YES about Jason, you put it really well Silver! I also think I like Grover but to be honest I can’t remember that well… I really want to reread them so much but in order to do that i have to read *sobs* actually I just read a book called Mihi Ever After by Tae Keller in one sitting and I liked it! I don't know if either of you would like it that much since it's kind of lower middle grade and i wouldn't really call it inventive or anything. but it was easy to understand and it was really fun.

also i think it's cool how you can read the whole dream/vision sequence with Aurora and Prince Desire/Florimund in the ballet as them talking and getting to know each other so Aurora has more agency! I really like The Sleeping Beauty. I don't get how Tchaikovsky could write three ballets that are all equally as good, when the standard of "good" is that high. 

Also i totally would listen to books if it was easier but it’s actually 10 times harder XD

*me realizing I didn’t actually end up explaining how being Japanese makes the boba thing weirder* not quite sure what to say other than that though… And there’s a lot of stuff that’s like… i know it’s in there but i can’t understand it, which is how a lot of things are. I know it’s not the biggest thing i just idk 

Which is actually interesting to go into. I’m just taking part of a book (it’s a first draft don’t hurt me XD) that kind of says a bit bc words are hard. “Spider’s moss. I know that. I know I know that. All I can think of is how much I want to talk about it - too strongly. Any information coming to my brain, if there even is any, is blurred by how much I want to talk about it. I something's there, and I know what I want to say, but how do you put pure meaning into words?” (the thing ve's talking about is also ver special interest) also sometimes i can’t even really get the meaning, or i only get pictures. It’s annoying.

Anxiety seems like an… interesting disorder to decide is “easy”. i do know what you mean with people saying depression is the “normal” mental illness though. Also I hadn’t heard of “delulu” so I don’t know much about it but that does not sound good. 

Also like half of your school is queer how *sobs* That’s amazing I love it. But being queer and having a mental illness are not inherently the same. The main thing that makes queerness and mental illness come together so frequently is society being awful. 

Also yesss about the age thing. I probably have bigger issues with this than the vast majority of people, but i hate it so much. My birthday is in February and i’m kind of breaking down about it *sobs* like, the last few numbers I could kind of take but like… this one is just way too big. It doesn’t fit at all. not to mention that i'm getting ever closer to having to audition for college, and like i don't even know what i'd do because honestly there's no way i could live on my own in a dorm and aughhhh 

Also i don’t think I actually have OCD and it’s more autism/routines, but you’re absolutely right about peoples’ interpretations of “OCD”, Jaybells. Personally, beyond more routine-y things, I feel lines coming off of things and have to “arrange” them or else it’s physically uncomfortable (like, i actually feel it on myself) and like have to go back and fix the door a bunch, or i have to control the way i blink because that makes lines. And then i guess there’s dishes, where i can’t eat food off of certain dishes or if the spoon is slightly dirty even if it’s a stain or such, and if the food has touched that dish I can’t eat it either. (then there’s the fact that the list of foods i’ll eat is ever-shrinking but that’s different). And then random stuff, like maybe if the colors or numbers of something aren’t right (i know this is kind of stereotypical XD). they’re not as all-consuming as what you’re describing, but it’s still really annoying and can definitely cause a meltdown or such. I don’t really know how to describe what I mean by it being “wrong”, but it’s more than just being wrong but i don’t know how to describe it. I just remembered another because it just kind of happened but yeah that’s good for now

Jaybells, what other ballets have you been in? Especially Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev ballets. But Delibes is cool too. I really like Coppelia and want to see Sylvia. Also you do drums?

I kind of wish i got “misgendered” (which is complicated because as far as actual gender goes it’s like… ghosts and stars and all sorts of random stuff and then i like certain words and presentations but male and female mean nothing to me and so as far as that goes i'm both, but i'm only them in the "wrong" (queer) way) as the more right gender but on the other hand one of my parents is usually there so it’d be awkward…  

I found an old GUND stuffed bunny on the floor in the hall a few days-ish ago (??? about the time) and they’re so cute!!! I think they’re pretty old, because they were my brother’s. it’s interesting because they’re not very soft. I think that stuffed animals used to be less soft though. Granted, a lot of my stuffies who I have stories around are Jellycats (soooo soft) so XD I don’t know much about them yet, and don’t have any name ideas. I put a lot of thought into naming my stuffies. I have a list of names that’s currently 724 names long (and more written down in random places), and most of them are interesting ones, from Rosamel and Ursulie (the name of a stuffed grey bear that Reshinerr (a character) has, since it comes from a word for bear) and Torin to noun names like Web and Blackberry and Seagrass and Alloy. Noun names are the best though. I put way too much thought into this XD I’ll have to introduce you to Chrysanthemum and Oolong and the others sometime!! 

oh my gosh I just realized you asked how my picturings work and i just didn't see that! um basically if you want one I can ask you a few questions, all of which are optional, and then you wait an obscenely long time for a subpar work of "art"! (just being honest about what's going to happen XD) also i'll post the soup recipe soon :D i have a lot of recipes but a lot of them aren't really measured out.

Here's an old picture of Chrysanthemum (meaning, treat is WAY more beat up now XD) 

And here's a quick-ish sketch of treat that doesn't really deserve to be on the art thread but is still kind of fun :P 

I like this one a bit better. The squiggles at the top are where the other drawing starts. also for reference in this world some of the cotton candy slowly turns to wisps when it touches the air, so as you eat bits break off and fly away. There's kind of a lightly haunted/magic carnival theme in some areas (only it's the cool kind, not the loud exhausting kind that carnivals probably actually are XD) Also the cup is probably full of pumpkin hot chocolate. That's candys favorite drink. I read somewhere about pumpkin hot chocolate and then I made up a recipe and maybe I should figure that out to post! I'll definitely do that. We probably have some old canned pumpkin somewhere and if not i can find a recipe that requires just a little and ask for some to make that and use the rest... *schemeing* I just need to figure out a way to improve the texture and figure out the actual measurements and all will be good!

anyway i'd imagine treat got the hot chocolate from Oolong. I can't imagine that Chrysanthemum taffyself would be a very good cook, but I haven't actually established that... I'll have more information on treat later!

treats main pronouns are treat/treats/treat/treats/treatself btw. But don't worry if you get some of the conjugation wrong! Treat's fine with he/him (because that's what I use irl) but you guys seem to be cool about neos so yeah.

(I'm not sure I uploaded the image correctly, we'll see if I did) 

Here's a hot cocoa recipe! I should probably test the measurements again, but ah well. I tried to make it easy to understand. I also wrote tsp as teaspoon and tbsp as table-spoon because that always is hard for me, and I think you (Jaybells) said you had dyslexia so maybe that'll help for you too? 

~ 

Ingredients: 

Boil mixture:

1 ½ cups milk (I used a mix of almond and coconut milk)

1 table-spoon dark brown sugar

1 table-spoon white sugar (you might want more)

Pinch of cinnamon (if you add more to make a more cinnamon-y drink, I suggest using a cinnamon stick instead/as well so there’s no texture and also using cloves. You can also add nutmeg, star anise, pepper, etc as desired)

⅛ teaspoon salt (to begin; afterwards taste and see if you want more)

Optional, for a thicker drink - ¼ to ½ teaspoon cornstarch (I DID NOT TEST THIS EXACT MEASUREMENT, but it shouldn’t be too much)

Other:

1 largish table-spoon cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix. if you need a measurement, I’d suggest starting with 1 table-spoon and tasting, but adding another 1 teaspoon without tasting should be fine)

Enough chocolate chips to cover the bottom of a ¼ cup measuring cup (more if desired!)

Splash of vanilla extract 

Any desired toppings!

Directions:

Check that you have all the ingredients, prepare as necessary, don’t do what I do and end up haphazardly running around the kitchen trying to find the thing i had seconds ago XD

Add all ingredients in “Boil Mixture” to a saucepan. If using cornstarch, make a slurry with a bit of water before adding to the saucepan. Whisk the mixture. Bring to a boil. 

While the mixture is coming to a boil, measure your chocolate chips and cocoa powder. 

Once the mixture is boiling, pour roughly ½ cup into a mug (the amount doesn’t matter; I wouldn’t measure so it doesn’t lose more heat). Add cocoa powder. 

Whisk until there are no lumps. Add the mixture back into the saucepan.

Reheat until simmering; then turn off the stove and remove from heat. Add chocolate chips and vanilla extract, wait for a few seconds, and whisk (almost like making a ganache). 

Taste, and adjust as necessary. 

Serve!

Notes:

I made this with a mixture of almond and coconut milk, which is less rich (for lack of a better word) than milk. I can’t test it with dairy milk so i can’t be certain all of this will work with it, though I can’t imagine it wouldn’t. A lot of the ingredients were chosen to make it not taste as water-y. 

I highly suggest adding the cinnamon. It doesn’t add much flavor, and it does add a nice flavor. This is especially important if you’re making it dairy free :D 

I can’t have too much sugar (why ToT), so you might not find this sweet enough. If you’re replacing sugar, something like monk fruit fake sugar tends to work better than stevia because it has less flavor.

To make it peppermint flavored, boil the milk and steep peppermint leaves in it (peppermint tea bags work fine). Reduce sugar and add a candy cane. Strain before drinking. 

Oh no Silver!! I sincerely hope everything goes well. Maybe you should bring a stuffie for emotional support :D 

Wait you’re travelling alone?! That’s really impressive, I often can’t be left by myself for an hour and in a new place? Absolutely not XD I bet you’ll do fine, though. 

Also thanks so much! Tbh the colors in all of the pictures look way better in real life, but i can’t help that. A few tips on the hot cocoa are to add small amounts and then taste it because you can always add more but not take stuff out; adjust it to your tastes!; add the vanilla after everything else because it can boil away if you boil it; DO NOT LEAVE OUT THE SALT because it tastes really bad without it tbh; make sure not to boil the chocolate chips or the milk when it has the cocoa powder in it or else the chocolate might burn; and definitely use an actual whisk if you have one. You really don’t need much cinnamon at all. Oh, and make sure that the cocoa powder is not hot cocoa mix. Also if you can research sustainably sourced chocolate, sugar, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla (do research and when you find a brand search its name with keywords like “greenwashing” and “bad” and “unsustainable” to make sure it’s not putting on a facade; also do the same with any certifications it has and learn the problems that each one has, like how the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil does almost literally nothing), but that’s really expensive so if you can’t that’s ultimately okay.  

And i probably like my stuffies too much hehe, i kind of live in my fantasy worlds too much… this one’s kind of new but i like it so much. 

As for interesting stuff, well my concerto competition is on the 15th and i’m kind of terrified but also SUPER excited because I’m performing with a pianist so it’s not just me. Performing is awesome, and it’s a solo!!! And i’m performing the cadenza that I wrote, which is harder than the actual concerto and also is hopefully cool XD

my teacher was saying I’m really well-prepared, and she only had a few nitpicks, but there are still some parts that need some work… and also i only get one chance to play and the first time is always the worst (for me at least), especially because I’m always hesitant to start and the opening is really important in this one because a.) i start it not the piano and b.) it has to be really explosive. So I’m going to practice by warming up and doing spot practice, going and doing something else for a bit, and then coming back and playing through over and over. Also the sound is a lot different in the fancy church and it’s kind of awesome. my teacher said that it covers up a lot of scratchiness :D (which is extra great because my viola isn’t great (it’s not awful at all but it’s very strongly a decent beginner/low intermediate viola)) But I also have to be clearer in articulation and sound or else it will sound muddled. She also said that it makes intonation issues very clear, but luckily (and she said this) my intonation is not usually an issue.

To be clear the stuff i was talking about wasn’t really sensory stuff; that’d be more misinterpreting senses like finding certain smells painful or not feeling things like not noticing pain, like how I’ve had a sinus infection for more than a month but only recently realized that my face actually does hurt, I just can’t tell it does all the time/don’t realize it’s pain. (which is really inconvenient timing since i’ve been exhausted and unable to practice enough to fix all the technical stuff i need to fix. Hopefully i’ll at least have enough musicality in the performance to pull me through… and my teacher said most of the issues were pretty minor but i could have fixed them if i just hadn’t been sick. normally i’m basically sick but still XD

Also i can explain xenogenders if either of you don’t get them! They’re kind of harder to explain than neopronouns but i can do my best. Idk if you understand them or not, just offering. 

Also Jaybells: idk how to phrase this but like, congratulations (???) on rising out of the conservative-ness on your own? I mean, that sort of thing is hard. I wasn’t really raised with views on queer people - I just was never really told they existed, never really interacted with anyone like that (except the few people I associated with on my own terms were probably all queer tbh, just none of us knew), that sort of thing. And basically my views on that sort of thing didn’t used to be great. I never had much of an opinion, but everything I knew was from people at school who didn’t even explain what they were talking about until I found the CB. And then I thought it was kind of weird for a bit and I was kind of terrified when I realized I was genderqueer/nonbinary. (side note, isn’t genderqueer a cool word?! Plus the flag is gorgeous and tbh the word fits me better in a way) and I’m lucky that I managed to get past that. Sadly, a lot of people never do. So yeah. Congrats, for lack of a better word.

Also for the concerto competition I’m supposed to kind of wear something decent and i hate it. I’m just wearing concert black but it’s still major dysphoria to be honest. I have to wear all women’s clothes, and to make it worse even if I was brave enough to ask and ended up getting it, I probably would largely have to because I’m 5’2 at most… 

I looked up Fluffnest and they’re so cute!!! Do you have any, Silver?  

Oh no, first identity crisis of the year :( That’s never fun. my whole life is an identity crisis, and that’s when I’m lucky XD so yeah. If you’re comfortable saying, does this have to do with the amazing poem you posted on the poetry contest thread? Regardless of whether it does or not, have some (all optional) virtual hugs, allergy friendly comfort food/cookies, fuzzy blanket, stuffie, cat/dog/etc, time and permission to reread a favorite book, and/or a cupcake of your choice of flavors covered in sprinkles :D but i’m trying to say you can talk about it if you want, but no obligation to either. Also that poem was amazing btw.

Okay, so you know how I gave some ballet recs at the beginning? I’m just going to say that I think The Nutcracker or Sleeping Beauty would be best overall, especially if you’re going by my specific recording recs. The Royal Opera House is just outstanding even among outstanding-ness. In addition, Coppelia (Royal Opera House 2019 with Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov as Swanilda and Franz) is still really fun. (it also has a few flashing lights which i didn’t mention) Royal Opera House usually has really good music so. If you can’t tell i like ROH XD but all of the dancers I’ve mentioned are amazing, triple especially Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé, double especially Vadim Muntagirov (he’s absolutely perfect as Franz) and Fumi Kaneko, and especially Marianela Nuñez (she might be on double especially though, especially with her Sugar Plum Fairy performance). Also it doesn’t have to be Christmas to watch The Nutcracker - it’s great all year! (I say this because i watch it all year.) I found Romeo and Juliet with Marcelino Sambé and Anna Rose O’Sullivan as Romeo and Juliet (ROH 2022) and am just going to recommend that even without having seen it. You can get a lot of these as DVDs on the ROH website, by the way, but i don’t know if all of them are. They are ridiculously expensive though :((((( The Sleeping Beauty would be really good to start with, though. And the one I reccomended has Fumi Kaneko as Aurora and she's perfect. But the thing is, she's a replacement for someone else who was injured. She had been the Lilac Fairy before. And the Lilac Fairy replacement is amazing too. But Aurora?! I mean, Fumi Kaneko does the Rose Adagio, which is widely considered one of the hardest pieces of choreography, perfectly. Like, all of it is perfect. And I just don't get how it's possible. She's perfect as Aurora, though - why didn't she get cast to begin?

Is it weird that i mostly prefer smaller stuffies? Idk how big the largest size is, but i usually prefer smaller vs bigger. They’re often more portable, and sometimes the features on smaller ones are cuter, too.

Also i think you said something about how hard it is to write poetry, like having written 20 stanzas and only liking one of them, and i totally agree *sobs* I’ve been writing more free verse lately and on one hand it’s fun but on the other hand it’s kind of not XD poetry in general is hard because i can’t really write it while listening to music. 

Do you guys like old poetry? A lot of my poetry would fit in better in older times tbh - a lot of the modern stuff I’ve read that’s not on the CB doesn’t even make sense to me. I haven’t put a lot of time into looking at new poetry to be clear, but also most of it’s free verse which i tend to enjoy less.

As far as the concerto competition… i may have ended up winning (i still think i’m making that up but have been repeatedly informed that it’s real) so. I think i have to figure out what i’m doing for the actual performance with the orchestra now. It’s kind of great but I just hadn’t thought about what would happen if i did win. I think it was mostly the musicality on my part. I just kind of feel like i don’t deserve it.

I hope it’s okay if I rant???? I might ask the admins to delete this later. So i don’t actually get very emotional on the CB very often, especially because of stuff i won’t get into (basically i’m scared if my parents looked on here. Like i’ve already ruined it in that case but idk). But it’s been kind of annoying lately. More anxiety (and also actually feeling it more instead of just like... buzzing) plus everything actually going well is not a good combination, especially because if i show one mild negative emotion my mom will get upset. But other times she can be really nice and i hate those times worst because i actually don’t have as much anxiety and stuff when they’re something actively going on and i get bored easily and for some reason having to act a certain way for someone else is unbearable, and i also never remember the other times. For some reason my brain has been “tainting” everything I hold dear. Like, it just starts to feel sick and wrong and I don’t really know how to describe it. And yeah. Idk what else to say. And it’s very much “i either am more or less fine or crying so hard i can’t get a breath” and I have to be very quiet about it. It’s just very annoying. I don’t even know why half of the things feel so wrong. Also the one friend i have, who is actually amazing and aroace herself and seems fine with a lot of “weirder” things (some of which I haven’t even really talked about on here. they’re all just “cringy” i guess), moved to a nearby big city like… a year ago? And anyway i haven’t really talked to her since. I actually have written her a lot of letters but she hasn’t really responded… which i wouldn't even mind it being infrequent, but I just wish i could talk to her. And it’s so weird being… lonely i guess? Because i’ve kind of made a lot out of not getting lonely. At least i have my stuffies though. Although even that i kind of feel bad about, because a.) the tainting thing and b.) my parents are fine with it (and a lot of easier autistic traits that are like that) and i just feel like… bad about that. Especially because i’m probably mostly making a lot of this into a bigger deal than it is. and as i said, i won the competition, and i just feel like i didn't do good enough for it and that too much has gone right in too short of a time and bad overall. Anyway. I’m going to post this even though i’ll probably regret it. 

Congratulations on winning the audition, BB! Good for you! Won't you be performing the piece you auditioned on?

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I’m sorry this took so long! And also thank you so much. It’s a bit better currently (because we’re in Hawai’i, and my parents don’t want to bother my grandma I guess, or more accurately they don't want me to bother her) but that just makes me wonder if i’m making it all up (although I kind of just forget about everything regardless XD). I don’t really know how to say this, but… thank you, so so much. I might say more randomly in the future so i hope that’s okay. also most of this is directed to both of you :P

The romance thing doesn’t sound very fun… unfortunately all I can say is that if you like dating her, I think it might be fine if your feelings aren’t the same as hers as long as you, like, talk about it and figure things out together. But I have no way of knowing if it would work out. Either way, I hope all goes well. 

A few tips on watching ballet. Pay attention to the music! A lot of ballet music is variations on the same few themes. Even if you can’t identify what’s happening musically, I think you’ll appreciate it more if you, like, pay attention to the music like you would the dancing, where you’ll notice when choreography is echoed elsewhere. And don’t just listen to the melodies - listen to the harmonies, the lower parts, percussion. Also, read the story first. It’s not going to spoil anything like it would with a book, and you’ll understand it a lot better. Ballet has a lot of motions that mean things since there are no words, so it’ll help you figure it out. Enjoy the costumes and the scenery! They’re often really good, especially with the Royal Opera House ones. And just enjoy it. Don’t think to hard if you don’t want to. I should also say that most ballets are pretty… old-fashioned. I mean, The Sleeping Beauty is The Sleeping Beauty. So yeah. But seriously, it will not make sense if you don’t read the synopsis first :P 

You are right, old poetry can be pretty overdone. Granted, I sometimes like flowery (depending on how you define it). I also do the “building it around a line thing” actually, but I usually have images or sensory feelings in my head of the sort of thing I’m going for too so. Also my mind functions better at night too! Like, I basically don’t sleep. Well actually I take medicine for it so I sometimes sleep XD There’s this sort of… hush, but also freedom at night and I don’t know how to describe it but I’ve written a few things on it. but also i just physically can't stay still, can't turn my mind off, etc. also sometimes i can't breathe or hurts or something.

Also you said you have a job? What’s that like? I kind of have a job but it’s just me crocheting stuff and then I send it to my grandma (not the one I talk about later) who has a shop at an antique store. I’m going to start working harder on marketing, though - I’m going to draw little tags for all of them and write flash fiction to put on the tags. This also allows me to put more detailed care instructions and credit designers of patterns I use better. It’s hard because yarn itself can be expensive, and then it takes a long time to make anything, and it’s hard to find a good price that isn’t the sort of thing nobody would buy. Having better packaging/tags would make it seem nicer and more like you would be able to spend that much money on it though. I have legitimately been crocheting so much lately though... because no viola/violin + Royal Opera House has a shop. My hands hurt *sobs* 

Also i’m visiting my grandma in Hawai’i! So a few of my favorite things about Hawai’i. There are chickens everywhere and they’re really tame and they’re so pretty. I got a superb lychee and jasmine green tea boba tea, and will have to try to recreate it when I get home. But the boba was actually cooked well! My grandma got me three containers of poi (mashed taro root. It’s so good but if you don’t grow up eating it you hate it XD especially the sour kind, but tbh I prefer it when it’s fresh… the sour kind is also good, though). We went to the Friends of the Library bookstore, which has a bunch of books in Japanese (although I didn’t buy any). Unfortunately the little grocery store that’s pretty close to my grandma’s house and has super good food all has gluten because it all has soy sauce… I used to be able to eat gluten and it was so good. Actually, everything here has gluten, or dairy. And even a lot of the hamburgers have bread in them, and even then I don’t want to eat hamburgers the whole time I’m in Hawai’i -? At least McDonalds in Hawai’i is superb. They have rice and spam and portuguese sausage and egg breakfasts and it’s really really good. Also the tea has hibiscus flavor in it, and they have guava cream pies (though I can’t have those) and such. Also we’ve seen so many nene (geese) this time! Usually we don’t see any. I got a ton of pictures (and even more chicken pictures). Also me coming in later to write - WE SAW A PUEO!? That's a Hawaiian owl and it was hunting on the mountain and we were there and it just hovered and ahhhh. Pueo are probably my favorite birds now :P I was quite fond of them before. I also think there was this kids song I used to listen to about a pueo heh. I don't know if I could still find it... 

I haven’t had my viola or violin on the trip so I haven’t practiced in a long time and it’s gone far more easily than it should… Usually it’s a shock if I only practice 20 minutes, let alone skipping a week. I think I’m a tad bit burned out from the concerto competition XD I don’t have that much going on with orchestra at the moment though.

Out of curiosity, how soft are the Fluffnest stuffies? I’m probably not going to be getting any in the near future, but it’s a good thing to know. I’ll probably feel it differently (sometimes my Smudges don’t feel soft to me, and Smudges are probably the softest of the Jellycats, which are all amazingly soft), I’m just curious. And have you heard of Squishables? They’re pretty cute and seem similar to Fluffnest in some ways, but pretty overpriced in my opinion. I mean, they just don’t seem to have the same quality as Jellycats and they cost almost the same amount at the same size. I found their fur and stitching and everything to be pretty standard (not bad, just standard) when I saw them irl. They’re really cute though. (Also I don’t have any so I can’t say how they hold up or anything.) And even Jellycat is probably overpriced. the materials, uniqueness of each specific stuffie even when it’s the same kind (they all have slightly different faces), and overall other niceness (like fabric noses so they don’t get broken, really nice embroidery, and durable safety eyes that are also often slightly covered by fur to reduce impact (which matters a lot for me because I throw mine around a lot whether it’s during meltdowns or just tossing them in the air and catching them or swinging them around - all of their eyes look completely new, which is almost unheard) just makes it worth it to me. 

Also I’m curious what your thoughts on beat-up stuffies are. For me, there are some stuffies I let get beat up and some I don’t. Taking good care of them is a newer thing to me. I know it’s ultimately futile because I take them everywhere and care more about that, though. For other stuffies, like ones who are already beat up or stuffies I bring quite literally everywhere, I let them get beat up. Consistency is really important though. When I was obsessed with sharks, I brushed the hammerhead stuffie who I brought everywhere and basically couldn’t do anything until I got used to him and it was not good. I also sometimes like the way they feel when their fur is kind of matted, and with some (like Junpei) their scruffiness is part of who they are. Overall, I think it’s sad to not do anything with your stuffies just because you want them to look nice. Junpei is realer and happier to me than he was when he was new. I get liking them to look new, though, it’s just sad to me to not do stuff with them because of that. I think stuffie collectors tend to do stuff with their stuffies more than doll collectors (I also like American Girl dolls and have quite a few at this point. Like I actually do a lot with them i just don’t talk about them as much), though. But I also think that collectors mostly talk about cuddling them or taking pictures of them more than bringing them places and having to brush leaves and dirt off of them. I also never call myself a collector, because they’re kind of my friends. I don’t want to make it sound like people are wrong for doing that, it just makes me sad.

Has anything interesting happened lately? It doesn't even have to be "interesting" because I think there's criterias of what's interesting and it doesn't matter if it was actually interesting or not, so like if you want to ramble about rubber ducks for a while that's fine. (That's kind of a joke because one of my characters collects rubber ducks XD It actually comes into the story somewhat too, but I've changed everything about it so it might not matter as much later) Also why are there those categories of interesting and not interesting that are unrelated to what the person cares about? like i get it when you are, like, only able to think about a special interest when you really need to talk about something else or don't want to eat because you're watching a ballet or stuff, but usually it's not stuff like that. Usually it's just like something about it not being what you're "supposed" to be interested in like reading picture books or stuff.