#i have 20 different hobbies skills and projects that i started on a whim and then abandoned and mc's out here inventing new hours of the day

[still-a-morosexual-help]

MC is so great. they heard jack of all trades master of none and said Bet

[curewhimsy]

Shiro-Sora masterpost

Here are plans for my Mega Project. It’s a visual novel concept.

But since I have no skill in making a VN, I’m just going to write a story. Like the anime that will be based off the VN. Like Clannad’s anime or something.

It’s going to be long since I have (ahem...) FOURTY-SIX (46) WHOLE CHARACTERS WITH ROUTES THAT I’M GOING TO INCORPORATE.

This is why I said I will never ever finish it, even if I devote my entire life to it.

But it won’t feel right without all these characters. I WANT to have all these characters. I’m a “go big or go home” person. I’m too ambitious and I know that.

Well, since it has 46 characters, I’m thinking of calling it “Shiro-Sora” meaning “White-Sky” since 46 can be pronounced as “shiro.”

In kanji: 「白空」

In hiragana: 「しろそら」 (This will be the “official” Japanese spelling btw)

Alternatively: 「46そら」

Anyway...

Here are the characters.

Haku, Neru, Miku, Luka, Teto, Gumi, Meiko, Lapis, Merli, Lily, IA, Yukari, Uta, Zatsune, Rin, Len, Kaito, Akaito, Dell, Gakupo, Yuuma, Piko, Mizuki, Nigaito, Dex, Daina, Ruby, Taya, Longya, Ling, Momo, SeeU, Ruko, Ritsu, Miki, Aku, Bruno, Clara, Iroha, Yuu, Wil, Kyo, Akari, Qingxian, Anon, Kanon

In the story adaption, Uta Utane (Defoko) will take the role as the player/main character, and learns everyone’s backstories. She will be the one with the (gigantic) “harem” around her. Think, Tomoya from Clannad. But IF there’s ever an actual game, I’ll plan on Uta being one of the date-able characters. She’ll be your childhood friend.

The characters are all college students here, attending a predominantly music-oriented community college called Sonare Community College. There is also an acting branch as well, but it’s less predominant. This is why there is an emphasis on music, instruments, composing, and singing.

The reason the characters are all between 18-24 is so they can mostly be in the same age range. Therefore I can ship quite a lot of pairs...

Here are descriptions I thought of already. For some of these Loids, this is my first time EVER writing or portraying them. Ever.

(Full names are listed in Western order. This is partly due to the story taking place in the USA, in a “Japantown” sort of place to explain the prominent Japanese population.)

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Haku Yowane- Age: 22 A shy, gloomy girl who is looking to join in the school’s choir. However, she isn’t confident to work up the courage to audition. The choir has been moving down in popularity every year, with more and more students pursuing solo stardom. When she gets the news the choir may be disbanded, Haku feels she has to do something soon. Haku has only a small bit of experience in both singing and the piano, but she came to Sonare Community College because music is her dream. Haku seems to depend on Neru, her only friend, to comfort her when she gets down. Haku is the cousin of the popular Miku Hatsune, who is the most popular girl in the school and a very talented musician in many ways. Haku ends up a musician who sings and plays the piano. Neru Akita- Age: 22 A tomboy with a hot temper. But inside, she hides delicate feelings. She seems to always be with Haku, cheering her up when she gets down. The two seem to only have each other. Neru didn’t go to Sonare Community College to pursue music, however, she ends up joining the choir with Haku, despite her shabby voice. She also ends up falling in love with musical theatre! Miku Hatsune- Age: 20 A very popular girl and talented singer, dancer, and performer. A bubbly, cheerful sweetheart. Has lots of friends and is always smiling. Idealistic and doesn’t believe in impossible. Miku dreams big, but apparently she gets very depressed when her dreams are crushed. Luckily that never seems to happen… for now. Miku is an all-star musical performer. Luka Megurine- Age: 24 A polite and elegant woman. She can appear aloof and intimidating at first, but is actually just shy. She is half Japanese, a quarter French, and a quarter German. A talented vocalist who can also play quite a few instruments. Teto Kasane- Age: 20 A bubbly girl who can be childish. Is playful, weird, and a bit demanding. Very clumsy. More inclined in visual arts than music, but started a music hobby on a whim. Gumi- Age: 21 A girl who can be a bit shy, but once you get past that, Gumi is unique, free-spirited, and chill. She likes art and reading books. She keeps a sketchbook with her at all times. More inclined in visual arts than music, but likes musical theatre. Meiko Sakine- Age: 24 The confident, mature woman of the group. Energetic and loves to party. Still responsible. Like a mother or older sister. Has quite a temper, though she mostly uses it to defend others… Has a love of karaoke, and wishes to improve her singing. Lapis Aoki- Age: 20 Merli’s stepsister, who seems to be the opposite of her. Bubbly and playful, and quite childish. Quite friendly. However, she can be a bit selfish at times. Lapis is Japanese, though her adoptive sister Merli is Indian. Loves singing and theatre. Merli Aoki- Age: 24 Lapis’ stepsister, who seems to be the opposite of her. She can seem cold and distant, even a bit harsh at first. But inside, she is very thoughtful and willing to help those important to her. Merli is Indian, though she was adopted into Lapis’ Japanese family after the death of her parents. Is a singer with a dramatic vocal, and has a secret love of theatre. However, she is often chosen to be the villain due to her voice. She wishes her voice were less “intimidating” so she could be the heroine. Lily- Age: 23 The school’s toughest female delinquent. People often wonder why or how she’s still in school. She gets into a lot of fights. What people fail to notice is that she’s usually defending the weak, bu she sometimes just goes overboard. Lily has a punk-rock style and plays the electric guitar. IA- Age: 22 An idolized girl in the school for her good looks and singing skills, along with being a great songwriter and composer! However, she hides dark feelings? Yukari Yuzuki- Age: 21 Half sister to Akari Kizuna. Looks up to IA but also feels she will never be as good as her. Composes music as a hobby, and sings. She feels her singing is horrible. Uta Utane- Age: 21 A rather plain, bluntly-spoken person who doesn’t see much in life. Usually bored, silent, and rather deadpan. Once a bright girl with lots of dreams. Deep inside, she is passionate and caring, really… Can it be restored? She is non-binary, going mostly by she/her. Uta is rather bored with life, including music, and really only keeps playing the violin because she’s come so far and doesn’t want to quit. Miku Zatsune- Age: 21 Edgy and hates Miku (out of mostly jealousy.) She would rather be called Zatsune, because her first name happens to be Miku, like the person she despises so much… But could there be something deeper to her? Zatsune’s music style is heavy and gritty. She considers it “harsh reality,” unlike Miku’s “bubblegum fluff.” Rin Kagamine- Age: 18 Rin is a bit chaotic. She is bold, brash, athletic, and charming. She is also just plain nuts. She plays the saxophone. Len Kagamine- Age: 18 Len fries to be cool and hip, but he is just a big dork. He is quite the comedian however, sometimes unintentionally. He plays the drums and trumpet. Kaito Shion- Age: 22 Kaito is a silly boy. He loves ice cream, unicorns, rainbows, and anything fluffy. But he also has moments of seriousness where he says really deep, philosophical things. He is quite romantic. He plays the piano and sings. Akaito Shion- Age: 24 Akaito is a sarcastic and grumpy boy, but when it comes to romance, he gets quite passionate. He sometimes flirts around with girls, but when he finally finds a true love with a girl (or guy) who truly changes his life… well… it’s a bit different. Akaito is a choir singer and he also plays electric bass. Dell Honne- Age: 24 Dell is usually in a bad mood. He currently lives with a father who barely acknowledges him. He tends to keep it all inside, and he’s really just lonely and needs to find someone to vent to. He is Haku’s half-brother, but they didn’t grow up together. He enjoys computer programming and composing electronic music. Gakupo Kamui- Age: 24 Gakupo likes doing kendo and martial arts, and is generally athletic. He is a nice guy who also loves animals and history. He seems serious, but can be unexpectedly silly sometimes. He likes embracing his Japanese and Ainu heritage. He often plays the shamisen, and also drums. He likes rock music. Yuuma- Age: 23 Yuuma likes music and is quite popular. He may seem hard to approach, because sometimes he doesn’t know what to say. He is a little blunt at times, but has a good heart. He has a crush on Mizuki. He likes orchestral music and EDM. Piko Utatane- Age: 21 Piko is a genius who loves astronomy and excels in mathematics and physics. He is a shy and compassionate person, but whenever he opens his mouth, he sounds very strict. He is bad at socializing and making friends, which leaves him quite lonely. On top of that, he is sickly and absent from school often. Piko wishes to make a friend. His first friend in the school is Lapis Aoki, who pretends to be a fairy to grant his wish. After a while, Lapis declares that she wants to be Piko’s friend. Piko ended up at Sonare Community College despite excelling in other studies due to his missing many high school days. However, Piko likes EDM and is inspired to be a singer after spending days at his college. Mizuki- Age: 21 Mizuki is a singer who also plays the a Japanese harp (koto.) She is quite a charming person and seems to flirt with many people… even girls… but not Yuuma. Since Yuuma has a crush on Mizuki, this discourages him. Nigaito Shion- Age: 19 The youngest of the three Shion bothers. Nigaito’s nicknames are Nini and Nii. He is rather sickly, but remains to have a warm and pure heart. Nigaito plays the clarinet. Dex- Age: 22 Daina’s childhood friend. Best friends, even though they are of completely different genders, and with very different personalities. Some people wonder how it works. Dex is silly, fun, a bit of a party animal, but he is still very caring and compassionate. He just needs a bit of help devoting himself to his studies. But he is quite intelligent when he is focused. He is Black, Creole, and is learning French. Dex plays piano and sings. Daina- Age: 22 Dex’s childhood friend. Best friends, even though they are of completely different genders, and with very different personalities. Some people wonder how it works. Daina likes to study and learn, and doesn’t like atmospheres like parties so much. She prefers quiet, peaceful places. She may seem a bit distant on the outside, but she is just a little shy. She is White, with English and French heritage. Daina composes music on the computer and sings. Ruby- Age: 21 Ruby is rather confident, yet nice, and will always give people a helping hand. She is Black and Latina. Ruby likes EDM and sings and dances. Taya Soune- Age: 21 Taya is incredibly polite, bowing at many occasions and also offering to do favors a lot. He speaks very formally. Taya has anemia and sometimes needs blood transfusions. He is non-binary, but go mostly by he/him. Taya likes musical theatre. He also plays the cello. Longya Yuezheng- Age: 24 A quite serious man who is dutiful and studious. Protective over his younger sister, Ling, and monitors her safety constantly. This is due to Ling nearly getting into a tragic accident when they were younger, traumatizing Longya. He is Chinese. He plays piano and flute. Ling Yuezheng- Age: 20 Ling is a hardworking student, however she has a playful side and she feels lonely that she doesn’t have many friends and is devoting her life to studying. She sings and dances. Momo Momone- Age: 19 A peaceful, sleepy girl. Rather low-energy and tranquil. However, Momo has quite a temper when it comes to injustice. Momo is a singer and theatre performer. SeeU- Age: 20 A rather eccentric, bold and energetic girl with “the light of the stars in her eyes.” She is Korean. SeeU is a singer and dancer. Ruko Yokune- Age: 24 Ruko is one of the most mature characters, having a lot of wisdom about life and many experiences. However, they still have moments where they need a helping hand. Ruko is non-binary, mostly going by she/her or they/them. Ruko is a talented vocalist with incredible range. Ritsu Namine- Age: 22 Ritsu is rather brash, but means well. He is non-binary and mostly go by he/him. He is a talented singer with a powerful voice. Miki- Age: 18 Loves romance anime/manga and is obsessed with “cute couples.” A true fangirl. Acts cute and animated. Iroha’s best friend. She is a singer, who also wants to be a voice actress in anime. Aku Yamine- Age: 19 Hates her name, because it’s pronounced the same as the word for “evil” in Japanese. Prefers to be called Akurin. Aku is a very nice and naive, somewhat clumsy girl with big dreams. Is half Black and half Japanese. She is a piano player and a theatre performer. She struggles with singing. Bruno- Age: 22 Black Latino, lived in the Dominican Republic. Polite and soft-spoken, but a talented acoustic guitarist. Sometimes sings. Clara- Age: 23 From Colombia, and is Latina. A rather doting girl who somehow feels like both a mother and a little sister. A singer and dancer. Iroha Nekomura- Age: 18 Loves cute things and stuffed animals. Is kind of insecure and doesn’t find herself very cute, though her best friend Miki constantly reassures her. A singer and drummer. Yuu- Age: 20 A sweet, cheerful guy who is always filled with energy. Half English, half Japanese. He is in a boy-band with Wil and Kyo called ZOLA PROJECT. He sings and plays electric guitar. Wil- Age: 22 A sophisticated, fashionable guy who is quite outgoing. He is Black. He is in a boy-band with Yuu and Kyo called ZOLA PROJECT. He sings and plays electric bass. Kyo- Age: 21 A wild, energetic guy who is always raring to go. He is Japanese. He is in a boy-band with Yuu and Wil called ZOLA PROJECT. He sings and plays drums, and adds sounds to their songs via computer programs. Akari Kizuna- Age: 18 Yukari Yuzuki’s half-sister. Cheerful and sweet, and wants to make others smile… even though many heavy thoughts are hiding behind her own smile. A singer who is also an actress. Qingxian Mo- Age: 23 She seems very nice, but she’s actually a bit self-absorbed. Since her name is hard to pronounce for English-speakers, she insists on being called Qing (pronounced like Ching.) A model who also sings and plays clarinet. Anon- Age: 21 A somewhat reserved girl who likes to read and play video games. Very resilient and tough. Does martial arts. Has a very strong punch. Is often annoyed by her sister, Kanon. Sings, dances, and composes music. Kanon- Age: 21 A cheerful girl who likes to annoy her sister, Anon. But like her sister, she does sometimes get kind of scary. Does martial arts. Has a very strong kick. Sings, dances, and composes music.

——————————————————

Now, I made a list of couples... Who ends up with who by the end of the story? This is for the “novel adaption”, obviously.

Uta and whoever she ends up with might get a bit of an... “After Story” like CLANNAD After Story. And it might feature everyone else as a married couple too!

Spoilers below the cut.

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Haku x Neru

Kaito x Dell

Miku x Gumi

IA x Yukari

Lapis x Piko

Teto x Luka

Meiko x Gakupo

Iroha x Miki

Ruko x Ritsu

Merli x Lily

Akaito x Yuuma

Bruno x Clara

Dex x Daina

Len x Nigaito

Rin x Akari

Ruby x SeeU

Anon x Mizuki

Zatsune x Aku

Wil x Longya

Yuu x Ling

Kyo x Qingxian

Kanon x Momo

Uta x Taya

Yes, the main couple by the end will be Uta and Taya. I think you MAY have seen it coming... considering I was all over Taya today. But also, as I was pairing up every Vocaloid, only a few remained, around six. Uta and Taya were two of the last ones, and I decided it worked. So yeah.

[buriedsecretspodcast]

How I learn things (Learning Things: March 20, 2023)

Some things I want to learn, including how to make DIY paranormal investigation gadgets.

I spend a lot of time learning things. From researching paranormal subjects for my podcast to deep diving into my many hobbies, I almost always am juggling multiple projects that require me to delve into different areas. That learning style might be overwhelming for some folks (and I'm sure it's not as efficient as it could be), but it's just right for my neurotype. I love to always have a handful of projects in the hopper so I can jump between things depending on what I'm feeling most interested in at the moment.

I want to talk more about learning

I'm still working out exactly how I want to do this weekdaily blogging thing, but because I'm always consuming a lot of information and tinkering with things and ideas, I'd like to try out a new thing! On Mondays, I'll focus on what I'm learning and link to things I've been reading, watching, and listening to over the past week.

Since this is the first installment, I'm going to spend a bit more time talking about my learning goals over the past year and for the coming year, as well as some of my philosophy about learning. (I'll include links to other things starting next week--this post was getting too long already, without me including a link roundup.)

I love reading about other people's goals and learning methods, so if you're like me, this is for you! And if not, check back tomorrow, when I'll be back writing about Polaroids, nostalgia, and the paranormal.

Learning goals

I'm not really one to sit down at the beginning of a new year and plan out my goals for the next twelve months. That's because I have a ton of different interests, and my rule is to follow them wherever they lead me—even if it seems like they're taking me down a strange avenue to something that seems useless or irrelevant to the other projects that I'm working on. I've found that in almost every case, subjects that I have been obsessed with at one point or another end up coming in handy later on. (Even if it's years later.)

That being said, while my learning can be somewhat unstructured and whim-driven, I often find out that I've set a learning goal without realizing it. I'll suddenly find myself doubling down on developing a new skill, and when that happens, I try to focus on it and then build out goals.

Here's what that has looked like for me over the last year or so:

2022 learning goals

A few months into 2022, I realized that there was a specific technical skill I wanted to work on: I wanted to develop the ability to confidently create vector-based illustrations.

I'd worked with vector-based art previously, but I had always been modifying or working with illustrations drawn by someone else. I didn't feel confident in my ability to create my own vector-based illustrations.

Because I had always used Adobe Illustrator in the workplace, I started out there in early 2022, but I quickly found that the software was too bloated and difficult to use from a performance standpoint. Even after I swapped out my old laptop for a fairly high-powered desktop PC, Adobe Illustrator crashed constantly, and the amount of troubleshooting I was having to do from a technical standpoint just wasn't worth it. I was spending more time researching why the program kept crashing than I was actually learning to use it.

Also, as most people know, the Adobe suite of products have a truly awful and predatory pricing model that may be fine for corporations with deep pockets, but that suck for individual artists, especially hobbyists. (Also they employ dark patterns to wring even more money out of their users when they try to quit. For example, like many users, I unknowingly signed up for an "annual plan, billed monthly" meaning that cancelling "early" would incur a fee of hundreds of dollars.)

So I switched to the Affinity suite of products, in particular Affinity Designer, and I have not looked back since. Affinity's software is lighter weight, works equally well on the iPad and PC, and each program is a one-time purchase that barely costs more than a single month of Adobe.

I'm happy to say that I now feel good about my ability to do vector-based illustration. Now that I've mastered the basic skills, I have been doing vector-based illustration a little bit less frequently, just because it's more time-consuming than raster illustration. But I still use Affinity Designer on a near-daily basis to clean up and finalize stuff that I've drawn in other programs. And I'm excited to continue building up those skills.

Other things I was learning in 2022

In 2022, I also had a few other specific areas of interest that took a bit less time and effort to learn about.

Many of those were work-related (I became self-employed in 2022, so I spent—and continue to spend—a lot of time honing skills related to my work.) But when it comes to fun things, in addition to my usual interest in the paranormal and the weird, I also got really into:

Solarpunk ideas and fiction (which I talk about a bit more on my podcast episode "On mylar balloons and forgotten futures.")

Improving my digital art skills in general. Technically, I've been drawing digitally since the late 1990s, but I slowed down a lot after 2004 or so (when life got busy), and since then had mostly done physical art and occasional drawings in Krita. Last year, I bought an iPad and committed myself to drawing on it (nearly) every day.

The zettlekasten note-taking/PKM method. I set that up for myself in Obsidian, and have been using a zettlekasten-inspired note-taking strategy on a daily basis. I don't know how I lived without this method, which is ideal for researchers and creators. (I'll have to elaborate on it another time.)

2023 learning goals

I started 2023 without any specific goals, but in January, I ordered a soldering kit, because there have been a number of tech-related projects that I'd like to tackle sometime in the future—but they require soldering skills.[^1] I also ordered a soldering practice kit that included a DIY EMF meter.

I didn't get a chance to work on those kits or learn soldering at all during January or February, because those months ended up being hectic, but I planned to begin learning the skill in mid-March.

In early March, I had the opportunity to use some ghost hunting tools that I had never gotten to try before, which then got me thinking about what sorts of ghost hunting gear I could DIY.

I was already aware of and interested in the DIY REM pod build using the MadLab Junior Theremin kit (which some commercial REM pods have been known to use). But then I started thinking: could I use a Raspberry Pi or Arduino to build devices akin to the Ovilus or Onvoy? What about something like the Plantwave and other biodata sonification tools? (The Plantwave, which "convert[s] changes in electrical conductivity of plants into audio" isn't a paranormal investigation device, but I think it has major potential. It's based on an open-source design that has a variety of decent-looking DIY instructions online.) I have a ton of ideas for different tools that I'd like to experiment with when investigating. And I can see a pretty clear path to making many of these devices, if I acquire the right skills.

What skills are those and what steps do I need to take? I'm still building my list, but so far I've got:

learn to solder

learn to build basic electrical circuits

get to know how a microcontroller like an Arduino works, and how to integrate it into the circuit and with various sensors

get comfortable cobbling together code that does what I want it to do

tackle some basic/easy projects

once I feel good about my basic skill level, scope out the more complex projects that I want to try and execute them in order from simplest to most complex

ideally, in the longer term, I'd love to learn how to model things for 3D printing (so I could have cases, etc, printed), but this feels very much optional at this point

It's a long-ish list, but I feel pretty good about it. I've now watched a ton of online tutorials about building circuits and using Arduino microcontrollers, and, reassuringly, a lot of them seem to be geared towards artists and people who have never done this sort of thing before, so it seems I'm in good company.

I learned the basics of soldering last weekend (with middling success; my DIY EMF meter would light up, but didn't seem to detect EMF changes—it just says that everything has a high EMF all the time. My best guess is that I screwed something up with the potentiometer and it's essentially stuck on a too-sensitive setting, but I'm not sure.)

I had hoped to continue to practice soldering this past weekend—by making one of the theremin kits I bought—but my entire weekend got derailed by a surprise carpet beetle problem in my apartment, which took many (12+) hours to deal with. So fun stuff had to wait. I'll keep you posted when I do get around to the theremin kit/DIY REM Pod build.

Other things I'm focused on in 2023

Other than wanting to gain the skills to build some fun gadgets, here're some of my other current areas of interest and smaller goals:

I got a sewing machine for Christmas, so I have a number of small things that I want to make and/or alter. (I have lots of sensory issues so am constantly modifying all of my clothes.) I suck at reading patterns, so I'll be keeping it to easy stuff that I can do without patterns for now. Improving my sewing skills in a real way will have to wait for another year (and I already own plenty of clothes; it's not like I need to make more right now) so this year it'll be all about practical, easy projects. But I do want to get more comfortable using my sewing machine and to get through my backlog of easy things I want to alter/mend/make.

I'd like to find a way for me to incorporate art into my paranormal investigations/interactions (through automatic drawing, etc.)

I want to polish up one of my (many) draft novel manuscripts and get it ready for me to use it to either find an agent or to self-publish it. [^2] (By the way, if you're a fan of queer romance novels—usually with a hint of fantasy—and are interested in beta reading, hit me up!)

Wrap up

So those are some of the (probably many) themes you can expect me to give progress updates on, as well as share links and research about.

If you have expertise in the subjects I'm trying to get better at, I'm very open to advice! Also, I'm super curious about how other people structure their learning and research, so drop me a line if you want to share your methods and philosophies for learning.

[^1] If you're curious, I would like to do the mechanical keyboard mod for my Alphasmart 3000 (I do most of my nonfiction writing—like my blog posts and episode scripts—using dictation software, but I still like to type most of the time when writing fiction, and I love using Alphasmarts as a drafting tool.) Also, I have an inkling that I will want to make some modifications to my already heavily-modded Koss Portapros sometime in the future, but the additional mods I am thinking of require soldering.

[^2] There are pros and cons to both, so I'm very much on the fence about whether I'd want to go the traditional vs. indie publishing route. We'll see.

This was originally published on BuriedSecretsPodcast.com.