#If a design is already good I probably won't be able to improve it more

[mushroom-for-art]

Send me Pokemon and I will attempt to make improved clone variants of them, only rule is that they be pokemon an evil organisation would reasonably logically be able to get their hands on eg no legendaries or mythicals ect, thank you!

[wordsnstuff]

Hi!

I have reached out to more people, but I'm still having problems with this, and I wanted to hear another opinion.

As a writer, do you have problems continuing a story once you hit a difficult scene?

Because I do, and honestly it's getting me frustrated at this point.

I have a good idea and a plot already done, but every time I hit a difficult scene I just get stuck, and can't write for weeks, sometimes months. I hardly even open the documents when it happens, and sometimes it comes right when I'm on a writing spree and being happy with my writing.

Do you have any advice on how to deal with this? How can I get past this issue and just keep writing more frequently?

I'd really like to hear it!

What do you do when you hit a snag?

When approaching this topic, the frustrating thing is that age-old advice has a lot of truth to it. Sometimes it is true that the best thing you can do when you're stuck is to stop struggling against the resistance and take a meaningful, intentional break to rest your mind and reset your thought process. Sometimes the key to getting started again is shaking up the routine and the altering the process until you find a new combination of habits that meet you where you are.

However, for a lot of us, the turmoil reaches deeper than that. A lot of people who do creative things are neurodivergent, so that has a place in the conversation when discussing what's preventing us from realizing our vision. Even if you don't identify with specific neurodivergence, there are a lot of tools and techniques that have been tried and tested for coping with immense, intrinsic difficulty with things like productivity, mindfulness, interoception, focus, and consistency. Just because these techniques are not specifically designated for you doesn't mean they won't be effective for you.

It is always a helpful exercise to take a step back and examine how you're feeling, both when you are writing and when you aren't, and try to identify any areas where you might be able to improve by changing things within your control.

When it comes to a specific scene holding you back from carrying on, I usually find that it's the result of a decision I made earlier in the plot that isn't serving the story as it continues to develop. I would take a chunk of time to take an analytical look at the scene, where it's come from, what is and isn't sparking in it (is the stagnation mostly due to the characters, events, environment, or lack of information, and is it a scene that is imperative to the reader's understanding?). A lot of the time, it's a scene that can be cut, or it's a scene that can be made redundant by infusing the necessary information of the scene into another place within the story.

If you've identified a scene as "a difficult scene", ask yourself why. If it's daunting because it's too long, then it can probably be cut way down and then added to later if while editing it seems a little thin. If it's challenging because things aren't falling into place and you aren't getting into a flow, then the set-up for the scene probably hasn't been developed effectively and you need to decide whether you're gonna go back in the draft to investigate or move on and return to it while editing.

If the information in the scene needs to be communicated at this specific point in the story, the problem might be the way you've chosen to present it. Pay attention to what your instincts are telling you, because pushing through a scene for the sake of getting past it will not produce a compelling scene to read. If you need to move past it, you have permission to do that. You can always come back and completely dig it up later.

Overall, I think it's very important to write with acceptance that the plot may not turn out the way you planned it. The process is much more effective and much more enjoyable if you aren't trudging along on a predestined path. If the characters and story develop outside of the lines, see where they go. You'll always have the opportunity to return to the outline and tailor later.

Best of luck,

x Kate

[roxtron]

Day 5: Rabbit, Reclaim

AGJGDFJF FINALLY IT'S DAY 5 SO I CAN POST THIS

For some reason everytime i draw him he looks so young because i'm accidentally overcorrecting since i'm used to drawing older characters. So unfortunately he looks way younger than i meant him to lol, whoops.

But wait there's more- AHAHAHA

While I did initially plan this for GGY week I eventually got the idea to use this as an excuse to draw other GGY designs, soo..

(Not sure why tumblr formatted it that way with 1 of them big but it doesn't matter lol)

I've been wanting to do this for a while, I put the tags of each person next to their design but ofc I'm still gonna tag them in the post itself so you can see their art for yourself if you haven't already. But I enjoyed each of these in their own ways so if you don't mind I think I'm gonna type a bit of text next to them..

@chipistrate This was one of the first I drew out of these, the design was pretty fun to draw but sorry if I messed up a few details, it was a bit difficult lol. The mask and goggles are really fun to draw and they make for a cool design, along with all the glowing blue. (and yes, I tried to subtly include the heelies lol)

@lunzi0 This was the first fursuit one I did lol. I adore the little stars in the design, they personalize it so well and make it really unique. I wanna try this design again since I feel like the other ones show my improvement a bit better, but I hope you can appreciate the effort I put in on my first attempt <3

@carouselrabbit This one was really fun to draw, I absolutely love the eye shape/lashes, it stands out and I always love drawing eyes with a bit of eyeliner lol, the daycare theme legwarmers is a cool nod to the balloon boy arcade machine being connected to them, and was just a fun addition in general lol, I like the style of legwarmers what can I say, fnaf changed my fashion sense a bit. also the subtle paraells to freddy's design is a nice way to connect a bit to gregory himself.

@puhpandas I can't remember if I talked about this design last time I drew it but, overall I'm really happy with how this came out, it's such an indicator of improvement since I started drawing this and I'm glad I was able to draw it better than last time lol. All the patchwork and similarities to Vanny's suit work really well, and the rabbit you chose to base it off of was a good fit, the colors make it a bit more difficult to shade for but i like detail lol, hope you like it too :)

@dykevanny I knew I wanted to do this since I started but I wasn't sure if I'd have time, and I'm glad I did! I hope you don't mind I combined aspects from the first design I saw and the second one you replied to my ask with, I liked the big purple sleeves lol. (I just realized after doing all the shading I forgot to include the oil splatter on his jacket, sorry!) It was definitely a bit difficult due to the head shape being so different but.. fluffy. i love drawing fluff. And the glowing swirl on the goggles, the shape of the ears, I love a lot about this design. :D

I have a hard time with writing compliments but I wanted to get some of those thoughts out, some of the things I like about these designs apply to multiple lol. I adore every one of these designs but I find it hard to put into words what I enjoy about them, hope the original creators are happy with these. <3

I also kept the ggys without as much lighting effects on a separate file, I felt like I should add them since they're a bit brighter lol, makes them look different.

Okay now that I've gotten all that- Sorry this post is so long! I didn't think it'd end up taking up so much space lol. Buut.. working on this drawing and thinking about it and potential context behind it gave me an au idea for it, but I'll put it under the cut since I understand most people probably won't care and just wanna see the drawings lol.

Idk if I'm confident enough to write for it but I'll give a bit of a summary.. I'll keep it under the cut for people who aren't interested and just wanna see the art though lol.

After the main events of SB and Ruin, now that the mimic's been set free, Cassie's taken control of by what's left of Vanny, using her as a new host. But with Cassie being the only human left alive down there, after being reawakened, Dr. Rabbit has nowhere left to go but back to his old host.

Vanessa, Freddy, and Gregory hadn't gone back to the Pizzaplex after ruin, but they were trying to figure out a plan to get Cassie back safely. One night after Freddy and Gregory disappear, Vanessa leaves to go find them. As dangerous as the pizzaplex is, it's her best guess for where they might've gone. She doesn't want to think about what could've happened to them, in denial for the worst case scenario. She tries to keep herself calm by telling herself they probably just left to go back for Cassie, maybe they didn't want her stopping them.. but deep down she knows it can't be that simple. She knows something's off, even if she's not ready to admit it.

When returning to the pizzaplex, she brought along her own V.A.N.N.I. mask, though unlike the one Cassie used, it was clear of the mimic's influence. After all, she was going to need some way to travel through potential blocked routes.

By the time she found Gregory, she'd still been wearing the mask, seeing him down the end of a dark hallway. He looked confused, afraid, his mind was a wreck of conflicting emotions. She started rushing towards him, happy to see him okay, until he finally spoke.

"You need to get out of here."

She stepped back, taking off the mask, only to be faced with the worst case scenario.

It was a wreck, covered in stains and tears, but it was still recognizable. He was wearing that old suit again.

As he waved, she could see Freddy's claws peeking out from the doorway, as the two stepped closer towards her.

So, she did what he told her to do, and started running. She could hear a faint voice coming from the mask, and put it back on before finding somewhere she could hide.

It was his voice again, telling her which way to go.

I guess that was the dramatic way to summarize the main idea behind it, lol. Basically Gregory and Dr. Rabbit work the way Sun and Moon work in Ruin, whichever one is in control in the real world, the other is left behind in the AR world. Or at least that's my interpretation of how they worked, considering Sun was always in mask-on scenes and moon was mask-off. I'm not too sure where the plot might go from there, and maybe I'll consider writing for it, I dunno. I've never wrote fanfic before because I get deadly afraid of writing them out of character lol, but maybe?? I have ideas for scenes and premise and stuff but I don't know if I have the confidence to write it.

But anyway! That was just more of a fun side-idea I came up with while working on this, if you read this far thanks, hope you enjoyed :)

here's some silly little lineless doodles as a reward for making it to the end hehe

now that's what I call an art dump

@ggyweek2024

[fuck-customers]

I'm sorry this isn't exactly what this blog is for, but I was hoping it could slide. I have something at work that I'd like the opinions of mods and followers, if possible please.

I was wondering if I should ask for/pursue a promotion to store lead, as several people in my life, including friends, family, and a very persistent (annoying) coworker, have been pressuring me to do so. But I have several cons and pros about it. And since all the people in my life are blindly telling me to apply to be a lead, they won't listen to what my concerns are and say that I'm just being stubborn and difficult without listening to why I'm hesitating. So here's why

Pros:

•it would look good on my resume

•get paid $2 more per hour

•I'd get paid for training. Yay

•it may force me to get better at responsibility, as I'd be in charge of keys and codes

•I'd get slightly more hours per week (more on that below)

•I would get to freely move around the store as I'm doing my tasks vs. being trapped at the register area as I've currently been, which is great for me personally, because I hate being trapped at one station

•I may be able to fix some things around the store that have been driving me nuts as a result of being free to move around (such as changing the godawful music)

•it would probably be a needed confidence booster

•I have several ideas of things we could and should be doing that would greatly improve the store and maybe my manager would actually listen to a lead vs. a regular employee, as she currently refuses to listen to my suggestions (which, for the record, are things like "hey maybe we should put price tags on the products" not only does she refuse to listen, she actively goes out of her way to undo the work I do and tear down price tags/signs)

Cons:

•store leads ≠ full time and current leads get the same amount of hours that I do, give or take 3 hours or so (for example, this current week I have 9 hours, the lead who has been pressuring me to become a lead has 10 hours, and other leads have between 10-15 hours) I would already be a lead if it was a full-time position, but that will not happen. I'd even consider it if there was a significant increase in hours while still being part-time. 1-3 hours more is not an increase in my opinion

•the store is severely understaffed by design and leads have to do several tasks alone at once, such as: run the service department alone, unlock anything customers need throughout the store, fill online orders, backup the cashier when needed (the only other employee in the store) get yelled at by angry customers who demand a manager and do a daily checklist from the store manager that consists of 20 or so tasks to do in a 3 hour shift.

•store leads have nearly all of the responsibilities of the store manager, except they can't hire or fire anyone and they get paid less than half of what the store manager gets paid while having to do all of the same tasks, minus the fun ones (hiring/firing people)

•there are many signs that the company may shut down in the near future, but the company and my store manager are pretending like everything is fine and refuse to discuss it with employees

•leads are also expected to go to the bank for cash deposits for the store/to get change, etc. and I do not have my own car or license (which is not something I want to mention to my manager, as I'm required to have reliable transportation to work there, I just don't have to specify whose transportation it is) and that is a job requirement of a lead that I straight up cannot do. And the public transport in my city is lackluster and taking the bus to and from the bank would easily be an hour long trip or more, when it takes someone with their own car 15-20 minutes.

•I have a very bad memory and I am not confident that I could remember all of the procedures and passcodes that managers are required to remember. I could technically write it down, but I don't want to draw attention to my terrible memory, as I've been successfully hiding it for years. Nor am I confident that I could be responsible for keys and not lose them. And realistically, I'd lose the book/accidentally delete the notes app I made notes on.

•I've been able to hide it for now, since as a regular employee, I am not watched very closely, but I cut a LOT of corners and there are several store policies that I think are extremely stupid and I either straight up don't follow them or have workarounds for them. Obviously as a lead, I'd have to stop doing that, but some of these policies strongly go against my morals. This is just a whining bulletpoint lol

•I'm not great under pressure, and I'm even worse when someone is yelling/swearing at me or talking down to me. I've seen leads get talked to like they're trash by customers and they have been able to successfully stay calm and collected. In situations where I have been yelled at or talked down to, I call a manager to back me up, but that doesn't work if I am the manager. And I don't mean that I'll cry, because in some situations, that may help. No. I mean that my natural response to stress, especially someone yelling at me, is to fight back. I will cuss them out, yell back and I have been known to physically attack. Not at work, obviously, but that's because up until now, I've been able to push aggressive customers off onto my managers. I've also successfully hidden my anger issues from management and coworkers to the point where they think I am always happy and never get mad. It helps to have someone to back me up/deflect off of, but if I am the backup, no one can defend me.

•There are several things wrong with the store that are completely out of the control of any of us employees at the physical location and are the fault of corporate, but customers blame the employees personally and as a lead, I'd have to answer for the fuckups of corporate that I genuinely cannot answer for. (Such as return policies and inventory inaccuracies)

•My manager is very shitty at communicating with her team. I've personally witnessed several incidents that were caused by her not properly communicating with her leads and I don't want to wind up in a position where I'm responsible for resolving the conflict she caused by not communicating. Also

•I have nearly zero respect for my manager. I think she is an absolute moron, but I've been able to hide it as I don't have to work/interact with her very often. As a lead, I'd have to work with her more and it may slip.

•I don't wear a nametag. I very strongly believe that nametags are a great danger to the employees, especially employees like myself who have a very uncommon name with a very uncommon spelling. Yet as a manager, I'd have to "lead by example" and wear a nametag. I would ideally wear a fake name or have several fake nametags to rotate, but my coworkers obviously know my name and would call it out.

•I'd have to double-check on this one, but I think leads, as members of management, are required to watch potential shoplifters and confront/track them down. I'm not sure if this is a requirement of a lead or if the particular leads at my store are going way beyond their job requirements/have been coached incorrectly by the store manager. I know I, as a regular employee, am not required to chase after thieves and I actively refuse to confront/chase thieves for my own safety. But I am not sure if that would change with becoming a lead. My work does not have a security guard.

•I have several ideas of things we could and should do to improve the store, but my manager is very arrogant and refuses to listen to constructive criticism or constructive feedback in any form. It would drive me insane to have to keep doing things the wrong/difficult way just because she won't listen to suggestions. And this isn't just an assumption by me. I have personally suggested things that she blatantly ignored and so have other leads.

Posted by admin Rodney

[gothicprep]

so glad that AI video is here! sort of. kind of. you ever want to see a screensaver that looks like it was designed for windows 2000, where fish are flying through the air across village streets? sora can do that with one easy prompt! you ever wanna see a woman lying in bed, roll over, and watch her arm turn into the comforter? sora can do that too! it's amazing! do you ever want to see a POV of an ant's tunnel that looks like something worse than what you'd see on bbc's planet earth? sora can do that too!

i'm sure we've all seen these videos and many more at this point. the ai evangelists swear that this is a game-changing revolution in its ability to turn simple prompts into movie quality video. assuming that movie quality means a late-stage mcu movie, or madame web, or a direct to video dreamworks knockoff from the early 2000s. really? none of those things. it's not as good as any of those things. and yeah, yeah, i know, "it's going to improve", "this is the worst it's ever gonna look", "it's gonna get more realistic". but there are some who will tell you that this is the beginning of a brave new world. a whole new era! we've got a whole movement that's going to unlock creativity that's been untapped, trapped within people who have no actual talent but, um, some ideas i guess. there's a deep reservoir of those people who society has been wasting for all these years.

let's be real here. more likely, the AI is probably going to be used to much more boring ends than new great works of art when it's not being used for more nefarious ends. on the more boring side of things, you'll have people on the internet say "what if you had batman fight the straw hat pirates from one piece? that's something an ai could do!" fanfic kind of stuff. "what if goku fought superman? who would win? i'll bet ai can show us that!" another thing it can bring to life? sex tapes that you didn't make, but you're going to be starring in! get ready for the future where someone gets mad at you online, and five seconds later, you're in a bondage orgy! have fun at the bondage orgy! that's what ai promises :)

but that's not the worst of it, believe it or not. the real problem with ai is that it's going to give bad actors the ability to create international crises by ginning up phony videos. want to spark a riot in the urban center of a country you don't like? fake a video of a cop killing a kid. it'll go viral and the gas stations will be burning before the city can prove it didn't happen.

wife & i were watching the second season of tokyo vice last night while we were waiting for true detective: night country to come on, and in the premiere episode, there's a video of a sex worker being beaten to death while a gov't minister looks on. when presented with the video, he pulls the shaggy defense and just says "it wasn't me". the denial doesn't wash because the technology at the time couldn't have faked it, but in short order, we're going to be in a future where we won't be able to prove it was or wasn't him. "oh, it was ai". welp. no one will know.

the ability to circulate low-quality, unverified information has real downsides. and if anything, the decades during which i've grown up with the internet prompts me towards a lot more wariness of ai than unbridled enthusiasm. if the best case scenario for ai is what the internet did to the information environment already, we're all fucked. the speed with which things can spread and proliferate is frankly terrifying. the prompts people are using now are dumb, and the programming is not very good, but the ai evangelists are right when they say it's going to get better. and as it gets better, it's going to be more tempting to use it in ways which absolutely are negative for society. i'm sure there are cgi artists working at major studios who will be able to use these things in good ways, but i sit here and i hear people talk about "oh, the great wave of creativity is going to be unleashed by ai!" and i'm just like. what kind of future are you living in, where the technology always works out the way you want, and everyone is happy, and there are flying cars in the sky and rainbows?

[rinofwater]

Yo, I legit want to hear your data disk theory bc I was kinda thinking the same thing? Except I figured that if they really are magnetic hard disks then they'd be even more fragile than DVDs/CDs since even a stray magnet could screw up all the data? I am but a lowly software person so I don't exactly how storage mediums work all too much lol. Also, if the old world was really DA FUTURE(tm), wouldn't their computer storage be more in SSDs than HDDs? There might be an economic reason to stick with HDDs but if their computing tech was at the level of sentient AIs and stuff they hypothetically would have the faster, more compact storage in those...

Reminds me of the deep dive I did to figure why the hell telegraphs in the My Time world are called telegraphs if they're supposedly wireless (short answer: it's probably primitive radio? i have no idea how the hell transmissions can work at distances up to cross-country tho)

Oh boy, I'm so glad you asked! I've done IT infrastructure repair work for a couple years now, and my last job actually had me working with a lot of storage servers in particular for the latter half of my job, so I have Opinions(tm) on this small detail lol. And those are all really good questions too. And hopefully I don't get too technical trying to answer it, but I make no promises (and it's DEFINITELY going to be long and rambly so bear with me)

So starting with it being The Future(tm), there are pros and cons to going HDD versus SSD versus NVMe today, but did you know that not only is tape storage still in use, but it's actually still considered a modern, practical solution to archival storage with the technology still being upgraded and developed, even right now in 2023? Archival in this case being the sort of data you need to hold onto for 20, 30, 40 years or more without a constant need to have read/write access to that data. The tape servers have a cool robot arm in them and everything to move the tape cassettes around. A lot of this technology isn't actually aging out because it has its niche, it's just being modernized to settle it more in that niche

So with HDDs versus SSDs, they are becoming fairly comparable to each other today, HDD was winning out for a long time because SSD was a lot more expensive to get ahold of at the same storage capacity as HDD. That's great from a regular end-user perspective because you can get that upgrade more practically and reap the benefits of not having to rely on physical moving parts to access your data. Swapping it out on a server level is going to be a much larger and more expensive project, though, without seeing a lot of additional benefit for going that direction. A lot of the benefits that you would see for swapping to SSD on a regular computer have already been accounted for in existing server designs for a while now, in the form of RAID technology (Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive Disks; fancy way of saying "get a bunch of drives to take on the work of one drive and then replace any drives that break along the way"; being able to share the data load across multiple drives improves efficiency and then you can also replace broken disks on the fly without having to worry about the integrity of the overall storage system as long as you don't sit on too many dead disks for too long)

Not to say that SSDs won't still overtake HDD eventually, as new servers are installed in datacenters and closets, they're increasingly having SSD as the supported format, but there's not a good enough benefit to rush through fading out HDD at the moment when they're still about comparable to each other and the weaknesses have largely been accounted for. And even then, there are always going to be legacy servers that get passed up for upgrades either because nobody sees a need or it's too important to the overall infrastructure or any number of reasons, at which point they're still almost definitely going to be sticking with HDDs even in The Future

So that's the long-winded justification for why I think it's plausible that there would still be large enough quantities of HDDs kicking around even in the future for them to end up in ruins of that future

As for the justification of how you'd be able to get enough usable data off of them given the notorious fragility of those disks, I chalk it up to a matter of quantity. When I was installing brand-new storage servers for a customer, one drawer could hold up to around a hundred hard drives, and there were often four or five drawers slated for install with one server. If you figure that your average HDD has about three to six platters, multiply that by 100, and then multiply that by the drawers, and then the number of identical hardware setups that are also set up around it, and that number just keeps going up by orders of magnitude. Most of those platters are absolutely going to be shattered or wiped or otherwise damaged in a way that renders them useless, and the percentage that make it out in-tact enough is going to be very small. But if you take a very small percentage of the ridiculously large number of platters you can expect to find in a datacenter (even the smaller ones) is still going to give you the chance of finding enough usable platters that you can pull something off of them. Like, we're talking millions or billions of platters just in one place, if you take .01% or .001% or even .0001% of that kind of number as your chances of finding something in tact you're still looking at a fairly decent pool of workable salvage to sort through*

(*In theory, anyway; in practice, you usually need all the platters that are associated with an HDD to be able to put the data together into something usable given the way data's distributed across them...not that it's impossible to grab information off of a single platter but it would take A LOT of extra work to figure out how to reverse engineer it into working versus having the full set. It could still be possible but that factor drags the already small percentage down even further. But then, I would be surprised if Pathea has given it NEARLY as much thought as this, so after a certain point, there's kinda just the shrugging to say "video game logic" lol...but before reaching that point I'm going to have my fun spending way too much time trying to figure out how it *could* work)

With the quantity argument, as well, you're also way more likely to see that kind of overabundance of HDD than you would DVDs or CDs; DVDs just aren't scalable in the same way, both in terms of the amount of data they can store and the amount of read/write flexibility they have. You're also a lot less likely to find the sort of information on a DVD that you would find in a storage server; DVDs are more useful for executable programs than they are for data storage, and even that purpose is superceded by a usb thumb drive a lot of the time. There wouldn't be nearly as many to account for in an apocalypse situation and that means the statistics are going to hit them much harder

Anyway, yeah, that's my nerdy ass supposition for this headcanon, thanks again for giving me an excuse to ramble on about it and I hope it makes sense lol

[manonamora-if]

September Check-In

WoW another month has passed already... Is time getting faster or my sense of impending end is just getting stronger...

ANYWAY, existential dread aside... August kinda felt like a mix bad. I did do things, but many days I felt like I didn't do enough (prob that dread again - also injury yay). So let's get into it!

Long post ahead again:

Recap of last month's progress

Recap of last week's stuff

Other IF stuff done

Other IF events

Plan for September

- _ -

The plan for the past month was to:

play more IF: ✅, see reviews in @manonamora-if-reviews

whip out something for the Single Choice Jam: ✅ The Dinner*

fix the website: ✅, new and improved*

write for a WIP: 😐not for a WIP but Goncharov Escapes! was remastered (shelved!), and currently working on DOL-OS.

add to the SG guide: ❌, I have a list though

code TTATEH: ❌, MelS isn't done with the edits (long shot).

*still kind of a WIP

I did kind of predict I wouldn't be able to write much in new content...

- _ -

So what about this week:

DOL-OS has been the main think I've been working on this week. And quite a bit of effort has been dumped in there. Since last week progress update:

the translation has been fully completed, and added to the game files (not all is properly coded)

I added some keyboard QoL for the starting puzzle

the UI re-design 75% complete (like coded complete) <- this is taking so freaking long, but it's worth it

I corrected some bugs (padlock, links)

I've been thinking in more details how the added content would look like (text mainly) and how much writing would be needed (a few thousands, I'd wager).

Obviously, I am not done with the project, but I am getting closer. The current hurdle is the finishing the UI-redesign: I really want things to be pristine in terms of visual quality and that requires a lot of testing and detail change. I have a few minor block of passages left and the booting screen to fix, before I can focus on the final beat of the game (not much UI-wise, more regular coding).

This final part will take quite a bit of time as well, because it too requires a bunch of testing (and there's a few accessibility concerns I need to take care of...). I'm confident it won't be too difficult, just... tedious.

But I really want to do a good job with this remaster, adding all the stuff I couldn't the first time before of time constraint (fun fact: DOL-OS was completed in a month...) and coding capabilities (I learned a ton since). I know people really enjoyed it the first time around, but I know it can be even better. Like it should really have that first-place vibe it deserves :P

I am hoping to be done by next weekend, but depending on how polish I can make it, I might need an extra week on top of it. (This would track: 4-ish weeks to make the OG version, 4-ish weeks to remaster it...).

In the meantime, I might post a few screenshots of the redesign and show it in comparison to the current version.

Some of you have noticed the blog has kinda disappeared. It's not gone, just... password locked. The notifications have been run over a bit by bots, the inbox received a few impatient guests, and it's in need of a good cleaning anyway.

I still want to work on the project (I have so many plans), but since writing anything for it has seemed impossible for the past months, I needed a cleaner break from it.

This project is not over, or abandoned. I kind of see it as my magnum opus (because of the sheer size it should have at the end). But because of this, I've realised I need to plan and re-plan things around the project more carefully. And that includes the blog and its content (original or reblogged). I probably should have made a post, huh... but then again, I always to things on a whim :P

Until things have calmed down, it will stay locked. The game, however, is still available to play.

MelS has been doing his best with progress, but lots of IRL work ahead of him, so he's been pacing himself and write when he can. He's kind of sad our hope to wrap up the game by Halloween probably won't happen, but he's trying his best to finish it as soon as possible!

Slightly related: one ending of the game has been written :P (MelS got tired of writing variation, so to do something new he wrote a bit on the last chapter).

Over at @manonamora-if-reviews, I finished reviewing all Single Choice entries. It was loads of fun to see how people interpreted the restrictions. The Jam was even mentioned on Emily Short's blog (patron saint of IF)!

Also in the reviewing department, I'm taking a crack at the Goncharov jam. I had reviewed a few already, but I thought this might be a good time to tackle on the rest! I think I am about half with them. It's nice to get back into the Gonch meme, especially after the remaster

The upload time will be sporadic, like is was the past month.

After that, I think I'll play from French games...

- _ -

Some IF Stuff:

Today is the last day to submit your list of best IF to the TOP 50 list.

Have an IF ghost in your project drawer? Come share and submit it to the Bring Our Your Ghost Jam. Deadline is September 15th!

The IFComp intent deadline has passed, but if you plan on voting for the entries, you can still create an account!

Similarly, if you are planing on reviewing the IFComp entries, you can get your account settled on the IFDB (many peeps create one at the same time during the voting period, and the system sometimes flags it as spam, and hide ratings/reviews).

September is usually a pretty quiet time... unless you are submitting something to the IFComp... But also, I've been trying reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy hard not to look at the Jam tab on itch, so not to be tempted to do a new thing. I've already put out more games this year than last year (counting the tiny ones).

- _ -

The PLAN tm for September

It will essentially be very similar to August...

continue to play and review games (that front page spot is getting closer...). It gives me an opportunity for a break, and I get to think more about game design or writing, or where I could improve. And I get to give the authors some (hopefully) thoughtful words about their games.

finish the DOL-OS remaster. By mid-September, I think I could swing that. Then it will be another shelved game!

either continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game. I might try to get La Petite Mort in proper shape and translated for the EctoComp? (I need to check if they accept translation, since it was submitted last year)

maybe try to add another block to the SugarCube Guide? I have a few ideas on what to include, but it is mainly a matter of sitting down and doing it. Though I have another template I've been toying with... maybe that might happen first.

That would be neat if I could manage that :P I need to fix the loading screens of Twine games too...

Taking the list of last month...

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅ (ongoing)

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Emptying my inboxes

(I am pretty sure the focus for the rest of the year will be to finish the first list. With the addition maybe of a small jam entry or two.)

[bonesandthebees]

Lastly, the cane, which once again shows how much Phil loves his son. (And how much Techno loves his nephew. You know, the family dynamic is something we have not see a lot of yet, and I am living for it.)

[Of course his father came by at least twice a day.] look at him being a good father! Now tell your son you love him! Too emotionally aware?

[Ponk confirmed that he had put Tommy on bed rest despite his many (and loud) protests.] see he probably wants to see Wilbur too, is probably angry at everyone around him for lying. And we have yet to hear Wilbur nightmares, but I’m sure Tommy is having them.

[“I asked him to add the roses though,” Phil added, “thought it would be a nice touch.”] see these roses are a religious thing, and it has something to do with death and I feel like it also has to do with protection. Question though: are the roses on the walking stick part or on the blade part? Because that changes implications.

[Phil and Techno shared a look.] hey it’s look number 5, I could have added this to my starting segment somebody play the music and switch to the title card

I love Phil trying to stop Techno from selling him out and Techno not having it. He will tell your son how much effort you put into this gift. He will also show your son his new cool blade.

I wonder whose idea that was. Was it added too or in the original design? The idea is that Wilbur can protect himself with it, but he’s not a great fighter (will they get him more lessons?). I think it’s more for the idea of safety. Both for Wilbur and for them. He will always have the cane, thus always have a weapon, so the next time something happens, he will be able to defend himself.

And I don’t remember if this particular Wilbur is a pacifist, but the dagger might make him uncomfortable, he will still use it to protect Tommy (not even to protect himself, baby brother has been acquired and the instincts are strong. He will protect the kid who is the only reason he’s still alive).

Lastly, [Sometimes when answering Phil’s questions, Wilbur felt horrible dread at the idea of getting them wrong. This was not one of those times. He already knew where this conversation was leading.] I cannot just ignore this? The implications! It’s that fear of messing up again! But it was there at the start of the chapter and now it’s gone. Will it stay that way? Is this positive improvement? We’ll see…

-🌲

phil no your son doesn't really comprehend that acts of service is your love language phil you need to tell him with your words phil noooo he can't hear us he's wearing airpods-

I'll say tommy and wilbur are definitely both having nightmares. it's to be expected after something like this.

the blade itself is hidden inside the cane and in order to slide in smoothly it has a very simple design, so no, there aren't any roses on the blade part. it's only on the cane part. although it's less of a symbolic meaning and more just because of what I view as how a cane designed like that would practically work. symbolically speaking the cane and the blade are two parts of the same object, so the roses are technically on both if that makes sense

ok maybe I have phil and techno share looks too much but those two are just really good at reading each other without saying anything

phil is ridiculous he literally overpaid so much to steal that cane from whoever commissioned it. while I want to say that phil and techno wanted to add the blade into the cane, I also don't know how that would be possible 'realistically speaking' given the narrow time frame. like I don't think whoever carved that cane could've added a blade inside of it in the span of 2 days, but at the same time if we ignore logic and reasoning I do prefer the idea of it having been techno's idea. so yeah just uh. ignore realism with that one bit.

but yeah it's definitely more for safety than anything else. it's a way of showing wilbur that he won't be put in a situation like l'mannes again. and if anything ever happens, phil and techno want to make sure he can keep himself safe. they never want him to be helpless again.

I actually can't remember 100% if I've mentioned rose!wilbur being a pacifist or not in the past and I'm too tired to try and skim through the whole fic to check, so forgive me if I'm contradicting my past self here but I don't think he is? if I go back and find out I did make him a pacifist then oops but I don't view him as one. he just sucks at fighting, but he was raised by phil who has, like, zero moral issue with murder. he knows that they don't live in a forgiving world and that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.

hmm guess you'll have to wait and see if this is an improvement in their dynamic or not...

tysm for all the wonderful analysis as always spruce. I always have so much fun going through these. I'm very very excited for you to eventually read the next chapter :)

[wevelocityteampresents-blog]

SEPTEMBER 12th

Today was my birthday. I would have gone out somewhere to eat if it weren't for the terribly polluted air. It was rotten a year ago, but things have only gotten worse. (No thanks to those wildfires earlier in July.) I'm sick of this unbreathable air, and the only birthday present I really want is for the air to become clean again.

I was finally able to redesign certain characters. The new designs are far from finished. So you'll have to wait to see which characters got the facelift they needed.

While playing Pokémon Violet, I battled against a few people online and tried to earn marks for some of my newer Pokémon.

If he's that big, why didn't you give him a Jumbo Mark?

After I failed to give my Pokémon any marks, I went to the Pokémon Center to see Nurse Joy congratulate me on my birthday.

The banner was a nice touch.

After studying for a bit, I returned to Pokémon Violet to catch a Pokémon with a Destiny Mark. There were a lot of great candidates. But I eventually chose a Tinkatink.

She's not shiny. But she's good enough for me.

SEPTEMBER 13th

Aside from all the gifts I received yesterday, one of my later ones was a ticket to Kitakami.

Later in the afternoon, I first went to Pokémon HOME to update Umbre's moveset after I heard that Umbreon was able to learn Toxic again. Thankfully, Umbre already knew that move, so I helped him remember it.

Now he can actually stand a chance against Paldea's worst.

I got caught up in battling others with my newly improved Pokémon. It wasn't until after my second match that I remembered to dash off to Uva Academy.

I wouldn't say it was THAT soon. I've only been in this country for half a year.

Jacq tells me that going to Kitakami will allow me to see new Pokémon (who aren't that new as I've already seen them all before) and that I should have fun with it. Another thing he told me was that he already got my mom's permission to come along.

How they never told me about this, I have no idea.

Also, Blueberry Academy has roots in Unova.

There's also a lot of Unova Pokémon in Kitakami too. If that's not a hint at remakes for Black and White, I don't know what is.

Briar presents herself as the descendant of the Violet Book author and shares the completed versions of the pages we saw in Professor Turo's research facilities, proving that my hypothesis was correct.

Sadly, we won't get to see Terapogos for another few months.

Before I knew it, I was finally in Kitakami County.

And I've already made some progress on the new Pokédex. (I'll fill it up some more later.)

Not all was well in this country, as this one girl didn't want me on her turf.

Naturally, I taught her a lesson through a Pokémon battle. (While also learning that, yes, Poltchageist is part-Grass.)

Like every other rival, she acted like a sore loser.

But then again, I was the one who had 5 Pokémon that were at a higher level than hers.

Sometime after I was settled in at the community center, I was given my first assignment while learning abroad.

I wanted to get to the first one. But I was too busy exploring the town for treasure.

This might be the most unenthusiastic Joy I've ever seen. She's like one of those people who act poorly while on the job because they're stuck with it and have nowhere better to look for a paycheck. Which would be reasonable if this weren't a Pokémon Center.

At least she has the courtesy to stay off her cell phone while operating the machine. Speaking of which...

Why didn't they have a feature like this from the beginning? The TM Machine also had new TMs available for creation. But I didn't need them at the moment.

I eventually met this woman named Perrin.

I was going to wonder why someone like her has a Hisuian Growlithe. But considering everyone else fights with Ursaluna and Hisuian Arcanine, I'm just going to forget it and move on.

I'm more careful in real life.

A goal I'm sure will probably take months to complete. (If I didn't have any of those Pokémon in other games.)

SEPTEMBER 15th

I was worried about my performance in school. But my friends told me I was doing a great job and I needed to calm down. I didn't have any school today, which meant I could focus on celebrating the 5th anniversary of Pokémon Pocket Web Comics before getting some sleep.

The air was getting a bit chilly today. It was the perfect sign fall was right around the corner. In a few days, all of my current problems will be no more. (For a while, anyway.)

In Pokémon Violet, I finally made my way to the first signboard. Surprisingly, despite only taking me two days to reach, Kieran didn't beat me to it.

It's almost as if it could be a Pokémon.

It's too bad I didn't get a badge for this photo. This screen feels incomplete without one.

I'm hoping that Miraidon will learn a new technique soon. Also, I haven't heard Pokémon be referred to as Kaiju since the first games were still in development.

[j0eyj0rdis0n]

You doing matchups? I've been wanting one for so long 🥲 creepypasta of course gotta love the skrungles . Lol I'm genderfluid but I come off more feminine than masculine. I'm 5.2 , petite is the best way to describe me . I have a septum piercing planning on getting a sternum tattoo for my birthday this year (my own design I'm excited) I have short bleached dyed pixie cut styled hair (it's gone through some things🥲) , dark brown eyes , pale olive complexion. I've been told that I'm flirty and "a bro" from my friends . Despite being flirty I can't commit for the life of me nor do I catch feelings like at all , but I gladly give out genuine compliments. Like most I'm shy at first but if I like you I'm a feral gremlin. I'm down to earth , what you see is what you get , very laid back and go with the flow in the outside , inside though I believe everyone hates me and I'm going over everything bad thing that could happen. I have insomnia and chronic depression . So I'm a sleepy type . Love games , tattoos , skulls , art ,makeup, nature and sometimes going out with the right people . I'm told I'm great to hug and I have a calming presence. I'm planning on being a tattoo artist while helping animals on the side Hope that's enough or not too much 😅 have a great week love ❤️

Send the tattoo design!! I looooove tattoos and I would be so happy to see the design! I hope you enjoy this and your tattoo journey goes well!

I match you with… Jeff the Killer!

Jeff loves how you’re down to earth and you have the “bro” attitude. He finds it easy to connect with you that way. When you guys hang out he almost finds comfort in the way you act.

He enjoys that he can do pretty much whatever he wants around you and you don’t give him shit for it. Anyone else in the mansion always has some sort of issue with him. But you, no such thing as issues.

Honestly most of the time you’d join in his antics. He’s also quite the fan of how you’re down for any sort of mischief at any time seeing has he has very minimal friends. (let’s be honest, it’s really only Ben)

He doesn't mind that you don't catch feelings, honestly it's probably better that way. He's a literal psychopath killer anyways so it's definitely for the best.

DON'T GIVE THE MAN COMPLIMENTS‼️

He already has an ego through the fucking roof because of Nina and her compliments... You make it 100000x worse. Every time you give him even a single word of praise, he'll go on and on about it for WEEKS. He won't let that shit go. You told him that he looked good? He'll remember that when he hasn't showered in 12 days. 💀

When you two finally get close (which will take a bit since dude isn't the most trusting) and he finally hears about your insecurities and fears, he'll more than likely listen while he's doing absent minded tasks like cleaning his knife or actually making a fucking meal for once

He probably wouldn't be able to offer much help considering he's insecure himself (exactly why he inflates his ego so much). But he'd stand by you and try his best to reassure you that you're probably one of the most liked creeps around. At least you're much more well liked than he is. He'll always bring that part up.

Aaaand he’s not a sleeper at all, and honestly he'd probably get bored waiting around for you to actually fall asleep. But in the long run, his sleep schedule will improve because of you. It would take a bit to get to him actually telling you he enjoys it, but even through all the lies you can tell he's happy

He's definitely the kind to ask you to draw on him. He'd probably make you design a sleeve for him as well. He'll be picky as fuck though, so patience is needed.

And honestly, he loves your calming presence and how you can be his rock if he actually decides to open up. But once again he absolutely loves your willingness to cause chaos as well.

I hope this fits and it was enjoyable to read! Thank you for the ask!! <3

[cidthesquid]

My First Look At: Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+

If anyone here has been wondering what's been eating up all my free time recently, it's been this game.. "Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+" I don't know if I've mentioned this here, but my three favorite game types are actually ARPGs, Fighting Games and Rhythm games! And now I've found a really fun Rhythm game with Fashion elements!

Clearing songs, and improving your scores gets you points that you can use to unlock new outfits for the various characters, and there are a TON of choices:

Not only that, but you can even mix and match outfits and hair styles, to find something you think suits the look better.

(This changes the hair, and some face features such as makeup)

You'll have multiple accessory slots as well, and you can attach one item in each spot to further customize your look:

(Some of these are very silly, But they're fun to try out!)

I'ts really fun to try out various custom outfits when playing songs! You only get 4 'Custom slots' but for songs that have multiple singers, you'll be able to edit all of them, still only taking up a single slot.

The game only has one standard 'mode', with a few difficulty options. But you'll also have the option to practice specific parts, or you can watch a 'music video' of the song, where it plays its self with the hud removed. (show in the above gif)

As for the characters... I was never much of a miku fan before, Only hearing a few songs in other games, I never sought out her content. And while I won't break down all the characters, I will talk about my impressions of Hatsune Miku.

One game is not much to go on, but she definitely feels like one of those “Universal Appeal” characters, I'm by no means bother by that. But it just means they can't really give her any kind of personality,

On the other hand, it is nice to know that means they don't simply confine her to sticking with one style for her songs.

The game offers a wide range of Vocaloid music, each with a (swappable) lead singer.

And even though Miku's song's are mostly cute and up beat, there are a few edgier and slightly darker ones too. So I'd argue my opinion of Miku has improved overall, as before, I'd really only hear her more popular hits in 'Taiko no Tasujin', and just seeing her posted everywhere as gifs and avatars, I'm not sure if I'd call myself a 'huge Miku fan' but I am enjoying this game.

-- And, as for what character I played the most.. Well, If you've followed my content for any amount of time, You probably already know what type of characters I generally gravitate to:

It looks like Meiko is supposed to be the 'Cool Girl'/Mature Character, But much of her outfit selection feels a bit off to me:

(sorry for the small preview, it's just for reference) It looks like they wanted to give here the tomboy style personality, but they don't really have any outfits that match that, (...Okay, maybe I'm just projecting the personality I want on to her, but the But this game does not really give you a whole lot to go on..) Lots of 'cute' outfits, with only a few mature ones thrown in, (And some of the mature ones honestly feel a little generic) And then there's stuff like these, feels like the start of a good outfit, but then goes a little off the rails... (they look way too busy)

I have no problems with offering revealing outfits as an option, I've play games using some myself. But I just don't personally find these visually appealing. It really feels like they were too afraid to branch out with her outfit styles I really feel they should have given her better variety, or at least a specific style that stood out more from the rest. I'm not even sure what's going on with here 'modern' outfit (left) I feel they could have used some of the cool designs from luka (right)

But anyways, I really don't know anything about Vocaloid culture, maybe I missed the point, and this all perfectly fits Meiko's personality, IDK, (let me know in the comments) ..But I still work have preferred more options. --- Anyway, I've still been having a blast playing this game! and even though the fashion elements are fairly light, I still enjoyed them. Oh and just as a disclaimer, I was using a few QOL mods in this post, So be aware that some things (like having English subs) may be different from the vanilla game! Anyways, thanks for reading! (comments/constructive criticism is always welcome!)

[lutawolf]

oh! hi Luta~ 4am thoughts have reminded of a question i've had, that i have tried to find the answer for on the internet, but failed. so i am a big brat lover, all my fav characters are bratty or have sharp tongues or more mischievous. i am also really into kpop, and all my favourite group members are either the designated brat or super mischievous. and its like, that's what I want, in my heart of hearts, but i feel like i can't. i have a really really big deep fear of saying the wrong things and making people hate me more than I already hate myself (which i've gotten to a point where i can maybe say i don't hate myself on someday, so improvement!) but even with close friends, I hold back and never get playful or poke fun. even with your blog, ngl, I read your rule about always saying at least "Hi Luta" and I immediately want to do the opposite like a dumbass jfuisbxjanzjjre. so ... are like, broken brats a thing? bc that's what i feel like i guess. i also feel like a fake human most of the time, biggest of imposters. i exist in a state on constant fear, and like, i don't fight or flight, i freeze like a deer in the headlights. and that freezing and fear is the thing that's kept me alive probably, and i think i want out of it. but what if i am just a fake wannabe brat?? ???? is that possible??? but i guess mostly i wanna know if broken brats are a thing and can they be fixed. sorry for the wall of text, my brain isn't letting me break it up bc i need a physical representation that somewhat matches my thoughts in my head. tysm for reading this far if you did. sorry for being weird on main.

Hey nonnie,

We need to address a few things you said. That honestly have me concerned.

A) It's normal to feel some struggles concerning how we view ourselves. On loving ourselves but it should be surface level not any further.

B) Dove, you are more than surface level. The kink community is not where you fix this. It's incredibly unfair to not only yourself but a Dom who would try.

C) You have a problem with authority and it has nothing to do with being a brat. There isn't a brat who respects me that has an issue addressing me. Even a a good Dominant isn't going to have an issue because it's a sign of respect.

The dangers of you entering the kink community at this point. You would push a Dom to either using their's or your safe word. If you didn't freeze and not use your safe word at all. That is never the goal of a true Dom or submissive. We aren't here to hurt each other or break people but instead help find stability. A submissive, even a brat wants to serve and please. It's not about pushing authority until someone snaps. Even if one wants to be punished it isn't done like that. Even if you aren't concerned about yourself, think of the trauma you could cause a Dom.

What I'm hearing from you is you want to fight authority. Even if you respect it. You are seeking punishment. This usually means that authority figures have repeatedly failed you all while keeping control. So you are now spiraling because you neither want control but can't trust to give it up.

The “freeze” response happens when our brain decides we cannot take on the threat nor are we able to escape. Those with a freeze response have high anxiety. Freezing releases endorphins which serve to calm the body and are also pain relievers. Why would you need pain relief? Because freezing allows one to block out scary experiences that are too difficult to process.

Are you broken? No, but maybe a little cracked and in need of tlc. I once was actually broken but now I'm a survivor. Maybe I have to carry around peppermint to sniff and say the mantra "This Too Shall Pass" but I love and am loved. I also love myself.. now. I don't know what you have been through. I won't even try to guess based off the little I know. What I do know, is for you to have written this and started thinking about the future, that you're stronger than you think. You just need some tlc 🕊 Then we can work on the kink community part.

I wish you the best. Let know if there is anything I can do to help. 💜💜💜

[pagesofkenna]

Eurovision all songs playlist first thoughts (based on the Official Music Video playlist)

Heart of Steel - Ukraine can't win two years in a row which is why they're bringing a black musician so he can perform a song that slaps so hard for all of the white europeans to be too intimidated to vote for

Bridges - Pretty ballad, I can see tumblr hating how many votes this will get, I hope her voice does it justice on stage

Due Vite - I can already see how boring the stage presentation will be. pretty ballad tho

Who the Hell is Edgar - this is gonna be that song I'm OBSESSED with that doesn't make it past the semis

I Wrote a Song - This is this year's poor man's Fuego, people will either inexplicably love it or inexplicably hate it

Aijā - I think I'm too distracted by that music video to know how to feel about the song itself lmao

Carpe Diem - Fun, but kind of a generic dance pop?

Power - Also kind of a milquetoast power ballad

Mama ŠČ - I'm... hearing that this is beloved, so I will have to look it up lol

Dance (Our Own Party) - A good stage performance would guarantee this for the finale, definitely fun, not not top 5

D.G.T. (Off and On) - The top YouTube comment 'love the song but I can't watch without cringing' really hits the nail on the head lmaoo. automatically disinterested in anyone who thinks having girls dancing in lingerie around a boringly-dressed dude is good stage direction

Solo - This is one of the few 'pretty girl does nothing but dance around looking pretty' MVs that I'm 100% here for, I love it and I love her. however I happen to know there was drama in the vote in Poland so I'll accept her probably not making it past the semis

Like An Animal - Can't wait to hear a proper recording of this lmao. a decent generic pop dance I think

Promise - I spent the first 20 seconds worried this would have a boring stage but I don't think I'm worried anymore lmao. I'd be OK with this winning (if it wasn't Australia)

Samo Mi Se Spava - A sentiment I can relate lol. the second song so far that I'm OBSESSED with. I hope they don't ruin the stage design (if they can find a way to improve on this??? get a real big robot on stage maybe??? please do this justice!!)

My Sister's Crown - A damn good entry, one of those ones it'd be an actual crime not to promote to finals, as long as they can get the staging right (wish they could get all the costumes on stage!)

Unicorn - Something about her proudly claiming the 'power of a unicorn' in this power ballad is so??? funny to me?? I can't tell how seriously I'm supposed to take this

Tattoo - What is it about four inch long nails this year.

Évidemment - lmaoooooo is so French, even when the beat drops. I hope she doesn't stand on a pedestal the whole time on stage

Burning Daylight - I really love it and I can't really vocalize why exactly, I just hope this one makes it through to the finals

Future Lover - This music video is trying extremely hard to convince me this woman knows how to perform, but I'm not convinced. If she stands there is a cool costume doing nothing but waving her arms and gets all the points, I will be mad

Cha Cha Cha - Another make or break based on stage performance. not usually my style of music but I can see it being a great pump up song

EAEA - This isn't an obvious winner at first but I do love it?? if they can accomplish on stage what they're hitting in the MV they could be awesome???

Echo - I'm... half convinced her voice isn't going to be able to work on stage. there won't be enough weird backup dancers to distract

Stay - I'm kind of not expecting a lot from this one and yet it did make me feel emotional? so

Watergun - Yeah I'm here for this song winning, I'm generally kinda meh about songs where the political/social message is to obvious and common, but this is a good and different take on the anti-war song

Tell Me More - I like it well enough, sweet and catchy and probably one that my brain will come back to on its own

What They Say - I'm afraid of this being the song this year that I like and Calyx says sounds too American for her taste lmaoo. not such a fan of the MV tho

Break A Broken Heart - I mean, I guess I appreciate a good 'look how sexy this man is' song after all the 'look how sexy this woman is' songs

Duje - What is this, Albania's entry from last year?

Because of You - Oh OK, I thought we were lacking on toothless songs that try too hard to look made for the Queers

Blood & Glitter - YOOOO YEAH SEE THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT this is my kind of metal performance lmaooo. I hope they don't drop the ball on the stage!!

We Are One - Honestly without the costumes this could be such a generic boring song, which is a great way to show how presentation can effect the performance.

Soarele şi Luna - The kind of Culture song I really love, which gets mixed results during the semis so I hope this does well!

Queen of Kings - Fun, sure, but even if it wasn't in the first spot I wouldn't expect it to pass to finals

Breaking My Heart - Danish kpop wannabe?? lets see how well that works to get him over the first spot slump lmaoo (youtube comment says he looks like he was made on TikTok which is exactly right lol. that'll either work for or against him)

Ai Coração - Fun? Curious to see how it'll go on stage more than anything.

[homemobilitypros]

Walk In Shower For Seniors

For potential purchasers, features like upgraded bathrooms, redesigned floor layouts, and greater security are marketed as being a part of a "holistic experience in barrier-free home living." By making a few modest changes, like as placing grab bars in the bathroom and enlarging entrances, a property can be made more accessible for visitors with mobility concerns. Making their products and services available to as many individuals as possible is important to the company. According to what I've read about the business online, they are able to do this and offer it to their customers. Walk In Shower For Seniors Both conventional and virtual goods and services have a market. This information may be presented to you in a variety of ways. Bathroom adaptations for those with mobility issues are something that Home Mobility Pros is skilled at. The company is very skilled in all areas of bathroom design and construction, including restorations, additions, and bespoke jobs. One of these won't be difficult to find because they are widespread. Accessible housing that helps people with disabilities to keep their independence is a crucial part of these supports. Utilizing these services consistently produces the same results. You may use it if you're a resident of the area who is disabled. Several journals may have already written about the subject. You'll probably notice that, I think. Several factors could be present: [ Other works have cited this data. You must be able to discover proof for your claims if what we discussed makes logical. They try to position themselves as industry leaders by using catchphrases like "barrier-free home living" and "experts in bathroom renovation, design, styles, and safety features." Home M is a publication that is certain to quickly become a favorite because of its focus on cozy and welcoming interiors. Call Home Mobility Pros right now if you need assistance. It is reassuring to know that Home Mobility Pros and other groups serving a similar purpose exist. Experts from House Mobility Pros are available to homeowners for consultation on any element of bathroom remodeling, including design, accessibility, and more. Working with this organization will provide you with the knowledge and advice you need to make informed decisions. The actual start of progress comes when the economy as a whole strengthens. The website has all the information you require. Availability: I'll discuss some ideas for improving public bathrooms in this essay. Any form of upkeep or repair, from quick fixes to comprehensive overhauls, is covered. We perform a complete inspection of the toilet to ascertain its current state and any areas that require repair. They contributed a plethora of information, which is encouraging for the project's advancement. The company Home Mobility Pros describes itself as "the gold standard in handicap bathroom remodeling and design" on their website. People with disabilities have greater freedom than ever to live independently in their own houses. The online statement from your bank has all of this information. The "About Us" portion of the website has proof. In this part, the user could find the answers to their queries. We had a number of options, all of which were essentially the same. Numerous people have brought up this concern. However, contacting company personnel is easiest through the company's website. At any time that is convenient for you, we welcome your visit. There are numerous different ways for the customer to contact the business. This service's objective is to lessen customer stress related to impending relocation. Users had the option to utilize or not use this feature. This is a sensible option for sporadic needs. As long as they keep coming to us for assistance, we will continue to provide it. To reiterate, you have a lot of freedom as a buyer to try out different tactics until you find the best one for your situation. Customers today have a wide range of options. Customers who are shopping alone make a significant portion of the sales.

[nmojello260cmu]

Blog #4

12/9/2022

Hello Reader!

This blog will probably be the last one for this semester, as we are finally nearing the end of it. We were finally going to have our final pitching for our last activity. With so many presentations, proposals, and defense cases we were having the past few weeks, we were a wreck. Sleepless nights were every night and this particular pitch snuck up on us real good. It was a good thing that we had already prepared our test product and PowerPoint weeks prior. We took the commentaries and critiques from the panelist before and applied them to improve our presentation. For our test product, it was Rachael who found a tailor to sew Hawid for us at a very cheap price. Remember when I said that nursing students had a very annoying problem with flyaway hair? The video below is proof of our daily struggles.

Above is one of my groupmates, Angela, while riding the motorrela for our classes. She seemed to have mistaken the amount of gel she put on her hair and put too little. Hence, little strands of baby hair escaped and ruined her neat look. I often have this problem too, but I usually mitigate it by reapplying more gel or wax by the hour. Which was really inconvenient and time-wasting. Rachael showed us the test product the tailor made with our designs and a reference from Google in mind. (The blue one is from Google and the green one is our test product.)

It turned out pretty well, all things considered. We just had to convince the panelists of that as well.

We were nervous but we had to do what we had to do. So in we went.

... It went really well. We only had about 5 minutes to briefly explain the product, show the panelists what it's about, how it attracts the market, and how much it costs...and we did it! With 2 minutes to spare! Our instructor was pleased and complimented us for being thorough in our PowerPoint (which was primarily created by Paula and the rest of us making small edits). I couldn't be prouder of our team. In that final pitching, I learned and realized a lot of things. Making a product, selling it, and actually making a profit off of it is no easy task. What is more, attracting investors to actually believe in the potential of your idea. And we actually did all that! It was a very surreal feeling. Before, I wouldn't know the word "start-up", now, I understand what it means to put your idea and your ambition into the eyes of the public. I know how to "sell" my idea to our market and make it enticing for our investors. I know a bit about how to calculate costs and budget so that we won't go into debt. I know what factors to think about in order to make my start-up journey smoother. I know now the importance of choosing your teammates right, of them having the same vision and drive and willingness to cooperate to see our idea to reality. Of each one being able to contribute meaningfully every step of the way. Before, I wouldn't have spared a single glance towards Entrepreneurship, because I really didn't understand it. Now, I am curious and got to experience a little taste of the exhausting but fun journey that it could be. It's truly an honor to have learned this subject.

(Here's a picture of our group, after our final pitch.)

[batwhimpix]

An Interview with Former Takarazuka Top Star Asumi Rio: The Laidback Personality Behind the Handsome Face

(Translated by me 8/19/2021)

While still a member of the Takarazuka Revue, Asumi Rio was known for her sensitive acting which digs deep into the heart of each role, her crystal-clear vocals, and her captivating stage presence. As the top star of Flower Troupe, she gained an immense level of popularity. Now, it has been one year since her retirement from the company. She has expanded her repertoire from stage to screen, and continues to showcase new sides to her talent. In her first name-bearing variety program, the Hulu Original "Asumi Rio's Atelier," Asumi-san learns new tips and techniques to "step up" both her lifestyle and her design sense. Totally different from her intense onstage aura, this program offers a chance to get to know Asumi-san's soft and relaxed offstage persona.

It's been a year and a half since you left the Takarazuka Revue. How would you describe that period of time for you, Asumi-san?

When I was in the Revue, because I had managed to enter the world of Takarazuka, which was my absolute favorite place, I felt strongly that I didn't want to have any regrets. So I was very motivated to work as hard as I could to polish my craft. I was completely lost in it, but within that, I always had my fans cheering me on, and the guidance of so many around me. In the last year and a half, I've realized all over again just how precious a thing that was.

Until I left, my only experience was on the stage, so stepping into the world on screen for the first time, a lot of totally new forms of expression were expected from me, and I felt a lot of anxiety. Parting from Takarazuka and living as just one individual human, every day is full of challenges. But that said, every day now is also rich with new experiences and new possibilities, so I've come to face that with a lot of gratitude.

While you were in Takarazuka, there was a very clear image, that of a perfect "otokoyaku," to aspire to. Now that you don't have that anymore, what kind of actress are you aiming to become?

There are a lot of qualities I have now precisely because I was an otokoyaku, and I think it's probably okay for me to just embrace that. As top [abbrev. "top star", the starring otokoyaku actress in each troupe], I was in a position where I had to lead the troupe, watch over and guide all the other actresses, and shape each production as the lead actress. I think I've picked up a lot of grit through that experience, and even as a woman, I think having a bit of a masculine edge in your lifestyle and how you deal with things can be a positive, right?

Even when I was playing otokoyaku roles, moreso than aiming for a particular ideal, I came at each role separately, like, this time I'm playing this kind of man, next time I'm playing this kind of man. It was like a gradual broadening of my horizons. Now I'm simply adding female roles to that roster, so it's kind of like the scope of roles available to me has doubled. When it comes to my outward appearance, as my hair grows out and I transition toward a more feminine look, I've been having all kinds of new discoveries, like, "Oh, this kind of styling makes me feel like this." Within my drama roles as well, I like those discoveries like, if I do it like this, won't it be interesting, or if I do this, I can get viewers to say, "Oh!" I want to keep digging to find those little moments where I can really surprise people within each role.

Since your retirement from Takarazuka, what overall on-set experience sticks out the most in your memory?

I think that has to be the first show I had the opportunity to take part in, "Ochoyan" [NHK serialized telenovella]. Until I was on that set, I always thought that the stage was the most incredible place in the world. I would never find anywhere else where every member is so unified in their vision, where everyone has so much pride in their troupe and so much love for the production they're building together, as in Takarazuka. Even now, I still think Takarazuka is a very special place, and my love for it hasn't changed.

But on the set of "Ochoyan," like Takarazuka, there were so many staff working to create this thing, who truly loved the work and brought all kinds of skills to the table to bring it to life. Among the cast as well, the atmosphere during recording, where all of us in the Tsurugame Family Theater [the name of the theater company employing main character Takei Chiyo as well as Asumi-san's character Takamine Ruriko] really did feel like a family, wasn't that different from Takarazuka at all. On the contrary, because our time together was limited just to the recording of this show, it felt like everyone valued that time all the more. Being on a set like that was a huge experience for me.

In Takarazuka, you had a very hectic schedule. As soon as one production closed you were already thinking about the next. I'm sure your lifestyle has changed in a big way since then. What kind of feelings do you have about that?

I retired and moved here to Tokyo right around the start of the pandemic. During the lockdown, when I was in my house all day, I realized how long the day really is. Suddenly it was up to me to decide how to spend all this time in the day. I could use it to rest or, if I had some area I was struggling with, I could use it for training too. I had a renewed realization that depending on my own feelings, I could choose to change myself in any number of ways.

These days, how do you find yourself spending the majority of your time?

These days, I'm doing a lot of types of work I'm totally new to, and working on sets with people I've only just met, so I'm still in a place where I spend a lot of time nervous. When I'm on a set I haven't gotten used to yet, my antenna is going in all different directions, so after I get home I try to relax as much as possible. In order to fully refresh myself and go into work the next day in high spirits and ready to face whatever comes, I've been making a conscious effort to be kind to myself.

What activities allow you to refresh your batteries the most?

Zoning out, and eating delicious food.

On "Asumi Rio's Atelier," you gave steaming rice in a donabe [TN: earthenware pot traditionally used to steam rice, supposedly more delicious than steaming in a rice cooker] a try for the first time, but what kinds of things do you eat most often?

As long as it tastes good, I'll happily eat anything. I like vegetables, meat, fish, and I love carbs, too. Ideally, I want to eat a good balance of a lot of different things.

Speaking of that program, how were the topics for each episode decided? Were you able to make requests?

For "Atelier" we had the general framework that I would be trying different activities I was interested in from the onset, so basically they asked me, "What kind of things are you interested in? What do you want to try?" And then...Yeah, first I had about 30, then we added about 30 more, so in total about 60, ideas that we pitched. The program staff wanted to include as many of my requests as they could, so actually, within each episode there are probably three or four different ones. In addition to that, there's an interview in each episode that relates back to that episode's theme. I enjoyed the chance to reflect on my Takarazuka era and memories from my childhood.

On the topic of your Takarazuka era, in your first interview for us, you said, "I wasn't necessarily aiming to become top star." But within the system of Takarazuka, to climb all the way to top star, you must have been aware of something within yourself that made you want to aim higher?

Let's see...Ever since I was an underclassman, I had a strong drive to improve as an otokoyaku. I wanted people to find my performance interesting, and I wanted to be seen as a necessary part of the production. I wanted to act a lot, and I wanted to sing a lot of songs that I love. I wanted to bathe in the spotlight, and I was happy when I got to wear more gorgeous costumes. If I really think back on those feelings now, first in the shinjinkouen junior performances featuring only actresses who have been with the company seven years or less, and then in performances at the smaller Bow Hall theater next to the Takarazuka Grand Theater, inevitably I started aiming for the lead roles that would allow me to stand on stage for the longest every time.

Somewhere along that road, when I was told I was being transferred from the troupe I was first inducted into, Moon Troupe, to Flower Troupe, this feeling that I had wanted to be the Moon Troupe's successor welled to the surface. And since that's the same as saying, "I wanted to be the top star of Moon Troupe," that was the first time I became aware of that goal. Every troupe in Takarazuka has its own character, though, so after my transfer, I was desperate to hurry up and become an otokoyaku befitting Flower Troupe first...

So as you worked to further your artistic development, there at the zenith was top star.

If you were to ask my underclassman self, the Top-sans are unbelievably incredible performers, and the more shinjinkouens you experience, the more closely you come to understanding just how incredible they are. Then as you spend more years with the company and find yourself in a position where you're working directly under the Top-san, you realize how much work they're really doing, and...The more you know, the more you lose the ability to say something like "I want to be the top star" carelessly.

And yet, you bore the heavy responsibility of a top star for five-and-a-half years. It's hard to imagine from your usual laidback attitude, but when it comes to your art, you're incredibly diligent and strong-willed. That gap is captivating.

When it comes to theater, I'm very picky. I mean, I'm way too stubborn for one thing. Especially in productions where I'm playing the lead role, I always have really strong feelings about how I want to perform things, and I'm not in a position where I can hesitate to convey that. It's important to listen to the opinions of various other people too, but when it comes down to it, if I have a clear idea of the direction I want things to proceed and direct things with that in mind, it makes things easier for everyone else, so I always tried to communicate my thoughts clearly and directly. If I'm delivering consistently good work, there's a persuasive power to that. Not only do the underclassmen naturally follow along, but the staff listen and respond to my requests as well.

But when you're making this kind of production, you do have to be pretty strict. But then, the real me is more of a people pleaser. I want everyone to like me, or more like, I don't want to be disliked. I didn't want the younger underclassmen to feel like I was unapproachable or like they couldn't talk to me because I was the top star. I wanted them to think of me like family. So outside matters relating to work, I tried to give off as relaxed a vibe as possible. Definitely, I think there was quite a gap between "on" and "off" for me.

Are there a lot of differences between "Asumi Rio the otokoyaku" and "Asumi Rio the actress?" How about between your stage name persona and your private self under your birth name?

I've lived under my stage name for so much longer than my birth name that I feel like, at this point, the parts of myself that belong to my real name are few and far between. I do have the feeling that, in some respect, I've grown up together with my stage name. In essence, while I was in Takarazuka, I didn't worry too much about creating a separate persona. Thanks to the kindness of my fans and the environment I was in, I felt like I could leave my otokoyaku persona on the stage and stay pretty close to my natural self everywhere else. I guess the only thing is, when I'm alone in my house, I revert to goblin mode. (laughs wryly) Like I'll have trouble getting myself to go take a bath, or I really should clean but my back hurts, etc., etc.

By contrast, now that I've graduated from being an otokoyaku, a lot of the things I'm doing as an actress are total firsts for me, so I think I feel more discomfort with my presentation now than I did then. There are times when I get really nervous, and then I get disappointed in myself for feeling that way. Like, until just a little while ago, I was in a position where I was responsible for keeping everyone's morale up. I would get up on that stage like, "It's alright, just leave it to me," so what am I all anxious for now? I often think about how much I still have to learn, and how badly I want to hurry up and learn it so I can show the results of my efforts.

Is there a particular ideal you're currently pursuing? What kind of actress do you want to become, and what kind of woman?

Since leaving Takarazuka, I've had a lot more opportunity to meet all kinds of new people. On every set I've been on, each of the actresses I meet has their own unique aura, and seeing their acting up close, I'm blown away by each of them. Among the staff as well, there are so many different kinds of professionals of all ages, and I often find myself inspired by their work ethic and lifestyle. I'd like to continue to enrich my life by learning from the amazing people I meet and experiencing many new things, and work to become a more fully rounded human being.

*Bracketed notes not marked "TN" (Translator's Note) were present in the original article.