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Why I'm Crawling Back to Facebook

Y’all, I got a confession to make. I’ve been logging onto Facebook. I never deleted it. I stayed off of it mostly since I dramatically published my “ Why am I leaving Facebook and Instagram? ” post almost two and a half years ago. I didn’t delete my account because I had pictures on there and some old friends whose contact info I never got, and it was on my to do list to get those handled and delete the account since February of 2021. And it was nice that I didn’t since that still allowed me to occasionally dip onto the site if I wanted to look at a business’s Facebook page (yo, some places don’t bother doing websites anymore, just socials). But lately, I’ve been doing more than reluctantly logging on when FB tries to block my ability to view a restaurant’s updated hours. I’ve been scrolling. Just a bit. The top three or four posts and then that’s it. I might even click on the “Show All Comments” section. I haven’t commented or liked any posts myself because that would give away that
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Why Do We Like to Make Characters Suffer?

There's a question that I've been pondering lately: Why do people like seeing their favorite characters suffer? As many of you know, I love Final Fantasy VII. In particular, I love Cloud Strife, the moody sad boy protagonist of the game. Because of my great affection for this fictional man, I seek out (and write) fanfiction where Cloud faces a variety of hardships from childhood trauma to harrowing battle injuries to horrific laboratory experimentation to plain just being lonely. But why? Why do I like reading about a character that means a lot to me, who reminds me a lot of myself in some ways and has helped me understand myself better, suffering? Why do I seek out stories where he is in pain? And why am I not alone? There is an entire genre of fanfiction called “whump” where the writer’s favorite character is subjected to whatever sadistic imaginings the author can dream up. And people can dream up a lot of pain for Cloud Strife, largely because that’s sort of his deal in th

Alex and I Went to California: A Trip in Photos

 Hello friends, Alex and I recently came back from an almost forgotten activity in the time of COVID: travel! That's right, we boarded a plane, and I only had my possessions seized by the TSA once! (Apparently they don't like knives on board a plane, psh, whatever). And we went ahead and got infected with the coronavirus two weeks before the trip, so we couldn't get sick from traveling. That's how that works, right? ...Right? For real though, we did wear masks as much as we could in the airports and on board and had been feeling much better for a while after being sick; we are responsible little citizens of the world! And lil' miss Hazel got to spend a week with one of her favorite friends: my sister! Yay! So now that we're back, I'd bet you'd like to hear what it was like in sunny California, huh? Well, on day one it was rainy and cold. See proof: cold Alex and her spirit animals. These pictures were taken on the Santa Cruz wharf, where we were buffeted

Best of Media: February 2023 Edition

 Hey everyone! February is over already! And that can mean only one thing: pop culture round-up time! I don't have as many things this month because I spent less time reading, I guess? Pretty much my whole life is Final Fantasy VII  right now. But you'll hear about that later. Best Book of (My) February: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Book One of the Celestial Kingdom Duology The best book this month also happens to be the only book I read this month, so the competition was not fierce. I would rate this book as a solid B, maybe B+. If you're interested in Eastern (especially Chinese) mythology and romance, then I would definitely check it out. The world-building is pretty solid without being bogged down with complicated details, the protagonist is a badass woman who has the paradoxical problems of impulsively wearing her heart on her sleeve while also being emotionally guarded (#relatable), and there are dragons, magic, swords, and archery. All solid pros in

Ben & Jerry's Tier List

 Hello friends! I hope you liked last week's post about my opinions because today, I've got... another post of my opinions. This time, on ice cream. Ben & Jerry's is an iconic brand of decadent ice cream. I was bored on a recent afternoon, so I decided to place every flavor listed on the Ben & Jerry's website onto a tier list. For those unfamiliar with the Street Fighter  inspired tier list, it's mostly letter grade logic (A is the best, F is the worst), but with an additional category of S for Superior and SS for Super Superior (I don't know if that's what it actually stands for, but it is what it means). Now, some of these flavors I haven't had. I was not prepared to spend $50 or more and exhaustively search every store in the region to track down every single unsampled flavor, so I made an educated guess based on the description. This post is NOT sponsored by Ben & Jerry's. And before we get started, don't forget to subscribe for

Best of Media: January 2023 Edition

 Howdy folks, February isn't over yet, which means it's not to late to try out a new idea I just had: a little round-up of my favorite things I watched, read, or listened to last month! Who doesn't love a pop culture round-up? Especially if that round-up doesn't even feature stuff that's particularly recent or popular? How fun is that, right? I mean, do you really want to read another article about HBO's The Last of Us ? Without further ado, here's the best of the Lisa lifestyle this past month: Best (audio)Book of (my) January: I'm Glad My Mother Died  by Jennette McCurdy, narrated by the author Okay, I know I said the round-up wouldn't be things that are that popular, and child star Jennette McCurdy's memoir was pretty damn popular. But it came out last year, so I'm still late enough to the party to be a cool kid. Most people (including me) previously only knew McCurdy as Sam Puckett, the main character's best friend in Nickelodeon'

Lisa Doesn't Actually Know Basic Cultural Information: Part 3, Episode 6

 Put on your space seatbelts, folks, and prepare to be as disappointed in me as Alex, who I believe may have questioned our engagement after reading this one. She asked, pleaded me, in fact, to search my memory for something, anything more about the original finale to the crowning achievement of science fiction cinema, but this is it, baby. Star Wars Episode 6: The One Where Barely Anything Happens, Apparently. Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Luke realizes he must save Leia, and probably Han while he’s at it. He crashes Jabba’s house party, but then gets captured himself. Luckily, he is able to use all his Yoda-given training to win an arena-style fight that Jabba put him up to for the entertainment of his guests. Leia, who is dressed like the Star Wars centerfold edition, is rescued by Luke’s daring heroics, and they also get Han back somehow. With his found family back together, Luke realizes it’s time to face his final objective: fight Darth Vader and win the space war for