#and if she just watches some youtube videos or buys a book here or there it's whatever

[somekindafairy]

i have a family member who i feel is just so susceptible to certain scams and idk. its like all these people telling you how to get rich, if you just give them money they will tell you the tried and true method to get rich, you can become a millionaire if you just give them money and come to their seminar and...

idk just she talks about it and is so excited and it feels so sketchy and idk how to talk to her about it.

[lustrousbratz]

How do I truly become a pink Pilates princess on a budget?

Pink Pilates Princess 101

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

When I think of a pink pilates princess, I think of a girly person that romanticized their life in terms of wellness! a lot of people find the phrase annoying but i think it’s fun and cute! Here’s some things you can do to feel more like a pink pilates princess 💞

pic credit: all 3 pics from me posted on my pinterest @ nallyssajones

1. Doing pilates!

There’s mat pilates (only need a mat) and reformer pilates (using a reformer machine). Going to classes multiple times a week can be a tad expensive, so an alternative would be:

A) Signing up for paid subscriptions that have detailed classes for e.g; Alo moves, Pilates anytime, glo etc.

B) Following videos from youtubers that do mat pilates. My fave channels are; Move with Nicole, Sanne Vloet, Dansique fitness (she mostly does hitt pilates videos)

* Yoga is another amazing way to get movement in and feel connected to your body and spirit.

* Go on a hot girl walk! Going on mini walks around your neighborhood or even your house allows you to get some steps in daily.

2. Eating well!

pic credit: my pics posted on my pinterest @nallyssajones

This is different for everyone but here are some ideas that you can add to your diet;

- Drinking green juice

- Try out yogurt bowls! It's my favourite breakfast food because it's easy to make and can be very nutritious depending on what I put into it. I like to add greek yogurt, a nice granola, matcha powder, frozen and fresh berries, pomegranate, ground flax and almonds🫐🍓

- Increasing protein intake. A lot of people have tried to eat 1 g per each lb that they weigh daily and have felt really good. My fellow anemic girlies, please increase your protein intake if you can!

- Taking your vitamins/supplements! get a blood test done to see what you’re deficient in and research supplements that might be helpful for you personally.

3. Finding cute workout+lounge sets

(pic credit: from @ lyssithadoll on ig and twitter)

Working out and going out in cute loungewear and workout sets can make you feel really nice and girly! I like to thrift nice quality brands like lululemon or even purchase specific pieces from depop and poshmark! Amazon is a good place to find sets as well but I would recommend buying high quality secondhand pieces💞 Some good brands to look out for are lululemon, alo yoga, halara and girlfriend collective.

4. Get cute exercise equipment

pic credit: my picture posted on my pinterest and ig @ nallyssajones

Get pink workout equipment if you’d like! Marshalls, dollarama, and amazon sell workout equipment that you can get for $5-$20! I got the pink fila mat in the pic above from marshalls for $19.99:) Here are some equipment ideas:

- yoga mat

- yoga strap

- wrist/ankle weights

- 5 lbs dumbbells

- gym bag

*these things aren’t needed btw! just ideas if you’d like to have more equipment.

5. Practice self care

You can do whatever self care that you'd like but here are some examples that you can incorporate into your life:

- Take a relaxing bath (the book "ritual baths" has amazing bath ideas

- Engage in your favourite hobbies (sports, reading, watching a tv show etc.)

- Spend time with your loved ones

- Take care of your skin and have a routine down. You do not need 15 products but even adding a serum or a spot treatment to your routine can improve your skin!

***************************************************************************************************

I hope that you liked this post! This is all for fun and anyone can be a pink pilates princess 🧚🏾💞

[serqphites]

hiii i saw u needed requests to blurbs/ headcanons so here i am 🤭 could u write julien x reader where julien has a crush on a random youtuber (that like talks about books and stuff) and phoebe and lucy makes fun of julien bc she wasn’t this type of person before and then one day this bookworm youtuber says that she’s going to a boygenius show and julien tries everything to meet reader?

pls and thank u

i hope this isn’t too long

julien baker x yt!crush ღ

format: blurb

warnings: none!

a/n: i literally fell in love with this the second i saw it omg it’s so cute<3 been working on some anxiety comfort ideas but can’t choose a member of muna or boygenius to do first so if there’s one anyone would like to be first please do request it!! thank you so much for all the likes on my stuff it means the world 💞

okay so, the boys are on tour but tonight is a very special night for them becauseeeee… they have a night off!! they go out, have some nice dinner then decide to just chill in the tour bus for the rest of the night because they don’t need to wake up extra early to go to their next tour destination

so julien is in her lil bunk (pls i can just imagine how snuggled up she is) and she is so beyond bored

so what do you do when you’re bored? you browse tiktok until you fry your brain!!

she’s scrolling on her fyp not really bothering to actually watch through any of the tiktoks she's starting, that is until she sees…you

she mutters a barely audible “woah”

within a minute she’s followed you and is now stalking your whole account

cut to around 20 minutes later and she’s holding her phone sideways (pretty close to her face but not that close that she can’t see) watching one of your youtube videos.

this spiral continues until she is that exhausted she physically can’t keep her eyes open anymore

for the next few weeks this is her new routine: getting ready for shows watching your videos, buying your favourite books online and reading them on her phone when she gets the chance. she never falls asleep without watching at least one of your videos & a few tiktoks

one time she’s watching your newest video after having to wait a whole excruciatingly long day, she’s got headphones in, she’s never been so relaxed until…

you say you HATE people who read books online

“just buy the real book? why can’t people put down their screens anymore” and you’re clearly not being serious as you laugh and continue to joke about how all millennials are just taller ipad kids

but julien? it is no joke to her. in an instant she has removed her online books and has planned to go to the nearest bookstore when she’s next free and buy them all ‘for real’

i feel like the moment phoebe and lucy find out is SO FUNNY like i can picture them all sat together before a show, lucy just talking about the most recent book she’s been reading when julien chimes in with “oh yeah i just finished reading that, so good”

silence fills the entire room… phoebe and lucy share a look of horror

“where’s julien and what have you done with her??” phoebe would joke absolutely cackling with lucy about it

this is where the ‘bullying’ starts and never ends!

somehow they manage to convince julien to give them your name so now all of boygenius + katie gavin follow you on tiktok AND instagram

after seeing this you obviously have to make a tiktok about it. your favourite band members of all time just followed you back! you continue to rant and rave about it in your tiktok, also choosing to mention that you are seeing boygenius the following week and how crazyyy it is that they have followed you for a reason unbeknownst to you

this causes julien to go into panic mode. she was going to be performing to you NEXT WEEK

jump forward a week to the show, it’s going great! julien spent the whole day checking your instagram to see where you were at and when you’d be arriving. there’s barely and service in the venue, so unfortunately, her last update was a photo of you in the queue (she definitely took a screenshot because you look amazing)

so, they’re around 5 songs into the show, then she spots you. you’re standing only one row back from the barrier. julien can’t help but stare because you look beautiful

phoebe and lucy take notice of this but play it off cool. they share a menacing look before phoebe leans into the mic and says, “so, anyone got a crush right now?”

julien swears she nearly puked the second she heard that.

the conversation drags on for what feels like hours to julien when in reality it was only really around 5 minutes, majority of it being taken up by the crowd screaming in response to their several questions about crushes

it goes quiet for a second

“jb has a crush… she’s actually here tonight” the crowd starts SCREAMINGGG. people literally praying it’s them (so real)

julien has now sat on the floor of the stage with her face completely buried in her knees, lucy is still standing in front of her microphone dying with laughter over how embarrassed julien is getting.

little did she know though, it was about to get so much worse!!

lucy had dmed you the night before and basically just told you that julien had like changed her whole personality because of her crush on you. she also very sneakily organised for you to come backstage after the show and meet for the first time ever!

PLEASEEE imagine LUCY DACUS messaging you randomly and telling you that JULIEN MF BAKER HAS A CRUSH ON YOU.

lil time skip to that but imagine julien stood there fiddling with her fingers while she waits for you because she’s so nervous

you asking her the best books she’s read because of you<33

i can perfectly picture lucy and phoebe just stood there like ‘😁’ before having an “oh shit” moment and realising they’re intruding LMAO

your first date is to your favourite bookstore btw

I LOVE SOFT MASCS. (i am one)

a/n: this is my first blurb ever 😮 i’m so sorry i didn’t see this until now! hope you liked it :) again please feel free to send any other requests you have i love munagenius 🫶

[jka11072]

Books that trigger me

+ drive with all books epub

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

Glucose revolution 10/10

🤍Should you read it?

YES YES YES

🤍She has an instagram account too

🤍Why should we avoid glucose spikes?

Insulin goes up preventing the body from burning fat!

🤍Eat in the right order

Veggies (greens first for fiber) > proteins > carbs (sugar, honey, fruits, bread, pasta, etc..) 

When eating something sweet try to add anything before (greens, nuts, yogurt…) to flatten the spike 

🤍Don’t count cals 🤷‍♀️ not all cals affect your glucose levels

🤍Don’t snack sweet, have it after a meal instead

🤍Drink a tsp of vinegar with water before a meal (helps flatten spikes)

🤍Move for at least 10mins after you eat

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

The obesity code 10/10

🤍Should you read it?

Yessss

🤍if you like fasting you should read the book there’s so much tips I can’t fit

🤍Reduce added sugars 

🤍Don’t snack (1-3 meals a day instead)

🤍Coffee is good yay (source of antioxidants, magnesium)

🤍Reduce refined grains (white flour, bread, cookies, cake etc…)

🤍Protein should be about 20-30% of your diet

🤍Increase natural fats (olive oil, nuts, butter) 

🤍Eat more fiber, konjac, vinegar (called protective factors)

🤍Fasting (24hr or 36hr, but do what you can manage)

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

French women don’t get fat 7/10

🤍Should you read it?

Maybe

🤍There’re recipes and personal stories in the book if your interested 

🤍Eat slowly 

🤍Eat a wide variety of foods (home cooked, quality over quantity)

🤍Have fun while you prepare your food (🤷‍♀️)

🤍DRINK WATER PLEASE

🤍Only eat while sitting from a plate, don’t eat out of packages, don’t watch anything while eating

🤍Portions, reduce slowly and keep a scale on hand (usually half a pound of anything is usually too much)

🤍Don’t buy foods that you can’t control yourself around, until you can start controlling yourself 

🤍Move please (20 min walk after a meal will do)

🤍Don’t get too hungry (you’ll probably binge) 

🤍The scale isn’t that accurate (measuring or buying a piece of clothing smaller than your usual size)

 ────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

Salt sugar fat 6/10

🤍should you read it?

It kinda explains how companies fool us with unhealthy foods I mean if your interested in that go for it 🤷‍♀️

🤍In conclusion a combo of sugar fat and salt is addicting 

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

The skinny rules 8/10

🤍should you read it?

Yes

🤍It basically tell you the reason for each rule, also goes in depth on how to read food labels, and some recipes

🤍Drink a large glass of water before every meal

🤍No liquid cals

🤍Protein with every meal

🤍Less refined grains (white flour)

🤍Eat more fiber (30-50g)

🤍Eat apples and bananas everyday

🤍No carbs after lunch (potatoes are carbs too)

🤍Pay attention to food labels (serving sizes, protein, sugar etc…)

🤍Pay attention to your portion sizes 

🤍No sugar (even artificial 😞)

🤍Don’t eat meat once a week (🤷‍♀️)

🤍No fast food! 

🤍Big breakfast small dinner (go to bed hungry)

🤍Don’t eat out (feel like it’s the same as no fast food)

🤍Don’t eat high salt foods

🤍Eat your veggies please

🤍Get good sleep

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

Ultra processed people 100/10

🤍should you read it?

Yes yes yesss

🤍it basically explain how ultra processed foods are bad for you but I can’t go in depth here so just read itttt, it disgusted me so much that I actually eat waaaay less ultra processed foods, also watch his videos on YouTube!!

In conclusion?

🤍Sugar is bad (especially on an empty stomach)

🤍Don’t snack (1-3 meals instead)

🤍Walk walk walk

🤍Don’t eat white flour

🤍Just don’t eat ultra processed foods

────˚⋆𐙚⋆˚ ────

Drive with all books mentioned (epub)

[schrodingersdragon]

For all closeted witches: I feel your pain, here’s my attempt to help you guys out

Whenever I first started practicing, I was kinda all over the place, just looking for anything I could do that would get the job done but be discrete enough. There are tons of good videos on ways to make secret altars and little ways here and there to do hidden spells, and those are good sources and good things to do, but here are some specific types of witchcraft you can do that don’t look like magic at all:

1.Art magic

Not only is it really easy to get away with as it is literally just making art with magic/ magical intent fused into it, but there are so many things that this covers. Any form of art is acceptable, so not just drawing, but sculpting as well, and things that fit under this umbrella are even music magic and knot magic. Knot magic is infusing your intent or spell into every knot or stitch and can include crochet, embroidery, macrame, hand sewing, knitting, and rope bracelets. Music magic is using music that you either play on your phone or on an instrument to cast your spell or cleanse your space. If you do use an instrument or even sing, write your spells in song form and say the words in your head. It doesn’t even have to be original- just take the melody of an existing song that you either really like or has something to do with your spell and rewrite the words to suit your needs.

2. Kitchen witchery and/or herbalism (/plant magic)

Literally just get into gardening and grow plants and flowers that you pick and use in spells. Or work with the spirits of what you plant. Or both. And if you wanna go further, get into cooking so you can plant herbs in your garden, and use them in kitchen witchery. And you don’t really even need an herb garden if you wanna just do kitchen magic, just use what you have and buy the dried versions of the herbs you need as you go on.

3. Energy witchcraft

You’ll also hear this called energy work, but it’s a form of witchcraft that’s entirely invisible. It is completely built upon the manipulation and usage of your own energy and the energies around you. I’m not the best at explaining things but look up “Ivy the Occultist” on YouTube and watch everything she has about energy manipulation and her video on how to cast a spell and you’re good to go so long as you regularly practice. If you can hide books and your purchases from your parents, I recommend a book called “Psychic Witch” by Mat Auryn. I haven’t been able to read it myself but I’ve heard good things from the witchy YouTubers I trust and it has a lot to do with mental magic

4. Tech magic

This ones kinda difficult to work with, as a lot of it feels more like things we can use as an add on or guide to our practice rather than actual means to cast spells or whatnot, but there are a few things I’ve been trying out or a little while. First, if you can’t have an obvious tarot app, find this app called #SelfCare. It brands itself as a mental mindfulness app, and a lot of it is, but theres also a tarot feature that allows you one card pull a day along with its reversal and tells you what it means. There’s also this flower that you spend like twenty seconds growing and then this other thing where you take clouds away from the moon, and both these features could work as an oracle of sorts. There’s even a candle where you can set intentions with a bay leaf. Charge the app the way you would a real life tool or charge each feature individually, and you’re good to go. I also use another candle app with different colors, and a wedding bouquet maker if I want to use just flowers in a spell. Got Minecraft or some similar alternative? Make your altar in there. Cast your spells in there. There’s a ton of plants and crystals to work with, and even bones. Hell, give the spiders eye a correspondent. Go feral. An alternative to that is setting up your spell in a collage in whatever way best suits you, and whenever you do the thing where you double click your phone button and swipe up to completely close the tab, make that symbolize you sending that spell to the universe or a god or goddess. Use the shit outta emoji spells and send them off the same way. You can even make a summoning circle your notes app, they just won’t be as powerful as irl ones (but only by a little).

5. Glamour magic

Last one I swear. Glamour magic is most commonly used to alter the way one is perceived by others. It’s used a lot by people who need to come off really well to others in their day to day lives, but some parts can be used as cleansing. I’m starting to lose stamina but just look up “The Witch of Wonderlust” and “Chaotic Witch Aunt”’s videos on it and you’ll be good to go.

Misc tips

I lied there’s a little bit more:

Cleanse and charge all your jewelry with whatever intent you desire. If you find you’re very sensitive to other peoples energies, consider making your favorite piece a protection charm.

Get really into crystals. Just say they look really pretty and want them as room decor or even get a bunch of jewelry with them. Even ones that are actually just plastic or glass will work so long as you’re sure to cleanse and charge it with intent

Light candles. There are tons of uses for candles, and I once again recommend researching this on your own

Make sigils and hide them in places you know no one will look or in pen barrels if you write to manifest

BATH/SHOWER MAGIC. I love it so much. And if you live in Louisiana near Lafayette, go to the farmers market by that strip mall that has Twins (the burger place) and the old bowling alley and a few other places and pick up some epsom salt it is homemade and DIVINE. You don’t even need that tho- just imagine all the spiritual gunk from the day washing off you or chant a cleansing mantra

If you can, make moon water or sun water but make sun water SAFELY

If your home is hella catholic, use that. Use the rosaries and those little things you pin on the sun blockers in your car and any religious things you may own to your own magical advantage. Use prayers as spells. Find “Chaotic Witch Aunt”s video on Christianity and witchcraft and it will all make sense but in short: you don’t have to reach out to any of the Christian entities, you can simply use the power those things have to your advantage.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but know that it won’t always be like this. Know that one day you won’t have to hide what you love anymore. You’re not alone, and you will get free one day

[u2fangirlie-blog]

Book Club Introduction

Recently, I was invited into a book club on Facebook. A friend asked me to join with other friends she knows. I know two out of 30 members. How are people supposed to introduce themselves and get to know each other in FB groups, particularly book clubs? I have no clue! The book club creator and moderators all follow BookTok and have To Be Read lists. I don't do that. It's all new to me.

To start, I read through posts, liked, commented, and replied to interesting and relevant posts. I thought this would be a good way to get to know new people. Then I took a risk and wrote an introduction. The post was viewed by half the crowd. My friend H. replied, but there were no other comments. Just silence. Not even a clock ticking in the background.

The first book selected is Murder at the Book Club by Betsey Reavley. I want to stay, make new friends, and be introduced to new authors, but I feel like an asshole. My introduction to the book club was dead on arrival, so I'm going to delete it from the group.

Here's the introduction. I put a lot of thought and planning into it and don't want to see words go to waste. Someone might read it in the vast expanse of words on Tumblr.

Hi! H. invited me to join the group. She said you are awesome fun people. H., C., and I have been friends since elementary and junior high school. In the past, I've been part of reading circles where we read and discussed metaphysical books. This is my first online book club. Please guide me in what is appropriate behavior and social conventions for online reading groups. I hope to read books in genres I've never read before. I look forward to getting to know everyone here.

I just want to introduce myself a little bit to the group. I'll start with my reading habits and preferences.

I don't have a TikTok account, so I don't follow any Booktok creators.

On YouTube, I don't follow many Booktube creators. However, I do watch channels that focus on one author or genre. I like Quinn's Ideas. He's the go-to guy for Dune and A Song of Ice and Fire. He also discusses classic hard scifi and new scifi. I enjoy T.L. is Reading, who is doing a Discworld read-along. If I'm interested in a new book or TV series based on a book, I'll look on YouTube. I learned a lot about the Wheel of Time that way.

I prefer print books. My house is stacked to the rafters. Remind me sometime to tell you about the time a tree branch went through the roof, and instead of going to the basement for safety, I ran upstairs to rescue boxes of books from the rain.

I do read some ebooks, usually if it's a long series or older books that are hard to find in print. Discworld has 41 book, so most of my Pratchett collection is in ebooks.

Kindle Unlimited - I don't have it because of the cost of subscriptions. If I get a book, I buy it. One reason I prefer print books over ebooks is that having physical media is forever (exceptions of fire or flood). What's going to happen if Amazon loses rights to books or if there's a major technology failure? We the consumers will lose access to digital media we "own" and paid for and will never get it back. It's already happening with streaming videos. If the Big One happens and if we lose electricity and satellites and the internet and if electronic devices stop working, y'all can come to my house. I own all the books and DVDs. LOL!

Audible - See above. Cost of subs. Potential loss of access to digital media. I listen to bootleg audiobooks on YouTube. I have a few audiobooks on CD. I haven't got any new audiobooks in ages because they're so freaking expensive.

Genres - Sci-fi. Fantasy. Classic literature. Mythology. Metaphysical. Paranormal. Occult. Tarot. Non-fiction essays and articles. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. You read that right. I'm a sucker for an encyclopedia with pretty pictures. I have lots of specialized encyclopedias in mythology, symbolism, gemstones, animals, and plants. I love etymology and enjoy looking up word origins. Classic authors: As an English major, I read a lot of the classics. Jane Austen is okay, not my favorite. I have issues with the Bronte Sisters and other authors who introduced the bad boy lover and gave really unhealthy expectations to young people about relationships.

Authors - Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Frank Herbert, Diane Duane, George R.R. Martin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Laurel Hamilton, and Anne Rice (because smut is better with paranormal characters, and their vampires are infinitely better than Stephanie Meyers) J.K. Rowling (before she turned evil), and Neil Gaiman (Yes, I know about the allegations and am still processing how to respond publicly. His alleged behavior is horrible. The Good Omens and Sandman fandoms are fighting and ripping each other apart.)

First, full disclosure: I have a BA and MA in English, with a minor in creative writing and special studies in archetypal myth criticism. I don't write fiction. The creative writing workshops were difficult for me. My professors didn't inspire creativity, but instead they instilled critical analysis of writing, self-criticism, and self-doubt. My teachers critically wounded my desire to write stories, and later it just died. I gave up writing fiction a long time ago. No, I do not secretly want to write fiction.

My strong suit is non-fiction, including articles and essays. Mostly I write short humorous stuff for my social media and a captive audience of about 70 friends and family. Also I write in-depth analyses and criticism of books, movies, and TV series. And sometimes my friends get sick of my BS and think I'm too critical. That's just how my brain works. Analyzing something to the extreme doesn't mean I don't still enjoy it or love it. (Unless it's objectively crap. LOL!) I have a Tumblr blog for publishing what I don't want family to read.

That being said - When I put a lot of time and effort into writing a longer piece (for example an essay with photos) and people either don't read it or they only respond with a like, I feel frustrated and very hurt. I get it. People don't have time and are selective about what they read. I wrote a Tumblr post about it and will share it if anyone is interested.

For the past 7 years, I taught English comp and how to write research papers at a community college. I also ran the writing center with a staff of one (me) and helped students with their papers. If you need help with MLA and APA citations, I'm your girl! I departed for financial reasons. My past work experiences were in office/clerical. Recently, I started a new job in an office. It's good.

Finally, this is my binder full of maps. As an avid fan of fantasy and sci-fi series. maps are important to know where characters are located and the various cities and realms they are in. I'm obsessive. I'm a nerd and a dang weirdo (in the Muppet Gonzo sense of being a weirdo).

Here's a link to the binder of maps from fantasy, sci-fi, and history in literature.

[afoxdoeswrite]

I just got out of watching the Five Nights at Freddy's movie a couple hours ago. Here's some thoughts.

They're under this cut because obviously, a lot of spoilers.

On the FNaF movie;

It’s sure a movie. It didn’t need to be FNaF.

Let me preface this with some context; I’m fond of FNaF. I wasn’t in much of the big early craze. In fact I don’t think I really got into things until like, 2017, so coming up to the end of the early games. But I’m very fond of it. I love the lore, it’s a tangled disaster and everything about it is a mess. But I like that there’s plot holes everywhere to poke into, and that there’s about six different arguments for so many different things, and generally I like it because it’s a mess.

I’m admittedly not super up to date on the books and their lore, but that’s because I don’t have the free time to buy that many books and also read them. I’ve been working on that, mostly through things like the various wikis. I’d definitely not call myself up to date on the level that the Youtube lore video makers are, but I’m comfortably aware of a decent amount of things.

So with that in mind, the movie.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent movie. It’s not great.

Which is admittedly a problem when it’s had a development time of like five years or something? But hey.

The problem comes from the fact that it’s not really horror. At least. Not Five Nights at Freddy’s horror. It seems in some ways to bill itself more as a mystery- except, it’s a FNaF movie. If you know anything about FNaF, you can probably guess the ‘plot twist’ within the first few minutes of the mystery coming up. You could honestly remove all the FNaF elements and replace it with a Chuck E. Cheese, or some other Legally Distinct Restaurant With Robots, and get the same sort of energy.

Is it creepy? Sure. They do the atmosphere for the Pizza Place great, honestly. The tension is pretty good. And sure, I’ll let it slide that it is horror in that. The tension is good, there’s a creeping sense of not knowing what’s around the corners, the sense of being hunted. It’s good.

It didn’t need to be FNaF. It really, truly didn’t.

Let me explain.

The core of FNaF, the beating heart of it, is that it’s a survival horror where you’re locked in a room. You can’t see what’s coming for the majority of the game; you click the lights on your doors to see if they’re right outside, but that only works for two of the four. For the other two- Freddy and Foxy- as well as for tracking both Bonnie and Chica around the building, you have the cameras! It’s FNaF’s big mechanic for the first three games, and even the later ones have something similar to that.

The movie doesn’t use that.

(This is admittedly also my problem with Security Breach, but that’s a talk for another time.)

If the movie had given me Mike Schmidt, stuck in his office at the restaurant, being hunted by animatronics and having to defend the room, I’d’ve been happy. Sure, maybe it’s a little hard to make that a full movie. But there’s nothing to say he couldn’t also leave the room. Mix it up, use the cameras to keep track of things, make Mike too afraid to leave that safe place at first, but then make it so it’s either run or die, and then make things more mobile. Keep the cameras somehow; they’re linked to a tablet in the games, maybe use that.

But instead the movie gives us the FNaF office setting as a background to the family drama going on outside. It’s used as a place for Mike to have a job, and a place for him to talk to the ghosts while obsessing over finding out who took his brother.

And there’s another thing. The family drama frontline is also pretty meh. It’s used to push why Mike needs a job so much, why he takes the Freddy’s job even though it’s utter crap. But it’s basically dropped half way through the movie into a sub plot, and then isn’t resolved. The aunt just disappears. It’s sort of implied that she’s killed- which opens up another host of issues but Hey-, the people the aunt was using are all killed half way through and only used for some shock horror in the final climax of the film, and those guys are where a solid amount of the horror even comes from, with their invasion of Freddy’s and the following hunt.

If they’d taken that hunt into the rest of the film, that’d be great.

Continuing back, the plot with Abby is also… a bit flat. She’s got an imaginary friend! Neat! Mike has to take her to Freddy’s for work and she makes friends with the ghosts in the robots! Also neat!

The ending is boring. It’s dramatic, it’s tense. It’s boring. And honestly, my reasons why is entirely tied up with my next point;

William. Freaking. Afton.

This is about to get a bit non-chronological with the movie plot.

Now admittedly, in the setting of the movie, his entire existence isn’t nearly as groan-inducing as it is in the games. Especially the later games.

(My opinions on Security Breach continue to appear.)

But he is criminally misused in this movie. He’s why Mike’s brother disappeared, and so was likely killed. Yeah ok that’s fair. I don’t believe that’s how Afton has ever been presented as working like that in the games, but sure. I’ll take it.

Afton is able to control the animatronics? Sure…? I mean he kinda does that at one point, if you want to take the FNaF 3 post-night games as that. The Shadow Freddy in those minigames isn’t exactly Afton’s style at all, I’ve always assumed it to be some other ghost and I think a lot of people agree with that, but hey. We can work with that.

Afton appears in the last like, ten minutes or so of the movie, he rants for a bit, and is dragged off by the bots. He gets springlocked. He’s shut in one of the back rooms, presumably to meet his FNaF 3 ending cutscene fate of being stuck back there to rot. He’s hinted at before then, but the main villain of literally the entire series isn’t used.

And then there’s the Vanessa stuff.

Ok I would first like to point out; Vanessa introduces herself as Vanessa Shelly. Could this be a fake name? Sure. Or maybe she changed her name. But that would not be necessary at all. Vanessa in the games is Vanessa A., no last name given. The fandom is happily divided on if she’s an Afton or not. It’s right up there with the Vanny/Vanessa arguments. The point stands is that the movie nicely sets up that this isn’t the same Vanessa as Vanessa the Pizzaplex Security Guard.

My friend I tell you, when I say I groaned aloud when the whole ‘he’s my father’ line came up? I groaned. My soul left my body. We had to pause watching because the others in the room were laughing so hard at my reaction that no-one could hear anything.

I am so tired of this, man. I know some of this comes from having dealt with the last decade of franchise and the endless nightmare that is FNaF 6’s nice fairly neat ending followed by Ultimate Custom Night and Help Wanted and Security Breach.

(And Ruin. But Ruin is slightly less awful for this.

Barely.

Rant for another time.)

But I am so tired of William Afton being connected to everyone. Movie team. We have three canon children for Afton already. I understand if you didn’t want to poke the game lore snake with that stick. But you also didn’t need to do this.

I will admit. Do I know how they would have done the William Afton Info Dump- sorry, Dramatic Reveal- without Vanessa The Convenient Daughter? No. Were there options? Certainly. Hell. You have the ghosts of his victims wandering around. Remove the ‘Afton is controlling them’ bit. Have the kid tell Mike who this guy is.

In the games it’s implied Afton is actually arrested for the murders, but let go due to lack of evidence. You could use that too! Have Mike find out about the murders from Vanessa, like he does, have him go home and do some research, and find out about this William Afton guy who was taken in and let go. If you want to keep your dramatic family should-be-a-B-plot, that can be when Mike starts to think that maybe it was this same guy that took Garrett; link the fact that the ghosts of the Freddy’s kids keep appearing in his dream about his brother, and there you go.

Or tie it to Abby’s drawing thing. He sees the drawing, finds out the kids told her about Garrett, puts it together that maybe this Afton guy who was accused of potentially killing the kids at Freddy’s is also linked to what happened to Garrett, and that’s why they keep showing up in his dream. Ta-da, no need for Vanessa to be Afton’s kid.

Is it a perfect change? God no. But the movie isn’t perfect either by any means, so I don’t see why that should be a complaint.

But going forward.

The ending wasn’t bad, I’ll give the movie that. It’s not. Grand. I will admit that I did not think that we needed that whole Afton Face Reveal moment that we got. It’s kind of pitiful. And the drawings thing being how they break the control is also pretty meh. Nicely foreshadowed, but meh. If you take out the Afton control thing, then you don’t need that. Or alternatively, maybe the bots are listening to Afton-in-the-Springsuit because… it’s a springsuit. It’s canon to FNaF 2 that they can’t tell a bot from a human just using a mask, so why would a suit be different? They just think it’s another bot, so they listen.

Reveal that the Spring Bonnie isn’t just another suit but is a person by just. Damaging it, or something? Vanessa shoots him in the movie, use that fact. Use the taser and have that set the springlocks off. Something that reveals that it’s a person in there.

You can also do the whole ‘remove the mask’ that the movie did. Which by the way; boring! Again! While I was watching it is genuinely took me minutes to register ‘hey. That was the job centre guy, right?’

That’s bad.

That’s also unnecessary.

Afton’s whole thing was that he was a faceless killer. He wore the suit and mask and hid who he was. He didn’t need to be linked into the job centre guy at all. This is honestly similar to my situation with the ‘Vanessa’s his kid’ thing, really. We didn’t need that. It wasn’t necessary. Afton didn’t need to be anyone important in their lives. That’s half the point of Afton. He’s a serial murderer, and most of his on-purpose crimes are people he has no relationship to other than ‘worked in the building’. There wasn’t a need to bring this silly little loop of ‘Afton was the job centre guy and he specifically got Mike hired here so he could kill him!’ into things.

But hey. It’s Five Nights At Freddy’s. It’s not like unnecessary plot loops is a new thing here.

Either way. I don't think the ending was bad. I just think, much like a lot of everything else, it was just sort of boring and a bit full of things that weren't totally necessary.

Is there more I could say? Probably. If I felt like rewatching the movie again and picking it apart minute by minute for all the Bad Things, I could do that. I don’t want to. I’ve watched it, now.

I came out of this movie with the opinion that it wasn’t bad, and I stand by that. As a movie, it was acceptable. If you don’t really care about FNaF and the lore, and just want something to kind of brainlessly watch for a bit of a spook and some gore… yeah, it pulls that off alright.

But it’s a FNaF movie. I came here for FNaF. Maybe it was for the lore, to see how they tied things together. Maybe it was just for some spooky jumpscares. Maybe it was for a tense, survive the night action with a mix of defending the room and running for his life. But I came here for Five Nights at Freddy’s, and what I got was a movie that could be reskinned with any generic animatronic pizza place company and still stand on its own.

That is not a good thing.

[jjtheresidentbaby]

could you do some quinn from heartbreak high little headcannons :)

Little Quinni Gallagher-Jones headcanons

♡ you can find flip quinni headcanons here & more little quinni headcanons here

warnings: !!season 2 spoilers!!, talk of canon events/canon typical events, sasha & spider redemption <3, friendship issues (idk sry yall I just think even after the finale quinni deserves some different friends)

even after her, darren & amerie fix things, quinni still doesn’t feel fully secure in her friendship so she tries to branch out a bit

sasha mainly takes care of her but when she starts to regress around missy she also gets looked over by spider a few times

quinni, sasha, missy, spider & ant become a friend group of sorts but sometimes ant is hanging out with harper so he’s not around as much - but he also drags harper to their hang outs so she’s sort of part of the group

she finds that her new friends are much more accommodating to her regression & her autism

but her regression in particular is what makes quinni feel better

it’s not that her old friends ever made her feel bad about regressing but they definitely didn’t gush and spoil quinni the way her new friends do

spider & sasha in particular go all in on spoiling her, and missy or ant if they’re regressed too

they’re much more willing to watch over her no matter what than her old friends were

instead of being disappointed when they have to cancel/change certain plans because quinni’s regressed they look just as excited about watching her as they did the original plans- it definitely makes quinni feel more comfortable around them while small

missy & spider also use her regressing as an excuse to leave school early anytime they can

many many impromptu arcade visits & beach trips & ice cream outings take place because they all leave school early while quinni’s small

sasha always argues that leaving quinni at school when she’s regressed is mean because she’d have to sit through classes she’s too little for so they have to leave - honestly quinni’s just happy to get free snacks & to spend time with her friends

her room becomes more regression-centric than it was before

she used to keep most of her toys (sans stuffed animals) under her bed or in her closet but at some point sasha tells her it’s useless to shove them all away because she’ll just have to pull them out again and sasha nearly got stuck under the bed last time one of quinni’s dolls was too far back for her to reach

eventually spider & malakai come over and put up new shelves for her to display some of her toys on and missy & sasha buy her new cloth bins to organize them into

she gets spider into Angeline of the Underworld and it’s all over from there

anytime quinni’s regressed and spider’s watching her they’re spending hours reading the books or watching fan-made animatic videos on youtube or talking lore and their own headcanons

missy & sasha will join in occasionally as they know some of the plots per listening to quinni & spider talk so much but they usually have to walk away because things get too specific and they have no idea what’s going on

quinni tries to get ant into it the same way she got spider into it but he more so just likes to look at the pictures when he’s small and can’t keep his attention span focused on it while big

when there’s another book signing all of her friends go with her to it

they make an entire day out of it, quinni can’t be happier and especially when she slips halfway through the day and nobody gets upset about having to care for her

they simply assess what’s best for her, if going home would be better or not, but settle on staying at the book signing and then going to get some food before going home

quinni may or may not cry happy tears later on when she’s alone for having such supportive friends but that’s for her to know

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: March 2023

It’s getting nicer out but I’m still spending plenty of time indoors watching and reading things, don’t you worry.

……….FILM……….

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) It’s been years since I’ve gone back to this and it really is one of the best superhero movies ever made, right? I hope the next one succeeds and it leads to more animated features. It just...you can do so much more. Sure the live-action superhero movies have a lot of animation but they’re bound by our physics and the uncanny valley and it’s just not the same.

……….TELEVISION……….

Ted Lasso (Episode 3.01 to 3.03) Glad to be back. It’s been interesting seeing the online rise, then fall, then rise again of support for this show but honestly, who cares? Do you like watching it? Great. Do I like watching it? Absolutely. It’s a project that was planned from season 1 and it shows and I wish more media was approached in this way.

Spy x Family (Episode 1.08 to 1.25) Okay needed to shift my expectations with this one. I really thought we’d get more of Yor and her assassin life. She’s kinda just a background character to Loid and Anya and that feels like a missed opportunity.

The Great (Episode 2.09 to 2.10) Great cap to the season. Full arcs for characters, a satisfying resolution and yet still enough of a hook to get me excited for the third season. Just some gorgeous, funny, dramatic television. Big fan.

……….YOUTUBE……….

Why everything you buy is worse now and How America’s richest donate their money by Vox Okay the first one really helped explain why stuff seems to be lower quality and it’s not just “better back in my day” sorta stuff. It’s just chasing that elusive profit, you know? And seeing the stats on how the wealthy donate was eye-opening. Taxes seem good. VIDEO (Worse Now) VIDEO (Richest Donations)

AI and Image Generation (Everything is a Remix Part 4) by Kirby Ferguson I’ve always appreciated the Everything is a Remix series and this only reinforces that. A measured response to AI image generation and what that means, why it’s flawed, and what happens next. VIDEO THE FULL PROJECT

What Does Glass Onion Have to Do with US? by Vivian Strange Okay a lengthy one but worth it. A new perspective on Glass Onion, a refresher on why I really liked US, and a really great connection between the two. Also a really great breakdown of the murder mystery as a genre as well and why it’s having a resurgence. All around great stuff. VIDEO

……….READING……….

Arabian Nights (Companion Library Edition) (Page 124 of 244) Thrifted this and for some reason never knew it was a collection of short stories? Which seems obvious now. Anyway I’m sooooo slow at really short story collections but they’ve been interesting to read. Something about the translation feels like a slog to actually read but the stories included are a lot of fun. 

Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There by Keith Sheppard (Complete) I’m super picky when it comes to adaptations of Carroll’s works. Many take Wonderland and make it dark, twisted, and mature (meh) but I find the more interesting take is one that continues with the same momentum. This one doesn’t quite work in capturing the spirit of the original books for me but there’s a lot of really great ideas in here.

Superman for all Seasons by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale (Complete) Having loved their Batman books I picked this up and, being younger and dumber, didn’t like it at the time. Where was the action? Where were the villains? I was naive. Going back to this I really appreciate the study of Superman, the narrative through the supporting cast, and the struggles that can’t be resolved through punching. Man Loeb & Sale were a team.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross (Complete) As an one-off story, this delivers everything I’d want out of an FF adventure: group banter, weird worlds, and lots of mumbo jumbo science. Plus I mean the artwork is truly humbling. I had to read it twice and I still only 80% understand it all but that’s not a complaint. Totally worth picking up if you have even a passing interest in the Fantastic Four.

Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 5 & 6 by by Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley, and more  (Complete) Decided to pick up with my reread of the Ultimate Spider-Man series again and woof I forgot how much I didn’t like volume 5. The first half is an Ultimates story that I STILL find too wordy, and the movie tie-in of the second half never quite clicked. I dunno maybe there are too many losses and not enough wins for Parker in this one? Volume 6, however, is great. It has one of the most frustrating deaths in the series but it really explores the aftermath and impact. And introducing Johnny Storm and using him as the reason Spider-Man gets back into the hero stuff is really great. Spider-Man doesn’t need to solve all problems with punches and this book gets that.

……….AUDIO……….

Wild Planet by The B-52s (1980) After listening to a greatest hits album on repeat as a kid, I’m going back to the early stuff. Can’t get Private Idaho out of my head.

FREE I.H.: This Is Not the One You've Been Waiting For by Illuminati Hotties (2020) They always pop up in lists when I search for “more stuff like Sleigh Bells” but it finally clicked for me after listening to content//bedtime. Love this album.

……….GAMING……….

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Whoa okay so my weekly group just fled the land of the Fairies after some drama with the Queen of the realm (you can read about it here) and then my Mof1 game ALSO had some Fairy drama involving the Queen. Apparently she’s a dramatic lady.

And that’s it. See you in April!

[servin-up-surveys]

survey #203

Who has made the biggest sacrifice for you? My mom, for sure.

Who is the most overbearing person you know? Our landlord/family "friend." It's hard to call her that by now.

Do you still remember your first kiss? I do.

Are you happy with where you are relationship-wise now? In general yes, but I do wish Girt and I had more time with just each other, not sharing houses with parents. I do sometimes wish we had our own place already, but I'm also very understanding of why we don't, both from my side and his. Sometimes I just get impatient and feel like I don't get to be a real adult.

How many kids do you want to have? Realistically none, there is a thick-ass book of reasons why I should not have a child.

Have you ever purposely given someone the wrong number? No.

Who’s the last person you smoked weed with? I've never smoked anything.

Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? Permanently.

Who is the person you have hurt the most? I'm going to assume Sara, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.

Who is the person that has hurt you the most? Jason. Sara's right behind him, though. She's SAID more hurtful things.

Who’s the last guy to give you roses? Girt.

Did your parents do drugs when they were younger? I'm aware that Dad did while he was with Mom but before us kids were born.

The first thing I’d do after winning the lottery is… Buy Mom a house that's perfect for her.

The videos that always make me laugh are… Game Grumps ones.

One of my favorite writers is… Margaret Atwood. I'd like to read more of her stuff.

One of my favorite singers is… Freddie Mercury, RIP king.

What’s a favorite hobby of yours? RP. I want to branch off to more animal RPs, I've just had trouble finding places that aren't overly complicated or are my style.

I think a good source of therapy is… Journaling.

A friend who I can always be myself around is… I feel zero shame being fully myself around Tez and Mazzy. I think it's important to mention here that I KNOW I can be 100% myself around Girt, I'm just so wildly afraid of rejection/judgment/being seen as "weird" that I'm still sometimes needlessly hesitant. I've gotten better about it, though.

Something helpful to lose weight is… Not a very helpful response, but real talk, the most reliable "how to" I've found is to be in a good mental health state. My heaviest era took place during my saddest, and my healthiest weights post-initial mass weight gain came from periods where I was mentally well. NO, you do NOT need to be "okay" to lose weight, I'm just saying historically, that stood out for me.

A fear of mine is… Aside from the answers I normally give, for some variety, slugs. I'm very afraid of them just because of their sliminess and general texture. I will scream if I see one, and will NOT touch something one is on, even though I know how stupid that is, it's like I expect them to bolt up my arm when they're fuckin slugs, bro lmao. I want to overcome this fear, I actually think visually slugs are quite cute, and they're also helpful organisms that are just so harmless, but I'm so freaked out by them. It's funny, I'm not scared of snails at all; it's like put a shell on their back and suddenly the cuteness overrides the "ew slimy" reaction.

If you knew me well, you’d gift me… Anything meerkat-related, for sure. You could literally gift me a single Mountain Dew Voltage and I'll deem you a saint, haha.

Who is someone you’ve been enjoying watching on YouTube recently? I've actually been watching some Good Mythical Morning again! I'm wondering if perhaps my hyperfixation is cycling back around, haha. Maybe I just have three of them that rotate in my head like a rotisserie chicken.

Who was the last of your friends to have a baby? I think Bethany?

Which family member did you get your height from? My mom.

Which TV channel did you watch the most as a kid? Animal Planet.

Who is your favorite cousin? I don't have a favorite cousin.

If you had to choose a country to live in besides your own, which country would you choose? Probably Canada. Sucks major ass that you can't have hognose snakes as pets there, but.

Do you think you look better with long hair or short hair? Short.

What did the last mask you wore look like? It was an oxygen mask lmao

Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? I officially have now as of the second asthma attack.

What color was your nursery when you were a baby? I didn't have my own nursery that I remember. I had a crib in my parents' room, at least in the house we moved into when I was like, two. I don't remember the house I was actually born into whatsoever.

When is the next time you will attend a family reunion? Where will it be? We don't have these.

Do you like cereal? What would you consider your favorite kind of cereal? I do. I think the chocolate Krave is my favorite.

What’s your favorite lollipop flavor? Strawberry or watermelon.

Who did you last hold hands with? My boyfriend.

What sounds help you sleep? Rain on the window. A fan.

Do you have a loud or more soft laugh? LOUD bitch I am a hyena

Do you like to dip your fries in a frosty or ice cream? No, I don't get the appeal of this.

Cookies or brownies? Brownies.

Are you a fan of musicals? I'm really not.

Have you ever stargazed with someone? Yes.

What color is the vehicle you ride in most often? White.

What’s your favorite kind of pasta? Just ordinary spaghetti with meatballs.

Would you say you’re a condescending person? Not at all.

Have you ever mowed a lawn? No, that is not a chore I ever want to have.

What’s the last song you listened to? Pretty sure it was "Back In School" by Mother Mother.

Are you content with your social life? No. I wish I had a few more friends and did more things with these people.

Have you ever had edible flowers? I've had honey from honeysuckles.

Do you read other people’s survey answers? I read my friends' answers. And of course sometimes when copying surveys from randoms, I can't help but read some of their answers just because my eyes naturally graze over the words, but I don't pay real attention.

Do you work better alone or in a group? ALONE. I was one of those students in school that was often allowed to work alone when things were meant to be group projects; my teachers liked me and also had faith in my ability to deliver, so they respected how I was comfortable working.

What are 3 essential items you won’t leave the house without? My phone and inhaler are the only real musts. I carry my wallet in my purse too (where my phone and inhaler are too), and it has important cards in there, such as my blood type in case of some wild emergency where I need a blood transfusion and I'm nonresponsive.

Do you enjoy spicy foods? I do.

What is something you want to be remembered for? I advocated for love and peace and kindness towards our planet and all that live in it.

Do you like pickles? I love dill pickles.

What is something you take a lot of pictures of? MY CAT lmfao deadass

What is your favorite thing about the beach? Being in the water. I'm one of those people that love being smacked (but not totally abused lol) by the waves, being tossled a bit and stuff. If reminds me how small I am, how inconsequential my ass is in the giant scope of the universe and even just this single planet. It's VERY freeing from anxiety, I just feel very peaceful when I'm in the ocean. I hate the salty wind, I hate the yucky sand and walking through it and having it stick to your wet body, but being in the ocean is an S-tier experience for me.

Are you afraid of snakes? Not at all, snakes are some of my favorite animals on the planet. Like sure, I'm going to be respectful to venomous species and give them space, but even those I'm not properly "afraid" of.

Do you think frogs are ugly? No, they're cuties!

Name three things that you find refreshing. A nice cold drink, a cool breeze, and the taste of mint.

What is your favorite vegetable? Broccoli or well-prepared green beans.

Do you own any succulents? No, just fake decorative ones. I'd kinda like to try taking care of a real succulent, so long as it was hardy. I don't have full faith in myself with taking care of plants.

What is your least favorite shade of green? That like, puke green color. bleh

Do you like olives? No.

What are three of your favorite insects (or insects that you think look cool)? Butterflies, moths, mantises. I wanna mention ladybugs too, they're so cute, but I think they've gotta come in 4th place.

Would you ever dye your hair green? I have done this before, like a mossy green color and I loved it.

Are you a tea drinker? I hate tea. Any kind I've ever tried.

Do you like mangoes? So I'm funny with mangoes. Mango flavor? It's one of my favorites! But the texture of real mangoes is so fucking repulsive to me, I can't eat them. I was SO disappointed when I tried one the first time.

What’s your hair texture? It's VERY thick. Smooth, I guess. Mostly straight, mild waviness.

Do you play games on your phone? Yeah, I enjoy PokemonGO, DragonVale, Dragons of Atlantis, and Amaru (it's a self-care pet but has "game" traits to it).

Is acting something you’d enjoy? Are you convincing? No, I would feel VERY uncomfortable.

In what ways are you immature? I am very attached to/reliant on my mother.

Are the Olympics something you get into? Not at all.

Chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla milkshake? Chocolate or vanilla, depending on my mood.

What’s something or someone you’ll always defend? Gay rights. Access to safe abortion. Equality of all sorts. Lots of stuff.

[thenightling]

I'm going to sound like an old fart here but after seeing some posts of Nightmare before Christmas Valentine's Day merchandise and seeing a Youtube video complaining about there being too much Nightmare before Christmas merchandise allow me to give you a weird throw back.

Imagine being eleven-years-old in 1993. Nightmare before Christmas comes out and you are fast obsessed. One night during SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) you see a commercial for the action figures. Your loving mother buys you some of the figures at Toys R Us as fast as she is able. But then... A few months later it all disappears from store shelves. No Nightmare before Christmas merchandise anywhere to be found.

This was my teenage-hood. Between 1994 until 1999 Nightmare before Christmas merchandise was VERY hard to find. I had a shelf in my bedroom dedicated to what I could find. For part of the 90s I was lucky to find one item a year.

A neighbor even gave me a Sally doll without a head (her son lost the head) and my mother cleverly constructed a replacement head that looked surprisingly genuine for the doll. She used a pillow case the same color as the doll's skin, dark red yarn for the hair, a tennis ball for the interior head wrapped in a white sock for the whites of the eyes, it was really well done. I cherished her. And when my mother finally saw the original doll head on a reproduction from 2003 she was proud of herself at how accurate her own version had been going just by the movie appearance of the character and some old sketches from the Making-of book.

In 1999 or so Nightmare before Christmas became popular in Japan so new merchandise started to slowly creep over back the US, especially through Ebay (Nightmare before Christmas was one of the first big searches on ebay when it was new).

In 2003 there was the Nightmare before Christmas 10th anniversary and much of the 1993 merchandise that had become scarce was now being reproduced.

In 2006 Nightmare before Christmas was released again cinematically, this time in 3D. And Disney had finally put its name all over it, instead of their Touchstone division to distance themselves. This is actually an important distinction because the older merchandise with the Touchstone logo and no "Disney's" are still the more sought after collectables.

From that point on Nightmare before Christmas merchandise became... well, common. Particularly around Halloween. Today I can't even keep up with what's out there.

But when you talk about how over-marketed Nightamre before Christmas is, how "Hot Topic" it all is, and how Jack is more of a brand than a character, please remember that eleven-year-old who had to roam store after store just to find a plastic wrist watch in 1994. And how those of us who loved it from the start were starved for nearly a decade because it hadn't achieved "Cult classic" status yet.

Sometimes I think eleven-year-old me would be jealous but maybe she'd also be burnt out with how common it is now. It's not something private and personal anymore.

I still remember listening to the soundtrack on audio cassette with my walkman and some kid asking what I was listening to and when I said "Nightmare before Christmas" I got a "Never heard of 'em." I think how jealous eleven-year-old me would be of hearing Danny Elfman's original demo recordings (which weren't available until 2006), his annual concerts of the songs, and even the unreleased unused song "This Time" song. How twelve-year-old me would have killed for that.

[justfinishedreading]

Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe Volumes 1 - 5

Oh god I’m hooked, I bought and read all 5 volumes over the course of a week! Oh where to start. I first learned about the Hades and Persephone myth a couple of years ago when it was mentioned in the TV series Harlots, a murdering aristocrat force feds pomegranates to a sex worker and calls her Persephone, they later share a genuine bond but it is ultimately doomed because… well he’s a murder. Over the years Greek mythology has come back into fashion, in particular with many YA and fantasy retellings, and the Hades and Persephone tale is one people adore, it’s the allure of a gloomy, scary king that turns out to be a softie. Before reading Lore Olympus, I had watched a show on Greek mythology, and was reading an old book I was given like a decade ago, retelling the myths for children, so I’m aware how the original myth goes in general; Hades kidnaps a young Persephone and takes her to the underworld, later she is rescued but she feels sympathy for Hades and agrees to spend half the year in the underworld and half the year above ground (she agrees but she is also forced to agree because she ate 6 pomegranate seeds and once you consume food from the underworld you must remain there. This myth explains why we have the seasons, in Autumn and Winter Persephone, the goddess of Spring is in the underworld.

When I heard about Lore Olympus it was on a YouTube video about society’s normalisation of older men with much, much longer women, and the reasons why such unbalanced, often abusive or controlling relationships are favoured by men and how the age gap portrayal in media excuses them. So not a great endorsement of Lore Olympus. I avoided getting it for a long time but still there was the allure, the promise of passion and melodrama, of gorgeous art and Greek mythology, in a seductive mix of modern and classical imagery. I picked it up in the bookshop several times, and put it back down again -the art looked promising but the layout of the book was awful. Now I’m a graphic designer so I care about these things, the comic was born as a webcomic and looking at volume 1 you could tell it wasn’t designed with a book layout in mind, the art was sparsely tossed across the pages. It was not good. So months went by and I resisted buying it. But in the end my desire for some romance with high emotion and angst won, and boy does it deliver. Within a week I’d consumed all published volumes, buying one at a time and devouring it and buying the next the following day. Happily the graphic design does get better from volume 2.

So here’s the good and the bad. The Age Difference, on one level this does not bother me because these are gods, in that old book I was reading about Greek myths I learnt that when the god Hermes was just a new born baby he escaped his cradle, stole Apollo’s cattle, sacrificed them to the gods, did some other stuff and then lied to Apollo when he came round accusing Hermes. The concept of age and knowledge and ability are not as we know them. The Greek myths were also OBSESSED with youth and beauty, so with the source material being already so problematic it isn’t a surprise that it bleeds through. However did the author NEED to make Persephone literally 19? She couldn’t just be a young women? The author went out of her way to specify that Persephone is 19, something that is so problematic that various characters and Hades himself acknowledges as being bad, he asks do you mean she’s 1919 years old? (Already a lot young than him if she were 1919 years old, him being thousands of years old) No?! Actually 19!?! I understand that the age difference is part of Lore Olympus’ appeal, the forbidden nature of it, but could her age have been left a little vague, perhaps even aged up a little? Because at the end of the day if we associate Persephone’s personality too much with her age… what happens to her and their relationship with Hades when she becomes older? Also the mention that her body will forever be that of a teenager is distasteful and sends the message that bodies older than teens are not desirable. I suppose since she is the goddess of Spring, to be forever youthful makes sense. 

On the good side, this series handles well difficult topics, it has examples of toxic relationships (not Persephone and Hades but Hades and a former lover) but shows why a person might fall into toxic behaviours, it also depicts well a case of rape and the victim blaming that follows, highlighting narcissistic personalities, and overbearing parents. The reason people love Hades and Persephone’s relationship in Lore Olympus is because they bring each other hope and joy in a world of both physical and emotional pain. 

Back to the bad, Persephone’s character is a bit of a problem, she’s the born sexy yesterday troupe, so young and naive but super overly sexualised, academically clever but clueless to the ways of the world. Of strong will… but easily led astray? Shown to struggle with prejudice but also given a lot of special treatment and privilege. That last point doesn’t bother me so much because at the end of the day the Greek gods were AWFUL people, they were forever throwing tantrums, meddling in the lives of humans, and causing havoc on a whim. The gods were the ultimate abusers of power and unpredictable moods. In that sense Lore Olympus is a good representation of the Greek gods, those guys were MESSY.

P.S Apologies that my photos have been so bad of late, my laptop died and my phone camera is really bad!

Review by Book Hamster

[smalltownfae]

Books Read in 2023: The Odyssey by Homer

Rating: 4/5 ⭐

I didn't expect this book to be so much fun. It got a bit repetitive at times, especially towards the end, and that is why I can't say I absolutely loved it, but I really enjoyed it.

I watched a youtube video that helped me pick my favourite english translation through hearing some samples. I went with the Fagles translation, but the Emily Wilson's looks funnier and I am very curious about it too. I just thought it was too modern for my taste, but I still will probably buy it in the future because the passages I have seen were amazing.

Like most people, I had heard about some moments of the Odyssey. Some of those moments were shorter than I expected and others funnier than what I had heard. Overall, I enjoyed the first half of the book much more. The plot slows down a bit once Odysseus reaches Ithaca and there aren't as many shenanigans happening. The Odyssey is divided in 24 books and my favourites were books 2, 8, 9 and 22. The books are pretty short so this is a surprisingly quick read.

Athena is having the time of her life here just transforming herself into random humans and putting people to sleep. I absolutely adored her. She is my second favourite greek god after all. I expected Hermes, my first, to show up more, but sadly he didn't. He did complain about his job on his first appearance though, which was very relatable.

I really liked Telemachus, Odysseus and Penelope too. As flawed as the first two are.

"so let his name be Odysseus… the Son of Pain, a name he'll earn in full"

Don't forget to thank your grandpa for that one, Odysseus. He is having a terrible time 99% of this book (but it sure is entertaining to witness). So are Penelope and Telemachus, but their terrible time isn't as fun. They are dealing with some rude entitled men and it was very satisfying to see those getting their comeuppances.

I don't own the Iliad yet and to be honest I probably should have read that one first. Some people told me they prefer that one so I wonder if I will enjoy it even more than this. Either way, I am excited to see my dumb angry boy Achilles in action. He shows up briefly in the Odyssey too, but it was not enough. Either way, this was not about him.

[fulfillingbineeds]

Some Cannon/Hinted Facts About Simon Bellamy From E4′s Misfits Part Two

Collecting info for future fanfics and thought I might as well share.

- All info is collected from episodes, extra video content, the official book, the scripts, Simon’s Twitter, YouTube, Flicker, and the E4 Official site. -

→Part One Here←

•Likes Twix. In a tweet, he says, “Makes me worried about buying my Twix from there.” which hints that it’s his go-to sweet selection.  →Tweet← 

•Had a girlfriend when he was nine. In 1x5, with a conversation between him and Sally, she asks him if he’s ever had a girlfriend. Simon replies that he did and that they met on holiday when he was nine.

Simon: What?

Sally: Have you ever had a girlfriend? 

He nods in response 

Sally: Who was she?

Simon: I met her on holiday. 

Sally: Really?... Did you ever... -She smiles- Did you ever have sex?

Simon: -He shakes his head- We just held hands. -He smiles- We were only nine.

•Owns Battle Royale Manga Series. In a tweet, he says he owns the entire series, which is 15 volumes. The series itself is a gory psychological science fiction thriller, which falls under the categories of media he is known to consume. It makes sense that watching/reading a ton of gore could be why Simon seemed desensitized to the whole death, bodies, and murder during the first few episodes. But there could also be many different reasons why he reacted that way. I’d go more into it, but it’s more of an analysis of his character and not canon fact, which this post isn’t meant to be. →Tweet←

So it’s confirmed that he reads manga... but I wonder if he’s ever watched anime too. (≖_≖ ) If he does, Nathan definitely makes jokes about him watching hentai lmao. 

(I’ll be going into further detail on the different media types he consumes later in this post thread.) 

•Arson/Arrest. We discover why Simon’s in community service through his first real interaction with Nathan in 1x1. 

Of course, Nathan is riling him up, trying to get a reaction out of him. (Which he does.)

Nathan: What about you, weird kid? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like a panty sniffer. 

Simon: I’m not a panty sniffer. I’m not a pervert.  

Nathan begins to mime, pleasuring himself, groaning and leering toward Simon.  

Simon: I tried to burn someone’s house down! 

This is all the information the audience is given within the episode about Simon’s crime. We learn the details of Kelly’s, Curtis’s and Alisha’s arrests and that Nathan “Got done for eating some Pick’N’Mix.” in 1x1.

In 1x4, when Curtis travels back in time to the night of his arrest, it’s revealed how Curtis and Nathan got arrested. However, in Simon’s case, we only see the prelude to his crime.

His ex-friend Matt sent a text asking him to come to some club. So, thinking that Matt would apologize for the stuff he put Simon through in school, he goes to the club. He buys two beers and approaches Matt and his friends, only to find out Matt texted the wrong Simon. The interaction humiliated him.

Simon: Hi. 

Matt: Simon…? 

Simon: I bought you a beer. 

Matt doesn’t take the beer.

Simon: I got your text. 

Matt: What text?

Simon: You sent me a text telling me to meet you here. 

Matt: I was texting my mates. I meant a different Simon.

Simon sets the beers down and flees the situation.

In the show, the scene is played differently from the scripts. Matt is much crueller and annoyed with Simon versus in the scripts where he feels more uncomfortable and guilty. There is also a cut line from one of Matt’s mates calling Simon a freak. →Scripts←

A few scenes later, he is shown SA’ing an unconscious Kelly. (He is unaware that the girl is Kelly due to her face being covered.) He peaks up her skirt and goes to touch her but stops and flees after Kelly makes a noise.  In the script, it’s shown that Simon feels incredibly guilty afterwards. It’s also mentioned again that he feels very guilty about what he did to Kelly in 1x5, but it isn’t translated well into the actual episode.

He’s shown multiple times in the first season committing acts of voyeurism, especially after being treated poorly by other men. For example, in 1x2, when Nathan rejects Simon for the second time, he turns invisible and creeps on the girls in the locker room.

(This has a lot to do with Simon initially being a villain. I’ll have points about VillianSimon and Voyeurism later in this post thread. I’ll be going into more detail then.) 

We finally discover what happened through his dialogue with Sally in 1x5. The two are at a drink bar. Simon notices Matt entering. Matt makes eye contact with him, and Sally asks who he is. Simon then explains what happened the night of his arrest.

Sally: Who’s that?

Simon: I went to school with him.

Sally: Is it a friend?

Simon: He lives next door to me. He stopped speaking to me when we started secondary school. 

Sally: Did he give you a hard time?

Simon nods

Simon: Every morning when I woke up, I felt sick just thinking about it. I told my parents and the teachers. They knew it was happening. No one did anything. 

Sally: Was it his house you tried to burn down?

Simon nods, looking ashamed

Simon: A few months ago. He sent me a text, inviting me to this club. I thought he wanted to apologize. I get to the club. I walk up to him and his mates. He texted me by mistake. It was so humiliating.  

Sally: Simon…

Simon: I was so angry I… I got drunk. I started thinking about everything he did to me at school. I lost it. I went round to his house. I made sure his family were out. I soaked some tissues in lighter fluid. I lit them and dropped them through the letterbox… There was a cat. 

Sally: A cat? 

Simon: Inside the house. I thought, the cat didn’t bully me at school. He hasn’t done anything. The carpet was just starting to catch light. The cat was freaking out. 

Sally: What did you do?

Simon: I put the fire out. 

Sally: How?

Simon: I pissed through the letterbox… This is when his mum comes home. She starts screaming. You know what’s it like once you start; it’s hard to stop. 

Sally is trying to hold back her laughter

Simon: It’s not funny.

Sally: Sorry… Sorry

The two laugh together

(Simon does this little giggle, and it’s honestly so cute.)

More information is also given in one of the extra video content, ‘Girl Talk’, uploaded to Simon’s YT channel. The video shows Simon breaking into the probation worker's office to look at his file. In addition, he shows his psychological assessment. It says his offence is arson, not attempted as many fans believe. His assessment reads: 

"Simon appears withdrawn. He spends the majority of his time alone and appears alienated. He is not good in social situations, preferring to be on his own. he is, however a highly intelligent young man. He appears methodical and interested in the way things work.

I would recommend further assessments in this particular case."

There is also a photograph of the damage the fire must have done to the house. 

→Girl Talk←

In 2x1, we learn about Lucy. A girl that Simon knew when he was in the psych ward. In dialogue, it’s revealed that he was sent to the unit after being arrested for assessment. 

Curtis: So what the story with you and this girl?

Simon: After I tried to burn that boy's house down. They sent me to a psychiatric unit for assessment.  

Nathan: Really? Can’t Imagine why.  

Simon: Lucy was a patient in the unit. I think she’s obsessed with me.

It’s implied that he was sent to the ward right after being questioned by the police. (This is what realistically would happen anyways.) 

He was probably nursing a hangover his first night/day there, which sounds awful. 

Simon would have been 18 during his arrest and time in the unit. In his conversation with Sally, he refers to his arrest as a few months ago. Their community service started on November 12, 2009. (The same date as when the first episode aired.) This is confirmed on Simon’s Twitter. Episode five’s events occur during the second week of December, making it clear he was presumably arrested around September. It’s unclear how long his stay at the unit was, but most likely, it was around a few days to a week. Two weeks maximum. This information makes it clear that he would have gotten out of the unit before his 19th birthday. (October 25th.) →Tweet 1 | Tweet 2 ←

(Honestly, doing this little analysis/deep dive on information about Simon makes me realize how traumatized he is... I haven’t even gone on about his family/home life yet.) 

Anyways this is all for now! I’ll be back with part 3 soon :)

-BTW, I occasionally updated my posts after I realized that I made a mistake every so often.- 

[yoshiyakiryu-archive]

What do you recommend as a first project for learning to use a sewing machine and do you have any tips about sewing with a machine in general? Any youtube videos you’d recommend for it, maybe?

Unfortunately I do not watch YouTube! I learned from books and watching my mom. Matt's suggestion is dollightful, she's got some beginner tutorials linked in the description of this video for the very basics and some specifically for doll clothes, and sells mh doll patterns on etsy

First sewing project for learning your machine, and for learning machines for the first time in general? A lot of people say a pincushion, which you're going to want at some point if you didn't buy one, but here's what I learned first and what I've always had other people learn first:

Pillowcase. Get thrift store sheets cheap, ones that do not stretch (most sheets don't, avoid nylon and spandex until you want to up the difficulty level), and make yourself two pillow cases. They're going to suck, but they'll teach you how the machine works, to regulate the speed, how to sew a straight line, and how to pivot your project without taking it off the machine. If new machines don't anchor your thread for you (remember the newest sewing machine I've touched is from 1960) as I have heard they might? You're going to learn that too.

If you don't have the fabric for this and want to just jump in, make doll pillows, stuff them with the scrap you're going to end up with if you have no stuffing, and make those pillows pillowcases. This will teach you to work small, and will need more precision, which'll be more to learn in one go, but you'll be skipping a step in going to doll clothes. Working at this size will also help you gauge how big things end up being once they're sewn at that size (smaller than you'll likely expect)

If your machine doesn't auto thread itself (again I am not sure what modern machines DO), it's good to spend some time threading it a couple times before trying to use it. It's going to be tempting to pull your fabric through, don't do that, just guide and feed or you'll snap your needle. Always give yourself more thread than you think you need. Your stitches should look the same on the topside of your fabric as on the bottom side, and if either side looks tighter, you may have to adjust your tension to suit the fabric you're using, and the problem is going to be on the opposite side of where it's visible. 9/10 times it's your top tension and for this reason your bottom tension is hard to get to because you may never ever need to touch it. Keep your machine oiled and learn what it sounds like because they'll often tell you when they don't like something by complaining.

If all else fails speak to your machine in a firm tone to let it know you're in charge

[magickalsapphic]

Possessed doll - witch community call for advice

Hello, I currently own a possessed doll and want to know what I can/should do about it.

Main call to action: please recommend books so I can properly learn about this, give me honest advice IF you have experience/knowledge.

Here's the full story:

I got this doll at a thrift store as a prop to a horror short film I was making. My ex picked her up because she was the one with "most life". Quickly after, my friends and I would joke that she was alive/possessed, I won't say the name we gave her but will call her Elise for the sake of this post.

After buying her, I attempted a very poor cleansing on my college dorm floor. I undressed her and cleaned her porcelain skin with Clorox wipes, with my tuning fork chanted a few phrases, circled her with crystals. Put the dress back on, try to feel for something, and not feeling it.

I assumed then that Elise was not possessed. We continued to joke about it, while in the meantime, just in case, I would also treat her gently, speak to her as if she were alive, and tell people she's (jokingly) possessed. Aaand she would occasionally (2-3 times) weirdly play music on her own (she has a music box and a winding key). It would happen if I picked her up or shifted her. But not *every time* I picked her up or shifted her.. First red flag.

Time passes, we record the short film. This shortfilm I wrote about the doll playing music on it's own (she has a winding key).. ha. In this shortfilm I made Elise lay next to a sewer, be forcibly dropped to knock her head as part of the plot, and got her all dirty. Not to mention her hair and hands had to be covered in blood. Fake blood. It was also very cold.

Afterward, I uploaded the video to YouTube (I don't think I should share the link). And it got about a hundred views (I know, fame).

I keep the doll in my dorm room this whole time. In the summer, I brought her to my mom's place where she sat on the windowsill outside my room for months.

I don't bring her back to my dorm room. I don't remember why.

Only 3 weeks in, my mom comes by to drop off some clothes and other stuff I missed. She brings Elise without me asking her to at all.

So she's back. I tell my friends about it, it's kind of funny considering possessed dolls do do that: return to a person if they try to move away from them. I keep her in my dorm room again, this time on the desk next to Agatha Christie and my completely empty black notebook I've been meaning to make into a Book of Shadows for years.

I've had vivid horrifying nightmares since I was a child. So I'm not worried when I get nightmares about Elise. One more thing to joke about.

September moves to October and I have this class that extensively talks about the progression of horror as one of the themes. Especially around Halloween. So yes, these things were on my mind. I'm a witch. I did recently watch the Exorcist and learn about Possession in my class. Take that as you will.

Actually, studying for the midterm for that class, a friend stayed over one night. Earlier, they did make fun of Elise, we were messing around, but they did use the winding key a bit, take her out of my room for a few minutes, I don't think it was.. that bad.

We went to bed at 3 am. It was so warm under the covers and I was restless. That is to say, there were reasons I was so tired and sleep deprived to have sleep paralysis.

I wake up, my friend is next to me. I look up and Elise is over the bed right on the window. But in reality, the window in my room is beside the bed, not above. Something is wrong. Elise is looking at me. No really, looking at me, and blinks, and moves her eyes and I'm scared. I wake up, my friend is next to me. I look up, the wall is normal, empty. To my right, Elise is lying next to me, on her side, facing me. I wake up. This time Elise isn't there, but my friend is talking to me. I wake up again, and again.

I wake up. I sit up. My friend is sleeping next to me. Elise is on my desk, facing me. I keep looking around and know I am finally awake. I could barely sleep that night.

The next morning, I once again tell friends about it, a little genuinely freaked out. We agree I should probably apologize, so I do. And I also give her a little gift -- a whistle thing someone gave me. I don't get a nightmare that night.

Nearing Halloween, 2 new friends come into my room on separate occasions. With the first, I have to move Elise out of the way to use my full desk for a project. When I pick Elise up from a chair, her music starts playing. It hasn't happened in a while. I don't want to actually scare this new friend, so I tell her I moved the winding key a bit. We laugh it off.

Not a week later, I believe October 29, another friend comes over and this one I want to scare off a bit, for fun. So I pick Elise up and introduce her to him. He is actually scared and I feel bad and reassure him that I am joking and that I'm 99% sure she's not possessed. I keep holding her. We keep talking and... this is what started to my mind. The music starts without me even moving her at all. No accidental shake, not really. My heart skipped a beat, really. And I reassured my friend that nothing was wrong. I'm just messing with him.

Right as my friend left, I message a witch friend I'm not very close with. I ask them for their experience and communicate some concerns. They give my contact to their more experienced in this subject friend, and they message me. They are an actual psychic medium, they tell me there is a possibility of possession but she can't know for sure. They advise me to cleanse her again, put her in a salt circle. Halloween was 2 days away, and the veil was thin. That I should watch out for the nightmares, since that's how they communicate with them, and that she doesn't sound malevolent. I should keep an eye on her.

That same night, because another friend said I should cleanse her soon, I panic and do it without much preparation.

I clean my desk a bit

I take my table salt

Lay Elise on the desk

Circle her with table salt

Circle her with some crystals

Use my tuning fork to once again cleanse her in the best way I could at that moment

Finally, I didn't know what the right words were, and in my chant I say that I'll be protected and nothing shall come out of the salt circle for 3 days.

That might've been a mistake, I don't know. Online resources were not the best either.

Because of what I'd said, I keep her in the salt circle from about October 29 night, to November 2nd day?

Then I clean the desk and her dress a bit, since it was slightly covered in salt, and I put her back on her spot on the desk.

A week passes (this is now 3 days ago, Thursday), I run into the psychic friend at an event. I tell her she can meet Elise if they want to.

So we go into my room. Immediately my friend (let's call them Ron) says there is a presence. By this point, I was still hoping Ron would say it was all in my head. But he sits in front of Elise and tells that there is a little girl inside. She's scared, lonely, and sad. She's embarrassed about the blood on her head and so I should give her a hat. She wants to be held sometimes. And she wants to be by the window, but at nights I should close the window because it'll get too cold. She isn't malevolent but might like to mess with me for fun -- watch out for missing or displaced things, and always be respectful. For example, if people come over I should introduce her to them -- you wouldn't want people you don't know coming into your room (it's her room just as mine).

Ron also tells me that she could be lying. Demons and ghosts can be tricksters. I simply hope she's not.

After Ron leaves, I take my pendulum and ask brief questions to Elise -- is she angry? no. does she mind if I have people over? no. does she care when I talk about her when she's in the room? yes. I don't remember what else I asked, and I couldn't tell -- still can't tel -- if she likes when I talk to her or not.

But well... the biggest thing that has me convinced. Happened that same night Ron came by.

At night, after having more friends over and having a good time. I won't lie, I had 2 hits of my 🍃 pen. But I was fine. I close the window. I'm closing the blind (Elise is on the window sill) and I don't know if I should go all the way down or not. So I say out loud "let's try to have it closed tonight, yeah? Then we can see what you prefer tomorrow."

I close the blinds completely. My hands on the strings, the bed side light turns off. Turns on. Turns off. Turns on. Turns off. The room is completely dark.

I'm shaking, I mess up getting the blinds back up but I do it. I furiously apologize to Elise and try to turn the light on again and it doesn't work. I check the plug, it's well connected. I don't know what to do. I keep apologizing, but I feel I have to be a little stern. I tell Elise I don't find that funny and that it made me sad, and that I don't want her to scare me like that anymore. Then I check the extension chord next to my bed, it is loose and I have to almost fully plug it back in. The light turns back on. Though, in bad timing, my automatic bathroom lights turn off in that same second, I pay no mind to that.

I stay frozen for minutes more. Then I remember that she's a scared little girl, and so I pick her up and apologize but also comfort her. She's very cold. I put her back on my desk. I close the blinds properly this time, and I somehow go to sleep.

After telling Ron about this, he says that they expected her to be more active after meeting him. It makes sense.

That was just 2 nights ago. I don't really know what to do about this. I can't tell if my headaches and misfortunes have anything to do with this because that's been my whole life. Ron says I can't get rid of her now, she's my doll now.

This is a lot and detailed because well, I am a writer. I hope this was entertaining at least, and I really do appreciate advice. Be kind, and be genuine. I don't know what I'm risking making this post.

PSA: I am a writer, I have a record of this post and this story and do not want anyone to use it without my consent. Everything in this post is real, don't get me wrong. But I want to be the one to write about it.

That is all, thank you for reading and have a good day:)