#i remember listening to this song for the 1st time on my way to highschool and when the beat dropped

[moremusic]

This weeks guest is a force on the Brisbane Music scene. Their music has influences of the great music of era’s past. The Beatles, Zeppelin etc. here is guitarist Jack to tell us about all things Ten12

Tell us a little bit about Ten12? Members, how did you get together etc?

-We’re a 4 piece alternative rock band that started in 2018 out of Aspley state highschool in north brisbane. Our school talent show was approaching at the time and our school music teacher suggested to a few members to put a band together. We got along almost instantly and found that we all shared a love for a similar music which for me personally meant a lot. Much to our neighbours delight, we managed to organise a few rehearsals at Luke (drums) house, and eventually played at the talent show. We’ve never looked back since.

What are your short and long terms goals?

-We’ve always had goals. In the beginning we wrote down a list of goals and although for a group of naive and stary eyed teenagers some things listed may have been “play a stadium tour”, there were still more shorter term realistic goals like “sell out 50 person capacity venue” we still strived to learn and develop ourselves to complete the goals. A current Short term goal is to sell out a venue ideally equal or larger than 120 people capacity, another is to gain radio play on triple J/ unearthed. And a long term goal is to have to opportunity to be on a festival line up. playing to as many people as possible along side the bands we look up to

How was it dealing with the Covid Pandemic? Is everything back to normal?

-being a band during covid was kind of like when a sporting team travels away to focus on training. The world was in lock down and there were no gigs. It gave us the opportunity to write music with no distractions or having to rehearse specifically for gigs. We tried our best to use that time productively and would write and demo as many songs as we felt made the cut. Gigs slowly made their way back in and we were able to snatch up good slot times and days (a Friday or Saturday) without much drama. Although our audience were forced to wear masks and sit still in seats during a rock show, we made the most of it! Fast forward to today and gigs are back to normal crowds and require to be booked 3-4 months in advance!

What is your career highlight so far?

-This one’s hard to pick but I think it would have to be placing number #50 in the 4zzz Hottest one hundred last year (2022) for the single “Burden”. This song’s currently proving to be our most streamed song and we’re proud of it!

Your new song “Whiskey in a Smokey room ” is my favourite of all your music releases. I can’t stop listening to it. What is it about and how did you come up with?

-For this particular song I remember having the title down before the song! We liked the picture that “whiskey in a smoky room” painted by simply saying that line. The song came later. From memory We had the music written for a while before the lyrics or melody. I came up with the riff and the chords to the song and presented it to the band. From there we arranged it together and awaited lyrics. While we waited we jammed it for a while as an instrumental where we found a jam based direction to end the song. Luke (drums) worked with Liam (vocals) and eventually wrote the lyrics to the song to complete what would become our favourite single.

I asked liam to describe what the song means to him. Liam - “Whiskey in a Smoky room pushes the essence of mortality, deity’s and nights out playing music where the day break never comes nor it ever leave. When writing for the song I wanted to take a different direction than I usually would and took a lot of inspiration and had a large focus on where the instrumentation took me instead of what it made me feel”

Have you got any new music coming out? Or are you still recording?

We have new music coming out very soon!

1st of July will see the release of our 2nd EP “the singularity”, which you can now pre-save! The pre-save link is in our bio on our Instagram! As for new recordings, we are always working on new music and aren’t shy to throw down some tracks..

Who are the greatest influences on you? Individually and as a band?

-Individually we have a a range of different influences. Ethan (bass) is a huge beetles fan, Liam (vocals) loves grunge, predominantly pearl jam. Luke (drums) draws influence largely from Led Zeppelin, and I (Jack, guitar) look up to mostly David Gilmore, and Angus Young for guitar techniques.

As a whole we’ve gone through stages of bonding over similar or the bands. This greatly influences our songwriting. These bands include the likes of AC/DC, Oasis, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and then on to more local bands like Ball Park Music.

If you could invite 4 musicians to dinner dead or alive) who would you invite?

I feel like with an opportunity like this I’d want the dinner to have some outgoing souls to keep it exciting mixed with some unmatched talent and knowledge for learning purposes. Straight away the people that come to mind would be:

Paul McCartney

Freddy Mercury

Jimmy Page

Bob Dylan

Any gigs coming up you want to promote?

-We actually have a huge show coming up on the 9th of July for our EP release at Black Bear a lodge in fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Joining us on the night will be our friends New Living, and Lazy Guns. We’re really looking forward to this one! It’s gearing up to be some kinda night!

Gibson or Fender? What gear do you play?

-This one’s a bit tricky. This is a good time to give a shout out to my dad (Jack’s Dad, Graham) who took up the art of being a luthier as a pass time. He’s made mostly of my guitars as well as Amps. He likes to keep nothing but a wooden finish on all of his gear.

My favourite and most used guitar is the body and headstock of a Gibson SG, with a fender Strat bridge, and fender scale length for the neck. I’ve never felt anything like it so I use it as much as I can. For amps, he’s made 2, along with several different size cabs. The best way I can describe the first and most used amp is simply referring it to a Vox AC15. However, everything he makes has its own unique sound and is hard to compare to professionally made gear. I’m a big believer in this unique sound is a big part of the TEN12 sound.

If you were given the chance to support one artist in the world, who would you pick?

-There are so many options here! However I feel like if I didn’t choose this band I’d regret it forever. It would have to be Paul McCartney’s Wings. But I’d like to give an honourable mention to Bruce Springsteen and the E street Band.

If you were stuck on a deserted island with only one record, what would it be?

-That's a tough one. I think we’d all have a different answer to this question, but if I had to pick one it would have to be Dark side of the moon by Pink Floyd. I think the variation in the album is enough to keep you going for a bit. And the music is just whacky enough to match the state of your mind which would eventually probably go insane.

Where can people find out more about you?

-you can find us on all platforms! But make sure to check out our official website which I’ll attach below! From there you can sign up to our emailing list and receive monthly updates on what’s to come!

[goboymusic]

#TheLastofUs episode 4 tonight. I’m a crack whore.

“#HerDad” is inspired by my #highschool girlfriend’s dad, who adamantly disapproved of me because I wasn’t a #Presbyterian. Some of you have probably experienced something similar, i.e. hostility from your girlfriend’s / boyfriend’s parents for reasons involving their religion. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you might know someone who has. I can talk about it nonchalantly today, but it was an ordeal back then, because I was in love with her.

“Her Dad” was intended to be song 90, but after about four days of mixing, I was having enough difficulty producing a chorus for the song that I decided to set it on the back burner and shift my attention to “Rich & Crazy,” which had pop-punk melodies that I was craving to work on.

It was difficult mustering the motivation to refocus on “Her Dad,” because it wasn’t the direction I wanted to take. But hell, it was 80% done, so I reopened the old Logic Pro file and finished the final 20% a few months after it was set on the back burner.

After spending a few days recording two or three new chorus ideas, I opted to copy, paste and rearrange the “her dad is nice, her mom is a hottie” vocals from the 1st verse to create a new chorus. Total cop out, but I really like the way it sounds. That’s one of the biggest benefits of DAWs, the ease in splicing together different recordings to create something new. Something similar happened with “Face Tattoo (Song 93),” where vocals from the verses were manipulated to create the song‘s chorus.

I was introduced to the source material for The Last of Us while mixing vocals for “Hannah (Song 89)” back in July, 2020, by watching @thaRadBrad playthrough both games. Needless to say, my mind was blown. With “Her Dad” originally being song 90, and being developed directly after “Hannah,” my newfound obsession with The Last of Us resulted in me watching tons of lore and playthrough videos while mixing “Her Dad.”

While mixing songs, something entertaining is always playing in the background for extra brain stimulation, whether that be a movie, tv series, a video game play through, podcast, etc. Anything but music, because I can’t mix music while listening to other music (explained in post 87).

Beat + bass + melody. That’s the style of GoBoy 5. While I’ve appreciated this minimalistic style for years, “Tell My Mama (Song 42)” was the first time trying it. I went whole-hog with GoBoy 5, in which most songs primarily consist of a beat, bass and melody (excerpt from post 80).

For GoBoy 5, instead of creating for the sake of creating, like I did for GoBoy 4, I wanted to make poppier songs that would appeal to a larger audience. Was that goal accomplished? Well, maybe, I guess. It resulted in the song “In Love (Song 82),” which everyone and their mother seems to like (excerpt from post 79).

GoBoy 5 ragdolled me. I remember wondering if I’d live to see the completion of the album. While the style is minimalistic, the writing and production processes were chaotic, akin to throwing darts with a blindfold on. Most songs turned into a puzzle once they reached the mixing phase, with a portion of the pieces being destined not to fit. It required constant compromising - discarding segments, restructuring, rewriting, etc. The combination of the difficult production process and temporary chaos at work left a blood-soaked trail behind me (excerpt from post 80).

In April, 2021, almost all of GoBoy 3, 4 and 5‘s songs were restructured to be under 3 minutes (preferably under 2m 30s), including this song. I became okay with releasing songs around the 2 min mark after realizing The Beatles and The Beach Boys had some songs around that length. In an attempt to increase replay value in this streaming era, most of GoBoy’s songs are now purposely around 2m 20s (excerpts from post 37).

A bass boost was added to songs 37-99 in Nov, 2021, while I was stuck at home with covid. As a result, this song feels more powerful. The bass boost isn’t a simple plugin nonchalantly added to each song. It’s a process that took about 3.5 hours per song, or one whole month to complete all songs. Admittedly, I pushed the bass boost a little too far for some of them. The bass in some songs sounds like a freaking earthquake (unnecessarily pronounced low frequencies 20 - 50 Hz). Might dial that back someday. The bass boost was also applied to every song on GoBoy 6 and beyond (excerpt from post 37).

[travoltacustom]

The Presentation of Hifumi’s Trauma

I’ve been thinking on how Hifumi’s trauma has been presented for years now, and with the release of Bad Ass Temple VS Matenro, I feel like now’s as good a time as any to give my thoughts on this.

Note: This is in no way a defense of KR for the presentation of Hifumi’s trauma, but it is an analysis of such. I’m open to discussion on this and you’re free to disagree with me at any point on this. Most of this was also written BEFORE the release of the album, save for the last section.

CW: Mentions of abuse, trauma and rape + spoilers of the MTR dramatrack

I hear a lot that the presentation of Hifumi’s trauma is a ‘poor attempt at humour’, but I don’t exactly think it’s that simple. It is still a presentation of trauma, but it’s not portrayed as humorous in comparison to the rest of the humour of the series.

NARRATIVE

Hifumi panics when he sees women. He is unable to do anything until women are removed from the scene - but these instances are hardly ever the focus of the scene. It’s mostly used as a scene cutter to progress the story. When Chuo enters, Hifumi’s panic cuts off the situation and the focus shifts straight to the women. When the women find Hifumi, Doppo, Gentaro and Dice, Hifumi’s jacket is taken away to shift focus off of the women and to have Gentaro and Dice speak. Rather, Hifumi’s panic at these times are plot movers and not the focal point of the scene. Sadly, they can be seen as plot devices, but it’s not supposed to be seen as humour.

In addition to this, the ‘hysterical’ screaming (for lack of a better word) in the presence of women is limited to the dramatracks. In the manga and the anime, Hifumi runs away/removes himself from the presence of women. The purpose of Hifumi’s hysteria in the dramatracks is for visualisation purposes as there’s no visual aids - the reactions to women are toned down in the anime and manga. With this, it’s easier to believe that the anime and manga is the ‘intended’ portrayal of his reactions as the dramatrack has to make up for what isn’t seen.

PRESENTATION

The narrative is very aware that Hifumi’s trauma affects him badly. It’s a panic response. But it’s not the same as a panic attack. We know how awful the presentation of such can be, and it’s definitely something triggering for a lot of people. Personally, I would feel horrible to see him have a panic attack every time he saw a woman. KR doesn’t want to make his discomfort the focus of the scene either. Simply put, I think his trauma response is a part of the scene, but has less plot purpose than what is going on around it. 

Trauma can be presented in different ways, but it’s more controlled to see only a glimpse of how trauma has affected Hifumi. There are other ways of showing this trauma and how it’s affected Hifumi that HPMI has already covered: Hifumi being unable to take off his suit jacket, behavioural change when wearing the jacket, his extremely warped perception of danger when his life is threatened etc. He’s spent 10 years adapting to the trauma and is in a stage of recovery as he’s going to confront his said abuser. If we were compounding this plot point with an idea of a Hifumi that is always having panic attacks, then we would have a Hifumi that is clearly not ready to deal with what he wants.

COMPARISON

We know the writers can portray trauma as such from Jyushi’s backstory. If we remember the fandom response, there were people who were legitimately triggered to varying degrees by what happened to Jyushi’s grandmother and the severe bullying he suffered. Really, I believe that Hifumi’s trauma hasn’t been the forefront of scenes because narratively it’s not the time for this to happen yet.

There seems to be a ‘trauma-porn’ narrative around the need to have Hifumi’s trauma played out ‘correctly. Trauma porn is media that showcases a group’s pain and trauma in excessive amounts for the sake of entertainment. There’s no need right now to show the extent of how badly Hifumi has been affected, because his trauma isn’t the focal point of the story or his character. His past is about to be shown, but it shouldn’t be what defines Hifumi as a character. And even more importantly so, there’s no ‘right’ version of trauma to portray.

HONOBONO

[ This section is written post Bad Ass Temple VS Matenro’s dramatrack.]

There are no redeeming qualities to Honobono, the source of Hifumi’s trauma. She’s despised by Chuohku and kept around for her ‘usefulness’, and Doppo was unsure of Hifumi going to confront his own abuser. However, in the recent dramatrack, Hifumi’s power is taken away from him in Honobono forcing herself into his space. This is the first time we’ve ever seen Hifumi have an explosion of emotions; ‘a typical image of a panic attack’. It is an audibly uncomfortable scene, just as Jyushi’s backstory was to read. There are different levels to trauma responses that HPMI has shown us with the 1st season’s Hifumi with short moments, but this instance is long and drawn out with guttural screaming.

HPMI was always perfectly capable of showing trauma, but for a listener, to hear this sort of occurrence every time around a woman would be potentially harmful. At this moment, Hifumi was nearly completely paralysed, suffering a breakdown of his identity by switching pronouns and screaming (similar to Gentaro’s breakdown at the insult of his clothes). It is difficult to listen to this. I don’t believe you would’ve wanted to hear this every time Hifumi was reminded of Honobono. We’ve even learned that the abuse might not have been dealt directly to Hifumi but to his family - we see Hifumi’s love for his family here in being so torn by her actions, and how trauma does not have to deal with someone directly either.  However, the first instances of Hifumi’s trauma were more ‘digestible’ for a viewer, and they set us up for this moment. It was good that Hifumi’s panic responses were less heavy than the blow we’ve been dealt with this dramatrack.

In meeting Hifumi, Honobono greets her with “Hi-Fu-Mi”, just like how Hifumi says his own name in songs. It is most likely that Honobono said his name like this when they were in highschool; for Hifumi to use it in his songs now can be seen as a reclamation of his identity, as now Honobono can’t use his own name against him. Hifumi has spent years recovering from her, and seeing small hints of how he’s trying to move on from that time is a legitimately good way to understand the recovery from trauma.

WHAT IS IT?

The HPMI fandom seemed to have an ‘obsession’ with what exactly traumatised Hifumi up until this point. Most believed that it would have been sexual abuse/rape, given that he fears the opposite gender, and it wouldn’t have been the first time sexual themes have appeared in HPMI (the trafficked women at the start of BB/MTC’s manga). However, to think that ‘there is only one sort of trauma that can cause Hifumi’s pain’ is a dangerous idea. Almost anything can be traumatising, and almost anything can be a trigger. 

There’s no need to theorise ‘what is good enough’ to be a trauma for him. To fear women, it can simply be that a woman has done something bad to him - which we see is Honobono. When we hear women fearing men because a man did something bad to them, we don’t theorise what exactly happened to her. There’s the automatic assumption that gendered fear is the result of sexual abuse, when in reality, it can be any manner of abuse that has caused this.

OPINIONS

So I don’t think KR is portraying Hifumi’s trauma as humorous. It’s definitely awkward, but the narrative has constantly made it clear that he’s in a state of discomfort that stems from trauma and Doppo and Jakurai always do their best to move him out of those situations without drawing too much attention. Nobody in the story laughs at him, save for Asunaro, who’s an ill-mannered child without sensitivity towards both Doppo and Hifumi, and Honobono, the source of his trauma. Those who don’t understand Hifumi in the adult cast however only find confusion in him. 

There’s no ‘best’ portrayal of trauma in any media. But it’s clear that HPMI isn’t trying to be malicious or poke fun at any sort of trauma at all. If anything, I think the portrayal of it so far has been relatively ‘easy’ on common audiences that don’t explore such media, helping people to realise how trauma can manifest without forcing others who do have trauma to realise their pained experience in this media. Hifumi has been painted as someone relatable to those with trauma because he’s still a man who’s capable of doing his best while still stumbling along his way to recovery. Traumatised shouldn’t be the descriptor of Hifumi, but he is a character that has been traumatised.

While Honobono and her abuse is an integral part of Hifumi’s backstory, she does not define him as a person. To portray Hifumi as a strong character, despite moments of trauma responses, was a suitable choice in treating him respectably. 

[khaycaprithewriter]

Losing Kathleen

How is one suppose to feel when the person who stood in church and made a promise to go to always protect you, dies? How is one suppose to feel when the person who made you who you are today gets sick and you can't do a fucking thing to change it? How does one feel when yet ANOTHER person is stripping from your life before becoming successful like they always swore you would? I don't know. I don’t really know how I expected to feel, all I knew was that I felt like the whole world was coming to an end. We had all been expecting things to get worse and even when it did it was still a big reality check and shock to us. I remember the day you told me about your cancer, the time you had left and how the next couple months were going to go. It was also the day I found out my mom was gay, but thats a story for another time. Kathleen had come to visit me, I had just given birth to Naomi, my daughter. Naomi was maybe a month old? It was 2015 and we had been trying to make time to meet up so she could get to spend some more time with her. I had been avoiding and dreading having this conversation and pretending that it wasn't real, I was in denial. Sever denial. When she came in the door she gave me a hug and I went to go hand her Naomi and she told me to wait and I already knew what was going down. This was it, the time for the talk. She looked right at me and said “Its really bad, Kris.” She was the only person I was okay with calling me “Kris or Krissy”. Me being me I did my typical “I know everything” attitude said “yeah, I know.” She assured me that I really did not know. “Im not going to be here much longer, the cancer could spread faster or slower. Either way I know I have a few months, maybe a year. But a year would be pushing it.” She started apologizing to me, “I'm sorry I won't be here for any of her birthdays, I might not be able to see you graduate or get married.” I started to cry because reality was finally hitting me, and hitting me hard. How am I suppose to take that? I just gave birth, I was about to start my senior year in high school, just got my first car. These were the things that went through my head, I was only 17. But I instantly felt selfish because here I am worrying about how I am going to get through this and deal with her having cancer, but the real thing I should be worrying about is how is SHE going to handle this? Yes, my life was changing now but HER life was changing completely. Everything was coming to an end for her. How did she feel knowing that she's on a time limit for life now? In all honestly I doubted her and her ability to get through it. It hurts to say but it is true. How on earth could she get through fucking cancer? How is she even able to breathe and not cry while telling her goddaughter that she's dying and there us nothing we can do about it? I know it absolutely killed her on the inside. Luckily though, Kathleen was always good at being honest with me. My whole life was based on a lie, but she always told me the truth. The truth hurts sometimes but whenever she told me something honestly, it just built more of my trust in her and I needed that more than anyone could ever know. To this day I still say that her being honest with me about the whole process and how her cancer is going, kept me going. It kept me sane in times of worry. I needed her to be as honest as possible so I could understand. That day on the couch with her changed my entire life, forever. It is burned into my memory and I will always cherish it. This was our first real one on one together with nobody else around. From that day on I spent every day worrying. But believe it or not that conversation was almost 5 years ago. She lasted 4 years later after that conversation. Let me repeat that, with STAGE 4 CANCER SHE LIVED 4 YEARS LATER AFTER THAT CONVERSATION. 4 whole years of love and laughter and tears. 4 years of concerts and trips and barbecues and dance parties and long talks. Kathleen made it see me graduate, she made it through not only Naomi’s 1st birthday but she made it through, the 2nd and the 3rd. She was alive to see me get engaged to Rasheed. She was able to see me get into college. All the things we swore she would miss because she wouldnt be here, she was here for and then some.I wish I could tell you all about the amazing life lessons she taught me in those 4 years. It was real life shit, real life things nothing was sugar coated. The times I spent with her not only in my early years of life, but as I got older and needed her the most she ALWAYS showed up for me and that is something I will always be grateful for. A few days before she died, it was a very dark and dreary time. I was visiting her as best I could and knew our time with her was coming to an end, and I was prepared for it. She had been preparing me for 4 years for these last couple days. When I went to go see her for the first time in hospice, I was nervous because they had told me that she is not fully there and she's struggling to breath and eat. I was shaking as I walked into the room and she looked at me. “Kristas here”, she started crying. I felt my heart leave my chest and I wanted to collapse and throw up all at the same time because I was so, so sad. But, I made a promise to not let her see me break like she did 4 years ago on that couch. I had to be strong, for once, I needed her to see me be strong. She cried and I held her hand and she kept saying how sorry she was. I assured her that there was literally NOTHING to be sorry about. “I wont be able to see you get married, or have another baby or get a house or graduate college”. But she didn't realize she already had. She was there for me to graduate highschool, give birth to my first child, get into college and see me get engaged. Everything, every milestone, she was there. The last time I saw her, she was very very weak. I knew this was the last time I would hear her voice and see her. She asked me if there was anything I wanted to say. I told her about a very fond memory that was one of the best moments of my childhood. It was january of 2006, my aunt rhonda had recently passed away a few weeks before the new year. I was very depressed during this time. Kathleen always knew music would cheer me up. We were driving in her car and I was silent, still numb from the pain. She said “hey, do you know who Lauryn Hill is?” I shook my head no. “I want you to hear something”. She took out this bright red CD and it was The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. The first song that played was “Cant Take My Eyes Off of You”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was the mostt interesting and beautiful music I had ever heard. It made me so happy and we started to sing together with the windows down. I smiled and she smiled at me. “Thats what you wanted to tell me before I die?” I said “Well, yeah. It was the best memory I remember because during that time where i thought I could never be happy again and everyone was doing what they could to make me smile, only YOU knew what to do. You played me one song and it just took all the sadness away”. She smiled and I gave her a soft hug and we said “I love you”. As I was getting ready to leave the room she said “Keep in touch, kid” and softly smiled and I smiled back and said “I will”. It was our version of “goodbye”. She didn't like when we said “goodbye”. She passed away a few days later. Losing Kathleen was a hurt I never knew I could feel. But loving Kathleen was an experience and blessing that only those who know her could feel. I wish everyone could've felt that kind of love. The kind of love where someone actually cares about your life. I miss her with every ounce in my body. I feel angry sometimes knowing others miss her just as much as I do when I feel like I'm the only one who deserves to grieve, but thats the selfish in me. If you read this long, I appreciate you. Thank you all for reading my first blog, it means the whole world to me.

I miss you Kathleen, and hope you're somewhere reading my blog and listening to lauryn hill. 

[trubrookheim]

Get to Know Me Uncomfortably Well [ I don't mind X3 ]

1. What is you middle name? Alexander

2. How old are you? 22

3. What is your birthday? January 14, 1995

4. What is your zodiac sign? Capricorn

5. What is your favorite color? 1st. Black 2nd. Red 3rd. Blue

6. What’s your lucky number? 3

7. Do you have any pets? Nope, never have ;-;

8. Where are you from? Santa Ana, California

9. How tall are you? 6'0, maybe 5'11

10. What shoe size are you? Foot long ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 5, 3 work shoes, 2 sneakers

12. What was your last dream about? The only thing i can remember, was me getting killed O.O that happens alot

13. What talents do you have? Black Belt in TaeKwonDo

14. Are you psychic in any way? I can tell when friends aren’t actually doing well, even if they’re good at hiding

15. Favorite song? Harukakanata - Unlimits

16. Favorite movie? Mars Attacks XD

17. Who would be your ideal partner? Someone who tries to be positive whenever possible, and who makes others happy :)

18. Do you want children? Oh hell yes

19. Do you want a church wedding? MMMMM, not sure exactly. I wouldn’t mind it.

20. Are you religious? Agnostic 

21. Have you ever been to the hospital? Yes… many times.

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law? Nope, i’ve only seen alot of things and had to talk to cops about it

23. Have you ever met any celebrities? Mega64, twice actually.

24. Baths or showers? Showers, too lazy to make a bath

25. What color socks are you wearing? Black and grey with red stripes on the bottom.

26. Have you ever been famous? Like once in call of duty. I won many games and the people who stayed with me told others.

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? Nope, wayyyyy too much attention. 

28. What type of music do you like? Metal, Rock Alt. Rock, Pop, Hip Hop, pretty much everything except Country. Although, i would listen to it if I lived in the Country. 

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping? Naaaaaaaaah

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? One super soft u3u

31. What position do you usually sleep in? 60% Right side 40% Left side

32. How big is your house? Apartment, and its normal size.

33. What do you typically have for breakfast? Protein bar or eggs w/bacon or spam. 

34. Have you ever fired a gun? Yes, many in fact. Ar-15, Pump Shotgun, 22., 38. 9mm, 357. 

35. Have you ever tried archery? Nope, but i would like to.

36. Favorite clean word? Oh Ok

37. Favorite swear word? Shit

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? 36 hours

39. Do you have any scars? Left side of my face, on my temple. 

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? Yes

41. Are you a good liar? Decent

42. Are you a good judge of character? I would say so

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? Mexican, English, Russian, Chinese, Australian

44. Do you have a strong accent? Nope

45. What is your favorite accent? English

46. What is your personality type? 

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? Was a Calvin Klein jacket, $95

48. Can you curl your tongue? Yep, and do this weird cross thing

49. Are you an innie or an outie? innie

50. Left or right handed? Right

51. Are you scared of spiders? Yesssssssssssssssssssssss

52. Favorite food? Cheeseburgers

53. Favorite foreign food? Sushi

54. Are you a clean or messy person? Can be both

55. Most used phrase? Ahhhhh shit or Ohhhhh boy

56. Most used word? Shit

57. How long does it take for you to get ready? 7 minutes

58. Do you have much of an ego? Ehhh, not really

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? Succ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

60. Do you talk to yourself? All the time

61. Do you sing to yourself? Most definitely

62. Are you a good singer? I don’t think so, out of pitch X3

63. Biggest Fear? Death or being alone

64. Are you a gossip? No

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? Logan

66. Do you like long or short hair? Men: Both Women: Both

67. Can you name all 50 states of America? No, only like 35 or something. 

68. Favorite school subject? Math/Science

69. Extrovert or Introvert? Hardcore Introvert

70. Have you ever been scuba diving? Nope, i have a small fear of the water.

71. What makes you nervous? A certain someone… >////>

72. Are you scared of the dark? Yes, even if i might say i’m not and deal with it, inside i’m terrified. 

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? Depends on the situation

74. Are you ticklish? Yep, my sides and neck

75. Have you ever started a rumor? Nope, that’s messed up. I have had a rumor on me, ruined my highschool life.

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? Like in videogames, as a party leader o.o

77. Have you ever drank underage? Yes, accidentally when i was 12

78. Have you ever done drugs? Weed is the only thing if it counts

79. Who was your first real crush? Back in highschool, i was 18, Rocio. Very similar to how i was, all be it a bit crazy XD

80. How many piercings do you have? None, wouldn’t mind my ears. 

81. Can you roll your Rs? Well, i am Mexican X3

82. How fast can you type? Somewhere around 70-80 words per minute

83. How fast can you run? 6min 30 second mile.

84. What color is your hair? Black/dark brown

85. What color is your eyes? Dark brown

86. What are you allergic to? Pollen, mold, dust, peanuts, cats, the skin on peaches. 

87. Do you keep a journal? Yes, but i haven’t wrote in it.

88. What do your parents do? My father used to be a salesman. My mother is an Executive manager at Macys

89. Do you like your age? Kinda? I know i’m considered young, but i don’t feel it XP

90. What makes you angry? People who try to make others angry, or who are harmful to the people i care about

91. Do you like your own name? Generic, but its okay

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? Boy: Chris, Leon Girl: Cassandra, Katie

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child? I would prefer a girl, but i would be alright either way

94. What are your strengths? Perseverance, determination, loyal, protective

95. What are your weaknesses? Oblivious, a bit dense, depression, anxiety

96. How did you get your name? Not sure exactly, my father picked it.

97. Were your ancestors royalty? Not that i know of.

98. Do you have any mental scars? My father dying in front of my eyes

99. Color of your bedspread? Red

100. Color of your room? White

[akatsuki3519]

Your top 5: favourite 'One Piece' characters, least favourite 'One Piece' characters, anime guys, anime guys that you would date (:P ;)), waifus, favourite opening songs, favourite anime endings, manga, favourite non-anime shows and favourite anime!!! That's quite a list!! Obviously, please feel free to pick the ones that interest you the most!! :D If I think of any more....I'll be sure to put them in your ask box!! ;)

Thanks so much for these, they’re great!!

Favourite One Piece characters: (I have SO MANY, but I think this is accurate! :P)1) Roronoa Zoro2) Monkey D. Luffy3) Trafalgar Law4) Jinbe - if he doesn’t join the crew I’m gonna riot, he’s just the best:’)5) Donquixote Rocinante/Corazon 

Least favourite One Piece characters:1) Blackbeard/Teach - one of my least favourite anime characters EVER, I can’tstand him!! I can’t wait to see him get his ass kicked…2) Akainu/Sakazuki - I hate him too, for obvious (spoiler filled) reasons…3) Trebol - he’s so annoying… >.4) Charloss - I wanted to just say the Celestial Dragons as a whole (except onefamily who shall remain nameless because massive spoilers) but that’s kinda cheating, so I picked my most hated one >:(5) Hody Jones (I just mildly dislike him lol)

Anime guys:1) Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)2) Yuuri Katsuki (Yuri on Ice)3) Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)4) Makoto Tachibana (Free!)5) Rin Okumura (Ao no Exorcist)

Anime guys you would date: (this one was actually REALLY difficult, I changed my mind so many times and had to discount some of my faves for various reasons XD)1) Kiyoshi Teppei (Kuroko no Basuke) - he’s an actual angel 2) Trafalgar Law (One Piece) - okay, so he’s kind gruff and messed up but he’s actually a great person, even if he won’t admit it… :’) I was gonna say Roci but I figured Doffy would likely kill me so maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea lol3) Asahi Azumane (Haikyuu!!)4) Shizuo Heiwajima (Durarara!!)5) Sakuragi Rokurouta (Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin) - a bit of acurveball perhaps, I haven’t seen this show in quite a while and rarely talkabout it (partially because although it’s excellent, it’s very graphic and Ifound it very hard to watch), but I remember loving this character so much,he’s such a sweetheart and really looks out for the younger kids in the show

Waifu’s:1) Yona (Akatsuki no Yona)2) Nico Robin (One Piece)3) Celty (Durarara!!)4) Bishamon (Noragami)5) Machi (Hunter x Hunter)

Favourite opening songs: (okay so for both OP’sand ED’s, I took into account the video for the OP/ED as well as the song,otherwise it would have taken me days to decide!! >.1) Death Parade OP (Flyers by Bradio) - so, SO catchy! 2) One Piece OP 16 (Hands Up by Kota Shinzato) - the song never fails to cheerme up and the footage in the OP is excellent too (and spoiler free! :P)! I haveto mention that this is tied with OP 14 (Fight Together) though… sorry I knowthat’s cheating! XD I prefer the video of OP 14 (has spoilers though) but thesong of OP 16 so they kinda add up to me loving them both the same in the end!3) Haikyuu!! OP 4 (Fly High!! by Burnout Syndromes) - love the song and it’svisually STUNNING as well, the camera angles are phenomenal!! 4) FMA: B OP 5 (Rain by SID) - again, love the song and video 5) Kuroshitsuji Book of Circus OP (Enamel by SID) - and again, love the songand video! I particularly love how the credits are incorporated into the OPtoo!!

Honorable mentions: I feel the need to say I adore all the Durarara!! OP’s, bothNoragami OP’s, Akatsuki no Yona OP 1 and Naruto Shippuuden OP 6, I feel reallybad I couldn’t include them!! >.

Favourite ending songs: 1) Bungou Stray Dogs ED 1 (Namae Wo Yobu Yo by Luck Life) - beautiful melody and beautiful animation 2) FMA:B ED 2 (Let It All Out by Miho Fukuhara) - one of my all time faves!3) Parasyte ED (It’s the Right Time by Daichi Miura) - beautiful, beautiful song!4) Aldnoah.Zero ED 1 (A/Z by Hiroyuki Sawano, vocals by Mizuki) - I love all the music in Aldnoah.Zero, it’s composed by Hiroyuki Sawano after all :P5) Battery ED 2 (Wakamono no Subete by anderlust) - stunning ED… not so good show lol… this one JUST won out over Tokyo Ghoul ED 2 due to the video being gorgeous

Honorable mentions: Baccano! ED, Rainbow ED (first time I heard Galneryus and was blown away by the vocal range), Haikyuu!! ED 3, SnK ED 1, Kuroshitsuji ED 2, Higurashi ED 2, HxH ED 5, Durarara!! ED 2

Manga: (I’m excluding HxH because I’ve only read/amreading the Dark Continent arc in the manga lol)1) Akatsuki no Yona2) Noragami3) Ao no Exorcist4) Rurouni Kenshin5) Kuroshitsuji 

Favourite non-anime shows:1) Dexter - still haven’t finished it, oops…2) Masterchef - I’m obsessed with food/cooking programmes in general lol3) Daredevil - I really enjoyed the first season a lot! 4) Casualty - haven’t watched it in a few months… >.5) Game of Thrones - I’m only on like season 4 but I quite enjoy it tbh lol

I don’t watch much TV at all but I’m probably forgettingsomething… I also really liked Doctor Who when David Tennant was the doctor, notso much now though

Favourite anime: (I’ll probably change my mindtomorrow but anyway :P)1) Hunter x Hunter - this is definitely no. 1 anyway 2) FMA/FMA: Brotherhood - can’t decide, sorry… T.T3) One Piece4) Code Geass5) Kuroko no Basuke

Guilty pleasure anime! :P (one you sent me after this message! i.e. shows I liked that a lot of people didn’t. Therearen’t many of these tbh because I’m very selective with the shows I choose towatch, so I’m also gonna include ones I’m embarrassed I liked lol…)1) Sword Art Online - I really liked the first half a lot, and I also thoughtthat scene in the parking lot near the end was really good lol. I definitelydidn’t hate the second half of the series as much as some people… 2) Black Bullet - I really enjoyed this one okay lol3) Highschool of the Dead - listen, Ecchi aside, I thought this show was prettygood… the Ecchi was SO unnecessary though, it really annoyed me, it wouldhave been a great show without it!4) Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo ‘Shounen Tanteidan’ Yori - okay, so I gave this a 6 and gave it a pretty hard time when I reviewed it, my main thought after the last ep being ‘what was the point in that??’, HOWEVER… I really enjoyed and looked forward to it every week? So I dunno this is a weird one for me lol5) Kuroshitsuji II - PLEASE DON’T DISOWN ME GUYS I’M SORRY! XD This season was objectively awful, but I didn’t hate it for some reason…? I mean I definitely didn’t love it either lol… but I don’t think I had as strong a hate for it as the rest of the fandom… it was a really messed up season though, Alois creeped me out big time… 

Favourite anime endings: (the other one you sent me after this message!)1) Code Geass (R2) - there’s a S3 coming out so I guess you could discount this as the ending of the series now lol… but it was fantastic T.T AND I don’t think I had it spoiled for me beforehand! Massive plus! :P2) Kimi no Na wa - is this cheating? >.3) Hunter x Hunter (2011) - Yes, there are some loose ends (that are continued in the manga), but I think even as a stand alone show the ending was very satisfactory, I loved it!4) FMA: Brotherhood - just a really satisfying and complete ending! 5) Clannad: After Story - I was just so relieved it ended the way it did, I couldn’t have handled it otherwise haha… T.T

Honorable mentions: ACCA, Shouwa Genroku, Angel Beats!

And that’s it!! :D Thanks somuch for these they were such great asks!!

[witchyystudies-blog]

Outfits Shop Treasures

Not Every person can afford to pay for to shop in shops and buy the first thing they see around the racks. I happen to love manner and come up with a recreation of getting bargains. Individuals explain to me "you must devote lots of money on clothing because you're usually dressed fashion up." I chuckle and say "you have no idea how low-cost I'm."

My number 1 supply After i experienced no disposable cash flow was the consignment shop. My mom gave me her hand-me-downs so I could trade them for apparel in my size. I took them for the consignment keep where by I used to be supplied shop credit after the merchandise offered.

I may be a bargain shopper, but I am a picky one particular. I by no means paid a dime for anything and each product I obtained was new. The ideal tip the owner gave me was to discover merchandise which were from sample profits. The very best and bottom items might be different sizes, but provided that They may be just one measurement aside, They can be good to put jointly. These had been merchandise the owner had gotten at the customer's mart shows.

The shop experienced a lot of name manufacturer things, new Using the tags nevertheless on them. Wealthier older girls would don an outfit one time, make a decision they did not want the item and donate it to The shop. I shopped there for about ten years.

In case you have the patience to seem by each and every rack, You may also come across brand name or classic products at thrift shops. You might need to obtain them dry cleaned ahead of putting on, however it is worthwhile. Liquidation gross sales and outlet shops are very good places to look.

Knowing the structure of your neighborhood Division keep will assist you to locate bargains. Search for out the clearance rack and scope out the goodies in advance of payday to help you go back and get them. The most beneficial time to shop is mid-working day during the 7 days while you are the sole customer. Goods is less expensive within the junior Division than within the misses department.

Knowing the timing of semi-once-a-year clearance and preserving back shopping income for anyone times will assist you to system your excursion. The 2 clearance months are January and July. Shopping off-period and preserving merchandise for following yr really can help Create your wardrobe.

Constructing all around a primary wardrobe will help refrain you from impulse purchasing. Get started with fundamental merchandise and insert a whole new blouse or add-ons to go together with what you have already got. Arranging your closet and dresser like The shop makes receiving dressed every single day sense like you are going procuring.

When my daughter was in highschool we had exciting sharing dresses. We are a similar dimension for anything like sneakers, so we had a double wardrobe. Needless to say, we wore outfits in a different way. We manufactured a game of splitting up when procuring and seeing who bought the most effective bargains.

Something to remember is always that If you prefer good customer care, Will not be expecting it when bargain browsing. Get what you would like and obtain out. Sadly, today it can be popular for clerks on the register to be talking around the cellphone as in case you weren't there. I've offered up on anticipations. With the money you've saved, it is possible to splurge on a luxury procedure including salon solutions.

Now that my daughter is in college or university, her taste has upgraded somewhat. We lately essential to purchase a gown to get a military services ball she was attending. She observed a boutique that we never might have afforded, but had been Fortunate ample to search out the proper dress over the clearance rack. This was the kind of retail store having a great deal of private notice to match the worth tags. The dress was a beaded costume for $two hundred.00 marked down from $one,000.00. It had been attractive. For just a Distinctive situation, this was a very good deal. It absolutely was pleasurable obtaining the ambiance.

I practically nevertheless do my clearance searching at my common community shops, but when I at any time have a marriage to check out, I'll go back to the boutique, just for the enjoyable of it, Using the hope of getting a treasure. The pleasurable is within the hunt.

Writer, Laura Schroeder, has knowledgeable lifestyle adjust 1st hand. To affix an internet Neighborhood of care, pay a visit to her website at http://lauramschroeder.com There, you will notice the site, listen to podcast stories and see provided offered solutions. To Speak to Laura, email at laura@lauramschroeder.com.

Laura and her spouse reside in Maryland and have a few grown small children. She enjoys songs and fashion.

[dyreatic]

Inami Anju V-Storage Interview September 2016

An interview with Inami Anju from the School Idol Project Love Live! Series newest project, Love Live! Sunshine!!

From Sunrise x Lantis x Dengeki G’s Magazine arrives the 2nd generation of school idols that started on April 2015, Love Live! Sunshine!!. Set in Numazu within Shizuoka Prefecture, within Uranohoshi Girls’ High School, a new school idol group Aqours (A-ku-a), whose activities and growth were depicted in the broadcast of the TV Anime series, which will reach its climax soon! And now, this school idol group’s (Aqours) lively center, Takami Chika, will have her seiyuu, Inami Anju, be interviewed. Of course, we will also hear about her enthusiasm towards 1st Live♪

Chika-chan is like a shining, positive girl who endears others to follow her.

----First, tell us your honest feelings when it was decided that you would be playing as Takami Chika.

Inami: I was very shocked over the decision that I would be playing as Chika; at first, I didn’t really understand what was happening. Of course, I was happy over the decision, but on the other hand, I had worries over whether I really would be able to do it, and I was in constant disbelief over that too.

----How long did it take for the audition results to come out?

Inami: I had gone overseas for my theater work, and it was quite hectic, so I don’t remember much, but I think it was for around one month. Then, my manager suddenly received a call. I went to the specified location while thinking about how I did, and once I reached, I heard, “You’ve been chosen to perform as Takami Chika.” Because I had been telling myself off over the audition, this made me panic hard, while thinking, “It can’t be true, what do I do now…” (laughs) But because of the happiness over being chosen along with lots of other emotions, I ended up crying.

----What was your impression of the girl Takami Chika, whom you are performing as?

Inami: My first impression was that she was cheerful and a really straightforward girl.

----After performing as Chika, where do you think Chika’s appeal lies in?

Inami: Her way of cheerfully looking to the future of course, and being the pampered youngest sibling in a family of three sisters, I can also relate to her. In truth, I myself also really love Love Live!, so I supported μ's as a fan, and when I thought about the position I was in, it was like Chika-chan relative to Honoka-chan. And speaking of her differences with Honoka-chan, when I thought about how her appeal differed from that of Honoka-chan’s, Honoka-chan is the older sister, and Chika-chan is the little sister, and that difference is especially apparent when I perform as Chika-chan, which really caught my attention. Chika-chan is really a regular girl, and she has nothing special, and I think her charm lies in the fact she is a girl that can be found anywhere. And that kind of normal girl that anyone can be with and yearn for is what appeals greatly to me.

Her words and actions also really draw others in.

----Chika is the youngest out of three sisters, but what about yourself, Inami-san?

Inami: I’m an only child, so I don’t really understand the feeling of having siblings. Saitou (Shuka)-san, who performs as Watanabe You, is actually the youngest child, so I asked her before having to perform, “How is it like to be the youngest child?” Among the members, there are more of them with siblings than being the only child, so I take in a lot when listening to their conversations, and in doing so I can apply it to my performance as Chika-chan.

----Did you also prepare yourself when discussing with the other members?

Inami: That was the case. As I expected, the performance can’t be done alone; what’s important is that we are working together with the others around us, something like playing catch. The more we got to know each other, the more we were able to flesh out the characters that we performed as, and the after-recording also was more fun. There was definitely this side of the girls, and the process of seeing each member and the cast becoming one was really enjoyable too, and thereby my performing also changed. What was revealed by the animation also resulted in changes, and I accepted it and performed accordingly. And because of that, while we were discussing with each other before the start of the after-recording, there were really a lot of things that we were looking forward to.

----Please tell us the similarities and differences between you and Chika.

Inami: Unlike Chika-chan, I have not been positive about the future (laughs). Because of that, I really admire the innocent Chika-chan who draws others towards her. The other members and people around me often say “You’re similar”, but I myself don’t think so. However, living with the intention of a positive heart is something that we’re probably a little bit alike in. I myself am quite pessimistic, which I don’t think is a good thing, as when I’m down it will also bring down the mood of my surroundings. But at the time that I was thinking of that, I met Chika-chan. What that resulted in was that I was drawn along with her and we were similar that we became positive together. And it is because she wasn’t confident in herself that she changed and lived with a positive and innocent mindset, and I think that is where we are really similar to each other.

----You did mature along with Chika while performing as her, huh.

Inami: That’s definitely the case. Her words, actions and others really drew in the existence known as Inami Anju. I really am thankful and strive towards her, something like an unreachable star (Todokanai Hoshi, reference to Todokanai Hoshi da to Shitemo). There’s still a lot more waiting in the future, and I’m really excited.

I really felt her “I must not give up on my hopes and dreams” while performing as her.

----How was the mood at the after-recording?

Inami: It was fun and peaceful. Also, the screenwriter Nagasaki (Yukio)-san interacted with us sincerely, which really helped our mood. He explained it all in both lighthearted and serious tones, so we were able to perform the dubbing in a good environment.

----What are your honest thoughts when seeing Chika and the others moving in the anime?

Inami: I really couldn’t believe it; it felt like I was seeing a dream. These girls really looked alive, and I really felt like their story was finally starting. But I still wasn’t used to my voice that outpoured from the TV, as expected (laughs). Because of that, when I watched Episode 1, a rush of emotions welled up, and it made my heart beat really fast.

----If there are any scenes or lines by Chika that left an impression on you, please tell us.

Inami: What left an impression on me was the first scene in Episode 1 before the opening. Of course, one part of it was that it had finally started, and Chika-chan’s first steps towards wanting to aim to become a school idol could be seen, especially during the moment that she saw the shine, which reminded me of the time that I was really nervous during the after-recording. It was the beginning of the airing of Love Live! Sunshine!!, but it was a new start for me, so it is a very important scene. Other than that, there’s also the scene in Episode 8 where Chika-chan revealed to the other members her true motivations for the first time, and when I was reading the script after receiving it, I thought that everyone would probably consider this to be the defining scene for Chika-chan in the entire anime. And so, I usually return to the important points after reading the scripts, but this time I took all the scripts up to Episode 7, went to the studio earlier and reread it all the way until the last minute. I also yelled while entering, and there were also scenes that made me nervous. When the bright and positive Chika-chan who drew everyone towards her had the reality of the situation revealed towards her, she told her true motivation towards (Sakurauchi) Riko-chan. However, in reality I don’t really remember this scene well. Of course, I don’t remember my nervousness or other emotions well either, like as if they had just flown off; it was as if I had fully become the character I was voicing. This Episode 8 had allowed me to mature as a voice actress as well.

----Please tell us any points of note or recommended parts of this work.

Inami: Chika-chan might be a highschool girl who could be found anywhere, but it is because of this that a lot of people have dreams or aspirations of meeting her, and that allows them to face forward. I really felt her “I must not give up on my hopes and dreams” while performing as her, which is something to note about her.

It feels like the Inami Anju who likes to sing is 50% made out of songs.

----Inami-san has liked Love Live! since beforehand as we’ve heard, so where do you think its appeal lies in?

Inami: I myself really love Love Live!, and I’ve watched it for a long time, and I have been able to participate in this work, which has given me lots of courage, hopes and dreams, which I think is its appeal.

----Have you liked singing ever since you were small, Inami-san?

Inami: I loved it. But I still can’t sing so I get stressed (laughs). It feels like the Inami Anju who likes to sing is 50% made out of songs, probably. It’s full of hard aspects, like the rhythm, scales, notes and others, and sometimes I get reluctant to practice (laughs), but even so I still liked it ever since I was small. And even with the good feelings and the tension of right now, the songs that we sang might’ve been the same as back then, but it was with a completely different nuance, showing that songs have infinite possibilities. Of course, acting is also like that. So if you take away singing and acting from me, then there will be nothing left of me (laughs).

----By the way, what songs do you listen to often? Also, if you have any artists you like, please tell us.

Inami: What made me like Love Live! was actually the smartphone app Love Live! School Idol Festival. I was really attracted to the songs, and then I liked the members as well, so basically I got into Love Live! through the songs, and μ's was a big part of me. Also, Hirano Aya-san (Actress, Seiyuu and Singer, who took part in many activities. Most famously known as Suzumiya Haruhi in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) was someone who I liked and admired. Even though my dream was to perform in a musical, I really felt drawn in when I performed and sang, and I had the same feeling regarding Love Live!, which is another reason why I love it.

I want to have fun in the 1st Live so that all the members will be able to smile.

----The 1st Live was also confirmed, and the practice for the dances are also hard, so have you been memorizing the choreography?

Inami: I can’t remember any of it (laughs). Apologies to the other members for not being able to memorize the choreography. I was from a vocational school, but I only had dance lessons 8 times a year. So, even though I was studying dance as if it were a special class, I wasn’t very good at it (laughs). It wasn’t that I disliked dancing, but there was a feeling of being lost.  However, I had many dreams of being in scenes in musicals with dancing and being able to reach my aspirations. They included dancing with a lot of feelings and looking beautiful, sexy, and cool… but it’s actually almost impossible (laughs). I was given a chance to try dancing and start learning the steps, but I couldn’t follow at all (laughs). Kobayashi (Aika)-san, the voice of Tsushima Yoshiko, and Saitou (Shuka)-san, the voice of Watanabe You, had dancing experience, so I relied on them both a lot. And when the anime was announced, and after I saw my own movements, I resolved to inspect our movements even more. And after I saw the way that dance experts presented themselves, I was able to dance in a cute manner. And then I learned from the other members as they were dancing, which made me more aware. The process of learning how to dance was really fun, and I also had a sense of accomplishment after that, and now I am able to give my all to face challenges.

----Please tell us about your enthusiasm towards 1st Live.

Inami: I was trying not to get the choreography wrong, but in truth I’m also bad at remembering lyrics, so it was chaotic (laughs). There are a lot of things I have to do from now on, so I have a lot of responsibilities and pressure. Without the other members I cannot stand in the center, which I realized during the first event. Aqours☆HEROES was the song that required me to go forward the most, to form a triangle as seen from the audience. When that happened, there was no one beside me, and the whole audience in front of me, and I was really scared the first time. I felt very uneasy about it during the rehearsals, but I really felt that everyone was behind dancing by my side with smiles when I looked through the mirror. My heart isn’t that strong yet, so I am unable to stand on stage without the other members. But if it were Chika-chan, she would definitely not be afraid, and she would take everyone’s hands and break into a run, and I myself was pushed from the back by Chika-chan which made me able to stand on stage, and the audience was also able to enjoy it, and I was able to give my all for that. I want to have fun in the 1st Live so that all the members will be able to smile.

The beaches of Uchiura as seen within the work are also really beautiful, and I definitely want to go there to take pictures.

----What started your aspirations towards the world of acting?

Inami: I saw Kuroki Hitomi-san’s acting in a TV drama when I was in elementary school, and that was when I first wanted to try acting as well. But becoming an actress required me to be beautiful and have good style, and I wasn’t someone who had myself together, so I couldn’t do it, and then I gave up. But then, I happened to watch anime and found out about the job of being a seiyuu, and I thought that I could do such a job that didn’t require my looks (laughs). And that was when I began to aspire to be a seiyuu.

----What kind of person is the normal Inami-san? Please tell us your self-analysis.

Inami: I’m someone who is negative, pessimistic and lacking in confidence… I really can’t think of my good parts (laughs). But there’s one thing I can say, and that’s the fact that I love acting. The central focus of the person Inami Anju is her aspiration to become an actress, so I am not the type of person to want to stray from both being an artist and an actress. I’ve always thought that I wanted to become a good person to become a good actress, and so I don’t want to regret all the effort that I’ve put in. As for what I can deliver to people, I am experiencing many things, and I want to share my world to a lot of people. If I want to bring smiles to people’s faces, I want to also be able to put on a smile to show to everyone at any time, and to become the sun to anyone, which is what I admire about Chika-chan, and I wonder if I’m a little bit similar to that. It’s because I am naturally negative that I want to act positive, and so I have a sense of duty that I must live in a positive manner. Of course a change in mindset is a very big event for humans, and would I not want to realize this big wish of mine? I want to be someone who can grab the chance at that moment. And if I cannot grab that moment, then I didn’t try hard enough and am lacking in experience, but I won’t just say “some other time”, but I want to improve myself for the sake of being able to grab that moment. In relation to acting or singing, it’s not that I don’t want to lose to anyway, but instead I want to continue doing it with love, and it’s common for things to not go my way, and for setbacks to happen. What that means is that I am really not very good at expressing myself, so maybe I’m not the best person for those activities (laughs). When Chika-chan is next to me though, I am able to express myself in many ways, but since it is coming out from Inami Anju, I always wonder if it truly is alright. But this is exactly why I am able to take in many things, and become someone able to convert my negativity into positivity. Right now, I think I’m around 80% negative and 20% positive, but I’m also slowly changing myself that I can continue to increase the portion of positivity.

----If you’ve gotten into anything or been obsessed with something recently, please tell us.

Inami: I’ve gotten into detoxification, so I’ve taken enzyme baths, as well as watched my diet well. I definitely can’t lose my good health right now, so I’m looking for medicine that suits my body, and if I find any articles which catch my eye, I will note them down and try them out immediately. I started paying close attention to my health, and I tried out bouldering and yoga to build my body up. For the sake of taking care of my body for 1st Live, I’m running everyday, so I think I’ve also gotten into bodybuilding. Just like an athlete (laughs). Also, I’ve recently gotten into photography. Recently I went overseas, and at that time I took pictures of all my journeys with the other members, including all the silly smiles and the like, and I really liked to capture all the ambiences then. I also liked to take pictures of the scenery. I wanted to keep the memories of what I saw at those moments, so that when I look back at it, I will be able to remember what I enjoyed about it. The beaches of Uchiura in Numazu as seen within Love Live! Sunshine!! are also really beautiful, and recently I’ve felt that I want to go there to take pictures.

PROFILE

Inami Anju 

Born on February 7. Under Sony Music Artists. Radio personality and performer. Selected for the role of Aqours’s leader Takami Chika in Love Live! Sunshine!!.

ANCHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

Okay anyway this is actually really late (I’ve been holding on to this from mid-November) but I finally got motivation to finish thanks to 1st Live being just around the corner. Why is Anchan so negative (makes you just want to go there and cheer her up and tell her everything is going to be alright)... 

Hai, to iu koto de, I hope everyone enjoyed this interview! It’s pretty long, but if you’re an Anchan fan, I think it’s a very good insight into her mind, and I hope that you will continue to support Love Live! Sunshine!! with your wallet.

Released as part of Team ONIBE.

[drashleighreid]

Do them alllllll!! 😂😜 you’ll probably need snacks for how long it takes to answer 💓

lord. LMAO okay��

1. Do you ever doubt the existence of others than you?

not really?? life is weird tho who knows man. 

2. On a scale of 1-5, how afraid of the dark are you?

4.5 

3. The person you would never want to meet?

HMM. never... im sure there are plenty 

4. What is your favorite word?

colloquial

5. If you were a type of tree, what would you be?

peach tree ! 

6. When you looked in the mirror this morning what was the first thing you thought?

gotta brush tha teethies 

7. What shirt are you wearing?

a lana del rey concert t shirt n a harvard sweatshirt over the top sksksk .. get u a girl who can do both

8. What do you label yourself as?

vegan lesbian :o ? dumbass

9. Bright room or dark room?

both for different moods... i like rooms being bright and open during the day but dimly lit at night

10. What were you doing at midnight last night?

writing fic 

11. Favorite age you’ve been so far?

done

12. Who told you they loved you last?

my mum

13. Your worst enemy?

myself bitch

14. What is your current desktop picture?

miss cdp in that blue coat

15. Do you like someone?

done

16. The last song you listened to?

the rip - portishead

17. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up?

[REDACTED]

18. Who would you really like to just punch in the face?

see above

19. If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do?

sdlkfj these questions are weird. br*ttany snow can be my slave for the day just so i can play w her hair 

20. What is your best physical attribute? (showing said attribute is optional)

litcherally no clue lkjsf ppl compliment me on my eyes but thats such a basic attribute ppl always comment on. we all got eyes hun. 

21. If you were the opposite sex for one day, what would you look like and what would you do?

probably ,, me but the opposite sex ,,, j*rk off :) 

22. Do you have a secret talent? If yes, what is it?

?? maybe ? maybe not. its a secret 

23. What is one unique thing you’re afraid of?

unique ??? i have claustrophobia and hypochondria  lkjsf. what a SHIT pot. 

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal.

thats nice. is this a question? PICKLES. 

25. You just found $100! How are you going to spend it?

clothes, or some candles,,, perfume. i want colour pencils ! nice lotion. 

26. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere in the world, but you have to leave immediately. Where are you going to go?

mexico! 

27. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. “Be brand-specific” it says. Man! What are you gonna say about that? Even if you don’t drink booze there’s something you can figure out… so what’s it gonna be?

sdkfj gin. hendricks or beefeater. or i mean, if its a gift just give me some BOUGIE shit.

28. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place?

no a55h0l3s allowed

29. What is your favorite expletive?

‘cunt’ has been working its way back into my road rage repertoire lately 

30. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don’t worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely. So what’s the one thing you’re going to save from that blazing inferno?

my laptop

31. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be?

hmm

32. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit… you can move to anywhere else in the world!

once again, is this a question. good i wanna move away from here anyway lkjsf 

33. The Celestial Gates Of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn’t think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person/etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back?

my grandma

34. What was your last dream about?

i actually dont know, i know i had a weird dream last night but i cant remember it 

36. Have you ever been admitted to the hospital?

no, knock on wood 

37. Have you ever built a snowman?

yes

38. What is the color of your socks?

kljs they’re grey, cute and cozy and they look like lil woofos :’( my mum bought them for me they keep me so warm

39. What type of music do you like?

lots of different stuff tbh ! idek how to describe the genres LOL

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?

sunrises

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor?

lime ! or caramel 

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer)

i dont have any strong feelings

43. Do you have any scars?

yeah, theres one on my knee from when my friend pushed me over on bitumen in 1st grade kjsf 

44. What do you want to be when you graduate?

writer/director/not poor

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

hmm. i wish i was more open to change sometimes 

46. Are you reliable?

yes i hate letting people down 

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?

is it worth it?

48. Do you hold grudges?

yes 

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?

omg. a bear and a corgi :D i just want a little cuddly bear 

50. What is the most unusual conversation you’ve ever had?

omg. so many. i had a really weird conversation with this guy in amsterdam who just like,, cornered me on the street and told me he wanted to hang out with me and i had to make up an excuse and say i was meeting people even though i was travelling alone because i thought he was going to murder me. i’ve travelled alone quite a bit so ive just had weird af conversations overseas kjf 

51. Are you a good liar?

maybe?? i just dont like lying so i dont do it a lot. i only really lie to get out of doing things i dont want to do and to rearrange plans when im feeling mentally Unwell 

52. How long could you go without talking?

a long time lmao

53. What has been you worst haircut/style?

hmmm. when i was in highschool i cut my hair really short and it just didnt look nice. i also had bright red bangs and black hair in high school, and another time i had turquiose bangs. it was a time. 

54. Have you ever baked your own cake?

yes!

55. Can you do any accents other than your own?

i dont like to lol

56. What do you like on your toast?

v cream cheese and jam !! pb+j ! avocado 

57. What is the last thing you drew a picture of?

a little bear

58. What would be you dream car?

i dont care. something black n bougie with tinted windows so people dont Look at me 

59. Do you sing in the shower? Or do anything unusual in the shower? Explain.

only if im in hotels, i dont like my neighbors to hear me so i sing in my car kljsf. i dont think i do anything exceptionally weird in the shower 

60. Do you believe in aliens?

yes!

61. Do you often read your horoscope?

done

62. What is your favorite letter of the alphabet?

Z

63. Which is cooler: dinosaurs or dragons?

dinosaurs

64. What do you think about babies?

... cool but i dont want it near me 

thanks for the entertainment sweet pea !!!! 

[raw-inundations]

When East Block St. Went Dark

Michelle Viloria

Wave : 315 South 1st St. // 310 South 3rd St. Downtown San Jose

10.30.17 :  7:20pm  

*** Please read context at end of essay after reading,

or else none of this will make much sense

{30A First Class seat: on the plane back to my mom’s house for the holidays.}

I know my initial relief should be from seeing my old friends and family, but it’s not. In reality my relief stems from the fact that i’m about to get actual sleep for the first time in two days without having to study for midterms in my dreams and then wake up to cry.  You know that beautiful, delicate phase where you’re drifting off to sleep and you know in just 10 seconds you’ll be out like a light, well i wasn’t aware you could be excited during those brief moments but i was more excited than i’ve been in the last few years. I could almost taste the rest, i was so close-until suddenly it feels like a brick just crushed my toe. Completely pissed, i glanced over to see the whiskey scented old man seated next to me dropped his pack of cigarettes while trying to pull a newspaper out of his jacket. He didn’t care to apologize or notice for that matter, he simply mumbled in disapproval,  “a millennium full of quitters”. I was confused and insulted until i read the headline:  ‘17 YEAR OLD GIRL COMMITS SUICIDE: OVERDOSE’. I watched him flip through the article with the tar stained finger tips of his left hand. Suddenly i found myself upset over something else, in fact I was so furious I didn’t realize I was talking out loud. -It sucks ya know, that feeling of just wanting to escape-to run away. But you can’t because no matter where you go you can’t run from yourself. You can’t run from your head so people try to poison theirs with substances or decisions they’ll regret. Some people are so adamantly against suicide yet show nothing but indifference in continuing to kill themselves in every other way that enables them to continue breathing. The same people who ride their high horses on their saddles of entitlement are the same ones that drown their livers each night to the point that its’  functionality never surpasses the bare minimum. The same folks who condescend those who felt as if there was no other choice and proceed to fill their veins with hallucinogenic toxins are the ones that truly know the meaning of vacancy. Despite the individual’s preferred method and whether it be healthy or detrimental, whether you’re barbecuing your lungs to a crisp everyday, we’re all simply trying to fill the emptiness, that’s all i’m saying.

“Oh”.

I switched my seat.

{Reminiscing on the plane to my mom’s house, post-nap; 7pm}

The memories of my childhood echoed in my head like a comforting song, one that you listen to only occasionally but will always feel like home despite time, place or circumstance. The home that i’ve longed for ever since i left home for college nearly four years ago, bits and pieces were foggy, like the sky when i arrived at my doorstep. In fact the fog was so thick, and the night was so dark that i dropped and lost my keys which led to me having to use our doorbell. Other than that for the most part my memory was as clear and simple as requesting a glass of water when my mom asked me if i wanted anything to drink as we all gathered at the dinner table. As she places the glass by my plate like she always has, the bottom makes contact with the surface of the table, accompanied by the all too familiar tap it’s made for 18 years since I left, but there was something missing, I raised my glass to my mouth and looked forward-and that was when i remembered everything. The inundations fled through my memory like the water escaping through the crevices of the glass as it shattered against the varnished wood.  

When I was a child there was this lamp post on the street of my Mother’s house on the corner of East Block St. Though it stood in singularity its beams copiously lit up the entire block, providing salvation to those who wished to move forward in the late nights of a Canadian winter, whose lifeless streets seemed to overcome the efforts of any feeble headlight. The same light which illuminated direction for the dog walkers and children of the neighborhood who infamously forgot how to differentiate between the careful conformity of their homes.

Over the course of my adolescence this was what cradled my fear of the dark and served as the silver lining to my walks home, once the sun had ceased to touch the earth. This was the lamp that provided just the right amount of light on our faces when I had my first kiss beneath it at 16. For the soft spoken yet loving old man that lived three houses down, through his remaining moments before his sight had bid him farewell, this illuminated the path to return to what mattered to him most. When winters get this cold you begin to realize that the shelter you seek isn’t a roof and walls, but loving arms and a heartbeat. When the fragility of his life was that of nothing but a loose thread on my father’s favorite flannel, the same piece of fabric who had proudly shown to be worn not by him but by time. This was the lamp post that despite his deteriorating perception, guided the aged man through these icy streets at the end of each night and back into the perfect warmth of his wife’s embrace. For the newlyweds who resided at the end of the block, this was the final house that remained within its rays’ proximity. Due to this, this family was never guided nor even directly impacted by its luminescence. Their reliance, although gentle was far from insignificant. On nights where the light of the stars seemed to shine farther, the kind and nurturing light of this infamous street lamp sufficed best to serve as their child’s night light, this was the night’s gift of guidance to the newborn, whom had not yet been introduced to the presence of the night. A gift which softly illuminated their nursery thus allowing the child to embrace the touch of nightfall and peacefully slip into a restful slumber. That was it. It’s gone. I ran outside before i could hear my mother shriek at the sound of the glass shattering. For 18 years, my chair which was placed adjacent to the dining room window always overlooked the lamp post. When I raised my glass the light had always beamed through the glass and it’s reflection was visible from beneath the cup as i drank from it, but not this time. It was wrong, everything was wrong. In its place there was a dark, snow covered figure where the lamp post once stood. I asked my Mother about it and she said she never realized it had gone out, in fact no one there realized.

It was a literal beacon of light for the inhabitants of the community and all who it’s streets harbored. It’s significance was of no stranger to any, yet its memory was disregarded no differently than a receipt crumpled and tossed beneath the car seat, left to be dusted with time. Unlike that receipt however, time does not touch our lives with a gentle hand. It rapidly consumes us, often before one can even process, and much like the nature of an Antarctican current, whisks us far from comfort, lacking any regard for our readiness for where it’s indiscriminate tides may render us. To East Block, that destructive current was July 2003, exactly five years ago when a drunk driver had hit the lamp post on the corner where the street light had resided. A loud crash, thankfully no casualties as the lamp had absorbed the majority of the impact, however, the beloved light had not survived the collision.

Five years ago was my junior year of highschool, i thought to myself, but I was here? How could I have been here and not noticed when the entire street went dark. Suddenly there was this feeling that grew inside of me. There’s not another way i could explain it other than meeting a friend you’ve heard of but knew more about you than you did about them, meeting the embodiment of awareness. It’s almost as if a vulnerable part of me that I had never known existed, became unveiled for the world to see. This was when we all glanced around us and saw what we’ve ignored for years. We turned to look down our street and no longer felt the warmth of home in the midst of an icy winter. You could no longer make out the shapes of snowflakes from the glare of the light that was no longer there. From as far as the eye could see there was not a glimmer of light in sight but in its place a vacant, lonely darkness as a result of neglect and lack of appreciation.

Admittedly maybe I might have not remembered much, but i was certain of that year.  This was the year that life began to move faster, the current came to pull me in and since then i never quite saw shore again. College apps, work, I had always been looking down on my phone that I hadn’t realized my screen had been the only light on that street as i walked home. Packing for college was stressful, and as time went by dinner was no longer about conversations regarding the events of our lives but simply about respectfully completing a meal so you can return to your room. I slept a lot more that year, yet still it never felt enough. I rarely saw daylight before i left for college, nevertheless paid any attention to a street lamp.

Isn’t it interesting how life can move us in different directions so rapidly that we forget to hold on to what meant the world to us at the peak of our innocence. That night in July 2003, the street light lit the way for East Block one last time, and by the following morning never shined again. As its final glimmer gave out, with it all our memory of it’s existence faded into the darkness and was engulfed by the night.

A concept which wreaks of simplicity yet never given attention to analyze. Similar to that of an exhausted infant slipping into rest, the darkness crept in so gradually no one had noticed when the lights went out. You go out into the world searching for that same warmth you felt back when the streets were bright and you could see every step which led to home, now you go into that party and search the room as if you were scanning faces hoping to see an old lover that never left your heart. As a response to your lack of discovery you found yourself at the liquor cabinet. You took as many shots as it took to try to replicate the feeling that shot through your heart when she said goodbye. As you stumble on the floor, your vision becomes blurry but for some reason you make out a shape of someone standing over you and sober or not you swear to god, it’s her. Similar to the It’s then when you realize that you lost your way when the light went out. The closest you got to feeling the warmth of home was your lips on the brim of a bottle on a saturday night, but even she knows the heat of the alcohol in your chest can’t numb the feeling of the icy ground against your skin as you lay on the floor of your cold, vacant apartment. But It’s those last intoxicated breaths before you lose consciousness that it becomes clear to you, a ray of light from the distant heavens illuminates a revelation, that the light did not simply go out in one night, but slowly lost its necessity over time. In fact the crash was utterly meaningless. No one had noticed its disappearance because the light had been gone far before the incident. The path home was never lost, but that as time passed you gave up looking-you gave up looking for yourself. Once you give up looking, time consumes it like it does the glare of a headlight engulfed by the night and once a light goes out, it only shines for as long as you notice. A truth as icy and haunting as the vacantly lit streets of East Block, once something is gone, it only exists for as long as you allow it. Similar to those stranded out in the dark winters of East Block, who are only seeking a shelter which provides the warmth of home to expel the icy vacancy that surrounds them, those who succumb to vices are merely attempting to fill the inescapable emptiness which lies within them.  

{Commencement Context/Analysis:} - aka metaphor key

Inside the networks of my mind //

A general, fictional narrative inspired by personal references. Intertwined within the metaphors reveal pieces of the characters life. Hidden within the concepts reveal pieces of the writer’s life. A compilation of several concepts, the fictional story is primarily meant to be an elaborate allegory roughly symbolizing and personifying depression. One does not simply wake up in this state. It is a gradual and silent process. One that often goes unnoticed even by those directly affected. {hence the houses affected by the lamp post} The characters embody the range of those affected by Depression and those who are touched by someone who suffers.

> The aforementioned streetlight represents depression itself along. The concept brings to light (yes, pun intended) the idea that it is often those who give the most to others are the ones that become most vacant themselves and suffer in silence.

> “East Block” is known as the darkest area in Canada, along with all of North America. {i thought it was clever ok}

> “Her” which is referenced at the end, symbolizes the genuine, happier, younger more innocent version of the main character. {ex. Myself prior to MDD}

> The infant; conveys that although one under {condition} may feel insignificant/incompetent, not everyone needs your 100%, your best is sufficient. = If the light were any brighter the child would not be able to rest, any darker the child would be fearful.

> General: One single light can inadvertently aid to an entire community, even though one may not always receive a sign of gratitude or significance etc.

> Dynamics context: References to “her”, or the MC prior to diagnosis, are made as if she were a past lover with no promises of returning. As often with depression, one remembers their old self almost as if they were a completely different person. Different yet still remaining close to the heart, even if bittersweet.

> 30A Seats- The writer of the story, ingested {30 A}aspirin tablets as an attempt to commit suicide at 17.{hence the headline of newspaper}

> “The shore” - main characters old “genuine” self.

[annaaablogs]

How EXO saved me

First of all, that's an awfully cheesy title HAHA. So my close friends probably know by now that I am deeply engrossed with kpop, specifically EXO nowadays. I got into kpop after going through bad relationships. The 20-yr old Anna probably knows that her december dating history is a hot mess. To give you an overview, I dated around 4 (or 5??? Omygod why am i not sure about this??) guys last december 2016. I know im such a hoe but I had my own reasons 😂. I had nothing better to do with my life back then and I cope with each failed relationship (although i can barely call them "relationships") with yet another unhealthy relationship. It was a cycle, to be honest. The chase and heart ache, for some reasons, are addictive. But with the last guy I dated, i decided I had enough. It was the last straw for me (because I later on found out that the guy has a girlfriend and he probably used me as a past time.) I've lost all the self respect I have. And that is when I told myself that instead of distracting myself from the heart ache through another toxic relationship, I have to stop and heal myself first. Since my unemployed and unenrolled ass has nothing to do, I decided to check out Kdramas. I enjoyed watching kdramas and it also takes my mind off those fuckboys. Later on, my highschool busmate introduced me to EXO since she saw me getting hooked to kdramas. The first exo song that i listened to is "Dont Go". It's a classic and i fell inlove with these boys' vocals. I started listening to their songs and I remember watching "Moonlight" with my mouth open because damn Byun Baekhyun is such a talented singer. Exo's vocal line is not a joke. Then of course, I came across the song "Monster". I first saw the dance practice version and damn that choreography??? I refused to believe that that is a "dance practice". All of them danced so well I was honestly confused at who to look at. That's how I slowly became a fan. These boys are so talented I cant even begin to explain. In a span of 1 month they already began taking a huge part of heart. I love them so much. Aside from being talented, they are also good looking!!! All of them have a pleasing personality. All of them are so precious. These boys saved me from the cycle of being in toxic relationships. They kept me preoccupied. They also treat women with utmost respect and I realized that that is the way I should be treated. They inspired me to work hard and to give my best with my med school application. I'd like to give a shout out to my bias, Lay (Zhang Yixing). I've read his autobiography and it was so inspiring. He was so brave for flying to korea at the age of 17 to train. My parents wont even let me go to the mall near our condo at age 20. My sheltered ass was challenged to be brave and independent. He is also a hard working kid. He honestly inspired me to push myself to my limits. This boy tied sand bags to his waist during practice just so he could improve his dancing. I mean who does that?? I would never memorize plants' scientific names just to improve on my botany class. But after reading his book, I started downloading some lessons from 1st yr med books to read in advance. I'm also in awe of how he handled criticisms. Like Lay, Im also very sensitive to criticisms and bad comments. I would be honest and say that I usually fight these people through arguing and other immature ways but now that I stan Lay, I practice taking these comments objectively. So yes, that's EXO's impact on my life. This group made a positive change on my life. I would support them with my whole heart. Saranghaja!!