Back when I uh - in some hives, they uh, have sayings about beauty, and about function, and I used to listen to those. Things that are functional should be beautiful; things that are beautiful are often in their most functional form. Of course, that'd work better if we could use hexagons, not blocks, but, uh, we've got blocks, so some shapes are...
Uh.
So this is to say that today, I tried to build a windmill.
I've been doing a lot of things lately and it, uh, it paid off! I can now, uh, safely start building machines. Currently I'm crushing tuff; it's the only way I've found to get zinc. To uh. Get zinc... really... really slowly, but uh. It does provide zinc! It does that.
It's not the only thing - I got bad about logging big things. I got magic pots? Uh. Hm. That's phrased - they are magic pots though. I can grow plants I can't even grow with bonemeal in them. They're, uh, handy. For... spore blossoms. And also crops. I don't, uh, have to worry about crops anymore, although the villagers - I don't really want to stop their jobs? They're doing alright. But I get bread from vaults and carrots from a pot now though so I guess I just...
Apples. Uh, I still, from them - apples, I haven't figured out how to... Although, with the saw...
I'll think about it.
And magic torches. I got - they're expensive torches, but when I build them, I can prevent mobs from appearing in whole large areas, light or not! But, uh - I think I broke my mob farm? I have better mob farm tools now anyway, but... Maybe I'll put in real torches, in the new platform I built for making machines on.
I was never - I like machines. I tried to design a squid farm earlier. It didn't work. I also made it out of pumpkins, so it's ugly, so it like, super didn't work. And, uh. Building. I don't... I like exploring. I like what I'm doing. But sometimes I feel like I'm... even for someone borrowing the body I'm using, I'm clumsy. I've always been clumsy. It's always felt like my hands are too big for my eyes, like my arms are too big for my body. I've never been able to... let alone well enough to build.
Things that are beautiful work better. That's a saying in the swarm. Things that are functional are beautiful. That's a saying, too.
I tried to build a windmill today, and it's really ugly.
I, uh...
I try to be nice to myself? I do. I built the temple. The temple is almost done now! I have a totem to each god, now. I don't know if it'll do anything, but, uh... The temple looks nice. It's practically the only thing on the island that does, but...
I try to be nice. Some things, uh, will always be ugly.
I think windmills are one of those things that are supposed to work best when they're beautiful, though, or maybe be beautiful because they work well? Symmetry, and sails, and the wind powering the world. It's windy up here. The windmill was expensive to put together, but it's windy, and I thought...
My windmill is very ugly, though. It's made out of grey wool and it makes me think of a hurricane, except those are almost beautiful too, and this is ugly.
It uh...
Ugly as, uh - ugly as a bear, really, but. It works. It works fine. It works so fine I think later I will try to use it to build a cobblestone generator, and use that to also store sand and gravel. I don't have to worry about those anymore! And, uh, after that, maybe build a copper farm, and after that, I may try to make a steam engine that will power a tree farm, and not have to worry about cutting logs myself again, either, and...
It's funny how much I work to not have to do things myself. But I've always been clumsy. It's easy to tell, looking at the windmill.
Whatever. It doesn't have to be pretty. It works.
[ATTACHED: 2ND-5, wearing the create armor, standing in front of their first contraption. the largest item in the background is an awkward shape made of grey wool, which must be the windmill. A crushing wheel device can also be seen.]
the only Amis who have to Actually Care about their studies are the med students
all the rest are on a sliding scale from 'we don't actually know if they're even in college' to ' actively resisting the college they are enrolled in like they've been dumped behind enemy lines'
they are shit terrible students and that is actually canon
Fill for G1 - Black Cloaked Envoy on my Guardian Bingo Card!
The base pattern is taken from this daxiushan (大袖衫) pattern. To make this daxiushan (Heipaoshi's Version), I shortened the sleeves a bit, added extra length to the body, added a hood, and added the weird gauzy bits on the back. I also added some cording on the shoulders and the sides of the hood, following the design from the show as closely as I could. You'll also notice a couple decorative bands of black ribbon on the chest and at the waist, as well as a square of skightly different black fabric on the back — these are also embellishments added to follow the model in the drama.
Fabric: raw silk noil, cotton lining in the hood, a silk habotai square, silk gauze, silk ribbons, cotton cording. Entirely handsewn using waxed black linen thread.
All the quilt blocks are sewn, and now I just need to square them up before I start sewing them together! I normally wouldn’t take a photo at this stage, but I wanted to see if the scrap blocks blended in well with the pattern blocks, and I think I can confidently say they do lol