#i mean it’s only from like early december - late november but whatever

[mr-fregoli]

hi tumbrl check oute thes doriaj gray doodles i have done in the past

[rivalsforlife]

pardon me if you’re tired of discussing this but. we know aa7 is on capcom’s radar on some level. and now they’ve rereleased every game right?? they’ve finally run out of backlog material after almost yearly releases since 2019…. Not to put the clown wig and nose back on too early but do you think we’ll actually get news about, or get to see, aa7 next year?

Never tired of discussing this!! This is right around the time of year where I'd be preparing to make my yearly AA7 Speculation Post anyway so this is great timing. (TGS, my enemy, is approaching.)

So just to make sure everyone's on the same page, here's a quick recap of where we're currently at:

In November 2020 we got internal Capcom leaks which included a calendar from 2019 with the roadmap for the AA series the next couple of years. This included:

DGS1&2 collection, which I did not think was going to happen ever, releasing April-June 2021

AA7, releasing around October-December 2021, right around the 20th anniversary.

Through late 2019-mid 2022, reconsider porting 456

We got DGS1&2 (a bit later than in the plan, but by like a month), we got the 456 ports, we got bonus AAI ports, we have nothing for AA7 nearly three years after it was supposed to come out. The pandemic is an obvious feature that could contribute to its delay, but at this point with 456 ports out I think we can safely say that this was not the only cause.

Some other things that may or may not be contributing to AA7's delay include:

Yamazaki, the previous main writer for 5&6 and the AAIs, left Capcom in 2020. If he was involved in AA7 at all, that could throw a wrench into things, but I recall hearing he intended AA6 to be his last AA game (I AM STRUGGLING TO FIND THE SOURCE THOUGH SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME), so I don't think this contributed very much. It does, however, mean that we're unsure about who the next main writer is - depending on what Takumi's up to or if they had to bring someone new on, there could be complications related to that.

I think TGAA did way better than anyone expected, which I covered in this post. It's possible that this could have shifted Capcom's priorities to porting more old games / porting to all modern consoles. It may have made people at Capcom think "damn everyone loves Takumi" so they tried to lure him back to AA7, and I have no idea how well that would have gone or if Takumi is even interested in continuing mainline AA right now. (I do think this at least contributed to the Ghost Trick ports.)

In my first ever AA7 speculation post I talked about how the ending of AA6 kind of wrote them into a corner re: how to continue with the series and which protagonist to use. I still stand by that argument even if a lot of that post aged badly.

Console ports! Previously new AA games were for whichever Nintendo handheld is out now (GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS). But now that the series is doing really well on all consoles, they may have decided to try to make their next mainline entry on all consoles, which would take more development time. Adding to this is that the Switch is near the end of its lifecycle with the Switch 2 (or whatever the successor will be) being announced soon - meaning that, if AA7 is coming out soon, Capcom is in the position of "do we try to squeeze this into the end of the Switch's lifecycle" (which, I'll need to find sources for this, is speculated to be some of the reasons behind why AAI2 and DGS2 sold badly when they were first released, and they can't make the same mistake thrice... right...?) or "do we try to time it with the release of the Switch 2"?

Also, a lot of this depends on how far AA7 was into development whenever it was derailed. If it was derailed from the pandemic, then according to the calendar, it would likely have still been in the prototype stage. It may be early enough that they would have had to start from scratch whenever they picked it up again. I don't work in the gaming industry so I have no idea how long it takes them to make a game or how easy it would be from what stage they're in.

One thing we can compare to is some of the comments about the recent AAI ports: in this interview, Shunsuke Nishida, the producer of the AAI collection, says that development on the collection began in 2022. He also mentions that this began once development on 456 was concluded. This leads me to believe that (contrary to my previous assumptions) 456 and AAIC were not developed concurrently (or if so, had very minimal overlap), and that the process of upscaling graphics, porting, and localization took them... about a year, maybe? So that takes time, even without taking into consideration how long it would take to come up with a new idea + write the script + the bulk of the programming that would have to be done that isn't considered with porting + probably way more than I can think of because again I do not work in the gaming industry.

There's also the question of why 456 and AAIC weren't developed concurrently. The calendar from 2020 shows that TGAA and AA7 were meant to be developed at least somewhat concurrently, and the staff from TGAA would eventually merge into working on AA7. Once again, we don't know what happened to the staff that were supposed to be working on AA7. It's possible pandemic complications meant they got shuffled onto other projects. It's possible the AA-related team is smaller now than it was in 2020, so they only have enough people to work on one project at a time. It's also possible that there's a team that was working on ports, and a team that was working on a new game, and now the "port team" is freed up to work on the "new game team".

Either way though, pretty much every interview with the staff for the 456 or AAI ports are all saying "look forward to the future of the series", which is definitely Corporate Speak, but unless they're bringing the ports of the Layton crossover (fingers crossed) that can only mean one thing. (AAI anime?) Plus, like I've discussed in this post, AA is having fantastic sales in general. They've seemingly either hired a new social media manager or changed the strategy so there is much more engagement on twitter. And AA is getting on bigger and bigger announcements - though AA trilogy ports were announced at TGS (at an AA-specific panel), TGAA duology ports were announced unceremoniously on twitter. Afterwards, 456 ports got announced at the Capcom Showcase during Summer Game Fest. And now AAI collection got announced at a Nintendo Direct, which I imagine is even more expensive, so the series must be going in a good direction for them to think that's worth it!

That's a lot of rambling for me to say I definitely think it's coming.

When are we going to see it though!!

Coming up in September is my eternal enemy Tokyo Game Show. Since AAI collection is being released at the beginning of September... it might be a bit too soon to announce a new game, but who knows. They might think it's profitable to ride the hype they're building now for AAI collection to announce a new game. Or they might let it sit for a while.

With AAIC getting announced at a Direct, I'm thinking they'll want to make AA7's announcement a) big and b) global. AA6 was announced in Famitsu, but the problem with that is that it's a mostly Japanese audience, and some interviews have been talking about how AA's global audience is particularly contributing to how big it is right now. So I'm expecting AA's next announcement to be at something major and something that will get attention from overseas audiences.

If they have been working on AA7 concurrently -- and honestly I do think there has at least been some progress on it since 2019 -- we could definitely see an announcement within the next year. I was also saying this in 2020, though, so don't take my word for it. There's been two year gaps between ports up until the AAI collection, and they seemed pretty proud about releasing 456 and AAI in the same year, so... maybe they'll want to keep it going and announce AA7 within the next year, especially if they'll have a longer announcement -> release period than they normally would for ports.

Potential candidates include:

Tokyo Game Show: As previously stated, it's very close to the AAIC release, so I don't think it's the best timing for it. I would not want my favorite AA game overshadowed by whatever the hell they're going to do with AA7. Likelihood: depends on how fast they want to follow up on the hype.

The Game Awards: is the next major gaming event, but that's already massive in terms of the type of games that get announced there, and it's expensive! Nintendo Direct is one thing since AA has always been a Nintendo-first series, but I don't think it's big enough to justify putting in a Game Awards ad. and I already have my clown wig on for persona 6 there. Likelihood: pretty low tbh

Next Year's Summer Game Fest-related Shows: I think this is the most likely, considering both the 456 collection and the AAI collection were announced around this time. For AA7 I'd say a Nintendo Direct to get lots of eyes on it, especially if AAIC sales pay off. Likelihood: pretty high!

Which leads me into my wildcard answer:

Switch 2 Announcement Stream: If Capcom decides to go in and make AA7 one of the first games for whatever the switch successor would be, it could be announced here. I regret to admit that I am a very bad gamer and only like two things, and therefore have not ever been present for one of these things to know how many games get announced as launch games for a new console, but, like, it's possible.

In the above scenario, I'm not necessarily saying that AA7 would be a Switch 2 exclusive - because I think that would be stupid after so much of the support they've gotten from the ports has been from playstation and steam - but I am definitely the kind of person who would buy a console for one video game. Shoutout to me buying a switch in part anticipating that aa7 would come out on it and that is not looking likely

Anyways, that's my speculation!! Reminder that this is mostly uninformed and that I have no knowledge of anything related to sales or marketing or video game development, and as a result of that, I have been wrong (aside from the one time I accurately predicted AAI ports as a joke) for four consecutive years.

[feelmyskinonyourskin]

I know it's a silly thing to be in a tizzy about but the lack of continuity on timeline in Daredevil into the Punisher drives me wild everytime I rewatch. Rant below the cut...

Okay so Karen pulls all the Bulletin articles and the dates uptop say April 15ish about the Central Park Massacre.

It's also stated clearly in both shows that the Castle family tradition is to go to Central Park the day after Frank gets home from deployment.

BUT - in The Punisher we see a flashback of Frank opening a birthday card and it's very clearly stated by David that Frank's birthday is November 15. In the very same flashback Billy and Frank talk about how it's only 29 days until their tour is done. Meaning Frank should have gotten home around Dec 15 (maybe only slightly earlier if Maria's card got to him early/she sent it early.)

AND in the flashbacks Frank has, the family is very clearly in late spring/early summer clothes, like even later than April 15 (unless it was a warm day). There's also the flashbacks to the time Billy was with them where they are in more Fall clothes, but I assume that was a previous Central Park visit even though the kids look to be about the same ages. (Which is another continuity error, but whatever at this point.)

So which is it?! When did all this happen?!

I'm not super well versed in how the US military's tours work, so did Frank get to come back state-side in December but had to stay active duty on some base not near his family until April?

Because here's the timeline as I see it based on the two shows which does not line up with the info that they go to the park right when Frank comes home nor the clothing/implied season of the flashbacks to the day.

Nov 2015 - The Kandahar incident when Schoonover lost his arm

Dec 2015 - Frank and Billy's deployment ends

??????? - Who the fuck knows what was happening between?

April 2016 - Castle family is murdered, Frank is in the hospital recovering from the gunshot wound to the head

April -Julyish 2016 - Frank recovers and is released, begins his rampage against the gangs

August 2016 - Matt catches wind of what Frank is doing (since season 2 of Daredevil begins talking about the heat wave, I assume it was Augustish)

August - Christmas 2016 - Daredevil Season 2

Jan/Febuaryish 2017 - Frank finishes hunting down everyone

Summer 2017 - The Punisher season 1, since it says "6 months later" when Frank is working construction.

All this long rant to say - The continuity still doesn't line up for me and it annoys me.

[laurelwen]

Jack - Astrological Birth Chart

This post is special and a little different from the posts for Alex and Nigel. I posit that Jack is a new, different person, born out of the events on the night that Nigel died--born out of Nigel's death itself. For Nigel and Alex, I chose their sun sign based on what I felt fit their personalities best, meaning Nigel was born in late February as a Pisces and Alex was born in early April as an Aries. For the rest of their placements, I simply chose signs that COULD exist (Venus and Mercury have to be close to the Sun sign, for instance), but I didn't bother with trying to get an actual birthdate chart. In other words: purely a vibes-based approach.

In this case, I decided to use a very specific day for Jack's birth. We know from the movie that Alex was invited to Nigel's house to attend the death of the Colbies on a Wednesday night at 8 pm. The seasons of the movie are wintery without being date specific. It's never the holidays which kind of rules out December entirely. Technically the snowy weather might be likely to put the final events in January or February, BUT the end of the movie imposes a specific time frame. Alex is leaving the school for good in summer (the trees are not at all autumnal, nor would autumn make sense for his departure). My guess would be late summer, like August. We know that it is 9 months later because the movie tells us so. 9 months before August is November. I felt very strongly that Jack would be a Scorpio. It is likely that he was "born" in the early hours of a Thursday, since Nigel would have had to go through the process of disposing of his parent's bodies which would have taken quite some time.

When I put all this info together to find a likely date for Jack to be "born", I looked at the Thursdays in November. And then I realized that the day the movie was released - November 9, 2006 - was in fact a Thursday. I felt it was too good an opportunity to pass up. So, I pulled up the astrological chart for that day, with a birth time of 3 am. What you see below are those exact placements. This movie (and Jack by extension) has a SHITLOAD of Scorpio energy, and isn't that really quite fitting? How could I resist.

Sun - Scorpio

Scorpios are known for their intensity. They are determined folk that absolutely throw themselves into whatever they do — but getting them to commit to something is rarely an easy task. In fact, it’s better not to even try to “get them” to do anything. Solar Scorpios absolutely have their own mind, and their primary motivation is unlikely to be prestige or even authority -- it’s real power. Their power can absolutely be of the “behind the scenes” variety, just as long as they have it.

Scorpios know what they want, and they won’t go out and grab it at the wrong moment. They simply sit back, watch (quite expertly), and then get it only when the moment is just right. This apparent patience is simply their powerful skills at strategy at work. They will confront the truth about themselves, as well as other people, if it will bring them closer to their goal. This need to face what is going on can come across as provocative or confrontational. Scorpios can appear controversial – even threatening – simply because they are seeking to expose the truth.

Scorpio isn’t afraid of getting their hands (their bodies, their minds) dirty. The darker side of life intrigues them, and they’re always ready to investigate. They often have an uncanny knack for sensing the subtle or hidden undercurrents in a situation. Scorpio is associated with desire, sexuality and release. It also relates to the psychological motivations which underpin human behavior.  They often prefer to sit back to assess others first, watching what they are doing, how and with whom before deciding who it is they can trust. Scorpios tend to be very private people, and even the most extroverted Scorpio will keep certain things strictly to themselves.

They are very intense and have extremely strong feelings, which they find difficult to talk about because they are also very complicated. When they lose their temper, they get extremely angry, and they don't easily forgive the person who caused their fury. For this reason they have ambivalent feelings about many people. On the other hand, if they do love someone, their feeling is very intense.

They are very sensitive and their feelings are easily hurt, but they won't run off and hide if someone hurts them. Instead, they strike back and fight hard. They have a great love of the mysterious and hidden. They also want to know what is going on in people's minds, so they make an effort to learn as much as possible about human nature.

Sun in Scorpio/Moon in Cancer (combined energy)

You rely heavily on feelings and sensations. In disillusionment with mankind, you may turn to the occult and mystic for what you fail to find in more ordinary spheres. In love, too, you express your potent desires and tenacity of purpose. You have so little trust that it is difficult for you to initiate a relationship, but once you entrust yourself to one individual, you are devotedly attached.

Ascendant - Libra

They are likely to be attractive to others and probably popular. Instead of using force of character to persuade people to do something their way, they use charm. They like to dress elegantly, perhaps even flashily. They may develop an early taste for art, music and literature. Driven by a desire to live indulgently, they are usually lured in by a good time. They're natural stars—they know exactly how to have fun.

They may have symmetrical features, the kind that photograph like a dream. Classically beautiful features like dimples, kissable lips and long, elegant fingers can be hallmarks of this rising sing.

Libra is the partnership sign of the zodiac, and it's likely that this person is a serial dater—always needing to be accompanied by someone else as they go through life. The first impression a Libra rising gives off is someone polite, pleasing, friendly and easy to get along with.

Moon - Cancer

Their mother will have a great influence upon their life, shaping their basic attitudes and their ideas of what values are significant and what is worth doing in life. Emotional awareness doesn't necessarily come with an ability to control their feelings. Moodiness certainly IS likely. These silent-but-deadly mood swings can be incredibly unpleasant. Cancer moons can also be incredibly driven—provided the goal appeals to their emotional needs. Because their emotions are such a driving force in their lives, these individuals find it difficult to complete certain tasks if their hearts aren't in it. Similarly, once their passion is ignited, they're nearly unstoppable.

Mercury - Scorpio

These people are on an eternal quest to get to the very heart of any matter. This appears in anything that requires thought, and in almost every conversation they have. Totally fearless when it comes to delving into depths that nobody else wants, or even thinks, to explore, Mercury in Scorpio is adept at learning the source and the core of any problem or issue. They are blessed (or cursed, depending on how you want to look at it) with the observation skills of a surveillance camera, seeming to just see all and know all. Sometimes they can be quite “dark” because of their tendency to focus on the false in order to get to the truth. These people detest superficiality. They come across as suspicious and can annoy other, more optimistic people with their negative take on things.

When they are angry, they can speak very forcefully and their words may hurt someone's feelings. At least they are forthright and say what they mean. Their sense of humor is rather sharp. When they see someone pretending to be more than he or she is, they are likely to make sarcastic and biting remarks. Their intelligence is absolutely instinctive. Strategies are their specialty. Their idea of constructive criticism can be interpreted as destructive criticism, depending on their audience. It can be very hard to win an argument or debate with Mercury in Scorpio. They are absolutely driven to win, not just for the sake of scoring intellectual points, but simply to come out on top in general. Besides that, it is hard to deny that their thinking is really quite lucid, at least in presentation. You may be gritting your teeth, but it will be hard not to concede.

Venus - Scorpio

Their feelings about people are very intense; they either like them very much or not at all. Only deep relationships have any meaning for them. They find it somewhat difficult to tell someone that they like him or her, because they are afraid of being rejected. It is hard to put their feelings into words, because they seem so complicated.

They give you their complete attention. These people are very focused on their partners. Depending on your personality, you may find this unnerving or entirely flattering. They have a strong need to control their partner, although this won’t be immediately apparent, and they may not ever admit to this. Their body-and-soul love and commitment can be so intense that it eclipses fun and makes loving them a very heavy experience. Their emotion and intensity may seem overdone to those looking for a more lighthearted relationship. These people take things to extremes, and can be very provocative.

Pleasing Venus in Scorpio involves demonstrating your complete commitment and loyalty to them. If you can, and they’re deserving, relinquish some of the control in the relationship. Let them feel they own you, without taking it to extremes. Remember, though, that some Venus in Scorpio lovers can and will take advantage of you on a subtle level, if only to keep you all to themselves. Let them have their secrets and their silences.

Deeply passionate relations are desired with Venus in Scorpio. Superficial flirtations and contacts do not satisfy, as they yearn for “body and soul” contact with someone special–contact that breaks the taboos, that is extreme and intense, and that is unforgettable. This is a highly emotional position for Venus. It is a passionate, sensual, and intense energy. Their relationships are immensely important to them, and they may even feel that relationships consume them. In fact, they tend to want to be consumed by them! Although the basic drive is toward intense closeness, blind faith in their partners is extremely hard. Fears of being too vulnerable or of giving up their own power to others is strong. Scorpio is an “all or nothing” energy, and relationships tend to be somewhat of a rollercoaster ride as a result. Disdain for mediocrity and superficiality can compel them to create crises in order to feel alive and vital.

Libra Rising/Venus in Scorpio (combined energy)

Their ruling planet, Venus, is in the willful and passionate sign of Scorpio, suggesting an emotional intensity, a depth of desire and of feeling which is belied by your surface equanimity: you appear mild and conciliatory but possess surprising drive and tenacity, especially regarding your loves. Intimate relationships are not only a tremendously impatient means of fulfillment and self-expression, they are also, for you, a crucible. You have a very exotic and creative force which can turn destructive and negative, bringing you (and others with you) down. Beware of allowing yourself to be ruled by those to whom you have a passionate attachment, and/or of wielding your own attractive powers to manipulate others through their desire for you.

Mars - Scorpio

You have a strong will, and you let everyone know what you want. If someone makes you angry, instead of blowing up right off, you go into a slow burn. People know you are upset, however, because you are likely to make sarcastic and biting remarks. But also the intensity of your anger, even though it is held in, may be rather frightening to others whose emotions are not as strong as yours.

Mars in Scorpio natives love to challenge themselves to do the impossible. They throw themselves into what they decide to do with concentrated energy and awesome willpower. These people make formidable opponents, although often quietly so. They keep their cool and their equilibrium on the surface. Below the surface may be another story, and they are unlikely to easily let you in. Mars in Scorpio has the potential to exploit others–they see through others and rely heavily on their gut feelings.

Mars in Scorpio people are attracted to taboos, and their fantasies may involve blowing the taboos to smithereens! They enjoy scenarios in which the “other” is giving in to them, wants them completely, and will do absolutely anything for them. And, their sexual appeal is strong enough that they generally do get what they want.

These people constantly test themselves, and, often, others. They make all kinds of rules and goals, just for the personal satisfaction that comes from achieving or mastering them. Their survival instincts are strong, and they embrace their own animal nature when they are all alone with themselves, without guilt. These people have a provocative quality to them.

Alex Forbes Birth Chart

Nigel Colbie Birth Chart

[Like Minds Masterpost]

[oldhabitsdiescrming]

prefacing this with saying i haven't listened to the leaks. let's go.

every single time taylor releases an album, people who love critiquing leaks say it's the worst one yet.

this isn't new. i call it the eminem complex - every time a new album drops, everyone is all over it because they need it to be the worst thing in the world. they need it to be awful. they need it to be trash. they need it to be whatever they're saying it is because they cannot STAND certain people staying on top. a woman, a poc, an lgbtq+ artist, that doesn't matter. it happened to beyonce. it happened to eminem ("every CD, critics give it a three/then three years later go back and re-rate it.", "i guess enough time just ain't passed yet/a couple more years, that shit'll be illmatic."). pretty sure it happened to lil nas x. doja. megan thee stallion. i could go on, but you get the point. this has been a thing forever, but i'm focusing on strictly recent examples.

if you're on top, some fans/critics are gonna hate it. they want their indie artist. they want their underground. they wanna go against the mainstream and be seen as someone cutting corners with this critique of this high-end artist, and in taylor's case, they're gonna cling to when she hit a new peak: quarantine.

they want another folkmore situation so bad that it's almost tragic, but at the same time, how dare her albums sound similar? they want their sad indie girl who sings about heartbreak while staring out her window, donning her cardigan and sipping on white wine. they want their girl who felt like she was gonna fade from relevancy until she didn't.

because we all noticed that, didn't we? people want the pheonix after it burns itself down. who wants what it becomes when the ash rebuilds? we want tragedy because tragedy is relatability. we crave heartbreak from a woman fading out of mind because we feel like we're in on something the rest of the world isn't. we suffered with her back then. when midnights came out, hundreds of new fans claimed it to be her worst work yet without understanding that taylor swift isn't a one trick pony. notice how it's grown on seemingly everyone since the announcement of ttpd? notice how critics are going back and re-rating, re-evaluating because now it's old news. now it's not got everyone's eyes on it. now there's this new shiny toy to chip away at until the next one is announced.

because if it sounds similar to midnights, it's a copycat. if it's entirely different then it's a joke. if it's too cunty then it's her being a bad person, if it's too sad then she's a whiny bitch once again. because being on top means one thing: people want to bring you down.

veteran swifties are used to this. i've loved her since the original fearless era, i've seen this film before (sorry). we've all been here, done that, but i've only been on tumblr since late november/maybe early december, and the amount of people i'm seeing who are fans until they're not?

give it two years, they'll be calling this underappreciated and misunderstood while the cycle repeats itself.

happy ttpd release day 🖋️

[bittertomato]

A lil late but happy new year!

Characters under the cut, plus some fun facts

Tomato's faves for each month of 2023

January: Diana Cavendish (Little With Academia)

February: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

March: True Rider — Hippolyta (Fate/Strange Fake)

April: Psyche Callista (Your Throne)

May: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

June: Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

July: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

August: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

September: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

October: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

November: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

December: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Brainrot of the Year 2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

Hall of Fame (aka brainrots of years past)

2023: Morgan (Fate/Grand Order)

2022: Tsuruhime Yachiyo (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2021: Tsuruhime Yachiyo and Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2020: Yumeoji Shiori (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2019: Tendou Maya (Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: ReLive)

2017 & 2018: Diana Cavendish (Little Witch Academia)

2016: Carmilla Karnstein (Carmilla the Webseries), Elsa (Frozen), Tohsaka Rin (Fate/stay night), and Misaka Mikoto (A Certain Scientific Railgun)

2015: Carmilla Karnstein + Laura Hollis aka Hollstein (Carmilla the Webseries) aka my gay awakening

2014: Elsa (Frozen)

2012 & 2013: Higurashi Kagome (Inuyasha), Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach), Mouri Ran (Detective Conan), and Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2011: Chiba Mamoru (Sailor Moon)

2009 & 2010: Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach)

Pre-2009: Who knows? My memory sure doesn't!

And I promised fun facts, so...

The early days...

The reason I can date my first fave to Rukia in 2009 is because that was when I made a Fanfiction.net account and posted my first fanfic. Don't read it I was young and foolish.

Bleach, Inuyasha, and Sailor Moon were my first animes. The first two I definitely watched on Adult Swim back when I still watched cable.

I used to be pretty skilled at self defense and even have a first degree black belt. One of the reasons why Ran from Detective Conan really left an impression on me.

There's a few unnamed faves that I also had from more obscure anime that were from so long ago that I can't pinpoint the exact years. A special shoutout to Asuka from Ask Dr. Rin! This show is in no way affiliated with Tohsaka Rin lol.

And yes, I do have male faves besides Mamoru! I love Hak and his constipated repressed feelings for Yona (Akatsuki no Yona) and my in-game name in FGO is inspired by Kurogane (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles). And for whatever reason, Fred is my favorite from Scooby Doo.

Honestly, I have to give Elsa some credit. I think she started the trend of my faves being "blonde/light haired "regal" rich/well off BAMF ladies who seem cold and distant on the surface but are actually dorks over-burdened and forced to grow up too fast, with a dash (or a ton) of family angst dumped on them." I mean, do you see any of my past faves being blonde? xD

The college days...

I was in denial about being queer and swore I was straight until I somehow found Carmilla the Webseries (I don't even know how) during the summer of 2015 and had a multi-step process of acceptance that went something like "Oh the actress for Laura Hollis is hot. Oh the actress for Carmilla is cute, pretty, and a huge dork. Oh everyone is pretty attractive. Wait mostly just the girls. Wait is that why I don't give a shit about men?"

Little Witch Academia is not only the first series where I published fanfic on AO3, but it's also the series that got me to write AND finish longer stories. So congrats, Diana! I really wanted to angst you :D It's also the fandom where I found my closer Discord friends. Love y'all, mwah.

I think Revue Starlight might be the series that squeezed the most faves out of me. It holds a special place in my heart for numerous reasons, but the main one might be the collab fic I worked on with Quill, who is now my partner 😊So thanks, ReLive even if your gacha game is somehow even worse than FGO.

That said, the series I seem to always go back to seem to be the To aru and Fate franchises. Maybe it's because they're still ongoing.

Those two are also the reason I started messaging Quill back in the day, so they hold an extra special place in my heart. Even with all their flaws.

And then Lostbelt 6 hit FGO and blew everything out of the water. I rave about Morgan a lot but that chapter of the game truly had a stellar cast. Nasu wanted us to remember that he can cook lol.

Where is my Lostbelt 6 anime, Aniplex?

[literaticat]

Should I have any expectation of timely royalty payments? For example, my pub says an accounting period for my book ends Dec 31+ statements go out by March 31. Then does the agent look it over? (This book is with my agent’s old agency, if that makes a difference.) Is there a lot to sort out here? I’ve gotten paid bw late April and early May before. Publishing is slow, I get it, but is is it the publisher or the agency who is most likely to be slow? Both? Thank you!

Short version: Yes, you should be paid any money you are owed in a timely way. Publishers might take anywhere from a week to a month to process all the payments, though, so that's what "timely" means -- if the statement went out by March 31, it might be actually paid any time in April or even the tail end of April / first week of May; As soon as it gets to the agency and clears the bank, they should process it quickly and get it out to you. So late mid-to-late April / early May is absolutely normal, that IS "timely."

Long Version: FWIW, when we get royalties depends on the publisher. Many publishers have a schedule that is like what you describe -- two accounting periods, the first running from Jan-June (paid in Fall of that year), the second running July-December (paid in Spring of the following year). The bulk of Fall payments we get come in October (though there are some outliers that come in late September or early November!), and Spring usually comes in April (though sometimes late March or early May!)

(To be clear, this isn't THE ONLY possible schedule -- some publishers have a "rolling" schedule and different books could have different accounting periods altogether! This is just the most usual one.)

I don't know about any other agency, but at mine, we often get the statements first, and then get the money, or get them both at around the same time. In rare cases we might get a bunch of money first but no statement, in which case we do have to wait until the statements come in... because obvs we have no idea what the money is FOR. But that usually doesn't happen, and if it does, they send the statement quickly after.

Your thing said that the statements "go out by March 31"... but what that means is, they have created the statements and put them on their portal or sent them out -- that does NOT mean they have actually cut all the checks. (kinda like when you get an invoice or bill and it says "pay within 30 days" or whatever -- they have an amount of time in which they are supposed to pay). Payment itself might be fast. Or it might take a couple weeks, or 30 days, something like that. Hence why we are getting payments for the entire month, with some on either side of that month.

As soon as we get the money, we check the statements, OK, is this amount of money for this person, yes, it matches, and we pay them.

We do payments twice a week, so we pay you the same week the money comes to us, unless it comes AFTER we have already done the payments that week, in which case it would be in the following week's first batch.

In fact, I believe we are obligated to pay any money you are owed within two weeks (or 10 days? something like that?) -- like, it's the law, we CAN'T just randomly hold money.

If something looks seriously WONKY*, the amount of money they paid us does NOT match what the statement says, something has clearly gone wrong; in that case we would have to reach out to the publisher and have them reissue the money or whatever, obviously, but for the most part, this all goes smoothly, which actually is kind of surprising given that we have hundreds of clients and THOUSANDS of books, you'd think MORE things would go wrong, but hey. I guess if there IS a problem, there might be a delay, but you'd know about it!

(We also do have a royalties person who does bigger "deep dive" projects where she examines the statements to make sure that all the subsidiary rights that are supposed to be on the statement are on there, that the percentages are all what they are supposed to be, that they aren't holding an excessive amount of reserves, etc -- but those examinations are ongoing throughout the year. So if we realize at some point in February or whatever that, hello, actually it looks like they SHOULD have paid us x-amount and why didn't they, we will go back to them and ask questions about it and if there are changes to be made, they will cut another check at that point. It would absolutely NOT be feasible to do a deep dive on everyone's royalty statements during April or October when they are all coming in at once, nor would it be legal for us to hold money that has come in until that is done.)

[eliduremaybe]

My brother is an ocean.

My brother is an ocean.

it's important to me that you understand. I need to someone to understand this.

We were raised together, you know? Two little kids, so alike we could have been twins, we used to sit by the sea wall and catch crabs. Pieces of scrappy bacon on lengths of string, a bucket of seawater between us, flat on our stomachs to see over the side, leaping back to avoid sudden spray from the waves below.

I can see it now, through the heavy coating of nostalgia. Rose-painted and perfect. Two siblings by the sea wall, staring out as the sailing ships came in.

We were excitement and noise and curiosity of the worst kind - forever getting in the way, making mess, causing trouble together. We called ourselves twins, and laughed at our own private jokes.

I first learnt to sail sitting at the foot of my older sister's bed. It could have been morning, or early afternoon, or one of those timeless moments of the summer when the minutes and hours spill over and multiply. But I remember how the sunlight glinted off imagined waves, and I remember the sense of possibility and potential the first time she let me take the tiller.

I learned how to steer on that boat, guiding our invisible rudder back and forth against the currents of her bedroom floor. She told me ow to get salt from seawater, just incase we got stranded on a non-existant island. Because dehydration might start causing problems within a couple of days, but heaven forbid we eat our freshly caught fish unseasoned.

But my first memories on the water were with my brother. Our sunshine boat, the two of us sitting up in the front, giggling and arguing, and shrieking when the waves got too close. My mother was a good sailor.

When we were older, it was a bigger boat. Still with the three of us - I was only seven or eight, and my brother a year and a half younger. We'd come off the water shivering and chattering and feeling so important, rushing to peel ourselves out of wetsuits and into dry clothes.

My brother and I sailed together for a while after that. Just the two of us. We were the terror of the seas - or one of them, at least - uncoordinated and ungainly, slow moving, sail flapping, laughing to hard to pay attention to the stability of the hull as we lurched downwind. A tiny boat trailing drunkenly at the back of the fleet, childish voices rising high above the water. We were the best of friends.

Soon we were racing each other. Separate boats, neck and neck, near the top of our very small fleet. It was a friendly sort of competitivity - the two of us against all of them - because if he was winning, then it felt like I had won too.

He was daring, adventurous, fearless. I was careful, precise, accurate. All the while, the ocean: endless.

I remember one evening so vividly. The wind was stronger than usual. I could feel it pulling at my hair, filling my sail, tugging the sheet just slightly harder than I was used to. It was cold. Salt spray, dark sky, churning sea. Sunbeams like dirty gold, barely breaking through the cloud cover.

It was impossible and beautiful, but it was real and a little bit terrifying too. A gleeful sort of exhaustion, a world of my own, a moment that I wished would never end.

And it didn't end. Or: not exactly. Not for a while, at any rate.

We drifted. Apart, together, in different directions, whatever. It happens to all of us, right? Doesn't have to mean that it's forever.

Summer passed us by, swinging from the railings by the harbour, waiting for the tide all dressed up and ready to go. Clambering over capsized kayaks in the shallows at the end of the day, cannonballing off the sea wall when none of the adults were watching. Racing and out of breath, too preoccupied to notice the passing of time. Stumbling inside late into the evening with numb fingers and hair that was windswept and crisp with sea salt.

Summer passed us by.

October, November, December. Things changed and they stayed the same. Coming home to damp sailing kit draped over every surface, the heating turned off, rooms freezing cold. The smell of sweat and seaweed and worse. Dried-salt stickiness and that clammy, tacky feeling whenever you touched something.

Shivering, soaked, freezing cold, with watery hot chocolate that burned my hands, and nothing but a damp towel and half a sandwich waiting for me to get changed.

I stopped sailing. My brother didn't. He started sailing more.

Car journeys starting at 6am, so that he could be at the 10am briefing, in a sailing club a three hour drive away from home.

Weekends chewed up and spat out again in shredded sea water, sleep deprivation and hours whiled away in aimlessness until it was time to go home again.

Sitting in cold damp sailing club after cold damp sailing club, while the sun set and my brother messed around without me, and every person I spoke to seemed like a reminder that I wasn't a part of this anymore.

It was my choice. It was my fault.

I loved him, though, my brother. I need you to know that. There was never a moment when I didn't. Even when he was acting like a stupid fucking twat.

My mother informs me that I was "hostile" and "insanely jealous", which is a really normal way to refer to your then teenage child, but it does describe as much about that relationship as anyone needs to know.

I miss my brother.

He is a part of my life that I can't reach anymore. A part of my home, and the freedom that I once found in salt spray and ocean waves. One that I allowed to slip through my fingers.

One that I let go of, consciously, because it became the only choice I could make. I can't regret it, but it was only a year ago that I realised the cost.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I'll never sail again.

My brother pretends that I don't exist, these days.

[thrifthi]

Josh Hutcherson Count Report!!!

[Long post ahead]

If you follow me, you'll know that since the peak of the Josh Hutcherson Renaissance, I started the Josh Hutcherson Count, inspired by the comments under various IG reels stating the number of Joshes they have encountered so far to illustrate the ridiculous popularity of the meme. Under the cut will be a review of the data collected by me over a period of over a month - from 23 Nov to 31 Dec of the number of Josh posts and reels I have encountered on Instagram.

So, to start things off, I would like to say that this is nowhere close to like a proper study or investigation. At first this was just like a fun thing I thought I was gonna do for like a week when the meme dies off. For the first week, I basically used sheer memory to count the number of Joshes that appear on my Instagram feed, which definitely means the data collected is not going to be reliable, but whatever. After one week, I got a tally counter app, which increased the reliability of the data collected. However, this count should still be taken with a grain of salt because I think I counted on other social media apps once or twice, even though the scope was only on Instagram, and I stopped collating data at the end of the day after 1 week (I knew the number of Joshes in total, just not the number of Joshes per day). (Also I think you should take this with a grain of salt because this is literally a Josh Hutcherson count, not a serious academic study or anything haha) (and I liked those josh reels so the algorithm gave me more, which skews the data up)

Fortunately, I'm that one annoying friend who sends every single reel I see, so I also sent many of the Josh Hutcherson reels I encountered to my friends along with the number of Joshes at that point in time. One of my friends (@gghggabc) collected all of the Joshes that I sent to complete the data (absolute mad lad btw) and created a graph illustrating the trend in Josh appearances.

Without further ado, I present to you, the TOTAL NUMBER OF JOSH HUTCHERSONS I ENCOUNTERED IN 1+ MONTHS:

1562!!

yes. that's a lot but that is what i got.

GRAPHS!!

(ok low key 3 dec looks wrong idk what i was doing that day. but yeah that happened i guess)

Credits to @gghggabc for helping me do the graphs and collecting the data.

So, as you can see, the Josh Hutcherson Renaissance reached its peak in late November - early December (or according to my data at least) and then slowed down significantly in December. The cumulative graph became less and less steep until 31 December, when it came back up a little bit (I vividly remember seeing A BUNCH of Josh Hutcherson edits popping up on my feed as I was watching the New Year countdown. it was wild). There were a lot of fluctuations in the number of Joshes encountered per day, most likely due to different screen times and whether I interact with the Josh posts or not.

Average number of Josh per day: 40?

Min number of Josh encountered: 7

Max number of Josh encountered: 214 (thats insane i dont know if this is correct anymore thats way too much)

What are the conclusions?

Josh Hutcherson >>>

Memes are a very powerful thing

I should probably set things up more properly the next time I do one of these, maybe get ppl to join in too for a bigger sample size

I should continue to send my friends every single reel I see

Thank you for reading until the end!

[incarnateirony]

Okay so, you guys know I went from some pretty recent highs to a series of unfortunate lows as disability onset. But as I see the finish line clear as day, and things actually getting REAL GOOD HERE SOON, I really got no choice to ride it instead of stress--and I've been laughing.

So enjoy the story of:

"Man, you guys think autistic executive function is bad? Let's try Autistic Executive Function With Effectual Narcoleptic Disorder.", which I'm actually now laughing at myself the last few months.

Because god DAMN is it debilitating to pass out all the time.

So anyway, some months back, monnnnths back I got REAL sick. It used up most of my PTO. Afterward, I started passing out, which they wanted separate notes for, for any kind of leave. But I have my funky medical history and my clinic was backed up and by the time I got in, it was too late basically. I mean doc has on file I'm basically screwed, so there was that. Weird silver lining but okay.

My bosses were great, apologized, said if I ever felt I could do the old 9-5 style again they'd take me back in a heartbeat rehire policy be damned, but that was a pretty big limiter. And like that, poof--my insurance, including my disability insurance I was trying to file for at the same time which would pay me about 1200/mo forever even BEFORE federal SS--boom, gone.

So at this point, you're probably like, wow, I'd be panicking. But really I was too tired from falling asleep over and over through the day to care? I was like. well i have some savings and I can pull my peasly lil one year 401k i'm good.

So at this point it's like early november. You know you're an industrious person and can make this work. You got time, and a variety of side income options. And. You fall asleep. And--you know you're an industrious person and-- you fall asleep.

Yo okay this rebooting shit is getting wild. Is today tomorrow new zealand? Wait, what day is it. Oh shit how did I lose a week?

So around then it's like. Mid November suddenly. You're not sure when that happened somewhere in the last 100 times you passed out but it sure the fuck did. In that time you've been getting up to do various processes that need done. Like dishes. Or trash. Or posting online. Or stuff. But there was zero concept of time much less ability to prioritize by it. THINGS WERE ACCOMPLISHED SUCCESSFULLY, BUT NOT NECESSARILY AS NEEDED.

So in this time you're like, trying to fill out paperwork and shit, like disability and all that good stuff. Only this also falls in the various miscellaneous life tasks pile, complete with passing out a few times at processes like 'get a copy of id' or whatever. So somehow this only gets in at like. End of month. But now it's holidays anyway so god knows ain't nobody opening it until today when I'm making this post, if I'm lucky.

So. Like. Somehow you just had to pay out not just October and November, but December from those spare funds and you realized, wait. When's the last time I paid my FUCKING utilities. FUCK. FUCK I DIDN'T PUT THAT ON MY LIST.

Even while I was working, I realized my passing out schedule; what I didn't think about was why it was a passing out schedule. I spent months, these many months, fighting it. Like, maybe if I try this diet thing or cutting coffee or doing whatever, I can do... something. It has to be something I can adjust. But no.

And some point around early december I got an insomnia bit, it shifted my schedule half a day, and I slept through what I can only call peak passout period. And yeah I woke up groggy like mornings and took a while to get moving but... I really only passed out like once in a few weeks, and that was while figuring out this could, in fact, be a schedule.

But you know. That's in a few weeks. So basically, Merry Christmas, go you, you figured out How To Fucking Function Again.

So this last week has been primarily that, and I've even scouted out a WFH job that might suit even these limitations, though still letting other things pend. I got stressed from the roomies being late on shit and went full middle class suburban housewife in panic for a second there. And yeah I'm in the red bad this month, but I can just post another garage sale in the basement if I really gotta push just enough to hop ahead.

For what it's worth, the doctor literally put on file that he can't figure out what's causing it, just that it's clearly debilitating. But my health is so complicated the simplest thing demands minimum 12 blood panels because, for most people, it's usually X thing, but for me, it could be 100 things, something he's literally said. He has to treat me like an episode of House whenever I come in, only instead of being an asshole, he's quirky and gay.

not all doctors get a zebra in their lifetime, but the ones that recognize they ARE there instead of regular ol horses tend to end up REAL keen docs.

But that said, that IS why I pushed my patreon and stuff a bit this month, to help bridge the gap if you will, but I brought myself down like. Nono, LET them bring this to court, this will go so bad for them. I show up with my 1700 receipts from THEIR negligence they've been dodging and they come at me over being a few weeks late once like their weird autotrigger threat emails. Nawwww. open that can, assholes. So I'm good. Got what I need for the second, and know over the next week I got enough liquid cash coming in to do whatever it is i need to do.

So now that I'm sitting here realizing I'm 100x better than good just Not Right This Second, but finally in relative mastery of my schedule as long as I stop trying to conform, I can't help but look back at the lunacy of the last 3 months.

Like sure, in life I was always more nightowl aligned. But I could snap into Adult(TM) schedule. With the random passouts, I couldn't. I literally couldn't. And for some reason the heat of them came pretty much during normal 9-5 work hours. Then, duh, I decide to sleep through the worst period of my flares after a few months instead of Trying To Make It Work, and omg, I'm mostly functional.

Who woulda thunk if I didn't spend all my spoons fighting my body just to fit Normie Shit, I'd be able to hold coherent days.

That's where I've been since the holidays roughly, though the last week is realizing I HAVE finally found a tempo that works for more than a few days, this is NOT a temporary resolution. Now it's just working in those constraints.

But what a wild timeless dream ride like October through December were, jesus christ. Goddamn groundhog day. I feel you, Sam, I feel you buddy.

For what it's worth, finding that schedule has you know, given time meaning, instead of floating through Just Being In The Cosmos But Somehow Paying Rent In It or whatever that was for a season there. Jesus christ.

Literally none of it was lack of effort. The effort was there, it was just in a million tasks I could never finish before passing out again. Or at least not in the necessary order. WILD shit to experience.

[alexstorm]

Bringing up an old discussion but because some questions also came up a while ago about the Spotify account and its playlists, I think this might clarify many things like if it was his or hers, how Taylor didn’t suspect anything from the Spotify account when there was a playlist called “poppy”, if Lou knew about all those songs Alex later mentioned (handwritten on paper), which made people think Lou knew about them before that so she made the playlist, etc.

The first playlist, which only had two songs, was made in January 2017 and updated in February. Then there was nothing until August 2017 (“the millennium prayer”). “Na then mardy bum” was made in September 2017 and updated until December. Others: “Details” in September 2017, “Euro 2000” in October 2017 (ironically includes “Jane B” song which I thought was her doing but apparently not), “Rawborough” in May 2018, “Qualsiasi Cosa” in June 2018. These playlists included the songs he mentioned during the press for tbhc album (handwritten). Now the interesting part is that the first “French-titled” playlist (“supermarché”) was made in… July 26, 2018. I think whatever that was made before July 2018 belonged to him and after that Louise took over, or at least started “co-using” it lol. So I think it pretty much confirms she didn’t know about those songs before he mentioned them and she didn’t create those playlists. They were his. This makes it more suspicious whether they met in 2017 or not. Then another French-titled playlist (“pot au feu”) was made in November 2018. “Clapton Club” and “Party” were made on her birthday in December 2018. “Poppy” was created in March 2019, so that’s why Taylor didn’t suspect anything, it didn’t even exist while she was with him. Some fans might think he created that for her, but most probably she made it herself. Del Schwartz, Jungle Amor, Tarot Californie, per la vittà and all the other playlists after July 2018 were made between December 2018 and April 2019. Not really related but remember he also made her music videos around this time, and Love Croail includes a shot of that car that had “Del Schwartz” written on its back. The “Del Schwartz” playlist was also made in March 2019. Some songs were later added in 2020 and early 2021 to some playlists. For whatever reason (fans finding out though that “Scott Walker death” IG Story) this account was abandoned, or was made private so other playlists aren’t accessible and nothing new has been added to the existing playlists since early 2021. The username is still sabertoothedturner but the public name has been changed to evermont. It’s also interesting some playlists were later renamed, like “AUSTRALIA BABE”, which if I remember correctly was made in late 2017 (September?). I hope this summary helps anyone who’s confused. We can’t be sure whether Louise had or hadn’t access to his account before 2018 but French names only started popping up after July 2018 so…

I think we were all aware of this already but thanks for repeating it.

Also Taylor might not play into any of this since we don't know if she was even aware of this account. And just because the French-titled playlists started in July 2018 doesn't mean she didn't know about the account before that.

[mirrorballwhoistrying]

Slow Dancing During Burning December (18/12/22)

It’s been exactly 4 weeks since I last wrote an article. It feels so good to finally just sit and have a me-time after what I’ve been doing the last 4 weeks. I have so much and I don’t know how can I put it into words well but I’d try. 

The last 4 weeks for real feel like the climax of my 2022. It’s like the seeds I’ve been planning throughout the year finally came through. 

After the Water Festival trip, there was so much to catch up on. First the Kita Sama project, I missed the 2 volunteer orientations, No choice, I was in Thailand. Coming back, Debby asked me to facilitate a session. The funny thing is I couldn’t understand Bahasa at all. Yeah, Debby assisted at the end. It was a nice experience to facilitate a cross-country orientation like this though. 

At the workplace, I felt like my motivation grew thinner and thinner day by day. I received news that one member resigned at the end of the year and an intern ended her internship. It is what it is. 

Preparing for the True Colors project is the most tiring part during the 2nd half of November. It’s a post-workshop project implemented by me and Cambodian participants. Yeah, it was nice, and I was finally able to put my skills to use again. But it was tiring regardless. I had to handle social media campaigns and I research, synthesize, boost, and designed... all by myself. There was a lot of preparation leading up to the workshop day though. I felt like a university student again. It’s not that big of a project though as I’ve handled many larger-scale projects at work, but it is definitely much more fulfilling doing what I like and having full control. 

Finally, there came the most intensive 9 days of my life this year from December 3rd-11th. Prior to that, the Chaktomuk Short Film festival happened. I don’t want to mention it again as it was a big nothing of an event. 

the December 3rd & 4th are True Colors workshop days. I mean no matter how small scale the project is, it was still tiring to me regardless. The scariest part was the number of participants. The day is near, and the confirmed participants are still below 20. I had no choice but to call them. Long story short, there were only 12 participants coming out of the 30 selected. I was also quite worried about the session as I was the one who invited 2 of the 4 speakers. Luckily, all went well. I got to witness how a workshop is organized. A small but new experience for me. There were some tensions between the participants at the beginning of the course but by the end of the workshop. There was like an invisible bond between them. They even hung out after that. It was a tiring but so fulfilling experience. 

I went to work for a day on December 5th before going to the workshop venue in the evening. I ditched a project at the workshop just for the summit. The Hyatt Regency was definitely fancy. My roommate is another Cambodian participant. 

it felt different from the regional workshop as it was my 2nd time for the YSEALI event. I went there full of anxiety. The welcome dinner was at the ballroom. Luckily, I sat there and there were other participants coming in. As we started talking, all those anxiety was slowly gone. Each and every story was so unique and inspiring. It reminded me of why I was there in the first place. 

The next few days were intense. It went in a blink of an eye. We went clubbing until 3AM on the 2nd night. Whatever, I felt like it wasn’t as tiring as it was during the regional workshop. Maybe because I was in my own city and it was my 2nd time around. 

At one point, I had to accept that I can’t talk to all 150 people. That’s the thing about big summits. We meet a lot, a lot of people, but how many people do we get to know deeper or keep in touch with? I didn’t do anything remarkable. I didn’t even network much. 

The crowd of people was definitely older though like in the late 20s or early 30s. Everyone was so professional and networking and I felt like a fraud or an imposter the whole time. 

The theme also wasn’t given much as it’s in the theme of Economic Empowerment. It was still nice regardless. I met someone and we have kept in touch until now. It was nice but a different experience from the regional workshop. 

I wish I could rest after the summit but nope. I had an hour of sleep before going back home to bring the books to set up the booth at the national book fair. The weekend at bookfair reminded me of how determined I was as a kid. The enthusiasm is kind of gone. There were fewer people than in 2019. We made a good fortune regardless. 

The tiring week is gone, but then I had to submit 2 reports for the 2 projects from the regional workshop. It was tiring but we did it. and now yesterday I went to a gathering in the morning, a movie date in the afternoon and a wedding reception at night. I used all my social battery I fear. Until this moment, I could finally have time to reflect back on what happened. 

I’m still processing though but I’m grateful for the things that happened. I guess this is the last article of this year. I’m glad it ended on a kind interesting note. My next article would be on my year-end reflection I think. Good byee

[sugas-sweetheart]

A/N: this is my first piece of writing posted in like,, months so im terrified. some family things happened in november so i was a little MIA when it came to writing but things are slowly getting better and this is my first jjk post so please bear with me if he’s a little ooc!! he’s my fave and it’s his birthday so i couldn’t think of a better day to introduce jjk <3 i literally decided at like 11:30pm i was going to write something for him and its past midnight on the 23rd so happy belated birthday gumi!! i am also testing out character banners and yes i put megumi first instead of fushigurou just bc megumi looked better on top,, but we’ll ignore that

Title: Puppy Love

Genre/warnings: birthday fluff!! dogs, megumis a dog dad, idk if the school allows pets but they do now, or they at least allow pets with a little persuasion, i used the word puppy a lot but only because there is one in the fic. probably ooc megumi bc im new to writing for him 

Pairing: Megumi Fushigurou x gn!reader 

Format: drabble (wc: 555)

reblogs appreciated!

“Megumi… hey, wakey wakey, it’s your birthday” 

The light shaking at his shoulder, which then turned into the patting of his cheeks, stirred Megumi. He could feel the late December chill that dwelled on the border of the blanket waiting to grab him as soon as he left the comfort of his bed, and he elected to ignore every notion of leaving his bed because of it.  He knew you’d be relentless in your urges to wake him up, and if you of all people were up this early in this weather, it had to mean you had something planned. He could faintly hear you shush something behind you but in his current state, he didn’t have the energy to strain his ears for whatever was making noise. 

He tossed and turned a few more times after your prodding just to see if you would maybe cave in and cuddle him in bed for the rest of the morning, but to no avail, you kept insisting he move. Maybe he could just pull the birthday card and pull you into a hug to cuddle? No, you’d probably just roll him out of the bed from there. 

His thoughts on getting your affection were interrupted by a quiet panting and licking sensation by his cheek, he blinked away some of his drowsiness to make eye contact with a small puppy that you had held up to his eye level and was currently making itself known. 

“Well that’s one way to wake me up”  He slowly moved a hand up to the puppies face where it gave a happy lick and allowed him to scratch by its ear. 

“It’s good that you’re getting along, he’s all yours” as a smile danced across your face you noticed the way his eyes widened as you handed him the Belgian shepherd puppy. The puppy was all black and had reminded you of one of his divine dogs, and it looked very happy in his arms as he sat up slightly stunned. 

“He’s… what?” 

“He’s yours. To look after, I see how you much adore seeing the dogs around town and you can’t really keep the divine dogs out all the time”

You had seated yourself next to him as he was now sitting upright playing with the puppy. It adored him already and it was sweet to see Fushiguro so relaxed and happy in that moment. He deserved more moments like this, all of you did, where none of you had to worry about saving people, and you were happy to help provide that for him.

“Are we even allowed to keep pets here?” he questioned, turning his body to face you as the puppy began climbing up his arms. His support on the dog never wavered as it wiggled up to rest its head on his shoulder. 

“I spoke to Gojo, if anything happens he can take the blame.” 

“Sounds like a fair plan. Now… what should I name this little guy?” The soft smile on Megumi’s face showed his gratitude towards you and all the care he held for the little creature already. He whispered a “thank you” as he left a light kiss on your forehead and stared into your eyes before your loving moment was promptly interrupted by the cutest bark from your new little friend.

taglist: @justamultifandomfan16​ @mattsvn​ @yee-harr​ @silkylious​ @therealcozyy​ (send an ask to be added or removed)

[nanowrimo]

How to Win NaNo with a 40-Hour Work Week

It seems like there’s never enough time as a writer, especially working full-time. Don’t worry though, as NaNo guest Brittany Bustos shares her secrets for managing NaNo and her 40-hour workweek:

I know there are many of us out there, people who love to write but spend forty hours of their week in an office, not being able to set aside time to work on their project. Thankfully, I’m lucky to have a wonderful support system at home and through trial and error, have created a list of tips for those who are curious about NaNoWriMo, but fear that their day job will mean they won’t have enough time. 

1. Set aside a dedicated time to write. 

This can be bright and early at 6 in the morning or as late as 10 at night. But make a dedicated time every single day of November to work. And try your hardest to use that time for only NaNo. Emily from the LA region uses an alarm as a reminder to write every day, and I think that is a great idea to keep yourself accountable. Even if your workday is stressful and busy, set aside time to write. It might even be that stress reliever you needed after a long day.

2. Try sprinting to get a lot of words in a little time. 

Sprinting in writing is similar to how you picture a runner sprinting - it’s when you write continuously, as much as you can in a set amount of time. You go fast. I’ve written over 500 words in 15 minutes during a sprint. You’re probably thinking to yourself, “But how can I process thoughts when I’m focused on typing?” And truthfully, you don’t. You let your stream of consciousness put the words on the page. And try as hard as you can to ignore the backspace button. Your focus is to get words on a draft, editing can come later! 

3. Try and come prepared with a general plan of what you're going to work on.

 When you are fishing for time to write, there’s not much time to sit and think. If you are a planner or pantser or somewhere in between, I encourage you to jot down your “game plan” for what you are going to work on after a session of writing so that you can easily jump into your project the next day. 

4. “Get out of your head. Don’t overthink it, don’t ponder and stew. Write.” -- Julie, ML, Los Angeles region. 

I love this advice from one of my community friends to round out this list. At the end of it all, November is a time to draft. Not draft and hope it’s ready for publication in December. Just draft. You don’t have a lot of time to think or reconsider, you need to get all of your ideas out now. Once November ends, you can do whatever you please in terms of editing and finishing, but your ultimate goal for November is to write 50,000 words and have some fun along the way. So if you are writing a sentence but second guessing if it truly belongs, then come back to it another time and add those words as a part of your goal for the month. 

There you go! Four tips that will help you win NaNoWriMo with a busy schedule. I know it might sound daunting, but NaNoWriMo has helped me so much with relieving stress after a long workday, I couldn’t imagine a month without it. And if you are unsure if you will make the time, reach out to your region’s MLs to find a write-in that works well with your schedule. 

Brittany Bustos (@helloimbea) is a writer from the California, East Bay region. She has participated in NaNo since 2019 and loves to write Young Adult and Romance. She has previously published poetry and plays through academic and local publications. When not participating in NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo, she is constantly reading (to find out what she reads you can follow her Bookstagram @brittmariereadshere) and spending time with her partner and cat, Princess Peach.

Top Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash  

[i-is-a-fan-weeb]

first off:Happy Birthday Percy!! And second:thank you to @percydarling for giving me the inspo for my first fic here! So here we go(also i set this in Percy's fourth year so yea) also TW in the tags

Penny walked into the empty Great Hall and spotted Percy sitting at the end of what is normally the Slytherin table,reading on of his many books on mythology.

"Hi Percy! What mythology sre you reading today?" Penny plumped down next to Percy

"Chinese." Percy simply replied,not looking up.

Percy has always been into mythology,ever since his Uncle Gideon brought a book on Greek myths when he was 4 and Percy read it while Gideon,Fabion and Molly talked downstairs. After that,the onky thing Percy wanted for his birthday and Christmas was a book on Greek mythology,before he branched out to other mythologies and muggle religions when he was 10. Then he asked for books on any myths and religion(Arthur got him an actual Bible on his 11th).

This year,Penny,Oliver and Marcus were planning to do more than that.

"Ooo,Chinese. You're so lucky your parents let you read mythology and explore other religions at home." Penny always complained about not being able to read mythology at home because her parent were over-religious muggles and it took her mother everything to not have her father disown her for being a witch. Penny also wasn't allowed to visit or write any of her friends over breaks either.

Out of nowhere,Oliver and Marcus sat down across from Percy and Penny.

"Hey Perce." Oliver took one hand away from Percy's boom and kissed the knuckles. Then he took the book away from Percy.

"Hey!" Percy cried out,reaching for his book,but Oliver,whose much faster,managed to keep it away.

"Na-ahhh. You're not getting this back until we're done." Oliver said,closing the book shut(but not before taking Percy's bookmark and putting it in Percy's place in the book)

"Done with what?" Percy asked,narrowing his eyes at his friends(and boyfriend)

"We have sonething to ask you." Marcus said

"If it's about me being tiebraker for whatever Quidditch match is coming up,the answer will always be no." Percy said,slowly sitting back down.

"What? No. The next Quidditch match is in November." Oliver said increduosly

"We wanted to ask you if you're ok with surprises." Penny tiredly said,already done with Oliver.

"Huh?" Percy asked,confused by this.

"Are you ok with surprises?" Marcus questioned,bored.

"Um,yeah I guess. I live with Fred and George so I got used to surprises pretty early on." Percy suspiciously said.

"Cool." Marcus said,before getting up and leaving,Oliver and Penny following behind.

Percy looked after them confused,before leaving himself.

A week passes,and Oliver comes into his and Percy's dorm,with two random people.

"Hello Penny,Marcus." Percy greeted his friends who are under the influence of Polyjuice.

"Come on." the boy on the right-who is Marcus-said inpatiently.

"Wha-"Percy didn't even get to finish his sentence before the girl on the left-who is Penny-grabbed his arm and pulled him downstairs,followed by Marcus and Oliver.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked as he got dragged by Penny

"You'll see." Oliver whispered in ear teasingly,kissing his cheek.

"Can you save all that romantic sh!t for when you are alone?" Marcus asked.

"Oh shut up."Oliver said said

"All of you shut up!" Penny whisper-shouted,and ponted to Filch and Mrs.Norris up ahead of them.

"The h3ll are we doing?!" Percy whisper-shouted back.

"Shhhh!!" Penny shushed him,and threw out what Percy presumed to be a dungbomb at Filch and his cat.

The dungbomb exploded and Filch and the cat ran away,Filch yelling about who knows what,Mrs.Norris yowling.

"Ok,coast is clear." Penny gestured,and she,Percy(still being dragged by Penny),Oliver and Marcus went in the direction Filch was previously(covering their noses) and out the grand doors.

"Where are we going?" Percy choked out,struggling to get his inhalor out of his pocket*

"I said you'll see." Oliver offhandedly replied

The four of them were walking out towards...Hogsmead?

"Why are we going towards Hogsmead? It's not even close to December!" Percy asked Penny,who didn't give him an answer.

Penny stopped outside of the Three Broomsticks,the Polyjuice finally worn off.

Penny dragged them inside(but not after Marcus took another small dose of Polyjuice).

"Hello,Madame Rosemerta!" Penny gleefully greeted

"Hello,youngsters. Your room is ready,and so are your guests." Madame Rosemerta said,vaguely gestering upstairs,before retreatingto the back room.

"What does she mean by that?" Percy asked,fed up with them keeping these secrets. No one gave him an answer,instead they went upstairs and went all the way down the hall to the very last room.

Marcus went up,the Polyjuice now officially worn off,and knocked some sort of special code.

A little boy with light brown hair and big brown eyes opened the door.

"Hey! We've been waiting!" Cedric Diggory held the door open,and Percy saw birthday decorations,a cake on the table in the middle and a bunch of presents in a corner.

"W-what?" Percy asked quietly.

Penny,Marcus,and Oliver went up and joined Cedric and Adrien Pucey around the table,and they alk started singing "Happy Birthday".

Percy just stood there amazed and confused.

"But-but it's not my birthday?" Percy dazedly said

"We know its not you birthday,which is why we did this!" Adrien said

"We wanted to do something for you because we can't celebrate with you." Cedric said excitedly

"So,you all snuck out of the castle and risked getting expelled,for 𝘮𝘦?" Percy asked

"You act as if we haven't done it before." Marcus snorted

"Yeah,but that's different. Penny and I know which rules to break and how to break them. This is breaking who know how many rules,and Cedric is only a First year,he can't get expelled already." Percy protested.

"Just sit your cute a$$ down and eat some cake." Oliver grabbed Percy by the wrist and sat him down around the table.

"Madame Rosemerta said she'll cover us,as long as we pay for the Butterbeer." Cedric said

"What about this room?" Percy asked

"Madame Rosemerta said we could use it anytine we wanted,no charge unless we damage something." Penny said

"So you and lover boy over here can do what you want behind closed doors." Marcus added

"We have a dorn for that." Oliver countered

"Ew!" Adrien and Cedric exclaimed at the same time

"This is a private room Percy,no one except us and whoever we want to invite can come in." Penny quickly explained

"So,this is some sort of late birthday treat-for me?" Percy asksd quietly

"Yes for you." Oliver said,kissing his boyfriends cheeks

"Can you not do that while I'm here?" Adrien asked,while Cedric stuck out his toungue in disgust.Oliver rolled his eyes.

All of them had a good time eating cake and drinking Butterbeer.

"Here." Oliver handed a gift to Percy.

"What is it?" Percy asked after opening thebpresent which turned out to be a sort of old book.

"It's a Qu'ran. It's another muggle religion book." Oliver explained. Percy's pale,icy blue orbs widened in excitement,almost childlike.

"Here! Here's mine!" Pennt excitedly gave Percy another book-shaped present. Percy opened it,and it turned out to be a empty notebook,with a dark purple cover.

"I put a charm on it,so we can all communicate without having to tire our owls! And I can talk to you all over breaks!" Penny was practically jumping on the tips of her toes in excitement

"Perfect!" Percy exclaimed,and looked up to see everyone pulled out colorful notebooks;Marcus had a dark red,Oliver's was bright green,Penny's was a cheerful yellow,Adrien's was a deep pink and Cedric's was a dark blue.

Percy opened up the rest of the presents-Marcus got him two books,one on how to get away with mûrd3r and the other on how to hide a body.Cedric got him a book on how to speak Latin,a book on how to speek Greek and a book on Russian folklore. Adrien had gotten him a book on Italian myths and superstitions.

"Thank you. Thank you guys so much."

"Don't mention it." Marcus wrapped his arm around Percy,giving the ginger a small grin.

"No,seriously don't mention this to anyone. We can't let the whole castle know that us Slytherins are hanging out with the all of you." Adrien said in a serious yet still sad tone.

"And Fred and George would go the extra 10 miles to make Percy's life even more miserable than the already do." Oliver said grimly

"Enough of this sadness! It's Percy's late birthday and we are going to celebrate it happily!" Penny stomped.

Everyone murmered their agreements and went back to celebrating Percy.

They stayed for another hour before they decided to leave.

As Cedric and Adrien downstairs,Oliver,Percy,Penny and Marcus stayed behind.

"Soo,you wanna do a slumber party?" Marcus asked

"Ok!" Percy exclaimed giddily.

"Who's turn is it?" Penny asked.

"I think it our turn." Oliver gestured to him and Percy

"Ok." Marcus said simply and went downstairs,Penny following him. Leaving Percy and Oliver alone.

"We should-" Percy was cut off by Oliver smashing his lips onto Percys. Percy was at first in shock,but quckly melted into the kiss. The two boys stayed like that for what felt like forever before Oliver slowly pulles away,not really wanting to let go.

"Happy birthday,Percy." Oliver said,putting his face into the taller boys chest.

"Thank you." Percy murmered into the Keepers soft,brown hair.

"Ahem." Oliver and Percy quickly jumped away from each other at the sudden sound,but relaxed when it was only Madame Rosemerta leaning against the doorframe.

"I know you two have hormones and stuff,but please not in my private rooms." She said

Both boys muttered their apologies and quickly walked out

"You forgot your presents!" Madame Rosemerta called out. Oliver quickly ran back up the stairs and ran back down with Percy's gifts.

"Thank you for letting us use this room!" Percy called up to Madame Rosemerta

"Of course! I know what it's like having to hide a relationship!" Rosemerta called down from inside the room.

Percy and Okiver walked the rest of the way back down the stairs and met Penny and Marcus outside.

"What did you think,Perce?" Penny asked,now her and Marcus back to their Polyjuice forms.

"It was great. Honestly,thank you." Percy said gratefully.

"No problem. We know ever since Fred and George took the spotlight,your birthday has been forgotten about." Marcus said grimly.

"What did I say about sadness today!" Penny stomped her foot angrily in the ground.

The four walked back to the castle in a comfortabke silence,snuck back in with no problems and manage to get into Gryffindor tower with out a hitch.

"Here." Percy handed Penny and Marcus some spare pajamas that they all kept in their dorms for whenevr they have sleepovers.

After Penny and Marcus changed and brought out the blow-up matresses that they also keep in their dorms,they all stayed up late and talked and ate some junk food and got drunk off of Firewhisky and Brandy that their House Elf friend Dottie had brought. They stayed up and laughed and had a great time. They all eventually fell asleep at different times(Marcus being the lightweight he is fell asleep first).

Percy will never forget that day.

*Ok so i headcannon Percy to have allergic asthma(if u dont know what that is look it up,i aint google) and that he has like a crap ton of allergies bc who else doesnt like torturing their comfort character? Also before anyone asks,i do have a headcannon that a student that was way before Molly and Arthurs time,much less Percys,also had asthma but couldnt bring her inhalor bc it was muggle technology,so she petitioned for muggle health devices be allowed into hogwarts,and evetually they were allowed but only for health purposes. Im not telling you who that student is tho hehe.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERCY WEASLEY! And once again thanks to @percydarling for giving me this suggestion!

[redrisingsun]

Swedish Holidays for all your Young Royals needs

Due to popular demand (by like five people) here’s a brief description of all the major Swedish holidays and how they’re celebrated because I can’t stand here and pretend as if we really celebrate Christmas the 25th. We have more holidays, I've only written about the ones we celebrate in my family. I come from a working class family and live in Southern Sweden, however I do have family in Stockholm. I'm not religious in any way and as far as I know, most families don't celebrate these holidays because they're religious, but because it's tradition.

yall better appreciate this, it took me literal hours

January

1: Dubbed as one of the collective pizza days in my household. It's the day after New Year, and most people either order in or eat leftovers.

Week 2 or 3: Most people return to their jobs, schools and other daily activities.

February/March

Fettisdagen ("Fat Tuesday"): celebrated 47 days before Easter. The actual date varies, all from early February to early March. It's an old Christian tradition where you'd eat fatty foods before the "before Easter"-fast and is supposedly a thing in other Christian countries as well. These days, most people celebrate by eating semlor with their family, and most don't fast before Easter.

The semla is a sweet bun with whipped cream and almond paste.

Våffeldagen (Waffle Day, 25th of March): I think this day stems from a Christian tradition, but these days the day is mostly to get together with family and eat waffles.

April

Påsk (Easter): Again, the date varies, but Easter is usually in April. Easter stems from Christianity and is celebrated to remember Jesus' death and resurrection. Easter spans over a week, but I personally only celebrate one of those days.

Påskafton (direct translation: Easter Eve, English translation: Holy Saturday) is the Saturday of the Easter week. In my family, the children get to look for Easter eggs (often filled with candy).

Some children also dress up as Påskkärringar (Easter crones) and I think this tradition has to do with the Witch Trials in Sweden, but I'm not sure. Chances are you won't need to know anything about this for your Young Royal fics, because mostly girls dress up.

Sometimes, we decorate eggs.

Later, we sit down to eat together and spend time with our families. Common things to eat for Easter is potatoes, eggs, herring and meatballs.

Valborgsmässoafton (Walpurgis Night, 30th): We burn a big bonfire in the evening to celebrate that spring is here. I live in a fairly small town, so mostly everyone gathers at one spot and burns the fire together. When the bonfire is burned, most people go home and that's it. It's also seen as a reason to have a party (mostly for teenagers and young adults, I think) and get drunk as fuck.

May/June

Sveriges Nationaldagen (Sweden's National Day, 6th of June): Most people are home from school and work. We hoist the Swedish flag. Idk. However, the Royal Family celebrates by getting dressed up in Swedish costumes. This year, the King held a speech and the family went to Skansen (which is an amusement park/zoo. You can read more about it here). There's music and the military does their weird little thing. You can watch the National Day Celebration on Skansen from 2014 here.

Midsommarafton (Midsummer): date varies, but is celebrated a Friday in late June. I'm sure there's a Christian explanation for this one, but I don't personally know it.

Midsommar (midsummer) means middle of the summer.

Again, this is a day to eat and spend time with your family (or drink, depending on who you are). We eat pretty much the same things for Midsummer as we do for Easter.

For Midsummer we also dance around a Midsommarstång (direct translation: Midsummer Pole, English translation: Maypole) and make flower crowns.

How Midsummer is celebrated depends a lot on your age (most teenagers and young adults again see this as a reason to party), where you're from and a million other things.

My personal favorite Midsummer tradition is probably more common in the country than in the city, for example. You're supposed to pick seven different flowers without saying a word. Then, you sleep with the flowers under your pillow. Supposedly, you'll dream of your future husband (or wife! But I think it's more common that women and girls do this). This tradition also varies. Some people say you need nine flowers and some people say you have to climb over fencing for it to count.

Some teenagers or young adults spend time with their friends to party, instead!

You can watch part of a Midsummer celebration at Skansen here.

The Royal Family usually celebrate Midsummer privately, but I think there's usually new pictures of the entire family around this time.

Day after Midsummer: Collective Pizza Day 2. Everyone either eats takeout or leftovers because no one can be bothered to make anything and like half of the population has the worst hangover they've had since New Year.

Summer Holiday Note: most people in Sweden have four weeks of paid leave each summer.

July/August

Kräftpremiär (Crayfish party) - date varies, normally early August. Basically people get together to eat crayfish and drink. You can usually get paper plates and plastic cups and whatever with ugly crayfish motives (which is fun), but I've never done this.

October

Halloween (30th): Halloween is nowhere near as big in Sweden as it is in the States. We just buy some lösgodis ("loose candy", where you can throw whatever kind of candy you want in a bag. See pictures). Trick or treat is so unusual in the town I grew up I've only ever had one kid ask for candy and when I celebrated Halloween with my grandparents (in a city not far from Stockholm), it was the same. I usually buy some candy and watch a horror movie, but that's about it.

However, Halloween is (again) a reason for teenagers and young adults to drink and party.

November

Alla Helgons Dag (All Saints' Day): Date varies, usually early November. It's a day to remember the dead and we usually light a candle at the grave yard.

December

Första Advent (First Advent): Date varies. Sunday four weeks from Christmas Eve. We mostly just light a candle, honestly. Then, each Sunday for the next four weeks, we light a candle. Here's actually the Crown Princess wishing Happy First Advent with her family! Unfortunately without English subtitles, but here's the translation: "Today is the First Advent. Advent means arrival and hope, something that feels extra important this year. (her husband lights the candle) We want to wish everyone a happy first advent!"

Andra Advent (Second Advent): date varies. We light the second candle.

Tredje Advent (Third Advent): date varies. We light the third candle.

Fjärde Advent (Fourth Advent): date varies. We light the fourth candle. In my family we usually decorate the tree this Sunday.

Julafton (Christmas Eve): Celebrated the 24th. YES, THE 24TH. Christmas Eve obviously varies from family to family, but there's a few things most people have in common. Usually, we get one gift in our sock (which hangs on our bedroom doors in my home, because we don't have a mantle) when we wake up. As kids me and my brother almost always got a movie or something to keep us busy until it was time to leave for our grandparents house.

For lunch we eat the Christmas dinner. It's the same damned food as our other holidays. Herring, meatballs, potatoes, sausages etc, but now, we also have julskinka (Christmas ham). Some people eat ham even for Easter, but we only really eat it for Christmas in my family. Obviously the food varies a little from season to season, but as a picky eater I always just eat potatoes, meatballs and ham.

At 3, Kalle Anka (Donald Duck) is on. Yeah, we watch the same damned stuff every year. It's tradition, alright? Anyway, Donald Duck lasts for an hour or so, and first you get to see Santa work in his workshop, then Disney characters wish you a Merry Christmas with scenes from their movies (original, I know). There's Lady and the Tramp, Donald Duck (obviously) and a million other things. Then there's also one or two trailers for movies Disney will release the coming year. I really couldn't be bothered to find everything on YouTube for you to watch, sorry!

After Donald Duck, we open the Christmas gifts in my family. Normally we just rip out gifts open lmao.

After opening the gifts, we usually eat a second time. This time it's time for porridge. Tomtegröt (Santa porridge) is sweet and often served with cinnamon. Usually, everyone is so stuffed at this point that you only eat because you "have" to eat porridge for Christmas (again, at least in my family).

The last thing we do in my family, is to get a puzzle out. My grandpa almost always gets a new puzzle for Christmas, so we'll put that on the dining table and work on it together until it's getting too late for us to stay.

The Royal Family usually release new pictures of the family for Christmas and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Day after Christmas: Not a collective pizza day! There's usually too much Christmas food left to be able to order pizza. Usually, we have Christmas food to eat for four-ish days after Christmas, and by then you're getting really tired of it.

Sometimes we watch something on television, but for the most part we just sit around and spend time together. I think the Crown Princess read something from the Bible this year? I'm not actually sure if the Royal Family go to the Christmas Service, but I don't think so.

Nyårsafton (New Year's Eve): last day of the year. We shoot fireworks, eat food and dessert and spend time with family. This day we normally eat something "fancy" or something you we don't usually eat.

At twelve, we go out to light some fireworks (or just watch fireworks). When that dies down, it's time for the cheese platter. My dad wants it, no one else ever eats from it, we still do it every single year because "it's not New Year's without it". When we've had the cheese platter, everyone go to sleep and that's that.

People obviously celebrate this differently, as well. It's not uncommon to go see your friends or have guests over, and some people party rather than have fancy dinner with their parents. I personally prefer spending time with my parents, because that's what New Year's is for me.

Some people give resolutions, but I think it's more common in the States.

Christmas Holiday Note: It's common for people to not work between Christmas and New Year's Eve where I'm from.

Some things you might want to know about the Swedish Royal Family and Sweden overall:

The Royal Family in Young Royals is not the real Royal Family (obviously).

The Royal Family usually spends time on Öland during the summers.

Chances are Wilhelm and his family live at Drottningholm Slott (Drottningholm Palace) and not Stockholm Slott (Stockholm Palace). Drottningholm is used as a home for the current King and Queen and is located west of Stockholm. However, the scenes where Wilhelm is home is shot at a palace called Stora Sundby Slott. I doubt Wilhelm and his family would live here if they were the actual Royal Family since it's used as a place for people to gather when they want to hunt for sport. However, if they truly live at Stora Sundby, it takes almost two hours to drive from Stockholm to the castle.

Bjärstad is AT LEAST two hours away from Stockholm.

Bjärstad to Stora Sundby Castle takes approximately an hour and a half by car, and between nine and twelve hours by bus. Which means these two boys can't just take a twenty minute bus to see each other.

Bjärstad to Drottningholm takes a little over two hours by car and four-ish hours by bus.

Bjärstad to Stockholm Slott takes over two hours by car and three and a half hours by bus.

Hillerska is shot at Kaggeholms Slott (Kaggeholm Palace), and is a hotel.

The age of consent in Sweden is 15, HOWEVER it's illegal to have sex with someone four or more years younger than you if you're not both over the age of 18. Let me illustrate: -Person A is 15 and Person B is 15. It's legal because both are 15. -Person A is 15 and Person B is 20. It's illegal, because there's a five year old gap between them. -Person A is 15 and Person B is 18. It's legal (but probably frowned upon), because they're both 15 or older and there's not a four year gap between them. -Person A is 18 and Person B is 30. It's legal, because both are 18 or older. Idk if this makes sense or if this is what it looks like anymore, but this is what it was like when I still went to school. Obviously people aren't going to run around and call you names if you happen to date someone four years younger than you (I know a girl who met a guy when she was 14 and he was over 20), but please, be mindful of this. Our age of consent doesn't give you a right to be weird and nasty to teenagers (yes, I'm talking about Edvin).

Also, the Royal Family have their own website, which you can find here. As far as I can see, there's more information on the Swedish page, but there's plenty translated to English. You can also read of the Swedish Royal Family and its history on the palaces's website, here.

All pictures have been taken straight from Google. I haven't used any sources, because this is shit I do every single year with my family. Feel free to correct me or add things you do, but keep it respectful, please!

Friendly reminder that I've simplified some parts of this to make sense, specifically the dates of the Advent celebrations.

If there's anything you don't understand or want more information on, you're welcome to contact me! I take pretty long to reply, but I'll definitely try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!