'Crashing A Date' And 'Hunter Becomes The Hunted'

“Two Ladybugs? I’m in heaven!” -Cat Noir

I just love the looks on everyone’s faces here: priceless!

Cat is just so totally happy/overwhelmed that he’s now got double his love, while Ladybug...

Not really sure if they’re looking at Cat Noir or each other, but I love how their expressions are so different from each other.

Marinette #2 (the one on the left - the non time traveler), is giving off a look of “oh my gosh, seriously? What incredibly inappropriate thing he is thinking of now?”

While Marinette #1 (the one of the right - the one that traveled in time), has a sort of bored “Ah, there he is with the jokes again. But at least he’s alive, so I guess I can let it go this time.” Because she’s the one that witnessed him sacrifice his life for her. She’s bound to be less annoyed with him as #2 (who has no knowledge of what he did - or what he’s capable of doing).

Or at least those are my thoughts ;3

Why Aren’t There Youtube Videos for ‘How to Deal with Harassment in a Martial Arts Studio’ ? 

Because, quite honestly, there should be.

Some background, ‘real quick’.

I’ve actually been pretty lucky so far in all the places I’ve trained at. Though maybe because I’ve never been a grown ass woman training on my own before. Before this, I trained with my mom and sister, and it was during my middle school to high school years. I’ve been a white belt (level 1 newbie) four times now because we were constantly moving.

In my very first dojo, I was trained in both TaeKwonDo and American Karate by a Puerto Rican former military man. This man, my first Sensei, he was TOUGH. And he made sure his students, especially his female students, knew how to defend themselves. So he trained us hard, and he trained us to fight dirty (when it came to self defense in the real world. If you did any dirty fighting in the dojo, at the very least you’d be getting fifty fist pushups on the tile floor).

So even after bouncing from several other martial art styles and quite a dry spell, when I joined the TaeKwonDo studio I’m currently at, I was actually way better than a white belt. After all, I had been three belts away from earning a black belt in TaeKwonDo and American Karate at my first dojo. And my current instructor recognizes this and is quick to praise how quickly I’m picking the skills up again. I even managed to rank up to the next belt in less than a month!

I was really enjoying myself. After all, I had taken martial arts up again not for the prestige, but for the exercise and community. And even as an awkward kid, I always felt at my most confident throwing punches and breaking boards.

And then some twit showed up and had to ruin it.

This dude, we shall call him… Bob, enrolled about three weeks after I did. Right off the bat I could tell this dude had never trained in any martial arts before. The guy’s technique is very clumsy at best, and sloppy at worst. I don’t mean to disparage him. He’s only a white belt, after all. I don’t expect him to have a honed technique. Especially since he doesn’t seem to be taking the training seriously (or at least, as seriously as I am. My first sensei made sure I never threw a punch or kick that wasn’t peak form).

So what’s my deal with Bob?

In short, so many things. 

The long of it is that I’m starting to feel like he’s lowkey harassing me.

Since we’re both the lowest belts in the class (and we’re lined up by rank) we often end up next to each other during stretches/training, and are taught new techniques together.

(Quick question, if I dude is grunting during a workout next to a woman, is that a creepy gym guy move? Or am I reading into it too much? Because I feel like he grunts a lot when we’re stretching and doing situps/pushups next to each other. And I don’t hear any of the other men in the class grunting).

So besides the awkward grunting, he’s also given me a hard time for not being able to do a full situp, and even saying I didn’t do the require number of situps just because I finished before him (let’s see you do a full situp with double D cups on your chest, dude).

But the thing that’s been building up is his constant harassing me about going to the sparring classes.

At my current studio, you can decide how many classes a week you want to attend. I attend the two adult classes regularly (which, I might add, Bob does not). Then there’s an option to join one of the sparring classes for those who are interested.

When I first started martial arts, I was just a kid. I hadn’t even hit puberty yet, and was still pretty small. Sparing was for the older students who could be trusted to hold their punches back, or at least be more responsible in the event of an accident. My mom did some sparring, and she told me about how scary it was at first. And how she accidentally almost hurt one of the teen boys because they underestimated her and she didn’t have a good grasp on controlling her strength yet (I like to say I get my valkyrie genes from her).

Combine that with my base instinct to get physically violent when pushed to my limit. (Seriously, growing up, I used to bite kids who angered me). Needless to say, I don’t feel I’m ready to take on sparring until I know I have full control of my body. Right now, I’m still getting back into the swing of things; learning how to aim my punches and kicks, and getting a sense of my limbs' reach. I’m not ready to spar.

And this (insert your choice word for a cocky, delusional, disrespectful, creepy dude), has been harassing me about not going to the sparring sessions since he got here. Because he’s been going to these sessions and keeps asking why I’m not going.

Actually, he’s not asking. He’s guilting and harassing me. 

Because his pitch to get me to go, whenever I have repeatedly told him I’m not ready to go, is usually along the lines of: “You should come. I’m just a white belt and I’ve been going since I started. Why don’t you come-?” IN THE MOST CONDESCENDING VOICE IMAGINABLE.

Now, I regret being nice to him. I regret helping him go over katas/forms. I regret politely listening while he complained about the studio (that he’s attending with me right now) and how he might have to attend another studio just so he can learn punches (because this gift to the world didn’t read the sign on the front of the studio that says in BIG LETTERS how TaeKwonDo is known for its powerful KICKS). And most of all, I regret not shutting him down the first time he harassed me about not going to the sparring sessions.

We are NOT friends. He’s NOT entitled to an explanation from me about my personal reasons for not attending the sparring sessions. And he needs to STOP HARASSING ME ABOUT IT.

I spent most of last evening ranting about it to my mom and bestie, and then tossed and turned during the night going over rage induced fantasies where I do attend one sparring session, thoroughly kick him off his ass (with a few broken bones and at least a bleeding nose) - which doesn’t get me banned from the studio because the head instructor was on my side during this fantasy.

So to anyone out there that might have some words of wisdom: what do I do to get this @#$%^& to leave me alone?

Favorite Sonic 30th Anniversary Moments 💙🦔💨

Was tagged by @a-lighthouse-a-man-a-city . I love doing these!

Pink as a Tragedy

SPOILERS!

I just saw the latest Steven Universe special (so many awesome moments) but by far the best one was finally getting to see Pink Diamond!

I’m sure everyone caught on to how much of a brat the little diamond was (though given her privileged status as diamond, it’s not that surprising). I’d venture to say that she was pretty young (by gem standards) and thus fairly immature. 

Which is probably one of the reasons her death was such an incredible tragedy and blow to the other diamonds.

She was young. 

Probably still a child in their eyes. And it would seem that even for gems, the idea of a child being killed, and in this case, brutally murdered (as far as we know), is an incredibly horrific act. It’s no wonder why Blue and Yellow are still deeply affected by Pink’s death; she was just a kid. She hadn’t even begun to live out her destiny. 

Given Yellow’s exchange with Pink in this episode and previous reactions to mentions of the incident, I’d like to think that Yellow blames herself (in part) for Pink’s demise. Pink was too young, inexperienced, and not mature enough to handle a colony. She was given too much power too soon; she wasn’t ready for such an incredible responsibility and probably wasn’t able to run the colonization as efficiently as her fellow diamonds could have. No doubt if Yellow had been in charge of invading Earth, none of the things in the series would have happened. 

But they did.

Pink was killed, the colony failed, and it’s been haunting the diamonds ever since. All because they indulged a spoiled child and failed to protect her when it mattered most.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions Movie Reaction!

My nostalgic heart is all a flutter from seeing Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions!!!

Whenever I look back on the original series, I can’t help but laugh at how cheesy (and so easy to make fun of) it was. Everything was so dramatized, despite the fact that all the fights were centered around and settled by playing a children’s card game.

But watching YGO DSD brought back those excited and heart pounding feelings I got when I first watched the series and began collecting the trading cards.

It rekindled my admiration and awe of animation, the childlike glee from obvious but still humorous lines, and most importantly, the ups and downs of watching an epic story unfold and holding your breath with the characters as fights get down to the last wire.

In the back of your mind you know it has to turn out but you don’t know exactly how and you’re at the edge of your seat waiting for it to come but at the same time never wanting it to end.

But the story does end (in a way), though I wasn’t left feeling disappointed. I don’t know what it is about Japanese stories but somehow whenever a favorite series of mine ends, I’m not angry or sad. I simply feel...content. And that is the mark of a truly great story to me. A story that you enjoyed experiencing to its fullest and even when it ends, you are left with a sense of satisfaction, because you know the memories of experiencing the story are more important than it coming to an end.

So when I left the theater after seeing YGO DSD, I felt light again, like the carefree kid I was when I first discovered YGO. If it wasn’t for the YGO franchise, I never would have gotten into writing or drawing. So thank you, Takahashi-sama, for creating a series that sparked my imagination and continues to inspire me!

And now onto total silliness to lighten up the mood!

SPOILER ALERT!

While I was pretty happy to see that Kaiba finally got his chance to face the Pharaoh again, I can’t help but think Atem isn’t going to be wearing that smirk for very long...

Several weeks after Kaiba’s first visit...

Kaiba: *bursting into the throne room* PHARAOH! FACE ME IN A DUEL!

Atem: *groaning* Oh, dear gods, not you again! Haven’t you had enough yet?

Kaiba: No! I will not leave until I defeat you once and for all!

Atem: *sighing* Fine. Let’s get this over with.

Approximately thirty minutes later...

*Kaiba in the lead with 8000 life points while Atem only has 100*

Kaiba: *thinking to himself* Something isn’t right here. This whole time the pharaoh has done nothing to defend his life points or make a move on mine. What’s his game? Is this part of some ultimate strategy that involves letting his life points almost reach zero and thus enabling him to wipe me out in one move? Does he have a card that can do that?! Is there a card that can do that?!?!?

Atem: Kaiba, would you just hurry up and destroy the rest of my life points already? If we don’t end this soon I’m going to be late for my weekly council meeting.

Kaiba: Wait a minute...you’ve been letting me win on purpose! You haven’t been trying at all!

Atem: Look, would you just take the win and leave me alone, already? I’ve got a country to run and your constant visits are disrupting my schedule.

Kaiba: This is unacceptable, Pharaoh! I will not leave until I beat you in a duel!

Atem: Now see here; the first few duels were enjoyable, I admit. But now it’s just gotten tedious and it’s only because I’m a good guy that I haven’t Mind Crushed you already (and because Yugi wold probably come after me in a righteous fury for resorting to my YGO Zero days). Look, why not travel further back in time to when I was a kid? You should have no trouble defeating me then.

Kaiba: Because that’s not the same thing! Now duel me properly!

Atem: Gods, I hope Bakura attacks the palace soon...

Writer’s Block...

...and how to overcome it. Or at least, some of the methods I learned from a workshop I attended and now help me when I get stuck. Please note these are not my ideas, but I feel they really helped me get some longtime projects done so that’s why I felt the need to share it. (and to make sure there’s a place I can find these tips later in case something happens to my original notes)

Writer’s block isn’t a physical thing - one can always sit down to write. Writer’s block is more of a mindset than anything. You have to tell yourself that you can write. What it really actually boils down to is fear; fear that what you’re writing isn’t good enough - that you aren’t good enough. More accurately, writer’s block is writer’s doubt. It’s good to know what you write will never feel 100% perfect, because there will always be things that you felt you could have done better. But that’s okay; because that’s what art is about - improving one’s craft so the next piece is better than the last. Because perfection isn’t achievable. But finishing something is achievable, and it’s what your aim should be for the First Draft.

Writers are comprised of two jobs - drafters (the one responsible for getting ideas down and setting up where the project is going to go), and revisers (the one who goes back after the draft is done and fine tunes the completed project - adding lyrical sentences, fleshing out characters, etc.). You have to build the house before you can decorate it. Don’t try to do them both at once. Finishing a first draft is not the same as finishing a good draft.

Ways to help get over the problem of writer’s block:

Write a detailed letter to someone who has no familiarity with the project. Give them all the details and explain what the problem is and why you’re struggling with it. A lot of the time just defining the problem can help solve it.

Talk it out with someone. The human brain has different areas for writing and talking. So if you’re stuck writing, try talking it out to engage a different part of your brain.

Use bullet points to test out ideas - because your brain doesn’t see them as something that’s super complicated, or even final. They allow you to zoom out on the project and see the overall picture. You can do it with an entire section or even just a scene, or even move onto the next part to figure out how it is framed. And don’t feel like what you’ve written before has to stay that way. Also remember that outlining is still writing and counts.

Go to the backstory, behind the scenes - sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge that prevents you from writing. Take some time to go and figure out the motivations of the character or the things leading up to the story. Write it as if it were a prequel to the story. Write past or future scenes. Sometimes you need a break from where you are in the current plot. Write from a different character's point of view.

Try switching to writing things longhand instead of typing. The brain is more active and engaged in handwriting. Good for brain dumping - getting the creativity flowing. Handwriting eliminates distraction (from the internet) and the need to be perfect.

When you don’t feel like writing, just Write Five Words. And then you can walk away guilt free. More often than not, you’ll write more than five. But the point is not to encourage your doubt, guilt ridden mind (you have to get into the mindset that five words is enough for the day). It’s to help keep you on track to write everyday.

Look to the greats, the people you admire, when you get stuck. Immerse yourself in their great works and tell yourself they’ve been stuck as well. Let yourself be inspired by them. Take a look at what they’ve done and learn from them. Find something that is similar to your project to get inspired.

Sometimes it’s best to leave a scene for later. It’s better to move on and work on something else. Go ahead and write a candy bar scene (the ones you want to write).

You need to prioritize your writing. You need to shut out distractions. Writer’s block can also be writer’s distraction. Find ways to block out the distraction - remove everything that has notifications. Know that distractions can be addictive and there will be a withdrawal period. 

Meditation. Try to just sit down and calm your mind for five minutes before you write. Breathe and count your breaths while on a timer. 

Sometimes you get the best solutions from doing something else. Because your brain is working in the background. So get away from the writing space every now and then; get into the quiet space. Do mundane activities or draw, or just do something that makes your mind relax. Give your brain a break.

It’s possible to be plotting in circles when you are surrounded by the same scenery that you’ve been in during the struggle. Then it’s time for a literal change of scenery. Go somewhere else to write. New space physically to get a new space mentally. Because surroundings can contribute to your mental writing process. 

When you get super stuck, there are times when you just need to write something else. Find a prompt to work on. But don’t use this technique for too long. This is a mini break. Find something you can finish in one sitting. Don’t let it become a distraction to the main project. 

Inspiration is what gets you started, but discipline is what gets things done. Write anyway. Because inspiration can be fickle. So set up a consistent writing routine, because humans thrive on it. Have something you do that is unique to you that you do before you write, so that it helps set up your brain to get ready to write. Doing a physical movement is incredibly helpful to get your brain set up. Do it for 30 days (because habits take about 30 days).

Part 2

What part of...

... “I don’t want kids,” does no one understand?

Seriously, I am getting so sick of having to reiterate myself to people when I tell them I don’t want kids and they insist I’ll change my mind. 

I especially find it strange that they never ask about whether I want to get married (and they most certainly never think of the implications if I were to marry a woman - which for the record, I am straight, but I’m assuming that they’re assuming that even if I was gay I would find a way to have kids anyway).

It just makes me wonder if men ever have to deal with this or if it’s purely sexual stereotyping on women, even though we are in the 21st century.

So let me make it clear: just because I am a woman and I do want to get married someday does not mean I want to have kids.

Nor, in this advanced and liberated and non-apocalyptic (meaning there’s not a shortage of human beings populating the Earth) should it still be assumed/encouraged/pressured upon by women to have kids at all! In an age of casual sex, pro-choice, and lack of a zombie breakout, why is it that people assume that all women will want to have kids? (apparently regardless of whether or not they state they want to get married or what their sexual orientation is, as I mentioned earlier).

Personally, I don’t want kids. And to be clear, it’s not because I hate them. 

I actually do like kids and in my chosen field of work, I interact with a lot of them on a daily basis. But just because I like kids and I’m good with them shouldn’t mean that I automatically want any of my own.

For me, having kids would mean giving up all of my dreams. I have plans and goals and aspirations: for my art, my writing, and my career. 

I know myself well enough to understand that I put 200% of my energy into the things that matter to me. Which means for me, if I were to have kids, I would be devoting all of my time to them, leaving no room for my art, my writing, or my career.

And I don’t want that.

Which might sound selfish, but am I really being selfish to hypothetical kids that don’t even exist?

Yes, I want to create art and literature and environments where children can learn, grow, and be inspired by, but that shouldn’t mean that I need to have any of my own.

Somehow, it seems that declaring you don’t want kids is something that must be rectified by those around you (and yet, declaring you never want to get married isn’t as looked down upon).

Now, to be fair, most of the interactions I’ve had that inspired this was with generations older than me and primarily those people were from... certain areas of the country. But I’ve still had people from all over tell me I’ll change my mind and that just irks me to no end.

In conclusion...

I DON’T WANT KIDS AND IT’S WRONG OF PEOPLE TO TRY AND PRESSURE ME INTO CHANGING MY MIND!

So am I the only one who’s had this problem or are there other people out there that are just as fed up as I am?

Some of My Favorite Autistic (or ASD coded) Characters : Boys

Lt. Commander Data - Star Trek: the Next Generation (1987)

Sherlock Holmes - Sherlock (2010)

Thrawn - Star Wars (1992)

Subaru Mikazuki - My Roommate is a Cat (2019)

Damian Wayne - Son of Batman (2014)

Newt Scamander - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Drax the Destroyer - Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic - Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes (2006)

Donatello “Donnie” Hamato - Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018)

Tech - Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021)

Dipper Pines - Gravity Falls (2012)

Rei Suwa - Buddy Daddies (2023)

Abed Nadir - Community (2009)

Hunter - Owl House (2020)

Seto Kaiba - YU-GI-OH! (2000)