#tbf i used them more as background noise

[thehappiestgolucky]

Quick comfort doodles because brains being weirdly mean for some reason

[queerautism]

Hi! Idk if you know about these but I thought you/your followers might find it useful! I have really bad noise sensitivity issues & I usually wear headphones/earplugs out and about/to sleep in, but I got recommended by my sibling these things called "Loop" ear plugs which are reusable, don't need charging or cables, & actually look nice! They even come with a carry case you can attach to a lanyard/keyring! They're designed to block out background noise & allow speech through and they actually really work well :D

I live on a bus route in a city and when I wear them I can't hear the traffic going past at all but I can still watch tv fine without dealing with rechargeable headphones running out or a headphone cable tangling up (also if you google "Loop ear plug discount code" you can find some 20% off codes to apply to checkout which is ace - one type they have is pretty pricey tbh, but most noise cancelling headphones are just as expensive and waaay more uncomfortable)

They might be a bit too fiddly for ppl who have problems with fine motor skills cos they're very small (and tbf getting used to talking with them in is weird if that might deter some ppl) but I hope this is helpful to someone! Have a great day!

(>>www.loopearplugs.com<< is the website btw)

Ahh thank you for sharing!!! I've been looking at things like these, so the recommendation is really appreciated 💜

[what-do-1000-swords-look-like]

5x01 - Animals

Alright let's dig into it!

The first subject I'm going to delve into is the animals. Tbf we haven't seen the section with the animals just yet, we only got a glimpse, but we will in upcoming episodes. And it will definitely I think help clarify as to why these particular animals were chosen (besides being the ones available) for this sequence.

1) Vulture -

I think this particular choice was very interesting because we know the vulture is a scavenger and can be a menace when you get near its food. But if there is food nearby, there's a good bet that you will get more then one. So the fact that they had this vulture out there chilling all on its lonesome (when these birds mate for life), not feeding or actively searching for food while the team has to make their way past it is interesting. It's even more interesting when we see the team's reactions. Hen and Chimney are apprehensive at best, Bobby we don't see at all, but we do see Buck and Eddie's reactions:

They're wary and defensive, Eddie more of the latter. Based on that face, he really doesn't like it lol. The vulture also doesn't make a sound until the camera pulls away from Buck and Eddie, moving outward, though they've already spotted the animal.

2) Emus -

(and I cannot tell, is that another vulture in the background or a hawk or what?)

Emus can symbolize power (empowerment) & love among several different things. The males also incubate the eggs and raise the hatchlings. The team seems to relax a little passing by them. No specific reactions are shown separate from the other team members'.

3) Giraffe -

While the giraffe symbolizes many different things such as faith in one's self, gentleness, power, guidance, and leadership, this absolutely has to do with Chim.

Later on in the episode when Maddie finds out about the ransomware attacks, Jee-Yun is wearing pink giraffe pajamas:

(Jee-Yun is so freaking cute btw)

Even though we see everyone's shocked awe at the giraffe, it's Chim's reaction that is the most notable in this part of the scene. And especially when it's Chim that's looked at last in the team (Eddie being the one to turn to look at him).

4) Monkeys -

The monkeys are at a high vantage point and they can symbolize intelligence, mischief, fun/playfulness, and family/bonds. They're making all kinds of noise and looking down at the 118 as they pass by. But they're out of reach and they're not coming down, nor is the 118 focusing on them.

5) Wolves -

We hear the howl of a pack and see 3 wolves pass by in the shot. Wolves can symbolize many different things but most notably: loyalty, teamwork, pack, freedom, and conquering fear. It's possible when we get the full sequence of the 118 dealing with this part of this particular emergency in the upcoming episodes that we will see more interactions with the wolves and the 118 so it may help clarify a little more exactly what they're meant to represent in this group.

6) Camels -

From the overhead shot, we can see these three camels are the only ones around. One dark haired and two tan-haired (I have no idea what the technical names are). Camels represent endurance, toughness, a long journey, that they can carry heavy loads, being self-sufficient, and sacrifice. One of the tan-haired camels even looks up at the team as they enter the plaza.

7) Elephant -

And of course we have the elephant, an animal that is highly intelligent, never forgets, and cannot be ignored when it's in the room (so to speak). They also symbolize nobility, success, wisdom, remover of obstacles, and loyalty. What kills me about this part of the scene though is that the elephant is absolutely making sure to get their attention by flipping over the tourism booth and making a loud noise. Sure enough, the 118 reacts and turns around. Bobby says "I really thought this year was gonna be different." And the elephant then makes the trumpet noise. The interesting thing about this choice of animal is that they literally chose for the scene to play out that it purposely gets their attention, lets Bobby say that sentence, and then makes the loud noise elephants make that can be heard miles away in some cases. Not only do you have an elephant standing right in front of you that not only just flipped over this heavy booth but now it's speaking and making sure it's heard and not just seen. And it's a singular elephant, which probably makes sense with the escaped zoo situation, but it's usually male elephants who live alone and not in family units like females do.

Elephant in the room who cannot be ignored and will not be ignored any longer. Something is getting addressed this season; it can no longer be put off or avoided. Whether that's the universe or a particular story line for all of the 118 or separately, something is refusing to be unheard or unseen. It is going to be dealt with.

As for the other animals mentioned, other than the giraffe, I cannot tell you with 100% certainty what all of these animals are meant to represent completely, but I will say this. I do think there is something that may arise that is going to test the 118, whether that be their bonds with one another, or as a team, but something is going to happen. These animals seem to have one theme among them: family. While some of these animals don't mate for life (like the giraffe), they do travel together in packs or herds.

Of course, it's always a possibility that I'm reading too much into it and these truly were the only animals available (the ones that weren't CGI). But the shot sequence I think is very purposeful. They could have shown us the vulture second to last, they could have passed the monkeys first, then the emus, etc. And since the elephant and giraffe are clearly meant to be symbolic for the story, I'm thinking these other animals are too, if not most of them. But we'll get more clarification, I'm sure, once we see the full sequence. But that's what I'm thinking so far.

[immimidi]

GFOTY - Ham Chunks and Wine

 Girl Friend Of The Year (GFOTY) has released one of (if not) my favourite EP of 2020 so far.

Ham Chunks and Wine is such a creative collection of music; giving elements of experimental, dance, europop and pop. 

The title of the album is the perfect amount of weird and intriguing. conjouringing images of experimental/weirdo music with the mention of Ham Chunk and images of classy pop music, with the addition of Wine, perfectly summing up album.

Most importantly this EP is the most fun I have had with an EP for a while and GFOTY comes across as someone who knows how to have fun with her music.

Track one: Wide - Wide is the most ‘PC Music’ style of song on the EP, the use of heavy pulsing bass synths and re-pitched/pitch shifted vocals are very reminiscent of most of PC music’s big hitters. The chilled out middle section breaks up the song perfectly allowing for a change in the energy when compared very tense chorus sections and the utterly chaotic final section, which to my ears is one of the most beautiful pieces of chaotic arrangement I have ever heard, In fact it made me shout “FUCK HECK YES!!!!” and pull that face everyone pulls when the beat drops. 

The voice production in wide starts the EP off as it means to go on pulling the attention of the ears by providing the melody section due to the very heavy processing and re-pitching of the vocals. It sounds stellar giving it a nice futuristic vibe that tbh until this EP only SOPHIE had been able to create to such a standard consistently. This heavy vocal processing and the use of SFX and ASMRy...ASMR-esque sounds combine to make such a perfect vibe and production aesthetic for the track. While we are talking about the voice I do need to say that the lyrics of this song are inconsequential apart from the titular word, they to me don’t provide any extra context to the track, they are their purley to support the voice and provide more for the voice to do....They are perfect in this role. ‘Wide’ is the perfect word to be used for this song as despite all the sound and processing the mix has soooooo much room in it and the movement and panning create a suitably wide mix. 

That 3rd section I cannot do justice by words. LISTEN TO IT. It is phenomenal and chaotic and I LOVE IT. It gets my Mwah chef’s kiss moment for this track.

4.75/5 /A+/ Big YES

Track Two: Magician’s Wand - What to say about Magician’s Wand, other than I wish it lasted longer. 

That lazer gun bass synth that ‘BWAHHS’ its way across the low end of the mix being paired with equally lazery high synths and that ever present robot voice production that GFOTY is so good at - Keeping that amazing futuristic vibe that ‘Wide’ had but building on it by adding more layers and filling the mix out slightly.  The chaos of the harmonic elements is a great for keeping the interest of the ear while very simple beat in both the intro section and the second sections seals the chaotic experimental sounds in a pop music shell, keeping the music palatable for non-experimental music listeners, something that GFOTY had difficulty with in the song USA -Which I adore but my friends found hard to listen to. 

The vocal production is very similar to ‘Wide’ which is nice to see a consistent aesthetic throughout the first two tracks giving us expectations to be subverted in future tracks. A big plus to this tracks vocals is the lyrical content as it provides nice little sound bites that are kinda suggestive adding a bit of human in the robot aesthetic of the voice.

Mwah moment - the ‘BWAHH’ synth that truly sets the mood for the rest of the much too short track.

4/5 /A/ Big YES

Track Three: Rid Of All (Feat Count Baldor) - This track’s intro is the perfect change of pace from the last two tracks, subverting the expectations of another experimental PC Music style synth fest, by opening up with a clean held pad synth and a less processed vocal alongside it. 

Describing the pad synth used in my notes I simply wrote ‘lovely pad’ but that doesn’t do enough justice to how soft and clean this pad is, if a pillow was a pad this pad would still be softer it is so cool to hear after the chaos and the ‘BWAHHs’ of the previous two tracks.

The break section with the whispers is so beautifully haunting and it serves as the perfect jumping off point for this song to take in any direction and GFOTY/Count Baldor jump off perfectly and unexpectedly into a 00s/eurodance style beat with perfectly cheesy bass synths (LGBT+ club music/my kind of music). 

The voice in this new section is also unexpected and shouldn’t fit into this style of music but does perfectly. It shouldn’t fit in because its a metal guitar - I can’t figure out if its a talkbox or the single most processed voice ever recorded or if it’s a guitar and a voice with the same fx being cut between by Baldor and their amazing DJ skills, or if it’s all three, but tbh I don’t care it’s incredible and sounds so good in context with the rest of the track. 

The eurodance section dies down and returns to that clean synth/vocal section, which reminds me of Imogen Heap and Bjork, in this section we can get a breather from the utter glory and madness that was the previous section and we get to hear the lyrical content and the lyrics are phenomenal in this section they are perfect for the eurodance/electro pop vibe the track presents and are most importantly FUN, something that in my opinion some pop music has been shying away from by trying to sound profound. I love the use of harp and SFX in this section further reminding me of Bjork and also giving the section a faux dream quality before adding the heavy bass synths in getting ready to drop us back into eurodance madness. 

The Eurodance sections do not fail to put a smile on my face and I love every second of them, I am happy that GFOTY/Count Baldor chose to break them up with some slower ethereal sections because it makes their inherent cheesiness even more happy.

Mwah moment - EURODANCE GUITAR VOICE MADNESS (the only way i can describe it)

5/5 /A+/ BIGGEST YES

Track Four: By My Side - This track slaps, simple as. It’s another track that made me shout ‘FUCK HECK YES!!!’ it is another track that knows how to have fun and puts a smile on my face. 

The track opens with a simplistic and effective pop-house piano melody with pop voice production. Yet again GFOTY’s voice production is stellar the change from the robotic re-pitching to very subtle FX usage in this track works and it creates this nice pop music moment and proves our girl doesn;t need to sound like a sexy robot to sound incredible - though if you know any of her other work you already knew this.

The background synths in this section give a nice dance music vibe off especially those saw melodies and that when that liquid bass comes in and white noise generators hit I am transported to Ibiza, loving every second of the song...and then It happens, that sampled melody is used and I LOSE MY FUCKING BLOODY MIND. GFOTY may have used sampled melody better than anyone ever, GFOTY samples ‘I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee Da Ba Die)’ and it is glorious I don’t think I could ever put into words just how amazingly good the use of sampling is, how perfect the sample is and how happy and excited it made me (Mwah moment for sure). A counter synth is used and it is very true to the vibe of Ibiza dance but it just seems like it could do more that flick between chords - though a new counterpoint is used in the next sample section, YES IT HAPPENS AGAIN.

But before it happens again we are given space to breathe with a house section using the first counterpoint synth as a counterpoint chord synth with the classic house piano to take us from modern Ibiza to 1989 and then the trance-esque melody synth used in the background flings us straight into the 90s and the birth of trance music - kinda reminds me of ‘9 PM Till I Come’. This section is the perfect length of breather and is a credit (as is the rest of the album tbf) to just how good GFOTY is at arrangement of synth based music. I love her voice in this little breather section she sounds so good with this minimal (compared to the previous tracks) production and the fact she is singing in a lower register as well, I really love her voice here. 

After a short build section we are given the treat of that sample again. The use of voice synth in the build section is very nice and a great callback to the previous tracks. But the only thing that matters is that sample and it hits just as hard if not harder the second time, as it has all of the synths surrounding it.

This track is a love letter to 90s-00s dance music and honestly I love every second of it. 

Mwah Moment - THAT SAMPLED MELODY

6/5 /A++/ BIGGER THAN THE BIGGEST YES

Track Five: Here With Me - The perfect ending to a perfect EP, so perfectly subverts expectations the previous tracks have set-up and showcases GFOTY’s pop writing prowess, her prowess as a performer and that she isn’t all silliness. 

The track opens on a gorgeous, musical theatre esque piano line. The piano has such a beautifully natural timbre which is expertly countered with a processed (I think re-pitched) vocal and it is phenomenal. Despite this heavy processing GFOTY is able to give a ridiculously emotional performance with the voice cracks and vocal fries being present making this robot character that the processing has created since the beginning of the EP appear even more human and broken - it is powerful songwriting and production intertwining. 

The overall aesthetic of this track is very musical theatre, when making my notes I even wrote ‘Almost Disney’ it is just a pure performance being backed up with some of the strongest production I have heard in experimental pop music for a while. The Lyrical content is so beautiful and emotional and says a lot about mental health and how relationships and dependance can affect a person.

GFOTY’s vocal performance is entrancing I have already gushed about how much I love her singing in a lower register. In this track it is no different her voice in the low register is beautiful and when she lifts into her high notes they hit more emotionally to my brain because i can hear her strain and it makes her performance that much more satisfying to listen to.

The extra instruments that add phrases to the track throughout give a little bit of variation to the instrumental arrangement ensuring that the voice/piano combination doesn’t grow stale. As the track buidls and adds more instruments they don’t stick around to clog the mix up. A lesser artist (Me) would have left them in and keep adding instruments to keep building leading to parts of the mix and arrangement feeling clogged up, GFOTY knows when to add and lose instruments to keep the mix open. 

The Guitars are really pretty touches in what feels like the final build of the track only for the build to die completely and become that beautiful haunting marimba section, with the string swells adding to the emotion and the theatre of this section before the perfect outro of just voice and piano - I almost cried.

Mwah Moment - That voice, That performance 

5/5 /A+/ BIGGEST YES

Final Thoughts

Honestly all electronic acts should be scared of just how good this is.This EP spans the emotional range being Tense and Bone Crushingly hard in track one,  Imaginative and Cool in track two, Silly and Fun in tracks three and four, and emotional and beautiful in track five. A testament to GOTY’s talent and just how good electronic music can be. I was smiling throughout, such a good EP

Mwah Moment - The arrangement of each track on this EP is fantastic and perfect.

Overall - 5/5 /A+/ BIGGEST YES

[askauradonprep]

Descendants Book Read Along - Isle of the Lost. Chapter Six

- Mal is pleased with herself for teaching ‘that little blueberry’ what it feels to be left out. A) You’re still on that? You were six. I get that it wasn’t very nice and it’s okay to still have bad feelings about that incident, but that’s not a good reason to treat her badly. Granted, this is the Isle so any reason is a good reason (the Isle is a garbage society). B) That insult was weak. 

- Even Mal admits the dog jokes regarding Carlos are getting old. Yeah, after like 12 times those jokes get stale and the person continuing them sounds like a toddler. 

- Mal sits at the front of her classes. NERD. Her favourite is Advanced Evil Schemes and Nasty Tricks. Her favourite unit is Mean Spirited Pranks. Lady Tremaine teaches it.

- Every year they have a ‘craft the ultimate evil scheme’ project. Every year? Really? Isn’t the point of different grades to learn different material? I assume the point of this project is to use all the material though, so I guess it’s not that different from an essay or research project. 

- Apparently Dragon Hall is teaching the kids how to be a new generation of evildoers who don’t make the same mistakes. Interesting. She talks about her abusing Cinderella being the worst thing she did and blames the mice for her losing (and, presumably, failing to marry Anastasia off to Charming).

- This class assigns the project right at the start. The best trick gets the Evilest of the Year award. 

- The students nod in unison apparently. That’s....weird. 

- Mal has a hard time coming up with a scheme good enough. Most of it is standard playground bully stuff - fill the class with cockroaches, lock first years in the dungeon, etc. The worst one is letting goblins stampede in the slop shop and they apparently already do that. Mal...is really not good at this.

- She thinks Evie should be devastated over not being invited to the party. My god, Mal really DOES think like a third grader, doesn’t she? 

- Evie may actually have invited Mal to her party. She says the invitation was lost. Mal’s not sure if it ever existed or not. Mal says a day like that changes a person. And yes, I can see how an incident like that - feeling deliberately snubbed out of everyone else, can make you feel bad and still bother you years later. Sure, it can change you. And sure, she can still dislike Evie for it. This honestly feels super overdramatic though. Like, planning revenge over something from ten years ago - planning to ruin Evie’s whole YEAR over it and inviting her to the party to ‘torture her to Mal’s delight’?. Do you not have better grudges by now, Mal? Or is Uma not available to kick around right now? (I mean, like, Harry would slaughter her but still).

- Mal doesn’t trust Jay because neither of them have honour. Jay’s curious and asks about her plan changing and how much she hates parties - he also steals a first year’s rotten banana. Ick. Jay says she can trust him and that he’s the only person on the Isle she can stand. 

- Anthony Tremaine has thrown a kickback and Jay’s cousin Jade had a Scary 16 that were noted as ‘off the hook’.

- Off the hook is apparently pirate slang on the Isle. That background noise was me groaning. Of course its pirate slang. 

- Mal’s menu includes spicy cider (Headcanon: It’s hard cider) from the wharf off the first boat there (so more likely to be fresh I guess - Mal has a reputation for luxury items apparently - and, ooh, docks have good alcohol), sparkling slop and bags of (stale) potato chips. The cider sounds good (it’s hard for drinks to go bad, tbf) but the food is nasty as usual. Mal put Jay on food duty. 

- In ‘slapstick school bully’ news - Jay tosses the banana peel and he and Mal think people slipping on them is hilarious, instead of preschool. 

- Mal’s plotting her party for now. Which means? I GET TO MEET BOOK CHARACTERS *SQUEEE*

[stvlti]

11 Questions

i was tagged by @privatekururugi, @espiadimonis, and @transguynoriaki a while ago. each gave me a set of 11 questions to answer, so i will answer these 33 questions. i’m not gonna tag anyone in particular, but if you see this do feel free to have a go at any or all of these sets of 11q’s.

from @privatekururugi:

1) Do you have any specific diet you go by? (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Paleo, etc.) i used to be pescetarian, but then the deficiencies it gave me caused some pretty bad dental / gum problems, so i started eating a bit of lean chicken and pork on the side again... (yeah i know supplements exist, but even my nutrition major of a friend thought a pescetarian diet won’t yield deficiencies, and also supplements are fairly expensive. get off my case)

2&3) Do you have any siblings? If so, how close are you? nope, i’m an only child

4&5) What’s your favourite book and why? (I might want to read it lol) hmm. i still really like 1984, it was the first dystopian classic i read and the concept of Newspeak, tampering with historical authenticity on such grand scales, etc. just blew my mind. so even though i still dislike its weakass character-writing (p much anyone besides Winston has no personality, no distinct personal motives, etc), it’s got a soft spot in my heart. next to that i also liked A Clockwork Orange for the philosophical discussion of the nature of right and wrong (although in hindsight the story is a bit didactic); To Live by Yu Hua (the ill-fated episodes and tragic ends are made all the more absurd by the subtle and simply narration style, but it really is a humbling and informative experience for us readers of a different era and socioeconomic background); and of course, my favourite fable, A Little Prince.

6) Would you describe your personality as dominate or submissive overall? what the fuck kind of question is this. well i’m opinionated as heck, so i’m not submissive “personality-wise”. and that’s all i’ll say on the matter because i’m p sex-indifferent lol, if that’s what this question was trying to get at.

7) What are your dreams usually like at night? oh man. i usually don’t dream normal dreams; as in, most dreams i have is either one big adventure / story, or some bizarre situation that would have been questionable at best, fucked up at worst, in real life context. when i start dreaming about mundane everyday life problems or situations, like failing a test or being stuck with a friend i’ve cut off from my life years ago, that’s usually when i’ve got some kind of stress going on in my life.

(i’ve been trying to restart my dream journal tag actually, but i got stuck on my second entry trying to recall the specifics lol. maybe i should release entry #3 from the drafts first.)

8) Is there anything you’re currently anxious about? well, yeah. my future. my job prospects. being homeless once my parents decide to sell their house off for retirement because the housing prices are through the roof here. pick one.

9&10) Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving? Will you be contributing anything? we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving!

11) Whose your favourite Death Note character (if you have one)?  Light Yagami, even though he’s a slimy fox.

from @transguynoriaki:

1. What kind of music do you listen to?

hmm, i only listen to really slow music or something dark or rock-ish, nothing in between!! muahahaha!! 

okay that’s generalising it; i do love The Honey Trees and The Novembers, which are on opposite ends of the “slow” spectrum (one’s dream pop, the other’s infused with shoegaze and other distortions + some screamy vocals and loud noises at times), with Lana Del Rey and her decadent sounds smack in the middle lol. but yeah i certainly have a taste for the more atmospheric stuff, so aside from the fuzzy feelings of The Novembers’ stuff and the grandness of Lana’s string instrumentals i also like the darker chill vibes you get from The Neighbourhood, some of The Weeknd’s older stuff, etc. 

and I also really enjoy MCR, Muse and the like - i.e. dramatic sounds, that’s the good shit to me haha.

i also like more conventional pop acts like Lorde... and my fave local singer, Ivana Wong, of course!

2. Do you prefer to keep your living space neat and tidy or do you like a certain amount of mess?

i do prefer order and routine in my life, sadly if i can’t do that on a structural level you think i can do that with my desk?! lol. in an alternate universe, maybe.

3. What was the first ship you remember really shipping?

hmm probably TerraxBeast Boy from CN’s Teen Titans. i was lukewarm / indifferent to other canon pairings i’ve seen in media up until that point; but i guess i was more persuaded by the storyline than their characterisations as looking back there are glaring trust issues in their relationship (and that’s an understatement)

4. Do you have a certain show or book series that holds a lot of nostalgic value for you? If so, what was it?

hmm, i guess Courage the Cowardly Dog? (i was a weird kid but shush) and Teen Titans of course. as for books, hmm... ASoUE is definitely one of the ones that just takes me back to middle school. i even bought the Beatrice letters files thingy. tbf the whole Lemony Snicket universe did teach me a lot about cryptography, which i guess if me or a friend of mine were to do an L rp and solve cases it would help a lot (*cough* not saying that’s what’s happening right now because i’ve got other stuff i’m investing my time into. i guess my friend’s gonna make themselves scarce as well hahaha *cue Mariah Carey’s i can’t read gif except it’s L*)

5. What is your favorite type of food?

Italian and Japanese are my fave cuisines! i guess that means i love richly-flavoured foods and creamy stuff. ooh, love those sauces.

6. Was there ever a fad or activity from your childhood that you could never understand or get into?

i wasn’t a gamer at all. we didn’t own a single console and i wasn’t allowed to get a handheld. the most i had was a Tamagotchi. so i guess it’s not so much i never got that ‘fad’, just that i was never given the opportunity to discover the really good games. i’ve only ever played a bit of Mario Kart or Cooking Mama on my cousin’s NDS so yeah. didn’t see the appeal in the more light-hearted games like that.

(now that i’ve played Undertale i’m kinda wanting to explore more PC games though. i heard Papers Please is good, and PJ (@kickthepj)’s been recommending Hyper Light Drifter a lot, and the art looks amazing, so yeah... too broke to get them though... and even if i had the money and time to play them i’d be allocating it towards other stuff you know?)

7. What’s your favorite time of day?

well i got 2 fave time periods. the first one’s the witching hours between midnight and early morning, when the world is quiet and you could do anything and nobody would know. the other one is early morning, just after sunrise, and the air is clear and slightly chilly, and it’s also really quiet but you can just hear the birds tweeting somewhere.

i’m more likely to be awake for the first time period described here though... ._.

8. What’s your favorite type flower and why?

hmm i'm not really a flower person. i’m just gonna steal Luke’s answer and say cactus flowers haha (well i do like cacti, they’re some of my favourite plants; i even named my IG/Twitter and Pokemon Go usernames after the plant; also some of you might remember that i had a pet cactus for 8 months)

9. What’s your favorite cliché/trope in fiction?

lovers running out of time...

10. Did/do you do any extracurricular activities when you were in school and what were they?

(wow Luke that’s a lot on your resume!)

i did bits and bobs throughout school, but perhaps my longest commitment was my Clarinet lessons. started when i was in Year 2, carried on until i obtained a Pass in Grade 8 ABRSM certificate in Year 10. i had to quit and give up on a diploma there because i was starting the IB diploma programme in Year 11...

this commitment is only rivalled by the dance classes i took. i did ballet from a young age until i was about 12~13, quitting just before en pointe shoes were introduced; i had also been in Chinese dance lessons from Year 1, so after quitting ballet i just focused on that until Year 10 as well (again, quitting to focus on my full-time diploma).

i also did Taekwondo as a child and obtained a black belt qualification by age 12. i quit once i did though, because again i couldn’t afford to juggle so many commitments the older i got and the more demanding my studies became.

perhaps the proudest extracurricular i’ve done is in my senior years of high school: i started and chaired the student committee as the editor in-chief for the school’s first student-ran and seasonal (now monthly) publication. it’s not student-ran either anymore because i guess the kids that came after the classes of 2014, 2015, and 2016 just dgaf about slightly more demanding extracurriculars that require organisation as long as they can earn their credits elsewhere (yes i’m salty, i’m allowed to be okay, it was my brainchild but apparently kids these days don’t care about having their voices heard if it means having to negotiate diplomacy with the adults in charge. god, how do they expect to survive in uni or in a workplace?)

11. What’s your favorite piece of work that you’ve ever created and what about it do you love so much?

hmm. i think for sure the prose poem i wrote about Light’s death in the anime. idk, the flow and the imagery is just a good concentrated example of what i could be capable of given the right tone and context. (of course, i’ve been trying hard to branch out in genres and forms, so that sort of language isn’t always applicable. but yeah, it remains my fave as a showcase of my best writing abilities ^_^)

and from @espiadimonis​:

1.If you could have one piece of death note merchandise of any kind, what would it be?

oh man! i’ve been pining after the Hot Topic official DN poker card deck for quite some time! i’ve checked Blue Banana while i was in the UK, but it’s not available there, and it’s not at Tokyo Toys either (they do sell a DN playing card deck, but it’s a lot cheaper in design :/)

2.What’s your favourite 3D animated movie?

does Lego Batman count? if not, then i guess Zootopia.

(there’s a reason these 2 are listed in my bio fandoms list like...)

3.What superpower would you like to have?

i used to always choose levitation / flying, but lately i’m not so sure. i’ve heard a lot of compelling arguments for other powers haha.

you know what, i’d trade for something as simple as better control of my own brain. i don’t care about mind control over others; i just want to be able to harness the best parts of my lightning fast thought processes and out-of-the-box thinking on my best days without being constantly tripped up by executive dysfunction like that on a metacognitive level.

4.Favourite piece of clothing?

my soft furry hoodie, which i’m wearing right now! <3

5.Who’s your favourite Sailor Scout?

i don’t have one, sorry! i was 4 when it aired on TV, so i don’t remember much from those years except the Sailor Moon t shirt i got courtesy of my aunt because it was all the rage back then... i’m sorry, but i have more vivid memories of Pretty Cure and Sugar Sugar Rune!

6.Do you prefer potato chips chocolate?

it is a good combo for sure! we are talking about Royce’s chocolate potato chips, right? (if you haven’t tried it get some next time you or a friend/family goes to Japan! we can buy it locally from like Citysuper or something, but i doubt they export it to any countries beyond East Asia haha)

7.What song makes you feel melancholic?

oh, Six Billion did last week. it left me feeling cold all over. an effect from the combination of the layered vocals and the instrumentals i guess. (is it in minor key? i’m sorry i can’t tell anymore, it’s been far too long since i’ve had any musical training. but if it’s in minor key it would explain why.)

there’s also some of the stuff off The Novembers’ catalogue... mostly 終わらない境界 from To (melt into), which was my daily commuting soundtrack at a time when i had brainfog on a regular basis, so yeah, anxiety and all that fun stuff :/

8.Which dn character would you invite to Spaceland(the amusement park)?

Sayu or Matsuda? they deserve a lot more than the hand canon dealt them. hmm maybe Rem too? but she wouldn’t be able to interact with a lot of the stuff there :/

9.What’s the funniest movie you ever watched?

i guess The Lego Batman Movie? i’m sorry i know i keep bringing this film up, but it’s comedic genius for a “kid’s movie”.

10.You can only choose one pokémon! Which one do you choose?

Blissey was gonna be my go to answer. she’s a tank, have you seen her? but is she really my fave mon? debatable. idk man. i really liked Vulpix/Ninetales as a kid... but dark and ghost types though!! okay i can’t choose, next question 

11.What made you happy recently?

i went to another poetry event last night and i met up with a friend i haven’t seen since September :P