where i write nonsense

blog number two: elise's college tips!

welcome to elise's second blog. this is an advice list, courtesy of me being done with my first year of college. i did kinda well for myself my first year (3.8/4 gpa) and that was accomplished despite going to the hospital for two weeks. we love to see it. these will de divided into three categories, dorms, academics, and involvement.

category one: DORMING

you may or may not be dorming, if you arent feel free to ignore me. college dorms are a lawless place full of hooligans. try to get one the quiet buildings if your school has them. mine didn't so i had to hear girls screeching over the bachelor every week. and lots of loud loud music. dorms are kinda sensory hell. be on very good terms with your roommate. they are on your team, if they aren't, try to negotiate with them so they stop sucking. my roommate was a bit of an alcoholic and had sex with a boy while i was in the room but she was nice most of the time.

don't get any decorations that take up surface area. your desk space is precious. decorate your walls only or bring small trinkets. make sure to bring your own lights, the room probably has one sucky overhead lamp. don't eat too often in the room, it absorbs smell and heat and will take forever to air out. get a small trashcan, not a big one. the big one will start to smell, and will be a bigger hassle to take to the dumpster. do your laundry way more often than you want to. towels and shit will pile up. use a towel twice, hang it on your closet door so it doesnt get smelly. bring a lot of clothes. you will not want to do laundry. rewear clothes before you wash them so you do less laundry. nobody will notice because they do it too. use the shit out of your meal plan. eat so much. the freshman 15 is a good thing. feel free to tell me more tricks, maybe i can use them next year!

category two: ACADEMICS

PARTICIPATE IN CLASS. RAISE YOUR HAND. participating will near automatically get you in the teacher's good books, and cause you to pay closer attention. wake up an hour or two before your first class of the day so you can get a good breakfast and time to take your morning slow. try to get to your work on time. i procrastinate a lot, im literally procrastinating my work by writing this. try to get your work done at least a day before the deadline, so you can feel relieved and proud of yourself. never feel shy to ask for extensions if you made poor time management decisions, most teachers won't mind.

professors aren't your friends, but they aren't your enemies either. stay on good terms with them, and they'll love you. you don't need to be a teacher's pet, just tell them good morning and raise your hand once a day. DON'T buy your textbooks before class starts. check libgen, check pdfdrive, for a free copy of your textbook. i tell this to everybody, even the professors. you will probably want a device of some sort, i recommend doing work on an ipad or other sort of tablet. i love the app pdfdrive, thats where i keep my textbooks to annotate them. notability is another useful school app. try not to skip class, and if you do, come up with an excuse to email the teacher. try to make friends in classes, or at least someone you would be able to do group projects with. you don't need to be actual friends, just someone who you can talk to about the class.

category three: INVOLVEMENT

JOIN CLUBS. JOIN A FUCK TON OF CLUBS. that's where you're most likely to make friends! join the art club, gsa, the club for your major, the gaming club, the anime club. i'm in choir, art, and anime club. these people have your interests, and you'll be able to pick out at least one person who is similar to you and tolerable. there should be a club fair at the start of each semester, check out every single table to see what's available. have fun!!!!!!!!!!

at my school, there is the main building where the gym, dining hall, and counseling offices are. the hallway leading to the dining hall is called main street. on main street, local and national business/volunteer groups will set up booths. i've signed up to donate stem cells there, i've sampled honey (tasted like shit), ive done all kinds of shit and gotten opportunities just by talking to the people at the tables. even if i'm not who they're looking for, i put my email on that list, to see if i could be that person in the future. when you're in the final two years of school, connections and experiences and internships will be huge. make yourself look good as fuck by taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible. put your name out there! do everything! doing things will make you happy, keep you busy and away from wallowing in your dorm room. you might love the new hobby you picked up, you might meet someone new, you might fucking hate whatever you do. now you know you hate that thing! now you know!

CONCLUSION

DO EVERYTHING. BE PREPARED BUT DON'T WORRY IF YOU AREN'T. YOU CAN DO IT I BELIEVE IN YOU. IF I GOT A NEAR PERFECT GPA WHILE HAVING THE WORST YEAR OF MY LIFE SO CAN YOU! remember: Cs GET DEGREES. try your best, that's all you can do!

blog number one: elise's lgbt manga picks

welcome to elise's first blog/writeup! elise likes to be opinionated and share things they like despite having issues articulating their thoughts, so here's their lgbt manga picks. these aren't rated on good representation, they're more just things they like teehee!

no. 1: bloom into you

bloom into you is my all-time favorite on this list for so many reasons. one, its lesbians, two, i like lesbians, etc etc. i cant put it into words because i hate sounding cheesy, but this series is very important to me! here's the plot: a high school girl, yuu, gets confessed to by a guy she knew back in middle school. she doesnt know how to respond, so she asks her upperclassman at the student council for advice, touko. yuu expresses how shes not sure if she'll ever fall in love like the shoujo manga she reads, and touko confesses to her on the spot. yuu doesn't reciprocate immediately because, again, she doesn't feel love yet, but she allows touko to do couple things with her. and of course yuu eventually falls in love too. this manga portrays so many things fantastically, like loss, unrequited love, sibling relationships, etc. i loooove the anime too. this is entry level yuri stuff. if you have not seen bloom into you you are not a yuri fan. yes i make the rules! finally yuri without catholicism. mangadex link you can find it on whatever anime site you prefer. ive rewatched it like 3 times. after you're done with the manga and anime read the light novels about sayaka. she gets a gf too dont worry about her

no. 2: sasaki and miyano

after lesbians we have gay men. equality. anyway sasamiya was all the rage last year so youve prob heard of it before! its super cute, light, and "fluffy". like cotton candy for your brain. the plot is simplifired as such: an upperclassman falls in love with a fudanshi underclassman. theres other plot points but thats the bare minimum. its very cute and its always a comforting watch. the fudanshi parts are just funny, because my guy became the thing he fetishizes. bro you are in a bl. and fudanshis are just a funny group in general. theres tons of bl jokes, the series is one big bl joke turned wholesome. the side characters are great too, not to mention the main characters. just great watch/read if you need a pick me up! mangadex link and the animes cute as well!

no. 3: love me for who i am

now we're getting to the t part of lgbt. if you want a realistic story that deals with both transphobia and homophobia, then read this. its a wonderful story about a nonbinary teen and their boyfriend along with their friends at a maid cafe. its heavier than the first two series on this list, theres a much more prevalent plot of the pain that comes with being lgbt, but also the joy! trigger warnings for dysphoria, self harm, disapproving parents, and the like. it is such a beautiful story that doesnt shy away from the hard parts of being lgbt. its just so good. i should reread it again i miss mogumo mangadex link

no. 4: kieta hatsukoi

how do i even explain this one. ok so the protag has a crush on this girl. the girl drops her eraser with the name of her crush written on it. another guy picks it up and thinks it belongs to the protag, and that the name on it is his. misunderstandings ensue. its delightful even though there was a huge fucking fakeout near the end that aggravated me but its ok bc it all turned out fine. cant go wrong with a wholesome high school romance! theres also a drama adaptation that i havent watched but i assume its just as good as the source, ive heard good things! mangadex link. aka faded first love or my love mix up

no. 5: blue flag

here we have another somewhat angsty work. its focus isnt lgbt romance itself, its more of one element in the plot. its mostly a wonderful portrayal of growing up and finding the path for your future. i wouldnt read it just for gay romance, that would take your focus away from the whole of the plot. just go read, its pretty sad but with a happy ending as usual.♡ i dont have too much to say about it, since its mostly on here to take up space for the next one on this list so i could make a joke...

no. 6: no. 6

I THINK IM REALLY FUNNY. anyway, this is the only "unrealistic" entry on this list. everything before this was some fluffy school romance, no. 6 is far from that. its about a futuristic/dystopian city called "no. 6". an upper class gifted kid fatefully saves an escaped prisoner one stormy night. this changes his life forever. since this is set in a dystopian world, there are many trigger warnings. death of course, bugs, blood, some sexual violence, mass murder, you can get the gist. ive only seen the anime but ive heard the manga and novels are much better. its such a wonderful story and im so happy it exists. does your gay couple try to overthrow the government? i didnt think so.