don't you wish the orange stayed forever?

finding myself wandering back down the rabbit hole that is the 2000s emo scene developing and crashing as my fall break winds down. finding inspiration and entertainment in pete wentz's old livejournal entries from 2005-2006. i have more band OCs floating around in my head (i'm even managing to draw a few of them, when i can get my focus in check). i don't exclusively make OCs that are in bands but it's fun to make them because then you have a whole band to build around them. you can make a playlist of what the band would sound like, branch off into other bands that influence them, develop their group dynamic, think of what their fans would think of them, even draft lyrics for what their songs are like. bands are just cool. they exist in little eras-- during this time period they had this album out and their hair looked like this and they dressed like that, etc etc. and many of my favorite bands/albums are from (surprise surprise) the 90s/00s which has gone on to become especially interesting to me because i was alive back then, but i wasn't really around for the "culture" of it.

i mean, i'm all about it now, but it's not really nostalgia, exactly, because i was, for example, 9 years old in 2004. sure, american idiot came out that year, but i wasn't screaming about green day because i was in 3rd grade and all i cared about was pokemon, neopets, and teen titans. i wasn't old enough to be obsessed with daria and buffy, i wasn't really even old enough to understand them with any depth. i didn't get a gamecube until i was like 12 years old and i wasn't reading shit like electronic gaming monthly or nintendo power, keeping up with new releases or griping about new trends in gaming. it's like there's this whole world of shit that's so beancore, but that i didn't get to explore because i was busy learning long division and trying to beat the champion fight in leafgreen. i wasn't on the pulse point of the internet; i was playing sutek's tomb and watching stupidass flash animations. but now, i can explore it, with hindsight and a perspective that allows me to appreciate the culture of that era. and make fun of it too, of course. those were post-9/11 years, after all.

i got caught up on critical role (again) after losing touch with it while i was watching buffy. i don't know why i tend to second guess staying up to date with the show, or put off watching new episodes-- they're long, sure, but i always end up really enjoying it. i'd also planned on watching the new season of legend of vox machina, but it's coming out piecemeal and i think it might be better to watch it once it's fully released. and really i'm just biding my time until the mighty nein show comes out.... mighty nein my beloved

my hair is freshly bleached, though some touch-ups are planned for later today to make it all more or less even. shout out to my roommate for doing that for me and putting up with me complaining about my ears itching from the bleach. i did two pieces of digital art during this break(!) and scribbled up a "zero draft" of something that i'll maybe post...? i dunno. i have vague ambitions (i'm not good at those) of making some sort of collection of short stories set in my rpg setting. some day i gotta sit down and Plan that. maybe while i'm at work-- that sounds silly, but you'd be surprised how effective it is to be at work but do something else besides your job.

oh also: i got another tattoo scheduled. november 6th. that's gonna be fuuuunnn