Nothing is always absolutely so.

It was a total triumph for me to manage to find that many Powerpuff gifs in existence. To think! The first time I posted a poll, there were like... maybe two. From the 10th Anniversary Special. And now! I didn't have enough poll options for all of them!

GUUUUUH I'm so tired. My eyes hurt. Why, body. Why.

Now that I've got the mandatory whinging out of the way, let's talk songs from last week's poll! All of those are on my unofficial PpG playlists (they used to be official, but in the years since I've upgraded my mp3 player I stopped making playlists because aging makes me lazy) and they do all fit a specific scenario that was listed as an option! So! Time for THE BIG REVEAL.

Disclaimer! There was no so-called "right answer" to any of these questions! Every option I listed was an option that I thought was perfectly viable. Some to a greater degree than others, but hey, we all have our favorites. These are just mine.

Which character do you think fits Marina and the Diamonds' Bubblegum Bitch?

Most popular answer so far: HIM HAS ARRIVED, SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET (32.4%)
sbj's answer: You must be joking. This is Sedusa's fucking walking music. (14.7%)

The first time I blasted this song through my tinny little car speakers on the way to work I thought to myself, "I love you, Marina and the Diamonds." Then I thought to myself, "I wonder which PpG character I would associate this with." (This happens a lot.) By the time I got to the end of the first verse I was thinking "SEDUSA" in giant capital blinking neon letters. THEN I got to the Dear Diary part of the song and thought "OMG this is totally about the Professor." Because I kind of ship that shit hard. Wouldn't have expected to, but that's the funny thing about ships, huh?

How about which pairing best fits Regina Spektor's Folding Chair?

Most popular answer so far: The Blues (53.3%)
sbj's answer: Bubbles/Brick (6.7%)

In all honesty I was flabbergasted at the amount of folks who voted for the Blues! I mean, I do hear elements of Bubbles to Boomer in there, particularly the bit about graffiti'ing the toys, but that's kind of the only part of it. I actually have an easier time reversing it - hearing it as a song from Boomer to Bubbles. Something about the idealism of it in the beginning and how you can read it as taking a darker turn later on and the vulnerability towards the end. But Boomer songs (in my headcanon, at least) always convey this unconscious sense of wanting to be saved, too, which I don't hear in Folding Chair. But Bubbles to Brick! I mean, I saw this whole thing playing out as a sort of abstract fic in my mind's eye. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to explain this very well (a sad admission for someone who presumably wants to write), but the invisible narrator sounds like she's offering salvation, and she's this perky, happy, idealistic innocent, wanting to turn the cynic ("Don't make frowns you silly clown"). At the same time, though, there are these hints of darkness and depth in there - the fear of the tide that'll pull her away from her safe perch on the beach, the shadow over her eyes starting out as this throwaway line in the beginning but then becoming a repeating element at the end - and those hints kind of come as a surprise, or at least inspire a slow realization that you're wrong to write her off as an idealistic innocent. Which is what I often think of as the dynamic that exists between Bubbles and Brick - that he writes her off, that he only sees what's on the surface and doesn't even give any thought to who the actual person might be. And then she surprises him.

I often attribute Regina Spektor songs to Bubbles - The Calculation is another one where I hear Bubbles/Brick, On the Radio and Laughing With are some character ones. There's a few that go to Blossom, too. Maybe one for the Reds (Brick to Blossom - I don't really pay attention to gender when it comes to song attribution; it makes listening to music a hell of a lot more fun).

Is Christina Perri's A Thousand Years...

Most popular answer so far: ... a slow song about the moment Brick and Blossom realize their feelings for each other? (45.2%)
sbj's answer: ...a tribute to the girls' relationship with the Professor (19.4%)

(I think I underestimate how badly you guys want Brick and Blossom to get together.)

Picture the Professor at the girls' graduation, waiting for Blossom to give the valedictory. Now picture what's going through his head. How they came into his life. How much he grew to love them. How he could never realize the impact they've had on his life. How much strength and courage he sees in them. How much strength and courage they gave him. How he's watched them fly away from him, over and over again. How many sleepness nights he's spent worrying, fretting, waiting for them to come home safe. How every step they take closer to adulthood is a step further away from him. How much the distance doesn't matter - he'll always be their dad.

How when Mojo tears the graduation hall into two and the place erupts into chaos, the crowd is running for the doors, but he's running for the stage. How the girls - his girls - fly into action, their graduation robes and the dresses underneath torn, ruined, scorched. How little difference it all makes - they're still heroes. They'll always fight. And he'll still run to them. He'll always be their dad.

Don't judge me, I care about this shit

I picture a particular character totally declaring their love for another by belting out Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe. WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?

Most popular answer so far: Butch learned this song from Boomer so he could sing it to Blossom, natch.
sbj's answer: All these other options are too conventional! It's gotta be Him to the Professor! Why? BECAUSE IT'S HIM, HE DOESN'T NEED A FUCKING REASON

Sooooo I haven't talked about this much at all on this lj, but I am in love with the idea of Him having a dudecrush on the Prof. But not the kind of dudecrush where He gets all blushy and tsun-tsun around him! No, that's so not Him. The kind where He just likes to produce awkward situations that make the Professor squirm. E.g., belting out a teen summer pop song while the Professor does mundane shit in public, like shop for groceries or get his car washed or taking money out of the ATM and the Prof is all "Well he's not licking my face so that's a plus but on the other hand THIS SONG IS HAPPENING TO ME, I MIGHT PREFER THE FACE-LICKING."

And Bubbles plays this song at home on the stereo and the Professor is all "Honey NO."

Also the ripped jeans line bugs him, because he never wears ripped jeans and thus it makes no sense from a character standpoint. HIM DUNCURRRRRR

AND HE PROBABLY FORCES THE BOYS TO FOLLOW HIM AROUND AND PLAY THE INSTRUMENTAL PARTS

BECAUSE THEY DO THINGS AS A FAMILY DAMMIT

AND MUSIC EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT

AND HE'S JUST BEING A GOOD DAD SO BRICK SHOULD STOP WHINING

Anyway this stuff is super fun and maybe someday I will do more of these poll posts with song questions!

So now I'm lying wide awake in bed agonizing over things that aren't worth agonizing over, playing fiddle to what feels like massive insecurities I've been having lately in regards to many things, but primarily writing and TEF. This is not helped by all the caffeine that's still having a dance party in my system.

Bear with me for a post.

I'm still struggling with the writing thing. A lot. I'm constantly shirking my morning writing duties. I allow myself to get sidetracked by the entirety of the interwebs all too often. And unfortunately, this is all happening while I steadily lose steam for TEF. I can't get my groove back. I know I just have to sit down every morning and do it - that's how I got a groove at all in the first place, and kept it going for 11 straight chapters over the course of a year - but I can't do it.

This is very, very frustrating. And there's no need to reassure me - I know all the platitudes, I've sung all those songs to other writers, to myself. I know this will pass. I know I just need to keep working at it. But it is nearly 3 in the morning, God damn it, and I'm a complete basket case because my body's exhausted but Caffeine is still partying like it's No Cover Fees Saturday Night in the Writers' Anxiety District. I'm not into all this! But it's in my head, and maybe if I get it out it'll stop and I can finally call it a night.

Words are hard. Words are really, really hard. The muse isn't singing. The muse is barely dropping by as it is. And the thing that kills me - the thing that really fucking kills me right now - is the muse isn't going to drop by unless I keep dragging my ass out of bed at 6:30a to sit down and get some fucking writing done. Which definitely isn't going to happen tonight; at best I'll be getting three hours of "sleep" that'll mostly be made up of fruitless tossing and turning when I finally bring myself to shut this glowing idiot box down. Fucking great. Fucking fantastic. Fucking stupid of me to down all that fucking tea (delicious though it was). Fuckity fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuuuck!

I really don't like being this whiny, but it's been a long time since I've been up this late freaking out about stuff and every single fucking nerve I have is being yanked right now. FUCK.

I've got nothing these days. And my lack of writing practice isn't just affecting TEF. Shit, I can barely even summon the words to reply to comments! I haven't replied to comments regularly in ages; I go through spurts of checking up on everyone and being diligent about that reply button but those never last long nowadays. And my critical thinking! Analyses and arguments! I'm so fucking incomprehensible; nothing I say comes out sounding right. And I know, I admit, I hold myself to an impossibly high standard (not just in writing, but in all aspects of my life, which is why I can assert that with such certainty (UGH GOD WHAT A MISERABLE FUCKING SENTENCE)), but I used to be able to say things that would still make sense to me later and I used to make objective, reasonable arguments. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME.

Ugh, whinging. Whinge, whinge, whinge. Fuck it, I'm exhausted. I am therefore entitled to some seriously annoying whinging.

While I'm airing out my grievances, something that for some reason is really bumming me out tonight is the "TEF!Blossom = Mary Sue" thing. I'm not sure I really want to go into detail about it - more than anything, I don't want to discourage anyone from having opinions about TEF that contradict my own; I don't think that's how discussion or critical thinking works, but it's been weighing so heavy on me that I can't help but try and slough off some of that frustration. While there's a lot of things I'm packing into TEF, I don't want to tell anyone how it should be read, because... the thing is. Like, as much as a text belongs to the person creates it, there comes a point where the baby gets pushed out of the nest and it just doesn't belong to you anymore. You spend all this time with it, slaving away, fussing, making it right, and then it goes out into the world and then it isn't just yours. It takes on this different life, this different meaning. To a great extent I really do believe in Death of the Author, especially because I have glaring blind spots as a human being and can hardly be counted on to give an accurate summation of my own self; rather, I discover more about my person when other people offer their insights as well. (And yes, sometimes those insights are useless... but wait, doesn't that also say something rather scathing about me?) By natural extension, that applies to what the self creates as well - I am no expert on my self, therefore I am no expert when it comes to the texts I create. A reader who possesses an opinion I do not agree with is not wrong. The text takes on a life of its own - several lives, really, colored by the personalities and personal experiences of each individual person. It's like Joss Whedon said: "All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you." I mean, it's all stuff I know. I know this. But the comparisons that get drawn still bum me out sometimes.

This went to a weird heady place. I am feeling better, though. I might even be able to sleep now.

My morning today:

1) Wake up late
2) Sit down for writing time
3) SO MANY INTERNETS TO CLICK
4) One hour later still have not written a single word, though have valiantly scrolled down to the piddly 1/4 page written yesterday so as to review/make changes/be inspired
5) "Hm I only have ten minutes of scheduled writing time left, damn"
6) "I ought to get at least a paragraph written or something, action scenes don't write themselves"
7) "DISREGARD EVERYTHING, LET'S SKIP AHEAD AND WRITE A SCENE WHERE __________ TAKES OFF ___________'S SHIRT AND SUCKS SOME FACE"
7) *KISSY!FACE, KISSY!FACE FOREVER*
8) *AND ANGST SPRINKLES*
9) Running late for work now
10)
... NO FUCKS GIVEN, TOTALLY WORTH IT

I swear to God I cried like five times during The Muppets. Not even joking. It just pushed my Nostalgia Button, HARD. I didn't even realize I had a Muppet Nostalgia Button.

Along that vein, I figured, you know, I have a couple of Muppets songs on my PpG playlists (lol I know, I know, everything gets tied back to the PpG, HELLO WELCOME TO THE STORY OF MY LIFE).

I have to admit that my memory of the original movies from the 70s/80s is very fuzzy, so most of the songs on my playlists are the ones refreshed by The Muppets and The Green Album (aka Muppet Hipster Album). I couldn't find videos/links for everything, so you'll just have to deal :[

( Let's start with something silly. )

I won't be uploading these, because The Green Album and The Muppets soundtrack are both available on Amazon right now as MP3 downloads for very cheap ($3.99 and $4.99, respectively) and if people have the cash to spare they should totally go buy these especially The Green Album because that is good money well spent and The Muppets deserve all the monies.

So. Blame the new movie. And go see it if you have any nostalgia for the Muppets, at all. Oh God I haven't been able to listen to Rainbow Connection without tearing up for the past 24 hours. SERIOUSLY GO SEE THE MUPPETS

It is ridiculous outside, it feels so hot. Whyyyyy.

ppg_hub_drabble's first contest is officially over, yaaaaay! Everyone did an awesome job and you cool people on my flist should definitely check out the entries. Unf.

Oh God oh God is so warm. It's so damn hot outside. I'm so lazy. The heat has sapped away all my energy. Before lunch I was like "Imma come home and write fic and then the s.o. and I will go see movies later and I'll write more fic and something something" but now it's just nooooooo why is it so hot

I was going to write TEF stuff and Brick was going to be all pissed off about *SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER*

But now I'm like Could I just like go find a fic somewhere where someone takes his shirt off and he's super unhappy about it and then him and Blossom have makeout times on a bed or something

I don't want to write it because that would take effort and I am not about that right now

Not only that but it's such a shitty premise that it would take even more effort to make it not suck

But damn I just want to read me some Reds making out fic

And I would go out and look for some

But asking for something like that is like opening up your front door to a literal shitstorm of badfic

And I don't want to inflict that upon my body

It cannot handle that right now

Dear God why is it so hot

I'm going to look at this entry later and wonder what the fuck was wrong with my brain

waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

Fuck it, here I go

BUBBLES: I'm stealing Brick's shirt because I want to smell like him
BRICK: GOD DAMN IT AGAIN
BLOSSOM: This bed is so comfortable I want to lay down on it
BRICK: I hate everything ESPECIALLY BLOSSOM
BLOSSOM: Go diaf while I lay on this comfortable bed
BRICK: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
BLOSSOM: HATE
BRICK: HATE
And then they make out

No it doesn't make sense

AND I D G A FFFFFFFFFFFFF