#i started this in december when i noticed my cat had rusting from laying in the sun

[starridge]

[scoundrels-in-love]

Oooh the 80's songs asks are SO GOOD. Gimme billie jean, uptown girl, born in the usa, take on me, footloose, i want candy, eye of the tiger, and karma chameleon. Tried to keep a short list but so good!

Thank you so much for asking, darling. This is under cut because I got very lengthy about ‘what is your home town like’ question.

Ask me 80′s iconic song ask?

billie jean: what do you notice more in a song - the drums or bassline? 

Definitely the drums, I still have hard time distinguishing bass in most music. I know it’s there and if it’d go away, I’d terribly miss it, I appreciate it, but it’s like a caretaking spirit I can’t see for most of the time.

uptown girl: what’s your favourite book trope? 

Same as fics, honestly? Good enemies to friends to lovers (foes to bros to hoes), for example. In a lot of ways, I don’t differentiate books from fanfictions that much, especially the romantic/tropey books...

born in the u.s.a.: what’s your home town like? 

Hoo boy. This is such an invite to picture fest, but I’ll spare my followers, lol. My hometown is truly just a town, just some 25k people here. Nonetheless, it’s one of the biggest in the country, so there’s that. My town is someplace riddled with memories, someplace that I pass certain places with relief ‘ah, that store is still here, 20 years later’ or with twine of sadness if it is not. I draw comfort from the constant things and learn to accept the changes - the fixed roads, the bike trails, the truly prettified and taken care of small parks and mill pond area. For, yes, we have a mill pond with many ducks and a fountain, and lot of nice benches and trees.

And three parks, though only one is well maintained now and we, as community, rallied so more old trees wouldn’t be cut down unnecessarily - and won. It’s right next to the cinema, nice cafe and one of the banks in town, near our shopping mall and our local government building just a bit further which sits right next to almost 800 year old church and castle ruins. Across the street, there is bookstore, community center and clinic and now there’s a small concert hall in itself. That is how tiny and compact the heart of my city is, with young trees planted along the streets, with huge flower tiered flower bed in the center that in late November/early December becomes the standing spot for a towering Christmas tree, twinkling slightly into January.

But of course, there is much beyond the immediate reaches of this center. The marketplace. My actual favorite park near it, next to fire depot, with old trees that are weary from being forgotten and creaking swings, where benches rest under Jasmines, Lilacs and Linden that smell so sweetly in Spring. It’s near one of the schools (we have some 5, all over the city), the marketplace and the Millpond, the street surrounds it from both sides, yet it is a quiet place that the noises don’t reach, where the wind comes to sit on top of the swings and hum softly.

Our country’s biggest native river runs wide and steady through it, overlooked by three bridges of which one was recently rebuilt. I still remember crossing it and feeling the boards creak underneath my feet, as it was being rebuilt/reworked. As you come off of it, on your right there is part of our University and our big library in same magnificent building, something that was built some 10 years ago, and sometimes I miss the winding stairs of Children’s library, the wooden board walls and another level of tiny, narrow stairs that took you to pillow riddled room where you could participate in events. But the new library is beautiful and light and holds some beautiful memories for me, too. One day, I’ll test VR out there!

And a bit ahead, on left, there’s the huge bus station central, also recently, just last year or so, rebuilt. Then the main street splits in two, the barrier area leaving space for some old buildings and some newer ones. One of the streets runs right by an old creek, now overgrown - once home to bunch of beavers that have now returned to the main part of the river and only ducks stop by here now.

There is train station, little used now, that end of the town generally quiet and with a sense of going to sleep, like someone might before the End. On the other end of city, many new huge shops for cars and furniture have sprung from ground, along an uneven road to the hospital that can never be fully repaired because it is the only way to access the compound, hidden among the trees. The main cemetery is also there, the Orthodox one more in the center of city, but on the side.

And, oh, trees and flowers. There are many of those, all over the place. And many small streets that I have not explored. Little glimpses of peace and magic, in that one specific moment I sometime manage to catch them in my photographies. There are gaping spots where half finished buildings used to lay and gaze at passerby with empty windows, while some have finally seen completion. One becomes vacant time and time again, they say a spirit there is uneasy. My mom felt it was Her Home.

There are huge, burly apartment compounds all over the city, built after the town was burned down at the end of the World War 2. No one knows who did it, both Russian and German allies are blamed, seen to help start the fire... The buildings are built with hands of war prisoners and in that, remind me a lot of our truly old buildings, the church and castle ruins who, too, had unwilling builder hands used. Only few pre-war buildings remain. Now, many of the bulking apartment complexes are being renovated and given fresher look.

I belong here, and I don’t. I belong to the memories and the glimpses of something I catch sometime, I belong to the bus routes I took with her that do not exist anymore, I belong to benches that have been moved, I belong to the lilac bushes that were ruined carelessly in renovations or just chopped down, to trees that always burn red, just different shades, over a river-bend seen from bridge nearest to our house. To the way daffodils turn our apartment yard yellow and then white. To the bookstore that has not even lost most of its old employees, but have gained a cat in the years I have lived in this town.

I could go on and on, more and more things come to my mind. But I will finish it now, simply like this: My home town is the definition of a changing yet constant spot. An anchor that is covered with rust but also wrapped up with a pretty ribbon.

take on me: could you reach the high note? 

Pretty sure I could not!! My voice is rather low naturally and I can’t really sing, so nope. I’ve not specifically tested, but I don’t think so. I do have high pitched laughter at times, though. Hmm.

footloose: favourite musical? 

I do not have one, oops. Never seen musical, other than one very vague memory of our version of Cats when I was 7 or so. I was not impressed. Do Disney movies count??

i want candy: chocolate or sweets? 

Is it not the same thing?? I could understand cookies vs sweets... Okay, anyway. Chocolate. I don’t eat candy much and so much of candy is... actually chocolate?? Honestly, if you pick chocolate, you can get away with eating most things, like cakes, etc. (Why am I treating this like a question ‘if you can have only one for rest of your life?’? LOL) And there are so many flavors and fillings!!

eye of the tiger: favourite 80s movie? 

I have no idea what counts as 80′s movie, to be honest, so I am not sure, I think I am more of early 90′s baby. I googled and from options presented, I have seen and enjoyed The Karate Kid, Back to the Future, of course the Star Wars movie.... Oh you know what? Neverending story. I was upset it didn’t show the book as I wanted, but I still enjoyed. So, it’s sort of toss up between that and Star Wars ones, though, tbh I was... not that big on the movies, ever.

karma chameleon: what do you like most about your appearance? 

My eyes. They have a beautiful color, both my mom and other people have described water-like, both in the blue-gray color itself and how it changes, depending on light and my mood. They have a darker circle around them and my pupil is over-sensitive to light (but not only). I also do like my hair color, as much as it is always in state of darkening or lightening. If only my hair wasn’t so frail and damaged from nothing else than existing. (Hey, if that doesn’t sum me up in general...)