#ITS STILL DECEMBER WHERE I AM SO THIS IS TOTALLY ON TIME

[toxicanonymity]

You can totally say no if your not comfy doing it but maybe you can suggest another writer who you may think might? But if yoir request are open is there anyway I can convince you to write on the topic of reader being Sara's best friend and has tried to come onto Joel multiple times (ie sneaking into his room etc) and then escalating to slipping a roofie into his drink one night while her and Sara are home on winter break from college? If you're not comfortable i totally understand and im sorry if I made you uncomfortable its just your writing for the darker stuff is so amazing 💖

locket.

2k, joel miller x dark f!reader | master list A/N: here's your dead dove in a pear tree 🖤 in a way, it's kinda the inverse of night talks 😅 didn't overthink this one, so FIWB. WARNINGS: I8+ big girthy age gap (44/21), drugs, dosing, f masturbation, dubcon unsafe p in v, somnophilia-ish, choking adjacent move, degradation (both), cum, dead dove december

You're tired of her hot Dad playing hard-to-get, and you're going to put an end to it tonight.

You've come home with your college roommate, as you often do since your family lives far. Once again, her dad is dressed like a piece of meat. Tight, white, ride-me t-shirt. Cock bulging in his slutty joggers. He’s walking around double cheeked up on a Friday night in front of his daughter’s best friend. His daughter’s best friend who thinks about him every time she touches herself. 

Sarah falls asleep fast, and you can still hear the TV downstairs. You put on your locket, take off your underwear, and adjust your oversized, wide neck t-shirt to make a wardrobe malfunction inevitable with the slightest movement.  You creep down the stairs and pause at the landing, where you lightly caress your nipples, bringing them to full attention. You’re already tingling downstairs. You creep up to the edge of the living room with your arms straight down, pushing your boobs together, hands clasped together near your crotch as if you're cold. And to be fair, the air is a little cool on your bare cunt. You’re dripping for him, and the shirt barely covers your asscheeks.  Joel barely glances, then does a double take.  

His eyes fall on your breasts before reaching your face. His jaw clenches. After a few seconds, he asks, "What?" 

"Sorry to bother you. I couldn't sleep."

"What am I s'posed to do about that," he grumbles, looking away from you, resuming his focus on the television. 

You shiver and briskly rub your arms, feeling the air hit your exposed nipple for a moment, and you ask about changing the thermostat. He sighs, braces his hands on his knees, and gets up. You shamelessly ogle the bulge in his gray joggers. While he's on his way to adjust the thermostat, you open your locket and drop a little medicine into his can of beer: half a sleeping pill and half a Viagra. 

In the corner of your eye, Joel is lingering in the hall. He rubs his beard, looking at you while you pretend to look at the TV. He slowly walks forward. "Goddamn slut," he mutters under his breath, and you force away a smile as you sit down.

When Joel returns to the sofa, you're sitting next to his seat.  You bring your knee up to rest on the sofa and feel your pussy exposed.  He picks up a blanket off the other end and sets it in your lap.

"Take this with ya." He picks up his beer, and moves to the easy chair. You don't miss the way he adjusts himself as he settles into the chair. 

You make yourself comfortable, and when you just sit there, he says, "thought ya said ya were cold.”

“I'm comfy now.” 

You sit there in silence watching TV. He finishes his beer and gets another. You keep an eye on him. The sleeping pill seems to hit him first. His eyelids get heavy and he rests his head back on the chair. His breathing is steady. You think you see him getting hard. Yeah, something definitely moves in his joggers. He’s nodding off and jolts awake. He grabs his crotch and mutters, “fuck,” before he remembers you're there. You shift positions to lie on your stomach, facing him, with your ass exposed so he can see your butt cheeks. 

“Go to sleep, darlin’. God damn.” Your heart flutters. Oh, now he’s done for.

“You sure?” You ask and go into a cat pose with your ass higher in the air. 

“Yeah.”  His eyes are half shut. He tries to be subtle about slowly rubbing himself for relief, but you can see just fine.  “Fuck-” he interrupts himself with a yawn.  He shakes his head at you. “gave me somethin’, didn't ya?” 

You wet your lips and look down. “What makes you say that? Do you feel funny?”

“Like you don't know.”

In for a penny, in for a pound. You shift onto your side, then swing your legs around in front of you as you sit up on the sofa. “Well. . .I feel funny, Mr. Miller,” you purr as you spread your legs for him. “Yeah, I feel funny right here.” You slowly, lightly caress your mound near your clit with two fingers, then spread them to trace down your outer lips. 

“Somethin’ wrong with you,” he shakes his head. His brow furrows and he swallows. But he doesn’t leave. . .He looks back at the television. Your body is churning out slick, getting ready for him, but right now it’s going to waste on his sofa. You gather some from your hole and bring it up to your clit. You grab a breast and begin to touch yourself. He’s sleepy, but he's hanging in there. The heel of his palm is planted in his lap. 

When he begins to nod off again, you get up and approach the chair. He stays seated, awake but sleepy, and his breath deepens as you brace your hand on one arm of the chair. You wedge one knee between his outer thigh and the chair’s arm. Then the other side, so you're straddling him. You both look down at his visible erection. He looks up. His lips form a subtle pout, then part slightly. His brown eyes glaze over as he studies your face. 

“Dress like you want it,” you whisper. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. You reach for his cock and he gently stops your wrist. 

“I could be your dad,” he mutters, more to himself than to you.

“Please,” you whisper. Your hand doesn't stop, and he doesn't try to stop it anymore as you reach. You grab the rock hard protrusion and he silently grunts from the back of his throat. He’s throbbing against your palm through the thin cotton. Your breath hitches at the first contact. You twitch and ache for him. His brow furrows. 

“‘If you’re gonna do it, do it,” he challenges you in a near whisper. He must be painfully hard. He can't take it. You massage him through the soft fabric. 

Your lips part, and you tilt your head as you read his face. 

He mumbles, “Gonna pussy out?” He cracks a little smile and adds, “with your pussy out?”

You sigh. “You’re so fucking cute.”

“Such a rotten girl,” he murmurs with half lidded eyes as his hands come to your thighs. You shiver in a bolt of pleasure as his hands wrap around the backs of your thighs and slowly run down to your knees, then up to your ass. He squeezes your cheeks, and his cock throbs in your hand. 

“Coward,” he whispers with a snarl and takes his hands away, resting his arms on the chair. 

You brace one hand next to his head on the back of the chair, and your heart shaped locket dangles as you take down his waistband with your free hand. His cock slaps against his white t-shirt, making a wet spot. 

Good Lord. Your mouth falls open. You tug the joggers down more. He grunts softly when you cup his soft, fuzzy balls. Then you release them, grab his shaft, and hear yourself moan. Never felt anything stiffer. It's angry and now the tip is actively oozing. Your mouth waters and your body opens up for him. 

He watches your face, then yawns again. You rub yourself and gather your slick, then wrap your slippery hand around his cock. You scoot your knees forward and hover over it. He inhales through his nose as you lower yourself to make contact. You pause with the tip just inside. It's already a stretch, but deeper inside,  your core is begging for more. Your entrance spasms around his tip.  He gasps and tenses, gripping the arms of the chair as you begin to sink down.  He closes his eyes and winces as his cock divides your walls and you moan as your bodies become flush. You sit on his dick while your body makes space for him and you get even wetter. 

“Fu–ohh” he tilts his head back. His neck veins strain. He's so goddamn hot. 

You slowly tilt your hips and let out only an inch of him before bottoming out again. His cock takes up so much space inside you. You look down between  your bodies. His white shirt has ridden up to expose the happy trail and the slight pudge of his lower belly. His stomach heaves with deep breaths. You begin to move on him, slowly. 

“Ahhh, fuhh-uhhhk,” he sighs. His brows knit together and he watches you ride him. 

You tilt your hips, seeking the pressure of your clit nudging his body. “Yeah,” you breathe and move a little faster. Your necklace swings, the silver heart getting closer and closer to him. Then his hand flies up to wrap around your neck, trapping the chain. His grip isn’t firm, but the presence of his hand around your throat is enough to freeze you on his cock and give you a surge of need. Your pussy spasms, your slick walls begging for the friction they've earned. 

“You’re sick,” he mutters, then his hips punch up and he sighs. He lets go of your throat, then tugs your shirt down under your tits. 

“Fuck,” he sighs, the corners of his mouth glistening with saliva. He reaches out and palms your breasts, then hooks his hands under your arms. He watches your tits move with your rhythm. 

“How many times have you thought about this,” you ask. 

“I don't think about it,” he claims, but his face says constantly. You massage your own breasts as you ride him, and he sighs. Hopefully he can't get enough. Hopefully he comes back for more. You roll your hips with a moan. That's why you didn't use a roofie - He needs to remember this. He needs to need it. “Mmm.” Maybe he’ll be desperate, mad. As he watches you ride him, his eyelids begin to droop again. Maybe he’ll be mad enough to take it. 

You gently slap his cheek. “Stay with me,” you command, and begin to ride him harder. You slot your fingers into his hair. “When's the last time you came,” you ask, massaging his scalp as you move on his cock. “Hmm?” You pause with his cock all the way inside, and he twitches inside you. “Hmm?”

“Days,” he whispers. You start rolling your hips again. “Been days, ohhh–fuck.”

“You're gonna come inside,” you nod. His cock twitches again. 

“Ohh, fuck. Are you–ohhh,” he sighs, “are you–ugghh.” 

“It's okay,” you reassure him, “It's okay.” God, the thought of Mr. Miller nutting in your cunt has gotten you over the edge so many times alone. You're close. You bring your body closer against his and grind your clit into him, your body moving his swollen manhood, subtly rocking it as your clit presses into his pubic hair and your insides swell with the pressure of pent up pleasure. “Ohh, God,” you sigh and feel your body tighten, tighten, almost there. “Ohh, fuck,” you pant. 

“Ohh,” he moans and his hips lift under you. The tension snaps and your clit pulses, making you whine. You grind into him as you pulse, release pressure, pulse, release more, losing yourself in waves of release. 

“Oh, God,” you moan, fluttering around his stiff cock. 

“Ugggh,” he groans and his hands come to your ass. He begins to move you on his cock as your climax wanes. He moves you harder and moans unrestrained. He grits his teeth, and his fingertips dig into the plush of your ass. ”Ohh,” he sighs and fucking erupts. 

“Oh shit,” you whine, and keep clenching around him with warm bursts of him flooding your core. “Ohh God.” 

“Oh, fuck,” he pants, bursting again and again, filling you with his seed. “Ohhh,” his pulses fade and you come to a rest in his lap. He lays back against the chair breathing heavily. You lean forward and hug him. He doesn't have the energy to push you away. Soon, he's snoring and you're just sitting there enjoying the fullness of his cock and cum. 

“Mmm,” you sigh softly and begin to push yourself up. You let his cock out and some of his cum comes with it. You scoop it up from around his tip and draw a heart on his shirt, imagining how cute it'll be when it's dry and hard. Then you get off the chair entirely and draw a few small hearts of cum on his joggers. You pull the waistband up for him, then plant a kiss on his lips before leaving him there. Then you go back upstairs and put on your underwear before you get back in his daughter's bed. 

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Thank you so much for reading, ILY 💖 If you really like dark reader, you might wanna try my ghostface fic every inch

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I hear you about notifs not working, i hear you about tags not working (i'm not receiving a lot of my tags either). consider checking my fic notifs blog @toxicfics or the "latest fics" link on my profile header once in a while to see what you might have missed.

[sashi-ya]

東京 NIGHTS mini event

𝑭𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑫 𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑷𝑺ㅤㅤㅤㅤ 𓂃 ࣪˖ ichigo kurosaki x f! reader

⤹˚ synopsis. adult! ichigo takes you to a winter date to the tokyo tower, climb the steps by his hand, let him guide you the sky.

requested by: @cofeedaifuku ➡ Hello! It has been a really long time since I last requested, so I’m a little shy, but knowing that you are the one that is going to receive it calms me down. Can I request Adult! Ichigo with the prompt to see the tokyo tower at night? Nsfw, female reader she/her, (I’m really bad with requests so I don’t know if I should describe the details of the ask, but in any case, something like Ichigo just loves his s/o so much and he just looks at her and completely loses control. Please ignore this if it is not the case.) tw: MDNI. slight nsfw. adult! ichigo. masturbation through the clothes. wc: 1.7k masterlist

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤHis hand feels warm, powerful too. ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤYour hand, in his, feels tiny… protected.

“Can you make some time for me?” that’s how he asked; Ichigo had red apples for cheeks when he did. Your eyes shined like five-point stars; you waited for him to ask you out since forever…

Through the cold streets of Tokyo, the frosting sound beneath your feet sound like cracking. The trees, all of them decorated with silver fairy lights. A gleaming spectacle to the eyes, contrasting with the visible glooming cold of December.

Christmas is right around the corner; the streets are busier than ever. People carry big bags with gifts during a Saturday night, but both of you aren’t buying stuff.

“Have you ever been to the Tokyo tower during winter?” Ichigo asks, stuttering. For some reason, he can be a totally different man when it comes to be all alone with you.

“I never been there during the winter season! I am excited to see the lights!” you chime, so happy your heart could jump out of your chest. Spending time alone with him feels like a dream come true.

Ichigo smiles softly, his eyes flutter to the ground in sign of happiness but still total shyness. “I am glad I chose a good spot, then” he murmurs, scratching the back of his head.

You nod, with a lovely beam. You wish to tell him any spot with him would be perfect, but what if it’s too much? What if it’s not proper?

As you wait for the light street to turn to green, he fidgets with his fingers. His eyes are fixed on your hanging hand, the ginger man is dying to hold it.

You notice, and internally giggle. You help him, letting your sleeve slightly go up. There is no point on acting more shy than him.

Soon enough -or at least right when the red light turns to green- Ichigo snatches your hand. It’s not delicate, it is clumsy but definitely dominant, the way he grabs you and pulls you through the crowd.

Your eyes shine brightly with the lights all around, and the wind plays with your hair looking like the typical shoujo scenes.

Your sight wanders and lands on the freckled cheeks of the strawberry boy; a little blush garnishes his skin, but he has that look of fearless man you know too well. He has decided to stop being shy, to finally get what he came to gain.

A few more steps and your eyes get blessed by the imponent look of the Tokyo Tower in front of you. The red metallic pieces now shine lights of different silver shades. And as you look up, a halo of cold mist surrounds its upper levels.

“Beautiful” you murmur, causing in Ichigo to gasp and look right into your eyes.

“You… you are…” he mumbles, immediately looking away with long orange lashes that cast beautiful shadows over his galaxy cheeks.

You bite your lower lip with a smile, how cute…

“Let’s hurry up, or we aren’t gonna be able to get there before it closes” he tells you, pulling you softly towards the entrance where a man kindly scans the Qr codes from different tickets. You nod and follow him, never once letting you go from your hand.

Once inside, while most of the people decide to take the elevator, both of you chose to climb the 600 steps of the outside stairs. It’s a lot more magical to see the lights of the city as you go up, even if the cold air may seem painful to your lungs. But you don’t care, and neither does he.

You follow him, with the sound of your feet hitting the metallic steps and the heart pumping as hard as them. The more you climb, the more beautiful the city looks beneath your feet.

Ichigo turns around to look at you from time to time, and he is smiling preciously. A beam that he rarely has on his face, but that is big enough to make his brown eyes squint.

The first checkpoint gets cleared, 200 steps in. Then the second one, this time with a little more difficulty. 400 steps, laughing and almost running are a lot more than what your body is used to. However, you want to keep going, but you definitely need to catch some air first.  

“Wai-wait Ichigo” you giggle, taking some deep breath of humid cold air through your mouth.

“Oh… sorry, I- I didn’t mean to make you run that much- I…” he excuses himself, watching you with guilty puppy eyes.

You simply laugh. It is more than okay. If you wanna keep up with him, you need to train. He is an amazing substitute Shinigami, and not only that but the stronger ever made; the least you can do is to be able to climb some steps fast enough to catch up with him.

“No worries Kurosaki-kun. I just needed a little bit of air; let’s go” you rush to keep climbing, even if you are clearly not recuperated still. Your head is a little bit dizzy, your legs a little weak.

You try to walk towards him, but you feel like everything around turns dark for some seconds. And Ichigo notices right away.

“(Name)? are you ok?” he urges you for an answer while his arms surround your tired body with his protective embrace.

You would lie if you said you were feeling bad; after all Ichigo is now hugging you. Nothing could go wrong.

“I am fine… I just got a little lightheaded” you whisper, looking up at him. Your nose barely grazing the sharp jaw of the Shinigami. Looking how his Adam’s apple move as he swallows in clear sign of nervousness.

And even if you wanted to move away from his arms, you couldn’t as he kept pulling you closer, tightly against his chest.

The scent of his soft perfume mixed with the one his winter skin has, reminds you how much you desire him. You want him, you want to praise him, and you also want his lips against your lips.

“Please, rest for some minutes more…” he mumbles, this time delicately pushing your head towards his chest. “You need to breathe calmly…” he continues, enjoying perhaps a lot more than he should the closeness of your skin against his.

You don’t dare to argue; you don’t want to. You just want for him to hug you so eternally, and even after too. You nod, nuzzled in the little crook that his prominent collar bones form in the middle of his chest. The little patch of visible skin in between his scarf and white big coat, is all you need to rest assure for the rest of your life.

His hand slowly goes down to the small of your back; his touch is not indecent, it is caring and loving and despite that, the sexual tension in between both of you is undeniable.

You place your ear on his chest, letting yourself go with the song of his beating heart… allowing yours to beat in perfect synchronicity with it. Your eyes open, and they get filled by the view of a city that never seems to sleep, with neon lights flashing all over long, long streets.

Ichigo does the same, both look through the metallic red protective net for some minutes until a little white fluff falling from the sky catches your attention.

“It’s snowing…” you whisper, snaking your arms around his waist. “How beautiful, it is the first one this year”

“Yes…” Ichigo sighs, with trembling voice and reiatsu growing stronger inside the very core of his body. He is gaining strength, or perhaps thinking carefully about his next actions… what he is about to do, might change the destiny of both.

You know it too; when it’s right, you just know…

“Ichigo, I…” you murmur, looking up at him with your eyes plastered on his lips. Giving him the permission to kiss you once, and as many times as he want.

With the same hand he wields his zanpakuto to protect, he now grabs your chin and rather desperately kisses your lips. When your mouths crash against the other, both let some air scape your lungs, living off each other’s souls. More and more, deepening the kiss, melting into one.

The light show of the tower, the last of tonight, begins. Nobody seems to notice you two, neither you notice the lasers blinking through the heavy atmosphere of cold and snowflakes falling.

His hands, this time pooling in the small of your back in concupiscent intention, pulls you closer than ever before. You notice how much of a man he has become; grown up to be stronger and also to be sexier, mature, extremely attractive.

Your belly, feeling the hardness growing in between Ichigo’s winter clothes. Your legs, quivering as his tongue plays with yours in wet, lustful kiss.

The loud songs coming from inside, accompanying the light spectacle, letting your moans to be unheard by the rest as his hands slips so needy in between your tights from under your flannel skirt.

Ichigo’s fingertips get wet, as they rub against your stockings. You shiver and jolt, as he presses right in the spot. The graze of the tights and panties on your clit makes you whine louder into his mouth. A moan he eats so pleased, so hectically.

“I-Ichigo… I….” you stutter, so close to the very first climax of the night… just by the simple touch of his hands with your clothes still on.

“I know… I know… I am sorry, I couldn’t stop myself no more…” he sighs, kissing your forehead but never stopping the circular motions on your core. “I just love you so damn much, (Name)…” he finally confesses, breathing your last moan before you could melt right there, into a mess of sexual desire unleashed and pleased.

“I… I am… Ichigo…” “I know, let’s go back to the hotel… I wouldn’t like you catching a cold, we can come back tomorrow…It was a good idea to come all the way from Karakura town to Tokyo with you 💖~”

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 3-9, 2023)

I made a frame from this shot Wikizilla's Image of the Week. No regrets. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I love ya. When I was a teenager, explicit queerness was anathema to most big-name franchises. Those dominoes have been slowly falling, often in lower-profile tie-ins first, and to me this is a huge one: 69 years without a queer live-action Godzilla character are over. And Cate's the main protagonist of the show! I'm not under the delusion that media representation will cure all society's ills, but it sure doesn't hurt. Now, the non-Tumblr parts of the fandom are being completely normal about this, right? Right? Whatever, that's why you'll never get rid of me here. Cate had a couple more sweet moments with May in this episode, and Mariko Tamaki wrote episode 7, so don't expect her to stop kissing girls. Hopefully she's learned a valuable lesson about cheating though.

"The Way Out" is also another gift to those of us who have always wanted to see more of the ramifications of a world where Godzilla exists, from underground towns for the super-rich to ruined cities where federal troops shoot looters and harass people experiencing homelessness. And the show continues to find ways to use kaiju to talk about COVID, from Cate and Kentaro's exchange about San Francisco truthers ("It's easier than waking up every day and thinking, at any moment, the same could happen to you") to the blink-of-an-eye speed at which the threat went from on the news to her front door in the flashbacks.

As I foretold, we got a Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer, an amusing contrast to the weighty Toho flick and Apple show already fore of mind. It's Adam Wingard unbound, that's for sure. The human cast seems pared back, a longstanding Monsterverse problem, and the kaiju fights were far and away the best part of Godzilla vs. Kong, so hopefully this approach will play to his strengths. But that movie also had excellent VFX, and some of the shots in here are rough. There's time to fix them, at least... which probably can't be said of Godzilla's design. I like that he's pink (did some Warner Bros. executive take the wrong message away from Barbie?) and sporting a thagomizer on his tail, but his proportions are uncanny. And I see Kong found the Infinity Gauntlet; good for him.

I am, of course, not done talking about Godzilla Minus One. It added over 200 screens and made $8.3 million in its second weekend in the U.S., a minuscule drop considering that its $11.4 million opening "weekend" spanned five days. Almost a third of all tickets sold this weekend were for Godzilla or Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, remarkable in a market so allergic to foreign imports. That brings its total to $25.3 million (more by the time you read this). With an avalanche of Christmas blockbusters on the way, its grip on premium-format screens is about to slip. Still, I see it hanging around theaters for a while. I have never seen the fandom so united in praise for a film before, and it's making plenty of new fans.

Some of those fans are in high places. Variety leaked that it's on the 20-film shortlist for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars (to be narrowed to five nominees), something I, again, never expected to read about a Toho Godzilla film. Alas, it's locked out of this year's Best International Film category due to the quirky nomination period.

Much has been made of how great the film looks on a $15 million budget. I have two caveats, one in each direction. No one is quite sure where the $15 million figure came from; Yamazaki said at a recent con appearance that he only wished he had that much to play with. (He has yet to divulge the actual budget, just that it was above ¥1 billion.) Now, unions in the Japanese film industry are much weaker than in Hollywood, so a given production budget goes a lot further in Japan. All the same, I doubt that alone explains Minus One looking better than most superhero movies made for twenty times the cost. I'll offer a couple more reasons: Yamazaki has extensive visual effects experience (he's been the VFX supervisor of all but one of the live-action films he's directed), and the film's big effects scenes aren't as busy or lengthy as many of the Hollywood counterparts. I don't know if Disney will ask Yamazaki to direct the next Star Wars movie (that would require there to be a next Star Wars movie), but the studios here should be taking notes.

the sphinx, a blog with a ton of American Godzilla rarities to share, has outdone itself—behold a continuity and dialogue script for the U.S. version of King Kong vs. Godzilla! Included in the download is a detailed comparison with the film. No huge differences, apart from the script giving the secretary added to the U.S. version a name, but a fascinating piece of history all the same.

The Minus One incarnation of Godzilla (MaiGoji?) has joined Godzilla Battle Line, accompanied by [SPOILER]. To be honest, my enthusiasm for this game has been flagging, and I'm not caught up on the strategies developing around these two, so I'll just refer you to Sir Melee's channel as usual. This Godzilla's also doing a collaboration with the Japanese mobile game Fleet of Blue Flame.

Tiffany Grant, Asuka's original voice actress, will narrate the audiobooks for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA light novels which explore an Instrumentality-free path for the show. Seven Seas Entertainment published them in English from 2019 to 2021, which, to be honest, was also news to me.

This one's for my fellow library workers: the obscenely popular Who HQ nonfiction series for children is publishing a book about Godzilla next June. I don't know if this will have quite the same impact on today's young Godzilla fans as the Ian Thorne tome had on Gen Xers and Millennials, what with the Internet and all, but it's certain to be more factual. Expect illustrations instead of licensed photos, and not just because of Toho.

I can finally talk more about the Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers mobile game without fearing a DMCA. Not that there's much to talk about; it's freemium through and through and I'm not sure I know a single person who's excited for it. Interesting to see some critters from the comics break into another medium, at least. Here's the trailer.

[vesselsscarlet]

Please read.

Its important:

Alright.

I didn't want to do this but... here we are now.

We need to talk.

About the project. A serious talk.

This is my perspective, and I am pretty certain Crow signs it as well.

Crow sent me in the last few days the asks they received, just because they are transparent and they also hold me accountable enough as the second-in-charge. (Thanks boo, for also letting me answer things, or re-reading your answers if I wanted to add something)

And I must admit, it made me very upset.

Not directly at the anon*s, asking, but the entire situation made me.

I can totally understand if you want things to be perfect, it is totally fine if you are still handing them in, we seriously couldn't care less.

I can also understand fully if you haven't heard from the project until Crow was posting the reminders, using the tag.

But-

We didn't want to push things. And maybe we should have done that.

The only problem that was in the way is called

LIFE.

Yes, it may seem simple. But trust me.

Working on this project together and still having a distance from at least 4 hours of a train ride between us, plus having things going on in our lives didn't make it easier.

That's why we asked for checking out the tag regularily, especially if you haven't seen any updates yet.

Maybe we should have pinned something about this project, maybe it just vanished deep inside in the Tumblr lore.

But, ...

I participated in the Epistolary Collection project, and I could submit my letter. And I could make it because I had a deadline for myself. I added it in my phone calendar, so I wouldn't forget it.

And so would I for this project since it really means a lot to me.

But obviously, I have got a bit of more time.

We didn't want to pressure you with the reminders.

But after receiving not that many submissions via. E-Mail, Tumblr and none via. Discord, we decided to remind you.

And then receiving asks about this whole situation with little participation etc., ... trying to find reasons why it could be like that... stung me. (If any of the anon*s is seeing this, I am not mad at you, I am just frustrated and tired)

We felt like our project isn't valuable, that it isn't enough.

But this project came to life while I was living in London for my stay abroad, and now I cannot do anything but post this words here because I am busy with university and private circumstances.

We were sure that not everyone would actually participate or would be able to do so, but the result is making us sad.

We wanted to make it happen because of YOU.

Because we know that Sleep Token and especially Vessel connects US.

But please...

Why are you asking us why we didn't get submissions? Was it because of another project?

Hell, we announced this project in December, we tried to keep you updated in our best way possible.

Just because we didn't want to go on Instagram for it? Seriously?

We don't have any of a big appearance on Instagram, and I also don't like the fact of you seeing my personal account with pictures of me included.

I want to stay anonymous here, when it comes to showing myself.

Guys, you have no idea how hard it is to manage something big like this from two cities around the world, while being so limited in actions. Was it too much to ask to check regularily the tag? That's all we asked for. And we cannot run after you like little puppies, calling you by your names and asking "Can you please submit stuff now, pretty please."

The advice on checking the tag regularily was the only option we had, so you could read everything that was posted in it. Any update we had was posted in there. And if there still were questions you could have asked us privately or via. the ask tool. We just wanted to let you guys doing stuff. But please... why are you blaming us (more or less) for people simply forgetting it? There could have been ways where it would have been possible to get the updates. Like... adding yourself a reminder once a month, checking the tag out if you have missed something (I am just doodling ideas because that would have been me if I wasn't the co-leader of this project. It's not calling you out and telling you what to do and what not.)

You all are old enough to be in charge of doing something.

But we can just say...

We are sad. Very sad.

Because our project might be not come to live. Perhaps not for these upcoming rituals at least.

How on earth is it possible that after setting things straight, people tend to submit things?

As I said... if you didn't hear about the project first, if you simply forgot about it, if you were busy... that's fine.

But stop asking us why it was the case.

It is making us angry and upset.

We wish we could tell you why it was and still is the case.

But we can't. We have to accept it.

However...

Thank you to everyone so far, who has participated so far, we are eternally grateful that you want to share your stuff and maybe also intimate/personal words with us.

Your words for Vessel are gently appreciated and your kind soul will be blessed.

Thank you for reading this.

– Lia (and Crow @aquareegia )

[pinkmoondoll9shihtzu]

this is a little silly and i'm totally aware, but i luv ur blog and resonate with ur outlook on things so i'm really curious 2 hve ur input. i turned 18 in december+ i graduated high scool this weekend and so it's like the first time in my life where i am independently adjusting to a big transition. i missed soo much classes due 2 my brain being fucked and even tho i had friends i still feel rly weird and outsidery i guess. if u have any advice or idk anything i'm running out of space bye xx

thats wonderful news...congrats on gradding its really hard to get thru it 💟 i almost didnt grad cus i was barely present at school, resented every facet of it, the system didnt make sense to me like i just couldnt perform. i dint go to college or anything after highschool i knew it wasnt right for me plus i didnt want the debt. i knew i needed freedom to roam or st..

and tbh i was suuuuch a smart & intuitive child for that decision o.o like thank god thank goddd. i wouldve folded SO fast with state of my mental health back then. unless u r going into STEM idt school is worth it. Like school nevr made sense to me cus u can just be intellectual for free by acting curiously ?? Like u can just live and read books and stuff . . .

i guess my only real goal has ever been to make a lot of DOPE ass memories ~~ push every experience to full potential of beauty it is capable of 🤩 and that is a tad willful of me, so my arrogance has lead to many defeats but despite how painful its beeen.. im glad i did it this way, no ragrets ^^ its wonderful to be 30 now & look back at it all. following my intuition always worked out in the end..

When you're 18-24 i think all u should really be doing is like. chilling, recovering from highschool, smoking cigs, taking photos, listening to songs, reading, trying different clothes, playing outside, Soaking eveything up like a sponge, taking it *in*...taking it all in then thru trial & error figuring out what Really resonates !! and PPL will try to tell u its a waste of time, dont listen!!!! create stuff but dont put pressure on urself to be good at anything yet. dont feel pressure to like, have solidified into something permanent yet? ifthatmakes sense.. goof around a lot, dont limit yourself to any existing structures, be new & expansive, open minded.

And just chill :] look around at your world all the time and think "Wow. I'm 18 and i'll never be 18 again and life is beautiful." i still do this for every age i ever am i think its so imporant to do this. Always Know your older self is looking back upon you kindly no matter how irredeemably fucking fucked u feel <3 i can feel the love from my 40 and 50 and 60 year old self right now. get excited for your unfolding story anon ^-^ i hope its really uniquely perfect just for U and Ur dreams come true. Sincerely, ⭐⭐⭐PMD9⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[bookqueenrules]

Beth "died" with a bang, but she will return with bangs.

So, Beth did not appear on Easter, nor was there any evidence or hint of her return. I feel it was a HUGE missed opportunity.  Many viewers of TWD from its peak in seasons 4, 5, 6, watched out of curiosity about Rick. Now that it looks like the CRM has been defeated and the story is over, many will tune back out.  There wasn’t anything teased to keep their interest.

Carol and Daryl reuniting?  That has already happened MANY times in the flagship. 

Been there; done that.  

Maggie and Negan facing off?  Again, it has already happened MANY times in the flagship. Been there; done that. 

A post credits scene would have been the perfect way to give Richonne their happening ending but create further interest in the universe. (No wonder AMC did not like episode 6) Bringing back a classic character like Beth would have been a perfect post credits scene. A golden opportunity was lost.

Do I still think they will bring her back? ABSOLUTELY.  

Yes, there is all the symbolism, but more than that, there are the repeated statements that the DD spin-off is about DARYL’S  happy ending.  It’s been made abundantly clear in the spin-off that a wife and kids are Daryl’s happy ending.  Isabelle and Laurent are the “false family” or the temptation to “settle” like Rick and Jadis were tempted to settle for the CRM as a “false family”. Here is a snippet from an article published this week:

In one of the DD season 2 teasers, there is a picture of the angel appearing to Balaam from the Bible. Then, it fades to Carol’s picture. I think it simply means angel/Carol will prevent Daryl/Balaam from going the wrong way/doing the wrong thing.  She will stop him from accepting the “false family”.

However, I am concerned that we will see little, if any, Beth in season 2. One, because so much of the time will be about finishing the France story and reuniting Daryl and Carol.

Two, Emily’s bangs are telling us SO much about the timing of Beth's return.

As best as I have been able to piece together, Emily cut her bangs in late October/early November.  I don’t believe she filmed anything for season 2 before then.  I totally believe that the bangs are to give Beth a new look, and the "bang/bangs" connection. She posts this at the end of November about being "so busy". So, HOPEFULLY she was filming in November!

Emily was in NYC at the same time as the NYCC where Norman, Zabel, Gimple, and Nicotera did a panel last October.  Norman was on a radio show also during that time in October saying he was in NYC for three weeks. So, could she have filmed things in NYC to be cut into DD season 2?  Maybe, but pictures from the time seem to show her without the bangs.

She seemed to be back in LA by December 5. 

So, knowing one episode takes around three weeks to film, she might be in the last two episodes.  More likely, she won't show up until the final episode. No one saw her filming in France.  That DOES NOT mean that she didn’t film there, but I think it does indicate that, if she did, it was limited. The picture below was posted by the actor who plays Losang, leader of the Nest, also at the end of November:

You will notice the red cross on the right.  It looks much like the white cross on the Grady vehicles.

I think this is another clue that Beth’s story will be tied into medical experiments/treatments in some way.

Why the change in color? @frangipanilove has a marvelous post about the color red and its symbolic use on TWD. Here

It's in a tunnel. There is a TON of symbolism there that I will save for another post, but it is not dissimilar to the hallway at Grady. So, Beth returning there would be a perfect parallel to Coda.

To me, it seems Beth won't be featured, or get a real story, until Season 3. That may be why she was in Europe this past weekend. Maybe she is looking for a place to stay while filming this summer or even doing some pre-production work. 

Regardless, Beth is STILL on her way....

[happistar]

what's ur favorite bmc fanfic ever

OOOH okay this is a good question.

Ngl I don't think I could give you a solid "here is the one (1) best fic ever" so here's a whole bunch that I've rated 5 stars in my fic document!

Stammer - Excellent 100k fic, if you're looking for something long. Basically it explores Jeremy and Michael's relationship from when they were kids til a bit after the events of the musical. Really good character piece <3

Jeremy drops out of college during December of his freshman year - REALLY REALLY GOOD fic-- one of my favorites from Beth Harker. Basically Jeremy undergoes a lot of panic attacks and self hatred (some brought on by what remains of the Squip) as he and Michael go to college together. About 10k words.

in the back of my brain, the voices all sound the same - Pretty short ~1k fic that explores the idea of the Squip changing shape into things like Jeremy himself. Forever thinking about the implications.

Play it in Reverse - Really cool podfic that brings in the musical aspect of bmc and acknowledges it! With the Squip's help, Jeremy tries to fix the events of the musical by changing the lyrics. About an hour to fully listen to.

flesh & bone - AU where Jeremy is an android and the Squip Squad find him and repair him. LOVE the dynamic of everyone in this fic, but it's unfortunately unfinished. About 40k words and still worth a read despite this.

Loaded, Recoded, Unsorted - Ngl I think this was the first ever bmc fic I read?? Anyways, it still lasts in my brain despite being unfinished with about 15k words in total. Basically, Michael slowly becomes a squip with all the fun psychological horror that comes with that. Honestly if you like this I'd recommend checking out more of Nez's work. Excellent squip horror writer.

The Mechanics of Compromise - Ngl pretty much everyone I've come across has read this fic and it shouldn't be a surprise that its on this list. Absolutely adore how they handle everyone's dynamics and manage to create a really fun plot as everyone recovers from the events of the musical. Another really good 100k+ fic.

Only One Is Mine - Holy shit this fic is almost coming up on 100k words. Anyways this fic is so so so good. Basically it deals with the rising squipocalypse after the musical as Jeremy accidentally fuses with his squip and has to learn what it means to be half human, half supercomputer. LOVE this concept so much and love how its handled. Honestly one of my all time favorite fics in general-- really cool stuff!! Shoutout to Jordan fr <3

Honorable mentions:

Ophiocordyceps nippon - TRAGICALLY short fic that meant i actually rated it only 4 stars but I thought I'd share because I am still thinking about it. Basically what if the Squip was a fungus.

Same As It's Always Been - I've only read 2 chapters, since it was coming out at the time I was reading it, but its finished now!! I really enjoyed what it was when it was coming out, so I'm sure it's still a good read. Basically Rich is forced to repeat Halloween Night-- time loop style.

[theghostofashton]

Hi, I am really enjoying your Olympic AU. The thing is I always like to be clear about timeline and small details while reading to enjoy the story to the fullest. I just want to know how old are Carlos and TK in this AU? Has Carlos won Olympic medal before or that was his first Olympic when he got injured? How much time actually he took to come back after injury? There is a reference of TK being a three times Olympic medalist. Did he won all three in one Olympic? Do they compete opposite to each other or they compete in different events?

If answer to any of these is a spoiler, feel free not to answer. I can understand. Thank you.

thank you so much, this is so kind!!

i totally get that, and i'm sorry if anything's been unclear!

they're both around 21-22, a bit younger than canon. my hc for birthdays/ages is tk was born in december 1993, and carlos was born in june 1994. this story takes place in early 2016, so tk would be 22 and carlos would be 21

the reason for that has to do with gymnastics as a sport. because it's very difficult on the body, athletes tend to retire young. men will sometimes go to their mid-late twenties, and sometimes even their 30s, but that's not everyone. (for additional context, the recent men's team that competed in paris had an average age of 22).

carlos did not go to the olympics prior to the one they're currently training for – basically, he competed at olympic trials in 2012 to make the london team (he would have been 18), but fell on vault and tore his acl, taking him out of contention for the team. he had surgery, and the recovery timeline is usually around a year for an injury like that. carlos took a little more time off than that (more detail about this will come in future chapters). the thing about time off in gymnastics is that it is likely that you'll have to start from the basics when you're back, because you lose skills fairly quickly, so he would've needed time to build back up to a level where he could be competitive for the 2016 olympics, before starting to officially train (this is where he is when the fic starts)

yes, tk won 3 olympic medals in london! gold on floor, silver on vault, and bronze in the team competition. (as an aside, this fic does exist in kind of its own universe, because realistically, this probably wouldn't have happened in rio. in women's gymnastics, the US is incredibly dominant and has been for years, but they are nowhere close to that in men's. japan and china are huge, russia's also pretty dominant, etc. the US men's team was very much not in the position to win team bronze, and nowhere close to one of their members winning a gold on floor. the US men won bronze in paris and that was absolutely huge because it wasn't really expected)

in regards to competing, they'll both be doing pretty much the same thing. the way gymnastics works at the olympics, there is first a team qualification round where teams complete in six apparatuses (vault, floor, pommel horse, still rings, parallel bar, and high/horizontal bar) to both make team final and event finals. the top 8 gymnasts in each individual apparatus go on to compete in the event final for that particular apparatus, and the top 8 countries make the team final. the top 24 all around scores (adding up all the scores on each of the six apparatuses) go on to compete in the all-around final.

in this fic, tk's strengths are vault and floor, and carlos's are high bar and parallel bars. if on the olympic team, tk would likely make vault and floor finals, but possibly no others, while carlos would likely make both bar finals. they both do compete on all the events, however, to possibly make one of those 24 spots for the all-around final, and also to be able to help the team as much as possible in the team competition. so technically, if they both made the all around final, they'd be competing against each other, but otherwise, they're competing together for their team, and against all the other gymnasts that make any event final they qualify into.

i hope that makes sense!! gymnastics is a pretty confusing sport and took me a while to wrap my head around so feel free to ask any follow ups and i'd be happy to go into more detail :)

[corona-journal]

1000 days of covid.... a reflection... what do you remember?

If I asked many of the memory of covid, it would be toilet paper shortages, the media call to treat nurses and doctors as heroes, lockdowns and social isolation. But there's more, though....

The picture above is of a near bare row of supermarket shelves, with only a few rolls of toilet paper.

My own memories, in general terms, would be:

The curious spread of this flu variant through China and its neighbouring countries. (Via media reports. Plus its rapid rise up the priority reading list for the broadcast reader/ reporter/ news team)

The slow response of most governments to the emerging cases (easy with hindsight)

The tourist ship Ruby Princess docking with (eventually a total of) 22 cases on board, docking in Sydney. No quarantine controls enforced effectively at that point in time. (And Covid had been a thing well reported)

The toilet paper shortages, followed by shortages of pasta, rice, disinfectant and other staple foods from shelves. Never seen so many bare shelves before, except in news reports where people cleaned out stores in the face of cyclones or snow storms.

The growing weirdness of still going to work when others were getting government pay to stay at home. Apart from the driver, there'd be 2 other people on the bus in.

Add in the loneliness and the ghost town feeling of walking through an empty city. Except for the essential food services, so kids could still get you your order of coffee and mcbreakfast.... odd contrast, you'd agree.

Oh, the anger and entitlement of the covid deniers and anti-maskers.

My father in law complained about mask wearing on a flight down from Queensland to visit us. While my wife, a nurse, is donning full personal protective equipment (PPE) to help with patients. He's not entitled, just an oblivious, selfish idiot.

A bit of resentment at those who got the payments to not work, while I was an essential worker, in the finance sector had to work through. Discussing insurance with customers. All of them wanting discounts for (multitude of self justified reasons). That was tiring...

On the 'others staying home' a lot of people were making bread, trying new hobbies, going back to old hobbies, riding bikes to get fit... that only seemed to last 2 months, then it was easier to watch digitally streamed shows...

Oh, the growing gap between those who could afford the digital upgrade to work and/or study from home. And those that couldn't... that gap is bigger, and will show up in a decade or so...

Travel? Yeah, we'd travel from the couch to the kitchen table, work, then we'd travel to the letterbox and then to the couch again. On weekends, some of us would travel to the shed, to mow the lawns as part of the outside world travel.

Then the acceptance, as we waited for the vaccine to be made. Too late for too many in China, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom....

The USA being the most vocal of the anti-maskers and covid deniers. Because of Trump and his idiot approach to the crisis and his vanity.

A few covid conspiracy people I have spoken to, and seen the marches. I don't have time for dealing with these kind of people. Got used to being able to distance myself pretty quickly.

Overall though, I've become a bit more self directed towards entertaining myself (books and going back to the scale hobby of modelling) and fed up with a big insurance company making lots of profit while increasing the consumers insurance bill by about 20% average per year...

And remote studying has become a lonely grind. I am succeeding in my course so far.

Overall, post vaccine roll-out, we've adapted.

It's gone from being "the Chinese flu" (a pejorative term) to the "spicy cough".

So far, I have remained covid free.

And I have science, medicine and society to thank for that.

23 December 2022.

1000 days of covid.

@bundibird @scrapironflotilla thanks for just engaging with this little effort (it will continue)

@tafkarfanfic @bouncinghedgehog your posts helped with hope and morale when things were tough.

I'd invite you to reblog and share your memories, no matter where in the world you are.

[cindylouwho-2]

Etsy Fourth Quarter Earnings 2023 - Still Banking on Improving Marketplace Sales, But Not Revealing Many Plans

Slide 23 from Etsy's 4th quarter 2023 earning report, © Etsy. it shows what percentage of sales each major category has, with performance in the quarter.

Etsy’s fourth quarter results for 2023 were as uninspiring as expected, but despite revealing few plans, the corporation is convinced it can increase gross marketplace sales through its gifting and other initiatives. There was a lot of interesting information for shop owners, though, so let’s get right to it. 

First, here are the resources that you should read/watch yourself, if you want to know more:

the press release

transcript of the conference call

slides from the conference call

video of the call (click on “Webcast” under “Latest Quarterly Results”)

my summaries of the fourth quarter 2022, and the third quarter 2023 for comparison

Then, the basic numbers (covering October to December 2023, compared to the same period in 2022):

Sales on Etsy were $3.6 billion, down 1.4% year over year

Total sales for all 3 marketplaces (Etsy, Reverb, and Depop) were $4.0 billion, down 0.7%. [Elo7 was officially sold in mid August; its numbers were still included in the comparison totals of 2022]

Etsy’s revenue (including all 3 sites) was $842.3 million, up 4.3%

Seller service revenue was up 9.4% to $226.5 million, while marketplace revenue was up 2.6% to $615.8 million

Net income was $83.3 million, down 24% (mostly due to the layoff costs of $27 million in the quarter)

Active buyers on Etsy alone stand at 92 million, a third consecutive all-time high

Active sellers on Etsy alone are now 7 million, the fourth large jump in a row compared to the previous quarter; numbers had been stagnant through the end of 2021 and all of 2022 [Note that “active” means one charge or transaction in the past 12 months; many “active” shops currently have nothing for sale.]

Sales where the buyer and/or the seller was not in the United States were 45%, up from 44% last year, but down from 47% in the previous quarter

Sales on mobile are 68%, up from 67% last year [this includes both the buyer app and mobile browsers]

As always, I am reporting what Etsy’s representatives said in the main text, with my commentary in square brackets.

Etsy Search

At the moment, Etsy’s search algorithms aim to show shoppers things they are most likely to buy. They are currently working on changing that to showing what buyers are most likely to love after the purchase. They refer to items that consistently get high reviews, have good photography, and whose shop owner provides good customer service, has quality return policies and ships on time, as “quality” items, or, “the best stuff.” 

This is all a work in progress, so search may not change drastically any time soon. Past calls and interviews have related this to the increase in Etsy Picks assigned in the past few months; they plan on using those Picks to train the algorithm to find “quality”, especially quality photos. The items staff identify as “quality” convert twice as well as other listings, so there is obvious benefit to Etsy showing them higher up in search results. 

Etsy has added some of the features in its “neural ranking model” to non-US searches; previously it was only in the US searches. 

Advertising

Offsite Ad spending was down 4% in the quarter vs. 2022, in part due to competition bidding higher than Etsy thought was worthwhile. At the time of the call, that spending was back to normal. Per slide 21, money from Offsite Ads fees covered about 35% of what Etsy spent on the ads during the quarter. 

CEO Josh Silverman explained why the performance marketing (Offsite Ads) spend can be unpredictable.

“So performance is dynamic on a, really, hour-to-hour basis depending on the ROI we're seeing on every dollar we're spending. And we've got pretty sophisticated algorithms that work on, is this bid -- is this click worth this much right now and how much should we bid. And so to the extent that CPCs rise, we naturally pull back, or to the extent that CPCs lower, we naturally lean in. The other thing, by the way, it's not just CPCs, it's also conversion rates. So in times when people are really budget constrained, we see them actually -- we see conversion rate across the industry go down. We see people comparison shop a lot more. And so we are looking at all of that. And not humans, but machines using AI are looking at a very sophisticated way of what's happening with conversion rate right now, what's happening with CPCs right now.”

Etsy also does testing twice a year where they stop running ad such as Google Shopping ads in part of the country, and then compare with the areas still advertising to see if the buyer still would have bought. Silverman admitted that the data shows “often the answer may be yes.”

Overall marketing costs went up 7% in the year. 

The Gifting Initiative

Etsy is now aiming to brand itself as the place to go to buy gifts. Gift Mode is just the start of this campaign. Their surveys report that more than half of US gift giving is based on personal occasions that occur year round, such as birthdays, or “just because”. People in the US spend an average of $1600 a year on gifts, but Etsy’s US buyers only average $38 spent per year on gifts from Etsy. They estimate that less than half of Etsy buyers in 2023 used the site to buy at least one gift. There is obviously an opportunity to do better. 

The percentage of US residents thinking of Etsy as a good place to buy a gift is now down to 10%. [Previously, the company reported it was 12%, and I commented last quarter that I’d like to see a more recent survey to judge if they have used this knowledge to improve. 

“Only 12% of buyers will name Etsy top of mind as the place to shop for gifts.” They don’t seem to have any updated numbers showing how they’ve been improving that situation. [It’s time to go after that “enormous opportunity”, Josh!]”

So despite wanting to grab a bigger gifting share before now, Etsy has managed to lose ground. This is my biggest fear about the gift push: the market was there before now, and Etsy’s own research demonstrated that. Are they only going all in now that they have run out of other ideas?] 

There were 6 million visits to Gift Mode in the first 2 weeks. [I am not really impressed, given that they promoted it very heavily, and I was personally responsible for over 100 of those visits while researching my Gift Mode blog post.]

Other plans to bring in buyers

Silverman stated “[o]ur focus will be to make Etsy even more Etsy”, and to differentiate the marketplace from sites that sell everyday needs. The following quote deserves to be read in full:

“Most other players are competing head-to-head to sell the exact same merchandise, focused on selling at $0.02 cheaper or shipping it two hours faster, and this has resulted in the commoditization of the entire experience. But that's just not Etsy.”

[This seemed to be a completely unironically-intended comment, with no recognition of the fact that he actually discussed speeding up shipping times in the same presentation, nor of the well-known fact that so much on Etsy these days can usually be bought cheaper on Aliexpress or Shein.]

He also said that the “special” aspect of Etsy is what sometimes holds the site back, as buyers might consider Etsy limited to specific items, or might “worry about the post-purchase experience”. Bringing people back more often is a goal. [They’ve been saying that for years now, though.]

The company is currently doing buyer loyalty program research, but gave no further details. He also cited “shortening our estimated delivery dates this year by at least 2 days” as something that buyers should like, but it is unclear to me reading this if the work done last year (the year discussed in this call) already shaved 2 days off of delivery dates, or if the statement is this year’s goal. I think it is the latter [but the only ways to do that are to improve the accuracy of their tools - and I am not sure that they are currently 2 days longer than reality on average - or to pressure sellers to ship faster. Since Etsy is once again updating shop settings to add weekends to shop processing times without notifying us, I guess we can assume the latter? UPDATE (Mar 19): Silverman clarified at a recent talk that "we think we can cut shipping times on Etsy by at least two days this year."]

Other things sellers need to know

Etsy Ads now involve some localization outside of the US, which increased conversion rates. [If your ad performance changed in non-US countries during the quarter, this is the most likely reason.]

Neither sales or Etsy’s revenue are expected to increase until the second quarter, and they expect revenue to grow faster than sales this year. [Revenue is almost certain to increase, as the corporation has been surveying sellers on what they would be willing to pay more for.]

“In 2023, we removed approximately 140% more listings for violations of our Handmade Policy than in 2022.” [No word on how many of them were removed erroneously, though, as we know the “Temu” bots pulled a lot of truly handmade items that had photos stolen and listed on other sites.]

Silverman promised “innovation planned to improve the predictability of shipping costs for both buyers and sellers”, but provided no details. [I am not sure what would make my personal costs more predictable, given they change every single week with Canada Post’s fuel surcharge right now. Is it going to be forcing people to use Etsy Labels with calculated shipping? Or is this more calculated shipping options for countries outside of the US, and for new carriers? Restricting the amount a listing can charge for shipping? I really have no idea, but I hope all those people they hired for “fulfillment” jobs a few years back are coming up with something that is actually useful.] 

Miscellaneous

Depop had a decent quarter in sales and revenue. 

Reverb sales were flat. “The Reverb team made some organizational changes late in the year” which are expected to be profitable [i.e., they laid off over 30 people in October].

The Etsy layoffs in December were referred to by CFO Rachel Glaser as “our recent workforce realignment”. [At least she didn’t call those former employees churn.] The call provided no details on the restructuring they previously said would be done by the end of this quarter. 

October sales were not good, but November and December improved. January “was a little bumpy.”

Outside of the US, sales in Germany were mostly steady, while the UK, Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria improved.

The upcoming $15 fee for newly-opened shops will largely go to paying the costs of the technology for vetting sellers; it is not expected to result in much profit. 

My thoughts: this is going to be a rough year for many Etsy sellers

As I discussed last quarter, Etsy’s upper brass didn't seem to think they were responsible for the lackluster sales performance of their marketplace, and this quarter that extended to not admitting they overhired since early 2022, and not acknowledging that Etsy’s reputation as a gift site actually dropped over the past few years. The last one is particularly galling. Why keep talking about how there was great room for improvement in Etsy brand recognition for gift buyers and then fail to improve even a tiny bit? What were these folks doing the past 2 years? 

It’s clear they think bravado will get them through this, including the bold move of claiming everything will improve in the second quarter and throughout the year without revealing any real details. No wonder the stock dropped yet again. 

That said, they likely have some reasons for thinking that revenue will pick up at least, if not sales. As mentioned above, they have been extensively surveying sellers about raising fees and/or charging us for things we currently get for free (or mostly do not want). Possible downsides for Etsy include the fact that the Indie Sellers Guild and the Artisans Cooperative (among others) are likely to get more negative press for Etsy if fees are raised yet again, just as happened in 2022. It does not help that Etsy didn’t really follow through on improved services the last time they raised fees. 

And the more I think about the comment on shipping costs, the more I believe they are considering making Etsy Labels compulsory for at least some in the US, with set shipping charges sellers won’t be able to change. Bonanza did this last year, charging its US sellers $2 per order extra if they didn’t use Bonanza labels and didn’t get an exemption from the program. Most Etsy sellers using the labels and being forced to show that price as the shipping cost for buyers is the only way I can think of making shipping prices more predictable for buyers, other than capping shipping charges outright (and that sounds like a nightmare to implement). eBay does it, though. Am I missing something? [UPDATE Mar. 5, 2024: Etsy is surveying buyers about how much they like cheap shipping.]

Perhaps more importantly, the planned search changes have the potential to disrupt the status quo a great deal. We know that Etsy frequently takes a lot longer to develop these types of technologies than they expect, so it may not happen this year, but the work on promoting “quality” listings will continue, and that is already affecting some shops that used to do better in Etsy search. Do everything you can to make sure your images are "high-quality". If you rely on internal search to get most of your Etsy sales, this is a very good time to follow my usual advice and diversify your traffic sources. 

Etsy’s branding pivot to being the place to get gifts could also have a big impact on some shops and categories, if it is successful - and that is a big “if”. I’m not thoroughly convinced Etsy can manage this change in consumer consciousness, considering that the site’s reputation continues to be hammered by controversies around scams and non-handmade items. Kitkats, anyone? 

Many other comments do not bode well for most shop owners: a continuing push for discounting, emphasis on faster shipping times, and financial restrictions/impositions on “newly-opened” shops all indicate that traffic may flow away from small business owners who choose not to comply, or are unable to comply. 

Last quarter I said “[d]on’t be surprised if there are major site changes in 2024”, and I appear to have been correct. But really, anyone reading these reports over the past few years could have seen it coming.

Stay well informed, everyone! It’s the best weapon we have.

Reminder that you can sign up to receive my Tumblr and website blog posts via email.

UPDATED March 19, 2024

[the-cards-she-wont-show]

🎁

Spade - I've been looking at these riddles the last couple of days and if I am on the right track, so far, they could be REP TV coded - Gift anon may actually be Serpent anon?

My ideas are still a work in progress, and I'm still unsure about some things but wanted to post what I have so far to see others thoughts and perhaps just incase anon stops by on the 53rd…

1. A present is on it’s way, keep your eyes peeled closely. SERPENT - anagram of present - REP TEN - REPUTATION October? SENT - a message is on its way? PEEL - fruit - fruity? a fruity message SWAY - it'S WAY - move/change/rule/control/persuade? CLOSELY - VERY NEAR GIFT - giving without expectation

Rep TV is coming - Will it contain more than we expect?

2. Present, presence, pretence. SERPENT - anagram of present - snake - reputation tv TEN - preTENce - the tenth month (occurring now, something that exists but is unseen, pretending/attempting to make something false appear true)

Restful, reticent, restraint. CENTRE - retiCENT, REstraint - the centre of the month? or CAPITAL? HEART? (something that produces a feeling of calm, not revealing thoughts or feelings readily/silent and reserved, measure or condition that keeps someone under control)

and PUBLISH! PUBlish - where would I find a PUB? LONDON (ANNOUNCE/ISSUE/RELEASE?)

It has been hidden well, look where the above may find you. It may take some time but I have no doubt you will. DON - I have NO Doubt you will - reverse to DON - LONDON TIME - ART - resTRAint- clues hidden in the time magazine art mosaic?

REPTV110 - REP TV 11 OCTOBER ?

REP TV midnight on clock - 25 seconds until midnight… maybe Oct 25?

THIRTEEN scrabble letters (11 points) - orange karma cat, debut guitar, two white cats with pink paint/nails, also next to rep snake/karma orange heart/debut butterfly, 3-4 colour cat

3 x 13 dice totals - 13 DECEMBER -scattered purple beads appear to have hidden letters/numbers?

Time article - ‘Vault tracks are fire’ - Fire is orange

I will stop back by on the 53rd if you are having trouble. 53rd show of the ERA's Tour 2024 - if you ARE having.. - reversed is ERA 53rd show of 2024 is GELSENKIRCHEN N3 - 19th July TROUBLE - synonym - PROBLEM - It's, ME! Hi… ME! SURPRISE SONG?

Main takeaways: Possible announcement in London? Rep TV? Release from restraint - TK PR stunt split? October 11/coming out day - Rep TV announcement or release? December 13 - Meet ME! at midnight… Rep TV/Debut/Karma release?

3. Plausible deniability.

Think of the one we continue to revisit.

This is not the manuscript.

This is not the hint.

4.

I reiterate, this is not the manuscript.

This is a present.

You are looking in the right places.

The predecessor was the crumb.

We seek for answers, but the outside restraint proves her reticent.

The volcano may one day soon spew her fiery guts.

But for now, she slumbers.

The hint is in the words.

Don’t you love a good puzzle?

5. Well, two things can be true.

A gift is a present.

A present is a gift.

Perception is a thief.

Bringing reality abare.

Interpretation sits on one shoulder.

To those who are aware.

Reach those lanterns a little bit higher.

For you shall receive a metaphor so dire.

6. …like the tiny boxes, one within the other, however many you discover there is always one more; *THAT COME FROM THE PUZZLING EAST *PETER PAN - MRS DARLING

7. as when the neighbour holds the lamp, to witness her Goodbye—

when I cannot see words curling like rings of smoke round me,

oh! keeping our hands on our still-closed eyes,

let us vainly recall the joys that take flight.

she will crawl up out of the night—

the volcano will soon rupture,

whoever is to defame?

*LONGINGS LOCKED IN LOWERCASE

[rosslynchsslut]

Christmas Lights (Chris Sturniolo x Reader)

Summary: Chris and you are putting up Christmas lights, but Chris is pretty distracted by the super short pyjama shorts you're wearing.

WARNING: smutty, makes out sesh, p in v, overstim, pet names (mamas, baby, ma), soft dom!Chris, minors dni, 18+, Chris has a thing for your thighs kinda?, fluffy, unprotected sex (fem is on the pill, always be protected)

Chris's P.O.V

Y/N had been trying to put up lights since Thanksgiving barely fucking ended. She was a Christmas girl, everything had to be decorated by December the 1st and I had to be the one to help her with the task of untangling the lights and putting ornaments on the tree on the spots she couldn't reach. But plans changed ridiculously, I had to go to LA the on the 1st, so I couldn't help her decorate. Now, its the 12th and Matt's driving me over to her place. I decided to send her a heads up that I was coming home.

Me: hey bby, I'm omw

Baby💕: srsly? Today?

Me: yep

Baby💕: good, missed u. be home soon stay safe

Me: I will

I couldn't help the dumbass smile that I tried to fight off my face from forming. She was sweet for no reason all the time basically, it made me feel like more of a douchebag than usual.

Matt pulled up to Y/N's house that was already brightly lit up with colorful lights. The lights were on inside too, I thought she'd be in bed it was pretty late. "'Kay, thanks for the ride Matt." I quickly said gathering my shit and hopping out of the car without waiting for Matt's response. I quickly walked up to the front door and knocked, eager to get out of the cold and into the arms of my awesome girlfriend. I heard her giggling and tripping over air probably and I felt a smile creep onto my face yet again. The door swung open abruptly and she squealed before hurling herself at me. As we were hugging, I couldn't tell if she was crying or laughing or both. "God Chris, I missed you so much you idiot!" "I missed you to, ma." I carried her through the doorway and kicked the front door closed behind me. And my jaw dropped. The house looked amazing and totally decorated for Christmas. Lights lined every fucking corner and there was a gigantic Christmas tree by the couch with already presents underneath. "You like it?" She asked, kissing my cheek while wrapping her arms around my waist. "You did all this by yourself?" I breathed out, knowing very well she did I just loved messing with her. She held her chest in faux-offense "Uh duh, I live alone Chris. But its not done coz I still have to hang these lights up near the ceiling." She grabbed a stack of lights from the couch and only then did I notice how short her shorts were. Her short ass had to stand on her tip toes to reach the edge of the wall and when she did her shorts rode up revealing the curve of her ass, and I wanted to take her right there.

Y/N's P.O.V

I curse God for making me so goddamn short, it made Christmas decorating so much harder than it had to be. I was so close to hooking the light on the thin nail when I felt the large, warm hands of my boyfriend sneak around my back to rest on my abdomen underneath my shirt. I hummed in annoyance trying once again to hang the lights on the almost fucking invisible nail while Chris began to mouth at my neck. "Oh my god, Chris! You're amazing and awesome but I really want to get these up tonight." I half-giggled half-seriously told him. His lips were warm and comforting like his hands and I missed him so much that I admit I am definitely touch starved. He didn't stop the activity of his lips on my neck, and he began to rub soothing circles on my stomach. "God I love you, C-" I interrupted myself with a quiet moan as his tongue licks from my earlobe to where my neck and shoulder meet, he laughs at my reaction and smiles against my skin. He continues to nibble and suck my sweet spot causing me to lay head back on his shoulder and moan again with more intensity. He moves his hands from my stomach to take the lights from my hands and throw them carelessly away from us. I take the opportunity to spin around and press my lips against his, both of us groaning at the contact. Soon after the kiss becomes teeth, spit and tongue fighting for dominance over the kiss. I grab a fist ful of Chris's shirt and walk him forward to the couch, lay him down and straddle him without parting our sloppy kiss. I really wanna suck his dick so fucking bad right now.

Chris's P.O.V

When Y/N threw me back on the couch, I felt my dick twitch. She was so sexy but not in charge. I removed my lips from hers, a string of saliva connecting between our mouths. She already looked fucked out, face flushed, pupils blown wide and hair a complete mess. She was beautiful like this and I liked how no one else could see her like this. When she tried to kiss me again, I grabbed her hair gently giving her a reminder of who was really in charge. Her moan and nod were incredibly sexy and it went straight to my dick. I pulled her by her hair into a needy kiss, i wanted to feel her everywhere. Again I detached from the kiss and took off her shirt and bra, while she struggled to pop the buttons to my jeans. I laughed aloud a she bent down to use her teeth to get the metal button out of the fabric hole. "The one time you wanna wear jeans! Are you gonna help me asshole?" Her glare made me laugh again and I moved her head away from the jeans and unbuttoned them easily. Her face was adorable, filled with disbelief and betrayal. "Lay back for me mamas, let me see you." I whispered as I took off my jeans fully. Doing as told, Y/N laid on her back half naked and a horny expression on her face. I gave her a once over and bent over her to kiss her, my hands sneaking up her shorts to feel her wetness, she wasn't wearing any panties. I let a moan slip from my lips as I dragged my fingers through her slickness. Her gasps egged me on, and I slipped in two fingers. Almost instantly her back arched off the couch and a heavenly moan fell from her agape mouth. I began to be painfully aware of my growing hard-on in my boxers as I fingered her pussy. I think I could just cum in my underwear on the fact she was moaning so loudly and her back was arching so beautifully. "Louder baby, let me hear you." I urged her on as she began to gasp "ahh fuck, fuck" over and over signaling that she's close to her climax so I removed my fingers. "What the fuck? Yunno I was close!" She sat up on her elbows to stare me in the eyes, but I wasn't threatened. Instead maintaining the eye contact, I put the fingers that were giving her so much pleasure in my mouth moaning at the taste of her pretty pussy. Her mouth fell open again with a gasp of "Fuck" and I scoffed.

Y/N's P.O.V

When he scoffed, I swear I got wetter than before. Seeing Chris lick me off of his finger I loved so much did so many things to me and I felt like begging for his dick inside of me. I didn't know if I could take this anymore. "Chrissy, please fuck the shit outta me. I miss you, bub." The innocence in my voice tied with the nickname I could tell did something to him because his dick twitched and his pupils flooded with a newfound lust. He took off his boxers and I almost drooled, his pretty cock to finally freed from the black constraints of his underwear. "You wanna beg me again, mama?" His voice was whiny and filled with need but still so dark and sexy that I felt like I could've came. "Fuck me," I licked my lips, "Pretty please, baby." He whispered a "fucking god" and he snatched my shorts off. Finally, I was getting what I wanted for 11 days. "Yes, yes, yes" I whispered like a mantra and he jerked himself a couple times before aligning his leaky pink tip with my drooling entrance. He bit his lip and slid in, my back arched immediately. The pleasure-pain mix was so delicious my toes were already curling. "Fuck, fuck, ma... You're tight." He was whimpering as he bottomed out and laid his weight on top of me. I pulsed around his dick, pulling a breathy groan from Chris's pretty lips. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I began to rock my hips into him giving him the green light to hurry up and fuck me until I couldn't walk. He began to snap his hips into me, already going fast and hitting my g-spot with every thrust "Ah ah ah, god Chris" I moaned out as he threw his head back with a deep groan. His skin was flushed and his hair was wild, his lips were wet and swollen and I was proud of how I always made him like this. How I was wrapped around his dick, pulling whimpers from his throat. I reached up to touch his face and he looked down at me, slowing his thrust and hitting deeper bruising my cervix in a delicious way. "Oooh, Chris..." My voice was shrill and worn but it all felt so good. He grabbed my thighs and wrapped them around his back pounding into me once again, moaning and groaning louder while his heavy balls smacked against me, I felt so close. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" I gasped out, my warning that my high was almost there. "Yeah, mamas, let go come on. Cum, please fuck, yeaaah." Chris was so into it and his raspy voice pushed me to the edge, my orgasm washing over me in a powerful wave and it felt so good.

Chris's P.O.V

"Ahhhh!" Y/N yelled as her orgasm came over her, coating my dick her her essence. God, it was hot and I coukdnt help but to fuck her harder. I wanted to pull one after another out of her until she was spent. She yelled about the overstimulation and I laughed cruelly. "Yeah, you can take this dick ma. Imma make you take it." The cry that came from her throat threw me over, shooting my load into her pretty cunt but I couldn't stop I was so pussy drunk. I kept fucking into her, feeling my dick become over sensitive and our whimpers and moans mixing in the air as well as the smell of our sex. "Chrissimgunnaaacummmahh" I heard Y/N moan and cry out, I felt like I was going to too, so I grabbed her hand and pressed it to the couch. "Hold out f'me baby, I'm so close, ah fuck!" I put my face to her neck, I felt like I wasn't close to her even though I was literally inside of her fucking my cum into her over again . she just had that amazing effect on me. "FucckimcummingAhhImcumming" her words were slurred together and her rope snapped at the same time as mine. We were definitely going to get a noise complaint from her neighbors but the feeling was so overwhelming I couldn't give a fuck right now. "Oh my god, fuck ma." I laughed, it hurt pulling out of her soaked cunt, we both winced. She weakly smacked my chest, and gave me a smile that almost made me hard again. "I hate you" she whispered pulling me into a kiss. "I love you," I mumbled against her lips and walked away to get a rag to clean us up. Yunno, this was the best Christmas ever.

(kinda long, hope you enjoyed!)

[cainightfics]

can we get an update? are u doing ok? u had such crazy output last year and now u so suddenly stopped

hey! ya sorry i went so mia its been a busy year. im still working on fic but its slow. from when i last updated trotw to april i was working 3 jobs, taking a full uni courseload, and writing my thesis. the thesis in particular honestly burned me out on writing really badly but i did manage to write that one oneshot

then summer was just shit honestly lol. i spent the entire summer working at a restaurant to save up money bc i had to move away in september, and the shift i had started at 6am, so i was almost never awake during my peak writing hours (11pm to 3am). i lost 30lbs in 2 months partially because i was broke and partially because my eating disorder relapsed (probably from stress lol). during that time i was only eating one meal a day in the form of my free staff lunch at work, but the restaurant where i worked was INFESTED WITH MICE :))))) so half the time i was too disgusted to eat thinking there might be rodent shit mixed into my food lol. and then on my days off i just ate like eggs and rice and zucchini bc thats what i got from the food bank. in august i started really genuinely and consciously restricting my calories down to like 500-800 cals per day, plus working on my feet as a waitress doing like 20k steps a day as a result of the malnutrition and rapid weight loss my hair started falling out in massive clumps :))) and i started sleeping for like 12 hrs a day. im eating properly now ofc tho

i moved in september for grad school and am now living in one of the most expensive cities in the world lol so i spend a lot of time just financially struggling. i have a job that will last until the end of december but its under contract so i only make like $600 a month and have to rely on my $14k school stipend and meagre savings for the rest. ive been looking for another job but i either get no interview, have the interviewer ghost me, or most recently, get told i have the job and then just never get scheduled. i have 7 cents in my checking account rn lol. my rent is paid until next month and then after that who knows whats gonna happen to me

last years output was definitely a fluke and only happened bc i was VERYYYY financially stable and could fuck around a lot at my part time job, where i wrote most of trotw. those sunny days are gone 🚬🚬 lol but i dont intend to abandon my works and i promise they will come someday. if anyone here feels like paying my rent itll come EVEN faster!!!

thx for checking up tho, its nice to know i havent been totally forgotten by u guys <3

[thephantomcasebook]

So apparently both Olivia and Emma will be filming in Spain this month (where they film King's Landing exterior scenes) and this only means one thing: the fall of KL is happening in S2 which is a bit too much isn't it? Considering the season will only have 8 episodes…everything is going to be rushed and there will be no time for proper character development, especially for team green. And sadly I already see lots of people justifying this mess and claiming it's all going to be fine because they'll be moving the Battle of the Gullet to season 3 and Rhaenyra taking the city is the perfect ending because they shouldn't just let her sit the whole season in Dragonstone doing nothing and having no win. Rook's Rest and its aftermath with Aemond being crowned as regent would have been a much better season finale but by the look of things right now this battle will probably happen in episode 4 or 5 and Blood & Cheese in episode 1 or 2…

There's a little speculative inside baseball going on right now of what people are talking about in production that I hear going around private fan discords.

1.) Is that the scene in question is another attempt by Alicent to prevent the full scale war after finding out about what happened between Aemond and Luke above Ship Breaker Bay. Apparently Alicent will completely and totally throw Aemond under the bus, in fact, she'll throw all of her children under the bus trying to maintain peace with Rhaenyra, including offering herself as a hostage.

This lines up with a rumor going around in December that Alicent will be framed as being a secret Rhaenyra sympathizer working against Aemond and Criston's war effrort, and that she would be portrayed as, basically, being a captive of her own children and Lord Commander. This was something that apparently Cooke pitched right after Sapochnik got the boot by HBO/Warner.

I'm not saying this is true, cause you've got be fucking retarded to write Alicent Hightower - the woman who loves her children more than life itself - in such a bullshit manner. But if this does turn out to be the case, it might be one the biggest character missteps/betrayals since Jaime took Brienne's virginity and then went to die with Cersei in Season 8 of GOT.

2.) The other speculative rumor is that this scene takes place post "Blood & Cheese" in which Rhaenyra apparently either never knew that Daemon was targeting Jaehaerys or that they were trying to assassinate Aegon and got Jaehaerys instead. Either way, Rhaenyra is apparently absolved in involvement of this monstrous murder by the writers, and she is trying to apologize to Alicent, but Alicent goes fire and brimstone and vows to help Aemond and Criston make Rhaenyra pay for what she and Daemon have done to her baby boy.

This seems a little more believable, in that I can completely see the writers continuing to try and whitewash Rhaenyra further by making Daemon the monster and Rhaenyra his pigeon. It would also fit with Condal's vow to make Daemon more unlikeable and tarnish him in the eyes of the fandom.

My opinion is that I'd prefer the latter much more than the former. I mean, I'm perpetually super annoyed that they're still trying to whitewash Rhaenyra and make her seem a better person than she ever was for going on thirty years of continuity. But I can live with it if it means getting a more book accurate Alicent who will kill every memeber of team black she lays her Mutha'fuckin eyes on!

I am also 1000% done with whatever fucking girl-crush cutesy bullshit going on between Olivia Cooke and Emma D'arcy. If they want to be friends on their own time, go fucking nuts - by all means get matching t-shirts and B&B with their boyfriends on a doubles vacation, and all that shit. But when it starts to effect the work and they aren't mature enough to play the characters as written without putting their own bullshit into it and it starts to show on screen, than we've got a problem.

I'm telling you, right now, if those December leaks turn out to be true and we get an Alicent who is actively working against her children and who proclaims Aemond a monster to a woman who just murdered her granchild cause she's in love with her, I'm gonna lose my fucking mind.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

4. and 11., please?

HIII YAY YES

for this ask game

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

okay so like. lwk just drawing people in general i JUST started doing. like in december (?) so its still kinda uncomfortable for me to draw yj fanart it doesnt come as naturally as what i used to draw for yearssss. but like the hyperfixation so bad that i improved so so much in just these few months which is awesome. BUTTTTT if i had to choose a specific character itd totally be jackie taylor. i love me some jackieshauna but jackie is so hard to draw. like it never looks like her. youd think itd be easy because she has distinct features BUT IT ISNT IT MAKES IT HARDERR 😭😭😭 if she was easier to draw i would have so much more jackie art and i need yall to know this.

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

so usually i draw with no music no nothing i just like. just me and whatever im drawing with. buttttt if i am listening to something its usully

a) music (if im making an animatic i always listen to whatever song im animating just on REPEATTT it helps with ideas)

b) some random internet drama video (this is usually if im having one of my times where literally eveyrthing is boring so i need to do four things at once to compensate)

c) educational video on like. either fish, cowboys, or filmmaking. one of the three and almost never anything else.

[a-spell-a-rebel-yell]

December

hello everyone, i know it's already day 23 of January 2024, literal almost a month after the month ends and is already on another year, but at least i'm here yaaay (i really need to start writing the monthly post a week before said month ends 😭)

December was actually, just as thrilling cliff-hanging as November! thing is my countdown to my other coldplay show was finally down to under 50 days and it was also the end of the very first semester.

just in the true fashion of my life, my adventure this time is: going back and forth between Jakarta and Tasik in under 24 hours (22 hours to be exact!) on a back-to-back journey just for school and seeing my hometown again 😂

so, as you can tell, i have so many assignments and one of them is a practical skill's lab project where i have a typodont (a phantom model of human teeth embedded in wax) and i pretend to apply orthodontic treatment on it to correct the malocclusion. it was not easy at all. it's quite literally a simulation of what will happen and what should i do when i treat an actual patient. the project lasted for almost five months and even the class didn't stop once the semester break came around, that is why i had to go back and forth between Jakarta and Tasik: i don't want to lose my holidays while still having to attend the weekly class 😂

some will say i'm insane because it's so tiring to do so and indeed it was super exhausting. but if you know me, i'm the type to do just about anything for my loved ones (my parents were staying at Tasik to take care of things and it's been a while i visited my grandparents' last resting place) so it was no big deal at all to endure 7 hours of bus trip each and then 1 hour commute to the station/home. a total 16 hours in 48 hours timeframe spent on the road. and it's worth it, every second of it, because i got to relax and work in the middle of lush green and rice fields... it was the very definition of healing time. i was still under the pressure of stress and deadline to finish that last project, but at least i did it while being surrounded by serene nature and with my mum and dad 😂😂😂 it's such a nice drastic change to do wire bending with all my pliers and stainless steel wires and orthodontic brackets with herd of ducks quacking loudly near me and farmers ploughing soil to plant rice seeds... best part? zero pollution! no light/sound/air pollution whatsoever and i get to see amazing sceneries right out of my windows every day! rain every evening to help me and my mum water the plants (which are thriving!) Mt Galunggung in its majestic full view... woah. it's my best treasure tbh nothing else compares

the most unexpected thing was that our class for that subject/project is usually scheduled on Thursday (so for the first back-and-forth journey i made sure to go back to Jakarta on Wednesday and get back to Tasik on Thursday right after the class ended) and for the second week, my prof suddenly requested us to come to the campus on Tuesday, and guess when did he sent the message to inform us? 6 AM on said Tuesday!!!!! oh you couldn't imagine my panic, how am i supposed to be in Jakarta in less than 4 hours!? thankfully my prof is a lenient one and he let me and kak Mandy (who was in Bandung at the time) to join the class from zoom. another good news is that class is to be our closing session for the project, and that i can just send my typodont instead of coming in person to submit the assignment. yet again Allah's plan is always better than my most carefully thought of one 🥺

the rest of the break i get to spend every day at my hometown just recharging my energy and soaking every positive molecule there is, and my mum have this brilliant idea to buy a table tennis equipment!

at first, not fully knowing the impact of my mum's seemingly random decision, i opposed the buying of said table tennis because it's quite expensive. but after it arrived and i got to play against my mum and dad (who happen to be great players!) i finally understand that my mum knew fully well i don't like outdoor sports (solely because i hate the sun getting my face so red lol) so table tennis is the best option! it's so fun to play and i still get to exert my whole body to get that exercising regime my nutritionist has told me years to do so 😂

for new year's eve, the end of 2023 is the quietest one yet. with just my parents, deep in the greens, miles from the city, and just watching Pengabdi Setan 2/Satan's Slaves 2 (exactly my style hahaha getting my dad to watch it!) i moved over to 2024. just saying and sending out my prayers to welcome the new year and hope i can go through whatever i must face in the future. and again, just how i like it, not many fireworks were blasted so it wasn't that rowdy. it almost didn't feel like NYE celebration, all is calm and cool.

i love slow living, far away from the crowded areas, i could quite literally stay in my hometown at my house and just. be there 😂 it's so easy for me because as long as i have my loved ones with me and a roof above my head, enough to live and get by... that is all. to reach that tranquility and peace of mind is one of the highest priority/goal for me. hope one day after i've accomplished my dreams i get to reside and rest where my heart has always been dwelling.

here's to another journey in 2024, i hope we can together make it through. see you in the January post, that as i said in my Nov one, i'm counting down 3 days to my trip to Singapore and 4 days until i see coldplay again, historic moment as i'll be back to the stadium where i first saw the band 7 years ago!!! see you all soon 💙