Pictures that look
like a polite
Charlie Brown cartoon

They just have that vibe y'know?

Barbie

So after watching the Barbie 2023 movie, I wanted to get nostalgic over Barbies I had as a little girl. There's this neat site to look up the Barbie lines by year!

Bubbling Mermaid Barbie (1996)

My 1st Barbie was the Bubbling Mermaid Barbie! Bath time wasn't my favorite because I was afraid of getting shampoo in my eyes. Someone must've thought this would entice me to actually want to take a bath. It worked! Still hated shampoo (The L'Oréal Kids shampoo commercials that said it doesn't hurt if it gets in your eyes but those were LIES I tells ya!) Anyways, this Barbie was really pretty and it made me want bangs and it was SO COOL that her mermaid tail changed colors in water!! She was my favorite bath toy until she got mold inside... She had to be thrown out. :'( I still remember asking, "Can't you wash her?" but Dad explained that it was hard to clean inside her head and that mold makes us sick. I had a few Barbies after her, but they just didn't compare!

Giggles 'n' Swing Barbie & Kelly (1998)

I don't think I had the swing set for long? I remember playing with the blue Barbie dream house with them living in it. This Barbie took care of her little sister Kelly while the parents were no where to be found. She was often exasperated because Goku and Vegeta would fight just outside the house and wreck everything, so Barbie called her good friend Ken over to fix the roof. They never dated.

Coca Cola Splash Barbie (1999)

This one I liked a lot! I put her hair into a ponytail (since they are superior to twin tails) and she had a great time drinking Coca Cola in her inflatable donut for the pool! I don't remember if it actually floated... I think I did try it out the the bathroom sink, but she'd sink sitting in it? So she had a pretend pool outside the blue dream house. I liked her white tank top with the cola bottle on it more than her red spaghetti strap top. Even Ken tried on her tank top and shorts (it didn't fit of course)! ... I brought her to school for Show-and-Tell and my friends had a great time chanting, "Coca Cola Barbie!🎵" It would've been a great jingle tbh!

Sugarplum Princess Nutcracker Barbie (2001)

What can I say about this one? I already loved "The Nutcracker Prince" a 1990 Canadian movie that like no one else I know of irl has heard of. So I really loved the concept of the Nutcracker in general and it's on my bucket list to go see the actual ballet at least ONCE in my life! So of course, a Clara Barbie and a Nutcracker Ken were absolute must haves! I can't even believe my parents got me both the Barbie and Ken dolls! Anyways, she was the most articulate Barbie I had at the time: she had a little pink stage you could put a plastic thing on it to hold her waist. So you could move her arms and legs freely to pose her to make her look like a real ballerina! On top of that, you could slide the pink stage across the floor to make her spin! It was a great way to put her away while I wasn't using her. But my goodness, her hair wasn't really the greatest; it kept getting tangled easily, so I ended up putting it in a ponytail I think.

Nutcracker Ken (2001)

The star of the show (IMO don't kill me). Or he should've been. The mask was really ugly (though I know that's what a nutcracker is supposed to look like), and while his hair was slick and clean at first (it should've been a ponytail) it quickly turned into an atrociously horrible style that I had no idea how to fix! Yeah, 20 years later now I know all I had to do was put his head in boiling water and hair conditioner to change it... 20 years too late... He had a dashing outfit, a sparkly cape, and a cool golden sword! I think he was my only Ken, so me might've been the one to fix the blue dream house and try on Coca Cola Barbie's clothes? ... It turns out me liking the Nutcracker was akin to liking a Beauty and the Beast scenario: guy transforms into handsome prince but should've stayed a beast? I think what I'm trying to say is the Nutcracker would be better if he were a werewolf instead? Give him a big ol' werewolf mask instead! And a beard in his human form!

Pop Sensation Barbie (2002)

I'm not sure... but maybe in my head I wanted to sing? I got a karaoke machine too one of these years... but I was always too shy to sing in front of other people. My time to shine was when I was all alone at home while my parents were out grocery shopping. So it strikes me as odd that I would even ask for a singing Barbie... Maybe it's because she was all blue and it was my favorite color? She was more articulate than a regular Barbie because she had a stand you could stick her feet into and it would move her around and make it look like she was dancing, which was cool. My favorite thing was probably the boom box that was also a button to turn on the music!

Aaand... that's it! I was getting to the point where I wanted to be taken more seriously (and thought girls stopped playing with Barbies by... 9? ⚠️TMI: I started my period at age 9 and that did NOT help with the whole "growing up" thing going on. I wanted to be taken seriously, I tried to act mature, I was quite shy and moody. I think at one point I must've felt guilty for getting my parents to get me the Nutcracker and Pop Sensation sets... or something along those lines. I looked back on my younger years with such shame... by age 9/10 I already hated myself (which now I realize was a symptom of trauma, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms). So my departure from Barbie as a little girl wasn't a happy one.

The 2023 Barbie Movie was a LOT to take in. I'm glad I went into it as blind as I could... I loved that it celebrated Barbie but could also take jabs at it. ⚠️SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE: Barbie having a supposedly "perfect" life then having an existential crisis reminded me of my departure from little girl to growing preteen. I could relate more to Gloria's daughter, Sasha, as someone that grew up kind of liking Barbie... but disliking the expectations placed on women as I grew into a teen. I'm not even sure if "hate" is the right word; it just didn't apply to me. I fumed during gym class when the boys would cajole, "Girls can't play hockey!" or when I got asked rudely, "Why do you like Pokemon so much?". I liked video games, anime, pink wasn't really my fav color (though certain pencil crayons like Magenta I loved while I hated Pepto Bismol pink)... So in the end, I have to ask: "Did Barbie allow me to use my imagination? Did Barbie tell me I could be whoever I wanted to be?" I'd have to say "No" in the end. I liked Barbie, but not the younger dolls like Kelly or Stacie... probably because in such a way my Barbie didn't have that freedom to be who she wanted to be: the expectation of taking care of a child was still there. I've walked through the Barbie aisle as an adult to see what kind of new dolls they had... and there was a video game creator Barbie?! I loved the ones with the cool neon outfits. I think if I could've walked down an aisle as a kid instead of looking through the Sears Wishlist I could've probably found a Barbie that was more for me? If there was the option to see more clothing sets then maybe I really could've thought my one Barbie could be who she wanted to be, instead of what she was in the box. That, and I think I was more of a "setting up a scene" kind of kid. I didn't make my Barbies talk while I was playing by my lonesome self. I just made them sit, stand, and play the scenario in my head. I think I liked setting up scene and felt satisfied when I was done. In my mind, Barbie wasn't me, and I wasn't Barbie. Which... I dunno? I can't articulate it well.

Thanks to the Barbie movie, what I'd like to do is sort of... take care of my inner child through taking care of one of my old Barbie dolls. I've recently watched videos about re-rooting hair in different colors, sewing new outfits, using watercolor pencils to draw new faces... I've never met someone irl with that particular creative hobby with dolls. And as a kid I couldn't fix the broken neck (that was a bummer even if you were careful with your Barbie like I was) but there are multiple how-tos online!
Part of the reason I didn't really save my Barbies from the dreaded musty basement was because of the tendency for the house to have mice in it. So at one point I did find a doll... with bite marks on her face. Of course I'm not gonna touch it after that! My germaphobe tendencies made me afraid. :')
It'd be a nice little hands-on project. I'd love to at least try it! And... my gosh, I'd love to turn a Ken doll into the perfect boyfriend with a beard LMAO WHY AREN'T Y'ALL MAKING BEARDS ON KEN IT'S SO GOOD! MAKE A BARA KEN Y'ALL!! I'd like search online and see if someone made any custom anime dolls like Broly or Goku or- You know what, why not Camilla from Fire Emblem or Kagura from Inuyasha- Basically any of my favorite characters lol

Chrono Cross

Chrono Cross was the first one I played in the 2-game series (sorry Trigger fans), and the majority of my personal site is based on the text font and backgrounds from the game.

It was quite an accident how I ended up playing CC. It was my brother's Christmas gift while I was around 7 years old. I think my parents didn't know what game to get him, so they asked a worker and he recommended this one. I think the green strip on the case cover with "Greatest Hits" meant it was a cheaper option at the time. I can still remember the aroma of a Febreze Hawaiian scent wafting through the air that Christmas morning after we opened up presents and were enjoying what we got. I watched him name the female protagonist Kid after his girlfriend at the time. Although I was young, I liked the anime visuals, and the music was gorgeous (and still is today!), and playing JRPGs helped me with my reading. In all honesty, playing through JRPG games in general made me have a distaste for regular chapter books. It made me extremely picky; it was much easier to have the visuals and music along with the script rather than slogging through a chapter book as if I was watching a movie in my mind's eye.

Chrono Cross became home for me. Much like Pallet Town in Pokemon, Arni Village was a tranquil yet brightly colorful place to start out a new adventure. Nooks and crannies had to be found, talking to the townspeople made Serge seem like a likeable character, face portraits showed up for important people and you didn't know at the time if the character with a face portrait would eventually join your party or not.

Everything was pretty okay, until y'know... the dreaded Miguel fight. He was impossible to beat. So I'd just restart the game over and over and get stuck at that part. Eventually I hopped on over to my bro's save file and beat the boss that made him quit the game: the one right after Miguel. With the help of rpgshrines.com I was well on my way to the end of the game by the end of middle school.

By the time I actually beat the game, it was during summertime (a fitting time)... and I wanted to know so badly what happened to everyone after the end. I read fanfics, searched fanart... I was going to write my own fanfic as well but that fell through.

Unlike my younger self, my last playthrough was during a summer where I figured out how to hack my Wii so it could play old games, including some PS1 games. I think I got to the Green Dragon before the SD card screwed up, erasing my save file. Getting to the point, I grew to appreciate Leena as a character more than Kid, and I especially enjoyed Glenn. I could also see the faults within the game. The 45 playable characters made it so anyone playing could have a pick of favorites, but also left me with wanting my absolute favs to have a bigger role in the end... The info dumping really needed to be in a extra act. Despite these faults I still love the game! It's still gorgeous by PS1 standards and I still listen to the OST to this day, even going to sleep while listening to Jellyfish Sea and other tracks.

The most awe-inspiring dreams ended up taking place in distorted dream-versions of Opassa Beach and Fort Dragonia and just the El Nido islands in general. That's how much it means to me, that my respite from real life could take place on an island.

OHH WAIT I HAVE MORE TO SAY: Riddel x Steena is so cute you guys! Just think: they're both 24 and one is the daughter of the General Viper of the mainland of humans while Steena is the Chief of Guldove where humans and demi-humans live peacefully together. They'd have so many plans about how to put Guldove and the mainland on amicable terms. Besides, one uses rods and the other uses swords!? They're both white innates!

Final Fantasy X

Instead of telling you how nostalgic this game is for me and how I got into it because it was my 1st Final Fantasy...
(Because I was stupid and forgot to save while doing this section and had paragraphs rips in pieces)
Why don't I tell you about all the drama in the world of Blitzball?

Warning: contains spoilers for end game.

Tidus had been taking his role as Yuna's guardian seriously and only dabbled in the underwater sport Blitzball after the initial tournament in Luca. However, as soon as Sin decided to sit his fat ass in Bevelle and wait to be killed like a good boy that deserves treats and belly scratches... it was Tidus' BRILLIANT idea to suddenly get into Blitzball for reals. Because of the rumors that sometimes a Sigil was awarded as a prize. A Sigil needed to possibly improve Wakka's Celestial weapon: a ball with a lot of spikes on it for whatever reason. It seemed like a more reasonable activity compared to dodging 200 lightning bolts to get a Sigil for Lulu...

Anyways, Wakka knew the Besaid Aurochs were in good hands under Tidus' tactics. They could try their best once again (and maybe win?) That was until Rikku spoke up: "My brother is a good Blitzball player, actually!"

That was the beginning of the end of the Besaid Aurochs as Wakka knew them.

Rikku's brother, named Brother (yes, that's his name) turned out to be a better player than most of the Aurochs! He was even on par with Tidus when it came to shooting a goal in the net. Was there anything he couldn't do? Yes. One thing.

Brother couldn't block a shot as a goalie worth shit.

A few exhibition games later... Tidus walked around Luca, taking in the sights. He heard quips and remarks of people and the rumors on what Sin was doing staying in a single place for so long. A familiar voice of a mature woman caught his attention.

"Shaami here with the news: the Besaid Aurochs' lack of defence still seems to be a low blow, even with upcoming rookie Brother- H-hey!"

Tidus had snuck up on the newscaster while her attention was to her cameraman, content to listen in.

"I'm trying to work here." Shaami seethed through gritted teeth. It wasn't the first time Tidus had interupted her newscasting, and she'd be damned if the punk ruined yet another sphere for broadcasting. These round and blue translucent resources were hard to find in the wild as is and you could only record on it once.

"Do you play Blitzball?" Tidus asked.

His eyes stared, never blinking.

"Wh-What?" Shaami was taken aback from the sudden question.

"Do. You. Play. Blitzball?" Tidus asked again, pausing between words.

"I played, when I was younger," Shaami replied, her lips taut and eyes squinting with suspicion. "Why?"

The boy's eyes did not blink even once.

"Do you wanna play Blitzball?"

...

That was how the changes began. One after another, Tidus traveled around to scout for players. Not on foot, mind you. He had help with Rikku and Brother's dad Cid flying an airship all around the continent of Spira. Rumors of potentially good players led Tidus from the Mi'hen Highroad to the Calm Lands back to Luca and probably a few laps around Sin, too.

Rin, an Al-Bhed merchant franchise owner that helped the group out plenty of times joined for a bit. He was quite decent. Even a hit with the ladies in the stadium due to his husky Sulu-esque voice. ("Who's Sulu?" Rikku had asked.) Next was Wakka, as he was slowly convinced Sin wouldn't go anywhere anytime soon. His salary of 1 gil was out of the goodness of his own heart and his love for the game and the team he left behind to go on a journey to defeat Sin with Yuna. There was only one problem...

"You can't have more than 8 players on a team, ya?" Wakka said, "Them's the rules."

Wakka was let go.

Unlike what Wakka thought was an easy choice, Tidus also made an easy choice. Several easy choices. Like BANG BANG BANG one after another.

"Sorry, bud," Tidus put his hands on the player's shoulder, trying to let him down easy. "I guess ya didn't make the cut."

Datto cried, as everyone thought Botta would be the first to go. Botta wiped the sweat from his brow and praised Yevon in a squeak.

It wasn't long after that more cuts had to be made. Sweet and kind Keepa was swapped for asshole-ish Jumal.

"I still don't think you guys will beat Sin," Jumal said plainly, "But I guess you can still try."

"And I still don't think I can shove a ball up your ass," Tidus leaned in to whisper, "But I guess I can still try."

Asshole Jumal kept his mouth shut after that until he was swapped in for Miyu. She was a cute Al Bhed girl from what Tidus could tell, even with her goggles covering her eyes. She turned out to be a super goalie with a grip as hard as-

Well, whatever you could compare to gripping a ball underwater.

Yuna and Rikku cheered anyway, yelling about "Girl power!" whenever Shaami or Miyu made any plays. They awed at Shaami's ability to swim and shoot goals even while wearing a dress underwater. The girls started to think that even Lulu could play Blitzball with her thick dress decorated with fur and dozens of buckles. But they were none the wiser about Shaami's and Miyu's status as MILF and CUTIE WITH A NICE GRIP on the team.

Jassu and Botta were kept for a bit longer, with Jassu being the favorite. That is, until Wedge and Ropp were scouted. ("Not Biggs and Wedge together? Are you crazy?!" Rikku had screeched.)

"Jassu, Jassu, Jassu... My man, my guy, my man!" Tidus wrapped his arm around Jassu's, nodding his head and sighing.

"Tidus, you can't be serious!" Jassu's eyes widen, the realization hitting him. "I'm the last Auroch on the team, ya?! Then the Besaid Aurochs won't be the Besaid Aurochs without any Aurochs from Besaid! Ya!?"

But his plea fell on deaf ears. Not literally, but on ears that heard but willingly ignored.

"That's what falling on deaf ears means," Lulu's voice strains as she facepalms and shakes her head.

This is my story, Lulu. And this might be our last chance.

"Oh my Yevon-"

Yevon was all lies and you know that.

"Oh my... Moogle, God, whatever, whatever god there is out there!"

...

All the changes had to be made, for the greater good. For bragging rights. But mostly for the greater good. Meanwhile, Yuna had to give Kimahri chin scratches each time after the Ronso Fangs lost, calming him with kind but empty words. Like suggesting he could play for the team with his fellow cat-like people if he got over his fear of water. Datto was signed on to play for the Luca Goers for one game with a thirst for revenge. They promptly let him go after yet another crushing defeat from the Aurochs. And who could forget that Tidus inspired the other teams to change around so much that no one from the Guado Glories were even Guados anymore? Or that the team members on the Kilika Beasts weren't from Kilika? Changes made for the greater good indeed. That was when everyone in Spira knew... that even with Sin sitting like a duck that he could still kill everyone's morale.

At long last, after squinting through the water many times just to learn how to spin the ball to kick it in the goal, or poison another player with a seemingly innocuous playful tackle... victory had never been so sweet or delicious. Or salty. (Who knows how many times the water in the Blitzball stadium actually gets cleaned due to the losing teams pissing themselves whenever Tidus used his infamous Jecht Shot to score.) After seasons and seasons of swimming around the edge of the pool to pass the ball to Tidus to score, and playing catch for the rest of the game to pass the time... At least 50 games later with Sin still sitting on his fat ass scaring the bejeebus out of the locals whenever he yawned... The Mercury Sigil was finally awarded to the Besaid Aurochs. The famous victory fanfare playing on the stadium speakers, colorful paper things falling everywhere-

"Confetti," Lulu rolls her eyes.

"Now maybe! Just MAYBE! The rate of concussions will go down SLIGHTLY!" The award giver strained a smile while holding the mic for the whole stadium to hear. Cue laugh track from a music sphere on the speakers. And slow claps from the crowd.
Thus, Wakka's Celestial weapon was upgraded, dubbed the World Champion, and ready to go and defeat Sin. But there was one thing that needed to be done before even that...

"Hey, Tidus, I wanna give you somethin' ya?" Wakka smiled. "Just a little somethin' for making the Besaid Aurochs go big, even if you had no one from Besaid on the team. No hard feelings, ya?"

"Oh, yeah? What is it?" Tidus perked up.

Wakka flung his spiked ball towards the boy's head.

The first time in Blitzball history a player suffered from severe bleeding from a head injury.

Bob's Burgers/Fast Food

It's a comfort show that's nice to eat a burger and relax to. Bob and Linda are relationship goals. I like to think I'm like Bob but really I'm a mix of Aunt Gayle and Tina without dating experience... Here's a poem Gayle wrote:

Happy Things We Should Send Into Space
A jar of mayo
Magazine clippings of Scott Baio
That song that starts with "Day-O"

You know what? Yeah, I'm a fast food junkie.

My Hero Academia

I watched season 1 subbed a few years ago but didn't really get into it at the time... this past year I really got back into it dubbed since my friends were also watching. I'm loving it! Yaomomo, Kyoka, Ojiro, Bakugo, and Midnight are my top fav characters, while Deku is easy to root for as a MC.

My OTPs include:
Yaomomo/Kyoka/Ojiro
Yaomomo/Bakugo (because he deserves to be brought down a peg or two by someone like Yaomomo)
Yaomomo/Kyoka because yessss!
If I had to pick someone for Midnight it would be Mt. Lady, but I have seen some cute fanart featuring her with Aizawa and/or Present Mic but I think that's more of a brot3 to me personally. Of course Midnight is being added to my list of fictional waifus!

Some other ships I don't mind are:
Tsu/Ochaco
Bakugo/Kirishima (KISS YO HOMIES GOODNIGHT)
Bakugo/Ochaco
Ochaco/Toga or Ochaco/Tsu/Toga
Deku's Mom/Bakugo's Mom
Dabi/Toga/Twice are a brot3 because they're all Shigaraki's babysitters!
I can safely guess Deku/Ochaco is going to be end game so it's kind of cute? For the most part? You know what, let Ochaco have her bisexual awakening and just let her ogle at all the cute girls and guys!

LOOK AT MY BOY OJIRO HE'S A GOOD BOY!

Playstation

Let's see... though I grew up with NES/SNES, the next gen console my parents decided to get for Christmas was... PS1! This would've been late 90s or early 2000's. The colorful buttons really changed my brainwaves. I'm trying to think of what games we got that first Christmas with a PS1... I believe we had Crash Team Racing, 101 Dalmatians, and maybe Twisted Metal or Medal of Honor for my older brothers? My parents were surprised to find out we needed memory cards in order to save games. ("But... you could just save the game on the Super Nintendo??") CDs were quite new for us at the time as well, and that was probably around the time we got a CD player too. Anyways... since we couldn't save games we couldn't get far until... maybe a couple months later after my parents caught up with holiday bills? We ended up leaving the PS1 on overnight to continue in the game the next day over Christmas break! It... was a hassle.

Or was it a year until they bought memory cards? Because I remember they got MadCatz memory cards in a pack of 4. All different colors. Red, blue, purple, and black. But I remember it as a Christmas present too? Yikes, a whole year without being able to save games??? Anyways, I was the youngest and yet I got the crappiest color of them all: black. My older siblings got the first pick of colors... But... now we could actually go further in our games! It was probably around this time when we got into rpgs because of Pokemon on the gameboy, too.

Some games we got the 2nd year were Chrono Cross, Legend of Dragoon, and Beyblade, while Dad got Syphon Filter. Sometimes we'd trade games with friends (or coworkers in my Dad's case) to switch things up a bit. My Dad was more responsible than his kids. Eventually after beating Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark he'd trade the games back. For us, Crash Team Racing was traded for... Wild Arms! While I was sad that my brother traded my game for his friend's... he thought I'd like it because it's an rpg like Pokemon with anime characters. He was right! While the CD was scratched up already, making it impossible at times because of certain spots the game would freeze, Wild Arms became a staple in my childhood! Uhh... I'm not sure what happened, but the games were never traded back? It was up to my brother to do that.

It was a few years later when we got a PS2! By that time the oldest kids moved out, so it was just two of us sharing at the time. We started with Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (so maybe I was 10 in 2003 when we got a PS2?). Other games at the time included our first Final Fantasy of the series, FFX; FFX-2; Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex; Get On da Mic (a rapping game that I only liked rapping Rapper's Delight); Dragon Quest 8; Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3; Castle Shikigami 2; The Sims; and sooo many other games! It was around this time that my brother and I started saving lunch money to buy games for ourselves outside of Christmas (he'd skip lunch to save $5 while I actually bought lunch and would save dimes and quarters). That's why... most of the games were ones my brother bought, but he was nice enough to ask if I'd be interested in a game he was buying! Yup, I was that annoying kid that would come to the electronics section of Walmart with BAGS of coins to hand to the cashier. My mom suggested I count out $10 to put in each bag to make it easier.

Although we had a PS2, the good thing was it was backwards compatible. Some "newer" PS1 games we got around this time included Final Fantasy 9 and Final Fantasy Tactics around late 2000's. I still remember warm and humid nights upstairs in the bedroom playing Budokai 3 or Final Fantasy Tactics late at night during summer breaks. Something welcomed inbetween high school years...

The next console... I asked for a Wii (because gamified excercise, yay?). So I didn't get a glimpse of a PS3 until I visited my older brother in the city and hung out with him and his college classmates/friends for gaming night. A large flat screen tv... and Batman: Arkham Asylum?? The graphic difference was HUGE at the time! I was flabbergasted! And it never happened again with the PS4 or PS5.

I still get nostalgic and love the colorful buttons incorporated into merch, whether it's hats, t-shirts, or light up neon signs. But... I'm glad I've never bought a Playstation beyond 3 (I'm tempted to get a PS3 myself, just never had to because my roommate has one for everyone to use). It's just so bogus that you have to be connected to the internet to play... single-player games now??? And... the buttons aren't even colorful on game controllers anymore... It's ridiculous... I can safely say that PC is the way to go if you know your way around emulation. I guess I'd still call myself a Playstation gal, but... Retro Playstation gal? I think that's more accurate!

Crystals

I wanted a place to keep track of the crystals I've bought over the years... Honestly I grew up Christian, but I would describe myself as a spiritual omnist. I don't believe that organized religions should make it a mission to convert people when the faith is about building a relationship with their deity and to grow to be a better person. Personally, I don't believe in organized religion (it works for some but not for all. Growing up being a girl that liked girls there was a lot of shame and 'oh no what if they find out' feelings. I didn't want to find out the emotional consequences of being rejected by a community I tried to find some approval and validation in to an extent.) ... but any religion has a little bit of truth yet they don't have all the answers. But y'know... they like to nitpick their Bible verses to always be 'right'... right on the high horse of a donkey's ass instead of treating people like people!

Anyways, I'm more spiritual but I don't use crystals for 'healing'. I just like to look at them and feel them in my hands for visual + tactile stimulation. I do find it interesting that it's recommended to get the crystals that 'speak to you' so I go by that. Otherwise, just like prayer beads or a cross, I feel crystals are like tools to help people meditate but I don't personally do it myself. It is interesting to read up on the 'meaning' and 'healing properties' of crystals, so that's why I wanted this section! So I don't have to constantly look up what crystals I have! (No pics yet, but will sometime.)

Angel Aura Quartz
Looks: A clear quartz but bluish-silver. The clear quartz is heated enough so vapor from platinum, silver, or sometimes gold can fuse or bond with the surface to give it an iridescent sheen. There's a patch that disappears when you move the crystal a certain way as if camouflaging with the background behind it.

Amethyst

Opalite (square + double pointed)
Looks: Man-made glass/resin/plastic to replace actual opals since they're expensive. Milky and iridescent with rainbow colors. Square like a die but not quite like a marshmallow! The second one is double pointed.

Rose Quartz
Looks: A small piece. I'd like to get something bigger like a palm stone.

Apatite
Looks: Like the scales from a fish or mermaid or the tropical ocean. Saturated cerulean color (blue with a hint of green) with whitish lines to give it a scaled or ocean look.

Green Flourite (round)
Looks: Round to fit in palm. A soft lime color of green with some yellow.

Green Flourite (pointed tower)
Looks: More blue or an aqua or turqoise green at first. In comparison to the round green flourite it has a little more blue in it. It has white splotches/patches in it that make it look like a 'frosty ice cave' on the inside.

Purple Flourite
Looks: Like an amethyst but it has dark orange patches inside near the bottom of it. Amethysts don't have other colored patches. There's a darker purple streak that goes through the middle, making it look like a lightning bolt?

Hematoid Quartz/Fire Quartz
Looks: This one looks pink like a rose quartz but 'more orange', giving it a soft coral color. It forms when hematite + quartz combine while growing. Hematite impurities create red streaks or patches inside. Other ones can be much more red due to iron.

Wishlist:
Rose Quartz (larger)
Blue Goldstone
Labradorite

Galaxy Fraulein Yuna

... is really gay!

Pretty Cure

"Picture it, Sicily 1922."
Picture it, Canadian television, spring 2009.

I was 15 years old, in high school, and a closeted lesbian at the time. (Nowadays I know I'm actually bisexual.) I was going through hard times that included a friendship-going-bad (the type where things went south once my best friend got herself a boyfriend), figuring out if I actually liked girls or admired them, actually developing a crush on a straight-as-a-board girl, my mom going through my letter I wrote about coming out to my friends that I didn't send anyway, and the aftermath of the worst generation of Pokemon I had lived through at the time (gen 4).

It was around this time that anime on tv was scarce and there was barely anything to watch unlike middle school days. I just couldn't get into anything or make an effort to watch new episodes as they came out. So sometimes I'd watch reality shows with mom, movies on TCM or action channels with dad... Sometimes I'd watch Degrassi or sneak a peek at what Pokemon was like for anime if my parents weren't looking (I was embarrassed to watch kid shows around them but also embarrassed to watch any sex scenes in movies and the like). All while trying to be a perfect student and daughter like in my earlier years.

Pretty Cure? I was shocked a magical girl anime was showing, and one made by those that worked on DBZ/Sailor Moon/Digimon. The first episode featured both girls, Cure Black and Cure White, fighting together against the David Bowie lookin' bad guy with the help of mascot critters from another dimension. Fighting with style, I gotta say! They actually jumped around punching and kicking unlike Sailor Moon! And the voices actually weren't bad for the time either, being dubbed in Ocean Studio's cheaper Blue Water Studios in Calgary.

While I didn't have the fixation to watch new episodes at the same time, same day each week (I think they aired in the mornings? Could not compute as a night owl.) I'd try to watch them when I could while my parents weren't around. While I couldn't watch every episode, I already loved Cure Black and Cure White's chemistry. The jock and the nerd. The butch and the femme. The black and the white. The yin and the yang. And how else would one divulge in their ships at the time when dial up was still a thing in rural parts of Canada? Fanart! Doujinshi! Fanfics!

I've always had Pretty Cure on my watch list but have never managed to sit down and watch subs. Especially after counting 60+ different Precure magical girls at some point in time? Anyways... summer 2025 Toei's youtube channel has been doing live streams of Digimon, Pretty Cure, Magical Doremi, and Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo! People in the comments have pointed out there were interlacing problems during live showings, but have been fixed when Toei has uploaded episodes separately into playlists for each title! So I can safely say... it's a good time to watch the Canadian English dub of Pretty Cure and be reacquainted with Cure Black and Cure White once again! It's for 15 year old me, because she deserves it.