u/holokodan

Has anyone tried them before?

Please share your experiences lol.

It's strange you working hard your entire life for a dream. I dreamed to laze around all day and just write and have no worries in the world...

And sadly that came true.

I worked really hard my entire life. Put years in, failed relationships, worked a job I hated but at the end of it...I have no debt, no responsibilities, just me...and myself.

So I left my job and was like...hey.

Let's start a business...fast forward 6 months to now...now I am trying to write my first book.

I work up tonight because I thought about those nights I spent on homework, the emotional rollercoaster with my ex and I think to myself like none of that mattered to get me to this point.

I then think about what I am doing now with my life, just writing. And it's funny how much I idealized it throughout all of my life's struggles but here I am now. Doing it.

It's not how I imagined it...being a writer...a content creator and a businessman all in one...is quite stressful.

Am I going to give it up...no not at all but it's just funny to see where I am at now. And a year ago I was dreaming of it and some would say I made it.

But here I am now, 2 am in the morning writing this and wondering to myself...this is what I fought for...another arena.

A great life is one only worth living. There wouldn't be any charm to life if there wasn't a struggle.

"While I think you're a fantastic guy, this isn't a match I'd continue to pursue. There's something missing for me romantically. I wish you the best. You deserve to find your person."

I close my phone. Lucy's tarot deck is still on the counter. I draw the top card. The Lovers. Inverted.

I delete Hinge. Bumble. Tinder. Facebook Dating.

I Google "top activities for men in their 30s to meet attractive women." Rock climbing. Pass, not into granola girls. Beach volleyball. Closest court's a four-hour drive. Pass. CrossFit. Let's look at the pictures... I sign up for the free month.

GOOD MORNING GUYS AND GIRLS! Blondes, tank tops, shorts so short…it's hard to tell the difference between a CrossFit gym…and a Hooters at this point.

Hey!

I jump.

Coach K is pointing at me.

You ready for THIS?

Shaking me.

HAVE YOU DONE CROSSFIT BEFORE?

Um... yes ma'am. 🫡

Good. You're my partner today.

She walks us to her whiteboard. The "workout of the day." 500 jumping jacks, 400 ball throws, 300 air squats, 200 kettlebell swings, 100 pushups, 50 pullups. As many rounds as possible. One hour.

Girl-pop music blasting in the background. Kettlebells flying. Blond CrossFitters hopping everywhere around me. 🥵

Coach K smacks my back. Great job, Koda. The blond bunnies rotate through, high-fiving me. So kawaii…

Koda enjoys the next three weeks of his very KAWAII workout sessions. GREAT JOB KODA. Bounce. High five. Bounce.

Unbeknownst to our hero, the gym-bro calamity loomed in the shadows.

Koda! You should compete next week. Super Greenville CrossFit Games. They need bodies, and I believe you've got... what it takes. I look at the bunnies. Do it, one squeaks. You can do it, Koda! Bounce.

WELCOME, CROSSFITTERS. TO THE SUPER GREENVILLE CROSSFIT GAMES.

A super-jacked man with a speaker phone.

This seems…different.

CHOOSE. YOUR. PARTNERS. NOW!!!

The room scrambles. Teams formed in under five seconds. I see what's left. One skinny asian guy with glasses. One black dude wearing Under Armour over Under Armour over Under Armour…on top of Under Armor.

I'm fucked.

Under Armour dude peels off his top two shirts and lashes them around the barbell.

Looks at me dead in the eye.

Better grip. I got the first round, Koda.

He blazes through the weighted fifty squats at 225 pounds. The gym bros are still mid grind in their reps.

His calves swell. His thighs split. AAAAAHHHH. SUPER UNDER ARMOUR TIME.

The asian man grips my shoulder. His auuuu-ra is…peeku.

Something catches fire in me. So this is mandom.

Under Armor reracks. BOOOMMMMM!

I dap him up and load the barbell into my back.

1. 2. 3. 4....Dicky.

The gym bro that everyone in the room gravitated towards. He wasn't the most jacked, but the most shredded. He finished only microseconds behind Under Amour dude.

Just my luck that his station was right next to ours.

"Hey Buddy...wow impressive ass to grass squats, you know, you're just wasting precious time right?"

Adjusting his glasses.

"Why are his squats so low?"

Under Armor dude turns to Asian man.

"Two reasons - the judges are super strict this year, not counting squats for failure of not breaking the 90°...also his squats give him a short break at the bottom...CrossFit is more about your ability to think throughout an exercise than being the most fittest."

Will Koda's team survive the buy-in and progress to the Golden Kamuy work out of the day.

Find out next time on That's so Kawaii!!!

Anyone else posting outside the big three? (IG, TikTok, YT)

Some platforms I am slightly saturated across is:

Reddit

Pinterest

Substack

Facebook

X

Bluesky

Threads

Linkedin

I think my focus for content is going to be YT and TikTok, while building and interacting with communities within Reddit and Substack.

Anyone else create content for one platform, while building a community in another?

"They're at peace now. We'll keep their memory alive in our hearts."

I rolled my eyes at the priest. We lowered the casket. Only a few of Dad's friends showed.

"Your dad was a good man. I remember when..."

"Wow. Great story, Frank."

I'd spent five years with the old man before he passed. Forgetful. Messy. Angry all the time. And what I hate most about him now is that he's just gone. Scot-free.

On my way to the pub, a shop I'd never noticed stood between two buildings. No more five o'clock med time. Might as well.

"I have what you seek." A voice like wet gravel. Old hands held up a key: skull handle, a snake coiled through the grooves. "Hold it like this. It takes you to the afterlife."

I mimicked him.

Cold. Barren. Crows screaming across a deep blue sky. I started walking. CRACK.

"Hey! Watch where you're going BUDDY!"

A skull. Not attached to anything. Just a head on a pile of bones.

"I've been lying here for eons, buddy. Take me with you. Anywhere's better than here."

I tucked it under my arm like a football and kept walking.

The head vibrated in my arm.

"Where we going?"

"I need to find someone who just died."

"See the crows? The dead sound like them. Yours'll have a red thread on its leg. Listen."

I closed my eyes.

"Jerry, suck my balls..." No.

"Call me daddy..." No.

"You're just trying your best..."

That one. I gritted my teeth and opened my eyes. The crow with the red thread dropped from its branch and flew. I chased it, deeper, into a glowing red mountain, down to its center, where a pool of lava ringed a throne.

I didn't know what I'd say. I wanted him to know how much he'd made me suffer.

Then I got close enough to see.

The devil had a fistful of the old man's hair. Dad on his knees, mouth full, the devil grinning down.

"Suck harder bitch."

I nearly stepped into the lava.

"BUDDYYY," the skull screamed, slipping from my arm into the fire.

I took another glance at the act before me.

"...I'm just gonna go now."

Somethings are just better left unsaid.

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Onscreen, two lovers share a moment in the backseat of a car. She coils her finger around his. So kawaii. No. Stop it. I'm a grown man, for God's sake. I benched 300 pounds yesterday. I shoot guns. I ride a motorcycle. And I still love this crap.

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SUPER KAWAII ANIME FESTIVAL, screams a tiny woman. I snuck past her to get into the ticket line. I dwarf everyone. Double their age. No, triple. I wore a konosuba bucket hat, you know... to be incognito, but…IT’S NOT WORKING! I sense the uneasiness of the girl scanning my ticket. She probably thinks I'm a creepy old ped... "Sir. Your ticket." Oh. I'm…Thank you.

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Inside. Every corner I turn. Sailor Moon, kawaii. Card Capture Sakura, Kawaii. Anya Forger, KAWAII! Bump. Rubbing my head, I see a woman. My heart races a bit. Doki, doki. Older? No…she is my age. She looks at my hat. Blushes. "That's so kawaii.”

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