in my restless dreams

Alias: Soda
Handle: SpringSodas. I go by this pretty much everywhere now
Age: Late 20s
Pronouns: She/her
Other Social Media: Tumblr | Bluesky | AO3 (Note: all profiles are currently on hiatus)
Additional Info: Proud autistic, dog lover, enjoyer of the sound of rain, starry skies, and pocky

General Overview

What I post: Fanart, fanfiction, my original characters, character/story development, general illustration, whatever video games or shows I happen to be playing/watching, any personal ramblings that come to mind
Primary Fandoms: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (main focus, mostly the 2003 animated series), Pokemon, Sonic the Hedgehog
Additional interests: Platformers, RPGs, strategy games, farming sims, anime, manga, cartoons, comics, figure collecting, plushies, cooking, gardening
Content Warnings: Blog is SFW with a PG-13 rating. Illustrations and written works may include things such as mild violence, blood, and swearing, and some sensitive topics may be present such as those surrounding mental health, grief, and trauma.

Boundaries and Dealbreakers

• While minors are free to leave comments on my posts, please note that I will not respond to your comments, nor will I subscribe to your blog or add you to my access list. This is for both safety reasons as well as personal comfort.
• That said, if you are an adult and I don't respond to your comment anyway, chances are I simply didn't have the energy or couldn't think of a proper reply.
• Like anyone, I have topics and things that make me uncomfortable, along with some major squicks on the shipping front. Whether or not I choose to block you is entirely on a case-by-case basis.
• Circumstances that will result in an immediate block: Bigotry in any form, AI "art" and "writing," harassment/trolling

If all of that is okay, then I hope you enjoy the blog!

The AO3 Tag Blocker

While it's not perfect and can be a little bit buggy here and there, it solves probably my only major gripe with the site's tag filter system by providing a blacklist feature that permanently excludes any tags I don't wanna see across every single fandom tag I enter without needing to put them in every time. Knowing how crappy my week has been, this happy little discovery has me cackling like a madwoman knowing how much easier it'll make browsing for fic without needing to put in the extra effort to avoid all my Yucks™

Saw that redstringraven had pulled the intro meme from the newcomers community and seeing as I'm still a relatively new user to Dreamwidth (we're talking only a little over a month), I figured it might be a good idea to post another one of these posts so that people can get to know me a bit better! (I didn't answer all of the questions, but that's because I either didn't have an answer or one that I felt was interesting/satisfactory.)

About You

Username: springsodas
Your other online venues: Tumblr | Bluesky | AO3 (note: all profiles are currently on hiatus for the moment)
Your approximate location (e.g. city, state, country, and/or bioregion): United States; I live near trees
Any other important personal details you want to share: She/her, late 20s, dog owner, flower enjoyer, officially diagnosed autistic

Your Interests and Activities

What languages do you speak?
Only English. I would really like to learn German at some point, though!

What are some of your favorite hobbies?
Illustration, writing, gardening, cooking, collecting plushies and figures

What television shows and movies do you like?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003), Teen Titans, Code Lyoko, Batman 2004, Cybersix, Princess Tutu, Demon Slayer, Violet Evergarden, Kpop Demon Hunters, DC Animated Movie Universe, the Godzilla franchise. I also game quite a bit and tend to lean towards platformers, strategy titles, RPGs, and casual/cozy games (think Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokemon, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Rune Factory, etc.)

What kinds of music do you enjoy? Listening, playing, or both?
My tastes in music can be largely described as Weeb™; Aimer, CHiCO with Honeyworks, ClariS, fhána, Supercell, and yanaginagi, along with English cover artists like AmaLee, NateWantsToBattle, Shawn Christmas, and Divide Music. THAT SAID, Porter Robinson, Owl City, and Mili have all managed to wiggle into my library as well

Do you have a transformative works statement / blanket statement?
I don't have one listed anywhere, but tl;dr: I don't have any issue with fanworks based on my own stuff, original or fanmade, as long as it's treated with respect, I'm given credit, and I'm linked back to whatever you made. I wanna see it!

What are some worthy causes you support?
Human rights, environmentalism, and simply showing empathy for one's fellow human beings.

About Your Blog

What is your Dreamwidth blog like?
Currently, it's a collection of my recent artwork and personal thoughts. I'm hoping to maybe start posting fanfic as well once I actually get writing again.

How active is it?
I try to aim for at least 1 or 2 times a week; my more active weeks have seen 3 or even 4 posts depending on my energy and mental health.

What are your most common topics? (Use Manage Tags and Sort by: usage to find this.)
Diary (personal posts), fanart, TMNT 2003, original characters

Is your blog more text-heavy or image-heavy?
I'd say it's an even mix of both

Do you use recurring posts, and if so, what topics?
I've been aiming to post every Friday/Saturday a list of good things that have happened in my life over the last week because it is so easy to get caught up in all the bad and forget the good.

Is your blog more personal, professional, topical, or a mix?
I like to keep my blog organized so that everything is easy to find, but still keep things casual so that I'm not restricting myself in terms of what I post

Is it all open, all friendslocked, or somewhere in between?
It's pretty much open to everyone at this point. 

What kinds of friends would you like to attract to your blog?
Like-minded people who are into similar shows/video games as I am and are open to polite discussion

What are your policies on friending and granting access, if any?
While minors are free to comment on my posts if they so desire, they should be aware that A) I will not respond to their comments and B) I will not subscribe to them and/or add them to my access list. This is for both safety and my own comfort.

Your Blog-reading Habits

How often do you check your friends feed?
I try to check whenever I end up logging in, which is usually once a day

About how much time do you spend reading blogs?
Since I'm still new to the site, I'm still trying to find more blogs to subscribe to, so not much at this point XD

How active do you like a blog to be?
As long as you give some evidence every now and again that you're alive, I don't care if you're posting every day or only once a month

Currently...

Listening to: Everything Goes On - Porter Robinson
Watching: Code Lyoko
Playing games: MySims
Wondering about: Why I'm so tired
Planning for: My PC build project
Proud of: The effort I put in to be a better, healthier person

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report on this time around. It's not that this week was particularly bad? Just very uneventful. I also failed to refill one of my prescriptions on time and while I thought I might be able to survive without it... yeah no, I am very tired and sad. Damn it.

ANYWAY

• The motherboard, RAM, case, and power supply are all here, meaning that I have almost everything to assemble my custom PC build except for the GPU/graphic's card. The only reason I have to wait on purchasing that until next month is because A) The GPU is pretty much the most expensive part of any computer build B) Everything else I got made a massive dent in my disposable income for both September and October and C) I need to make sure I have enough money on my debit card for when I get charged for my Splintered Fate collector's edition in a couple of weeks.
• I had the chance to restock on my pocky supply. I got five share-size boxes of original chocolate, three boxes of cookies n' cream, and a box of strawberry since I've never had that flavor before. (I dunno why I held off on that one for so long.)
• So, I've had this long-standing issue for months now where I've been allowing myself to angrily ruminate over -certain- ships in the TMNT fandom despite, ya know, the fact they're just drawings/fic whose worst crime is that I'm personally grossed out by them. I thought that the best solution to dealing with the matter was to just dismiss my feelings as petty/childish and to try and ignore them--turns out that approach was actually fueling the problem and contributing to the rumination issue instead of actually solving it.
• INSTEAD, what I've been doing the last couple of weeks is that I've been allowing myself to naturally feel what I feel without shame, get those feelings out in healthy ways (ex: writing out a private journal entry to get my thoughts in order and then deleting it after letting it sit for a few hours), and otherwise just actually process what I'm feeling instead of bottling everything up. Since I began doing this, I'm finding that I'm ruminating less and less and for much shorter periods of time than I used to. While I still have a ways to go, this is nothing short of a HUGE relief for me and I'm glad to be back on the road towards a much healthier mindset.