shadowhive

So it’s the last sunshine challenge prompt already! It seems time has gone so fast. It’s been fun to do and I think I’ll miss it.

The last one is about what do we like about ourselves.

To be honest, I don’t really like these sort of questions. I’ve never been much of a self lover (no sniggering Heather!) and that’s probably come from the mess of my life. I was bullied as a kid, even before I came out. I was shy and quiet, so I found it hard to make friends. I’m bad at social things too and tend to just keep to myself. If it wasn’t for the internet I don’t think I’d have anyone. (You may think I’m kidding, but I have zero friends here. The closest I have are those I see at the streetpass meets.) As such I’ve spent a big chunk of my life isolated and I spent a portion helping mum care for my grandparents, which was... draining.

I guess you could say what I love about myself is that, somehow, I’ve managed to survive this long. Bullying didn’t kill me, depression didn’t, being fucked over by people I care about didn’t, seeing the member of my family I loved most look at me like a stranger didn’t... so I guess that.

I dunno though. *shrugs*

***

Sunshine has been good though. It’s been fun and anyone that wants to can follow me.

***

General post stuff now.

I’ve watched some of the Who special features from the first disc and it’s pretty good. There’s just one more main thing which I might watch tonight.

The weather has been a bitch. Too sunny and warm. It feels like I’m melting and I have no focus to write which is annoying. There was a storm Tuesday night, complete with lightning but it didn’t clear the air like I hoped.

I finished the first Doom patrol volume of Gerard’s run yesterday and it’s... I’m glad I read it in one go, because I think I understood it better, though it’s still a bit crazy (I guess going in clueless didn’t help). I’m gonna try and read the second volume later in hopes some more things will get explained. (like the weird girl and the cat)

I ended up sleeping early last night which was annoying.

I’ve still been on Stardew a lot. I’m almost at winter now and I’m gonna unlock the quarry then which should help level up mining. The mine has become too hard which is frustrating and I can’t seem to find out what to do to make it easier. Still I love Sebastian and he’s over 8 hearts now. And I have an extra chicken to live with Gerard.

<>I’m gonna try and sort new icons when mum’s at the library. Lucifer, Frank in drag, glasses Gerard and aWho icon. I know what I’m gonna lose too. The solo Eicca one and the Nachtblut ones (as much as I love them, I’m not gonna write them anymore so...)

Edit to add: turns out I didn’t need to edit any, there was an icon slot increase and I didn’t realise oops.

Saturday is meant to be the Streetpass meet in Birmingham but I’m not sure about going. It’s a mix of the heat, lack of money and the fact I’ve not got the game that’s the focus. We’ll see though.

Lastly I still have this meme if you wanna leave me guys for it.

So this part of the sunshine challenge is all about fulfilling someone’s fandom related wish. I’m not sure what I’ll do for it yet (to be honest I haven’t been up for long) so this post is more about the sort of things I’d like in case anyone feels like doing me something.

First off, I did do a fandom wish list of sorts awhile back here and here is a pic post of most of the guys mentioned in the post.

So first I’m gonna add thing some other general things not covered by posts.

Recs

I’ve not been very good at keeping up with ao3 lately (due to my uni assignment then my exam) so I’ve not kept up with certain tags (or looked into them). I have a huge bunch of fic tabs (or doom) I need to read and I’m hoping to read them in the mornings now it’s the summer vacation. So! First off I’m gonna request some fic recs.

First is The Umbrella Academy (tv). I was pretty good at monitoring it but I lost track of it sadly about two months ago and I’ve only kept up with the multi part fics I’ve subscribed to. I’ll read pretty much anything with Klaus, Diego or Ben that’s slashy (Though I’m eh about Dave, he’s kinda blank to me).

Second is Lucifer. I’ve not gone through the tag at all, in large part because I’m working my way through it and don’t want to run into spoilers (I’m midway through season 3). Anything slashy with Lucifer would’ve awesome,

Third is The Flash, like Lucifer my main issue is because I’ve only watched the first three seasons, so I don’t wanna run into spoilers (which I did the last timeI looked). Cisco related slashy goodness would be awesome (I have a soft spot for a Reverb too, he died too soon damnit).

Music recs

If anyone has any music they want to rec, please do! My music taste is all over the place, from Kylie to Motionless In White, to My Chemical Romance.

Icons

I’m in the process of sorting my icons out (read as, I need to boot my laptop up to make/switch them round which I’m putting off). If anyone has any Lucifer pics I could use for them, that’d be great.

Fic

My fandom wish list post mentions some of the fic I’d like to see but I’ll give my main wants here for reference.

As you might tell if you looked at the pic post linked above, I have a thing for guys with curly hair. Alas there is not much fic of guys with them. Claudio Sanchez, Austin Diaz, Ilan Rubin and Ray Toro all are underrated. Ray is the only one that has content, but even most of that is him as a side character. Anyone that does slash fic with them is a+

General bands that need more love fic wise (look at the tags there’s not much) The Used, Motionless In White, Good Charlotte, Madina Lake, Blue and Bullet For My Valentine. Look at the tags for them and there’s not much for any of them which is a shame so any slashy goodness would be great. (if Bullet Id prefer if it included Jay of course since I’ve not read anything with him in ages and he’s vanished into the ether.) honestly I don’t get why some bands lack content, some are just so slashy (Blue did a naked photo shoot not once but twice, The Used frequently kiss etc) Also the Palaye Royale boys don’t get much love with each other which is a shame and for MCR there’s not much new content for Ray or Waycest. I suspect tumblr’s purity people are putting people off which sucks.

Cisco, Lucifer or The Umbrella Academy content would be awesome too.

Anything for these would be awesome, even if it’s something short (I tend to read smutty slashy stuff mostly, but I’ll read anything if it’s good especially if it’s for the smaller fandoms or people.

New people

I’ve got some old Who boxsets on the way so I’m thinking of posting my thoughts as I watch them. It’d be awesome if you’d be interested in reading them to give me a follow. I’m always looking for more people to befriend to ramble about such things with. Also if anyone is into Star Wars that’s be great too.

Prompt 3 is about sharing recs for stuff

First off, I’ve had a few iffy days lately so these are probably not going to be as in depth as I’d like, still I’m gonna try and give it a go and do two things from each category. (One well known, one less well known.) I decided to leave out comics and bookssince I don’t read much of either.)

TV

1: The Flash

I’ve only recently gotten into The Flash. I started watching when it was shown on Pick tv here in the uk and it shown the first three seasons. It’s doing a second run through of them now (though oddly started from season 2). It was my first time watching a DC show, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I figured I should give it a shot. I was hooked pretty much instantly and I fell in love with Cisco (who, it seems, doesn’t get as much love as he deserves which I don’t get). He’s so funny and geeky, I couldn’t not love him. I do wish Reverb from Earth 2 had been in it more for reasons. But yeah, it’s a fun show for the most part, although it can have darkness it’s generally light hearted and fun.

2: Taskmaster

I’m not sure how easy it is for anyone outside the uk to watch Taskmaster, but if you can, watch it. It is easily the funniest thing on tv. So to anyone that has not seen it, what is it? Well, basically each series has a different group of people (mostly comedians) doing tasks for the Taskmaster (The brilliant Greg Davies). These tasks are completely ridiculous and range from moving a ball but only using water, to guessing what’s inside pies without opening them (hint, it’s not what you’d expect) to making meals in the shape of flags. The whole thing is just hilarious because of the way people tackle these things. Some do amazingly well, while others fail spectacularly.

Streaming

So I added this because there’s shows on streaming platforms which need love, so here goes

1: The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

If you have not yet seen The Umbrella Academy, go and see it. The 10 episode series is easily one of the best things on Netflix and the second season is being filmed as we speak. It’s about The Umbrella Academy, a team of former heroes who are bought back together when their ‘father’ dies under mysterious circumstances. Over the course of the series they have to deal with time travel, assassins and, most importantly, each other.

The show is based on comics by Gerard Way (which are far wilder than the series) and I was so glad with how well they did the series especially with Klaus who was always my favourite.

2: Lucifer (amazon prime 1-3, Netflix 4)

So this is another show I got into randomly. I’d heard about it and figured I may as well check it out. The concept, Lucifer helps cops solve crimes, sounded pretty out there but it works so well. It’s funny and fun, plus all the characters are actually likeable. It doesn’t hurt that Lucifer is hot and gets topless quite a bit. I’m working my way through season 3 right now.

There’s a lot of things that can fit as honourable mentions here. Netflix has so many good shows, like Disenchantment, The Dragon Prince, Russian Doll, Final Space, The Good Place, Star Trek Discovery and those are just the first ones that come to mind that I’ve seen.

Films

1: Star Wars (Episodes I-VIII, Solo, Rogue One)

So yeah, I have to mention Star Wars because it’s such a big part of my life. *gestures at all the Star Wars stuff around me* I started watching it in 97 with the special editions of the original trilogy and I’ve never looked back. I love all the films, the tv shows and the books (especially Bloodline). I won’t go into what it’s about, because I’m sure everyone knows (even people that haven’t seen it can recognise things from it) but I couldn’t not put it here.

Star Wars Episode VII was also the first film I saw at a midnight showing... which went mostly well until the fire alarm wen toff during a key moment (the bridge scene). No one moved. Thankfully it was a false alarm or we’d all be toast.

2: Trick R Treat

So picking a second film to list here is tricky because there are so many things that I like to watch (like Resident Evil and Mamma Mia) but I decided to go for something that I don’t think many people have seen. Trick R Treat is, as the name implies, a Halloween film. It is, at its core, an anthology film, with intersecting tales set in the same down on Halloween. What makes the film so good and rewatchable (along with Nightmare Before Christmas I watch it every Halloween) is how many little details there are to it. On multiple watches you can see little details throughout that reference the other stories. The whole thing is just so well done.

Games

1: The Legend Of Zelda series

Anyone that knows me will know I love Zelda. I dunno why, but there’s just something about the series that I just cling on to and fell in love with. My first tattoos were Zelda ones and one of my cats is named after a Zelda character. The last game, Breath Of The Wild, was one of the best selling games on the switch and was the reason why many people bought the console. It’s certainly why I got it on day one and I played it so much back then. There’s a lot to love about the game, but my favourite thing about it is a certain Prince Sidon, who is just wonderful. Numerous times I’d go back to him just to get a boost from his enthusiasm.

Zelda always gives me one of my lasting memories of my grandfather, which is of him watching me play the early areas of Twilight Princess when I first got it. (Similarly, Star Wars also has an enduring memory of him yelling in the cinema when we saw Episode I which was embarrassing)

2: Yoku’s Island Express

Again, this was a hard choice because there’s so many games I love. But so many (Elder Scrolls, Pokemon) are big names that people will be familiar with. So instead I’m gonna use a little indie game. Yoku’s Island Express is a game I won last year and it’s such a cute fun game, with a unique concept. You play as Yoku, the new postman on a tropical island. To get around the island you either walk around as normal or do sections that are pinball based. I’ve never known a game use pinball mechanics this was and, while it can get frustrating at times, it’s bright and fun enough to keep going with. Plus it’s full of lots of quirky characters.

Bands

1: My Chemical Romance

Like Zelda and Star Wars, MCR is one of the obvious things about me. Even though the band has been gone for years now, their impact is still very much present. (Just look at the recent fics and you’ll see how much they’re still on my mind.) I love the boys so much and if you somehow haven’t listened to them, go and do so now.

2: Madina Lake

So I was gonna use Bullet For My Valentine here, but I figured they were a little too well known so I switched them for Madina. Like MCR, Madina Lake Are now no longer active (though hints at new music have floated around for awhile). Their performances were always so full of energy and I used to think of them like energiser bunnies because they’d move around so much. The trifecta of songs from their first album (of River People, Stars and Pandora) is one of three follow on songs I’ve heard on an album.

So that’s it. I know I’ve missed a lot of things, but that’s all I feel like covering right now.

(I really need to add icons of Frank in drag and get a Lucifer one but that means loading my laptop and ugh)

So it’s July so that means it’s the start of the sunshine_challenge.

The first prompt is about fannish housekeeping and I wasn’t sure what to do for it at first sight, but then I saw a mention of updating the fic masterpost. I used to do it pretty regularly but I’ve neglected it as of late. I’ve just checked and I’ve not updated it since April which means I’ve got to cover a lot of content including Kliego week. I’m gonna do it this afternoon after walking Naryu and sorting the food shop.

(Also, hi to anyone that’s come here from there! I mostly write about The Umbrella Academy and My Chemical Romance and my dreamwidth is a mix of fic and rambles of all kinds.)

This weekend has ended up being a pretty lazy one. Again, I said I’d watch Good Omens and, again, I’ve ended up not watching it. Instead I ended up watching Disney xd and the documentary about the Nile that I’d missed on Saturday (which is really fascinating, there’s a lot of cool stuff in it. Like Egyptians came up with the year being 365 days! I didn’t know that). Sunday I just watched old the Simpsons eps and Ice Age Collision Course since it was on tv.

Saturday was also pretty hot too which has been so annoying but Sunday was better. I hate this weather though, it’s irritating and overpowering.

Fic wise the plan was that I was going to work on my Cisco Ramon/Kliego fic, which I did a bit on Saturday. But then when I woke on Sunday I had a Ray/Ways dream that wouldn’t go away, so I spent Sunday working on that instead. Except instead of actually doing the main idea it’s (so far) 22+ paragraphs of them meeting and talking. Oops. Ah well, I can tell it’s gonna be something I’m gonna work on until it’s out of my system,

Saturday I had my Star Wars comics delivery and I read two of them, finishing the age of rebellion comics. They were both pretty good, being about Vader and Luke, but I still think the Leia one was my favourite of the rebellion ones.

The highlight of the weekend was definitely yesterday, because bbc 1 had the full Kylie set from Glastonbury on and damn, she’s so good. I’ve not listened to her in awhile, but the love for her never really goes away. She put on such a great show and even had surprise appearances from Chris Martin (random) and Nick Cave. I didn’t expect her to do Where The Wild Roses Grow since it’s such a somber song, but it’s one that I do love (I’ve meant to do a fic based on it but never got around to it). I don’t think I’d ever do Glastonbury myself though, it seems far far too crowded.

Other than that I’ve not done much. I’ve not gamed much and, even though I planned to watch a film or two on the nights, I didn’t. I was gonna try and watch something on Shudder (like one of the subtitled films) or Cure For Wellness on Netflix, but I just felt too drained for either. So instead I watched Lucifer some more, which I do love. It’s such a fun show and I love pretty much everyone in it.

The mushrooms from the kit have grown pretty well, so we’re gonna have mushroom omelette tonight.

I’m gonna head out with Naryu now, then, like I said, I’m gonna sort out the fic masterpost and try and read or write some more.