Some Thoughts On The Matter

     When most people are asked the question: " What's your favorite movie?"  there's usually a short burst of panic as people scramble to think of a definitive favorite film. After all, not everyone has such strong opinions on film, and even if they do, its pretty hard to single out just one film that stands above your other favorites. Personally, after time and time again of panicking and saying something like "Oh... I like a bunch of movies... I can't pick just one favorite,"  I decided that the next time I was asked this question, I'd have one, definitive answer so I could talk to people about it.     However, when I say that my favorite movie of all time is Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest , it tends to catch people a little off guard. After all, it's kind of expected to name a famous "film bro" movie, one with high critical acclaim, or perhaps some super-niche small film that only a select few have seen. Mentioning...

      It's always a good feeling when hard work pays off. I believe I mentioned it in my last blog post where I wrote about my time at the Kudzu Review this semester, but as a refresher, I applied to become Head of the Fiction Department since my current bosses are graduating this semester. And, after a week of waiting, I was notified that I did in fact get the position!     This meant a lot to me, and not just because I finally have something new to add to my resume. The Kudzu Review has sort of represented a shift I made this year to properly engaging with my interests and future career in writing/editing. During my freshman year at FSU, I was kind of aimless in terms of progressing my English career and developing my sense of identity. I think I was just focused on having fun and getting through my first year of living away from home, along with all of the challenges that come with living in a cramped college dorm, a relationship, and going to a different col...

    A lesson I've learned throughout the last few years of my life has been how surprisingly valuable having routines is. I know, shocker. I must be the last person on Earth to discover that doing things consistently will lead to progress, stability, and general happiness. However, I still wanted to talk about routines I have for a little bit, if only because I can't think of anything else to blog about today (technically I could've reviewed the Minecraft Movie, but that's a joke). It's all about the small moments of consistency in life that add up to a greater, happier picture.     For example, one of the first routines I had established with Wade, my roommate, was watching anime together every other night. Neither of us were really "anime nerds" by any stretch of the definition, but we both were interested in exploring a medium that we both weren't familiar with, and sharing that experience with each other provided nice, calm nights where we were abl...

      FINALLY!!! FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!! THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS IN SIGHT! IT'S WITHIN OUR REACH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!     Excuse me. I got a little overexcited. This will be a very short blog post- I can hardly contain my excitement and will be taking the day off of work to celebrate. If it wasn't immediately obvious, after several years of waiting impatiently and being kept in the dark, the release date for DELTARUNE Chapters 3 and 4 was released at a Nintendo Switch unveiling event, which was promoting the upcoming release of the brand new Nintendo Switch 2. I don't even own a Switch, nor do I ever plan on it, but when I heard that DELTARUNE news was released at this event, I quickly tuned in.     After spending so much time waiting with no end in sight, it felt a little unreal to hear about DELTARUNE having new content drop after 4 years since the last update. While I always knew it would one day happen, the know...

     Lately, I've been pretty fascinated with rewatching media that I would watch when I was younger to see the different significance it holds to me now, many years later. Sure, the nostalgia trip is  pretty comforting during some boring nights, but mostly I've been really surprised by all of the themes and messaging that went over my head when I was younger. I might have just been a slow kid, but it feels like almost every cartoon I remember watching when I was in elementary school and middle school carries a new meaning that I don't remember processing, like advice on healthy and mature relationships, or how to deal with grief or trauma.     One of these cartoons was Adventure Time , which infamously was not  liked by my mom. I vividly remember her complaining about how all of the cartoons looked like acid trips and that the showrunners were all on drugs, but beyond the trippy visuals and goofy characters, I realized just recently how much effort an...

      Finally, another semester of my work at the Kudzu Review has come to a close. I've talked about my experience working during my first semester in another blog post, but this semester has felt like a completely different experience in all the right ways!     On the work side of things, I feel like I've really found my voice as an editor for the fiction department in Kudzu. I think I've zeroed in on what makes a "good story" in my opinion, and I've gotten better at voicing exactly what I think a submission does well or does poorly, which has helped me become a more active voice during the meeting discussions. I've always had a harder time voicing my thoughts aloud as opposed to writing them out, since I've preferred writing out my thoughts with more precision and control over my wording instead of fumbling over words and feeling too shy to jump into the middle of a conversation. However, this has really changed this semester. At first most of my co...