#This actually helped me learn/remember a lot of web design stuff haha

[self-spaghettification]

The Mystery of Aaravos The Banter Lodge

So, recently an account called "The Banter Lodge" has popped up. April 30th, to be precise. You've seen it. I've seen it. We've all seen it. On Twitter, posting various images in the TDP official style.

A few nights ago, it debuted on Tumblr as well. "Coming May 2024" all of the promotional images and the website itself say.

Who is this account? Is it fan made, is it official? It's May, when exactly in "May 2024" is it coming?

Well, me and a few friends took some time to try to piece the mystery together, and so -- while it may still be 'coming', only dropping hints, I am here to tell you what I know now!

History

Website Code ( I love computer programming so I took the time to dive into that!)

Purpose

A. History

Who's Running the Banter Lodge?

To know that, first we need to delve into the history of the Twitter account.

Despite these images and site debuting less than a month ago, the account itself was founded way back in 2022, and originally called @BantherLodge, with an H, as it is in the show.

@BantherLodge is no longer available, and while it initially did not seem to be connected to The Banter Lodge, there are several interactions linked to the current one, Banter Lodge without an H.

In fact, here is the same tweets linked to the current (banter) account version.

Now we've established that @'BantherLodge' and @'BanterLodge' the same account with a changed name and identity, here is the most important past interaction:

@‘bantherlodge’ is mentioned here, and they are on this call. that said, WHO IS REALLY BEHIND BANTER LODGE? well based off the tweet, it seems that it’s 6 members of the cast and then 2 guests, @‘thebantherlodge’ and @‘ladytheebug’. But don’t take my word for it. Here, more confirmation:

Another person in the call happened to tweet about it too, this time with labels.

Now let’s take a closer look at these two guests. Sara @‘ladytheebug’ seems to be the one on the right, and by process of elimination, on the left is ‘bantherlodge’. aka:

Max….

Max the Mystery! ‘Sara’ and ‘Max’ isn’t really enough information to know more along with no connection to other socials so it’s hard to pin down who they are or what connections to previous fandom projects or creative projects in general they might have. However, they are still connected.

Besides the partially deleted various back and forths between these two accounts, this tweet about the Bait screensaver in the background is additional confirmation that this is @‘bantherlodge’ and @‘ladytheebug’: (note use of word ‘our’)

FURTHERMORE:

Said TV embodies this duo: A person who loves Bait (evident from so many of their tweets) and a person who loves the Banther Lodge…

Reminds you of something, doesn’t it?

“but hold on, just because there’s all these coincidences doesn’t mean the account could be passed on to someone else to run this.” Ok, but one last thing. If that was the case, why would they still be following Sara? In fact, it’s the Only person that they’re following besides TDPO?

(and their following has even been recently updated within the last few days as before then it didn’t include Eugene and Boone.) So, in conclusion,

Max of @‘BantherLodge’, and possibly Sara, (with or without TDPO but I’ll get to that later) almost certainly are the people behind the curtain of this Banter Lodge mystery.

Now, about said mystery… what exactly is the trail building up to?

well, to find out more about that, let’s glean what we can from the website.

B. Website Secrets

The website itself is very simple- A background, the image of the Banter House, and some text saying "Coming May 2024." But, beneath the deceptively simple surface, there was more to be found.

On May 1st Caprinae got this from the page. She also tweeted about it, after which the site changed to remove much of the css, including the part about the episodes and subscribe button. I was pretty excited about this as someone with a few years of coding experience, I wanted to mess around in VSC and see what I could find out.

After formatting the code the most noticeable thing is this right?

And when I make an element for it to apply to (since all that code is just formatting for stuff on the page like the title, images, etc, in this case- an audio bar) + adding in an image and an audio file:

We get this

AUDIO and an image. It looks exactly like a podcast episode. It turns out there’s actually a bunch of code for formatting that’s not used in elements in the site (elements that exist: the title or image), but it’s there, so I made some elements it would apply to. technically, it’s supposed to have a parchment paper background too, but I just chose some colors that you could see the text on.

Doing so, we get this!

(Here’s a video version.)

Plus, Original Code and Modified Code if you’re curious

Anyway, so the site (at least at the stage the code was taken from) doesn’t appear to be finished and there was no Java script written (or at least, linked) but there is definitely the makings for a website for a podcast— some sort of nav bar with the episodes, on an episode page, the image and audio, and then a subscribe link at the bottom!

C. Purpose

Time to speculate on the real identity and purpose of the Banter Lodge. So far, we know it used to be called the Banther Lodge. We know it seems to be run by [insert here.] We know it is almost certainly a podcast of some sort. But what, and why?

Here are some possibilites:

1.Official Content to Tide Over Fans Til S6 As we know, to calm the frustration of fans at Netflix/TDP for the delay of S6, the creators have been putting out content every day for the fans to puzzle over and figure out the season six titles.

Based on the current schedule, it’s set to end on May 13.—although it could be ending either May 13 or May 14 (depending when they do the last hint) after these drop, there will likely be a lull in TDP content, which would be the perfect time for the Banter Lodge to launch.

+ The Banter Lodge teaser campaign has already been perfectly timed for when a bunch of fans would be online on Twitter checking in for clues to begin with.

If this is official content, it would doubly make sense—it’d be timed perfectly to tie the fans over until the actual season six campaign starts (ie, trailer). Considering these two fans also somehow got to have a private panel with the cast, it’s not impossible that they’d be working with TDP on this content, additionally the teaser images put out this far have been somewhat reminiscent of TDP official content—ie, Callum’s lodge notebook->Callum’s sketchbook, Refractions->Reflections, Dear Callum letter from Rayla, design style, etc.

However, there is one big reason I don’t think this is the case: it’s a little too sloppy. For example, if they wanted it to be completely anonymous and unclear what was happening, the tweet mentioning @‘BantherLodge’ in the panel would have been deleted and there wouldn’t have been any hints in the code. Of course, these could still just be honest mistakes. However, it also seems like it is building off of the current world in a more derivative, fan-content fashion, not necessarily adding new material the way TDP Official tends to. It’s copying the official style,—but almost too much if that makes sense.

Like altering a shot from the show for a teaser.

x

Don’t get me wrong. I love the way that they’re building off the world, I’m excited to see where it leads, but for whatever reason, to me, it just doesn’t seem official.

So assuming it’s made by fans, what kind of podcast is it? Second possibility—

2. Fan Made Talk Show

This seems like the most obvious conclusion, considering that The Banter House is a play on a location in TDP, and the word banter, which is synonymous with talking, but specifically back and forth, genial interactions.

Maybe it’s dedicated to analyzing the show or a particular aspect,—maybe centric to the lodge, crystals, Bait and Stella—maybe even interviewing cast/crew!

Well, to get a better idea of what niche it might be filling, let’s take a look at what TDP podcasts are already out there.

Hot Brown Morning Potion Podcast [2019-2023] Hosted by Tamika "Kuno" Williams and Hailey from Cartoon Universe. This podcast [is] full of answering fan questions, interviews, theories and all kinds of discussions on everything Dragon Prince.

News from the Breach [2020-2024] Your hosts Ceilidh and Yana are watching The Dragon Prince from start to finish. Each season of the podcast covers one “Book” (or season) of the Netflix series The Dragon Prince. In each episode we discuss two chapters of the series, except for the season finales.

Calm Chaos Club [2023] Join Kevlar and Lou each week as they discuss topics about animation, design, and all things related to The Dragon Prince on Netflix! With special guests brought on for unique topics and insights into the creative process, these bite-sized episodes will ensure you can get your TDP fix in anywhere and anytime.

There’s no harm in another talk show but as there are a few out there already (and for other reasons) I personally think this is not necessarily the niche the banter Lodge is going to fill. I mean, I do think that it’s still possible I mean, it could be centric to particular aspect around the lodge as mentioned.

However, there’s a possibility that excites me a lot more, that I’m hoping for the most….

3.Fan Made Audio Drama in the Saga Setting I have personally always been a huge fan of audio drama podcasts (TMA,TPP,WTNV) and if there was a dragon Prince audio drama podcast, I think I would just die on the spot honestly from joy. I also think it’s most likely because all of the clues so far have been very story/worldbuilding oriented, as well as writings from familiar characters’ perspectives. It seems as though a story is being crafted here, and I am all for it.

Y’know what? While we’re here on the topic of storytelling podcasts, we might as well throw in D&D/TTRPG or even Tales of Xadia as a possibility because yeah sure. Why not? I mean, tabletop role-play games also involve a lot of talking so it would fit the banter theme. Who knows.

That's all! What do you think? Any other thoughts, additions or other speculation? Feel free to add on!

Thanks to @bycaprinae for Twitter screenshots, html, and general inspiration, and to @parroset for other help with the website part and general support!

[mcalhenwrites]

So in preparation for moving, I'm going through all my stuff. I have a donation box, I have stuff I need to mail people (esp if I can get to some WIPs of gifts I have)... It's a bit overwhelming, bc health is so bad that getting everything done is hard. (That's also why I started packing last week. I know I can't do it at once with my low spoons.)

The elephant was made for a friend but I haven't talked to him in a long while (we just fell out of touch) and the poor thing is homeless, and this baby blanket continues to be unsold. I really wish I could place them somewhere and actually make some money (which would help, bc moving + S&H of some of the gifts I want to finish and send). But yeah. (Also, I hate etsy, I only use it to shop, and a lot of the artists I was buying from are begging for people to use their shops from their own websites due to the cut etsy takes these days. I don't have resources or web know-how, so... yeah. Whatever. haha.) Also, I miss my gremlin cat, she fucked up these (seahorse is mine iirc, but she got the cat charm's ear)... I really think the cat charm isn't too bad, maybe it could have a home someday too.

Then there's my collection of shit that I just... have either finished or is nearly finished or just needs a little more work?

I don't remember what stitch I was even USING on that baby blanket. The bunny just needs sewn. (Hate.) Same with the fucking pumpkin, that square bit of orange ombre. XD ACE FLAG TURTLE... That was supposed to be for a friend. Appa??? (I have yet to watch Avatar, meant to and never did, but I THINK that's the name) TEEPO (for myself) (I might be able to salvage it?) Um... Tikki from Miraculous Butterfly bc I wanted to make her, but never fucking finished... A PIG? A BUNNY? DUMPLING? CAT? I don't know. It's a fucking graveyard. This is only a dent in my WIPs, bc I still have Willow, Tessa, Lester (all OCs)... I packed Tessa and Lester away though. They'll wait till after the move. I want Willow done... if I can settle on his design finally LOL I also found a friend who runs a studio who'll take a bit of yarn I don't want off my hands. (Same one that Appa??? is meant for, actually, so maybe I can send it all together???) AND I FOUND IGNIS I WILL FINISH HIM FOR LATT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I WILL NOT LET THAT POOR MAN GO UNFINISHED (plus he can be sent with other stuff) And I know I have a sore spot about people always interacting with my crochet but ignoring my writing especially when I said, "I'm quitting crochet bc of fibro and to focus on my writing" and people reacted badly to the news, as if I wasn't posting shit like this years before I quit:

Yeah. Not sad that's behind me. ;A; Especially when I'm posting stuff like this and still wholly feel this sentiment:

And never had time to do it. And it felt like no one cared, and only recently does it feel like finally people do want my writing. IDK it's painful. It's a mess. I don't know if I can easily go back to crochet. If I do, I have to be so fucking careful to never fall into this pit, and I honestly am anxious about this post bc it's clear I do want to make gifts... but that attracted so many bad characters into my life. The free pattern demands, the free gift demands, some people being one week into trying to be my friend and thinking they're being crafty sending me amigurumi pictures of their favorite characters and going "I wish I had this" COOL GO LEARN TO CROCHET :) And people seeing what I did and never even commenting on my work, just going "pattern?!" or going "how did you do such and such and such" as if I am an instructor with all the free time in the world.

So that's why I only post OCs, and why I have told people not to share their gifts if they do get them... or to just simply not credit me if they post them. Do not leave a trail back to me. XD So yeah, weird history with crochet, but... maybe I'll get some OCs done after I clear stuff out. Focus on myself, bc I never do, despite saying I will. I seldom make myself the things I want to. And it's my time, materials, and spoons! Also, no, if I finish stuff, I'm not posting images unless it is OC related, unless it's a rare time like now that I'm okay with displaying a few projects. Which is nearly never. I have my writing back. I'm still depressed af, but mental health is still tons better bc I stopped guilting myself that my writing time needed to be crochet time. I missed it so bad. Not crying bc I am relieved, nope. :') (I'm crying.)

[angelic-holland]

Princess Party // pp x stark!reader

Word Count: 9.8k

Summary: Your dad is throwing a party and you want to invite the cute boy with the red and blue suit. 

A/N: just adorably awkward teenage crushes, set between Captain America Civil War and Spiderman: Homecoming; reader is Tony’s daughter; bold is text messages

Your dad was throwing a party, for what? You honestly had no idea. All you knew was that it was a costume party, and that he invited some of the Avengers to the compound, which prompted you to beg him to invite Peter. Very few people in the world knew of Spider-Man’s real identity, but when Tony was creating the specs for his suit, he had you help him. He didn’t need your help, he was a fucking genius after all but he wanted you to ‘learn the trade’ because ‘you never know bubs, the world might need a new iron man’. You would roll your eyes because your dad, Tony Stark, was practically invincible, nothing would happen to him.

When you helped make Spider-Man’s suit you saw that it was labeled “Peter Parker” in Tony’s system and you felt excited, because you knew someone, a kid, someone your age that was out saving the world with your dad. It didn’t make you jealous, because you never were the type of person to want to save the world, at least not in the same way that your dad did. 

But you wanted to get to know the boy who went and fought Captain America, the boy with powers similar to that of a spider. When your dad was going on and on about how smart Peter was, how he made his own webbing, your heart couldn’t help but beat a little faster, wondering what the boy looked like.

“Dad, can you invite Peter?”

“Hmm?” He asks, eyebrow raised as he continues his work, half listening while you sit at another table in his lab, working on your calculus homework.

“Peter Parker? Spiderman? To the party?”

Now why’d you want me to do that? You don’t even know who he is.”

For someone as smart as your dad, he could be a little oblivious, which right now was a hindrance to your plans.

“I know, but it would be nice to have another kid here, you know? I rarely get to hang out with kids my own age.”

“You’re way too smart to hang out with kids your own ag- wait a minute.”

“Yeah?” You ask, perking up and looking away from your homework to meet your dad’s wide eyes.

“Peter’s smart enough, not as smart as you, but he’d be able to hold a conversation with you. Jarvis? Go ahead and send an invite to Peter Parker.”

“Thank you!” You squeal, trying not to be too excited. 

You spent the rest of the week trying to figure out a costume, you all but gave up when you were out shopping with Pepper, eyes falling on a Belle costume in a Target.

“This?” She asks, hands running over the cheap material.

“The parties tomorrow and I’ve got nothing chosen,” you sigh, looking through the sizes.

“Are you trying to impress Peter?” She asks, eyes knowing, the woman you considered your mom, who was every bit of a mom to you in every sense of the word, knew everything about you. She knew that you secretly wanted to go to school with kids your age and hang out with kids your age. She knew you wanted to have normal conversations that didn’t revolve around technology and science. She also knew Tony, and that he showed how much he loved you through letting you into his lab, letting you help design stuff.

“He just, sounds like a cool guy, and I mean, even if I’m not attracted to him in that sense, maybe he could be a friend?” Your voice wavers with worry, scared Pepper would try to steer you clear of the idea.

“I understand that, just tread lightly, you know what Tony would say, you’re 15.”

“I know, I know.”

***

You’re in your room, hands shaking nervously as you finish curling your hair. Your makeup was done, dress on, ready for the first guests to show up. What you weren’t looking forward to was all the guests you’d have to mingle with and talk to.

Knock knock knock.

“Hey kid, can I come in?” You hear Tony ask and you sit up in your chair.

“Come in!”

He sits down on your bed, hand patting the spot next to him.

You sit next to him, your yellow dress taking up most of the space.

“Pepper told me about Peter and-,”

“Dad!” You whine, tossing your hands up in the air.

“Just, take it easy, don’t be too weird, I mean I’m sure he’s a weird kid too, but don’t try to use him as a science experiment or anything.”

“What?”

“Don’t put him on a table in a lab and run experiments on his blood.”

“I wouldn’t-,”

“You were definitely considering it. Come on, you’re my kid, of course you’ve thought about it.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” you laugh.

Sir, the first guest has arrived.

“Jarvis, please tell me who decided it was okay to be an entire hour early.”

Peter Parker sir.

“Go on kid, I’ve gotta get into costume,” Tony says, lightly nudging your shoulder.

“Me? Does he even know who I am?!” You shriek, standing up and looking into your mirror.  

“I’ve said I’ve got a daughter-,”

“That doesn’t-, dad.”

“Go on, and if he’s wearing a Star Wars costume make sure to make fun of him enough for the both of us.”

You laugh and make your way out of your room through the large complex you called your home to the front door.

You couldn’t help but start laughing as you saw the boy, standing outside, in none other than a Star Wars costume. He was cute though, brown hair a mess on his head, brown eyes that widened as you got closer.

“Hi,” you say as you unlock and open the door. 

“Hi, are you, you’re Belle,” Peter squeaks out as he follows you down the hallway.

“Well I go by Y/N but you can call me Belle if you want,” and you’re glad that you’re not facing him because your face is definitely bright red right now.

“Wait, you’re, you’re Mr. Stark’s daughter?” His voice is a little higher pitched and he talks so fast you don’t think you’ll catch everything.

“Uh yes, the one and only,” you laugh, stopping in the kitchen and turning to him.

“I thought, I mean I just thought you’d be, like 5 or something, I mean you’re Ms. Potts daughter?”

“Biologically, nope, but she’s my mom, yeah.”

“Oh, cool, cool, cool,-,”

His eyes are moving all over the place, head tilted slightly as he looks at everything, everything but you. 

“It’s uh, just a kitchen,” you cut of his cools, because if you don’t you think he’ll drone on and on.

“Sorry, yeah, it is,” he says, looking back at you.

“You’re super early you know.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, if that’s, if that isn’t okay, I was just scared of being late, actually, so I sort of left really early and now I guess that was a little dumb, since it’s a party but-,”

“Peter, hey, it’s fine, I was joking,” you laugh, you were probably just as nervous as he was, but you did a better job at hiding it between quick jokes, ones that he didn’t seem to be picking up on.

“Oh, yeah, joking, haha,” he laughs weakly, fingers tapping along his leg.

“You know, on the invite it said no cheesy pop culture costumes, I think yours is a little out of dress code.”

His eyes widen and he looks down at the brown robe and white shirt and pants he’s wearing, stammering before you throw him a line. 

“I’m kidding, again. Sorry if that wasn’t obvious.”

“Oh I mean it was, I just am a little nervous is all.”

“Why would you be nervous?” You ask sitting on a chair next to the granite countertops.

“I fought in Germany with your dad, with Mr. Stark and uh I guess I’m just waiting for the next bad thing to happen, so I can help. I mean I’m not wishing for a bad thing to happen, obviously. So when I got the letter in the mail from Mr. Stark I thought it was a little old fashioned, sure but I thought it would be for some sort of covert mission. I just, sorry you probably don’t wanna hear it from me.”

“It’s okay, I mean, it’s not like you’ve got anyone else to talk to, so let’s hear it.”

“Ok,” Peter sighs, sitting next to you at the counter, his elbows resting on the counter, head resting in his hands.

“So you obviously don’t want something bad to happen, which is good, that means you’re a good kid.”

“Yeah I mean I know that but I guess, I guess that I just feel on edge, all the time, you know? I can't really have fun because I’m scared I won’t be ready when the next big bad comes around.”

“You know, take one outta my dad’s book, you should enjoy the here and now, you know? Be content in what’s happening now and the next time a big villain comes along, that’s your focus point. It’s easier said than done, I know he struggled a lot when he first started doing all this superhero stuff.”

“Whatcha talking about?” Your dad scared the shit out of both of you, sneaking up from behind in one of his Marks.

“Is that really your costume dad? Pretty lame,” you roll your eyes, of course he wouldn’t actually dress up for his own costume party.

“Not as lame as Parker’s,” Tony says back and Peter sulks.

“He knows I’m kidding right? Pete, gotta learn how to take a joke if you’re going to be spending time here.”

‘What, I mean, why would I-,”

“No reason, one foot!” Tony shouts as he leaves, leaving both you and Peter a little confused.

“What was that all about?” Peter asks and you shrug.

“Tony’s a little weird.”

“Why do you call your dad by his first name?”

“The apple doesn’t fall from the tree,” you say, standing up.

“What’re you doing?”

“Guests will be here soon, I’ll needa mingle,” you sigh, picking at one of the pieces of your dress that was already fraying.

“You don’t sound too excited about that.”

“Well, it’s just one night, then back to radio silence.”

“Huh? Where do you go to school?”

“Here.”

“You don’t go to like a real school? Awesome!”

“No, not really awesome,” you sigh as you lead Peter to the huge open space that is normally meant for training but was now full of decorations and had tables full of food and drinks as people started wandering in.

“Why’s that?”

“I’ll, we can talk later okay? I should-,” you’re cut off by one of Tony’s friends, another billionaire in the tech industry and his wife greet you.

“Y/N! Looking as beautiful as ever, you’re getting so old, I remember when you were running around as a toddler,” the woman laughs and you force a smile and play along, you can’t for the life of you remember their names.

Out of the corner of your eye you see Peter and he looks a little disappointed but walks away, leaving you to mingle.

After what seems like hours of talking to different people, eyes constantly searching for the mess of brown hair wearing a brown robe you found him, walking around like a lost puppy.

“Peter, hey, Peter!” You shout over the music that was currently blasting.

“Y/N, bedtime, curfew’s soon,” Tony says, still in his Iron Man suit, definitely a little tipsy, he points to his wrist like he would a watch.

“You’re seriously going to give me a curfew when you’re throwing a party?”

“Midnight, that’s lax, and hey,” He says, stopping you before you can run off again, “you’re not Cinderella, no missing it.”

You roll your eyes at his lame joke but nod, running off to find Peter, who was standing by one of the tables in the corner of the room.

“Hey, long time no see,” he says, voice raised slightly so you could hear him over the music.

“That was the most exhausting few hours of my life, come on, let’s dance.”

“I’m not very-,” Peter starts as you drag him into the middle of the room in between groups of people dancing. You can’t help but notice that his palm is cold and clammy in your own.

“I’m not that good of a dancer either, it’s okay,” Your hands rest lightly on his shoulders.

“Oh yeah, okay, we can, you know, just sway,” he says, hands nervously moving to sit on your waist.

You feel a nervous excitement bubble up inside of you at the idea and you know you’re probably blushing.

“Swaying is good,” you nod. 

So you and Pete sway to the music, an awkward distance apart from each other, mildly hindered by your dress, the rest of the space between you was just purely being weird teenagers, you’ve never been friends with a boy, let alone danced with one, and you had no idea what Peter’s story was, but you wanted to know more about the mystery boy who was bitten by a radioactive spider.

“You look really pretty,” he says over the music, it’s hard to hear still so you tilt your head.

Half of you was wondering if he said what you thought he said, half of you wanted to hear him say it again.

“I said, I uh, I- I really like your costume.”

“Oh,” you sigh, a little disappointed. 

“It’s really pretty.”

“Thanks.”

You continue to sway, feeling waves of embarrassment rush over you.

“One foot!” You hear Tony shout from across the dance floor, a path cleared between you and Peter and Tony’s line of sight. You sigh loudly, resting your head against Peter’s shoulder as you move.

“That’s what one foot means,” Peter nods in realization. 

“I’ve got an idea, come here,” you say, stopping mid-sway as you pull him to one of the tables. Your eyes roam the expensive bottles of alcohol, you’ve never had it before and you look over at Peter, who’s face is pale and he shakes his head.

“I like soda better anyways,” you agree, fingers intertwining with his as you walk down the hallway to the kitchen, seeing fewer and fewer people until you were met with a nice silence, the sound barriers you helped design blocking the music from the party.  

You grabbed a can of ginger ale from the fridge, “for you?”

“Ginger ale is fine.”

“Good this is the only soda we have,” you laugh.

“So what are we doing?”

“Getting out of this place, I don’t think I can smile and pretend to know anyone else.”

“That’s fair,” He says, following behind you as you climbed the stairs, “sneakers?” He catches a glimpse of your shoes beneath your dress.

“Wouldn’t be caught dead in heels, besides these are way more comfortable anyways.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I would enjoy wearing heels either?” Peter says and his face pales when you stop in front of your room.

“I’m just gonna, I’m changing outta this horribly uncomfortable thing then I’m going to show you someplace nice, away from the hustle and bustle,” you manage to get out, blushing as you look away from Peter.

He nods and gulps, awkwardly standing outside your door when you close it.

You take a quick picture in the mirror, wanting to remember the evening one way or another.

“Breath, get it together,” you try to hype yourself up as you pull the hair pins out of your hair, grabbing makeup wipes and getting rid of the makeup that painted your face. 

You slipped out of your dress and tossed on a T-shirt and sweatpants, you really didn’t care what you looked like right now, and you doubted Peter cared either. 

You took one last look in the mirror, taking a deep breath before opening your door. 

Peter was pacing back and forth in front of the door, talking to himself.

He stops in his tracks when he sees you, pointing at your shirt. You look down, it’s just a funny graphic tee “find x, I found it’, “what?”

“I’ve got that shirt,” he says and you laugh.

“I love these things,” you say as you walk down the hallway, Peter falling in step next to you.

“So where are we going?” He asks as you take him down the stairs and to a different exit.

“There’s some trees, at the property line, absolutely beautiful, we can hang out there.”

“Oh cool.”

“Until curfew.”

“Curfew?” Peter raises his eyebrows, he probably figured, just as you had, that a curfew on a night like tonight was a little ridiculous. 

“Tony’s a little paranoid,” you sigh as you slip out the back door, your fingers threading comfortably with Peter’s as you walked across the grass to the treeline.

You walked in a sort of awkward, sort of comfortable silence as both of you have so much you want to say, but don’t even know where to begin. You get to the trees and you’re about to sit down at the bottom of one when he stops you, hand letting go of yours and pointing to the tree. 

You’re taken by surprise when webs shoot out from his web shooter, apparently underneath his costume this entire time. He shoots them from one tree to the next, creating what looks like a hammock.

“Wanna join me?” He asks, hand slipping back into yours. 

“Up there? You sure it’s safe?”

“Designed the webs myself, so yeah, they’re pretty safe,” he says with a smirk and you’re surprised there’s more to the nervous, jittery boy next to you.

“Alright, can’t argue with that,” you laugh. 

“Give it a second to dry a little,” he comments and you nod, enjoying the darkness of the night sky while out of the corner of your eye you see him staring at you. It’s not a creepy stare, but an innocent, bright-eyed, I want to know every mystery about you stare. 

The next thing you know he hoists you into the webbed hammock, hands holding your waist as your legs meet the weird substance and you tumble into it, laying down and stretching your arms above your head.

Peter jumps up and lands next to you, side up against your own. His arm goes to rest below your head but he ends up elbowing you, “oh god, I’m so sorry I did that, are you okay?” 

You sit up with a laugh, “it’s fine, I’m good.”

“Okay, maybe we can try this again?” He says and you nod, letting his arm rest behind you, laying down again. His hand rests against your shoulder and his head is next to yours.

“So, how do you like your new suit?” You ask, “it’s one hell of an upgrade from your onesie.”

“It’s not a onesie! Your dad called it that too, it’s not a onesie.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”

“I think the suits really nice. I uh, at night I patrol around Queens, make sure everyone’s behaving, no crime going on, that sort of stuff.”

“How do you like the reconnaissance drone?” You ask excitedly, the part of the suit that you added, thought it was a nice touch.

“The what?” He asks, voice raises on confusion.

“Oh, maybe, maybe my dad didn’t show you everything the suit can do yet.”

“What do you mean everything it can do?”

“I probably shouldn’t, Tony would want to show you himself.”

“There’s added tech to the suit?”

“Please don’t tell him I said anything, I don’t think you’re supposed to know until he thinks you’re ready or something.”

“I am ready though.”

“I know I’m sure you think you are but-,”

“You don’t even know me.”

“I- I didn’t mean it like that.”

“What do you mean it like then?” He says, body tense against yours and you want to smack yourself.

“I just, I’ve only ever heard about you from Tony, and he just, says you’re too young. I don’t think he doubts your abilities, nothing like that, you’re clearly very smart, strong, all that. I just think that he’s scared of seeing something bad happen to you.”

“But he brought me to fight captain America! Clearly he thinks I’m ready!”

“No, I don’t, it’s not that. He, he probably sees someone his daughter’s age, and freaks out a little, I mean, look where I am.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just mean, I used to go to school, until he became Iron Man. I mean he’s always had money and people were always upset with him for one reason or another. But after he became Iron Man, he got threats, horrible threats, not just towards him but towards me as well. He was pretty paranoid the first time someone said they were going to kidnap me from school, I was nine. So since then I’ve been home schooled, by Tony, by Pepper, Jarvis, Happy sometimes. Which sort of is nice, since I’m pretty ahead in school, I can graduate this year, and I will. Just don’t know how college is going to work yet. Still working on that. But Tony’s protective of the people he loves, and he might’ve just met you but he wants to take care of you, he cares about you at least a little bit, even if it’s in his own self interest.”

“Does he, are you allowed off the compound?”

“Yes of course! Of course I am! But I just can’t go to school and any friends that I happen to make have to go through his security checks before I can give them my phone number or they can come over.”

 “Have I gone through that, the rigorous security?”

“Why? Wanna be my friend?” You tease, sort of hoping he’d say yes.

“Yeah,” He says breathlessly.

Your turn your so your cheek rests against his shoulder, “I think I’d like that.”

“Y/N STARK, Y/N STARK,” a loud electronic voice starts to go off, a red light beeping on your phone.

“Fuck,” you mutter sitting up.

“What’s wrong?” He asks as you attempt to slip down from the hammock.

“It’s definitely past curfew, so my phone is flipping out at me and oh shit,” you’re tumbling out of the hammock, a short scream, stopped by Peter’s webs grabbing your hand and slowly helping you down to the ground as he slips down too.

“Sorry about that,” he says, ripping the webbing off your wrist.

“No, thanks for helping me down,” you laugh, “you should come by the lab sometime, show me what you use in your webbing.”

“Y/N STARK, Y/N STARK.”

“Alright! Alright I’m coming!” You shout up at the sky.

“Should I, I should probably go,” Peter says as you both start walking back to the compound.

“Oh, I, yeah, it was nice to meet you?” You say, voice rising, the question wasn’t for him, it was more for you, because you were hoping this wasn’t just the only time you’d meet and hang out with him. And you’d probably have to be the one to take the step to invite him over. 

“I mean, if your dad, if Mr. Stark is okay with it, do you, uh want my phone number or something? So the next time we hang out we can make sure we both aren’t wearing the same graphic tee?”

You laugh, head tilted up and eyes crinkling and Peter swore you looked more beautiful here, in the pale moonlight, fresh face and just enjoying your evening than you did in the costume with your hair and makeup done, mingling and doing things you clearly didn’t enjoy.

You giggle at the statement, a funny but smooth way to get your phone number.

“Yeah, here, put your number in my phone,” you toss your phone to him and he catches it with ease, you guessed his reflexes were enhanced from the spiderbite.

He quickly types in his phone number and sends a text to himself so he has your number, he wasn’t going to let you slip through his fingers, as you get to the back entrance of the compound, the party still in full swing at the other side. You stood at the door, watching as he shifted from one foot to the other.

“It was nice to meet you,” you gulp, sticking your hand out to say goodbye, “ow.”

You hand collides with his stomach as he apparently moved in for a hug to challenge your handshake.

“Oh shit, sorry,” he says, stepping back with those wide eyes and hands held up to the side.

“You got a bulletproof vest under there or something?” You laugh, thinking part of his costume is what hit your hand.

“No, uh, nothing, just, j-just me,” he stutters out and your eyes match his in widening at the implication of his words.

Of course he’s ripped he’s Spiderman, you remind yourself.  

“Well, uh, goodnight,” you nod and quickly leave him to lessen any further embarrassment on both of your parts.

You run up the stairs to your room, slamming it shut as you see several voice memos from Tony on your phone. 

“Oh darling daughter of mine,” his voice is a little slurred, “fifteen minutes past curfew.”

“Okay not sure where you and Parker have disappeared to but you need to be back in your room in 10 minutes.”

“Without Parker, he needs to go home”

You sigh, sitting on the edge of your bed and sending Tony a quick message, letting him know you were back in the safety of your room and Peter was on his way home.

You see the text Peter sent himself from your phone, a simple “hi” and you shake away the smile on your face. 

You open up your photo from earlier, you looked pretty, cheeks a little flushed from dancing and being with a boy you thought was pretty. Remembering the night made your heart flutter lightly in your chest as you crawled up to the top of the bed, laying your head on the pillow as you open your Instagram.

It was private, the only people who followed it were Pepper, Tony, and a few friends you made when Tony let you help run and organize his expo for teenagers. You tapped the button to post a new photo, adding a filter before your fingers hovered over the keyboard on your phone. You laid in bed thinking of a caption for a while, a semi decent one would do.

Y/N_Stark: nobody came to my princess party :/

You posted it and saw the small notification symbol on the side of your profile to show someone requested to follow you.

Peterbparkerr requested to follow you

You click on his profile, the profile picture a goofy close up picture of his face, a wide smile, eyes crinkled and you couldn’t help but smile.

You scrolled through some of his pictures, mostly completed Star Wars lego sets. You came across a picture of him with a sign in the doorway of his apartment.

The sign said “1st day of sophomore year” and his eyebrows were furrowed, finger pointing down at the sign as who you assumed was his Aunt May smiling proudly behind him with her thumbs up. 

There was a picture about a year before that with the same sign, this time he had a big teethy grin as he held the sign, this time saying “1st day of freshman year” and you wondered if it was a tradition he’s been doing. You sort of wondered what it would be like to sign up for classes at a high school or college, make friends that way, go to the same school as Peter. You were getting way ahead of yourself however, for now, you could just accept his follow request.

You opened up your text messages again and open the messages to Peter.

You: you know, finding me on instagram right after we meet for the first time is kind of stalkerish

You: to clarify that was a joke

Peter: haha I get it

You: oh thank god for that

Peter: i saw your instagram photo and i

You: ???

Peter: sorry that sent before i could finish, i think you looked really pretty tonight, i just wanted to tell you that

You: thank you, you know your star wars costume wasn’t as bad as tony or i made it seem

Peter: oh thanks

As you contemplated sending a message asking him if he wanted to see the lab, partially afraid of a rejection, but also afraid of what you would do if he said yes another message from Peter came in.

Peter: was hoping I might be able to get into your lab at some point

You: just gonna use me for my dads cool tech?

Peter: maybe

Peter: to clarify that was a joke

You: oh shush 

Peter: I also want to see you again

You: cool

Peter: cool?

You: aka I want to see again too

Peter: :) I’m glad

Peter: goodnight princess 

Peter: I’m sorry if that was weird

You: it’s kinda weird but I dig it

***

Taglist: @tom-hollands-blog @spider-babes @unicornsyy @practicallylivesonline @tom-hollands-wife @quinjetboi @rageyoudamnednerd @sunnydays0803 @jackiehollanderr @khhbby @fancyxholland @thomasthetankson @lousimusician @amyalpha @musiclover1263 @peterbxrnes @relise-thefury @thewinterslut @starsholland @fandomdarlings @peteunderoos @saysomethingspiderman @therealcap @yamyam515 @dylanrauhl @mobbinholland @desir-ae @cvrecem @pumpkinsinnerpie @i-guess-n0t

[magnusthemes]

Here’s to 4 years of MagnusThemes :D

4 years and one day bc it’s now 29-Jan and my anniversary is 28-Jan lmao wyd @ me lol I was supposed to publish a theme too but well it didn’t happen and I accidentally released it too early hahahahaha literally wyd @ me

I have no idea how I managed to keep this blog going for 4 years tbh, it’s really insane to think about the fact that I was only 16 (secondary 4) when I made my first terrible theme? I don’t even remember clearly how or why I even started, most likely it was just on a crazy whim, but it’s crazy because all I remember is Googling my ass off and sitting in front of my computer for hours on end and hurting my butt (yes, it happened) to make just one shitty theme... At the time it really felt like I’d just blindly dived into the deep end of a 3-meter swimming pool without even knowing how to swim because I had zero coding experience. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. I’d played around with themes for a couple of months (Yukoki’s Alive theme was my fave and it was like the ultimate holy grail of theme making for me, and I obsessively checked my favourite theme makers’ blogs daily for new themes) but while a lot of other people come into theme making with PHP experience, Javascript experience, HTML/CSS experience from elsewhere, I had nothing. Literally down the deep end for me!

And ultimately I ended up making such a mess that I now run a full-fledged theme blog which has become not only my main creative outlet but also my stress relief hahahah I’ve deleted so many of my old codes but I’m really happy that I decided to continue with this whim of mine over the years haha!

I guess I was just kind of searching for some form of validation that I felt I really needed because irl, 2014 was a pretty crap year for me and that was coming off another somewhat-crap year of 2013. I was getting shit from a bunch of unpleasant people at school and it made me feel like utter trash to the point that I genuinely contemplated suicide at many points of time that year. So it really filled me with joy that the crap theme got like more than 0 notes because it was something I made, and the fact that someone liked it enough to want the post on their blog made me feel that, hey, maybe I wasn’t unwanted and worthless, maybe I do have something I could be decent at (other than always screwing things up and/or lying down aimlessly on my bed). And I guess I liked it so much that I kept going, kept sketching up layouts to code, kept sitting my ass down in front of the computer for hours on end, and I really poured nearly all my feelings of unworthiness into this blog that eventually, it became something that I really looked forward to at the end of every stressful school day. And as that happened, I started wanting to know more, to learn more, and apart from HTML and CSS, I even picked up jQuery (and even pure Javascript now too!). During stressful periods, I was always on here, making stuff, coding, learning more, to take my mind off schoolwork. Even in the middle of A-Levels, I was coding, and I ended up releasing something the day before my Economics paper LOL what a mess...

Running this blog has made me feel like I can really do things, really put my ideas into action, because it’s really a one-man show of design --> code --> publish. Throughout junior college it was kind of a fallback for me in a sense that whenever I felt inferior that I wasn’t being a leader in school, wasn’t doing enough extracurriculars, etc, at least I remembered that I still have a very unique hobby of coding themes, because none of my classmates/friends knew how to code, and it became something that I really took pride in, that could set me apart from everyone else.

Eventually, when I applied to university, I was accepted easily because of my grades, but during the three interviews I’d had, I spoke about my code with pride, because it’s not easy to teach yourself a skill that many people pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars to learn. I remember one of the professors interviewing me for one of my grants remarked, hey, I’m really impressed that you’ve managed to learn code and to do all this without any background and all on your own! I felt super good because, yeah, I did do all of that! (Fun fact, that guy’s now the prof supervising my research LOL) And during orientations and stuff, I knew nobody, nobody at all, and it was pretty cool that I could always use “my hobby is coding” and “I do web design in my free time” as my fun facts hahahah and it’s really helped me a lot with my issues of generally feeling worthless and dumb and stupid. Even in actual computing classes (last semester I took a C module and got an A instead of an A+ which I’m still salty about, and now I’m doing an Arduino module), my Javascript that I picked up while on here comes in really handy, because I understand code logic, loops, functions a lot easier than my peers and my life’s been really easy, which has really given me a boost.

I even genuinely considered pursuing an IT-related degree for university before deciding on my aerospace engineering major, but honestly, at age 16, when I’d first started this blog, I could never have imagined that I’d make it this far. It was just by chance that I started this blog, There’s been both ups and downs, I’ve met and kinda bonded with a lot of people I now consider my friends through the theme-making community, but I’ve also experienced all the unpleasantness of code theft, design theft, credit removal etc and though I’ve wanted to quit many times over, I’m really glad I didn’t. I get asked a lot, hey Bev, what would you do if you weren’t coding? And my reply is always “I don’t know”, because I really can’t imagine myself without code. Maybe I’d be baking cakes, pastries, cookies? Who knows? 

Many many things and people have helped me get to where I am today, but I definitely wouldn’t be here if not for theme making. I’d probably be rotting somewhere, wasting my days away, but because of that one minute of madness resulting in me logging out and clicking “Sign Up” with a new email address, I’m here. Without you guys, I wouldn’t have gotten this far, and I’d really like to thank all of you for sticking with me to this day and for being a great bunch of followers and users. I may go ballistic sometimes, I may disappear for long periods of time without notice, etc, but I’m really glad that you guys are still here.

I can’t promise that I’ll be here more often (because most likely I won’t, due to university), but thanks for 4 great years, and here’s to many more years of MagnusThemes!

[dubtek]

An Interview with Electric Birds

Around the year 2002, a respected friend made me a CD-R copy of an LP called Strata Frames by Electric Birds. He gave it to me as a gift, and ever since that moment, I have remarked that it is truly one of the most unique, original and multi-dimensional pieces of music that I have ever perceived. 

In return, I have gifted this album to many friends over the years. If I spot an Electric Birds albums during a visit to a record store, I am sure to purchase it and gift it to one of the many friends of mine that appreciate music.  Mike Martinez, the human behind the musical brilliance of albums such as “Strata Frames” and “Gradations”  was sonically active with his moniker of Electric Birds between the years of 2000 to 2004. 

I recently found Mike though a world wide web of hashtags, social media posts, and sent him a friendly message of appreciation. He was kind enough to respond and agreed to my request to take an interview for my Dubtek blog!

The Interview:

Adam: It has been about 15 years since an official music release from you as Electric Birds. Have you been working with and or creating any sound/music during this time?

Electric Birds: Not really. I have a bunch of instruments and music things that I mess around with sometimes but have not been inspired to create any music for a while. In the last 15 years I have opened and ran an indoor skateboard park in Seattle called Inner Space (which has since closed) and also filmed and edited a few full length skate videos. I now work at a skate shop in Seattle called 35th North and am currently starting a hat brand called Birds of the North.

Adam: Being a big fan of your music and admiring the shear creative brilliance of your work (especially your LP Strata Frames), can you tell me a little bit about the process of music production that you employed during the creation of Strata Frames? This can include how you went about creating your sound palette to some of the software you used during the process.

Electric Birds: I used a lot of different software, some of which I can't remember... I was always grabbing sounds from all over the place, whether it was musical instruments or random found sounds, and stretching and tweaking them to get the type of sound I wanted. I mostly would do live mixes of tracks, playing with different plugins and effects live. This gave it a much more organic feel to me and tracks would develop more based on feeling, atmosphere and spontaneity. I used Ableton Live a lot, and also Reason and Max, as well as other sound fx plugins and modules that I can't remember.

Adam: Did you choose the way Strata Frames was split up and sequenced for its vinyl release, or was that the labels choice?

Electric Birds: I chose the tracks and sequencing.

Adam: Also, can you tell me a little about what inspired the creation of Strata Frames, and where the title comes from?

Electric Birds: It was all about an atmospheric vibe that I was really into at the time and the way I was composing these tracks using a bunch of different loops and sound modules to create tracks... I was very inspired by artists on the Chain Reaction label, like Vladislav Delay and Monolake, and other sort of dubby minimal electronic music. I was also very inspired by visual artists like Rothko and Clyfford Still, and minimal graphic design, and I think it all sort of came together.

Adam: I remember seeing you perform live in Santa Cruz California. If I remember correctly, you were also using some proprietary software. Can you tell me about the software you used, and are you still into creating and collaborating on the creation of music production related software?

Electric Birds: I used Ableton live quite a bit and also some friends had made a live video mixer called Seed, which we used quite a bit, and a couple other custom live mixing things made from Max, made by some friends. It was a great time living in SF back then, we had a lot of friends doing really cool things with software and music, like Matmos, Kit Clayton, Jon Santos and this whole scene of kids. And so we all helped each other and I learned a lot from them, because I was never that great with super technical stuff.

Adam: Looking back on your catalog, how would you describe the differences between your 4 LP’s?

Electric Birds: I think the earlier LPs used more musical instruments and it progressed to more electronic sound design into the later albums.

Adam: Do you still listen to electronic music? If so, can you share with me some releases and or artists that you feel are producing in a unique and or inspiring way today?

Electric Birds: Yes I am always listening to music. I've been discovering a lot of stuff on YouTube actually, and been listening to a lot of "simpsonwave" stuff... Haha, it's fun and really simple. There's a series I liked called "Trappin in Japan"...

Adam: Have you consider releasing any new(er) music as Electric Birds? If so, would you use platforms such as BandCamp?

Electric Birds: I've thought about it but my mind is just not there. I haven't felt that confidence and inspiration to make anything that I feel is worthwhile so far. There has been talk of reissuing some of the ebirds stuff by a certain label. Nothing concrete yet though.

Adam: To this day, I play people your albums (especially Strata Frames) and everyone across the spectrum remark how forward thinking it sounds. They are astounded when I tell them it was released in 2001. With this in mind, when you were producing “Strata Frames” did you consider it in the context of the then “new” minimal electronic and “Clicks and Cuts” paradigm, or did you intentionally set out to carve your own sonic niche?

Electric Birds: I was definitely influenced by what was going on at the time with Chain Reaction, Mille Plateaux and Warp records. It was an awesome time when everything was so new and all this electronic music was so unique. The early 2000s electronic scene felt so punk rock to me, which is why I think I was so drawn to it. At the same time I wanted to create something definitely my own, with a sort of warm organic feel to it, within the cold atmospheric cuts.

Adam: When you were you releasing your music, how did you make the jump from labels such as Deluxe to U-Cover and Mille Plateaux?

Electric Birds: I started releasing it myself with Deluxe, which was me and my wife's label that we started. Again coming from a punk rock d.i.y. ethic... Then other labels started to become interested and it just evolved from there. I was also working at a record store in Berkeley called Mod Lang at the time and got to know a lot of other labels and European artists through there. Working at that record store, which specialized in European imports and lots of avant-garde stuff really opened up my musical universe, and turned me onto labels like U-cover and Mille Plateaux.

Adam: Lastly, would you ever consider releasing new music under your Electric Birds  moniker and or doing some remixes of artists?

Electric Birds: Again, probably not at this time, but you never know. We'll see what the future holds... For now, I've been playing music with my kids and showing them different things with live instruments and electronic beats and stuff. We're trying to start a family band :)

Adam: Thank you very much Mike for your time. Also, thank you for creating such sublime music, that for many people stands as a touchstone of deep introspective listening, and a glimpse of what is socially possible with imaginative ingenuity.

[syncogon]

Some Chinese Cartoons

[Disclaimer: this was addressed to one specific person. I’ll make a better post one day.]

One day I’ll add pics and make this actually formal and stuff. But for now...

我为歌狂/Music Up:

Summary: Two musically talented, insanely popular high school guys - but that’s about all they have in common. In fact, they hate each other’s guts. And yet, through complicated circumstances, they and two others join to form a four-man band, “OPEN.” Both individually and as a band, they face a variety of problems: financial, academic, familial, romantic, and everything in between, in order to pursue their dreams. (52 eps)

Commentary: This is set in modern(ish) day, real world. Made in 2001, so keep that mind when considering the animation quality. They do have a lot of good songs, since this IS a show about singers and pop bands. Overall the tone is pretty light. Some things are a lot more dramatic than they need to be but that’s fantastic. And a lot of the problems are highly relatable. Development of characters and relationships is def one of the selling points. HUGELY nostalgic for me and a lot of Chinese people it seems haha

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLkMLYnt73g the second opening.

战龙四驱/Go For Speed:

Summary: Two years ago, the genius high schooler Fei won the minicar (4WD) racing Nationals. But only shortly afterward, he disappeared, with only a short note hinting at why. Now, his younger brother Dragon follows in his footsteps, designing and creating his own minicars to compete in the tournaments and steadily working his way up through the rankings. Along the way, he meets many people, makes friends and enemies, and struggles to find Fei and his reason for leaving. (64 eps)

Commentary: Modern/slightly future-day, real world (Shanghai!!). Okay so this show is based around like the gimmick of “minicar racing” - not sure what to really call it. The races are surprisingly fun to watch actually imo, with the technological abilities of the minicars, interactions between players, and obstacles to pass... but you’d probably have to decide that for yourself. For me, the biggest draw was probably the surprising number of subplots, which explore the complex relationships between all the characters - literally every single side character is well established and developed. Family and familial relationships play a pretty big role. Revenge and forgiveness are there too. I got hooked into this show when it was airing on TV solely because of one character haha. Caveat that it starts slow, I don’t know how much you’d actually like this, there needs to be some suspension of disbelief, and the animation quality isn’t fantastic… rip

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb0tHRbyaek&index=30&list=PLQukwpGC9a0wfDv0ymEgGX-LydTKbZY_s (a trailer, in english for some reason even though i’ve never found an english dubbed version of this and don’t want to. It mostly focuses on the racing aspect, but as before, don’t let that fool you, it’s surprisingly deep. Come for the races, stay for the chars)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQukwpGC9a0zqrmIGCXOW1QVlfh6svY7y since when was this on youtube?? :o WAIT HOLY SHIT SINCE WHEN DOES THIS HAVE ENGLISH SUBS THIS IS A GAME CHANGER AAAAA NOW LIKE I MIGHT GO REWATCH THIS - just kidding, only the first episode. Man what a letdown

弹珠传说/Danzhu Legend:

Summary: This is a world where people have Danzhu battles: competitions involving channeling your magic energy into Shooters to launch marble-like Danzhu at targets. These objects have great power, but, so far, no one has decided to take advantage of it… until now. One day, a young boy who has always dreamed of becoming a Danzhu battler is chosen by one of the five Legendary Shooters. He journeys into the mountains to seek training from the Danzhu Master, where he meets the other four Legendary wielders and learns that their job is to stop the evil threatening to take over their world. (52 eps)

Commentary: Fantasy world. So this is like your pretty standard “boy discovers power and works to save the world” story, but still enjoyable in its own right. The gimmick of this are the aforementioned Danzhu. The Guardians are also very important; all Shooters are linked to a spiritual animal/creature/something that’s the basis of power. The battles are all very cool! Quick disclaimer: for various reasons I am more familiar with this show than maybe any other of the ones here. This fact made me appreciate how much potential this story had, but also made me realize all of its flaws. There are a lot of things it could have done better - character development jumps to mind, because aside from the MC and one of the antagonists, most of them don’t change all that much. Also there’s lots of recycled animation. Just keep these caveats in mind. However, I still found the adventure/plot/magic very exciting to watch, a healthy dose of idealism and humor as well as tension/smarts/raw courage, so if you’re interested in that aspect more, I’d recommend this!

Links: ALL THE EPISODES ARE ON YOUTUBE ONCE MORE PRAISE this is very helpful for me because when i needed them to be on youtube, someone had like taken all of them down, which was very upsetting, but now they are back again, glorious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQUvsPwKA0&list=PLZKi4aAqJS8dbVOUrKnDqNU4F4rnm8Ott playlist isn’t in order but you should watch the opening theme to get a feel for it - if you want even more of a feel, watch to 4:50, which is kinda like a prologue and a better summary of what I said above lol

开心宝贝/Happy Heroes:

Summary: Just read what’s on tvtropes tbh haha (link below) (Ongoing, 10 seasons, 52 eps each (except season 8 which was 40 eps) )

Commentary: Imo the best seasons were 3, 5, 6, and 8. After 8 the animation style changed a bit and the humor quality kinda went down…well, that might just be me, though. Either way, though, there are so many amazing earlier episodes, and I’ve gotten really attached to all the characters. It being a kids show, there’s no super deep plot or lasting impact of anything (aside from the last arc of season 7, heh. I remember watching when it came out in 2014 and flipping out bc I did NOT expect that, knowing HH) but it’s still thoroughly enjoyable. There are also two movies: the second movie is kinda confusing and meh but the first movie is pretty good and I think you can find it on youtube. In fact I believe all the episodes are on youtube, but I imagine you have those links already

Links: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKA3CuHXUxHflv9KAgEJyKQ is the channel with everything. Watch the trailer for season 8! It’s v epic and got me hyped when it released.

Tvtropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Animation/HappyHeroes

Movie 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUiA3nue22Y. (there are english subs too! haha)

Movie 2 isn’t worth watching trust me

星游记/Rainbow Sea:

Summary: Years ago, a man dressed in all red made a declaration to the universe: behind the largest black hole was a mysterious place called Rainbow Sea, a place where any dream could be fulfilled. Enchanted by the stories, people from across the universe joined the man in red in his journey. Unfortunately, no one ever returned. Rainbow Sea was scoffed at as a myth and a lie. The man in red was cursed, nicknamed by people as the Red Demon. The sinister organization known as the Galactic Eyes quietly gained control of the Solar System and numerous other star systems, sealing off the planet where the Red Demon had come from, Earth, and forbidding any ships from entering or leaving. Now, ten years later, the Red Demon's son Maidang has reached adolescence and is determined to fulfill the pinky promise made to his father before he left: to reunite with him at Rainbow Sea.

Commentary: Quality stuff right here. Best part is the backstories of all these characters, there’s some really moving stuff. The characters are p great - Maidang is so inspiring, Gudong is highly relatable, Diya is awesome... The art style (esp for their eyes) is really nice. ...Not much else to say off the top of my head, esp since the story is far from over, but even if it starts off slow, this is definitely worth your time!

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiB_oZBdi7k&list=PLF068DA90359EDE0D all the episodes. The opening theme/sequence was what got me hooked, you should def watch it (up to like 1:20 or whatever, then if you want like a prologue watch to like 3:07)

26 eps so far. Season 2 and after are apparently going to be “web movies” instead of episodes, something like 60 minutes each, and will cost money (rip) but I’m sure they’ll show up for free somewhere eventually. Fingers crossed this’ll be soon. Wanna join me in hiatus hell :DD

神魄/Zinba:

Summary: Kan is happily chatting with his closest friend on an ordinary school day when, all of a sudden, he finds himself pulled into an alternate fantasy world. This world is filled with Zinba, large and powerful creatures that may form bonds with select humans, called Linkers, for immense battle power. After becoming a Linker with one of the strongest Zinba ever to exist, Kan joins the peacekeeping Dux force of the kingdom of Toria and fights against the various evils threatening the land, all while trying to find his way back to his own world. (52 eps)

Commentary: Okay, so you know, I wouldn’t recommend this as much as some of the others on this list, esp since it’s the most recent Chinese show I actually watched, but it made enough of an impact on me to have it worth talking about. I started watching bc a) it showed up as recommended for me on youtube, b) the opening is SICK as HECK, and c) the protag of this is voiced by the same person as the protag of DZL, and generally looks/acts kinda similar haha. Anyway, overall thoughts: basically, it had a lot of unrealized potential. The world and the character designs are AMAZING. I liked the animation. The plot is interesting, with a surprising number of plot twists as to who’s the real ultimate villain. But there could have been So Much More development – we could’ve gotten more thorough backstories for the main crew, for example, or seen more of the world/magic/tech, but instead a lot of the people as well as Zinba just… exist, as static and boring entities. There were like two interesting characters total (Kan’s aforementioned “normal” friend being one of them heh). Kan himself was suuuuper annoying, esp at the beginning. (can you tell I really appreciate/prioritize the characters of a show?) However, some moments were quite well done and epic, and I wrote some fanfiction and commentary on basically every episode, so it holds a place in my heart. Also, there is a full English dub lmaooo (the voices suck but the translations for names/places/etc are interesting) (episode 1 has 318k views??? That’s a TON for a chinese cartoon)

Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G83STZ9xcc the opening which is good and worth watching, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQukwpGC9a0xatMI-KGO9SILZ5sSWfWXX full playlist, syncogon.tumblr.com/tagged/zinba lol

[fumbliesthots]

2018 - Year in Review

Hot Mess Bitch à la Jan Bon - the most impressive dish I made (or participated in making) this year, on 31 Dec 2018. I guess now this space is for photos of what I did on NYE, following tradition of last year. It comprised of honeyed butter biscuit (baked from scratch!), sausage cream gravy, garlic polenta grits, cheesy scrambled eggs, topped with more uncased Italian sausage. 

I was kinda procrastinating writing this post I guess because I was placing such unnecessarily high expectations on this post to be the motherlode of all reflections this year, especially since I have started keeping a handwritten (almost-daily) journal recently. Sorry bloggy, I hope you don’t feel jealous.

This year feels too short and too long at once. I almost cannot remember what I did for the first half of the year (partly also because my journal writing habit only started post-June when Janz handed me my first journal book and encouraged me to start writing in it so that I can remember and process stuff that happened in my life). 

Maybe it feels long because I accidentally travelled a little too much this year (What blasphemy! Like too much is a thing when it comes to travelling?) But that was mostly thanks to the opportunity to do so from my work trips. Let me count the cities: Rome, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Brussels, Bruges, Krabi, NYC, Seattle, Vancouver, Melaka.

Oh yeah and I turned 30 this year too. It’s surprisingly uneventful, but I guess this year is when I started feeling more like an adult, less wet behind the ears and more okay with being myself. Especially since now at work I’m surrounded by so many young people, and it feels kinda weird that they seem to look up to me and come to me for advice. 

New things I tried in 2018

Improv. I took an improv 101 class at the beginning of the year. It was good fun and pushed me out of my comfort zone to be less self-conscious and more spontaneous. I see some potential in using the concept of improv for the design process and I hope one day I can convince my colleagues to go check it out as well.

Piloxing. I wanted to make use of ActiveSG credits for the first time, and the idea of mixing pilates and kickboxing intrigued me. It was ok, pretty fun and not as intense as I expected. It’s kinda like a high-impact cardio exercise. Not my thing but I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Speaking at public events. I was invited as a speaker and panelist at General Assembly to talk about my experience as a designer. The first one was scary (and embarrassingly eventful). The next 2 as a panelist were more relaxed as I didn’t need to prepare that much. There is kind of an adrenaline kick doing this kind of thing sometimes, haha. 

Journal writing. I have to thank Janz for encouraging this habit by giving me a notebook for my birthday. I think writing down thoughts and just things that happen in the day really helps me process stuff and is kinda therapeutic. I would write about conversations I had, things I observed, and maybe even stuff I watched. 

PTTC aka Physical Touch Treatment Centre. This might sound a bit weird but in our Krabi UX teambonding trip, the girls were training me to be more touchy in showing sayang. That included patting heads and linking hands. And now I have become kinda good at it. (Okay.. this still sounds weird!)

Confessed to a boy. Rejected by said boy. But now we are good friends and I think I’m happy with that. And I think I’m pretty low maintenance and self-sufficient as a person/non-gf. This year I also concluded my online dating experiment and the result is the realisation that I don’t really need to find a partner to have a fulfilled life. Actually I already knew that from the start but this was a validation. But I’m grateful to have met so many guys from outside of my social bubble that I wouldn’t have met in otherwise. And the experience of meeting strangers also trained me to be more thick skin and be more socially confident. Glad I did this.

Things that made me sad in 2018

Colleagues that left. Early this year I was kinda shook when Michelle left. Even though we are not that close as friends, she and I had a good partnership as my researcher. Then Leonard, then Lydia, our dear POs. And then Gaofeng and Ernie left. My fellow Easy Team pioneers from the very beginning. :(

Macbook died. Itchy backside made me prematurely install Mojave OS before it was company-approved. My computer ended up getting corrupted and the IT guy tried so hard to help me save it for 2 whole weeks. In the end with all means tried, there was no choice to reformat the whole thing, and I lost all my files. That was an emotional 2 weeks.

SG team got booted off project. I found out after coming back from a trip and it hit me like a suddenly flying slap. But I don’t think it was anyone’s fault, just circumstances. And now I actually look forward to new challenges after this project comes to an end for me.

Chief Laihock’s passing. Chief was a great leader and strong pillar holding up GUI for the past 11 years, an inspiration to me and many people who know him. His passing was a sudden one and because of this keeping the kampung became a problem. I feel for the core team members who are working so hard to keep things running and continuing to fight this fight. Such passion is admirable and makes me want to do whatever I can to help.

Things I’m happy about in 2018

Read more books. Somehow managed to squeeze in more books into my reading diet this year. I’ve been gifted and lent many books this year and I guess because of that I was obliged to finish them, and that turned out to be a good thing. I also somehow unknowingly influenced some young’ins to start reading as a habit too, which surprised me. 

Learnt to monkey bar. I had a random goal of learning how to monkey bar in September. I’ve never ever been able to do it, when I first saw other kids playing on it in pri sch and felt left out and embarrassed because I couldn’t. But this year I decided to see if I could train myself to do it, perhaps because the bar was always at the fitness station downstairs mocking me. And in November I showed it. That sense of jubilance and exhilaration I had when I finally made that first swing from one bar to the next was amazing. And in the next couple of weeks of training I finally made it through the entire ladder. Woohoo!

Strengthened bonding with colleagues. This year the UX team has expanded quite a bit. We welcomed in Janz, Lily, Oppa, Shirshir, Shishi, Lulu and Lala. And we got close almost instantly, which I think is unusual for team of such size. Boss has done an incredible job in scaling positive team culture somehow, and I think for next year our challenge is how to spread this culture beyond just our team. 

Launched a fundraising campaign for GUI. The GUI web team’s work did not slack off since the launch of the 2.0 website last year. We did another release of 2.1 with some improvements after conducting some usability/feedback session with folks. And then in August when news of Laihock’s passing triggered the urgency to raise funds to keep GUI going and keep the land, we worked very hard meeting every week to come up with ideas on how to start a fundraising and awareness campaign. We pushed this campaign out in November and now to continue the efforts to tweak and optimise the message. Grateful to have a supportive volunteer team working hard together on this.

Didn’t take an MC this year. Last year I got sick quite often, almost once every 2 months. Then Gaofeng gave a suggestion that intrigued me. Exercise more. I decided to give it a try. And I’m proud to report that ever since I started exercising every alternate morning, my MC count this year has declined by 100%. I still got sick once or twice this year but it wasn’t so serious that I had to be bedridden. And I found going for a jog in the morning actually lifts my mood for the day. Two birds, bingo.

Knitted a hat. I joined our office’s Knit For Love group to learn how to knit a hat, and all knitted items would be donated to Singapore Cancer Society. I managed to finish mine in about 2-3 months after lots of getting stuck and having help. I was surprised that there are actually quite a few knitting enthusiasts in our office. And even to see a different side to those very notoriously fierce colleagues in the office - they were very kind and patient when it comes to teaching and guiding others. I love discovering new kinder sides of people.

Favourite things of 2018

Nonfiction Book - Crucial Conversations. Borrowed this from Lydia’s bookshelf. We even have a book review club at her house now to share our learnings. This book has valuable advice on how to handle tough conversations and I hope I could put it to proper practice and truly learn to do it.  

Fiction Book - A Dog’s Purpose. A gift from Janz she got at Strand Bookstore. This was a surprisingly thought-provoking book despite the silliness of the premise. Best of all, it’s only USD 48 cents. 

Podcast - Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. This one was recommended by Wei, a new friend I made from the DesignOps summit. Nothing can replace my love for Invisibilia but this one was another surprising gem. I like how they dissect and examine each chapter through lens of different themes and that made this beloved series even more meaningful.

Youtube Channel - Vox. I like the variety of smart educational and timely content presented in a visually appealing and simple to understand way. I especially liked their series explaining music and politics.

Music - Tessa Violet. Dodie. Chillhop radio. Pomplamoose.

Day memory - Cycling in Bruges with Eos. This was literally my idea of a perfect day come true. We had a cheap and cheerful breakfast at Hema, then rented a bike, and cycled all the way to Belgium in cool autumn weather, passing beautiful fields of flowers and farmlands and smelly cows. Had a sumptuous seafood lunch before heading back to town, serendipitously stumbling into an art gallery opening with free wine. Had a pigeon for dinner, then ending the day listening to jazz at a bar. 

Trip memory - NYC/Seattle/Vancouver with Janz. I liked our adventurous/slipshod spirit and the resulting shenanigans we got into because of that. And all our silly and thoughtful conversations in between. And the food we got to try and coming up with a weird rating system for them. 

Bonus - Making a Chinese rap music video with Jess. Jess and I bonded a lot during this 3-week Prague rotation trip. I liked practicing our rap every day walking to and from our office and hotel, and basically everywhere we go. She is such an easy person to have fun with, and we get a kick filming ourselves and annoying Leonard along the way (bless him).

Things to work on in 2019

Figure out how to be a leader. I recently got promoted to Design Ops Lead of the team. There will be a lot of dealing with people and processes, and that is something I have to learn how to manoeuvre. But having a new challenge is always exciting.

Being more articulate and assertive. Along with the above might mean learning how to better communicate expectations and handling tough situations.

Plan more and be less slipshod about things. There are times to be happy-go-lucky and be spontaneous about things. But wisdom is knowing when to pay attention and take care of the details, especially when the outcome might affect other people, not just myself.

Being more caring with my parents. Last year one of my resolutions was to improve my communication with my parents. I tried by listening to more chinese podcasts and speaking chinese more often. But I realised sometimes talking is not enough, it’s the tone and body language. How you show attention and care that matters. 

Continue staying healthy. In the mind and the body. That means keeping and perhaps even increasing my regular exercise regime. And meditate more regularly! 

So here’s what I did on the first day of 2019 – Taking a beautiful hike with my lovely buddies! It’s a gonna be happy new year, oh yes.

[thesecretowl]

How I Made Over $30,000 Selling Printables on Etsy

I have a story for you and it is not about how I suddenly woke up, decided I wanted to make a bunch of money on Etsy selling printables and became an overnight success. This is a story of how I sloowwwwlllllyyyyyy came to the realization that success on Etsy as a "Printables girl" was POSSIBLE for me. Once I got to THAT point, then yes, things took off from there. But, let's start at the beginning...

In December of 2013, I opened my Etsy store and listed my first printable - a simple weekly planner that I still use and sell to this day. I had been patching together my own printables and sharing them with friends and on this blog for some time, and I had finally mustered up the gumption to try to start selling them.

That first month, I made $3. My friend Carrie bought the printable. I remember being so excited by the sale.

However, because I did not have any clear goals for my store and definitely didn't treat it like a business, it did not make a lot of money. I was okay with that at the time because I had a lot of other things going on. I had just closed down a coffee shop business and was launching a cleaning and babysitting business. That kept me busy during the day and then at night, I'd work on my graphic design business serving clients and tinkering with this blog.

Every once in a while I'd add a new printable to my store - just single page downloads that I actually hobbled together with Picmonkey. Creating printables in Picmonkey was painstakingly slow work since it's really supposed to be used for graphic editing and creation, but at the time, Picmonkey was the only program I knew. *Fun fact, I'm a self-taught graphic designer and all I use is Picmonkey! 

(Picture: A printable a put together in Picmonkey. Now, I would use Google Docs or Apple Pages to create the same type of layout much more quickly.)

The printables I was adding to my store at that time were very inexpensive - I charged $3 at most. Throughout the month, I'd make a sale here and there. My phone had the Etsy Seller app downloaded onto it and the app would notify me of a sale by making an AMAZING "cha-ching!!" sound. I loved it even though I only made enough to pay for my fancy lattes here and there.

A year passed. 2014 was drawing to a close and I had made a whopping total of...$186.00 Then, in December of 2014, I decided to put together something that was a little more exciting than a single page printable. I created what I called the "Plan, Do, Review" kit. It was super simple but useful, and yes - assembled painstakingly with Picmonkey. (Pssst! I no longer sell that kit in my Etsy store, but you can get it here for free with this secret link ;) >> Click HERE for the Plan, Do, Review kit.)

(Pic: A snapshot of some of the pages in my Plan, Do, Review kit that helped me start earning somewhat bigger bucks. :)

I priced the Plan, Do, Review kit at $10 - much more than any printable price I had listed before. This was a significant baby step because I was learning that a comprehensive collection of printables was something that I could not only charge MORE for, but it was also something that would SELL BETTER. As that kit started to sell more than any of my other "cheap" printables, I realized that people were a lot more excited to buy my $10 product than they were to buy my $2 or $3 products. Somehow I thought that my cheaper stuff would sell faster. I was wrong and in December 2014, because of that $10 kit, I made $254.50 in sales in that one month, which was so exciting for me since I had only made $186.00 the previous 12 months combined!

Haha. Trust me. I was no overnight success.

So my eyes were a little bit more open from this experience as I entered into 2015. At this point, I was transitioning out of my cleaning and babysitting business and starting to work full time as a graphic designer. My Picmonkey skills were becoming legit! LOL 

My Plan, Do, Review kit continued to sell, but I had another collection of useful templates bubbling in my mind. Before I had even ever started this blog, I had been using a system called the Ultimate Life Binder as a way to keep track of my life. It was my central hub for setting goals, measuring my progress, and generally just being aware of where I was, where I was going, and what I was working on a day to day basis. It was comprised of life-management printables that I had printed out from my findings on the web and some that I had created myself to suit me even more personally. 

(Pic: My Life Binder back in the day before I turned the system into a printable kit that people could buy.)

Here and there I shared my Life Binder process on this blog. It truly was the cornerstone of how I was taking 100% responsibility for my life - a life philosophy that this blog is all about. My audience showed a lot of interest in it and I had friends constantly asking me to help them put together their own Life Binders. However, as with anything that we're really good at, I didn't consider turning it into something that other people could buy and use because, well, "it's so easy, anybody can make their own." Hahaha. *Business tip: If you ever find yourself saying that about something that you're good at, please turn it into a product. It could make you a millionaire and make a lot of people's lives better.

The real kick in the backside came as I approached the middle of the year. I was getting closer and closer to the Fall season - a time when I knew that I had two big trips coming up - one to Europe and one to the States. I'm a traveling girl. I get on the plane at least once a year. However, this time, I was ready to write a slightly different story for myself. I was ready to feel differently about myself. I had a picture in my mind and in it, I was sitting in a cafe in Paris drinking a latte and feeling successful, feeling at peace because I had a business that was making money even while I was on vacation.

I wanted to be that girl. Even though I had achieved my first dream at that point where I was able to make all my money online as a virtual assistant basically, I was still trading hours for dollars. I knew that my finances would take a hit as a result of taking a vacation. I did NOT want to feel like my money was running out while I was traveling. I did NOT want to come home broke.

I wanted to experience what it felt like to be skipping around Europe with a business that had money coming IN on its own. I wanted to come home financially BETTER than I was when I left!

I knew the answer was passive income. Fortunately, I also knew I had in my hands the power to create it. Up to that point, May 2015, my Etsy store had been open for 18 months and I had almost reached $1000 in sales. It was time to take the next step.

I started working on turning my Life Binder system into a digital product that other people could buy. I graduated from creating printables in Picmonkey to creating them in Google Docs and that is the program I used to create the whole thing. Google Docs! Not fancy Adobe InDesign or Illustrator. Google Docs.

(Pic: A snapshot of designing the Ultimate Life Binder in Google Docs)

And so, in June 2015, I released my Life Binder product to the world - meaning I listed it on Etsy and told my email list about it. Then...my phone started "cha-chinging" more than it ever had before! By the end of the month, I had reached $1000 in sales! That blew my mind. I had made more in one month with one product than I had in the last 18 months! 

At the end of that month, I was at a turning point again. I had made $1000 in passive income, yes, but I knew it was mostly due to marketing to my list. How was I going to continue to make that amount in sales? I knew I couldn't keep marketing the same product to my same list month after month. At that moment, I was at a fork in the road where I almost went down the path of "Oh, maybe I'll create something new and sell that next." Luckily, I remembered a piece of advice that prevented me from doing that. I remembered Denise Duffield-Thomas (the Get Rich Lucky Bit#h lady) talking about how women have a tendency to keep creating something new over and over instead of sticking to one core, amazing product and finding endless ways of selling the SAME thing.

In that moment, I realized that if I really believed that I had created something amazing, something that I knew would help people, then I had to stick to it. I knew that there was probably a million more people out there who would LOVE my Life Binder as much as the 50+ people who had bought it in the last 30 days, but it was MY job to make sure they knew about it.

(Pic: The original Ultimate Life Binder. I've since created a new edition every year, but I still sell the original in my Etsy store. :)

This is where Pinterest came in. I decided that I was going to use Pinterest as my marketing platform. I wasn't going to spread myself thin across multiple social media arenas. I was going to focus on one, and I knew that Pinterest was the right one for me because it was where I went when I was hungry for printables, so I was familiar with how I could leverage it for my own. Also, Pinterest has this magic fairy dust that is great for businesses - it puts its users in a take-action/shopping frame of mind. When people are on Pinterest, they are typically there because they want to improve some aspect of their life. They are looking for solutions, which often results in a purchase. 

I took off my "printable-creator" hat and put on my "printable-marketing" hat. :) What I found was that marketing demanded as much creativity as actually creating a product, especially when you're marketing on Pinterest. My whole strategy was VERY simple and EXTREMELY effective - I set a goal to create at least one tall graphic every day presenting my Life Binder product. You might be wondering how I was able to keep coming up with ideas. Well, one cool idea I had was to take each page of the Life Binder and create a whole pinnable graphic around that one page. That alone gave me 27 pins to create. 

Some days, when I felt too lazy to create a new graphic, I would just re-pin old ones, which is actually a solid strategy too as doing so will boost exposer.

I stayed consistent at this and eventually I created a pin that went viral. You can see it HERE, if you'd like.

(Pic: a screenshot of my Etsy shop as it is now.)

What were my results from all this pinning? My sales stayed consistent. I continued to make $1000 a month. Then after a couple of months as my pins started to get re-pinned more and more, taking on a life and momentum of their own, I stopped creating new pins for the product and the number of sales kept growing. 

November came along (5 months after I had launched the Life Binder) and I was packing my bags for Europe. The "cha-ching" sound from the Etsy app on my phone was a part of my daily life now...and life was good. As a single lady with not a lot of expenses, making even $1000 a month in passive income was a game changer. I was able to make better decisions in my business because I was not longer stressed out by money. In fact, I was working less and less, but making more and more.

Whilst traveling for two whole months, my store went from $1000 a month to $2000 a month. Then in January of 2016, it passed $4000 in sales in a single month! This was all 99% due to a single product - my Ultimate Life Binder. 

Since then, my Etsy store continues to generate $2000 a month on average for me and I continue to foucs on my Ultimate Life Binder. My misssion is still to help a million woman with this system I've crafted to help people take 100% responsibility for their life.

And guess what? My dream totally came true. I found myself in Paris, sipping a latte, with a business that kept making money even though I wasn't working and I totally returned home wealthier than I was when I had left. 

So the moral of the story is that success takes time and it's all in your head. In my first 18 months on Etsy, I made less than $1000. In my second 18 months on Etsy, I made $30,000. What changed? I did. Now, looking back over this whole experience, I've taken inventory of the mindset shifts, the skills, the resources, and the knowledge that has helped me get to this point and I've created an online, self-paced course called Passive Income with Printables. It contains everything I would have LOVED to know when I started.

So if you have any interest in creating printables, whether you want to use them to enrich your own life, share with your audience, or make passive income, check out my course. I think you'll like it. :)

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