best, but rare and high risk Local opportunities: rare for what I want

Viola: The instrument I've historically used to get into ensembles I shouldn't've. I had a grand one year of viola lessons with a high school classmate I was dating in 2011. I've used the viola to get into lower non-auditioning collegiate orchestras and church special events. There is a non-auditioning orchestra here I could participate in. There are always open viola spots in the "semi-pro" orchestra and they're far less competitive to get into than flute. The orchestra will accept advanced high school students, so I only have to be as good as an advanced high school student to squeak in. I suck at viola now, but I'm not starting from scratch. I think that a year or two of viola with a good teacher will get me good enough to be a participating fish in this small pond. I would not be able to work up my viola skills to get into the orchestra without a teacher. There are good string teachers here and I've received a recommendation for a viola teacher. Getting into orchestra would get me into the ensemble I've been most passionate about. This could also unlock me playing string trios at a local church. This is a very strategic choice.

Level: late beginner Progress stakes: medium Rewards: medium Local opportunities: multiple

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I've been thinking I should switch my plan of doing banjo to viola. I could pound out the hardest two years of viola in my life, then switch to banjo lessons. In an ideal world, I'd take multiple instrument lessons at a time (would be nice to find a good piano teacher, too....), but I'm frugal, want to save for housing and retirement, don't have high-paying jobs, and have medical payment obligations that rein me in. So. If I allocate carefully, I can squeak in one instrument at a time properly. (Improperly, I could do two instruments at a time where lessons are every-other-week - ergo cycling lessons between the two instruments.)

[kirby-the-gorb]

[yuriyuruandyuraart]

. . .

(Not dark anymore, I just like drawing screen lighting lol xP)

[victorluvsalice]

-->And then it was time for everyone to converge on the greenhouse and help out Victor – specifically, by doing some targeted harvesting while he finished up his tending! I had Alice return to normal and rush in there to pick the coconuts, the pineapples, the soy and black beans (and evolve a couple of plants while she was at it), while Smiler picked a bunch of their herbalism stuff (with a focus on stuff like the noxious elderberries and poison fireleaf I didn’t have before). Smiler then dusted Victor’s bees with mite treatment, fertilized their noxious elderberries so they could evolve them up to nice level, and headed upstairs to have a nice bath –

-->And Alice got sent to the kitchen to make some more food for the food stand, using her new appliances! :D Because if we’re going to have a food sale, we need to have food to sell! She’d already made a garden pizza last playsession while at the store, which was already in the stand – I thus had her make a fresh batch of dough in the stand mixer, then bake up some banana split waffles, a loaf of artful focaccia, some minty mocha cupcakes (in the oven! :D), and a pineapple pizza! Yes, I was thinking a bit about food that Smiler would probably like, as they were the one who was going to be running the stand – sometimes I regret that they’re a vampire who can’t eat regular food in this save, as I know any human Smilers would be all over banana split waffles and pineapple pizza. In another save, Smiler, I promise! I’ll fudge things a bit in my potential future Valicer In The Dark save! XD

-->While Alice was getting her cooking on, Victor and Smiler were keeping busy with the last of the farm chores (while the chickens were keeping busy with a fox – I gotta get some more livestock upgrade parts). Victor FINALLY finished the tending (and deactivated poor Elmer to stop the bot from constantly trying to weed a glitched plant) and got the initial batch of super-selling done, then left Smiler to finish off selling everything while he cleared out the cow shed (and once again dropped the results on the ground next to said cow shed – I just had him put the trash in his inventory for later recycling). Smiler got Gardening skill 9 from all the super-selling (and harvesting the lemon tree in the corner that had gotten skipped in all the super-sell batching), which pleased me greatly –

And then I realized “wait a minute. Isn’t it supposed to be New Skill Day? Where’s the holiday thing?” Concerned, I checked the calendar, and confirmed that it was indeed a holiday – but that I didn’t have the overlay for it in the corner of my screen. Uh-oh. That DEFINITELY seemed like a sign the save file was on its way out. I decided not to worry TOO much about it at the moment, as New Skill Day is just a pop-up holiday, and not a particularly important one, and instead Alice box up the final pizza, slapped all the food in the foot stand, and had Smiler grab said food stand and gather everyone up to bring them to the Brindleton Bay Pawspital –

[dcviltriggcr]

OUT. I was going to attempt to do stuff on my horror multi but then kinda got hit with an anxiety wave because oof, everyone I follow or want to follow on there is like so talented and great with words and I'm just kinda meh. I wish my brain could word well but I think my wording well days are gone XD but I really do want to get more involved in tumblr rp again. I spend most of the time just staring at the dash.

[lavender-tea-dragon]

Lucky Stars (and Precure and just magical girls in general) have been on my mind a lot lately

[aggressive-almond-cookie]

Photos taken seconds before disaster

[hirazuki]

My coworkers, making fridge magnet-style poems for our National Poetry Month display: pie and food; happy sea creatures; e. e. cummings style word-associations; playful; whimsical.

Me:

Also, as we were cutting out words, I saw this one and naturally had to nab it:

My coworkers, seeing me swipe it from the table: ...?

Me: I can't explain, but trust me: I NEED IT.

[mossmx]

if you like bonfire/fireplace sounds but don’t have one I suggest trying a wood wick candle. The sound is

[kuiinncedes]

ok

[firebirdsdaughter]

Cackling…

… Over the realisation that at least two WC seasons can be boiled down to ‘bad dad vs good dad.’

[beardedhandstoadshark]

What's a show from your childhood that no one else seems to remember?

There‘s a bunch

I‘m not sure wether or not people remember that Lucky Luke had a TV series in the 80‘s that was somehow still airing here in the 2000‘s (heck, the original Tom and Jerry episodes still get aired regularly, and on the same channel as the reboot no less),

there’s that one show where a magician guy hiding his face shows how all the cool magic tricks work,

this show with Sesame Street-Style puppets called peb & pebber that is so unknown it doesn’t have a wiki page but tbh it’s not international so it doesn’t count,

…but does anyone remember Dragon Hunters was a thing?

[elektroyu]

Found some of my really old art that I haven't seen for at least a decade, but some of that stuff really has potential (may re-use at some point).

My body still thinks doing anything besides lying somewhere unmoving covered in warm blankets is way too much work, but the above ^^^ actually unlocked a few nice ideas, so I may grab my sketchbook and a pencil and note them down later. Maybe the old school way is better than doing it while looking at a screen, and my sketchbooks suffer from chronic under use anyway :D

[victorluvsalice]

-->And then it was Victor and Smiler date time at the Freezer Bunny Arcade in Newcrest! Haven’t been here in a while (I think Smiler was still living in Britechester the first time they and Victor visited), but the arcade was on my mind after watching onlyabidoang’s “Functional Objects” video featuring all the arcade stuff Cepzid created. It was raining when they arrived (and soon ramped up to a major thunderstorm -- great dating weather!), so I sent them inside into the cafe area at the back right away. They sat and chatted for a while, with Smiler telling Victor an engaging story for his entertainment --

As some random sat down at their table with his coffee. *grumble* Fortunately, he didn’t try to join their conversation, and I was able to get the pair to move to another table once Victor ordered some pain au chocolat from the barista (which went a LOT fucking smoother than it did at the other cafe – Steampunk Cafe LOOKS nice, but it doesn’t play very well, unfortunately). They continued having a very pleasant, occasionally flirty chat, sharing the spirit of the day and officially developing a “Close” family dynamic, awww. :) Randos did keep coming to sit at their table, but again, nobody actually tried to TALK to them – they just let the pair get on with their date. Sheesh, wonder why everyone kept bothering Victor and Alice...

-->Anyway – Victor finished his snack, then donated some plasma to Smiler so they could have a snack before grabbing some sleep replacement potion from the aspiration rewards store so he didn't pass out from blood loss on their date. Smiler wandered over to the skeeball machines while Victor found a table to drink his potion --

And ended up next to, of all people, JOAQUIN, who’d showed up here too. >( Fortunately I was able to keep him from trying to talk to Victor, allowing Victor to Energy himself up and join Smiler at skeeball. They both completed a level one game and ended up winning a child’s toy apiece. XD Smiler then went over to the pinball machines and had a good game there, while Victor played some Whack-A-Gnome poorly. I had him go get a gumball to make himself feel better after that (and after seeing Joaquin) –