Writing is being on the train and mentally seeing your OCs stumble into other people, or flinching away from the germ-ridden handrails, or sleeping on each others’ shoulders.
Writing is hearing a song on the radio and watching one of your scenes play out to the lyrics.
Writing is laying on your floor or sitting by your computer and spending hours collaging newspaper clippings or pictures or people or plants together and making something that is completely, uniquely, your story.
Writing is drawing your characters in your notebooks, and making tea only your one, picky character would drink, and writing an open letter to all your characters just to remind them you love them.
Writing is moodboards, and playlists, and crafts, and asks, and prompts, and pictures, and memories, and you.
So never think that just because you’re not putting words on a page, you’re not a real writer. Writing is something that follows you everywhere, beyond the word document, and beyond the screen.
Because writing isn’t something you do. It’s something you are.
how lucky we are that, even crushed under the weight of sadness & grief, we are capable of giving love and joy to other people, and they are often more than happy to give some back.
just as it says on the tin, originally a twitter thread!!! crossposted from my twitter!!! totally not in order!!! i was not taking notes!!!
→they went to jollibee and loved it. thought jolly spaghetti was nice and sweet and waccha said they put chickenjoy gravy over rice →they also had sinigang sa hipon! they also tried out fruits like philippine mangoes and bananas →their impression of PH before going here was that it was a southern hemisphere country, so rlly hot, also good yummy fruits →can i just knight waccha’s translator cuz waccha spoke so so SOOOOO much, kept having to make himself stop to let his translator translate →when asked what theyd wanna be if seiyuu work was off the table, waccha said he always wanted to be seiyuu and couldnt think of ever being anything else, but when audience cried out he could be an idol, he rolled with it lol →audience also said kouchan could be an idol so he rolled with it but actually said he wanted to be a baker, cuz he loves eating bread →was asked what kinda otoge they’d wanna make, waccha: some kinda VR setup where u get to date seiyuu (?) and the main route is kouchan →kouchan went AHHH, ACTUALLY, thats kiiiinda like mine cuz i want ALL my charas to be played by hatano san (“all waccha”) →personal note, we were standing cuz no VIP ticket but HOLY SHIT MOM WE WERE SO CLOSE, TOO CLOSE, THEY WERE SHINING SHIMMERING SPLENDID →waccha never rlly thought about how he decided on being seiyuu but he loves anime so much and ended up here →kouchan went along with a friend who said they should try out for seiyuu work together and he thought it was fun so here he is rn →kou: if i never became seiyuu, i wouldnt have ever been able to meet you all like this, and i’d have never been able to go to PH like this! →back to the otoge: waccha went weeeeell i wanna have it in a filipino setting, so like, at the very last scene the MC would be, like, all- →waccha, in The Voice: mahal kita (i love you) →then he goes, ah, but my MC is CV.kouchan, so wont you do the thing too? what thing? ah youre all alone at the beach, you turn to her, say- →kouchan, in The Voice: bababa? (y’ going down?) (also he shimmies down into an air chair pose cuz he is extra) →waccha was all like WTF BOI WHAT KINDA ENDING IS THAT EVEN????? →kou and waccha had fun with the fact that “bababa ba?” “bababa” can be a full convo (“are u going down?” “i am going down”) →also waccha points out that here “baba” also means “chin” and just like JP the same syllables, same word can mean lots of stuff →i was luckily close enough to see so i am around 40% sure that their surprise bday cake for kouchan was yema cake and now i want yema cake →waccha: the thing is, both kou and i used to play bball, so you know the time before u shoot is like 1sec right??? but in anime the ball FLOATS MID AIR and they talk the ENTIRE TIME →as his translator repeats this he holds a shooting pose in mid air and goes yeppppp it goes like that →kouchan: backwards snapback, checkered shirt, pants, jacket →waccha: black sweater, white shirt, pants (this seems to be a fave outfit) →they both kept on giving heart signs and nama kisses to audience it was unreal →signs they read out from the audience: “notice me kouchan” “notice me waccha” “pls wink” “sing pls” →waccha: i never had acting XP cuz i didnt wanna go to theater club - they went out on school ground screaming weird stuff - →i am TRYING to recall the exact phrase but it was rlly silly, he screamed it, and he made his translator go and scream it out loud too →waccha: and THAT was embarrassing, i never wanted to do it, but here i did it anyway, →kou: u even made her (the translator) do it →kou: now she’s REALLY TRAUMATIZED waccha tantou translator: that was rlly embarrassing →they had kou and waccha play filipino/pinoy henyo! they had to guess words by asking us questions and all we could say are yes, no, maybe →waccha’s word was jollibee: “wait is this food - its filipino? smth we ate here??? uhhhh sinigang??” (kou: NOO) →kouchan’s word was cake: “what is this? some sweet thing?? do i eat it??” (waccha: YOU ALWAYS EAT IT U’VE BEEN EATING IT SINCE U WERE BORN) kouchan: BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE waccha: BE LESS SPECIFIC →for waccha he finally realized it was jollibee cuz kou said it was a chain with many branches and waccha went DOES IT HAVE A MASCOT CHARA →asked about what was hard about being seiyuu, waccha went well, actually everything is hard, its like a wall of challenge upon challenge, but he’d wanted to be a seiyuu for so so sooooo long that not once did he ever think of giving up on his dream →for kou, he said that actually he and waccha were the same, and he knows he always looks like he’s happy and grinning but in fact it’s the fans’ smiles that give him strength to carry on →this bears repeating SOMEONE GIVE WACCHA TANTOU TRANSLATOR A KNIGHTHOOD, VACATION LEAVE, A RAISE, A HUG,SHE’S SO TIRED WACCHA SAID TOO MUCH →waccha: we’re always surprised that we have fans overseas! there’s a lot of untranslateable stuff in JP works so we always wonder how overseas audiences would take them, so we’re rlly happy rn! →in pinoy henyo we were screaming responses but accompanied it by literally going for yes for no and shrugging for maybe, and eventually the one of em who wasnt answering the question begun doing the same too LMAO it was cute →i think this wasnt translated onstage, but remember how one of the audience signs was “sing pls?” waccha went, uhh rlly?? just one would - be okay?? rlly?? well then what song should i sing?? birdsong?? OKAY ITS A PITY NO ONE PICKED UP ON THIS CUZ FOR ONE REASON one of waccha’s official profile talents on 81pro website is “mimicking bird calls”! WHY DID NO ONE NOTICE WHY DIDNT U LET HIM DO THAT →kouchan voice めちゃめちゃmasarap is goddamned iconic i swear to god →waccha noticed @kujouheaven ’s regality album and was happy they actually bought it!! he also said one of his ingame lines and talked about how playing him was, also kou talked about zool and said a ridic af line in his chara’s voice (host: WTF U KNOW HE SAID HE FARTED RIGHT) →I REMEMBER NOW the line waccha did when he noticed the regality album was “trigger rlly is the best isn’t it?” I CANT BELIEVE I HEARD THAT →they said that there’s lots of auditions u take before u go to final audition for a role (waccha: just like the cosplay tournament here!) →they asked who in the audience wanted to try out being seiyuu and almost everyone raised their hands, and waccha goes and says, waccha: in the first event i ever went to, a pro seiyuu asked that question, and only one person raised their hand. and it was me. so i’m very very happy to see this kind of turnout. →general notes: kouchan was surprisingly quiet and kept looking to waccha, waccha was A GODDAMNED MOTORMOUTH, kept looking around and waving →when his translator was repeating one of his (rlly long) answers waccha kept miming walking with heavy steps it looked so funny i stg →WACCHA’S NAMA KISSES CAME WITH リップ音 HOW ARE WE ALL STILL ALIVE →kouchan: its important to have one big goal, like ‘i wanna be a seiyuu’, but its also important to better urself w/ small goals bit by bit →waccha, after another long speech: uhhh right ive gone for too long kou u can talk now kou: reaaaally. are you SURE
NOTES TO SELF I love to find positive inspiration online, in books and in podcasts. I also like to take notes. This has resulted in these little positive reminders that I try to follow every day as my self care practice and that help me stay positive. When I start to feel down, I usually haven’t been paying enough attention to them. I’m sharing them here because I find them so helpful and maybe some of you will find them useful as well.
Being a womxn in India is a disadvantage in itself. Add being queer to the mix and yikes, that’s a whole new ball game! I always personally held a deep grudge against the universe for making me who I am and putting me into the worst of environments. Messy family issues, finding solace in a religion which would never accept me, friends who never understood me, a sky high ambition with the drive of a sloth. I hated this and I hated that and most of all, I hated myself. I hated how different and out of place I always felt, I hated how my ideals seemed so out of reach, I hated how no accolade could satisfy the need to reach more higher, I hated being alive.
But, every cloud has a silver lining and mine was that being so different helped me find a new perspective to life. When I finally accepted all of me, the circumstances I was born into, the events that had unfolded, I saw, really saw how much power I had. Power to make a change. Power to relate with the underdogs and outcasts of society. Power to use my voice and all of me to make the world better.
If you haven’t heard of the butterfly effect, it basically refers to the ability of EVERY minuscule change that can bring about more changes and eventually cause a huge shift in how things were like how just a flutter of a butterflies wings in one part of the world causes a shift in the wind and ultimately typhoons.
My power lies in me being a minority amongst a minority, a queer Indian woman. A woman with a voice for those who can’t speak up yet. I’ve seen women in India suffer so much, from struggling to even survive with the rampant female foeticide rates to domestic violence, marital rapes, dowry deaths in marriages and the burden of putting family over education and career. Change has only been possible because of people raising their voices in the past and right now is the time to stand up too.
I close my eyes and dream of a place where gender is just as irrelevant as the shoes we wear. But we have a long road ahead of us; every action has consequences to make the world a little better for everyone and wisdom is knowing how far we can push boundaries instead of nodding along to the status quo.
In Notes to Self, Emile Pine recalls her childhood, teenage years and adulthood through a series of essays. Pine muses on her parent’s divorce, her teenage years where she went out of control, her infertility and her career. She is honest and insightful and doesn’t hold back. Her essay on her parent’s divorce resonated with me in particular as it mirrored my own experience. It was too real and lingered in my mind long after I finished it. This is an incredible book about pain, as experienced by women and the expectations thrust upon us.
