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younglegends) wrote2024-01-05 01:46 pm
younglegends) wrote2024-01-05 01:46 pm
2023 favourites
debated writing up this post. unfortunately whenever i think back to the year i immediately come up against a lot of resistance, a lot of negative or nothing feelings, but when i think a little more i realize there were a lot of good times too. and i don't want to forget those things, let them be buried under the overall lovelessness. it's easy to think of this year as being stagnant; it's not like i really did all that much. in fact it felt like most of this year was spent actively avoiding thinking about anything i had to do. really, when i think back to this year, it felt hard in a lot of ways, but perhaps i'm most blindsided by how hard it felt in terms of friendships. like, why was it so hard. and why was i so hurt by it being hard. why does it all feel like getting nowhere. and when i reach for a word of the year… i think of the word graceless... but i don’t know if it’s earned even that. not enough in the attempt, i think.
still. there's never nothing.
experiences
- road trips: seattle, calgary, offroading. traveled by plane for the first time since before the pandemic: went to seoul, busan, and hong kong with friends. was met with open generosity by a friend of a friend who told us in her frank and no-nonsense way, sometimes she just looks out at the ocean and cries. don't think i'll ever forget that. stood in the ocean until the sun set. caught a cold. got better. our last day we got stranded in our hotel by a typhoon and it was lowkey one of the best days...
- swam across a lake. felt like i could float off the face of the earth
- went camping. froze our asses off. breathtaking
- started playing badminton... won't lie i haven't gone in a month and idk when i will go back (isn't it funny how friends open you up to new experiences but also new complications) but it's pretty cool to look back and realize i stuck with it for most of the year! i think i did ok for myself and learned a lot considering i don't think of myself as an active person at all. next (this) year i think i really would like to go swimming more... also um take more walks? don't know how viable this is considering who i am as a person
- big thief concert. i love love. would have loved to go to more concerts. alas. this year i would really like to listen to/discover more artists who are new to me!
- foods of the year: malatang, specifically becoming regulars at one restaurant. sauerkraut fish which literally took my family by storm. baked a pie for the first time (the overly complicated viral milkbar pumpkin pie lol) and had a breakdown midway through that really was not related to fucking up the caramel at all.
- started making actual livable changes to my room: installed wall shelves, took off my ugly closet doors and now it's actually a functional closet. i have room to arrange and organize my things, though i haven't yet. i have laundry to do. i need to get rid of my old falling-apart bookshelves and think about the prospect of new furniture. work for the new year!
media
tv
- MR ROBOT rewatch takes it all to the point that after we finished we were like so what now. should we just rewatch it again. unfortunately we cannot do that. there is simply nothing else in the world that will ever compare to darlene looking into elliot's face and saying hello, elliot. ever ever ever. i think about this all the time. there will be nothing else like it ever.
- we started watching MAD MEN instead and i am rapidly becoming obsessed with it. i didn't think i would but damn. don draper i really wasn't familiar with your game. you're right it truly shocks me how much it never happened! what really surprises me is that for a show so much about the lack/emptiness, i still feel there's tenderness in it. or it's capable of it. or it wants to be. it's just so frankly human...
- SUCCESSION was fun but fell flat i think. BARRY wasn't fun lol but it was fine. loved everything about THE BEAR exceptttt the shoddy writing with claire, like are u serious rn did that really happen lol.
- might rewatch HALT AND CATCH FIRE after we finish mad men. watch this space!
- btw. thank god wano arc is over. I hated u so bad (for the most part)
movies
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN: i'm always watching a random movie in january that i don't expect to ruin me emotionally and become my favourite movie of the year (see also: PIG). it's so good at being both absurdly hilarious and awfully devastating. and what a cast!!
- ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE: sheer excellence and heart. the movie theatre experience of the year for me
- feels like i didn't watch that much this year but i did. they were just not good movies.
games
- HONKAI STAR RAIL. is it a good game? the main story has kind of sucked (like blade what da hell are u doing) and the only real content is spending an hour in simulated universe gold and gears difficulty v just to die and fail on the final boss. do i have absolute fun? well yes. i’m a daily pass buyer bc i like trying for a light cone here or there but i'll never spend any more than that bc i’m wary of the longevity of this game... as much fun as i’m having rn i know it won’t last forever. i mean i played genshin religiously for two years and now i haven’t even thought about it in ages ever since i started hsr lol it’s like that. but i am genuinely enjoying hsr’s turn-based combat soooo much so it’s back to the su mines for me salute emoji. now if only the story could get better… btw i only care about what’s up with LUOCHA my beloved. Please turn out to be secretly evil or get some story at some point bc your story quest sucked absolute ass. prayer emoji.
my 36star clear floor 12 teams rn btw:
1. huohuo, clara, blade s1, dhil s1. Talk about struggling lmfaooo i really just put in whoever the hell and my dhil never had enough sp but somehow it worked out anyway. that’s how stupid dhil is. My blade is my best built character and the first character I really went all out for and spent ages farming for so at this point i will never not use him. Clara is not well built (girl i cannot even get 100 cdmg on u) but does pretty well anyway... i need to invest more into her.
2. luocha s1, jingliu, bronya, ruan mei s1. AUGH I WISH I HAD JINGLIU LC SO BAD <- guy who lost everything when pulling for jl and went to hard pity twice. i am pretty lucky most of the time in that i've won most of my 50/50s and haven't lost at all yet on the lc banner but that killed me a little i can't lie. recently got bronya through the 300 wish standard selector and she is built with some lint half a string and a dream. i wasn't going to get rm but the break effect mechanics are just so satisfying, i play simulated universe a LOT, and that lc art is insanely gorgeous.
pulling plans atm:
- black swan for my kafka… she only has guinaifen bc i refuse to build luka/sampo lol
- jingliu lc when she reruns 🥲
- gonna skip hanabi because i actually don’t give a shit about my dhil whom i only pulled bc i accidentally did a 10pull on his lc banner and got it…. genuinely when ratio comes out i might build him instead bc at least his kit is like. Funny
- i've skipped fu xuan, topaz, argenti, and jing yuan. from standard/losing 5050s i have clara, gepard, e2 himeko, and most recently welt. also have silver wolf and seele who have earned their retirement for a while LOL. might keep an eye out for if aventurine seems interesting, though i don't really like preservation characters most of the time, and acheron, though i don't really want another nihility lightning character.
if any NA hsr players are reading this post btw... add me!! UID 603812688 <3
- HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER: my toxic trait is that i will get 95% through a game and then never finish it. that's exactly what happened here, unfortunately. it was still beautiful, though
- PENTIMENT: just started this and am really enjoying it. i've finished act i and it's devastating to me already like oh so it's gonna be this kind of story huh. Literally oh i wasn't familiar with your game.
- yes i once again reinstalled LEAGUE OF LEGENDS recently... sorry there's just never going to be anything as stupid fun as playing aram with your friends. and there will never be anything that scratches the sheer itch of satisfaction in my brain as playing jinx. pew pew!
books
- i completely stopped being able to read books in the fall/winter. also stopped writing too. what was up with that. also don't think i read anything i really loved :(
- THE RABBIT HUTCH was probably my overall favourite read of the year
- currently/slowly still trying to read WOLF HALL... by which i mean i'm 11% through and will once in a while open it up on a bus to highlight a few sentences. Sorryyy it's really dense and i don't know anything about the history and every time i return to it after a long while i have to reread the entire section i was on to regather my bearings but i swear i'll keep making progress in this way...
- oh i was able to attend talks/signings by mona awad + celeste ng this year (though i forgot to bring the books to get signed.) and that was very cool! no i did not finish either of their new published books this year... and i will probably never? but i'll always love bunny + everything i never told you <3
albums listened (soundtrack of the year post coming up btw)
- DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU: caroline polachek. album of da yearrrr
- JAVELIN: sufjan stevens. just gorgeous.
- ONE HAND ON THE STEERING WHEEL THE OTHER SEWING A GARDEN: ada lea. ada lea was right: DAMN.
- UNLOCK MY WORLD: fromis_9. i don't love a lot of fromis songs but this album seriously got me thru a certain period of this year
- FORMENTERA II: metric. obligatory!
- POP 2: charli xcx. DO U EVER FEEL GUILT FOR WHAT UVE DONE.
that's it i think! except for aforementioned upcoming soundtrack post. also, yes, writing round-up post. thanks for reading my silly little posts... wishing us all good health and what we want in 2024. i love u!
still. there's never nothing.
experiences
- road trips: seattle, calgary, offroading. traveled by plane for the first time since before the pandemic: went to seoul, busan, and hong kong with friends. was met with open generosity by a friend of a friend who told us in her frank and no-nonsense way, sometimes she just looks out at the ocean and cries. don't think i'll ever forget that. stood in the ocean until the sun set. caught a cold. got better. our last day we got stranded in our hotel by a typhoon and it was lowkey one of the best days...
- swam across a lake. felt like i could float off the face of the earth
- went camping. froze our asses off. breathtaking
- started playing badminton... won't lie i haven't gone in a month and idk when i will go back (isn't it funny how friends open you up to new experiences but also new complications) but it's pretty cool to look back and realize i stuck with it for most of the year! i think i did ok for myself and learned a lot considering i don't think of myself as an active person at all. next (this) year i think i really would like to go swimming more... also um take more walks? don't know how viable this is considering who i am as a person
- big thief concert. i love love. would have loved to go to more concerts. alas. this year i would really like to listen to/discover more artists who are new to me!
- foods of the year: malatang, specifically becoming regulars at one restaurant. sauerkraut fish which literally took my family by storm. baked a pie for the first time (the overly complicated viral milkbar pumpkin pie lol) and had a breakdown midway through that really was not related to fucking up the caramel at all.
- started making actual livable changes to my room: installed wall shelves, took off my ugly closet doors and now it's actually a functional closet. i have room to arrange and organize my things, though i haven't yet. i have laundry to do. i need to get rid of my old falling-apart bookshelves and think about the prospect of new furniture. work for the new year!
media
tv
- MR ROBOT rewatch takes it all to the point that after we finished we were like so what now. should we just rewatch it again. unfortunately we cannot do that. there is simply nothing else in the world that will ever compare to darlene looking into elliot's face and saying hello, elliot. ever ever ever. i think about this all the time. there will be nothing else like it ever.
- we started watching MAD MEN instead and i am rapidly becoming obsessed with it. i didn't think i would but damn. don draper i really wasn't familiar with your game. you're right it truly shocks me how much it never happened! what really surprises me is that for a show so much about the lack/emptiness, i still feel there's tenderness in it. or it's capable of it. or it wants to be. it's just so frankly human...
- SUCCESSION was fun but fell flat i think. BARRY wasn't fun lol but it was fine. loved everything about THE BEAR exceptttt the shoddy writing with claire, like are u serious rn did that really happen lol.
- might rewatch HALT AND CATCH FIRE after we finish mad men. watch this space!
- btw. thank god wano arc is over. I hated u so bad (for the most part)
movies
- THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN: i'm always watching a random movie in january that i don't expect to ruin me emotionally and become my favourite movie of the year (see also: PIG). it's so good at being both absurdly hilarious and awfully devastating. and what a cast!!
- ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE: sheer excellence and heart. the movie theatre experience of the year for me
- feels like i didn't watch that much this year but i did. they were just not good movies.
games
- HONKAI STAR RAIL. is it a good game? the main story has kind of sucked (like blade what da hell are u doing) and the only real content is spending an hour in simulated universe gold and gears difficulty v just to die and fail on the final boss. do i have absolute fun? well yes. i’m a daily pass buyer bc i like trying for a light cone here or there but i'll never spend any more than that bc i’m wary of the longevity of this game... as much fun as i’m having rn i know it won’t last forever. i mean i played genshin religiously for two years and now i haven’t even thought about it in ages ever since i started hsr lol it’s like that. but i am genuinely enjoying hsr’s turn-based combat soooo much so it’s back to the su mines for me salute emoji. now if only the story could get better… btw i only care about what’s up with LUOCHA my beloved. Please turn out to be secretly evil or get some story at some point bc your story quest sucked absolute ass. prayer emoji.
my 36star clear floor 12 teams rn btw:
1. huohuo, clara, blade s1, dhil s1. Talk about struggling lmfaooo i really just put in whoever the hell and my dhil never had enough sp but somehow it worked out anyway. that’s how stupid dhil is. My blade is my best built character and the first character I really went all out for and spent ages farming for so at this point i will never not use him. Clara is not well built (girl i cannot even get 100 cdmg on u) but does pretty well anyway... i need to invest more into her.
2. luocha s1, jingliu, bronya, ruan mei s1. AUGH I WISH I HAD JINGLIU LC SO BAD <- guy who lost everything when pulling for jl and went to hard pity twice. i am pretty lucky most of the time in that i've won most of my 50/50s and haven't lost at all yet on the lc banner but that killed me a little i can't lie. recently got bronya through the 300 wish standard selector and she is built with some lint half a string and a dream. i wasn't going to get rm but the break effect mechanics are just so satisfying, i play simulated universe a LOT, and that lc art is insanely gorgeous.
pulling plans atm:
- black swan for my kafka… she only has guinaifen bc i refuse to build luka/sampo lol
- jingliu lc when she reruns 🥲
- gonna skip hanabi because i actually don’t give a shit about my dhil whom i only pulled bc i accidentally did a 10pull on his lc banner and got it…. genuinely when ratio comes out i might build him instead bc at least his kit is like. Funny
- i've skipped fu xuan, topaz, argenti, and jing yuan. from standard/losing 5050s i have clara, gepard, e2 himeko, and most recently welt. also have silver wolf and seele who have earned their retirement for a while LOL. might keep an eye out for if aventurine seems interesting, though i don't really like preservation characters most of the time, and acheron, though i don't really want another nihility lightning character.
if any NA hsr players are reading this post btw... add me!! UID 603812688 <3
- HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER: my toxic trait is that i will get 95% through a game and then never finish it. that's exactly what happened here, unfortunately. it was still beautiful, though
- PENTIMENT: just started this and am really enjoying it. i've finished act i and it's devastating to me already like oh so it's gonna be this kind of story huh. Literally oh i wasn't familiar with your game.
- yes i once again reinstalled LEAGUE OF LEGENDS recently... sorry there's just never going to be anything as stupid fun as playing aram with your friends. and there will never be anything that scratches the sheer itch of satisfaction in my brain as playing jinx. pew pew!
books
- i completely stopped being able to read books in the fall/winter. also stopped writing too. what was up with that. also don't think i read anything i really loved :(
- THE RABBIT HUTCH was probably my overall favourite read of the year
- currently/slowly still trying to read WOLF HALL... by which i mean i'm 11% through and will once in a while open it up on a bus to highlight a few sentences. Sorryyy it's really dense and i don't know anything about the history and every time i return to it after a long while i have to reread the entire section i was on to regather my bearings but i swear i'll keep making progress in this way...
- oh i was able to attend talks/signings by mona awad + celeste ng this year (though i forgot to bring the books to get signed.) and that was very cool! no i did not finish either of their new published books this year... and i will probably never? but i'll always love bunny + everything i never told you <3
albums listened (soundtrack of the year post coming up btw)
- DESIRE, I WANT TO TURN INTO YOU: caroline polachek. album of da yearrrr
- JAVELIN: sufjan stevens. just gorgeous.
- ONE HAND ON THE STEERING WHEEL THE OTHER SEWING A GARDEN: ada lea. ada lea was right: DAMN.
- UNLOCK MY WORLD: fromis_9. i don't love a lot of fromis songs but this album seriously got me thru a certain period of this year
- FORMENTERA II: metric. obligatory!
- POP 2: charli xcx. DO U EVER FEEL GUILT FOR WHAT UVE DONE.
that's it i think! except for aforementioned upcoming soundtrack post. also, yes, writing round-up post. thanks for reading my silly little posts... wishing us all good health and what we want in 2024. i love u!