#blender 32-bit

[liveyun]

you’re an idiot (so am i) | j.jk

pairing. jeon jungkook x fem oc/reader

rating. M

genre. enemies to 👀, university AU, neighbours AU, comedy, drama, romance, angst, slight smut

warnings. coarse language, crACK like lOTS OF IT, theyre both idiots. excessive bickering,,, gym related stuff,,, Medical school itself is a warning,, unhealthy amounts of protein mentions,, i’m Sorry if you’re a gymbro 😭🙏🏾, awkwardness, oc gets slightly injured, it gets slightly smutty 👀, unspoken feelings bc they both suck at communicating, some Cute stuff, that should be it but lmk if i missed any, its 4am

wc. 4.5k +

if this writing style flops, i’ll probably quit writing too 💀

it’s 7:04 AM

or is it really. what is the time again

unfortunately you are awake.

and it’s not by choice.

it’s because your protein 💪 PROTEIN 💪 MORE PROTEIN 🏋️ gymrat neighbour is up, doing burpees in his living room

and the walls between your apartments are criminally thin

and you’re convinced he’s trying to invent a new form of torture through burpees because the sQUEAKING OF HIS DAMN SHOES ARE JUST AS LOUD AS AN ALARM CLOCK!!

why is he even awake at this ungodly hour, you wonder for the 8293838th time since moving in

you feel like crying

for rEAL.

it was around 5:30 am when u finally had let out a sigh of relief at having finally completed your assignment

you roll out of bed, hair resembling a bird’s nest

what else is bed hair supposed to look like

“O YEA!”

here we go

again

you feel like ripping your already damaged hair bc why does he have to be so damn loud

has no occupant not filed a complaint against him yet?

so now u consider knocking on his door to complain... but you remember what happened the last time you tried

jungkook had answered the door holding two dumbbells liKe they were extensions of his arms, shirtless, smiling so brightly it could cure vitamin D deficiency

you knew you were cooked the moment smirked at you gawkinG at his physique and you felt your cheeks warming up

“oh, hey, Y/N,” he’d said, casually flexing mid-sentence with that stupid grin on his face “need something? Or just admiring the view?”

you haven’t known peace ever since

by 8:15 AM, you’ve surrendered to fate and shuffled into the kitchen for coffee

you swEar you hear Jungkook’s blender whirring as he makes another one of his infamous protein shakes

does he even eat anything which does not have protein powder

like ok you understand the value of protein

but anything which has that stupid thing in it automatically tastes like the Biggest Piece of Dogshit

and somehow that’s what you neighbour has 24/7

last week he had accidentally left one in the communal fridge

it smelled like death and regret.

absolute L

anyway u think u need to get something in ur system too and thats when u open your fridge

and sigh

it’s empty.

except for a jar of pickles and a, uh, questionable carton of oat milk

yea. you’ll have to get brunch today. no futher questions asked

10:32 AM

ur first class of the day

and guess what

u have made the mistake of sitting near Jungkook in the lecture hall.

again! 😍

u swear that u are trying to focus on the lecture but is it really your fault that jungkook looks extra,,,...,,,

beefy

his notebook is open, but instead of notes, he’s drawing a disturbingly accurate diagram of biceps

and the shading looks pretty accurate too

he notices you staring, oof “anatomy is about more than just books, Y/N.”

you feel a muscle near your eye twitch

“i really don’t remember asking.”

ouch

that came out a bit too rude. . .

you feel like u should say sorry or something but he just flashes you that golden retriever grin

and somehow, you’re the one who feels stupid

12:10 PM

you’d think a med school lunch break would feel like a break

but no

the first thing you hear is the unmistakable pop of jungkook’s tupperware lid. it’s like pavlov’s bell, but instead of a dog, it triggers your impending irritation

of course it’s chicken, broccoli, and rice. gymrat starter pack™

does this man even know other foods exist?

atleast it doesn’t look unseasoned so maybe you can take it

you’re not the one having it anyway

“bon appétit,” he says with that smug grin, shoveling a forkful into his mouth like he’s filming a mukbang

you side-eye your sad excuse of a sandwich. “don’t you ever get bored of eating that?”

he gasps like a victorian man having seen the ankle of his wife for the first time

“bored? of gains? never.”

the chewing. oh god, the chewing. it’s so loud you’re convinced he’s doing it on purpose

crunch. chew. sip of water from the world’s largest bottle. repeat.

“do you have to eat like a vacuum?”

he pauses, fork mid-air, and looks at you with wide, innocent eyes. then he grins. “do you have to be this cute when you’re annoyed?”

wha— cough!!

did you just choke at your sandwich infront of him?

-100 aura points

your brain just blue-screens

what the hell are you supposed to do with that information

12:22 pm

you haven’t touched your chips yet. you’re saving them for after jungkook’s food massacre ends

his tupperware is licked clean but he’s already eyeing your bag of chips like a hawk

“you gonna eat those?”

“yes, jungkook, i’m gonna eat my chips”

“cool”

c r u n c h

he’s already eaten half the bag.

u are genuinely considering homicide now

the girl from the next table suddenly waves at him, all giggly and twirling her hair like she’s auditioning for a romcom

“hey, jungkook! you should totally sit with us!”

he glances at you, one brow raised. “should i?”

“why are you asking me?” you snap, already annoyed (but like, annoyed in a normal way, not jealous. definitely not jealous)

you miss the way his lips quirk in the corners

“nah, i think i’ll stay here,” he says, smirking. “you’re better company anyway”

...

why is your face heating up. why. stop it

1:00 PM

you’re walking to your next class when jungkook catches up, sipping his protein shake. the smell is somewhere between expired yogurt and pure evil

“so, lunch was fun,” he says casually, like he didn’t commit multiple crimes against your sanity earlier

“for who?” you mumble, giving him the nastiest bombastic side eye

“for both of us,” he replies, grinning. “don’t lie, y/n, you’d miss me if i wasn’t around”

“i’d miss the peace”

he laughs heartily and it’s the kind of laugh that makes you want to both strangle him and maybe... smile a little

1:12 PM

ur phone dings

dumb(bell)kook : (now) bring more chips tomorrow

or don’t. i’ll just steal them again

>:D

you stare at your screen for a second, debating whether to respond or block his number

you type back

you : (1:13PM) touch my chips again and i’ll report you to student conduct

his reply is instant.

dumb(bell)kook : (now) bet they’d let me off for good behavior 😛

2:47 pm.

group project time!

otherwise known as “watch y/n slowly lose her sanity” time

you're hunched over your notes, trying to come up with literally anything for this cursed assignment while everyone else is glued to their phones

“guys, any ideas?” you try, for the fifth time, because teamwork makes the dream work, right?

wrong. dead silence. you can practically hear your soul exiting your body

one guy mutters, "we could... idk, make a powerpoint?" and goes back to scrolling on instagram. helpful king

you’re about three seconds away from making a powerpoint on why you hate everyone here when the door swings open

in walks jungkook, twenty minutes late, balancing a protein shake in one hand and a clipboard in the other

like he’s about to announce his plan for world domination

he slides into the chair next to you, annoyingly fresh, as if he hasn’t just already benched three cows at the gym

“did i miss anything?” he asks, sipping his shake and eyeing you with those boba lookalike peepers like he’s the main character

why are his eyes so

cute

“yeah, we solved climate change and made contact with aliens. you're late.”

he smirks. smirks. “nice. guess i’ll tackle world hunger next.”

one of your lab mates looks up from her phone just to whisper, “he’s so hot..”

my ass.

“he’s useless”

you’re about to drop-kick the clipboard out of his hands when he lazily stretches and says, “so what’s the plan, y/n? you always have the best ideas”

and just like that, everyone turns to you like a pack of hyenas waiting for their next meal

you might actually murder him. right after you finish this stupid project.

>:-)

midnight.

you’re staring at your notes like they’re written in ancient alien hieroglyphics. focus? yup, that’s a myth

through the wall, you hear it. again.

jungkook’s obnoxious gym playlist thumping loud enough to summon the gods of protein.

how about you just summon the reaper to maybe reap your soul or his

you try to ignore it. you really do. but then the bass drops, and you swear the walls start vibrating

ARGH

that’s it. you’ve snapped. you slam your pen down and march out of your apartment like a woman on a mission

by the time you’re at his door, you’re already regretting this decision

but sleep-deprived y/n? she’s not known for her impulse control

you bang on the door like your life depends on it

>:-(

after a moment, jungkook opens up, looking like he just stepped out of a gym rat rom-com. damp hair, earbuds in, wearing a tank top that shows off way too much arm.

good lord, those tattoos..

“what’s up?” he asks casually, pulling out an earbud, as if you didn’t just nearly break his door down

whats up? what thE hELL DOES HE MEAN WHATS UP??

“it’s midnight!” you yell, waving a hand in the general direction of your apartment. “some of us need sleep to survive!”

he blinks at you, tilting his head like a confused golden retriever. “but you’re awake now. want to do a quick set of push-ups?

you stare at him. you need to go to the store from where he bought the audacity. “push-ups?!”

“yeah,” he says, dead serious. “it’s a good way to burn off frustration. i do them all the time when i’m annoyed.”

“maybe i should start,” you mutter, narrowing your eyes. “because i’m annoyed right now.”

jungkook grins like the demon he is. “great! i’ll grab my mat.”

before you can stop him, he’s already turned back into his apartment. you briefly consider running, but it’s too late.

this is your life now.

five minutes later, you’re on the floor of his apartment, struggling to do one (1) push-up while he effortlessly does twenty in the same time it takes you to collapse in defeat

you feel like someone has bathed you in sweat

“this is humiliating,” you groan, face smushed into the mat

maybe you should’ve just slept

“nah, you’re doing great,” he says, way too cheerfully for someone torturing you. “just three more and you’ll hit... like, five total.”

you debate throwing a dumbbell at him but decide against it

jail isn’t worth it.

yet.

five minutes later you’re on the floor of his apartment, now two (2) push-ups deep and already regretting every decision you’ve made up to this point

you try again, your arms shaking with the effort, your brain screaming for mercy, when—

crack

“ow, ow, ow!” you yelp as your shoulder protests in a way that’s probably not supposed to happen

“that’s it, i’m dOne” you wince, face red from the sheer humiliation and pain

jungkook is standing there with a weirdly sympathetic expression that’s 90% amusement and 10% concern

he’s crouching beside you now, and you can't help but notice his Bambi eyes, all big and concerned, looking at your shoulder like he's actually worried for you

fml

this is so unfair

“u good?” he asks, voice unusually soft, and you can’t help but notice that barely there scar on his left cheek pulling slightly as he frowns and looks down at you

you glare at him, wincing a little more than you’d like to admit

does it look like ur good lol

“i think i pulled something” you mutter, still holding your shoulder, and mentally kicking yourself for agreeing to do this in the first place

you knew you shouldn’t have agreed to him

“mm,” he hums thoughtfully, his gaze flicking to your face, and then down to your shoulder with that gentle focus you didn’t think he was capable of

oUuu

“you should’ve asked for help, rookie” he says with that familiar cocky grin, but you catch the slight crinkle of concern in his brow, the mole beneath his lips almost beckoning you to stare at it

why is he so dumb but also so stupidly handsome?

and then his fingers are brushing against your shoulder again, carefully massaging the area in a way that’s too intimate for someone who’s just your annoying gym-obsessed neighbor

your heart rate spikes, and suddenly the injury doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore

“i’m fine, really,” you lie, trying to brush it off, but the way his Bambi eyes are looking at you—all soft and worried—has your head spinning

oh god

“i don’t think you are” he mutters, voice low, as he places a hand gently on your waist, pulling you just a little closer

god, stop being so touchy

the fact that he smells like musk and with some citrus-y notes underneath doesn’t help either

you feel your cheeks warming and lips parting

you feel yourself leaning in despite all logic telling you to stop, and then his eyes flicker down to your lips and back to your eyes, slow and cautious, like he’s waiting for your permission

you really cannot help but feel your heart skip a beat at how beautiful he looks. no like for real, his hair is slightly overgrown, curled at the ends which fall gracefully over his face

and how soft his lips look

your brain is too far gone, and the next thing you know, you’re kissing him, hand tangled in his hair, pulling him even closer

his hair feels so silky soft

but his lips are even softer, but there’s a desperate edge to the kiss, and you don’t know if it's because of your injury or the fact that you’ve both been playing this weird tension game for far too long

you feel like u can finally die kissing him like this

his hand slides down your back, pressing you into him as if you might disappear, and you pull away, gasping for air

jungkook’s eyes are wide, his pupils blown and heavy-lidded, his chest rising and falling quickly as he looks at you with an unreadable expression

“shit, i… i didn’t think i was actually going to do that” he murmurs, his voice rough and nearly trembling if u hear closely

you stare at his lips again, the mole under them, the way he looks so dumb but also so dumb handsome

his mouth parts to say something stupid again but you shush him with your pointer on his lips

“shut up and kiss me again, you idiot” you mutter, pulling him back in without a second thought

oH WOW

Jungkook doesn’t need any more encouragement. this time, it’s all teeth and heat, a kiss that feels like it might burn the air around you both

and your shoulder? completely forgotten, left in the dust

the kiss doesn’t end in some grand, romantic crescendo like the movies promised

you both were shamelessly making out on his mat

you were perched on his lap and both of u were busy eating eachother’s mouths (it sounds gross but that’s what exactly u two were doing) when suddenly you give his hair a tug

and you hear a moan spilling from him

his hips buck up and you gasp, but it ends with him abruptly pulling away

he’s breathing like he just ran an hour on the treadmill. cheeks all flushed, lips shining with saliva and eyes wide

and your heart is hammering in your chest like it’s trying to escape

jungkook stares at you, lips slightly swollen, eyes wide and wild, and for once, the idiot looks just as lost as you feel

“i—uh—” you stammer, the words tangling in your throat because what the hell are you supposed to say after something like that

“y- yeah,” he cuts in, his voice rough and strained like he’s been punched in the gut, “same”

same? SAME?!

you glare at him, more out of panic than anger, because suddenly the room feels too small, and his scent—something annoyingly musky and Jungkook-ish—is now overwhelming you

“i, uh, should go” you blurt out, scrambling to your feet and clutching your sore shoulder like a lifeline

jungkook doesn’t stop you, just sits there on the floor, looking up at you with a furrowed brow and an expression you can’t quite place

“cool” he mutters, dragging a hand through his messy hair as his jaw clenches

you don’t say anything else, don’t even look back as you practically bolt out of his apartment and into the safety of your own, slamming the door shut behind you

breathe, you tell yourself, leaning against the door, your heart still racing, your lips still tingling from his kiss

you won’t lie, you really didn’t think it would take just a tug of hair to have Mr. Muscle moaning under you

and that kind of inflated ur ego too

>:-)

but now

as u stand behind your closed door

the warmth that had filled your chest moments ago is quickly replaced by a knot of confusion and panic

because this wasn’t supposed to happen, not with Jungkook of all people

he’s my annoying gym-rat neighbor. this is… this is stupid

or is this really?..

no matter how much you try to convince yourself, your fingers keep brushing your lips absentmindedly, and your brain replays the moment over and over again like some kind of cruel joke

the next morning, you half expect him to blast his gym playlist at full volume to piss you off like he always does

but it’s quiet

too quiet

jungkook doesn’t blast music. doesn’t clank weights around. doesn’t do anything to make his presence known, and it’s driving you insane

you don’t know why it bothers you so much, but it does

when you leave for class, you catch a glimpse of him locking his door, but he doesn’t even glance your way

just slings his backpack over his shoulder and walks off like you don’t exist

asshole

yea that hurt. a Lot. like a good amount, because you are sure that you felt that pain in the centre of your chest

but it’s not like you’re any better

you bury yourself in your textbooks, pretending the kiss never happened, even though your stupid brain refuses to let it go

your chest feels tight every time you hear his door open or his voice filter through the thin walls

and you hate how you feel disappointed every time he doesn’t acknowledge you

like you really are a stranger to him

:-(

it’s pathetic, but you can’t help it

the silence between the two of you stretches on like an invisible barrier

days pass, and the two of you become masters of the fine art of avoidance

there’s a strange art to it, like walking on eggshells in your own apartment

even if u two live in separate apartments, it just feels

weird

you are so used to him being so noisy and what not

but the silence is heavy, uncomfortable, like an unfinished sentence hanging in the air

and it’s clEar neither of you know how to handle whatever the hell this is

you can’t figure out whether it’s a relief or suffocating

and every time you pass him in the hallway or see him through your apartment window, it’s like a silent conversation you’re not having

and that, somehow, feels worse than everything else

you want him to say something. anything.

but he doesn’t

and neither do you

and it makes you sick how easy it is to fall back into the rhythm of pretending he doesn’t exist

even when he’s right there.

you go to class and he’s there

sitting three rows ahead of you like he’s deliberately trying to ignore you

and with that girl who cannot seem to have her hands off his bicep

and you’re… fine with it

totally fine

you are just hoping that your glare is enough to burn a hole in her skull

it’s just that you can’t stop staring at the back of his head

like maybe he’ll turn around and say something but nope

the entire lecture passes and he doesn’t even glance over

and you try not to overthink it but you’re pretty sure jungkook is doing the same thing to you

ignoring you

on purpose

you’re not imagining it, right?

lunch rolls around and you sit down at your usual spot

jungkook’s sitting at the table next to you with his back to you

he doesn’t even look up when you sit down

normally, he would’ve sent you a little half-smile or asked about your day or whatever. .

but now? nothing

it’s like you’re invisible

and that’s fine. you don’t care.

but deep down, you feel this weird lump in your chest

because you didn’t expect this coldness from him

even after everything that’s happened

and you’d even unconsciously brought his favourite flavour of chips he especially likes..

:(

then you see him texting on his phone

and you can’t help but peek over at his screen

jungkook is texting someone

and it’s not you

for some reason, that stings more than it should, but you swallow it down and pretend you didn’t notice

the silence between the two of you stretches out for days

it’s like the entire universe is pretending you never had that moment together

the night when everything took a wild ass turn

but jungkook’s acting like it never happened

and so are you.

and maybe, just maybe, that’s better

maybe he regrets kissing you.

maybe you even made him uncomfortable?..

and maybe this is easier

you can’t decide if it hurts or if you’re just overthinking it

either way, you stop checking his texts, stop wondering what he’s doing in his apartment

you try your best to pretend it’s okay

but deep down, you miss the stupid moments

the ones where he wasn’t so distant where it feels like something ended between you two before it could even start.

it feels like it’s been over a decade

:(

and you hate it.

but you push it aside

it’s just… the silence is way too loud now.

you’re sitting in your room, trying to convince yourself that letting go of jungkook is the right thing to do

and perhaps ur failing miserably lol

but it’s hard because every five minutes you catch yourself staring at something that reminds you of him

your notes? he doodled on them during lectures

your hoodie? yeah, it’s his. he lent it to you one day and never asked for it back

your heart? yeah. he kind of stole that too

you’re spiraling between sleep and insanity when there’s a knock on your door

no, wait—it’s not a knock

it’s banging — like someone’s fist is about to break through the wood

WHO CALLED THE COPS ON YOU ONG

you jump up, your heart pounding, and open the door

and there he is

jungkook—standing there, looking like he just ran a marathon and fought a bear at the same time

hair all messy, slight bags underneath his eyes and kinda disheveled outfit

for a split second, you freeze, your breath catching in your throat

oh

it’s been weeks since you’ve seen him, and suddenly having him standing in front of you is making your heart race like crazy

“i can’t—” he stops, breathless, hands on his knees like he’s about to collapse

you’re standing there, eyes wide, totally taken aback by the sight of him, feeling a mix of relief and something else you can’t quite place

yet

“i can’t take it anymore,” he says, looking up at you with that ridiculous face of his

you grab that meaty bicep of him, ushering him to stand up

“what are you talking about?” you ask, completely confused

“you. i’m talking about you,” he says, taking a step closer

hUH

the air around you feels like it’s being sucked out of the room

your head is spinning because after all this time, here he is, right in front of you

“i like you. i’ve always liked you. and i didn’t know how to tell you, so i…”

“i got all this gym equipment just to bother you. i’d turn the music up way too loud, and i thought that’d make you notice me. i sat next to you at lunch, even in lectures, doing everything to annoy you because i didn’t know how else to approach you, i really thought—”

“jungkook.”

you blink, processing everything in a blur, your heart still hammering in your chest

but he doesn’t quite listen to you. “i knew you liked my sketches we had during cardio lectures, so i always made sure to draw—”

“juNGKOOK!”

you cut him off, smacking his idiotic shoulders “you’re an idiot.”

jungkook stops, eyes widening a little, but there’s this look of relief on his face

like a huge weight has just been lifted off him

almost like when u get to pee after holding it in for hours

“i know,” he says softly, and for the first time, you realize how vulnerable he looks standing there

he somehow looks

small.

“then why didn’t you just talk to me like a normal person?” you ask, your voice a mix of exasperation and amusement

jungkook smiles sheepishly, his pearly whites flashing. “i guess i thought this would be easier.”

easier.

only if he knew that each moment without him felt like the earth opening up and swallowing you

AND!!! HIS FAVOURITE ONION VINEGAR FLAVORED CHIPS!! which used to be your absolutely hated flavour but somehow you’ve caught a liking to them recently

how ironic

the room feels heavy with tension as you both stand there, unsure of what to say next, but his gaze is so intense, it makes your heart skip

“say something,” he says, his voice quieter now, almost pleading. “please.”

you can feel the heat rising in your cheeks, still flustered, but there’s something about his earnestness that makes everything else fade into the background

and the way his caramel brown eyes nearly sparkle underneath your dimly lit apartment lights

you shake your head with a smile.

“you’re an idiot.”

but you're smiling like a total fool because what else are you supposed to do when the guy you’ve been in love with just confessed to you?

jungkook’s face softens, and then he smiles too

a smile which looks so adorable you feel your heart will burst

and it’s over for you

“so, uh…” he scratches the back of his neck, looking bashful. “does that mean you like me too?”

you roll your eyes, your heart racing all over again, and grab the front of his shirt to pull him inside

“kiss me already”

the door slams shut behind you.

and the rest

as they say, is history

:-)

a/n : i love them bad :’(

mlist | let me know what you think anonymously :))

[charliegyrth]

A Milkshake a Day - Part 1 of 4

Gary and I Make an Oscar Bet

As the Oscars played, I munched on kettle corn. I knew I shouldn’t. I’d gained 32 pounds since last summer and I’d already had to change my pants size twice. My shirts had upgraded from mediums to XLs. Worst of all, my jawline had softened to the point where I genuinely looked like a different person.

I was never vain about my looks, but I couldn’t help but feel self-conscious sitting next to my roommate Gary. (Even at my thinnest, I felt self-conscious next to him.)

We sat together on the couch, watching the show. He didn’t snack, of course. He never did. He was wearing his skin-tight Barbenheimer shirt. His pecs were so large that they absolutely warped Barbie’s smiling face.

“It’s coming up,” he said excitedly. “Get ready to admit defeat.”

Every year, Gary and I made bets on what would win best picture. This year, I was all-in on Oppenheimer. (And based on all the awards so far, it looked like I’d made the right choice.) Gary went for Barbie. Despite being a gym-obsessed muscle hunk, he was a bit girlish in his taste in movies. I found that very cute.

We sat through the final commercial break, both a bit nervous about the last award of the night. Our previous bets had always been pretty low-stakes. The loser would have to pay the winner twenty bucks. Or take him out to dinner. Or sing an embarrassing song at karaoke.

This year was different. Whoever won the bet had to wash the dishes every day for a year. We both hated doing the dishes (mostly because the blender that Gary used for his protein shakes was an absolute bitch to clean out).

“I dunno, man. I feel pretty confident right now.”

He stared at the TV, trying to hide his nervousness. “Barbie’s a freakin’ masterpiece. How could it be anything else?”

The award was announced (Oppenheimer, of course), and Gary jumped off the couch. He knocked the bowl out of my hands and popcorn scattered onto the floor. (Thankfully, it wasn’t a lot. I’d already eaten almost of all it.) “No!” he screamed.

“Sorry, Gare. Looks like you’ll be spending a lot more time in the kitchen this year.” I felt the thrill of victory, but I also felt a bit sorry for him. Not only did his favorite movie of the year lose out on all the important categories (minus Billie Eilish’s iconic song win, of course), but the thought of all that dish-washing had left him looking genuinely panicked.

He sat back down, grabbing me by my shirt. He pulled, exposing a sliver of my new belly. “Please, man. If I’da known Barbie had any chance of losing, I never would’ve agreed to this stupid bet.”

“A deal’s a deal, man,” I said, handing him the empty popcorn bowl. “Here. You can start with this.”

“Isn’t there another chore I could do? I could… I could take out the trash!”

“Too easy.”

“What about dusting? I could dust every room once a week.”

“Sorry.”

“Please, Bry! Anything but dishes. Just name it. I’m sure there’s something else you want.”

I looked down at my exposed belly. The only thing I really wanted was to lose weight, but I just didn’t have the self-control. My biggest issue was the McDonalds right down the street. I walked by it every day on my way home from work, and I had zero self-control. It was those damn milkshakes. Since that restaurant opened, I’d been bringing one home every single afternoon. I tried to stop, but I think I was addicted.

He couldn’t help with that. I’d sort of resigned myself to the fact that I was destined to keep getting fatter and fatter.

(He’d tried to take me to his gym a couple times, and I hated every minute of it. No will power. Plus, I felt so awkward being the tagalong fat friend surrounded by all his ultra-hot gym buddies.)

Then I had an idea. A ridiculous, weird idea. “How about, instead of doing the dishes, you drink my McDonalds milkshakes for me?”

“What?”

“Hear me out. You know I have this compulsion. Every time I walk by McDonalds, I have to buy a milkshake. I can’t stop myself. How about… I bring them home and you drink them instead of me? It obviously won’t affect you, since you basically live at the gym. It’ll be like I’m vicariously drinking them, but I won’t get all the extra calories.”

“That’s… weird.”

“I know, but it’s better than doing the dishes, right?”

“True.” He was really considering it. He looked down at my belly, which was once again covered by my shirt. I knew he was worried about how quickly I was gaining weight. I also knew that he didn’t quite understand my logic, but that’s okay. I didn’t really understand it either. “You got a deal.”

We shook on it.

For the first time, I felt optimistic for the future. I think I found the motivation that I needed.

***

The next day, I got home with the usual milkshake in my hand. It took a lot of effort not to drink anything on my walk down the street.

Gary was waiting for me in the living room. He was shirtless, still sweaty from his trip to the gym. He was pretty much the most handsome guy I knew, but we’d lived together so long (both cycling through different boyfriends) that I only saw him platonically. I appreciated his pecs and abs without lusting after them.

I handed him the shake. “You ready?”

“You know how weird this is, right?”

“I do.”

We sat on the couch. He held the cup nervously, like he was handling radioactive material or something. I don’t think he’d ever had a McDonalds milkshake in his entire life.

He sucked on the straw. “Ugh. It’s too sweet.”

“Try to enjoy it, please,” I said. If this was going to work, I needed to watch him drink it down and trick my brain into thinking that I was the one drinking.

He sucked some more. I could tell he didn’t like it, but he did his best to hide the look of disgust on his face. He drank it pretty fast, though, both despite and because of his disgust at the taste. He stopped about halfway through.

“You sure you don’t want to have the rest?”

I did. More than anything. My mouth was literally watering. “A deal’s a deal, right?”

He grumbled and kept drinking. Soon, his straw started making slurp noises. He’d finished the whole thing. He leaned back against the couch, holding his still-flat stomach. He did not look happy.

“You’ll get used to the taste,” I said.

“I better.”

Read Part 2 here. You can find the full ebook here. And you can find all my stories here.

[felidae-sims]

Game Fuckery Help and Linux List [Update].

I'm avoiding re-installing this shit again, so in the meantime I'm sorting some stuff into lists. For Linux research purposes.

Edit: Standby Memory Allocation on Windows 10: New info coming in: That's not the issue. However, what i wrote below about TM is my own experience and has worked for me (without doing what Jessa was saying in the SB memory part, I remembered, hope I didn't waste anybody's time). Does it make sense? idk, but it's harmless, and if it's actually a thing and not just a freak coincidence, and can help anybody else then why not. I do remember trying it with and without cleaning cache :/ [for fuck sake the nerve on EA to put out for sale a new edition without improving it to 64bit]. As discussed by Jessa below, it's an OS problem. What worked for me, for some bizarre reason was to keep Task Manager on before and while playing the game. without it my game was crashing often, on my main non gaming computer. What solved it was fixing windows... for anyone's interested, the gory details are at the bottom of the post under the cut.

+ That combined with clearing cache often.

Jessa's video (Memory Allocation and 4GB Patch Repair). Edit: Turns out this video was pulled back, so basically just make sure the patch is applied?

1. Secound opinion on the whole matter by BrandiNotBroke [the whole #pink flash diaries tag is interesting]:

2. Leefish forum - Sims2 Graphic Cards:

3. @celebkiriedhel's Post (Texture Memory):

Linux:

@teaaddictyt & @niamh-sims About Linux.

2. @nonsensical-pixels about Linux.

3. @brandinotbroke, first Linux supporter I've encountered here. A comprehensive post:

4. @grilledcheese-aspiration, Transferring software and such from Windows to Linuxs:

Texture Memory Fuckery (Pink Soup, among other things):

Kiri's post linked at the beginning, first an foremost.

Original Post by @fireflowersims, plus; re-blog by @ovytia. Both of their tags, and comment:

2. A recap on Pink Soup/Texture Sizes by @rockethorse in the comments:

That's it for now. Any more information or good links will be welcome.

Task Manager thing briefly, for the curious (as if it interests anyone else but me, but in the interest of keeping track).

So the game was crashing often. That thing was easy to spot because the laptop would make loud airplane noises when I'd load the game. It got stuck or something, so I went to end it by force with task manager and noticed that all the resources where used to the max - right up until I'd open TM, and then everything would cool down. Like it was playing hide and seek with me. So I figured I'd get smart with it right back, and just leave TM open the whole time. Low and behold, the game stopped crashing. That combined with clearing cache often. Does it make sense? idk, but the computer works in mysterious ways.

[liquidcrystalsky]

lets talk about game files what a new an interesting concept

splatoon textures, along with all bfres textures, are stored using S3 compression, or "BCn" it's a series of formats from BC1 to BC7

this is only used in nintendo's ".bntx" format, and of course the industry standard for DirectX textures, ".dds"

(bntx can describe multiple images at once, like all the textures for an entire scene can be one bntx file, while dds only allows one image per file)

It's a bit similar to JPEG where things are stored in little chunks, jpeg is 8x8 and bcn is 4x4. JPEG uses combinations of cosine functions and fourier transforms to represent each block while bcn is fucking wizardry idk but it changes on each version.

Coloured textures in splatoon 3 use "BC1" It's a format which allows 3 colour channels and a single bit alpha channel. It kinda sucks, a normal image has 3 channels each with 8 bits of colour, but bc1 uses 5 bits red, 6 bits green, 5 bits blue. And somehow the alpha is stored in there through wizardry. It's 16 bits per pixel rather than 32 and compresses really well and u can barely notice it so whatever yay

Single colour textures, like roughness, alpha, metalness, anything black and white which represents data rather than colour is "BC4". It only supports one channel so it can be a pretty small file for the data it contains. 8 bits per pixel but again, only one channel, no alpha at all, but you wouldn't need it

That accounts for maybe 80% of the textures in game, and 19% goes to "BC5" which is nearly exclusively used on Normal Maps. Instead of a colour or some data, it represents a direction using 2 channels. It's really cool because, if you have an X and a Y channel, for a direction, you can calculate the Z channel with no loss of information!!

This is why some normal maps are yellow instead of blue!

Nerd Shit: the blue channel is just sqrt(1 - x^2 - y^2), so if you have a yellow normal map, you can use math nodes in blender to convert it to a 3 channel one. That equation is actually a rearranged version of the Pythagorean Theorem!

another interesting thing is that BC5 textures sometimes calculated in a weird format, "SNORM" (signed normalized) which allows for negative numbers! For a byte, it maps [0, 255] to [-1, 1]

Nerd shit: it's actually [0, 127] to [0, 1] and 128 turns to -1, and [129, 255] to [-1, 0), note the last one does not include 0, a value of 0xFF is just slightly less than 0. By having two negative ones, the interval of [-1, 1] is represented with evenly spaced values unlike a float, which gets more precise as it goes to 0

the final 1% is BC6 and unlike where the value of a pixel is gotten from signed or unsigned bits, it's stored as floats! floats can store basically any number but you lose precision at really large numbers, but hell even at low numbers. Splatoon 3 uses BC6 for the skyboxes! by having the numbers as floats, you can parts to be extremely different. The largest difference in a normal image is a pixel with brightness 1 to a pixel with brightness 255, which is 255x more. A float technically can be infinitely times more, but it allows you to also have a lot of detail in the dark parts, while having detail in the lighter parts too! if you're making a realistic scene, it would make sense that the sun would have to be more than 255x brighter than the rest of the sky. even if your monitor cant display things that bright, it allows for much more realistic lighting

switch toolbox doesnt allow you to export to an easily usable format which supports floats, i can export it as a dds but not many programs can use that, and even less use ASTC. I want to get it to export to EXR but thats gonna take a bit.

thats my explanation on why i haven't ripped skyboxes that was the whole point of this post. bye

[joyful-enchantress]

Is it 2025 yet? 🕚

Folks tend to get reflective during this time of year and... it's me. I'm folks. Reflecting on 2024 has been hitting me in the gut like a sucker punch.

Some of you know, in great detail, what I've faced in 2024. Some of you know parts of it, but not all. And some of you know none of it. But 2024 has been the most difficult year in my 32 years of life. That's not to say that there hasn't been any joy throughout the year, because there has been. That's just to say that the things I've had to process this year sometimes had me feeling like both my brain and my heart were in a blender.

I've been a bit of a recluse as a result -- not just on Tumblr, but in all my communication channels, and even IRL to an extent. I certainly haven't been myself for much of the year.

With the holidays upon us, I'm feeling extra reflective, and so I decided to do a 2024 recap. And there's some people I want to thank that will be tagged. PLEASE, there is no obligation to read on, even if you're tagged. There's some heavy shit below the cut. If you're tagged and don't choose to read on, just know that you've played a part in adding some warmth and light to my year despite everything and that I love and appreciate you 💚

Here goes nothing --

January 2024: After a few months in a nursing home, we learned that my husband's grandmother was put on hospice.

February 2024: My husband's grandmother passed away. Our first loss of the year. It was sad, but not tragic. She was 99 and passed away peacefully. Later in the month, we get the news that my maternal grandfather has cancer. It was discovered very late.

March 2024: My grandfather was put on hospice.

April 2024: My grandfather passed away. Our second loss of the year. I'm trying to comfort my mom as she mourns the loss of her dad. Later in the month, MY dad has some tests done and gets a call with the results -- they detected tumors in his abdomen.

May 2024: After a few more appointments, it becomes clear that my dad's situation is dire. He is shortlisted for major surgery to remove the tumors ASAP. He had surgery on May 21st. They removed several tumors, the largest of which was about 44 lbs (20 kg) ‼️ Recovery from the surgery seems to be going fairly well at first, but then things take a turn with some additional complications. He passed away for the first time on May 31st, but they resuscitated him. Now he has 6 broken ribs on top of everything else.

June 2024: My dad spent most of the first week of June unconscious and on life support. My family, considering all options and all the complications, made the difficult and heartbreaking decision to take him off life support and end his suffering. He passed away on June 7th. We held a beautiful memorial service for him on June 22nd. I started therapy to get support through my grief.

July 2024: Towards the end of the month, my mom found a camera in the house as she began sorting through things. She found it in the stand beside my dad's chair. After some digging she also located the charging cord and turned the camera on expecting some happy memories. Instead, she found photographic evidence of my dad's infidelity. And the woman in the pictures with my dad is one of my mom's sisters. The pictures are from about 10 years ago. Obviously this news rocks my world -- tilts it on its axis. I feel some cracks forming in the foundation of who I am as a person, since my dad shaped so much of that. I was close with my dad. I never suspected in a million years that he could have done something like this.

August 2024: During this month, my mom managed to find my dad's phone, which had become lost amongst the chaos of bringing his things back from the hospital, funeral planning, etc. In light of what she found on the camera, she opens my dad's text message thread with my aunt. It is damning; full of pictures, explicit messages, and arrangements. Some as recently as early 2024. My dad's affair with my mom's sister was ongoing for a decade.

September 2024: I feel like I'm finally making a breakthrough in therapy (thank god I didn't waste time deciding to start in the first place or I don't know if I would have made it through the year). My therapist is wonderful and she has me start to work on reparenting myself and relearning how to express my emotions in a healthy way, after a childhood of being raised by a dad who would yell and scream and get angry anytime I cried. I seriously would stare at my therapist through the screen and say "I WANT to cry right now, but I can't" My body would shut it down without me even thinking; a defense mechanism that I had developed as a kid to avoid getting screamed at. (GREAT news -- I'm way better at crying, now, guys!! 🥳)

October 2024: My husband is in a car accident. Most importantly, he is okay! He did end up with whiplash and a concussion, and his concussion symptoms do still flare up from time to time even 2 months later, but we've been told that's not abnormal and they are getting fewer and further between. As a much more minor but still disappointing note -- the accident happened the day before we were supposed to leave for a trip that we had planned and had been looking forward to since January. We had to cancel the trip.

November 2024: My first Thanksgiving without my dad was very difficult.

December 2024: My mom closed on a house! This is obviously very exciting and I more than understand why she wants to move out and sort of leave everything of her life with my dad behind. But it is still... a lot. It is all so strange. And scary. And sad. I celebrated my first birthday without my dad on December 19th. It was hard. He gave me roses and a balloon every year without fail. So, this year my wonderful husband got me 32 red rose cookies... he didn't want to replicate exactly what my dad did (he might have, had it not been for the discovery of my dad's decade-long affair) but he wanted to pay homage to it, and I think he knocked it out of the park. I love him so much and I'm so lucky to have him.

And now I'm about to celebrate my first Christmas without my dad. I already know it is going to be difficult. This entire holiday season has been more difficult than I could probably explain. But I'm being kind to myself and I'm trying to look for the joy amongst it all.

If you've made it this far --- whew. Are you okay? Seriously, I know that is a lot, even to just read about all at once. I've spent a lot of time this year being so confused and angry... my grief journey for my father, which is already difficult in and of itself, doesn't even get to be straightforward or "normal."

I'm aware this has been bleak. I didn't post this to bring you down. I just wanted to put it out there so you know. So you know why I may have seemed distant or absent this year.

I sincerely hope that you all have the warmest and most wonderful holiday season, and a kick-ass New Year! So many of you have been there for me this year, whether in direct support, or just by providing some fun, silly distractions that injected joy and laughter into my year. Truly, you have no idea the difference or the lasting impression even one comment or whisper of support can make. I love you all, and don't you forget it.

Here's to 2025! May it be kinder to us all ✨

@ijuststareatstuffhereok89 @lokisgoodgirl @mochie85 @sarahscribbles @infinitystoner @loz-3 @loopsisloops @holdmytesseract @muddyorbs @give-me-a-moose @maple-seed @ladyofthestayingpower @tallseaweed @loki-cees-all @liminalpebble @fandxmslxt69 @lokiandbuckysdoll @superficialdomina @jiyascepter @gruftiela @simplyholl ++ people I'm sure that I missed 💚

[kd89-3dstudios]

🚆 Subway Station - Blender Scene 🚆

Subway station for people who like to be on the move. I hope you guys like it 💚

<Click on the image to go to the download page >

made with blender 4.0

Use Blender 3.0 or higher

Works in Cycles x Eevee

ONYL FOR BLENDER USER - [ Not for the Game]

Hardware Requirements

Recommended or Hiher!

64-bit eight core CPU

32 GB RAM

2560×1440 display

Three button mouse or pen+tablet

Graphics card with 8 GB RAM

TOU:

Don't claim as your own.

Don't re-upload.

Don't re-edit.

Social Media:

But you can comment and feel free to use them

Instagram KD89_3Dstudios

[tlbodine]

Overthinking: The Barking Ghost

The Barking Ghost is Goosebumps #32, and has one of the most truly iconic scary covers. Unfortunately, the book itself is pretty not-great, a fact that Stine even cops to -- he cites it alongside Go Eat Worms as one of his least favorite. But I actually had a decent time with Worms -- so maybe I'd enjoy this one?

First, the Plot:

Cooper is a scaredy cat. He can't make it through one night at his new house without waking up in a panic multiple times at every weird noise. Not helping is his older brother, Mickey, who likes playing mean pranks on him. Or the fact that there really do seem to be some very suspicious noises coming from the woods behind the new house, like two dogs barking and howling.

Mustering his courage to explore, Cooper runs into a neighbor girl named Fergie. She acts really weird, warning him that his house is haunted and to get away. Then he runs into a pair of angry-looking black Labradors that chase him home, but disappear when he turns around.

His parents don't buy the haunted house thing, and later Fergie admits that she was just making it up as a prank because Mickey told her to. Despite this, Cooper and Fergie become pretty good friends and start hanging out more.

Unfortunately, Cooper is still seeing the dogs. What's worse, they appear to be ghost dogs -- he watches as they leap through the wall and steal his sandwich! But nobody will believe him about it, so he sets up a plan to watch them at a sleepover with Fergie.

The dogs show up and drag the kids out into the woods, shoving them into a shack. Inside, it's revealed that the ghost dogs are actually people who were cursed and need to swap their bodies. They steal Cooper and Fergie's bodies, leaving the kids as dogs. The kids try several things to try to get their bodies back, finally succeeding at luring the impostors back to the shed to make the switch.

Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and instead of getting their own bodies back, they get swapped into chipmunks. Oh well. Better go find some acorns to snack on...

Overthinking It:

I will say this: For this book's flaws, it feels beginning to end like an R.L. Stine original. Either by this stage his ghostwriters had gotten a lot better at mimicking his style, or Stine was just doing his own writing again, because we've had a run now of books that feel like classic Stine.

So while this book kind of sucks, it does so in a "I need to bang something out real quick to hit my deadline" organic sort of way, and I respect that.

It's not all bad. There are some pockets of interesting story here. It's just that it's not bringing anything new to the table -- it's mostly a rehash of Ghost Beach and My Hairiest Adventure and The Werewolf of Fever Swamp and You Can't Scare Me thrown into a blender:

Mysterious neighbor kid and spooky apparitions? Check.

Kids turning into dogs? Check.

A shack in the middle of the woods behind your house? Check.

Most of the runtime spent on pranks and counter-pranks? Check.

The other problem with this book is that the plot doesn't really hold together in a logical fashion. Stuff just sort of happens. There's not much explanation for anything, and events don't really seem to lead into one another. The "ghost dogs switching bodies of kids" bit feels like it should be an end twist, instead of a midpoint reveal, and spending all that time running around as dogs puts a damper on the tension because it frankly seems like a lot of fun.

Normally I can figure out what the underlying fear is in one of these books and wax poetic about it but this one is pretty dry tbh.

How bout that cover, though?

If You Liked This, THESE Will Really Give You Goosebumps:

There are heavy Coraline vibes to the "kid exploring a new house" bit.

For a different take on ghostly dogs, try The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.

If you picked this up expecting a very bad dog based on the cover, try Cujo instead.

[wordingg]

Is it literally the last day of the year? yes. did i really wait until the absolute last day to make my 'year in reading' post? yes. will anyone care? absolutely not.

THIS YEAR WAS A GOOD YEAR FOR READING! I read exactly 100 books this year (wow such a nice round number). My top genre this year was fantasy (65 books), followed by LGBTQIA (50 books), and coming in third is romance (32 books). Of the books I read 58% were digital, 37% were print, and a measly 5% were audio (sorry audiobooks).

My favorite books that I read this year!!! (in no particular order)

His Secret Illuminations/His Sacred Incantations by Scarlett Gale. It really feels like the author of this duology took all my preferences, kinks, and favorite tropes, threw them in a blender, and hit 'fuck it up'. These books have role reversal, religious guilt/oppression, a high fantasy setting, a plot that revolves around toppling the powers that be and standing up for yourself, plus! PLUS! a muscle mommy. Like, shut. Just shut up okay.

Mr. Warren's Profession by Sebastian Nothwell. I'd like to list every one of Sebastian Nothwell's books, because I think I've read almost all of them this year, but that would be messy so I picked my favorite one. It's a gay regency romance with a wet cat/golden retriever couple, including a former sex worker, love reaching across divisions of class, and discourse on industrial revolution era factories and union busting. Like, just take my money okay? No more words need to be said.

True Love Bites by Joy Demorra. Is it the werewolf/vampire romance? Is it the alternate Victorian England setting? Or is it the triumphant subversion of every tired awful romance trope that I hate? Honestly, any of these would have made this book a big hit with me, but the combination of all three really put it over the top. This is such a lovely book and I am gnawing on the bars of my enclosure waiting for the next one.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. I'm really sad that I have waited this long to read Mr. Tingle's traditionally published books, because this book slam dunked my ass. After I finished it I just sort of laid on the floor for a bit and let my five year old use my ribs as a trampoline. I love the protagonist of this book so much. She was so rich and vibrant, flawed but also perfect. She felt real to me, you know? And then to layer that with a story about religious guilt and oppression (I really don't want to find out this is a new thing with me), disturbing imagery, and a quest to do the right thing and help strangers? Yeah, I'm in. You got me. You got me good, Mr. Tingle.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. I went into this book knowing almost nothing about it, but it absolutely grabbed me by the throat within the first few chapters. It's very hard to describe, but I'm going to give it a try. Imagine that Alice in Wonderland was real and also it happened in the American South. Now, imagine that after Alice came back to reality, she put a curse on her hometown which allowed creatures from Wonderland to come through and just like murder your grandma occasionally. Now, it's modern times, but your small town is under the dark clouds of both a generations old curse and an evil corporate overlord and you're just an angry homeless girl who's more likely to bite than to say thank you and somehow you've got to save your brother from both the curse and the corporation. Oh yeah and there's a hot bisexual guy living in a sentient house who sort of has a thing for you, but in a slouching goth boy way. There. There, I think I did it.

Honorable Mentions (also in no particular order): - The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou (Xianxia version of "if this burn goes any slower, I'm gonna lock you both in a closet, oh wait nevermind we've already tried that multiple times.") - Born of Scourge by S. Jean (WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE SAD? LOOK AT THIS LITTLE GUY! LOOK AT HIM! HE WAS BORN ALREADY TRAUMATIZED!) - Delicious In Dungeon by Ryoko Kui (I only read one manga series this year and this was it. It more than earned it's spot.) - Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell (if you thought this book was bad, you're wrong. I'm sorry. I called Mother Theresa in hell and she agreed with me. yeah, you're wrong.) - All About Lust by Gong Lyong Kim (I believe that this is what art school is like for everyone until it's proven otherwise.)

What books did you guys read this year? Did you guys read any of these books (please shout at me about them I'll shout back)? Got any good recs?

[biddybaboop]

Had a very disgusting experience in the afternoon, for context, last week we made fertilizer (just put coffee grounds, a bit of yeast, eggshells, banana peels and other shit on a blender), like 20 liters of it, big ass bucket, the type paint comes in if you want to paint a wall. We used half of it, but some other classmate took it for another plant in the school and we didn't really know much about the fertilizer or the bucket after that.

Well, the bucket was a friend of mine's, and he decided to take it back to his house today, however when we went to fetch it first thing I saw was that the bucket seemed to have a more shallow bottom? that was not the case, there was leftover fertilizer that had grown like some type of white crust on top, and the moment we slightly moved the bucket the smell hit, and dear GOD I'm sure someone took a shit in it because it didn't smell like ANYTHING ELSE, it smelled like straight up POOP!

So we went to the school vegetable patch (using Google translate for that) to clean it. Further context: we had been out in the sun for the last three hours, it's 32°c and humidity through the roof, so we were also dealing with being sweaty. Cleaning that thing was a two person job and we asked for some disposable gloves at the lab. First time throwing out the leftovers almost made my friend puke (it also didn't help that the other four of us were pretending to barf). I then helped my friend hose down that thing while we both tried not to throw up, there was almost no fertilizer left but the bucket still stank.

After it was mostly clean (but still smelt like shit), we went back to the lab to douse ourselves in disinfectant and asked if we could borrow some bleach, after explaining our situation the teacher just gave us a look of pity and said yes.

I don't know how to finish this, just if you're making fertilizer like that please make sure to use it all immediately or make sure your classmate did, and wash wherever you did right away.

[tactical-mode]

Episode 12 - Airbuster

(Mama an Easter Egg behind you!)

Our hacked (hackneyed?) retelling of FF7 continues with AIRBUSTER. Also, a portentous flashback featuring Tifa…

You know the drill: story scenes in front, fight scenes at the back. Turn on CC to read the dialogue.

[Chapter 07] Scene 09

I just switched around two shots here and cut a little bit out of the music, starting the track later and ending it earlier. I sourced a heartbeat sound for that OG feel.

Scene 10

The establishing shot here is me playing with camera paths again, it took a few takes to run blindly up to the reactor core instead of coming into frame on the diagonal or not at all haha. The dialogue exchange between Cloud and Barret in OG has been replaced in 7R by a wordless gesture. The cut dialogues are:

Cloud: ”I know. You’re my watch, right?”

Barret: ”Damn straight. Tifa’s old friend… that ain’t good enough.” [gives him the bomb]

Scene 32-33

As the jump in scene number implies, 7R’s expanded journey from the core has been cut or moved to the previous episode. Lots of fun, with an incredible score! Snip snip.

There’s another shot with another preset path while I run up the stairs. Shots like this will probably become standard in the Episode-Episodes, now that I can do them! The scenery porn I used in Ep 003 — that I anticipated for all the dungeons — will likely be moved to Deleted/Extended-Eps.

Scene 34-35

The gods-blasted button puzzle just had to be included, uweeheeheehee. There is a sneaky cross-fade here as well, did you notice it?

The door-opening shots were done by approaching the doors, freezing the game, yeeting Cloud out of frame (and into the stratosphere), unfreezing and taking the shot. I’m sure there’s a better way, but I’m juuust proficient enough in juuust enough aspects of this to get it done with just a team of me.

Another preset path shot while Barret and Tifa run (serendipidously) center-frame. I was controlling Cloud… he was supposed to be running with them, but I must have run into a wall or something. Ah well, at least I didn’t biff the shot.

Scene 36

I really tried to find a way to get President Shinra to show up in person like he does in the OG. Unfortunately it’s not possible in-engine… at least, not with my abilities. If I ever find the time to fully re-create the original scene in Blender, I’ll do so. As it is, this is a mostly cosmetic change that doesn’t impact the story very much… except that it includes high tech drones and hologram-telecommunication, which the OG story lacks.

The music here is Shinra Inc from EC, chosen for its clanging synth lead and choral refrain — however, the first few seconds also include 7R’s version of Shinra Inc underneath, because that first D♭ from the EC version lacks the sonorous bass that is needed to sell the key change.

Tifa's line: "What's the President doing here?" has been cut... not only because it's kind of a dopey question, but also, because the President is not, in fact, here.

Scene 37

Airbuster!! 200+ shots and several hours of useable footage is cut down to 50 shots across 2 minutes. The first phase of this three-phase fight is all we need; in Remake this is a delightfully epic fight. Snip snip.

The music track here is the Black Mages recording of the FFVII boss battle music, Those Who Fight Further. I chose the Black Mages version, ironically, because it has the least amount of live electric guitar! The wailing synths that give this prog rock jam its texture are performed by none other than the maestro himself: Nobuo Uematsu!

Now that I have more of a handle on storyboarding, filming, and editing combat footage, I’m doing more combat storytelling than I thought I would be doing in this series, and it’s actually taking longer — weeks, in fact — but I think the results are better.

I hummed a bit on how to intro this fight, then I thought it might be fun to try and re-create the battle effects from OG. The swirling was done frame-by frame in a free photo editing program, I manually rotated and zoomed in. I then rendered the sequence into a file. I then overlayed it on top of itself with the second version starting on a delay and being 10% slower and blurred to high heaven with the exposure cranked up. It worked! The black curtains were made by blurring, pixellating, then blurring again the black bars, and pulling them apart. The establishing shot was a preset path while I controlled Cloud's basic attacks.

Heidegger's hologram is flying around this fight in 7R taunting us, and he ruined many good shots. It's a wonder I scraped together so many good looking takes.

At the climax, we showcase Cloud, Tifa, and Barret’s Limit Breaks — Cloud’s Braver has been demoted in 7R from Limit Break to basic move, but here it gets its due. I tried to mimic the limit break camera zoom with a preset path, and the timing was nice but I played the framing a bit safe - better than him bowing out of frame!

To get Barret and Tifa’s limits, I had to play through the chapter twice more, solo-ing the final fight with each character – to draw Airbuster’s big attacks (filling their limit gauge) as well as making sure that my allies’ attacks didn’t move the fight into the next phase before I had a chance to execute the limit break. For Tifa’s, I filmed it twice because the first take clipped through the wall. The second take also erred, but at the beginning, so I used the front half of one and then switched - see if you can spot the edit!

Final Thoughts

Kaboom!

In keeping with the “you can skip ahead once the combat starts,” pledge, we’ll leave the resolution of this battle for next time, and end the episode on a cliffhanger.

You know, despite the obvious departure of a giant glowing President Shinra, this is one of the more faithful sections in all of 7R; aaaand despite that, I didn’t even realize how different it was until I started making the episode. Fun to make, and I continue to outdo what I did last time. Happy.

[plaguedoctormemes]

drop the chicken paprikash resippy 👀

caveat: I don’t use a lot a measurements and just use my eye/intuition/taste buds a lot, so if you need specific measurements you’ll probably be better off following a dedicated recipe online or comparing them to mine. Also, my recipe is by no means traditional as I am just a latino dude living in the southwest and i’m Not Hungarian in any way, and this is a riff off of my mom’s dish rather than the traditional dish itself. I also like to be really descriptive so there’s a lot of steps but this recipe is, in reality, mega easy lol. Okay-

This dish contains dairy. You can try dairy-free sour cream but I’ve never tried it. Lactose-free sour cream is a perfectly fine substitute though!

(Serves 4)

Cookery:

- a large pot big enough to line thighs on the bottom

- A wooden spoon or spatula to stir with, and tongs or something to take out the chicken with.

Ingredients:

- Chicken thighs with skins on (i really do not recommend skinless or substituting for breasts at all) enough for 1 or 2 per person

- 1 white or sweet yellow onion

- 3-4 cloves of garlic

- 5 large carrots, or two handfuls of baby carrots.

- 3 Russet Potatoes

- Sour cream (you can use 8 oz, i like to use 16oz because i always use a little more than half)

- Chicken broth (at least 4 cups, I used almost a whole 32 oz carton.)

- Any neutral oil (for frying), olive oil is ok though

- Salt and pepper

- Paprika (If you can get hungarian paprika that’s preferred, but otherwise dont sweat it. The dish is called Paprikash so make sure you have plenty)

- Cayenne pepper

- Dried red pepper strips (I happened to have a bag of them from Trader Joes. This is kinda optional but i liked it so much that i recommend it.)

Optional Ingredients:

- Any other vegetable you want (corn, peas, green beans or diced fresh bell pepper would be good!)

- Tony Chachere’s cajun seasoning (for seasoning the chicken, i put this shit in everything tbh)

- Parsley (for color)

Directions:

1. Season thighs liberally with salt, pepper (and tony chachere’s seasoning if available), allow to sit for 30 minutes or while you chop veggies.

2. Pre-cook the potatoes partway by using a microwave, oven, or cubing and boiling in water until almost done. I used a microwave since it’s much faster.

3. While potatoes are cooking, slice onion horizontally (into rings) or vertically (into strips), whichever you’d prefer. Slice large carrots into 1/2 cm coins or baby carrots in half. Smash and mince your garlic.

5. Blend entire bag of dried red pepper. It seems like a lot, but it’s not since peppers are mostly air now. If you don’t have a blender, use a mortar and pestle or put into a bag and smash the fuck out of those guys until theyre a powder. It’s okay if it’s not super duper fine. If you dont have dried red pepper, skip this step.

6. Whenever your potatoes are half done, take them out of whatever vessel you chose and carefully cut into large cubes (theyre probably really hot!)

7. At med-high heat, add a couple tablespoons of oil to your pot, enough to coat the bottom. Add your thighs skin side DOWN so that theyre in direct contact with the bottom. Allow the thighs’ fat to render out and the skin to brown a bit. It should take about 6 minutes. If the skin hasnt taken on a lot of color yet, that’s ok- allow a few more minutes and then flip the thighs. Allow the bottoms to cook for another 5 minutes in the rendered fat then remove.

8. Now put in your carrots, garlic, and onion in the pan to cook in the rendered chicken fat. Scrape whatever yummy brown fond has built on the bottom. Don’t sweat about scraping it all up, as youll get most of it later. Cook until carrots are softened but still a little firm and onions are starting to turn translucent.

9. Add your cubed potatoes in with the other vegetables, give them a toss, and take off of the heat so you can add the seasonings- papricka scorches easily. Most recipes use ~3tbs, I swear I always use more like 4. Also add in your powdered red pepper here, as well as 1 tbs of cayenne some more salt and pepper. Mix everything and bring back to the heat, which you will reduce to Medium.

10. Pour in your chicken broth, enough to submerge all of the vegetables. Add about 3 generous spoonfuls of sour cream, mixing it in so that the soup is now a creamy, luscious gravy. It’s important to not have the pot much hotter than Medium so that the sour cream doesnt curdle. This is a good time to do some extra fond-scraping if you couldnt get a lot earlier! The potatoes may soften and deteriorate, and that’s fine.

11. Re-place the thighs back into the pot as well, making sure theyre covered in the gravy. If the liquid doesnt cover the thighs, add some more chicken broth and sour cream until it does.

12. Chop up or tear up a handful of parsley and add.

13. Cover pot with a lid and allow everything to come back to a boil. Let everything mingle together for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will re-heat the thighs and finish cooking them. You can also taste the gravy for salt and adjust accordingly. This is also a good time to add some frozen corn, peas and stuff if desired.

And that’s it! You can serve this on top of egg noodles as well since thats pretty traditional, but the thighs and veggies alone with the gravy makes for a very savory and hearty dinner. Make sure you add another ladle-full of gravy on top.

This dish will result in something that sort of resembles a stew with a bright vibrant reddish zesty and creamy gravy, tender vegetables and juicy, tender chicken. The gravy should be chickeny, savory, and delightfully creamy. Paprika is already powdered red pepper, but I feel like adding just normal powdered paprika and then the freshly blended dried red pepper adds an additional fresh, sweet richness to the sauce. Thighs still have the bone in it, so i usually eat this dish with a fork and use my fingers to carefully tear the meat off the bone, and then just pick up the bone once it’s cooled off a little and gnaw on the rest of the meat and the softened cartilage.

My partner and friends really liked it. Next time we’re going to add some chipotle or southwestern red chile to it for some more spice and smokiness to try out.

[canmom]

learn from my mistakes: Blender to Youtube

when we release I'm gonna write a very detailed article on the making of this short film. but since I never found a great summary of the whole process anywhere and had to figure it out myself, here's an overview of the best method I found to get a decent output for a Blender animation with lots of dark gradients on Youtube.

when you render, save it as OpenEXR (a 32-bit floating point format; Blender will save the raw 'scene-referred' colours). this will chew up a ton of hard drive space, but doing this really saved my bacon, since I could easily render patches to fix problems in the scene and freely adjust the exposure in post.

now, in the Video Sequence Editor, import all your EXRs. apply any tweaks or patches you create at this point. render everything out to 16-bit TIFF files in the sRGB colour space. this is necessary because of how Blender internally invokes ffmpeg to encode video, which does everything in 8bit and doesn't properly dither when it converts.

encode the resulting files using encoder that supports a high bit depth internally. I used Hybrid. Ideally use a modern codec such as HEVC or VP9. (that said I had some trouble getting VP9 to work right.)

since we rendered at 1080p and we want to force Youtube to give us higher bitrates, at the same time as encoding, upscale to 4k using lanczos. (Ideally we'd do this earlier, but Blender's internal upscale doesn't support kernels like lanczos.) this is a horrible hack and I hate it, but it won't increase your filesize much, and it will look much nicer on Youtube. of course if you can afford the compute time, render in 4k in the first place!

upload it to Youtube, wait for them to reencode. watch the result. cry.

if you want formatted subtitles, create your subtitles using Aegisub and convert them to YTT format. this will take some finagling. more on that later

[syrena-del-mar]

4, 7, 17, 26, 32, 33, 45, 54, 69 🩷 (You don't have to answer all of these. I'm just a nosy girlie 🙈)

Hiya Soph! No worries, I'm also a nosy girlie so I totally get it 😂 Also a warning, I definitely got a lil too passionate on question 54. I just love the holidays.

4. Favorite Chore

I really love folding as long as I'm on top of it and I haven't had a weeks worth of wash piled up. Something about freshly dried/warm clothes makes it really enjoyable.

7. Any groceries that you've been getting into lately?

So much ginger and turmeric. I bit the bullet and finally just got myself a new full-scale blender/juicer to get rid of my old nutribullet, so now I'm able to make smoothies with ginger without it leaving unblended pieces.

17. What's a movie that you saw recently that you really liked?

A Million Miles Away. I have always liked to support Mexican-American work, and so many scenes here felt like they had been pulled from my own life. Also, teachers always get a lot of flack in the media for being uninspired and uninterested in their students, but I loved that they showed how so much of his success could be tracked to teachers who cared for and inspired him.

26. Would you rather sit on the porch drinking sweet tea or sit by the lake drinking beers?

How about sweet tea by the lake? Jk. But really, I would definitely prefer to sit on the porch drinking sweet tea. I have a relatively low-grade alcohol allergy that causes some beers to break me out in hives that don't go away for days. The itching is insane and I never want to go through it again lol

32. How do you take your morning coffee/tea?

I have a concoction I've been making every morning since I found it last December. 10 oz. of coffee 2 oz. of fat-free milk. 1 pump honey 1 pump sugar-free pistachio syrup Some cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove to your liking. Tastes like the winter holidays in a cup, really delicious and I still haven't gotten tired of it. I'm definitely not a black coffee and one sugar-type of girl LOL

33. What's something you collect?

Pens. I have an insane amount of pens, it's so hard to find a good one that doesn't bleed, skip, or smudge. So I collect like crazy. Also, before the boycott, Starbucks cups.

45. What's something you wish you had more time for?

Travelling. During the pandemic, I was traveling everywhere and anywhere. I would take day trips to the central coast of California or even to neighboring states. When I wasn't working and I would take some time off, I was going to several national parks here in the U.S. Sometimes drive 15-16 hours to get to them.

Now that I've finished my doctorate and I'm in my field of choice... I'm working and studying for my licensing exams. I usually don't leave the office after sunset.

54. Do you decorate your house for holidays? Which ones?

I decorate for Dia de los Muertos/Halloween, but, I'm a crazy Christmas decorator. I go all out inside my apartment. There's not an area where it doesn't look like Santa hasn't thrown up all over. November 1st, everything comes out of storage, though honestly, if I had a particularly rough year, it's sometimes already out by mid-October.

Now, outside decorations? We have a family tradition where my sisters and I go to my parent's place after work every day for close to three weeks, starting mid-November, and we decorate the hell out of the family home. Last year, we put up close to 40k lights with music. We still haven't invested or figured out if we will ever do the expensive light controller box that syncs with lights, but we do build a lot of our decorations. This year we're going to be adding close to another 15k of lights between everything that all 6 of us bought at the sales after Christmas.

Funnily, if it were up to my dad, he would have stopped putting Christmas lights since 10 years ago when we all left. Unfortunately for him, my sisters and I haven't let him. Now he has a grandchild, so the decorating won't stop for some time.

69. What are you looking forward to next week?

I'm heading out to the Grand Canyon next Thursday for the first time in five years. I only have two days off, so it'll be a quick trip, but it's so nice to roadtrip again.

Ask meme for people in their 30s

[cupids-chronicles]

The Twisted series: Twisted Games #2

Author: Ana Huang

Genre: Romance, New Adult

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5.

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Goodreads rating: 4.1/5

Pages: 448

Published: 29 July 2021

Twisted Games Review

Note: This book is intended for mature audiences over the age of 18 due to explicit content (steamy chapters).

Alright, dear readers, buckle your tiaras because "Twisted Games" is serving up royal drama on a silver platter – and no, it's not the kind that involves pumpkin carriages or glass slippers.

Meet Bridget. She’s not the kind of princess who spends her days brushing her long, golden locks or singing to forest animals. She’s up to her crown in palace politics and fending off the smoldering glances from her bodyguard, Rhys. Sounds more like an episode of "The Real Housewives of the Royal Palace", doesn't it?

Before we proceed, let's get one thing straight: this book might be many things, but a bedtime story for your five-year-old niece? Not so much. Brace yourselves for some steamy escapades, particularly in Chapters 19, 28, 29, 32, 36, and 45. So if you blush easily, maybe get a fan ready – or just read those bits twice.

Through a whopping 51 chapters, Ana Huang treats us to the inner turmoils of both our rebellious princess and her broody bodyguard. Imagine combining “The Princess Diaries”, “Bodyguard”, a slice of “Bridgerton”, and a little bit from “Pretty Woman” into a narrative blender. The result? A spicy royale smoothie called "Twisted Games".

Though it's a sequel, you can jump right into this without much confusion. But let’s be real; starting from book one will give you all the juicy deets to savor the drama even more. Ana Huang, our literary chef, crafts characters with so much zest and flavor that you're bound to get a heartburn (the good kind, of course).

Let's chat about this gem of a quote, shall we? “Men. They always ruined it by opening their mouths.” I mean, raise your hand if you've been there, done that, and got the commemorative t-shirt. It's a universal nod of understanding from women across realms, royal or not.

Now, onto Rhys. Imagine if James Bond was assigned to guard Princess Mia Thermopolis – that's the vibe. Strong, mysterious with a side of 'I know I’m hot' swagger. Meanwhile, Bridget’s spunk and witty retorts are a much-needed reminder that princesses are more than just their tiaras.

To wrap up, "Twisted Games" is like biting into a chocolate truffle – rich, a tad messy, and utterly satisfying. If you're craving drama with a dash of romance and a generous sprinkle of royal mischief, Ana Huang’s dish is ready to be served. Dive in, and remember: palace walls have ears, but they can't resist a good love story.

Please note that this book is part of a series, but can be read as a stand alone.

Wait a minute boys and girls, check out these trigger warnings first:

Child abuse recounted.

Substance addiction mentioned.

Grief & loss depiction.

Death of a parent during childbirth.

Death of a parent in a car accident.

Death of a parent from an overdose.

Gun violence.

Kidnapping mentioned.

Romance Tropes, you ask ?

Age Gap

Bodyguard

Forbidden Romance

Forced Proximity

Rich Heroine

Royalty

Who do we meet in this book ?

Bridget

Rhys

What to read next:

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass

Thorne Princess by L.J. Shen 

[govindhtech]

AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Price, Benchmarks And Specifications

AMD RX 6600 XT Cost

RDNA 2 powers the mid-range AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT's 1080p gaming. This article covers its architecture, benefits, limits, benchmarks, cost, specs, and 3D rendering, video editing, gaming, and ray tracing performance.

Key Features & Architecture

Vi 23 RDNA 2 architecture, 7nm process

Computing Units: 32

2,048 Stream Processors

Ray Accelerators: 32 (1/CU)

8 GB GDDR6

Memory Interface: 128-bit

Infinity Cache: 32 MB

Game Clock: 2,359 MHz

Up to 2,589 MHz boost clock

Interface: PCIe 4.0 x8

TDP: 160W

1-x 8-pin power connector

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) improves game performance on the RX 6600 XT, which supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.3, and OpenGL 4.6

Advantages

Modern games operate at 1080p with great frame rates.

The 160W TDP uses little electricity.

Fan-stop mode ensures quiet operation under modest loads.

Compact design benefits smaller PC builds.

Games that use FSR have better gameplay without sacrificing graphic quality.

Disadvantages

Limited Ray Tracing Performance: Performs poorly compared to NVIDIA competition.

FSR is accessible, however it lacks NVIDIA's DLSS's performance and quality.

PCIe 4.0 x8 ports may perform poorly on PCIe 3.0 systems due to bandwidth constraints.

Video Game Performance

The RX 6600 XT is great for 1080p gaming because to its fast frame rates. Even though it can run some games at 1440p, performance depends on game optimisation and settings. The card's 8 GB VRAM and 128-bit memory interface make it unsuitable for 4K.

3D Rendering, Video Editing

Since it doesn't support CUDA, which many professional applications require, RX 6600 XT performs well in content production but trails NVIDIA's offerings. Blender performance is greater than the RTX 3060 but worse than the 3060 Ti. It scores lower in Premiere Pro than both NVIDIA rivals.

Performance Ray Tracing

Poor RX 6600 XT hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Ray-tracing Cyberpunk 2077 and Control decreases frame rates, making them unsuitable.

RAM and Bandwidth

Memory

Memory: 8 GB

GDDR6 memory Type

Memory Interface: 128-bit

Effective Memory Speed: 16 Gbps

Memory Bandwidth

256-GB/s

GDDR6 memory is fast, however the 128-bit bus limits bandwidth compared to costlier GPUs like the RX 6700 XT (384 GB/s). In gaming scenarios, AMD's 32 MB Infinity Cache increases bandwidth and minimises memory latency.

Power use and efficiency

Use of power

Typical board power: 160W

Recommended PSU: 500W

1-x 8-pin PCIe power connector

Efficiency of Power

The RX 6600 XT's 7nm RDNA 2 architecture prioritises performance-per-watt. Excellent GPU power efficiency.

Efficiency Highlights:

High 1080p Performance @ Low Power: Outperforms current NVIDIA GPUs like the RTX 3060 (170W).

Low heat output makes cooling solutions quieter and smaller.

Suitable for SFF PCs: Single 8-pin power and low TDP make it ideal for small designs.

Pricing

At $379, the RX 6600 XT debuted. Market prices may depend on region and availability.

Conclusion

For 1080p, energy efficiency, and silent gaming, the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT is best. DLSS and CUDA in NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti may boost ray tracing and multimedia.

For more details visit govindhtech.com

[alexiswritingsblog]

Whirlwind Icecream

Lexy braved the night on her 6 month anniversary working at walmart

When she was off she went straight to the icecream

Chose the smoothest cherry icecream

A bottle of hershy chocolate syrup

And 32 ounces pure sweet cream coffee creamer

She got offered a ride home since it was pouring rain

And Took it

Before she knew it she was home and whipping out the blender

Suddenly half the pint was gone on the blender all she could feel was excitement

Blend it up pour it out spoonful

Man that's sweet but delicious

Sat in bed reading the news

Being an adult and child at the same time takes a lot of energy

Could only make it through half the large cup

Reading the news she got so tired couldn't keep her eyes open phone almost fell out of hand

The best feeling ever

After she assumed she wouldn't be able to sleep because of all the Sugar

Before she knew it she was actually out and actually experiencing the feeling of waking up

Honestly always a thrill

She got to sleep 2 hours

Spent a few more in bed trying to relax

Occasionally looking out the window

When she went to bed it was raining

Supposed to be all day

Now it's blue

And and ate some more ice cream ¼ cup plain

And wishing she could see what went on inside her body

As the cherries passed through her bloodstream

As the fat (hopefully) slowly accumulated over her badly exposed hip bones

The Sugar adding to her vibrations as it were already

Between the last ice cream she had (recollection wasn't easy) and the next one she wishes for (thoughts disguised as easy) which likely won't be too far away

Icecream cools down her brain

She was not expecting to fall asleep that quick

That deep

After eating so much of one thing

It helped

But not to bank on it repeating like so always

Enjoy the blessing

Connect with the past self through pure enjoyment

Relate To present self if you want your icecream to last if you don't or can't eat it all right away make sure to throw it in the freezer

Investing in the future her

You can see she has high hopes

She's been way too thin though balancing out a bit

It's been a long stretch of time

Through any icecream she hopes

To gain cushion around her waist

Cover up the bad emotions and memories she wears around her that won't go away to her eye

That will take time

Just as it would take time to clog am artery from eating bad like that

That doesn't change how she feels

That it's time to get up soon and go for that therapy walk

Self soothe but try other options

She's in a delicate space

9 and a half hours since she smoked a cigarette

And lately she's been fairly unpredictable

Talk about rushing the gun making a dr appointment with unspecified reason and need of patience to address issues

Having a dentist appointment in 2 days she keeps putting off checking the time for

Crying when she'd been on a long streak of dry cheeks

Forgetting to think and causing rashes on her face while taking a bath designed for self care

Coming across memories and dwelling too much and then being frustrated desperate unforgiving and a little too harsh

Inside

She forgets often when she's communicating with her past self

Largely there's the growth difference with age

There's lots of gaps she may fill in now but at the time there was no way

She can understand partially the surface reason for her eating all that icecream

She understands others reasons better out of love so she concludes

She was understanding

Until she stepped away and took a breather and a plunge at once

The whirlwind continues