My Recent Discoveries

If y'all know anything about me
You know that I spend wayyyy too much time wandering the internet like a lost soul in search of new things (usually when I just got on my laptop to work on my book draft but that's besides the point)  I've actually discovered a lot of cool things recently, and while I could share them in their own induvidual posts, I'm going to just dump them all in this post and hope for the best.  :D

This is probably going to be a longer post, so let's get right to it!

Let's talk blogs.

This may surprise you, but I don't actually follow that many blogs.  I'm a sucker for the nerdy goodness slash geek girl therapy network that is EPBOT, and anybody whose gone back through my cringy old blog knows that I used to be absolutely in love with Sea of Shoes.  Not really my thing anymore, but if you like drooling over pretty clothes (and sO MANY SHOES) then that is for sure the way to go.  Anyway, beyond those two, I don't talk about blogs much, so here are some of the blogs on my reading list:

• Two Dorks with a Blog:  written by two former IBFs authors, this is a cute life style blog with lots of personality.  I'd seriously suggest trying it out (and not just because the authors are friends of mine, it's honestly really good and I'd suggest it)

One of the authors is Kathleen (like I said, former blogger) and she recently gave me a make over.  This literally had nothing to do with the post I just wanted to throw that in there.

< here's a pic.  I actually look like a not five year old for once.  Thanks Kathleen!

Today I Met:  haha just kidding.  But seriously, if you didn't know, I have a third (third!  how did this happen?)  blog called Today I Met where I pretend to be poetic and stuff, while in reality I just spy people-watch a lot

• Story Monster:  gosh darn dang I love this blog.  I want to hug this blog, and its author, and the blog again.  Cute, fun, and written by a literal Disney artist, this blog tells fun little tales using story boards and gah I love it.  Go read it right now, even if you don't read anything else that I talk about in this post.  You won't regret it.
• Building my Throne:  this is a blog written by a journalist student just trying to find her way in the world.  It's actually really inspiring and a fun read.  She also does a lot of book reviews, if you're looking for some new stuff to actually... read read.  (side note, she is moving to word press, but it hasn't updated on there yet so I'm not sure exactly when the transition is happening or if she's deleting the old blog.  I hope not :( )
• Everly Reed:  tbh this isn't the kind of blog that you *read* persay... but when you're drafting up a novel and you realize you need to know the exact symptoms of depression/anxiety/ocd/panic attacks/etc., you can first re-evaluate your life and wonder why you put your characters in such horrible situations, and then you can go over to this blog.  I guarantee that if you dig enough in the archives, you'll find what you need.  I used her post on PTSD a lot when writing RMS (yay, depression)

Youtube:

Gaming Videos:  It's weird, I love stuff like The Science! series by Austin at ShoddyCast  (not suggested if you don't like language, IS suggested if you like extreme science that will break your brain) and Game Theory (much less language, but also some statistics and pychology thrown in with it) but I never thought to actually just watch gaming videos (unless you count Dan and Phil Games...  what happens with Dalien I need answers).  But somehow, recently, I have gotten into just...gaming channels, mostly PeanutButterGamer and his side channel, PBGGameplay, but also GTLive.

I don't really like watching things live, but I do like watching old live streams because A) they take a while and I spend a *lot* of time working on digital art, and I go insane without background noise, and B) you get all the gaming plus the weird shenanagins that happen when you game, none of that clipped out or editted.  Okay, but enough talking about random gaming stuff, let's talk actual channels.

• Blimey Cow:  I've loved Blimey Cow for years, so this isn't actually a discovery... but if you haven't watched their videos before, I'd suggest watching them now, especially if you're homeschooled and Christian.  They are so sarcastic and probably a big reason why I am too.
• HDSoundDI:  This channel has *beautiful* music and often in long playlists for your convenience.  Prepare to cry over the pure sound of music.
• Man About Cake:  This channel, right here, is actually the reason I started thinking about writing this "discovery" blog post, because seriously, it's a guy who just talks about cake.  I would have never discovered him if my mom hadn't origonally stumbled across his videos, and even then if I hadn't remembered to re-look him up.  Anyway, if you like watchind super-satisfying videos, listening to bad puns and jokes, learn how to make cake and other sugary things, or just want to satisfy/worsen your sweet tooth craving by salivating over food that you can't reach through the digital barrier, then this is for sure the channel for you.  Warning:  you will end up baking something.  I baked cookies today guys.  I BAKED COOKIES AND I HATE BAKING, BECAUSE OF THIS CHANNEL.
• The Chalk Girl: I discovered this channel after somebody "stole" (not really) preferred user name on DA just weeks before I made an account and I decided to stalk them out of spite.  Instead, I ended up finding this channel and ugh I can't... I just can't.  It's too beautiful.
• RossDraws:  If you're a digital artist and especially if you use Photoshop, or if you just appreicate beautiful art, check out RossDraws' channel.  Seriously, I can't begin to explain to you how gorgeous his artwork is, and it helps that he's always super energetic and cheerful, and mixes up the formats of his videos for better entertainment and fun.

And now... for the random.

Guys, I don't even know how I ended up finding some of these.  But they're here now, and it's too late to turn back.

(for the record, a lot of these have to do with de-stressing and relaxation... this has nothing to do with my up coming exams, of course)

• NameBerry:  This is one of those weird expecting mom websites that's supposed to help you chose the name of your future offspring.  I like it for a multitude of reasons, the main ones being A) randomized name lists, B)  new names that other people search are always appearing at the top of the screen (seriously I love that so much) C) every name that you chose you can get the meaning, popularity, and similar names of.  Sooo helpful when you're naming a character baby.
• Name Generator:  This is pretty self explanitory.  I use it mostly for last names, but it's got a lot of options to it and is actually really helpful (just...don't use it so much that you start memorizing certain names like me..... then it's just frustrating)
• Silk:  Feeling a bit bored or under the weather?  Make some pretty art with Silk.  es soooo pretty....  Their official name is "Weave Silk, Interactive Art Generator" but I just have it saved as Silk.  *shrug*
• The Thoughts Room:  I don't know how I feel about "The Thoughts Room".  It's meant to be this calming thing where every word you say instantly vanishes and lights up the night sky with billions of tiny stars, and it's got soothing music that goes along with it, but I can't help but feel like my words are being recorded.  My other complaint is that it requires v e r y slow typing or else the "soothing" music is overshadowed by the sound of your words disappearing.  Still, worth a try.  Lemme know if you get hacked by NASA or something.
• Flow:   This is a fun albiet time-stealing game with a pretty simple concept.  I would suggest playing it with a mouse, not on a laptop.  I would like to add that I found this on a list of "relaxing" websites.  It is not relaxing.  It ate up an entire afternoon and I ended up being frustrated but still wanting to play it more.  So...yay?
• Fighter's Block:  Haven't heard of it?  Ha, go read my post about it here.  I talk about it in far more detail, and so far, it's been meeting my expectations, ish.
• Sleepyti.me:  A free website that helps you sinc up your sleep cycles so that you don't wake up groggy.  This was super helpful until I started getting lazy and just...didn't care anymore.  Plus it doesn't work when you can't even sleep through the night.  Yayyyy insomnia.
• Neonflames:  This fun little game is similar to Silk but I like it more because of it's flexiblity and just how plain gorgeous it is.  It creates galaxies instead of interwoven silk, and for some reason I reeeeally like the affect of it more.  Here are some examples of what I was able to create in like, half an hour and negative ten effort:

Trust me when I say that these don't do it justice, you've got to try it for yourself.

And that's all I have for today!  I'm not really sure if this counts as an interesting blog post, I wanted to try something new and while it may not have been interesting to you guys, I had a lot of fun writing it!  How about you let me know in the comments what you think, and if you want to see more of my many, many discoveries in a future post.  Who knows, maybe next time I can talk about some of the things that I've found outside the internet, like journals and cool books and stuff.  Let me know, and as always...

Have a great day!