#Rosa Millennial

[billielolly]

Sims 3 Build - Thriving Cottage

A cosy cottage surrounded by lush flora, with a nursery ready for a growing family. 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom on a 20x20 lot.

Watch the speed build: https://youtu.be/pJBq4KTYWcI

Download here:

Patreon (free): https://www.patreon.com/posts/104892325/

Exchange: https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9595889

Expansion packs:

Ambitions

Generations

Pets

Supernatural

University Life

Island Paradise

Stuff packs:

None

Store content:

Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes - Cocoon Crib

Lullabies and Nursery Rhymes - Dirty No More Changing and Bathing Station

Bohemian Garden - Happily Hippy Patchwork Pouf

Custom content:

basimcly - Heritage Doors (External Glass Door x1)

missyzim - Neoclassic Build Set (Shutters Wide)

Martassimsbook - Sims 4 Parenthood Xtreme Shower Tub

ArtVitalex - Glen Mirror

Martassimsbook - Sims4Luxury The Romantic Garden Collection (Iron Table, Wall Corner Shelf)

Catharsim - Syboulette Hortensia Swing

Kerrigan House Designs - KHD Enchanted Pergola

Rennara - Rosa Lee Dining Chair

ArtVitalex - Downey Seat Double

Pralinesims - Contemporary Carpet 78

NynaeveDesign - Lyne Curtains (Curtains 1x1 Left, Curtains 1x1 Right, Curtains 1x1, Curtains 2x1, Curtain Rod)

heaven - Shingle Roof (Mission White Trim)

Twinsimming - Wicker Bin

Martassimsbook - Simenapule Kenai Set Coffee Table

Martassimsbook - Ars-botanica Cup of Pansies

Martassimsbook - Cowbuild Dahlia and Delpinium Vases

johziii - Irene Nightstand

Twinsimming - Studded Mirror

Pralinesims - Sheep Carpet IV

M.M.A.A. - A More Purrrfect Rug (3x3 Version)

ATS3 - SIMPLY TS4 Hollyhock

ATS3 - Kitchen Herbs (Basil, Rosemary, Sage)

ATS3 - Neighborly Windowbox

Martassimsbook - Cowbuild My Home Set (Hanging Pothos Plant, Potted Cordyline Palm)

Lulu265 - Bedford Bedroom Dresser

Martassimsbook - Cowbuild Follower Gift Set 1 (Chicken Aloe Vera Pot, Mini Hedgehog Aloe Vera Pot, Cute Stack of Books)

Lulu265 - Bedford Bedroom Wall Art

Martassimsbook - Cowbuild 500 Patrons Gifts Books Stack 2

ArtVitalex - Rowlett Umbrella Holder

ArtVitalex - Rowlett Key Bowl

sim_man123 - Emerson Ficus Tree

Mutske - Medium Palm

Martassimsbook - Pinkboxdesign Kitchen Clutter Set (Utensils, Dishsoap)

Martassimsbook - Syboulette Millennial Kitchen Fruit Basket

ATS3 - Square Canisters

Living Dead Girl - Corner Ladder Shelf

Martassimsbook - Novvvas Mid Century Modern Living Room Succulent 1

Julietsimscc - CWB Unicorn Head

Martassimsbook - Syboulette Dreamy Set (Hanger Bag and Books, Books Plant, Blocks)

taultvec - Parise Seal Pup Plushie (4t3)

Lulu265 - Bella Bedroom Framed Print

johziii - Animalia Paintings V2

WanderingSims - Forest Animals Wall Art

Gosik - Kobe Bathroom Towels 2

ArtVitalex - Upland Toilet Brush

ArtVitalex - Upland Soap Dispenser

ArtVitalex - Upland Toothbrush and Paste

Mutske - Toiletroom Aria Toilet Paperholder

Crowkeeper - The Cryptic Triptych Paintings (Blossoms Abound)

Julietsimscc - Giveaway Gift Paintings (Without Borders)

Lulu265 - Kitchen Expressions Wall Paintings

Twinsimming - Single Serve Hammock

[13thdoctorposts]

Oh the disrespect to Malorie Blackman from fandom proves the backlash is bigoted. As a millennial Brit I've always known her to be immensely respected as an author and social activist, Pig Heart Boy and the Noughts and Crosses books were big back in the day. It's amazing Chibs got her to write and a fitting one for her to write. If you're familiar with her books you'll recognise just how her the episode is. But also because she was wanting a female Doctor since 2013 so it's so cool she got to write for the first.

I don’t think I’ve ever been infuriated more than when I had someone supposedly attacking me from the left that Malorie and Chibs were incompetent writers on Rosa because it wasn’t horrible enough. Malorie is an award winning children’s writer and was brought on to write the first historical of the era with the whole point being that it was a story that would be accessible for children to understand. She is a perfect choice because of her professional status to do that. Also if you listen to in audio commentary she talks about the level of research she did for that episode, and it’s a lot. She even mentions that she made sure Frank Sinatra would be playing around that time period for the ‘reward’ 13 offers the other bus driver because she knew if she got it wrong fans would point it out. Like I don’t understand how you can say the episode is racist and the writer was incompetent and some how sit on some virtue pedestal when calling an award wining woman of colour writer incompetent.

Also people saying that Demons of the Punjab doesn’t vilify the British enough… generally the white lefty anti 13 types say this… Vinay wrote that story drawing on his family’s experience… who are these white lefty anti 13 types to say to a person who’s family lived through this situation that they didn’t write their story right??? Also it is pretty clear in the episode the British are to blame, it’s mentioned serval times we just don’t see the bad British white mans face who’s the villain and that’s because that’s a different story! This is a story focusing on how this broke families and tore loved ones apart, it’s not a story about the British it’s a story about the people who were affected.

[kilowogcore]

Us silly millennials, with us being, um, well, probably 'bout Sinestro's age by this point. Nevermind that, this is about havin' father issues, which seems quite prevalent in my generation.

Takin' fathers off the table, who's someone ya'd open up on (with, ta' be clear, non-lethal darts) as soon as ya' saw 'em?

(Art sampled from "Sinister Sons" Vol. 1 #6 by Peter Tomasi, Vasco Georgiev, Tamra Bonvillain, Rob Leigh, Chris Rosa, and Paul Kaminski. Edits: Additional dialogue and balloons)

[ilpianistasultetto]

Un poeta non muore mai, come non muore mai nemmeno un musicista, un pittore, uno scrittore. Le loro vite attraversano gli anni, i secoli, i millenni, e ci sarà sempre qualcuno ad aspettarli, a parlare di loro, ad incontrarli, in un libro, in un quadro, in una musica che cade dal cielo con una rosa in mano.

Grazie Franco - RIP 18-05-2021

[ghelgheli]

Stuff I Read In February 2024

bold indicates favourites

Books

The Mantle of the Prophet, Roy Mottahedeh

Serious Weakness, Porpentine Charity Heartscape

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson

Pamphlets, Zines, etc.

Queer Fire: The George Jackson Brigade, Men Against Sexism, and Gay Struggle Against Prison [link]

Reform or Revolution? Rosa Luxemburg

Armed Joy, Alfredo M. Bonanno [link]

Designing Freedom, Stafford Beer [link]

Yuri/GL

Kill Switch, 1172

Immortal Parody, Kim Jong Geon

Her Tale of Shim Chong, Seri & Biwan

There's Weird Voices Coming from the Room Next Door! Suzuki Senpai

An Easy Introduction to Love Triangles (To Pass the Exam!) / Goukaku no Tame no! Yasashii Sankaku Kankei Nyuumon, Canno

Gentle Flutters, One Useless Dogggg

What Does the Fox Say? Gyeomji & Gaji

Our Dreams at Dusk / Shimanami Tasogare, Yuhki Kamatani

There Is No Love Wishing Upon a Star / Kono Koi wo Hoshi ni wa Negawanai, murasakino/Shinoa

Short Fiction

Serious Weakness but with Girls, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Dirty Wi-Fi, Porpentine Charity Heartscape [link]

Bist-o-chār sā'at dar xāb o bidāri / 24 Restless Hours, Samad Behrangi [link]

Yek hulu o hezār hulu / One Peach and a Thousand Peaches, Samad Behrangi [link]

Palestine

What Does It Mean To Be Palestinian Now? Noura Erakat, Ahmed Moor, Noor Hindi, Mohammed El-Kurd, Laila Al-Arian 01/25/2024 [link]

"If You Say Anything to Anyone, a Zaka Van Will Run You Over", Brad Pearce 10/18/2023 [link]

The Epistemicide of the Palestinians, Abdulla Moaswes 02/02/2024 [link]

Manufacturing Content, Nora Barrows-Friedman & Matt Lieb [link]

Comparison is the Way We Know the World, Masha Gessen 12/19/2023 [link]

The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé, Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, Daniel Boguslaw 02/28/2024 [link]

Queer &c

Hands off our lives, our stories, and our bodies, AC 06/10/2022 [link]

Trapped in the Wrong Theory: Rethinking Trans Oppression and Resistance, Talia Mae Bettcher [doi]

A Cyborg Manifesto, Donna Haraway

Why Are "Gender Critical" Activists So Fond of Gametes? Julia Serano 02/13/2024 [link]

Pol

Why I Left the PSL… or the DSA or Socialist Alternative or whatever, filler kid 07/20/2021 [link]

Allies Not Accomplices: An Indigenous Perspective & Provocation, 05/02/2014 [link]

Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism, Attila Kotányi & Raoul Vaneigem 1961 [link]

Abolition, Nsámbu Za Suékama 06/06/2020 [link]

The Eye Upon Us Has Turned Upon Them, Nsámbu Za Suékama 07/16/2023 [link]

The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook, Aparna Gopalan 06/28/2023 [link]

Ram Mandir and Hindutva Fascist Myth of Decolonisation, Rida Fathima 02/07/2024 [link]

How the United States Crippled Haiti's Rice Industry, Leslie Mullin [link]

A Talk to Teachers, James Baldwin [link]

Stranger in the Village, James Baldwin [link]

Other

no good alone, Rayne Fisher-Quann 04/03/2021 [link]

Everyone's A Critic, Richard Joseph 01/13/2022 [link]

Neoplatonic kingship in the Islamic world: Akbar’s millennial history, Jos Gommans & Said Reza Huseini [link]

Is `Race Science' Making a Comeback? Angela Saini 07/10/2019 [link]

you’ve been traumatized into hating reading, Ismatu Gwendolyn 02/15/2024 [link]

[rayless-reblogs]

For the character ask meme, how about Yuna and 14, 18, and/or 25?

Absolutely!

14: Assign a fashion aesthetic for her:

Hm, my first thought would be something like geisha core or flowercore, but I'm not sure those are actually aesthetics. A Google search tells me geisha core is more traditional, and while Yuna's canon outfit definitely takes inspiration from a kimono, I think it's too experimental for that.

And looking at a breakdown for flowercore/bloomcore on the Aesthetics Wiki (a thing!) that doesn't sound right at all. I think I'm also making a mistake if I only focus on her original canon outfit and neglect all the different dresspheres from FFX-2.

So one of the first things that strikes me when I look at it that way is that Yuna's outfits really exemplify the free-spirited, ethereal, 70's-inspired look of the early 2000s. It's a video game, so things are exaggerated, but when I look at her Gunner outfit, I see the soft peasanty blouses, the fringed leather belts, and the ruffles of 2002 or so. And let's not forget the low-rise jeans and tall boots. I'm not sure this is what most people think of when they say Y2K core (it's not a velour track suit), but to me, this is extremely Y2K.

Her Songstress outfit gives me a similar millennial vibe -- a ruffled 70s-ish blouse, the waterfall effect, the pleated miniskirt.

Her outfits also feel very flowing and organic, so I'm going to go with something like... Oceanic Y2Kcore.

18: A canon relationship with the character you admire:

One of the strongest elements of FF10 is the close bond the party shares, and that all centers on Yuna. And it's hard to pick a favorite there. I like how Rikku probably doesn't even know her cousin well, and she realizes she's always going to be in the minority when it comes to arguments about religion and philosophy, but she still leaves her home to try to save Yuna. I love Kimahri as the big stern, but loving, bodyguard. And I think Auron and Yuna have an intriguing dynamic; Yuna must have spent so many years imagining her father's journey with Auron, and she meets him with so much respect. But I wonder how it might have shaken her to see what he was like in reality. He's not antagonistic, he takes very good care of her, but I doubt he was what she expected.

But the first relationship that popped into my head was Yuna and Lulu. Lulu's just as stern and forbidding as Kimahri and Auron, but I like that the game takes time to show her being soft, sort of like a sister, but also very much like a mentor. I can imagine Yuna growing up looking up to Lulu so much, and while she doesn't try to imitate Lulu, I have to think Lulu had a huge role in forming her personality. The idea of Lulu loving Yuna so much, and then choosing to guide her to her death -- while Lulu herself has already failed at this on another pilgrimage -- is heartbreaking. They both must be so strong to undertake that, and to carry it out with a smile -- or, in Lulu's case, a slightly more neutral frown. Quiet strength like that (even if their choice is questionable) is something I really admire, as I'm much more likely to do something difficult kicking and complaining all the way.

25: What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I can actually faintly remember the first time I saw a FF10 article in... PS2 Magazine, I think? And they had Yuna's classic character render pictured. I remember not liking her outfit, but I thought it was cool she had two-colored eyes. At that time, I'd only been playing JRPGs a few years, so I was pretty familiar with FF, but didn't have a huge pool of other heroines to judge her against -- Rosa, Terra, Aerith, Rinoa, Garnet. I think I was intrigued by her, but not very enthusiastic.

I came to really, really like Yuna after playing the first game, but being very disappointed by her evolution in FFX-2. I felt like they'd traded that quiet strength that had spoken so loudly to me for a shallower, more conventional action-based heroine. It soured my feelings on the character for a while.

But more recently, I'm over that. I understand what they were trying to do with FFX-2 -- show this character who had been utterly shaped by cultural expectations finally breaking free. It's not how I would have written her development, but I'm more at peace with it. And I still really like her from the original game. As for the post-FFX-2 canon, it honestly baffles me, the direction they've taken things in. I tend to just mentally stop things right at the best end of FFX-2 and just leave it there.

Also, now I love her original game outfit.

Thank you for the ask, this was fun!

meme here

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

The Kingdom of the Stars Chapter 7: The Star

Previous: Chapter 6

Next: Chapter 8

That night in Rosas, many were entertaining guests, family, or friends at their estate, with a select few even having the luxury of standing on their balconies to witness the event firsthand. 'A bright light suddenly appeared,' they said, and 'completely illuminated the sky.' 

Everyone you’d ever have the fortune to ask would be able to tell you just where or what they’d been doing the night they’d seen the mysterious light in the sky. 

They’d all be able to tell you the happiness and warmth they’d felt as well. 

Well, all except for one person that is.

Asha. 

Unlike most, she was not enjoying the comforts of her home and friends at the time of the light.

No, Asha was deep in the forest, screaming .

She scrambled to her side, trying to make sure that she was still alive and in one piece from the strange ordeal. 

‘What was that?! ’ Her mind screamed at her.

She knew she shouldn’t have been that shocked, weird things fell out of the sky all the time. A millennial ago she was certain she’d read of a sentient crystal comet that had landed near the Atlantic Ocean. Then a few decades ago, she’d heard of a drop that had fallen from the moon, and then from the sun. 

So what had descended from the sky this time?

It had been hard to see when the strange light had engulfed the sky, nearly blinding her as somewhere in her panic she’d heard the sound of Sebastian fussing before galloping away. “No! Wait!” she called, helplessly running after him. “Come back! I can’t outrun you in times of danger!”

True to her words, Asha had been unable to keep up with the horse as it had disappeared into the forests out of view. “No!” she cried in between pants as she leaned against a nearby tree. “My…my transportation! Great…Valentino?” she cried, as she’d immediately noticed his absence. “Valentino where are you?!”

The goat carefully sauntered into view from behind a bush as she let out a sigh of relief, “at least I can count on you to not leave me,” she remarked as she joined him. Gently petting him, she carefully glanced around looking for anything strange and unusual in the quietly glowing forest around them. 

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, she thought as she felt her body tremble. 

Nothing seemed different, Save for the newly founded quietness that had invaded the forest. 

“What…what was that?” she’d asked as she hesitantly scanned the sky above. 

There’d been no sign or trace of the bright light. 

Had she made it up? No, she couldn’t have. Sebastian, a palace horse that had usually been trained for nearly every and any situation had fled. But any doubt that she’d merely imagined the light had quickly died when her eyes found it. 

A large hole in the ever-consuming dark clouds that had normally plagued Rosas's skies.

It had looked as if whatever had fallen to earth had torn through those clouds with ease.

Something had happened. 

She’d seen it with her own two eyes that something had descended from the skies but the question was…what?

She’d heard of things like comets and asteroids, but whatever had fallen to Earth hadn’t been that destructive, so she’d quickly ruled out those two. 

Whatever it was, was probably long gone from here- “Ah!” she screamed as she felt something zip by her and then back into the forest. 

She stumbled back, her heart racing as the forest around her seemed to flicker before dimming. Now it was nearly pitch black, leaving her and Valentino alone in the dark with the strange entity. 

“What was that?!” she cried, desperately reaching out for Valentino who she could hear moving nearby. Then it appeared again, circling and spinning so quickly that she could barely get a good look at it before it once again disappeared into the darkness of the surrounding forests.

She shuddered.  Her mind imagined every terrible possibility of the light’s identity as she clumsily continued to move around in the darkness. It’d been a miracle that she’d managed to get on her feet given how she could barely see her hands in front of her own face. 

But with the amount of fear and adrenaline that was coursing through her, she felt as if she could almost do anything. Anything that didn’t involve staying here . 

“Nope, nope, I don’t like that! Valentino c’mon we’re leaving! Quickly before whatever that thing is comes back-,” 

Its small luminescent form comes into view once more. 

Too late. 

It was already back.

She froze and watched it pause mid-flight, slowly levitating as it turned towards her and stared. 

Quickly her mind started to conjure up some sort of explanation for the small, yet golden glowing light in front of her. Could it have been light? No, It almost seemed sentient from the way it had looked, and…blinked at her?!

Was it some sort of animal? No, animals don’t float nor do they glow like that. 

Whatever it was, she most definitely did not like it.

It slowly began to float towards her as without thinking, she screamed, taking off as fast as she could in the opposite direction. 

She quickly found herself bolting through the forest, ignoring the branches that tore and tugged at her clothes and hair. 

It had been strange how differently the forest had looked in the dark. What had once been lovely glowing trees and flowers had now become a sea of dark, shadowy faces looming over her as she tried to escape the danger that followed.

Behind her, she could catch glimpses of brief flashes of light on either side of the forest.

She couldn’t see it but she knew that it was following.

Desperate, she continued sprinting wildly back and forth through the forest. A stupid thing to do considering her situation, but she knew better than to trust strange glowing objects.

She’d screamed as she felt her foot catch a rock that immediately sent her tumbling down in the darkness. Landing on her hands and feet, she winced as she felt the bandages on her hands tear, and with it, a fresh pain followed.

‘How had she ended up like this? Alone, lost, and scared in a forest she never should have entered,’ She wondered, fighting down a cry that threatened to leave her. 

What was she going to do? 

“BLLEEAATTTT”

“Valentino?” she whispered, immediately forgetting the pain as she looked around her. In her fright, she’d left him behind. Now she was unsure of whether or not he was still ok. “Valentino,” she whispered once more as her voice cracked. “Are you there?”

“BLLLEEAATT” came Valentino’s voice as she heard him nearby.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on,” she whispered. Her body felt heavy from fatigue as she slowly crawled towards where she’d last heard him. “I’m sorry I left you behind. Please-,” 

She’d nearly let out a cry of relief when she’d made out Valentino’s figure following her in the darkness. 

Reaching forward, she tightly embraced him, feeling that the goat was just as panicked as she was. But they’d be ok. 

 A few seconds later, they carefully made their way to another small clearing where another well sat. Her muscles ached as she felt her lungs burn for air. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins as she cast a few wary glances behind her. Maybe if she weren’t so frightened she would’ve simply sat down to rest and enjoy the rare sight of the starry sky. But she knew better than to take her chances when being chased by something magical.

Now she regretted not staying behind to see the rest of the play as she placed Valentino behind the starless well and hid. Maybe if she had stayed she wouldn’t have been in this mess. She’d never have seen the wish destroyed nor would she be chased through the forest by God knows what!

Speak of the devil…

In the distance she could hear it, rapidly moving back and forth through the forest as if it had been searching for something, or rather someone .

She gestured for Valentino to be silent as she risked a glance over the edge of the well.

There it was. 

Floating a few yards away whilst looking around.

 She wasn’t sure what it was doing, following after her like it had, but she didn’t intend to find out.

All they had to do was be quiet, and hopefully, it would go away, she thought as she turned back towards Valentino just in time to see that the glowing object had now somehow appeared above his head. 

She screamed. 

Then Valentino screamed.

She immediately scrambled to her feet once more as she began to bolt away. 

Only this time she didn’t get far.

An invisible force slowly and deliberately pulled her backward to the clearing she’d nearly escaped from.  It almost reminded her of how the king would make objects move on their own, only the king wasn’t here. So whatever had been chasing her was probably the source of this power.  This was confirmed when the mysterious force gently set her down a foot away from the glowing menace.

Oh no.

Backing away as quickly as she could, she felt her back roughly hit the well as she’d tried to put as much distance in between her and…and whatever it was.

“S-stay back!” she threatened as she grabbed a nearby stick and held it threateningly at the glowing menace. For a moment it halted, staring back at her. “I-I’m warning you! I’ve been trained in the art of stick fighting! I can make your life miserable!” It was ironic that for all the reasons that she’d told Valentino that they couldn’t confront magical beings, she’d ended up not only confronting but threatening one. But desperate times called for desperate measures. “I-I don’t know what you are...or why you’re here…or why you look like that-” she began as she watched it float towards her. For a second it paused, almost looking…offended before it began to move once more. Having enough of its shenanigans she harshly poked it with the stick as she’d yelled, “I SAID GET BACK!”

That seemed to do the trick as The small orb floated backward a bit. Its eyes were still on her as she held the stick out threateningly.  It looked as if it was almost thinking for a moment, before taking a few more spaces backwards. 

She’d slightly relaxed at the new distance it’d put in between them, with a part of her daring to hope that perhaps she’d frighten it off. But that hope had quickly died when she saw it begin to emit light once more. light that was so bright she once again had to look away. 

She shielded her eyes with her hand, expecting to hear the sounds of screams and destruction, but instead, she was greeted by the sounds of…silence?

Quietly she felt something in front of her move, something far heavier than the menacing ball of light as she risked a glance forward.  As expected she was surrounded by the near overwhelming darkness of the forest until he appeared.  To her surprise, there was now a young man kneeling in front of her, right where the small orb of light had been a few seconds ago. 

He couldn’t have been older than her with his unruly, golden hair that partially hung above his eyes and down his neck. His clothes were as dark as the skies with small dots on them that reminded her of stars and his eyes…His eyes were black yet they, like the rest of him, were glowing . Quietly he neared her and she felt her breath hitch in her throat as she tensed.

It was hard to describe, but when she was in such close proximity, she could feel a strange sort of power radiating off of him. It almost reminded her of the king, yet it felt different in a way she couldn’t quite pinpoint. 

She flinched as he inched closer, the sudden movement evoking pain from her hands as she winced.   He frowned,  something akin to concern was etched into his features as she watched his eyes lower towards her hands. She risked a glance towards them as well, partially unsurprised at the sudden blood that had stained the tattered remains of her bandages.

Carefully she watched him reach out. his dark gloved fingers taking hold of hers in a matter of mere seconds as she felt a sudden warmth envelop her hands. 

Then he let go, taking his warmth with him as he moved back.

His eyes darted back to her hands as she glanced at them- shock filling her as she realized that the blisters and cuts that had been present mere seconds ago were…gone. It had almost been as if they’d never been there. Her hand trembled as she looked it over, once, then twice.

He grinned, apparently finding this amusing before he moved towards her. A string of strange words left his lips, none of which she could decipher as she sat there too stunned to speak or move as she lamely held her stick in her hands.

She wasn’t sure why she still had it or what she was even going to do with it. 

Both of them knew how ineffective the stick was especially as she heard it or rather he began to laugh.

Quickly, he stood to his feet, and it was only when he moved did she realized that he’d been wearing a long cape that had nearly been concealed by the darkness. The underside of his cape shimmered a stunning gold as did the long earring he was wearing in his left ear. 

It was almost as if- wait.

“Valentino?!” she called out, looking for her pet that had suddenly disappeared. “Valentino if you’re alive say something! Oh God, he’s dead.”

Risking a glance back to the strange young man who’d appeared- Asha felt her heart freeze as she realized that he too had vanished. 

But how?

She hadn’t heard him move.

 He couldn’t have gotten that far, she thought, uncomfortably chewing her lip as she pulled herself to her feet. 

She’d have enough magic for the day.

“Valentino!?” she yelled into the darkness. “Valentino where are you?!”

“Do all humans communicate through screams and shouts or is that something unique to you?” came a voice as she shrieked and re-adjusted her grip on her stick. 

She was nearly tempted to take off again when she heard Valentino pleating again. Her eyes fervently searched the darkness for any signs of the goat when the voice spoke again. “Up here, princess.”

Cautiously, she looked up, spotting the familiar figure of the mysterious glowing boy levitating in the air far above her. “Is this yours?” he asked, lifting a dark gloved hand that was now holding a surprised Valentino.  

“Valentino!” she yelled, positioning herself to catch him, in case the boy dropped him. She wasn’t sure how she’d catch him without hurting herself, but it was far better than the alternative of letting him hit the ground.

The boy glanced at Valentino, muttering something to himself in that unknown language as she watched him slowly begin to float down toward the ground.  He looked around her, his eyes widening as if he was trying to take in everything around him. Finally, his eyes landed on her as a sudden thought hit her.

“W-wait,” she began, taking a step back before pointing at him tremblingly. “Y-you’re? Are you? I mean were You? T-that?” 

He smiled, not answering nor denying as she watched him set Valentino down in one gentle yet fluid motion. Now he was floating again.  “This is better. You’re not screaming anymore.” 

Screaming? So it was him. He had been that glowing ball! He’d chased her down and terrified her!

She groaned, rubbing her temples.

 This couldn’t be real. 

Was she sure she wasn’t hallucinating this?

She rubbed her eyes before slipping her reading glasses out of her bag and onto her face. When she looked around she’d seen that he’d disappeared again, effectively leaving her and a confused Valentino alone in the forest.

‘Maybe now's my chance to leave,’ she thought, taking one step before he reappeared out of thin air, obliterating what was left of her personal space.  “There is so much to ask about your world!” He started with an accent she couldn’t place. “What country are we in? Why do people haplessly scream and run around to communicate? How do you-,”

She yelped, barely steadying herself as she felt him slide her glasses off her face before putting them on his own. “Whoa,” he grinned, holding out his hands as she watched him float around. “What are these things? Has grass always been this green? Look at these rocks!” He nearly crashed into a tree before she’d heard him excitedly add, “Hey who put this tree here?”

She and Valentino exchanged looks. She had a feeling that neither of them was…quite sure of what to make of this. 

She watched as the goat hid behind her just in time for the bushes around them to shiver. Soon, several forest animals appeared- deer, squirrels, turtles, chipmunks, badgers and birds.

“Good evening ma’am!” A small mouse called as it scurried past her foot.

“Pardon me miss!” Said several rabbits as they hopped by.

“Excuse me, coming through, don’t mind me,” sighed the turtle as it slowly crawled by.

Asha was flabbergasted as she watched them casually converse with one another as they gathered around the clearing. “They’re…they’re talking!”

“I know,” the boy had answered, suddenly reappearing next to her, mercilessly killing the remnants of her personal space. “It’s wonderful isn’t it?” 

As soon as he’d been within reach she’d rescued her reading glasses from him. “No! The animals are talking . Why are the animals talking? How are the animals talking? This makes no sense,” she muttered to herself as she shook her head. “This has to be a mistake. I have to be going crazy!” 

“We’re all crazy out here,” sang a bird as it floated by.

Carefully, she turned back to the glowing boy who’d said nothing as he had begun to lazily float overhead.

Her eyes met his.

Despite the rather harmless demeanor, he was trying to display to her, she had a feeling that he was anything but harmless. 

“You-,” she gulped and pointed towards him cautiously yet accusingly. 

“I?” he repeated with a grin while pointing to himself. 

“You’re doing this. How are you doing this?! Why?!”

“I suppose I could begin with the why,” he begins thoughtfully as she watches him carelessly sprinkle some glowing dust from himself onto some nearby mushrooms. Slowly the mushrooms began to yawn and stretch as if waking up from a nap.  She stared at them in disbelief as she heard him say, “Haven’t you ever wondered what animals would sound like if they could talk?”

“No and I’m certainly not about to do so now,” she answered while nervously eyeing a bear that had entered the clearing.

Everything was so wrong .

From the way the animals interacted with the bear, talking and chatting with him, you wouldn’t have thought that the bear was an apex predator. But here they were, happily conversing with him as if they’d been old friends reuniting, and not as if they were in danger of being brutally mauled. 

Speaking of being mauled, maybe she too should’ve been happy that the bear was in a friendly mood. Dying would be the worst way to end this night.

“W-when did you find the time to make all these animals talk?” she shivered as she continued to watch the bear.

“While I was in the forest,” he answered with a simple gesture to the dark woods surrounding them. The light from his cape seemed to keep the darkness at bay.  “Is something wrong?” he asked while looking at her curiously.

She nodded, looking towards the now animals before quickly adding, ”No offense.”

“None taken,” the bear shrugged as several rabbits danced near his feet. 

“Say-,” began a deer. “How about We do a musical number?”

“Please no-,” she begged.

“Just for old time sake-,” the deer sang while being terribly off-key.

“I beg of you have mercy, I can’t-,” 

Then they began to sing.  It was like a nightmare for Asha as she couldn’t determine what part of the song was worse: their singing or the mysterious instrumental with no source. 

The whole forest seemed to come to life as she noticed that all of the trees and flowers were glowing far brighter than before. 

She quietly searched the surrounding trees and even the nearby well for the source of the music, but alas she found nothing. Well, nothing except for an angry squirrel who’d accused her of disturbing his nuts. 

She’d had enough of the animal's off-key singing as she watched a rabbit approach her as the music stalled.

Had they meant for her to sing? 

Oh no.

She quickly shook her head, leaning as far away from the curious animals as she could before she said, “Sorry. I don’t…I don’t sing.”

“Oh,” the animals murmured, looking somewhat disappointed before they quickly resumed their poorly thought-out tune. Earache aside, she began to think their singing was definitely going to attract the wrong attention.

Quietly cursing the glowing boy, She’d begun to back up slowly. She wasn’t entirely sure if she was going to leave, but she just knew that she wanted no part of whatever this was, or is.

As she began to slowly sneak off, she started to understand why the king had forbidden magic in this kingdom. If there was a reason why animals shouldn’t talk, then this song did more than enough to support said reason.

She didn't make it far before he’d appeared again this time behind her as he’d nearly startled her with “enjoying the music?” 

“It…It could be a lot better.,” she admitted without thinking. Most of the animals didn’t appreciate that, with a few casting angry flares in her direction before she hesitantly turned to face him. “You never answered my question.”

“I did. I told you why-,”

“But never how,” she warily interjected. “This is impossible. It should be impossible!” 

“What about this is impossible?”

Temporarily forgetting her fear, she gestured around her incredulously, “Everything! The animals talking, you- just how are you able to do all of this anyway?!”

“Well,” he started, rather thoughtfully before eyeing her healed hands.“ Let’s just say I can do a lot of things.” With that, he turned, two curling amber-colored beams of energy emitted from his hands. She was speechless as she watched it curl and contort around her. First, it turned into the shape of a few golden fish, then birds, and finally butterflies before disappearing into thin air.

The boy didn’t seem to be done yet as she watched with a brief wave of his hand, some of the surrounding trees and flowers began to emerge in full blossom as their petals and lovely fragrance filled the air. “Wonderful things,” he whispered, suddenly reappearing behind her. 

She felt his fingertips graze the side of her elbows before he stepped past her.

“Yeah, I can tell” Asha had agreed in a less than amused tone as she heard the animals begin their reprise. She knew she should’ve been grateful for him healing her hands. It’d been the nicest thing a magical person or being, had done for her today. 

But she was hesitant. 

He was being cryptic, to say the least, but she wasn’t brave enough to probe any further than what he’d told her. Fear began to rise in her as she wondered whether or not he’d been the rogue wizard that had been rumored to be arriving in Rosas. “Are you some sort of magician or something? A wizard from abroad?”

He shook his head, “I wouldn’t call myself that.”

“Then what are you exactly?”

“Me?” He’d pointed to himself as she’d hesitantly nodded. Now it was his turn to look confused, or surprised. It was hard to tell. “You don’t know what I am?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I’d known,” she’d answered, immediately regretting her words. This thing, no man had fallen out of the sky with such force that he’d easily created a hole in the clouds that’d always shielded Rosas from the night sky. Then he’d immobilized her with ease and had healed her. He’d even made the animals talk and sing out of silly curiosity! Clearly, he was more capable than he was letting on.  Yet here she was, talking back to him as if she’d somehow been the one with magical abilities…

She did not doubt that he could easily do far worse than whatever those hooded figures at the wish garden could. ‘He could probably make her regret even waking up this morning!’ She thought as she broke out into a cold sweat. “S-sorry,” she quickly began. “I didn’t mean it like that, I-,”

Her voice trailed off when she saw him staring at the ground thoughtfully, too consumed by his thoughts to hear her. “You really don’t know what I am. I suppose that makes this all the more interesting, doesn’t it?” She watched as he carefully brushed his hair from his eyes before nodding to himself. “But I guess that also explains the running and screaming,” he’d murmured to himself. No sooner did he say the words than she noticed that he had immediately begun staring at her once more. The corners of his lips twitched as if threatening to turn upwards, much to her chagrin.

“You surprised me,” she replied with as much diplomacy as she could. “I’m not sure how else I should react. I mean, you fell out of the sky towards me-,”

“I’d like to call it a rapid yet controlled descent,” he interjected. “I’ll have you know that I was trying to be punctual.”

“Punctual?” she repeated while glancing at the hole in the clouds.

He nodded, “Yes. It was my first time coming here. It’s incredibly rare for a star to come down to earth and-”

His words hit her like ice... “A star?” She took a step back, looking around frantically. Normally in most circumstances, Asha wouldn’t have panicked. But given everything she’d seen and experienced tonight, she didn’t want to take any chances.  “Where?!” 

“Here,” he gestured to himself like what he had said hadn’t defied every law of nature. “Me.”

She politely looked him over, once, twice, and for scientific reasons, a third time.  “I’m sorry- you?”

“Yes, me!” He said placing a dark gloved hand over where his heart- if he had one- would be. “I’m a star!” He exclaimed as she watched his cape shiver, glowing dust descending from it onto the ground. 

She let out an indignant laugh, “You’re messing with me.”

“I’m not,” he said his voice growing soft as she realized that now all the animals were looking at her.

Stars weren’t pretty people, nor were they bloodthirsty monsters that spread their destruction as they sought to steal wishes. They were merely a part of nature, another testimony to its intricate beauty. 

But Whatever he was definitely…did not seem like that. “There’s no way you’re a star,”

“But I am!” He protested.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, as Asha had begun to realize that once again the forest had fallen silent. None of the animals were singing anymore. Now they were all staring at her and the boy as if painfully anticipating what would happen next. 

Maybe they knew something about this strange entity that she didn’t.

“Hold on,” she muttered, reaching into her satchel to pull out her handheld telescope. She aimed it towards the sky in the direction she’d remembered seeing the light from. If her memory and calculations served her correctly, then this ‘star’ was from the Cepheus constellation.

But no sooner had she begun looking than did she realize that something was wrong . 

There was a noticeable hole in that constellation.

A place where a star should have been…

Stars weren’t supposed to do this.

Stars weren’t supposed to be like this!

A growing sense of dread filled her as for once, she began to suspect that maybe the king had been right about this.

She risked a glance towards the floating boy, watching as he’d begun to amuse himself by drawing yellow glowing faces on the trees for the animals. Finally, he turned his attention back to her. The smirk on his face made her scowl as he victoriously called, “Well?”

‘Luminescent lunatic,’ her mind grumbled as she took a deep breath. “I must confess. I’ve always thought stars were gigantic balls of gas that underwent a series of chemical reactions that allowed them to illuminate so brightly that we were able to see them in the vast depths of space!”

“Really? Honestly, I always thought we were fireflies that got stuck up in that big black thing up there,” he’d pointed up as he slowly floated by her.

“You mean the sky ?” She asked while crossing her arms. 

“Yeah! That’s what I said!”

He’s messing with me, she told herself. He has to be doing this to make me get my guard down. Fine. Two could play this game. 

“Fine. Let’s say you are a ‘star’- what are you doing on earth?”

“What do you mean?” He’d asked as she watched confusion replace the amusement on his face as he floated towards her. 

“what do I mean? I asked why a star from up there would come down here!”

“Don’t you know?” He’d said so quietly that she nearly strained to hear. “You called me here.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“When in the world Did I ever call on a star?!” She exclaimed. 

“When you dropped this,” he said holding up a familiar-looking silver coin. 

“How did you-,” she paused, forcing her eyes to meet his as he looked at her thoughtfully. 

She shook her head. “I’m sorry but I think there’s been some sort of accident. I didn’t mean to drop this down the well, in fact, I only did it because my pet tripped me.”

“That may have been accidental, but your words were not. You wished you could do more for yourself and others. You wished to be more than you were now.”

“Wait…you heard that?”

“I did.”

“From up there?” she pointed to the sky.

“Yes.”

“You…you didn’t hear any of the stuff I said before that, did you?” she grimaced.

“I- no? Maybe? Why?”

“Nothing, nothing, I was just curious, that’s all. Congratulations on having spectacular hearing ability.”

“Ha! Thanks, it’s a gift.”

In all honesty, said gift sounded like an anathema to Asha who was fortunately wise enough to not voice these thoughts. So she decided to move on.

“Anyways I was being serious when I said that I, never meant for this to happen.,” she admitted while kicking a few pebbles near her foot.

“I know, but as I said before I could feel the intent behind your words. So That’s why I’m here. To help you.”

“Really?”

He nodded.

It sounded too good to be true... “What’s the catch?” she warily asked.

“Catch?” he repeated, looking a bit confused.

“Yeah you know, like an ulterior motive or personal goal? No one just grants wishes for free, so tell me what you’re getting out of it.”

“Nothing! Look, as a wish-granting star it’s only natural I do things like this. I want to help you.”

“You’re the wishing star?”

“Ha, I’m a wish-granting star.”

“There’s a difference?”

He nods, “Very much so. It’s a funny story really. A lot of us grant wishes, but they all vary in extent, capabilities, and desires. I suppose I could explain it to you later.”

Later?! She didn’t even want him around now!!!

There could not be any later! 

She eyed him suspiciously, “So you really want to help me?”

“I do.”

“But you don’t even know me-,”

“Do you have to know people to help them?”

Well, she couldn’t argue with that. Before today, she hadn’t known Mr. Diego, Mrs. Isla, Alonso, or Lady Camilla and she’d helped them, or at least tried to.

 But even if he sincerely wanted to help, she couldn’t imagine it ending well for either of them. If the king had found out that she’d called down a star then she’d be banished. No questions asked. She didn’t even want to think of the mass hysteria that would break out once the people of Rosas discovered that there was a star of all beings in their midst.

Maybe it would lead to battle or worse, the end of Rosas,  all because she’d been careless.

The only way to avoid any further disaster was to politely refuse his help and convince him to go home.

‘C’mon Asha,’ she told herself. ‘You can do this! It’ll be just like reasoning with the nobles if the nobles were allegedly beings capable of great power and bloodthirst. Allegedly.’

Would it be too late to say that now she was missing the officials? Yikes, just how far had she fallen tonight to be thinking that of all things?!

“Ha, well as generous as that is, I’m afraid I’m going to have to politely, and I mean very politely …decline your offer.”

“Pardon?” he asked as she watched all the animals in the forest gasp, some even grinning.

She glanced at Valentino for any semblance of assistance, only to find none. “Look you seem like you’re a very nice guy, er, star. And I appreciate you healing my hands too, thanks for that-,”

“You’re welcome.”

“But I think it would be best if, and I’m saying this with a heavy heart!” she pointed for emphasis as she took a step back. “You leave me to do this by myself.”

He stood there, carefully eyeing her before he shook his head, “Yeah, no. Sorry, princess. I think I’m going to have to politely decline your polite declinations.”

The whole animal audience gasped, some roaring with laughter and cheers as Asha began to spatter incredulously. “You can’t just do that!”

“Watch me, princess! I like to make it my personal mission to ensure that I have a 100% customer satisfaction rate, and as such I will not leave until your wish has been properly granted.”

Now she was fuming, all caution improperly leaving her mind as she narrowed her eyes at him, “Alright, and just how many ‘customers’ have you had before?”

She watched as both the audience and the boy went quiet. “One,” he admitted.

“How many wishes have you granted?”

“One.”

“You’ve never granted wishes before have you?”

“Nope!” he says with a grin. “And now I give you the honor of being my first-,”

She placed her hands on her hip, frowning at him. “Those were definitely words…Look, is there  a manager I can speak to about this?”

“Yes. You can speak to me. I am the manager,” he called as she huffed hearing the growing laughter emerging from the surrounding animals.

“Yes but not on this planet. Where are your superiors?”

He shrugged, “They’re not here, so the best you have is me. Take it or leave it.”

‘This conversation is going nowhere,’ she thought, fuming as she heard the surrounding animals begin to cackle. 

“Oh, this is getting good! Some pass me the snacks!” laughed the bear as he gulped down a few acorns.

“What a strange human,” mumbled a badger through the laughter. 

“Are all humans so audacious?” asked a deer to her companion.

“Why is she being so rude!” chirped a bird. “He’s only trying to help!”

“She’s a Human. None of them know how to respect nature!!” grumbled the squirrel, whose nuts she’d unfortunately disturbed earlier.

Valentino defensively pleated at them as they all began to laugh once more.

 Her jaw clenched, and fists balled at the animals' incessant laughing. Without another word, she turned and stormed away. The laughter immediately died as she took her leave. 

“W-wait miss! Come back!” Said one of the bunnies.

“We didn’t mean to offend-,”

“Yes we did,” said the squirrel as several other animals hissed at him. “What?! We did!”

She could hear the star saying something in that unintelligible language, but she wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or the animals. 

Quickly Valentino followed after her, pleading with her to come back as he glanced from her to the clearing where the rest of the animals were.

She knew she shouldn’t have let this of all things get to her.

She was being petulant. 

She knew it. 

But after everything the day had put her through.  After everything she was now at risk of losing , she neither had the sanity nor patience to deal with the ‘star’ and talking animals any longer, as she continued to put distance between herself and them.

This was what she deserved for saying the word wish, even in a figurative sense.

She’d only made it a few yards away when she felt a hand gently grip her forearm, bringing her to a still. “Wait!” he called. “I didn’t mean to make you leave-,” His hand was far too warm, she thought as he gingerly turned her around to face him. “But, I don’t think you’re being very fair.”

As angry as she was, she’d concede that point to him. It wasn’t fair to call him all this way only to tell him to go back and she knew it. But she couldn’t let him stay, not when it would lead to disaster. “I know… but I told you- you need to go! Back to wherever you came from!”

“Well, that’s the thing. I can’t. There are rules to this. Once you make a wish, I cannot leave until I’ve completely granted said wish.”

“But this was an accident! I didn’t even make the wish on you directly! I just dropped a stupid coin into an old well!”

“Yet it still brought me here,” he declared with a surprising amount of sternness.  “I know you need help. Don’t lie to me. There’s something dangerous going on here, isn’t there? ” Her hesitation gave him all the confirmation she needed as she watched him begin to nod.

Quickly she stood back, pulling herself from his grasp. “Look, I’m sorry for whatever inconvenience I might’ve caused you when my coin fell down that well and you heard my words. But you don’t understand! You can’t stay here. Bad things will happen if you do!”

“But bad things will happen if I go, too. Won’t they?”

She almost nodded, the memory of the wish shattering replaying in her mind's eye as she felt herself break out into a cold sweat. 

Who knew what other wishes they were planning to destroy or what their end goal was? 

Whatever it was couldn’t have been good. 

As much as she hated to admit it, the more she thought about the situation, the more hopeless it felt. So many bad things were going to happen either way, weren’t they? 

What could she do?

She could panic and she had. Unfortunately for her, in her panic, she’d effectively made everything worse. She’d called down a star of all beings- a star!

“I’m going to be banished,” she breathed. “The king will ensure I never see my family or this land again!”

He frowned, looking concerned as he asked, “Why would your father do that to you?”

“My father?” She repeated, looking at him as if he’d grown two heads.

He nodded, “Yes your father.”

“Wait, you think the king is my father?”

He nodded. “Yes. Why would he banish you? Has he lost his mind?”

“The answer to your second question is a most likely or hard yes, but you really think the king is my father?”

“Yes. You are a princess are you not?”

She glanced down at Valentino who looked just as shocked as she did. “You-,” she paused, pointing to herself. “Think… I am a princess?”

“I mean you fit the criteria-,”

“Do I look like a princess to you?!” She exclaimed. 

“Sort of?” he shrugged. “Yeah?”

Without thinking, She burst into a fit of giggles, as did Valentino. 

She didn’t mean to laugh but the idea of her being a princess of Rosas of all places was too much. She couldn’t imagine what she’d do if she’d been born the princess of Rosas. ‘Probably make the king die of disappointment,’ she thought before laughing harder.

A disappointed king was nothing to laugh about, but in the grand scheme of things it was a funny scenario to imagine. 

“I’m flattered really, but I am not a princess.” She leaned against the old well while glancing at Valentino. “Although I will admit that being a princess would solve a huge portion of my problems. But unfortunately, I am,” she gestured to herself. “A peasant, and I live in a kingdom.”

“Ok,” he said, and much to her chagrin he looked a bit disappointed. But she didn’t spare a second thought as she immediately realized that she was on the verge of making a terrible mistake.

A lot of strange things that she’d once thought were impossible were now becoming reality. 

What if star monsters were one of them? Granted this star didn’t look too bad. Frankly, he looked the complete opposite of bad, if she were being honest. But that didn’t mean that she should trust him.

What if stars were shapeshifters, and he was merely using this form to get her to lead him toward the wishes?  What if he didn’t want the wishes? What if he wanted to destroy Rosas instead?!

She needed to be careful. Surely there was some loophole or back door she could use to get out of this unscathed. 

If She couldn’t get him to leave, then she’d have to keep a tight leash on him and ensure that he didn’t do anything risky. 

She knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded, but what other choice did she have? 

“Do you…mind if I ask you a question?”

“Shoot,” he’d answered sprinkling some of his dust on a half-dead flower bush that quickly revived itself. 

“You need to forgive me, I mean. Not many people in our small, humble kingdom have magic and those who did would probably be  responsible and not make animals talk.”

“I feel like there’s an insult behind your words there but please continue-,”

“Stars aren’t exactly a native species to this planet. So I was wondering if this-,” she pointed at him. “Is this how you actually look? Or do stars usually look like something else?”

He shook his head, “No, but I do it so I can become more approachable to humans. Do you like my form? It’s great, isn’t it?”

“I- I, uh, um, well you know, I mean you’re a very, ah, help me Valentino-,” she pleaded. The goat proudly stepped forward pleating something as she nodded. “Yeah. Exactly, what  he said.”

The boy said nothing as he looked at Valentino and then at her before a grin spread across his lips. “I see. I didn’t know you felt so strongly-,”

“I’m sorry- strongly? Strongly?!”

“It’s what he said,” the star gestured to the goat.

“You can understand him?”

“Of course I can. In fact, I could make him talk if you’d li-”

“Oh no you don’t! I swear if I hear you make Valentino say one word I will launch you back into the sky so fast you’ll go from a wishing star to a shooting star in a heartbeat!”

“Noted,” he said, holding his hands up as he grinned, carefully backing away. “I will not make your pet talk.”

“Good,” she huffed, crossing her arms as she began to think through her options once more.

Alright, so stars were shapeshifters that could understand animals. Great. It was another thing she could add to her growing list of information about stars, right next to the existence of rules that forbade them from leaving until their wishes were granted.

Wait.

Her wish. 

It had been vague, hadn’t it?

She’d never referenced anything specifically to the king, nor the wishes nor the magic of Rosas, which were all things she was certain this star didn’t need to know about. 

Maybe this was the loophole she was looking for! 

If she could get him to help her complete her tasks then she’d be rid of him by tomorrow nightfall, which could give her enough time to warn the king of the imminent danger! It was perfect!

“Well since we’ve got that settled, I think I should let you know my grandfather’s 100th birthday  Is coming up.”

“Oh? Congratulations.”

“Thanks. Anyway I work for a really important person, and they said that they would give me time off for it if I got a certain amount of tasks done before tomorrow’s nightfall. I’ve admittedly gotten half done, but I’d be eternally grateful if you helped me with my other tasks, which include decorating a market.”

“Decorating? Are you guys throwing a party?” he asked, his eyes lighting with excitement.

She shrugged, answering “Ah, something like that yes. I also need to go to an island too-,”

“Which one? I’ve been told that there are a lot of islands on this planet.”

“It’s called Anaris,” she stated, before pulling out her sketchbook where she’d sketched a map of the island. He carefully took the sketchbook from her, thoughtfully looking over it as she continued to explain. “It’s off the coast of the kingdom and is almost a day’s journey. I need to go there to find someone, but between that and decorating the market I might not be able to complete the tasks on time.”

She paused, watching as his eyes narrowed for a split second before he smiled once more and handed the sketchbook back to her, “So you’d be eternally grateful if I helped you complete your tasks on time so you could go home for your grandfather’s 100th birthday. Is that correct?”

“Yes! Now I know it’s probably a bit more banal than you usually-,”

“I’ll do it.”

“Oh ok and I-, wait what?”

“I said that I’ll help you. That is what you want , correct?”

She nodded, not trusting herself enough to confidently articulate an answer.

“Very well then. Which way to the island?”

“It’s northeast from here. But I’m not sure how we’re going to get there in time. I mean my transportation is gone.” 

“Your transportation?”

“Yeah, my horse. He bolted when he saw your ‘rapid yet controlled descent’.” She remembered how quickly Sebastian had taken off, leaving her behind. 

The star pulled his cape around himself, grinning rather smugly as he declared “I’m dreadfully sorry about that. But Fortunately For the both of us, I know a faster way we could get to the island if you want to go there first.”

She hesitantly nodded before saying, “Really? It’s like a half a day’s journey-,”

“I Can cut that time down substantially. And besides I’m sure you’ll like it too.”

“What is it?”

“Come here and I’ll show you,” he said, reaching his hand out towards her.

Asha stared at it hesitantly, not taking it as she carefully looked back at him. 

She had a very bad feeling about this.

He stood there for a moment looking her over, before his eyes darted to the area behind her. “Is that your horse over there?”

“Over where?”  she asked, looking where he’d pointed to. To her confusion, nothing was there. She was nearly about to tell him this when he moved forward, his arms sweeping her off her feet.  “Hey?! What are you- ah!” she cried as she felt him pull her closer to him in a way that felt eerily similar to the bridal style.

She wasn’t sure what was more shocking- the way he held her or the fact that he lifted her as if she practically weighed nothing!

“What on earth do you think you’re doing?! 

“You need to get to the island fast. Well, what faster way to get there than by flying? It’s certainly more interesting than walking.”

“I- what? You’re going to fly with me in your arms?!”

He nodded, evidently not sharing her concerns in the slightest.  “We’ll be able to reach there before midnight, which will give you more than enough time to decorate the market tomorrow. Unless of course, you’d rather we go to the market first and then the island.”

She couldn’t answer as she watched Valentino run up towards them, before carefully levitating into her arms. 

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“I- wait you were serious about flying?! Have you lost your mind!”

“Absolutely. Now we’ll take off on the count of 3.”

“Wait can’t you just sprinkle some of your magical dust on me or something?! Why do you have to carry me like this?!”

“I’m a star, dear. Not a fairy. It’s called Stardust, not pixie dust.”

“What’s the difference?!”

“I’m not a fairy. Now then, 3-

“Hold on a second, shouldn’t we, I don’t know, not do this?! We’re defying the laws of gravity!! What if you fall?!?”

“2-” he adjusted her in his arms. “I’m not going to fall. I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

“WHOA, You’re not actually going to do what I think, you are, are you? Wait a second!”

“Hmm?” He pauses looking at her. “Aren’t we missing something?”

“Like what?”

“We might not have the pixie dust but we are definitely lacking in the faith and trust department.”

“…1.5-,”

“Valentino tell him no! NO!” Valentino excitedly bleated, which earned him a smile from the star as he nodded. “Traitor!” she yelled to Valentino. 

“1- and here we go-!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating the quick ascension. She could feel it! They were rising now! She screamed, thrashing and kicking as she felt the air around her thin. “NO! PLEASE! I’M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!” she choked. “WHY IS THE AIR SO THIN UP HERE?! SLOW DOWN! WE’RE GOING TOO FAST!” She cried as she felt the air whip around her once more as they began to nosedive.  “WE’RE FALLING-”

“But…I haven’t even left the ground yet?” he said softly, as Asha cracked open one eye. Embarrassingly looking around at the curious animals who were still watching them. 

True to his words, they hadn’t left the ground.

“Oh,” she muttered, trying to ignore the sudden warmth that had invaded her cheeks. She was half-tempted to wish that the ground would crack open to swallow her, but she’d learned her lesson about using the word ‘wish’ tonight. 

“I didn’t know you were afraid of heights,” he’d said gently near her ear. “If you want maybe I can bring back your horse.”

“No, no,” she shook her head, remembering the royal crest that all palace horses tended to wear. She couldn’t let him see it. “It’s fine. We can fly. Just promise me that you won’t drop me-“

“I won’t let go,” he says, his grip on her underside felt like a firm assurance. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Alright,” she breathed, fighting down her nerves. “I’ll just remember to stay calm, that's all. Just don’t look down.”

“You could just look at me if it’s any consolation.”

She truthfully had no response to that as she felt him slowly begin to levitate once more, the trees and flowers rising in the background as she heard several animals begin to bid them farewell and wish them luck. 

She didn’t have the heart to look back as she felt the wind howling in her ears, tugging her clothes and hair in various directions. The cold night enveloped her as she instinctively shivered, begrudgingly moving closer to the warmth that the star offered. 

As they continued to fly, she could smell the faint scent of burning wood and the saltiness of the distant sea. 

He truly hadn’t been lying about cutting their time short as she could feel Valentino shifting in her arms to take in the view from below. 

With her curiosity getting the better of her, she decided to risk a glance at the scenery below as well. 

As much as she was afraid, she couldn’t help but feel that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with a view she knew she’d never see again. The sight of Rosas beneath her etched itself into her memory as she took in the sight of all the small buildings and houses below as several glowed with the familiar warmth. She could even see the waves wash in gently at the edge of the island, filling her with a sense of security that she’d long since missed as a child.

It was… beautiful. 

She knew that even at ground level the kingdom’s beauty had been nothing to scoff at, but up here it felt as if she’d been exposed to a whole new level of beauty. Everything seemed far more vibrant- even the architecture of the buildings she’d never given much thought to.

Had Rosas always been so beautiful?  She wondered. 

She remembered her father had always told her that there was beauty in everything and that sometimes that beauty just needed a different perspective for its expression.  But Speaking of her father, she wondered what he would think if he were here to see what exactly a star was. Would he be frightened? Excited? Overwhelmed? She wasn’t sure as she  looked up, past the star’s face to the beautiful starry sky above. 

It had been a while since she’d seen the sky like this, but it was just as she’d remembered it. 

“Do you live down there?” Came the star’s voice interrupting her memories.

“I live close by,” she confessed, thinking of the small and humble town of Hamlet. “The town I'm from is way smaller than that.”

“I see,” he hummed. A moment of silence followed with nothing but the sounds of the winds filling the space between them. It felt like an eternity before she heard him speak once more, “Are you alright?” the boy, no star asked, as she saw him look down at her.

“I’m as good as I’ll ever be, I guess,” she admitted, trying hard not to stare at him. 

How ironic was it that out of all the king’s apprentices, the one with the least amount of magical potential had achieved the impossible? Had it not been so frightening to her, maybe she would’ve allowed herself to marvel at it, marvel at him.

She shook her head, there was no point in marveling at anything magical.

She’d fix this by herself, and she’d do it without magic she thought.

If all went well, he’d be gone by tomorrow night, allowing this chapter of her life to close to make way for a new one.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2022: #25 - #21

25. ARMENIA

Rosa Linn - “Snap”

20th place

undefined

Overall placement: 50/79

[Above The Black Mamba, below James Newman]

Ugh, Fine. 

Time to finish this ranking turbo style! So yeah, I’m not impressed with The Biggest Eurovision Hit, which I suppose is a controversial opinion? Then again, if Rosa was so good, then why did she only make it 20th place, hmmm? 🤔🤔

When Rosa’s song leaked it sounded exactly like the type of song you’d expect  DMGP to commit murder for: a frivolous, cheery pop welterweight (which somehow has the same cadence as I’m Alive by Elhaida Dani) thats easy to listen to and doesn’t get in the way of stanning better things. 

At Eurovision, this was Rosa’s exact journey. She was a cute presence that was vaguely liked, and her staging supported this. (despite the staging mishaps, still pretty neat!) Don’t know what all the references in the lyrics are about, but we can pretend it added some depth and meaning, Into 20th place she went, which was a fair result for what her lovable random self brought to the table. 

Then, she went viral on TikTok, which honestly is more of an  “eww” than a “good on her” i m o. Okay, look, it defo does not surprise me that out of the entire 2022 catalogue this song became the viral one. TikTok viralness is a horrible metric for musical quality though. “Snap” works as a TikTok song specifcally because it doesn’t syphon attention away from whatever brainfart nonsense TikTokkers force on their feeds for a living. If you want a backing track to your “Make mac ‘n’ cheese by dumping the ingredients on a marble countertop” silliness or your indie song-singing 101 Tutorial, might as well pick something like a Snap as the accompanying backing track.

Also, I always felt the record label behind Rosa Linn was a bit too eager to get A Big Kicker on their conto. Remember when Rosa -likely on urging from her mentor Tamar Karpelian- attempted to start a respectful discussion on Twitter (oh dear) about how wonderful NFTs were (oh dear) because they helped establish a base income for fledgling artists,like herself (oh dearrrr) without having to rely on her songs getting streams? (oh dearrrrrrrrr)Twitter gave their usual gaslighting-disguised-as-concern response which in turn forced Rosa issue a semi-confused, half-arsed apology for attempting to profit from her work. Okay that was kinda funny, but by Monika Liu’s  grown-out bob, Zoomer drama is the nuttiest drama, I swear.

Anyway, the aforementioned NFT shizzle, the association with Tamar’s Slytherin Evil, the TikTok viralness and the radio people’s sudden insistence that “Snap” was A Hidden Underrated Gem despite it being an inconspicuous 20th placer at Eurivision THAT NOBODY CARED ABOUT, and also the fact that Snap has five different versions (HER?!) all kinda hints at a certain ambition that just... taints it a bit for me. It just feels like Snap’s popularity didn’t develop itself naturally and but came about due to largely commercial and monetary reasons, after which the sheeple convinced themselves retroactively that it was secretly great and very underrated, since you know, influencers would never twist the truth to us for their own profit. 

Overall the song’s fine in a vaccuum. Underneath its base sheer lie values that my crusty millennial monroe ass doesn’t share. FARE THEE WELL, MISS LINN, YOU GO BYE NOW!!!

 -----------------------

24. CROATIA

Mia Dimsic - “Guilty pleasure”

26th place

undefined

 Decade placement: 47/79

[above The Roop, below Tusse]

Oh look, another vaguely pleasant, mildly likabable, and ultimately not very exciting middle-of-the-road pop melody. The cynic in you might think I’m ranking Mia ahead of Rosa because Mia didn’t go viral, and like always the cynic in you is correct! Hooray! 😁 Yeah sorry, in the ongoing battle of overrated vs underrated, it’s the correctly rated that always win :-) 

Still, like Rosa, Mia had the potential to be green on my ranking if she had cultivated a status as a fun random. TSwift IS a guilty pleasure of mine (except for her Midnights Era self which is unironically great) and while “Willow” is a part of the least exciting wing in Taylor’s musical library (ie: the part that isn’t crazed out through copium and/or severe neurosis), this bootlegged version was just cute enough to charm me.

Now of course, if your song is all about maintaining a certain level of delicate joie-de-vivre, it’s really important to not overdo the act and let the singer’s personal charisma carry it. Cue to the staging which looked like this:

What.

The.

Everlovin’.

Fuck?

There’s good staging and there is whatever the flyin’ fuck that was. Goodbye cutesie lounge vibe, goodbye charming performer, you’re completely overtaken by this overly choreographed, overtly dramatic and abrasive act that your song didn’t need. ONE dancer, NO acrobatics, how difficult is that to grasp, HRT? I’d be tempted to say the act was a cursed decision, but then realize Croatia’s frantic dance gremlins were probably the tipping point that allowed ~Systur~ into the finals, and any Eurovision final graced by those three earth angels has to count as a blessing. So thank you Mia for blessing us. ^_^ 

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

23. GERMANY

Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

25th place

undefined

Decade ranking: 45/79

[Above Tusse, below Undisclosed]

It is very common knowledge that nobody likes Rockstars, and fine, I don’t! As insipid as “Rockstars” was though, I don’t think it was completely without redeeming qualities.Malik had a baseline charm and really went for it, I guess. 

The German Selection, which had adopted the very... um... optimistic name “Germany, 12 points” for the occasion, (optimistic even if we believe the conspiracy theory the “12 points” alluded to the total numerical amount ARD were aiming for in Turin <3) was one of the worst in a horrible NF season. I was fucking relieved it produced a winner I could (sadly no more than) vaguely enjoy. Not everyone has the panache of getting distracted by their own soap bubble bonanza. 

Also, the SPOKEN WORD RAP BREAK was exactly what my brain and soul -both high on copium after the Alina Pash withdrawal- needed at the time. It didn’t blow me away or anything, but it at least gave me something tangible to cling onto besides “well this is nice, i guess”. 

For the rest though, ::tumbleweeds::. I think people might have been a bit too bandwagon-y in their Malik Mockery cus like, yeah he’s clearly getting last, don’t make it worse? But then again... he brought very little to the table. Besides the spoken word it’s like... cursive singing (petition to rename this to “Cursed Singing”) and instruments displayed on moth-eaten rugs to get points, you know? It’s like Germany were deliberately telegraphing us to NOT vote for them, again. But that’s less on Malik and more on ARD’s incompetence, which is a discussion for another time. 

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

22. NORTH MACEDONIA

Andrea - “Circles”

27th place

undefined

Decade ranking: 44/79

[Above Malik, below Hurricane]

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO GREEN!!! Sadly we’re still in the No Man’s Land of VagueOpinionstan. 😣 

There is *something* about Andrea and “Circles” that resonates well with me? Is it the perfectly mimed frustration with a poorly communicating love interest? Is it the palpable resignation on her face as she helplessly bleats “u don’t wanna test my limits -_-”.

Maybe! What I do know is that I stan the critical amount of pure Sadsack Energy Andrea exhudes from every pore. 😍😍 I think she’s a contender for the most morose, Eeyore-ish person to ever set a foot on a Eurovision stage? Reminder that this person won a selection  <33333 Andrea posseses a sort of theoretical anti-charisma that should render her unvoteable, and yet in practice just has me cling to every word crossing her lips. ALL SHE WANTS IS A HEALTHY CONVERSATION SO SHE CAN GET IT RIGHT AND FIX THE SITUATION, YOU GHOULS!!!

(and yes, the other Bubble favourite of floordrop sorcery making an appearance <3)

But then on top of that, Andrea also became A Highly Controversial Pick for NoMac!!!! Strangely not because she was an out-and-proud lesbian (although, an out-and-proud lesbian representing a toxic homophobe country from the Balkans <3333333) but because..... she dropped a wee plastic flag during the turquoise carpet. 

The toxic nationalists took it as HER DELIBERATELY TRAMPLING OUR MACEDONIAN PRIDE AFTER YEARS OF GREEK BULLYING. MRT even issued an official statement that they were CONSIDERING A WITHDRAWAL (with zero intention to actually quit of course) to appease the smooth-brained cunts until the quiet and expected NQ arrived. <3333333333

(knowing her misery was finally over, Andrea cracked a smile for the first time in her life <3)

This only enhanced Andrea’s Charlie Brown”-esque journey even more!! Just when Andrea looked like the token hapless last placer nobody loved, the results came in, and showed she *almost* made the final.  😍😍😍😍😍😍. If there’s one thing that horrible second semifinal should have done right and didn’t, is causing a NoMac qualification by means of fixed jury voting algorithms. Simply imagine the meltdowns over Andrea slaying Andromache AND Nadir. 😍 If only the EBU had the balls to NQ Azer on the spot, huh? Oh well, there’s always 2023 for that. 😈

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

21. UKRAINE

Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

1st place

undefined

Decade ranking: 41/79

[Above Fyr og Flamme, below Eden Alene]

ugh i forgot he yelled Mariupol and Azofstal at the end of that and wasn’t DQ’d on the spot! Instantly regretting I didn’t rank Ukraine even LOWER. 😫😫😫 (no, don’t think about how much better Stefania would be without him, don’t do it Bobo, consider your mental health -- inner monologue while writing the rest of this post.)

So yeah, after all this inconspicuous also-ran filler (i’m definitely including Snap in that group), I’m eliminating the winner, the biggest televote winner Eurovision have ever had. “Have you no respect, Boris?”, you might ask and well... would I be me, if I had any, lol? I came into the 2022 season with hot takes and mental fortitude and thanks to Shitvidi I’m all out of fortitude, so~

Cynicism and self-awareness aside, let’s get the big elephant out of the room: The war had virtually no impact on my ranking here. I despise politics at Eurovision, (mostly because politics always affect it, but Eurovision NEVER affects the politics back), so there are two options here: Either downvote Ukraine for bringing politics into the contest, or make an exception and turn a blind eye. I chose option two. Nobody can begrudge Ukraine for attempting to pretend that the worst armed conflict to have hit them since WW2 hadn’t broken them, so I won’t. No points added or deducted.  . 

I do have good reasons to not rank Stefania higher though. I think you already know where this is headed - Sorry (for YOU) if you’re a fan of his, but Oleh suuuuuucks. It started at Vidbir when he led a small mob against that poor envelope lady and it was all sorts of messed up? Entitlement and bullying tinged with toxic nationalism, there ain’t no better first impression to make, am i right?

And very unfortunately my distaste towards Oleh also extends to his on-stage presence which I find really fucking obnoxious. The concept of a “Charismatic Black Hole” was one I didn’t fully understand until I first saw Oleh Psiuk set a foot on stage. Does anyone TRULY like  his presence here? All his verses do is distract from the chorus and instrumental, which is awful because those bits fucking slap! Airlift him and his ugly-ass hat the fuck outta here. 

Okay, so the winning song is actually... pretty good. It is NOT great though. Stefania is a weaker, safer and more cis-het version of “Shum”, which is suboptimal. Counterpoint is that “Shum” was Peak Ukraine (Which is also Peak Eurovision), and remains one of the best entries ever, so a lesser replication of that is still enjoyable overall. It made Ihor Didenchuk (who is also in Go_A) a Eurovision laureate! It kinda sucks the fandom didn’t come through at a time when Ukraine had, you know, an actually charismatic lead, but I suppose the power of love Damiano-induced boners does conquer all.

On the flip side, Ihor’s and Tymofii’s contributions are so good that they almost fully balance Oleh’s deteriorative and hammy rapping. Tymofii carries Stefania with his spot-on chanting and preposterous flute playback shenanigans. 

Ihor meanwhile just has a good time on the stage, disguised as one of the two Cousin It-like entities <3 Add in some tasteful staging and hell, even the fact that this song is in essence an ode to someone’s (You Know Who’s) actual mom, (and not  the forced, cringe, jingoistic metaphor it later became) and you have an entry that definitely makes sense as a jury fourth placer and top fiver overall.

Now obviously, I would have preferred for Ukraine to not win because they were not the best option (not by a mile!), and ofc also because I hate their lead, but I’m not fully broken up that they beat my faves. Sometimes there are powers at work beyond our control and that’s fine. Not everything in life must be catered to our tastes. Ukraine are the best Eurovision country, and it doesn’t matter how or when they catch up to (and pass) Ireland and Sweden, as long as it happens during my lifespan. 🤷‍♀️

Still think Pinkbucket’s a thuggish little punk though. Prayer circle that the next time Ukraine win, it’s with someone actually worth stanning. 🙂

CONGRATULATIONS TOP 20!!!

ALBANIA - AUSTRIA - CZECH REP - ESTONIA - FRANCE -

GEORGIA - ICELAND - IRELAND - LITHUANIA - MALTA -

MOLDOVA - THE NETHERLANDS - PORTUGAL - ROMANIA - SAN MARINO -

SERBIA - SLOVENIA - SPAIN  - SWEDEN - UK

THE RANKING 

21. UKRAINE - Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania”

22. NORTH MACEDONIA - Andrea - “Circles”

23. GERMANY - Malik Harris - “Rockstars”

24. CROATIA - Mia Dimšić - “Guilty pleasure”

25. ARMENIA - Rosa Linn - “Snap”

26. CYPRUS - Andromache - “Ela”

27. LATVIA - Citi Zeni - “Eat your salad”

28. DENMARK - ReDDI - “The show”

29. BULGARIA - Intelligent Music Project - “Intention”

30. GREECE - Amanda Tenjford - “Die together”

31. POLAND - Ochman - “River”

32. MONTENEGRO - Vladana - “Breathe”

33. FINLAND - The Rasmus - "Jezebel"

34. BELGIUM - Jérémie Makiese - “Miss you”

35. NORWAY - Subwoolfer - “Give that wolf a banana”

36. AUSTRALIA - Sheldon Riley - “Not the same”

37. SWITZERLAND - Marius Bear - “Boys do cry”

38. AZERBAIJAN - Nadir Rustamli - “Fade to black”

39. ITALY - Mahmood & Blanco - “Brividi”

40. ISRAEL - Michael Ben David - “I.M”

[animusiem]

Billboard USA Exclusion Zone Episode 11 (05/13/2023)

I'll be honest with you, last week I didn't do this episode of USA Exclusion Zone because I saw Alone by Kim Petras & Nicki Minaj debuted while I'm in the middle of taking care of finishing my college degree and just tuned out. Thankfully we only have five songs debuted but all of them are interesting.

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

39. "UNFORGIVEN" by LE SSERAFIM ft. Nile Rodgers

I have been a fan of this girlband for sometimes ever since Fearless and this song really just solidified my opinion on them as one of the best girlband in the new generation. That guitar by Nile Rodgers is just bruhhhhh.

169. "Conexoes de Mafia" by Matue ft. Rich the Kid

Okay seems like we have another Brazilian song here and it's a trap rap song...wait why is Rich the Kid here? I guess it's fitting that he's here because this sounds like what trap song sounds like around 2018.

177. "Money Trees" by Kendrick Lamar ft. Jay Rock

I'm of the opinion that TikTok is filled the niche of Gen Z the same way YouTube does towards millennials. But with TikTok and how Billboard do their streaming tracking, it can make any songs that became a hit on TikTok to have some charting presence whether it's for better or worse. This one is definitely for the better because...it's a deepcut from Good Kid, m.A.A.d City which is a 9/10 album.

188. "Que Sera Sera" by Mrs. Green Apple

Tbh after the departure of Ayaka Yamanaka, this band weren't the same anymore. If I would describe this band now...Imagine if Panic! At The Disco but they made Pray for the Wicked right after A Fever You Can't Sweat Out

199. "Rosa Pastel" by Peso Pluma ft. Jasiel Nunez

You know I was vibing with this song...then the trumpets and horns happened.

I highly recommend everyone to listen to these songs.

[thesims4-adventure]

Not So Berry Legacy Challenge

Generation  Two: Rose

EP. 31

I woke up and was startled by a gnome next to my bed.

Eu acordei e levei um susto com um gnomo do lado da minha cama.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I understood it was harvest festival, but it was scary anyway.

Eu entendi que era festival da colheita, mas era assustador de todo jeito.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

They were chasing me, so I thought it best to please them once and for all using the millennial knowledge passed down from generation to generation.

"Gnomo feliz, lar feliz (de apaziguar o gnomo) Quem poderia ter gnomos? Aqueles com chapéus pontudos realmente gostaram desse presente. Charlote está muito satisfeita com seu bom senso."

Eles estavam me perseguindo, então achei melhor já agradá-los de vez usando os conhecimentos milenares passados de geração em geração.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I was still thinking about yesterday's failure. And at my kitchen window there was no one to advise or inspire me.

Eu ainda estava pensando no fracasso de ontem. E na janela da minha cozinha não tinha ninguém para me aconselhar ou me inspirar.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

The girl on the poster in front of my balcony didn't seem to have any interest in helping me, just judging my appearance.

A moça do cartaz em frente minha sacada não parecia ter nenhum interesse em me ajudar, só julgava minha aparência.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Cody had already gone to daycare so I went downstairs to get something to eat and found the watery pink haired llama.

Cody já havia ido para a creche então desci para comer algo e encontrei a lhama águada do cabelo rosa.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I preferred to eat watching a presentation, right there in the square.

Preferi comer assistindo uma apresentação, ali na praça mesmo.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I thought I should give him some money, isn't that what I was always talking about?

Eu achei que devia dar algum dinheiro a ele, afinal não era disso que eu sempre falva?

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

But I was a little confused...and angry...

Mas estava um pouco confusa...e com raiva...

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I decided to go visit my father.

Decidi ir visitar meu pai.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

He told me to be careful with my feelings.

Ele me falou pra ter cuidado com meus sentimentos.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I felt...

Eu eu me sentia...

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

irritated, depressed, hungry...!

irritada, depressiva, com fome...!

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

And that it could explode at any moment.

E que poderia explodir a qualquer momento.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

But this time, I remember everything that happened.

Mas desta vez, eu me lembro de tudo que aconteceu.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

He picked me up and put me in front of a mirror as he said things I knew I should have listened to.

Ele me segurou e me colocou em frente a um espelho enquanto falava coisas que eu sei que deveria ter prestado atenção.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

But I only thought about destroying!

Mas eu só pensava em destruir!

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Run!

Correr!

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

To smell!

Cheirar!

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

And... I felt humiliated when I got a flick on the nose.

E...me senti humilhada quando levei um peteleco no nariz.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

Without thinking, I was already running away.

Sem pensar já estava fugindo.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I got scared when I saw a fight... so I was like that too?

Me assustei ao ver uma briga...então eu era assim também?

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

...so I was like that too?

...então eu era assim também?

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I was trying to get better control of that hairy body.

Eu estava tentando controlar melhor esse corpo peludo.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I'm glad it was friendlier here.

Ainda bem que aqui era mais amigável.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

When I was calmer, I went back to my father's house, but he wasn't there anymore.

Quando estava mais calma voltei para a casa do meu pai, mas ele não estava mais lá.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I needed to wear clothes and eat.

Precisava vestir roupas e comer.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

On the way back to San Myshuno, I stopped by the place where I had taken the flick, they owed me an apology, I didn't have to do that.

Voltando para San Myshuno eu passei no lugar onde tinha levado o peteleco, eles me deviam desculpas, não precisava ter feito aquilo.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I ended up enjoying being there and lost track of time.

Acabei gostando de estar ali e perdi a noção do tempo.

━━━━━━ • ✿ • ━━━━━━

I had to get back soon I was already having illusions, direwolves are fine, but giant raccoons messing with my cell phone is too much for me.

Precisava voltar logo já estava tendo ilusões, lobos gigantes tudo bem, mas guaxinins gigantes mexendo no celular é demais pra mim.

✿previous   ✿ ✿next

[martystellalife]

Eccomi qui..a 37 anni a scrivere su una piattaforma di blog 😱🧐

Non ho neanche mai avuto un diario segreto..di quelli rosa con lucchetto che si apriva anche senza la chiavetta, ma che custodiva segreti ed emozioni di tante bambine.

Non sono neanche così tanto brava nello scrivere!! Uso troppa punteggiatura..da perfetta millennial troppe emoticon e in un discorso passo da un argomento all’altro senza filo conduttore in base a come gira la mia mente in quel momento!!

Ma sono qui a scrivere con in braccio la mia ragione di vita: Stella , la mia piccola cavalier king di 6 anni.

Negli ultimi 3 anni me ne sono successe davvero tante, cambiamenti, alti e bassi, felicità e assoluta tristezza, un po’ come tutti penso, ma che sto cercando di affrontare nel migliore dei modi, anche se non sempre ci riesco..

Non so ancora il perché io sia qui a scrivere..se per puro sfogo o per condividere il mio passato e presente con la speranza di avere la consapevolezza che ci siano persone simili a me…ma cercherò di capirlo!

Non so neanche se si possa scrivere un “post” così lungo..ma alla fine “STI CAZZI” (ormai la mia frase chiave), ho voglia di fare così e lo faccio!!!

Però ora direi di terminare questo come possiamo chiamarlo “disagio scritto”!!

Fine

Alla prossima 😜

[coletivme]

O Glam Company oferece serviços personalizados de beleza em Lisboa. Decorado em tons de rosa millennial, destaca-se pelo ambiente instagramável e luxuoso. Com serviços que vão de unhas a tratamentos estéticos de ponta, seus preços variam de 15€ a 220€. É uma aposta promissora em um mercado em expansão.

[kilowogcore]

I've known good baby boomers, includin' elder activists that passed on their wisdom and tactics ta' future generations. I ain't tryin' ta' say it's universal.

But generally speakin', old yt people from the boomer generation are the most entitled, selfish, 'n socially backwards generation in US history. An' while that should never be used ta' attack individual people (at least not before they show it fits 'em), the propaganda comin' from that generation must be counteracted, an' the younger generations need ta' be protected from it.

That's one a' the most important things Millennials can do. Make sure the toxic boomerthink don't hurt Gen Z an' Gen Alpha like it hurt us.

How are ya' breakin' the cycle a' abuse fer future generations, poozers?

(Art sampled from "Batman/Superman: World's Finest" Vol. 1 #29 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Travis Mercer, Tamra Bonvillain, Steve Wands, Paul Kaminski, and Chris Rosa. Edits: Altered Dialogue.)

[finanzas-inteligentes]

El Impacto de la Educación Financiera: ¿Generaciones en Conflicto o Evolución?

Fuente: Repositorio CESA

La educación financiera es un tema crucial que ha cobrado mayor relevancia en los últimos años. Según el documento titulado "El Impacto de la Educación Financiera en las Actitudes y Comportamientos en las Finanzas Personales de las Diferentes Generaciones" de Juan Camilo Molina de la Rosa y Mario José Convers Spicker, publicado en 2023, existe una clara diferenciación en cómo las distintas generaciones perciben y manejan sus finanzas personales. Este artículo pretende analizar dichos hallazgos y abrir un debate sobre la eficacia de la educación financiera en distintos grupos etarios.

Contexto y Metodología del Estudio

El estudio realizado en Bogotá se centra en tres generaciones principales: Generación Z, Millennials y Generación X. A través de encuestas, entrevistas y focus groups, se recopilaron datos sobre comportamientos y actitudes financieras, buscando identificar patrones y diferencias significativas entre las generaciones.

Datos Demográficos y Métodos de Investigación

La investigación incluyó a participantes de diversas edades, cada uno perteneciente a una de las generaciones mencionadas. La metodología se dividió en varias fases:

Diseño del cuestionario: Para captar una amplia gama de comportamientos y actitudes.

Recolección de datos: A través de encuestas distribuidas tanto en línea como de manera presencial.

Análisis de resultados: Utilizando herramientas estadísticas para identificar tendencias y diferencias generacionales.

Resultados Obtenidos:

Los resultados revelan diferencias notables en cómo cada generación maneja sus finanzas, con especial atención a sus prioridades y hábitos de ahorro e inversión.

Análisis General por Generaciones

Generación Z

La Generación Z, compuesta por jóvenes adultos, muestra una inclinación hacia el consumo inmediato. Los datos indican que esta generación destina una parte considerable de sus ingresos a entretenimiento y ocio.

Este gráfico refleja cómo la Generación Z prioriza el gasto en actividades recreativas, lo cual puede atribuirse a su etapa de vida y la influencia de la cultura digital.

Millennials

Los Millennials presentan una tendencia mixta, balanceando entre el gasto y el ahorro. Sin embargo, enfrentan desafíos significativos debido a la deuda estudiantil y el costo de vida elevado.

Generación X

La Generación X se caracteriza por una mayor estabilidad financiera y una inclinación hacia el ahorro y la inversión. Esta generación ha tenido más tiempo para construir su patrimonio y muestra una mayor conciencia sobre la importancia de la planificación financiera a largo plazo.

¿Es Efectiva la Educación Financiera?

La educación financiera es vista como una herramienta clave para mejorar los comportamientos financieros, pero ¿es igualmente efectiva en todas las generaciones? El estudio revela que, aunque la educación financiera tiene un impacto positivo, este varía significativamente según la generación.

Factores que Influyen en la Eficacia de la Educación Financiera

Acceso a Información: Las generaciones más jóvenes, como la Generación Z, tienen un acceso más amplio a la información financiera en línea. Sin embargo, esto no siempre se traduce en una mejor gestión financiera.

Experiencias Previas: La Generación X ha vivido más ciclos económicos, lo que les ha proporcionado una perspectiva más prudente sobre el ahorro y la inversión.

Cultura y Tecnología: Los Millennials y la Generación Z están más influenciados por la cultura del consumo y la tecnología, lo cual afecta sus hábitos financieros.

Estrategias para una Mejor Educación Financiera

Para maximizar el impacto de la educación financiera, es crucial adaptar las estrategias a las características y necesidades de cada generación:

Generación Z: Programas educativos enfocados en la gestión de deudas y la creación de historial crediticio.

Millennials: Asesoría sobre planificación financiera y manejo de deudas estudiantiles.

Generación X: Enfoque en inversiones y planificación para la jubilación.

Conclusión

La educación financiera es fundamental para el bienestar económico de las personas. Sin embargo, su impacto varía según la generación, lo que subraya la necesidad de programas personalizados. Es esencial que instituciones educativas, organizaciones y gobiernos trabajen juntos para desarrollar estrategias que aborden las necesidades específicas de cada grupo etario.

¿Qué opinas? ¿Crees que la educación financiera debería ser obligatoria en todas las etapas educativas? ¿Cómo podríamos mejorar la educación financiera en tu generación? Comparte tu opinión y participa en el debate. Juntos, podemos construir un futuro financiero más sólido para todos.

[joycepaiiva]

Num dia frio em São Paulo é assim: Se você saiu de casa para uma reunião presencial, então você aproveita a saída e vai até uma exposição de arte ou a um restaurante para terminar de fazer valer a pena o passeio.  

Hoje é quarta-feira, a mínima foi de 9° e eu tive uma reunião às 14hrs na zona mais ao norte possível da cidade. Esses dias escrevi o meu primeiro diálogo por influência de um escritor russo que tenho lido e agora por influência de Sex And The City tenho escrito em primeira pessoa com facilidade, o que é uma novidade neste canal. Então, aqui vai o relato do meu dia com um toque de reflexão em algum momento do texto corrido. Pegue seu bombojaco e boa leitura! outra referência para os millennials que ouviram rap dos anos 90.  

Acordei muito bem-humorada apesar do frio, final de ciclo menstrual é sempre desse jeito, fim da TPM monstruosa –aqui eu quis fazer um trocadilho entre menstrual e monstruosa, a situação combina, mas me perdoem, ficou uma bosta, mas não vou retirar- e para isso eu sempre me dou um café da manhã de rainha esfomeada que sou. Café preto, ovo com gema mole, torradinha fresca de pão integral, requeijão, pimenta, sal e aquele sheik potente de whey de baunilha, banana, morango, creatina e água. Calorias em dia, alimentei meu peixe, aguei as plantas, coloquei Lagum para tocar e fui para o banho na maior vibe.  

Às 11h23 eu já estava pronta para a reunião das 14h. Sentei, respondi uns e-mails, WhatsApp e já que eu tinha tempo por que não economizar com o Uber e ir de ônibus?! Feito! Conheci umas ruas de São Paulo entre a Zona Norte e a Zone ainda mais ao norte, eu amo andar de ônibus e conhecer o íntimo dos bairros. É como voltar a infância, ver crianças correndo na saída das escolas, senhores e senhorinhas pegando ônibus de graça e se sentando na praça, aqueles restaurantes que servem PF por menos de 35,00! Acredite, em São Paulo um PF por menos de 35,00 só mesmo no íntimo dos bairros marginais. Enfim.  

Cheguei às 13h54 para a reunião, muito pontual para uma pseudo-Paulistana que pegou dois ônibus. Reunião chata, pessoal despreparado fazendo perguntas aleatórias sem sentindo com o cerne da questão de estar ali, relatos pessoais sobre qualquer coisa, um café, uma água e fim.  

E já que eu saí de casa num frio de 10°, economizei no uber, estava de bom humor, tarefa do dia feita e o restante do dia livre, por que não ir até uma exposição de arte ou tomar um caldo verde num restaurante que quero conhecer?! Bora! Mais um trajeto de ônibus sugerido pelo Google Maps. E aqui finalmente começa a reflexão que faz o restante do texto valer a pena, ou não.  

Depois de caminhar por alguns minutos e chegar ao ponto de ônibus, verifiquei se ele realmente passava ali, e parada olhando para rua de braços cruzados com a cara amarrada na melhor pose de pseudo-executiva-paulistana aguardando o ônibus chegar, eis que uma senhorinha na faixa dos 60 – 70 me perguntou sobre o mesmo ônibus.  

-Aquele ali é o Jardim Vista Alegre? Eu não enxergo direito, a idade minha filha. - Perguntou a senhora.  

-Não, esse que vem aí é o Ana Rosa e depois o Metrô Santana. - respondi – Mas eu também vou pegar o Jardim Vista Alegre, eu aviso quando se aproximar.  

-Muito obrigada, filha. Já não enxergo direito. E esse que vem aí? - retrucou ela.  

Bastou esse diálogo para que nos tornássemos companheiras inseparáveis na espera do ônibus mais escasso de São Paulo. Até agora não entendi a sugestão do google Maps. Ela já estava ali há 15 minutos e nada, para mim no aplicativo não aparecia nem sinal do busão. Mas, amigas que somos engatamos no papo durante a espera.  

-Estou indo visitar meu filho que está doente, ele está na casa da minha sogra – ela me contou.  

-Jura?! Que bom, tomara que ele esteja melhor – e eu nem sabia o que ele tinha.  

-Pois é, eu não estou com condições de cuidar dele. Estou vindo do postinho também, tomei uma injeção naquele lugar, estou com o corpo todo doído, e olha que eu nem usei aquilo para estar doendo – a senhorinha se sentindo à vontade contou isso, com a maior inocência do mundo das senhorinhas, e caiu na gargalhada.  

“Que fofinha!” Pensei depois de ouvir o relato de uma senhora que tomou injeção no ânus e me contou no ponto de ônibus.  

-E esse? É o Vista Alegre, minha filha? - perguntou a senhora.  

-Ainda não, outro Ana Rosa. - Respondi e me lembrei de que o Ana Rosa servia para mim. Mas deixei passar e aguardei.  

Tentei agora me lembrar do desenrolar da conversa e não consegui. Sei que não fiquei naquele ponto por mais de 20 minutos, mas sei que em dado momento enquanto eu olhava para a esquerda vigiando o ônibus e para a direita prestando atenção na fala de minha amiga, no meio do diálogo ela disse:  

-Ele me deixou por outra, acredita?! - Falou com os olhos cheios de lágrimas. - Como a gente é boba não é, minha filha?! Fiquei casada por mais de 40 anos e ele está com outra. Me lembro de quando ainda era jovem e deitados na cama falei para ele “Imagina quando estivermos velhinhos e juntos” e não imaginava que ia terminar assim. Por isso é melhor ficar sozinha mesmo, as vezes homem só dá tristeza. - Concluiu ela.  

A senhorinha ainda disse que a filha estava triste pela situação, mas não tinha o que fazer. E eu que via o quarto Ana Rosa passar estava agora envolvida em muitos pensamentos depois desse relato ora cômico, ora solitário e reflexivo de minha amiga de transporte público. Quando avistei o quinto Ana Rosa vindo ao longe comecei a me despedir, também porque eu já não sabia o que dizer a ela e tinha muito o que dizer a mim mesma depois de tudo que ouvi.  

A começar pela solidão.  

Não é novidade para ninguém que estamos sempre em estado de solidão. Seja querendo carinho, companhia, em busca da nossa alma gêmea, de um melhor amigo, do terapeuta perfeito, da música que vai dizer exatamente o que sentimos, daquilo ou de alguém que vá entender os nossos sentimentos, ou em busca de algo dentro de nós mesmos que vai nos dar norte, o verdadeiro nirvana! ou da passagem da bíblia que vai nos dizer o que é a vida e nos confortar por não estarmos sozinhos e o nosso futuro já estar devidamente traçado.  

Me pergunto agora se Abujanra já leu a bíblia, imagino que se em algum momento ele teve oportunidade olhou para Deus e disse “Deus, o que é a vida?”, também acredito que ele tenha repetido algumas vezes a mesma pergunta.  

-Oi Deus, aqui é a Joyce, desculpe a blasfêmia, é licença poética! Amém.  

Embora não seja novidade que estamos sempre em estado de solidão, física, existencial ou emocional, me surpreendi com aquele relato. Não que eu não tenha conhecido alguém da terceira idade que seja sozinho, mas naquela tarde a solidão do relato da senhorinha me mostrou algo para qual eu ainda não tinha olhado diretamente. Veja, neste momento tenho 28 anos e oito meses, tenho amigas de 20 que estão sozinhas sofrendo das solidões acima, especificamente por amor. Tenho amigas da mesma idade que eu e até da faixa dos 40 vivendo as mesmas solidões. E agora alguém da faixa dos 60 – 70 que foi abandonada, trocada, está longe dos filhos, completamente entregue a uma amiga mais nova que conheceu no ponto de ônibus há alguns minutos.  

Você leitor, que também é humano e já captou o cerne da questão há alguns parágrafos, já chegou na conclusão em que eu também cheguei, sei disso! Então vamos compartilhar.  

A conclusão é: não é sobre idade e não existem garantias.  

Viver implica nunca saber como seriam os caminhos que não tomamos, saber menos ainda como vão ser os caminhos que escolhemos. Não existem garantias de nada para os anos à frente, assim como também não existem garantias de que as suas agonias e os seus conflitos de hoje não serão os de amanhã. Assim como também não existem garantias para a sua posição social, as suas origens, a estética, a personalidade, nada lhe garante a não solidão. Se você aprendeu a desfrutar da solitude, bingo! Fica mais leve, mas ninguém está livre da solidão.  

Ainda que eu tenha pensado em inúmeras frases e reflexões coachianas sobre o lado bom da solidão ou sobre como lidar com ela ou sobre o sentido da vida, nos poupo. Fique você com suas reflexões a respeito disso, e sofra, vá madrugada afora ou simplesmente tome seu ônibus.  

Falemos agora da saúde física.  

Nunca o texto Filtro Solar de Pedro Bial ressoou tão enfático em minha mente como hoje. “Use filtro solar” e todo bla-bla-bla seguinte. Digo bla-bla-bla com respeito, o texto de fato faz sentido. Injeção no ânus?! Meu Deus! 

Eu que vivo a temer uma velhice dependente de outras pessoas me peguei pensando na injeção da minha senhora amiga, aparentemente sem motivo, acredito nela! Por isso daqui em diante o projeto verão seguirá como nunca visto na história da série de minha vida! E não por causa do verão mais próximo, mas principalmente por aqueles que ainda não consigo nem visualizar no calendário. Seria ainda mais cômico se não fosse tão trágico! Adoro essa frase, adoro quando a vida é ridiculamente engraçada nos momentos mais sofridos e improváveis. Se cuide você também, meu caro leitor. 

Ainda que eu tenha chegado a uma exposição de arte, que tenha tomado o meu caldo verde numa tarde fria e cinza em São Paulo, a reflexão após os 20 minutos na espera do ônibus que nunca passou tomaram todo o resto do meu dia.  

Por fim, eu ri. 

Chegando em casa me sentei no divã que é o meu sofá preto muito confortável na companhia da amiga que divide apartamento comigo. Amiga essa com quem converso sobre tudo! E depois de muito rir sobre o meu dia e sobre a história do ponto de ônibus, minha amiga, que sabe que sou supersticiosa e que também o é, me contou que dizem por aí que as vezes os anjos se disfarçam para nos ensinar algo. Que quando alguém se dirige a nós do nada no meio da rua pode ser um ser de outra dimensão querendo nos passar uma mensagem, ou até mesmo Deus para testar a nossa fé.  

Rimos da história, rimos das coisas pelas quais sofremos e às quais estamos fadadas a sofrer, rimos da nossa superstição sem limites, rimos, pois para quem é doido o suficiente tudo é um sinal.  

Jardim Vista Alegre - Joyce Paiva