So What's Up, My Dudes? · 7:15am May 30th, 2019
I got a text from Super Trampoline today asking about whether I'd be interested in judging a feghoot contest. Since I couldn't get the link to work on my phone, I figured I'd drop back in here and see what's going on.
I'll most likely take that judging offer, though I have a limited amount of free time. If there are a million entries, that could complicate things for me.
So how's it been, everyone?
For me, it's been... difficult. My job has been chaotic and draining for the last few years, and I had some pretty bad bouts with depression at the beginning of the year. Depression hasn't really been a thing in my life up until now, so I had to really figure some things out. It didn't help that I got REALLY sick in January, and that sent me over the edge.
But a lot of that's been worked out, so I'm feeling better.
How are people feeling about this final season? I haven't seen anything besides the season premiere, which I didn't care for. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either, and I really didn't care for what they did with Sombra. He was what I considered to be the darkest villain that MLP had in its roster, and they made him into a goof. Not that shocking for a children's show, but it was a letdown for me.
I never really got on board with the Student Six or the school idea in season eight, so my interest in MLP as a whole has waned. I just shrugged my way through the last season. I'm sure if I saw a list of episodes, I could pick out a few that I really liked, but I can't recall any at the moment. I'm not a fan of Cozy Glow, though. I didn't really get a good understanding of her motivation. I did only watch the episodes once, so maybe I missed something, but why was she trying to take over everything? She's, like, eight...
In other cartoon news, I still need to watch season four of Star vs. The Forces of Evil. I just found out that it's the final season, so that makes me sad. I really liked that show. I hope it maintains its quality.
Steven Universe "ended", and that was a shock to me. I didn't realize the arc was coming to an end so soon, so I was caught off-guard when it all resolved. For a series that moves very, very slowly, I thought that they wrapped it up too quickly. Oh well. It's still good.
I enjoyed Puppycat and Bee.
So fiction. Yeah.
Honestly, I miss writing here. I miss it a lot, actually. However, the awful truth of things is that I've opened up Gdocs several times over the last years and looked at it for ten or fifteen minutes before closing it again. I just don't have anything to say. Part of it is that I'm exhausted. Part of it is that I just don't really find the show very inspiring anymore. I still feel like I have a few stories to tell, but as of now, they just aren't coming out of me. I'd like for that to change, but I don't think that it's very likely to do so.
We will see, though. I've though several times of just giving myself a prompt and limiting myself to a thousand words. I can bang that out in about an hour. Or, at least I could before. Who knows now? But in any event, just writing something and tossing it if it's terrible would be nice. Of course, publishing if it wasn't terrible would be even better, but let's not get overly excited, shall we. I did have an idea for a Cheerilee's Thousand chapter jump into my head after a got that text from Super Trampoline, so maybe all isn't lost.
So, what's up with you?
Glad to hear an update! I got like 5 episodes into the new season of SvtFoE; I need to keep watching.
Have you tried watching the (relatively) new She-Ra and the Princesses of Power? If you like all those other shows you mentioned, you’ll probably like this one.
If you’re only going to watch one other episode of season nine that has aired so far, watch the 200th episode. It’s not mind blowing but it’s pretty good.
Hey man, long time. Glad to see you're still kicking.
Good to hear from you! Lately things could’ve been better for everyone, it sounds like.
Good to know you're still kicking around! :D
I've been depressed, too. :B Looking for a job is demoralizing work.
S9 has so far actually been pretty decent. Like, they have yet to make the School of Friendship look like a good idea in hindsight, but they're not focusing on it quite as much, and they're writing the Student Six as better characters. Agreed on Cozy Glow. She's got such a crazy villain arc, with that one glaring omission of motive that would make it all come together.
I've been downloading Star vs. recently because I never finished watching the first season let alone the rest. :B Steven Universe was great. Bee and Puppycat I have less generous feelings about. Something went wrong right in the middle of the series, and it ended up being a huge disappointment for me. Of course, buyer's remorse is also linked with that somewhere, since I helped Kickstart it. >.> I gotta stop doing that...
Hey, amigo. Good to hear your voice again.
I'm enjoying S9 for what it is, a continuation and exploration of themes that have been set up for quite some time. It still elevates my mood but it's because it's surface-level cute, because I know these characters, and because the actors' performances have gotten a bit more sophisticated as time has gone on. The reasons the show elevates my mood have changed from the reasons that it used to elevate my mood, but the elevation is still there—for a few more months, at least.
5066734
No, I haven't seen it. I was never really into She-Ra when she first appeared in the 80s, but I'll take a look. The new He-Man cartoon that came out a few years ago was pretty good, so I could see it working.
I'll get to season nine at some point. I've just been invested in other things currently.
5066735
Whoa. New avatar. Nice!
Anyway, nice to be back. Hopefully it will spur some creativity out of me.
5066762
I'm not sure about nation-wide, but here in the San Francisco bay area, it definitely feels like a lot of people are struggling. These appear to be trying times.
5066775
I was trying to explain that to a girlfriend of mine long ago. I've only been out of a job once in my life for about four months. She was really on me about taking anything just to make ends meet, and that makes a certain amount of sense, but I explained to her that having that kind of a job would level me too exhausted to look for another, better job. That's how you end up stuck. Luckily, she was reasonable and things worked out shortly after that.
Depending on your monetary needs, you can probably work for UPS like I do or one of our competitors. They ALWAYS need entry-level loaders/unloaders, and it's very easy to work your way up. I loved the job at that level, but I like physical work, so there's that.
I've failed to connect with the Student Six so much that I literally only know two of their names, and one of those is because Yona speaks in the third person. I remember Sandbar for some reason. I couldn't tell you the other four. To me, they are Griffon That I Like, Fake Pinkie Pie, Boring Changling, and Smolder-Who-I-Just-Remembered. I actually do kind of like Smolder, but she seems too much like Ember, who was a better character.
I had no idea that Puppycat and Bee was a kickstarter thing. I figured that it was a series where they were trying to cash in on the Steven Universe vibe. It feels similar without being anywhere near as good. Kinda feels like they were writing it without a clear idea of where they were going, but the ending episodes were interesting enough to earn a like from me.
5066809
I guess that's generally how I feel about the show. It's surface-level cute. I don't really look forward to it like I did when it was in the earlier seasons, but it's still a decent way to make twenty-two minutes go bay. I do get a feeling of "We don't know what to do with this series" from these last few seasons, though. First they make it the Starlight Glimmer Show. Then they sideline that to make it the "MLP Teaches School Show." Now PresentPerfect is telling me that the school thing is background now, as well. That really feels like throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, though anything sticking is irrelevant at this point. I've never really made the transition to Josh Haber. I just don't care for his writing or leadership.
5066825
Huh, it's almost like capitalism kicks you in the ass so you're too worn down to fight it.
(Am I still an annoying leftist? You better fucking believe it!)
5066825
Holy shit, it's like absolutely nobody recognizes this. I'm hitting a point where I need to get a part-time job to save up money so I can get a real job, but in doing so, I won't be able to look for other jobs, and I have to make sure I don't make too much, or I lose my health insurance and fall into worse problems. :|
And B&P (it's B&P, not P&B!) was done by someone who worked on Adventure Time, so it's basically a sibling series to SU.
Hey, juggy! How're things over here, you ask, Well, things were bad for a while, but now they're better-ish. We'll see where I am when next year rolls around--that'll go a long way towards determining whether the better-ish-ness was a temporary abatement, or a return to normalcy.
I'm still way behind on the show, so I couldn't tell you what's up with that :P Honestly, watching it is on my list of things to do, but I just find it so difficult to summon up the will to watch the new episodes when there's so little time, and so many other things I want to do.
It's really good to hear from you, though. Especially since I just learned that an old FiMFic friend who I hadn't talked to in a couple of years had passed away. I didn't think you were dead, true, but it's always nice to hear from old voices after discovering something like that.
5066951
Is it Bee and Puppycat? It just sounds so much better the other way in my head.
I keep hoping for universal/single payer healthcare to alleviate some of those issues for people, but this country is resistant to logic and simplicity.
5067634
Nice to hear that you're feeling better in the short-term, at least.
If you mean InsertAuthorHere, that was a pretty shocking thing to find out like the second I logged back in. I had a few conversations with the guy, and he seemed pretty alright. I was sorry to hear the news.
5067751
I mean, your way at least fits the Pink and the Brain theme song. :B