#ive never seen a gopher actually

[sunset-bridge]

How many gophers do you think you could take in a fight all at once?

omg..

10

at least............

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

WTF HES AQESOME !!

hi 👋 evan 👋

hi charlie!!!!! have a picture of a raccoon who visited me today. u deserve it

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

You should make a tier list based on who you think is most likely the mastermind out of all the characters in v3

ANON I AM SO GLAD YOU SENT THIS ASK. I did this just last night unprompted so HERE

For some elaboration:

All dead characters (minus one exception) aren't on this scale because They'd all be under "literally no way" anyways and it'd get crowded (frankly, it'd also take forever to draw)

Himiko, Keebo, Kaito, and Maki shouldn't really even be on the scale? I don't think any of them have even the slightest bit of a chance of being the mastermind. They're on here for completion's sake though.

Shuichi is JUST BARELY on my suspicious list. I'm 95% certain he's not, but I'm constantly thinking about that one flashback of his where he says "I want to die in here with everyone else." I've always assumed that he wasn't the only one who thought that, and that was something they all thought, but maybe it was Shuichi alone? And he orchestrated this whole thing and forgot? (MAJOR DOUBT. but he's gotta be on the list somewhere)

Tsumugi is suspicious as always for meta reasons. I Genuinely can't believe how popular she is for what she's done in the game so far, she HAS to be evil in some way. Ive seen a very concerning sprite of her all over the place and it makes me nervous. Though in the end, I think it's probably mostly my anxiety? She's probably fine? I don't know??

if Junko's the mastermind AGAIN I'll lose my shit. I genuinely don't think she will be, especially since there's been so few references to the previous games so far, but I think its only fair that I have to consider her. I seriously can't imagine how this would play out.

Kokichi's the obvious choice, right? They're clearly setting him up as a major antagonist and problem at the end of ch4. Thematically, it could work. Genuinely though, I think it's very unlikely that Kokichi is the mastermind. It's NEVER the antagonist, it's way too obvious of a choice. I honestly think he's just that fucked up on his own and is taking advantage of the situation best he can.

Listen. Okay. I KNOW it's a major plot point in chapter 1 that Rantaro ISN'T the mastermind, and that he died 4 chapters ago, but I think there's a chance that he's still alive? And he WAS the mastermind but got his memory wiped like the rest of the students there? I have a very elaborate theory about the ultimate hunt which you can find here: (LINK), but in short I think Rantaro was leading the Ultimate Hunt and when these 15 ultimates were caught, he "caught" himself too (since he is an ultimate too, the Ultimate Hunter, I think) and put himself and everyone else in this killing game. Maybe he was put in as a warden but his memories were accidentally wiped by the incompetent monokubs? Or maybe he wanted to "die with everyone else" too. I don't really know. All I know is, if he IS still alive I will never recover from it. And this theory could potentially still work if he's still dead with monokuma/the monokubs taking over.

Aside from all this, I think there's a good chance that there is no mastermind this time around? It's actually my main theory currently. Nobody in the cast that's still alive is really suspicious to me (yes, that includes Kokichi) and the only one who's suspicious and dead is Rantaro. I Don't think they're gonna bring Junko back AGAIN. And that leaves nothing left. I think there's a possibility that there is no "outside world," that since the Gopher Project failed, the world outside is a ruined wasteland with very few survivors left. Monokuma and the Monokubs are running on their own with very advanced AI without a mastermind to control them. That's why Gonta could never find any bugs, and why the truth of the outside world was so devastating to him.

Or maybe not. I have NO idea!

[soaringsearingphoenix]

7, 14, 16, 23! also ILY!

Hiiiiii alluy ily too!!!!!

7. A song that you love from a genre you don’t usually like

Gotta be Waltz about Whiskey by Mandolin Orange. It’s not exactly fair to say country is a genre i don’t like anymore; I didn’t listen to country because my parents didn’t, and I didn’t know any songs I liked, but now that I’ve made more of a point to listen it’s grown on me. Still, if you told me any component of this song it wouldn’t be the type i usually go for — if you said “it’s a slow country song about love and alcohol” i would be like wow the only part you got right for my usual tastes was “song”. But someone recommended this when i asked for melancholy songs and ive gone back and listened to it more than a few times. It’s just one of those sweet ones.

14.A song to sing to the sun

I have been thinking about this all day. It’s! It’s so specific. I love the sun. I’m trying to find a song with the right feeling. I might have to make a playlist. For now though, I mean, it has sun in the title, Golden Sun by Hotel Eden is one of those songs I feel so joyful listening to, and it’s close to the celebratory feeling I’m going for. To sing to the sun though?

In the dawn I think it is Beautiful by Christina Aguilera, and in the evening it is Warmth of the Sun by the Beach Boys.

In second grade we learned the song Bless Us All in music class (link to the Muppets Christmas Carol version) and I loved it a lot. I would sing it out on the playground, trying to catch the moments when the clouds parted with the line ‘the sun comes up’, and just watching the sky shift the way its light was cast across the field. So i guess that is a song I have sang to the sun.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I did a lot of singing on the playground. If my friends were playing a game i wasn’t interested in, or if they were home sick, I was happy to wander the blacktop on my own, weaving my way in circles around the puddles and singing little songs I made up to the rhythm of my footsteps. I hadn’t thought about it for a while, actually, but I still know the lyrics to my rainy day song. I mean, they’re pretty simple

Make the sun come out today, to play

Make the sun come out today, to play

If you don’t, it will be so gray

Make the sun come out today

I thought I might make uo more verses but I never really did. Sometimes I’d sing it back to back with other simple one-verse songs, but they were always just that, other separate songs in my mind.

I don’t think all sun songs have words, though. I think sometimes the songs you sing to the sun are the feeling that you get when you’re standing out facing it, eyes closed to its brilliance and perfectly content in the warmth. It’s when you just had an argument with your roommate the same week you’re going through a breakup, and your other roommate just went through a breakup too, and finals are next week, and your sleep schedule is a mess from pulling two all-nighters to get that 40-page research essay done, and you take a walk around the lake alone and buzzing with a frantic energy, and your song rises into the air with the first bars of color in the sky, the first sunrise you’ve seen in years. I think it’s when you’ve been in the house all day, working yourself into an overstimulated doldrum, and you set your phone down and step outside into the afternoon heat but even through the heavy press of summer, seeing the sunlight makes your head feel just a little bit clearer. It’s when little beams of light filter in through the kitchen window, catching on the glass jars you’ve washed and left to dry for some upcoming project, and as you walk by, your vision glitters with beads of refracted color.

When you sing to the sun then, you just take a deep breath and call out

Anyways, I also like Suddenly I See by K T Tunstall, I think that has a cheery loving vibe.

16.A song that you like that romanticises being a teenager

My first thought was Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard. It feels good to listen to. And i first heard it when I was 16 and it felt so right to be sleeping all day and staying up at night. Maybe it’s on my mind again because my sleep schedule is wild right now lmao

23.A song that when you listen to it you’re transported to a liminal space, time is pointless and you must sit and wallow in the void that remains

I have... a couple for this, for slightly different moods. A Self Called Nowhere by They Might Be Giants is a powerful one for me, i zone right out when it comes on. It’s one of those songs that I visualize the lyrics to more than most. Time Machine by Tally Hall came on once when i was driving home at 3am along a slightly-but-not-entirely unfamiliar route and I didn’t see anyone else on the road for almost the entire drive, and every light i hit was green, and I straight up felt like I’d made a wrong turn into another dimension and not realized it until two minutes away from my house i hit a red and a single other car passed in front of me at the very end of it. I’d known and liked the song before, but that cemented it in my mind as something I associate with the surreal. Then there’s Gopher Guts by Aesop Rock. I really like a lot of Aesop Rock songs, but while the other two songs I mentioned put me in liminal surroundings, this one in particular transports me to the liminal space I hold inside myself where the Self is something i observe as an outsider but can never escape. Plus it’s full of alliteration. It’s a good song.

[eskaevai]

Final Fantasy in Review

I’m feeling a bit nostalgic today so here’s a review of some Final Fantasy games. These are just reads off of my personal experiences with them. Might contain a few spoilers here and there but if there are some they’re minor.

FINAL FANTASY - Stock fantasy story. Classic but also unremarkable and relatively short. Establishes a lot of the franchise’s hallmarks and is generally a good game. I like the red mage’s hat. 

FINAL FANTASY II - All I remember about this one is that pretty much everybody dies. Also something about a gopher? First game with a chocobo in it so that’s exciting.

FINAL FANTASY III - This one got weird? I remember the early plot just being all over the place. Also do not like cloud of darkness’s design honestly. First appearance of the moogle and advent of the Job/Class system. I did not finish this game.

FINAL FANTASY IV - Just a bunch of redemption arcs in a trench coat + a kinda cheesy love triangle. That’s about it. This was one of my first video games ever and is still a strong favorite. Kain is so fucking stupid he’s an armor clad brick wall with the mental and moral fortitude of a single pine nut. I love him.

FINAL FANTASY V - I remember this game being long af but that might just be cause I was kind of young when I played it. Nice story. Lots of comic relief but not so much that it becomes overbearing. Also first explicit case of blatant furry bait what with roping in a whole wolfman species. Never got around to snooping out the last two pianos.

FINAL FANTASY VI - The overrated one that I like more. Also among the first video games I ever played. It was kind of formative for young me. The sound track fuckin slaps and Searching for Friends is one of the things that got me into writing music. Good story and focus on characters, plus a steampunk fantasy aesthetic that appeals to everything I adore. My soul for a solid remake that can break away from the shitty iOS assets.

FINAL FANTASY VII - The overrated one that I like less. This one has the same energy to me as LoZ ocarina of time. It was a lot of firsts for the franchise, paving the way into 3D graphics, giving us more diverse casts, and further breaking away from standard fantasy elements. And because of this, it wins the hearts of a lot of fans. I didn’t really care for it but obviously many many others did and do still. There was also a movie I think?

FINAL FANTASY VII CRISIS CORE - Never played personally but have seen a fair bit. Gets a mention for its popularity in the wake of its parent game. [Insert “RIP but I’m different” meme] 

FINAL FANTASY VIII - Shitty romance novel. Better yet, a shitty romance novel spread across a million PC disks because nothing in life can be easy. Game had an aesthetic that was too edgy powerful what with Squall’s crop top jacket and pretty boy scar, plus the Empress running around looking like a Padme Amidala cosplay. Too absorbed in that one card came to pursue the story.  Also gunblade?? The most ridiculous thing. Fucking rad but falls apart the instant you think about it for more than six seconds how in the whole ass fuck????

FINAL FANTASY IX - I never played nine and I feel like I should because people I’ve spoken to say its pretty good. Zidane has a tail like goku and there was a black mage there also that people seem to like. 

FINAL FANTASY X - A blur of CGI Cut scenes and questionable voice acting. Found myself frustrated by the linearity of the plot line. Also found said plot kind of confusing to untangle in places. Might just be salty cause I’m bad at blitzball... Very anime. Seymore’s battle theme slaps as much as his hair do. Also more furry bait.

FINAL FANTASY X-2 - The meninists or whatever don’t like this one because the protag is a girl. It’s a spin off and I never really played it but they gave Yuna a gun so how bad can it be?

FINAL FANTASY XI - An MMO. I feel no need to continue. Never really played it or looked into it, so can’t give a strong vibe. 

FINAL FANTASY XII - Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any actually kind of compelling plot set in a deep and well fleshed out world? Strays from the mold a bit too much in places but was still a pretty solid game. 

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS - Another spin off and one that I’ve never played. Takes place in the same world as FF12 and gets a mention here because I’m always a fan of the world building done for Ivalice. 

FINAL FANTASY XIII - This is where I started to fall out of the franchise a bit. I never played this one but The battle theme was good and that one guy looks like he probably listens to 21 pilots a lot. iirc there was some nonsense going on on the moon? So I’m gonna call it a sleeker, sexier clone of FF4. 

FINAL FANTASY XIV - Another MMO. I actually did play this briefly right when it first came out. If you recall the time when it was apparently so bad that SquareEnix had to take it back and try again? Seems like most of that’s cleared up now tho. There’s an update soon I think.

FINAL FANTASY XV - I know nothing about this other than that the boys are back in town. Also all the shit mobile spin offs everybody’s getting ads for around here.

DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY - SSB but Final Fantasy. Not the kind of games you play for the plot, but was overall a decent game with interesting mechanics. Was genuinely fun to play. Too bad the latest installment was such a step backward.

FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES - Said to have a “Small Cult Following” of which I am a part. This game was good, step to me. The music was amazing, the story was interesting (if poorly paced in a couple of places), and the setting was wonderfully put together. The sequels are... less good with a steady decline per installment, but alas what can one do?

[jeanettesjourney]

April 3, 2017

We have been at Texas Oncology since 8:30a.m. this morning. Actual treatment, after blood work and brief exam with the doctor, should have had us started at 9:45a.m. We just now started the treatments at 11a.m. We think it will be 6-7 hours for the whole process. Off to a late start. When we got here this morning we were told the insurance had not been approved and Jeanette would not receive treatment. One of things we had received early on was an advocate through the insurance company. Jeanette asked me to call her while there. The Dr. said to sure go ahead, but had never seen a case manager be able to do anything. What our Dr. did not know is that we have not been told no yet by God on prayers around Dr. appointments and treatments. There have been many times through this process when appointments and treatments fall into place when we really need them to. Jeanette reached out to family and friends and asked for some prayers while I made the call. I was able to get approval within an hour and got everything moving. Our Dr. took copies of everything and said she would keep those for future reference and said they had never seen that happen.

Jeanette is sitting in a recliner, watching tv, eating snacks, iPad in her lap with an IV going into the port in her chest. I am the gopher. So far, I have been to the pharmacy, seen the financial counselor, met with the front desk to put paperwork in her file, went to the store to look at scarves, put on her socks, went to get the nurse to ask questions….that was in the first hour. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but with her today.