Play It Cool, Guys is a cute and wholesome anime about a group of guys who are clumsy. They push doors that say “PULL”, or vise versa. They are the type to panic about losing their phones while being on their phones, or grab a shoehorn instead of an umbrella by mistake. This is not a Boys Love series, by the way.
I wouldn’t consider myself a clumsy person, but I’ve had my share of embarrassing moments. Moments that make me cringe whenever I am reminded of them. Moments that make me want to lock myself in my house and never come out for ten years. I think it’s my reaction and some negativity, but hey, I’ve gotten better. It used to be a hundred years instead of ten. Hahaha.
But when I see these guys make embarrassing mistakes, they move on from them. Especially Shiki, who laughs whenever he does something clumsy or embarrassing. I really admire his positivity.
In Episode12, Futamimakes a few mistakes in a handball game. He isn’t doing his best. Later on, he has a thought that I found really inspiring. “If you have to have lame moments no matter how you live, then I want to at least be a guy who can laugh them off.” FYI, I don’t like the word “lame” in there but I believe it’s a translation (mis)choice more than anything. I think you can get the gist of what he’s trying to say.
I want to be somebody that can look back and laugh at my embarrassing moments. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I feel hopeful that I can overcome these mental challenges one day. One step at a time, right?
Play It Cool, Guys is currently airing. The show will be wrapped up in a few weeks – perfect timing if you want to start now. π (Unless you’re a binge-watcher like me…)
I fell in love with the anime, Play it Cool, Guys. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard many people talk about it. It’s underrated and deserves more attention! There aren’t many pictures of the characters posted online, so here we are. I’ll do it myself!
This anime is very wholesome, and the characters are so lovable. The episodes are only 10 minutes, which isn’t nearly enough time. I need more! I plan to go into more detail about the main reasons I like the show. I’m still gathering my thoughts at the moment but stayed tuned. ^^
I’ve come to appreciate and enjoy The Way of the Househusband a lot. I recently finished Season 2 of the anime as well as the Netflix live-action, The Ingenuity of the House Husband (2021). As you may know, the series follows a legendary former yakuza member, now turned house husband. Tatsu manages the cooking and cleaning in the house for his family – his wife, himself, and their cat – and he’s also really involved in the community. He has hobbies such as crafting, and he’s exceptionally skilled at all of these things. He has a wealth of knowledge, is budget conscious, and knows how to scope out the best deals.
I found a lot of educational value in watching the series, and I even tried out a couple of the activities shown in the series. In Season 2, Episode 4 of the anime, Tatsu makes an air freshener out of baking soda and lavender essential oil. I love lavender and happen to have lavender essential oil at home and empty glass jars, so that’s what I did. I put one in my room and another one in my washroom. Best of all, it was inexpensive.
In Season 2, Episode 4 of the anime, Tatsu buys a felting kit and felts a cat. I became really inspired when I watched that episode, and guess what? That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to look for a felting kit and felt something of my own. I’ve never felt something before, but I love crafts and I think it’ll be fun to try something new.
I plan to watch the Japanese drama, Gokushufudo (2020), which is different from the Netflix live-action. I just love the series because it’s so chill and covers topics I’m interested in. I wouldn’t say that I find housework fun, but it’s interesting to see how everything works because Tatsu explains his process. It’s an entertaining and fun watch, AND I’m learning at the same time. ^^
P.S. The actor who plays Tatsu in The Ingenuity of the House Husband (2021) voices Tatsu in the anime.
I’m currently on Door 3 of the visual novel, The House in Fata Morgana. It’s a chilling game full of tragedies. Each door presents a different story, and I’m on the third story. The game’s writing is superb – it has some of the best stories I’ve read. I’ve read that the stories become even better later on in the story. I also appreciate the game’s music a lot.
The stories are gut-wrenching and dark. Door 1 and Door 2 were fine, but it was getting a bit painful to complete Door 3. I know that I will complete it eventually, but I had to stop for a break because I was already crying while playing the game and I just didn’t know if there would be a happy ending. I still don’t know – I haven’t gone back to the story yet. But I’m not confident that it will be a happy story. Then I thought, Am I weak-willed?Why is this difficult for me? Part of me wants a spoiler so that I can mentally prepare myself. I would feel relieved if I see something positive; if not, then at least it wouldn’t be a great shock.
Don’t get me wrong – I like books, games, and shows that can evoke great emotions out of you. Something that will make me cry, make my heart pound, or give me the chills. I’d say that House in Fata Morgana ticks off those boxes. If this sounds like your type of thing, I definitely recommend buying this game.
Still, I feel a little uneasy about returning to the game. But that’s a sign of good writing, I guess.
Since Valentine’s Day fell on a weekday this year, we celebrated early on a weekend and on the day of.
Early celebration
We exchanged gifts early. I was gifted Pandora’s Mahjong Triple Dangle Charm and six roses to match the charm. The charm consists of three different mahjong tiles, each with the number 6. ^^
I followed a YouTube video and made a painting. It’s my first painting in about 10 years, and I’m really proud of how it turned out. I had a lot of fun painting it, and I plan to paint more in the future.
I loved doing art when I was younger, but I was recently hit with roadblocks and the discovery that I have aphantasia. I was angrythat I have it, to be honest, and I felt that I had missed out on a lot… but that won’t stop me from making art.
I also made Monsters, Inc. chocolates. I loved the movie, and I love Mike and Sulley.
We went to Minami, a Japanese restaurant. The food was delicious! I ordered the Sablefish Lunch and would get it again.
Crimson wrote about ten things that bring them joy, and their post got me thinking about the things that bring me joy.
1. Coffee. I usually start my day with coffee. My go-to coffee order is one cream, one sugar. I like to order pumpkin drinks in the fall and iced coffee in the summer. When I’m at home, I use an AeroPress and add frothed milk on top.
2. Danmei. There is a lot of anticipation happening now in the danmei community. We are expecting Immortality (hopefully) and a few other BL dramas. Heaven Official’s Blessing Season 2 will be released (hopefully), and I’m still clinging to the hope that The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System Season 2 will be released. I’ve preordered Guardian Volume 1, which will be released later this year (hopefully), and there are other danmei series being published, like The Husky and His White Cat Shizun.
3. Manhwa. There’s been a rise in anime and webtoons where the villain/villainess is the main character and there are a lot of revenge stories. The stories I like are either A) the main character reads a book/plays an otome game, dies, wakes up in the book/game’s villain’s body, and acts differently in order to avoid a terrible fate, B) the MC is murdered by a loved one, goes back to the past, and hatches a revenge plan, or C) the MC is betrayed and hatches a revenge plan. My favourite manhwa at the moment is probably Remarried Empress. What I like about the female lead in Remarried Empress is that I don’t think she’s intentionally getting revenge. She’s just improving her situation because she’s been wronged, but it’s so satisfying.
4. Animal Crossing. One of my 2023 goals is to start a YouTube channel. I want to give a tour of my island. My island is my space where I have total freedom and control. It’s almost near completion, so I want to show it before I restart. I hate that you can’t have more than one island per Switch. I’m not willing to buy another Switch just to start a new island (some avid players have) so I want to make a video of my island so I can remember it. I might dabble in making AMVs as well, but one thing at a time. π One basic thing that recently occurred to me is that we can do so many things, and I intend to take advantage of that. I learned how to play Go yesterday.
5. Samsung watch. My boyfriend gifted me a Samsung watch for Christmas, and I really like it because it records a lot of data. As someone who has volunteered and worked as a research assistant on different teams for several years, you could say that I love data. I’m most interested in my sleep data, but it’s also nice for other reasons like snoozing my alarm and notifying me when I’m getting a phone call.
6. YETI water bottle. I was gifted a water bottle for Christmas, and it has motivated me to drink more water. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. It’s like when people buy a new keyboard to motivate them to write more. I have the mint YETI bottle.
7. Keychron keyboard. Speaking of keyboards, I love my keyboard. My boyfriend gifted me a Keychron keyboard when I got a new PC last year, and two of my friends donated their spare keycaps. I customized my keyboard with three sets of keycaps. I also added a Bulbasaur keycap because it fit with my theme. Cosmetics do matter. My keyboard is wired and supports Bluetooth, which I’ve taken full advantage of.
8. Music. The music I like best is very niche. Most of it is not on Spotify, but I pay for it for the convenience. I like to listen to music throughout the day. My current favourite song:
9. Subbers and translators. I always feel like a part of my mind is elsewhere because I breathe, sleep, and eat fiction. I love novels/web novels, manga/manhwa/webtoons, Asian dramas, anime/donghua, games/visual novels, and more. Anyway, subbers and translators have my love.
10. Handwritten cards and letters. I’m always happy to receive something handwritten because it feels special and intimate. Somebody thought of me and took time out of their day to write me a card. I’ve kept all of the cards and letters I’ve received.
Another year, another year-end review post (You can read my 2020 post here and my 2021 post here). I didn’t blog, cosplay, or draw much/at all, but I had a busy year and I’d like to think that I’ve accomplished some things.
I paid off my student loans.
I wrote a post about it and how I did it. You can read the post here. I also set a rainy day fund for the first time after I paid off my student loans, and I’ve reached it. I have a new year’s resolution of saving a good portion of my monthly income, so we’ll see how it goes. Inflation is wild, so expenses are higher while the quality of life is more or less the same.
I got a new job.
It’s a full-time job with benefits, and I work three days at the office and two days from home. I hope I can continue to keep this hybrid model, as this was a COVID thing. For those of you who don’t know, I have a BA in Psychology and a Bachelor of Social Work. You can probably guess that I work in social services. It’s stressful indeed, but rewarding at the same time. The job keeps me busy and I like my coworkers.
I got my full driver’s license.
In British Columbia, we have to take the knowledge test, the Class 7 driving test, and the Class 5 driving test. The Class 5, full test is taken at least two years after you pass the Class 7 test. It has been a long and rough journey to get my full driver’s license. I actually got Covid during the time I was supposed to take my Class 5 test, so that had to be canceled and then rescheduled. I was so happy when I got my full driver’s license.
Celebrating my graduation (two years late!)
I graduated with my BSW at the start of the pandemic in 2020. There was no closure. Everything ended so abruptly that I 100% believe it impacted me negatively. I didn’t bother attending my virtual graduation.
The university held an in-person graduation ceremony for my class in late 2022. I didn’t attend that one either. I didn’t celebrate my graduation at all. In December 2022, I thought about it some more and changed my mind. I thought that I should celebrate my graduation, so I bought a charm for myself. I wear it on my bracelet every day. It’s the Celebration Cake Dangle Charm by Pandora, and it has the word “Congrats” on it. There’s a strawberry on the cake, and I just really like how the charm looks. I like the idea of collecting charms that represent the milestones in your life.
I’d like to thank my boyfriend, family, friends, and WordPress family for your love and support. Thanks for reading!
I recently had a conversation about obsessions, and how I would even like to have an obsession. Hear me out.
I think life is more fun and enjoyable when you are obsessed with something. I find that you are most creative because you are driven by your sheer determination. You are passionate about something! (Or someone.) I was obsessed with The Phantom of the Opera when I was in high school. I didn’t like Christine, so I read every single Erik x Meg fanfic that existed. I even wrote my own fanfiction, which I never published. That was the only period of my life where I wrote fanfiction.
I have been trying to get into fanfiction writing for a while now lately, but I lack motivation. I don’t have something I’m obsessed with. (Is obsession the right word?)
I recently came across a Tweet that said that the fastest way to improve your art is by being obsessed with something, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. I haven’t drawn in a couple of years, and that’s something I used to do. Cosplay is another hobby that I haven’t done in a long time.
I used to be really into celebrities, but I’m too jaded for that now. I’ve been disappointed by too many scandals to count! π
Anyway, I think I just need some motivation. Writing this post is a step, so at least there’s that.
This post is a continuation of an earlier post of mine from November 2020. I became inspired to write this post after finishing a route in a game and being too shy to write about it publicly.
That made me think a bit. What we post online, when attached to our real name and face, will be filtered most of the time, if not all the time. Would I have written about the game if I was using an anonymous account? This filter that I/we engage in is pretty interesting. I have friends who know me in real life, online friends, and there’s an overall feeling of discomfort around disclosing too much information. So yes, I’m completely aware of the filter that I put up on social media. And this isn’t just for potentially embarrassing or unhinged topics — the effort and time people put into editing their photos and making them look nice also counts. Sure, they might be posting for themselves, but part of it might be that they want their content to look presentable for others to see. But if it is posted just for yourself, would all of that still matter?
You’ve probably heard of the old phrase “Think before you speak” and I totally agree with this statement. But what would people look like if they didn’t have a filter at all? Judged and/or outcasted would be my guess.
I might try an experiment to see whether my content would differ if I used an anonymous account, specifically around photography. But I might be too lazy to go through with it. I guess only time will tell.
Wretched and Divine 