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tfw you have something sitting in your drafts for so long you don't quite remember what exactly you were gonna do with it... i think i was planning on making a post about all the easy ways to obtain diamonds with sylus through achievements? IDK anymore. it's been almost a month now since the opposing vision update, so i'll just use this post as an achievement haul and list those that are still in progress~
List of Achievements with Sylus that can be obtained for ez diamonds:
[Progress] Trial of Energy I = 20x 💎 Requirement: Complete Directional Orbit: Energy - Stage 30.
[Progress] Bettle Fighting Master= 30x 💎 Requirement: Obtain the ultimate prize in Incident: Beetle Fighting Tournament.
[Progress] Amateur's Lesson = 20x 💎 Requirement: Act for the director with Sylus in Incident: Role-playing: 2.
[Kitty Cards] Normal: Meowket = 20x 💎 Requirement: Trade cards with Sylus in a round 1 time.
[Plushies] Energy Support = 20x 💎 Requirement: Cheer for Sylus until the progress bar is full 5 times in a game.
[Plushies] No Escape = 30x 💎 Requirement: Sylus needs to not suck when he uses his evol to cheat at claw machine and get you the plushie that is marked with his red energy.
[Spare Time] What's On Your Mind = 30x 💎 + Focused (title) Requirement: Have Sylus visit you at Destiny Cafe (on your homescreen) and bother him by tapping on him 10 times to get his attention.
[Spare Time] All-Night Company = Humming Melody (chat bubble) + 30x 💎 Requirement: Spend your Quality Time with Sylus for 15 days.
[Spare Time] Pressure Destroyer = 30x 💎 Requirement: Work or Study with Sylus for 3 consecutive weeks.
[Spare Time] Body Is Weapon = 30x 💎 Requirement: Work out with Sylus for 3 consecutive weeks.
[Spare Time] Weekend Workout Star = 30x 💎 Requirement: Exercise with Sylus for up to 7 times during the weekend. More details can be found here about this achievement!
I'm still working towards [Powerful Punch] and [Ultra-long Standby]. These two Spare Time achievements are cumulative ones that require you to check in with him for x amount of days in Quality time. I'm close, but one requires 60 days so... there is that. I'll probably make a new post about it once I achieve them.
Good luck if you're farming!
#love and deepspace#lads#lnds#l&ds#;achievement notes#sylus#qin che#jinwoon#shin#sylus lnd#lnds sylus#love and deepspace sylus#sylus love and deepspace#lads sylus#l&ds sylus#;sakura snapshots#;not me rambling into the void
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waterparks // marvin magazine issue #10
(full transcript under the cut)
Waterparks
WORDS by HOLLY SOLEM
PHOTOGRAPHY by DANIEL PRACOPCYK
Waterparks are places you go for fun; both pools and slides and the gloriously buzzy, pop punk band featuring members Geoff Wigington (lead guitar), Otto Wood (drums), and singer/guitarist Awsten Knight, whose neon energy matches his hair. Their music leads you down sonic chutes and up rainbow ladders with four albums, countless tours, millions of listeners and a recent signing with Fueled By Ramen, the label under which they are about to drop their highly anticipated 5th studio album. MARVIN had the good fortune of catching up with Knight—who is busy prepping for a European tour, a US tour and the release of the band's new album—to talk about all that goes into creating the bubbly world of Waterparks.
The new album titled Intellectual Property features eleven legit bangers filled with anthemic choruses. psychedelic experimentation and hooky melodies all polished to a sheen. There are hints of megalithic rock bands like Muse, inspiration from The Beach Boys and the pop punk sounds we have come to expect. But as for the "pop" part, this record goes in hard with collaborations with the likes of blackbear and songwriter/producer Julian Bunetta.
I love pop music and we got an offer to write with this dude, Julian, who has credits on 95% of One Direction's discography. I fucking love One Direction. I don't want to be dramatic but let's say I've got a top 60 favorite songs, I think four or five are One Direction songs. And Julian's written on all of them. I was just like, 'I want to do what I do but with him too.' And then I made "FUNERAL GREY", "BRAINWASHED", and "FUCK ABOUT IT", with him.
For this album, the band brought in more outside alliances than on previous albums, with Knight saying. "I think I was more open to [collaborations] on this album. Other people's opinions and thoughts and stuff like that. Normally, I don't really love writing with people that I don't know very well because it can feel very sterile. You walk in and they're like, 'what do you want to write about? You're like, 'oh fuck'—because it's a personal thing." And when it comes to getting personal, Knight is also realizing that to his surprise, the more personal he gets-the more vulnerable lyrically—the more universal the message.
I feel like I used to be kind of freaked out by [vulnerability], especially earlier, on album one. I was really nervous about it and it sounds so lame in retrospect but I didn't even want to do any acoustic songs. I liked burying myself a lit- tle bit behind a big instrumental. [The song] "21 Questions" for example. I sent that along with all the other demos to Benji because I wanted his opinion and he was like, 'this is one of the best ones.' Those wind up being the favorites, which seems counterproductive because songs are supposed to be relatable. And I never feel like I'm being relatable but I try to be less selfish with the writing. I want this to be for someone else.
When Knight refers to "Benji" he is talking about Benji Madden, one half of legendary pop punk duo Good Charlotte. Benji, along with his brother and bandmate Joel, manage Waterparks after discovering them on YouTube and DM'ing them on Twitter back in 2015. Knight received the news of the Maddens' invitation to fly to LA for a meeting while working as a babysitter who gave guitar lessons.
I called the guys and we're like, 'holy shit.' So we all went and bought swimsuits because…California. And yeah, that was it. After we met them, we went back to our hotel and were just like, 'what is happening? A week ago we were still passing out flyers outside of other people's shows. And we're right here, right now. This is the weirdest shit.'
A literal dream-come-true for Knight and the band, who eventually would make the move to LA from Houston while missing its Tex-Mex and Thai food, and of course, his family. But when it comes to the weather, he's all about California. He doesn't even mind the earthquakes. He was in a rooftop hot tub during one and actually found it rather exciting. For a man who has toured the world, there's a bright-eyed innocence and almost childlike wonder to him. His seeming lack of cynicism is as refreshing as freshly fallen snow which he admits he only saw for the first time not that long ago. But now, Knight talks about having stress dreams as he and the band get ready to embark on a European leg, followed by an extensive US tour.
Here's the thing, I like to play shows and I like to meet people. The other 22 hours of the day, I like having my space. I'm pretty particular, you know what I mean? I like my zone where I can sit and just do stuff. You go from peace and quiet and doing what you want all the time to sharing a small living space and a bus with twelve people. It's basically having twelve people in your living room for two months. And you're just like, 'ah, but the shows are great' as long as the shows are fun and everyone is having a great time, that makes it worth it to me.
He's also superstitious. Around his apartment there are crystals, there are obsidian and selenite wands in front of all the mirrors. He has a healer-type person come in and energetically clear his space, insisting he throw away objects that may have "dark entities" attached. "I'm luckier than people I know. They're like, 'why is the light always turning green when you go to it? Why do you always get the front spot at the store?' I'm like, it's because I don't split the pole, you know? Can't split a pole when you're walking. There's a bunch of superstitions. But I follow them and I'm crazy lucky."
In addition to music, he recently penned a well-received book of personal essays called, You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out to Get You). He plans to write a novel next and has also started a clothing line called HiiDef. that fabricates small collections that sell out fast. His enthusiasm for the line is on par with music. "If everybody made the songs that I wanted to hear, I wouldn't have to do this. The same thing applies with clothing." Passion abound, he is all smiles when discussing plans for the future of Waterparks.
How do I get to the fucking moon? I think anyone who hears this album is going to love it. Cause I think it's incredible. I'm looking at the songs right now. I'm just like, 'man, straight slappers.' Even the last song, which I know wouldn't be a single or anything-that's probably one of the best accomplishments of a song that we've ever been able to pull off. I see this album in plaques on the wall. All right, we're manifesting now.
He names his goals out loud, as one is meant to do when calling them in, mentioning things like how much he'd like to play the Redding and Leeds Festivals at sunset. Then he pulls up the Waterparks US tour schedule online while musing, "I want one of those big "Sold Out" things across all the dates. It's getting there dude. Yeah, actually, it's going crazy right now." In real time, he seems to discover that the banners that cross nearly all of the show dates do indeed read, "Sold Out". And then it's clear. Awsten Knight is lucky. But luck is really about preparation meeting opportunities and he has definitely shown up to the game prolific and prepared. Five albums in, it's clear that Knight and Waterparks have only just begun.
@waterparks
#i scanned this big ass magazine and photoshopped it back together after i found out you could buy this digitally so you better reblog#awsten knight#otto wood#geoff wigington#waterparks#i.zip#anyways story time#only reason i bought this is bc i saw this at barnes and noble at the mall and it was wayyy cheaper than if i got a physical online#$25 instore vs $30 online + $20 shipping which is INSANE but the fact that this is the size of my torso is even more insane#it's just some puff piece like the rest of the shit you'd expect from a rich people magazine that brands itself as punk#and that josh madden shilled his way into again lol
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I hope this isn't too personal of an ask to send to a stranger on the internet, if it is I apologize. I'm only 22 but I've been struggling with feeling pressure to grow up and become 'normal' for years.
I have a lot of 'childish' stuff in my apartment, like plushies, my collection of videogames, posters all over my walls, things like that. Often I look at my apartment and think about taking it all down because it doesn't look mature enough.
I don't think I'll ever become like the norm, I've always been far too stubborn for that. The insecurities are still there, though. Seeing the bit about being old, odd and never changing in your tags gave me a lot of comfort.
Thanks for being loud and proud!
My Ask box is open to all and your question is most welcome, my dear. The best lesson any can learn early is to be comfortable with yourself. Trying to twist, turn and morph into a shape that pleases others but not yourself will only leave you miserable.
If it makes you feel any better, this is a corner of my home office...
I am a grandmother in her late 60s and proudly display about 1/3 of my collection at any given time. The big Godzilla on the left is an 11.5 inch plush deluxe 50th anniversary Gojira. When you squeeze his chest his eyes light and he makes the classic roar. It was a Mother's Day present from my husband. We've been happily married for 45 years.
The key to happiness is to find people who will accept you for who you are. Remember that you are wonderful and worthy of all the good things in life just as you are.
As for "growing up," you mentioned your apartment. If you are making rent, paying your bills and generally supporting yourself then congratulations. You are adulting successfully. Please don't mistake growing up for growing older. The last time I checked there is no age limit on having fun. Unless what you like hurts someone else, then you are under no obligation to change for anyone else's comfort.
Learn to love yourself because if you don't then you can't reasonably expect anyone else to.
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Gonna start out with im white but tbh thats probably obvious so like. You rbed an interview about Miles G's hair and ive been wondering
Are there specific stereotypes to certain black hairstyles? Im curious bc i do character design a lot, and tbh ive always thought the double braids was a really cool look, are there implications to it? Or is it just regular racism from nonblack people that make some view it as "thug" as opposed to just a normal hairstyle.
Like when i was little i used to have my hair like that all the time, and i still do it sometimes bc its really good for hot weather, so i kinda associate it more with beating the heat/good hairstyle for when you're gonna get sweaty than anything else lol
🤣 it tis obvious, but I'm gonna answer this for you and anyone else who wants to start looking into it bc yes this is very important. So let's talk about it!
(this became a history lesson I did not mean to give lmaoooo)
The CROWN Act
PBS Transcript- How Hair Discrimination impacts Black Americans...
So first, to be frank: it's Racism. Understand that this shit is rooted in White Supremacy towards any nonwhite hair. I'm also approaching this from a Black American standpoint. While I won't be discussing their perspective bc it's better for one of them to do it, Native Americans also have a long history of White society forcing them to cut their hair, regardless of the religious/spiritual/symbolic importance. It, and its damage, lasts til today. And head wraps? Psht almost all of Brown America has a story.
In the beginning, they had enslaved Black women (and then through Jim Crow) cover their hair altogether. It was somehow seen as a way to protect property, then to call our hair ugly and an affront to whiteness, and yet a Jezebel lure for White men to sin (i.e. rape Black women, but White women didn't think that was possible so it HAD to be that concubine!!) This perception lasts to this day. Later, it turned into Assimilation or die- hair presses and conks to better meet white beauty standards. Being proud of our afros and natural hair had a revival in the 60s and 70s, and (this is subjective) i noticed it again in the 2010s with women and natural hair.
To present: You gotta realize that having afros, cornrows, braids, and locs is enough to get Black kids kicked out of some schools and extracurriculars. An entire education or valuable experience, and you cant have it bc of the hair that grows out your head. One of the saddest videos I've ever seen was when they forced a Black teen to cut off his locs (i.e. they held him there, looking miserable, as they sheared off his hair) in order to compete in a wrestling tournament, and all the white people in that place did was watch. No one stood up for him, as he sat there getting handled like property (bc his Black body was bringing them wins but his hair was just TOO MUCH 🙄 but that's a whole Convo about Blackness, Whiteness, and Sports).
My brother went to Catholic school and they basically said he couldn't grow his hair out. None of the looks we ascribe to our culture were allowed. The girls, unless it was flat ironed (to replicate whiteness), couldn't have long braids. Certainly no locs. Meanwhile, white girls can grow their hair out as long as the sun is old, and it's treated like innocent, beautiful youth.
And this lasts into adulthood with jobs! Bc that socialization, the idea that some hair is better than others, LASTS. A newslady just took her wig off to reveal her locs on camera, after hiding it for a decade because of public perceptions. The idea that if I have locs, oh they must be dirty (they're not), so they don't care about their physical appearance and we can't hire them. Like when that old white woman said that Zendaya's faux locs probably smelled like patchouli- that was an assessment purely made on stereotype.
This is also why we get so annoyed when white people- white women in particular- wear their hair in these styles. It's usually associated with "being edgy, being rebellious and older" (i.e., bc being a Black girl is so far from what you're supposed to be as a White girl, it's not innocent or valuable, it's dangerous and it makes everyone notice you) and as soon as they're done, it's back to Mother Mary of Whiteness. It's how cornrows and braids on Black and Latino men (or both, like Miles and Miles G!) are misperceived as gang or hood shit, but a kpop rapper will get them poorly done and it's 'cool' 🙄 it's White men with dreads (I refuse to ever call them locs bc they are NOT) who think they're in their "hippie/fight the power phase" cut them when it's "time to be respectable", but when a Black man with nice locs has them already he's suspicious.
You're basically saying that being Me/Black is a trashy, edgy phase that will never succeed, but it's cool for when you wanna feel Different!
*it's also why it pisses me off in fandom spaces when people refuse to give brown characters their hair texture (or whitewash at all!). It's a statement, that "good hair" is White, and "not good/aesthetic hair" is Black. You might not think that's what you're saying, but it's what you're saying, and every Black viewer of your art can hear it loud and clear. So if you're a character designer, put some thought behind and give your Black characters their features. It'll make you a better artist and a better person.
Anyway, to come back full circle to your question: as far as I'm aware, no, there's no "bad implications" of Miles G or his braids. Nothing we wear on our head is inherently bad, just like him. But bc we've all been raised in White society to unconsciously and consciously associate certain stereotypes with these looks, Black and Brown viewers of ATSV were quite worried that that statement was being made. It was nice to hear that it wasn't.
#ask#anon#atsv#across the Spiderverse#hair discrimination#hair#black hair#black hairstyles#racism#white supremacy#us history
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‼️NIGHTBRINGER LESSON 20 SPOILERS ‼️
for the hard level and bonus parts of the normal level specifically
masterlist | more theories
did he say this to reassure luke or because he let his guard slip? because this is obviously michael talking and he's not hiding it
he quite literally said "say hi to simeon for me" like they didn't already talk in an earlier lesson
we know michael loves luke, and luke loves michael. but this is a different type of controlling. is this guidance or an order masked by guidance?
luke looked up to lucifer and his brothers, he looks up to simeon, he looks up to raphael, and he especially looks up to michael with whatever little knowledge on the celestial war he has
hearing "raphael" say this to him off the cuff and possibly hearing michael say it sometime in the future could sway him to do something he doesn't really want to do
is michael deliberately trying to push luke away from being a seraph to avoid peace between all three realms or is it something else entirely? because i don't think he's doing this out if pure guidance for luke, there has to be something in it for him
that "just think about it" felt like more of a demand that a suggestion. regardless of what luke wants, he's probably not gonna become a seraph if michael is still the most powerful angel by the time he grows up
so in the og game, is michael still masquerading as raphael? or like is it actually raphael
i admittedly don't remember much about him from the og game, but i don't think this raphael is all that different from the one we saw in lessons 60-80 (pls correct me if i'm wrong, i finished the lessons when they dropped)
raphael doesn't look interested in attending rad at all...not even to see the brothers. i get that time can change people, and that he'd probably have more freedom once he was a more experienced seraph, but who's to say michael didn't do this in the original timeline too? like maybe this is some kinda backwards foreshadowing
or maybe i'm thinking too hard
also
this contradicts what i said before about him not wanting to see the brothers bc it's obvious that he misses them (mainly lucifer), and that they're still brothers despite the 6 of them being demons now
this is probably why simeon sticks up for him so much, too. raphael is just too prideful to voice how much the fall affected him, how much he actually misses the brothers, and he probably has just as much regret - if not more - that simeon does about the fall
michael is absolutely nightbringer
i can't explain why but that conniving ass bitch is up to something and i don't like it
he pulled the "brother" card on lucifer, deliberately came down in person disguised as someone else just to threaten to bring war to the devildom if everyone but satan came back to the celestial realm
(idk if this is canon or not but i firmly believe that satan was always a part of lucifer and gets glimpses of his memories from the celestial realm)
the "brother" shit was calculated, too. lucifer asked raphael in person if he'd side with him, and he chose michael without hesitation. regardless of how much he regrets it, lucifer doesn't know that
mammon probably knows about this, too, at least to some extent. that's why he was so against raphael visiting in the first place. he knew lucifer was still beyond fucked up about what happened, regardless of possibly not knowing any of the details
what are michael's motives? because i know he isnt just doing this because he misses the brothers
does he want more power? to be praised for bringing 7 of the most powerful angels back into the light? he's already one of the most powerful angels as is, what else does he want?
#obey me#obey me nightbringer#obey me spoilers#obey me lucifer#obey me michael#obey me raphael#obey me simeon#obey me brothers#obey me theory#nightbringer spoilers#obey me satan#obey me luke
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Kintsugi: the beauty of broken things || MYG
Summary: Yoongi and Minnie have been friends for quite some time now, almost... 15 years? 15 years since they ran into each other in that music classroom by an unlucky (or not) mistake. They've grown close, but both of them have strong characters and insecurities that will have to be put aside when Minnie falls into her own lie, risking her job in the process. They have 3 days to feel comfortable and make everyone believe their role as the young engaged couple or she is fucked :[
Pairing: musical producer! Yoongi x lab tech/science nerdy! f reader au; non-idol! BTS members make a brief appearance
Genre: fluff, angst, kinda slow burn (?), best friends to fake couple au, constant unresolved sexual tension, two idiots too proud to openly speak but pinning each other
Word count: so far, almost 25k but still unfinished
Warnings: use of bad language, mentions of insecurities/low self-esteem, anxiety, trauma; light use of weed, little smut if you scrutinize, SFW
Masterlist: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // ...
A/N: hi there! this one it's my first story to be uploaded, a way for me to de-stress from uni exams. I'm not a native English speaker, so please forgive any grammatical mistakes :/
As Yoongi said, you have to put your work out there to learn about it, so... feel free to give some feedback (as positive as you can, please). The story is halfway done, but as I have to proofread most of it and apply the holy Grammarly, uploading will have a normal pace
I'm not fully confident of my writing abilities or English use, but it is what it is, I guess
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CHAPTER 1: Surprises and planning
Word count: 7'1K
-Sup, loser.
-Hi
I roll my eyes while I flop into the sofa.
-I mean... I'm not asking for big parties but, you know, a little more enthusiasm when seeing your bestie wouldn’t hurt. Don’t you think?
The only answer I get is a loud exhale of air.
-Someone is susceptible today…
Min Yoongi.
We’ve been friends for maybe… 15 years? And what a ride.
We first met in high school, at the sweet age of 12/13. With all the hormonal stuff and changes going around… such a happy stage of life to remember, yikes.
We didn't have anything in common; he was an artistic soul while I considered, or I would like to consider myself, as a science girl. But little me saw too many talent shows with great singers and decided to give it a shot.
-Hi! It’s here where the choir practices?
-Yeah, here is where all the magic happens -I would’ve never expected such an ironic answer from such a cute-looking girl- Are you new or lost on your way to another place?
-New or that’s what I intend to be. I signed the paper in the hall and someone emailed me the instructions. Told me to come to Mrs Lars's classroom.
-Oh, then you are in the right place. She is in the storage room looking for the materials we’ll be needing today.
-Okay class -a sweet voice fills the room interrupting our conversation- please take a seat.
I signal the seat next to the girl asking nonverbally if it’s taken, and she answers that it's not occupied.
-So… today we have lots of new faces. Instead of having personal interviews with each of you, I thought that maybe it would be better and easier to have you join us for today’s lesson. That way you’ll see how we work, a light version of course. After I dismiss the class, as I told you in the email, please stay a little longer and perform a song of your liking. Any questions?
A boy asks if they have to stay at the auditions if they aren't new.
-If you want to, you can stay but if you prefer to leave, that's okay too. That reminds me: for the ones that aren’t new, welcome back; I'm happy to see you again. To y'all my pupils, I wish for a good and healthy year. Any other doubts?
Silence is the answer.
-Then, we’ll start.
The 60 minutes pass fast. The teacher is really fun and makes all the music technicalities more approachable to everyone in the room. We play some games to get to know each other's names while learning a little bit about music structure.
-Well done. That’s all for today. See you next day.
A lot of students start picking up their books and bags, and I bid goodbye to Nelly, the one with a loving face and a smart mouth. She is… interesting to say the least, but also nicer than expected.
And friendly enough to ask my dubitative ass to exchange numbers…
Now, the moment of truth: the audition. Not gonna lie, nobody here will be the next Céline Dion but they are okay. That makes me even more nervous, and it shows when my turn comes. Luckily (ironically) I'm the last one. My voice is shaky and even if I am doing terribly, they all keep a smile on their face, which I thank deeply.
Like everyone else, I don't receive any type of feedback from Mrs Lars. She just tells us the following.
-Thanks to any single one of you for showing interest in my subject. Everyone will be accepted in this class; the “audition” was just a formality to classify you in the range that fits you the best. Music is a language that unifies all humans, and even if most of them haven’t been gifted with an incredible voice or the ability to play an instrument, I won't deny the chance to learn it anyways. There’s always a role that fits you the best and I’m sure that while communication runs in both directions, we’ll have a good year. Today you saw how my class works; if you still want to join me and your classmates, the only thing needed is to send me an email by the end of the weekday to confirm it. I will reply with indications, information and advice to improve your natural talent and I want you to practise for a couple of weeks to get used to that routine and the work method. Then, you’ll be divided into groups with people who share your characteristics to work together with the things in common and have healthy feedback. Also, you can ask me when needed or use the music studios to train. I’m sure your parents will thank me -she laughs- Does that sound good?
-Yes Mrs Lars -we answer in unison.
-Ah, and also, if you don't think this is your thing and want to choose another activity, that’s okay. Not receiving the mail of confirmation I previously had talked about, will be understood as the desire to not continue. Feel free to do it if you want to; no hard feelings. This will take a lot of energy and free time, so… make sure that all the effort goes to something you like or you’ll end up despising me and music itself. Any questions or doubts?
As nobody speaks, she dismisses the class.
It took me a couple of days to decide whether I should join music or look for another option, but animated by my parents and the possibility of this helping me with my scenic fear, I choose to keep going with the idea.
Apparently, my vocal range is mezzo-soprano-contralto, which is why I have a difficult time in a higher register. Once I knew that, everything changed for me. Singing was easier and less damaging; just better. I wasn’t that good but for once I felt like my efforts were taking me somewhere.
I still needed a lot of practice, so I would usually spend some time during lunchtime (with the teacher’s permission) doing so in the rehearsal room. Unluckily, one day when I went to my usual spot, the class was already occupied by another person, so I met with my teacher to know what had happened.
-I’m sorry sweetheart, it’s my fault. I have such a big cold that the headache is making my head pound and I can’t even think straight. Would it be inopportune if I reserve the room after class so you don’t have to skip today’s practice?
-That sounds good too.
-Okay, then I will write your name in the folder -she says reaching for it hung on the wall. She seems a little confused when looking at today’s schedule
-Isn’t it possible? -I ask her.
-Oh no, everything is fine. Seems like I’ve already written the reservation in your name earlier. Must’ve forgotten to tell you when I did that, I guess that just in case, to offer you a resolution to this problem.
-Then, I’m noted to the main classroom after class?
-Yeah, you are good to go.
-Thank you.
As told, I went to the said place and started my warming exercises. After some scales, I tried “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga, struggling with the highness of the bridge. I was stuck with that part for some days by then, and my frustration was almost visible in the form of smoke outing my ears.
I was on my…¿20th try? When an unknown voice scared me when the song finished.
-Well… that was…interesting.
-Fucking hell, you scared me.
-Not more than you did to me with your vocals.
-Excuse me?
-Apologies accepted.
Is a boy around my age and size. He wears rectangular glasses and a mostly black outfit, which contrasts with his pale skin perfectly. His eyes are quite small but ooze tons of coldness. He impassively walks to the piano in the corner and starts to get things out of his backpack.
-Mmm… What are you doing?
His dark orbs peer at me with a pensive aura, but he dismisses those thoughts and gives me rolling eyes.
-Practising.
-Yeah, I could have guessed that.
-I am not the one asking the stupid questions here.
-What I meant -he interrupts me by playing some notes- As I was saying -he does it again.
I approach the instrument he is in and put down the keyboard cover, giving him enough time to retract his hands. Ups his sight and boy, is a furious one.
-Are you crazy? -he shouts- You could have harmed me!
-Chst, nobody with two functional cells doing synapsis would have that bad reflexes so please, stop crying, you little baby.
-Excuse me?
-Apologies accepted -I deliver the sentence the same way he did to me, with a pompous smile on my face while I sit proudly in a nearby chair- Also, you deserve it. That’s what you get when trying to mess with me.
-Oh, was I disturbing you? Sorry, I didn't want to. I’m so distracted -what he says in a pitying tone doesn’t match the challenging look in his eyes and the smirk he isn’t even trying to hide.
-I can tell -I bark back the same way- Anyway, as I was saying before you decided to be a cretin, what are you doing here?
-Judging based on your singing skills maybe…you aren't aware that this is a music classroom? You know, where musicians do their thing -speaks ironically
-Of course I know where I am. My doubt is what are YOU doing here at this time. I made a reservation with Mrs Lars.
-Me too.
-That’s impossible.
-No, it’s not. Since I did. You must be wrong.
-No, you are -I fight a little offended.
He rolls his eyes.
-Okay. Let’s search the classroom schedule Mrs Lars keeps in her office and you’ll see your mistake -decides while clapping his hands together and getting up.
-You must mean YOUR mistake -I clarify while imitating his gestures.
I follow him to said office, where he signals to a folder hanging on the wall. He goes through it while searching for today’s schedule and once he finds it, aggressively puts his finger in the initials “M.Y”
-As I was saying, you are the one wrong -he says proudly.
-What? Those are my initials!
-No, they are not. They are M.Y. as in Min Yoongi.
-No, they are M.Y as Min Young Mi.
We look at each other kinda confused.
-I guess Mrs Lars must have committed a mistake while writing our names because of the similarities -he thinks out loud.
-You think so? -I reply as ironically as I can. He rolls his eyes.
That evening was the beginning of what we like to call “The Valerian War”. As stubborn as we were, any of us was willing to give in to the other. None offered to leave or neither changed the reservation for the evenings that followed, so we played mental resistance war, and it got so bad that we needed some valerian infusion to support the evils that we did to each other so that the other would surrender.
Some favourites were him cutting my microphone wires or playing a recording of my voice on the school’s radio for everyone to listen to. I gave back by making good use of a 2x3 glue thrift offer. I was almost sent to the other world when he had to walk back home with the piano’s bench cushion glued to his butt or with music sheets united to his hand.
Eventually, with little acts of kindness by both sides, we started to open up and help each other (he assisted me in musical stuff while I improved his anger management) and we reached the point where we were looking all day to that moment of the evening. It took almost a year and a lot of Nelly’s talks to finally admit that we enjoyed spending time together. Slowly but surely, we started meeting out of school till becoming besties. We had a lot more in common than we thought.
-Call me stupid but-
-Stupid -he interrupts me without hesitance.
-Min Yoongi, be careful with your words, I have your mom on quick dial.
-So childish that is almost sad.
-Would she think as childish that you signed a big contract with an important company and didn’t say a word to your family? I guess I can just ask her -my tone is a mockery one.
The keyboard typing stops followed by a dry laugh.
-You dirty bitch. Must be desperate to threaten me with that.
-It’s just that… I’m frustrated.
-Sexually?
-No. Well… That too. But no.
He quietly laughs.
-Maybe I can lend you a hand.
-Yeah, in my neck to cut the flow of air? -I ask acidly but then my black humour needs to make an appearance- Actually, that’s not that much of a bad idea. One lifetime occasion where I would let you commit the desire of killing me without getting angry about it; I promise.
-Mmm, kinky. If that’s what you want… -he spouts with a teasing tone and a smirk.
-What?
I’m no stranger to letting my intrusive thoughts win over me and make it aaaall the way to my mouth without realising it, so when he answers I have to replay the last section of our conversation to understand what he means.
-Ugh, you are disgusting.
-Yeah. I think how disgusting it is that I know you so well, that I am genuinely not surprised about you having a choking kink.
-I… I don’t have a choking kink -I defend myself by putting a brave face on when I actually kind of like that stuff.
-Yeah, right -he answers in a disinterested way, turning back to his computer- Just so you know…next time you try to lie as much as you are doing, tell your red cheeks to not make an appearance. It gives it away.
I take advantage of him not looking at me to raise my hands and check if they are matter-of-factly red, which are. I clear my throat in the need of changing the subject.
-Till now all you said has been really helpful, you know? -I say rolling my eyes
-Till now you still haven’t said a word about your problem, apart from your need to get laid, of course.
-The thing is that I messed badly with my boss -I purposely ignore the last sentence and he lets out a little laugh because of it.
-What makes you think that?
-It’s not something she said or did. Actually… It's my fault.
-I doubt it… but would you mind explaining? -he still has his back facing me while clicking the unwired mouse, something that will make the next thing I have to say a lot easier.
-Do you remember when you got appendicitis and had to stay at the hospital? And then when you needed help when sent home?
-How would I not remember?
-Well… The thing is that to convince my boss, which I already told you, is a hard one… I had to lie. A lot.
That seems to catch his attention because finally turns to face me.
-When you mean a lot, how much are we talking about? You said everything was okay with you taking those days off.
-I think we have already established the point that I am a ‘liar, liar, pants on fire’.
-So… What did you tell her?
-Mmmm… I knew some of my coworkers asked her for some days off because of a friend or a relative being sick, and she always rejected them except when they talked about fiancés, husbands or sons; that kind of stuff. So to make her accept my petition, I made her believe it was about my fiancé.
-You said what?
-I basically said all the truth but omitted that you are only my friend. I completely made up a story about my hardworking fiancé, who fell sick, and has no other family around than me to take care of him… It was a little white lie, but when I was back to work everyone was nice to me, even my boss.
-Why don’t you tell them that you broke up?
-That was my plan, I swear. Buuuut, I started to talk a little bit here and there about him being an asshole, like getting ready to break the news, you know? Buuuuut that made them even nicer to me! Never knew criticising a partner would unite us that much.
-My surgery was last year…have you been lying to them for that long?
-Yeah…
-And didn’t they suspect anything when a year passed and still no wedding was in sight?
-Yes, but I explained how as we were both busy with our respective jobs, trying to save money for it, and having some trouble in our relationship… had decided to take it easy.
He seems lost in thought, with the elbows resting on the armrests of his chair and fingers brushing his chin. Then laughs, crossing his arms over his chest.
-Well, well, well. When I think that you cannot surprise me anymore, here you come.
-Yeah, really funny how this will end with me getting fired.
-Don’t be silly. They’ll never know.
-That’s what I thought till my company decided to celebrate a ball to raise funds for their project about breast cancer. And everyone expects me to bring my said fiancé to meet them.
-OMG you are such a loser.
-I don’t know why I came here expecting some support. Seems like today is not the day you want to deal with my stuff -I get a little angry because he doesn't understand how bad this is and how much I’ve been stressing the last few weeks trying to find a solution.
-Minnie, you know that’s not it -he quickly answers.
-Don’t worry. It’s my fault. By now I must have put in my mind that while you are working don’t wanna be bothered by others' banal stuff -I recollect my bag and start my way to the door.
I feel his hand wrapping around my wrist, trying to stop me.
-Stop it. I don’t wanna bother you.
He sighs and uses that hitch as a way to put me closer to him and after that, sit me again on the couch.
-Yeah, you are a pain in the ass, but even like that… you’ll never bother me when it’s about struggling with something, so… don’t say that.
-That’s how you made me feel.
-And I’m sorry about it. When it comes to words, we both know that I’m not the best to be sensitive.
-Except with your lyrics -I half-joke to reassure him.
I feel bad to react this way because he has a life too and here I am burdening him with my problems; all because I am so weak that I drown in a cup of water.
-Yeah, except for my lyrics -says way softer.
-Ugh, I’m so messed up -I groan while hiding my face between my hands and laying back.
-Yeah, a little bit but, what are you going to do?
-What do you mean?
-I know you, so I expect you to have something in mind already -he says palming one of my knees while still sitting in his chair.
I drop my arms to my sides, tired.
-No. Well, technically yes, but not anymore.
-What?
-I had a plan but not anymore because things didn’t go the way I expected.
-How is that?
-Don’t wanna hear you say anything about “I warned you”.
-This is going to be good -he whispers loud enough for me to hear it, but after giving him a death stare, motions his mouth getting zipped and throws the key away.
-The obvious solution is to have someone pretending to be my fianceé. After wondering who would be the best option I asked Jim to fill that role because, you know, we were kinda hooking up.
-What did he say?
-Like cartoons. I was almost able to see smoke in his dashing foot.
-Told you so -whispers again with a smirk.
I want to save energy, so my only answer is to roll my eyes. It's not like I could deny it because he, in effect, told me that.
When I started to meet Jim, equally scared of commitment as me, Yoongi warned me about how he would never be the one for me. How under the sweet gestures and amazing chemistry, we were only two people wasting time. How he could, maybe, let me down when I truly needed him. He wasn’t wrong. While explaining this whole issue to Jim, he was losing all the colour on his face because I told him that he would have to pretend to be in love. Pretend. I didn’t love him either but I was expecting the both of us to put on a little show of it.
But Yoongi knows that behind the façade I put saying that I don't want serious business, the reality is that I'm just searching for the right person to let my defences down. But to find it and as a scientist, I must do trial and error. Right?
-Then I contacted everyone in our group but all of them are occupied with close notice, and since my family is away, I can’t ask a cousin or something. Not to mention how weird it would have been -I shake my shoulders trying to shake the disgusting image of my mind.
-What about a random person or a gigolo?
-I don’t have enough time to teach somebody the full ass history of how we fell in love or the money to pay for it. Also, I'm trying to avoid paying for another human till I'm 70 and alone, with the only company of my 5 cats. Thanks.
-That’s all?
-I started to pretend that I’m falling sick to have an excuse, but everyone seems suspicious of me. If that doesn’t work, I’m fucked up. For real. That’s my last chance.
-As I see it, that’s not your last chance. You forgot about something.
-I did?
To say that I am confused is an understatement.
-Yeah you fool -he smiles widely and reclines in his chair with crossed arms.
-I…don’t…follow you.
-Me.
-You what? -My confusion is at the ceiling level.
-Me -He repeats with open arms- You forgot me.
Is this what I think it is?
-Stop frowning -and I do at his call- I can't believe you didn’t try to ask me.
-You are joking, aren’t you?
-No -he turns to the computer shrugging.
-Wait, wait, wait -I turn him to face me by the armrest- You, Min Yoongi, THE Min Yoongi, are offering to be my ‘date’ for an event at my workplace?
-God, don’t put it like that. But yeah, the answer is yes. I don’t know why it seems so unbelievable to you.
-I didn't ask you because: 1) I was ashamed, 2) you and I aren't precisely the most comfortable with touching or sweet words, and 3) and the main: aren’t you visiting your hometown this weekend? I know how much you’ve been looking forward to it.
-Yes, I was. But you are crazy if you think that I would let you lose your job for it.
-But you’ve worked so hard… you deserve that break.
-Listen and stop being stubborn. I know that your job is as important to you as mine is to me, not to mention that if you are in this position it is because of me. So… the fair thing is to be the one helping you out of this situation.
-You realise that we will have to pretend that we are in love, right? -I say carefully.
-I pretend that I like you every day so, I don’t think it will be that hard.
I know he says it to make me laugh and take the iron off the matter, but I can’t help smacking his thigh while giggling.
-What preoccupies me is you; would you be able not to fall in love with me?
We both laugh, knowing that it’s impossible.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m completing my look with sparkling earrings and I look at myself in the mirror. Not bad.
I’m wearing what I consider my slutiest outfit: a baggy long-sleeve dress with a deep v-neck and which long is mid-thigh. The cloth resembles black silk but falls beautifully around my curved body, adjusting in the places it should to remark my features. I added all the sparkly accessories because they contrast greatly with my tanned skin and the dress itself, but I guess all seems blurred compared to my boobs. Those girls are looking great tonight.
My hairstyle and makeup are a little basic, but enough to make me feel pretty.
While applying perfume someone rings the doorbell. I’m ready on time, so taking all my stuff and a false pink fur coat, I open the door.
I have to admit it, he looks stunning. Yoongi is wearing black skinny jeans with a white t-shirt tucked in, black combat boots and a green bomber jacket. All prettily completed with silver accessories and his long ginger hair slightly gelled back on the sides. My favourite look on him.
-Why aren’t you wearing high heels?
That comment is enough to get me out of my trance, but I understand it; that’s the only part of my outfit on display.
-Is bad enough to be wearing ones for the ball, so yes, thank you, I won’t be torturing myself tonight -I explain as I close my house with the key.
-You were the one who had the idea of dressing in the clothes the other likes most.
-I’m wearing everything you asked for except for the heels. Relax.
-Let me see.
-Hell no, it is freezing here. You’ll see once we get to the discotheque. C’mon.
-I don’t trust you. At all -he whispers but follows me to the taxi stop.
This is part of the amazing plan we made together on Tuesday night. Not the best idea but…it will have to do the work.
The ball is on Friday so we have a couple of days to make us believable as a couple. Tonight, Wednesday, part one is in development. We’ll go to drink (a lot) and dance in a public place and act as partners in love. Is like practice for the real situation and luckily, as I suggested, dressing in a way the other likes will make it easier to dissociate the image of best friend that we find disgusting to act in love with.
We have two days to be comfortable with holding hands, him holding me for the small of my back, me hanging into his arm, hugging and… kissing. Not fully making out, like little pecks. Or at least that’s the order both of us come together to decide as necessary to give the ‘’living in the honeymoon stage of relationship’’ vibes.
Tomorrow we will work on our love story, pet names and all that stuff. Maybe we’ll have to buy some alcohol for it too.
-Should we…maybe…start? -he asks, looking the other way.
-I think I need a couple of quick shots before.
-Thank God, me too -laughs.
I signal to a bar near us that won’t make us change our direction fully, and he agrees.
-Please, four shots of tequila -Yoongi orders to the bartender, and I am grateful for that amount.
Since I am the one using his help, I want to invite him. He gives me bored eyes and tries to take my money away from the counter, but I push him a little bit and open my coat to let my neckline on the view of the young bartender.
-Please, accept my money. You can keep the change as a tip -my voice is as sweet as I physically can and I bat my eyelashes. It works because he takes my money a little bit flustered and his only answer is a nod. I laugh to myself and close the coat again, turning to my friend, who is downing his first little vase.
I take one making cheers in the air before ingesting the hot liquor.
-You know… what you did is not fair.
-What do you mean? -I play dumb.
-You know what I mean -he says before drinking his other drink- That poor boy… I would be surprised if he doesn't end up hard as wood.
-Why is that bad? Dozens of men look at my ass or boobs without any intention on my side or dressing to “provoke” them. It’s not my fault that in this patriarchal society, women are so fucking sexualized that men think it’s okay to do it. He would have looked at them anyway if I weren’t wearing the coat so excuse me for using that in my favour instead of against me - I drink my last shot.
He looks at me kind of speechless, but after clearing his throat he says “When you are right, you are right”.
The cold air receives us in the street, but the burning sensation in our stomachs is a great contrast. We decide to go walking to the discotheque since it isn’t that far and after ten minutes of comfortable silence, I start to feel the alcohol quicking in in the form of an unexpected laugh.
-What happens? -Yoongi seems confused but laughs too.
-This situation… is ridiculous.
-I know.
-But again, thank you. You are saving me from a good one. I owe you.
-Don’t be stupid, we are best friends. You take care of me and I take care of you. That is how we have always worked and how it will always work.
-Wow, alcohol is getting into you too? You are speaking mindlessly.
-A bit. A long time has passed since I last drank something; work has been… crazy.
-Same for me. Maybe it is a good moment for…you know.
-First step?
-Yeah, first step. Are you okay with that?
-Of course.
We look at each other's hands and making a brave move, I'm the one initiating the motion. His are colder and slightly bigger but feels surprisingly comfortable to intertwine fingers and sense his even colder rings brushing with mine. That heat difference sends a shiver through my body.
It’s not like we have never held hands in other contexts. We do, for example, while walking in a street full of people or in a comforting situation and stuff like that, but it is our first time to do it without a physical or emotional need.
-How do you feel? -I ask cautiously.
-Weird, not gonna lie.
-Me too.
-But it’s not the first time we held hands and I have to say that luckily you feel warm.
-Yeah, you are freezing man -the tension weakens and we start to walk again, still hand in hand.
-I forgot my coat and when I realised I was already too far. I expected to be in a taxi and drunk so I didn’t take it so seriously. Now I’m regretting my choices.
I can’t stop a laugh and he does the same, showing a gummy smile.
-I can work with that. Grieving for my frozen-to-death fiancé is a good excuse to go to the bloody fundraiser alone.
-Then, who would listen to your nonsense anxious babbling?
-You aren’t my only friend, you know that right?
-They simply can’t compare. Even Nelly.
-Yeah, they can’t compare because nobody reaches your level of pettiness.
-That’s what we have in common you and I, my friend.
Our bickering continues till we reach our destination, where it is time to start the practice. Reading my mind he offers his arm for me to cling to it while still holding hands; a typical pose of couples who’ve been together for some years.
-IDs? -the bouncer asks us.
Once he checks that we are above 23 (a way to only let in adults) the heat receives us when we cross the door. The decoration is beautiful and serious, way different from what we are used to.
-Everyone here seems a little off, don’t you think? -Yoongi asks me.
-Yeah, I guess the age requirement takes away the younger spirit. You know this place is for people who want to have a good night but not that “wild”.
-If this is what awaits me once I establish a serious relationship, I’m definitely staying single.
-Bold of you to assume that you’ll find someone who can keep up with your antics. It’s not like you are turning love proposals all day.
His elbow pinches at my ribs for making fun of him and I laugh.
-You are one to talk… Also, I have some game so… your words don’t offend me miss “Please help me because my ashole of a hookup can’t even pretend to be in love with me”.
-Yeah, that was because he knew that once he started pretending, it wouldn’t be pretending anymore and I’m too much of a woman for him.
-Sure -his eyes are mocking me.
-Let’s grab some drinks, stupid.
He straightly asks for a whiskey, his favourite drink, but I order a rum with coke. He offers me to taste it and I’m dumb enough to do it, gagging at the flavour.
-You have an easy gag reflex, maybe now I understand why Jim dumped your ass so easily.
-Don’t worry hun, it’s only related to alcoholic drinks and he surely dumped me but my ass felt a great loss to him -I cheer my drink with his.
He gives me an unreadable stare while swallowing the odd savoury liquor.
I hate to admit it, but he looks smoking hot tonight. I can’t put my finger exactly on what it is, but something of him making dark humour about Jim while staring at me in that mockery way and gulping whiskey like water… is entrancing. Am I that sex deprived or what?
He frowns one eyebrow trying to guess what's on my mind and just the possibility of him being able to decipher my thoughts has me blushing.
-Is hot here. I’m going to the wardrobe to leave my coat - I excuse myself while getting up from the stool.
-Want me to accompany you?
-Oh, no. Don’t worry. I don’t think it will take me that long.
I join the wardrobe queue a little anxious. Just thinking of what awaits me these days stresses me; it’s really out of my comfort zone. I take the coat for the smiley girl behind the counter to take it.
-Wow girl, you are stunning.
-Thank you, I hope my… boyfriend thinks the same -the b-word gets a little stuck in my throat.
-If he doesn’t… take him to the doctor. That would mean he has his sight damaged. Or better, come back and I’ll make sure you have a good time -she says winking and giving me a little key with a number.
-I’ll keep that in mind -I answer a little flustered and return to where Yoongi is waiting.
He is turned to face me, elbow resting on the bar and cup playing in his hand in circular motions. He eyes me up and down and licks his lips, and I have to put all the effort in me to keep walking like nothing and not choke on my air.
He must have noticed my nervous state because this time, decides to directly ask.
-Oh, I was a little shocked -I answered because… well, that is true- The girl in the wardrobe made a move on me suggesting that if my partner doesn’t like me or something, she will take matters herself to give me a good time -that is also true.
-She did?
-Yeah, why is it so hard to believe? -I am a little offended and I chug down the rest of my drink.
-Not that is hard to believe, but… Do you like girls or something now? -he seems genuinely curious, trying to assure me that anything I say next, will be well received from him.
-No, this isn’t me coming out; sadly I’m still into men. Just… is nice to have someone complimenting me even if I’m not into girls -a change in his gaze is noticeable, and that’s what makes me realise that maybe he feels like I’m implying something else that I’m not- Anyways, I thought that she was nice and a funny anecdote. Do you want anything else to drink?
I can almost see him shaking his head to get rid of whatever was going on there and nods, chugging the remains of whiskey, which makes his Adam's apple move up and down. He has a nice side profile, I’ll admit that too.
Once we have refilled our vases, we start a little conversation about our works and how excited he is that his first mixtape is in the final steps to be published. Only the photos and the design of the cover are missing, which will be arranged on Friday morning, previous to the gala.
-I can’t believe that you didn’t let me listen to it.
-I want you to see the final product, to see the full concept like the rest.
-Still… I can’t believe that you are doing this to your very first fan. I guess from now I will have to fight with all your new fans for a little attention.
-Like you ever had it… -he smirks and I hit him in the arm.
-Maybe I should start stanning other rappers, Namjoon is doing great with his mixtape. At least he appreciates me a little bit.
-Yeah, he would appreciate having you under his sheets. Well, he and the rest of the boys of the studio.
-Don’t be silly, we are just friends.
-Yeah, because no friends in history have ever hooked up, right?
-Not me at least.
-Because you are good at friend-zoning without even noticing. It’s really fun to watch them all try to have a date with you. I will tell you more, we have a bet going on.
-What? Stop joking.
His gaze is devilish, but his face remains serious; that’s how I know that he is being honest. He funnily grins while drinking and I just blush.
-Seriously? I don’t know Yoongi, that seems fake.
-Kinda is, kinda not. At the start, when they first meet you, they, believe it or not, wanted you as something more than a friend. After some time trying and failing, they accepted that it was impossible. However, it is still a joke to make moves on you to see if you notice but I know that if you give them any signal, they would be moving their tails like the dogs they are.
-That's what the bet is about? For how long has it been going on?
.Around… I don’t know. Two years maybe?
To say that I'm speechless is an understatement.
-Who’s in that bet?
-All the group?
-Even… you?
-I guess… but I like to think of myself as a judge in all this. It wouldn’t be fair to them if I played at their level since I’m your best friend.
-Oh my god, you are so full of yourself.
-Why?
-You think you can win against the others with that dumpling-like skin and that skinny body of yours? You wouldn’t be able to handle me. Jungkook or Namjoon? Definitely.
-I would prove it to you, but once you get a taste… you can’t go anywhere else.
Scarlet cheeks are my only answer to that.
-And what’s the prize of that bet?
-Free pass with you if you want it too.
-Ugh, and you are part of that?
-Now you are the one full of herself. If I win maybe I’ll be able to trade that for some equipment my studio is missing.
-I’m not an object you can use to “trade”.
-Of course you aren’t. Of course.
He pats my head messily and I can see a glint of fun in his eyes, which in Yoongi’s language means that he feels a little tipsy. He’s not the touchy type at least he has some alcohol flowing through him.
Honestly, I know that I should be a little angry with this whole bet thing but I am not. Yes, is a little weird that all of them are in this but at the same time… I know they would never hurt me or take advantage of me in that way. Also, I have to admit that sometimes I do second checks of them because… holy cow, they seem like some greek marble-carved figurines that came to life. So.. am I the one to blame?
Not to mention how lovely and protective of me they all are; I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have had their support for whatever stupid thing I was trying or a warm hug if I needed it. I guess this thing is a friendly joke I wasn’t aware of but thanks to alcohol-induced honesty in Yoongi…I’m going to have MY fun with it.
-Now that you have told me this, who has won? You are destroying it.
-I suppose the first you flirt back to and I told you because… two years?? At this point, we all know that the bet was never going to end. Why? Now that you know, is your interest in any of those assholes?
-Maybe…
-Who? -I know this caught him by surprise.
-You will have to give me more drinks and a couple of dances to know that. Decide your strategy while my trip to the bathroom -I laugh at him and make my way to the service room.
I’m not interested in any of them, but as I said, it’s my turn to have some fun with it and poor Yoongi, he’s my first victim. We have some bond to do to look like a couple, right? Well, I will take this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
->Chapter 2
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Thank you so much @gaslybottoms for tagging me to answer these🩷
1. Do you make your bed? I normally only fold my blanket at the bottom of my bed but my pillows have to stay the same. I need them in a very specific way and I normally hate changing my sheets because that means that they will be all fluffy and not lying there perfectly for the next night.
2. Favourite number? I hoenstly don't know. I think I'm very basic and say it's 1 or 2... I've played football with the number 1 for almost my whole life so I guess that one a little more...
3. What’s your job? I don't currently have a job really. I help out at my fathers company but I'm still at university.
4. If you could go back to school, would you? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I loved seeing my freinds every day and we had lots of fun and I got along great with most of my teachers. I don't really miss the lessons that didn't interest me.
5. Can you parallel park? mostly yes, it depends on the car i'm driving and which side of the road I have to park on.
6. Do you think aliens are real? I do believe that there is something out there. The universe is just too huge for us to be the only planet that has life. But i don't think they look simialr to how media is picturing them. I also think we might have to rethink our definition of life if we ever find some...
7. Can you drive a manual car? I can but i've not done it in a very long time.
8. Guilty pleasure? I think the fact that I just had to goodle examples for guilty pleasures tells you enough... (It told me a glass of wine in the evening or crisps during a diet... I do both of those things but I wouldn't call them guilty pleasures. So, no I don't have any)
9. Tattoos? I don't have any
10. Favourite colour? yellow (fun fact: I din't like yellow but then I felt bad because everyone I knew hated on it so I decided to make it my favourite colour...)
11. Favourite type of music? that's a hard one. I listen to basically everything I guess. With my team I listen to german drinking songs a lot. 2000s and 2010s are up there too. Rock from the 60s-90s. Whenever I do sports I like to listen to techno or remixes of songs. And on some days I just feel classical music the most and go wild to that.
12. Do you like puzzles? Yes, i'd say so. I don't do them that often though.
13. Favourite childhood sport? Football.
14. Do you talk to yourself? Oh for sure. Mostly to entertain myself but also when I have to work through something.
15. Tea or coffee? Tea if I have to choose but I barely drink both of them.
16. First thing you wanted to be when growing up? marine biologist I think, I jsut wanted to work with animals.
17. What movies do you adore? Mary Poppins is one of my all time favourites. I love romcoms, sometimes it's everything I need to make myself feel better.
I'm no-pressure-tagging @hrhgeorgerussell @albonoooo @duquesademiel @yukierres @your-littlesecret @chaesonghwas 🩷❤️
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Master post of my WL
I relapsed and b/p, and it was bad, I didn't expect to still purg2 HF after all this time.
It's got to stop, now. I started a fast, and my goal is AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE. 1 day, good, 2 days, better, 3 days, perfect
I need to have control, I need to be perfect
New goals:
CW: 68.3 kg
67
66
65
64
63
62
61
Gw: 60 kg
59
58
57
56
Gw1: 55 kg
54
53
52
51
Gw2: 50 kg
49
49
47
46 (LW)
Ugw: 45 kg
15.10.24
I started fasting yesterday and I'm now over 24 hours, I don't know wether to stop or keep going since I've got a full work day tomorrow but we'll see. For now I'm hungry but it is manageable, I did an everything shower and went grocery shopping, here's a picture
I got for me:
• free range eggs (20 eggs lol)
• frozen butternut squash soup (2 packs)
• carrots
• striped eggplants
• 1kg of cherry tomatoes
• lactose free yogurt (white and peach)
• almond milk
• sweet potatoes
• apples
• grana padano dop grated
For my fiancée I got:
• sun dried tomatoes
• chicken kebab
• freshly cut bacon
• beer (2 beers)
• Tomo biscuit yogurt
And right now I made curry fish and potatoes for him and I should make something for me as well, but you know, I'm not really sure that's a good idea
16.10.24
Finally, FINALLY!! I'M NORMAL WEIGHT EVERYBODY CLAP! I'm so happy!! I've been overweight and obese for 2 and a half years and finally, I'm starting to really, really lock in.
My plan for these days is going to be this one:
- today I ate breakfast and lunch, now I'm starting a fast and I plan to not eat dinner and tomorrow use the "but I'm so nauseous I don't want to follow my meal plan, just this once" excuse with my fiancée, and skip to lunch, in which I plan to have boiled sweet potatoes and I'm considering peas to make it vegan, and some spices (most likely will post a pic). For dinner I pray that my stomach issues will come again (ofc they will), if not I'll have a salad with lettuce, tomato and feta cheese (meal plan also needs avocado but no way in hell I'm consuming that many cals)
My wish is for tomorrow to be 67.2 kg or you know, even less 😍
Skinny I'm comingggggg
[edit]
Home right now, it's 8:30 pm and I'm soooo tired like devastated, I worked 8 hours and also did my driving lesson, now I made a dirty plate and I'm doom scrolling Tumblr ihih, I told my fiancée I ate a delicious healthy and filling dinner and now it's time to gorge on sparkling water and hot tea.
I'm starting to feel less and less hungry, yesterday I did 25 hours, I hope to be able to do that soon. My fiancée is the only problem: he knows I was ed'ed, and he's very attentive and able to catch signs. When he works, I can fast and restrict really good, but when he's home, he's always there overseeing all the foods, and not in a controlling way, he's just worried and he loves me... But please let me starve in peace!!!
Also came home, weighed in and I'm still 67.5kg and that means that by skipping dinner I am waking up thinner for real.
🕯️67kg 🕯️
🕯️67kg 🕯️
🕯️67kg 🕯️
I love my ed so much, it's my only real and true love, forever until the end <3
17.10.24
I've been fighting with my fiancée for almost a whole day and I cannot stand it anymore, I can't stand HIM anymore. I won't get into too much detail but just know he's not been the greatest these few days, I feel as if I'm crazy and I'm a mean bitch for the things I've said. Sorry you're so fucking perfect.
When we fight so hard I really want to either:
⭐ve to de*th
Be a pig and eat
Now I'm choosing to restrict and lie so much about everything. Yesterday I skipped dinner and now I had my breakfast (320 cals) and I made him super greasy and fatty pasta with sauce and veggies but made it extra calorific so that he will gain some weight and (very twisted) have my revenge and make him fat.
His BMI is 19.5 and I'm 24.6 of BMI, there's a whole 5,1 points in between us. I gotta get to his BMI and prove him I'm also worthy of respect, also seeing him worry will have an ego boosting effect and that sounds terrific
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Tuesday, September 24, 2024
I am posting this early so it gets posted today. I have not posted in a week, when I committed to posting at least twice a week. Last week was extremely busy, and this week will be too.
Over the weekend, I volunteered at the mission (Friday and Saturday) for seven hours total, and on Sunday, we had the family kickoff event for Girl Scouts which brought the whole troop together and our families to discuss the year and fellowship. It was a lot of fun!
Yesterday, I volunteered for two hours at the library, and when I got home from dance, I logged into my game for about 45 minutes to chat with friends and relax before finishing getting ready for bed. I normally wouldn't game through the week, but I needed it last night. It was a long day, so I think I deserved the gaming break.
Like I said, this week is also very busy, so I will try to post again this week, but if this is my only one, you all know why. Even now I am a bit tired, and I still have dance tonight to get through. Usually I find energy at ballet, so I am sure I will tonight too. It's another one of my fun places!
Tasks Completed:
Algebra 2 - Learned how to divide polynomials using long division + practice
American Literature - Copied vocabulary terms + read about different types of rhyme + looked over SOAPSTONE notes template for Poetry Explication Essay (due 10/11) + continued looking at possible poets (I think I'm leaning towards Sarah Helen Whitman since it has to be an American poet in a time period that's been studied and I would like to focus on a female poet.)
Spanish 3 - Watched video on future tense + practice simple future
Bible 2 - Read 1 Kings 17
Early American History - Read about the Proclamation of 1763 + read "The Second Hundred Years War" + answered study guide questions
Earth Science with Lab - Read over chapter 18 questions + read article on the formation of the Grand Canyon
Music Appreciation - Copied major necessary terms from the first part of the T section of the music dictionary
Khan Academy - Completed US History Unit 3: Lesson 1.2 + completed Algebra 2 Unit 4: Lesson 2 and 3.1-3.3
Duolingo - Studied for approximately 30 minutes (Spanish + French + Chinese) + completed daily quests
Piano - 60-minute piano lesson + practiced for two hours
Reading - Read pages 412-445 of Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe
Chores - Laundry + took trash and recycling out
Activities of the Day:
September Study (John 15:12-13, John 3:16, 1 John 2:2, Galatians 5:14, Romans 13:8-10, John 13:35, 1 Corinthians 13:5, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Peter 4:10, Galatians 6:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Titus 3:2, Matthew 5:23-24, Ephesians 4:32)
Personal Bible Study (Galatians 5)
Ballet
Pointe
Journal/Mindfulness
#study blog#study inspiration#study motivation#studyblr#studyblr community#study community#study-with-aura
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lgbtmi asked:
"42-48 for noa, 60-66 for parvati? :> or if you'd rather answer them for another oc then feel free to! have fun with it!"
((It wouldn't let me properly answer your ask, so I'm making it a post, thank you!)) Wow so many!! Thank you gorgeous! I'm definitely going to answer these beneath a break because I'm long-winded!
42. can they dance? 43. how much do they know about the world they live in? 44. what lies do they tell others? 45. what lies do they tell themselves? 46. have they taught themselves any skills just for fun? 47. what could they talk about for hours on end? 48. do they relate to anyone in their group? conversely, which person do they relate to the least?
60. what do they have faith in? what keeps them believing? 61. is there an in-game moment of theirs you think about and just laugh? 62. do they believe in good and evil? 63. what’s a meme or tiktok or vine (or whatever) that you associate with them? 64. how would a party member describe them? 65. what would their go-to karaoke song be? 66. which fruit do they like most?
NOA: 42. can they dance? Noa was raised with all sorts of private manners and etiquette lessons! She can dance most classic, proper dances - the Slow Waltz, the Tango, the Quickstep. In a ballroom, she'd probably be a pretty decent dance partner! Otherwise, she can kind of get her groove going to the fun music of the era she's in, but she's so gunshy it would probably come off too awkward. If she had Nyth with her, she'd probably be a lot more loose and fun because she'd be able to focus on him being a MUCH better dancer. If they're giggling together, then how can they look truly stupid? 43. how much do they know about the world they live in? Noa knows a LOT about vampirism, basically taught the moment she was ghouled at eighteen about the inner workings of the Giovanni clan and their practices. She can tell you about their histories, their traditions, their differences, the works. However! The world outside of her family compound is a different story. She gets glimpses when she gets a chaperoned outing or two, but ultimately Noa is normally behind on current events. When she and Nyth escape the Sabbat attack on her family home and they're forced to see the world outside... it's a rude awakening. After this shakeup, Noa definitely tries to read a paper or watch the news, but she definitely is so lost in her own sauce that even then she's still incredibly insular and inattentive to the greater world. 44. what lies do they tell others? Noa isn't really a liar, but she will definitely hold herself back a LOT. So if someone with power over her is rude, is doing something she doesn't like, etc, she will bite her tongue. Being okay with certain actions even if it's hurting her or insulting her would be the biggest lie she could tell. 45. what lies do they tell themselves? She often tells herself that whatever her family is doing is okay. It serves a greater purpose. They're just testing her. Another lie would be that her older brother Quino truly has her best interests at heart. He DOES, but he's also overly self-serving. 46. have they taught themselves any skills just for fun? Noa has had lots of various skill training, but something she took on herself was learning Elvish from Nythanel because it was fun to have a secret code to share. Also his alchemy journal had Elvish in it, so if she were to ever read it, she would need to know it! She also gets her official mortician's license in later nights, may as well, right? 47. what could they talk about for hours on end? Noa could go on and on about Vampirism and Necromancy and the Afterlife for hours if you let her! You probably shouldn't, it's pretty disheartening. Especially when she sounds like a sweet and excited teenager who should instead be talking about whatever the latest pop boy group is. 48. do they relate to anyone in their group? conversely, which person do they relate to the least? Noa has a very small group, but of course Nythanel is the one she resonates with the most. He is her BEST friend, and probably her only real-real friend. He knows her heart deeply. She probably relates the least to their ghoul Julian, who is a big lummox she can barely stand. It's not the poor guy's fault, Noa is just incredibly high maintenance with standards he could never hope to achieve in the position he's in.
PARVATI: 60. what do they have faith in? what keeps them believing? Parvati is a Ravnos that is a Follower of Set, so she does believe and give praise to Set. She's even met him in person! But what keeps her going the most is her husband Harri's staunch belief. She can peer into the man's mind, and she knows that even though he outwardly is a liar, too talkative, too charismatic, a schemer... he BELIEVES. And if someone like Harrakhty Hamdi can truly have faith, then that in itself is inspirational enough for her. 61. is there an in-game moment of theirs you think about and just laugh? HA. Okay. So. Parvati at this point was an NPC on a New York VTM server I was a Storyteller on. A problematic player built a backstory where his Tzimisce character (this is his second one, first one he retired after messing up pretty badly) knew her and loved her, and also it allowed him access to the Setite cult when his character was entered into the game. The other Storytellers allowed this, but us (me and my husband also an ST) had the caveat that the Setites owned this player's heart so he can't get too uppity with this power access and try to diablerize these low-gen Elders, etc etc. Everyone was fine with this, BUT then suddenly when the character was in play, the player got mad that he didn't have a heart and immediately tried to argue with the leaders of the Setites (Parvati and Harri) to get his heart back - even though this was the trade off for having access to very low-gen Elders. He later in-game threatened Parvati - Harri wasn't in the room - by putting his hands on her neck and telling her he would destroy her haven entirely if she did not give up the heart. By the way, to set the scene real quick - Parvati had an illusion over her room to look like a beautiful forest with a lovely babbling brook nearby. Now, I'm pretty sure this guy had intended this to be horny and sexy threatening... but this was so dumb right? He was a very angry and horny player, which I can normally let slide, but he was actively threatening the Hierophant's wife and putting his hands on her. Well Parvati in this game was a Sixth Generation Ravnos with high Chimerstry, so she just made him think he had set himself on fire. The player asks me what he can do, he failed his rolls and is experiencing Rotschrek, then I said "welp there's a nice river right there." So he in a huff has his character dive head first into the river, which of course isn't real, and he cracks his head open on her hard-wood floor and also thanks to thinking he's on fire, he goes into torpor. Funniest shit ever. He wasn't a good sport about the situation but he at least knew what to do when it was presented to him. Hahaha 62. do they believe in good and evil? Parvati firmly believes that Nature is Neutral... though she's witnessed and performed some pretty cruel acts. But she's not a nice lady. 63. what’s a meme or tiktok or vine (or whatever) that you associate with them? "In all ways except physical, I am a wolf tiger." 64. how would a party member describe them? They'd probably comment on her beauty first, then on how unnervingly quiet and ruthless she is. Would no doubt fall back on the "like a tiger" thing. 65. what would their go-to karaoke song be? Ignoring the fact Parvati would probably not be singing at all (Queen No Fun!) I could definitely see her being your mom who brings up an old song from the golden era of movies to sing. 66. which fruit do they like most? Parvati doesn't eat anything other than blood these days, but she in life loved a good melon. Definitely despises figs.
#lgbtmi#TAHNK YOU STUNNING!#ask game#oc ask game#answered asks#noa#noa hidalgo#parvati#vampire the masquerade#vtm#vtm oc#long post#ravnos#giovanni#hecata#world of darkness
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You know what, fuck it, TC2 headcanons-Offense
Note: these headcanons will try and organize to each class, then misc for all 3.
Flanker
Around 18 ish
Probably named Apollo or Jackson
Very much a Gen Z kiddo
Shares stupid memes to his co-workers all the time.
He not very socially aware of others and likes to be in the center of the world
He's not really great at recognizing others' emotions.
Flanker is still in high school
Yes, he does sleep with 4 plushies on his bed
Yes, he does watch Mr. Beast
You can not understand his messages on discord.
He uses words shorthands like 4ever and text lingo.
He has a sonic oc
His name is Theroux the Hedgehog
Has a very bad relationship with his mother so he lives with his dad.
His dad thinks his mercenary job is a fast food job
I feel he definitely needs some life lessons, but due to his dad being protective of him, which pushed him to go to his mercenary job. He just wanted freedom in his own life.
He's kinda worried about life later one due to failing in school and worrying to help his dad.
Trooper
In his late 60s and early 70s
Jackie is his nickname, but Jackson Smith is his full name.
Hes very grumpy, all the time he has a resting bitch face.
Hes also autistic but never got diagnosed so he just like "I'm the most normal person here"
He has grandkids but they never come and see him
Lives in a nursing home due to this
Anni was a helper for the home and they became good friends
Anni is kinda a mentor for him
If he and soldier met, they would be father and son
Trooper has a lovely singing voice, just hates singing in front of others
Pro bingo player and has won 5 weeks in a row once
Loves dogs expically Hounds
Sees the tc2 mercs as "troublesome kids"
He has a lot of toxic masculinity and perfectionism. He needs others to fully follow his commands and has trouble working with others even though he was in war.
Though he's a very good ally to his friends/team, thinks of them as a second family
Very close to Annihilator, always by his side
Arsonist
Not autistic- because robot
Was originally a fire fighting bot that was decommissioned for causing more fires than stopping them
Mechanic bought them for like a cent as scarp but learned they were alive
Lives in the base with Mechanic who lives in a cleaning closet
They have a database on their teammates with heath and personal data mainly being saved
Basically knows everyone secrets because everyone thinks they don't save memories like those
Also the main person who gets vented too
Even tho they don't understand, they try to help get the tc2 mercs through anything they need
This includes autistic help with over simulation.
Can warm up body to create a small heated blanket affect
Their also a divorce lawyer on the side and helped Doc and Brute get a divorce
They don't have alot of goals programed into them but they do have one
"Protect the Mercs at any cost"
They seem to consider them their family
Tho seemed the the persumed idea because they don't make it clear
Their we go! Idk when im gonna be able to do defense or support but i hand!
@seahdalune for tags
#typical colors 2#tc2#flanker#trooper#arsonist#roblox#flanker tc2#trooper tc2#arsonist tc2#new personal tag time i guess#talkin about blocks#their
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100 hours of Thai listening comprehension
I did just talk bout my one month milestone which was 60 hours so it's not like I feel much different, but supposedly I should know around ~300 words now. Do I? I have no idea because this isn't a method that lends it self to tracking and testing. I am pretty good at colors, numbers, animals, family and food so I guess that's about right. I can feel my listening comprehension improving week by week when I watched subtitled BL. I believe this would be A1 CEFR, but only for listening. No speaking, reading, or writing.
I'm probably more advanced than 100hrs would normally would be since I would estimate I've watched 350+ hours of Thai BL (yikes!). But I don't count that since I wasn't paying attention to the language, and even now if I watch something with subtitles I'm mostly learning subtitles. I can definitely understand the words I know when I hear them in BL and not just in the context of the lessons. There are some words that I recognize as distinct words, but I'm still trying to figure out what the heck they mean.
I'm avoiding watching Thai BL for the most part, since I'm kind of saving it all for later when I understand even more. Right not it's only Laws of Attraction. Knowing family words helped with the very poor subtitles though, so my time is paying off.
I am very bored of watching videos like Guess The Fruit and look forward to being able to watch more advanced ones about Thai culture and stuff, but that's a ways off. Watching BL without subtitles (not in the sense of understanding all the words, but being able to follow the plot) would I think take almost a year, even at my current pace, which is absolutely going to be unsustainable when we hit fall. But I keep thinking of that meme 'the time will pass anyway.'
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unit 3 baby
just as uneddited as everything else. I'm tired.
Ahsoka rocked on her feet for a moment, her arms tucked across her chest. She worried about her lip for a moment before she spoke. “Look, I have a good excuse this time,” she explained
“For yet another last minute lecture?” Rex gave the little padawan the flattest look she’d ever received
“In my defense, I had an exam less than a ten-day ago and I’ve got another one already! I didn’t have TIME to set up a class!” Ahsoka insisted, rocking forward to stand on her toes. Rex raised an eyebrow. “And I only have a few days until the final! I have five days until my final and one day until my next exam. I know we’ve got a campaign coming up but I still have classes!”
“Alright, Commander, we can do a lesson. Most of the boys are busy preparing for our next deployment right now, that includes myself. I'll see who’s available, but it’ll be a small class this time, most of the boys will be sad they missed it.” Rex sighed and rolled his shoulders as he relented.
“That’s alright!” Ahsoka announced “I’ll record it for them!” her captain could only shake his head as she smiled.
In the end, Jessie, Kix, and Echo had shown up, although they’d been forced to take a room near medbay to compensate for the chaos of getting ready for the campaign.
“Alright, we're dealing with animals! And how they work”Ahsoka chirped “all animals are similar in terms of how they exchange materials, obtain energy, synthesize complex molecules, detect and respond to signals and reproduce themselves. There are differences in the overall systems but they do those things. There’s a general pattern which goes, "cell, tissue organ, organ system.”
Kix muttered under his breath “cells make up tissues which make up organs which make up organs systems”
“Yeah, exactly. You’re probably going to know a lot about this unit already Kix because it’s a lot of stuff that’s fairly useful for medical… uh medical stuff” Ahsoka amdited, the clone in question nodded
“Well that just means I can help you memorize it all.” The pair smiled and Jessie gave Kix a playful shove.
“Do you know the four tissue types Kix?”
“Uh, whas it muscle, nervous, epithelial, and connective?”
“Yup!!”
Echo muttered ‘show off’ under his breath, but refrained from saying anything further on the topic
“I know what each tissue does too. Muscle tissue is for movement, nervous dose signaling, epithelial dose transport and connective tissue is weird because it includes stuff you think of as connective tissue, and also blood and stuff like that.”
“Right again Kix, do you know what a normal temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure is?”
“Stop asking questions only Kix knows the answer too.” Echo muttered
“Really, I’m supposed you don’t know that one Echo, seems like the bit of random information you’d have,” Jessie admitted
“Yeah, I do know it, but the question was directed to Kix and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of us don’t know these things, even though we’re supposed to.”
“I do know them!” Jessie insisted
“Wanna answer the question for me then?” Kix called, cutting off the argument at its head.
“Oh yeah sure, uhh average resting body temperature is 35-28 or 95-100 depending on the temperature scale, resting heart-rate is 60-100 BPM, and blood pressure is about 120/80, for humans at least, I think we have a slower resting heart-rate, and blood pressure, and I’m not sure at all about togruta, but I’m sure Kix knows.”
“It’s in your file, Commander, I make it a point to read all the medical files of every species on the ship.”
“This class is on Naboo so we’re focusing on humans and gungans, but I’ve got the gungan stuff memorized since it was easier than humans.” Ahsoka admitted. “Anyways, we’re going to cover the heat exchange now. There's four ways to exchange heat with the environment: radiation, evaporation, conduction, and convection. The first two are easy but conduction and convection is something I mix up a lot, conduction is heat exchange through direct contact whereas convection is a transfer of heat through a fluid, so air or water or something like that.”
“Ah, I’m afraid I don’t really have a good mnemonic to help with that one, I just sorta had to practice it.” Kix admitted
“Yea, I was afraid of that, anyways there’s something called countercurrent exchange which is a fairly easy concept to understand. They put two blood tubes next to each other and have one carrying the warm blood, and another has cold blood so the warm blood constantly cools. It can be used for other stuff as well, like for transfer of oxygen. Do you know the fluids in human blood?”
“Yeah” Kix cut in before anyone could “extracellular fluid, plasma, and intercellular fluid, you’ve got those liquids two, Commander, the extracellular fluid is outside, and has plasma and interstitial fluid, intracellular fluids are separated by cell membranes. Blood is also made of red blood cells or erythrocytes, white blood cells leukocytes, and platelets”
“That's true, although the details about blood cells are coming later. For now we cover the fluids and now we talk about fish, freshwater fish do not drink because they’re in a hypotonic environment, and the saltwater fish drink seawater because they’re in a hypertonic environment.”
“Which one are gungans?”
“Well… they live in oceans, but they’re amphibious so… neither?” Ahsoka shook her head “anyways next lecture.”
“Next lecture already?”
“This unit has both the easiest and most complex stuff in the class, or at least, the easiest and most complex stuff so far.”
“So what’s this chapter on?”
“Circulatory system tms, an open circulatory system as hemolymph, and what happens is that the creature basically dumps their blood into body cavities. It's got a low energy requirement but it also means they can't direct blood to specific areas. Blood is a connective tissue, as Kix mentioned previously, but it's got nutrients that wastes oxygen and carbon dioxide. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins carry blood towards the heart, so arterie away is a good way to remember it! Capillaries are exchange sites so blood can flow through a tissue or organ.”
“Arterie away is a great way to remember it, I didn’t think of that” Kix admitted, and Jessie and Echo cheered. Causing Ahsoka to blush as she continued.
“Single circulation vs double circulation, in single circulation which happens for fishes has a heart with a single filling chamber and a single exit chamber, the filling chamber is atrium and the exit is the ventricle, I need to remember that for later. Anyways in double circulation which is crocodilians, birds, and mammals, has four chambers and two circuits, the pulmonary and systemic circulation, amphibians and most reptiles have an intermediate type of circulation so it’s a mix of both, I’d bet this is what gungans have, but I’m not entirely sure.”
“Are you not going in depth on gugnans?”
“To be honest, we’re not going that in-depth about any species, the only reason I even know what applies to humans and what's generalized for mamilains is that everyone ends up learning a little human biology by proxy. Besides, there’s a lot of debate about the taxonomy of nonhumans…. Anyways this is where we get to the parts of blood Kix, wanna help me with this?”
“Sure commander!”
“There’s 55% what in blood?”
“Plasma”
“And 44%?”
“Erythrocytes, or red blood cells.”
“The two remaining ones are both less than one percent.”
“Leukocytes, white blood cells, and platelets.”
“Perfect!” Ahsoka chimed and the other two clones muttered that Kix was a show off and huffed in playful faux irritation. Kix preened despite himself and continued right along.
“Platelets stick to each other and broken vessels to make a plug if there’s a hole, and thrombocytes are intact cells used in formation of blood clots but those are other vertebrates not humans, well, it depends, Togruta have platelets.”
“While you’re showing off, do you want to go over the path blood takes in the heart?”
Kix smiled wryly “of course, deoxygenated blood goes to the superior and inferior venae cavae, and then to the right atrium, then to the right AV valve, then the right ventricle, semilunar valve, pulmonary trunk and then to the lungs. By contrast Oxygenated blood goes through the pulmonary veins, the left atrium, the left AV valve, the left ventricle then the semilunar valve, aorta and to the body.”
“Perfect, I’ve been having trouble with that, I think it’s just something I need to memorize. Anyways, wanna know something interesting? Vertebrates have a myogenic heart, it receives signals from the SA node and the pulse is taken in the AV node, and the heart can keep beating after you die, or outside the body if you do it right.”
“Creepy” Echo muttered
“Cardiac cycle next.” Ahsoka muttered “there’s two phases, another thing I just need to memorize, the diastole is when the muscle relaxes and the chamber is filling, and the systole muscle is contracting and the camber is emptying.”
“Yeah, we were just trained for rote memorization, I’m not necessarily one for mnemonics' ' Kix admitted.
“Pressure is highest during the ventricular systole, and the lowest during the diastole. And we’ve gotta talk about electrocardiograms now or ECG or EKGs so that’s exciting. The P wave is the atrial excitation, the QRS complex is ventricular excitation and the T wave is resetting the ventricles back to their resting state.” Ahsoka took a breath. The lymphatic system returns interstitial fluid to the blood, and the lymph nodes act like filters. Veins have valves so vein valves. Oh now we have math! Blood flow is equal to the change in pressure over resistance. Arterioles have smooth muscles in walls that are under the control of the autonomic nervous system. And we move on to respiration.”
“Wow you’re just going over all the topics in this unit.” Echo muttered
“At least it’s not plant sex again.” all three shuttered, that unit was a nightmare Ahsoka cleared her throat “alright, so the exchange of O2 and CO2, t depends on how soluble glasses are in water, if there’s partial pressure it’s the proportion of the total pressure exeter by a gas in a mixture and partial pressure is the force behind diffusion. On Naboo the air is composed of 78% nitrogen 21% oxygen 1% carbon dioxide and other gasses. At sea level the atmospheric pressure is 760 mmHg, pressure and volume are inversely related and this is called Boyle’s law, supposedly someone on Alderon came up with that a few thousand years ago, but no one’s quite sure who Boyle was. Alright! The path of air through the mammalian system, Kix wanna try it out?”
“Mouth or nose, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli; the alveoli are where gas exchange happens, and each lung has a pleural sac which is a double layer of thin connective tissues to protect the lungs. The inner layer is attached to the surface of the lungs and the other layer is attached to the chest wall. Humans aren't great at using their whole lung capacity, and tidal volume is the mount of air breathed in and out at rest it’s about 0.5 L”
“Thanks Kix! Ok, oxygen is dissolved in bloody fluids, and respiratory pigments are oxygen binding proteins, in vertebrate hemoglobin has four polypeptide subunits, each unit has heme molecules and an atom of iron is bound to the heme. Breathing is controlled by the respiratory center in the brain, so if you die your lungs won’t keep going, and while most of the time breathing is automatic we can also control it, unlike what happens with the heart which we can’t continuously control, thank the force.”
“Yeah, that’d be a nightmare,” Jessie agreed
“Yeah, speaking of nightmares, the digestive system. We need organic and inorganic substances to survive, and digestion happens in four phases: ingestion, digestion, absorption and egestion. There are five organic nutrients, five macronutrients and two micronutrients. Anyone know what they are?”
“Macronutrients are carbohydrates, lipids and proteins, micronutrients are nucleic acids, and vitamins!” Jessie called before anyone could interrupt him. Echo huffed and Kix rolled his eyes.
“Extra energy is stored in glycogen for the short term and triglycerides in the long term. Most long term energy is stored as lipids which are fats and oils, saturated lipids are solid at room temperature and unsaturated lipids are liquid at room temperature. Catabolism is when the subunits are released by digestion into circulation and anabolism is when cells use these subunits as a building block to assemble the macromolecules. Does anyone know the types of essential nutrients there are?”
“Essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals” Echo cut off, a little too proud of himself.
“The essential amino acids are Methionine, valine, threonine, phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, tryptophan, lysine, and histidine.” Kix interrupted
“Ok wheel there’s two essential fatty acids, Linoleic acid and alpha linoleic acids.” Jessie cut in
“Boys” Ahsoka muttered
“There's two types of vitamins!” Echo interrupted “water or lipid soluble.”
Kix spoke over his brother “the water soluble vitamins are biotin, folic acid, niacin which is B3, pantothenic or B5, vitamin B1 and B2 and B6 and B12 and vitamin C”
“Boys” Ahsoka said a little louder
“The lipid soluble ones are vitamin A, D, E and K” Jessie bragged
“Boys!” Ahsoka sighed
“Ok well-”
“The required minerals are Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Sodium which are needed in large amounts!” Ahsoka cut off, and her trooper ducked their heads in embarrassment.
“Sorry commander” they all muttered, although they glared at each other from the corners of their eyes as they spoke
“The minerals needed in small amounts are Chromium, cobalt, copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, and Zinc” Ahsoka continued, she shook her head but couldn't help the smile that lit up her face. “You guys can participate--I want you to participate, but I do need to explain things, that’s how I’m learning this by teaching it, it’s one of the best ways to learn.”
“I know Commander,” Echo huffed. “We just got… competitive”
“I know, and I’m impressed by how well you guys know this, I’m sure you would ace this exam. I’m not so sure about myself, but I know you don't really need this class, I do.”
“If I’m being honest Commander…” Jessie trailed off “I went over some of this stuff before the lesson, because I wanted to be able to participate more.” Echo made a face and nodded.
“R-really?” Ahsoka asked.
“Oh yeah, the boys have been in and out of med-bay for the past week, they all wanted to be more active during your lectures.” Kix confirmed, “it’s been useful for me too.”
Ahoska flushed, she hadn’t realized just how much her troopers looked forward to this. “I-I appreciate it, just… maybe don’t get carried away with it next time” she cleared her throat “uh-anyways, most animals have alimentary canals which are tubes with special regions and openings at opposite ends, they have smooth muscle, epithelial cells, and regions with acidic environments that can be separated from the non acidic environments. If you want to show off, can anyone tell me which parts of the digestive system are accessory structures?”
“Tongue, teeth” Kix started
“Salivary glands, liver, gallbladder” Echo continued
“And the pancreas” Jessie finished.
“Perfectly, the accessory organs are the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus. Birds have something called a crop, this allows them to store food, they’re in most birds and a lot of invertebrates, the food is softened by a watery secretion and then later they can actually eat it. Pepsinogen is secreted in its inactive form and is changed to pepsin in the stomach. Birds have two parts of their stomach, the gizzard which grinds food, and the proventriculus which secretes acid and enzymes.”
“Birds are weird,” Jessie squinted.
Ahsoka nodded. “Unfortunately we need to move onto something that’s mildly gross, ruminant animals, which sort of digest things twice, tis allows for the digestion of cellulose which vertebrates cannot break down, the rumen and the reticulum act as storage and processing sites, the osman absorbs some water and ions, and the abomasum is the ‘true stomach’ where avid and stuff happens most digestion and absorption occurs in the small intestine, and it's covered in cillus which are little hairs that increase the surface area.”
“That makes it so it can better asrob stuff right?” Jessie asked
“That’s right, the Duodenum is acidic, the arrival of chyme triggers the release of hormones that regulate the pancreas, then the cholecystokinin stimulates the pancreas and liver to secrete a mix of digestive enzymes into the intensten, secretin stimulates the pancreas to release bicarbonate. In omnivores most ingested carbohydrates are starch cellulose and glycogen. Pancreatic amylase digests nearly all starch and glycogen. The liver secretes bile salts that emulsify lipids into small drops, most ingested lipids are formed of triglycerides, and they break down in the pancreatic lipase.” Ahsoka huffed “does anyone know what Insulin and Glucagon does?”
Kix smiled “regulates blood nutrient levels. When blood glucose rises insulin is released and stimulates cells to take up glucose.”
“Perfect, and now we more unto the excretory system,”
“And you said the rumen was gross.” Echo muttered
“This isn’t that bad, don’t worry” Ahsoka muttered “ok so the excretory system includes all tissues and organs of animals that function to remove soluble wastes from the body and to regulate water and iron ballance so it includes the gills, lungs, skin and kidneys. Nitrogenous wastes that are usually found in either ammonium, urea, or uric acid, they go from most toxic to lease toxic, but inversely they also go from least energy necessary to most energy necessary, most aquatic animals have ammonia, where mammals have urea and birds, insects and most reptiles have uric acid.”
Ahsoka continued “the kidney filters organs that eliminates wastes in all vertebrates, and in mammals the urinary system includes the kidneys ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra. We’re going to talk about filtration that occurs in the renal corpuscle, then reabsorption and secretion which occur in the renal tube. There’s a thing called a bowman's capsule, and it’s uh a little ball thing in the center of the sture, the tubule is organized into the proximal tubule, loop of henle and distal tubule. There’s some useful solutes that are reabsorbed from the filtrate, like Ca Na K, Cl, and HCO3 as well as nutrients like glucose, amino acids and vitamins. Aldosterone is a hormone produced by adrenal glands that regulates Na and K levels by stimulating Na reabsorption and K secretion. Antidiuretic Hormone ADH acts to increase the number of aquaporins which lets more water in.”
“That’s a lot of chemicals, that seems like a lot to remember for your exam Commander.” Jessie muttered.
“That’s alright, we’re onto the last section which is the easiest, and it’s population ecology.”
“What exactly is ecology again?” Jessie asked
“It’s the scientific study of interaction, well interactions between living organisms and living stuff and their environments. It goes in layers, individuals, then the population which is a group of individuals, and a community which is all the interacting populations of different species in a specific area. Populations have different grouping, Nabboean water wolves travel in packs, but mose forage alone. Their patterns affect the ability to count them which means we don’t always know how many individuals are in the area.”
“That seems like that's inconvenient.”
“Yea, it is, so scientists do a lot to try and figure it out, like the mark-recapture method, pitfall traps, mist nets and baited traps. Animals can learn to avoid traps or may be drawn to food bated traps which ruins the randomness of the trapping methods. Mark recapture involves a little math” all the troopers groaned you have to capture tag and release animals, then reset the traps and see how many recaptures you get, then you multiply the number of marked individuals by the number caught the second time and divide it by the amount of marked individuals caught. The mark recapture method relies on three methods, that those marked are random and still reenter the population to distribute themselves randomly, that the animals will not lose their marks, and that no one will be born or die or leave between rounds.”
“Those seem like some very strict assumptions, not all of them seem feasible” Kix muttered
“No, but we have to do our best, there’s no perfect way to do this, anyways there’s also demography which is the the study of figuring out birth, death and fertility rates.there’s also different types of growth, where the exponential growth just goes up for ages and the logistic growth goes up and then bounces around a line. One of the more confusing topics in this entire unit is the density dependent, density independent thing, where if something is density independent the population will be more affected when the population gets bigger, the reverse which is just inverse density dependent is a measurement of mortality so if the mortality decreases its an inverse density dependent factor. And now we have species interactions, competition is -/- commensalism is -/0 mutualism is +/+ commensalism is +/0 and predation is +/-, I think we all know what a habitat is but does anyone wanna explain it?”
“It’s the place where animals live. Their ideal environment.” Echo chimed.
“Correct!” Ahsoka chimed “resource partitioning is when different species have different areas of resource use, interspecific competition can reduce the overlap of resource use. And that’s the last of it.”
“That’s it?” Kix asked
“Yeah, I’ve gotta study on my own now, wish me luck.” Ahsoka beamed.
“Good luck commander!” all three clones chimed.
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A Report! From Inside The Walls of Mallmart
"I was never going to get internet famous, was I?" I stare into the dark, shadowy corner of my room. It's 5am, and storm clouds are brewing over Okaloosa County. The seas are churning but still keep that odd emerald glow that we're known for. "This was just about me, selling my mortality, my soul, or whatever else was up for bargaining when I made that blood pact." Still, no answer. It's just an empty corner of my bedroom. "Well, I'm going to anyway so whatever is happening here can seem worth it. I choose to win. I choose to fight." Dead silence. It was near maddening. And then, "Honey, have you left for work yet? It's 6 o'clock."
I have never been popular. In grade school, I remember sitting around in morning meeting and just thinking about what I could say to grab people's attention. Darkwood middle school was much the same, with me trying to desperately get in with the cool crowd. Every time I opened my mouth and said something stupid, I could feel their judging gazes burrowing into my skin so I would talk more, trying to fix it. And more,
And more
And then I'd talk even more until I thought I was going to choke on it. I always made the situation worse without fail. I was a pariah. I was the goofy kid who no one wanted to hang out with. I began trading my lunch, gum, whatever I could bring into school in exchange for companionship. It never lasted, it was always short lived. As an adolescent, I was never invited to the college group chats, or parties. When I went to work, I was never invited to grab beers after the shift ended with the guys.
"I reckon it's going to rain all day," a man says, in the break rooms of Mallmart to his friend. Indeed, the clouds were darkening over the store, and I sat alone at a table, feeling painfully aware that I may have gambled away the last thing of value I had in hopes of, what?
Attention.
'Maybe it's all in my head. Maybe the other day was a string of odd coincidences. I'm fine. I'm not coming unglued. I can get back to my boring Mallmart employee life, and forget this ever happened.' so that's what I did. I stocked shelves in hba, and let my brain go blessedly blank. 'I am a good associate employee. That's all there is. There is nothing supernatural happening to me. I am normal, and that is okay.'
'If things keep going like this, I'm going to-
No.
No , no… things are fine. Don't start with that train of thought now.' But it's like a mantra in my head. Things will not get better. I don't deserve to have anything go well for me. All these anti acid pills I'm stocking, this is my life now. The heavy cloud over Mallmart is all there is to my life now. Things are always going to feel like this.
By the time the cart is empty, my head is spinning and I feel useless. I feel dead inside. I feel sick. And management is just waiting for me to screw up. I know it. I'm a screw up. The thought leaves me sweating as I head over to the palette set up.
A Lesson in Mallmart Stock handling, with Madame Macabre!
In Mallmart, there are several types of stock you may handle. All of them have guidelines on how to properly handle them so you and Mallmart's customers can be as safe as possible! One is standard stock. Standard stock is items such as groceries, toys, or pharmacy vitamin bottles. These items don't have unique guidelines, but should always be securely put on your cart before reaching its destination. You should not leave any stock out on the main sales floor as this could create a liability.
Then, we have hazardous materials. This stock may have flammable liquids or other chemicals that may pose a suitable threat when damaged. Be sure to handle with care, and to take the necessary precautions available on the Mallmart hazardous materials guide. The last, are team lift stocks. This stock reaches a weight or size that requires multiple people to handle the stock, in order to lift it to its destination. These items typically exceed 60 pounds.
I could feel my team lead's eyes on me. I could feel Mikki's eyes, the lovely older lady who was always so nice to me, on me. I could feel Taylor from Mallmart's eyes on me. They were waiting for me to mess up. I needed to hurry and go. So I stacked the camping canopy sets one on top of the other and carried them over to my cart.
"Holy CRAP-!" In near unison, I could hear my several onlookers say. I dropped the sets down onto the cart, looking over as my team lead made his way over. "Ciara, next time we should really do a team lift for each of those. Are you okay-?" He glanced me up and down before continuing. "Can you get those down from there alright? Okay, well finish up that cart and then head onto purging bins." And off he went, as the others stared on in shock. I didn't waste anymore time and got the hell out of there, honestly.
I really should've checked the boxes, they say team lift right on them, plain as day. The thrumming in my head persisted well into lunch break.
Taylor and Aiden sat at a table in the back of the break room, laughing. "That's not what I said-" Taylor insisted, as I took a seat with them. The young man with long dark hair was not wearing his usual sunglasses and hat. Instead they sat in the center of the table. His eyes were blue, and the roots of his hair shockingly blonde. And he was making Taylor laugh, and blush. "Dude, I am so disappointed I missed the power outage. The one day I have work off, and you guys go into nightmare mode? For real!" He says 'For real!' a lot, actually. I understand why it's for real half the time he says it.
"Yes, you missed the power outage, Aiden Gossman. There were lights out, and screaming, and strange liquid dripping from the skylight in the Health and Beauty Department…and you missed it, because you stayed home and played video games. How does it suck to suck, Aiden Gossman?" I asked, gazing over the shorter male. "Dude, you are so hard on me today. If you took that stick out of your behind," He puts exclamation on behind as he says it, grating on my nerves further. "And actually slacked off a little with us, you'd be so much happier!" He grinned. "You should seriously get rest though. You might start hallucinating or something." Taylor pointed out. "Maybe he's hallucinating this conversation right now-"
"Ciara, no," Aiden glanced around for a second. "I heard you got reeducated."
"Well, that's naturally the first step after a reported incident."
"Oh yeah, what'd you do, anyways?"
Now, both were staring at me, expectantly. "There were some teens making fun of me…. I may have called a child a 'big bitch'," I explained, hesitantly. A laugh barked out of Aiden. "Wow, you're like my hero. I'm going to have to remember that line-" Taylor said.
"But really, that's not fair to you. People shouldn't call you that stuff, Ciara." I could tell by the look in her mint colored eyes, she meant it. It gave me a fluttery feeling, being noticed.
"Really dude? She's not going to date you. Pretty sure of it, in fact." As soon as Taylor left the table, it was on.
'Oh dear Aiden,' I thought to myself at that moment. 'You don't know who you're messing with.' I was going to respond back with a sharp remark that'd leave his head spinning, and suck the oxygen right from the room. Instead, my eyes started to sting. "That's not true! You'll see-!" And with that, I was out the door, off to continue my job, as an average Mallmart associate.
I was never popular.
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Weeks 59, 60, & 61: Sometimes life is messy, I guess
I'M ALIVE!!!
Y'all thought you could get rid of me that easily. Hah.
It's been a very unique time, friends. Unfortunately too much time has passed for me to be able to get out many of the little stories and details that I'd like to tell. The better part of a transfer has gone by since I wrote a letter, and as much as I regret that it was necessary. My time in Charlotte has been some of the most meaningful and some of the most brutal time I've had in the mission field. I've experienced bouts of illness, had long held frustrations boil over, regressed in some habits I used to do well, and have spent some days relearning life lessons I thought I already learned. I've also been given some beautiful beams of pure revelation and peace from the Holy Spirit, and have seen miracles come to pass right in front of me. It has truly been a time where I know I have come to the place (both literally and spiritually) where the Lord intended me to come, and am now on a path that will be good for me, even if I am sometimes incapable of seeing the why of some of these things. The repetition of some of these troubles really gets to me sometimes. I don't know why I'm like this but I trust that this is simply part of the learning process that was always intended for my mortality.
One of the most precious spiritual experiences of my life to date came just a few days after I wrote my last letter. Because of a few particularly bitter struggles I had been having I went to a zone conference in Jackson, MI with the intention to speak to my mission president afterwards. (He usually has office hours after these sort of events.) I approached him, and he informed me that this time he had to return to Lansing immediately after the conference. Of course. I ended up staying longer after the event than I normally do, and the Spirit put it into my mind that I should speak with a particular member of the mission presidency, who happened to still be around. I did, and my conversation with him quickly turned into a priesthood blessing. For those unfamiliar, a priesthood blessing is something that authorized holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can provide. In this blessing, the priesthood holder places their hands on your head and, by listening to the Holy Spirit, can provide counsel, comfort, and/or healing. It's a beautiful and powerful thing for those who have faith in its meaning. This one was especially powerful...as this man talked, he addressed each and every concern that came to my mind, right as I thought it. I did not say a word, and he spoke as though he was speaking the words of my Savior, straight to me. I recorded the counsel I was given when I got home that night, and I believe it to be as much the words of Jesus Christ as my patriarchal blessing is. Most of the things said are too personal to present in a letter like this, but one of the things was simply a reminder that discipleship is messy, and I would do well to trust that the Lord is seeing me through it.
So alright then. My life may feel very much like a mess right now, but maybe it's a necessary mess. The Lord has shown His hand in my life plenty this month, so I know I'm not completely lost. I trust in the promises my sweet, wise Creator made to me. In good time I will inherit all that He has to give me. When I'm ready for it.
Don't go getting all jelly though. He has the same thing for you! Go get it!
<3
-Elder Beren Mowrer
***My Current Location***
Charlotte, Michigan
***My Previous Locations***
Fremont, Michigan
North Muskegon, Michigan
Kalkaska, Michigan
Midland, Michigan
Provo, Utah
Saint George, Utah
***My Mission***
Michigan Lansing Mission
***My Mailing Address***
216 Legacy Park Drive #1
Charlotte, MI 48813
United States of America
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3/23/2024
i woke up and then went back to sleep again a few times, i actually woke up at around 3pm. my head hurts and i feel very sluggish. i was productive yesterday, i did the dishes two times, put my laundry in the wash, took a shower, and started my late schoolwork. but today i am not. today i am a blob.
i don't feel like doing anything but i think it's only because my head hurts. i'm getting better though. sometimes i feel bad because i'm like "the other day i was doing so good but today i suck" but my bad days used to be my good days, and my absolute worst days used to be my normal. i'm getting better. i can see the progress as it's happening. and that's good. i still don't brush my teeth hardly ever though, even on my good days. today my teeth are hurting because of that.
anyway i've been learning kana. the only ones i have memorized are あ い う え お き く ア イ ウ エ and オ. which isn't a lot but it's a start. i get very happy whenever i click on a japanese video and am able to recognize characters in the title or subtitles.
i also got signed up for my classes next year. right now i have all A's, my highest grade is 100% my lowest is 90%, so my counselor was encouraging me to take all the honors and AP classes i'm eligible for, but i couldn't say that the only reason my grades are stellar right now is because of me cheating on everything. i don't know hardly any of the material we've learned this year. i finally got a notebook for math class and i'm planning on going through all of my old math lessons and writing everything down so i can actually remember it all. spring break is coming up so that will give me extra time.
for next year i'm signed up for algebra 2, honors english, honors biology, AP history, and japanese. i'm eligible for honors algebra but i'm hesitant on taking it because i'm afraid of getting bad grades, i still have some time to decide. i'm also going to sign up for dual enrollment and if i'm eligible, the two classes i take will replace whichever high school ones i'm signed up for now.
my mom thinks i should take german because i am part german (ethnically) and no one in our family can speak a lick of german, it's been completely forgotten in our family now. and my dad thinks i should take spanish because we're american and that's the most logical to learn. but i don't want to do either of those. i was already planning on learning japanese and my school has a japanese class. why would i not take that?? the only downside is both my family and guidance counselor now think i want to learn japanese because i like anime and that feels extremely slanderous. T^T
i have 7 late assignments to do today. which is a lot for me. but last year i had 60+ late assignments at one point, so it's not that bad.
im typing this last bit out later !!! today started out bad but ended good. i watched mlp and drew myself as a pegasus pony, the anatomy and proportions wasnt correct on some parts but i didnt want to redraw a whole bunch.
my uncle, aunt, and family friend came over today and while everyone was in the kitchen me and my uncle watched television together. it was fun. my uncle has been watching rottmnt with me every time he visits for the past few months, and while we were watching he kept pointing out things he likes about the show and it made me very happy.
he said he loves how the animation goes all out for the fight scenes, and he likes the little easter eggs and references. i told him about my rottmnt AU/OC thing and he was like "do you have a little fanfiction thing going on here?" and i was like "yes" but i haven't actually written it all out as a story, i have the whole timeline and some episode plots written down in a document, but that's it. he told me if i felt comfortable showing him any of my writing he'd love to read it and i told him i write sometimes but i haven't finished anything yet. he said not to worry about finishing anything, which i agree with it, but it would be nice to have at least one finished product to show. then we talked about writing and how we both like it.
my family friend spent most of the time in the kitchen with the rest of the family but sometimes he walked over and would watch some of the show with us for a few minutes. the first time i put it on while he was visiting he didn't like it because it was so different from the version he watched as a kid (87'), but today when we were watching it i told him he has to not think about the other version at all and just watch the show, because if he's only thinking about the ways it's different from the thing he likes, he wont be able to enjoy it as it is.
my uncle also said to think of it like a multiverse where this is a different timeline and all the characters are completely different people from their last version. like obviously that's donatello but it's not YOUR donatello, so it's okay that he's different. which is true but the thing is, i thought that's how everyone thought about remakes and different iterations? i didn't think anyone would watch a NEW iteration in a franchise being like "oh gee oh boy i hope this is a 1 to 1 replica of the specific version i like of these characters and there are no changes whatsoever, otherwise they've ruined it and it sucks." (not that the family friend thinks that way, he doesn't) but it all makes sense now why people act the way they do on the internet when a new version of something comes out.
anyway "they changed this and it's different from the thing i enjoy, therefore it's bad" is not the same as "they changed this and it caused a genuine detriment to the story (and lifeless remakes of existing media for a quick cash grab is bad)" and i wish people understood that. i wish people understood the difference between personal taste and quality.
that's the end of my rant, byebyeeee.
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