#I understand the confusion kind of there was another mixup with that order but he INSISTED there was only one item in there when like.

[wizardnuke]

imagine someone argues with you when you try to tell them that they did something correctly now imagine someone else who half overheard the conversation and didn't have context gets mad at you for giving the new hire a hard time when you. when you were trying to explain to this kid that he did something entirely correctly and hes arguing with u abt it!! why am I the bad guy here!!

[thomasthetankengine]

MGAU - Rosie’s Element

Characters: Rosie, Daisy, Nia, Mavis, Rebecca, Emily, Thomas (Minor), Henry (Mention), Sir Topham Hatt (Mention)

take some LORE! theres more to the magical girl squad than just weapons :0000 

Rosie and Daisy were sitting together in Daisy’s garden, watching the frogs hop past and the stream babble along and the leaves sway in the breeze. Everything was a magnificent green; flowers offered splashes of color and illuminated the bright landscape. 

“Something you get with being a magical girl,” said Daisy, “is powers.”

“What kind of powers?” asked Rosie.

“Oh, y’know, powers.” Daisy laughed at her lack of explanation. “But for real, you find your element and that element enhances your physical abilities. Ever wonder how Emily can do all those flips and jumps without breaking a sweat?”

Rosie nodded. 

“Her element is Wind. Air’s manipulated to give her boosts when moving.” Daisy plucked a flower from a nearby bush, cradling it in her hands. “Mine is Life. It’s honestly the only reason this garden isn’t dead yet.”

Rosie laughed too, leaning over to look at the flower. “What can you do with your element? Besides, well, gardening.” 

“Good question, mon amie.” Daisy poked Rosie’s nose playfully as she spoke. “And the answer is, you never know. Magic manifests itself in mysterious, fickle, uncontrollable ways.”

“What does that even mean?” Rosie asked. 

“Well...hm…” Daisy thought for a moment as she began to think her answer through. “Magic decides what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants. It’s just hard to control and will act on its own.” 

“Oh.” Rosie was quiet for a few moments. “That sounds difficult.” 

“Oui, it’s frustrating at first, but you get used to it. You adapt.” Daisy removed the petal from the flower, and another one grew in its place only seconds after. “You just have to think how your magic thinks.”

“...magic thinks?” 

“For lack of better words,” said Daisy. “It chooses what it wants to do, rather than you. I’m not sure why, but Nia said she’s been studying it.” She paused, then gave Rosie another boop on the nose with a smile. “Something tells me you haven’t figured out what your element is.”

Rosie smiled back at her. “How so?”

“You’d know at least some of this, then.”

“Alright, alright, you got me,” Rosie said with a laugh. “How do I figure out my element though?”

Daisy put her hand to her chin in thought. “I found out mine through meditation. Why don’t we try that?” 

Rosie nodded and crossed her legs and shut her eyes. Five minutes passed. Then ten. Twenty. Twenty-five. Thirty. Rosie concentrated long and hard on finding her element--or, her element finding her--but didn’t have much luck.

“I don’t think this is working,” Rosie said, finally.

Daisy shrugged. “Why don’t you ask Nia then? She’s been researching magic.”

Rosie nodded and stood up. She bid farewell to her friend and went on her way to find Nia. 

~~~

“Yeah, and then she told me to ask you, since you’ve been looking into magic,” said Rosie to Nia. Nia was hard at work repainting her engine, while Rosie sat upon the loosely constructed fence. “So...what is your element?”

“Fire,” Nia answered. She kept her focus on her work, choosing not to demonstrate her power. 

“I thought you had Wind too. Since, like, you and Emily both were good at all those acrobatics,” said Rosie.

Nia perked up. She loved explaining this aspect of her ability. “Well, it all begins with how hot air is less dense than cold air, causing it to rise. I heat the air to give me a boost! Well, my magic does, hehe.”

“Makes sense, makes sense.” Rosie nodded. She did not understand at all. “So...you and magic are separate, yes? How does that work?”

“Think of magic like...a dog. It’s its own being, y’know? But you can teach dogs tricks, like how you can teach magic to help you,” Nia explained. 

“Oh, that sounds easy!” Rosie smiled. 

“Mhm, it’s pretty quick to get the hang of. Our powers are granted by Lady, so, y’know, they like to do good things.” Nia turned around. Her overalls were stained with orange paint, but she didn’t mind. “What’s your element, then?”

“I’m...not sure, actually.” Rosie rubbed the back of her head. “That meditation session with Daisy didn’t really tell me anything, hehe.” 

Nia put her hands on her hips and thought for a moment. “Maybe you were forcing it. Magic is fickle.” 

“So, how would you recommend I find my element?” Rosie asked. 

“I found my element while working. I was having trouble getting my engine’s fire started, and boom, there it was,” said Nia. “So, maybe you’ll find yours when working on the railway. After all, Lady is a goddess of the railroad…”

“You’re right,” Rosie said, and she bid her friend farewell in order to get ready for her next shift and continued on her quest to discover her element and master her magic. 

~~~

The next day, Rosie worked long and hard on the railway. She shunted trucks and passenger cars. She brought empty trucks to the Ffarquhar Quarry, where she stopped to have a chat with Mavis while she had spare time. 

“Element?” Mavis raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her cola. “Yeah, that came pretty easy to me, I guess. But I wasn’t working when it happened, nah.” 

“So...how did you find it?” Rosie asked. 

Mavis hummed to herself as she thought. “Well, I was arguing with my brother, and uh, well, the ground started shaking. Guess I got so pissed my magic took note.” 

Rosie blinked. 

“Yeah, it was weird.” Mavis then laughed. “I had to lie and say Sodor is on a faultline so that’s why it happened.”

Rosie laughed too, but she wasn’t quite sure why it was funny. “If I get really mad, maybe I’ll find my element,” she said.

Mavis shrugged. “Try me. Get pissed.” 

Rosie scrunched up her fists and face and thought very angry thoughts. She thought about the magical beasts threatening life on Sodor. She thought about Ska and how her physical form was taken from her. She thought about how Sir Topham Hatt was a capitalist. Her thoughts were very angry. 

Mavis laughed. “Sorry, sorry, you look like you’re taking a shit.”

Rosie stopped and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Mavis was right. 

“Hm, maybe you should try asking Rebecca,” Mavis suggested. “She found her element in the middle of a fight with my dad.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah! Big guy came home telling me how cool it looked,” Mavis said.

And once their break was over, Rosie entered the driver’s cab of her engine and went on the search for Rebecca. 

~~~

Rosie met with Rebecca at the end of the work day back at Tidmouth Sheds. The sun was setting over the sheds, reflecting off the murky brown pond water nearby. 

“Roro!” Rebecca smiled and greeted Rosie with a hug. “Do you need something?”

Rebecca hugged too tight, causing Rosie to let out a quiet squeak. Nonetheless, she hugged back. “I’m trying to find my element, and Mavis said you might be able to help.”

“Oh, really?” Rebecca let go and tilted her head to the side. “I don’t think I’ll be of much help with this.”

“C’mon, every little bit helps!” Rosie took Rebecca by the shoulders and playfully shook her back and forth. 

“Alright, alright-!” Rebecca put her hands over Rosie’s to stop her from continuing to shake her. 

Rosie stopped and listened to Rebecca’s story. 

“Alright, so I was in a fight with Dayton, yeah?” Rebecca leaned back against the wall of the sheds. “By the beach. And he retreated into the water since, oh, let’s be honest, Daisy would’ve killed me if I got my dress wet.”

“Hehe, she would’ve.”

Rebecca kept speaking. “That was when my magic kicked in. The sea split, and Dayton was so in shock I could just walk up and whack him!” 

“It was that easy?” Rosie asked.

Rebecca nodded.

“Can we try?” Rosie added. 

“I think I’ll kick your ass,” said Rebecca, “But I don’t mind a spar.”

That was when Thomas, their coworker, walked by. “A spar?” he asked. 

“I’ve been taking fencing lessons,” Rebecca lied. “I was going to show Roro a thing or two about the basics.”

“Woah! That sounds sick!” Thomas said. “Can I watch too?”

Rebecca could only laugh and nod, though she really didn’t know much about fencing. She only knew the swordplay Nia had shown her, and she hadn’t practiced that at all. Nonetheless, she tried her best, and her best was enough to convince Thomas that she knew how to fence.

The sun then set over Tidmouth Sheds, and Rosie and Rebecca each returned to their own home to rest the night and begin tomorrow’s day. 

~~~

On her way to work the next morning, Rosie stopped to chat with Emily. Emily lived down the lane, in a neat little apartment, and over tea they spoke. Emily brewed better tea than Henry, Rosie noted. Both brewed bitter teas, but Henry’s always had a salty taste. 

“So you’re looking for your element,” Emily said with a sip of her tea. No sugar, no milk, just pure black. “I think I was the first to find mine.” 

“And how did you find it?” Rosie asked.

“Hmm…” Emily paused for a moment in thought. “I sneezed. Silly, I know, but that was when I first noticed it showed up.” 

“That’s weird. So, it was just random?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Sneezed, then accidentally made a small tornado,” Emily explained. “If you’re looking for your magic, I suggest you take it slowly. You can’t really force it.” 

“I know…” Rosie sighed. “It’s just, it all sounds so cool, y’know? Nia’s fire, your wind, Rebecca’s water, Daisy’s life, Mavis’ earth...I just am pumped to see what I wound up with.”

“And you’ll find out soon, don’t you worry. It’ll come with time,” said Emily. She gave Rosie a pat on the shoulder. 

“Waiting is boring.” 

Emily laughed. “I’m sure it is. Why don’t we go cause some confusion and delay to take your mind off of it?”

Rosie could only laugh too, and she nodded. 

That day at work, Rosie shunted slower than usual and mixed up the order of Henry’s passenger cars and trucks. Henry and Emily thought it was very funny, but Sir Topham Hatt was cross. However, Rosie was in the union, so there was nothing Sir Topham Hatt could do about her minor mixups on the rails. 

~~~

That evening, Rosie curled up in her bed after turning off the room light. She had enjoyed the past few days. She got a joke fencing lesson from Rebecca, had a meditation session with Daisy, learned about magic and elements with Nia, shared drinks and jokes with Mavis, and had fun causing confusion and delay with Emily. She didn’t know her element, but she was happy. 

She turned over in bed to turn on the lamp on her bedstand. Perhaps she’d finish reading that book Henry loaned her that night. However, just before her hand hit the switch, the lamp turned on. 

This was her magic. Electricity. With an excited grin, she picked up the book and began to read, illuminated not by the work of a power station but her own power. 

~~~

[redvelvetreel]

Red Velvet Reel 11.2: Amorfino

Pairing: [Married] Spicyhoney (Underfell Papyrus x Underswap Papyrus)

Summary: Edge explains the PregHUD to Stretch, complete with a demonstration of it’s most annoying, well-meaning feature.

Characters: Stretch (Underswap Papyrus) & Edge (Underfell Papyrus)

Contains: Mpreg/Skelepreg!  Mood swings! Lots of pseudo-magic-science fudging and videogame logistics! So many headcanons!

Rating: Teen and up! (I guess?)

Note: This is the PregHUD, the default menu of all Souling related things, from Edge’s perspective! C: Stretch’s HUD is a little different, hehe!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What was this thing?!

This display was unlike anything he had ever seen before! For whatever reason, this one didn’t need to be locked on any one particular target to be used- it was just sort of this pop-up in front of Edge. Kinda like a stat menu, although Stretch didn’t think other people could usually see those. He could see Edge’s, sometimes, but that was only because their souls were literally linked. Was this the same thing or not?

Stretch carefully picked his husband up, depositing him on his feet in the middle of the room. This was way too exciting to sit down for! Edge could be cute later.

“This is so cool!” He made a circuit around his nonplussed husband, looking at the menu from all angles, “Why can I see it? Can anyone else see it?”

“Of course not!” Edge looked almost scandalized, “No one else is ever going to see this!”

“Yeah, okay,” Stretch nodded agreeably, squatting down so he was eye level with the Souling. That was a minor curiosity, he wasn’t willing to push for it.

Even through the thick fabric of Edge’s sweater, he could clearly see the bright, white glow. He lifted up the hem of his husband’s top, noting the Souling’s glow was the same underneath the fabric, too.

“Huh.” He let his hands drop as Edge batted them away, “I wonder why they’re glowing through the clothes-“ Oh! Duh! It was locked onto Pancake! He shot up so quickly Edge startled and nearly clocked him in the face, “HUDs are closest to a BATTLE setting, so it makes sense their soul would react the same way! Souls don’t typically glow in battle, but then again, we tend to have a physical form when we engage in battles! It all makes so much sense.”

Stretch rested his chin on Edge’s shoulder as he pulled his husband into a backwards hug, patting the ectomagic with a smile, “You’re a bright kid, huh? Taken a real shining to-“

“Enough!” Edge pushed him away by his face with an irritated huff, “Do you want to know how this thing works or not?!”

“Yes please! .... light of my life.” Stretch pressed a kiss to the side of his husband’s head, looking at the screen obediently... as he rested his chin on Edge’s shoulder, again. And pulled Pancake into another hug. “I’m listening. How do you use it?”

Rolling his eyes almost audibly, Edge pointed to the screen, “This is the main screen.”

It was like a mixture of an HUD with phone technology in an intangible, manipulatable rectangle. There was a big bar in the middle and over a quarter of it was filled in white. On one end was a picture of an upside down heart, and on the other was a percentage. It wasn’t labeled, but... that was obviously Pancake’s load bar.

“That’s Pancake’s-“

“Uh, why are our names in these tabs?” Seemed kind of silly to attach that information to the load bar. As though they, or the Souling, needed any reminders.

“They’re shortcuts to Pancake,” Edge literally waved his question off, “But the squares around it are more important!”

A shortcut to Pancake (whatever that meant) seemed plenty important, but what did he know? Around the load bar we’re a variety of boxes with small icons in them, some of which were gray and appeared locked.

“So, this first one is a general notes program-“

“Wait, so you click them and you can access different... programs?” He felt Edge nod, even as Stretch poked at a locked square. “And these are ones we can only access once were in the right quarter?”

“Yes, but you would know that if you stopped interrupting me!” Edge punctuated his annoyance by suddenly jostling his shoulder, which ow, point taken. Stretch rubbed at his chin quietly.

“So, that’s Notes, to remember everything important: dates, milestones, gifts, events, etc. That’s Information, which has manuals and explanations about monster pregnancy, including symptoms for non-pregnant partners.” Stretch pointedly avoided that look sent his way. “This is Family Health, which is like a CHECK for all of us and some extra information too. And that last one is Souling Theme.”

Edge pointed at each little square in turn, pausing on the first square at the bottom. It featured a little white heart surrounded by slices of all the base magic colors in a cool little heptagon. All the icons to the right of it were still locked gray. What was up with that? “And I don’t know what this one is. It unlocked itself recently, but it’s weird. It might be like a minigame? Oh, and I don’t understand the Souling Theme either. It just has a list of everyone we know. You can write things next to their names, but I don’t know why.”

“Oh, that’s probably for the Baby Band.” Stretch  waved his hand, “That’s not until the last quarter, though, so we don’t need to worry about until later. Let’s ask Undyne about the heptagon though.”

“What? Baby band? Heptagon?” Edge looked confused and a little concerned, which was not good and the opposite of what he had been trying to do. That was supposed to be reassuring! Time for a topic change.

“This all seems unusually straightforward...” Stretch squinted at it, as though that made things any clearer. Monsters loved puzzles and complicating their lives. “You just click and it opens up the tools? What’s the catch? Aren’t there any puzzles anywhere?”

“Yes! These!” Edge started swearing something unintelligible, angrily jabbing at the first square. “Goals!”

Stretch rubbed his husband’s shoulders soothingly, watching a new, much more colorful screen pop up. It looked like a bunch of paper, with a nearby pencil poised and ready to write. Before he finished taking in the rest of it, some kind of mascot danced onto the middle of the screen.

“Hey, it’s the egg! Right? The one from the Dating HUD?” Stretch hadn’t even realized it had been missing! Weird, since he had started checking it daily while he waited for his husband to wake up from his little naps. “It got legs! And a little hat!”

“Yes, and it changes what kind of legs it has every! Time!” Edge glared at it for a few more seconds, before reluctantly tapping on it. A little dialogue box popped up below it.

「HELLO, PAPYRUS “EDGE”!」

“I am not your friend!” Edge snarled, tapping at it again, more aggressively than before, “I don’t owe you any explanations!”

「ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR DAILY CHALLENGE?」

“No!” Edge tapped on it again anyway, moving restlessly as the egg danced into a corner, starting to pull something out of its hat. “Don’t laugh- it’s not funny!”

Stretch angled his face so his smile was pressed against Edge’s shoulder instead, trying very hard not to laugh. His husband seemed to be having a difficult time not smiling himself.

「HERE’S YOUR PUZZLE!」

It was a word scramble, a lot like the Minor Mixup Stretch used to do as a kid.

「 RNDKI smeo LIKM!」

Edge made a sound between a groan and a growl, counting out the letters before starting to type his answer into the space below.

「QMCJH rldn KHJL?」

Huh? Stretch frowned as the egg started dancing sadly in the corner. Stretch felt sorry for it when if finally fell down. (And a little irritated at it for making Edge so obviously annoyed, of course.)

「TRY AGAIN!」

“I hate these,” Edge seethed, crossing his arms as he glared at the screen, “There’s never a pattern! How are you supposed to solve this without a pattern?! At least a hint!”

“That’s...” What was the best way of phrasing this? “I think it might be a word scramble, Babe.” Stretch pointed to the first string of letters, “Have you tried plugging the letters they gave you in a different order to make new words?”

“Like león- I mean, lion... kim- skim...?” Edge looked adorably confused, “There aren’t enough vowels!”

“How about word by word, then?” Stretch put his hand over the last two words, gently nudging his husband’s shoulder, “What word does「 RNDKI」look like?”

“I don’t know-“ Edge sighed impatiently, “Kindr, dinkr- oh!” He positively lit up as he tapped the right order into the keyboard, “Drink? Is it drink?”

“Yeah!” Stretch cheered, clapping his husband on the back, “Good job! The next should be a little easier-”

“How dare you make fun of me?!” Edge elbowed him in the chest, and Stretch staggered back with a gasp. That was gratitude for you. “The stupid egg never said it was a word scramble! It just said it was a puzzle- and word scrambles are difficult! I don’t care what Red says, crosswords are a lot easier than this thing- and you’re wrong if you think that too!”

“I never said anything about it not being hard or anything,” Stretch rubbed at his chest ruefully, but completely ignoring rational self-preservation, went back to leaning on Edge’s shoulder. “Just that I think the solution might be more apparent if you look at it like a word-by-word scramble. I didn’t mean to imply anything- I think crosswords and word scrambles use different skills and understanding, and can be very difficult in different ways.”

“Hm.” Edge looked at him suspiciously over his shoulder, before turning back to the screen with a frown. He grabbed his husband’s hand, repositioning the fingers over the final word, “So you think the next word is... some?”

“Try plugging it in.” Shrugging, he watched Edge type it in and get the font to change color.

“Hm...” Edge still looked far from convinced, but typed ‘milk’ into the last space anyway.

「 DRINK some MILK!」

[datingadviceonreddit]

Basically I went out with this 26-year-old guy, originally from Shanghai, and in the middle of his residency. We met on Bumble. I jokingly asked if he would give me a free nose job if I buy him a drink. He said I didn't need one but that he would gladly accept a drink from me so long as he’s allowed to cover the second round. It was all fun and playful. We made plans. I agreed to meet him at Broadway City Hall Station after having first stopped at Commercial-Broadway Station because I forgot there were two train stations that fell under the umbrella term of “Broadway” that he had used when he said, “Meet me at Broadway.” It was a whole mixup. But I didn’t mind. I was just hungry for some sushi which was what we had agreed to go for that night. I hopped on the Canada Line and stopped at the right station … after which he told me that he was parked at 10th and Yukon … which to me sounded as though he wanted me to meet him there … so I walked a couple of blocks, no big deal. I waited there for about fifteen minutes before he finally got there, not sure why he said he was parked there when clearly, he hadn’t left his apartment yet.Suffice to say I was questioning the whole arrangement by that point.He drove over, I got in his car (don’t do that, children) and tried to joke around and make conversation, to which he barely responded. I figured he was just shy or maybe preferred a quiet car ride as some drivers do. Again, no big deal. A few minutes later we arrived at the sushi place that he had suggested only to find out that there was a thirty minute wait. Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but usually when I’m the one to suggest a place to eat … I make sure to reserve a table to avoid a situation like this one. Especially if it’s a first date. I guess not everyone does that, and although it’s not that deep, it along with everything else that had happened so far on our date gave me the impression that he was a low-effort kind of person. Maybe he was so exhausted from his shift at the hospital that he figured it would be okay to just wing our date. Understandable. I was making excuses for him in my head as the night went on.We decided to go to the taco place across the street. It was a lowkey, fun place to hang out for the first time. We ordered a bunch of food and I got a drink (but he didn’t even though our original plan was to grab drinks) and we just … didn’t really talk. I had no idea what to say or how to spark up a conversation with this guy. He just didn’t seem interested at all. I was questioning whether he even wanted to be there. It’s one thing to be tired after a long day of work, but it’s something else completely to shrug at everything and barely utter one word for the first hour that you’re getting to know someone. He seemed okay via text, so I kept telling myself that he was just shy.To be honest, I haven’t dated anyone that shy since high school.Not saying adults can’t be shy or nervous when they’re on a first date. But he was also a bit unresponsive and low energy and bored-looking. I figured I would enjoy my tacos and just go home and that would be that. Then about an hour in, he opened up a bit more. I figured my suspicions about his shyness were right on the mark. He asked me about work and my life in Vancouver and what it was like growing up here. Then we decided to grab drinks at a bar nearby. We arrived and sat down and then he went back to being bored and acting as if he had better shit to do that night. He also refused to finish his drink or to get a different one that he actually liked, which was just … strange. If he doesn’t like to drink, why ask me to grab drinks? He seemed put off by everything. Said the tacos were bad, said his drink at the bar was bad, and said dating in Vancouver was bad because no one wants anything that serious.I had to stop myself from telling him that Vancouver people probably do want something a bit more serious … just not with someone who acts the way he does on a first date.Anyway he had about a sip of his drink and then sat there with his arms folded as I enjoyed my wine. I would probably have ordered another one but honestly, it was embarrassing for me being seen with a guy who looked like he couldn’t wait to get out of there, so I just put a couple of twenties on the table to cover both of us and the tip and we got out of there. He wasn’t drunk at all, so he offered to drive me back to the train station. We got in his car, he slowed a bit in front of his apartment building to show me where he lived and then asked if I was interested in seeing the slanted windows that he was telling me about earlier. I wasn’t born yesterday, so I knew what he was really asking.I kindly said no, to which he appeared surprised.Sorry, what part of our date led you to believe that I wanted your dick anywhere inside me?It was just so strange and off-putting. I’ve obviously been on worse dates in my life, during a time in my early 20’s when I didn’t know how to communicate my discomfort and had no idea whether my discomfort mattered at all to the other person. But as a woman who is one month away from 28, I have to say that was the worst date I have ever experienced, barring borderline sexual assault.Actually … now that we’re talking about borderline sexual assault, let me tell you how this wonderful date ended.We arrived at the train station. I turned to him to say thanks for dropping me off. The very moment I turned to face this guy, he unbuckled his seatbelt and went in for a kiss. Not just a peck, either. He full on bit down on my bottom lip and pulled on it between his teeth … before our lips had even touched. It lasted only a second before I pulled away in shock and asked if he was out of his mind. He looked at me right back with traces of shock on his own face, as if I had given him the impression that I wanted him to just about bite my lip off on the curb of the train station after having told him that I didn’t want to go back to his place.Is this what dating is like now? via /r/dating_advice

[ddrkirbyisq]

I guess I may as well try to be good about linking to previous posts...here is Fanime 2018.

Blogging just to say "blahblahblah happened" and reporting on it is actually strangely exciting.  Reminds me of good old times...let's get into it!

As I mentioned earlier, I didn't have much lined up for Fanime this year and I had to leave early on Sunday to go teach private lessons (and also left Friday night to go to dance) so I wasn't even there for all that long anyhow.

Arcade gaming -- seemed pretty cool this year, but I didn't really have the time nor desire to really play a lot.  Arcade machines were set up as free play this year which is cool but may have contributed to long lines and/or the machines always being occupied at any given time and I really did not feel like trying to wait for a machine to open up.  That said I did hop on TGM3 for a bit, though not as much as I normally would because A) the sticks and controls felt a bit weird which threw me off a bit and B) I'm really not used to playing on a cab so just the actual size and style of the CRT display kind of throws me for a loop visually.  It was a different setup than the old one (my user data wasn't there) so I created a new account...was initially thinking that maybe I'd play until I got a promotional exam or something, but it became pretty clear that I really wasn't able to perform well on that cab at all, so I stopped.  Unfortunate really, but maybe for the best as I didn't have that sort of time to throw around anyways.

I also saw somebody playing 3rd Strike and he wasn't button mashing so I hopped on and played a bunch of friendlies with him!  They were pretty fun matches!  Despite my rust, I took most of them =O  He was a Hugo player, so a relatively unfamiliar matchup for me and though I had some trouble recognizing certain mixups like dash -> SPD or his running command throw, I think the hardest part was knowing what buttons to press in neutral because Hugo has such good long ranged pokes that beat out a lot of moves from afar.  He switched up to Makoto for a couple games as well and then back to Hugo and finally took one, after which I switched to Ken and played a few more before somebody else asked to play and I hopped out.  Good times. Didn't get to hop on either (there were 2!) of the Bishi Bashi games unfortunately -- again, just didn't have the time or willingness, since I already had other gaming plans, etc. and people were already playing.  I guess these sorts of things are great for those times when you go to con early Friday or whatever and it's super not crowded.  I'll have to remember that for next time, that going on Friday during the day is actually probably a great idea to get all the Artist Alley stuff/etc done with since you want to go through those when it's less crowded, then you can do photo posing and all that when more people are around... Went to one panel this year, Queerness and Magical Girls, which was great!  It also reminded me of just how awesome Madoka was, haha, but also had a lot of good content and great things to think about.  Yay~ We went to IPOH for roti, yay~ For my own gaming, I brought my laptop complete with Melee setup and a small group of us sat down to play some friendlies.  There ended up being 4 of us so I decided we should try out the epic "Dual 1v1" mode of 20XX where you play two simultaneous 1v1 matches (that can't interact with each other!) on the same stage, then the winners of both face off in a 2-stock match.  It was pretty hilarious, especially since having both matches going on in the same space was super visually distracting, and after one match finishes the victor is free to just spam tech skill as much as they want in an attempt to distract the other match, and do things like charge f-smashes, do rolls to confuse techchases, and general other shenanigans.  We played a few doubles matches as well -- 2v2 is not something I play very often (well, not that singles is either), but I knew that more than anything it's important to just look out to fish for kills whenever one of them is at high %.  That's one of the great strengths of Fox in a 2v2, his upsmash is just such a great quick kill option that can be thrown out whenever opportune, and it doesn't require the precision of a tipper marth fsmash or something like that. Watched one or two of my friends perform at Fanimaid Live, so cool and so good!  Woo~ Also played around with some Puyo Puyo Tetris as well as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes with another friend, which was great! Artists' Alley and Dealer's Hall: Went through, bought some Journey pins and a necklace from Stephanie Kao (already have some of her prints!) -- only thing I bought all con, but it's nice to have a Journey necklace!  You know, to go along with my Journey messenger bags and Journey lanyard and Journey phone charms as I'm wearing my Journey cosplay lol.  Didn't make it all the way around Dealer's Hall (again, didn't really have the time to spare) but didn't quite care either. I did make sure to spend at least some time going around with my hood/mask on, which surprisingly was more comfortable than I remembered for some reason.  I also discovered that the trick for photos is to just find a good spot somewhere in the main hallway (not blocking traffic) to just sprawl out and do a meditating pose -- then a ton of people just start taking photos as they pass by.  So I'm glad I got a chance to do that before leaving con for good. Overall a chill con as expected, though Saturday was quite a long day still.  No B&W ball this year since I had to go teach private lessons and dance with the Stanford kids, so a bit of a shame, but honestly I wouldn't have been able to handle that much dancing (let alone social energy) this weekend anyways.  But yeah, overall pretty satisfied with how things went. Speaking of dance, that went well too.  Private lessons are always a challenge trying to really drill down and distill useful practical knowledge in a short timeframe, but they're fun and they also really push my own understanding of dance as well, so great all around. For now in the aftermath of the weekend I'm just taking it easy I guess.  I didn't do that much today besides spend some time cleaning up and trying to work on All in a Day's Work 4.  That'll be my main project moving forward for the week I'm sure.  Don't think there will be a postmortem for Inflate Me to the Moon (the only thing I'd really talk about is the SPC-style music).  There is still a fair bit of work left for All in a Day's Work 4 though.  I've gotten the album design all done at least, which is great, and I =thought= I had the tracklist done, but then I remembered that there are actually a bunch of OHC entries I did after I stopped making my "Monthlies" series where they were WIPs or other projects, so they've never been formally released.  Things like the WIP version of "Convergence", or "Song of the Sea", or even some Mysterious Space songs.  And some of those are actually pretty great!  So I had to try and make some room in the tracklist for those.  In the end I decided to cut out a few of the more recent songs and just save them for All in a Day's Work 5, because there are just too many songs that I want to put into these albums!  (figures, since it's been soooo long since All in a Day's Work 4)  Anyways, I still have to do the liner notes for all that and make =sure= that I've included all the tracks I want in the order that I want, so that'll be my main thing for the coming week....though I am also very overdue for some letter writing time. Let's hope we can have a good week this coming week.