Month: September 2023

Very long title but yeah, that’s exactly what it is. My other option was reviewing the Papa’s ria games, and while that would’ve been fun it would’ve taken a while. So this works!

 

2000s Mix: Dear Maria, Count Me In 

 

Found this one around summer of 2022, probably one of the only songs I found through shuffle around that time and enjoyed. I vibe with All Time Low so I didn’t mind the song, even though the song itself never enticed me as much. The song follows a Hollywood agent down on his luck probably somewhere in Los Angeles. He’s down on his luck after screwing over one of his talents, Maria, who he basically bled dry of fame and success by whatever story she had. Not my favorite, but a good listen!

 

Moody Mix: Cigarette Ahegao

Penelope Scott goes hard so this is already an A off the bat. Yeah, this probably isn’t a school appropriate song, (I made the mistake of nearly defining the title, don’t be like me,) but it’s incredibly enjoyable. It’s all about what a college student’s like looks like in America, as it follows the idea of someone trapped, needing an escape, but there’s no real time or place to do it, so you end up just coasting along. There’s also a very heavy theme of smoking, as the speaker is implied to be a smoker but not brave or “bad” enough to follow up on it. Definitely enjoyable, I would’ve gone mad for this in 2021.

 

Happy Mix: I’m Not Ok

Same guys as Happy Pills, this song is like the antithesis Cavetown? Both follow themes of mental illness and acceptance, but where Cave is quiet and soft, almost the kind of music you listen to while going to sleep or nights where you can’t handle things, this song is bursting with energy. It’s kind of ironic, the way the song calls itself “messed up” and “has no excuse,” but it’s not sad. It asks you not to blame it for the mental illness, just asks you to accept it. That’s kinda cool. Also this song would rock hard for an animation.

 

Indie Mix: Call Me What You Like

I think it’s kinda funny how in the music video you have everything in total chaos and then just have the singer staring into the camera while the chorus starts.
Anyway, yeah I like this song. It’s not one of my favorites of Lovejoy’s, but it’s pretty good! Got a simple premise as it follows someone in a relationship who’s unsure of what the relationship really is. It’s someone else’s favorite, but I’m not big on the sound, and that’s okay.

 

Punk Mix: Teenagers

Even if I don’t listen to MCR, this song is fire. I actively turned up my earbuds to listen to it just for the shuffle. It’s loud, it’s bombastic, it’s angry, definitely not school appropriate, but who needs that? The song is exactly what it sounds like, teenagers are loud, angry, and emotional, and they scare the fire out of adults. Am I the exact demographic of an angry teenager the song is looking for and am I definitely biased? Yeah. Still rocks though. Top tier song, I would listen to it a bunch of times, but I have still not listened to MCR.

 

and there! Five songs off my Spotify explained to you poorly. I actually had fun with this one, so might do again!

 

See ya

When looking through what I wanted to speak about this week I found my mind wandering to things that didn’t seem that significant.

 “I need to do my laundry”

 “I need to follow up on that ACT prep course ” 

“Should I take a nap?”

They’re all questions that I have thought about before, however I always thought it in a different sense, the thought that one day it would be the norm for me, one day I would find myself with these thoughts and not enveloped with the idea that it would one day be my life.

These thoughts that I think of often have become more enveloping in my day-to-day lifestyle. It’s an odd feeling. A calm one, I’ve always found myself trying to focus on the things coming up in my life. Whether it be something that is important that I am nervous for, or something I am really excited for, something that might change the monotony of life, but in the past few weeks it has begun to shift, my perspective that is. I’ve begun to see things more clearly, or at least my need for that feeling has begun to dissipate, the feeling of constantly searching for a new high. Now I find myself beginning to appreciate the more mundane aspects of my day, whether it be getting to read pieces of literature that I enjoy, or the smell of a good meal that is being emitted. 

 

Taking time to write this is another example of finding the extent of finding emotion in the small things that you do. As I sit and write this there are so many things that are towering over me, anxiety that I once thought would never return yet I find myself focused on the story, focused on the book I am reading, focused on what I am going to get for dinner tonight. 

Now that I find myself stopping a search that I once thought would never end I finally have time to take a breath. A breath that blows away every thought in my mind, wishing, hoping, and knowing that even the most towering of emotions could not destroy me. 

 

Now as I sit alone writing this I find that I have found company with myself, company with the little things. The mug on my desk, the sound of the AC blaring in my ears as the cool air envelops me. I’ve grown.

For this blog I was completely stumped about what to write. I had not a single clue. No ideas were popping into my head when finally at lunch today I said to my friend Iris, “Iris, I have a blog due today and it has to be 400-600 words long and I have no idea what to write about,” she told me to write about not knowing what to write about. This led me to thinking, “How the heck do I do that?” Well we have to start from the beginning.

It all started when I first heard we would be writing a blog once a week. I thought to myself, “That is going to be the death of me” because I tend to have some major writer’s block. I remember thinking about what I was going to write my first blog about and I absolutely couldn’t not think of anything. It was as if my mind had become a barren desert wasteland and ideas were like water. Scarce. I had begun searching online for ideas of what to write a blog on but the only things that were popping up were things like “writing about a goal you have and how you plan to achieve it” or “writing about debunking a myth.” Seeing as I couldn’t find anything interesting online I began asking my friends for ideas. It was the middle of the school day and all my friends were at school except for one so I could only ask him. Trent. TrentyPoo. Trenton John Brazier. You may be asking yourself why I would list his full name? Well, that’s in case you want to stalk him. You never know if I put his real name or not.

Trent gave me some good ideas. But they weren’t good enough. He told me to tell stories of my dog. I shoved that to the back of the filing cabinet. He told me to write about how he always gets on my nerves. While that would be funny, I just don’t think it would be long enough. He gave me a few other ideas but I don’t remember them so I’ll move on.

Next was my mother. I asked my mother what I should write about and of course she said my dog. For those of you who haven’t already noticed from my blog, Dog Days, I’m completely obsessed with my dog. Once again, I shoved the idea of writing about my dog to the back of the filing cabinet. I asked for a few other ideas and she gave them to me. While I don’t remember them, I do remember thinking about asking my brother but then remembering that he would get back to me in about 4-6 brother days (aka whenever he saw the text or whenever he felt like responding) so I decided not to text him. HOWEVER, thinking about texting him did spark an idea. It reminded me of us arguing a lot when we were younger. (I just thought of what I’m going to write about next) and then I remembered him trapping me in a hole.

And remember kids, when worse comes to worse and your big brother traps you in a hole and years down the road you write a blog about it, just remember a snake could have been in that hole with you! 🙂

Nah but anyway, all’s well that ends well and don’t forget to ask for help when you need it. Don’t just sit there in a slump til the very last minute, reach out and ask for help.

(This blog INCLUDES MINOR SPOILERS.)

 

You’ve all probably heard of a game called Undertale before. It took the world by storm when it was released, arguably shaping the internet itself. Even now, eight years later, the fandom is still kicking, a testament to the effects it had (and still has) on people. 

Undertale was a big part of my life in the past. To be exact, it was a special interest of mine for years. I would listen to the phenomenal soundtrack on loop, I would watch playthroughs on T.V using YouTube, and I would eat up and create so much fan content, among other things. Every now and then I go back into a less intense version of my Undertale phase, which is what inspired me to write this blog! There’re so many incredible things about Undertale- the attention to even the smallest details, the comedy, the characters, the story, the music, the secrets, the charm- everything, really. Even now, though I’ve watched playthroughs like a billion times, I still find new things. All of these are great topics to discuss, but today I want to talk about my favorite character in the game: Papyrus. 

Papyrus is a confident, energetic, optimistic, and extremely intelligent skeleton who thinks very highly of himself. He often refers to himself as ‘The Great Papyrus’ and commonly thinks he can’t be wrong, but not in a way I found annoying. Yes, he can be a bit insensitive at times, but I don’t think he means to be, he just doesn’t realize. In fact, I’ve noticed that he struggles with recognizing tone, which I appreciate to see in a character, albeit the reason being his optimism and naïve nature. Not to say he’s unaware when something big is wrong, but he gives one of his friends the same gift every time they train because he thinks she loves it. In reality, she just says thanks and puts them in a drawer.  

Papyrus is also just so friendly and excitable, minus the attacking you to capture you and turn you over to the royal guard. Despite your soul being the key to freeing his species from their underground prison and fulfilling his dreams of joining the royal guard, Papyrus still hesitates to attack you. He stops himself in the middle of asking to be friends, telling himself he must capture you and turn you in. He’s one of the only monsters in game who doesn’t try to kill you, too. When your HP reaches zero, your soul stops taking damage and he just puts you in a big shed. He also gets really nervous when you have to face one of his legitimately deadly traps, so he turns it off before you can even do it. Papyrus also lies to Undyne, his closest friend, to ensure your safety, and that’s huge for him. He feels so bad lying, and says he just wants to be friends with everyone. IT HURTS MY SOUL. The reason he wants to join the royal guard in the first place is because he thinks it’ll get people to think he’s cool, get him more friends, and praise him. He doesn’t have many friends and desperately seeks the approval of others, WHICH MAKES MY HEART BREAK. He tries so hard to be loved, man. 

Moving on, a thing I’ve noticed within the fandom is that a lot of people gloss over how smart Papyrus is. Sure, he thinks Toriel is just a shaved clone of Asgore, but he’s built entire puzzles in Snowdin. Puzzles with pressure plates, spikes, axes, flames, and more. He even sets up an invisible electricity maze for you, and in the winter alarm clock dialogue (which is canon) he builds a labyrinth made of ice and musical ornaments in front of his house. The thing was so huge and complex that another character ended up stuck inside. Papyrus’s dedication, creativity, and intelligence is wild. He even painted a rock formation to look like a giant cliff, and it ended up so realistic that people started believing it was real! Though, that might have something to do with the fact Papyrus can break reality… 

Overall, I just really like Papyrus, man. There are so many more Papyrus facts I could share, but then this blog would probably end up clunky and jumping from topic to topic too much. I will say that I don’t agree with his whole ‘don’t be lazy’ mindset towards his brother, but Papyrus still holds a special place in my heart. He’s so goofy, but there’s also so much more to his character. There’s Papyrus iceberg investigations for a reason.

I have a lot of opinions about the music careers of certain artists that Disney/nick kind fostered and I’m just going to be sharing some in no specific order. 

1. Miranda Cosgrove. 

You might know Miranda from her role as Carly Shay on “ICarly” or Meghan Parker from Drake and Josh. I don’t think many people talk about her music, which I think is really good.

Top three songs: 

1. Shakespeare (she actually sung this song in an episode of ICarly, literally obsessed with it when I was little and now)
2. Dancing Crazy (this song gives my heavy Cher Lloyd circa 2011 vibes) 
3. Leave it All to Me (the ICarly theme song, still know it word for word)

Quick Honorable Mention: Leave it All to Shine (a sort of theme song mashup from the ICarly-Victorious crossover episode, So good) 

 

2. Mitchel Musso

Mitchel is most known (at least Disney-wise I can say because I personally didn’t keep up with career past Disney) his role as Oliver Oken on Hannah Montana, King Brady on Pair of Kings, and even voicing Jeremy Johnson on Phineas and Ferb. I personally think his music should’ve made him one of Disney’s it-boys. It could’ve made him the Austin Moon/Ross Lynch of his time on Disney.

Top Three Songs: 

1. Let’s Make This Last 4Ever (a song he performed in an episode of Hannah Montana that’s on the third Hannah Montana Album)
2. Us Against the World (I don’t know the girl he had featured on this song but she sounds very familiar)
3. Shout it (just good)

Quick Honorable Mention: Welcome to Hollywood (this song is featured in StarStruck which is one of my least favorite Disney movie but this song is very good).

3.Jennette McCurdy

Jennette is most known for her role as Sam Puckett on ICarly and Sam and Cat (a show that is very hated, but I love it so much!!!). I think most people don’t recognize she actually has a really nice voice especially in the country genre. 

Top Three Songs: 

1. So Close (this song is unreasonably good, I literally am obsessed) 
2. Generation Love (the way this song makes me feel should be illegal, I can’t explain the feeling in my chest this song causes)
3. Put Your Arms Around Someone

Quick Honorable Mention: Stronger

3. Emily Osment 

Most people know Emily from her role as Miley’s best friend Lily Truscott on Hannah Montana. I personally think she could’ve had an Ashley Tisdale-Esque music career. Side note: Ashley Tisdale has some phenomenal songs. 

Top Three Songs: 

1. Let’s Be Friends (this song went semi-viral on TikTok but it came out in 2010) 
2. Lovesick (I need to eat this song, I can’t physically explain how good it is) 
3. All the Boys Want (I have dreams about how she says “someone to let them go”, I am obsessed) 

Quick Honorable Mention: You Get Me Through Something

4. Bridget Mendler 

Bridget is most known for her role as Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie and Olivia in Lemonade Mouth. I think most people recognize that she has made music but never talk about how good it is.

Top Three Songs: 

1. Hurricane (she literally mocked the accent of the girl her ex’s new girl, she slayed this(and I never use that word).) 
2. Ready Or Not 
3. Forgot to Laugh 

Quick Honorable Mention: Every single song she sang in Lemonade Mouth literally. One of Disney’s best soundtracks.

I’m not saying these artists deserve Hannah Montana style recognition, but some acknowledgement would be nice. 

 

 

     Recently my friends and I all took the 16 personality quiz and I want to talk about my results. I am a Turbulent Mediator or INFP-T. Mediators are quiet, private, free spirits who view life as an endless series of idealistic possibilities waiting to be realized. They typically try to get along with others and promote harmony wherever they go. How they do that though depends on whether they are Assertive Mediators, INFP-A or Turbulent Mediators, INFP-T (That’s me!).  

     These personality types tend to be open-minded, and imaginative, and they apply a caring and creative approach to everything they do. Mediators are creative and imaginative, they happily lose themselves in daydreams, inventing all sorts of stories and conversations in their minds. They can have profound emotional responses to music, art, nature, and the people around them. Idealistic and empathetic, Mediators long for deep, soulful relationships, and they feel called to help others. Because this personality type makes up a small portion of the population they may sometimes feel lonely or invisible in a world that doesn’t seem to appreciate what makes them unique.  

     Mediators strengths are that they are empathetic, they can feel the emotions of others. They are very passionate, when an idea captures their imagination Mediators want to give their whole heart to it. Like most people Mediators also have weaknesses that affect their strengths. Mediators are self-isolating, they long to connect with others, but they don’t always know how, especially in new environments. They are also desperate to please, conflict tends to be very stressful for Mediators. When someone dislikes or disapproves of them they tend to get fixated on trying to change that person’s mind. 

     INFPs are hopeless romantics. They don’t just want to find a partner, they want to find their soulmate. Mediators pride themselves on their ability to look past appearance, social status, or possessions, but they do have preconceived standards for a significant other. Their vision of their ideal partner may be based on a favorite fictional character or simply the stories they’ve told themselves about how love “should” look. Many Mediators come to learn that true love doesn’t just magically happen. 

     After all no partner is perfect, fortunately people with this personality trait can find a great deal of joy in the effort it takes to strengthen a relationship. Mediators tend to promote harmony over disagreement, yes this lends stability to their relationships, it can also lead to problems.

    Mediators long for a career that doesn’t just pay the bills but also feels fulfilling. They want to spend their days doing something they genuinely love, preferably without too much stress or drama. 

Taking this test was fun and I really learned some new things. If you want to take this test I’m leaving the link at the bottom 

https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

                                         

                        Hello lovelies, here’s a fun story for this post 🙂

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve as the two cheerful little girls hopped excitedly while watching their mom come through the door with the stuffed garbage bags.    

They knew what time it was when their mother stepped through the door letting the fresh non-permanent snow in the house and the chill of the night air clash with the new heat of the heater.  They knew it was time for them to get presents for Christmas the next day.   It was an all-time joy for them as they clasped their hands in their fronts praying that they were getting the treasures they wanted.  Was it going to be a new Monster High Doll or a Barbie Dream House set, they wouldn’t know until the next day when they unraveled their gifts.  

As their mother walked to her room denying all obvious existence of their gifts one of the little girls piped up 

“Mommy!  Mommy!  Can I take a peek?”  

Their mother giggles.   “I don’t know why you are asking, I ain’t got you nothing.” 

But the little girl knows not to worry.   She will see her present tomorrow morning.  Even if it wasn’t something she was waiting for.  

They both gasped the next day as they saw all of the gifts under the Christmas Tree.  

There were fake janitor sets, big play ovens, Barbie dolls, Monster-High dolls, and mountains and mountains of stuffed animals.   All of those toys are there but only two toys catch their attention. 

                                                     

(This isn’t the exact doll but something similar to it) 

There were two life-size African American Rapunzel dolls.  Staring deeply at the girls with their hooded moving brown eyes.  Grinning with small pink smiles.  The girls admired all of it, especially the long black hair that you could make grow with a button on their necks.  

“Mommy this is so beautiful, where did you get it?”  The youngest sister asks.   

Her mom waves her hand lazily, “Doesn’t matter, as long as you play with it.” 

Both girls nod in unison with big bright smiles.  That was the plan: Play with the dolls.   

All the children play with their Christmas presents.   Don’t they? 

Well, the little girls did.  They loved playing with the luxurious life-size dolls that looked like them.  The best part was that there were two dolls, double the fun (also double the trouble than it was worth.  But we digress.)   

They played with the Rapunzel day in and day out.  Brushing their hair, singing songs with them, making them laugh, and dancing with handsome princes.   It was a joyous time until it got too boring for them.   So, like what most children do, they discard the dolls.  They were done playing with them after the month that followed Christmas.   They were done with dolls.   But dolls weren’t done with them.  

It first started when the girls were playing with their new Kindles in the living room when the dolls were sitting on the couch behind them out of the blue.  Both girls look at each other confusingly. 

“Did you put these there?”  says the older one.  

“No, I didn’t.”  responds the youngest. 

They both give eerie glances while they pick up the dolls. 

“Let’s put these away before momma makes us play with them.” 

They put the dolls in their room closet on the top of the shelf hidden with the dusty spiders. 

The next morning the girls walk into the kitchen, getting ready to fight over who pours the new milk in their cereal first when they scream. 

Sitting with frowning pale pink lips are the Rapunzel.  They are covered in dust from the closet. 

The younger girl screeches. 

“Oh my gosh!!  Who put them there?”  

The older one shivers. 

“Oh no I don’t know.  But we have to get rid of them.”  

They plot with each other.  

The plan was to put the dolls in plastic bags and then throw them in the trash can outside.   No one would ever know they put them in the dumpster. 

So, there they were, standing in the cold, shaking in their Lalaloopsy’s pajamas as one held open the heavy garbage lid. 

“Momma’s gone whoop us.” Says the younger one as she holds the lid in her shaking chilled hands. 

“Only because we might get sick, standing out here,” says the oldest. 

No comments followed after they listened to the two heavy thuds.  

The job was done.  

That night both girls slept peacefully.  Or at least that’s how it started.  They didn’t hear when their bedroom door creaked open.  Didn’t hear the shuffling through the night. 

So, when that morning they both felt something weighing them down on their sides. 

Each of them wakes up and screams louder than wild coyotes. 

The Rapunzels are sitting on their beds covered in apple peels and meat juice.   They both were grinning slyly. 

 

Thank you for reading this story based on True Events. 🙂 

Good day.   

(Feel free to ask any curious questions) 

 

My day is somewhat, very repeatable. It’s almost a relief that I can expect something to be the 

same. Because in most cases the only constant is change. But there are a few things that I would like to share. Things that tend to repeat themselves in my everyday mornings. 

For starters, I’m sure mostly everyone wakes up at the same time every morning. That’s a given. But every morning, I always wake up  and meet my neighboring Suitemate in the bathroom. And we always brush our teeth at the same time. Which is around 7:05. After that I get dressed. Then go through my usual morning routine. 

 

I’ll go downstairs and sign in, then I’ll walk to this bench, where I sit every morning. Right outside the entrance to the JI. There are two benches there. I sit on the far left one. On the very left side. Every time. And while I sit in the same spot, at the same time, every morning. I notice small things, repeating idiosyncrasies of the world. Every morning, the same elderly lady, with pepper colored hair crosses the crosswalk. At around 7:30 or later. However, She doesn’t always go in the same direction. Some mornings cross from the right side of the street to the left. And other mornings she crosses from the right to the left. I’ve always wondered what she does. And I forgot to mention that she always walks with both her arms behind her back. One holding onto the other. 

 

The next repeating variable in my morning is the 207 bus that comes to the stop sign every morning. It comes every time from 7:38-7:42. (That’s the earliest and latest I’ve seen.)

I can never tell if it has the same bus driver though. And it never has any kids on it. I assume it’s just dropped them off. Or has yet to pick them up. But seeing as it’s already near 7:40, I don’t see how it could pick anyone up and then drop them off before 8. So, I’ll assume that it’s just dropped them off.
(You can’t tell very easily from this photo, but that white piece of paper says 207.)

The next repeating part of my day is after the first block. During that short break between block 1 and block 2. I read in the same spot every day. Well, I used to read by the stairs. I’d sit in one of the chairs in front of the dance area. And I’d read whatever book I was reading at the time. But a week or so ago, the chairs disappeared. So instead I sit in front of the Writing lab room. 

 

There’s something relieving about some things staying the same. I know that things will change.
I know all about change. I don’t think I stayed in the same state for longer than a year while my dad was in the military. Now he’s retired, and we live in Mississippi for good. But while my dad was in the military, we moved around a total of ten times. From Mississippi to New York. I made a lot of friends throughout those years. But I only ever met two friends I’m still in contact with today. 

 

Not to say that I didn’t like moving. I loved visiting new states, and the car rides, and the people, and the culture. But I’m finally glad we can stay in the same house for longer than a year now.